The Senate just confirmed President Biden's Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson in a historic vote that paves the way for her to become the first Black woman to serve on the highest court in the nation.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the first Black woman to serve as vice president, presided over the Senate during the historic vote in her capacity as president of the Senate.
On the morning of December 7, actress Natalie Desselle Reid died of colon cancer at the age of 53, surrounded by her family. According to TMZ, Desselle Reid was diagnosed with colon cancer earlier this year. Actress Holly Robinson Peete tweeted the news, writing, “a bright shining star passed away this morning. I got to know her when my mom was managing her. She will be so missed … sending out prayers to her children and husband.” After Peete’s announcement, an official statement on Desselle Reid’s Instagram confirmed the news: “It is with extremely heavy hearts that we share the loss of our beautiful Natalie this morning. She was a bright light in this world. A queen. An extraordinary mother and wife.”
Desselle Reid was best known for her iconic role as Mickey, one of the titular Black American Princesses in the 1997 film B*A*P*S opposite Halle Barry. That same year, Desselle Reid played wicked stepsister Minerva in the beloved film version of Rodgers & Hammertsein’s Cinderella alongside Whitney Houston and Brandy. In the 2000s, Desselle Reid continued her comedic career on the series Eve and worked with Tyler Perry on Madea’s Big Happy Family in 2011. Desselle Reid is survived by her husband and their three children.
AP - Cliff Robinson guided UConn out from the bottom and almost helped take the Portland Trail Blazers to the top.
He was one of the NBA’s best sixth men, a versatile player who became a predecessor of the modern center.
Not bad for a guy who was warned he might not even get a second season in Storrs.
“He averaged five points as a freshman and I remember I told him, ’You have two choices: I can kick you out if you keep doing what you do, or I’m going to watch you play a lot of years in the NBA,’” former UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “He chose the latter, which was good.”
Robinson died Saturday at 53, remembered as much for his personality as his skills by the teams he played for during an 18-year career.
“His personality and energy were unmatched, and his contributions on the court were unmistakable, helping the Trail Blazers into the playoffs each of his eight seasons with the team,” the Blazers said.
“His streak of 461 consecutive games played with the Trail Blazers still stands as a franchise record, which is a testament to his hard work and dedication to the team. We extend our heartfelt condolences to Cliff’s family and loved ones. Uncle Cliffy will be greatly missed by the Trail Blazers and all of Rip City.”
No cause of death was given, though Calhoun said Robinson had a stroke 2 1/2 years ago.
“It’s really sad to hear of this, because he was one of my kids, my players, a guy I watched grow into a man,” Calhoun said. “It’s not an easy thing.”
Robinson helped the Blazers reach the NBA Finals in 1990 and 1992. He not only never missed the postseason in Portland but hardly missed any games at all, playing all 82 in each of his first five seasons and never appearing in fewer than 75.
“RIP Clifford Robinson - some of my earliest memories of NBA basketball were of you as the lifeblood to those early/mid 90’s Blazers teams. The Memorial Coliseum days!! RIP to a Portland legend,” tweeted Cleveland star Kevin Love, who grew up in Oregon.
Clifford Robinson was born on Dec. 16, 1966, in Buffalo, New York. He was the centerpiece of Calhoun’s early teams at UConn. He played in Storrs from 1985-89, helping guide the Huskies from the bottom of the Big East to the 1988 NIT championship.
Robinson averaged just 5.6 points as a freshman but scored 20 a game as a senior before becoming a second-round pick of the Blazers.
“He was our first great player,” Calhoun said. “He gave legitimacy to the program.
“As a player coming in, here’s this guy playing on TV for the Trail Blazers, watching him play, watching UConn being mentioned. You could not pay for the exposure that he gave us.”
Robinson was the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year in 1993 and made his lone All-Star appearance the following year. At 6-foot-11, he had the size of a center but was a skilled outside shooter.
He played 1,380 games in the league, ranking in the top 15 all-time. Besides the Blazers, Robinson also played for Phoenix, Detroit, Golden State and the Nets.
“Clifford was the consummate professional who loved the game and played with an incredible sense of both joy and intensity during his outstanding 18-year career, including two seasons with the Warriors,” Golden State said.
Posted by ChasinDatPaper on December 25, 2016 at 11:30pm
Video After The Jump
LONDON (AP) — George Michael, the British pop superstar who reached early fame with WHAM! and went on to a solo career lined with controversies and chart-topping hits that blended soul and dance music with daring social and personal commentary, has died, his publicist said Sunday. He was 53.
Michael died at his home in Goring, England. His publicist, Cindi Berger, said he had not been ill. Michael's manager, Michael Lippman, says the cause of death was heart failure. His family issued a statement through Thames Valley Police saying that he "passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period.
"The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage."
Before Lippmann's announcement, police issued a statement calling the death "unexplained but not suspicious" and that "a post mortem will be undertaken in due course."
The loss of Michael continues a year of grief in the music industry, with David Bowie, Prince and Glenn Frey among those dying before age 70.
One of the giants of '80s and '90s music, and an early idol for the MTV generation, Michael enjoyed immense popularity from the start with hits such as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go," ''Young Guns (Go For It)" and "Freedom." As a solo artist, he developed into a more serious singer and songwriter, lauded by critics for his powerful vocal and expressive range. He sold well over 100 million albums globally, earned numerous Grammy and American Music Awards, and recorded duets with Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Luciano Pavarotti and Elton John among others.
"I have lost a beloved friend — the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist," Elton John wrote on Instagram.
He reached the very heights of success, but agonized over being a celebrity. He spoke of cutting back on tours and interviews and letting his work speak for itself. One aging superstar thought he was behaving like a fool: In a public letter dated Sept. 9, 1990, Frank Sinatra advised Michael to "loosen up" and "swing, man."
"The tragedy of fame is when no one shows up and you're singing to the cleaning lady in some empty joint that hasn't seen a paying customer since Saint Swithin's day," Sinatra wrote.
Michael, with tailored good looks and an easy stage manner, formed the duo WHAM! with his school friend Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. Helped by MTV, founded around the same time, easily crossed the Atlantic to become popular in the United States with Michael, as lead singer, usually the focal point.
He started his solo career shortly before WHAM! split, with the release of the megahit single "Careless Whisper," making a seamless transition. Critics generally viewed his WHAM! songs as catchy but disposable pop and gave his solo efforts far higher marks.
Throughout his career, his drug use and taste for risky sex brought him into frequent brushes with the law, most famously in 1998 when he was arrested for public lewdness in Los Angeles. Yet, he managed to turn the incident into fodder for a popular song that poked fun at his behavior, and his acknowledgment of his homosexuality at that time made him even more popular with his fans.
His first solo album, 1987's "Faith," sold more 20 million copies, and he enjoyed several hit singles including the raunchy "I Want Your Sex," which was helped immeasurably by a provocative video that received wide air play on MTV.
The song was controversial not only because of its explicit nature, but also because it was seen as encouraging casual sex and promiscuity at a time when the AIDS epidemic was deepening. Michael and his management tried to tamp down this point of view by having the singer write "Explore Monogamy" on the leg and back of a model in the video.
At the time, Michael had not disclosed his homosexuality, and much of his chart success was based on his sex appeal to young women. His look was raw and provocative, with tight jeans, tight T-shirts, black leather jackets and designer stubble, and his videos pushed the accepted limits with many lingerie-clad models vying for Michael's attentions on screen.
But Michael's situation changed abruptly in 1998 when he was arrested for lewd conduct in a public toilet in Los Angeles after being spotted by a male undercover police officer.
The arrest received international media attention, and seemed for a brief time to jeopardize Michael's stature as a top recording artist.
But instead of making excuses for his behavior, he went on to release a single and video, "Outside," that made light of the charges against him and mocked the Los Angeles police who had arrested him.
Like all of his efforts at the time, it sold in prodigious numbers, helping him put the incident behind him. The arrest also prompted him to speak openly about his sexual orientation.
These years represented the height of Michael's commercial success, which at times was marred by a protracted legal dispute with his record company Sony.
He remained a strong musical force throughout his career, releasing dozens of records and touring to adoring crowds despite a growing number of run-ins with police, many of them stemming from a series of driving-under-the-influence-of-drugs incidents, including several crashes.
Michael was an acknowledged user of marijuana and prescription sedatives and several times was found slumped over his car's steering wheel after using both at the same time.
His driver's license was finally revoked for five years in 2010 after Michael drove his Land Rover into the side of a Snappy Snap photo shop with so much force that his vehicle dented the wall.
A passer-by remembering Michael's early career wrote the word WHAM on the spot his SUV had hit.
He was also arrested a second time in public toilets — this time in North London in 2008 for drug use, an incident that prompted him to apologize to his fans and promise to get his life in order.
He also offered an apology to "everybody else, just for boring them."
A year earlier, he had told a television interviewer that his problems stemmed from a self-destructive streak and his attention-seeking nature.
He said at a press conference in 2011 that he felt he had let young people down with his misbehavior and had made it easier for others to denigrate homosexuals.
Despite these personal setbacks, Michael's musical performances remained strong even as his material moved farther from the teen tunes that first brought him to stardom.
The Telegraph newspaper in 2011 described a London concert appearance as an impressive event, calling his voice, "A rich, soulful instrument, it's capable of serious emotional heft, expertly matching the confessional tone of his own material."
Michael, with strong Greek-Cypriot roots, was born Georgios Panayiotou in England. He and schoolmate Ridgeley formed a ska band called the Executive when they were just 16 before moving on to form WHAM!
"I wanted to be loved," said Michael of his start in the music field. "It was an ego satisfaction thing."
Michael was active in a number of charities and helped raise money to combat AIDS, help needy children and support gay rights. He had a long-term relationship with Kenny Goss, but announced onstage in August 2011 that the two had broken up
Posted by ChasinDatPaper on December 28, 2010 at 11:00am
Video After The Jump
Dramatic CCTV footage captured a man narrowly avoiding certain death, when he manages to outrun a truck that was about to hit him.
Police in the Turkish city of Adiyaman just released of the incident that happened in early December.
53-year old Bekir Ozcan was casually crossing the street at a redlight. Before he could get to the other side the light turned green. The truck Ozcan was walking past didn’t see him and starts moving forward, leaving Ozcan no other choice but to try and outrun it.
Pedestrians managed to get the truck drivers attention, who slowed down just as Ozcan managed to throw himself on the road according to Yahoo UK.
Lucky to be alive, Ozcan’s got one hell of a story to tell to his grandkids.
Sad news this morning: Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie fishing boat featured on Deadliest Catch, has died in Alaska. He was 53.
Harris suffered a massive stroke on Jan. 29 while the Cornelia Marie was in port at St. Paul Island, Alaska. The boat captain was flown to Anchorage for surgery.
"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad - Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end," sons Josh and Jake Harris said in a statement on the Cornelia Marie site. "For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down."
In a statement the network said, "Discovery mourns the loss of dear friend and colleague Captain Phil Harris. He was more than someone on our television screen. Phil was a devoted father and loyal friend to all who knew him. We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart. We share our tremendous sadness over this loss with the millions of viewers who followed Phil's every move. We send our thoughts and prayers to Phil's sons Josh and Jake and the Cornelia Marie crew."
}