The Clearwater County Sheriff’s Office received a call reporting drowning at the Clearwater River. They responded to the call together with the fire department and the ambulance, but nothing could be done as 18-year-old Raina Lynn Neeland from Bagley, Minnesota, was in the water for around 10 minutes. Before help arrived, bystanders performed CPR on her, but she was dead already.
Why Raina went into the water in the first place was to save her young siblings and cousins from drowning. According to the Clearwater County Sheriff, Darin Halverson, children love playing at the dam from which water flows over right into the river. “They use it as a big waterslide,” he told Star Tribune. “Kids like to do that…They use tubes or whatever. Lots of times they go over on their own.”
Source: GoFundMe
Unfortunately, they weren’t aware that due to the recent rains, the water was considerably higher that day. The moment they went swimming in the river, they got trapped by the turbulent water coming from the dam.
Without hesitating, the teen jumped in to save the young children. Witnesses say she managed to pull three children out of the water. One of her brothers was there to catch them. Unfortunately, she couldn’t save herself. The children she rescued were aged 10, 8, and 6.
The 8-year-old girl was unresponsive, but some of the bystanders performed CPR and managed to resuscitate her.
Raina Lynn Neeland, 18, rescued children from treacherous river waters below a dam in northwestern Minnesota only to lose her own life after being pulled under. https://t.co/pYNKL1eCD6
Raina’s grandmother, Lenny Neeland, said of her granddaughter: “She always wanted to help people and protect people, and that’s exactly what she did. I thank God for Raina, that she saved my other grandkids, because this could have been worse than it is now.
“I think there were a bunch of angels at that dam helping them get out of the water,” Lenny added.
The tragic incident took place last year, and this year, Raina was Posthumously Recognized by Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Her family says they are honored and thankful for all the love for their daughter.
When they decide to become parents, most people have no idea what they sign up for, because let’s be honest, parenting isn’t easy, not even a bit. No matter how much one tries to be the perfect parent and sacrifices their own time, energy, and sometimes dreams for the well-being of their kids, there will always be someone there to criticize the way they bring up their little ones.
I guess things get even harder when you are a celebrity and all eyes are on you. And no matter how much we think the life of these people is all about glamour, their kids and their parenting are always under the spotlight, which leaves room for people to judge them, praise them, and comment on the way they deal with their children.
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Nicole Kidman spoke to Vanity Fair recently and she confessed how some of her friends “criticize” her about the way she decided to raise her two beautiful daughters, Sunday Rose and Faith Margaret. To start with, the girls, which are 10 and 12 years old, are not allowed to have Instagram accounts or use any other social media sites, which is quite opposite of what many other parents do.
The Big Little Lies star says she wants to keep her girls grounded and is setting boundaries. But as it turns out, her firends tease her because of that.
She also said that she is raising her daughters to love God. Kidman herself is a devoted Catholic and she and her family go to church on Sundays.
“I had a very Catholic grandmother, and I was raised praying, so that had massive impact,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it’s absolutism, there’s constant questioning—I’m a willful, feisty girl. For me it’s very important that I don’t have judgment. My dad would always say, ‘Tolerance is the most important thing.’”
Kidman once considered becoming a nun, according to an interview she gave in 2018.
“I’m spiritual in that I absolutely believe in God,” she told Allure Magazine “I loved the idea of being a nun. Obviously, I did not choose to go that path, but I was very drawn to it.”
The award-winning actress says she tends to teach her children life lessons, those that aren’t taught at school.
“I was talking to Sunday about there being little girls in different parts of this world who don’t own their bodies. A man owns their body. Her eyes were like ‘What?’ We’re trying to educate about those things. But it’s giving the information gently, and then guiding.”
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We know Nicole and her husband Keith are awesome parents and have an amazing family.
Most parents describe the day they first laid eyes on their bundle of joy as the happiest of their life. The feeling of holding the little one in your arms and watch them grow in front of your eyes is a feeling second to none.
However, not every parent would do all in their power for their child’s well-being. The truth is that a number of moms and dads leave their children behind, and the reasons for that are various. Sometimes, they are simply not capable of taking care of them.
This story starts with a 90-year-old woman named Doña Ignacia who shared her son’s life story. Namely, when her baby was born, she and her husband realized something wasn’t right. The boy, Pablo Acuña, wasn’t developing as expected.
Source: YouTube/ Los Capitanes
Ignacia and her husband brought him to the hospital where they were told that his limbs won’t develop, which meant he would be practically without arms and legs. “He was in the hospital for two or three months, then he [the father] brought him back just like when they left,” she explained.
Despite the horrific diagnosis, Ignacia made sure her son was loved as much as any other child out there. Pablo needed a wheelchair in order to be able to navigate, but he learned to love his life. What’s most, he even became a father himself.
Source: YouTube/ Los Capitanes
Shorty after his second daughter was born, Pablo’s wife left him and the girls for good. Despite his condition, he never let his daughters feel their mother’s absence as he was there for them every step of the way.
One of his daughters, Elida, spoke lovingly of her father and said she is forever grateful to him for raising her and her sister.
“My dad is my world. He is my friend… he is the best dad in the world. That’s why I left my life in Argentina and came to stay,” she said.
“To be able to take care of him because, my grandmother can no longer do it because she is already old.”
Pablo is an amazing dad. His girls are happy to have him in their lives.
Killing innocent animals for fun is the ultimate act of cruelty demonstrated by humans towards the rest of the living creatures inhabiting the planet. Yet, there are a number of trophy hunters who are guilty of bringing many species on the brink of extinction. What’s most, this “sport” is not even illegal in most countries, on the contrary, governments get enormous amounts of money for letting animals like lions, elephants, cheetahs and giraffes killed.
Scott Van Zyl was a trophy hunter who took rich clients on big game hunts. What happened to him during his final hunting trip to Zimbabwe in 2017 was described by many as “karma at its finest.”
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Van Zyl, along with his dogs, went to hunt crocodiles. However, after some time, his tracker dogs returned without him and his friends assumed something turned wrong during the hunting. And their assumptions turned out to be true.
Namely, Van Zyl’s footprints were spotted near a river bank and an investigation was launched. It was later confirmed that Van Zyl was eaten by the crocodiles after remains were identified as his through DNA tests.
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Many argued how this unfortunate man got what he deserved.
One Green Planet were among those who highlighted the risks hunters are exposed to while taking the life of innocent animals. “Let’s be honest, Zyl shouldn’t have been hunting in the first place,” they wrote. “We have to ask ourselves if the ‘thrill of the hunt’ is really worth risking your own life – while deliberately taking others.”
Nowadays, most people are struggling to meet the tight schedules the modern times impose on them, and this is probably one of the reasons why we are becoming distant over time. However, the acts of kindness we do for one another are what have made humanity going strong for so long. And when this compassion comes from young people, we feel delight because we know the next generations won’t fail us.
Dontarius Caldwell is a 15-year-old boy from Cincinnati, Ohio, whose good deed for a woman in need of help have touched the hearts of people from all around the country.
Namely, as he and his sister Diamond were waiting for the school bus, they noticed an elderly lady struggling to press the button at a crosswalk.
Diamond knew something was wrong and assumed the lady could be blind so she asked from Dontarius to go and help her cross the road.
“I told Dontarius that I think she’s blind, you should get up and go help her, and he got up and went to go help her cross the street two times while I waited for the bus to come,” Diamond said.
WLWT News/YouTube
Dontarius approached the woman and asked whether she needed help, to which she answered “yes.”
He then guided her across the street not knowing his kindness had been caught on tape.
Once the video was shared on the social media, everyone praised Dontarious and his sister, saying that many young people should look up to them. The two, however, don’t think they really deserve all that praise as they were only doing the right thing and believe everyone else would do the same.
“I was just trying to help and I really didn’t think I would be on camera,” Dontarius told NBC’s WLWT5 News station.
WLWT News/YouTube
“I was just helping the elderly, giving a helping hand. The key word is helping hand. Everybody gotta get a helping hand,” he said.
“If you be kind, what happens (to them) happens to you,” Dontarius added.
The school Dontarius attends is so very proud of him that they have given him a key to the school as a reward for his kindness.
Stories like these always trigger the right emotions and make us all better people.
Please share this so that more people hear of these siblings’ kindness.
Dirty Dancing, 1987, described as “Smart and funny, touching and unabashedly sensual,” by critic Sheila Benson of Los Angeles Times, remains up until this day a movie one can’t easily forget.
The incredibly touching story along with the dancing choreography which hundreds of people tried to imitate over the years make this movie iconic. The star, Patrick Swayze, who was named Sexiest Man Alive in 1991 by People, took the world by storm.
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Young Patrick fell in love with dancing after he started visiting the Houston Jazz Ballet Company where his mom was a director. It was there where he met his future wife Lisa Niemi. Of course, at the time of their first encounter both Lisa and Patrick were still very young and only started dating later. “If I started putting on a pose or doing my Casanova routine, Lisa would turn away and not say anything,” Swayze told People. “We had a lot of dates in silence.” He added, “I knew she was the smartest chick I’d ever met. [Before Lisa] I had been meeting girls with names like “Mimi” and “Angel”. And for a long time, I didn’t feel like I deserved her.”
The couple married in 1975 and their love was perceived by many as the purest and the deepest there was. Even after Patrick became very famous, nothing changed between him and the love of his life with whom he stayed together until the rest of his life.
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TV host Barbara Walters described what the couple had as something “extraordinary”. “The way he looked at her, the way he held on to her, the way she smiled. I can’t really imagine one without the other,” Walters said.
Patrick was often teased by his friends for his passion for dancing, but at the end, it was this love that land him the iconic role of Johnny Castle.
Before this, Patrick played Prince Charming in Disney on Parade and Danny Zuko in the original Brodway production of Grease. In 1981, the actor landed a role in M*A*S*H and in 1983, he played in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders.
Dirty Dancing earned him a Golden Globe nomination in the “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical” category and another one for his role of Sam Wheat in the blockbuster movie Ghost, the highest-grossing movie of 1990, where he starred along Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg.
Patrick always knew he was a father material and wanted children badly. “I was born to be a dad,” he said according to Closer magazine. However, he never got to experience that role. His wife was pregnant but suffered miscarriage and the two never had any children. This was a very hard time for the actor. “It broke his heart. He wanted to be a dad more than anything. He had skills, knowledge, kindness, and love – everything a child would want,” Swayze’s long-time friend and bodyguard Frank Whiteley said.
As years gone by, Lisa felt she was getting old for children.
“I had been seeing an acupuncturist for a long time, and then all of a sudden I was too old,” Lisa revealed in the Paramount Network documentary, I Am Patrick Swayze, in August 2019 and continued:
“I probably should have been better informed about to go about it, but anyway I may have wasted some time. But you know I said ‘you know, how would you feel about adopting?’ He got very teary-eyed and he said ‘I want to have children with you.’”
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“Patrick very much wanted to be a father because I think he wanted to be as good a father to his child as his dad had been to him,” his manager, Kate Edwards, later said in the documentary.
Patrick’s brother, Don Swayze, spoke of the star’s desperate desire to have children.
“You could tell he would have been a great dad, Just as an uncle you could see it, you could see the amazing dad he would be,” Don revealed. ” … He would have never wanted Lisa feeling bad for having miscarriages, but it crushed him, so they tried.”
After starring in other movies, Patrick decided to get back to Broadway.
In 2007, Patrick was diagnosed with Stage 4 pancreatic cancer. His body changed over night and he told Access Online how he “dropped 20 pounds in the blink of an eye.” He was a heavy smoker his whole life and didn’t quit the habit even after the devastating diagnosis but told Barbara Walters, “I’ve seriously cut down. I was one of those dumb ones that started back in the Marlborough Man days whose — you know, it was cool. I’m a cowboy. But I’ll tell you one thing. I will talk so hard core against, against smoking for kids. That’s one reason I’ve never smoked in front of children.”
Sadly, the Ghost star passed away in 2009 at the age of 57 and left the whole world mourning.
He left his wife $40 million and bought his mother a house. However, after his death, Lisa claimed how her late husband was abused by his mother when he was young, allegations the Swayze family rejected as not true. Later, they accused Lisa of selling Patrick’s personal belongings on E-bay, among which his leather jacket from Dirty Dancing. They were very mad at her and Patrick’s niece Danielle said, “These were family heirlooms. It’s a slap in the face that she’s selling these precious memories.”
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In 2014, Lisa re-married. She said her new husband, jeweler Albert DePriscan, knew she was still in love with Patrick when they started dating and tied the knot. “Albert knew I still loved Patrick and would always love him, and told me, ‘and I know you love me, and I love you.’ How could I not marry this man?,” Lisa told People. “As I had time to process the change my life was going to take, my doubts became less and less, and I became more and more sure.”
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On the 11th anniversary of his passing, Lisa wrote an emotional message for the actor. “Celebrating a wonderfully strong, sensitive & special man on the 11th anniversary of his passing. So missed. Can’t help but feel a dark cloud today (and all last week!), but grateful for what we had together. What a journey! Blessed, even with the tears.”
Bullying, in any form, can have lifelong effects on the victim. It affects one’s self-confidence and makes them feel unaccepted and as they don’t belong to the group or the society. This is in issue that is oftentimes overlooked and I honestly believe that we need to work harder in order to put a stop to such violent behavior.
Jeffery Taylor was a 7-year-old boy who had a hard time coping with the way he was treated by his classmates. Being the only black kid in the class, Jeffery was a target of bullies who called him the “N-word,” “Blacky,” “snaggletooth” and ugly, his parents claimed.
Four days before Christmas, Jeffery came home from school and his mother could see the disappointment in his eyes. He was sad and said he didn’t want to get back to school again. His mom then told him he should be happy and looking forward to the winter break, to which the first grader replied: “I should, but I’m not happy. I want to get away from that school. They don’t listen to me. They don’t like me.”
Later that night, Jeffery went to sleep and his parents kissed all of their seven children goodnight. Never in their life would they imagine it would be the last time to see their youngest child alive.
Although the parents were convinced that their kids were unaware of the firearm in the house, it turned out Jeffery knew his mother kept a gun in a bible case under her bed. That night, the boy took the gun and took his own life.
Investigators called the shooting an accident, but once claims of Jeffrey’s alleged bullying came to light, they investigated further.
“It’s been a struggle. I put on this beautiful face, but inside I hurt because I miss my baby,” mom LaKeisha told WTOL. “No matter what I said to him that Friday, the day before, it wasn’t enough because he was already broken.”
At Jeffrey Taylor‘s school white children called him the “N-word,” “Blacky,” “snaggletooth” and ugly. They destroy his belongings and his teacher kept his desk segregated as the only Black child.
He was 7 and bullied to death by racist 1st graders.
The parents spoke of the way Jeffery was treated by his classmates and said they made his time at school a living hell. One time, they even destroyed his shoes and a pair of boots.
“It just seems like he just was being targeted and picked on,” Jermaine said. “He was just that one person that stood out.”
The mother recalled that during a parent/teacher conference, she noticed that her son’s desk was segregated from the rest of the class. The teacher reportedly said that Jeffery might have been having issues with the rest of the kids.
As the parents accepted the responsibility for their son finding the weapon, they claimed the reason for his devastating decision was the excessive bullying.
The school on the other hand expressed condolences but claimed no bullying took place.
“East Central ISD profoundly mourns the loss of Jeffery Taylor. He was a bright and well-liked student and we still, to this day, are in shock and disbelief over this tragedy.
“We are saddened to hear about the allegations as any form of bullying, harassment, or violence is taken seriously and follows required state law, board policy, and District procedures.
“The District completed a thorough investigation with many teachers, staff, and classmates to determine if any bullying occurred. The investigation did not produce information to corroborate the allegations. The findings of the investigation were in a letter sent to the family on January 8, 2020.
“We investigated the allegations further at three levels: Salado Elementary, student services, and the superintendent. All investigations did not support the allegations.
“East Central ISD stands proudly united in our commitment to inclusion and diversity.”
Source: YouTube/ KENS 5: Your San Antonio News Source
The death of Jeffery is surrounded by many unanswered questions. We hope no child ever would be the victim of bullying. One thing is certain, bullying is present everywhere, especially schools, so school districts need to do more about this issue and provide a safe place for students.
It is very common for people who reach certain age to feel the need for a change regarding their appearance. Whether it is wrinkles removal, fillers, or going under the knife, all these procedures are meant to boost one’s self-confidence. But what happens if things go wrong, just as in the case of neurologist Gina Anderson?
When this beautiful and successful woman turned 40, she decided to treat herself with fillers that would lift her cheeks. However, she didn’t explore many options but decided to turn to a colleague of hers who offered to do the procedure for her.
Youtube/E!Entertainment
At first, things looked great and she felt good about herself. Sadly, some four years later, she started experiencing pain under her right eye and it was the start of an exhausting life journey.
“A colleague offered to do fillers for me, and it was like ‘well, I’m in my 40s, I’m going to look a little bit better,’” Gina said on the reality television series Botched. Little did she know her life would turn into hell.
What she believed were quality fillers turned out to be plain silicone which caused severe inflammation and deformed her face completely. She received injections in both her cheeks, but only the right side of her face received the silicone.
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The inflammation caused Gina severe pain. She had a hard time sleeping and was even forced to shut her practice down. The granuloma, or the inflammation Gina had, was in fact the body’s defensive mechanism for preventing a bacteria from spreading. A few weeks after it started growing, it suddenly burst open and left a big hole under Gina’s eye.
She turned to a number of doctors, but it looked like nothing could be done to remove the silicone from her face.
“You can’t sleep, and you’re in constant pain. It’s hard to think on your feet all the time. This isn’t just me looking slightly pretty. I’m in agony, I don’t sleep, my hair started thinning kind of like a hair loss. And I just started feeling kind of weak and fatigued. It’s been a nightmare.”
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Eventually, she turned to Dr. Terry Dubrow and Dr. Paul Nassif, of the reality television series Botched.
“When you get a granuloma, which is a foreign body inflammatory reaction, that typically happens between six months to a year,” Dr. Dubrow explained.
“The fact that Gina didn’t start developing those granulomas until way later indicates it’s a very slow, smoldering inflammatory chronic response that could be potentially very, very difficult if not impossible to treat.”
Gina underwent a number of surgeries. During the first procedure at the Botched clinic, Dr. Paul Nassif said he found something which looked like “a piece of gauze” on her face, probably from the surgeries at the other clinics.
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Luckily, Gina’s pain was no longer present and she could finally sleep after so much time. “I’m just really grateful now that I have a chance to reclaim my life because things were starting to look dismal. This is the best I’ve felt in a long time, so I’m just really crossing my fingers that this is really the end of my personal hell.”
Sadly, shortly after, she felt pain again, and it turned out there were some complications from the procedure, including swelling. She needed to go under the knife again, and this time, everything turned out for the best.
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Today, Gina looks beautiful and is happy with her face.
“My energy level is increasing, and actually, my mood has gotten better,” she said. “My hair loss has stopped, and actually, my hair is starting to grow back. My thought process is actually getting faster. I mean, it’s just a miracle. It’s just life-changing.”
This story should serve as a warning that whenever someone feels the urge to undergo a beautifying procedure, they should always consult an expert.
Loretta Lynn, the legendary country singer who impacted the world of music so profoundly over the years, turned 90 on April 14.
Throughout her life, she experienced a lot of beautiful things, as well as loses and griefs, but she came even stronger each time.
Lynn was a daughter of a coal miner, and that is something that was a big part of her life. Her signature song “Coal Miner’s Daughter” and an Oscar-winning biopic of the same name were inspired by her life story.
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At the age of 15, Lynn met the man who would become her husband. She stayed with him for 48 year, until his passing in 1996. Her marriage to Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn resembled a fairytale, but things weren’t smooth between them, mainly because of his heavy drinking and the many affairs he had with other women over the years.
”I married Doo when I wasn’t but a child, and he was my life from that day on,” Lynn later wrote in her 2002 memoir Still Woman Enough. “But as important as my youth and upbringing was, there’s something else that made me stick to Doo. He thought I was something special, more special than anyone else in the world, and never let me forget it. That belief would be hard to shove out the door. Doo was my security, my safety net.
“Doo was a good man and a hard worker. But he was an alcoholic, and it affected our marriage all the way through.”
He, however, supported her career a great deal and bought her her first guitar. It was in 1960 that Lynn recorded her first record, “I’m a Honky Tonk Girl.” The song led to a contract with Decca Records after which she appeared on the Grand Ole Opry.
From that moment on, she rose to stardom and is until this very day a much loved vocal adored by millions.
She has always been a woman before her time who was never afraid to tackle topics which were considered taboo during the 1960’s. Her song “Dear Uncle Sam,” which was critical of the Vietnam war, and “The Pill,” which tackled the controversial topic of birth control led to her songs to be banned from the radio.
“Loretta Lynn has more banned songs than any other country artist,” the artist’s granddaughter Tayla Lynn recently told NewsNation. “They tried to cancel her before cancel culture was a thing.”
55 years ago today I put this song out and it became a #1 hit. Some advice never gets old and, boys, I recommend you keep this one in mind still today! pic.twitter.com/Jw15F1IUqg
For her music, Lynn has won three Grammy Awards and was inducted to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988. She is also a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, given to her by former President Barack Obama in 2013.
In 2018, Lynn suffered a stroke and broke her hip, which led to magazines writing about her declining health. “Well, through the years they’ve said I’m broke, homeless, cheating, drinking, gone crazy, terminally ill, and even dead!” she wrote on Facebook. “Poor things can’t ever get it right.”
Before turning 89, Lynn released her milestone 50th studio album and she is still recording music.
“She’s still up over there on that hill, writing music,” granddaughter Tayla said, adding that she’s always been modest about her success.
“She is so humble,” she said. “But she’s also one of the wisest women I’ve ever met. So I think she probably has an inkling that she’s made a move or two in the music business.”
A day which started like any other turned life-changing for one little girl and one police officer. Namely, Kingman Police Department lieutenant Brian Zach was asked to check on a child and what he stumbled upon broke his heart. The little girl he saw there, 4-year-old Kaila, was a subject of child abuse. Her caretaker caused her multiple injuries and it was obvious the girl had been neglected.
While he was waiting for the detectives to come and take the girl, Brian stayed by her side. She felt very comfortable with him and it looked like she had known him forever. Well, he was the person who saved her, and although she was very young, she somehow knew she could trust him.
Speaking to Good Morning America, Brian recalled the five hours he and Kaila spent together that day. They were coloring and watching Wreck-It Ralph, and she was holding his hand.
Once Kaila was taken to the hospital, Brian went home and told his wife and two children about Kaila. Somehow, they all felt that the girl belonged with them.
Later, they learned that social services were unable to find a new home for Kaila at a short notice and they took it as a sign to welcome her in.
Brian recalled that when she arrived in their home, Kaila was wearing clothes that didn’t fir her any more. “Within the second day she was calling my wife ‘mom’ or ‘mommy.’ I was ‘guy’ for a week or two and then when she began preschool, she learned who dad was,” he told Good Morning America.
From someone who didn’t even know how to talk, Kaila turned into a vibrant and chatty little girl within a short period of time. “She’s happy and she’s flourished and when we got her she knew three words basically she grunted like a caveman, she didn’t know how to talk. And now she loves to talk,” Brian shared.
On August 18, 2020, the Zachs adopted Kaila at Mohave County Superior Court in Lake Havasu City. She officially became a part of the family.
Speaking to KTVK, Zach said, “I had a lot of child abuse cases and there’s always kids that I would bond with and I’d love to take them out of bad situations and just bring them home.”
Arizona police officer adopts girl he consoled while working on her case https://t.co/i8EzKEWaYt
Brian and his wife Cierra are now planning on renewing their fostering license because they know there are a lot of other children like Kaila out there who need someone to love them and care for them. “I would definitely encourage people to do it because there’s so many kids who need guys even if it’s just for a small amount of time you can make such an impact,” Brian said, as reported by the Daily Mail.
For more on this lovely story check out the video below.
The Brooklyn shooting which took place earlier this week left 23 people injured. The shooter, later identified as 62-year-old Frank James, a man who was obsessed with a number of conspiracy theories, put on a gas mask, detonated a smoke grenade, and opened fire on a crowded subway train in Brooklyn during the morning rush.
After an extensive manhunt, James was arrested following a tip officials received on their Crime Stoppers hotline. Police found an abandoned van they believe belongs to the suspect. A key to the van was found among other belongings on train, including a Glock 9-millimeter handgun, three ammunition magazines, a hatchet, fireworks and a liquid believed to be gasoline. According to WABC, James will be charged under a federal statute, and he will also face charges from the federal government. His motives for the shooting remain unknown.
BREAKING: The man suspected of shooting 10 people on a Brooklyn subway train Tuesday has been arrested, law enforcement officials tell @AP.
Among those who were injured in the shooting is a man named Hourari Benkada, 27. When James threw the smoke grenades, commuters were desperately trying to leave the smoke-filled car.
Speaking to CNN, Benkada said that he was sitting next to the suspect, who was dressed in an MTA vest and carried a duffle bag with wheels.
Screenshot/ CNN
When the car filled with smoke and James started shooting, Benkada, as everyone else, tried saving his life. But as he turned around, he noticed a pregnant woman.
“This pregnant woman was in front of me. I was trying to help her. I didn’t know if there were shots at first. I just thought it was a black smoke bomb,” he told CNN.
“She said ‘I’m pregnant with a baby.’ I hugged her and then the bum-rush continued,” he added. “I got pushed and that’s when I got shot in the back of my knee.”
Despite being in much pain, Benkada focused all his energy in protecting the pregnant lady. Luckily, she was left unharmed and he was later rushed to the hospital.
Once the train stopped, people left the car, and those who were injured were tended to by fellow New Yorkers.
Thank you, Benkada, for being the hero in this pregnant woman’s story.
The number of millionaires in this world is pretty huge. These people can afford the life they’ve always dreamed of and get to buy luxurious houses, boats, visit places, and a lot more. The good thing is that many of them give a small amount of their fortune to charities and the less fortunate.
Wang Yan is a millionaire from Changchun, China, who made his fortune in the steel industry. And now, he’s using his money to change the lives of thousands of dogs in need of shelter, love, and a fresh start.
It all started when Yan’s beloved dog went missing some years ago. In an attempt to track him down and bring him home, Yan visited every shelter there is. Unfortunately, to no avail.
That is when a friend of his suggested he should check the slaughterhouse where dogs are slaughtered for the meat industry. Yan did exactly that, and although he didn’t find his dog there, he saw something that he could never forget. A huge number of dogs living in terrible conditions waiting to be killed for their meat.
Yan knew he had to do something for those poor souls so he bought the place for $400,000 and turned it into a dog sanctuary. He spends huge amounts of money for food and other supplies, but looking at how happy all the canines are make it all worth it.
“I don’t accept monetary donations, I only hope that kind-hearted people will be able to donate a few supplies to help,” Yan told Metro.
Since 2015, Yan welcomed 2000 more dogs in his sanctuary and helped over 200 find their forever home.
What this man did and is still doing is worth all the praise he’s getting from animal lovers not only from China but all over the world. Thank you for your dedication, Yan, you are a hero.
68-year-old Kathie Lee Gifford is best known as the host of the talk show Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee and the fourth hour of NBC’s Today show she ran for 11 years along Hoda Kotb. This incredibly beautiful woman is no longer part of these shows but has a full plate doing other things she loves and make her happy like writing and acting.
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Five years ago, Gifford’s husband of 29-years, Frank Gifford, passed away and she was truly heartbroken.
In the meantime, she wrote the script for the movie Then Came You, released October 2nd, which is about a widow who is trying to move on and create new memories. During an interview with Daily Pop Gifford spoke of the rumors that she wrote that movie in a single night, which more or less turned to be true and said how the film isn’t an autobiography and doesn’t depict her life but is a nice reminder for those who lost their partners that they should continue living their life.
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Last year, Gifford experienced another loss when her very close friend and longtime on-air partner Regis Philbin passed away.
She took to Instagram to honor her colleague and wrote, “There are no words to fully express the love I have for my precious friend, Regis. I simply adored him and every day with him was a gift,” she wrote. “We spent 15 years together bantering and bickering and laughing ourselves silly—a tradition and a friendship we shared up to this very day. There has never been anyone like him. And there never will be.”
In an interview with Today, Gifford said how she and Regis “never had one cross word,” and added, “We had the same sense of humor, and we just took off like a rocket … we just wanted to sit there and have fun together.”
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However, some great things happened in her life as well. After she left the show a few months ago, one of our favorite TV presenters moved to Nashville. Her two kids, whom she had with husband Frank, got married. Her son Cody, 30, married his girlfriend of seven years, Erica, and daughter Cassidy, 27, married her high-school sweetheart Ben.
Their father wasn’t there to see his children creating their own families, but as Gifford said, his spirit could be felt.
In November of last year, Gifford said how she was on a few dates. She was out with friends when someone caught her attention. “I went to hear them, and this sweet guy asked me to dance, and so I said, ‘OK.’ And then he just disappeared into the crowd,” Kathie Lee Gifford recalled. “And then, you know, a couple weeks later, same band — Tim Akers & the Smoking Section — so we danced again. And then we just went out a couple times. It was fun because I hadn’t been on a date in 33 years.”
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Back then, she said she was open to falling in love again. “There’s nothing to talk about,” Gifford said in an interview with USAToday. “If there was, I’d shout from the rooftop like Maria in ‘West Side Story.’ I’d be open to falling in love again. I’d love to. But it hasn’t happened.”
Today, however, she is in a relationship with Randy Cronk, whom she describes as being very “nice, and fun, and healthy.”
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“I’ve just found somebody that is so much fun to be with,” Kathie Lee Gifford said on Today Show. “He is the smartest person I’ve ever met, and he is funny too.”
As per The Daily Mail, Randy Cronk – originally from Cincinnati, Ohio – is working as an insurance agent. He’s the President and insurance broker at RMC Insurance Group LLC and resides in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
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Recently, a photo of Gifford without any make-up on emerged online and everyone agreed that she looks stunningly beautiful. She is definitely aging with grace, and we are so very happy for her.
Most celebrities star small before they become household names adored by millions. Charming Chris O’Donnell is not an exception.
The now 51-year-old actor has always been aware of his good looks so he dreamed of becoming a model during his young years. He tried finding an agent who would represent him, but that didn’t go smoothly until one of his sisters introduced him to an agent she met at a wedding.
After doing some modeling, the Illinois native starred in his first meaningful commercial which made it easier for him to turn to acting. It was a McDonald’s commercial in which he wore a polyester outfit and served Michael Jordan breakfast.
“It was a crazy day because it rained 10 inches that day, so Jordan was six hours late for the shoot. So I was waiting around for six hours in a McDonald’s for Jordan to arrive, and then he came, and it was awesome,” O’Donnell revealed in an interview with NBC.
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Before devoting his time to building a career in the film industry, O’Donnell graduated from the Loyola Academy in Wilmette, Illinois, in 1988, and later majored in marketing at Boston College.
While at college, he had already stared in some movies but never shared that with his college friends and roommates. However, they learned their friend was a star in the making when Barbra Streisand left a message for him.
As it turned out, O’Donnell was supposed to star in Prince of Tides, but Streisand never called him back.
“It was sophomore year, and I was living with some random people I didn’t know very well, and I hadn’t told anyone I had been making films because I wanted to know everybody without being the guy who made the films,” O’Donnell recalled on Watch What Happens Live.
“So I’m at the library, and I come home, and my roommate goes, ‘Oh hey, D, uh, Barbra Streisand called you,’” O’Donnell added. “I go, ‘Okay man, thanks.’ He goes, ‘What’s up with that?’ And I go, ‘What’d they say?’ ‘She’s calling back tomorrow at 1 o’clock.’ And so the entire hall was waiting to answer the phone.”
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It was in 1992, when young O’Donnell had his breakthrough with the film Scent of a Woman in which he starred alongside one of the biggest names in the industry, Al Pacino.
The film brought Pacino an Oscar while O’Donnell won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.
Needless to say, all eyes were on the young actor who enchanted many with his raw talent. It was very obvious that O’Donnell would become a huge name in the business, and so it was.
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Speaking of the unique experience of sharing the set with Al Pacino, O’Donnell once shared, “It doesn’t get much better than Al. He’s one of the greats of his generation, maybe of all time. To have spent five or six months one on one for the majority of those scenes was incredible.
“And I would, I would just listen. He’s just a creative genius. He could do 15 takes of one scene. Every take was completely different. And at the end of those 15 takes, he knew which ones he liked, specifically.”
The two became close friends and Pacino even gave his young colleague some valuable pieces of advice.
“It was just the most nerve-wracking experience of my life, and being that nervous around Al Pacino for the majority of the film as well,” O’Donnell shared with Big Morning Buzz Live.
“I knew at the time I was doing it that this is going to be the greatest single-acting experience of my life that I’ll ever have.”
“He always told me don’t ever marry an actress,” he recalled. “He said you’ll always be second in their life.”
Well, it looks like O’Donnell listened. In 1997 he married his wife Carolina Fentress with whom he has five children.
The NCIS Los Angeles star is the youngest of seven siblings. His family was Catholic and humble, a trait O’Donnell would keep close to himself his entire life. In fact, it’s his devotion to his wife and children that caught the eye of many magazines back in the day, but instead of praising him for his values, he was dubbed “The Last Boy Scout,” “Mr. Squeaky Clean,” and “The Safe-Sex Symbol of the ’90s.” It went to the extent that the Chicago Tribune claimed that the Batman & Robin star suffered from “some of the worst press in the history of celebrity journalism.”
“They take it as a challenge to unearth some dark secret about me,” O’Donnell said. “It frustrates them that I have this clean-cut image. It’s not normal for an actor to be like this, I guess. But I’m not trying to create an image. I’m just being myself.”
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Speaking of how great of a colleague and a person O’Donnell is, Producer Frank Price told Los Angeles Times in 1995:
“He was just wonderful in a situation that could’ve turned out quite differently.
“Here’s this young actor, a budding American star, who comes into a picture that is cast totally with Europeans. Clearly, he’s getting paid more; he’s the star. That can create resentment. What was terrific about it was how unassuming he is and was, how friendly. He wasn’t doing the star thing. Everyone liked him. He’s thoughtful, considerate, just a very decent guy.”
“He was able to do this in a way that you still cared very much for him,” Price added. “It’s impressive to find a guy with that kind of good grounding and instincts.”
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O’Donnell, who has a net worth of $25 million, has starred in whooping 287 episodes of NCIS Los Angeles, and he loves it.
“It’s been amazing,” he shared with ET Online. “It seems like it’s gone by very fast, but I know when I look at my kids how young they were when we started. I still had kids in diapers, and they’re all, you know — some of them are adults now.
“It’s been amazing, but I think that from an acting standpoint, it’s been fantastic because of the development of these characters and the richness to the storylines. You know, it does raise the stakes, and it does lead to more emotion and that sort of thing.
“But purely from a personal life, it’s been unbelievable,” he added. “As an actor, you know… you’re a gypsy. You’re moving around, and you’re living in different parts of the world, and you’re looking for your next job. To have a steady bit of work here while my kids are in their formative years, it’s been a great gift.
“I know I’m very grateful, and I think most of our cast has been as well to have, you know, to park ourselves here for a while and work on this amazing show.”
I am sure there is no person who hasn’t heard of the Irish phenomenon, Riverdance. It’s a mesmerizing theatrical show of traditional Irish music and dance that never fails to take our breath away.
The unique music and the ear catching rhythm make it so appealing that it is seen by millions of people worldwide and is considered one of the most successful dance productions in the world.
The dancers’ moves are almost impossible to recreate because they are quick and precise and give the feeling as though they are floating, not dancing. The choreography is complex, but they do it with ease, and it’s a pleasure to watch.
Now, can you imagine performing this dancing routines on ice? If you think it would be impossible, you are wrong. The U.S national champion figure skater Jason Brown and his coach decided for Jason to skate to “Reel Around The Sun” from the Riverdance show and the decision turned to be one of the best they’ve ever made. The result is incredible.
Once the music could be heard, Jason starts skating and leaping, and everyone is stunned by his elegance while moving. The entire performance is elevated to a whole new level and we are glad we had the chance to see something so unique.
At the end of the performance, Jason receives a standing ovation by the cheering crowd. The act has been seen by nearly 20 million people. Now it’s your turn to watch it and enjoy!
Rajee Narinesingh, one of the best known transgender women in America, has gone through so much in her life. Born in 1967, before the Internet became huge part of our lives, she couldn’t understand why she felt like a woman, and she certainly couldn’t Google it and learn more as people do today.
One thing was certain, she felt like she was trapped in a wrong body.
As years passed by, Rajee started going out and met transgender women at different clubs and that’s when she knew she was one of them.
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She was eager to change the way she looked, but as all those surgeries and fillers cost a fortune, she decided to turn to the black market.
“The last thing I wanted was to look like a man in a dress. I wanted to be a beautiful woman,” Rajee told Daily Mail of her initial steps to transition.
“So I made the choice to get injections done – in our community, it is called pumping.”
Unfortunately, she met a fake doctor who destroyed the lives of many over the years, notorious Oneal Ron Morris, or better known as “toxic tush doctor,” as the media labeled her.
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Rajee received ten injections from 2007 to 2010. Each of the sessions cost her $100, which was way too cheaper compared to what legal clinics offered. Rajee was perfectly aware Morris’ injections weren’t legal, but she though she could get the look she dreamed of for little money, not knowing that her life would turn into a living hell.
“When it finally came to the day, I was more excited than nervous because I was finally going to be the woman I had always wanted to be. There was a room that she had set up where she did a lot of medical procedures. It appeared to be pretty sterile,” Rajee explained of the first time she met Morris.
“It was like an extra bedroom that she had turned into a clinical area, and I would go in and pay the money. I got injections in my face and my hips, and my buttocks, and initially, I was fine. But then the nightmare started.”
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Rajee’s body got deformed at the parts she got injections at. Large lumps formed under her cheeks, lips, and chin. She knew something was very wrong, but she was ashamed and afraid to leave her home, let alone alert the authorities of Morris’ illegal “clinic.”
“I felt like a monster, I really did,” she told Barcroft Media, as quoted by the NY Post. “A sideshow circus clown.”
Eventually, in 2012, Rajee gathered strength to ask for help. She started visiting Dr. John Martin of Coral Gables Cosmetic Reconstructive Surgery who gave her softening injections and laser therapy to soften the huge lumps.
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Luckily, those treatments helped her regain her self-confidence. She started going out more and she even started dating.
“Now I’m feeling more confident, and with a good bit of makeup, I can achieve somewhat of an exotic look,” she told Daily Mail back then. “Recently, this guy said that being with me is like being with a sexy dragon. I didn’t know whether to slap him or kiss him.”
In 2016, Rajee received even more help when she was chosen to be part of the E! show Botched. Rajee applied the year before as well, but doctors weren’t sure how to help her. The following year, however, they believed they found a way to smooth her looks further.
“I have to make sure my plan is a conservative one, it’s a smart one, and it doesn’t take any undo careless risks with Rajee’s face,” Dr. Dubrow said on the show Botched.
Over the course of seven weeks, Rajee underwent four surgeries. Luckily, her face started looking better and better.
“My confidence has definitely improved,” she told Barcroft. “It has changed my life. It really has. I know I’m a big personality, so I’m always going to get stares, but now the stares are a little different.”
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Rajee wasn’t the only victim of the self proclaimed doctor Morris. One person died due to the injections which consisted of cement, superglue, and tire sealant, the same ones Rajee received. The victims sued Morris and she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
In 2021, Morris sent a letter to Rajee, asking for forgiveness. Rajee decided that accepting the apology would give her some sort of closure too. She shared the response to Morris’ letter on the social media. “What I have become more aware of as I have lived my life is that if we can get stronger from the hardships we go through and learn from the mistakes we make, then they become blessings. I feel the sincerity of your spirit, Sis, and I want you to know that I wish the very best for you,” Rajee wrote.
Today, Rajee is a wide known community activist and works with the LGBTQ community, as well as several other organizations. “I call myself a world activist or a community activist. You know, because of my advocacy for the black-market injections took me global! No, it literally did! And now I hear from people in Uganda and Australia, honey. It’s crazy! I mean, Pakistan! Wow, it’s amazing,” Rajee told The Body.
“So that’s one of the blessings. I consider the whole situation with my black-market injections and all the suffering I went through — I consider that a blessing, because it gave me a bigger platform to do my advocacy and my activism,” she added.
“You know, even before all the corrective surgery,” she added, “I thought, ‘Hey, this happened to me, and if I can share my story, educate people, and prevent this from happening to someone else, then I’ve made lemon meringue pie out of lemons.’”
One thing is certain, after everything she endured, Rajee looks awesome and is happy with her appearance.
I wonder whether humans would ever become conscious of all the damage they cause to the wildlife and the creatures living in the seas and the oceans with their careless behavior.
A bottlenose dolphin found itself wrapped around a fishing line and a hook stuck into his body. Having no chance of getting out of the situation that was causing it so much pain, the creature turned to a diver for help. When Keller Laros went diving at Gadren Eel Cove in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii that January night, little did he know he would become a hero in the eyes of this dolphin who had hard time swimming.
Luckily, Laros was well-equipped and signaled the dolphin to come closer. The rescue was caught on tape thanks to another diver named Martina Wing.
This is really something worth watching. Take a look at the special moment in the video below.
Little Elodie Carmen Baker, who waited a heart transplant for 218 days, finally received one.
According to her parents, the pregnancy was a normal one and nothing indicated the baby would be born with a severe heart condition. What’s most, doctors didn’t diagnose Elodie with dilated cardiomyopathy until she was seven weeks old and stopped feeding.
“Our pregnancy was normal and we had an uncomplicated delivery and actually went home with Elodie,” the baby girl’s mom, Kate Baker, told Good Morning America.
“So she was with us in Minnesota at home for seven weeks and one night, she wouldn’t feed. I was nursing and she let out this cry and my heart just sank and I said to (my husband) Collin, ‘Something’s wrong. We need to take her in.’”
Once at the hospital, they said nothing was wrong, and just as they were getting ready to send the girl and her parents home, they decided to run some extra tests, including an X-ray.
“Then the X-ray came back. They saw her heart was enlarged and that was on Aug. 21. And we haven’t been home since.”
Elodie’s condition, dilated cardiomyopathy, causes children and adult sufferers to have an enlarged heart chamber, which has the potential to leave the muscle unable to pump the necessary blood through the body, as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“In Elodie’s case, the genetic test did not reveal an answer for why she developed this kind of cardiomyopathy and in that situation, it’s called idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, meaning at this point in time, we don’t really know why this happened to her,” Dr. Anna Joong, who has been caring for Elodie for the last few months, told Good Morning America.
After more than six months in the hospital, little Elodie Carmen Baker, who was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, received a new heart. ♥️https://t.co/sr08XD5fAT
Around two months after the diagnosis, Elodie was sent to the Lurie Children’s Hospital in Illinois where she was placed a pediatric ventricular assist device (VAD) through surgery.
“Her heart was so sick, that the IV medicines just weren’t enough and she needed a VAD,” Dr. Joong said.
“We use this device as a way to bridge her to transplant so it’s a way to support her heart, to help get her stronger in the time that she’s waiting for her donor heart.”
After waiting 218 days, 8-month-old Elodie Carmen Baker received a new heart last week.
Elodie, who was diagnosed with a rare heart disease called dilated cardiomyopathy at around 2 months old, spent over 200 days on the waitlist for a heart. https://t.co/fF0KcQMeCF
Luckily, after that many days spent at the hospital, Elodie received her new heart on March 27. The transplant was a huge success and Elodie is doing great. She still needs a feeding tube, but over time, as she gets even stronger, she is expected to start eating on her own.
“The breathing tube was able to come out within hours of coming out of the operating room. Her new heart works beautifully and is really strong,” Nora Hammond, a nurse practitioner at Lurie’s, explained to Good Morning America.
“She is getting routine immunosuppression medications to prevent rejection. She has already been transferred out of ICU level care and is sitting up. She is one strong kid and we are so grateful to the donor family.”
Congratulations, sweet Elodie. You are such a fighter.
We have received the news of the passing of one of the greatest comedians of our time with great sadness. After a long illness, the person who made millions laugh with his boundary-pushing, frequently crude stand-up routines, Gilbert Gottfried, passed away at 67.
“In addition to being the most iconic voice in comedy, Gilbert was a wonderful husband, brother, friend and father to his two young children. Although today is a sad day for all of us, please keep laughing as loud as possible in Gilbert’s honor,” his family posted on the social media.
Condolences came pouring in from friends, family members, and fellow comedians.
“Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily. What a gift,” Seinfeld star Jason Alexander wrote. “I did not know him well but I loved what he shared with me. My best wishes and sympathy to his family.”
Gilbert Gottfried made me laugh at times when laughter did not come easily. What a gift. I did not know him well but I loved what he shared with me. My best wishes and sympathy to his family. #ripGilbertGottfried
“Gilbert Gottfried was never not funny,” wrote stand-up comic Dane Cook. “He was a lovely guy, always friendly & made many people happy.”
Sending love to @RealGilbert’s wife Dara, his family & fans. Gilbert Gottfried was never not funny. He was a lovely guy, always friendly & made many people happy.
Jon Stewart wrote a tribute, recalling the “great thrill” of opening for Gottfried. “He could leave you gasping for breath…just indescribably unusually hilarious,” Stewart wrote.
RIP Gilbert. Opening for Gilbert Gottfried at Carolines and Princeton Catch was one of the great thrills of my early stand up life. He could leave you gasping for breath…just indescribably unusually hilarious…Damn.
“He could put you into convulsive hysterics,” wrote Judd Apatow. “He was also the sweetest man.”
As reported by NBC News, Gottfried’s close friend Glenn Schwartz, said that the comedian died of Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardia due to Myotonic Dystrophy type II.
Despite his health condition, Gottfried didn’t stop working until the last weeks of his life.
During his career which spanned 50 years, Gottfried made a name for himself as one of the best in the field. Among the rest, he landed his aggressive voice to Jafar’s talking parrot in Alladin. A role he reprised in two sequels.
Further, Gottfried worked on various other Disney productions, including The Fairly Odd Parents, Superman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – JULY 26: Gilbert Gottfried performs at The Stress Factory Comedy Club on July 26, 2018 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. (Photo by Bobby Bank/Getty Images)
This great man was never afraid to tackle topics many others were afraid to speak on. After the 9/11 attack, he made jokes of the event but many believed he did that way too soon. As a result, he said he lost a huge audience. “I lost an audience bigger than anybody has ever lost an audience. People were booing and hissing,” he recalled to Vulture. He, however, managed to win that audience back with a crude “Aristocrats” routine.
He spent many years being the voice of the “Aflac duck,” but he was fired after making a joke about the tsunami which hit Japan in 2011.
His jokes knew no boundaries.
“Maybe I’m self-destructive, maybe I’m just plain stupid,” he told Vulture. “But if someone tells me don’t do something, then I want to do it. I’ve always said tragedy and comedy are roommates. Wherever tragedy’s around, comedy’s a few feet behind them sticking his tongue out and making obscene gestures.”
Since 2014, he was running his Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast. Over the years, he made numerous appearances in a number of shows such as Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Saturday Night Live, and Hollywood Squares, among the rest.
This photo is very sad now. RIP Bob Saget and RIP Louie Anderson. Both good friends that will be missed. pic.twitter.com/DLJ8Ntt7LN
Poinsettia, a plant indigenous to Mexico and Central America, is considered a Christmas flower by many and that is the reason why most people get one before the holidays. The legend says that a young girl from Mexico could only offer weeds as a Christmas gift to Jesus Christ so when she brought the poinsettia to the church, the plant’s flowers blossomed in a beautiful red color. In Mexico, it’s known as Flores de Noche Buena, which translates to “flowers of the holy night.”
Poinsettias symbolize good cheer and success and are believed to bring wishes of mirth and celebration.
And as the life span of most poinsettia plants is measured in months, not years, the following story could easily be dubbed a miraculous one.
Source: YouTube – Quirlycues
Frankie Allison from Halifax, Nova Scotia, in Canada, is certain that his poinsettia is the most special of all, and we agree.
His now late wife Maxine won a call-in radio show contest on Christmas Eve one year and got a poinsettia as a gift. Sadly, just three days later, she passed away from a massive heart attack.
Heartbroken Frankie had a hard time coping with the grief, but then, he understood his wife’s spirit continued to live through the plant. At first, he wanted to throw it away, but it blossomed and he decided to keep it. What is so special about this plat is that unlike any other poinsettia out there, this one keeps growing and blossoming for over 20 years.
Source: YouTube – Quirlycues
Speaking of the miracle plant, Frankie said that experts told him how they had never seen anything like this because most poinsettias only last for a few days or maybe a couple of months.
“It just kept growing,” Frankie told CBC News. “Pretty soon I won’t be able to look out the picture window.”
Source: YouTube – Quirlycues
The plant is more than 5 feet tall and weighs over 100 pounds. Around Christmas, it serves as a Christmas three and the lights and the ornaments make it even more beautiful.
“They say that’s a miracle plant,” Frankie says his friends say to him. “They always say your wife is still with you.”
Frankie waters it 2 times a week and fertilizes it regularly. He does it with much love.
Source: YouTube – Quirlycues
For more on this beautiful story go to the video below.
I’m sure most of you have seen the iconic film Matilda which is about a brilliantly intelligent little girl not understood by her parents. However, as much as she’s not appreciated at home, someone special at school, her teacher Miss Honey, notices Matilda’s intellect. Fast forward to the ending of this masterpiece, Matilda ends up with her teacher who adopts her and gives her a new lease of life.
Some say things like this don’t happen in real life, but that’s not exactly true. No matter how small the number is, children who experience rough childhood do end up with new and better families, and sweet Loralie is one such beautiful example.
This girl found herself in the foster system when she was just 4 years old and all she could ever dream of was finding a forever home. Luckily, after 1,445 days in foster care, just like Matilda, she got adopted by her former second grade teacher.
More than 150 children will be adopted in LA County on National Adoption Day https://t.co/u1zhLxXtsD
Loralie spent five years wondering if she would ever feel loved again, but becoming part of teacher Zoe Henry’s family was worth all the waiting.
She was one of 165 Los Angeles County children who were officially adopted on National Adoption Day on Saturday. This beautiful and meaningful event takes place each year, and this year, as well as the previous one, it was held virtually because of the ongoing pandemic, but that certainly didn’t make it any less special.
The great thing was that all the adoptions were finalized just before Thanksgiving and all those children got to spend the holiday in their new homes.
“She completes our family, she completes our life.” Loralie, a 9-year-old who spent 1,445 days in foster care, now has a forever home after her former second-grade teacher adopted her into her family https://t.co/Ewg9kaN7rr 💗
One man kept getting calls from an unknown number. Each time, he would hear a young girl’s voice from the other side of the line so he thought someone was playing games with him. But as the calls wouldn’t stop, he finally decided to talk to the little girl and understand what was going on.
As he asked her why she kept calling him, the child called him ‘daddy.’ He was confused at first, but it didn’t take long before he understood that the girl thought she was talking to her dad whom she hadn’t seen in weeks.
“Daddy, please come back soon. I miss you very, very much!” she said with a weak and shaky voice.
“Dad, I’m in pain! My mom told me that you were too busy at work and she takes care of me day and night. She’s tired,” the girl continued. “So if you can’t come, can you kiss me?” she asked.
Not knowing what to do, the man made some kissing noises. After hearing him, the girl said: “Thank you…Dad, I’m…so happy, I feel…so happy…”
At that moment a woman took the call over. She was sobbing and apologized for disturbing the man. Still unaware of why they called him in the first place, he wanted to learn more about the girl. The woman then said that she was the girl’s mother. Her daughter was diagnosed with bone cancer and was fighting for her life, but the prognosis was bad. The girl’s dad was the person who always stood by her side and told her to be brave, but he died in a car crash around the time the calls started taking place. The mother explained that she didn’t have the heart to tell her girl about her dad so she dialed a random number when the little one asked to speak to her father. The number happened to be the man’s.
Hearing that story, his heart broke into pieces.
The following day, the man called the number to ask how the girl was doing, but he heard the most devastating news. The little soul passed away shortly after the conversation with him. The mother thanked him for sending those kisses as they were goodbye kisses and the last thing the girl heard before leaving this world.
The man was heartbroken, but at the same time, he felt glad and relieved he decided to take that call because even for a moment, he made a dying child happy.
What would you do if you stumbled upon a huge pile of cash? Would you be tempted to take it and pray not to get yourself in trouble, or would you return it to the rightful owner?
Many people would probably choose to grab the cash and leave, but there are also those who wouldn’t hesitate to do the right thing.
19-year-old boy named José Nuñez Romaniz of Albuquerque, New Mexico, went to the ATM to withdraw some cash in order to buy socks for his grandpa. Just around the corner, next to the machine, he noticed a bag full of money. He looked around to see if the owner is anywhere near, but no one seemed to be looking for the money.
Romaniz took the bag and called the number on the ATM. He then alerted the police of the money and waited for them to arrive.
Source: YouTube/ KRQE
According to KRQE, the bag contained $135,000 in total. That’s a lot of money that can change one’s life drastically.
Romaniz could choose to take it and spend it, but he knew he needed to do what was right.
“In the back of my head, I was just thinking about my parents, especially my mom. What she would do if I came home with the money and… what she would do with her chancla [a flip-flop] to hit me,” he said jokingly. “I did the right thing and I know my parents are proud and my family is proud as well.”
Source: YouTube/ KRQE
It turned that the money was left behind accidentally by the subcontractor who was supposed to fill the ATM.
For his good deed, Romaniz was honored by Mayor Tim Keller and Police Chief Mike Geier.
“Man, we all know that temptation… Even just to take a little, just one of those bundles off the top! I mean that had to be really hard,” Mayor Keller joked.
“What a great opportunity for us to see some good in the community with all the tragedies we see with young people, this really restores our faith in the community as well,” Chief Geier added.
Everyone agreed that with young people like Romaniz we don’t have to fear about the future of our country.
Source: YouTube/ KRQE
PNM gave Romaniz $500 for tuition, and El Patron gave him an additional $500 in cash, plus a gift card. ESPN Radio gifted the family season tickets for the University of New Mexico’s football team.
Thank you Romaniz for doing what’s right.
If you are ineterested to learn more of the story and see how this young man was honored go to the video below.
John F. Kennedy Jr. was considered American royalty. He had spent his entire life under the spotlight and magazines were interested in him from the moment he was born, which was just 17 days after his father, JFK, became president of the United States.
As both his father and grandfather were believed to be womanizers, JFK Jr. did his best not to become one himself. Although he had dated numerous celebrities, among which actress Sarah Jessica Parker and model Cindy Crawford, he eventually fell for an ordinary woman, beautiful Carolyn Bessette, who became his wife. At the time he first met her, JFK Jr. was said to had dated actress Daryl Hannah.
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The stories of their first encounter are many, but according to most magazines, they first laid eyes on each other when he came in for a Calvin Klein fitting in 1992 where Carolyn worked as a publicist.
He was smitten by the beautiful blonde girl and was desperate to get to know her better. She on the other hand didn’t seem to be interested at first because she was aware of his status in society.
”She didn’t think he was serious. He couldn’t believe she turned him down. It had never happened before,” Gustavo Paredes, a friend of the couple, told People in 2014.
”[He] kept figuring out a way to keep coming back to the showroom for more business meetings and more fittings.”
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Eventually, she understood his intentions were serious and moved in with him while they kept their relationship a secret.
When the media and the public learned he was dating Carolyn, JFK Jr. denied the reports, but when he popped the question in 1995 while they celebrated the Fourth of July at Martha’s Vineyard, everyone gone wild about America’s ‘princess’. It took Carolyn three weeks to say yes. “She held off the proposal for about three weeks. I think it made him all the more intent on marrying her,” JFK Jr’s former assistant Rose Marie Terenzino told People.
The couple tied the knot in 1996 in an intimate wedding ceremony held away from the public eye in the First African Baptist Church on Cumberland Island, built by enslaved African Americans in 1893.
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From the one photo which emerged from the ceremony, people could see Carolyn looking mesmerizingly beautiful. The stunning bride wore a pearl-white silk crêpe with a cowl décolletage designed by a close friend of hers, Narciso Rodriguez.
One of the few guests who attended the ceremony was Senator Ted Kennedy who said of the couple: ”You could tell right away that there was something special between the two of them.”
The two were much in love, but things weren’t always smooth between them, according to their friends. One thing that Carolyn had a hard time getting used to was all that attention by the media and the paparazzi. As she never gave any interviews, they started making up stories about her, with some magazines even calling her “ice queen” and a “miserable wife.”
“She couldn’t take it. She wasn’t brought up with it. John was, Carolyn wasn’t. She said, ‘I’m terrified of them,’” Jackie Kennedy’s personal assistant, Kathy McKeon, told People in 2017.
“If someone was going to steal our prince, the press and the public wanted her to be some kind of unblemished princess,” John’s friend, John Perry Barlow, told the same magazine.
Wikipedia Commons / John Mathew Smiths
”But Carolyn was not one to be easily defined. She was quirky and imaginative. She was her own self. The woman everyone has read about it not at all as she was in real life.”
People close to the couple defined their love as ”passionate and fiery.”
“They would love hard, and they would fight hard,” Ariel Paredes, the granddaughter of Providencia Paredes, who had been an assistant to John’s mom Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, said.
Evan Agostini/Liaison
Rumors were that JFK Jr. and Carolyn had different views about having children. As he dreamed of becoming a father one day, she didn’t see herself as a mother. According to Vanity Fair, JFK Jr. even had a baby’s name on mind. He wanted his future son to be called Flynn.
“I hate living in a fishbowl,” Carolyn confided to a friend, according to Vanity Fair. “John may be comfortable living like this, but I’m not. How could I bring a child into this kind of world?”
The author of the article in Vanity Fair, Edward Klein, claimed that a friend of JFK Jr. recalled a conversation he had with the late president’s son who told him: ”I want to have kids, but whenever I raise the subject with Carolyn, she turns away and refuses to have sex with me. I had it with her!
“It’s got to stop. Otherwise we’re headed for divorce.”
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Other people close to the couple, claimed the opposite. Many of them said that they had never noticed anything unusual going on between the two. Their relationship seemed perfect, and nothing spoke that they were experiencing any issues.
Carole Radziwill, a friend of the couple, told Vanity Fair: “[Stress is] hard on any marriage—let alone a young marriage”, adding she had not seen a single ”conversation or anything to indicate there was this impending divorce.”
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On July 16, 1999, John F . Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn’s sister, Lauren, met with Carolyn at the Essex County Airport in New Jersey, and the three boarded John’s plane. They headed to Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, where they would attend the wedding of John’s cousin, Rory Kennedy.
John, who had a pilot license, flew the plane himself, but the weather conditions were challenging and he lost control. John probably lost the ability to determine altitude and speed and the plane crashed into the surface of the water. A few days later, the dead bodies of the three passengers were found inside the wrecked plane.
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At the time of their death, JFK Jr. was 38 years old. Carolyn was only 33.
”John and Carolyn were true soul mates,” the families said in a statement, according to The Washington Post, and added that they found ”solace in the thought that together they will comfort Lauren for eternity.”
We are still very saddened at how their lives were lost. May they rest in peace.
