Virtuous Hands with a Gun

“What actually stops an evil psychopath is what we saw on Sunday—a good guy with a gun.” – Jordan Stein, spokesman, Gun Owners of America

Would the massacre have happened if the congregation of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas had clung as tightly to guns as their Bibles? On Sunday, in a bizarre echo of Sayfullo Saipov's Halloween rampage in New York, suspect Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, brought death into a house of worship. Like some villain straight out of the slasher flick “Scream,” he was outfitted in black body armor and a skull mask. Within this sacred space, this Grim Reaper killed 26 innocents and wounded 20. Thirty miles east of San Antonio, in the worst mass shooting in Texas history: about 4% of the town's population (reported as 683) were slain.

Since time immemorial, that's what civilized people call acts of evil. Ultimately, Mr. Kelley's true problem was his homicidal impulses—expressed as externalized rage. Therefore, holding responsible the inanimate object, that was his tool of choice, is a simplistic response. So too is blaming the law that criminals habitually disregard as somehow “insufficient”. In that vein is the imperfect background check that inadvertently allowed Mr. Kelley access to the firearm he utilized (read: The Air Force failed to provide the FBI with the shooter's criminal history). And despite this unfortunate bureaucratic blunder, where does individual accountability factor into this latest bloodbath?

In reality, almost anything physically imposing can be used as a weapon. For example, just last week in New York a zealot screaming “Allahu akbar” misappropriated a rental truck killing 8 and injuring 12. Likewise, at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, South Carolina on August 12, a third unhinged miscreant, James Alex Fields Jr., killed local protester Heather Heyer, 32, and injured 19 others with his Dodge Challenger. If guns are truly the systemic “problem” here—as gun control advocates repeatedly parrot—why does Chicago persist as an annual killing field despite the strictest gun laws in the nation? And why aren't these same critics ignoring the unfettered freedom to buy cars, and rent trucks? After all, don't all of the above potentially serve an evildoer's murderous design?

As the 18th century philosophical father of modern conservatism, Edmund Burke famously remarked, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” To that end, a good Samaritan interceded on Sunday in Sutherland Springs. That small town hero gaining national attention is Stephen Willeford, 55. Synchonistically, he's a former National Rifle Association instructor who confronted the attacker, wounding him twice (in his Velcro covered side despite protective plating). As light dispels darkness, Mr. Willeford repealed villainy despite his fear, and the inherent danger. As he told local affiliate 40/29 News in Fort Smith-Fayetteville:

“I think my God, my Lord protected me and gave me the skills to do what needed to be done, and I just wish I could have gotten there faster.”

In this regard, mere mortals beg to differ. This faithful defender got to the scene so quickly he arrived barefoot. Alerted by his daughter of the sounds of a firearm discharging, Mr. Willeford removed his own rifle from its safe, loaded a magazine, and ran across the street to the church. Standing behind a pickup truck for cover, he exchanged gunfire with the escaping interloper. He even shot through the open driver's side window of Mr. Kelley's fleeing Ford Expedition SUV. At a stop sign, Mr. Willeford then flagged down a 27-year-old motorist, Johnnie Langendorff, and a high-speed highway chase ensued. En route the younger man called 911. Eventually, their pickup caught up to the gunman's SUV. Apparently, the assailant started driving erratically. He pulled over to the side, seeming to slow down, then accelerated again until he hit a road sign, lost control and flipped his truck which landed in a ditch. Mr. Langendorff pulled over, and ducked down. Meanwhile, his heroic companion exited the vehicle, planting his rifle on top of the pickup's hood. Keeping a look out, Mr. Willeford yelled for his adversary to get out of his truck, but all remained still. When law enforcement arrived on the scene, they confirmed that Devin Kelley had committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.

Separated by time, specific circumstances and geography is the fact that guns in legal and responsible hands actually preserve life. This is also true of another hero, New York police officer Ryan Nash, who subdued Islamic terrorist Sayfullo Saipov; and Charlottesville police who subsequently apprehended suspect James Fields. Indeed, the loss of life is a terrible tragedy—particularly in situations initiated by the radicalized. For resolution, what demands society's focus is the discounted evildoer himself, not the distraction of his method. Philosophically to blame a criminal's firearm is equivalent to condemning the car or the truck rather than its driver. It's a false premise that misses the crux of the issue. Such intentional naivety actually endangers the public. These days, in diverse gathering places like First Baptist Church or Sandy Hook Elementary School, what's become more unsafe than a gun-free zone?

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Busted “Hero” Barry Bronzed

“If ever I become entirely respectable I shall be quite sure that I have outlived myself.” – Eugene V. Debs

Apparently, that's true of the late Marion Barry: a half-century fixture of local D.C. government. While the American political landscape is chock full of colorful characters—some lovable scoundrels, others not so much—perhaps none fit this category better than the one nicknamed “Mayor for Life”. In that role Barry served for four terms as the district fell into corruption and insolvency. In 1989, at a D.C. budget hearing, then-Sen. John C. Danforth (R-Mo.) publicly chastised his mismanagement:

“Some governments are corrupt but are known for their competency in running the city. Others are incompetent but considered clean. [Washington's] government is scandalously corrupt and hopelessly incompetent.”

In fact, at his death, he was still in office representing Ward 8, having collectively amassed 16 years on the city council.

On the first anniversary of his demise, current D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser established a 13-member D.C. Commission to "Commemorate and Recognize the Honorable Marion S. Barry Jr". During a ceremony last week at the Wilson Building, a mock-up of the proposed life-sized statue was unveiled. (Reportedly, his fourth wife Cora Masters Barry, hated the hat: a fedora obscuring Barry's famous receding hairline. Well, D.C. Commission on the Arts Director Arthur Espinoza, manager of the project, should get that right!) The anticipated cost—to be raised through both public and private sources—is between $350,000 and $400,000.

This eventuality begs the question: with such a checkered past, does this particular individual warrant a grand commemoration?

First and foremost, Marion Barry was a survivor. Notably, last Thursday, March 9th, marks the 40th anniversary of the “Hanafi siege”, a little-remembered act of terror in the spring of 1977. (Hanafi Muslims were a radicalized, breakaway sect of the Nation of Islam.) These black men armed with swords and shotguns took hostages at three locations: a Jewish organization, a rival mosque and the government building where Barry worked. At 41, he was then a fledgling council member who suffered a chest wound above his heart. He recovered, but a reporter was killed and a security guard later suffered a fatal heart attack.

Another turning point in the then-mayor's life was January 18, 1990. At the Vista International Hotel—groping former girlfriend Hazel Diane “Rasheeda” Moore—the married Mayor was arrested in an FBI sting for smoking crack cocaine. Videotaped during the encounter and arrest, a muttering Barry blamed Moore: “Bitch set me up . . . . I shouldn't have come up here . . . goddamn bitch.” In the digital age, that event has been recorded on the internet for posterity. In the future, how exactly does a silent bronze statue speak louder about Barry's character than his own potty mouth?

For that utterance he became a popular punch line on late-night talk shows. Likewise, he was famous for the remark, “Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.” (For three consecutive years, D.C. homicides increased to record-breaking levels, reaching 474 in 1990. The nation's capital was then called the “murder capital”.) Still, as a survivor of gun violence, Barry was lucky to escape a second life-threatening fate that felled so many of his constituents: drug overdose. (Ironically, cocaine use killed his son—and namesake—Marion C. Barry, 36, on August 14, 2016.) Unlike those unfortunates, the older Barry lived a long life, expiring from cardiac arrest on November 23, 2014.

Indeed, this politician had a long history of running afoul of the law. Even in the waning two years of his life, Marion Barry racked up $2,800 in fees from 21 unpaid parking and speeding tickets. In spite of these violations, he caused a car accident after driving down the wrong way of a street into opposing traffic. True to form, this time the elder statesman blamed a “hypoglycemic attack” for his behavior. However, there is no good explanation for a 78-year-old Jaguar-driving community leader not to have car insurance and current tags.

Undoubtedly, the statue is intended to sanitize Marion Barry's reputation to future generations as a “champion of the downtrodden”. In the late 60s, he co-founded a group called Pride Inc. intended to help black men find employment. Later, as mayor, he expanded government to accomplish that goal. Yet, who remembers that compared to his decades-long embarrassing escapades of repeatedly flouting the law? For starters, he spent six months in prison for the “Rasheeda” Moore incident. Put aside his local popularity and visible job titles for a moment. His rap-sheet reads like a hardened criminal's: arrests for drug incidents (1990, 2002), incarceration (1991-1992), income tax evasion (2005), stalking (2009), corruption (2010), public exposure (2011), and political censure for taking kickbacks and accepting bribes (2010, 2013) et cetera.

Marion Barry's backers can superficially immortalize his likeness—but nothing will expunge his lengthy track record of wrongdoing. Even his outspoken supporters would likely acknowledge a deeply flawed human being. In the final analysis, the man's shameless and often illegal antics obscure any do-gooder residue gained early as a civil rights activist. Therefore, perhaps it's kinder to leave Marion Barry's “legacy” unbronzed: a well forgotten, but colorful footnote in local D.C. affairs.

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Shellacked Dems Ignore Trump “Mule”

“There’s no education in the second kick of a mule.” – Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Senate Majority Leader

President-elect Donald Trump is a political tsunami for returning Democrats as well as the outgoing president. Yet, the signs of an outraged electorate have been apparent for years. In the election cycles of 2010 and 2014, increasing Republican gains to 2017's domination of the federal government prove this assessment true. Why does the progressive political class continue to disregard the meaning of this circumstance? For Mr. Obama's obtuseness, the cost will be enormous: his disastrous legacy. For those remaining, the reelection of old guard leader Nancy Pelosi will likely consign Democrats to minority status for the foreseeable future. Reality is the pro-American wrecking crew of an upcoming Trump Administration.

For their collective defeat, these elitist egotists believe themselves to be “victims”. Post-election is about licking wounds for their sidelined little clique—not respecting the will of the voters. Lacking grace, all make revolving door excuses that deny personal responsibility. As examples, Mr. Obama claims unsubstantiated Russian interference while Mr. Clinton accuses “angry white men” of misogyny. Hillary blames FBI Director James Comey—and seemingly any tangent that readily leaps to mind. For her part, coddled Michelle vents to gal pal Oprah. All this gelded quartet needs is a mirror.

For years, these panderers have lived large as self-absorbed jet-setters. They've demonized opposition with false charges of intolerance. Trump's victory is the country's natural reaction: the third—and largest—kick of the “electorate mule”. Self-regard blinds them to this thunderous jolt. Ultimately, the 2016 election is more than a resounding repudiation of the Obama legacy or a future Clinton presidency. It's a wholesale rejection of the anti-American progressive agenda.

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Hillary Clinton: Democrats' Worst “Nixon”

Two-faced Hillary Clinton is a Washington insider, a coddled elitist who has always ignored “the rules.” Whether it's law, ethics, morality and truth, nothing is an impediment to her own interests and presidential ambitions. History has repeated demonstrated that this habitual liar will say, do and promise anything—and pathologically deny everything—to return to the White House. On the eve of the 2016 presidential election, the fix is in in ways Richard “Watergate” Nixon could not imagine.

There's never been proof that Mr. Nixon was behind the DNC break in or burglary, but there is no doubt that Hillary Clinton ordered various unsecured “Clintonmail.com” private computer servers. Her corrupt purpose: to hide her pay for play influence peddling at the State Department in exchange for donations to the 2 billion dollar slush fund that is her and Bill's “charitable” Clinton Family Foundation. That self-serving corruption violates Title 18 U.S. Code Section 201 that carries with it a measly two years in prison.

Indeed, now exonerated former governor Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and his wife were prosecuted for receiving “gifts from political friends.” Even though there was no evidence of Clintonesque favors granted, when it comes to Republicans even a whiff of wrongdoing is ruinous. Yet, blatant lawbreaking (read: Server-gate) and quid pro quo politics (read: Charity-gate) are standard operating procedures for the Clintons. Who else has gotten away with making a 153 million in six figure “speeches” for campaign contributors? Is it not wrong that more than half of non-government people who met with Mrs. Clinton at the State Department were Foundation donors? One could fill the Encyclopaedia Britannica with the Clintons' evasions and lies.

Naturally, money-grubbing Hillary didn't want her soft “extortion” exposed to government oversight (or the American electorate). Yet, unauthorized storing and transmitting classified American secrets—which Mrs. Clinton did for personal convenience—is treason. Her crimes make Mr. Nixon's wrongdoing laughably quaint by comparison. Specifically, Mrs. Clinton has violated Title 18 U.S. Code Section 793. As 110 emails were found, that's ten years for each separate offense or 1,100 years in the slammer. That's over a millennium in the big house—not more years in the White House.

The peak of this Mount Everest of Clintonian corruption is the reality the Hillary's been hacked at least five times by bad actors (technically “unknown parties”). This reality was leaked to Bret Baier of Fox News by patriotic underlings in the FBI disgusted with their wishy-washy weasel of a Director James Comey. From the FBI to the DOJ to Obama's White House, all have repeatedly ignored—and abetted—clear criminality: every political calculation is designed to keep corrupt Democrats in power at grave detriment to the country.

At least Richard Nixon had the decency to resign rather than do further damage. He's small potatoes compared to Hillary Clinton. With her, America gets a shameless 21^st century Benedict Arnold: a person absolutely unfit for local dogcatcher let alone the next U.S. president.

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Halloween “Hillary” In High School Hoot

The purpose of education is to prepare students for the world. This is true at every level including high school. Like college, U.S. high schools are microcosms of American society. Therefore, it's singularly appropriate that Halloween caricatures of a highly contentious presidential election would make a comical appearance within schoolhouse walls.

That high school was Robert E. Lee in Staunton, Va., and the adults in question were look-alikes: principal Mark Rowicki as Trump and secretary Stephanie Corbett as Clinton. As wearing a suit is standard fare for any administrator, Trump's Reaganesque slogan “Make America Great Again” cap and campaign button were the tipoffs. Yet, the “controversy” involves Ms. Corbett's portrayal of the Democratic nominee back under FBI investigation for criminal wrongdoing (read: Server-gate and Charity-gate). She donned a short blond wig, an orange prison jumpsuit with a waist chain and padlock. For good measure, Ms. Corbett proudly wore a “Department of Justice” name tag reading Hillary R. Clinton.

Only deluded liberals—with eyes squeezed shut and hands petulantly pressed over ears—entirely ignore the reality of Hillary Clinton's lawbreaking and corruption. They are the ones who refuse to see truth (or the humor of a Halloween prank). Repressive progressives slickly conceal their fascist impulses in the fictional assertion that a “political agenda” has been pushed on impressionable teenagers. Their complaint is quite some Halloween trick!

Well, First Amendment expression be damned! As the next president's decisions (read: the selection of perhaps up to 3 future Supreme Court justices) will directly affect their generation the school has the duty to educate these future voters as to the “two characters” currently vying for the presidency. The best choice on Election Day is crystal clear: the one not represented in Halloween orange prisoner's garb.

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Clinton 'Son' Seeks Blue Dress DNA

Danney Williams, 31, finally wants to prove who his big daddy is. Mr. Williams's lifelong quest for his famous father's acknowledgment has leapt right out of the supermarket tabloids—and Joe Klein's novel Primary Colors. With the emergence of yet another Clinton scandal one week before Election Day—this one Bill's now adult love child—the former president should hide all throwable objects from Hillary's legendary rages. Beyond seeing stars (with the tactile, painful memory of a broken White House lamp), the only primary colors Bill anticipates are the bruising kind: black and blue ones from the missus.

Recall, Primary Colors is the tale of a Clinton style southern governor (“Jack Stanton”) who successful run to the presidency is almost derailed by a sexual scandal—specifically an illegitimate multiracial offspring. In real-life are those two characters Bill Clinton and (the remarkably resembling) Danny Williams?

Yet, unfolding events are far more fascinating than Mr. Klein's fiction. Known to Mr. Williams is his mother, Bobbie Ann Williams, an Arkansas prostitute. Tuesday, at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC, Mr. Williams publicly requested some of the presidential goo (yuck!) from Monica Lewinsky via her infamous '90s blue dress. (Providing said genetic material would preclude a long and expensive paternity suit.)

So, once again, Bill and Hill have his and hers scandals to dodge. His is the embarrassment of two unearthed sexual indiscretions strangely merging: the Lewinsky affair (which led to Bill's impeachment) and Mr. Williams's bloodline (more ballast to crooked Hillary's fading presidential prospects). Hers is the reinvigorated Comey FBI probe involving top aide Huma Abedin's 650,000 emails (coupled with her estranged hubby Anthony Weiner's Zipper-gate). It's a wonder any of them have the gall to show their faces in public (let alone seek high elective office).

After Donald Trump's victory on November 8^th, the Clintons could appropriately do the lurid talk show circuit. On Jerry Springer Hillary and Monica could wrestle and pull each other's hair. Then for good measure the Clintons could be featured on Maury ('You are the father'). Lastly, Danney Williams could make a Barbara Streisand “Papa Can You Hear Me?” heartfelt plea for acceptance into the Clinton clan while Dr. Phil arranges an army of therapists to untangle the family dysfunction. 

This endless Clinton soap opera is indeed an epic farce. The tragedy for the American people is that one of them is currently a hair's breadth from the Oval Office. For all their lies and corruption both richly deserve the big house. From behind bars fate would bring everything full circle: the Clintons would get their comeuppance—and authorities could finally collect Bill Clinton's sought after DNA for his long denied 'Danney boy.'

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Weiner's Zipper-gate Is Clinton Karma

What is it with the toxic intersection of Bill and Hillary Clinton scandals, sex and interns?

Back in the '90s, the most famous instance was Bill's adulterous affair with then 22-year-old intern Monica Lewinsky. His lies led to charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. That scandal resulted in impeachment, but an abetting Democrat-controlled Senate saved Slick Willie.

Today, it's murky characters in crooked Hillary's orbit: her Girl Friday Huma Abedin (originally Hillary's intern, now a top aide) and Huma's estranged hubby, disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-NY). Apparently, a tangential child pornography FBI investigation into super-freak (sexting; selfie sending) Mr. Weiner has uncovered Abedin's 650,000 previously unknown emails on a shared computer. Are Hillary Clinton's 48,000 deleted emails and/or more classified information (read: Server-gate) among them? That's anyone's guess (including Abedin's who reportedly told intimates she has no idea how they got there) and the results, if any, won't be known until well after Election Day.

At least Bill Clinton got caught in flagrante delicto when he was already in office. While his wife desperately claws at the Oval Office door, Hillary Clinton's corruption precedes her—and would doggedly follow her into the presidency. Imagine what greater influence she could peddle—to political sycophants and foreign powers alike—and what impressionable interns he could covet! The mind boggles at such nightmarish scenarios.

If elected, Hillary's scandals and lawbreaking are the perfect storm to sink our currently badly floundering country. In addition to these ever-present clouds of suspicion, this habitual liar will deliver the economic morass and racial polarization of an Obama third term. America needs neither the domestic malaise nor the international humiliation of another weak progressive Democrat.

It's reasonable to infer that Huma Weiner (a.k.a. Abedin) is at the nexus of corrupt (Hillary) Clinton everything. For more than three years of Mrs. Clinton's term as Secretary of State Abedin was her deputy chief of staff. Then Huma resigned from that formal role becoming a “special government employee” (and how!) taking simultaneous paying gigs for the “charitable” Clinton Foundation, and international consulting firm Teneo Holdings (founded by a Bill Clinton long-time personal aide). At present, Abedin's currently vice chairman of Clinton's presidential campaign. Thus, there's no doubt Hillary's criminality is back under FBI scrutiny—and Huma's in the know.

Director James Comey's unexpected announcement is a ray of light surfacing in the final days of the presidential contest. All ironically facilitated via two shady personas, a matching set of wieners named Weiner: her emails, his perversion. (What a poetic mirror for their scandal-embroiled Clinton counterparts!) For Comey's eleventh hour disclosure, a stirring, scandal fatigued nation will be grateful for a fresh start: a Donald Trump victory on November 8th.

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Washington Post: Hillary Kool-Aid Drinkers

“If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your situation.” – Republican nominee Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton during the second presidential debate, October 9, 2016

“Mark the moment. A major-party presidential nominee is officially promising to lock up his political opponent, despite an impartial federal investigation....” An anonymous Washington Post editorial, October 10, 2016

As The Post is a Hillary fundraiser, it's impossible for them to be impartial related to Mrs. Clinton's candidacy. In practice that makes them a propagandist rag rather than a legitimate news source.

This is proven by how The Post has, once again, twisted reality into something completely unrecognizable. In their absurdist editorial “A threat to the rule of law,” Donald Trump's pledge to do the right thing—to prosecute Hillary Clinton's obvious corruption—is “wrong”? Let us cite the legal basis: under Title 18, Section 1924, of federal law, it is a misdemeanor punishable by fines and imprisonment for any federal employee to knowingly remove classified information “without authority and with the intent to retain such documents or materials at an unauthorized location.” Mrs. Clinton's non-government, unapproved servers certainly qualify. Thus, Mr. Trump's promise of a special prosecutor for Mrs. Clinton is actually following legal precedent: holding the powerful to the same legal standard as everyone else. Isn't that the purpose of our American democracy rather than the whims of the rich and politically powerful?

Mysteriously, the Post doesn't agree writing: “If anyone needed any more proof that Mr. Trump does not understand the meaning of rule of law as opposed to arbitrary rule of autocrat—that he would use the levers of the federal government in a vindictive, self-serving and corrupt manner—Mr. Trump provided it.” As an example, does Barack Obama's continuing misuse of the IRS to target political opponents suddenly not qualify? Why does The Post confuse outsider Trump with the acts of the current president who has existed by dictatorial overreaching executive orders for the last eight years?

In any case, since when does a politically motivated sham of an FBI investigation mean anything? Only to the Kool-Aid drinkers at The Post. They're the ones who “snarl and double down on old falsehoods” in their jaded character assassination of truth-telling Trump.

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FBI's Comey: A Weasel Among Rats

“You can call us wrong, but don't call us weasels. We are not weasels.” – FBI Director James Comey at a congressional hearing on September 28, 2016

Sigmund Freud would have a field day with Mr. Comey's psyche. Dr. Freud would say he protests too much. Why does the FBI Director compare himself—and the now perhaps forever tarnished organization he heads—to a pack of weasels? Guilty subconsciousness perhaps, Herr Doctor?

Recall, the FBI's motto is Fidelity, Bravery and Integrity. Once important American ideals, today reduced to a bumper sticker slogan. Consider the bureau's former principled reputation of incorruptibility: of holding the powerful to account without fear or favor. Men like Eliot “untouchable” Ness who risked life and limb to combat criminally rather than condone it as James Comey clearly has. How else does one explain his actions of last January, of laying out an unambiguous case of multifaceted Clintonian law breaking, only to ultimately sit on his hands and close the investigations?

To add insult to injury, Mr. Comey foolishly took the political heat for his public pronouncements. Yet, the fix was in before that. Specifically, when spouse Bill Clinton had an “unplanned” chinwag with Attorney General Lynch. Both in different private planes which by “sheer coincidence” crossed paths on the same tarmac in Phoenix. So the nation's top prosecutor meeting privately with the spouse (an ex-president) whose wife is the prime subject of a then looming criminal indictment isn't a colossal conflict of interest? Moreover, is it any surprise that just days after that infamous meeting AG Lynch announced that Hillary would face no criminal charges?

So, one supposes during their 20 to 25 minute exchange, Mrs. Lynch and Mr. Clinton only chitchatted about the grand kids as was claimed? Seriously? That's the same malarkey as Mrs. Clinton's yoga routines and Chelsea's wedding plans that she claimed populated her private servers. Those unsecured, illegal devices likely hacked by bad actors in which Mr. Comey stated 110 emails were classified—and 48,000 (read: 33,000 originally reported and an additional 15,000 recently uncovered) were destroyed.

By ignoring the law—and the evidence—Mr. Comey wrongly recommended non-prosecution. He laughable claimed he didn't want to interfere in the upcoming election, but he has done precisely that—and not on the side of the angels. How is any presidential candidate known by reputation to be a habitual liar—an immoral and greedy person mired in 40 years of infamy—good for the country? If the email scandal wasn't malfeasance enough, there is the Clinton Foundation “charity”: a pay-for-play scheme involving high-level political favors in exchange a personal Clinton slush fund (while Mrs. Clinton was Secretary of State). The 238 million the Clintons have “earned” after being “dead broke” 15 years ago doesn't even factor in the 2 billion dollar foundation they control. By his own Freudian omission, Mr. Comey's a weasel, but the crooked Clintons are far worse: unapologetic rats who make Richard “Watergate” Nixon look, by comparison, like a church mouse.

Experience repeatedly demonstrates that honesty and the 'for sale' Clintons have never coincided. They should be on the verge of the big house, not the White House. What on earth is going on here? How can the superficial irrelevancy of identity politics—this time in the trivial form of an empty skirt by a corrupt wearer—obscure this obvious truth? One wonders, is this propagandist Germany of 1933 or freedom-loving America of 2016? How can such an ignoble character enjoy such mindless support—and have a 50/50 shot at becoming the next U.S. president?

In any case, Mr. Nixon was drummed out of the nation's highest office for his law breaking. He certain didn't go in the door dogged by a well-established track record of villainy as Hillary Clinton hopes to. That, too, is a vital distinction. Yet, the Mrs. Pig Pen of American politics has only one unpredictable barrier to overcome if she can: outsider Donald Trump.

In the final analysis, political power without a guiding morality—and/or respect for law—is inherently corrupt. This dynamic encapsulates the disastrous Obama years (soon mercifully to be in the rear view mirror), James Comey's “weaselly” words of last week, and the titanic mistake of electing another corrupt Clinton to the Oval Office in November.

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Clinton's For-Profit “Bill U”

“Greed... is good.” – Michael Douglas as corporate raider Gordon Gekko in “Wall Street” (1987)

“A lot of these private-education guys, they’re looking to get into events [a State Department dinner] like this one. 'The discussion itself is irrelevant. . . . It gets you very high-level contacts, and it gets you to the right people.'” – Sam Pitroda, a higher-education expert representing a policy commission from India

Laureate International Universities paid Bill Clinton an obscene $17.6 million as their front man consultant and “honorary chancellor.” Despite a largely undefined (and perhaps non-existent?) role, Mr. Clinton's lucrative five year contract ended conveniently two weeks before the wife launched her latest campaign for U.S. president. Back in 2009, Hillary Clinton wrote “... Bill likes [founder, businessman Doug Becker] a lot.” Well, turns out Mr. Clinton has 17.6 million reasons for that.

Per their tax returns, Laureate runs 80 educational institutions the world over. Notably, four of its six U.S. colleges are on a U.S. Education Department watch list for fiscal monkey business. Specifically, debt-ridden students complained Laureate's flagship U.S. school, Walden University, is essentially a slow-roll online diploma mill delivering substandard programs and degrees. Naturally, this murkiness was of no concern to Bill Clinton. (One assumes all payments to him have cleared.) Yet, how does this latest example of Clintonian sleaziness not fall under the umbrella of payment for high-level access? In other words, the pay-to-play basis of the $2 billion dollar sham that is the “charitable” Clinton Family Foundation?

Even the sycophantic Washington Post acknowledged that the Clintons “mixed” their public and private dealings. They reported:

“[Doug] Becker, for example, donated to Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and last year donated $2,700 to her current effort. Laureate has given between $1 million and $5 million to the Clinton Foundation, according to the charity’s website … Laureate portrayed its association with the Clintons as a symbol of its legitimacy rather than the result of a business deal.”

Only to the crooked does the word 'legitimacy' and the surname Clinton harmoniously coexist. Likewise, faceless—and blind—ethics officials in wifey's then State Department saw no conflict of interest. (Barack Obama laughably granted oversight to Mrs. Clinton on such matters.) “Clinton Cash” author Peter Schweizer noted an increase in USAID funding of $55 million to the International Youth Federation—a sister organization run by selfsame Laureate founder Doug Becker—while Mrs. Clinton was Secretary of State. Why does not a single Democrat in government publicly acknowledge a problem with any of this?

At least some House Republicans see clear wrongdoing. Last July, sixty-four requested investigations by the Internal Revenue Service, FBI and Federal Trade Commission into “possible” corruption between Laureate and the Clintons. However, given closed-eyed dupes like FBI Director James Comey—and the current administration still at the helm—there's no chance another investigation will happen.

Interestingly, The Post further reported that Laureate was bought out in 2007 by George Soros (and partners) for $3.8 billion. What these “journalists” left out about trouble-making billionaire Soros is his domestic funding of the anarchist Black Lives Matter death cult. What a corrupt click, these incestuous and moneyed progressives. With paid-off politicians, is it any wonder why America is in chaos—with a mountainous 19.5T debt? That's not a problem for the uber-rich Clintons: currently worth $238 million. Moreover, besides wrongdoing in common, Barack Obama aims to be the first ex-president billionaire. Mr. Clinton may beat him to that pot o' gold.

Roger Stone of “Daily Caller” in his exposé called “Trump U Is Nothing Compared To Laureate Education” put the matter plainly:

“New York State law requires specific approvals for an entity to hold itself out as being a university. In this case CGI [Clinton Global Initiate](a fraud) created CGI University (a fraud) in league with Laureate, a fraud. Laureate is a highly leveraged failing investment whose principal beneficiaries are Wall Street fat cats and billionaires, and [at the center is] William Jefferson Clinton.”

Twitter: @DavidHunterblog

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MSM's Hillary Blinders

Seven presumably experienced Washington Post reporters contributed to front page story “President announces his pick: Clinton.” What essential event was glaringly missing from their extensive account? That also yesterday White House press secretary Josh Earnest acknowledged the FBI probe into Hillary Clinton's private email server as a “criminal investigation” mere moments after Mr. Obama's ringing endorsement.

If the first female nominee of a major political party is newsworthy, certainly a sitting U.S. president choosing a successor under close scrutiny of his own Justice Department is even more so. Will it be the White House or the big house for Mrs. Clinton? That's a great inquiry likely never to be preemptively explored, if at all.

The greatest power of the media is the power to ignore.

Twitter: @DavidHunterblog
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Angry voters' choice: new face or Clinton devil?

Americans will take a lot, but they will not tolerate the continuing destruction of their nation by elites in both parties who believe they are untouchable. – Monica Crowley

In the final analysis (while I affirm Ms. Crowley's optimistic tone) maybe so, maybe not. Indeed, it's scary when such monumental world-shaping choices are seemingly left to the whims of fate. Recall 2012, despite obvious foreign and domestic policy disasters, Mr. Obama—an utterly failed, ultra-Constitutional, pathologically liar of a 1984-style despot—was re-elected. At the time, the combination of a not-quite so conservative Republican candidate Mitt Romney (who would never take the gentlemanly gloves off to fight for the presidency) coupled with 4 years of MSM propaganda Obama-covering slop force-fed to the American electorate resulted in millions of Republicans staying home. Mercifully, may that not be the case this time.

Mr. Trump (and to a lesser extent the more steady and viable Ted Cruz) is channeling the very apparent “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take this anymore” sentiments of the unhinged UBS news anchor Howard Beale (a fictional character played to Oscar glory by Peter Finch in 1976’s Network). And the political powers-that-be on both sides of the aisle better take heed: it is not the first time a long-shot political neophyte has upset the Establishment, causing a populist phenomenon that landed an unexpected person in the White House.

As past is prologue, the man that surprisingly wound up vice president, the famously gaff-prone Joe Biden, made an off-the-cuff remark on January 31, 2007 that inadvertently encapsulated the overall political mood of the country:

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a storybook, man.”

Only in Mr. Biden's wholly devoted and feverish mind has Mr. Obama been “the first” in anything. Further, despite bizarre and back-handed praise, Mr. Obama's on the job performance has been the opposite of “storybook” unless one considers the novels of prolific horror novelist Stephen King. In any case, the man with the curious habits of publicly groping women not his spouse—and swimming pool skinny dipping in front of female Secret Service agents—can attest to the cleanliness part: he's been providing slavish metaphorical tongue-baths to his boss for the last 7 years.

Upon reflection, Mr. Obama was elected as a protest to then unpopular George W. Bush and, by extension, the dynastic Bush family name (hence younger brother Jeb's current failure to gain political traction despite deep pockets and spending 50 million). To parallel, while Donald Trump may very well ride the anti-Obama, anti-incumbency fervor to the presidency in 2017, I'm willing to bet that America will not take another chance, this time on an untested Republican wild card. In any case, to his credit, The Donald gives as much guff as he gets. (It is therefore some comfort that at least one Republican candidate will fight to “make America great again.”) He'll need to in the face-off between the tag team that is Hillary Clinton and her devoted Goliath propagandist creature, the MSM.

I don’t know if the scribe of “The Art of the Deal” will get the Republican nomination, but from day-one Hillary's coronation as her party's nominee was certain. Therefore, the musing of numerous conservative experts make for good TV fodder and fill many newspaper column inches, but do any of them seriously believe for a moment—hand to Bible—that an unapologetic Socialist like Bernie Sanders will get the nomination? Despite a topsy-turvy political cycle, a recent Fox poll put that probability at 17%. To the detriment of the country, Mrs. Clinton is—and remains—the only Democratic game in town. So, Bill's checkered past as a Lothario doesn't matter. She need to do little more than show up, grin, and bear the slings and arrows that have been coming her way for 25 years. (That's old hat: what else has she accomplished over all this time?)  Mrs. Clinton understands her enviable position: a 50/50 probability to the Oval Office. Those are way better odds than any other candidate on the political landscape—and there will be no political upstart à la Obama to derail things this time around.

The slight monkey wrenches in the latest Clintonian White House political calculation (that Hill and Bill are all about) are two-fold. The most obvious is the brash personality and plain-speaking style of Donald Trump. In her favor is the fact that she will be gifted the nomination he (or someone else) will have to fight very hard for. The fact that she is part of Washington’s elitist beltway bubble is counterbalanced (she hopes) by the superficial triviality of her gender à la Joe Biden's view of “firsts.” She has nothing else to run on, but doesn't need to. She's been given a complete pass for every equivocation, every outright lie and every sleazy corruption scandal thus far. Once again in this, history will repeat itself.

The FBI will likely do its Hillary-gate investigations in good faith. Then, the decisions pass to Mr. Obama and his Justice Department. The threat of federal indictment—Hillary's own personal sword of Damocles—will be a petty torment likely enjoyed by Mr. Obama. Especially given the report that there is no personal love lost between them. However, as everything with Democrats is party first, last and always, he will not derail her progress in favor of a last minute highly dicey John Kerry run or a laughable Biden one. To do so invites the probability of a Republican that will undo an America-damaging legacy he is so proud of. Therefore, Mr. Obama will content himself by making Mrs. Clinton sweat for a while under the bright lights of potential prosecution. It won't work: the ongoing shadow of scandal is just par for the course for any politician with the Clinton surname.

Complicating matters on the other side of the aisle is Paul Ryan-led Republicans who foolishly continued to fund things they promised to fight like Obamacare. The repeal bill was a hollow victory: necessary, but ultimately little more than symbolic. However, the act of appropriating actual money is not symbolic, it is very real—indicating that Mr. Ryan and his cronies are not “change,” but more of the same ilk of go-along-get-along politicians that have further alienated the public. In this same vein is funding Planned Parenthood and Obama's executive amnesty for illegal aliens. Indeed, 7 years of Republican coddling—and an outrageous lack of political backbone—are just as likely to make the electorate understandably skittish of new Republican leaders as they are of old Democratic ones.

Playing devil's advocate for a moment, if elected will Mr. Trump simply be a Republican version of Mr. Obama: another arrogant, inflexible, petulant blowhard? Or will it be the equally entitled, greedy, immoral “queen of mean” that is Mrs. Clinton’s reputation? If Trump loses he goes back to his business empire; Mrs. Clinton to her ill-gotten, influence-bartering “Clinton Cash” fortune. The real sword of Damocles hangs not over their heads, but ours (as we are not similarly bankrolled.)

I suspect that fate will turn on the small issues of steadfastness, trustworthiness and mostly likability. That will leave galvanizing Mr. Trump and polarizing Mrs. Clinton too extreme to successfully navigate the political turbulence. That leaves many worthy Republicans particularly Ted Cruz as perhaps our best option in 2017.

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