Showing posts tagged Anthony Weiner
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At least three months before the revelation that former Representative Anthony D. Weiner was sending lewd messages and photos to women online, a small group of self-described conservatives was monitoring his exchanges with women on Twitter. Now there is evidence that one or more people created two false identities on Twitter in order to collect information to use against him.

A Twitter user employing a fake name posed as a 16-year-old California high school girl in May and tried to get Mr. Weiner to be her prom date, according to people with knowledge of the communications and a review of documents. The person behind another Twitter account created under a fake name claimed to be her classmate and offered to provide the group with incriminating evidence about Mr. Weiner.

Fake Identities Were Used on Twitter to Get Information on Weiner

(I know this is a few days old, but it’s the first I’m hearing of it…or at least that I can remember…I’ve been on medication, so who knows?)

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Look, if a politician admits to, or is convicted of, a serious crime, or if his or her actions run completely contrary to the beliefs that they profess to have guided their voting, then there is good reason to demand their resignation. But a sex scandal that involved no illegal activity—that is not a firing offense. A politician may resign out of embarrassment, as Representative Anthony Weiner did, but that doesn’t justify other politicians from his own party, including the president himself, calling for his resignation…

Weiner’s resignation means little, except to him and his family, but the willingness of leading Democrats to cave in the face of the campaign against him will embolden the Breitbarts and Eric Cantors of the world to up the ante.

Weenie Democrats: Shame on the Party for Abandoning Anthony Weiner (via ryking)

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I just watched Keith O. on last night’s Fallon, discussing the Weiner resignation, and he said Weiner should just run for office in the special election and let his constituents make the decision.  I hope he does that!  Am looking forward to Monday…KO hinted that he may some Boehner rumors or news that will be visited??  ~whyinthehell

(Reblogged from diadoumenos)

Bill O'Reilly: David Vitter Must Go.

ryking:

socialistexan:

Of everyone in the world, I never expected Papa Bear to be the one to finally say it.

Every once in a while Shrill O’Lielly will say something reasonable so that Faux News can maintain the pretense of its “Fair and Balanced” slogan. I wouldn’t take Shrill seriously; he’ll say something appropriately venomous to offset this comment soon. — Ryking

Isn’t this the second time he’s said something sensible in, like, the past 6 months?  Oy vey, the world really is coming to an end.  ~whyinthehell

(Reblogged from diadoumenos)

Rep. Weiner decides to resign after Twitter scandal, pressure

ryking:

dingane1:

newanddifferentsun:

greenstate:

nom-chompsky:

closetospring:

ryking:

closetospring:

believeinmyths:

ryking:

Disappointing. Another Democrat thrown under the bus by his own party.

Shaking my head.

I’m shocked a man (ryking, that is) thinks another man who sent at least one woman private pictures without her consent shouldn’t face any repercussions and that any consequences are just “throwing him under the bus.” SO shocked, truly.

i have a vagina and i think he got thrown under the bus, too.

the party could have spoken out against his actions without calling for his resignation. even a suspension might have satisfied people who really think his job performance and cock shots are inextricably linked. 

i’m really confused about this whole thing. first weiner was a badass droppin science in debates and standing up for equality (and for women too!), next he’s sexually harassing women on the internet and resigning?! what?!

what does having a vagina have anything to do with it? nevertheless if you are anti misogyny you cant tolerate Rep. Weiner’s actions. because at least one of the photos is confirmed as being sent w/o consent. The real person thrown under the bus here is Gennette Cordova. She as well as her family have been harassed b/c wiener chose to lie.

This isnt just an issue of people feigning  moral outrage for political gain and getting up in someone’s private life.

the focus of this issue is fucked up 6 ways to sunday

The “vagina” comment stems from “closetospring’s” sexist insinuation that I was only supporting Weiner because I share his gender. Others came forward to say that they support Weiner too despite not sharing his gender. As for Cordova: Weiner claims he sent the picture in error to her and even if that’s not the case I disagree with characterizing a sexist act (if that’s what it was and not an accident) with a “hatred of all women because they’re women,” which is the definition of misogyny. Feminists (and feminazis especially) have devalued the word by overuse and incorrect use. — Ryking

*sigh*  Also (dingane1), women are not delicate little flowers, prone to being shattered at the sight of a photo of a cock fully covered by clothing.  To suggest so is insulting, and let’s stop making women into victims purely because they’re women.  If Gennette Cordova was bothered by it (meaning the photo she never even received), it’s up to her to say so…maybe she has and I missed it, but the only complaints I’ve heard from her are related to all the people harrassing her - whom do not include Anthony Weiner. 

And the people harassing her were not doing it “b/c weiner chose to lie”.  Cordova said, “The account that these [harassing] tweets were sent from was familiar to me; this person had harassed me many times after the Congressman followed me on Twitter a month or so ago. Since I had dealt with this person and his cohorts before I assumed that the tweet and the picture were their latest attempts at defaming the Congressman and harassing his supporters.”. 

And:  “There have never been any inappropriate exchanges between Anthony Weiner and myself, including the tweet/picture in question, which had apparently been deleted before it reached me…I do know that my life has been seriously impacted by speculation and faulty allegations. My reputation has been called into question by those who lack the character to report the facts.”

~whyinthehell

(Reblogged from diadoumenos)
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Okay, it’s entirely possible that Huma Abedin did not want her pregnancy and the young life of her first child to be dogged by this impossibly crazy and brainless tabloid tidal wave and so demanded this move. We can all accept Weiner putting his family first. But this cable-induced panic was the wrong weathervane by which to judge the political situation on its merits. In the first place, it would be over soon, once Weiner took himself out of the news, and into “rehab.” Months, and certainly years from now, this would be little more than a punch line for Old Jews Telling Jokes. (Trust me on this one.) After all, it’s not exactly a story with, um, legs. And Weiner has no constitutional responsibility to concern himself with the nervousness of his colleagues or even the president. I don’t mind those folks grandstanding for the crowd, denouncing perversion, sexting, and all other manner of sinful behavior. But Weiner broke no laws, nor any Congressional rules. And hence, when they started making motions to strip him of his committee assignments in order to pressure him to get out, they stepped over a line they should not have crossed…

[P]ictures of Anthony Weiner’s penis do not matter—or at least should not matter—to anyone but himself and his poor, pregnant wife. Weakness invites aggression. With their, um, flaccid response to Weiner’s boner, Democratic leaders have emboldened the particularly perverse form of politics of personal destruction practiced by the likes of Andrew Breitbart and his convicted criminal cohort James O’Keefe. This can only result in an orgy of such stories, each one more personally invasive and less relevant to the actual practice of politics than the first one. For these reasons, Democrats will rue the day they ran away from this particular member, instead of inviting him to stand up proudly for the principle of democratic representation without apology or embarrassment…

Weiner’s Dangerous Resignation (via ryking)

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I wish this could put an end to the “liberal media” myth forever.  I have to wonder whose right-wing pockets were dug into, to get so much relentless media attention on this.  At worst, Anthony Weiner seems to me to just be a bit of a horny exhibitionist, and this brouhaha was completely disproportionate.  The media turned a cinder into a raging fire - certainly on someone’s dime.  (Or, perhaps simply sans the cha-ching that gets handed out to keep GOP indiscretions quiet.)  ~whyinthehell

(Reblogged from diadoumenos)

Weiner admits communication with 17-year-old girl

Just saw this headline going around on Twitter.  The lunatics are running rampant.

“U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has been under fire after admitting to sending graphic photos to women online, acknowledged Friday that he had online contact with a 17-year-old girl but said the communications were “neither explicit nor indecent”.

“They were made aware of an alleged contact between Congressman Anthony Weiner and an area teen,” said Officer Tracey Duffy, a New Castle County police spokeswoman. “The teen has been interviewed and disclosed no information regarding any criminal activity.”

Let’s calm the fuck down.

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What makes the Anthony Weiner story somewhat unique and thus worth discussing for a moment is that, as Hendrick Hertzberg points out, the pretense of substantive relevance (which, lame though it was in prior scandals, was at least maintained) has been more or less brazenly dispensed with here. This isn’t a case of illegal sex activity or gross hypocrisy (i.e., David Vitter, Larry Craig, Mark Foley (who built their careers on Family Values) or Eliot Spitzer (who viciously prosecuted trivial prostitution cases)). There’s no lying under oath (Clinton) or allegedly illegal payments (Ensign, Edwards). From what is known, none of the women claim harassment and Weiner didn’t even have actual sex with any of them. This is just pure mucking around in the private, consensual, unquestionably legal private sexual affairs of someone for partisan gain, voyeuristic fun and the soothing fulfillment of judgmental condemnation. And in that regard, it sets a new standard: the private sexual activities of public figures — down to the most intimate details — are now inherently newsworthy, without the need for any pretense of other relevance.
Glenn Greenwald, Salon (via iteeth)

(Source: salon.com)

(Reblogged from diadoumenos)

Alexander Ryking: Weiner's Admissions

ryking:

He did send the original picture, but not to whom he intended. It was meant as a joke for the person he’d intended to send it to. However, Weiner panicked when the picture was posted in error to Twitter, and lied about not sending it. He has also exchanged other such pictures with other women prior to his marriage, and a few times even after his marriage. This is very disappointing to learn, but it’s gratifying to see that Weiner — unlike his Republican fellows caught in far worse scandals — had the integrity to finally come forward, admit his mistakes, and apologize for them (cough David Vitter cough John Ensign).

Despite all of that, Andrew Breitbart has not — despite claims I read that he made — been vindicated. Andrew Breitbart is a right-wing smear-merchant with a history of lying that is far more extensive and premeditated than Congressman Weiner’s.

It did not escape my attention that when Rachel pointedly asked if he would confirm that he wasn’t “doing creepy things on the internet”, he didn’t address that.  He seemed to be looking for opportunities to avoid lying.  And of course, unlike his GOP counterparts, Weiner doesn’t have the church-y, “family values” hypocrisy problem (at least as far as I know).  I have no problem with him, his photo, his statements or his overall behavior.

(Reblogged from diadoumenos)