And while you pepys are on the subject, the FBI found absolutely nothing wrong in the latest batch of Clinton emails. Smear campaign.
The issue is that Comey hadn't seen the emails, and didn't even have a warrant when he announced he would be investigating. And he went to his bosses at the Department of Justice and they recommended he not issue the press release. And then he released it anyway. They were also investigating Trump's possible ties to Russia with just as little evidence but Comey opted not to say anything about that. FTR, I do not think Comey was trying to influence the election. He was caught between a rock and a hard place. The FBI was going to leak the investigation-- it's likely they already did to Guiliani-- so Comey was trying to "get on top" of things by getting the news out via a public announcement rather than a more conceivably damaging leak. Of course Comey dug himself this hole in the first place by investigating Clinton and not pressing charges but strongly hinting that she had done something wrong, thereby feeding all the right wing conspiracy theories. For the most part, I think Comey was somewhat well-meaning but sort of an idiot. The bigger culprit is the FBI which has apparently gone rogue and will not listen to the DOJ or their own agency head and will leak information for political purposes. And it appears to be FBI agents on both sides. And the biggest culprit is really the American public. Because call Comey whatever names you want, but he was fairly truthful in his press release. He basically said that there were some emails that went to the Clinton private server-- which would in fact be entirely proper if they were not official state business-- and so they would look into them. Which is what anyone should expect them to do. Weiner is under investigation for sexting with underage teens so of course any emails from him should be investigated. And if they are on the famous Clinton private email server, then of course he should go ahead and look into that as well. There was nothing actually improper about the actual investigation. It was just the announcement. And I think anyone capable of logic would say "Hmm.... there might be something there, but there might not be. There's nothing to indicate at this point that there is." It should not have changed anyone's vote whether you were going Trump or Clinton. But of course some undecided voters decided that it must be a huge conspiracy and it tilted things in Trump's favor. They didn't pay any attention to what was actually said, just that something was said. And if people are just going to not pay any attention like that, well, I suppose we deserve the crappy government we get.
ISIRTP has spelt out the details here. Comey made a tough decision in a highly controversial case with enormous worldwide media interest. He may have got it wrong but the news was always going to leak and if you imagine the fuss Trump would have kicked up when he inevitably found out about this you can see why Comey might have preferred to get in early and say "Yeah, this has come up. We're looking at it." rather than waiting for Trump to announce it live on TV or at a rally and claim a cover-up. There's a broad equivalence between this and the High Court case in that both cases involve public officials making controversial decisions in a legal environment when those decisions have significant political ramifications. The real point I'm making though is about the way people react to these stories rather than the stories themselves. The real equivalence isn't so much in the actions of the public servants as the reactions of those who disagree with them. I don't see how anyone can believe that when judges make a controversial decision and newspapers spew out a variety of "People vs Judges" and "Enemies of the People" type reactions that's a disgusting reaction but also believe that when a law enforcement official makes a decision about handling a case it's okay to condemn him as a conspirator who's trying to rig an election. Of course, a real conspirator would have ensured the investigation of these emails was delayed just long enough that he could postpone any announcement about further action until after the polls had closed.
More specifically, it appears to be the NY field office of the FBI, which had deep ties to Guiliani and whose former head is currently leading chants at Trump rallies. It seems to be localized institutional politics splashed on the national stage.
While I agree with you about Comey and with a lot of your post I do think there is a difference, The judges in the U.K. simply made a decision many people disagree with. No conspiracy existed. But in the US, I do believe that some elements of the FBI were attempting to influence the election, as Schad explained in his post. So there was a conspiracy. It's just that Comey wasn't involved.
I don't know the details of the local FBI offices etc but the comments I was referring to were about Comey specifically rather than the FBI in general. The other thing is that some people (not me) believe there's an element of conspiracy in the UK situation as well. There's been a bit of stupid, personal rubbish in the Daily Mail about "this judge is gay" but the main thrust of the press's critical reaction to the decision has been to suggest it's all part of a plot by the establishment to derail Brexit/block the will of the people/sabotage the referendum result and to point out the extensive work on European Law that's done by the judges involved. The clear implication is that they aren't impartial on the matter because they stand to lose out personally when/if the UK leaves the EU.
I was born in Southampton in 1960 and moved to a village outside Bristol in 1964. I remember my grandmother referring to Africans as Sambos off the banana boats. (she was born in 1908) There was only one black family in my village. In 78 I went to University to do Chemical Engineering (in a class of 36 there were only 5 Brits). So over 4 years I met a lot of "foreigners". In my career I traveled all over the world. I hope to think that I became a good rounded non-racist. Nigel Farage is actually 4 years younger than me and sounds just like my grandmother. I'm just gutted and confounded that 50 years of progress seems to have been wiped out in 4 months. It's very very sad.
Brilliantly put Ian! I couldn't have worded my sentiments any better. When you see school children on TV spouting about wearing the poppy, you do feel there has been a certain amount of indoctrination. We see people in the media and on TV wearing the poppy, all except Jon Snow!!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-37909299 The Scottish Parliament want a say in the appeal and say we shouldn't trigger article 50 without their consent. I agree all devolved countries should have their say but it's time the SNP accepted the referendum result in 2014 and the fact that the UK government is in overall control of UK matters. If Scotland's consent is required then so is Wales and N Ireland's.
Don't think Switzerland is in the EU? Toblerone will be unaffected, but as the £ is now worthless, we will have to barter for it using marmite.
It's being changed to the weird huge gap bar. Just for the UK as well(due to rising costs), but they are saying it isn't because of Brexit... (lies)
I have no idea whether it has to do with Brexit, though I'm guessing not. But the package looks the same. If I bought a tasty Toblerone and opened it and saw that, I would be PISSED. At least be honest and just raise the price. Don't keep the same package and rip-off people who only find out after they've paid.
You're worried about chocolate? When the fate of the free world may be decided by a deranged narcissist with the world's worst haircut? Is this the American equivalent of watching Bake Off?
Well I mean, I voted. Can't a dude have a tasty chocolate treat after doing his part to save the entire world?
Going to come over all British now, in the interests of sending the colonists culture back across the pond. GB: Pissed - Drunk. Pissed Off - Annoyed, angry. Choose. And I'm sure I've seen big gaps in Toblerone chocolate before. If we had at least joined the Euro currency, this would never have happened. I can certainly see the value of chocolate at a crisis point. Better than smoking.
