It now appears those Hillary Clinton emails will never be accessible. At Slate, Daniel Politi notes that “Hillary Clinton no longer has copies of the emails she sent when she was secretary of state, her lawyer acknowledged to a congressional committee. After the former secretary of state turned over government-related emails, the settings on the server were changed so that only emails from the last 60 days would be stored, her lawyer, David Kendall, said, according to the New York Times.”
The settings on the server “were changed” — note the convenient use of the passive voice! Who changed them? Under whose orders?
Clinton could give Machiavelli some lessons. But her past is so tainted, her negatives are so high, that her candidacy for 2016 is seriously compromised. If the Democrats care about winning in 2016 (especially against someone like Jeb Bush, not without his own negatives, but also not as notorious), they better find a new candidate, and soon.
Trust me!
W.J. Astore
Once again, Hillary Clinton is in the news for the wrong reason. She used a private email account while she was Secretary of State, rather than an official government email account. As a result, not all of her (unclassified) emails are part of the public record. Many may be “lost,” consigned to the dustbin of history, whether by accident or design is hard to say. In the press conference she then gave to explain herself, she was less than forthcoming. And it now appears that her email server wasn’t even encrypted for the first three months she served as Secretary of State, meaning her official emails were eminently hackable and readable by foreign governments.
Just another meaningless scandal, right? No — what this reveals is the arrogance of power. Official rules may apply to “little people” like you and me, but to the Clintons, those…
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The Contrary Perspective 
How has this country fallen so low that the only half way viable candidates for President have come from two families that have brought economic and policy catastrophes to the nation? And add to that a circus of Republican nincompoops who are ill qualified to run for national dog catcher.
I believe that Elizabeth Warren can do more in the Senate. A presidential run would only divert her efforts from trying to bring some backbone to the Democratic Senate. The only two minority leaders being considered for Senate Minority leader are Charles Schumer a full blown tool of NY Wall streeters and Dick .Durbin not too far behind him. Warren can effect the dynamic to get the Democrats to actively kill Republican bad policy initiatives over the Minority leaders finessing each issue..
Bernie Sanders is a long shot , not perfect, but a fighter who could at least bring to a national debate issues that Mademoiselle Clinton would rather avoid talking about. Clinton’s tacking to the center-left in the primary would mean nothing to this accomplished liar.Sanders would be more inclined to bring real issues that the Democratic base and the American people need reassurance about. His foreign policy on perpetual wars is better than Clinton and the powers that be in the party hierarchy, but he is not quite there on distancing Israel which is disturbing.
Al in all it is saddening to see our once great country become the laughing stock of the world with the pathetic group of people we are offering to run what once was the most powerful and inspirational nation in the world. .
How true. Sadly, elections today are driven almost entirely by money, and Clinton has by far the biggest war chest. People like Warren and Sanders have no chance; they will be outspent 10-to-1 and buried.
Also, sadly, the tendency of many people to vote for the familiar. Heck, look at all the Kennedys who’ve won in my home state of Massachusetts. It almost doesn’t matter about their qualifications: people vote for the name, and of course the media loves to promote a horse race that’s familiar.
Barring a disaster by either candidate, it’s Clinton-Bush in 2016. And I think Bush takes it because Hillary is simply too controlling; she doesn’t have Bill’s charisma, his ability to reach out and touch people. And touch people he does …
We can conduct a thought experiment. Imagine, if you will, that someone set up a third party entirely separate from the Republicrats and Demoblicans. This party would dedicate itself to finding out what policies would be healthiest for the people of the USA as a whole, and for the nation. It would then publish a manifesto laying out those policies, and put forward candidates for election to Congress and the Presidency. What would follow?
Presumably, such a party would fail for lack of funding and because so many of the rich and powerful opinion-formers would heap scorn on it. But the key battle would be fought between the ears of the average citizen. What would prevail in that much-contended-for space? Would the citizen appreciate the need to tax the rich much more heavily, to cut right back on the military-security-industrial complex, to rein in the banks, and to give ordinary citizens a much greater voice in government? Or would (s)he merely moan in irritation, reflect that the nation’s enemies must be fought, and wince away from the prospect of taking responsibility? In the end, wouldn’t the endless droning voices on TV and radio, and the endless sycophantic echoes of government press releases that serve America as newspapers and magazines, continue to prevail?
At least it would be worth a try.
Presidents are our rulers, not our leaders. As FDR said, presidents are selected, not elected.
It’s probably still not too late, although as Mrs Clinton seems to be above the law I don’t suppose anyone will take measures to enforce it. Although the emails may have been deleted, I doubt whether the disk space was professionally scrubbed. So a forensic lab could probably retrieve most or all of them, if the server were seized. Why is it that Mrs Clinton, a private citizen, is so much less concerned with the possible seizure of her recordings than President Nixon was? The fact that such a question has to be asked speaks volumes about the extent to which the USA has ceased to be a nation ruled by law. Instead, it is rapidly becoming the plaything of powerful warlords (and warladies).
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