Anthony Weiner announces his resignation from Congress
In a news conference marked by loud heckling, embattled Rep. Anthony Weiner announced he would resign from Congress effective immediately, bowing to days of public pressure from members of his own party.
Weiner apologized for the “embarrassment” he had brought to his colleagues, his constituents and “most importantly” his wife.
“I had hoped to be able to continue the work that my constituents elected me to do,” Weiner said. “Unfortunately, the distraction that I myself have created has made that impossible. So today I’m announcing my resignation from Congress.”
He said he would leave Congress to allow his party to get back to the work of the American people and so that he and his wife could continue “to heal from the damage that I have caused.”
Weiner’s resignation came after nearly three straight weeks of drama, set off by the disclosure that he had sent lewd photo of his crotch to a 21-year-old Seattle college student over Memorial Day weekend.
The congressman initially claimed he had been hacked, but a week later, he admitted in a press conferencethat he had lied to his wife, his colleagues and to the media. He said he had sent the initial photo as a “joke” and admitted to risqué online dealings with at least six other women, several of whom subsequently came forward with lewd photos and texts they had exchanged with the congressman.
Weiner had repeatedly denied he would resign over the last week, rebuffing fellow Democrats who had urged him to leave Congress. On Saturday, top Democrats, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, went public with their resignation calls after word surfaced that police had investigated Weiner’s Twitter messages to a 17-year-old girl in Delaware.
Weiner, who denied his messages with the girl were “indecent,” announced he would enter “treatment”–and has been publicly out of sight until today, as Democrats considered options to put further pressure on the lawmaker to resign.
About an hour before the press conference, the disgraced congressman was spotted outside his apartment in Queens, New York, with his wife, Huma Abedin. A longtime aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Abedin married Weiner last July and is pregnant with the couple’s first child.
Abedin did not appear with him at his news conference in Brooklyn—though Weiner has insisted the two are not divorcing and that she has supported him throughout the scandal. Still, it’s unclear if Abedin was as supportive of her husband as he suggested. While Weiner told fellow Democrats his wife had pressed him to ride out the scandal and stay in Congress, sources tell Politico that Abedin is “disgusted” and has been huddled with Clinton advisers trying to make sense of her husband’s situation.
In his news conference today, he apologized to his wife repeatedly, thanking her for sticking by him.
A major concern for Weiner is likely how to support his family. The disgraced lawmaker has no career to fall back on. He may well return to his previously announced plan to continue seeking “treatment”—though it’s still unclear exactly what Weiner has been under treatment for. Weiner’s seat will now be the subject of a special election—though there are rumors that his district could be phased out by congressional redistricting.
Still, Weiner’s announcement today seemed to be laying the groundwork for a political return someday. He repeatedly thanked his “neighbors” and “constituents” and touted his accomplishments in Congress–though much of that was drowned out by hecklers, who yelled questions about Weiner’s endowment and physique.
Grieving New Mexico safety hauled off plane, booked for baggy pants
The Transportation Security Administration identifiesmany, many official threats to our skies, from contact lens solution to gel shoe inserts to throwing stars. Even in the wake of the “Underwear Bomber,” though, boxer shorts have been considered generally safe — unless, that is, as New Mexico safety Deshon Marman discovered Wednesday at San Francisco International Airport, airline personnel can see a little bit too much of them:
On Wednesday, San Francisco police got a call about 9 a.m. that someone was exposing himself outside a US Airways gate, Sgt. Michael Rodriguez said.
An airline employee spotted Marman before he boarded Flight 488, bound for Albuquerque, and complained that Marman’s pants “were below his buttocks but above the knees, and that much of his boxer shorts were exposed,” Rodriguez said.
The employee asked Marman to pull up his pants before he boarded the plane, but he refused, Rodriguez said. Marman allegedly repeated his refusal after taking his seat on the plane.
“At that point he was asked to leave the plane,” Rodriguez said. “It took 15 to 20 minutes of talking to get him to leave the plane, and he was arrested for trespassing.” Marman allegedly resisted officers as he was being led away.
Rodriguez told a local TV station that the 5-foot-11, 195-pound Marman, 20, “was not threatening anybody directly,” but the airline’s dress code forbids “indecent exposure or inappropriate” attire, and “being disruptive” in any fashion once on the plane may interfere with the crew. He was charged with trespassing, battery and resisting arrest, and was being held on $11,000 bail ahead of a scheduled arraignment Thursday afternoon.
Marman’s mother told the San Francisco Chronicle that her son was in “an emotionally raw state” after attending the funeral of a recently murdered high school friend on Tuesday, and was targeted by authorities “because of the way he looks – young black man with dreads and baggy pants.” She also said that Marman, an incoming juco transfer to New Mexico from the City College of San Francisco, hoped to honor his friend’s memory by making it to the NFL. She called him “a good kid trying to make it, and he’s going through a lot. And then this happens.” For what it’s worth, his official New Mexico bio describes Marman as a “true leader with a winning mentality.”
Thus ends the initial account of one of the dumbest incidents ever recorded on this site, which is saying a lot. There’s plenty to go around. There’s Marman, wearing a potentially provocative outfit in a very public place and (allegedly) defying people with the authority to haul him off a plane and into a cell over something as trivial as his pants. There’s security, seemingly creating a very real problem with significant consequences from an exceedingly small or nonexistent problem that presented no real threat and could have been prevented much earlier. There’s the predictable cesspool of racist comments beneath the story everywhere else it appears Thursday morning on the web.
Personally, I feel a little dumber for having spent a portion of my morning on it, and for actually feeling compelled to offer this parting advice, applicable to any situation you can possibly encounter in life: When in doubt, always pull your pants up.
Next Playboy has “runaway bride” sticker on cover
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, dumped by his fiancee days before their wedding, said Wednesday he is affixing “Runaway Bride” stickers over her picture on the cover of the magazine’s upcoming issue.
Hefner, 85, announced a day earlier that 25-year-old Crystal Harris had “a change of heart,” and that Saturday’s wedding ceremony for 300 people at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles had been canceled.
In an unfortunate coincidence, Harris appears on the cover of the July Playboy issue, hitting newsstands Friday, described as “America’s Princess … Introducing Mrs. Crystal Hefner.”
In the interests of journalistic accuracy, Hefner has moved quickly to remedy the situation.
“Recent events call for a special sticker on the July cover. Look for it on newsstands,” Hefner said on Twitter.
A big red sticker announcing “Runaway Bride In This Issue!” covers most of Harris’ bottom half.
Still visible is Hefner’s beloved cocker spaniel, which Harris took with her after the split. She is wearing his trademark sailor’s cap and smoking jacket, and holding a pipe.
A spokeswoman said the sticker would appear only on newsstand copies since issues have already been mailed to subscribers.
It was not clear why the couple split, although Hefner said there were no arguments. TMZ reported that Harris wanted a bigger weekly allowance and a career in the music business. Coincidentally she released a song, “Club Queen,” through iTunes Tuesday.
A two-hour TV special featuring wedding highlights was due to air July 13 on the women’s cable channel Lifetime. That has now been canceled.
The marriage would have been Hefner’s third. He said his second wife, former Playmate Kimberley Conrad, and her mother were among the friends who consoled him in recent days.
Hefner, known around the world by his nickname Hef, has championed sexual freedom and civil rights, published stories challenging McCarthyism and the Vietnam War, and backed gay causes and the legalization of marijuana.
Raised in San Diego by British parents, Harris met Hefner at his annual Halloween party in 2008. She moved into the mansion after a few weeks and became Playboy’s Playmate of the Month in December 2009.
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