List of Veterans Day free meals and other Veterans Day freebies.
There are plenty of Veterans Day free meals to be had this year as well as some other additional discounts on items other than food. You’ll be able to stop into any of the restaurants below on or around Veterans Day this year to get your free meal.
Tip: Pay close attention to the date listed and what you need to bring so you qualify for the free meal. They don’t all take place on Veterans Day (Sunday, November 11, 2012 but observed on Monday, November 12, 2012) and some require different forms of identification.
Tip: Some of these Veterans Day free meals are nationwide but some are only at participating locations. Please call the restaurant before you leave home to make sure they are taking part. This list is 6 pages long! Look through them all so you don’t miss out on a favorite.
There are plenty of other military freebies that are available all year round. You can also get free meals on your birthday at many restaurants around the country.
Check here the full list of restaurants offering free meals on Veterans Day
List of Veterans Day free meals and other Veterans Day freebies
New York Times editor Hugo Lindgren has denied that an anonymous letter sent to paper’s magazine advice column The Ethicist over the summer is from Dr. Scott Broadwell, the spurned husband of Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus’ alleged mistress.
The possibility was raised after observers dug out the July 13 edition of Chuck Klosterman’s The Ethicist and pointed to extraordinary parallels between the letter and the now scandalous love tryst that led David Petraeus to hand in his resignation as details of the affair came to light.
But yesterday, the editor of the New York Times magazine denied that the column and the Petraeus scandal are related.
Hugo Lindgren tweeted: “This @theethicist column… is NOT about the Petraeus affair, based on our fact checking. Strange, I know.”
Dr. Scott Broadwell is the spurned husband of Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus’ alleged mistress
Writing about a deepening relationship he knew his wife was having with a “government executive” whose job “is seen worldwide as a demonstration of American leadership” the anonymous man offers up what could be considered in hindsight as striking information.
The letter writer explains that “exposing the affair will create a major distraction that would adversely impact the success of an important effort”, and asks The Ethicist whether it is OK for him to “suffer in silence for the next year or two for a project”.
Indeed, he seems pained to make it clear he believes the mission “must succeed” and wants to know if he should confront his wife in some way and ”finally force closure” or if he should “suffer in silence for the next year or two”.
Paula Broadwell, the woman at the center of the CIA Director David Petraeus cheating scandal, warned another woman to “back off” and “stay away” from the retired general in threatening emails uncovered by the FBI.
David Petraeus quit his post as director of the CIA on Friday while offering an apology over the affair, allegedly with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
His apology came as reports show that the affair blew up in David Petraeus’ face after Paula Broadwell allegedly sent the e-mails to another woman whom she accused of getting too close to him.
The recipient of those emails, fearing for her safety, contacted the FBI – which found that Paula Broadwell had sent them.
A government official told the New York Post that the emails contained such language as: “I know what you did”, “back off” and “stay away from my guy”.
The official added: “[Paula Broadwell] clearly thought something was going on’ and thought she was in a <<lovers triangle>>.”
Little is known about the recipient of those emails, including her identity, but the paper reported that she was not David Petraeus’ wife, Holly.
Paula Broadwell, the woman at the center of David Petraeus cheating scandal, warned another woman to stay away from the retired general
Paula Broadwell, who is married to Dr. Scott Broadwell and has two young sons, has not responded to multiple emails and phone messages.
She had planned to celebrate her 40th birthday in Washington this weekend, with many reporters invited. Her husband, Scott Broadwell emailed guests to cancel the party.
It is also claimed that Paula Broadwell used David Petraeus’ own Gmail account to send the emails, and when the FBI began to investigate an obvious national security issue instead uncovered explicit messages between the two sent from the decorated war hero’s own account – indicating an affair.
Three senior law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case told the Washington Post that when David Petraeus’ name was raised in connection with the threatening emails, the FBI thought that security had been breached.
CIA officers long had expressed concern about Paula Broadwell’s unprecedented access to the director.
Paula Broadwell frequently visited the spy agency’s headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to meet David Petraeus in his office, accompanied him on morning runs around the CIA grounds and often attended public functions as his guest, according to two ex-intelligence officials.
Beginning their investigation into how the Director of the CIA’s personal email had been hacked, the FBI agents instead uncovered evidence that he and 40-year-old Paul Broadwell were involved in an extramarital affair.
FBI investigators first interviewed David Petraeus about what they had found two weeks ago and informed him that no criminal charges would be brought and no-one is thought to have discussed the possibility of his resignation.
But, according to the Washington Post, after an investigation Justice Department officials were unclear what to do next, because no crime had occurred nor breach of security.
They contacted James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence and told him they had compromising material about David Petraeus.
James Clapper in turn spoke to David Petraeus and advised him to resign.
Mohammed al-Dahabi, Jordan’s former intelligence chief, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption.
Mohammed al-Dahabi, who was head of the intelligence service from 2005 to 2008, was accused of embezzling public funds, money laundering and abuse of office.
The court in Amman ordered him to repay nearly $30 million to the state.
Jordan’s leaders have come under pressure in recent months from street protesters demanding that corruption be tackled.
The lengthy sentence for such a high-profile figure is meant to show Jordanians that the authorities are serious about tackling the issue, observers say.
“You deserve the harshest punishment for being a traitor to the people who trusted you with a government position and state funds,” judge Nashaat Akhras told Mohammed al-Dahabi.
Mohammed al-Dahabi, Jordan’s former intelligence chief, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for corruption
The former spy chief was arrested in February after the Central Bank of Jordan became suspicious of the large transactions going through his account, the AP reports.
Mohammed al-Dahabi is the brother of former Prime Minister Nader al-Dahabi.
King Abdullah dissolved parliament last month in order to pave the way for early elections in response to growing calls for political reform and the end to corruption.
The king has said he is serious about reform, but one of his key opponents, the Muslim Brotherhood, is calling for the monarch’s powers to be curtailed.
Mick Jagger’s handwritten love letters to his former lover Marsha Hunt will go on the auction in London next month.
Marsha Hunt is an American-born singer who was the inspiration for Rolling Stones’ 1971 classic Brown Sugar and bore Mick Jagger’s first child, Karis.
Sotheby’s said Saturday that Marsha Hunt has tasked the auction house with selling 10 letters written from the set of Tony Richardson’s film Ned Kelly starring Mick Jagger, which was shooting in Australia.
Marsha Hunt, 66, said she decided to put the private correspondence under the hammer because she is “broke” and unable to pay her bills or make repairs to her home, according to ABC News.
“Someone, I hope, will buy those letters, as our generation is dying,” she said.
“And with us will go the reality of who we were and what life was.”
The singer, who lives in France, went on to say that the letters chronicling their “delicate love affair” that was kept secret until 1972 touch on subjects such as the first moon landing and John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
“When a serious historian finally examines how and why Britain’s boy bands affected international culture and politics, this well-preserved collection of Mick Jagger’s hand written letters will be a revelation,” Marsha Hunt said in a statement distributed by the auction house.
Marsha Hunt is an American-born singer who was the inspiration for Rolling Stones’ 1971 classic Brown Sugar and bore Mick Jagger’s first child, Karis
When asked by reporters if Mick Jagger agreed to having his letters sold off, Marsha Hunt said she didn’t think so, but added that the correspondence did not belong to him.
“This is Mick in his own words…This is part of English history, it is part of rock history, part of cultural history and it corrects all the misinformation,” she said, according to Rolling Stone.
Sotheby’s books specialist Gabriel Heaton said the letters sent in the summer of 1969 show a “poetic and self-aware” 25-year-old Mick Jagger, who wrote about the works of Emily Dickinson and meeting the author Christopher Isherwood.
In his letters, the rock star also touches upon the unraveling of his relationship with singer Marianne Faithful, whom he was also dating at the time, and the death of Rolling Stones’ guitarist Brian Jones.
“They provide a rare glimpse of Jagger that is very different from his public persona: passionate but self-contained, lyrical but with a strong sense of irony,” Gabriel Heaton said.
Sotheby’s said the collection, which includes song lyrics and a Rolling Stones playlist, is expected to fetch between $111,300 and $159,000 and will go under the hammer on December 12.
Saturday Night Live began their weekly show with the defeated Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney drowning his sorrows – with milk.
Jason Sudeikis reprised his role as Mitt Romney during the cold open, sneaking dairy products on the back of his expansive balcony.
“Darn it all to heck,” he began.
Numerous members of his family – including Kate McKinnon as his wife Ann and Taran Killam as his sons Tag, Matt, and Josh – came outside to try and comfort him, to no avail. Taran Killam as Tag said that his father’s loss made him want to “punch America in the face”.
SNL took it aim on the Republican presidential candidate, after he lost the Electoral College vote tally 332 to 206 in Tuesday’s election. In the skit, Mitt Romney’s family was throwing a dignified post-election soiree, but Jason Sudeikis had retired to the balcony to chug Vitamin D milk.
Mitt Romney himself was pictured with a gallon of chocolate milk following the disappointing loss.
Jason Sudeikis’ son, Taran Killam as Tag Romney, came out to ask what more he wanted to accomplish.
“I have so much I want to do,” Jason Sudeikis said.
“I want to find out how mayonnaise is made.”
After “cracking open” another carton of milk, Taran Killam as Matt comes out, begging his father to come into the house.
“Paul Ryan is doing feats of strength in the living room,” he said.
Saturday Night Live began their weekly show with the defeated Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney drowning his sorrows with milk
Jason Sudeikis responded with vitriol.
“I would’ve liked to see him carry Wisconsin.”
A concerned Taran Killam then asked: “Have you been drinking? You smell like a dairy.”
Jason Sudeikis offers his son a drink, but Taran Killam sounds horrified.
“I’m only 38!” he said.
A third son, Josh, tries to entice his father into the party.
“Donald Trump is doing a very amusing thing where he’s racist,” Taran Killam said.
But it’s not until Kate McKinnon comes out again that Jason Sudeikis really gets fired up. He kisses her on the lips, causing Kate McKinnon to say in shock: “My, oh my, what has gotten into you?”
Jason Sudeikis responds: “Oh, I don’t know, about 10 gallons of milk.”
On Weekend Update, Seth Meyers celebrated “four…more…years…of gridlock”, showing pictures of Republicans Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner.
Noting how the president won many unemployed and student voters, Seth Meyers noted: “Basically, Obama became president the same way Budweiser became the king of beer.”
Seth Meyers also commented on the David Petraeus scandal, noting the name of biographer Paula Broadwell’s biography on him, entitled All In.
“When they first started working on the book, it was called <<Just The Tip>>.”
Seth Meyers was joined by Jay Pharoah, playing the newly re-elected President Obama. Asked if he was surprised by the result, Jay Pharoah responded: “A little. Come on Republicans, what happened? This was yours to win!
“Five-dollar gas, eight percent unemployment, I even gave you a first-debate head start! and on top of that, I’m Black.”
But Jay Pharoah said that as a second-term president, he wasn’t going to concede to those who were against him.
“Look out!” he said.
“From here on out, we do it my way! Republicans don’t want to talk of immigration? Fine. Meanwhile, a gay Hispanic woman is born every 15 seconds.”
Speaking of what has traditionally been a bipartisan dead end between him and Boehner, he said: “Fine, you wanna be unreasonable, fine let’s be unreasonable. The military? Gone! If you want to go to war with Iran, you have to send in Ted Nugent.”
The “president” seemed to be energized, and kept bouncing his shoulders. When Meyers commented, Jay Pharoah responded: “Seth, I’m in a good place.
“I want to thank Mitt Romney. Governor, I admire your tenacity, even though watching you run for president was like watching someone in roller skates trying to climb stairs.”
Though he said he was glad for four more years in office, Jay Pharoah’s closing remarks were over how awful his job is.
“Mainly, this is a terrible job and I hate it,” he said.
Also appearing on Weekend Update were a gay couple from Maine, which just passed a gay marriage law, and a drunk uncle to talk about the election recount.
Anne Hathaway, who plays Fantine in the upcoming movie version of Les Miserables, hosted for a third time, and Rhiannon was the musical guest.
President Barack Obama faced allegations of a major political cover-up last night over the resignation of CIA Director General David Petraeus, who had an affair with married Paula Broadwell.
The US Congress is expected to investigate claims that the affair was hushed up to protect Barack Obama’s re-election campaign.
It is believed the affair was discovered by the FBI months ago, but not made public until after the election.
The FBI began an investigation in February after discovering the 60-year-old’s computer had been accessed by someone else – believed to be his 40-year-old mistress Paula Broadwell – prompting fears of a major security breach.
This led to the discovery of hundreds of explicit emails including one referring to “sex under a desk”.
A source said last night: “The real question is, what did the President know, and when?”
Frances Townsend, a former senior US government security official and now a member of the CIA Advisory Committee, said: “Whenever the FBI opens an investigation of a senior official they have to make notification of that, especially if there is an intelligence concern. It is hard to believe the White House did not know about this prior to the election.”
White House officials insist Barack Obama did not know of the affair until last Wednesday, the day after the election. He accepted David Petraeus’ resignation on Thursday, and the announcement was made on Friday.
Barack Obama faced allegations of a major political cover-up over the resignation of David Petraeus, who had an affair with Paula Broadwell
Some have alleged the scandal is a smokescreen to stop David Petraeus testifying before a Senate committee this week into the deaths of the US ambassador and three staff members in September in Benghazi, Libya. The White House has been accused of ignoring repeated warnings of an Al Qaeda terrorist attack on the embassy.
A senior Congressional staffer said last night: “What would he have told us? The resignation is incredibly convenient for the administration. Would he have revealed the CIA knew the Benghazi compound was under threat and Washington did nothing to secure it?”
Members of the House Intelligence Committee may still vote to subpoena David Petraeus and force him to testify.
The source added: “This could be another Watergate situation where it is not the event that brings down the president but the cover-up.”
Paula Broadwell began an affair with David Petraeus, married to his wife Holly for 37 years, when she was with him in Afghanistan in 2010 doing research for her biography, All In: The Education Of General David Petraeus.
She says they “bonded” over push-ups and five-mile runs in the deserts of Afghanistan.
“That was the foundation of our relationship. He goes all in to what he does,” Paula Broadwell said.
David Petraeus led American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq before taking charge of the CIA.
President Barack Obama laid a wreath of flowers at Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday in a traditional gesture as Americans marked three days of Veterans Day commemorations.
Barack Obama was joined by the First Lady, as well as Vice President Joe Biden and his wife Jill at the Tomb of the Unknowns.
The President said the wreath-laying is a gesture to “remember every service member who has ever worn our nation’s uniform”.
He said in a speech at the cemetery’s Memorial Amphitheater that America will never forget the sacrifice made by its veterans and their families.
Barack Obama also says that “no ceremony or parade, no hug or handshake is enough to truly honor that service”. He says the country must commit every day “to serving you as well as you’ve served us”.
Earlier, the Obamas and Bidens held a breakfast with veterans at the White House.
This year, Veterans Day falls on a Sunday, and the federal observance is on Monday.
President Barack Obama laid a wreath of flowers at Arlington National Cemetery on Sunday in a traditional gesture as Americans marked three days of Veterans Day commemorations
It’s the first such day honoring the men and women who served in uniform since the last U.S. troops left Iraq in December 2011.
It’s also a chance to thank those who stormed the beaches during World War II – a population that is rapidly shrinking with most of those former troops now in their 80s and 90s.
At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, a steady stream of visitors arrived Saturday morning as the names of the 58,000 people on the wall were being read over a loudspeaker.
Some visitors took pictures, others made rubbings of names, and some left mementos: a leather jacket, a flag made out of construction paper, pictures of young soldiers and even several snow globes with an American eagle inside.
A half-dozen women of various ages knitted intently near a pile of hand-made scarves while frail, silver-haired men sat waiting for a chance to tell their war stories Saturday as tourists and veterans filed into the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.
The museum planned a series of events to celebrate the Veterans Day weekend.
The knitters had gathered to commemorate 1940s homefront efforts to supply World War II troops with warm socks and sweaters.
At the National Cemetery in Bourne, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, about 1,000 people including Cub Scouts and Gold Star Mothers gathered on a crisp fall day for a short ceremony.
A strong earthquake has rocked central Burma, and there are unconfirmed reports of casualties.
The 6.8-magnitude quake hit some 120 km (70 miles) north of the second-largest city of Mandalay, at a depth of just 10 km, the US Geological Survey said.
Burma’s local media say a bridge under construction collapsed in the town of Shwebo, closest to the epicentre.
In Mandalay, terrified residents dashed out of their homes for safety, fearing more tremors.
The earthquake hit at 07:42 local time, the US Geological Survey said.
An unnamed government official in the capital Naypidaw told Agence France-Presse that so far two people were known to have died, three have been injured and five people are still missing.
A police officer in Shwebo said five construction workers who had been working on the Radana Thinga bridge near the town were missing after “a huge steel beam fell into the river”.
He told Reuters that one woman had died and 10 people had been injured in the nearby town of Kyauk Myaung after a house collapsed.
“This is the worst earthquake I felt in my entire life,” 52-year-old Shwebo resident Soe Soe told Associated Press.
Residents in Mandalay described panic in the streets as they fled the shaking buildings.
“I ran from my bed carrying my daughter out to the street. There were many people in the road. Some were shouting and others felt dizzy,” San Yu Kyaw said.
“People are now scared of more earthquakes,” he added.
The earthquake – which was felt as far away as Bangkok in neighboring Thailand – was followed by two strong aftershocks.
The US Geological Survey issued a yellow alert, indicating that “some casualties and damage are possible”.
Earthquakes are relatively common in Burma.
In March 2011, at least 75 people died when a powerful earthquake hit Burma near the borders with Laos and Thailand.
The driveway of biographer Paula Broadwell’s upmarket North Carolina home shows power-washed writing, which reads in a flourishing font: “Dad loves Mom”.
Behind the faded message, two silver cars are parked in the brick garage. A FedEx slip remains attached to the forest-green door.
But none of the Broadwells appear to be home a day after her alleged affair with CIA Director David Petraeus was sensationally revealed, forcing the shamed government official to resign.
The scholar, biographer, and West Point graduate who allegedly brought down former CIA director did not answer the door of her Charlotte-area home. It did not appear that her husband, radiologist Dr. Scott Broadwell, was home, either.
Reporters who were outside the couple’s $800,000 two-story brick home on Saturday got no response. According to the Associated Press, Paula Broadwell was planning on celebrating her 40th birthday this weekend in Washington, D.C.
Neighbor Ed Williams told the Charlotte Observer that he emailed Paula Broadwell on Friday following the news, asking if there was anything he could do to help. He told the paper that Paula Broadwell responded, saying that her family was alright, and to look after their house.
Ed Williams told the New York Daily News that he is “proud to have her as a neighbor”, adding: “She is a very smart and accomplished woman.”
Of her alleged indiscretion, the 70-year-old Dilworth resident said: “Life will go on. Sometimes people make mistakes that pain their lives.”
Reporters who were outside Paula Broadwell’s $800,000 two-story brick home in Charlotte on Saturday got no response
Other members of the Charlotte community were hurt by the news of David Petraeus. At a Veteran’s Day parade, military service member Andy Wallace told Charlotte 14 News: “That’s a tough pill to swallow, not only for the military, but for America.”
Indiscretions aside, Paula Broadwell has a series of accomplishments under her belt. A graduate of West Point Academy, she went on to travel to Afghanistan and conduct research at Harvard.
The FBI discovered the relationship by monitoring David Petraeus’ emails, after investigators were alerted that Paula Broadwell may have had access to his personal email account, two of the officials said.
Paula Broadwell wrote in the preface to All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, published by Penguin in January, that while at Harvard, Petraeus passed along his card and offered to help her academic work on leadership.
The book’s ranking on Amazon.com jumped from 76,792 on Friday to 111 by midday Saturday.
“I later discovered that he was famous for this type of mentoring and networking, especially with aspiring soldier-scholars,” Paula Broadwell wrote.
She added: “I took full advantage of his open-door policy to seek insight and share perspectives.”
Paula Broadwell is a research associate at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, according to her biography on Penguin’s website.
According to The Bismarck Tribune, she grew up in North Dakota and moved to Charlotte, more than three years ago with her husband and their two young sons.
Saturday morning tattoo artist Kat Von D was announcing her split from boyfriend, DJ Deadmau5, on Twitter.
They were spotted out arm and arm in Los Angeles just days ago.
“Man, I sure was wrong. But at least he made it a no brainer to break that off. #lessonlearned,” Kat Von D wrote.
“Man..I can’t say I didn’t give it my best,” the 30-year-old reality star added.
And in case anyone missed it, she also posted: “Clarification: Deadmau5 and I are no longer together.”
The couple was first spotted out together in September after meeting at a party earlier and immediately announced their relationship to the world via social media sites.
Deadmau5, real name Joel Zimmerman, tweeted: ”Yeah, im love… inb4 I find a f*** to give over the Internet implodes over it 😉 at least I’m happy! Lol” and posted 43 photos of himself on his Facebook page.
Saturday morning tattoo artist Kat Von D was announcing her split from boyfriend, DJ Deadmau5, on Twitter
Kat Von D, real name Katherine von Drachenberg, declared her love for the music producer by giving him a star tattoo below his eye to match her own.
But it seems as though the writing was on the wall for the couple as the sometime model said: “Now, we can get all of the <<I told you so’s>> outta the way…And move on.”
And while it is not clear what caused the break-up, the electro-house DJ is taking full responsibility for the break up on his Facebook page.
“Going to spend a little while screwing my head back on,” he wrote.
“i guess I’m not cut out for relationships right now. and that’s all i really want to dwell on it right now. ill figure it out. no hard feelings.”
Kat Von D was previously engaged to Sandra Bullock’s cheating ex, grease monkey Jesse James, and dated Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx before that.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus has offered an apology over his affair in an email to a friend, saying Friday night that he was “deeply sorry” for the pain he’s cause the nation and his own family, it was revealed today.
David Petraeus’ long-time friend told the Washington Post that the retired general was extremely sorry over his extramarital affair, allegedly with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.
His apology comes as reports show that David Petraeus’ career could have imploded Paula Broadwell allegedly sent threatening e-mails to another woman she suspected of being too close to him.
In fact, the as-yet unidentified woman could be the key to the entire scandal unfolding after it was claimed she contacted the FBI for protection after receiving frightening emails. Agents traced the threats to Paula Broadwell.
However, it is claimed that Paula Broadwell was using David Petraeus’ own Gmail account to send the emails and when the FBI began to investigate an obvious national security issue instead uncovered explicit messages between the two sent from the decorated war hero’s own account – indicating an affair.
Three senior law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case told the Washington Post that when David Petraeus’s name was raised in connection with the threatening emails the FBI thought that security had been breached.
Beginning their investigation into how the Director of the CIA’s personal email had been hacked, the FBI agents instead uncovered evidence that he and 40-year-old Paula Broadwell were involved in an extramarital affair.
FBI investigators first interviewed David Petraeus about what they had found two weeks ago and informed him that no criminal charges would be brought and no-one is thought to have discussed the possibility of his resignation.
But, according to the Washington Post, after an investigation Justice Department officials were unclear what to do next, because no crime had occurred nor breach of security.
Paula Broadwell allegedly sent threatening e-mails to another woman she suspected of being too close to David Petraeus
They contacted James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence and told him they had compromising material about David Petraeus.
James Clapper in turn spoke to David Petraeus and advised him to resign.
“Director Clapper learned of the situation from the FBI on Tuesday evening around 5 p.m.,” the intelligence official said to the Washington Post.
“In subsequent conversations with Director Petraeus, Director Clapper advised Director Petraeus to resign.”
Director James Clapper also added that he did not see the need for an internal investigation by the CIA, citing it as “a very personal matter, not a matter of intelligence”.
On Wednesday evening, Director James Clapper went to the White House and on Thursday morning President Barack Obama was informed.
Later on Thursday, David Petraeus arrived to see the President and offered his resignation, which was accepted on Friday.
The Washington Post has also reported that in an email message to a friend, David Petraeus apologized for his actions.
“He was deeply sorry for the pain he has caused his family,” the friend said.
“He also noted how much he loved his job at the agency. He said he really relished the intellectual challenge there.”
Paula Broadwell’s biography, All In: The Education of General David Petraeus, was written with Vernon Loeb, a Washington Post editor, and published in January.
The resignation comes at a sensitive time. The administration and the CIA have struggled to defend security and intelligence lapses before the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others. It was an issue during the presidential campaign that ended with Barack Obama’s re-election Tuesday.
The CIA has come under intense scrutiny for providing the White House and other administration officials with talking points that led them to say the Benghazi attack was a result of a film protest, not a militant terror attack.
It has become clear that the CIA was aware the attack was distinct from the film protests roiling across other parts of the Muslim world.
Michael Morell rather than David Petraeus now is expected to testify at closed congressional briefings next week on the assault on the consulate in Benghazi, which occurred on the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
David Petraeus, who turned 60 on Wednesday, has been married for 38 years to Holly Petraeus, whom he met when he was a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. She was the daughter of the academy superintendent. They have two children, and their son led an infantry platoon in Afghanistan.
Selena Gomez was said to have ended her relationship with Justin Bieber over “trust issues” after he was seen with model Barbara Palvin at a Broadway show.
A source confirmed to People magazine that Selena Gomez, 20, was the one who ended the couple’s high-profile romance about a week ago after nearly two years together.
News of the pair’s split comes as Justin Bieber, 18, and Hungarian model Barbara Palvin, 19, were both spotted at the Broadway production of The Lion King musical on Thursday – just 24 hours after they shared the stage at the Victoria’s Secret show.
A source told People: “She broke up with him about a week ago.
“With them being apart so much it got complicated. She had some trust issues. It’s not easy, but the relationship needed to end.”
Selena Gomez was said to have ended her relationship with Justin Bieber over “trust issues”
Although news of their split didn’t break until Friday night, a few hours earlier Selena Gomez hinted there was trouble in paradise with a cryptic tweet as she posted a photo of Justin Bieber with Barbara Palvin in the background.
Selena Gomez captioned it: “….”
News of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez’s break-up was first reported by E! Online: “Because of their crazy schedules, it was getting harder and harder to maintain a relationship.”
The pair have spent a lot of their relationship apart, with Selena Gomez spending most of the time in the U.S. filming and Justin Bieber touring the world.
The past few weeks, Selena Gomez has been filming a Wizard Of Waverly Place reunion in Hollywood.
Perhaps in a bid to make her ex jealous, Selena Gomez posted a photo of herself and handsome Wizards Of Waverly Place on-screen love interest Gregg Sulkin hanging out on set late on Thursday night.
Selena Gomez wrote: “Shooting at 2am and this is where me and Gregg end up…”
New studies show that, contrary to popular belief, hitting the gym for a half hour or more can decrease your appetite.
One recently published study found that perceived fullness was higher among participants after 12 weeks of aerobic training.
Another study showed that women appeared less hungry on mornings when they walked on a treadmill for 45 minutes compared with mornings they didn’t, Men’s Health reports.
“Exercise can definitely suppress hunger,” Barry Braun, director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, told Men’s Health.
Similar links between exercise and lack of appetite were found in studies from 2010, according to Scientific American.
Those findings raise an important question: If workouts make people want to eat less, then why do so many people who repeatedly exercise still have trouble losing weight?
“In most studies, there is a poor correspondence between appetite and actual food intake,” Barry Braun said. Translation: just because you might not feel as hungry as usual after a workout, that doesn’t mean you won’t eat too much after a workout nonetheless.
So, how should exercise fanatics avoid the pitfalls of hitting the gym and gaining unwanted weight still?
By cutting back on food rewards after a workout and keeping a food log for at least a week.
Studies show that simply logging your meals can help you cut down on overeating.
Holly Petraeus, the now humiliated wife of former CIA chief David Petraeus, sit just feet away from his mistress Paula Broadwell in June of last year, it was revealed today.
At the time of the photograph it is thought that the affair between the 60-year-old four-star general and his 40-year-old biographer was still continuing despite both being married with children.
And in a massive irony, both women are watching David Petraeus sit before the Senate Select Committee that confirmed his position as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency – the job he resigned from yesterday as a direct result of his affair.
But despite the public shaming of David Petraeus, one senior military source who worked with the former CIA Director leaves little room for doubt where those loyal to the general stand.
Blaming David Petraeus’ biographer and reported mistress, Paula Broadwell, for his downfall, the unnamed individual said that the 40-year-old author and West Point graduate went out of her way to “get her claws in him”.
Depicting Paula Broadwell as obsessed with using David Petraeus to further her own career, the unidentified source describes the married mother of two as a “shamless self-promoting prom queen”.
According to an interview the figure gave to businessinsider.com, Paula Broadwell latched onto David Petraeus soon after they met at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in 2006 as she was wrapping up her Master’s degree.
Holly Petraeus, the now humiliated wife of former CIA chief David Petraeus, sit just feet away from his mistress Paula Broadwell in June of last year
Claiming that Paula Broadwell used their shared backgrounds as West Point graduates and counterinsurgency experts to become close to David Petraeus, the source known as “James Downing” says that when news of the affair broke he realized immediately who it was with.
“It’s one of those things that, as soon as the announcement was made, I knew in an instant who it was,” said James Downing.
“Everything made sense. Who had exclusive access to him? Who wrote the hagiography on his life? Who framed their entire existence around his persona?”
Unflatteringly comparing her to Paula Jones the former Arkansas state employee who sued President Bill Clinton for sexual harassment in 1994, the source claims to have known Paula Broadwell for six years.
“When she started work on the bio she called me for background on one of the general’s previous deployments,” said James Downing.
“I probably gave her four hours or so, and we stayed in touch after that by email and an occasional phone call.”
However, over the course of those years and through her unfettered access to David Petraeus, James Downing claims that she underwent a dramatic shift in her personality.
“Over that time, she went from someone very likeable to a shameless self-promoting prom queen,” he said.
“A very disturbing shift in how she carried herself.
“If she knew P4 [Petraeus] was going to make an appearance at an event, she’d crash it without an invitation (she actually did this at the wedding of some close friends of mine) and photo bomb[ed] sic everyone there.”
The senior source who claims to know both parties, even made allowances for the retired four-star general whose policies allowed the U.S. to make a measured withdrawal from Iraq in 2011.
Even despite the Washington Post reporting that current and former U.S. military officials long had suspicions of David Petraeus being involved in infidelities.
“You’re a 60 year-old man and an attractive woman almost half your age makes herself available to you – that would be a test for anyone,” said James Downing.
Nate Silver, a New York Times blogger and celebrity numbers wiz, is set to make millions for his spot-on election prediction.
Nate Silver, the 34-year-old statistician who developed his own formula for predicting presidential outcomes, bet MSNB morning host Joe Scarborough $2,000 that Barack Obama would win the election on November 6.
Both men agreed to donate their winnings to charity.
Nate Silver won and is now poised to take in far more than his initial bet, Business Insider reports.
Nate Silver, who started his career analyzing baseball players’ performances, earned $700,000 for a two book deal with Penguin after calling the 2008 presidential election, according to the New York Observer.
Nate Silver, the 34-year-old statistician who developed his own formula for predicting presidential outcomes
On Election Day Business Insider proposed that Nate Silver could potentially double those earnings in 2012 with more book deals and high-paid speaking gigs if he were to successfully call the election again.
In addition to blogging for the New York Times, Nate Silver is the founder of his own much-read blog FiveThirtyEight.com.
Nate Silver was the topic of a Today show segment on Friday after successfully predicting Barack Obama’s win.
“He’s becoming a bit of a celebrity,”Today show host Andrea Canning told viewers.
“President Obama may have been the big winner this week, but coming in a close second: New York Times blogger, statistician and self-described geek, Nate Silver.”
Barack Obama has won the presidential vote in Florida – widening his electoral victory margin over Republican rival, Mitt Romney.
The vote count in the only state which had not declared a result from Tuesday’s election gave Barack Obama 50% to Mitt Romney’s 49.1%, according to Florida state department figures.
Barack Obama has now won 332 electoral college votes – Mitt Romney has 206.
The slow count brought back memories of the bitterly contested recount in 2000.
The Sunshine State’s famous “hanging chads” sparked a crisis in that year’s Bush-Gore election, eventually leading to a Supreme Court ruling that installed George W. Bush in the White House.
The figures released by the Florida state department suggest Barack Obama won 4,236,032 votes out of a total of 8,471,095 cast – 73,858 more than Mitt Romney and well above the 0.5% difference which would have triggered an automatic recount.
The result will not come as a surprise to either President Barack Obama or Governor Mitt Romney – it has been assumed that the president would win since late on Tuesday.
But it is significant nonetheless as it further strengthens President Barack Obama’s negotiating position when it comes to doing deals with Republicans in Congress.
And because there are so many Latino voters in the state, the result will also reinforce the message that Republicans need to do more to win the Hispanic vote.
Barack Obama has won the presidential vote in Florida, widening his electoral victory margin over Mitt Romney
Exit polls suggest that Florida’s Cuban Americans voted for the Democratic Party in record numbers.
The newly re-elected Barack Obama has said the wealthy must pay more taxes under any political settlement to avert a looming budget crisis.
He has urged Congress to act against the so-called fiscal cliff, a package of tax rises and spending cuts due early next year.
But in a dueling news conference on Friday, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said tax rises would not be acceptable.
Budget analysts warn the US will tip into recession unless a deal is struck.
Barack Obama has repeatedly called for the affluent to pay more, but such a plan is anathema to Republicans.
The fiscal cliff would see the expiry of George W. Bush-era tax cuts at the end of 2012, combined with automatic, across-the-board reductions to military and domestic spending.
Florida’s problems began even before Election Day, with lengthy queues reported during the early-voting period.
Democrats launched a legal challenge against a Republican-backed measure to limit the period during which voters could cast ballots before the election, from 14 days to eight.
They said it was a blatant attempt to suppress Democratic turnout – Florida’s African-American voters have tended to cast ballots early in previous elections.
But Governor Rick Scott said the measure, passed by the state’s Republican-controlled legislature in 2011, aimed to limit voter fraud.
The early-voting period officially ended last Saturday. Election supervisors in Miami-Dade and other counties did open up voting for several hours on Sunday.
But after being swamped by voters, one polling office in Miami-Dade County temporarily shut its doors. Some in line began to shout: “Let us vote!”
There was also a technical error with an automated phone system that told more than 12,500 voters in another county that the election was on Wednesday.
Florida was not alone in reports of lengthy Election Day queues. Voters waited for hours in states such as Virginia, New York and Washington DC.
Four-star general David Petraeus was a star on the battlefield, commanding the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but his impeccable judgement failed him when he engaged in an extramarital affair with biographer Paula Broadwell that led to his downfall as CIA Director.
Celebrated as a scholar and a warrior, the 60-year-old Princeton graduate is admired as much for his intellect as he was his tactical ability and charisma on the battlefield.
Seen as one of the top American leaders of his generation, David Petraeus became known as an “A list” celebrity, is credited with pulling Iraq back from the brink of all-out civil war and had a career so stellar he once seemed on course for the US presidency.
After his revolutionary counter-insurgency tactics saved Iraq, David Petraeus oversaw battlefield success in Afghanistan commanding a surge of 30,000 troops ordered by President Barack Obama in late 2009.
“I don’t think he was professionally overrated. His were genuine accomplishments,” said James Carafano, a war historian with the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.
Senator John McCain, the 2008 GOP presidential candidate and the senior Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on Friday that David Petraeus is one of “America’s greatest military heroes”.
“His inspirational leadership and his genius were directly responsible – after years of failure – for the success of the surge in Iraq,” John McCain said.
Indeed, as the U.S presidential campaign heated up in 2011, there was genuine talk of the war-hero running as part of a Republican ticket, potentially as vice-president.
The rumors continued up until August of this year, when the White House was forced to deny a report that President Barack Obama feared Mitt Romney stumping for the then CIA chief as his running mate.
In fact, at the time of his nomination to the CIA post, some Washington insiders had said the White House wanted to find a high-profile position for David Petraeus to ensure he would not be recruited by Republicans as a challenger to the 2012 Obama-Biden ticket.
However, ever the loyal soldier, David Petraeus repeatedly distanced himself from ambitions of elected office.
“I am not a politician, and I will never be, and I say that with absolute conviction,” David Petraeus said on NBC’s Meet the Press in August 2010.
When he was nominated to lead the CIA there were some concerns in intelligence circles that the high-profile four-star Army general might not be able to lead from the shadows as appropriate for a spy chief.
But once he took over the head office at the U.S. spy agency, David Petraeus kept a decidedly low public profile.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, expressed regret about the resignation of “one of America’s best and brightest” and said it was an “enormous loss” for the country.
“At CIA, Director Petraeus gave the agency leadership, stature, prestige and credibility both at home and abroad. On a personal level, I found his command of intelligence issues second to none,” Dianne Feinstein said.
After accepting his resignation about a year-and-a-half after nominating David Petraeus to the CIA post, Barack Obama said: “By any measure, he was one of the outstanding General officers of his generation, helping our military adapt to new challenges, and leading our men and women in uniform through a remarkable period of service in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he helped our nation put those wars on a path to a responsible end.”
David Petraeus was sworn in as CIA chief in September 2011 by Joe Biden with his wife Holly at his side
In 2010, David Petraeus stepped into the breach as the new commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan to replace General Stanley McChrystal who was fired by Obama in a scandal over an article in which McChrystal and his aides made mocking comments about the president and some of his top advisers.
In 2009, David Petraeus was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer and underwent radiation treatment. The media-friendly general joked at that time at a Washington event that reporters were only gathered “to see if the guy is still alive”.
David Petraeus, born in Cornwall, New York, lives in Virginia with his wife Holly. They have two grown children, a son who was an Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan, and a daughter.
Known for his intensely competitive nature, David Petraeus graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1974, was the top of his 1983 class at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and went on to earn a doctorate in International Relations at Princeton in 1987.
His commands included the legendary 101st Airborne Division during the 2003 invasion of Iraq and during that campaign he quickly secured the north of the country around Mosul.
The soldier headed up the American efforts to train Iraqi security forces and eventually returned to the Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to write his counterinsurgency manual – which is now required reading.
From that point onwards he became the logical choice for President George W. Bush to lead his “surge” in January 2007 which allowed the United States to completely withdraw from Iraq four-years later.
David Petraeus’s wife, Holly, is an activist and volunteer who champions military families, and she continued that work after her husband retired from the military and moved to the CIA.
Holly Petraeus currently is assistant director of the office of service member affairs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where she tries to keep unscrupulous lenders from taking advantage of military personnel.
The bureau was championed by Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, who was elected to the Senate from Massachusetts this week.
Holly Petraeus is the daughter of four-star General William Knowlton, who was superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when Petraeus was a cadet.
She briefed the press at the Pentagon on her efforts recently and was introduced by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who called her “a true friend of the Department of Defense and a dedicated member of our military family”.
David Petraeus has four Defense Distinguished Service Medal awards, three Distinguished Service Medal awards, the Bronze Star Medal for valor, and the State Department Distinguished Service Award.
A colleague of former CIA director David Petraeus offers some revealing details on how Paula Broadwell “got her claws into him”.
The unidentified senior military source told Business Insider that David Petraeus’s biographer, Paula Broadwell, relentlessly followed the married general to private events and “went from someone very likeable to a shameless self-promoting prom queen” in the years she spent profiling him for her book, All In.
“The timing of the rumors of the administration throwing him under the bus after the election is suspect, but in the end I believe she got her claws – so to speak – in him,” that source said.
“He had enough honor to know that a cover-up is much worse than a public admission.
“As a result, I think he can recover and continue to be a player on the national stage, but she’s toast. Her reputation is unrecoverable, in my opinion.”
David Petraeus was caught by investigators after exchanging sexually explicit emails with his 40-year-old mistress and bombarding her with thousands of messages even after she had broken off the affair.
The racy communications between the four-star general and Paula Broadwell were uncovered when the FBI began an investigation after suspecting corruption between the pair.
David Petraeus resigned on Friday after confessing to cheating on his wife of 37 years, Holly.
He issued a statement acknowledging the affair after President Barack Obama accepted his resignation, which was announced by the CIA soon after.
“After being married for over 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” he said in the statement.
“Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours. This afternoon, the president graciously accepted my resignation.”
David Petraeus biographer, Paula Broadwell, relentlessly followed the married general to private events and went from someone very likeable to a shameless self-promoting prom queen
After being sworn in as CIA Director on September 6th, 2011, Paula Broadwell broke up with David Petraeus, but he continued to pursue her, sending her thousands of emails over the last few months – raising questions about his judgement which led in part to his resignation.
Paula Broadwell, who spent three years doing researching for her book, had extensive access to David Petraeus in Afghanistan. Yet sources told NBC it is unlikely she will face criminal charges after the alleged hacking, stressing that David Petraeus himself is under no investigation.
Sources at the FBI said that the investigation of the former CIA boss began in spring of this year and that federal agents pored over his emails from that point and from when he was stationed in Afghanistan between July 4th 2010 and July 18th 2011.
David Petraeus met Paula Broadwell in 2006 at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government as she was finishing up her Master’s degree there.
Paula Broadwell, who served in the military for more than a decade, lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her radiologist husband, Dr. Scott Broadwell, and their two young sons, Lucien and Landon.
It has been reported Justin Bieber has split from girlfriend Selena Gomez.
The news comes after Justin Bieber was apparently seen “chatting up” models backstage at the Victoria’s Secret show on Wednesday.
Ironically for Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber was seen taking 19-year-old Hungarian fashion model Barbara Palvin to see The Lion King on Broadway.
And it seems this could have been the straw that broke the camel’s back, as E! Online are reporting the couple has gone their separate ways.
According to a source, Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez broke up about a week ago, last being spotted together on October 20.
An insider said: “Because of their crazy schedules, it was getting harder and harder to maintain a relationship.”
Amongst claims they split last week, Selena Gomez angrily posted a picture on her Twitter page showing Justin Bieber with his rumored new squeeze Barbara Palvin in the background on Thursday.
The text the 20-year-old posted alongside it was a mysterious: “…”
Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez split after he took Barbara Palvin to Broadway show
To add even more spice to the story, it has emerged the fashion model attacked Selena Gomez star earlier this year.
In a webchat 11 months ago Barbara Palvin offered to sing her fans a song of their choice, but added: “I don’t like Selena Gomez by the way…”
But it seems she was trying to take back the insult, as when fans tweeted her about the video, Barbara Plavin told them: “I do like her as an actress! she is talented!:) i did that ustream a year ago. just forget it.:)”
However, Barbara Palvin was not shy to post images of her and the star at the high profile fashion show, and next to one where she is in her dressing gown with him, she said: “Okay sooo because u guys were askin for it! with @justinbieber! you were great tonight!”
Barbara Palvin also posted an image where she is posing with Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun and director Alfredo Flores.
Additionally, Barbara Palvin later wrote: “The Lion King,” with a heart symbol alongside it, however she was clearly referring to the 18-year-old hunk on Friday morning when she posted on Twitter: “hey everyone. please calm down. he is all yours!! 🙂 please :).”
Despite all the speculation, Justin Bieber, who was seen appearing in concert in New York on Friday evening, has been keeping mysteriously quiet on the subject.
Justin Bieber was spotted getting flirty with various Victoria’s Secret models on Wednesday night after performing at the catwalk show.
But Selena Gomez seems to be moving fast too if her own online postings are anything to go by.
On Thursday night Selena Gomez tweeted a cozy snap of herself lying down next to British star Gregg Sulkin as they filmed until the early hours of the morning on location in Hollywood, where they are shooting their Wizards Of Waverly Place reunion movie.
The news may be received well by fans of Justin Bieber, who have been unpleasant towards Selena Gomez since they started dating in early 2011, frequently attacking her via the Internet.
Selena Gomez has said in the past of the comments: “It hurts, it really does. I don’t feel like I’m doing anything wrong. I’ve been best friends with him for a very long time.
“It does hurt my feelings a lot, but I try not to focus on it.”
Jon Stewart’s interview with Paula Broadwell, David Petraeus’ mistress, on The Daily Show in January was more than a little awkward.
David Petraeus stepped down Friday after confessing to cheating on his wife of 37 years, Holly – calling his behavior “unacceptable” for a senior administration official.
But before all that, back in January, biographer-turned-mistress Paula Broadwell appeared on the show to pitch her book All In.
About three and a half minutes into the clip, Jon Stewart and Paula Broadwell talk about how the two got chummy while in Afghanistan.
While embedded, said Paula Broadwell, she and David Petraeus would go running in the mountainous Afghanistan capital of Kabul while interviewing Petreaus for her book.
But it started in Washington, D.C.
“I was among the students invited by the school to meet with the general at a dinner afterward, because of my military background,” she explained.
“I introduced myself to then–Lieutenant General Petraeus and told him about my research interests; he gave me his card and offered to put me in touch with other researchers and service members working on the same issues.”
Paula Broadwell added that this was not a one-off as he often “does a lot of mentoring”.
As she pursued her PhD in public policy in 2008, Paula Broadwell contacted David Petraeus to ask if she could interview him and they kept in touch via email.
“A few months into my research, General Petraeus, who was then leading Central Command, invited me to go for a run with him and his team along the Potomac River during one of his visits to Washington,” she wrote.
“I figured I could interview him while we ran.”
She explained that, after earning varsity letters in cross-country and indoor and outdoor track, she wanted to test him to see if he could keep up with her as she interviewed him.
“Instead it became a test for me,” Paula Broadwell she said.
“As we talked during the run from the Pentagon to the Washington Monument and back, Petraeus progressively increased the pace until the talk turned to heavy breathing and we reached a six-minute-per-mile pace. It was a signature Petraeus move.”
Paula Broadwell appeared in January on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote David Petraeus biography
She insisted that these mile-long runs together were nothing out of the ordinary.
“This is a typical mechanism for him to get to know young people,” she said.
“He’s done it throughout his life. That was the foundation of our relationship.”
Jon Stewart then asks if other people in his embed “resent [David Petraeus’] success” and reputation.
“He realizes he’s seen as an extremely ambitious individual. You want somebody who’s ambitious and driven, and who has a will to win. … He goes all-in to what he does.”
Apparently, Paula Broadwell, 40, goes “all in”, too.
Ambition is also second-nature to Paula Broadwell, who practically strives out loud.
According to her book, Paula Broadwell received a degree in political geography and systems engineering from West Point, where she was ranked No. 1 over all in fitness in her class. In high school, she was valedictorian and homecoming queen. She’s even been model for a machine gun manufacturer, reported The New York Times.
“I was driven when I was younger,” Paula Broadwell was quoted as saying on her official Web site, which was taken down Friday.
“Driven at West Point where it was much more competitive in that women were competing with men on many levels, and I was driven in the military and at Harvard, both competitive environments.
“But now, as a working mother of two, I realize it is more difficult to compete in certain areas. I think it is important for working moms to recognize that family is the most important.”
In her biography on the Penguin Speakers Bureau Web site says that she is a research associate at Harvard’s Center for Public Leadership and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. She received a master’s in public administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
A self-described “soccer mom” and an Ironman triathlete, Paula Broadwell became a fixture on the Washington media scene after the publication of her book about David Petraeus. In a Twitter message this summer, she bragged about appearing on a panel at the Aspen Institute, a policy group.
“Heading 2 @AspenInstitute 4 the Security Forum tomorrow! Panel (media & terrorism) followed by a 1v1 run with Lance Armstrong,” she wrote.
“Fired up!”
At six minutes into the chat, Paula Broadwell brings up her husband, Dr. Scott Broadwell, when discussing whether or not David Petreaus would run for president.
“My husband wants me to say he is, because it’ll sell more books,” she says.
“I’m sorry, honey! I couldn’t do it!”
“That was the most awesome sellout I’ve ever seen in my life,” Jon Stewart says.
“So integrity’s running in the whole family, I guess.”
Jon Stewart summed up Paula Broadwell’s book by saying: “I would say the real controversy here is, is he awesome or incredibly awesome?”
A short time later, according to The New York Times, Paula Broadwell challenged Jon Stewart to a push-up contest, which she won handily. Jon Stewart had to pay $1,000 to a veterans’ support group for each push-up she did beyond his total. Paula Broadwell said that he wrote a check for $20,000 on the spot.
New reports claim that Paula Broadwell’s husband, Dr. Scott Broadwell, sent a letter to New York Times advice column The Ethicist back in July that revealed he knew of her affair with CIA Director David Petraeus.
That intriguing possibility has been raised after canny observers dug out the July 13th edition of Chuck Klosterman’s The Ethicist and pointed to extraordinary coincidences between one readers letter and the now scandalous love tryst.
Writing about a deepening relationship he knew his wife was having with a “government executive” whose job “is seen worldwide as a demonstration of American leadership” the anonymous man offers up what could be considered in hindsight as striking information.
The letter writer explains that “exposing the affair will create a major distraction that would adversely impact the success of an important effort”, and asks The Ethicist whether it is OK for him to “suffer in silence for the next year or two for a project”.
Indeed, he seems pained to make it clear he believes the mission “must succeed” and wants to know if he should confront his wife in some way and “finally force closure” or if he should “suffer in silence for the next year or two”.
The reader tells The Ethicist that has “watched the affair intensify over the last year” – which matches the timeline of the affair from August 2011 until around several months ago.
However, some have questioned whether the coincidences are just that and if the letter really was penned by Scott Broadwell.
Slate writer Allison Benedikt asked: “What government executive is not having an affair with some guy’s wife?”
Another writer with the publication added: “Would anyone really repeatedly refer to heading the CIA as a <<project>>? Doesn’t sound quite right.”
Those supporting the belief that the letter came from Scott Broadwell, point to Chuch Klosterman’s insightful reply to the anonymous man’s dilemma.
He tells the letter writer that he should tell his wife he wanted to separate, “just as you would if she were sleeping with the mailman”.
He claims there is no reason to reveal the affair in a public fashion, but having offered this clear-cut advice he goes slightly further.
“The fact that you’re willing to accept your wife’s infidelity for some greater political good is beyond honorable,” replied Chuck Klosterman on July 13th to the letter.
“In fact, it’s so over-the-top honorable that I’m not sure I believe your motives are real.
“Part of me wonders why you’re even posing this question, particularly in a column that is printed in The New York Times.
“I halfway suspect you’re writing this letter because you want specific people to read this column and deduce who is involved and what’s really going on behind closed doors (without actually addressing the conflict in person).
“That’s not ethical, either.”
Paula Broadwell served in the military for more than a decade, lives in Charlotte with her radiologist husband, Dr. Scott Broadwell
Heartbroken Husband or Whistleblower? The New York Times Letter in Full
“My wife is having an affair with a government executive. His role is to manage a project whose progress is seen worldwide as a demonstration of American leadership. (This might seem hyperbolic, but it is not an exaggeration.)
I have met with him on several occasions, and he has been gracious. (I doubt if he is aware of my knowledge.) I have watched the affair intensify over the last year, and I have also benefited from his generosity.
He is engaged in work that I am passionate about and is absolutely the right person for the job. I strongly feel that exposing the affair will create a major distraction that would adversely impact the success of an important effort.
My issue: Should I acknowledge this affair and finally force closure? Should I suffer in silence for the next year or two for a project I feel must succeed?
Should I be <<true to my heart>> and walk away from the entire miserable situation and put the episode behind me?” NAME WITHHELD
A Vatican court has convicted computer expert Claudio Sciarpelletti of helping Pope’s former butler Paolo Gabriele to leak information from confidential papal documents.
Claudio Sciarpelletti, 48, was given a suspended sentence of two months for obstruction of justice.
He was accused of aiding former butler Paolo Gabriele while working as a computer technician in the Vatican.
Paolo Gabriele was given an 18-month prison sentence this month after he admitted passing documents to a journalist.
Claudio Sciarpelletti had worked for the past 20 years in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See and was responsible for the maintenance of all computers.
His lawyer said an anonymous tip-off led Vatican police to search Claudio Sciarpelletti’s desk last May – finding an envelope addressed to Paolo Gabriele containing copies of sensitive documentation that had been leaked to the Italian media.
He had been charged with aiding and abetting Paolo Gabriele in leaking the document.
But the court decided that he was guilty only of obstruction of justice, because he had changed his version of events several times during the investigations.
Paolo Gabriele’s trial heard that he had used the photocopier in his shared office next to the Pope’s library to copy thousands of documents, taking advantage of his unrivalled access to the pontiff.
He later passed some of the documents to journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi.
Gianluigi Nuzzi released a best-selling book this year, entitled His Holiness, largely based on the confidential papers and detailing corruption, scandals and infighting.
Its publication sparked the hunt for the source of the leaks inside the Vatican, leading to Paolo Gabriele’s arrest.
Police said they had found thousands of documents at Paolo Gabriele’s home, including some original papers bearing the Pope’s handwriting. Some had the instruction “destroy” written by the Pope in German on them.
Paolo Gabriele confessed to taking the papers, but said he believed the Pope was being manipulated and hoped to reveal alleged corruption at the Vatican.
He told his trial that he did not see himself as a thief, but admitted he was guilty of “having betrayed the trust of the Holy Father, whom I love as a son would.”
The Vatican has dismissed suspicions of a wider plot, saying that Paolo Gabriele acted alone in obtaining the documents and giving them to the journalist.
Paolo Gabriele is serving his prison term in a special detention room inside the Vatican police station.
The Vatican authorities were worried that if he were to be moved into an Italian prison he might be subject to pressure to reveal secrets which might cause further embarrassment to the Pope.
The contoversial resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus on Friday threatens to undermine next week’s hearings into the deadly attack at the U.S. Consulate in Libya, at which he was scheduled to testify.
David Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA following revelations he had engaged in an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell and acknowledging that he “showed extremely poor judgment”.
The highly-decorated general, 60, had recently traveled to Libya and the Middle East, and was to testify about the Benghazi attack next week behind closed doors to the House and Senate intelligence committees.
Fears have also emerged as his resignation comes at an extremely sensitive time. The administration and the CIA have struggled to defend security and intelligence lapses before the attack that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three others.
It was an issue during the presidential campaign that ended with Barack Obama’s re-election Tuesday.
David Petraeus had led the CIA for only 14 months. His sudden departure threatened to usher in a period of instability at the spy agency, which is grappling with a leveling off in its budget after a decade of steady increases.
The agency is also fending off questions about its performance before and after the attack that led to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi, Libya.
U.S. officials insisted that the CIA’s handling of the Benghazi incident had nothing to do with David Petraeus’ decision to resign.
The CIA has come under intense scrutiny for providing the White House and other administration officials with talking points that led them to say the Benghazi attack was a result of a film protest, not a militant terror attack.
It has become clear that the CIA was aware the attack was distinct from the film protests roiling across other parts of the Muslim world.
Michael Morell rather than David Petraeus now is expected to testify at closed congressional briefings next week on the September 11 attacks on the consulate in Benghazi.
According to the New York Times, David Petraeus told the White House of the affair, only one day after Barack Obama secured a second term in the White House.
The president did not immediately accept it, aides told the Times, and only reluctantly agreed to it on Friday.
David Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA following revelations he had engaged in an extramarital affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell
News Corps’ Rupert Murdoch was one of masses who took to Twitter to voice his opinion. The 81-year-old Aussie wrote: “Petraeus resignation. Timing, everything suspicious. There has to be more to this story.”
Chiming in with her own conspiracy theory, conservative talk show radio host Laura Ingraham wrote: “CIA Chief Petraus resignation…something about this stinks to high heaven.”
She added: “COINCIDENCE?! Petraeus is set to testify NEXT week at a closed door session on Capitol Hill about Benghazi. Did BHO push him out? This stinks!”
But some, like Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, reacted to the news in a very forgiving fashion.
“Turns out Petraeus is (sic) human being. And of course we definitely can’t have human beings in government!” she wrote.
For the director of the CIA, being engaged in an extramarital affair is considered a serious breach of security and a counterintelligence threat.
If a foreign government had learned of the affair, the reasoning goes, David Petraeus or the person with whom he was involved could have been blackmailed or otherwise compromised. Military justice considers conduct such as an extramarital affair to be possible grounds for court martial.
Failure to resign also could create the perception for the rank-and-file that such behavior is acceptable.
At FBI headquarters, spokesman Paul Bresson declined to comment on the information that the affair had been discovered in the course of an investigation by the bureau.
In a statement from the president, Barack Obama said: “I am completely confident that the CIA will continue to thrive and carry out its essential mission.”
But there is no indication that he broke any agency rule in connection with his admitted affair, sources familiar with the matter said.
The CIA has no broad rule banning officials from engaging in extramarital affairs, though if discovered, liaisons by CIA personnel with suspected foreign agents would pose security problems for a U.S. spy.
Barack Obama, who accepted David Petraeus’ resignation in a phone call with him Friday afternoon, said that Michael Morell, the agency’s long-time deputy director, would serve as acting CIA chief.
Michael Morell, who is well respected at both the White House and on Capitol Hill, had previously served as acting director following the departure of former CIA chief Leon Panetta.
He is a leading candidate to be David Petraeus’ permanent successor, sources said.
Other possible candidates being discussed on Capitol Hill include John Brennan, Barack Obama’s chief counter-terrorism adviser; Obama national security adviser Thomas Donilon; and former congresswoman Jane Harman, who chaired the House intelligence committee.
David Petraeus’ resignation also adds a new vacancy on Barack Obama’s national security team. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said she will leave after Barack Obama’s first term, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is widely expected to leave as well.
David Petraeus’ wife, Holly, has been an advocate for U.S. veterans and head of the Office of Servicemember Affairs at the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Last month, David and Holly Petraeus appeared together at a reception at the Canadian Embassy in Washington to celebrate the premiere of the Ben Affleck film Argo, which chronicles a successful operation in which the CIA and Canadian diplomats smuggled a group of U.S. officials out of Tehran during the 1979-80 U.S. Embassy hostage crisis.
In a letter to the CIA workforce, David Petraeus said that he met with Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday and asked “to be allowed, for personal reasons, to resign from my position”.
“After being married for 37 years, I showed extremely poor judgment by engaging in an extramarital affair,” David Petraeus wrote.
“Such behavior is unacceptable, both as a husband and as the leader of an organization such as ours.”
Barack Obama, who was re-elected to a second term on Tuesday, said in a statement that he accepted David Petraeus’ resignation, praising him for his work at the CIA and for leading U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The sudden and dramatic turn of events appeared to end the public career of a widely admired man who played a key role in the Iraq war, led the U.S. Central Command and commanded U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan.
David Petraeus’ name had circulated speculatively as a possible Republican presidential nominee before Barack Obama tapped him as CIA chief. Before taking the CIA post, he retired as an Army general after nearly four decades of military service.
Former CIA Director David Petraeus sent his mistress Paula Broadwell a sexually explicit email about having sex under a desk and continued to pursue her even after she had broken off the affair it has been revealed.
The racy communications between the married four-star general and his lover, Paula Broadwell, were uncovered when the FBI began an investigation after they suspected corruption between the pair.
Instead the FBI found evidence of a potentially compromising affair for America’s top intelligence official which would have been a breach of national security requirements and led to David Petraeus’ dramatic resignation yesterday.
David Petraeus stepped down yesterday after confessing to cheating on his wife of 37 years, Holly – behavior he explained was ‘unacceptable’ for a senior administration official.
The affair was uncovered after the FBI launched an investigation into the biographer, Paula Broadwell, for allegedly hacking into the former general’s email, NBC News and Slate reported.
Paula Broadwell, who researched the book All In for three years, had extensive access to David Petraeus in Afghanistan
Paula Broadwell, who researched the book All In for three years, had extensive access to David Petraeus in Afghanistan. Yet sources told NBC it is unlikely she will face criminal charges after the alleged hacking, stressing that David Petraeus himself is under no investigation.
He first met Paula Broadwell six years ago when he addressed students at Harvard University, where she is a researcher, and they eventually got to know each other better during mile-long runs.
Paula Broadwell, who served in the military for more than a decade, lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with her radiologist husband, Dr. Scott Broadwell, and their two young sons, Lucien and Landon.
