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Brooke Houts says she's no animal abuser, but we found her history with the dog in question raises serious anger issues she has toward the pooch.

Houts -- who is currently under investigation by the LAPD for animal abuse -- appears to have gotten her Doberman, Sphinx, last November. It wasn't long before Houts began to post a series of angry tweets and videos, venting over the dog ... bitching about his bad behavior.

In one video, Houts talks about a time when Sphinx pulled her down the stairs. She also went on a long rant last month when Sphinx ate a pair of her leggings, saying, "-sigh- goodnight to everyone except my dog."

She also bitched about Sphinx peeing on her bed.

As we reported ... Houts accidentally uploaded a video earlier this week, showing her smack, spit on and shove Sphinx. The LAPD Animal Cruelty Task Force is now on the case, though she will keep custody of the dog, at least until authorities decide if the risk factor is too great.

Houts maintains she's never aggressive with Sphinx ... and that he needs some serious training. That's revealing, considering in one of the videos we uncovered, she says punishment training isn't the way to discipline a dog.

The biggest question of the week -- did Donald Trump's words egg on the El Paso/Dayton terrorists? And, it's looking like another walk down the isle for the Amazon CEO. So, we gotta ask ...

Damian Lillard isn't forgetting about his day job in the NBA, because championships are still his focus ... but says he'd definitely be stoked to win a Grammy for his 3rd album.

Dame just dropped his 3rd album, "Big D.O.L.L.A." and the early reviews are good ... so good that some people are saying the NBA star has a shot at rap superstardom.

So, when we talked to Dame we had to know how far he wants to take this rap thing ... and if he cares about the accolades that come along with it .... like a Grammy.

"I don't care about it maybe to the level I care about being the MVP or winning a championship."

So, there you have it Trail Blazers fans ... you can breathe, Dame isn't going anywhere. He did point out though, that he thinks he has a chance to do something no other hooper has, and that intrigues him.

"I care about in the sense that how many NBA All-Stars or max contract players can say, 'I legitimately won a Grammy.'"

None that we can see ... but if we're being real, none have been as good as Dame. The man's gotten props from some huge names in hip-hop, and is widely regarded as the best pure rapper the league has ever produced.

Question is now ... how does he get to the Grammys?

Deepak Chopra says Marianne Williamson has all the qualities you should look for in a leader ... and that's why her presidential bid doesn't stand a chance.

The alternative medicine guru threw his support behind the Democratic candidate when we got him at LAX, praising her integrity and authenticity ... but Deepak says the political system is corrupt, and that's why Marianne doesn't stand a chance.

Deepak believes Marianne's views don't jive with today's political climate ... and even she recently told us traditional politicians and political pundits are trying to diminish her.

Deepak's written books with Marianne and says they're close friends and he knows she has the goods ... but he's convinced people are so cynical -- politicians so power hungry and divisive -- that she's just out of step. To his point, Williamson did not qualify for the next round of debates.

Rick Ross is siding with Kenny Stills in his beef with the Miami Dolphins owner ... telling TMZ Sports he feels Stephen Ross doesn't do enough for the black community.

The NFL receiver publicly criticized his boss earlier this week ... calling Ross a hypocrite for running a charity championing "equality" while being one of President Trump's biggest financial supporters.

We spoke with the Miami legend and Dolphins superfan and asked what he thought about the beef  ... and Rozay didn't hold back.

"I never cared about Stephen Ross," the "Port of Miami 2" rapper says. "It's been rough for me and the Dolphins for years."

Rick says he sees through any talks of equality ... claiming the billionaire doesn't try to build a relationship with the local African-American youth.

"Stephen Ross, he ain't surprising nobody. No black young kids in the community ever got invited to their football games."

Of course, there's also a huge public boycott against the fancy gym chain, Equinox -- which Stephen owns -- after people found out he was hosting a big fundraiser for Trump's 2020 campaign.

The Bawse -- who once told us he wanted to buy the Fins -- says he's still gonna support his hometown team ... but makes it clear he wants nothing to do with the people running it.

Talk about being the total package ... From poolside to oceanside, these famous fellas know they're making a splash in these snaps and can't miss a chance to show off their shredded stomachs!!!

These sexy stars are making their presence brief, but it's definitely hard to miss a glimpse of these wet hot shots.

Take a deep dive through our gallery of stars in Speedos to see the Hollywood hotties keeping things sexy ... Get an eye full and try to see if you can guess who the muscly men in the photo might be.

HERE'S THE RUNDOWN

Joanna Kerns, the mom from "Growing Pains," is about to be back on the market ... she's filed for divorce just short of a milestone anniversary.

Joanna, who played Maggie Seaver on the hit '80s sitcom, filed divorce docs Friday in L.A. County Superior Court ... officially calling it quits with architect Marc Appleton.

They married back in September 1994, so they were coming up on their silver anniversary. Our romantic side wants to imagine they'd have been somewhere singing along to the "Growing Pains" theme -- "We got each other, sharing the laughter and love."

No dice.

Joanna's not acting as much, but she's still killing it Hollywood as an extremely successful TV director. She's worked on episodes of huge hit shows like, "Pretty Little Liars," "The Goldbergs," "Jane the Virgin" ... as well as "Nashville" and "This Is Us."

Marc and Joanna didn't have any kids ... so, the divorce won't include any child custody or support battles.

Gigi Hadid has a damn good reason to swear off Mykonos ... the vacay pad where she and her sisters, including Bella, were staying was destroyed by burglars who made off with nearly all their valuables.

Sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... Gigi and co. got home one night last week and found the crib ransacked. We're told everyone's stuff was scattered throughout. Well, not the expensive stuff ... since items like jewelry, clothing, purses and sunglasses were all jacked.

We're told they called police, but felt the authorities didn't make it a priority. The girls suspect an inside job, because house staff had access to the house.

The scary incident prompted the group to hightail it outta the island and cut the trip short. We're told they chartered a private plane and headed back home. They had been in Greece celebrating their big sister Alana's bday.

Gigi was definitely pissed, saying ... "Don't let insta fool u. Got robbed. Never going back lol." Not exactly a ringing endorsement for the Greek tourism board.

We got the models' dad, Mohamed Hadid, Friday at Il Pastaio in Bev Hills. As you can imagine, he's just happy his girls are safe.

In-N-Out burgers might be delicious, but they're burning the hell outta their employees ... according to one worker who's pissed about his uniform -- 'cause he had to pay for it.

Tom Piplack toiled at an In-N-Out branch in Southern California between February 2016 and November 2018, and like all employees at the burger joint ... had to rock the all white pants and black shoes. He's not complaining about the fashion, it's the cost that's got him fired up.

In a lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Piplack says most In-N-Out workers are paid "near minimum wage" and forcing them to buy their uniform "pushes their wages below the legal minimum."

He isn't disclosing how much he paid ... it's more about the principal of the matter for him.

Piplack wants the court to make In-N-Out pay fines for violating Cali labor laws -- and then he wants that money to be distributed to all employees as reimbursement for the uniform expenses.

You could say Piplack is pulling a Robin Hood, but he also wants the burger giant to cover his attorneys fees. Robin Hood didn't have no stinkin' lawyers.

John Singleton's mom claims one of his baby mamas did nothing to help him the night before he died, despite the fact he was throwing up blood and showing signs something was seriously wrong.

Sheila Ward says when John got home the night before he died, his baby mama, Rayvon Jones, met him with, "No open arms just crossed defiant fists." She says some type of argument then started between them.

Sheila claims John then took a bath with his infant son, Seven, but his body began to tremor -- showing serious signs of distress -- and he was almost too weak to get himself out of the tub. He also allegedly threw up blood.

Rather than call 911, Sheila says Rayvon simply put John to bed. His mother says she's haunted by that thought and says, "I can't stop thinking about this truth. Can't blame them. Don't blame them. I feel so sorry for them because they must live with it."

Rayvon tells us John did complain of being sick that night, saying he thought it was food poisoning, but she never saw him throw up, and didn't think it was anything serious. She says she told him to run the bath, to relax and to drink some tea.

Wayne Newton's monkey ain't your average Curious George ... cause the teenage girl who says the animal bit her says the injury required medical attention.

TMZ's obtained a pic of the injury allegedly caused by Wayne's Capuchin monkey, Boo. The girl's mother is suing Newton claiming Boo bit her daughter's right wrist 2 years ago while visiting Newton's former estate, Casa de Shenandoah ... a tourist attraction and museum in Las Vegas.

Their attorney, Marc Naron of D.R. Patti & Associates, says the bite broke the girl's skin ... causing it to swell -- and she had to go to a hospital where she got a tetanus shot. The pic, btw, was taken the day after the alleged incident.

We're told the alleged victim, who was 15 at the time, underwent follow-up treatments and was left with a gnarly scar that may be permanent. She claims she underwent counseling because of her fear of animals.

In the lawsuit, the family says Boo was not caged nor on a leash when they visited back in October 2017. Wayne and his wife, Kathleen McCrone Newton, tell us they haven't seen the lawsuit. They add ... their company stopped operating Casa de Shenandoah in July 2017, "due to Wayne's almost dying from a spider bite" -- so they have "no idea what happened in October 2017."

YouTube loser Brooke Houts still has the Doberman she allegedly abused on camera ... at least while LAPD investigates her for animal abuse.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Brooke has maintained custody of the dog -- for now -- because LAPD's Animal Cruelty Task Force determined the pooch is not in immediate danger.

As we first reported ... the Animal Cruelty Task Force launched an investigation after Brooke mistakenly uploaded video showing her shoving and berating her Doberman named Sphinx.

Our sources say the video itself does not show enough proof Sphinx is in immediate danger under Brooke's care, and that's why the dog has not yet been removed from the home. Of course, that could all change.

We're told LAPD could take the pup from Brooke once the investigation wraps ... if investigators determine she abused the pet.

Brooke issued a long-winded apology after the video surfaced and she caught tons of flak online ... saying it's too expensive to hire a trainer and claiming she's NOT a dog abuser.

Kid Rock's taking a shot at Taylor Swift's jump into acting by claiming she's down to trade sex acts for movie roles -- but it really looks like a pretty transparent political attack.

The staunch Donald Trump supporter woke up Friday morning and, much like POTUS, decided to go on the attack ... on Twitter. Kid said Taylor "wants to be a democrat because she want to be in movies ... period. And it looks like she will suck the door knob of Hollyweird to get there. Oldest move in the book. Good luck girl."

We're gonna take a scary leap into Kid Rock's head and presume he was responding to headlines about Taylor's reasoning for not endorsing Hillary Clinton in 2016. In short ... she said she felt her endorsement would've been a liability for Hillary because both she and the candidate were being called snakes and liars at the time.

Kid, who famously visited Trump in the Oval Office back in 2017, clearly doesn't care about Taylor's explanation ... only that she's NOT backing his guy in the White House.

BTW ... Chrissy Teigen weighed in on Kid's rant and summed it up with two words:

Cops mistook bird poop for cocaine on a Georgia Southern quarterback's car during an arrest last month ... and the argument over the white stuff was all caught on video.

Shai Werts -- GSU's junior starting quarterback -- was pulled over on July 31 in Clinton, South Carolina after cops say he was speeding.

During the stop, officers placed 21-year-old Werts in the back of their patrol car ... and went to search Werts' 2016 Dodge Charger.

In the video, you can see cops paying close attention to the hood of Werts' ride, shining a flashlight on the area and allegedly discovering a foreign white substance on it.

That's when an officer walks back to the patrol car to question Werts, asking straight-up, "What's the white stuff on the front of your hood, man?"

Werts immediately responds, "Bird sh*t."

The officer doesn't believe him, saying repeatedly that the substance looks nothing like bird poop ... and instead, he tells Werts test results indicated it was a controlled substance.

"I swear to God it's not [bird poo]," the officer says, "because I just tested it, and that turned pink."

Werts insists over and over again it's bird poop ... but the cop clearly doesn't believe him, with the officer eventually telling him, "It tested positive for cocaine."

Werts was charged with misdemeanor cocaine possession and speeding ... and he was also suspended from GSU team activities after the arrest.

But, prosecutors announced late Thursday they were dropping the charges ... admitting the substance on Werts' car was NOT cocaine.

"I was informed that the test did come back and that there was no controlled substance found," Saluda County prosecutor Al Eargle told the Savannah Morning News.

Georgia Southern athletic director Tom Kleinlein announced Friday the team was "elated to get the news" regarding Werts ... and said the QB is no longer subject to punishment over the incident.

Werts has been a star for the Eagles the past 2 seasons ... rushing for 1,630 yards and 18 scores on the ground while adding 1,916 yards and 17 TDs passing in 24 career games.

Werts is expected to open the season as the team's starter vs. LSU on Aug. 31.

President Trump claims he's cool with Colin Kaepernick getting back into the NFL, but adds it'll never happen because his nemesis doesn't have the right stuff to make it in the league.

The Prez was outside the White House Friday morning when a reporter asked if Kap should get an opportunity to play again. Trump's response initially seemed like a shocking endorsement ... until he bragged about knowing all the NFL owners, and said they're not signing Kaepernick because he sucks. We're paraphrasing, but watch the video.

Trump also addressed the concern millions of parents have right now -- students are about to go back to school on the heels of last weekend's mass shootings. He had one response, but said 2 different things.

POTUS said students have "nothing to fear," and should focus on their studies. Then, he decided to praise his administration and shade Barack Obama over the safety of the nation's schools.

Moments after saying students shouldn't be afraid, he added ... "That doesn't mean there's not going to be some crazy person."