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Naked Black Justice: Atlanta Photographer James Lewis Illustrates Race
Naked Black Justice Series
No lies,I will admit this came to my attention because of some of the models (one of whom I've seen in plenty of other nude content). However,as I browsed through the photos,I saw some cool pictures that transcended eye candy ,and were depictions of couples,parents & children, and ( surprisingly) one which even showcased gay black love.Each subject is marked with a message relevant to issues or misconceptions that affect Black Americans.Conceptualized and executed by James Cornelius Lewis,NBJC seeks to "bring awareness to the issues of racism, prejudice and overall ignorance targeted at blacks in American and abroad,”
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Naked Black Justice Series

 

GLEN BURKE: The Black Gay Man Who Invented The High Five

I love this story. You really learn something new everyday.



Film Summary

This short will explore the origins and nuances of the high five, bringing to life the unique legacy of the gesture and the story of one of its unsung originators. The filmmakers will tell the story of Glenn Burke and his origins as a baseball prodigy, his time in the majors and spontaneous "invention" of the gesture. Using this moment, the story then pivots to chronicle the simultaneous spread of the high five as both celebratory and political gesture alongside the professional and personal decline of Glenn Burke.

 

Alright peeps, I've been absent for a while and haven't gotten a chance to feature someone I'm listening to.

But at least today I'm running the table with Kaytranada, an emerging electric/house/hip-hop/R&B musician, DJ and all-round cool kat. He's a Montrealer of Haitian heritage. His sound is the epitome of the renaissance hip-hop has undergone, with it's experimentation and stubborn refusal to be bound to a label. His collaborations with artists like The Internet, Anderson .Paak, Craig David and others simply adds to the layers of his complexity.

Now I can't take credit for discovering him- a very special person first introduced me to him, and I immediately got his debut album 99.9%. It's been on repeat ever since.

Now to the music!





Unfortunately, there's other music, esp You're the One (ft Syd) that I can't find online (curses!!!). That song is one of my favs. Clubs aren't my scene, but if this song were to play... damn I would make a fool of myself poppin the booty and grinding up on some dude lol. And it would be sooo much fun!

You can watch a recent interview with Sway here:

Oh, yeah...he's gay. Forgot about that. He talks about that around 18min in.

Read more about him here:

Kaytranada Is Reaching 100%

 

Thursday night in Dallas, five police officers were killed in a sniper attack. Seven other officers and two civilians were injured. Friday morning, the National Rifle Association was quick to issue a statement expressing “deep anguish” on behalf of its members.

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NRA News

✔@nranews
Statement by @NRA Executive Vice President & CEO Wayne LaPierre#DallasPoliceShooting #Dallas #NRA

10:26 AM - 8 Jul 2016

Absent from the statement is any mention of the protest where the shooting occurred or the reason for that protest: the killing by police of two black men, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Castile was reportedly a licensed gun owner. His disclosure to the officer that he had a gun in the car led the officer to shoot him, according to Castile’s girlfriend who made a Facebook Live video shortly after the shooting.

It’s exactly the sort of case that you might imagine would outrage the NRA, an organization dedicated to protecting the Second Amendment right to bear arms. But despite rushing to mourn the death of police in Dallas, the NRA was silent in the days after Castile’s death.

Plenty of people have noticed this, and taken to social media to ask the NRA pointed questions. Some of its members were disappointed or furious, while non-members said they wouldn’t join the NRA now based on its silence.

21h
Laura Keeney

✔@LauraKeeney
In which members take the @NRA to task over its deafening silence re: #PhilandoCastile and #AltonSterling.pic.twitter.com/VypGoSZ1Y3


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Laura Keeney

✔@LauraKeeney
So many comments like that from members on the @NRAFacebook page. Here are a few more. #BlackLivesMatterpic.twitter.com/seH2swKcRr


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On Twitter, a handful of members are similarly upset.

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Anthony Rek LeCounte @RekLeCounte
As a member, I hope @NRA finds time to comment. @2AFDN's already defending our civil rights: http://reason.com/blog/2016/07/07/second-amendment-foundation-calls-for-in …https://twitter.com/TooMuchMe/status/751076078458986496 …

10:30 AM - 8 Jul 2016

Second Amendment Foundation Calls for Independent Investigation of Philando Castile's Death
"Exercising our right to bear arms should not translate to a death sentence"

reason.com
7 Jul
Robin Thede

✔@robinthede
The fact that the NRA won't defend LICENSED gun carriers like#PhilandoCastile PROVES that "right to bear arms" is only a WHITE PRIVILEGE

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Malleus Photography @MalleusSports
@robinthede As an NRA endowment member the NRA better speak up on the legal gun owners behalf. If not I will revoke my membership.

4:33 AM - 8 Jul 2016

7 Jul
Pokémanu @ManuclearBomb
They've tweeted a lot today and not yet once about#PhilandoCastile https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/751090901376757760 …

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Clarence Whorley @ClarenceWhorley
@ManuclearBomb @chrislhayes yes not sure why they haven't commented on it. I'm a NRA member, would like them to comment

4:33 PM - 7 Jul 2016
“What we know does not look good,” Edwards said on Thursday. “Our right to keep and bear arms is not based on the color of our skin.”

Wayne LaPierre, the NRA’s Executive Vice President and very public face has been utterly silent.

The fact the NRA has commented on the Dallas police officers’ deaths but not the death of a black man licensed to carry a gun is not surprising. Second Amendment protections have often beendenied to black citizens. Martin Luther King, Jr. couldn’t even get a concealed carry permit after his life was threatened. The NRA has historically not commented on individual or mass shootings, but the NRA does have a close if fraught relationship with American police forces.

Of course, for every NRA member urging the organization to speak, there are plenty more eagerly sticking with the organization. Some argue that this is just organization’s policy; they invoked Erik Scott, a white gun owner who was killed by police in 2010, whose death also led to NRA silence.

This argument is bizarre on its face: Scott was refusing to cooperate with police and employees at a Costco, and took his gun out at one point. Castile was cooperating with a policeman who shot him as he was doing what he was asked to do, taking out his wallet. Neither Scott nor Castile should have been killed, but the difference between the two situations is itself an illustration of America’s enduring white supremacist power structure.

But the NRA’s silence even in response to its own membership ought to give that membership pause, and force them to ask whether the organization represents what they believe it does. Is an organization that has, as far as I can tell, never commented on a single shooting death of one of the concealed carry permit holders it claims to hold so dear really concerned about the rights it claims to be, or just in the vast industry which it is well paid to protect?

The NRA has been contacted, but has yet to comment on this story.

Update: The NRA has released a statement saying that while it finds “[t]he reports from Minnesota troubling…it is important for the NRA not to comment while the investigation is ongoing.” The statement does not mention Philando Castile’s name or police involvement.

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NRA

✔@NRA
The reports from #Minnesota are troubling and must be thoroughly investigated. #2A #NRA

3:40 PM - 8 Jul 2016

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Additional reporting by Kristen V. Brown.

 

​

Its the end of the first full month of 2014 and many of our New Years Resolutions have already gone down the tubes. What I’ve come to learn over the years is that many of us fail because of the negative people we have on our squad. This includes ourselves. There’s an old saying that, “if you hang out with a group of 4 broke friends, what does that make you?” The answer is: “The Fifth.”

This is not to say that you should abandon your friends only for more affluent people. What you should be mindful about is if these people are subconsciously holding you back. A broke friend with goals that he’s actually working to achieve is very different than one who just wastes the little money he gets and is content with mediocrity.

This idea applies to all parts of our lives and the people we let into it. People are not islands, off to themselves. We need relationships (friends/family/lovers) with other people to influence us, to vent to, to confide in, to socialize with, to love, to be affectionate with, to share our hopes and dreams with.

The problem is finding and maintaining these relationships with positive people who won’t drag you down with them. As adults, sometimes we have to cut cancerous people out of our lives and don’t look back.

Here are twenty tips to help you find and foster these special and needed relationships and cut out the cancer.

– Nick Delmacy

1. Free yourself from negative people.

Spend time with nice people who are smart, driven and likeminded. Relationships should help you, not hurt you. Surround yourself with people who reflect the person you want to be. Choose friends who you are proud to know, people you admire, who love and respect you – people who make your day a little brighter simply by being in it. Life is too short to spend time with people who suck the happiness out of you. When you free yourself from negative people, you free yourself to be YOU – and being YOU is the only way to truly live.

2. Let go of those who are already gone.

The sad truth is that there are some people who will only be there for you as long as you have something they need. When you no longer serve a purpose to them, they will leave. The good news is, if you tough it out, you’ll eventually weed these people out of your life and be left with some great people you can count on. We rarely lose friends and lovers, we just gradually figure out who our real ones are. So when people walk away from you, let them go. Your destiny is never tied to anyone who leaves you. It doesn’t mean they are bad people; it just means that their part in your story is over.

3. Give people you don’t know a fair chance.

When you look at a person, any person, remember that everyone has a story. Everyone has gone through something that has changed them, and forced them to grow. Every passing face on the street represents a story every bit as compelling and complicated as yours. We meet no ordinary people in our lives. If you give them a chance, everyone has something amazing to offer. So appreciate the possibility of new relationships as you naturally let go of old ones that no longer work. Trust your judgment. Embrace new relationships, knowing that you are entering into unfamiliar territory. Be ready to learn, be ready for a challenge, and be ready to meet someone that might just change your life forever.


Seb on Flickr, CC-BY-2.0

4. Show everyone kindness and respect.

Treat everyone with kindness and respect, even those who are rude to you – not because they are nice, but because you are. There are no boundaries or classes that define a group of people that deserve to be respected. Treat everyone with the same level of respect you would give to your grandfather and the same level of patience you would have with your baby brother. People will notice your kindness.

5. Accept people just the way they are.

In most cases it’s impossible to change them anyway, and it’s rude to try. So save yourself from needless stress. Instead of trying to change others, give them your support and lead by example.

6. Encourage others and cheer for them.

Having an appreciation for how amazing the people around you are leads to good places – productive, fulfilling, peaceful places. So be happy for those who are making progress. Cheer for their victories. Be thankful for their blessings, openly. What goes around comes around, and sooner or later the people you’re cheering for will start cheering for you.


Anthony Posey on Flickr, CC-BY-2.0

7. Be your imperfectly perfect self.

In this crazy world that’s trying to make you like everyone else, find the courage to keep being your awesome self. And when they laugh at you for being different, laugh back at them for being the same. Spend more time with those who make you smile and less time with those who you feel pressured to impress. Be your imperfectly perfect self around them. We are not perfect for everyone, we are only perfect for those select few people that really take the time to get to know us and love us for who we really are. And to those select few, being our imperfectly perfect self is what they love about us.

8. Forgive people and move forward.

Don’t live your life with hate in your heart. You will end up hurting yourself more than the people you hate. Forgiveness is not saying, “What you did to me is okay.” It is saying, “I’m not going to let what you did to me ruin my happiness forever.” Forgiveness is the remedy. It doesn’t mean you’re erasing the past, or forgetting what happened. It means you’re letting go of the resentment and pain, and instead choosing to learn from the incident and move on with your life. Remember, the less time you spend hating the people who hurt you, the more time you’ll have to love the people who love you.

9. Do little things every day for others.

Sometimes those little things occupy the biggest part of their hearts. You can’t be everything to everyone, but you can be everything to a few people. Decide who these people are in your life and treat them like royalty.

10. Pay attention to who your real friends are.

As we grow up, we realize it becomes less important to have more friends and more important to have real ones. Remember, life is kind of like a party. You invite a lot of people, some leave early, some stay all night, some laugh with you, some laugh at you, and some show up really late. But in the end, after the fun, there are a few who stay to help you clean up the mess. And most of the time, they aren’t even the ones who made the mess. These people are your real friends in life. They are the ones who matter most.


Elvin on Flickr, CC-BY-2.0

11. Always be loyal.

True love and real friendship aren’t about being inseparable. These relationships are about two people being true to each other even when they are separated. When it comes to relationships, remaining faithful is never an option, but a priority. Loyalty is everything.

12. Stay in better touch with people who matter to you.

In human relationships distance is not measured in miles, but in affection. Two people can be right next to each other, yet miles apart. So don’t ignore someone you care about, because lack of concern hurts more than angry words. Stay in touch with those who matter to you. Not because it’s convenient, but because they’re worth the extra effort. Remember, you don’t need a certain number of friends, just a number of friends you can be certain of. Paying attention to these people is a priority.

13. Keep your promises and tell the truth.

If you say you’re going to do something, DO IT! If you say you’re going to be somewhere, BE THERE! If you say you feel something, MEAN IT! If you can’t, won’t, and don’t, then DON’T LIE. It’s always better to tell people the truth up front. Don’t play games with people’s heads and hearts. Don’t tell half-truths and expect people to trust you when the full truth comes out; half-truths are no better than lies. Remember, love and friendship don’t hurt. Lying, cheating and screwing with people’s feelings and emotions hurts. Never mess with someone’s feelings just because you’re unsure of yours. Always be open and honest.


Adam Jones on Flickr, CC-BY-2.0

14. Give what you want to receive.

Don’t expect what you are not willing to give. Start practicing the golden rule. If you want love, give love. If you want friends, be friendly. If you want money, provide value. It works. It really is this simple.

15. Say what you mean and mean what you say.

Give the people in your life the information they need, rather than expecting them to know the unknowable. Information is the grease that keeps the engine of communication functioning. Start communicating clearly. Don’t try to read other people’s minds, and don’t make other people try to read yours. Most problems, big and small, within a family, friendship, or business relationships, start with bad communication.

16. Allow others to make their own decisions.

Do not judge others by your own past. They are living a different life than you are. What might be good for one person may not be good for another. What might be bad for one person might change another person’s life for the better. Allow people to make their own mistakes and their own decisions.


John Steven Fernandez on Flickr, CC-BY-2.0

17. Talk a little less, and listen more.

Less advice is often the best advice. People don’t need lots of advice, they need a listening ear and some positive reinforcement. What they want to know is often already somewhere inside of them. They just need time to think, be and breathe, and continue to explore the undirected journeys that will eventually help them find their direction.

18. Leave petty arguments alone.

Someone else doesn’t have to be wrong for you to be right. There are many roads to what’s right. And most of the time it just doesn’t matter that much.

19. Ignore unconstructive, hurtful commentary.

No one has the right to judge you. They might have heard your stories, but they didn’t feel what you were going through. No matter what you do, there will always be someone who thinks differently. So concentrate on doing what you know in your heart is right. What most people think and say about you isn’t all that important. What is important is how you feel about yourself.

20. Pay attention to your relationship with yourself.

One of the most painful things in life is losing yourself in the process of loving others too much, and forgetting that you are special too. When was the last time someone told you that they loved you just the way you are, and that what you think and how you feel matters? When was the last time someone told you that you did a good job, or took you someplace, simply because they know you feel happy when you’re there? When was the last time that ‘someone’ was YOU?

Article written by Marc Chernoff reprinted from his blog MarcAndAngel.com.



Read the whole post here.

 

Eleven years ago, a fresh-faced Kanye West sat with MTV News’ Sway Calloway to talk about a topic that rarely graced the mainstream airwaves: hip-hop’s homophobia. Beginning with his own experience, he reflected on how the pressures to conform to standards of masculinity poisoned his perspective towards gay people. “If you see something and you don’t want to be that because there’s such a negative connotation towards it, you try to separate yourself from it so much that it made me homophobic,” he said.

Kanye himself was no stranger to stereotyping. At the onset of his career, Kanye’s pink Polos raised questions about his sexuality, as did wearing a kilt in 2011 and working closely with designers like Riccardo Tisci. West used the interview with Sway to discuss how his cousin being gay helped him realize that selective discrimination belies the point of being discriminatory in the first place. After all, how can you hate all gays and make exceptions for some?



That shift in perspective led him to criticize the community at large. “Hip-hop seemed like it was about fighting for your rights in the beginning, about speaking your mind, and breaking down barriers or whatever,” he continued. “But everybody in hip-hop discriminates against gay people. To me, that’s one of the standards in hip-hop is to be like, ‘You fag, you gay.’"

As a matter of fact, he said, “the exact opposite word of hip-hop is gay. Like yo, you play a record and it’s wack? That’s gay, dog. If it’s good? That’s that hip-hop shit right there! It’s the exact opposite. So me speaking for my entire culture, me looking at my rappers out there, hip-hop does discriminate against gay people. I want to just come on TV and tell my rappers, my friends, just stop it, fam. Seriously, that’s really discrimination. To me, that’s what they used to do to black people. I’m trying to tell people to just stop all that,” he concluded.

It was a moment of bold self-awareness and bigger-picture perspective. So it’s ironic that years later, in Oct. 2015, Kanyw told SHOWstudio in a different interview that he felt discriminated against in the fashion community because he wasn’t gay. Perhaps Kanye has learned something over the years: By suggesting that the LGBTQ community was shunning him based on his sexuality gives that community the power of authority, something that the LGBTQ community has never had in hip-hop. After all, bullies gain the upper hand by targeting the weaknesses of their enemies, and hip-hop, broadly speaking, has long viewed the members of the LGBTQ community as being inherently weak.


So how much has hip-hop’s homophobia’s changed since Kanye poured his heart out to Sway? Not much. The silence from the mainstream hip-hop community about anything remotely related to events that affect the LGBTQ community—be it mass shootings that target safe spaces or the passing of gay marriage, which went largely unremarked upon by rappers last year—is deafening. In the wake of the tragic events at Pulse nightclub that resulted in 49 inncocent deaths LGBTQ during the clubs latin night, actors and singers encouraged unity and an end to gun violence, the LGBTQ community joined in vigil with straight allies, many politicians offered their meaningless “thoughts and prayers” in contradiction to their prior calls for anti-LGBTQ legislation. The world spoke out from all corners—except hip-hop. Of course, offering or not offering condolences is a personal choice that doesn't necessarily offer a complete view of a person's feelings. But as the LGBTQ community knows all too well, visibility and power go hand-in-hand.

Kid Cudi, who in the past has openly discussed kissing a man in the film he appeared in Kid Cudi Talks About His Man-On-Man Kissing Scenes in "James White" (the scene was eventually removed from the final cut), was the most outspoken member of the hip-hop community, and one of the few to even acknowledge the shooting, let alone hip-hop’s issues with queer people. In a series of tweets, he swiftly became the most vocal mainstream rapper since West’s 2005 statements to expose hip-hop’s ever-present problems with the LGBTQ community.

“My heart and prayers go out to the LGBT community and everyone affected by this tragedy. Really upset today,” he wrote. “I wish there was more I could do than tweet, build awareness and donate money. That’s not enough. Not for me.” His ferocity intensified. “IF YOU ARE AN INSECURE HOMOPHOBE AND HAVE A ISSUE WITH GAYS AND EQUALITY, UNFOLLOW ME NOW. THANK YOU. The Hip Hop community is the least outspoken about gay rights and Ima go out my way to change that.”




t was a bold step compared to most of his peers. Jay Z, Nas, Eminem, Jadakiss, Nicki Minaj, Future, Tyler, The Creator, Chance the Rapper, Jeezy, J. Cole, Wiz Khalifa, and Earl Sweatshirt are just some of the rappers who have not only used the word “fag,” or “faggot,” in their lyrics, but have also chosen to not publicly address the massacre. Nicki Minaj, who once had a gay alter ego named Roman Zolanski and claimed to be bisexual early on in her career, went so far as to apparently unfollow one user on twitter for suggesting that she mention the attack instead of promote her new single. (Admittedly, Minaj did not weigh in on the Paris or Sandy Hook attacks, either.)

Of course, the use of epithets in lyrics has diminished in recent years, and to conflate the use of them with actual hatred is a stretch. But silence still speaks volumes. Kanye said nothing. Neither did Wale or A$AP Rocky, who just last year said that "none of that stuff matters" and "I don't think it's cool to discriminate against anybody for their color, their sexual preference, or ethnic background." Drake? Nothing. 50 Cent, who in 2007 proudly defended his use of the word “faggot” and likened it to using the "N" word as a term of endearment (a boldly unjustifiable comparison), kept quiet too. Miami resident Rick Ross, who called 50 a “fag” in 2009, had nothing to offer about the shooting in his home state. Busta Rhymes, who berated a young gay fan at a diner in South Beach in 2013 and reportedly said “I fucking hate faggots,” kept his Twitter fingers silent.

Then came the rappers who have used “fag,” “faggot,” “no homo,” and “pause” in their lyrics at some point, but spoke out against the shooting regardless—without mentioning that the Pulse attack targeted the LGBTQ community. Lil Wayne tweeted, “Prayers for Orlando!” Styles P, who once released a song called “Kill That Faggot,” tweeted, “GOD bless all these folks in Orlando.” Common added, “We must continue to develop love, understanding and respect for each other. #Orlando”—a notable message from someone whose discography is littered with the word “faggot.” T.I. echoed the same sentiment: “Love conquers ALL!!!! If u can't Love it... Just Leave it alone!!!! #PrayForOrlando.” He didn’t seem to think so when letting “faggot” fall from his mouth numerous times on record.

As for the rappers who have used slurs but chose to explicitly mention that this was an attack on LGBTQ persons, the list is shorter: Lil’ Kim, Pharrell Williams, and The Game are of the few commendable, simply for their acknowledgement of the targeted group of victims. On a higher pedestal: 2 Chainz, Missy Elliot, and Vic Mensa, who had something to say about Orlando and never used homophobic slurs on wax. Elsewhere, Macklemore, the self-appointed king of allies, dedicated “Same Love” to the victims in Orlando.

If the aforementioned list of rappers reads tedious and long, that’s because it is. It’s not that hip-hop is homophobic like it overtly once was. Today, hip-hop’s problem with gay people lies within a more slippery conundrum: that you can choose what preexisting words mean and diminish the historical weight they hold. Or, more troublingly, pretend that the LGBTQ community doesn’t even exist.

Rappers are evaluated based on the words they use, how they use them and how they deliver them. It’s part of the competitive nature of rap music, to outdo a peer by spinning the subject at hand into a flex of lexicon. To pioneer a flow is to etch your name in the history books. To introduce new slang and have it catch on is an even greater milestone. To cross over to the pop mainstream, where rap music took years to find its foothold, is one of the greatest honors.

While hip-hop has undoubtedly grown as a culture—business has gotten smarter, gender isn't quite so restricted by constructs, genre lines have softened—what’s perplexing is that its attitudes towards LGBTQ folks, in many ways, haven’t. In the past, there were more pointed verbal asides that attacked queer people—Brand Nubian, Goodie Mob, and A Tribe Called Quest all included rhymes about hating gay people or wanting to kill them—and today, the language is much more toned down. "Faggot," in hip-hop, meant lesser, a more feminine man, stripped of his masculine identity. It's still an insult. That Tyler, The Creator and Azealia Banks, or even Lil B use the words “faggot” or “dyke” in an attempt to redefine them—to extricate the words from what they represent—perpetuates an ignorance perspective. It misunderstands context and history. J. Cole, for example, justifying the use of the line, “My verbal AKs slay faggots,” is an embarrassment. Just in 2013, we were still cataloging hip-hop’s negative attitude towards the LGBTQ community. It’s hard to say that we’ve made vast improvements.

Imagine loving a culture that treats you like you’re invisible. That’s what it’s like for LGBTQ youth who look up to these figures—they never feel included. Or for the more mature sect, that has a deep appreciation for its history, and still doesn’t feel welcome. Or, the rap fan that feels like he or she can’t come out, and suffers a deep loneliness, and only finds solace in rap music, which in turn is just another place to be ostracized.

Hip-hop was established to bring people together; inclusion was part of its foundation. And yet rap music is still dominated by straight men. If you aren't one, you're considered a minority. Nicki Minaj is the only rapper who happens to be a woman consistently scaling the top of the charts. LGBTQ rappers Mykki Blanco, Le1f, and Cakes da Killa are all making some of the most progressive hip-hop today—on the outskirts. There is still debate about whether hip-hop will ever accept a gay rapper. In 2016.




If all we see are rappers ascribing to an outdated masculinity that requires the use of “no homo” or “pause” after saying anything remotely sus, or enables them to sling slang with disregard for who it might affect, then clearly hip-hop is still afraid of its own shadow. And it isn't just hip-hop: it's an issue that affects every LGBTQ person, every day, that straight America clings to an archaic mindset that enables them to hate without sound reason. We see it in politics, sports, even from the institutions intended to make LGBTQ people feel safe.

Celebrities don’t have to speak out on every major event that happens in the world, and this isn’t about shaming. Never mind that Rihanna and Taylor Swift didn’t say anything about the violence inflicted on the patrons at Pulse (until, of course, they were publicly taken to task)—they at least frequently acknowledge their gay fan bases (even if they’re arguably exploiting them). For hip-hop, it’s about confronting the embedded insecurities that are instilled by the culture around you, and absolving them by making just the slightest effort to make the excluded feel otherwise.

“Silence = Death” is a common motto among the LGBTQ community; it was initially tied to the AIDS epidemic. It meant that the more you ignore something, the more that thing will suffer, and yield anger and pain, unless it speaks out. At the least, thoughts and prayers offer nothing. LGBTQ people need visibility and action, allyship and support, from those in places of power and influence where the LGBTQ community doesn’t hold a minority stake—like in the general population. Hip-hop is slow to recognize that, and its greatest figures' silence communicates that they either don't care, or that they don't want their sexuality questioned. An embodiment of masculinity so fragile.

Kanye West borrowed from Kid Cudi to help chisel his style during his mid-career stride, so it's only fitting that Cudi was the one who vehemently echoed West's comments about hip-hop's issues with homophobia last week. I reached out to Cudi's publicist for an interview shortly after the shooting at Pulse, to elaborate on his ideas and see what change he envisioned procuring. I wasn't the only one who reached out, but Cudi is turning down all interviews as of now. I can't wait to see what he plans to do.

Article; How Homophobic Is Hip-Hop in 2016?

 

Riot police use a water cannon to disperse LGBT rights activists before a Gay Pride parade in central Istanbul, Turkey.


When the US supreme court ruled in favour of same-sex marriage last year, the White House welcomed it with rainbow-coloured lights and many people celebrated by adding a rainbow tint to their Facebook profile.

For the authorities in Saudi Arabia, though, this was cause for alarm rather than celebration, alerting them to a previously unnoticed peril in their midst. The first casualty was the privately run Talaee Al-Noor school in Riyadh which happenedto have a rooftop parapet painted with rainbow stripes. According to the kingdom’s religious police, the school was fined 100,000 riyals ($26,650) for displaying “the emblem of the homosexuals” on its building, one of its administrators was jailed and the offending parapet was swiftly repainted to match a blue rainbow-free sky.

The case of the gaily painted school shows how progress in one part of the world can have adverse effects elsewhere and serves as a reminder that there are places where the connection between rainbows and LGBT rights is either new or yet to be discovered.

In Afghanistan, only a few years ago, there was a craze for decorating cars with rainbow stickers – which Chinese factories were only too happy to supply. It wasn’t until the Afghan Pajhwok news agency explained how they might be misinterpreted that the craze came to a sudden halt.

Look on the internet and you will also find copies of the “Rainbow Qur’an” for sale – an unconsciously gay edition of the holy book with tinted pages of every hue and recommended on one website as “an ideal gift for Muslims”.

But there are two sides to this cross-cultural misunderstanding. Western visitors to Egypt are often struck by the sight of men – even soldiers in uniform – holding hands in the street. In Lebanon, you’ll find straight men who spend hours preening themselves and, in Afghanistan, warriors who wear eye makeup.

It doesn’t mean what you might think it means, but it’s also less surprising than it might seem. Gender segregation, which goes to extreme lengths in the more conservative Muslim countries, encourages homosocial behaviour, creating a situation where men are often more comfortable in the presence of other men and where placing a hand on another man’s knee is a sign of friendship, not an invitation to sex. They hug and kiss a lot too – and according to a former head of Al-Azhar’s fatwa committee in Egypt, there’s nothing wrong with same-sex kissing so long as there is “no chance for any temptation”.


Relatives of 26 men who were arrested in a televised raid by police looking for gay people at a Cairo public bathhouse celebrate after the court acquitted them

Muslim society is still, by and large, strongly patriarchal. Patriarchy, by its nature, extols masculinity. There’s no sin in appreciating male beauty, either. In the Qur’anic vision of Paradise, there are not only 72 female virgins in attendance but handsome young men who serve an endless supply of non-alcoholic drinks.

Of course, same-sex relationships don’t always stop at the platonic level. Historically, Muslim societies have often acknowledged this – tolerating it to some extent even if they disapproved.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, men who had been persecuted for their sexuality in Europe often sought refuge in Morocco and, long before same-sex marriage was dreamed of in the west, male-on-male partnerships were recognised – and marked with a ceremony – in the remote Egyptian oasis of Siwa.

In some Muslim countries, whole towns have become the butt of jokes about the supposed homosexuality of their inhabitants. Idlib in Syria is one of them; Qazvin in Iran is another. An old joke in Afghanistan is that birds fly over Kandahar with one wing held under their tail – as a precaution.

At another level, though, it’s no joking matter. In Iran today, lavat (sodomy) is a capital offence and people are frequently executed for it. In Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Yemen and Mauritania, sodomy is also punishable by death – though no executions have been reported for at least a decade.

Among other Arab countries, the penalty in Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Somalia, Tunisia and Syria is imprisonment – up to 10 years in the case of Bahrain. In those that have no specific law against homosexuality, gay people may still be prosecuted under other laws. In Egypt, for example, an old law against “debauchery” is often used.

These laws have a catastrophic effect on the lives of people who are unlucky enough to get caught but, despite occasional crackdowns, the authorities don’t, on the whole, actively seek out gay people to arrest them. Statistics are scarce but the number of arrests is undoubtedly lower than it was during the British wave of homophobia in the 1950s. In England in 1952, there were 670 prosecutions for sodomy, 3,087 for attempted sodomy or indecent assault, and 1,686 for gross indecency.

The problem with such laws, even if not vigorously enforced, is that they signal official disapproval of homosexuality and, coupled with the fulminations of religious scholars, legitimise discrimination by individuals at an everyday level and may also provide an excuse for action by vigilantes. Years before Isis began throwing allegedly gay men off the top of buildings, other groups in Iraq wereattacking “un-manly” men – sometimes killing them slowly by injecting glue into the anus.

One reason for the comparatively small number of prosecutions is the official fiction that gay people don’t exist to any great extent in Muslim countries; homosexuality is regarded primarily as a western phenomenon and large numbers of arrests would call that into question. Some of the most brutal Arab regimes (Iraq under Saddam Hussein and Syria under the Assads, for example) also showed little interest in attacking gay people – probably because they had other things to worry about.


There are, however, periods of moral panic and times when it suits a government to blame the country’s ills on those least able to defend themselves. This is what the Sisi regime has been doing in Egypt recently – and its targeting of sexual minorities is documented in detail by rights activist Scott Long on his blog. Gay people are not the only ones, though. The regime is also working on plans to “eradicate” atheism.

Arrests in the Arab countries often involve groups of men at parties (sometimes described as gay “weddings”) and occasionally at hammams (bathhouses). Individuals or couples accused of having unlawful sex may be arrested for a variety of reasons, including some which initially are unrelated to homosexuality. There are also reported cases where people suspected of being gay have been arrested by police seeking to elicit bribes or turn the suspects into informers. For those caught, the effect on their lives is catastrophic but the law is not much of a deterrent and for those who are discreet about their sexuality the risk of arrest is small.

For the vast majority who identify as gay, lesbian or transgender the attitudes of family and society are a much bigger problem.

The one issue that affects all gay people – everywhere – at some point in their lives is coming out. For Muslims this can be an especially difficult decision. The pressure to marry is much greater in Muslim countries than in most western countries. Remaining single is usually equated with social disaster and once young people have completed their studies, organising their marriage becomes a priority for the family. The more traditional kinds of family take on the task of finding them a partner; arranged marriages are still very common.

For those who are not attracted to the opposite sex, this presents a major problem. Some manage to postpone the issue by prolonging their studies and/or going abroad. Some give in to the pressure and accept a marriage for which they are ill-suited. A few of the more fortunate ones find a gay or lesbian partner of the opposite sex and enter a pretend marriage. Some bite the bullet and decide to come out.

How families respond to a coming out depends on several factors, including social class and their level of education. In the more extreme cases, coming out results in the person being ostracised by their family or even physically attacked. A less harsh reaction is to seek a “cure” – either through religion or, in better-off families – through expensive but futile psychiatric treatment.

Blaming it on Islam? Not so fast
Following the Orlando massacre – perpetrated by a man from an Afghan family background – it has been noted that all the countries where the death penalty for sodomy still applies justify it on the basis of Islamic law. But to blame this entirely on Islam is an oversimplification. In Egypt and Lebanon – predominantly Muslim countries with a large Christian population – attitudes towards homosexuality among Christians are not very different from those among Muslims.

Also, it’s clear that the prophet Muhammad never specified a punishment for homosexuality; it wasn’t until some years after his death that Muslims began discussing what a suitable punishment might be.

Muslim condemnations of homosexuality, like those in Christianity, are based mainly on the story about God’s punishment of Sodom and Gomorrah which is recounted in the Qur’an as well as the Old Testament. In essence, the biblical and Qur’anic versions are very similar.

The difference is that over the last 60 years or so many Christians have taken a fresh look at the story and concluded that it’s about attempted male rape and the ill-treatment of strangers rather than consensual sex between males. So far, though, there have been only a few Muslims willing to reappraise it.

The key point here is that while the words of scripture are fixed and unchangeable they are always subject to human interpretation, and interpretations may vary according to time, place and social conditions. This, of course, is something that fundamentalists, whether Muslim or Christian, prefer to deny.

Although Muslim societies today can be described as generally homophobic, it’s a mistake to view homophobia as a self-contained problem: it’s part of a syndrome in which the rights of individuals are subsumed in the perceived interests of the community and – often – maintaining an “Islamic” ethos. The result is that society places a high value on conformity and expressions of individuality are frowned upon; there is a strong emphasis on upholding social “norms” and keeping up appearances – in public if not necessarily in private. The patriarchal system plays a major part in this too, with strongly defined roles for men and women. Gay men, especially those who show feminine traits, may thus be regarded as challenging the social order.

“Masculine” men who have sex with other men are a slightly different matter. Although state law and traditional Islamic law view the penetrator and penetrated in anal sex as equally culpable, popular opinions of the penetrator tend to be less hostile: he is still a man, doing what men naturally do, even if it’s not with a woman. The receptive (or passive) partner, on the other hand, is viewed with disgust. He is behaving like a woman and it’s assumed that he cannot be doing it for pleasure, so he must be a prostitute.

Meanwhile, lesbian activity goes largely unnoticed – probably because in a male-orientated society men don’t pay it much attention or don’t regard it as very significant.

How the Middle East views the entire gender spectrum
Traditional ideas about gender roles cause particular problems for transgender people, especially in places where segregation of the sexes is more strictly enforced and cross-dressing is criminalised.

In 2007, under pressure from Islamist members of parliament, Kuwait amended its penal code so that anyone “imitating the opposite sex in any way” could face up to a year in jail and/or a fine of 1,000 dinars ($3,500). Within a couple of weeks at least 14 people were thrown into prison for the new offence.

Since there is no mechanism in Kuwaiti law to register a change of sex, even trans people who have had surgery are at risk of arrest for cross-dressing.

“Transgender” is a broad term which includes intersex people (whose biological sex is unclear or was wrongly assigned at birth), those with gender dysphoria (who feel like “a man trapped in a woman’s body”, or vice versa) and may also include others who simply get pleasure or satisfaction from cross-dressing.


As it happens, Islam has case histories in this area which make it accommodating in some ways, though not in others. Reports from the prophet’s lifetime show he was familiar with three types of gender diversity beyond the usual male-female binary.

There were eunuchs (castrated men) and mukhannathun (effeminate men) to whom the rules of gender segregation did not apply: they were allowed access to the women’s quarters, presumably because there was thought to be no likelihood of sexual misbehaviour.

Eunuchs often acquired influential positions administering wealthy Muslim households. The mukhannathun were less respectable, with a reputation for frivolity and loucheness, though they seem to have been broadly tolerated during the earliest years of Islam. They appear not to have been associated with homosexuality during the prophet’s lifetime, though later they were.

A third type – the khuntha, who today would be called intersex – proved more complex theologically. A statement in the Qur’an that God “created everything in pairs” forms the basis of an Islamic doctrine that everyone is either male of female – there can be no halfway house. The question this raised was what to do about children born with ambiguous genitalia since, according to the doctrine, they could not be sex-neutral.

Islamic jurists resolved it by concluding that such children must have an underlying “hidden” sex which was waiting to be discovered. The issue then was how to discover it, and the jurists devised elaborate rules for doing so. In that connection, a remark attributed to the prophet about urine and the differing inheritance rules for men and women proved especially helpful. He is reported to have said that inheritance is determined by “the place of urination” (mabal in Arabic). Thus the 11th-century Hanafi scholar al-Sarakhsi explained that a person who urinated “from the mabal of men” should be considered male and one who urinated “from the mabal of women” would be female.

The importance of these rulings today is that they provide an Islamic dispensation for sex reassignment surgery – so long as the purpose of the surgery is to uncover the person’s “hidden” sex. On that basis, operations have been carried out in Sunni Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt.

But although the rulings can easily justify surgery in intersex cases, it’s more difficult to apply them to gender dysphoria. A controversy in Egypt during the 1980s involved a 19-year-old student who had been diagnosed with gender dysphoria (or “psychological hermaphroditism” as the doctors called it at the time) and underwent male-to-female reassignment surgery.

The case became public when Al-Azhar University refused to readmit her either as a male student or a female student. There were also many who found the concept of gender dysphoria difficult to grasp and some characterised her as a gay man who was trying to game the system.

The affair resulted in a fatwa from Muhammad Tantawi, Egypt’s grand mufti, which is still cited in cases across the region today. In line with Islamic orthodoxy, Tantawi said surgery was permissible “in order to reveal what was hidden of male or female organs” but added that surgery was not permissible “at the mere wish to change sex from woman to man, or vice versa”.

Basically, this left the question of surgery for gender dysphoria unresolved, allowing both supporters and opponents to interpret the fatwa as they chose. In practice, however, obtaining surgery is not necessarily the biggest hurdle – those who can afford it often go abroad. Gaining social acceptance and official recognition of a change of sex subsequently can be more difficult.

Theologically, Shia Iran seems to have fewer problems with gender dysphoria than the Sunni Arab states. There have been repeated claims that Iran now performs more reassignment operations than any country other than Thailand.

Although at first sight the Iranian approach to transgender might look remarkably liberal, it does have a darker side. One concern is that people may be pressurised into operations they do not actually want. There are plenty of trans people who simply wish to be accepted as they are – without surgery – and the Iranian system doesn’t really provide for that.

Also, the difference between being transgender and gay is not well understood in Iran, even within the medical profession, and there have been reports of gay men being pressured into surgery as a way of “regularising” their legal position and avoiding the risk of execution.

The tireless work of activists
Organised activism for gay rights began to develop in the Middle East in the early 2000s. In 2002 a group of Palestinian women formed Aswat (“Voices”) which was later joined by another Palestinian group, al-Qaws (“The Rainbow”). Both of those are based in Israel but have connections in the Palestinian territories. Around 2004 a group of Lebanese activists established Helem – the first LGBT organisation to function openly in an Arab country.

These are not the only activist groups. Others have sprung up in various places – often disappearing again fairly quickly. There are also Arab LGBT websites and blogs which, again, tend to come and go. My Kali, a Jordanian magazine which aims “to address homophobia and transphobia and empower the youth to defy mainstream gender binaries in the Arab world” has been published regularly since 2007.

So far, no one has attempted to hold a Pride parade in an Arab country, though there have been parades in the Turkish city of Istanbul since 2003 (not withoutopposition). However, there have been activities in Lebanon and elsewhere linked to IDAHOT, the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, which is viewed as less likely to arouse hostility.


Gay Syrian refugee Subhi Nahas with the US ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, during an informal meeting on the persecution of LGBT people by Isis


Non-governmental organisations working in Arab countries often face government restrictions, and those working for LGBT rights face the additional problem of social stigma. Some groups therefore approach the issue more obliquely, for example by focusing on sexual health and HIV prevention, or campaigning for “personal rights” in general.

The development of social media has also created space for a more informal kind of activism which seems to have proved successful in a couple of instances recently.

One came in 2014 when police and a TV channel collaborated in a raid on a Cairo bathhouse. Far from winning praise for exposing “the secret behind the spreading of Aids in Egypt”, the programme’s presenter was resoundingly condemned and later ran into legal problems.

Last April, the authorities in Amman, Jordan, cancelled a concert by Mashrou’ Leila, a popular Lebanese rock band with an openly gay singer, just a few days before it was due to take place. Such was the outcry on social media that the authorities rescinded their decision 24 hours later – though too late to reorganise the concert as originally planned.

On the religious front, prevailing Islamic views of homosexuality have been challenged here and there, but not on a scale that is likely to make much difference. There are a handful of gay-friendly mosques and a few openly gay imams – including Muhsin Hendricks in South Africa, Daayiee Abdullah in the US, and Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed, a French-Algerian imam.

These, very noticeably, are in the diaspora rather than the Muslim heartlands, but the diaspora is where Islam is forced to confront reality – not in the countries where it is protected and privileged.

An illustration of where this can lead came in Britain in 2007 over the Sexual Orientation Regulations – a measure mainly intended to prevent businesses from discriminating against gay people. The Muslim Council of Britain reluctantly found itself on the same side as LGBT rights advocates in supporting the new law, since British Muslims are also at risk of discrimination.

These are all small developments, but 15 years ago none of them were happening. They haven’t produced tangible results in the sense of persuading governments to change their laws, and on that score there’s obviously a very long way to go.

But one thing they have done is make it difficult to claim that LGBT Muslims don’t exist. They have established a degree of visibility which, though still limited, is important because visibility is the first step towards achieving rights and without it there is no hope of doing so.


Everything you need to know about being gay in Muslim countries

 

I'll give this a B+. Storm and Wolverine are cool. Xavier and Cyclops took ZERO effort. I will say I do want hang out an play video games with them.

 

YES I'm angry as fuck right now! My Black Homosexual Life doesn't matter or doesn't has as much value as a Black Heterosexual Life? Black Lives Matter has its priorities on a national scale. Shouldn't BLM be out in mass right now? Where are the nationwide BLM vigils for this horrible tragedy? The "ALL LIVES MATTER" people are watching. If I get gunned down by the police and my homosexuality is known would that make a difference? 40+ Black and Brown people were just murdered. Where are all the Black people that were out during Ferguson and Baltimore?

 

Sadly, America is becoming a land where joy is only a visiting tourist, not a permanent member of the neighborhood. As I was cuddling with my new boo ending my own Nick Delmacy-like dry spell and waiting for him to wake up for Round 2, I turned on CNN and saw what happened in Orlando, Florida last night. As officials are in the early, and sadly tragic, stages of identifying bodies, collecting evidence, and notifying next of kin, we are still awaiting to find out motives, of their possible signs, etc. We should all keep situational awareness in mind at large events during pride month.

I don't know the layout of this particular Orlando club, or the type of security it manned, but I'm guessing it must have been the general bouncer at the door variety, in order for someone to be able to bring in the type of weaponry that could cause such large casualties. In addition to the usual domestic, hateful suspects, i.e. right-wing tea party and black nationalist hotep homophobes, ISIS/ISIL has publicly stated that it intends to go after more "soft targets" in America (re: unarmed civilians), not just U.S. Military or government targets.

That means, everywhere in America that a normal mind would never usually assume as a dangerous place to be, should be considered as fair game for reprobates and miscreants: concerts, churches, malls, sporting events and yes, gay clubs and pride events. While I often bristle at Bill Maher's "All Muslims are Killers!" diatribes, we have to be realistic and face the fact that, in addition to the usual disturbed Mark David Chapman types and right-wing domestic terror and religious groups, a large portion of more extremist Muslims want us gay and bi dudes off the planet. Apparently, their interpretation of Islam means that Allah, with all the things that the supposed creator of a vast and infinite universe has to worry about, is incensed that me and bae were furiously 69ing last night (apparently, God is a voyeur 'cause he likes to watch).

With that in mind, everyone should know the basics of what to do in an active shooter scenario. The reality is that, even with training, you may never know how you will react under such extreme duress. God forbid, however, if you do find yourself in that unfortunate situation, you will react better and are statistically more likely to survive if you have previously been trained or aware of what to do. Since my "day job" is in public safety, I highly recommend the following online (and free) course via FEMA to at least be aware of the basics:
FEMA - Emergency Management Institute (EMI) Course | IS-907: Active Shooter: What You Can Do

If your job or workplace hasn't done so yet, encourage them to have a local police or fire official, or paramedic come and teach your company and department on reacting to an active shooter scenario. Learn CPR and first aid if you haven't already. Fire departments in large cities usually offer free training. The Federal Protective Service (FSP) also does such trainings on occasions. We all should live our lives and not cower to fear and threats from homophobes, terrorists, extremist religious groups; and we should certainly attend and support pride and lgbt activities where we see fit. But as the verse goes, be humble as a dove but wise as a serpent.

 

@BrentForays @Nick Delmacy threw rocks at the political hornet's nest with their threads. We need something to divert our attention and "cool us down."

 

Hot off the press: Just for YOU.

 

JERKED OFF IN MY BED, REPEATEDLY
I used to live in an apartment in Boston with this other dude. One day, I headed for my bedroom after coming home, and as I reached for the knob, the door flew open by itself. Standing before me was my roommate, wearing only a skimpy pair of shorts and glistening with sweat.

He immediately started word vomiting about how his laptop was broken, and he needed to check his email. "All right," I said, as he retreated to his room.

Later that night, when I realized that Safari was open (which I would never use, because I'm not a noob) I checked my browser history. Right there in the history were a ton of videos from CreamPie.com or something like that. Being the Veronica Mars that I am, I found an app that turns your webcam into a security camera. The app detected motion and would start to snap photos from the webcam when someone was in front of the computer.

The next night, I ended up crashing with a friend and didn't return home until late the next day. When I got home, I checked the folder on my computer where photos would appear if motion was detected and... BAM. There was a folder full of pictures of this dude jacking off. With my computer. On my bed.

I didn't know what to do with this information right away, so I didn't say anything until a month later, when he picked a fight with me over something stupid. The fight snowballed into this crazy argument and finally, I just said, "AT LEAST I DIDN'T JERK OFF WITH YOUR COMPUTER ON YOUR BED!"

He kind of froze and told me I was crazy for "making up" something like that, so I told him, "Uh, dude, I have pictures of you doing that." I've never seen someone go silent faster. — Stephen, 29

People Told Us About the Worst Roommates They've Ever Had | VICE | United StatesPeople Told Us About the Worst Roommates They've Ever Had | VICE | United States

 

I FUKING LOVE THIS MOVIE. I can talk about it for 15 hrs. What are your thoughts and reactions?

 

Found this video interesting. When dude with the Batman started speaking Japanese my Chakra levels began to spike, concentrate and grow in a certain region! LOL

 

I remember the Tiger Mandingo case being EVERYWHERE but the media has been relatively quiet on this…I wonder why?

Gay adult film star Mike Dozer (aka Christopher Steele) has been sentenced to at least an additional 8 years in prison for having illicit sex with a 14-year-old boy and failing to disclose to the boy that he is HIV positive.

Dozer was previously sentenced to 17.5 years in prison by federal authorities for raping that boy, who reportedly had inappropriate contact with 6 other adult males. Dozer met the boy using gay geosocial app Jack’d.

Dozer’s second sentencing was the result of a state investigation into Dozer’s contact with the underage boy. His state sentence will run consecutively to his federal sentence. He could face up to an additional 16 years in state prison following his stint in the federal penitentiary system.

“I would suggest the display of unusual cruelty in this case is very significant and is outrageous, frankly,” Montgomery County Judge Thomas P. Rogers said Thursday as he considered the punishment for Christopher Steele, also known as adult entertainment performer Mike Dozer. “It was so reckless, so outrageous … that it goes beyond all bounds of human decency.”

Rogers sentenced Steele, 35, formerly of the 700 block of Kilgor Court, Newark, Del., to eight to 16 years in state prison on charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse with a child less than 16 and a misdemeanor charge of recklessly endangering another person in connection with his contact with a 14-year-old Limerick boy he met on the social networking cell phone app Jack’d between May and October 2013. […]

“Reckless, selfish, lacking empathy, and dangerous, these are the words that describe this defendant. This defendant took advantage of this child, took advantage of his age and took advantage of his vulnerability,” argued Assistant District Attorney Sophia Polites, who sought a lengthy prison term against Steele. “He engaged in some of the most egregious and heinous behaviors. He is deceitful. Simply put, he is a dangerous individual.”

Dozer’s defense attorney argued against Dozer’s sentencing running consecutively to his federal sentencing. But the judge was unswayed.

“This was a set of poor decisions by Mr. Steele. As egregious as this conduct is I would not want to see Mr. Steele warehoused,” argued [defense lawyer George Griffith Jr.], adding Steele had no prior criminal record. […]

“My intent was not to put the family and victim through the stress,” said Steele, adding he was under medical treatment at the time and believed his risk of transmitting the disease was “zero.” “I did get a false sense of security with that. It was a poor decision on my behalf and a false sense of security I felt because I was on the medication. I’m not saying what I did was right. It was wrong.”

Steele added when he learned he was HIV positive, “it hit me like a ton of bricks.”

Steele implied one of his poor choices was getting involved in the adult entertainment industry.

“Once I took that turn, my life went downhill. That led to my demise,” Steele told the judge.

The judge said Steele’s comments were all about himself and supported presentence evaluations that characterized Steele as being narcissistic, having a sense of entitlement and a grandiose attitude.

The judge also deemed Dozer a “sexually violent predator” based on testimony from Dr. Jennifer Hahn, a member of the Pennsylvania Sexual Offender Assessment Board. Hahn classified Dozer as exhibiting anti-social and narcissistic personality disorders. She testified, “He seems to require that admiration and comes across as grandiose. He certainly shows the need to be the center of attention.” She added, “He uses his physical appearance to draw attention to himself.”

Being classified as a sexually violent predator will have significant ramifications for Dozer:

Those classified as predators face more stringent restrictions under state law, including mandatory counseling, community notification about their living arrangements once they are released from prison and a lifetime requirement to report their addresses to state police.

The boy in the case was ultimately found to be HIV negative despite his contact with Dozer. The boy’s parents were in court for the sentencing and appeared tearful at times, according to The Mercury News. The DA argued that Dozer caused the boy and his family “extreme stress” while they waited for his test results.

 

..but @Nick Delmacy says I'm an out of touch old man. He just listens to this so he can relate to them 23 1/2 yr olds he lusts after. WTF is this?

 

EAGAN, MN—After tentatively approaching the extensive rack of dumbbells located along the gym’s wall, new LA Fitness member Brian Vinje was seen lingering in the vicinity of the free weights for several seconds Thursday before returning to the elliptical machine on which he had previously been exercising, onlookers reported. According to accounts, Vinje took roughly eight seconds to peruse the wide selection of weights, lightly touching the grip of a 20-pound dumbbell for a moment, before retreating a short distance and briefly pretending to become occupied by a poster of human musculature on the wall. While reportedly pausing to cast a furtive glance around the room, Vinje is said to have made fleeting eye contact with another gym-goer seated on a nearby bench, causing him, by all accounts, to abruptly jerk his gaze back to the rack and to scan it as if searching for a specific desired weight. At press time, Vinje was seen with his eyes focused downward as he once again engaged the default settings on the elliptical trainer.

New Gym Member Lingers By Free Weights For Several Seconds Before Returning To Elliptical Machine

 

'Obama Out': See President's Scathing Correspondents' Dinner Speech


Barack Obama mocked everybody - especially Donald Trump - in his eighth and final White House Correspondents' Dinner speech.

Read more: 'Obama Out': See President's Scathing Correspondents' Dinner Speech
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Barack Obama attended his eighth and final White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night in Washington, D.C., and the president made sure to go out with a bang by delivering a biting 20-minute speech that ragged everyone from the media and Congress to presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. "Next year at this time, someone else will be standing here in this very spot, and it's anyone's guess who she will be," Obama joked about his possible successor.

The president took special aim at Republican frontrunner Trump throughout his speech, even though Trump didn't attend the dinner. "It is surprising: You've got a room full of reporters, celebrities, cameras — and he says no," Obama said. "Is this dinner too tacky for The Donald? What could he possibly be doing instead? Is he at home, eating a Trump steak, tweeting out insults to Angela Merkel? What's he doing?"

Obama continued, "There's one area where Donald's experience could be invaluable, and that's closing Guantanamo. Because Trump knows a thing or two about running waterfront properties into the ground." Obama previously blasted Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner – an event attended by the mogul – but Trump's absence deprived attendees of a sequel.

Unlike Clinton and Trump, Bernie Sanders was present to take some ribbing from the president. "Bernie, you look like a million bucks," Obama said. "Or to put it in terms you understand, you look like 37,000 donations of $27 each."

Obama ended his final Correspondents Dinner as president by telling his audience, "And with that, I just have two more words to say: Obama out." He then unleashed an emphatic and resounding mic drop.






The Nightly Show's Larry Wilmore, who replaced Stephen Colbert in Comedy Central's post-Daily Show slot, served as the dinner's host and introduced himself as "a black man who replaced a white man who pretended to be a TV newscaster… so yeah, in that way Lester Holt and I have a lot in common," a slam on former NBC Nightly News host Brian Williams.

Wilmore teased the president for how much he has visibly aged since entering the Oval Office eight years ago. "Your hair is so white, it tried to punch me at a Trump rally,” Wilmore told Obama. "The president's hair is so white it keeps saying 'All Lives Matter.' All I’m saying is that in less than eight years, Mr. President, you've busted two time-honored stereotypes: Black does crack, and apparently once you go black, it looks like we are going back. Thanks, Ben Carson."

Wilmore's speech also saw the host mentioning the recent deaths of David Bowie, Merle Haggard and Prince, "or as Hillary Clinton calls them, 'my favorite singer,' 'my favorite singer' and 'my favorite singer.'" Wilmore's comments boasted references to Beyoncé – he suggested renaming Fox News' The Kelly File as Becky With the Good Hair – as well as Sanders supporter Killer Mike.

 

Southside With You, a movie about the early days of Michelle and Barack Obama's relationship, premiered at Sundance earlier this year to widely positive reviews. Now, anyone who didn't get the chance to attend the exclusive film festival can get their first look the Richard Tanne-directed movie, with the release of its first trailer.

The film chronicles what is apparently Michelle and Barack's first date in Chicago. Parker Sawyers plays the future POTUS and Tika Sumpter plays a young Michelle Robinson. John Legend serves as an executive producer.

Southside With You hits theaters on August 19th.

 

Ever Since i was small, I have always been fascinated with Nature and Wildlife. Growing up in Nigeria my Mom will take us to the Zoo, or I will go to the market were you could see people selling Hyenas and Chimps and you could pet them. Then one day I saw this man, on a Rice Krispses box, surrounded by Chimps, Toucan and Snakes and a short tale about the Amazon Rain Forest. That man was Sir David Attenborough, he looked so happy in the midst of these creatures. I fell in love with his work instantly. He has narrated most of the iconic to date BBC nature docs, from Planet Earth to Natures Great Events to his most recent revisit to the Great Barrier Reef after 60 years. I own most of his wonderful docs, and remastered ones in 4k. They are just breathtaking! I used to wish there was a way for him to narrate my boring Uni books, lol, with that amazing voice of his
Here he narrates Adele's Hello, Enjoy;

 

Jones also recalled Prince’s tribute to Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray, saying that the Minneapolis native supported the Black Lives Matter movement, and “had a dream for them,” which he expressed during a performance at a rally there. “He said, ‘When I come back to Baltimore, I want to stay in a hotel that you young people have created,'” he explained. “I want to go to a restaurant that you young people have created."

 

My job is a gotdamned Mind F#$k. All these f#$kin beautiful a$$, masculine dudes I work with, and they're ALL straight. There's not ONE muthaf@#ka here I can relate to, or just talk with about "gay dude" sh!t. F@#kin' frustrating. smh

 

This Snoop Dogg And The Muppets Mashup Is Totally Dope



Snooping around for a video ping to your pals? Look no further than this Snoop Dogg and the Muppets mashup, which is way more joyful than a certain ABC reboot. Need proof? Poof!:

isthishowyougoviral

The video, made by mashup master, Adam Schleichkorn, aka Mylo the Cat, is a plush parody of Snoop Dogg’s “Who Am I? (What’s My Name?).” The piano-playing Muppet, Rowlf, takes on the role of Snoop Dogg, while Fozzie the Bear fills in for Dr. Dre.

isthishowyougoviral

Schleichkorn has had a lot of success making other hip-hop and Muppets rainbow connections in the past, including versions of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s “Tha Crossroads,” Beastie Boys’ “So What’cha Want” and Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance” all being performed by Jim Henson’s creations.

isthishowyougoviral

Hmmm, are those bones stole, buddy?
Most recently, on March 28, he premiered a mashup of Bert and Ernie performing a rendition of Warren G and Nate Dogg’s 1994 hip-hop hit, “Regulate.” The video went viral receiving over 1 million views on YouTube.
But Schleichkorn noticed hip-hop icon, Snoop Dogg/Snoop Lion/Snoop D-O-double-G/ Snoopzilla, had also given him props for his Bert and Ernie video, he decided to honor the rapper with his latest rendition.
“I’ve been planning on doing a Snoop song for over a year,” Schleichkorn wrote on his YouTube page. “So when I saw that the Doggfather himself posted my Regulate mashup on Facebook, I freaked out for an hour, and then got to work.”
Fo’ shizzle.
Also on HuffPost
The Real Names Behind Your Favorite Rappers

 

Virginia Couple Assaults Officer They Didn't Think Was 'Real Cop': NYPD

Interesting that neither one of them was shot dead by the NYPD!!
I wonder why?
They assaulted an on duty police officer by reaching for his weapon and struck him repeatedly!!!!

By Gwynne Hogan | April 19, 2016 2:21pm
Emily Weber and Alexander Telinde, a couple from Virginia, assaulted a transit police officer who was trying to give stop them after one jumped a turnstile, according to police and prosecutors.
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EAST WILLIAMSBURG — A young Virginia couple visiting New York City attacked a transit police officer, hitting him repeatedly with his own baton and choking him with the chain attached to the shield around his neck when the officer tried to arrest one of them for turnstile jumping, prosecutors charge.

Alexander Telinde, 21, hopped a turnstile, according to police, about 11:40 p.m. on April 12 at the Morgan Avenue L train stop in East Williamsburg.

A transit police officer stopped Telinde who was with his 20-year-old girlfriend, Emily Weber, according to police and posts to social media accounts, but the couple fought back.

"You're not real cops. Those are fake badges," Weber said, according to police.

Then Telinde grabbed the officer's baton from his belt and hit him repeatedly over the head, on his right eye, left shoulder, across the lips and on both knees, authorities said.

He yanked at the officer's police shield that was dangling from his neck causing the man to choke, prosecutors said.

Weber punched the battered officer in the face and then tried to run away, officials said.

Another officer arrived on scene and helped cuff the duo, both of whom resisted arrest, according to prosecutors.

The injured officer suffered a concussion, a black eye and a lump on his head, following the attack, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors charged Telinde with assault, harassment, theft of services, menacing of a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Weber faces assault and disorderly conduct charges among others.

Weber and Telinde paid $5,000 bail each and are due back in court on Oct. 28, according to court and corrections records.

Their lawyers couldn't be reached immediately for comment. Neither responded to a request for comment on Facebook.

 

Watch Obama Help Steph Curry With His Jump Shot, Destroy Him In Connect Four
Nicely played, Mr. President.
04/16/2016 04:33 pm



Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors may have both had a record-breaking season, but that doesn’t mean the NBA superstar isn’t above getting a little help.
In a video released by the White House Saturday, Curry got a little assistance from President Barack Obama on his résumé, a science project and even his jump shot.
But even though he president seems like he’d be a pretty good mentor, he wasn’t above showing off a little bit for Curry. After beating him in a game of Connect Four, he mimicked one of Curry’s signature dance moves — something Obama has previously described as “clowning.”
The video was released to encourage Americans to mentor young people as part of Obama’s “My Brother’s Keeper“ initiative, ‪an effort the White House launched in 2014 to prepare youth for college and the workplace.‬
Also on HuffPost

 

Was talking to one of my homegirls today and we joked about her being near "cougar" age (she's 37). She said she would NEVER date anyone near her little brother's age (he's 26 years old). "That's just weird," she said.

Playing Devil's Advocate (like I always do), I asked her, "What if he was a 25 year old, over 6 foot tall, muscular, personal trainer with a full beard who wanted to take care of you?"



Bruh...The long pause that followed was epic.

She laughed and admitted that she would just use him for sex, nothing more.

Then she said, "Personal Trainers and Bartenders are the biggest male hoes" so she would never seriously date any of them.

Is there truth to this?

While I can see why ppl would think Personal Trainers and Bartenders are whores, most that I've met (straight and gay) actually complain about being single a lot because they say ppl are too intimidated to spit game at them.

Are there certain professions, careers and jobs that a dude can have that would make you think he's a whore, game player, or Playboy?

My answer would be yes...

Many of them gay I.T. nikkas are BOUGIE WHORES!

Whether they live in ATL, DC, Texas, etc...They hoes! LOL

They make a lot of money, they stay in the Mall buying expensive trendy clothes, and they stay on Jack'd/Grindr and they be the main ones talking about "no dark skin, no fat, no fem, no bottoms, must be this, must be that, etc." I promise you if he wear a $200-$500 belt and a tight V-Neck sweater showing off tribal chest tattoos in a gay club, he's most likely in I.T. or some kind of computer/tech related field...and he's got a HIGH AZZ BODY COUNT!

[Yes this is a generalization thread, who cares. lol]