Regarding the latest chapter in this ongoing scandal -- the announcement by FBI Director James Comey that his agents had found as many as 650,000 Clinton emails saved on the hard-drive of the disgraced former Congressman Anthony Wiener (he of the penis instagrams), the now-separated spouse of top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin. While nobody knows at this point -- perhaps even Comey himself -- whether some or all of those 33,000 emails improperly erased by Clinton and her staff during the investigation of her private server are included in that huge cache, the odds are good that at least some of them are. After all, Comey knew he'd be taking tremendous heat for announcing this discovery days before the election, and that if Clinton, ahead in the polls, were to win the election, his days as FBI Director would be numbered. So he must believe that the contents of some of the emails are so damaging to Clinton that not reporting on the finding before Election Day would have been even worse for him and his reputation.
If it were to turn out that those deleted emails were not just about "birthdays, weddings and other personal things" as insisted by Clinton, the impact upon a Clinton presidency would be devastating.
Already, news of the reopened FBI investigation into Clinton's emails is cutting her lead in critical swing states, and perhaps worse, is putting Democratic control of the House, and perhaps the Senate too out of reach.
This brings us to the final reason why no progressive voter should cast a ballot for Clinton: her obscene efforts, along with the Democratic National Committee which she had in her pocket from the outset of her campaign, to sabotage the primary campaign of the tremendously popular Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT). This sabotage, we now know from leaked emails as well as from disenchanted party officials, like DNC vice chair Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) who resigned her position, ranged from scheduling early debates between Clinton and Sanders for times when there would be fewer viewers, like during the Superbowl, to planting anti-Sanders hit pieces in major news media, including even the New York Times and Washington Post.
The leaderships of many labor unions, including for example the American Federation of Teachers, rammed through early endorsements of Clinton, in some cases months before the first primary was held, often over the strenuous objections of the rank and file. The argument was always made that Sanders, while a good guy, "cannot win."
How does that play now? Sanders would have been looking at a Democratic landslide today against Donald Trump. Instead we have two corrupt narcissists running against each other, and the entire electorate is talking about holding its collective nose and voting...and then perhaps, along with many Republicans, puking in revulsion at what they've just done.
One last thought. The other desperate gambit of the sinking Clinton campaign is to point to the Supreme Court, currently, thanks to the untimely but fortuitous demise of the junketing Justice Antonin Scalia, evenly divided between conservative and liberal judges, and to warn of the opportunity Trump could have to appoint new Scalia clones over his four-year term as President.
First of all, let's recall that it's not at all certain that Trump would be replacing liberal jurists. Scalia's acolyte, Justice Clarence Thomas, who is known for doing whatever Scalia did, while only 68, is at least as unhealthy looking as was the late Scalia. And Reagan appointee Justice Anthony Kennedy, the least conservative of the four right-leaning jurists on the bench, is 80, and could easily decide it's time to retire sometime over the next four years. Chief Justice John Roberts, while only 61 and seemingly healthy looking, is prone to serious epileptic seizures, which points to a certain vulnerability, particularly to falls.
On the liberal side of the court, the oldest member is Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, who at 83 is a cancer survivor. That is worrisome, but she seems to be a tough and committed woman, who could well beat the actuarial odds out of sheer intransigence and dedication. The other three liberals -- Elena Kagan, 55, Sonia Sotomayor, 60, and Stephen Breyer, 78 -- are all seemingly healthy, and should be able to hang on through a Trump presidency.
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