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Bob Dole -- one of the most enduring U.S. political figures -- has died, 10 months after revealing he was battling lung cancer.

The Republican stalwart from Kansas passed in his sleep early Sunday morning, according to his wife, Elizabeth Dole. Her foundation released a statement on his death, highlighting his 79 years of political service.

Dole was not only a U.S. Senator from Kansas, but also a decorated Army veteran, a U.S. Representative and a candidate for Vice President, and later, President.

In February, Dole announced he'd been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. He said, “While I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own.”

Dole enlisted in the Army in 1942 to serve in World War II. It was during a battle in Italy that he was severely injured under enemy fire -- his right arm, collarbone and spine were all damaged, and he was eventually transferred to a hospital back in Kansas.

Although he beat the odds to survive a long list of injuries, Dole never regained full mobility of his right arm and suffered numbness in his left. He earned 2 Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for his service.

He won his first national political election in 1951 when he ran for the House of Representatives -- and became a U.S. Senator in 1969. He would remain in the Senate until 1996 when he resigned.

Dole ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 1980 and 1988, losing to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

It might seem shocking in today's era of bitter bipartisanship, but after the Republican icon retired ... President Bill Clinton presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Cardi B partied at the Maxim Saturday night in Miami at Art Basel.

She started her night pouring Whipshots at the Good Time Hotel then hit up the SLS hotel in Miami Beach for the Maxim Art Basel Party. She showed off some serious Cardi moves ... as the crowd clapped and cheered.

She made the rounds ... several parties in town were rocked by CB. And here's the thing ... unlike so many celebs who tend to just hang with each other, Cardi loves interacting with everyone ... you see from the video, she just loves the company of everyone. A refreshing change.

At the Maxim party, she was there with Offset, just kinda hangin' with him and drinking Dano's Tequila. Teyana Taylor and Karrueche Tran were also there. Best part is when Cardi and Offset leave ... she just started busting a move as she headed for their car.

There is also a video of Cardi and Offset arriving at a club in Miami and Cardi appearing to tell the bouncers to let the black women in.

Cardi's had a big week ... Playboy just announced she'll be its first Creative Director in Residence ... which she calls "a dream come true."

Daymond John told us on "TMZ Live" Friday this was a super brilliant move for Playboy to become relevant again.

Billie Eilish knows this lesson all too well ... you want to make your fans happy, but there's a line they can't cross.

Billie arrived at JFK Airport in New York Saturday, and some overzealous fans got way too close and frenetic. Her 2 bodyguards had to stave them away ... as the singer traversed her way through the terminal.

Billy's only 19, so the drill isn't old hat ... it's really a dance. When do the bodyguards step in and when do they leave fans to interact?

There were other forms of protection as well, in the form of face masks ... something folks are required to wear in airports ... btw, with the new variant, masks aren't going away any time soon.

Billie's definitely got protection issues ... she's gone to court for a protective order against a man she claims has been harassing her and is potentially dangerous. She claims the guy has been lurking at her L.A. home and bombarding her with threatening letters.

According to the docs, Billie says she got a note from the man saying ... "You can't get what you want, unless what you want is to die for me ... You will know that soon the water will rise, and you might very well die ... You will die."

Scott Disick knows how to get over the Kourtney Kardashian/Travis Barker engagement and the Amelia Hamlin breakup ... and he executed his plan brilliantly Saturday night in Miami.

Scott partied with a very attractive woman at Alec Monopoly's Art Basel party. We don't know who she is or whether this was fleeting flirting or something more ... but he sure seems back in the game.

The Lord's had a rough time this year ... first, watching the mother of his children strike up a relationship with Travis which blossomed into an engagement. He was dragged for grousing to Kourtney's ex, Younes Bendjima, that it was unseemly for Kourtney and Travis to show PDA. Younes schooled him for sure.

And then there's Amelia ... Scott claimed he broke up with her, but evidence points to the contrary.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez did a little blending Saturday ... as the love train chugged through Westwood.

Ben and Jen hit up the Regency Theater with his kids, Seraphina and Sam, and her daughter, Emme.

They took in a showing of "Licorice Pizza" and looked like a fam out for a day of fun.

They got celeb treatment for sure ... an attendant was right there to escort them in through a side door and warn them all to step away from some puddles.

The kids have been seen more and more with J Lo and Ben ... over Thanksgiving, they were all involved in a food drive in L.A. ... loading and unloading sacks of food. The event was part of Rise Against Hunger ... a problem that has reached crisis proportions in L.A. and many other cities.

Elon Musk may have just gotten Swifted, because his ex has just released a song trashing him as a BF.

Grimes' song, "Player of Games," doesn't mention Elon by name, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist like him to figure it out.

The song references gaming -- something Elon apparently loves. The lyrics go ... "I'm in love with the greatest gamer, but he'll always love the game, more than he loves me."

Their 3-year relationship ended back in September -- and she goes on ... "Sail away, to the cold expanse of space. Even love couldn't keep you in your place."  Seems like that's the giveaway!

Elon didn't call it a clean breakup ... he said they have "semi-separated." They did attend the Met Gala back in September, but it's unclear if this was before or after the breakup.

They both seem committed to co-parenting their 1-year-old son, X Æ A-Xii Musk.

Toccara Jones is defending Tyra Banks from being canceled over what some are seeing as exploitation on "America's Next Top Model" ... saying it's unrealistic to pay contestants.

The ex-"America's Next Top Model" contestant tells TMZ ... Tyra did nothing wrong by collecting a fat paycheck on the long-running modeling competition show while the girls only got a $40 per diem and no residuals.

Toccara says that's just the way things go in the modeling industry ... and she says it's unheard of for people to be paid to be in a contest ... because the whole point of a competition is to win and get the prize money.

The 'ANTM' exposure certainly worked out for Toccara, even though she had her own struggles on season 3 ... in part because she was a plus-sized model.

Tyra and 'ANTM' are getting dragged back under the microscope after a fan of the show went viral this week by bringing up the fact Tyra pulled in a huge paycheck as a judge while the models got scraps.

'ANTM' alum Sarah Hartshorne tweeted the fan's complaint, saying models didn't get residuals and had to pay for their own food during the show.

Stunning revelation from New York Giants legend Lawrence Taylor ... the former NFL MVP tells TMZ Sports he straight-up does not follow his ex-team anymore.

The 62-year-old unveiled the shocking fact about his life on a call with former Giants star Ottis Anderson ... asking his ex-teammate (and current business partner) who quarterback Daniel Jones is.

"Daniel Jones is the [what?]" Taylor said to Anderson during the interview. "You mean to tell me Eli is not the quarterback no more?!? Get the hell out of here!"

Unclear if LT's joking ... but the conversation was hilarious nonetheless, 'cause you can tell in the clip, LT legitimately doesn't know much about his former franchise these days.

In fact, Anderson revealed Taylor isn't familiar with the Giants' head coach, Joe Judge.

"He doesn't watch, I'm telling you," Anderson said of Taylor ... "We were talking earlier and we were talking about [Dave] Gettleman and Joe Judge and he said, 'Who? Joe Judge? You talking Joe Kid, the one that played Clint Eastwood?!'"

"I said, 'No, not Kid!'" Anderson continued. "He loves Westerns so he was talking about Clint Eastwood movies!"

Taylor tells us the last time he followed the Giants, Eli Manning was still the quarterback ... so it's been at least two years since the greatest defensive player of all-time kept up with his old squad.

Of course, it's easy to see how Taylor could lose interest ... the Giants have been a mess for years.

Now, one thing LT is clearly passionate about is his biz with O.J. ... Tridelix and Metro Business Solutions.

We talked to the Super Bowl champs about the proprietary technology ... and it's pretty cool!

Emily Osment's beauty is a Christmas miracle.

Here's the 17-year-old version of the "Hannah Montana" star with her long bouncing curls at the "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" World Premiere in Hollywood, California back in 2009 (left).

And, 12 years later ... The now 29-year-old singer and actress is getting in the spirit for her newest Hallmark film, "A Very Merry Bridesmaid," by having a cheerful visit at the Los Angeles Dodgers' Holiday Festival preview with her brother just a few days ago (right).

Fun Fact: Emily's older brother is "The Sixth Sense" child star Haley Joel Osment!

The question is ...

Yung Joc is denying claims from a dog breeder that he's an irresponsible dog owner who lost his pit bulls soon after getting them ... he says the dogs managed to chew through their enclosures.

The "It's Goin' Down" rapper tells TMZ ... he did his part to keep the dogs contained on his property, with kennels and two chain-link fences, but he was surprised they were still able to bite their way out.

Yung Joc says he paid over $20,000 for the pit bulls, Nispey and Bruiser, back in April from a dog breeder in Los Angeles ... but after they escaped, the dog breeder blamed the rapper and offered a $5k reward for info on their whereabouts.

While the dog breeder, Andre of Big Gemini Kennels, claims Yung Joc was being irresponsible and might be hiding something ... Joc tells us he's been transparent with authorities, even sharing the video of their escape.

Yung Joc is firing back about accusations he was in over his head ... he says he thought there was no way the dogs could get past not just one, but two fences ... and he says it wasn't a case of being cheap.

Hidden within this mind-melding photo is a celebrity personality icon known for her extravagant lifestyle.

This blonde beauty was born into wealth and fame ... taking on the last name of a wildly successful businessman. Her first name, however, will remind you of one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

This heiress has done it all including reality television, entrepreneurial endeavors, and even DJing some of the biggest clubs in Las Vegas.

Chris Cuomo is without a cable news job -- the longtime CNN anchor just got fired ... and it sounds like there's more to the story on the help he offered his brother this year.

The network just announced Chris' termination, saying they retained a respected law firm to conduct the independent review of his conduct -- and in light of that digging, they say they found further evidence that they felt warranted kicking him to the curb.

CNN writes, "While in the process of that review, additional information has come to light. Despite the termination, we will investigate as appropriate."

This is a stunning turn of events, but perhaps not totally unexpected ... as the writing appeared to be on the wall here. The fact Cuomo had been suspended indefinitely raised red flags to many, who felt like his days at CNN were limited.

Of course, this all comes on the heels of an investigation by the New York Attorney General's Office ... which published its reports, plus transcripts, which suggested Chris' involvement in his bro's scandal back in the Spring was way more intricate than previously thought.

There are text messages he's purported to have sent to Andrew's staffers, including one that read "I have a lead on the wedding girl" -- pertaining to one of the ex-Gov's accusers.

Multiple comedians now have way less comedy albums on Spotify than they did last month -- all because the streaming giant doesn't wanna fork over extra royalties they're asking for.

Spotify yanked several albums from dozens of high-profile comedians -- including folks like Kevin Hart, John Mulaney, Tiffany Haddish, among many others -- just before Thanksgiving, and did so because they'd reached an impasse over this issue ... this according to the WSJ.

The problem ... apparently, a ton of these comics have teamed up with an org called Spoken Giants -- which has been reaching out to companies like Spotify, YouTube, SiriusXM, Pandora and others to demand they pay an additional chunk of change for a comedians' written joke.

Basically, most comics only get paid as performers by their labels and/or distributors ... as opposed to being able to double dip as composers/writers of the works as well, like songwriters do. That's what Spoken Giants is fighting for -- but Spotify won't play ball.

Unclear how many albums they've taken down in total, but it looks like it's quite a bit -- because the above-mentioned comics' Spotify pages look pretty bare, especially TH ... who doesn't have a single comedy album on her profile anymore ... only one-off singles.

The criteria for which albums stay and which don't isn't exactly laid out either -- but in any case, SG is pissed on behalf of the comedians (none of whom appear to have personally spoken out about this, BTW) ... telling WSJ, Spotify hurt their bottom line with the move.

The debate over an artist's responsibility to stop their show amid an emergency in the crowd had landed at George Lopez's feet ... although this one may not be cut and dried.

The comedian was performing Friday at the Majestic Theater in San Antonio, when at one point during his set ... a man started falling into distress in the upper balcony area, to the point that the house lights were turned on.

Check out this video obtained by TMZ ... it shows what we're told were a few minutes after this gentleman, who's described as mid-aged, fell unconscious with people around him -- including what appears to be folks in his own party -- attending to him.

Eventually, people flagged down event staff ... and he was carried out and taken to an ambulance. San Antonio Fire confirms he regained consciousness and was stable at the hospital.

In the meantime ... you can see and hear George down at the stage level continuing on with his set, seemingly working all the commotion into his actual jokes -- which actually got some laughs. Of course, some in the crowd felt as if he should've done a hard pause -- even more, felt it was inappropriate for him to joke about whatever was going on at all.

Lateche Norris -- the young woman from Indiana who vanished after taking a trip to San Diego to visit her BF -- has been found after being missing for weeks ... with an assist from Gabby Petito's family.

TMZ just spoke to the 20-year-old's father, Walter Callum, who tells us Lateche is currently with her mother, Cheryl Walker, somewhere in California. More importantly, we're told she is safe.

No other details about her recent whereabouts have surfaced just yet ... but we're waiting to hear back from Cheryl here in a bit.

If you hadn't heard about this story ... it's pretty crazy, and has echoes of Gabby Petito's case. Word is ... Lateche took a cross-country trip from Indiana in early November to visit her boyfriend, Joseph Smith, who had moved out west to California.

Lateche touched down in San Diego, but was reported missing not too long after ... as her parents lost contact with her, and the local authorities got involved. Her mom has said she believes there was some sort of fight between her daughter and Smith.

SD police posted surveillance video from a local 7-11, which apparently depicted Lateche inside. This is said to be the last time anyone had seen her, way back on Nov. 4.

There's also this ... we've learned that Gabby Petito's parents have actually been involved in helping Lateche's family. We're told Gabby's mom and dad have been giving Lateche's parents advice on how to deal with the media, and how to cope with the disappearance of their child. They've also been sharing the story a lot on social media.

Lil Uzi Vert didn't skimp on his girlfriend's birthday -- the guy rented out a whole theme park for her ... which cost him a pretty penny and then some.

The rapper took over Nickelodeon Studios Park at the American Dream Mall in New Jersey -- with about 20 of his buddies tagging along for the festivities Friday ... all in honor of JT's 29th birthday. JT is one half of the City Girls, and has been dating Uzi for a while now.

Anyway, sources familiar with the excursion tell us it was about $50k or so to get the whole place to themselves. Even though it's inside a shopping center, the park is decked out with dozens of rides, including a roller coaster and a Drop Zone type of attraction.

Speaking of those ... Uzi and JT were front and center for a lot of those rides, posing for pics and looking like they were having a blast.

There were more than just thrills to be had, BTW ... Uzi gifted JT a new car as well -- a McLaren, no less -- among other things, which she seemed to appreciate.