WALTER SCOTT'S KILLER (EX-COP) GETS 20 YRS IN PRISON THANKS TO TRUMP

WALTER SCOTT'S KILLER GETS 20 YRS IN PRISON THANKS TO TRUMP:

BLACK MEN SHOULD NOT BE SHOT DEAD JUST BECAUSE THEY OWE CHILD SUPPORT.

BLACK MEN WHO OWE CHILD SUPPORT DESERVE FULL-TIME JOBS TO PAY THEIR DEBTS, NOT JAIL, NOR DEATH.

IF OBAMA WERE PRESIDENT, THAT WHITE OFFICER WOULD HAVE BEEN ACQUITTED.

IF OBAMA WERE PRESIDENT, WALTER SCOTT'S MOTHER WOULD HAVE GOTTEN A CHECK BUT NO JUSTICE.

FORGIVENESS DOES NOT ELIMINATE CONSEQUENCES.

WHITE POLITICIANS CAN REPRESENT BLACK VOTERS FAIRLY & PROPERLY REGARDLESS OF PARTY.

TAKE HEED ATLANTA (MARY NORWOOD).

TAKE HEED ATLANTA (MARY NORWOOD).


Sources: ABC News, Youtube


***** White ex-cop gets 20 years for Walter Scott slaying


One by one, relatives of the late Walter Scott urged a judge to mete out a significant punishment for Michael Slager, the white former police officer who fatally shot Scott, an unarmed black man, in the back after a 2015 traffic stop.

Through tears, Scott's family told Slager they felt sorrow for him and the loss his young children would feel in his absence. In the end, a judge sentenced Slager to 20 years in prison, giving the Scott family the justice they had sought ever since a stranger came to them with the shocking video of Scott being killed.

"I forgive Michael Slager. I forgive you," Scott's mother, Judy, said as she turned toward her son's killer. "I pray for you, that you would repent and let Jesus come in your life."

Sitting just a few feet away, Slager wiped tears from his eyes and mouthed: "I'm sorry."

The punishment wrapped up a case that became a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement. Slager, 36, is one of only a few police officers to go to prison for a fatal shooting, and his sentence is by far the stiffest since the shootings came under extra scrutiny in recent years.

Attorneys for the former North Charleston officer said he shot the 50-year-old Scott in self-defense after the two fought and Scott grabbed Slager's stun gun. They said race didn't play a role in the shooting and Slager never had any "racial animus" toward minorities.

Still, Slager pleaded guilty in federal court to violating Scott's civil rights. As part of a plea agreement reached in May, prosecutors dropped state murder charges.

"This is a tragedy that shouldn't have happened," U.S. District Judge David Norton said.

Slager apologized to the Scott family, calling Scott's mother and brothers by their names.

"With my actions that day, Walter Scott is no longer with his family, and I am responsible for that," Slager said. Of their forgiveness, he added: "I am very grateful for that."

Slager's emotions stood in stark contrast to his stoic demeanor during his state murder trial when jurors deadlocked over a verdict. He has several weeks to appeal his sentence and will be housed at the Charleston County jail until he's assigned to a federal prison.

After the sentencing, Judy Scott and Walter's two brothers told reporters that, while they had made peace with the case, they remained adamant the officer should pay for his crime.

"Who are we not to forgive?" Rodney Scott said.

A bystander recorded the shooting on a cellphone, and it was shared around the world, setting off protests across the U.S. as demonstrators said it was another egregious example of police officers mistreating African-Americans.

Slager fired at Scott's back from 17 feet (5 meters) away. Five of eight bullets hit him.

The video was seized on by many as vivid proof of what they had been arguing for years: that white officers too often use deadly force unnecessarily against black people.

When the jury failed to reach a verdict in the state murder case, many black people and others were shocked and distressed, because the video seemed to some to be an open-and-shut case. Some despaired of ever seeing justice.

The shooting angered local African-Americans who complained for years that North Charleston police harassed blacks, pulling them over or questioning them unnecessarily as they cracked down on crime. But after the shooting, the Scott family successfully pleaded for calm, asking everyone to let the justice system run its course.

Two months after the shooting, a young white man killed nine black church members in a racially motivated massacre during a Bible study in Charleston. The family members of those victims struck a similar forgiveness tone after that attack.

Before Slager's sentence was handed down, the judge had to decide whether the shooting amounted to second-degree murder or manslaughter. Norton found that it was murder.

"No matter what sentence I give, neither the Scott family nor the Slager family is going to think that it's right," the judge said.

After the shooting, Slager picked up his stun gun and placed it next to Scott. Slager contended he was securing the weapon. Prosecutors think he put it there to bolster his self-defense story.

The judge also found that Slager obstructed justice when he made statements to state police after the shooting.

A pre-sentencing report for Slager found that he committed manslaughter and recommended 10 to nearly 13 years in prison. But the judge was not bound by that review.

If Slager had faced another state trial and been convicted of murder, he could have been sentenced to anywhere from 30 years to life in prison.

Convictions in police officer shootings are uncommon in the U.S. and prison time is even rarer.

South Carolina has been aggressive in charging white officers who shoot unarmed black people. Four have pleaded guilty in state or federal court in the past six years. But only Slager and former state trooper Sean Groubert, who shot a man as he tried to get his wallet during a seat belt violation check, will have been sent to prison. Groubert was sentenced to five years behind bars.

DEMOCRATS WANT TO TAKE BLACK VOTES WITHOUT HELPING BLACK VOTERS (MALCOLM X)

DEMOCRATS WANT TO TAKE BLACK VOTES WITHOUT HELPING BLACK VOTERS:

MALCOLM X LABELED BLACK VOTERS WHO BLINDLY SUPPORT DEMOCRATS "CHUMPS".

WHERE ARE THE JOBS FOR BLACK MEN??

BLACK voters are tired of being forced to support the national DEMOCRAT party without receiving anything Constructive in return for our Ballots.

And we don't mean Food Stamps or Welfare!

However it appears that instead of listening to BLACK voters, Key Party leaders want to Force BLACK voters into supporting DEMOCRATS via Strong arm Political tactics, or they want to Steal BLACK votes.

Shortly before he was Assassinated, Malcolm X labeled BLACK voters who blindly support DEMOCRATS as "CHUMPS".

In the land of the FREE, this is not right!

~ When Blacks Voted 80 Percent Dem, Malcolm X Called Them 'Chumps

When blacks gave 80 percent of their vote to the Democratic Party in 1964, black activist Malcolm X called them "political chumps."

White voters, X said, "are so evenly divided that every time they vote, the race is so close they have to go back and count the votes all over again. Which means that any bloc, any minority that has a bloc that sticks together is in a strategic position. Either way you go, that's who gets it."

Yet Democrats, said Malcolm X, failed to deliver on a promised and much anticipated new civil rights bill, knowing the party could still count on their blind support in the next election.

You put them first," said Malcolm X, "and they put you last. 'Cause you're a chump.

A political chump! ... Any time you throw your weight behind a political party that controls two-thirds of the government, and that party can't keep the promise that it made to you during election time, and you are dumb enough to walk around continuing to identify yourself with that party -- you're not only a chump but you're a traitor to your race."

What would Malcolm X say about today's 95 percent black vote?

Did the Democratic Party keep its promises to promote family stability, push education and encourage job creation?

The black community, over the last 50 years, has suffered an unparalleled breakdown in family unity. Even during slavery when marriage was illegal, a black child was more likely than today to be raised under a roof with his or her biological mother and father.

According to census data, from 1890 to 1940, said economist Walter Williams, a black child was slightly more likely to grow up with married parents than a white child. What happened?

When President Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty in 1965, 24 percent of black babies were born to unmarried mothers.

Today that number is 72 percent.

Then-presidential candidate Barack Obama said in 2008: "Children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.

They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents themselves."

Not only has family breakdown coincided with increased government spending, but the money has not done much to reduce the rate of poverty. From 1965 until now, the government has spent $15-20 trillion to fight poverty. In 1949, the poverty rate stood at 34 percent.

By 1965, it was cut in half, to 17 percent -- all before the so-called War on Poverty. But after the war began in 1965, poverty began to flat line.

It appears that the generous welfare system allowed women to, in essence, marry the government -- and it allowed men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility, while surrendering the dignity that comes from being a good provider.

Psychologists call dependency "learned helplessness."

About the importance of education, Malcolm X once said, "My alma mater was books, a good library. ... I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity." What would he say about the Democratic opposition to school vouchers -- where the money would follow the student rather than the other way around?

Urban schools, where students are disproportionately black and brown, are simply not producing children who can read, write and compute at grade level.

The dropout rate can approach 50 percent in some urban districts. Nationwide, 10 percent of parents send their kids to private school. But in cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, 40 percent or more of teachers send their own kids to private schools.

Democrats don't do blacks any favor by supporting "race-based preferences" in admissions to colleges and universities. Turns out, the more a school lowers standards to achieve "diversity," the greater the chance the "diverse" student drops out.

More than that, Democrats have convinced blacks that but for race-based preferences, black growth would suffer. Nonsense. Respected researchers Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom wrote:

"The growth of the black middle class long predates the adoption of race-conscious social policies. In some ways, indeed, the black middle class was expanding more rapidly before 1970 than after."

Finally, as to the economy, then-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., admitted: "With 14 percent (black) unemployment, if we had a white president we'd be marching around the White House. ...The President knows we are going to act in deference to him in a way we wouldn't to someone white."

Democratic policies have contributed to family breakdown, maintained underperforming urban schools -- with no opt out for parents -- and have promoted tax-spend-and-regulate economic policies that have resulted in a level of unemployment described as "unconscionable" by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

So would Malcolm X call today's black voter a political "chump" -- or a political "traitor"?

Sources: Town Hall, YouTube

EX-OFFENDERS DESERVE A 2ND CHANCE - BAN THE BOX

EX-OFFENDERS DESERVE A 2ND CHANCE - BAN THE BOX:

HOW CAN MEN PAY CHILD SUPPORT & BE FATHERS IF THEY CAN'T GET JOBS??

Granting Ex-Offenders a second chance in life by Hiring them to WORK and Expunging their Criminal Records, is good for America's economy.

Assisting Ex-Offenders to become gainfully EMPLOYED reduces Recidivism and Crime.

It will also help to rebuild Communities destroyed by Incarcerated Men who are FATHERS because those Men who are FATHERS will be given OPPORTUNITIES to Pay CHILD SUPPORT and actively engage in the lives of their Children.

~ BAN THE BOX: U.S. CITIES, COUNTIES, AND STATES ADOPT FAIR HIRING POLICIES:

Nationwide, over 100 cities and counties have adopted what is widely known as “ban the box” so that employers consider a job candidate’s qualifications first, without the stigma of a conviction record. 

These initiatives provide applicants a fair chance by removing the conviction history question on the job application and delaying the background check inquiry until later in the hiring.

Momentum for the policy has grown exponentially, particularly in recent years.

There are a total of 19 states representing nearly every region of the country that have adopted the policies —California (2013, 2010), Colorado (2012), Connecticut (2010), Delaware (2014), Georgia (2015), Hawaii (1998), Illinois (2014, 2013), Maryland (2013), Massachusetts (2010), Minnesota (2013, 2009), Nebraska (2014), New Jersey (2014), New Mexico (2010), New York (2015), Ohio (2015), Oregon (2015), Rhode Island (2013), Vermont (2015), and Virginia (2015).

Seven states—Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island—have removed the conviction history question on job applications for private employers, which advocates embrace as the next step in the evolution of these policies.

Federally, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) endorsed removing the conviction question from the job application as a best practice in its 2012 guidance making clear that federal civil rights laws regulate employment decisions based on arrests and convictions.

The Obama Administration’s My Brother’s Keeper Task Force also gave the movement a boost when it endorsed hiring practices “which give applicants a fair chance and allows employers the opportunity to judge individual job candidates on their merits.”

Fair-chance policies benefit everyone because they’re good for families and the local community.

At a recent event in Oakland for employers to discuss reentry issues, one business owner spoke to the personal benefit he finds from hiring people with records. “I’ve seen how a job makes all the difference,” says Derreck B. Johnson, founder and president of Home of Chicken and Waffles in Oakland. “When I give someone a chance and he becomes my best employee, I know that I’m doing right by my community.”

This resource guide documents the states, Washington D.C., and the over 100 cities and counties—that have taken steps to remove barriers to employment for qualified workers with records. Seven states, Washington D.C., and 27 cities and counties now extend the fair-chance policy to government contractors or private employers.

Of the localities, Baltimore, Buffalo, Chicago, Columbia (MO), Montgomery County (MD), New York City, Newark, Philadelphia, Portland (OR), Prince George’s County (MD), Rochester, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. extend their fair-chance laws to private employers in the area.

A chart summarizing all the policies is at the end of this guide.

To support your state and local efforts to enact a fair-chance policy, check out NELP’s Fair Chance – Ban the Box Toolkit, which provides a step-by-step guide for advocates on how to launch a “ban the box” campaign.

Embedded in the Toolkit is a range of resources to draft a law, to build your network, to support your outreach, and even to develop your media outreach.

Post Sources: NELP, YouTube

FEDERAL CHILD SUPPORT SPIES ARE LOCAL MAIL CARRIERS IN CHARLOTTE, ATLANTA & CHICAGO

#‎Atlanta‬

FEDERAL CHILD SUPPORT SPIES ARE LOCAL MAIL CARRIERS:

IN CHARLOTTE, ATLANTA & CHICAGO.

* Discussion Highlights:

~ U.S. Mail Carriers have in fact teamed up with the Federal Govt to Spy on citizens.
Including Men who are working to catch up their Child Support payments.

~ US Mail Carriers working as SPIES is a growing problem in cities with a high BLACK Male UNEMPLOYMENT Rate such as CHARLOTTE, ATLANTA and CHICAGO.

~ Low Delinquent Child Support actual balances are being trumped to extremely high balances via State & County Fees which could be considered a CHILD SUPPORT TAX.

~ In 2015 Pres OBAMA and UN Officials spearheaded a Global Child Support Treaty.

However most of the Child Money collected does not go to Mothers. Instead it goes to State Coffers.

~ Due to low Child Support balances being trumped up to extremely high Child Support balances via State & County Fees, and high UNEMPLOYMENT Rates, many Fathers can NEVER really get caught up, thus many Fathers end up in JAIL or PRISON.

When these Men are Incarcerated, the States then receive FEDERAL FUNDING.

~ Snail mail spy: U.S. Postal Service active partner with feds for surveillance

The U.S. Postal Service has two key programs with the federal government aimed at rooting out terrorism that track and record data on all mail that travels through its offices.

The New York Times reported on a U.S. Postal Service “mail cover” program that’s been in place for decades. That program allows postal workers the ability to record — by hand — all the information on the front and back of letters that are mailed to residences, at the request of law enforcement.

But another program, called “Mail Isolation Control and Tracking,” is much more high-tech.

It started in 2001, after anthrax attacks hit at Capitol Hill and at various spots around the nation, and gives U.S. Postal Service workers the ability to photograph the exterior of each piece of mail that passes through the office.

The data is then recorded in case it’s needed in a future investigation.

An ex-Justice Department worker said, Newser reported:

“In the past, mail covers were used when you had a reason to suspect someone of a crime.

Now it seems to be, ‘Let’s record everyone’s mail so in the future we might go back and see who you were communicating with.’ Essentially, you’ve added mail covers on millions of Americans.”

Post Sources: Washington Times, NY Times, Marshall Project, YouTube

LeBron James Sued By Man Claiming To Be His Father

Lawyer Sues Basketball Star LeBron James, Alleging He Is His Father


A Washington lawyer has filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming he is the father of basketball star LeBron James.

Leicester Stovell alleges that the athlete and his family have been involved in a cover-up to deny paternity by committing fraud and misrepresentation.

In the complaint, filed June 23, Stovell says, "I recently have concluded that a comprehensive, sophisticated and well-funded effort might well have been underway for quite some time, perhaps beginning in its present form as early as when defendant LeBron James was in high school, to frustrate identification of his real father, and that there is a likelihood that the father in question is me."

He stopped short of saying he is certain he is James' father. "I don't want to make such a definitive statement in the absence of corroborative evidence" such as DNA, he said.

Stovell said he filed the suit two weeks ago because a statute of limitations was about to expire. "I have some limitation considerations that caused me to want to file the suit before the end of June," he said.

He denied the timing had anything to do with the current LeBron mania.

James is scheduled to announce Thursday evening the team he has chosen to play for next season, a deal worth perhaps tens of millions of dollars or more. He currently plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Stovell said it never occurred to him that he could be James' father until 2006, when a colleague asked him if he was sure he didn't have a (different) son at Cornell.

"That's when I delved systematically into all of my recollections into prior relationships, and retrieved the relationship with Gloria James," he said.

The lawsuit claims Stovell met James' mother in a Washington bar and restaurant in 1984, where she was visiting from Ohio. She was 16 at the time, Stovell says, and they had sex only once.

He says he was informed by Gloria James months later that she was pregnant. He claims she told him the child would be named LeBron, similar to Leicester Bryce, Stovell's first and middle names.

Stovell says he has been trying for three years to establish paternity. The lawsuit is seeking $4 million in damages.

He is a solo legal practitioner in the District of Columbia, and filed the lawsuit on his own behalf.

A call to LeBron James' attorney, Frederick Nance of Cleveland, Ohio, was not immediately returned.

The lawsuit had been filed without much initial publicity, but was reported by the TMZ celebrity website Wednesday.

Public records show Stovell is a former government attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He filed a lawsuit in 2002 against the agency, alleging racial discrimination. Federal court records show the case was settled when the commission paid him $230,000, while not admitting fault.


View Larger Map


Sources: CNN, Google Maps

John Edwards' Personal Confession: "I Am Quinn's Father"

"I am Quinn’s father. I will do everything in my power to provide her with the love and support she deserves. I have been able to spend time with her during the past year and trust that future efforts to show her the love and affection she deserves can be done privately and in peace.

It was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me. I have been providing financial support for Quinn and have reached an agreement with her mother to continue providing support in the future.

To all those I have disappointed and hurt these words will never be enough, but I am truly sorry."

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

John Edwards Admits Fathering Child With Mistress


For the first time, John Edwards is publicly admitting that he is indeed the father of a 2-year-old daughter conceived with Rielle Hunter, a campaign videographer with whom he had an affair.

In a written statement provided exclusively to NBC News, the former North Carolina senator and Democratic presidential candidate says he’s taking responsibility for the child, Frances Quinn Hunter:

Harrison Hickman, Edwards’ close friend and personal adviser, spoke to NBC’s Lisa Myers on Edwards’ behalf.

“The senator wants to say, first of all, that he is the father of Quinn,” Hickman said. “Secondly, he wants people to know that he has provided for her and will continue to provide for her, as he should, both financially and emotionally.”

Edwards is not speaking publicly today, at least in part because of an ongoing federal investigation into whether campaign money was used to try to cover up the affair. He has denied wrongdoing. Hickman said that Edwards wanted to be honest about his child, but also wanted to protect his privacy.

“He’s not doing this as a way to try to bring attention to himself,” Hickman said. “He’s doing this as a way … to begin to put this behind, not just him, but everybody else who’s been affected by this.”

Edwards’ attorneys say he’s been seeing Quinn and providing financial support for about a year, and just signed a child support agreement with Hunter. A spokesperson for Elizabeth Edwards says she learned last summer that Quinn is her husband’s child.

Why wait more than two years to publicly admit paternity?

“He has acknowledged it long before now. The reason it has taken so long for it to become public is that there were a lot of people involved,” Hickman said. “There are a lot of adults involved, there are a number of families involved, and there are also a lot of kids involved.”


Fall of the man who sought Presidency

Today’s announcement marks another chapter in the fall of a man once considered a leading candidate for president. Edwards’ personal and political troubles began after the tabloid National Enquirer began reporting in October 2007 on his affair with Hunter, now 45.

Edwards, who has been married to breast cancer survivor Elizabeth for 32 years, denied the affair at first. He called the claims “tabloid trash that’s full of lies.”

In 2008, after his failed presidential bid, Edwards eventually confirmed to ABC News that he had had an affair with Hunter, but he vehemently denied that he was the father of Hunter’s child.

“I know that it's not possible that this child could be mine because of the timing of events,” Edwards told ABC News at the time.

Now Hickman says, “I do not know if he knew it was his daughter at the time, but I know he lied when he said it was not possible … I think he is certainly regretful of that.”

Edwards’ admission today also indicates that his relationship with Hunter continued months after his wife announced that her cancer had returned and that it was incurable.

Elizabeth Edwards is still undergoing cancer treatment and makes occasional appearances about health care. Last summer she opened a furniture shop in Chapel Hill, N.C., not far from the family’s mansion.

“Elizabeth thinks he should acknowledge this,” Hickman said. “It's been a very difficult time for everyone, but for Elizabeth, I think, more than anyone else, it's been a difficult time.”

Hickman said Edwards wanted to “do the right thing” and come clean in the summer of 2008, but that he couldn’t bring himself to do so.

“It was complicated … certainly more complicated than I knew,” Hickman explained. “He had to be able to talk to Elizabeth about it. He had to be able to talk to Rielle about it. He had to talk to us [and] his children about it. He had to deal with legal issues involving support for the child.”

Once the legal issues were resolved, Hickman said, Edwards “wanted to move forward immediately with letting people know about it.”

Hickman said he didn’t know the status of Edwards’ relationships with Hunter or his wife, but other family friends say John and Elizabeth have separated, at least for now, but still talk on a regular basis.

Edwards bought a house for Quinn and her mother to live in in Charlotte, N.C., more than two hours away from his home in Chapel Hill. Now, Hickman said, the former senator is trying to stay out of the public spotlight and focus his energy on family and doing good deeds like helping the poor.

Hickman says that for Edwards, Quinn has the same status as the three children he has with Elizabeth.

“He talks about her being a beautiful child and a happy child,” said Hickman. “I think he’s very proud of this child. I think he’s proud of all of his children. I think, you know, today he’s glad to be able to say publicly that he is.”

He wants to be a good father

Edwards’ admission comes on the heels of the political expose “Game Change” by journalists John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, which sent shock waves around Washington, D.C., with its account of the 2008 presidential election. A portion of the book that was excerpted in New York magazine dealt with intimate details of Edwards’ affair and his strained relationship with his wife.

The admission also comes in advance of a tell-all book by Andrew Young, a former Edwards campaign worker who originally claimed to be the father of Hunter’s child.

But Hickman says that the book had no bearing on Edwards’ decision to go public.

“I don’t know that anything that it says could be any worse than things that have already been written by the marginal press,” he said.

Americans consider Edwards the “most disappointing” public figure, according to Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll results released in December 2009.

When asked about Edwards’ reaction to the poll, Hickman said, “If anybody knows that he’s been a disappointment, it’s John Edwards … He knows saying he’s sorry isn’t enough, but he is incredibly remorseful about the pain he’s caused people … He wants to be a good father and, you know, be a good person again.”



View Larger Map


Sources: AP, MSNBC, Google Maps

Court Docs List John Edwards As Father Of Rielle's Child

Court documents suggest John Edwards is father of Rielle Hunter's baby -- and now it's time to pay


John Edwards has never admitted to fathering a love child with a one-time staffer, but new legal documents suggest the failed presidential hopeful is the baby's daddy - and may soon have to pay up big-time.

The new documents detail an ongoing money battle between Edwards and Rielle Hunter, 45, whom Edwards has admitted bedding even as his wife, Elizabeth, discovered she had cancer.

Edwards has never copped to fathering little Frances Quinn Hunter, now almost two years old.

But the documents, first reported by the National Enquirer and posted online yesterday by radaronline.com, include an eight-page "Family Part Case Information Statement" listing "Rielle Hunter" as the plaintiff and "John Edwards" as the defendant.

The document identifies "custody," "parenting time" and "child support" as the issues in dispute, and names Rielle and "John Edwards" of Chapel Hill, N.C., as the parties.

The kicker: Little Frances is named as a "child...from this relationship."

The paperwork was prepared by Hunter's attorney, Frank Louis, and at the very least establishes that the blonde divorcee believes Edwards is legally responsible for the girl - and should have to pay up.

Hunter is seeking more than $17,000 a month from Edwards, a tab that includes some pretty high-end demands, the documents show.

She wants $800 a month for eating out, $400 a month for "club dues and memberships" and $1,200 a month for a security guard - apparently to keep the paparazzi at bay.

She also believes Edwards - who famously paid $400 for a haircut during his presidential run - should pay her $250 a month to trim her and Frances' locks.

The documents emerged at the same time that reports have swirled that Edwards purchased a four-bedroom, $535,000 home for Hunter to live in in Charlotte.

A report in the Charlotte Business Journal this week noted that the handsome, brick-faced home remains empty. The purchaser is listed only The Providence Road Trust, it reported.

More bad news may be just around the corner for Edwards.

ABC News has announced that it will air an exclusive interview next month with Andrew Young, another Edwards staffer who once claimed to have been the father of Hunter's child.

Young will discuss his upcoming book, "The Politician," in which which he reportedly asserts that Edwards is the true father of the baby and that his prior claim of paternity was part of an elaborate cover-up.

Young hasn't spoken publicly since saying he was the father in 2007 and has repeatedly ignored requests for news interviews.





ABC to interview ex-Edwards aide about sex scandal


ABC News will air an exclusive interview next month with the man who once claimed to have fathered the child of former Sen. John Edwards' mistress, the network said Wednesday.

ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff's interview with Andrew Young will air Jan. 29 on "20/20." Young was a longtime friend and aide to Edwards, the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004.

Young will discuss his upcoming book, "The Politician," an account of Edwards' 2004 campaign and the Rielle Hunter scandal, the network said.

Hunter's video production firm worked for Edwards' political action committee before his second run for the White House, which ended in 2008. In an interview with Woodruff last year, Edwards admitted to an affair with Hunter but denied he had a child with her.

In October, The New York Times reported it had obtained a book proposal from Young. According to the newspaper, Young's proposal contended that he helped facilitate Edwards' affair with Hunter, and that Edwards had a child with her and worked with his campaign finance chairman to hide the secret.

Young hasn't spoken publicly since saying he was the father in 2007 and has repeatedly ignored requests for news interviews.

A spokeswoman for Edwards declined comment Wednesday.

Young will follow his "20/20" interview with a Feb. 2 appearance on ABC's "Good Morning America" with new co-host George Stephanopoulos.



View Larger Map


Sources: NY Daily News, McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Google Maps

Nas Ordered To Pay Kelis $51,000 Monthly Alimony, Child Support...Wow!

Nas Ordered to Pay Kelis $51,000 a Month


A judge ordered Nas to increase his payments to his soon-to-be ex-wife, Kelis, and their infant son to $51,101 a month Wednesday.

The ruling came after two days of testimony about the musicians, during which both were portrayed as cash-strapped. Nas had been paying Kelis nearly $40,000 a month since July.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David S. Cunningham III issued his ruling after hearing detailed testimony about the musicians' finances, recording deals and significant tax debts. Nas and Kelis both were in court and testified Wednesday.

Nas' attorney, Mark Vincent Kaplan, said after the hearing that the rapper benefits from the changes. Nas, whose real name is Nasir Jones, will no longer have to pay $13,000 a month for the former couple's Los Angeles home.

Kelis, who real name is Kelis Rogers, has been living at the Los Angeles home with the couple's son, Knight, in recent months and has installed recording equipment at the house.

Her attorney, Laura Wasser, said she was "thrilled" with the ruling.

Rogers recently signed a $175,000 contract to make new music with Interscope records, although her attorneys argued most of the money went to Rogers' former managers and she received only about $50,000. Rogers, who gained fame for the song "Milkshake," downplayed her new music, telling Jones' attorney that the only song she'd recently made debuted on Twitter.

For his part, Jones said he didn't expect to release a new album in 2010. New albums create an influx of cash for musicians, who receive a spike in royalty payments and touring proceeds, accountants for both musicians testified.

Jones, considered one of rap's most popular and talented artists, released his last studio album in 2008.

He owes his current manager up to $700,000 and owes millions to the Internal Revenue Service, according to testimony Wednesday.

Rogers hasn't filed a tax return in years, which made calculating her income difficult.



View Larger Map


Sources: ABC News, Google Maps

Georgia Expands Its Deadbeat Dad Jobs Program...Excellent Idea!

Georgia's child custody employment program expands


Already a father of two in 2006, Martez Fitzpatrick figured supporting a third child wouldn't much strain his budget.

Then the little girl's mother, a woman with whom he had a previous relationship, died days after giving birth.

He moved the girl into his Atlanta home, where he soon found full-time fatherhood at odds with his job as an on-the-road trucker. He took a local job and with it, a pay cut that put him behind in the $1,100 a month he owed the mother of his other kids.

"My head was just in turmoil," said Fitzpatrick, 44, who eventually got help from a Georgia program which offers parents lagging on child support help finding a job instead of a trip to jail.

Nationwide, data shows that while fewer parents are falling behind in child support payments, those who do are increasingly likely to seek help from programs like Georgia's as they find it harder to find work.

In New York, social service officials plan to extend a pilot program offering employment services and a refundable tax credit for low-income noncustodial parents who remain current in paying child support as new enrollments creep upward.

In Georgia, Department of Human Services leaders are adding 21 new case agents as they plan to serve 6,000 noncustodial parents this fiscal year — twice the annual average.

Overall, states are collecting more child support: Officials collected 62 percent of the $31 billion total amount of current support due for fiscal 2008, an increase of 3.3 percentage points over the percentage of current support collected and distributed in fiscal 2007, according to data collected by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Georgia had 319,992 cases with arrearages due in fiscal 2008, down significantly from 342,181 a year earlier.

Yet here and elsewhere across the nation, fatherhood program agents to family court judges say people are needing more help making payments to the 15.8 million kids who depend on them.

In Kanawha County Family Court, West Virginia's busiest court system, modification requests are up nearly 60 percent from parents who lost jobs or overtime hours, according to officials there.

And in Michigan, home to the nation's highest unemployment, 60 percent of requests are from noncustodial parents asking for payment reductions, said Allegan County Friend of the Court Michael Day.

In New York, where the state's unemployment rate stands at its highest since 1983, parents are pouring into a pilot program offering help finding jobs. New enrollment jumped from 592 between January and August 2008 to 799 for that time frame this year.

"We have seen an increase in participation — frankly, we have since we first launched the program — but I would suspect the economy is definitely having an effect," said Anthony Farmer, a spokesman for the New York Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, which hopes to continue the program.

The Georgia Department of Human Service's Fatherhood Program, the oldest and largest of its kind in the nation, pairs parents with agents who help with everything from resume-building to dressing for a job interview, while simultaneously using department resources to match parents with employment.

The goal is getting cash into the hands of custodial parents, and it works: During fiscal year 2008, participants paid more than $14 million in child support.

The program pulls back parents at risk for going into arrears on payments, potentially saving the state money that might have been spent pursuing the delinquent parent.

Child support officials typically refer parents to the program, created in 1997.

In the past, officials said it largely helped parents who had trouble getting jobs due to arrest records or minimal education.

But lately, "We have experienced men who have worked in factories for years ... made child support payments and had no problem," said Keith Horton, director of Georgia's Office of Child Support Services. "Then bam, they were unemployed."

Georgia officials will sprinkle agents across 17 counties — from Fulton and Gwinnett counties in metropolitan Atlanta to rural Tift county — just as data shows parents receiving state unemployment benefits has quadrupled since 2008.

In Cordele, program agent Neal Edalgo sees 300 cases a month, three times what he saw last year. He faces challenges placing many of them — 15 candidates may be trying for a job at a time, for example — but finds most parents are committed to getting back on track.

"Many of them do have a history of working and supporting their children, but got caught up in industry layoffs, plant closures, company downsizings and that kind of thing," he said.

Participants are tracked by agents after joining the program. Subjects who use the program to get a job must make payments or face legal consequences.

The department lists three men as the state's most wanted child support evaders, owing more than $187,000 for a total of 10 children.



View Larger Map

Sources: MSNBC, Youtube, Google Maps