Thanks to the investigation into Anthony Weiner's hat-trick sexting scandal, the FBI has found yet more emails from Clinton's time as Secretary of State. So that means we all get to go through the whole show of "Lock her up!" again and watch the media screw up its coverage of the issue again and, finally, when it all amounts to nothing, we'll have to listen to the wailing and gnashing of teeth about how James Comey is in the Clinton's pockets again. Thanks, Anthony Weiner, you sext-addicted dick.
Speaking of Comey, I do feel for the guy. He's catching a lot of heat from the Clinton campaign and its surrogates for sending his letter to Congress informing them that they'd found the emails and were going to review them for classified information. Because, really, what else was he supposed to do? It's not his fault that Hillary Clinton worked so hard to keep her activities out of the public record and then got caught doing so, it's not his fault that she lied about pretty much every aspect of what she did regarding the emails, and it's definitely not his fault that those emails became the political shit show we all know and love.
If he had kept the discovery a secret, then when it leaked (and there is no if regarding a leak, someone was bound to say something) that the FBI had found something but didn't tell anyone the bellowing of "Cover up!" would've had much more weight behind them and nothing the FBI or the Justice Department said about the ensuing investigation would have credibility. I'd bet money that when Comey received word that his agents found more Clinton emails, he wished they didn't. Because now that they were found, he had to do something, and no matter what that something was, it would drag him and the Bureau back into a political sideshow Comey had hoped to bury months ago. So he wrote the letter, because if the FBI was going to be drawn back into this mess, at least it would do so on its own terms.
In other criminal justice shenanigans, the Bundy brothers were acquitted on the conspiracy charges brought against them in the wake of their occupation of a federal wildlife reserve in Oregon. After the dumbfounded shock wears off, it does make sense how these idiots walked away from their live-broadcast occupation. According to some of the jurors, the government had a hard time proving that the militia leaders had "intent" to block government workers from doing their jobs. They said that the defenses argument that the Bundy brothers couldn't have intent because, technically, they were never ordered to leave the refuge so therefore weren't in violation of any order to clear the premises; the defense also pointed out that the militia members freely came and went for almost the entirety of their 41-day fiasco, so they obviously couldn't be very serious about blocking government agents from doing their jobs. After all, if the cops and the feds weren't treating the militia as any kind of serious threat, why should a jury?
As usual, context is everything, and when you factor that in, the absurdity of the Bundys becomes almost satirical. At the same time that journalists, documentary film makers, and activists of all stripes are being arrested by the hundreds protesting an oil pipeline that could contaminate the Sioux's water supply, the guys who literally shit on Indian burial grounds are free, sleeping in their own beds. In the same world where black men and boys are killed holding fake guns, the people who led a heavily armed takeover of a government building never even got shot at.
On the one hand, I understand the government wanting avoid another Ruby Ridge or Waco, but the disparity between how law enforcement treated the Bundy militia in Oregon and Nevada and how they've treated the Black Lives Matter or NoDAPL protests is too wide to ignore. It almost lends credence to the usual gun advocates adage that if you want the cops to respect you, make sure you can shoot back. But, for some strange reason, I don't think the government would be worried about the optics of a massacre if they were suddenly faced with an armed contingent of black or Native American protesters.
On a lighter note, Trump made it through the week with only one woman accusing him of grabbing at her with his child-sized hands. Sure, she did say that he offered her $10,000 to sleep with him, which is pretty pathetic to offer in the first place, but even more so to have the offer turned down. Still, though, I'm sure he appreciated the change of pace.
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