Some celebrities acquire so much gwap and lack money management skills. Here are 9 celebrities who owe or owed money to Unlce Sam.

Jada Pinkett-Smith has had a very revealing 42nd birthday week… The actress took to her Facebook to reveal how she’s matured and learned to deal with life’s obstacles.

Via People reports:

It looks as though Jada Pinkett Smith received some valuable presents upon turning 42 recently: Specifically, the gifts of reflection and inspiration.

The actress and wife of Will Smith has taken to Facebook to discuss publicly her “many addictions” as well as divorce, friendship, love and happiness.

“Yesterday I turned one year older, and I reflected on where I have been and where I am now,” Smith wrote last Thursday on her personal page, which has nearly four million likes.

“What I learned about myself is this, when I was younger I was not a good problem solver, meaning I had a very difficult time dealing with problems in life. I had many addictions, of several kinds, to deal with my life issues, but today, at 42, I have my wisdom, my heart and my conscience as the only tools to overcome life’s inevitable obstacles.”

Though she did not address what types of addictions haunted her in the past, Smith, who has long battled rumors of an marriage problems and even a 2011 separation, did address her thoughts about divorce in “a letter to a dear friend” on Sunday.

“You came to see me last night to tell me that you have decided to get a divorce. Last night I only listened, but this morning I woke up with a hope for you,” Smith wrote. “For the past five years, I have been meeting with elders who have been married 25+ years to get understanding from many perspectives as to what marriage and love is all about.”

Smith continued in her post: “Almost all the couples have said that at some point in their marriage they have stumbled upon inevitably difficult moments that called for a break … My hope for you is this, that you consider taking the route that some of our elders have taken in giving your marriage some space and time before the drastic decision of divorce. Answers to big questions need time to find lasting truth vs the truth of the moment. After this process the answer may be the same … but you may also find that spark that could save and rekindle your marriage.”

And on Tuesday, Smith wrote powerfully about why some people stay with those who treat them badly.

“To me, the answer is simple,” Smith wrote. “They stay because they don’t believe they deserve to be treated better, and the moment one truly believes they deserve better … they do what it takes to change their circumstances which may even mean … leaving because being treated badly becomes … intolerable.”

We’re gonna assume since she’s saying this was a past issue that Jada has overcome her addictions, but do you find Jada’s Facebook posts to be a good thing or do you think she’s oversharing?

Being trans is hard enough, try being trans and teaching theology at a Christian college!
Via NY Daily News reports:

A Southern California theology professor was asked to leave his job at a Christian college after coming out as transgender.

The professor taught at Azusa Pacific University for 15 years as Heather Ann Clements, serving for some time as the school’s chair of theology and philosophy. But when the scholar returned to campus this fall, he asked the school to recognize his masculine gender identity and his new name — Heath Adam Ackley.

The school promptly asked him to step down.

Ackley will stay on contract until the end of the academic year, but the university is trying to find a substitute professor to teach his classes in the meantime.

“I did not get a sense directly from the individuals with whom I was speaking that they had a theological problem with transgender identity,” Ackley told RNS. “I did get the message that it has to do with their concern that other people, such as donors, parents and churches connected to the university will have problems not understanding transgender identity.”

The professor also said that when he tried to seek hormone treatment and “top surgery” for his chest, his insurance was denied.

APU is a private evangelical Christian university northeast of Los Angeles. In its mission statement, the school says it encourages students “to develop a Christian perspective of truth and life.” The school promotes biblical standards for sexual behavior, stating that sexuality can be embraced as long as it falls within the context of a marriage between a man and a woman.

But for most of his life, Ackley said that he struggled to reconcile evangelical Christian teachings about gender with the way he felt inside.

In a YouTube video, the 47-year-old professor said that he was raised by “unconditionally loving” Christian grandparents and “hippie” parents. As he entered public school, he said he started to become confused about the female gender that was assigned to him at birth.

“As for many transgender people, my experience of puberty was especially confusing (non-conforming) and I became anxious, depressed and hopeless,” he wrote. “Gender-bending in the late 1970s and early 1980s was a popular cultural trend that I embraced to get through my teens.”

He was baptized into Christianity at the age of 18 and then became an ordained minister. He tried to conform to the idea of Christian womanhood as best as he could, but he struggled with the idea of getting married to a man.

He posted a picture of the night before his first wedding, which he described as the “last night as myself.”

When that marriage failed, he tried even harder to conform to what was expected of him. Her spiritual mentors and medical doctors told her that “trying harder to live as a Christian woman must be God’s will.”

But the hormones, therapy and prayer that were aimed at making him feel better just led to “physical, psychological and spiritual deterioration.”

When he finally came to terms with his transgendered identity, he was told by his spiritual advisors and second husband that he should deny that identity for the preservation of his family.

That’s when he started using blades to carve crosses onto his body.

“I once again struggled with self-medicating, self-injuring and self-starving” during a “suicidal relapse,” he wrote. “That’s what Christian transphobia does.”

Ackley finally found relief when the American Psychiatric Association crossed “gender identity disorder” off its list of mental illnesses in January. He said his doctors took him off his psychiatric medicine. He finally felt validated.

Ackley is in the process of divorcing his second husband, choosing to let go of his married name “Clements” and return to his maiden name “Ackley.” His friends now call him Adam in honor of the biblical Adam, who was created from the dust of the earth.

Ackley also looks forward to getting gender reassignment surgery.

Despite losing his gig Ackley says he has received a lot of support from his peers and former students. Hopefully he’ll find another good gig — maybe he can start a church helping other people going through similar experiences.

Would you be open to hearing sermons taught or theology taught by a transgender minister/professor?

YouTube/ABC

Y’all ready for the black “Annie” production? Our girl Quvenzhané Wallis was spotted on set with Jamie Foxx in NYC… Looks like the script calls for a little collision.

Are y’all excited for this flick?

AKM-GSI

Isht is real out here.

Former Marketing Executive Reduced To Flipping Burgers

It’s crazy that he was a former marketing executive who probably had a business degree and couldn’t manage his own money.

According to Mail Online

A retired businessman who once enjoyed all the perks that came with his six figure salary job is being forced to make ends meet in his retirement by working two lowly paid part-time jobs.

Former high flying marketing executive Tom Palome, 77, now fills his days making $10 an hour to demonstrate food at Sam’s Club and $8 an hour flipping burgers and serving drinks at a golf club in Tampa, Florida.

‘I earn in a week what I used to earn in an hour,’ Palome, who used to fly first class on business trips to Europe, told Bloomberg.

While Palome worked hard his entire career, paid off his mortgage and put his kids through college, like most Americans he didn’t save enough for retirement.

In addition, his savings more than halved to $40,000 after the financial crisis struck in 2008.

In need of cash to maintain his lifestyle and with years if not decades of life ahead of him, Palome took the first job he could find – not easy to find for someone at his stage in life.

Palome’s reduced circumstances are part of a much the larger trend in America in which workers from all wage brackets are being forced to stay on in the workforce as they both live longer and have fewer retirement savings to rely on.

Damn.

Rather than focus about what he used to have, Palome prefers to be optimistic about his situation. He is in good health, lives independently and he in gainful employment.

‘I tell people I demonstrate food and I do short-order cooking. I don’t mind saying it. What’s important is that I can work today,’ he told Bloomberg.

Palome receives $1,200 from Social Security and a $600 a month pension from his last corporate job. Still, his $1,400 in monthly wages allows him to bolster his savings and provides for some extras.

He goes to the theater, pays for plane tickets to visit his children and grandsons and takes occasional vacations.

‘I know seniors like me who hardly ever leave their homes because they don’t have money to do anything,’ Palome said. ‘They could work, but won’t take a lesser job.’

Two years ago, Palome saw an advertisement in a local paper for the AARP Senior Community Service Employment Program. He met with Maxine Haynes, the program’s Tampa project director, who helped him get an interview at Advantage Sales & Marketing LLC, which runs food demonstrations for Sam’s Club and other stores.

To stretch his income, Palome runs his dishwasher once a week and turns off his hot water heater every morning after he showers. He buys airline tickets six months in advance, booking rental cars for as little as $13.80 a day.

If Palome has one regret, it’s that he didn’t get better retirement investing advice somewhere along the line. “I thought I could do it on my own,’ he said.

At least he can smile about it.

Shutterstock

Sucker punch Brandon, but of course (side eye).

Brandon Jennings Says He Was Sucker Punched

Brandon took to his Twitter page to let his haters know it’s all good after it was reported and later denied that rapper The Game put them paws on him.

It’s nice Brandon still has his good looks, but he stays getting violated. Maybe he needs to take some lessons from Kanye on how to be “bout that life.”

It’s a wrap.

Richard Gere And His Wife Call It Quits

Some Hollyweird marriages just aren’t meant to be.

According to Radar Online

Richard Gere and his wife, model Carey Lowell, have separated, with a trip to divorce court in the offing as well, RadarOnline.com has learned.

The 64-year-old Pretty Woman star and his wife since 2002 have already separated, and have “been spending time apart for quite some time,” a source told the NY Post.

The two were last seen publicly last year at a showing of his movie Arbitrage in their native Hamptons stomping grounds, and a separate insider tells the paper that their divergent lifestyles — he craves privacy, while she embraces the social spotlight — likely precipitated the parting of ways.

An insider said “they have a place in Bedford, and he likes it because it’s quiet and he likes the solitude,” while “she likes being in North Haven in the limelight.

“They live next door to Jimmy Buffett and his family, and they’re good friends.”

Gere was formerly married to 90s supermodel Cindy Crawford, while Lowell’s ex-husbands are shutterbug John Stember and After Hours star Griffin Dunne.

Richard Gere has enough money to make him the perfect wife….it’s sad they couldn’t make matrimony-dom work.

Getty

What in the world?????

Doctors Grow Nose On Man’s Forehead

You can’t make this stuff up, who wants to go around with a nose on their forehead?

According to The NY Post

Surgeons at a hospital will transplant a new nose grown on a patient’s forehead to his nasal spot in Fuzhou City, east China’s Fujian Province. The patient, nicknamed”Xiaolian”, 22, suffered a severe nasal trauma in a serious car accident in August 2012.

He just received basic medical remedy rather than a plastic surgery out of financial concerns following the accident.
After months, however, his condition was infected due to absence of surgery and his nasal cartilage started to be corroded, making it impossible for surgeons to do nasal reconstruction.

However, surgeons came up with an idea of growing a nose on Xiaolian’s forehead — a medical practice never tried in the world.

The way is to grow the nose by placing a skin tissue expander onto Xiaolian’s forehead, cutting it into the shape of a nose and planting a cartilage taken from his ribs. Now after nine-month growth, the surgeons said, the nose is in good shape and transplant will be performed soon.

“We have gone through the hardest step and now it is not difficult to carry out transplant surgery,” said Guo Zhihui, Director of Plastic Surgery Department of Xiehe Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University. He added Xiaolian will start a normal life once a successful surgery is done.

Wow. We’ve officially seen it all.

This is crazy how this man was allowed to easily enter The Washington Navy Yard. What security procedures do you think need to be in place to stop tragedies like this from happening again?

If Lamar takes a break from smoking rocks, he might get Khloe back.

Lamar Odom And Khloe Kardashian To Spend Wedding Anniversary Together

Between Lamar’s dirty doggin’ ways, drug abuse, and his dad hating on the Kardashians, we’re surprised Khloe even wants to be in the same house as him. Khloe those papers are long overdue.

According to Radar Online

Khloe Kardashian hasn’t given up on Lamar Odom just yet. Even after weathering weeks of reports of Odom’s cheating and alleged drug use, she’s still wearing her wedding ring. And now, RadarOnline.com has learned, she’s agreed to spend the couple’s wedding anniversary, September 27, with her estranged husband.

“Lamar reached out to Khloe and expressed his desire for them to spend their anniversary together,” a source tells RadarOnline.com. “He couldn’t imagine letting it pass without seeing Khloe.”

But because of the couple’s recent struggles, it won’t be an over-the-top affair. “It will be low-key, and away from the prying eyes of the public,” says the source.

Now living alone in a loft in downtown L.A., Odom “will likely head over to the mansion he once shared with Khloe in Tarzana,” the source reveals. The arraignment for his recent DUI arrest is on Friday morning, but he is not expected to attend the proceedings.

As Odom and Kardashian face that and other struggles, the source says, “This anniversary will be unlike any other. Although their marriage is on the rocks, no one is ready to pull the plug on the relationship.”

Do you think Khloe will take Lam Lam back?

Maybe DMX just got caught up in the moment. It happens.

Hate crimes are not just for white folks y’all…

Via CBS Local reports:

A man who shot four people near a Greenville Wal-Mart in June picked out his victims because they were white, according to several indictments handed down against him.

Lakim Faust had more than 100 rounds of ammunition when he started shooting at people who were standing outside at a law firm and a shopping center in June, authorities said.

A grand jury indicted Faust on 14 charges Monday, including four counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Faust, who is black, picked out his victims based on their race, according to the indictments. The documents didn’t specify why Faust wanted to shoot white people, and police have not talked about why he picked out his targets. Earlier reports had indicated that Faust was shooting “indiscriminately.”

Police said Faust’s first victim on June 21 was an insurance adjustor in the parking lot of a law firm. He then crossed a five-lane highway and shot three more people in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart, investigators said.

Three of the four people wounded in the shooting suffered permanent and debilitating injuries, according to the indictments. Details of those injuries were not specified.

Faust, 23, was shot by police. He recovered and is now in jail.

Police seized computers and documents from Faust’s home that showed he had a plan for the attack and wanted to shoot a large number of people, investigators said.

SMH. Good thing he was caught. What an embarrassment to the race!

It must be something in the camp Kardashian water; Kanye West has been the most vocal he has been all year and it has resulted in nothing short of epicness. It started with his rant at the Pusha T listening party. Yesterday he went honey baked ham on Jimmy Kimmel on Twitter. Now we have the final installment of the BBC interview by Zane Lowe and it Yeezy does not dissapoint…. Continue

Black Greek culture invaded Paris Fashion Week. Renowned designer Rick Owens implemented female steppers into his runway show at Paris Fashion Week…. Continue

This track is featured on Novel’s EP Under Water, Overwhelmed, currently available on iTunes.

Reality TV star Rob Kardashian talks to the Wall Street Journal’s Lee Hawkins about his new line of men’s luxury socks, called Arthur George, which sell for about $30. Kardashian, who has teamed up with LA-based company Universal Hosiery Inc. to sell the socks to retailers such as Neiman Marcus, also talks to Hawkins about what he learned about business from his late father, Robert Kardashian Sr., the ups and downs of being a star on “Keeping Up With the Kardashians,” and how the show helps the family promote their outside businesses. He also gives his true feelings about how the men in the family are treated on the show.

WSJ youtube

High School Football Team Ends Season Early After Teammate Dies From Game Injury

A group of high school football players made the difficult decision to end their season recently after a fellow teammate died following an injury he sustained during their last game

via NBC News

It was a question with no right answer that tugged heavy at the hearts of Damon Janes’ teammates when the 16-year-old died after a hit in a high school football game: Should the season go on?

Should the players rally and play every game for their star running back, whose motto was “Giving up is simply not an option”? Or should the teenagers forget about football and take time to mourn their friend?

The Westfield-Brocton Wolverines’ varsity players took a paper-ballot vote and decided that the pain was too great, that their season would end after just two games.

“I wanted to play, I love the game,” said teammate Stevie Wisecarver III, a 16-year-old quarterback who has played football since third grade. “But it just wouldn’t feel right without him. The team just didn’t feel right.”

“It’s just a tragic thing that happened,” 71-year-old Harold Montague said as he finished his coffee at the Green Arch, recalling a procession for Damon’s funeral that stretched for more than a mile and a half.

Damon took what hospital officials would later describe as a “helmet-to-helmet” hit during the third quarter of Westfield-Brocton’s Sept. 13 game against Portville. He was able to get on his feet but lost consciousness on the sidelines.

He died three days later at Women & Children’s Hospital in Buffalo. An exact cause of death has not been released.

This is a sad story. It may be time for high school football programs to start amending some of their rules to mimic that of the NFL.

Twitter Racists React To Kanye West

Kanye West has been all over the news recently for his rants and feud with Jimmy Kimmel. Some people are calling him a diva and an attention slore, but is he wrong to think racism is around with these comments?

Incredible.