2016 elections - because it's never too early

[Berkut]

And CNN ran this story yesterday.

Officials from the FBI and Department of Justice met several months ago to discuss opening a public corruption case into the Clinton Foundation, according to a US official.

At the time, three field offices were in agreement an investigation should be launched after the FBI received notification from a bank of suspicious activity from a foreigner who had donated to the Clinton Foundation, according to the official

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/11/politics/hillary-clinton-state-department-clinton-foundation/index.html

So they met to discuss whether or not to open an investigation.

How terribly interesting!

So...did they open said investigation or not? That seems to be a relevant point to such an exciting headline!

FBI officials wanted to investigate whether there was a criminal conflict of interest with the State Department and the Clinton Foundation during Clinton's tenure. The Department of Justice had looked into allegations surrounding the foundation a year earlier after the release of the controversial book "Clinton Cash," but found them to be unsubstantiated and there was insufficient evidence to open a case.

As a result, DOJ officials pushed back against opening a case during the meeting earlier this year. Some also expressed concern the request seemed more political than substantive, especially given the timing of it coinciding with the investigation into the private email server and Clinton's presidential campaign.

So there seems to be a couple things here that *might* be substantative:

1. Possible issue with a foreigner who donated to the Clinton Foundation. So this is some person who donated to the foundation, who then did something "suspicious" in regards to some *other* bank activity. How this could possibly be a cause for a formal investigation I don't know, but I suppose it is probably normal to poke around at the activities of foreigners who do "suspicious" things. Hardly anything to really find alarm in as it relates to the Clinton Foundation though. This is like investigating my daughters cheerleading booster club because she sold car wash tickets to someone who later might have been involved in something "suspicious".

2. An issue with a possible conflict of interest in a staffer who did work for the foundation, potentially on the government clock. Yawn. If there is anything here, it is an administrative issue, not criminal.

And that is it - that is the sum total of the actual substance of this story, so far as I can tell.

[Savonarola]

So irksome.   

Clinton Pledges — Again — To Block Trade Deal She Once Backed

You do realize this is no more than a cynical ploy to capture working class votes, right?  Barack ran on a promise to renegotiate NAFTA; something he'll get to, no doubt, right after he finishes stumping for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

[Valmy]

Yes, Trump making a bad joke is much worse than Hillary defrauding federal money.

It is mind boggling. I go on and on about how Trumps policies are disastrous but you will not engage with that, oh no. You want to just focus on stupid bullshit and then you complain about how the stupid bullshit is unfair. Maybe you shouldn't waste your time on this TMZ garbage if it makes you so upset about the unfairness of it all? It is, after all, completely idiotic and a waste of everybody's time. But have to do something between now and November.

[Razgovory]

Well, that killed the mood. 

Legs, you should know by now that you are supposed to post only bad articles about Trump. Everybody is going to ignore you otherwise.

"Investigating" various things Clinton has allegedly done (or in this case, things an organization the Clintons founded have allegedly done) is non-news. She has been "investigated" dozens of times, with a general lack of results.

It can't compare in noteworthiness with the stuff a candidate actually says.

Yes, Trump making a bad joke is much worse than Hillary defrauding federal money.

Now here is an example of a keen legal mind.

[Malthus]

Well, that killed the mood. 

Legs, you should know by now that you are supposed to post only bad articles about Trump. Everybody is going to ignore you otherwise.

"Investigating" various things Clinton has allegedly done (or in this case, things an organization the Clintons founded have allegedly done) is non-news. She has been "investigated" dozens of times, with a general lack of results.

It can't compare in noteworthiness with the stuff a candidate actually says.

Yes, Trump making a bad joke is much worse than Hillary defrauding federal money.

It isn't a question of which is worse, it is a question of which is news.

Something a candidate for President actually says in a speech (particularly something completely false, or an incitement to violence) is more like news than a possible investigation of issues concerning donations to an organization linked to a candidate, which was never in fact launched, a few months ago - particularly when we've seen lots of similar investigations before. 

The latter can become news, if it turns up some actual wrong-doing on the part of the candidate. Until then, it is just a yawn.

If Trump dislikes that fact, maybe he should stop saying "newsworthy" things all the time.

[Sheilbh]

Yeah. I mean as I say I think the Clinton Foundation is an issue, but in terms of news Trump creates an unpredictable new news cycle every day. All the pro-Trump bias in the world can't correct for that.

It's why normal campaigns are very militant about message discipline - decide what the issue of the day is and just hammer it home relentlessly. Needless to say Trump's campaign isn't normal.

[CountDeMoney]

So irksome.   

Clinton Pledges — Again — To Block Trade Deal She Once Backed

You do realize this is no more than a cynical ploy to capture working class votes, right?  Barack ran on a promise to renegotiate NAFTA; something he'll get to, no doubt, right after he finishes stumping for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The American people need to know the truth: that fucking over the godless yellow heathen zipperheads is in their best economic interests.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2016/aug/12/donald-trump-republicans-hillary-clinton-us-election-live?page=with:block-57adc8bfe4b007f802bad603#block-57adc8bfe4b007f802bad603

Donald Trump to hold 'emergency' meeting with RNC

After nearly two weeks of a campaign in crisis, Donald Trump's presidential campaign will reportedly sit down with Republican National Committee officials in Orlando, Florida, today for what one official told Politico will be a "come-to-Jesus" meeting to discuss the state of Trump's campaign.

Although campaign staffers have dismissed the meeting as a low-key discussion about the campaign's strategy in swing-state Florida, others involved in the planning of the Orlando meeting have told multiple outlets that the sitdown amounts to pulling the emergency brake on a candidate who has careened from one self-inflicted controversy to another.

The meeting couldn't come at a time of greater tension between Trump's campaign and the Republican party. On Thursday evening, more than 70 Republicans published an open letter to RNC chair Reince Priebus calling on the RNC to redirect money pegged for the Trump campaign to be used instead for vulnerable congressional races – in effect abandoning the party's presidential nominee.

The signatories – including former New Hampshire senator Gordon Humphrey, former congressmen Mickey Edwards and Christopher Shays and numerous former RNC staff members – wrote that Trump's "divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck ...

"This should not be a difficult decision, as Donald Trump's chances of being elected president are evaporating by the day," the signatories state. Citing numerous controversies over the course of Trump's candidacy, from the mockery of a reporter with a disability to his feud with the family of an army captain killed in action, the letter asserts that Trump has shown "dangerous authoritarian tendencies".

Should make for an interesting sitdown.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

They seem pretty crazy.  Trying to grant chimps human rights, hysteria over GMOs, "zero growth economies".

To be fair, GMO hysteria goes well beyond just the loony fringe (unfortunately).

[Martinus]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2016/aug/12/donald-trump-republicans-hillary-clinton-us-election-live?page=with:block-57adc8bfe4b007f802bad603#block-57adc8bfe4b007f802bad603

Donald Trump to hold 'emergency' meeting with RNC

After nearly two weeks of a campaign in crisis, Donald Trump's presidential campaign will reportedly sit down with Republican National Committee officials in Orlando, Florida, today for what one official told Politico will be a "come-to-Jesus" meeting to discuss the state of Trump's campaign.

Although campaign staffers have dismissed the meeting as a low-key discussion about the campaign's strategy in swing-state Florida, others involved in the planning of the Orlando meeting have told multiple outlets that the sitdown amounts to pulling the emergency brake on a candidate who has careened from one self-inflicted controversy to another.

The meeting couldn't come at a time of greater tension between Trump's campaign and the Republican party. On Thursday evening, more than 70 Republicans published an open letter to RNC chair Reince Priebus calling on the RNC to redirect money pegged for the Trump campaign to be used instead for vulnerable congressional races – in effect abandoning the party's presidential nominee.

The signatories – including former New Hampshire senator Gordon Humphrey, former congressmen Mickey Edwards and Christopher Shays and numerous former RNC staff members – wrote that Trump's "divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck ...

"This should not be a difficult decision, as Donald Trump's chances of being elected president are evaporating by the day," the signatories state. Citing numerous controversies over the course of Trump's candidacy, from the mockery of a reporter with a disability to his feud with the family of an army captain killed in action, the letter asserts that Trump has shown "dangerous authoritarian tendencies".

Should make for an interesting sitdown.

I can imagine it going like the Hitler "Downfall" clip meme. 

[jimmy olsen]

According to NBC, Hill is crushing it in the battleground states.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/polls-clinton-running-table-key-battlegrounds-n629136

[Malthus]

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2016/aug/12/donald-trump-republicans-hillary-clinton-us-election-live?page=with:block-57adc8bfe4b007f802bad603#block-57adc8bfe4b007f802bad603

Donald Trump to hold 'emergency' meeting with RNC

After nearly two weeks of a campaign in crisis, Donald Trump's presidential campaign will reportedly sit down with Republican National Committee officials in Orlando, Florida, today for what one official told Politico will be a "come-to-Jesus" meeting to discuss the state of Trump's campaign.

Although campaign staffers have dismissed the meeting as a low-key discussion about the campaign's strategy in swing-state Florida, others involved in the planning of the Orlando meeting have told multiple outlets that the sitdown amounts to pulling the emergency brake on a candidate who has careened from one self-inflicted controversy to another.

The meeting couldn't come at a time of greater tension between Trump's campaign and the Republican party. On Thursday evening, more than 70 Republicans published an open letter to RNC chair Reince Priebus calling on the RNC to redirect money pegged for the Trump campaign to be used instead for vulnerable congressional races – in effect abandoning the party's presidential nominee.

The signatories – including former New Hampshire senator Gordon Humphrey, former congressmen Mickey Edwards and Christopher Shays and numerous former RNC staff members – wrote that Trump's "divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent the GOP from drowning with a Trump-emblazoned anchor around its neck ...

"This should not be a difficult decision, as Donald Trump's chances of being elected president are evaporating by the day," the signatories state. Citing numerous controversies over the course of Trump's candidacy, from the mockery of a reporter with a disability to his feud with the family of an army captain killed in action, the letter asserts that Trump has shown "dangerous authoritarian tendencies".

Should make for an interesting sitdown.

I can imagine it going like the Hitler "Downfall" clip meme. 

OK, now that would be funny. 

[The Minsky Moment]

And CNN ran this story yesterday.

Officials from the FBI and Department of Justice met several months ago to discuss opening a public corruption case into the Clinton Foundation, according to a US official.

At the time, three field offices were in agreement an investigation should be launched after the FBI received notification from a bank of suspicious activity from a foreigner who had donated to the Clinton Foundation, according to the official

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/08/11/politics/hillary-clinton-state-department-clinton-foundation/index.html

You conveniently cut off the rest the CNN story

FBI officials wanted to investigate whether there was a criminal conflict of interest with the State Department and the Clinton Foundation during Clinton's tenure. The Department of Justice had looked into allegations surrounding the foundation a year earlier after the release of the controversial book "Clinton Cash," but found them to be unsubstantiated and there was insufficient evidence to open a case.

As a result, DOJ officials pushed back against opening a case during the meeting earlier this year. Some also expressed concern the request seemed more political than substantive, especially given the timing of it coinciding with the investigation into the private email server and Clinton's presidential campaign.

The FBI's investigation into Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and his tie to a Clinton Foundation donor was also raised during the meeting. DOJ said that probe could continue but declined to open a case on the foundation.

Since any investigation would be confidential until a press release comes out, interesting how this happened to leak.

[Malthus]

Trump clarifies his "Obama is the founder of ISIS" remark: he was being sarcastic (but not that sarcastic). It is the fault of the press for not figuring that out!

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/donald-trump-explains-calling-obama-founder-isis-sarcasm/story?id=41326238

Well, glad that's cleared it up. 

[Admiral Yi]

Paddy Power current odds:

Drumpf 3/1

Crooked Hillary 2/9