Thursday, July 28, 2016

Trump’s Invitation to Russian Hackers

Donald Trump is a bombastic jerk for inviting Russian Hackers to try to hack Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 missing emails, but the Democratic response to Trump’s stupid statement is every bit as idiotic.

First off, when have hackers ever waited for permission to hack into anything? Either Russian hackers have all of Hillary’s emails from her illegal private server or they don’t have any of them. The server is no longer connected to the internet, Hillary deleted all of the “personal” emails anyway, and additionally, she claims to have wiped the server clean of data. How could even the best hacker in the world hack into a server that is not online, and which contains no files? Obviously, they couldn’t. So why all the hyperbolic overreaction? Pure partisanship: that’s all. Did they have grounds for criticizing Trump for his invitation? Sure, in theory it was reckless; but it was also not a realistic threat whatsoever, and they know it. Trump is not the president yet, so he has no authority to invite anyone to do anything except inasmuch as he is a private citizen exercising his free speech. Yes, it’s obnoxious, but it’s hardly a threat. (Now had he secretly used back channels to hire hackers to hack government servers, then yes, the hyperbole would be justified; but as it is, it’s not, and they know it.)

Next, Hillary Clinton broke records keeping laws when she deleted those 33,000 emails in the first place, so we have a right to see them. And since they would be subject to Freedom of Information Act requests, it would hardly make much difference whether they were dumped by Wikileaks or provided by the Federal Government. (They cynically redact way too much anyway, and we have a right to know more. That’s why Wikileaks document dumps happen in the first place. If the government were transparent like they should be and dishonestly claim to be, the need for groups like Wikileaks would be obviated.) She reportedly engaged in some pay-to-play schemes while acting as Secretary of State, and my guess is that those emails contained the details, and that’s why she deleted them. One of these shady deals Hillary made was approving the sale of Uranium One, a uranium mining company that holds the rights to 1/5 of the world’s uranium deposits. Who did she approve the sale of Uranium One to? A company controlled by the Russian government. (Source: The New York Times: Not exactly a right-leaning publication. I’ll attach a link to the article below.) If anyone is guilty of treasonous actions with Russia, it’s Hillary. But if Trump’s offer was a legitimate one, and he were the president, then yes, he could legitimately be accused of treason too. He does not have the demeanor to be president, but she does not have the integrity to be president.

Bill Maher said that if a Democrat made the offer to hack the US government Trump did, Republicans would be up in arms. That’s true. Except that Trump encouraged Russian hackers to find Hillary’s supposedly personal emails from her personal server, which is hardly the same thing as requesting a hack of the government; unless Hillary was lying, and those deleted emails contain sensitive government information, in which case, it was undeniably a crime not to preserve them. Had Hillary simply followed the rules, she, and the country, would not be in this absurd situation now. And it’s such a clusterf*ck that I seriously doubt it was done simply for Hillary’s “convenience”; after all, James Comey listed off the many demonstrably untrue excuses Hillary tried to use for the use of the private server; despite not charging her, Comey made it clear that Ms. Clinton had been completely dishonest about basically every explanation she gave the FBI. (I thought lying to the FBI was a crime, or at least a no-no. Naughty naughty, Ms. Presumptive President. {Hillary Clinton will undoubtedly win the election and be the next President of the United States.}) It is also true that if a Republican made that Uranium One deal with Russia, Democrats would scream treason about that, but when Hillary does it they either think it’s fine or act like Sergeant Schultz from Hogans Heroes: “I see nothing, nothing!”

So as we all clearly know, either Russia already has Hillary’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails from her private server, or they don’t; but they couldn’t possibly get them now via hacking unless they’re preserved on another server somewhere else, which I’m guessing Hillary made every effort to ensure they’re not. Since they were comingled with her State Department emails, they all, by law, belong to the American People. It was a crime to withhold them, and I hope they will turn up someday just because they belong to the people. Anyone who disputes this is just making excuses for Hillary because they are a brainwashed supporter of hers, or else they are willfully ignorant of the situation. And not charging her with violating the records laws was a betrayal of the country that encourages further corruption by both Ms. Clinton and others within the government. James Comey should be very, very ashamed of himself for that absurd decision, and when the government becomes even more corrupt as a result of his decision, I hope the guilt of knowing he is personally responsible will haunt him for the rest of his life.

I’m sorry Hillary is the Democratic Party nominee for president, not because I don’t want a woman president (I do want a woman president, especially Kirsten Gillibrand: someone who I actually trust and admire; so rare in politics these days), and not because I want Trump to be president (I do not want Donald Trump to be president), but because the Democrats had so many good candidates they could have nominated, and instead they chose literally the most dishonest, corrupt politician in America today. That’s truly pathetic, absurd, and amazingly hypocritical of them, because they always scream bloody murder about Republican corruption (as well they should), but they always look the other way at Democrat corruption. All I want is for everyone to be judged by the same standards and for everyone to be treated equally, and that does not happen in this country. People are so brainwashed with partisan groupthink that they always hate on anyone on the other side of the aisle, no matter how well-meaning they might be, and they always support anyone on their own side of the aisle no matter how corrupt or dishonest or incompetent they may be. It’s so harmful to the country for so many people to behave like this, filled with prejudiced hatred toward anyone who does not agree with them on all political issues. The intolerance is astounding, especially from the supposedly forgiving Christian conservatives on the right, and the purportedly oh-so tolerant liberals on the left. Until we can learn to stop accusing, judging, and exaggerating the faults of our fellow Americans like sports fans do to fans of a rival team, this country is going to continue on its path of divisiveness until it crumbles.

Both sides love to claim Abraham Lincoln as their own, but they both forget one of the most important things he said: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” Well, thanks to hacks and haters on both sides in politics, their propagandists in the news, and their brainwashed useful idiots in the general populace, this country is so divided it’s only a mater of time before we tear ourselves apart. I understand politicians want to win elections, news people want to root for who they prefer, late night comics want to smear people they disagree with, and private citizens care about policies they believe in, but unless we can be honest about what the truth is and stop lying and spinning, especially to ourselves, none of us is going to see anything positive come out of this system of ours. Please stop all the hate speech and vitriol. What ever happened to disagreeing without being disagreeable?