Mother and Daughter: Actress Debbie Reynolds died of a stroke yesterday at age 84, just one day after the death of her daughter, Carrie Fisher. Reynolds had been at the home of her son, Todd Fisher, discussing funeral plans for her daughter when she was stricken.

Reynolds was best known for her role in the classic musical “Singin’ in the Rain,” with Gene Kelly as well as “Tammy and the Bachelor” and “The Tender Trap.” She presented the image of wholesomeness, but her personal life was more colorful. Her first marriage to singer Eddie Fisher broke up when her husband had an affair with Elizabeth Taylor, who had been Reynolds’ good friend. She married and divorced twice more.

Reynolds appeared to be in good health until yesterday. On Tuesday, she posted thanks on Facebook for all the fans who wished her well after the death of her daughter.

Kerry Scolds: In a 70-minute speech delivered just three weeks before he is to leave office, Secy. of State John Kerry blasted Israel for its continued building of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory and defended the UN Security Council resolution condemning Israel.

Referring to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s complaint that “friends don’t take friends to the Security Council,” Kerry said, “Friends need to tell each other the hard truths, and friendships require mutual respect.”

Kerry said Israel is building settlements in numbers and locations that will ultimately make it impossible for Palestinians to have their own country, thereby making it impossible to ever have peace. He noted that while Netanyahu says he is in favor of the “two state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, “Policies of this government, which the prime minister himself just described as ‘more committed to settlements than any in Israel’s history,’ are leading in the opposite direction. They’re leading towards one state.”

While Kerry’s remarks were in line with long-standing US policy, the public directness toward Netanyahu was not. Netanyahu said, “Israelis do not need to be lectured about the importance of peace by foreign leaders.”

The Obama Administration is making last ditch efforts to get Israel’s attention before the new Trump administration takes over and supports new Israeli settlements. Donald Trump tweeted yesterday, in part, “We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain and disrespect …  Stay strong Israel, January 20th is fast approaching!”

What He Said: As the Obama administration prepares for possibility punishing Russia for attempting to influence the election through computer hacking, President-elect Trump dismissed the whole thing saying, “I think we ought to get on with our lives.” Answering a question from reporters, Trump said, “I think that computers have complicated lives very greatly. The whole age of the computer has made it where nobody knows exactly what’s going on. We have speed, we have a lot of other things, but I’m not sure we have the kind of security we need.” Or, it would seem, coherent thoughts.

Nation: Burke Ramsey, 29, the brother of murdered child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey, is suing CBS for defamation for airing a documentary theorizing that Burke, who was 9 at the time, murdered his six-year-old sister in their Boulder, Colo. home. The 1996 murder, which remains unsolved, was a national tabloid obsession that still makes the headlines.

Monumental: President Obama yesterday designated two areas of Utah and Nevada as national monuments, further cementing his record as an environmental president. He protected a total of more than 1.6 milliokn acres of land.

Buffalo Brains: Carl Paladino, a Buffalo, NY, builder and New York co-chair of the Trump campaign, says he never intended to go public with his racist thoughts about President Obama and his wife, Michelle.

In answer to a survey by Artvoice, a Buffalo weekly, Palladino answered that his wish for 2017 is to see President Obama die of Mad Cow disease. About Mrs. Obama, Palladino said, “I’d like her to return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.”

Palladino says he accidentally sent the racist reply to Artvoice, but had intended to send it only to his friends as a joke. Well then, that makes it entirely OK and hysterically funny.

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