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On college campuses, accused students often must prove they obtained “affirmative consent” from their partners before and throughout sexual activity. In a few states, it’s the law for college students. The American Bar Association, which sets academic standards for law schools and recommends legislation, is deciding whether it should be the law for everyone. Criminal lawyers and advocates of due process are urging the ABA to reject a resolution that they say would flip the burden of proof from the government to the accused in criminal cases. Mandating affirmative consent would functionally mean the end of the Fifth Amendment right...

In the last few months, Hannah Brown has undergone painful breakups and a broken engagement, but the 24-year-old star of The Bachelorette says the criticism she faced over her decision to have sex on the show was just as painful. “It’s been really tough,” says Brown of the “slut shaming” she’s dealt with since speaking publicly about having sex while on a date with suitor Peter Weber. The admission came after contestant Luke Parker questioned the possibility that she would or had been intimate, initially telling her that it would affect his ability to stay in the relationship. “I believe...

Thailand's King has made his mistress a royal consort in a ceremony attended by his new wife, marking the first time the country's modern monarchy has publicly admitted to polygamy. King Maha Vajiralongkorn, also known as Rama X, made his former bodyguard Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi, 34, his chao khun phra (royal noble consort) in a ceremony on his 67th birthday. Queen Suthida was sitting next to him throughout the unusual ceremony and showed no emotion despite the fact she now has an official rival for the King's attention. He poured ceremonial water over Ms Sineenat's head to officially anoint her a...

"Get your hand off me!" I wanted to yell. But I didn't. More than a month after the Southern Baptist Convention's annual meeting in Birmingham, I am still processing something that happened there. After the For Such a Time as This Rally, abuse survivors and advocates gathered at a coffee house to decompress. It was a warm-hearted event, filled with a sense of "beloved community," and I felt gratitude to everyone who was there. There was even a lovely candle-lighting ceremony honoring me for my years of advocacy work against sexual abuse and cover-ups in the SBC. Then, as the...

[Catholic Caucus] Students Rebell Against Pope Francis The students of the Roman John Paul II Institute rebel against Pope Francis’ attempt to destroy their college.More than 150 of them signed a July 24 letter saying that the newly approved statutes will undermine the institute’s Catholic mission and identity.The letter was sent to Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the Institute’s grand chancellor, and Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, its president. Both of them are hardcore modernists.The students also expressed their sadness about the expulsion of two professors, Monsignor Livio Melina and Father José Noriega who taught at the Institute for decades and are world-renowned representatives...

Homosexuality is usually a problem transferred to a foetus, when a pregnant woman has anal sex and enjoys it, the Bishop of Morphou Neophytos said during a recent speech, LGBTI rights group ACCEPT said on Thursday. During his speech in June to a group of people in Akaki, the bishop said Saint Porfyrios made mention of the issue in his writings. “It is a problem, which is usually transmitted by parents to the child,” the bishop said. He added that it occurs when the couple has sex while the woman is pregnant, and the sex is “unnatural,” as he characterised...

A federal judge signed a strict protective order on Thursday, instructing Jeffrey Epstein and his counsel to not share any information about the case with non-vital third parties. Judge Richard Berman wrote in his opinion that any evidence or discovery obtained by the defense from prosecutors 'is not authorized to be disclosed to the public or disclosed beyond that which is necessary for the defense of this action.' This goes for certain documents in particular which 'would impede, if prematurely disclosed, the Government’s ongoing investigation of uncharged individuals.' That suggests that a number of people closer to Epstein could be...

(snip) The financial record, released to WPTV through a records request, shows Epstein’s company, the Florida Science Foundation, paid Palm Beach Sheriff's Office $128,136 during his incarceration...(snip) The agreement also kept Epstein out of prison, and instead, allowed him to serve his sentence out at the local county jail...the convicted sex offender was granted work-release benefits, and allowed to leave his cell six days a week, 12 hours a day, to work at his Florida Science Foundation (snip) Meanwhile, a Fort Lauderdale attorney claims “more than one woman” was propositioned by Epstein at his Florida Science Foundation office, while visiting...

effrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein and Theodore McCarrick operate(d) in different sectors of society, have different marital statuses and sexual preferences and profess different religions. What do these disparate men have in common? A belief system that claims that sex is an entitlement. They operate according to the tenets of the most powerful ideology currently at work in the world: the ideology of the sexual revolution. Epstein, the millionaire financier and admitted sex offender who pleaded not guilty July 9 to charges of sexual trafficking, allegedly got away with sickening crimes for a long time. But it would be a serious...

Jeffrey Epstein was denied bail on Thursday, and will remain at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan ahead of his criminal trial on federal sex trafficking charges. The decision comes after two court filings submitted by his legal team were shown to have false or misleading information. On Tuesday, Epstein's defense team appeared to be throwing down the gauntlet when they declared prosecutors had no proof Epstein had ever used an official Austrian passport with his photo and an assumed name that was found in a safe at his $77 million mansion. 'He never used the document to travel internationally...

Trigger Warning: This article contains information and details about sexual assault and/or violence, which may be upsetting to survivors. Shortly after Ghislaine Maxwell arrived in New York from England in the early 1990s, she was looking for a new start. She had just lost her father, a British media mogul, along with much of her family fortune and her social standing. Soon she was on the rise with the help of her new boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein, a rich financier. It was the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship. With Mr. Epstein, Ms. Maxwell was able to resurrect the lifestyle she...

Attorney Brad Hall, in the firm's conference room with iPhone photos he has taken. (Greg Sorber/Albuquerque Journal) Editor's note: Albuquerque attorney Brad Hall has represented more than 200 victims of priest sex abuse in New Mexico. As his years-long legal battle nears its conclusion in federal bankruptcy proceedings, Hall talked about the legal and emotional journey that began with an unlikely visit. Brad Hall was thinking about hanging it up after more than two decades as a successful plaintiff's lawyer specializing in civil rights cases. Maybe travel. Visit his kids living in exotic locations. Maybe do some writing. That all...

Not long after a 14-year-old girl reported Jeffery Epstein to authorities in 2005, she says she received a warning from someone who claimed to be in contact with the well-connected financier. The girl would be paid cash if she agreed not to cooperate with law enforcement, the person told the accuser, adding that "those who help him will be compensated and those who hurt him will be dealt with," according to a Palm Beach, Florida, police report reflecting the accuser's statement. The threat was one of many intimidation and bare-knuckle tactics that accusers and witnesses told police they faced after...

It's the infamous private jet once used by convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein to ferry his celebrity friends around the world. This silver and black Boeing 727 airliner - dubbed the 'Lolita Express' - carried prominent passengers including President Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew as well as Hollywood star Kevin Spacey, comedian Chris Tucker and supermodel Naomi Campbell. Now the luxury commercial jet has once again come into prominence following the arrest of its once owner Wall Street financier Epstein on two charges of child sex trafficking. Prosecutors have accused the 66-year-old billionaire of abusing girls as young as 14 in...

It could be a loooooong summer for CBS. The network’s big new reality dating show Love Island debuted to only 2.7 million viewers and a 0.6 among adults 18-49 on Tuesday night. That’s a lot less than recent episodes of other summer broadcast reality fare such as ABC’s The Bachelorette (1.5 in the demo), CBS’ Big Brother (1.2) and NBC’s America’s Got Talent (1.4), and seems especially low for a publicized series premiere.

Disgraced billionaire financier Jefferey Epstein hired an all female executive who worked for him 24 hours a day to arrange his 'personal and business life'. The sex offender, who was charged last week over alleged underage sex trafficking, paid each assistant more than $200,000 a year, and referred to them as 'an extension of his brain' according to a newly resurfaced profile written on him in 2005. When one assistant, Lesley Groff, who was 38 at the time, got pregnant, he bought her a Mercedes Benz E320 and paid for a full time nanny.

Actions speak louder than words. President Trump has yet to comment on the arrest of his former friend Jeffrey Epstein, but court documents suggest that he made his opinion of the convicted pedophile well known years ago. An ongoing lawsuit between Epstein and Bradley Edwards, who represented multiple underage victims in their civil suits against the convicted pedophile, reveals that President Trump banned Epstein from his private club in Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago. The reason for that, according to the filing, was that Epstein had 'sexually assaulted an underage girl at the club.'

Bill Clinton denies knowing about alleged sex crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein while insisting that he only flew on his plane four times. Billionaire financier Epstein pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges of sex trafficking as prosecutors accused him of luring dozens of girls as young as 14 to his luxury homes in New York and Florida and paying them for sex acts. ‘President Clinton knows nothing about the terrible crimes Jeffrey Epstein pleaded guilty to in Florida some years ago, or those with which he has been recently charged in New York,’ the former president said in a...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — As state Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Monday that her office had charged a sixth Michigan priest with sexual assault, she questioned why some already have been released from custody. "I will say that we're seeing a pattern of personal bonds being granted in very serious cases where it has not been my experience that I've seen personal bonds on those kinds of cases," Nessel told Target 8. "I hope that people aren't getting special consideration just because they happened to have been or currently are members of the clergy," she added. On Monday, police...