Unforeseen Contingencies

America's catastrophe continues.  James Comey's bizarre statement yesterday is proof of the open corruption practiced at the highest levels of our government.  While detailing instance after instance of Hillary Clinton breaking the law, Comey claimed to reasonable prosecutor would ever bring charges in such a case, because there was no evidence that Clinton intended to break the law.  However, 1) gross negligence, not intent, is sufficient for conviction, according to the law, and as Comey clearly stated, Clinton must have known she was handling classified material improperly, and 2) in fact, intent is easy to demonstrate: Clinton kept her server secret and tried destroying emails and other communications that are required to be part of the public record and were subject to investigation.  A few months back the Washington Post outlined roughly ten of the most serious potential charges against Clinton.  Frankly, it's hard to see how she could possibly have defended against them had she been charged,  Comey's refusal to bring charges means he's in violation of his oath of office.  Whether he was bribed, threatened, scared, or simply didn't want to face the furor that would ensue if Clinton were charged, he's corrupted himself.

But only a few days earlier, Clinton's husband -- also a target of the investigation because of his role in the Clinton Foundation' selling of American foreign policy -- held a secret meeting with Attorney General Lynch.  Subsequently Hillary Clinton suggested that if elected she might keep Lynch as AG, and Lynch declared that she would leave the decision whether or not to prosecute to Comey.  If one don't think this sounds deeply corrupt, one is either remarkably stupid or, more likely, prostituting one's judgement for partisan reasons.

This is awful.  The elite in power are now openly ignoring laws with impunity, and empowering and enriching themselves as they do.  We mere citizens could never do this, and we're facing increasing threats against our liberty from  government.

But there's more.  Republican majority leader Paul Ryan feigned outrage and suggested Hillary Clinton should lose her access to classified information... until elected, of course.  He even suggested that if Director of Intelligence James Clapper doesn't do this, Congress might even try to do it itself.  (Why does private citizen Clinton even have such access?)

What?! Right now, the House ought to be impeaching Lynch, Comey, and, for that matter, Obama.  Begging Clapper to do something?  That's not Clapper's job.  Ryan isn't following his oath of office, either.  There's no real Republican opposition, save for a few principled men like Ted Cruz.  Cruz directly challenged Comey's integrity and suggested that the FBI may be corrupted in all of this.

What about Libertarian opposition?  The LP candidates, Johnson and Weld, were recently interviewed by CNN and had nothing but nice things to say about Obama and Clinton (but were quick to condemn Trump).  Now Johnson has endorsed Comey's position; no issue for him in all of this.

Ugh.  Little as I like Trump, he makes more sense than almost anyone else purporting to be a leader.  He tweets: "Crooked Hillary Clinton is 'guilty as hell' but the system is totally rigged and corrupt! Where are the 33,000 missing e-mails?"

Absolutely right!

Some of the best, most thoughtful and logical analysis of this catastrophe is coming from the writers of National Review.  I highly recommend the following pieces in particular:

"Our Political Masters Show Their Hand" - Ben Shapiro.  This outlines chronologically the corrupt events.  Must reading.

"FBI Rewrites Federal Law to Let Hillary Off the Hook" - Andrew McCarthy. Brief and clear legal analysis by former prosecutor McCarthy on why Comey's position is wrong.

"FBI Director Comey Is Wrong: The Case for Prosecuting Hillary Clinton Is Strong" - Shannen W. Coffin.  More legal analysis from another former DoJ attorney.

"Hillary's Banana Republic" - David French.  Thoughtful analysis of the nasty episode and what it implies.

"FBI Recommendation on Clinton Betrays the Founding Fathers’ Legacy" - Tyler Arnold.  Finally, from Libertarian Republic, a very good analysis that notes Comey admitted he might prosecute a different person under these sorts of circumstances.  Damning.

Read these.  Then think about what all this means for the rule of law and for freedom.  And start thinking about how we are going to stop this kind of criminality.