The former congressman hadn’t tweeted since June 2011, right after he became embroiled in a racy photo scandal that would eventually lead him to step down from office. Weiner, who welcomed a son with wife Huma Abedin last December, has kept a low profile in New York since the public gaffe where he tweeted a photo of his own crotch. Several women came forward after that claiming to have had explicit online communications with him. 

Earlier today, he returned to Twitter to post a YouTube link for a short video that shows the devastation left by Sandy in the Rockaways. The tweet did not include any text from Weiner.

In July, the couple did an interview with People magazine amidst rumors that Weiner was considering getting back in the public eye and running for office.

“I can’t say absolutely that I will never run for public office, but I’m very happy in my present life,” Weiner told People.

His return to Twitter Wednesday has already garnered plenty of attention, including that of Donald Trump, who is fresh off a Twitter meltdown following President Obama’s re-election.

“Pervert alert. @RepWeiner is back on twitter. All girls under the age of 18, block him immediately,” Trump tweeted.

Ironically, Weiner’s last tweet before letting his account go dark for more than a year was a jab at Trump about his pizza eating habits.

“On with Rachel tonight. Gonna talk about Trump eating pizza with a fork! #DudeYoureANewYorker!” Weiner tweeted on June 1, 2011.  

[View the story "Weiner returns" on Storify]

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“Frankly, it’s a check that I very much want to write,” Trump said in a YouTube video released via his Twitter and Facebook pages.

Trump has questioned whether Obama’s birth certificate issued by the state of Hawaii is legitimate, suggesting Obama was not born in the United States, which could have made him ineligible for the White House. The White House released the long-form copy of Obama’s birth certificate in 2011.

Trump did not say what he expected the college and passports records to reveal but was specific in saying he wanted to see all of Obama’s college applications and records and his passport applications and records.

“President Obama is the least transparent president in the history of this country,” Trump said in the video.

“If he releases these records it will end the question and indeed the anger of many Americans.”

Trump, who had toyed with the idea of running for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, said the deadline for the release of the documents was 5 p.m. on October 31.

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The photos, which were taken a  year ago, caused a firestorm among animal rights activists after they ended up in a slideshow posted on YouTube. In one photo seen in the video below, Donald Trump Jr. smiles as he holds up a tail that appears to have been cut from an elephant. The brothers can be seen posing in front of the bodies of a crocodile, a kudu, a civet cat and a water buck.   

PETA was quick to lash out at the Trumps, telling E! News, “If the young Trumps are looking for a thrill, perhaps they should consider skydiving, bungee jumping, or even following in their anti-hunting father’s footsteps and taking down competing businesses — not wild animals.”

Today, Donald Jr. took to Twitter to defend himself.

“I’m a hunter, for that I make no apologies,” he tweeted. He later added, “I can assure you it was not wasteful the villagers were so happy for the meat which they don’t often get to eat.”

In response to one Twitter user’s criticism of the photo of him with the elephant tail, Trump said, “The villagers did that as part of their tradition. I went along with it they thought it was a cool pic. Take it up w them.”

(via TMZ)

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On yesterday’s “Today“ show, Trump unveiled  the cast of the upcoming season of  “Celebrity Apprentice.” It includes Clay Aiken, race-car driver Marco Andretti, Adam Carolla, “Wayne’s World” star Tia Carrere, “Incredible Hulk“ star Lou Ferrigno, Debbie Gibson, Victoria Gotti, “Real Housewives of New Jersey” star Teresa Guidice, Arsenio Hall, comic Penn Jillette,  comic Lisa Lampanelli, Aubrey O’Day, “American Chopper” star Paul Teutal, model Cheryl Tiegs, ex-Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza, Twisted Sister singer Dee Snider, “Star Trek“ legend George Takei and model Patricia Velasquez.

First impression? I’m just happy to hear most of these people are still alive. And it’s not all bad: At least these celebrities compete to earn $250,000 to give to the charity of their choice (which should be career training for most of them).

But as for the Donald? Well, it was reported earlier this year that he might pocket as much as $65 million for producing and appearing on the show. You can guess how much of that goes to charity.
So, really, who is the winner here again??

For more gossip news visit Dorothy Robinson’s Word blog. Follow her on Twitter @DorothyatMetro.
 

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Donald Trump’s genetically-blessed daughter Ivanka and her equally-genetically-blessed husband Jared Kushner welcomed a baby this morning! According to a tweet from mom, little Arabella Rose is “beyond adorable” — for now. In the future, she probably will end up as our genetically superior overlord.

Because celebrity babies are basically the same thing as racehorses, let’s take a look at Arabella’s bloodlines, and see what skills she inherits from her forebears that will allow her to rule us all some day (probably.)

Maternal grandpa: Donald Trump
Skills inherited: Self-promotion, branding, ease in front of cameras (television), reality-show experience (hosting), perseverance in the face of conventional hair-styling wisdom, money-inheriting acumen

Maternal grandma: Ivana Trump
Skills inherited: Ease in front of cameras (fashion), interior design, reality-show experience (competing), skiing at an Olympic level

Mother: Ivanka Trump
Skills inherited: Reality-show experience (sidekick role), ease in front of cameras (“Gossip Girl”-edition), jewelry industry knowledge, clothes-wearing acumen, high cheekbones

Paternal grandpa: Charles Kushner
Skills inherited: Real-estate acumen, philanthropic connections, firsthand knowledge of campaign-finance law, ruthlessness

Paternal grandma: Seryl Kushner
Skills inherited: Common touch, loyalty

Father: Jared Kushner
Skills inherited: Suit-wearing acumen, familiarity with media world, perseverance in the face of conventional newspaper-coloring wisdom

So there you have it: A ruthless, intensely loyal baby with all the worlds of media, finance and politics aligned behind it. To quote a fictional mogul, in 40 years we will all either be working for Arabella Kushner, or dead by her hand.

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The two GOP powerhouses ate at Famous Famiglia pizza in Times Square.

Palin stopped in New York as part of her “One Nation” bus tour, after a quick jaunt to Philadelphia to tour the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It was Palin who reached out to Trump and proposed the dinner, according to Trump’s spokesman.

When asked about a Trump-Palin presidential ticket, Palin said, “That sounds exciting! Sounds unconventional!” reported ABC News.

The media coverage surrounding Palin’s tour of the East Coast has made headlines even as fans and reporters have been left in the dark about her daily schedule.

“It reminds us of the star power that Gov. Palin has,” said Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant. “She can put together a bus tour and from the sheer power of her media status she is able to draw major media attention.”

Palin said she will tour Ellis Island today.

Will she announce pres. bid?

Mackowiak and Keystone poller Terry Madonna both agree that this trip will not end in Palin announcing a run for president. But because of her media power, Mackowiak said that Palin would have to be taken seriously if she does.

“She follows her own rules. Candidates are begging for voters to show up and setting up tons of interviews,” he said. “She isn’t doing any of that. … And she gets more coverage than everyone combined.”

“Who can criticize anyone going to the Liberty Bell?” Madonna told Metro. “That is the genius of it.” 

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But sources close to the administration are pointing to pressure from a source closer to home — the President’s two daughters. When Donald Trump started questioning his birthplace, the students at Sidwell Friends took notice and started discussing it on the schoolyard. After questions from his daughters, the President decided it was time to take action and released the birth certificate to reassure his daughters.

Campaign staffers wanted him to delay because they felt that the disarray in the Republican Party over the “birthers” was beneficial to the President.

More on the birth certificate:

What will the Birthers do now?

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OK, so this thing is over, and we can all go home now, right? Sure, it may have been slightly misguided to legitimize the crazy birther claims but responding to them, but as Obama said this morning, "We do not have time for this silliness. We have other stuff to do." Now it’s time to start talking about Medicare and capital gains taxes and things like that, and the 23% of Americans who think that Obama isn’t America will all reconsider their lives and opinions and wonder what else they can focus on.

Nope! Now Donald Trump bizarrely thinks that the fact that he’s been definitively proven wrong is a feather in his cap, all because he was so annoyingly wrong that people decided they would do whatever was necessary to just shut him up.

As the Donald crowed, "Today I am very proud of myself. I have accomplished something that nobody else has been able to accomplish."

That is… one way to look at it?

What do you think? Will the Birthers accept defeat? Is this the end of Donald’s totally-real Presidential ambitions, or will he find another issue to latch onto until the season finale of "Celebrity Apprentice"?

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Ever since Trump started with the birther talk, Metro has been wondering: Why spout off ridiculous falsehoods to appease a fringe element of the Republican base if you’re not actually running for President? But then we thought of something even worse. Could it be that Trump actually believes this stuff?

(Or is that a sign of cynicism that that wasn’t our initial thought?)

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Whatever the reason, the Donald ramped up his recent dog-whistling concerns about President Obama’s birth today, releasing his own birth certificate to the conservative website Newsmax. In an interview with Fox News, Trump continued to play up his support for the fringe political movement — though like all mainstream conservatives expressing support for the Birthers, Trump was careful not to state that he believes Obama was born in a foreign country, only that, like an innocent child, he wasn’t sure what to believe.

"Now, this guy either has a birth certificate or he doesn’t. And I didn’t think this was such a big deal, but I will tell you, it’s turning out to be a very big deal because people now are calling me from all over saying, please don’t give up on this issue."

"All of a sudden, a lot of facts are emerging and I’m starting to wonder myself whether or not [the President] was born in this country."

As all stories about Birthers inevitably must, this is the part where we say whether or not the president was born in the United States: The president was born in the United States.

Still, we can’t help asking, "Why?" Let’s be real: Trump is not actually running for president; he’s just pretending, to get attention. But he could take a position on any issue and get that. We can only think of two reasons why he picked Birtherism: Either he’s on a secret campaign to go as extreme as possible in order to goose up ratings for "Celebrity Apprentice," or he sees a Huckabee-shaped hole for a Birther-friendly conservative opening up on Fox News’ schedule. (via Politico)

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