The older brother of George Zimmerman, the man accused of killing Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, posted an image on Twitter comparing the deceased teen to an alleged Ga. baby-killer.
On March 24, Robert Zimmerman, Jr., tweeted an image of Martin alongside one of De’Marquise Kareem Elkins, the 17-year-old accused of fatally shooting one-year-old Antonio Santiago in his stroller on March 21.
Zimmerman’s brother George shot and killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Feb. 2012.
Dionne Warwick, the singer and actress who was a regular at the top of the Billboard chart for four decades, owes more than $10 million in back taxes and has only $10 left at the end of each month after paying expenses, according to a petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey last week.
The 72-year-old five-time Grammy Award winner, who lives in a 3,200-square-foot home in South Orange and won awards for songs like “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “That’s What Friends are For” and “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” pays $5,000 a month for housekeeping.
The East Orange native also pays $4,000 for a personal assistant and another $11,940 in other monthly expenses, the bankruptcy petition stated.
Warwick, who filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy Thursday, has $25,500 in assets and $10.7 million in liabilities, according to the court papers.
Among the valuables listed in her bankruptcy petition: Two fur coats and two sets of diamonds earrings that have a combined value of $13,000; gowns and everyday clothing worth $5,000; and artwork and paintings worth $5,000.
Warwick owes nine years of back taxes, totaling $7 million, to the federal government and $3 million to the state of California, according to the bankruptcy petition.
h/t NJ.COM
Kordell Stewart, former quarterback of the Pittsburgh Steelers, has filed for divorce from his wife, Porsha Stewart, who is a cast member of Real Housewives of Atlanta. The couple only started appearing on the reality show this season, which is still airing.
Viewers of The Real Housewives of Atlanta have seen Porsha, who is the granddaughter of civil rights activist Hosea Williams, live in practical total submission of her husband. Porsha’s storylines on the show have revolved around her and Kordell’s infertility issues, Porsha wanting to have a career conflicting with her husband wanting her to be a stay at home housewife, and Porsha’s constant need for her husband approval on all of her decisions. Porsha and Kordell’s marriage has been scrutinized from the beginning of their relationship.
Straight From The A details the many gay rumors that have plagued Kordell since he was in the NFL. Many speculate that Porsha was simply his beard to help end the gay speculation.
DListed reports Kordell filed the divorce papers on Friday March 22. The couple was married in May 2011 and share no children. No pre-nup was made, but Kordell allegedly doesn’t want to pay Porsha any spousal support. Since the couple have only been married for less than 2 years, it’s unlikely Porsha will get much if any spousal support/alimony.
Media Takeout speculates the couple is divorcing because Kordell no longer wanted to be a part of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and told his wife she couldn’t appear on the show next season. Porsha reportedly refused her husband’s request and began contract negotiations for next season, leading her husband to divorce her.
Wet Paint profiles all of the many Real Housewives cast members from the series’ several cities whose marriages have crumbled since appearing on the reality show.
Porsha and Kordell join current and former Real Housewives divorcees such as Ed & Lisa Wu Hartwell and DeShawn and Eric Snow from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Jeana & Matt Keough, Tamra & Simon Barney, Vicki & Donn Gunvalson, and Lynn & Frank Curtin from The Real Housewives of Orange County. Mary & Rich Amons, Stacie Scott & Jason Turner, and Michaele & Tareq Salahi, from The Real Housewives of D.C.. Camille & Kelsey Grammer and Adrienne Maloof & Paul Nassif from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Finally from The Real Housewives of New York Countess LuAnn & Alexandre de Lesseps.
So many Real Housewives divorces, and surely only many more to come. Is the TV show to blame, or would these couples never have divorced had they not chosen to appear on TV? It’s impossible to tell. Most marriages end in divorce anyway, but most people don’t appear on television.
Reality TV can’t be blamed entirely for causing a couple to fall out of love and choose to divorce. Problems must have existed, like they do in all relationships, before any of these married people chose to live their lives under the microscope of television, and have their daily lives scrutinized by the public.
Whether it was control issues, money problems, infidelity, all the above, or something else entirely, divorce happens. It’s inevitable for most relationships. But if you do have a secret you don’t want exposed, appearing on reality TV probably isn’t the best option for you personally or relationship wise.
It’s now legal. Abortions are illegal in North Dakota.
Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed legislation Tuesday that that would make North Dakota the nation’s most restrictive state on abortion rights, banning the procedure if a fetal heartbeat can be detected — something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
The Republican governor also signed into law another measure that would makes North Dakota the first to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome.
The measures are fueled in part by an attempt to close the state’s sole abortion clinic in Fargo. Supporters of the so-called fetal heartbeat measure said it is a direct challenge the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.
Abortion-rights advocates have promised a legal fight that they say will be long, costly and unwinnable for the state
Twenty young kids were gunned down in Newtown Connecticut last December. That’s in addition to the thousands who are killed each year from gun violence. But is all that enough to appeal to the cold hearted nature of the Republicans?
Not even close. Congressional Republicans are promising to block any attempt by Democrats to implement sensible gun laws.
Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are threatening to filibuster gun-control legislation, according to a letter they plan to hand-deliver to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s office on Tuesday.
“We will oppose the motion to proceed to any legislation that will serve as a vehicle for any additional gun restrictions,” the three conservatives wrote in a copy of the signed letter obtained by POLITICO.
Reid plans to bring up a gun-control measure that focuses on broadening background checks and cracking down on interstate gun-trafficking after the current Senate recess.
Conservatives are concerned that once that bill reaches the floor, amendments could stiffen restrictions on gun control.
These people are sole subsidiary of the NRA.
Branden Lee is a blogger, screenwriter, producer, and actor, currently residing in Boston, MA. Follow Branden on Twitter @Brandeness and check out Branden’s blog .
The sales tax alone is around $8,000.
Luxury designer brand Hermes has unveiled their new crocodile and chiffon t-shirt retailing at $91,500.
According to Jezebel, it’s a men’s T-shirt and is exclusively available at the Hermes flagship store on Madison Avenue in NYC.
Those poor crocodiles may have died in vain, but at least their remains are being sold for a fortune.
Media Takeout is reporting that Kanye West has already purchased the shirt.
It seems like the Violence Against Women’s Act was re-signed so very long ago. President Obama signed this important legislation into law on March 7th in which many are hoping will curb attacks against women nationally. We could only hope. But at the University of North Carolina, it appears they are unaware of such legislation being signed, let alone it even being introduced or even discussed in the media, on television or even debated throughout various political battlegrounds both for and against this important and historic law.
Attorney Clay Turner of Chapel Hill North Carolina, sent a letter Monday to The University of North Carolina [UNC] Chancellor Holden Thorp, advising the school of the complaint that his client, Landen Gambill filed with the Office for Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education. Ms. Gambill says the school expelled her for retaliation against her speaking out publicly about the rape and assault on the campus. Attorney Turner wrote to Thorp saying he was “to demand that you immediately end this reckless prosecution. The retaliatory charges against my client are inappropriate, unconstitutional and utterly without merit.”
Ms. Gambill has yet to identify the alleged offender but the Chancellor and the Board has stated that she violated the honor code by creating an environment that’s intimidating for him. FOR HIM… The accused!
After a hearings board cleared him of sexual assault, they did find him guilty of a much lesser charge of harassment but no criminal charges were filed.
Mr. Turner lashed out saying, “In speaking out for change at UNC, Ms. Gambill is not ‘harassing’ or ‘intimidating’ her abuser, whom she has never named. “Rather, the university’s decision to press charges against Ms. Gambill has tragically provided her abuser with the opportunity to harass and intimidate her” despite a no-contact order issued against him last May.
This makes the third such complaint against the University in which they are being accused of “under reporting” crimes on the campus. Also, Gambill and five additional women in January filed a Title IX complaint with the office of civil rights, saying UNC-Chapel Hill mishandles sexual abuse cases.
The school has denied any wrongdoing however, and continues to stand by its decision in expelling Ms. Gambill. But this will not go away. It has now gained national attention from Melissa Harris-Perry of MSNBC and others, so the heat on UNC’s Board will get hotter before cooler.
No, this story will not go away but the Chancellor is. Thorp is resigning in June to become the chief academic officer of Washington University in St. Louis.
The school this month hired two new employees to investigate sexual assault allegations and to help victims.
Stay tuned.
I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to be a saint or a nun. I had great romantic ideas about nuns. On the other hand, saints appealed to my imagination. The Christian martyrs were killed by the Romans because they wouldn’t renounce their faith. Some of them were eaten by lions and some of them were roasted alive and some were crucified. Except for the pain part, this also appealed to me mightily. Once you were a saint, you sat at the right hand of God and people prayed to you and you could perform miracles. I thought that it would probably hurt to be roasted alive or eaten by lions. I wasn’t sure it was a good trade off. I wanted to be able to perform miracles, but how much would it hurt to be eaten by a lion? I wasn’t sure. There was always being a nun. No horrific death required. I would be cloistered (shut away from the world) and I would pray all the time and I would be very holy.
I practiced being holy. I went to church and prayed for long stretches of time. The longer you prayed, the better. I asked God for silly 
You were supposed to contemplate the stations of the cross in those days and I spent a lot of time doing that. The stations of the cross, for the uninitiated, are depictions of Christ’s journey up the hill as he carried the cross on his way to be crucified. They are especially gory and sadomasochistic. The blood running down his face from the crown of thorns and his bloody back from the lashes. The nails pounded through his hands and feet. How does a five year old meditate on torture? Well I felt very very sorry for him. Poor Jesus, I thought. We must have done something very bad if he had to do all that to make up for it. I wanted to be the lady who gave him a drink of water. I wanted to be the lady who wiped his brow or the lady who cried at his feet.
One day I was praying all by myself in the church and I looked at that little gold container on the altar where we were told Christ was. It seemed to me Jesus must be very lonely in that little gold box, even if it was very pretty. I climbed over the railing (which you weren’t supposed to do) and I climbed up on the altar (which you weren’t supposed to do) and I sat next to the little gold box and I swung my legs and talked to Jesus. I told him everything that was on my five year old mind. I told him I loved him and I would always be his friend. I told him I wanted to be holy. I told him I was either going to be a nun or a saint and either way I’d be a virgin because nuns and saints are always virgins. I wasn’t sure what a virgin was but if that’s what Jesus wanted me to be, then I was going to be it.
My homeroom teacher Miss Staid came in and saw me and she nearly had a heart attack.
Well, it’s officially over…for me that is. My March Madness 2013 Brackets are as ugly as ugly can be. I’m sitting on 32 out of 48 correct or 32 and 16. The key culprits for my demise – #15 Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) and #13 LaSalle. FGCU is playing some of the best basketball in the tournament and is the lowest seed to ever advance to the Sweet 16. Oh, yeah, I had them advancing for sure! Out of the South, #15 FGCU began its first round by beating #2 Georgetown which is what totally demolished my Brackets. From there, they’ve won against another underdog of sorts, #7 San Diego St. which had eliminated #10 Oklahoma in their first round game.
LaSalle, in it’s own right, has beaten some pretty good teams too. And to think, LaSalle had a ‘Play-In’ game just to get into the Big Dance and look at them now. In the first round, they beat #4 Kansas St. to advance to the second round where they won against #12 Mississippi that had knocked of 5 Seed Wisconsin.
And in Sunday’s games, my UNC Tarheels had a Great first half. I sure wish that’s all they had to play because they came out in the second half flatter than a pancake and laid the proverbial egg. With a halftime score of 30-21, North Carolina gave up 49 second half points to #1 Seed Kansas while only scoring 28 themselves and losing 70-58. An ugly finish to the year but on a bright note; Coach Roy Williams won game #700 in their victory over 9 Seed Villanova. Not a National Title by any means but a victory of sorts. Oh, and 2 Seed Duke is still alive. (Who Cares).
Other upsets were #9 Wichita St. beating #1 Gonzaga and #10 Iowa St. sending #7 Notre Dame packing early in the West Region.
Now, on to the Sweet 16 and there are some great match-ups upcoming.
As you can see, there are still three #1’s still in it, three #2’s and three 3’s still fighting to advance deeper into the tournament. The lower seeds consist of a #15, underdog extraordinaire, Florida Gulf Coast University, a 13 Seed, LaSalle and a 12th Seed which is Oregon. This has turned out to be exactly what I gathered early on – non-traditionally unpredictable – but hasn’t it been a Great tournament thus far? I think so.
And if you’re like me, you had the right picks. It’s just the teams you selected didn’t live up to Your expectations. Hey, that’s not Your fault. You Made the Right picks. Next year, the teams you select just have to play better. J
At any rate, my Championship teams are still alive, #1 Louisville in the Midwest and #2 Miami in the East. Looking forward to this weekend already!
Kizomba music was born in Angola (in Luanda) in early 80s following the influences of traditional semba with kilapanda and merengue. On this basis, Kizomba music emerged as a more modern music genre with a sensual touch mixed with African rhythm. Unlike Semba, Kizomba music is characterised by a slower and usually very romantic rhythm. Given that Angola is a former Portuguese colony, Portuguese is the principal language spoken in Angola and thus, also most Kizomba songs are sung in Portuguese. However, Kizomba songs at the very beginning were sung in Kimbundu and in other National languages of Angola.
The dance style Kizomba was connected two the music style in 1981, through “Bibi king of the pace” percussionist of the SOS Band, a group that joining other styles such as merengue and Angolan rhythms to others styles developed by other contemporary groups, developing a sound more attractive and danceable that began circulating in the Angolan “Kizombadas” (party’s). One member of this group was Eduardo Paim that after the dissolution of SOS, moved to Portugal leading with him the pace Kizomba, which began garnering fans in Lusitanian lands but mistakenly confused with a variant of Zouk. Source: Wikipedia
