Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Contra Media Spin, It’s Hillary Who’s Being Investigated, Not Her e-Mail Server
National Review ^ | 08/14/2015 | Jonah Goldberg

Posted on 08/14/2015 5:34:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

It happened sooner than even the doomsayers predicted. The era of artificial intelligence is here. A computer has become self-aware, a moral agent responsible for its own actions.

This breakthrough didn’t happen in Silicon Valley or at MIT. It happened, of all places, in Chappaqua, New York. And the person responsible isn’t even a computer scientist, but a lawyer and politician: Hillary Clinton.

Clinton’s critics say a lot of things about her, but who would’ve believed she was Skynet’s mother?

A little background. Clinton was forced to turn over her “home-brewed” e-mail server to the FBI this week, along with a flash drive unlawfully stored at her lawyer’s office. The server and the drive are tangible evidence of Clinton’s decision to circumvent laws and procedures designed to preserve government records and keep classified information secret. She says she never knowingly sent classified information, but Clinton leaves out that the whole reason federal officials are barred from using private servers is that such systems are invisible to the classification process.

The Clinton team claims it handed over the server voluntarily — a classic example of Clinton’s penchant for half-truths. For months, they insisted they’d never turn it over. They caved because they had to. The decision was about as voluntary as a bank robber relinquishing his sack of cash to the cops at gunpoint.

Revealingly, many media reports say “the campaign” handed over the server. But the campaign wasn’t in charge of the server — if it was, that’d be a whole other scandal. It was Clinton’s server, full stop. To say otherwise is to protect Clinton, the author of a book called Hard Choices, from her own hard choices.

Which brings us to that evil server.

The first rule of Clintonism is that someone else is always to blame. The first rule of Clintonism is that someone else is always to blame. That’s why the first iteration of Clinton’s defense was that evil Republicans were simply smearing her. When that didn’t stick, Team Clinton expanded the indictment to include the partisan witch hunt by that famously right-wing organ the New York Times and two independent inspectors general (one at the State Department, the other for the intelligence community).

The reason the intelligence community’s IG referred the case to the Justice Department stems from the apparent fact that Clinton mishandled classified information, which she denied.

An investigation into a random sample of just 40 e-mails from a batch of more than 30,000 revealed that four contained classified information and at least two were “top secret.”

So now that the FBI and the Justice Department, both run by Obama appointees, are on the case, attacking the motives of inconvenient people no longer works. So the Clinton campaign has invoked a little-known codicil to the first rule of Clintonism: Blame an inanimate object.

The amazing thing is that this spin isn’t coming directly from the campaign but from the reporters covering it. National Public Radio’s Tamara Keith reported Wednesday morning that the inquiry “isn’t targeted directly at [Clinton]” and is simply intended to determine whether the server was secure. Business Insider reported that “Clinton’s private server is under investigation by the FBI, though Clinton is not a target of the investigation.” Even the conservative Washington Free Beacon has fallen into using this locution, referring to the “private email server being investigated by the FBI.”

McClatchy’s Anita Kumar, who helped break the story that two of the e-mails were top secret, felt compelled to step on her own scoop. She said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that “there are several investigations into her conduct, not into her, but into her use of personal e-mail and a personal server.” Go ahead and try parsing the difference between an “investigation into her conduct” and an investigation “into her.”

Clinton, in violation of State Department rules, guidelines from the White House, and all common sense, used her own unsecured stealth server. She sent classified material on it. But it’s the server that’s being investigated?

Hopefully the server will one day be able to testify on its own behalf: “I was just following orders.”

In fairness to the press, even the FBI is publicly toeing this line, saying that the investigation isn’t into Clinton. But on background, federal officials sing a different tune. “It’s definitely a criminal probe,” a government source told the New York Post. “I’m not sure why they’re not calling it a criminal probe.”

I’ve talked to several lawyers who assure me that the FBI doesn’t conduct criminal probes into anthropomorphized IT equipment. The bureau does investigate criminal abuses of them — by people.

— Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: email; fbi; hillary; hillarycriminalprobe; hillaryemails; hillaryemailserver; jonahgoldberg

1 posted on 08/14/2015 5:34:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Nice!


2 posted on 08/14/2015 5:41:07 AM PDT by Attention Surplus Disorder (This space for rent.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Lock this wrinkled lying pig in a cell.


3 posted on 08/14/2015 5:41:55 AM PDT by Mr Apple
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
". . . a flash drive unlawfully stored at her lawyer’s office.

This would suggest that her lawyer is in hot water, as well.

Of course, this is all blah, blah, blah until Hillary! is decked out in an orange jumpsuit and her attorney is disbarred.

4 posted on 08/14/2015 5:42:35 AM PDT by Arm_Bears (Biology is biology. Everything else is imagination.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Thank goodness algore invented the internet.


5 posted on 08/14/2015 5:43:48 AM PDT by cyn (Benghazi.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

This is why we need to write to Loretta Lynch, and demand that she perform her appointed duty and defend the Law and Constitution by prosecuting Hillary Clinton. Rather than fight against Holder like we did in the past, we need to flood Loretta with requests that she demonstrates she supports the Law and the Constitution. And prosecuting Hillary Clinton would demonstrate that. she would have to serve search warrants on every property and office the Clintons have, investigate the Fund, seize bank accounts and offshore accounts, and pretty much bring her and Bill to a stand still. But she will show the entire USA that no one is above the law. What does she gain for all this? Admiration from all Americans. They will know that the Justice system finally does work, just as many knew it when Jim and Tammy Bakker went down. Yes, I equate the Clintons with the Bakkers. there is no difference. So write to Lynch and ask her to uphold the Law and the Constitution and prosecute Hillary


6 posted on 08/14/2015 5:46:15 AM PDT by realcleanguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Read to the end to find this gem:

But on background, federal officials sing a different tune. “It’s definitely a criminal probe,” a government source told the New York Post. “I’m not sure why they’re not calling it a criminal probe.”

Amazing that a "government source" doesn't know the answer to that question when a quiz of Freepers numbering in the thousands would show a 100% correct response.

7 posted on 08/14/2015 5:52:34 AM PDT by InterceptPoint
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Odd that the extreme Left wants the object left alone as we go after the person.

It’s just the opposite when it comes to guns.


8 posted on 08/14/2015 5:56:45 AM PDT by PATRIOT1876
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Clinton, in violation of State Department rules, guidelines from the White House, and all common sense, used her own unsecured stealth server.

You have to ask yourself why she would even go to the bother and expense of setting up her own email server. I think it is because she anticipated nefarious activities - bribes, kickbacks, etc. and didn't want anyone asking questions. She planned from the start to use her position to enrich herself.

The clinton crime syndicate has been noted for such activities way back to their days in Arkansas, and the fact that they are not doing hard time has only emboldened them.

9 posted on 08/14/2015 6:06:43 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty ("Deliver us from evil .... ")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: realcleanguy

“This is why we need to write to Loretta Lynch, and demand...”

Too bad the Russian people didn’t pen strongly-worded letters to Stalin. /s

This is all impossible to predict, but given recent history, here goes:
We live under an oligarchy. The people have no power. We will be fortunate if Hilary even breaks a sweat over this. Congress and the Executive branch are failing on this.


10 posted on 08/14/2015 6:06:46 AM PDT by ReaganGeneration2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Yup! It’s all the server’s fault.

“Clinton’s final fallback is to claim that she didn’t know she was handling classified material… because, unlike the State Department system she was supposed to be using, her homebrew basement server didn’t automatically mark classified emails as such. In other words, she’s going to try protecting herself from the consequences by blaming everything on the poor performance of the system she irresponsibly created for no good reason.”

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/12/top-secret-emails-found-on-hillary-clintons-insecure-private-server/


11 posted on 08/14/2015 6:07:55 AM PDT by Qiviut (Stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross; lift high his royal banner, it must not suffer loss)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: PATRIOT1876

They could spin this 100 ways to Sunday, one fact remains. General Petraeus had his career destroyed for less. Doesn’t Hillary deserve the same investigation and legal process which ruined Petraeus?


12 posted on 08/14/2015 6:10:26 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz ("Hillary, you magnificent bitch! I read your book!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Yep, she covered up a crime - plain and simple.


13 posted on 08/14/2015 6:15:50 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Its more than Hillary. This happened while Hillary was SOS. Therefore this is yet another Obama Administration scandal with potentially mind boggling scope depending on external addresses listed on emails to and from that server.


14 posted on 08/14/2015 6:17:00 AM PDT by fso301
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It gets worse!

Hillary must have accessed and sent classified emails from a variety of unsecure devices. Phones, Tables, and computers. She must have received/sent the classified emails on a variety of unclassified networks. With all her jet setting around the world, she probably sent classified emails through the networks of other countries. Almost any email of consequence sent by the Secretary of State would be classified at least Confidential No-Foreign.

If she deleted 30,000 personal emails, she would have had to send/read on average one personal email every 23 minutes of her business day.


15 posted on 08/14/2015 6:26:49 AM PDT by Revolutionary ("Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Clinton, in violation of State Department rules, guidelines from the White House, and all common sense, used her own unsecured stealth server. She sent classified material on it.

Clinton was engaged in espionage and influence peddling......

16 posted on 08/14/2015 6:54:46 AM PDT by varon (America for Americans first!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
The amazing thing is that this spin isn’t coming directly from the campaign but from the reporters covering it.

In the beginning much of the press defended Nixon too... they couldn't believes Nixon could be that stupid... because he had so much and was already soooo powerful. Nixon's hunger for control didn't have a boundary. And either did Clinton's.... with Hillary it's control - power - and a deep hunger for money... and yeah, she had plenty of all those. Just like Nixon.

17 posted on 08/14/2015 7:34:14 AM PDT by GOPJ (Research facilities aren't using a million aborted babies a year. Where's the rest ?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson