Obama Nominates Ashton Carter as Defense Secretary

President Barack Obama has nominated former deputy Pentagon chief Ashton Carter to become the next secretary of defense. Obama announced the choice Friday at the White House.

Carter, a physicist and high-tech weapons expert, served as deputy defense secretary from 2011 to 2013. Prior to that, he was the Pentagon's top weapons buyer for two years.

Calling him by his nickname "Ash," Obama said Carter brings "a unique blend of strategic perspective and technical know how."

He is said to hold bipartisan support in Washington, and if confirmed by the Senate, will replace Chuck Hagel, who resigned under pressure last month after just two years on the job.

Appearing alongside President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden Friday, Carter said if confirmed, he pledges to give Obama his most "candid" strategic and military advice. He also addressed the nation's military personnel, saying he promises to serve the nation with "the same unflinching dedication" they demonstrate every day.

President Obama announces that Ashton Carter (left) is his nominee for U.S. Defense Secretary as Vice President Biden looks on.

Hagel did not appear at the White House for the announcement, with a U.S. defense official saying he did not want to distract from the focus on Carter.

But the official said Hagel looks forward to working to ensure a speedy confirmation process for Carter and a successful transition at the Pentagon.?

White House officials have publicly denied forcing Hagel to resign, but other officials have said off the record that was the case.

Hagel was the only Republican in Obama's Cabinet. He is the first Cabinet member to leave office since the Republicans won the Senate in November, giving the party control of both houses of Congress in January.

Carter was seen as the frontrunner for the Pentagon chief position after several others removed themselves from consideration, including Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, Senator Jack Reed and ex-Pentagon official Michele Flournoy.

Unlike Hagel and every other Pentagon leader in the past three decades, Carter has never served in the military or Congress. The last defense secretary without experience in uniform or politics was Harold Brown, who led the Pentagon from 1977 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Carter is "somebody that certainly deserves and has demonstrated strong bipartisan support for his previous service in government."

As Hagel's deputy, he oversaw a $600 billion budget and 2.4 million civilian and military personnel.

Earlier, from 2009 to 2011, Carter served as undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. In the 1990s, he served under President Bill Clinton as assistant defense secretary for international security policy.

Carter earned bachelor's degrees in physics and medieval history from Yale University and received his doctorate in theoretical physics from Oxford University.

Some information for this report comes from AP, AFP and Reuters.

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Malaika Bobino: The Mrs. Carter Show

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The accolades, achievements and empire built by this woman is nothing compared to the love and appreciation she gives back to her fans. Beyonce Knowles Carter doesn't have to do much to put on a show and Wednesday night she let her music speak loudly.

The Mrs. Carter show stopped through the Bay Area and the sellout crowd was not disappointed. The fans joined in sung every song Beyonce belted out. Despite her countless hits, she didn't disappoint when selecting her favorites for the show.

Mrs. Carter kicked off the show in royal fashion, on the jumbotron Beyonce donned an all white Queen costume sitting on her throne while her dancers bowed to her greatness. Her all woman band, dressed in black took the stage first and began playing while Beyonce sauntered on the stage to sing a few songs from her 4 album ("Run the World" and "End of Time").

To accompany her phenomenal dance moves, she had ten backup dancers. Eight women and two male twins with funky afros and abs of steel. The only two males in her show performed pop-locking and break-dancing moves that brought life to the stage.

Anyone who attended a Beyonce concert in the past would be surprised on how tamed this show was. With her ten wardrobe changes, a video montage was shown of Beyonce throughout the show. She also showed commercials of her endorsements with Pepsi and H&M.

While the idea was clever, it put the crowd back in their seats as if they were home watching the Super Bowl. Probably not the best idea for the amount of time she was off the stage. However, her fashion and singing made us all forget the time in between each set.

One of her memorable performances was when she wore a navy blue sequined catsuit and laid across the black grand piano before being lifted across the floor to the second stage opposite of the arena to perfume "Love on Top."

The finale was something that will have everyone talking about. A tribute to the late Whitney Houston was more than classy, it was an honor. Beyonce sung "I Will Always Love You" before ending the show with her own hit "Halo." She thank the audience and provided a humbling video of her accomplishments in life which included singing for President Obama and holding her child.

Follow Malaika Bobino on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MalaikaBobino

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Will Helena Bonham Carter Put Lindsay Lohan To Shame?

Forget Lindsay Lohan -- it's Helena Bonham Carter's turn to try to impress as Elizabeth Taylor. The queen of eccentricity marvels in the new trailer for the BBC America movie "Burton and Taylor." The clip bears a similar tone to Lohan's recent Lifetime movie "Liz & Dick," but with Bonham Carter and Dominic West in the title roles, the film has a chance to set itself apart from the distater we saw in November. Watch for yourself and decide whether you have more hope for this depiction, which centers on the couple's 1983 revival of the Noel Coward play "Private Lives." The movie is set to premiere this fall.

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Jimmy Carter: Forgive Paula Deen

In a CNN interview Friday, former President Jimmy Carter came to the defense of embattled chef Paula Deen, whose food empire has crumbled in the wake of a polarizing racism scandal.

Deen and Carter both grew up in rural towns in Georgia, about 40 miles apart. "Turns out, that they are actually good friends," said CNN's Suzanne Malveaux.

"She was maybe excessively honest in saying that she had in the past, 30 years ago, used this terrible word," Carter told CNN. "I think she has been punished, perhaps overly severely, for her honesty in admitting it and for the use of the word in the distant past. She's apologized profusely."

Carter said that he advised her to "let the dust settle and to make apologies." "My heart goes out her," he said, "but, of course, there's no condoning the use of a word that abuses other people."

Watch President Carter's interview above.

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