Rep. Anthony Weiner To Give Presser at 4PM To Address Inappropriate Twittered Photos: UPDATE: Admits To Sending Photos

More photos keep coming to light courtesy of Breitbart and they do appear to show Brooklyn Democrat Rep. Anthony Weiner in less than a flattering light. Does this mean that the crotch-photo that lit up the Twitterverse is legitimately Weiner, or that Weiner sent the photo himself?

That's still an open question, but it appears that the Yfrog exploit is going to turn out to be the side-story. Yfrog had a vulnerability that could explain how someone could take photos and insert them into Weiner's twitter-stream without him knowing. That exploit may or may not have been fixed, but the news today doesn't appear to be good for Weiner.

Weiner could still claim that his accounts were hacked and that he never intended to send either the crotch photo or these newly released photos, but that would end up requiring forensic proof showing that he didn't do so or that his account was hacked.

If these do appear to be legitimate and Weiner has actually sent these photos, including the crotch-photo to other people through Twitter, then Weiner's political career is likely done. After all, similar photos sent by Buffalo-area Republican Rep. Christopher Lee resulted in his resignation. Lee actually set some kind of record, as he resigned within hours after the story broke on Gawker.

If Weiner does admit to sending the photos, the question then becomes of his political career, and his seat in Congress. His district is reliably Democrat, but Weiner's political aspirations for higher office, including Mayor of New York would likely over. That would be quite the stunning fall for the one-time protege for US Senator Chuck Schumer.

UPDATE:
Well, he's gone and admitted to sending the photos, which is just plain odd. After all his odd defenses and statements, that's it? What a putz.

As for his chances for a political future outside his district, I'd say that they're over. However, since he's refusing to resign, consider that he's in a safe district for Democrats, so he's going to likely remain and serve at his constituents' pleasure not unlike the way that Rep. Charles Rangel was reelected twice after his tax cheating ways were revealed and was censured by Congress.

Down Goes Twitter. Down Goes Twitter

The popular service has reported outages earlier this morning, which means that people relying on the service had to make due with reaching for a telephone, or making a blog posting instead of their usual fast posts.

The cause? A denial of service attack, that remains underway. Expect service to be spotty as the company tries to defend against the attack.

Rushing Headlong Into Confrontation

Mirhussein Mousavi's supporters still believe that the rally scheduled for today is on. The New York Times reports via a Facebook page that this is the case. Isn't technology grand?

Why exactly does anyone need the New York Times when the protesters are able to get their information out via alternative sources like Facebook and Twitter?

The Times is relying on these sources like everyone else because the regime is busy thwarting media outlets from reporting, and has attempted to do the same to Facebook, Twitter, and other online outlets with little success.

So, while there are concerns over the reliability of Twitter, Facebook, and other online sources, they remain the only way anyone knows what's really going on inside Iran.

That's both exhilarating and troubling since people are showing their resourcefulness to get news out but it means that rumors will often go unchallenged for days and misconceptions about events.

What is troubling is that several bloggers operating inside Iran are silent this morning, which is a first since the crisis began a week ago.

The 4pm local time rally means that it should be underway in Tehran (7am EDT).

The fact that the Iranian Guardian Council is offering a recount of 10% of the vote is meaningless at this point. That would be insufficient to deter Mousavi's opponents, and would do nothing to assuage Iranians that the election results were legitimate.

Iranian media reports that Mousavi and the other defeated candidates were offered to appear before the Guardian Council to discuss their complaints, but Mousavi declined to show.

So far, no photos of the demonstrations have been uploaded to Flickr or video posted to YouTube or LiveLeak. When they do, I'll post.

UPDATE:
Twitter is abuzz with postings from Iran claiming that the Basiji have been busy intimidating protesters and invading homes in Isfahan.

The BBC has increased the number of satellites used to thwart Iranian efforts to jam signals.

The Guardian's live coverage is superior to those of other outlets, but they too are relying on second and third hand information:

1.25pm:
The entrance to Tehran's Revolution Square, is blocked by fire engines, according to AP. It also reports that riot police have surrounded Tehran University.

Several unconfirmed tweets claim that protesters have clashed with the police. Some claim the police have used batons.

1.10pm:
The BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran, admitted on the World Service that he cannot tell if the rally is actually happening, because of the restrictions on reporting. The Guardian's reporters in Iran are in no position to comment either.

1pm:
An unconfirmed Tweet from a usually reliable source says Mousavi is walking from his Ettelaat office to the Ministry of Interior and that 10,000 people are with him.

Photos, claimed to be taken today, show several rows of riot police.

The BBC says its witness have seen hundreds of riot police in Enghelab Square.

Al-Jazeera also reports a heavy police presence, but points out that it is difficult to verify because phones are jammed.

Photos allegedly of the Basiji and police preparing for the demonstrations:




UPDATE:
Twitterings reporting large crowds, and police to match.

UPDATE:
Tweet Grid is one way to try and keep up with the deluge of information.

UPDATE:
Multiple reports claiming that tear gas is being used to disperse protesters. Reports coming via AP and al Jazeera.

UPDATE:
Multiple reports of gunfire as well, no word on injuries, but I'm sure that reports will begin filtering in as to such injuries.

There's also a so-far unconfirmed report that there was a bomb blast at a mosque where Ali Khamenei preaches.

UPDATE:
Nothing official on the reported bomb blast at the Khomenei mosque, but it could have been the government itself using the incident as a pretext to crack down hard against Mousavi's supporters with extreme prejudice. With such a lack of reliable information, anything is possible. Stay tuned.

UPDATE:
A bomb blast has been confirmed at Khomeni square. No word on injuries, but Iran state TV apparently set up cameras to tape before blast occurred. That's likely a coincidence.

This video claims to have been taken today:


UPDATE:
More video via BBC.

UPDATE:
More video and information (in French). The videos are pretty self-explanatory.

UPDATE:


UPDATE:
Is this Iran's Tiananmen Square moment?