Vernon Loeb, the journalist who co-wrote Paula Broadwell’s biography of General David Petraeus, has confessed to being the “most clueless man in America” for never realizing the two were having an affair.
Vernon Loeb, a Washington Post reporter who covered the Pentagon, was the ghost-writer on Paula Broadwell’s effusive All In: The Education of General David Petraeus.
Colleagues raised an eyebrow at the exclusive access David Petraeus gave to Paula Broadwell, he dismissed any questions, he said.
In a column for the Post, Vernon Loeb said he found Paula Broadwell ambitious, driven and intelligent.
He said he questioned David Petraeus letting her into his inner circle, but explained away his own concerns with realization the two are alike in important ways.
Both David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell are fiercely competitive runners and both a Ivy League-educated West Point Military Academy graduates.
But, Vernon Loeb admits, his judgement was flawed.
“My wife says I’m the most clueless person in America,” he wrote.
“I never anticipated the extramarital affair between David H. Petraeus and Paula Broadwell, the woman I’d worked with for 16 months on a book about Petraeus’s year commanding the war in Afghanistan.”
Vernon Loeb, a Washington Post reporter who covered the Pentagon, was the ghost-writer on Paula Broadwell’s effusive All In The Education of General David Petraeus
Vernon Loeb said signs were there, but he always dismissed them.
“Female colleagues of mine weren’t shy in remarking about Broadwell’s good looks and her affinity for flashy, cocktail party attire even at staid national security conferences,” he wrote.
But, Vernon Loeb said, Paula Broadwell spoke warmly about her husband, a surgical radiologist in Charlotte, North Carolina, and she “clearly adores” her two young sons.
The Washington Post journalist says he wrote the book from the basement of his home in Maryland based on the notes and emails collected by Paula Broadwell on her reporting trips.
Paula Broadwell edited most of the manuscript to add her own take on David Petraeus’ command in Afghanistan – including much of the highest praise she communicated throughout the book.
Pictured for the first time since her scandalous affair with shamed former CIA boss David Petraeus became public on Friday, Paula Broadwell has taken refuge at a house owned by her brother, Stephen Kranz, in the Petworth suburb of Washington D.C.
The 40-year-old mother of two was seen looking pensive as she sipped a glass of red wine and spoke to a man and woman in the kitchen on Tuesday night – yet there was no sign of her husband Scott Broadwell.
Paula Broadwell’s emergence from the shadows came a night after FBI agents visited her Charlotte, North Carolina home and left with electronic equipment. She has not returned there since the scandal broke.
Paula Broadwell has taken refuge at a house owned by her brother, Stephen Kranz, in the Petworth suburb of Washington DC
A source told ABC the search came after Paula Broadwell admitted to the FBI that she had taken significant amounts of military documents, including classified material, from government buildings to her home.
The government demanded she return the documents and organized the visit. Prosecutors are now deciding whether to charge her with a crime as she has potentially violated federal law.
It was Paula Broadwell’s threatening emails to Jill Kelley, a Florida socialite who is a David Petraeus family friend that led to the FBI’s discovery of the affair between the biographer-turned-mistress and the nation’s top spy-chief.
As if the All In title wasn’t controversial enough for the David Petraeus biography written by his mistress Paula Broadwell, a news station ran a fake book cover during a broadcast – with a few unfortunate words added.
The blunder occurred during ABC’s Denver affiliate KMGH-TV’s 5:00 p.m. news broadcast yesterday, when the image of Paula Broadwell’s All In: The Education of David Petraeus, appeared alongside a recent video of her speaking.
But the title of the book had been altered to say: “All Up in My S*****.”
The photo pops up as one of the top images when doing a Google search of the words “All In” and “Broadwell”, which is likely what the editor searched for.
David Petraeus’ biography fake cover appeared during ABC’s Denver broadcast
The photo links to DeathandTaxesmag.com, which had removed the image by Tuesday morning – but republished it later in the day.
In a story on KMGH-TV’s own website, news director Jeff Harris called the incident “a regrettable and an embarrassing error”.
He added: “We are mortified this appeared during our 5 p.m. news broadcast. The editor pulled the image of the book cover from the internet without realizing it had been doctored.
“We sincerely regret the error and have corrected the story to avoid any recurrence of its broadcast. We are following up internally as well to avoid a repeat of this inexcusable oversight.”
There was no mention of the editor’s name, or whether he or she will be keeping their job.
As news of the story broke, the title of the book has been called out as an early indication of what David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell were up to.
Last night, Daily Show host Jon Stewart joked that the title should have been “Who Has Two Thumbs and Is Banging His Biographer?”
A jogger recently discovered a driver’s license belonging to Paula Broadwell, the woman whose affair with David Petraeus led to his resignation as CIA director, according to Maryland Park Police.
Paula Broadwell’s North Carolina license was found in Rock Creek Park, a national park that extends across Washington, D.C.’s northwest border with Maryland. The license was found in D.C. but the jogger who picked it up turned it over to the Maryland Park Police.
Paula Broadwell’s lawyer, Robert F. Muse, confirmed to U.S. News that his client had recently lost her license in the park. The agency notified the FBI that it had obtained the license and is now holding it for 90 days until it is claimed.
Paula Broadwell is believed to be staying at her brother’s residence in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Washington D.C., which is near Rock Creek Park.
The 40-year-old mother of two, who wrote a biography on David Petraeus, has often talked about how she and the ex-CIA chief enjoyed going on long runs together.
Paula Broadwell’s North Carolina license was found in Rock Creek Park, a national park that extends across Washington, DC’s northwest border with Maryland
Former CIA Director David Petraeus believed he could keep his affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell secret even after he was interviewed by the FBI, it emerged today.
After meeting David Petraeus on October 21 and also conducting two interviews with Paula Broadwell, the second on November 2nd, the FBI had concluded that no criminal charges would be brought.
But the FBI appears to have decided to inform the White House after a Florida-based agent informed a Republican member of Congress of the investigation.
This was the same agent who had triggered the inquiry when his friend, the socialite Jill Kelley, complained to him about anonymous harassing emails.
The fallout now threatens to engulf General John Allen of the US Marines, the NATO commander in Afghanistan. He is said to have exchanged between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of emails with Kelley since 2010.
To complicate matters further, the FBI agent had allegedly sent shirtless photos of himself to Jill Kelley before she reported the harassing emails to him and had been told not to interfere in the investigation.
The agent, depicted by government officials as a Right-winger, contacted Representative Dave Reichert and asked for a member of the House Republican leadership. On October 31st, Dave Reichert put him in contact with Representative Eric Cantor, House Majority Whip.
CIA Director David Petraeus believed he could keep his affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell secret even after he was interviewed by the FBI
Eric Cantor informed the FBI of his conversation with the FBI agent, now himself under internal investigation, but did not make the matter public. Eric Cantor apparently knew of the FBI investigation into David Petraeus’ affair eight days before President Barack Obama.
The allegedly harassing emails were discovered to have been sent by Paula Broadwell. It is believed that John Allen received at least one email from the same email account used by Paula Broadwell to contact Jill Kelley.
John Allen is now under investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general and his Senate confirmation hearings for the new post of NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, originally due on Thursday, have been put on hold.
A senior defence official told reporters that it was alleged there had been “inappropriate communications” between John Allen and Jill Kelley, Leon Panetta, Defence Secretary, said in a statement.
If John Allen follows David Petraeus into retirement it will leave Barack Obama with two gaping holes to fill at the heart of his national security team at a time when he is also expected to be replacing his secretaries of state, defence and treasury.
It is unclear exactly when FBI Director Robert Mueller and Attorney-General Eric Holder were informed although it has emerged that the investigation began as early as May.
Yesterday it was revealed that Jill Kelley was taunted over her large nose in high school and vowed to get plastic surgery to make it look better.
Perhaps the episode points to an inner frailty about her looks that drove her determination to have a string of powerful men in her thrall.
Jill Kelley, the woman who is at the center of the scandal that has felled two top generals told fellow pupils when she and her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, were 18, that they were “going to get a nose job and when we you do you’ll all be in awe of us”.
She was also “flirtatious”, gave boys she met a big grin and used to wear tight blue jeans which brought many an admiring male gaze.
It is not clear if Jill Kelley followed through on her promise to get plastic surgery.
The claims show that Jill Kelley’s interest in carefully crafting her image started at an early age.
Since the David Petraeus scandal broke, Jill Kelley has appeared in public “looking a million dollars”, notably in a bright yellow dress and three inch heels as she climbed into her Mercedes outside her mansion in Tampa, Florida yesterday and today in a polished pink and gold heels ensemble.
Judging by pictures in her high school yearbook, then Jill Khawam was glamorous and well aware of her charms even at a young age.
Jill Kelley got a nose job after she was taunted over her large nose in high school
In her official 1993 graduation photo for Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania, Jill Khawam posed wearing a black dress and pearls around her neck with her jet black hair tumbling over her left shoulder.
Her body is turned to the left and has a radiant grin on her face
Jill Kelley, 37, has become the central figure in the scandal which has caused General David Petraeus, 60, to step down as head of the CIA and forced General John Allen to stand down from his post leading US troops in Afghanistan.
General John Allen, who is married, sent her between 20,000 to 30,000 e-mail messages, some of which were of an inappropriate nature.
The military scandal gripping America took an extraordinary twist yesterday, when a second general, John R. Allen, was linked to one of the two women who precipitated the fall of CIA director General David Petraeus.
David Petraeus, 60, hailed by some as the finest officer of his generation, was forced to step down after the exposure of a scandal involving X-rated emails, compromised state secrets and an affair forged in the ruins of Afghanistan.
His mistress was revealed as Paula Broadwell, a glamorous defence academic and ex-army officer, who had written a fawning biography of David Petraeus after she was “embedded” with him in Afghanistan.
Though they conducted their affair via private email accounts and with sufficient discretion to hoodwink even the suspicious minds of his CIA subordinates, it came to light thanks to old-fashioned female jealousy.
Paula Broadwell became convinced that she was, in fact, involved in a love triangle – and not one that involved David Petraeus’ wife, Holly.
The “other woman”, a 37-year-old Florida socialite and mother of three named Jill Kelley, went to the FBI after receiving threatening emails from Paula Broadwell.
But, almost incredibly, the investigation she set in train not only led to the demise of David Petraeus, but has ensnared another senior figure, General John Allen.
Yesterday, the Pentagon announced that General John Allen, 58, – who was about to be appointed NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe – is being investigated for “inappropriate communication” with Jill Kelley.
Paula Broadwell, a glamorous defence academic and ex-army officer, had written a fawning biography of David Petraeus after she was embedded with him in Afghanistan
While investigating Jill Kelley’s case, the FBI discovered what it says amounts to between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of emails between her and General John Allen between 2010 and 2012. Yesterday, some of those emails were described by a senior defence official as “flirtatious”.
John Allen succeeded Petraeus as the head of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, but his new European post is now on hold.
Like David Petraeus, John Allen got to know Jill Kelley when he was stationed at Central Command near her home in Tampa, Florida, where she organizes social events for senior military families.
Not only has the widening scandal been disastrous for the Petraeus, Broadwell and Kelley families, but it has also caused major ructions in Washington as the first nightmare of the new Barack Obama presidency.
Some FBI agents considered the missives too trivial to warrant following up, but – encouraged by Jill Kelley’s FBI chum – investigators spent weeks tracing where the emails had been sent from, and eventually matched them to hotels where Paula Broadwell had been staying.
Gaining a warrant to monitor her emails, they discovered Paula Broadwell and David Petraeus – using a pseudonym – had set up private Google Mail accounts to send steamy messages to each other.
(Terrorists use the technique, by which the sender can leave messages in a “draft” folder so the recipient can log in and read them without anything being emailed.)
By late summer, the FBI had worked out the general was involved and – alerting the U.S. Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder – they interviewed Paula Broadwell in September.
Paula Broadwell admitted the affair and agreed to hand over her computer. On its hard drive, investigators found copies of undisclosed classified documents – a discovery that inevitably rang even louder alarm bells. (Federal agents returned to her home on Monday night and removed boxes of documents and two computers.)
Confronted by the FBI with its evidence the week before the presidential election, David Petraeus also admitted to the affair, but insisted he hadn’t sent the secret material to his mistress.
Officials are reportedly convinced David Petraeus is telling the truth, but still don’t know how the documents were found on Paula Broadwell’s computer.
David Petraeus found one surprising defender on Tuesday in conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson.
Pat Robertson, who is host of the Christian current events TV show The 700 Club, seemed to justify the disgraced CIA Director’s relationship with Paula Broadwell.
“The man is in a foreign land and he’s lonely and here’s a good looking lady throwing herself at him and… he’s a man,” Pat Robertson said.
He seemed sympathetic to David Petraeus’ “affairs of the heart”, and implied that he seemed to be a tragic victim.
“I don’t think he’s a devious human being. I think he’s been one of the greatest general America has ever produced. He’s a brilliant man, he’s got a Ph.D. from Princeton,” Pat Robertson said.
He added: “We’ll sadly miss a man like that.”
David Petraeus, one of the country’s most decorated war heroes, resigned from his post as the nation’s top spy on Friday after the FBI stumbled across email evidence of a months-long affair between him and Paula Broadwell.
Both are married with children, but David Petraeus, age 60, is 20 years Paula Broadwell’s senior.
Pat Robertson, who is host of the Christian current events TV show The 700 Club, seemed to justify David Petraeus’ relationship with Paula Broadwell
Pat Robertson said it was easy to explained the attraction between the two.
“She is a Lt. Colonel. She is an extremely good looking woman. She is a marathon runner. She runs Ironman triathlons. And she’s out running with him and she’s writing a biography and… I think the term is propinquity.”
Propinquity is a social science term that explains how intimately people connect with each other based on a combination of physical proximity and how similar their backgrounds and viewpoints are.
The Virginia Beach-based broadcaster’s take on the sex scandal immediately drew fire, especially from liberal groups.
“There is no evidence that Broadwell initiated the relationship and, even if she did, that doesn’t mean that he no responsibility for his decision to engage in extra-marital relations,” wrote left-wing news site Think Progress.
“Apparently Pat Robertson thinks men can’t control their bodies, but they have the divine right to control women’s. Huh.,” tweeted Daily Beat blogger Emily L. Hauser.
According to Google’s Transparency Report, governments around the world made nearly 21,000 requests for access to its data in the first six months of 2012.
Google’s Transparency Report indicates government surveillance of online lives is rising sharply.
The US government made the most demands, asking for details 7,969 times in the first six months of 2012.
Turkey topped the list for requests to remove content.
Google, in common with other technology and communication companies, regularly receives requests from government agencies and courts around the world to have access to content.
It has been publishing its Transparency Report twice a year since 2009 and has seen a steady rise in government demands for data. In its first report in 2009, it received 12,539 requests. The latest figure stands at 20,939.
“This is the sixth time we’ve released this data, and one trend has become clear: government surveillance is on the rise,” Google said in a blog post.
The report acts as a bellwether for government behavior around the world, said a Google spokeswoman.
“It reflects laws on the ground. For example in Turkey there are specific laws about defaming public figures whereas in Germany we get requests to remove neo-Nazi content,” she said.
“And in Brazil we get a lot of requests to remove content during elections because there is a law banning parodies of candidates.
“We hope that the report will shed light on how governments interact with online services and how laws are reflected in online behavior,” she added.
According to Google’s Transparency Report, governments around the world made nearly 21,000 requests for access to its data in the first six months of 2012
The US has consistently topped the charts for data requests. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK are also in the top 10.
In France and Germany it complied with fewer than half of all requests. In the UK it complied with 64% of requests and 90% of requests from the US.
Google said the top three reasons cited by government for content removal were defamation, privacy and security.
Worldwide authorities made 1,789 requests for Google to remove content, up from 1,048 requests for the last six months of 2011.
In the period from January to June, Turkey made 501 requests for content removal.
These included 148 requests related to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk – the first president of Turkey, the current government, national identity and values.
Others included claims of pornography, hate speech and copyright.
Google has its own criteria for whether it will remove content – the request must be specific, relate to a specific web address and have come from a relevant authority.
Toyota has decided to recall 2.7 million cars worldwide because of problems with the steering wheel and water pump system.
The recall affects nine models, including the Toyota Corolla and the second-generation Prius.
It comes four weeks after the firm recalled more than seven million vehicles worldwide, including some Corolla and Camry models, over faulty window switches.
Toyota is Japan’s biggest carmaker.
Joichi Tachikawa, a spokesman for Toyota, said the problem with the steering wheel was to do with “insufficient hardness of the steering shaft”.
He explained that due to this, the splines which connect the extension shaft to the gearbox may deform if the steering wheel is “frequently and forcefully turned to the full lock position while driving at a very slow speed”.
“This may create an increased backlash and the splines may eventually wear out over time, which could result in loss of steering ability,” he added.
However, Joichi Tachikawa said that no accidents due to this fault had been reported so far.
Toyota has decided to recall 2.7 million cars worldwide because of problems with the steering wheel and water pump system
Toyota’s reputation was damaged in 2009 by a recall that ended up involving 12 million vehicles and fines from US regulators.
The Japanese carmaker is still trying to rebuild its reputation and regain customer trust after that fiasco, which saw the firm’s head apologizing to consumers.
Its efforts to do so have been dealt a blow over the past few weeks, as it has announced recalls totaling nearly 10 million vehicles.
However, some analysts said that while the latest recalls, which are voluntary, were a setback, they might not cause as much damage to its reputation as the ones in 2009.
“Nobody is perfect. Vehicles nowadays are very complicated,” said Koichi Sugimoto, an auto analyst with BNP Paribas in Tokyo.
“The company is taking appropriate measures to fix the problems, so I don’t think this will cause significant damage to Toyota’s reputation.”
Tens of thousands of tourists and astronomers gathered in northern Australia to glimpse a rare total solar eclipse.
The eclipse, which occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, plunged parts of Queensland into darkness for just over two minutes.
Estimates suggest the event, early on Wednesday, was viewed live by millions.
A partial eclipse was expected in other parts of the region, including New Zealand and eastern Indonesia.
The next total solar eclipse will not take place until March 2015.
Onlookers gathered at vantage points, in boats and on hot air balloons to witness the rare phenomenon.
There had been fears that cloudy weather would obscure the eclipse but the clouds parted just as it began, drawing cheers from the crowd as the full spectacle came into view.
Tens of thousands of tourists and astronomers gathered in Queensland, northern Australia, to glimpse a rare total solar eclipse
“Immediately before, I was thinking, <<Are we gonna see this?>> And we just had a fantastic display – it was just beautiful,” said Terry Cuttle, from the Astronomical Association of Queensland.
“And right after it finished, the clouds came back again. It really adds to the drama of it.”
“It’s really cool. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” one young spectator at Palm Cove said.
Temperatures dropped as the shadow of the Moon blocked the Sun, and animals reacted to the eclipse with confusion.
“Wow, insects and birds gone quiet,” one tourist, Geoff Scott, tweeted.
Scientists were set to use footage from underwater cameras at the Great Barrier Reef to investigate creatures’ reactions to the eclipse.
Australian tour operators welcomed the surge in holiday-makers, with reports of some hotels being booked up more than three years in advance.
State officials estimate that over 50,000 extra people visited Queensland to experience the phenomenon.
Workers across the European Union are staging a series of protests and strikes against austerity measures and rising unemployment.
General strikes in Spain and Portugal halted transport, businesses and schools and led to clashes between police and protesters in Madrid.
Smaller strikes were reported in Greece, Italy and Belgium, and rallies were planned in other countries.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled in Spain and Portugal.
Airlines are recommending passengers check the schedules before setting out to airports.
The European Trade Union Confederation has co-ordinated the Europe-wide action.
The confederation’s Judith Kirton-Darling said austerity was not working.
“It’s increasing inequalities, it’s increasing the social instability in society and it’s not resolving the economic crisis,” she said.
Some 40 groups from 23 countries are involved in Wednesday’s demonstrations.
Unions in Spain and Portugal started strikes at midnight to protest against austerity measures that have combined tax rises with cuts in salaries, pensions, benefits and social services.
Marchers came out late on Tuesday in Spain, where 25% are unemployed, the highest rate in Europe.
“I have two sons in my house, one is getting subsidies, the other has been at home for the last three years,” said protesting housewife, Paqui Olmo.
“It is not that he doesn’t want to work, there is just no work.”
In the first reported clashes of the day, picketers and police fought at a Madrid bus depot where demonstrators were trying to stop buses from leaving.
There were outbreaks of violence in other Spanish cities, and the interior ministry said more than 30 arrests had been made.
The government has played down the strike, saying the electricity grid is registering 80% of its normal usage.
But unions claim the operations of several large companies, including Danone and Heineken, have ground to a halt.
Workers across the European Union are staging a series of protests and strikes against austerity measures and rising unemployment
In neighboring Portugal, demonstrators took to the streets in the early hours, carrying banners denouncing the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank.
The so-called troika has bailed out Portugal to the tune of 78 billion euros ($100 billion), and demanded deep austerity measures in return.
Portugal’s public transport has come to a virtual standstill, and many schools and public offices are expected to be closed.
In Italy, unions have called for a series of rolling four-hour strikes through the day which were expected to affect road, rail and air transport.
Correspondents said early signs were that the impact had been fairly limited.
In Greece, the strike action is the third major walkout in two months.
Successive governments have been pushing through deeply unpopular spending cuts and tax rises in order to receive bailout payments from the IMF and EU.
Earlier this week, MPs backed a fifth austerity package of salary and pension cuts and labor-market reforms, as well as a stringent budget for next year.
The IMF and EU had demanded the measures in return for the next 31.5 billion-euro installment of the bailout.
The government, which is being forced into short-term financing in the bond markets, says it needs the bailout to avoid bankruptcy.
Athens police said they expected about 10,000 people to protest, which is a relatively small demonstration by the standards of Greece.
In France, the CGT union has called for public sector strikes, but there are questions about how many workers will stay away.
The strikes are not anti-government, analysts say, but rather a way of showing that workers in France are in solidarity with their fellow-workers elsewhere in Europe.
While some Belgian unions have said they will not be striking, all have expressed solidarity with the day’s protests.
Protesters are expected in Brussels outside the embassies of Germany, Spain, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal and the Republic of Ireland.
And Eurostar has warned of delays or cancellations and advised passengers wanting to travel from London to Brussels not to travel on Wednesday.
Jill Kelley made headlines this week after it emerged that she was the target of harassing emails from Paula Broadwell, a 40-year-old mother of two who was engaged in a months-long affair with David Petraeus.
She has called police four times over the past two days to complain about reporters outside her home. In one call, Jill Kelley said she was an honorary consul general, adding: “I don’t know if you want to get diplomatic protection.”
Jill Kelley regularly kept in touch with then-General Petraeus when he became commander of the Afghan war effort, the two exchanging near-daily emails and instant messages, two of his former staffers say.
But those messages were exchanged in accounts that his aides monitored as part of their duties and were not romantic in tone, the staffers said.
Jill Kelley notified a friend of hers who worked for the FBI of the emails, and he referred the case to a cyber crimes unit.
That agent was later banned from the FBI’s investigation into the source of the emails when officials discovered that he was sending shirtless photographs to Jill Kelley and seemed to become “obsessed” with the case, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The FBI investigated her claims and traced the emails to an account set up by Paula Broadwell. As they looked into the account, they found she had exchanged intimate emails with a private Gmail account.
Further investigation revealed it belonged to David Petraeus, who was using an alias.
Jill Kelley made headlines this week after it emerged that she was the target of harassing emails from Paula Broadwell
Jill Kelley, 37, is a volunteer who organizes social events for military families in the Tampa area.
Her husband, Dr. Scott Kelley, is a highly sought-after surgeon who specializes in a rare type of minimally invasive surgery to cure cancer of the esophagus.
Jill Kelley was a medical student at one point, but put her studies on hold to have a baby, according to 2003 story in the St. Petersburg Times.
She often hosts the events at her million-dollar home located only a couple of miles from MacDill Air Force base, where Allen served from July 2008 to June 2011.
Jill Kelley’s twin sister Natalie Khawam also makes the most of the parties, becoming close with major players, including both David Petraeus and John Allen, who wrote letters on her behalf as she battled her ex-husband for custody of her son, ABC reported.
A senior official told the Associated Press that 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails and other documents from John Allen’s communications with Jill Kelley between 2010 and 2012 are under review.
A friend of the couple said Scott Kelley would not have know about the vast number of emails being exchanged by his wife and General John Allen.
“Knowing Scott, there is no way he would have approved of Jill sending so many emails to another man,” said the friend.
“What husband would be happy to see his wife sending so many different messages to another man, even if he is overseas and serving his country?”
Another friend, who has known Jill Kelley for almost a decade, added: “This has come as a complete shock. You never know what goes on behind closed doors, but no one in her circle saw this coming.
“Jill was well known for throwing parties where the military attended and she reveled in her role as honorary ambassador but sending all those emails to a general is another thing.”
Her brother, David Khawam, has also revealed their fear that she will be branded the “other woman”.
Speaking to the Today show, David Khawam said: “This is something that is going to brand her for life.
“My sister, number one, is a mother. She has three kids and is extremely dedicated to those kids.
“Number two she is a wife. She is extremely dedicated to her husband and he to her. For her to have an affair with General Petraeus is ludicrous.”
He added that he expected his sister, who has hired the crisis management firm employed by Monica Lewinsky and the attorney who represented John Edwards earlier this year, to address reports about her involvement with two of the top US military chiefs.
Since she was named as the “other other” woman in the David Petraeus affair, the spotlight has shone on Jill Kelley and her identical twin sister Natalie Khawam.
Jill Kelley and Natalie Khawam have pushed themselves to the point of bankruptcy trying to keep up with the lifestyles of the rich and famous in the Sunshine State with both currently millions of dollars in debt.
Jill Kelley, the woman whose complaint to the FBI over Paula Broadwell’s threatening emails is currently fighting lawsuits worth up to $4 million against banks in Florida.
While her sister Natalie Khawam declared herself bankrupt earlier this year, owing $3.6 million, court filings show.
The twins are well known among the elite political circles of Florida and Natalie Khawam is known to have once dated Charlie Crist, the former Republican governor of Florida from 2003 to 2007.
Indeed, the sister’s GOP links extend all the way to defeated presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whose close ally and Florida Attorney General has attended a function at Jill Kelley’s home.
The two social climbing sisters are even believed to have attended party to bid farewell to the former British ambassador to the U.S. Sir Nigel Sheinweld.
Jill Kelley, who is a married mother of three is renowned for her no-expense spared parties for top military brass who are stationed at the nearby U.S. Central Command.
At one such event at her $1.2 million dollar Tampa mansion she was pictured with General David Petraeus, who arrived in a 28-man police motorcycle escort.
At these parties guests were treated copious amounts of champagne and were even entertained by string quartets while cigars were handed out.
However, keeping up appearances has come at a cost for the social climbing sisters.
Twin sisters Jill Kelley and Natalie Khawam pose with David Petraeus’ wife, Holly, and daughter, Anne
Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, 37, and her cancer surgeon husband Scott owe millions to banks after the collapse of their real estate holdings in 2010.
The Kelley’s are currently the targets of at least four indebtedness lawsuits and two foreclosures in Hillsborough County, according to court records.
Central Bank have a suit against the Kelleys and Kelly Land Holdings, centered on a three-story office building downtown Tampa.
Court records show they owed the bank nearly $2.2 million, including attorney fees. In 2011, a judge ordered the property to be put up for sale.
Regions Bank, meanwhile, is trying to foreclose on the couple’s historic $1.3million waterfront house, claiming they defaulted on a $271,000-credit line with their five bedroom house as collateral, according to Gossip Extra.
It is currently worth $840,000 and though it is one of the most spectacular on Bayshore Boulevard from the outside, the 1923 built home is in need of repair.
Paintwork on the home is peeling and behind the home the driveway leading to a triple garage is cracked and covered with weeds.
The front lawn, where Jill Kelley would host catered parties attended by the military, remains immaculate but out of sight in an alleyway running at the rear of the property rubbish is piled high against a wall.
“There are obviously financial issues,” said one associate of the Kelley’s.
“Scott goes to work and works his ass off, and Jill takes care of the social stuff, and gets them into the society pages. They are nice people, and I feel sorry for them.”
The friendship between the twins and generals John Allen and David Petraeus has extended to letters supporting Natalie Khawam’s case to overturn a ruling denying her custody of her four-year-old son in Washington earlier this year.
Supplying the court a letter confirming that he knew Natalie Khawam well and had even had her over for Christmas dinner, General David Petraeus testified that she had “a very loving relationship – a mother working hard to provide her son enjoyable, educational and developmental experiences”.
General John Allen made his own intervention two days later by writing on headed notepaper that “she clearly loves” her son.
Going on to say that: “In light of Natalie’s maturity, integrity and steadfast commitment to raising her child, I humbly request your reconsideration of the existing mandated custody settlement.”
In April of this year, Natalie Khawam filed for bankruptcy on more than $3 million in taxes, property debts and loans.
Natalie Khawam is being sued in Florida by her former boss Barry Cohen, who says that she “fraudulently omitted Rolex watches, sable mink furs and a diamond ring” from her bankruptcy filing.
Sources close to the internal investigation into the David Petraeus scandal said that the commander of US Forces in Afghanistan General John Allen exchanged emails with 37-year-old Jill Kelley.
General John Allen, who is married who two daughters and leads US troops in Afghanistan denies any wrongdoing.
Officials claim his emails to Jill Kelley, who is also married with children, were simply friendly and not “inappropriate” or flirtatious.
Another official said that the Defense Secretary Leon Panetta would not have referred this matter to an internal investigator without being sure that he had to – such would be the effect on John Allen’s family and the US war effort.
“This was a serious enough matter that those who examined the emails thought it should be referred to the secretary of defense, and the secretary made the decision to turn it over to the inspector general,” the official said to Fox News.
“He would not have thrust this into the limelight without good cause.”
Sources are reviewing between 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails between Jill Kelley and General John Allen which date from between 2010 to 2012.
The investigation into the burgeoning scandal is ongoing – on Monday evening FBI agents searched Paula Broadwell’s Charlotte, North Carolina home and left with electronic equipment.
Further deepening the mire is news that the FBI agent who began the investigation into David Petraeus was taken off the case after it was found that he sent shirtless pictures of himself to Jill Kelley.
He is facing an internal investigation.
John Allen, 58, succeeded David Petraeus in Afghanistan and was due to take over as NATO’s top commander – but his appointment has been suspended while his relationship with Jill Kelley is investigated.
“General Allen disputes that he has engaged in any wrongdoing in this matter,” one official close to the case said to Fox News. He said John Allen currently is in Washington.
Since she was named as the “other other” woman in the David Petraeus affair, the spotlight has shone on Jill Kelley and her identical twin sister Natalie Khawam.
It has been revealed that Paula Broadwell has taken refuge at her brother’s Washington D.C. home as she hides away from the fall-out of her affair with disgraced former CIA boss David Petraeus.
The 40-year-old mother-of-two is staying in the Petworth suburb of the capital as the scandal she set off by sending threatening emails to alleged love rival Jill Kelley blew up publicly on Friday – causing David Petraeus’ resignation.
This was confirmed this evening when the Associated Press released a photograph of Paula Broadwell standing in the kitchen wearing a pink top with a glass of red wine in hand looking like any other housewife on a weekday evening.
It was Paula Broadwell’s threatening emails to Jill Kelley, a Florida socialite who is a Petraeus family friend that led to the FBI’s discovery of the affair between the biographer-turned-mistress and the nation’s top spy-chief.
And in another jaw-dropping development it has been claimed that Paula Broadwell also sent emails to General John Allen under the pseudonym “KelleyPatrol” – calling the unpaid social liaison for the military a “seductress”, warning the general about becoming entangled in a relationship with her.
This in turn led to a dramatic twist when sources close to the internal investigation into the scandal said that the commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan General John Allen exchanged emails likened to “phone sex” with 37-year-old Jill Kelley.
Paula Broadwell has taken refuge at her brother’s Washington DC home as she hides away from the fall-out of her affair with David Petraeus
General John Allen, who is married who two daughters and leads U.S. troops in Afghanistan denies any wrongdoing.
Officials claim his emails to Jill Kelley, who is also married with children, were simply friendly and not “inappropriate” or flirtatious.
However, sources have told Fox News that the emails between the pair were so explicit that they could be compared to “the equivalent of phone sex over email”.
Another official said that the Defense Secretary Leon Panetta would not have referred this matter to an internal investigator without being sure that he had to – such would be the effect on John Allen’s family and the U.S. war effort.
“This was a serious enough matter that those who examined the emails thought it should be referred to the secretary of defense, and the secretary made the decision to turn it over to the inspector general,” the official said to Fox News.
“He would not have thrust this into the limelight without good cause.”
Sources are reviewing between 20,000 to 30,000 pages of emails between Jill Kelley and General John Allen which date from between 2010 to 2012.
The investigation into the burgeoning sex scandal is ongoing – on Monday evening FBI agents searched Paula Broadwell’s Charlotte, North Carolina home and left with electronic equipment.
And further deepening the mire is news that the FBI agent who began the investigation into David Petraeus was taken off the case after it was found that he sent shirtless pictures of himself to Jill Kelley.
David Petraeus and his biographer-turned-mistress Paula Broadwell used some handy espionage tradecrafts to keep their liaisons a secret for nearly a year.
David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell would communicate using a dummy Gmail account that they set up as a modern version of the classic spy “dead drop” trick, where they would leave their messages in the account’s draft folder to save it for the other to see.
Rather than sending each other actual emails, which would create an electronic paper trail, they would write messages and save them as drafts.
The other would then log in to the same account, view the message, delete it and then leave a response that would also be saved rather than sent.
Dead drops, wherein spies leave messages for their sources or informants at a neutral location and then the individual would go and pick up the message before returning with their own response.
David Petraeus and his mistress Paula Broadwell used some handy espionage tradecrafts to keep their liaisons a secret for nearly a year
In the digital era, however, Gmail’s draft folder creates an easy space for teenagers, terrorists, and apparently philandering politicians to do the same.
David Petraeus was the one to set up the fake account in this case, and he used a pseudonym to do so.
The pair may never have been caught if Paula Broadwell didn’t go against the papertrail the save-but-don’t-send trick safeguarded the lovers from.
The scandal came under investigation only after Paula Broadwell used one of her email accounts to send anonymous emails to Florida housewife Jill Kelley.
Jill Kelley, the socialite at the centre of the David Petraeus sex scandal who sent thousands of “inappropriate” emails to General John Allen, “flirted outrageously” with a string of military chiefs, a friend claimed today.
In a dramatic new twist in the David Petraeus sex scandal on Monday night, it emerged that General John Allen exchanged 20,000 to 30,000 messages – as many as 40 a day – with Jill Kelley, the woman who sparked the probe into the CIA boss.
Jill Kelley, an unpaid social liaison for the military in Tampa, tipped off the FBI about threatening emails from David Petraeus’ mistress, Paula Broadwell – exposing his affair and leading to his resignation.
General John Allen, who is married with two daughters and leads U.S. troops in Afghanistan, denies any wrongdoing. Officials claim his emails to Jill Kelley, who is also married with children, were simply friendly.
And Jill Kelley is clearly not shy of the extra media attention, as the glamorous socialite confidently strutted outside her home for the second day in a row today – while Paula Broadwell remains in hiding.
Jill Kelley, who kicked off an FBI probe into General David Petraeus, watches TV coverage of his affair with Paula Broadwell
Paula Broadwell sent Jill Kelley half a dozen emails from anonymous accounts earlier this year warning Kelley to stay away from David Petraeus. In one, she accused Jill Kelley of groping the CIA boss under the table.
She also accused Jill Kelley of “parad[ing] around the base”, adding: “You need to take it down a notch” and “Who do you think you are?”
A friend today described how Jill Kelley would “flirt outrageously” with senior military figures invited to parties at her $1.3 million mansion, saying: “She was a very sexy lady and she knows it.”
“She always looks a million dollars in her designer dresses and heels. She turns heads,” said the friend, who did not wish to be named but has attended numerous parties at her home.
“At the parties she would flirt with all the senior military guys. She’s touchy feel-y. Her hands would be on their arms. She was attentive.It’s not hard to see why she had some guys under her spell.”
A top U.S. official revealed that some of the emails exchanged between Jill Kelley and John Allen from 2010 until 2012 were “flirtatious”.
John Allen, 58, succeeded David Petraeus in Afghanistan and was due to take over as NATO’s top commander – but his appointment has been suspended while his relationship with Jill Kelley is investigated.
If General John Allen is found to have engaged in an extramarital affair – a crime in the military – he faces being court martialed, bringing a spectacular fall from grace and the end to a glittering army career that has spanned nearly 40 years. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Dennis Avner, the Nevada man who spent years trying to transform his body into that of a cat has died aged 54.
A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Dennis Avner underwent a series of radical body modification procedures to make himself look like a female cat, from whiskers and ears to a mechanical tail.
Dennis Avner’s dead body was found in his home in Tonopah on November 5.
His operations have included bifurcation (splitting) of his upper lip, surgical pointing of the ears, silicone cheek and forehead implants, tooth filing, tattoos, and facial piercing.
Dennis Avner likes to go by his Indian name “Stalking Cat”.
“I am Huron and following a very old tradition have transformed myself into a tiger,” he said on his now-defunct website.
Dennis Avner’s dead body was found in his home in Tonopah on November 5
Descended from American Indians, Dennis Avner felt inspired after a discussion with a Native chief who inspired him to “follow the ways of the tiger”.
With his overgrown fingernails, fangs and striped skin tone, Dennis Avner was a highly recognizable figure in his neighborhood.
His cause of death has not yet been revealed, yet some are speculating that up speculation that Dennis Avner may have killed himself.
Shannon Larratt, the former editor and publisher of BMEzine and friend of Dennis Avner, wrote in a blog post: “A wonderful and complex person, he was at times as troubled as he was remarkable, and he recently took his own life at the age of 54.”
His surgeries were done by Steve Haworth, an artist and pioneer of body modification techniques.
While Dennis Avner worked as a computer programmer, he often appeared at Ripley’s Believe It or Not! events around the world.
With President Barack Obama secured for a second term, the Beltway is abuzz with chatter over who will end up where in his imminent cabinet reshuffle.
Sources are opining that the president is considering Senator John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) for the post of Secretary of Defense instead of Secretary of State, which has been thought to be the apple of the veteran senator’s eye.
Despite his deep-rooted longing for the post of chief diplomat, it is believed Barack Obama will select Susan E. Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, to fill the expected vacancy left when current Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, could soon announce her departure from Obama’s administration.
Hillary Clinton has insisted that she will be a one-term Secretary, fueling rumors she has her eye on a presidential run in 2016.
Susan E. Rice, 47, has been part of the coterie of Barack Obama advisers since the early days of his campaign for president in 2007.
But she has been on the receiving end of much criticism since she is believed to have been the driving force being the Obama administration’s initial choice to label the recent attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, in which U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans were killed, as a violent protest as opposed to a planned terrorist attack.
Despite the negativity over her alleged influence and claims by at least one Republican senator, Senator Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) that she would have an “incredibly difficult time” being confirmed as head of the State Department in the senate, Barack Obama is expected to stand firm in his support for her nomination, sources have told The Washington Post.
Susan E. Rice, 47, has been part of the coterie of Barack Obama advisers since the early days of his campaign for president in 2007
“I cannot imagine promoting anybody associated with Benghazi at this point,” the Republican said on CBS’ Face The Nation on Sunday.
But Susan E. Rice was a shoo-in during her confirmation hearings for her post at the UN back in 2009, impressing both Democrats and Republicans alike with her grasp of foreign policy and world affairs.
So with Susan Rice rumored to be Hillary Clinton’s heir apparent, the conjecture is now that John F. Kerry would be the top choice for Defense.
Current Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who had previously served as the Director of the CIA, assumed the role at the Pentagon after Robert Gates stepped down in July 2011.
Leon Panetta himself has said he doesn’t think he would remain in the post during Barack Obama’s second term but in a moment of candor told reporters “who the hell knows?” when he was asked about his future.
“It’s no secret that at some point I’d like to get back to California,” he said on Monday.
The Monterey native moved to DC to serve as a Congressman from 1977 to 1993 and was served as President Bill Clinton’s White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997.
He later served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1993–1994.
And with the personnel changes expected to soon come down the pipeline, Leon Panetta could soon have his wish fulfilled.
Though John Kerry has been the top name floated as a replacement for Leon Panetta, sources told The Post that Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter and former undersecretary for policy at the Pentagon, Michele Flournoy, have also been mentioned as contenders.
John Kerry, who is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, is expected to have earned a place among Barack Obama’s top brass – especially after his defense of the president’s national security record at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in September.
Barack Obama’s appointments are expected to be announced any day now though his press secretary, Jay Carney, remained tight lipped on any potential changes in his first press briefing since Obama’s reelection on November 9.
The President will hold a full press conference this coming Wednesday, in the White House’s East Room, where the president will take questions from the press and possibly announce major changes to his cabinet.
France has become the first Western country to recognize Syria’s opposition coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
The move was announced by President Francois Hollande at a televised news conference in Paris.
Syrian opposition groups struck a deal in the Qatari capital Doha on Sunday to form a broad coalition to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
The US and Britain have both signaled support for the coalition.
But they stopped short of recognizing it as a government-in-exile.
Gulf Arab states have declared the coalition to be the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people.
Opposition and human rights activists estimate that more than 36,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule began in March 2011.
More than 408,000 Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, and more are fleeing every day, according to the United Nations.
Francois Hollande told reporters: “I announce today that France recognizes the Syrian National Coalition as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people and as the future government of a democratic Syria, allowing it to bring an end to Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”
Francois Hollande’s announcement is a clear sign that the West is now pinning its hopes on the Syrian opposition finally being able to offer a united and effective alternative to President Bashar al-Assad.
The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces has been calling on European nations to recognize it as the country’s transitional government, enabling it to buy weapons to assist its attempts to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.
Fancrois Hollande said France would look at the question of arming the coalition, but that it would not support doing so “as long as it wasn’t clear where these weapons went”.
“With the coalition, as soon as it is a legitimate government of Syria, this question will be looked at by France, but also by all countries that recognize this government,” he said.
In Washington, state department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said the US regarded the National Coalition as “a legitimate representative” of the Syrian people.
“We now have a structure in place that can prepare for a political transition,” he told reporters.
“But… we’re looking for it to still establish the types of technical committees that will allow us to make sure our assistance gets to the right places.”
Today it was revealed that Jill Kelley had access to “influential figures in the global area” before she was even out of school.
Jill Kelley, now 37, was a member of the World Affairs Council while still a student at Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.
Students were taken on trips and given the opportunity to meet dignitaries at the highest level including presidents, prime ministers and princes.
Among those who have spoken at her local branch of the respected organization include Prince Albert of Monaco, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush and Tony Blair.
General David Petraeus also made an appearance, but it was in 2010 and long after she had left school.
Jill Kelley has become the central figure in the scandal which has caused David Petraeus, 60, to step down as head of the CIA and forced General John Allen to stand down from his post leading US troops in Afghanistan.
General John Allen, who is married, sent her between 20,000 to 30,000 e-mail messages, some of which were of an inappropriate nature.
General David Petraeus’ mistress, Paula Broadwell, an Army reservist who was also his biographer, is said to have emailed Jill Kelley and warned her to back off because she was jealous, which led to the affair becoming public when the FBI got involved.
Judging by pictures in her high school yearbook, Jill Kelley was glamorous even at the age of 18 and well aware of her charms.
She posed wearing a black dress and pearls around her neck with her jet black hair tumbling over her left shoulder.
Her body is turned to the left and she has a radiant grin on her face.
Jill Kelley appears not to have been a prominent member of school but did take part in a number of activities, notably the World Affairs Council.
According to the Philadelphia branch of the nationwide non-profit organization, it was founded in 1949 to inform people of all ages “on matters of national and international significance”.
Among the other guest speakers have been Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Joe Biden, Al Gore and Donald Rumsfeld.
Its website says: “The Council provides its members and the greater Philadelphia community with access to influential figures in the global area as well as opportunities to visit fascinating destinations through its unique travel program.”
Jill Kelley, now 37, was a member of the World Affairs Council while still a student at Lower Moreland High School in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
Jill Kelley – who appears in the yearbook under her maiden name Khawam – was also a “Mathlete” and would have competed against other schools in math competitions.
She claims to have written for student newspaper Lion’s Roar which allowed students to “freely vent their creative juices”, the yearbook says.
The newspaper also started up a world news section because, according to its 1993 editor Sharon Herring, there was concern students were “lacking in their knowledge of the outside world|.
Another string to Jill Khawam’s bow was the Future Business Leaders of America whose members took part in competitions where they learned skills that would be useful at work, such as typing and accounting.
In the yearbook Stephanie Simon said: “I believe that FBLA not only exposes students to the important field of business, but it also aides the community.
“Students are able to get a taste of the real world in more ways than one.”
Jill Khawam also appears to have had a strong moral compass and was a member of SADD – Students Against Drunk Driving – another group called Students For a More Conscious Society, the student council, a community outreach program called Operation Smile and the Red Cross
Her other activities were computer club, science club, orchestra basketball, cross country running, field hockey, softball, swimming, tennis, track and field and orchestra.
Jill Khawam grew up in Philadelphia with her family, who emigrated there from Lebanon in the 1970s.
Her parents, John and Marcelle Khawam, once ran a Middle Eastern restaurant and now live in Washington Crossing, Pennsylvania.
In her yearbook entry, Jill Khawam’s twin sister Natalie Kwaham wears the same clothes as her sister and is also smiling.
Her activities included concert choir, the World Affairs Council and Students For A More Conscious Society.
The sisters moved to Tampa, Florida around ten years ago where they both became regulars on the social circuit.
Jill Kelley’s husband Scott works as a surgeon, while Natalie Khawam is a lawyer who specializes in dealing with whistleblowers, which has newfound irony considering Jill was the one whose contact with the FBI led to the resignation of a well-respected general and the investigation into another.
A friend, who has known Jill Kelley for almost a decade, said that the revelation that she exchanged between 20,000 and 30,000 pages of communications with General John Allen comes as a surprise.
“This has come as a complete shock. You never know what goes on behind closed doors, but no one in her circle saw this coming,” said one of her friends.
“Jill was well known for throwing parties where the military attended and she reveled in her role as honorary ambassador but sending all those emails to a general is another thing.”
Her brother, David Khawam, has also revealed their fear that she will be branded the “other woman”.
Speaking to the Today show, he said: “This is something that is going to brand her for life.
“My sister, number one, is a mother. She has three kids and is extremely dedicated to those kids.
“Number two she is a wife. She is extremely dedicated to her husband and he to her. For her to have an affair with General Petraeus is ludicrous.”
Jill Kelley regularly kept in touch with then-General David Petraeus when he became commander of the Afghan war effort, the two exchanging near-daily emails and instant messages, two of his former staffers say.
But those messages were exchanged in accounts that his aides monitored as part of their duties and were not romantic in tone, the staffers said.
David Khawam added that he expected his sister, who has hired the crisis management firm employed by Monica Lewinsky and the attorney who represented John Edwards earlier this year, to address reports about her involvement with two of the top US military chiefs.
More than 100,000 Americans have petitioned the White House to allow their states to secede from the US, after President Barack Obama’s re-election.
The appeals were filed on the White House’s We the People website.
Most of the 20 states with petitions voted for Republican Mitt Romney.
The US constitution contains no provisions for states to secede from the union. By Monday night the White House had not responded.
In total, more than 20 petitions have been filed. One for Texas has reached the 25,000-signature threshold at which the White House promises a response.
The last time states officially seceded, the US Civil War followed.
More than 100,000 Americans have petitioned the White House to allow their states to secede from the US, after President Barack Obama’s re-election
Most of the petitions merely quote the opening line of America’s Declaration of Independence from Britain, in which America’s founders stated their right to “dissolve the political bands” and form a new nation.
Currently, the most popular petition is from Texas, which voted for Mitt Romney by some 15 percentage points more than it did for the Democratic incumbent.
The text complains of “blatant abuses” of Americans’ rights.
It cites the Transportation Security Administration, whose staff has been accused of intrusive screening at airports.
Valeria Lukyonova, a Ukrainian model, is making waves in the US, not for her natural good looks however, but for her cosmetically-enhanced Barbie looks that have turned her into a living doll.
Valeria Lukyonova, 21, became an internet sensation after a video was released about the epic plastic surgery procedures she allegedly underwent to transform into a real-life Mattel doll.
Now Valeria Lukyonova has posed for V magazine’s latest “Girl Power” issue, with her doll-like proportions taking center-stage.
The model, who calls herself “the most famous Russian woman on the Russian-speaking internet” in the interview, has overly enhanced body proportions which aim to emulate that of Mattel’s doll, Barbie.
In the new issue, which goes on sale November 15, she describes her average day for those fascinated fans.
“In the morning I work on my face and I get a massage, then I spend some time on the Internet,” she says.
“I meditate and travel in my astral body, and after that I work out at the gym. I go for a walk with my best girlfriend, I get home, and I make dinner for the man I love.
“Then I spend some more time on the Internet, do some reading and meditating, and go to bed.”
Valeria Lukyonova is making waves in the US for her cosmetically-enhanced Barbie looks that have turned her into a living doll
While many people were skeptical of Valeria Lukyonova’s porcelain looks, wondering if she was a simply internet Photoshop creation, V magazine was able to track her down through an anonymous source.
The magazine writes: “Our source also claimed that the Security Service of Ukraine is having Lukyanova’s activities monitored. <<Be careful>>, we were warned. <<We’re worried for you and do not want you to suffer from her>>.”
Valeria Lukyonova, whose spiritual name is Amatue, tells V magazine that her “real job” is “a teacher at the School of Out-Of-Body Travel… an international school in which our instructors show students how to leave their physical body and travel in their spiritual body, where you can visit any place on the planet and in the universe”.
She adds: “I know that this is the future of mankind.”
Almost 500,000 people have signed an online petition requesting that Macy’s ends it association with Donald Trump.
Macy’s, which exclusively sells Donald Trump’s clothing line and fragrance, has also made him central to its just launched Christmas advertising campaign.
The petition at SignOn.org says Macy’s should break with Donald Trump because of his “especially unpleasant, nasty and despicable behavior”.
“Donald Trump does not reflect the <<magic of Macy’s>>. We urge you to sever ties with him,” the petition reads.
Cher is amongst those who has signed the petition. She has called Donald Trump a “loudmouth, racist cretin” over his criticism of Barack Obama.
“I’ll NEVER GO TO MACY’S AGAIN! I didn’t know they sold Donald Trump’s Line!” she wrote on Twitter.
Donald Trump had yet to personally addressed the petition on his Twitter feed, but made a point of tweeting about his Macy’s-stocked clothing line and fragrance.
“My fragrance – <<Success>> – is flying off the shelves @Macys. The perfect Christmas gift!” he wrote.
Yesterday he posted: “Just saw my new line of shirts, ties & suits @Macys – they are fantastic! Would make great holiday presents!”
Macy’s, which exclusively sells Donald Trump’s clothing line and fragrance, has also made him central to its just launched Christmas advertising campaign
The petition was created by Angelo Carusone, who has previously campaigned against Glenn Beck.
The homepage for the petition cites several examples of Donald Trump’s “despicable behavior”, including his “sexist” comments about women, his denial of climate change and his hypocrisy by manufacturing his own clothes in China but criticizing others for sending jobs abroad.
Donald Trump is also notorious for long promoting the discredited conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in the United States.
Prior to last week’s presidential election, Donald Trump raised the issue once again and issued an ultimatum to Barack Obama, claiming that he would donate $5 million to charity if the President released his college records and passport application.
On election night itself, Trump tweeted that the final result was “a travesty, a total sham, a disgusting injustice” and “urged Americans to march on Washington”.
Macy’s new holiday ad, which spoofs “Miracle on 34th Street”, makes light of Donald Trump’s support of the so-called “birther” movement.
Assuming the role of the skeptic, Donald Trump yanks on Santa’s beard after asking: “What’s with the get-up, Kris?”
The commercial ends with Santa Claus saying to Donald Trump: “If I can win you over, there’s still hope.”
Donald Trump’s spokesman Michael Cohen has expressed confidence in the strength of his client’s relationship with the retailer.
“Mr. Trump is important to Macy’s, both as a brand and as an endorser. His ties, shirts, cufflinks, fragrances and other merchandise are top-selling items across the country – in particular Mr. Trump’s ties are the number one selling ties at Macy’s,” he told The Daily News.
