We wanted to show you what everyone in court saw and see if it changes your opinion. An overwhelming amount of feedback and big opinions were tossed around on and offline yesterday about the Tony Farmer case. All of this makes us ask the question, Have we become too forgiving when it comes to Assault? Are we more concerned about this talented athlete and his ruined Basketball career? Should he have gotten a slap on the wrist and been sent on his way? His Lawyer seemed to think Farmer would get probation and from Tony’s reaction yesterday, we’re pretty sure he was thinkin’ the same. Maybe he should have gotten served with mandatory time at a treatment facility? Maybe he won’t serve all three years of his sentence? We can try to spin this in a positive light but really, what it boils down to is another Assault case that has our community up in arms…but for the wrong reason. We are somehow neglecting to keep in mind that Tony plead guilty to robbery, assault, kidnapping (which is a federal offense and brings more than 3 years in some cases), and intimidation of the victim. All of this stemming from the same attack you just watched. That same attack where you see his ex crouching in a corner, flinching away from him, as his 6’7″ azz scares her to death, beats her, and proceeds to pull her outside by her hair. We hope all parties involved find some peace and that everyone at least takes a real lesson away from all of this: That one bad decision will change the rest of your life forever. Images via Twitter
Seems Todd Akin’s comment had a huge impact on women brave enough to come out and tell their stories. Women everywhere, one after the other, have been taking their tragedies to the media in a heroic effort. Shauna R. Prewitt wrote about her experience and how, years later, she’s raising her daughter who was the product of a viscous act so many of us struggle to tell. While a student in my final year of college, at age 21, I was raped. I have dissected that moment — the horrifying moment that I became a “victim” — from every possible angle. I have poked and prodded, examined and re-examined. Regrettably, I have even suspected myself in a desperate, ultimately futile attempt to understand how I became a victim….People who did not even know me were quick to comment or speculate on my rape. What were you wearing? Did you scream loudly? Did this occur in public? Eight years after my rape, I find myself on trial against ignorance again. Rep. Todd Akin’s recent comments that “legitimate rape” rarely results in pregnancy not only flout scientific fact but, for me, cut deeper. Akin has de-legitimized my rape. You see, nine months after my rape, I gave birth to a beautiful little girl. You could say she was conceived in rape; she was. But she is also so much more than her beginnings. I blissfully believed that after I finally had decided to give birth to and to raise my daughter, life would be all roses and endless days at the playground. I was wrong again. It would not be long before I would learn firsthand that in the vast majority of states — 31 — men who father through rape are able to assert the same custody and visitation rights to their children that other fathers enjoy . When no law prohibits a rapist from exercising these rights, a woman may feel forced to bargain away her legal rights to a criminal trial in exchange for the rapist dropping the bid to have access to her child. For the sake of her child, the woman will sacrifice her need to see her once immensely powerful perpetrator humbled by the court. I know it because I lived it. I went to law school to learn how to stop it. Having fought this injustice for the past several years, I have come to believe that ignorance is to blame for this legal absence. Opponents argue no woman would ever choose to raise the child she conceived through rape. The only two studies to analyze the choices made by pregnant raped women indicate otherwise — at least 30% of women who conceive by rape make this choice. Others argue that no rapist would ever seek parental rights. Not only does my experience and that of others I know prove otherwise, but it is not surprising that a man who cruelly degrades a woman would also seek to torture her in an even more agonizing way, by seeking access to her child. Today, it seems we may face a new and unbelievable challenge: convincing legislators that women can conceive when they are raped. Our heart goes out to every Woman out there who’s ever felt that indescribable fear and struggles because she was violated. Make sure you Vote this year so we can keep Congress and Fat Cat Politicos out of our Crocthes! Source Images via Shutterstock
Shame on them! News broke earlier today when an unedited seven-page report conducted by the Chief Medical Examiner announced the “cause of death” in the Chavis Carter investigation. According to the report by Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Stephen A. Erickson of the Arkansas State Crime Lab, the bullet that killed Carter entered his skull near his right temple, four inches from the top of his head. “At the time of discharge, the muzzle of the gun was placed against the right temporal scalp,” wrote Erickson. He went on to state that, “The manner of death is based on both autopsy findings and the investigative conclusions of the Jonesboro Police Department.” Last week, Jonesboro police released video of a police officer approximately the same size as Carter reenacting what may have happened the back of the police car on the night of July 28, when Carter and two other men were pulled over in a traffic stop. Police searched Carter twice but have said they did not find a gun. The reenactment video shows the officer being cuffed, then sitting in the back seat, retrieving a fake gun from his pants, and bringing the barrel to his right temple. The video also shows still photographs of other officers handcuffed in the backseat of a car, with the fake gun pressed to their temple. Deputy Chief Medical Examiner Stephen A. Erickson’s “resluts” are whack and we hope Chavis’ fam gets a private autopsy ordered by a legit examiner who isn’t covering isht up. SMH Source Images via Twitter/Facebook
What about all the “patients” that need their “medicine”??? Los Angeles Medicinal Herb Shops Plan On Stay Open Despite City Ban When Los Angeles’ marijuana dispensary ban takes effect Sept. 6, there will still be plenty of pot shops open, and not just in neighboring cities like West Hollywood and Long Beach. After we called several dispensaries this week we found that many in L.A. proper were planning to stick it out, despite the council-enacted prohibition that covers all retail cannabis shops in city limits. Their rationale? -Some said that they were awaiting and even participating in court challenges that essentially question cities’ rights to ban dispensaries. -Some said they hoped an Americans for Save Access voter referendum would overturn the ban and save their stores before they had to be shut down. -Others said they were among the 182 shops that opened before a 2007 city moratorium was enacted and hope to be grandfathered in. -Yet others said they’d stay open until the city sent them a letter expressly telling them it’s time to close. (We reached out to the City Attorney’s office about just such a possible letter but had yet to hear back.) In each case, dispensaries that stay open would be walking on thin ice, as none of these appear to be ironclad legal saviors. Court challenges could take months; the voter referendum will take months. And a City Council proposal to save the pre-2007 dispensaries is being drawn up and studied, but for now the ban is the law. But despite the threat of “the man” some shop plan on thuggin’ it out until they are FORCED to shut down. A representative of a Hollywood dispensary who didn’t want his name used told the Weekly it had yet to hear from the city formally and that “we’re definitely staying open.” The operator of a San Fernando Valley shop told us it is signing on to a lawsuit against the ban. The dispensary will stay open and, he believes, is somewhat safe as a pre-2007 shop. A rep from a shop on Melrose Avenue said she believed “we should be fine” because it was a pre-2007 business. A Koreatown collective operator told us it was taking the situation “day by day.” But at the Hollyweed Dispensary, another pre-2007 shop, operators didn’t plan to take chances. Their long-fought legitimacy was on the line, manager Sunny Simms told the Weekly, and if the city expressly told it to close, it would do so: “We do plan on shutting our doors around Sept 6. We would be liable to lose our business, and we can’t risk that.” They might as well just leave these folks alone, closing these shops isn’t going to stop the kush train from rolling…see what we did there? Image via tumblr Source
Brandy Talks And Shows Letter From Daughter To Her Brandy did a show and appearance in D.C. last week and talked about her 10-year old daughter Sy’rai’s special letter written to her. youtube thebrandyblog
Janet Jackson Denies Slapping Paris Jackson Or Calling Her Expletive Janet Jackson is so upset over reports that she slapped her niece Paris and called her a lil beyotch that she’s considering suing the media outlet that first published the story: Last week, internet rumors surfaced concerning an alleged altercation between Janet Jackson and her niece Paris. Today, Janet Jackson’s attorney, Blair G. Brown, tells The Insider that Janet vehemently denies the altercation. “Ms. Jackson did not slap Paris, and did not call her a ‘spoiled little b!tch’ or a ‘b!tch,’” says Brown. According to Brown, Janet is threatening legal action towards the source that originally reported the claims. Brown says that the “false statements are highly damaging to Ms. Jackson’s reputation and have caused her significant harm.” Yesterday, attorneys for the estate of Michael Jackson confirmed to The Insider that Janet, Randy, Rebbie and Jermaine Jackson (and all of Katherine’s GRANDCHILDREN belonging to them) were prohibited from entering the Calabasas home shared by Paris, Prince, Blanket and Katherine Jackson “following the events of July 23 in which certain members of the Jackson family showed up unannounced at the Calabasas residence of Michael Jackson’s mother and children, causing a very public disturbance.” The attorneys for Michael Jackson’s estate did not elaborate on the nature of the disturbance and what exactly took place. This whole thing is a mess and we still can’t understand why Janet got involved in the first place — especially to side with her adult hoodrat brothers Randy and Jermaine who wed and had kids with the same woman! SMH, you know that family got problems when there are kids running around who are brothers AND cousins! Source
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – It’s the Fourth of July holiday, and Hallandale Beach was packed with people enjoying the sun, the sand, and the water. But the lifeguards were on a skeleton staff. Local Ten spoke with three lifeguards who were fired this week and four others who gave notice that they were quitting after a rescue took place on Monday afternoon. “The person was drowning outside our buoy lines. It’s an unguarded zone,” said Szilard Janko. Tomas Lopez was the guard who ran off of his stand and past his guard area to reach the man in need. “So I started running. I didn’t see the person at first,” said Lopez. He was able to reach the unidentified man, carry him to safety away from the water, and conduct rescue techniques until EMTs reached the beach. But just minutes after he filed his rescue paperwork, Lopez was fired on the spot. Lopez was told he was fired because he left his zone and saved someone outside the buoys in a part of the beach his company is not paid to protect. “So while he was off, we had two other guards watching his zone so the beach was secure,” said Szilard Janko, another lifeguard. Janko quit his job in solidarity, standing by his colleague’s side for saving a man’s life. “I think we should be able to rescue anybody, anywhere,” he said. Both Lopez and Janko are 21 years old and have been lifeguards for less than a year. They said they knew the rules but could not imagine leaving someone to drown when their job is to save lives. The now unemployed lifeguards said Monday’s incident was the first time they were forced to decide between following the rule about the assigned zones or attempting to save a life. “I’m not going to put my job over helping someone. I’m going to do what I felt was right and I did,” said Lopez. The firings continued after Monday’s rescue. Szilard Janko’s 16-year-old brother Zoard Janko was also let go. “If I see anyone drowning, regardless of where they are, I’m going to save them because I’m a lifeguard and, even as a human, I’m going to save someone if I see they need help, and they told me I was fired,” said Zoard Janko. Zoard Janko said he was fired after a manager asked if he’d leave his assigned zone to help someone in an unprotected area and he told his boss that he would. Jeff Ellis Associates, an Orlando-based company, is contracted by the city and paid to man the beaches, but only in the most populated spots. When asked what the lifeguards are supposed to do when someone is drowning outside the guarded zones, the men explained they were told to call 911. Former Vice Mayor of Hallandale Beach Bill Julian was outraged over what is happening on the beaches in his city. “This young man is a hero. He should not be fired,” said Julian. Julian was in office when the contract bid was given to Jeff Ellis and Associates, and he is not happy with how they are overseeing the beach rescues. “Looking back at the contract we approved, as a former vice mayor, as a cost-saving measure, I think now is the time not to renew and get our guys back under our control,” he said. The company has been guarding certain spots of Hallandale Beach since 2003, but that contract expires this year. As of now, seven lifeguards are no longer patrolling Hallandale Beach, all because a man’s life was saved outside of an assigned area. “I understand it’s wrong not to leave someone there, and they are grown-ups and they don’t understand it,” said Zoard Janko. youtube local10
Can’t play with a rude gyal’s money Rihanna is suing her former accountants, saying they spent years mismanaging her finances and cost her millions of dollars during a recent tour. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, accuses the singer’s former accounting firm, Berdon LLP, and two accountants of causing “significant financial losses.” In addition, “gross mismanagement” of the singer’s finances cost her millions of dollars during her 2010 “Last Girl on Earth” tour. “Between 2005 and 2010, Tourihanna suffered significant financial losses due to Defendants’ financial mismanagement and other acts and omissions,” the lawsuit states. Tourihanna was the concert touring company established by Berdon on Rihanna’s behalf, according to the suit. The lawsuit lays out Rihanna’s musical career, which took off at the age of 16 when she signed with Island Def Jam Music Group and moved from her native Barbados to the U.S. The lawsuit portrays the singer—known for pop staples like “Umbrella”—as a financial amateur who placed a great deal of trust in her accountants as she rose to fame and wealth. “In 2005, when Fenty was 16 years old, Berdon was hired to provide her with accounting, business and financial management services for all aspects of her rapidly growing music career,” the lawsuit states. “Because she was a minor with no knowledge of the music industry or financial matters generally, Fenty placed Berdon in a position of trust and loyalty.” Among other allegations, Rihanna said the firm and the two accountants hired to manage her finances earned “commissions” based on the singer’s gross receipts. However, such an arrangement isn’t standard for the accounting industry, according to the lawsuit, which called the commissions “exorbitant and excessive.” You better get yo money RihRih!!! Source
What in the entire f***?!??! Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are being sued by the wackjob who holds the Guinness book of world records as the most litigious man in the world. Jonathan Lee Riches filed the lawsuit in Northern District of West Virginia on June 21 citing that he stumbled upon a secret Al-Qaeda terrorist meeting where he saw Kim, Kanye, Kris Jenner, Bruce Jenner, Khloe and Kourtney. Riches has stated that he discovered all of the defendants at an Al-Qaeda secret training camp in West Virginia on June 17 where they were allegedly pleading their allegiance to the organization, burning the U.S. flag and stomping on pictures of President Barack Obama. Now we don’t buy all that but the lawsuit is definitely legit. We were able to get the actual copy of the suit itself. The suit gets into details which includes Kanye West selling Air Yeezy 2′s to fund Al-Qaeda. Check out the official copies of the lawsuit below. This has to be the ultimate troll! While Kanye might like to dress up like a Jihadi couture ninja in his videos and Kim may hold weapons of mass destruction in her pants, we heavily doubt these two have teamed up with Al-Qaeda. However, we have a feeling they are still planning total world domination. Source
