Free Republic

Maryland man struck by train was wearing earbuds, didn’t hear its horn: police Kevin Scott Street, 37, was killed by a CSX freight train in Joppa, Md., on Thursday. Authorities said he turned at the last minute, but it was too late. A 37-year-old man who was killed by a train in Joppa, Md., didn’t hear it barreling down the tracks because he was tuned in to his earbuds rather than his surroundings, police said. Kevin Scott Street, of Aberdeen, Md., was hit by a 20-car freight train around 12:11 p.m. on Thursday. The train sounded its horn as it...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Eight days after allegedly being sexually battered while passed out at a party, and then humiliated by online photos of the assault, 15-year-old Audrie Pott posted on Facebook that her life was ruined, "worst day ever," and hanged herself. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/crime/article/3-teens-arrested-for-assault-after-girl-s-suicide-4428419.php#ixzz2QEgRMUfH

Annette Funicello, the most popular Mouseketeer on “The Mickey Mouse Club,” who matured to a successful career in records and ’60s beach party movies but struggled with illness in middle age and after, died Monday, The Walt Disney Co. said. She was 70. She died peacefully at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, Calif., of complications from multiple sclerosis, the company said. Funicello stunned fans and friends in 1992 with the announcement about her ailment. Yet she was cheerful and upbeat, grappling with the disease with a courage that contrasted with her lightweight teen image of old. The pretty, dark-haired Funicello...

One of the UK Telegraph's in-house Labourites, Dan Hodges, urged his comrades on the Left to maintain their dignity in the wake of Margaret Thatcher's death earlier today:   Everyone on the Left is being scrutinised today. Does the compassion we claim to be our driving force extend to the passing of a frail 87-year-old woman? Does the Labour movement’s dignity and discipline enable us to mark with appropriate solemnity the death of a former Prime Minister who successfully secured three independent mandates from the people? Do we have the basic good grace and wisdom to set aside – for...

Rush Limbaugh said this morning that many thought it was a coincidence that three strong leaders who were able to beat back the evils of the world during their time could be on the same stage at the same time. He disagreed.I do too.I hope Lady Tatcher is finding the peace that was never afforded to her in this life by miserable liberals who now dance on her grave.

Ex-Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher diesBreaking news Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher has died at 87 following a stroke, her spokesman has said. Lord Bell said: "It is with great sadness that Mark and Carol Thatcher announced that their mother Baroness Thatcher died peacefully following a stroke this morning." Baroness Thatcher was Conservative prime minister from 1979 to 1990. She was the first woman to hold the post. Her family is expected to make a further statement later.

CHICAGO (AP) — Roger Ebert, the most famous and most popular film reviewer of his time who also became the first journalist to win a Pulitzer Prize for movie criticism, and on his long-running TV program, wielded the nation's most influential thumb, died Thursday. He was 70. Ebert, who had been a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, died early Thursday afternoon at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, his office said. He had announced on his blog Wednesday that he was undergoing radiation treatment after a recurrence of cancer.

On the day after Easter, 2013, family, friends and FReepers from far and wide packed The Sweeney Funeral Home to share tears and the many tales of Doctor Raoul’s adventures in the cause of Theodore Roosevelt’s Americanism: “Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity and hardihood – the virtues that made America.” In his tribute to Doctor Raoul, Kristinn relates from personal experience how Doctor Raoul lived his Americanism. Even though Doctor Raoul didn’t appear from behind a door and shout “April Fool”, his presence was everywhere. The 1957 Chevy hearse parked out front; the Philly soft...

We lost AGreatPer last year. He passed away in August. He was 73.His passing was missed as his wife, who would have notified FR, had preceded him in death.He last posted in July, 2012. AGreatPer was a D.C. Chapter stalwart who traveled from Pennsylvania numerous times to stand with us outside the Clinton White House, Cheney's House, troop support rallies, counter-demonstrations of anti-American leftists and our six-year-long Walter Reed vigil.AGreatPer had a great personality, he was a pleasure to be around at a freep and at our after-freep lunches and dinners.Trueblackman, BufordP and AGReatPer at Walter Reed, October 8, 2010.

Doctor Raoul died Saturday of a rare form of cancer. He was 58. Raoul's family contacted us this morning to see if they could find out more about his activities as an activist. This is such a shock. His family is looking for photos and stories about him. He is and always will be a Free Republic icon. He kind of fell off the face of the earth about 2 or 3 years ago now. All attempts we made to reach him failed. If you have photos please contact me. Please feel free to post stories and I will make...

Peter Banks, a founding member of the British progressive rock band Yes and its original guitarist, has died at his home in London. He was 65. A statement on Banks’ website said he died on March 7 and was found in his home after he failed to show up for a recording session. …

Mindy McCready, who hit the top of the country charts before personal problems sidetracked her career, has died. She was 37. Waren Olmstead, the coroner in Cleburne County, Ark., said in a statement McCready died Sunday apparently of a single, self-inflicted gunshot wound. An autopsy is pending. Just last month David Wilson, McCready’s boyfriend and the father of her 9-month-old son Zayne, was found dead on the same porch where McCready's body was found. His death also was investigated as a suicide. McCready entered court-ordered rehab earlier this month after her father told a judge she was no longer taking...

FReeper Rogle, former New Mexico State Representative Rory Ogle, will be removed from life support this morning. He is not expected to live.

It is with deep sadness and regret that I report the passing Wednesday morning of FReeper Eastbound (Dave Schultz). In an email to Jim Robinson, Dave's son said: Hello, I’m Dave’s son, Ken. I’m so sorry to say the Dave “Eastbound” passed away Wednesday morning. I know Free Republic was one of his favorite forums, so if anyone might want to know that he’s gone, please pass it on if you would. Thank you, sincerely. Dad spent many many hours at FR for years. ~ Ken Schultz Prayers and condolences can be sent to Ken at ken@apachego.com.

Yellow Rose of Texas is in the hospital for surgery. The odds are not in her favor, this all I know now. I will post more when I know.

It is with great sadness and regret that I post: Joseph Phillips OD, aka “BadJoe,” passed away today, November 1, 2012, after a long illness. Joe wanted to hang on until November 7, 2012, but lost his struggle just a few days too early. Joe was a patriot, a lover of liberty, and an independent-minded gentleman. He leaves behind family, friends, and a loving wife. He will be missed. RIP BadJoe.

(CNN) - Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill's 84-year-old mother, Betty Anne Ward McCaskill, died on Monday, the senator from Missouri said in a statement on Monday. "For some time, mom's health has not been good, and our family takes comfort that she is now at rest," McCaskill wrote. "People all over the state have asked about her, and their prayers and concern have been greatly appreciated."

According to the AP ex Sen Arlen Specter has died.

Beano Cook, a longtime staple of the Pittsburgh sports scene and an ESPN college football studio commentator since 1986, died Wednesday night. He was 81. Cook, a 1954 University of Pittsburgh grad, began his career as a sports publicist for the school from 1956-66. He later worked with a number of organizations, including the Pittsburgh Civic Arena. Cook Beano Cook's breadth of knowledge of the history of the college game earned him the moniker as the "Cardinal of College Football." Cook was a studio commentator for ABC from 1982-85 before joining ESPN. He also worked as ABC's press director from...

Donald Jeffrey Casser (“DJ” to his friends and Jeff within the family) succumbed to lung cancer and its related complications on January 13 at Columbia-St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee. He is preceded in death by his father, Donald G. Casser, and is survived by his mother, Carolyn Casser (Wauwatosa); sister, Linda Casser Locke (Philadelphia), brother-in-law, Keith E. Locke, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Jeff was born on May 8, 1955, in New Hampshire while his father served as a pilot with the US Navy and spent the majority of his life in Wauwatosa and Milwaukee. From his earliest years, he expressed...

Susie Walker lost her brief fight with cancer last Friday.During her struggle, I had asked for, and many of you graciously responded with, prayer support for her and her family. Now, she is in the arms of the angels.

We lost another FReeper last week - Waco. His sister GrannyK wanted to post about it. He was very active on FR until May of this year when he entered the hospital. He was an Air Force veteran (74 yrs young) & very conservative.

'Actor Michael Clarke Duncan, who rose to prominence playing a death row inmate in the acclaimed film The Green Mile, has died at the age of 54. Duncan suffered a heart attack in July and died at a hospital in Los Angeles after failing to recover. A former bodyguard, the 6ft 4in (1.93m) Duncan was an imposing figure who played a wide variety of screen roles. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1999 for The Green Mile, but also played action roles and voiced animated parts. His versatility saw him team up with Bruce Willis to save the Earth...

Clarke died Monday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he was being treated for a heart attack, said his fiancee, Reverend Omarosa Manigault, in a statement released by publicist Joy Fehily.

LOS ANGELES — “Green Mile” actor Michael Clarke Duncan dead at 54, his fiancée says.

GAPYEONG, South Korea (AP) -- Officials say the religious leader who founded the Unification Church and built it into a multibillion-dollar business empire has died in South Korea at age 92.

Saw this on Twitter.. But is true Neil Armstrong has died..

Comedian Phyllis Diller -- who paved the way for today's female comics -- has died, TMZ has learned. Sources close to Diller tell us the comedian died at her L.A. home, surrounded by family. She was 95. We're told Diller had recently fallen, hurting her wrist and hip, and her health had been on the decline ever since. She had been living in hospice care at her home. Diller suffered a heart attack in 1999 and was later fitted with a pacemaker.

"Top Gun" director Tony Scott fatally jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro on Sunday afternoon, according to Los Angeles police sources. His body was pulled out of the water by Los Angeles Police Department, California Highway Patrol and U.S. Coast Guard officials. Investigators found a suicide note in his car, which was parked on the bridge. Law enforcement sources said several witnesses saw Scott, the brother of director Ridley Scott, climb over a fence on the bridge and jump off. The coroner's office identified him Sunday evening. Scott was a respected action-movie director who also made "Enemy...

'Scott McKenzie has died in Los Angeles at the age of 73. ‘If you’re going to San Francisco, be sure to wear a flower in your hair’ is one of the great hippy songs of its era and defined San Francisco in the 60s. Scott was born Philip Blondheim on 10 January, 1939. He died on Saturday in Los Angeles after two weeks in hospital.'

William Windom, the recognizable character actor who had a career on the small screen spanning seven decades, passed away today at age 88.

TORONTO -- A male fan died in a hospital after going into cardiac arrest at Thursday's game between the Blue Jays and Chicago White Sox. Play was halted for four minutes in the seventh inning while the fan received CPR and was carted off on a stretcher.

August 13, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One of the leading lights of the pro-life movement in the United States has gone out. Nellie Gray, the charismatic octogenarian founder of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., the largest annual pro-life event in the country, passed away over the weekend, and was discovered in her apartment earlier today. Gray, who was once described by Cardinal Sean O’Malley as the “Joan of Arc” of the pro-life movement, was an ubiquitous figure at the pro-life march every year, her slight frame standing at the podium at stage centre, introducing the many luminaries who...

Sgt. Rock and Easy Company are saluting comic book legend Joe Kubert, who passed away today at the age of 85.

Joe Kubert, a titan among comic-book artists whose work stretched from the Golden Age of the superhero to the gritty realism of the graphic novel, died on Sunday in Morristown, N.J. He was 85. The cause was multiple myeloma, his son Adam said. Mr. Kubert, who first plied his trade as a teenager in the 1930s and continued drawing in the hospital during his final illness, was among the last of the generation of comic-book illustrators whose work helped define the genre in the years before World War II. “He’s the longest-lived continuously important contributor to the field,” Paul Levitz,...

Pendleton captain killed by Afghan police SAN DIEGO - A captain based at Pendleton was one of three Marines killed Friday in Helmand province by an Afghan police officer with whom he had just shared a meal, it was reported Saturday. Matt Manoukian, 29, of Los Altos Hills, was killed after being invited by an Afghan police commander to a meeting in Sangin district, long a Taliban stronghold, to discuss security issues, The U-T San Diego reported. Before the meeting, Manoukian and the other two Marines killed shared a meal with their killer. The attack was the third of its...

Gore Vidal, the elegant, acerbic all-around man of letters who presided with a certain relish over what he declared to be the end of American civilization, died on Tuesday at his home in the Hollywood Hills section of Los Angeles, where he moved in 2003, after years of living in Ravello, Italy. He was 86.

EL PASO, Texas, -- Police say Sherman Hemsley, the actor who made the character George Jefferson famous in "The Jeffersons," has died. He was 74. Hemsley first became famous during his appearances on the hit show "All in the Family" in the early 1970's. Two years later, Hemsley got his own spin-off series, "The Jeffersons." The Jeffersons was hugely successful, enjoying a run of 11 seasons through 1985. After its cancellation, Helmsley joined the cast of the TV show, "Amen."

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Three survivors of the Colorado movie-theater massacre escaped with minor wounds, but were left with broken hearts because their heroic boyfriends died saving them. In final acts of valor, Jon Blunk, Matt McQuinn and Alex Teves used their bodies to shield their girlfriends as accused madman James Holmes turned the Aurora cineplex into a shooting gallery. Blunk’s girlfriend, Jansen Young; McQuinn’s girlfriend, Samantha Yowler; and Teves’ gal pal Amanda Lindgren made it out of the bloodbath — but they would have been killed had it not been for the loves of their lives. “He’s a hero, and he’ll never be...

William Raspberry, a Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist for The Washington Post who for 39 years in more than 200 newspapers brought a moderate voice to social issues, including race relations — sometimes to the ire of civil rights leaders — died on Tuesday at his home in Washington. He was 76.

Sage Stallone -- Sylvester Stallone's son -- has died and sources tell us the cause was an overdose of pills. The details surrounding the death are still unclear .. but we're told he was found in his L.A. home by either a maid or his girlfriend. Paramedics were called to the home and pronounced him dead at the scene. Sources tell us authorities are trying to determine if the death was intentional or accidental. We're told Sylvester is a "wreck." Sage famously made his film debut alongside his father in the 1990 movie "Rocky 5" -- playing the role of...

Ernest Borgnine, the beefy screen star known for blustery, often villainous roles, but who won the best-actor Oscar for playing against type as a lovesick butcher in "Marty" in 1955, died Sunday. He was 95....

Science fiction author Ray Bradbury sits in front of a photo of Mars, presented to him during an 83rd birthday party in his honor on Aug. 23, 2003. Ray Bradbury, master of the sci-fi fantasy and author of Fahrenheit 451, died Tuesday at 91.The man who chronicled dystopian societies had strong political beliefs and spoke as darkly about contemporary politics as he did about burning books. "I think our country is in need of a revolution," the Los Angeles Times quoted him as saying in 2010. "There is too much government today. We've got to remember the government should be...

Ray Bradbury, the writer whose expansive flights of fantasy and vividly rendered space-scapes have provided the world with one of the most enduring speculative blueprints for the future, has died. He was 91. Bradbury's daughter confirmed his death to the Associated Press on Wednesday morning. She said her father died Tuesday night in Southern California. Author of more than 27 novels and story collections — most famously “The Martian Chronicles,” “Fahrenheit 451,” “Dandelion Wine” and “Something Wicked This Way Comes” — and more than 600 short stories, Bradbury has frequently been credited with elevating the often maligned reputation of science...

Sandy Dahl, widow to United Flight 93 pilot Jason Dahl, whose plane went down in a Pennsylvania field on 9/11, passed away from natural causes at the age of 52 The Denver Post reports that Dahl passed away in her sleep on Friday night, according to family friend David Dosch. She was best known for channeling the tragedy of her husband’s death on September 11, 2001 into a campaign, which honored his memory and also instigated the Captain Jason M. Dahl Scholarship Fund for new pilots.

Bee Gees' singer Robin Gibb has died following a lengthy battle with cancer, his family have said.

TRIPOLI, Libya – The former Libyan intelligence officer Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, who was convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, has died in Libya, his brother told AFP on Sunday. "He died an hour ago," Abdelhakim al-Megrahi said, putting the time of death at shortly after 1:00pm local time. The UK Foreign Office could not confirm the report Sunday, however it said it was "seeking further information." Megrahi, 60, was convicted in a Scottish court in 2001 for his role in the December 1998 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. Most of those killed in the bombing of the Boeing 747...

Maurice Sendak, the renowned children's book author who revolutionized the genre, has died. He was 83. Sendak died on Tuesday from complications caused by a recent stroke, his editor told the New York Times. He lived in Ridgefield, Conn., and was hospitalized in nearby Danbury. According to the Associated Press, Sendak had suffered the stroke on Friday. Sendak wrote and illustrated more than 50 children's books--including "Where the Wild Things Are," his most famous, published in 1963.