Shaun Carter and Shaun “Ditty” Combs May Have Seriously Damaged the NFL, Not To Mention, Roger Goodell and His Future as NFL Commissioner.
Roger Goodell may be making the biggest mistake of his career. The current relationship that exists between Jay-Z and the National Football League vis a vis its entertainment contractual partnership Roc Nation, should not blind Goodell to the fact that a civil law suit alleging the rape of a 13 year old girl by Shaun Carter otherwise known as Jay-Z, exists.
Just as importantly, his alleged accomplice, Sean “Diddy” Combs is currently in federal custody awaiting trial on charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. And it isn’t simply one person, one case or one charge, either.
“More than two dozen people have filed lawsuits against the rapper (Combs), accusing him of using his influence in the entertainment industry to do everything from drugging, assaulting and raping people.”
Federal prosecutors have accused him of creating a criminal enterprise, in which he “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfil his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”
It should be noted that both Combs and Shaun Carter vehemently deny the claims. Of course video of his physical abuse towards his girlfriend Cassie Ventura, has been seen by millions, and Miss Ventura filed a lawsuit herself against Combs, alleging he had “trapped” her for over a decade in a “cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking.”
It should be noted that, “at least 27 others – including several men – have since come forward with their own claims. Seventeen of those allegations are outlined in the BBC’s online report dated, today.
The lawyer for several of the alleged victims, Tony Buzbee, stated that he had over 3000 people contact him in relation to abuses by Mr. Combs, and he believes that in the end, over 300 cases will be filed against Combs.
Let’s face it, Federal prosecutors are not usually noted for bringing frivolous cases to trial. And Combs is being held, in prison, as an alleged flight risk. Which brings us back to the NFL and Commissioner Goodell.
How good do you think the NFL is going to look if it’s proven that Carter and Combs are indeed guilty of rape of a 13 year old girl, and what does this say about the ethics and morals of both the Commissioner and the NFL that they will place an entertainment contract ahead of justice and the safety of teenage girls?
As an NFL fan, I can tell you how I will feel. I’ll boycott the NFL if it has placed more value on ‘entertainment’ than it has on justice for a 13 year old girl and possibly hundreds of other abused, victimized and sexually abused victims.
Mr. Goodell, if he these men are indeed guilty, then your resignation should be the first result of their conviction. Decency demands it.
It seems that professional sports, and greed, – pure and simple, are joined at the hip these days. America seems to be losing its values, and when the NFL sides with a possible perpetrator, rather than eschewing the value of maintaining such a relationship, it has already lost the battle.
Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada have gone from reasoned to irrational since coming to office almost ten years ago. One specific area where over reach has become irrational has to do with firearms in Canada.
I am all in favour of controlling weapons and the access of weapons to criminals. Unfortunately the measures that are being taken by the Federal Government will have no effect on keeping weapons out of the hands of criminals. The banning of weapons from law abiding citizens simply is a political exercise, designed to garner votes from those on one extreme end of the liberal electorate.
The weapons that are most utilized in crimes are those being brought across illegally from the United States. While the number of guns being sold illegally in Canada, is on the rise, it is the criminal element that is the problem, not the hunter or marksman who stores his weapons and ammunition safely to ensure that if their property were ever broken into, that a thief could not access those weapons.
By banning weapons, and not providing full reimbursement to those who own them, the government is simply ensuring that weapons will either be sold illegally or hidden. It is the opposite of rationality. If the Canadian government wants to ensure public safely that badly that they will treat all Canadians with now banned weapons as potential criminals, then the least they can do is reimburse owners for the full value of the weapons they chose to ban.
Many gun owners, like myself, don’t hunt. We shoot as a hobby and/or compete as marksmen. By banning the weapons we utilize for sport, not even hunting, the government is being irrational, heavy handed and irresponsible. For marksmen, these guns are fired at indoor ranges, where we have paid dues annually to be able to fire these federally approved weapons. It was the Liberal government that just two years ago deemed these weapons to be legal, now, only to have them made illegal after the same current Liberal government previously banned 1500 weapons for sale, use or resale in 2022. The currently now additionally banned weapons (as of October 30th, 2025) were bought as ‘approved firearms’ under the legislation that, again, this same Liberal government created, just two years ago.
What this suggests to me, quite clearly, is that the current government doesn’t have a clue in relation to policy development that impacts a significant percentage of the Canadian population, both in the urban environment and rural. Fortunately, it would seem that Canadians will end the tenure of the Liberal Party in the next election, resoundingly. Canadians, myself now included are fed up with Trudeau’s arrogance and knee jerk reactionary decisions.
Gun laws for the transport and use of these weapons already ensure that legitimate and lawful gun owners pose no risk with these weapons. They cannot be transported without being unloaded, without ammunition, trigger locked and ammunition within a locked ammunition box, separated from the weapon. If an individual were to not follow the laws, already in place, seizure of the weapon and criminal charges would be pursued.
Canada now sits in a precarious position in relation to both sovereignty and security for its citizens.
We currently live in a world becoming increasingly dangerous and chaotic, particularly since Canada now abuts a country where chaos is about to ensue, – disarming Canadians seems like an even more irrational response. If Canada’s military were in a position to secure the sovereignty of Canadians, I would feel much happier than at the present time. The existing Canadian government has allowed the Canadian military to degrade to such a state that it’s probable they would be completely ineffectual against any sort of serious incursion onto sovereign Canadian territory, and now Canadians will be in a position whereby they cannot even defend themselves.
Police are becoming increasingly overwhelmed in Canada’s major cities due to the activities of criminal gangs. Many of these gangs have formed from within populations that have immigrated to Canada and from within foreign countries where crime and gang activity has been allowed to flourish.
The statements from the previous two paragraphs would have seemed like an absurdity to me in my youth. Today, it seems the most rational response one can have to the impending disaster that is being visited upon the United States of America is to take responsibility for your own safety. I have virtually no trust that the United States will not at some point in the not distant future invade Canada to secure its own strategic aims.
The United States is now led by a kleptocratic sociopath, intent on creating an autocracy and to the destruction of democratic institutions in the U.S. Personally, I will never again trust America to secure the sovereignty and security of Canadians, or to maintain an honest and open relationship that assists both economies. America cares only about America, and its self-interest.
It is absolutely time for Canada and Canadians to reappraise their relationship with the United States, regardless of how difficult that may prove, – as becoming subjugated to America and its interests is something I personally have no interest in accommodating. I am sure that if Canadians had that question posed to them formally, Canadians writ-large would reject America’s politics and societal beliefs currently on display.
Personally, I also have no faith in our Federal Government to do anything that will secure Canada’s interests. Justin Trudeau willfully grovelled to Trump just this week, rather than stand up and be counted in opposition to Trump’s ignorance and arrogance.
The dilemma facing Canadians is that neither can Canadians trust the Conservative Party of Canada which caters to the extreme right wing fringe within Canada. Without a viable alternative, it would seem irrational for those of us who use our intelligence and logic to willfully accept decisions made by either a Liberal or Conservative government, as it isn’t representing the values of most Canadians. It seems questionable whether either party are willing to protect and secure Canadian security and independence of action on behalf of Canadians.
I have no faith that either or both parties will not sell out Canadians in the long run to Capitalist Kleptocrats and the 1% in the United States.
I cannot help being disillusioned, but more-so worried for Ukraine in its war with Russia. The war has now become a major international conflict that has implications for the future of Europe in its entirety. North Korea is more than willing to send 100,000 soldiers to Russia, in an effort by Kim Jong Un to cement a relationship with Russia. And Iran is providing drones and drone technology to Russia.
While Russia’s army has been bleeding personnel at an enormous rate, (by Ukraine’s estimate, almost 700,000 Russian personnel have been either killed or injured,) Putin has been able to now gain commitments from North Korea for up to 100,00 soldiers, not to mention that with Russia’s disproportionate manpower and military size the likelihood of a ‘peace deal’ ceding Russia all the land it has stolen to date, for peace, is probable. Not that Ukraine could take any armistice or agreement with Russia as truthful. Putin lies as easily as Donald J. Trump.
Ukraine, with a population of less than 38 million people has suffered significant losses, some say amounting to nearly 400,000, but with North Korea now providing additional troops, and with Russia having a population of 144 million, the attrition of troops in combat, favours Russia by a huge number. Kyiv, without a committed United States in support of Ukraine, is likely to lose.
At the present time the Russians are building a concentration of troops along the eastern front, bolstered by 10,000 North Korean soldiers. While the quality and capabilities of the North Koreans may well be suspect, rapid increases in manpower for the Russians in Donetsk and Luhansk, at a time when Ukraine’s manpower is, though stable, completely committed, does not bode well for this winter.
And then there’s Donald Trump, and his Art of the Steal. Yes, the steal. He intends to force Ukraine to admit defeat and sign an agreement in favour of his good friend, Vladimir Putin, unless NATO and the European Union do what’s essential and support Ukraine now, entirely. As France’s foreign minister, Jean Noel Barron stated, just two days ago Jeff Overs of the BBC in the following statements:
The wild card in this equation is Donald Trump. If Trump fails to support Ukraine by discontinuing the supply of weapons and ammunition, then it will fall solely on Europe and its NATO allies. And if the United States pulls out of NATO, then it will be incumbent on the remainder of NATO to stand up to Putin, by drawing a red line in the Ukrainian soil, and mobilizing a major defensive operation in support of Ukraine.
If Europeans make a decision to fight with and for Ukraine before Trump plays his, excuse the pun, trump card with Putin, then the United States will have lost all leverage with Europe and its former NATO allies. In fact, by no longer acting as an ally. Canada, New Zealand and Australia should remain committed to assisting Europe and Ukraine in order to ensure it stays free and democratic. Canada, in particular, should immediately commit to increasing its military expenditure as part of NATO to 2% and commit to developing its own military force sufficiently to where it is completely independent militarily from the United States.
This would likely require something Canada has not done since 1945, conscripting Canadian men into the armed forces. Each year, roughly 400,000 men turn 18 in Canada. If Canada found it necessary to double the size of the Canadian Armed Forces to 140,000 personnel, Canada would only have to conscript one in six 18 year olds men each year in the form of a lottery. If in so doing they decided to cover admission to University or any post-secondary institution of their choosing for any man who served their full year commitment, I doubt that most Canadians would find that problematic. Citizenship has a price, but so does national sovereignty and its protection.
NATO, without the United States, should unilaterally admit Ukraine to NATO immediately, placing a NATO army in the defence of Ukraine’s sovereign territory with Ukraine’s Forces.
Two days ago, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former Commander-in-Chief of all military forces made the following statement in the Kyiv Independent,
“World War III is underway. Speaking at the Ukrainska Pravda-100 award ceremonyon Nov. 20, Zaluzhnyi pointed to the direct involvement of Russia’s allies in the war against Ukraine as evidence of a global conflict.
“I believe that in 2024, we can absolutely assume that World War III has begun,” Zaluzhnyi said. He emphasized that Ukraine is no longer fighting Russia alone. “Ukraine is facing soldiers from North Korea. Let’s be honest. Iranian-made Shaheds [loitering munitions] are killing civilians in Ukraine quite openly. It’s missiles made in North Korea that are being launched onto Ukraine, and they are openly declaring this. Chinese-made shells are exploding in Ukraine, and Chinese parts are used in Russian missiles.”
It’s time to call Putin’s bluff, or be prepared for Ukraine to fall.
Ukraine cannot trust the United States under Trump. He has shown his willingness to ‘deal away’ Ukraine’s sovereignty and sovereign territory. Trump sees himself as a ‘deal maker’, at a time when Ukraine cannot afford his deals. Trump is very willing to prove he is a master of the deal, when he’s playing with other people’s lives, instead of his own. He was too cowardly to even serve in the military of his country.
It would seem, however, that the majority of the European Union’s democracies are resolved to prevent Putin from conquering Ukraine. Almost all nations have signalled their intent to go it alone, if the United States abandons Europe. And Poland’s Prime minister has vowed that Poland ‘will not let Ukraine fall to Russia.”
Europe has the industrial capacity to provide the EU’s NATO forces with sufficient weapons and ammunition to defeat Russia in a conventional war. However, the EU and Canada have wasted the time necessary to effectively strengthen their military forces and logistics capabilities necessary in an outright war with Russia.
Time has run out, and the EU and Canada need to commit to strengthening their military forces, now. The commitments made to date are but a starting point. As Poland has suggested, reorganizing the EU’s capacity to create both weapons and ammunition within Europe must take effect now.
Putin may agree to sign a cease fire, but in six months or a year, it’s just as likely that he will set his sights on Moldova, or attack Ukraine again.
What should be made clear to Trump, is that walking away from the defence of Ukraine, will have long term implications for the relationship between the United States and its former allies.
Norbert Rottgen stated in “Foreign Affairs” November 2024,
“Europe now has no choice but to manage its own security. There is no doubt that it has the economic potential to do so; the combined GDP of the European Union is roughly ten times that of Russia. What holds Europe back is a lack of political will.”
But political will, will be found when an existential threat like Russian invasion is the option.
Coercion used by the United States against liberal democracies, within the EU’s membership, may work in the short term, and it may well be fact that the EU and it’s NATO members, including Canada should have strengthened and expanded their military forces, but removing support for a democracy in the middle of its fight for survival is seen by most to be unconscionable, even cowardly. Leaders and nations that feel extorted have long memories, and those memories may well impact future policies, like trade and the supply chain that impacts the pocket books of Americans and the power and interests of the United States in the future.
Moreover, what does Trump’s willingness to abandon a friend signal to all other member states of the European Union?
Let me suggest how Europeans will react to abandonment — you cannot trust your sovereignty or survival to the United States, and specifically not to Donald J. Trump.
