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Home Front: Politix

RFK Jr. said doctors found a dead worm in his head after it ate part of his brain

2024-05-08

[NY Post] Explains a lot
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claimed in a deposition taken more than a decade ago that a worm ate part of his brain before dying inside his head.

RFK Jr., now 70, made the bizarre admission during his 2012 divorce proceeding, detailing "cognitive problems" he initially feared were a brain tumor — only for a second doctor to tell him the dark spots on his brain scans were a dead parasite, according to the New York Times.

Before getting a second opinion, Kennedy had been set to undergo surgery by the same doctor who operated on his uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who had died from brain cancer in 2009.

However, a doctor at New York-Presbyterian Hospital believed the abnormality on his scans "was caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died," Kennedy said in the transcribed interview.

RFK Jr. also said during the 2012 deposition that he suffered from mercury poisoning after eating too many tuna fish sandwiches, which doctors told the Times was probably the actual cause of Kennedy’s neurological issues.

"I have cognitive problems, clearly," the son of the late attorney general and senator from New York said at the time. "I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me."

Kennedy said he suffered from “severe brain fog” and had trouble retrieving words around the same time that his mercury levels were 10 times what the Environmental Protection Agency considers safe.

The vaccine-skeptic politician said he was certain his diet was causing the issue.

“I loved tuna fish sandwiches. I ate them all the time,” he said.

Kennedy also said he recovered from the memory loss and fogginess and had no aftereffects from the parasite, which he claims had not required any treatment.
"It turned me into a Newt. I got better"
The longtime environmental lawyer added that he made several changes following the two health scares, including getting more sleep, traveling less and consuming less fish.

The septuagenarian has used his relative youth to make the case for his insurgent candidacy against former President Donald Trump, 77, and President Biden, 81.

When asked if his health issues would impact his ability to serve as president, a spokesperson for the Kennedy campaign told the Times, “That is a hilarious suggestion, given the competition.”

The longshot candidate has suffered from a variety of health issues over the years — including atrial fibrillation, a common heartbeat abnormality that increases the risk of stroke or heart failure, as well as drug abuse in his youth.

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-Short Attention Span Theater-

Today (18 July) Should Be Named Mary Jo Kopechnie Day

2023-07-18

Mary Jo Kopechne, the daughter of an insurance salesman, was born in the village of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, on 26th July 1940. After graduating from Caldwell College for Women in New Jersey, she moved to Washington where she worked as a secretary for George Smathers and Robert Kennedy. During this time she shared an apartment with Nancy Carole Tyler, who worked for Bobby Baker.

On 17th July, 1969, Kopechne joined several other women who had worked for the Kennedy family at the Edgartown Regatta. She stayed at the Katama Shores Motor Inn on the southern tip of Martha's Vineyard. The following day the women travelled across to Chappaquiddick Island. They were joined by Edward Kennedy and that night they held a party at Lawrence Cottage. At the party was Kennedy, Kopechne, Susan Tannenbaum, Maryellen Lyons, Ann Lyons, Rosemary Keough, Esther Newburgh, Joe Gargan, Paul Markham, Charles Tretter, Raymond La Rosa and John Crimmins.

Kopechne and Edward Kennedy left the party at 11.15pm. Kennedy had offered to take Kopechne back to her hotel. He later explained what happened: "I was unfamiliar with the road and turned onto Dyke Road instead of bearing left on Main Street. After proceeding for approximately a half mile on Dyke Road I descended a hill and came upon a narrow bridge. The car went off the side of the bridge.... The car turned over and sank into the water and landed with the roof resting on the bottom. I attempted to open the door and window of the car but have no recollection of how I got out of the car. I came to the surface and then repeatedly dove down to the car in an attempt to see if the passenger was still in the car. I was unsuccessful in the attempt."

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-Lurid Crime Tales-

A Chappaquiddick Reckoning at Last?

2017-09-13

[Powerline] I paid no attention to the fact that Hollywood was producing a biopic of Ted Kennedy’s famous "accident" at Chappaquiddick in 1969, and would have assumed that it was a typical gauzy pro-Kennedy puff piece if I had known. But Variety magazine, the main trade journal of Hollywood, offers a review that not only says that the forthcoming movie Chappaquiddick is suitably harsh on Teddy, but that he‐and the Kennedy reputation‐deserve it:

The film says that what happened at Chappaquiddick was even worse than we think. Kopechne’s body was found in a position that implied that she was struggling to keep her head out of the water. And what the film suggests is that once the car turned upside down, she didn’t die; she was alive and then drowned, after a period of time, as the water seeped in. This makes Edward Kennedy’s decision not to report the crime a clear-cut act of criminal negligence ‐ but in spirit (if not legally), it renders it something closer to an act of killing.

But this is just the beginning. The reviewer, Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman, piles on:

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Home Front: Politix

Scott Brown Wins New Hampshire Republican Senate Primary

2014-09-10

[BOSTON.CBSLOCAL] Former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott ~~Downtown Scotty~~ Brown won New Hampshire's Republican U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday, moving forward in his attempt to get back to Washington from another state.

Brown faced nine opponents in the primary, though only two mounted serious campaigns, and he was the front-runner from the start. He'll face Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen in November in one of a handful of races that will decide control of the Senate for the final two years of President Barack Obama
If you have a small business, you didn't build that...
's term.

This is Brown's third U.S. Senate campaign in five years. One of the original tea party favorites, he shocked the nation by winning a special election to replace the late Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, in 2010. After getting soundly defeated by consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, in 2012, he moved to New Hampshire, where he had a vacation home and had lived as a toddler, seeking an alternate route to Washington.

If Brown is successful, he would become only the third U.S. senator to serve multiple states.

During the primary, Brown touted himself as an independent problem-solver willing to work across the political aisle. He spent much of his time trying to tie Shaheen to the increasingly unpopular Obama, particularly in her support for Obama's health care overhaul law.

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Home Front: Politix

Scott Brown Wins NH Republican Senate Primary

2014-09-10

[BOSTON.CBSLOCAL] Former Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Scott ~~Downtown Scotty~~ Brown won New Hampshire's Republican U.S. Senate primary on Tuesday, moving forward in his attempt to get back to Washington from another state.

Brown faced nine opponents in the primary, though only two mounted serious campaigns, and he was the front-runner from the start. He'll face Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen in November in one of a handful of races that will decide control of the Senate for the final two years of President Barack Obama
Dreams of My Sainted Father...
's term.

This is Brown's third U.S. Senate campaign in five years. One of the original tea party favorites, he shocked the nation by winning a special election to replace the late Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, in 2010. After getting soundly defeated by C~~herokee princess~~ consumer advocate Elizabeth Warren, a ~~lying, cheating~~ Democrat, in 2012, he moved to New Hampshire, where he had a vacation home and had lived as a toddler, seeking an alternate route to Washington.

If Brown is successful, he would become only the third U.S. senator to serve multiple states.

During the primary, Brown touted himself as an independent problem-solver willing to work across the political aisle. He spent much of his time trying to tie Shaheen to the increasingly unpopular Obama, particularly in her support for Obama's health care overhaul law.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Martha Coakley announces bid for Mass. governor, saying she learned from 2010

2013-09-17

[CSMONITOR] Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley officially entered the 2014 race for state governor, seeking to reassure voters she had learned from her loss to Republican Scott Brown in a 2010 US Senate race.
My initial thought was "Martha Who?"
Ms. Coakley is kicking off her campaign with an aggressive three-day bus tour of 18 cities and towns across the state.
My next thought was "I thought she was murdered by a Kennedy cousin?"
"I've acknowledged that we made some mistakes on that campaign trail, and I've learned from that," Coakley told supporters Monday.
One thing she didn't learn was to give up politix and become a June Taylor dancer.
Coakley fell from favor in Democratic Party ranks after she lost the Senate seat that Edward Kennedy occupied for 47 years, which subsequently cost the Democrats their 60-seat supermajority in Congress. After the January 2010 loss, Coakley was easily reelected to a second term as state attorney general later that year, but her victory was still overshadowed by her upset loss to Mr. Brown.
Turns out she can't dance, either, so June Taylor wouldn't have her. Running for governor is all she's got left.
Ms. Coakley is kicking off her campaign with an aggressive three-day bus tour of 18 cities and towns across the state.
...unless she goes for a rewarding career in the food service industry.
"I've acknowledged that we made some mistakes on that campaign trail, and I've learned from that," Coakley told supporters Monday.

Coakley fell from favor in Democratic Party ranks after she lost the Senate seat that Edward Kennedy occupied for 47 years, which subsequently cost the Democrats their 60-seat supermajority in Congress. After the January 2010 loss, Coakley was easily reelected to a second term as state attorney general later that year, but her victory was still overshadowed by her upset loss to Mr. Brown.

In an odd way, Coakley's jarring Senate upset might actually work to her advantage: Coakley has already proved she has the ability to bounce back, says Jim Spencer, president of The Campaign Network, a Democratic political consulting firm, in an interview with the Monitor. "Candidates never learn anything from winning, they learn from losing," explains Mr. Spencer. (The Campaign Network has not come out in support of any of the 2014 gubernatorial candidates).

"When you suffer the kind of loss that Martha did, you really have learned what kinds of mistakes not to make again," says Spencer. "She may be beginning as the most savvy, experienced candidate in the entire field."

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Home Front: WoT

Project Gunwalker: DOJ Ronald Weich Resigning To Become Law School Dean

2012-04-26

Weich is the one who signed the letter "that ATF 'sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico -- is false," and on Dec 4, 2011 formally withdrew the letter.

We now have a White House aid in Iraq, and this Assistant Attorney General leaving.
The top Justice Department official who signed a letter erroneously telling lawmakers investigating "Operation Fast and Furious" that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives never allowed guns to be sold to cartel members will be leaving the department to head up a law school.

Ronald Weich, the Justice Department's assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, will become the new dean of the University of Baltimore's school of law in July.

"During this time of considerable transition in legal education and the legal profession, it is important to have leadership with integrity and vision," University of Baltimore President Robert Bogomolny said in a statement issued Wednesday. "Ron Weich embodies those qualities. I look forward to working with him, and I know our students, faculty, staff and alumni will be energized by his arrival."

News of Weich's pending departure comes nearly a month after he suggested Republicans on Capitol Hill were leaking sensitive information and five months after the Justice Department formally withdrew a Feb. 4, 2011, letter sent to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, who was demanding answers from the ATF and Attorney General Eric Holder over allegations the agency had let suspected drug-smugglers buy hundreds of assault weapons.

"At the outset, the allegation ... that ATF 'sanctioned' or otherwise knowingly allowed the sale of assault weapons to a straw purchaser who then transported them into Mexico -- is false," Weich wrote Grassley at the time. "ATF makes every effort to interdict weapons that have been purchased illegally and prevent their transportation to Mexico."

Since then, a congressional investigation into "Fast and Furious" led by Grassley and House Oversight and Government Report Committee Chairman Darrel Issa, R-Calif., has helped reveal those claims as false.

Testifying before a House panel earlier this year, Holder said he did not believe the Justice Department intended to mislead Congress, noting his department has taken a "rare" move and made "wholesale deliberative material available" to lawmakers to help explain the genesis of "the inaccuracies that were contained in that letter."

"These documents show that department officials relied on information provided by supervisors from the relevant components in the best position to know the facts," Holder told lawmakers. "In subsequent interviews with congressional investigators, these supervisors stated that they did not know at the time that the information that they provided was inaccurate."

Weich himself testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform committee in June 2011. He mostly testified about the Justice Department's efforts to comply with congressional subpoenas, but he was also asked about the Feb. 4, 2011, letter.

"Every time the Justice Department sends a letter to Congress, it is true to the best of our knowledge at the time that we send it," he said. Still, he insisted again that ATF "doesn't sanction or approve of the transfer of weapons to Mexico."

It's unclear exactly when Weich would step down from the Justice Department. An email seeking comment from a Justice Department spokeswoman was not immediately returned.

Weich was confirmed by the Senate as assistant attorney general for legislative affairs in April 2009. He "heads the Office that represents the Department of Justice on all legislative and oversight matters before Congress," according to the Justice Department's website.

He previously served as Chief Counsel to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and as counsel to former Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Arlen Specter, R-Penn., according to the Justice Department. Prior to that, he worked in private practice.

He is a native New Yorker, and a graduate of Columbia University and the Yale Law School.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Barry flies in to "aid" Mini Me's re-election bid

2010-10-16

"There is no doubt this is a difficult election," Obama said. "This is a tough political environment." It's a lesson Obama learned firsthand in Massachusetts this year when he swept in to make a last-minute appeal for Martha "Marsha" Coakley, the Democrat seeking to succeed the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Despite Obama's backing, Coakley lost the special election to Republican Scott Brown.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Democrats Call For 'Permission To Work' National ID Card On Top Of Real ID National Card

2010-04-30

A plan by Senate Democratic leaders to reform the nation's immigration laws ran into strong opposition from civil liberties defenders before lawmakers even unveiled it Thursday.

Democratic leaders have proposed requiring every worker in the nation to carry a national identification card with biometric information, such as a fingerprint, within the next six years, according to a draft of the measure.

The proposal is one of the biggest differences between the newest immigration reform proposal and legislation crafted by late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

The national ID program would be titled the Believe System, an acronym for Biometric Enrollment, Locally stored Information and Electronic Verification of Employment.

It would require all workers across the nation to carry a card with a digital encryption key that would have to match work authorization databases.

"The cardholder's identity will be verified by matching the biometric identifier stored within the microprocessing chip on the card to the identifier provided by the cardholder that shall be read by the scanner used by the employer," states the Democratic legislative proposal.

The American Civil Liberties Union, a civil liberties defender often aligned with the Democratic Party, wasted no time in blasting the plan.

"Creating a biometric national ID will not only be astronomically expensive, it will usher government into the very center of our lives. Every worker in America will need a government permission slip in order to work. And all of this will come with a new federal bureaucracy -- one that combines the worst elements of the DMV and the TSA," said Christopher Calabrese, ACLU legislative counsel.
FYI, not a single State was able to implement REAL ID by its deadline, so the deadline has been extended to 2017. 19 States has resolved that they will never participate in REAL ID, and estimated costs of the program already exceed 10 times their original estimates.
Thanks to John McCain I find myself agreeing with the ACLU. Gag ...

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Home Front: Politix

Calif. Sen. Boxer finds rocky re-election terrain

2010-04-18

Hints of re-election trouble for U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer come from a 65-year-old travel agent from this leafy Los Angeles suburb who's a fellow Democrat.

Taxes and the national debt are too high, President Barack Obama has proved a disappointment and the Democratic Party needs new faces, according to Helen Sargent.

Boxer, who's seeking a fourth term in Washington this fall, "has been there too long," says Sargent in Westlake Village, which Boxer carried by just 56 votes in 2004. "All politicians have a shelf life."

Those are troubling words for Boxer, who won in a 20-point landslide six years ago, but now faces the fight of her political career. The nation's economic woes - particularly intense in hard-hit California - and a difficult electoral year for Democrats have created a rough challenge for the 69-year-old liberal Democrat.

In a clear sign of her difficulties, President Barack Obama heads to Los Angeles on Monday to help raise money for Boxer, who is running about even with several potential Republican challengers, an alarming sign in the Democratic-leaning state.

The proceeds from twin fundraisers will be split between Boxer and the Democratic National Committee; ticket prices range from $100 for a reception to $17,600 for dinner with the president.

Voter frustration and outright anger is widespread in California, where the 12.6 percent unemployment rate tops the national average, home foreclosures have hit record highs and a budget crunch has led to deep cuts in the state's college system.

In another Democratic-leaning state - Massachusetts - Republican Scott Brown captured Sen. Edward Kennedy's Senate seat in January.

"The times are working against the kind of politician Barbara Boxer is," said Mark DiCamillo of the independent Field Poll. Liberals are associated with the growth of government and "that is really counter to the prevailing mood in the public."

Boxer will share a stage with a president whose popularity outshines her own in California, even as his standing in national polls has fallen. Democrats also are quick to point out that the economy is slowly improving and Republicans are tangled up in a messy and expensive primary that could leave the nominee wounded and broke. Boxer faces only token opposition in the June 8 primary.

Westlake Village, about 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles, is the kind of swing-voting community where statewide elections are often won or lost in California. Republicans hold an edge in registration here but Obama carried the city in 2008, as did Boxer in 2004.

Boxer is as beloved by her party's left wing as she is despised by conservatives.

Her Republican rivals - state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, businesswoman Carly Fiorina and former Rep. Tom Campbell - have pilloried her relentlessly. Fiorina's campaign calls Boxer "the Bully of the Senate" and has depicted her in an ad as a floating hot air balloon casting ominous shadows over the state.

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Home Front: Politix

Kennedy III decides against House run

2010-03-01

The grandson of Robert F. Kennedy has decided against running for the U.S. House from Massachusetts this year.

Joseph P. Kennedy III told The Associated Press on Sunday that "I've got a job I love being an assistant district attorney on the Cape, and I want to get better at it at this point."

A top state Democrat had said earlier in the weekend that Kennedy was weighing a race if Rep. William Delahunt were to decide against seeking re-election.

Delahunt and the rest of the Massachusetts Democratic establishment were rocked in January when Republican Scott Brown staged an upset to win the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Kennedy's uncle, Edward Kennedy.

Joseph Kennedy III is one of the twin sons of former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II.

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Home Front: Politix

GOP's Brown branded turncoat for jobs bill vote

2010-02-24

A month after being crowned the darling of national conservatives, Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts is being branded "Benedict Brown" for siding with Democrats in favor of a jobs bill endorsed by the Obama administration.
Looks like politics don't work on him. Don't say you weren't warned. As long as he keeps healthcare takeover at bay.
He told everyone up front who he was. He's a moderate Republican. It was him or Coakley ...
Like the four other GOP senators who joined him, the man who won the late Democrat Edward Kennedy's seat says it's about jobs, not party politics. And that may be good politics, too.

The four other GOP senators who broke ranks - Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine, George Voinovich of Ohio and Christopher "Kit" Bond of Missouri - also were criticized on Tuesday. But Brown was the big target on conservative Web sites, talk shows and even the Facebook page his campaign has promoted as an example of his new-media savvy.

"We campaigned for you. We donated to your campaign. And you turned on us like every other RINO," said one writer, using the initials for "Republican-In-Name-Only."

The conservative-tilting Drudge Report colored a photo of Brown on its home page in scarlet.

The new senator responded by calling into a Boston radio station.

"I've taken three votes," Brown said with exasperation. "And to say I've sold out any particular party or interest group, I think, is certainly unfair."

The senator said that by the time he seeks re-election in two years, he will have taken thousands of votes.

"So, I think it's a little premature to say that," he said.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky wasn't particularly perturbed about Brown's vote, saying his election last month has "made a huge, positive difference for us and for the whole legislative agenda."

"We don't expect our members to be in lockstep on every single issue," McConnell added.

Political observers said each of the five Republican senators had solid reasons locally for voting as they did, to cut off a potential Republican filibuster on the bill.

The measure featured four provisions that enjoyed sweeping bipartisan support, including a measure exempting businesses hiring the unemployed from Social Security payroll taxes through December, and giving them a $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year. It would also renew highway programs through December and deposit $20 billion in the highway trust fund.

It faces a final Senate vote Wednesday.

Snowe and Collins hail from economically ailing Maine, and they can't stray too far from the Democrats who populate much of New England. And Voinovich and Bond also are from states hard hit by the recession.

The latter two also have the ultimate protection from retribution: They're not seeking re-election this fall.

"When you have decided to retire and you are a free agent, you can pretty much do what you want," said Peverill Squire, a political scientist at the University of Missouri-Columbia. And Squire doubted that Bond, retiring after 24 years in the Senate, would have paid much of a political price even if the famous appropriator were seeking re-election.

"He's had no shyness in trying to send money," he said.

While conservative columnist Michelle Malkin used her blog to accuse Voinovich of being a traitor, even suggesting he got some unspecified goody for his vote in favor of the "porkulus" bill, Ohio's governor defended him.

Gov. Ted Strickland, a Democrat, praised the senator for "standing with the people of Ohio over the majority of his party."

For Voinovich, a Republican from a Democratic stronghold, the party defection was nothing new. The two-time Ohio governor and former Cleveland mayor has sprinkled his political career with independent votes that can agitate the GOP. Former President George W. Bush famously visited Ohio in 2003 in an attempt to secure Voinovich's support for a tax cut package.

Voinovich still voted no.

Snowe and Collins, meanwhile, "survive in New England by a unique set of rules," said Dante Scala, political science professor at the University of New Hampshire.

He said: "The way they survive with voters in their homes states is by making it clear that, first and foremost, they're the servants of their constituencies, not the party label. So, they'll make a point of defying their party and going their own way."

Brown got little such leeway, despite campaigning as an "independent Republican" and publicly eschewing national supporters.

National Republican groups, as well as "tea party" members and an array of conservative special interests, all claimed a share of the credit for his upset win in the battle to succeed the legendary Kennedy.

They felt especially justified after funneling millions to Brown's campaign, including $348,000 on late television ads paid by the California-based Tea Party Express.

"You've already turned out to be as big an idiot as Obama," said one Facebook poster. "Enjoy your one term as senator."

One local political scientist believes the vote was anything but dumb, considering Brown faces re-election in less than three years.

"Scott Brown knows that he's going to be judged differently in 2012 than he was in 2010," said Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at the senator's alma mater, Tufts University. "He's facing a different electorate, with more Democratic voters, and Barack Obama at the top of the ticket, in what is still a blue state."

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