http://www.tmz.com/2016/03/06/nancy-reagan-dead/

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RIP

Can't escape it on social media....They calling President Obama everything but a child of God for not going to Nancy Reagan's funeral....lol...But my favorite response? People cut and pasting this SIT YO ASS DOWN response....

1982 - First Lady Nancy Reagan attended the funeral of former First Lady, Bess Truman, on behalf of President Ronald Reagan, who did not attend.
1994 - First Lady Hillary Clinton attended the funeral of former First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, on behalf of President Clinton, who did not attend.
2007 - First Lady Laura Bush attended the funeral of former First Lady, Lady Bird Johnson, on behalf of President George W. Bush, who did not attend.
2016 - First Lady Michelle Obama will be attending the funeral of former First Lady, Nancy Reagan, on behalf of President Obama....

Please feel free to use ^^^^ to put some of these racist ass racist folks in their place....

south x southwest

But this fact can't and won't stop these people from doing what they do.

>But this fact can't and won't stop these people from doing
>what they do.


Basically....

the funerals of former first ladies. it was always the current first lady attending.

but they hold Barack to a different standard and roast him for the shit everybody else did.

i didn't fact check it though. i hope it's true

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http://www.teenvogue.com/story/nancy-reagan-death-hiv-aids-legacy

Nancy Reagan will be laid to rest this week after passing away at the age of 94 on Sunday. Wife to Ronald Reagan, the nation’s 40th president, the former First Lady is often remembered for her start in Hollywood, her glamorous time in the White House, and her role as her husband’s trusted confidante and protector. But the Reagans also played a critical role in the HIV/AIDS crisis that ravaged the United States in the 1980s.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo around 1920, according to Avert, a charity on the forefront of AIDS activism and treatment since the disease began to spread in the 1980s. While only 121 deaths from AIDS were reported in 1981, the number of cases skyrocketed to 100,000 in the U.S. by 1989.

Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is the virus that leads to AIDS. Today, people with HIV can live long and relatively healthy lives — without ever progressing to an AIDS diagnosis — if they adhere to a strict cocktail of medications, but in the '80s when no one really understood what was happening, HIV inevitably turned to AIDS, causing many deaths. That's why the Reagans' refusal to address the issue in a timely manner is often seen as the scarlet letter on their otherwise lauded time in office — the administration’s inaction, mainly due to the fact that most affected by the disease at the time were part of the LGBTQ community, led to many deaths, and so much suffering.

Though the World Health Organization was holding meetings about AIDS by 1983, the White House offered little support for awareness of the epidemic. Reagan, who first took office in 1981, didn’t publicly address AIDS until well into his second term. According to ABC, more than 20,000 Americans had died from the disease by the time he first spoke about it.

The first lady notoriously had enormous sway over her husband, and could have intervened if she wished. She infamously tried to champion another epidemic of the era, drugs, with the overly simplified and ultimately harmful "Just Say No" campaign. It failed due to ignoring the roots of the cause and not understanding that addiction is a disease, not a choice. writes, "Much like abstinence-based sex education... 'Just Say No' spread fear and ignorance instead of information." Like HIV/AIDS, the White House failed to properly educate itself, and as a result, let down its most vulnerable citizens in another spectacular way.

In an obituary, Slate remembered Nancy as Reagan’s “protector” and the “greatest guardian of her husband’s reputation.” With that kind of influence over her husband, Nancy could likely have encouraged the president to speak out about the disease that was killing their country's citizens. It's not as she was shy about the issues plaguing the country at that time.

"On a personal level, she was someone who was not against gay people," Richard Socarides, a former White House adviser for President Bill Clinton, told the Associated Press about Nancy Reagan. "But when the country needed leadership, President Reagan was not there, and his wife — who was able to do more — was not willing to step up. It reflects rather harshly on both of them."

With a history as an actress, and the wife of an actor-turned-politician, Nancy was known for her glamorous lifestyle and her fashion — she was also known for her Hollywood friends, including Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor.

Obituaries remember Nancy as the “first lady of style,” and counted down her best outfits, but her relationship with the fashion community was complex, as the industry is partially driven by many LGBTQ leaders. According to a 2005 piece by the New York Times, 20 of 29 men who, at that time, had received the Perry Ellis Award for Young Talent from the Council of Fashion Designers of America were gay.

With gay men at the forefront of fashion, and Nancy a style icon, there was a disconnect between the style visionaries who made her who she is, and her politics. Designer Adolfo Sardina, who worked often with the first lady, told Women’s Wear Daily they refrained from discussing politics. He added: “Mrs. Reagan is the nicest person and I love her.” Sardina had a same-sex partner, Edward C. Perry, according to a Times obituary.

In 2013, the first lady’s daughter announced that her mother did support same-sex marriage, but was “not comfortable going out in the public eye and getting in the firing line of anything.” By that time, decades outside of the White House and years after the AIDS epidemic, Reagan’s support meant little to the community which suffered through an administration that didn’t extend a hand in its time of need.

The Reagans were eventually swayed to react to AIDS by the death of a close friend. Rock Hudson, at the peak of his career, was Brad Pitt-level famous — and beloved by women internationally. He was also gay, but famous at a time when being publicly gay could ruin a successful career (even if you weren't a star) so he stayed silent about his sexuality. In the mid '80, however, he developed AIDS, becoming one of the most prominent American figures to suffer from the disease, and bringing it to the forefront of the nation’s news cycle.

As his condition deteriorated, Hudson, in France at the time, reached out for help from the White House in getting treatment from a specific French doctor and hospital. The first lady rebuffed him, saying it would be inappropriate to offer such a favor for Hudson and “appear to favor personal friends” and felt, instead, it was a matter the United States Embassy in Paris should address. Hudson died from the disease only a few months later.

Once it became publicly known Hudson suffered from the disease, the nation began to view the epidemic through a different light. "If Rock Hudson can have it, nice people can have it,” William Hoffman, who wrote a play about AIDS, told People in 1985. “It's just a disease, not a moral affliction." As Bill Misenhimer, the first director of American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmfAR), said, “From an AIDS-activist viewpoint, Rock’s announcement was the best thing that had happened since AIDS started because, finally, people could connect a name to AIDS.”

With Hudson dead and the nation more familiarized, and humanized, to the epidemic, pressure began mounting on Nancy and Ronald Reagan to react. “The White House was resistant,” Gary Pudney, who worked with Elizabeth Taylor to plan the actress’s first AIDS benefit, told Vanity Fair in 1992. “But Rock Hudson being a movie star had a great deal to do with Reagan’s decision to do something.”

Taylor, one of the most famous actresses in the world at the time, knew that the way to White House recognition was through Nancy. Vanity Fair described the first lady’s reception to Taylor’s request as “frosty,” but within two years of Hudson’s death, Ronald Reagan was at the AmfAR Award Dinner.

The dinner, however, included a major gaffe, the product of the president and his confidantes ignoring AIDS for the majority of his term. “ didn’t know anything about AIDS, so we wrote the first half of the speech, where Reagan talked about compassion, justice, care — all the right things,” Dr. Mathilde Krim, a founding member of AmfAR, told the magazine. “We asked them to please not talk about mandatory testing, because it was not recommended scientifically, legally, or medically. We said it would elicit a furious reaction from the public. But one of Reagan’s advisers revised the speech and put it in.”

Elizabeth Taylor was left putting out a fire for the president: “The president mentioned mandatory testing and people jumped out of their seats. Then they started heckling him, so I jumped up and said, ‘Don’t be rude. This is your president and he is our guest,’” she told Vanity Fair.

Despite the offensive speech, the White House had finally acknowledged AIDS, urged by the celebrities, rather than the ordinary citizens, suffering from the epidemic. "If you can personalize an issue, either because of a tragedy like Rock Hudson or in some other way,” Ron Reagan, the couple’s son, said in an interview with PBS.. “That was the way you got to and she was well aware of that. She would always try to put a human face on something to him.”

Despite Nancy Reagan’s glowing reputation as a first lady in other fields, her role in urging her husband to act, or not act, in the AIDS epidemic remains a point of contention for LGBTQ activists. “I've decided to be as quiet about Nancy Reagan's death,” tweeted the actor and writer Frank Conniff after her death on Sunday. “As she and her husband were about all the deaths from AIDS during his administration.”

That was straight no chaser.....

“I've decided to be as quiet about Nancy Reagan's death,” tweeted the actor and writer Frank Conniff after her death on Sunday. “As she and her husband were about all the deaths from AIDS during his administration.”

christ

And I too say that in a sex positive way.

http://wonkette.com/599350/a-firm-yet-tender-sex-positive-tribute-to-nancy-reagan-hollywood-bj-queen

**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

"what's a leader if he isn't reluctant"

always heard this story..not sure of its myth or true. Got to pull out my Miles biogrpahy

Davis was a man of few words. When he did speak, his words often had a similar effect to a hand grenade being lobbed into the room. In 1987, he was invited to a White House dinner by Ronald Reagan. Few of the guests appeared to know who he was. During dinner, Nancy Reagan turned to him and asked what he'd done with his life to merit an invitation. Straight-faced, Davis replied: "Well, I've changed the course of music five or six times. What have you done except f**k the president?"

>always heard this story..not sure of its myth or true. Got to
>pull out my Miles biogrpahy
>
> Davis was a man of few words. When he did speak, his
>words often had a similar effect to a hand grenade being
>lobbed into the room. In 1987, he was invited to a White House
>dinner by Ronald Reagan. Few of the guests appeared to know
>who he was. During dinner, Nancy Reagan turned to him and
>asked what he'd done with his life to merit an invitation.
>Straight-faced, Davis replied: "Well, I've changed the course
>of music five or six times. What have you done except f**k the
>president?"


I want THIS to be true sooooooooo bad....lol

>>always heard this story..not sure of its myth or true. Got
>to
>>pull out my Miles biogrpahy
>>
>> Davis was a man of few words. When he did speak, his
>>words often had a similar effect to a hand grenade being
>>lobbed into the room. In 1987, he was invited to a White
>House
>>dinner by Ronald Reagan. Few of the guests appeared to know
>>who he was. During dinner, Nancy Reagan turned to him and
>>asked what he'd done with his life to merit an invitation.
>>Straight-faced, Davis replied: "Well, I've changed the
>course
>>of music five or six times. What have you done except f**k
>the
>>president?"
>
>
>I want THIS to be true sooooooooo bad....lol
>


lol