A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

President-for-Life Donald J. Trump? I don't think so! (Photo Credit: NBC) On Quora, British member Steve Moreby asks: Is there any way that Donald Trump can have a third term? My reply: According to the United States Constitution, no. Amendment XXII (1952) Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.  But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term. Section 2. This articl...

What will Trump do to combat SNL? Wow. This question is either written by a foreigner who is unfamiliar with U.S. constitutional concepts, particularly those related to the First Amendment of the Constitution, or by a Trump supporter with minimal education. In other words: it’s a  ridiculous  question. Okay, first off, as President of the United States, there is pitifully little that Donald Trump  can  do to “combat”  Saturday Night Live.  Satire, especially political satire, is as old as civilization itself, and under our system of laws, it is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. A political cartoon satirizing Thomas Jefferson during the 1800 Presidential e...

The question, as originally posted, is:  Do you feel as if the NFL’s updated national anthem policy is unfair? Several months ago,  when I answered a question on Quora regarding this topic, I erroneously said that forcing NFL players - who are all adults and have certain inalienable rights as citizens of this country - to stand during the playing of the National Anthem if  they choose to be on the field  at such time during a pro football game is unconstitutional. I was disabused of this belief by Quorans who pointed out that such a policy is only  unconstitutional  if it is foisted on the players by any government official at any level, be it local, state, or federal. It’s  not  unconstitutional, apparently, if a business owner (in this case, the National Football League’s owners) tells employees (aka the pro football players) that they can either stay in the locker room while  The Star Spangled Banner  plays or stand with the te...

Anonymous on Quora asked:  Why is  Saturday Night Live  so disrespectful to Donald Trump? Why isn't there a law making it illegal to slander the President of the United States? Political satire, which is the type of comedy practiced by Lorne Michaels’ long-running comedy-sketch series when it lampoons any sitting President, is one of the oldest forms of satirical comment in the humanities. As long as there have been kings, emperors, prime ministers, presidents, and other heads of state, there have always been comedians and/or political cartoonists who, in their routines or drawings, comment on the political realities of the day. To those diehard loyalists of those heads of state, who tend to see things in a different light as the opposition, any criticism of their nation-state’s leadership is often interpreted as an unwarranted attack. And because the satire is often a response to a policy or political philosophy that the head of state promotes, and the loy...

Today’s winner of Silliest Question on Quora is…. Would you support a bill that would allow the President of the United States to serve for life? Short and sweet version: No. Short and not-so-sweet version: Hell, no. Longer, informative, and hopefully  educational  version; No, I would not support a bill that would allow  anyone , regardless of party affiliation, to serve as President of the United States for more than the two-term limit set down in the Twenty-Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In case you have never read that amendment, which ironically was proposed in 1947 and ratified in 1951 at a time when there was a Democratic President and a Republican-controlled Congress, states: 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office...

Cover design by Rex Boronelli. (C) 2010 Last Laugh, Inc. and Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc. Section 1. After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all the territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited. Section 2. The Congress and the several States shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Section 3. This article shall be inoperative unless it shall have been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of the several States, as provided in the Constitution, within seven years from the date of the submission hereof to the States by the Congress. - The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which became the law of the land in January of 1920 "THE STREETS OF San Francisco...