2016 Election

[glatt]

I haven't dug that deeply into the Hillary email thing. My general impression is that she has handled this poorly and it may cost her the presidency. But I did skim an article this morning, and have come to the conclusion that what she did was irregular, but nowhere near as bad as her detractors are saying. The "classified" emails she had on her private server were not classified when they were put there. They were designated as being classified long after the fact.

You can't retroactively make something illegal and then expect to nail somebody for it when it was legal at the time.

But we still have the issue of using a private server for government emails. That's very irregular. The only conclusion I can draw is that she wanted complete control and the ability to delete stuff she didn't want to be public. I can't approve of that. So I won't be voting for Hillary in the Virginia primary if Bernie Sanders is still in the running.

I don't know who I'll vote for in the general election. Too far off and I don't know who will be on the ballot. Like 90% of the population, I have a strong tendency to vote for my own team though. I can't think of any scenario where Trump would get my vote. I'm amazed he's doing so well and hasn't dropped out yet. Is he really going to keep at this?

[xoxoxoBruce]

Yes, he will, You can't keep a good ego down. Think about what he has, everything money can buy. Now add the adoration of the masses which has always been out of reach, especially all the people he's fucked over, and it's irresistible.

[glatt]

I've wondered what his motivation is.

[sexobon]

Originally Posted by glatt

... But I did skim an article this morning, and have come to the conclusion that what she did was irregular, but nowhere near as bad as her detractors are saying. The "classified" emails she had on her private server were not classified when they were put there. They were designated as being classified long after the fact.

You can't retroactively make something illegal and then expect to nail somebody for it when it was legal at the time. ...

[BOLD MINE]

That's not the issue. Information is classified to control dissemination; because, uncontrolled dissemination is expected to be harmful to the US and its interests. How harmful it may be is reflected in the level of classification. Hillary had government information in her private account that rose to that level; but, failed to submit it to a classifying authority for determination and control.

If Hillary had been using her government account, that process would have happened automatically and potentially harmful information would have been classified in a timely fashion. Hillary could also have had her State Dept. staff put a tentative classification on potentially harmful information in her personal account pending classifying authority review. Everyone who came into contact with that information would then have been legally obligated to treat it as classified during the interim even if it was leaked.

As a SF Intelligence NCO, I had to do the same thing. It was expected that I would encounter and have to report raw information the dissemination of which had to be controlled. I wasn't a classifying authority (those are bona fide government agencies); but, I was formally trained and authorized to assign tentative classifications including formatting from cover sheets and page markings right down to proper font size to meet specifications that made it legally binding on others.

That Hillary, as Secretary of State, couldn't get this done to protect US interests reflects a lackadaisical attitude about information security and its importance. If I had done what she did, I would have lost my security clearance.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by glatt

The "classified" emails she had on her private server were not classified when they were put there. They were designated as being classified long after the fact.

That is not entirely true. There are some that were clearly classified. She even wrote about it. Also there is the issue of the FOIA requests which were ignored.

Originally Posted by glatt

But we still have the issue of using a private server for government emails. That's very irregular. The only conclusion I can draw is that she wanted complete control and the ability to delete stuff she didn't want to be public. I can't approve of that. So I won't be voting for Hillary in the Virginia primary if Bernie Sanders is still in the running.

Thats good to hear. I can't imagine anyone voting for her. What about Biden?