News that I missed, courtesy of The Babylon Bee:
ALLAGASH, ME — Maine Senate candidate Troy Jackson reportedly converted to Islam as a way to evade criticism for hooking up with his cousin.
Jackson said Islam is “totally what he believes in” after learning it’s normal for them to marry their cousins.
“Heck, we’re not even married, but I guess that’s not good enough for those Christian types,” Jackson said. “Fortunately, them Muslims are totally cool with it.”
Jackson said he got the idea after realizing Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar had quite the saucy affair with her brother and no one batted an eye.
“Looks like I finally put this scandal to bed,” Jackson said, relieved. “My cousin, too.”
Jackson’s numbers among conservative Christians reportedly cratered after he converted to Islam, but sources within his campaign said the support among liberals (who make up most of Maine) more than makes up for it.
Longtime Maine resident Stephen King, who famously wrote a story where a bunch of young boys essentially band together to assault a girl, said, “Jackson is the obvious choice for this election. He’s not like that monster, Trump, who has never slept with his cousin.”
Go here to read the rest. Second cousin, Bee, not first cousin. It probably did raise a few eyebrows at family Thanksgiving dinners however.
They did more than kissin….
somewhere deep in the swamps of Louisiana there’s a hillbilly wondering what-is-wrong with people from rural Maine…
I had to check the veracity of this.
https://nypost.com/2026/07/31/us-news/maine-dem-sen-candidate-troy-jackson-has-2-kids-with-cousin-report/
I am dumbfounded.
I’m not understanding why a marriage to a 6th or 7th degree relative is a matter of much interest. Few people can readily enumerate the second cousins in their own generation, much less a generation up or down. My father had close to 40 though his paternal grandfather; over the years, about four were in our home at one time or another and over the years we’ve corresponded with a fifth. He had a couple of others through his paternal grandmother and we knew them well. My father was the oldest of his generation and these were not contemporaries of his. The oldest of these persons was born in 1942 and the youngest in 1961, with five of the seven contemporaries of yours truly and my siblings. There’s one among them who could have readily lasso’d my brother if she’d wanted to do so.
Being simultaneously my own 8th and 10th cousin, as well as descended from 3 generations of first cousin marriages in the 1700s which I have yet to sort out, I am going to sit this one out. The man’s another Demohog. but 4 years of anthro classes lead me to the conclusion that this is not a big deal.
The Babylon Bee:
https://babylonbee.com/news/maine-dems-explain-they-can-either-do-no-rape-or-no-incest-but-not-both
I want to throw in a few words about second cousins. The Catholic Church permits and recognizes marriages between second cousins. Queen Isabel of Castille was married to her second cousin, King Ferdinand of Aragon. Where that go weird was when their grandson Charles married his first cousin Isabel of Portugal.
My dad had eight uncles and aunts ( blood relations) on his father’s side, and one uncle and one aunt on his mother’s side. Only one of his uncles did not marry and have children. He died of tuberculosis during WWII.
As a result, I know almost all of my second cousins on my dad’s side, and several on my mother’s side. One of my mom’s uncles was mayor of Charleroi, Pennsylvania. One of his sons worked for US Representative Austin Murphy for decades. Another was an executive at Chrysler.
One of my second cousins on my paternal grandmother’s family is a widow to a US Marine Lt. Colonel. He flew fighter jets in Vietnam. He was shot down and rescued at sela by the Navy. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Another second cousin, her sister, died in 2015 and is buried at Arlington as her husband was retired from a career in the US Army.
Two of my second cousins were born in England. Their dad, my dad’s first cousin, is retired from the US Air Force. He fought in Vietnam and could be buried at Arlington if he so chooses. One of his sons is a firefighter with the Anne Arundel (Annapolis, Maryland) Fire Department. When I worked in DC, I used to visit their home in Delaware and we saw a few Pirates Phillies games in Philadelphia.
Among my numerous second cousins in the Pittsburgh area…one..with the same name as me is a law enforcement officer with the Crafton, PA Police Department. Another was offered a pro contract to play baseball for the Kansas City Royals. He chose college instead. Another is a partner at the law firm of Peacock Keller and he helped me with two legal problems. I am the Godfather to his youngest daughter and he is my son Charlie’s Confirmation sponsor. His sister, who lives 15 minutes from me, works for the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Respurces regulating hydraulic fracturing (fracking). She is the Godmother to my sons. Another second cousin has a son who played high school and, briefly, college hockey at Robert Morris. I enjoyed going to his games.
Lastly, one second cousin is a teacher in the Virginia Beach School district. We are about the same age and graduated from high school in 2983 but we did not grow up together. He mom and my dad were like brother and sister growing up. She graduated from West Virginia University and was on the homecoming court at least once. Her marriage to a doctor in San Diego did not work out, as he was only interested in her looks. They split up, she moved back home and worked at starting a new career in teaching at age 59. I mention her (Lynn) because if I could post some pictures of her, well, she was a beautiful girl and let’s just say I don’t negatively judge people who have relationships with distant relatives. First cousin…nope, nah.
One last thing…the four second cousins I went into detail about…we are double cousins, closer in reality to bring first cousins. Not only were our grandfathers brothers, our grandmothers were sisters.
A guy I dated in high school/early college years ended up marrying a second cousin, whom he met at his grandparents’ 50th anniversary gathering (long after we broke up). They were married in a Catholic church and eventually had 4 kids, all healthy and normal as far as I know. They may have needed a dispensation to marry in the Church but I’m not absolutely certain of that.