Lorne Michaels is behind it so maybe it’ll be better than most of us would expect?!?! According to The Hollywood Reporter : Kenan Thompson, who has been with the sketch comedy series since 2003, is attached to write, star in and executive produce an untitled comedy, which has received a script commitment from the network. The single-camera comedy would star Thompson as Kenan Monroe, a guy who gives up his New York life and moves to his in-laws’ house in the suburbs, where he must contend with three generations of problems. Michaels will executive produce through his Broadway Video banner and Universal Television, marking the second project he has set up this development season. Thompson started his career on the scripted side, with roles on The Steve Harvey Show, Sister, Sister and The Parkers, before co-starring on Nickelodeon’s Kenan & Kel. He continues to be a featured performer on SNL, with sketches including “What’s Up With That” and impersonations including Whoopi Goldberg, Charles Barkley and the Rev. Al Sharpton. Did he get funny enough to have his own show all of a sudden?? Images via tumblr
Get this guy outta here… Cal State University Professor Under Fire For Neo-Nazi Teachings California State Univeristy, Long Beach psychology professor Kevin MacDonald, a man the Southern Poverty Law Center calls the “ neo-Nazi movement’s favorite academic,” continues to rile community members with language that some say teaches white supremacist and neo-Nazi beliefs. According to HuffPo : MacDonald prefers the description “white advocate.” As a director of the new political party American Third Position (AP3), he believes that immigration (both illegal and legal) must be stopped in order to preserve American society. According to the OC Register, part of AP3′s mission statement reads: “Government policy in the United States discriminates against white Americans … white Americans need their own political party to fight this discrimination.” MacDonald stands firm in his positions, noting in an interview with KCAL9 that white citizens will be a minority in the U.S in 2042. “I think the white middle class is scared economically,” MacDonald said. “They’re concerned about the future of the country. Underlying it, there is a fear of the future. When whites are a minority, there is a concern the country won’t be the same anymore.” Funny he’s a psychology professor. Opinions like his should be a paramount study in the field of psychology. There is something clearly mentally wrong if you deem yourself superior to other people. Then you spend all your time trying to prove your theory by suppressing those people to keep them from proving you wrong. KAL9
Piff Puffers out in Wisconsin just don’t give a fug cause they’re growing herb right in the middle of the state’s Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. This isht is getting so out of control that the U.S. Forest Service has asked hunters and fishermen to look out for mary jane while they’re out in the area. That sounds like a good plan. Make hunters with guns feel like they’re in a real-life version of Call of Duty . According to CNN : Since 2008, nine marijuana growing operations have been discovered on public land within the state. Most recently, in late August, a fisherman visiting the forest happened upon a marijuana field that netted more than 8,000 plants worth $8 million. “The fisherman was walking along the banks of the Oconto River and noticed these patches that had been cleared and disturbed. Trees were down, things didn’t look right, and he reported that to authorities, and a surveillance operation was established,” said Jane Cliff, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service eastern region. Approximately 150 federal, state, tribal and local law enforcement agents were involved in the sting that followed, leading to the arrest of seven people. All of the suspects pleaded guilty and are in prison awaiting trial. The suspects each face anywhere from 10 years to life in prison, a maximum fine of $10 million and five years to life of supervised release. But this isn’t the first time this has happened, the Forest Service says. It’s actually the third big bust in three years at the forest, resulting in the eradication of more than 80,000 marijuana plants that were cultivated by large drug trafficking organizations. That’s why authorities say they are reaching out to hunters in their regulation books and offering them training programs, warning them to be careful and asking them to note the GPS location of any suspicious areas and call the authorities as soon as they can. “Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest is large, secluded and heavily roaded, so our personnel cannot by themselves keep an eye on every acre,” Cliff said. “That’s why we are relying on forest users to share information with us.” “We conduct aerial surveillance, and we have seen a change in the growers’ tactics. A number of years ago, there would be large multithousand plant fields concentrated in one area, and now they have a couple of hundred plants in one location and then another couple hundred plants a couple hundred yards away which makes aerial detection more difficult,” said David Spakowicz, the director of field operations for the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s criminal investigation division. Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said he and special agents at the Wisconsin Department of Justice are “not only aggressively investigating and eradicating these grows, but also working with our local and federal partners to hold accountable the individuals responsible for operating such grow operations.” “That kind of aggressive eradication and enforcement ought to send a message to those who think they can profit from growing illegal drugs on Wisconsin’s public lands, threatening our natural resources and potentially the people who enjoy them,” he said in a statement to CNN. The concern is that a person walking through the forest will come across not only an illegal grow operation, but also heavily armed growers. “If they are protecting $10 million of marijuana plants, that’s a lot of money, and there have been gun battles with law enforcement in other states such as California,” Spakowicz said. “We worry that they will bring the same level of violence with them.” Because the concern for public safety is so great, the state attorney general’s office works in conjunction with the Department of Justice to strongly prosecute marijuana growers. “We believe we need to arrest people in order to send a message to these marijuana growers that they are not welcome in Wisconsin and that their activities will be not be accepted,” Spakowicz said. Wisconsin is targeting illegal marijuana growers because it has millions of acres of remote public land. According to the state Department of Justice, 32 people have been arrested for illegally growing marijuana since 2008, and most were non-U.S. citizens in the country illegally. All of the suspects are expected to serve their sentences before they are deported, the department says. Several suspects interviewed by law enforcement said they were recruited from California to come to Wisconsin. In some cases they were told openly that they are to work in a marijuana growing operation, while in other cases they came believing they were to work in a restaurant. Some suspects also said they didn’t even know what state they were in. “They are large, drug trafficking organizations; they are not mom and pop operations,” she said. “These are people doing this to make a lot of money.” That’s some pretty bold and stupid isht right there. Images via Wisconsin DOJ
Karruche really wants that old thang back… Karreuche Tran Planning Makeover To Win Chris Brown Back Chris Brown and Rihanna’s latest duet “Nobody’s Business” leaked online and now it seems as though Karrueche Tran is trying to steal Chris’ attention back from Rihanna. Karate still thirsty for Breezy’s man-meat, headed to twitter to talk up a new change, eerily familiar to one RihRih perfected before her current black pixie cut. “I so wanna go back to this! Miss my blonde self,” Tran tweeted a few days ago, alongside a photo of herself with blonde hair and accompanied by a mystery man. RihRih seems to be getting all the attention from her current/ex boo thang, maybe Karrueche Tran is craving some time back in the spotlight. Blondes may have more fun, but Kappa Alpha Psi Karrueche is going to have to do more than throw a box of color on her hair to win this love triangle. Instagram/Twitter
Finally, a Republican stands up to Robney’s ludicrous bull after he blames Barack’s win on “Obamacare Supporters”. According to Boston News : Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a rising Republican star who stumped for Mitt Romney repeatedly on the campaign trail, assailed the failed presidential candidate for his remarks to donors on Wednesday that President Obama was reelected because of “gifts” to minorities, young people, and women. “I think that’s absolutely wrong,” Jindal said later Wednesday at a news conference in Las Vegas at a meeting of the Republican Governors Association. “We have got to stop dividing the American voters. We need to go after 100 percent of the votes, not 53 percent.“ Jindal’s reference to 53 percent was a criticism of Romney’s secretly recorded statement at a Florida fund-raiser in May that 47 percent of Americans are dependent on government assistance and do not take personal responsibility for their lives. The Louisiana governor, an Indian-American who is considered a potential presidential candidate in 2016, said that Republicans “need to continue to show how our policies help every voter out there achieve the American Dream, which is to be in the middle class, which is to be able to give their children an opportunity to be able to get a great education.” He added, “I absolutely reject that notion, that description” of Obama’s winning strategy, which Romney made in a conference call that reporters heard. “I think that’s absolutely wrong.” The election, Jindal said, showed that “if we’re going to continue to be a competitive party and win elections on the national stage and continue to fight for our conservative principles, we need two messages to get out loudly and clearly: One, we are fighting for 100 percent of the votes, and secondly, our policies benefit every American who wants to pursue the American dream. Period. No exceptions.” The criticism from Jindal, who is the incoming president of the GOP governors association, was echoed by Republican Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who was sitting with Jindal on a panel when the Louisiana chief executive made his comments. The Republican Party is not “just for people who are currently not dependent on the government,” Walker told CNN. “It’s for all Americans.” Let it go Mitt. Just let it go. Images via WENN
You may be waiting in that line longer than usual if you’re shopping at Walmart next Friday. According to The Huffington Post : Organizers are planning a nationwide strike against Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, and are banking on a new strategy: online organizing. Labor organizers are working with social action nonprofit Engage Network as well as corporate watchdog nonprofit Corporate Action Network to pull off what they are calling a “viral” — meaning national and spreading online — strike. Brian Young, cofounder of the Corporate Action Network, said on a conference call coordinated by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) union Thursday, that organizers cannot cover the roughly 4,000 Walmarts across the country, but enabling self-appointed leaders online has widened and decentralized the campaign. The campaign is also mobilizing strikers and supporters through a Facebook app, multiple Facebook pages, a Tumblr and Twitter with the hashtag #walmartstrikers. The outreach leading up to Black Friday follows a series of unprecedented actions taken by Walmart workers against their employer and working conditions. In October, for the first time in the company’s 50-year history, more than 70 workers at multiple Los Angeles-area Walmart stores walked off the job, even though their jobs are not protected by an official union. The strike had a ripple effect, causing strikes in 12 other cities, in large part through online organizing. The success of these strikes, as well as one over the summer touted as the largest ever protest against the company, and a six-day pilgrimmage of warehouse workers in September, would not have been possible without Facebook, Twitter and other web sites, Young said. “Making Change at Walmart,” which organized the demonstrations and is a campaign affiliated with the UFCW union, has over 25,000 supporters on Facebook. Corey Parker, a Walmart worker from Mississippi, said on the conference call that he became active with OUR Walmart after finding out about it through a HuffPost article on Facebook. Now, he has mobilized workers at his store to strike on Black Friday because, he said, he realized that “not being able to make a living was not just an issue at my store.” Adding fuel to movement, Walmart announced Thursday that it will kick off its Black Friday sale at 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving, its earliest start ever. “Lots and lots of Walmart workers are going to be forced to not have Thanksgiving because they’re going to be preparing all day for the busiest shopping day of the year,” Dan Schlademan, director of Making Change at Walmart, said on the conference call. “This essentially cancels Thanksgiving for hundreds of thousands of workers.” “It’s not like Walmart is financially hurting. It’s not like they’re not making unbelievable sums of money. The price of this is really decimating an important family day in our country.” But Walmart spokesman Steven Restivo said of the sale, “Last year, our highest customer traffic was during the 10 p.m. hour and, according to the National Retail Federation, Thanksgiving night shopping has surged over the past three years.” “Most of our stores are open 24 hours and, historically, much of our Black Friday preparations have been done on Thanksgiving, which is not unusual in the retail industry,” he said, adding that the strikes planned for Black Friday, will not “have any impact on our business.” Regarding the action over the last few months, Restivo said, “While the opinions expressed by this group don’t represent the views of the vast majority of more than 1.3 million Walmart associates in the U.S., when our associates bring forward concerns, we listen.” In September, dozens of Walmart-contracted warehouse workers in Southern California’s Inland Empire walked off the job and went on a six-day, 50-mile pilgrimage to protest working conditions and retaliation for speaking up. More than a month later, the warehouse company NFI responded to some of the strikers’ working condition requests. “Just in the last week, we’ve seen the warehouse operators scrambling to replace broken and unsafe equipment, they’ve rented fans to increase ventilation, and they’ve added more water coolers,” Elizabeth Brennan, communications director for Warehouse Workers United, said on the conference call. However, the strikers who returned to work have continued to face retaliation, many times getting their hours cut from 35 down to eight, she said. Some of these warehouse workers will join striking Walmart workers on Black Friday, Brennan said. Do you support the strike?? Images via tumblr
Did you see this coming?? Folks are asking BET why the show airs so late in defense of poor viewer turnout and, according to The Grio , the network isn’t putting any of the blame on their shoulders: When T.J. Holmes left CNN to host his own show on BET, Don’t Sleep, some called it a risky move, while the network’s viewers seemed to be excited. Holmes saw it as an opportunity to “reach out and report on stories that directly affect the African-American community.” Unfortunately, the viewership has not lived up to hype. Holmes’ show combines comedy, news and commentary not unlike The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Don’t Sleep airs in the 11 pm time-slot and drew 400,000 viewers on to its October 1 premiere. The October 9th episode drew 1 million viewers, but since then, it has slipped to as low as 203,000. “To be honest, the ratings haven’t been great in the past two weeks. Our audience always says they want this kind of programming, but they don’t show up,” said Debra Lee, BET’s CEO. theGrio’s 100: T.J. Holmes, News anchor leaves CNN for BET As a result, Don’t Sleep will now be on for one hour once a week, instead of every night. BET released a statement saying, “The viewers have spoken and due to the overwhelming demand, Don’t Sleep will now be expanded to a one hour weekly format allowing for a more comprehensive discussion of the issues and events affecting the African-American community,” “We will now have an hour-long format to educate, empower, and engage. This will allow us more time to delve deeper into topics and determine how we can all, in our own way, be agents of change,” Holmes wrote on his website. “As part of being extended to an hour, the show will move to Wednesday nights at 11 p.m. This will allow us to do on-location reporting from cities and communities across the country.” Here’s a thought BET. How about you address the rest of your programming as a whole and leave real shows like ‘Don’t Sleep’ alone for now. Images via twitter
What are they tryin’ to say?!?! We all know someone who likes to have a drank at the end of a long day but cotdayum…these statistics are pretty crazy. Americans get too many calories from soda. But what about alcohol? It turns out adults get almost as many empty calories from booze as from soft drinks, a government study found. Soda and other sweetened drinks — the focus of obesity-fighting public health campaigns — are the source of about 6 percent of the calories adults consume, on average. Alcoholic beverages account for about 5 percent, the new study found. “We’ve been focusing on sugar-sweetened beverages. This is something new,” said Cynthia Ogden, one of the study’s authors. She’s an epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which released its findings Thursday. The government researchers say the findings deserve attention because, like soda, alcohol contains few nutrients but plenty of calories. But a liquor trade association said the findings indicate there’s no big problem. “This research shows that the overwhelming majority of adults drink moderately,” Lisa Hawkins, a spokeswoman for the Distilled Spirits Council, said in a statement. The CDC study is based on interviews with more than 11,000 U.S. adults from 2007 through 2010. Participants were asked extensive questions about what they ate and drank over the previous 24 hours. The study found: –On any given day, about one-third of men and one-fifth of women consumed calories from beer, wine or liquor. –Averaged out to all adults, the average guy drinks 150 calories from alcohol each day, or the equivalent of a can of Budweiser. –The average woman drinks about 50 calories, or roughly half a glass of wine. –Men drink mostly beer. For women, there was no clear favorite among alcoholic beverages. –There was no racial or ethnic difference in average calories consumed from alcoholic beverages. But there was an age difference, with younger adults putting more of it away. For reference, a 12-ounce can of regular Coca-Cola has 140 calories, slightly less than a same-sized can of regular Bud. A 5-ounce glass of wine is around 100 calories. Here’s a thought. Maybe they should throw up the same calorie count on drinks as they do on everything else? LLS…do you think it’d make a difference? Images via shutterstock
Po’ lil tink tink … Katt Williams Arrested For Battery Via TMZ reports : Comedian Katt Williams was arrested by police in Oakland last night … in connection with a fight at a club … TMZ has learned. Katt was arrested outside Kimball’s Carnival in East Oakland around 3 AM. The details surrounding the alleged battery are unclear. Sources tell us … Katt was brought to a police station for questioning. He has not yet been released. Williams is no stranger to the police — he was detained in L.A. back in October after allegedly pulling a gun on actor Faizon Love. He was released from custody without charges. Cops in Atlanta had also issued an arrest warrant for Katt back in 2010 over an alleged battery at a 4 Seasons Hotel. Multiple sources tell us … the alleged battery took place at a hotel near the club … and law enforcement is investigating allegations that Katt hit someone over the head with a bottle. That little man is causing nothing but big problems.
