Dispatches from Clinton.com

Another full load of garbage, spilling off the truck.

New release of Hillary e-mails: 7800 pages, 328 classified — 999 total

With last night’s release from the State Department, about two-thirds of the e-mails turned over by Hillary Clinton have now been made public. That is, their headers have all been made public, but almost a thousand of them have had redactions to keep classified material from becoming public. State released another 7800 pages last night, including 328 e-mails that contained classified information, bringing the latter total to 999 overall:

The documents released today are mostly from 2012 and 2013, but include others that span her tenure as Secretary of State. The State Department has not been able to release the email in chronological order because much of it had to be set aside to be reviewed by other government agencies. Officials say many of those pages of email that have been held up were in today’s release.
One email from November 2010, titled “Follw up,” was just recently cleared by the Director of National Intelligence and deemed unclassified. The DNI had previously made public its decision to flag that email for further review. Although the content of the email was unknown until today — it was a discussion between a New York Times reporter and a spokesperson at the State Department — it and others still under scrutiny by government agencies have been seized upon by those critical of Clinton’s use of a private email server.
Ultimately this email was not deemed classified, but many other have been. A State Department official tells ABC News that in this release alone 328 documents were upgraded to a classified level, meaning that they were redacted and are unavailable for public review. So far 999 have been graded as classified.

Give credit to ABC News, which bothered to look through the paperwork and count up the redacted messages. The New York Times somehow overlooked that in their report. . .

By way of Wombat-socho's  "In The Mailbox: 12.02.15", The Lonely Conservative provides this Clinton.com-Obamacare Schadenfreude crossover:

Maggie’s Notebook has the scoop on how diplomats in Benghazi had questioned the use of locals for protection, even though the State Department had other options. You can also go click here to peruse the thousands of pages from the November release.

Then check out The Pirate’s Cove to read all about how Huma Abedin told Hillary how fabulous she looked during the “What difference does it make” hearing. Huma must not have been wearing her glasses that day.

I wish I had time to write more, but thanks to Obamacare I’m working a lot more hours so we can have health insurance. So much for Nancy Pelosi’s promise to freelancers. Not that I ever believed her.

The latest document dump also provides more evidence that Hillary! was using government position as Secretary of State to further her political future. At State Dept., Hillary Clinton kept tabs on 2016

“Pls print,” Hillary Clinton emailed an aide, attaching a link to a gossipy blog post detailing Vice President Joe Biden’s guest list at a reception he hosted for prominent New Hampshire Democrats in 2013.

“Webb Won't Run Again,” was the headline of an article forwarded by a top State Department official, reporting that Jim Webb — a Virginia senator thought at the time to have ambitions for national office — would not seek another term.

And with no commentary other than a casual “FYI,” Clinton's chief of staff Cheryl Mills in 2012 shared a one-line update on how New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo was fueling his own presidential speculation with news that he was penning a memoir.

The latest email dump of 7,800 Clinton messages shows the former secretary of state dealing primarily with her day job handling the country’s international concerns. But quietly, throughout her four years heading the State Department — and most often without overt political commentary — Clinton’s top aides fed her tidbits of gossip and updates on the movements of other political players who could affect the presidential election landscape, the new batch reveals.

I wonder how they square that with the Hatch Act. 

As Hillary Runs, Marine Will Be Ousted for Emailing Classified Documents

A Marine and U.S. Naval Academy graduate who self-reported that he improperly stored classified documents will be separated from the Marine Corps Reserve following a decision by Assistant Navy Secretary Juan Garcia, the Washington Post reported Monday.

Maj. Jason Brezler's emails warned officials about the corruption, including homosexual pedophilia, of an Afghan police chief named Anwar Jan, whose servant later killed three Marines and wounded a fourth.

And recalling some of the previous shenanigans at Clinton.com: Sandy Berger, former national security adviser, dies

Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, who served under President Bill Clinton, has died at the age of 70 from cancer.

"V sad start to day; just learned Sandy Berger passed away during the night," Richard Haass, the president of the Council on Foreign Relations, tweeted Wednesday morning. "Good man & friend who served nation well as bill clinton's NSA."
. . .
Berger's legacy was marred, however, when he pleaded guilty in 2005 to removing highly classified documents from the National Archives in Washington the previous year. The inspector general of the National Archives said that a staff member had witnessed the former NSA adviser wrapping the classified documents around his socks and under his pants.

He was fined $50,000, sentenced to two years' probation and stripped of his security clearance for three years. Following a Justice Department investigation and subsequent congressional hearings, Berger voluntarily gave up his license to practice law in 2007.

Interestingly, the public doesn't seem to have been told what's in those papers that he destroyed.

3 AM phone call? Hell, she wasn't even available for a 9 AM phone call: New State Department Emails Reveal Hillary Clinton Slept Past Staff Efforts to Set Up Intelligence Briefing

Judicial Watch today released a new batch of emails of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton connected to the Benghazi attack. Included is an email chain showing that Clinton slept late the Saturday after the Benghazi attack and missed a meeting that her staff had been trying to set up about sensitive intelligence issues, including the Presidential Daily Brief, on a day she was to make a slew of phone calls to foreign leaders.

FBI chief is wild card for Clinton

FBI Director James Comey is the pivotal figure in the 2016 presidential race that no one is talking about. Comey, a Republican appointed by President Obama who enjoys a stellar reputation on both sides of the aisle, is investigating Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server as secretary of State.
. . .
The GOP-created House Benghazi Committee flopped in October when Clinton testified for 11 hours. That hearing failed to produce anything newsworthy about her use of a private server and attracted criticism from liberals and conservatives alike.

Its failure makes it clear that the FBI will have the final say on whether Clinton did anything wrong or illegal. And whatever the verdict is, both parties will have to accept it because Comey is, in many ways, untouchable.

The 54-year-old FBI chief, confirmed by the Senate to a 10-year term in a 93-1 vote this summer, is known for his independence and aggressive prosecutions. The grandson of a police officer in Yonkers, N.Y., he has repeatedly stressed his nonpartisan approach.

I have complete confidence that Attorney General Vagina Lynch will succeed in suppressing any charges that Comey recommends.

Did Hillary Clinton Diss the Iowa Caucuses in Private Email?

The latest State Department release of Hillary Clinton emails contained this message from Clinton to friend Sidney Blumenthal: "If Mittens [Mitt Romney] can't beat Grinch [Gingrich] in Florida, there will be pressure on state Republican parties to reopen or liberalize ballot access especially in the caucuses, which as we know are creatures of the parties' extremes."

Clinton's remark shouldn't be too surprising given that she lost caucuses contests - including Iowa's - to Barack Obama in 2008.

But if Clinton's caucuses-tilt-to-the-extremes comment sounds familiar, it's pretty much what helped sink Howard Dean before the 2004 Iowa caucuses - exclusive video that NBC News unearthed during that election cycle.

Not a federal crime (except maybe for violating the Hatch Act by doing political work on her day job). I think the caucuses are silly too.

Media pollster bias? Hillary e-mails reveal “Congratulations!!!” from NBC/WSJ pollster

The Free Beacon’s Bill McMorris finds a hidden nugget in the latest release from Hillary Clinton’s e-mail — a personal “congratulations!” from the pollster behind the NBC/Wall Street Journal surveys. Peter Hart of Hart Research made sure that the outgoing Secretary of State got an early look at numbers that showed her outpolling her predecessors:

Peter Hart, founder of Hart Research, sent an email to a Clinton staffer as she prepared to end her term as secretary of state. He advertised the email as “Sensational Clinton Numbers coming tonight on NBC/WSJ survey.” The email highlighted her favorability ratings after overseeing foreign policy during President Obama’s first term.
“We will be releasing a special early set of numbers on the performance of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Her approval rating is 69% and disapproval is 25%,” Hart said. “Comparing to all the other Secretaries where there are numbers on approval—she ranks higher than Henry Kissinger, John Foster Dulles, and George C. Marshall. Only Colin Powell had a higher score. Congratulations!!!” …

Even Hot Air doesn't seem shocked. . .

Smart, substantive new Hillary ad: “44 boys is too many”

If we’re already at the “adorable little girls wishing for a woman president” stage of Hillary’s gender pander, where will we be next October? Where can they go from here? The answer, I think, is towards victimization. Hopefulness of the sort you see below makes sense early in the campaign, when there’s no enemy yet to demonize. Now’s the time to add a feelgood glow to your campaign by emptying your arsenal of shiny-happy fireworks. Once there’s a GOP nominee to finally run against, that’ll be the moment to get crazy with the “voting for Republicans is like voting for rape” war-on-women cheez whiz.

A boy man would have to be crazy to vote for Hillary!

Speaking of rape culture: Woman asks Hillary: If all rape accusers have the right to be believed, should we believe the women who say your husband raped them?

She’s not asking this question idly. Hillary, who’s gearing up for a sub-moronic identity-politics campaign, actually did say recently that rape accusers have “the right to be believed” even though her own husband has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault. How does she resolve that dilemma?

I thought she’d never be asked, for the simple reason that no one in the media would dare risk access to a future Clinton administration by putting her on the spot about it. But sometimes, my friends, the questions don’t come from the media. Sometimes a candidate has to face the voters.

And that’s when magical things can happen.

And what evidence do you have to disbelieve Monica Lewinsky, Paula Jones, Gennifer Flowers, and Jaunita Broaddrick? There's a pretty good discussion in the comments at Althouse that suggest some follow up questions that might be amusing to ask. I think this is a set up so that from now on her answer can be "asked and answered, old news, move on."

Hillary Clinton’s likability problem

Allies of Hillary Clinton are confident she will win the Democratic presidential nomination, but they are worried about one big thing: her likability problem in the general election.

Clinton has rebounded from a rough spring and summer with a strong fall. And while her eyes remain on the primary, she is already testing general election themes against her possible GOP opponents as they do battle in what could be a drawn-out Republican primary.

Presidential elections are often decided on personality instead of specific policies. Along those lines, people in Clinton’s orbit are worried she doesn’t pass the would-you-like-to-have-a-beer-with-her test.

That would take an awful lot of beer. . .

 Hillary Clinton is getting crushed on social media, captured in one word cloud