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The so-called rifle-toting "vigilante" in Kenosha seemed pretty chummy with law enforcement before his alleged shooting spree -- receiving water and even praise from cops ... which could explain a lot.

The guy, Kyle Rittenhouse, who was seen firing rounds at protesters in the street Monday night appears to be part of an extremist militia group that set up shop at a few places in town, including some sort of car dealership ... where a cameraman caught him on film before the madness erupted.

You clearly see it's the same guy with the backward hat -- he's standing guard at the facility with another rifle-bearing man ... and they both say they're locals doing their duty.

Shortly afterward, the camera catches a few armored police vehicles rolling by and seemingly telling the militia group to scram, specifically telling them to move south. However, the cops don't let these boys leave without some replenishment first ... as in a few water bottles.

Check it out ... you see the "vigilante" in question run over and interact with some officers to retrieve some water for the crew -- and you even hear a cop say they appreciate what these guys are doing. Hard to say if they were actually teamed up in a concerted effort to ward off would-be looters, but the cops certainly sanctioned this set-up, unofficially at best.

This connects to later that same night ... when the same man -- who allegedly shot at multiple people, and killed two -- ran up to and eventually past these same armored vehicles, and wasn't stopped or apprehended. If anything, they seemed to recognize him.

A former "Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood" star might take the cake for one of the most tone-deaf publicity stunts ... she faked being beaten and kidnapped to promote her OnlyFans account, but says it was to raise awareness of sex trafficking.

Masika Kalysha posted the video of herself Tuesday in lingerie with apparent cuts, scrapes and bruises all over her body, claiming she got assaulted and was still in danger.

Then, she strangely asked for money to stave off her kidnappers, saying ... "They said you guys have to leave me tips and follow me so they can take the money or they're not gonna let me go."

In the caption to her video, she flat out claimed she was kidnapped and being held in a warehouse, and asked her followers to subscribe to her OnlyFans account and tip her so her captors would let her go.

She later deleted the video and posted a second one ... even more strange than the first.

Kalysha, now wearing a white robe, says she's totally fine and apologizes for possibly scaring people ... but insists she needed that "shock factor" to raise awareness for something important.

The reality star claims she's on set filming a project about child sex trafficking, and her kidnapping stunt was needed to grab people's attention for the important matter.

She even goes as far as to say everyone should know there's a method to her madness, while completely ignoring the insensitivity of her first vid ... or addressing how she might have tricked people into sending her money.

The words of Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion came head-to-head with the word of the Lord on a city sidewalk -- and it sounds like the former might've beaten out the good book.

Check out this video of an older guy reading aloud from the Bible on a sidewalk, not too far from a masked young woman also reading from her phone, rattling off lyrics to "WAP." Try as he did, the gent got drowned out by the tune ... then again, the camera's further from him.

It's a funny scene though -- and a testament that blindly preaching to kids these days isn't a good way to reach 'em. Maybe reciting lyrics to Justin Bieber's "Baby" would've been more effective.

Speaking of, if you're wondering what sparked this ... it was a pro-choice rally that clashed with anti-abortion demonstrators, which seems to have gone on for at least 2 days. Both groups had signs touting their beliefs and were keeping a somewhat respectful distance away from each other. But, one secret weapon the young crowd had with them that the holy group didn't ... condoms!

Bette Midler is under fire for making xenophobic comments during Melania Trump's RNC speech, tweeting, "Get that illegal alien off the stage!" and "Oh, God. She still can't speak English."

The First Lady gave her speech in the rose garden of The White House, something that has never been done before. There has always been a figurative wall between 1600 Pennsylvania and campaign speeches. President Trump also appeared during the broadcast in The White House, and he drew fire dragging the military into the campaign. Two members of the military opened the doors as Trump made his entrance.

As for Midler's comments ... she is in fact an American citizen. As some pointed out in reacting to Midler ... Mrs. Trump speaks 5 languages, Slovenian, English, German, French and Italian.

An emotional Doc Rivers choked back tears as he talked about the Jacob Blake police shooting on Tuesday -- explaining why Black people are pissed and railing against republicans.

"It's amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back," Rivers said.

"It's really so sad. Like, I should just be a coach. I'm so often reminded of my color. It's just really sad. We got to do better. But, we got to demand better."

The L.A. Clippers coach had refused to talk about the shooting BEFORE the playoff game against the Dallas Mavericks "because it's so hard to keep watching it."

But, after the game, the emotions poured out of the 58-year-old, who interestingly enough, used to be friends with Donald Trump.

"If you watch that [Jacob Blake] video, you don’t need to be Black to be outraged. You need to be American and outraged."

"All you hear is Donald Trump and all of them talking about fear," Rivers said while referring to the Republican National Convention.

"We're the ones getting killed. We're the ones getting shot. We're the ones that we're denied to live in certain communities. We've been hung. We've been shot. And, all you do is keep hearing about fear."

Doc says he's not anti-cop -- his father was a police officer -- but he demands changes when it comes to training, especially when it comes to policing the Black community.

"The training has to change in the police force. The unions have to be taken down in the police force," Rivers said.

Young children everywhere are returning to schools despite ongoing COVID-19 challenges, and here's a glimpse of what it looks like ... adorable, but concerning.

TMZ's obtained a photo of a little girl attending preschool in Camarillo, CA ... equipped with a clear plastic face shield with rainbow flair to protect herself and others from the coronavirus.

As you can see, she's also on a little island at her desk to adhere to social distancing guidelines, which is a shame ... because ya gotta think the other kids want to check out her 'Little Mermaid' water bottle.

Now, when dealing with 3, 4 and 5-year-olds, there's going to be difficulty in getting them to take proper COVID precautions -- hell, even adults can't get it right -- but we're told the school is trying to make the best of it.

As we've reported ... high schools in several states like Georgia have already demonstrated a lack of proper safety protocols for its returning students, and children are increasingly testing positive for the virus.

Clearly ... there's still a lot to learn.

Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter, Dr. Bernice King, is convinced that modern-day policing is structured after brutal slave tactics used for centuries in this country ... and needs to be completely uprooted if there's ever going to be progress.

Dr. King appeared Tuesday on "TMZ Live," and she says the shooting of Jacob Blake yet again proves Black lives don't matter to a majority of police officers in the U.S. If they did, we wouldn't see so much unhinged violence against them.

She says it's clear the systemic racism built into slavery is still alive and well today in how cops and the criminal justice system view African-Americans ... as bodies, as she puts it. It's not an easy thing to change either ... Dr. King makes that clear as well.

She adds it is crucial to keep our eye on the prize -- and part of that means keeping things peaceful. She discourages rioting and looting, just like her dad.

Speaking of him, she drops a quote of his that's just as timely now as ever .... and it basically gets to this point -- the longer we ignore this, the more it'll persist and worsen.

The Detroit Lions canceled practice Tuesday at the request of the players -- so they could take action in the wake of the shooting of Jacob Blake.

Several players -- along with coach Matt Patricia -- instead met with the media outside of the Lions' headquarters in Detroit to give their thoughts on the shooting.

The players made signs -- one reading, "The world can't go on" ... another said, "We won't be silent."

Duron Harmon, a lions safety, gave an emotional speech -- saying, "Some people think were just football players."

"This league, 67%, of its players are African American. Jacob Blake could have been anybody’s brother, cousin, uncle, friend, could have been them. And it wasn’t okay."

Harmon added, "Football is not important today."

Blake was shot multiple times in the back Sunday by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin (about a 5-hour drive from Lions headquarters).

Blake's father has said he sustained 8 shots and is currently paralyzed from the waist down.

QB Matt Stafford also spoke on the issue -- saying, "Football was the last thing on our mind at the moment to be honest with you."

"We're all just trying to figure a way out to help or make a change and help out. The last thing we thought about was playing football."

A little girl got swept away by the ocean's current off the coast of Greece while floating on top of an inflatable unicorn -- but, thankfully, she was rescued before going full Wilson.

Check out this wild video of what's said to be a 5-year-old being rescued by a ferry in the town of Antirrio as she drifted out about half a mile or so in the Gulf of Corinth. At first, one of the guys on the boat captures what appears to be just a tiny speck in the distance.

As the ferry gets closer, however, you can clearly make out the figure of a small child calmly sitting on top of the blow-up beach toy. Eventually, they get close enough to reel her in.

It's unclear how the kid got so far away from shore without someone noticing, but reports say her parents panicked when they realized how far out she was and got in touch with port authorities for the rescue. Luckily, this ferry was willing to kick into gear and save her.

This scary moment went down just a day or so after another freak drifting sitch out in North Wales ... where a little boy had floated out a couple hundred meters on a giant plastic swan and was initially found unconscious, no less, before he was resuscitated back to life.

Beware the waves, y'all ... they might look like they're coming at us, but they'll apparently suck you in before you know it.

A group of Black activists were shot at -- and apparently hit at least once -- by a gun-toting Pennsylvania home-owner with a long-range rifle.

Activist Frank Nitty documented the incident on social media live Monday night, when he and several other protesters were marching/caravanning from Milwaukee to D.C. ... and stopped through a town in PA along the way, where things got deathly scary in a flash.

In Frank's video, you see he and other fellow marchers making their way through what appears to be an open residential street ... when, all of a sudden, you hear a loud shot ring out somewhere from a relatively close distance. It sounds almost like a sniper rifle round.

The video is a bit jumbled, but for a brief moment ... you can see the camera aimed at a house across the road with at least two to three men staring down the group. One of the men appears to be holding a long object in his arms, perhaps a firearm.

You hear one other gunshot and then you hear screaming and chaos. One of the marches can be heard telling the men they're leaving and that there's no need to get violent.

Frank and the rest of his group jump into vehicles that were accompanying them and race to the hospital. In a separate video, you can see him holding somebody in the car who appears to have a bloodied shirt. They arrive to the hospital and end up talking to cops about it.

To paraphrase George W. Bush after hearing Donald Trump's Inauguration speech, Kimberly Guilfoyle's speech at the RNC was some crazy s***!

Guilfoyle's delivery was all fire and brimstone, which might have worked well if there were 5,000 people in the audience, but she was speaking in an empty hall. It sounded like something out of 'GOT' or WW2.

The former FOX News Anchor and current GF of Donald Trump Jr. laid out her vision if Trump gets elected, as well as if Biden gets elected.

She warned, "They [Democrats] want to steal your liberty ... and control how you live." She claimed Democrats would send jobs back to China while those Dems got rich. She said Biden/Harris and co. would destroy law enforcement with their "socialist agenda."

Jacob Blake was shot 7 times by a white cop for the "crime" of being black ... so says Jacob's uncle, who's deeply distraught over what went down in Kenosha, WI.

Justin Blake tells TMZ ... the police officer who shot his nephew has absolutely no justification for what he did, and he should be charged with attempted murder.

Jacob's uncle says Jacob's 3 kids -- who were in the car when their dad was shot -- are severely traumatized and in the care of relatives. They don't really understand what happened, but they know their dad was hurt badly.

Justin says he's been at the hospital with Jacob's mother, sister and close relatives, but they were not able to see him because he underwent surgery and was recovering.

Justin says cops were called to the scene for an altercation between 2 women, and Jacob was trying to break it up ... which is how he got mixed up with the police.

"F THE GAMES AND PLAYOFFS!!! THIS IS SICK AND IS A REAL PROBLEM WE DEMAND JUSTICE!"

Utah Jazz superstar Donovan Mitchell is shifting his focus from the NBA playoffs to the horrific shooting of unarmed black man Jacob Blake in Kenosha, WI ... saying this is exactly why players have been speaking out about social injustice.

Blake was reportedly walking back to his vehicle after breaking up a fight between two women ... when a white officer followed him and shot him in the back 7 times as Blake's children watched from inside the car.

Blake was flown to a nearby hospital where he remains in serious condition.

Mitchell is one of many sports figures speaking out about the incident ... saying, "ITS CRAZY I DONT HAVE ANY WORDS BUT WTF MAN! THIS IS WHY WE DONT FEEL SAFE!!!!"

FYI -- Mitchell is currently wearing "Say Her Name" on the back of his jersey during the NBA restart in honor of Breonna Taylor, who was shot and killed by three cops executing a no-knock search warrant in March.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Amir Garrett also spoke about the shooting, saying ... "They put 7 rounds into Jacob Blake in front of his children. I watched the video, you telling me he can’t be tazed? He immediately has to be shot?"

"Smh apparently black lives still don’t matter. I am outraged this morning."

K.C. Chiefs star Tyrann Mathieu tweeted, "Damn they shot that man 7 times.... why can’t 3 officers subdue one male? I truly need answers y’all comment on everything else......"

New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara added ... "Attempted murder.. I pray he survives."

Hall of Famer Ray Allen spoke out as well, saying, "No person deserves to be treated this way. Can we all agree on this? Where is our human decency! What happened to "protect and serve."

"It looks more like harass and shoot!"

The Milwaukee Bucks -- who usually play 45 minutes from Kenosha -- released a statement on the incident, saying, "We stand firmly against reoccurring issues of excessive use of force and immediate escalation when engaging the black community."

"Our organization will continue to stand for all black lives as we demand accountability and systemic change on behalf of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Sylville Smith, Ernest Lacy, Dontre Hamiltion, Tony Robinson, Joel Acevedo and countless other victims."

"We will work to enact policy change so these incidents no longer exist."

Jacob Blake was in some sort of a tussle with police officers before breaking free and trying to walk away ... and before one of those cops fired 7 shots into his back.

New footage has emerged of the moments leading up to Blake being shot this weekend in Kenosha, WI -- and it shows a different angle than the viral clip captured from a home across the street. This time, the camera's rolling just a few yards away.

The angle depicts what was happening shortly before Blake stood up and walked around the side of his car and opened the door ... and then ultimately getting fired upon at point-blank range. While it's a bit hard to fully make out, you can clearly see a struggle between Blake and officers. Nonetheless, he's unarmed and unthreatening as his back is turned to the cop who repeatedly shoots him.

The full official details about what led up to the shooting are still hazy, but it appears Blake was already involved in some sort of altercation with police. Reports say witnesses claimed he was breaking up a fight between two females, nothing more.

The officers involved have been placed on administrative leave while an investigation continues. Meanwhile, protests have erupted ... and more violence has broken out.

A group of teenagers broke into a New Jersey petting zoo and ran amok ... and cops say they turned the place upside down in the middle of the night and cruelly put lipstick on one of the animals.

Cops in Wyckoff, NJ say at least six teens illegally made their way onto Abma's Farm this weekend around 10 PM or so, well after business hours. The family that lives there and runs the place says they heard commotion outside, and ran out to see what was going on.

They claim they encountered a number of adolescents on the grounds in different animal pens. The family members say they tried chasing them down, but all the kids got away.

Afterward, the owner says he was sent a photo of a blonde girl riding one of his miniature donkeys, with her full weight on it ... and a Snapchat filter that read, "Abma's Farm." It also appears one of their ponies received a makeover ... with lipstick applied to its mouth.

The facility claims the kids also released a bunch of animals from their confined areas and interacted with the livestock in ways that were dangerous ... leaving the creatures frazzled after the fact. Luckily, Abma's Farm says all their animals are accounted for.

The place remained closed Monday as a vet went through and checked up on all of the 60 or so of the animals on the premises. Abma's Farm seemed irate in the Facebook post, saying this wasn't just teenage hijinks and pranks ... it was outright disrespectful and criminal.

Scott Peterson just got a big break, because the California Supreme Court has reversed his death penalty sentence for murdering his wife and unborn child.

The Court ruled the trial judge in the case erred by dismissing prospective jurors who opposed the death penalty but claimed they could still follow the law and impose it if the evidence so warranted.

The State's high court ruled unanimously ... opposition to the death penalty alone is not grounds to dismiss prospective jurors. They can be dismissed if they won't follow the law, but some people with strong opinions still have the capacity to follow the judge's instructions.

Peterson killed his wife, 27-year-old Laci Peterson, and their unborn son, Connor. Laci was 8 months pregnant when she and Connor were murdered on Xmas eve, 2002.