We’re nearing the end of the Republican National Convention, and the seriousness of Donald Trump potentially taking over the Oval has us all in desperate need of a bit of humor this week. From Michelle Obama singing Carpool Karaoke with Missy Elliott, to Stephen Colbert crashing the RNC, here are some of the best funny political clips of the week:

Michelle Obama Gets Her “Freak On” During Carpool Karaoke

James Corden, host of the hilarious “Late Late Show,” stopped by the White House for his latest edition of Carpool Karaoke, and wound up with First Lady Michelle Obama in his passenger seat. How he got past the Secret Service, I’m not sure, but the private tour was legendary.

Corden and FLOTUS drove around the grounds and rocked out to songs like “Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours)” by Stevie Wonder (Michelle’s favorite artist) and  “Single Ladies” by Beyoncé. Missy Elliott also made a surprise appearance, joining the pair for a rendition of Michelle’s charity anthem “This is For My Girls” and “Get Ur Freak On”–I think it’s fair to say Michelle Obama is the coolest First Lady ever.

Kate McKinnon Dresses Up as Notorious RBG to Mock Trump

“Ghostbusters” star Kate McKinnon dressed up as Ruth Bader Ginsburg at the Republican National Convention to respond to Trump telling Twitter, “Her mind is shot–resign!“

A robed McKinnon said,

If my mind is shot then Donald Trump’s mind is shot, stabbed, strangled, put in a vat of wet cement and dumped in the Gowanus Canal. His mind is sleeping with the fishes, but it’s waking up to a Ginsburn.

Trump’s tweet came after the real Notorious RBG recently made headlines for calling Donald Trump “a faker” in a recent interview. The 83-year-old Supreme Court Justice said, “I can’t imagine what this place would be–I can’t imagine what the country would be–with Donald Trump as our president.”

Stephen Colbert is Hungry For Power Games at RNC

On Sunday, Stephen Colbert crashed the Republican National Convention for another edition of  the “Hungry for Power Games” that was later streamed Live on Monday night’s “Late Show.” A blue-wigged Colbert showed up to the RNC as Julius–his best impersonation of “The Hunger Games” host Caesar Flickerman–and toured Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena with his fake pet weasel, Caligula, in hand.

Colbert’s mocked New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, North Carolina’s bathroom laws, and Trump’s immigrations plans before later seizing the stage to make fun of Donald Trump’s running mate Mike Pence–which ended with him being escorted off stage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFjDBvRxcbM

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post Funny Political Clips of the Week: FLOTUS Singing, SNL x RBG, & Colbert appeared first on Law Street.

Planned Parenthood has long been a divisive organization in national politics, but it received particularly focused and intense ire after a group called the Center for Medical Progress released a series of videos reportedly showing PP’s inappropriate behavior. The videos sparked renewed protests, calls to defund the organization, and plenty of political talking points for the seemingly limitless field of primary candidates. Now, an independent analysis has reported that videos were heavily edited. Unfortunately, that probably won’t slow the controversy.

The argument over Planned Parenthood isn’t over the organization itself, it’s over abortion. Abortion as a political issue has an almost uniquely solidified history. Many social issues in the United States have seen marked changes in support over the years, but the percentages of the population that are pro-choice or pro-life, or somewhere in between, have remained remarkably consistent since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973. According to Gallup, from 1975-2015, somewhere between 48-55 percent of Americans have reported that they believe that abortion should be legal only under certain circumstances. The percentage of the population that believes it should be illegal under all circumstances is exactly the same today as it was in 1975, at 19 percent, with some fluctuation into the mid teens and low twenties over the years. Those who believe it should be legal under any circumstances has also seen relatively little change, hovering somewhere in the 20-30 percent range for the past 40 years. While obviously individual opinions change over the years, and the simple comparison of numbers from vaguely worded polls should be taken with a grain of salt, it’s safe to say that overall the American population really hasn’t altered its beliefs as a whole much. The rhetoric and arguments used in 1975, and 1995, and 2015 all look fairly similar.

When opinions are so firmly engrained, and when we’re so used to something being a constant debate, it’s really easy to feel confirmation bias. We look for information that validates our world view, and explain away information that does not. That’s where it seems we are with the Planned Parenthood video debate right now. An independent group–Fusion GPS, based in Washington D.C., has said that the videos were altered and are inaccurate representations of the events. Fusion GPS stated about the videos:

A thorough review of these videos in consultation with qualified experts found that they do not present a complete or accurate record of the events they purport to depict.

Meanwhile, the Center for Medical Progress claim that the discrepancies only came from negligible sources such as bathroom breaks, or waiting periods between meetings, saying:

The absence of bathroom breaks and waiting periods between meetings does not change the hours of dialogue with top-level Planned Parenthood executives eager to manipulate abortion procedures to get high-quality baby parts for financially profitable sale.

So, who’s right? Well quite frankly, it doesn’t really matter. Those who believe in Planned Parenthood’s mission and the importance of a woman’s right to choose aren’t going to change their minds based on the Center for Medical Progress’s explanation. And those who demonize Planned Parenthood and believe that abortion is morally wrong aren’t going to change their minds on abortion just because the videos were seemingly hoaxes.

If anything, this renewed debate only serves one, depressing, singular purpose–to bring up the question during a long, arduous, and increasingly nasty primary election. It was the perfect catalyst for multiple inquiries during the first Republican debate, and continues to be a sticking point for many of the candidates on both sides of the aisle. Most recently, Hillary Clinton’s comments about how pro-life Republicans are wrong for America have fired up the debate even more, when she stated:

Extreme views about women, we expect them from some of the terrorist groups, we expect that from people who don’t want to live in the modern world, but it’s a little hard to take coming from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States, yet they espouse out-of-date and out-of-touch policies.

But Clinton’s statements are just the latest in a long list of quotes, controversies, and events that continue to entrench the conversation. Once again, the abortion debate has become a talking point–over the last 40 years, very little has changed in that respect.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

The post The Planned Parenthood Controversy Won’t Change the Abortion Debate appeared first on Law Street.

For bubbly blonde girls like myself, YouTube is an amazing tool. Within it lie countless videos of wondrous hair curling, and cat eye and contouring tutorial videos. As I watch the Carli Bybels of the world teach me how to enhance my cheekbone structure, there’s always a little music in the background to keep it interesting.

YouTube knows the importance of music inclusion in these online masterpieces. This week the social video platform launched a new feature in the YouTube Audio Library that detects and reacts to the music uploaded in these videos.

Before this feature, when a YouTube guru (or any video uploader, for that matter) created and uploaded content, the Content ID system would attempt to detect whether copyrighted music was being used. If copyrighted music was indeed found, the artists would decide whether the piece should be blocked from sharing, the audio should be muted, or in the cases where there was money to be made, whether advertisements would be attached to the video.

With this new feature, uploaders are given a heads up. They can see what will happen to their video with any given song. Though they still have little control of the outcome, having the information beforehand means quicker uploads and hopefully even more content for the more than 1 billion users who visit YouTube each month.

For anyone wanting to upload some clips without the hassle of any of this, YouTube offers many 320kbps tracks and sound effects, royalty-free.

But what does this move tell us (besides that there may be more makeup how-tos)?

Every day, more and more average users share content. These are children, adults, tech nerds, and technologically challenged people. They go on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Tumblr and Flickr. They have intellectual property at the tips of their fingers, probably every hour.

Companies, as we saw last week with Facebook, need to be clearer about the legal aspects of sharing content and provide services that make it easier for everyday users to enjoy, share, and interact with copyrighted material. Instead of merely listing a bunch of rules and instructions in the legal section of its Terms of Policy, YouTube is being proactive and providing an online infrastructure that does the work for us.

More companies should look to YouTube as an example of how to play IP offense instead of defense. The results are inarguably win-win: user experience is enhanced, artists are protected, and the entire process is streamlined. As users, it’s important for us to take note of subtle changes like this one as they not only alter our navigation of these sites, but provide us with a signal in this Information Age: IP knowledge is power, people!

The post YouTube Simplifies Copyright With New Feature appeared first on Law Street.