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Gloria Horton-Young's avatar

Horrendous miscarriage of justice.

Oh, we see the headline, don’t we? ACQUITTED! In all caps, in all drama. But scroll down two inches and the ink bleeds with the truth: “Guilty on lesser charges.”

Let me translate that into plain American outrage for you: A man was found not guilty of sex trafficking—but guilty of transporting people for prostitution. Like there’s a magical difference between coercion with a spreadsheet and coercion with a chain.

It’s a sleight of hand, a linguistic magic trick so old and dusty it might as well have been pulled from a 19th-century courtroom. What’s the real difference between trafficking and “transporting for prostitution” when you’re the man with the keys, the money, the power, and the silence?

Let me say this for the record and the heavens: A lesser charge does not equal lesser harm.

And while Sean Combs may have escaped the full legal weight of “trafficking”—whatever fig-leaf technicality that word was resting on—he did not escape conviction. And he sure as hell won’t escape the verdict of the women watching, the victims remembering, or the public waking up.

The system may be built to protect the famous. The language may be tailored to coddle the comfortable. But no number of press releases or legal tap-dancing can erase what was just confirmed:

Guilty.

Guilty of abuse of power. Guilty of orchestrating a system where women and men were commodified, used, and discarded like receipts. Guilty of being one of the many men who believe wealth can write the ending to any horror story.

So no, I won’t be clapping for “acquitted” but I’ll be clapping for the ones who testified to infinity and beyond. For the ones who survived. For the journalists who kept asking. For the attorneys who kept filing. For the women and men who keep coming forward—even when the world tells them it isn’t “technically” trafficking.

This wasn’t justice. It was a footnote in a long, dirty chapter.

And we are not finished reading. This is not the end of the saga.

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Kathy T's avatar

Yes, the system is built to protect the famous. Not females.

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David Holzman's avatar

And that just sucks!

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David Holzman's avatar

Some cultures treat women far better than we do, including some in Greenland

"Rasmussen described the mind of the Netsilik as being like the surface of a lake, quick to be stirred and just as quick to regain its equanimity. They were people who met hardship head-on with no complaints; serious adversity was taken in stride. He especially admired their treatment of women. Men and women among the Netsilik were comrades and equals. As a result, the women were lively and outspoken, often dominating the conversation and making jokes, something he had rarely seen in northern Greenland.

see: THIS COLD HEAVEN: Seven Seasons in Greenland, by Gretel Ehrlich, p. 198, 2001

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Nancy's avatar

Very well said. I don't believe I have anything to add. Except my complete disgust. This was an OJ Simpson verdict. "But he's famous! He couldn't have done something like that!" Disgust is all I've got.🤢🤮

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Angela's avatar

WORD. “A lesser charge does not equal lesser harm.” There is a thing called JUSTICE that is administered by the universe. Some call it karma, some call it math. He can be pardoned by F47 (AND WHY??????), but he cannot escape divine justice. And that same justice provides mercy and comfort to the victims. My heart goes out to them all.

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Pamela Tracey's avatar

Omg President Access Hollywood will definitely pardon him.

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Lor's avatar

Grotesque

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Tammy Mackinnon's avatar

Sorry, Lorraine said, how the fuck is he is found guilty of transporting people to have sex with WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY being found innocent of sex trafficking????? It’s 💅 time bc SRSLY, JUST NO, CANNOT COMPUTE💅💅💅

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John M Pillin Jr's avatar

Agreed Gloria!

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Wild Lion*esses Pride from Jay's avatar

Gloria, I hear every word pulsing through this—and I feel it. Here in Germany, the headlines may sound different, yet the dissonance echoes just the same. For a brief moment in time, our laws began leaning toward the dignity of those most silenced—sex workers were no longer automatically cast as victims, and their voices were given legal space to count. It wasn’t perfect, yet it was a shift. A breath of agency. And now? That ground is crumbling again.

Under newer regulations and a wave of political backpedaling dressed up as protection, we’ve circled back toward control—mandatory registrations, increased policing, the quiet return of shame as state policy. Language, again, becomes the veil: “protection” that punishes, “lesser charges” that sanitize systemic harm.

So when you speak of coercion in all its disguises—spreadsheet or chain—I nod from across the ocean. Here too, the lines blur. And here too, harm does not shrink just because the charge does.

Thank you for naming the truth beneath the verdict. I’m standing with the ones who testified. With the ones who survived. And with those who still carry the silence of crimes reduced to footnotes

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Rhonda Schmit's avatar

Thank you for writing this part

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Paula Amen Judah's avatar

Brilliant analysis. Thank you Gloria!

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Lor's avatar

Good grief. An abomination wtf

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Lorraine Evanoff's avatar

How TF is he convicted on transporting people for prostitution but acquitted for sex trafficking?

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Patris's avatar

Seriously..

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D4N's avatar

That has me scratching my head still. The only thing I can imagine is some bend of language in the Judge's instructions to the jury.

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Laurie Baden's avatar

Exactly!

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Janey's avatar

I console myself with the certainty that the orange pervert will pardon him anyway. I hope Combs' victims get the support they need. I trust the jury and the system in NY, if nowhere else. AND, we still have E. Jean and her glorious victory!!

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E. Jean Carroll's avatar

Yes, we do!!

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Nancy's avatar

I hadn't thought of that. Well, I think we can all agree it's a great day in America to be an assaulter of women. Yep, the Head Rapist in Charge will likely pardon him and give him a job. Disgust. 🤢🤮

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Paula Amen Judah's avatar

Yes, Janey, but has E. Jean seen a dime yet? Have you, E. Jean??

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E. Jean Carroll's avatar

Don't worry. It's coming.

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Carolyn A Wolfe's avatar

All together now: "How can someone be found guilty of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution by a federal jury while being acquitted on the most serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy"?

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Cherae Stone's avatar

It’s insane.

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John M Pillin Jr's avatar

True Fact

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Jill Harth's avatar

It's Sickening for sure. Being rich and famous is a get out of jail free card. It's all about money.

This country is in deep trouble. With the cruel BB Bill passage which will affect me and many others I know, the divide between the rich and working poor is getting deeper and deeper. If you don't have money you're nothing to this adminstration. I saw Trump thirty years ago introducing people by how much money they are worth. He is a cruel and disgusting person and so are his followers. More sleepless nights ahead for me and many hardworking, good people. If there really is a karma, it needs to strike soon.

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Pamela Tanton's avatar

I think a lot of people are still throwing up 🤮

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Kristin Erickson's avatar

Oh shit. That’s all I’ve got. A travesty.

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L.D.Michaels's avatar

My guess is that this was a compromise verdict. The bottom line is that he’s looking at 10 years in prison, unless Trump pardons him because he sees too much of himself in Diddy.

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WillRavenel THE STROBIS WEAKLY's avatar

I’m convinced that Tя☭mp is telling Stephen Miller, “The way I see it, I pardon this one Negro, and the rest of them will vote MAGA from now on!”

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D4N's avatar

Yep.... Exactly how it's mind works.

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Pamela Tracey's avatar

Probably but guessing he uses a different word for "Negro"

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John M Pillin Jr's avatar

Likely!

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Kristin Erickson's avatar

Don’t you think he may walk today? I don’t think the sonofabitch should ever get out but I understand that a private plane is waiting to whisk him to Diddyville.

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L.D.Michaels's avatar

I’d like to see Diddy get a very stiff prison sentence, but right now the Court will need to decide if he poses a flight risk while he’s appealing his conviction and will set his bail accordingly.

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Lauren's avatar

Until he’s sentenced, he’s free.

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Toni Ballard's avatar

Actually I believe he was denied bail before sentencing.

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Lauren's avatar

Ah. That was news after I posted. Sorry. I'm glad he was denied. If you sex trafficking, you should never be free.

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Pamela Tracey's avatar

Yep, Daddy will pardon Diddy

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Lauren's avatar

Orange won't just pardon, he'll appoint puff daddy/p diddy/whatever his name is, to some position. I wish it wasn't that predictable. And it will be miller doing the pardoning and appointing when you realize miller is the 1 pulling all of the strings/doing all of the work. Thiel/miller/musk are the ones doing most of the work under putin. Then there's the orange thing. After that is vance. Then johnson.

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Pamela Tracey's avatar

I fear that you are right Lauren!

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Kristin Erickson's avatar

My guess is he’ll get time served plus a minimal couple to few years sentence. Then Pee Diddy will be back to his old tricks. Pun intended. I shouldn’t be surprised at the volume of people who are celebrating this miscarriage of justice but I am. Mandarin Daddy (like an Orange, but smaller) has made it cool to side with the abuser.

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Laura Lippman's avatar

I'm guessing that a lot of people here know of Maris Kreizman's new book, I Want to Burn this Place Down, which details how she has moved to the left as she ages. I've been thinking about her book A LOT since Bill Clinton endorsed Andrew Cuomo. I'm so tired of women being told we just have to put up with certain shit for some "greater good," which never happens and even if it does, it won't actually be good. Patriarchies are built on the idea that women's bodies must be accessible 24-7 in a variety of ways -- for sex, for comfort, for unpaid labor, for procreation, for objectification. I'm just really, really, really tired.

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Marian Vitale's avatar

I'm not sure I'll EVER stop throwing up these days.

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Leslie Goodman-Malamuth's avatar

“Why do you need your Zofran prescription refilled so soon?” asked my doctor suspiciously.

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KB May's avatar

Ha! Same here. Miracle drug for me.

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Lauren's avatar

The ear patches work wonders. Ginger and peppermint too. Old chemo tricks.

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Leslie Goodman-Malamuth's avatar

TYSM! The survivors have the best tricks.

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Tracy's avatar

How is one found guilty of transporting people for prostitution, yet, not guilty of sex trafficking??

It's a Federal offense; I would've like to hear him accept his 47* pardon by stating he was guilty...

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Anne Babson's avatar

Women are basically considered objects in this civilization, if you want to call it a civilization.

FP Diddy had trafficked Tech bros, a jury would’ve given him the death penalty.

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Valarie Schwartz's avatar

Sorry. Too sick to right.

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Marilyn Z (she/her) 🇨🇦🏳️‍🌈's avatar

Transporting. For the purposes of prostitution. Trafficking. Where is the disconnect?

Uneffing believable! 🤮

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Andrea Stoeckel's avatar

Oh shit! Who paid the jury off? Did we have a runaway Jury here?

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Punkette's avatar

8 men, 4 women 😑

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Lauren's avatar

Break that down by race/age/ethnicity/sex/gender. Break it down by profession. Were any secretly fans?

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Kathy Doherty's avatar

This news is not comprehensible...But I have something to look forward to: E. Jean, I'm on chapter 17 in your new book. I'm reading parts aloud to my husband as I go along. And my friend who was molested as a child by a relative bought your book today after I showed her mine.

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