Folks sometimes have a difficult time saying exactly the bad things that Hillary has done.  We’ve been hearing about it for at least eight years but you may still not be able to cite specific factual things which are in the realm of “criminal.”  I’m here to help.

After eight years of sniffing around, we’ve got two main issues: the email server and Bengazi.  And then there are several issues which I’ll broadly group together as “miscellaneous.”  Let’s discuss.

 

The Infamous Private Email Server

The decision to use a particular email server is probably like me saying, “sure, I’ll take the Michelin RY393 Road Warrior All Season Radials” at the tire store.  One of zillions of decisions I make, without complete information, and then I forget about it.  Maybe ultimately the Firestone LJ3000 Transversal Traction Groove Zoomifiers” would have been a better choice, but hey, I had to make a call if I wanted to be able to drive the car again.

When I use email, I use it figuring someone else has figured out the techy stuff and I just use it to communicate.  I figure it’s up to others to handle the specifics of the tools I’m using.

There are a number of political notables who’ve used private email without an eyebrow raised.  Approximately 33% of governments officials use private email at least “sometimes” (or they did, I doubt they do now).  Jeb most recently had huge issues with using private email.  There was some imbroglio about Romney’s email.  W “lost” a few emails.  Sometimes I have trouble finding the email with my travel reservations but it’s not because I don’t want the world to know about my stay at the nefarious Red Roof Inn. My mom had AOL, not something I’m particularly proud of.  Is this all they got?!?

 

Benghazi

The GOP has spent insane amounts of money investigating Benghazi.  At first it was squarely Obama’s fault.  But then he got re-elected and it became Hillary’s issue.  Since then, they’ve held investigation after investigation and every time Hillary has been exonerated.

There were several requests to increase the security budget there prior to the attacks, denied by GOPers, but naw, that couldn’t have been a factor.

There were tons of lives lost in embassy attacks during the Bush administration.  Again, naw, that’s different.

I gather there have been a rather large number of American lives lost in the needless wars.  Again, different apparently.

And sure, those wars might have stirred up a bit of anti-American sentiment, but again, that’s different because it’s about war, which is understood to be a pretty OK thing for killing folks.

 

Miscellaneous

There are a couple main things which I’ll throw under the heading “conspiracy theories” although that might not be a totally clear label.  And you may disagree with the label, believe there is real repressed truth.

First, there’s the death of Vince Foster.  Some folks think Hillary and Bill were involved.  Sounds like a fun plotline for “House of Cards” but it’s been de-bunked here and here and here.

There are the rumors of her being a pawn of Wall Street.  Well, it’s true, it’s in her district so it’s kind of her job to represent them, but as far as being a pawn, not likely.  Yes, she’s given speeches to them (see “it’s her job” above) but they comprise a small percentage of her total speaking audiences, both in number and in dollars.  As far a price per speech, yes, it’s on the high side but she’s pretty famous.  A certain Mr. Trump has commanded speaking fees 6x as high.

Ah, we can’t forget about taking money from foreigners.  That’s a pretty tired meme largely due to a book that even the author admits is a bit speculative.  Read about that here.

Conclusion

So it’s down to “build a wall, ban a religion, kill them all with bullets dipped in pigs’ blood” or the above issues.  To my mind, not even in the same universe.  Now I have to admit I’m not a fan of political dynasties and the idea of having two presidents come from the same family is a bit of a hard pill for me to swallow.  But those are apparently the waters in which we find ourselves.

I’d like to see a law against that particular little piece of family funny business.  And heck, while we’re at it, term limits for Congress.  And repeal Citizens United.  And get rid of gerrymandering.  But I digress.  At this point in time, none are crimes.

I say let’s move on, and work together to run this country instead of running it into the ground.

*For a more detailed defense of Hillary, read here.