After spending three nights at Riker’s Island Prison in New York for allegedly raping a 32 year-old maid in his $3,000 a night hotel room, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the now former head of the International Monetary Fund, has been freed on $6 million bail. While awaiting trial, he will live in an Upper East Side condo where apartments rent for $8,800 per month. If you don’t want to rent, you can pony up to $26 million to buy one. The condo complex comes with 24-hour concierge service and a swimming pool. Oh, and maid service (no joke) is included.
On Saturday, May 14, Strauss-Kahn was pulled out of the First Class cabin of an Air France jet just minutes before take-off to France, an “ally” of the United States with which we have no extradition treaty. Earlier that day, he allegedly sexually assaulted a 32 year-old single mom who is an immigrant from the North African nation of Guinea. Had Strauss-Kahn made it out of the country, he would have never faced American justice. The Roman Polanski’s of the world just love France. Strauss-Kahn, a thrice married socialist leader in his native country, has been called by some “a great seducer,” “a politician whose relationships with women have landed him in trouble.” Now that’s a shock! To say that he’s had women troubles is a nice way of saying the man is a cad. In America, some might call a man like Strauss-Kahn is a pig. Well, that is if he was conservative. Because he’s a socialist, he’ll probably get a pass from our nation’s elitists.
And, apparently, he is a pig man with a past that may come back to bite him. Not only has he been charged with the sexual assault of this New York maid, he has also been accused of rough behavior with several ladies sent from Manhattan madam Kristin Davis’s escort service back in 2006 (at $2,500).
As a general rule, none of Strauss-Kahn’s alleged past can be used against him at trial (although there are limited exceptions to this rule). However, that doesn’t mean that people in the court of public opinion have to ignore the sordid facts that continue to emerge about this 63 year-old now disgraced politician.
Despite Strauss-Kahn’s alleged history with women — not all of it good — and the facts that have already emerged in the current case, many within France are apparently turning a blind eye now. Maybe that explains the sexist culture that apparently existed within the IMF in recent years.
The more libertine culture that exists in Europe may also explain why 57% of adults in France think Strauss-Kahn was set up. If you’re a socialist in that country, the number of conspiracy theorists rises to a wopping 70%. These are probably the same people that think France won World War II all by themselves or that Roman Polanski has gotten a bum rap.
Thankfully for the victim — not Strauss-Kahn — we are not in France, but in the United States of America. While we are not perfect, we have the greatest legal system in the world, for both those accused of a crime and the victims of crime. Mr. Strauss-Kahn, by virtue of the American Constitution, is entitled to a presumption of innocence. But, even though he must be proven to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, Strauss-Kahn has been treated like an ordinary, common criminal, something that neither he nor his fellow Frenchmen may understand.
According to NYC Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly “said the case was handled like any other, noting that the NYPD would face criticism if the Frenchman received any special treatment.” Someone like Strauss-Kahn, one fo the world’s elites, has probably never been treated like anyone else. He has lived the pampered life of one of the world’s rich and famous, receiving special treatment wherever he goes. Whether staying at a $3,000 a night hotel in Manhattan or jetting around the world in First Class, this Frenchman must be completely dumbfounded to have found himself behind bars in Riker’s Island. He must truly be at a loss because his word has not been automatically believed over the testimony of a 32 year-old maid from North Africa.
But, alas, the beauty of the American justice system. Where an immigrant to the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave,” is seen as credible by the authorities while one of Europe’s finest elites is thrown in the slammer. Said Police Commissioner Kelly:
“We handled this as a normal arrest. Perhaps people in France are just not familiar with our system.”
Well, the people of France and one Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn better get familiar with our justice system. Because, at the end of the day, there will be justice for all, not just the rich and famous. Mr. Strauss-Kahn may ultimately walk away a free man or he may spend his retirement years in prison. And, it will come down to a verdict (unless plea bargained) of his peers. Thankfully in the United States of America, that jury will be composed of ordinary citizens who, more often than not, can smell a pig from a mile away!