Missouri Man Charged With Felony After Racist Comment To Black Waitress A racist Missouri restaurant customer is getting exactly what he deserves after making outwardly prejudice comments towards an African-American waitress before physically assaulting her. via Fox 2 Now St. Louis A white northwest Missouri man is charged with felony assault after he allegedly confronted a black waitress as she served him breakfast. Nodaway County Prosecuting Attorney Robert Rice announced Wednesday that he charged 65-year-old Tommy Dean Gaa, of Maryville, with felony assault motivated by discrimination. The Maryville Daily Forum reports Gaa is accused of confronting the waitress on Sunday and grabbing her arm, causing bruising. A probable cause statement says Gaa said “I have a place I would like to take you where I hung your grandpa” and used racial slurs. Gaa was released from the Nodaway County Jail on $4,900 bond. Online records don’t indicate if he has an attorney. Rice says the comments were bad enough but Gaa crossed the line when he grabbed the waitress. This bum sounds like a real jerk. Good to know that his racist foolery won’t go unpunished.
Prosecutor Claims Former Black CIA Officer Convicted Of Espionage Was Disgruntled Over Racial Discrimination Is this guy a black Edward Snowden , or is that too much of a stretch? One big difference in this case is that Sterling claims he did nothing wrong. According to NY Times reports : Jeffrey A. Sterling, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, was convicted of espionage Monday on charges that he told a reporter for The New York Times about a secret operation to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program. The conviction is a significant victory for the Obama administration, which has conducted an unprecedented crackdown on officials who speak to journalists about security matters without the administration’s approval. Prosecutors prevailed after a yearslong fight in which the reporter, James Risen, refused to identify his sources. The case revolved around a C.I.A. operation in which a former Russian scientist provided Iran with intentionally flawed nuclear component schematics. Mr. Risen revealed the operation in his 2006 book, “State of War,” describing it as a mismanaged, potentially reckless mission that may have inadvertently aided the Iranian nuclear program. On the third day of deliberations, the jury in federal court in Alexandria, Va., convicted Mr. Sterling on nine felony counts. Mr. Sterling, who worked for the C.I.A. from 1993 to 2002 and now lives in O’Fallon, Mo., faces a maximum possible sentence of decades in prison, though the actual sentence is likely to be far shorter. Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of Federal District Court, who presided over the weeklong trial, allowed Mr. Sterling to remain free on bond and set sentencing for April 24. “This is a just and appropriate outcome,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said. “The defendant’s unauthorized disclosures of classified information compromised operations undertaken in defense of America’s national security. The disclosures placed lives at risk. And they constituted an egregious breach of the public trust by someone who had sworn to uphold it. As this verdict proves, it is possible to fully prosecute unauthorized disclosures that inflict harm upon our national security without interfering with journalists’ ability to do their jobs. While it might seem like this is a case where race wasn’t a factor, it turns out that it did play a role. The prosecution argued that Sterling was disgruntled over workplace discrimination. Liberal advocacy groups have hailed Mr. Sterling as a whistle-blower for taking his concerns about the program to the Senate Intelligence Committee in early 2003, a time when dissenting voices in the C.I.A. were hushed as the country prepared for war in Iraq. The Justice Department and C.I.A., however, deny that characterization. They said that the Iran operation had not been mismanaged and that Mr. Sterling had gone to Congress and then the news media as a way to settle personal grievances. The Justice Department had no direct proof that Mr. Sterling, who managed the Iranian operation, provided the information to Mr. Risen, but prosecutors stitched together a strong circumstantial case. They described Mr. Sterling, who is black, as bitter and frustrated about what he believed was workplace discrimination. Telephone records and emails showed that Mr. Sterling and Mr. Risen had talked frequently, and prosecutors argued that only Mr. Sterling had the information, the motive and the opportunity to leak it. We’re a little torn over this one because we’d hate to be tied up in court for not divulging the identities of our government sources — if we had any. But at the same time, if dude snitched, isn’t he risking public safety and national security? What do you think? Also, it’s worth noting that Sterling is the one of eight people the Obama administration has charged with discussing national security matters with reporters. Under all previous presidents combined, only three people had faced such prosecutions! APImages
Vince Staples Defends Iggy Azalea Against Character Attacks Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to leap tall, twerking, blondes in a single bound… Via HipHopDX “I do not care,” Staples said in a clip that debuted as a part of today’s DX Daily. “White people invented basketball. I don’t care. Why would I care? She getting paid. We speak English, we go to Christian churches. It’s the same thing. Yeah it’s fucked up but you just now getting a whiff of that? That’s what it is. Nobody got mad when Eminem did it. Why you mad at her ’cause she a girl and Eminem would probably slap you? It’s more than that. Azealia Banks got a point with the stuff she saying. Everybody got a point. But at the end of the day we all just got jobs. That’s the way I look at it because a lot of things are culture, you never know where none of this shit come from, man. Of course Hip Hop is something that’s very important to Black people but it’s a lot of other things that are important to us that we tend to neglect like family structure. It is what it is. It happens. “Everybody entitled to their opinion,” he added. “I stay out of all that. I don’t wanna argue with nobody. I wanna be able to pay my rent and I need a carwash right now so I’m ’bout to go do that. I’m just happy I’m able to do the little stuff. I don’t care, all that bigger picture—ain’t nobody give a fuck when my homies got shot in their face. So if you talk about, ‘What you care about?’ That’s what I care about. When the police start paying for some funerals and something like that instead of softball games then I’ll probably have something to say about that issue. It just don’t relate to me. I come from a different place. We got white people [who] gangbang. We got white boys from the hood. Are they appropriating Black culture? Yeah, but them is my niggas because they care just as much as me. Who are you to say what somebody actually love? You can’t say what touched anybody any kind of way. I don’t think that’s up to me personally. That’s not up to me. She might love Hip Hop to her core. That might be what she always wanted to do when she was younger because she seen it on the TV but that’s the reason everybody wanted to do it. We just happen to look like them.” Does young Vince Staples have valid point? Is there a possibility that Iggy has hip-hop in her heart? Image via Splash/XXL
The first black woman to head the Academy of Motion Picture Arts says they’re committed to diversity, but this year’s nominees tell a different story . Are her comments to be trusted? Via NY Daily News reports: The first black president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences spoke out Friday night in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press about the Oscar nominations and the widespread criticism that followed. Cheryl Boone Isaacs insisted the academy is “committed to seeking out diversity of voice and opinion” and that outreach to women and artists of color is a major focus. “In the last two years, we’ve made greater strides than we ever have in the past toward becoming a more diverse and inclusive organization through admitting new members and more inclusive classes of members,” Boone Isaacs said. “And, personally, I would love to see and look forward to see a greater cultural diversity among all our nominees in all of our categories.” Boone Isaacs declined to address whether she and the academy were embarrassed by the slate of white Oscar nominees, instead insisting that she’s proud of the nominees, all of whom deserved recognition. “What is important not to lose sight of is that ‘Selma,’ which is a fantastic motion picture, was nominated for best picture this year, and the best picture category is voted on by the entire membership of around 7,000 people,” Boone Isaacs said. Besides best picture, the film received just one additional nod — for original song — in what was widely viewed as a significant snub. But fans shouldn’t feel that way, she said: “It’s nominated for the Oscar for best picture. It’s an award that showcases the talent of everyone involved in the production of the movie ‘Selma.’” Though she repeatedly stressed the Oscars are a competitive process and that she’s proud of the year’s nominees, Boone Isaacs acknowledged that diversity needs to be mandatory in both story and storyteller. “It matters that we pay attention to, again, the diversity of voice and opinion and experience, and that it doesn’t slide, it doesn’t slide anywhere except for forward,” she said. “And maybe this year is more just about let’s kick it in even more.” It’s probably worth noting that a 2012 survey by the Los Angeles Times found the academy was 94 percent white, overwhelmingly male and with a median age of 62. There are currently around 7,000 members and there’s no requirement to retire so it’s probably safe to say the Academy will mostly be made up for old white men for quite some time to come. Still, after the uproar this year it’s pretty obvious something needs to be done to be sure that black actors and projects are being equally considered, riiiiight? WENN
Naya Rivera Apologizes For Showering Comments About Ethnics Soap don’t fawk with you ! Via US Magazine reports: Who knew showering was such a hot-button topic? After inciting controversy on Tuesday, Jan. 13, with her remark that showering daily is “such a white people thing,” Naya Rivera attempted to wash away some of her bad karma with an apology. The Glee star, 28, returned to the scene of the crime — The View — as a guest host on Wednesday, Jan. 14, and offered a mea culpa to viewers who took offense to her previous comments. “Showering. Biggest topic in pop culture today, in my opinion. Thanks to me, unfortunately,” she quipped during the show’s Hot Topics segment. “Yesterday, we were talking about a study that says you’re supposed to shower once or twice every three days. I had an opinion on it that was supposed to be a joke. Apparently it didn’t go over so well.” (That might be an understatement. Viewers took Rivera to task for the offhand remark, sharing their own opinions of her opinion on Twitter. “When YOU tell the world YOU shower every 3 days that says more about YOU not us Naya Rivera,” one person wrote, adding that “some things are better left unsaid.”) Rivera claimed on Wednesday that she was kidding at the time, saying, “It was supposed to be a joke, but I apologize if anyone was offended.” She went on to quote some of the tweets she’d received, including one from user @retiredfilth that said, “Now white people gonna think we don’t shower cuz of Naya Rivera.” The View co-host Nicolle Wallace, for one, said the actress deserved a break. “Back off of Naya,” Wallace told viewers. “She’s very clean.” Fellow co-host Rosie O’Donnell piped in, too, saying she’d read something about how “doctors say that you should take a bath” anyway. “Thank you, that’s what I do,” she quipped. This why Sean had to cancel her? Seems legit. Very legit.
Would you hit it or nah ?? Laverne Cox Shows Off Her Bikini Beach Body On Instagram Via RumorFix reports: Laverne Cox continues to grace Instagram with her smoldering hot beach body! The Orange is the New Black star took to her social media for the second time in one week on Sunday to show us what her mama gave her. Dressed in a sexy black one piece bathing suit, Cox flaunted her curvaceous body in the selfie snapshot. “The Jacuzzi was so relaxing. Maybe I will think to take a selfie when I am actually in the jacuzzi or pool but I usually am too busy relaxing. #VacayIsLovely.” The hot photo follows a similar pic she posted on Tuesday wearing a sexy red number during her tropical vacation. In the steamy selfie she took three days prior, Cox captioned the pic, “Ready for the pool and the beach earlier. Vacay is lovely.” The 30-year-old, who is the first transgender star to be nominated for an acting Emmy for Orange Is The New Black, also posted a sweet snap of herself relazing on the beach, writing, “Wow this beach is so gorgeous. What a wonderful breeze! What a wonderful tour guide today! #Relaxation #VacayIsLovely.” Sure beats a prison uniform! Enjoy the vacation Laverne – and we’ll see you on the red carpet next month! Hate it or love it?!?
Wow… So he’s a snitch who takes bribes!? If we didn’t already think Al Sharpton was shady enough, the NY Post dropped a detailed report over the weekend that explains how he gets money for NOT throwing cororations under the bust for racism: For more than a decade, corporations have shelled out thousands of dollars in donations and consulting fees to Sharpton’s National Action Network. What they get in return is the reverend’s supposed sway in the black community or, more often, his silence. Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal met with the activist preacher after leaked emails showed her making racially charged comments about President Obama. Pascal was under siege after a suspected North Korean cyberattack pressured the studio to cancel its release of “The Interview,” which depicts the assassination of dictator Kim Jong-un. No payments to NAN have been announced, but Sharpton and Pascal agreed to form a “working group” to focus on racial bias in Hollywood. Sharpton notably did not publicly assert his support for Pascal after the meeting — what observers say seems like a typical Sharpton “shakedown” in the making. Pay him in cash or power, critics say, and you buy his support or silence. “Al Sharpton has enriched himself and NAN for years by threatening companies with bad publicity if they didn’t come to terms with him. Put simply, Sharpton specializes in shakedowns,” said Ken Boehm, chairman of the National Legal & Policy Center, a Virginia-based watchdog group that has produced a book on Sharpton. And Sharpton, who now boasts a close relationship with Obama and Mayor Bill de Blasio, is in a stronger negotiating position than ever. “Once Sharpton’s on board, he plays the race card all the way through,” said a source who has worked with the Harlem preacher. “He just keeps asking for more and more money.” We figured he was up to something but this just seems so greedy and unjust. We just hope some of that fortune being funneled into Nationa Action Network actually goes toward helping the companies that need and want them. Here’s more details: Sharpton raised $1 million for NAN at his 60th birthday bash in October, with donations rolling in from unions and a corporate roster of contributors including AT&T, McDonald’s, Verizon and Walmart. Companies have long gotten in line to pay Sharpton. Macy’s and Pfizer have forked over thousands to NAN, as have General Motors, American Honda and Chrysler. NAN had repeatedly and without success asked GM for donations for six years beginning in August 2000, a GM spokesman told The Post. Then, in 2006, Sharpton threatened a boycott of GM over the planned closing of an African-American-owned dealership in The Bronx. He picketed outside GM’s Fifth Avenue headquarters. GM wrote checks to NAN for $5,000 in 2007 and another $5,000 in 2008. Sharpton targeted American Honda in 2003 for not hiring enough African-Americans in management positions. “We support those that support us,” Sharpton wrote to the company. “We cannot be silent while African-Americans spend hard-earned dollars with a company that does not hire, promote or do business with us in a statistically significant manner.” Two months later, car company leaders met with Sharpton, and Honda began to sponsor NAN’s events. The protests stopped. Sharpton landed a gig as a $25,000-a-year adviser to Pepsi after he threatened a consumer boycott of the soda company in 1998, saying its ads did not portray African-Americans. He held the position until 2007. Do you think what Sharpton is doing is wrong or is it how business is done these days? WENN
SMH!! Smell like what exactly??? Former Revlon Employee Accuses CEO Of Racist Rants, Bullying In Lawsuit A former scientist with Revlon cosmetics is making explosive accusations against the CEO of the company, alleging bigoted commentary and bullying him due to his whistleblowing on unsafe manufacturing processes. Via NYPost : The CEO of Revlon is a bigoted bully who hates “dirty” Americans, thinks Jews “stick together” and believes he can “smell” black people when they walk into a room, according to a new lawsuit. The beauty company’s boss, Lorenzo Delpani, made the ugly comments after taking over in 2013, according to a discrimination suit filed by Revlon’s former top scientist, Alan Meyers, who says he was ostracized because of his Jewish heritage. Delpani, a native of Italy, told Meyers he was “shocked” there weren’t more Jews at the company because the biggest shareholder is Ron Perelman, a prominent Jewish American, according to the suit. “Jews stick together,” Delpani quipped. He also allegedly added that “thankfully,” Perelman “is not like that anymore.” Delpani also said that he hates living among Americans, whom he called “small-minded” and “dirty,” and that he can’t wait to get back to a “real” country, according to court papers filed this week. He later allegedly went on an “anti-American tirade” in which he said the US is getting closer to being like ISIS. Meyers also claims Delpani made a racist comment after a meeting in South Africa, when he said he “could smell a black person when he entered a room.” Meyers says Delpani had it out for him for having red-flagged safety issues in the production and manufacturing process. In the suit, Meyers claims Delpani’s tirades and tormenting eventually became outright bullying. Meyers described one incident in October, when he allegedly was forced by Delpani to act as a human easel during a high-level meeting. Meyers says he was instructed to hold a whiteboard, which covered his entire upper torso and head, for approximately 30 minutes. He saw this as a demeaning gesture, he says, especially since he was supposed to be part of the leadership team. Stress from the ordeal forced Meyers into the hospital with chest pains, the lawsuit says. He said he was fired on Dec. 10. Damn. Doubt this guy will be running Revlon for much longer… WireImage Continue reading →
People ain’t isht ! Ferguson Spokesman Suspended For Calling Mike Brown A Pile Of Trash Via The Grio reports: The Ferguson Police Department has suspended a spokesman after he referred to the Michael Brown memorial as “a pile of trash.” A statement the city provided to The Associated Press on Sunday didn’t identify the officer who made the remark to The Washington Post. The newspaper attributed the comment to Officer Tim Zoll. The memorial at the site of Brown’s death was damaged last week after a car apparently hit it. Zoll doesn’t have a listed number and couldn’t be reached by the AP. The city says the spokesman denied making the comment, but later admitted that he’d misled his bosses. He has been placed on unpaid leave while “disciplinary proceedings” begin. City officials said negative remarks about the memorial “do not reflect the feelings of the Ferguson Police Department.” You can’t be serious!!!! Continue reading →
#BlackLivesMatter The Game, Tyga Protest Police Violence In Los Angeles More and more celebrities are getting involved in the BlackLivesMatter movement. While protests have slowed in NYC due to the tragic murder of two on-duty police officers , other protests around the nation have continued in the interest of ending excessive police force on Black citizens. Los Angeles’ version of the Millions March, a continuation of the mass demonstration that took place in NYC just two weeks ago, saw several public figures in entertainment appear in support . Most vocal abut their participation were The Game and Tyga. They shared their experience on social media both during and after the march: Nice! Great to see celebs who are not afraid to get involved in a more real way. Hit the flip for more pics and video of the #MillionsMarchLA.
