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Muhammad Ali, 'The Greatest of All Time', Dead at 74
NBC News ^ | 4 June 16 | NBC News staff

Posted on 06/04/2016 1:21:27 AM PDT by SkyPilot

Muhammad Ali, the silver-tongued boxer and civil rights champion who famously proclaimed himself "The Greatest" and then spent a lifetime living up to the billing, is dead.

Ali died Friday at a Phoenix-area hospital, where he had spent the past few days being treated for respiratory complications, a family spokesman confirmed to NBC News. He was 74.

After a 32-year battle with Parkinson's disease, Muhammad Ali has passed away at the age of 74. The three-time World Heavyweight Champion boxer died this evening," Bob Gunnell, a family spokesman, told NBC News.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Unclassified
KEYWORDS: angryracist; athletes; boxing; islam; muhammadali; muslim; nationofislam; obituaries; obituary
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To: ganeemead

Ah hahahaha!!!

As a Christian, nobody has ever pressed me to change my name, it’s weird that islam does that.


201 posted on 06/04/2016 7:42:10 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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To: MarvinStinson
Ali was a mediocre heavyweight fighter as compared to the best heavyweight champions in the history of boxing.

Maybe, but he beat the best in his time including my favorite Smokin' Joe Fraiser.
202 posted on 06/05/2016 5:07:09 AM PDT by major_gaff (University of Parris Island, Class of '84)
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To: Jed Eckert

Joe Bruno on Boxing – Muhammad Ali is Not a Hero.
| June 4, 2016 | Joe Bruno

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3436853/posts


203 posted on 06/05/2016 6:12:29 AM PDT by KeyLargo
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To: Chainmail

The war wasn’t the problem, it was the 4-star clown and the administration running it. At times, the leadership was just rudderless. At other times, they seemed determined to lose. A lot of decisions at the top were a head-shaker.

It reminds me of the war in Iraq. Bush was good in his first term. When he turned progressive, his leadership became rudderless, the war got into a rut, and progress stopped.

It’s all about effective leadership. When we don’t have it, any well-meaning military action with good cause winds up going to crap. Lyndon Johnson and McNamara ran that war like they were smoking crack.


204 posted on 06/05/2016 8:38:13 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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To: Jed Eckert

You’re not supposed to mention that Cassius Clay/Mo Ali was a draft dodger unlike the patriotic Joe Louis.


205 posted on 06/05/2016 8:42:31 AM PDT by Pelham (Barack Obama. When being bad is not enough and only evil will do)
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To: SaraJohnson

I agree. Jeez, I hate to come off like I’m dancing on somebody’s grave here but the media coverage of this is ridiculous. It’s like the over-the-top fawning that Steve Jobs got when he died. They kept that crap rolling for the better part of a year.

We’re supposed to think that Ali is Mr. Wonderful because he refused to go to Vietnam? As a veteran, I think he’s a punk. I’m not trying to talk like I’m some kind of bad warrior, I was on a Navy ship in a war zone and it shows on my service record. But at least I answered the call instead of finding an out. Ali deserves no respect. I’m sick of the “The Champ stood up for his principles always” garbage. No, he was easily led by people who hate this country, I WILL NOT respect that.


206 posted on 06/05/2016 8:51:56 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Liberalism is a social disease.)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

Every time I hear his name all I can think of is the Sonny Liston fight.


207 posted on 06/05/2016 8:54:55 AM PDT by saminfl
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity

More or less agree with you but it was really a collage of stupid things and some arrogant, short-sighted people.

LBJ and MacNamara: idiots. Thought they were so smart and dealt with us as though we were Kleenex and just as expendable. No clue how the enemy thought and no consistent plan to win. Just a bunch of uneducated guesses.

So while the clowns at the top fumbled, the Soviets, Hanoi, and the Left pulled together a massive pro-enemy/anti-USA political movement that incorporated scores of separate political, protest, and labor union organizations and paralyzed our efforts at home. Most of their foot soldiers were just your average dimwit who didn’t want his own skin punctured or someone related to them and they were suddenly “anti war”. LBJ didn’t do anything to counter any of it.

Our own senior military leaders reacted slowly and unimaginatively to our difficulties with the enemy, the climate, and piss-poor logistics. The only real exception this was General Walt’s Combined Action Platoons (CAP) where young Marines lived with and help defend villages.

The worst failure in leadership was the constant rotation of experienced leaders. By the time a leader developed his own tactics and survival skills, he was moved to some headquarters unit or home if his year was up. The constant cycle of new and inexperienced leaders and troops caused repeating costly mistakes, over and over.

Nonetheless, we had good, solid people at least up to battalion level and we fought very well, day after day, night after night.

Like I said earlier, I will always be proud of us.


208 posted on 06/05/2016 9:21:36 AM PDT by Chainmail (A simple rule of life: if you can be blamed, you're responsible.)
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To: Chainmail

Years ago when it came out I read David Halberstam’s “The Best and the Brightest”, where he tried to explain how we got into the Vietnam War. Maybe it’s time to re-read it 40 years later. I probably will have a better take on it at 61 than I did at 20.


209 posted on 06/05/2016 9:24:14 AM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
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To: Impy; wita; superfries; chris37; StoneWall Brigade; mykroar; ConservativeTeen; fieldmarshaldj

I was never a big fan of his, but he had talent, and it’s very sad to see him pass. He suffered from Parkinson’s for a long time, and I hope he has some peace now.


210 posted on 06/05/2016 12:16:29 PM PDT by NFHale (The Second Amendment - By Any Means Necessary.)
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To: xzins
Ali was not "a good boxer." He had sparring partners that were "good boxers." In his prime he would go into the ring with one, his arms at his sides, and let the partner wear himself out just trying to hit him. More often than not the partner literally failed to touch him. Ali was that good.

To disparage the man's gifts because of the times in which he lived and the choices he made in response, is shallow and ill-tempered. In an age when boxing was a heady and thriving sport, Ali was indeed "the Greatest."

211 posted on 06/05/2016 6:19:15 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: hinckley buzzard
My post is about head/brain injuries, one known cause of Parkinsons.

My post said Ali was a good boxer who got rich on it and was unable to enjoy it in good health because of the nature of the sport itself. Saying that doesn't disparage the skills of the man at all.

A coal miner can be a great miner and still die of black lung. We're all mortal and something is going to take each of us. At times it can be traced to our occupation.

Dale Earnhardt

212 posted on 06/05/2016 7:10:33 PM PDT by xzins ( Free Republic Gives YOU a voice heard around the globe. Support the Freepathon!)
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To: SkyPilot

I love Jimi’s Star Spangled Banner,...especially the studio version.


213 posted on 06/06/2016 3:00:47 PM PDT by pallmallman (Q)
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