Editorial,
The Week in Review – Analysis, Commentary, Opinion
10.29.2016
May You Live in
Interesting Times ~ Ancient Curse
Part Ten
There has been a lot of talk throughout the month of October, about the
so-called October surprise; the piece of breaking news that will slip into the
consciousness of the electorate and throw the election one way or another.
For Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee for President, there
were no surprises, there was just a steady stream of revelations regarding his
character, and conduct toward women; revelations that were not surprising at
all, because they were consistent with a decades long history of public
statements he has made, and actions he has taken that show him in the light of
a serial abuser of women, some in his employ, some merely seeking work, other
merely sitting next to him at a nightclub, or on an airplane.
T-Rump strikes again, and again in a long stand pattern, or habit of
sexual assault.
For the Democratic Party’s nominee for President, former Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton, the surprise came in the form of a statement from the
director of the FBI; James Comey. A man whose office was charged with
investigating thousands of e-mails; either sent to, or sent by Hillary Clinton,
through a private server at her estate in New York.
Throughout the political season, until July of 2016, Hillary Clinton’s
campaign had been operating under a cloud of suspicion, the suspicion that she
may have broken the law, by revealing or sharing classified intelligence
materials through her private system. Other prominent public officials had
recently been charged with crimes, found guilty, faced imprisonment, and heavy
fines for such violations.
However, in July, after an intensive investigation, and after hours of
testimony given by Hillary, to the FBI, and to Congressional committees; it was
the judgement of the investigators that no crimes had been committed by
Hillary. She had, perhaps been careless, but no there was no evidence of a
crime they felt they could prosecute, or prove beyond a reasonable doubt.
Comey, the FBI director; he has been serving the Obama administration
throughout Obama’s two terms. He was appointed to the ten-year post by
President George W. Bush. He is a republican, and he had previously held partisan
political posts, nevertheless he is the director of the FBI.
When he issued the statement in July, that Hillary would not be
prosecuted for any crimes related to her e-mails, he did so in such a way as to
level serious criticism against her. He accused her of incompetence,
carelessness, and malfeasance to a level just shy of being criminal.
His political friends cried foul, while at the same time making as much
hay out of his statement as they possibly could. His political friends wanted
Hillary prosecutes, regardless of the fact that there was no evidence of any
crime.
Now, two and half months later, with just eleven days to go before the
election; Comey announces that he has reopened the investigation into Hillary’s
e-mails, based on some evidence they found in an unrelated case.
He gave no other information, except to say that the new evidence may not
be significant at all; the FBI was merely investigating it, and Hillary’s
critics pounced.
The FBI director did this; contrary to a long standing protocol of the
justice department, to not issues statements about investigations or any
political matter within sixty days of an election. He violated justice
department protocols in order to aid his republican allies in the current
election cycle.
