Kim Kardashian and the World's Wealthiest

These days, we're seeing lots of female celebrities with very established audiences going to places like OnlyFans, but on the other end, you have Kim Kardashian who (granted), became the big name that she was largely because of THAT sextape with Brandy's little brother, Ray J.

Regardless, you could argue more impressively, she was able to launch a career from that to the point where she's making very current headlines for becoming an official billionaire.

Forbes recently reported that her stake in KKW Beauty is around $500 million.

Not to mention her ownership in Skims being valued at $225 million.

You know, you're more than free to say whatever you want about her, but I truly think it is genuinely impressive that she has had not only the staying power, but the ability to grow and thrive.

I figured I'd share this story because I know so many of you—as a cultishly collective group—have been religiously rooting for her.

According to Forbes, while it is still rare for a person to be a billionaire, she is far from the only one.

Forbes reported on their 35th annual list of the world's wealthiest, that there are now 2,755 billionaires—which is a crazy jump of 660 billionaires in just a year!

They also found that this list—together—is worth $13.1 trillion, an increase of $5.1 trillion from last year's list.

Collectively (and currently), 86% of all billionaires are richer than they were a year ago.

The biggest earner turned out to be none other than Elon Musk, who went from a (seemingly) embarrassing $24.6 billion to his now $151 billion fortune!

That puts Mr. Musk at number 2, right behind Jeff Bezos, who is reportedly worth an astronomical $177 billion—which (I think) is super impressive, because this is how much he's worth after he got divorced!

His ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, is the 22nd richest person in the world, by the way.

Depending on who you are, you might find this interesting, aspirational, infuriating, all of the above? I'm just most inclined to know your thoughts.

Facebook's Drastic Data Leak… Again!

News just broke (out) that the information for over half a billion Facebook users has been leaked online.

As far as what the information includes, it's things like phone numbers, Facebook IDs, full names, locations, birthdates, bios, email addresses.

As far as how widespread this thing is, users in 106 countries are reportedly affected—including the United States with 32 million users, the UK with 11 million and India with 6 million.

The leaked data set is reportedly from 2019, but it's still very much a problem despite being a couple of years old now.

Personally, my major concern is that cyber criminals can actually access these information to impersonate other people, or even scam them into handing over their login credentials.

In fact, the leaked data was first discovered back in January when a user in a low-level hacking forum offered to sell the info as part of an automated bot.

Although, what ended up happening, is that someone else leaked the information for free.

So, if you'd like to see if you've been affected by this leak, there are a couple of ways to do so.

For example, there's this web security consultant, Troy Hunt, uploading affected email addresses to haveibeenpwned.com.

Here's a link to the site.

It also sends uploaded affected phone numbers.

And while there are other sites that are offering these kinds of services, they're less well-known. So, for that reason, I'm not going to be linking to those.

The Highest-Paid Actors of 2020!

Forbes recently released the highest paid actors of 2020 list.

From ten to the top, you've got:

Jackie Chan…

…Adam Sandler…

…Will Smith…

…Lin-Manuel Miranda…

…Akshay Kumar…

…Vin Diesel…

…Ben Affleck…

…Mark Wahlberg…

…Ryan Reynolds…

…and at the top (you know it's him): Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson!

Personally, one of the things that I find incredibly interesting with this list, is the sheer number of people—on the list—that have Netflix deals.

The most prominent, of course, being Adam Sandler who signed a 4-movie deal with Netflix back in 2014, for a quarter of a billion dollars! In case it's unclear, that's a whacking two hundred and seventy-five million dollars ($275,000,000)!

Can't forget to mention The Rock reportedly getting paid $23.5 million to star in 'Red Notice', an upcoming film from the stables of Netflix as well.

The Highest-Paid Actors of 2019

In quickie entertainment news, Forbes gave us the highest-paid actors of 2019. And some, you'd expect. Some, maybe not.

Going through the list, you have:

Will Smith,

Paul Rudd,

Chris Evans,

Adam Sandler.

Followed by Bradley Cooper,

Jackie Chan,

Akshay Kumar,

Robert Downey Jr.

At the top of the list, you have Chris Hemsworth…

…and to nobody’s surprise:

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

It's nowhere near surprising, really. The Rock is like literally everywhere. He's in high-grossing stuff on the regular. You're looking at stacks on stacks on stacks.

Check this out, according to reports for the new Jumanji, the baldheaded bastard bagged $23.5 million upfront!

As if that ain't enough, he'll also be getting a percentage of the pool for the movie in question. Which as Forbes explained, is the money left over after some—but not all—of the bills are paid.

Still on the pool, I'm pretty certain that's also a part of the reason RDJ's on this list. Yes, he got money upfront for playing Iron Man, but he also reportedly got nearly eight percent of the pool for Avengers: Endgame alone! In case it's unclear, that movie made a nerve-racking $2.8 billion at the box office.

So, depending on who you are, you may find this topic interesting, depressing, infuriating, or inspiring. Regardless, what are your thoughts when you see numbers like these, for what is being, kind of, given? Or maybe we should spread the question around a little bit, whether it be actors, professional athletes and the likes, what are your thoughts there?

The Jeffrey Epstein Suicide Situation

He, as you've likely seen (or heard) at this point, according to reports, died of an apparent suicide on Saturday, August 10, 2019.

For those who don't know, here's an oversimplified summary: Jeffrey Epstein was a wealthy financier who was accused of trafficking underage girls for sex.

And as far as his death, what I do know is that Epstein was being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.

On July 23rd, he was reportedly placed on suicide watch after being found in a cell with bruises on his neck, which they already say were results of a possible suicide attempt—this coming a few days after he was denied bail.

But, according to reports, on July 29th, he was taken out of suicide watch. He was then moved to a special housing unit in the prison.

According to a report from The Washington Post, officers were supposed to check on him every thirty minutes, but hours had apparently gone by without him being checked on, before his body was found.

Additionally, the report said that someone in Epstein's position is supposed to have a cellmate, but, reportedly, his cellmate had been transferred on Friday, leaving him alone in his unit.

And now, an autopsy has been conducted, but results have not been made public as it is reportedly pending further information. Pretty typical, don't you think?

In case it's unclear, Epstein's death comes a day after unsealed court documents brought up new details to a defamation suit against his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell.

Maxwell is an English socialite who has been accused of helping Epstein recruit young women, to force them to have sex with him and other men. And notably here, right now, as I'm literally typing this, her whereabouts are completely unknown.

Furthermore, the details come from an accuser who claims that Epstein began abusing her when she was sixteen. And the documents reportedly mention that Epstein had relationships with high-profile people like Bill Clinton,

Donald Trump…

…and Prince Andrew, Duke of York and second son of Queen Elizabeth II. That's right, he's a frigging member of the British royal family.

So now, there are multiple investigations into Epstein's death being led by the FBI, the Department of Justice and the New York Medical Examiner's Office.

Because many are wondering how such a prominent inmate who was supposed to be heavily monitored, was able to kill himself in a Federal prison.

Consequently, everyone's asking questions across the board. From the AOC…

…all the way to Attorney General William Barr.

The latter actually released a pretty notable statement last Saturday saying:

Monday saw Barr making further comments:

“We are now learning of serious irregularities at this facility that are deeply concerning and demand a thorough investigation. The FBI and the office of Inspector General are doing just that. We'll get to the bottom of what happened and there will be accountability. But, let me assure you that this case will continue on against anyone who is complicit with Epstein. Any co-conspirators should not rest easy. The victims deserve justice and they will get it.”

Also, in addition to there being a lot of questions around the circumstances of Epstein's death, there's also a lot of questions about what happens to the investigation into his alleged sex trafficking, which as of right now, the investigation remains open.

Manhattan US Attorney, Geoffrey S. Berman, released a statement saying:

And so, right now, people are saying that this investigation could turn to the other people accusers have mentioned working with Epstein in the case. Although, officially, no other co-conspirators have been named and he was the only one listed in the indictment, so criminal charges against him are done.

However, regarding partial justice, the victims will be able to file a civil suit against his estate. And according to Bloomberg, his networth was five hundred million dollars ($500,000,000). His estate reportedly including, but not limited to, a New York mansion, a private island and properties in New Mexico, Paris and Palm Beach.

Bloomberg also stated that the alleged victims lawyers are asking to freeze his estate and that the legal process that could result in compensation could last for years.

Understandably, for some of his accusers (if not all), the fact that Epstein won't see his day in court, is incredibly upsetting.

A certain Jennifer Araoz told Rolling Stone:

Ultimately, with this story, that's where I really end covering it. Although, there's another aspect to this story—that being the number of conspiracy theories making the rounds. Some blaming President Trump, Attorney General William Barr.

Some blaming the Clintons.

Not to mention a conspiracy theory that was actually retweeted by Trump himself.

Personally, I'm open to any and all possibilities of what truly transpired. We're talking about a situation of a high-profile, mega-rich predator who had so many connections that they include names of the current President of the United States and a former President of the United States. Matter-of-factly, I look forward to any and all new information that comes out and hopefully, other bastards get implicated.

Still and all, the fact that we have a whole lot of people from different political spectrums saying definitively that they know what went down, is immensely concerning.

Granted, there's the possibility that when a super wealthy, lifetime predator gets locked in a box and it dawns on him that he may never be able to get out of said box; that person may be in a state of mind to commit suicide. And according to reports, he wasn't on suicide watch anymore, but even according to the data, that still might not have stopped him.

So, that's why the primary focus of this article isn't a deep dive per se into all of the different conspiracy theories. Instead, it is a pretty rational reporting of what I categorically know, what investigations are happening at the moment, where I can expect more facts to come later.

Finally, that's where I'm gonna end with this one today. And, of course, as always, I pass the question off to you: What are your thoughts? 🤔

Do feel free to let me know in the comments section down below. 🙂

And don't forget to hit that share button while you're at it. 😉