Records Act Violations, Left-wing Violence, Kudos To East Liverpool Grads

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Records Act Violations

The State Department inspector general's office has reportedly concluded that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server violated the Federal Records Act.

Among the findings:
 

  • State Department security personnel "did not -- and would not -- approve her exclusive reliance on a personal email account to conduct Department business."
     
  • There were multiple hacking attempts which appear to have been unsuccessful.
     
  • Staff members raised concerns about the security of the server, but were instructed to "never to speak of the Secretary's personal email system again."
     
  • In one instance, those concerned about the server were told that its use had been approved by the State Department's legal staff. But according to the inspector general's office, it "found no evidence that staff in the Office of the Legal Adviser reviewed or approved Secretary Clinton's personal system."
     
  • The report warns that the State Department's record keeping practices suffer from "longstanding, systemic weaknesses," noting that former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright occasionally used personal email accounts and likely failed to properly archive some of their emails.

    Left-wing Violence

    There is a disturbing trend in American politics that needs to be confronted. President Barack Obama has lamented the breakdown of civil political discourse, but the breakdown is occurring almost exclusively on the left.

    Yet another political rally was marred by left-wing rioting last night. Demonstrators in Albuquerque, New Mexico, verbally and physically assaulted the attendees, attacked police and waved Mexican flags.

    Whether they realize it or not, the rioters are proving the conservative point.

    If you want to argue that a particular candidate is undermining American values, engaging in violence at a political event -- attacking free speech -- is the wrong way to make the point.

    When left-wing demonstrators wave the flag of a foreign nation, in some cases the flag of the country they left, they are making the point that some people are coming here not out of a great love of America, but with a desire to turn America into something else.

    Most Americans don't want our country to be like Mexico. There is a reason so many Mexicans are trying to escape that country.

    By the way, there is a lot of winking going on from the left. Last night, MSNBC host Chris Matthews dismissed the riot as "low-key violence." When an Albuquerque police officer pushed back, Matthews said, "Well, I don't see anybody with a face bloodied yet, or I don't see any danger to anybody yet."

    There was plenty of danger. According to one witness, "rocks were flying through the convention center windows" as people attempted to leave the event. Police reported that several officers were hit.

    It wasn't that long ago when middle-aged citizens in Bermuda shorts, outraged over socialized medicine and out-of-control spending, were roundly condemned by the media for disrupting town hall events. The Tea Party protestors were denounced as bigots and Nazis. But they weren't throwing rocks, shutting down debate and assaulting police officers.

    There is growing intolerance in America, but it is coming from the left. We saw it in the Occupy Wall Street movement, and we see it daily on our college campuses as conservative speakers and pro-Israel students are silenced and intimidated.

    The left's assault on free speech is truly un-American. Its propensity for violence cannot be tolerated.

    Kudos To East Liverpool Grads

    The 2016 graduating class of East Liverpool High School, in East Liverpool, Ohio, should be an inspiration to us all.

    They refused to be intimidated by the radicals at the Freedom from Religion Foundation, who demanded that the school abandon its 70-year tradition of singing the Lord's Prayer at graduation ceremonies.

    When school officials caved out of fear of a lawsuit, the graduates took matters into their own hands. Exercising their free speech rights, Valedictorian Jonathan Montgomery led the entire 2016 class in the Lord's Prayer. Watch it here. Now that's a protest worthy of our values and traditions!

    Congratulations, East Liverpool grads!