The Petraeus scandal has taken a terrifying turn. The ever-widening circle of dark and shifty characters involved in the CIA sexcapade now includes figures associated with the Lincoln Group, the secretive Iraq and Afghanistan propaganda contractor famous for paying Iraqi newspapers to run fake pro-American news stories. Which means that it also extends to a furtive, enigmatic, foreign-born media titan whose closely held firm is busily extending its tendrils into the national consciousness: Gawker Media founder Nicholas Guido Denton. Let me explain.

Well, it looks like David Petraeus got himself wrapped up with some real fine folks when he befriended the Khawam family. Jill Kelley (nee Khawam) is the financially troubled Tampa socialite who went to the feds complaining of harassing emails from an anonymous tormentor who turned out to by Paula Broadwell. Her twin sister, Natalie Khawam, is the bankrupt lawyer that a D.C judge has called "unstable," who has been repeatedly accused of lying to state and federal courts, and who, with her sister, regularly took Petraeus' wife on shopping trips. Just a couple regular gals!