Current Events
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Source: Samir Hussein / Getty / Shyne
Jamal Shyne Barrow has since changed his life for the better after serving time for the 1999 nightclub shooting that also involved disgraced Bad Boy CEO Sean Diddy Combs. But the victim of that incident is calling the rapper, turned politician, a “con artist.”
Spotted on HipHopDX, Natania Reuben, the victim of the 1999 NYC nightclub shooting that changed the lives of Shyne and ended J.LO and Diddy’s relationship, spoke more about that infamous night with The Art of Dialogue.
During the interview, Reuben further clarified her statement that Shyne is no longer the man who allegedly pulled the trigger that night.
“I said on my TikTok, Shyne did not shoot me because he didn’t. But Shyne is a con artist,” she said. “Everybody’s like, ‘Oh, we knew Shyne was innocent.’ No, you don’t know a damn thing because he’s far from innocent.”
Diddy was found not guilty in the shooting, but the “Bonnie-N-Shyne” crafter was sentenced to a decade in prison. Following his release, he returned to his native home of Belize, where he is now a philanthropist and politician, and the Leader of The Opposition in the Belize House of Representatives.
Reuben also believes that Shyne is using her, saying that he did not shoot her to boost himself and become prime minister of Belize.
“He’s going to jockey off of me saying Shyne didn’t shoot me to try to leverage himself to get that prime minister seat […] You ain’t nothing but a penny-ante shyster, a shady car salesman, a dressed-up fraud, a liar,” Reuben said.
She also claims that Shyne still owes her money, “You still owe me money. In the settlement, Shyne was responsible… He didn’t have the money to pay.”
Diddy paid Reuben almost $2 million as part of a settlement following the shooting, also claiming the rapper/mogul is still “harassing her,” a claim he has denied.
Shyne Responds To Reuben Saying He Was Not The Shooter
In response to Reuben’s saying Barrow was not the trigger man, Shyne proclaimed his innocence during a news conference in Belize.
“It opens wounds when you hear the victim saying it was Diddy that shot her. That is what is most remarkable.”
“I’ve been saying this all along. Everyone knew all along that I was the fall guy, but my political enemies and detractors tried to make me into this criminal, but everyone knew that I was a young kid that took the fall.
“I’m just saying that I maintained my innocence all this time. I said that I was defending myself. I didn’t get into who did what. But the victim is telling you who did what.”
You can watch the interview below.
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Conservative politicians are openly pushing Project 2025, a plan to dismantle left and progressive policies to be enacted with the potential reelection of Donald Trump.
The fear of former President Donald Trump returning to the White House has been bolstered by the revelation of a plan crafted by the conservative think tank group the Heritage Foundation. The plan, known as Project 2025, got more attention at the 2024 BET Awards thanks to host Taraji P. Henson addressing the recent Supreme Court decisions criminalizing homelessness. “They are attacking our most vulnerable citizens. The Project 2025 plan is not a game. Look it up!” she said.
What exactly is Project 2025?
Project 2025 is a four-step plan to remake the United States into a “values-oriented” nation intending to eliminate what Republicans call the “deep state” within the American government. It would be enacted at the beginning of the new administration in January 2025. The entire plan is contained in a 920-page document named Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise, which is available for the public to read on its website.
The plan’s first step begins with the document then the assemblage of a database containing personnel loyal to Trump. Trump’s team would then review each candidate before a final selection. The third step involves an online educational system known as the Presidential Administration Academy, which will train those future appointees to hit the ground running to carry out duties. The final step is a playbook covering the first 180 days that is set to empower “a comprehensive, concrete transition plan for each federal agency,” as described by Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, who appeared on MSNBC’s The Weekend to talk about it last week.
So what would come next with Project 2025?
To begin with, if Trump regains office, he would reinstate Schedule F, which would then reclassify tens of thousands out of the two million federal employees to be at-will workers that can be fired easily. President Joe Biden rescinded the plan upon taking office in 2021. Another element focuses on the military by severely gutting veterans’ disability and retirement benefits including placing a 10-year limit on claims, as illustrated in a thread by a user on X, formerly Twitter.
Another aim of Project 2025 is to severely limit immigration to the United States through various methods such as ending updates to the lists for H-2A and H-2B temporary worker visas, forcing states to share taxpayer information and driver’s license information, and terminating the legal protected status of 500,000 “Dreamers” or undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. Project 2025 would also see a dismantling of the Department of Justice as an independent agency as well as the elimination of “woke” terms such as “sexual orientation” and “diversity, equity, and inclusion” from federal policies.
Lastly, women’s rights would see further erosion with Project 2025 if enacted. According to the Center For American Progress, 48 million American women would lose access to emergency contraception. There would also be nationwide bans on abortion, and those who’ve previously had the procedure would be registered in a database kept by a “Department of Life,” which would withhold Medicaid funding to states still allowing it. In-vitro fertilization would also be banned as well as medical stem cell research in keeping with the conservative principle that “life begins at conception.”
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Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor and attorney to Donald Trump, was disbarred in New York on Tuesday in connection to spreading lies about the 2020 election and attempting to overturn the results. Rudy Giuliani was one of the chief Trump proponents who pushed the angle of their being an election fraud during the former business mogul’s failed bid for reelection.
NBC News reports that Rudy Giuliani, 80, is still facing charges of election tampering on behalf of the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump in the states of Arizona and Georgia, and was named as a co-conspirator in the federal election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith.
In an order that was entered on Tuesday, Smith stated that Giuliani had no “good faith basis” to put all of his chips in with Trump in pushing the election fraud narrative. In a New York appeals court, several statements made by Giuliani were presented and painted as false, including those made during a post-election press conference at Four Seasons Total Landscaping amid reports that many outlets called the race for President Joe Biden.
“These false statements were made to improperly bolster respondent’s narrative that due to widespread voter fraud, victory in the 2020 United States presidential election was stolen from his client,” read the decision from a New York appeals court. Giuliani also faces being disbarred in Washington, D.C. after a recent recommendation from the D.C. Bar’s Board of Professional Responsibility.
This latest setback Giuliani adds to a mountain of other happenings since aligning himself with Trump. Back in May, Giuliani’s WABC radio show was eventually canceled after a suspension. Further, a Georgia jury awarded two poll workers $148 million after Giuliani claimed the pair were enacting election fraud without any proof to show.
Rudy Giuliani has not made a statement regarding his disbarment from New York.
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Photo: Getty
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The Supreme Court’s ruling on the claim of immunity by former President Donald Trump was condemned in a dissent by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and President Joe Biden afterward.
The nation was rocked on Monday (July 1), as the Supreme Court issued its ruling on former President Donald Trump’s claims of absolute immunity for his actions in office. The vote was 6 – 3, as all of the conservative justices including Chief Justice John Roberts ruled that Trump was entitled to absolute immunity for acts carried out in his official capacity as president, but also ruled that not all of those acts were official. The ruling was seen as a major win for Trump as his trial to determine his role in the events leading up to the January 6 insurrection will now not take place until after the November presidential elections.
The three liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson – dissented, with Sotomayor delivering a blistering opinion underscoring the severity of what took place. “Today’s decision to grant former Presidents criminal immunity reshapes the institution of the Presidency,” Sotomayor wrote, pointedly criticizing their conservative colleagues and Roberts, who authored the ruling. “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune.” She would end the dissent with “The indictment paints a stark portrait of a President desperate to stay in power. Because our Constitution does not shield a former President from answering for criminal and treasonous acts, I dissent.”
Sotomayor’s opinion also called out how the majority – including Trump-appointed Justices Neil Gorsuch, Amy Comey Barrett and Brett Kavanaugh – didn’t offer clear guidelines as to what is deemed official. President Joe Biden issued a nationwide address on Monday evening noting that “America will have to render a judgment about Donald Trump’s behavior” and said the ruling “almost certainly means that there are almost no limits to what the president can do. “This is a fundamentally new principle,” Biden said. “It’s a dangerous precedent, because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law.” Biden also highlighted the danger apparent if Trump returns to office in November urging people to vote for democracy, stating that he “will be even more emboldened to do whatever he pleases whenever he wants to do it.”
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Source: Club Shay Shay / Shannon Sharpe / Megan Thee Stallion
Shannon Sharpe didn’t waste the opportunity to apologize to Megan The Stallion face-to-face.
Sharpe continues to land prominent guests on his Club Shay Shay podcast in 2024, with Megan Thee Stallion being the latest celebrity to sit across from the First Take host and former NFL star.
After a fantastic introduction where he rang off the Houston Hip-Hop star’s long and still growing list of accomplishments, Sharpe took a moment to apologize for egregiously horny comments he made about Thee Stallion.
What Shannon Sharpe Originally Said To Warrant An Apology
For those who need a refresher, on an episode of his other popular podcast, Nightcap with Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson, Sharpe delivered some sexually suggestive comments.
“I’d have her stretched out like quarter to three,” Sharpe said before adding: “I do it three ways, Ocho: deep, hard, and continuously … I’d have her opening up like saloon doors.”
Yikes.
Thee Stallions loyal fans, the Hotties, wasted no time packing the 55-year-old Hall-of-Famer, which led to him apologizing on another Nightcap episode.
UNC wasn’t done apologizing. Before his sitdown interview, he expressed more regret for BIG HORNY telling the “HISS” crafter:
“For any unwanted attention, harm, shame, embarrassment that I caused you or your family, I wanna say as a man, as I sit here before you, I apologize. You’ve been amazing, and you have an amazing career going forward.”
Megan Thee Stallion graciously accepted his apology, and the two enjoyed a shot of his cognac.
The Hotties also appreciated Sharpe’s apology to their leader.
“I appreciate Shannon taking responsibility. This is so important. It’s what Meg deserves. Happy to see her have this platform and be comfortable,” one person on X, formerly Twitter, wrote.
Good on Unc for apologizing. You can see more reactions in the gallery below.
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Source: TikTok / Today
Over the past few years inflation has caused grocery prices to rise and everyday necessities to take a big bite out of our pockets, but at least our beloved AriZona Iced Tea continues to remain at a single $1.
Why you ask? Well according to Today the founder of Arizona Iced Tea feels that the company doesn’t need to resort to raising the price of a single 23-ounce can of iced tea ((he said the same TWO years ago). While many companies are taking advantage of price hikes and following suit even if they don’t have to, Arizona Beverages’ chairman and co-founder Don Vultaggio says that business is still booming and they aren’t looking to make life harder on their customers by digging in their pockets for a few more cents.
Per Today:
“We’re successful. We’re debt-free. We own everything. Why? Why have people who are having a hard time paying their rent have to pay more for our drink?” he told Sellers. “Maybe it’s my little way to give back.
When asked whether he ever intends to raise prices, he responded, “Not in the foreseeable future. We’re gonna fight as hard as we can for consumers.”
Thank you, sir!
Again we all know how money hungry business brains work and tend to follow whatever trend they feel can bring in more revenue. So when they see prices rising amidst a global inflation, many will follow suit and raise the prices on their products even if it’s not necessary.
Vultaggio on the other hand isn’t trying to exploit any situation just for the sake of money and it’s a mindset that he’s had for quite some time.
“To me, the worst day as a salesman is to go to a retailer and say, ‘Hey, by the way, I’m raising the price on that can today,” Vultaggio told TODAY.com in 2022. For him, such changes have negative trickle-down effects, which he’s made a point to avoid.
“What you want to do is have a customer come in and get a fair value on a can of tea or juice and then buy other things in your store to offset those costs,” he explained.
If only more business people kept it this real.
That being said we have seen a few spots where a can of Arizona Iced Tea was selling for $1.25. Now we know that wasn’t a price set by the company itself, but the owner of the bodega we happened to step into.
Bastards.
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Source: Carolyn Cole / Getty
The state of California has set aside $12 million in reparations funds for its Black residents as restitution for the history of anti-Black oppression that has plagued Black people for the overwhelming majority of our existence in America.
The $12 million included in California’s $300 billion budget is far less than what activists wanted, but it’s also far more than the amount the MAGA world wants to see gifted to Black people anywhere in the country, which is zero.
“Obviously, it’s not enough, but this is the first time ever that reparations for Black people will be a line item in a state budget,” said Chris Lodgson, a reparations activist who lobbied lawmakers to make it all happen, according to the Washington Post.
California’s reparations task force, which was established by the state legislature, actually recommended billions in reparations funding, including $1.2 million in payments for Black Californians over 50 who have lived in the states their whole lives. While the state only ended up approving a fraction of the amount proposed, proponents of the initiative say it’s fortunate even the $12 million total was approved considering the state’s current financial situation, which includes a nearly $50 billion budget shortfall in the coming fiscal year.
“In this tough economic climate, for us to find this money for reparations sends a signal not only to the state but to the nation that California is committed to addressing the harms that are the result of slavery in this country,” said state Sen. Steven Bradford (D).
But it’s not quite safe for state Democrats to call the reparations approval a win as they still have to contend with salty white conservative activists who will certainly fight them tooth and nail before they allow a single Black Californian to receive a check that non-Black Californians don’t also have access to.
From the Post:
Recently, Judicial Watch, a conservative advocacy group, filed a lawsuit to stop the country’s first government-funded reparations program in Evanston, Ill., which had already paid nearly $5 million to 193 of the town’s Black residents. And the Oklahoma Supreme Court recently dismissed a lawsuit by survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre seeking reparations.
“In the wake of the Tulsa decision and the Evanston lawsuit, folks have been asking: ‘Is the reparations movement really going anywhere?’” said Trevor Smith, executive director of the BLIS Collective, a nonprofit focused on restitution for Black and Native Americans. “So the fact that California continues to lead the way is really important.”
The state’s reparations effort is still facing resistance from state Republicans and some Latino and Asian lawmakers, who have argued that it’s unfair to make current residents, a majority of whom are people of color, pay for the sins of the state’s White founders.
“Most every Californian, regardless of race or background, comes from a lineage involving immense pain and struggle,” Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez (R) said in a statement. “Singling out just one demographic is extremely problematic and likely unconstitutional. The problems of the past cannot be paid for by the people of today.”
Yeah—it might be true that Black people don’t have a global monopoly on historic oppression, but we’re the only people in America who endured roughly two and a half centuries of slavery followed by another century of legally-sanctioned second-class citizenship.
So, there’s that.
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Reverend Al Sharpton had some terse words for Democrats upset over President Joe Biden’s debate performance, telling them not to be hasty.
The debate performance of President Joe Biden Thursday (June 27), against Donald Trump has prompted a wave of concern among Democrats and the left, with some calling for Biden to drop out for another candidate in the November elections. Reverend Al Sharpton firmly disagreed with that position on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, saying that such talk helps Trump more than they realize. “He had a bad night, he had a terrible night, but do we not say, ‘Wait a minute, he helped to preserve and maintain affordable care, he fought for police reform giving the executive order on George Floyd, brought unemployment numbers down after a catastrophe that Donald Trump handed us,’” Sharpton said to the panel.
“Record low Black unemployment numbers,” he added. “Really all the things: infrastructure bill, inflation bill. We’re not going to give him the weekend to see if he can recover?” The civil rights activist then exclaimed, “I think that we cannot — we have to stop whining and start winning. The whiners and the winners are the ones that have to make a choice in this case.” Sharpton would conclude by presenting a scenario of what could happen at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago if Biden were to step down. “The other part, and I’ll finish, is that what happens if he steps out?” he asked. “We going to have a riotous convention? We going to have this crowd against this crowd against this crowd? All Donald Trump has to do is sit back, get a Big Mac, and watch the Democrats destroy themselves.”
Sharpton held fast to that sentiment as he sat down for an interview with MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace Friday (June 28). “What I say to all these people talking about a brokered convention or should he step out, I say one, that’s up to him. But second, who steps in that you can tell me can beat Donald Trump?” he said. “The only one I’ve known to ever beat him is Joe Biden.”
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Source: Kevin Winter / Getty / Megan Thee Stallion
This is Megan Thee Stallion’s summer; we’re just living in it. The Houston Hip-Hop star’s self-titled album MEGAN is here, and the Hotties are praising the project.
MEGAN is Megan Thee Stallion’s first project since she finally gained freedom from her former label, 1501 Certified Entertainment.
Listeners quickly noticed that Thee Stallion possibly had more smoke for Nicki Minaj. The album begins with Megan’s scathing diss record “HISS,” in which she takes shots at Minaj and Tory Lanez, his fans, her ex-boyfriend Pardison Fontaine, and Drake.
Megan Thee Stallion seemingly revives her feud with Minaj taking shots at her on the track “Rattle.”
“I wanted everybody right here with me/ But that was my fault, bein’ too friendly/ I was thinkin’ everything was all good/ But the whole time, you was my enemy,” the leader of the hot girl movement raps.
In another verse, Megan Thee Stallion mentions the Queens rapper’s husband and child, rapping: “Damn, bitch, it been four years/ Worry ’bout your man and your kid/ Your life must be borin’ as fuck if you still reminiscin’ ’bout shit that we did.”
Megan Thee Stallion could be referring to her collaboration with Nicki Minaj’s longtime rival Cardi B or possibly the Tory Lanez shooting. Minaj made light of the shooting in her attacks on the “Savage” crafter.
Minaj’s “allies” also caught a stray on the project, with Megan rapping, “And I ain’t worried ’bout the bitter-bitch link-up/Y’all hoes earned them seats in the fan club,” referring to BIA, JT formerly of The City Girls, and Akbar V whom Minaj brought out during stops on Pink Friday 2 Tour.
Megan Thee Stallion Opens Up About Her Bisexuality & Embraces Love For Anime On MEGAN
Thee Stallion also addresses her bisexuality on the album, rapping, “I like girls and I like niggas, both of ’em gettin’ ate, “while also letting her love for anime on the tracks “Otaku Hot Girl,” which will surely flourish at every BLERD convention across the country and become the next viral TikTok and IG Reels track.
If you asked the Hotties, Thee Stallion delivered them a project they have been waiting for.
You can see those reactions in the gallery below.
1. It’s okay, you can still get lit.
5. A win for BLERDS everywhere
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Vice President Kamala Harris defended President Joe Biden’s performance in the CNN-hosted debate, insisting he had a “strong finish”.
The first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and Republican nominee and former president Donald Trump took place in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday night (June 27). Biden’s near-listless performance became a hot topic after it ended, and the main subject for Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper afterward which got contentious as he pressed her about Biden’s performance at the debate hosted by his network.
“Yes, it was a slow start, but it was a strong finish,” Harris said, adding that “what became very clear through the course of the night is that Joe Biden is fighting on behalf of the American people on substance, on policy, on performance. Joe Biden is extraordinarily strong.” As Cooper returned to query about Biden’s showing citing the concern from some Democrats and pundits, the vice president pushed back against it. “Listen, people can debate on style points,” Harris replied. “But ultimately, this election and who is the president of the United States has to be about substance, and the contrast is clear.”
Cooper noted Harris’ own debate performance against Biden in 2019, noting “he was a very different person on stage” before asking: “Can you say that you are not concerned at all having watched the president’s performance tonight?” Harris responded firmly: “It was a slow start. That’s obvious to everyone. I’m not going to debate that point. I’m talking about the choice in November. I’m talking about one of the most important elections in our lifetime.” She stressed that point to Cooper, pivoting to talk about Biden’s “three and a half years of performance,” and pointing to what would be at stake in the November elections.
The vice president also defended Biden in another interview on MSNBC, acknowledging the slow start but insisting that his messaging was “clear” and hammering Trump on the litany of false claims he made – which were disproven in a fact-checking segment by CNN after the debate ended, which stated that Trump issued at least 30 false claims while on stage.