We all have skeletons in the closet, but some skeletons are scarier than others. Here are 8 weird stories about the 2016 presidential candidates. It’s as they say, the truth is stranger than fiction.

1. WHEN BERNIE SANDERS WROTE BAD SEX FICTION

In his 1972 article “Man — and woman,” Bernie Sanders wrote about men masturbating to thoughts of abused and bound women, and women fantasizing about being gang raped while having sex with their husbands.

A spokesperson for Sanders said it was “a dumb attempt at dark satire…attacking gender stereotypes in the 1970s.”

Sanders himself said, “It was very poorly written and if you read it, what it was dealing with was gender stereotypes, why some men like to oppress women, why other women like to be submissive, you know, something like ‘Fifty Shades of Grey.’”

Gives “Feel the Bern” a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?

2. WHEN JOHN KASICH WENT TO WAR WITH BLOCKBUSTER OVER A SINGLE MOVIE

Something went very wrong when John Kasich and his wife made an oopsie at Blockbuster in the late 1990s.

“[We] thought, What the heck are we watching here? It was billed as a comedy, but it wasn’t funny. It was graphic, and brutal, and completely unnecessary, and it rubbed us in so many wrong ways we had to shut the thing off right there in the middle.”

The movie? Fargo.

Finding the infamous “woodchipper” scene disturbing, Kasich had found his crusade. “I got on the phone to Blockbuster and demanded that they take the movie off their shelves.” He apparently worked out a “deal” with the manager, who agreed to label the movie “graphic content.” Kasich “took his business elsewhere.”

But when he caught wind the manager wasn’t keeping his end of the deal, Kasich pulled out the big guns: another phone call. “Karen had to tell me to back off because I was driving everyone crazy,” he said. He later regretted his “rantings of a wild man.”

3. WHEN DONALD TRUMP APPOINTED HIMSELF JUDGE, JURY, AND EXECUTIONER

Donald Trump has referred to African Americans as “the blacks,” said “laziness is a trait in blacks,” worried over “black guys counting my money” (according to the former president of Trump Plaza Hotel & Casino), and he was sued by the Justice Department for not renting to blacks, a case that ended in a settlement.

But nothing “trumps” the time in 1989 when he rushed to judgement about the rape of a white female jogger in Central Park. Trump took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the execution of the suspects, who were African American teenagers. Blacks and whites alike were outraged. The suspects were later exonerated.

Apparently, Trump dislikes the idea of “innocent until proven guilty.”

Also, black people.

4. WHEN HILLARY CLINTON TALKED TO IMAGINARY FRIENDS IN THE WHITE HOUSE

While she was the first lady, Hillary Clinton used to pretend to talk to Eleanor Roosevelt. Apparently, when Clinton told her about times getting tough, Eleanor would “usually respond by telling me to buck up or at least to grow skin as thick as a rhinoceros.”

Clinton was encouraged to do this “reflective meditation” by a New Age spiritual counselor named Jean Houston in 1996.

According to Bob Woodward (The Choice), she also talked to Gandhi.

Bill Clinton said in 2012, during the dedication of Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park:

A special thanks to the members of the Roosevelt family who are here. And the one who is not, Eleanor, who made sure that the four freedoms were included in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. I know that because, as all of you famously learned when I served as president, my wife, now the secretary of state, was known to commune with Eleanor on a regular basis. And so she called me last night on her way home from Peru to remind me to say that. That Eleanor had talked to her and reminded her that I should say that.

5. WHEN TED CRUZ WANTED TO GET BIG GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR TOILETS

Say what you will about Ted Cruz, he is the only politician brave enough to take a stand for toilet freedom.

In 2012, he said on Glenn Beck’s radio show:

The federal government’s already shown that they believe they can control every aspect of our life. I mean, right now Congress is trying to tell us what kind of light bulbs to buy and what kind of toilets. Right now you are prevented from buying a toilet that actually flushes because the bureaucrats in Washington know better than you do.

In 2013, he condemned the “federal government that thinks they have the authority to regulate our toilet seats.”

The regulations have to do with sanitation and common courtesy for disabled people in public facilities: toilets must have a hinged lid and an adequate supply of toilet paper, there must be one toilet seat and one urinal per 40 workers, and most restrooms must have one toilet that is accessible for disabled persons.

Thank God Ted Cruz is around to stand up for justice.

6. WHEN BEN CARSON INSISTED THAT JOSEPH, NOT THE EGYPTIAN PHARAOHS, BUILT THE PYRAMIDS

In his quest to convince the American people one doesn’t actually have to be that smart to be a brain surgeon, Ben Carson confirmed in November 2015 that he still believes the ancient pyramids were built to store grain, not as tombs for Egyptian rulers.

In a 1998 speech that included, of all things, ignorance, history, and science, Carson said:

My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramids to store grain. Now all the archeologists think that they were made for the pharaohs’ graves. But, you know, it would have to be something awfully big if you stop and think about it. And I don’t think it’d just disappear over the course of time to store that much grain.

And when you look at the way that the pyramids are made, with many chambers that are hermetically sealed, they’d have to be that way for various reasons. And various of scientists have said, “Well, you know there were alien beings that came down and they have special knowledge and that’s how — ” you know, it doesn’t require an alien being when God is with you.

In other words, no need to trust decades of archaeological discoveries. If the Bible said Joseph had to store grain, well, why not assume, without a shred of evidence, it was in the pyramids? Just don’t go too far with your superstition. That alien stuff is cray.

7. WHEN MIKE HUCKABEE’S SON BUTCHERED A DOG AND HUCKABEE COVERED FOR HIM

In 1998, 17 year old David Huckabee participated in the torture and hanging of a stray dog at a Boy Scout camp in Arkansas, a misdemeanor but not a felony. Animal rights groups were enraged. A local prosecuting attorney requested the Arkansas state police help in the investigation.

But Mike Huckabee, the governor of Arkansas, worked to keep that from happening.

John Bailey, then the director of Arkansas’s state police, tells NEWSWEEK that Governor Huckabee’s chief of staff and personal lawyer both leaned on him to write a letter officially denying the local prosecutor’s request. Bailey, a career officer who had been appointed chief by Huckabee’s Democratic predecessor, said he viewed the lawyer’s intervention as improper and terminated the conversation. Seven months later, he was called into Huckabee’s office and fired. “I’ve lost confidence in your ability to do your job,” Bailey says Huckabee told him. One reason Huckabee cited was “I couldn’t get you to help me with my son when I had that problem,” according to Bailey. “Without question, [Huckabee] was making a conscious attempt to keep the state police from investigating his son,” says I. C. Smith, the former FBI chief in Little Rock…

The state police did not grant the request. No charges were ever filed against David Huckabee.

8. WHEN LINDSEY GRAHAM DIDN’T SEND AN EMAIL…EVER

Lindsey Graham spent 8 years as a representative and 12 years as a senator, yet somehow he’s found a way to grandma his way out of the 21st century.

In 2015 he said to Chuck Todd on NBC, “I don’t email. No, you can have every email I’ve ever sent. I’ve never sent one.”

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On January 13, 2016, the Bernie Sanders campaign launched its Prove Them Wrong website, which calls on young people, especially any 17 year old Iowan who will turn 18 by November 8, to pledge to “caucus” (vote) for Bernie Sanders in the Iowa caucus on February 1.

To participate in the Iowa Democratic caucus, students and Iowans in general must register as a Democrat and determine their voting location.

Prove Them Wrong declares:

They say you don’t care

They say you won’t caucus

They say Bernie can’t win

Prove them wrong

“They” refers to Americans who believe youth are apathetic about politics and voting. In a video to Iowa students, Sanders said the caucus

…gives you a unique opportunity to play a very big role in national politics… What your job is about is to raise the issues that are on your mind… Are we doing enough in terms of social justice in this country, combating racism and sexism and homophobia? How do we move forward to make sure the United States leads the world in combating climate change? What do we do about the high rate of childhood poverty in this country?

Sanders has a knack for attracting young potential voters, who support his progressive liberal platform that includes higher taxes on the extremely wealthy to pay for free college tuition, jobs programs, and universal health care; he also favors a higher minimum wage and fewer wars overseas.

The senator from Vermont is most popular among 18-29 year olds, according to The Guardian, amassing an enormous following of passionate supporters that flood the Internet with hashtags like #FeelTheBern and #BabesForBernie. In fact,

Of all those running for president, Sanders has the highest-level engagement on his individual Facebook posts, according to social media monitor CrowdTangle. He has the largest number of people liking his messages, sharing his thoughts, and commenting on his plans.

Sanders has 2.3 million likes on his presidential campaign Facebook page (2.8 million on his U.S. senator page), more than his closest rival Hillary Clinton. He is consistently the most-searched-for candidate on the web during the Democratic debates.

Sanders reached 2.5 million campaign donations faster than any presidential candidate in U.S. history, raised a fortune from ordinary Americans while refusing money from corporations and billionaires, and has attracted far more enormous crowds than Clinton and other candidates. He was voted the most popular senator in the nation.

Yesterday Sanders pulled ahead of Clinton in Iowa polls. As Barack Obama did in 2008, Sanders may garner a huge youth turnout that could help him win the state and propel him toward the White House.

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The U.S. Supreme Court will determine in 2016 the constitutionality of President Barack Obama’s recent executive action on immigration.

Obama’s 2014 Deferred Action for Parents of Americans program would allow up to 5 million illegal immigrants, parents of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents here for five years, to remain in the U.S. on work permits. They would not have legal status, but they would be exempt from deportation (thus the “deferred action” status).

26 states, all with Republican governors, have challenged the executive order on legal grounds. So far, a district court in Texas and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth District sided with the Republicans, and Obama’s Justice Department filed with the Supreme Court to reverse the decisions of the lower courts.

Texas not only argues the executive action violated federal law and the Constitution, it opposes having to spend millions to issue drivers licenses to half a million Texas parents that would be eligible. The Obama administration declared Texas would not be forced to do this.

The decisions of the lower court halted Obama’s plan. The president would have the remaining months of his term to implement the program if the Supreme Court sides with him in June.

Obama’s earlier and similar executive action on immigration has not been challenged. The 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals protected children brought illegally to the U.S. Over 720,000 have thus far been shielded from deportation through the order. Obama’s 2016 order would also expand this program.

Obama wants to give the undocumented immigrants the opportunity to “come out of the shadows” and have access to legal work. The conservative states have successfully argued in the lower courts that access to legal work also gives illegal immigrants access to “Social Security, Medicare, tax credits, and unemployment benefits,” though of course through legal work the undocumented would also be paying into those systems.

The summer decision will arrive in the middle of the 2016 presidential race, which has already generated fierce debate over the solution to illegal immigration.

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On Tuesday, January 19, 2016, the Human Rights Campaign, the most prominent LGBTQ civil rights organization in the U.S., announced which Democratic candidate it was endorsing in the 2016 campaign.

The organization declared on Facebook, just after 6:00 in the morning (CST): “Senator to Secretary of State to Presidential Candidate, Hillary Clinton is a proven champion for LGBT equality. HRC is proud to announce its support for Hillary Clinton for President.”

At about 6 p.m., the post had about 5,600 likes and 2,440 shares. The comments section, on the other hand, was subject to a relentless assault by invading Bernie Sanders supporters.

There were 6,600 comments at 6 p.m., the vast majority displeased with the announcement.

A sample of 402 comments posted between 1:18 and 1:44 p.m. revealed near-unanimous opposition to the endorsement, with most writers supporting Sanders. 16 comments either supported the Clinton endorsement or objected to Bernie Sanders (4% of the sample). 7 comments (under 2%) were too vague or strange to determine an opinion. 379 comments, or 94%, condemned the endorsement and/or declared support for Sanders. The top comment, expressing disappointment and praising Sanders, had 5,870 likes.

Many visitors declared their donations to the organization would immediately cease. A typical comment read: “And this is what will make me stop my monthly contribution to HRC. Nice to see your organization is purely corporate and has no interest in the candidate’s integrity or history when it comes to LGBT issues.”

Criticisms included Clinton’s support for anti-gay rights legislation such as the Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell in the 1990s, her opposition to gay marriage until 2013, her relationship with Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin, who worked as a junior aide in Bill Clinton’s White House, and both her and the Human Rights Campaign’s support from large corporations (corporations Sanders is constantly attacking).

These were compared with Sanders’ call for the end of laws against homosexual behavior in Vermont while running for governor in 1972, his support for Burlington’s first gay pride march and gay pride day, his attack on anti-gay housing discrimination, his vote against DOMA and DADT, and his backing of the first legal civil unions in the nation in Vermont in 2000. Sanders approved publicly of gay marriage in 2009.

A spokesman for the Sanders campaign said, “It’s understandable and consistent with the establishment organizations voting for the establishment candidate, but it’s an endorsement that cannot possibly be based on the facts and the record.”

A petition pushing for the Human Rights Campaign to retract its endorsement and give it to Sanders quickly appeared on Change.org.

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Iowa is the first state to vote for its Democratic and Republican presidential nominees by simple chance. It’s only been first since 1972, when Iowa officials planning the state convention had to reschedule the event on an earlier date because there were no hotel rooms available in Des Moines on the weekend in June they had selected.

Moving the state convention up meant moving the district conventions, county conventions, and caucus up as well, and thus the caucus ended up in January, ahead of New Hampshire’s primary. Very little time was spent campaigning in Iowa in 1972, but in 1976, Jimmy Carter invested time there and built momentum that helped him eventually win the White House.

Iowa has been guarding its privileged position ever since, and candidates compete fiercely for that momentum Carter tapped. If a state tries to move up its caucus or primary, Iowa moves its up even further. Iowa’s first vote is often criticized because it is a rural state that is very white: it doesn’t reflect the demographics or lifestyle of the country as a whole.

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