Weiner’s Popularity Goes Flacid; Will Resign House Seat…

According to coverage on CNN this morning, Representative Anthony Weiner has told House leaders as well as his friends that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from other Democrats.

After initially claiming that his Twitter account had been hacked, Weiner finally admitted that he sent the lewd picture of his…um…well…yeah…and had engaged in inappropriate relationships with a number of women he had met online.

From CNN:

Weiner, 46, was considered a possible front-runner to succeed New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2013 until the revelation of his online communications, including lewd photos of himself he sent to women he befriended on Facebook and Twitter.

Last year, Weiner married Huma Abedin, a longtime aide to Hillary Clinton in the White House, Senate and now in the State Department. Former President Bill Clinton officiated at the ceremony, and Abedin is pregnant with the couple’s first child.

Weiner has been in the spotlight since late May, when a lewd photograph of him became public after it was sent to a woman over the Twitter social networking service.

Osama Bin Laden Dead

The mastermind of the worst terrorist attack on American soil has been killed.

In a speech made this evening by President Barack Obama, U.S. special forces have killed Osama bin Laden.

Now…let’s see the photos…

From MSNBC:

“Justice has been done,” the president declared as crowds formed outside the White House to celebrate, singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” and “We Are the Champions,” NBC News reported.

Obama said the 54-year-old bin Laden, whom he called a terrorist “responsible for the murder of thousands of American men, women and children,” was killed in Pakistan earlier in the day after a firefight in a military operation that was based on U.S. intelligence. Other U.S. officials said one of bin Laden’s sons and two of his most trusted couriers also were killed, as was an unidentified woman who was used as a human shield.

Elizabeth Edwards Dies

Elizabeth Edwards,  wife of former US Senator John Edwards, died today after a battle with breast cancer. She was 61 years old.

Thoughts and prayers go out to her family.

From WRAL:

Edwards died at her Chapel Hill home, where family and friends had gathered in recent days after doctors informed her that her cancer had spread and recommended that she not undergo further treatment.

Edwards was first diagnosed with cancer in the waning days of the 2004 presidential campaign, when her husband, then-U.S. Sen. John Edwards, was the Democratic nominee for vice president. The couple didn’t disclose her illness until after the election.

The cancer went into remission after surgery and months of treatment, but it resurfaced in early 2007, as John Edwards was mounting a second run at the White House. The Edwardses agreed at the time that they wouldn’t allow the cancer to derail his candidacy.

Did Couple Really Crash White House Dinner?

That is the question being asked today.

According to Tareq Salahi, he and his wife didn’t crash the White House state dinner last week.

From CNN:

The Obama administration said Salahi and his wife, Michaele Salahi, attended but had not been invited to the state dinner for visiting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and officials say they got into the event because of a breach in security.

Appearing on NBC’s “Today” show with his wife, Tareq Salahi said the aftermath of the incident has been “the most devastating thing that’s ever happened to us.”

“We’re greatly saddened by all the circumstances that have, you know, been involved and portraying my wife and I as party crashers. I can tell you, we did not party crash the White House.”

Salahi said he and his wife “are cooperating extensively with the U.S. Secret Service” in their investigation of the incident and said “the truth will soon come out.”

Couple Crashes White House State Dinner

Talk about a security lapse!

A couple from Northern Virginia appear to have crashed the White House’s state dinner last night, penetrating layers of security with no invitation.

While the White House hasn’t provided an explanation, it is believed that this is the first time in recent history that anyone has crashed a White House state dinner.

Where are “Wedding Crashers” Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn when you need them! I’m sure they could give some tips on how this happened!

From the Washington Post:

Tareq and Michaele Salahi — polo-playing socialites known for a bitter family feud over a Fauquier County winery and their possible roles in the forthcoming “The Real Housewives of Washington” — were seen arriving at the White House and later posted on Facebook what appeared to be photos of themselves with VIPs at the elite gathering.

“Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!” one of them wrote on their joint Facebook page at 9:08 p.m.

But a White House official said the couple was not invited to the dinner, not included on the official guest list, and were never seated at a table in the South Lawn tent.

A woman describing herself as a publicist for the Salahis denied that they were interlopers. Pressed for details, Mahogany Jones sent a statement saying simply: “The Salahis were honored to be a part of such a prestigious event ….. They both had a wonderful time.”

How could it happen? A former White House senior staffer — who more than a decade ago encountered a crasher at one of the executive mansion’s less-fancy parties — offered this theory:

A savvy pair of crashers, dressed to the nines, might arrive on foot at the Visitor’s Entrance, announce their names — then express shock and concern when the security detail at the gate failed to find them on the guest list. On a rainy night like Tuesday, with a crowd of 300-plus arriving, security might have lost track of or granted a modicum of sympathy to a pair that certainly looked like they belonged there. If their IDs didn’t send up any red flags in the screening process, they would be sent through the magnetometers and into the White House.

13,000 More US Troops to Afghanistan

President Barack Obama is deploying an extra 13,000 troops to Afghanistan, a move that is separate from a request for even more reinforcements.

From The Guardian:

The extra 13,000 is part of a gradual shift in priority since Obama became president away from Iraq to Afghanistan.

The White House and the Pentagon both announced earlier this year that the number of US troops in Afghanistan was to be raised by 21,000, bringing the total at present to 62,000, with the aim of 68,000 by the end of the year.

But the Washington Post, based on conversations with Pentagon officials, said that on top of those an extra 13,000 “enablers” are also being deployed. They are mainly engineers, medical staff, intelligence officers and military police. About 3,000 of them are specialists in explosives, being sent to try to combat the growing fatality rate from roadside bombs.

The deployment of such non-combat troops is in line with the professed aim of the new US commander, General Stanley McChrystal, to try to win the hearts and minds of the Afghanistan population.