July 6, 2016 at 1:19 p.m.
Another sad day for America
Another sad day for America
The Right in this country should have known better, and shame on it for building up the expectation of indictment, which now allows Clinton to make more of this week's non-indictment recommendation than is warranted.
Still, it's a sad day for America when we see before our very eyes one of the last respectable agencies crumble beneath the weight of globalist collectivism. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away from us now, the FBI was tough and independent, and presidents as well as paupers had to be wary of breaking laws within its jurisdiction and reach.
Now it's just another partisan bureau, beholden not necessarily to the elected president but to the unelected bureaucracy and its doctrine of liberalism.
What's ironic in FBI director James Comey's announcement that he would recommend no charges against Clinton is that he laid out a great case not just for one but for multiple federal charges.
He said she was "extremely careless"; he said she had indeed conveyed classified material via email, though she had denied it repeatedly; he said she may have been hacked by foreign interests.
Any one of these would land most of us in the Big House, but Comey said that wasn't in Clinton's future because she had no criminal intent.
The problem is, the main federal statute in question does not require criminal intent to be violated: "Whoever, being entrusted with... any document relating to the national defense... through gross negligence permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody... shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both."
What it requires is "gross negligence," as Fox News analyst and attorney Gregg Jarrett pointed out about that statutory excerption. Jarrett asserted that Black's Law Dictionary, the "bible" for the legal profession, describes and defines "gross negligence" as extreme carelessness.
He invited everyone to check him out, so we did, and he's right. Carelessness is defined as negligence, the failure to act with the prudence that a reasonable person would exercise under the same circumstances.
Extreme carelessness would equate to gross negligence. Even our own lay dictionary defines careless as negligent.
By Comey's own analysis and words, then, Hillary Clinton is guilty of violating an extraordinarily serious federal statute. She is guilty of compromising our national interests. She should be headed to prison.
But since she didn't intend to hurt anybody or our national interests, Comey says he will forgive her.
It's worth noting, as some have, that in 2012 the federal government prosecuted Naval Reservist Brian Nishimura for exactly the same thing - mishandling classified documents, downloading and storing them on personal devices, and later destroying some of them - even though the FBI acknowledged it found no evidence that Nishimura intended to distribute classified information to unauthorized personnel.
What's good for the goose isn't good for the gander, obviously, for Clinton must, must be president, and so she escapes. Nishimura was found guilty of "unauthorized removal and retention of classified materials."
There's a running joke that, if Clinton is elected president, she won't be as bad as Obama because Obama is a rigid ideologue while Clinton's just a criminal. If the price is right, you can buy her support for the constitution.
After Comey decided Clinton was too big to prosecute, that joke is not particularly funny any more. Mainly because it's not a joke.
Of course, as NBC's Andrea Mitchell pointed out in a rare moment of honesty, Comey's announcement was hardly an exoneration.
"The fact is, she has been saying for more than a year now that she never sent or received anything that was classified at the time and his analysis completely disputes that, her main argument," Mitchell said. "The carelessness and the criticism of that carelessness at the State Department, which he said was unusual in the U.S. government, is also on her watch. This is politically very damaging, not as damaging as a prosecution, obviously not as legally fraught as a prosecution would be, which could be disabling for a nominee, presumptive nominee just weeks before the convention. But the fact is, this is a big political hit. It is not the complete exoneration that they would have hoped for."
All true, and, as Donald Trump said this week, Clinton will still be tried in the court of public opinion, with a verdict due in November. Trump now must play the role of prosecutor, and make his case.
Unfortunately, and what makes this entire spectacle more depressing, is that Trump's ability to make his case is not only made more problematic by a viciously dishonest media but by the NeverTrump crowd inside the GOP, who are gleefully and proudly rooting for Hillary to win the election.
Think about that. The GOP establishment wants not only a leftist globalist who promises to follow in Obama's footsteps - especially when it comes to supporting the Obamacare policies and trade deals and immigration fiats that are destroying America's middle class - but someone who is a criminal to boot.
Armed with lawlessness and lacking moral fiber, Hillary will be Obama Plus. Obama on Steroids. Obama Gone Wild. Pick your own description.
The question is, can America survive this? Hardly.
We think Sarah Palin said it best in her Facebook post after Comey's whitewash: "Today's FBI forgiveness of tyrants' illegal acts illustrate purpose in why I insist Americans rise up and tear down this tyrannical system that is destroying America from within. Truly, you're either with us or you're against us."
That's exactly right. For years establishment Republicans admonished the conservative grassroots to fall in line behind their candidates, but, when the grassroots nominated a candidate, the establishment actively betrayed the party and the base.
And so, to use one of their lines, they can never be forgiven. They have exposed themselves for the globalists they are.
Palin had one more message to the GOP establishment, this one from Hillary: "Hillary thanks you. She knows she can't win without you."
She's right again. And that's what really makes this another sad day in America. We discovered this year that those whom we shared our party with all these years were unfaithful all along.
While we were busing trying to live by the vows of our nation's Constitution, our partners were secretly having affairs with globalists and criminals.
To add insult to injury, they left us for the criminal.
Which side are you on?
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