I've never heard of him before. What can you tell me about him as a member of the Mormon church? Anyone out there ever dealt with him?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2019 08:06PM by Phantom Shadow.

Mormons are taking over and need to be put in their place. They are getting bolder in their actions and thoughts, all of you have experienced this I am sure. They probably think their rise to power is part of gods plan, etc, etc. Talk about a mental illness.

>> Mormons are taking over and need to be put in their place.

So what do you suggest? How should they be "put in their place" and by whom?


>> They are getting bolder in their actions and thoughts, all of you have experienced this I am sure.

Please provide an example of this increased boldness they are foisting on all of us, as not all of us have experienced what you're claiming.

>> They probably think their rise to power is part of gods plan, etc, etc.

All of mormonism is part of "gods plan" according to mormonism. Please explain this "rise to power" of which you speak. What power are they rising to exactly?

>> Talk about a mental illness.

The same could be said about conspiracy theorists.

in b 4 ~ mormons make good employees ~

ziller can confirm ~

yes ~ they are all going to Real Jesus Hell™ ~


but ~ mormons make rilly good employees ~


they are dependable ~

they are honest ~

they are drama-free ~

they have solid family relationships that do not interfere with they ability to do they job ~

the mormon employee does all these things because they are scared of other mormons judging them which is the equivalent of Mormon Hell© (or Heck or whatever) ~

this is why Las Vegas casinos, the FBI, the CIA, big-shot Houston oil companies and other big money generating organizations hire mormons ~


yes ~ left unchecked in large groups they can be dangerous to freedom loving exmos ~


however ~ since they whorship the false god of joseph smith, junior ~ as individuals they can never rise to meaningful power ~


and they make rilly good employees too ~

"O’Brien Is a Los Angeles Native Who Attended UCLA & Berkeley Law Before Working as a Private Lawyer & Eventually Starting His Own Firm"


"According to The Washington Post, O’Brien will be the highest-ranking Mormon in the U.S. government. He converted from Catholicism in his 20s, the newspaper reports."

https://heavy.com/news/2019/09/robert-obrien/


How does that happen? How is someone who grew up Catholic (based on his high school, Cardinal Newman High School, then went on to UCLA, converted to mormonism in his 20s?

Was there a woman involved?

There appears to be a vacuum when it comes to information about his personal life. Here's the only inference I can find via a casual search regarding the woman who may have converted him:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Secretary_Pompeo_Officiates_the_Swearing-in_Ceremony_for_Robert_C._O%27Brien_as_Special_Presidential_Envoy_for_Hostage_Affairs_(29640486768).jpg


One assumes that his wife is holding the Book of Mormon (hahaha) he's using for this swearing-in and that their daughter is looking on. Further deponent knoweth naught.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2019 09:22PM by elderolddog.

I guess Brent Scowcroft, who was National Security Advisor to two presidents, doesn't count as Mormon.

He apparently thinks the church might be ambivalent about claiming him:

"He elaborated upon his relationship with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a 1999 oral history: "I have close personal ties to some of the church leadership. They would not consider me a good Mormon. I don’t live by all of the rules the Mormons like—I like a glass of wine and a cup of coffee. But yes, I do consider myself a Mormon. It’s part of a religious and a cultural heritage."



The above is featured in the Wikipedia coverage of this fine gentleman. It's extracted from this transcript:

https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/brent-scowcroft-oral-history-national-security-advisor

I'm very, very impressed with this gentleman! He's 94 and absent any reports of his death, he's apparently still alive and kicking. His one and only spouse died in 1995. I'm guessing his reluctance to toe the mormon line is the only reason Sheri Dew didn't scoop his up. But obviously it's not too late.

Oh yes, he was/is a remarkable man. He oversaw the preservation of American power in the wake of Watergate and then ensured that in the First Gulf War the US drove Iraq out of Kuwait, severely restricted Hussein's military power, and yet kept him in place because of the now-obvious danger of trying to occupy and control Iraq. When the US revisited the problem without him a decade later, the hotheads prevailed and the US enmired itself in a 20-year debacle.

The church had trouble with Scowcroft not so much because he drank coffee but because he defined his religion as he wanted and did not defer to them. After he retired, he taught Sunday School for many years even as he continued to drink, without apology, his occasional wine. I don't think he considered a temple recommend important or worth the indignity of intrusive interviews, etc. I don't think he'd find a woman like Sheri Dew the least bit interesting.

What's more offensive to the Q15--a sinner or a powerful man who refuses to genuflect?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/18/2019 10:17PM by Lot's Wife.

Ezra Taft Benson was Secretary of Agriculture, a cabinet post. I'm not sure how they determine "rank" between a cabinet secretary and National Security Advisor. I guess the NS Advisor can get more guns behind him faster than the Secretary of Agriculture. But the Secretary of Defense could probably give the NS Advisor a run for his money...I mean if they got into a really serious fight about who outranked whom.

An employee who will never lift a pinky finger to work nor to help his/her fellow coworkers if needed on a Sunday cannot approach the quality of 'good' by even the most permissive standards.

They engender resentment from truly 'good' coworkers as a result, leading to significant workplace drama over time. If/when Mormon employee is approached on their refusal to put shoulder to the wheel on a Sunday, Mormon employee can be depended upon to claim victim/persecution status for their beliefs.

Not a fan of the Mormon employee.

> Not a fan of the
> Mormon employee.


Do you have an opinion regarding exmo employees?

90% lawyer stuff and maybe 10%(?) national security stuff.

Wiki indicates that he may have close ties to Romney:

"In October 2011, Robert was named to Mitt Romney’s Foreign Policy and National Security Advisory Team as Co-Chair of the International Organizations Work Group."

That would make him seem an odd choice for Trump, since (in public at least) he and Romney seem to despise each other.

He also seems to be generally aligned with the Neo-Con faction.

My guess is that 99.9% of Americans never heard of him until now.

He’s now in a difficult position. If the President seeks advice about a drone strike which has a percentage chance of causing innocent deaths and he advises to go ahead with the strike, has he committed a sin worthy of excommunication? If he fails to advise against the use of torture, has he committed a sin worthy of excommunication?

Will the 15 old guys in Salt Lake City seek to use him as a means of influencing the actions of Trump?

I don’t see how he can be an effective National Security Advisor and a temple recommend holding Mormon.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2019 06:18AM by pettigrew.

I think he’s a big improvement over the first three guys.

“It’s a privilege to serve with the President. We look forward to another year and a half of peace through strength.”

I like how he says Trump is a one-term President.

Because O'Brien was NOT raised in the church, there's a better than 50% chance that he wasn't taught the art (and thrill) of beating the helpless.

OMG, why does it even f'ing matter?

because EVERYTHING matters these days, I guess you didn't get the memo...

Thanks for all the input, folks. After reading this morning's news articles, everything I have read make him seem rather hollow,so I went to Amazon to read about his book.Surprised to find a "best seller" label on it. 18 of 19 reviews gave it a 5 star, the other one a 4 star.I'm still puzzled as to why the reviews all sound like they were written by the same 2-3 people.

I guess time will tell.I've taken a lot of classes in international politics & relations. If I didn't have 2 dozen or so books already piled up to read, I'd give his a try.

> I'm still
> puzzled as to why the reviews all sound like they
> were written by the same 2-3 people.

Standard operating procedure, I fear. Authors line up people to submit positive reviews and get some momentum. Amazon's reviews aren't worth a wooden nickel until there are dozens or more.

Encounter Books: not a good publisher. So there's that indication. . .

DW pointed out that this means he embraces Trump and his policies, making him less of a good Mormon.