If I was her, I would worry less about Secret Service and much more about her mom seeing those. In fact, I bet Secret Service is going to need protection from Michelle Obama.
She may be 18, but she still lives with her parents. They may or may not have set rules for her to follow. They may or may not have had a talk with her SS detail about what is allowed and what is not. But the SS works for Barack, not Malia. If the prez sez do X, they do X.
Now, we don’t know what the prez has said to the SS, but I don’t see why would he shouldn’t have some say in the way she is monitored as long as she is their dependent. Once she’s on her own, then… she’s on her own.
Coworkers of mine saw her there too.
She can leave the White House tomorrow and start signing book and TV show deals if she wants. You’re right the SS works for her dad, but other than reporting back, which they could do with anyone, they shouldn’t get involved in a family matter like that. Michelle and Barack aren’t idiots, I’m sure they’ve considered these things and talked to their kids about them, and expected this kind of thing to happen.
Probably for the same reason why you clicked on this thread. She is famous. If it was Jill Smith from Spokane it wouldn’t be news.
Well, you sort of need to be “caught” by someone in authority before you can be punished accordingly and I doubt the Chicago Police are dedicating a lot of manpower to investigating whether or not that’s a photo of a cigarette or a joint (or what was in the possible joint-looking object).
I am not a lawyer and all that, but would the cops actually try to arrest Malia? Since simple possession is a minor crime punishable by a fine, wouldn’t they just serve her with a citation and require her to appear in court on a future time and date? Seems to me this is a crime on the level of a traffic violation.
At this point, there is not sufficient that she was doing anything illegal. She was photographed holding what may have been a hand-rolled cigarette. If there had been an officer there, perhaps he might have had reasonable suspicion to briefly detain her and confirm, or dispel, his suspicions that there was contraband in play. But that did not happen. So I’d say she wasn’t caught doing an illegal act: she was photographed with a hand-rolled cigarette, which is not a crime.
How old is she? And was the concert in Chicago proper?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-smoking-age-increase-met-20160630-story.html
If it wasn’t actually in Chicago, then nevermind. If it was weed, then it was illegal, regardless.
I don’t care one way or another, people skirt laws every day and then get bent if called on it.
Berry true. And she wasn’t officially caught with anything other than some kind of smoke-y thing.
Honestly, all I was trying to say is that it doesn’t matter her age, who she is related to, or your opinions on smoking weed, if that’s what she was doing she should be punished the same as if anyone else was doing it.
Isn’t it better for the Secret Service to turn a blind eye to a joint in order to maintain a solid relationship where she isn’t trying to ditch them all day? Their job is to protect her, which they can’t do if she doesn’t allow them near her.
And how do they do that if they aren’t right there beside her, stepping in as the cop comes near? The people you are describing have the security right there beside them. How does the SS get there before the officer pulls off a shot?
The only answer I can see is that they do in fact step in. They let the cop do what he wants, but they are right there. The only other solution I could see is having a gun trained on the cop, ready to fire if he pulls out a weapon. And I hope they don’t do that.
From the musical comedy Mr. President, here’s the official theme song of this thread:
It’s a lament about the Secret Service disrupting her social life, sung by actress Anita Gilette in the role of the daughter of POTUS. It’s pretty funny.
Which raises an interesting point; Malia’s a legal adult, what were to happen if, against all logic & advice, she were to put her foot down and absolutely refuse Secret Service protection? Can the President force a security detail on an unwilling citizen? Could she go to federal court and take out a restraining order against the Secret Service?
The law on Secret Service protection says that everyone except the president, vice president, and president and vice president-elect can decline it.
It sounds like she was punished just the same as anyone else smoking, meaning that no one who was smoking at Lollapalooza was punished. She wasn’t receiving any special treatment.
Bricker’s point is that you cannot establish *in a video or photograph *that it was weed. The most you could possibly say it that might have been a hand-rolled cigarette, but there’s no way to see that the contents were illegal. So there’s nothing she could be cited with.
Nor can you say, based on the picture, that she broke the law in Chicago concerning the minimum age to buy cigarettes. The picture does not demonstrate that she bought any cigarettes in Chicago, or bought any cigarettes at all.
Also true.
In this instance, my argument was less that it was about her and more about that you can’t simply brush off the act as “it’s weed who cares”.
The Law cares and your (the royal “your”) opinions on weed doesn’t make it less illegal.
She turned 18 July 4th of this year.
The law in Chicago changed on June 30th to forbid furnishing tobacco to those under 21, yes. And the Grant Park concert location is certainly within the city limits of Chicago. But that’s not a defined crime – it’s a local Chicago ordinance, the transgression of which is a violation, not a criminal act. See Chicago Businesses, Occupation, and Consumer Protection Code § 4-64-190, see also § 4-64-333(a).
As far as the SS is concerned, a LEO is a guy wearing a uniform and carrying a GUN. I would hope they’d be much more careful of his approaching her than some kid in a t-shirt smoking a joint.