A French policeman tasked with protecting VIPs is among five charged with swindling a Champagne heir out of his bubbly and fortune by convincing him he had been recruited as a secret agent. The five, including an interior ministry staffer, are accused of luring the gullible producer of 450,000 bottles per year into handing over tens of thousands in fizz and cash. The money was supposed to pay for a raft of increasingly outlandish “missions” they claimed involved the Moroccan royal family, ex-US president Barack Obama, the United Nations and a part in a film with Alain Delon. The men face charges of "abuse of weakness” and “extortion” of Hugues B (whose full name has not been disclosed) - a psychologically frail individual with “megalomaniac delusions” who they mockingly referred to as VIM (Very Important Madman), according to the indictment seen by Le Parisien. Prosecuting judges say the plaintiff squandered his fortune on being fooled into buying fast cars and a plane the …
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Politics of direct and indirect primaries
By Ayodele Okunfolami INCLUDED in the Electoral Reform Bill 2021 passed by the Senate on Tuesday, is the approval that political parties in Nigeria should adopt direct primaries to choose candidates for all elective positions and that they should be monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission. For simple definitions, a direct primary is one whereby members of a political party choose their party’s candidates while an indirect primary is one whereby party members elect delegates from among themselves who in turn decide the party’s flagbearers for upcomingelections. With the atmosphere already warming up for the 2023 general elections, some have applauded the move while others see it as an infringement on the independence and internal democratic workings of individual political parties. The two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, went poles apart with the mode of primaries used in the election of their …
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Which lawmakers got the most NRA money?
— -- Last week's shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school that left 17 dead and 14 wounded has once again brought the debate over gun control to the forefront. This time, the school's students are taking the lead in demanding change at both the local level and in Washington. Critics, however, argue that pro-gun campaign money has more influence in the gun policy debate than victims of gun violence. The National Rifle Association continues to be a huge force in American politics. It's made more than $11 million in direct contributions to federal lawmakers and candidates over the past 20 years. In 2017, the group's lobbying expenditures included $5 million spent pushing Second Amendment rights. But the NRA’s real power shows up in independent expenditures. It can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money supporting or opposing candidates - as long as it doesn't coordinate with the candidates. During just the 2016 election cycle, the NRA spent $54 million in the …
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Presidents as ‘consoler in chief’: How Trump measures up
— -- A week after the deadly school shooting in Florida, President Donald Trump has visited with victims and first responders, tweeted accusations of possible negligence, initiated a policy change, and is set to meet for a listening session with students and others impacted by gun violence. But should Trump embrace the role of "consoler in chief"? "I said after the election that what the country needed as much as a national president, was a national pastor. As much as a commander in chief, we needed a pastor in chief. President Trump has never viewed his role in this way, and he seems to be someone exceedingly uncomfortable in exuding empathy," according to ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd. "Long before what happened in Florida, or happened in Las Vegas, the country was in need of healing. And now more than ever the president’s needed role is 'comforter in chief,' but this seems like foreign territory for him," he said. Elaine Kamarck, a senior fellow at the …
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Parkland students pay tribute to shooting victims through community service
The heartache of the 2018 shooting that unfolded at Florida's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is present in the halls of so many schools across the country Thursday. A number of schools in Florida, particularly those close to the scene of the Feb. 14, 2018, shooting, were holding memorial events and moments of silence to remember the 17 students and staffers who were fatally shot in the attack. Marjory Stoneman Douglas students who decided to attend school on the anniversary will not be sitting in the classroom like normal; they will be working on service projects in honor of the lives that were lost, The Associated Press reported. Many of the students wore maroon T-shirts emblazoned with the hashtag #MSDStrong -- a phrase shared so often in the wake of the shooting. (MORE: Parkland shooting 1 year later: Remembering the 17 victims of the school massacre) A handful of Parkland students who have spent much of the last year advocating for gun reform -- …
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We need to put more women front and center in public dialogue | Opinion
In 1974, after I successfully managed an upset victory in a hot congressional race, the late Ruth Mandel, who co-founded the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, called to tell me I was now a role model and needed to tell my story in front of as many women as possible. At the time "role model," as I was described in a media profile, also meant that I was called a "perky suburban matron." While I did live in the suburbs no one would ever think to call me "perky" or at the age of 31, a matron. Ten years later, after I successfully executed the complicated task of delegate petitioning that put Walter Mondale on the ballot in every Pennsylvania district, the man I reported to told me he was "surprised and amazed" that I could be tough enough to accomplish this task. Repeatedly during and after the Bill Bradley for President campaign, I was asked incredulously, "You are the national campaign manager?" Over the years, I served on numerous boards and all too …
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