Least bad Texas candidate drops out, admits affair

Incumbent Representative Van Taylor (R-Plano, 3rd CD) was in a three-way primary race until news of an affair got out.

Taylor, a former Marine and Iraq war combat veteran, was considered one of the Texas delegation’s most conservative members when he was elected in 2018. But he has been sharply criticized by the party’s right-wing for voting to certify the 2020 election results and supporting a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

One of Taylor’s opponents was Keith Self.

Self is an Army veteran and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. He has claimed Taylor drifted from his conservative roots in the GOP-dominant district. He was among those who heavily criticized Taylor’s votes on the election result and insurrection investigation and Taylor’s vote to remove Confederate statues from the Capitol.

The third candidate was Suzanne Harp. She is the Vice President of Strategic Accounts in a middle-market M&A firm in Richardson, Texas. She is the sole female among the thirty-one executives in her department.

When Suzanne Harp learned of Taylor’s affair, she informed two right-wing websites, which publicized the affair. Harp said that the revelations, which she engineered, were “deeply concerning, and I’m praying for all involved. . . . Politics should build up our families, our communities, and our political parties. This story breaks my heart, both as a wife and as an American. Politics should never tear these sacred institutions apart.”

Update:  In the March, 2022, five-way Republican primary, Taylor got only 48.7% of the vote and Self got 26.5%. When Taylor withdrew, the runoff was cancelled. Self will face the Democratic candidate in the heavily-Republican district in November.

Source: Republican Congressman From Texas Drops Reelection Bid After Admitting He Had Affair | HuffPost Latest News

Testicular volume is inversely correlated with nurturing-related brain activity in human fathers

On the one hand, this sounds like it supports the notion that stay-at-home dads are less “manly.”

On the other hand, in a earlier age, men had to do the hunting and heavy lifting, as well as producing the maximum number of babies (given the incredibly high infant mortality rate).

But time moves on, and the Big Balls types no longer have such an evolutionary advantage. Nowadays, families with fewer children — at least in the First World — have a survival advantage. And co-parenting also helps prepare the offspring for a world where success at social interaction is more important than throwing hands.

Source: Testicular volume is inversely correlated with nurturing-related brain activity in human fathers | PNAS

Trump and Jared Kusher rejected Roger Stone’s craziest plan

[Roger Stone, the G. Gordon Liddy of the Trump era] was pardoned by Trump before he left office but not for activities linked to the Jan. 6 attack on Congress. Trump granted clemency to Stone and eventually pardoned him in late 2020 after he was convicted of seven felonies, including lying in congressional testimony and witness tampering in the investigation into the Trump campaign’s possible collusion with Russia in the 2016 election.

Stone worked in vain after the Jan. 6 insurrection to convince Trump to enact his “Stone plan” to grant a blanket preemptive pardon to him, Trump’s congressional supporters and all members of “the America First movement” for any prosecution over their roles in trying to overturn the election, according to footage viewed by the [Washington] Post, whose reporters examined about 20 hours of film’s footage. He also lobbied Trump to pardon others — for money — including convicted mobsters.

After Trump refused, Stone blasted him in an Inauguration Day phone call as a “disgrace” who “betrayed everybody,” the Post noted.

Stone also blamed Trump’s son-in-law and former White House senior adviser, Jared Kushner, for the failure of his pardon plan. “He’s going to get a beating. He needs to have a beating,” Stone was recorded saying to an aide, referring to Kushner, the Post reported.

It’s kind of odd, but here Trump and Stone’s actions benefited our constitutional democracy.

Source: Roger Stone Reportedly Trash-Talked Trump For Denying Him Jan. 6 Pardon | HuffPost Latest News