Even In The Trump Era, The Film Academy Is Absolutely, Positively Barred From Politics

Meryl Streep's political sermon at the Golden Globes on Sunday called to mind a little-discussed fact about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which will present its Oscars next month in a country still crackling with partisan tension. That is, the group is barred by its by-laws from taking political positions of any kind. Members may tolerate or even applaud Oscar-night polemics as vibrant as Streep's anti-Trump speech on Sunday. Vanessa Redgrave set the…