“The bottom line is that the ‘news’ today is about my past life,” he wrote to supporters. “New Yorkers don’t quit, and I’ll never quit on you.”

John Moore / Getty

New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner wrote an 11-paragraph, 543-word email to supporters Wednesday explaining why he isn't dropping out of the race, despite new allegations he was involved in sexual chats with a woman after he resigned from his U.S. House seat for similar reasons.

In the email, Weiner he knew "mistakes of [his] personal life" would make the campaign "difficult."

"Sending these embarrassing messages to women online, whom I never met, was a personal failing that was hurtful to my wife and a part of my life that Huma and I have put behind us," he wrote. "These things I did, as you have read in the papers, didn't happen once."

Friend,

When I decided to run for mayor this year I knew it would be tough. I knew that the mistakes of my personal life would make things difficult for me and for my family. From the very beginning, some people insisted that I shouldn't even be allowed to run.

I believe that question should be left to the voters. This fight is too important to leave New Yorkers without a choice. And I want to give them the power to decide who their Mayor will be.

I have waged a campaign focused on fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it there. I published a book of 64 ideas on everything from lowering taxes on New York families to creating the first ever single-payer health care plan for our city. Day after day, I've visited citizens who have been hungry for a voice after years of feeling marginalized or ignored.

New Yorkers responded in resounding ways. They volunteered for our campaign. They submitted their own ideas. They made thousands of small donations. And they showed up on street corners, subway stations and community centers to say hello or give me a piece of their mind.

Now, with 47 days left until the primary, some powerful voices are making it clear that they still don't want me to run. Yesterday's news has given them fresh fodder.

I owe it to you to try to explain.

Sending these embarrassing messages to women online, whom I never met, was a personal failing that was hurtful to my wife and a part of my life that Huma and I have put behind us. These things I did, as you have read in the papers, didn't happen once. It was a terrible mistake that I unfortunately returned to during a rough time in our marriage. After a lot of reflection, some professional help, and a general reorientation of my life, Huma has given me a second chance. I will never stop being grateful for that.

Before and after announcing my run for Mayor, I repeatedly answered every question about these mistakes. I was clear that these relationships took place over an extended period of time with more than one person. I regret not saying explicitly when these exchanges happened.

But the bottom line is that the "news" today is about my past life.

Some people may find my personal life reason not to listen to me. I completely understand that some may not ever even consider voting for me. But I'm going to keep trying to bring them around and earn their support. This fight is too important to give up, because I've had embarrassing personal things become public.

This campaign isn't about me. It's about a great city that is beginning to lose its mantle as the Capital of the Middle Class. It's about the challenge of finding affordable housing, a good job with benefits and a public school that attracts the greatest teachers and produces the smartest kids. This race for Mayor isn't about me. It's about you. And I'll never lose sight of that.

New Yorkers don't quit, and I'll never quit on you.
Sincerely,

Anthony

LINK: Anthony Weiner: Some Sexts Came After I Resigned

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“I am pleased the Veterans’ Committee has built on the landmark progress we’ve seen for marriage equality,” bill sponsor Sen. Jeanne Shaheen says.

Via: Allison Shelley / Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee advanced legislation Wednesday to expand veterans' benefits eligibility for same-sex couples who are legally married.

According to a news release from the committee, the measure — the "Charlie Morgan Military Spouses Equal Treatment Act of 2013" — introduced by Sen. Jeanne Shaheen "would bring the [Department of Veterans Affairs] into conformance with" the June 26 ruling striking down the federal definition of marriage in the Defense of Marriage Act.

"Every individual who serves in uniform should have access to the benefits they've earned," Shaheen said in a statement provided to BuzzFeed. Of the now-deceased veteran after whom the bill is named, she added, "Charlie served on the front lines for our country, but because of her sexual orientation, her family has been wrongfully being denied many of the same benefits given to those who stood beside her."

After the June Supreme Court ruling, committee chairman Sen. Bernie Sanders said in a statement that the committee would "take up this legislation next month if VA cannot implement the Supreme Court's decision without congressional action."

Shaheen praised the committee action and urged the full Senate to vote on the bill.

"The Supreme Court's ruling on DOMA was a victory for the belief that all Americans are to be treated equally under the law, and I am pleased the Veterans' Committee has built on the landmark progress we've seen for marriage equality. I hope the full Senate will move forward on the Charlie Morgan Act so that finally no spouse, child or family is denied benefits they have earned and deserve," she said.

According to The Dirty , he last contacted the woman on the other half of his newest scandal earlier that month.

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Via:

Embattled former Congressman and mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner said in an April 24 interview that the "basics" of his sexting story weren't going to change when asked if his scandal was over. Weiner was speaking with RNN-TV's Dominic Carter.

"I'm not going to participate in that anymore. If reporters want to go try to find more I can't be able to say that they're not going to be able to find another picture or find another woman, ya know, a person who may want to come out on their own," Weiner said. "The basics of the story are not going to change. It is behind me. It was a huge mistake."

Earlier that month, on April 14, Weiner told NY1 that he had sent messages to only six women. While Weiner did send Facebook, Twitter, email, and phone messages to six women over the three years before his 2011 resignation, correspondence with a new woman would have made the count seven, which Weiner did not acknowledge.

According to gossip website The Dirty, the new woman linked to the latest Weiner photos, identified by BuzzFeed as Sidney Leathers of Indiana, said she was last contacted by Weiner on April 11 of this year.

It had previously not been known that Weiner had contacted more women after his resignation.

In an April interview with NBC4, Weiner said that after he left office, he had "definitely not" initiated conversation with any of the six known women he had sent lewd pictures to. Weiner reportedly had only made contact with Leathers after his resignation, and not while he was still in office, according to The New York Times.

In May, Weiner told The Brian Lehrer Show when asked if there were "any other shoes to drop" in the scandal that "it is what it is." Weiner added that even though more women may come forward, he wouldn't engage in conversation about possible other pictures, saying it was in his past.

The amendment lost by only a 12 vote margin. “I like all those no votes,” Speaker John Boehner said as time on the vote ran out.

Via: J. Scott Applewhite / AP

The House voted down an amendment Wednesday to its version of the Department of Defense's 2014 budget that would have banned funding to NSA surveillance programs such as PRISM by a slim 12 vote margin.

The amendment, the first major legislative test since the once secret programs were made public by Edward Snowden, was defeated 205-217.

Initially proposed by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) the amendment sought to ban any funds from the Department of Defense's 2014 budget from being directed to the NSA for surveillance of anyone not actually under investigation by law.

As the two minute vote ran out of time on the floor, House Speaker John Boehner was heard just off the House floor saying loudly, "I like all those no votes." In an unusual move for any House speaker, especially on an amendment, Boehner voted No.

The amendment had support and opposition from both sides of the aisle. Michigan Democrat John Conyers introduced the bill along with Amash. There were more than 40 co-sponsors of the bill, including some of the House's most liberal and most conservative representatives.

House Intelligence Committee Chair Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who in recent days has been one of the strongest voices against the amendment, said during a debate before the vote that passing the bill "takes us back to September 10th," diminishing the military's ability to keep tabs on terrorists.

Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) closed the debate echoing Rogers sentiments.

"This program has stopped dozens of terrorist attacks," Cotton said. Adding, "this amendment blows it up."

But Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), a co-sponsor of the amendment, argued that the NSA's surveillance programs, which collect metadata of calls and emails but not their actual content, ought to be banned because those who "balance" control of what gets recorded and what doesn't are unelected and anonymous.

"Right now the balancing is being done by people who we do not know, who we do not elect," he said.

The Senate is expected to present their mark up of the budget sometime next week.

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“[T]ransgender students … are protected from sex-based discrimination under Title IX,” Education and Justice department officials wrote. Federal law keeps moving toward transgender protections.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan

Via: Daily Herald/Rick West / AP

WASHINGTON — School districts cannot discriminate against transgender students without violating federal law, Education and Justice department officials stated Wednesday in a settlement agreement resolving a complaint filed on behalf of a transgender student who faced discrimination in middle school.

The agreement is the latest mark of a growing legal and administrative trend to interpret bans on sex discrimination as including discrimination based on gender identity and transgender status, and Wednesday's settlement applied that definition to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the law that bans sex discrimination in education.

"This is a natural extension of the way courts and administrative agencies are interpreting sex-stereotyping. This resolution shows the federal government is continuing to import the sex-stereotyping definition as applied elsewhere, specifically Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act], into the Title IX context," National Center for Lesbian Rights staff attorney Asaf Orr, who represented the student, told BuzzFeed.

Under the settlement agreement announced Wednesday, the Arcadia Unified School District in California will make several system-wide changes to address anti-transgender discrimination, but officials also will change the way they treat the transgender male student who brought the complaint — steps aimed at "treat[ing] the student like all other male students" in the district.

In announcing the agreement, the Justice Department said that the settlement includes a requirement that the district will amend its policies "to reflect that gender-based discrimination, including discrimination based on a student's gender identity, transgender status, and nonconformity with gender stereotypes, is a form of discrimination based on sex."

The Justice and Education Department officials note in a report dated Wednesday closing the complaint that "[t]he Student, who was assigned the female sex at birth, identified as a boy from a very young age." The student is now in ninth grade.

After "fac[ing] some harassment from classmates because of his masculine clothing and hairstyle, which did not conform to female stereotypes" in fifth grade, the student and his family began his gender transition, including adopting a traditionally male first name, using male pronouns and continuing to present outwardly as a male in his clothing and hairstyle.

"According to the District and the Student's family, the Student's classmates, notified of the transition by their teacher, accepted him as male immediately, and the harassment of the Student ceased," the government officials wrote.

The complaint, in fact, only came about because Arcadia school district officials allegedly barred the student from using male restroom and locker room facilities and refused to let him stay in a cabin with other males during an overnight camping trip sponsored by the school district during his sixth and seventh grade years. Instead, the student alleged, the district "requir[ed] instead that he stay in a cabin separate from all of his classmates with his parent or another adult chaperone."

Although the Justice and Education department officials note that "[t]his letter is not a formal statement of [the Education Department's Office of Civil Rights's] policy and should not be relied upon, cited, or construed as such," they nonetheless explain the legal underpinning of their investigation.

"In the employment context, federal courts and administrative agencies have applied Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the federal law prohibiting sex discrimination, to discrimination against transgender individuals based on sex, including nonconformity with sex stereotypes and gender identity," they wrote. Among other cases, the officials cited Vandy Beth Glenn's case successfully challenging anti-transgender discrimination in Georgia and Mia Macy's case resolved recently by the Justice Department after the Equal Opportunity Commission had decided in April 2012 that Title VII's sex discrimination ban includes anti-transgender discrimination.

In resolving the dispute against Arcadia, the officials noted that "[c]ourts rely on Title VII precedent to analyze discrimination 'on the basis of sex' under Title IX," and concluding, therefore, that "[a]ll students, including transgender students and students who do not conform to sex stereotypes, are protected from sex-based discrimination under Title IX ...."

The Education and Justice department officials' open reliance on the Macy decision and the transgender-inclusive interpretation of sex-based discrimination is notable in light of the Labor Department's ongoing refusal to comment on whether it is applying that definition to an existing executive order that bars federal contractors from discrimination on the basis of sex, among other bases.

The explicit transgender protection is an expansion of the terminology, if not reasoning, from that used by the Justice and Education departments in the resolution of an earlier case against the Anoka-Hennepin School District in March 2012. In that case, the officials primarily referenced "sex-based harassment," with a few references to "gender nonconformity" but no specific references to the law providing explicit protection for discrimination based on transgender status. Even then, however, the Justice and Education departments noted that "'[g]ender-based harassment' means non-sexual harassment of a person because of the person's sex, including harassment based upon gender identity and expression."

Reflecting the rapidly changing environment for transgender protections under sex-discrimination laws, in an October 2010 letter to schools, the Education Department stated, even less specifically, that "it can be sex discrimination if students are harassed either for exhibiting what is perceived as a stereotypical characteristic for their sex, or for failing to conform to stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity."

From the settlement agreement:

From the letter closing the complaint:

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As CNN’s Wolf Blitzer says “only in New York.”

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Via:

America Rising breaks an unwritten rule.

America Rising tracks Sen. Mary Landrieu on Capitol Hill.

WASHINGTON — Democrats are accusing Republicans of breaking down congressional comity even further by dispatching a "campaign tracker" — a young staffer sent to record a foe's every word, in hopes of catching a damaging gaffe — to stalk Democratic senators facing reelection while they're at work on Capitol Hill.

In the unwritten rules of Washington, it's perfectly fine to have a tracker follow a member of Congress around when he or she is outside or at an event away from the Capitol complex. But Hill veterans on both sides of the aisle say a tracker in congressional office buildings and members' offices is unprecedented, and Democrats suggest the presence of a tracker in the Capitol complex is an intimidation tactic.

A tracker from the new Republican opposition research firm America Rising was an unwelcome guest at Sen. Kay Hagan's weekly Carolina Coffee open office hours session Wednesday morning. The tracker, a young woman accompanied by a North Carolina native who signed into the event, was on hand with a video camera and asked a question about the Democratic senator's opinion on the budget proposal by North Carolina's Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

She wasn't described as rude or confrontational, but her mere presence broke a longstanding and unwritten congressional rule: no tracking in Congress.

"[It's] really over the top and beyond the traditional boundaries," said Sadie Weiner, Hagan's communications director. The Carolina Coffee session is a nonpartisan event and Weiner said the presence of a political tracker "is disrespectful to the constituents who don't expect to be filmed and caught in political crossfire when they come to meet with their senator."

It's the second time in a week an America Rising tracker has rankled Democrats on Capitol Hill. A short, uneventful video of Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu acknowledging a tracker in a Senate hallway put Democrats on edge, and violated a tradition officials at both the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said they respect during campaign season.

America Rising's leaders don't see what the big deal is.

"Our objective is to hold Democrats accountable for their rhetoric wherever they go and that is especially important when Congress is in session," said Tim Miller, executive director at America Rising. "If Democratic senators like Kay Hagan didn't try to hide their liberal, Washington agenda from voters back home they wouldn't have anything to be concerned about."

Recording a member of Congress as she walks down a hallway in the Capitol and asking her questions in her office is not illegal. But for an institution theoretically built on bipartisan compromise in the years between the partisan battles on the campaign trail, keeping campaign tactics out of Congressional offices is important, Hill vets say.

"Every office can set its own rule [about recording devices in the office], but tracking in the office is a clear breach of accepted etiquette," said Nu Wexler, a former Democratic staffer in both the House and Senate. "Hallways are public spaces.
but if you had a research tracker follow a member around the Capitol, it would be frowned upon."

Tracking — the act of following a candidate around in the hope of catching him or her in a politically embarrassing moment — is a time-honored part of the campaign process that will certainly play a part in both sides of both Landrieu's and Hagan's reelection bids next year. Republican North Carolina legislator Tom Tillis, the marquee name among candidates vying to face Hagan in 2014, was followed around by Democratic trackers when he visited Washington earlier this month.

The tracking process is almost always controversial. In 2012, the DCCC came under fire after its trackers posted video of candidates' vacation homes. Democrats have accused Republican trackers of deliberately harassing them in the hopes of prompting career-ending moments captured on film.

American Bridge, the Democratic opposition research and tracking firm, says it reserves the right to follow around candidates at all their public appearances, but a spokesperson for the group says it doesn't do tracking work in the halls of Congress.

"We do not film people as they roam around the Capitol complex," Chris Harris, spokesperson for American Bridge, said.

Anecdotal evidence seems to back Harris up. Rep. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas making noises about running for Senate next year, says he's got a Democratic tracker following him around wherever he goes — except when he's inside the Capitol complex. Cotton said he's never seen a tracker in his office or building.

Like any modern politician, Cotton has gotten used to being followed around with a video camera.

"I've had one for several months," Cotton says. "I'm flattered they are so interested in what I have to say but I don't pay much attention to them."

The new ad released Thursday by the candidate for comptroller shows empty streets in the financial district to symbolize Wall Street’s reaction to the former “Sheriff of Wall Street” running for new office.

Source: youtube.com

“NBCUniversal … has a unique opportunity — and a responsibility — to expose this inhumane and unjust law to the millions of American viewers who will tune in to watch the Games,” HRC president writes to the company that will broadcast the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

WASHINGTON — The Human Rights Campaign says that NBCUniversal — which has the broadcast rights to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia — has a "responsibility to expose" anti-LGBT laws in the country.

After describing the new law banning "propaganda" about LGBT people in Russia that was signed into law this June, HRC president Chad Griffin wrote to NBCUniversal chief executive officer Stephen Burke, "NBCUniversal ... has a unique opportunity — and a responsibility — to expose this inhumane and unjust law to the millions of American viewers who will tune in to watch the Games."

The move comes as NBC is about to unveil its coverage plans for the Olympics on Saturday at the Television Critics Association meeting this week in Los Angeles and as other LGBT activists have called for a boycott of the games.

"You no doubt agree that it wouldn't be right to air the opening ceremonies, which is an hours-long advertisement for the host country, without acknowledging that a whole segment of the Russian population — not to mention foreign athletes and visitors — can be jailed for an immutable aspect of their identity," Griffin wrote.

Although HRC hasn't formally taken a position on the boycott, Wednesday's letter to NBCUniversal is a strong sign that HRC is making preparations to address the presentation of the games and not just the pre-games boycott discussion.

HRC's Letter About NBC's Planned Coverage Of The Olympics:

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“Blowback is more likely,” says Shank.

Via: facebook.com

WASHINGTON — Critics are warning that an amendment to an anti-propaganda law that will allow United States government-made news to be spread to Americans could lead to "blowback" from our adversaries and inundate Americans with government propaganda.

The change to the Smith-Mundt Act, which regulates U.S. public diplomacy, came on July 2 after being approved by Congress in January. U.S. government-funded media such as Voice of America and Radio Free Europe is now technically available at broadcast quality to American audiences. Some are voicing concerns that the change in the law will not only expose Americans to more government propaganda than ever before, but fail to counteract terrorism, which is one of the implicit duties of outlets like VOA Somali.

"Ad hoc attempts to out-spin our adversaries — targeting American audiences in addition to foreign ones — is troubling because it will not lead to less violence or vitriol," said Michael Shank, director of foreign policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation. "Blowback is more likely. The intended audiences — whether domestic or foreign — are smart enough to decipher what is, and what is not, material funded by the U.S. government. This is no time for smoke and mirrors."

"Those in Congress who think the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act improves America's ability to undermine extremism either do not understand diplomacy or do not want to prevent violence," Shank said. "This fallacy of influence, furthermore — the idea that American-centric marketing and media messaging will effectively communicate a counter-terrorism narrative — should be forfeited."

Both VOA and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty are controlled by the Broadcasting Board of Governors. The BBG isn't fully a State Department apparatus, but does share some overlap: the Secretary of State sits on its board ex officio and the State Department Inspector General plays a role in its oversight.

Matthew Hoh, a former senior State Department official in Afghanistan who resigned in protest of the war in 2009, said that if the change mirrors the State Department's information practices in Iraq and Afghanistan, "we have nothing to worry about."

Hoh described some of the "inept" practices that misfired in Iraq and Afghanistan, like spreading newspapers to illiterate people.

"What they'd do in both countries is put together coffee table books, big picture books of mosques in the U.S. to show people we have mosques in the U.S," Hoh said. "They think that's going to win hearts and minds."

These actions fall under the rubric of "public diplomacy," the section of the State Department responsible for promoting the United States' image abroad.

But the change to Smith-Mundt, Hoh said, probably won't be noticed by the American public given the current media environment.

"I don't think it's going to be much different than what's going on already," Hoh said. "If you look at all the news reporting that comes out of D.C. about the wars, it's all going well. I don't really think it'll change that much because they're already lying and nobody's calling them out about it."

"I saw that quote from somebody at VOA saying, well, it's all accurate information anyway," said Lt. Col. Danny Davis, the whistleblower who challenged the Pentagon's official public reports about Afghanistan. "As you know, that's not all there is out there. We shape environments, target audiences to make them think in a certain way. Some of these guys want to reach an American audience to shape American perceptions."

But the protections afforded by Smith-Mundt were largely "no longer valid anyway because of the Internet," Davis said.

In this, Davis mirrored the official line from the BBG on Smith-Mundt.

"Some of these materials have been on the internet for years," said Lynne Weil, spokesperson for the BBG. "None of what's on the internet is broadcast quality."

"The difference is that before now Americans could not have accessed all of this material via TV and radio, now they can," Weil said.

Some of the most famous slip-ups involving U.S. propaganda have involved the Pentagon — including a smear campaign directed against two USA Today reporters who had investigated Pentagon propaganda contractors — but Weil specified that the change in Smith-Munt doesn't apply to the military.

The "final misconception," Weil said, "is the question of whether this agency overseas is propaganda. It simply is not."

"I can't possibly speculate as to the reaction of viewers and listeners in the United States when they have the opportunity to see and hear these programs," Weil said.

It gets worse. Yesterday’s papers were kind of lackluster, but today’s covers were outrageous.

Via: newseum.org

Via: newseum.org

It wants a court to require Texas to get federal permission for any changes to voting over the next decade because of concerns over discrimination.

Attorney General Eric Holder's office will ask a court to force Texas to get federal permission for voting changes in the next 10 years after the Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act. He acknowledges this is just the beginning.

The move is seen as an opening salvo in a new administration strategy to try to reimpose “preclearance” requirements in parts of the country that have a history of discriminating against minority voters, The New York Times reports.

Via: Matt Rourke / AP

"This is the department's first action to protect voting rights following the Shelby County decision, but it will not be our last," Mr. Holder said. "Even as Congress considers updates to the Voting Rights Act in light of the court's ruling, we plan, in the meantime, to fully utilize the law's remaining sections to subject states to preclearance as necessary. My colleagues and I are determined to use every tool at our disposal to stand against such discrimination wherever it is found."

Via: nytimes.com

The government’s request is expected to be made in a lawsuit Latino state lawmakers filed challenging Texas’s redistricting plan based on the 2010 census.

Via: Win McNamee / Getty Images

Holder said evidence that the Texas Legislature had intentionally discriminated against Latinos when redrawing district lines was sufficient to reimpose safeguards for a decade.

He noted that the court — in blocking the map — had said the parties “provided more evidence of discriminatory intent than we have space, or need, to address here,” the NYT reports.

Via: John Moore / Getty Images

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“So what do you do and WHERE DO YOU LIVE?”

Greeting from a person you have never met: "It's good to see you again!"

Source: angelaaamariee.tumblr.com

"I'll make sure the boss sees this right away."

"What do you do? ...Oh, that sounds interesting."

"There are no Ubers available, I guess we can walk."

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“The judicial process should represent our nation’s principles of inclusion and acceptance, and eliminating the discriminatory exclusion of LGBT jurors is a necessary step to meeting that goal,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen says.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski

Via: J. Scott Applewhite / AP

WASHINGTON — Potential jurors in federal trials could not be discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity under legislation approved this week by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Legislation to address the jury selection issue had been introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Susan Collins, and Sheldon Whitehouse earlier this year to prevent discrimination against LGBT people in the federal jury selection process.

The Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, included the language of the jury bill in the Financial Services appropriations bill during the mark up on Tuesday. The language amends the federal statute addressing nondiscrimination in jury selection to prohibit the practice of striking jurors in federal courts on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Current law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin and economic status in federal court jury selection.

"The judicial process should represent our nation's principles of inclusion and acceptance, and eliminating the discriminatory exclusion of LGBT jurors is a necessary step to meeting that goal," Shaheen said in a statement.

Collins praised the committee for its action, saying in a statement, "I am pleased that the committee has adopted our language that would prohibit potential jurors from being dismissed for service in federal trials based solely on sexual orientation or gender identity."

Someone give Donny Deutsch another cable show of his own, please.

Meet Donny Deutsch.

Donny is a multimillionaire advertising executive, staunch defender of sugar daddies, and a sometimes television personality.

Source: architecturaldigest.com

Last night, Donny guest hosted an episode of CNN's Piers Morgan Live that focused on the latest news in the ongoing saga of New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner.

Things were said.

From left: Civil rights lawyer Gloria Allred, BuzzFeed Editor in Chief Ben Smith, HuffPost Live's Marc Lamont Hill, lawyer and former The View host Star Jones, and sex expert Chris Donaghue.

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The woman who exchanged sexts with Anthony Weiner would “preferably like compensation” for interviews.

Sydney Leathers, the 23-year-old progressive activist linked to the latest Anthony Weiner sex scandal, is being represented by management company GR Media, a source at the agency confirmed to BuzzFeed.

Leathers' Twitter account, which was briefly made private Thursday, now lists GR Media as a contact for bookings. Leathers is also listed on its website as a client.

Various pseudo-celebrities also represented by the agency include Nik Richie of website The Dirty, which first broke the scandal, various members of the show Real Housewives, Tan Mom, and Joseph Gannascoli, better known as "Vito" from The Sopranos.

The source, who spoke to BuzzFeed on Thursday, said they would "preferably like compensation" for interviews. An interview with Leathers is set to air tonight on Inside Edition.

LINK: Related: Woman Who Sexted With Anthony Weiner: “It Literally Disgusts Me”

Mike DeWine, the state’s attorney general, will continue to defend the law as the case goes forward, but his office has no plans to appeal Monday’s temporary order.

Via: Andrew Welsh-Huggins / AP

WASHINGTON — The temporary restraining order issued Monday requiring that Ohio officials recognize a gay couple's marriage will stand, despite reports that an appeal is in the works.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's communications director, Lisa Hackley, confirmed to BuzzFeed that, despite a report claiming that Attorney General Mike DeWine would be appealing the Monday order from Judge Timothy Black, no such appeal is planned.

DeWine will continue to defend Ohio's constitutional amendment and law banning same-sex couples from marrying and banning the state from recognizing such marriages, she said, but he will do so only as the case proceeds.

DeWine's office is not planning to appeal the temporary restraining order issued in James Obergefell and John Arthur's case because, Hackley noted, such temporary orders are not generally appealable.

She also affirmed that the attorney general's position is as he stated in a Tuesday news report from WKRC Cincinnati, when he said, "This is not the end of the game here. It's one decision and the Judge issued his decision, which we certainly respect."

Although the temporary restraining order was granted Monday and is scheduled to expire at 5 p.m. Aug. 5, Obergefell and Arthur have requested a preliminary and permanent injunction to allow Arthur, who is in hospice care, to be listed as married on his death certificate and Obergefell to be listed as his surviving spouse.

Referring to the permanent injunction request, DeWine told WKRC, "The matter will ultimately be decided by the judge on the merits. And we look forward to that argument. My job as Attorney General is to follow the will of the people," who DeWine has noted voted for the amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying or from the state recognizing such marriages in 2004. His office would decide at that time whether it would appeal such an injunction, although Hackley would not speculate before the judge issued such an injunction.

A status conference in the case is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. July 30, at which time a further schedule in the case could be set — although the judge could set such a schedule prior to the status conference.

Akin Gump volunteers its lobbying services.

Maksim Bakiyev

Via: Sultan Dosaliyev, File / AP

WASHINGTON — The Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan has retained a Washington law firm to help it convince U.S. authorities to reopen a closed securities fraud case against Maksim Bakiyev, the son of the former president who was forced out of office in 2010.

The General Prosecutor of the Kyrgyz Republic retained Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld to conduct "outreach to US government officials and US public to develop a country-wide anti-corruption program, enhance abilities to investigate and prosecute matters relating to stolen public assets and to recover stolen public assets located in other countries," according to a July 16 filing with the Department of Justice.

In an unusual move, the law firm is working for free — simply because, a partner at the firm said, they want to help the Central Asian state fight corruption.

Thomas McCarthy, the lead Akin Gump lawyer working on the deal told BuzzFeed that the Kyrgyz had hired the firm to help them revive charges against Bakiyev and to retain $5.3 million of allegedly stolen assets in a New York bank.

Bakiyev, 35, was charged in 2012 with conspiracy to commit securities fraud and obstruction of justice. He was named in court papers as a high-level government official of a Central Asian country, and was implicated in a 2010-2011 insider trading scheme with a businessman in the United Kingdom in which the men allegedly traded on stock exchanges in the U.S. and U.K. The U.S. unsuccessfully attempted to extradite him from the U.K., where he has been living since the 2010 coup.

In May, the case was dropped with no explanation from American authorities. Later this summer, Kyrgyzstan ended a lease with the American military for the Manas Transit Center, which is used for resupplying troops in Afghanistan, in what was seen from some corners as a retaliation for the Bakiyev affair.

McCarthy said he believes the non-renewal of the lease was in retribution for the U.S. ending the case against Bakiyev.

"I think that the cancellation of the lease by the Kyrgyz parliament was triggered because of the dropping of the extradition case," McCarthy said.

The Akin Gump team has been meeting with officials from the Treasury and State Departments as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney's office in New York's Eastern District, where Bakiyev was charged.

"Behind all this there is a mystery here," McCarthy said. "Why is the US dropping this case?"

A person working on the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that State Department officials had told Akin Gump representatives that the case was dropped because Eugene Gourevitch, the Bakiyev family's financial adviser who was the cooperating witness on the case, had recanted his testimony. Gourevitch is currently in an Italian jail facing charges related to a $2.7 billion carousel scheme.

A U.S. government official declined to comment specifically on the Gourevitch detail.

"Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a criminal case against Maxim Bakiyev based on his alleged serious violations of U.S. laws," the official told BuzzFeed. "The United States justice system requires that a very high burden of proof be met for successful prosecution in criminal cases. When there are developments in the evidence during the course of an investigation and prosecutors are no longer able to meet that very high standard of proof, dismissal is appropriate."

"While I cannot discuss the specifics of this case, I'll generally note that due to these developments in evidence since Mr. Bakiyev's arrest, the prosecutors ultimately determined they were unable to proceed with prosecuting Mr. Bakiyev," the official said.

Bakiyev's alleged scheme involved $45 million in a Latvian account, $5.3 million of which has ended up frozen by the Securities and Exchange Commission in a New York bank. Russian firm Ergoport Experts Ltd. tried to unfreeze the funds last year. The SEC sued the firm, which also attracted attention from federal prosecutors, who were "investigating a conspiracy in which it appears that individuals who exercised control over an account in Ergoport's name agreed to use inside information in order to execute stock trades," Assistant U.S. Attorney Rachel Nash said in October.

"We've sent a letter to the SEC and asked for meetings, and we've explained that this is contrary to the U.S. interest in fighting transnational organized crime," McCarthy said of the charges against Bakiyev being dropped.

A spokesperson for the SEC didn't immediately return a request for comment. Robert Nardoza, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch of New York's Eastern District, declined to comment on the case.

Bakiyev and his father, former president Kurmankek Bakiyev, fled Kyrgyzstan in 2010 after a coup that installed president Roza Otunbayeva. Otunbayeva was later put out of office in a 2011 election and replaced by the current president, Almazbek Atambayev.

According to McCarthy, Otunbayeva has been the main official dealing with Akin Gump on the case.

Akin Gump is offering its services pro bono.

"In our experience, the legal services described above would cost between $400,000 to $500,000, based on the Firm's customary hourly fees for professional services of between $600 to $750," reads the contract filed under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. "In order to assist the Kyrgyz Republic in its critical efforts to develop and implement a robust national anti-corruption and recovery of stolen public assets program, the Firm agrees to provide the legal services described above on a 'pro bono' basis, which means that we will not charge a fee for attorney or other staff services, or for routine administrative costs related to this representation."

"It's not a usual path to represent a country pro bono," McCarthy conceded. He named the firm's "respect for Roza Otunbayeva" as a main motivating factor in taking the job. When asked what Akin Gump was getting out of the deal, McCarthy said "it motivates me and my team personally as well" and that Akin Gump wants to help Kyrgyzstan "stay the course" when it comes to corruption.

BuzzFeed asked for comment from a wide range of Capitol Hill employees. Here are the reactions that are fit to print.

OK. So you woke up this morning and realized that you did not make the Hill's most beautiful people list AGAIN.

Source: glee.wikia.com

But at least there are 50 more people to gossip about and judge for another year. Lets get started!

Source: gurl.com

"What does it say about us when the hottest person up here is 50 years old?"

Via: thehill.com

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Reza Aslan attained internet fame this week for keeping his cool during a hostile and uninformed interview on Fox News. Turns out he’s a tad less guarded on Twitter.

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