Former President of Portugal died today & so many already.
 

Mario Soares dies today at a humble age of 92, President of Portugal 1986 - 1996, working up the ladder, he spent all his years in government.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A1rio_Soares


I've taken a moment to have a look at the "celebrity & important people's" death toll already this year, & sadly it seems, it's continued from last year.

I'm shocked on the 1st, how many passed away!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deaths_in_2017#January


Is it because of world communications, we now notice the numbers or is there an increase in deaths over the past few years. I know in my family & between friends, their's been more deaths in the past 6 years than through my life.

RIP to the past away from 2017

Bad News.
RIP

I live in a city of 100,000 of which 75% are of Portuguese descent, at least half immigrants. Most jobs require you speak the language. The housekeepers here barely speak English.

I'm sure The Portuguese Times will feature this as well as the local paper.

Supposedly Portugal is a beautiful country but I hear the horror stories of living in the small towns. A girl in high school went home for the summer. No electricity so she ran extensions to a neighbor's house to take a bath. No heat so she used a portable heater. Fumes from kerosene or a gas (too long ago to remember) killed her. I remember she had fourteen siblings.

Another girl died when their ice box (no electricity, no refrigerator, just a cooler with ice) ran dry and the food spoiled. Little kid refilled it without tossing the food Food poisoning killed her.

And cases like this never happen in deep rural US?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-poorest-towns

Pictured: The modern day poverty of Kentucky where people live with no running water or electricity | Daily Mail Online


I live 15 miles from the Portuguese border. On a clear day I can see it.

They even have a few lights on.


You need to do some travelling.....

RIP dude :pimp

Portugal is developping fast and booming. I will stay there a few months. It isn't third world country, even in Holland some people use gas heaters. No electricity cause that is much much more expensive. But i am sure everyone has electric. Like above said, you must do some travelling.

Globalism at its most disgusting form.

:thumbsup:thumbsup

not sure where you hear these stories...

https://energytransition.org/2016/06...00-renewables/

seems propaganda.

exactly this :2 cents:

I hear them from family members as well as people who visit yearly. I didn't say the entire country was despondent. Some areas are so far out that modern conveniences aren't there yet. I talk daily to people from The Azores, Madeira and Teceria. Most of the immigrants are hard workers. Read their newspaper published in New Bedford and Fall River. You'll read the stories of poverty and efforts to improve anything they can.

Then you have the gang-rape on a pool table boys at Big Dan's...

Many come to this country never having seen a dentist. Many didn't see a doctor until they had to fly here. One woman who visits has been in a wheelchair her whole life. Born with 9" legs and arms ending at the elbow, she never saw a doctor until she came here. If she were younger, they could have given her artificial limbs. She sky dived, she drives, she's married and a disability advocate.

It has areas with poverty and despair. It has areas of wealth. Unfortunately, people who come here generally start broke but many end up owning factories or Portuguese restaurants. Portuguese families tend to take their children's paycheck, from full-time jobs to babysitting. They quit school to work. But, at age 18 they're given a new car. When they marry, parents buy them a two-family house so they get rent income to offset taxes.

It's a different way of life.

I never said the USA was devoid of poverty. Nor did I say the entire country was poor. I posted a few examples of life in the sticks, as we say. I've seen photos of beautiful areas. The annual Portuguese Festival draws well over 150,000 people, many from Portugal. As a teenager I went a few times. I've been down the South End and seen the vineyards in backyards for making wine, seen the gold statues and decorations on what many consider beautiful houses. I've been to friends' houses and smelled and saw dead pigs hanging in the cellar, blood dripping to make blood sausage (cacoila) and carcasses ready to be butchered. You'll never forget that smell.

I can't travel due to health reasons. I'd visit other countries including Israel if I could.

Bom dia

I am starting to think you are talking about people from Brasil... I mean seriously, Portugal is in Europe, you know. There are almost no people like that even in the most poor (non EU) countries, let alone Portugal.

These people are in their fifties and older. But they go back to visit family and talk about the poor towns. It isn't Brazil though. Madeira, St Michael are in Portugal. Tomorrow if I remember I'll ask a housekeeper the names of the poorest towns or areas. It seems impossible in this century that people can live in such poverty. The USA has areas of deep poverty as well.

Thank God he is dead.
He won't be missed.

If you guys knew how dirty this old fart was...

Miguel, how did you manage to post this... you have electricity?

It has to happen sometimes that people die in a certain period. It has nothing to do with what year it is. I don't understand what the fuss is about. People die all the time, it's just happened this time that they are a bit more famous than regular people. BUT, here is some breaking news - famous people die too... Yup, it's true.

Not sure why you're saying this, compared to all the US presidents being bitched on atm, He became a university lecturer in 1957, & was repeatedly arrested in his youth as he was active in resistance groups such as the Movement for Anti-Fascist National Unity in opposition to the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar.

Maybe you have the wrong person, but this president bought Portugal into the 20th century :thumbsup

I asked a housekeeper about the president and her opinion was he was wonderful. She said in "aldeah" which are small villages , no electricity is the norm. This is "behind the mountain" where people living on the mountains live in shacks with no electricity or running water. She told of growing up with no shoes in school and wearing them to church only. No stoves , no indoor plumbing and only the priest had a car. Her stories are sad yet it shows how hard they worked to get out of there. I'll hear more tomorrow.