Carrie Fisher, "Princess Leia" of Star Wars fame, is hospitalized after massive heart attack during flight.

Courtesy of The Guardian:  

Carrie Fisher, the actor beloved for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, is being treated in intensive care after suffering a serious heart attack on a flight to Los Angeles from London, her brother has said. 

Todd Fisher said the 60-year-old Star Wars legend was receiving treatment in an intensive care unit of a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a medical emergency on the United Airlines flight from London on Friday. 

He added his older sister was receiving excellent care, but said he could not classify her condition. He had earlier told reporters that she had been stabilised and was out of the emergency room. 

But he later clarified his comments: “It’s not fair to say ‘stable’. I am not saying she is fine, or not fine,” he told Reuters by telephone. “She is in the ICU.” But in a subsequent interview he said many details about her condition or what caused the medical emergency are unknown.

There have been conflicting reports on Fisher's condition ever since she was taken off that plane on a gurney, and that has thrown the internet into a tizzy over fear that 2016 will claim another victim.

RT @thecraigsutton: Hey 2016 You already have the Prince leave the Princess alone! #princessleia #carriefisher pic.twitter.com/y66YDTGgYr

— Old School 80s (@OldSchool80s) December 24, 2016

dear 2016 please let us keep @carrieffisher and just take @realDonaldTrump instead 😩

— Charlotte Emily (@CharlotteERound) December 24, 2016

as if 2016 couldn't get any worse... sending all our love to @carrieffisher

— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) December 23, 2016

DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TOUCH CARRIE FISHER, 2016.

— Alanna Bennett (@AlannaBennett) December 23, 2016

We have recently seen Fisher return in not just one Star Wars movie, but two (Spoiler alert.), and it has appeared that she was enjoying a rather dramatic comeback after years of struggling with drug addiction and depression.

So having this happen now seems especially upsetting.

And to have 2016, that giant steaming turd of a year, claim yet another of our precious celebrity icons (Don't forget besides Prince we also lost Alan Rickman and David Bowie.) seems almost too much to bear.

As you know I have no confidence in the power of prayer, however there is one power in which I believe wholeheartedly.

May the force be with you Princess Leia.

President Obama on the passing of Muhammad Ali.

He shook up the world, and the world's better for it. Rest in peace, Champ. pic.twitter.com/z1yM3sSLH3

— President Obama (@POTUS) June 4, 2016

Courtesy of Politicususa:  

Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period. If you just asked him, he’d tell you. He’d tell you he was the double greatest; that he’d “handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder into jail.” 

But what made The Champ the greatest – what truly separated him from everyone else – is that everyone else would tell you pretty much the same thing. 

Like everyone else on the planet, Michelle and I mourn his passing. But we’re also grateful to God for how fortunate we are to have known him, if just for a while; for how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time. 

In my private study, just off the Oval Office, I keep a pair of his gloves on display, just under that iconic photograph of him – the young champ, just 22 years old, roaring like a lion over a fallen Sonny Liston. I was too young when it was taken to understand who he was – still Cassius Clay, already an Olympic Gold Medal winner, yet to set out on a spiritual journey that would lead him to his Muslim faith, exile him at the peak of his power, and set the stage for his return to greatness with a name as familiar to the downtrodden in the slums of Southeast Asia and the villages of Africa as it was to cheering crowds in Madison Square Garden. 

That’s the Ali I came to know as I came of age – not just as skilled a poet on the mic as he was a fighter in the ring, but a man who fought for what was right. A man who fought for us. He stood with King and Mandela; stood up when it was hard; spoke out when others wouldn’t. His fight outside the ring would cost him his title and his public standing. It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail. But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today. 

He wasn’t perfect, of course. For all his magic in the ring, he could be careless with his words, and full of contradictions as his faith evolved. But his wonderful, infectious, even innocent spirit ultimately won him more fans than foes – maybe because in him, we hoped to see something of ourselves. Later, as his physical powers ebbed, he became an even more powerful force for peace and reconciliation around the world. We saw a man who said he was so mean he’d make medicine sick reveal a soft spot, visiting children with illness and disability around the world, telling them they, too, could become the greatest. We watched a hero light a torch, and fight his greatest fight of all on the world stage once again; a battle against the disease that ravaged his body, but couldn’t take the spark from his eyes. 

Muhammad Ali shook up the world. And the world is better for it. We are all better for it. Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family, and we pray that the greatest fighter of them all finally rests in peace.

I don't think you can be on this planet without knowing who Muhammad Ali was. At least not anyplace civilized.

And if you knew who he was you were inevitably impressed with him as well. I know I certainly was.

Growing up in the 60's and 70's Muhammad Ali was everywhere in my young life. And as a fighter in my own right, I studied his movements and attempted to dissect whatever it was that made him so amazing.

Only to realize that no matter how many hours of footage I watched I was never going to be able to mimic what he had. (Don't believe me? Here is Ali dodging 21 punches in 10 seconds.)

He was bigger than life.

And he remained that way even as the Parkinson's disease ravaged his body, and stole his vaunted athleticism away from him.

And in my opinion even death cannot really defeat this champion, because who he was and what he did is going to live on for centuries to come.

As well he should, because like he always told everyone, he was the greatest.

A little good news to start our week. This magnificent bastard is now cancer free!

Courtesy of BBC:  

"My most recent MRI brain scan did not reveal any signs of the original cancer spots nor any new ones," Mr Carter said in a statement. 

The 91-year-old first announced the news during a Sunday school class in Plains, Georgia. 

Mr Carter, who was president from 1977 to 1981 and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, revealed his illness in August. 

Doctors have been treating four small melanoma lesions on his brain. 

Last month, Mr Carter said he was responding well to treatment and there were no signs of further cancer growth.

There are only a handful of people who I would get on a plane and fly just to have dinner with them. 

Th first, of course, is President Obama.

The second is Jon Stewart.

And the third is President Jimmy Carter.

And I would gladly pay for the meal and sit for hours after eating, just to listen to him talk, and pick his brain.

It would be a joy.

He is, probably not surprisingly, also one of only two Christians who I believe exemplify the very best that that religion represents.

The other is Fred Rogers, who I think may be one of the kindest, most gentle people ever to walk this earth

I am very glad that Jimmy Carter is going to remain with us a little longer. And I have little doubt that Jimmy Carter will spend the time that he has left making this world a better place to live.

Just like he has been doing for the vast majority of his life.

"To Be Takei." New documentary about the life of George Takei.

Courtesy of Fox News:  

Takei's life is the subject of a new documentary, "To Be Takei," which is available on Direct TV from July 3 to August 5 and will be released in theaters August 22. The film explores everything from Takei's childhood imprisonment in a Japanese internment camp to his relationship with his husband, Brad. 

"It documents my story, my life, from the time I was a child imprisoned in US camps, barbed-wire prison camps, simply because we happened to look like the people who bombed Pearl Harbor," Takei said. 

Takei preaches acceptance in diversity in every facet of life - which is why he posts "Star Wars" content as often as he shares "Star Trek" photos. 

"'Star Trek' was science fiction. 'Star Wars' is science fantasy, and that's a lot of fun too," Takei said. "We're a diverse country with many different races, many different religions, many different histories and backgrounds and we have to respect each other and that's the essential message of our documentary 'To Be Takei.'"

Seriously is there anybody who does not love George Takei?

I remember really being a fan of his during his Star Trek days, but what he is doing these days on social media is actually more impressive than the fact that as a gay Asian actor he played such in important role in an iconic television series that his still believed to this day.

By the way if you are not following George on Twitter you are really missing out.