Sunday, October 16, 2016

Will I STILL Vote for Trump? Part II

The media has been focusing on the source of the emails being released by Wikileaks. It may be Russia. It is certainly troublesome if a foreign power is trying to influence our election. It is proper for the media to investigate. But many emails have been released by the FBI, through Congressional hearings, and Freedom of Information requests by groups such as Judicial Watch. But the media seems less concerned with the content of the emails.

Clinton discussed favoring open borders. Clinton's top aides mocked Catholics. Clinton campaign manager John Podesta bemoaned the fact that the San Bernardino terrorists/murderers were not typical Americans. They were Muslims. But do not expect any of this to be big news in the mainstream media. In fact, the Daily Caller reported on various reporters/news organizations who apparently believe their job is to help Clinton win the election. No need for unbiased reporting.

John Harwood is the CNBC chief Washington correspondent, and a commentator for the NY Times. But according to the Daily Caller, the emails reveal Harwood praising Clinton to John Podesta.

Donna Brazile was at CNN when she apparently gave Clinton advance notice of a question Clinton would be getting at a town hall. Brazile is now the head of the DNC - strictly coincidental I am sure.

A producer for MSNBC's "All in with Chris Hayes," apparently told a Clinton spokesperson that Clinton is an "amazing, intelligent woman." And this: "She is smarter than most men and more qualified than most men to be President."

Haim Saban, chairman of Univision, apparently gave advice to the Clinton campaign on how to deal with Trump's comments about Mexicans.

Marjorie Prithcard is the Op-Ed editor of the Boston Globe. Clinton's campaign manager, John Podesta, wanted an opinion piece by Clinton or her campaign published in the paper. Pritchard to Podesta: "Just wondering if we are still on for that piece. Brian said last week it was ready and just needed approval. It would be good to get it in on Tuesday, when she is in New Hampshire. That would give her big presence on Tuesday with the piece and on Wednesday with the news story."

Excuse me? Here we have a case of the major newspaper in New England coordinating both the Op-Ed and news pages with the Clinton campaign.

I do not condone the language about women used by Trump. I do not condone the actions that he is accused of engaging in, should they pan out to be truthful. But I see no need to focus on that in this blog. The mainstream media is already doing that non-stop on behalf of the Clinton campaign. In what way do these allegations against Trump affect the country or the average American?

On the other hand, corruption, cover-up, and media complicity, damage this country in numerous ways. Our system of laws, in which no person is supposed to be above the law, has been made a mockery. And just what is the point of a free press when it decides that acting as an organ of the Democratic party is more important than doing their traditional job of challenging abuse of power, and doing investigative journalism.

Will I STILL Vote for Trump? Part I

My last post discussed whether I might vote for Trump following the release of an 11 year old video, in which Trump is essentially saying he could do whatever he wanted with women. There was a question of whether it was braggadocio or a reflection of his behavior. Now, we have a number of women coming forward alleging sexual harassment incidents involving Trump, although often regarding events from decades ago. Nevertheless, the question has arisen: even now, will I still vote for Trump?

When Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State she set up a private email server in her home. Why would someone do that unless they anticipated that they would want future communications kept from the public? Eventually, we find out that Clinton was sending and receiving emails on her private system which had been marked classified. Further emails revealed the improper communications between the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton State Department.

Following an FBI "investigation," Director Comey announced that Clinton was extremely careless with classified documents, but would not be recommending prosecution. Later, we find out that top Clinton aids were given permission to destroy their computers. It also became clear that all of Clinton's emails were not, in fact, turned over, and many were destroyed (recall Bleachbit).

Then, Bill Clinton "coincidentally" runs into Attorney General Loretta Lynch on the tarmac at the Phoenix airport. From everything we now know, it is likely that Lynch was assuring Bill that there would be no prosecution of Hillary. In fact, the day after the FBI Director announces that he will not recommend prosecution of Hillary with regards to the mishandling of classified information, AG Lynch announces that their investigation is over. The AG did not even pretend to take the time to review all (any) of the FBI file and investigation. After all, it is the prosecutors who decide whether or not to file a case, not the FBI investigators.

There were FBI investigators who would have recommended prosecution. There were career prosecutors in the Justice Department who would have pursued the case. But no matter. The fix was in at the highest levels of government.

In summary, we had official corruption and misconduct by Hillary Clinton and her State Department. We had a cover-up of that misconduct at the highest levels of government. Was Obama involved in the squashing of a prosecution? Well, do you think he wants to see Hillary or Trump succeed him? I think that answers the question. To top it off, we have a media complicit in the cover-up.

Remember Watergate? Corruption and cover-up, but an aggressive media that never stopped following up leads until the full story came out. The result: numerous prosecutions and the resignation of a sitting President. So, please excuse me if I am a little offended by those who only want to talk about Trump, yet completely ignore facts that, in another era, might bring down a President, and Presidential candidate. As for today's media, see Part II.