Philadelphia 2016- The Mirror that is Hillary’s Glass Ceiling

On Thursday night, Hillary Rodham Clinton claimed the nomination of her Democrat Party at the Wells Fargo Center Arena in Philadelphia Pennsylvania.

For herself, and for the many women who support her, her nomination represents what they believe to be a broken “glass ceiling,” much as Barack Obama’s nomination in 2008 represented the same for himself, and for the many black Americans who support him, as well. While other women have been nominated to the U.S. presidency before, Hillary’s nomination was the first by a major political party.

So be it…history made.

Taking full advantage of this notable nuance, Hillary’s video feed on Tuesday night, following the state-by-state roll call of Democrat delegates, showed individual portraits of the forty-three men who have been president of this country and was followed by a composite portrait of all of these men taken together. Suddenly, the composite portrait seemingly shattered on the screen, to the sound of glass breaking, and Hillary Clinton suddenly appeared in a closed-circuit video feed smiling and savoring her special moment. The messaging was clear- another barrier broken.

So be it…history made…and that was where the fantasy began.

After speeches by Michele Obama, President Obama and former President Bill Clinton, and their daughter, Chelsea, all designed to conjure up and create anew an image of Hillary as the perfect wife, the perfect mother and the “most qualified person to ever run for president,” Hillary arrived to claim credence to this fantasy. For most of the delegates gathered in the arena, and for her undying supporters across the nation, this was the moment they all had waited for, and even the worst of speeches by the Democrat nominee would not have altered this moment for any of them.

…and then, Hillary spoke.

Her tone, altogether condescending and authoritative, much like a school principal laying into a wayward student for misdeeds, took on an air of angry admonishment- particularly when taking her Republican rival, Donald Trump, to task. In between these insults (and there were many), Hillary gleamed in both adoration from her supporters and in the self-adoration for which she is well-known. Interspersed within these segments was a litany of liberal talking points and policy platitudes designed to lure Bernie Sanders’ supporters into the fold of her candidacy. Promises, promises… but yet, no meat on the bones of these promises.

While all, and we mean all, of the mainstream media has joined into the fantasy that this was a more-unified convention than the Republican convention the preceding week, close observation of her acceptance speech revealed something else. Vertical banners, depicting “HILLARY” spelled out in white letters on blue backgrounds occasionally had parts of the lettering marked out to reveal another word- “LIAR,” unmistakably showing that the final night of the convention was anything but unified. The most ardent and verbal of Bernie Sanders’ supporters, particularly from the state of California, were locked out of the final night- their seats given instead to Hillary supporters not originally invited to attend the convention. Coached to chant “Hillary, Hillary” anytime chants to the contrary began, her minions attempted to shout down the voices of disenchantment, all in an effort to portray a narrative that was not quite real- a narrative that all had supposedly united behind their queen.

Taken together, Hillary’s “glass ceiling” seemed rather a mirror of her own self-admiration, evoking a memory of the moment in Snow White, when the queen gazes into her own magic mirror and intones, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”

Let the mirror of a watching nation provide a certain and final answer to this queen’s inquiry, once and for all.

-Drew Nickell, 29 July 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

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Philadelphia 2016 – a Tale of Two Clintons

After an unquestionably horrible start to the 2016 Democrats’ National Convention in Philadelphia, one in which DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz was forced to resign as a result of leaked e-mails revealing the depth of corruption behind Hillary Clinton’s nomination, former President Bill Clinton attempted to rescue his wife’s candidacy last night in an address to the delegates assembled there.

In a long, drawn-out and meandering speech, the former president painted a picture of Hillary as the great crusader against all things unjust, and proffered an argument that his wife was an agent of “real change” and that hers was a history of problem solving in the wake of scorn and opposition, going back to the days when she was a law student at Yale University. He spoke of an idyllic romance between the two, over the course of four years, and painted a picture of undying love, admiration and romantic intrigue, as only Bill Clinton can do, and he gave it his level best, saying that all of the negative history of the real Hillary Clinton cannot be true, based solely upon his own recounting, and therefore must only be a fabrication of those who oppose her candidacy, instead.

Of course, when recounting his everlasting love, deep admiration and high regard for his wife, Bill Clinton conveniently omitted the numerous affairs in which he has engaged, the number of sexual assaults he perpetrated against scores of women who felt the wrath of Hillary Clinton when they leveled complaints against her husband of forty-one years- complaints that started to surface early into their marriage.

When attempting to enumerate all of the wonderful contributions Hillary has made to benefit women, children, the down-trodden and disadvantaged, no mention was made of ethics violations resulting in her being fired by the Watergate Investigative Committee, nor of her illegal cattle-futures trading, nor of Whitewater. No mention was made of Travel-gate, no mention was made of Vince Foster and Ron Brown’s mysterious deaths, nor of how she (and he) both managed to lose their licenses to practice law in Arkansas.

While trying to paint her tenure as Secretary of State as one of accomplishment and success, Bill Clinton conveniently brushed aside the disaster of her handling of the Arab Spring, her disastrous policy in Syria and Libya, her role in and lying to the nation and lying to the survivors families about the events taking place in Benghazi on September 11, 2012, and her handling of the mullahs in Iran which led up to the Iran “deal,” which effectively handed over $150 billion dollars to that government and has paved the way for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons without interference from U.S. and U.N. inspections.

No mention was made of the “pay for play” contributions made by foreign governments to the Clinton Foundation, and no mention was made of the criminal activity surrounding her use of a private server while Secretary of State, the tens of thousands of deleted e-mails nor the storing and transmission of classified documents to individuals not authorized to see such documents.

Often wagging his index finger, in precisely the same manner as he did when he assured a watching nation that he “did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss (Monica) Lewinsky, and never told anybody to lie about it, not ever,” he conjured a tale of all of the wonderful things that is the essence of what he suggests to be the real Hillary Clinton, with all of the poise and sincerity of a carnival barker trying to entice naïve and gullible patrons to pay the price of admission and enter the carnival freak-show of believing in and worshiping at the altar of Hillary Clinton.

From the looks of admirers in the audience, it appears that Bill Clinton was quite successful in convincing them, that all of the horrendous tales of his wife’s misdeeds were mere fabrications of Republicans in general, and Donald Trump, specifically, with no basis in truth, whatsoever.

Nevertheless, people who know the real Hillary Clinton- the informed who bother to research her past, the many women who have fallen under the libelous and slanderous attacks she has made against them for complaints against her lecherous husband, and those whose family members have perished as a result of her own incompetence- these people are not swayed by the tale that Bill Clinton has so artfully spun.

Therefore, the question in this election year of 2016, is whether or not the people in the real world who know the truth, will outnumber the millions and minions of those living in Hillary’s Wonderland, where she can do no wrong and who believe the lie that she is “the most qualified person in history” to become President of the United States.

-Drew Nickell, 27 July 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

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Philadelphia 2016- The Democrats’ National Convention Opens

With the height of summer’s heat beating down on the City of Brotherly Love, the Democrats opened their 2016 national convention today at the Wells Fargo Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Amidst a growing scandal- yet another e-mail scandal, no less– the Democrats will spend this week trying to hold together an increasingly-fractured coalition that is breaking down into two camps- one for the presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton, and the other for her erstwhile challenger, Bernie Sanders (I-VT).

Sanders, who spent much of his campaign noting the “rigged system” of super-delegates already lined up and in the tank for Mrs. Clinton, has received a great degree of validation for these claims, based upon thousands of e-mails, released at the end of last week by WikiLeaks, indicating that the Democratic National Committee was all in for Hillary Clinton well before the primary and caucus season even began. So egregious and so over-the-top was this collusion between the Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee, that DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) has been forced to resign her position as DNC Chairwoman, effective at the conclusion of this week’s convention. She will be replaced by another “Clintonista”, one Donna Brazile, whose own e-mails have revealed a strong level of contempt for the Vermont senator’s campaign.

Meanwhile and not surprisingly, the Clinton campaign and the presumptive nominee herself, Hillary Clinton, have claimed to be completely unaware and out of the loop on this collusion, but interestingly have not condemned this collusion, either. Instead, Hillary Clinton has appointed the soon-to-be-departing Debbie Wasserman-Schultz to be honorary Chairwoman of the Hillary 2016 Campaign Committee, presumably as a token of appreciation for all that Wasserman-Schultz did to ensure Hillary’s nomination- which included limiting the number and scope of the debates between Hillary and her Democrat rivals, and curtailing the times to which they were aired on television. With a super-delegate system put into place by the Democratic National Committee and led by Wasserman-Schultz, there was no way that Bernie Sanders could have been nominated, despite his very strong showing during the primary and caucus season, and his legions of Sanders supporters who vehemently oppose Hillary Clinton’s nomination.

Yet another “Clintonista,” one Tim Kaine (D-VA), was selected on Friday to be Hillary Clinton’s running mate in the fall campaign, much to the chagrin of Bernie’s supporters who were hoping for a far-more liberal choice in Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). As of this writing, it is rumored that Bernie’s supporters will stage a walk-out during Kaine’s address to the convention on Wednesday, due to their disdain for both Kaine’s selection and the means by which Hillary was able to snare the nomination, herself.

The highlights of the DNC convention include Monday’s speeches by Bernie Sanders and Michele Obama, Tuesday’s speech by former President Bill Clinton, Wednesday’s speeches by presumptive vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, and Thursday’s addresses by Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea, and the candidate herself, Hillary Clinton. Other notable speakers during this week’s convention will include former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Whether the convention will be burned by the scorching heat of Philadelphia’s weather, or by further e-mail releases by WikiLeaks, or if they will “feel the Bern” from Sanders’ supporters, one thing is for certain- it will be a hot time in Philadelphia, this week.

-Drew Nickell, 25 July 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

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Cleveland 2016- the Speech that Could Not and Would Not be Denied

Last night, before an audience that spanned the globe, real estate mogul and businessman Donald J. Trump formally accepted the nomination of the Republican Party for the presidency of the United States- a feat that no one would have thought possible thirteen months ago, except for the candidate, himself.

When Donald Trump announced his campaign to secure the Republican nomination on 16 June 2015, he said confidently that he would win the nomination, and win it big. Practically all of the politicos, including television and print journalists, Republican and Democrat politicians, pundits, pollsters and the so-called “experts,” laughed about his prospects, first opining that the announcement was merely a public relations stunt, a joke, and by some, even an attempt to clandestinely aid Hillary Clinton in her own quest for the presidency. In doing so, he became the fodder for late-night television hosts, political talk-show hosts and scores of commentators who made fun of, and derisively scorned, the man known as “the Donald.” As the months progressed and the debates evolved, his candidacy continued to be mocked and scorned, as most all of his erstwhile Republican rivals said his was a campaign not to be taken seriously. Even at the onset of the Republican National Convention, after he had secured enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot, the NeverTrump cabal of Trump deniers tried in vain to wrest the nomination away from him…and yet, somehow, some way…it all turned out to be the case, that the “joke” was on them, and that Donald Trump inexorably got the last laugh.

In winning the nomination, it was Donald Trump who not only won more primary and caucus votes than any Republican in history, and not only inspired a 60% increase in Republican voter participation while Democrats saw a 20% decrease in their own voter participation (as compared to 2012), he accomplished a revolt and a re-orientation of the Republican brand, itself. What started as a campaign quickly evolved into a movement- a movement to change America from the status quo of fecklessness and globalist-internationalism to a more robust and self-assertive stance on the world stage.

No longer the party of the Bush family, no longer the party of the mainstream, milquetoast and oh-so-moderate, go-along-with, get-along-with “Republi-can’ts” who promised much and delivered little, Donald Trump effectively re-defined and re-oriented the G.O.P. away from its globalist, corporate-influenced and so-called conservative focus, and more towards a nationalist and populist America-first party, bent on re-asserting American pre-eminence, independence and assertiveness.

In a seventy-six minute acceptance speech, Donald Trump hit on every single issue facing America today, stressing his overall vision that he will make his entire presidency all about putting America and Americans first. Not since Ronald Reagan in 1980, has there been any nominee of either party, so wrapped in American exceptionalism, and one that has embodied a movement of change, real change, in the way America approaches the challenges here at home and around the world. He also laid out a comprehensive accounting of precisely why an election of Hillary Clinton would be a catastrophe for America, given the Democrat nominee’s decades-long record of deceit, dishonesty and corruption.

This election, this year, just as the nomination that preceded it, has become Donald Trump’s very own election to lose, despite the fact that Democrats, “Republi-can’ts”, members of the mainstream media, political “experts” and pollsters everywhere will try to hammer home the lie that Trump cannot possibly prevail in November…and mark our words, it will be none other than Donald Trump who will once again have the last laugh on the lot of them.

Bring it!

-Drew Nickell, 22 July 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

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Cleveland 2016- “Bugs” Trump vs “Elmer” Cruz – “Looney Tunes” becomes “Merrie Melodies”

Anyone, say, over forty-five years of age, remembers the Saturday morning television staples of the Warner Brothers’ cartoons. Entitled Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, now deemed too violent by the politically correct “weenies” for the precious sensitivities of today’s youth, they were once the very high point of Saturday morning television fare to aging members of the baby boom generation. Its unforgettable cast of characters included Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd and, invariably, it was Bugs who got the best of Elmer. In many of the episodes, when the hunter Elmer was about to shoot the wise-cracking Bugs, the “wascally wabbit” would ask, “Eh, what’s up, doc?,” put his finger into the barrel of Elmer’s shotgun and the shotgun would backfire into Elmer’s face.

Last night’s drama at the Republican National Convention seemingly took on the same familiar plot of those long-ago classics and, despite the mainstream media carping of how Senator Ted Cruz “sabotaged” Donald Trump’s nomination, revealed the simple mastery of strategy that is “the Donald’s.”

Plagued by rattlesnake “Republi-can’ts” who are, despite insisting upon and then signing pledges to support the candidacy of whoever wins the Republican nomination, including Jeb Bush, John Kasich, Lindsey Graham, Carly Fiorina and Ted Cruz (among others in the NeverTrump sewer), still smarting from the smack-downs of their own defeats, Donald Trump once again set a trap into which all of these sore losers have stumbled- and he did so on prime-time television, without saying a word. Knowing in advance that Ted Cruz was not going to endorse the Trump-Pence ticket, and having read the speech prior to its delivery, “the Donald” allowed the Texas Senator and erstwhile rival to make a horse’s ass of himself last night and, in so doing, showed a watching world that Cruz and the rest of his NeverTrump collaborators, at long last, care more about their own bruised egos and self-interests than they do about the country, itself.

While real Republicans and real conservatives who, surprisingly, included Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, and who are rallying around the Trump candidacy, because they know that a Hillary Clinton presidency will only bring disaster on this country’s short-term and long-term future, it was the hypocritical and thoroughly dishonorable Cruz who showed his true colors last night, and it was Ted Cruz who was booed off of the very stage that Donald Trump had magnanimously offered him in the first place.

In so doing, Cruz not only sealed his fate concerning any future Republican presidential candidacy, a Trump victory in November would likely end his chances of retaining his Senate seat when it comes up for re-election in 2018.

While the mainstream media will continue its mission to pan each night of the Republican convention, emphasizing the attempted revolt of Cruz supporters on Monday, stressing accusations of plagiarism of Melania Trump’s speech on Tuesday, and opining the lack of strategy on Trump’s part by allowing Cruz to speak, sans endorsement, on Wednesday, it is the strategic and calculating Donald Trump who stands to prevail at the end of this convention, tonight.

All he has to do is to follow his children’s impressive lead with a knockout speech tonight, in Cleveland, and then it’s on to victory in November.

As Bugs Bunny used to say, “eh, what’s up, doc?”

-Drew Nickell, 21 July 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

author of “Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times”

now available at Amazon.com

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Cleveland 2016- The Republican National Convention Opens

With scarcely 112 days until Election Day 2016, the Republican National Convention opened today at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The Republican convention, all based on nominee Donald Trump’s campaign theme “Make America Great Again,” will be comprised of four themes during the four days which will culminate in Donald Trump’s acceptance speech Thursday night, July 21^st.

On Monday night, the theme will be “Make America Safe Again,” and will be highlighted with a speech by Donald Trump’s wife, Melania Trump.

Tuesday’s theme will be “Make America Work Again,” will include the roll call of the states, and will be highlighted with speeches by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Dr. Ben Carson, and two of Donald Trump’s children, Donald, Jr. and Tiffany.

Wednesday’s program, “Make America First Again,” will include speeches by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Donald Trump’s son, Eric, and the GOP Vice-Presidential nominee, Indiana Governor Mike Pence.

On slate for Thursday, “Make America One Again,” will feature the acceptance speech by GOP Nominee Donald Trump, who will be introduced by his daughter, Ivanka Trump.

Many other well-known Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) are slated to speak during the convention, along with a host of celebrities and other headliners, as well, all in an effort to unify the Republican Party behind the candidacy of Donald J. Trump. Such unity will be key to a Trump victory, following the most contentious Republican primary and caucus season in memory. No doubt, Trump’s selection of Indiana Governor Mike Pence will go far in uniting the Republican Party as it enters into the fall campaign.

Notably absent from the convention will be ailing President George H.W. Bush, his sons former President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (who signed a pledge to support the eventual nominee), Ohio Governor John Kasich (who also signed a pledge to support the eventual nominee) and former nominees Mitt Romney and John McCain. These “Republi-can’ts,” who cannot live up to either party loyalty or in some cases, signed pledges to the contrary, presumably will be stewing in their own juices of jealousy and discord because they just couldn’t manage to get their way.

Something tells us that at week’s end, they won’t be missed, for in the final analysis and much to their chagrin, the Republican Party is no longer theirs to “own,” anymore.

-Drew Nickell, 18 July 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT : Drew Nickell’s New Book, Bending Your Ear-a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times, is Now Available

Drew Nickell’s New Book, Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times, is now available for sale on Amazon.com. Here is the link to purchase Drew’s book on Amazon.

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-Drew Nickell

15 July 2016

(author’s note- In light of the massacre last night in Dallas perpetrated against police officers of the Dallas Police Department and officers of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, we thought we might re-post this essay from August of last year. It is to these fallen officers, and the families they left behind, that we dedicate this re-posting.)

When Lives Matter

Ferguson…Baltimore…Brooklyn…Charleston…Roanoke…Houston…and, like the Energizer Bunny™ the list just keeps going and going and going…but where?…

Of all of the social movements that have grown out of the events referred to above, perhaps the most moronic, the most divisive, and alas, the most racist, is the “Black Lives Matter” movement which has taken a strangle-hold of the political left, with the blessing of the most divisive president in the history of the United States, Barack Hussein Obama. Like no other president in the last two hundred thirty-six years, Obama has done more to divide people along racial lines than the sum total of all his forty-three predecessors, combined.

It is not without reasonable notice that the President of the United States has much to say about the evils of racism when a black man is killed by a white man, but when a white man is killed by a black man, either nothing is said OR the blame falls on the gun, rather than the assailant. Given the fact that 95% of all black men killed by guns are killed by black men, the president is woefully silent with regards to black-on-black crime, instead blaming this violence on the lack of gun control laws. Never mind the statistical reality that gun violence is greatest in cities which have the strictest gun control laws enacted. Better to blame the weapon than the moral depravity of the assailant, and this is where the president’s moral authority is most lacking.

A president is supposed to lead ALL of the people- not just the people who support him, nor the people whose race with which he identifies, nor even the members of his own political party, but rather ALL of the people. To do otherwise is to engage in the malpractice of the politics of division, emulating the modus operandi of Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Castro and other megalomaniacs who sought power in precisely the same manner- conquest via division.

Do black lives matter, really matter?

Well, of course black lives matter, just as white lives matter, as do yellow lives, brown lives and red lives, and yes, even blue lives matter, too. In fact, ALL lives matter- and anyone who does not agree that ALL lives matter is the REAL racist. While a Martin O’Malley can apologize after saying that all lives matter, and while a Bernie Sanders can surrender his microphone to a black-lives-matter protester, and while a Hillary Clinton can exploit the black-lives-matter movement as a means to harvest a particular block of voters, these politicians are only serving to make matters worse, by giving legitimacy to what, in reality, is a racist movement- one that implies that black lives matter more than other lives. To suggest otherwise is ironically deemed racist, by the politically correct, when actually the opposite ideology is true… All lives DO matter.

We don’t hear chants that police lives matter, despite the fact that twenty-three law enforcement officers have been killed so far, in 2015 alone. We don’t hear that Christian lives matter, despite the wholesale genocide of Christians in areas controlled by ISIS. We don’t hear that unborn lives matter, despite the millions of babies whose organs are being harvested, for profit, by Planned Parenthood and other such organizations. The hypocrisy is quite obvious- and revealing.

Whoever is elected the next president of the United States will unfortunately be placed into the unenviable position of having to clean up this horrible legacy of the Obama administration – a legacy which has set back race relations sixty years, through pitting one race against another during the term of his presidency. Any candidate who lacks the moral courage to insist that ALL lives matter, has no business being elected President of the United States, regardless of who they are, or the party from which they are nominated. Anyone who does not agree with this premise should own up to being exactly what they are- inherently racist and would serve this country best by surrendering their right to vote.

-Drew Nickell, 31 August 2015

(author’s note- Energizer Bunny™ is a registered trademark of Energizer Holding, Inc., manufacturer of batteries under the same trademarked name.)

© 2015 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved

“So, You Think You’re Out of the Woods, Hillary?” … Hmmmm … Not so Fast…

Hillary Clinton, and more importantly her surrogates, will again and again, repeat and repeat the mantra that “it’s time to move on,” because there are no criminal charges being filed against her, regarding the FBI’s e-mail server(s) investigation. They will no doubt do this, with all of the joyous enthusiasm akin to old people whistling as they pass the graveyard, and/or convicts whistling as they pass the gallows.

Hold on, sports fans…

What we do know is that FBI Director James Comey decided to recommend to the Justice Department that they not proceed with filing a criminal indictment against Mrs. Clinton, following his bureau’s investigation of the Clinton’s illegal use of private e-mail servers while she was Secretary of State. Despite the fact that he outlined several instances where Hillary Clinton in fact violated U.S. Criminal Code Chapter 18: §793 (f), which does not require the stipulation of intent, he made his decision based upon his finding that “she didn’t intend to do harm.” In other words, after a lengthy and detailed objective review of all of the ways Hillary Clinton clearly violated the law, he arrived upon a subjective conclusion that she didn’t “intend to break the law,” all the while insisting that the former Secretary of State was being treated like anyone else under the same circumstances.

Hmmmm.

As promised, his boss Attorney General Loretta Lynch, wasted no time in formally announcing that the investigation is over.

Comey appeared before the House Oversight Committee on Thursday to explain his convoluted and consternated reasoning, and confirmed the divergent, discombobulated path he strode to arrive at this conclusion. Predictably, the Republican members on the Committee did the best they could to inquire as to his reasoning, while Democrats used their time to make speeches accusing the Republicans of impugning Comey’s reputation (they didn’t) and conducting a partisan witch hunt of their own creation (it was Hillary’s), and when they weren’t doing this, they spent their time deflecting the inquiry to off-topic discussions of issues completely unrelated to the subject at hand, and even…bashing Donald Trump.

And yet…

It seems to be the case, nevertheless, that what was not said at the hearing means that Hillary Clinton is, by no means, out of the woods…no, not by a long shot…not yet.

When asked about the investigation into the Clinton Foundation, Comey refused to comment (suggesting that that investigation is ongoing).

When asked about the e-mail situation as it relates to the Clinton Foundation, still “no comment” (suggesting that that investigation is still ongoing).

When asked whether or not Hillary committed multiple counts of perjury in her testimony last fall to the Benghazi Committee, Comey said that “this wasn’t part of his bureau’s investigation.”

When asked why it wasn’t, he said that it “wasn’t part of the referral” he received from the State Department’s Inspector General.

When asked if he would need such a referral to pursue such an investigation, he said, “Yes, I would.”

On that point, Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) promised he would be getting the said referral “within a few hours.” We’ll see if this happens.

In a forty-five second back and forth with Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), who chaired last fall’s Benghazi committee, the Director admitted that Clinton’s oft-repeated statements that she never transmitted nor received classified e-mails (she did), that none of the e-mails in question were marked classified (they were), that she only used a single device (she used many), that she turned over all of the subpoenaed e-mails (she didn’t), and that her own private server was secure (it wasn’t), were all false- essentially confirming that Hillary Clinton has lied on countless occasions to the American people- in debates, in her campaign appearances, and in her sworn testimony before Congress.

We also learned that Hillary Clinton granted access to her e-mails, including classified, top-secret e-mails to her attorneys- attorneys who were not authorized to view classified e-mails. It was these attorneys who deleted 33,000 e-mails at her behest.

We also learned that the director himself was not present when Hillary Clinton was interviewed by five FBI agents on Saturday, July 2^nd. We learned that the interview was not under oath, and that the question was never asked of Mrs. Clinton if she ever lied about anything related to the investigation. We also learned that she was never asked why she set up the server(s) in the first place, she was never asked whether or not she knowingly sent or received classified e-mails, and she was never asked about why her lawyers deleted 33,000 e-mails. On several occasions, Director Comey couldn’t recall precisely what questions were asked, and only promised to release “what he could” of the notes taken at this interview.

In other words, five FBI agents spent three and one half hours interviewing Hillary Clinton, during which no recordings of the interview took place, and that Director Comey hadn’t spoken with these five agents prior to announcing on Tuesday that it was his considered opinion that “no prosecutor in their right mind” would pursue a criminal referral into Mrs. Clinton’s violation of U.S. Criminal Code Chapter 18: §793 (f), so in essence the FBI Director took it upon himself to make the final determination, based on nothing more than his own gut feeling.

All of which leads us to wonder whether or not Saturday’s interview with Mrs. Clinton was more of a courtesy summary briefing than an investigative interrogatory.

Add this to the pending criminal referral of perjury against Mrs. Clinton’s testimony at the Benghazi hearing last fall, the continuing investigation into influence peddling at the Clinton Foundation, and it is easy to see that her legal troubles haven’t quite left her side, and that her political problems have barely gotten started in this election year- a year in which there is broad skepticism and derision being spewed at “insiders,” of which she appears to be the ultimate insider.

Advantage, Trump.

-Drew Nickell, 7 July 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

FBI Director Comey: Hillary Broke the Law, BUT We Recommend No Charges

U.S. Criminal Code §793 (f):   “Whoever, being entrusted with or having lawful possession or control of any document, writing, code book, signal book, sketch, photograph, photographic negative, blueprint, plan, map, model, instrument, appliance, note, or information,  relating to the national defense, (1) through gross negligence  permits the same to be removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of his trust, or to be lost, stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, or (2) having knowledge that the same has  been illegally removed from its proper place of custody or delivered to anyone in violation of its trust, or lost, or stolen, abstracted, or destroyed, and fails to make prompt report of such  loss, theft,  abstraction, or destruction to his superior officer— shall be fined  under this title, or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.”

Well, we all knew last week that the “fix’ was in, when former President Bill Clinton climbed aboard Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s plane for a private conversation with her. For that matter, we knew the “fix” was in when, last September, President Obama said that he didn’t believe that there was any criminal wrongdoing on the part of Hillary Clinton.

Despite the fact that more than 58 e-mail chains on Secretary Clinton’s private e-mail server were clearly marked classified, and thereby subject to criminal prosecution under the US Criminal Code § 793(f), the FBI Director nevertheless indicated that he will not recommend criminal charges be filed against the presumptive Democrat nominee.

Translation- Despite his record of above-the-board, beyond-the-political criminal investigations, FBI Director James Comey “caved” to the political reality that, had he done the right thing and recommended a criminal referral to the Department of Justice against Hillary Clinton, that such a referral at the end of the day would be summarily rejected. Comey clearly lied when he said that “nobody in the administration knew what he was about to say,” when he delivered a statement concerning the investigation. It was obvious that this decision had already been made, prior to Hillary Clinton being interviewed by FBI this past weekend, following Loretta Lynch’s comments that she would “likely accept the recommendations of the FBI,” and prior to President Obama flying to North Carolina with Secretary Clinton aboard Air Force One, to attend campaign events at her behest.

In essence, precisely that which General David Petraeus was indicted for a single instance, Hillary Clinton escaped indictment for many, many times the same violation. In other words, yes it’s true that the Clintons have been beyond the reach of the law for decades, and continue to remain beyond the law, thanks to the corruption that is the Federal government in Washington, DC.

But don’t expect the mainstream media to tell the truth about this- as they are, as they have always been, deep in the tank for the Democrats in general, and for Hillary Clinton, in particular.

Advantage Clinton.

-Drew Nickell, 5 July 2016

© 2016 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved.

(authors note- In the run-up to the Fourth of July national holiday weekend, we are re-posting this essay from last year, calling for a true Independence Day, which will also appear in our book, Bending Your Ear- a Collection of Essays on the Issues of Our Times, due for release c. August 15, 2016)

Why we need a true Independence Day

July 4^th, 2015 will mark the 239^th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. To commemorate America’s birthday, there will be the customary parades and fireworks displays and bar-b-ques and picnics all across the land, just as there should be. Americans- the TRUE Americans who are not swept up in the anti-Americanism that seems to be the “cause celebre du jour” that has taken hold of many on the left- will no doubt celebrate America’s birthday and all for which it has stood, and still stands, today.

This is the Independence Day which most of us revere, and which most of us are familiar.

However, there is a grievous need for another type of Independence Day- a TRUE Independence Day- the type of Independence Day which will reaffirm all that has made us independent, and thereby, has guaranteed the freedoms that we all-too-often take for granted. In essence, we need an Independence Day which will revive the slumbering spirit of independence, before we finally lose this spirit.

The spirit of independence has little to do with governmental largesse. In fact, it is this same sense of governmental largesse that has come to threaten our very freedoms and sense of independence as we know it.

This spirit of independence is thwarted by the demands for welfare and the transition to a welfare state. This spirit of independence evaporates with every new user added to the growing rolls of public assistance- EBT, extended unemployment benefits, pre-retirement social security distributions attributable to growing and specious disability payments, aid for dependent mothers, and other such programs, all of which have grown exponentially in the last decade. For every person thus put on the public dole, there is one less person who is independent, and one more person who, albeit unintentionally, weakens our nation.

This spirit of independence is threatened by the growing clarion calls for universal (meaning government-provided) cradle-to-grave health care- as though good health were something that should be not only guaranteed as a right, but provided for, by right, when such an ideology does more than anything else to increase the burden on healthcare providers and take ever more earnings from those who still work for a living, by transferring their wealth to those who refuse to work for a living.

This spirit of independence is under attack by those who favor open borders, to those who believe that suffrage (the right to vote) should be extended to non-citizens who increase dependency on social programs, the cost of which is already spinning well out of control. The costs of uncontrolled and illegal immigration, when measured in terms of the crimes being perpetrated by many entering illegally through our porous southern borders, are enormous- and exponentially growing, year by year.

The spirit of independence is assaulted by those who believe that post high school education should be “free”- meaning that it should be paid for by increased corporate taxation, despite the very fact that the United States already has the very highest corporate tax rate in the entire world. The strains that this ideology places upon those who pay their own tuition, and those who must borrow money to pay for their own tuition does more than anything else, to astronomically increase the cost of education to ridiculously high levels. These costs are increasing at such an a alarming rate that we are quickly approaching the day that we will see the margins of diminishing returns apply to the demand for college education- in essence, a college education will be deemed not worthy of the costs of acquiring a college education.

It has been said that a nation in which people depend upon government for everything is a nation of servants- that to depend upon government for everything will produce a system where the people are subject to the loss of personal freedom…in essence, we become enslaved to our masters in government, who would seek to control all aspects of our lives, in exchange for the largesse they provide.

This dependence is NOT that upon which our forefathers risked their lives, their property and their sacred honor, as stated in the Declaration of Independence. They did not fight a war with Great Britain to create a nation of “suckling pigs” permanently attached to the teats of a massive “sow” that is government largesse. No, these patriots were the very expression of self-sufficiency and independence that once made this nation the greatest in the world. Yet now, those very things that made us so strong and independent are threatened, to the point of extinction, by the ever-increasing dependence on the state for everything we want, and determine to be our entitlement.

On this, the 239^th anniversary of American independence, let us resolve to reincarnate a spirit of TRUE independence. Let us endeavor to revive the spirit of self-sufficiency, and reacquire the can-do determination to make for ourselves a more perfect union, without having to depend upon someone else to do this for us. Let us, as a nation, once again project a righteous indignation to persevere on, without having to depend upon a state that would seek to further enslave and constrain our desire to pursue our birthright for this day, and for all time.

-Drew Nickell, 2 July 2015

© 2015 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved