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Jacob Blake has finally spoken to the public from his hospital bed where he lies paralyzed from the waist down -- and his message is simple ... don't take life for granted.

A video was posted this weekend by Blake's family attorney, Ben Crump, which appears to have been filmed by a friend of his named Mike. It shows Jacob lying in his hospital gown and addressing the camera -- sharp, alert and precise with his words.

We'll let the man speak for himself, but to sum it up ... he says the things we take for granted in life -- like walking, for instance -- can be taken from you in a flash, and he wants all the young'ns and old cats who might be listening to take notice -- and take advantage.

He tells anybody who might not be living right to turn things around, as he assures them they don't wanna end up like him ... with unbearable pain, which he documents in great detail. He also addresses the African-American community at large -- and it's pretty uplifting.

What's astonishing ... the guy appears to be in relatively good spirits -- his physical condition notwithstanding -- and not only that ... his first words to the world are inspirational ones, spreading nothing but positive vibes and advice. Jacob's been through hell, but here he is preaching unity, gratitude and good deeds. No mention of the cop who shot him.

A Georgia cop came face-to-face with Billy Gruff himself after leaving her patrol car door open, which left her work papers ripe for the picking chomping.

This hilarious woman-versus-wild encounter went down Friday in Douglas County, GA -- where one of the Sheriff's Dept.'s deputies had a run-in with a brazen goat that wasn't scared to go wandering outside its pastures. If anything, it was looking for new leather interior digs.

Check it out ... the deputy -- whose body cam was rolling -- was out delivering civil papers, according to her bosses. She pulls up to a property, hops out and leaves the driver-side door open, 'cause it's just a quick in and out type gig. Does it all the time, apparently.

As she returns to the vehicle, she sees there's a non-human intruder inside. Sure enough, there's a goat in there rummaging through her things -- specifically, a stack of paperwork. Seems like it was delicious, 'cause Bill was going to town.

She tried shooing it away by giving it a little love tap on the backside, but the goat wouldn't budge. It took some doing -- watch the video -- but she finally got it to hop out of her ride.

But, it still wasn't over! Ya gotta see how the goat actually knocked her over.

Rihanna appeared bruised and battered as she made a quick pit stop in L.A. -- turns out she's the latest victim of the electric scooter.

RiRi rolled up to Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica Friday night, where she was trying to lay low in her Escalade while some staffers brought out food and drinks to her curbside. At one point, she removed her sunglasses ... and paps captured her looking the worse for wear -- a black eye and some swelling in her face.

Several media outlets posted the photos and suggested she'd been in some sort of physical altercation ... remembering the Chris Brown beating back in 2009. Not the case -- her rep tells us Rihanna was on an e-scooter a few days ago and ate it after the scooter flipped over, smacking her in the face and forehead.

We're told it looks worse than it is and she's healing.

The internet is abuzz at the fact that there's actually a high school team called the "Cotton Pickers" -- something a local reporter made public, and which he now regrets.

KIII 3 Sports' Chris Thomasson tweeted a video Friday of the Robstown High School football team taking the field for their season opener against the London High School Pirates near Corpus Christi, TX ... but he also dropped Robstown's team name, the Cotton Pickers.

The guy's tweet got picked up and spread like wildfire, with many people aghast and outraged there could actually be a team with such racist connotations -- especially in Texas, no less. Their mascot isn't very subtle either -- it depicts a cotton plant, straight up. And yes, there are Black players on the football and other sports team ... so, what gives?

That same reporter followed up and said he didn't mean to stir the pot by dropping the full name -- he says he never says the full thing on air and usually just refers to the team as the "Pickers." He also provided context ... saying "Cotton Pickers" is something the school board there recently voted to stick to after consulting the community, which is apparently predominantly Latino. Many of those folks do, in fact, pick cotton and don't view it as a slur.

There are some local reports of residents there even being proud of the name -- as they view it as honest work steeped in local tradition and heritage ... from their POVs anyway.

That said, Thomasson acknowledges it's probably time to change the name, adding he's advocated for that for years. Fact is, the history of cotton picking in this country usually conjures up just one thing for most -- AKA, slavery -- and that alone should be reason enough to pivot.

A university professor who posed as a Black woman for years had her own family completely in the dark about her double life ... and now, they're utterly ashamed.

Jessica Krug -- who says she publicly identified as North African, African-American and of Caribbean descent through most of her adult life -- outed herself Thursday in a Medium post, saying she'd been living a lie ... since she isn't Black at all, just a white Jewish woman.

Krug apologized for what she described as being a "culture leech," saying she'd finally seen the error in her ways ... and that her appropriation was, in fact, anti-Black and colonial.

While it's somewhat commendable she didn't go the route of Rachel Dolezal -- who, more or less, stuck to her guns on identifying as Black -- the damage was already done. George Washington University, where she taught African and Latin American Studies, announced she won't be teaching this semester ... this after her own department tore her a new one.

Not only that, but Krug's own family came out this week and said they were utterly oblivious to the fact she'd been lying about her race. Granted, it sounds like she's estranged.

Her sister-in-law -- who spoke to CNN -- says her husband (Krug's blood brother) hadn't spoken to Jessica in 20 years ... but went on to confirm that she is certainly not Black, going on to call her "white as snow white" and establishing her Kansas City upbringing.

This pooch went from not lovin' it to REALLY lovin' it ... and all it took was a little Heinz-sight.

Let's face it ... McDonald's has some of the best french fries out there in fast food land, but plain 'ol fries aren't cutting it for this German Shepard mix. The K-9 turns its nose on the naked fry.

But then ... the owner ups the game with the condiment of choice -- ketchup. The dog attacks the partially red target ... gobbling it up with no reservations.

We got to wondering ... is this a good advertisement for Mickey D's? Humans dig fries even without ketchup, but we're guessing the majority of dog owners prefer their fries with the red stuff.

If you don't think people's nerves have been frayed during the pandemic, check out this scene from Dunkin' Donuts.

An enraged customer swung the front door open as she charged in the donut shop, demanding answers from an employee she claims threw a bag at her friend in the drive-thru.

As she screams at the employee, he implores her to stop speaking to him like that. He gets emotional as he walks away, and then the customer sets her sights on another employee, demanding that the employee in question gets fired.

The woman claims when she and her friend went through the drive-thru, the employee got their order wrong, so they drove back to get it done right. The woman says the employee threw the bag at her friend's head.

The manager at DD asked the 2 women to return the next day. He told them the employee was having a bad day and, coincidentally, it was his last day on the job. The manager said the employee was not fired ... Friday was going to be his last day even before the incident.

A fight between 2 of New York's most notorious residents -- a pigeon and a rat -- looked like it was going to the death ... until a pipe-wielding referee broke up the action.

All this video is missing is a UFC Octagon, and it looks like the rat was about to make the pigeon tap out ... like, forever. The bird was flapping its wings, desperately trying to get out of the rat's death grip.

Things really weren't looking good for the "rat of the sky" when all of a sudden -- outta nowhere -- a man delivered a crushing blow to the ground rat. The rodent quickly scurried away, but looks like the poor pigeon took a few blows too ... adding insult to injury.

Miraculously, both the bird and the rat seemed to walk away from the melee alive. The pigeon even had some swagger in its step as it left. Then again they always look like they're strutting.

It's cloudy with a chance of cannabis in Tel Aviv ... a drone dropped bags of weed over a city square, sending folks running into the streets for the gratis greens.

Dank started dropping from the skies over Rabin Square Thursday, a ganja gift from local activists seeking to legalize it.

As you can see in the video, the free baggies of bud started fluttering down from a high-flying drone, and people scrambled to scoop up the strains in the middle of traffic.

Pro-legalization group Green Drone hinted at the operation beforehand in a message on Telegram, saying ... "The time has come. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the Green Drone sending you free cannabis from the skies."

The fun police, AKA actual police, put a stop to it all, though -- cops say they arrested 2 men who allegedly operated the drone. Police claimed the bags were packed with "a dangerous drug." Hey, not everyone's come around on marijuana.

Medical cannabis is legal in Israel, while recreational use is illegal, but mostly decriminalized.

A chemistry class expecting instructions from their professor instead got a very special message from his T.A. instead ... the one and only, Snoop Dogg.

Dr. Benny is the sharply-dressed teacher of Chem 60 at Los Angeles Pierce College, and on the first day of visual learning, he enlisted the rapper to send a very important message to his students ... read the syllabus!!

As for why, Snoop tells the class ... "The more you know, the further you go." Dr. Benny approves.

If first impressions are everything, you gotta think these college kids will be more inspired than ever to learn about elements and compounds.

This guy is blowing off that ol' saying, "Don't feed the bears," in the worst way possible ... feeding one from his own mouth!!! Yeah, this is WILD.

The dude's name is Dakota Datz, but if he keeps this up ... call him Bear Bait. It's unclear where he did this, but he ran into a bear cub that loves cookies, so Dakota decided on a little mouth-to-mouth to feed his new furry friend.

Yeah, the bear looks cute and all ... but, obviously, this is NOT advisable. Dakota recorded vids, over several days, interacting with the cub during a camping trip. In one post he included the caption, "Baby girl came back this weekend."

Of course ... you're giving her cookies!!!

He might have gotten this idea from Jason Momoa ... who as ya might remember did the exact same thing last November. Difference is ... Aquaman did with a bear in captivity. Still not a good idea.

Then there's the family that fed a bear PB&J sandos?! Come to think of it ... none were braver than the woman who took a selfie with a wild black bear and lived to tell it.

When Dana White offered a job to a female Best Buy security guard who manhandled a male alleged shoplifter back in December ... HE WASN'T KIDDING!

You remember Summer Tapasa -- the woman who was FIRED from her Best Buy gig when surveillance video of the December incident went viral ... showing her beating up a suspected shoplifter to keep him from leaving the store.

Dana was so impressed at the time, he flew her out to UFC 246 in January to watch the Conor McGregor vs. Cowboy Cerrone fight as his VIP guest.

Now, Dana has announced he's brought Summer on board as a full-time UFC staffer!

"I brought her out to Vegas. I offered her a job here. She went back to Hawaii, she weighed all her options and she decided to work for UFC. She is now a UFC employee, so for all of you thinking about f**king around here at UFC, you will get your ass whooped by Summer,” White said.

Summer also shot a video -- saying, “My name is Summer Tapasa and I am a UFC corporate security officer."

"I have been working with UFC for eight days and I am looking forward to expanding my career and hopefully moving on up."

As Dr. Seuss might say ... this owl made him howl, and it's all because of the owl's bowels.

This dude probably thought he had one cool video to post on Instagram after someone with a pet owl popped into the restaurant where he was eating. The owl somehow ends up on his head, which amuses him to no end. And, speaking of ends, he didn't know what was coming.

The little girls who had to use a Taco Bell's Wi-Fi for school have been blessed with thousands of dollars in donations -- money that'll be put to good use ... TMZ has learned.

Jackie Lopez, the woman running the GoFundMe page soliciting funds for the family in the viral photo, raised $142k-plus thus far ... and a good chunk of that will go toward the children's education.

Lopez says the girls' mom, Juana, plans on starting a college fund for her three kids -- two of whom were seen sitting outside of a Taco Bell with their laptops and notepads. The third child is only a year old, but Juana's focusing on the long play.

Juana also wants to use some of the money for therapy for her kids. She says the family's been in and out homelessness and it's likely had an effect on the kids, so she wants her daughters to talk to a professional.

Juana's now looking to buy a mobile home in Salinas. On top of that, Lopez says Juana will upgrade the ice cream cart she uses for work ... one of many things she does to earn a living.

You'll recall ... the photo of Juana's two girls caused quite a stir. Elected officials said it was emblematic of the digital divide in minority communities, and clearly folks were concerned.

OUUUUUUUCHHHHH!!!!

New York Mets outfielder Jake Marisnick violently crashed into a wall in an attempt to make a catch Wednesday ... and sacrificed his FACE in the process.

Check out footage of the center fielder trying to snag a fly ball in the 2nd inning of the Mets-Orioles game ... but instead, ending up with a face full of Camden Yards' wall.

The play was crazy ... Baltimore catcher Pedro Severino roped a ball into deep center -- and not noticing the wall approaching, Marisnick slammed right into it at full speed trying to make the grab.

To his credit, Marisnick still got up and attempted to make the play ... but afterward, he had to be checked out by trainers.

And, when cameras zoomed on the 29-year-old's face -- you can see the dude had some serious bruising around his nose and eyes from his sunglasses.

But, Jake stayed in the game ... and actually BALLED OUT -- going 2-for-4 with a run and RBI.

L.A. County Sheriff's deputies gunned down a Black man in South L.A. this week -- which can now be seen in full view through new surveillance video that was just released.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump posted footage obtained by a security camera at a nearby home, not far from where 29-year-old Dijon Kizzee was shot multiple times and killed on the spot Monday afternoon. His death has come under scrutiny and sparked protests.

LASD says officers were attempting to stop Kizzee after they found he was "in violation of vehicle codes" while riding his bike. They say they pursued him when he fled ... and things escalated into a physical confrontation between Kizzee and at least one deputy, which you can see here.

The Sheriff's Dept. goes on to say that during the struggle, some items Kizzee was carrying fell on the ground ... one of which they claim was a handgun. LASD claims at that point, Kizzee broke free and tried fleeing once again, but officers fired multiple rounds and took him down.

Crump and others contend that even if a gun was in Kizzee's possession during the altercation, he didn't point it at them and was not a threat by the time he ran a second time. They're demanding Sheriff Alex Villanueva release the names of the deputies who fired the shots ... while also asking for their arrest and eventual prosecution. The case is under investigation.