Lawyer for Stormy Daniels, Michael Avenatti, hints that 1.6 million dollar payoff to hide abortion, was not for Republican donor, but Donald Trump himself.

(Pertinent portion starts at the 4:00 mark.)

Courtesy Raw Story: 

Attorney Michael Avenatti appeared Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” where he gave a wide-ranging interview on the lawsuit against the president and a related criminal investigation of Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen — and he said reporting on the case had missed an important detail. 

“So, Mika, you are familiar with the fact that a week ago, Judge (Kimba) Wood ordered Michael Cohen’s attorneys to disclose all of his clients for the last three years,” Avenatti said, “and there were three clients listed — three clients listed. Do you recall which three?” 

Brzezinski listed Trump, Fox News host Sean Hannity and Republican donor Elliott Broidy — but Avenatti said she was making the same mistake everyone else had. 

“No, no, no,” he said. “Mr. Trump, the Trump organization and Sean Hannity. Mr. Broidy was not disclosed in open court as one of Michael Cohen’s clients.” 

Co-host Joe Scarborough asked the attorney what that meant. 

“I think at some point we are going to find out, if in fact, the client in connection with the ($1.6 million) settlement was, in fact, Mr. Broidy. I’m going to leave it at that.” 

Avenatti wouldn’t say it, but the implication seems clear.

Yes, the implication is quite clear.

And it kind of irritates me because I actually started to write a piece about this in my head while I was driving to an appointment the other day, and decided not to post it because it seemed a little conspiratorial with not much evidence to back it up.

But let me take a stab at it again in light of this new information from Avenatti.

So this Elliot Brody guy is somebody that NOBODY really knows. At least not outside of certain Republican circles.

Though he is wealthy, and produced two b-list movies in 2013, he is not a famous person who typically hangs around celebrities.

He also looks like this.

So in what world does he get his hands on a playmate that looks like this.

I mean I know women are attracted to power and money, but unless this miss Bechard was straight up selling her body for sex, I simply don't see it.

On the other hand we KNOW that Donald Trump has been sleeping with Playboy models and porn stars for years, often did not use protection, and also habitually paid them off using Michael Cohen as a go between. 

So the idea that this was HIS child, and that Michael Cohen paid that 1.6 million to buy her silence and arrange for an abortion to protect his boss, fits snugly with what we already know.

And this is certainly not without precedent.

Do you remember the John Edwards/Rielle Hunter affair?

Well after it was revealed that Hunter was pregnant, Edwards campaign staffer Andrew Young came forward and said that he was the father.

He wasn't the father, John Edwards was, and that eventually came to light despite their best attempts to push the false story.

So yes, not only is it conceivable, but since as far as we know Michael Cohen provided semi-legal services to ONLY Donald Trump for little over a decade, it is also the most likely scenario.

I look forward to what comes next.

Here is that CNN interview with former Playmate Karen McDougal concerning her affair with Donald Trump. Yes, it's icky.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

The former Playboy model Karen McDougal gave her first television interview about the affair she alleges she had with Donald J. Trump more than a decade ago, saying that he offered her money after their first sexual encounter. 

“After we had been intimate, he tried to pay me, and I actually did not take that,” she told Anderson Cooper of CNN in an interview broadcast on Thursday night. “I looked at him and said, ‘That’s not me, I’m not that kind of girl.’” 

As a security aide of Mr. Trump’s drove her home, she said, “I started crying, I was really sad — it really hurt me.” 

But, she said, in spite of that encounter in 2006, “I went back,” conducting what she described as a 10-month, serious relationship that she finally ended when she could no longer bear the guilt of betraying Mr. Trump’s wife then-new wife, Melania.

You would probably think that if you were not a prostitute and somebody offered you money as if you were one, that you would be too humiliated to see that person again.

However not in McDougal's case.

According to the ex-Playmate she continued to see Trump for about ten months, and had unprotected sex with him dozens and dozens of times. 

According to McDougal this was not just a sexual affair but an affair of the heart, where both parties told the other that they loved them.

McDougal even seemed to think that the relationship would grow into something more.

She seemed to believe that she was destined to be Mrs. Donald Trump number four.

So of course Trump compared her to his number one love:

Ms. McDougal said Mr. Trump had compared her, favorably, to his daughter. “He said I was beautiful like her and, ‘You’re a smart girl,’” she said.

You may remember that Trump also compared Stormy Daniels to Ivanka. Which apparently is his idea of the ultimate compliment to his mistresses.

Make of that what you will.

It appears that Stormy Daniels has reinforcements.

Courtesy of  NBC News:

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels underwent a polygraph exam in 2011 about her relationship with Donald Trump, and the examiner found there was a more than 99 percent probability she told the truth when she said they had unprotected sex in 2006, according to a copy of the report obtained by NBC News Tuesday. 

Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, took the lie detector test at the request of a magazine that interviewed her in 2011, but didn’t publish the content at the time. 

The report is accompanied by a sworn declaration from the examiner, signed on Monday, March 19, 2018, attesting to the polygraph report’s authenticity. Details of the report were first published by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Now that by itself is pretty unfortunate news for a certain tangerine teapot tyrant.

However it was only the beginning of the shitty Trump news for today.

Courtesy of the New York Times:

A former Playboy model who claimed she had an affair with Donald J. Trump sued on Tuesday to be released from a 2016 legal agreement requiring her silence, becoming the second woman this month to challenge Trump allies’ efforts during the presidential campaign to bury stories about extramarital relationships.

The model, Karen McDougal, is suing the company that owns The National Enquirer, American Media Inc., which paid her $150,000 and whose chief executive is a friend of President Trump’s. The other woman, the adult entertainment star Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, was paid $130,000 to stay quiet by the president’s personal lawyer, Michael D. Cohen. She filed suit earlier this month.

Ms. McDougal, in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, claims that Mr. Cohen was secretly involved in her talks with A.M.I., and that the media company and her lawyer at the time misled her about the deal. She also asserts that after she spoke with The New Yorker last month after it obtained notes she kept on Mr. Trump, A.M.I. warned that “any further disclosures would breach Karen’s contract” and “cause considerable monetary damages.”

Kinda feels a little coordinated doesn't it?

Well if it is that is a damn smart play.  After all there is strength in numbers.

And speaking of numbers, they are continuing to grow.

Courtesy of Bloomberg:

President Donald Trump can’t avoid a former "Apprentice" contestant’s defamation lawsuit and may be forced to respond under oath to allegations of sexual assault and his treatment of women. 

Summer Zervos, a contender on The Apprentice in 2005, sued Trump in January 2017 alleging he “ambushed” her on more than one occasion starting in 2007, kissing her, touching her breast and pressing his genitals against her. On Tuesday, New York State Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Schecter denied the president’s request to throw out the lawsuit or delay it until he leaves office.

"No one is above the law," Schecter wrote in an 18-page decision. “Nothing in the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution even suggests that the president cannot be called to account before a state court for wrongful conduct that bears no relationship to any federal executive responsibility.” 

The ruling could subject Trump to extremely broad questions about this case and similar ones, and he might be forced to testify under oath and provide documents, said Naomi Mezey, a professor at Georgetown Law School and an expert on civil procedure.

Damn! I almost forgot about Zervos.

And if SHE can get Trump to testify under oath, that means that his other accusers might be able to do the same. 

 Remember it only took one intern, with one stained dressed, to get Bill Clinton impeached.

By the time this is over there could be over a dozen women, with a whole closet full of DNA stained clothing to bring to the courtroom.

New Yorker magazine exposes Donald Trump's history of buying off women to keep his numerous extramarital affairs secret.

Trump with Karen McDougal

Courtesy of The New Yorker:  

Trump and McDougal began an affair, which McDougal later memorialized in an eight-page, handwritten document provided to The New Yorker by John Crawford, a friend of McDougal’s. When I showed McDougal the document, she expressed surprise that I had obtained it but confirmed that the handwriting was her own.

The interactions that McDougal outlines in the document share striking similarities with the stories of other women who claim to have had sexual relationships with Trump, or who have accused him of propositioning them for sex or sexually harassing them. McDougal describes their affair as entirely consensual. But her account provides a detailed look at how Trump and his allies used clandestine hotel-room meetings, payoffs, and complex legal agreements to keep affairs—sometimes multiple affairs he carried out simultaneously—out of the press. 

On November 4, 2016, four days before the election, the Wall Street Journal reported that American Media, Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, had paid a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for exclusive rights to McDougal’s story, which it never ran. Purchasing a story in order to bury it is a practice that many in the tabloid industry call “catch and kill.” This is a favorite tactic of the C.E.O. and chairman of A.M.I., David Pecker, who describes the President as “a personal friend.” As part of the agreement, A.M.I. consented to publish a regular aging-and-fitness column by McDougal. After Trump won the Presidency, however, A.M.I.’s promises largely went unfulfilled, according to McDougal. Last month, the Journal reported that Trump’s personal lawyer had negotiated a separate agreement just before the election with an adult-film actress named Stephanie Clifford, whose screen name is Stormy Daniels, which barred her from discussing her own affair with Trump. Since then, A.M.I. has repeatedly approached McDougal about extending her contract. 

McDougal, in her first on-the-record comments about A.M.I.’s handling of her story, declined to discuss the details of her relationship with Trump, for fear of violating the agreement she reached with the company. She did say, however, that she regretted signing the contract. “It took my rights away,” McDougal told me. “At this point I feel I can’t talk about anything without getting into trouble, because I don’t know what I’m allowed to talk about. I’m afraid to even mention his name.”

The article also says that Trump offered to pay McDougal after the first time they had sex (She refused the money.), that the affair lasted nine months, and during that time he flew her around the country, and even introduced her to his family and friends.

McDougal's account essentially reinforces the story that Stormy Daniels told before Trump's attorney bought her silence, and the others that have been talked about for years.

Donald Trump's actions essentially scream about his innate insecurities, though to be honest we already knew that by the fact that he names every damn thing he touches after himself.

However these numerous sexual encounters also clearly gave the Russians plenty of kompromat to use against Trump, and we know by the fact that he worked so hard to keep them quiet, that it would be very effective in buying his cooperation.

So I ask again, does the president of the United States have a security clearance that allows him to do his job?

And if he does, how in the fuck did he get it?

The National Enquirer buys former Playboy model's story of her affair with Donald Trump, to keep it secret.

Trump with Karen McDougal.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail: 

The National Enquirer's publishing company paid a Playboy model $150,000 for her story about having an affair with Donald Trump - but never ran it, sources have said. 

Karen McDougal, the 1998 Playmate of the year, claimed she had a consensual relationship with Trump over several months beginning in 2006, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. 

But the National Enquirer didn't publish anything about McDougal's allegations, despite paying six figures for the information, according to people familiar with the matter and documents reviewed by the Wall Street Journal. 

Trump married Melania, his third wife, in January 2005. 

And there goes the last of the journalistic integrity that the Enquirer earned by reporting on the John Edwards affair story.

This is completely indefensible.

Besides its not like most Americans do not already simply ASSUME that Trump cheats on his wife, virtually everything we know about him would lead to that conclusion.

Still seeing the Enquirer do this offers a peek into how Trump "manages" unflattering press and keeps his "useful idiots" from learning the truth about him.

Slut shaming Donald Trump once negotiated a contract for his wife to appear in Playboy magazine.

@LPDonovan Nifty find. Trump pressuring his future wife to pose for Playboy. Personally negotiated the fee. pic.twitter.com/P4AMmx10ls

— Jeff Nichols (@backwards_river) October 1, 2016

Courtesy of Raw Story:

The article, tweeted by historian and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois Jeff Nichols, ABD, outlines how Trump insisted that Maples do the centerfold and negotiated a million dollar check to compensate her for so doing.

“‘Donald doesn’t want Marla to look like she’s against Ivana,’ Says Trump’s PR guru, Chuck Jones. ‘Donald wants picture approval. Donald says to emphasize her early years,'” the article reads. 

It continues talking about how much Maples didn’t want to do the nude layout, fearing people would only see her as a pretty face, not a serious woman. 

“‘Trump himself was on the phone negotiating the fee,’ remembers a top Playboy editor. ‘He wanted her to do the nude layout. She didn’t.’ (‘I’m thankful for my body, but I didn’t want to exploit it,’ Marla offers. ‘How would I ever be taken seriously?’)” The story continues.

So essentially Trump tired to pimp his wife out so that millions of men could masturbate to pictures of her nude body.  And yet now he erroneously claims that a former Miss USA who dared to speak out against him starred in a pornographic film.

The word for today boys and girls is "projection."

And speaking of projection Trump also accused his opponent Hillary Clinton of cheating on Bill: 

Trump did not stop there. He said he did not believe Clinton would be loyal to her supporters and chuckled, “I don’t even think she’s loyal to Bill, to tell you the truth. And why should she be, right? Why should she be?”

So attacking her for being the victim of infidelity is no longer enough, now he wants to accuse her of betraying her vows as well. And this from a guy who cheated on his wife, and then bragged about it to Howard Stern.

Trump also attacked Hillary's "stamina" in his speech yesterday: Yeah well she certainly had enough stamina to kick his ass during that debate, didn't she?

By the way here is a reminder that THIS is the guy attacking women over their weight and lack of stamina.

Remember that word kids, "projection."

Woman takes flag from protesters because she feels they are desecrating it, then fights with police who try to return it. Update!

Courtesy of The Valedosta Daily Times: 

A military veteran was detained but not charged by Valdosta State University police after she approached a group of protesters on campus who were walking on an American flag and took it from them. 

Michelle Manhart, an Air Force veteran, said she was not planning to take the flag from the group, but she had heard about the group’s recent campus demonstrations and wanted to take action. 

“I did not want anything like this, but I got a call from a student who told me that the flag was on the ground, and they were walking on it,” said Manhart. “I was just going over there to pick up the flag off the ground. I don’t know what their cause is, but I went to pick it up because it doesn’t deserve to be on the ground.” 

Manhart said she was taken into custody by VSU police officers who then returned the flag to the demonstrators. She admitted to The Valdosta Daily Times that she resisted arrest after seeing the flag being returned. 

The group reportedly declined to press charges against Manhart. The officers attempting to detain her also declined to press charges for resisting.

The minute I saw the video up above I thought, "publicity stunt."

And I think my instincts are probably right, because as it turns out this "military veteran" is also a former Playboy model.

She is already getting quite a bit of coverage, and I have little doubt that Fox News is reaching out to her right now.

Like I said I highly doubt that her response to the protesters was fueled by patriotism, but if somebody was offended by what they saw the proper thing to do would be to file a complaint or even respectfully express your feelings to the protesters themselves.

But stealing the flag from them and then fighting with the cops who are simply trying to defuse the situation is ridiculous.

But like I said it will play well with the Fox News crowd who will undoubtedly be sufficiently outraged.

(H/T to Raw Story.)

Update: Well it looks as it Manhart has a history of disrespecting the flag, and her uniform, as well:  

Manhart, a sergeant in the Air Force at the time, appeared in Playboy in 2007, posing in uniform, out of uniform and while draped with the American flag. She was reprimanded and demoted and quit the military the next year.

Can you say "hypocrisy?"

A 1963 interview with Frank Sinatra about his lack of faith. I had no idea.

So I was on Reddit the other day looking around and I found that somebody had posted this amazing interview with Frank Sinatra from way back in 1963.

Do yourself a favor a take a moment to read it. Playboy: All right, let's start with the most basic question there is:  

Playboy: Are you a religious man? Do you believe in God? 

Sinatra: Well, that'll do for openers. I think I can sum up my religious feelings in a couple of paragraphs. First: I believe in you and me. I'm like Albert Schweitzer and Bertrand Russell and Albert Einstein in that I have a respect for life -- in any form. I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything I can see or that there is real evidence for. If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God. But I don't believe in a personal God to whom I look for comfort or for a natural on the next roll of the dice. I'm not unmindful of man's seeming need for faith; I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers or a bottle of Jack Daniel's. But to me religion is a deeply personal thing in which man and God go it alone together, without the witch doctor in the middle. The witch doctor tries to convince us that we have to ask God for help, to spell out to him what we need, even to bribe him with prayer or cash on the line. Well, I believe that God knows what each of us wants and needs. It's not necessary for us to make it to church on Sunday to reach Him. You can find Him anyplace. And if that sounds heretical, my source is pretty good: Matthew, Five to Seven, The Sermon on the Mount. 

Playboy: You haven't found any answers for yourself in organized religion? 

Sinatra: There are things about organized religion which I resent. Christ is revered as the Prince of Peace, but more blood has been shed in His name than any other figure in history. You show me one step forward in the name of religion and I'll show you a hundred retrogressions. Remember, they were men of God who destroyed the educational treasures at Alexandria, who perpetrated the Inquisition in Spain, who burned the witches at Salem. Over 25,000 organized religions flourish on this planet, but the followers of each think all the others are miserably misguided and probably evil as well. In India they worship white cows, monkeys and a dip in the Ganges. The Moslems accept slavery and prepare for Allah, who promises wine and revirginated women. And witch doctors aren't just in Africa. If you look in the L.A. papers of a Sunday morning, you'll see the local variety advertising their wares like suits with two pairs of pants. Playboy: Hasn't religious faith just as often served as a civilizing influence? Sinatra: Remember that leering, cursing lynch mob in Little Rock reviling a meek, innocent little 12-year-old Negro girl as she tried to enroll in public school? Weren't they -- or most of them -- devout churchgoers? I detest the two-faced who pretend liberality but are practiced bigots in their own mean little spheres. I didn't tell my daughter whom to marry, but I'd have broken her back if she had had big eyes for a bigot. As I see it, man is a product of his conditioning, and the social forces which mold his morality and conduct -- including racial prejudice -- are influenced more by material things like food and economic necessities than by the fear and awe and bigotry generated by the high priests of commercialized superstition. Now don't get me wrong. I'm for decency -- period. I'm for anything and everything that bodes love and consideration for my fellow man. But when lip service to some mysterious deity permits bestiality on Wednesday and absolution on Sunday -- cash me out. 

Playboy: But aren't such spiritual hypocrites in a minority? Aren't most Americans fairly consistent in their conduct within the precepts of religious doctrine? 

Sinatra: I've got no quarrel with men of decency at any level. But I can't believe that decency stems only from religion. And I can't help wondering how many public figures make avowals of religious faith to maintain an aura of respectability. Our civilization, such as it is, was shaped by religion, and the men who aspire to public office anyplace in the free world must make obeisance to God or risk immediate opprobrium. Our press accurately reflects the religious nature of our society, but you'll notice that it also carries the articles and advertisements of astrology and hokey Elmer Gantry revivalists. We in America pride ourselves on freedom of the press, but every day I see, and so do you, this kind of dishonesty and distortion not only in this area but in reporting -- about guys like me, for instance, which is of minor importance except to me; but also in reporting world news. How can a free people make decisions without facts? If the press reports world news as they report about me, we're in trouble. 

Playboy: Are you saying that . . . 

Sinatra: No, wait, let me finish. Have you thought of the chance I'm taking by speaking out this way? Can you imagine the deluge of crank letters, curses, threats and obscenities I'll receive after these remarks gain general circulation? Worse, the boycott of my records, my films, maybe a picket line at my opening at the Sands. Why? Because I've dared to say that love and decency are not necessarily concomitants of religious fervor. 

Playboy: If you think you're stepping over the line, offending your public or perhaps risking economic suicide, shall we cut this off now, erase the tape and start over along more antiseptic lines? 

Sinatra: No, let's let it run. I've thought this way for years, ached to say these things. Whom have I harmed by what I've said? What moral defection have I suggested? No, I don't want to chicken out now. Come on, pal, the clock's running.

Okay that almost literally blew my socks off.

Here is, at that time, just about the biggest name in show business, openly discussing his lack of faith and his disgust with organized religions.  

And the thing is he KNEW the risk he was taking by speaking out this way. The interviewer even offers him the chance to start the interview over and leave the part out that might cost him his career, but his response was "No, I don;t want to chicken out."

My admiration for this man just went through the roof.

(Here is another source.)

Sexual pioneer Hugh Hefner has some very important insights into what our country is going through right now.

Courtesy of (Where else?) Playboy:  

When I wrote The Playboy Philosophy in the early 1960s, both oral and anal sex were illegal in 49 of the 50 states. In 10 of those states, sodomy—which was variously defined but could, in some states, include oral sex—carried a maximum sentence of 20 years. Citizens in Connecticut who engaged in oral sex faced 30 years in prison—60 years for people who lived in North Carolina. In Nevada it could mean life behind bars. It was a time when 37 states outlawed sex between unmarried people and 45 criminalized adultery. Two states even banned heavy petting. 

This is the oppressive world some would have us return to. These moralists say that if sex doesn’t beget children, it’s a sin. Your sex life, your privacy rights and the rights of men and women everywhere are casualties of this belief. In Arizona, under a proposed bill women who hoped to have their health insurer cover birth control would have been forced to provide their employer with proof they were taking the pill for a medical condition—not just for the purpose of avoiding pregnancy. A new Kansas law allows a pharmacist to refuse to sell someone contraception on the grounds that such a sale could violate the pharmacist’s religious beliefs. Similar laws already exist in Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi and South Dakota. Lawmakers in Michigan are pushing one of the most restrictive anti-abortion bills in decades, while in Texas and Pennsylvania people continue to demand the defunding of Planned Parenthood centers, which provide health care to countless women. Across America these conservatives continue to assault the rights of gays, whether by denying them the right to marry or, as in Kansas, by attempting to empower landlords, business owners and employers to discriminate against gays on religious grounds. And earlier this year, when a Republican legislator in Virginia told CNN “sodomy is not a civil right,” I thought of Charles Cotner (A man charged and jailed for 3 years in 1965 for engaging in consensual anal sex with his own wife) and wondered how much time we have left before we lose all the advances of the sexual revolution. 

Nearly 50 years ago in the pages of this magazine I warned that “when religion rather than reason dictates legislation, do not expect logic with your law.” Today, in every instance of sexual rights falling under attack, you’ll find legislation forced into place by people who practice discrimination disguised as religious freedom. Their goal is to dehumanize everyone’s sexuality and reduce us to using sex for the sole purpose of perpetuating our species. To that end, they will criminalize your entire sex life. 

This is a religious nation, but it is also a secular one. For decades the American people have found a way to balance religious beliefs with secular freedoms. We have enjoyed freedom of religion as well as freedom from religion. These need not be incompatible. No one should have to subjugate their religious freedom, and no one should have their personal freedoms infringed. This is America and we must protect the rights of all Americans.

It may be hard to imagine that the old man with the much too young "girlfriends," who are clearly nothing more than window dressing used to buoy an image that he has worked a lifetime to promote, was once on the cutting edge of the sexual revolution in this country. But he was.

So despite what your opinion is of the man, you still have to recognize that he certainly knows what he is talking about. And what's more his observations of what is happening to our country, something that he apparently predicted nearly fiftieth years ago, is dead on.

Great interview with Richard Dawkins.

This is from Playboy magazine (Which of course I have only read for the articles) but don't let that put you off as it is quite a good interview.

Below are a few of my favorite portions, but I definitely encourage you to read the whole thing.

On the religious connection to 9-11:  

PLAYBOY: You blame 9/11 on belief in the afterlife. 

DAWKINS: Yes. Normally when an aircraft is hijacked, there’s an assumption that the hijackers want to go on living. It changes the game if the hijackers look forward to death because it will get them into the best part of paradise. 

PLAYBOY: You mean the part with the 72 virgins the Koran says await martyrs. 

DAWKINS: Right. Young men who are too unattractive to get a woman in the real world go for the ones in paradise. But my point is these people really believe what they say they believe, whereas most Christians don’t. If you talk to dying Christians, they aren’t looking forward to it.

On death and despair: 

 PLAYBOY: What will happen when you die? 

DAWKINS: Well, I shall either be buried or be cremated. 

PLAYBOY: Funny. But without faith in an afterlife, in what do you take comfort in times of despair? 

DAWKINS: Human love and companionship. But in more thoughtful, cerebral moments, I take—comfort is not quite the right word, but I draw strength from reflecting on what a privilege it is to be alive and what a privilege it is to have a brain that’s capable in its limited way of understanding why I exist and of reveling in the beauty of the world and the beauty of the products of evolution. The magnificence of the universe and the sense of smallness that gives us in space and in geologically deep time is humbling but in a strangely comforting way. It’s nice to feel you’re part of a hugely bigger picture.

On the idea of America as a Christian nation and the connection between morals and religion:  

PLAYBOY: We hear constantly that America is a Christian nation and that the founding fathers were all Christians. 

DAWKINS: They were deists. They didn’t believe in a personal god, or one who interferes in human affairs. And they were adamant that they did not want to found the United States as a Christian nation. 

PLAYBOY: But you hear quite often that if you let atheists run things you end up with Hitler and Stalin. 

DAWKINS: Hitler wasn’t an atheist; he was a Roman Catholic. But I don’t care what he was. There is no logical connection between atheism and doing bad things, nor good things for that matter. It’s a philosophical belief about the absence of a creative intelligence in the world. Anybody who thinks you need religion in order to be good is being good for the wrong reason. I’d rather be good for moral reasons. Morals were here before religion, and morals change rather rapidly in spite of religion. Even people who rely on the Bible use nonbiblical criteria. If your criteria are scriptural, you have no basis for choosing the verse that says turn the other cheek rather than the verse that says stone people to death. So you pick and choose without guidance from the Bible.

On the future of America, reason, and Sarah Palin:  

PLAYBOY: Do you get discouraged by the continuing attacks on reason? 

DAWKINS: No. I go on the internet quite a lot and read what young people are saying. I see a great upsurge of good sense, rationality, irreverence. America is split into halves. There’s the Sarah Palin know-nothing idiots on the one hand, and then there’s a huge number of intellectual, intelligent, educated people on the other. I find it hard to believe that the Stone Age types are going to win in the end. An awful lot of people who call themselves religious simply don’t know there’s any alternative. If you probe what they believe, it turns out to be pretty much the same—we all have a sense of wonder and reverence at the majesty of the universe.

"The Sarah Palin know-nothing idiots," oh I know them well.

Like I said the entire interview is well worth your time to read. Of course I am a big fan of Dawkins so my opinion may be considered somewhat prejudiced.

A few words about yesterday's Trig Palin post.

There has been a rather unexpected response to my "The Return of the Ruffled Ear Version of Trig Palin" post which, of course, is great.  However it also resulted in quite a lot of argument and frustration, some of which I anticipated, some of which I did not.

Tomorrow I am going to post a much longer response to many of your questions, and also take the time to clear up a number of misconceptions. I am doing it then instead of today, because I have found that more people visit IM on the weekdays, and I want to make sure that the largest audience possible sees the post so that I don't have to keep revisiting the same issues over and over.

The first thing I need to explain is how to see older comments, because as of this post there are over 500 comments and counting. I have tested this on my regular computer as well as my I-Pod and it seems that in order to access the comments you simply have to click the headline and then afterward go to the bottom of the page and click the "load more" button. Sometimes you have to do this several times (I just had to do it seven times to see them all.) but it SHOULD provide access to all of the comments on that post. (Remember that some comments are in answer to previous comments so they will not show at the bottom of the page, but instead under whichever comment they were addressing.)

Now the other thing I do want to clear up today is something brought up by a commenter suggesting that I had NOT confronted Sherry and Mercede about inconsistencies in their statements, or that I had been too soft on them.

That is not accurate.  I have indeed asked both of them very pointed questions numerous times, and have found that either they simply did not know the answers or were unsure of dates and times.

I have mentioned before that my job often requires that I work with people who are habitual liars and I am pretty good at picking up on when people not telling me the truth. I have NEVER picked up on that when talking to Sherry or Sadie. NEVER!

In fact, and Joe McGinniss would back me up on this, Sherry is the sweetest, most trusting person you could imagine. I am not even sure she knows HOW to lie. (Joe once described her as being "completely without guile.")

Now does that mean I have told you EVERYTHING they have told me? No, it does not. Are any of the things that I am not sharing huge earthshaking bits of information that would rock your world? No they are not.

They are more along the line of things that Levi does not want known to everybody, or things that they do not want the whole world to know about their lives. I am sure we can all respect their desire to have at least some privacy in their lives.

But for those who are convinced that they are duplicitous, let me remind you of the many things that have only been revealed because the Johnstons HAVE been so forthcoming.

For instance we know that while the McCain campaign had operatives in their home back in 2008, that Sadie's computer was completely wiped clean.

Meghan McCain calls Bristol Palin out for her book of lies in Playboy interview.

Now I am NOT one of those liberals who gives Meghan McCain a pass just because she is sometimes painfully honest, or writes for the Daily Beast, or because Rachel Maddow has a platonic girl crush on her.  However one of Meghan McCain's best features is that she does not have much of a filter, and sometimes she says very interesting things, that others (except of course Steve Schmidt and Nicole Wallace), refuse to say about their experiences with that crazy hillbilly family from Wasilla.

From McCain's Playboy interview:

PLAYBOY: Bristol Palin took shots at you and your mom in her memoir, saying, “I’ve never seen people with so much Louis Vuitton luggage, so many cell phones, and so many constant helpers to do hair and makeup.” What would you say if you bumped into her? 

MCCAIN: I did bump into her at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, actually. I saw her across the room. That girl biffed it fast, totally took off. All that stuff she wrote was a total lie. I have, like, one Louis Vuitton purse. She’s just young and confused and was thrust into all this. The media aren’t kind to her. But once someone signs up for Dancing With the Stars, it’s hard to sympathize.

Run away and hide behind ghostwritten books, carefully scripted favorable interviews, and now ghostwritten blog posts.  The acorn certainly does not fall far from the gnarled old tree now does it?

You know this suddenly reminds me that the Palins have a rather unfortunate history with Playboy magazine. That is where Sadie was also able to tell a couple of inconvenient truths about Bristol, Sarah, and the rest of the Palin clan. 

And considering the Grizzled Mama's response then, one can only imagine how she will respond to this latest perceived attack on the Palin mythology.

Bristol Palin avoids questions about Mercede Johnston Playboy interview.

Bristol Palin Fields Questions About Mercede Johns

Damn, I don't think Bristol liked this introduction into the world of the LA reality star one little bit.

And you just know she was biting a hole in her lip to keep from responding to those questions about Sadie.

Somebody who has access to her REAL Facebook account needs to monitor is carefully, because I have little doubt she will let her anger out later on today.

It was nice to see that Willow has been allowed to accompany her sister and Tripp on their adventures.  She has been out of sight for such a long time.

(If the video does not play click here.)

UPdate: What is this? Bristol's reality show is a big fake? Say it ain't so!

This may come as a bit of a shock, but, from what can be seen here, Bristol Palin's new reality show isn't very, well, real. Footage taken of Palin, son Tripp and co-star Kyle Massey on their new BIO channel reality show features the trio in a number of Los Angeles-area locales. 

They go in and out of a baby supply store, timed with their cameras to get the shot just right, and take a strangely long amount of time to order food at a burger stand. 

Perhaps the most authentic of the crew? Little Tripp, who had a cute fit when someone tried to pry him off an electric rocking horse. 

(Here is the video of what's described above.)


Fake pregnancies, fake political credentials, fake marriages, fake chins, and now fake reality. Isn't there ANYTHING real about this family?

Jonathon Capehart talks to the man who interviewed Mercede Johnston for Playboy.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Okay this guy is an imbecile, though I guess I should be pleased he liked my state so much. However he did not answer any of the Jonathon Capeheart's important questions.

However it is interesting to note that, despite what people are constantly trying to imply on this blog, he said that the residents of Wasilla did not consider Sadie a liar.

Too bad he did not ask them if they consider Sarah and Bristol liars.

I've asked that question in Wasilla and guess what? Yeah I think you know the answer to that question. I also think it is awesome that Sadie's Playboy pictorial and interview are getting much MORE media attention than the Grizzled Mama's most recent Facebook rant. Oooh that's gotta sting!

Is the stress from all of the recent bad news starting to get to Bristol Palin?

Courtesy of the Daily Mail:

She has certainly had a rough time of it late. 

And it appears the strain of recent events, including the claims made by her former boyfriend’s sister about her family, have taken their toll on Bristol Palin. 

The Former Dancing With The Stars contestant was spotted at W valet in L.A. yesterday and appeared weary and tense. 

Well I guess one would have to imagine that keeping all of those family secrets hidden, and attempting to put on that "We're the perfect family" facade, would wear just about anybody down.

A year and a half ago I might have felt badly for Bristol, but after what I have seen her mother and her do to the Johnston family I am just all out of sympathy.

Oh by the way for those who have been wondering, you can find a preview of the Mercede Playboy pictorial  here.

New tidbits leak out from Mercede Johnston's Playboy interview. Oh, the Grizzled Mama is NOT going to like this very much! Update!

Mercede and her mother Sherry. Palin victims no more.

Courtesy of TMZ:

19-year-old Mercede Johnston (above left) just WENT OFF about the entire Palin crew -- calling Sarah Palin a bad mom who's "never there for [her kids]" ... adding, "She doesn't make her kids go to school.

She'd rather parade them around and put on a show, at book signings or conventions."

As for Bristol -- "Everything is about her, her, her. She has to have her own way. She'll be supersweet and then she turns into the most evil person I've ever known ... Honestly, she is the meanest person." Mercede adds, "I didn't know someone could be so vindictive and evil ...[She's] a sociopath. She doesn't think anything she could do or does is wrong."

Mercede also claims Bristol and Levi PLANNED their pregnancy -- saying, "They were trying to conceive for months." 

And for good measure ... Mercede explains why Sarah would have been a TERRIBLE president saying, "I think she'd have had a mental breakdown if she was elected [president] ... She can't even answer Katie Couric's questions." 

Just when you think Sarah's day could NOT get any worse.

You know I waited with bated breath for this summer (and the fall) to finally arrive, but even I did not realize just how many things were coming down the pike to help put an end to Sister Sarah's career as a political hatemonger.

Numerous tell-all books, a damning documentary, Michele Bachmann stealing her thunder, a painfully poor propaganda piece that failed to ignite her political career, unexpected grandbabies, a Playboy interview that reveals unflattering truths about the Palin family, newly discovered pictures proving she was not pregnant with Trig, the list just goes on, and on, and on.

Don't the Germans have a word for this? Schadenfreude if I am not mistaken.

(I looked it up for you Palin-bots so that you would not hurt your tiny little brains. Just click this link.)

Update: It looks like Hollywood Life has a few more tidbits:

Mercede tells Playboy of Sarah’s eldest son Track, “He would do a lot drugs. He did OxyContin but mostly cocaine. He didn’t choose to go into the army; he went there because his mom made him, to get him out of the way…” Track did ship out during his mother’s campaign, though it is uncertain when exactly he enlisted. 

He may not be the only fan of the drug either as, the interviewer writes; “Someone trying to get my attention makes the incredible claim to have snorted coke with [Sarah] at the Mug Shot (a local bar) and points to the very spot on the bar where said lines were cut up.” This is, of course, to be taken with a grain of salt. 

Mercede also labels Bristol as a thief, among other things. When asked what Bristol is into, Mercede says; “stealing her parents credit cards to order clothes. Literally. And chasing after men and partying.” 

Mercede goes on to say that she could bring any number of men to meet the interviewer and have them show some of the nude pics Bristol has sent them.

Okay I knew about the stolen credit cards, the boy chasing, and partying, but the nude pics of Bristol are a new one on me.

Not that I would have been interested if I had known about their existence.

Update2: More from Hollywood Life:

She is furious about Sarah’s treatment of her brother Levi, who is the father of Sarah’s grandson, Tripp. “Not once did Sarah contact us and say, ‘Is this okay?’”, about her decision to take Levi into the spotlight, when she became John McCain‘s running mate in 2008. 

After all — Levi was only 18 at the time and hardly able to stand up to the powerful Governor of Alaska. “She literally took Levi from a hunting trip and flew him to the Republican Convention. He didn’t have a choice. I don’t blame John McCain — this is all Sarah Palin. She didn’t have to announce on stage that Bristol was pregnant. She doesn’t care, as long as she’s going to the top. But it’s screwed my whole family up. Levi was a prop, and once they didn’t need him, he was out the door.” 

No matter what your political persuasion you have to admit that Mercede’s accusations have a ring of truth when it comes to the Palin treatment of her brother. 

For good measure, Mercede also calls Bristol — “the most evil person I’ve ever known” and a “sociopath” and claims that she , Mercede, has been virtually excluded from baby Tripp’s life. 

Now, we all know that Sarah Palin can dish it out against her political opponents … and Katie Couric. She’s even been accused of inciting violence against Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by placing her district in crosshairs on an “attack map” that she featured on her facebook. 

Do we really need a “Pitbull in lipstick” or a Mamma Grizzly ( Mercede calls that Sarah nickname “retarded” ) leading our country now? A woman who’s instinct is to attack even the father and aunt of her “beloved” grandchild, rather than reach out and make them a part of her family? 
  
Damn! Sarah and Bristol really screwed the pooch when they pissed Sadie off!

I actually don't know everything that Sadie talked about in the Playboy interview because she signed a non-disclosure agreement and was not supposed to talk about it. Technically I was not even supposed to know about the pictorial, but she did not want me to find out from anybody else.

P.S. I almost forgot to say that I also heard that story about the cocaine use by Sarah at the Mug-Shot. And no it was NOT from Sadie.

Mercede Johnston bares all concerning the Palin family in soon to be released Playboy interview. Update!

Courtesy of the New York Post:

Mercede posed nude for the September issue of Playboy and gave an equally revealing interview to George Gurley. Asked what kind of president Sarah Palin would be, she responded: "I think she'd have had a mental breakdown . . . As governor she quit on us. What does that say about her?" When Gurley asked what percentage of Wasilla residents "can't stand Palin," Mercede responded, "I would say 70 percent."
 
Mercede also claims the Palins are so polarizing in the small Alaskan town that she can't work. "It's hard to get a job in this town because of the Palins," she tells Playboy, adding, "People say, 'Oh, Mercede Johnston, I don't know if people are going to come in if she works here.' "

Regarding Bristol's relationship with Levi, she claims Bristol sent a text message to Levi after she found out she was expecting son Tripp that read, "Ever since the moment I found out I was pregnant, I prayed to God you weren't the father."

Mercede -- who had claimed on her blog that "Levi never liked [Bristol] to drink since it just made her more promiscuous" -- also told Gurley that Bristol, who's since become an advocate for teen abstinence, wanted to get pregnant: "Bristol's pregnancy wasn't . . . an accident. She and Levi planned it. They were trying to conceive for months."

Mercede also tells Playboy that Track Palin, Sarah's 22-year-old son who is an Army reservist, used drugs. She claims, "He did OxyContin and mostly cocaine. He didn't choose to go into the Army; he went there because his mom made him, to get him out of the way so when she was at the convention they wouldn't know he does drugs and would think he was a patriot." A Palin family rep declined to comment.

Let me remind all of you that Playboy has an average circulation of over 3 million, which is substantially more sets of eyeballs than have ever perused either mine, or Sadie's blog.

That means that many, many more people are now aware of just how duplicitous, and polarizing, the Palin family is considered even in their own home town.

And for those of you who are so quick to pass judgement on Mercede for taking off her clothes, and using her body to get the information out, just ask yourself how she could have done it any more effectively?

And then ask yourself what sacrifice YOU have made to let the world know about the potential harm that Sarah Palin poses to this country, and the harm she has done to those around her?

Personally I am proud of her, but of course she already knows that.

Update: I just received a clarification concerning the text from Bristol from Sherry.

It came after Lanesia dropped by to give Sadie and Sherry flowers for Valentine's Day (Something she does every year.).  Apparently Bristol heard about it and a few minutes later, called and yelled at Sherry for letting her come over, and then sent that text to Levi about wishing that Tripp was not his son.

Classy right?

Remember this was all while refusing to let the Johnston family see Tripp, and a few months before Levi, Mercede, and Sherry went public on the Tyra Banks Show to tell their side of the story.

Update 2: Oops, I forgot about this clip!  Dennis Zaki just reminded me.

Mercede Johnston's pictorial to be featured in same issue of Playboy as profile on Sarah Palin. Oh, SOMEBODY is not going to be happy!

From the NY Post:

GOP presidential hopeful Sarah Palin and her family are the subjects of a profile by George Gurley in the September issue of Playboy, according to sources. Insiders say the story will run next to a four-page nude pictorial of Mercede Johnston, the sister of Bristol Palin's estranged baby daddy, Levi. The Palins did not participate in the Gurley piece. Instead, the writer went to Alaska to interview locals and friends for a write-around. But Playboy sources say that Mercede is outspoken in the article about Palin and Bristol, whom she routinely lashes out against in her blog. One of Johnston's latest blog posts rips Bristol's book, "Not Afraid of Life: My Journey So Far," saying it should have been entitled, "Not Afraid of Lies." Sources say Johnston was paid less than $25,000 to strip down for the magazine. A rep for the Palins didn't get back to us.

I am aware that many of you sent me a link to this story, or others just like it, in the comments section throughout the day. I apologize for rejecting them, but they showed up on posts that I did not want to have hijacked, and plus I really had nothing to say about it until I had contacted Sadie and told her the story was out.


So for all of you who waited all day to weigh in on this topic, THIS would be the post for you to do that. However let me warn you that if you are a troll who just wants to say ugly things, I will kick your ass to the curb so fast it will make your head spin.

Longtime visitors will know that I have already written about Mercede and her Playboy shoot five months ago.

Here is her statement from that post:

First she would like you to know that she has been assured that this shoot will be very classy. She is not intending to go "completely" nude and she has turned down numerous other offers to pose nude in the past (True, she has told me about those before.)

She said that she is definitely hoping to use this money to work on her education, and to remind people that she has been working since she was 13 years old, and is NOT lazy as many have stated.

She has a friend helping her mom while she is in LA because Sherry cannot be left on her own right now, which also has much to do with Sadie's decision.

Oh, and she also wants to remind everybody that she is nineteen years old now, not eighteen.

The only thing that I can add is that Sadie told me about the shoot after the deal was already made. If this had been another magazine she MIGHT have asked me for some advice on trying to negotiate a better deal, but I am sure her instincts told her I would not have been completely on board with the idea, and to be honest she is probably not wrong about that.

When Sadie finally called me to tell me about the pictorial she was VERY nervous, and worried about what I might think. I honestly told her that it would not have been MY first choice for her, but that I understood her desire to make some money to help her mom, and that it certainly could lead to bigger things.

Anyhow I have to say I am pretty pleased that her pictorial will be in the same issue as a Palin profile by this George Gurley fellow.  I know that Sadie gave an interview that will not make the Palins very happy, so assuming that the Gurley piece will tell the truth about Sarah, THIS issue should be a must have for anybody who is not a fan Klondike Kardashian and her family of traveling grifters.

And yes I am sure that the opportunity to see the stunning Mercede Johnston featured au naturel won't exactly hurt sales either.

Speaking of Sadie, she just recently updated her last post to answer some of your questions.  If you are interested to see what she has to say, just click here.

Yes Mercede is posing for Playboy. Update!

From Huffington Post:

Levi Johnston's younger sister and Tripp's aunt, Mercede, will pose nude for Playboy.

At this time I cannot share any details, Playboy has their own publicity machine so I am officially out of the loop. All I can share is that she is in LA right now for the shoot and everything seems to be going well.

I know that some of you are undoubtedly unhappy with this decision but it is Sadie's life, not ours, and though she may have been given the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Kim Basinger, Marilyn Monroe, Charlize Theron, Drew Barrymore, Sharon Stone and numerous others because of her last name and association with the Palins, what happens after this is all up to her.

It could be a one time thing or it might open doors for future opportunities. Only time will tell.

From my perspective Sadie is a friend, almost a daughter in fact, and as with all of my friends I am going to be supportive, respect her decision, and be there for her if she needs me.

On the flip side I cannot help but to I think there is a certain young lady living in Arizona who will be none too happy to hear about this news.

Update: Okay Sadie just contacted me and would like me to relay a few things about this shoot.

First she would like you to know that she has been assured that this shoot will be very classy. She is not intending to go "completely" nude and she has turned down numerous other offers to pose nude in the past (True, she has told me about those before.)

She said that she is definitely hoping to use this money to work on her education, and to remind people that she has been working since she was 13 years old, and is NOT lazy as many have stated.

She has a friend helping her mom while she is in LA because Sherry cannot be left on her own right now, which also has much to do with Sadie's decision.

Oh, and she also wants to remind everybody that she is nineteen years old now, not eighteen.

And  I would just like to remind all of the jerks trying to get a nasty message posted in the comments section about Mercede, not to waste your time.  Like I said, she is a friend and I will not allow her to be insulted in my home. I will allow comments that don't embrace her decision because that seems fair, but NOT insulting ones.  Clear?