NEWS07/24

  A woman was coerced into sexual exploitation for over 30 years through invisible captivity that eroded her agency without physical restraint. The case challenges assumptions about consent, showing how survival often requires compliance mistaken for consent by outsiders. It calls for a deeper understanding of power, coercion and agency to recognize and prevent such hidden abuses before they become lifelong. Decade after decade. This is not a Victorian melodrama or a cautionary tale from a distant culture. It’s a contemporary British case, recently tried, exhaustively evidenced and adjudicated. The man responsible has now been imprisoned for life. The woman, finally free, says she no longer knows who she is. It’s difficult to read this without a sense of disbelief. Not because such abuse exists; that is depressingly and appallingly beyond dispute. But because of its duration and apparent invisibility. How does one person compel another adult to engage in acts they find abhorr...

  It's Christmas Eve in Mar-a-Lago, and the first couple talked with children as part of NORAD's Santa calls. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump participated in the longstanding holiday tradition for over 20 minutes, seated in gold-trimmed armchairs near a Christmas tree. The president spoke to families on speakerphone while the first lady chatted with children on a handset. Trump asked children what they wanted from Santa Claus, peppered praise for states that he won in the 2024 election, and touted the most recent GDP report in banter with reporters in the room. "Great numbers, great financials. I don’t think the kids are too interested in that," Trump said. Among the comments Trump made to children: When asked by a child from Oklahoma why Santa Claus is being tracked, he said: "We want to make sure that he's not infiltrated, that we are not infiltrating into our country a bad Santa." He also told the ch...

  Sean "Diddy" Combs is not giving up on his fight for freedom. Lawyers for the convicted hip hop mogul asked a federal appeals court on Tuesday for his immediate release. They also asked the court to appeal his conviction on  two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution . If granted, it would mark the end of his 50-month prison sentence. His conviction centers on the transportation of two former girlfriends – Casandra "Cassie" Ventura Fine and the anonymous "Jane" – as well as sex workers for the intent of prostitution. It was the result of a shocking split verdict in the case on July 2, when jurors acquitted Combs, 56, on the most serious charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. The prostitution charges could have carried a sentence of 10 years each, but Judge Arun Subramanian sentenced him to a little more than four years.   Sean  John  Combs  (born November 4, 1969), known professionally as  Diddy  is an Ameri...

  The musician who leads the annual event cancelled it because of the move to put President Donald Trump’s name on the center without approval from Congress. An annual Christmas Eve jazz concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington was cancelled because the center’s Donald Trump-appointed board added the president's name to the building last week. Chuck Redd, the musician who has led the show since 2006, told CNN that he called off the show “when I saw the name change happening last Friday." The center’s board, which Trump filled with allies who then elected him chair earlier this year, voted to rename the national music, arts, and culture institution after both Trump and Kennedy on Dec. 18. Democratic lawmakers who hold ex-officio board seats due to their roles in Congress argued that the vote, which the administration claimed was unanimous, was conducted improperly. An ex-officio board member, R...

  No presents under the tree for the NFL schedule makers this year – not that it’s necessarily their fault the  trio of 2025 Christmas Day games  scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 25, lack significant juice. Instead of trinkets in stockings, we’ll all have to settle for a healthy helping of Chris Oladokun – the Kansas City Chiefs’ starting quarterback in the nightcap against the Denver Broncos – with a side of egg nog (or coquito, if you really know what’s up). Might as well be coal.   The NFL took the NBA’s lunch money by commandeering Christmas Day. “The Association” had dominated the sports programming on the holiday day until the league realized its position as a ratings juggernaut could drub any entity in its path. The NFL received $150 million from Netflix to stream the first two games of the day, before the third airs on the traditional Thursday night streamer of Prime Video. But the matchups look less appealing tha...

                                          The actor/director/producer will receive the Icon Award at the Palm Spring International Film Awards on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. When it comes to Hollywood icons, plenty of names come to mind: Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Sidney Poitier and George Clooney, among others. Now a new talent is joining their ranks: actor/director/producer Michael B. Jordan. The filmmaker got his start in small roles television series such as "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" before he starred in "Friday Night Lights." His breakout film role came in Ryan Coogler's 2013 film "Fruitvale Station," which earned him critical acclaim and established him as a leading man. Since then, Jordan has starred in the "Creed" series (he directed the third film), "Black Panther" and "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," the latter two giving him another opportun...