Aretha Franklin is in hospice care at her home, a source close to the 76-year-old singer told CNN's Don Lemon.
Word of the "Queen of Soul" being gravely ill was first reported by Showbiz 411.
Showbiz 411's Roger Friedman told CNN: "She has a great family, she's surrounded by love, and the world is sending prayers. All further announcements will be made by her family. We just want to send love and prayers."
The soul singer has been dogged by reports of failing health for years and appeared frail in recent photos, but she has kept her struggles private.
In February of 2017, Franklin announced that she would stop touring, but she continued to book concerts. Earlier this year, she canceled a pair of performances, including at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, on doctor's orders, according to Rolling Stone. In 2010, she was forced to cancel to scheduled performances due to fractured ribs and abdominal pain.
Franklin's career spans six decades. She got her start singing gospel music in a Detroit church where her father was the minister. In 1960, she signed with her first major record label. By 1968, Franklin was an established soul chart-topper with hits like "Respect," "Chain of Fools" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."
That same year she was tapped to sing at the memorial service of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. where she performed a stirring rendition of "Precious Lord, Take My Hand."
Franklin was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1987 -- a year before the Beatles were inducted. In 1994, at age 52, she became the youngest at that time to receive a Kennedy Center Honor.
Franklin has 44 Grammy nominations and 18 wins. She has performed at the inaugurations of three presidents:
Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. President George W. Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.
Franklin's last album, "A Brand New Me," released in 2017, remixed her vintage vocals with newly recorded arrangements.
Franklin's last known performance was at a private gala for the Elton John AIDS Foundation last November.
~ Correction: This story has been corrected to clearly identify that Aretha Franklin performed at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s memorial service.
A former St. Louis police officer was acquitted Friday in the fatal shooting of a drug suspect following a chase.
Jason Stockley was charged with first-degree murder in the 2011 death of 24-year-old Anthony Lamar Smith. Testimony in the trial ended Aug. 9, but Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson weighed evidence for more than a month before ruling.
Stockley and his partner sought to question Smith after observing what appeared to be a drug deal on a fast-food restaurant parking lot. Smith drove away, prompting a chase.
Stockley shot into Smith's car five times after the chase. He testified Smith was moving his hand toward an area of the seat where a gun was found. But prosecutors said Stockley planted the gun.
Stockley is white and Smith was black. The case is among several across the United States in recent years that have increased debate about race and policing. Here are some other high-profile deaths of blacks during police encounters:
___
FREDDIE GRAY
The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday it won't bring federal civil rights charges against six Baltimore officers involved in the arrest and in-custody death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man whose death touched off weeks of protests. Gray was shackled but alive when he was put in a Baltimore police van in April 2015. He came out with severe neck injuries. Six officers were charged initially, but prosecutors in July 2016 dropped all remaining charges after acquittals and a hung jury. Gray's family agreed to a $6.4 million settlement with the city in September 2015.
___
LAQUAN MCDONALD
Chicago officer Jason Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder in November 2015, on the same day that the city, under a judge's orders, released dashcam video showing 17-year-old McDonald being shot 16 times on Oct. 20, 2014. Van Dyke, who is white, has pleaded not guilty. The Justice Department determined in January that Chicago police have a long history of civil rights violations and excessive force. A Cook County grand jury looking into allegations of a cover-up is weighing further indictments in the case, the Chicago Sun Times reported in August.
___
KEITH LAMONT SCOTT
A split review board announced in August that it won't challenge a police department's finding that its officer was justified in the fatal shooting of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 2016. The board split 4-4 after reviewing the internal police probe. The board will issue confidential recommendations for policy changes. The shooting provoked several days of unrest, resulting in a death, dozens of arrests and millions of dollars in damage.
___
SAM DUBOSE
A judge in July dismissed charges against Ray Tensing, a white former University of Cincinnati officer who fatally shot Sam DuBose, an unarmed black motorist, during a 2015 traffic stop. The judge's decision came after a prosecutor declined to pursue a third murder trial; the first two ended in hung juries. Tensing has said he feared he could be dragged or run over as DuBose tried to drive away. The university fired Tensing, restructured its public safety department and reached a $5.3 million settlement that includes free undergraduate tuition for DuBose's 13 children.
___
SYLVILLE SMITH
A jury in June acquitted former Milwaukee officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown, who is black, of first-degree reckless homicide in the death of Sylville Smith in 2016. The shooting ignited rioting in the city. Smith was shot following a traffic stop. Police say Smith ran away holding a gun. Prosecutors say Smith fell and Heaggan-Brown shot him once in the arm as he was getting up, still holding the weapon while facing the officer. They say Heaggan-Brown's second shot came after Smith had thrown his gun over a fence. Heaggan-Brown, 25, said he thought Smith was reaching for another gun in his waistband when he fired again.
___
PHILANDO CASTILE
St. Anthony, Minnesota, officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter in June in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile, a black motorist who had just informed the officer that he was carrying a gun. The case in suburban St. Paul garnered immediate attention because Castile's girlfriend streamed the aftermath live on Facebook. Yanez testified that Castile was pulling his gun out of his pocket despite his commands not to do so.
___
JORDAN EDWARDS
Roy Oliver, a white police officer in suburban Dallas, was fired and is charged with murder in the fatal shooting in April of 15-year-old Jordan Edwards. The U.S. Department of Justice also is investigating. Oliver fired a rifle at a car full of teenagers leaving a party, striking Edwards, who was a passenger in the vehicle. Balch Springs, Texas, police had originally said the vehicle was reversing "in an aggressive manner" toward officers, but police Chief Jonathan Haber later said video taken at the scene proved the vehicle was actually driving away. Oliver is free on bond.
___
TERENCE CRUTCHER
An Oklahoma jury in May found white Tulsa police officer Betty Jo Shelby not guilty of first-degree manslaughter in the 2016 death of Terence Crutcher, 40, who was shot shortly after Shelby arrived to find Crutcher's SUV stopped in the middle of the road. Shelby testified that she was afraid because Crutcher didn't obey her commands and appeared to reach inside his vehicle. Prosecutors told jurors that Shelby overreacted, noting that videos from a patrol car dashboard and a police helicopter showed Crutcher had his hands in the air and did not have a weapon.
___
ALTON STERLING
Federal prosecutors announced in May they would not seek charges against two white police officers who were involved in a deadly encounter with Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, last summer. Sterling, 37, was shot to death on July 5, 2016, as the officers pinned him to the pavement outside a convenience store where he had been selling CDs. The killing was captured on cellphone video and circulated widely online, sparking demonstrations across Baton Rouge. U.S. Attorney Corey Amundson said Sterling was armed during the confrontation and the investigation didn't find enough evidence to pursue charges. State authorities are investigating whether to bring charges.
___
JAMAR CLARK
Jamar Clark's November 2015 shooting death sparked weeks of protests in Minneapolis. Two white officers, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, were trying to arrest the 24-year-old when he was shot once in the head. He died a day later. Some witnesses said Clark was handcuffed when he was shot, but federal and state probes concluded that he was not. Investigators said Ringgenberg felt Clark's hand trying to grab his weapon and shouted to Schwarze, who then shot Clark. Prosecutors decided not to charge either officer, and an internal police investigation cleared them.
___
JEREMY MCDOLE
Jeremy McDole, 28, was sitting in his wheelchair when he was shot and killed in September 2015 in Wilmington, Delaware, after police received a 911 call about a man with a gun. A bystander's cellphone footage showed officers repeatedly telling McDole to drop his weapon and raise his hands, with McDole reaching for his waist area before shots erupted. The Delaware attorney general's office decided not to criminally charge four Wilmington police officers involved. A federal judge approved the city's $1.5 million settlement with McDole's family.
___
WILLIAM CHAPMAN II
Former Portsmouth, Virginia, police officer Stephen Rankin was sentenced last October to 2½ years in prison for fatally shooting William Chapman II while responding to a shoplifting call outside a Walmart on April 22, 2015. Prosecutors allege Rankin killed the unarmed 18-year-old "willfully, deliberately and with premeditation." Some witnesses said Chapman was combative, and one said he knocked away Rankin's stun gun. Rankin, who is white, was fired.
___
WALTER SCOTT
Prosecutors are recommending decades in prison for white South Carolina police officer Michael Slager, who shot Walter Scott in the back as the motorist fled following a traffic stop. Slager pleaded guilty in May to a federal charge of violating Scott's civil rights. A judge will determine his sentence, which could range from probation to life in prison without parole. Scott's shooting in April 2015 was captured on cellphone video and seen worldwide.
___
ERIC HARRIS
Former Tulsa County volunteer sheriff's deputy Robert Bates, 74, was sentenced in 2016 to four years in prison for second-degree manslaughter in the April 2015 death of Eric Harris, 44, who was unarmed and restrained. Bates, who is white, has said he confused his stun gun with his handgun. That shooting led to the temporary suspension of the reserve deputy program after a report found poor training of the volunteer officers, a lack of oversight, and cronyism. Bates is appealing his conviction.
___
TAMIR RICE
Tamir Rice, 12, was fatally shot by a white Cleveland police officer in a recreational area in November 2014. Officers were responding to a report of a man waving a gun. The boy had a pellet gun tucked in his waistband and was shot after the officers' cruiser skidded to a stop, just feet away. A grand jury in December 2015 declined to indict patrolman Timothy Loehmann, who fired the fatal shot, and training officer Frank Garmback. The city settled Rice's family's lawsuit for $6 million. Cleveland in May fired Loehmann and suspended Garmback for 10 days. The officers' union called the discipline politically motivated.
___
AKAI GURLEY
Rookie New York City police officer Peter Liang was convicted of manslaughter last year in the November 2014 death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley. Liang, an American of Chinese descent, said he was patrolling a public housing high-rise with his gun drawn when a sound startled him and he fired accidentally. A bullet ricocheted off a wall, hitting Gurley. A judge reduced the conviction to negligent homicide and sentenced Liang to five years' probation and 800 hours of community service. The city settled with Gurley's family for $4.1 million.
___
MICHAEL BROWN
Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was fatally shot by a white officer, Darren Wilson, in August 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department opted against civil rights charges. Wilson later resigned. The death of Brown led to months of sometimes-violent protests and became a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement.
___
JOHN CRAWFORD III
Police in the Dayton, Ohio, suburb of Beavercreek responded to a Walmart store in August 2014 on a call of a man waving an apparent rifle. A white officer fatally shot John Crawford III, 22, who was carrying what turned out to be an air rifle from a store shelf. Police said they believed it was a real gun and that he didn't respond to their commands to put it down. A grand jury declined to indict the officers. The U.S. Justice Department said it was reviewing the case, and an attorney for Crawford's family has filed a federal lawsuit.
___
ERIC GARNER
Eric Garner, 43, died in July 2014 in New York City after a white officer placed him in a chokehold during an arrest for selling loose cigarettes. A grand jury declined to indict that officer, or any others involved in the arrest. The city agreed to pay a $6 million civil settlement.
___
REKIA BOYD
Chicago police officer Dante Servin resigned in May 2016 after the police superintendent said he should be fired for killing Rekia Boyd four years earlier. Servin was off duty when he shot the 22-year-old unarmed woman. She had been walking down a street with her friends when he told them to be quiet, and he fired when he thought he saw a gun. Prosecutors charged Servin with involuntary manslaughter; a judge acquitted him in April 2016, saying he'd been improperly charged. The city settled a wrongful-death lawsuit in 2013 with Boyd's family for $4.5 million.
Officials have identified four teenagers killed Monday in a crash between an SUV and tractor-trailer in south Fulton County.
The teens, identified late Tuesday by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office, were Isaiah Gregory, 15, Cameron Jones, 16, Ke’Ariy Lopez 14, and Octavious Rhodes, 16.
Isaiah, Ke’Ariy and Octavious were freshmen at Langston Hughes High School, Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Hale said Wednesday morning. Cameron, she said, was new to the school, having transferred from another district about two months ago. He withdrew from Langston Hughes less than two weeks ago, Hale said.
A family member released the name and photo of the student who survived the crash.
Sophomore Lexus Todd was in the back of the Lincoln Navigator involved in Monday’s deadly collision, Lexus’ grandmother told Channel 2 Action News.
Her legs were crushed, and she suffered bleeding of the brain, the television station reported.
Fulton police said the preliminary investigation revealed that the driver of the SUV ran a red light, causing the collision.
The accident happened about 1:17 p.m. at Ga. 92 and Butner Road, Fulton police Cpl. Maureen Smith said.
Three of the teens were trapped inside the SUV and had to be extricated, Fulton fire Deputy Chief Charles Stubb said. The driver was ejected.
Lexus was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital. She was still there Wednesday morning, Hale said.
“Lexus is expected to recover from her injuries,” Hale said.
The tractor-trailer driver was also taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
The school system has a counseling team at Langston Hughes to help students and staff, Hale said.
Channel 2 spoke to parent Anissa Williams about the mood inside the school.
“It’s very quiet,” she said. “I've never gone into any school where there's hundreds of children and heard the silence I heard today. And I can truly say it was birthed out of pain.”
****** Questions persist in wreck that killed four Fulton County students
As hundreds of students returned to Langston Hughes High School in South Fulton County on Tuesday in the wake of four classmates killed Monday in a vehicle collision, questions surrounded the circumstances that led to the teens being off campus.
Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Hale said she cannot confirm whether the students were supposed to be on campus during the crash until all are positively identified.
Fulton County Schools officials said Tuesday they could not answer many questions related to the students until all were identified by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The Langston Hughes High students killed in the crash were identified late Tuesday by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office as Isaiah Gregory, 15, Cameron Jones, 16, Ke’Ariy Lopez 14, and Octavious Rhodes, 16.
"As you can imagine it's so sorrowful," said Shannon Flounnory, the district's executive director for safety and security. "Essentially, our students have lost members of their family."
Grief counselors were on hand as students returned to school the day after the fatal accident.
Isabel Ramirez, who said her daughter knew one of the teens who apparently died in the crash, said something must be done to avoid administrators and school police from turning a blind eye as students freely enter and exit the campus, tucked away from Hwy 92 on Hall Road in Fairburn.
"They let the students come and go ... as if it's WalMart," she said.
***** 4 Langston Hughes High students killed in tractor-trailer crash
Four teenagers were killed and another was injured Monday in a crash involving a tractor-trailer and a Lincoln Navigator, Fulton County police said.
The teens were confirmed to be students at Langston Hughes High School, Channel 2 Action News reported.
The school system will have a counseling team at Langston Hughes on Tuesday to help students and staff, Fulton County Schools spokeswoman Susan Hale said.
It was also a bad day for Cobb County schools as two Lassiter High teenagers died in an afternoon crash.
The crash happened around 1:17 p.m. at Campbellton Fairburn and Butner roads in south Fulton, police said.
Five teens, four boys and a girl, were inside the SUV when the crash happened, Fulton police Cpl. Maureen Smith said. Three of the teens were trapped inside the car and had to be extricated, Fulton fire Deputy Chief Charles Stubb said. The driver was ejected.
The girl, who was pulled from the back seat, was taken to Grady Memorial Hospital with injuries. Her condition was not released.
The tractor-trailer driver was also taken to a hospital with minor injuries.
Fulton police said the preliminary investigation revealed that the driver of the SUV ran a red light, causing the collision.
Police did not release the identities of the teens pending notification of next of kin.
No other details were released.
**** Inside Paisley Park on the anniversary of Prince’s death
CHANHASSEN, Minn. – Of all the eerily beautiful moments while spending time in Paisley Park on the anniversary eve of Prince’s death, the most bittersweet was provided by the man himself.
On a massive screen inside the massive soundstage Prince frequently used for performances, a clip played from a 2014 concert with 3rdeyegirl.
As he steered “Purple Rain” through its moody intervals, Prince paused to tell the crowd, “If you come to my house, you have to take care of it…at Paisley Park we sing together, we dine together, we love together.”
It was a fitting comment at that moment, with close to 1,000 fans from across the world assembled in the Paisley Park audience, all staring in the dark at video footage of the performer who died on April 21, 2016 just a few hundred feet from that screen, and exactly a week after thrilling crowds at the Fox Theatre at what became his final concerts.
While the mourning process continues for many – Matt Fink of The Revolution said earlier in the week that he still grieves for his former boss – this weekend at Paisley Park is supposed to be about rejoicing in Prince’s musical contributions and preserving his legacy.
The four-day Celebration 2017 kicked off Thursday with waves of fans who spent between $500 and $1,000 to bask in the Prince-ly aura, wander through parts of the Paisley compound (the Atrium houses Prince’s ashes – out of reach – in a “symbol”-shaped urn, guitar displays and, on the second floor, his white doves in a white cage), attend panels with members of The New Power Generation and soak in a surprise performance from George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic.
A gambler would have lost some cash that Clinton, at 75, would outlive Prince, who died at 57.
For more than an hour, Clinton and P-Funk bulldozed through one seamless groove that included “Get Up for the Down Stroke,” “Flashlight” and “Give Up the Funk.” Clinton alternately led the adrenalized crowd through arm calisthenics and slumped in a purple chair in front of the drum riser, content to direct his ace musicians as they paid tribute to Prince with their funk-steeped rock ‘n’ roll.
The afternoon concert – which would be repeated for a second round of Celebration attendees that evening – was the first live music event at Paisley Park since Prince’s death.
But there Clinton was, a tamer, less-colorful, shorter-haired version, barking through “Atomic Dog” in a silver-sequined military hat and long silver jacket, a dozen or so musicians in varying degrees of costumes whirling around him.
Because cell phones are prohibited at Paisley Park – a Prince rule even before his death – and were placed in Yondr pouches upon entry into the building, fans could experience the music uninterrupted by camera screens and glaring Facebook pages.
Damaris Lewis, who joined New Power Generation in 2012 as a dancer, served as lithe hostess and told the assembled throng after P-Funk’s set, “Live music. Real musicians. Real music. Nothing like it.
Inside the soundstage, a giant lighted Prince symbol hung from a back corner, while a banner of Prince’s face, silhouetted against a moon, looked toward the stage, his guidance omnipresent.
That same stage was the setting for a panel featuring NPG members Levi Seacer, Morris Hayes, Tony Mosley and Damon Dickson, who offered hilarious accounts of their time with Prince, as well as stories about his notorious work ethic.
“We would pull three-day straight sessions,” Hayes said. “He was so dedicated to the creation process. If you start it, finish it.”
Throughout the weekend, Celebration 2017 will present performances and panels from The Revolution, Morris Day & The Time, 3rdeyegirl and Paisley Park mainstays.
If there was a message to receive on Thursday, Seacer provided it: “Prince was all about r
DAVID "ILLUMNIATI BLOODLINE" ROCKEFELLER DEAD AT AGE 101:
ONE OF THE NWO 13 ILLUMINATI BLOODLINE FAMILIES.
JUNE 12, 1915 - MARCH 20, 2017 (NEW YORK)
BILL & HILLARY CLINTON MOURNS.
PROVERBS 11:9-11
9 With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors,
but through knowledge the righteous escape.
10 When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices;
when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.
11 Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted,
but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.
Sources: Reuters, Russia Today, WSJ, The Holy Bible, YouTube
***** Billionaire philanthropist David Rockefeller dies at age 101 in New York
Billionaire philanthropist David Rockefeller, former head of Chase Manhattan Corp and patriarch of one of the most famous and influential American families, died on Monday, a family spokesman said. He was 101.
Rockefeller, who reportedly gave away nearly $2 billion in his lifetime, died in his sleep of congestive heart failure at his home in Pocantico Hills, New York, spokesman Fraser Seitel said in a statement.
One of the few remaining links to the U.S. "gilded" era of robber barons, he was the son of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who developed New York's Rockefeller Center, and was the last living grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and the family dynasty. He also embodied an era when globe-trotting bank chiefs worked with the world's most powerful politicians.
During his time as head of Chase from 1969 to 1981, Rockefeller forged such a network of close relationships with governments and multinational corporations that observers said the bank had its own foreign policy.
The Rockefeller name came to symbolize unpopular U.S. banking policies in debtor countries, and Rockefeller was scorned on the left for working with Chile's Augusto Pinochet and the shah of Iran.
He also was viewed with anger on the right for pushing to open trade with China and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Trilateral Commission, a group Rockefeller founded in 1973 to foster relations between North America, Japan and Western Europe, came to be a regular target of the far-right and conspiracy theorists who said it was trying to create a one-world government.
Rockefeller became embroiled in an international incident when in 1979 he and long-time friend Henry Kissinger helped persuade President Jimmy Carter to admit the shah of Iran to the United States for treatment of lymphoma, helping precipitate the Iran hostage crisis.
Born in Manhattan as the youngest of six siblings, Rockefeller spent his childhood in New York City and at the family's estates, and recalled meeting such luminaries as Charles Lindbergh, Admiral Richard Byrd and Sigmund Freud.
His ties to the internationally famous continued throughout his adulthood, symbolized by his famed 100,000-card Rolodex, housed in its own room next to his office in Manhattan's Rockefeller Center.
The site of the nine-story mansion where he was born, then New York's largest residence, is now part of the Museum of Modern Art, which his mother, Abby, helped found in 1929.
Rockefeller collected beetles as a lifelong hobby and also acquired art - a Mark Rothko painting he bought in 1960 for less than $10,000 was auctioned for more than $72 million in May 2007.
His fortune, investments in real estate, share of family trusts and other holdings were estimated at $3.3 billion in March 2017 by Forbes magazine. Seitel said Rockefeller had donated nearly $2 billion in his lifetime to organizations including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Rockefeller University.
In May 2015, he made a rare public appearance in Maine to mark his approaching 100th birthday by donating 1,000 acres (405 hectares) for preservation on exclusive Mount Desert Island.
Rockefeller established several international and philanthropic associations: the Americas Society, the weighty Trilateral Commission to promote cooperation between North America, Europe and Japan, and the New York City Partnership to help the city's poor.
Chase Manhattan grew from a $4.8 billion institution in 1946 when he joined to a bank with $76.2 billion in assets when he stepped down in April 1981. But it slipped from its standing then as No. 3 in the world and was purchased by Chemical Bank of New York in 1996. Today it is part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.
He published his autobiography, "Memoirs," in 2002 and continued going to work every day into his 90s.
He remained a lifelong member of the moderate "Rockefeller Republicans" wing of that party, including his 2006 co-founding of Republicans Who Care, to support the party's moderates.
Rockefeller earned a degree from Harvard University in 1936 and did graduate work at the London School of Economics, where he met future President John F. Kennedy and dated his sister Kathleen. He was awarded a Ph.D in economics from the University of Chicago in 1940.
From 1940 to 1941 he was secretary to New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and in 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in military intelligence in North Africa and France.
Rockefeller was awarded the French Legion of Honor.
Rockefeller's wife Peggy died in 1996. They had six children and 10 grandchildren.
KANYE WEST SEEN IN PUBLIC W/ BLONDE HAIR, LOOKS LIKE DRUGGED UP ZOMBIE:
YEEZY WAS PROPPED UP LIKE AN EXHIBIT AT AN FURNITURE SHOW IN "HOLLYWEIRD" WITH ILLUMINATI, MASONIC HAND POSITIONS.
WHY ISN'T KANYE BEING ALLOWED TO SPEAK FOR HIMSELF OR TO WAVE AT ANYONE?
HIS NEW STAGE NAME IS "KIM KHARDASHIAN'S HUSBAND".
THE REAL KANYE IS GONE, HIS EYES LOOK
EMPTY.
WHAT HAPPENED TO ALL OF KANYE'S WEALTH??
PLEASE PRAY FOR HIM.
Sources: Mirror Magazine, Hollyscoop, YouTube
***** Kanye West resurfaces in Los Angeles with BLONDE hair following hospitalization
Kanye West has resurfaced in Los Angeles following his hospitalisation.
Just under two weeks since the rapper was admitted to UCLA Medical Centre, he's been pictured at an art exhibition.
On Thursday, the star attended the Rick Owens: Furniture exhibition at the MOCA Pacific Deisgn Centre in West Hollywood.
The picture, taken by artist Giovanni Bassan, shows the star sporting a new blonde hairstyle.
"K's in da house," the picture was captioned.
It's been a tough couple of months for the star, but he appeared to be in good spirits.
Meanwhile, the rapper - who cancelled all his remaining tour dates shortly before being admitted to hospital - is thought to already be working on new music.
TMZ claims Kanye is comparing his recent mental health issues, and his subsequent eight-day stay in hospital, to the near-fatal car accident he was involved in back in 2002 and the sudden death of his mother Donda in 2007.
The dad-of-two reportedly feels that those incidents spawned some of his best-ever work, such as the hit single Through The Wire.
Earlier this week, rumours began to swirl that the reality star was planning to divorce her husband of two years, but they were later shot down.
Kim's close friend Jonathan Cheban was quizzed about the speculation on Wednesday evening and said it was the first he'd heard about it.
Jonathan said: "I just FaceTimed with Kim and Kanye and everyone's talking about some divorce rumours and I was laughing because I didn't hear that all day and I guess everybody else apparently here did and it's so funny to me because it's so not true."
He added to E! News:
"They're in good spirits. I don't want to talk much about them because it's not my business but I do have to say that the divorcing is kind of hysterical, that I will mention, because I just spoke to both of them on FaceTime literally before I was coming here and when I heard that I literally burst out laughing."
Following reports, the Keeping Up With The Kardashians official Twitter page also declared that the rumours simply aren't true.
"Calm down everyone: Kim and Kanye are NOT divorcing," the tweet read.
KANYE WEST PROOF OF LIFE AFTER RECENT MELTDOWN? (SACRAMENTO RANT):
NO MORE MAINSTREAM MEDIA PROPAGANDA.
IS KANYE DEAD OR ALIVE?
WHERE IS HE?
Sources: XXL Magazine, Perez Hilton, Youtube
Is it unreasonable to ask for proof that Kanye West is still alive after he ranted ILLUMINATI Secrets while performing at a recent concert in Sacramento, California??
After being yanked off stage (while ranting about the ILLUMINATI) and hospitalized, he was released seven days later.
Immediately upon his "release" the Mainstream Media claimed Kanye would need to receive closely supervised Mental Health treatment for a very long time.
The remainder of Kanye's "St Pablo" tour was also cancelled.
Then the MSM claimed Kanye and his wife Kim KHARDASHIAN are separated and Kim is preparing to divorce him.
Now the MSM is claiming that Kanye is in a studio working on a new album.
How can he be working on a new album so soon if he is "Bat Crazy"?
Enough is enough of this MSM propaganda about Kanye West!
Will the REAL Kanye West please hold a Media Press Conference to prove that he still ALIVE and SANE?
Will the REAL Kanye West please release information about where he is currently located?
KANYE WEST'S RECENT INTERVIEW BEFORE MELTDOWN (SURFACE MAGAZINE):
HE SPOKE INTELLIGENTLY BUT YOU CAN TELL HE WAS ANGRY & HURT ABOUT SOMETHING.
Sources: Billboard, Surface Magazine, YouTube
***** Kanye West's Thoughtful Interview on the Music Industry, Emojis & Design With 'Surface' Magazine
Despite being touted as the king of controversy for his extensive rant in Sacramento over the weekend, Kanye West does what he does best and did not censor himself for his latest interview with Surfacemagazine.
While discussing his passion for design and art, the Chicago rapper-cum-designer also discussed the power of the Internet, including his love for emojis.
“There’s a lack of people in power that are motivated by the idea of helping people. But, thanks to the internet, people who would never have made it through a corporate system, they were able to jump to positions of power in their 20s that work on ideas for the new world," said West.
West also urged people to stop handing over their power to the "uncool" and allowing others to dictate their lives. "More people need to know that they’re not f---ing cool. In today’s world, having money has allowed people who are extremely uncool to think that they’re cool and carry it like that. People who really are cool and people who really are artists and have ideas have to literally turn in their cool card to society just to make it past the age of 28."
Elsewhere in the interview, he touched on his desire to further children's education, all while comparing life to the popular '90s video game The Legend of Zelda. "People across the world just lack opportunities, period. I feel a responsibility because of my parents. They’re activists and were in the world-changing business," he said. "Any extra goodwill or good skills I’ve gained I learned from them, and take along on my Legend of Zelda role-playing path in life."
Black male entertainer Kanye Omari West was born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Chicago, Illinois by his mother the late Dr Donda West.
Kanye's musical prodigy gift became obvious quite early in life.
By the time he reached high school Kanye had garnered the reputation as a songwriter and musician.
After attending college for one year Kanye withdrew to pursue his dream of moving to NYC to be signed by a major record label.
In 2002 Kanye inked a deal with the founders of Rockafella records, Hip Hop Artist Jay-Z and businessman Damon Dash.
Kanye's 2005 duet with fellow entertainer Jamie Foxx "Gold Digger" branded him as an international star.
However it appears Kanye craved for more than just billboard success.
He wanted to be lifted up like Jesus, thus his nickname "Yeezus".
Via members of the Music Industry's Illuminati Elite, Kanye allegedly agreed to sell his soul to the Devil and allegedly offered up his mother Dr Donda West as a Blood Sacrifice.
It was reported via the mainstream media that Dr Donda West died in 2007, supposedly as a result of complications from Cosmetic Surgery.
However years later it has been exposed that allegedly Kanye allowed his mother to die as a satanic Blood Sacrifice for Fame and Fortune.
Dear God!
According to sources closest to him, as each year passes, Kanye becomes very erratic on the anniversary of his mother's death.
During a recent concert performance in Sacramento, California Kanye stopped his show to deliver a 20 minute rant about several topics involving the Illuminati, Pres Obama, Hillary Clinton's general election loss, Mainstream Media Propaganda, Facebook, Google, Race Wars, how Dirty the Music Industry is, etc.,
Immediately after this rant Kanye was hospitalized for seven days before being released.
Now that Kanye has awakened from his Demonic trance and no longer wants to be a devil worshipper and no longer wants KIM KHARDASHIAN to control him, the Illuminati powers that be want to Discredit and KILL him in order to Silence him.
(FYI: Yes the ILLUMINATI is real!)
Assassinating people's character to Discredit people and Shut them up from exposing Deceit and the TRUTH is one of Satan's oldest tricks.
He even did it to JESUS back in the day.
KANYE is not crazy.
Instead he is being tormented by the same devil he once sold his Soul to.
KANYE is sick and tired of serving the devil.
Just as MICHAEL JACKSON and PRINCE became tired.
He needs JESUS!
Satan is a cruel taskmaster who rewards his loyal followers with DEATH and DESTRUCTION and HELL.
How many born again CHRISTIANS are still playing Games with the devil today?
One foot in the world, one foot in the Kingdom of God.
How many CHRISTIANS have been deceived into thinking they can do whatever they please
(commit Adultery, steal, gossip, Fornication, FREEMASONRY, joining Greek Organizations & Secret Societies, spread lies, bearing False witness, shed Innocent Blood, create Strife & Division, Assassinate their brother or sister's character, etc.,)
without expecting to suffer eternal Consequences on JUDGMENT Day??
There are many Black Men today in Christian Churches who are USHERS, who still believe it is acceptable unto God to remain a FREEMASON or an ALPHA, OMEGA, etc.,
There are many Black Women today in Christian Churches who are Church members & Dept Leaders, who still believe it is acceptable unto God to remain an AKA, DELTA, etc.,
How can human beings serve both God and Mammon and remain TRUE to the Lord JESUS CHRIST?
How many CHRISTIANS has Satan deceived into believing that God's GRACE is a license to continue in WILLFUL DISOBEDIENCE and DELIBERATE SIN when they think no one is watching them?
Yes God is a God of LOVE, Mercy and Grace.
But God is not to be Mocked.
Be not deceived.
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
This includes CHURCH LEADERS because no one is above GOD.
No one is above JESUS CHRIST.
One day EVERY knee will bow to JESUS CHRIST, King of Kings; Lord of Lords!
IT'S TOO HOT FOR ILLUMINATI HITMEN TO ELIMINATE HIM RIGHT NOW.
KANYE HAS EXPOSED EVERYONE & EVERYTHING.
#PRAYFORKANYE
Sources: Star News, E! News, Jim Beckwith, YouTube
***** Kanye West Released From the Hospital a Week After Being Admitted for "Exhaustion"
Kanye West is on his way home following his hospitalization.
E! News can confirm the rapper was released from the hospital a week after being admitted for exhaustion on Nov. 21. According to TMZ, the rapper is at home with his wife and kids.
Just hours after the surprise cancellation of the rest of his Saint Pablo Tour, E! News confirmed the Grammy-winning rapper voluntarily went to the UCLA Medical Center for evaluation after suffering from exhaustion and sleep deprivation.
At the time, the rapper was with his personal trainer Harley Pasternak. The hospital visit was under the consultation of West's physician, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.
After the doctor made the 911 call, the incident was deemed a "medical emergency" and the Fire Department responded to Pasternak's home Monday afternoon. In a recording of the Fire Department's dispatch call (obtained by TMZ), the encounter was referred to as a "psychiatric emergency."
His wife of two years, Kim Kardashian, was with West at the hospital Tuesday morning, the source said. The reality star had been in New York City Monday night to make her first public appearance at the Angel Ball charity function since being robbed at gunpoint in Paris in early October.
However, upon West's hospitalization, the mother of two turned around and headed back to Los Angeles without making any such appearance.
According to a second source, the star's mounting exhaustion is to blame on his "workaholic" personality. He has been working around the clock on fashion design, both on his own line and his adidas line. Balancing his projects and the demands of his tour every night has been a challenge for the star.
Being on the road and away from his young children and wife—particularly after the traumatic robbery in Paris—has also been challenging. As the source noted, all the time spent away from his family has been a stress on West as he considers them the most important.
Earlier this week, another source told E! News that the rapper was not being held "against his will" in the hospital. Rather, he wasn't quite ready to leave just yet.
"Kanye is the kind of person if he gets released and isn't mentally ready he will go back to his old ways and push himself over the limit again," the insider explained. "He needs to keep up with counseling even though he has an intense work schedule. He is just really drained and still weak. He isn't himself."
Unconfirmed reports have claimed the rapper was handcuffed to a gurney. The handcuffing is standard protocol for an involuntary psychiatric hold, which is also referred to as a "5150." In such cases, patients are believed to potentially be a danger to themselves, others around them, and/or gravely disabled.
By Tuesday afternoon, a source told E! News, "Kanye is doing better." The insider added that the rapper did not have a phone or computer with him per doctors' directions. As the source noted, West's "mental exhaustion" was taking a toll. "He almost quit a few times during tour, including right after the robbery."
His wife of two years, Kim Kardashian, was with West at the hospital Tuesday morning, the source said. The reality star had been in New York City Monday night to make her first public appearance at the Angel Ball charity function since being robbed at gunpoint in Paris in early October.
However, upon West's hospitalization, the mother of two turned around and headed back to Los Angeles without making any such appearance.
According to a second source, the star's mounting exhaustion is to blame on his "workaholic" personality. He has been working around the clock on fashion design, both on his own line and his adidas line. Balancing his projects and the demands of his tour every night has been a challenge for the star.
Being on the road and away from his young children and wife—particularly after the traumatic robbery in Paris—has also been challenging. As the source noted, all the time spent away from his family has been a stress on West as he considers them the most important.
Earlier this week, another source told E! News that the rapper was not being held "against his will" in the hospital. Rather, he wasn't quite ready to leave just yet.
"Kanye is the kind of person if he gets released and isn't mentally ready he will go back to his old ways and push himself over the limit again," the insider explained. "He needs to keep up with counseling even though he has an intense work schedule. He is just really drained and still weak. He isn't himself."
~ WHERE SATAN WORSHIP, FREEMASONRY & BLOOD SACRIFICE FOR FAME OR CULTURE EVENTUALLY LEADS YOU.
Sources: The Vigilant Christian, Jim Beckwith, TMZ, YouTube
Kanye really did sell his soul to the devil and possibly offered his late Mother as a blood sacrifice for Fame and Fortune.
Now that he has awakened from his Demonic trance and no longer wants to be a devil worshipper and no longer wants KIM KHARDASHIAN to control him, the Illuminati powers that be want to Discredit and KILL him in order to Silence him.
(FYI: Yes the ILLUMINATI is real!)
Assassinating people's character to Discredit people and Shut them up from exposing Deceit and the TRUTH is one of Satan's oldest tricks.
He even did it to JESUS back in the day.
KANYE is not crazy.
Instead he is being tormented by the same devil he once sold his Soul to.
KANYE is sick and tired of serving the devil.
Just as MICHAEL JACKSON and PRINCE became tired.
He needs JESUS!
Satan is a cruel taskmaster who rewards his loyal followers with DEATH and DESTRUCTION and HELL.
How many born again CHRISTIANS are still playing Games with the devil today?
One foot in the world, one foot in the Kingdom of God.
How many CHRISTIANS have been deceived into thinking they can do whatever they please
(commit Adultery, steal, gossip, Fornication, FREEMASONRY, joining Greek Organizations & Secret Societies, spread lies, bearing False witness, shed Innocent Blood, create Strife & Division, Assassinate their brother or sister's character, etc.,)
without expecting to suffer eternal Consequences on JUDGMENT Day??
There are many Black Men today in Christian Churches who are USHERS, who still believe it is acceptable unto God to remain a FREEMASON or an ALPHA, OMEGA, etc.,
There are many Black Women today in Christian Churches who are Church members & Dept Leaders, who still believe it is acceptable unto God to remain an AKA, DELTA, etc.,
How can human beings serve both God and Mammon and remain TRUE to the Lord JESUS CHRIST?
How many CHRISTIANS has Satan deceived into believing that God's GRACE is a license to continue in WILLFUL DISOBEDIENCE and DELIBERATE SIN when they think no one is watching them?
Yes God is a God of LOVE, Mercy and Grace.
But God is not to be Mocked.
Be not deceived.
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
This includes CHURCH LEADERS because no one is above GOD.
No one is above JESUS CHRIST.
One day EVERY knee will bow to JESUS CHRIST, King of Kings; Lord of Lords!
WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK CELEBRITIES DYING WHILE OBAMA IS IN OFFICE?
WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK CELEBRITIES GOING BROKE WHILE OBAMA IS IN OFFICE?
Sources: CBS News, Celeb TV, CNN, Harpo, Mirror.co.uk, Youtube
Since Pres OBAMA'S election the rate at which BLACK Celebrities are dying raises a red flag and appears very suspicious.
First there was Michael Jackson, then Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Maya Angelou, Natalie Cole, Bobbi Kristina and now PRINCE.
With the exception of Maya Angelou, none of these Black Celebrities were very old and all of them were Wealthy and could afford the best Medical care.
Human Beings are Mortal creatures in this life thus we won't live for ever while on planet Earth.
Of course there have been other Black Celebrities who died under White Presidents, however the alarming rate at which Black Celebrities have expired under Obama should create great cause for concern to say the least.
Could it be these Black Celebrities are worth more Dead then Alive to the Entertainment and Music Industry??
After PRINCE recently expired the Mainstream Media tried to immediately release negative false narratives about his suspicious untimely death.
For example: He had AIDS.
He died of an Drug Overdose.
Maybe it was Suicide.
After much public outrage, an Autopsy was finally conducted on PRINCE'S remains before he was quickly cremated.
So am I implying Pres OBAMA played a role in the deaths of these Black Celebrities?
No but something nefarious is definitely going on and someone needs to question why so many Black Celebrities are dying while Obama is still in office.
As news of Prince's untimely death at 57 spread across the Internet on Thursday, with fans quoting the music icon's lyrics and sharing footage of legendary performances, the online conversation quickly broadened.
Michael Jackson, who died in 2009, and Whitney Houston, who died in 2012, joined Prince on the list of top U.S. trends on Twitter. Call it mourning in the digital age.
The initial shock of Prince's death prompted a larger reflection of iconic artists lost too soon.
Some struggled to grasp the loss of artists who touched so many lives.
Prince's cause of death has yet to be confirmed by officials. He had recently been ill with the flu.
Police confirmed a fatality at Prince's estate in Minnesota this morning
A forensics team and a medical examiner are at the scene
Prince, 57, was rushed to hospital six days ago with symptoms of flu
Prince has died aged 57 at his estate in Minnesota.
Sources told TMZ that his body was found this morning at his Paisley Park studio.
Paramedics were called out at 9.43 this morning and Carver County Sheriff's Department confirmed that there had been a fatality.
A forensics team and a medical examiner are at the scene, Fox 9 reported.
He was aboard his private flight when he fell ill, forcing it to make an unscheduled landing in Illinois on Friday morning.
TMZ reported that the seven-time Grammy award winning singer's plane diverted to Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois, to make the emergency landing.
He had had been suffering from flu for a number of weeks and was believed to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse in the early hours of Friday.
He was treated for three hours before being released.
Initial reports on his condition painted a much graver pictures, with one source claiming at the time he was 'not doing well'.
The Purple Rain hitmaker had performed at The Fox Theatre in Atlanta on last Thursday night - the second of two back to back sold out shows - and had seemed fine during the concert.
The superstar musician combined rock, R&B, soul and hip-hop to create a unique sound that led to him selling more than 100million records during his 40-year career.
Prince was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1958 and started making music at the age of seven.
Prince - full name Prince Rogers Nelson - was hospitalized six days ago with flu symptom
ATLANTA'S DIRTY SOUTH "SECRET" IN BLACK COMMUNITIES - FREEMASONS (POWER, MONEY & SEX):
MIND CONTROL, ADULTERY, CHILD EXPLOITATION & CHILD PROSTITUTION.
Atlanta is known as "the City too busy to hate" and "the BLACK Mecca".
However aside from the Southern Hip Hop music, Successful BLACK-owned businesses and Peach-flavored ice tea, is something much more Sinister.
Atlanta's BLACK FREEMASONS and Child Exploitation!
Learn how the BLACK Freemason organization controls BLACK Men and destroys Marriages for MONEY, POWER & Illicit SEX. (see video above)
How "Dirty" is the City of ATLANTA?
Look no further than the region's BLACK FREEMASONS and their Sister organization the EASTERN STARS.
The majority of Atlanta’s BLACK male leaders, including BLACK Men who work in Corporate America, are indeed FREEMASON members. (i.e. Prince Hall Masonic lodge)
Each FREEMASON member is assigned to a Masonic lodge.
Each member pays mandatory DUES to their lodges.
The more DUES a lodge collects, the more Powerful those lodge members are.
Thus it is imperative for Atlanta’s BLACK FREEMASONS to attract new members by any means necessary.
This includes breaking up MARRIAGES by encouraging Men to commit ADULTERY with much Younger Women or Girls.
Many of these men are Cold-hearted Married BLACK men, long known for Worshipping a False GOD......Engaging in frequent Adulterous acts......doing absolutely anything for MONEY and POWER.
Atlanta’s BLACK FREEMASONS use DECEPTION……POWER……MONEY…..INFLUENCE to Control Poor BLACK people and POLITICS.
CHILD PROSTITUTION is also linked to Atlanta's BLACK FREEMASONS.
** Related Topics: (VIDEO)
Secret society
14th century
Illuminati - Egypt
33 degrees
Blood oaths; must Denounce GOD Almighty
Secret Ceremonies and Masonic Lodges
Prince hall Masonic lodge - sweet auburn street in ATLANTA
Mind Control
Very Strong Suggestions
Adultery is strongly encouraged & Multiple Divorces are common
Child Prostitution
Child Exploitation
No Women allowed *(Sinister Sister organization - EASTERN STARS)
A female defendant is escorted into the courtroom with shackles around her ankles, making it difficult to walk.
Dressed in a jail-issued jumpsuit and flip-flops, she takes a seat at the appointed table up front, until the judge is gaveled in and we all rise.
As a newspaper reporter for more than 20 years in Atlanta, I'd observed this scene before. But this time, something was different.
This defendant was chewing on her finger, had her hair pulled back in a tiny pigtail, and spoke in a high-pitched voice.
She was 10.
She had been in and out of an Atlanta jail for months, as had her sister, because she was an alleged prostitute, a chronic runaway and no one knew what to do with her.
When her probation officer asked whether the defendant could address the court, the judge nodded yes, and the little girl rose from the defense table.
Her head bowed, she quietly told the judge she wanted to go home. Then, as she rubbed her eyes with balled up fists, she began to cry.
Nearly 15 years ago, I wrote a series of stories called "Selling Atlanta's Children" about child prostitution for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and I started it with that courtroom scene.
That little girl was a metaphor for everything I had learned through my reporting.
By meeting and interviewing her, her 11-year-old sister and other girls, I realized: There's something wrong with this picture.
In 2000, I got a call in the newsroom from Stephanie Davis, a woman I'd never met, who identified herself as director of the Atlanta Women's Foundation.
She told me there was a problem with childhood prostitution in Atlanta, that she knew I'd written about children's issues before, and that she wanted me to meet with some people who could describe in detail what was happening.
I was working on another series of stories, but I agreed to the meeting.
A week or so later, I met with a group of women that included a Fulton County Juvenile Court probation officer and some child advocates.
They told me that a growing number of young girls -- early to late teens -- were coming into juvenile court charged with shoplifting or, more commonly, running away -- an offense that applies only to minors.
Upon questioning by the judge, they learned that the girls were surviving on the streets as prostitutes under the tutelage of men who housed, fed and clothed them and, in exchange, sold them to other men for sex. I asked for numbers, but they couldn't provide them.
I asked for access to the girls.
They said that because of confidentiality, that could not happen.
I told them I wouldn't use their names, but I wouldn't do the story without meeting some of the girls involved.
I also said I needed some way of determining how big a problem this was.
Back then, when people spoke of sex trafficking, I assumed they were referring to an international trade -- the phenomenon of young women from China or Thailand or some other country being brought to the United States, then forced to pay back their transportation fees through sexual slavery.
But these women I'd just met were telling me it was a homegrown problem. I wanted them to prove it.
When I searched for articles about child prostitution as a homegrown industry in other cities, I found only one story about an American-based prostitution ring that had exploited local minors somewhere in the Midwest.
One of the first people I met was Fulton County Juvenile Judge Nina Hickson.
Through her, I began to see what was wrong with this picture -- what was wrong that day I sat in her courtroom and watched that little girl with the pigtail cry.
In Georgia in 2000, while children were being arrested, put in jail, and chained like the worst of criminals, the men selling them and having sex with them were rarely arrested.
Back then, there were no reliable statistics on the number of prostituted children.
While the number of 300,000 nationwide was bandied about, I researched the genesis of that number and learned it was wildly speculative and had no basis in fact.
The best I could do was pull the numbers of adults who had gone to prison for prostitution in Georgia versus the number who had gone to prison for pimping.
From 1972 to 1999, I found that 401 adults -- almost all women -- had been incarcerated for prostitution.
Not one person had gone to prison for the crime of pimping. That told me something.
I remember the explanation given to me at the time by Mike Light, then the Department of Corrections spokesman and a former parole officer. "I think there was an unwitting bias that the woman was the perpetrator," he said. "She was the one out having sex.
...The pimp was just collecting the money."
Because the numbers were so unreliable, my newspaper agreed to do a national survey of juvenile judges. We enlisted the help of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, who urged enough judges to respond that we were able to get a reliable sample.
A hidden problem
Child prostitution is a hidden problem that was -- and still is -- difficult to count.
Unlike adult women, these children -- such as that 10-year-old girl -- rarely came into the criminal justice system charged with prostitution.
Rather they came in under a host of other charges, such as running away. Juvenile judges were often the first to identify them as sexually exploited minors who were working as prostitutes.
And according to our survey, their numbers were growing.
Almost one in three of the juvenile judges surveyed said they had seen an increase in the past five years in the number of child prostitutes coming into their courtrooms.
Rural judges participating in the survey reported the sharpest increase, with the typical rural judge seeing an average of three youths a month involved in prostitution.
Our survey suggested, however, that even judges viewed the problem differently, depending on their gender.
Among female juvenile justices, 85% estimated they saw one or more child prostitutes a month, compared with 68% of male judges.
The female judges were also more likely than male judges to complain that police weren't aggressive enough in going after pimps and customers.
Many judges participating in our survey said they believed the laws should be changed, mandating harsher penalties for pimps and "johns."
One judge said the adults got away with exploiting children because "people don't believe children, particularly if they're a naughty, bad, unpleasant child."
A majority of the judges said their communities lacked services for child prostitutes in need of being "deprogrammed," with 10 times as many judges saying they should be treated as victims rather than criminals.
Atlanta police said at the time it was a lot harder to arrest pimps than prostitutes.
As undercover officers, they could pluck the prostitutes off the streets as the girls or women worked the "track," such as Metropolitan Parkway, or turned tricks at strip clubs, where underaged girls illegally danced.
The PIMPS were more hidden.
Even if police were able to make an arrest, prosecutors said it was difficult to build a case against the men.
They needed witnesses, but the general rule was that prostitutes didn't testify against their boss, the PIMP, out of reluctance or fear.
The problem, Judge Hickson said at the time, was that police and prosecutors often failed to distinguish between prostitutes who were adults and those who were children.
The children who were coming into her courtroom weren't seen as victims by law enforcement, she said. "They're seen as consenting participants."
Partly in response to that perception, I told her I needed to find a girl 12 or younger who was allegedly being prostituted.
I felt if I could paint a picture of a child who was being prostituted, as opposed to a teenager, the exploitative nature of this problem would become more real to our readers.
I told her I would not use any names without her approval, as I understood the dangerous lives these young people were leading.
Eventually, after she contacted other judges familiar with stories I'd done involving child victims, I think she decided it was worth the risk.
She called me one day and said, "What about a 10-year-old?" Soon after, I was in her courtroom when they brought in the little girl.
The judge explained that the last thing she wanted to do with this child was to keep her behind bars, which is where her 11-year-old sister had been waiting for three weeks. "But I've got to make sure she's safe," the judge said.
There was just nowhere to put children like these because of a lack of children's programs in Georgia.
There were plenty of beds for bad children needing punishment, but practically none for young exploited victims needing help.
At the court hearing, Hickson was clearly frustrated.
She accused child welfare officials of not doing enough to find some place to put the two sisters other than jail. The probation officer complained they had done nothing to get the girls' mother into drug treatment.
Hickson said she had never intended to keep them locked up more than a few days, and she was angry she had had to schedule this hearing to force the child welfare officials to act.
They told the judge they worried about sending the girls home to their mother, whose life was controlled by drugs.
When the child told the judge she wanted to go home, Hickson said to her, "I don't want you locked up either. But I'm also concerned about your safety and whether you're going to stay with your mom. Are you going to stay at your mother's?"
"Yes, ma'am," the child said.
After the hearing, the judge took me back to her chambers where she allowed me to interview the little girl. Her eyes red from crying, the child said she was sorry for what she had done.
She said if she could, she would "change back the hand of time."
She said a relative's boyfriend had led the sisters into prostitution. At first he "was buying us stuff." She said she realized something was wrong "because of what he wanted in return." He wanted money "by my prostituting."
"He forced me. He wouldn't let me go." She said he took her sister and her to a hotel on Fulton Industrial Boulevard in Atlanta.
As she sat hunched over with her hands partly hiding her face, she said softly that he threatened to kill her if she left. "He'd pull my hair, and he punched me." She was very frightened of him.
She said she would like to tell other girls her age, "Stay in school.
Don't waste your life on something like this. Some people have caught HIV and AIDS."
She said she wanted to go back to school.
Her elementary school had a mentoring program.
And then this 10-year-old little girl -- with no hope and no one in her life who loved and cared for her -- said that more than anything, she wanted a mentor. "It would help me be better off in life," she said. "Much better than I am."
That day, Hickson ordered that both girls be returned home and without electronic monitors, as child welfare officials had requested.
Three weeks later, the 10-year-old ran away again.
Eventually police picked her up and returned her to the youth jail, where she remained while officials tried to figure out what to do with her.
"It's not the judge's fault," Alesia Adams said at the time. Adams was head of Victims of Prostitution, a newly formed program to help children like the 10-year-old. "It's not anybody's fault.
There's just no place for these kids to go."
In the past 15 years, I've thought of that child, as well as the other girls I met and profiled for the newspaper series. I've wondered what happened to them. The 10-year-old would be 25 today. If she's alive.
Changing industry, changing laws
Since I wrote that series, a lot has changed. And a lot hasn't.
Soon after my stories ran in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, people such as Hickson, Stephanie Davis and Alesia Adams convinced the Georgia Legislature to change state law so that pimping minors was no longer a misdemeanor but a felony, with prison sentences of up to 20 years, depending on the child's age.
It was a start.
Prosecutors such as Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard called child prostitution possibly "one of the largest problems facing our young people today." He said more than a new law was needed, and he began more aggressively prosecuting men who were exploiting minors while calling on police to more aggressively identify and arrest them.
The Atlanta Women's Foundation set up "Angela's Fund" to raise money to help children exploited as prostitutes. Soon Angela's House was born as a residential safe house for a small number of children victimized by commercial sexual exploitation.
While Angela's House no longer exists, eventually two other safe houses have taken its place, thanks in part to a growing number of individuals and organizations concerned about the problem, such as youthSpark, Street Grace and Wellspring Living.
Each year, these organizations promote a "Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Lobby Day" to continue calling attention to the problem.
In 2011, they succeeded in winning passage of House Bill 200:
Georgia's Human Trafficking Law, which again increased penalties for trafficking, required training for the proper response by law enforcement and emphasized the need to treat those who were being commercially exploited as victims rather than criminals.
This year, Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia signed two new measures, both sponsored by Sen. Renee Unterman, a Republican from Buford.
Senate Resolution 7 would permit an annual $5,000 fee paid by strip clubs to go toward housing, counseling and other services for victims of child prostitution, if voters approve.
The resolution sets up a statewide referendum that will be on the ballot in November 2016.
Senate Bill 8, known as Rachel's Law and the Safe Harbor Law, lays out how the money would be collected and spent.
It also ensures that sexually exploited youths are treated as victims, not criminals, specifically stating that children who have been sexually exploited may no longer be charged with prostitution.
Hickson, today an ethics officer for the city of Atlanta, was there for the bills' signing.
"The level of awareness certainly has increased," she said in a recent interview.
She believes the perception of human trafficking has also changed and is no longer viewed exclusively as a problem among immigrants from other countries.
"I think people today understand it is a homegrown problem," she said. "You have people acknowledging that the problem exists in our metro area, and the children need to be treated as children with problems as opposed to problem children."
But, she said, it remains critical to keep the public glare on the problem.
From the streets to the INTERNET
And that's not easy, because if this societal problem was hidden before, it's gone underground today.
INTERNET and cell phones have changed everything, according to Hickson and law enforcement officers.
While young girls can still be seen walking the "track" in some well-known areas of Fulton and DeKalb counties, in the core of the Atlanta metro area, they are as likely to be advertised on the INTERNET.
A number of girls and women have set up their own ads that are prominently displayed on a plethora of websites, one of the biggest being "Backpage.com," which filled the gap after Craigslist was sued and in 2010 shut down its money-making adult services section.
Backpage's escort and body-rubs section brings in millions in revenue each month, according to a 2013 report by an advertising consultant company, the AIM Group.
Backpage "has succeeded Craigslist as the nation's leading publisher of online prostitution advertising," the report said.
(Earlier this summer, Visa, American Express and MasterCard all cut their ties with the website.) Calls and emails to representatives of Backpage were not returned.
To understand how endemic the Internet is to the world of prostitution, consider the website "The Erotic Review," or TER.
It has been around so long, there are johns who make it their business to go see escort after escort, then review them on TER.
They call themselves "hobbyists," and they post explicit descriptions of the services others can expect from a girl, whether the girl has a bad attitude or whether she's posted a picture that makes her look better than she does in person. Attempts to reach TER have been unsuccessful.
Pimps who once exploited girls by making them walk the track can now troll the Internet for girls who are going it alone, sometimes luring them into escort services with an offer of higher salaries, payment to cover the cost of their ads and an apartment where they can rendezvous with their clients.
That means that for the 14-year-old girl from an impoverished area who is just getting started and doesn't understand what she's getting into, "a pimp will come along and say, 'Instead of you staying out there in the wind or the cold, I'll put you in a warm apartment and you'll make a lot,' " says a seasoned law enforcement officer and former vice and narcotics detective.
"Anyone who runs an escort agency and gets a cut from your profit prostituting, they're pimping."
As prostitution has moved indoors and underground, the community is less likely to see it on the streets and complain to police. So there's less involvement by police, who are driven to respond by the community's complaints.
That's bad for the young victims, the officer says, as well as for the community because the sexual exploitation of underage youth remains a booming business.
He worries that while demand remains strong, too many young girls -- and some boys -- are lured into prostitution out of view of the public and police and without understanding the consequences.
"The biggest impact is on the girls themselves," he says. "It has a psychological, moral impact on a girl, and she doesn't realize what she's sacrificing. A lot of these girls become drug addicts.
This is happening all over Atlanta.
After 10 years, if you survive the diseases, a potential criminal record, and the psychological toil, you suddenly realize you have no education or marketable skills.
"Once you lose your looks, you're back in the same place you started in. Any time you take a productive young person out of the mainstream of society and point her toward a criminal enterprise, which prostitution is, that's never good."
Hickson agrees.
She said that while she is hopeful about the new laws, the growing awareness and the numbers of people and organizations fighting against child prostitution, she worries there's a "flavor of the month" aspect; that child prostitution is a "topic that's in style."
"If this is a shallow issue for people, it will dissipate when the next issue comes along," she said. Fifteen years ago, I wrote that Hickson "looks into the eyes of children who have been prostituted and she sees nothing. No hope. No dreams. No more childhood."
Like that 10-year-old girl.
Some years after that child had stood before Hickson, the former judge got word about what had happened to her and her older sister.
For a while, they were in the care of the Department of Family and Children Services because of their mother's ongoing drug addiction.
But at some point, their mother got into a drug treatment program and eventually the girls went home.
"It was touch and go," Hickson said. "But last I heard, they were in school."
In the meantime, Hickson and a number of others remain committed to rescuing young girls and boys from the destruction of sexual exploitation.
Top of their agenda now is to ensure that voters support the $5,000 annual fee on strip clubs in next year's referendum.
"We have to remain vigilant because the adult entertainment industry has deep pockets," Hickson said.
"This is long-term work. There has to be a level of commitment."
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