The Senate Finance Committee voted Tuesday along party lines, 14-13, to advance #RFKJr’s cabinet nomination to the full Senate. After 30 hours of debate, Senators will vote by simple majority on whether to confirm him as President Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. That vote could happen late this week or early next week. In the latest episode of this History Book Club series, "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." we will explore Kennedy’s first marriage — which was plagued by his drug use and serial philandering — to Emily Ruth Black, whom he married on April 3, 1982. Together, the couple had two children: Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy III (now married to RFK Jr.’s 2024 presidential campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy) before their divorce in 1994. Over the weeks ahead, we will be reading and discussing excerpted chapters from "Robert F. #Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized #biography of RFK Jr. written by Jerry Oppenheimer. The author also penned a scathing biography of RFK's late mother, Ethel Kennedy, who passed away in October 2024 at age 96. Join me for "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." -- a continuing book club series -- and let me hear your thoughts on the book in the comments. I'll try to answer all viewer questions in future episodes. Listen to all episodes in this playlist. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE0M1qzXbdpvFmjPRuxkPr8tn0L1Ck4O1

#RFKJR faced confirmation hearings before two Senate committees this week -- the Finance Committee on Wednesday, January 29th, and the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday, January 30th. Now that public testimony has concluded, Senators will soon vote on whether to confirm him as President Trump’s Secretary of Health and Human Services. During the televised hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s own family members voiced their concerns (and, at times, outrage) about Bobby’s alleged serious character defects that should be disqualifying for such an important cabinet-level position. #RFK Jr.’s cousin Caroline Kennedy, and JFK’s grandson Jack Schlossberg both came forward with some damning stories about Bobby’s past behavior, and even his second wife Mary Richardson Kennedy’s voice was finally heard from beyond the grave. (Mother Jones unearthed bombshell secret recordings and documents this week from the couple’s divorce proceedings that tell Mary’s side of the story, just two months before her 2012 suicide.) In the latest episode of this History Book Club series, "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." we will explore Kennedy’s first marriage — which was plagued by his drug use and serial philandering — to Emily Ruth Black, whom he married on April 3, 1982. Together, the couple had two children: Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy III (now married to RFK Jr.’s 2024 presidential campaign manager Amaryllis Fox Kennedy) before their divorce in 1994. Shortly before the wedding, however, tragedy struck again. Lem Billings, #JFK’s lifelong best friend who had been Bobby’s “second father,” the man who practically raised RFK Jr. after his father’s 1968 murder, died suddenly from a heart attack. However, Bobby’s mother Ethel always believed it was caused by a drug overdose, and blamed Bobby for leading Lem down the road to ruin. Over the weeks ahead, we will be reading and discussing excerpted chapters from "Robert F. #Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized #biography of RFK Jr. written by Jerry Oppenheimer. The author also penned a scathing biography of RFK's late mother, Ethel Kennedy, who passed away in October 2024 at age 96. Join me for "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." -- a continuing book club series -- and let me hear your thoughts on the book in the comments. I'll try to answer all viewer questions in future episodes. Listen to all episodes in this playlist. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE0M1qzXbdpvFmjPRuxkPr8tn0L1Ck4O1

Meet President-elect #Trump's controversial pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. #Kennedy, Jr. #RFKJR faced his first confirmation hearing before one of two Senate committees -- the Finance Committee -- on Wednesday, January 29th. He will appear before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday, January 30th. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy - daughter of #JFK and the cousin of Robert F Kennedy Jr - urged US senators to reject her cousin as America's next health and human services secretary in a scathing letter released on Tuesday. The message, shared through social media, was sent to senators ahead of RFK Jr's confirmation hearing. "I have known Bobby my whole life; we grew up together," she wrote. "It's no surprise that he keeps birds of prey as pets because he himself is a predator." In the latest episode of this History Book Club series, "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." we will hear Caroline's full letter to the Senate, and dissect exactly what she meant when she called RFK Jr. a "predator." While Caroline Kennedy's letter to the Senate revealed some of RFK's predation towards animals (she described a horrific memory of watching Bobby put live baby chicks and mice in a blender), she refrained from speaking about Bobby Jr.'s predatory treatment of the women in his life -- a subject she knows too much about from personal experience. Episode 8 takes us back to the late 1970s, and describes an important chapter in the relationship between Caroline Kennedy and young Bobby Jr. It was Caroline who introduced Bobby to British beauty Rebecca Fraser (her close friend), the daughter of JFK's old pal Hugh Fraser. Caroline and Fraser were both nearly killed during this time when a car bomb exploded his Jaguar. In this episode, you'll hear how Bobby juggled multiple girlfriends behind their backs, while "fucking everything that moved" behind the scenes of his uncle Sen. Ted Kennedy's 1980 presidential campaign, before dumping his steady gal pal -- Caroline's friend Rebecca Fraser -- for the new object of his desires: a young UVA student named Emily Black, whom he would eventually marry. Over the weeks ahead, we will be reading and discussing excerpted chapters from "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized #biography of RFK Jr. written by Jerry Oppenheimer. The author also penned a scathing biography of RFK's late mother, Ethel Kennedy, who passed away in October 2024 at age 96. As Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearings continue Thursday, get a sneak preview of some tough questions Kennedy is likely to be asked about his past, and will have to answer in the televised hearings. Join me for "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." -- a continuing book club series -- and let me hear your thoughts on the book in the comments. I'll try to answer all viewer questions in future episodes. Listen to all episodes in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE0M1qzXbdpvFmjPRuxkPr8tn0L1Ck4O1

Meet President-elect #Trump's controversial pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. #Kennedy, Jr. #RFKJR is facing his first confirmation hearing before one of two Senate committees -- the Finance Committee -- this Wednesday, January 29th. He will appear before the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday, January 30th. My latest episode of the History Book Club series, "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." begins as Bobby Jr. reaches adulthood and enters Harvard University in 1972. In previous episodes, we learned that Ethel and Robert Kennedy’s large brood were raised by nannies and babysitters while their busy political parents were absent. The situation became worse after #RFK’s assassination, when his widowed wife — unable to cope with the demands of mothering 11 unruly children — grew increasingly unstable, angry, and abusive towards them, especially Bobby Jr., whom she disowned and kicked out of the house at age 14. After Ethel washed her hands of Bobby, his care and feeding was taken care of by a number of people, called by insiders the “Bobbysitters.” From JFK’s old pal Lem Billings to the Brode family who took him in, to Peter Lawford when Bobby Jr. ran away to California on a drug-fueled road trip, the “Bobbysitters” were always there to protect Bobby from himself (or at least they tried). Grown adult men shouldn’t need babysitters, but Bobby Kennedy Jr. has never been able to function without his handlers. As you will hear in this series, RFK Jr. continues to surround himself with his “Bobbysitters” — a stable of devoted sycophantic gatekeepers — to the present day. Over the weeks ahead, we will be reading and discussing excerpted chapters from "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized #biography of RFK Jr. written by Jerry Oppenheimer. The author also penned a scathing biography of RFK's late mother, Ethel Kennedy, who passed away in October 2024 at age 96. As Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearings begin, get a sneak preview of some tough questions Kennedy is likely to be asked about his past, and will have to answer in the televised hearings. Join me for "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." -- a continuing book club series -- and let me hear your thoughts on the book in the comments. I'll try to answer all viewer questions in future episodes. Listen to all episodes in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE0M1qzXbdpvFmjPRuxkPr8tn0L1Ck4O1

Meet President #Trump's controversial pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. #Kennedy, Jr. #RFKJR is facing his first confirmation hearing before one of two Senate committees -- the Finance Committee -- this Wednesday, January 29th. My latest episode of the History Book Club series, "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." explores the twisted roots and branches of the Kennedy and Skakel family trees — which often bore rotten fruit. We will learn how the marriage of Bobby Jr.’s parents, #RFK and Ethel Skakel — the corporate merger between two of America’s most wealthy families (who by all accounts couldn’t stand each other) — came to be. Over the weeks ahead, we will be reading and discussing excerpted chapters from "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized #biography of RFK Jr. written by Jerry Oppenheimer. The author also penned a scathing biography of RFK's late mother, Ethel Kennedy, who passed away in October 2024 at age 96. As Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearings near, get a sneak preview of some tough questions Kennedy is likely to be asked about his past, and will have to answer in the televised hearings. Join me for "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." -- a continuing book club series -- and let me hear your thoughts on the book in the comments. I'll try to answer all viewer questions in future episodes. Listen to all episodes in this playlist. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE0M1qzXbdpvFmjPRuxkPr8tn0L1Ck4O1

Meet President-elect #Trump's controversial pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. #Kennedy, Jr. #RFKJR is facing his first confirmation hearing before one of two Senate committees -- the Finance Committee -- this Wednesday, January 29th. My latest episode of the History Book Club series, "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." picks up where Episode 4 left off: inside the shaken, chaotic, and often abusive home of his widowed mother Ethel Skakel Kennedy known as Hickory Hill (as it was privately called by insiders, "Horror Hill" or "Hickory Hell"). After being quietly expelled from two previous high schools for drug use and dealing drugs to other underage students, young Bobby finally finds his groove at the Bohemian Palfrey School, which he finally graduated from in 1972. Palfrey school allowed Bobby Jr. to escape his mother, whom he called "controlling" -- getting him the hell out of Hickory Hill and into the home of a young hippie family who allowed him the total freedom he sought. Here, Bobby was able to take his drugs and bring his teenage girlfriends over for the night without fearing retribution from his "tyrannical" mother. Bobby then applied to Harvard University, the school he felt was his birthright -- where his father and famous uncles and his grandfather had matriculated. Although he lacked the grades and moral character usually required of Harvard men, the Kennedy family name guaranteed his acceptance. Bobby's application famously contained only his name: he merely wrote, "Robert F. Kennedy, Jr." Over the weeks ahead, we will be reading and discussing excerpted chapters from "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized #biography of RFK Jr. written by Jerry Oppenheimer. The author also penned a scathing biography of RFK's late mother, Ethel Kennedy, who passed away in October 2024 at age 96. As Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearings near, get a sneak preview of some tough questions Kennedy is likely to be asked about his past, and will have to answer in the televised hearings. Join me for "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." -- a continuing book club series -- and let me hear your thoughts on the book in the comments. I'll try to answer all viewer questions in future episodes. Follow me on Twitter: http://x.com/@RealLoriSpencer Subscribe on Rumble for UNCENSORED videos YouTube won't let me show you! http://Rumble.com/LoriSpencer My blog: http://LoriSpencer.WordPress.com My Substack: http://RealLoriSpencer.Substack.com Join as a monthly member at: http://Patreon.com/LoriSpencer http://BuyMeACoffee.com/LoriSpencer Buy me a good history book from my Wishlist! http://GiftApp.com/RealLoriSpencer

Meet President-elect Trump's controversial pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. #RFKJR is visiting with key Senators right now who will decide his fate in this month's cabinet confirmation hearings. My latest episode of the History Book Club series, "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." picks up where Episode 3 left off: the aftermath of his father's murder by Sirhan Sirhan on June 5, 1968, and the drug use he fell into that would eventually lead him, as well as many of his friends and family members, down a long dark road that ended in death for some, and to young Bobby's expulsion from Milbrook school. We will discuss the Chappaquiddick tragedy in the summer of 1969, and learn what young Bobby thought of his uncle Ted Kennedy's drunken drive that killed RFK campaign staffer Mary Jo Kopechne. Over the weeks ahead, we will be reading and discussing excerpted chapters from "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized #biography of RFK Jr. written by Jerry Oppenheimer. The author also penned a scathing biography of RFK's late mother, Ethel Kennedy, who passed away in October 2024 at age 96. As Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearings near, get a sneak preview of some tough questions Kennedy is likely to be asked about his past, and will have to answer in the televised hearings. Join me for "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." -- a continuing book club series -- and let me hear your thoughts on the book in the comments. I'll try to answer all viewer questions in future episodes. Follow me on Twitter: http://x.com/@RealLoriSpencer Subscribe on Rumble for UNCENSORED videos YouTube won't let me show you! http://Rumble.com/LoriSpencer My blog: http://LoriSpencer.WordPress.com My Substack: http://RealLoriSpencer.Substack.com Join as a monthly member at: http://Patreon.com/LoriSpencer http://BuyMeACoffee.com/LoriSpencer Buy me a good history book from my Wishlist! http://GiftApp.com/RealLoriSpencer

President-elect Trump's controversial pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is visiting the nation's capitol this week for private meetings with 28 key Senators -- all of them Republicans -- who will decide his fate in next month's cabinet confirmation hearings. Kennedy took no questions from reporters, who mobbed him in the hallway, preferring to reserve his answers for U.S. Senators behind closed doors. One Senator who met privately with RFK, Oklahoma Republican Markwayne Mullin said on Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told him he supports polio vaccination -- despite some recent media reports that Kennedy might do away with the polio vaccine. "He said, 'I 100% support polio vaccination,'" Mullin told reporters after meeting with Kennedy, who has for years sown doubt over the safety and efficacy of vaccines, including asserting a debunked link between vaccines and autism. According to Sen. Mullin, Kennedy said the polio vaccine is different because it was one of the first vaccines to be developed. He quoted Kennedy as suggesting that children receive too many shots and saying, the question is "why are we giving our kids 72 shots now?” Trump has said he could end some childhood vaccinations if he thinks they are dangerous. "It could if I think it's dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial, but I don't think it's going to be very controversial in the end," he told Time magazine in an interview published last week. Today, Trump downplayed his previous statement, telling reporters, "you're not going to lose your polio vaccine" under Kennedy's leadership at HHS. "That's not going to happen." Kennedy faces an uphill battle in his Senate confirmation hearings, given his previous anti-vaccine statements, and his tendency to espouse debunked conspiracy theories. That, combined with a messy private life and a long history of adulterous affairs, will make it difficult for some conservative senators to support him. My latest episode of the History Book Club series, "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." explores his checkered past; his 15 year struggle with alcohol, cocaine, and heroin addiction, his philandering, and the tragic suicide of his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy, in 2012. Over the weeks ahead, we will be reading and discussing excerpted chapters from "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Dark Side of the Dream," an unauthorized biography of RFK Jr. written by Jerry Oppenheimer. The author also penned a scathing biography of RFK's late mother, Ethel Kennedy, who passed away in October at age 96. As Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearings near, get a sneak preview of some tough questions Kennedy is likely to be asked, and will have to answer in the televised hearings. Join me for "The Dark Side of RFK Jr." -- a continuing book club series -- and let me hear your thoughts on the book in the comments. I'll try to answer all viewer questions in future episodes. If you're enjoying this Book Club Series, buy me a book from my wishlist of history books. Your purchase might inspire a new series! GiftApp.com/RealLoriSpencer