According to several confirmed reports, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors have been sifting through over 100 recommendations for slavery reparations for its Black residents. Some of the suggestions include the elimination of personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteed annual incomes of at least $97,000 for 250 years, homes in San Francisco for just $1 a family and even $5 million per eligible Black person.
On Tuesday, the Board accepted these suggestions from the reparations committee, however, the board received a slew of criticism from “liberal” San Franciscans that didn’t know about the traumatic impact of slavery in the U.S. as well as the new perceived form of slavery, mass incarceration.
“Those of my constituents who lost their minds about this proposal, it’s not something we’re doing or we would do for other people. It’s something we would do for our future, for everybody’s collective future,” said Supervisor Rafael Mandelman.
A federal judge in Amarillo, Texas, heard arguments in a court case that could force the FDA to revoke its approval of mifepristone, which is used as one part of a two-pill regimen for medication abortions.
On Wednesday the judge questioned lawyers for President Joe Biden’s administration on whether the federal regulatory approval given to the abortion pill mifepristone 22 years ago was proper as he considered a request by anti-abortion groups to ban sales of the drug nationwide.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk during a hearing in Amarillo also pressed the groups, led by the Texas-based Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, to explain how he could reverse approval of a long-established drug. The judge raised the possibility of a more limited ruling, keeping the drug on the market but re-imposing some restrictions lifted by Biden’s administration, including requiring it to be dispensed in person rather than by mail.
Walgreens CEO made the decision to stop selling mifepristone – an FDA-approved medication used for abortion and treating miscarriages. It’s an outrageous decision based entirely on pressure from anti-choice politicians – not science.
Arguably the most consequential abortion case since the U.S. Supreme Court, powered by its conservative majority, last year overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had recognized a constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy.
Medication abortion is the most common abortion method in our country. It’s safe. It’s effective. And it’s been widely used for the past 20 years.
And yet, Walgreens made the decision to not sell mifepristone, which will affect access to reproductive care across the country. The plaintiffs are asking Kacsmaryk for a preliminary order halting sales of mifepristone nationwide – even in states where abortion is legal – while their lawsuit proceeds. Twelve of the 50 states now ban abortion outright while many others prohibit it after a certain length of pregnancy, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports abortion rights. A ruling against the FDA would hinder abortion access in every state as medication abortion – with mifepristone part of a two-pill regimen – accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions.
Mifepristone is available under the brand name Mifeprex and as a generic. Used in conjunction with another drug called misoprostol, it is approved to terminate a pregnancy within the first 10 weeks of a pregnancy. The FDA in January said that the government for the first time will allow mifepristone to be dispensed at retail pharmacies.
Major medical organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have weighed in on the side of the FDA, saying mifepristone “has been thoroughly studied and is conclusively safe.”
Abortion rights supporters, contending that the lawsuit is a baseless attempt to slash abortion access, protested outside the courthouse on Wednesday morning. One dressed as a kangaroo and carried a gavel, suggesting that the hearing was a “kangaroo court.”
Do you think this will help or hurt our community?
West Coast gangsta rap pioneer DJ Quik was recently interviewed on the All The Smoke podcast and talks about the times he was around late music icon Michael Jackson. The Compton rapper/producer says that his first run-in with MJ was during the recording of his 1991 single “Tonite”.
Quik says that he was at Westlake Studios, where Michael recorded his epic Thriller LP and says that MJ’s team made a strange request when he came into the studio.
Dj Quik recalls being told to look at the wall while Michael Jackson passed through the studio, so nobody could look directly at him
“They came through, warned everybody that Michael was finna come through, and he didn’t want nobody to see him coming through or looking, right? We taking a break from the studio, and these guys come in, and they was like, ‘We about to bring somebody through here, can you turn and face the wall?’”
Nevertheless, Quik says he and his team faced the wall when he passed through the studio. He added, ‘It’s like damn, Mike didn’t want anyone to look at him, the f*** is this?”
After being under investigation for an alleged battery when a video surfaced of music and fashion mogul Kanye West grabbing a woman’s cell phone, it is now being reported that he will not face charges from that incident.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department was investigating West when the video showed him tossing her phone into the street after he approached her about filming him as he was leaving his daughter North’s basketball game.
In the video, Kanye can be heard saying, “Y’all ain’t gonna run up on me like that. If I say stop”…”stop with your cameras.”
Known for his numerous run-ins with paparazzi that sometimes turn physical for Ye, this incident is just another win for Kanye’s fight for privacy as a celebrity. Last year, he avoided another battery charge after he was accused of punching a photographer, leaving him on the ground unconscious. Yeezy even joked about the confrontation on Jimmy Kimmel, saying, “that covid mask couldn’t stop that right hook.”
Comedian/Activist Rosemary Severino organized a NYC Call to Action against racism and bullying after a traumatizing video circulated this week. As a result, a 14-year-old boy has been arrested in the ruthless caught-on-video assault of a 15-year-old straphanger who was dragged off a Manhattan subway and pummeled on the platform, cops said Wednesday.
The suspect was charged as a juvenile with aggravated harassment, assault, harassment and menacing in connection to the disturbing Friday rush-hour attack in Washington Heights, footage of which began circulating online Monday, cops said.
Two suspects are still on the loose — including a young woman who can be seen in the video pulling the victim off a northbound A train at the 181st Street-Fort Washington Avenue station and screaming, “Get off!”
The video, posted to Instagram, shows the woman keeping a grip on the boy’s shirt, pulling him down the busy rush-hour platform and repeatedly yelling, “Walk! Walk!”
A male voice can then be heard chanting the N-word followed by “alert.”
The victim’s glasses are yanked from his face, and he throws a few jabs to defend himself as someone yells, “Fight back!”
The teen suffered a cut on his lip, pain in his body and his glasses were broken during the attack, cops said.
He did not know his assailants, according to the NYPD, which said the Hate Crime Task Force was notified because of the anti-black slur that was used.
During a Tuesday afternoon rally at the same station where the assault took place, some called the teen a “transit kid” — a term referring to young people who are fascinated with riding subways and buses.
“We just enjoy the subway,” said Eduardo Medellin, 15.
“We find happiness, our safe place, in the subways.”
“That’s how we make friends. We all feel connected. Like a brother. We’re a community that enjoys transit.”
“He’s a part of us,” he said about the victim.
It remained unclear what led to the attack, but Eduardo Medellin – who calls himself a “Transit Kid” – previously told FOX 5 this was not the first time an incident like this has occurred.
“We’ve been fighting for years and years, and it’s getting out of hand now,” Medellin said at the rally. “We feel like we need your help. We need someone to help us.”
Activists at the rally held signs reading “Stop Racism and Bullying,” “New York is not hate!” and “Schools teach kindness, love, empathy.”
“I think it’s unacceptable to even feel like it’s OK to use that slur,” said organizer Rosemary Severino.
“The way they were chanting, that’s what really broke my heart.
“This is not what we should be seeing from our youth, especially those kids,” she added. “It’s unacceptable.”
NYC Transit President Richard Davey condemned the ruthless attack.
“This video is heartbreaking and disturbing and our hearts are with the young man seemingly being senselessly victimized,” Davey said in a statement.
“No one should be subject to this sort of hateful harassment while they are riding with New York City Transit, and the MTA is fully cooperating with the NYPD in its investigation into the incident.” Thank you to those who came out to the rally in support of keeping our teens and communities safe. We salute you!
Rapper NBA YoungBoy has been granted a modification to his house arrest rules after being arrested on a prior gun charge in Baton Rouge, LA.
Court documents obtained by AllHipHop show that Judge Shelly Dick decided to make YoungBoy’s house arrest less restrictive on Wednesday. The Louisiana judge removed two conditions from the rapper’s supervised release — as a result of the ruling, he’ll be allowed to have more than three visitors without a curfew at his home
“The Court issues this written Order modifying condition number 18 and condition number 19 of the Order Setting Conditions of Release, Document 142 filed on October 27, 2021, for the Defendant, [NBA YoungBoy (real name Kentrell Gaulden)],” the documents read.
They continued: “It is hereby ordered that condition number 18 and condition number 19 of the Defendant’s Order Setting Conditions of Release are modified as follows: (18) No more than three persons may visit Gaulden at his home at any time. (19) No visitors are allowed at the Defendant’s home before 7 a.m. or after 9 p.m. ‘Home’ is defined as the Defendant’s residence and all property and appurtenances of the residence. It is so ordered. Signed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this 15th day of March 2023.”
In October 2021, YoungBoy, who was facing two federal gun charges at the time, was released on $1.5million bail and ordered to live under house arrest. His release limited him to three visitors at a time, in addition to his wife, a producer and his business manager, who also shared his home. The rapper fought back and petitioned to get off house arrest this past July, but was denied.
Last month, the rapper spoke with Billboard about his recent situation. YoungBoy, who has been living in Utah under house arrest, called it his “best experience.” Additionally, he noted that the experience changed his perspective on life and music.
“I’m very scared right now,” he said later in the article. “It’s just natural. I’m not big on people. I never knew why once I walked on the stage, I could get it done and leave — but I am terrified of people. People are cruel. This is a cruel place.”
He added: “You’ve got to be thankful for it. It’s very beautiful, you know? There’s so much you can experience inside of it. But it is a very cruel place. And it’s not my home.”
Check out where Youngboy spends most of his time below.
In 1959, William Jonathan Drayton, better known to the world as Flavor Flav, was born in the world in NYC. Flav is the former hypeman of the iconic Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame Hip-Hop group Public Enemy.
Growing up on Freeport, Long Island is where A young Flavor developed his love for music, teaching himself to play the piano, drums, and guitar on his own. In Long Island, a young adult, Flav met Chuck Ridenhour, who later became known as Chuck D, the frontman of Public Enemy. The two linked at Adelphi University on the Island, where the two attended college and learned about each other’s love for Hip Hop.
As one of the founding members of PE, Flav was there in 1984 when the song “Public Enemy #1” was recorded, the first known track by the group. In 1986, the crew signed with Rick Rubin on Def Jam. However, Rubin did not initially want to sign Flav because he didn’t understand his role in the group.
Ever since PE’s debut album Yo! Bum Rush The Show, Flav was the hype jester to the ultra-serious, politically charged group, including Chuck D, Terminator X, and a security force known as the S1Ws. Songs such as “Fight The Power,” “911 Is A Joke”, and “I Can’t Do Nothin’ For Ya Man” featured the comedic darts of Flav, which brought a balance to PE.
Drugs and domestic issues hindered Flav for a short while during his career. However, he bounced back into the public eye as a reality show pioneer, with shows like Surreal Life and The Flavor Of Love breaking ground in reality TV. Earlier this year, Chuck D announced that Flavor Flav was indefinitely fired from the group for his response to PE publicly endorsing Sen. Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Presidential race.
Big ups to Flav on his born day and TheSource.com wishes the Flavor Man many more!
23-year-old Ja Morant was experiencing one of the most promising years of any point guard in the NBA, with the possibility of the Memphis Grizzlies making the championship a reality. Morant was recently suspended by the Grizzlies for eight games after dodging criminal charges for brandishing a gun on Instagram, which has caused many notables to weigh in on his life on and off the court. Skip Bayless, Shannon Sharpe and Fat Joe are just a few who gave their insight on Morant and his off court antics, but now Harlem World’s Cam and Mase have been added to the conversation.
On his most recent episode of It Is What It Is sports show, the Dipset general and his first rhyme partner, rapper turned pastor Mase, talked about Morant’s uninterrupted string of undesirable incidents, to which Cam attributed his issues to the young PG having what he called “Gary Coleman” syndrome. Cam compared Morant to the late child star because of their shared success at a young age and inability to control their own lives.
Check out Cam’s comparison between the two and decide if the Gary Coleman syndrome is a valid explanation for Morant’s behavior.
Hip Hop pioneer Melle Mel has gone viral after making the statement that Eminem wouldn’t be ranked in Billboard’s Top 5 of their Top 50 Rappers of All Time if he wasn’t white. Mel has doubled down on his stance and now believes that the street culture in Hip Hop’s current landscape has contributed to the decline of the music quality.
“I would say this, yesterday’s music is better than today’s music […] for 20 years, they’ve been talking about selling dope and killing people. Where’s the comparison?” said the 61-year-old music legend. He added, “You would think that everything that’s going on in the hood is proper. That’s not the life that was meant for us, and actually, we deserve a better life than this, and we deserve better music than what they giving ‘em right now.”
Hip Hop pioneer Melle Mel has gone viral after making the statement that Eminem wouldn’t be ranked in Billboard’s Top 5 of their Top 50 Rappers of All Time if he wasn’t white. Mel has doubled down on his stance and now believes that the street culture in Hip Hop’s current landscape has contributed to the decline of the music quality.
“I would say this, yesterday’s music is better than today’s music […] for 20 years, they’ve been talking about selling dope and killing people. Where’s the comparison?” said the 61-year-old music legend. He added, “You would think that everything that’s going on in the hood is proper. That’s not the life that was meant for us, and actually, we deserve a better life than this, and we deserve better music than what they giving ‘em right now.”
