Global RIP thread

[cavanami]

It was an older gentleman, for sure...this was in 2003, so in his 70's

[cavanami]

Actress Elizabeth Peña Dies at 55

 

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/actress-elizabeth-pena-dies-at-55-100116231407.html

 

She was always on my, I'd do her list. Looks a little bulky now, but what the hey

 

 

Elizabeth Peña, who recently completed work on El Rey Network’s Matador, has died. Her film credits included Rush Hour, La Bamba, and The Incredibles. She was 55.

 

Her nephew, Latino Review writer Mario-Francisco Robles, shared the news in an obituary on the site. He said Peña died Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. No cause of death was immediately available...

[bust]

 

Gough Whitlam, who was prime minister for just three years but became a defining political figure of modern Australia, has died aged 98.

Whitlam’s family said in a statement on Tuesday: “Our father, Gough Whitlam, has died this morning at the age of 98.â€

“A loving and generous father, he was a source of inspiration to us and our families and for millions of Australians.

“There will be a private cremation and a public memorial service.â€

The election of his government on 2 December 1972, with

, ended 23 years of conservative rule and its dismissal by the governor general Sir John Kerr on 11 November 1975 remains one of the most controversial events in Australian political history.

But in just three years the Whitlam government instituted sweeping changes that transformed Australian society as the baby boomer generation came of age.

In a rapid program of reform it called “the programâ€, the Whitlam government created Australia’s national health insurance scheme, Medibank; abolished university fees; introduced state aid to independent schools and needs-based school funding; returned traditional lands in the Northern Territory to the Gurindji people; drafted (although did not enact) the first commonwealth lands right act; established diplomatic relations with China, withdrew the remaining Australian troops from Vietnam; introduced no-fault divorce laws; passed the Racial Discrimination Act; blocked moves to allow oil drilling on the Great Barrier Reef; introduced environmental protection legislation; and removed God Save the Queen as the national anthem.

The former Rudd government minister Lindsay Tanner has written: “Whitlam and his government changed the way we think about ourselves. The curse of sleepy mediocrity and colonial dependency, so mercilessly flayed in 1964 by Donald Horne in The Lucky Country, was cast aside.â€

But the Whitlam government’s economic record is more controversial. It came to power at the time of the first oil shock and failed to contain wages inflation. In 1975 it was embroiled in what became known as the “loans affair†when the minister for minerals and energy, Rex Connor, sought to borrow money for resource projects, outside normal treasurer processes, from Arab financiers using a middleman called Tirath Khemlani. No money was borrowed but the scandal deeply damaged the government.

Whitlam won a double dissolution election in 1974, with a reduced majority. But from October to November 1975 the parliament was deadlocked, with the opposition using its numbers in the Senate to refuse to pass the budget. When Whitlam visited Kerr to call for a half Senate election, Kerr instead withdrew his commission as prime minister and replaced him with the Liberal leader Malcolm Fraser.

Whitlam lost the election to Fraser after the national upheaval of the dismissal. He stood down as Labor leader and retired from politics in 1978.

A towering figure at 1.94m, with a deep resonant voice and an eloquent turn of phrase, Whitlam inspired a generation of progressive politicians and was widely referred to by just his first name. His is remembered for some of the most famous quotes in Australian politics, including while standing on the steps of the old parliament house after news of his dismissal. He said: “Well may we say ‘God save the Queen’ because nothing will save the governor general.â€

He was a graduate of Knox Grammar and Canberra Grammar and joined the airforce after university, before studying law and being admitted to the bar. He married Margaret Dovey in 1942; they had four children.

He won the western Sydney seat of Werriwa in 1952 and was elected leader of the Labor party in 1967, succeeding Arthur Calwell.

After leaving politics he worked as Australia’s ambassador to Unesco, accepted several visiting professorships and, along with Margaret, received life membership of the Labor party in 2007.

Margaret died in 2012. Whitlam, by then using a wheelchair, had moved into an aged-care facility in 2010. He described her as “the love of my lifeâ€.

[Kiwi]

Nelson Mandela: Terrorist, racist, communist, IRA supporter and failed politician!

 

 

The moment has arrived all free-thinking patriots dreaded: Nelson Mandela has passed away, aged 95.

As expected, the media has gone into overdrive with endless eulogies and hero-worship for this, admittedly, remarkable man.

 

We are not here to sing his praises, but to give you the other side of the long and turbulent story of Nelson Mandela.

We will do so in bite size format, to avoid a long, nauseating focus on this man.

The Church Street Bombings, Nelson Mandela’s MK handiwork!

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison because he was found guilty of 196 acts of terrorism.

Nelson Mandela was a communist, who was happy and open about his communist leanings.

Nelson Mandela actually founded the terrorist wing of the ANC/South African Communist Party, the MK.

The MK killed women and children, and committed numerous terrorist atrocities, including, Church Street West, Pretoria, on the 20 May 1983, Amanzimtoti Shopping complex KZN, 23 December 1985, Krugersdorp Magistrate’s Court, 17 March 1988, Durban Pick ‘n Pay shopping complex, 1 September 1986, Pretoria Sterland movie complex 16 April 1988, Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, 20 May 1987 and Roodepoort Standard Bank 3 June, 1988.

Nelson Mandela was happy to hobnob with many of the world’s leaders, dictators and tyrants, including Colonel Gaddafi, Fidel Castro, Robert Mugabe and the leaders of IRA/Sinn Fein.

President Botha told Mandela way back in 1985 that he could be released from prison as long as he renounced violence: he refused!

Mandela was no friend of white people, no matter how the media tries to spin it.

Nelson Mandela with his communist chums.

Only several years ago, Mandela was filmed singing a song about killing white people with fellow black racists, again using the black power/communist salute he is famed for (at end of article below).

Although Mandela personally did not kill anybody, and never set off any bombs, or even shoot a gun in anger, he certainly had the intention to do so and the organisation which he founded – the ANC’s terrorist wing – most certainly did kill people.

We can admire Mandela’s loyalty and dedication to his own people, but we must abhor his apparent racism, terrorist activities, and his legacy.

Mandela inherited a stable, law-abiding, prosperous, economically impressive, agriculturally self-sufficient, corruption free nation, and turned it into a turbulent, lawless, violent, murder-prone, economically stagnant, corrupt third world mess.

He was a failed politician, despite the insane plaudits of the mass media.

So there you have it, Nelson Mandela: terrorist, racist, communist, IRA supporter and failed politician!

Our thoughts are with the 68,000 white victims of the ANC genocide in South Africa, men women and children.

It is to them that we say, rest in peace.

 

http://www.britainfirst.org/news/nelson-mandela-terrorist-racist-communist-ira-supporter-and-failed-politician/

 

The Durban ( Montclair ) Pick n Pay blast - I was in that shop at the time. Had no hearing for a few minutes.

[unit731]

Tom Magliozzi, Popular Co-Host Of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies At 77

 

Tom Magliozzi's laugh boomed in NPR listeners' ears every week as he and his brother, Ray, bantered on Car Talk.

 

Tom Magliozzi, one of public radio's most popular personalities, died on Mondayof complications from Alzheimer's disease. He was 77 years old.

 

Tom and his brother, Ray, became famous as "Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers" on the weekly NPR show Car Talk. They bantered, told jokes, laughed and sometimes even gave pretty good advice to listeners who called in with their car troubles.

 

If there was one thing that defined Tom Magliozzi, it was his laugh. It was loud, it was constant, it was infectious.

 

 

ii

 

 

 

Tom (right) and Ray grew up great friends despite a 12-year gap between them. Both graduated from MIT before going into the car repair business.

 

 

Tom (right) and Ray grew up great friends despite a 12-year gap between them. Both graduated from MIT before going into the car repair business.

 

"His laugh is the working definition of infectious laughter," says Doug Berman, the longtime producer of Car Talk. He remembers the first time he ever encountered Magliozzi.

 

"Before I ever met him, I heard him, and it wasn't on the air," he recalls.

 

Berman was the news director of WBUR at the time.

 

"I'd just hear this laughter," he says. "And then there'd be more of it, and people would sort of gather around him. He was just kind of a magnet."

 

The Magliozzi brothers grew up in a tough neighborhood of East Cambridge, Mass., in a close-knit Italian family. Tom was 12 years older, the beloved older brother to Ray. They liked to act like they were just a couple of regular guys who happened to be mechanics, but both of them graduated from MIT.

 

After getting out of college, Tom Magliozzi went to work as an engineer. One day he had a kind of epiphany, he told graduates when he and Ray gave the 1999 commencement address at their alma mater.

 

He was on his way to work when he had a near-fatal accident with a tractor-trailer. He pulled off the road and decided to do something different with his life.

 

"I quit my job," he said. "I became a bum. I spent two years sitting in Harvard Square drinking coffee. I invented the concept of the do-it-yourself auto repair shop, and I met my lovely wife."

 

Well, he wasn't exactly a bum; he worked as a consultant and college professor, eventually getting a doctoral degree in marketing. And Tom and Ray Magliozzi did open that do-it-yourself repair shop in the early '70s. They called it Hackers Haven. Later they opened a more traditional car repair shop called the Good News Garage.

 

LINK

[unit731]

http://youtu.be/Ww5LTkys1YE

[dean]

Jane Byrne, Chicago's only female mayor, has died at age 81. Cav, any good stories that you can tell about her?

[cavanami]

The story I know is that she was underrated and ahead of her time. She wanted to put in a highway so the traffic could bypass Chicago...the truckers were loving this as there is often no need to go thru the Chicago area and the bypass would be great!

 

We did have a big snow storm and I think she got caught unprepared. No matter she didn't last long. Smart lady but

couldn't play the Chicago politics game.

[Flashermac]

Mike Nichols, Director of 'The Graduate,' Dies at 83

 

 

Director Mike Nichols, who made such films as The Graduate, which earned him a best director Oscar, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, has died at the age of 83.

 

He was was married to ABC News veteran Diane Sawyer and was successful in Hollywood and on Broadway alike. Notably, he was one of only a dozen people to have won at least one Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award each.

 

James Goldston, president of ABC News, shared the news of his death with ABC News staff in a note on Thursday morning. The U.S. director, who was born in Germany with the name Michael Igor Peschkowsky, died of cardiac arrest, according to an ABC News representative.

 

"I am writing with the very sad news that Diane's husband, the incomparable Mike Nichols, passed away suddenly on Wednesday evening," Goldston's note said.

 

"In a triumphant career that spanned over six decades, Mike created some of the most iconic works of American film, television and theater—an astonishing canon ranging from The Graduate, Working Girl and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf to Closer, Charlie Wilson’s War, Annie, Spamalot, The Birdcage and Angels in America," Goldston wrote. "He was a true visionary, winning the highest honors in the arts for his work as a director, writer, producer and comic and was one of a tiny few to win the EGOT—an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony."

 

The family will hold a small, private service this week, with a memorial set to be held at a later date.

 

Nichols and his parents fled Nazi Germany and came to the U.S. when he was 7. He went to school in New York and studied at the University of Chicago. He initially focused on medicine, but ended up in a comedy group. One of their albums, “An Evening with Mike Nichols and Elaine May,†won a Grammy for best comedy performance.

 

In 1968, he won the directing Oscar for The Graduate, followed in 1977 by the Tony for best musical for Annie. He also won best director Tony honors for plays The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1972), The Real Thing (1984) and Death of a Salesman (2012) and a best musical direction Tony for Spamalot (2005). His Emmy win came in 2001 for Wit in the outstanding TV movie category.

 

In addition to a best director Golden Globe honor for Graduate and a couple of DGA and PGA awards, he also won best film BAFTA honors for Graduate and Virginia Woolf and a best direction BAFTA for Graduate.

 

"No one was more passionate about his craft than Mike," Goldston wrote. "He had recently been immersed in a new project for HBO to adapt Master Class, Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play about opera legend Maria Callas. The project reunited him with Meryl Streep, one of his most frequent collaborators. She once said of Mike, "no explanation of our world could be complete and no account or image of it so rich, if we didn't have you," in hailing him as one of the essential artists of our time."Playwright Tom Stoppard, said, "He is a giver. He’s good at comfort and joy. He’s good at improving the shining hour and brightening the dark one, and, of course, he’s superlative fun…To me he is the best of America.â€

 

Concluded Goldston: "Mike had a sparkling wit and a brilliant mind. Beloved by so many in film, television and Broadway, there was no greater joy in his life than his family, and of course our own Diane Sawyer. A true and beautiful love story, Mike and Diane were married for 26 years. He leaves behind three children — Daisy, Max and Jenny — and four wonderful grandchildren."

 

 

http://www.hollywood...ad-at-83-750671

[bust]

RIP Phillip Hughes.......The young Australian Test Cricketer who was hit with a ball on Tuesday in a match and died this afternoon...