Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Comey’s Credibility

40 Comments

I’m just watching it disintegrate in this hearing.

He didn’t look into whether or not she lied under oath to Congress? He didn’t put her under oath for her “interview”? He didn’t record the “interview”? He didn’t participate? Really? And we’re supposed to take his result seriously?

[Update a couple minutes later]

(Former prosecutor) Trey Gowdy destroyed Comey’s legal argument:

Gowdy’s response: How do you know she didn’t intend to put classified information on her private server? Absent a defendant saying “I hereby intend to do act X,” the only way a prosecutor can ever prove intent is though circumstantial evidence. That’s the point of leading Comey through Clinton’s many lies. It’s not (just) a political exercise designed to embarrass the Democratic nominee, it’s evidence that she was trying to hide her intent in making one false statement after another suggesting mere incompetence. Even by Comey’s own higher standard of mens rea, there’s enough here to recommend charges, Gowdy’s saying. So why weren’t they recommended?

If Comey thinks that mens rea is a requirement (perhaps it should be, but it is not), then he should get a court to rule on it. He can’t unilaterally rewrite the law.

But of course, her intent was obvious. He’s shown himself to be as corrupt as the rest of the Beltway.

[Update a while later]

[Update a few minutes later]

Let’s make her president!

[Update a couple minutes later]

[Update a while later]

The hearing isn’t over, but Ashe Schow has eleven take aways so far.

This is just stunning. I’ve lost all confidence in the FBI.

[Update a while later]

Note to people who think she’s off the hook:

But I’m sure Comey will say she didn’t have any intent to take those bribes.

[Update later afternoon]

[Update a few minutes later]

There is plenty of precedent for prosecuting for gross negligence. And before someone says those are military cases, my response is “so”? Classified is classified.

Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Comey

60 Comments

Now he faces a Congressional probe.

Appropriately, in my opinion. One of the questions asked should be to explain the substantive semantic difference between “extreme carelessness” and “gross negligence.” I don’t think most sane speakers of English would think that there is one.

[Update a while later]

Someone once indicted by Comey has some choice words.

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[Update a couple minutes later]

Comey’s unusual public recommendation:

Comey’s announcement takes the path of the least politicalization. Comey is a former career prosecutor who served twice as a political appointee in George W. Bush’s Justice Department. He is now serving a non-renewable 10-year term as FBI director that expires in 2023. It’s hard to come up with a clear argument for why Comey would be beholden to Clinton or why his recommendation would be politically biased.

While true, that doesn’t change the fact that the fix was clearly in.

[Update a while later]

“I’d rather have a sister in a whorehouse than a brother in the FBI“:

This has to be very painful to the many hardworking non-political people at the FBI. The Bureau has always had the reputation of employing first-rate worker bees, but suffering from politicized shenanigans at the top. But a fish rots from the head, and it’s hard to see how the sort of high-level assault on the rule of law that Comey’s decision involved can fail to trickle down, with the Bureau’s reputation among Americans in general inevitably, and justifiably, suffering.

The corruption of the federal government is close to complete.

Business, Health, Media Criticism, Science And Society, Technology and Society

Life Extension

6 Comments

It might be possible to live thirty years longer. I wonder to what degree treating diabetes with metformin will also extend life? I also think that people confuse cause and effect between aging and many of the “diseases of aging.”

I think there’s potential for much more than that. I don’t buy the notion that the body can’t be repaired indefinitely. It violates no laws of physics.

[Afternoon update]

The mystery of the Missing Link has been solved once again!

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

The Wolves Of Silicon Valley

Joel Kotkin and Victor Davis Hanson have both written about the California oligarchy, but this piece points out their cruel but self-righteous youth:

“There are literally shanty towns underneath most highway overpasses in the city,” says Martínez. “But that techie kid who goes and gets his $5 single-origin, cruelty-free pour-over in some trendy coffee shop? He doesn’t give a s***. He just wants to get some liquidity around his shares and steps over the homeless guy en route to his yoga class.”

And, of course, as Ed Driscoll points out, and will come as no surprise to readers here, the dirty little secret is that they’re self-righteous Democrats.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!