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Community members in Peekskill are organizing in support of 42-year-old Damar Fields, following the release of a video showing him being tased, kicked, and struck by a police officer during an arrest on Dec. 3 at Riverfront Green Park. According to the Peekskill Herald, the video, shared by community activist Darrell Davis, who serves as a spokesperson for Fields’ family, sparked widespread outrage and led to an unidentified Peekskill police officer being placed on paid administrative leave. Davis has said Fields did nothing to warrant the treatment shown in the footage. On Saturday, Dec. 13, approximately 75 people gathered at the riverfront gazebo for a peaceful rally to protest what they described as police brutality. Demonstrators called for the release of the complete body camera footage and shared personal accounts of negative interactions with law enforcement. “The way they beat our brother was inhumane,” Davis told the Peekskill Herald on Dec. 15, adding that Fields was known to police and had emotional issues in the past. “And someone who did that should not have a gun or badge. And we are not letting this go,” Davis said. What did the video show? The video of the incident, obtained by CBS News, shows an officer using a stun gun on Fields while yelling, “Get on your [expletive] face,” before kicking him. Police had responded to a complaint about a man near the gazebo along the Hudson River. A second officer arrives moments later, and the first officer punches Fields as the encounter continues. Both officers end up on top of Fields, striking him multiple times, before three additional officers arrive and take him into custody. “It was disgusting, it was horrible. The young man is traumatized. He’s still getting medical help,” Davis told the outlet during an interview  Dec. 5. “I don’t care if this guy is a mass murderer. You had him tased, helpless, and you pounced on him, and that’s not your job.” Following the release of the video, the Peekskill Police Department confirmed the officer involved was placed on paid administrative leave while the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office investigates the incident. Davis said the rally marked only the beginning of broader community action. Since the video was shared, he said, numerous people have reached out to him with photos and videos alleging other instances of police violence in Westchester County, including Peekskill, NY. An investigation into Damar Fields’ arrest is being conducted. Newly appointed Peekskill Police Chief Adam Renwick referred the case to the district attorney for an independent investigation. During a city council meeting on Dec. 8, Renwick said he is limited in what he can publicly discuss due to the ongoing investigation, but assured that a thorough investigation would be conducted. “I did this because the video circulating on social media raised legitimate questions about the use of force, and it was essential that all aspects of the incident be investigated fully and impartially,” Renwick said, according to a Dec. 10 report from the Peekskill Herald. “Our department is fully cooperating with that review and has provided all available evidence, including body-worn camera footage, reports, and witness statements.” The Peekskill Police Benevolent Association claimed that Fields’ arrest was allegedly prompted by him “exposing” himself.  However, Damar Fields is not currently in custody, and no charges have been filed against him as of this writing. They also defended the unnamed officer’s behavior. “Once located, the officer observed the male fully exposed with his pants pulled down,” claimed PBA Attorney Andrew Quinn. “The male refused to follow the officer’s legal commands to comply and aggressively approached him, making irrational statements. It was clear to the officer that the male, who was apparently high on narcotics and was known to the officer due to his frequent problematic behavior, was a threat both to himself and the parkgoers.” The PBA accused Fields— who was unnamed in the release— of resisting “violently” and claimed he “continued to act irrationally” and that the officer only used force because it was necessary to detain him. Notably, this wasn’t Fields’ first time encountering officers from the Peekskill Police Department. CBS News noted Peekskill police had previously arrested him in September on an alleged misdemeanor drug possession charge. Mayor Vivian McKenzie addressed the incident on Wednesday, promising a thorough internal affairs review. “It’s a partial video. It doesn’t show the whole incident, but the part that is there is very, very concerning,” McKenzie said. “There is always more to the story, but again, I will say, what we saw was very concerning.” Westchester County District Attorney Susan Cacace has assigned her Public Law Enforcement Integrity Unit to investigate how officers handled Fields’ arrest. In the aftermath of the incident,  Darrell Davis helped form a support committee to assist Damar Fields, raising funds to move him from the streets into a hotel. The committee includes Ingrid Wittmann and Arne Paglia, both of whom spoke at the rally, along with several other community members. Davis also told the Peekskill Herald he is encouraging residents to write letters to the district attorney calling for charges against the officers involved and urging compassion in Damar Fields’ treatment. SEE MORE:  Police Violence Thrives Decades After Rodney King Beating Knox County DA’s Office Won’t Investigate David Batts’ Death

Everyone needs to keep their hands to themselves. It can save your life, someone else’s life, or a life that hasn’t even been brought into the world yet. According to WTOL, a Black, pregnant, South Carolina woman named Deria Francis Stukes has filed a lawsuit against a white Circle K gas station employee who attacked her and allegedly caused a traumatic miscarriage. The mother was traveling from South Carolina to Detroit with her family when she stopped to fill up in Toledo. Stukes says she paid for her gas up front but forgot to enter her rewards points number. In this economy, we need every reward, discount, freebie, and advantage possible just to get by. Upon asking the white cashier, Shannon Walsh, if she could still enter her number, Stukes was told “no.” When she asked Walsh to cancel the transaction, she was told “no” again. “She gave me every excuse why she couldn’t do it and it didn’t make sense,” Stukes told WTOL 11. There is no way that Circle K is paying this obtuse Becky enough money to care about canceling a transaction. She could have easily just helped Stukes out and gone about her mediocre** day, but no, the Karen instincts kicked in, and all hell broke loose. Stukes says that Walsh not only became verbally combative using racist slurs, but she also physically attacked the pregnant woman by throwing rolls of coins at her, pulling her hair, hitting her, and pushing her into a beverage cooler, allegedly. To be clear, this ain’t no “he said, she said” recounting of the story. The whole thing is captured on video. Don’t believe us, just watch. First and foremost, there was absolutely no reason to call the police, but that’s how white folks get down when Black people stand up for themselves and refuse to tolerate disrespect. Moreover, Walsh called the police to enact violence against Stukes and then lost her temper to the point that she committed the violence herself. She wasn’t under threat or intimidation. “Raising your voice” is not a crime; however, negligent assault is, and Walsh pleaded no contest to the charge and was subsequently ordered by the court to take anger management counseling. Sadly, the incident didn’t end there. In the hours following the fracas, Stukes says she suffered severe cramping and was told by her doctor that she had miscarried her baby. “It makes me very emotional because of the fact that I did lose a child and my two sons were there to witness it and how terrified they were,” said Stukes. “They just haven’t been able to sleep, and then my youngest baby, my 8-year-old, Michael, he’s been jumping up out of his sleep running and and screaming.” Stukes is being represented by Charles E. Boyk and is seeking compensatory damages for physical injuries, emotional distress, and the loss of the pregnancy. “This never should have happened. Rev. Francis was a pregnant mother simply trying to redeem a routine store loyalty reward. Something Circle K actively encourages its customers to do,” said lead attorney Charles E. Boyk in a statement. “Instead, she was violently attacked, subjected to racist slurs, and suffered the unimaginable loss of her unborn child. No family should ever experience such brutality, especially in a business that claims to serve the public.” We hope Mrs. Stukes takes every red cent from Circle K and this abhorrent woman. The post Black South Carolina Woman Files Lawsuit After White Circle K Employee Attacks Her, Allegedly Causing Miscarriage appeared first on Bossip.

In a plot twist nobody saw coming, Soulja Boy is cranking dat apology to Kandi Burruss, putting an end to their unexpected back-and-forth. The about-face follows his egregiously explicit tirade after an episode of Burruss’ “Speak On It” podcast, where his former videographer shared a story about the rapper allegedly spitting in his food. According to the Grio, the incident in question dates back to 2007, when videographer Charlie Rocket claimed he worked for Soulja Boy in Las Vegas. “Soulja Boy called me to his room,” Rocket began on “Speak On It.” “We’re staying at the Bellagio, and he wanted to make a really viral video. He said, ‘Come to my room. I’m about to order some room service,’ and he ordered $1,000 worth of room service. When he was done, there was so much food left over. I was excited. I saw some chicken fingers and I was like, ‘Can I get those? Cuz I’m hungry, I’m really really hungry.’” Rocket alleged that Soulja told him he could have whatever he wanted—before allegedly spitting on the food. After the podcast clip went viral, Soulja Boy unleashed a furious, profanity-laced livestream targeting both Rocket and Burruss. The rapper denied the claims and threatened legal action, demanding an apology from Kandi for hosting the interview. He insulted the former #RHOA star, calling her names and demanding her address since he was in Atlanta, stating he would “pull up.” “Aye, somebody tag this b*** Kandi too,” Soulja demanded. “B****, why the fk you got this fat n*** on your platform? I’m about to sue the f*** out of Kandi. Somebody tag Kandi. You on the motherf**** Internet claiming I spit in your food, you’sa b***. Who the f*** somebody go on the road with somebody and not eat for three days? And Kandi, f**k you too, you lil’ bald-headed b***,” he stated. Kandi, however, refused to be intimidated, and she quickly turned the threat into an opportunity. “I heard @souljaboy was cussing me out on his live and said he wanted to pull up… Well, I would love for you to pull up. Let’s speak on it!” she wrote on X. Soulja Boy Apologizes, Admits He Overreacted Ultimately, the threats subsided, and Soulja Boy apologized for his behavior. In a subsequent livestream, the rapper walked back his comments, admitting his emotions got the better of him. “Man, I’m sending out an apology to Kandi…You know, I overreact sometimes; I see stuff on the internet. Much love to Kandi. If you can find it in your heart, please accept my apology—much love to you, much respect to you.” He clarified that his true anger was directed at the videographer for “lying” on him, admitting that his friends had advised him, “You should have gotten mad at the dude, you shouldn’t have gotten mad at her. I’ma just let that rock, man.” The post Crank Dat Damage Control: Soulja Boy Apologizes To Kandi After Interview With Ex-Employee Who Alleged He Spit In His Food appeared first on Bossip.

Keke Palmer and screenwriter Nakia Stephens have joined forces to bring a new original series, Southern Fried Rice, to Palmer’s KeyTV platform, a digital media network dedicated to uplifting Black stories and creatives. But since the show’s release, social media users have been divided over its unique plotline, which centers on an Asian American character. Premiering its first two episodes on Oct. 22, Southern Fried Rice follows an Asian American woman, Koko Johnson, played by Page Yang, as she explores her identity and culture while growing up with Southern Black parents. The themes collide when Koko attends Wright University, a prestigious fictional HBCU in Atlanta, and her late father’s alma mater. There, she faces questions of belonging and self-discovery, according to Complex. The cast also includes Kordell Beckham, Choyce Brown, Ashley India, Jada Lewis, and Shaun Rose. Palmer described the project as embodying her network’s mission— a story that celebrates “diverse realities while still being full of humor, love, and heart.” Yet, not everyone online agreed with the actress’s ethos. Reactions to Southern Fried Rice have been mixed. After the trailer and first two episodes dropped, some social media users voiced frustration. On X, one user wrote that the show’s lead should have been a Black actress, given its HBCU setting and KeyTV’s mission to center Black stories. “Black women aren’t a monolith; they could’ve easily made it about the transformation you go through experiencing an HBCU. Esp if said BW went to a PWI. This just looks like a sloppy attempt to force diversity in a show when black people have to beg for one supp-role elsewhere,” the user penned. Another added: “I think the obvious issue is, there is literally no need for the main character at an HBCU to be asian???” Some users said the show pulled influence from the real-life story of Cindy Wilson. Some users also pointed out similarities between Stephens’ show and the real-life story of writer Cindy Wilson, a Korean-born woman adopted by a Black family in Mississippi. Wilson, who detailed her journey in her 2018 memoir Too Much Soul, wrote about growing up in Jackson, Mississippi, after being adopted from Seoul, South Korea. “See how she fights and loves her way through life as she searches for her identity and discovers her place in the world despite the strongholds that society tries to place on her,” the book’s description reads. Several people online accused Stephens of failing to give Wilson proper credit. Still, other viewers embraced the series’ unconventional storyline. One person on X wrote: “I know plenty of non POC that went to HBCUs that received scholarships for being a minority, so I’m interested in seeing how this turns out.” Another viewer appreciated the show’s approach to cultural representation, saying: “Am I the only one open to the idea of this? I watched the trailer and the main character is tastefully written (w/o a Blaccent) and there are plenty of Black women and men within the show.” Keke Palmer and Nakia Stephens chimed in on the discourse. As the controversy spread, both Palmer and Stephens addressed the conversation directly. In a video shared on Oct. 23, Palmer spoke out to clarify the intentions behind Southern Fried Rice and to spotlight the Black creatives involved in the project, including Stephens, whom she has invested almost half a million dollars in over the years for previous shows on KeyTV. “I wanted to chop it up real quick about this series called ‘Southern Fried Rice’ that’s premiering on KeyTV, which is receiving some controversial feedback. Now, Southern Fried Rice was created by Nakia Stephens. While I can’t speak to her inspiration for the show, I can speak to her dedication as a creative,” Palmer said in a video posted on social media. “Nakia has written, showran, and produced four shows alongside her Damn Write Originals team with KeyTV, and KeyTV has proudly invested over half a million dollars in her creations. And I say that because it’s not easy to obtain that kind of investment.” She continued: “[At] KeyTV, that is the ethos of the company. It’s a network, not just because it has stars and shows or has talent, but because it’s about the people who create the shows and connecting them.” Keke Palmer went on to name other Black creatives KeyTV has supported, including Antwan Lawshe, Eric & Rosero McCoy, and Chelsea Sanders, adding: “Look, what you like is subjective, but the support of Black creatives is not, and it’s a task that KeyTV takes on with pride. Because if you want to be a creative, you have to be able to create, and that takes money, and it’s KeyTV’s mission to find the funds for you to be in practice, for you to experience trial and error, and to take your projects off the page and get more than one chance to do it in action. So, whether you like it all or some or none, I say, give these creators a chance to grow as we continue to grow in supporting them.” Stephens also spoke up, posting a message on Instagram that same day. “I welcome conversation. I welcome curiosity,” she shared. “Our ultimate goal was to spark conversation around culture, around belonging and identity, and so that’s what I think I’ve done.” She added that the show had been a decade in the making and was deeply personal: “Southern Fried Rice is 10-plus years in the making, and it was inspired by my own HBCU experience and observations as a student at Savannah State University, the first public HBCU in Georgia,” she explained. “I had friends at Savannah State University. And people in my orbit who were non-Black and had to navigate a historically Black space, and I saw how hard and challenging and fun and beautiful it was for them to do so, and that sparked my curiosity and honestly planted the seed for Southern Fried Rice.” Have you seen Southern Fried Rice yet? Tell us your thoughts about

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Services has warned that there may be insufficient funds to pay November benefits through the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides food assistance to roughly 42 million Americans nationwide. On Oct. 10, the USDA informed every state that, because of the government shutdown, it must pause sending November SNAP payments. This means states can’t send payment files to the companies that load money onto Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards until they get new instructions. The order applies to all SNAP benefits, including regular monthly payments and any daily updates. That means, beginning Nov. 1, SNAP recipients may not be able to access any unused benefits on their EBT cards or receive new benefits. Some states, like New Hampshire and Louisiana, have advised recipients to use their remaining funds before Oct. 31, should the shutdown continue past the deadline. If the shutdown continues, the risk is severe. November SNAP benefits could be delayed, reduced, or canceled altogether nationwide, leaving millions of low-income families without funds to purchase food. The impending deadline also impacts schools. As previously reported, schools that rely on federal funding to provide free or reduced-price lunches to students are at risk. While the USDA sent states a contingency plan ahead of the shutdown outlining which funds could be used to provide meals, it has not confirmed whether it will advance additional funds if the shutdown stretches into November. How are states responding to the impending SNAP pause caused by the government shutdown? The funding crisis has already caused major disruptions. According to CNN, 17 states have stopped accepting new SNAP applications because their systems cannot merge partial October payments with November’s benefits. States able to separate the two months are continuing to issue October assistance to new enrollees, but most are bracing for major delays. State responses vary depending on local resources. States like New Jersey, California, and Texas have already warned that November benefits may be delayed or canceled if the government shutdown continues past Nov. 1. In Pennsylvania, recipients have been notified that no November benefits will be distributed until the government reopens. In New York, officials say the shutdown will not immediately impact SNAP benefits, and households will continue receiving assistance as usual through the end of October 2025. Applications remain open online and in person, and recipients can use their EBT cards at any participating retailer or farmers market. The state has not yet received federal guidance about November benefits, but promises to update residents as soon as possible. New Hampshire, meanwhile, has partnered with the state food bank to expand its mobile food pantry program to as many as 20 locations for SNAP participants, amid the crisis. These additional food pantries will operate for five weeks or until benefits resume. The state has also secured extra funding to sustain the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program until at least Nov. 7, though some locations may be forced to pause services if the shutdown continues into November. The government is required to use “lapse funding” if the shutdown extends past Nov. 1 to keep SNAP benefits available.  Federal agencies typically develop “lapse of funding” plans to prepare for shutdowns, and the USDA’s current plan indicates that contingency funds could be used to temporarily sustain SNAP, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. However, the agency has not confirmed whether it will tap into these funds, which are estimated to total between $5 billion and $6 billion—enough to cover most, but not all, of the roughly $8 billion needed to fund November benefits. The federal government is legally obligated to release these contingency funds, but unless that happens soon, millions of Americans could face food insecurity within weeks. What can you do to protect yourself? Overall, the situation is dire. If the shutdown persists and funding remains frozen, SNAP recipients may lose access to their benefits, schools could struggle to provide meals, and local food banks will face mounting pressure to fill the gap. States continue to urge residents to use existing benefits before the end of October, monitor official updates, and seek community food assistance if needed. Joining a local food bank could also help to supplement if SNAP benefits pause during the shutdown. Find a local food bank near you, using Feeding America’s search engine here.  SEE MORE: When The Government Starves Us: How SNAP Cuts Target Black Survival SNAP Benefits Ending As Hunger Cliff Looms

Stephen A. Smith is the Aaron Burr of Black men. OK, admittedly, I don’t know anything about Aaron Burr that I didn’t either learn from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway musical Hamilton or that one “Got Milk?” commercial from the ’90s. So, when I say famed sports analyst Stephen A. Smith is the Aaron Burr of Black men, I’m assuming the real-life Aaron Burr is similar to the go-which-ever-way-the-political-wind-blows version of Aaron Burr in Miranda’s play, who is actually played by a Black man. But, anyway, what I’m really trying to say here is I wish Stephen A. Smith would STFU forever and always. During a special edition of his podcast show Straight Shooter with Stephen A., Smith apologized to Rep. Jasmine Crockett, whom he scolded earlier this month for how she “expresses herself” regarding President Donald Trump and his policies, and then later doubled down on his criticism of her “rhetoric for the streets.” “Is that gonna help your district in Texas? Aren’t you there to find a way to get stuff done, as opposed to just being an impediment to what…Trump wants? How much work goes into that? I’m just going to go off about Trump, cuss him out every chance I get, say the most derogatory, incendiary things imaginable, and that’s my day’s work,” Smith said at the time. “That ain’t work,” he continued. “Work is saying that’s the man in power. I know what his agenda is. I’m not exactly in a position to stop him, since the Republicans have the Senate and the House, but maybe if I’m willing to work with this man, I might get something out of it for my constituency.” Smith should absolutely be ashamed of being this loud and wrong with his chest poked out further than his forehead. Imagine paying so little attention to the current political landscape that you believe, in the first place, that an authoritarian ruler like Trump — who has expressed out loud his intent to shut down and defund all things Democrat — can be worked with. Secondly, is this man really going to stand there and speak about Crockett’s straightforwardness and refusal to mince words with Trump, who has, for as long as he has been in the political arena, never passed up a chance to chuck personal insults and crass language at his political rivals, reserving the most racist, misogynistic and intellectually demeaning insults for Black women who are observably much smarter than him? Well, it appears Smith has come to glory on that part. “I saw something disturbing in regards to President Donald Trump and how he came at Representative Jasmine Crockett…I get it now with Trump feeding into that nonsense, giving him ammunition to continue to go out there and talk about our Black women that way—I got it,” Smith said, without getting into any specifics about which of the numerous times Trump has come at Crockett changed his thick-a** mind. “When Trump came at her like that, I said, ‘Damn it.’ I was pissed off because I said that’s what they’re talking about when they’re saying, ‘You know what, when you question something about her, it’s going to invite that,’” Smith explained, again, without specifying which remarks he’s even talking about. “I can look Jasmine Crockett in the face and say I’m sorry for any…kind of noise I caused in your direction, because she is accomplished, and she is smart, and she does have an incredible, incredible challenge working in this political climate on Capitol Hill,” Smith continued. Nah, let’s be real about what’s going on here. Smith popped off at Crockett, armed with misogynoir, respectability politics, and his typical, observable cluelessness about what kind of man our president is, and instead of getting the public agreement he was shooting for, he’s been getting dragged by the negro-net for more than a week. So now, Smith is bringing his tap dance back around, full circle, and apologizing to Crockett, while probably hoping we all forget this is far from the first time he has thrown on a cape for the orangey-white nationalist who is currently demolishing the White House both literally and symbolically. This is where the Aaron Burr comparison comes in. Depending on which position is more popular and convenient at the moment, Smith will be defending Trump against allegations of anti-Black racism one day, and calling out Black conservatives like professed “MAGA guy” Jason Whitlock for being the self-loathing “piece of sh*t” grifter he is the next. The man is just plain wishy-washy. Stephen A. Smith is the Van Jones of Black men who manage to have even more useless political takes than Van Jones. And, look, we can’t let Smith slide for piling on to the mountain of racist, Black woman-hating vitriol that is already spewed against Crockett by white bigots of the MAGA world on a daily basis. In the last year alone, Crockett has been called “ghetto,” a “fake ghetto hoodrat,” a “ghetto Black b*tch,” a wannabe “gangsta” who “wants you to think she’s from the hood,” and a “fraud” who is only pretending to be of the Black community, but is too educated to actually be of the Black community. She’s been called all of these things by racist white people who are only speaking about her like this because she’s a blunt, outspoken Black woman who sounds authentically like a Black woman when she speaks. Smith, on the other hand, is a Black man who was birthed and presumably raised by a Black woman in a family and community full of Black women, and he should know better. Nah, let him keep his apology. He’ll be back on the other side next week anyway. SEE ALSO: Loud & Wrong? Stephen A. Smith Dragged On X For Defending Donald Trump’s Claims Of ‘Black People Relating To Him‘ Why Stephen A. Smith’s Rant About Jason Whitlock Didn’t Go Far Enough

The government shutdown has entered its third week, and federal workers are feeling the strain more and more. On Tuesday, a food drive intended to help furloughed federal workers had lines wrapped around the building as they go nearly a month without pay. According to CNN, Capital Area Food Bank partnered with No Limits Outreach Ministries to host the food drive in Landover, Maryland. The event was exclusively for federal workers and required participants to show their work ID to receive food. Capital Area Food Bank said they helped 370 households, which was double the number of federal workers they were expecting. “I’m overwhelmed by the line,” Oliver Carter, the pastor at No Limits Outreach Ministries and organizer of the event, told CNN. “I didn’t think we were going to have this many federal employees.” The timing was less than ideal for the food bank, as some of their federal funding has been slashed this year. “It’s a perfect storm of increased need in our community and throughout the country,” the food bank CEO, Radha Muthiah, told WAMU. “At the very same time, we’ve got reduced sources of food supply.” “I can’t believe I’m here,” Rolanda Williams, who works in the Social Security Administration, told CNN while standing in line at the food drive. “You always thought that getting a government job or you know, a federal job, that that’s security, and it’s not,” Williams added. The government shutdown began at the beginning of October as a result of Senate Democrats refusing to vote in favor of a short-term spending bill unless Republicans extended insurance subsidies provided through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). While Republicans currently hold the majority in the House and Senate, spending bills need 60 votes to pass. With Republicans only controlling 53 seats in the Senate, Democrats have rare leverage to negotiate with the ruling party. Republicans have refused to even negotiate extending the subsidies. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has only offered a potential vote on extending the subsidies after the shutdown ends. Considering the fact that Republicans let the subsidies expire and that repealing the ACA has long been one of their goals, the offer isn’t really a compromise when the outcome is likely to be a no. Without the subsidies in place, monthly premiums for ACA insurance are projected to go up by 75%. As a result, millions of Americans are projected to become uninsured next year as a result of being unable to afford the monthly payments. As of Wednesday, this has officially become the second-longest government shutdown. With no clear end in sight, the situation has only grown more stressful for the affected federal workers, many of whom are expected to work without pay through the government shutdown. “I’ve not been in this predicament ever. I served 21 years in the military. I’ve been a federal government employee for the past two years. The reason I wanted to become a federal government employee was stability. That stability, that rug, if you will, has been snatched away from us,” a federal employee who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing her job told NBC News. “With my rent due next week, I can take anything I can get,” Summer Kerksick, a federal contractor and market research analyst with the Rural Export Center in the U.S. Department of Commerce, told CNN. “I haven’t gotten a paycheck this month, so the free groceries is very important, very helpful,” she added. “I’ve got to save every dime at this point.” So we’ve got federal workers being unable to feed their families as a result of the GOP being unwilling to make health care affordable for millions of Americans. But America first, right? SEE ALSO: Here’s Where We Are In The Current Government Shutdown Federal Workforce Layoffs Begin Amid Government Shutdown Mike Johnson Says Government Shutdown Could Be Longest Ever Food Stamps At Risk As Government Shutdown Continues When The Government Starves Us: How SNAP Cuts Target Black Survival

It can never be emphasized enough that while the Trump administration has sold its massive deportation crackdown as an agenda to save America from violent criminals who entered the country illegally, we’re not seeing those perp walks. Instead, we’re seeing stories about citizens, including laborers, Hyundai plant workers, green card holders, cops, education officials, journalists and social media influencers — some of whom have been in the U.S. for decades and raised families here — being detained, arrested and deported for allegedly overstaying their visas or not having all their paper work in order, and, in some cases, simply promoting ideologies the president doesn’t like. And, often, it seems the cruelty is the point. An Indian man from Pennsylvania, who was recently exonerated after spending more than four decades in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, is now in ICE custody, facing deportation based on a decades-old order that was tied to his false conviction. Earlier this month, the district attorney for Centre County dismissed murder charges against 64-year-old Subramanyam “Subu” Vedam, who, in 1983, was convicted of the murder of Tom Kinser, a 19-year-old college student who went missing from State College three years prior. From the Guardian: Kinser and Vedam were former classmates and had lived together briefly as roommates. On the day Kinser disappeared, Vedam asked for a ride. Kinser’s car was later found parked in its usual spot, though no one saw it being returned. Vedam, who was born in India and arrived in the US at nine months old, was charged with Kinser’s murder and had his passport and green card seized by authorities. He was also denied bail as he was labeled a “foreigner likely to flee”. In 1983, Vedam was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. A year later, Vedam received an additional sentence of two and a half to five years for a drug offense as part of a plea deal that was to be served simultaneously with his life sentence. While in prison, Vedam maintained his innocence of the murder charges and continued to appeal against his conviction on circumstantial evidence. In 2021, new evidence in Kinser’s murder case surfaced, leading to Vedam’s exoneration earlier this month. The Centre county district attorney also announced it will not seek a new trial against Vedam, USA Today reported. It should have been a joyous — albeit bittersweet — moment for Vedam to finally be free again after spending most of his life with his freedom stripped away over something he didn’t do. But that moment would be short-lived, because upon his exoneration, Vedam was taken into custody by immigration officers. According to the Miami Herald, an ICE rep accused Vedam of being a “career criminal with a rap sheet dating back to 1980,” as well as “a convicted controlled substance trafficker.” USA Today reported that ICE officials cited a 1988 deportation order for the murder conviction and a drug crime, and the legal technicality that the murder exoneration doesn’t cancel out the drug charge. Now, you see, there’s a pattern here. The federal government, under President Donald Trump, arrests someone who doesn’t quite fit its narrative of the dangerous, violent threats to America that the administration has promised to keep us safe from, so they immediately move to vilify them by calling them criminals — whether they already have criminal records or not, as ICE’s own database shows most of them don’t — and using language intended to paint them in the worst light possible. In Vedam’s case, any crime he may have been convicted of in his life is at least four decades old and no longer includes the murder for which he was exonerated. To present this man as a current “career criminal” to justify deporting him right after he was exonerated and released isn’t just disingenuous; it’s flat-out heartless. “All we want is for him to be home with us and to be able to move forward in life,” Vedam’s niece, Zoë Miller-Vedam, who lives in California, told USA Today. Vedam’s lawyer, Ava Benach, told the outlet, “Subu has lived in the U.S. since he was a nine-month-old infant when he and his family arrived as lawful permanent residents of the United States. “He was still a lawful permanent resident, and his application for citizenship had been accepted, when he was arrested in 1982,” she added. Yeah — none of this is about keeping America safe. It’s about a vehemently xenophobic administration carrying out the will of the most vehemently xenophobic members of the American populace. Sometimes, you just have to know when you’re the villain in a story. SEE ALSO: Federal Judge Places Restrictions On ICE Arrests In Chicago Federal Judge Rules ICE Racially Profiles

As of Wednesday, the government has been shut down for 22 days, making it the second-longest government shutdown in U.S. history. As millions of Americans are at risk of losing their food stamps, Democrats and Republicans seem no closer to a deal that would bring the government shutdown to an end. According to the Washington Post, over 42 million Americans receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps. Food stamps help lower-income Americans supplement their food budget to ensure their families have adequate access to food. New Jersey, California, Texas, and several other states have warned that November SNAP benefits will be delayed or entirely canceled if the government shutdown continues past Oct. 27. Some states, like Pennsylvania, have already notified SNAP recipients that November benefits will not be distributed until the government reopens. “You’re talking about millions and millions of vulnerable families — of hungry families—that are not going to have access to these programs because of this shutdown,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said last week. There’s also concern that schools won’t be able to provide federally funded free lunches to students, according to NPR. While the USDA sent states a contingency plan ahead of the shutdown to inform them of funds they could tap into to provide free lunches, they haven’t said if they would be willing to advance funds to provide free lunches should the shutdown continue into November. While the Senate has held several failed votes on funding the government, it’s unclear if a vote will be held on Wednesday, as CBS News reports that Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) has been speaking on the Senate floor for over 18 hours. Merkley, whose state is one of several where Trump has deployed the National Guard, has largely been speaking out against Trump’s descent into authoritarianism. “I’ve come to the Senate floor tonight to ring the alarm bells,” Merkley said at the start of his speech. “We’re in the most perilous moment, the biggest threat to our republic since the Civil War. President Trump is shredding our Constitution.” The government shutdown began at the start of October when Senate Democrats refused to vote on a spending bill that would keep the government open. While Republicans hold the majority in the House and Senate, spending bills require 60 votes in the Senate to pass. As the Republicans have a 53-45 majority, Senate Democrats have some rare leverage in the shutdown. At the heart of the shutdown are expiring subsidies for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which will result in significantly increased health care premiums for millions of Americans. Republicans have refused to negotiate on the issue until the government is reopened, and Democrats refuse to reopen the government until the issue is negotiated. House Majority Speaker John Thune offered the Senate Democrats a vote on extending the subsidies, but they have scoffed at the offer, as it’s fairly obvious Republicans will likely vote no on the measure. It’s crazy how the GOP will look the other way when we send billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Argentina, fund a genocide in Palestine, and spend millions on private jets for Kristi Noem and her DHS lackeys, but making health care affordable for working Americans is where they draw the line. It’s really not a complicated issue: the Republican Party hates the working class. Federal employees have been expected to work without pay through the shutdown, with this Friday being the first full paycheck they’ll miss due to the shutdown. Legally, federal employees are supposed to be paid once the shutdown ends, but the Trump administration has tried to argue that some federal employees shouldn’t be paid. Clearly, the beliefs of a man who only has the best interests of all Americans at heart. Democrats and Republicans are calling on Trump to negotiate a deal, as he has mostly been hands-off through the shutdown. “If he gets involved, he can move it,” GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville told CNN of Trump. “He can make a decision on what we do.” “At the end of the day, to move this needle and get this thing off the bubble, President Trump will have to get involved,” said GOP Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia. “That’s probably what will have to happen.” Democrats Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries have also called on Trump to come to the negotiating table so they can strike a deal. Despite both parties believing that President Trump should step in to negotiate a deal, he doesn’t seem particularly incentivized to do so. Trump has taken advantage of the shutdown to conduct mass layoffs, end several programs, and cut funding for what he perceives as Democratic initiatives. Two key factors may bring Trump to the negotiating table, though. While the federal government used unspent research funds to cover military paychecks earlier this month, it was only enough for one pay period. Considering that President Trump has been adamant about deploying the National Guard in several Democratic cities, a missed paycheck could severely hurt the already dwindling morale of the deployed Guardsmen. The second factor is that the open enrollment period for the ACA begins Nov. 1, which is when states will begin informing people how much their insurance premiums will increase without the subsidies. The open enrollment period has already begun in Iowa, where thousands of Iowans are expected to be uninsured next year, as they can no longer afford the monthly payments. As more and more people realize that they can no longer afford their health insurance, it may put pressure on the Republicans to strike a deal extending the subsidies. SEE ALSO: Here’s Where We Are In The Current Government Shutdown Mike Johnson Says Government Shutdown Could Be Longest Ever

I’m struggling to find the words to capture the sheer panic I feel right now, but it’s a panic born of truth: the very foundation of our representative democracy is under threat. What’s unfolding before the U.S. Supreme Court over Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 isn’t a procedural argument; it’s an existential crisis that could permanently reshape the political landscape and silence the voices of millions of Americans—particularly those of color. On Wednesday, justices from the highest court in the land began weighing in on a case that will determine whether democracy is going to continue to weaken and be dismantled by questioning one of the most critical safeguards of the civil rights era, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; an act that ensures the government must continue to take proactive steps to ensure fair representation for Black and Brown people. The case sparking the review, Louisiana v. Callais, stems from a dispute over a single congressional district in Louisiana, drawn after the 2020 Census to ensure that African American voters could elect a candidate of their choice. The state initially drew maps that featured only one majority-Black congressional district, rejecting seven more racially fair maps. Voters sued, and federal courts ordered Louisiana to comply with the Voting Rights Act by drawing new maps in which Black voters would be a majority in a second district, thereby reflecting their share of the population and giving Black Louisianans an equal opportunity to elect representatives of their choice. The current case, presented by a group of people identifying themselves as “non-African-American voters” have sued to get those racially proportionate maps thrown out, arguing that enforcement of the VRA violates their own rights under the 14th and 15th amendments, claiming that the maps drawn to remedy racial discrimination against Black people instead constitutes racial discrimination against non-Black (aka: white) people. While the case appears to be localized, it will affect voting on the national level because, at the core, the case is about whether state governments can continue to address discrimination, both historic and ongoing, by taking intentional action to ensure fairness and representation. “Section 2 has had a major impact, definitely in the South, but really nationwide on improving political representation opportunities for voters in a lot of different communities of color and all around the country,” Kareem Crayton, vice president of the Brennan Center for Justice’s office in Washington, D.C., said. “A decision that leaves the current understanding of Section 2 in grave doubt opens up, unfortunately, a lot of chaos throughout the country in a lot of different jurisdictions.” For decades, the landmark ruling has served as the precedent and legal tool to combat racial gerrymandering, especially in states with racially polarized voting patterns, like Texas, and their controversial decision to redistrict to find 5 Republican seats for the Trump administration to continue their reign of incompetence. The Court’s conservative majority, however, has signaled skepticism toward the continued use of race-conscious districting, seemingly siding with the plaintiffs. During recent oral arguments, several justices questioned whether such measures should have an “endpoint,” suggesting discomfort with what they view as race-based policymaking. Justice Brett Kavanaugh echoed that sentiment, stating that “race-based remedies are permissible for a period of time… but they should not be indefinite.” “The issue, as you know, is that this court’s cases in a variety of contexts have said that race-based remedies are permissible for a period time – sometimes for a long period of time, decades in some cases – but that they should not be indefinite and should have an end point,” Kavanaugh told the attorney representing a group of Black voters who successfully challenged Louisiana’s first map. Civil rights advocates argue that this framing ignores the persistence of racial polarization in American elections. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson underscored that point, reminding the Court that Section 2 “is not a remedy in and of itself but the mechanism by which the law determines whether a remedy is necessary.” In her view, the law’s enduring application is not a distortion of equality but an affirmation of it. During oral arguments, the plaintiffs’ attorney suggested that the defense were demanding a second majority-Black district, prompting Jackson to interject: “No, it’s not,” clarifying that the litigation was about addressing proven vote dilution, not entitlement to a specific remedy; underscoring the constitutional interest in remedying racial discrimination, a point echoed by Justice Elena Kagan earlier in the session. Alanah Odoms, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, highlighted the significance of the ruling and why the reversal would adversely affect communities of color’s ability to fully and fairly participate in democracy. “The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has affirmed what we’ve always known: Black voters in Louisiana deserve equal representation,” Alanah Odoms, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said. “This is a vital step toward correcting generations of injustice, and we will not stop until every Black Louisianan has the full and fair representation guaranteed to all Americans.” The political consequences of a ruling against Section 2 could be profound. According to a report by the Black Voters Matter Fund and Fair Fight Action, if Section 2 is overturned, Republican-controlled states could redraw at least 19 additional congressional districts to their advantage. The impact would be immediate in states such as Texas, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina, all regions with significant minority populations and deeply polarized voting patterns. Freed from the obligation to draw “minority opportunity districts,” lawmakers could fracture Black and Latino communities across the country in multiple districts by isolating them into single heavily Democratic districts and reducing their overall influence. According to the report, as much as 30% of the Congressional Black Caucus and 11% of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus could lose their seats. In states such as Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee, Black voters could lose all federal representation. Cliff Albright, co-founder and executive director of Black Voters Matter Fund, warned that

Grammy-award-winning singer and songwriter Lauryn Hill took to Instagram to pay tribute to D’Angelo after news broke of his untimely passing. Hill Called D’Angelo An ‘Undeniable Beauty And Talent’ In Her Emotional Tribute Letter Hill, 50, collaborated with the neo-soul legend—who passed away after a private battle with pancreatic cancer—on the beloved track “Nothing Even Matters,” where he appeared as a guest vocalist. The soulful duet became a standout on her critically acclaimed, five-time Grammy-winning album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. “People need reflection,” the music veteran began her emotional tribute letter. “I regret not having more time with you. Your undeniable beauty and talent were not of this world, and a presence not of this world needs protection in a world that covets light and the anointing of God. You sir, moved us, stirred us, inspired and even intimidated others to action with your genius.” The music giant thanked D’Angelo for “being a beacon of light to a generation and beyond who had no remembrance of the legacy that preceded us.” She continued, “Thank you for charting the course and for making space during a time when no similar space really existed. You imaged a unity of strength and sensitivity in Black manhood to a generation that only saw itself as having to be one or the other. It is my earnest prayer that you are in peace, far away from selfishness, fear, and/or controlling interests. Far from possessiveness, far from greed, far from manipulation, far from exploitation, far from intentionally designed chaos, and that you, Brother, are in peace, in bliss, and in eternal light and fulfillment with our Father in heaven.” Hill concluded her emotional tribute letter, “I love you and I miss you. May God grant peace and shelter to your family, true friends, and genuine appreciators, Brother, King.” D’Angelo Reflected On Working With Lauryn Hill During A 2008 Interview During an interview with Rolling Stone in 2008, D’Angelo reflected on his time working with Hill on “Nothing Even Matters,” calling his collaborative relationship with the songstress “warm and sweet.” “Originally, we were going to swap tunes for each other’s projects because I was working on Voodoo at the same time and my keyboardist James Poyser was also working with her,” D’Angelo told the publication. “I went to her house in New Jersey, she played a lot of songs for me, and gave me a rough copy to listen to. When Lauryn and I went into the studio together, I laid down my vocals in the course of an hour.” Jill Scott And Missy Elliott Also Paid Tribute Hill wasn’t the only celeb to write a tribute in honor of D’Angelo on Tuesday, Oct. 14. Jill Scott, another neo-soul titan, took to X to honor the singer’s legacy. She revealed that a mutual friend had informed her that the star was “unwell” a few days before his death. “I didn’t know he was leaving us TODAY” she added. “Oooooooh my condolences to his family, his musical fam and fans. I am a fan and I mourn. D. Keaton & now D’Angelo. Hurts.” In a follow-up post, she added, “I never met D’Angelo but I love him, respect him, admire his gift. This loss HURTS!! Love to my family that are family to him. I’m so sorry.  R.I.P. GENIUS.” Missy Elliott shared heartfelt condolences for D’Angelo’s son, Michael Archer II, whose mother, Angie Stone, tragically died in a car crash just seven months before D’Angelo’s passing. “Rest Peacefully D’Angelo,” The Rain singer wrote on X. “No parent wants to see their children go, but it’s painful for children to see their parents go too so send prayers up for his son, who also lost his mom this year, for strength.” RELATED: Remembering A Legend: 10 D’Angelo Songs That Shaped Neo-Soul The post Lauryn Hill Pens Heartfelt Tribute Letter To ‘Beacon Of A Generation’ D’Angelo—’May God Grant Peace & Shelter To Your Family’ appeared first on Bossip.

Maybe there’s a reason the people of Chicago have been rebelling against ICE agents and other feds who have been deployed into their neighborhoods, supposedly, to arrest violent, undocumented criminals. Perhaps Chicagoans simply don’t believe the Trump administration is trying to make their streets safer by ridding them of dangerous migrants, because these agents keep snatching up day laborers and U.S. citizens whom they think are “illegals.” It could also be that folks are having a difficult time believing that it’s ICE that is “under siege” when what we see is agents detaining people for no discernible reason, deploying tear gas near schools and residential areas, beating up on protesters, bystanders, and media personnel, and, occasionally, shooting people. Also, why should we believe a word that comes out of a Border Patrol cop’s mouth when they keep lying about what led to so many of these incidents? According to the Guardian, last week, Debbie Brockman, a U.S. citizen and employee at Chicago’s WGN TV station, was temporarily detained during an ICE operation in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. Video footage of the arrest that has since gone viral on social media shows Brockman being forced to the ground by two agents, whom she can be heard identifying herself to before telling them where she works. It also appears that, for whatever reason, her pants were pulled down. In one video, a person off-camera can be heard asking the masked agents, “Do you guys want to share your names too, or you just gonna cover your face?” Brockman was reportedly handcuffed and put in a van, but then she was released without charges, which is odd, considering ICE agents accused her of throwing “objects at Border Patrol’s car” before she was “placed under arrest for assault on a federal law enforcement officer,” according to a DHS official. Yeah, because — you know — a person being released without charges after attacking an officer is totally a thing that happens. (To be fair, you can do it at the Capitol to stop Democratic votes from being certified, and the current president will issue you a pardon and contemplate paying you reparations.) Brockman’s attorneys denied their client did anything she was accused of, which, again, is believable because it’s the kind of thing people typically go to jail for. From the Guardian: In a news release issued by attorneys representing Brockman on Tuesday, which was sent to the Guardian as well as several Chicago news outlets, her lawyers disputed the government’s account. They said they “adamantly deny any allegation that she assaulted anyone” and that “Brockman was the one who was violently assaulted by federal agents on her way to work” on 10 October. Her lawyers say that at the time of the arrest, Brockman was “not acting in any professional capacity as an employee for WGN” but that she was just “walking to the bus stop as part of her morning commute when she was attacked by Border Patrol agents. “Brockman, who is a US Citizen born in this country, was violently detained on Foster Avenue,” the statement continues. “As this occurred, individuals on the street began recording the incident and asked Ms Brockman her name.” The statement says that she told the bystanders her name and that she worked at WGN, in the hopes that “someone would notify her employer so coworkers would know that she would not be arriving at work that day”, her attorneys said. According to her lawyers, Brockman was held in federal custody for about seven hours before being released. “She has not been charged with any crimes and she intends to pursue all legal avenues available to her to vindicate her rights and hold the federal authorities accountable for their actions,” the statement adds. One of Brockman’s lawyers, Brad Thomson, probably said it best: “If armed, masked, federal agents are snatching U.S. citizens off the street as they walk to work and throwing them in unmarked vehicles, you can only imagine what these agents must be willing to do to our immigrant neighbors and people who dare to speak out against them.” Only we don’t need to imagine it, because we’ve seen it on camera. Here’s a video we reported on earlier this month that shows federal immigration agents confronting and attempting to detain a man in the West Lawn neighborhood on the Southwest Side. Here’s what I wrote about that incident at the time: The man in question refused to go with the men willingly, which, normally, would result in a resisting arrest charge in addition to whatever the civilian was being arrested for in the first place. However, in this case, the scene ended with the men who appeared to be officers appearing to give up on arresting the man altogether and leaving the man alone after being confronted by angry bystanders. Bootlickers, of course, claimed it was an example of ICE being harassed just for doing their jobs, but those at the scene, including the man who recorded the video, said it was an example of the neighborhood stepping in to defend a human being from the Trump administration’s Gestapo. According to CBS News Chicago, a DHS spokesperson declined to explain why agents would simply leave the scene without taking the man into custody, which is a good question to ask, because, again, it just wouldn’t happen if the agents had a legitimate reason to arrest the man in the first place. As scary as it is to be confronted, roughed up, and arrested by ICE agents — who are often doing so without a proper warrant or probable cause — it becomes even more alarming once you realize not all people who are wrongfully arrested are simply released. Earlier this month, Mario Guevara, an award-winning, Spanish-language journalist, was deported to El Salvador, despite being in the U.S. legally, after he was arrested in June for livestreaming an anti-Trump “No Kings” protest near Atlanta. Guevara, who had been in the U.S. for more than two decades and has

Blac Chyna took to Instagram to post a carousel of pictures of herself in an all-white outfit posing by a Ferrari on the side of the road. What caught her followers off guard, however, is the caption, tagging her ex, Rob Kardashian, even though the photos don’t seem to have anything to do with him. The model—who now goes by her birth name, Angela White—didn’t say anything further about her confusing decision to tag Kardashian, but he did give the post a like, seemingly approving whatever message she’s trying to send. Chyna, 37, and Kardashian, 38, are co-parents to their 8-year-old daughter, Dream. The pair got engaged in 2016 after a rollercoaster romance, but their relationship ended shortly after, in 2017. In the years since their split, the former couple has had their fair share of drama, with Chyna suing Rob’s mother, Kris Jenner, and his sisters Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Kylie Jenner for defamation. She alleged in her $140 million lawsuit that E! did not renew their reality series, Rob & Chyna, for a second season because of his family’s influence at the network. Eventually, a judge ruled in favor of the Kardashian and Jenner family, saying they did not unjustly harm Chyna’s career. At the height of their breakup in 2017, things got even worse, with Kardashian exposing naked pictures of his ex, causing Chyna to enlist powerhouse lawyer Lisa Bloom for a “revenge porn” lawsuit. The case ended up being settled privately in June 2022, just before it was scheduled to go to trial. That same year, Rob claimed Blac Chyna attempted to choke him with an iPhone charger during an intense fight last at sister Kylie Jenner’s house. The reality star and his sister filed a lawsuit against Rob’s ex-fiancé for battery, assault and vandalism. Rob ultimately filed to dismiss the case in 2022 to focus on co-parenting their daughter, Dream. Things between the couple have been quiet over the last few years, which (hopefully) means the drama was officially put to rest. But, now that they’ve seemingly figured out how to coparent together, they may be spinning the block in an attempt to bring their family back together. If you need to catch up on all of Rob and Chyna lore amid their suspected rekindling, check out a timeline of their relationship here. The post Run It Back?! Blac Chyna Sparks Rob Kardashian Reconciliation Rumors With Mysterious Social Media Post appeared first on Bossip.

Atlanta Police arrested a 26-year-old man identified as Brent Jones early Saturday morning after he allegedly vandalized one of the city’s most sacred landmarks: the Eternal Flame at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change. Authorities told 11 Alive, they arrived at the historic site on Auburn Avenue around 4:30 a.m. and caught Jones urinating in the reflective pool outside the King Center before stomping on the Eternal Flame, causing what officials described as “significant damage.” Source: Raymond Boyd / Getty The Eternal Flame, which has burned continuously for decades, stands as a symbol of Dr. King’s enduring legacy and his vision of the “Beloved Community,” a world built on justice, peace, and equality for all people, as noted by the King Center’s official website. Police Detail the Charges In 11Alive, Atlanta Police state Jones was taken into custody without further incident and later booked into the Fulton County Jail. He faces multiple charges, including criminal damage to property in the second degree, criminal trespass, public indecency, and obstruction of law enforcement. Officials have not released details on the estimated cost of the damage, but the act has sparked strong emotions across Atlanta’s civil rights community and beyond. Many have expressed outrage over the blatant disrespect toward a space that represents the heart of the city and the nation’s moral and cultural history. “The Eternal Flame symbolizes the continuing effort to realize Dr. King’s dream of the ‘Beloved Community,’” the King Center website states, reminding the public that this flame is not just a tourist attraction, it’s a living monument to the struggle for equality that Dr. King gave his life for. A Pattern of Desecration As 11Alive reports, this isn’t the first time someone has targeted the property tied to Dr. King’s legacy. In a separate 2023 incident, police arrested a woman accused of attempting to burn down Martin Luther King Jr.’s birth home. Witnesses told authorities they saw her pouring gasoline on the porch before she was stopped and taken into custody. The recurrence of such acts has reignited discussions about the security and preservation of Atlanta’s civil rights landmarks, many of which sit within the Sweet Auburn Historic District, a national treasure recognized for its role in the Black freedom movement. A Disrespect to the Dream The vandalism of the Eternal Flame cuts deeper than simple property damage. It’s an affront to the ideals it represents. For decades, the flame has served as a metaphor for the enduring pursuit of justice and the light that Dr. King sought to keep burning in a world darkened by hate and division. To desecrate it, and in such a vulgar manner, feels like a direct slap in the face to that mission.  

Arthur Blank’s latest move is nothing short of monumental. Through the Arthur Blank Foundation, he has pledged $50 million over the next 10 years to support four of Atlanta’s most storied HBCUs (Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Morris Brown College, Spelman College) with “gap scholarships” for students who are nearing graduation but have exhausted other financial aid. The idea is to lift the burden from students who are academically qualified but financially stuck, helping nearly 10,000 learners complete their degrees. To understand the depth of this move, it is helpful to examine the Arthur Blank Foundation itself. Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United, has committed to giving away more than half of his wealth and has already funneled over $1.5 billion into causes across education, the arts, health, and infrastructure. In Georgia, his foundation has already supported HBCUs through previous gifts, including $10 million directed to Spelman for an innovation lab and $6 million to upgrade athletic facilities at various campuses. In this context, the new $50 million pledge represents the single most significant gift to HBCUs made by the Arthur Blank Foundation to date. HBCUs hold a legacy that is both rich and resilient. For over a century, they have been institutions of opportunity, educating generations, cultivating leadership, fueling movements, and evolving despite systemic underfunding and external barriers. Many of their students come from low-income households, first-generation college families, or areas with fewer resources. A large part of the attrition (students dropping out before finishing) is due not to capability, but to gaps in funding near the finish line when all other forms of aid have run out. The new scholarship pledge is precisely calibrated to address that “last mile” struggle. So how might this incoming money be used in practice? Gap scholarships would enable students to focus full-time on completing their coursework, rather than juggling extra jobs or accumulating debt. Funds could underwrite costs such as fees, textbooks, or living expenses that are often overlooked. Beyond direct student support, campuses might allocate portions towards administrative capacity to better manage retention, counseling and advising services, bridge programs, or improved infrastructure because making graduation easier is about more than covering tuition. When more students cross the finish line, alumni networks strengthen, institutional prestige grows, enrollment stabilizes, and the long-term cycle of reinvestment gains momentum. This gift is more than charity. It’s a strategic reinvestment in legacy, promise, and future leaders. It also emphasizes a truth long known: when HBCUs succeed, communities succeed. Shout out to Arthur Blank for making a difference!  

The Kansas City Streetcar extension project has come under intense scrutiny following a federal racial discrimination lawsuit filed by six Black and Hispanic workers. The workers allege they endured a culture of racial hostility and harassment — including slurs, threats, and intimidation — allegedly fostered by a foreman with ties to the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group. The lawsuit, initially filed in Jackson County Circuit Court and later moved to U.S. District Court in Kansas City, claims a pattern of racial discrimination, harassment, and retaliation across the project’s job sites. The Plaintiffs and Defendants According to The Kansas City Star, the plaintiffs — Javier Buendia, Jonas Buendia, Oliver Curry, Carl Hunt, Joseph Martin, and Charles Watkins — accuse several contractors and unions of enabling or ignoring racist behavior. The defendants include: Herzog Contracting Corporation Stacey and Witbeck KC Streetcar Constructors (a joint venture of the two firms) International Union of Operating Engineers Local No. 101 Heavy Construction Laborers Local No. 663 Additionally, three individuals — Bryce Shields, Josh Ayres, and Chris Greenwood — are named as defendants. Claims of Racist Abuse and Harassment The lawsuit alleges that the six men faced daily and weekly racial harassment, including slurs, threats, and violence. Lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote that the workers were “at the mercy of the terroristic whims of whomever chose to target them.” The plaintiffs claim that company management and union leaders failed to intervene or enforce anti-harassment policies. The suit seeks damages for emotional distress and workplace discrimination. A Foreman’s Proud Boys Connection According to the lawsuit, at least one foreman involved in the project was allegedly a member of the Proud Boys, a white nationalist group known for violent political extremism. It remains unclear which of the named defendants has that affiliation. The Proud Boys, labeled a terrorist organization in several countries, gained national attention after former President Donald Trump told them to “stand back and stand by” during a 2020 debate. Disturbing Incidents Reported by Workers The lawsuit outlines numerous racist incidents, including racial slurs, threats of lynching, and physical assaults: One foreman allegedly referred to Black workers as “monkeys” and said, “These monkeys I have on my crew ‘bout to drive me crazy.” Oliver Curry, one of the plaintiffs, reported that a white co-worker threatened to “find a tree to put it in,” a comment Curry interpreted as a lynching threat. Curry also claims that when a colleague called him the N-word repeatedly, the Proud Boys–affiliated foreman witnessed the incident but took no action. Another supervisor allegedly remarked that Black men “should end up in a noose.” In addition, the plaintiffs claim Black employees were falsely accused of theft, physically assaulted, and threatened with further violence by white co-workers. Violent Assault Allegations In one 2023 incident described in the suit, white workers allegedly attacked a Black man suspected of breaking into a worksite. The assailants allegedly tied him up, duct-taped his mouth, and beat him, with one shouting, “Back where I’m from, we lynch people like you.” Another allegedly offered to drag the man with his truck. These disturbing details, if true, paint a picture of a deeply hostile and unsafe work environment. Management’s Alleged Cover-Up Despite holding a meeting in November 2023 to discuss racism and harassment complaints, attorneys claim project management failed to discipline any accused employees. Instead, they allege that management covered up records of harassment. According to the lawsuit: “The change in policy and the expungement of employee records indicates an attempt to clear the record of any evidence of racial or sexual harassment.” Attorneys argue that this cover-up demonstrates company knowledge of the racial hostility and a refusal to act. Broader Context: Racism in Construction Workplaces This lawsuit sheds light on a longstanding issue in the construction industry — the prevalence of racial discrimination on job sites. Black and Hispanic workers have long reported being subjected to racist remarks, exclusion, and harassment in predominantly white labor environments. As the case progresses, the Kansas City Streetcar extension — once a symbol of local progress — is now facing questions about accountability, workplace culture, and oversight. Conclusion The allegations against the Kansas City Streetcar project and its contractors represent more than just a legal dispute — they highlight deep racial divisions that continue to plague American workplaces. For the plaintiffs, their case is not only about justice but also about changing a culture of racism and silence. Good luck to the plaintiffs — their fight is one that resonates far beyond Missouri.

Former President Donald Trump and New York Attorney General Letitia James have been locked in a series of fierce legal showdowns for years. Their ongoing feud—rooted in investigations, lawsuits, and accusations of political retribution—reached a new level on October 9, 2025, when federal prosecutors indicted Letitia James on charges of fraud and false statements. Federal Indictment of Letitia James According to The New York Times, the indictment, filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleges that James misrepresented her intent to use a Norfolk, Virginia home as a secondary residence. Prosecutors claim she actually intended to rent it as an investment property, allegedly securing a $19,000 financial advantage through favorable mortgage terms. The indictment came just weeks after former FBI Director James Comey faced charges under similar circumstances, intensifying fears about Trump’s influence over the justice system and what critics call a pattern of political retribution. James, however, denied any wrongdoing, calling the charges “baseless” and politically motivated. “This is nothing more than the president’s weaponization of our justice system,” James said in a statement. “He’s forcing federal agencies to act as his personal enforcers because I held him accountable as New York’s Attorney General.” Trump vs. Letitia James: A Legal History The Trump–James rivalry has unfolded through several major lawsuits and court rulings. Here’s a look at their legal timeline. November 2019: The Trump Foundation Case In June 2018, Letitia James filed a lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation, alleging that Trump and his children misused charitable funds for personal and political gain. The lawsuit claimed that Trump diverted Foundation money to support his 2016 presidential campaign, including a $2.8 million fundraiser disguised as a charitable event. In 2019, the case ended in a settlement requiring Trump to admit to misusing funds and placing restrictions on future charity activities. His children—Donald Jr., Ivanka, and Eric Trump—were ordered to complete nonprofit governance training, and the Foundation was officially dissolved. December 2021: Trump Sues Letitia James Before James could file her landmark civil fraud case, Donald Trump preemptively sued Letitia James, accusing her of political bias and violating due process. Trump’s lawsuit sought to block her investigation into his business practices. He claimed that James’s probe into the Trump Organization’s asset valuations was unconstitutional and politically motivated. Court documents highlighted James’s public criticism of Trump and her 2018 campaign statements about “having [her] eyes on Trump Tower.” The lawsuit was dismissed in May 2022 by a federal judge, allowing James’s investigation to proceed. September 2022: The Civil Fraud Lawsuit In 2022, James filed a civil fraud lawsuit against Donald Trump, three of his adult children, and top Trump Organization executives. The lawsuit alleged a decade-long scheme to inflate asset values in order to secure loans, reduce taxes, and mislead insurers—a scheme totaling $250 million in fraud. James sought to ban the Trumps from executive positions in New York-based companies and impose heavy financial penalties. The lawsuit became one of the most consequential legal challenges of Trump’s career. February 2024: The Landmark Judgment In 2024, Letitia James secured a major victory when a New York court ruled against Trump, ordering him, his companies, and his sons to pay over $450 million in penalties. The ruling also barred Trump from holding executive roles or seeking loans from New York banks for three years. This decision marked a significant legal and political blow to the former president. August 2025: The Appeals Court Reversal In August 2025, a New York appellate court overturned the civil fraud judgment, waiving the $450 million fine but upholding restrictions preventing Trump and his sons from leading companies in New York. The five-judge panel described the original penalty as “excessive” but agreed that some level of accountability was appropriate. April 2025: James Defends Her Record Earlier in April 2025, Letitia James highlighted her office’s ongoing efforts to challenge Trump administration policies she described as “dangerous and illegal.” She reported joining 15 lawsuits and submitting 22 amicus briefs alongside other Democratic attorneys general, addressing issues like citizenship rights, worker protections, and voting access. “We stopped some of their most unconstitutional policies dead in their tracks,” James said. “If this administration keeps bulldozing the Constitution, they’ll find all of us standing in the way.” Conclusion: An Ongoing Legal Feud The conflict between Donald Trump and Letitia James continues to shape national headlines. What began as a series of lawsuits has evolved into a full-blown political and legal war—testing the limits of American democracy, judicial independence, and political accountability.  

Source: They came for Fani Willis. They came for Marilyn Mosby. They came for Lisa Cook. And now, they’ve come for Letitia James. This is no coincidence. This is a calibrated campaign to strike fear into Black women who dared to occupy power, to question a powerful, corrupt, racist white man, and to hold the pillars of justice and policy. The audacity of Trump and his cronies to frame decent, professional Black women for mortgage fraud as if that’s the mortal sin of political life in a nation built on grift. But why mortgage fraud? Because it’s subtle. It’s technical. It’s the kind of charge that looks clean in a headline and filthy in a courtroom. It doesn’t require a smoking gun, just a signature, a checkbox, and an assumption of intent. Mortgage fraud lives in the gray zone between paperwork and persecution, which is precisely why it’s so useful for political revenge. It’s the perfect weapon for those like Donald Trump who’ve committed real fraud at scale. He and his henchmen can dress up their vengeance in the language of legality. They can say, “We’re just enforcing the law,” while they weaponize bureaucracy to criminalize Black women for daring to own property, power, or narrative space. It all starts in the shadows with whispers in bureaucracy, referrals from regulatory offices, letters stamped “investigation,” paper trails dissected for the faintest discrepancy. Trump’s people, including agencies now under his influence or scrutiny, peer into loan applications, home-residence declarations, and occupancy statements. They search for one misstep, one paperwork inconsistency, to brand a public servant a felon. Because they know that very few cases of mortgage fraud are simple. The lines are blurry. Life complicates residence. Personal decisions, family dynamics, and rental arrangements all create ambiguity. That lack of clarity is fertile ground for accusation. Under that uncertainty, they pounce on the Black women who tried him. Letitia James, the New York Attorney General, a relentless critic of Trump, is now the latest to be indicted by a federal grand jury for alleged bank fraud and false statements tied to a mortgage application. She’s accused of mislabeling one of her properties. James has denied wrongdoing and called the charges politically motivated. The timing is intentional. We are deep in the heart of a political season, and the motive is plain as day: weaken a formidable opponent who previously led a civil fraud case against him. Marilyn Mosby, once a rising star in legal ranks, endured the hammer of justice. Mosby’s mortgage fraud conviction was later overturned by an appeals court, but not before the damage had been done through years of corrosive reputational cost and the shadow of criminality hanging over her name. Mosby was targeted because she dared to do what few prosecutors had ever done: charge police officers for killing a Black man. Her decision to indict the officers involved in Freddie Gray’s death made her a marked woman. The backlash was instant and coordinated through police unions, conservative media, and political operatives who painted her as reckless, radical, and corrupt. When they couldn’t beat her in court, they went after her home. They went after her finances. They wanted to remind her, and every other Black woman in a position of authority, that there are consequences for holding white power accountable. Lisa Cook, a sitting Governor at the Federal Reserve Board, hears whispers that she, too, is under investigation. That somewhere, someone unearthed evidence of her declaring dual properties as primary residence. If true, this is a technical violation. If false or exaggerated, it is pure political sabotage. Trump, with characteristic bombast, calls for her resignation, even attempts to remove her “for cause” by hunting for legal language to justify a purge. And why her?  Because she is the first Black woman ever to sit on the Federal Reserve Board, an institution that, for over a century, was an ivory tower of white male economists shaping the nation’s wealth. Her scholarship exposed how racial violence and discrimination distort economic growth. Her very presence in that chair is a rebuke to the mythology of white meritocracy. By targeting her, they aren’t just questioning her paperwork; they’re questioning whether a Black woman has the right to define economic reality itself. This isn’t about mortgages. It’s about power, intellect, and the terror of seeing a Black woman at the center of America’s financial brain trust. What we’re witnessing in these cases is a web of semantics: “primary residence,” “investment property,” “vacation home,” “occupancy,” “intent.” It’s a world of forms, signatures, disclosures, not the boldface corruption that demands high proof. And that is its weapon: ambiguity. Four Black women in power, each accused or investigated under the same cynical script: dig into their private lives, their homes, their finances, their relationships. Find something—anything—that can be weaponized into a scandal. The charge doesn’t even have to stick. The goal is humiliation. The mission is containment. And the gall of it, my god the freakin’ gall of Donald Trump and his people to come after these women for “fraud.”  This is a real estate mogul who overvalued his assets by hundreds of millions of dollars and is now watching his allies prosecute Black women over line items on loan forms. The man who’s built an empire of theft and deceit dares to point his stubby finger at the very women who have spent their lives cleaning up the wreckage his kind left behind. It’s always the same choreography. First, the whisper of impropriety. Then the “exclusive” leak. Then the congressional hearing, the indictment, or the ethics probe. Trump’s orbit doesn’t need conviction; it just needs confusion because it thrives on spectacle, on smearing Black women’s competence and dignity through the slow grind of bureaucratic cruelty. White theft is enterprise, Black success is suspect. So now, Letitia James gets indicted on bank fraud and false statement charges, accused of mislabeling a Virginia property on loan paperwork. Marilyn Mosby is dragged through years of court battles

President Donald Trump just keeps on running into legal roadblocks in his bid to turn the U.S. military and other federal agencies on U.S. citizens in Democrat-run cities. This week alone, federal judges have blocked his attempt to send the National Guard into Portland and placed restrictions on ICE’s ability to make arrests in Chicago without a warrant. On Thursday, yet another federal judge blocked the president from sending the Guard into Chicago, another city where officials and citizens have explicitly expressed they do not need or want them there. According to Politico, U.S. District Judge April Perry issued a restraining order barring the National Guard from carrying out the directives of the Trump administration, which deployed Guard troops to Chicago earlier this week. Why did Judge Perry issue this restraining order? Well, for the same reason Trump was blocked from weaponizing the military against Portland: everyone with half a brain knows Trump is flat-out lying about these cities being “war zones” and ICE facilities being “under siege.” From Politico: She described the narrative of violence as exaggerated and pointed to the use of tear gas and military-style tactics against “mostly peaceful demonstrators” — a group she noted was never more than a few hundred strong. It’s a legal blow for Trump, who’s leaned hard into law-and-order messaging, especially in cities that limit cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Chicago and nearby Broadview — home to a major ICE facility — have been front and center in the administration’s push. Again, Trump’s so-called “land order messaging” is really just him spreading propaganda about rises in violent crime in cities where violent crime is actually down, as it is across the nation. Perry also noted that National Guard troops are “not trained in de-escalation” or any other aspect of law enforcement that would equip them to handle civil protests appropriately. Of course, Trump, who is never one to let reality get in the way of a false narrative that, in his mind, justifies him dabbling in fascism, has already responded to the ruling by having his administration file a notice of appeal in the Seventh Circuit. Unfortunately, it is in the appellate court that the Trump administration has seen success in reversing the rulings of federal judges who aren’t afraid to stand up against the regime. In fact, according to Axios, a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has signaled it is likely to rule in Trump’s favor on his deployment of the guard in Portland, not because it’s necessary, but because the judges simply believe the president has the right to do it. “What I’m struggling with is, the president gets to direct his resources as he deems fit, and it just seems a little counterintuitive to me that the city of Portland can come in and say ‘No. You need to do it differently,” Judge Ryan Nelson, a Trump appointee, said during oral arguments Thursday. Axios reported that the panel “had tough questions for an attorney for the state, noting the law requires the court give deference to the president when he says troops are needed to protect federal law enforcement and buildings.” So, basically, all a president has to do is claim sending in the military is necessary — lack of evidence be damned — and state sovereignty just goes completely out the window. Still, Chicago and Illinois leaders are counting Perry’s ruling as a win. Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson both released statements praising the decision. “Donald Trump is not a king — and his administration is not above the law,”  Pritzker tweeted Thursday. “Today, the court confirmed what we all know: there is no credible evidence of a rebellion in the state of Illinois. And no place for the National Guard in the streets of American cities like Chicago.” Johnson was even more blunt, saying in a statement, “The Trump administration is unreliable. They lie, misrepresent, and put people in danger.” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who filed the legal challenge against the Trump administration, called the ruling a “victory for the rule of law,” and praised the court for recognizing the administration’s lack of “credibility.” Hopefully, this ruling holds up, but as we have seen, the U.S. “justice” system just doesn’t appear to be equipped to rein in a power-mad ideologue of a commander in chief, who does not care about justice or truth. SEE ALSO: National Guard Arrives In Chicago As Trump Threatens Insurrection Act ‘The Guard Is Not Needed’: Chicago Mayor Pushes Back On Trump’s National Guard Threat Trump Ramps Up Threats To Send Troops To Chicago After Violent Labor Day Weekend Trump Threatens Jail For Chicago Mayor & Illinois Governor

For the past several months, the Trump administration has been pressuring red-state governors to engage in a rare, mid-decade redistricting process to protect the GOP’s narrow House majority. While Texas and Missouri have successfully implemented new congressional maps, Indiana’s redistricting effort appears to be stalling out, and Utah may have redistricted itself into a “dummymander.” According to Politico, Vice President JD Vance is visiting Indiana to try and whip the state legislature into beginning a redistricting effort. The trip comes after Indiana’s Republican Gov. Mike Braun told the White House he was concerned that the redistricting push didn’t have support in the state Senate. White House deputy chief of staff James Blair, Political Director Matt Brasseaux, and Republican National Committee chief of staff Michael Ambrosini will be joining Vance in Indiana on Thursday. Anonymous Republican insiders who spoke with Politico said that Indiana GOP Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray is behind the stalled redistricting effort. They said Bray “has been doing nothing to help the effort along or encourage his members, but has been really sort of hiding behind them, and maybe even subtly or not so subtly pouring cold water on the idea so that he can say he doesn’t have the votes.” Indiana’s congressional map is already fairly gerrymandered, with Republicans holding seven of the state’s nine seats in the House. A new map would give Republicans total control of the state’s House seats. Despite frequently telling people not to politicize the issue when it comes to school shootings, Republicans have wasted no time politicizing the death of Charlie Kirk to push through a new electoral map of all things. “They killed Charlie Kirk – the least that we can do is go through a legal process and redistrict Indiana into a nine-to-zero map,” Sen. Jim Banks, the Republican of Indiana, told POLITICO last month. Utah has successfully seen through its redistricting process, though there are concerns that its attempt at a gerrymandered map may blow up in its face. Utah already implemented a new map in 2021 that carved the traditionally blue Salt Lake City into four separate districts, with Republicans currently holding those four districts. A lawsuit was filed against that map, with a judge ordering the state legislature to redraw the map. The new map drafted by Utah’s Republican state legislature has split Salt Lake City into two districts. From the New York Times: By doing it this way, rather than grouping most of Salt Lake City into one Democratic stronghold and creating three safely Republican seats, Republicans have an opportunity to maintain control of all four House seats next year. But they have also risked creating a so-called dummymander – a gerrymandered map that backfires against the party it’s intended to favor. Republicans drew two light-red districts – one more competitive than the other – that could both potentially flip toward Democrats in a year that strongly favors them. Along with two safe Republican seats, the new map, which must still be signed by Gov. Spencer Cox and approved by a judge, creates one district that Trump won by about seven percentage points last year, and another district that Trump won by about 2 points. President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign on Republican-led states to begin rare, mid-decade redistricting efforts to protect the GOP’s narrow House majority has seen Texas and Missouri successfully implement new congressional maps that potentially give them a combined total of seven more seats ahead of the 2026 midterms. It’s worth noting that lawsuits have been filed against the Texas map by voting rights groups alleging that the map is racially gerrymandered. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the “Election Rigging Response Act” in August to combat the Texas redistricting effort. A special election will be held in California on Nov. 4, where voters will determine whether control of the state’s congressional maps remains with an independent redistricting committee or goes to the state legislature through 2030. Should voters choose to give the state legislature control, Gov. Newsom intends to implement a map that would neutralize Texas’ gains. If the lawsuits in Texas succeed, and California’s voters approve a new map, the map could drastically change for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterms. SEE ALSO: President Trump Eyes Florida And Indiana In Redistricting Push California Gov. Gavin Newsom Signs Bill Launching Redistricting Effort Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe Sets Special Session For Redistricting Texas Democrats Will Return To State After Special Session Ends Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom Counters Texas Redistricting Effort With One Of His Own Redistricting: Majority Black Voting Maps Rejected In Louisiana Critics Call Texas Governor’s New Congressional Map Gerrymandering US Senator John Cornyn, FBI Team Up To Hunt Texas Democrats Texas State Dems Break Quorum To Prevent Redistricting Vote Gov. Greg Abbott Orders Arrest Of Texas Democrats Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Sues To Remove Democratic Rep In Redistricting Fight Racial Gerrymandering Lawsuit Filed Over Texas Voting Map

Texas-based fast-food chain Trump Burger, known for serving up MAGA politics with its supersized patties, has quietly closed its doors amid ongoing immigration troubles facing its Lebanese-born owner, Roland Mehrez Beainy. When the restaurant first rose to viral fame, it positioned itself as “a patriotic haven for burger lovers” across the Lone Star State, plastered with red, white, and blue décor and dedicated to the 45th president. Now, those same storefronts stand empty, dark, and locked, a dramatic fall from the brand’s once-viral status as the self-proclaimed “home of the Trump Burger.” The Independent reports that Beainy was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this year for overstaying his visa, which was originally issued in 2019 and set to expire in February 2024. Previously reported by BOSSIP, the arrest sent shockwaves across conservative social media, as the restaurant’s owner had publicly aligned his brand with Trump’s “America First” rhetoric, only to now find himself on the receiving end of the same immigration system that the former president once promised to tighten. From Red Hats To Red Tape: Legal Troubles Mount In the Independent, local outlet KHOU confirmed through an ICE spokesperson that Beainy “does not have any immigration benefits that prevented his arrest or removal from the United States.” The agency identified him as a “28-year-old illegal alien from Lebanon” who entered the U.S. as a non-immigrant visitor in 2019 and “failed to depart by 12 February 2024, as required under the terms of his admission.” Beainy was taken into custody on May 16, 2025, and later granted bond by an immigration judge on June 13 while awaiting further proceedings. But even with his release, the restaurants appear to be stalled — and possibly shuttered for good. The Independent states that Houston Business Journal reportedly visited Trump Burger’s Chimney Rock Road location twice during peak hours this week and found the neon sign switched off, a “closed” notice taped to the door, and a deserted parking lot. On Google, the listing now reads “temporarily closed.” The Journal described the franchise’s current state as one “hanging in the balance,” citing the legal web surrounding Beainy’s ongoing case as a major factor in the shutdown. ICE’s Message: No Exceptions, No Matter Your Politics While Beainy’s supporters online have tried to frame the arrest as politically motivated, ICE officials have made it clear that his political leanings played no part in their decision. In a statement shared with KHOU and cited by The Independent, the agency said: “Under the current administration, ICE is committed to restoring integrity to our nation’s immigration system by holding all individuals accountable who illegally enter the country or overstay the terms of their admission. This is true regardless of what restaurant you own or political beliefs you might have.” That last line cuts sharply, especially for a restaurant that wore its loyalty to Trump like a brand badge. At its height, Beainy’s bold branding drew both crowds and controversy, with lines of supporters taking selfies beside murals of Trump and slogans like “Make America Grill Again.” But that marketing magic has since faded into irony. Now, the very business that prided itself on American pride finds itself facing an identity crisis, and a possible permanent closure, as its owner fights deportation from the country he once marketed as “great again.” What’s Next For Trump Burger? At press time, the Independent reports that emails to the restaurant bounced back undelivered, and no formal statement has been released by the Trump Burger team. ICE confirmed Beainy remains in immigration proceedings, with his future and the future of his MAGA-branded empire uncertain. For now, the patriotic promise of Trump Burger has cooled off faster than a cold fry left under a heat lamp. The post MAGA Meaty Mystery: Houston Restaurant Trump Burger Closes after Boss Deported appeared first on Bossip.

Megan Thee Stallion is standing ten toes down in her defamation lawsuit against blogger Milagro Gramz, and she just won a major sanction in their case. The two will face off in a Houston court via trial, but in the meantime, Meg’s team won a sanction against Milagro after claiming she “deleted thousands of text messages” despite being told not to. Meg was granted an “adverse inference jury instruction” as well as “monetary” sanctions against Milagro—whose full name is Milagro Elizabeth Cooper—for what the court is calling “spoliation of evidence.” According to the legal documents, Cooper was instructed not to delete any correspondence about Meg, but she did so anyway. Meg’s team said “not so fast” once Milagro was unable to turn over the evidence and requested that the judge make it permissible in court to let the jury know that she attempted to hide things that could have harmed her defense. She is also now responsible for giving Meg back her coins for having to bring the issue up to the court though they have not agreed on what the compensation will be just yet, according to Hot 97. Either way, Milagro is digging herself quite the hole ahead of the trial. She was already ordered to pay $5,000 towards Meg’s lawyer fees back in July for tampering with evidence, and she’s also accused of circulating a deep fake pornographic image of the “Cobra” artist, which is now considered a federal crime. The entire case stems from Milagro’s commitment to allegedly disseminating falsified information in support of Tory Lanez. Meg claims that the blogger participated in fueling a smear campaign against her alongside the imprisoned singer’s father, Sonstar Peterson, that contributed to immeasurable harassment in the years after her shooting. Allegedly, the fake porn video was the final straw on the stallion’s back that led her to march Milagro into court. The post Megan Thee Stallion Wins New Sanction Against Milagro Gramz In Defamation Case, Claims Blogger Deleted Text Message Evidence appeared first on Bossip.

DDG is committed to keeping everyone in his and Halle Bailey’s business, and his latest album release is giving fans insight into how he feels about their custody battle. On the track “17 more years”, DDG opens up about where the former lovers currently stand as they work to come to an amicable arrangement for their 1-year-old son, Halo. “I don’t wanna fight no more, tired of the court dates,” he raps on the track. “Lawyers getting over on us, watching money go to waste. We should all get together on his birthday, light the cake. If we talk, it’ll get better. Go ahead and drop the case. Used to text your phone, now we speaking through the mail. You don’t even know, I got love for you still. Said you want me gone, is that really how you feel? Might as well get along, we got 17 more years” Well, ok. The track comes after Bailey filed and won a restraining order against DDG claiming physical and emotional abuse at the hands of the popular vlogger/streamer. DDG hit back at Bailey, using her postpartum depression against her, and claimed that Halo was unsafe with his mother who he alleged had communicated having suicidal ideation on more than one occasion. “I have been very vocal about my anxiety, depression, and previous thoughts of suicide,” Bailey wrote in a declaration to the court at the time. “Without waiving the psychotherapist-patient privilege and physician-patient privilege, I have reached out to my doctor and received treatment to address these issues. I have been and remain 100% available and capable as a parent to our son, Halo.” In August, a judge declared that both DDG and Halle were no longer allowed to post their son on social media following a summer in which the Little Mermaid actress claimed that the streamer regularly used their son to incite online violence against her. “Whenever he wishes to cause upset, he starts badmouthing me to his several millions of fans,” Bailey wrote in her declaration at the time. “He claims I am withholding our son and that I am with other men. As a result, I then receive threats and hate on social media. He seems to try to set up drama for his fans. He goes ‘live’ ranting about me and alleges that I am keeping Halo from him. This is false. I have requested a set schedule, which he refuses.” Nonetheless, DDG seems to feel that there’s room for healthy reconciliation or at least he hopes there is. As for Bailey, the six-time Grammy nominee is gearing up to release her debut album, love? or something like it, on Oct. 24. She hasn’t said much about it, but we can only assume that she’ll be opening up in her own way about everything that happened in their relationship. Her track “braveface” seemed to be speak to the pain she learned how to hide during a contentious relationship, while “back and forth”—the track she released ahead of Valentine’s Day—was a flirtatious bop about leaving the passion for the bedroom. Looks like Halle will be giving the girlies a bit of everything on her debut. We’re here for it! The post DDG Releases New Album, Asks Halle Bailey To ‘Drop The Case’ On Lead Single appeared first on Bossip.

The girls are STILL fighting! Cardi B called BIA a “p***y” for copping pleas about beefing during her pregnancy now, but allegedly spreading cheating accusations to Offset’s friend when Bardi was “five months pregnant with Blossom last year.” BIA pulled a J. Cole and waved the white flag as Cardi B’s never-ending feud with Nicki Minaj and rappers who backed up Barbie exploded again last week. While the embattled rap divas traded insults about each other’s parenting skills, the Boston rapper realized she’s not on that type of time. While promoting the Oct. 10 release of Bianca on Hot97, BIA denied dedicating her debut album to coming for Cardi. She threw shade at Cardi’s (and Pardi’s) pen, but told Nessa she didn’t want to compete with Cardi unless they’re getting in the booth together. If you say so, sis! “Why would I? I don’t care about anybody that much to get up and dedicate my life to like, ‘Oh, let me get at her.’ Like, no way, bro, that’s crazy,” the “Whole Lotta Money” mami said. “It’s like a little beneath me because that was a year ago for me,” BIA added about continuing the feud after another diss by Cardi.”So now this album was coming out on Oct. 10 either way, whether she dissed me or not.” On “Pretty & Petty,” Cardi didn’t hold back on “diarrhea BIA” about everything from her body to her relevance. Still, BIA said she charged it to the game rather than taking it personally. “I was like, ‘Well, I’m glad she felt like she’d get that off.’ I knew it was coming because this is rap. I’m competitive so, like, I diss you, you diss me … It’s part of the game,” she explained. BIA didn’t let up on the copycat claims about Really Her and Cardi B’s “Enough,” but she welcomed a creative challenge rather than continuing to beef with an expecting mother. “I can go get on your a** again, but it’s like, girl, enjoy your pregnancy. My mother didn’t raise me to be dragging a pregnant lady. That’s out,” she continued. BIA may have conveniently moved on, but Cardi pulled up to call her out for copping pleas. Check out Cardi B putting BIA on blast for messing with her marriage to Offset after the flip! The post Cardi B Calls BIA A ‘P***y’ For Conveniently Copping Preggo Pleas, Claims BIA Sabotaged Offset Marriage During Pregnancy With Blossom appeared first on Bossip.

The Bravo world is in chaos after The Real Housewives of Potomac star Wendy Osefo and her husband, Eddie Osefo, were indicted on multiple fraud charges in Carroll County, Maryland. Eddie and Wendy Osefo’s charges led to immediate repercussions from Bravo, and the couple now faces a serious legal battle that contradicts Wendy’s carefully curated image. The controversy stems from a reported burglary at the couple’s home in April 2024. According to Variety, the Osefos had been on vacation in Jamaica when they claimed to have returned home to find their bedroom and closets torn apart and designer bags and jewelry stolen. They subsequently submitted three separate insurance claims for an estimated $450,000 worth of goods. Investigators, however, quickly became suspicious. Authorities noted that the Osefos’ ADT alarm system had been activated, but detected no break-in or motion during their absence. Adding fuel to the fire, investigators determined that Osefo had purchased and then returned several of the items that were allegedly stolen from their home. Those items were also included on the insurance claims. Additionally, investigators spotted Wendy Osefo wearing a diamond anniversary ring she had claimed was stolen in a social media photo she posted after the alleged burglary. Wendy Osefo’s Charges: 16 Counts, $450K Claim, and the Bravo Fallout As BOSSIP reported, the police investigation culminated in an indictment on October 9. Wendy Osefo was indicted on 16 total charges, including seven felony counts of insurance fraud, eight counts of conspiracy to insurance fraud, and one count of false statement to a police officer. Her husband, Eddie Osefo, faces the same charges with an additional two, including an extra charge each of insurance fraud and conspiracy to commit insurance fraud. Most of the felony charges carry a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. The professional fallout was immediate. Bravo was scheduled to premiere the Osefos’ episode of their new series, Wife Swap: The Real Housewives Edition, on October 14. Variety reported that the network pulled the episode, delaying it and replacing it with an episode featuring Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Angie Katsanevas. The Osefos are tentatively scheduled to appear in court on November 7. Osefo’s charges come as a huge shock to fans, as they stand in stark contrast to the persona Wendy Osefo cultivated on The Real Housewives of Potomac. Known as “Dr. Wendy,” she joined the cast in its fifth season as an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins and made regular appearances on CNN. She often reminded viewers that she has “four degrees.” According to TMZ, after the initial burglary report in April 2024, Wendy appeared on the Gabbing With Gib podcast, doubling down on her story and explaining why she thought she was “targeted” by burglars. However, when confronted with the evidence, Sheriff James T. DeWees, who detailed the charges in a press conference, was unapologetic about the high-profile nature of the case. “I don’t care if she’s real housewife, fake housewife, or whatever she is — we would handle it the same way, regardless of who she was,” he stated. A few of Wendy’s Housewives castmates commented on the news, showing their support. Former castmate Katie Rost commented under a post reporting the arrest, “Wendy, I got a message from someone who asked me to make a statement. I know this is all bullshit. I am going to send a letter to the President. Keep your head up [heart emoji] sending love. Jacqueline Blake wrote, “Wendy was theee only Housewife who called me personally to congratulate me on my pregnancy, and she’s always shown me genuine love and support during my last season on RHOP. Eddie has always been super cool- always respectful and cool with my child’s father. Sending my heart and deepest prayers to the Osefo family.” Original cast member, Ashley Darby, recently made public comments about Ofeso’s arrest and indictment. The two housewives are known to be rivals on the popular reality TV show so it is no surprise that Darby is basking in the news. While performing, Darby stated fans should not be surprised that the couple is being accused of insurance fraud. “This ain’t news to us, this is just news to y’all,” she stated. “We’re making melodies, not felonies,” she added. The Osefos, who were released after each provided a $50,000 bond, issued a statement through a spokesperson: “Dr. Wendy Osefo and her husband, Edward Osefo, are back home safely with their family and in good spirits. They are grateful for the outpouring of concern and support from friends, fans, and colleagues. The Osefos, alongside their legal team, look forward to their day in court. At this time, they respectfully ask for privacy as they focus on their family and the legal process ahead.” The post ‘Zen Wen Is In The Pen!’ Potomac Pettiness Peaks As RHOP Cast Reacts To Dr. Wendy Osefo’s Fraud Arrest appeared first on Bossip.