Tag Archives: Anthony Weiner

Tiring of blowhards and gasbags

June 26, 2019 kanelis2012

A right-wing blowhard is calling it a legislative career in Texas at the end of his current term. Good for state Rep. Jonathan Stickland of Bedford. Hit the road, dude and don’t let the door hit in the wherever on your way out.

I wish more of them righties would call it quits. I also have my fair share of peeves at the other end of the spectrum.

The point of this post is seek to find statesmen and women who speak to us in measured tones. Who don’t feel the need to rush toward a TV camera and a microphone whenever they present themselves. Who know what the hell they’re talking about before words start flying out of their pie hole.

They used to joke in Washington that the “most dangerous place was between so-and-so and a TV camera.” That punchline used to include, say, Republican U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas. He turned over that particular honor partially to one of his successors in the Senate, fellow GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, also of Texas.

Then we had former U.S. Rep. Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner, the New York Democrat who destroyed his public career by getting involved with “sexting” with underage girls. In his day, he could bloviate with the best of ’em.

My most recent “favorite” blowhard/gasbag wasn’t even a politician, although he once had aspirations of becoming one. That would be lawyer Michael Avenatti, the former attorney for Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who had that fling (allegedly) with a future president of the United States in 2006 and then took a $130,000 hush money payment from Donald Trump to keep quiet about an event that Trump said never happened. Weird, yes?

Avenatti could be seen on every cable TV news show under the sun. Until he got indicted for mail fraud! Now he has more or less, um, vanished.

Then, of course, we have Donald Trump. Enough said about that guy.

Social media have played a huge role in this phenomenon. These politicians/celebrities/publicity hounds use social media to promote themselves and jump at any chance to be seen and heard.

I am just one American who has tired of the blowhards who cannot keep their traps shut. Yes, my bias compels me to refer mostly to the right-wing goofballs. However, I have taken some of the lefties to task for being way too, um, available to the media that clamor for a sound bite from them.

I am an old-fashioned guy in this respect: I want my elected representatives to be seasoned, mature, comfortable in their own skin and rational when they seek to be heard.

The blowhards can simply keep their mouths shut.

legal news, national news

Anthony Weiner … once more

September 25, 2017 kanelis2012

So help me, I don’t know why I’m even remotely interested in Anthony Weiner.

But I am. Remotely interested, that is.

The former loudmouth New York Democratic congressman is facing a 21-month prison sentence for knowingly sending sexually explicit text messages to an underage girl.

This clown has destroyed his marriage to a brilliant political operative. He has shredded his own political career. He has made a mockery of himself and disgraced the New York congressional district voters who placed their trust in him to obey the law. Of the consequences mentioned here, I suppose the only one that gives me a mild case of regret is constituent trust he destroyed because of his shameful conduct.

Weiner is going to appeal his sentence. He ought to be thankful that’s all he got from the federal judge, Denise Cote. He could have faced a longer prison term. He’s also going to serve a three-year probationary period.

Here is now National Public Radio reported his sentencing.

Weiner made a bit of a national name for himself initially because he was such a gasbag while serving in the U.S. House of Representatives. There was a particularly bizarre moment on the House floor when congress members were debating the cost of health care for first responders. Weiner exploded in anger that some Republicans opposed spending the amount of money that Weiner wanted spent.

This guy’s “sexting” escapades eventually became part of the story involving his wife and her work with the Clinton campaign during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Whatever. He’s gone to trail. He’s been convicted. The judge has sentenced him to nearly two years in a federal lockup.

Please … now. Just go away.

national news

‘Carlos Danger’ pleads guilty; now, goodbye

May 20, 2017 kanelis2012

A part of me wants to feel a bit of compassion for former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner.

Another part of me, though, resists that temptation.

Weiner, aka “Carlos Danger,” today pleaded guilty to sending sexually explicit text messages to a 15-year-old girl.

“Danger” fell off the wagon after he got caught sending messages and obscene videos to women. That earlier scandal forced him to resign from Congress. He went into hiding and then re-emerged in the “sexting” escapade.

The one-time Democratic hot-shot loudmouth — who used the Carlos Danger moniker while sending obscene texts and videos as some sort of disguise — has been disgraced. I hope it’s for the final time. I no longer want to read about this guy, or get lured into commenting in blog posts about him.

He once was married happily to Huma Abedin, one of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most trusted advisers. Abedin filed for divorce — imagine that! — after the sexting matter became known.

Weiner could have faced a 10-year prison term. His guilty plea likely will result in a lesser sentence. He might not even serve any time behind bars.

I don’t really care if he spends time in the slammer. All I do care about is that he disappears from public view … for good!

local news, national news, political news, State news

Let’s hope big early vote equals big overall vote

October 31, 2016 kanelis2012

Texas elections officials are beside themselves.

Early voting is setting records throughout the state, they say. In the part of the state where I live — the Panhandle — Potter County elections officials also report record turnout for the early vote.

Now, the question: Does the big early vote translate to a larger overall vote? My concern is that record-setting early vote means only that more Texans are voting early … period!

We hear similar reports around the country, where state and local elections officials are crowing about all this early-vote interest.

What in the world is driving it?

Well, I suppose it might have something to do with the news of late this past week, with FBI Director James Comey’s announcement that he might have some more information to reveal about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton’s e-mail controversy. Legal experts across the spectrum do not anticipate any penalty will come Clinton’s way. The focus now appears to be on Clinton aide Huma Abedin and her estranged dirtbag husband — Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner and his hideous sexting scandal.

Democrats want voters to cast ballots early — perhaps before they change their mind. Republicans are seizing on it, too, before more stuff comes out about their nominee, Donald J. Trump.

As for the Texas turnout, the Lone Star State generally ranks among the poorest turnout states in the country.

I thought early on that because of the two major-party candidates’ low esteem among voters that this year’s presidential election turnout might set an all-time low.

I would be delighted to be wrong about that prediction, too.

national news, political news

Weiner saga getting weirder — if that’s at all possible

September 2, 2016 kanelis2012

The hits just keep on coming for Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner.

New York state child protection authorities are now investigating whether the former Democratic congressman might have endangered his young son by putting him in a “sexting” picture that Weiner sent to a woman he had never met.

The picture shows the man known formerly to other women as “Carlos Danger” lying in his skivvies next to a boy thought to be the son he had with top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin.

Abedin has left her husband, announcing a separation hours after the latest sexting reports were made public.

This story probably ought to just go away. Weiner ought to just disappear, never to be seen or heard from in the public domain ever again. Abedin ought to be able to go on with her life as a key aide and adviser to the Democratic presidential nominee.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/child-welfare-agency-launches-investigation-into-anthony-weiner/ar-AAiomPQ?li=BBmkt5R

It has captured the attention — if not the imagination — of many Americans. Why? Weiner once was considered a rising political star. He was a brash congressional loudmouth who then quit Congress when reports first surfaced of his penchant for showing off his manhood to women other than his wife.

Yes, I wish this clown would disappear.

First, though, New York state authorities need to determine if anything untoward occurred with this man and his son.

In the meantime, many of Americans — likely yours truly included, I’m sad to admit — will stay tuned to see how this story plays out.

I’m hoping to learn that nothing bad happened. That would save the youngster from a lot of pain. It also would save the rest of us from having to read about the boy’s idiotic dad.

media news

World is watching … through social media

August 22, 2016 kanelis2012

Magnified illustration with the word Social Media on white background. — .

A wise man — or woman, perhaps — once said, “You can judge someone’s character by what they do when no one is looking.”

Whoever coined that axiom obviously lived long before the advent of social media.

These days, with virtually everyone over the age of 6 packing cameras in their cell phones, you have zero privacy. You cannot do anything at all without the potential of someone capturing it for posterity — or for gossip purposes.

Gee, do I have anyone in mind as I offer this tidbit? I’m thinking at this moment of Ryan Lochte, the champion U.S. Olympic swimmer and former golden boy of the American Olympic team.

He and some of his swim team pals were video recorded acting up in a Rio de Janeiro gas station. They reported that someone robbed them; it turned out they, at the very least, “embellished” their version of what happened.

A security camera recorded their shenanigans. Those eagle eyes, too, are part of the modern world that makes it virtually impossible to keep the inquisitive among us from staying current with what we do. It’s especially true if you’re a sports superstar, a politician, an actor or a reality TV star.

Do you remember when former Democratic U.S. Rep. Anthony “Carlos Danger” Weiner decided to take photos of his manhood and distribute them via social media to women who are not his wife? Did that numbskull ever consider that someone, somewhere, somehow would obtain pictures of Danger and send them out for the rest of the world to see?

How about the cops who beat the daylights out of motorists, only to have their misconduct recorded by passersby? Or the cop who shot the man to death in the back — as he was running away? That, too, was recorded by an onlooker.

The examples are literally endless.

This is the price any of us must realize we pay when we decide to act up — or act out — in public. It’s especially true if you’re a celebrity.

I don’t know about you, but I long ago vowed to be on my best behavior all the time whenever I venture outdoors. The world is watching … even little ol’ me.

national news, political news

One’s own words taste badly

September 5, 2015 kanelis2012

Have you ever noticed that the taste of your own words is, well, quite bitter?

You want to spit them back. But you can’t. You have to ingest them and they sit in the pit of your stomach like the proverbial rock.

I’m having to do some of that these days as I look upon the Republican Party presidential field and wonder: How is it that Donald Trump remains such a commanding figure in that field?

I made a prediction earlier this summer that I am now having to choke down.

I said Trump’s campaign had ended effectively after he denigrated John McCain’s Vietnam War service and the heroism he demonstrated while being held as a prisoner of war for more than five years.

“I like people who aren’t captured, OK?” Trump said.

It was tasteless.

What happened then? His poll numbers went up!

Then came the GOP joint appearance with nine other candidates. Fox News’s Megyn Kelly asked Trump to react to suggestions that he is anti-woman, that he’s made highly offensive remarks about women, calling them all kinds of unflattering names. “Only Rosie O’Donnell,” Trump said.

After the event, he went after Kelly, demanding she apologize to him. For what? For asking a perfectly legitimate question?

That would doom his candidacy, or so I thought. Silly me. His poll standing went up even more.

He held a rally and started criticizing a close aide of Hillary Clinton and called her husband — former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner — a “perv” and a “world-class sleazebag.” Yes, Weiner — aka “Carlos Danger” — who sent images of his manhood to women other than his wife behaved in a disgusting manner.
Then he stumbled over a question from well-regarded conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt about the leader of a terrorist organization. He then accused Hewitt of tossing a “gotcha” question at him and went on TV the next morning to call Hewitt a “third-rate radio announcer.”

At every turn, Trump’s answers to problems have been shallow, callow and hollow. He has presented nothing — not a single thing — of substance.

But his poll numbers? They keep going up.

Yep, this might be the year when conventional wisdom — which usually requires some actual seriousness from candidates for the presidency of the United States is tossed aside.

That means folks like yours truly are going to choke on their own words. I’m tellin’ ya, they don’t go down well … at all.

political news

Now it’s on to the ‘perv’ and ‘sleazebag’

August 30, 2015 kanelis2012

You must hand it to Donald Trump.

He hits every hot button there is to hit. And he doesn’t miss very often.

His latest target if Huma Abedin, aka Mrs. Anthony Weiner.

Abedin is a close adviser and confidante to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who’s being rocked by these e-mail revelations relating to the time she served as secretary of state.

But it wasn’t so much Abedin who took the brunt of Trump’s latest trash-talking tirade, delivered Friday in Massachusetts. It was Abedin’s husband.

Former U.S. Rep. “Carlos Danger” Weiner, you’ll recall, was outed for sending pictures of his manhood through the Internet to women who aren’t his wife. He quit his congressional seat. He then ran for New York City mayor and lost badly.

He’s out of the public eye. Or at least he was out of it … until now, thanks to Donald Trump. “So now — think of it — Huma is getting classified secrets. She is married to Anthony Weiner, who is a perv,” Trump said. “Now these are confidential documents and guess what happens to Anthony Weiner. A month ago he went to work for a public relations firm. ”

Weiner returns to public spotlight.

Actually, Trump is overstating Weiner’s place in recent political history. He called the ex-lawmaker “one of the great sleazebags of our time.”

I don’t think so. He’s a chump who got his thrills sending dirty pictures to women.

Do not fret, though. Trump has energized a segment of the Republican Party that eats this stuff up.

I’m still having trouble wrapping my head around the words “President Trump.”

Uncategorized

A comeback for Carlos Danger? Please … no!

December 29, 2013 kanelis2012

Reports are circulating that Anthony Weiner, aka Carlos Danger, might be pondering a political comeback.

This can’t be happening. Can it?

http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/weiner-political-career-facebook

Weiner’s congressional career came to a screeching halt when it was revealed — no pun intended, honest — that he had emailed photos of one of his body parts to female acquaintances. Once the word got out, Weiner at first denied it, then admitted it, then quit the House of Representatives.

He sought — he said — to heal his marriage. Weiner went into hiding, more or less.

Then he returned to run for mayor of New York. Weiner professed to be cleared of his addiction to this kind of disgraceful behavior.

But wait! Then reports surfaced that, yep, he was doing it again — under the name of Carlos Danger.

Late-night comics went ballistic. Once their jokes took off into the stratosphere, Weiner’s poll numbers tanked.

He finished far back in the pack of the New York Democratic Party primary.

And then he was gone again. Or so some of thought — and hoped.

He wrote this on Facebook: “What’s next? I’ll keep you posted on my plans. But I hope we keep the band together.” He thanked his friends, apparently leaving the door slightly ajar for yet another foray into public life.

Spare the country, please, of the bad jokes and puns. Please?

High Plains Blogger