JOHN DANIEL SINGLETON - WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN (“BOYZ IN THE HOOD”)

JOHN DANIEL SINGLETON - NEVER FORGET (“BOYZ IN THE HOOD”):

JANUARY 6, 1968 – APRIL 29, 2019

Post Sources: Youtube

GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH - FMR US PRES DEAD AT 94 (R.I.P.)

GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH - FORMER US PRES DEAD AT 94 (R.I.P.):

BORN - JUNE 12, 1924 (MASSACHUSETTS)
DIED - NOV 30, 2018 (TEXAS)

SERVED AS 43rd VICE-PRES - 1981 to 1989

SERVED AS 41st PRES - 1989 to 1993.


Post Sources: CNN, Wikipedia, Youtube


Congressional leaders announced that an arrival ceremony will be held for Bush on Monday at 5 p.m. ET. The public will then be invited to pay their respects from 7:30 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. Wednesday. The statement said that the Bush family will provide additional details regarding arrangements beyond the ceremony at the Capitol.

KIM PORTER & DIDDY - SUPER BLACK LOVE FOREVER

KIM PORTER & DIDDY - SUPER BLACK LOVE FOREVER:

REGARDLESS OF WHAT LIES THE RACIST MAINSTREAM MEDIA POSTS, KIM CAN NEVER BE REPLACED IN DIDDY’S LIFE NOR THE LIVES OF HIS CHILDREN.

KIM PORTER WAS NOT A “BABY MAMA”, SHE WAS A BEAUTIFUL, INTELLIGENT, LOVING MOTHER WHO DIED MUCH TOO SOON.

I’M NOT JUDGING BUT I KNOW DIDDY TRULY LOVED KIM AND HE SHOULD HAVE MARRIED HER.

I’M JUST SAYING.

PLEASE EVERYONE PRAY FOR ALL OF DIDDY’S CHILDREN.


Post Sources: Instagram, People, Youtube


”For the last three days I’ve been trying to wake up out of this nightmare. But I haven’t. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you baby. I miss you so much. Today I’m going to pay tribute to you, I’m going to try and find the words to explain our unexplainable relationship. We were more than best friends, we were more than soulmates. WE WERE SOME OTHER SHIT!! And I miss you so much. Super Black Love 🖤”

DIDDY (via Instagram)

JOHN MCCAIN IS DEAD - POLITICAL BATTLE FOR HIS SEAT BEGINS BEFORE HE IS BURIED

JOHN MCCAIN IS DEAD - POLITICAL BATTLE FOR HIS SEAT BEGINS BEFORE HE IS EVEN BURIED:

AUGUST 29, 1936 - AUGUST 25, 2018

MCCAIN LEFT BEHIND MIXED POLITICAL LEGACY, HOWEVER HE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO REST IN PEACE AND STILL HONORED FOR HIS U.S. MILITARY SERVICE.

I SEND MY PRAYERS AND CONDOLENCES TO HIS FAMILY.


Post Sources: ABC News, BBC News, CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, Youtube


****** John McCain's death means potential legal battle to fill his Senate seat


With the news that Arizona Senator John McCainhas passed away due to complications from brain cancer, the speculation over who will succeed him in the position he has held since 1987 has begun in earnest.

The timing of McCain’s death results in a complicated process that could end up in a court battle in a state that will be key to determining the balance of power in the U.S. Senate this midterm cycle.

According to Arizona state law, the governor appoints a replacement for any vacancy in a U.S. Senate seat who will hold it until the "next eligible general election."

That person must belong to the same political party of the person who held the seat.

That means Doug Ducey, Arizona's Republican governor, would appoint a Republican to fill McCain's seat until the next general election or until the governor decided to call a special election.

However, the most relevant piece of election code in this situation is that the candidate filing deadline for the election cannot be fewer than 90 days before a primary for that special election.

The State of Arizona Election Procedures Manualstipulates that the vacancy "must occur sufficiently before" that deadline to gather signatures to get on the primary ballot.

Since the Arizona primaries will be held this Tuesday, the filing deadline for candidates would have had to have been May 30 for a special election to comply with state law.

So even though the next general election in Arizona is in November, the timing of McCain’s passing likely ensures that whomever Ducey appoints to replace him will serve until 2020, the next general election year.

Matt Roberts, the communications director for the Arizona Secretary of State, confirmed to ABC News that under state election regulations, Ducey can appoint a replacement that will serve in McCain’s seat until 2020.

Democrats could challenge that relevant portion of state election guidance to try and force a special election in 2018, which would put both of the state's Senate seats up this cycle since retiring Sen. Jeff Flake's seat is also up.

When asked about potential plans to pursue legal action to force a special election in 2018, a spokesperson for the Arizona Democratic Party declined to comment on the subject, instead telling ABC News, "John McCain is an American hero and our thoughts are with him and his family at this difficult time."

A special election this year would force Republicans to defend two Senate seats this cycle in a state Donald Trump won by just four percentage points in the 2016 presidential election.

ARETHA FRANKLIN; 1942-2018; SINCE MOST BLACK SINGING DIVAS ARE DEAD, ADELE CAN TAKE OVER RIGHT?

ARETHA LOUISE FRANKLIN; 1942-2018:

SINCE MOST BLACK SINGING DIVAS ARE NOW DEAD, ADELE CAN FINALLY TAKE OVER RIGHT?

WHO WILL BE REPLACED NEXT?

CHAKA KHAN OR PATTI LABELLE??

Post Sources: Wall Street Journal, Youtube

ARETHA FRANKLIN IS NEAR DEATH AT THE AGE OF 76 (GOOD-BYE QUEEN)

ARETHA FRANKLIN IS NEAR DEATH AT THE AGE OF 76:

ARETHA'S AMAZING CAREER SPANS 45 YEARS.

THE ILLUMINATI CAN NO LONGER USE HER, NOR FORCE HER TO CONTINUE SINGING.

THIS EXTREMELY GIFTED WOMAN WILL FINALLY BE ALLOWED TO REST.

GOOD-BYE ARETHA.......WE LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU.


Post Sources: ABC News, CNN, The Guardian, Youtube


*******Aretha Franklin is in Hospice care


Aretha Franklin is in hospice care at her home, a source close to the 76-year-old singer told CNN's Don Lemon.

Word of the "Queen of Soul" being gravely ill was first reported by Showbiz 411.

Showbiz 411's Roger Friedman told CNN: "She has a great family, she's surrounded by love, and the world is sending prayers. All further announcements will be made by her family. We just want to send love and prayers."

The soul singer has been dogged by reports of failing health for years and appeared frail in recent photos, but she has kept her struggles private.

In February of 2017, Franklin announced that she would stop touring, but she continued to book concerts. Earlier this year, she canceled a pair of performances, including at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, on doctor's orders, according to Rolling Stone. In 2010, she was forced to cancel to scheduled performances due to fractured ribs and abdominal pain.

Franklin's career spans six decades. She got her start singing gospel music in a Detroit church where her father was the minister. In 1960, she signed with her first major record label. By 1968, Franklin was an established soul chart-topper with hits like "Respect," "Chain of Fools" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."

That same year she was tapped to sing at the memorial service of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. where she performed a stirring rendition of "Precious Lord, Take My Hand."

Franklin was the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in 1987 -- a year before the Beatles were inducted. In 1994, at age 52, she became the youngest at that time to receive a Kennedy Center Honor.

Franklin has 44 Grammy nominations and 18 wins. She has performed at the inaugurations of three presidents:

Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. President George W. Bush awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

Franklin's last album, "A Brand New Me," released in 2017, remixed her vintage vocals with newly recorded arrangements.

Franklin's last known performance was at a private gala for the Elton John AIDS Foundation last November.

~ Correction: This story has been corrected to clearly identify that Aretha Franklin performed at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s memorial service.

BILLY GRAHAM DEAD AT 99, FRIEND TO DR MLK & U.S. PRESIDENTS, SOULWINNER (RIP)

BILLY GRAHAM DEAD AT 99, FRIEND TO DR MLK & ALL U.S. PRESIDENTS:

GRAHAM LED MORE THAN 1 MILLION PEOPLE TO JESUS CHRIST REGARDLESS OF THEIR RACE.

BILLY GRAHAM IS NOW IN HEAVEN WITH JESUS.

GREAT IS BILLY GRAHAM’S REWARD.

REST IN PEACE & GOD BLESS HIS FAMILY.


Sources: AP, HuffPost, Yahoo News, Youtube


****** Billy Graham, 'America's Pastor' And Noted Evangelist, Dead At 99


Billy Graham, the famed evangelist who became known as “America’s Pastor,” has died at the age of 99, The Associated Press reported.

Graham died at his home Wednesday morning from natural causes, a family spokesman told ABC News.

Born in 1918 in Charlotte, North Carolina, William Franklin Graham Jr. was the oldest of the four children of William and Morrow Graham. He was raised on a dairy farm, and little in his childhood suggested he would become a world-renowned preacher.

Then at 16, Graham attended a series of revival meetings run by outspoken evangelist Mordecai Ham. The two months he spent listening to Ham’s sermons on sin sparked a spiritual awakening in Graham and prompted him to enroll at Bob Jones College. When the conservative Christian school’s strict doctrine didn’t align with his personal beliefs, he transferred to the Florida Bible Institute (now Trinity College of Florida) and joined a Southern Baptist Convention church. He was ordained in 1939.

Graham received additional training at Illinois’ Wheaton College, where he met his future wife, Ruth McCue Bell. They were married for 64 years, until her death in 2007, and had five children.

After serving briefly as the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Western Springs, Illinois, Graham launched his first radio program, “Songs in the Night,” in 1943. Although he left a year later, Graham liked the idea of sharing his message with a wide audience. As noted on his website, Graham took Jesus Christ literally when he said in Mark 16:15: “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”

Graham was still in his early 30s when entered the public spotlight by giving a series of well-attended “sin-smashing” revival meetings that were held under a circus tent in a Los Angeles parking lot. The press took interest in the charismatic young preacher and began writing articles about him. To get his message to even more people, Graham founded his own ministry, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Graham viewed the Bible as the infallible word of God. He believed that Jesus led a sinless life and that all men were lost and would face God’s judgment. Most importantly, he was convinced he must use “every modern means of communication available” to spread the Gospel throughout the world, and did so in print, on radio and television, online and in person.

Graham’s sermons promoted evangelism and railed against “godless communism,” drugs, sex and violence. And for the next five decades, his electric personality connected with audiences in more than 185 countries.

Graham was the first evangelist of note to speak behind the Iron Curtain, and during the Apartheid era he refused to visit South Africa until the government allowed integrated seating at his events. He published dozens of best-selling books, including Angels: God’s Secret Agents and The Jesus Generation, and wrote a weekly column that was syndicated in hundreds of newspapers.

Graham received numerous honors, including the Horatio Alger Award, the George Washington Honor Medal, the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award and the Congressional Gold Medal. A highway in Charlotte bears his name, as does part of Interstate 240 near his home in Asheville, North Carolina. In 1989, he became the first clergyman to be granted a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work as a minister.

Graham also had a major effect on the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. His early crusades were segregated, but once the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling in 1954, which found public school segregation unconstitutional, Graham integrated the seatings at his revival meetings.

Graham befriended the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as well, and together they preached to more than 2 million people in New York City. When questioned about his views on faith and race, Graham argued there was no scriptural basis for segregation.

As his message spread, Graham was granted personal audiences with royalty, dignitaries and many sitting presidents, from Harry S. Truman to Barack Obama. Three presidents were even on hand in 2007 for the dedication of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte. Despite being a registered Democrat, Graham opposed the candidacy of John F. Kennedy, and actively encouraged other religious leaders to speak out about the dangers of having a Roman Catholic in the White House.

Though beloved by millions, Graham was not without his detractors. Some fundamentalist Christians took issue with his ecumenical approach to evangelism, and after his 1957 crusade in New York, opponents of Graham’s more liberal theology began calling him “the Antichrist.” According to the biography Billy: A Personal Look at Bill Graham, the World’s Best-Loved Evangelist by Sherwood Eliot Wirt, one Christian educator even said that Graham was “the worst thing to happen to the Christian church in two thousand years.” More recently, detractors blasted Graham’s continued belief that homosexual behavior was a “sinister form of perversion,” and his intolerance against the very presence of gay and lesbian couples within Christianity.

As his health began to fail, Graham decided to announce his retirement in 2005. His final sermon, “The Cross ― Billy Graham’s Message To America,” called for a national spiritual awakening.

MEECHY MONROE, BLACK CHICAGO BEAUTY GURU DEAD AT 32 (BRAIN TUMOR)

MEECHY MONROE, BLACK CHICAGO BEAUTY GURU DEAD AT 32 (BRAIN TUMOR):

SHE DIED TOO SOON.

Sources: Chicago Tribune


**** Meechy Monroe, Chicago blogger on black beauty, dies at 32


After an unflattering but fateful haircut in 2009 led Meechy Monroe to chop off her chemically treated hair in favor of a short Afro, women on the street would walk up to her and ask how they could get their look to resemble hers.

"People would come up to me and ask what I did to my hair," Monroe told the Tribune in 2014. "They'd ask to touch it and I'd let them. I understood that so many black women didn't know their natural hair. They wanted to learn. I'd stop and have a 20-minute conversation in the train station."

Monroe combined marketing skills she learned at Southern Illinois University with a desire to help people and launched a YouTube channel with videos that chronicled her life and shared tips on how to achieve different beauty techniques. That included Monroe's signature look, known to fans as "the Meechy twistout," where she'd section her hair in bunches, twist it at night, and let it fluff into a vibrant Afro by morning.

Over time, Monroe's YouTube channel collected millions of page views and more than 43,000 people followed her Instagram. Her beauty blog and natural hair advocacy inspired black women around the world.

In 2014, she had a stroke, and doctors found a rare type of brain tumor. Her family later placed Monroe in hospice care and she died on Tuesday. She was 32.

Born Tameka Moore, she grew up on the South Side as one of four sisters. "Meechy" was a high school nickname and "Monroe" was partly meant to evoke Marilyn Monroe, her sister Vaughn Moore said Thursday. Her father thought they should use a stage name to help protect their privacy.

"It was cute. It had a ring," Vaughn Moore said.

Monroe spent hours creating videos, testing styles and blogging. Her mother, Patricia Moore, said Monroe was always popular in school and around the neighborhood, but Moore was surprised and excited by how much her daughter's efforts took off.

"I had no idea that her popularity would grow to the level it grew to, and the thousands of people whose lives she touched, not only because of the tutorials and stuff like that, but people soon seemed to have fallen in love with her because of her personality," Moore said. "She cared about people. She loved people."

As her social media audience grew, Monroe began working with different beauty companies. Ken Burkeen, who runs Huetiful, a hair care company based in Atlanta, hired her and her sister Vaughn to essentially be cover girls for the company. When Huetiful launched in Europe, the sisters went along and were recognized in Paris, Burkeen said.

"A lady in the train station was running down the platform…yelling 'Monroe Sisters! Monroe Sisters!'" Burkeen recalled. "I think at that moment they realized they were (not only) influencing and touching lives in Chicago and Atlanta but abroad."

Vaughn Moore said her sister was "the light of everybody's life that she touched."

"People wanted to do more with themselves because of her. They wanted to be beautiful," Vaughn said. "They wanted to go seek careers for themselves, travel, have pets, cook, and try new things because of her and the influence she had in that space."

In 2014, the Tribune profiled Monroe and her struggle with a brain tumor that affects just 1 percent of U.S. cancer patients. Going through treatment changed her speech and ability to write, and took her hair.

Still, she shared a positive message for the world.

"It's just a new journey for me," she told the Tribune. "I've learned to be pretty confident in my skin. Chubby cheeks. Bald head. It's beautiful. I have to show other women — no matter what, you're still beautiful."

Her neurosurgeon, Dr. Leslie Schaffer, told the Tribune at the time that Monroe was "a very exceptional young lady. She's bright and very caring."

"She's as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, and it's a privilege to care for her," Schaffer said.

That's a point made by other relatives and associates.

Monroe's mother said that optimism was just who she was. She called Monroe "the glue" that held their family together. With four girls in the house, Moore said, there was a lot of chatter and "henpecking."

"She was always speaking positive and she hated negativity," Moore said, calling her a "peacemaker."

Moore said her daughter was resilient up to the end of her battle with cancer. Even though she had become disabled on her right side, she still remained hopeful to the end. Monroe died in a hospice center as her sister, Vaughn, held her hand.

"She was strong-willed," Moore said. "She was a fighter."

PRINCE REMEMBERED (ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH)

PRINCE REMEMBERED (ANNIVERSARY OF HIS DEATH):

WAS HE MURDERED FOR HIS MASTER TAPES?


Sources: AJC, BILLBOARD, EMPIRE HERALD, NFL, YOUTUBE


**** Inside Paisley Park on the anniversary of Prince’s death


CHANHASSEN, Minn. – Of all the eerily beautiful moments while spending time in Paisley Park on the anniversary eve of Prince’s death, the most bittersweet was provided by the man himself.
On a massive screen inside the massive soundstage Prince frequently used for performances, a clip played from a 2014 concert with 3rdeyegirl.

As he steered “Purple Rain” through its moody intervals, Prince paused to tell the crowd, “If you come to my house, you have to take care of it…at Paisley Park we sing together, we dine together, we love together.”

It was a fitting comment at that moment, with close to 1,000 fans from across the world assembled in the Paisley Park audience, all staring in the dark at video footage of the performer who died on April 21, 2016 just a few hundred feet from that screen, and exactly a week after thrilling crowds at the Fox Theatre at what became his final concerts.

While the mourning process continues for many – Matt Fink of The Revolution said earlier in the week that he still grieves for his former boss – this weekend at Paisley Park is supposed to be about rejoicing in Prince’s musical contributions and preserving his legacy.

The four-day Celebration 2017 kicked off Thursday with waves of fans who spent between $500 and $1,000 to bask in the Prince-ly aura, wander through parts of the Paisley compound (the Atrium houses Prince’s ashes – out of reach – in a “symbol”-shaped urn, guitar displays and, on the second floor, his white doves in a white cage), attend panels with members of The New Power Generation and soak in a surprise performance from George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic.

A gambler would have lost some cash that Clinton, at 75, would outlive Prince, who died at 57.

For more than an hour, Clinton and P-Funk bulldozed through one seamless groove that included “Get Up for the Down Stroke,” “Flashlight” and “Give Up the Funk.” Clinton alternately led the adrenalized crowd through arm calisthenics and slumped in a purple chair in front of the drum riser, content to direct his ace musicians as they paid tribute to Prince with their funk-steeped rock ‘n’ roll.

The afternoon concert – which would be repeated for a second round of Celebration attendees that evening – was the first live music event at Paisley Park since Prince’s death.

But there Clinton was, a tamer, less-colorful, shorter-haired version, barking through “Atomic Dog” in a silver-sequined military hat and long silver jacket, a dozen or so musicians in varying degrees of costumes whirling around him.

Because cell phones are prohibited at Paisley Park – a Prince rule even before his death – and were placed in Yondr pouches upon entry into the building, fans could experience the music uninterrupted by camera screens and glaring Facebook pages.

Damaris Lewis, who joined New Power Generation in 2012 as a dancer, served as lithe hostess and told the assembled throng after P-Funk’s set, “Live music. Real musicians. Real music. Nothing like it.

Inside the soundstage, a giant lighted Prince symbol hung from a back corner, while a banner of Prince’s face, silhouetted against a moon, looked toward the stage, his guidance omnipresent.

That same stage was the setting for a panel featuring NPG members Levi Seacer, Morris Hayes, Tony Mosley and Damon Dickson, who offered hilarious accounts of their time with Prince, as well as stories about his notorious work ethic.

“We would pull three-day straight sessions,” Hayes said. “He was so dedicated to the creation process. If you start it, finish it.”

Throughout the weekend, Celebration 2017 will present performances and panels from The Revolution, Morris Day & The Time, 3rdeyegirl and Paisley Park mainstays.

If there was a message to receive on Thursday, Seacer provided it: “Prince was all about r

DAVID "ILLUMNIATI BLOODLINE" ROCKEFELLER DEAD AT AGE 101 (CLINTONS MOURN)

DAVID "ILLUMNIATI BLOODLINE" ROCKEFELLER DEAD AT AGE 101:

ONE OF THE NWO 13 ILLUMINATI BLOODLINE FAMILIES.

JUNE 12, 1915 - MARCH 20, 2017 (NEW YORK)

BILL & HILLARY CLINTON MOURNS.


PROVERBS 11:9-11

9 With their mouths the godless destroy their neighbors,
but through knowledge the righteous escape.

10 When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices;
when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.

11 Through the blessing of the upright a city is exalted,
but by the mouth of the wicked it is destroyed.


Sources: Reuters, Russia Today, WSJ, The Holy Bible, YouTube


***** Billionaire philanthropist David Rockefeller dies at age 101 in New York


Billionaire philanthropist David Rockefeller, former head of Chase Manhattan Corp and patriarch of one of the most famous and influential American families, died on Monday, a family spokesman said. He was 101.

Rockefeller, who reportedly gave away nearly $2 billion in his lifetime, died in his sleep of congestive heart failure at his home in Pocantico Hills, New York, spokesman Fraser Seitel said in a statement.

One of the few remaining links to the U.S. "gilded" era of robber barons, he was the son of John D. Rockefeller Jr., who developed New York's Rockefeller Center, and was the last living grandson of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and the family dynasty. He also embodied an era when globe-trotting bank chiefs worked with the world's most powerful politicians.

During his time as head of Chase from 1969 to 1981, Rockefeller forged such a network of close relationships with governments and multinational corporations that observers said the bank had its own foreign policy.

The Rockefeller name came to symbolize unpopular U.S. banking policies in debtor countries, and Rockefeller was scorned on the left for working with Chile's Augusto Pinochet and the shah of Iran.

He also was viewed with anger on the right for pushing to open trade with China and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Trilateral Commission, a group Rockefeller founded in 1973 to foster relations between North America, Japan and Western Europe, came to be a regular target of the far-right and conspiracy theorists who said it was trying to create a one-world government.

Rockefeller became embroiled in an international incident when in 1979 he and long-time friend Henry Kissinger helped persuade President Jimmy Carter to admit the shah of Iran to the United States for treatment of lymphoma, helping precipitate the Iran hostage crisis.

Born in Manhattan as the youngest of six siblings, Rockefeller spent his childhood in New York City and at the family's estates, and recalled meeting such luminaries as Charles Lindbergh, Admiral Richard Byrd and Sigmund Freud.

His ties to the internationally famous continued throughout his adulthood, symbolized by his famed 100,000-card Rolodex, housed in its own room next to his office in Manhattan's Rockefeller Center.

The site of the nine-story mansion where he was born, then New York's largest residence, is now part of the Museum of Modern Art, which his mother, Abby, helped found in 1929.

Rockefeller collected beetles as a lifelong hobby and also acquired art - a Mark Rothko painting he bought in 1960 for less than $10,000 was auctioned for more than $72 million in May 2007.

His fortune, investments in real estate, share of family trusts and other holdings were estimated at $3.3 billion in March 2017 by Forbes magazine. Seitel said Rockefeller had donated nearly $2 billion in his lifetime to organizations including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and Rockefeller University.

In May 2015, he made a rare public appearance in Maine to mark his approaching 100th birthday by donating 1,000 acres (405 hectares) for preservation on exclusive Mount Desert Island.

Rockefeller established several international and philanthropic associations: the Americas Society, the weighty Trilateral Commission to promote cooperation between North America, Europe and Japan, and the New York City Partnership to help the city's poor.

Chase Manhattan grew from a $4.8 billion institution in 1946 when he joined to a bank with $76.2 billion in assets when he stepped down in April 1981. But it slipped from its standing then as No. 3 in the world and was purchased by Chemical Bank of New York in 1996. Today it is part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

He published his autobiography, "Memoirs," in 2002 and continued going to work every day into his 90s.

He remained a lifelong member of the moderate "Rockefeller Republicans" wing of that party, including his 2006 co-founding of Republicans Who Care, to support the party's moderates.

Rockefeller earned a degree from Harvard University in 1936 and did graduate work at the London School of Economics, where he met future President John F. Kennedy and dated his sister Kathleen. He was awarded a Ph.D in economics from the University of Chicago in 1940.

From 1940 to 1941 he was secretary to New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia and in 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving in military intelligence in North Africa and France.

Rockefeller was awarded the French Legion of Honor.

Rockefeller's wife Peggy died in 1996. They had six children and 10 grandchildren.

CHUCK "ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN" BERRY IS DEAD AT 90

CHUCK "BEETHOVEN" BERRY IS DEAD AT 90:

BERRY WAS THE OFFICIAL FATHER OF ROCK & ROLL.

RIP CHARLES EDWARDS ANDERSON BERRY SR.


Sources: CNN, LA Times, YouTube

Chuck Berry, rock 'n' roll pioneer, dead at 90


~Highlights:

Chuck Berry, 90, is found dead at a residence Saturday
Bob Dylan: "In my universe, Chuck is irreplaceable"


Chuck Berry, a music pioneer often called "the Father of Rock 'n' Roll," died Saturday at his home outside St. Louis, his verified Facebook page said. He was 90.

A post on the St. Charles County police Facebook page said officers responded to a medical emergency at the residence around 12:40 p.m. (1:40 p.m. ET) Saturday and found an unresponsive man inside. Resuscitation efforts failed.

"The St. Charles County Police Department sadly confirms the death of Charles Edward Anderson Berry Sr., better known as legendary musician Chuck Berry."

~ A musical legend

Berry wrote and recorded "Johnny B. Goode" and "Sweet Little Sixteen" -- songs every garage band and fledgling guitarist had to learn if they wanted to enter the rock 'n' roll fellowship.

Berry took all-night hamburger stands, brown-eyed handsome men and V-8 Fords and turned them into the stuff of American poetry. By doing so, he gave rise to followers beyond number, bar-band disciples of the electric guitar, who carried his musical message to the far corners of the Earth.

Some of his most famous followers praised him on social media.

Bruce Springsteen tweeted: "Chuck Berry was rock's greatest practitioner, guitarist, and the greatest pure rock 'n' roll writer who ever lived."

The Rolling Stones posted on their website:

"The Rolling Stones are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Chuck Berry. He was a true pioneer of rock 'n' roll and a massive influence on us. Chuck was not only a brilliant guitarist, singer and performer, but most importantly, he was a master craftsman as a songwriter. His songs will live forever. "

But it was perhaps John Lennon -- who died in 1980 -- who put it most succinctly. "If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry.'"

The list of Berry's classics is as well-known as his distinctive, chiming "Chuck Berry riff": "Maybellene." "Around and Around." "Brown-Eyed Handsome Man." "School Days." "Memphis." "Nadine." "No Particular Place to Go."

They were deceptively simple tunes, many constructed with simple chord progressions and classic verse-chorus-verse formats, but their hearts could be as big as teenage hopes on a Saturday night.

His music even went into outer space. When the two Voyager spacecrafts were launched in 1977, each was accompanied on its journey to the outer reaches of the solar system by a phonograph record that contained sounds of Earth -- including "Johnny B. Goode."

~ Rock wordsmith

Berry, though, was modest about his influence.

"My view remains that I do not deserve all the reward directed on my account for the accomplishments credited to the rock 'n' roll bank of music," he wrote in his 1987 autobiography.

He had a facility with lyrics others could only envy, words and phrases tossed off with a jazzman's cool and a surgeon's precision.

In "You Never Can Tell," he summed up a newlywed couple's life in fewer than two dozen words: "They furnished off an apartment with a two-room Roebuck sale / The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale."

His delivery was often marked by humor, but he could also insert the scalpel when needed. After all, Berry -- a black man who grew up in Jim Crow America, who was close to 30 when he had his first national hit -- knew that those high schools were sometimes segregated, and those diners and highways didn't always welcome him.

"Brown-Eyed Handsome Man" could be read as the story of a brown-SKINNED handsome man, as rock critic Dave Marsh and others have noted; the Louisiana country boy of "Johnny B. Goode" wasn't necessarily Caucasian.

Or consider "Promised Land," the story of a man escaping the South for California. He rides a Greyhound bus across Dixie, moves to a train to get "across Mississippi clean," and finally enters the Golden State on a plane, dressed in a silk suit, "workin' on a T-bone steak." It was the American dream in miniature, a success all the sweeter for overcoming racial prejudice -- never overtly mentioned but present all the same.

There was also a darkness and suspicion in Berry, for those who cared to look. He was notorious for making concert promoters pay him in full before his shows, cash only. In his late teens he served three years in a reformatory, and after becoming famous did jail time on a charge of transporting an underage girl across state lines. Years later he was convicted of tax evasion. He had the showman's talent for saying much and revealing little.

~ Grew up in St. Louis

For all Berry's mystery and commercial sense, however, at bottom he truly loved the music.

"Rock's so good to me. Rock is my child and my grandfather," he once said.

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 18, 1926.

(Some sources say he was born in San Jose, California.) His parents -- grandchildren of slaves -- were accomplished in their own ways: father Henry was a successful carpenter, and mother Martha was a college graduate -- rare for a black woman at the time. Young Chuck, the fourth of six children, grew up in a middle-class African-American St. Louis neighborhood.

He was inspired to pick up the guitar after singing in a high school talent show. A friend accompanied him and Berry decided to learn the instrument.

In late 1952 he joined pianist Johnnie Johnson's band, adding country numbers to the group's R&B setlist as well as changing the name to the Chuck Berry Combo. Blessed with uncommonly large hands, Berry became a masterly guitarist.

Berry was colorblind when it came to music. "They (black and white musicians) jived between each other. All were artists, playing foolish, having fights and making love as if the rest of the world had no racial problems whatsoever," he once said, according to his website. The audience, too, was integrated.

~ Broke out in the '50s

In 1955, at the suggestion of bluesman Muddy Waters, Berry visited Chess Records in Chicago. Chess was a pioneering blues and R&B label, the home of Waters, Howlin' Wolf, the Moonglows and Big Bill Broonzy.

The label's owners, brothers Leonard and Philip Chess, suggested Berry cut a few songs. One of them, "Maybellene" -- a rewrite of an old country tune called "Ida Red" -- was released by Chess in August. Within weeks, it had topped the R&B charts and hit No. 5 on the Billboard pop charts. Chuck Berry was suddenly a national star.

The hits kept on coming: "Roll Over Beethoven," "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Johnny B. Goode," "Back in the U.S.A." Berry popped up on television and starred alongside pioneering DJ Alan Freed in the movies "Rock Rock Rock!", "Mister Rock and Roll" and "Go, Johnny, Go!" He also appeared in the 1959 documentary about the Newport Jazz Festival, "Jazz on a Summer's Day."

In many respects, he was an unlikely rock 'n' roller. He was in his 30s and a family man in a business that celebrated youth and individualism. And "rock 'n' roll" still carried a taint of the disreputable among older folks.

But Berry -- who always kept a shrewd eye on the bottom line -- wasn't writing for himself.

"Everything I wrote about wasn't about me, but about the people listening," he said.

~ A new generation

Berry went through a rough stretch in the early '60s. In December 1959 he was arrested under the Mann Act for transporting an underage woman across state lines for immoral purposes. (It was a tangled tale, involving a runaway.) http://performingsongwriter.com/chuck-berry/ Convicted in 1960, he appealed, but the conviction was upheld at a 1961 trial. Berry was sentenced to three years; he served 20 months.

Upon his release in 1963, he found his music had reached a new generation. The Beach Boys reworked "Sweet Little Sixteen" as "Surfin' U.S.A." (Berry later sued due to the similarities, and won.) The Beatles and Rolling Stones, about to kick off the British Invasion of America, covered Berry's songs. Berry's career was rejuvenated, and he responded with such hits as "No Particular Place to Go" and "Nadine."

That spurt of chart records was short-lived, but even after the hits died down, he remained a popular touring act. His fame was particularly notable in England, and it was a London concert that put him back on the charts for the first time in years.

In 1972, he recorded "The London Chuck Berry Sessions," which included the live songs "My Ding-a-Ling" and "Reelin' and Rockin'." The former, a mildly suggestive ode to the male genitalia, became his only No. 1 hit.

Thereafter, Berry's status as a rock legend was assured, even if his behavior was occasionally erratic. He rarely played with an established group of backing musicians, preferring to rely on local pick-up bands. He served three months on tax evasion charges in 1979 and was sued in 1989 for allegedly videotaping female employees at his restaurant.
In 2016 it was announced he would release a new album. His website said that album was coming in 2017.
For all that, he was still Chuck Berry, the "alpha and omega of rock and roll," in the words of former Rolling Stone editor Joe Levy.
He earned more honors than anybody could have imagined.

Besides the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, he had a statue dedicated to him in St. Louis (he's portrayed doing his famous hunched-over "duck walk"); received PEN New England's inaugural award for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence; a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; a BMI Icon honor; and a Kennedy Center Honors Award, at which Bill Clinton called him "one of the 20th Century's most influential musicians."

"In my universe, Chuck is irreplaceable," Bob Dylan told Rolling Stone in 2009. "All that brilliance is still there, and he's still a force of nature.

As long as Chuck Berry's around, everything's as it should be. This is a man who has been through it all. The world treated him so nasty.

But in the end, it was the world that got beat."

AUNTIE FEE YOUTUBE'S CURSING CHEF, IS DEAD AT 59 (FELICIA O'DELL)

AUNTIE FEE YOUTUBE'S CURSING CHEF, IS DEAD AT 59 (FELICIA O'DELL):

FEE WAS QUEEN OF HOOD LOW BUDGET CUISINE.


Sources: TMZ, YouTube

Auntie Fee, the viral video sensation also known as Chef Sista Girl, has died nearly a week after suffering a massive heart attack ... according to her son.

Fee's son Tavis posted late Friday night, "god made the decision to take my mother home where its peace & Joy and im okay with that."

TMZ broke the story ... Fee was rushed to Harbor-UCLA Medical Center Tuesday after feeling ill with chest pains. She suffered a massive heart attack at the hospital and had been on life support since.

Auntie Fee, who's full name was Felicia O'Dell, went viral in 2014 after posting her recipes for "good ass chicken" and "sweet treats for the kids." She went on to appear in the movie "Barbershop 3." She also came to TMZ to hook us up with her recipes.

She was 59.

RIP

WHITNEY HOUSTON IS STILL "THE VOICE"

WHITNEY HOUSTON IS STILL "THE VOICE".

BORN: August 9, 1963 in New Jersey
DIED: February 11, 2012 in Los Angeles, Califotnia.

HAS THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA FORGOTTEN WHITNEY ALREADY?

I HAVE NOT.

Sources: Wikipedia, YouTube

DEBBIE REYNOLDS JOINS DAUGHTER CARRIE FISHER IN DEATH

DEBBIE REYNOLDS JOINS DAUGHTER CARRIE FISHER IN DEATH:

EX-HUSBAND EDDIE FISHER DIED YEARS EARLIER.

Sources: Heavy.com, Oprah.com, TMZ, E!News, YouTube


**** Debbie Reynolds Dead: Will Debbie & Carrie Fisher Have Joint Funeral?

In a double tragedy, Carrie’s Fisher’s mother, Hollywood icon, Debbie Reynolds, has died of a stroke, one day after her legendary daughter passed away in a California hospital.

Reynolds, 84, was rushed to the hospital on the afternoon of December 28, said TMZ. The entertainment site then reported that she had died a few hours later.

Reynolds was taken to the hospital after she reportedly had trouble breathing, said NBC.

This brings up the heartbreaking question: Will Fisher and Reynolds have a joint funeral? Will they be buried together?

Here’s what was known about Carrie’s funeral so far. It was still in the planning stages. Carrie Fisher, 60, died on December 27 – just one day before her mother – of cardiac arrest after suffering a massive heart attack on an airplane. According to TMZ, Debbie Reynolds and her son, Todd Fisher, were literally planning Carrie’s funeral when Debbie was stricken.
USA Today reported before Reynolds died that Fisher’s funeral arrangements were still pending. Tributes were already piling up from fans and celebrities, but nothing had been publicly announced. Carrie was Debbie’s daughter with Hollywood star Eddie Fisher, who is deceased.

means it’s possible that the women could be honored and remembered together. However, it will likely take some time for the family to figure that out, due to the shock of the closeness of both deaths. The answer is that it’s too soon to say, but due to the closeness the mother and daughter shared, it’s possible. The women were so close that they lived next door to each other over the years, and, on Twitter, people are saying that Debbie may have died of a broken heart.

At the same time, both women were powerhouses in their own rights, deserving of their own tributes for careers that spanned decades and created legends.

Carrie Fisher was obviously best known for her iconic turn in Star Wars as Princess Leia, and Debbie Reynolds was known for her starring role in the Hollywood musical, Singin’ in the Rain. According to NBC, she starred in that musical with Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor, “in 1952 when she was 19 years old. She made her film debut in 1950 in the musical ‘The Daughter of Rosie O’Grady.'”

CARRIE FISHER - ANOTHER GREAT CELEB DIES IN 2016

CARRIE FISHER - ANOTHER GREAT CELEB DIES IN 2016:


Sources: CBS News, The Guardian, Alex Jones, YouTube


***** Princess Leia: can Star Wars makers keep Carrie Fisher's beloved character going?

Actor had completed filming of Episode VIII, due for release in 2017 by Disney, and iconic character was thought to be included in future instalments.


Carrie Fisher’s unexpected death has not just left Star Wars fans heartbroken – it may thrust the Disney film studio into a dilemma over the fate of her iconic character Princess Leia as it moves forward with the film franchise.

Fisher, 60, enjoyed a new round of fame when Princess Leia, Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker were reunited on screen for 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which sold more than $2bn in tickets at the global box office.

Fisher had finished filming for the 2017 release of Star Wars: Episode VIII, Disney said. Plot details have remained a closely guarded secret.

Fisher was also expected to play a key role in the ninth instalment of the sci-fi saga, due for release in 2019.

A Disney spokeswoman on Tuesday declined to comment on whether Leia would appear in films beyond Episode VIII.

Star Wars director Colin Trevorrow had said in a January 2016 interview that he was excited “to find new places that we can take” the characters of Princess Leia and her on-screen twin brother Luke Skywalker.

“They are icons but they’re also people that have suffered tremendous loss and challenge over the course of all these films,” Trevorrow told celebrity news outlet Entertainment Tonight.

Amid grieving over Fisher’s death, Star Wars fans have speculated on how the battle between good and evil in the Galactic Empire could continue without Fisher playing Leia, a fearless Rebel Alliance fighter who in The Force Awakens had become a general.

Leia appears briefly in the standalone movie now in theatres, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as a digital recreation of the young princess. The late British actor Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, is also brought back to life as Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin for Rogue One using computer generated imagery (CGI).

Under a 1985 California law filmmakers must get permission from the estate of a celebrity to use his or her image for up to 70 years after death.

Other possibilities include redrafting the plot of Episode IX, reshooting scenes from Episode VIII, or casting someone else, as the makers of Harry Potter did when Richard Harris, who played headmaster Albus Dumbledore, died after filming the first two movies.

Some fans have suggested that singer Stevie Nickscould play Leia in future movies. But others said the character should be given a glorious screen death.

“I swear they better find a way to write Princess Leia out of the movies, cause if they try and recast there will be hell to pay,” a fan identified as Kaitlin tweeted.

FIDEL CASTRO ESTA' MUERTO!, TRUMP CONDEMNS LEGACY

FIDEL CASTRO ESTA' MUERTO!

PRES ELECT TRUMP CONDEMNS CASTRO'S LEGACY.


Sources: CNN, USA Today, YouTube


**** Trump condemns Castro as 'brutal dictator'

Donald Trump condemned the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro on an otherwise quiet Saturday for the president-elect.

"The world marks the passing of a brutal dictator who oppressed his own people for nearly six decades," Trump said in a statement issued hours after Castro's death. "Fidel Castro’s legacy is one of firing squads, theft, unimaginable suffering, poverty and the denial of fundamental human rights."

Trump, who has pledged to roll back the Obama administration's diplomatic opening to Cuba, said the nation remains "a totalitarian island," but he hopes that Castro's passing will mark "a move away from the horrors endured for too long, and toward a future in which the wonderful Cuban people finally live in the freedom they so richly deserve.

Noting support of anti-Castro Cuban Americans during the recent presidential election, Trump pledged to fight for a "free Cuba" during his administration.

Though the tragedies, deaths and pain caused by Fidel Castro cannot be erased, our administration will do all it can to ensure the Cuban people can finally begin their journey toward prosperity and liberty," Trump said in his statement.

Earlier in the morning, Trump marked the news with brief tweet: "Fidel Castro is dead!"

Otherwise, the president-elect spent a low-key Saturday at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump is expected to return to New York on Sunday.
Since arriving in South Florida early Tuesday, Trump named members of his Cabinet and White House staff, including foreign policy posts.
On Friday, Trump made two White House appointments: Kathleen Troia "K.T." McFarland to serve as deputy national security adviser and Don McGahn as White House counsel.

McGahn's duties will include helping Trump navigate between his duties as president and his business interests across the world.
There are also more than 70 lawsuits still facing Trump from his businessman days.

In late October, USA TODAY reported that "if elected, the open lawsuits will tag along with Trump. He would not be entitled to immunity, and could be required to give depositions or even testify in open court. That could chew up time and expose a litany of uncomfortable private and business dealings to the public."

McFarland, who will be deputy to National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, served the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations in various national security-related posts.

A Fox News commentator, McFarland has echoed Trump's support of Russian President Vladimir Putin over his activities in Syria. Critics of Putin say he is only interested in propping up Russian ally and Syrian dictator Bashar Assad.

Earlier in the week, Trump nominated South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and Michigan-based charter school advocate Betsy DeVos to be education secretary. Both nominees are subject to Senate confirmation.
Trump and aides continue to consider a secretary of State.

Contenders include 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, though each has his critics.

Ben Carson, a rival of Trump's during the Republican primaries, is considering an offer to join Trump's Cabinet. The president-elect says he is considering Carson for secretary of housing and urban development.

MUHAMMAD ALI vs FOREMAN (ACTUAL FIGHT FOOTAGE vs THE WILL SMITH FILM)

MUHAMMAD ALI vs GEORGE FOREMAN (ACTUAL FIGHT FOOTAGE):

ALI WAS INDEED THE GREATEST BOXER TO EVER LIVE.

January 17, 1942 - June 3, 2016

Rest In Peace My Brother.

Sources: Youtube, NY Times

MUHAMMAD ALI'S LEGACY; PROUD POWERFUL BLACK MAN ("VIET CONG")

MUHAMMAD ALI'S LEGACY; PROUD POWERFUL BLACK MAN:

"NO VIET CONG EVER CALLED ME NIGGER".

ALI LEFT SOME BIG SHOES TO FILL.

WHERE ARE THE PROUD POWERFUL BLACK MEN OF TODAY?

Sources: ESPN, NY Times, Youtube

Muhammad Ali formerly known as Cassius Marcellus Clay, was born in January 1942, and died in June 2016 at the age of 74.

Ali converted to the ISLAMIC faith in 1964 and remained a devout Muslim until his death.

Ali was married four times and fathered nine children who loved and respected their Father very much.

Ali was an intelligent professional Boxer who lost and won back his title three times.

After developing a personal friendship with the late Sportscaster Howard Cosell, Ali became an international figure.

Throughout his life Muhammad Ali stood strong by his Convictions, including his refusal to fight in the Vietnam war after publicly declaring "No Viet Cong ever called me Nigger".

Although I don't agree with all of Muhammad Ali's personal life and religious decisions, I will forever respect Ali for being a Proud Powerful BLACK Man, who never sold out his people for Money nor Fame.

Muhammad Ali most certainly deserves to REST IN PEACE.

I send my prayers and condolences to the surviving family of Muhammad Ali.

***** Ali's legacy outlives him, but must be considered in 

THERE IS, EVEN in the sadness of his death, little reason to think about Muhammad Ali in the gauzy past tense, to remember him through the lens of pre-color-film footage, except to beam at those hands, marvel at the foot speed, linger on the unblemished supremacy of his youth with all its beauty and foreshadowing.

Otherwise, we need only rise each morning to see him, for Ali feels very much present today as he was during his time. Too many contemporary parallels exist to look backward.

Like Martin Luther King Jr., Ali was once one of the most hated men in America, and like MLK, he would decades later be co-opted by many of the very people who hated him (though a young Ali would be as despised today as he was in the 1960s).

It is the lonely walk of the original, of the dissenter, and it knows no era. He was hated by white America for his unsparing criticism of its obvious, enduring racism, a conversation no more welcome today than it was in 1963. He was hated by blacks and whites alike for challenging the military, for questioning the necessity, morality and inherent racism of war, and in response the American government used its full weight to try to destroy him. He was hated for challenging Christianity as a Muslim in America, yet in death he is mourned as if yesterday's struggle has been long resolved and defiance is no longer necessary.

When recast, Ali is so often dipped in the notion that he "transcended" race, which is pure and unadulterated nonsense. There was nothing for Ali to transcend racially. To him, blackness was no obstacle but central to his identity. His loyalty to being black made him both reviled by whites and luminescent to the black people desperate for his presence, for the African-American admission fee to acceptance and fame has always been the erasure of their color, to abandon it lest they be seen as threatening or difficult, angry or ungrateful. The white ticket buyers and image makers must be comfortable, and the black price for their comfort is reducing the core of oneself or risking the inevitable brand-threatening mainstream rage, or worse: being accused of playing the dreaded "race card," as if humiliation were a game easily turned into advantage with the right strategy. Creating distance from race is the key to mainstream black advancement; the pathway to future acceptance is unattainable without that surrender. Ali rejected this fantasy. He did not transcend race. He took his blackness with him.

Said Ali: "Money means nothing to me nor boxing when it comes to the freedom of your people. So everything I'm doing, if it means hitchhike tomorrow, if it means being raggedy, if it means look for a job, I'll be happy because I can go to bed, my conscience is clear and I didn't sell out or trade my people just because I could be rich in Hollywood."

So much of him lives today, including his darkest side. His worst moments were in his racial cruelty toward rival Joe Frazier. He was quicker mentally, better with words than Frazier, and whether for promotion or mental advantage, he used his better looks and lighter skin to exploit the racial stereotypes that saddle black men everywhere. He knew the implications of calling another black man a "gorilla," and he did it anyway.

What Ali did transcend was the conventions of modern celebrity by remaining a human. He could love the black and the brown around the world and, through the force of his humanity, bend the historical resistance to him over the final 40 years of his life. He could be rich and still be one of the poor. He knew the price for his beliefs, the price of not abandoning his people for fame or money, and was still willing to pay it in full.

Most of America will remember him safely, by separating Ali from its current self, allowing it to be magnanimous and him to be unthreatening. It will admire his religious conviction without recognizing our collective hostility toward Muslims. It will honor his courage, yet discourage us from questioning, as he did, the wars we fight, the government that spies on us or the fact that we forget our poor. It will celebrate his defiance while defiance is precisely what our increasingly intolerant culture is going out of its way to crush.

There is no reason to look backward, for Ali lives presently in the air we breathe. What is past is prologue.

MUHAMMAD "THE GREATEST" ALI IS DEAD AT AGE 74 ("Ali Bomaye")

MUHAMMAD "THE GREATEST" ALI IS DEAD AT AGE 74 (Ali Bomaye):

HOWARD COSELL HELPED TO MAKE ALI WORLD FAMOUS.

HE LOST & WON BACK HIS TITLE THREE TIMES.

ALI WAS THE MOST INTELLIGENT BOXER IN HISTORY.

HE WAS PROUD TO BE A BLACK MAN.

Sources: CNN, NBC News, Youtube

****** Muhammad Ali, 'The Greatest,' dies at 74

Muhammad Ali, the legendary boxer who proclaimed himself "The Greatest" and was among the most famous and beloved athletes on the planet, died Friday in Arizona, a family spokesman said.

Ali had been at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center in Scottsdale since Thursday with what spokesman Bob Gunnell had described as a respiratory issue.

"After a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74.

The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening," Gunnell said in a statement. "The Ali family would like to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, and support and asks for privacy at this time."

Ali's daughter Hana Ali said her father was a "humble mountain."

"And now he has gone home to God. God bless you daddy. YOU ARE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!" she tweeted.

"When he came into the hospital, we thought, 'OK, it will be a brief stay'... I think it took a turn for the worse," he told CNN's Dan Simon Saturday. "But it was unexpected."

Ramsey said he didn't actually see Ali in the hospital Friday. The people who were with Ali when he died were "the kids, family only, and I respected that... it's a very private matter."

Ramsey said Ali's wife, Lonnie, called him Friday morning saying Ali's health was deteriorating.

"She said 'You might want to come out,' which I decided to do," he said.

Tributes from around the world

While touching tributes to Ali were pouring in from world leaders, fellow athletes and just regular folk, the boxing great had already addressed how he wanted the world to think about him after his death.

In his book "The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey," Ali said he wanted to be remembered as "a man who won the heavyweight title three times, who was humorous, and who treated everyone right. As a man who never looked down on those who looked up to him, and who helped as many people as he could. As a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what.

As a man who tried to unite all humankind through faith and love."

He added, " And if all that's too much, then I guess I'd settle for being remembered only as a great boxer who became a leader and a champion of his people, And I wouldn't even mind if folks forgot how pretty I was."

President Barack Obama said he and first lady Michelle Obama mourn Ali's passing.

"But we're also grateful to God for how fortunate we are to have known him, if just for a while; for how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time," the Obamas said in a statement Saturday.

The President said he has a pair of Ali's gloves on display in his private study off of the Oval Office, just underneath a photograph of the legend.

Obama said Ali "fought for us."

"He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn't. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground.

And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today," the President said in a statement issued by the White House.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, at a ceremony honoring Ali Saturday, said the boxer "lived a life so big and bold, it's hard to believe that any one man could do everything he did, could be all the things that he became in the course of just one lifetime."

He added, "Muhammad Ali belongs to the world, but he only has one hometown. The 'Louisville Lip' spoke to everyone, but we heard him in a way no one else could -- as our brother, our uncle, and our inspiration."

Don King, the boxing promoter who was every bit as brash as Ali, told CNN that in his mind Ali will never die.

"His spirit will go on forever," he said. "He's just a great human being, a champion of the people, the greatest of all time."

Even as the former champ battled Parkinson's, he had the same love for life and people, King said. Parkinson's disease, which primarily affects a patient's movement, is a "progressive disorder of the nervous system," according to the Mayo Clinic.

The Ali sense of humor was displayed in an old photo tweeted by Oscar De La Hoya, who won titles in six weight classes.

"RIP @muhammadali, a legend who transcended sport and was a true champion for all. ‪#‎thegreatest‬ ‪#‎MuhammadAli‬," De La Hoya wrote above an image of Ali whose mischievous eyes proudly watched as his right hand made rabbit ears behind the "Golden Boy's" head.

Hours before her famed father passed away, Laila Ali posted a throwback photo of him with her daughter, Sydney, who was born in 2011.

"I love this photo of my father and my daughter Sydney when she was a baby! Thanks for all the love and well wishes. I feel your love and appreciate it!!" Laila Ali, herself a former world champion boxer, wrote.

George Foreman, who Ali defeated in 1974 for the world heavyweight title, wrote on Twitter, "It's been said it was rope a dope Ali beat me with. (N)o (it was) his beauty that beat me. Most beauty I've know(n). loved him."

Famed promoter Bob Arum wrote on Twitter: "A true great has left us. @MuhammadAli transformed this country and impacted the world with his spirit."

Mike Tyson, the youngest heavyweight champion in history, said, "God came for his champion. So long great one. @MuhammadAli #TheGreatest‪#‎RIP‬."

In recent years, Ali had largely stayed out of the public spotlight.

In his last known appearance, he appeared at a Parkinson's fundraiser April 9 in Phoenix, according to the Arizona Republic. A photo posted by the newspaper showed Ali wearing dark sunglasses.

On the website of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the actor -- who also has Parkinson's -- said: "Muhammad was a true legend -- a champion in the boxing ring, and a champion for millions of Parkinson's families. We looked up to him as an example of grace and courage in the face of great challenges."

Ali was known not only for his athletic prowess but also for his social activism.

He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, as Cassius Clay in January 1942. He began boxing as an amateur when he was 12 years old and in 1964 became heavyweight champion with a knockout of Sonny Liston. That year he joined the Nation of Islam and changed his name.

Ali's sparkling career was interrupted for 3½ years in the 1960s when he refused induction into the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and was convicted of draft evasion. The Supreme Court overturned the conviction.

Ali was prepared to go to prison, King said.

"He stood his ground on who he was," King said. "He'd rather go to jail than break what he believed in."

During his boxing hiatus, Ali spoke out about racism in America.
NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar called Ali a friend and a mentor.

"At a time when blacks who spoke up about injustice were labeled uppity and often arrested under one pretext or another, Muhammad willingly sacrificed the best years of his career to stand tall and fight for what he believed was right," Abdul-Jabbar wrote on Facebook.

Ali went on to win the heavyweight title twice more before retiring for good in 1981.

Ali also was hospitalized in January 2015 with a urinary tract infection.

He was hospitalized in December 2014 with pneumonia.

Funeral services will be held in Louisville, Gunnell said.

PRINCE, ANOTHER BLACK CELEBRITY WHO DIED UNDER OBAMA'S ADMINISTRATION

PRINCE, ANOTHER BLACK CELEBRITY WHO DIED UNDER OBAMA'S ADMINISTRATION

WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK CELEBRITIES DYING WHILE OBAMA IS IN OFFICE?

WHY ARE SO MANY BLACK CELEBRITIES GOING BROKE WHILE OBAMA IS IN OFFICE?

Sources: CBS News,  Celeb TV,  CNN,  Harpo, Mirror.co.uk, Youtube

Since Pres OBAMA'S election the rate at which BLACK Celebrities are dying raises a red flag and appears very suspicious.

First there was Michael Jackson, then Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Maya Angelou, Natalie Cole, Bobbi Kristina and now PRINCE.

With the exception of Maya Angelou, none of these Black Celebrities were very old and all of them were Wealthy and could afford the best Medical care.

Human Beings are Mortal creatures in this life thus we won't live for ever while on planet Earth.

Of course there have been other Black Celebrities who died under White Presidents, however the alarming rate at which Black Celebrities have expired under Obama should create great cause for concern to say the least.

Could it be these Black Celebrities are worth more Dead then Alive to the Entertainment and Music Industry??

After PRINCE recently expired the Mainstream Media tried to immediately release negative false narratives about his suspicious untimely death.  

For example: He had AIDS.

He died of an Drug Overdose.

Maybe it was Suicide.

After much public outrage, an Autopsy was finally conducted on PRINCE'S remains before he was quickly cremated.

So am I implying Pres OBAMA played a role in the deaths of these Black Celebrities?

No but something nefarious is definitely going on and someone needs to question why so many Black Celebrities are dying while Obama is still in office.

Just as someone needs to question why so many Black Celebrities are going Broke while Obama is still in office.

To the families of Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Natalie Cole, Bobbi Kristina and PRINCE I offer my condolences.

But I won't say "Rest In Peace".

Why?

How can Human Beings "Rest In Peace" when their untimely deaths are acts of MURDER?

**** With Prince's death, fans reflect on other legends lost too soon

As news of Prince's untimely death at 57 spread across the Internet on Thursday, with fans quoting the music icon's lyrics and sharing footage of legendary performances, the online conversation quickly broadened.

Michael Jackson, who died in 2009, and Whitney Houston, who died in 2012, joined Prince on the list of top U.S. trends on Twitter. Call it mourning in the digital age.

The initial shock of Prince's death prompted a larger reflection of iconic artists lost too soon.

Some struggled to grasp the loss of artists who touched so many lives.

Prince's cause of death has yet to be confirmed by officials. He had recently been ill with the flu.