Category Archives: Misleading Headlines

Jilted Bride – Misleading Headline

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jilted-brideThe latest in my series of misleading headlines is a doozy.

The headline seems to indicate that Antoinette Sullivan went to McDonald’s with friends to lament the fact that she was left at the altar.

Nothing could be further form the truth. Her husband, with whom she has four children, and she got married in the afternoon. He then went off to a paint ball game with his buddies. He had full approval for this and there was no animosity from Antoinette. She met up with her husband and friends later for an evening of fun.

They seem like a fairly nice couple if you read the article. I must believe the writer of the story had no part of the headline.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

Jagr and the Model Misleading Headline

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Jagr-extortion-misleading-headlineA news organization called The Complex had their first entry in my Misleading Headline of the week just this past week but they’ve already topped it with a story this week!

Model Tries to Extort $2,000 From Jaromir Jagr With Post-Sex Selfie, Fails Because He DGAF blares the headline.

I’m very old and I had to think a while on what DGAF meant but eventually I figure it out, Don’t Give a Fuck.

The story involves an 18 year czech model who slept with 43 year old hockey player Jaromir Jagr. The story goes on to detail that she utterly failed in her blackmail attempt because Jagr isn’t married and doesn’t have a girlfriend so he doesn’t care. That she, in fact, has a boyfriend and was the one hurt by her attempt to blackmail him.

The problem is that she had nothing to do with the blackmail attempt. Someone else saw the picture and attempted the blackmail.

I’m willing to believe that The Complex just got the story completely wrong and wasn’t really trying to mislead the readers but the reason they got it wrong is because they didn’t bother to do a little research and that’s why they win my award for a second straight week.

The real problem is that their false story is now being picked up all over the place and the girl is being called all sorts of vile names. That’s just wrong and I want it to stop immediately!

I absolutely think that if an attractive 18 year old girl wants to sleep with a 43 year old hockey player, or, say, a 51 year old writer, more power to her! You go girl!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

Dog Stoned for Days – Headline and Comments

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Dog-Stoned-for-DaysDog-Stoned-Comment
I’m happy to report that my Misleading Headline of the Week and Stupid Comment of the Week come from the same story! That certainly makes my job easier.

Colorado Dog Gets Stoned for Days After Ingesting Marijuana blares the headline from a newcomer to my stupid and misleading headline category, Complex.

The article then goes on to describe symptoms that pretty much exactly match those exhibited by dogs who ingest chocolate.

Most of the comments on the article were fairly spot on in suggesting that chocolate was the cause of the dog’s problems, not the supposed marijuana.

However, an apparent animal lover posted a rant that is fairly difficult to follow because it’s largely incoherent. The gist of it seems to be that the media shouldn’t report incidents of animals being abused by their owners because that encourages people to abuse animals so they can read their stories in the news. Uh … no.

Have a great week!

See you next time with Stupid and Misleading Headlines and Stupid Comment of the Week!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition
Next Release: The Gray Horn

Physics Defying Baseball – Misleading Headline

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Physics Defying Baseball

In an attempt to make up for my lack of a Misleading Headline of the Week for the last few weeks; I’m posting a second one today

Eugenio Suarez attempts to field a ball that defies physics screams the headline.

Really a first rate Misleading Headline from Chris Cwik and Big League Stew. Not only is the headline bad but the entire article goes into zones of stupidity rarely seen. It’s really awful. You have to read it to fully appreciate how bad it is.

No the ball did not defy physics.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition – Release date: late August 2015

Sharks Swim in Boiling Water – Misleading Headline

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Boiling Water SharksI’ve been derelict in my Misleading Headline duties for a few weeks, finishing up The Girl in Glass I: Apparition taking priority but I’m back with a doozy.

It’s Shark Week on Discovery and that brings any story on sharks out of the woodwork and into the headlines.

Amazing footage of sharks swimming in boiling water around a volcano is completely baffling scientists screams the ridiculous and misleading headline.

The story, as is often the case in these situations, is actually quite interesting.

A team of scientists lowered a camera into an inactive, underwater caldera. Basically the giant hole from a collapsed volcanic eruption. The keyword here is, of course, inactive.

Yes when the underwater volcano is erupting it spews forth highly toxic gases and heats up to thousands of degrees. When it’s inactive it’s simple ocean habitat. Sharks swim in the ocean. So there you go. Still it is pretty cool footage. Go take a look at the article but ignore the headline.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition – Release date: late August 2015

Asteroid to Hit Earth within 200 Years – Misleading Headline

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Not really a misleading headline more of a stupid one.

Pretty interesting article though. Give it a read.

I’ve got news for your Dr. Headline Writer. An asteroid will hit the earth within the next fourteen days. They are doing so all the time.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

Misleading Headline – Court Ordered Circumcision

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Circumcision Arrest Heather HironimusI just spotted a story from Good Morning America that blares out that a woman was recently released from prison after disputing the circumcision of her son. The headline in this case is actually not bad, it’s the story itself that is misleading.

If you read the story they simply state that the son of Heather Hironimus was to be circumcised and that when she refused to allow it, she was put in prison.

What actually happened was that Hironimus and the boy’s father have been in a dispute about the boy since before he was born. As part of that dispute Hironimus signed a parental agreement document that stated she agreed to have him circumcised. She later refused to honor that signed statement. The boy’s father, Dennis Nebus, then asked the courts to enforce her agreement, which they did.

At that point she didn’t show up for the procedure and was found guilty of violating the court order and thus put into prison.

So while the headline was actually not bad the fact that the person who wrote the story left out absolutely vital information means it, sort of, fits into my misleading headline category!

Have a great Memorial Day.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

Self-Driving Cars in Lots of Accidents – Misleading Headline

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self-driving cars accidentsI’m a huge proponent of self-driving cars for many reasons and my trainer at the gym alerted me to the fact that 4 of the 50 self-driving cars in California have been in accidents. The assumption being that they caused the crashes; or at least that’s what the bevy of misleading headlines would have you believe.

The facts you ask. Sure.

All eleven accidents occurred at less than 10 mph and no one was injured badly.

The biggest accident involved a self-driving car being broadsided by another car.

All of the accidents, all of them, involved other cars hitting the self-driving cars, mostly being rear-ended while stopped.

Self-driving cars are required to report all accidents including minor ones where no damage occurs (the majority of the cases here) thus the apparently high number of crashes. Most people never report the sort of accident in which these cars were involved.

Conclusion? Self-driving cars, even in their infancy are doing just fine.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

Casino Refuses to Pay Grandma Misleading Headline

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Casino HeadlineThe big, bad, old evil casino is refusing to pay Pauline McKee her $41 million winnings and isn’t that just awful?

At least that’s what the misleading heading from the Chicago Tribune would like you to think. Here’s the real story.

McKee was playing penny slots and won $1.85 but an error on the machine posted a message proclaiming that she won a $41 million bonus. The casino employees came over and immediately paid her real winnings, shut the machine down, gave her money to play another machine, and paid for her and her family’s room that night.

The casino did more than enough.

McKee responded by filing a lawsuit for $41 million.

If there’s a villain here it’s granny.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

The Chocolate Chip Cookie Misleading Headline

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ChipsRuinCookiesFooled again!

Those darn headline writers got me, although this time I can’t complain too much because whoever wrote the story has a good point. It’s a bit of a double-misdirection whammy because the actual headline on the story is accurate, it’s just its re-imagining in Yahoo News that lures in the unwary (me).

Boring, bland: Why chocolate chips ruin cookies! screams the headline drawing immediate outrage and surely the clicks of many chocolate chip cookie lovers like myself.

The real story headline is Do Chocolate Chips Ruin Chocolate Chip Cookies?

That’s the real story. That those making chocolate chip cookies should purchase premium chocolate chunks and chop it up themselves to create a less even distribution and better melted version of the treat. Apparently the chocolate chip isn’t so good at melting uniformly. The author even filters the chopped cookies to weed out the smaller chunks.

Yes, I want one of those cookies and I want it now!

What sort of foolio thinks a story about chocolate chip cookies needs a misleading headline to get clicks? Mmm, cookie.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

Refused Chemo in Remission – Misleading Headline

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Connecticut Teen RemissionThose darn misleading headlines! I’m aware and wary but this one got me!

Connecticut Teen Who Refused Chemo Now in ‘Remission,’ Seeks Freedom blares the headline. There have been a number of stories in the news in the last few months about young people who did not want to get chemotherapy. In several cases the parents of the teen essentially ran off to avoid the state forcing medical care their child.

This was not one of those cases. In this case the state took Cassandra C. (full name not released to protect the minor) from her home, strapped her to a hospital bed, and forced chemotherapy on her. It worked and she’s now in remissions. She says she’s committed to finishing her treatment and wants to go home.

The headline was clearly designed to draw in people who thought the girl refused chemotherapy and is now in remission. The reality is that if she had been allowed to refuse such care she would likely be dying or already dead. The statistics on chemotherapy are overwhelming. I’ve had discussions with people on this subject and I’m not going to get into a debate today. Look up the one year, five year, and ongoing cancer survival rates for those who take chemotherapy and those who don’t. You can choose to disbelieve the numbers, that’s your call, me, I’ll go with the statistics.

Back to the story; it’s interesting for a number of reasons. Does the state have the right to force medical treatment on a minor who refuses such? Minors don’t have the same constitutional rights as adults so it’s not a simple question for a Libertarian like myself. A parent unquestionably has the right to force an underage child to take medical treatment against their will. This goes without saying. Does the state?

If a child has a 90% chance to die without taking the treatment and a 99% chance to live with the treatment is the state obligated to step forward?

I discussed this issue more fully in a post about child endangerment but I’ll recap quickly. If parents imprison and abuse their children can the state step in? If you agree with that then it’s hard not to agree with stepping in for medical treatment. The child will likely die unnecessarily without said treatment. Child abuse is not usually fatal although the long term outlook is certainly awful.

I’m not going to cover all my points again today, please read that post if you’d like know my opinions.

This story is really just about another misleading headline that lured me in!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

Collapsing Bee Colony Mystery Solved or Misleading Headline

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Bee Colony CollapseI have a late class this morning so I’ve got some time to read the news and I came across a second ridiculously misleading headline. Well, it’s beyond misleading. It’s a complete falsehood. The headline is misleading and the story behind it is worse.

Mystery of Bee Colony Collapse May have been Solved screams the headline from traditional criminal headline abuser International Business Times. By the way, don’t hang out too long on the page or you’ll get spammed by a Java Update message.

I can sum up the story. Bees get stressed and die. No one is sure why yet. We did a study that shows when older bees die then younger bees are forced to forage and they tend to die which leads to the collapse of the colony. What a stunning revelation.

Anyway. Stupid headline exceeded only by the even more idiotic story. It is badly written with typos and all sorts of sentences that make no sense.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

$10 Billion Gambling Loss?

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Billion Loss Sheldon AdelsonThis week’s misleading headline isn’t particularly egregious in nature and anyone with a modicum of sense knew that the headline was steering people in the wrong direction even before clicking the story. Still, I picked it today because it is a classic example of someone writing a misleading headline to attract viewers when I think a more accurate headline would have done the job better.

1 Man Loses $10 Billion in Las Vegas screams the headline on the Yahoo news scroll although the article comes from the habitual headline abuser Motley Fool. It’s pretty easy to determine that no one could actually lose $10 billion gambling and the story must refer to investment losses. That’s the case. Sheldon Adelson is a casino owner who has attracted my ire in the past had a bad year money wise. He is leading the efforts to make sure offshore gambling stays illegal in the United States. It’s Crony Capitalism at its worst but that’s not my story today.

What I find most interesting about this headline is the choice to go with something misleading rather than the truth. Adelson is a divisive character who has spent heavily in various elections earning the ire of one party and the praise of the other. This alone makes his name a marketable headline. I think writing an accurate headline, Adelson loses $10 Billion or something of that ilk would have attracted more clicks than the misleading headline.

The misleading headline attempts to lure us in with a story of some ultra-rich person who lost the stated amount at the gambling tables. I suppose that is an interesting premise. What I think happened here is that the headline writer for Motley Fool, so accustomed to writing headlines that skirt or completely hide from the truth, simply fell back on old habits without thinking things completely through.

Anyway, it’s certainly not the worst misleading headline I’ve ever pointed out but I thought it was instructive nevertheless Why lie when the truth is more enticing? This is what happens when you practice bad habits. You risk making them part of your normal life and that’s not good.

Have a great Holiday Season and if you’ve got friends who love to read please think about spending $2.99 on one of my books. I think you’ll get real value for the price!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

 

Johnny Manziel Misleading Headline

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Johnny Manziel HeadlineAnd the winner for misleading headline of the week is awarded to Pro Football Talk with this doozy about Johnny Manziel.

Teammates say Johnny Manziel is a “nightmare” in practice.

For those of you not following the NFL closely I’ll do a quick recap. Manziel was a controversial pick in the first round of the NFL draft and some think he will be a great quarterback while others think his style is not suited to the league. The starting quarterback of the team has been ineffective lately and Manziel made his first start today.

The headline lures you in with a promise that his teammates are finding problems with him during practice. The reality is just the opposite. They say that Manziel presents unique difficulties for defenses because of his ability to extend plays.

I’m not jumping in here as a fan of Manziel or a naysayer. I’m just telling you that the article isn’t what you think. Therefore it wins this week’s Misleading Headline of the Week!

Congratulations, PFT.

By the way, Manziel had a rather awful first outing which will cheer those who dislike him. Time will tell.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Current Release: The Black Sphere
Next Release: The Girl in Glass I: Apparition

Claims and more Claims

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Walking on MarsI’m not sure I can actually file this one in the Misleading Headlines category because the headline pretty much tells it the way it is.

Walking on Mars. Former NASA Employee Claims Men Walked On Mars In 1979.

The story is exactly what the headline purports it to be. An anonymous person claims to have been working for NASA in 1979 and seen live footage from the Viking Lander in which two human figures walked by the lander. She ran upstairs to another room which was covered up and was denied entry. She asked supervisors if what she saw was real but they refused to answer her questions.

With the recent landing on Rosetta and several Mars rovers and Mars orbiters going about there business there seems to be a plethora of stories pretty much like this one. Rocks look like something and are thus evidence of life on Mars. Figures are seen on Mars. It is simply one story after the next. I can only assume that people, besides me, are clicking on these stories and therefore there is an interest.

Are people clicking out of curiosity to see how ridiculous the story is or do they actually believe the headline? I’m sure a bit of both but the sheer volume of such nonsensical stories does surprise me. Yahoo news has at least two or three new ones every week.

I think it’s great people are interested in space and Yahoo has many hard-science stories as well. This is encouraging to me because it means people are clicking on them.

I suppose I’m curious. Do you click on these crazy stories just to see the level of insanity they reach? Do you not click on them? Do you click on them because, hey, it might be true?

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery Fantasy with a Libertarian Edge
Purchase The Broken Throne today!
The Black Sphere Coming Soon!

We were Blindsided – Misleading Headline

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School District Bans HolidaysI just read an interesting article and was “blindsided” by the blatant and disgusting misleading blurb that accompanied the headline.

The story  comes from Yahoo news and involves a Maryland school district that decided to remove all religious holiday references from their calendar rather than include references to Muslim holidays.

The headline itself is accurate: School district strikes Christmas from calendar. It’s the blurb that is an example of the vile reporting that causes stories to enter into my Misleading Headline posts. “We were blindsided,” it states authoritatively.

I want you to think for a moment about the intent of that quote in this blurb. It’s an absolutely accurate quote. One of the parties involved in the situation said those exact words.

Ready?

It was the Muslim organization’s representative. They are dismayed that the other religions had to have their holidays stricken from the calendar. They simply wanted Muslim holidays mentioned on the calendar. That’s it. Mentioned. Instead of mentioning a Muslim holiday the school district decided to strike all references. The reason is, of course, because they are not comfortable listing Muslim holidays but are keenly aware that they cannot exclude one religion while including others. Their solution is to remove all such references.

That’s certainly the choice of the school district and as an Atheist I’ve got not problem with such a decision. Good riddance, I say. If they wanted to include the Muslim holidays along with Jewish and Christian I wouldn’t have a problem with that either. Frankly, I don’t care either way.

My problem is with the blurb on the headline. Completely and totally misleading. It’s clearly designed to make people think the school board was somehow blindsided by the request from the Muslim organization. It’s not even misleading. It’s really just a flat-out lie.

Congratulations Yahoo News. You win Misleading Headline of the Week!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery Fantasy with a Libertarian Edge
Purchase The Broken Throne today!
The Black Sphere Coming Soon!

 

Misleading Headlines – Plunging Asteroid

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One Story Two HeadlinesIn my ceaseless vigil to find my loyal audience misleading and amusing headlines I take a look at quite a few stories but I think this is a first for me. I’ve found a story in the Huffington Post and a story in the Inquisitr that are not only about the same subject but actually use the same graphic in their headline!

The two stories actually say pretty much the same thing and are fairly interesting to anyone who follows space news. The headlines; both in the Yahoo news aggregation and on the stories themselves, tell completely different stories.

The Inquisitr blares: Asteroid Hurtling To Earth: Could Lead To Human Extinction

Huffington says: Astronomers Think This Cosmic Rubble Pile May Show Us How To Avert An Asteroid Disaster

What’s interesting to me is the grasping headlines are in such stark contrast to the reasonably written stories. Anyway, take a look at both if you have time. It’s a good lesson in how much power the headline has over our perception of the story as a whole.

I’ll sum up in case you don’t have time. A large pile of rubble is heading towards the earth. It’s not a solid rock but a group of smaller pieces held together by both gravity and something called Van de Waals forces. It might prove quite simple to disrupt an asteroid conglomeration of this nature and doing so might teach us valuable lessons. If we can break up this relatively minor threat we are better equipped to understand how to do so in the future.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery Fantasy with a Libertarian Edge
Purchase The Broken Throne today!
See All my Books

Misspelled Miley Cyrus Tattoo Misleading Headline

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Miley Cyrus brain tattooMiley Cyrus is big news for reasons I can’t fully understand but whenever she does something there are a ton of stories about her. The latest is that she got a new tattoo which is misspelled. So, of course, I have to check this out and I see that the tattoo reads, “Love yer Brain“. Hmm, I’m thinking. Maybe it was meant to be love yer Brian? She’s dating someone named Brian?

No, it’s the “yer” part. Which isn’t really misspelled because that’s apparently the name of the song to which she is referencing. It would actually be misspelled if the tattoo read “Love your Brain” because that’s not they way the song is spelled.

I think it’s rather an awful tattoo. Apparently she did it herself but it’s not misspelled. That’s the way the song is spelled. It’s really just a blatant and misleading attempt to get your click. Did anyone else fall victim to the deceit?

Oh, and by the way, you should Love your Brain! I approve of that part of the message. I’m not so big on the tattoo and frankly I don’t know much about Miley but the words are good ones. I’m all about good words!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery Fantasy with a Libertarian Edge
Purchase The Broken Throne today!
See All my Books

 

 

That’s a lot of Butter!

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23 Sticks of Butter per DayThe misleading headline of the week is more like a mistake than an intentionally misleading headline. Americans consume 23 sticks of butter a day screams the headline but when you click the article it switches from Day to Year and all is well.

The article goes on to state that Americans ate up to 72 sticks of a butter a year back in the 1920’s before processed food began to take over. It also makes note that most doctors don’t consider the fat in butter to increase the risk of heart disease so essentially the entire article is completely different than the headline indicates.

The headline would have us believe that Americans are eating a huge and dangerous amount of butter but the opposite seems to be true. More butter is actually good for you if it is exchanged for trans fat.

So, there you go. Don’t believe everything you read, particularly when you just read the headline.

Congratulations Wall Street Cheat Sheet, you win this week’s competition.

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery Fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Purchase The Broken Throne today!
See All my Books

 

Wealth Transfer – Misleading Headline

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Wealth TransferI spotted this doozy from Business Insider and it’s only Monday.

We’re on the Verge of the Greatest Transfer of Wealth in the History of the World screams the headline. With wealth inequality making headlines all over the news and being a talking point of the Democratic party one cannot be blamed for making the assumption that the article will be about that subject. Wrong.

The article is about the fact that the Baby Boomer generation is reaching the end of their lifespan and their wealth is passing on to their heirs. This large amount of money will transfer largely from parent to child. That’s the entire article. It’s such an obvious headline troll I couldn’t leave it out of my Misleading Headline of the week series even though it’s only Monday.

Even at it most raw form I’m not sure the headline is even true. While there is more currency in circulation now than at any time in the history of the United States I’m not sure that translates directly to wealth. I suppose it is probably true as there are more people and that means more people will be dying and passing their money on to their heirs.

Still, it’s an awfully misleading headline and a rather dull story at that. Don’t bother reading it. Just head on over to my Books Page and transfer your wealth to me $2.99 at a time!

Tom Liberman
Sword and Sorcery Fantasy with a Libertarian Ideology
Purchase The Broken Throne today!
See All my Books