I’m here to apologize to Kim Kardashian. She does a lot of stuff I don’t like, but give this one to her: she did a good thing and made a positive impact, and Kim’s actions altered the course of one woman’s life. Last week, Kim went to the White House to personally lobby Donald Trump about sentencing reform, mandatory minimums, and the case of Alice Johnson, a first-time non-violent drug offender serving a life sentence. Everybody made fun of Kim and they called her a dumb bimbo. I criticized her for playing into Trump’s baby-sized hands with nothing in return, because I thought he only wanted the photo-op and that he wouldn’t do anything about Alice Johnson. Well, he did something. He commuted Alice Johnson’s sentence.
President Trump has signed a commutation for Alice Johnson, currently serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, according to a source with direct knowledge. The Washington Post first reported last night that he had been considering pardoning Johnson. The details: Johnson’s cause was championed last week at the White House by Kim Kardashian West. White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, who pushed for Johnson’s pardon, had been in contact with Kardashian West over the past several months on the issue. Per a source familiar, White House counsel Don McGahn is skeptical of the merits of pardoning Johnson.
The big picture: This is part of a broader effort led by Jared Kushner to highlight the issue of prison reform — particularly focused on nonviolent offenders.
More about Johnson’s crime, per Mic, who first reported on Kardashian West’s conversations with Kushner: “Johnson was convicted and sentenced to life without parole in 1996 for her role facilitating communications in a cocaine trafficking operation in Memphis, Tennessee. Johnson told Mic that she initially became involved in drug trafficking due to significant financial hardship after a string of unfortunate events in her life. She lost her job at FedEx due to a gambling addiction, her son was killed in a motorcycle accident and her marriage ended in divorce.”
You can still know in your heart that Donald Trump is a misogynist, a white supremacist and a massive douchebag AND you can believe that Kim Kardashian did a good thing, and that in this instance, the ends justified the means. She took a chance, knowing that people would mock her and criticize her and roll their eyes. But she got that sh-t done, and props to her. Kim recognized that she was exactly the kind of celebrity Trump would want to meet with, given that he’s so desperate for any kind of legitimacy or attention. So she played into his vanity, agreed to meet with him, gave him the photo-op and she got what she wanted: a woman now gets to live the rest of her life as a free person. Kim tweeted this too:
So grateful to @realDonaldTrump, Jared Kushner & to everyone who has showed compassion & contributed countless hours to this important moment for Ms. Alice Marie Johnson. Her commutation is inspirational & gives hope to so many others who are also deserving of a second chance.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018
I hope to continue this important work by working together with organizations who have been fighting this fight for much longer than I have and deserve the recognition.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018
The phone call I just had with Alice will forever be one of my best memories. Telling her for the first time and hearing her screams while crying together is a moment I will never forget.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 6, 2018
I swear to God, The Innocence Project should hire Kim as their celebrity ambassador, and she should take an interest in other inmate stories so she can go and personally lobby this president. I’m being completely serious.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Twitter.
I was here defending Kim her other day – and im glad she used her celebrity to change someone’s life – but I’m not loving that trumpy and Kushner are now being portrayed as some kind compassionate and kind hearted prison reformers. I mean this is the same POS who recently reversed one of Obama’s commutations no?
I loathe Trump and his whole gang of deplorables. But I’ll give him props when he does something good. Even though his motives are self satisfying. I hate to give him any credit so luckily this might be the first time?
If we don’t praise the puppy when he does something good, we can’t expect him to continue the good behavior.
Trump seems to be playing nice with the other Kim in North Korea simply because he needs good PR. He probably really has deluded himself into thinking he will get the Nobel Peace Prize for this somehow. I hope he doesn’t end up launching missiles on June 13 once he realizes he’s not getting what he wants on June 12, but my anxiety level concerning imminent WWIII has at least decreased a tad for the next few days. It’s been nice not hearing his usual rabid ranting about North Korea for a while. Of course, he is still frothing at the mouth about Iran and that is likely the next target, especially with John Bolton at his elbow.
I’m surprised we have survived this long with Trump in the White House, though.
This is why the end justifies the means mentality doesn’t work.
Yep.
This is a win for Alice and I’m happy for her but this is in no way a win for criminal justice or prison reform. The problem still persists and will continue to with Beauregard Sessions’s reinstatement of mandatory minimum sentences as well as other systemic issues like corrupt DAs.
I’m not sure who played who here but there’s more at stake than Alice Johnson’s life and well-being. Not sure what the farther-reaching ramifications will be but I hate to think that a single person who disliked Trump before this might soften towards him even a little. This cost him nothing; actually makes him sound semi-compassionate and almost human.
I’m happy for Alice Johnson and she deserved this. But I hate how it had to happen.
I guess it’s good to praise their humanity like potty training, and you hope they’ll get it.
This is great for Alice Johnson and I appreciate Kim’s involvement BUT the motives of this administration are less about justice and more about “likes”. Also, incredibly important that all of the pundits point out that this is a way to desensitize us all for when he pardons everything Russia related.
Ultimately the Reality Show President is playing Kim and her fans. It worked for Alice Johnson but it’s another blow to norms.
I mean, on the one hand, Kim tried to do something nice, and I’ll give her that. But she also just gave Trump a photo op and a tweet praising his compassion.
Yep. He did it for Kim. not for Alice. Had Khloe or Rob asked, the photo dynamic wouldn’t have been the same. Big win for Alice, but for the wrong reasons….but she’s free and that’s what is important. *So I don’t have to go to the other thread, Taylor’s red wig sucks*
We are going to have this rubbed in our faces come re-election time.
Hi Goats… I said this to my best friend last night – we are never going to hear the end of this – from him or her – and he will surely start using his “good deed” to soften up the hoi polloi come election time. And Kim could have done without tweeting about tRump and Kushner, as if they were God’s gift to justice. I am so happy for Alice Marie, though. We are not used to such severe sentences, and especially for a victimless, first offence. In fact, right now, there is a group fighting to keep a rapist in jail as his release date approaches.
PR exchange, plain and simple although I do think Kim believed in what she was doing. Now, if she gets him to pardon a LIVING black man, I will be impressed.
Yes, that was my only issue with this.
I credit Kim while also realizing she took this cause up only after her husband spintailed and she knew how to reset a narrative. You know both trump and her saw the mutual benefit of putting a bandaid on a gushing systemic wound and now trump gets to wash his hands of it and now people can forget about slavery as a choice.
She took this cause well before her husband started talking crap again.
@Clare
What did he reverse? Do you know the name?
MMO I can’t remember the details I’m afraid – I read something about in passing on a flight yesterday in a German newspaper and May have misunderstood – but what I understood (again possibly incorrectly) was that someone (can’t remember a name) whose sentence was commuted under Obama will be going back to prison for 10 years. Maybe someone else on here can fill in the blanks/correct me!
I believe this is it: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/man-sent-back-to-prison-after-serving-20-years/
Holy sh*t that is awful. These people are just the worst kind of monsters SMDH…
@clare
“I mean this is the same POS who recently reversed one of Obama’s commutations no?”
I don’t believe this is accurate. Legally/constitutionally speaking it would be very difficult to reverse a Presidential pardon, and a quick google search shows this hasn’t happened. However he was reversed Obama executive orders left and right, and the federal agencies are working overtime to reverse regulations passed under the Obama administration, especially ones protecting animals and the environment, which is the field where I work. It’s an absolute shit show. 🙁
So he didn’t “reverse a pardon”. He was released due to a change in Obama-era sentencing policies which led to his sentence being reduced.
Tennessee US Atty and Trump appointee Cochran appealed his release under the grounds that he is a “career offender” and that the retroactive change in policy could not apply to him. The courts agreed.
SMDH…God I hate these people.
Credit to Kim: she knows how the mind of a narcisist works and played with it. She did something good and I hope this brings light to others in the same position.
Good for her, but let’s be realistic here. If Crazy Stacy Dash had walked in there and asked him to commute the sentence of someone who killed an abortion doctor he would have done the same thing. All he saw was her celebrity. I doubt he was even listening to what she was saying.
Completely.
You’re probably right.
I also agree.
Yep.
Probably not because Stacey Dash is a black woman.
Good for Kim. Most importantly, good for Alice Johnson.
Now, for the imbeciles at the White House. Learn words. Seriously. Learn words. Sentencing reform, which is what this involved, and prison reform are two different things. Stop saying this is part of Jared’s “prison reform.”
Agreed on all counts.
The non-violent criminal epidemic is the new “slavery”, so I do believe these two made right ONE wrong. Plus it brought attention to an issue that may some day “free” many many POC. Interesting how two annoying people used their annoyance for the greater good. Still I’d be SHOCKED if this nazi sympathizing president made an actual policy change.
I’m glad her efforts were successful and this is a good thing.
I was seeing on twitter comments about how Jay Z and Beyoncé and others should also be more willing to work with Trump on issues like this. But that overlooks the fact that the only reason Kim K got in with him was because Kanye has been kissing his butt for the past few months. Trump loves celebrities and wants to be loved by celebrities, but he’s not going to invite someone who has openly criticized him into the White House and then do what they say. Kim got her goal accomplished, which was good, but she had to do it in a way that made Trump feel like he was special, which isn’t something most celebrities are willing to do.
lol, whoever said this about Beyoncé and Jay-Z knows nothing about the work they do regarding justice reform ie the bail system.
Anyhoo, this has nothing to with them. This is a win for the Johnson family and Kim. I’m glad Kim has used her celebrity and privilege to help someone. I personally don’t care how Trump and his ilk use it, a woman is free.
Exactly!
@reef, I think that was part of it – “if JayZ and Beyoncé care so much about bail reform…..” It was a dumb tweet for many reasons lol.
Good on her…..I do wonder if Trump doing that was an attempt at distracting from that fact that Ivanka is linked to Russia now and Manafort has been acting a fool?
It does need to be pointed out who got that message to Kim cuz she didn’t take this on herself. He actions absolutely deserve credit but so do those behind the scenes.
Of course it’s distraction on his part … and hers! Two reality stars propping each other up. Nope, no credit to her. Others put in all the work and time and energy and once again, she capitalized.
I wonder what the update for Cyntoa is…wasng she trying to get her clemency too?I wonder if she was also brought up in the trump meeting.
I’m here for all the commenters that were giving her sh*t for meeting Dump last week.
Same people that were sh*tting on her last week are praising her right now. Including the writers of this site. SMH. Hypocrites.
Two board members voted to grant Cyntoia clemency, two voted to deny clemency, and the others voted to make her eligible for parole after serving 25 years. I’m a little worried because the final decision is going to be made by a republican, Gov. Bill Haslam.
I’m not giving Kim more credit than the people that elevated the story to even GET her attention. She used her celebrity for good for once. Cool. Let’s be real honest here: tr*mp threw her a bone because her husband is “getting him black votes” (or so he thinks). But no one in this administration cares one iota about this woman and there thousands more like her.
Fact is Kim and Kanye care about black people when it’s convenient. So one good deed does not erase years of her culture culture ways and tone deaf comments. Wasn’t it just last week she was dragging a charity that does more for Chicago then her husband? It sure as heck does not give tr*mp a pass for doing one decent thing.
So kudos Kim for doing one good thing but yea no apologies here.
Say it again for the people in the back.
I’m not going to give kudos though – she happened to be partially successful and it wasn’t even due to her. 45 saw a convenient way to score some points and it worked. And he didn’t even have to actually pardon her – he just commuted her sentence.
It’s gross that she can do the bare minimum once and suddenly she’s this compassionate queen and everyone forgets that a couple weeks ago she was sh*tting on a non-profit trying to do work for the children of Chicago and defending her husband saying that racism was a choice (not to mention the years of appropriating black culture). I expected better of people.
Just here to applaud and nod vigorously with everything you’ve both said.
Both of u 🙌🏽👏🏽🙌🏽👏🏽
YES. You said it all.
YES!!!! Compassion Queen my uninflated ass. It’s good publicity for someone who is ageing out of the sex kitten game. That’s all.
Exactly. None of this was for Alice’s benefit, she was a prop for both. I’m glad she got her sentence commuted but it’s just ridiculous that the only way you can get through to the freaking POTUS on criminal justice is wrap it up in celebrity and PR. It’s grotesque.
Thank You!
@nicole and grabbyhands – SPEAK. Kim does not do anything unless it is for self-serving reasons. Now, does that matter to Alice, probably not, but I am not going to anoint her to sainthood. This was a deflection/publicity stunt for BOTH her and Trump. I am just happy that at least this time, someone else actually benefited. She and Trump still suck very much.
Yup, no credit to Kim here. She was looking to boost her lagging popularity and add some”social importance” to herself, while Trump, a former reality star, too, is also always looking for a way to prop up his own ego, and he used Kim to him do so. Neither one has an ounce of compassion or interest in the welfare of people other than themselves, except for interest in receiving their attention. It occurs to me that trump so dislikes/envies Obama, he may have commuted Alice Johnson’s sentence partly b/c, several times, Obama refused to pardon her. I wouldn’t put it out of range of Trump’s sheer perversity.
SAY IT AGAIN!!!!!!! All of you are 100% correct. She and Trump both used this opportunity to deflect from their sh*t actions. Very happy for Alice, but both Kim and Trump can go sit.
Hells yes, Nicole. I came here specifically for your comments and you did not disappoint.
I’m happy for Alice but Kim handed Trump a win that he does not deserve here.
I also hate that this story is now dominating the headlines while Flint, Puerto Rico, Sessions’ unconscionable immigration policy, and a myriad of other important issues are being ignored, once again.
Lol Kitten you are one of the few people that keep me coming back for some good discourse.
I’m honestly floored by the number of people willing to pretend this was more than a PR op that happened to do something good. Like someone said on Twitter “a broken clock is right two times a day” and KK and tr*mp stumbled on a good op. So what.
Right back atcha, girl 😉
…and oh my god me too. She showed her true colors when she came for Rhymefest–she showed what her so-called altruism is really about. She is not the good person that too many people believe her to be.
A million thanks for this comment. One good deed doesn’t erase the disrespect Kim has shown black people over the years. Hell, it doesn’t even erase the shitty things she’s done in the past couple of weeks.
You summed it up so brilliantly. Also, Van Jones explained on Don Lemon’s show that it was a collective effort and that Kim K was the last piece of a puzzle that had been assembled a long time ago.
I would also add one thing. I don’t like when Van Jones gets too “let’s give them credit” and he totally did it. He was thanking Kushner and whatnot. There is going “high” as Michelle Obama would say and there’s buttkissing. Don asked why Obama did not help her and VJ said that it was because there were some shady things in her past that made it difficult. Can we call a spade a spade? If there was anything remotely shady about her background, there’s NO WAY Obama could have done anything without provoking some HUGE uproar from the very same people who today are saying “Who are you calling a racist now?! Look at MY president being all compassionate!” (the same one separating children from their parents).
SMH
calling “a spade a spade” is a racist term. if you’re gonna be holier than thou make sure your terminology is PC.
I do apologize then. English is not my first language and I just learned something today. Thank you for the valuable lesson.
I do wonder where I was being holier than thou though but, I guess that was your take and I’ll just leave it at that.
Have a nice day.
Mel, not sure if you wanted to know more about the term’s racist usage. Historically it hasn’t always been the case, BUT because it at one point was then it is important to be made aware of, and stay clear of..I didn’t know this either so I thank both you and ‘heh’ for me looking into it.
I do believe I’ve always made the connection to a shovel-spade rather than card personally, so maybe its mainly a US thing? Anyhoo, always better to not accidentally offend! https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/19/224183763/is-it-racist-to-call-a-spade-a-spade
@gemcat thank you! I do indeed endeavor to educate myself on these matters. Words matter and have power so it’s always good to know more. I just knew that the equivalent in my country is about “cats”! So I genuinely believed it was on the same level. One is never too old to learn!
I did not know that. I thought that term referred to playing cards and recognizing a spade.
@gemact- I googled the term and that was the first article to pop up. Glad you posted it because I was about to.
Where I’m from a spade is also known as a shovel. I couldn’t figure out what you people were talking about until I read Snowflake’s comment. Oh, that kind of spade:)
girl. she got her outta jail. kim was advocating for her before dump. smh.
She really wasn’t because I heard about this case from the ACLU long before KK came on the scene. Thanks for playing though.
@nicole so YOU heard about it before. what does that have to do when KK heard about it. smh.
also, i love playing this game.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Thank you again and again for consistently keeping it real on here
I’m so happy for Alice Johnson and her family and I’m glad Kim’s celebrity was put to good use. But for me to really pat her on the back, I want to see her lobbying for total sentencing reform overall and campaigning publicly for candidates that support the cause. I hope this is a watershed moment for her and she realizes the impact she can make for those less fortunate than her and her family. 🤞🏼
As I say to my friends, you can call KK a lot of things, but you can’t call her dumb. She knows what she’s doing. I am glad she is using her platform for things like this.
A lot of people slam KimmieK for being vapid but frankly she didn’t have to do any of this. She could have continued with the superficial Kardashian brand indefinitely. Alice Johnson is not a famous person. Props to Kim.
The pandering on this site has gotten out of control from fashion to celebrity relationships to uplifting the Kardashians. This is a one time PR extravaganza to score points and deflect from recent bad behavior, so throw the people a bone to shut them up. It is like a person taking a CPR class who is now going to do TED talks on innovations regarding heart surgery. Please let me know if Kim publicly names all the people who actually worked hard for years behind the scenes on this matter.
And let’s see if this comment remains and I am not blocked for stepping out of line.
Thanks for saying it Willow. I completely agree.
Thanks. And to the people duped in to thinking Kim is remotely smart. No, her mother is the smart one and puppet master of that family.
All this talk about body shaming and being authentic on this site to shamelessly endorse a family promoting phony slimming teas and candy while slipping out the backdoor get yet another surgery. And the author had the nerve to ask why the CFDAs were so muted this year. Kim being named the icon of the year was answer. Do not get me started on their relationship black men and culture. There is a difference between an admiration and a fetish.
THANK YOU. This +1000
AGREED 100%. This is one of the issues I have with celebrity and politics being so closely intertwined these days. Kim should get a pat on the back AT MOST. The work prison reform activists do every day gets greatly ignored and thats where our attention should be when it comes to issues like this. The nuance of issues like this get lost when people go “YAY Kim tweeted some stuff, got on a plane, got the attention of a fascist president to make change – seee shes good!!”. This is not how policy should work and its dangerous.
We can be happy that Alice is free BUT we need to remember the circumstances surrounding it are horrific for our democracy.
Willow thank you. I enjoy this site, but the constant fawning over the Kardashians is irritating. They are vile, evil and wretched people and the day cannot come fast enough when the media starts to ignore all of them.
+1,000,000
@willow
1. she was advocating for her before Kanye’s idiotic rants. so lets stop with “PR extravaganza to score points and deflect from recent bad behavior, so throw the people a bone to shut them up.”
2. what you done for prison reform?
@HEH
1. keep on caping for Kim if it makes you feel better. The rest of us can see through it. That culture vulture does nothing for good motive. Her whole life is made of and revolves around PR.
2. Really? You do not know what Willow does or does not do to help out with causes. That was a great example of whataboutism however.
@Alisha
1. you know that cause……how? you know her?
2. i asked cause i really wanted to know.
3. read @willow’s comments in the thread below about her “outlook” on prison reform and then get at me boo.
@HEH what a sad case you are. But keep getting on you knees for someone you don’t know or cares about you. I am sure Kim has been instrumental in guiding your life and taking care of all your physical, emotional and financial needs and deserves your complete devotion. You should talk about how great she is at work, on SM, at school if you are attending, at church, interviews… Let others know what a powerful and life changing inspiration she has been in your life.
And please take some reading comprehension classes if you are even remotely reading my comments below as anti-prison reform or that Angela should go back there. But it wasn’t a tweet, so I can see why you did not understand.
+1000
Thank you.
Willow: Completely agree. This site sometimes seems to me as though its paid to pander to the Kardashian’s “stories.” I’d really prefer to see less about them—though the articles themselves are easy enough to avoid, the praise for Kim in the last stories about her asking for Johnson’s pardon made me feel the need to read this one, too—to see if she’d go on being given props for a photo op and a relevance boost—for being an opportunist. Sure enough, she is. I’m disappointed.
@Willow, great comments totally agree. @Anika, yep they are definitely getting paid imho.
I say this with all things Kim-related aside and that to Johnson personally this probably doesn’t matter, but I wish people would recognize the distinction between a pardon and clemency. Trump could have pardoned her, which would have wiped out the conviction, meaning she’d have no record; instead he granted clemency, which leaves the conviction/record intact. IMO this was done intentionally— he wants to provide a clean slate for his political cronies who haven’t even served a day in order to buy their loyalty but won’t provide such for those who have been unjustly punished by our government for years/decades. He’s not compassionate, kinda, etc.
Exactly. Words have meanings. Alice’s life going forward is still affected by this. She won’t be able to get certain jobs or even vote in some states meanwhile Joe Arpaio and Dinesh D’Souza are clean.
Thank you for pointing this out, bma.
Well done KK, of whom much is given – much is expected. And let’s be serious, the Kard Klan has been given ALOT. I agree Kaiser that KK should represent the organization. She helped bring nationwide attention to the issue and saved a person’s life. Who better?
I have had my doubts about KIm, not that she’s stupid but self absorbed. This shows, to me, there is more there. Well done KK. I always like to be surprised.
Agreed. Maybe I’m in the middle here- neither on team “Kim K is a harmless saint” (not really seeing that though) nor on team “Kim and her sisters are EVIL and can do no right for any right reasons ever! Save our daughters and little sisters from these silicone harlots! Armageddon, y’all!” But sometimes it seems like not being on the latter team gets automatically taken for being on the former. Odd.
I think a part of it is that on some level, people are irritated by a nuanced or non-negative take on any famous woman who’s considered a vapid, spoiled, or otherwise flawed whore, not just Kim Kardashian. Kim Kardashian is a liar, she appropriates cultures she’s not a part of, she kissed Kanye’s ass way too much for my liking after his comments about Trump, as her little meltdown over Rhymefest showed, she’s capable of extreme pettiness and self-absorption in the face of valid criticism, and the whole K family is overexposed and boring in general. But I also don’t buy what’s being sold about her being all bad and only motivated by selfishness 100% of the time either. The bottom line is, a woman can have glaringly obvious flaws in her character without being a one-dimensional cartoon villainess- even if she, like, takes off her clothes, gets plastic surgery, and sold her and her boyfriend’s sex tape a while back, or other ‘slutty’ stuffs. 🙂
Thank you for posting the most mature and level-headed comment on this thread – and others- about Kim K to date. If you dont think she’s the devil incarnate people assume you’re a Stan. Personally I just see her for what she is: the good and the bad.
When I saw this has happened I assumed it was for the young sex trafficking victim who shot her abuser… I thought Kim had tweeted about her. Good to see her using fame for positive stuff, regardless of the ulterior motives at play
She, Ariel Winter, and Rihanna had all spoken out about Cyntoia Brown too.
First things first, I’m glad she’s out. She’s served a long sentence and it serves no purpose at all in prolonging it.
However, let us not be distracted by one solitary act of benevolence solely for PR purposes and forget that the Trump Administration is currently jailing and seizing property from a wide range of people, both guilty and innocent, for (or merely on the suspicion of) “first time non-violent drugs offences” through Jeff Sessions overzealous DOJ. Or that Trump has openly endorsed Philippine President Duarte’s extra-judicial murder-spree of low-level drug dealers and user.
And can we also take a moment to remember that AMJ was a vital part of a drug ring that brought literally two tons(!) of cocaine into the country, with all the death, misery and suffering that occurs at either ends of the supply chain and it is appropriate that the victims of drug crime and their families also have their voices heard and see justice done.
It was a huge drug ring, run out of her home..just a few months ago, trump proclaimed that dealers should get the death penalty,,this changes nothing, and in the meantime there are plenty doing long sentences for selling a few joints. Celebrity shouldn’t figure into the mix.
Oh goody – another round of the end justifies the means sainthood for Kim Kardashian.
Here’s a hint – it doesn’t. The price is always too high and it means allowing yourself to justify things that should be reprehensible in order to get what you want, what you think you deserve. This was a PR move for her and even more for him. He commuted the sentence, he didn’t pardon her. He did the bare minimum to score points with potential voters in her empty headed fan base and it worked.
Now she gets to play act at being concerned about social justice and all it cost is her normalizing 45 and her new buddies the Kushners. I imagine we’ll be seeing a lot more White House photo ops from now on because you know, they just showed SO MUCH COMPASSION.
If she wants actual respect then she’ll have to shed light on all the people who do this work ALL THE TIME. Who this “compassionate” president has referred to as thugs and criminals.
All your comments on this are 100. TY
The Trump cultists are already twisting this for their propaganda. I know this will sound incredibly callous, but I’m not sure the ends in this case justified the means even if I’m happy for Alice. They’ll use this case to shield themselves from the fact that Sessions and co are dramatically cracking down on first time drug offenders.
Sessions is the biggest threat to criminal justice and prison reform. THE. BIGGEST. THREAT. One woman (rightfully) being granted clemency is not somehow eradicating or equalizing the destructive impact that this administration will have on our criminal justice system.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 YES YES YES, you and Nicole’s comments always has me cheering lol
I am happy that Kim was able to convince 45 to have Alice Johnson released. Kim seemed to really step up and use being a celebrity to help someone in need. That is all good.
But… part of me can’t help but give a minor sideeye. We are talking about the Kardashians, they always want to do something that brings them major attention and somehow increases their bank balances. The story of Alice Johnson would certainly make for a good motion picture. With the right casting and screenplay it could be Oscar worthy.
Now, the Kardashians have no talent, but they do have money and hustle to make more. I could easily see them investing in producing such a movie.
Not saying that was Kim’s motivation, but I am interested in seeing what happens next with Alice’s story
I’m sure this will definitely be an episode of their show. There’s no way they’re not going to milk a “Kim was serious and looK reform!!!!” moment for as long as they can
Will this be a story line on the next season of KUWK??? (Sorry, I’m a cynic)
I am also a resident of Illinois; and I pray that President Dumbest doesn’t let former Governor Dumbass out of prison!!!
His wife is really rallying really hard to get him released. Even though during all of his hearings he was denied.
Keep Blago in Jail!!!
Fantastic job Kim!!! Yayyyyyyy!!!!
No matter what her motivations behind this, I’m glad this was the outcome.
But as others have pointed out, this should NOT be hailed as proof of Trump’s ability for basic humanity and decency. Let’s not forget that this is the same man who took our full page add condemning The Central Park Five. Even after they were proven innocent beyond the shadow of a doubt Trump MAINTAINS that those men, who already lost years of their life because of this miscarriage of justice, are guilty.
Look, I’m glad Kim’s effort worked out for Alice but I still think people shouldn’t deal with Trump. I feel that people should avoid all action with any autocratic leader. He’ll just twist this around for PR, and use it as a shield to cover the fact that Sessions is cracking down on non-violent drug offenders.
Also, the press has a seriously low bar set for the Orange Terror. Half of the press was giving him a tongue bath over this and yet I recall members of the press criticizing President Obama for commuting 300 plus non-violent drug offenders in the last year of his presidency. I usually like Jake Tapper, but he’s one of the guilty parties.
Kim may have tweeted about this case and gone to the White House to take a picture with Trump…but there were A LOT of people working on this case behind the scenes well before Kim came along…but they aren’t famous so won’t get any recognition. It’s still a good thing Kim did this but let’s not pretend she did all the hard work here.
Maybe some other reality TV star can convince him to stop sending transgender women to male prisons.
I guess I’m the only one here who thinks Kim, if she had to do this, could have done it for somebody else. Somebody wrongfully imprisoned, maybe?
Sorry guys, I have zero sympathies for people involved in drug (and other) trafficking, including a newcomer like Johnson. I understand she had some tough life experiences prior to this but eff it. Do something legal, or at least something that helps others. Helping in cocaine trafficking means she was ruining other people’s lives, no matter how shortly. I’d leave her in jail and petition for somebody else.
I’m mean.
She’s been in prison for a nonviolent crime for over 20 years. She was successfully rehabilitated. Sentencing a first-time, nonviolent offender to a life in prison is the kind of sh*tty policy that has led the federal prison system to be exceedingly overcrowded. It was the right call to grant her clemency. That doesn’t in any way mean that there are not thousands of incarcerated people that may be more deserving of it–I agree with you there–I just disagree that she should have spent the rest of her life rotting in jail.
But as I said above, in the end one person freed means very little in terms of changing the structural issues that plague the American criminal justice system.
I know what she did and I’d still keep her in jail. To serve as an example or something. Don’t get involved in drug trafficking, not even as an unimportant middleman messenger, because it can actually cost you more than 3 weeks of community service (if the fact that you’re hurting others for your financial gain means nothing to you).
So because she committed a drug-related crime over 21 years ago, her life is worthless? Nah.
“Serve as an example”? You know, the criminal justice system has a habit of targeting people of color to “make an example” out of them. Even so, a prison sentence is hardly the most effective deterrent for drug offenders.
And I get that you’re being hyperbolic to make a point but 3 weeks community service is not a sentence that anyone convicted of drug trafficking would ever get. On that note, the average sentence is 5 years, not LIFE in prison like Alice received.
They should get life in prison too, not 5 years in jail.
And there are tons of wrongfully incarcerated people of color. Their investigations should be reopened and they should be fully pardoned. Alice here, not so much. Unlike them, she’s actually a criminal.
I said it above: I’m mean and I know it. But zero sympathy from me for anyone involved with drug trafficking, and that is unlikely to change.
So your solution is longer sentences for non-violent crimes? Ok, except we are already doing that with mandatory minimums yet we are still one of the most violent countries in the world. Not to mention the fact that our prisons and jails are overcrowded and costing taxpayers a fortune.
Additionally, this country’s penchant for arresting people on mild offenses and holding them in county jail on an absurdly high bond is part of why so many marginalized people are languishing in jail, many of whom haven’t even had charges leveled against them yet (i.e. presumably innocent).
In other words, your way doesn’t work very well, particularly for the people who you think are more deserving of clemency than Alice.
Netherlands on the other hand, has managed to reduce their crime rate and their prison population simultaneously. They achieved this by introducing milder sentencing tariffs, including a maximum sentence of six years for domestic burglary, instead of twenty-five years in a state like NY. Additionally, the Netherlands has made in-patient psychological treatment and drug and alcohol support available for all offenders. We offer nothing of the kind here.
The answer to minimizing violence in this country is not “more prison time!” and it never has been. That mentality is what got us here in the first place.
But agree to disagree I guess. *shrugs*
Kitten, I agree with you. I agree her crime was serious & merited punishment, but there is a such thing as rehabilitation. If not, our entire justice system is totally doomed. (It’s so messed up now already I know). But locking people up & “throwing away the key” for people who commit non-violent crimes is not the answer.
@ Renee-Locking criminals up and throwing away the key is what we’ve been doing for centuries. No other country has imprisoned as much of their population as the US has. Over the past 20 California has built 21 new prisons and increased its inmate population eightfold. The majority of the increase is for nonviolent offenders. Today, the number of drug offenders imprisoned in Cali is more than double the number of inmates who were imprisoned for all crimes in 1978. California now has the biggest prison system in the Western industrialized world, a system 40% bigger than the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Cali alone holds more inmates in its jails and prisons than do France, Great Britain, Germany, Japan, Singapore, and the Netherlands combined.
Politicians both liberal and conservative have used fear of crime to create the prison industrial complex. The prison industrial complex is a set of bureaucratic, political, and economic interests that foster and encourage an increase in incarceration, regardless of whether it is necessary. Higher rates of incarceration benefit private companies that profit from exploiting prisoners as a source of cheap labor as well as politicians who gain political capital by pushing for harsher sentences.
Harsher sentencing as a solution for these issues is no different than saying more guns will reduce gun violence. It’s not that Nanny to the Rescue is “mean”, it’s just that she’s advocating for a solution that has proven to not work; she’s advocating for more of the same when we should be exploring new solutions for the terrible problem that we’ve created.
Only in drug dealing cases. And death penalty for those who are late for coffee.
But in all seriousness, my country actually doesn’t have the life sentence, and people usually get mild sentences in trafficking cases, and it’s not a good thing either. No prison system is actually perfect.
No, you aren’t. I had the same thought. There are plenty of people in jail convicted with dubious evidence. Highlight them. Drug traffickers bring nothing but pain because where there are drugs like that there are guns to protect the drugs and the start of a vicious circle of violence that encompasses innocent people.
At the risk of sounding harsh, your comment and the OP’s really exemplify how much American society dehumanizes the incarcerated. You two see merely a criminal, but fail to see how much this woman has accomplished in the 21 years that she was behind bars. Also worth noting that she has never once claimed that she should not have been punished, she simply maintained that the punishment should fit the crime.
If you haven’t read about Alice’s journey to rehabilitation, please do so. She is an extremely accomplished woman who is very much beloved. If you still feel the same way about her after reading this, then I guess we just have to agree to disagree. http://www.candoclemency.com/alice-marie-johnson/
This woman walked the walk. She contributed more to our society while behind bars than most of us who are free to live as we please.
Not at all. Please don’t try to school me about this. Jail is one of the worst places to be in the world because you are cut off from society, family and friends, opportunities and even basic pleasures we take for granted like decent food on a daily basis and surrounded with psychopaths and sociopaths. I am glad that she took her incarceration seriously and genuinely turned over a new leaf. That is supposed to be the point of incarceration, although it often fails regardless of whether you are released or not. Murderers with life sentences with zero chances of parole have done it. But my statement about innocence people getting the ultimate shaft stands or not getting 1000th the same attention. It is not as if I am mad about her release or want her to go back to prison.
Sorry, Willow, I didn’t mean to sound patronizing. I guess my point is that Alice having her sentence rightfully commuted does not somehow take away from/minimize the need for the wrongly incarcerated to receive the same attention. Ideally, we can address both the issue of unfair sentences leveled at mostly people of color and the wrongly incarcerated as part of the broader issue of criminal justice & prison reform. But again, affecting lasting structural change starts at the state and local level, not by pardoning or granting clemency on a case-by-case basis.
After reading your second comment, I *think* we probably agree.
Always happy to see a nonviolent offender released, and to hear about sentencing reform in the national conversation. However, I will never believe that Kim found Alice on her own. Trump needed a cause celebre to give his pardon spree a good name. Kim and Kanye are participating due to extortion or bribes. This is the only way I see any of it makes sense. Also, Alice’s case had been taken up by a foundation supported by the Koch brothers, and yet Kim never mentioned them in her telling of how she got involved. This is theatre, plain and simple.
Good for kim! That’s great news! Trump, on the other hand, did it purely for PR. There isn’t a compassionate, genuine bone in his body.
I’m one to not praise her for this because I feel she did it with ulterior motives in mind. I don’t think compassion runs in her veins so for her to do this was likely for attention or to take the heat off Kanye. If we aren’t talking about her for a few days she always finds a way to get the attention back on her.
Nice to see her doing something positive besides taking selfies and getting more procedures.
I can’t help but wonder what continually praising people for doing the barest of minimums will do to serious topics such as activism and politics. It’s already had severely negative effects in entertainment and celebrity. Does anyway care about critical reasoning, looking at the whole picture, and connecting the dots anymore???? Ugh this whole idiocracy mindset makes me stabby, and it’s a real disservice to people who spend countless hours of their lives working behind-the-scenes to actually understand what they’re talking about and effect change
Yes !!!
I still reckon she’s done this to rebrand herself as Saint Kim so the fallout lessens when she leaves Kanye *hardened cynic*
I’m glad for Kim and for that lady who clearly got a sentence too harsh for her crimes, but I find it worrying that the President (any President, but this one in particular) has the power to turn over a sentence. Isn’t that meddling with the Justice system? Shouldn’t the Justice System and the Government be separate to ensure that there’s no bias?
The President has always had power to grant a pardon to anyone committed of a crime. I don’t know the details about that, but that’s been a thing for as long as the office of the president has been a thing.
The justice system and the government have never been separate. There is an entire Department of Justice within the government, and their head boss is an individual chosen personally by the President. There are checks and balances, of course, but that’s the way the system was intended to function.
And meanwhile repeat offender rich white boy Conrad Hilton got another slap on the wrist and walked free.
Not gonna shade Kim. Most people have at least some personal motivation even if it is only that it makes them feel good to help others. She made a difference in someone’s life. Full stop.
I’m glad for Alice Johnson, but she was used as a prop for both Kim K and The Dotard. Neither of these twits do anything that doesn’t somehow benefit them. Ever.
Kanye even included a lyric about how when he said those idiotic slavery comments that Kim called him, hysterical that they were going to lose everything. Nothing about the comments themselves, just the impact it would have on their celebrity and their wallets. It’s all about their cultural capital.
All this episode tells me is that if you can get a celebrity advocate – even a talentless one like a Kardashian – then you have a leg up on everyone else who is languishing in the overcrowded and racially biased prison system. If you can’t, well too bad for you because Donnie DGAF if you can’t score him a cheap point on TV.
That goes against the ideal that this country was founded on – that all are equal – and should disgust everyone.
I shamelessly watch KUWTK, and I what I see is great family values, incredible work ethic and absolutely impeccable household skills.
So yes they all have body dysmorphia and are not famous for doing anything other than entertaining us. But do they deserve the hate?
I feel people feel they “should” hate them because they incomprehensibly have become famous showcasing their life.
I applaud Kim for what she has done. She has change the life of a woman no one cares about because she’s black and old and poor!
I personally thing her motive is to move her personal brand in a different direction as she gets older. Good for those who benefit from this.
“She has change the life of a woman no one cares about because she’s black and old and poor!”
Ummm….no see, Kim isn’t the only one that wanted Alice pardoned. There have been countless people including the ACLU that have been advocating for Alice for YEARS now. I think you inadvertently proved the point that a lot of commenters are making here: Kim gets the good PR, the photo op, etc (as does Trump) when non-celebrities have been tirelessly doing the unglamorous grunt work required to get Johnson’s sentence commuted. Kim steps in and gets all the glory when really all she did was use her celebrity to manipulate another celebrity.
And maybe Alice would still be in prison were it not for the fact that we have a POTUS that is easily susceptible to flattery, but let’s not pretend that Kim is solely responsible for this outcome. People in Alice’s immediate network–her lawyer and others–have been the ones who have quietly worked behind the scenes for years, making sure that her story was visible.
I’m not at all saying that Kim is solely responsible for this.
And I read a lot interesting comments on this thread about the work that Alice herself did for her cause.
Kim used her fame to push a cause that already had a lot of supporters but not a lot of visibility.
It is the role of famous people to bring awareness of these kind of causes. She did what she should be doing, that’s all.
@MIrage, so the fact that she is getting the sole photo op means nothing to you, at all? She is the visible face of this cause, and that alone is getting her way more credit than all of the other people who worked hard and would have worked hard without her help as well.
So we criticize Kim and her vacuous family for doing nothing to benefit society but when she does something good regardless of her motivations we criticize her again? She can’t win.
You people are being paid by the K Klan aren’t you?
Celebrity justice, used for good instead of evil! Good job Kim!
Taylor Swift take note, THIS is how you USE a platform when you are blessed with one! (mic drop)!
She used Twitter to try and humiliate a man for the work he has been doing in Chicago to try and help underserved youth, all for some cheers and “clapback” cred from her social media followers. Her comments on that Twitter thread were classist and racist. It was just one of many, many examples of how she (and her family) are willfully problematic. So no, this narcissist will get no cheers from me.
This. She does things that serve a purpose for her image and brand. A broken clock is right twice a day, but it doesn’t make it any less broken.
I’m glad that she did what she did, but it’s also difficult for me to see this in a good light given the long term optics of the situation. For one thing, I don’t put it past Trump to use this policy of pardoning select individuals in order to boost his own standing and approval rating. He knows this will get him good optics, even though he’s employed an AG who’s currently pursuing some seriously stringent incarcereal policies that are entirely motivated on racial prejudice. This is an individual instance of a reprieve for someone, but the overall systematic policies that send people to jail for things like this will not change. They’ll only get worse over time, for as long as Trump is in office.
None of this is a knock on Kim Kardashian though. She’s always taken an interest in these types of issues, from what I can tell, and she’s looked into helping multiple people in the same type of situation as this woman. Will this change the fact that she’s a non-black woman profiting off of appropriating black culture? No. But she is smart enough to leverage her celebrity status into doing something good, even if the good she’s doing is born out of ultimately selfish motives. At the end of the day, it’s a meh situation all around. I’m not expecting her to take on the whole system, and I don’t think anyone else should either. But she’s not going to get outsize praise from me for it either. It is what it is.
Nobody and iean nobody should serve life for non-violent drug offenses. That is just ridiculous. I’m not saying they shouldn’t serve time but seriously life is ridiculous. That said if you slang herione cut with propofol (not sure of spelling) and people die of overdoses then that is a different story all together.
The Innocence project freed my cousin who was given a Life sentence at 17 years old. He had served 17 years already.
People can have mixed motivations, Kim Kardashian included. She can be looking for good PR but also genuinely feeling connected with this particular issue. It’s good for her to work on something like this and actually be able to use her fame to get a good result. That will encourage her to do more of it.
The non-celebrities involved would not have made a dent. Trump only responds to photo ops and celebrities fawning over him. This is why organizations solicit the help of celebrities and publicize donations by celebrities. They are involved because they can bring attention to the issues that normal people can’t, simply because anything they do is news.
I don’t think Kim is heartless, even though she is a chronic liar and very self-absorbed. She seems to have built up shields around herself, very likely in response to abuse and neglect from Mama Ten Percent in her childhood. I was initially baffled because the news stories were saying she was going to talk to him about prison reform, which seemed way beyond her skill set. But when I heard she was seeking a pardon for a specific person, her visit at the Oval Office made a lot of sense. That was a very personal issue that she could advocate for, and because of her celebrity status and her value for a photo op – Trump might want to do it for the good PR himself.
Besides, Kim dressed really nicely for the visit. Really. So often her clothing choices seem strange, but she hit the mark with that one.
While Trump still has the delusion that Kim Kardashian can deliver the black vote for him, I would like to suggest some other projects for her. For example:
— reversing his idiotic decision about DACA and getting that back to where it was and the Dreamers out of limbo
— stopping separation of refugee children from their parents seeking asylum or just grabbed by ICE for whatever
— real help for Puerto Rico
— real help for Flint
Any other ideas? Something not too terribly political but generally considered A Good Thing by many people of diverse politics would work for her. Something likely to appeal to her emotionally also, especially playing the mother card.
—
I still don’t understand why this woman is being celebrated in the press. IMO she was a 41 yo woman who was poisoning people selling junk, $45,000,000 on the streets to kill others just to make a fast buck. She was not a teenager who did not know better. Who knows how many people are dead by her actions. I’m just not going to celebrate her freeing, and btw, what happens to all those who are still in jail who did the same thing she did. I remember the dotard just two weeks ago saying people who are drugs pusher should get the death benefit, now she is celebrated. Btw, I’m not saying she should be in jail for the rest of her life but what she did was a very bad thing that affected many hundreds of life for worse.