Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Hillary email Scandal more than just a "Scandal"

Hillary Clinton email "scandal".

It's only a "scandal" for pro-Hillary media pundits, Hillary's voters, and politicians who support Hillary Clinton. For everyone else, it's ... a real issue of government transparency, national security and a measure of honestly of those within our government leadership. (One doesn't just have to be a Republican to question this email controversy.)

Whether you like Hillary or not, anyone with one iota of intelligence knows that Hillary has been disingenuous in her excuses about using a private email server to avoid the "inconvenience of carrying two devices". And so, it insults our intelligence to hear politicians go on national TV to make their lame excuses for her — because it also makes them disingenuous as well.

An honest, trustworthy and humble Democrat (who would naturally be appalled about this supposed "scandal", because it puts the Democratic Party Machine in a bad light), even if they were a Hillary supporter (and/or feared Hillary's political clout within the party), they would have better served our country by coming right out and admitting that Hillary had screwed up. That in itself would have garnered some measure of respect for them at least.

But instead, they go on national TV in an feeble attempt to convince us that: "People aren't asking Hillary about her emails, only the media is." (*Full disclosure: I'm a person, and I'm asking.]

The only "people" Hillary comes in contact with are usually supporters at her rallies, bankers at her speeches, and friendly media pundits in carefully scripted and controlled interviews. Real "people" aren't casually bumping into Hillary in a line at Wal-Mart to ask her: "So tell me about those emails Hillary."

If by chance #BlackLivesMatter ever decides to show up to disrupt one of Hillary's speeches, maybe they'll ask her about her private email server.

Hillary Clinton has insisted that she did not send or receive information that was marked classified "at the time" of transmittal. However, the discovery of emails that were later deemed to be secret has intensified questions about why she had used an unencrypted server inside her home in the first place.

If Hillary is exposed to classified information (either verbally or through documents), and then transmits that information via an email, she is the only one who could have marked her email as "classified".

And if others sent her email that was considered "classified" (but didn't mark it as classified), she should have know if it was classified or not. Almost anything related to her job as Secretary of State could be considered classified.

Democratic politicians used an excuse that Colin Powell relied on personal emails while Secretary of State, but the circumstances were much different (and besides, since when did two wrongs make a right?)

Hillary also claimed that she gave little thought to using a personal server; but enough thought must have been administered to hire and pay someone out of her own pocket to set up a server inside her home, rather than just using a free DOT.GOV email address provided for her by a government office.

She has also faced scrutiny about her decision to delete tens of thousands of emails that only SHE deemed to be private, before she handed her emails over to the State Department, which is now complying with a court order to release all her email correspondence.

How many tens of thousands of emails can someone send about the upcoming wedding of a daughter or the birth of a grandchild?

And why did she have her server wiped clean? And then for her to flippantly joke about it later was not only irresponsible and lame, but it was not funny at all and in poor taste. Corporations, banks and the Department of Defense have all been hacked — but Hillary chose to use her own private email server to — what? — hide something from government oversight?

After months of saying that she regretted using a private email address while insisting that she had done nothing wrong, Hillary Clinton apologized: “That was a mistake. I’m sorry about that. I take responsibility. I am trying to be as transparent as I possibly can." For a Clinton, it takes a lot of effort to appear as though they are being transparent. (Transparent meaning, honest.)

And people usually say they're sorry only after they're caught in wrong-doing. But if Hillary did nothing wrong (as she claimed), then why did she say she's sorry? For confusing us about her honesty? She also repeatedly reminded us that she did nothing illegal — because we all know there's a big difference between "wrong" and illegal".

Allison Moore, press secretary for the Republican National Committee, said:

“The only thing Hillary Clinton regrets is that she got caught and is dropping in the polls; not the fact her secret email server left classified information exposed to the Russians and Chinese. Hillary Clinton’s reckless attempt to skirt government transparency laws put our national security at risk and shows she cannot be trusted in the White House.”

Many people believe Hillary set up the private (but unsecured) email server to hide her communications about the Clinton's foundation and foreign donors.

And many people are wondering why nobody inside of government (including the NSA) never took notice of the email address she had been using for all those years. Was this poor oversight under the Obama administration?

Or was it just intimidated government workers within the administration who were fearful of confronting Clinton, which in turn, allowed the Clintons to skirt and remain above the law?

But despite Hillary's email scandal, that's not the reason why supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders are voting for him. They just like his stance on the issues much better — and because he comes across as being much more authentic (and maybe because he doesn't use a private server to hide personal email from the government about his grandchildren).

Hillary: "I'm sorry!"

5 comments:

  1. Hillary said in an interview with ABC News: “As I look back at it now, even though it was allowed, I should have used two accounts. That was a mistake. I’m sorry about that. I take responsibility”. [The public expression of feigned remorse came just one day after she flatly refused to apologize during an interview with the AP.]

    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/hillary-clinton-private-email-mistake-im/story

    Washington Post: Two powerful Senate chairman said they are considering seeking one or more immunity orders for Bryan Pagliano, a former Clinton aide whose attorneys have indicated would refuse to answer questions under his Fifth Amendment right to protect himself against any prosecution. Pagliano was paid to maintain Clinton’s personal server while she was secretary of state.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/clinton-says-private-email-was-a-mistake-says-shes-sorry/2015/09/08/285332b0-56a0-11e5-9f54-1ea23f6e02f3_story.html

    CNN: Secretary of State John Kerry appointed a former career diplomat as an “email czar” to coordinate his department’s response to the demands for document production ... Republicans were quick to point out that this “email czar” contributed $2,700 — the maximum allowed — to Clinton’s campaign.”

    http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/08/politics/hillary-clinton-email-czar-john-kerry/

    Reuters: The U.S. State Department plans to move about 50 workers into temporary jobs to grapple with a vast backlog of other requests for information to be declassified ... The move illustrates the huge administrative burden caused by Clinton's decision to use a private email address for official communications as secretary of state.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/08/us-usa-election-clinton-statedept-exclus-idUSKCN0R82QG20150908

    Washington Post: Clinton's evolving stance on her private e-mail server

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/politics/clintons-evolving-stance-on-her-private-e-mail-server/2015/09/08/cf18a65c-568c-11e5-9f54-1ea23f6e02f3_video.html

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  2. She should be thankful. While this email issue is running it's clouding out other questions people would like to ask her such as why has she accepted millions from Saudi Royalty who behead women for sorcery? (and then rebuked Trump for misogyny!) Or why has she taken $3Million from Tata and Infosys, 2 of the most abusive H1-B outsourcerers? (while mumbling something about American jobs..)

    If she wins, Americans will get the overlords they deserve.

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  3. Poll Update on Sept. 10, 2015

    New Hampshire:
    Bernie Sanders 41%
    Hillary Clinton 32%

    Iowa:
    Bernie Sanders 41%
    Hillary Clinton 40%

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  4. Using bad examples from the past as a defense:

    Dating from the early 1940s, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover authorized senior FBI officials to regularly purge the contents of their own secret office files.

    In 1973, responding to the creation of the Senate Watergate Committee, CIA director Richard Helms ordered the destruction of all the tapes and transcripts of his office and telephone conversations.

    The National Security Agency similarly created special records and record-destruction policies involving illegal programs (as well as Oliver North's).

    George W. Bush's White House officials created special e-mail accounts for their communications with the Republican National Committee—and it was subsequently revealed that many of those e-mails had been destroyed or were missing.

    These recent practices not only confirm that Hillary Clinton’s actions were not exceptional; they underscore the need for a broader examination of the US government’s practices for keeping records to ensure the effectiveness of congressional and judicial oversight.

    http://www.thenation.com/article/about-those-e-mails/

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  5. UPDATE ON MARCH 11, 2016

    7 members of Congress in the bag for Hillary Clinton wrote a letter to the State Inspector General’s office complaining that her emails are being politicized (Dianne Feinstein, Patrick Leahy, Thomas Carper, Ben Carper, Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel and Elijah Cummings.)

    A spokesman for the IG's office said partisan politics have played no role in the investigation: "We are now reviewing the email practices of the current and last four Secretaries of State, not just Secretary Clinton. Any suggestion that the office is biased against any particular Secretary is completely false."

    Both of the IGs in question are appointees of President Barack Obama.

    http://www.politico.com/blogs/under-the-radar/2016/03/lawmakers-raise-doubts-on-igs-clinton-email-review-220580

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