Category Archives: President
Tarmac Talk Could Influence Election Outcome
Jane Mayer, in the New Yorker, points out that FBI Director Comey broke with Justice Department tradition:
Attorney General Loretta Lynch expressed her preference that Comey follow the department’s longstanding practice of not commenting on ongoing investigations, and not taking any action that could influence the outcome of an election, but he said that he felt compelled to do otherwise.
Tarmac Talk
He might have felt compelled to do otherwise because the AG turned her authority in the case over to him:
Comey’s supporters argue that he had to act independently, and publicly, because Lynch had compromised herself by having an impromptu visit with Bill Clinton late in the investigation.”
Here’s Andrew McCarthy in NR on Comey’s tradition breaking behavior:
In effect, it became The Decision because Attorney General Loretta Lynch had disgraced herself by furtively meeting with Mrs. Clinton’s husband a few days before Comey announced his recommendation. Comey, therefore, gave Mrs. Clinton a twofer: an unheard-of public proclamation that she should not be indicted by the head of the investigative agency; and a means of taking Lynch off the hook, which allowed the decision against prosecution to be portrayed as a careful weighing of evidence rather than a corrupt deal cooked up in the back of a plane parked on a remote tarmac.
Taking Action
McCarthy says not taking action would also have influenced the election:
But of course, not taking action one would take but for the political timing is as political as it gets. To my mind, it is more political because the negatively affected candidate is denied any opportunity to rebut the law-enforcement action publicly.
Anyway Hillary created the mess so it’s her fault. At least that’s the way Rich Lowry, A. B. Stoddard, Trey Gowdy, Andrew McCarthy, and Piers Morgan’s see it.
Election Day Shower Forecast
Hillary’s under FBI investigation again thanks to Anthony Weiner. And now The Donald is really yuge. Time for a shower.
Obama’s Fake Name and Hillary’s Secret Email Server
President Obama told CBS News that he learned about Hillary’s secret email server at “the same time everybody else learned it through news reports.”
That was before the FBI showed Huma Abedin an email the president had sent to Hillary – using a pseudonym. “Why is this not classified?” exclaimed Huma.
Did Obama share classified information on Hillary’s unsecured secret server? Maybe the Russians will let us know.
All About Obama
Fox’s Judge Napolitano and National Review’s Andrew McCarthy (a former federal prosecutor) speculate that the FBI went easy on Hillary because Obama would have been a defense witness in her case.
Update 10/31/16: Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey joined the all about Obama theme writing in today’s WSJ, “If Mrs. Clintgon was at criminal risk for communicating on her nonsecure system, so was he.” “He” being the president.
Hillary’s Secret Email Server
Here’s Neera Tanden, an informal Clinton advisor and president of the progressive think tank Center for American Progress :
“Do we actually know who told Hillary she could use a private email? And has that person been drawn and quartered?” Tanden added the next day. “Like whole thing is fucking insane.”
ObamaCare Death Spiral
Forbes defines a health insurance death spiral as “adverse selection” which happens when only high risk people buy insurance:
If only people on their death beds buy life insurance, the insurance company would quickly go out of business. Equally, if only sick people buy health insurance, the math will not work…
To reduce the risk of adverse selection, the Affordable Care Act created a penalty for people who do not enroll in insurance. However, the penalty for not having insurance in 2016 was the higher of $695 per individual or 2.5% of income. Although $695 is a lot of money, it is still cheaper than health insurance policies offered on the exchange.
Death Spiral
That’s because ObamaCare rates are going up an average of 25% next year. And, according to the Wall Street Journal, that’s just “for the mid-level insurance plans that are performing the best, not the average increase of all ObamaCare coverage.”
In Arizona premiums will go up 116% next year. Big insurance companies are pulling out of the exchanges.
That same WSJ editorial says President Obama took a victory lap for ObamaCare in Miami last week. He bragged about “all the progress we’ve made in controlling costs.”
CNN says ObamaCare woes will linger long after he’s gone.
FBI Immunity Chest
Rather than convene a grand jury to subpoena her computer, the FBI gave Cheryl Mills immunity from prosecution. Mills served as Hillary’s chief of staff and as her attorney.
Immunity with Impunity
The FBI also gave immunity to four others and agreed to destroy computers after reviewing evidence on them.
Here’s what VDH thinks of that:
Had anyone else in government set up a private e-mail server, sent and received classified information on it, deleted over 30,000 e-mails, ordered subordinates to circumvent court and congressional orders to produce documents, and serially and publicly lied to the American people about the scandal, that person would surely be in jail.
