Celtics

Some of Jayson Tatum's tattoos are pretty self-explanatory. There's his tattoo Mom and his younger self on his left calf, the tattoo of his son Deuce's name on his left arm and a tattoo of himself Winning an NBA championship on his back.

However, a few of Tatum's other actions require some explanation, which is something the Celtics star was pleased to do during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Tuesday.

Tatum's most complex tattoo by way of cultural references will be the “LIFE” tattoo on his left leg.

“For me, tattoos are like storytelling,” Tatum told Kimmel. “'Life' is my favorite movie of all time, starring Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy. So I added the word “life” and in it my favorite characters from other movies.”

In each letter of “LIFE,” so as, are Denzel Washington in “John Q.”, Will Smith in “Hitch,” Wesley Snipes in “White Men Can’t Jump,” and Dashiell “Dash” Parr in “The Incredibles.” .”

Kimmel particularly liked the image of a puffy-faced Smith from a scene featuring Smith's skilled matchmaker, Alex “Hitch” Hitchens suffers from an allergic response during a date.

“I think it’s just biological,” Tatum said. “Everyone who has seen this film remembers this scene.”

Tatum and Kimmel also discussed the forward's snake-shaped “24” tattoo, which Tatum got in honor of “Black Mamba” Kobe Bryant.

Growing up, Tatum idolized Bryant, and after meeting Bryant as a toddler, he reconnected with him when he began playing within the NBA.

“I remember him asking me a question at the first practice,” Tatum said. “He asked, 'How much does it mean to you?' That was such a powerful thing because you think about all the things you sacrifice and how hard he worked to perfect his craft. How much does it mean to be one of the greatest?”

Watch Jayson Tatum on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

The U.S. Supreme Court is loosening regulations on corruption, which can likely have dire consequences for American democracy.

The most up-to-date example of this worrying trend was the case Snyder v. United States. At first glance, this may increasingly look like a good, shaky case about whether a Part of the US Criminal Code that the bribery law also includes “tips”.

But the court's decision of June 26, 2024, limits the authority of federal prosecutors to pursue corrupt government officials.

Snyder follows a pattern of the present Supreme Court I actually have documented in three booksSince John Roberts became chief justice of the court in 2006, it has been nearly unimaginable for federal prosecutors to prosecute corruption, particularly on the state and native levels.

Gift, tip or bribe?

At the middle of the Snyder case was a former mayor of Portage, Indiana, who charged with violating the Federal Anti-Corruption Act during his tenure as mayor. He accepted $13,000 from a trucking company in 2014 after town signed a $1.1 million contract to buy garbage trucks.

Mayor James Snyder showed up on the trucking company and said, “I need money.” He claimed the payment was a consulting fee or a tip.

In a 6-3 decision, the court's conservative majority overruled along ideological lines the lower court's ruling that convicted Snyder of bribery and the appeals court that upheld his conviction. The mayor mustn’t have been prosecuted, the justices said, since the federal anti-corruption law, Section 666, was at issue. only covers bribes and no suggestions.

And bribes, it was said, were paid before an official act and never afterward.

In his majority opinion, Justice Brett Kavanaugh explained why it’s undesirable for federal prosecutors to go after small-time local crooks. First, he argued, many states and cities have already got their very own laws on politicians and suggestions, so the Justice Department doesn’t have to play Big Brother.

“Section 666 does not supplement these federal and local laws by sentencing 19 million state and local officials to up to 10 years in federal prison for accepting even mundane tips,” Kavanaugh wrote.

Deregulation of campaign finance

The Supreme Court has also limited what constitutes corruption in the realm of ​​campaign finance.

In a 2007 Case called WRTL IIThe court tore an enormous hole in a federal campaign finance law, the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, also generally known as McCain-Feingold. Among other things, McCain-Feingold had banned “campaign communications” if firms and unions Buy campaign ads within the run-up to the vote.

In WRTL II, the Court ruled that “corruption” in political campaigns “must be of the 'quid pro quo' type, that is, an individual or corporation makes a contribution or expenditure in exchange for an act by a public official.”

This definition implies that a briber should be downright brazen to demand a specific vote from a member of Congress in exchange for money. Most bribery cases in the true world are more subtle, because the Supreme Court once recognized.

Under Roberts' predecessor, Chief Justice William Rehnquist, a majority of justices – each left and right – viewed the efforts of political donors to set the agenda of political parties and elected officials as an impermissible corruption of the political process.

As the The Rehnquist Court once concludedCorruption occurs “not only in the form of quid pro quo arrangements, but also in the improper influence on the judgment of a public official and in the appearance of such influence.”

Money in politics

The most notorious tolerance of cash in politics by the Roberts Court was Citizens unitedThe 2010 Citizens United ruling held that corporations have the First Amendment right to spend as much money as they need on political ads in any American election.

Limiting corporate spending on political ads has a “chilling effect” on corporate free speech, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote, and the federal government's “anti-corruption interest” is just not as strong as that concern.

The court reiterated this stance in 2014 when it struck down the federal cap of $123,000 on total per-person contributions to federal candidates over a two-year election cycle. McCutcheon v. FECThe Court again insisted that campaign finance rules should focus only on corruption within the sense of a quid pro quo strategy – that’s, “dollars for political favors.”

“Campaign finance restrictions that pursue other objectives improperly influence the government” in deciding who wins an election, Roberts wrote in his majority opinion.

The presiding judge was not swayed by the argument that strict campaign finance rules ensured that wealthy and poor had equal say in elections.

“As desirable as it may seem, creating a 'level playing field' is not an acceptable government goal,” he wrote in McCutcheon.

Today, individual donors can put unlimited funds into the federal election.

Fraud redefined

The Supreme Court under Roberts has also significantly narrowed the definition of corruption in cases of white-collar crime.

In 2016 McDonnell v. United StatesThe judges declared that Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell did nothing fallacious when he promoted a dubious health product on behalf of a person who had paid for McDonnell's wife's clothing and his daughter's wedding.

Four years later, the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government couldn’t prosecute a girl named Bridget Anne Kelly involved within the Bridgegate scandal of 2013when New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's staff, including Kelly, intentionally caused a choking traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge to punish considered one of Christie's political opponents.

“Not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime,” wrote Justice Elena Kagan, normally considered a liberal judge, in Kelly v. United States.

The Supreme Court continued this trend in a 2023 case called Percoco v. United States.

Joseph Percoco, an adviser to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, was convicted of fraud in 2018 for $315,000 from two New York firms to advertise policies that favored their firms. The Supreme Court rejected the convictionlargely because the cash modified hands while he was working on Cuomo's 2014 campaign – meaning he was technically not in government.

Nevertheless, Percoco used a New York government phone roughly 837 times during this era, suggesting that he desired to be perceived by the surface world as a government insider with access to political power.

Traditionally, private individuals have “dominated and controlled“Government dealings of the type Percoco was accused of might be guilty of what’s generally known as 'honest services fraud' under federal law. Since Percoco, that term has come to incorporate only bribes and kickbacks.

The Supreme Court’s lax attitude toward corruption threatens the integrity of American democracy, as I explain in my latest book: “Corporatocracy.” From McDonnell to Kelly to Percoco to Snyder, the House rulings have undermined anti-corruption law. This sends a message to the corrupt: “You can be corrupt without facing legal consequences.”

Corrupt people get away with it, while a superb government takes one other hit.

politics

Joe Biden's family grew up in a proud middle-class Irish Catholic family and idolized the Kennedys. They saw the Kennedys – successful, wealthy, attractive Irish Catholics – because the embodiment of the American dream. Biden says Robert F. Kennedy Sr., whose bust stands within the Oval Office, inspired him to turn out to be a public defender and eventually run for office.

“The Kennedys, as a group, were the people he modeled his life after,” said former Sen. Ted Kaufman (D-Del.), who was Biden’s longtime chief of staff and stays his close friend. “Not just his political life, but his life.”

When the Kennedy family rallied behind Biden in Philadelphia last week and gave their full-throated support to his re-election campaign, consciously selecting him over one in every of their very own – Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’s running as an independent – it was not fairly politically helpful. It was also an especially personal victory for Biden.

Privately, Biden told advisers that Thursday was probably the greatest days of his campaign, in keeping with people conversant in his comments who spoke on condition of anonymity to debate private conversations. The event was attended by greater than a dozen members of the prolonged Kennedy family, including six of Kennedy Jr.'s siblings, and Biden was particularly moved once they said the president was the candidate to hold on their family's legacy.

Publicly, Biden was visibly touched by the overwhelming support from Kerry Kennedy, his rival's sister.

“This was the most meaningful introduction I've ever had in my life, other than my sister's introduction,” Biden said Thursday after her introduction.

The Kennedy family hopes their support will help Biden politically. Kennedy Jr.'s independent presidential campaign is threatening to take votes away from Biden, leaving Democrats increasingly concerned that it could significantly harm the president's probabilities of defeating Donald Trump. The final result could hinge on a number of thousand votes in key states, and plenty of Democrats say they lost the White House in 2000 and 2016 due to such third-party insurrections.

Within the Kennedy family, Kennedy Jr.'s cosmopolitan campaign was painful, people conversant in their discussions said. When he initially challenged Biden for the Democratic nomination, his family was frustrated – and made it clear they were on Biden's side – but largely ignored the candidacy publicly. They weren’t concerned about Kennedy Jr.'s influence on the election, since Biden would almost actually defeat him for the Democratic nomination.

But because he’s an independent candidate with ballot access across the country, relations are increasingly concerned about his ability to influence the election — and damage their family's legacy.

“Almost every single one of Joe and Rose Kennedy’s grandchildren supports Joe Biden,” Kerry Kennedy said in her introduction to Biden. “That’s right, the Kennedy family supports Joe Biden for president.”

She later compared Biden on to her father, the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.).

“Dad stood for equal justice, for human rights and freedom from want and fear,” she said, “just as President Biden does today.”

The Kennedy family occupies an unusual place within the American political imagination. President John F. Kennedy was a young, charismatic president who energized a generation of Americans until his shocking assassination in 1963. His brother Robert, an excellent more tortured figure, was seen by many Democrats because the embodiment of tragic idealism while running for president after his own assassination in 1968.

Scandal also followed the family, and while members of the following generation also achieved political office, none of them achieved the political and cultural influence of their parents. Still, the Kennedy mystique stays for a lot of Democratic voters, especially older ones.

This background is one in every of the the reason why Kennedy Jr.'s candidacy has given such a twist to the present presidential campaign. The revered senator's son and namesake has embraced controversial, baseless claims about every thing, including vaccines and the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — which has unnerved many Democrats and, apparently, a few of his own relations.

Several of those relatives have had targeted conversations with Kennedy Jr. about his candidacy, but to no avail, and plenty of people near him say they don’t imagine he’ll drop out of the race. That understanding fueled the family's desire to hitch in a public endorsement of Biden, people conversant in their conversations said.

“This was not easy for anyone, and I think what no one should forget is that despite the scope of the event, given the dynamics of this race, it was not easy for anyone,” former Congressman Joe Kennedy (D-Mass.), said a grandson of the elder Robert F. Kennedy, who now serves as Biden's special envoy to Northern Ireland, in an interview. “But it was an important thing.”

Like other members of his family, he declined to comment directly on his uncle's presidential campaign. Several of the candidate's relations have condemned Kennedy's comments on vaccines and other issues, but they’ve been careful to not portray their support for Biden as an explicit rebuke of their relative. Instead, they are saying it reflects their belief that there are only two possible outcomes in November: Biden wins or former President Trump wins.

“Given the reality we find ourselves in, there are only two people who can win this race,” Joe Kennedy said. “There are only two parties that have the necessary structures to win this race. So every additional candidate in this dynamic withdraws support from one side or the other.”

For his part, Kennedy Jr. has not commented on his family's approval because the incident. However, before his siblings met with Biden, he wrote on social media: “I heard that some of my family members will be supporting President Biden today.” I'm glad they’re politically energetic – it's a family tradition. We are divided in our opinions but united in our love for each other.”

At age 81, Biden has discovered that his own path — one which has included each enormous political success and immense personal tragedy — parallels in some ways in which of the Kennedy family.

After immersing himself within the Kennedy story as a toddler, Biden found comfort within the embrace of family after the deaths of those closest to him. A couple of weeks after his election to the Senate in 1972 and before he was even sworn in, Biden's wife and daughter were killed in a automobile accident. His sons Beau and Hunter were injured and Biden considered giving up his seat to look after them.

But Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), together with other colleagues, convinced Biden to remain. Kennedy helped Biden establish his Senate office and have become a mentor and shut friend.

“I know the president is someone who places a lot of value on family and places a lot of value on loyalty, and when you're there for someone at their most vulnerable, he's going to remember that,” Joe Kennedy said of the connection his family to Biden. “It is this relationship that, in my opinion, had a great influence on the members of both families, especially the older generation. They have also suffered immense loss and so has he, so there is a commonality there.”

In addition to Joe Kennedy, many other Kennedys work in Biden's government: Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, is ambassador to Australia; Victoria Reggie Kennedy, Edward Kennedy's widow, is the ambassador to Austria; Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, one in every of Kennedy Jr.'s siblings who appeared on stage with Biden, previously worked in Biden's Labor Department as an adviser on retirement and pension issues. (The two ambassadors aren’t allowed to have interaction in political activity and weren’t present on the election event on Thursday.)

That rally in Philadelphia, led largely by Joe Kennedy and Kerry Kennedy, got here after relations made it clear they desired to publicly support the president. Given the scale of the family, the organization took months. While there was discussion of holding the event in Massachusetts, the Kennedys' traditional home, relations decided against it because most of them not live within the state.

The Kennedys also desired to campaign in a battleground state, and after the rally, a few of them knocked on doors and met with Biden campaign volunteers in Philadelphia.

This month, nearly 50 members of the Kennedy clan gathered on the White House for the annual St. Patrick's Day celebration, taking a personal tour of the Oval Office and posing for a photograph with Biden within the Rose Garden. Biden and lots of the Kennedys shared the photo on social media, the primary implicit rebuke of Kennedy Jr.'s campaign from his relations.

But during that visit, like Thursday's event, Kennedy Jr.'s presidential campaign was not specifically brought up, relations said.

“A lot of what was going on in the Oval Office, people were talking to him about the presence of President Kennedy and my father and where he put the bust and why he likes to look at my father's bust when he's making difficult decisions,” said Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.

She added: “We have a wonderful connection with Joe Biden. We love politics. We love this country. We love Ireland.”