#also earlier in the night my sister and her new husband (wife? it was unclear) kicked me out of my bed so I had to go sleep in the guest

[will-shut-up-4-wifi]

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[omgnewsy-blog]

15-Year-Old Brides May Have Married Their Rapists In Missouri

New Post has been published on http://omgnewsy.com/15-year-old-brides-may-have-married-their-rapists-in-missouri/

15-Year-Old Brides May Have Married Their Rapists In Missouri

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – District Court Judge Gregory W. Moeller peered down from the bench, aghast.

“I was horrified by the case,” the Idaho judge recalled recently.

In front of him, ready for sentencing, Keith Strawn – a father, 6-foot-3 with black-framed glasses the color of his boyish haircut – stood sad and penitent.

Strawn thought he had been doing right by his 15-year-old daughter, Heather, only to realize too late what a massive mistake he had made bringing her to Missouri – the easiest place in America for a 15-year-old to wed.

“I love my daughter very much and never would I do anything to intentionally harm her or put her in harm’s way,” Strawn implored the judge at his May 2016 sentencing inside Idaho’s Fremont County Courthouse. “At the time I thought I was making the right decision, but after looking back I realize that that was the wrong decision, and I regretfully made that decision in duress.”

But the judge was having none of it. The facts of the case were clear.

Heather Strawn was 14 years old when she became pregnant by her then 24-year-old boyfriend, Aaron Seaton, who had plied her with alcohol before having sex with her inside his camper parked next to the I-I Fly shop in Ashton, Idaho.

Across the nation, that is statutory rape.

Related: Missouri is a destination wedding spot — for 15-year-old brides

But Heather insisted that she cared for Seaton. So, instead of turning the young man in to police, Strawn, in August 2015, packed the family into his car.

On the day of Heather’s 15th birthday, when she was nine weeks pregnant, they drove through the night, 17 hours and more than 1,100 miles, to Kansas City to marry her off. That way, the baby would be born within wedlock. And the police, Strawn thought, would be kept at bay.

In Idaho, the couple would have had to go before a judge to be married, risking arrest.

But in Missouri no judge is needed. All that is necessary is the signature of one parent.

From 1999 to 2015, more than 1,000 15-year-olds married in Missouri. Of those, The Kansas City Star’s review of data shows, more than 300 married men age 21 or older, with some in their 30s, 40s and 50s. Assuming they had premarital sex, those grooms would be considered rapists.

The definitions of statutory rape and other child sex crimes vary from state to state. Missouri defines statutory rape as anyone 21 or older having sex with someone under 17 outside of marriage. Within marriage, sex with a minor is legal. But not before.

The number of possible offenders from out of state grows even higher when taking into account other states’ stricter laws, some of which prohibit older teens from having sex with younger teens.

Back in her home state of Utah, Strawn’s ex-wife – Heather’s mother – was livid to find out about the marriage. Under Missouri law, her objections didn’t matter.

She alerted Idaho police. Heather’s father and new husband were soon arrested. By the time their trials commenced, the marriage had been annulled and Heather had lost her baby to a miscarriage.

“At the time, I really didn’t think much of the age difference,” Seaton declared to Judge Moeller at his sentencing. In April 2016, he received 15 years in prison and was forced to register as a sex offender.

“Everything I’ve put her family through, and her through, my family through,” he said, “I would like to apologize for that, for this whole mess. I’m deeply sorry.”

One month later, it was Heather’s father’s turn. His sentence: four years for felony injury of a child. Part of that injury included hauling Heather to Missouri to marry.

But because his daughter was somewhat willing and Strawn didn’t actually force her into marriage, the sentence was suspended. The judge castigated Strawn for his “abysmally poor parental judgment.”

“Your daughter needed a parent. Instead she had an enabler,” Moeller intoned. “You were supposed to be the one with the better judgment and you completely failed in that regard.”

Strawn was sentenced to 120 days in jail for his role in promoting “a vile farce of a marriage.”

“Perhaps as you spend each of those 120 days in jail,” Moeller said, “you will think about the 120 days your daughter was married to a rapist because of you.”

‘I guess’

At 21, Jeremie Rook knew he was in violation of Iowa’s statutory rape law when he traveled to Platte County, Mo., to marry Brittany Koerselman, 15 and seven months pregnant.

But once married, the threat of prison vanished, even though, technically, he still committed the act.

“Yeah, they left us alone,” Brittany said of the police. “I never heard back from them at all.”

Ashley Duncan also married because she thought she was saving a boyfriend from prison. If only she’d had a judge to guide her, she might have been saved from a disastrous marriage.

She was a kid of 15, a high school freshman in the Bootheel’s Pemiscot County. Queasy from morning sickness, her stomach lurched as she climbed on the bus after school that February day in 2009.

Two weeks earlier, in the midst of a record January ice storm that cracked branches like brittle bones, she’d discovered she was more than a month pregnant by her 18-year-old boyfriend.

Her aunt’s voice pealed down the aisle.

“Ashley, come on, get off the bus,” she recalled Christy Cothran, her guardian, shouting. “You’re getting married today.”

Clad in school clothes and hauling her book bag, Ashley scooted along her seat near the window. The date was Friday the 13th.

She could feel the eyes of other students on her. She heard a few muttering. “You’re getting married?” they questioned. “You’re too young.”

She said nothing, but she knew in her heart that they were right. She felt afraid as she ambled back up the aisle, out of the bus and into her aunt’s car.

“They wanted me to get married,” Ashley, now 24 and the mother of four, said. “I knew I shouldn’t have been making that decision that young. It was just something they told me that, like, I had to do or my child’s father would go to jail.”

Ashley, indeed, said the precise intent was to keep her boyfriend from being charged with statutory rape. It was only recently that Ashley was surprised to discover everyone was wrong.

Laws differ from state to state, but in Missouri, statutory rape does not generally apply to an 18-year-old having sex with a 15-year-old. It is defined as sex between anyone age 21 or older with someone under age 17.

Had there been a judge to explain the law, she still would have had her baby, while avoiding the painful marriage.

Ashley stood rattled and uncertain as she took her vows.

She vividly remembers the pastor they hastily found to perform the ceremony asking her if she took her boyfriend to be her lawfully wedded husband.

“I said, ‘I guess,'” Ashley recalled.

Her sister, standing nearby, chided her, “You’re supposed to say, ‘I do.'”

After the ceremony, the family got back in the car. It was a school day. They drove Ashley’s younger sister to her volleyball practice. No presents. Later, back home in Steele, Mo., they shared a cake.

“I threw cake in his face. He threw cake in my face. Then his niece ended up getting the whole cake and throwing it in the laundry basket,” Ashley said. “And that’s pretty much how my wedding day was.”

It’s not that Ashley, whose maiden name was Tidwell, didn’t like Daniel Duncan, an upperclassman, built small and slender. They met on the school bus.

“The first thing I noticed about him is that he was very quiet,” Ashley recalled. “He was quiet to everybody but me. He didn’t show much attention to anyone else.”

It made her feel special.

Two months after they began dating, they briefly broke up. When they got back together, that was that.

“I think I thought I loved him,” Ashley said. “I know now that’s not what it was.”

How Daniel feels about it all is unclear. The couple, still legally married, stayed together for about two years but have been separated now for more than six. Ashley said he periodically visits the two children they share, but his appearances can’t be predicted. Repeated attempts by The Star to reach Daniel through Facebook, messages through a friend and relatives, at his workplace and by certified mail received no response.

If Ashley had it to do over again, “I would not get married,” she said.

She would still have had her children, certainly.

Daniel Jr., called D.J, now 8, was born seven months after her wedding. Her greatest regret: dropping out of school her freshman year, when she was six months pregnant. She once hoped to graduate and go on to become a nurse.

“It was getting hard for me at school,” she said. “I was getting bullied because I was married, I was pregnant, it was getting confusing to the teachers.”

But the real problems, Ashley claimed, began in 2014, soon after their second son, Colby, was born. Noxious and even violent arguments broke out in front of their children. By the end of that year, she and the boys were gone.

“What made me leave him is what his (Daniel’s) dad said to me,” Ashley recalled, “He said, ‘If you seen somebody doing this to your family, like your sister, would you stop it? Would you tell her to get out of the relationship?’ And I said, ‘No, I would stop it.’ He said, ‘Then why are you allowing it to happen to you?’ That is the day I left, and I never went back.”

‘Romeo and Juliet’

There is no easy answer for how law enforcement should act in the face of young girls who marry the men who could be their rapists.

Do they arrest and prosecute? What if the bride and family aren’t complaining?

Enforcing criminal law is not the role of the county recorder of deeds.

“We cannot do anything, legally,” said Gloria Boyer, who for 27 years has issued licenses at the Platte County Courthouse, where Brittany Koerselman was married. “If a parent signs and a couple wants to get married, there is nothing we can do to stop issuing that marriage license. …

“You see situations come through where you’re not necessarily really comfortable with it. You know, I’m the recorder. I’m not the police for this.”

Modern statutory rape laws grew out of a centuries-old English legal doctrine called parens patriae, explained Michelle Oberman, a professor and expert on statutory rape law at the Santa Clara University School of Law in California. The Latin term means “parent of one’s country,” and speaks to the notion of the government as parent, creating laws or steps to protect citizens who are either too vulnerable or young to protect themselves.

Depending on the issue or state, those laws can range all over: 16 to drive; 17 in Missouri to have sex out of wedlock, but if you’re one day younger and the partner is 21 or older then it’s statutory rape; 21 to drink, although it used to be 18. Lawmakers now debate how young is too young to buy firearms.

“The reason why the issue of child marriage is so interesting is that it really forces us to think of what decisions kids are capable of making on their own, and what decisions they actually need to be protected from because they are too young and too vulnerable and they get it wrong,” Oberman said.

Overlapping that, she said, is the matter of prosecutorial discretion, deciding which cases are worth pursuing.

Overall, statutory rape cases come in three varieties, said Leslie Garfield Tenzer, a law professor at Pace University in New York:

“There are the sick cases,” she said, “the teacher sleeping with the child, or the 29-year-old sleeping with the child. That’s an easy case.

“Then you have the case in which the parent alerts the authorities and pushes for it. The parent is irate.” Those, too, tend to get prosecuted, she said.

But the third and thornier type is one in which the law has clearly been broken, but neither the child, partner nor parents are complaining.

“When you have a crime,” Tenzer said, “basically you’re saying that the defendant wronged society. Convicting someone gives the family of the victim some sense of retribution, it maybe rehabilitates the defendant and it is a deterrence to society: Don’t do this.

“But if you have this girl who’s in love with this guy, we really don’t need to rehabilitate them. We don’t necessarily need retribution if the parents understand that there’s love there. And the question is, ‘Do we want to take the time of prosecutors and taxpayers’ money for a case to basically send a message to the rest of the world?'”

In Idaho, the judge sent exactly that message. Heather Strawn’s marriage to Aaron meant nothing.

She was 14 when she became pregnant. Police acted as soon as they received a complaint from her mother. (The Strawns and Aaron Seaton declined interviews or did not return The Star’s inquiries.)

In Brittany Koerselman’s native Iowa, Chief Deputy Jerry Birkey of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Department said that if evidence of statutory rape exists, his office will make an arrest, even if the victims object.

“A lot of times it doesn’t matter if they don’t cooperate, we’ll still go forward,” he said.

Birkey, in fact, said that in Brittany’s case, his office knew it could prove a case against Jeremie with DNA as soon as their baby was born. But the county attorney did not want to pursue it.

“Our county attorney hates these cases,” Birkey said. “We call them Romeo and Juliet cases, because really there is no winner. The victim ends up mad at you because they feel they’re in love.

“But if you ask any of our officers if charges should be filed, they’re going to say yes.”

Shayne Mayer, the Lyon County attorney, said she could not discuss specific cases.

“In general,” she said, “I don’t think these are easy cases from the sense of what end are we trying to gain here? Do you have an angry parent? Do you have a girl who is being taken advantage of? Obviously, I understand that it’s illegal. What do we possibly gain from a prosecution of this individual? Are we going to incarcerate the father of her baby, and then who’s going to pay for the child?”

Mayer said the decision to prosecute would consider factors such as abuse, coercion and family complaints that might force them to charge and prosecute.

“But are you going to put this guy on the sex offender registry for the rest of his life?” she said. “I mean those are the consequences that flow from this type of case.”

It’s also possible that statutory rapists heading to the altar to escape the police are not arrested because law enforcement never learns of them.

Statewide, the number of 15-year-olds marrying has dwindled each year, from 104 in 1999 to 16 in 2015. Missouri’s Jackson County has recorded 64 marriages of 15-year-olds since 1999, more than any of the other 113 Missouri counties. But more recently in the county, the numbers have dropped to one, two or three such marriages a year.

“I suspect we don’t see a lot of these cases possibly because they are not being reported to police and, thus, not being submitted to our office,” said Mike Mansur, spokesman for Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker. “If we were aware of a case or if one were submitted, we would consider filing charges.”

Even then, Mansur added, “we would need to weigh the victim and her family’s wishes. This is not to say that would be the only factor or the major factor, but it would need to be considered.”

Eight years after saying “I guess,” Ashley is happier now, in a loving relationship with Tim Donnor, a pipe fitter, who considers all of Ashley’s kids his own. They have two more, Bentley, 5, and Tim, 4. As soon as Ashley can afford a divorce, the couple hope to wed.

Ashley said she supports any law that would raise the minimum marriage age to 18. She has long realized that the only reason she got married so young was out of fear and obedience, neither of them good reasons.

“It was a little bit of both,” she said. “I didn’t want my child’s father to go to jail. I really thought that he loved me.

“I think I would have believed anyone who had said they loved me at 15.”

Visit The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) at www.kansascity.com

– MSN

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/beyonce-baby-advice-dakota-fannings-fifty-shades-learning/

Beyonce baby advice and Dakota Fanning's 'Fifty Shades' of learning

Drawing from her own experience, singer Celine Dion is offering some helpful advice to Beyonce, who will soon be a mother of twins like Celine is. While Beyonce is still in the midst of her pregnancy, Celine has been raising her twin boys Eddy and Nelson for the past 6 years. Therefore, in a recent interview with E! News, Celine directed some insight Beyonce’s way about what life is like with twins running around.

Celine told the media outlet, “I think it’s a double blessing. I have twins. I think she’s covered. She’s been in the business for so long; she’s got her own people…When she does something, she knows what’s she's doing. She looks amazing. She makes women dream. She’s so beautiful. She’s on top of things….I love you, Beyonce. I wish her the best.” The legendary Canadian-born songstress went on to add, “It’s going to be hectic in the house, but she’s fortunate enough that she can have all the people that she wants to help her, but no one will ever replace a mom, and she’s a great mom. I’m pretty sure of that.”

Beyonce has already had to divert her plans in order to facilitate her yet-to-be-born twins. Just a few days ago, it was announced that the Lemonade artist would no longer be performing at this year’s Coachella festival. While this announcement inevitably disappointed a lot of fans and ticket-holders, Bey’s team did promise that the singer would headline the music festival in 2019.

Beyoncé was overheard telling guests at a pre-Oscars bash on Saturday night that she and Jay Z will know the genders of their expected twins “in two weeks,” sources have told multiple media outlets. “She was telling people they’ll know the genders of the babies in two weeks,” said a source at the party, where Beyoncé and her hip-hop mogul hubby were surprise guests. But it’s unclear whether the singer was just being coy when asked about the genders, which can usually be known between 16 and 20 weeks or chosen in cases of in vitro fertilization. Fans have been rabidly searching for clues — from a recent Jay Z song with the lyrics, “I want a boy and girl,” to Bey’s father saying in an interview that his granddaughter, “Blue is gonna have brothers and sisters,” which only stoked further speculation that the couple’s having a boy and girl.

According to actress Dakota Johnson, being part of the intimate franchise Fifty Shades of Grey has been an “educational experience” for her. The series, which is based on the best-selling book series by author E.L. James of the same name, has drawn ample buzz over the past few years. While the franchise is undoubtedly out there and controversial, it seems like a bit of a stretch to call it “educational” on any level. However, while walking the 2017 Oscars’ red carpet, Dakota told E! correspondent Ryan Seacrest that she has learned a lot while working on the racy Fifty Shades set.

When asked by Ryan about what some of her takeaways have been from playing Anastasia Steele in the franchise, Dakota gushed, “It has been a very educational experience, both professionally and personally.” The 27-year-old actress went on to add, “I’ve gotten to deal with certain things in a more grown up way. I have a better outlook on certain parts.”

Although Dakota was an attendee at this year’s Oscars, her franchise (Fifty Shades) is certainly not the type of film to receive any Academy Award recognition. In fact, the first film received a notable amount of criticism from both audience members and movie critics. However, this did not stop the studios from going ahead with the second installment, Fifty Shades Darker. The sequel film, Fifty Shades Darker was just recently released into theaters, on February 10th, 2017. Unfortunately, it is not fairing any better than its predecessor (Fifty Shades of Grey) amongst movie-goers and critics.

Viola Davis won the best-supporting actress Oscar Sunday night for her performance in Denzel Washington’s “Fences.” “You know there’s one place where all the people with the greatest potential are gathered, and that’s the graveyard,” Davis began her acceptance speech with fervor. “People ask me all the time — What kind of stories do you want to tell? And I say, exhume those bodies. Exhume those stories.” She continued, “I became an artist and thank God I did because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life.” The actress then began a long list of thanks with August Wilson, (“… who exhumed and exalted the ordinary people”) and Washington (“O captain, my captain… Thank you for putting two entities in the driver’s seat — August and God. They served you well.”). Voice cracking with emotion, Davis thanks her parents, sister, husband and daughter. With the award, she became the first black actor to win an Oscar, Emmy and Tony award for acting. It was perhaps the evening’s safest bet, as Davis had dominated the precursor circuit, winning 20-plus critical honors, the Screen Actors Guild prize, the Golden Globe, the Critics’ Choice award and the British Academy award as well. After a surprising loss for her performance in “The Help” five years ago, a narrative of Davis being due had no doubt coalesced. But Davis’s performance was powerful and deserving regardless. After all, she already won a Tony Award for the same role, albeit in the lead category. She, in fact, becomes the second person in history to win a Tony and an Oscar for the same role but in different categories. The first was “The King and I” star Yul Brynner. Mahershala Ali made history at Sunday night’s Oscars, becoming the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award. He won the first award of the night, best supporting actor, for “Moonlight.” It was one of the more uneasy races in the major categories. While Ali had been the critics’ champ and won the Screen Actors Guild prize, he lost the Golden Globe (Aaron Taylor-Johnson in “Nocturnal Animals”) and the British Academy prize (Dev Patel in “Lion”) to other contenders. In the end, the “Moonlight” star pulled it out. During an emotional speech, Ali thanked his “wonderful teachers and professors,” and shared with the audience some advice he received from them: “It’s not about you, it’s about these characters. You are a servant. You’re in service to these stories and these characters.” He also thanked his wife, who just gave birth a few days ago. “I just want to thank her for being a soldier through it all and carrying me through this process,” he said of awards season. The milestone comes after President Donald Trump imposed a ban denying travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries entry into the U.S. The controversial executive order has sparked protests across the country. While Ali did not bring this up during his speech Sunday night, after he won a SAG Award earlier this year, he proudly declared, “I’m a Muslim.” “Moonlight” is up for several more awards Sunday night, including best picture. “Manchester by the Sea” star Casey Affleck is shooting a film in the wilds of Canada and says he’s looking forward to a break. “I am in the middle of doing a movie now that I would like to finish … and then I’ll just take it easy for a little while,” he said after winning a Film Independent Spirit Award. He’s filming “Light of My Life,” while he’s also been on the awards circuit. He added, “It’s easy to be dismissive or mock entertainment awards shows, but I do not feel that way. I just hope Jimmy Kimmel doesn’t make fun of me too much.”

He did it! Kevin O’Connell did it! After being nominated for sound mixing 21 times, O’Connell finally won an Oscar for his work on Mel Gibson’s “Hacksaw Ridge.” (He had held the record for most nominations without a win.) After thanking the director, O’Connell, who has said previsouly that he had written a speech for each of his previous nominations, only to return home empty-handed, had a heartfelt note prepared. “A special thank you tonight to my mother Skippy O’Connell who 39 years ago got me a job in sound,” he said and recounted what his mom said he could do to thank her. “Some day you go win yourself and Oscar, and you can thank me in front of the whole world.” “Mom I know you’re looking down on me tonight,” O’Connell said. “So thank you.”

Meryl Streep is probably the last star in Hollywood you would expect to be involved in a public feud with a fellow celebrity. However, this is exactly what happened after Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld said that the actress demanded to be paid to wear one of his designs on the Oscar red carpet. In an interview with Women’s Wear Daily, Karl revealed, “I made a sketch, and we started to make the dress [for Meryl].” The legendary fashion mogul went on to explain that he received a phone call from someone on Meryl’s team, who told him to stop making the dress unless he was willing to pay Meryl to wear the design. Karl ranted, “After [we at Chanel] gift her a dress that’s 100,000 euros [$105,000], we found later we had to pay [for her to wear it]. We give them dresses, we make the dresses, but we don’t pay.” Inevitably, Meryl faced ample backlash on all of the main social media channels, as people reprimanded her for asking for compensation as well as a free dress from Chanel. This prompted Meryl’s team to quickly respond to Karl’s allegations and release a statement accusing the designer of fabricating the story. Meryl’s rep told media outlets that the story “is a complete lie. Ms. Streep would never wear anything in exchange for payment of any kind. It is against her ethics and simply is not true.” Just hours after Meryl’s initial response to his interview with WWD, Karl released a statement, in which he backtracked on some of his previous bold claims. The designer said, “Chanel engaged in conversations with Ms. Streep’s stylist, on her request, to design a dress for her to wear to the Academy Awards. After an informal conversation, I misunderstood that Ms. Streep may have chosen another designer due to remuneration, which Ms. Streep’s team has confirmed is not the case. I regret this controversy and wish Ms. Streep well with her 20th Academy Award nomination.” To ensure that people heard her side of the story, Meryl went on to release a personal statement as well. The Devil Wears Prada star explained, “In reference to Mr. Lagerfeld’s ‘statement,’ there is no ‘controversy.' Karl Lagerfeld, a prominent designer, defamed me, my stylist and the illustrious designer whose dress I chose to wear, in an important industry publication. That publication printed this defamation, unchecked. Subsequently, the story was picked up globally, and continues, globally, to overwhelm my appearance at the Oscars, on the occasion of my record-breaking 20th nomination, and to eclipse this honor in the eyes of the media, my colleagues and the audience. I do not take this lightly, and Mr. Lagerfeld’s generic ‘statement’ of regret for this ‘controversy’ was not an apology. He lied, they printed the lie, and I am still waiting.”

Needless to say, we should not expect to see Meryl wearing Chanel anytime soon.

While stars usually try not to wear the same outfits and accessories as their peers at red carpet events, there was one accessory that numerous stars proudly donned at this year’s Oscars.

On Sunday, several of Hollywood’s biggest stars accessorized their glamorous ensembles with a blue ribbon. The ribbon served as a symbol of support for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU works to “defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States.” Inevitably, the troubling political climate in the States prompted the various stars, who choose to wear the ribbon to the Oscars, to make a statement about their disapproval of some of Trump’s administration’s actions, views and policy changes.

When asked about her blue ribbon, Oscar nominee Lin-Manuel Miranda told the press, “I’m wearing an ACLU ribbon because they’re fighting incredible fights right now for American ideals.”

In addition to Lin-Manuel, some of the other stars who were seen wearing the ribbon included Ruth Negga, Busy Phillips and Karlie Kloss.

Erika Girardi is reportedly bringing her star power to ABC’s reality competition Dancing with the Stars. According to inside sources, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star will be joining the cast of the show’s upcoming 24th season. If you have caught Erika on Real Housewives, you know that she already has experience with performing on stage. In fact, the reality star actually has established herself as an artist within the dance music genre. Performing under her fierce persona Erika Jayne, the star has had several hits rank on the Billboard charts. Just recently, she released the music video for her single “Expensive,” which fans got to see some of the behind-the-scenes action for during an episode of Real Housewives that aired a few weeks back. While Dancing with the Stars’ home network, ABC, has yet to officially announce the cast of season 24, there is already plenty of speculation about which other stars will be competing. Currently, there are rumors that Olympic gymnast Simone Biles will be dancing on the show, as well as an undisclosed member of the girl group Fifth Harmony. Stay tuned for more details about the latest Dancing with the Stars cast! After publicly expressing her support for him throughout his Presidential campaign, transgender reality star Caitlyn Jenner is now second-guessing her backing of US President, Donald Trump. During the second season of her E! reality series I Am Cait, Caitlyn Jenner repeatedly said that she felt Trump would be better for the LGBTQ community than his Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton. Inevitably, Caitlyn’s remarks raised a lot of eyebrows, as even some of her closest friends questioned how she could actually support Trump and his controversial views. A few days ago, Trump’s administration announced that they were withdrawing the protection former President Barack Obama put in place to protect transgender students. Shortly after the announcement, Caitlyn took to her Instagram to express her disapproval of Trump’s unfortunate actions. On Thursday, Caitlyn shared a post, in which she wrote, "I have a message for the trans kids of America. You are winning. I know it doesn't feel that way today or every day, but you _ are _ winning. You are going to keep on winning so much you're going to get sick of winning. Very soon, we'll win full freedom nationwide, and it's going to happen with bipartisan support. For all our friends out there, If you want to be part of this winning side, you can help by checking out the National Center for Trans Equality and letting Washington hear how you feel loud and clear.” Caitlyn Jenner, Instagram post: Later in her post, Caitlyn gave a shout-out to young transgender student Gavin Grimm, whose lawsuit against his school district will be unraveling in Supreme Court in late March. Gavin, who identifies as male, filed legal action against his school after he was banned from using the boys’ restroom. Unfortunately, with the withdrawal of Obama’s previous bill, Trump has opened the door to many more unjust situations similar to the one Gavin is having to go through. This week, an announcement that thousands of music fans were hoping they would never hear was made. Early on Thursday, it was officially confirmed that Beyoncé would not be headlining this year’s Coachella. Almost a month ago, the “Formation” songstress announced that she and her husband, Jay Z, are expecting twins. The news of her pregnancy prompted ample speculation, as people wondered how the star would be able to fulfill her Coachella obligations while being several months pregnant. Initially, there were rumors that she was planning an elaborate stage set-up, which would allow her to perform a much less physically demanding concert. However, it has since been revealed that she will not be performing whatsoever. In a statement made to the Associated Press, Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment and festival producer Goldenvoice explained: "Following the advice of her doctors to keep a less rigorous schedule in the coming months, Beyoncé has made the decision to forgo performing at the 2017 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. However, Goldenvoice and Parkwood are pleased to confirm that she will be a headliner at the 2018 festival. Thank you for your understanding." While Beyoncé is no longer going to be commanding the stage at Coachella, there are still plenty of big stars on the festival’s roster. Some of the artists who will be performing this year include: Lorde, Bon Iver, Future, Radiohead and Kendrick Lamar. Nonetheless, it is safe to say that fans were incredibly disappointed when they found out they would not be seeing Queen Bey at this year’s Coachella. Radar reported that she pulled out because Jay Z insisted on it. “Jay Z really put his foot down on this,” a source close to the family revealed, adding that workhorse Beyonce, who is expecting twins later this year, still wanted to perform. “The two had it out because she really did not want to let her fans down.” “She knew how much this meant to them, but Jay Z was not having any of it!” Kylie Jenner’s cosmetics line may be facing some familiar competition soon. According to new reports from media outlet TMZ, Kylie’s brother-in-law Kanye West is thinking about starting his own beauty brand. In a new report, TMZ claims that the “Famous” rapper is looking to create a make-up line inspired by his late mother, Donda West. While it has been 10 years since Kanye lost his mother, he continues to look to honor her through his various business ventures and projects. In fact, the artist established his creative company, DONDA, a few years back, which is the company he is planning to expand into the world of cosmetics. Just recently, Kanye filed legal documents, in which he applied for permission to have his DONDA brand develop and sell makeup, perfumes, and various other beauty-related items. While it has yet to be approved, the rapper is clearly serious about diversifying his creative company’s portfolio. Kanye has already proven to be a success in the world of shoes and fashion design; therefore it is likely that he would be able to make a healthy profit with a make-up line as well. Kylie and Kanye have already gotten in a bit of a spat due to business obligations in the past. A while back, Kylie signed a deal to be the brand ambassador for the athletic leisure brand Puma. She signed this deal just a few weeks after Kanye publicly said that she wouldn’t, as it would go against all of the work he had been doing with Adidas. Perhaps Kylie’s betrayal in signing with Puma is part of what triggered Kanye’s sudden interest in creating his own cosmetics line. We will just have to see if this latest venture of Kanye’s actually comes to fruition…

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