That social media flex isn’t always worth it in the end. Ramon Olorunwa Abbas, who is known on social media as Ray Hushpuppi, has officially been sentenced to 11 years in prison after being charged for his role in a multimillion-dollar scam geared toward companies both in the United States and overseas, CNN reports.
NLE Choppa is enacting change in his hometown of Memphis, TN with his latest venture. In a Twitter post on Sept. 25, the budding rapper announced the launch of his vegan food truck — This Can’t Be Vegan. NLE’s This Can’t Be Vegan Food Truck Is Official Up And Running. First Pop Up Will Be At The Eat To Live Vegan Fest At 645 E Georgia Ave, Memphis, TN 38126 FOLLOW @nlethiscantbevegan On Instagram For More Updates On Locations In The Future 💜 pic.twitter.com/y1rjvFg3rg — NLE Choppa (@Nlechoppa1) September 25, 2021 NLE Choppa envisions his vegan food truck as a means to help decrease Memphis’ crime rate, as well as to improve education. “Memphis, I feel like, is a place where vegan food is needed the most ’cause I know, just by getting our hands on better food will change the thought process,” he said in a video on Twitter. “Possibly the crime rate will go down, scholars will go up, anything. Bro, I have a vegan food truck that will be mobile across the city, from hood to hood, suburb...
Last summer, Snoop Dogg and Australian winery 19 Crimes formed a partnership to release a special red wine blend in honor of the Hip-Hop legend’s legacy. For their latest release, the two entities have now introduced Snoop Cali Rosé, a new California blend of Grenache and Zinfandel in which the rapper hopes to make the drink of the summer, Wine Industry Network reports. So far, 19 Crimes and Snoop Dogg’s collaboration has been well-received among consumers and has given the Australian wine brand a contemporary feel inspired by the rapper’s West Coast style. “We did it big with 19 Crimes Cali Red, so you know we had to do it again – and this time, I was thinking pink,” Snoop Dogg shared in a statement. “I can’t wait for everyone to sip on my Snoop Cali Rosé and bring those fresh feels from spring into summer and beyond. I hope when you open a bottle of this wine you take a little mind trip to my Cali home. This is how we Rosé the Snoop Dogg way!” John Wardley — TWE Marketing Vice...
Legendary rap icon and VC general partner, Snoop Dogg, is taking his entrepreneurial endeavors to the next level. According to Delish , Snoop teamed up with Australian wine brand, 19 Crimes, for a multi-year partnership to release his very own red wine blend called Snoop Cali Red. Snoop Cali Red is 19 Crimes’ first wine to be bottled in the California region and is a blend that includes 65 percent Petite Syrah, 30 percent Zinfandel, and 5 percent Merlot — priced at $12 per bottle. “Snoop Dogg, an entertainment and California icon, is the perfect partner for 19 Crimes Snoop Cali Red,” said John Wardley, Treasury Wine Estates’s marketing vice president, according to Black Enterprise . “Snoop embodies the spirit of 19 Crimes–rule breaking, culture creating and overcoming adversity. We are truly excited to partner with Snoop and welcome him to the 19 Crimes family.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Mountain State Beverage (@mtn_state_bev) In addition to the wine partnership,...
Instagram and other social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have become hotbeds for fraud and scammers to steal people’s money. According to a recent report by RSA Security, there was a 43 percent increase in fraud attacks on social media in 2018. The report attributes the attacks to cybercriminals’ use of automated tools and the ease of access on social media. Viral “games” that ask common security questions have been an easy way for scammers to get users’ personal information. For months, Twitter users were answering questions about their mothers’ middle name, the street they grew up on and more, unknowingly making things easier for cybercriminals. Encryption on social media apps like WhatsApp enables scammers to plan and carry out their crimes online. “In addition to using legitimate mobile apps for nefarious purposes, they are also developing their own apps to increase their anonymity, avoid detection and otherwise keep anti-fraud forces from tracking them down and...
Facebook doesn’t have the best reputation for creating a secure platform. From leaving passwords in plain text, to its app developers leaving users’ records exposed , Facebook continues to slip up. Now, a report by Cisco cybersecurity research division — Talos — has found that Facebook still has an ongoing problem with cybercrime groups. Talos said it compiled a list of 74 groups on Facebook with about 385,000 members who “promised to carry out an array of questionable cyber dirty deeds.” This included selling or trading stolen bank and credit card information and email spamming tools. The majority of those groups didn’t work all that hard to hide what they were doing. According to Talos, most used obvious names like “Facebook hack (Phishing)” and “Spammer & Hacker Professional.” To find the groups, all anyone had to do was a simple search containing some keywords. In addition, Talos noted that once someone joins one or more of those cybercrime groups, Facebook’s own algorithms...
The New York City Police Department has revealed its use of Patternizr, a new tool that lets officers quickly sort through case files, as reported by The Washington Post . The software works by using automated pattern-recognition algorithms, allowing it to sort through “hundreds of thousands” of NYPD records. It specifically looks for similarities, or patterns, between cases. Right now, the software pretty much focuses on theft and larceny. Looking through records to link certain crimes to each other is something that would typically require countless manual hours. Patternizr cuts down on time, which could ultimately save the department money in the long run. In addition, The Washington Post reported that it’s a comprehensive system, looking into all of New York’s 77 precincts. That allows analysts to see what’s going on across the entire city with ease. Patternizr has been in use since 2016, but the NYPD only publicly shared it in an issue of INFORMS Journal on Applied Analytics...
Citizen–the crime tracker app that originated in New York City– announced in a blog post that it has expanded to Baltimore. The app allows users to receive real-time crime and emergency notifications in their communities. The app churns out nearly 2 million safety alerts each day to its users, and now with Baltimore added to its list of cities, those numbers are expected to grow. Citizen, formerly known as Vigilante, currently has 600,000 active users. Last year, the app took its talents to San Francisco. Although there have been instances where the app has helped people avoid danger and find missing family members, some are worried that the app will amplify racial biases, especially in the Baltimore area. Citizen works to prevent this by excluding information that would identify victims or complainants in notifications. When information in unconfirmed, Citizen notes the alerts as an “unconfirmed report.” The alert does not include generic suspect descriptions. “For example, Citizen...
It sounds like a theory from Orwell or an episode of Black Mirror , but in a world where technology is moving faster than humans have ever imagined, and law enforcement agencies are experimenting with artificial intelligence, the possibility of being framed by machines is closer to reality than we think. Chicago has been at the center of a broad public conversation around gang and gun violence in America. What has received considerably less media attention is that Chicago joined Cleveland, Ohio and Ferguson, Missouri in state and federal investigations around unconstitutional police practices in the black and Hispanic communities. In November, Cook county cleared 15 men in its first-ever mass exhortation for victims of police harassment and abuse on falsified and pressured drug charges. Many of the exonerated men detailed how they were framed by police officers for years before a petition was filed. A month prior, a research paper from Nvidia, a Silicon Valley based company that...
Silent churn is one of the biggest threats to small businesses , often going unnoticed until it significantly impacts revenue. Unlike active churn, where customers cancel their subscriptions or explicitly stop purchasing, silent churn happens gradually. Customers disengage, reduce usage, or stop buying without officially severing ties, leading to a slow decline in business performance. Identifying silent churn early allows owners and entrepreneurs to take proactive steps to re-engage customers before they are lost entirely. Recognizing The Early Signs Of Silent Churn Silent churn does not happen overnight. It begins with small shifts in customer behavior . If ignored, these shifts lead to long-term disengagement. One of the most common signs is a decline in customer interaction. Warning signals include: users logging in less frequently, reducing their purchases, or spending less time engaging with emails and content. A drop in feature usage or product engagement is another...
At a time when public trust in government is already on shaky ground, the latest actions by the IRS and ICE are only deepening the divide. Word is spreading fast: the IRS is reportedly finalizing a deal that would give Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) access to confidential taxpayer data to locate and deport undocumented immigrants. For many, this isn’t just another policy shift — it’s a direct betrayal of a system that asked for participation and is now threatening punishment in return. At the heart of this issue is more than just bureaucracy — it’s about survival, privacy, dignity, and the weaponization of information against some of the country’s most vulnerable communities. This marks a potential turning point in U.S. immigration enforcement strategy, raising significant privacy and civil liberties concerns across the country. A Dangerous Shift In Tax Data Use According to CNN, the proposed agreement between the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would...
After receiving major backlash, President Donald Trump is now less likely to dismantle the Department of Education. ABC News reported that an executive order had been drafted requiring Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take any measures as permitted by law “to close the department, according to sources familiar with the matter.” “My vision is aligned with the President’s: to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children,” McMahon said in a memo, according to the outlet. Officials allegedly scheduled the executive order for signing on Thursday, March 6, 2025. However, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, President Donald Trump will not sign the order. “This is a tremendous victory for those of us who are standing up and holding the line and pushing back against the endless chaos that we are seeing from the Trump administration,” an education leader said, according to ABC News. The decision not to...
Editorial Note: Opinions and thoughts are the author’s own and not those of AFROTECH™. Peter Drucker, the Austrian management consultant whose writings helped shape modern management theory, once said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” This quote aptly describes the impact of the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to delete the National Law Enforcement Accountability Database. Created under the Biden administration and initially proposed by Donald Trump during his first term, the database was designed to hold federal police accountable for infractions and prevent bad officers from moving between jobs without oversight. By maintaining a record accessible to hiring authorities, the system aimed to improve transparency and accountability. However, the U.S. Justice Department provided no rationale for why it was decommissioned. The reasoning behind this decision may lie in the leadership of the U.S. Justice Department. Pam Bondi, a former Trump’s campaign official and the...