Princess Diana’s death 19th anniversary: Her Iconic Style

Diana grew from being a naive 20 years old girl with a lot of public responsibility  girl struggling with protocol—to becoming a wildly popular young mother and, eventually, into the sleek, confidently stylish independent People’s Princess the whole world loved. Today it’s marked the 19th anniversary of her tragic death.
To honor her we’ve gathered her most iconic styles over the years of her remarkable life.

 RIP Princess Diana ... you will be remember  as  the  people Princess ...you will live on in the hearts of everyone  forever.
The PICs

Did You Know --Hillary Clinton is not the first woman to run for President ?

Happy Birthday to the 19th Amendment!
On August 18, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, granting women the right to vote for the first time. Huzzah! It wasn’t really that long ago – which sucks, to be honest. But anyway, HUZZAH!!

In light of the present presidential race, I want to talk about Victoria Woodhull for a minute.
In case you’re wondering who that is:

Woodhull didn’t just run for president (which was considered a ludicrous idea for a woman in the Victorian era [and onward]), oh no. She also dabbled in newspaper publishing, lobbying, public speaking, clairvoyance, and philanthropy, and she and her sister Tennessee Celeste Claflin were also the first female brokers on Wall Street. Basically, she was a can-do kind of gal living in a man-do kind of world. But that wasn’t going to stop her.

Never one to shy from the limelight, she spoke out in favor of women’s rights whenever she had the chance. She was the first woman to address a congressional committee, which she promptly used as a metaphorical platform from which to fight for her beliefs. Initially, she was supported by other women’s suffrage activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony because they saw her as a valiant crusader for their cause.

But the more she spoke out, the more they distanced themselves from her. You see, Woodhull was also in favor of some very ‘scandalous’ things, like free love, letting women be in control of their own bodies, having the right to escape unwanted or abusive marriages, and being respected in the bedroom – aka being allowed to say no to sex (which was very much not an option for most women at the time).

Ironically, many women’s rights activists were not in favor of such ideas. Granted, she did tell crowds of people that she wanted “the love of you all, promiscuously,” in the 1870s (pretty friggin ballsy, if you ask me). Unfortunately, people didn’t take kindly to women giving speeches at all, let alone filling them with quotes like this:

“It makes no difference who or what you are, old or young, black or white, pagan, Jew, or Christian, I want to love you all and be loved by you all, and I mean to have your love.”

She spent election day in jail with her sister because she’d published an article in their newspaper exposing well-known clergyman Henry Ward Beecher as a hypocrite and adulterer. Naturally, she was arrested for sending obscene literature through the mail. Beecher’s sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe (you may have heard of her), was not amused, and she called Woodhull a “vile jailbird” and an “impudent witch.” The press had a field day, and cartoonist Thomas Nast referred to her as “Mrs. Satan.”

After running for president, she stopped receiving invitations to speak at suffrage conventions. In fact, Susan B. Anthony advised a British suffrage leader not to meet with her because she and her sister were “regarded as lewd and indecent.”

Despite her critics, Victoria had no problem living the life that she wanted for all women. At one point, she shared an apartment with her ex-husband, her husband, and her lover. But I have no doubt that she probably gave them all the long finger if they didn’t respect her as their equal:

“Let women issue a declaration of independence sexually, and absolutely refuse to cohabit with men until they are acknowledged as equals in everything, and the victory would be won in a single week,” she wrote.

I wanted to share this with you because I think she’s a fascinating human and an extremely notable piece of U.S. history that isn’t often talked about. I mean, yeah, I know who she is, but I don’t remember learning about her in school. Not even in numerous high school and college American history classes. But I’ve drunk a lot of gin since then, so who knows…

Happy women’s suffrage, ladies!
Thanx Huffington Post

Gene Wilder, Star Of 'Willy Wonka', Dead At 83

By Sandy Cohen, The Associated Press     Posted: 08/29/2016 

Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka in 'Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory'. (Photo: Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES — Gene Wilder, the frizzy-haired actor who brought his deft comedic touch to such unforgettable roles as the neurotic accountant in "The Producers" and the deranged animator of "Young Frankenstein," has died. He was 83.

Wilder's nephew said Monday that the actor and writer died late Sunday at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications from Alzheimer's disease.

Jordan Walker-Pearlman said in a statement that Wilder was diagnosed with the disease three years ago, but kept the condition private so as not to disappoint fans.

"He simply couldn't bear the idea of one less smile in the world," Walker-Pearlman said.

Actor Gene Wilder appears at Barnes & Noble to sign copies of his book 'The Woman Who Wouldn't', March 26, 2008. (Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)

Wilder started his acting career on the stage, but millions knew him from his work in the movies, especially his collaborations with Mel Brooks on "The Producers," "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein." The last film — with Wilder playing a California-born descendant of the mad scientist, insisting that his name is pronounced "Frahn-ken-SHTEEN" — was co-written by Brooks and Wilder.

"One of the truly great talents of our time," Mel Brooks tweeted. "He blessed every film we did with his magic & he blessed me with his friendship."

With his unkempt hair and big, buggy eyes, Wilder was a master at playing panicked characters caught up in schemes that only a madman such as Brooks could devise, whether reviving a monster in "Young Frankenstein" or bilking Broadway in "The Producers.'' Brooks would call him "God's perfect prey, the victim in all of us."

But he also knew how to keep it cool as the boozy gunslinger in "Blazing Saddles" or the charming candy man in the children's favourite "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." His craziest role: the therapist having an affair with a sheep in Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex.''

"One of the truly great talents of our time."
He was close friends with Richard Pryor and their contrasting personas — Wilder uptight, Pryor loose — were ideal for comedy. They co-starred in four films: "Silver Streak,'' ''Stir Crazy," "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" and ''Another You." And they created several memorable scenes, particularly when Pryor provided Wilder with directions on how to "act black" as they tried to avoid police in "Silver Streak."

In 1968, Wilder received an Oscar nomination for his work in Brooks' "The Producers." He played the introverted Leo Bloom, an accountant who discovers the liberating joys of greed and corruption as he and Max Bialystock (Zero Mostel) conceive a Broadway flop titled "Springtime For Hitler" and plan to flee with the money raised for the show's production.

Matthew Broderick played Wilder's role in the 2001 Broadway stage revival of the show.

Though they collaborated on film, Wilder and Brooks met through the theatre. Wilder was in a play with Brooks' then-future wife, Anne Bancroft, who introduced the pair backstage in 1963.

Wilder, a Milwaukee native, was born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1935. His father was a Russian emigre, his mother was of Polish descent. When he was 6, Wilder's mother suffered a heart attack that left her a semi-invalid. He soon began improvising comedy skits to entertain her, the first indication of his future career.

Gene Wilder listens as he is introduced to receive the Governor's Awards for Excellence in Culture and Tourism at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Conn. in 2008 (Photo: Jessica Hill/AP)

He started taking acting classes at age 12 and continued performing and taking lesson through college. In 1961, Wilder became a member of Lee Strasberg's prestigious Actor's Studio in Manhattan.

That same year, he made both his off-Broadway and Broadway debuts. He won the Clarence Derwent Award, given to promising newcomers, for the Broadway work in Graham Greene's comedy "The Complaisant Lover."

He used his new name, Gene Wilder, for the off-Broadway and Broadway roles. He lifted the first name from the character Eugene Gant in Thomas Wolfe's "Look Back, Homeward Angel," while the last name was clipped from playwright Thornton Wilder. A key break came when he co-starred with Bancroft in Bertolt Brecht's "Mother Courage," and met Brooks, her future husband.

"I was having trouble with one little section of the play, and he gave me tips on how to act. He said, 'That's a song and dance. He's proselytizing about communism. Just skip over it, sing and dance over it, and get on to the good stuff.' And he was right," Wilder later explained.

Gene Wilder performs during the rehearsal of a scene from Neil Simon's 'Laughter on the 23rd Floor,' Oct. 2, 1996. (Photo: Shawn Baldwin/Reuters)

Before starring in "The Producers," he had a small role as the hostage of gangsters in the 1967 classic "Bonnie and Clyde." He peaked in the mid-1970s with the twin Brooks hits "Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein."

He went on to write several screenplays and direct several films. In 1982, while making the generally forgettable "Hanky-Panky,'' he fell in love with co-star Gilda Radner. They were married in 1984, and co-starred in two Wilder-penned films: "The Lady in Red'' and "Haunted Honeymoon."

After Radner died of ovarian cancer in 1989, Wilder spent much of his time after promoting cancer research. He opened a support facility for cancer patients called "Gilda's Place." In 1991, he testified before Congress about the need for increased testing for cancer.

Wilder guest-starred on two episodes of NBC's "Will & Grace" in 2002 and 2003, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding guest actor on a comedy series for his role as Mr. Stein, the boss of Will Truman, played by Canadian Eric McCormack.

Wilder is survived by his wife, Karen, whom he married in 1991.

Condolences to the family  & friends .
RIP  Gene  Wilder  ... you will be sadly missed .
The PICs

The most sinful city in the US is... (Hint: It's not Vegas)

When people talk about "Sin City" in the United States, they're most likely referring to Las Vegas. But a new study says America's most sinful city is known by a different nickname: The Big Easy (or the City That Care Forgot, or the Crescent City.)
According to online real estate site Trulia, which recently ranked major U.S. cities based on the seven deadly sins -- or cardinal sins -- New Orleans is America's true "Sin City" while Provo, Utah is the most saintly city.

Here's how Trulia measured each city's sinfulness:

Lust: Number of adult entertainment venues
Gluttony: Rates of obesity, binge drinking and smoking
Greed: Number of racing and gambling venues and residents' reported charitable donations
Sloth: Number of residents who have not exercised in 30 days
Wrath: Per capita violent crime
Envy: Inequality in home prices
Vanity: Number of beauty and tanning salons and plastic surgery offices

"With nearly three times the national rate of adult entertainment establishments and twice the number gambling establishments per household, [New Orleans] scores highly in lust and greed," Trulia explains. "Additionally, above average rates of smoking, binge- and heavy-drinking and obesity, as well as high incidents of violent crime make the Crescent City a great place for those looking to explore gluttony and wrath."
According to Trulia, these are the 10 most "sinful" cities in the country:

New Orleans, Louisiana

Atlantic City, New Jersey

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Tampa, Florida

Toledo, Ohio

Louisville, Kentucky

Shreveport, Louisiana

Las Vegas, Nevada

San Antonio, Texas

Columbus, Ohio

On the other hand, these are America's most "saintly" cities:
Provo, Utah
Ogden, Utah
Fort Collins, Colorado
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Raleigh, North Carolina
Claremont, New Hampshire
Boise, Idaho
Asheville, North Carolina
Greeley, Colorado
Cambridge, Massachusetts


My city made the  list as one of the most sinful ... now ain't that a  chick in the head  (giggling).

Man faces capital murder charges in killings of 2 Mississippi nuns

The slayings did more than shock people and plunge Lexington into mourning. The two 68-year-old nuns leave a gaping hole in what was already a strapped health care system.

This is a smartphone photograph taken and released by the Mississippi Department of Public Safety in Durant, Miss. on Friday of Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, who has been charged with two counts of capital murder in connection with the killing of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, both nurse practitioners who were found dead in their Durant house Thursday.  (WARREN STRAIN / AP)  

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS     Associated Press       Saturday, August. 27, 2016
LEXINGTON, MISS.—A man suspected in the slayings of two Mississippi nuns who were found dead inside a residence within the community they served has been arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder, Mississippi authorities said.

Rodney Earl Sanders, 46, of Kosciusko, Mississippi, was charged in the deaths of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain said in a statement released late Friday night. Both women were 68.

The bodies of both women were discovered Thursday after they failed to show up for work at a clinic in Lexington, Mississippi, about 10 miles (16 kilometres) from where they lived.

“Sanders was developed as a person of interest early on in the investigation,” Lt. Colonel Jimmy Jordan said in the statement.

Authorities said Sanders was being held in an undisclosed detention centre pending a court appearance.

Meanwhile, in the poverty-stricken Mississippi county where the two nuns were slain, forgiveness for their killer is hard to find, even if forgiveness is what the victims would have wanted.

This undated photo provided by Sisters of Charity of Nazareth shows Sister Paula Merrill. Sister Margaret Held and Merrill were found slain in their home and there were signs of a break-in and their vehicle was missing, officials said on August 25,2016  (SISTERS OF CHARITY OF NAZARETH/AP)  
Held and Merrill were nurse practitioners who dedicated their lives to providing health care to people in the poorest county in the state. And as authorities sought the killer, many residents wondered how they will fill the hole the women’s deaths have left.

“Right now, I don’t see no forgiveness on my heart,” said Joe Morgan Jr., a 58-year-old former factory worker who has diabetes and was a patient of Merrill’s at the clinic where the two nuns worked.

He said Merrill would want him to forgive whoever killed the women, but he hopes the perpetrator is arrested, convicted and executed.

“She doesn’t deserve to die like this, doing God’s work,” Morgan said, shaking his head. “There’s something wrong with the world.”

This 2015 photo provided by the School Sisters of St. Francis shows Sister Margaret Held, who worked as a nurse and helped the poor in rural Mississippi.  (MICHAEL O'LOUGHLIN/AP)  

Both women worked at the clinic, where they gave flu shots, dispensed insulin and provided other medical care for children and adults who couldn’t afford it.

Their stolen car was found abandoned a mile from their home, and there were signs of a break-in, but police haven’t disclosed a motive.

Authorities have not said how the women were killed, but the Rev. Greg Plata of St. Thomas Catholic Church in Lexington, where the nuns had led Bible study for years, said police told him they were stabbed.

The state posted a reward of $20,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

Plata said both nuns’ religious communities have asked that people pray for the killer or killers. Asked about people’s struggles to forgive, the priest said: “Forgiveness is at the heart of being a Christian. Look at Jesus on the cross: ‘Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.’”

On Friday, a handwritten sign on the front door of Lexington Medical Clinic said it was closed until Monday.

The clinic and the nuns’ home in Durant are in Holmes County, population 18,000. With 44 per cent of its residents living in poverty, Holmes is the seventh-poorest county in America, according to the Census Bureau.

A verse of scripture, a cross, three candles and some faded flowers lay on a tree root across from the Durant, Miss., home of Sister Margaret Held and Sister Paula Merrill on Friday.
The slayings did more than shock people and plunge the county into mourning. They leave a gaping hole in what was already a strapped health care system.

Dr. Elias Abboud, who worked with the sisters for years and helped build the clinic, said it provided about 25 per cent of all medical care in the county.

The two nuns cultivated relationships with drug company representatives, who often left extra free samples, according to clinic manager Lisa Dew.

“This is a poor area, and they dignified those who are poor with outreach and respect for them,” Plata said. “They treated each person as a child of God.”

Merrill’s sister Rosemarie, speaking by telephone from her Stoneham, Massachusetts, home, said her sister had been in Mississippi helping the poor since 1981 and had previously worked in Holly Springs, where she used to ride around on a moped and was instrumental in locating the source of a tuberculosis outbreak.

Merrill was raised in the suburbs of Boston and came from a working-class family, her father a labourer and her mother a bookkeeper, her nephew David said. He said his aunt had worked with Held for many years.

“We always considered Margaret just part of the family,” he said. “The word ‘sister’ has many meanings, and they fulfilled all of them.”

RIP Sister Paula Merrill & Sister  Margaret Held
Deepest and heartfelt condolences to  family and friends ... 
The  PICs

Angry 1934 letter from Bonnie and Clyde goes up for auction

August  25th 2016      By: Keri Lumm
Angry 1934 letter from Bonnie and Clyde goes up for auction

Bonnie and Clyde were a couple in love with each other -- and with robbing banks and killing people. It was The Great Depression, and they did their part to make it more depressing.

Now we have this amazing letter, which will be sold to the highest bidder through RR Auctions. The letter was written by Clyde Barrow in April of 1934. Clyde was understandably upset with Raymond Hamilton, a man whom Clyde freed from the Easton Prison Farm.

You would think that would buy some loyalty, but apparently it did not. Clyde didn't hold back his ire from Hamilton after he was arrested again.

He calls the man "yellow," and tells him he has no sympathy for him-- but does hope he can avoid the electric chair.

The letter confirms that things were fine with the Barrow gang until Hamilton fell in love with a prostitute, Mary O'Dare. Bonnie and Clyde were suspicious of her, thinking she was a rat, and as it turns out, she was. The result was Hamilton's arrest and this letter.

Unfortunately for Hamilton, he did not avoid the electric chair, and was executed on May 10, 1935.

But thanks to this letter, written in beautiful cursive, we know that Clyde didn't care.

The Roving Reporter :Report: Donald Trump's doctor wrote health letter in 5 minutes

EMILY CAHN                 Aug 26th 2016 

NBC News reported Friday the letter from Donald Trump's doctor that declared Trump would be the "healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency" was written in five minutes as a limo waited downstairs to collect it.

In an interview from his Park Avenue office, Dr. Harold Bornstein said he hastily wrote the letter, but defended his over-the-top wording, telling NBC News that he "picked up [Trump's] kind of language" as he wrote.

"I thought about it all day, and at the end I get rushed and I get anxious when I get rushed, so I tried to get four or five lines done as fast as possible," Bornstein said of his writing process.

REPORT : Donald Trump's doctor wrote health letter in 5 minutes 

SOURCE:  Donald J. Trump
Bornstein's letter, released to the public in December, has again gained attention in recent days, as Trump and his surrogates have touted conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton's health.

MSNBC's Rachel Maddow asked Trump's new campaign manager Kellyanne Conway in an interview earlier this week — after Trump pushed unsubstantiated rumors about Clinton's health — whether Trump should release a more serious health letter.

"As a doctor's letter, it's a little bit absurd. It's a non-serious letter," Maddow said, according to a transcript from MSNBC. "It's full of typos. It's hyperbolic. It's unprofessional. Most of the letter has no medical meaning."

Conway responded with a simple, "perhaps," adding that she did not want to comment on Clinton's health.

The Roving reporter      G.