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Published by BANG Showbiz English Cher says her relationship with her younger boyfriend Alexander ‘AE’ Edwards is “ridiculous on paper”. But the ‘Believe’ singer, 76, added on ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’ on Friday (02.12.22) it is different in reality and praised the 36-year-old for being kind, intelligent and handsome. She said: “On paper, it is kind of ridiculous. But, in real life, we get along great.” After admitting she does not usually give men praise “they don’t deserve” the singer hailed Alexander as “fabulous,” “very kind,” “very smart,” “very talented” and “really funny.” She added: “And I think he’s quite handsome.” It comes after Cher insisted she and Alexander are in love. The ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ singer also used social media to defend their 40-year age gap by saying they “kiss like teenagers”. Her declarations came after Cher tweeted a photo of the music executive at the end of November, prompting one of her fans to ask which of his qualities she admires most. She wrote back: “He’s Kind, Smart, Hilarious… and We (kiss) Like Teenagers.” The Grammy winner added in another tweet: “I (love) HIM BECAUSE HE WASNT AFRAID. HES KIND,HILARIOUS, SMART,TALENTED, BEAUTIFUL. WE TALK AND LAUGH. “WE R PERFECTLY MATCHED. DO I WISH I WAS YOUNGER, YAH, I’M NOT BOO F*N HOO… He’s 36 and In End He Came after me, Till we met in the middle. He’s Consistent one, I’m The Skittish one. We love each other.” The couple first made headlines last month when they were photographed after a dinner date in Los Angeles holding hands. Cher has previously hit back at criticism of their age gap by tweeting: “Love doesn’t know math, it sees.” She added they were “happy and not bothering anyone,” and said: “Let Me Explain…I DONT GIVE A (flying) F* WHAT ANYONE THINKS.” Cher previously dated Tom Cruise, 60, when they had a 16-year age gap. She has also been married twice, to Sonny Bono from 1964 to 1975 and Gregg Allman from 1975 to 1979 – and shares sons Chaz, 53, and Elijah, 46, with the late musicians respectively. Alexander has dated Amber Rose and had son Slash, three, with the model in October 2019. View the full article

Published by OK Magazine @madonna/instagram She certainly is a material girl! On Thursday, December 1, Madonna turned heads as she arrived to the Miami Art Basel exhibition celebrating the 30th anniversary of her book Sex. For the party, the mom-of-six slipped on a black lace and sequined bustier bodysuit, topping off the piece with a short tuxedo coat. She accessorized with fishnet stockings, fingerless gloves, plenty of silver jewelry and black heels, styling her new copper locks in multiple braids. mega Also in attendance was daughter Lourdes Leon, 26, who wowed in a black cutout gown, as well as actor Vincent Gallo and singer Grace VandeWaal. The mother-daughter duo have been partying it up all over the country this year, even stepping out to a New York Fashion Week shindig together. MADONNA SHARES RARE PHOTO OF ALL 6 OF HER CHILDREN DURING HOLIDAY FESTIVTIES — SEE PICS Leon, whose father is actor Carlos Leon, has been following in her famous mother’s singing footsteps, but she insisted she’s trying to carve her own path. “I want to feel like I deserve things and not just like I’ve been given things. And, yes, there’s undeniable privilege that I’d be stupid to not realize,” the model acknowledged of her upbringing. “Nepotism babies are pretty awful usually, and my mom and my father raised me to be so much smarter than that.” The brunette beauty also appears to be OK with her mom’s recent headline-spinning antics, as the superstar is constantly uploading suggestive photos and videos, with some fans slamming her for “sexualizing” her social media posts. The “Express Yourself” songstress has mostly ignored the hate, though as OK! reported, she did once post a selfie with the words “stop bullying Madonna for enjoying her life.” Meanwhile, a few of Madonna’s other children are allegedly hiding their faces out of embarrassment. “It makes them cringe to see her writhing around naked and making a fool of herself,” a source spilled. “They can’t understand why [her behavior] needs to be so hyper and gratuitous.” The source added the brood wanted to address her behavior head-on before she “ruins her legacy.” View the full article

Published by Al-Araby An influential Iraqi cleric who announced his withdrawal from politics four months ago has broken a period of relative silence to launch an anti-LGBTQ campaign. Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr posted a statement on Twitter Wednesday calling for “believing men and women (to) unite all over the world to combat (the LGBTQ community).” He added that this should be done “not with violence, killing or threats, but with education and awareness, with logic and ethical methods.” The religious leader’s call has stoked fears in the LGBTQ community, particularly given that al-Sadr’s followers have a history o… Read More View the full article

Published by PopCrush Holland is shooting his shot with Lil Nas X and has a legion of fans are shipping the two together. On Thursday (Dec. 1), the “Neverland” singer posted a video speaking about his encounter with the “Montero” hitmaker and even tagged him in it. He began by sharing that he recently met Lil Nas X for the first time and jokingly told his videographer to “cut” the next part. “I really wanted to have sex with him,” he said with a laugh. “I said ‘hello,’ but he was so busy.” Despite the quick meeting, the rapper did compliment Holland. “Lil Nas X told me I have a good hairstyle,” he recalled. “I told… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Katie Paul and Sheila Dang (Reuters) -Elon Musk’s Twitter is leaning heavily on automation to moderate content, doing away with certain manual reviews and favoring restrictions on distribution rather than removing certain speech outright, its new head of trust and safety told Reuters. Twitter is also more aggressively restricting abuse-prone hashtags and search results in areas including child exploitation, regardless of potential impacts on “benign uses” of those terms, said Twitter Vice President of Trust and Safety Product Ella Irwin. “The biggest thing that’s changed is the team is fully empowered to move fast and be as aggressive as possible,” Irwin said on Thursday, in the first interview a Twitter executive has given since Musk’s acquisition of the social media company in late October. Her comments come as researchers are reporting a surge in hate speech on the social media service, after Musk announced an amnesty for accounts suspended under the company’s previous leadership that had not broken the law or engaged in “egregious spam.” The company has faced pointed questions about its ability and willingness to moderate harmful and illegal content since Musk slashed half of Twitter’s staff and issued an ultimatum to work long hours that resulted in the loss of hundreds more employees. And advertisers, Twitter’s main revenue source, have fled the platform over concerns about brand safety. On Friday, Musk vowed “significant reinforcement of content moderation and protection of freedom of speech” in a meeting with France President Emmanuel Macron. Irwin said Musk encouraged the team to worry less about how their actions would affect user growth or revenue, saying safety was the company’s top priority. “He emphasizes that every single day, multiple times a day,” she said. The approach to safety Irwin described at least in part reflects an acceleration of changes that were already being planned since last year around Twitter’s handling of hateful conduct and other policy violations, according to former employees familiar with that work. One approach, captured in the industry mantra “freedom of speech, not freedom of reach,” entails leaving up certain tweets that violate the company’s policies but barring them from appearing in places like the home timeline and search. Twitter has long deployed such “visibility filtering” tools around misinformation and had already incorporated them into its official hateful conduct policy before the Musk acquisition. The approach allows for more freewheeling speech while cutting down on the potential harms associated with viral abusive content. The number of tweets containing hateful content on Twitter rose sharply in the week before Musk tweeted on Nov. 23 that impressions, or views, of hateful speech were declining, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate – in one example of researchers pointing to the prevalence of such content, while Musk touts a reduction in visibility. Tweets containing words that were anti-Black that week were triple the number seen in the month before Musk took over, while tweets containing a gay slur were up 31%, the researchers said. ‘MORE RISKS, MOVE FAST’ Irwin, who joined the company in June and previously held safety roles at other companies including Amazon.com and Google, pushed back on suggestions that Twitter did not have the resources or willingness to protect the platform. She said layoffs did not significantly impact full-time employees or contractors working on what the company referred to as its “Health” divisions, including in “critical areas” like child safety and content moderation. Two sources familiar with the cuts said that more than 50% of the Health engineering unit was laid off. Irwin did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the assertion, but previously denied that the Health team was severely impacted by layoffs. She added that the number of people working on child safety had not changed since the acquisition, and that the product manager for the team was still there. Irwin said Twitter backfilled some positions for people who left the company, though she declined to provide specific figures for the extent of the turnover. She said Musk was focused on using automation more, arguing that the company had in the past erred on the side of using time- and labor-intensive human reviews of harmful content. “He’s encouraged the team to take more risks, move fast, get the platform safe,” she said. On child safety, for instance, Irwin said Twitter had shifted toward automatically taking down tweets reported by trusted figures with a track record of accurately flagging harmful posts. Carolina Christofoletti, a threat intelligence researcher at TRM Labs who specializes in child sexual abuse material, said she has noticed Twitter recently taking down some content as fast as 30 seconds after she reports it, without acknowledging receipt of her report or confirmation of its decision. In the interview on Thursday, Irwin said Twitter took down about 44,000 accounts involved in child safety violations, in collaboration with cybersecurity group Ghost Data. Twitter is also restricting hashtags and search results frequently associated with abuse, like those aimed at looking up “teen” pornography. Past concerns about the impact of such restrictions on permitted uses of the terms were gone, she said. The use of “trusted reporters” was “something we’ve discussed in the past at Twitter, but there was some hesitancy and frankly just some delay,” said Irwin. “I think we now have the ability to actually move forward with things like that,” she said. (Reporting by Katie Paul and Sheila Dang; editing by Kenneth Li and Anna Driver) View the full article

Published by AFP InfoWars founder Alex Jones speaks to the media outside Waterbury Superior Court during his trial, in Waterbury, Connecticut in September 2022 Washington (AFP) – American radio host Alex Jones reaped millions spouting conspiracy-laden falsehoods that helped drive up sales of products like libido boosters, exploiting an internet ecosystem that experts say makes misinformation a lucrative business. Jones, a serial provocateur who founded the far-right website InfoWars, has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in damages for calling a 2012 mass shooting in an elementary school –- which left 20 first graders and six adults dead — a “hoax.” Defamation cases in Texas and Connecticut against Jones have spotlighted the challenge of curbing misinformation on the internet, where false and inflammatory content often spreads faster, generates more engagement — and more revenue -– than the truth. “The modern internet business model consists of building an audience and then monetizing that audience, either through ads, merchandise sales, or direct donation,” Danny Rogers, cofounder of the nonprofit Global Disinformation Index, told AFP. “Alex Jones perfected that model by peddling the most adversarial narratives in the form of virulent conspiracy theories and unbridled anger, building a receptive audience, and then soaking that audience for profit.” Jones, who was back in the spotlight this week when rapper Kanye West declared his admiration for Adolf Hitler on his show, has amassed what experts call a fortune by successfully merging the conspiracy theories with merchandise and dietary supplements from his InfoWars store. Jones has hawked male vitality supplements and testosterone boosters, while claiming the government was feminizing men or turning them gay by using chemical pollutants. He accused the government of deliberately putting fluoride in drinking water, while his store peddled fluoride-free toothpaste. His audience, he claimed, can survive various doomsday scenarios with other products that his store can supply — storable food, body armor and even components for homemade guns. Bankruptcy – The extent of his wealth is opaque but a forensic economist testified during the Texas trial that the combined net worth of Jones and Free Speech Systems –- the parent company of Infowars –- likely fell between $135 million and $270 million. But while bashing the trials as an assault on free speech, Jones has said he has little money to pay the damages and has repeatedly implored his audience for donations. As he battled the defamation cases, an anonymous bitcoin donor sent Jones cryptocurrency worth $8 million, the nonprofit Southern Poverty Law Center reported in May. This week, Jones declared personal bankruptcy in his home state of Texas, saying his liabilities far exceeded his assets that were worth between $1 million and $10 million. InfoWars declared bankruptcy in April and Free Speech Systems filed for bankruptcy in July. Last month, the Washington Post reported that Jones had transferred millions of dollars out of Free Speech Systems to firms that he or his family members controlled, citing financial records. Families of the victims in the 2012 shooting in Sandy Hooks Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, have alleged that Jones was trying to hide his wealth to avoid paying the damages. A jury in Connecticut awarded $965 million in October to relatives of eight Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent. The judge later tacked on an additional $473 million in punitive damages. In a separate trial, a jury in Texas ordered Jones to pay nearly $50 million damages to a couple whose six-year-old son was killed in the shooting. Free Speech Systems and Jones did not respond to a request for comment. ‘Clicks and cash’ The families of the school shooting victims say they were harassed and threatened for years by Jones’s fans, with strangers showing up at their homes to confront them and hurling abuse online. Some even reported receiving rape and death threats. “Their children got slaughtered — I saw it myself,” Bill Aldenberg, the FBI agent, said in an emotionally charged testimony during the Connecticut trial in September. “And these people (Jones and company) made millions upon millions. They’ve destroyed everybody and they don’t give a damn.” InfoWars sales data presented during the Connecticut trial showed a major spike in revenue after Jones peddled a new lie about the school shooting. On September 25, 2014, when he falsely claimed that an FBI report showed that “no one died in 2012 in Sandy Hook” his site’s daily revenue jumped to more than $230,000, according to the data published by the Huffington Post. On the previous day, before he peddled that claim, the site made only $48,000. That underscores, what experts say, is the financial incentive of content creators to push out conspiratorial material that has potential to go viral. “The fundamental problem is larger than Jones and is really the business model itself and its toxic externalities,” said Rogers. “This creates an entire world of Alex Jones polarizing the global discourse, sowing fear and anger for clicks and cash. Until this changes, we’ll simply go from one Alex Jones to the next and little will change.” View the full article

Published by AFP President Donald Trump meets with rapper Kanye West in the White House Oval Office in 2018 Washington (AFP) – President Joe Biden’s emphatic condemnation of anti-Semitism Friday was driven by an alarming normalization of anti-Jewish tropes and hate speech by influential public figures and on social media, experts said. One day after hip-hop and fashion mogul Kanye West voiced a “love” for Nazis and 10 days after ex-president Donald Trump dined with West and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, Biden blasted a message about open anti-Semitism on Twitter. “Silence is complicity,” Biden said. “The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a demonic figure. And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should be calling out and rejecting anti-Semitism wherever it hides.” Experts said the most recent controversies underscore a difficult new-generation fight against bigoted memes and conspiracy theories about Jews entering the mainstream. Some of the new anti-Semitism has been propelled through Trump’s MAGA movement and the parallel QAnon conspiracy community. Some has also been advanced through youth and African American communities by influential celebrities like West and basketball star Kyrie Irving, boosted by largely uncensored social media platforms. West capped weeks of stoking anti-Semitic fires on Thursday when, in a podcast joined by Fuentes and extremist Alex Jones, he praised Hitler and then posted online a Nazi swastika interlaced with a Star of David. Trump factor Oren Segal of ADL, which fights anti-Semitism, said the trend has been building for some time, with more people, intentionally or unintentionally, spreading anti-Semitic ideas. “When you have celebrities who are promoting classic anti-Semitism like Kanye West, who has more followers on Twitter than there are Jews on the planet Earth, that is going to make that part of the public discussion,” Segal told AFP. Aside from Trump dining with West and Fuentes, Segal noted, several Republican elected officials readily attended a pro-Trump conference organized by Fuentes earlier this year. “That normalisation is not something that just began when Kanye lost his mind. It’s something that we have seen in the public, frankly, for a long time,” Segal. Trumpism is an important factor, he added. “If Trumpism is understood as normalising disinformation and conspiracy theories, the normalisation of anti-Semitism is not far behind,” he said. That has real consequences, he said, pointing to the deadly extremist attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Poway, California in 2018 and 2019. Fringe ideas hit the mainstream The fact that West and Irving are both Black raised concerns about a surge of anti-Semitism among African Americans and young minorities. But Cheryl Greenberg, a professor at Trinity College, said they reflected general trends in their communities. “What I think it is, is the trend of mainstreaming otherwise fringe ideas.” For example, she said, Irving highlighted an old video by the Black Hebrew Israelites, who are critical of Jews. “They’ve been preaching the same stuff for decades,” Greenberg said. “What’s unusual, I think, or what’s new, is that they’ve managed to move from New York street corners and elsewhere into the mainstream.” A big reason for that is social media, which makes it easier to preserve and share anything, including hate. Elon Musk’s haphazard takeover of Twitter showed how fast objectionable material of any kind — against Jews or others — can return if a platform is not extremely diligent. Segal said bigger problems are the “ecosystem” of algorithm-based video hosts like TikTok and mostly uncensored messaging and discussion boards like Telegram and Reddit, where virtual, global communities are built around anti-Semitism. “It’s just a toxic online environment, where the most vulnerable people are getting their worldview, where I think we’re starting to see the consequences,” said Segal. Alliances unraveled Greenberg said another problem is that anti-Semitism’s importance has dissipated among younger Americans who are less knowledgeable about the Holocaust and are focused on the issues of other marginalized or oppressed groups, whether ethnic minorities or LGBTQ. “The ways the Jews have made anti-Semitism a primary issue has made it much more difficult to engage with the many groups,” said Greenberg. She said the 1950-60s alliance between African Americans and Jews for civil rights has mostly unraveled. A younger generation of Blacks and other minorities today don’t see Jews as “fellow sufferers,” in part because they consider Jews as successful whites, Greenberg said. “There are many groups out there, it is not just about Jews, it’s about lots of people,” she said. Greenberg said the only answer is to work more closely with other groups — even those critical of Israel — to keep the issue of anti-Semitism in the mix. “It’s never-ending because as soon as people forget, we fall off the radar,” she said. View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Love was in the air out in California on Thursday, December 1, which marked Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi‘s 18th anniversary. To celebrate the couple’s long-time love, they were seen out and about in Montecito to pick up some sweet treats for their special day. The television personality, 64, and Arrested Development actress, 49, picked up two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies from Honor Market before heading back to their car. @theellenshow/instagram Walking arm-in-arm, the Hollywood couple was seen exchanging laughs while complimenting each other in cozy fall sweaters. ELLEN DEGENERES ALL SMILES IN FIRST OUTING AFTER SHOCKING ALLEGATIONS FROM EX-PROTÉGÉE GREYSON CHANCE Their PDA outing came shortly after The Ellen DeGeneres Show alum gushed over her partner in a tribute post to honor their 18th anniversary. “It’s our 18 year anniversary today. I fall in love with her more every day,” she lovingly shared with her more than 127 million Instagram followers. “I’m so grateful for her love.” mega The post featured two snaps of the famed couple, one being a selfie with their heads pressed together in front of the sunset and the latter of the actress cracking up as she holds on to her partner’s waist. With DeGeneres’ hand affectionally placed on de Rossi’s arm, the comedian sweetly smiles at the camera. Though de Rossi doesn’t appear to be active on the social media platform — she last posted in May — and did not comment on DeGeneres’ sweet snap, the comments section was flooded with friends and fans congratulating the couple on their love. mega “Aww love you both! Happy anniversary,” famous author and life coach Jay Shetty wrote, with Kris Jenner echoing: “Happy Anniversary we love you!!!!!” Mario Lopez also chimed in writing, “Happy Anniversary! #AnniversaryTwins,” referring to his own 10-year celebration with wife Courtney Lopez. DeGeneres and de Rossi began dating in 2004 after first meeting three years prior at a party. The lovebirds tied the knot in 2008 after the overturn of the same-sex marriage ban in California. ELLEN DEGENERES LOOKS GLUM DURING LUNCH DATE WITH WIFE PORTIA DE ROSSI, MARKING HER FIRST OUTING SINCE EX ANNE HECHE’S DEATH De Rossi’s last Instagram upload was of her famous wife upon the end of her long-running show. Alongside a carousel of throwback moments of DeGeneres, de Rossi wrote, “To my utterly beautiful, supremely talented, insanely accomplished wife on the day of your final show….I married an icon. I married my idol. I’m so proud of you for making this platform one that not only entertains but inspires and uplifts people… I love you.” Daily Mail obtained photos of the couple’s outing. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Cara Delevingne thinks men lack the “right tools” to satisfy women sexually. The supermodel, 30, makes the claim in her new documentary ‘Planet Sex’, which sees her travel the globe to explore gender, sexuality and bedroom fantasies. Cara says on the show while exploring female orgasms, and the lack of them during heterosexual intercourse: “I do feel that generally, men are not equipped with the right tool to be able to handle women, especially sexually. “I don’t wanna go into the art of making a woman c** but it’s a lot more complicated and a lot more fun. “I get it, it’s a lot more complicated for a woman to have to tell you, ‘You’re not doing it right, you have to sit down and listen to what I say’. “Yeah, it’s an ego killer that most men can’t handle.” Cara – who identifies as queer and gender fluid – is also seen taking part in a 10-minute solo sex act in Germany while her blood is taken for a scientific experiment that measured the levels of endocannabinoids in her system before and after orgasm. Cara tells viewers: “I’m here to have an orgasm and donate it to science. “I think female sexual desire has definitely been repressed. I know from my own love life just how sexual women can be so you’d think in the 21st Century men and women should be having equally satisfying sex lives, right? “Well, prepare for a shock. When it comes to the orgasm there is a definite gender gap. “Scientists say that 95 per cent of straight men orgasm during intercourse but only 65 per cent of straight women do. “To be honest I think that sounds way too high, most of my straight female friends say it’s probably more like 15 or 20 per cent. “Lesbians and queer women definitely seem to have it better.” ‘Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne’ was shown on BBC3 at 10pm on Thursday (01.12.22) and is available on BBC iPlayer. View the full article

Published by New York Daily News Billy Porter was a vision in white as he was honored with a plaque on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, which also commemorated World AIDS Day. Addressing the crowd assembled steps from Los Angeles’ Pantages Theatre, the Emmy, Grammy and two-time Tony Award winner spoke of the “gratitude” he has — not only for the special honor but for all he’s endured throughout his life. “I’m just so blessed and so grateful to be here,” Porter, 53, said, fighting back tears. “James Baldwin said ‘it’s an artist’s job to disturb the peace,’ and as you all know, I take my job very seriously,” he quipped. … Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet For the second time this week, Fox News host “Judge” Jeanine Pirro defended hate speech. The first instance occurred on Tuesday night’s edition of The Five, when Pirro declared that antisemitic remarks made by disgraced rapper Kanye West and Holocaust-denying white supremacist Nick Fuentes were “repugnant by another standard.” Pirro’s reasoning was that free speech is protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. While that is true, the First Amendment does not shield a person from the consequences of what they say – a lesson that West has learned the hard way. Neverthele… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The wedding websites that Colorado-based web designer Lorie Smith would like to create for clients might offer ceremony details, pictures, a story about the couple and a biblical quote celebrating how through marriage they “become one flesh.” They would not, however, show same-sex nuptials. Smith, an evangelical Christian who believes marriage is only between a man and a woman, has taken her fight to refuse to make wedding websites for same-sex couples and to advertise that policy to the U.S. Supreme Court in a major case to be argued on Monday. Smith is appealing lower court rulings backing Colorado. The stakes are high, pitting the right of LGBT people to seek goods and services from businesses without discrimination against the right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, as asserted by Smith. Smith, 38, is married with one child and lives in the Denver suburb of Littleton. She argues that Colorado anti-discrimination law violates free speech rights by forcing artists – including web designers – to express messages through their work that they oppose. “Colorado is compelling and censoring my speech and forcing me to design and create custom artwork that celebrates messages that go against my deeply held beliefs,” Smith said in an interview. “My faith is at the core of who I am.” Public accommodations laws exist in many states, banning discrimination in areas such as housing, hotels, retail businesses, restaurants and educational institutions. Colorado first enacted one in 1885. Its current Anti-Discrimination Act bars businesses open to the public from denying goods or services to people because of race, gender, sexual orientation, religion and certain other characteristics, and from displaying a notice to that effect. Colorado, civil rights groups and numerous legal scholars warn of a ripple effect of discrimination against LGBT people and others if Smith wins, offering a variety of hypothetical situations. Could a commercial photographer refuse to take pictures of a corporation’s female chief executive? Could a baker refuse to make a birthday cake for a Black child? Could an architect refuse to design homes for Jewish or Muslim people? “It’s going to be very difficult for them (Supreme Court justices) to draw lines in any way that is coherent or analytically sound – particularly for lower courts to apply – that won’t just be a get-out-of-jail free card because, ‘I don’t want to serve you or employ you,'” said Amanda Shanor, an expert in constitutional law and free speech at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. The Supreme Court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has become increasingly supportive of religious rights and related free speech claims in recent years even as it has backed LGBT rights in other cases. The court legalized gay marriage nationwide in a landmark 2015 decision. ‘LOVE EVERYONE’ Smith and her lawyers maintain that she is not discriminating against anyone. She would, for example, happily serve an LGBT customer who wants graphics for an issue she supports like an animal shelter. She objects, however, to messages that contradict her Christian beliefs. “My faith has taught me to love everyone, and that’s why I work with everyone through my business. But that also means I can’t create every message,” Smith said. Smith is represented by attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative religious rights group. The Supreme Court did not take up one aspect of her challenge to Colorado law based on religious rights also protected by the First Amendment. Alliance Defending Freedom previously represented Denver-area bakery owner Jack Phillips, who ran afoul of Colorado anti-discrimination law when he refused based on his Christian beliefs to make a wedding cake for two men. His legal battle with Colorado also reached the Supreme Court, which ruled narrowly in his favor in 2018. That decision determined that Colorado officials violated his religious rights but stopping short of carving out a free speech exemption to anti-discrimination laws. Smith preemptively sued Colorado’s civil rights commission and other state officials in 2016 because she feared she would be punished for refusing to serve gay weddings. Colorado has argued that its Anti-Discrimination Act regulates sales, not speech, to ensure “equal access and equal dignity.” Smith thus is free to sell whatever she wants, including websites with biblical passages stating an opposite-sex vision of marriage. The state warned against endorsing Smith’s view of free speech protections. “It would encompass not only a business’s objections to serving certain customers motivated by sincerely held religious beliefs, but also objections motivated by ignorance, whim, bigotry, caprice and more – including pure expressions of racial, sexist or anti-religious hatred,” the state wrote in the brief to the Supreme Court. “All the Act requires is that the company sell its website-design services to the public regardless of the customer’s sexual orientation, religion or other protected characteristic. If a customer wanted a different website, one that the company did not offer, the company need not provide it,” Colorado added. The case raises tough questions for the court including who can be considered an artist entitled to an exception. President Joe Biden’s administration, supporting Colorado in the case, said Smith’s bid for an exemption goes too far because she seeks a right to refuse to create a wedding website of any kind for a same-sex couple, even one simply stating logistical details. The administration concedes that Colorado could not interpret its law to force Smith to create content praising same-sex marriage or stating that it is consistent with Christian teachings. “The government can’t force Lorie and people like her to express messages that go against their deeply held beliefs,” said Jacob Warner, an attorney for Smith. “Every website she will create will celebrate a view of marriage,” Warner added. Smith’s lawyers said the case is similar to one in which the Supreme Court in 1995 let organizers of a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston exclude an Irish-American LGBT group. The Supreme Court’s ruling is due by the end of June. (Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by Chicago Tribune “We will stand up to hatred and bullying wherever it rears its head.” Such was the message at the 2016 Risa K. Lambert Luncheon, Chicago’s massive fundraiser for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. That same season, Donald Trump was running his first presidential campaign, which was fueled with language and policy of overt misogyny, racism and Islamophobia. It was shocking to me that in a room filled with 2,000 donors committed to teaching the world the message, “Never again,” not a single word, even of measured caution, was offered by any listed speaker about the invective of Trump’s campaign… Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet Fox News’ Tucker Carlson recently expressed concern about the National Hockey League’s (NHL) public support of trans women and now he believes their support is part of yet another conspiracy theory he’s concocted. According to HuffPost, Carlson is now suggesting all professional sports are part of an unspoken coalition orchestrated by left-wing ‘forces’ to brainwash the American public. The conservative talk show host’s remarks were made on Wednesday, November 30. Carlson offered his take on the league supporting a draft tournament that recently took place in Wisconsin. The tournament featured… Read More View the full article

Published by OK Magazine @gwendlynbrown/instagram One of the Sister Wives stars’ offspring is ready to walk down the aisle! Christine and Kody Brown‘s daughter Gwendlyn is engaged to her girlfriend of eight months, Beatriz Queiroz. “I’m engaged!! ,” the 21-year-old wrote in a Wednesday, November 30, Instagram post announcing the happy news, alongside photos of the snowy outdoor proposal. MERI BROWN GUSHES SHE IS ‘IN LOVE’ WITH ALL THINGS ‘CURRENTLY PRESENT’ IN HER LIFE AFTER SHAMING CHRISTINE FOR LEAVING POLYGAMOUS FAMILY @gwendlynbrown/instagram Gwendlyn, who revealed in August she and Beatriz moved in together, also shared a mirror selfie to show off her emerald round-cut engagement ring, embellished with clusters of diamonds. Fans could not help but express their happiness for the soon-to-be married couple, with one social media user writing, “I COULD CRY!! CONGRATS.”Another chimed in adding, “this is too freaking precious I wish the best to you both!!!! congratulations!!!!!.” @gwendlynbrown/instagram During an October episode of the TLC reality series, the Northern Arizona University student explained how she defines her sexuality. “I’m bisexual. I’m not only attracted to women. I’m also attracted to men and people that fall into other gender spectrums,” Gwendlyn said in a confessional. KODY BROWN ADMITS HE WASN’T ‘IN LOVE’ WITH CHRISTINE: ‘I WAS DOING IT AS MY DUTY AS A HUSBAND’ This is not the only happy update in the Brown family, as the soon-to-be wed reality star’s sister Mykelti Padron just welcomed twin boys, Archer and Ace. @gwendlynbrown/instagram All of the exciting family news comes more than a year after their parents, Christine and Kody, decided to call it quits following 25-years-together. As OK! previously reported, the family’s patriarch has taken the split from his third wife extremely hard, declaring he never wanted to see Christine again after ending their relationship. “I don’t want to think about her. I don’t want to drive past this house ever again and mourn this,” he admitted in a recent episode. The former spiritually married couple got together in 1994 and later welcomed six children — Aspyn, 27, Mykelti, Paedon, 24, Gwendlyn, 21, Ysabel, 19, and 12-year-old Truely. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors has voted to allow police to use robots that can kill. The measure will let SFPD law enforcement deploy robots equipped with explosives in extreme situations. While the city’s police told the BBC they don’t currently operate robots equipped with lethal force, they acknowledge there could be a future in which lethal force can be used in this way. A spokesperson said: “Robots could potentially be equipped with explosive charges to breach fortified structures containing violent, armed, or dangerous subjects.” They added robots could also be used to “incapacitate, or disorient violent, armed, or dangerous suspects who pose a risk of loss of life”. Although advocates have insisted the measure would only be used in extreme circumstances, critics have blasted the idea. Stop Killing Robots’ Dr. Catherine Connolly described the move as a “slippery slope” which would “make humans more and more distant from the use of force and the consequences of the use of force”. She added that the measure could also make it “easier to make decisions to use lethal force in the first place”. The measure passed with an amendment ruling that robots wielding deadly force could only be used after alternative de-escalation tactics had been attempted. Meanwhile, only a small number of high ranking officers would be able to authorise the move. Other parts of the United States – including Dallas, Texas – have already started to use this kind of lethal robot. An SFPD spokesperson added: “No policy can anticipate every conceivable situation or exceptional circumstance which officers may face. The SFPD must be prepared, and have the ability, to respond proportionally.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Willie Garson’s son has urged people to donate to a fund set up to honour his late father. The ‘Sex and the City’ actor died of pancreatic cancer last September and 21-year-old Nathen Garson has shared a photo from his adoption proceedings in 2010 along with a link to a charitable initiative created by Discovery Inc. and You Gotta Believe! in his beloved dad’s name shortly after his death. Nathen wrote: “https://www.pledge.to/willie-garson-fund?pledge=_K1b982DD3LK6jbt7lWs4g “Go Check Out The Willie Garson Fund! Check Out The Link In My Bio About What He Thinks About Adoption And Donate! All Money Goes To A Non-Profit Toward Helping A Child Get Adopted!(sic)” He also reposted words from the charity explaining the work of the fund. The post continued: “Whenever asked what he considers his most important accomplishment, Willie always responded with, “being a father.” Willie’s love story with his son, Nathen, inspired him. He was a fierce and constant advocate for finding parents for every child in foster care. We were privileged to have him on our Board of Advisors. “To honor his legacy, Discovery Inc. established The Willie Garson Fund at You Gotta Believe! to support our work of connecting every child in foster care to a loving family that commits to them for life. We thank everyone who joins us in honoring Willie’s dream and legacy. We love and miss you, Willie. You will always be in our hearts.(sic)” The image accompanying the post saw a young Nathen taking an oath in court alongside Willie. The ‘And Just Like That…’ actor had previously shared the same picture in 2019 to mark the ninth anniversary of Nathen’s adoption. He wrote at the time: “January 27, 2010. Adoption Day. Happy Anniversary, my son. We’ll celebrate when Dad comes home from work. You’re buying.” View the full article

Published by AFP The row erupted just as the prince and princess of Wales headed to Boston London (AFP) – The timing could not have been worse for Britain’s royal family, not long after one racial reckoning involving Prince Harry and ahead of a new publicity blitz from the maverick “spare heir”. Harry’s elder brother Prince William — the heir to the throne — has been forced to part ways with one of his godmothers after she used racially charged language to a black British woman at a palace reception on Tuesday. King Charles III moved rapidly to evict Lady Susan Hussey from the royal household after the hurtful exchange was revealed on Twitter by Ngozi Fulani — while William and his wife Kate were flying to Boston. When Hussey started to quiz her about her origins, the UK-born Fulani said she tried to give the 83-year-old courtier the benefit of the doubt. “But it soon dawned on me very quickly that this was nothing to do with her capacity to understand,” the charity campaigner, who works with survivors of domestic abuse, told BBC radio on Thursday. Hussey repeatedly asked Fulani where she was “really” from, refusing to accept her explanation that she was British. “But this is her trying to make me really denounce my British citizenship,” Fulani said, as many other Britons of colour shared similarly demeaning experiences on social and traditional media. It is the most serious controversy yet since Charles succeeded his mother in September. Hussey was not just any courtier — she was at Queen Elizabeth II’s side for six decades. But she was unceremoniously dumped as Charles and William moved rapidly to draw a line under the row, earning plaudits from some black commentators. ‘Shocking’ Labour MP Diane Abbott, the first black woman to sit in the House of Commons when she was elected in the 1980s, said it was “really shocking” that a black Briton’s identity could be interrogated in this way. But she told Times Radio that Buckingham Palace had made “progress” on race issues in the past 10 years. Back then, “they would have said she (Fulani) was oversensitive and just dismissed it”, said Abbott. The palace appears to have taken lessons on board particularly since last year, when Harry and his mixed-race wife Meghan accused an unidentified royal of racism with regard to their unborn baby. Then, William retorted: “We are very much not a racist family.” But the family said the matter would be dealt with “privately”. The royal household has also begun publishing data on the ethnic breakdown of its staff, admitting it has more to do to ensure due representation. Yet from their new lives in California, the duke and duchess of Sussex have been portraying themselves as modernising outsiders who tried to take on a reactionary establishment. Ironies abound as the feuding brothers both find themselves on the US East Coast — with no plans to meet. William is set to award an environmental prize in Boston inspired by former president John F. Kennedy’s “Moonshot” ambition in the 1960s. Next week, Harry and Meghan are due to attend an awards gala in New York held by the human rights foundation of Kennedy’s brother Robert. Meghan vindicated? His daughter Kerry Kennedy says the couple will be recognised for taking a “heroic stand” against “structural racism” within the British monarchy. But for their critics, Harry and Meghan are cashing in after quitting royal duties. A new Netflix documentary is imminent, and the prince’s autobiography “Spare” is due out in January. UK public opinion had been turning against them, at least until the row over Hussey erupted. When Meghan entered the family, the lady-in-waiting was assigned to educate her in royal protocol, a role that Hussey also served for William and Harry’s mother Diana. Meghan rejected the offer, according to one biographer. “The stifled horse laugh you can hear emanating from California is the noise of a duchess trying not to guffaw ‘I told you so’,” commentator Trevor Phillips — a former head of the Commission for Racial Equality — wrote in The Times. There is further irony in the row erupting in the week that saw new data from the 2021 census confirm that Britain is more racially diverse — and less Christian — than ever before. Charles himself has a lifelong commitment to multi-culturalism and religious diversity while the government is led by the country’s first prime minister of colour, Rishi Sunak. Phillips added: “A mindset that colour codes British identity is not just distasteful and anachronistic, it is unambiguously racist.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Fellow anchors at Good Morning America are not thrilled with Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes‘ alleged secret affair being exposed. In the aftermath of the two journalists’ tryst being made public, Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos are apparently “furious” that the scandal could possibly tarnish the morning show’s stellar reputation. mega “George and Robin do not like this. This is very messy,” an insider close to production revealed of the rumored couple, who a source said are both separated from their respective spouses. Robach has been married to Andrew Shue since 2010. Holmes wed Marilee Fiebig the same year. JOY BEHAR REVEALS WILD LOCATION OF ‘GOODBYE’ PARTY AFTER BEING FIRED FROM GOOD MORNING AMERICA The longtime news anchors fear that the headline-making ordeal will have a negative impact on their viewers and their own journalistic integrity. “They prided themselves on not having a sex scandal, like Today once did with Matt Lauer,” an insider spilled. “They were so proud all their hosts were decent, married and committed people.” Roberts, who has been married to Amber Laign since 2005, and Stephanopoulos, who wed wife Ali Wentworth in 2001, were apparently just as shocked as the rest of the world to learn that the 20/20 star and the CNN anchor were spotted getting cozy on secret dates — and even took off on a romantic weekend getaway together — while still being married to other people. mega “Amy and Robin are really close,” the source explained. “Robin convinced Amy to get what would end up being a lifesaving mammogram on live TV. Their bond is very strong.” BROADCASTS IN BOXERS? GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS’ WIFE ALI WENTWORTH REVEALS EMBARRASSING FACT ABOUT THE GMA HOST mega “Robin is an idealist. She is the boss. When something goes off the rails she jumps in and tells people to tidy the mess up,” the insider said of the I Simply Am author. “And I’m not so sure there’s a way to tidy this one up. This is all very dirty for a morning show.” On Wednesday, November 30, news broke about Robach and Holmes’ alleged secret relationship. As OK! previously reported, the duo was photographed on a trip to upstate New York at the beginning of the month, where they could be seen holding hands in the back of an Uber. The Sun spoke to a source close to Good Morning America. View the full article

Published by DPA Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, and his wife Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, are set to appear in an upcoming Netflix documentary. Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa Netflix has taken to Twitter to tease the launch of a high-profile documentary about Harry and Meghan, hinting at fresh revelations about the couple’s dramatic exit from the British royal family. “When the stakes are this high, doesn’t it make sense to hear the story from us?” Meghan asks the audience in a half-minute teaser trailer shared by Netflix on social media on Thursday. Harry meanwhile describes himself as a caring family man: “No one sees what’s happening behind closed doors,” he says. “I had to do everything I could to protect my family.” Meghan can be seen several times wiping tears from her face and throwing her head into her hands. The Netflix docuseries, which also features the couple kissing and laughing), is set to be released on December 8. The show is also set to be the most significant PR milestone for the couple since their sensational TV sit-down with US talk show host Oprah Winfrey last year. During that tell-all interview, the couple accused the palace of racism and a lack of support. Harry is also preparing for the publication of his autobiography in January. The documentary also comes as the British royal family is grappling with renewed accusations of racism, after an aide to the late queen was accused of asking a black charity boss in Britain where she was “really from”. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) – Closing arguments are set to begin on Thursday in the criminal tax fraud trial of Donald Trump’s real estate company on charges of scheming to defraud tax authorities for 15 years, as the former U.S. president’s legal woes mount. Here are answers to questions about the accusations the Trump Organization faces. WHAT IS THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION ACCUSED OF DOING? The Manhattan district attorney’s office in July 2021 charged two Trump Organization units and the company’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, with paying the personal expenses of some executives without reporting the income, and falsely reporting bonuses as non-employee compensation. Trump Payroll Corp and the Trump Corporation have been charged with nine counts of scheme to defraud, conspiracy, tax fraud and other crimes. They have pleaded not guilty. Weisselberg in August pleaded guilty and agreed to testify at trial in exchange for a five-month prison term. He admitted to concealing $1.76 million of income from the company, including rent for a Manhattan apartment, lease payments for two Mercedes-Benz vehicles and private school tuition for his grandchildren. He also received some of his bonuses as non-employee compensation from other Trump entities such as Trump’s Florida club Mar-a-Lago and Trump International Golf Club. WHAT MAKES THOSE PAYMENTS ILLEGAL? Making bonus payments to executives as if they were independent contractors makes it possible for them to report the compensation as self-employment income, which comes with tax benefits. It is not illegal for companies to pay employees through benefits instead of salaries, but those benefits must still be reported to tax authorities as income – with the exception of minor perks like free coffee at the office, said Jay Soled, a lawyer and accounting professor at Rutgers Business School in New Jersey. The companies are also charged with falsifying business records. Weisselberg testified that he asked the company’s controller, Jeffrey McConney, to subtract the payments for his personal expenses from his salary in tax forms. As a result, those forms falsely underreported his income from 2005-2017, he admitted. McConney, who testified at the trial as a prosecution witness, has not been charged. He was granted immunity to testify before a grand jury. WHAT IS THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION’S DEFENSE? Lawyers for the Trump Organization have sought to shift the blame to Weisselberg, saying he cheated on his personal tax returns to benefit himself, not the company. They said Weisselberg was under pressure to satisfy prosecutors. Weisselberg appeared to provide some support for that argument when he testified that he was motivated to cheat on taxes by his own greed. The company also has said Donald Bender, an outside accountant with the Mazars firm who handled the company’s tax returns, should have caught the scheme and blown the whistle, though Justice Juan Merchan, the judge in the case, has said the company cannot make that argument to the jury. “The highly paid accounting firm should have routinely picked these things up – we relied on them,” Trump wrote on social media. “VERY UNFAIR!” Bender was granted immunity from prosecution. Mazars cut ties with the Trump Organization this year. WHAT COULD THE COMPANY’S PUNISHMENT BE? Each of the tax fraud counts are punishable by up to $250,000 in fines, while the other counts each have maximum fines of $10,000. Together, the company’s two units could be liable for $1.6 million in fines if convicted. HAS TRUMP HIMSELF BEEN ACCUSED OF WRONGDOING? Trump has not been charged with a crime. Two prosecutors who had led the investigation resigned in February, and one, Mark Pomerantz, has said he believed felony charges should be brought against Trump but that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicated he had doubts. Trump, a Republican who is again seeking the presidency in 2024, has called the prosecution politically motivated. Both Bragg and Cyrus Vance, his predecessor who began the investigation, are Democrats. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen Walder) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Todd and Julie Chrisley are living “every day as if it is their last” before they go to prison. The ‘Chrisley Knows Best’ stars were found guilty of 12 counts of tax evasion, bank and wire fraud and conspiracy last month and sentenced to 12 and seven years in jail respectively and they are leaning on their faith for support and guidance ahead of leaving their home and family to start their sentences. Reading a quote from author Priscilla Shirer, Julie said on their ‘Chrisley Confessions’ podcast: “Age is just a number, and since we don’t know our death date, we have to live every day as if it’s our last.” Todd added: “Yesterday doesn’t matter. Today is what we have. Tomorrow belongs to God, because we’re not promised tomorrow…. “What God calls us through, he will walk us through.” Julie added: “God will call you to do something, and he’ll equip you to do it. He’ll give you what you need to do it.” Todd is dad to Lindsie, 32, and Kyle, 30, from his first marriage, and he and Julie also have Chase, 26, Savannah 24, and 16-year-old Grayson, and are raising his 10-year-old granddaughter Chloe, and the patriarch noted he and his wife have”fallen short” at times when it comes to setting a good example to their brood. He reflected: “So where I could’ve listened and let them explain their position, as dumb as it was going to be, it wasn’t going to change what I was going to say, but I could have given them more of a voice to explain their position in.” And Julie admitted she always has the children in her mind while she awaits being taken to prison because she knows they will be looking to their parents to see how they are handling the situation. She said: “The difficulties I’m going through, how I handle it — they’re watching that as well. “If I handle it right, they’re watching, if I screw it up, they’re watching, and so, for me as a parent, I want to try to make sure that I do it right more than I do it wrong, because I know they’re watching, and I know it will prepare them for difficulties, unfortunately, that they will have later in life.” View the full article