What a time.

White-on-white violence is likely not the kind of post-election bloodshed that pundits imagined ahead of Donald Trump losing to Joe Biden. But in typical 2020 fashion, here we are.

A driver who crashed at the scene of a Trump “stop the steal” rally found out just how angry the president’s supporters are after a group of MAGA mafia minions responded in part by playing the role of judge, jury and nearly executioner. And, of course, the politically-fueled confrontation stemming from a protest over the election’s verified results was all captured on a viral video by a ready and willing bystander.

The unfortunate scene unfolded Sunday afternoon in Santa Maria, California, where an unidentified 20-year-old driver “was antagonizing some participants and throwing objects at the rally,” law enforcement told local media outlet KSBY News. That’s when police said the driver entered an “intersection without yielding, crossing through the rally and then colliding with a vehicle heading the opposite direction.”

There was seemingly some additional context missing from this story because the video from the scene opens abruptly and shows a group of white men surrounding another white man — the driver — who is being violently restrained by a separate man as they both struggled in the middle of a street.

The bystander filming the episode got close enough to see the driver in a tightening headlock causing his face to turn an alarming shade of purple while he appeared to be gasping for breath. A different angle showed the driver with a mouthful of blood and an open wound on his face.

“How does it feel now?” one person can be heard asking the driver.

“Welcome to MAGA country, motherfucker,” another said.

A woman walked up and started screaming at the driver, prompting one of the men restraining him to demand he apologize to her.

“Tell her you’re sorry!” the man who put the driver in a headlock said.

The driver responded by making an unintelligible sound likely caused by the headlock constricting around his windpipe. Then a group of other men moved to hold the driver down until police arrived.

In the end, the driver was only cited for a misdemeanor, no one was arrested and responding officers didn’t even pull a gun.

Imagine that being true if the parties involved were any color but white.

Watch the video below and be warned that foul language is used.

The driver was cited for reckless driving causing injury and lived to tell about it.

This is America.

SEE ALSO:

It’s Official: Bossip Had The Best Headline For Joe Biden And Kamala Harris Beating Trump

Eva Longoria Apologizes For Saying Latinas ‘Were The Real Heroines’ Of Biden’s Election

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Source: aqua / Spalding

It’s still hard to believe that Kobe Bryant passed away this past January. Spalding is issuing a new limited-edition basketball to pay further homage to the basketball legend that left us way too soon.

Source: Spalding / Spalding

Releasing Wednesday, September 11, this will be the second installment in the Spalding x Kobe Bryant Marble Series. A longtime Spalding endorser, this rock is said to be inspired by the Mamba’s “self-awareness, curiosity, balance and obsession to detail.” Cornerstones of the Mamba Mentality, it’s an ethos that saw Kobe go from fresh out of high school NBA Draft pick into a basketball legend.

The ball itself features white and black panels which denote the balance between strength and weakness as well as the physical and mental toughness, Kobe’s evoked over a career that featured two jersey numbers—#8 and #24—both retired.

Other elements include a purple and gold marble pattern on the mamba snakeskin and an embossed Kobe Bryant signature. Priced at a reasonable $24.99, the ball is designed for outdoor play.

You’ll be all to cop your starting at 10am CT to Spalding MVP Members on Spalding.com as well as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Academy Sports & Outdoors and Dunham’s Sports. Spalding also donated to the Mamba and Mambacita Sports Foundation

Check out detailed photos of the Spalding x Kobe Bryant Marble below.

Source: aqua / Spalding

Source: Spalding / Spalding

Source: Spalding / Spalding

Source: NurPhoto / Getty

As Philadelphia continues to celebrate their contribution to Joseph Biden’s monumental victory the public is now seeing some of the behind the scenes turmoil. Unfortunately the City of Brotherly Love wasn’t so brotherly the last two weeks.

As spotted on Crooks And Liars the iconic Pennsylvania city wasn’t unified over the voting process in the recent presidential election. On a 60 Minutes feature Bill Whitaker talked about the ballot process with local officials who were in charge of the counting the votes; specifically those mailed in by Americans who did not want to take their chances of possibly catching Covid-19. Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia city election commissioner, talked to the journalist about how contentious things became.

“At the end of the day, we are counting eligible votes cast by voters. The controversy surrounding it is something I don’t understand. It’s people making accusations that we wouldn’t count those votes, or people are adding fraudulent votes or just, coming up with, just, all sorts of crazy stuff” said Schmidt. He would proceed to reveal that certain locals would call into the his office saying “‘this is what the Second Amendment is for,’ people like us.”

To that Whitaker spoke to the underlining tone of the calls by saying “That’s — a not so veiled death threat”. “Yes, for counting votes in a democracy,” replied Schmidt. You can see the clip below.

Photo:

Source: Lionel FLUSIN / Getty

Season 2 of VERZUZ sounds like it’s going to blow season 1 away.

We already learned that Jeezy and T.I. would be kicking off season 2 of the popular online battle series, and now VERZUZ co-creator Swizz Beatz accidentally revealed that a showdown between two of Hip-Hop’s iconic groups, Outkast and A Tribe Called Quest, is in the works.

Speaking with DJ Kid Capri on Instagram Live, the camel racing enthusiast dropped the bombshell that we could be getting what could possibly be the biggest VERZUZ yet. Beatz confirmed his boast was an accident stating, “I wasn’t even supposed to say that, I might have just f*ckd that all up,” He carefully pointed out that it’s still in the works while confirming that he and Timbaland got many showdowns lined up. ”We love them, and we got patience, so whenever they’re ready, we’re ready. Because VERZUZ is not just something for the pandemic — it’s something for the culture, permanently. That’s what I want people to understand. We got so many lined up, we ain’t even start yet.”

VERZUZ, which just started out as a fun battle between Timbaland and Swizz Beatz, quickly rose to popularity on social media and is now sponsored by Apple Music and CIROC provided entertainment to people worldwide was hunkered down at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since its inception, we have been blessed with many memorable moments featuring Erykah Badu and Jill Scott, Gladys Knight and Patti LaBelle, Teddy Riley and Babyface, and many more.

We just hope that we not only get a night of celebrating the timeless hits that both Outkast and A Tribe Called Quest provided to the world but some classic meme-worthy material as well. We got our fingers crossed that Timbo and the One Man Band Man can pull this off.

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Photo: Lionel FLUSIN / Getty

Joe Biden has quickly gotten to work as the president-elect while his predecessor complains without proof that he’s been defrauded of the presidency. The two decidedly different approaches to leading the country were especially on display Monday after Biden made it official that he had selected a Black woman to co-chair his new coronavirus task to effectively confront the deadly Covid-19 pandemic that has proliferated on Donald Trump‘s watch.

The move to appoint Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith to be one of three doctors to lead the task force made it clear that Biden was making good on his promise of following the science — not politics — in order to finally make some inroads in stopping a virus that has killed at least 238,000 Americans.

The associate professor of internal medicine, public health and management at Yale University is also the associate dean for health equity research at Yale’s medical school who specializes in health care for marginalized populations. Considering the fact that Black and brown people — also known as marginalized populations — continue to be disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, calling on a Black woman with expertise in that field makes much more sense than, say, appointing a neurosurgeon-turned futile Trump cabinet member who put himself in a position to contract Covid on the task force. (Ben Carson much?)

In particular, Nunez-Smith’s official Yale bio points to her history of having “established the Eastern Caribbean Health Outcomes Research Network (ECHORN), a research collaborative across four Eastern Caribbean islands, supporting several chronic disease research projects and enhancing health outcomes research and leadership capacity in the region,” showing she’s used to her work involving Black folks, in particular.

Nunez-Smith joins 12 other people on Biden’s task force, including her fellow co-chairs: former FDA commissioner Dr. David Kessler, who is also a professor of pediatrics and epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco; and Dr. Vivek Murthy, the former Surgeon General under President Barack Obama who led the fight against Ebola, Zika and the Flint water crisis.

There are at least two other Black people on the task force: Loyce Pace, the executive director and president of the Global Health Council; and Dr. Eric Goosby, an infectious disease expert and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine who worked in the Clinton administration in an HIV/AIDS program.

That was in comparison to Trump’s version of the task force boasting Black representation from Carson — a medical doctor who repeatedly has not worn masks while attending “superspreader” Trump campaign events, culminating in his own coronavirus infection — and Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who found a way to disrespectfully blame Black people for coming down with Covid. Not to mention neither of them has a medical background as appropriate as Nunez-Smith’s for the type of work being on the task force calls for.

The move by Biden to shore up his efforts to fight the coronavirus displayed a seriousness not seen by the Trump administration, possibly providing a glimpse of the president-elect’s agenda on Day 1 after his inauguration next month.

SEE ALSO:

Michael Jordan Opens Second Clinic In Charlotte To Combat Healthcare Inequality

Google Donates $2.35 Million To Black-Owned Tech Companies Fighting Covid

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Source: David Corio / Getty

This past Saturday night (Nov. 7) the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inducted some of musics biggest names of the past few decades but aside from Whitney Houston, we feel that none was bigger than the OG King of New York, The Notorious B.I.G.

Two decades after his untimely death, the musical genius of Brooklyn’s finest was finally recognized by the powers that be and becomes only the 7th Hip-Hop artist to receive the honor of having his legacy enshrined at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. After a moving segment showcasing Biggie’s meteoric rise to fame, the iconic rapper’s children, T’yanna Wallace and C.J. accepted the award on his behalf and described his legacy in a way we can all agree with.

In her speech T’yanna said that though she didn’t have the chance to get to know her father as much as she would’ve liked she felt that Biggie was “able to not just become the king of New York, but the king of the culture.” C.J. for his looks at the legacy his father left behind and how much it changed the rap game saying “helped revolutionize what was a young art form for the Black community and the world. I’m honored to share his name and his dedication to Black music, creativity, self-expression and Black freedom.”

We miss you, Big.

Check out their speeches below and try not to shed a tear.

Source: Jessica McGowan / Getty

Former House Representative John Lewis may have passed, but it’s clear his spirit lives on after his former county helped deal a devastating blow to current sitting President, Donald Trump‘s campaign.

On Friday (Nov 6) the civil rights icon’s county in Georgia tipped Democratic nominee Joe Biden into the lead in the state as mail-in ballots, continued to be counted from the area. As previously reported, at about 4:30 a.m. on Friday, a release of ballots counted in Clayton County gave Biden a lead of 917 votes in the Southern state, pushing his lead out to 1,096 votes after another batch of ballot results came in at about 6 a.m.

As the votes continued to be counted from surrounding counties including Fulton, DeKalb, and Chatham, helped boost Biden ahead of Trump; it was ultimately Clayton, that’s also the bluest bastion in the state, that provided the decisive votes.

Politicians and political operatives took to Twitter to point out the county’s connection with Lewis, as Secretary of State, and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, reshared a 2016 tweet from the late icon emphasizing the importance of voting, with her own caption noting that Lewis “would be proud.”

“The right to vote is precious, almost sacred,” Lewis wrote in 2016. “It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument in a democratic society. We must use it.”

Although the Georgia secretary of state said Friday that the state will be headed to a recount given the tight margin, many point out the fact that the very counties that Trump referred to as “sh*t holes” helped boost Biden ahead of Trump — serves as not only an electoral twist but also an act of divine justice.

“I love the idea that Clayton County could put Biden over in GA. That’s John Lewis’ district. He would do one of his trademark happy dances in heaven. Symmetry,” former senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri wrote on Twitter.

In addition to John Lewis’s influence leading to the state’s historic flip, former Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams is also credited for her instrumental role in the “Democratic Earthquake” in the state after news that her organization registered more than 800,000 new voters since 2018 broke. As previously reported, despite being cheated out of her prominent position as Governor by Trump-backed flunkee Brian Kemp, Abrams decided to take action amid allegations that Republicans had taken steps to suppress the Black vote by purging voter rolls, by starting the voter protection and information organization, Fair Fight Action, to ensure that all votes would be counted and all voices are heard.

After falling 55,000 votes short, Abrams told Vogue in 2019, “I sat shiva for 10 days. Then I started plotting.”

Over the summer in the op-ed she penned for The New York Times, Abrams noted the hurdle she faced of restoring African Americans’ faith in the voting system, before adding that while voting is important, it’s only the first step.

“Go vote” sounds like a slogan, not a solution,” Stacey Abrams wrote. “Because millions of us have voted. And too many still die. The moment requires many things from each one of us. What I am focused on is the work of showing people, in concrete ways, what voting gets us. And being honest about how much work voting requires. Voting is the first step in a long and complex process, tedious but vital. You can have a car with all the bells and whistles, but if it doesn’t have wheels, you can’t move forward. So we have to talk about the whole process, and we cannot be so simplistic that we seem too idealistic.”

As of press time, America was still awaiting the official call of the election to Joe Biden, but as political analysts point out, the official results can’t be called until all votes are counted.

Source: W.Wade/WENN / WENN

Presidential Candidate Joe Biden has made history.

According to published reports, the former Vice President by surpassing former President Barack Obama for the most popular votes, garnering a whopping 70 million votes, making him 2.7 million votes ahead in the popular vote of current President Donald Trump via the Associated Press.

While America anticipates the overall results of the 2020 Presidential election as over 100 million ballots were cast, Biden has taken the lead in states like Michigan after Trump was initially taking the lead, has quickly put him on track to get the 270 electoral votes he needs to win the election–despite Trump’s efforts to interrupt the Democratic process.

According to The New York Times, Joe Biden is leading in Nevada and Arizona and threatening to erase President Trump’s advantages in Pennsylvania and Georgia, even with Trump’s team pressing legal challenges in several states. On Thursday (Nov 5), a judge in Chatham County, Georgia dismissed Donald Trump’s lawsuit claiming voter fraud, ruling that all votes will continue to be counted and tallied.

The decision came less than 24 hours after the lawsuit, filed late afternoon Wednesday (Nov 4) by the Trump Campaign, and the Georgia GOP, stated that two poll watchers, Jackson Carter and Sean Pumphrey, saw an election worker mix stacks of absentee ballots in contravention of proper procedure. During the court hearing, the Trump Campaign lawyers argued that the actions indicated that the vote counts could have been contaminated by ballots that had arrived after Election Day while seeking to undermine the security measures taken by local poll officials who are handling an unprecedented number of mail-in and absentee ballots due in large part to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Although the efforts have been blatant by the current sitting President to undermine the democratic process of America, the decision in Georgia marks the second blow to the Trump Administration’s string of lawsuits, after a judge in Michigan denied the claim as well. According to reports, Judge Cynthia Stephens announced her decision at the end of an oral briefing Thursday and has not yet issued a written order.

As for Biden, there are still a few states whose incoming votes could make a difference for him. Guy Cecil, the chairman of Priorities USA and a leading Democratic super PAC, said on Wednesday Biden still has work to do, despite closing gaps in several key states.

“Joe Biden’s path is largely unchanged since he entered this race,” per the NYT. “There are still at least five competitive states giving him multiple paths to 270. It may take a couple of days to count the votes, and we may need to fight the Trump campaign in court, but Joe Biden remains the favorite.”

As of press time, the election has still not been called due to several states still counting the votes.

We will keep you updated as this story continues to develop.

Source: via UNCENSORED / TV One

Looks like Lamar Odom just can’t get his life on stable grounds as the former NBA champion once again has the struggle in his blood is once again rearing it’s ugly head.

TMZ is reporting that Odom’s fiancé, Sabrina Parr has called off the couples engagement and apparently it has to do with Lamar once again indulging in the things that derailed his life a few years ago. Taking to social media to reveal the status of their relationship, Parr eluted to Odom’s previous habits as the reason for the couple taking a break.

Source: Harry How / Getty

While LeBron James made it clear that he was enjoying his most recent NBA Championship the joy did not last as long as he would have hoped. He is now assisting his associate in trying to secure justice for a loved one.

As spotted on TMZ King James is asking for help regarding a crime that occurred in his hometown. His friend and former co-worker Brandon Weems, Cleveland Cavaliers Director of Scouting, suffered a tragic loss earlier this week. On Monday, November 2 his sister Ericka Weems was found dead with a gunshot to her head in Akron, Ohio.

The 18 time all star took to Twitter to bring attention to the dreadful violation. “AKRON OHIO!! My brother’s sister was murdered this past weekend in her home! My brother family need answers to why and by whom. My city I need y’all to go to work and find out who did this awful, shameful, disgusting thing to such a caring, loving angel! #Justice4EricaWeems” he wrote. 

Her family members spoke to Cleveland News 5. “She just loved and cared about everybody. She had the biggest heart,” said her brother, Brandon Weems. “I’m going to miss her dearly.” Her father was the last individual to see her living. “She left me about 9 o’clock. I told her to call me when she got home, and she never called. I called her all day Sunday. No answer.” After placing more calls that went unresponded her family went to visit her at her residence. She was found dead in her bedroom upstairs.

Currently there is a $5,000 reward for information on the killer. Akron detectives can be reached at 330-375-2490 or 330-375-2TIP.

Photo: Nike

Source: Tasos Katopodis / Getty

While there’s still a good possibility that the Racist-In-Chief will remain in office for another four years (or longer), Mississippi is still looking to distance itself from it’s prejudice past and has decided to ditch it’s most blatantly racist piece of history.

According to Raw Story, the people of the Hospitality State voted in a new measure which would change the state flag from that confederate battle emblem to a new banner which would feature the magnolia flower. Donald Trump and his cult of a political party isn’t gonna like that one bit.

The old flag was retired over the summer, as the US exploded with the biggest protests in decades against racism and police brutality.

The ongoing movement for racial justice in the US also prompted the removal of statues of Confederate figures, either formally removed by local governments or forcibly toppled by protesters.

The new and very much improved flag will not only bare the magnolia flower, but also have “In God We Trust” written on it. Not sure if that’s enough to keep the old school southerners of Mississippi happy but it’s worth a shot.

Though we have no designs yet of what the new flag will look like, we’re sure it’s a massive improvement over what is currently being used by white supremacists and Nazis to show their loyalty to racism.

Source: Bernard Smalls / @PhotosByBeanz

The “WAP” rapper was spotted on Instagram sharing her Election Day journey with fans on Tuesday (Nov. 3) as the nation braced for the hot mess that comes with the 2020 Presidential race. 

Standing outside in a black fur coat, fresh cornrows, and laid baby hairs, the Bronx native stood close to the camera with a frustrated expression on her face. After shaking her head, the rapper raises not one, but three lit cigarettes to her mouth and deeply inhales without coughing.  A few seconds later, she looks away and exhales the smoke from her lungs without uttering a word.  

“How these elections got me watching these states turn red ,” she captioned on Instagram post. 

All of us, Cardi.  All of us.  

Earlier that day, she shared a video of her exercising her civic duty in an effort to encourage fans to vote.  Her outfit of choice was relatably casual. Wearing a scarf and a bonnet with a grey, baggy hoodie, the former reality TV star placed two voting stickers on her nose as her driver left her local polling place.

“I voted. It was easy peazy,” she had said in a video timestamped at 5:02 a.m. on Instagram. “The hardest part was getting out the f–king car. Go vote because … I don’t know it feels good after you vote, you feel like you just did something. I don’t know. I swear it’s like a weird feeling.”

Cardi has spent a great deal of her short time in the limelight discussing politics while criticizing lawmakers for their lack of leadership as citizens bear the brunt of their callousness. She’s also been a strong advocate of voting and has even chopped it up with Bernie Sanders and Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden.    

Source: Jeff Kravitz/MTV1415 / Getty

On Monday (Nov 2), while appearing at a campaign event for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in Pennsylvania, John Legend let all the Trump-supporting rappers know exactly how he felt about their endorsement. After performing “Glory” with Common at the event, the soul singer delivered a powerful speech denouncing Donald Trump’s “Platinum Plan” for Black Americans and its celebrity backers, including Ice Cube, 50 Cent, Lil Wayne, and Lil Pump.

“Now, some people see the meanness, the bullying, the selfishness of Donald Trump and they mistake it for strength, a kind of twisted masculinity,” John Legend said. “Some see his greed and they mistake it for being good at business. Some of your former favorite rappers have been taken in by these lies. I think they even founded a new supergroup. It’s called the Sunken Place.”

John Legend expounded on his statement pointing out that Trump’s two-page “Platinum plan” shouldn’t be praised based on the fact it was created a week after Trump publicly told known white supremacist group Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”

“Trump’s Platinum Plan for Black folks is nothing but fool’s gold because you can’t bank on a word he says,” Legend continued. “Ask the students of Trump University. Ask all of the contractors he stiffed. Ask people his charity was supposed to help before it was shut down for being a fraud. Ask all the Black and brown Americans who are dying from this virus and losing their jobs under his watch. The president isn’t strong. He’s a coward. We’ll choose “a country where The President encourages police brutality and cannot bring himself to condemn white supremacists or neo-Nazis, or one where we hold our police accountable and begin to root out the systemic racism in our society.”

Check out John Legend’s full speech below.