Six Degrees of Separation... or Less

I am constantly fascinated about how few steps it takes to connect between people.  For example:  

June 23, 1993 - Lorena Bobbit got fed up with being abused by her husband John Wayne Bobbitt and cut off his dick with a Ginzu carving knife (turns out Ginzu knives really were as sharp as they were sold to be - truth in advertising lives!).  

John Wayne Bobbitt, with his newly reattached penis* formed a band, The Severed Parts, which went nowhere, and appeared in two adult films, John Wayne Bobbitt Uncut and Frankenpenis. 

*And watching newscasters around the world trying to say the word "penis" on prime-time news in the 1990s was one of the main hilarities of that simpler time - now, of course, 'Anything Goes'.

In 2003, Bobbitt proved that he was one of the world's slowest learners when he was arrested for battery on his new wife.  And he hired an entertainment lawyer, Paul A. Erickson, who booked him on a worldwide "Love Hurts" media tour.

Paul A. Erickson highlights:  Ran Pat Buchanan's Presidential campaign in 1992, and advised Mitt Romney in his Presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.  In 2016 - he claimed he was on the Trump Presidential transition team. He also sent an email during the 2016 NRA convention to then-presidential candidate Donald Trump with the subtle subject: "Kremlin Connection".

Also in 2016 - Was successfully sexpionaged by Russian "gun rights advocate": 

Maria Butina -  Red sparrow financed by Russian billionaires Alexander Torshin and Konstantin Nikolayev, both friends of Putin, to create a "pro-gun" organization whose chief purpose was to infiltrate Russian opposition groups and, later, the NRA. She succeeded in doing both.  LINK 

2015 - Invited to the South Dakota TARS (Teenage Republicans) Camp in the Black Hills by Dusty Johnson then working for Vantage Point Solutions in Mitchell, SD:  

Johnson raved about her and introduced her to everyone he could, especially in the NRA...  

In December, 2015 then-NRA Vice President (later President) Pete Brownell and former NRA President David Keene went to Moscow with Maria Butina, Torshin, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.  BTW, Butina and Torshin were made life-time members of the NRA.  

2016 - She did what any good Russian agent in a spy novel would do: She sexpionaged Paul Erickson and lived with him for the next to years, but... [sob]

"But this relationship does not represent a strong tie to the United States because Butina appears to treat it as simply a necessary aspect of her activities. For example, on at least one occasion, Butina offered an individual other than U.S. Person 1 [Erickson] sex in exchange for a position within a special interest organization. Further, in papers seized by the FBI, Butina complained about living with U.S. Person 1 [Erickson] and expressed disdain for continuing to cohabitate with U.S. Person 1 [Erickson]." Dakota Free Press

2018 - Butina pled guilty to to infiltrate the US conservative movement as an agent for the Kremlin and to working with Erickson to forge bonds with NRA officials and conservative leaders while under the direction of Torshin. 

2019 - Butina was released from prison, and returned to Russia where she was welcomed as a hero by Vladimir Putin.

Where are they now?

(in alphabetical order)

John Wayne Bobbitt is currently living quietly in Florida, and has been married and divorced 3 times since that fateful night.  Hope springs eternal.  

Maria Butina is a deputy of the Russian Duma, and sits on the Committee on International Affairs as well as the Commission on Investigation of Foreign Interference in Domestic Affairs of Russia.  And if that doesn't make you laugh, nothing will.

Paul A. Erickson - 2019 - Tried and convicted for an oil development scheme and wire fraud and money laundering for Compass Care, a senior living company he founded.  In 2021 - Went to prison for same and was pardoned by President Trump on his last full day in office, January 19, 2021.  

According to AI and my own exhaustive search - like D-Day in "Animal House" - his current whereabouts are unknown.

Dusty Johnson is South Dakota's sole US House Representative, and lost his bid this May to replace Larry Rhoden as Governor of South Dakota. His future is unknown.  

Anyway, from John Wayne Bobbitt to Vladimir Putin in way less than six steps… you can't make this stuff up.