A sad day for America...... Last night's news of the massacre in Dallas came on the heels of yet another pair of deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers. Of course, these two events are related, as one of the Dallas attackers stated to police during an active negotiation before he was killed by a police-planted bomb. Three others were arrested as suspects in what appears to be a coordinated attack by several attackers seeking to kill white police officers. Let us offer up a moment of silence for those lives lost - black and white - in these events and offer some prayers of comfort for the families left behind. Truly a sad day for our nation and, especially, for the families who are suffering this loss. Appropriately, both political campaigns cancelled appearances out of respect for these horrible losses. Together, we must find a way to stop this carnage which has spun out of control for years. Perhaps the next President can lead the way to a better relationship between our communities and those sworn to serve and protect.
Meanwhile, the Republican Congress continues to resist any common sense gun control measures or to even debate the issue of denying access to guns for those on the terror watch list. Instead, an "emergency" meeting of the House Oversight and Governmental Affairs was called to grill FBI Director James Comey to challenge his conclusion that Hillary Clinton should not be criminally charged in the never-ending e-mail server issue. After a 1 year study of the entire issue, a review of 30,000+ emails - those handed over and others re-created by the FBI from other "fragments" or full messages residing on the recipients or senders computers, the FBI non-political, career investigators and prosecutors, determined that no charges were warranted. In spite of the fact that considerable carelessness was indeed reported, such an outcome did not rise to the level of a criminal conspiracy or an intentional breach of the law. This, of course, was contrary to the political agenda of the Republicans in the House and on the Committee. They were eagerly awaiting a recommendation for a Special Grand Jury or a call for an indictment of Hillary Clinton - a wet dream for right-wing Republicans for more than 20 years. But, Director Comey, a life-long Republican himself, dashed their hoped-for destruction of the Democratic Presidential Nominee. Comey, reporting to the public in a rare public statement on the investigation, noted that he found a handful of "classified" e-mails among the tens of thousands reviewed - 8 (3-thousandths of 1 %) containing information that was classified as "Top Secret - Special Access Program", another 22 (7 thousandths of 1 %) as "Top Secret", and another 36 (1 thousandth of 1 %) classified as "Secret." In all, including some others that were noted as "sensitive but not classified" came to less than 3% of the e-mail reviewed.
Hillary had said over and over that none of her e-mails - either sent or received - contained classified material and the Director's report seems to contradict this statement. Needless to say, the Republican members of the Committee gleefully pointed to this conflict and essentially began to accuse Hillary of perjury in testimony before their committee, lying to the public, and, potentially, lying to the FBI. Lying to Congress is a crime as is obstruction of justice if lying to the FBI. Director Comey clearly stated that Hillary did not lie to the FBI during her interview with their investigators. And, that leaves her testimony before the Congressional Committee.
Director Comey did state that the of the 3% of e-mails in question with the other 97% not an issue at all, the "classified" e-mails did not comply with the "classification rules book." The rules call for such communications be clearly labeled as CLASSIFIED in the header along with the level of classification, "TOP SECRET" for example. In addition, a mark in the text of the transmission - (c) - also indicates that a part or a paragraph or some portion of the message, perhaps all of the content, is "classified." It goes without saying that such a in-text mark cannot convey the level of "classification" attached to the material. Director Comey testified that none of the subject e-mails contained the CLASSIFIED notation in the header. It would seem a reasonable conclusion that a reader/reviewer of a substantial number of e-mail messages - not alerted to the CLASSIFIED nature of the content of the message by the use of a header in the subject line of at the top of the message - could overlook an in-text - (c) - during a review of multiple e-mails - again, less than 3 out of 100. Had the header notation read CLASSIFIED - EYES ONLY or some other indication rather than a - (c) - in the text somewhere, such a conclusion would have been far more difficult to reach. But, the facts are, none of the e-mails followed the rule book and the reader was not warned by the bold header classification notice as required. An oversight by the sender? Of course. And an oversight by the recipient - Secretary Clinton? Of course. Criminal charges to be brought? I think not... and, evidently, the FBI Director agreed.
The "shock" evidenced by the Republicans on the Committee was predictable. After all, the outcome didn't support their predetermined political agenda. And, just like another Republican - Supreme Court Justice Roberts - who had the courage of his convictions in supporting Obamacare against legal attacks on 2 occasions, the right wing reacted with scorn, personal attacks, and political rumor. It seems that they just cannot stand judgments based on careful and balanced consideration of the facts, application of the law and precedent, and arriving at a clear and sustainable conclusion. Unless you support their narrow view of the world and the people in it, you are to be condemned as "traitor" and suspect of being in the pockets of liberals" and "socialists." It is a shame that the far right has abandoned common sense, measured debate, and negotiation and has taken on hard-line, bare-knuckle, take-no-prisoners politics. If the Republicans were reasoned in their approach to government and reasonable in their policies and politics and kept the well-being of the American people paramount in their minds, perhaps we would not have suffered the awful news of so many deaths in the last 2 days. The Republicans should take to heart a line from one of their founders - Abraham Lincoln. These are the words he spoke just after the Civil War in his Second Inaugural Address in 1865 - "with malice for none and charity for all. " If the House Republicans would follow that practice, then, perhaps, we can again "bind up the nation's wounds ... to do that that may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Applying that approach to issues of gun control and the relations between the police and their communities, to the issues of race and the racial divide that continue to haunt our neighborhoods, and inserting "charity for all" into public policy dialogue to excise the politics of hate and division that plague our democratic system and stymie our ability to address the important issues that face the nation, would be a giant step forward and a major step toward reconciliation and measured progress. Perhaps then we - Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike - can "bind up the nation's wounds." At least, it might be a start.
Light a candle. Say a prayer.
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