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Weiner, Ignoring Party Leadership Calls To Resign, Checks Into Treatment Center

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Anthony Weiner (D-NY) will check into a mental health treatment facility, presumably for sexual addiction, and will seek a leave of absence from the House of Representatives.

READ: Weiner: “I Have Made Terrible Mistakes” But I Am Not Resigning

“Congressman Weiner departed this morning to seek professional treatment to focus on becoming a better husband and healthier person,” said Rep. Weiner’s spokeswoman, Risa Heller. “In light of that, he will request a short leave of absence from the House of Representatives so that he can get evaluated and map out a course of treatment to make himself well.

“Congressman Weiner takes the views of his colleagues very seriously and has determined that he needs this time to get healthy and make the best decision possible for himself, his family and his constituents.”

No other details are available at this time, according to The New York Times.

Weiner’s announcement came 90 minutes after statements issued by Congressional Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the chair of the Democratic Party, Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) who called on Weiner to resign his seat, after two-weeks of relentless reporting on Weiner’s sexually-charged tweets to women, including the distribution of photos of his crotch and genitals that were sent to women who followed him on Twitter.

In a week of high political drama, another news report emerged yesterday asserting that Weiner had sent private direct messages to a 17-year-old girl in Delaware, who had followed him on Twitter in April. Delaware officials investigated and the New York Post reports, “Weiner sent nothing obscene — and sent only two brief messages to her daughter about seeing him during an April school trip to the Capitol.”

It appears that the latest revelation involving a 17-year-old, regardless of the absence of any illicit contents, after two weeks of unseemly details about Weiner and his on-line sexual piccadeillos, has shocked many who have seen it all, and was just too much for Pelosi and Wasserman Schultz, two of the most powerful people in the Democratic Party, save President Barack Obama.

On Wednesday, Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA), the Democratic Congressional Committee recruiter of candidates for the 2012 cycle,  was the first Democratic Party offiicial to call on Weiner to resign, stating that “having the respect of your constituents is fundamental for a Member of Congress,” adding that in “light of Anthony Weiner’s offensive behavior online, he should resign.”

Others joined her, including former DNC chair Tim Kaine, now a candidate for the U.S. Senate in Virginia and others in the House Democratic Caucus.

Pelosi and Wasserman Schultz’s calls to resign are the end of the road for Weiner who has insisted all week that he will remain in office since his dramatic press conference on Tuesday, when he admitted he had lied to his wife Human Abedin, the public, to the senior leadership of the House of Representatives, President Bill Clinton who had married Weiner and his wife, just 11 months ago.

Weiner admitted that he had maintained on-line relationships with at least six women during the past few years; his wife was aware of these relationships prior to his marriage and that he had sent tweets and photos to some of these women since being married.

Tearfully, Weiner repeatedly apologized to his wife and insisted they were staying together and would work through their problems. Media this week also reported that Abedin is three months pregnant, although not confirmed by neither Weiner or his wife.

Abedin is the first political wife to not appear at her husband’s side, nor has she released a statement of support this past week.  Indeed, as deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, she left for a trip to the Middle East and Africa with Clinton on Monday and has not had any contact with media.

Weiner misled the public for nearly a week beginning May 26th, lying in media interviews that his Twitter account had been hacked when a photo of a man’s crotch covered by grey BVDs was sent from his account to a 21-year-old coed in Washington State, who followed Weiner on Twitter.  In interviews following this incident, Weiner curiously left open the possibility the photo could have been his, which raised more questions and sustained media interest and reporting.

Despite a strong opinion poll reporting 56 percent of respondents in Weiner’s district said he should not resign his office, conducted this week by  New York 1-Marist College, the announcements by Pelosi and Wasserman Schultz. appear to be the strongest message to Weiner that his presence is no longer welcome in the Democratic Party.

Weiner, in this midst of unprecedented political drama, appears to be calculating that he can “wait out” the calls for resignation by seeking mental health treatment.  This request for a short leave of absence by Weiner is not customary. A House member would have to submit the request for a short leave of absence on Weiner’s behalf and would need to be approved by unanimous consent.  It remains to be seen if the Republican-controlled House would be amenable to such an unusual request given Weiner’s circumstances.

A long time protege of Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who issued a compassionate statement on Tuesday, does not appear to stepping forward to save Weiner’s job.  Indeed, the lone voice of support this past week came from the discredited Harlem Congressman Charlie Rangel, who was disciplined by the House of Representatives last year for financial irregularities and was stripped of his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee, one of the most powerful committees in Congress.

 

Tanya L. Domi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, who teaches about human rights in Eurasia and is a Harriman Institute affiliated faculty member. Prior to teaching at Columbia, Domi worked internationally for more than a decade on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights, gender issues, sex trafficking, and media freedom.

Read Tanya Domi’s most-​recent previous article at The New Civil Rights Movement, “Weinergate: Las Vegas Bettors Playing The Odds.“

 

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‘Cartoon Villains’: Ag Secretary Under Fire for Medicaid-to-Farm-Work Plan

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July 8, 2025

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U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins has declared that the Trump administration’s massive deportation plans will continue without any amnesty for migrant farm workers, and insisted that “able-bodied” American adults who access Medicaid for health care insurance should be the ones to replace deported migrant farm workers. Critics have pushed back.

“I can’t underscore enough,” Secretary Rollins said at a press conference at the USDA on Tuesday, ahead of a White House Cabinet meeting. “There will be no amnesty, the mass deportations continue, but in a strategic way, and we move the workforce towards automation and 100% American participation.

She added that, “with 34 million people, able-bodied adults on Medicaid, we should be able to do that fairly quickly.”

READ MORE: ‘Stupid Liberals With Stupid Policies’: Trump Transportation Secretary Slams NYC

Secretary Rollins’ remarks do not take into account that nearly two-thirds (64%) of adults under 65 accessing Medicaid are already working, according to KFF. Another 28% are exempt due to illness, school, or care-giving responsibilities.

Her statistic of 34 million able-bodied adults on Medicaid is promoted by a right-wing think tank, the Foundation for Government Accountability, which advocates for reducing work restrictions on teenagers, and opposes expanding Medicaid.

Also, there is not large-scale farm work available in every state, nor, does it appear, that would many Americans want to perform that work, especially for low wages. Farm work rarely offers employer-paid health care. And farm work is often seasonal.

Critics blasted Secretary Rollins.

READ MORE: ‘Authoritarian’: Trump Treasury Chief Ripped for Call to Punish Private Citizen’s Speech

“They’re like cartoon villains,” wrote Bloomberg Opinion columnist Patricia Lopez. “So send Medicaid recipients in as field hands? Also, what is meant by strategic mass deportations? Just Blue states?”

“Lol,” exclaimed Yahoo News reporter Jordan Werissmann, “we’ve gone from ‘the USAID program analysts will make shoes’ to ‘people will pick strawberries to keep their health care’.”

“I have talked to literally thousands of MAGAs and have not found a single one who will work on a farm. Not one,” wrote New York Times bestselling author Ramit Sethi. “This is simply anti-immigrant bigotry from Republicans.”

“Ah, yes,” remarked journalist Lydia Polgreen, “those high paying farm labor jobs that include health insurance!”

“Did not think the script for 2025 would feature villains co-written by Charles Dickens and Pol Pot,” added historian Mike Cosgrave.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

 

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‘Stupid Liberals With Stupid Policies’: Trump Transportation Secretary Slams NYC

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July 8, 2025

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U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy escalated his attacks on New York City Tuesday morning, slamming the subway system as unsafe—despite double-digit declines in several major crime categories and an overall drop in transit crime. Duffy also lashed out at the city’s highly popular and successful six-month-old congestion pricing program, denounced its bike lanes, and took aim at liberal policies more broadly.

“I’m laughing, but it’s not funny,” Secretary Duffy told Fox News on Tuesday morning, when presented with some NYC crime statistics (video below). “So if you include the pickpocketers in those stats, yes, pickpocketers might have gone down, but assaults have gone up,” he said, “by 66% since 2019.”

“It’s dangerous to ride the subway in New York,” Duffy alleged. “And again, if you’re Kathy Hochul, the governor, or if you’re MTA, you don’t ride the subway. This is a war on Middle Americans, working Americans who have to ride the subway, and these people don’t seem to want to make it safe.”

Duffy declared reducing crime on the subways is “very simple,” and charged that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), which oversees the subway system, is “not willing to fight crime like they should.”

READ MORE: ‘Depraved Lie’: White House Claims Democrats Are Blaming Trump for Texas Floods

“By the way,” he continued, “when they talk about congestion pricing, yeah, it’s when they say it’s working, it’s working because they’re raising money. That’s why they say it’s working, but congestion is horrible still in the city. That’s because they’re taking roads for buses and for cars, and they’re making them bike lanes.”

He then blasted “liberals.”

“So when you take away lanes, you get more congestion, and then they complain about congestion,” Duffy charged. “It’s just stupid liberals with stupid policies.”

Duffy’s remarks come just days after President Donald Trump’s attack on New York City mayoral Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani. The President vowed, “I’ll save New York City, and make it “Hot” and “Great” again, just like I did with the Good Ol’ USA!”

Secretary Duffy has targeted New York City’s subway system almost from the start of his tenure. In March, from New Jersey, he blasted New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and threatened to pull federal funding from the MTA, which oversees the NYC subway.

“If you want people to take the train, to take transit, then make it safe, make it clean, make it beautiful, make it wonderful, don’t make it a s— h—, which is what she (Hochul) has done,” Duffy said in March, as NJ.com reported. “She could fix it in hours, not days, not weeks, and she chooses not to.”

He also insisted eliminating crime in the NYC subways, which stretch for 665 miles, is “simple.”

“This could be a non-issue, send law enforcement in, kick out the homeless, get rid of the drugs, put cops on the beat, making sure there is no violence, make sure people aren’t afraid of being punched or stabbed or pushed in front of a train,” Duffy said. “This isn’t hard — law enforcement is simple.”

READ MORE: ‘Authoritarian’: Trump Treasury Chief Ripped for Call to Punish Private Citizen’s Speech

According to the MTA, 5.5 million people ride the subways each weekday—nearly 1.7 billion riders annually. There are 472 stations, with the busiest, Times Square, seeing over 65 million riders each year.

In April, Duffy toured the NYC subway with Mayor Eric Adams, denounced the subways as homeless shelters, and again insisted they are unsafe, despite statistics that show crime has dropped by double digits.

The MTA has pushed back strongly.

“Subway crime is down, ridership is up, and congestion pricing is working,” said MTA chief of policy and external relations, John McCarthy, as the New York Post reported. “We look forward to Secretary Duffy wrapping his head around the facts.”

The Post also reported that “NYPD data shows that overall transit crime is down 3% through June 29, compared to the same period last year — 1,051 incidents to 1,083.”

Critics blasted Secretary Duffy.

“Millions of people ride the subway every day, and every one of them is braver than Sean Duffy, apparently,” wrote attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick.

“Millions of people safely ride the subways every day. Just saying,” declared Ken Lovett, a senior advisor to Governor Hochul and a former MTA senior advisor. “And the subways have always, and continue to be, a great equalizer, allowing those who can’t afford cars in NYC to get to their jobs, schools, or groceries.”

Another social media user asked, “Serious question- what role does the federal Secretary of Transportation have regarding local crime?”

Adrian Benepe, a senior executive with a career in government and non-profits, asked, “You scared to ride the subways, son? 5 million people—unarmed men, women and children—ride @NYCTSubway every day. Come to NYC and we will ride together so we can make sure scary bad guys don’t get you.”

David Neary, a filmmaker and archivist added, “There are very few things I do on a daily basis that feel more safe than riding the subway.”

Amateur historian and native New Yorker Russell Drew wrote, “The fact that Sean Duffy is a Cabinet member shows how far we’ve fallen. It used to be that Cabinet members showed professionalism and restraint. Now they go on Fox News to call Americans ‘stupid.’ Unprecedented partisanship. Unprecedented nastiness.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

 

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‘Depraved Lie’: White House Claims Democrats Are Blaming Trump for Texas Floods

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July 7, 2025

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An increasingly “anxious” White House is lashing out at Democrats and the media, accusing them—without providing evidence—of blaming President Donald Trump for the catastrophic Texas floods that have killed over 90 people, including many children.

Critics are questioning whether cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) by the Trump administration hampered accurate forecasting and slowed emergency warnings. Others point to failures by local officials to communicate timely alerts to the flood-stricken area along the Guadalupe River.

“Former federal officials and outside experts have warned for months that President Donald Trump’s deep staffing cuts to the National Weather Service could endanger lives,” the Associated Press reported Monday afternoon. “The Trump administration has cut hundreds of jobs at NWS, with staffing down by at least 20% at nearly half of the 122 NWS field offices nationally and at least a half dozen no longer staffed 24 hours a day. Hundreds more experienced forecasters and senior managers were encouraged to retire early.”

READ MORE: ‘Authoritarian’: Trump Treasury Chief Ripped for Call to Punish Private Citizen’s Speech

“The website for the NWS office for Austin/San Antonio, which covers the region that includes hard-hit Kerr County, shows six of 27 positions are listed as vacant,” the AP also reported, noting, however, that there were the usual number of staff members on hand the night of the flood.

Now, veteran foreign policy journalist Laura Rozen writes that the White House is “very anxious that administration/DOGE massive staffing cuts to national weather service and related agencies not be seen as connected to flooding deaths in Texas, inadequate warning.”

Senate Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on Monday, in a letter to Roderick Anderson, the Commerce Department’s acting inspector general, urged him to immediately “open an investigation into the scope, breadth, and ramifications of whether staffing shortages at key local National Weather Service (NWS) stations contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property during the deadly flooding,” The Hill reported.

“He noted that The New York Times reported that key forecasting and coordination positions at the San Antonio and San Angelo offices of the NWS were vacant at the time of the Friday storm,” The Hill also reported. “Those local offices were missing a warning coordination meteorologist, a science officer and a senior hydrologist, among other ‘vital forecasting, meteorology and coordination roles.'”

Only once in Schumer’s letter does he mention Trump, and it is not to blame him for the flooding.

But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday strongly suggested Senator Schumer was indeed directly blaming Trump for the flooding.

READ MORE: ‘What First Amendment?’: 140 EPA Workers Suspended After Opposing Trump Agenda

“Unfortunately, in the wake of this once in a generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer and some members of the media. Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning,” Leavitt told reporters (video below).

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz on Monday also falsely claimed that President Trump is being blamed for natural disasters, telling reporters, “you see that with a hurricane, with a tornado, with a wildfire, with this flooding, where people immediately say, ‘Well, the hurricane is Donald Trump’s fault.'”

Critics pushed back at the White House.

“Nobody is blaming Trump for the floods,” wrote journalist and environmentalist Michael Dominowski. “But he did decimate National Weather Service forecast offices, despite being told doing so would hamper the agency’s ability to accurately predict storms. He did it anyway. Look at what happened. Cause/effect is a thing.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Democratic Strategist Warns Trump Could Try to Impose Martial Law Before 2026 Midterms

 

 

 

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