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HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro thanked Cubans for their well-wishes on his 90th birthday and criticized President Barack Obama in a lengthy letter published in state media. He appeared but did not speak at a gala in his honor broadcast on state television Saturday evening. "I want to express my deepest gratitude for the shows of respect, greetings and praise that I've received in recent days, which give me strength to reciprocate with ideas that I will send to party militants and relevant organizations," he wrote.

Vice President Joe Biden surprised President Obama with birthday treats in the Oval Office Thursday. White House photographer Pete Souza posted a photo of Obama bending over to blow out the candles. Biden was really feeling the spirit on Obama's 55th, tweeting an image of "Joe" and "Barack" friendship bracelets earlier in the day.

full title....Who run the world? Beyonce, Hillary Clinton and First Lady Michelle Obama to celebrate President Obama at all-night White-House birthday bash Friday................. President Obama is celebrating his birthday Friday night with an all-night party at the White House The event has been organized by First Lady Michelle Obama and is being kept top secret Beyonce and Jay Z are among the musicians who will be present, along with Stevie Wonder, Kenrick Lamar, Jennifer Hudson and John Legend Hillary Clinton will also be in attendance, as will House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Attorney General Loretta Lynch President Obama turned...

Beatrix Potter was a writer of strong contradictions. A keen business woman, the first author to license fictional characters to a range of toys and household objects still on sale today, she allowed herself to be short-changed over her royalties for years. She was an expert in natural history, boiling down animal corpses to extract their skeletons so she could understand their anatomy well enough to draw them, yet she wrote stories in which rabbits wear blue jackets and hedgehogs pinafores. A huge success, she turned her back on her literary achievements in middle age to pursue a career as...

One would like to think that Olivia de Havilland, the last remaining cast member from “Gone With the Wind” and, indeed, the last remaining female star from Hollywood’s Golden Age, had a vibrant lunch among friends at her Paris residence to celebrate her 100th birthday on Friday, July 1. “She’s gone through life collecting friends,” film critic and author Donald Spoto, a good friend who often lunches with de Havilland, said during a visit to San Francisco in 2013. “She’ll talk about her films if you ask her, but she never turns the spotlight on herself. She’s much more interested...

Donald John Trump was born in Queens, New York, on Flag Day, June 14, 1946, to American citizen parents. His father, Frederick Christ Trump, was born in the Bronx, New York, to Palatine-German immigrants, and his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump was born in Scotland and became a naturalized American citizen in 1942.

TAMPA, Florida (AP) — Campaigning in the crucial battleground state of Florida, Donald Trump bashed Democrats and Republicans alike Saturday, from Hillary Clinton to former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on the right. Addressing a crowd of thousands at the Tampa Convention Center, Trump tore into "Crooked Hillary," as he calls his likely general election opponent, for the State Department email controversy and called Romney a "stone, cold loser" for not backing him as the presumptive Republican nominee. Trump said the Republican Party "has got to get their act together, come together to win" and slammed GOP senate candidates who...

Beverly Cleary, the children’s author whose books about Ramona Quimby, Henry Huggins and others captured the spark and struggles of “kids like us,” doesn’t mind if you celebrate her birthday. After all, she turns 100 on Tuesday. Now living in a retirement community in Carmel, California, Cleary plans to celebrate with a slice of carrot cake. But it’s fine if others celebrate, including the “Drop Everything and Read” effort sponsored by her publisher. “Go ahead and fuss,” she told the Washington Post of her centennial birthday. “Everyone else is.”

A great-grandfather has celebrated his 100th birthday with a skydive from 10,000ft (3,000m). D-Day veteran Verdun Hayes made the jump at Dunkeswell Airfield near Honiton, Devon, to raise money for the North Devon Hospice.

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/AP) — As she turns 100, the feisty and witty author Beverly Cleary remembers the Oregon childhood that inspired the likes of characters Ramona and Beezus Quimby and Henry Huggins in the children’s books that sold millions and enthralled generations of youngsters. “I was a well-behaved little girl, not that I wanted to be,” she said. “At the age of Ramona, in those days, children played outside. We played hopscotch and jump rope and I loved them and always had scraped knees.” Ramona, perhaps her best-known character, made her debut in “Henry Huggins” with only a brief mention....

CROW AGENCY, Mont. — The last Crow war chief entered the log-cabin trading post at the edge of the Little Bighorn Battlefield just after noon on a Sunday, supported by his son on his left and a cane held firmly in his right hand. Often, at tribal events such as powwows, he’ll swing his cane overhead in celebration. But on this October afternoon, with wind sweeping across the stretch of southern Montana that’s home to the Crows, the cane simply supported the centenarian — Dr. Joseph Medicine Crow in English or High Bird, his traditional name, in Crow.

George Washington, our first president, is probably our greatest and most decent statesman. We celebrate Washington's Birthday each February. But March 16th marks the birthday of probably the second-most important and decent American, James Madison. Madison became our fourth president, but his presidency is not the chief source of his greatness. There would have been an entirely different America without Madison's enormous input and foresight at the contentious 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. There were 55 delegates to the convention. Like Madison, some had a formal college education, while others did not. From Madison's notes about the quality of the...

Calling Robert Mugabe "dear father," ''his royal highness," and "the Moses of Africa" members of Zimbabwe's ruling party reasserted their loyalty to the longtime leader at the celebration of his recent 92nd birthday. By bus, truck and on foot, thousands of Zimbabweans wearing the colors of the ruling ZANU-PF party made their way to the normally sleepy southeastern city of Masvingo to mark Mugabe's birthday. Mugabe, who has ruled since 1980, let 92 balloons into the air to start the festivities held at the historical Great Zimbabwe monument, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from downtown Masvingo. During the televised event,...

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II reflects on Jesus' central role in her life in a new book ahead of her 90th birthday, calling Christ "the King she serves" in the title. "I have been -- and remain -- very grateful to you for your prayers and to God for his steadfast love," the British monarch writes in the foreword to The Servant Queen and the King She Serves, which is to be released in April. "I have indeed seen His faithfulness," she adds. Thousands of churches will reportedly be giving away copies of the book, which is being published by HOPE,...

Abraham Lincoln told an 1864 audience that "the world has never had a good definition of the word 'liberty.'" Different people can define liberty in different, even contradictory ways, so that both sides in a conflict can claim to the mantle of liberty. That was exactly the situation in the Civil War: Slaveholders defined liberty in such a way as to make themselves the guardians of liberty... The South's liberty was the liberty to hold other people as chattel slaves. What the slaveholders called liberty, the North quite rightly called tyranny; namely, the systematic deprivation of the natural rights of...

As of 6:20 AM Central Time, I am now 40 years old. Should I ping SunkenCiv?

Sing the song, blow out the candles, eat the cake and unwrap the gifts. According to a court filing on Monday, music publisher Warner/Chappell will pay $14 million to end a lawsuit challenging its hold on the English language's most popular song, "Happy Birthday to You." Additionally, the settlement stipulates a proposed final judgment and order that would declare the song to be in the public domain. A memorandum in support of the settlement sings the praises of the deal as "truly, an historic result." U.S. District Judge George H. King will have to sign off on it. The revelation...

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An excerpt of an event with Senator Ted Cruz in Nashville on Tuesday. Watch the video at the link.

The FReeper Canteen Salutes theU.S. Marine CorpsOn Its 240th Birthday10 November 1775 ~ 10 November 2015 Semper Fidelis!(Always Faithful!) O ETERNAL FATHER, we commend to Thy protection and care the members of the Marine Corps. Guide and direct them in the defense of our country and in the maintenance of justice among nations. Protect them in the hour of danger. Grant that wherever they serve they may be loyal to their high traditions and that at all times they may put their trust in Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Marine Corps Prayer by Bishop SherrillFormer Presiding Bishop...