Pelosi gets rock star treatment
loyal to Thaksin, who face an uphill battle in the election.
The Election Commission has until Friday to rule on the princess’s candidacy. It is unlikely its members would disregard the wishes of the king who is considered semi-divine in Thai society.
An activist said yesterday he would file a petition to disqualify the Thai Raksa Chart party, which nominated the princess. “The royal announcement made it clear that the party violated electoral law,” Srisuwan Janya, secretary-general of the Association for the Protection of the Constitution, said. His complaint to the Election Commission would ask it to recommend that a constitutional court dissolve the party.
Thai Raksa Chart’s executive chairman Chaturon Chaisaeng declined to comment. The party said it would accept the king’s message and “move forward into the election arena to solve problems for the country”.
The royal family has a tradition of staying out of politics, and electoral law forbids parties from using the monarchy in campaigns. Parties loyal to former telecommunications tycoon Thaksin have defeated pro-establishment parties to win every election since 2001, but since 2006 each of their governments have been removed by court rulings or coups.
The gambit to nominate a member of the royal family could backfire on Thai Raksa Chart, said Titipol Phakdeewanich, dean of the faculty of political science at Ubon Ratchathani University. “Things are now more unpredictable,” he said. – Reuters THE audience at Clive Davis’s whitehot gala included Barbra Streisand, Joni Mitchell and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, but it was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who got the most requests to take a selfie.
Pelosi received rock star treatment on Saturday night from attendees at the annual pre-Grammy event, which also featured a stunning tribute to the late Aretha Franklin, an artist Davis worked closely with for decades.
Pelosi’s sarcastic handclap and smirk to President Donald Trump at his State of the Union address went viral last week and launched hundreds of memes. So when Davis announced that she was in the audience – Pelosi has attended in the past – she received a standing ovation, while some people even imitated her now-famous handclap.
As she tried to exit, people asked to take selfies, almost creating a line as Pelosi smiled through them all.
Celebrities attending the event at the Beverly Hilton included Apple’s Tim Cook, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos, recent Super Bowl champ Julian Edelman, Wolfgang Puck, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dionne Warwick, Kathy Griffin, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Calvin Klein, Angela Bassett, Berry Gordy, Fred Armisen, George Clinton and Darren Criss.
The night closed with a rousing tribute to Franklin, who died in August. R&B singer-songwriter Jazmine Sullivan stunned with her renditions of and then joined by Rob Thomas, who held his own onstage.
Rapper Travis Scott, nominated for three Grammys, kicked off the night with the hit Before performing which reached No 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart last year, he told the audience: “I only came to rage. Don’t be scared to stand up now,” Scott’s DJ said.
Davis’s event was also attended by James Brolin, Beck, Joe Walsh, Alice Cooper, A$AP Rocky, Diane Warren, LL Cool J, David Foster, Miguel, Chick Corea, Maren Morris, Rae Sremmurd, Ryan Tedder, Max Martin, Courtney B. Vance, LA Reid, Dua Lipa, Ciara and Russell Wilson.