Current Events
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Source: Variety / Getty / Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss / Allison Holker
Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss’ mother entered the chat after social media and other family members came for Boss’ widow, Allison Holker.
To combat the criticism she is currently facing after revealing her late husband’s alleged battle with drug use, Holker took to her Instagram Stories to explain why she decided to reveal her late husband’s alleged battles with drug addiction.
In a statement, she said she was only doing what she believed Boss would have wanted if that meant helping others. Her statement came after Boss’ mother broke her silence on the matter.
On January 8, Holker responded to the backlash she faced as she promoted her memoir This Far: My Story of Love, Loss, and Embracing the Light.
“To fans of Stephen and our family and friends, I want to be clear that my only intention in writing the book is to share my own story as well as part of my life with Stephen to help other people,” she wrote in her Instagram Stories. “Just like you, I never really knew what happened, and even as I am trying to put the pieces together I will never really know.”
She continued, “If you decide to read the book, hopefully you’ll see my intention is to celebrate the love and life I shared with Stephen and our three beautiful children, and also the more complex aspects of both of our lives. I hope that by sharing our full story that maybe I can help someone else who might see themselves or a loved one in Stephen.”
Boss’s family and friends, including his brothers and cousin, criticized Holker on social media, and now his mother, Connie Boss Alexander, is breaking her silence on the matter.
Per Blavity:
“Our family is absolutely appalled by the misleading and hurtful claims made about my son, Stephen Boss,” Boss’ mother Connie wrote. “The recent publications spreading untruths about Stephen have crossed every line of decency. As his mother, I will not let these accusations go unanswered. We will not stand by while his name and legacy are tarnished. He doesn’t deserve this, and the kids don’t deserve this.”
She added, “For the last two years, I have remained quiet and away from the public eye to protect my family. My primary focus has been on healing and attempting to remain connected to my grandchildren. But when I read these dreadful claims about my baby, our beloved Stephen, I realized I could not stay silent any longer. Our family will ensure his name and memory are protected, and we are committed to defending his honor.”
We hope this situation works out for all parties involved.
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Source: Fulton County Jail / Fulton County Sheriff’s Office
President-elect Donald Trump was officially sentenced in federal court to an unconditional discharge in New York, after the Supreme Court denied his last-ditch appeal.
On Friday morning (Jan. 10), Donald Trump became the first person to officially be a convicted felon who will serve as president of the United States. The president-elect was sentenced to an unconditional discharge by the U.S. District Court Judge Juan Merchan in New York City, having lost his emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in a decision on Thursday night (Jan. 9). The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 to deny Trump’s appeal, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett, and Ketanji Brown Jackson composing the majority vote.
Trump and his lawyer, Todd Blanche, virtually attended the sentencing from Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida.
Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, reiterated the details of the conviction that Trump received last May in the “hush money” trial. Trump was convicted on 34 counts of falsifying business payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to hide their affair. Steinglass blasted Trump for his stream of attacks, saying that he deems himself above the law. “This defendant has caused enduring damage to public perception of the criminal justice system and has placed officers of the court in harm’s way,” Steinglass stated.
Trump was allowed to speak, and as expected, he claimed he was unfairly convicted in a rambling speech for 10 minutes. “This has been a very terrible experience. I think it’s been a tremendous setback for the system and New York,” he began. He would go on to say that his winning the presidential election showed the conviction was unjust. “I was treated very, very unfairly, and I thank you very much,” he concluded. Judge Merchan then began to speak, laying out the reasons for his decision citing the “unique and remarkable set of circumstances.”
The judge noted that “Donald Trump the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump the criminal defendant” would not have had the same punishment and reminded him that his upcoming presidential term shielded him from the more serious consequences, which made Trump visibly wince according to reporting from the courtroom. He then issued the sentence of an unconditional discharge, meaning that Trump would not receive jail time or be fined, and wished him “Godspeed” before concluding the hearing.
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Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty
Footage of former President Barack Obama and President-elect Donald Trump in conversation at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter set social media buzzing, wondering about what took place.
On Thursday (January 9), the state funeral service for former President Jimmy Carter took place at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. As befitting the occasion, all of the former living presidents were in attendance including President-elect Donald Trump, who sat next to former President Barack Obama in the first two rows at the cathedral. Trump being near Obama caught the attention of many who tuned in to the broadcast of the funeral.
Obama and Trump yucking it up at Carter’s funeral pic.twitter.com/pRI24CnalF
— Ken Klippenstein (@kenklippenstein) January 9, 2025
Observers noted that the two were cordial, with Obama listening to Trump and even cracking a smile here and there. It was a sight, considering the two have been publicly at odds with each other. In last year’s presidential campaign, when Obama was stumping for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, he famously attacked Trump in speeches at her rallies. Others noticed that former First Lady Michelle Obama was not at the service, while former First Lady Melania Trump sat to her husband’s left, visibly in a mood. Representatives for Mrs. Obama sent a statement saying: “Mrs. Obama sends her thoughts and prayers to the Carter family, and everyone who loved and learned from the remarkable former president.” They confirmed that she is in Hawai’i on an extended vacation, but did not offer insight on if she would be back to attend Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
The scene had many on social media in heightened conversation, with some belittling Obama for being cordial. Many more praised Obama for being the person deflecting Trump’s attention from everyone else who visibly did not want to speak to him – the most glaring example came as Trump greeted his former Vice President, Mike Pence, and his wife Karen Pence didn’t even move to greet him. Trump had attacked Pence in the hours before the January 6th attack on the Capitol building four years ago, where rioters had planned to hang Pence. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the “Wu-Tang Is For The Children” account noted how former President George W. Bush gave Obama a familial “belly tap” as he passed by to sit down next to him with former First Lady Laura Bush.
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Source: MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images / Getty
Donald Trump attacked California Governor Gavin Newsom, blaming him for the deadly wildfires in Los Angeles and demanding he step down.
As the nation is gripped by scenes of the deadly wildfires plaguing Los Angeles over the past few days, President-elect Donald Trump’s ire is reserved for California Governor Gavin Newsom. In a late-night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump took to his usual tactic of attack in using a derogatory nickname for the governor: “One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground. It’s ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!”
In a follow-up post earlier that evening, Trump alleged that Newsom’s policy of protecting the delta smelt, a small fish on the endangered species list, was a cause of restricting water flow. “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” he wrote. Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s director of communications, refuted that claim: “There is no such document as the water restoration declaration, that is pure fiction. The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”
Governor Newsom was asked about Trump’s attack by CNN’s Anderson Cooper in an interview while both were in a neighborhood in the Pacific Palisades area where the fires were being fought. “People are literally fleeing,” Newsom said. “People have lost their lives, kids lost their schools. Families completely torn asunder, churches burned down, and this guy wanted to politicize it. I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say – I won’t.” His office would reiterate that sentiment in a post on X, formerly Twitter, afterward which featured the interview.
Firefighters are combating five infernos in the areas surrounding Los Angeles, fueled by the intense Santa Ana winds which have reached gusts up to 100 miles per hour. Officials have said that so far, five people have died as a result of the fires with the tally expected to rise in the coming days. The Palisades, Eaton, Sunset, Hurst and Lidia fires have consumed over 28,000 acres to date.
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Source: Anadolu / Getty
The United States declared that the rebel forces in Sudan are carrying out genocide and have announced sanctions against its leader.
On Tuesday (Jan. 7), U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the nation was imposing economic sanctions on the Sudanese paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and its Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemediti. “In December 2023, I concluded that members of the SAF (Sudanese Armed Forces) and the RSF had committed war crimes. I also determined that members of the RSF and allied Arab militias had committed crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing,” Blinken said in a statement, adding that the RSF and their allies were responsible for the murders of “men and boys – even infants” in addition to numerous sexual assaults on women during the now 20-month long civil conflict. “Both belligerents bear responsibility for the violence and suffering in Sudan and lack the legitimacy to govern a future peaceful Sudan,” Blinken said.
After reviewing the horrifying information of suffering inside Sudan, I have concluded that members of the Rapid Support Forces and allied militias have committed genocide in Sudan. The United States is committed to pursuing accountability for these atrocities.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) January 7, 2025
The economic sanctions levied against the RSF target seven businesses based in the United Arab Emirates. Almost all of the businesses are connected to the gold trade, according to reporting by the BBC. Hemediti and the RSF have obtained control of half of the country of Sudan, which includes the lucrative mine in Jebel Abel in North Darfur as well as others along the country’s border with the Central African Republic. The sanctions are also extended to cover Hemediti’s brothers, Algoney and Abdel Rahim, preventing them and their families from entering the United States.
The UAE has strongly denied any involvement in the Sudanese civil war. “The decision… expresses the failure of the [US President Joe] Biden administration to deal with the Sudanese crisis and the double standards it followed [with regards to the crisis],” wrote El-Basha Tbaeq, an adviser to Hemediti in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The news comes months after international bodies such as The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) have recorded the rise of famine throughout the Sudan.
The U.S. State Department’s report concurred, stating that “638,000 Sudanese” were “experiencing the worst famine in Sudan’s recent history, over 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and tens of thousands dead.” According to the United Nations, 14 million have been displaced and over 24,000 have been killed in the fighting.
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Source: The Washington Post / Getty
Donald Trump has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to block the sentencing for the hush money case before it takes place at the end of the week.
On Wednesday morning (Jan. 8), Donald Trump made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to block his sentencing in the hush money case in New York City. “This court should enter an immediate stay of further proceedings in the New York trial court,” the application from his legal team read, “to prevent grave injustice and harm to the institution of the presidency and the operations of the federal government.”
Trump was convicted last May on 34 felony counts for falsifying business records related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, whom Trump had an affair with. The payments were made through Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, in 2016 before his election to the White House later that year. Trump is scheduled to appear in federal court Friday (Jan. 10) before District Court Judge Juan Merchan, 10 days before he is sworn in as president. Merchan has signaled that he may not give Trump any fines or jail time. Still, the sentencing would solidify Trump’s entering office with the dubious distinction of being a convicted felon.
Trump’s defense hinges on the polarizing ruling made by the Supreme Court last June that said that former presidents did have broad immunity for their past actions. His lawyers also argued that his status if fully sentenced would hinder his abilities as president. “In fact, the prospect of imposing sentence on President Trump just before he assumes office as the 47th president raises the specter of other possible restrictions on liberty, such as travel, reporting requirements, registration, probationary requirements, and others — all of which would be constitutionally intolerable under the doctrine of presidential immunity,” they wrote.
The Supreme Court has directed its prosecutors from the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to answer the motion by 10 a.m. Thursday (Jan. 9). The previous appeal in New York was denied on Tuesday (Jan. 7), prompting Trump’s lawyers to file an emergency appeal to that state’s highest court and the Supreme Court simultaneously.
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Source: press handout / Mexico
El Chapo is being reminded that blood isn’t always thicker than water. The drug kingpin’s sons are allegedly negotiating plea deals with the United States government.
As spotted on Newsweek, the two offspring of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán are said to be working with the court system on agreements that will essentially lessen their jail time. Back in 2019, their infamous father was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years for overseeing a continuing criminal enterprise, the Sinaloa Cartel, a Mexican organized crime syndicate. Since then, federal prosecutors alleged that Ovidio Guzmán López, 34, and Joaquín Guzmán López, 38, took over the operation after their father was captured in 2016.
In 2023, the siblings were both named in indictments by federal prosecutors claiming they were principals in a fentanyl-trafficking operation. The “Chapitos” have since been arrested in 2024, both originally pled not guilty to various charges. On Tuesday (Jan. 7), attorneys confirmed the two are negotiating plea agreements. “We need a bit more time,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Erskine said in court. “We’re trying to explore whether there might be a global resolution.” The legal professional did not comment further.
Ovidio Guzmán López is due in court Feb. 27. Joaquin Guzmán López is due in court March 19. El Chapo is currently serving his time in a ADX Florence, a super maximum prison in Colorado.
No plea deal — yet — for El Chapo’s sons, per report from their court appearance today in Chicago… https://t.co/2oDNGIE1QV
— Keegan Hamilton (@keegan_hamilton) January 7, 2025
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Source: Eric Charbonneau / Getty / Allison Holker / Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss
Allison Holker, the widow of Stephen’ tWitch’ Boss, is facing a tremendous amount of backlash from both Boss’ family and social media after revealing the late dancer and Ellen Show DJ/dancer allegedly used drugs and made his family and friends sign NDAs to attend his funeral.
It didn’t take long for the backlash to surface after Allison Holker’s exclusive interview with People dropped, featuring her talking about her late husband’s tragic passing, which sparked Boss’ cousin, Elle, to air out Holker on X, formerly Twitter.
Per Page Six:
“He wasn’t an addict. He smoked weed and was actively trying to quit. He wasn’t some junkie,” she tweeted, adding that Holker has allegedly kept Boss’ three kids — Weslie, 16 (whom Boss adopted), Maddox, 8, and Zaia, 5 — from seeing his relatives.
“I’m so tired of keeping my f–king mouth shut bro. You did our family so mf dirty,” she added in a separate tweet, before alleging that Holker made Boss’ family and friends sign NDAs to attend his funeral.
“Yeah idgaf about an NDA. This crazy woman made me and his actual family including his mother sign an NDA just to even attend the funeral,” Elle claimed.
“She’s been trying to tarnish his legacy and refuses to let the Boss family see the children. Only to exploit and LIE on my cousin. Hell no.”
Boss’ Cousin Wasn’t Alone In Calling Out Allison Holker
Elle wasn’t alone; Courtney Ann Platt, a close friend of Boss and former New York Knicks dancer, also had time for Holker, calling her out in a lengthy Instagram post, confirming Boss’ cousin’s claims.
“This is by far the most tacky, classless, opportunistic act I have ever seen in my entire life,” Platt wrote in response to Holker’s interview with People where she is also plugging her memoir, This Far.
“We all had to sign some weird NDA to attend his funeral (even his own mother who you’ve treated like garbage this entire time and let’s just remember you wouldn’t have even had a husband if it wasn’t for her) not to share anything or ruin his name as if that was on anyone’s mind in the first place and here you go and write a book with all the dirty laundry smearing his name and attempting to dim the bright loyal, loving, light that was your husband, my friend,” Platt continued.
She added, “What a joke. Yes, he took his own life which is a fact all of us still can’t fathom and he was clearly having mental health issues, hurting so deeply and this is your example of empathy? Of your love?”
Boss’ brothers reshared Platt’s post in their Instagram Stories.
X users also got in on the action, calling out Holker for “tarnishing” her late husband’s legacy for bringing up his alleged drug use well after his suicide on December 13, 2022, at the age of 40.
You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
*If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.*
1. Holker’s own manager is not rocking with her
2. Choreographer Emmanuel Hurd also called out Allison Holker
4. Took off the ring and changed the last name with the quickness
5. Very vile
6. Allison Holker might want to stay off social media for a few days
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Source: Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin / Getty
Newly released bodycam footage shows a pretty tense run-in between rapper/actor Ice-T and a cop during a traffic stop in Hudson County, New Jersey, last May.
Ice-T, known for his iconic role as NYPD detective “Odafin ‘Fin’ Tutuola” on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, was pulled over near a DMV office while driving his Porsche. The incident unfolded as Ice-T attempted to address registration issues with the vehicle.
According to the footage, the 66-year-old entertainer explained he was headed to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) following a system outage that occurred when he’d tried to update his paperwork before. Despite the minor traffic offense, things escalated quickly, with both sides becoming frustrated. At one point, Ice-T asked if he was being arrested before questioning the officer’s right to tow the car. Things became so intense they called for a supervisor, who helped calm things down.
Ultimately, Ice-T got four tickets for expired tags, no inspection, and other paperwork problems. But his car wasn’t towed, and he was allowed to finish with the paperwork at the DMV to bring the vehicle registration current.
The footage has caused some online debate, with many wondering how the stop was handled and others pointing out how hard it is to stay calm in stressful situations.
This incident adds to the ongoing conversation about law enforcement and how public figures are treated. Even though things got tense, it didn’t escalate further, making people think about the balance between authority and respect in these situations.
Law & Order Star Ice-T Goes Off on Cop During Traffic Stop pic.twitter.com/N8Xp1x0WVC
— Bodycam Videos 🚔📹 (@BodycamVideos_) January 3, 2025
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Source: Scott Olson / Getty
Lawyers for Donald Trump are scrambling to block the final investigative report by Special Counsel Jack Smith from being released, calling them “failed cases.”
The legal team for President-elect Donald Trump sent a last-minute request to Attorney General Merrick Garland to halt the “imminent” release of the final report by Special Counsel Jack Smith claiming it would be a “bad-faith crusade” on the part of the Biden-Harris administration, and further arguing that Garland should fire Smith. This request was reportedly made after the team had the chance to review a draft of the report “in a conference room at Smith’s office between January 3 and January 6, 2025,” which Smith was scheduled to file with the Department of Justice at 1 p.m. “Because Smith has proposed an unlawful course of action, you must countermand his plan and remove him immediately,” the letter from Todd Blanche and John Lauro read. U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon would ultimately block the release of the report for now in a motion.
Smith had requested that the election interference case against Trump related to the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol be dismissed in November after Trump won the presidential election. “The Department’s position is that the Constitution requires that this case be dismissed before the defendant is inaugurated,” he wrote in the motion filed with U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan, who oversaw the case in Washington D.C. “This outcome is not based on the merits or strength of the case against the defendant.” The case against Trump and other co-defendants in Florida where he was accused of hoarding classified government documents and refused returning them to the government, was dismissed by Judge Cannon, who has made decisions favorable to Trump in the past and was appointed to the bench by him in his first term. In her decision at the time, she ruled that Smith’s appointment as Special Counsel was “unconstitutional.”
Garland has stated that he would provide lawmakers with a copy of the report once Smith has filed it with his office, and in an overnight brief, Smith noted that Garland’s office would probably not release it until Friday morning (Jan. 10). In Cannon’s motion to block, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals would first review the emergency appeal by Trump’s lawyers. However, it does not distinguish between the two cases and allows for the court to also review the Department of Justice’s counter-appeal to Trump’s legal motion.