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Tag: first lady
'Discredited' Supreme Court Issues 'Traitorous' Writ In Trump Immunity Case

'Discredited' Supreme Court Issues 'Traitorous' Writ In Trump Immunity Case

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) announced Wednesday it would hear former President Donald Trump's argument claiming absolute broad immunity from federal prosecution, which is being viewed as a gift to Trump in his efforts to delay a trial until after the November election.

According to CNN legal analyst Joan Biskupic, SCOTUS won't hear oral arguments in the immunity case until April 22. And as Politico legal correspondent Kyle Cheney tweeted, the Court "could tee up his trial for August or September" assuming it doesn't take too long to issue a ruling after the late April hearing. However, he added "the trial is unlikely to come much earlier than that, given [US District Judge] Chutkan's promise to ensure he has another few months of prep."

Following the Court's issuing of a writ of certiorari on Wednesday, numerous legal experts and journalists blasted SCOTUS on social media for what they viewed as a decision in Trump's favor.

"[SCOTUS] will prematurely hear a completely frivolous claim that if sustained, would allow any POTUS to commit crimes with almost unbridled immunity," tweeted Richard Signorelli, a former assistant US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. "This will delay his federal 1/6 trial indefinitely. A political and traitorous decision from a totally discredited SCOTUS."

The announcement to take up Trump's immunity case was unexpected, given that a DC Circuit Court of Appeals panel issued a scathing ruling earlier this month ripping apart the ex-president's argument that he should enjoy permanent immunity from any and all criminal acts as a former head of state. Vanity Fair special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast made a Beatles reference, tweeting Trump "gets by with a little help from his friends... On the Supreme Court." And when looping in the immunity question with other Trump-related cases SCOTUS is currently weighing, law professor Anthony Michael Kreis called the current SCOTUS term "the most important... since Reconstruction." Others observed that it wasn't out of the question for the 6-3 conservative majority to rule in Trump's favor, thus eliminating his two federal indictments in one fell swoop.

"I don't think it's sunk in with people that Trump is asking the Dobbs Court to rule that he's literally above the law and they apparently might do it," tweeted journalist Matthew Yglesias, defining the Court by the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Mississippi-based journalist Ashton Pittman piled on the Court, writing that Wednesday's decision could "help Trump potentially avoid having to go to trial in the January 6th case before the election—or ever, possibly."

Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti tweeted that the likelihood of Trump's election interference trial happening before the November election was slim, and noted that "the only criminal case likely to go to trial before the election is the Manhattan DA case next month, which takes on a heightened significance as a result."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Danziger: Cherchez La Femme

Danziger: Cherchez La Femme

Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons and one novel. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.com.

Farewell, Michelle Obama, You’ve Made Us All Proud

Farewell, Michelle Obama, You’ve Made Us All Proud

Dear Michelle Obama:

This is just a note to say that I think you’re gorgeous. I’ll thank you not to share that with your husband, given that I have no desire to open my door and find a predator drone waiting for me. Or, worse, an IRS auditor.

And yes, as a 21st century U.S. male, I am well aware of the minefield a guy enters when he assays public discussion of a woman’s looks. But I take the risk in order to express the head-snapping disconnect I feel whenever some white person attacks you on the basis of being insufficiently pretty for their tastes.

Obviously, it’s sexist, this implicit notion that you exist for their approval. But for me, it also calls their eyesight into question. I always find myself wondering: Are they seeing the same woman I am? Are they seeing this statuesque lady with lively eyes and a smile full of fun?

They aren’t, of course. That’s the entire point. I see an attractive wife and mother, a lawyer, author, activist, educator and fashion trendsetter. But they see you — more accurately, fail to see you — while looking through a prism of their own fears and stereotypes, a broken-glass refraction of hateful images whose repulsiveness ultimately says more about them than it ever could about you.

This has happened repeatedly. In November, some bureaucrat in West Virginia called you “an ape in heels.” Last month, a GOP official in New York said you should “return to being a male” and live with an ape in a cave in Africa.

The bureaucrat swore she was “not of any way” racist. The official swore that race had nothing to do with his words. They did this with straight faces. One would guess they now sleep the untroubled sleep of the truly righteous — and utterly clueless. We’ve had over eight years of this. Now we reach the point where the Obama era is measured in days. And I, like many people, find myself reflecting on what your husband and you have meant to the nation.

I’ll address myself to him in a few days. For now, for today, I just want to express how awed I am by the grace with which you have carried yourself through nearly a decade of racial denigration from ugly, stupid people. They’ve denied your patriotism, your femininity and your humanity. They watch even now in acquiescent silence as the incoming president plays tonsil hockey with Vladimir Putin, but they acted like you were the reincarnation of Joseph Stalin when you planted a garden and encouraged kids to exercise.

It would be enough to make anyone bitter. But you never gave them the satisfaction of your attention, much less your bitterness. Instead, you just did you. And “you” was enough. By the time your husband had been in office six months, many people could no longer remember what the fuss was about.

But too many others are still like the West Virginia bureaucrat and the New York party hack. Too many others still offer too many stark reminders that where race is concerned, America remains an unwell nation. And that it’ll probably get worse before it gets better.

Yes, I know what you’d say: “When they go low, we go high.” I don’t mind telling you that I’m finding that easier said than done. But your example challenges me, and that’s not nothing.

So, farewell, Mrs. Obama. Please know that, as an American — and particularly as an African American — I am proud of how you’ve conducted yourself as first lady. At risk of political incorrectness and IRS audit, I reiterate what I said coming in.

You, madam, are gorgeous — in many more ways than one.

IMAGE: U.S. first lady Michelle Obama speaks during an event to mark Nowruz on Wednesday, March 11, 2015, at the White House in Washington, D.C. Nowruz is a holiday that is celebrated by more than 300 million people in diverse ethnic and religious communities across the Middle East, Central and Southwest Asia, and Eastern Europe. (Olivier Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS)
And Then Michelle Obama Showed Up

And Then Michelle Obama Showed Up

Hillary Clinton’s candidacy has sparked endless commentary about her gender, and rightly so.

She is increasingly likely to be the first female president of the United States. That’s a big deal — even if the thought of it makes you curl up into the fetal position, you poor thing.

Two other women have become increasingly visible in this presidential race: Michelle Obama and Melania Trump. In word and deed, the contrast in their recent public appearances in response to the video revealing Donald Trump’s admission that he has engaged in sexual predator behavior illustrates how far women have come — and how desperately some want to cling to our oppressive past.

Anyone paying even the slightest bit of attention to this race knows by now what Trump said about women on the decade-old video first revealed by The Washington Post. The quickest of summaries: He believes he is entitled to touch, kiss and grope any woman he finds attractive, without her consent.

The public backlash has been swift and enduring. Trump’s dismissal of the recorded conversation as “locker room talk” and his repeated mocking of the growing number of his female accusers are further eroding his impossible dream of living in the White House.

What’s a campaign to do?

On Oct. 17, his wife, Melania, agreed to talk to CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

This is the politics of old. When all else fails, summon the wife.

I hesitate to lay claim to anything exceptional about me as a journalist, but this is a fact of my life and requires full disclosure: I am married to Sen. Sherrod Brown. I know a little bit about the prevailing low and constricting expectations for women married to politicians. Not because of my husband. He knew what he was getting into when he proposed to a newspaper columnist, and it wasn’t blind compliance. This is an archaic notion of political spousedom cherished by politicos and too many of my colleagues in the media who continue to regard candidates’ wives as either a prop or a problem.

Melania Trump broke with her usual practice as the mute go-along to blame another man for egging on her husband and to double down on the “locker room” defense.

Anderson Cooper: “He described it as locker room talk. … You’ve sort of alluded to that, as well. Is that what it is to you, just locker room talk?”

Melania Trump: “Yeah, it’s kind of two teenage boys. Actually, they should behave better, right?”

Cooper: “He was 59.”

Trump: “Correct. And sometimes I said I have two boys at home. I have my young son and my husband, so, but I know how some men talk, and that’s how I saw it, yes.”

As Cooper stressed, Donald Trump was 59. That’s my age right now. I keep thinking about that and all that I am expected to know by this age.

And let’s be clear: A teenager admitting to the behavior that Donald Trump was bragging about would be just as predatory — and the behavior would be just as illegal.

Fortunately, first lady Michelle Obama knew that the only response to Trump’s behavior was to condemn it.

Last week, she took the stage in New Hampshire. With a tremor in her voice, she opened her heart and delivered a speech as breathtakingly real as it gets.

“I have to tell you that I can’t stop thinking about this,” she said. “It has shaken me to my core in a way that I couldn’t have predicted. … This wasn’t just locker room banter. This was a powerful individual speaking freely and openly about sexually predatory behavior. … And I have to tell you that I listen to all of this and I feel it so personally — and I’m sure that many of you do, too, particularly the women — the shameful comments about our bodies, the disrespect of our ambitions and intellect, the belief that you can do anything you want to a woman.”

This is the face — and the voice — of the new political spouse. She is using all of her power to help other women lay claim to their own, and she is going to help elect the first woman to be president of the United States.

After watching the first lady’s speech, I couldn’t help but think it’s probably a good thing her successor will not be a woman. We’re going to need some time to get over how much we’re going to miss Michelle Obama.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and professional in residence at Kent State University’s school of journalism. She is the author of two books, including “…and His Lovely Wife,” which chronicled the successful race of her husband, Sherrod Brown, for the U.S. Senate. To find out more about Connie Schultz (con.schultz@yahoo.com) and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.

Photo: U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama hosts Broadway Shines A Light on Girls’ Education at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater in Manhattan, New York, U.S., September 19, 2016. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly