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Ras Baraka, the longstanding mayor of Newark, N.J., was arrested Friday at an ICE detention facility in the city he governs. On the X platform, many are outraged that Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested and charged with trespassing for simply looking to examine the conditions of the facility alongside members of Congress.

Local outlet The Star-Ledger reports that Mayor Ras Baraka, 55, was at the Delaney Hall ICE detention facility in Newark, flanked by Democratic Party U.S. Reps. Rob Menendez, LaMonica McIver, and Bonnie Watson Coleman, all of whom represent New Jersey districts.  Mayor Baraka and the members of Congress were there to inspect the facility, which Baraka says was constructed without proper building permits, and wanted to conduct oversight measures.

Menendez, McIver, and Watson entered a building located at the facility, but Baraka was barred from entering the building despite being the mayor of the city where the facility is housed. As the congressional members were leaving and walking towards a gate where Baraka stood, officers instructed the mayor to stand outside the gate. One of the congress members’ aides reportedly heard ICE agents discussing arresting the mayor.

A chaotic scene ensued with Rep. Watson in the middle of the fracas. Corporation Counsel Kenyatta Stewart, Newark’s top lawyer, was next to Baraka but was not arrested by ICE officers. U.S. Attorney Alina Habba framed Baraka’s actions as trespassing despite not being inside the building that the Congress members were allowed to enter.

“The Mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings from Homeland Security Investigations to remove himself from the ICE detention center in Newark, New Jersey this afternoon. He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state. He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW,” Habba wrote in a statement on X.

Assistant Secretary Dept. of Homeland Security Tricia McLaughlin added in a statement, “Members of Congress storming into a detention facility goes beyond a bizarre political stunt and puts the safety of our law enforcement agents and detainees at risk. Members of Congress are not above the law and cannot illegally break into detention facilities. Had these members requested a tour, we would have facilitated a tour of the facility. This is an evolving situation.”

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has supported Baraka’s efforts to uncover the details of the for-profit detention center, which houses about 1,000 people. The facility was built for detained immigrants as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigration.

“Mayor Baraka is an exemplary public servant who has always stood up for our most vulnerable neighbors,” Gov. Murphy said in a statement. “I am calling for his immediate release by federal law enforcement.”

Congresswoman Watson Coleman shared on MSNBC that Mayor Baraka will be released by the authorities. Baraka’s rep told Hip-Hop Wired via an email statement that their side is monitoring the situation and will provide details as they develop.

On X, reactions to the arrest of Mayor Ras Baraka have cropped up. We have some of them listed below.

UPDATE: Mayor Ras Baraka was released from custody earlier this evening, as reported by The Bergen Record.

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Photo: Getty

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Gylee Games’ new original game, Ra BOOM, aims to deliver a gut punch and not be just another mindless button-mashing beat ’em up experience.

We are genuinely in a beat ’em up game renaissance, with games like TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge, Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons, the forthcoming Double Dragon Revive, Streets of Rage 4, and others restoring the feeling of the classic video game genre that used to gobble up all the quarters in arcades.

With Ra Ra BOOM, Gylee Games hopes to keep that momentum going. In essence, the game is a classic beat ’em game in which playable characters take out hordes of villains and eventually the big boss. Still, once you pick up the sticks and press start, you will see the game studio is hoping to deliver a much deeper experience.

Ra Ra BOOM’s Story

In the vibrant, fast-paced game, players can choose from five playable ninja cheerleaders, a combination we are sure you never thought of. They aren’t your typical cheerleaders; they have been trained to take on a rogue AI that has forced humans to leave Earth, but find themselves back on the planet, and must punch, kick, and shoot through hordes of angry robots and other foes and fight as a squad to save humanity.

Each character is fully upgradable, has unique hand-to-hand abilities, and wields a firearm to allow players to fight from a distance. To use your character’s special ability, you fill up a meter by landing hits on enemies; the power of the ability is determined by how full the meter is.

HHW Gaming got hands-on with the game at PAX East and experienced the two levels during a brief demo. Ra Ra BOOM has been on our radar since seeing it during Kinda Funny’s Game Showcase two years ago.

Why Ra Ra BOOM Uses Ninja Cheerleaders?

Speaking with the game’s creative director, Chris Bergman, our first question was why cheerleaders? His answer? Why not cheerleaders? 

“I wanted to create a 90s aesthetic. And, like, Saturday morning cartoons, fun and vibrant,” Bergman tells HHW Gaming. “Like what the f**k’s more vibrant than a cheerleader?”

He also notes that teens who still attend school while living off the planet were raised to fight AI-controlled robots but use cheerleading to build teamwork.

That makes all the sense in the world when you think about it.

Ra Ra BOOM Features A Deeper Narrative

What also sets this game apart from other beat ’em up games is that Bergman wanted his game to have a meaningful narrative, as he feels that’s where the video game genre traditionally falls short.

“Well, I don’t think beat ’em up games have good narratives,” Bergman said. “They’re really limited in what you can do. So part of it was a creative challenge of, like, can we introduce a real narrative into a new creative IP and a new game, and I fell in love with these characters so much. I wanted to make sure that that story was heard.”

In crafting the game’s story, Bergman also used his personal experience, his father-in-law’s passing, and the grief he experienced from a traumatic moment to enhance Ra Ra BOOM’s narrative experience further.

He also used writing the game’s story to help him cope with his father-in-law’s death, and hopes the story will do the same for players.

Ra Ra BOOM is due out this summer and will be available on PC via Steam, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles, and will most likely cost $19.99 when it releases. It will have DLC content sometime after its launch, ensuring players will keep running it back after they beat the game.

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On Wednesday (May 7), Lions Gate released the first trailer for their upcoming film adaptation of Stephen King’s 1979 novel, The Long Walk, and while it’s not a horror film per se it’s definitely a nerve-racking scary movie simply because it seems like something that could happen in Trump’s America (just sayin’). Centering a contest where participants are asked to simply walk as far as possible, things take a crazy turn as the rule states that anyone who walks below 3 miles per hour gets their ticket punched i.e. killed.

With soldiers accompanying them and shooting down contestants one by one, the group of walkers know that the last man standing isn’t just going to win the big prize (cash), but the prize of life itself. With men dropping off one by one due to health issues or simply trying to get out of the contest itself (bang, bang), The Long Walk seems like the kind of thriller that’ll have you hoping society never comes to such dystopian levels. With Cheeto Jesus in charge, it might though!

Check out the trailer for Stephen King’s The Long Walk below, and let us know if you’ll be checking it out when it hits theaters sometime this year.

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In 2023, Reebok made some noise when they announced that NBA legends Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson would be taking over their basketball division as president and vice president, and now we’ll get to see just how it went down thanks to a new Netflix series detailing the business decision of a few years ago.

In the new trailer for their upcoming series Power Moves, Shaquille O’Neal explains why he took on the role of president of Reebok’s basketball division saying they’ve been “out of the game” for a while and hopes to bring back the buzz the sneaker brand once had when O’Neal was tearing down backboard in the early ’90s. Accompanied by his vice president, Allen Iverson, the series goes into the everyday struggle that Shaq and A.I. go through to revive Reebok’s basketball popularity, including picking and choosing new silhouettes for the brand to produce and searching for up-and-coming talent to help promote the brand to a new generation of basketball fans.

Coming in at six episodes, Power Moves will be an interesting watch as viewers can get an idea of how the sneaker business works behind closed doors before we get to see the end product both on TV and on shelves.

We’re still waiting on Reebok to retro Jay-Z’s S. Carter kicks and 50 Cent’s G-Unit silhouettes. Just sayin’.

Check out the trailer for Power Moves below, and let us know if you’ll be checking it out when it premiers on Netflix on June 4.

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