A Brief History
On August 9, 1969, members of the Manson Family, followers of cult leader Charles Manson, murdered actress Sharon Tate, her unborn baby, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, and 3 other people. Although definitely nutty people with bizarre, cult ideas about sparking a race war through senseless murder, none of these people successfully played the insanity card. Charles Manson died in prison in November of 2017 one seriously deranged dude that seemed to be a shoo in for the loony bin. We previously discussed “9 Blatantly Nutty People Not Found Insane” and today we nominate another 3 goofy people to the list.
Digging Deeper
1. New Mexico child terrorist training compound.
In August of 2018, it was reported that in New Mexico a Muslim compound consisting of 5 adults and 11 children was in fact a terrorist training facility, with the adults training the kids to commit murders and terrorist acts such as school shootings. The 2 men and 3 women arrested at the compound are believed to be the parents of the children, and the body of a kidnapped child from Georgia is believed to be the son of one of the men. The kids were found to be hungry and malnourished, and living in filthy conditions with no electricity or running water in a camping trailer surrounded by a wall of tires. “Training” included practice with an AR-15 style rifle found at the compound with plenty of magazines and ammunition. One of the men arrested in New Mexico is the son of a prominent New York Imam that was the first Imam to offer an opening prayer at the US House of Representatives. Imam Siraj Wahhaj, himself no stranger to controversy, claims to have had no knowledge of the actions taken by his son and the others.
2. Bill Fawell, candidate for Illinois seat in US House of Representatives.
Too late for the Republican Party, this goof is already the GOP nominee for the 17th Congressional District in Illinois. While all sorts of conspiracy theorists abound across the United States, especially in the right wing conservative circles, most of these Holocaust deniers and prophets of doom warning of the Illuminati and other secret cabals (think the Deep State), few are in a position to actually become a member of Congress. Fawell’s Democratic opponent, Cheryl Lea “Cheri” Bustos is already the incumbent and has been elected to the seat 3 times so far, beating a Republican incumbent in 2012. The 2012 election was the first win by a Democrat in a district containing much of Peoria since 1927, so we would make no assumptions about Fawell having no chance to win because of his seemingly crazy ideas about the 9/11 terrorist attacks being “an inside job” conducted by the CIA and the Mossad, and that the Sandy Hook school massacre was somehow faked, a sort of “false flag” event. Tim Schneider, GOP Chairman in Illinois, has disavowed Falwell and his candidacy. Schneider has branded Fawell a “liar,” and Fawell says his GOP colleagues have been “duped by fake media.”
3. Dennis Rodman, former basketball star, diplomat.
When Dennis Rodman announced his upcoming marriage in 1996, the world was shocked to see the surprise bride was Rodman himself, complete with white dress and veil! The virginal Rodman declared himself a bisexual and arrived for his “wedding” in a horse drawn carriage. This stunt is only one page in a book of nuttiness from the guy they called “Worm.” His outlandish fashion, tattoos, piercings, dyeing his head various colors for basketball games, and romantic involvement with Madonna and Carmen Electra among others kept him in front of the cameras since he entered the NBA in 1986. In spite of claiming he did not have sex until he was 20 years old (when he and his buddies were serviced by a prostitute), Rodman claims to have bedded at least 2000 women, of which he claims 500 were “gold-diggers.” Rodman has had ongoing problems with alcohol abuse, including drunk driving (multiple, as well as hit-skip) and domestic violence (multiple), and not surprisingly dabbled in the wacky world of professional wrestling after his basketball career. Speaking of basketball, he once kicked a cameraman in the groin, not a particularly sane move during a basketball game. Of course, in 1996 he head-butted a referee. The police were called to his home in California over 70 times, mostly for noise disturbances. A couple of his incidents involving the police resulted in charges of interfering with police business. A television veteran of Celebrity Apprentice, Rodman has taken a liking to Donald Trump and endorsed The Donald for President in 2016. Rodman is also buddies with crackpot dictator Kim Jong Un of North Korea, a guy nutty enough to probably deserve his own entry on this list. Rodman, an eclectic if ever there was one, has also co-starred in a few of Hollywood movies, earning 3 Golden Raspberry Awards for terrible acting, made numerous television appearances, and was the Commissioner of the Lingerie Football League (of course!). When President Trump traveled to Singapore to meet with Kim Jong Un, Rodman showed up in Singapore uninvited in an effort to help mediate the meeting of world leaders! Thanks, but no thanks, Rodman’s offer of diplomatic help was refuse. In 1987, Rodman ruffled some feathers (other than the ones he frequently wears) by stating that Larry Bird only won 3 MVP awards because Bird is White, and if Bird were Black, he would not have seemed much better than the average player. Rodman also raised eyebrows (eyebrows?) when he posed nude for a PETA campaign against wearing animal fur. Despite earning about $30 million playing basketball, and millions of more dollars with endorsements, movies, television, books and other sources, Rodman is supposedly only worth about $500,000 today and in 2012 was accused of owing over $800,000 in child support payments. Speaking of children, Dennis Rodman is believed to have more than 2 dozen siblings (mostly on his father’s side). Rodman himself has at least 3 children from his marriages. Rodman has claimed he “broke his penis” on 3 separate occasions, and in 2014 he accidentally broadcast himself having sex with 6 women. Yeah, accidentally…
Question for students (and subscribers): As always, please feel free to nominate your own contenders for people out loose that should probably be closely supervised! Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Powers, Ron. No One Cares About Crazy People: The Chaos and Heartbreak of Mental Health in America. Hachette Books, 2017.
The featured image in this article, a Charles Manson mugshot (1969), was created by a government unit (including state, county, city, and municipal government agencies) that derives its powers from the laws of the State of California and is subject to disclosure under the California Public Records Act (Government Code § 6250 et seq.). It is a public record that was not created by an agency which state law has allowed to claim copyright and is therefore in the public domain in the United States. County of Santa Clara v. CFAC held that the State of California, or any government entity which derives its power from the State, cannot enforce a copyright in any record subject to the Public Records Act in the absence of another state statute giving it the authority to do so.