FBI Director James Comey is a PITA for Hillary Clinton and the White House: What I’m reading, March 10, 2016 (updated)

Updated for stories on Cliven Bundy in federal court, refusing to enter a plea, and on Harbin Hot Springs, a local landmark, being slated to reopen later this year.


James Comey

These authors seem to think the FBI can be counted on in the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s email server.

Cory Bennett and Julian Hattem, “Comey’s FBI makes waves,” Hill, March 9, 2016, http://thehill.com/policy/cybersecurity/272290-comeys-fbi-makes-waves


The Horse Race

It isn’t just Republicans who are asking about Clinton’s email server.

John Cassidy, “Hillary Clinton’s Ordeal Continues at the Democratic Debate,” New Yorker, March 10, 2016, http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/hillary-clintons-ordeal-continues-at-the-democratic-debate


Hillary Clinton

Lisa Benson, Washington Post, January 21, 2016, via the Weekly Standard, fair use.
Lisa Benson, Washington Post, January 21, 2016, via the Weekly Standard, fair use.

She still doesn’t have a convincing answer on her email server. In last night’s debate,

[Jorge Ramos] fired off a multipronged question, asking Clinton about the 104 emails she wrote that the government now says contained classified information.

He added that Clinton’s email arrangement appears to contradict a memo she sent to her employees at the time directing them to use official email “precisely because of security concerns.”

“So it seems that you issued one set of rules for yourself and a different set of rules for the rest of the State Department,” Ramos said. “So who specifically gave you permission to operate your email system as you did. Was it President Obama?”

While saying the use of a private server “wasn’t the best choice,” Clinton replied that she didn’t need permission. Her predecessors had done the same thing, she said.[1]

The point of this is that Clinton had issued a directive intended to protect confidentiality which she herself did not follow in an administration that, even as of its third year, had prosecuted more whistle-blowers than all of its predecessors combined.[2]

“I think this administration, like every other administration, is driven to distraction by leaking,” [Steven Aftergood, head of the project on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists] said. “And Congress wants a few scalps, too. On a bipartisan basis, they want these prosecutions to proceed.”[3]

So the question here, as any neoconservative will ask is, does this administration give a damn about protecting government secrets or not? And for the rest of us, what sort of hypocrisy lets Hillary Clinton skate free, possibly into the presidency, while potentially prosecuting Edward Snowden and Julian Assange?

Jonathan Swan, “Clinton on being indicted over emails: ‘It’s not going to happen,'” Hill, March 9, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/debate-hillary-clinton-indicted-email-drop-out-not-going-to-happen-jorge-ramos

Jonathan Turley, “Clinton Declares That She Will Never Be Indicted And Insists That Her “Predecessors Did The Same Thing” On Emails,” March 10, 2016, https://jonathanturley.org/2016/03/10/clinton-declares-that-she-will-never-be-indicted-and-insists-that-her-predecessors-did-the-same-thing-on-emails/


Daylight Savings Time

When I was a kid, Daylight Savings Time seemed hopelessly beyond challenge.

Matt O’Brien, “Some New England lawmakers propose leaving Eastern Time,” Minneapolis Star-Tribune, March 10, 2016, http://www.startribune.com/new-england-lawmakers-propose-seceding-from-eastern-time/371698441/


Cliven Bundy

I think this could get tiresome except that I wouldn’t expect the judge to tolerate very much of it.

Ken Ritter, “Cliven Bundy Refuses In Court To Recognize Federal Authority In Nevada,” Talking Points Memo, March 10, 2016, http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/cliven-bundy-refuses-enter-plea-recognize-federal-authority


Harbin Hot Springs

Glenda Anderson, “Valley fire-ravaged Harbin Hot Springs in Lake County aims to reopen later this year,” Santa Rosa Press-Democrat, March 9, 2016, http://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/5357559-181/vallley-fire-ravaged-harbin-hot-springs

  1. [1]Jonathan Swan, “Clinton on being indicted over emails: ‘It’s not going to happen,’” Hill, March 9, 2016, http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/dem-primaries/debate-hillary-clinton-indicted-email-drop-out-not-going-to-happen-jorge-ramos
  2. [2]Scott Shane, “U.S. Pressing Its Crackdown Against Leaks,” New York Times, June 17, 2011, https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/18/us/politics/18leak.html/
  3. [3]Scott Shane, “Obama Takes a Hard Line Against Leaks to Press,” New York Times, June 11, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/12/us/politics/12leak.html

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