FBI: Not Recommending Clinton Email Charges

Just now:

After Hillary Clinton was interviewed by the FBI for more than three hours Saturday morning, FBI Director James Comey has announced that he is referring the case to the Department of Justice for a decision. However, in what he characterized as an “unusual statement in at least a couple of ways,” Comey concluded that “we are expressing to Justice our view that no charges are appropriate in this case.” 

Comey detailed the ”painstaking undertaking requiring thousands of hours of effort” involved in investigating Clinton’s email servers to see if emails had contained classified material. In 30,000 emails Clinton turned over, 110 emails contained information that was classified at the time, while 2,000 were up-classified. The FBI also recovered further emails, of which three have been determined to have been classified at the time. “We found no evidence that any of the additional work-related emails were intentionally deleted.” 

Comey characterized Clinton and her colleagues as not having intentionally broken any laws but said that they were “extremely careless” in their email practices involving classified information. The FBI found “no direct evidence” that Clinton’s email servers were hacked. 

Prosecutors will make the decision about whether charges are appropriate on handling of classified material, but the FBI’s recommendation is that “no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.” Looking at past cases, “We cannot find a case that would support bringing charges.”  (our emphasis)

Lots of warranted criticism of the carelessness but, as most rational observers have long predicted, no charges are likely now that the investigation has concluded.  Let's see if we can get through the rest of the campaign without any more unforced Clinton errors.

BONUS:  As recently as 2 days ago, this dead- ender in need of medication was predicting an indictment.  Haha HA!

BONUS II:   Gotta rub it in:

HA Goodman rn pic.twitter.com/V8sWW0JSBU

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) July 5, 2016

Cartoon Of The Day: Support Your Local Sheriff

(click to enlarge)

The latest spin from the campaign of neo-fascist hatemonger Donald "Rump" Trump is that the Star of David sitting on a pile of money that featured prominently in his recent, infamous tweet, was a "sheriff's badge." Riiiight! Like the racist and anti-Semitic website that he borrowed it from is all about "sheriffs."

(cartoon: Clay Jones, Claytoonz.com, via Gocomics.com)

Putin's American BFF

One of the lightly covered aspects of neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump is his affinity for foreign dictators and despots, from Kim Jong-Un to Vladimir "Vlad the Invader" Putin. In particular, he's stated his admiration for Putin on several occasions, using such descriptions as "strong leader" who's "doing a great job" rebuilding Russia (i.e., annexing the Crimea and invading eastern Ukraine). To no one's surprise, the feeling is reciprocated by Putin, but for different reasons than the clueless narcissist Rump might comprehend.

In his article in Slate, Franklin Foer explains how Putin sees Rump as a useful tool in his ambitions for a Greater Russia that would expand to boarders similar to those of the former Soviet Union (the collapse of which Putin sees as a "genuine tragedy"). Key to that strategy is undermining European economic and security structures in order to pave the way for Russia's expansion back into eastern Europe and, perhaps, beyond.  Rump has voiced the opinions that NATO may be obsolete and that the U.S. needs to pull back on its commitments (that goes for our Asian allies, too). Rump's support of the destructive "Brexit" vote also signals to Putin that he is unconcerned with the breakup of the European Union, much to Putin's delight.

With Putin also throwing Russia's support behind right-wing factions in France (Le Pen) and Italy (Berlusconi) among others, it's clear that he sees xenophobic nationalism in his European neighbors not as a threat (after all, he's the one with the nukes), but as an opportunity for strengthening Russia's position against a fractured and backbiting Europe. He'd like nothing better from his new best friend in America than to help him with that.

Monday Reading - Narcissists, "Populists," And Arsonists

Narcissist:   Martin Longman gives us evidence of how neo- fascist re-Tweeter Donald "Rump" Trump fits all the sub- categories of the classic Narcissist (and who his "narcissistic suppliers" are =cough= Chris Christie =cough=):

I’m pretty firmly convinced at this point that the best predictor of what Trump will do is to look at what classic narcissists do. As we’ve seen with Trump’s business practices, he is “fraudulent, deceptive, arrogant, and exploitive” in his dealings and routinely engages in “pathological lying and swindling.” 

He perfectly fits the definition of an Elitist Narcissist:

Elitist narcissist: Feels privileged and empowered by virtue of special childhood status and pseudo achievements; entitled façade bears little relation to reality; seeks favored and good life; is upwardly mobile; cultivates special status and advantages by association.

In his dealings with competitors, both business and political, he’s often “callous, brutal, rancorous, aggressive, biting, merciless, vicious, cruel, spiteful; hateful and jealous,” which are all descriptors of a Malignant Narcissist. 

He hits all the marks of a Compensatory Narcissist: “Seeks to counteract or cancel out deep feelings of inferiority and lack of self-esteem; offsets deficits by creating illusions of being superior, exceptional, admirable, noteworthy; self-worth results from self-enhancement.” We can see this in how he lies about his Wharton Business degree and constantly assures us that he has one of the highest I.Q. scores.

"Populist":   Paul Krugman on just one aspect of Rump's phony economic populism:

... Trumponomics goes beyond the usual Republican assertions that cutting taxes on corporations and the rich, ending environmental regulation and so on will conjure up the magic of the marketplace and make everyone prosper. It also involves posing as a populist, claiming that getting tough on foreigners and ripping up our trade agreements will bring back the well-paying jobs America has lost.  [snip]

In fact, even as he tried to pose as a populist he repeated the same falsehoods usually used to justify anti-worker policies. We are, he declared, “one of the highest taxed nations in the world.” Actually, among 34 advanced countries, we’re No. 31. And, regulations are “an even greater impediment” to our competitiveness than taxes: Actually, we’re far less regulated than, say, Germany, which runs a gigantic trade surplus.

Arsonist:   First, Boris "Brexit" Johnson slinks off, now another Brexit domino falls:

Nigel Farage announced Monday that he will step down as the leader of the UK Independence Party, saying, "I've done my bit" to get Britain out of the European Union. 

He said the party was "in a good position" following the EU referendum and that his political ambition had been achieved.

Said the arsonist: "The house is burning.  I've done my bit.  Ta!" Yes, that would be Nigel "Nigel" Farage, the inbred shitgibbon* on the right with the Union Jack shoes (with Rupert "Aargh" Murdoch, of course):



*Long live Scotland!

Fourth Of July

Once again, we're choosing the John Philip Sousa standard, "The Stars and Stripes Forever," beautifully played by the Band of Her Majesty's Grenadier Guards at Blenheim Palace, to honor the founding of our nation on the Fourth of July, 1776 (or as one British wag put it, Amexit).  Have fun and be safe.

 

Rump's Twits Who Tweet

It's clear over the course of neo-fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump's campaign that his preferred vehicle for communication (next to his violent rallies) is Twitter. It fits his shallow, infantile grasp of policy and events, and allows him to feed his narcissism by re-tweeting messages by others that are flattering to him.

As we noted yesterday, his most recent foray into bigotry was the re-tweet of an image of Hillary Clinton with the Star of David over a pile of money, declaring her to be the most corrupt candidate ever. The material originated from a Twitter account operated by someone who regularly engages in bigoted and offensive language, and it's one of three white supremacist/white nationalist sources that Rump has re-tweeted messages from, either to attack Hillary Clinton or to echo support or praise for him. In one of the first instances last November, he retweeted racist, bogus black-on-black and black-on-white murder statistics from a white supremacist after some of his thuggish supporters beat up a black protester at one of his rallies in Alabama. Rump tried to wiggle out of the backlash by saying that he didn't have time to research every tweet.

This is the person the Republican / New Confederate / Stupid / Shooter's Party will have as its nominee: a reckless, lazy, and bigoted authoritarian who is incapable of either impulse control or decency.

UPDATE:  Rump supporter and KKKer David Duke appreciates the message.

Today's Cartoon - The Magic Of Giving

(click on image to enlarge)



(Tom Toles, once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle)

Across The Universe, Cont.

First, some good news (but not unexpected):

NASA will keep the Hubble Space Telescope on an additional five years. The agency awarded a sole source contract extension June 23 to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy for continued Hubble science operations support at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. 

This action will extend the period of performance from July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2021. The contract value will increase by approximately $196.3 million for a total contract value of $2.03 billion.  [snip] 

After the final space shuttle servicing mission to the telescope in 2009, Hubble is better than ever. Hubble is expected to continue to provide valuable data into the 2020’s, securing its place in history as an outstanding general purpose observatory in areas ranging from our solar system to the distant universe.

Great investment, or the greatest investment ever?

COSMIC TADPOLE?

(click on image to enlarge)



From NASA/ ESA, June 28, 2016: "This new image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a cosmic tadpole, with its bright head and elongated tail, wriggling through the inky black pool of space. Tadpole galaxies are rare and difficult to find in the local Universe. This striking example, named LEDA 36252, was explored as part of a Hubble study into their mysterious properties — with interesting results."  (Go to the NASA/ESA link above for those results.)

HALO,  JUPITER!

(click on image to enlarge)

From NASA/ ESA, June 30, 2016: "Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, is best known for its colourful storms, the most famous being the Great Red Spot. Now astronomers have focused on another beautiful feature of the planet, using the ultraviolet capabilities of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

The extraordinary vivid glows shown in the new observations are known as auroras [1]. They are created when high energy particles enter a planet’s atmosphere near its magnetic poles and collide with atoms of gas. As well as producing beautiful images, this programme aims to determine how various components of Jupiter’s auroras respond to different conditions in the solar wind, a stream of charged particles ejected from the Sun."

Sunday Reflection

The world lost a moral beacon yesterday with the death of Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who died at the age of 87.  His message is as important and relevant today in our political and social environment.

Rest in peace, and let us never forget what he wanted us to remember.

Anti-Semitic Dog Whistler Trump Says What (UPDATED)

What:



Hmmm.  Star of David imposed over a pile of money...

[Tweetstorm]

Get out the bleach:

Crooked Hillary -- Makes History! #ImWithYou #AmericaFirst pic.twitter.com/PKQhYhMmIX

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2016

Don't worry, Rump.  Message received!

UPDATE:  Just in case anyone thinks reaction to this is overwrought, here's who created this meme.

UPDATE II:  The Anti-Defamation League has responded:

“We’ve been alarmed that Mr. Trump hasn’t spoken out vociferously against these anti-Semites and racists and misogynists who continue to support him,” said Jonathan Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League. “It’s been outrageous to see him retweeting and now sourcing material from the website and other online resources from this crowd.” [snip]

“I’d like to see Donald Trump reject these people with clarity and precision, the same way he rejected the other Republican candidates and the way that he has rejected folks on the Democratic side,” Greenblatt said Sunday. “On the day after the passing of Elie Wiesel, arguably one of the most important moral figures of the 20th century, there is a chance for him to speak with similar clarity about what is in bounds and out of bounds. And the time is now.”

And,

"We are outraged to see that his campaign is sourcing material like this offensive image form white supremacist websites and online sources," said Todd Gutnick, communications director with the Anti-Defamation League. 

"It is long overdue for Mr. Trump to reject the anti-Semites and racists," Gutnick said in a statement to NBC News.

Sweet Charity: Trump Gives Other Peoples' Money To Fundraiser

Here's neo- fascist dickwhistle Donald "Rump" Trump using OPM to gull people into thinking he's a charitable, decent sort:

Did Donald Trump violate IRS rules, by using a charity's money to buy himself a signed football helmet?

Four years ago, at a charity fundraiser in Palm Beach, Donald Trump got into a bidding war at the evening's live auction. The items up for sale: A Denver Broncos helmet, autographed by then-star quarterback Tim Tebow [Ed.: LOL], and a Tebow jersey [Ed.: Sad!]. 

Trump won, eventually, with a bid of $12,000. Afterward, he posed with the helmet. His purchase made gossip-column news: a flourish of generosity, by a mogul with money to burn. "The Donald giveth, and The Donald payeth," wrote the Palm Beach Daily News. "Blessed be the name of The Donald." 

But Trump didn't actually pay with his own money. Instead, the Susan G. Komen organization — the breast-cancer nonprofit that hosted the party — got a $12,000 payment from another nonprofit, the Donald J. Trump Foundation. 

Trump himself sent no money. (In fact, a Komen spokeswoman said, Trump has never given a personal gift of cash to the Komen organization.) He paid the bill with money from a charity he founded in 1987, but which is largely stocked with other people's money. Trump is the foundation's president. But, at the time of the auction, Trump had given none of his own money to the foundation for three years running.

We've already seen other examples of Rump's "charity";  his refusing to release his ("bombshell") tax returns;  his involvement in get- rich- quick scams like Trump "University" and Trump "Institute"; his ratf*cking of  potential business competitors;  his use of offshore companies for Rump products; and on and on ad nauseam.   All demonstrating once again what a little man he is, what a crooked, money- grubbing (h/t Sen. Warren) little man.

Republican "Laboratories Of Democracy"

BONUS:

BREAKING: Holy, crap, Kansas.
$106 million BELOW tax revenue estimates for FY 2016.
$34 million BELOW in June

— Yael T. Abouhalkah (@YaelTAbouhalkah) July 1, 2016

BONUS II:  Here's another Republican "laboratory of democracy" fail.

Weekend Color Song

Finish Ticket is a San Francisco Bay area (Alameda) indie band that's appeared with the likes of The Black Keys and Ed Sheeran.   "Color" is a song released earlier this year from their "When Night Becomes Day" EP (nice scenes from around San Francisco in the video are a bonus, as is the fact that two of the founders are twins).  Enjoy your weekend.

What Were They Thinking? Oh, Wait, Thinking Wasn't Involved

Just when the Benghazi Benghazi BENGHAZI!!! political hatchet job imploded, a new unforced error has given Rethugs something to spin yarns about.  This time, it's foot-shooting former President Bill Clinton, who has haplessly muddied the water regarding the ongoing investigation by the FBI into Secretary Clinton's handling of classified documents on her private server. When at the Phoenix airport waiting for a flight, Clinton learned that Attorney General Loretta Lynch's plane was at the airport, and the two had an impromptu meeting aboard Lynch's plane. Lynch had said that the two never discussed the FBI investigation on any other matters before the Justice Department. Fine, we believe her, but why on earth didn't she keep the former President at arm's length knowing that a meeting would be seen as inappropriate, no matter how innocent (the former President has a long-standing proclivity for self-inflicted wounds, particularly ones that ricochet to his wife, so for him it's par for the course).

Lynch is reiterating today that she will accept the FBI's and prosecutor's findings and recommendations without challenge, but this was an unnecessary goof that could give the Rethugs a few more news cycles to cynically exploit.

BONUS: Charles Pierce is not happy with this development either.

BONUS II:

Do we think Bill Clinton is just careless with propriety or is he (unconsciously) sabotaging his wife's candidacy?

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) July 1, 2016

Rump's Racist History With Native Americans

We're all familiar with neo-fascist racist Donald "Rump" Trump's "Pocahontas" slur against Massachusetts' great Sen. Elizabeth Warren.  After she rips the bark off of him, Rump lamely responds by disparaging her Native American heritage.  Now it appears it's not the first time Rump has disparaged Native Americans.

When the St. Regis Mohawk tribe announced their plan to open a casino in upstate New York, Rump perceived a threat to his casino in Atlantic City, and launched an "astroturf" ad campaign behind a bogus front organization to smear the tribe. In order to hide his extensive involvement, Rump financed something laughably called "The New York Institute for Law and Society" and brought in world-class ratf*cker Roger Stone to organize the campaign. When it began in 2000, the campaign alleged that some 12,000 "pro-family" donors were supporting it, when in fact Rump provided virtually all of the funding -- some $1 million. Rump also approved each scurrilous ad that ran in area newspapers and on radio, which contained malicious aspersions about the tribe's character. The copy for one ad read:

 “If you think this stinks, it’s because casino gambling stinks. It brings increased crime, bankruptcy, broken homes, divorce, and in the case of Indian gambling, violence.” (emphasis added)

New York State's lobbying commission saw the front organization and the ads as violating state laws and fined Rump $250,000. He was also forced to make a public apology. In a just world, he'd be forced to make an apology to Sen. Warren, too.