The Latest “Scandal” – Nope October 30, 2016October 30, 2016 Check it out: Once Again, “Bombshell” Clinton Revelation Fizzles As Facts Come Out You absolutely need to read (and share) that if you (or someone you know) has been demoralized by the so-called October surprise. If you have more time, there’s this, sent in just now from one of your fellow readers, Alex B.: I am a life-long Republican who has been a “neverTrump” person since he announced his candidacy. I believe Hillary can do an excellent job and that she will work with Republicans more successfully than Pres. Obama. Country over party! Most of the media stories that have been written or broadcast about Hillary Clinton’s email practices have been variously incomplete, inaccurate, or wrong; examples of inexcusably sloppy reporting and journalistic malpractice. The folks who write about this know little about classification or the State Department’s procedure for handling classified documents and emails. Because the outcome of this election will have profound effects on stock market prices, I have spent a great deal of time studying this subject since FBI Director Comey announced the results of the FBI’s year-long investigation of the Clinton emails on July 5 and testified about the investigation before the House Oversight Committee on July 7. I would be happy to send you a multi-page email I’ve written arguing that widespread misunderstandings and misreporting of the Clinton email practices have made a mountain out of a molehill, including many false statements about what was on Clinton’s server by none other than the New York Times, including the very first sentence of their very first story. That initial March 2, 2015 article began with the following totally false phrase: “Hillary Rodham Clinton exclusively used a personal email account to conduct government business as secretary of state….” That phrase should have said: “to conduct unclassified government business….” To omit the word “unclassified” likely misled all but the most knowledgeable readers to think Secy. Clinton routinely received emails and documents marked or designated Top Secret, Secret, or Confidential on her private server, which FBI Director Comey said on both July 5 and July 7 she decidedly did not do. This past Friday, the Times continued to make the same mistake – here — saying that Clinton exclusively used her private server for government business, when she clearly used the State Department’s separate SIPRNet and JWICS email systems for any material marked classified. There is no mention of SIPRNet or JWICS in the article Because the media virtually never does mention SIPRNet and JWICS, most people, including the media and most pundits, wrongly think Clinton routinely received, sent, and stored emails and documents marked classified on her private server. That belief is totally wrong! In his speech to the GOP convention in July, Rudy Giuliani said she had “tens of thousands” of documents marked classified on her server. She had NONE. To be brief, of roughly 44,500 emails that were on or had been on Clinton’s server, the FBI has found NONE marked classified when sent to her server. When the FBI asked the SENDERS of those emails or the government agency “owners” of the information in those emails years after those emails had been sent, if there was any material in those emails that SHOULD have been marked classified when sent, the senders came up with 113 about which they said, in effect: “Ooops, these should have been marked classified when we sent them. Our mistake!” What was the proper place for those 113 emails? Had they been properly marked, they would not have been sent to Clinton’s server! If marked classified, those emails would have been sent through one of the two State Department closed and secure systems for classified emails and documents, SIPRNet for Confidential and Secret emails and documents or JWICS for Top Secret emails and documents, both of which have to be accessed through a closed and secure room called a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF), from which nothing can be forwarded to a unclassified system like NIPRNet or Clinton’s server. Clinton would have accessed those 113 emails through one of three SCIFs installed in her office and her residences in Washington D.C. and Chappaqua. But, because those 113 emails came in unclassified through an unclassified system like NIPRNet, and because in government, it is the SENDERS’ responsibility to assign and be responsible for the classification, Clinton assumed those 113 emails (an average of one every two weeks) were UNCLASSIFIED (if she even read them). And the 33,000 that were deleted? Clinton turned over roughly 30,000 of her emails to the State Department and deleted another 33,000 that her lawyers concluded were personal. In its investigation last year, the FBI recovered 14,500 of those 33,000 (The New York Times says the number is 14,900) and found nothing marked classified. And there’s no reason to think they will find any such emails on the laptop Huma Abedin shared with her husband (from whom she has since separated). Regarding the new batch of emails disclosed by the FBI yesterday: If any of those emails were marked classified, it would be immediately apparent. There would be large headings and probably footers to indicate whether those emails are Confidential, Secret, or Top Secret. Had they been so marked they would NOT have been sent through NIPRNet and forwarded by Abedin to her shared laptop or to Clinton’s server, but would have been sent through SIPRNet or JWICS to be viewed and answered in one of three SCIFs installed in Clinton’s office and in her residences in Washington D.C. and Chappaqua. Donald Trump is the wrong answer to the right question. Tens of millions of us are right to be deeply frustrated and angry. But it’s not “the government” that should be blamed, it’s the Republicans who’ve determinedly prevented it from solving our problems. You want change? You want to break the gridlock? Just give us two years. Two years of a Democratic Congress and we’ll put Americans to work revitalizing our infrastructure – the Republicans blocked that. We’ll boost the economy and cut government subsidies by hiking the minimum wage – the Republicans blocked that. We’ll let you refinance your federal student loans at today’s low rates – the Republicans blocked that. We’ll enact the comprehensive immigration reform Marco Rubio crafted that passed the Senate 68-32 and that economists say would boost the economy – the Republicans blocked that. Just give us two years to get America really rocking! Just give us two years. Click here to vote, here to volunteer, here to contribute.