JULY 2,  2016

SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:55 P.M. ET: 

THE QUESTIONING – Hillary Clinton was questioned for three and a half hours by the FBI today.  There have been no leaks about the session.  However, there is much speculation circulating that Clinton will not be charged legally.  That can cut both ways.  On the one hand, she can claim exoneration.  On the other, opponents can charge "cover-up."  Obama will be campaigning with Clinton this week.  If she's then cleared, the appearances, the "optics," will not look very good.  Trump is already charging that the system is rigged.  Republicans will double down on that theme if Clinton walks.

DISGRACE – FROM LONDON'S DAILY MAIL:   An illegal immigrant from Mexican who was charged with aggravated murder in the shooting deaths of three people at a rural Oregon blueberry farm had been deported six times.  According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Bonifacio Oseguera-Gonzalez, 29, was most recently deported in 2013 and had no significant prior criminal convictions.
Oseguera-Gonzalez pleaded not guilty to three counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder Tuesday in Marion County Superior Court.   However, he acknowledged to authorities in an interview that he shot four people, according to a probable cause statement.  The victims were identified as Ruben Rigoberto-Reyes, 60; Edmundo Amaro-Bajonero, 26; and Katie Gildersleeve, 30, of Logsden.
Authorities have released few details about the case, including the relationship between Oseguera-Gonzalez and the victims, and have declined to specify a motive.  We are a nation with a diminishing respect for the rule of law, and the Obama administration is the worst example.

ENERGY POLICIES HAVE CONSEQUENCES:  Perhaps Hillary can explain this to American labor.  FROM FOX:   Murray Energy Corp., the largest privately held coal miner in the U.S., has warned that it may soon undertake one of the biggest layoffs in the sector during this time of low energy prices.  In a notice sent to workers this week, Murray said it could lay off as many as 4,400 employees, or about 80% of its workforce, because of weak coal markets. The company said it anticipates “massive workforce reductions in September.”  The law requires a 60-day waiting period before large layoffs occur.  The American coal industry, especially in Appalachia, has languished as cheap natural gas replaces coal as fuel for power plants. World-wide demand for coal has also slumped, and new environmental regulations are making many coal mines unprofitable to operate.  Hillary Clinton said openly that she wanted to destroy the coal industry and its jobs.  She recently said she'd misspoken.  In other words, she got caught.  We want to see modernization in energy, but who is providing a future for all those unemployed miners?

July 2, 2016