This & That

CLINTON – Do you remember that personal server that Hillary Clinton kept in her home? The one that she decided to use to store all of her personal and official emails while serving as Secretary of State? A decision that she made unilaterally even though it violated regulations issued by her boss…the President of the United States. Well it turns out that she erased the hard drive. Yup…wiped it clean at the end of last year. I don’t recall her providing that little nugget of information when she gave her recent press conference…the presser that was supposed to provide full disclosure and clarity. She said that she had released all of her work emails to the state department. She said that the server would remain private. She led us to believe that what remained on the server was not work related and therefore personal and private in nature. She asked us to take her word. Certainly she is entitled to her personal privacy.
The committee investigating Benghazi is not satisfied. They want to see the emails for themselves. Political witch hunt? Probably! Nonetheless, Hillary won’t comply. But this time privacy isn’t the issue. She says she can’t reply because she wiped the hard drive…last year…before the full disclosure press conference. This is what the Clinton’s do. There may not be anything to see here but the Clinton’s always manage to behave in such a way that it makes you question their veracity.

If Hillary Clinton decides to run, her biggest opponent will not be the Republican challenger. It will be Hillary Clinton and the exhaustion that washes over people when Hillary acts like Hillary.

LUFTHANSA – We now know from Lufthansa’s internal emails that the suicidal co-pilot that intentionally crashed the commercial airliner into the French Alps suffered from severe depression. In 2009 Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz informed Lufthansa’s flight school that experienced severe depression. Investigators have learned that Lubitz had been treated for suicidal tendencies years ago and recently had been declared “unable to fly.” Lufthansa executives made a brief public appearance and expressed their condolences to the families of the victims. But they refused to answer any questions. I suspect that given the hundreds of millions in lawsuits that are certain to be filed; Lufthansa’s attorney’s advised the executives to remain tight lipped. Still I can’t help but think that a little compassionate clarity would go a long way toward improving an image that is rapidly deteriorating. Stonewalling projects a callousness that is certain to be noticed by a jury pool that is closely following these events.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM – Bowing to corporate pressure and public outrage over its tone deaf Religious Freedom law; the Indiana legislature is trying to cobble together a legislative “fix” to calm the masses. Governor Mike Pence defended the law but said he wants a bill on his desk by week’s end “making it clear that the law does not allow businesses the right to deny services to anyone.” On the Sunday the governor refused to answer whether under the new law a florist could legally refuse to serve a gay couple; preferring to cloak himself in partisan talking points. On Tuesday the governor was more forthcoming: This law does not give anyone the right to discriminate. But I can appreciate that that has become the perception.”

DON”T THEY HAVE CABLE IN ARKANSAS? – Displaying either a robust set of brass ones or view of reality with which I am unfamiliar…the Arkansas state legislature ignored the backlash in Indiana and passed its own Religious Freedom law on Tuesday. Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson had stated previously that he would sign the bill into law. Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest employer, wasted no time responding. “Today’s passage of HB1228 threatens to undermine the inclusion present throughout the state of Arkansas and does not reflect the values we proudly uphold” said Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon. Wal-Mart is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas. Governor Hutchinson will have to weigh the consequences of appeasing his base versus the tens of thousands of jobs large wheelbarrows of money that Wal-Mart delivers to his state.

Alas, this is what happens when ideologies bred in a windowless room are exposed to the sunlight of reality.