How Is This Tweet Harassment?

The Daily News:

Two city parents who signed onto a suit to end teacher tenure in New York State say they’re being harassed by an educator who backs the protection.

Mona Davids and Sam Pirozzolo of the New York City Parents Union say they were targeted by teacher Francesco Portelos in a Sunday tweet.

“U need your protection removed so if you see a disservice to little Franklin P or Eric D u look away,” tweeted Portelos, referring to to Davids’ son Eric, 6, and Pirozzolo’s son Franklin, 11. “Teachers need to be protected so they can speak up for any disservice to students,” said Portelos.

I dunno, when you're dealing in 140 character messages, there's always a chance for miscommunication, but I read that tweet as, "Gee Mona and Sam, wouldn't you want your children's teachers to feel protected enough in their jobs to be able to speak up for them?"

Now Mona Davids and Sam Pirozzolo may or may not agree with that sentiment, but surely we can all agree that the tweet wasn't either or harassment or threatening to them, can't we?

Portelos put the whole thing in perspective in a comment on the News story:

The reality is that I blew up their lawsuit here on my blog. " Dissecting the Pirozzolo vs State of NY Teacher Tenure Lawsuit http://protectportelos.org/dissecting-the-pirozzolo-vs-state-of-ny-teacher-tenure-lawsuit/

 (Oh and so there are no more misunderstandings, I don't mean "blew up" literally as in threatening with explosives. I mean figuratively blew up.)

Sometimes when people make a living playing "victim," they go too far in their professional roles.

This, it seems to me, is one of those times.

NY Times Anthony Weiner Twitter Victim Story Is Finally Posted

You can read it here.

Goes through how the lives of the women Weiner sexted with have been upended.

It reinforces his scumminess (one victim says she never engaged in any sexual communication with Weiner before he sent "an image of himself in boxers, with an obvious erection"), it humanizes these women and helps you to empathize with them, but unless I'm missing something, it doesn't break new ground in the story.

When all is said and done, unless they took something out of this story, I don't see why they didn't leave it up when they accidentally posted it last week.

Frankly I think the Times story with Weiner throwing a salad at the wall and screaming at aides is more damaging to him than this one.

As for these victims of Weinergate, I think one commenter put it best:

Leave these poor women alone. While the Times can not stop people from making crude comments--online or oterwise--it can stop writing about them. They are not public figures nor are they engaged in any ploitical activity. The news value, if any, is minimal and their request for privacy far outweighs that news value. Leave this stuff for the supermarket tabloids.

I think that's exactly right.

Weiner: City Workers Should Pay 10% Of Their Salaries For Health Care Costs

From the Daily News:

Anthony Weiner rolled out an ambitious health care plan Thursday, asking city workers to contribute to their health care costs and proposing that the city act as a “single-payer laboratory” to bring down costs.

Weiner wants city workers to pay 10% of their salaries for health care — 25% if they smoke — and he’s proposing for the city to directly pay employee medical expenses rather than pay through an insurance company as a first step toward “single-payer” health care funded by the government.

For teachers, that would mean no raises for the last five years, a loss of the 8% pattern that every other union got, plus a loss of 10% of their salary for health care - 25% for smokers.

No word of whether prostate exams will be conducted via Twitter in the Weiner plan.

Weiner Tells UFT To Endorse Him In The Runoff

Anthony Weiner is already looking past the September primary to the runoff:

No one ever said Anthony Weiner lacks confidence.

In a private meeting with the city’s powerful United Federation of Teachers, the mayoral candidate pronounced he would make it out of the Democratic primary into a runoff.

And he boldly told the union leaders that they should endorse his bid for mayor in the runoff — even if they back someone else first in the primary, sources told The Post.

“Clearly, Anthony is thinking beyond the initial endorsement and is pegging his hopes on a runoff with the UFT’s support,” said one source familiar with the meeting.

The source said Weiner told the UFT he is “confident” he would get into a runoff, which would be between the top two vote-getters if no candidate reaches at least 40 percent of the vote in the September primary. The UFT is said to be debating between endorsing Bill Thompson and Bill de Blasio for the primary.

If the runoff is between Anthony Weiner and Christine Quinn, God help us.

We'll see if Weiner makes it that far.

He's riding high now, but he's starting to get more scrutiny.

Today's Times article that depicts him as a petulant, impatient child-man isn't all that flattering.

We'll have to see if the Times ever puts out the article about Weiner's Twitter victims.

And there are those questions around Weiner's actions with the 17 year old two years ago.

He's confident he's in the runoff, and right now, he would be.

But there's a lot of time between now and September.

If he continues to get the scrutiny he deserves, we'll see if he's still standing come September.

Can NYC Have A Mayor Who Sexted With A 17 Year Old?

With Anthony Weiner currently placing second in polls taken for the 2013 Democratic primary for NYC mayor, it's a question we need to start asking.

One of the women Weiner admitted to communicating with on Twitter two years ago was a 17 year old female from Delaware.

Both Weiner and the 17 year old claimed that the communications were not sexual in nature, though some of Weiner's communications with other women on Twitter were.

On the face of it, if both Weiner and the 17 year old say that Weiner did nothing wrong in his Twitter communications with her, then that ought to be the end of the matter.

Except that Anthony Weiner's word is worthless in these matters.

As TMZ reported two years ago, one woman Weiner sexted with was coached by the former Congressman on how to lie to the media over the Twitter matter:

Weiner and former porn star Ginger Lee exchanged scores of sexual emails over a long period of time.  When the underwear scandal broke on May 28, Lee began receiving calls from the media, and Weiner was more than happy to help her control the situation ... by lying.

On June 2, Weiner emailed Lee, "Do you need to talk to a professional PR type person to give u advice?  I can have someone on my team call. [Yeah, my team is doing great. Ugh]."

It's unclear if Weiner's PR team is from his Congressional staff.  If so, Weiner could run afoul of House Ethics Rules as well as the law. Weiner put on a full court press, urging Lee to lie about their relationship.  On June 1, he emailed her:  "The key is to have a short, thought out statement that tackles the top line questions and then refer people back to it.  Have a couple of iterations of: 'This is silly.  Like so many others, I follow Rep. Weiner on Twitter.  I don't know him and have never met him. He briefly followed me and sent me a dm saying thank you for the follow.  That's it.'" 

Weiner suggested a nice touch -- some good ol' Southern charm: "And then maybe insert some y'alls in there."

On June 2, Weiner sent Lee a proposed statement she could give to the press:  "I have nothing to do with the situation involving Rep Weiner.  I follow his twitter feed.  And for a brief time he followed me.  Much has been made of the fact that I have posted about my admiration for Rep Weiner and his politics.  All I can say about that is that I'm a fan of his.  Rep. Weiner sent me one short direct message thanking me for following him.  I have never met Rep. Weiner and he has never sent me anything innappopriate (sic) ..." 

Weiner then asked Lee directly, "How's it [the proposed statement] feel?"

Given that Weiner is on record having tried to help one of his Twitter friends to lie about WeinerGate, I don't think we can take either Weiner's or the 17 year old female's words at face value that Weiner did not engage in communication of a sexual nature with the 17 year old.

If Weiner was willing to coach former pornographic actress Ginger Lee on how to spin the media with lies and deceptions, it is safe to assume he would have been willing to coach the 17 year old in Delaware to do the same thing.

The only difference is, if Weiner coached her to lie to police investigating the matter, he then engaged in a conspiracy to cover up criminal activity.

Many people on the campaign trail seem willing to forgive Weiner his sexting scandal, but I wonder if they would be so jejune about the matter if they knew there was a 17 year old in the mix?

If Anthony Weiner is elected mayor of New York City, he will be the head of the NYC public school system.

Any teacher or school official that engaged in inappropriate communications with a NYC student, say a 17 year old high school female, would be subject to discipline and dismissal from the job, plus arrest.

If Anthony Weiner engaged in sexual communications with a 17 year old on Twitter, he should not be allowed to run the NYC school system.

We know Weiner engaged in private Twitter communication with a 17 year old and we know he tried to coach another female Twitter fan, Ginger Lee, to lie about the sexual communications he engaged in with her on Twitter.

We do not know whether Weiner engaged in sexual communications with the 17 year old from Delaware or, if he did, coached her to lie about the matter as he did with Ginger Lee.

But there are certainly enough questions surrounding these circumstances to warrant more attention and investigation.

Anthony Weiner lied and lied and lied when he was first caught in WeinerGate two years ago.

He says he did nothing wrong with the 17 year old, but as we know from how he handled the WeinerGate disclosures, his word cannot be trusted.

Somebody needs to put Weiner on record again by asking him the following:

Congressman, if you are elected mayor of New York City, you will have control of the New York City public schools, a system with over 1 million students.  Obviously we want a person of morals and ethics in charge of that system and those children, which is why the public needs to know more about your Twitter communications with a 17 year old female two years ago.  

You claimed the communications were not sexual in nature, and the 17 year old told the same thing to Delaware police when they investigated.  But you are on record having tried to coach another Twitter fan, former pornographic actress Ginger Lee, on how to lie to the press over the WeinerGate matter.  So my question to you is this:

Did you engage in communications of a sexual nature with the 17 year old from Delaware?  If you say you did not, how can we trust your word, given that you tried to coach Ginger Lee to lie to the press over the WeinerGate matter two years ago?

Weiner is a slippery fellow and he has been less than forthcoming about this matter.

Before we get into the heat of the summer and the heat of the Democratic primary campaign, it is time to pin Weiner down about this.

It matters.

Tenant Advocates Attack Weiner

Anthony Weiner is fast becoming the second most unpopular candidate/potential candidate for mayor.

Students protested his proposed discipline policies for the NYC school system.

Now tenant advocates are attacking him as a sell-out to landlord interests:

Michael McKee, one of the city’s leading tenant advocates, skewered Weiner in a full-page article — headlined “Why No Tenant Should Vote for Anthony Weiner” — in the latest issue of the Metropolitan Council on Housing’s newspaper.

The broadside came as more evidence surfaced that Weiner is preparing a soon-to-be-announced mayoral run. He was spotted with his wife, Huma Abedin, filming a campaign-style video on the porch of his childhood Brooklyn home, NBC-NY said.

McKee said the ex-congressman double-crossed tenants as a city councilman in 1994 and voted to decontrol rent-stabilized apartments renting for $2,000 or more when they become vacant or if the occupant makes at least $175,000 two years in a row. The limits are now $2,500 and $200,000.

“Anthony Weiner was one of those who promised to stand with tenants,” McKee wrote, but after some arm-twisting by then-Council Speaker Peter Vallone Sr., Weiner switched sides and helped pass the bitterly fought bill by 28-18.

There are nearly 1 million New Yorkers living in rent-stabilized apartments — which makes for a potent voting bloc that Weiner can’t afford to offend if his upcoming entry into the mayoral race is to gain traction.

 Just another example of why Weiner is little more than a puppet for the wealthy.

Forget Penisgate - between the funky consulting gig his wife took while still working at the State Department and the attacks Weiner is taking from students and tenant activists, he's got a lot of explaining to do.

Another Weiner Scandal Even Before He Announces For The Mayor's Race

He was supposed to announce next week for the mayor's race.

Now, along with TwitterGate, he'll have to explain this:

The State Department, under Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, created an arrangement for her longtime aide and confidante Huma Abedin to work for private clients as a consultant while serving as a top adviser in the department. 

Ms. Abedin did not disclose the arrangement — or how much income she earned — on her financial report. It requires officials to make public any significant sources of income. An adviser to Mrs. Clinton, Philippe Reines, said that Ms. Abedin was not obligated to do so. 

The disclosure of the agreement that Ms. Abedin made with the State Department comes as her husband, former Representative Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat, prepares for a mayoral run in New York City. Politico reported the arrangement on Thursday afternoon. 

Ms. Abedin declined a request for an interview, but the picture that emerges from interviews and records suggests a situation where the lines were blurred between Ms. Abedin’s work in the high echelons of one of the government’s most sensitive executive departments and her role as a Clinton family insider. 

While continuing her work at the State Department, in the latter half of 2012, she also worked for Teneo, a strategic consulting firm, which was founded by Doug Band, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton. Teneo has advised corporate clients like Coca-Cola and MF Global, the collapsed brokerage firm run by Jon S. Corzine, a former governor of New Jersey. 

At the same time, Ms. Abedin served as a consultant to the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation and worked in a personal capacity for Mrs. Clinton as she prepared to transition out of her job as secretary of state. It is not clear what role Mrs. Clinton played in approving the arrangement.

Some good-government groups have been critical of such situations, saying public employees’ loyalty should be solely to the public and their government work, rather than private firms and figures.

 Ms. Abedin reached her new working arrangement in June 2012, when she returned from maternity leave, quietly leaving her position as deputy chief of staff and becoming a special government employee, which is essentially a consultant. A State Department official said that change freed her from the requirement that she disclose her private earnings for the rest of the year on her financial disclosure forms.

Still, during that period, she continued to be identified publicly in news reports as Mrs. Clinton’s deputy chief of staff. Officials in the State Department and Clinton circles seem especially sensitive about the arrangement, and no one would speak about it on the record.

Earlier this month, Mr. Weiner released a copy of the couple’s 2012 tax return showing that they had income of more than $490,000. But when pressed on the matter, Mr. Weiner declined to discuss what, if any, income Ms. Abedin derived from work done outside the State Department.

 An associate of Ms. Abedin’s said on Thursday that the arrangement allowed her to work from her home in New York, rather than at the State Department’s headquarters in Washington, and to spend more time with her child and husband. She earned approximately $135,000 from the department during 2012.

It is not clear how much Ms. Abedin was paid by Mrs. Clinton privately, or from the Clinton Foundation and Teneo. The Clintons have described Ms. Abedin as a surrogate daughter to them. Ms. Abedin, who is one of Mrs. Clinton’s most trusted advisers, ended her consulting practice in March, when she moved on to become director of Mrs. Clinton’s transition office.

Melanie Sloane, executive director of CREW, an ethics watchdog group, said the arrangement that Ms. Abedin had seemed unusual. “If she was being held out as a deputy chief of staff, it would be highly unusual for her to be a part-time employee or a consultant,” she said. “Being a deputy chief of staff at the State Department is generally considered more than a full-time job.” 

Interesting how this news came out just days before Weiner was set to announce his mayoral bid.

It's almost as if somebody in power doesn't want him to run.

What Was Weiner Thinking With This Policy Position?

Anthony Weiner put out a policy booklet called "Keys to the City" that has caused him some trouble today.

In the education section of the booklet, Weiner called for streamlining “the process for removing troublesome kids from the classroom."

This is an odd thing, of course, since Weiner himself is a bit of troublesome kid who kept sending pictures of his penis all over the Twitterverse, so many pictures in fact that Weiner has warned us there may be more that will surface.

You would think anybody looking for a second chance from voters would be more circumspect in his treatment of students, but you would be wrong about that.

You see, as an official member of the American Elite, Weiner is entitled to a second chance but ordinary people like you and me and our students are not.

For us, it's one strike and you're out.

There are protests taking place at Weiner's Park Avenue South apartment building today to let Weiner know what people think about his policy position.

As the Daily News put it:

Anthony Weiner hasn’t even announced whether he intends to run for mayor, but he’s already getting a taste of how nasty the race could become.

Good - couldn't happen to a better fellow.

Oh, and one final thing about Weiner's policy booklet.

Take a look at the cover and tell me if you were Weiner, the guy caught sending pictures of his penis around, wouldn't you have left the phallic skyscraper centerpiece off the cover?

Some Very Scary Words

Here you go:

Anthony Weiner, who resigned his congressional seat over a sext scandal that was exposed by an errant tweet, launched a new Twitter account today.

Not as scary as the words "Pearson" and "no-bid contract," but nonetheless the words "Weiner" and Twitter" do not belong in the same sentence unless that sentence is "Anthony Weiner is forbidden from having a Twitter account."

And so Weiner's re-emergence into public life continues.

I still say he should close the damned Twitter account, stop giving interviews to the press and get a real freaking job for once in his life.

Seriously, this man has never had a real job or worked for a living in is entire life.

That crap he did as a congressman (which was mostly garner publicity and attention for himself) doesn't count.

Hey, Anthony, go get some help.

Find a Sex Addicts Anonymous meeting.

Go to therapy.

Find yourself.

And leave the rest of us alone.

Twitter Is Five

Has it been that long already?

Five years since Twitter showed up on the scene.

I see lots of people that I respect using this thing, but I have never warmed to it.

Then again, I still don't have a Facebook account, so maybe I'm not the intended audience for this thing.

I figure, the longer I can hold out and NOT use Facebook and Twitter, the better I'll feel.