Hip Hop artist MF Doom DEAD at 49
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Daniel Dumile, best know as the rapper and producer MF Doom, died on October 31, his wife announced on the artist’s Instagram page on Thursday afternoon. He was 49.
To Dumile. The greatest husband, father, teacher, student, business partner, lover and friend I could ever ask for,” his wife wrote. “Thank you for all the things you have shown, taught and given to me, our children and our family. Thank you for teaching me how to forgive beings and give another chance, not to be so quick to judge and write off. Thank you for showing how not to be afraid to love and be the best person I could ever be. My world will never be the same without you. Words will never express what you and Malachi mean to me, I love both and adore you always. May THE ALL continue to bless you, our family and the planet. All my Love, Jasmine.”
No cause of death was provided, only that MF Doom had “transitioned” on October 31.
One of the most celebrated, unpredictable and enigmatic figures in independent hip-hop, Dumile was born in London, but relocated to New York City as a child. He began his music career under the name Zev Lov X as part of the trio K.M.D. alongside his brother DJ Subroc, and the group had a minor hit in the early 1990s. After Subroc was killed in a car accident in 1993, the group disbanded, and Dumile retreated from public view, only to reemerge toward the end of the decade with a new name and an extravagant new persona.
Now calling himself MF Doom and wearing a metal mask inspired by the Marvel Comics villain Dr. Doom, Dumile released “Operation: Doomsday” in 1999. Produced by Dumile himself under the pseudonym Metal Fingers, the album couldn’t have been more out of step with hip-hop’s mainstream; featuring Dumile’s signature plainspoken flow and head-spinning volleys of intricate internal rhymes, off-the-wall cultural references and non-sequiturs, the album gained him a sizable cult following.
Dumile’s career was anything but straightforward, and he followed up the notoriety gained through “Doomsday” with a flurry of collaborations, instrumental releases and projects under the alternate alias Viktor Vaughn. His aligned with the influential Minneapolis label Rhymesayers for his second album as Doom, “Mm…Food,” in late 2004, but it was another project from earlier that year that truly established him among the uppermost ranks of independent hip-hop figures. Released via the Highland Park indie Stones Throw, “Madvillainy” united Dumile with California producer Madlib, with whom he established an uncanny chemistry. By turns cerebral and goofy, drugged-out and lucid, the album offered heady, jagged-edged collages of jazz samples and obscure film dialog, while Doom’s rhymes were as absurd, inventive, hilarious and endlessly quotable as ever. The album saw Dumile enter the lower rungs of the Billboard top 200 album chart, and brought with it substantial press attention and praise from some of the biggest names in hip-hop.
The following year, Dumile returned to the charts ― this time breaking into the top 50 ― via a collaboration with producer Danger Mouse, dubbed “The Mouse and the Mask.” Dumile’s subsequent recording career was characteristically erratic, releasing plenty of unexpected projects (including repeat work with Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim), while other long-rumored collaborations (particularly a joint album with the Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah) failed to materialize. Never seen in public without his metal mask, Dumile became notorious for sometimes sending masked impostors to lip-sync in his stead at concerts; asked about this habit by Rolling Stone, he explained, “everything we do is villain-style.”
His last full album as Doom (having since dropped the MF) was released in 2009 ― titled “Born Like This,” it featured production from Madlib as well as the late J Dilla, and saw Dumile break into the album charts for the first time as a solo artist.
Original link Here https://www.huffpost.com/entry/mf-doom-death_n_5fee60c1c5b61817a5361803
Al Sharpton calls on NYPD to identify, charge woman in viral Manhattan hotel confrontation
MANHATTAN — Civil rights icon and activist Rev. Al Sharpton is calling on the NYPD to publicly identify and charge a woman who confronted and allegedly attacked a Black teen and his father at a Manhattan hotel.
“There is clearly no reason to treat her any differently…than any number of Blacks that are accused of a crime, or others in this city” Sharpton told the PIX11 Morning News on Wednesday.
Police said Tuesday they had identified the woman and were looking for her, but didn’t release her name.
The woman is accused of pushing and grabbing 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. after falsely accusing him of stealing her cellphone at SoHo’s Arlo Hotel on Sunday, officials said. His 40-year-old father, Keyon Harrold, suffered scratches to his hand during the incident.
Police sources said the woman’s phone had actually been left in an Uber and was returned the same day.
While the NYPD confirmed they were looking into multiple charges against the woman, they said it was not being investigated as a bias incident.
“Thank God his father was there,” Sharpton said. “He might have been handcuffed and treated any kind of way.”
Sharpton said the reason the story has evoked such a strong reaction in New York and beyond is because it is sadly all too familiar for many Black families.
“When we see this young man, that could have been any of our kids, and any of the circumstances could have led to something that would have been physically damming and legally damaging,” he said.
Sharpton is set to appear at a rally Wednesday against racial profiling and demanding justice for the teen.
via: https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/manhattan/al-sharpton-calls-on-nypd-to-identify-charge-woman-in-viral-manhattan-hotel-confrontation
Photo Credit: pix11.com
Worker fired after deliberately destroying 500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine
A worker at a Wisconsin medical facility was fired for deliberately destroying over 500 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, a report said.
Aurora Medical Center said in a statement obtained by Fox6 that the worker at their Grafton location admitted Wednesday to intentionally removing 57 vials of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine from a pharmacy refrigerator on Saturday.
“We are more than disappointed that this individual’s actions will result in a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine,” the company said in its statement.
“This was a violation of our core values, and the individual is no longer employed by us.”
Wednesday’s revelation came after the company’s initial review attributed the incident to “unintended human error.”
Local authorities have been made aware of the incident, the company said. Aurora Medical Center did not disclose a possible motive for the worker’s actions.
The FBI and FDA were also involved in the investigation, according to FOX6.
The spoiled vaccines were designated for Aurora Medical Center health care workers.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/30/worker-fired-after-deliberately-destroying-500-doses-of-covid-19-vaccine/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Child, 3, hospitalized in critical condition after ingesting marijuana edibles in New Jersey
CLIFFSIDE PARK, NJ — A 3-year-old child has been in critical condition at a New Jersey hospital for days after ingesting marijuana edibles, officials said Monday.
The child was rushed to a hospital on Christmas, unresponsive. Investigators determined that Darnell Jefferson allegedly brought the edibles to the home of Enjoli Camacho.
They were arrested on charges of endangering the welfare of a child and possession of narcotic paraphernalia.
Jefferson and Camacho were both processed and released pending their first appearance in Central Judicial Processing Court.
via: https://www.pix11.com/news/local-news/new-jersey/child-3-hospitalized-in-critical-condition-after-ingesting-marijuana-edibles-in-new-jersey
Photo Credit: Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office
White teen pushed out of college after video of her saying N-word at 15 resurfaces
A high school cheerleader had her college “dream” shattered when a black classmate arbitrarily posted a years-old video of her saying the N-word, her lawyer said this week — as the University of Tennessee faced backlash for pushing the teen out.
Incoming freshman Mimi Groves, now 19, was kicked off the school cheer team and forced to withdraw earlier this year amid complaints from outraged alumni and students when fellow teen Jimmy Galligan posted the clip.
The incident gained national attention when it was detailed in a New York Times story over the weekend.
Groves’ lawyer accused the university of making a “rush to judgement” for something his client did as a kid.
“Mimi was a kid when she did this,” attorney Shan Wu told Fox News Monday. “She’s appalled, and having said that, she’s not trying to excuse [her actions] in any way.”
“What she lost was her dream,” the lawyer added. “Like many athletes, she had worked most of her young adult life for a shot at going to a great school and being on their team. That was taken away from her in what can only be described as a rush to judgement.”
Galligan, of Leesburg, Virginia, was in class at Heritage High School in Loudoun County last year when a friend texted him the video of Groves spitting out the racial slur.
“I can drive, n—–s!” Groves said in the clip while driving in traffic. She had sent the three-second clip to a friend through Snapchat in 2016.
Galligan, 18, whose mother is black and father is white, said he complained to school faculty but they ignored the video of the then-high school cheerleading captain.
So he held onto the video until he found the right time to publish.
“I wanted to get her where she would understand the severity of that word,” he told the Times.
In June, Galligan posted the video on social media in the midst of protests across the nation after the death of George Floyd, a black man who was killed by police in Minnesota the month before.
Around that same time, Groves, who was an incoming freshman at the University of Tennessee, posted on her Instagram urging her followers to “protest, donate, sign a petition, rally, do something” in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Times reported.
“You have the audacity to post this, after saying the N-word,” a person whom Groves didn’t know wrote in response to her public post.
Groves admitted her actions were inexcusable.
“At the time, I didn’t understand the severity of the word, or the history and context behind it because I was so young,” Groves told the Times.
“It honestly disgusts me that those words would come out of my mouth,” she continued. “How can you convince somebody that has never met you and the only thing they’ve ever seen of you is that three-second clip?”
But her world came crashing down when her dream school pressured her to resign amid outrage from admissions officials, she told the Times.
“They’re angry, and they want to see some action,” an admissions official told the Groves family, according to an audio recording reviewed by the Times.
On Twitter at the time, the university didn’t publicly name Groves, but acknowledged that an incoming student would no longer attend due to controversy over a racist video.
“On Wednesday, following a racist video and photo surfacing on social media, Athletics made the decision not to allow a prospective student to join the Spirit Program. She will not be attending the university this fall,” the university posted on June 4.
Galligan says he has no regrets about sharing Groves’ video publicly.
“If I never posted that video, nothing would have ever happened,” he told the Times. “And because the internet never forgets, the clip will always be available to watch.
“I’m going to remind myself, you started something,” Galligan added. “You taught someone a lesson.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/29/white-teen-kicked-out-of-college-after-n-word-video-resurfaces/
Photo Credit: Snapchat; TikTok
Casey Anthony files to start private investigation business in South Florida
Casey Anthony filed paperwork this month to start a private investigation company in West Palm Beach, state business records show.
Anthony is listed as the registered agent of Case Research & Consulting Services, LLC, which filed its first documents Dec. 14 with an effective date of Jan. 1. The Daily Mail first reported the development Wednesday afternoon.
The business is registered to a home owned by Patrick McKenna, according to county property records.
McKenna was the lead investigator on Anthony’s defense team during her 2011 trial on allegations of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008.
Anthony was acquitted of the murder charge alongside charges of aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child but found guilty on four counts of providing false information to law enforcement officers in the course of Caylee’s missing person investigation.
Anthony has worked for McKenna over the past few years, telling the Associated Press in 2017 she did “online social media searches and investigative work” for him.
State business records show Anthony previously registered another business to McKenna’s address in 2015, a photography company called Case Photography that was dissolved in 2018.
State records show Anthony is not currently licensed as a private investigator in Florida. The licensure process includes passing an examination on state laws, holding at least two years of work experience in the investigative field and passing a background check.
According to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which regulates the licensing of private investigators, applicants for a Class C Private Investigator License may not have been convicted of an offense “punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding 1 year” until applicants have had their civil rights restored and 10 years have passed since they were released from supervision.
Additionally, applicants can be denied for having a history of “being arrested for crimes of violence and/or found guilty of … directly related crimes.”
via: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/os-ne-casey-anthony-private-investigator-business-20201231-4bygjjmbjnhvdpmbg5mzdgml7a-story.html
Photo Credit: (AP Photo/Red Huber, Pool, File) (Red Huber/AP)
Woman struck a sheriff’s deputy in St. Louis in the head with her own baton, leaving her with a concussion, after being told she could not enter a gas station without wearing a mask
After walking into the Shell station with her mask in hand late Christmas Day, the woman appeared to exchange words with the 59-year-old deputy, who was working security at the business, KSDK-TV reported.
Dramatic footage posted by a Twitter user shows the officer returning the favor — using the baton to pummel the woman in her car before she manages to drive off after kicking back at the cop.
Police said the woman “became belligerent” when the deputy told her she had to wear the mask before entering the station.
“My first response is to express concern for my deputy who suffered head injuries but is expected to recover,” Sheriff Vernon Betts said in a statement, according to KSDK.
“She performed admirably while injured and under duress. Secondly, this incident points to the danger law enforcement officers face every day,” Betts added.
“This individual made a serious mistake and we are working with the St. Louis Police Department to apprehend and bring charges against this attacker,” he said, adding that “this pandemic is not over and you must wear a mask when in public.”
The deputy declined medical attention when first responders arrived.
Police are on the hunt for the attacker.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/30/woman-hits-cop-with-her-own-baton-after-being-told-to-wear-mask/
Photo Credit: St Louis Police
Nurse suspended after stripping off PPE to have sex in a toilet with COVID-19 patient
A male nurse in Indonesia has been suspended after admitting that he stripped off his personal protective equipment to have sex in a toilet with a man infected with COVID-19, according to reports.
“It is true that there has been a suspected incident of a same-sex relationship between a health worker and a COVID-19 patient at the Wisma Atlet Emergency Hospital,” said Asep Gunawan of the National Nurses Association.
He said the nurse “must follow legal processing,” the Indonesia Expat reported.
The incident in Jakarta came to light when the patient boasted about the romp on his Twitter account Friday, according to the UK’s Sun.
He uploaded a screenshot of WhatsApp messages between the horny couple — including details about lubricants and the size of their genitals, the news outlet reported.
The patient also posted an image of the nurse’s PPE lying on the floor as the pair got it on.
“This case has been transferred to the Central Jakarta Police. We have secured the health worker to become a witness and asked for further information,” said Lt. Col. Arh Herwin of the Regional Military Command.
“Meanwhile, the patient continues to undergo isolation at the Athlete’s House,” he added, referring to a former Olympic athletes accommodation village that was transformed into a coronavirus hospital.
The two men were later administered coronavirus tests. The patient was found to still be positive while the nurse tested negative, officials said.
If convicted, the men face prison sentences of up to 10 years.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/30/nurse-suspended-after-stripping-ppe-to-have-sex-with-covid-patient/
Photo Credit: GoogleMaps
Former public radio reporter charged with torching cop cars during BLM protests
A former public radio reporter has been charged with firebombing cop cars during Black Lives Matter protests in Arkansas, according to federal authorities.
Renea Goddard, 22, was one of four charged earlier this month with allegedly sneaking into Arkansas State Police headquarters to slash squad car tires and torch them with Molotov cocktails, the US Attorney’s Office said in a release.
“One vehicle had been set on fire, one had been vandalized with spray paint, and several others had punctured tires,” prosecutors said of the Aug. 28 attack in Little Rock.
“Investigators discovered a detonated Molotov cocktail made from a bottle of brandy,” the release said.
Goddard — whose Twitter says she is president of Students for a Democratic Society — was named by witnesses as being part of the attack, and was seen on surveillance entering in dark clothing, prosecutors said.
Federal search warrants were executed to obtain the locations of their cell phones, and cell site data confirmed that their cell phones were in the location,” the release said.
She was arrested and released from jail on Dec. 17, according to federal court records obtained by ABC7.
“Breaking into a police compound and firebombing a police vehicle with a homemade explosive device is clearly not a peaceful protest,” US Attorney Cody Hiland said of the four charged.
“They will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
It was Goddard’s second arrest from the Black Lives Matter protests, having been busted for violating curfews in June, the outlet said.
Her LinkedIn says she comes from a military family and worked for Arkansas Public Media after being awarded the George C. Douthit Endowed Scholarship.
She then worked as a “reporter and host” for KUAR Public Radio, as well as contributing to an LGBTQ news outlet, her profile said.
KUAR confirmed to ABC 7 that Goddard had been a part-time employee at the radio station, but said she was not working there when she was arrested.
“At the time of the incident, the individual had not been affiliated with the radio station for over six months,” a spokesperson said.
Also arrested in the same operation were fellow Little Rock residents Brittany Dawn Jeffrey, 31, Emily Nowlin, 27, and Aline Espinosa-Villegas, 24, prosecutors said.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/30/ex-reporter-charged-with-torching-cop-cars-during-blm-protests/
Photo Credit: LinkedIn
Woman who falsely accused Keyon Harrold Jr. of phone theft speaks out
The woman who falsely accused a black jazz musician’s teen son of stealing her cellphone in a Manhattan hotel has broken her silence, saying that she does “worry” about the fallout — but maintains her allegation that she was assaulted during the brouhaha.
The 22-year-old woman spoke Tuesday to CNN about the viral video in which she’s seen going off on 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. in the lobby of Soho’s Arlo Hotel, claiming that he swiped her iPhone.
The woman — whose name was withheld by CNN — said that when she realized her phone was missing, she first demanded to see surveillance video from the hotel lobby.
She then asked everyone in the lobby to “empty their pocket,” before settling on Keyon Jr. as her suspect.
“That’s when everything got a little bit more serious,” she told CNN during a phone interview.
The woman, who on the video appears to be white, then lunged at the teen and his dad, jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold Sr., who was defending his son from the accusations.
During a tussle not fully captured on the video, the elder Harrold has said, the woman scratched him and tackled the teen.
He said that shortly after the melee, an Uber driver showed up with the woman’s missing phone.
The NYPD has said it plans to hit the woman with raps that could include assault, grand larceny or attempted robbery, while Mayor Bill de Blasio has blasted the run-in as “plain and simple” racism.
“Of course I worry. That’s not who I am,” the woman told CNN when asked if she has concerns about possible criminal charges and her portrayal in the viral clip. “I actually … try very hard to make sure that I am always doing the right thing.”
She told the outlet she is willing to cooperate with an NYPD probe, but has not yet heard from investigators.
The woman added that she’d be open to talking with the Harrolds.
She told CNN she could and would provide proof that she was assaulted during the incident, but then stopped responding to the outlet’s messages.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/12/30/woman-who-accused-keyon-harrold-jr-of-phone-theft-speaks-out/
Photo Credit: nypost.com