frauds

Marcus Bachmann's Big Gay Mess

Richard Lawson · 07/12/11 02:43PM

As his congresswoman wife Michele continues to make progress in her terrifying death march toward Washington, Marcus Bachmann has become a focus of the ever-curious media, and the things we've found out about him have been a bit unsettling, like the fact that he runs one of those pray-the-gay-away facilities.

Roger Ailes' Secret Nixon-Era Blueprint for Fox News

John Cook · 06/30/11 12:02PM

Republican media strategist Roger Ailes launched Fox News Channel in 1996, ostensibly as a "fair and balanced" counterpoint to what he regarded as the liberal establishment media. But according to a remarkable document buried deep within the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, the intellectual forerunner for Fox News was a nakedly partisan 1970 plot by Ailes and other Nixon aides to circumvent the "prejudices of network news" and deliver "pro-administration" stories to heartland television viewers.

Disabled Parking Placards Helping the Able-Bodied Avoid Fees, Walking

Lauri Apple · 05/22/11 03:43PM

About 10 percent of California's population is registered to carry a disabled parking placard, which enables them to park for free, forever, in designated spots. In a state where driving between rooms in your foreclosed house is standard, these placard thingies have become hot items, as you might imagine!

Pastor's Fake Navy SEAL Career Based on Under Siege

Hamilton Nolan · 05/09/11 01:09PM

Everyone thought that Jim Moats, a pastor in Newville, Pennsylvania, was a retired Navy SEAL and a Vietnam war hero. He had a plaque to that effect hanging in his office, and he wore the trident medal symbolizing SEAL membership. For a profile in yesterday's local paper, Moats told of being "waterboarded" by SEAL instructors, and of being busted down to a kitchen worker after getting in a fight. "I had almost no discipline. I was as wild as they came. That was my nemesis," Moats said. "They weren't looking for a guy who brags to everyone he is a SEAL. They wanted somebody who was ready but had an inner confidence and didn't have a braggadocio attitude."

How Donald Trump Dodged Vietnam

Seth Abramovitch · 04/29/11 12:36AM

Comb-forwarded reality TV star Donald Trump says a "high draft number" spared him deployment to Vietnam. Turns out five student and medical deferments also helped. Bonus fun fact: He has birthmarks on both heels! Sign of the Beast. [TSG]

Donald Trump: Bad Christian, Worse Philanthropist

Max Read · 04/12/11 06:50PM

Donald Trump is not nearly as generous with money as he is with opinions: Between 1990 and 2009 the aspiring presidential candidate gave only $3.7 million of his (purported) billions to his own charity.

Jon From CHiPs Charged With Securities Fraud

Jeff Neumann · 10/08/10 07:33AM

Larry Wilcox — better known as Ponch's sidekick Jon from the 70's-80's cop show CHiPs — was caught in a sting operation by FBI agents and the Securities and Exchange Commission allegedly seeking kickbacks in exchange for penny-stock manipulation.

Iraq War Fraud Ahmed Chalabi Is Back in Washington

Jim Newell · 10/01/10 02:12PM

A terrifying cabal of elites is meeting this week in D.C. for the "Washington Ideas Festival," to discuss only the most important Ideas. So why was Ahmed Chalabi, the Iraqi liar who supplied false intelligence to the Bush administration, invited?

Ponzi Schemer to the Stars Ken Starr Was a Name-Dropper

Maureen O'Connor · 06/18/10 11:01AM

"Dining with Starr in the Grill Room at the Four Seasons in New York meant listening to him reel off bold-face names as fast as he guzzled Diet Cokes." And guess whose name he liked to drop...

CNN Sues iReporter For Insisting He Works at CNN

The Business Insider · 04/14/10 05:40PM

CNN built its iReport platform as a kind of YouTube for news: Readers report on their own news stories, which they can upload onto CNN.com. Now CNN is suing one of those iReporters for claiming he works for CNN.