According to a report, Kelis allegedly left her nanny stranded while overseas, and now has to pay almost $18,000 to the woman.
The nanny—Soraya Tascon was with Kelis while the singer was on tour in June 2016. Tascon was taking care of Kelis’ then six-month-old baby and seven-month-old son that she and Nas have together. Kelis reportedly was supposed to give the nanny $750 a week to take care of her children, but did not do so. When they reached London, Kelis fired the nanny and didn’t pay for a plane ticket for the woman to get back to Los Angeles.
Tascon had to find her way back to L.A. and filed a complaint to the Labor Commission of the State of California. It was noted that the Labor Commissioner immediately sided with Tascon in the matter, saying she was a victim.
Donald Trump garnered some unexpected laughs after telling the UN General Assembly on Tuesday (September 25) about the “extraordinary progress” of his administration in a speech.
He started off by saying, “One year ago I stood before you for the first time in this grand hall. I addressed the threats facing our world, and I presented a vision to achieve a brighter future for all of humanity. Today I stand before the United Nations General Assembly to share the extraordinary progress we’ve made.”
He added, “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country. America’s… So true.”
After hearing laughter in the crowd, Trump responded by saying, “I didn’t expect that reaction but that’s okay.”
Officials from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice were presented with what had to be one of the most surreal predicaments of each of their professional careers when they came into the possession of nearly $18,000,000 worth of cocaine on Friday, September 21. What was most shocking about the experience is how it came to unfold – with the donation of a shipment of bananas that had been used to move the drugs.
In the body of a Facebook post that the TDCJ put up on its page hours after the ordeal went down, it was explained that two sergeants from the department’s Scott Unit had been sent to retrieve a couple of pallets filled with the fruit, upon it being offered to them from Ports of America in Freeport. According to the official who fielded the call, the port was looking to get rid of the shipment because its contents had already begun to over-ripen.
When the sergeants arrived they were led to the two pallets and the 45 boxes stacked on top of them. However, before taking off, one of the sergeants noticed how much heavier a particular box was in comparison to the others, he saw reason to investigate. Sure enough, upon digging to the bottom of the first box he re-opened, and then moving on to a second and third – the sergeant realized that the bananas had been resting over bundles of the white powdery stimulant.
All-in-all there were reportedly 540 packages bearing $17,820,000 on the pallets. The finding led to the TDCJ involving the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the investigation into where the narcotics could have come from.
Australia’s Herald Sun newspaper came under fire for artist Mark Knight’s cartoon depiction of Serena Williams’ incident at the U.S. Open, which many see as racist.
The photo went viral online, with celebrities like Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling blasting the photo on Twitter, writing, “Well done on reducing one of the greatest sportswomen alive to racist and sexist tropes and turning a second great sportswoman into a faceless prop.”
Jemele Hill also added that the photo is “About as subtle as Fran Drescher’s voice.”
Herald editor Damon Johnston backed Knight’s cartoon in a statement, which read, “A champion tennis player had a mega tantrum on the world stage, and Mark’s cartoon depicted that. It had nothing to do with gender or race.”
Knight also reacted himself, stating, “I drew this cartoon Sunday night after seeing the US Open final, and seeing the world’s best tennis player have a tantrum and thought that was interesting,” he said. It’s been picked up by social media in the US and my phone has just melted down. The world has just gone crazy.”
Omarosa Manigault-Newman released another tape of Donald Trump on Monday, September 10, and this time around, the president is speaking about Hillary Clinton and the “real Russia story.”
In the tape, Trump can be heard accusing Hillary Clinton of colluding with the Russians ahead of the 2016 election. He states, “I think Hillary is getting killed now with Russia. The real Russia story is Hillary and collusion,” adding, “Somebody told me it was $9 million they spent on the phony report. Yeah, someone just said she’s far worse for the country than we thought, she didn’t know her own campaign was spending 9, did you see?”
The question Friday morning wasn’t whether President Trump would tweet about the debut of Colin Kaepernick’s Nike commercial but whether it would be the first thing he would tweet about after waking up.
And there it was, first thing on the presidential docket at 6:56 a.m.
“What was Nike thinking?” Trump tweeted rather briefly and directly.
But if you actually watched the commercial that aired on NBC during the third quarter of season-opening games between the Falcons and Eagles, it’s pretty obvious what Nike is thinking – and it’s not whether to take a knee during the national anthem.
All you need to know about Nike’s ultimate goal with the Kaepernick campaign is contained in the ad’s first minute. It begins with a skateboarder falling off a rail, a child with no legs on a wrestling mat, an African-American boy who couldn’t be 10 years old running down a dirt road, a young shadowboxing woman wearing hijab, a surfer, a Pop Warner football game and a blond girl playing high school football against boys.
This isn’t about consumers Nike might lose in their anger over Kaepernick. It’s about cultivating an entire generation of consumers who are up for grabs at a moment where the lines between culture, politics and activism are blurry – a notion that might make older people uncomfortable but is now the coming-of-age reality for anyone under 18.
Ironically, if you take Kaepernick out of the ad, there is nothing controversial about the images and words contained inside of it. “Don’t ask if your dreams are crazy; ask if they’re crazy enough” seems like it could be a tag line to practically any Nike ad campaign, a direct link to the “Just Do it” slogan the company is celebrating with a 30th anniversary push.
Every one of those images connects to the overall theme of being different, of overcoming some type of obstacle or stereotype, which fits in well with why Kaepernick is here in the first place rather than playing quarterback in the NFL.
But it also seems designed to appeal to teenagers, without making it necessary to align with Kaepernick’s political and social justice views.
Yes, it’s Kaepernick’s voice and his image at the end, walking down a city street wearing a black mock turtleneck underneath a tan coat. But there is nothing in the ad that connects him to football or the NFL, even though his own backstory – being adopted by white parents, getting one college scholarship offer from Nevada and ultimately quarterbacking a team to the Super Bowl – contains some of the same inspirational threads as the people he’s narrating over.
Moreover, the commercial’s only allusion to the protest he sparked is subtle. As the camera brings Kaepernick into view from behind – you recognize him by his Afro – he’s standing and looking at a waving American flag being projected onto a building.
Then, as Kaepernick walks out of the frame, the images of the young people from earlier in the ad appear on those buildings and the words are flashed on the screen: “It’s only crazy until you do it. Just do it.”
Casting Kaepernick in this light is interesting because he’s the only person in the ad who isn’t shown playing a sport or wearing some type of Nike gear. That seems intentional, as if to acknowledge that he’s moved beyond the sports context and into the zeitgeist of these political and cultural times.
And when you think about what Nike’s actually trying to accomplish here, it makes perfect sense.
Though Nike has been the country’s preeminent sneaker and sports apparel company for a generation, Adidas has steadily been making headway, particularly with younger people. In the second quarter of 2018, Adidas posted a $485 million profit, shattering Wall Street expectations. That followed nine consecutive quarters in which the company’s sales increased by at least 20%.
Fueled by its alliance with pop culture stars such as Kanye West and Pharrell Williams, Adidas has made up significant ground and surpassed Jordan Brand (a Nike subsidiary) last year as No. 2 in the sneaker game.
Nike didn’t really have a comparable face, and many of its preeminent athletes they’ve been associated with outside the NBA (such as Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Serena Williams) are at the back end of their careers and don’t necessarily identify with teenagers. But that’s what shoe companies have to do: Figure out not just who their customers are now, but who their customers are going to be in five years, 10 years and beyond.
That’s who this is aimed at. We’re on the cusp of welcoming a generation of kids into adulthood who grew up with politics being injected into practically every area of their lives. Whether that’s a good thing will be for others to determine, but it’s a moment that’s happening and Nike is looking for a way to capitalize on it.
Kaepernick probably won’t sell a lot of shoes to my contemporaries. But would the ad that played Thursday night resonate with high school kids who are growing up in a confusing, polarized, politically active era? Nike is counting on it.
After tweeting about the legal troubles surrounding his former personal lawyer and his campaign chair, Donald Trump grabbed attention with a tweet about South Africa. He wrote, “I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers. @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews.”
Trump tagged Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in the Tweet after he criticized the State Department for not addressing South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s proposed land reforms. The country’s official government Twitter page responded with a message that read, “South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past.”
Black South Africans make up 80% of the population in the country and only 4% own fertile land, and redistribution of land has been a key point for the ruling party, the African National Congress. The ANC is pushing for accelerating the redistribution of land ahead of an election, and expropriate some land seized by white South Africans during apartheid.
However, the South African government is not “seizing land from white farmers” as Trump’s tweet states. Earlier this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa made a statement about the situation, stating, “We still have a festering wound in terms of how the land was taken from our people and that wound needs to be healed and the only way to heal that wound is to give land to the people. Doing so will ensure a fair and prosperous future for all of our people.”
The part of Trump’s tweet about “large scale killing of farmers” has also been condemned. South Africa’s largest farmers’ organizations, AgriSA, states that the number of murders is at a 20-year low.
The Anti-Defamation League also released a statement on Trump’s tweet, which read, “It is extremely disturbing that the President of the United States echoed a longstanding and false white supremacist claim that South Africa’s white farmers are targets of large-scale, racially-motivated killings by South Africa’s black majority.
“We would hope that the President would try to understand the facts and realities of the situation in South Africa, rather than repeat disturbing, racially divisive talking points used most frequently by white supremacists.”
President Donald Trump’s former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal charges on Tuesday, including campaign finance violations related to hush money payments he made to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election.
What’s more, Cohen admitted that he did so at the direction of Donald Trump, and with the goal of influencing the election.
Cohen pleaded guilty to a total of eight counts, including five counts of tax evasion involving nearly $4 million, one count of making a false statement to a financial institution, one count of willful cause of unlawful corporate contribution from June 2016 to October 2016, and one excessive campaign contribution on October 27, 2016.
The last charge — one excessive campaign contribution — is related to a $130,000 hush money payment Cohen arranged to Stormy Daniels to keep her silent about an affair she says she had with Trump in 2006. Cohen wired the $130,000 to Daniels’s lawyers on October 27, 2016.
Cohen has been in deep legal trouble since April 9 — when the FBI raided his residence, office, and a hotel where he was staying and seized several of his electronic devices.
And though Cohen’s conduct has been examined in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference with the 2016 election, this indictment is separate from the Mueller investigation.
Several months ago, federal investigators in New York convened a grand jury to investigate Cohen for “criminal conduct that largely centers on his personal business dealings” and “finances,” as they put it in a court filing. They also secretly obtained search warrants on several of his email accounts.
This led to the high-profile April 9 raids. At that point, prosecutors were looking for information on Cohen’s hush money payment of $130,000 to Daniels on Trump’s behalf, hush money payments to other women, efforts to suppress negative information about Trump during the 2016 campaign, and information about taxi medallions Cohen owns.
ow Cohen appears to have reached a deal with prosecutors. It’s not quite clear what this might mean for President Trump, now that the man who’s been one of his closest associates for decades may be facing serious legal consequences.
Cohen, who once said he’d take a bullet for Trump, seems to have soured on his old boss as the months wore on. He gave several public signals that he might be willing to cooperate with prosecutors, including releasing a secret recording of himself and Trump discussing a payoff to former Playboy model Karen McDougal. A CNN report also suggested Cohen was considering telling Mueller that Trump had advance knowledge of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting where Russians offered “dirt” on Hillary Clinton — something the president has repeatedly denied.
Cohen’s plea agreement doesn’t call for cooperation with prosecutors, including those on Mueller’s team. But Cohen’s revelations in court certainly deal a blow to the president, and Trump is clearly listed as “Individual 1” in the charging documents.
“There is no allegation of any wrongdoing against the president in the government’s charges against Mr. Cohen,” Rudy Guiliani, Trump’s attorney, told the New York Times.
But it’s not good news either. Cohen is the latest member of Trump’s inner circle charged with federal crimes, and Cohen’s plea came just as a jury returned a partial guilty verdict in the trial of Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
This week it was announced that eight black women would appear on the cover of several magazines’ prestigious September and fall issues, apparently marking the first time that this many black women have received the honor in the same year.
Beyoncé, Rihanna, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Tiffany Haddish, Zendaya, Slick Woods, and Princess Nokia each graced the covers of international and local editions of Vogue, Elle, Ebony, Marie Claire, and LadyGunn, to name a few.
The individual September covers each featured a star-studded mix of black female comedians, musicians, and models. Having already graced the cover of Time magazine and Essence, comedian Tiffany Haddish made her first September cover debut with Glamour magazine. Fellow comedic actor and cover-star veteran Tracee Ellis Ross was all smiles on the cover of Elle Canada. Ahead of Insecure’s season three premiere on August 12, Issa Rae appeared on the cover of Ebony magazine’s September issue to discuss producing and writing her hit HBO show.
Beyoncé and Rihanna each graced a Vogue cover of their own: Beyoncé’s highly buzzed-about American Vogue September cover was finally revealed Monday to much acclaim. Not only did her appearance on the cover help make history for black women, but she also added to that by helping pick the first black photographer to ever shoot a cover of American Vogue. Rihanna also made quite the statement on her cover of British Vogue with a bold makeup look that consisted of a thin-lined eyebrow, light smokey eye, and dark glossy lipstick. She was also the first black woman to cover a September issue of British Vogue. Both Beyoncé and Rihanna donned a flower crown for their respective covers, in addition to rapper Princess Nokia, whose floral crown was front and center for her LadyGunn fall cover shoot.
Zendaya and model Slick Woods were the youngest out of the group to appear on September covers. Zendaya stunned on the cover of Marie Claire in a messy beehive hairstyle ahead of her upcoming Drake-produced HBO show, Euphoria. The U.K. edition of Elle tapped a currently pregnant Slick Woods to discuss her success as a Fenty Beauty model.
Despite this major fête, black women are still incredibly underrepresented inside and on the covers of major publications. Several black models have spoken up recently about facing discrimination at castings, making it hard for them to appear in fashion magazines, let alone on the cover of the most important issues of the year. However, following the clear social media success that all eight cover shoots have received, it would appear that there is a great deal of demand for black women on the cover — yet, still not enough opportunity.
Congratulations to French Montana for officially becoming a United States citizen! Born in Morocco, the rapper immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 13 years old.
According to the source, French, born Karim Kharbouch, mailed his citizenship application in February 2017. He took the Naturalization Oath of Allegiance on Wednesday, and he is now a legit citizen of the United States, TMZ reports.
French Montana made his mixtape debut in 2007 and he is the founder of Coke Boys Records. Pprior to that, Cocaine City Records. In 2012, he signed a joint-venture recording deal with Bad Boy Records. Last year, he dropped Jungle Rules with the Swae Lee-featuring hit “Unforgettable.”
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