Kanye West booted off Illinois ballot amid thousands of invalid signatures
Kanye West won’t be appearing on the presidential ballot for his home state after election officials in Illinois found that 1,900 of the 3,128 signatures West submitted are invalid.
That leaves the rapper short of the 2,500 needed to be included on the state’s Presidential ballot.
While no reason was given, issues could be fake names or undresses, voters who were not eligible in Illinois, illegible signatures or something else entirely, TMZ notes.
The signatures were brought to the attention of the Illinois State Board of Elections after three people filed objections citing dodgy signatures, the site reported.
West reportedly dropped $30,000 to be included on the ballot.
Meanwhile Wisconsin is looking into West’s presidential bid in that state after Democratic party members found signatures for “Mickey Mouse” and Bernie Sanders on that state’s ballot.
“If the affidavits are true … crimes were committed by the West campaign,” attorney Michael Maistelman, who gathered the affidavits for the state Democratic Party, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
CNN reported this week Republican operatives are helping West get on state ballots to dilute the Democratic vote.
West is currently on Colorado’s ballot.
“Colorado’s bar is lower than most — candidates must pay a $1,000 fee, submit notarized statements and obtain backing from nine electors who are registered voters in the state,” The Denver Post notes.
We’re assuming none of them are Mickey Mouse.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/08/kanye-west-booted-off-illinois-ballot-for-invalid-signatures/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Democratic Donor Ed Buck Faces Four New Felony Charges After Deaths of Black Gay Men
The longtime Democratic donor still faces additional charges tied to the alleged abuses
This article contains details of sexual assault.
Ed Buck, a well-known Democratic Party donor based in California, has long been the subject of allegations that he fatally drugs and abuses vulnerable gay men, the vast majority of whom are Black. Following years of activist outcry, the 65-year-old was arrested last September and charged with giving methamphetamines to a man who subsequently died.
A former West Hollywood city council candidate who donated to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, Buck will face new charges after a grand jury in California hit him with four felony indictments on Tuesday. In the new court filing, he is accused of goading victims into traveling over state lines to do sex work for him, including another man who died at Buck’s home after he gave him drugs.
In addition to these new charges, Buck faces five additional counts, which include a similar claim that he recruited 26-year-old Gemmel Moore to do sex work for him. In that case, Buck allegedly provided Moore with meth, and he died of a drug overdose in July 2017.
Buck pled not guilty to the charges last September.
Buck’s allegedly abusive pattern of behavior dates back years. Federal prosecutors claim that he has drugged and sexually assaulted at least 10 Black gay men, many of whom were facing homelessness at the time of the incident. One other victim, Timothy Dean, has died.
According to the California Department of Justice, Buck identified his victims through the use of social media and dating websites and used a proxy to proposition them to come to his home. After the men arrived at his apartment, he allegedly gave them syringes filled with meth and occasionally injected them, whether or not they consented. In addition, Buck would sometimes drug the men while they weren’t conscious or even give them a higher volume of drugs than they were expecting.
Buck’s 2019 arrest followed repeated warnings by local LGBTQ+ advocates regarding this alleged behavior. Activists claimed Buck’s wealth and prominent standing in political circles should not help him evade accountability. Jasmyne Cannick, who helped lead the call for his prosecution, told The Guardian last year that police finally arrested Buck because they were “pushed by a community of people who were tired of seeing their people dying.”
“This was two years of the black [LGBTQ+] community in Los Angeles and beyond not letting it go,” Cannick said. “It was about damn time.”
Buck is expected to face trial in January 2021, but following repeated delays over the past few months, those proceedings could end up being pushed back once more in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Article via Them
Kanye West Admits His Campaign Is To Hurt Biden
In an exclusive interview, the billionaire rapper says he’s “walking for president” as GOP operatives work to get him on state ballots.
Amid various reports that Republican and Trump-affiliated political operatives are trying to get Kanye West onto various state ballots for November’s presidential election, the billionaire rap superstar indicated, in an interview by text today, that he was in fact running to siphon votes from the presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden.
Asked about that directly, West said that rather than running for president, he was “walking,” quickly adding that he was “walking . . . to win.”
When it was pointed out that he actually can’t win in 2020—that he won’t be on enough ballots to yield 270 electoral votes, and that a write-in campaign isn’t feasible—and thus was serving as a spoiler, West replied: “I’m not going to argue with you. Jesus is King.”
West rebuffed various attempts to clarify who was driving his ballot access or strategy and whether it’s being coordinated by or with Republican-affiliated officials. He does, however, appear to have a continuing relationship with the Trump White House. West says that he’s “designing a school within the next month” and that “I’m meeting with Betsy DeVos about the post-Covid curriculum.” (The Secretary of Education’s press office hadn’t responded to a request for comment by the time we published.)
“I like Kanye very much,” President Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday. “No, I have nothing to do with him getting on the ballot. We’ll have to see what happens.”
West’s intentions have come under increased scrutiny this week, following reports by CNN, New York, the New York Times and others, about efforts by GOP political operatives to get him onto several ballots, including states like Wisconsin that could be pivotal in deciding the next president. West has been a vocal Trump supporter, including visiting the president in the Oval Office. Texts from West to me earlier this summer repeatedly ended with the sign-off “Trump 2020,” and a fist raised high. West’s recent actions have also drawn public focus, given his bipolar disorder—and many, including his wife, Kim Kardashian-West, have expressed concern about his mental health.
West did not respond when asked whether he feels he’s being used. When I pointed out to West that the slapdash operation to get him on the ballot, which includes one operative previously arrested for voter fraud and multiple West “electors” from the same address, didn’t feel like a Kanye West production, West replied that it was a “God production.”
In a wide-ranging interview with Forbes last month about his political aspirations, West, who has never voted before, laid out a platform for his “Birthday Party” that included a pro-life plank that alleged that Planned Parenthood was placed in cities by white supremacists, a management style patterned on the fictional country of Wakanda in Black Panther and anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. In that interview, West also claimed that he was dumping Trump. “I am taking the red hat off, with this interview.” His reason: “It looks like one big mess to me. I don’t like that I caught wind that he hid in the bunker.”
However, he was reticent to criticize Trump besides that. “Trump is the closest president we’ve had in years to allowing God to still be part of the conversation,” he said.
And West was eager to criticize Biden, and expressed comfort with the idea of doing damage to the former vice president’s White House chances. “I’m not denying it; I just told you.”
Article via Forbes
Juice WRLD’s Posthumous ‘Smile’ Collaboration With The Weeknd Is Here
There hasn’t been much to smile about in 2020, though a new collaboration between the late Juice WRLD and The Weeknd might change that.
The Weeknd teased “Smile” earlier this week, a special tag-team with the rising hip-hop star Juice WRLD, who died last December from an accidental overdose, aged just 21.
At the stroke of midnight, the song dropped in full across all digital music platforms.
On it, Juice raps: “Devil on my shoulder tellin’ me I’ll die soon/ I don’t really want that to impact you/ But I don’t know, maybe I’m just paranoid/ I just want the best for you, I just want what’s left of you.”
As “Smile” arrived, The Weeknd tweeted: “Wish we could celebrate together.”
Juice’s Legends Never Die posthumous album release made a huge debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart last month, scoring the largest week of 2020 for any LP.
The song is the first new music from The Weeknd since the Canadian R&B artist’s chart-topping After Hours album was released earlier this year.
Article via Billboard
Trolls doll pulled after complaints it promotes pedophilia because the doll giggles when you press the sound button that is between it’s legs
PAWTUCKET, R.I. (AP) — A Trolls doll is being pulled off store shelves amid complaints it promotes child abuse.
Toymaker Hasbro said Wednesday that it’s in the process of removing the “Trolls World Tour Giggle and Sing Poppy” from the market and will be offering customers a replacement doll of the popular female character.
The doll had been designed to giggle when placed in a sitting position, but some parents complain the sound activation button is inappropriately placed under the doll’s skirt and between her legs.
An online petition suggests the doll is “conditioning our children to think pedophilia is OK.”
“This is not okay for a child’s toy! This toy needs to be removed from our stores,” the petition by Jessica McManis reads in part. “What will this toy make our innocent, impressionable children think? That it’s fun when someone touches your private area?”
The petition is addressed to major retailers including Target, Walmart and Amazon.
Hasbro spokeswoman Julie Duffy told The Providence Journal that the Rhode Island-based company recognizes the sensor’s placement “may be perceived as inappropriate.”
“This was not intentional and we are happy to provide consumers with a replacement Poppy doll of similar value through our consumer care team,” she told the newspaper. “We are in the process of removing the item for purchase.”
Hasbro is the maker of Transformers, G.I. Joe, Monopoly and other beloved children’s toys and games.
Photo Credit: Hasbro, Walmart.ca
Epstein allegedly liked pink sheets because it reminded him of ‘p—y’
Jeffrey Epstein liked pink bedsheets because the color reminded him of a woman’s private parts, according to longtime accuser Virginia Roberts Giuffre.
The convicted sex offender’s preference was revealed in Giuffre’s manuscript “The Billionaire Playboy’s Club” about her time serving as Epstein’s “sex slave” and being pimped out to his powerful pals.
Giuffre, now 36, recounted a time when Epstein’s lawyer, emeritus Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, allegedly walked in on her and Epstein after sex.
“After an explicit session of Jeffrey’s vulgar pilgrimage into my body, we were interrupted by a knock at the door by Jeffrey’s good friend Alan,” Giuffre wrote, according to the Daily Mail.
“I wrapped myself in Jeffrey’s pink bed sheets, which is the color preference he chose to sleep in because it reminded him of the same color of his own words ‘P**sy’, and covered my face from the unexpected intrusion.”
The sordid book proposal also includes alleged details of Prince Andrew’s fetishes, including toe licking.
Giuffre claims she had sex with the royal three times when she was a teen — which he has vehemently denied.
She is one of dozens of women who’ve accused Epstein and his alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell of sexual abuse of young women and girls.
Epstein died by suicide while locked up on federal sex-trafficking charges. Maxwell remains in custody on charges she groomed the girls for sexual abuse and partook in some of the abuse herself.
Giuffre has said the manuscript — released hours before Epstein’s death — is “99 percent true,” though her lawyers have acknowledged at least some of it was “fictionalized,” Britain’s The Sun reported.
The mom of three, who now resides in Australia, has also claimed she’s slept with Dershowitz, who helped Epstein cop his infamous 2008 plea deal that ended a federal investigation into Epstein’s alleged sex ring.
The prominent, 81-year-old attorney has vigorously denied the allegations, accusing Giuffre of having a “long history of lying for money” and frequently changing her story.
He also said he’s never met Giuffre and has never been in “private” areas of Epstein’s home.
“This is a woman who doesn’t know the difference between truth and fantasy,” Dershowitz told The Post on Wednesday. “About me, she just made it up.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/05/epstein-allegedly-liked-pink-sheets-because-it-reminded-him-of-p-y/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Amazon delivery worker caught defecating in woman’s garden
An Amazon delivery worker who really “needed to go” was reportedly caught defecating in a woman’s garden before delivering a package to her neighbor.
Sharon Smith, 53, a counselor for England’s National Health Service, told The Sun that she spotted the worker going to the bathroom on her property in the village of Nuthall on July 26.
“I cannot express how shocked I was, I could not believe what I was seeing in this day and age,” Smith told the outlet.
Smith said she followed the man into her yard because she believed he was trying to steal wood.
Despite asking what the man was doing, Smith said, “he remained pooing whilst asking me what my problem was.”
Disgusted and infuriated by his actions, Smith called police and told the man “if he moved, he’d regret it.”
“I even asked him — well, screamed at him — if he thought that was acceptable and he just said that he needed to go,” she said.
The man remained there until Smith’s husband and police showed up — and even dropped off a package at a neighbor’s house.
The driver told police he was unaware he was on private property when he relieved himself.
No charges were brought against him, but he did lose his job.
“This does not reflect the high standards we have for our delivery partners,” an Amazon spokesperson told the outlet.
“The driver will no longer be delivering on behalf of Amazon.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/06/amazon-delivery-worker-caught-defecating-in-womans-garden/
Photo Credit: Christopher Sadowski
‘Drunk’ Lyft rider puts driver in chokehold over COVID-19 barrier
A drunken man attacked a Lyft driver in Florida over his plastic partition to protect himself from COVID-19, putting the man in a chokehold from the backseat, wild video shows.
The footage released by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office shows Travis S. Smith, 36, chatting it up with a Lyft driver just after midnight Sunday as he traveled with a friend and his friend’s 7-year-old son.
The ride appears to be unremarkable at first, but Smith then asks the driver about the plastic partition, saying he “really liked” how well it sealed up the vehicle. The driver, in turn, says he bought it on eBay, the clip shows.
“Right, right, so, like, how’d you seal that up?” Smith stammers. “Like, you did that yourself?”
“Yeah, I did it myself,” the driver replies before explaining he needed it for protection amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Smith then asks the driver again if he installed the barrier he got “off Amazon,” seemingly unaware that the conversation is going in circles, video shows.
Smith then accuses the driver of being a “liar” after saying he had seen the same partition in other ride-shares he had taken.
“So, I think you’re a liar,” Smith says. “How’d you get this?”
The car’s interior light then turns on as Smith accuses the driver of putting it on, video shows.
“Did you open the door, man?” the driver asks, to which Smith mutters he had not.
Smith then puts his hand on the interior light while appearing to talk to his friend. He then tears down the plastic partition and attacks the driver, putting him in a chokehold from the backseat, the footage shows.
Smith’s friend yells “get that motherf–ker” as he gets out of the car with his young son, who is crying by that time. Smith then hops out of the car as the driver yells for someone to call police, according to the clip.
Smith later told responding deputies the fight broke out after the Lyft employee started driving erratically, claiming he attacked the man to protect himself, his friend and the man’s young son.
“This drunk attacked an innocent driver and put numerous lives in danger,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement. “These rider-share services can quickly become dangerous and drivers should be cautious of who they let in their vehicle.”
The driver had minor injuries after the attack, including a hematoma to his forehead, deputies said.
Smith was charged with battery and child abuse for putting the child’s life in danger in a moving car. He was released after posting $7,500 bond, deputies said.
Smith’s friend and his son, meanwhile, got a courtesy ride to their hotel following the incident, sheriff’s officials said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/06/drunk-lyft-rider-put-driver-in-chokehold-over-covid-19-barrier/
Photo Credit: nypost.com/FCSO
Meet Kanye West’s presidential running mate, Michelle Tidball
The world may be long familiar with rap superstar Kanye West, but not many know his vice presidential running mate, Michelle Tidball.
Tidball is a 57-year-old spiritual coach who, like West, lives on a ranch in Cody, Wyoming, and has a deep religious background.
Since she was tapped as the billionaire sneaker mogul’s VP pick, multiple pages from Tidball’s website for her nonprofit Bible study program, called Abundant Ministries, have been taken down.
Those pages included her biography, in which she says she has pursued God since she was 6 months old, when she says she was “slipping away into a crib death” before a higher power visited her “in a hospital tent” and saved her life.
Tidball says she aims to help “people get ‘unstuck’ in their lives using biblical principles and wisdom.”
The website also says Tidball served as an executive director of Bright Futures Mentoring Program, a Cody-based student mentorship program.
“My Heart has always been to walk in maturity and to bring other’s maturity to be about His business and see the completion of things He mandated before the foundations of the world.
“I look forward to bringing the word with experience and practical counsel on walking as mature adopted sons manifested upon this earth,” her now-removed biography closed.
Tidball touted on the now-deleted page that she has “various degrees in mental health and criminal justice.”
The only known degree she has, however, is a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Wyoming in 2003, according to TMZ. Her biography stated that she worked as a mental health therapist for 10 years before shifting to life coaching.
In a now-deleted Bible teleconference from June 2017, also obtained by the outlet, Tidball suggested that one’s mental illness could be handled by completing domestic chores.
“If you would get up every day and make your bed and do your dishes — you would be better,” she said, adding that in her 10 years of working with people with mental illness, none did the dishes or made their beds.
In that same teleconference, she said she doesn’t “watch news.”
Tidball has not publicly discussed having any other careers, though The New Yorker reports that she also works in a dental office.
Mary L. Keller, a religious studies scholar at the University of Wyoming and a high school classmate of Tidball, told the magazine, “Michelle was the bubbly, charismatic cheerleader.”
Keller also called the vice presidential candidate smart, adding, “I think she knows Hebrew pretty well.” Her website for Abundant Ministries is filled with Hebrew, including the website name: Yarash.
Yarash means “to seize, to take possession” or “inherit” in Hebrew.
In 2016, Keller and Tidball ran a youth group together, where Tidball described herself as an “online prophet.”
“We went out for drinks, and she told me about this international group of people who are in touch with the divine and discuss it with each other,” Keller said.
Tidball also allegedly told her that she had predicted Donald Trump’s victory.
“To her, his election was evidence,” she said.
Tidball has an active, albeit unpopular Twitter page. She has retweeted 18 campaign announcements to her 369 followers since her page became active, though she has not personally tweeted anything.
When West made headlines in mid-July after his controversial South Carolina rally, Tidball made a rare personal statement to the Daily Mail, assuring the outlet that the rapper was “just fine.”
It is not clear if the spiritual life coach will be taking on a more public role with the campaign at any point.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/08/06/meet-kanye-wests-presidential-running-mate-michelle-tidball/