Janet sits down with Oprah

Pop star Janet Jackson sat down for a chat with Oprah on Friday.

See the entire interview after the jump!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH_2uivjLQ4&feature=player_embedded

Brandy and Ray J. showing love to Monica

For the longest time it has been assumed that Brandy and Monica were (shall we say) less than friendly. But with age comes wisdom and it appears the long standing (Media Created) rivalry, is now being put to rest as Brandy gives Monica a very public pat on the back for the success of Monica’s recent project “Still Standing”.

It looks like Brandy is going to use Monica’s success as a model for her own return back to the musical spotlight.

Shootings in Chicago, getting national attention.

Chicago is my hometown so none of this come as a surprise to me. I was six when my mother decided to move in hopes of giving my brother and I a better future. If she were alive today I would kiss her feet in appreciation for her doing so.

We are barely into the new year and already Chicago is making its presence known as one of the most dangerous cities in America. We all know that violent crime can happy anywhere…but something is really askew in Chi-town and the local politicians need to put their heads together quickly and figure out what is at the heart of the matter.

As summer approaches and the temperature rises….things are only going to get worse.

“Between March 31st and 2 a.m. this morning — in 50 hours– 41 people have been shot in 31 incidents, including four homicides,” Chicago police Supt. Jody Weis said during a news conference Friday. Just four blocks from where members of the media were assembled , a man in his 20s was shot in the head inside his vehicle.

Some of the chaos overnight was caught on camera by videojournalist Ken Herzlich. Police had responded to the shooting of four people near 66th St. and Marshfield Ave., apparently an extension of gang violence. Herzlich recorded police scrambling for cover as gunshots rang out nearby.

“I was amazed,” said Herzlich. “I couldn’t believe that somebody would have the audacity to do that given the presence of the amount of police officers that were there at the time.”

The shots were fired into a crowd. A woman suffered a graze wound to the head, and a man was hit in the lower back. Neither was seriously injured.

Residents say, unfortunately, similar incidents –while tragic– are neither shocking, nor surprising, not in Englewood. “It’s something you come to expect around here. So, on a hot day, don’t get too far from your house so when the shots start, you can run. Really. Always, around here, somebody is going to want revenge,” a neighbor said.

At the Friday news conference, Weis outlined a number of strategies to combat the violence, including an immediate increase of uniformed officers on the streets in ‘ hot spots’ as part of a saturation policy.

Weis also said police are going to target illegal parties with renewed force because many of them result in violence

Houston Mayor Annise Parker, waste no time in expanding protections to the TG community

Last year the GLBT community scored a major victory when Houston (one of the largest cities in the U.S.) elected and openly gay mayor.

Annise Parker is her name and she is not afraid to stand up for the community to which she belongs.

Houston Mayor Annise Parker has signed an executive order that adds gender identity to the city’s 12-year-old non-discrimination policy, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The two orders signed by Parker protect transgender individuals who work for the city from discrimination in the areas of employment and accommodations.

“The mayor wanted to put in writing what has already been the city’s practice, which is that we do not discriminate,” Janice Evans, Parker’s spokeswoman, told the paper.

Gay rights advocates cheered the move.

“This is essential” Kris Banks, president of the Houston Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Political Caucus, said. “A non-discrimination provision that protects sexual orientation but doesn’t protect gender identity is toothless. … It’s quite a thing, having a mayor that really understands all these issues.”

Parker, 53, became Houston’s 61^st mayor in January after a long campaign that included personal attacks against Parker because she is openly gay.

Dave Wilson, an outspoken gay rights opponent who campaigned to make Parker’s sexuality an issue during the mayoral campaign, said he was “sad this is happening in our city.”

The new protections allow transgender individuals employed by the city to use restroom facilities in city-owned buildings for the gender with which they identify. Previously, the city decided the issue on a case-by-case basis.

Opponents say such measures allow men to legally enter women’s restrooms, putting women and children at risk. Proponents counter that such behavior would be criminal.

Source

Oregon opens transsexual coffee bar to help TG/TS with transition expenses

What a progressive and noble concept. Kudos to whomever is responsible for giving those who often lack heath care  and/or the funds to proceed with their transition expenses.

Hopefully this model will be adopted by other GLBT communities to assist the gender variant and moving into the next phase of their lives.

Tuff Luck, a Portland, Ore., cafe, celebrated its grand opening last month.

The coffee shop is located inside In Other Words, a feminist bookstore, and was started as a way to help transgender people raise money for health care by providing them with a side job and a venue for selling art.

“It’s mostly people’s art that they can make money off because right now we can’t really afford to pay employees,” entrepreneur Ryder Richardson told Just Out, a Portland-area LGBT newspaper. “Down the line we’d like to set up an individual development account and get organizations to match whatever people can make working here.”

The cafe is inclusive of anyone who identifies as transgender, regardless of transition status, and raises funds for a variety of health care needs, including therapy, hormones, and surgery.

Richardson’s friend Seamus Bogues created the shop with the goal of funding their top surgeries and told Just Out they eventually want to provide the same option to others.

“For a business, we’ve done it on a shoestring for sure,” Richardson said. “It adds to the charm, I think.”

Richardson and Bogues thought of the idea after a friend suggested the two work out of the bookstore instead of a coffee cart.

“In Other Words wanted to draw more business and have more people hang out in here, so it kinda worked out for them to let us use the space ’cause it’s kinda mutually beneficial,” Richardson said. “I know they’re trying to have more people of different genders feel like they can hang out here.”

Source

Kelis offers up “Flesh Tones” Mixtape

Here’s a Mixtape promo for Kelis’s upcoming Flesh Tones album.

1. Handful (intro)
2. No Security (Crookers vs. Bart Bmore)
3. Acapella (David Guetta vs. Benny Banssi)
4. Bossy (Switch vs. Alan Braxe and Fred Falke)
5. 4th of July (Flesh Tone Album Snippet)
6. Grey Goose (Free School feat. Apl d ap vs. Stardust)
7. Milkshake (Mighty Fools vs. Major Lazer)
8. Get Along with You (Laidback Luke vs. Mstrkrft (Goldenchyld Blend))
9. Home (Flesh Tone Album Snippet)
10. Caught Out There (Eric Prydz Blend)
11. Scream (Flesh Tone Album Snippet)
12. Lil Star (Linus Loves Remix)
13. 22nd Century (Flesh Tone Album Snippet)

Kelis – Flesh Tones Mixtape