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(11/09/17 9:16pm)
Imagine waking up to find that Warren Buffett, along with the heads of NBC, CBS and ABC had all been arrested overnight.
The people of Saudi Arabia awoke to a similar reality over the weekend, after the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his father King Salman commissioned a purge of arrests of their own royal family. The New Yorker reported that among those arrested were eleven senior princes, dozens of current or former government ministers, the head of the National Guard, the owners of three major television stations and one of the wealthiest men in the world.
In what seems to be a power grab by the father-son partnership, they have begun to limit all opposition to their current reign. The 81 year-old king has positioned his favored son, Mohammed bin Salman to take his place following his passing.
In September, the country ended its ban on women driving, and the Crown Prince announced that Saudi Arabia must reform and modernize if it is to be considered a successful 21st century nation. However, corruption runs rampant throughout the country. The world's richest oil-producing nation has been accused of distributing the nation’s wealth within its own royal family through bribes, sweeteners and lavish kickbacks rather than to its own citizens.
The people of Saudi Arabia welcomed the arrests last weekend. They feel as though now that many of the country’s rich and famous have been imprisoned, more of the country’s wealth will be distributed to the general population.
President Trump also praised these actions last Saturday in a phone call with King Salman. “President Trump noted that the king and crown prince’s recent public statements regarding the need to build a moderate, peaceful, and tolerant region are essential to ensuring a hopeful future for the Saudi people, to curtailing terrorist funding, and to defeating radical ideology – once and for all – so the world can be safe from its evil,” the White House said in a statement.
President Trump continued on this path approval in a series of tweets released Monday. “I have great confidence in King Salman and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, they know exactly what they are doing,” the President tweeted, “Some of those they are harshly treating have been ‘milking’ their country for years!”
Members of the upper class have been left with an uneasy feeling, as Saudi Arabia’s attorney general has come forward to announce that “phase one” has been completed, implying that there are more arrests to come. As of this weekend, the sprawling remains of the Saudi royal family have been barred from leaving the country.
(11/05/17 10:25pm)
In 2016, we had one of the most vicious and controversial presidential elections own history. However, it may actually be the aftermath of the election that shakes American politics to its core.
In May, the justice department appointment Robert Mueller, a former F.B.I. director, to be in charge of a special counsel to investigate Russia’s role in the 2016 election. The appointment was made just days after Trump fired his F.B.I. director James Comey.
The council was formed in May, and it was just last week that the first charges were filed in the investigation. Following months of subpoenas for documents and testimonies within the Trump administration, Paul Manafort and his business associate Rick gates were indicted on Monday and have since surrendered themselves to the FBI pleading not guilty.
Manafort, Trump’s former campaign chairman, and Gates have been charged with 12 counts including: conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Although these accusations are serious, they do not necessarily connect these men’s actions to Trump or his campaign. The accusations stem from their financial relations with the Ukrainian government.
The closest the Mueller investigation has gotten to Trump so far may be perhaps the third man charged. Trump’s former campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos was also indicted Monday, and plead guilty to making false statements to the FBI in regards to his interactions with officials close to the Russian government.
Papadopoulos believed the Russians had ‘dirt’ on Hillary Clinton, but lied about the timing of his interactions with the officials. Although the Manafort indictment caused a bigger stir in the media due to his name, it was the guilty plea of Papadopoulos that may bring more harm to the Trump administration.
Trump responded to these charges on twitter saying, “Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????” followed by another tweet clarifying,”....Also, there is NO COLLUSION!”
However, this tweet was sent out only an hour before the charges against Papadopoulos emerged. With this connection, it becomes more and more difficult for the White House to assure no connections between the Trump administration and Russia’s interference in the election.
According to NBC, multiple sources familiar to the investigation have claimed that there is now enough evidence amassed to press charges against Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and his son.
These developments suggest Mueller's investigation is moving at a rapid and steady pace. So far, the White House has claimed that the administration's connection to this investigation is minimal, but an indictment of the president’s former national security advisor could rapidly dismantle that statement.
(10/16/17 8:16pm)
Words matter. And words by those with the platform to be heard, have proven to matter even more.
ESPN Sportscenter host Jemele Hill sent out a string of controversial tweets last Monday in response to Dallas Cowboys owner's recent statements. Jerry Jones said Sunday that any player that is caught "disrespecting the flag" would not be allowed to play.
Throughout the NFL, many players have taken it upon themselves to protest the racial injustices of American society by either kneeling or sitting during the national anthem. These acts have caught national attention and have sparked outrage from both NFL fans and the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Hill, a longtime advocate for these protests, took to Twitter to criticize Jones' statements and send a message to fans of the NFL.
“Jerry Jones also has created a problem for his players, specifically the black ones. If they don't kneel, some will see them as sellouts."
“If you strongly reject what Jerry Jones said, the key is his advertisers. Don't place the burden squarely on the players."
As the football season has progressed, the Dallas Cowboys have kept a mostly united front in terms of these protests, and the majority of the players have chosen to stand during the anthem. However, the NFL Network recently reported that after Jones' comments, this issue that had not received much attention in the locker room up to now, has recently become a major talking point. Players are now upset that kneeling for the national anthem is no longer an option. This was escalated by Hill's tweets that blamed Jones for making his African-American players feel like "sellouts" for no longer having the option to kneel.
This exchange caught the attention of President Trump who has been keeping a close eye on the NFL as of late. In keeping with his message, the president commented on Hill's statements, again on Twitter, supporting Jones and the ultimatum he gave his players. A day later, Hill was suspended from ESPN.
ESPN claimed that her suspension was due to a second violation of their social media guidelines, but failed to explain exactly which guidelines had been broken. Just last month, Hill took to Twitter to call President Trump a white supremacist, and received backlash from Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, who called for her to be fired from ESPN.
This most recent action taken by ESPN against Hill has once again left many to question the role of politics within the sporting world. Not only was Hill on her private Twitter account, but she was expressing her own political views without referencing her position within ESPN in any way. To many, her suspension is seen as ESPN expressing their opinion on the matter of the protests, but Hill doesn't seem to be backing down. As of now, her tweets condemning both Trump and Jones have not been deleted.