November 7, 2016, Anxious Times
As we await the outcome of an election in which the favored-by-pre-election-polling candidate would go on to become our nation's first female President (and I'll be in Philadelphia tomorrow doing my small part to help that happen)... it's time to take a moment to say goodbye to our nation's first female attorney general, Janet Reno, who just passed away at age 78. Ms. Reno, who served during the entire eight years of Bill Clinton's presidency, had her share of controversies, but in the view of this former employee of the United States Department of Justice (that would be me) she acquitted herself honorably and respectably overall. Rest in peace, Ms. Reno.
WaPo's Chris Cilizza gives us this straightforward take on why FBI Director James Comey's "handling" of recent discoveries of emails on the Weiner/Abedin electronic devices "couldn't be worse."
For those not paying attention, it seems, just as abruptly as Comey tried to throw the race to Donald Trump by announcing that the emails had been discovered and implying that an investigation into the Clinton emails had reopened (technically these investigations close only upon death or conviction/acquittal or expiration of statute of limitations) at the precise moment that Trump's campaign was, in Trump's own language, kaput... Mr. Comey now announces "nothing to see here folks move along," i.e., the decision not to prosecute stands. Mr. Comey will hopefully have some 'splaining to do to his new boss, Hillary Clinton.
And just before I break into my solipsism, I give you one of the great solipsism practitioners of all time, that would be the Great Sarah Palin [TM] (seriously, the woman is a national treasure, though not for the reasons she thinks)... former 1/2 term Governor Palin suggests that Donald "the Donald" Trump will, despite the odds, win tomorrow, because "Polls are for Strippers." To be fair, she also added they are for cross-country skiers.
And in other athletic news, your talking dog crossed the finish line of yesterday's TCS New York City Marathon shortly after 1700 EST (change your clocks if you haven't yet boys and girls), marathon no. 47 overall, and the all-important 15th N.Y.C., the number of finishes granting guaranteed entry going forward. I wore my usual Brooklyn Dodgers attire, this time with a Statue of Liberty headband around the baseball cap, signifying that this is a nation that welcomes your tired, poor, huddled masses, and doesn't want to build a damned wall to keep them out, etc., etc.
Well, Election Day awaits us tomorrow. You know what to do.