Maria Shriver lauds Caroline Kennedy as a #profileincourage for opposing their cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Courage is when you do something hard, heartbreaking, and painful… and you do it anyway. Love you, Caroline. Always have, always will.
— Maria Shriver (@mariashriver)
Earlier Tuesday, Caroline Kennedy sent a letter to senators, urging them to reject RFK Jr. 's nomination, saying that her cousin's views on vaccines are disqualifying. She offered personal details from their lives growing up together that she said pose an even greater concern.
In a
Advertisement
The post came on a day that marked an unusual display of public disagreement among America's most famous Democratic family.
RFK Jr., whose nomination hearing before the senate is set for Wednesday, did win some support from another cousin, former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy. Kennedy, a recovering alcoholic,
Caroline Kennedy, a former ambassador to Australia and Japan, is the last surviving child of President Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is the son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, the president's brother, who was assassinated in 1968, and Ethel Skakel Kennedy.
Maria Shriver is the daughter of Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founder of the Special Olympics, who was a sister of the Kennedy brothers. Her father, Sargent Shriver, is a former director of the Peace Corps and an ambassador to France.
Advertisement
Patrick Kennedy is the son of the late Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Joan Bennet Kennedy.
Katherine McCabe of the Globe Staff contributed to this story.
Rita Chandler can be reached at
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Supreme Court lets Trump admin cut $783 million in health research funds as part of anti-DEI push
The Trump administration can slash hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of research funding in its push to cut federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the Supreme Court decided Thursday. The split court lifted a judge's order blocking $783 million worth of cuts made by the National Institutes of Health to align with Republican President Donald Trump's priorities. The court split 5-4 on the decision. Chief Justice John Roberts was among those who wouldn't have allowed the cuts, along with the court's three liberals. The high court did keep the Trump administration's anti-DEI directive blocked for future funding with a key vote from Justice Amy Coney Barrett, however. The decision marks the latest Supreme Court win for Trump and allows the administration to forge ahead with canceling hundreds of grants while the lawsuit continues to unfold. The plaintiffs say the decision is a 'significant setback for public health,' but keeping the directive blocked means the administration can't use it to cut more studies. The Justice Department, meanwhile, has said funding decisions should not be 'subject to judicial second-guessing' and efforts to promote policies referred to as DEI can 'conceal insidious racial discrimination.' The lawsuit addresses only part of the estimated $12 billion of NIH research projects that have been cut, but in its emergency appeal, the Trump administration also took aim at nearly two dozen other times judges have stood in the way of its funding cuts. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said judges shouldn't be considering those cases under an earlier Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for teacher-training program cuts that the administration also linked to DEI. He says they should go to federal claims court instead. Five conservative justices agreed, and Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote a short opinion in which he criticized lower-court judges for not adhering to earlier high court orders. 'All these interventions should have been unnecessary,' Gorsuch wrote. The plaintiffs, 16 Democratic state attorneys general and public-health advocacy groups, had unsuccessfully argued that research grants are fundamentally different from the teacher-training contracts and couldn't be sent to the claims court. They said that defunding studies midway through halts research, ruins data already collected and ultimately harms the country's potential for scientific breakthroughs by disrupting scientists' work in the middle of their careers. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a lengthy dissent in which she criticized both the outcome and her colleagues' willingness to continue allowing the administration to use the court's emergency appeals process. 'This is Calvinball jurisprudence with a twist. Calvinball has only one rule: There are no fixed rules. We seem to have two: that one, and this Administration always wins,' she wrote, referring to the fictional game in the comic strip 'Calvin and Hobbes.' In June, U.S. District Judge William Young in Massachusetts had ruled that the cancellations were arbitrary and discriminatory. 'I've never seen government racial discrimination like this,' Young, an appointee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, said at a hearing. He later added: 'Have we no shame.' An appeals court had left Young's ruling in place. More on Politics Lawrence city councilor pleads guilty to voter fraud in election that put her in office 'Hypocrisy': Harvard orders removal of Black Lives Matter sign in office windows Trump official called protesters against National Guard in D.C. 'stupid white hippies' Appeals court throws out massive civil fraud penalty against President Donald Trump Trump hits the street: He'll patrol DC with cops and military on Thursday Read the original article on MassLive.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. Reveals Why He Wears Jeans During Workouts After Fitness 'Challenge' with Pete Hegseth Goes Viral
The controversial health secretary sparked confusion online after he was seen working out in jeans alongside Hegseth, who was wearing athletic shorts NEED TO KNOW Robert F. Kennedy Jr. addressed his unorthodox gym attire — jeans — in an interview with Fox News "I would go hiking in the morning and then I'd go straight to the gym," the controversial health secretary said, noting it's become a habit Questions about Kennedy's workout clothes arose after he wore jeans to his and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's workout challenge, which has since gone viral Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is addressing his impractical workout attire. The controversial health and human services secretary, 71, went viral for wearing jeans to the gym after he and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, 45, filmed what they called the "Pete and Bobby Challenge" — 100 push-ups and 50 pull-ups in 10 minutes. After sparking confusion online, Kennedy addressed his fashion choices in an interview with Fox News. "Well, I just started doing that a long time ago because I would go hiking in the morning and then I'd go straight to the gym," he said. "And I found it was convenient, and now I'm used to it, so I just do it." The challenge, seemingly part of the Trump administration's "Make America Healthy Again" campaign, saw the health secretary sporting his usual jeans, while the defense secretary (and every other challenge participant) wore standard workout shorts. Kennedy's social media history proves that his workout jeans are not a new habit. In June 2023 — when he was still running for president as a Democrat — the politician shared a clip of himself donning jeans and no shirt as he worked to complete a set of pushups. "Getting in shape for my debates with President Biden!" he wrote in the caption, adding, "And yes, I can do more than 10 push-ups. That was my last set." Kennedy prepared similarly for his confirmation hearings to become the HHS secretary. On Dec. 1, 2024, he shared a clip from the gym — once again wearing jeans and no shirt — where he said he was "practicing moves for my confirmation hearing." Despite allegations from his cousin Caroline Kennedy that he was unfit to serve in Trump's Cabinet, RFK Jr. was narrowly confirmed by the Senate on Feb. 13. The health secretary's viral workout with Hegseth comes during his controversial first months in the role, sparked in part by his COVID-19 vaccine restrictions and offensive comments about autism. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has also courted criticism since he was tapped to join Trump's administration, overcoming a sexual assault allegation during his confirmation hearings and quickly using his new title to oust transgender people from the military. Read the original article on People
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Here's where all the legal cases against President Donald Trump stand since his return to the White House
Before he battled his way back to the White House, President Donald Trump was in court battling a slew of civil lawsuits and criminal charges that threatened to upend his finances and take away his freedom. Those cases have mostly abated since his return to office, albeit with some loose ends. On Thursday, Trump declared 'total victory' after an appeals court threw out a massive financial penalty in New York Attorney General Letitia James' lawsuit alleging that he exaggerated his wealth and the value of marquee assets like Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago. Other punishments affecting Trump's business still apply, but they can be paused pending further appeals. Since Trump's reelection in November, four separate criminal cases — including his hush money conviction and allegations of election interference and illegally hoarding classified documents — have either been dropped, resolved or put aside. On the civil side, several high-profile lawsuits against Trump have been quietly working their way through the appeals process. Here's a look at some of Trump's criminal and civil cases and where they stand now: Trump became the first former U.S. president convicted of felonies when a New York jury found him guilty in May 2024 of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to a porn actor who said the two had sex. Though Trump could have faced jail time, Manhattan Judge Juan M. Merchan in January sentenced him instead to what's known as an unconditional discharge, leaving his conviction on the books but sparing him any punishment. Trump is appealing the conviction. Trump was set to take office just days later, and Merchan said he had to respect Trump's upcoming legal protections as president, even wishing him 'Godspeed as you assume your second term in office.' In August 2023, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis charged Trump and 18 others with participating in a scheme to illegally try to overturn his narrow loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. Willis cited Trump's January 2021 phone call to Georgia's secretary of state, an effort to replace Georgia's Democratic presidential electors with ones who would vote for Trump, harassment of a Fulton County election worker and the unauthorized copying of data and software from elections equipment. But the case stalled over revelations Willis had been in a relationship with the man she appointed to prosecute it. A state appeals court in December removed Willis from the case. She has appealed that decision to the Georgia Supreme Court, but even if the high court takes the case and decides in her favor, it's unlikely she can pursue criminal charges against Trump while he's in office. Special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump in August 2023 with conspiring to overturn the results of his election loss to President Joe Biden in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Prosecutors allege Trump and his allies knowingly pushed election fraud lies to push state officials to overturn Biden's win and pressured Vice President Mike Pence to disrupt the ceremonial counting of electoral votes. But Smith moved to drop the case after Trump won reelection in November. Longstanding Justice Department policy says sitting presidents cannot face criminal prosecution. In a separate prosecution, Smith charged Trump in June 2023 with illegally retaining classified documents he took from the White House to Mar-a-Lago after he left office in January 2021, and then obstructing government demands to give them back. Prosecutors filed additional charges the following month, accusing Trump of showing a Pentagon 'plan of attack' to visitors at his golf club in New Jersey. Smith also moved to drop that case after Trump's election victory. In May 2023, a federal jury found that Trump sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s and later defamed her. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million. In January 2024, a second jury awarded Carroll an additional $83.3 million in damages for comments Trump had made about her while he was president, finding that they were defamatory. Trump is appealing that decision. He also appealed the first jury decision, but a federal appeals court in December upheld it and then declined in June to reconsider. Trump still can try to get the Supreme Court to hear his appeal. On Thursday, a five-judge panel of New York's mid-level Appellate Division overturned Trump's whopping monetary penalty in James' lawsuit while narrowly endorsing a lower court's finding that he engaged in fraud by padding his wealth on financial statements provided to lenders and insurers. The judges ruled that the penalty — which soared to $515 million with interest tacked on each day — violated the U.S. Constitution's ban on excessive fines. At the same time, they left in place other punishments, including a bans on Trump and his two eldest sons from serving in corporate leadership for a few years. The decision will almost certainly be appealed to the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, and the upheld punishments can be paused until that court rules.
