Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jun 7, 2011

Equal time:

After nearly 10 days of claiming he had been the victim of a hacker, NY Congressman ANTHONY WEINER finally came clean: There was no hacker; he was being a salacious online pervert --and now he's sorry.
In a brief statement and lengthy Q&A with the press yesterday, he tearfully admitted that every photograph released in the growing scandal was him, and that he's participated in several inappropriate conversations with at least six women but they were all online: "I have never met any of these women or had physical relationships at any time."
Some of the exchanges occurred prior to his marriage --some dating back as much as three years-- but the more recent conversations occurred during his marriage. He said his wife had known about some of this behavior even before they were married last year but didn't know that the recent incident was his doing.
Weiner calls it a regrettable, destructive mistake and a deep personal failing but he doesn't think he violated any laws but Democratic House leader NANCY PELOSI has called for an ethics investigation.
Weiner said he would cooperate fully with the investigation but for now, he says he's going back to work, won't resign, and plans to win back the trust of his constituents whom he hopes will see his behavior as an aberration from which he has learned.
He apologized to his wife, his family (and hers), the women who were inadvertently drawn into the scandal and the media, including ANDREW BREITBART, the rabble-rousing blogger who first broke the story.

Weiner must've decided the jig was up after more photos were leaked on the internet.
ANDREW BREITBART's Big Government released photos initially sent through Weiner's AOL account via BlackBerry to a woman in early May. One picture shows the congressman on a couch next to cats, and the apparent subject line is "Me and the pussies." Another shows his naked torso.
Breitbart claims the shots are part of a "cache of intimate photos and online communications" between Weiner and another woman, some of which are "graphic."
Radar Online reported that another woman claims to have provided "200 sexually explicit messages from Weiner from a Facebook account the Democratic politician no longer uses." The gossip website also released a partial transcript of a not-safe-for-work Facebook sexting session between Weiner and this same woman, whom they say is a Democratic campaign volunteer who never met the congressman. (Maiman)

10 Best Weinergate tweets of the day:

(thanks to the Hollywood Reporter for collecting them):
10. "Can I just say that based on current events the stories for Scandal practically write themselves right now?" - SHONDA RHIMES
9. "A historic day for trivial Twitter fame. Charlie Sheen has called Anthony Weiner to offer his concession." -ARIANNA HUFFINGTON
8. "BREAKING: Rep. Anthony Weiner admits the Twitter pics are his. He also said, 'When I took the pics it was really really cold." -Late Show with David Letterman head writer/executive producer JUSTIN STANGEL
7. "Your turn, Blake Lively. It's okay. You won't have to resign from The Green Lantern." -Watch What Happens Live! writer CAISSIE ST. ONGE
6. "To all my followers: I"m sorry I lied, that was not a photo of me in my tighty-whities." -CHAD LOWE
5. "Anthony Weiner skipped the Israel Day Parade. It's ok--he's already supported Israel by showing everyone that he's Jewish. #weinergate" -JOY BEHAR
4. "Tattoo it on your chest, MEMENTO-style, Weiner: 'The Internet is forever."" -PATTON OSWALT
3. "Just my luck! On the same day I find out it's bad to tweet dirty pictures, FedEx shows up w/ all that penis make-up I ordered!" - ANDY RICHTER
2. "Weiner-gate is teaching me a few things..if a pic posted of my weener on web looks big: i posted it, if its small, my account was hacked." -DAVID SPADE
1. "STEVE MARTIN IS REALLY OILED AND BUFF. OMG, my Twitter account was just hacked." - STEVE MARTIN

Filling a need:

Here's something you don't see everyday --Suarez Manufacturing Industries is moving their production to the United States... from China!
The Columbus Dispatch reports the new operation will begin assembling portable heaters this summer in a North Canton, Ohio, building that formerly housed a Hoover vacuum factory. The new plant expects to hire as many as 25-hundred workers in the next 18 months but the new assembly jobs will pay as little as $7.50 an hour, considerably less than Hoover paid for similar work. (Kaye)

Stupid people, stupid places:

A teenage girl in Germany went into hiding after she forgot to set her Facebook birthday invitation to private and accidentally invited the entire internet.
The 16-year-old girl, identified only as THESSA, posted a birthday invitation to Facebook that was viewable by anyone with a web connection. After 15-thousand people confirmed they were coming, Thessa's parents canceled the party. They also notified police and hired private security to guard their home.
That still wasn't enough to stop 1,500 people from showing up and having a good time. About 100 police were dispatched to control the crowd, who chanted "Thessa, celebrating a birthday is not a crime" and held up signs reading "Where is Thessa?"
Eleven party-goers were detained, one cop was injured, dozens of girls wearing flip-flops cut their feet on broken glass, and firefighters extinguished two small blazes. Despite all that, a police spokesman declared the party "a hit."
FYI: In 2010, more than 21-thousand people confirmed they were attending a 14-year-old British girl's birthday. Some of the confirmed attendees included fake accounts for Justin Bieber and Stephen Hawking. (Maiman)