Since Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination on June 6, 1968, his widow, Ethel, has been his torchbearer. Unlike her late sister-in-law, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, she never remarried, never sought a path or identity that was hers alone. She held herself up as the martyr, the good Catholic widow left to raise 11 children alone, the empress of Hickory Hill . . .
In his new book, “RFK Jr.: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream,” author Jerry Oppenheimer delves into Bobby’s upbringing — or lack thereof — to understand why the scion of our greatest political family has never accomplished much. Oppenheimer contrasts Bobby’s upbringing to that of John F. Kennedy Jr.
“John, after his father’s death, was brought up by a controlling and domineering mother, but one who obsessively looked out for his care and well-being,” he writes. “Bobby, [Kennedy’s son], after his father’s death, was essentially given up by his angry, widowed mother” . . .
Ethel was 40 and three months pregnant with her last child, daughter Rory, when her husband was assassinated. Bobby Jr. was 14, and one week after his father’s funeral, the family celebrated his brother’s 13th birthday. Bobby slipped laxatives into everyone’s drinks as a prank.
“Just leave home!” Ethel yelled at him. “Get out of my life!” (Read more from “Inside Ethel Kennedy’s Cruel Neglect of Her Troubled Kids” HERE)
By Michelle Tan. Eric Fanning, formerly one of Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s closest advisers, has been nominated to be the next Army secretary, the White House announced Friday.
Fanning has been serving as the acting under secretary of the Army since June. Before that, he served as Carter’s chief of staff. If confirmed by the Senate, Fanning will succeed Army Secretary John McHugh, who has said he will leave the post by Nov. 1 after six years on the job.
“Eric brings many years of proven experience and exceptional leadership to this new role,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “I am grateful for his commitment to our men and women in uniform, and I am confident he will help lead America’s Soldiers with distinction. I look forward to working with Eric to keep our Army the very best in the world.”
Widely viewed as one of the most capable leaders in the Pentagon, Fanning became Air Force undersecretary in April 2013. He served several months as acting secretary while the confirmation of now-Secretary Deborah Lee James was stuck in Congress . . .
Fanning’s nomination comes during a critical transition period for the Army, which has not only seen key leadership changes at the top but also continues to struggle with increasingly tight budgets and growing demands for troops all around the world. (Read more from “Obama to Nominate First Openly Gay Service Secretary to Lead the Army” HERE)
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Obama Nominates First Gay Service Secretary to Lead the Army
By Greg Jaffe. President Obama, in a historic first for the Pentagon, has chosen to nominate Eric Fanning to lead the Army, a move that would make him the first openly gay civilian secretary of one of the military services.
Fanning, 47, has been a specialist on national security issues for more than two decades and has played a key role overseeing some of the Pentagon’s biggest shipbuilding and fighter jet programs. Now he will oversee an Army that has been battered by the longest stretch of continuous combat in U.S. history and is facing potentially severe budget cuts. It’s also an Army that after a long stretch of patrolling Iraqi and Afghan villages is searching for its postwar role in protecting the nation.
Fanning’s nomination, which must go to the Senate for confirmation, reflects a major shift for the Pentagon, which only four years ago prevented openly gay troops from serving in the military. The policy didn’t extend to civilian leaders, such as Fanning.
His long tenure in the Pentagon and his breadth of experience in shepherding some of the department’s most complex and sensitive weapons programs was a key factor in his nomination for the Army’s top job, administration officials said. (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-18 23:54:202015-09-18 23:54:20Obama to Nominate First Openly Gay Service Secretary to Lead the Army
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest is denouncing Donald Trump for failing to correct a man at a political rally who said that Obama was a Muslim and not born in America.
“Are we surprised that this happened at a Donald Trump rally?” he asked, claiming Trump’s base was characterized by “offensive views” such as the ones expressed at the rally.
Then Earnest blamed the entire Republican party for failing to stand up to Trump, asserting that none would want to offend the same voters that made up his political base.
“What’s also unfortunate is that Mr. Trump isn’t the first Republican politician to countenance these kinds of views in order to win votes,” Earnest said. “In fact, that’s precisely what every Republican presidential candidate is doing when they decline to denounce Mr. Trump’s cynical strategy.”
Earnest went further, accusing Republicans of defending the Confederate flag and highlighted the racial background of House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise, telling reporters that they also blocked immigration reform and supported reforms to the voting rights act. (Read more from “White House Responds to Trump’s ‘Muslim Obama’ Controversy by Saying This About Trump Supporters” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-18 23:49:242015-09-18 23:49:24White House Responds to Trump’s ‘Muslim Obama’ Controversy by Saying This About Trump Supporters
Sen. Marco Rubio’s deputy campaign manager allegedly punched a senior adviser to the rival presidential campaign of Sen. Rand Paul in the face.
“Rich Beeson, the CM for Rubio, punched me in the face tonight on Mackinac Island,” Paul adviser John Yob Tweeted at 3:13 a.m. ET on Friday. “The Michigan State Police are looking for him.”
“I am hereby calling on Marco Rubio to fire Rich Beeson immediately,” Yob added on Friday morning.
For now, Rubio’s campaign is standing by Beeson. Spokesman Alex Conant hasn’t responded to a request for comment.
Rubio, one of the architects of the Senate’s “Gang of Eight” amnesty bill, is coming off a debate performance Wednesday evening in Simi Valley, California, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library where he doubled down on his support for open borders immigration policies and amnesty for illegal aliens. (Read more from “Police Investigating a Bombshell Accusation Against a GOP Candidate’s Dep. Campaign Director” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-18 23:48:342015-09-18 23:48:34Police Investigating a Bombshell Accusation Against a GOP Candidate’s Dep. Campaign Director
A move by one of America’s largest snack companies is not winning any love from its customer base.
Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo., announced on Sept. 17 the snack maker will offer rainbow colored Cool Ranch Doritos to symbolize the gay pride flag in a special promotion to raise money for a homosexual youth organization. The company is introducing the rainbow Doritos, which include hues of green, blue, purple and red, on Sept. 20 at the Dallas Pride Event.
Many Frito-Lay consumers said on social media they are ready to move on to other snacks, lambasting the company for the move in numerous tweets . . .
@Doritos So long, #Doritos. It was nice knowing you.
Great idea, @fritolay. #LGBT is < 2% of population. Definitely worth the pandering.
The special snacks will not be sold in stores. They will be mailed to those who donate $10 or more to the It Gets Better Project on the non-profit’s website. The It Gets Better Project provides support for LGBT youth. The fundraising drive will end on Oct. 11. Consumers can also pledge support at the Doritos booth at the Dallas event to receive a bag of the brightly colored chips.
Ram Krishnan, Frito-Lay Chief Marketing Officer, said the effort demonstrates the company’s efforts to promote inclusion. He said the marketing campaign is in keeping with PepsiCo’s longstanding views on diversity. “We support equality for all and believe everyone has a right to be true to themselves and live an authentic life without fear of discrimination,” Krishnan said. (Read more from “Huge Snack Brand Makes Political Move That Has Many Calling for Boycott” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00kathleenhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngkathleen2015-09-18 23:45:512015-09-18 23:45:51Huge Snack Brand Makes Political Move That Has Many Calling for Boycott
Carly Fiorina, a Republican candidate president and the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, presents herself on the campaign trail as a hawk on Iran. She’s promising to take a hardline on the regime in Tehran.
However, during her time as the chief executive of HP, she “sold hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of products to Iran through a foreign subsidiary, despite strict U.S. export sanctions,” Bloomberg reports.
While running the show at HP, Fiorina thwarted sanctions by dealing with Iran through European and Middle Eastern companies, allowing for the tech company to dominate the market in Tehran. By 2007, HP-made printers accounted for 41 percent of the total market share in the country, the report states . . .
As Bloomberg’s Josh Rogin writes, HP was engaging in potentially illegal activity, as U.S. companies were prohibited from exporting to Iran thanks to two executive orders signed by President Bill Clinton in 1995.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission started to inquire about HP’s activities overseas following a 2008 Boston Globe exposé that tracked the company’s dealings with Iran. HP responded, denying that it had thwarted the law, but admitting that the company had sold $120 million dollars worth of products to Redington Gulf, which then sent the products to Iran. (Read more from “Fiorina Promised to Be Tough on Iran, but She Didn’t Count on This Ghost From Her Past Being Exposed” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-18 23:45:022015-09-18 23:45:02Fiorina Promised to Be Tough on Iran, but She Didn’t Count on This Ghost From Her Past Being Exposed
When does the GOP start winning? Here’s a better question, more appropriate to the times, when does GOP leadership even begin fighting? The GOP leadership has forfeited every one of the above battles without much more than a token, ex-post-facto, response, long after the outcome of the battles were determined.
While the GOP leadership continues to view its own base as problematic and unreasonable, the base is in full revolt, viewing the GOP leadership as deceitful and ineffective. Many in the grassroots community are leaning towards non-politicians in the early presidential selection process as a result of the continued failures of Party leadership. Most unfortunate is that the GOP leadership has made little effort to understand the frustrations of the base, or course correct itself and win back those who have knocked on the doors, waved the campaign signs, manned the polls, and donated their hard earned money. It is my sincere hope to be able to explain to them, in the simplest terms possible, why we have lost faith in their ability to do anything other than make flowery campaign promises.
First, what the heck is their strategy? Do they even have one?
They have forfeited nearly all of the important fights with nothing to show for it. Having campaigned for office myself I have found even the most passionate grassroots conservatives to be very reasonable when it involves using the political machinery to achieve conservative goals. Conservatives largely understand that not every legislative battle will be won but that principles matter and over time, principled votes, even if they fall short, will demonstrate to America that the GOP stands for something.
Being consistently on the right side of the debates on taxes, the debt, healthcare, defense, abortion, immigration, school choice and other issues important to conservatives would have earned GOP leadership a tremendous amount of “trust capital” with the base that would have afforded them some leeway in implementing a strategic legislative strategy. Stated simply, a history of principled leadership would have allowed them to lose a couple of short-term battles without significant consequences from the base because most of us would have understood that these short-term losses were critical towards marshalling resources for long-term, and lasting, Conservative victories.
Sadly, GOP leadership has no such political capital with the base because that’s not their strategy. Their strategy appears to be to forfeit the short-term battles, forfeit the long-term battles, and to do whatever it takes, and to say whatever it takes, to maintain power while ignoring most of what the Party actually stands for. How long do they think this can continue?
After punting on the debt ceiling, we wound up with the sequester spending caps which they then proceeded to punt on as well. After telling the base they would repeal Obamacare they forfeited that fight for a series of show votes, and many in GOP leadership have since moved on. Now we have the Planned Parenthood fight. This is a fight with such a clear and distinct, right and wrong side that it’s hard to believe even the insulated GOP leadership team is having a tough time picking a side. Then, doubling down on silly, they parrot the Left and the media’s ridiculous arguments about government shutdowns insisting, preemptively, that the shutdown would be the GOP’s own fault.
Yes, this is the utter fecklessness of this failed leadership team. A first-grader could follow, logically, that the GOP leadership CAN’T shut down the government. How can they shut down the government if they pass a proper budget, without funding for the organ traffickers at Planned Parenthood, using all of their assigned constitutional duties, and put that budget on the President’s desk? If the President refuses to sign that budget, knowing that his refusal to sign the budget will shut down the government, then the responsibility lies with him. Is this really that difficult for the allegedly bright people elected to GOP leadership on Capitol Hill to comprehend? Or, are they so afraid of the media, the Left, academia, the blogosphere, and just about anyone else with a platform, that they are afraid to take this common sense message to the American people?
If, as a Party, we are going to forfeit the short game, and the long game, because we are afraid to stand on principle, then what’s the point of the Party? If the constitutional power of the purse delegated to the congress is irrelevant, then why not just forfeit away the constitutional republic for a monarchy? Why continue to waste America’s time? Look no further for an explanation as to why there is a rebellion brewing in the ranks of the GOP. We are tired of being tired. We want our Party back and we refuse to waste another dollar, or another bead of sweat, on GOP leaders who are leading us across the eventual horizon of a political black hole. (For more from the author of “When Will the GOP Start Fighting?” please click HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-18 23:44:012015-09-18 23:44:01When Will the GOP Start Fighting?
Two major sponsors have pulled their advertising from “The View” after nurses across America were outraged by comments made Monday on the ABC program.
Johnson & Johnson and Eggland’s Best each issued messages on Facebook supporting nurses as they announced their ads were being pulled from “The View.” The action brought applause from the nursing profession.
“It’s very comforting to know that there’s someone standing up for nurses,” said Jean Ross, co-president of National Nurses United, the largest union of working nurses in the country. “It’s obvious that ‘The View’ hosts, like so many others, do not clearly understand what we do. We needed to let them know it’s a very serious thing, it’s not just a flippant 28 seconds of conversation, it’s a big deal and it effects how people view our profession.”
On Monday, “The View” hosts sniped at Miss Colorado Kelley Johnson, who on Sunday night as part of the Miss America Pageant delivered a monologue about being a nurse.
Johnson, who was second runner-up, appeared on stage in nurse’s scrubs. She spoke about caring for an Alzheimer’s patient. “I went over to him and I lifted his head up out of his hands. And I said, ‘Joe, I know that this is really hard. But, you are not defined by this disease,’” she said . . .
“Johnson & Johnson values and appreciates nurses and we respect the critical role they play in our health care system,” the company said in a statement. “We disagree with recent comments on daytime television about the nursing profession and we have paused our advertising accordingly.” (Read more from “‘The View’ Just Suffered an Unexpected Blow Even After Apologizing for Nurse Comments” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-18 23:40:182015-09-18 23:40:18‘The View’ Just Suffered an Unexpected Blow Even After Apologizing for Nurse Comments
The U.S. and Russia are ending an 18-month freeze in military-to-military relations and initiating talks about how to pursue “deconfliction” of the American and Russian forces that are now both involved in the Syrian civil war, a Pentagon official said Friday.
The moves comes as Russia builds a large military base in Syria with troops and aircraft, apparently with the aim to provide direct support to the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which the U.S. opposes.
A top U.S. commander said Wednesday that the Russian activity could put U.S. pilots at risk and vastly complicate the current American-led air campaign to defeat the Islamic State militants who control large swaths of both Iraq and Syria.
The Pentagon expects to begin a “military-to-military conversation about what is happening on the ground … to avoid any possible miscalculation or misunderstanding,” said one senior defense official on Friday.
The U.S. suspended military-to-military relations with Russia in March 2014 shortly after Moscow invaded and annexed the Crimea region of Ukraine. (Read more from “U.S., Russia Resume Military Relations to ‘Deconflict’ in Syria” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-18 23:38:282015-09-18 23:38:28U.S., Russia Resume Military Relations to ‘Deconflict’ in Syria
The U.S. government says it will begin using the term “sexual rights” in discussions of human rights and global development.
The statement at a U.N. meeting this week comes after years of lobbying from groups who have argued that the U.S. should show global leadership on the rights of people of all gender identities and sexual orientations.
The statement, posted on a State Department website, says sexual rights include people’s “right to have control over and decide freely and responsibly on matters related to their sexuality, including sexual and reproductive health, free of coercion, discrimination, and violence.” (Read more from “Here’s the New Term US Government Is Using for Human Rights, Global Development” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-09-18 23:35:502015-09-18 23:35:50Here’s the New Term US Government Is Using for Human Rights, Global Development
Since Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination on June 6, 1968, his widow, Ethel, has been his torchbearer. Unlike her late sister-in-law, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, she never remarried, never sought a path or identity that was hers alone. She held herself up as the martyr, the good Catholic widow left to raise 11 children alone, the empress of Hickory Hill . . .
