The real deal: Watching the Clinton e-mail scandal unfold

I just got finished listening to Director of the FBI Comey’s speech on the Hillary Clinton e-mail scandal, and while this site is completely apolitical, I cannot let this very special moment in the history of American politics go by without some kind of observation.

ComeyIn his well-prepared and delivered speech Director Comey made a damn fool of himself.  In spite of the fact that Ms. Clinton,  when she was the Secretary of State, established her own private e-mail communications systems in direct violation of government rules, and sent secret and top secret e-mails all without any modicum of security, the best Comey could come up with is that she acted carelessly.  Comey went on to say that her actions were “unintentional” therefore her case could not be successfully prosecuted. Really?

Let’s consider the case of General David Petraeus and his lover Paula Broadwell.  Petraeus shared national security secrets with Broadwell during an illicit affair.  But in this case Broadwell was a cleared intelligence officer with the U.S. Army Reserve.  So it’s hard to make the case that there was any real damage to the U.S. national security.  Nonetheless, Petraeus was forced to resign as Director of the CIA,  and later plead guilty to a misdemeanor based on the simple fact that he broke the rules.  His reputation and government career were shattered.

Now, on the other hand, there’s John Deutch the former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Bill Clinton.  He was caught with several computers that contained classified information. He was accused of breaking the rules and mishandling classified information.  Janet Reno took a look at the case and decided not to prosecute, but instead recommended an investigation into whether Deutch’s security clearance should be suspended.  Nothing ever happened to Deutch because Bill Clinton pardoned him on his way out of office.

Then Bill Clinton shows up again.  This time right before Mr. Comey’s ground-breaking speech declaring that his wife Hillary, who incidentally is running for the presidency,  was not guilty of a crime.  Bill Clinton visits with Loretta Lynch in the back of an airplane to talk about their grandchildren.  Really?  It was much more likely a big thank-you to Loretta for her hard work protecting Hillary, and to promise her a position on the Supreme Court when Hillary gets elected.  Who knows?

In any event, the political fallout of the meeting in the back of that airplane explains why Director Comey, instead of Attorney General Lynch herself,  had to make the public announcement that there was no evidence to prosecute former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  One of the biggest breaches of protocol in the history of the Justice Department. Attorney General Lynch, just like the proverbial groundhog in the farmer’s crops, had to keep her political head down.  If Lynch had given the speech that Comey did, it would have been received even more negatively than Comey’s.

In the end, the American people are expected to believe that that no hanky panky took place in the back of that airplane.  We are also expected to believe that Hillary did not “intentionally” set up her own extensive private server farm and send secret and top secret information on a totally insecure system in clear violation of the law. Finally, Director Comey tells us that there was not enough evidence to make sure that what happened to General David Petraeus happened to her too.  Mere coincidence or a political fix?  You be the judge.

In all of this one thing is true.  We are living through some of the most momentous changes in American history.  Today, we find two classes of people emerging in our country—the favored gentry and the struggling masses.  Our system of justice is no longer designed to answer the call of justice for all of us. Instead, the law is being warped to protect the interests of the favored few, thus placing our constitutional form of government at great risk.  Ms. Hillary Clinton is clearly a member of the gentry that  live above the law.

Sometime ago, I read a book entitled, The Law, by Frederic Bastiat, written shortly after the French Revolution.  Bastiat tells us that when the system of justice denies equal treatment under the law it can mean big trouble. Make no mistake about it, today we are all living through the real deal. How things go now will shape the entire future of our country.

Dr. Hnatio is the Executive Director of the institute for Complexity Management (ICM).  He has worked in senior government and industry positions for over 40 years.  You can learn more about Dr. Hnatio and ICM by visiting the web site at http://www.instituteforcomplexitymanagement.org     

 

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