No charges against Clinton

It would be funny if it were not so patently patronising and simply a sad reflection of the current state of American democracy. In short, there are clearly different rules for the haves and have-nots in today’s United States. As Fox News reports, FBI Director James Comey will not recommend charges against Hillary Clinton for sending classified information through an unsecured private email server (NPR offers a good summary of the issues here).

The crux of Comey’s argument is:

“Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”

It should be noted the laws in question do not require evidence of intent to bring charges, rather it is a matter of gross negligence. So basically Comey says she was “extremely carless” (read: grossly negligent) but is not going to charge her because of a requirement the law in question does not even require (i.e., intent).

As Comey admits:

“There is evidence to support a conclusion that any reasonable person in Secretary Clinton’s position, or in the position of those government employees with whom she was corresponding about these matters, should have known that an unclassified system was no place for that conversation.”

BUT:

“Our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”

It is good to have friends in high places.

As for the election, this clears the way for Hillary Clinton to not only win the party’s nomination but also substantially increases her chances of winning the presidency. The audacity of the Clinton’s and their ability to walk around the law unscathed is nothing short of amazing in their long, long career in politics. Simply amazing.