R. Kelly shares song ‘Shut Up’ from prison on 54th birthday
R&B star R. Kelly is currently behind bars awaiting trial on sex crime charges related to six women and girls.
Prison walls, however, were not enough to stop the Chicago-based artist from taking to social media on his 54th birthday, Jan. 8, to share a track written to address those who have confronted the artist about his alleged abuse of young women.
Attached to a photo of the crooner holding several championship belts, Kelly, born Robert Kelly, uploaded one verse from his 2011 song, “Shut Up,” to Instagram Friday, speaking of a “tsunami of rumors” ruining his career.
Lyrics the songwriter posted include, “After 22 years of a blessed career/ Had me lying in my hospital bed crying mad tears/ But just as I have many people hatin me, Had so many people loving me/ And let’s not forget the hood around the world covering me/ And to everybody that be calling me, Telling what they’ve been sayin about me/ Bringin me all of this negative s–t, ya’ll the ones I ain’t f–king with.”
The chorus simply reads, “Can I get a witness for all of this, When people all up in your business, tell em shut up, tell em shut up, tell em shut up! I’m talking to you!”
Kelly captioned the clip, “Thank you God, for My Life! ? ?”
This was Kelly’s first post in exactly a year, as he shared concert footage to Instagram on his 53rd birthday.
Kelly’s sex trafficking and racketeering case in Brooklyn is scheduled to go to trial in early April.
via: https://pagesix.com/2021/01/09/r-kelly-shares-song-shut-up-from-prison-on-54th-birthday/?_ga=2.157393080.348547160.1610168580-593493795.1608856676
Photo Credit: AP
Capitol rioter bragged about dangling from Senate chamber — then begged forgiveness from America
The rioter caught on camera dangling from the Senate chamber during the US Capitol riot is a marketing guy from Idaho who bragged about the breach — then later begged forgiveness, according to a report Friday.
Josiah Colt, 34, of Boise — who was captured in a dramatic photo dropping to the chamber floor from the visitors gallery by his arm — first posted a video boasting, “I’m all over the news now” and calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “treasonous bitch.”
“I just got in the Capitol building,” he bragged, after sitting in Pelosi’s chair and defiantly raising a fist. “I hopped down into the chamber.”
But Colt, who has since been identified as a person of interest by cops in connection with the breach, quickly backtracked — apologizing and admitting he “brought shame upon myself.”
“[I] sincerely apologize to the American people,” Colt told the East Idaho News. “I recognize my actions that have brought shame upon myself, my family, my friends, and my beautiful country.”
He added, “In the moment, I thought I was doing the right thing. I realize now that my actions were inappropriate and I beg for forgiveness from America and my home state of Idaho.”
He said he’s seeking legal advice, according to the paper.
Colt, who has worked in digital marketing, is reportedly CEO of the FunnelCraft.co digital media firm. In 2012, he was arrested in Ada County for obstructing police and was sentenced to two months in jail.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/08/capitol-rioter-bragged-about-dangling-from-senate-chamber/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Los Angeles County ambulance crews told not to transport patients with little chance of survival
(CNN) — Los Angeles County has been fighting a brutal battle against Covid-19 for weeks now.
New infections have soared with about one in five residents who get tested for Covid-19 receiving positive results.
In a little more than a month, the county doubled its number of infections, climbing from about 400,000 cases on November 30 to more than 800,000 cases on January 2, health officials said Monday.
The case deluge has translated to a surge of Covid-19 patients, overwhelming hospitals and plunging intensive care unit capacity across the region to zero. There are now more than 7,600 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in in the county, 21% of whom are in the ICU, officials said
With no hospital beds available, ambulance crews in the county were given guidance not to transport patients with little chance of survival. And the patients who are transported often have to wait hours before a bed is available.
“Hospitals are declaring internal disasters and having to open church gyms to serve as hospital units,” Supervisor Hilda Solis said, calling the situation a “human disaster.”
And a person is dying of the virus every 15 minutes, Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said.
But it will get worse. Officials say they’re headed into the feared surge stemming from holiday gatherings.
“The increases in cases are likely to continue for weeks to come as a result of holiday and New Year’s Eve parties and returning travelers,” Ferrer said. “We’re likely to experience the worst conditions in January that we’ve faced the entire pandemic, and that’s hard to imagine.”
Here’s just how bad things already are.
Ambulance crews given grim instructions
As hospitalizations climb, the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS) directed ambulance crews not to transport patients with little chance of survival to hospitals and to conserve the use of oxygen.
Before the pandemic, when healthcare workers and resources were more readily available, patients who were unlikely to recover could be transported by ambulance to the hospital for treatment.
But Los Angeles hospitals are now at capacity and many medical facilities don’t have the space to take in patients who do not have a chance of survival, the agency said. Patients whose hearts have stopped despite efforts of resuscitation, the county EMS said, should no longer be transported to hospitals.
“Effective immediately, due to the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on EMS and 9-1-1 Receiving Hospitals, adult patients (18 years of age or older) in blunt traumatic and nontraumatic out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) shall not be transported [if]return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is not achieved in the field,” the agency said in a memo issued to ambulance workers last week.
If there are no signs of breathing or a pulse, EMS will continue to perform resuscitation for at least 20 minutes, the memo said. If the patient is stabilized after the period of resuscitation, they would then be taken to a hospital. If the patient is declared dead at the scene or no pulse can be restored, paramedics will no longer transport the body to the hospital.
And the shortage of oxygen, given the high number of Covid-19 patients, has also pressured the system to conserve supply.
“Given the acute need to conserve oxygen, effective immediately, EMS should only administer supplemental oxygen to patients with oxygen saturation below 90%,” EMS said in a memo to ambulance crews Monday.
Ambulances wait for hours outside hospitals
And even after they arrive at hospitals, some EMTs have to wait outside for hours, as hospitals often don’t have enough beds to take the patients in.
“We are waiting two to four hours minimum to a hospital and now we are having to drive even further… then wait another three hours,” EMT Jimmy Webb told CNN affiliate KCAL.
Local officials have tried to encourage the public not to call 911 unless “they really need to,” Dr. Marc Eckstein, the commander of the Los Angeles Fire Department EMS bureau, told CNN affiliate KABC.
“One of our biggest challenges right now is getting our ambulances out of the emergency department,” Eckstein told the affiliate. “When our paramedics and EMTs transport a patient to an emergency department, there’s a transfer of care that has to take place. Patients who are unstable or unable to be safely transferred to the waiting room or to a chair, need a bed in the emergency department to be transferred to. And those beds are lacking right now.”
And while ambulances are waiting at hospitals, there are fewer of them to respond to other 911 calls that are coming in, leading to delayed responses.
“I think this next four-to-six week period is going to be critical with our system being taxed,” Eckstein added.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/los-angeles-county-ambulance-crews-told-not-to-transport-patients-with-little-chance-of-survival/article_37ee45ba-8f8f-5599-b6b3-e9f84efee6c3.html
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Texas hospital offers workers $500 bonus to get COVID-19 vaccine
One of the largest health care centers in Texas is offering workers a $500 “bonus” if they get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a report Wednesday.
Employees at Houston Methodist — the state’s third-biggest hospital system with 26,000 employees — is doling out the dough as a “thank you” for hard work during the coronavirus crisis, according to CNN.
“Eligibility criteria will include getting a COVID-19 vaccination, fulfilling our obligation as health care workers to lead the community,” hospital president Marc Boom wrote in an email obtained by the outlet.
“This bonus is a thank you for your perseverance throughout a difficult 2020 as well as something to look forward to, to provide hope, during the next couple of challenging months.”
He added that vaccinations aren’t currently required for workers at the hospital — but eventually will be.
It wasn’t immediately clear if any of the health care staffers have objected to the policy. But in New York, around 30 percent of medical workers have refused the vaccine, according to officials.
At the Texas hospital, 55 percent of workers have been vaccinated since it began administering the jabs on December 15, a hospital rep told the station.
In November, workers at the hospital also received a $500 bonus for their work during the pandemic.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/06/texas-hospital-offers-workers-500-to-get-covid-19-vaccine/
Photo Credit: @GregAbbott_TX
Iyanla Vanzant on exiting ‘Fix My Life’: ‘I don’t want that energy’
As a guest on Real Quick with Danielle Young, the host and life coach expressed positive thoughts on the ending of her show and made it clear that although the broadcast is over, the work does not stop.
“It is liberating. It is good. It’s good to have been able to do something with excellence and love, and then get the opportunity to say, let me do something else. It doesn’t define me. I’ve been doing this work for 34 years. I’ve been on TV for eight. It’s just part of the evolution,” she remarked. “I’ll be around, I’m just not doing Fix My Life anymore.
She also shared the sometimes negative behavior exhibited by guests as she attempted to work them through trauma is one reason she decided to wrap things up.
“The one thing that eight years of Fix My Life has taught me is how mean and nasty and unkind people can be. I don’t want that energy in my life anymore,” Vanzant remarked. “I don’t want people calling me names and talking about me. I’m just very sensitive to energy. I don’t deserve it and I don’t want it. So now, if you want a piece of me, you’ve got to come to me and you got to pay for it.”
Vanzant went on to explain how her own life has ups and downs, however, she is ready for what’s next.
“As long as you are alive, you’re going to have challenges, hurdles, and obstacles, but you’re also going to have joys and victories. I plan to be alive for a little while. My greatest challenge right now is trying to get my lashes on,” she shared.
“My life isn’t broken. My life is evolving and I am being prepared for things that I’m not prepared for now. I don’t know what’s coming to me. But I do know this, which is another reason I’m leaving Fix My Life. I have hit the apex of everything that I know. I’ve hit that apex. So it’s time for me to go to the next level. Which is a level of learning, growing, risking, and changing and evolving. And I don’t need to do that on television.”
In October, theGrio reported Vanzant’s decision to end her popular show. During a virtual press conference, she initially revealed the current and upcoming season would be her final. The six-time New York Times best-selling author excitedly shared the news.
“This is my last season. This is my legacy season, I’m out. We out. 2020,” she exclaimed.
“The only thing that I do on the show is act out things that I’ve been writing about and teaching for 38 years…Where’s my Nobel Peace Prize?” she laughed during the press event.
Iyanla Fix My Life is aired on OWN, the television network under the leadership and ownership of Oprah Winfrey. It premiered in 2012 and featured both famous and non-famous guests who sought to overcome issues of past or present with Vanzant’s guidance. DMX, Karrueche Tran, and Trina Braxton have all appeared on the show.
via: https://thegrio.com/2021/01/01/iyanla-vanzant-exiting-fix-my-life/
Photo Credit: thegrio
Brooklyn rapper Bobby Shmurda to be eligible for release from prison in February
DANNEMORA, N.Y. — Brooklyn rapper Bobby Shmurda will be eligible for release from prison next month, the New York State Department of Corrections said on Monday.
Shmurda, whose legal name is Ackquille Pollard, was sentenced to seven years after pleading guilty to conspiracy and weapons possession charges in connection to what prosecutors said was a leading role in the GS9 gang, The New York Times reported. GS9 is an offshoot of the Crips in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn.
Authorities arrested Shmurda in late 2014 after he left a recording studio near Radio City Music Hall, only days after he performed “Hot Boy” for a national television audience on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Investigators found two handguns and a small amount of crack cocaine in a car in which he was riding, authorities said.
Shmurda was denied parole in September, in part for disciplinary actions taken against him while incarcerated, and subsequently ordered to his maximum sentence until Dec. 21, 2021. He is currently incarcerated at Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York, according to the Department of Corrections inmate database.
A review by the Department of Corrections later restored his credit for good behavior.
Shmurda is eligible for conditional release as of Feb. 23, with the remainder of his sentence to be served on parole.
“I’m glad he’s coming home,” said Alex Spiro, a lawyer who represented Shmurda in the criminal case.
In the years since his arrest, Shmurda has become something akin to a folk hero in hip-hop; his release has been highly anticipated by fans and other artists.
via: https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/brooklyn-rapper-bobby-shmurda-to-be-eligible-for-release-in-february
Photo Credit: pix11.com/Neilson Barnard
Lawmakers consider plan that would allow dentists to administer COVID-19 vaccine
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMOV.com) – Missouri state lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow dentists to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.
Under the plan, dentists would be able to volunteer as vaccinators during emergencies.
Illinois is also considering a similar idea to help ramp up the state’s vaccination effort.
via: https://www.kmov.com/news/lawmakers-consider-plan-that-would-allow-dentists-to-administer-covid-19-vaccine/article_20ef0174-4f9d-11eb-954a-f3fe9211444b.html?block_id=985911
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Tennessee mom leaps from overpass with baby, killing both – suffered depression after losing job at a COVID testing site
A depressed Tennessee mom who had just lost her job at a COVID-19 testing center leaped off a highway overpass cradling her baby boy, killing them both, authorities say.
“It’s heartbreaking,’’ Madison County Sheriff John Mehr told local ABC-TV affiliate WBBJ of the early Monday tragedy.
Distraught mom Tonisha Lashay Barker, 26, appeared hellbent on killing herself and her 21-month-old son, Johnathan Jones — first trying to ram their car into a pump at a gas station outside of Jackson, authorities told the outlet.
When that initial suicide bid proved unsuccessful, the mom got out of the car with her boy and walked away, officials said, quoting witnesses.
Minutes later, a trucker reported a “large object’’ had fallen from a nearby overpass and hit his rig — and authorities soon found the pair’s dead bodies on the roadway, CBS-TV affiliate WREG said.
Barker’s grandmother told the outlet that the tragic young mom suffered from depression and had lost her job at a coronavirus test site last month.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/05/tennessee-mom-leaps-from-overpass-with-baby-killing-both/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
New Jersey ‘Karen’ caught on video calling black woman the N-word
New Jersey officials are calling for an investigation after a woman was caught on video spewing racist comments at a black woman in New Jersey on Monday.
Bayonne resident Tameka Bordeaux says she was on her way to a store when a woman started following her and calling her the “n-word,” videos posted to Facebook by Bordeaux shows.
“Call the cops, n—-r!” the woman yells as she’s walking toward Bordeaux. “Call the cops you black bitch!”
“This is sad,” Bordeaux says behind the camera.
“The racism I had to endure walking to the store,” Bordeaux later wrote in the video captions. “2021 started with a bang.”
In another video, Bordeaux said the incident began when she offered her opinion about where people could go to complain about the mail they didn’t receive.
Assemblywoman Angela McKnight says Bayonne has a history of racist behavior and that the recent incident is intolerable.
“We can no longer sit by and make excuses for residents in any New Jersey town to ever be allowed to call someone the N word,” McKnight said in a statement. “This “Karen” went on a rant for more than 4 minutes repeatedly yelling this word and other discouraging names while following a Black woman.”
The Bayonne Police Department told NJ.com it’s investigating the incident.
The encounter comes after 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. was allegedly attacked by California resident Miya Ponsetto, who claimed the teen stole her iPhone at the Arlo Hotel in Soho.
The 22-year-old faces assault and attempted robbery charges. The NYPD has issued a warrant for her arrest.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/05/new-jersey-karen-caught-on-video-calling-black-woman-the-n-word/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
The Weeknd’s plastic surgery look shocks fans
The 30-year-old singer sports some disturbing alterations to his face — akin to extreme plastic surgery — in the video for his new song, “Save Your Tears,” which premiered Tuesday and is from his “After Hours” album.
“But then you saw me, caught you by surprise,” he aptly sings in the video, in which he displays a thinned (and crooked) nose, bloated cheeks, puffed-up lips, surgery scars and other horrific new features.
His grotesquely exaggerated new look definitely left viewers shook.
“Why does The Weeknd look like that in the Save Your Tears music video!?! I don’t like it,” said one horrified fan, while another borrowed lyrics from his 2018 hit “Can’t Feel My Face” to pinpoint a downside to the prosthetics, saying, “i bet he really cant feel his face now.”
One fan speculated that it was “shade” and a response to getting snubbed by the now-postponed 2021 Grammy Awards, a move that apparently left him emotionally bruised — if not physically — and he has continued to vent about.
Other tweeters suggested a new line of work: playing the Batman villain The Joker. Some, meanwhile, drew comparisons to — and called him a “modern version” of — late, surgery-obsessed singer Michael Jackson.
Reps for The Weeknd did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment about whether his disturbing new look was achieved through prosthetics or CGI. He has previously worked with Prosthetic Renaissance, a makeup effects studio that is taking credit for the transformation on social media.
Of course, donning heavy makeup is nothing new for The Weeknd, who will perform at the 2021 Super Bowl on Feb. 7.
The music video for his single “Blinding Lights” featured his post-bender bloodied and bruised visage — a look he re-created for the 2020 MTV Video Music Awards last August.
And in November, he covered his again-battered face with surgical dressing to accept an award onstage at the American Music Awards.
via: https://nypost.com/2021/01/05/the-weeknd-shocks-with-plastic-surgery-in-save-your-tears-video/
Photo Credit: AP/Youtube