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Rap Diva: Lil Kim’s Junior Mafia Federal Charges

The rap diva, whose real name is Kimberly Jones, was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for lying to a grand jury about a 2001 gun fight between members of her rap entourage and a rival rap crew.

“I can tell you this is by far the toughest thing I have ever had to go through,” Jones said in a thin, shaky voice as she stood before the judge, clutching a Bible, and belatedly admitting guilt after having maintained her innocence throughout trial. “I testified falsely during the grand jury and in trial. At the time, I thought it was the right thing to do, but now I know I was wrong.”

Jones was also fined $50,000 and will be on three years’ probation after her release. She has requested to do her time at Danbury, a minimum-security federal institution in Connecticut, to be close to…

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CELEBRITY CRIME: Heir To The Durst Dynasty Indicted For Murder

Robert-Durst-mug-shot — Photo: Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office

Robert Durst, subject of the HBO documentary The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, has been arrested in New Orleans in connection with a Los Angeles murder.

Durst, 71, is a member of a prominent New York City family that owns a multibillion-dollar real-estate company. He was taken into custody in a hotel lobby Saturday night and was being held Sunday on a first-degree murder warrant, Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office documents said.

The Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement Sunday that it has been investigating the slaying of writer and Durst confidant Susan Berman since her body was discovered in her West Los Angeles home on Christmas Eve 2000.

Durst discussed the case in the HBO documentary series, which wraps up Sunday night.

“As a result of investigative leads and additional evidence that has come to light in the past year, investigators have identified Robert Durst as the person responsible for Ms. Berman’s death,” the Los Angeles Police statement said. “Investigator’s in concert with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Major Crimes Section secured an Arrest warrant for Robert Durst for the murder of Susan Berman and arrested Mr. Durst on Saturday, March 14, 2015, in New Orleans, Louisiana.” Continue reading “CELEBRITY CRIME: Heir To The Durst Dynasty Indicted For Murder”

FEATURED POST: Poverty Is Quicksand

It’s hard to believe that anyone thinks the poor, in this country, have an easy, work-free life. There’s an assumption among a certain segment of the population that government benefits are enough to enable someone to ease back and voluntarily give up looking for a job. The reality is that poverty, especially now, is more like quicksand. Once you fall into it, it’s harder and harder to get out. Opportunity to improve one’s life has disappeared for most Americans, especially those who are poor. As The Atlantic wrote not long ago: “The American Dream isn’t dead. It just moved to Denmark.”

Who are the poor? Most of us. Research has shown that, more than half of all Americans, at some point in their lives, will spend a year either in poverty or close to it. Those in poverty don’t willingly choose to stay there. None find it easy. Charles Blow wrote a column in the New York Times recently that offered only a few of the many examples of how painful it is to be poor. He was responding to a Pew Research Center survey showing how many Americans believed that the poor now have it easy, thanks to government benefits that supplement whatever they are able to earn in minimum wage jobs.

Continue reading “FEATURED POST: Poverty Is Quicksand”