November - December 2016

11-29-2016 Fire, unlike any ever before seen is burning in Tennessee; more than 150 homes and businesses destroyed; 12 cabins in the Great Smokey Mountains also burned.  Winds blowing up to 60 mph are fueling the flames.  Tornados are spawning in Mississippi and Alabama tonight; it was raining all over the East all day.  It was beautiful here in Texas.  *BRIGHT NOTE: Dolly Parton has promised every family that was affected by the Smokey Mountain fires that she will give them $1,000 a month for as long as they need it.  Love that woman!

11-30-2016 GMA reports 23 tornados overnight from LA to TN… ABC says more than two dozen - 5 people killed minimum, trucks flipped over, barns damaged, daycare center destroyed in Alabama where people had taken shelter, mobile home parks torn apart, etc.  Wind speeds over 110 miles per hour.  Plus the worst fires burning in Tennessee in 100 years!  The video is astounding… the wildfires out of control, moving so fast, surrounding homes (8 separate fires in the Smokey Mountains alone); and the towns devastated by those tornados, with debris all over, everything in sight damaged or destroyed.  Sad. 

12-19-2016 Berlin, Germany… Christmas Market, extremely busy; a large delivery truck going a high rate of speed plowed through crowds and 50 yards through tents and market stalls.  Nine people are dead as a result; dozens injured.  The driver fled, but was captured; Isis claims responsibility?

On Christmas Day, 2016; a “wave of terrorist attacks” hits Europe… rare Christmas Day tornado in Kansas; and a massive blizzard closes 500 miles of Interstate in the Dakotas and downing power lines in Minnesota, leaving many without electricity for days.  People sleeping in airports due to cancelled flights, and Christmas Eve violence in Chicago resulted in 40 people being shot and 12 killed!  What is going on?

12-25-2016:  George Michael died on Christmas Day, 2016,at the age of 53; an autopsy is undergoing.  Ironically, George’s first big hit, with his band “Wham” was a Christmas song, entitled ‘Last Christmas.’  Carrie Fisher died the very next day, after doing a television show in London, on her flight home; she had a heart attack.  Those of us that grew up with these two people, feel the loss.  Those of you that didn’t, should look up some of their stuff.  Carrie Fisher made more movies than just Star Wars, and George Michael had A LOT of pop hits, leaving Wham in 1986 to go solo.  His first album sold more than 14 million copies; by 1992 he was a 2x Grammy award winner with “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”  “Jesus to a Child” was written in honor of his first lover, after he died.  In 2004, after eight years out of the limelight, George released “Suggestions” and embraced his homosexuality.  Both of these superstars suffered from Depression and/or Bi-polar Disorder; (as have I) and both had periods of battling addiction in their lifetime.  Carrie discussed the struggle with mental illness many times in interviews and wrote eight best selling books, many of which discussed these battles.  George Michael was arrested several times; but always seemed to ‘bounce back.’  He performed at the 2012 Olympics Ceremonies, becoming more reclusive in the latter years, they have learned that he’d been writing songs and making big plans for a comeback in 2017.

**Violence breaks out in shopping malls across the country on the day after Christmas!  Fights in stores and in the walkways and in common areas; fireworks exploding indoors, etc... police are now wondering if these disturbances were planned and coordinated online.

12-27-2016 DEBBIE REYNOLDS DIES!  Some are saying she just left to be with her daughter; dying the very day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher, dies, Debbie Reynolds, age 84 simply passed away.  Her son, Carrie’s brother, says his mother stated that she "really wanted to be with Carrie;" she had said long ago that she did not want to attend her daughter’s funeral.  Within fifteen minutes, he says, his mother closed her eyes, seemingly falling asleep, and within half an hour, she was gone.  He said they had such an amazingly strong connection it didn’t surprise him at all.  Wow.  He described it as both horrible and beautiful all at the same time.  Debbie acted in over thirty movies.