Gun deaths at highest level in 40 years, CDC says
New numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’sWONDER database shows gun-related deaths have reached the highest level in almost 40 years.
Nearly 40,000 people in the United States died from a gunshot wound in 2017. According to the data, 14,542 were murders and 23,854 were ruled a suicide.
The CEO of Lutheran Services Florida Health Systems, Christine Cauffield, calls the high suicide rate a “silent disease.
“Those individuals that do complete suicides — when autopsies are performed, (they) definitely have one or more substances in their bodies at the time of the suicide death,” Cauffield said.
She said those who take their own lives tend to fit the same demographic.
“We are seeing a real rise in suicides, particularly males age 60 and higher,” Cauffield said.
According to Cauffield, Florida ranks 50th in the nation when it comes to funding for behavioral health resources.
She said more money would go a long way.
“It can certainly reduce (the) waiting list, it can improve access to care to services that individuals desperately need; we need more residential beds,” Cauffield said.
Cauffield said there’s hope in the form of medication and therapy but it starts with an important step.
“It’s so important to reach out and let people know how you are feeling,” Cauffield said.
LSF Health Systems is a 24/7 access to a care line where clinicians are on standby to take your call if you need someone to talk to. That number is 877-229-9098.
Article via AJC
Report: Johnson & Johnson Knew Their Baby Powder Contained Asbestos for Decades
In a bombshell report, it’s been revealed that Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that their baby powder had occasionally tested positive for small amounts of asbestos.
That sound you hear is our collective jaws hitting the floor.
Reuters conducted an in-depth investigation, in which they examined decades worth of court documents and internal company memos, and discovered that Johnson & Johnson knew the talc in their products sometimes contained carcinogen from 1971 to the early 2000’s. This information was not disclosed to the public or anywhere outside of the company.
In a statement, Johnson & Johnson vehemently denied these claims and dismissed them as an “absurd conspiracy theory” that’s “one-sided, false and inflammatory.”
“Studies of more than 100,000 men and women show that talc does not cause cancer or asbestos-related disease. Thousands of independent tests by regulators and the world’s leading labs prove our baby powder has never contained asbestos,” the statement read.
As a result of these findings, Johnson & Johnson lost $39.8 billion in market value on Friday—its worst trading day in over 15 years.
But for those justifiably outraged, an outright boycott could prove difficult. As Johnson & Johnson has ownership stakes in brands such as Tylenol, Aveeno, and Band-Aid, in addition to assets in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.
This revelation serves as the latest blow to the embattled company, which has faced its fair share of turmoil as of late.
In 2017, a California woman was awarded $417 million from Johnson & Johnson after she filed a lawsuit claiming the company’s baby powder gave her ovarian cancer. However, the ruling was eventually reversed after a judge ruled that Johnson & Johnson had no obligation to warn her that their products could cause the disease.
Additionally, earlier this year a jury in St. Louis awarded nearly $4.7 billion to 22 women who sued the company for the same reason. Joining over 9,000 other women who haven taken Johnson & Johnson to court over similar claims.
Article via TheRoot
Blac Chyna’s Company, Lashed, Suspended by State While Kylie Jenner Launches Eyelash Empire
Blac Chyna‘s cosmetics company, Lashed, has been suspended by the State of California for over a month as Kylie Jenner is ramping up to launch her own line of eyelash products.
The Blast can confirm Lashed, LLC was suspended by the Franchise Tax Board on November 1, 2018. While a California-based business can be suspended by either the Secretary of State’s office or the FTB for a handful of different reasons, a spokesperson for the tax board tells us they suspended Lashed for its “failure to file a tax return.”
A company loses the right to conduct business when it is suspended by the FTB, the California tax agency that’s responsible for collecting and enforcing personal and corporate income taxes. On top of being unable to legally run a company, suspended entities such as Lashed can’t sue or defend themselves in court, file a claim for refund, legally close or dissolve the business.
According to the FTB, suspended companies are also subject to a $2,000 penalty. All of these repercussions come after failing to respond to over two months-worth of notices.
Since Rob Kardashian‘s baby mama launched the LLC in late 2014, Lashed has hawked a variety of cosmetics — including eyelashes and lipsticks — both online at LashedComestics.com and through a brick-and-mortar store that provided beauty services, including eyelash extensions, waxing, teeth whitening. among others.
The suspension does not seem to have had much of an effect on Chyna’s business operations because Lashed customers are still able to make purchases online. There are also a number of shipping/customer service complaints made on social media from dissatisfied customers.
Chyna’s physical store, however, is another story. The Encino, California-based location on Ventura Boulevard is practically deserted and, aside from some salon chairs and a computer, there does not appear to be a single beauty product on display inside the beauty shop.
The Blast spoke with a nearby store owner who says Chyna has not opened the doors to Lashed in months. Factoring in some other eyebrow-raising issues — including a disconnected phone number, disabled appointments page, and the fact it is marked as “closed” on Yelp — all signs (aside from the actual sign) point to closed.
The neighboring shop owner says Chyna has appeared sporadically for tapings and special events here and there. Several months ago, it seemed Chyna was gearing up to get back to business and even held a grand re-opening party in September.
The purpose of the re-opening was “to inform all of LA … that LASHED is open for business, accepting new clients and has an upcoming promotional program in place for our loyal customers,” according to information posted on the event page.
However, the owner says they haven’t seen her come back since.
Unfortunately for Chyna, her business issues come at a complicated time.
As The Blast first reported, Chyna’s nemesis, Kylie Jenner, is expanding her makeup empire and venturing into the eyelash game. Jenner filed to trademark the term “KYLASH,” for the purposes of artificial eyelashes, eyelash tint, etc. And if history is any indication, Kylashes will be massively successful – thanks to Kylie Cosmetics, Jenner is on track to become the youngest self-made billionaire of all time.
Aside from the various legal consequences, Blac Chyna also faces the disappearance of the Lashed brand entirely, because business entities also lose the right to use their name, meaning anyone in the state is free to try and swoop in and take ownership of the Lashed name.
A legal representative for Blac Chyna was unreachable for comment.
Article via TheBlast
Will R. Kelly be banned from entering Australia?
Future of controversial R&B star’s tour Down Under looks uncertain after ’90s battery conviction and allegations of sexual misconduct
Controversial American R&B star R. Kelly announced this week he will tour Australia and New Zealand in February 2019.
The 51-year-old Ignition singer will perform his first show in Brisbane on Friday, February 8.
However, the announcement has led to speculation the scandal-plagued star may be banned from entering Australia due to its strict visa regulations, after he was convicted of battery in the ’90s and also faced allegations of sexual misconduct.
‘Mr Kelly was cleared of all allegations and in our view, you are innocent until proven guilty.’
It comes after the likes of Chris Brown and Snoop Dogg (real name Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr.) were banned from entering Australia due to their past convictions.
In 2015, Chris had to cancel his tours of Australia and New Zealand due to being denied a visa over his history of domestic violence.
In 2007, Snoop Dogg was banned due to drug and firearm offences.
It was previously reported by Billboard that R. Kelly was charged with simple battery and sentenced to one year unsupervised probation after a brawl at a health club in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1996.
Meanwhile, just last week R. Kelly made headlines when a New York screening of an upcoming documentary detailing abuse allegations against him was evacuated.
Phone threats were made to the Manhattan location where it was being held.
The documentary examines the singer’s history, and in particular allegations that he has sexually abused women and girls. He has denied any wrongdoing.
In May this year, it was reported that a former teenage girlfriend of R. Kelly – who is suing him for allegedly giving her herpes – claimed he also videotaped himself having non-consensual sex with her.
Faith Rodgers was 19 years old when she started dating R. Kelly, whom she met at a party after his concert in San Antonio, Texas. She claims that the relationship quickly became abusive.
She spoke to CBS News about her relationship with R. Kelly, saying she filed the lawsuit against him in New York for ‘willfully, deliberately and maliciously’ infecting her with herpes to warn other teenage girls who may come into contact with him.
Rodgers added that she believes Kelly was trying to bring her into a group of women that he lives with. Kelly has been accused of running a ‘sex cult’ with several women at his disposal.
The sexual abuse lawsuit filed by Rodgers is the latest in a string of accusations that the musician – whose real name is Robert Sylvester Kelly – made women have sex with him.
The singer, however, recently said he has been left ‘heartbroken’ by the allegations, and has criticised the media for trying to distort and destroy his legacy by reporting allegations that he sexually mistreats women.
He was acquitted of child pornography charges in Chicago in 2008, The Guardian reported – but speculation about his alleged sexual misconduct has continued.
In October, R. Kelly’s ex-wife Andrea Kelly broke down during a TV interview while discussing their marriage, saying she suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of an alleged assault by her then-husband.
‘I remember one time he attacked me in the back of a Hummer, and I do suffer from PTSD because of it,’ Andrea, who was married to the star for 13 years, told The View.
‘I thought I was going to die in the back of the Hummer because of what he had done.’
Andrea Kelly also spoke to The Sister Circle in June about the marriage, saying how it drove her to almost commit suicide and how she feels sorry for the young women who R. Kelly is now accused of keeping as ‘sex slaves’.
The former couple divorced in 2009. It was R. Kelly’s second marriage as he reportedly previously wed late singer Aaliyah when she was aged 15 and he was 27.
Article via DailyMail
In Venezuelan crisis, families can’t even afford to properly bury the dead
CUCUTA, Colombia – As the crisis in Venezuela’s socialist dictatorship deepens – gripped by mass hunger, starvation and a lack of medical supplies – there is no comfort even for the dead.
“What is happening is medieval. People are ‘renting’ caskets for a service, but giving them back. The same casket is being used over and over again because people cannot afford to buy one,” Venezuelan opposition leader Julio Borges, who has been living in exile in the Colombian capital of Bogota for the past nine months, told Fox News. “And then they have to wrap the body in plastic bags for the burial. Others don’t have money for a land plot, so they are burying loved ones in their back garden.”
Borges said the “really creepy” problem of how to properly bury the dead has become the norm rather than the exception. Other Venezuelans concurred, indicating the use of “common graves,” along with backyard burials, was becoming standard.
One Venezuelan, who asked his name not be published, described the sudden death of his father in the capital Caracas last week, which left the family without a vehicle to take the body to the morgue. It took more than a day for the body to be collected.
Atilio Gonzalez (C), a priest of the Southern Cemetery for the last 24 years, prays during a burial ceremony at the Southern Cemetery in Caracas January 28, 2014. Since then, proper burials have become too expensive for the vast majority of the population.
And even then, the family had to say their goodbyes – they had no money for a funeral, or burial – praying the body would be disposed of in some kind of mass cremation.
For every day a body remains in the morgue, the cost rises, leaving families without the means for collection. In such cases, loved ones are simply left stranded – their relatives in mourning, not knowing what to do, and without closure.
“Funeral services are too expensive. Coffins are expensive, as well as paying for a place in the cemetery and everything that comes with it: the chapel for the service, the plate,” Julett Pineda, a health journalist for Efecto Cocuyo in Caracas, told Fox News. “People cannot have a decent funeral.”
Venezuelan opposition leader Julio Borges, who has been living in exile in the Colombian capital of Bogota.
Pineda recounted stories of parents who have tried to collect and earn money for the funerals of their own children. But as the economy of the cash-strapped nation continues to deteriorate, all they can afford is the cremation, which costs roughly a third of burial costs.
Read more on FOXNews