“I have an IUD in my body right now that won’t let me have a baby and my conservators won’t let me go to the doctor to take it out,” Britney Spears said in a hearing on Wednesday.

Britney Spears has had enough.

The pop icon virtually went before a court Wednesday to speak publically for the first time about the conservatorship, overseen by her father, that has controlled almost every aspect of her life for 13 years .

“It is my wish and dream for all of this to end,” said Spears. “I want my life back.”

Her anger over her situation was palpable, and her tone starkly contrasted with the often saccharine persona she presents on her Instagram, which is awash with fluffy kittens, butterflies, roses, and dance routines. She seemed to be all too aware of this discrepancy.

“After I’ve told the whole world I’m okay, it’s a lie,” she said. “I’m not happy, I can’t sleep, I’m depressed, I cry every day.”

She said that she would like to be able to sue her family over the position they’ve left her in, and said that her lawyer, whom she did not choose for herself, never told her that she was able to petition to terminate the conservatorship.

“I truly believe this conservatorship is abusive,” said Spears. “My request is to end the conservatorship without being evaluated like before.”

...

From the get-go, Spears was opposed to her once-estranged father asserting control over the conservatorship, according to the New York Times. Despite her position, a judge concluded that her father was best suited to take the reins.

A day before Wednesday’s hearing, the Times, citing confidential court documents, revealed that the pop icon had been trying to terminate the restrictive conservatorship agreement for years. Despite raking in millions of dollars through record-breaking albums and tours, she wasn’t allowed to have control of her own credit cards, had to seek her father’s approval for the most basic of decisions like repainting her own kitchen cabinets, and wasn’t even allowed to make new friends without him signing off first.

“He loved the control he had over me, one hundred thousand percent,” said Spears at the hearing, in reference to her father, who was reportedly not on the virtual call.

And, she noted, she didn’t understand why she was restrained by a conservatorship when she’s working. The Times also revealed that her father makes $16,000 per month as a salary for being her conservator, which is twice the monthly allowance she’s given. He also gets a cut from her world tours.


https://www.vice.com/en/article/jg8dey/britney-spears-conservatorship-abuse-court-hearing

The scene tonight at a raucous Loudoun County school board hearing where many came to voice opposition to critical race theory. The meeting was stopped when the crowd wouldn’t quiet down and two were arrested.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner distance themselves from the former President and his constant complaints

(CNN)With each passing day away from Washington, former President Donald Trump's grievances continue unabated. And those complaints appear to be driving away two of the people who were closest to him during his White House tenure: his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Sometimes the former President complains for several hours about the "stolen" 2020 election. Other times, his frustrations emerge in fits and starts -- more likely when he is discussing his hopeful return to national politics. And while he often has a rotating audience of cheering listeners, the gap between Trump and his daughter and son-in-law grows wider by the week, according to 12 former Trump White House officials, former administration officials, family friends, acquaintances and members of Trump's team who spoke with CNN about changes to the former President's current inner circle.

A large part of the reason for the separation is Trump's constant harping on the past and his inability to move on. The former President has also started to question the role that Kushner -- one of the few people who were able to stay close to Trump throughout his two presidential campaigns and White House tenure -- has played in his presidential legacy.

Ivanka Trump has also struggled to undo the entanglements caused by the years at her father's side in the White House, as she seeks a less complicated life for her family, according to two acquaintances. They described her as having to walk a fine line between embracing her father and distancing herself from his election lies.

Having spent much of the last five-and-a-half years in close proximity to him, Ivanka Trump and Kushner were rarely seen with him in the months leading up to the former President's seasonal shift from living at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, to living in a cottage at his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/23/politics/donald-trump-ivanka-trump-jared-kushner/index.html

NEWS: Pelosi just announced to Democrats that she will create a select committee to probe Jan. 6 attack, per two sources familiar

I’m told Pelosi just made this announcement to the Steering and Policy Committee

Pelosi to appoint select committee to investigate January 6, sources say

(CNN)House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to appoint a select committee to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol after Senate Republicans blocked the creation of an independent commission to probe the insurrection, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Pelosi announced Tuesday evening to the House's Steering and Policy Committee that she would create a select committee, the sources said.

The decision to appoint a select committee to investigate the attack means that House Democrats will channel their various efforts examining the events surrounding January 6 into one place. It was one of several options Pelosi had been considering after Senate Republicans filibustered legislation creating the commission that had passed in the House.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/22/politics/select-committee-january-6-pelosi/index.html

Pelosi To Announce Whether She’ll Set Up Select Committee To Probe Jan. 6 This Week

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) will announce this week whether she’ll set up a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection, following the Republican filibuster of an independent commission to do the same work.

A select committee, which would only need to pass through the House, would be staffed by lawmakers. Democrats have been lukewarm on the option, which will inevitably prompt Republican dismissal and accusations of partisanship, but have come around as it’s become clear that the GOP will not support any investigation.

Pelosi’s announcement was muddied by seemingly preemptive reports that she’ll announce this week that she will stand up the select committee, something she and her staff were quick to correct.

“No I did not make that announcement,” Pelosi said to reporters Wednesday night. “Somebody put out a false report.”

“Clarification on tonight’s meeting of the Steering and Policy Committee,” wrote her spokesman Drew Hammill on Twitter. “Speaker Pelosi told Members she plans to announce WHETHER she will create a select committee THIS WEEK. Her preference continues to be a bipartisan commission which Senate Republicans are blocking.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/pelosi-january-6-select-committee-insurrection