When fashion model Christine Handy was diagnosed with breast cancer at 41, she turned to movies for answers. What she found on screen instead were glossy fantasies that didn’t properly depict her reality. “What I found was troubling and fear-based,” Handy said during the “Hello Beautiful” Variety Screening Series on Nov. 13. “I found really [.].
Attorneys for Lindsay Clancy, the Duxbury mother accused of strangling her three young children to death, have filed a motion to move her trial from.
Red Chillies Entertainment has filed its official reply to Sameer Wankhede’s defamation suit against The Ba***ds of Bollywood, the Netflix show he claims was designed to tarnish his reputation. Wankhede, the former NCB officer who led the 2021 drugs case involving Shah Rukh Khan’s son Aryan Khan, had approached the court alleging that the makers had portrayed a character resembling him in both appearance and mannerisms. In its response, Red Chillies Entertainment maintained that the series is a Bollywood satire, and all characters in it are depicted with deliberately exaggerated traits to heighten the humour. The production house argued that the complaint was an attempt to curtail artistic and creative freedom and described Wankhede’s stance as an instance of “hypersensitivity.”The reply further pointed out that Wankhede’s image had already been subject to widespread public scrutiny long before the show’s release. According to the filing, the former officer’s involvement in the Aryan Khan case had drawn considerable criticism and ridicule, as reflected in news coverage, social media discussions, and public commentary at the time. Red Chillies stated that these materials clearly demonstrated that his reputation had been affected earlier, and that the lawsuit was an attempt to silence satirical portrayals that fall under creative expression. Represented by senior advocates Neeraj Kishan Kaul and Shyel Trehan, the production company also requested the court to allow the show to remain intact, asserting that removing the contested scene would disrupt the series’ narrative flow. The makers clarified that the show does not directly name or reference Wankhede, and that the police officer character is merely depicted as an “overzealous” cop a common trope in dark comedies and satires. The case, which came up before Justice Purushindra Kumar on Thursday, has now been adjourned to November 10 for further proceedings. The Ba***ds of Bollywood, streaming on Netflix, has drawn attention for its unapologetically sharp commentary on celebrity culture, media frenzy, and the moral ambiguity within the film industry themes that continue to spark debate about where the line between satire and defamation should be drawn. Also Read: Sameer Wankhede denies having any grudges against Shah Rukh Khan and family: “I’m just a Government Servant, not living in a Banana Republic”.
This week, blind to constitutional law and US history, Trump Border Czar Tom Homan said that protesting ICE “could lead to bloodshed and people dying.” By suggesting that masked ICE agents could kill protestors for simply shouting hateful things at them, Homan was building the permission structure for federal agents to use “full force” violence against non-violent protestors. More than that, his statement was meant to groom the public. The Trump administration is trying to get US citizens used to the idea that federal agents could use lethal force to the point of killing people against anyone who exercises their constitutional right to peacefully protest government actions they don’t like. On too many videos circulating on social media to count, masked ICE agents have been recorded getting more and more aggressive with members of the public, deliberately escalating non-violent exchanges into violent ones. Federal agents have been caught on video body slamming people to the ground, kneeling on people’s necks, and pointing armed weapons at close range. More than 20 people have died at ICE’s hands, including US citizens, but this tally is artificially low because the Trump administration tightly controls media access to ICE detention facilities. Team Trump has no idea what the First Amendment meansHoman, like Trump, seems oblivious to what the First Amendment says. “Congress shall make no law . abridging the freedom of speech . or the right of the people peaceably to assemble.” This protection was extended from Congress, or the federal government, to the states in 1868 through the passage of the 14th Amendment. It was the very first amendment to the Constitution, and was the key to getting states to go along with the Constitution at all. Many states refused to sign or support the Constitution after it was drafted in 1787 because they were fearful of a strong federal government with no constraints to protect people from overreach. It was the sticking point that refused to yield, as the objecting states would not support the Constitution without a guarantee of individual liberties, including freedom of religion and, most importantly, the freedom to speak openly, to gather, and to criticize the government. James Madison rose to the challenge and drafted the First Amendment, the language of which remains to this day, and has never been changed. The world is envious of our freedom of speechFreedom of speech beyond the reach or control of the government stands as a beacon of freedom throughout the world, a marker of man’s evolution from the Dark Ages when rulers often punished and tortured people for their beliefs. That’s why Trump’s Executive Order declaring that the federal government would now punish dissenters, whom he labelled “domestic terrorists,” sends chills down the spine of anyone who has the slightest concept of world history. People in MAGA who support Trump’s centralized thought control have no concept of what it’s like to live under authoritarian rule. In China, Xi Jinping has installed facial recognition software into China’s public security apparatus, where it records everyone at cross lights, bus stops, transport hubs and in public spaces. Xi uses it for mass surveillance, to record, identify, track and persecute anyone who criticizes the government. Russia’s Vladimir Putin is just as bad. Aside from famously having critics poisoned, or pushed out of helicopters and windows, Putin has imposed severe prison sentences of up to 15 years for spreading “deliberately false information” about the Russian military. Last week, Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tried something similar. Hegseth announced new rules threatening journalists’ access to the Pentagon if they did not agree to publish only information that he wants released, and was shocked when most of the press refused to go along with it. The faction of MAGA clamoring to relax the division between church and state today have no idea what they are asking for either. Trump’s Christo Nationalists claim the U. S. was founded by and for Christians, and that its laws and government should therefore impose Christian values over all of society. They have no understanding of world or human history, or that freedom of religion grew out of the Inquisition, when torture was common. James Madison would be proud of No Kings DayYesterday, huge crowds marched in major cities, as smaller gatherings sprung up across small town USA for “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration. On my way to the protest. Picture: Sabrina HaakeThere were more than 2, 500 events in all 50 states, predicted to be one of the largest demonstrations in US history. Demonstrators spoke out against Trump’s policies, including perceived threats to democracy, ICE raids and Trump deploying military troops in US cities. The signs speak for themselves. As I marched inside my bear inflatable, I’ve never been more proud to be an American. Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. Her Substack, The Haake Take, is free.
