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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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News

Trump Campaign Furious Walz Using Trump’s Own ‘Reckless, Dangerous Rhetoric’ Against Him

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October 14, 2024

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The Trump campaign lashed out at Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on Monday after the Democratic vice presidential nominee quoted the Republican presidential candidate who repeatedly over the weekend has been saying he would like to use the U.S. military against American citizens.

As NCRM reported, the Republican presidential nominee said he thinks the U.S. Armed Forces should be used against Americans who oppose him, called his critics “the enemy from within,” and declared they are more dangerous than America’s greatest foreign adversaries, including Russia, China, and North Korea.

“I always say we have the outside enemy, so you can say China, you can say Russia, you can say, Kim Jung-Un,” Trump told supporters at an Aurora, Colorado rally on Friday. But, he added: “It’s the enemy from within, all the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That’s a bigger enemy than China and Russia,” he said as the audience cheered.

READ MORE: MAGA Furious After Kamala Harris Agrees to Fox News Interview

Then, on Sunday, Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo of his desire to use armed forces against Americans on Election Day.

“I think the bigger problem are the people from within, we have some very bad people, we have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think they’re the — and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary by the military.”

Trump War Room, the official social media account of the Trump campaign, posted video of Walz on Monday speaking with supporters.

“Donald Trump over the weekend was talking about using the U.S. Army against people who disagree with him,” Walz had said. “Just so you’re clear about that, that’s you. That’s what he’s talking about. This is not some mythical thing out there. He called it the ‘enemy within.'”

The Trump War Room social media account wrote: “Tim Walz peddles a disgusting lie that President Trump will use the U.S. Army against his political opponents: ‘That’s you, that’s what he’s talking about.’ This is reckless, dangerous rhetoric,” the campaign stated. “Tim should be ASHAMED of himself.”

READ MORE: ‘Is He OK?’: Trump’s Dark of Night Rage Posting Backfires

See the videos below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘Fascist to the Core’: Trump’s Top General Slams Ex-President as ‘Most Dangerous Person’

 

 

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News

MAGA Furious After Kamala Harris Agrees to Fox News Interview

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10 hours ago

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October 14, 2024

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The right wing freakout is in full force after Fox News announced Vice President Kamala Harris will sit down for an interview with then network’s chief political anchor Bret Baier on Wednesday in the critical battleground state of Pennsylvania.

It will be the Democratic presidential nominee’s first official Fox News interview, after entering the race in July, less than three months ago.

“While Trump became the first major presidential nominee to back out of the traditional pre-election ’60 Minutes’ interview, Kamala Harris has agreed to sit down with Fox News for an interview this week,” noted Zeteo News’ Justin Baragona.

“Harris has upped her media appearances recently, having sat down with Stephen Colbert, 60 Minutes‘ Bill Whitaker and Howard Stern, among other personalities,” Deadline reports. “But she’s also been urged by some supporters to make an appearance on Fox News, populated by voices on the right, even though Baier is on the network’s news side. With an average of 2.3 million viewers, Special Report has ranked among the most watched cable news programs.”

READ MORE: ‘Is He OK?’: Trump’s Dark of Night Rage Posting Backfires

Trump recently did pull out of a previously agreed-to interview with CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” and has refused to do any more debates with Harris after losing the first one on ABC News. Before that debate Trump had suggested a condition of him participating in the ABC debate would be Harris had to agree to two others, which she did. Next week she will appear in a CNN town hall, which originally was to be a debate until Trump pulled out.

“As of today, it has been **one month** since Trump’s been interviewed by a mainstream media outlet,” noted Harris campaign spokesperson Ian Sams, “as he has backed out of 60 Minutes and refuses to debate again.”

“Meanwhile Harris is willing to even go on Fox,” he added.

During the 2024 campaign Trump has done virtually no interviews with mainstream media outlets, avoiding The New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and MSNBC. He did sit down with NBC News’s “Meet the Press” for Kristen Welker’s first interview as the show’s new moderator last year in September.

READ MORE: ‘Fascist to the Core’: Trump’s Top General Slams Ex-President as ‘Most Dangerous Person’

The Nation’s John Nichols commented that Trump is “running scared.”

Trump supporters “swarmed all over Fox’s Bret Baier today like he was a Capitol Police Officer on J6 after he posted on Twitter that he will be interviewing Kamala Harris this Wednesday,” MeidasTouch News reports. “Baier received 2,200 comments on his tweet announcing the interview in just the first hour after he posted it.”

“Most of the MAGA comments to Baier follow a consistent theme – that they lost all faith in Baier after his tough interview embarrassed Trump last year, and that they expect him to go into this interview with guns blazing to win back their favor. They also mentioned some of the previous Harris interview conspiracies – that her earrings were airpods where she was getting the answers, that she was given the questions ahead of time, that Baier and Fox called the 2020 election too early for Biden, etc.,” MeidasTouch editor-in-chief Ron Filipkowski reported.

Journalist Mike Rothschild, who has written books on right wing conspiracy theories, observed: “This is smart from the VP. She has nothing to lose by appearing on the news arm of Fox News (as opposed to the screeching infotainment arm) and if she breaks through to a fraction of their viewership, it’s worth it. It’s almost like the Harris campaign knows what it’s doing.”

The news Harris will appear on Fox News comes on the heels of one of that outlet’s former top hosts, Geraldo Rivera, denouncing Donald Trump and endorsing the Vice President’s run for President.

READ MORE: Elon Musk’s X Engaged in a ‘Pattern of Election Interference’ to Help Trump: Reports

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OPINION

‘Is He OK?’: Trump’s Dark of Night Rage Posting Backfires

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13 hours ago

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October 14, 2024

By

After a weekend of speeches dehumanizing immigrants and threatening to use the U.S. military on Americans who oppose him, Donald Trump in a 1 AM dead of night post lashed out at his Democratic presidential opponent in what some are saying was projection.

“I believe it is very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at 1:12 AM. “Her actions have led many to believe that there could be something very wrong with her. Even 60 Minutes and CBS, in order to protect Lyin’ Kamala, illegally and unscrupulously replaced an answer she had given, which was totally ‘bonkers,’ with another answer that had nothing to do with the question asked. Also, she is slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions. We just went through almost four years of that, we shouldn’t have to do it again!”

Late Monday morning Trump posted the same message on the social media site X. He also recently called Vice President Harris “retarded,” according to The New York Times.

“So, let me get this straight,” noted Zeteo News media columnist Justin Baragona. “The 78-year-old GOP presidential nominee, who has been showing serious signs of age-related decline, refuses to release his medical records — but he is now demanding his much younger opponent take a cognitive test?”

READ MORE: ‘Fascist to the Core’: Trump’s Top General Slams Ex-President as ‘Most Dangerous Person’

SiriusXM host Michelangelo Signorile observed, “Trump is furious that Harris is saying Trump’s ‘staff’ won’t let him do 60 Minutes or release his medical records.”

“Claiming Harris is ‘slow and lethargic’ is a heavy lift even for this pathological liar and his MAGA mob.”

The Harris campaign mocked Trump in response.

“Trump posts at 1:12am that VP Harris must take a cognitive test,” wrote campaign spokesperson Ian Sams. “As he refuses to release his medical records, sit with 60 Minutes, or debate her again— instead retreating solely to rambling rallies where he’s increasingly making no sense.”

“Is he okay?”

READ MORE: Elon Musk’s X Engaged in a ‘Pattern of Election Interference’ to Help Trump: Reports

Republican Voters Against Trump, a project of the Republican Accountability PAC declared, “It’s always projection with Trump.”

Before Trump’s post on Saturday, MSNBC’s Ayman Mohyeldin told viewers: “For Trump and his party, the strategy in this final stretch to the election is about one thing and one thing only: projection.”

“Everything Trump and his party accuse Democrats of doing ultimately ends up being a cynical projection of themselves, from defending democracy to free speech, reproductive rights, and free and fair elections.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump Campaign an ‘Influence Operation’ Says Former State Dept. Official — Experts Agree

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