Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Nuclear warfare] President Obama gave an address in Hiroshima, Japan, today: "In the image of a mushroom cloud that rose into these skies, we are most starkly reminded of humanity's core contradiction. How the very spark that marks us as a species, our thoughts, our imagination, our language, our toolmaking, our ability to set ourselves apart from nature and bend it to our will—those very things also give us the capacity for unmatched destruction. ...The world was forever changed here, but today the children of this city will go through their day in peace. What a precious thing that is. It is worth protecting, and then extending to every child. That is a future we can choose, a future in which Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare but as the start of our own moral awakening." Here is the entire text of his speech.
[CN: Rape culture] Here are my friends Jessica Luther and Dan Solomon on what's happening at Baylor. It is in large part because of their reporting, and because of their sensitive and unyielding commitment to survivors, that Baylor has now fired its football coach and demoted its president. Brave survivors and relentless reporters who made themselves trustworthy. I am so proud to know Jess and Dan.
RIP Hedy Epstein: "Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, 91, died at her home in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, on May 26, 2016. An internationally renowned, respected, and admired advocate for human and civil rights, Hedy was encircled by friends who lovingly cared for her at home." My condolences to her family, friends, colleagues, and admirers.
[CN: Self-harm] Sheila Foster Anthony, the sister of Vince Foster, has written a piece for the Washington Post about Donald Trump exploiting her brother's death to try to harm Hillary Clinton: "It is beyond contempt that a politician would use a family tragedy to further his candidacy, but such is the character of Donald Trump displayed in his recent comments to The Washington Post. In this interview, Trump cynically, crassly and recklessly insinuated that my brother, Vincent W. Foster Jr., may have been murdered because 'he had intimate knowledge of what was going on' and that Hillary Clinton may have somehow played a role in Vince's death. How wrong. How irresponsible. How cruel. ...For Trump to raise these theories again for political advantage is wrong. I cannot let such craven behavior pass without a response." I am so desperately sorry she had to write this.
I mean: "Fox, CNN, CNBC and MSNBC all featured this shot of an empty podium waiting for a Donald Trump press conference this afternoon. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton was in Las Vegas discussing her plans to raise incomes for working families."
Hahahahahahaha: "Hillary Clinton is the unofficial winner of the Kentucky Democratic presidential primary after a recanvass of results, Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Grimes announced Thursday. Bernie Sanders's campaign earlier this week asked Kentucky officials to review the votes from last week's primary after the results showed Clinton beating Sanders by just half a percentage point. The recanvass began Thursday morning. The State Board of Elections will certify the results on May 31 at 10 a.m., Grimes tweeted. 'The unofficial winner of Kentucky's Democratic presidential primary remains Hillary Clinton,' Grimes said at the press conference on Thursday." Welp, that's probably not how Jeff Weaver had hoped that would pan out!
"Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg doesn't like a Supreme Court operating with only eight justices... 'Eight, as you know, is not a good number for a multi-member court,' Ginsburg said Thursday at a New York conference for judges and lawyers. 'When we meet...next year, I anticipate reporting on the decisions of a full bench.'" From your mouth to Republican obstructionists' ears!
[CN: Illness] Yikes: "For the first time, researchers have found a person in the United States carrying bacteria resistant to antibiotic of last resort, an alarming development that the top U.S. public health official says could signal 'the end of the road' for antibiotics. The antibiotic-resistant strain was found last month in the urine of a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman. Defense Department researchers determined that she carried a strain of E. coli resistant to the antibiotic colistin, according to a study published Thursday in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a publication of the American Society for Microbiology. The authors wrote that the discovery 'heralds the emergence of a truly pan-drug resistant bacteria.'" As someone with an autoimmune disorder, I'm pretty terrified by this, even though I knew it was coming.
[CN: Video may autoplay at link] "At 96, Dr. Heimlich finally uses his life-saving technique: When he heard that a resident was choking, Perry Gaines, maître d' for the Deupree House dining room, ran toward the table. Gaines has been trained in the Heimlich maneuver and has performed it at least twice in the two years he has worked at the Hyde Park senior living facility. When Gaines arrived at the table, Dr. Henry Heimlich, a 96-year-old resident of the Deupree House who invented the famous technique for clearing a blocked airway, was standing behind the woman, ready to perform it. Typically, a staff member would do it. 'But,' Gaines said, pausing, 'it is Dr. Heimlich.'" LOL! And yay for saving that lady, who made a full recovery right away.
And finally! "Sheep eat cannabis plants, terrorize town: "A group of sheep in South Wales are stirring up trouble after officials suspect they have ingested cannabis plants that were dumped by an illegal cannabis factory, UPI reports. ...It was reported that a flock of sheep has been seen about a Welsh village, apparently intruding on people's homes." Hey, don't blame the sheep that y'all left weed lying around and now they have the munchies!
In the News
Quote of the Day
[Content Note: Racism; misogyny.]
"Looking through photos of Hillary on the campaign trail, I see a beautiful mix of faces, a mix that America was always meant to be. And I see women who look like me beaming with pride and hope. You can feel the emotion of Americans from all walks of life, who are finally being acknowledged and embraced for who they are, just as they are. That the lives and concerns of all Americans are valid and valuable. We feel, some of us for the very first time in our lives, that we truly matter and our voices are being heard."—Leela Daou, my friend and colleague, in a moving essay about growing up in the US a dark-skinned girl, made to feel other, and finding herself feeling like she truly belongs for the first time.
The Presidency Is Not a Sinecure, Donald Trump
by Shaker Alison Rose, a fierce queer feminist, avid book lover, and proud cat lady who lives in the northern SF Bay Area.
Let's say you own a business. You're conducting interviews for an open position. One of the potential hires—a man named, ohhhh let's say Ronald Gump—is pretty bombastic and a bit too aggressive. He seems to be inflating his resume, but that's nothing you haven't heard before.
But then he holds up a sheet of paper with the job description on it, and starts pointing at various bulleted tasks, saying, "I don't want to do this one, that one looks boring, I'd rather have an assistant to do these ones..." He says this in a tone of voice that makes you think he's imagining a sudden role reversal, where you are now the outsider and he's running the show.
Would this person seem like the right fit for the job? When they're openly saying they're not interested in doing specific parts of it, and when they seem incredibly nonchalant about it, as though there's no chance you could or should be put off by their attitude?
Of course not. But in the bizarro world of Ronald Gump—er, Donald Trump—this is how it works. You want the job, but you don't want all the work of the job? No problem!
The vice presidential pick will also be part of the process of proving he's ready for the White House, [campaign chairman and chief strategist Paul] Manafort said.Let us pause for a moment and recall the rumors that Sarah Palin might be on his YOOGE BEAUTIFUL list of potential running mates. Don't you feel better now?! I know I do, if by 'better' you mean 'ready to hop in a rocketship and fly to Mars'. Oh, but no worries, because as Manafort said, the campaign probably wouldn't pick a woman or a member of a minority group because "that would be viewed as pandering."
"He needs an experienced person to do the part of the job he doesn't want to do. He sees himself more as the chairman of the board, than even the CEO, let alone the COO.
Cool story, bro.
But. Here we have the Republican nominee for president (jiminy fucking crickets!) who is pretty explicit about not wanting to be president so much as be called president. He wants to be the big name at the top of the staff listing, he wants to run meetings (can they be called meetings if he's the only who talks?), he wants to give big blustery speeches and tell a lot of people what to do, and, I don't know, throw darts at a world map to decide who our next mortal enemy will be. He wants to delegate all the boring crappy work to whatever random Straight White Man Who Is About Two Molecules Less Repulsive Than Trump he gloms onto as his running mate.
I mean, there are sixteen kajillion reasons not to want this man to be President and all of them are far greater sins than laziness. But laziness matters! He doesn't even want the damn job! He just wants the title. He's running on his business experience (such as it is, and 'as it is' is a pile of dog crap) but he doesn't want to have to do any actual business.
Can't we just make a big, gold name plate that says PRESIDENT DONALD J TRUMP, have someone build him a replica of the White House on the deserted property of one of his failed casinos, and have done with it?
Sadly, not wanting to do the work is just another reason his supporters are eager to hire him.
AMERICA!
She Shouldn't Have to Navigate This Toxic Stew, But I'm Damn Appreciative That She Does
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
I have read an awful lot about Hillary Clinton over the years. I've probably forgotten more about Hillary than most people will ever know about her.
There are, however, certain things that really stick in my mind. Like the time she said, "It's not a yurt—it's a ger." Or the time she was asked, one of many times, about her favorite designers:
Interviewer: Okay. Which designers do you prefer?That will probably stick in my mind forever, her asking: "Would you ever ask a man that question?" even though she already knew the answer.
Hillary Clinton: What designers of clothes?
Interviewer: Yes.
Hillary Clinton: Would you ever ask a man that question?
Interviewer: Probably not. Probably not.
It sticks in my mind because it's one of the few times she's presented an interviewer with that rhetorical inquiry. And because it came in response to this particular question. So banal, and so insidious. So casual in its sexism.
There are questions to which Hillary could offer the same rejoinder every day. Questions that are less overtly sexist and, simultaneously, incalculably more pernicious.
Sometimes it's the questions themselves, and sometimes it's just the way they are asked. Sometimes it's the fact that the same questions are asked of her whether she loses or whether she wins. Like: What will you do to reach out to your competitors' supporters?
She was asked that question when she lost to President Obama in 2008. And she's being asked against now, after defeating Bernie Sanders. In both cases, somehow, she's expected to orchestrate the reconciliation.
Compromise is woman's work. Apparently.
It's quite the expectation we put on Hillary Clinton—a painfully similar expectation to that we have imposed on President Obama—to be both steadfast leader and deferential arbitrator. To speak with the loudest voice, yet never shout. To be impervious to sustained personal attacks, but remain vulnerable enough to be seen as human.
Even as certain human emotions are set firmly off-limits. Like anger. Especially at the aggressive injustice of having one's identity ruthlessly exploited by one's opponents, but never being allowed to even mention it oneself, lest one be accused of playing the gender (or race) card.
Would you ever ask a man any of these questions? I don't know how Hillary manages to get through her every day, rife with the petty indignities and shameless attacks, without screaming that question. I want to scream it on her behalf.
The double-standards are intolerable to behold. But she carries onward, because she's resigned herself to the sickening reality that this is the cost of being first.
She puts on a smile, and whatever invisible armor she wears to find a way to keep enough of it out of her gut to keep functioning, and she walks out into her day, knowing what's coming.
The questions that would never be asked of a man. The standards to which a man would never be held. The expectations and denigrations that are reserved for women.
That's what greets her. Every day.
But so do the women she meets along the campaign trail, who know what she faces. Who face the same things, and whatever additional oppressions they face, by virtue of complex identities. Who share her fortitude, because we are all so obliged. Who appreciate that she does it on such a visible, unfathomable scale.
She smiles for us. And I hope that sometimes she smiles because of us, too—because she knows we've got her back, just as she has ours.
[Photo by Barbara Kinney for Hillary for America.]
Question of the Day
When was the last time you made music? Any kind of music, with the broadest definition that includes people who can't hear music in the traditional sense: Humming to yourself, singing a silly made-up song to your kids or pets, playing an instrument, singing in a choir, tapping your foot, creating a vibration that feels of music to you, whatever!
But He Won't Let Us See His Taxes, Naturally
So, you've heard about Trump University, right? Another fine product in the Trump empire, just like his high-quality steaks and classy bottled water. Well, it was basically a huge fraud ALLEGEDLY, just like his steaks and bottled water.
And I'm sure you'll be shocked to hear that, while it was still in operation, one of Trump's hand-picked financial experts gave a cool seminar on how to avoid paying taxes using real estate loopholes.
Now, there are lots of people across the nation who aren't wealthy, and who don't even know how to take advantage of the tax benefits for which they qualify. There's absolutely nothing wrong with people making use of whatever tax breaks they can get—and, frankly, there is a great need for making information freely available to working people on how to navigate our complicated tax code, so that they aren’t paying more than their fair share.I've got more at BNR, so head on over to read the rest.
But this is not what we're talking about here. In this case, an obscenely wealthy businessman, who made an enormous amount of money exploiting real estate loopholes, charged people money to have "the loopholes queen" tell them how they can follow his lead—the implication being, though never explicitly stated, that wealth in the realm of Donald's could follow.
The catch, of course, is that Donald started out with enormous wealth. This wasn't helpful advice being offered to the Average Jane and Joe out of the goodness of Donald's heart, but a sinister hoodwinking that charged people to get "tools" that only work for people who already have money to invest—and to pay real financial professionals who offer this advice as part of their job.
Far from being a useful recommendation for average working people, exploiting real estate tax loopholes is bad for the economy to which our fates are tied...
One of the more interesting things to me about all this is how Trump was happy to charge people money to share with them this great information about tax loopholes he's proud to have exploited, but doesn't want to release his taxes so we can see that he was so successful at it he's (presumably) got a tax rate of zero. Huh.
Photo of the Day
[Los Angeles, May 24. Photo by Barbara Kinney for Hillary for America.]
I just love everything about this picture, basically.
I See You. All of You.
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
So, Donald Trump spokesperson Healy Baumgardner appeared on CNN earlier, giving the second of two disastrous appearances in as many weeks. The interview is excruciating to watch, as the CNN anchors express their shock and contempt that she isn't better prepared.
Which, yeah. But this video is really interesting to me for two more important reasons:
1. I've never seen Trump himself , nor his right-hand men Paul Manafort and Corey Lewandowski, get grilled that hard. Baumgardner gets grilled way harder than the male representatives of the campaign do, and way harder than even the candidate himself does. I'm not saying, naturally, that they should lay off her, but simply noting they don't give him the same treatment.
2. Clearly, Baumgardner is utterly disempowered by the Trump campaign. She can't be an effective spokesperson because she hasn't been empowered to be one. Which I think speaks very clearly to how much Trump values women in his campaign: She's just a token, who's been sent out to do a job she can't possibly do. Her only value to him is being able to have a female spokesperson. It isn't her skills, whatever they may be.
There's so much going on in that video about both the Trump campaign structure and the media approach to Trump, especially with regard to whom the media is willing to confront.
And it's pretty evident that Trump and the media are in agreement that it's fine to use Healy Baumgardner as a rhetorical punching bag, so that the media can avoid having to levy meaningful accountability, and Trump can avoid having to face it.
We can all watch her get thrown under the bus and are meant to agree that it's a job well done all around.
Nope.
Daily Dose of Cute
"Pet me!"
As always, please feel welcome and encouraged to share pix of the fuzzy, feathered, or scaled members of your family in comments.
Give Me a Break. Seriously. I Need One.
[Content Note: Misogyny.]
As you may have heard, Donald Trump said he wanted to debate Bernie Sanders—and Sanders jumped all over it. Then Trump said it was all a joke, making Sanders look like a fool.
I have a few thoughts about that! Namely, that Sanders is out of his depth, and that I find it incredibly problematic that this was obviously a bid to try to coerce Hillary Clinton into debating him, after she already said no.
Meanwhile, Jeff Weaver tries to salvage it by saying Team Sanders didn't think it was a joke and that they hope Trump doesn't "chicken out."
I can't even.
I can't.
In the News
Here is some stuff in the news today...
[Content Note: Refugee crisis; death] This is just so awful: "Up to 30 migrants are feared dead after a boat capsized in the Mediterranean off the Libyan coast while some 50 were rescued by EU vessels from the sea. Ships from an EU task force and Italy's coast guard raced to the scene 35 nautical miles (65km) off the coast as survivors clung to the hull or swam. The alert had been raised by a Luxembourg reconnaissance plane which saw the capsized boat. The Italian navy rescued 562 migrants from a capsized boat on Wednesday. Some 6,000 migrants trying to reach Europe have been rescued from flimsy craft in the Mediterranean this week alone. Aid agencies say the crossing between Libya and Italy is the main route for migrants since an EU deal with Turkey curbed the number sailing across the Aegean to Greece." Just a constant, slow-moving tragedy. People losing their lives desperately trying to save their lives.
[CN: Video may autoplay] I'm sure they are: "President Obama said world leaders are 'rattled' by Donald Trump as the likely Republican nominee for the U.S. presidency. 'They are paying very close attention to this election,' the president told reporters Wednesday in Japan of his discussions with world leaders. 'They are surprised by the Republican nominee. They are not sure how seriously to take some of his pronouncements but they're rattled by him, and for good reason.' Trump has shown an 'ignorance of world affairs or a cavalier attitude or an interest in getting tweets and headlines instead of actually thinking through what it is required to keep America safe and secure and prosperous,' Obama said."
[CN: Video may autoplay] And in related news: Trump is no longer just the "likely" Republican nominee but "has reached the number of delegates needed to secure the Republican Party's presidential nomination. Based on ABC News' analysis of pledged delegates won and commitments made by unbound delegates, Trump has enough support to secure the Republican nomination for president. He now has 1,239 total delegates, according to ABC News' estimates of both pledged and superdelegates."
Meanwhile: "Donald Trump trails Hillary Clinton by 7 percentage points among middle-income voters in the Rust Belt, a key demographic he almost certainly needs to become president. Likely voters with annual family incomes of $30,000 to $75,000 in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin back Clinton over Trump, 46 percent to 39 percent, the latest Purple Slice online poll for Bloomberg Politics shows."
Relatedly: The United Automobile Workers union endorsed Clinton yesterday. "'Hillary Clinton understands our issues on trade, understands the complexities of multinational economies and supports American workers, their families and communities,' said UAW President Dennis Williams."
[CN: Rape culture] In news that will not shock anyone but should infuriate everyone: "Kenneth Starr, bête noire of liberals in America, is making a comeback, though not entirely of his choosing. Starr, the president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas, is facing mounting pressure over how the university has handled reports of rape and assault by football players. The university says its governing board is still studying the results of an internal investigation and has refused to confirm speculation that Starr will be ousted." Not entirely of his choosing. As if it's not a choice whether to uphold rape culture and treat victims with indifference and disdain.
[CN: Homophobia; transphobia] Oh for fuck's sake! "An energy and water bill was killed in the House on Thursday as the result of an ongoing battle in Congress over LGBT rights and so-called 'religious freedom.' Openly gay New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney successfully added an amendment onto that bill late Wednesday which would ban federal contractors from discriminating against LGBT people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Specifically, Maloney wanted to ensure the enforcement of President Obama's 2014 executive order that prohibits such discrimination. However, two Republican representatives, Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.) and Robert Pittenger (R-N.C.), also successfully added a 'religious freedom' amendment and an amendment that would have banned the Obama administration from withholding federal funds from North Carolina over HB 2. The pro-LGBT amendment from Maloney combined with the anti-LGBT amendments from Pitts and Pittenger were enough to kill the bill altogether."
Heads-up! "A new documentary is set to examine the evolution of the Black Lives Matter movement, from its start as a hashtag campaign to its impact on the ground in cities across the nation. Stay Woke: The Black Lives Matter Movement is directed by Laurens Grant (producer on The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution and Freedom Riders). Activist and actor Jesse Williams served as executive producer on the project. It's the latest installment in BET's The Truth Series, which launched last July." You can catch it tonight on BET at 9pm ET.
And finally! "Tiny Cat Has Been Best Friends with His Horse Since He Was a Kitten." Awwwwww!
Quote of the Day
"You don't change Donald Trump."—Trump campaign chair and chief strategist Paul Manafort, explaining in a remarkably awful interview how Trump is gonna win by being maximum Trump. Because he appeals to strongly to white men, and "while we are behind among women over all, we're ahead among white women even now. We'll get some black and Hispanic women as we go along." Cool cool cool.
It was a tough call on my favorite, ahem, quote between that one and this one:
Trump doesn't read briefing papers, but he is a magnet for information, Manafort said. "He reads the newspapers, and he talks on the phone and to office visitors in a never-ending stream. You're sitting there in his office and you realize that he is constantly picking up stuff as he goes."Yeah, well, so does a Roomba. That doesn't mean I'm gonna vote for one for president.
What an amazing specimen Donald Trump is! He just collects information and the votes of women of color like magic, through the sheer force of his own magnetism. Neat.
Suspected Arson at Planned Parenthood Clinic
[Content Note: Anti-choice terrorism.]
I am just incandescently angry about this:
A suspicious fire in a Central California Planned Parenthood clinic has forced the local women's health center to shut down for the rest of the week.I have been obliged to write about so many incidents like this over the last decade, I don't even know what to say anymore. When is this going to be taken seriously? When are we going to center the reality that it's not just abortion access that is under attack, but abortion providers, clinic staff, abortion-seeking people? When are we going to start calling this the terrorism that it is?
The suspected arson took place early Wednesday morning, according to police. Water from the building's sprinkler system has permanently damaged the office and its medical equipment. Police have yet to determine what or who started the fire at the Modesto clinic — but staff have reason to believe it was intentional.
"We have not been receiving threats, but we have been receiving more suspicious calls," Liz Figueroa, a spokeswoman with Planned Parenthood told the local FOX station. "The FBI is looking into it as we speak."
This attack is only the most recent in a string of vandalism directed toward Planned Parenthood clinics across the country in the aftermath of a malicious video campaign directed at the organization...
While the Modesto Planned Parenthood assesses its damage, patients will be redirected to their nearest health center. The next closest Planned Parenthood is a half hour drive away.
Lowlife, Huh?
[Content Note: Bullying.]
In his latest tirade about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump called her a "lowlife," and naturally I had some thoughts about that:
If Hillary is a lowlife, I can't imagine what that makes the rest of us women by Donald's calculations.As always, there's more at the link.
Haha—just kidding! Of course I can imagine what that makes the rest of us. We are things.
I guess he hasn't gotten around to watching Mad Max: Fury Road yet. Or else he'd know WE ARE NOT THINGS.
I swear to the fates that Trump is just begging for women to show up en masse on Election Day to defeat him in the most spectacular fashion.
The dude does not know how to compete against a woman. He does not know how to receive criticism from a woman. He does not know how to deal with even the possibility of a woman besting him, or having control over him.
He is deeply fearful of women, and, like most profound fears, that fear manifests as hatred. He constantly lashes out at women in the most despicable ways, and thinks that somehow that strategy is going to endear him to an electorate that is more than 50% women.
Well. I guess he's going to get a lesson in what relentlessly insulting women gets you, come the eighth of November.
Heck Yeah
Yesterday, during a campaign stop in California, Hillary Clinton promised a massive infrastructure plan, which is also a jobs plan, in her first 100 days as president. WOOT!
WATCH: Hillary Clinton promises massive infrastructure plan in her first 100 days as president https://t.co/uA5DgEJ0el
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) May 25, 2016
In my first 100 days, I will send a plan to Congress to make the biggest, most forward-looking investment in American infrastructure in fifty years! [applause] I will put forth a plan that is as big—in fact, bigger in some ways—than what President Eisenhower did when he created the interstate highway system! [applause] Why would I do that? Because that's how we're gonna create the next generation of jobs for people—good jobs with rising incomes!Which is pretty damn good news, given that [CN: video autoplays at link] a CNN investigation found "that more than 60,000 bridges have been deemed structurally deficient" and "200 million drive over structurally deficient bridges daily."
This is exactly the kind of stuff I want to be hearing from my candidate.
Question of the Day
What inanimate thing have you lost, and it still bothers you to this day?
(And by "lost," I mean actually lost, left behind, forgot, etc. rather than having it taken from you in some way.)
On Hillary's Emails
So. Today the State Department's Office of the Inspector General issued a report finding that "Clinton's use of private email for public business was 'not an appropriate method' of preserving documents and that her practices failed to comply with department policies meant to ensure that federal record laws are followed."
Now, as you may recall, I am not a reflexive defender of Clinton on this issue. When the news first broke in March of last year, I was critical of her decision, which was a violation of the Federal Records Act, in no small part because I spent such an enormous amount of time criticizing the Bush administration for multiple violations of the Federal Records Act. This isn't a small thing to me.
That said, one of the crucial differences between Bush-era violations, and Clinton's violation—which became clear as additional information emerged—is that Clinton wasn't fundamentally deviating from practices and habits of former Secretaries of State. While I still believe that Clinton made a mistake here, I'm much less annoyed about it than I was in March 2015.
Which, in case it's not already abundantly clear, isn't because I am a Clinton supporter—since I was then, too—but because I have carefully followed this story, even down to reading her emails, and further information has reshaped my position.
What strikes me the most about this situation is that Clinton occupied the office at a time—and I don't think this time has yet passed—when best practices governing sensitive electronic communications are still emerging.
I agree strongly with Paul Waldman's assessment:
[I]t also appears, from what we know so far, that there weren't really any practical consequences for the country because of her decision — no covert operations compromised, no key national security information delivered to our enemies. And cybersecurity experts will tell you that her emails likely would have been no less vulnerable had they been on the State Department's servers, which are the target of constant hacking attempts.That's a good idea. And, frankly, it strikes me as precisely the sort of thing that I've seen Clinton do before—take a lesson and make improvements based on what she's learned.
So maybe the best thing for Clinton to do now would be to say that this whole episode has brought home to her the need for the federal government to dramatically improve its cybersecurity, and she wants to assemble a blue-ribbon commission of experts to devise a plan to reform the systems across the government, one that she hopes Republicans will join with her to pass through Congress within her first year in office so it can be implemented as soon as possible. At least then some good might come of this controversy.
Waldman also notes, quite rightly, that "Republicans aren't making a big deal out of this because of their deep and abiding concern for cybersecurity. They just want something to hammer Clinton with."
And that's a point I made in March of last year, too: "Because I so keenly remember the yawning indifference, of the media and of average USians, to the Bush administration email scandal, I will note that, if this turns into a massive story for Clinton, a potentially presidential-derailing story, it is not because people give a shit about compliance with the Federal Records Act, unless people have suddenly developed an inexplicable fondness for it in the intervening eight years."
Which is a great shame, really. That Clinton's mistake will lead to, bluntly, the even bigger mistake of ignoring the root security issues in order to turn this entire thing into a political football, with no objective but harming the person who might be keenest to fix it.
* * *
UPDATE: This piece by Charles Tiefer for Forbes is definitely worth a read: "State Department Report on Email Vindicates Clinton Rather Than Nails Her."
