Since the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, extremist settlers in the West Bank have been emboldened, displacing more than 1,000 Palestinians, according to the United Nations.
Several concerned wonderful people have contacted me via email and other online ways including comments here. I want to thank everyone. Even if in my replies I stumbled a bit. But mainly everyone wants to know how I am doing and how Ron is handling it.
That night as I wrote, Ron came into the bedroom where I had retreated to trying to hide my tears. He was very gentle, moving slow enough to not startle me in any way, and rubbed my back and arms until I fell asleep. The next day that morning he was so soft with me, again trying not to be in any way abrupt with me, and even though we were rushing to get things done before his sister got here for a visit. He asked me several times if I wanted to talk more. Then she arrived.
While his sister has been here, we can not talk openly about my abuse or what I told Ron about it. It would kill me. So Ron has been finding me alone either in the bedroom or in the Pink Palace, and quietly telling me he loves me, holding me and asking if I am OK, or at night holding me close and telling me how much he loves me. At night he asks if he can hold me or if I would like to hold him. Anything to be close in a nonthreatening manner, to remind me those days were far behind me.
If that was the end of the story, I would feel better. But I have a building nervousness. After his sister leaves, he is going to want to talk. At some moments I want to … and at others I feel so much unease about it. I doubt he would want more details, and if he did I would give it, but that is not Ron’s way. But he is going to want to talk about me, how I am feeling, about what I need to move forward and heal. And I simply don’t know what to tell him. All my life until just a short time ago I tried hard to bury it, to ignore it, to deny it. Ron really understood I was suffering in 2014 when I had my breakdown and started cutting my self again while refusing to leave my bedroom. I have not even shared the details with my doctors, only telling my primary I was abused as a child and also because she noticed the fresh cuttings on my arms and needed answers before she would give me my needed treatments / medications, I told my pain doctor. Her response was wonderful and the only doctor who has done this. She inquired if she could hug me, and I told her I would like that. So we to this day always start each visit with a hug and end it with a hug. She also was the one who helped me get therapy at a cost I could afford and I have not seen it show up in any of my records.
So I have anxiety over what Ron will want when his sister leaves. But also I know now that Ron will be careful and gentle with me. But even though I told him some, I left out so many details. Should I tell him more? Do I go back to hiding everything? I am so uncertain and worried. I know I shouldn’t be, he loves me and he proved he will not hold my abuse against me, he has shown he doesn’t think I am all the things they told me I was. But still I am worried, I am scared. Hugs. Scottie
The co-founder of Mom’s for Liberty which is fighting to remove the LGBTQIA from all aspects of society, schools, libraries, movies, and even in private businesses was having lesbian sex with a woman that her family values republican husband was having three-way sex trysts with. You know, the very people pushing the family values biblical model of marriage and sex only were violating what they want to mandate for everyone else but enjoying sex out of marriage, having same sex relations, having sex with a woman not your wife. Hypocrites and dangerous ones. When the wife was not available to have sex, the second woman wanted to wait until she was. That is when the married man raped her, because a white Christian man shall not be denied the right to have sex when and where he demands it. And in his mind, women have no right to complain or say no. Hugs. Scottie
Christian Ziegler with his wife Bridget at Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration.
The sexual battery investigation of Florida GOP chairman Christian Ziegler began with a 911 call from a friend of the alleged victim who was worried about her well-being, according to a recording of the call obtained by the Florida Trident.
The 911 call, made on October 4 at 2:46 p.m., reveals the caller was concerned about the mental health of the woman, who isn’t being identified due to the nature of the investigation.
“I was hoping to do a wellness on a friend of mine,” the caller began. “She hasn’t shown up for work the past two days and I just got off the phone with her and she sounds drunk and I know she has pain medication on her and she told me that she doesn’t think she can do it anymore.”
The dispatcher then asked questions about the victim’s address, which was redacted, before the caller said the alleged victim had been struggling with addiction that had “gotten worse and worse the last couple of months.” Then she relayed the information that kicked off a criminal investigation that is ongoing.
“She won’t answer anyone else at work except for me but she told me she was raped yesterday and that she’s scared to leave her house,” said the caller. “… She’s saying she’s scared that — the person that raped her came to her house — that she’s scared to leave.”
The caller then told the dispatcher, “I’m worried about her right now.”
“I have units en route,” said the dispatcher.
The alleged perpetrator is Ziegler, who has yet to publicly comment on the investigation first reported by the Trident on Thursday morning. His attorney, Derek Byrd, said in a written statement Ziegler would be fully exonerated in the investigation.
Sources close to the investigation told the Trident that Ziegler and his wife, Sarasota County School Board Member Bridget Ziegler, who is also an appointee of Gov. Ron DeSantis and cofounder of the right-wing group Moms For Liberty, had a three-way sexual relationship with the woman prior to the alleged October 2 sexual assault.
A copy of the search warrant involved in the case was released late Friday that substantiated much of the Trident’s earlier reporting and added a wealth of new information.
Ziegler, according to the affidavit, had known the woman for 20 years and they had agreed to a tryst at the woman’s home on October 2 with Ziegler’s wife. When Bridget Ziegler wasn’t able to make it, the woman canceled via text to Christian Ziegler, writing that she had been “more in for her,” meaning Bridget. She told police that Christian Ziegler came to her home anyway and entered uninvited as she opened the door to walk her dog. Inside, she said he raped her.
In an interview with detectives attended by his attorney, Christian Ziegler admitted he had sex with her that day but said it was consensual sex with the woman. He also admitted that he shot video of the incident, which he said he initially deleted, but later uploaded to a Google Drive. When the affidavit was filed with the court on November 15, police had yet located the video. The contents of the Google Drive was among items seized by police under the warrant, along with his Gmail and iPhone.
According to the affidavit, Bridget Ziegler told detectives she was involved in a sexual encounter with her husband and the woman once over a year ago.
News of the criminal investigation led DeSantis to publicly call for Ziegler to step down from his role at the top of Florida’s Republican Party shortly after the presidential candidate’s debate with California Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday night on the Fox News Channel.
“I don’t see how he can continue with that investigation ongoing, given the gravity of those situations,” DeSantis told reporters. “And so, I think he should step aside. I think he should tend to that. He’s innocent until proven guilty, but we just can’t have a party chair that is under that type of scrutiny. And so, I hope that — I hope the charges aren’t true. I’ve known him, I’ve known Bridget; they’ve been friends. But the mission is more important,”
The criminal investigation, which sources tell the Trident involves video recordings and the seizure of Christian Ziegler’s phone, is ongoing.
Florida Center for Government Accountability public access director Michael Barfield contributed to the reporting of this story.
About the Author: Bob Norman is an award-winning investigative reporter who serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Florida Trident and journalism program director for the Florida Center for Government Accountability. He can be reached at journalism@flcga.org or by phone at 954-632-4343.
Breaking news: 911 tape released in criminal investigation of Florida GOP chairman Christian Ziegler. “She told me she was raped yesterday and she’s scared to leave her house.” #DefendDemocracyhttps://t.co/IdkLS4nGKD
— Florida Center for Government Accountability (@FLCTRGA) December 1, 2023
Florida GOP Chair Accused of Sexually Assaulting Threesome Partner
Police are investigating Christian Ziegler, husband of Moms for Liberty co-founder Bridget Ziegler, over accusations that he sexually assaulted the couple's alleged partner.
I hope the unidentified victim gets the help and support she needs, and I also hope Zeigler ends up serving time, and I especially hope the whole Mom’s for Liberty crumbles as it’s revealed what kind of fraud group they really are
The “alleged” rapist Zeigler demeaned a gay school board member after he departed the meeting under baseless accusations of being a groomer. Zeigler’s bisexual wife, chair of the board, did nothing to stop the abuse. In the “alleged” rapist Zeigler’s own words: “He may not like the public being informed and being held accountable, but both are on the way.”
That 911 call is wrenching. The woman she was talking about was obviously made to suffer horribly. I’m glad that she didn’t end her life or hurt herself over the unbearable pain that was inflicted on her. I hope she can return to some semblance of a normal life with sufficient time.
The virulent homophobes are closeted self hating gays in denial who need someone else punished for what they’ve been told and buy into what they’ve been told is wrong about themselves.
She’ll do a “redemption” tour in which she explains that the Devil possessed her husband and he forced her into terrible, sinful situations. She, as a loving Christian woman, struggled with how to serve him and do her wifely duties and remain true to her faith. Either they’ll get divorced and she’ll become a RW cause celeb, or they’ll stay married, he will “repent” and they will continue the grift together.
I hope the victim gets the help she needs, not just for the attack on her but the hate coming her way from “loving” Christians angry that she dared to blow the whistle on them.
I am struggling emotionally. I am sorry I am posting videos. It keeps me from having to acknowledge or admit my current feelings. I just admitted to my husband of 33 plus years something I had kept vague, and every thing about humans says would make me damaged. So I just don’t want to deal with life really, I guess. But that is not a choice, so I am moving gently forward. Hugs. Scottie
Breaking with a lot of the EU, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo delivered a clear joint statement on the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding at the hands of Israel.
Mockery over ‘Two Corinthians’ slip and endorsement battles in 2016 echo in 2024 race as Republican contenders seek first win
A picture of Donald Trump hangs outside a house in West Des Moines, Iowa, in January 2016. Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters
Trump called Iowa evangelicals ‘so-called Christians’ and ‘pieces of shit’, book says
Mockery over ‘Two Corinthians’ slip and endorsement battles in 2016 echo in 2024 race as Republican contenders seek first win
In the heat of the Republican primary of 2016, Donald Trump called evangelical supporters of his rival Ted Cruz “so-called Christians” and “real pieces of shit”, a new book says.
The news lands as the 2024 Republican primary heats up, two months out from the Iowa caucus and a day after Trump’s closest rival this time, the hard-right Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, was endorsed by Bob Vander Plaats, an influential evangelical leader in Iowa.
The new book, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, by Tim Alberta, an influential reporter and staff writer for the Atlantic, will be published on 5 December. The Guardian obtained a copy.
Early in the book, Alberta describes fallout from an event at Liberty University, the evangelical college in Virginia, shortly before the Iowa vote in January 2016.
As candidates jockeyed for support from evangelicals, a powerful bloc in any Republican election, Trump was asked to name his favourite Bible verse.
Attempting to follow the advice of Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, the thrice-married, not noticeably church-going New York billionaire and reality TV star introduced it as “Two Corinthians”, rather than “Second Corinthians”, as would have been correct.
“The laughter and ridicule were embarrassing enough for Trump,” Alberta writes. “But the news of Perkins endorsing Ted Cruz, just a few days later, sent him into a spiral. He began to speculate that there was a conspiracy among powerful evangelicals to deny him the GOP nomination.
“When Cruz’s allies began using the ‘Two Corinthians’ line to attack him in the final days before the Iowa caucuses, Trump told one Iowa Republican official, ‘You know, these so-called Christians hanging around with Ted are some real pieces of shit.’”
Alberta adds that “in private over the coming years”, Trump “would use even more colourful language to describe the evangelical community”.
Cruz won Iowa but Trump took the second primary contest, in New Hampshire, and won the nomination with ease. After beating Hillary Clinton and spending four chaotic years in the White House, he was beaten by Joe Biden in 2020.
Pursuing the lie that his defeat was the result of electoral fraud, Trump refused to concede defeat. He has continued to dominate Republican politics, now as the clear frontrunner to be the nominee again.
Trump has maintained that status despite having been impeached twice (the second for inciting the deadly January 6 attack on Congress) and despite facing 91 criminal charges (34 for hush-money payments to a porn star) and civil threats including a case arising from a rape allegation a judge called “substantially true”.
Evangelicals remain the dominant bloc in Iowa, 55% of respondents to an NBC News/Des Moines Register poll in August identifying as “devoutly religious”. But despite his lengthy rap sheet, Trump’s hold on such voters appears to remain strong.
In October, the Register put him at 43% support overall in Iowa, with DeSantis and the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley 27 points behind. The same poll said 44% of evangelicals planned to make Trump their first choice, with DeSantis at 22% and Haley seven points back.
Evangelicals have also stayed with Trump nationwide. According to exit polls, in the 2020 presidential election he was supported by 76% of white evangelical voters.
DeSantis and Haley must attempt to catch Trump in Iowa. Vander Plaats’ endorsement was thus a sought-after prize, if one Trump did not pursue, declining to attend a Thanksgiving Family Forum Vander Plaats hosted in Des Moines last week.
On Monday, announcing his decision to endorse DeSantis, the president of the Family Leader, which seeks to “inspire the church to engage government for the advance of God’s kingdom and the strengthening of family”, pointed to the conclusion he hoped his followers would reach.
Speaking to Fox News, Vander Plaats said: “I don’t think America is going to elect [Trump] president again. I think America would be well served to have a choice, and I really believe Ron DeSantis should be that guy. And I think Iowa is tailor-made for him to win this.”
Trump’s rivals may yet take encouragement from Register polling, should evangelicals begin to doubt Trump. In the October poll, 76% of Iowa evangelicals said they had a positive view of DeSantis, while 62% said they liked Haley.
While it won’t end the larger conflict, a major hostage exchange is on the brink of being approved.
This video details how many Palestinian children are being held in Israeli military prisons with no charges, it shows clearly how much of an open air prison every Palestinian lives under in the current situation. The abuses of the Palestinians is beyond belief now. Hugs. Scottie
The important thing to note is that Israel built the complex under the hospital when they controlled the area decades ago. Yes they knew the tunnels were there because they built them. If Hamas is guilty of working from a hospital, then why is Israel also not guilty of the same damn thing. Even if there was an entire battalion of Hamas fighters there, it doesn’t give Israeli military / government permission to do wholesale slaughter of civilians. Israel wants to keep being the aggrieved person who lost less than 1,400 people to violence when they have committed war crimes against 11,000 people, a third of them children. You can not wipe out an idea and feeling with military aggression. Israel is simply fostering the next generations of people angry at them for killing their families. How does any of this help peace? Hugs. Scottie
President Biden is asked by a reporter about the situation at the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza, and claims that Hamas committed the first war crime there by establishing operations within that hospital. Biden also claims that he’s been informed that the Israeli military brought in incubators and are allowing hospital personnel to leave.
Meanwhile, Human Rights activist Huwaida Arraf posted on Twitter screenshots from a report in Tablet about how Israel is so certain about the bunker and tunnel under Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza because they contributed to building it 40 years ago in 1983.
