Former congressman and convicted sexual predator Anthony Weiner has been sentenced to 21 months in jail for obscene communications with a minor; the girl was 15-years-old. It’s just horrific [emphasis mine]:
The judge, Denise L. Cote of Federal District Court in Manhattan, told Mr. Weiner that his offense was “a serious crime that deserves serious punishment.”
She said that there was a uniform opinion among those who had examined him that he had “a disease that involves sexual compulsivity; some call it a sex addiction.”
The judge said Mr. Weiner was finally receiving “effective treatment for this disease,” including attending group therapy and Sex Addicts Anonymous. “I find he is making an enormous contribution to others who are suffering from that same disease,” she added.
“But the difficulty here,” the judge said, “is that this is a very strong compulsion, so strong,” she continued, that “despite two very public disclosures and the destruction of his career on two occasions, he continued with the activity.”
She cited Mr. Weiner’s illegal exchanges with the girl on Skype, Snapchat and a site called Confide in early 2016. Prosecutors had said in their sentencing memo that during some of these communications, Mr. Weiner “used graphic and obscene language to ask the minor victim to display her naked body and touch herself, which she did.”
The New York Times editorial board was blunt and straightforward. Anthony Weiner was a pathetic jerk, who possibly helped Trump get elected.
His serial use of social media to engage in sexual byplay with women — apparently without actually having sex with them — turned him into a national joke. So did his chosen nom de porn: Carlos Danger. His family name became a weapon New York tabloids used mercilessly, if predictably, to make him the butt of one salacious pun after another.
To put it bluntly, Anthony Weiner — smart, often witty, politically deft, at one time plausibly a strong candidate for New York mayor — proved to be a pathetic jerk. But few jerks do as much damage as he did in his recklessness. He may even be responsible for Donald Trump being president.
Weiner’s laptop was part of the probe into this deviant behavior when the FBI stumbled onto emails relating to Hillary Clinton. It was later determined that Weiner and his soon-to-be-ex-wife Huma Abedin had shared the device. The Bureau wanted to examine the emails, they got the court order to do so, and James Comey sent a letter to Congress two weeks before Election Day saying the FBI would be reviewing them. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight says this might have cost Clinton the election, the American Association for Public Opinion Research isn’t so sure. Regardless, it’s goodbye, Mr. Weiner—and good riddance.
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