Comey, Clinton, Corruption, and Consequences

The Politico brings us the following news:

FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday announced the agency is not recommending the Justice Department bring charges against Hillary Clinton, while also denouncing the former secretary of state and her aides for the way they handled classified information through private email servers.

"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 information that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information," Comey told reporters in Washington, D.C., noting that the probe has found that the former secretary of state used several different email servers and numerous devices during her time in office.

Even so, Comey added later, “Although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgment is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case. Prosecutors necessarily weigh a number of factors before deciding whether to bring charges."

This investigation has hung like a dark shadow over Hillary Clinton for the entire length of this campaign.  She could have been indicted or even convicted and imprisoned, as so many conservatives and not a few leftists would have liked.  Now she can carry on running for President without worrying about a stay in Club Fed.  It's all good - like her husband Slick Willie, Crooked Hillary escapes the long arm of the law yet again!

Make no mistake, that is exactly what she has done.  It is not unusual for prosecutors to decide not to prosecute after concluding an investigation.  It is, however, extremely unusual for a prosecutor to first specifically state their findings which perfectly match the statute's description of the felony and then contradict themselves by saying there was no case!

As several respected legal bloggers have explained in great detail, the fact that Hillary didn't intend to pass classified information to the Russians and Red Chinese is entirely irrelevant.  We actually believe her protestations of innocence on this point: we find it hard to believe that even Crooked Hillary is so evil as to want our spies outed and executed.

But according to the law, what she intended does not matter:

Section 793(f) even lowers the requisite mens rea to gross negligence, generally defined as a very great negligence, or the absence of slight diligence, or the want of even scant care.

What was Director Comey's description of Hillary's actions?  They were "extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information" and "there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information."  That is all the law requires for a felony conviction.  Intent to commit espionage has nothing to do with this particular crime.

Is it possible that Director Comey is unfamiliar with the applicable statutes?  Of course not - we all know, as Donald Trump pithily put it, "The system is rigged."  Those of us we still held some naive hopes that justice might actually be served can now consider ourselves painfully disillusioned, or, as actress Lily Tomlin once said, "No matter how cynical you become, it's never enough to keep up."

Karma and the Witch

So does that mean it's all over - we'll shortly have to be saluting someone who the whole world knows to be an unconvicted felon who cares nothing for national security of the nation she presumes to (mis)lead?  Not necessarily.

Because Donald Trump wasn't the only major candidate who called out this disgraceful episode as the corruption that it is.  For many months now, Bernie Sanders has been using those same exact words - "The system is rigged!" - and now his supporters are hearing the same oh-so-believable message from the mouth of The Donald.

Even CNN had to admit:

The Tuesday announcement also set off a torrent of anger and frustration among some of Bernie Sanders' most diehard supporters, a vocal minority who have been agitating for an indictment of the former secretary of state.

There followed an array of incandescent tweets from far-leftists which would be equally at home on any conservative board.

We've written before about how, to a great many Sanders supporters, Trump was their second choice and vice-versa.  While their policies may be quite different and their styles even more so, both have identified the same fundamental problem: our incompetent, corrupt, unaccountable, aristocratic, delusional elites whom we can't seem to get rid of no matter what we do in the voting booth.

Respected opinion journals are now openly saying what conservatives have been muttering for some years now: Our officeholders have grown so obnoxiously and openly corrupt that they no longer deserve the respect that their office historically has entitled them to.

Today, Director Comey gave us even worse news: he has ensured that all America and the entire world knows that our laws no longer deserve respect or deference, since laws are "enforced" only at the whim of the Permanent Party of Government.  We also know beyond any doubt that enforcement is exclusively against us rubes and never against the elites no matter how serious the crime - even this most serious of crimes which, if done intentionally, would be high treason.

We had thought that Director Comey was a straight shooter because he threatened to resign when he disagreed with something Mr. Bush proposed. Apparently, he's only a straight shooter when it's a Republican on the hook: when it was a Democrat angling for a pass, he caved.  Whether he accepted the promise of a job or an offer of ¿Plata o Plomo? we may never know, but this we do know:

There used to be a social contract requiring that our government treat us all equally within the scope of the Constitution and defend us, and in return we would recognize the legitimacy of its laws and defend it when in need. But that contract has been breached. We are not all equal before the law. Our constitutional rights are not being upheld. We are not being defended – hell, we normals get blamed every time some Seventh Century savage goes on a kill spree. Yet we’re still supposed to keep going along as if everything is cool, obeying the law, subsidizing the elite with our taxes, taking their abuse. We’ve been evicted by the landlord but he still wants us to pay him rent... It’s not a social contract anymore – American society today is a suicide pact we never agreed to and yet we’re expected to go first.

Will the angry Sandersistas vote for Trump and put him in the Oval Office?  We can't know.  No more can we be sure that a President Trump will actually keep his promises, whether it be building the Wall, booting out Muslims, or negotiating better trade deals.

But we do know for sure what we'll get from a President Hillary: corruption and misgovernance such as America has never before experienced, not even in the worst days of King George.

Will enough voters realize this?  Thanks to Director Comey's jaw-dropping dishonesty and Hillary's ham-handed evasiveness... maybe, just maybe, they will.  It all comes down to them, which, in a democracy, is as it should be.