Americans were introduced to Anthony Weiner’s alter ego, “Carlos Danger,” and the Lincoln Memorial was vandalized with green paint.
On the international stage, Pope Francis hit the slums Rio de Janeiro to bring attention to the world’s less fortunate.
Here’s a recap, or wrap, of the week that was from The Washington Times.
• Sex, money and lies: ‘Culture of Corruption’ boomerangs on Democrats as scandals blossom nationwide
The Democratic Party is battling scandals from New York to San Diego and from city hall to Capitol Hill, as the party finds itself on the defensive over embarrassing lapses ranging from sexual misconduct to multiple scandals ensnaring the Obama administration.
• Zimmerman emerges to help rescue family of four from crash: police
Less than a week after he was acquitted in the murder of teen Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman emerged from hiding to help rescue a family of four who was trapped in an overturned vehicle, police said.
• Then-Sen. Obama co-sponsored ’stand your ground’ law in 2004 in Illinois
President Obama may currently be calling on the states to review their respective “stand your ground” gun laws, but he wasn’t always so opposed to the right-to-carry rule.
In 2004, while a senator in Illinois, he co-sponsored legislation that allowed for the same rights.
• Records of snooping into Christine O’Donnell tax records disappear
Delaware state officials have told Congress that they likely destroyed the computer records that would show when and how often they accessed Christine O’Donnell’s personal tax records and acknowledged that a newspaper article was used as the sole justification for snooping into the former GOP Senate candidate’s tax history.
The revelations to Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office came Tuesday as the Treasury Department’s inspector general for tax administration, the government’s chief watchdog for the Internal Revenue Service, formally reopened its investigation into the matter by re-interviewing Ms. O’Donnell.
• Arizona nursing student suspended as ‘bigot’ for requesting class in English
A nursing student attending Pima Community College in Arizona was suspended from class and subjected to accusations of bigotry when she asked that the course she paid for be conducted in English.
The student, Terri Bennett, 50, initially complained in April to school officials because she said the Spanish-dominated discussions in her class room were preventing her from learning, Townhall reported. The college nursing program director, David Kutzler, then allegedly called her “a bigot” and an expletive, and suspended her.
• 60-foot petition demanding Benghazi answers is unfurled on Capitol Hill
A group called Special Operations Veterans, the mission of which is to uncover the truths about the Benghazi, Libya, terror attack that left four Americans dead, took its demands to Capitol Hill on Tuesday via a petition that spans 60 feet in length. The veterans unfurled it near the steps of the Capitol.
• House narrowly kills move to rein in NSA; bill unites Obama, Bush officials
Top intelligence officials from the Obama and Bush administrations, along with senior House lawmakers from both parties, succeeded Wednesday in heading off the first legislative challenge to the domestic snooping program exposed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.
Arrayed against them was an equally odd cross-section of the political spectrum. Tea party libertarian Republicans and Democratic civil rights advocates — generally at odds — were united behind an amendment to a must-pass defense spending bill that would defund the National Security Agency’s mass collection of Americans’ phone records.
• Lincoln Memorial vandalized with green paint
U.S. Park Police say green paint was thrown on portions of the Lincoln Memorial in downtown Washington, D.C., either late Thursday night or early Friday morning.
A patrol officer found the green-paint splattering about 1:20 a.m., CBS reported. The paint can be seen on the floor and at the base of the statute, which depicts our nation’s 16th president sitting in a chair.
• FBI tells Sen. Rand Paul: We’ve used drones on U.S. soil 10 times
The Federal Bureau of Investigations told Sen. Rand Paul in a recent unclassified letter that agents have flown drones over U.S. airspace a total of 10 times in the past seven years. Mr. Paul received two letters — one classified and one unclassified — from the FBI.
He released the unclassified letter Thursday on his website along with his response to it. The letter was a response to questions the senator first posed to FBI Director Robert Mueller in June and then again in early July.
• Justice Dept. to press Texas on voting rights, despite ruling by Supreme Court
The Obama administration said Thursday that it will ask a federal court to require that Texas receive federal approval before it makes changes to its voting laws, opening up another battle front in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling last month that struck down a key part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Speaking at the National Urban League’s annual conference in Philadelphia, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that the Justice Department is asking a federal court in Texas to make the state seek approval from either his office or a federal court before state officials tweak voting laws.
• Anthony Weiner, aka ‘Carlos Danger,’ admits: I said more photos would emerge
Another series of embarrassing exchanges by New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, including a closeup photo of his genitals, has surfaced on a gossip website, prompting the embattled politician to issue another public apology. “I said that other texts and photos were likely to come out, and today they have,” the Democrat said in a statement Tuesday.
• The feeling is mutual: Pope Francis returns the love during emotional outpouring in Brazil
Pope Francis on Thursday was taking to the slum streets of Rio de Janeiro, walking among the poor and downtrodden in hopes of shedding light on one of his key messages: It’s the duty of Catholic Church faithful to help those who are less fortunate.
It’s this message that has won him hearts in Brazil, the location of his first foreign trip as pontiff.
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