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Saturday, March 09, 2019

Jussie Smollett Served A Federal Sandwich!

Jussie Smollett is facing two quarters for an alleged attack on himself.
The Cook County prosecutors and U.S. Justice Department decided to throw the book at embattled entertainer Jussie Smollett. He has 16 felony counts for allegedly staging a hate crime to advance his career.

Smollett, who is best known for playing Jamal Lyon on the Fox drama Empire was charged for filing a false police report last month. He now is being handed 16 more charges that could be career ending.

The 36-year old actor was accused by the prosecutors of staging a violent encounter outside his Chicago home. He paid two screen extras to beat him up and hang a noose on his neck.

Some considered it a hate crime for the fact he is Black and part of the LGBTQ community. It was the stuff of tabloids.

Smollett also is accused of sending death threats and crushed aspirin to the studios where Empire was being filmed.

These charges had made him a pariah among his supporters and those who spent time trying to sympathize with him. He is an openly gay Black man who became a breakout star on the hit drama.

Now it's unknown whether he'll return back to Empire. The show cut his presence in the remaining season. He may be written out of the show.

Smollett on his part, said that the allegations against him are false. He maintains that he had no role in the attack and vows to fight them in court.

Each count could put him in the iron college for 50 years. The suspect is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Yes, there's criticism.

The federal trial of Paul Manafort became a flashpoint to how white people of wealth are treated by justice system. Manafort was sentenced to 47 months in federal time out for 40 criminal charges. The judge who sentenced him, TS Elliot is being slammed for this. Elliot, a Ronald Reagan appointed federal judge was critical of the case from the jump and gave Manafort a pass. Some say that he was more strict on former Louisiana Democratic lawmaker William Jefferson. Jefferson who was served a 13 year bid got far less charges thrown at him than Manafort.

Whereas a Black man of modest wealth (Smollett) could face LIFE in the iron college, a man like Manafort gets less than five years in federal time out for deliberate money laundering and advancing his career on behalf a foreign government.

The anger over both Smollett and Manafort is equal. Some believe the justice system is broken.

It is.

A black woman was sentenced to five in the iron college for illegally voting. Many call this into question. How could a woman of color get far worse time in the iron college where a man who may have sold out his country gets so little?



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