A US legislator’s communications director was facing social media calls she be fired after her Facebook rant about US President Barack Obama’s daughters prompted widespread anger.
Elizabeth Lauten, spokeswoman for US Representative Stephen Fincher, wrote a scathing post on Facebook account scolding Malia and Sasha Obama, 16 and 13, for what she called “looking bored” while attending a public event with their father on Wednesday.
‘STRETCH YOURSELF’
In the post, since deleted but widely reproduced in screenshots, Lauten tells the girls: “Try showing a little class. At least respect the part you play.”
The girls stood beside Obama as he issued an annual Thanksgiving holiday turkey “pardon,” saving two birds from the dinner table.
The underwhelmed expressions of the teenaged sisters sparked mainly amused commentary, but Lauten’s remarks were notably more caustic.
“Then again, your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter,” Lauten wrote in her post. “So I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department. Nevertheless, stretch yourself. Rise to the occasion. Act like being in the White House matters to you.”
“Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar,” she added, apparently referring to the girls’ short skirts.
APOLOGY
The post quickly drew ire on Twitter and elsewhere, with many calling for Lauten to be fired, even after Lauten deleted it and posted an apology.
“After many hours of prayer, talking to my parents and re-reading my words online I can see more clearly just how hurtful my words were,” Lauten wrote on Facebook, also widely reproduced before she made her page private.
“I’d like to apologize to all of those who I have hurt and offended with my words, and I pledge to learn and grow (and I assure you I have) from this experience,” she added.
‘TACKY’
Star Jones, a lawyer and television personality, was among those unimpressed.
“I’ve seen tacky people ... but rarely seen someone as tacky as #ElizabethLauten for slamming the children of the #POTUS,” she tweeted.
Many directed their tweets to Lauten’s boss, as the hashtag #FireElizabethLauten went viral.
One commenter, whose username is Eclectic John, wrote: “@RepFincherTN08 There is nothing that excuses what #ElizabethLauten posted re the children of our President. That’s off-limits. Fire her now.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing