The political story of the year in Florida is the accusation by an unnamed woman that she was raped by Christian Ziegler, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, on October 2. Ziegler famously said that he would not be happy until there were no Democrats elected anywhere in Florida.
The Miami Herald published the search warrant records, which contains salacious details of the imbroglio.
The accuser said that she was expecting Christian’s wife Bridget to have a threesome. When Christian told the accuser that Bridget would not be showing up, she canceled the date with Christian. He came to her apartment anyway, forced his way in, she said, and raped her. She told her sister that she had been raped, then she called the police and reported the rape.
Frankly, it’s worth subscribing to the Miami Herald to read the search warrant.
The woman said she had had a sexual tryst with Christian and Bridget over a year ago. She wanted to do it again, but lost interest when she heard that Bridget would not be there. Bridget is co-founder of Moms for Liberty, a Sarasota school board member, and a DeSantis appointee to the board that controls Disney World.
The police have video footage of Christian arriving at the accuser’s door and leaving.
On 10/24/23, Detective viewed the video surveillance footage from the victim apartment complex. The video captured Christian Ziegler arriving in his gray Ford track bearingFL, 4g SRQGOP on 10/02/23, a 1429 hours. Christian immediately entered the apartment complex, is seen coming off the elevator and driving away in the parking lot at 1507 hours, Christian was wearing dark shorts and a red shirt.
Thirty-eight minutes!
As part of the investigation, Detectives performed a digital extraction on the victim’s cell phone. Detectives located several digital messages from Christian 10 the victim ‘on 10/02/23 starting at 0729 hours. In the messages Christian told the victim to go to Instagram. The victim said Christian liked to Instagram because he conceals the messages using vanish mode. 6. In another message he asked the victim for her address and told her they were driving around referring to him and Bridget. Christian continued sending the victim ‘messages, but she did not respond in a timely manner, When the victim finally responded she asked who was coming. At 1412 Christian said “Prob just me this time ‘now. Was ready at 1:30.” Chistian was referring to Bridget being ready at 1:30. At 1424 hours, the victim responded “Sorry I was mostly in for her” referring to Bridget.
Then the Detective joined the victim in communicating with Christian.
On 10/27/23, Detectives leamed that Christian was tryingto contact the victim by ‘sending her messages via Instagram. Detectives and the victim began communicating with Christian via controlled/recorded messages. The following is a summary of the ‘communication: = Victim: I’m not okay with what happened the other day between us.
«Christian: Oh. That’s not good. You are my friend. Known ya for like twenty ‘years now. Lol. Note: Chistian goes on to talk about how long they have been Friends.
Victim: Yeah I know but that was not cool and you didn’t bring her and then did that to me.
«Christian: She was in. Then coulda’ because no response. She said in next time. But understand. You are my friend. I actually like you as a person, so sorry you got upset, but I can leave you alone if you prefer. Note: Christian then tried to change the conversation to getting his haircut,
It goes on and on, and Christian begins to suspect he is being recorded.
One of the great stories of our time.
Fabiola Santiago of the Miami Herald asked the best question: if Bridget Ziegler is having sex with another woman, why is she so hellbent on persecuting gays?
Another question, from me:
Was DeSantis trying to protect the Zieglers when he pushed his “Don’t Say Gay” law?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
It is going to be interesting to read the song and dance the Good Followers of Jesus Zieglers are going to come with to try to get out of this mess.
Of course members of the “Mom of Liberty” claim this is all false news and continue on their merry way banning books and causing all kinds of trouble at Boards of Education meeting.
And good Christian DeSantis will come up with try to: 1. Try to blame the victim. 2. Try to get the reporter fired. 3. Try to bring down the Miami Herald like he did Disney. 4. Claim he cannot make a comment on this subject because he did not see it happen or read about it. or 5. All of the above.
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DeSantis called on Christian to resign as chair of GOP. Ziegler said he would not resign. Police have him on recordings and video. Well, they may be libertines but at least they are not Woke.
Moms for Libertines?
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Not the sort of triangulation we’re used to from privatization hungry politicians. Moms for Libertines is right. How about Moms for Chicanery. Or how about LGBT Moms, for Really. How about Moms Who Are Wives of Leading Rape-ublicans Who Live In Florida And Grab Them By The Pussy.
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“I like beer.”
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Things are gonna be a bit awkward at Bridget’s next school board meeting.
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The Ziegler’s should raise money for their legal fees at the GiveSendGo Christian website.
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As a Sarasota snowbird, I’ve been horrified by the impact of the Zieglers and their ilk. Schadenfreude!
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“One of the great stories of our time.”
NO! Just another tabloid story that really shouldn’t be our concern-other than acknowledging the rape allegation which needs to be handled through the courts.
Sad, indeed very sad that it is getting this much attention.
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I disagree, Duane.
This is a story of rank hypocrisy.
This couple made a big reputation as exemplars of morality.
Bridget launched dozens of chapters of moral crusaders who banned books, fought against courses mentioning race, racism, or sexuality and demonized gays.
Hypocrisy! Bridget is a national figure who unleashed homophobia, racism, censorship, and hatred.
Scadenfreude, as another commenter said.
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No doubt it is a story of rank hypocrisy. But it is not a “great story”. And yes, her actions show a huge lack of common sensibility. Not that that has ever stopped anyone from garnering attention or being elected to office.
For me, it’s just another sad story of human affairs.
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What I see in this story is the yellow journalism of the day Thom Hartman wrote about recently. That is precisely why it seems odd that the so-called liberal media are not making a huge deal out of this.
The reason they should be is that it characterizes the on-going grift culture in so many parts of conservatism. From the test charlatans (a nod in Duane’s direction) to the purveyors of various policies that would benefit the few at the expense of the many, Trump Conservatism is easy to spot because it is a very thinly veiled plan for corruption. Those who participate in this perpetual scam refuse to cast malefactors from positions of power because they are themselves caught up in the con. Again and again we learn that the contemporary Republican Party is filled with people who say things they don’t believe in order to place themselves in a position to advance in money or power or both.
Exposing this is then a great justification for writing this narrative. It is not yellow journalism to write the man bites dog story if the man really did bite the dog and his biting of the dog is illustrative of the decay in our body politic that comes from vast sums of money guiding the system.
So maybe we should be looking at other issues, but this story needs to be both heard and interpreted for a public.
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Unfortunately, the so-called liberal media are often owned by those that vote for the GOP. They tend to go easy on conservatives unless the scandal is so outrageous like the whole George Santos debacle.
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Roy, you stated:
“The reason they should be is that it characterizes the on-going grift culture in so many parts of conservatism. From the test charlatans (a nod in Duane’s direction) to the purveyors of various policies that would benefit the few at the expense of the many, Trump Conservatism is easy to spot because it is a very thinly veiled plan for corruption.”
First, I disagree of the characterization of the “grift culture” as conservatism. It is Reactionary not conservative. By calling them conservative we fall into their word language trap/grift and end up reinforcing that falsehood.
And there are many on the supposed left/liberal side of the political spectrum that utilize their own version of grift culture, especially in regards to “test charlatans.” A prime example: that of using test scores in order to try to convince others of the need to increase funding and/or services for certain sectors of our society, i.e., the poor. Since we know that those scores are completely invalid why use them at all? But hey, many on that left side gladly use those test score falsehoods to promote their agenda. Isn’t that a form of grift culture?
It is not easy to call a kettle black when one’s hands are already blackened by/with falsehoods.
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I will be interested to learn if and how the reporters and detectives are being harassed. But kudos to them, and–if true–to the victim for not waiting to report the attack.
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As the proliferation of Protestant denominations illustrates (a couple professors at Gordon College Theological Seminary estimated the number of Protestant denominations at around 36,000!), people can readily find means for justifying their actions and reconciling them with some or any set of beliefs. We all do this to some extent, but a lot of high-profile Repugnicans have made a great art of this sort of Twister Topology. In this case, the Zieglers can fall back on Antinomianism, which is the belief that faith alone is sufficient to save one, WHATEVER ONE’S ACTIONS–an idea that goes all the way back to certain Gnostic groups of the 1st and 2nd centuries. Antinomianism is the extreme version of the central Protestant ideas of Justification by Faith Alone and Salvation via Grace Alone). So, by this means they can continue preach against anything but unspoken of sex within marriage for the purposes of procreation while having a polyamorous good time while being certain of their eventual ascension.
Ziegler, Zeigfeld. Let the games begin.
Ofc, as fundies, they can always fall back on conversation experiences that rescue and redeem them. See, for example, the career trajectory of Jim Bakker.
What these people won’t do is simply come clean. Ever. Think Trump and his “perfect phone call.” Think Trump saying that all the women on “The Apprentice” were flirting with him “consciously or unconsciously.” I’m pretty sure that he believes such nonsense in his own diseased mind.
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“Think Trump and his “perfect phone call.” Think Trump saying that all the women. . . .”
That’s two too many times of thinking of the tRump.
Salvation. . . praise the FSM for true salvation.
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My note on the soteriology of sex is in moderation. That’s WordPress for you.
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If the word soteriology does not put you in moderation, it’s use should at least put you in time out.
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Drum roll please! The hits keep rolling on.
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If the allegations are true about both couples, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Falwell and Mr. and Mrs. Ziegler, a meet-up could be planned which would result in 6 people with equal numbers of each sex.
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Media reported last month that the board of Church Militant, a right wing Catholic organization headquartered in Michigan, asked its President to resign due to “breaching the organization’s morality clause.” President Vorhis has received criticism for his comments questioning the validity of Rabbinical Judaism. The SPLC posted at its site about the organization’s reaction to groups like LGBTQ, Muslims and Jews.
Vorhis’ views about government have been quoted, “The only way to prevent a democracy committing suicide is to limit voting to faithful Catholics.” His degrees are from Notre Dame and “Angelum in Rome via
Sacred Heart Major Seminary.”
There are posts on the internet about whistleblowers from the group and attempts to raise funds through crowdsourcing on the Christian fundraising site that is similar in structure to GoFundMe.
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Off topic but about Catholic Colleges, a proponent for the Wyoming Catholic College posted the following, “Our students not only learn conversational Latin, they speak it…”
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