Category Archives: Rep. Anthony Weiner

November 3, 2011 · 6:06 AM

Anthony Weiner’s Revenge

Glenn Beck gloated over ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner's fall from grace. But Weiner's work may be finally putting an end to Beck's sleazy gold company sponsor.

I hope that former Representative Anthony Weiner’s eagle-eyed focus on Justice Clarence Thomas’ corruption and deceit is the next thing to be exposed and dealt with…

Mother Jones

When prosecutors charged executives from the precious metals company Goldline with fraud on Tuesday, it marked an unusual victory for someone who hasn’t had many wins lately: former New York congressman Anthony Weiner.

Before he became infamous and ultimatelyresigned for tweeting photos of his private parts to women he met on the internet, Weiner had earned a reputation as a defender of consumer rights. Among his biggest campaigns was an effort to rein in sleazy gold dealers, from those who were taking advantage of the recession with dubious “cash for gold” deals to shady coin operations like Goldline, who, as Mother Jones reported last year, made millions by peddling their wares on the talk shows of right-wing hosts like Glenn Beck.

In May of last year, Weiner released a report highlighting many of the issues that ultimately ended up being part of the prosecutors’ charges Tuesday. His outspoken criticism of the company sparked a very public feud with Beck, who refused to distance himself from Goldline, which had been one of his most loyal sponsors. Beck asked his listeners to send in doctored photos of Weiner showing the congressman with “his nose as a wiener.” He said he welcomed any “Weiner facts” or photos of the congressman “in front of the wienermobile in front of his house, with his wiener dog, with his little wiener children.” Beck set up a website called weinerfacts.com just to post all the photos.

The day after Weiner resigned, Beck gloated about his nemesis’ downfall in a lengthy on-air rant, saying, “We’re going to have to do without, without one of the most unlikable figures in American political history. Remember, there is a guy who was capable of being completely unlikable. Even when he was arguing for healthcare, for 9/11 responders, he was unlikable…He could say anything, look and sound the exact same way. It didn’t matter if he was lying about Goldline or health care or his own wiener shots.”

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June 19, 2011 · 12:10 AM

Rep. Anthony Weiner’s Letter to Justice Thomas

When I wrote an article recently, which implied that Anthony Weiner’s trouble with the media may have started out due to his sharp focus on Justice  Clarence Thomas’ ethics problems, many people seemed to scoff at the notion that Weiner’s problems may have been retaliation for him exposing Justice Thomas.

A Letter from Congressman Anthony Weiner

In February, 2011, armed with all these concerns, and anticipating the release of Thomas’ 2010 financial disclosure forms that would reveal Ginni Thomas’ Liberty Central income for the first time, a Congressman drafted a letter that was co-signed by 74 members of Congress, taking the issue of recusal and conflicts of interest directly to Clarence Thomas’ door.

Dear Justice Thomas:

As an Associate Justice, you are entrusted with the responsibility to exercise the highest degree of discretion and impartiality when deciding a case. As Members of Congress, we were surprised by recent revelations of your financial ties to leading organizations dedicated to lobbying against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We write today to respectfully ask that you maintain the integrity of this court and recuse yourself from any deliberations on the constitutionality of this act.

The appearance of a conflict of interest merits recusal under federal law. From what we have already seen, the line between your impartiality and you and your wife’s financial stake in the overturn of healthcare reform is blurred. Your spouse is advertising herself as a lobbyist who has “experience and connections” and appeals to clients who want a particular decision – they want to overturn health care reform. Moreover, your failure to disclose Ginny Thomas’s receipt of $686,589 from the Heritage Foundation, a prominent opponent of healthcare reform, between 2003 and 2007 has raised great concern.

This is not the first case where your impartiality was in question. As Common Cause points out, you “participated in secretive political strategy sessions, perhaps while the case was pending, with corporate leaders whose political aims were advanced by the [5-4] decision” on the Citizens United case. Your spouse also received an undisclosed salary paid for by undisclosed donors as CEO of Liberty Central, a 501(c)(4) organization that stood to benefit from the decision and played an active role in the 2010 elections.

Given these facts, there is a strong conflict between the Thomas household’s financial gain through your spouse’s activities and your role as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. We urge you to recuse yourself from this case. If the US Supreme Court’s decision is to be viewed as legitimate by the American people, this is the only correct path.

We appreciate your thoughtful consideration of this request.

Sincerely,
ANTHONY D. WEINER

Weiner followed this letter up with the Conflicted Clarence Thomas campaign, highlighting Thomas’ conflicts due to Ginni’s work and income, collecting signatures from citizens who shared his outrage, and making life very uncomfortable for Thomas and his die-hard supporters.

H/t: Angry Black Lady - Please read her extensive article on this topic entitled:  Clarence Thomas – The Original #Weinergate

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June 18, 2011 · 10:13 PM

Justice Thomas Caught Up In Yet Another Ethical Tangle

Anthony Weiner’s last tweets before his political enemies decided to ‘take him down on Twitter’ seemingly had more red meat than anticipated. 

There is a back story in the Anthony Weiner fiasco that the media refused to acknowledge and that is:  the Justice Clarence Thomas ethics violations.  

Weiner was trying to bring the issue out in the open, but was side tracked with his own ethics issues…albeit a matter of personal behavior.  I won’t re-litigate the Weiner “scandal”, but I will say that he was on point in trying to reveal Ginni and Clarence Thomas’ ethics issues.  After all, Thomas is a Supreme Court Justice.

Will the media start paying attention now that the powers that be who wanted to see Rep. Weiner gone have moved on to other things?  Will the media finally do their job?

Here are Rep. Weiner’s last tweets on Justice Thomas just before all hell broke out for Weiner and Thomas went on with his ethically challenged life…

Lets review : for more than a decade #ConflictedClarenceThomas forgot nearly $800k on his filings. 4:43 PM May 27th via TweetDeck

Spouse of #ConflictedClarenceThomas has every right to work for whomever, but he must recuse himself. 4:33 PM May 27th via TweetDeck

For the first time #ConflictedClarenceThomas admits his spouse words for tea party org. 4:31 PM May 27th via TweetDeck


http://scr.bi/mwJ4IG
 #ConflictedClarenceThomas dumps his conflicts forms on friday before memorial day. #AhFreshAir 4:27 PM May 27th via TweetDeck

Think Progress

The New York Times reports on Justice Clarence Thomas’ longstanding — and highly fruitful — relationship with a leading conservative donor named Harlan Crow. Crow has donated nearly $5 million to Republican candidates and conservative organizations, including $100,000 to the anti-John Kerry Swift Boat Veterans for Truth — and he has also been very generous to the Thomas family:

The two men met in the mid-1990s, a few years after Justice Thomas joined the court. Since then, Mr. Crow has done many favors for the justice and his wife, Virginia, helping finance a Savannah library project dedicated to Justice Thomas, presenting him with a Bible that belonged to Frederick Douglass and reportedly providing $500,000 for Ms. Thomas to start a Tea Party-related group. They have also spent time together at gatherings of prominent Republicans and businesspeople at Mr. Crow’s Adirondacks estate and his camp in East Texas. [...]

Mr. Crow has not personally been a party to Supreme Court litigation, but his companies have been involved in federal court cases, including four that went to the appellate level. And he has served on the boards of two conservative organizations involved in filing supporting briefs in cases before the Supreme Court. One of them, the American Enterprise Institute, with Mr. Crow as a trustee, gave Justice Thomas a bust of Lincoln valued at $15,000 and praised his jurisprudence at an awards gala in 2001.

As the Times‘ article details, Crow also donated $1.3 million to help set up a museum that Thomas has been heavily involved in creating — an arrangement that could violate the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges if it wasn’t for the fact that the Supreme Court has exempted itself from this Code.

Sadly, Thomas’ relationship with Crow — and the even more troubling fact that he received a $15,000 gift from an organization that frequently files briefs before his Court — is merely the most recent example of many ethically questionable actions by Justice Thomas:

Unethical Fundraising: The Code of Conduct does not allow judges to “personally participate in fund-raising activities, solicit funds for any organization, or use or permit the use of the prestige of judicial office for that purpose,” except in very limited circumstances. Yet Justice Thomas attended a Koch-sponsored political fundraiser intended to fund the conservative infrastructure of front groups, political campaigns, think tanks and media outlets. This attendance is technically legal, because of the justices exemption from the Code of Conduct, but the justices claim that they have long followed a policy of “look[ing] to the Code of Conduct for guidance” in determining when they may participate in fundraising activities.

Failure to Disclose: Federal judges and justices are required by law to disclose their spouse’s income — thus preventing persons who wish to influence the judge or justice from funneling money to them through their husband or wife. Nevertheless, Thomas falsely claimed that his wife Ginni — a lobbyist and high-earning member of the professional right — earned no non-investment income whatsoever while she was working at the right-wing Heritage Foundation. When asked to explain this error, Thomas — who is one of the nine people responsible for issuing binding interpretations of the nation’s founding document — claimed that he “misunderst[ood] the filing instructions.”

Potential Conflict of Interest: Ginni Thomas used to lead an organization that vigorously opposes the Affordable Care Act, and she even briefly signed a memo calling that Act unconstitutional. Ginni also may be earning lobbying fees for working to have this Act repealed. A team of conservative lawyers recently argued that such activities by a judge’s spouse requires the judge to recuse from the lawsuits challenging the ACA, but a defiant speech Thomas gave to the conservative Federalist Society leaves little doubt that he will not recuse.

A Financial Stake in His Own Decisions?: Ginni Thomas may also be getting rich off of her husband’s vote in the infamous Citizens United decision — which freed corporations to spend billions of dollars to buy U.S. elections. Ginni’s new lobbying firm “offers advice on optimizing political investments for charitable giving in the non-profit world or political causes,” a line of work which has obviously become much more lucrative since Citizens United.

Any one of these instances would be troubling, but the fact that one justice has managed to accrue such a list is deeply disturbing and raises serious questions about what else Thomas might be hiding.

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June 17, 2011 · 12:29 PM

The Best Of Anthony Weiner

Thanks to The Conservative Lie.  I love this!

The Conservative Lie

Unlike Republicant perverts, Weiner did not drag his wife out in a show of “support”. Weiner apologised for “the embarrassment” that he caused and declared that he hoped to continue to fight for the causes dear to his constituents.

Republicants who have had numerous affairs with everything from animals to underage page boys, tend to get re-packaged for a Presidential campaign.

Liberal members of Congress, who never preach their morality over others do not get such leeway.

Weiner said “I make this apology to my neighbours and my constituents, but I make it particularly to my wife, Huma.”

Republicant Newt Ginrich who preaches morality for all but not for thee, in contrast told his cancer stricken wife – I divorce you for a younger fitter model.

Weiner declared he was resigning “so my colleagues can get back to work, my neighbours can choose a new representative and, most importantly, that my wife and I can continue to heal from the damage I have caused”

Republicant Mark Foley was at the same stage busy texting underage boys despite working on the committee to protect children.

Larry Craig was busy measuring bathroom stalls for his “wide stance”.

While we may joke, while we may laugh, I will miss the voice of Weiner in Congress, who to me had become more important after the gerrymandered loss of Rep Grayson.

Today, I am sad but Rep. Weiner has done the right thing. I feel for his family.

I hope he is and feels able to return to politics before too long. I for one will miss his voice.

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June 16, 2011 · 10:44 AM

Anthony Weiner to resign…

I still wish he would have stayed and stood up to the GOP hypocrisy on this issue.  However, most of his Democratic colleagues were the ones vociferously advocating Weiner’s resignation. 

I’m sure it was a decision that he and his wife discussed, so I wish them the best.

What gets to me most is that a slime ball like Andrew Breitbart won.

The Washington Post – Chris Cillizza

Embattled New York Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner will resign from the House on Thursday, according to a Democratic aide briefed on his plans.

Weiner called House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) on Wednesday night — as the two attended the White House picnic — to inform them of his plans, the source said.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.) told reporters Thursday morning that “it’s an unfortunate situation and I’ve said I didn’t condone his actions and I had said a while ago that I think he should step down.”

His resignation ends a weeks-long scandal over inappropriate online liasions with as many as six women.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) will be charged with calling a special election to fill the vacancy caused by Weiner’s resignation.

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June 7, 2011 · 6:28 PM

Trump: “Anthony Weiner is a bad guy. He’s a psycho”

Pot…meet kettle!

Salon

Donald Trump took to YouTube today to share his thoughts on Rep. Anthony Weiner and the fallout from his recent Twitter scandal. It seems the mogul and the congressman don’t have a great relationship.

“The fact is, I know [Weiner] very well,” Trump says in his short video statement. “He called me all the time looking for campaign contributions — it would never stop.” (“I don’t think I ever called him,” Trump adds.)

“Anthony Weiner is a bad guy. He’s a psycho. When this came out, I was not surprised at all. … I thought that his career was so important to him. The fact is, what he was doing was more important — or, probably, he just had a death wish.”

Trump’s conclusion? While Weiner is a “liar” who “should never, ever be allowed to run for office again,” “one good thing” has come out of the whole sorry situation: “I’ll never have to give him campaign contributions.”

See the whole video here:

 

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June 6, 2011 · 5:14 PM

Rep. Anthony Weiner Admits Sending Pictures; Apologizes. But first, Andrew Breitbart hijacked the press conference.

Crooks & Liars

He managed to grab the podium for about 15 minutes right at the time that Congressman Anthony Weiner was scheduled to have a press conference regarding alleged new photos released by Big Government this morning.

Breitbart claims he has a full frontal shot along with others, supplied by a young woman who sold them.

Weiner has just begun his presser. He is basically confessing to sending the original photo along with others.

Rep. Weiner just admitted that he sent the original photo along with the ones Breitbart published. He apologizes, says he will not resign, says he did not use government BlackBerrys to send the pictures. He says he is embarrassed, ashamed, and apologizes.

Posted on C&L at 4:34 pm

Video here…

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June 3, 2011 · 5:56 PM

Is Weiner Scandal Retaliation From Clarence Thomas?

As I’ve previously mentioned, I’ve been following the Rep. Anthony Weiner hoopla since last Friday.

I’ve asked myself the same question, is the Weiner scandal retaliation from the Clarance Thomas issue which Rep. Weiner exposed? 

Just before the faux scandal  about Weiner broke out on May 27th, Weiner had been tweeting  about Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ possible  ethics violations on his tax returns.

News One

As Rep. Anthony Weiner’s alleged crotch-shot dominates the news, information on possible motives to deface Weiner’s credibility are surfacing under the radar. And as it appears, Weinergate just might be a smear campaign executed by  conservative activists looking to defend Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

For months, Rep. Weiner has prompted Thomas to disclose the money his wife, Virginia Thomas made working for Liberty Central, a political organization that has openly opposed President Obama’s health care reform agenda. According to Weiner, Mrs. Thomas’ political affiliations put the justice’s impartiality on the bench in question.

Details of Virginia Thomas’ salary and other payments were disclosed Friday night as the press and most Americans prepared for the Memorial Day weekend.

The timing of Thomas’ disclosure quickly became ammunition for Weiner, who made it a point to shed light on the hush-hush disclosure via twitter, hurling numerous tweets at  #ConflictedClarenceThomas.

The tweets read:

“Pretty crazy that the Scout does a pre memorial day Friday dumping of its financial disclosure forms. #ButImOnTheCase”

“#ConflictedClarenceThomas dumps his conflicts forms on Friday before memorial day. #AhFreshAir”

“Spouse of #ConflictedClarenceThomas has every right to work for whomever, but he must recuse himself.”

A day after Weiner waged his assault, political pundit Anthony Breitbart broke a story on his site Big Government of a lewd picture sent to a 21-year-old college co-ed from Weiner’s Twitter account. The picture of an unidentified crotch, was sent to Breitbart from Twitter user @patriotusa76 as a screenshot, which @patriotusa76 said he captured reading Weiner’s feed moments before the tweet was deleted.

Breitbart ran with the photo and the story took off, while  Thomas’ disclosure became an after thought. Weiner defended himself by claiming his Twitter account was hacked, but his claims have yet to be substantiated.

As a result, pundits and conspiracy theorist are probing deep into the coincidence. The liberal website The Daily Kos published a story with evidence they claim proves Weinergate is a conservative-led smear campaign.

UPDATE:

Rep. Weiner’s Wife, Huma Abedin Not Worried About Infidelity

NEW YORK– Huma Abedin, Rep. Anthony Weiner’s wife isn’t worried about infidelity after the news of a lewd picture of his crotch was sent to a 21-year-old college student via Twitter, according to friend a of Abedin. 

“She’s not worried about infidelity,” said her friend. “She’s confident and comfortable in her marriage.”

Abedin, a former deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, married Weiner in July 2010.
More pictures…
 
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June 2, 2011 · 9:13 PM

Leaked Emails Show Tip To Breitbart About Weiner Tweet

The plot thickens…in Rep. Weiner’s favor!

TPMMuckraker

The ongoing scandal surrounding a lewd tweet sent from Rep. Anthony Weiner’s (D-NY) Twitter account took yet another turn for the weird Thursday as alleged e-mails between the person who first noticed the photo and conservative media guru Andrew Breitbart were leaked.

Breitbart first reported the Weiner story Saturday on his site Big Government using a screengrab from the person in question, Twitter user “@patriotusa76,” who lists his name on his account as Dan Wolfe and said he captured the image from Weiner’s feed before it was deleted. Weiner has said his account was hacked and a number of liberal blogs have pointed to Wolfe — who had a history of crudely taunting Weiner online — as a person of interest.

In response, Wolfe has tweeted denials that he hacked Weiner’s account or had anything to do with the publication of the photo.

Breitbart began to raise suspicions on his own Twitter feed about Wolfe’s involvement in the incident in recent days, calling on him to come forward about his role, and is currently linking to a post on his Big Government website that questions whether @patriotusa76 did, in fact, hack Weiner’s account.

[...]

One email, in part:

I have ALOT of personal problems I didn’t want to go into–but as I become the focus of this I am more and more afraid this will all come out. I want to tell you why I haven’t talked on the phone yet. 

I have an en exwife suing me for custody of our 2 kids and for lots of other stuff right now. Her attorneys are after everything I own.

I have an ex girlfriend who has mental problems causing issues for me at work .

My business is suffering as a result.

If my exwife’s attorney’s got a hold of a call recorded with me on it they’d have a field day with that. I want to try to avoid.

She had recorded me twice before. She worked with my exgirlfriend and had two calls recorded.

It has gotten me in a lot of legal trouble.

I am screwed. If this comes out along with everything I’m dealing with here — I don’t know what to do.

Continue reading…

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May 31, 2011 · 4:32 PM

“Weinergate”: Anatomy of a Social Media Scandal

I’ve been following this case about Rep. Anthony Weiner allegedly sending a 21 year old college student an alleged lewd picture of himself on Twitter, since it started late last week.  I chose not to comment on it until I saw this fiasco  was starting to reach the national media. 

Anything that has to do with the Andrew Breitbart blog, Big Government is automatically suspect, given their prior history of “set-ups“.

Daily Kos seems to have deciphered the entire mess here.  However, I have to look at their analysis the same way I do with those on the right analyzing President Obama’s birth certificate. 

Hopefully the truth will prevail soon.  For the most part I really like the Congressman’s stance on most issues.  I also follow him on Twitter.

This video is from the Los Angeles Times:

Time Magazine – Swampland

Here are the facts of the incident inevitably dubbed “Weinergate.” Late Friday night, a lewd photo was posted on the Twitter account of Congressman Anthony Weiner, a Democrat who represents parts of Brooklyn and Queens. It was included in a message sent to a Washington State college student. The tweet — as well as all photos connected to the account — was swiftly scrubbed, but a screen grab found its way to conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart’s “Big Government” website.

Weiner has repeatedly denied sending the photo; the Congressman says his Twitter and Facebook accounts were hacked. An aide said the Democrat has hired a lawyer. “We’ve retained counsel to explore the proper next steps and to advise us on what civil or criminal actions should be taken,” said spokesman Dave Arnold. “This was a prank. We are loath to treat it as more, but we are relying on professional advice.”

While you were enjoying the holiday weekend, the denizens of the Interwebs were hard at word trying to solve the mystery. Mediaite commissioned a “photoshop expert” to scour the image for evidence of forgery. A Reuters employee juxtaposed the photo data with those of previous images.

A blogger for Breitbart’s Big Government site dangled a lucrative $200(!) reward for evidence that helps identify the hacker, presumably so that it can use the offer as evidence of Weiner’s guilt if the culprit fails to materialize. Another pointed out that the “skinny legs” visible in the photo might match those attached to Weiner’s lanky frame. A blogger for the liberal Daily Kos, using screen grabs and Twitter timelines, marshaled a case that Breitbart and a conservative blogger had teamed up to take Weiner down. Both have denied it.

Continue reading here…

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