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?

South Carolina Republican lawmaker arrested for assaulting hi wife with a firearm after being caught cheating. Gotta love those family values!

Courtesy of Aiken Standard: 

South Carolina Rep. Chris Corley has been arrested after police say he assaulted his wife and pointed a handgun at her. 

Corley, 36, who represents Graniteville in Aiken County in the South Carolina House of Representatives, was arrested Tuesday by the Aiken County Sheriff's Office. 

Arrest warrants for Corley show he has been charged with first-degree domestic violence and pointing and presenting firearms at a person. 

Warrants state Corley, in the presence of an 8-year-old child, did "cause physical harm and injury" to the victim, by "striking her about the head and face with a closed fist and further did, after threatening to kill the victim, point a Smith & Wesson ... handgun at the victim causing her to fear for her life." 

Deputies responded on Monday to a home on the 100 block of Sugar Hill Drive in Graniteville, where a woman said Corley, who she identified as her husband, hit her in the face with his fist and said he was going to kill her while children were in the home, police reported. 

The woman told deputies Corley was "caught cheating."

Corley made national news last year after sending out a Christmas card featuring a confederate flag to his colleagues suggesting that they "ask for forgiveness of all your sins such as betrayal."

And yes of course he was a Trump supporter. 

Well I'll tell you right now that once Donald Trump is sworn into office it will once again be perfectly alright for a man to pistol whip his wife for catching him cheating on her.

Just like it says in the Bible.

Probably.

Donald Trump hates undocumented immigrants. Unless they are hot women working for his modeling agency.

Courtesy of Mother Jones:  

Republican nominee Donald Trump has placed immigration at the core of his presidential campaign. He has claimed that undocumented immigrants are "taking our jobs" and "taking our money," pledged to deport them en masse, and vowed to build a wall on the Mexican border. At one point he demanded a ban on Muslims entering the country. Speaking to supporters in Iowa on Saturday, Trump said he would crack down on visitors to the United States who overstay their visas and declared that when any American citizen "loses their job to an illegal immigrant, the rights of that American citizen have been violated." And he is scheduled to give a major address on immigration in Arizona on Wednesday night. 

But the mogul's New York modeling agency, Trump Model Management, has profited from using foreign models who came to the United States on tourist visas that did not permit them to work here, according to three former Trump models, all noncitizens, who shared their stories with Mother Jones. Financial and immigration records included in a recent lawsuit filed by a fourth former Trump model show that she, too, worked for Trump's agency in the United States without a proper visa. 

Founded in 1999, Trump Model Management "has risen to the top of the fashion market," boasts the Trump Organization's website, and has a name "that symbolizes success." According to a financial disclosure filed by his campaign in May, Donald Trump earned nearly $2 million from the company, in which he holds an 85 percent stake. Meanwhile, some former Trump models say they barely made any money working for the agency because of the high fees for rent and other expenses that were charged by the company.

The Trump modeling agency also encouraged the girls to lie about their immigration status if asked and once of the former models said this: "Honestly, they are the most crooked agency I've ever worked for, and I've worked for quite a few."

Some of these models were as young as 14 years old and they were warehoused in small dormitory style apartments for which they were overcharged.  There were other fees requested of the young ladies and after they were paid it left virtually no money left over.

Gee another Trump scandal? It must be Wednesday.

Donald Trump's first general election ad is just as ugly and misleading as you would expect it to be.

Courtesy of Think Progress: 

With just a few weeks left until voters start casting their ballots, GOP nominee Donald Trump has finally cut a general election TV ad, which will air in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, and North Carolina. One of the very first images in the 30-second ad shows a line of people waiting in line to vote, with a soundtrack of ominous music playing and the words “system rigged” emblazoned across the screen.

In the context of the last few weeks, amid Trump’s warnings of election rigging and potentially illegal exhortations for untrained supporters to help root out voter fraud, the message of the ad is clear. Trump, who is down in the polls (all of them), is encouraging his base to view a Clinton victory as illegitimate.

Gee that's helpful.

But of course Trump has to accuse Hillary of rigging the system because he is beginning to realize that he is about to lose this election to a woman, and his ego demands that people believe that she cheated somehow.

Essentially Trump would rather agitate his supporters into reacting with violence, and even perhaps foment a civil war, than to admit that he lost because of his own shortcomings and lack of ability.

So if you ever wondered how Donald Trump would deal with defeat, wonder no more. Not well, not well at all.

Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016

During primetime of the Iowa Caucus, Cruz put out a release that @RealBenCarson was quitting the race, and to caucus (or vote) for Cruz.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016

Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud. Also, Cruz sent out a VOTER VIOLATION certificate to thousands of voters.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016

Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016

Holy crap!

Hey look, I think that Cruz's tactics were sleazy and underhanded as well.

But so are Donald Trump's.

Let's face it from this point forward things are only going to get a whole lot sleazier and a whole lot nastier. 

Son confronts father and father's bimbo about their affair on video. As it turns out father is, sorry was, president of Baptist college.

Courtesy of Raw Story: 

The footage starts with the man identified as Paul Epting pointing the camera at himself and saying, “Here we go. It might be a bad day” before entering a house by unlocking what the News called a rear door. 

“Oh, hey buddy” Jimmy Epting says, only for Paul to reply, “What are you doing, Dad?” 

Paul then walks into a bathroom, asking, “Where is she?” before confronting the woman and asking “What are y’all doing? What are you doing?”

Jimmy Epting is seen coming into the bathroom, before Paul says, “No, no, I know exactly what you’re doing. Why? It’s over, dad. It’s over.”

The footage reached the attention of  the North Greenville University leaders who did not take kindly to learning that the president of their university was a sleazebag:

In the statement released Thursday afternoon by the school’s board of trustees, Chairwoman Beverly Hawkins said, “North Greenville University’s leaders are expected to lead Christ-centered lives and abide by all campus policies and procedures.” 

“The administration and faculty on campus today reflect our legal, moral and ethical expectations. We take our responsibilities as leaders of a Christian institution seriously and hold each member of our community to the highest of standards,” the statement said.

As it turns out Epting has been the president of Greenville university for 24 years.

You know until he got caught with his pants down.

Literally.

You considering what we have learned from years of watching evangelicals fall from grace, the Ashley Madison hack causing pastors to scramble like headless chickens, and this video outing a Christian university professor wetting his wick, one might tend to think that the folks who talk the most about morality are the people the least likely to be practice that self same morality themselves.

But that can't be true? Can it?

Analysis shows that the vast majority of females on the Ashley Madison website for cheaters were probably fake.

Courtesy of CBS News:  

An analysis of the user data on millions of people exposed by the massive hack of AshleyMadison.com has concluded that a vast majority of the accounts supposedly belonging to women were inactive and possibly fake. 

Despite its popularity among men, with 31 million male users (including some using official government email addresses), the site for people looking to have an affair had only 5.5 million registered female users. Now, an investigation into the user data by tech site Gizmodo reveals that even that small proportion of women was probably wildly inflated by the company. 

The names, email addresses and other personal information on the site's users was dumped online earlier this month after Ashley Madison executives refused to give into demands by a hacker group calling itself "Impact Team." 

Annalee Newitz of Gizmodo downloaded the data and looked at the trends of both male and female user accounts on the site and wrote an extensive analysis of the records. 

"When you look at the evidence, it's hard to deny that the overwhelming majority of men using Ashley Madison weren't having affairs," Newitz wrote. "They were paying for a fantasy."

You know I am a guy, and I know I'm supposed to stand up for my gender, but the fact is that sometimes we are incredibly stupid and gullible. 

You know when I first started seeing advertisements for this site I had my doubts that it could really be used to find anonymous sex.

However the main reason I was not a member is not necessarily because I am some super moral person, but rather because I am way too cheap to pay money for sex.

And I am way, way too cheap to pay for sex that never happens.

Look I know that men fantasize, as do women, and most of the time that is perfectly okay.

We all do it, don't lie. 

However when it takes money away from your family, and encourages you to look elsewhere for the kind of lovemaking that you partner may be secretly dying to provide, that is kind of inexcusable.

This Ashley Madison hack might just turn out to be a great thing in the long run. It will make men stop trusting websites to provide them with fantasy lovers, and it might convince some couples to communicate more honestly and find that the fantasy they have been looking for has been sleeping next to them all along.

Pastor and Christian researcher claims that this Sunday may see at least 400 church leaders resign due to Ashley Madison hack.

Courtesy of Christianity Today:  

This week, I’ve already written a couple of posts on the Ashley Madison hack and information leak because pastors, Christian leaders, and families are facing devastating revelation and the after-effects of public sin. 

Based on my conversations with leaders from several denominations in the U.S. and Canada, I estimate that at least 400 church leaders (pastors, elders, staff, deacons, etc.) will be resigning Sunday. This is a significant moment of embarrassment for the church—and it should be. To be honest, the number of pastors and church leaders on Ashley Madison is much lower than the number of those looking to have an affair. Yet, there is still much that we must consider in the midst of the embarrassment. 

This Ed Stetzer guy, who wrote the article, is not some outsider reveling in the idea of the Christian church taking a huge blow due to either real or perceived adultery, he is very much an insider simply reporting on what he has been told by those caught up in this scandal.

Personally I think it would be amazing if even a quarter of this 400 were to resign due to their hypocrisy. I am not sure that will happen, but if it does it may force many in their congregations to start evaluating why they take their moral cues from such deeply immoral men.

You know I think I might just cancel my plans this Sunday and plant myself in front of the TV to watch a little Christian broadcasting.

God I love the smell of hypocrite flop sweat on a Sunday morning.

As suspected Josh Duggar's "long term rehab" is going to consist of participating in a "pray the demons away" religious program with no oversight from medical or mental health professionals.

Just need a little more Jesus that's all.

 Gawker has the goods: 

Earlier today, the Duggar family confirmed that Josh has been locked away in a “long-term treatment center,” ostensibly for his self-described porn and sex addiction. And the most likely candidate by far is the Christian-based, North Love Baptist Church-affiliated Reformers Unanimous recovery center. 

A place that’s little more than a glorified, bible-based labor camp. Should this indeed be Josh’s home for the coming months, he just paid $7,500 to study the Bible and work for free for the next six months. Not at all unlike the time he spent at the facility that supposedly “cured” him of the perversions that caused him to molest five young girls in his teens.

(At the bottom of the post Gawker was able to affirm that this was indeed where Josh was headed.)

Gawker located this rather troubling introduction to the program from Benjamin Burks, the programs "International Director."

If you skip to the 6:50 mark you will see a guy in a lab coat, claiming to be a doctor, who craps all over the medical profession and says this:

In my medical opinion Reformers Unanimous has been so successful because it deals with the core of the problem in addiction. In medicine today we have dismal success rates unfortunately because most in the medical profession are only dealing with parts of the individual. They are dealing with the physical, they’re dealing with the psychological, but they are forgetting the spiritual.

Yeah I think I want to see that guy's license to practice medicine.

The whole program is broken down into very A strict schedule of prayer, eating, prayer, working, prayer, sleeping, and of course prayer.

Just in case anybody confuses the program with an actual medically approved rehabilitation program there is this disclaimer.

No doctor on site, no doctor insight, and apparently no doctor in sight of the facility.

In other words there is NOTHING here that is going to help Josh Duggar with what is turning out to be a rather powerful sexual dysfunction.

So by a show of hands, how many of you are surprised?

Yeah, me either.

Josh Duggar enters long term rehab center amid charges that he cheated on his wife, and molested his own sisters.

According to a statement on the Duggars' website ole Joshie is getting a little rehabilitation: 

We are so thankful for the outpouring of love, care and prayers for our family during this most difficult situation with Josh. As parents we are so deeply grieved by our son’s decisions and actions. His wrong choices have deeply hurt his precious wife and children and have negatively affected so many others. He has also brought great insult to the values and faith we hold dear. Yesterday Josh checked himself into a long-term treatment center. For him it will be a long journey toward wholeness and recovery. We pray that in this he comes to complete repentance and sincere change. In the meantime, we will be offering our love, care and devoted support to Anna and our grandchildren as she also receives counsel and help for her own heart and future. During this time we continue to look to God—He is our rock and comfort. We ask for your continued prayers for our entire family.

Oh God, I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Well let's hope this is more effective than the LAST counseling Josh received after he molested his sisters.

And he is going to need it because apparently he has been paying for sex with porn stars: 

In a bombshell world-exclusive interview with In Touch magazine, stripper and porn star Danica Dillon, 28, reveals she had sex not once, but on two separate occasions, with Josh Duggar, both occurring when his wife, Anna, was pregnant with their fourth child! 

Danica — who passed a polygraph test conducted for In Touch by a top certified polygrapher on Aug. 24 — details her two sexual encounters with Josh in the new issue of +In Touch+, on newsstands now. The first occurred after Josh approached her at the Gold Club in Philadelphia, where she was performing, in mid-March and the second only a month later when Danica was performing at Creekside Cabaret in Colmar, Pa.

Danica Dillon

 According to In Style Dillon reported that Josh was rough with her and stated that:

 "He was manhandling me, basically tossing me around like I was a rag doll."

She also claimed that while she has had rough sex before this was different: 

“It was very traumatic. I’ve had rough sex before, but this was terrifying.”

She also says that she expects there are other girls besides her who will be coming forward.

And all of this after Jim Bob tried so hard to help curb his son's lustful thoughts.

This from Raw Story: 

According to 2014’s Growing Up Duggar — a companion book to the Duggars’ TLC series 19 Kids and Counting — Jim Bob keeps the boys in the family from ogling attractive women by saying the word “Nike” whenever the clan runs into a woman or girl who might excite their lust. The word is the boys’ signal to look down at their shoes. 

“That’s a signal to the boys, and even to Dad, that they should nonchalantly drop their eyes and look down at their shoes as we walk past her,” said the book.

You know I think I see the flaw in Jim Bob's parenting approach.

After all isn't THIS the Nike motto?

Let's face it Josh Duggar is probably just the tip of the evangelical iceberg.

If the Duggar family was smart they would get counseling for the whole damn family before it's too late.

It looks like between two or three people have committed suicide in response to the Ashly Madison hack.

Courtesy of the BBC: 

Two individuals associated with the leak of Ashley Madison customer details are reported to have taken their lives, according to police in Canada. 

The police revealed the news at a press conference in Toronto but gave no further information about the deaths. 

Ashley Madison's Canadian parent company Avid Life Media is offering a C$500,000 (£240,000) reward for information about the hackers, they added. 

Over 33m account details were stolen.

There is also a report that a Texas police officer has also taken his own life in repose to the hack: 

Meanwhile, another report said a US police officer from Texas had also taken his life, days after his name was linked to the website. 

Captain Michael Gorhum, who had served for 25 years with the San Antonio Police Department, killed himself last week.

There are also reports that some people with accounts are being blackmailed.

I think it's time to stop gloating over the hypocrites who have been outed by this hack, and start worrying about those who let their fantasies get the best of them. 

As expected Josh Duggar's wife "partially blames herself" for his infidelity.

Courtesy of the Daily Mail:

 Anna Duggar partially blames herself for her husband Josh's admitted infidelity, it has emerged. 

The 27-year-old - who shares four children with Josh - will likely 'on some level.... absorb some of the blame' for her spouse's cheating and addiction to online porn, a Duggar family insider says. 

And she will 'no way' leave Josh for his actions - which the 19 Kids and Counting star confessed to after he was named as one of the 37million spouses to allegedly have Ashley Madison accounts. 

'Anna will not leave him. As with her in-laws, she is turning more to her faith than ever,' the insider told PEOPLE Magazine. 'She is fully and permanently committed to her marriage and children. 

Can't say this surprises me. These women are trained to believe that everything is ultimately their fault, and that all they need is more faith to overcome it.

In fact Josh's mother even has a tip to keep marriages happy. Always offer up your body even if you are tired or sick. After all isn't THAT all women are really good for?

If Anna has been adhering to her mother-in-law Michelle's top marriage tip, she will have said 'yes' to sex whenever her husband has wished to have it - regardless of how tired she may have been. 

'Be available. Anyone can fix him lunch, but only one person can meet that physical need of love that he has,' Michelle, 49, told TODAY Moms in an interview last year, citing a friend's advice. 

'You always need to be available when he calls.'

You know I'm not gonna lie, the idea of my wife ALWAYS being in the mood when I want sex sounds pretty good to me.

However as a human being the idea that she would force herself to do it just to keep me happy is a little repugnant.

I am not a rapist, so if my partner feels pressured or coerced into providing intimacy, that makes me uncomfortable, and it is ultimately not at all sexy.

One has to wonder if Anna also feels partially responsible for Josh sexually abusing his sisters? Or is that simply THEIR fault for being females while in his presence?

Let's face it this guy has quite a number of problems as it pertains to sex, and those certainly did not start with his marriage.

Josh Duggar comes clean: "I have been the biggest hypocrite ever."

"I am totally looking for someone hotter and nastier."

Here is Josh Duggar's entire admission after hackers revealed his account on the Ashley Madison site for cheaters courtesy of the Daily Mail:

I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife. 

I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him. 

I brought hurt and a reproach to my family, close friends and the fans of our show with my actions that happened when I was 14-15 years old, and now I have re-broken their trust. 

The last few years, while publicly stating I was fighting against immorality in our country, I was hiding my own personal failings. 

As I am learning the hard way, we have the freedom to choose to our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences. I deeply regret all hurt I have caused so many by being such a bad example. 

I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Please pray for my precious wife Anna and our family during this time. 

Okay well the guy is clearly a scumbag, but you have to give him a little credit for coming forward and admitting that he was a hypocrite. After all some of these guys would deny this until their dying breath.

However having said that I think this also reveals what most of us already suspect about ALL of these holier than thou types, and that is that they are usually deeply in denial about their own proclivities and tend to openly attack others they deem "perverted" in order to camouflage their own "sinful" nature.

Personally the minute I hear one of these so-called "family values" Christians attacking the LGBT community, feminists, or secularists I also think to myself, "I wonder what skeletons HE or SHE is desperately trying to keep locked away in their closet of shame?"

One thing I think we can say for sure, and it is that there is NO fucking way the Duggar family is returning to reality TV now.

Ashley Madison hack reveals that pro-traditional marriage advocate Josh Duggar was looking for some non-traditional hanky panky on the side.

So the thirty days have passed and as promised the folks who hacked Ashley Madison's website have released the names of those who were looking for love in all the wrong places.

And guess which proponent of Christian family values name popped up.

That's right, the old sister banger himself, Josh Duggar.

Courtesy of Gawker:  

According to the data, Josh Duggar was paying Ashley Madison in order to find an extramarital partner for the following acts: 

“Conventional Sex,” Experimenting with Sex Toys,” One-Night Stands,” “Open to Experimentation,” “Gentleness,” “Good With Your Hands,” Sensual Massage,” “Extended Foreplay/Teasing,” “Bubble Bath for 2,” “Likes to Give Oral Sex,” “Likes to Receive Oral Sex,” “Someone I Can Teach,” “Someone Who Can Teach Me,” “Kissing,” “Cuddling & Hugging,” “Sharing Fantasies,” “Sex Talk.” 

And here are the turn-ons that he offered up in service of finding a compatible person other than his wife with which to engage in those acts: 

“A Professional/Well Groomed,” “Stylish/Classy,” “Casual Jeans/T-shirt Type,” “Muscular/Fit Body,” ”Petite Figure,” “Tall Height,” “Short Height,” “Long Hair,””Short Hair,” “Girl Next Door,” “Naughty Girl,” “Sense of Humor,” “Imagination,” “Creative and Adventurous,” “Relaxed and Easy Going,” “Aggressive/Take Charge Nature,” “Confidence,” “Discretion/Secrecy,” “A Good Listener,” “Good Personal Hygiene,” “Average Sex Drive,” “High Sex Drive,” “Dislikes Routine,” “Has a Secret Love Nest,” “Disease Free,” “Drug Free,” and “Natural Breasts.” 

In July 2014*, he seems to have started a second account that was linked to his home in Oxon Hill, Maryland, where he spent his time lobbying against causes like same-sex marriage. The birthday listed in the data for Duggar’s first account is February 3, 1988, one month off Duggar’s actual birthday of March 3, 1988. The birthday listed for the second account is March 2, 1988. 

The two accounts overlap by a period of a few months. When he launched the second account, Duggar paid an initial fee of $250 that appears to have gone toward the purchase of an “affair guarantee”: 

Customers who buy 1,000 credits for $250 receive a money-back “affair guarantee,” if they don’t have an affair within three months.

Gee it looks like SOMEBODY wasn't taking his Bible lessons very seriously now does it?

I am not usually a fan of hackers, but you have to admit this could not have happened to a more deserving hypocrite.

Quick, somebody look up these two next!

Conservatives angry that The New York Times will not put Ted Cruz's book on the bestseller's list just because he cheated to drive up book sales. Clearly a liberal conspiracy.

Courtesy of TPM:

The New York Times decided this week not to place Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-TX) book on its bestseller list, leaving some conservatives convinced that the paper unfairly targeted the presidential candidate. 

The Times told HarperCollins that Cruz's book would not make the list, despite the fact that "A Time For Truth" sold more copies than 18 of the 20 books that appeared on the bestseller list this week, Politico reported. According to Nielsen Bookscan, Cruz sold 11,854 copies of his book in its first week. 

"We have uniform standards that we apply to our best seller list, which includes an analysis of book sales that goes beyond simply the number of books sold," Times Spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told HarperCollins when the publisher asked why "A Time For Truth" had been left off the list.

In response to this news conservatives were livid:  

Given that Cruz's book sold so many copies and that the Times has previously included books written by Republican politicians and candidates on its bestseller list, conservatives on Thursday night were outraged. 

A RedState headline described the book's exclusion as "The New York Times’ War on Ted Cruz." Breitbart News wrote that Cruz was "snubbed" by the Times. 

Twitchy, a conservative site that tracks social media, compiled a list of conservatives concerned that the Times was biased against Republicans or Cruz.

However Politico dug into this and reported on what went into the decision making:

(New York Time spokesperson Eileen) 

Murphy emailed late Thursday night to further clarify the reasoning behind the Times decision. 

"In the case of this book, the overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales were limited to strategic bulk purchases," she wrote.

Oh so what, having conservative businesses buy up boxes and boxes of your book, to be given away for free later, in order to falsely give the impression that it is a bestseller is not okay anymore?

Well  think we know who to blame don't we?

Gee this certainly does not bode well for Sarah Palin's upcoming new book.

Gun toting Hobby Lobby supporter, and Right Wing agitator, caught cheating on her combat veteran husband with former Tea Party staffer. Because you know 'Murica.

Holly Fisher in photo first seen on Brancy's blog in July.

In a follow up photo directed at liberals.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

Conservative provocateur Charles C. Johnson recently contacted Fisher after hearing rumors that she had engaged in an extramarital affair last fall with Joel Frewa, then a video editor with the Tea Party News Network. 

In a screen capture of their text conversation, Fisher strongly denies having an affair and asks Johnson why he would publish that information when the country is “literally going to hell.” 

“Look, I have multiple people saying this and I have the messages your husband wrote,” Johnson said. “Do you want to stop lying?” 

Fisher admitted to the affair less than an hour later in a Facebook post, saying she had been overwhelmed by the media attention but had since reconciled with her husband.

 Here is Fisher's "apology":

Her giggling daughter and God saved her life? Well we certainly know which demographic SHE'S pandering to.

Here is my favorite part of this story: 

The affair allegedly took place during the Restoring the Dream event, a Faith and Freedom conference, and on Election night.

Nothing like cheating on your combat veteran husband at a Faith and Freedom conference right?

Gotta love those Christian values.

(H/T to Addicting Info.)

New survey shows that Evangelicals are the most likely to cheat on their spouse.

Courtesy of New York Daily News:

A new survey from Ashley Madison, a website for married people looking for something on the side, found that the religious affiliations of cheaters lines up with the breakdown of religion in the U.S., meaning the majority of them identify as Christian. 

In fact, a quarter of the survey participants self-identify as evangelical, making it the most common faith among the unfaithful. 

Here is the actual breakdown:

Evangelical 25.1% 

Catholic 22.75% 

Protestant 22.7% 

Agnostic 2% 

Mormon 1.6% 

Muslim 1.5% 

Jewish 1.4% 

Atheist 1.4% 

Jehovah's Witness .5% 

Hindu .3% 

Now this IS America so it is perfectly reasonable that the majority of respondents would be of some Christian denomination or another, you know of course unless being a Christian meant you were the moral superior of those who were NOT Christians, but who believes that?

 I mean it's not like I'm doing the Snoopy dance around my desk right now in celebration of the fact that Atheists are more trustworthy marriage partner than just about any other group except Jehovah's Witnesses and Hindus, or anything.

That would be juvenile.

Though perfectly justified.

Just in case you wondered where internet trolls come from.

"Here's what I do, I get on Amazon. I type in 'liberal books.' I go through and I say one star, one star, one star. The flip side is to go to conservative, libertarian, whatever. Go to their products and give them five stars. Okay? So literally 80% of the books I put a star on I don't read."

I imagine that this is exactly how conservative books get such good reviews, and how cable stations like Fox News also get such high ratings. There is a machine in place that simply falsifies data in order to drive an agenda.

Now I would never condone doing this kind of thing in response, though I know some of you do it in response to Palin books, I think as an overall agenda. to perform this sabotage purely along ideological lines is indefensible.

And that is really what is hamstringing the Liberals. You see we believe in fair play and level paying field, the other side has no compunction with cutting corners, falsifying data, or using dirty tricks at every opportunity.

And yet they will, to a person, tell you that THEY are the moral ones and that their agenda is the one most in line with American ideals. 

Fair is fair. When Democrats cheat they deserve to be called out on it too.

Courtesy of The Hill:  

The chief of staff to freshman Rep. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.) resigned on Friday after he was implicated in a plot to submit hundreds of fraudulent absentee ballots during the congressman’s primary election last year. 

Jeffrey Garcia, who's not related to the congressman, left at Rep. Garcia’s request after he took responsibility for the scheme, The Miami Herald reported. The resignation came hours after law enforcement officials raided the homes of former Garcia campaign employees as part of an investigation into the matter. 

“I’m shocked and disappointed about this,” Rep. Garcia, who said he was unaware of the scheme, told the Herald. “This is something that hit me from left field. Until today, I had no earthly idea this was going on.” 

This, of course, is not exactly good news Rep. Garcia personally, and he Democratic party in general, but what makes it even worse is this next part of the article.

Jeffrey Garcia declined to comment to the paper, which reported that he also worked for the campaign of Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Fla.), who defeated Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) in 2012.

As you all know Allen West was a huge star to the Teabaggers, and even the hint that he did not lose he reelection bid fairly will be all that it takes to have the Right Wing call foul and insist on an investigation into wrong doing. (Especially since there WERE some irregularities.)There may well be NOTHING nefarious about Rep. Murphy's campaign, or any real reason to distrust the outcome of that election, but none of that matters in the GOP echo chamber, and in there this thing will get blown WAY out of proportion.

You know the thing about politics is that no one side can corner the market on unethical behaviors.

Even though recently it seems that the Republican party has been all unethical behavior all the time, the truth is that the history of American politics us chock full of examples of similar types of duplicity coming from the Democrats as well.

As good citizens it should be incumbent upon all of us to call out corruption or unethical behaviors whenever we see them, regardless of whether or not it puts our party, or favorite politicians, in a bad light or not.

And no that does NOT mean I will buy into every bullshit story dreamed up by Fox News about our President or the Democrats either. Only reputable journalists deserve our attention.

How Charter schools keep test scores high. By eliminating those children who do not perform at the desired standards.

Courtesy of Wait, What?:  

Achievement First, Inc. the Charter School management company that runs more than two dozen schools in New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island is notorious for “out-migrating” or “dumping” any students that don’t fit their “exacting” standards. 

While Achievement First likes to brag that their students do better on standardized tests than students in their neighboring district schools, they fail to reveal that the get those results by refusing to provide educational services to broad social-demographic groups within the community. In virtually every situation, Achievement First educates students that are less poor and they fail to take on their fair share of students who face English language barriers or need special education services. 

The harsh discipline program, which they start at the kindergarten level, is just one example of how Achievement First forces students out of their “public” charter schools. 

Although they claim to be “public” educational institutions, and are in fact funded with taxpayer dollars, no genuine public school would ever try or get away with the dubious education policies and practices that Achievement First engages in. 

In the latest news story about the massive number of suspensions of children aged six and under, the Hartford Courant looked at the data that was released last week by Connecticut’s Child Advocate. 

While suspensions were shockingly high in some urban areas, the magnitude of suspensions was the most extreme at the charter schools run by Achievement First, the charter school management company that was co-founded by Stefan Pryor, Governor Malloy’s Commissioner of Education. 

As the Hartford Courant reported over the weekend; 

“The incidence of suspension of kindergartners and first graders at Achievement First Hartford Academy last year was an estimated nine times the rate in Hartford public schools. 

Put another way, an estimated 11.7 percent of kindergartners and first-graders at Achievement First Hartford Academy were suspended last year an average of 5.4 times each. In the Hartford public school system, 3.3 percent of kindergartners and first-graders were suspended an average of 2.1 times.”

Now remember these are Kindergartners and First Graders we are talking about here. Children at the VERY beginning of their educational journey who are suspended in order to create a disciplinary record with whihc the school can then expel the student a year or two later, or create an atmosphere in which the parent become fed up and voluntarily removes their child helping the Charter school to keep those artificially inflated test scores and use them to advertise themselves as being more successful than the public school system.

Oh, and don't forget that our tax dollars pay them to victimize our children in such a manner.

And where does that now disenfranchised child end up? Right back in the public school system where he is now labeled as a troubled youth and has had the idea of education poisoned in his mind. Now it is up to the underpaid public school teachers to "fix" them.

You know I worked in the public school classroom for three years, and when we had children with behavioral problems we met with their parents and provided supports and sometimes a modified curriculum to meet that child's needs. Early interventions often meant that they were able to be more successful as they continued their journey through academia.

I only remember one child in the Kindergarten room I worked in being suspended and that was for striking another child with an object and hurting them on purpose. And THAT little boy came back and successfully finished Kindergarten as well as the rest of his  time in elementary school.

You know, because for us it was NOT all about test scores. For us it was about the children.

Remember them?