Disgraced former Rep. Anthony Weiner has his eyes on another political run — this time setting his sights on the New York City Council.
“I’m thinking about it. I’m wrestling with it,” Wiener, 60, said on his weekly 77WABC radio show Saturday, City & State New York reported.
“I love doing this job on the radio, but I want to be of service,” he said.
Anthony Weiner is mulling a return to politics.Getty ImagesAnthony Weiner served 21 months in prison for sexting a 15-year-old girl.AFP via Getty Images
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Weiner hasn’t held public office in more than a decade since he was ousted from his New York congressional seat in 2011 over a sexting scandal that involved several women and a minor.
Two years later, he was caught up in another sexting scandal while running for mayor.
After serving 21 months in prison for sexting a 15-year-old North Carolina girl,he was released in 2019— and called himself “a very sick man” during his sentencing.
Weiner, who also went to rehab for sex addiction, was previously married to Huma Abedin, an aide to Hilary Clinton during her 2016 presidential run against Donald Trump.
When investigators searched his laptop over his sick messages — including selfies he sent when his then-4-year-old son was in the room, they discovered emails connected to the probe into the Democratic candidate’s email scandal.
The discovery led the FBI to reopen the investigation of Clinton, just days before the 2016 election — a move Clinton blamed for her stunning loss to Trump.
Within about a week, the FBI declined to pursue their investigation into Clinton.
If the sex pest once known as “Carlos Danger” during his sexcapades does give politics another go, he would vie for the seat of Council Member Carlina Rivera, which will be open after her term ends in 2025.
Weiner did acknowledge Saturday that his personal baggage might hamper his odds.
“The things in my past, the things about my addiction, the things about my acting out, the things about my background – it’s a lot, it’s a lot,” he said.
“But we’re at a moment that we Democrats, we seem like we come into knife fights carrying library books all the time.”
Democrats have activated their network of social justice warriors for the second time in days following a Trump victory early Wednseday morning. The latest mobilization effort of far-left activists by mysterious and dark money-funded nonprofit groups is occurring on the streets of New York City on Saturday afternoon.
X user Open Source Inteluploaded footage of what appears to be thousands of anti-Trump protesters in Midtown Manhattan.
"Thousands march in Midtown Manhattan as New York City law enforcement monitors. Protesters rally against fascism, deportation, anti-trans hate, and systemic oppression, expressing concerns over Donald Trump's election as the 47th President," the X user said, adding, "Chants of "Racist, sexist, anti-gay" and signs highlight their solidarity for marginalized communities."
WATCH⚡️
Protest in Midtown Manhattan Against Trump’s Election
Thousands march in Midtown Manhattan as New York City law enforcement monitors. Protesters rally against fascism, deportation, anti-trans hate, and systemic oppression, expressing concerns over Donald Trump’s… pic.twitter.com/RMEnKVqU4b
Here's more footage of the protest, which appears well organized and funded—in other words, not organic.
New York City — A large crowd gathered to protest in favor of open borders. They are opposed to the deportations of illegal foreign nationals promised by the Trump campaign. During Biden-Harris' administration, an estimated 10–20m entered the country. pic.twitter.com/Wn1k6nx3J5
🚨THOUSANDS of Illegal Immigrants March in NYC, Protesting Anti-Immigrant Laws and Trump’s Policies
Currently, illegal immigrants from Ecuador and Peru are marching through New York City, holding signs that read “No to the anti-immigrant laws, no to deportations.” The protest… pic.twitter.com/c0rov3TNOb
On Wednseday night, hundreds—if not thousands—of protesters—many holding signs outside the Trump Hotel in Obama's Chicago shouted into megaphones, "Trump is a fascist" and "racist," echoing hate speech spewed by the defunct Harris-Walz campaign in the months leading up to November 5.
Remember this week, far-left activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was on X, saying the quiet part out loud: "There are ... mass movements of people that mobilize to protect one another in times of fascism and authoritarianism ... and this is the era that we are poised to enter."
🚨FEARMONGER AOC ON DONALD TRUMP:
"We are about to enter a political period of fascism and authoritarianism. It is not uncommon to jail political dissidents or legislative opponents."
In other words, AOC appears to be giving marching orders to her followers, whom some Marxists regard as "agents of change" or "agents of history." These folks will be herded like cattle—or "useful idiots"—onto city streets by a mysterious web of nonprofits funded by dark money from leftist billionaires.
The Democrat's playbook to potentially unleash another wave of social unrest through activism campaigns, with command-and-control centers operated by nonprofits, will likely not be tolerated under a Trump administration.
Under the Trump administration, if Elon Musk wants to cut wasteful government spending while increasing national security, then slash the government's ability to hand out grants like candy to far-left activism groups, done with little oversight.
The problem with radical leftist protests this time around is that Trump won the popular vote, and a majority of Americans won't put up with this activist shit any longer.
Blasts were heard in Kyiv early on Sunday, Reuters' witnesses reported, after Ukraine's air force said that a number of Russian drones were heading towards the city.
The explosions sounded like air defence units in operation, Reuters' witnesses said.
Kyiv, the region surrounding it and the eastern half of Ukraine were under air raid alerts, according to alerts issued by Ukraine's air force.
Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Saturday that Ukraine faced increasing difficulties in its fight against Moscow's invasion as Russian forces advance and North Korean troops prepare to join the Kremlin's campaign.
Syrskyi, relating comments he made to a top U.S. general, said outnumbered Ukrainian forces faced Russian attacks in key sectors of the more than 2-1/2-year-old war with Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a nightly address that Ukraine's military command was focused on defending around the town of Kurakhove -- a target of Russia's advances along with Pokrovsk, a logistical hub to the north.
He decried strikes on civilian targets and urged European countries to provide more air defence systems.
Syrskyi, writing on Facebook, said he told General Christopher Cavoli, who heads the U.S. European Command: "The situation remains challenging and shows signs of escalation.
"The enemy, leveraging its numerical advantage, is continuing offensive actions and is focusing its main efforts on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions", Syrskyi said.
Russian forces, intent on capturing Ukraine's eastern Donbas province, made up of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, have been regularly capturing new villages as they move towards Pokrovsk.
Ukraine's general staff, in a late evening report on Saturday, said 40 armed clashes had occurred around villages near Kurakhove.
Both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers on Friday said Russian forces sought to encircle the city.
The United States, Western European countries and Ukraine say that North Korea, which entered a mutual defence pact with Russia in June, has sent troops to its ally.
"We have numerous reports of North Korean soldiers preparing to participate in combat operations alongside Russian Forces," Syrskyi said.
Zelenskiy has said 11,000 North Korean soldiers have arrived in Russia, specifically in the southern Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces staged a large incursion in August.
Both Zelenskiy and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said this week that North Korean soldiers had already been involved in combat there.
The United States has been by far the biggest contributor of aid and arms to Ukraine, though Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election has raised questions about future policy.
Zelenskiy was among the first leaders to congratulate Trump after his victory on Tuesday. The Ukrainian president described his telephone conversation with Trump as "wonderful" and said contacts would continue.
In October, weeks before the2024election, the word was out: Vice President Kamala Harris had fundraised north of $1 billion. The haul, theNew York Timesreportedupon breaking the news, was historic because of the short period of time, just three months, that it flooded in.
It was ultimately no use. On Tuesday, Donald Trump made history and became only the second former president to win a nonconsecutive term. After surviving two assassination attempts on the campaign trail, Trump dominated Harris in battleground states to emerge as the president-elect. And he did so with far less cash.
The story of how Harris pocketed record sums while failing to gain support from voters will be studied by campaigns for decades to come. Democrats who successfully pressured octogenarian President Joe Biden to pass the torch to the former California senator are now conducting an internal autopsy of the 2024 race, in which Trump raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars less than Harris.
“A billion dollars paled in comparison to the increased prices Americans were seeing across the country,” Tom Fitton, president of the conservative group Judicial Watch and a longtime Trump ally, told the Washington Examiner. “Voters weren’t fooled.”
Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a concession speech for the 2024 presidential election on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, on the campus of Howard University in Washington. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
The Harris campaign and its affiliated committees dropped more than $654 million on advertising from July 22 to Election Day, whereas Trump spent $378 million, or 57% less, in the same category, according to data from AdImpact.
Future Forward, the $500 million “ad-testing factory” and super PAC that supported Harris, was a reliable clearinghouse for checks from wealthy Democrats such as Reid Hoffman, George Soros, Michael Bloomberg, and Dustin Moskovitz. And anonymous donations, or so-called “dark money,” also benefited Harris at a faster and more substantial clip than Trump thanks to lax federal laws that progressives often criticize but, nonetheless, exploited in 2024.
The Harris campaign declined to comment on its finances. A fuller portrait will be public after the election, as the Federal Election Commission mandates post-general election reports for candidates within 30 days.
In mid-October, the Harris campaign disclosed that it had spent over $880 million this election, almost $526 million greater than the roughly $354 million that the Trump campaign had disclosed spending, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of federal filings. Much of the Harris campaign’s spending was allocated for digital media advertising, polling, and travel from state to state, including to a private jet company called Advanced Aviation.
Payroll and the taxes that accompanied it accounted for $56.6 million of the Harris campaign’s spending. In comparison, the Trump campaign reported spending $9 million on payroll — employing hundreds fewer staff members.
There was also the army of political, digital, and media consultants who were paid over $12.8 million by the Harris campaign, filings show.
One vendor, Village Marketing Agency, received over $3.9 million and reportedly worked to recruit thousands of social media influencers to boost Harris online. Others that scored lucrative consulting gigs from the campaign included the likes of Precision Strategies, a Democratic-aligned marketing agency; Ethos Organizing, founded by former Ohio Democratic Party director Malik Hubbard; and the Biden-allied SKDK communications firm.
Harris’s payments to the consultant class will likely come under the microscope in the months ahead, as Democrats look to diagnose who is responsible for why the party lost this election so handily. Speaking on MSNBC after Harris’s Wednesday concession speech, former Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill said Harris “was listening too much to consultants,” which McCaskill argued detracted from her ability to “exude who she was” to voters.
“There was a segment of the electorate that was very consistently saying, ‘I’m not familiar with Kamala Harris,’ and, because of that, ‘I’m not comfortable enough to decide to vote for her,’ whereas Trump is incredibly well-defined,” said Jake Dilemani, a Democratic political strategist based in New York City. “It was easier for him to spend less and still win.”
“It’s the advantage of being such a well-defined person,” Dilemani told the Washington Examiner.
“Event production” was also a staple spending area of the Harris campaign, which notably hosted a star-studded lineup of musicians from Lady Gaga to Katy Perry for an election eve rally.
Lady Gaga performs at a campaign rally supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
The campaign paid more than $15 million, according to federal filings, to companies for such services.
There was $1 million for Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions on Oct. 15 in West Hollywood, California.
Viva Creative, a marketing agency that has touted its work with Oprah, comedian Trevor Noah, the Washington Nationals baseball team, and American Express, scooped up $1.8 million from the Harris campaign for event production from September to October. A company called Production Management One in Maryland received $1.7 million, with large payments also going to Vox Productions, Temple University, Wizard Studios North, the Park Hyatt Chicago, and other entities for event production, filings show.
Then there was Majic Productions, a Wisconsin-based company, which has worked the NBA playoffs, the Super Bowl, and at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The Harris campaign paid that company $2.3 million.
A source familiar with the matter told the Washington Examiner that the Harris campaign spent six figures on building a set for Harris’s appearance on the popular Call Her Daddy podcast with host Alex Cooper. The interview came out in October and was reportedly filmed in a hotel room in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Harris campaign on the podcast-related matter but did not hear back in time for publication.
“Money can’t buy you love or a good candidate,” one Trump campaign adviser said. To Republican political strategist Brad Todd, the story behind why Harris lost is not a lesson on money purportedly being irrelevant in elections.
Rather, in Todd’s telling, Harris’s message was off: She was unwilling to meet swing state voters where they were on issues such as immigration and the economy.
“Advertising is a pretty important source of information for swing voters,” Todd said. “It no doubt matters, but it’s not enough. It doesn’t matter if you have the wrong message and it’s not delivered in a compelling way. What her campaign was missing was any effort to break with the unpopular administration she has been a part of.”
On Friday, the Justice Departmentunsealed a criminal complaintthat alleges an Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump:
Investigators were told of the plan to kill Trump by Farhad Shakeri, an accused Iranian government asset who spent time in American prisons for robbery and who authorities say maintains a network of criminal associates enlisted by Tehran for surveillance and murder-for-hire plots.
Shakeri told the FBI that a contact in Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard instructed him this past September to set aside other work he was doing and assemble a plan within seven days to surveil and ultimately kill Trump, according to a criminal complaint unsealed in federal court in Manhattan.
Shakeri is in Iran, but two confederates have been arrested.
The official was quoted by Shakeri as saying that “We have already spent a lot of money” and that “money’s not an issue.” Shakeri told investigators the official told him that if he could not put together a plan within the seven-day timeframe, then the plot would be paused until after the election because the official assumed Trump would lose and that it would be easier to kill him then, the complaint said.
Heh. The mullahs read The Washington Post. Interesting that Iran wanted Trump dead even if he lost the election.
Other Iranian murder plots are discussed in the linked AP article, although they don’t mention that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo still receives protection as he remains under a death sentence from Tehran. It is unclear (from this story, at least) whether any of Iran’s plots have succeeded.
While expecting Trump to lose, Iran wasn’t taking any chances:
Iranian operatives also conducted a hack-and-leak operation of emails belonging to Trump campaign associates in what officials have assessed was an effort to interfere in the presidential election and harm Trump’s campaign.
Somehow this didn’t draw the condemnations of “foreign interference” that we have seen in other instances.
I don’t suppose the mullahs’ motivation requires explanation, but the AP says:
Intelligence officials have said Iran opposed Trump’s reelection, seeing him as more likely to increase tension between Washington and Tehran. Trump’s administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, an act that prompted Iran’s leaders to vow revenge.
The mullahs like the Democrats, starting with Barack Obama, who have slid them billions of dollars and, unaccountably, have helped their efforts to obtain nuclear weapons.
First, there were “Ozempic babies.” Now, there is also Ozempic-before-baby.
Unplanned pregnancies are still regularly being reported among people using glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) drugs, and now fertility specialists are increasingly incorporating the medicines into preconception care plans.
The specialists say their colleagues in other areas of medicine may have an opportunity, too, to talk about weight loss using these new drugs in terms of reproductive health. Motivation and compliance can transform when the goal isn’t simply weight loss but having children.
Christina Boots, MD, MSci
“We have this really special moment to help patients be healthier, in order to be healthier for their kids,” said Christina Boots, MD, MSci, an associate professor of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago. “And I think that’s also a very motivating moment. It may be hard to get up and go for a run to make my jeans fit better, but when I think about it in terms of, ‘this might someday help my future daughter,’ that is a whole different level of motivation.”
Discussing obesity treatment can be a delicate conversation, but one that would be beneficial to have with any patient of reproductive age. Here’s why, what to know about the current lengthy list of unknowns and risks, and some options for approaching the topic with patients.
What Fertility Docs Are Doing
While overweight and obesity are consistently linked to fertility and pregnancy outcomes, Boots predicts the biggest impact of GLP-1 weight loss for fertility among women will be a specific subset: Those who are not cycling regularly, such as those with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
“The women who are cycling regularly who have very unexplained infertility and no other comorbidities like high blood pressure or something else going on, I don’t think it’s going to help their fertility very much at all,” she said “It might, but I think there’s probably something else going on in her tubes or with her eggs or his sperm, but it has nothing to do with her metabolic health.
Women who aren’t cycling regularly will benefit, but those with truly unexplained fertility probably won’t, she said.
In their recent narrative review on treating obesity and fertility with GLP-1 RAs that appeared in Fertility and Sterility, Boots and co-author Alyse S. Goldberg, MD, an endocrinologist with the University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, advocate for the use of GLP-1s as a go-to treatment for obesity as part of preconception care by reproductive endocrinologists, calling the drugs “the most effective, least invasive means of weight loss.”
The paper is timely and necessary because use of GLP-1s is only going to increase, said Patricia Jimenez, MD, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, in an email to Medscape Medical News.
“GLP-1 RAs are becoming a larger part of my practice. More patients are either using them already or interested in using them,” said Jimenez, who is board certified in reproductive endocrinology, obstetrics and gynecology, and obesity medicine. “I specifically see patients to discuss this and do prescribe antiobesity medications, not only GLP-1 RAs. Often this is with people with PCOS who are not planning to conceive soon or patients willing to delay fertility treatment [by] 3-6 months.”
Treating obesity is also important for women who are seeking in vitro fertilization, Boots said, because many IVF clinics have a body mass index cutoff of 40 kg/m2.
Like Jimenez’s approach, Boots and Goldberg call for comprehensive obesity care beyond the use of medication, including nutritional counseling and mental health support. Those supports are important during the transition off of GLP-1 medications, which poses a risk for rapid weight regain. That’s even with the potential support of taking metformin, which Boots often prescribes as a bridge.
Semaglutide should be stopped at least 2 months prior to conception, and tirzepatide should be stopped 1 month prior to conception, according to the manufacturers. (Boots and Goldberg listed the Canadian label recommendation for stopping tirzepatide, noting there is no suggested timeline for stopping prior to conception on the US label.)
Numerous studies have shown rapid weight regain is common when stopping GLP-1s, which presents a unique set of risks for pregnant women including early pregnancy loss, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, and nonelective cesarean delivery.
Risks, Benefits, and Unknowns
Early looks at small human data sets, mostly involving semaglutide and earlier short-acting GLP-1s, and their impact on the risk for birth defects are “reassuring,” Boots said.
“But birth defects are just one small aspect. There’s also metabolic health and things like that long-term. Understanding what it does to the growing baby and the proximity of that medication to that growing baby is really important to see, and can’t be answered with animal studies, not perfectly anyway,” Boots said.
There are no published reports, from clinical trials nor case collections, examining the use of tirzepatide among pregnant people.
Joshua Halpern, MD, MS
“One of the most important questions we need to answer is the preconception safety of these medications, and that includes safety for men,” said Joshua Halpern, MD, MS, an adjunct assistant professor of urology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, and chief scientific officer for Posterity Health, in an email to Medscape Medical News.
“For example, a recent study found that men who were taking metformin, another popular medication for diabetes, were more likely to have children with birth defects, compared with those who were not taking the medication,” Halpern said. “Further studies are needed to determine whether a similar effect might hold true for the GLP-1 agonists.”
Small early studies on sperm are encouraging, Halpern said, suggesting that GLP-1 use may be beneficial, but a better understanding of direct effects is needed.
Among women, there may be cases where continuing use of a GLP-1 during pregnancy may offer benefits that outweigh risks, Boots suggested. Manufacturers have also created pregnancy exposure registries to measure the safety of their therapies during pregnancy.
“I have a group of patients whose sugars are so well controlled on these medications, but as soon as they come off, they get weight regain and their glucose is just so poorly controlled,” she said. “There may be a group of women where the benefits of glucose control outweigh the risks of being on the medication the whole pregnancy.”
The list of important unknowns also includes a need to examine how rapid weight loss may impact ovulation rates and spontaneous conception, as well as miscarriage rates, birth weight, and metabolic health of the child.
Jacqueline Maya, MD
More detailed rebound weight gain data is coming next year, with additional analysis expected as well on birth weight and pregnancy outcomes, said Jacqueline Maya, MD, first author of the research abstract presented at this year’s American Diabetes Association conference that examined gestational weight gain among people with preexisting type 2 diabetes who were exposed to GLP-1s during pregnancy. The study included 47 exposed pregnancies (based on prescription records and electronic chart information) and compared gestational weight gain to 141 unexposed matched pregnancies. Among the exposed group, 62% exceeded recommended weight gain, compared with 41% in the unexposed group. On average, gestational weight gain in exposed pregnancies exceeded that among matched unexposed pregnancies by about 6 pounds.
The team is now working with an additional data set to examine exposed pregnancies among people with obesity, said Maya, an instructor of pediatrics at Mass General Hospital and Harvard School of Medicine. She is particularly interested in examining weight trajectories during pregnancy to see how they may affect fetal outcomes. Her team’s current project also will likely include analysis to examine other variables like postpartum weight gain and adiposity characteristics of the baby.
Maya said the team hopes to have more to report at the American Diabetes Association conference in June next year.
Offer the Conversation
Using a GLP-1 for weight loss takes time, usually around 1 year to reach a plateau. Boots encouraged nonfertility providers to ask patients of reproductive age about their family plans as an opening.
“I hope for all primary care doctors and gynecologists, that with any patient of reproductive age, you should be bringing this up, asking, ‘Have you thought about having kids? Are you thinking about it soon?’ And if they say they are sometime in the near future, then you can say, ‘Is it OK if I bring up your weight?’ And you should ask permission.”
If the patient declines, it’s OK to bring it up again at a future visit.
“People with obesity have often experienced negative weight bias that impacts their care,” Jimenez said. “Treat obesity as a disease, not a personal failing. Ask permission to discuss weight with the patient beforehand. If they say no, respect that answer. This goes a long way in developing a positive relationship, so they return for care and may be willing to discuss later.”
When patients are open to the conversation, Boots suggests not focusing on the potential for poor outcomes, and instead perhaps saying, “If you’re thinking about having a baby in 5 years, optimizing your health now will not only make your pregnancy healthier, but your child healthier long-term.”
Discussing contraception plans remains important. People starting semaglutide or tirzepatide should use contraception other than oral birth control for 4 weeks while starting the medicine and for 4 weeks after each dose increase.
Boots said that the contraception conversation is particularly important because many people have come to deeply believe that they are infertile and, thus, may perhaps think contraception advice doesn’t apply to them. Maya hypothesized that behavioral changes following weight loss may also be a pathway toward pregnancy.
“Pregnancy while on GLP-1 RAs does happen. I always have a discussion about this possibility and contraception. This can sometimes be challenging for people with infertility to consider,” Jimenez said. “Explaining the risks, benefits, and unknowns can help. As the [Fertility and Sterility] paper describes, the limited data available has not shown increased fetal or maternal complications. We need more high quality data to better understand the impact of exposure or use around the time of conception and during pregnancy.”
It’s also important to introduce the idea to patients that they may someday need to come off the medications, such as when they are ready to have children, and how important lifestyle and behavioral changes will be at that time, Maya said.
“We do know what the alternative is, and we do know what the risks of obesity are,” she said. “So, it’s a tug and pull. We’re not starting off with healthy. We’re starting off with a disease that is physically and emotionally very difficult for the patient, especially when it starts in childhood.”
