Let the FBI Sort Them

The State Department reports that it will take 5 YEARS to go through 31,000 Hillary Clinton emails.  Wow!  How about giving them to the FBI and Director Comey.  He just ripped through 650,000 emails in 8 days!  He'll be done with 31,000 before lunch!  Better yet, though he  may find gross negligence, there will be nothing worth prosecuting.

 

It is interesting that the State Dept. wouldn't be able to finish until AFTER Hillary was re-elected for a second term.  That's probably just a coincidence.

Transparency!

Who knew that the reason this was going to be "the most transparent administration in history" would be proved correct thanks to computer hackers and FBI probes?  It turns out that though President Obama claimed to learn about the private server the same time as everyone else, he had exchanged emails - using a pseudonym - with Hillary using her non-state department email address.  I will grant that it is possible someone else program her address into his account and he never saw the actual address.  However, whoever did put that email address in the president's contacts list should have sounded an alarm when the email didn't end in .gov.

 

As for the argument that emails between Obama and Clinton should not be subject to FOIA requests on account executive privilege, that strikes me as a weak argument.  If emails sent between the White House and the State Department are to be covered by executive privilege, why not the entirety of the audio tapes recorded entirely within the Oval Office of the Nixon White House?  Executive privilege expands and contracts depending on which party is in the White House.

 

Edward Snowden, Wikileaks, DC Leaks, Guccifer and others have all contributed tremendously to the transparency of both the Obama Administration and the DNC.  Of course, this transparency is achieved because the administration is very bad at protecting secure information.  If there is a Cyber Cold War in progress, it sure looks like we are getting stomped.

Federal Bureau of Immunity

In yet another jaw-dropping revelation to the never ending email scandal, it turns out the FBI gave immunity to Cheryl Mills, Hillary Clinton's chief of staff at the State Department.  Is this an investigation or a cover-up?  Let's review from the start.

The technician who setup the server, Bryan Pagliano, invoked his fifth amendment privilege against self-incrimination 125 times during a 90 minute deposition; the FBI granted him immunity.  The Platte River Network technician who used BleachBit on the server, Paul Combetta, was granted immunity.  Amazingly, despite this grant of immunity, he too invoked his 5th Amendment right not to self-incriminate.  Isn't that the whole point of the immunity?!  You grant immunity to the lesser criminal so that his testimony will convict the greater criminal.  In this case, the FBI granted immunity and the guy won't talk.  What exactly is the FBI trying to accomplish here?  John Bentel, the IT guy at the State Dept, somehow didn't know about Hillary's private server.  Merely admitting that should be cause for firing.  Of course, he too was granted immunity.  Why?  He knew nothing!  Moving on, we come to Heather Samuelson, a lawyer who had been a staffer during the 2008 presidential campaign.  She is one of the lawyers who went through the emails to determine what was work-related.  She too was granted immunity!  And that brings us to Cheryl Mills, the Chief of Staff.  Immunity is given to people who have committed crimes!  We have a line of criminals that lead from the server all the way to Hillary Clinton's doorstep.  Combine this with the classified, top secret, and pay-for-play emails that have been recovered, and you have multiple crimes with buckets of intent.  All that immunity and not a single charge filed.

 

When will the FBI finally reveal that they offered Hillary Clinton immunity in order to have that Saturday interview?  At this point, I would not be surprised.  Roger Simon observes that this kind of blatant excusing of the elites while at the same time consistently bungling catchable domestic terrorists is ruining all faith in the FBI and the DOJ.  The rule of law must be restored or the banana republic we have will become permanent.

Where's the Big Fish?

The man who deleted the emails from Clinton's private server, even after having been notified that the information was under a Congressional Subpoena, was granted immunity during the investigation.  Typically, one offers immunity to the little fish in order to nail the big fish.  So, where's the big fish?  The use of BleachBit sure does sound like it would prove the intent that FBI Director Comey said was lacking.  A conference call that involved the server company and Hillary's lawyers shortly before the server was wiped?  Hmm, sounds suspicious.  These lawyers are certainly bigger fish than the computer tech who bleached the emails.  Were they indicted?  No?  And now it turns out that the immunity deal is going to derail further investigation?  Oh, what an unfortunate turn of events!  Oops!  Looks like we screwed up and no one will be prosecuted for the destruction of government records.  Oh, that's a felony?  Huh.

E-Mail Scandal Grows

Destruction of evidence?  Meh.  What's another felony or two?  Maybe an obstruction of justice?  Really, at this point, what difference does it make?  Laws are for the little people.

Felon for President

Here is yet another story about Hillary's emails.  When she left her position as Secretary of State, she was required to sign a form that affirmed that she had returned all work-related documents.  All.  Not most, not majority.  All.  Falsely attesting that all documents were returned could easily result in a perjury charge.  There is also the fact that she deleted these documents.  It is a crime to delete government documents.  Then we have the use of BleachBit to make sure all those deleted emails were not recoverable from her server, which sounds a whole lot like the 'intent' that FBI Director Comey claimed was absent and therefore nixed prosecution.  What is really interesting about the article is that it never mentions criminality.  It offers undisputed facts which constitute crimes but fails to point out that they are crimes.

 

So far, among the deleted emails are these 30 that discuss Benghazi and even more that demonstrate a link between donations to the Clinton Foundation and action on behalf of the donor at the State Department, the very definition of political corruption.  Former President Bill Clinton would give a $100K+ speech to some company, the company would 'donate' millions to the Clinton Foundation, and then Secretary Clinton decided State Department policy in favor of that company.  Nothing to see here.  Move along.  Emails related to this process have been deleted.  Hey, it's an old story.  Really, at this point, what difference does it make?  Governor Bob McDonald was sentenced to prison for far less.

 

In 1992, the Democrats nominated a pot-smoking, draft dodging horndog who had protested his country while overseas.  He served two terms!

 

In 2008, the Democrats nominated a pot-smoking, cocaine-using, Islamic apologist with ties to terrorists and communists whose pastor had damned America in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.  He served two terms!

 

In 2016, the Democrats wondered just how much further they could push this.  Thus, they have nominated a breathtakingly dishonest, corrupt politician with a long history of demonstrable failure (Libya, Syria, Iraq, 1994 Healthcare Overhaul, getting Bill to keep it in his pants, etc.).  Currently, she is the favorite to win.

 

These are not good signs for the health of the Republic.  Rough waters ahead, regardless of outcome.

Vast Rightwing Conspiracy Expands?

Dr. Jill Stein, the Green Party nominee for president, just made the case against Hillary Clinton.  From discussing the now exposed pay-to-play emails that Hillary had deleted from her private server (because it didn't apply to her job as Secretary of State) and the extremely careless handling of top secret information on that same server, the Green Party holds that investigation is fully justified.  Like many on the right, she observed that FBI Director Comey laid out a compelling indictment in his statement and later in his testimony before Congress to only then say there was no reason to indict.  Huh?  All this from a woman who volunteered to step aside and allow the self-identified socialist Bernie Sanders to take the reins of the Green Party; he declined and bought a third home for $600,000; some comrades are more equal.  From the Green Party point of view, Hillary is a right winger.  Yes, it appears that the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy that Hillary uncovered nearly 20 years ago has expanded to the Vast Right to Far Left Wing Conspiracy that is now after her.

 

For years I have been told that I need to listen to both sides on an issue, Right and Left, because the truth lies somewhere in the middle.  Interesting.  The right says that Hillary committed crimes and the left says Hillary committed crimes.  Somewhere in between those two viewpoints is the truth.

Where will the Hacking Stop?

Yet again, the Democrats have been hacked.  First, it was Hillary at State, then the DNC, and now it is Nancy Pelosi.  If you want to secure something, DO NOT give it to the Democratic Party.  Considering the willful failure of the Democrats to secure the national borders, it should come as no surprise that they can's secure their email either.

With all this hacking and, thanks to it, the demonstrated fact that the DNC did indeed put a finger on the scale in favor of Hillary through the recent primary against Bernie, there is unsurprisingly a discussion of how secure is voting.  With the proliferation of hacking, is it rational to put trust in electronic voting?  I discussed this in another blog.  Whereas electronic voting provides the opportunity to hack from anywhere in the world, a paper ballot must be forged onsite.  That makes it both tougher to corrupt and, if it is, easier to narrow down the culprit.  What paper ballots lack in instant tabulation is more than offset by immunity to foreign hacking.

 

Being in the computer field, I have long regarded electronic voting with skepticism.  I want there to be a hard copy that can be examined if their are any doubts.  Electrons on a silicon chip are much easier to manipulate than holes punched in paper or ink markings.

Unsecured Servers Kill

Through some skillful intelligence work, the US managed to recruit an Iranian nuclear scientist to keep us abreast of Iran's nuclear program.  Unfortunately for Shahram Amiri, he was mentioned in Hillary Clinton's unsecure emails only days before the US sent him back to Iran.  His cover story was that he had been held against his will by Saudis and Americans.  In fact, we were paying him handsomely.  Iran has executed him, noting that he was a spy for the Great Satan.

With news like this, recruiting foreign spies will be much more difficult for US intelligence.  It will be nigh impossible if President Clinton is inaugurated.  With the DNC email hack and the Clinton's email hack, it would be foolish to trust the US now.  Whether Amiri was revealed by Hillary's emails or through some other means makes no difference.  This is a heavy blow that will hamstring our intelligence gathering abilities for years to come regardless of who is elected president.

Stop the Emails

Yet again, email has proven destructive to the career of woman in the hierarchy of the Democratic Party.  Wikileaks has exposed thousands of emails that show Debbie Wasserman Schultz (DWS), the DNC chairwoman, was indeed steering the nomination to Hillary and seeking to torpedo Bernie.  Bernie's demands that she resign and support for her primary opponent were completely justified.  His argument that the system was rigged is borne out by the evidence.  The Democrats weren't running a primary campaign but a predetermined coronation.  Doubtless, Bernie's supporters are going to be even harder to bring back into the fold.  Many of them would be thrilled if he accepted Jill Stein's repeated offer to let him lead the Green Party ticket on the November ballot, perhaps garnering enough support to appear in the debates.  The party has stabbed him in the back and perhaps bringing ruination upon them will teach them a lesson.  With the barely Republican, and fellow New Yorker, Trump as the alternative to the Wall Street shill and carpetbag New Yorker Hillary, he might actually do it.  Yes, it is still very unlikely.  Strategically, it might not be a bad idea to stay in the race and make sure his voters don't break for Trump.  Risky.

It is late in the day for DWS to resign.  Her tenure as DNC Chair has been mostly a series of losses for her party and yet she has been the longest serving chair in decades.  Her ties to Hillary Clinton have likely allowed her to remain as long as she has (her predecessor in the job is Tim Kaine, the newly announced VP candidate) but even that cannot save her from the latest email disaster on the eve of the Democratic Convention.  The stars are aligning against Hillary with conspiracy-like precision.

Selective Law Enforcement

Here is the fall of the republic.  The case is obvious.  If it can be painted this clearly in a five minute video, why was there no indictment?  Because we are no longer a nation of laws.  The laws apply only when they are useful to the establishment, not when they limit it.  The law is meaningless.  The collapse of the rule of law is everywhere, from the unenforced borders to sanctuary cities to unsecured email servers.  Only with a Republican in the White House will the Democrats once again demand that government officials obey the law.  With Hillary, all bets are off and the spineless Republicans will do nothing.

Email Archiving! What a concept!

Came across this link on Instapundit.

http://reason.com/blog/2014/06/20/the-irs-had-a-contract-with-an-email-bac

The IRS has had an email backup solution since 2005 with a company that advertises as 'Email Archiving Done Right.'  Huh.  Either this company is going to take a major hit for such a huge - and growing - failure or it might say, "Here they are."

 

Again, the idea that the emails are lost is ludicrous and will only convince the ignorant or willfully blind.  This is an obvious cover-up.  I'm sure the media would be equally understanding if a Republican administration apparently used the IRS to squash opposition and then stonewalled a Congressional investigation.

You don't have mail

There are times when I am astonished at the stories the administration will tell.  As an IT guy who has a basic understanding of email, I look at the story of Lois Lerner's lost emails on account of a hard drive crash as an obvious lie.  We use Exchange at my work.  My email is not on my computer, it is on the Exchange server.  It is also in the inbox to whomever it was sent.  So, unless Ms. Lerner only sent email to herself, one hard drive failure can't destroy any of her emails.  Our server has multiple backups in case of failure and the data is backed up to tapes should the building burn down.  I was doing this sort of backup 16 years ago, which makes it unbelievable that the IRS isn't doing it today.  How many hard drives, servers, and offsite tape backups would have to be destroyed or fail to get rid of Ms. Lerner's emails?  A lot more than the one that is claimed.  This story is even worse since most people must see that it doesn't make sense.  Your average smartphone user can access email on the phone, or on the computer, or even on a tablet.  Most know that if their computer crashes, they haven't just lost all their emails.

If these emails really have been lost, it is because someone chose to lose them.  That would be a crime.  Why commit a crime to hold back these emails?  Much like Nixon's tapes, there is something in those emails the administration or the IRS doesn't want revealed.  If this same thing happened in a Republican administration, the media would be howling day and night.  This cover-up is so obvious as to insult the intelligence of anyone with even a moderate amount of tech savvy.