She Tried To Raise A Doll, Someone Hid A Camera, And A $3 Spin Made A Million

Ever thought about walking away at a perfect round number? We open with a real creative crossroads: pushing to one thousand episodes versus pivoting to a short, live X Space before the morning rush. That question about platform, energy, and purpose sets the tone for a fast, honest run through stories that test our trust, our safety, and our luck.

First, we unpack a jaw-dropping hoax: a 22-year-old faked an entire pregnancy and tried to pass a reborn therapy doll off as a real newborn, complete with scans, a gender reveal, and a fabricated birth story. Beyond the headlines, we dig into the why—how loneliness, validation loops, and social media incentives can make deception feel rewarding until it collapses. We talk about reborn dolls as tools for grief and care, and where comfort can slip into performance that harms families and communities.

Then we shift to safety with a case that’s hard to shake: hidden cameras allegedly placed in port-a-potties at public events. We break down how tiny devices exploit crowded spaces, what practical signs to look for before you step inside, and how event organizers and everyday people can respond fast. It’s a frank look at the collision of cheap surveillance tech and basic privacy, and how awareness beats cynicism.

Finally, a change of pace: a local’s $3 spin on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine hits a $1M progressive. We share our own “hand pay” tales, why slots can be a better bet than table games for casual players, and how off-strip locals casinos deliver the thrill without the chaos. We close on something simple and fun—favorite shoes—because comfort and small joys still matter after the heavy stuff.

If you’re into media strategy, internet culture, true crime oddities, casino math, or just want a morning companion that tells you the truth with a wink, you’re in the right place. Hit follow, share this with a friend who needs both a reality check and a laugh, and drop a comment: should we stop at 1,000 or spin up that X Space pre-show? Your vote matters.

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Thanks for listening! 

Liberty Line each week on Sunday, look for topics on my X file @americanistblog and submit your 1-3 audio opinions to anamericanistblog@gmail.com and you'll be featured on the podcast. 

Buzzsprout - Let's get your podcast launched!
Start for FREE

Chapters

• 0:29 Morning Check-In And Milestone Plans
• 1:03 Pivot Ideas And X Space Pre-Show
• 1:56 The Fake Pregnancy And Reborn Doll Hoax
• 7:09 Port-A-Potty Camera Arrest In Iowa
• 9:19 $1M Wheel Of Fortune Slot Win
• 11:52 Shoe Talk And Listener Question

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:15

Well, hello and good morning. Happy Wednesday. Let's see. What kind of stories do we have for you today? Oh, by the way, I have 71 more episodes to go before I hit a thousand episodes for the podcast, and then I will probably stop. That's the plan right now, but 71 days is a lot can happen between now and the end of 71 days. Isn't that right? I think it is. So I don't know. Right now I want to quit. Right now, uh the plan has been to stop doing the podcast when I hit a thousand episodes. Alright, let's move on. I am thinking about doing something else, but then I thought about it. I was like, why do that? It's the same thing. Not starting a new podcast, but perhaps starting an X space. Um like uh 20 minutes, 30 minutes before Pat Gray starts. Do like a Pat Head pre-show type thing, although it won't be associated, obviously, with the Pat Gray show. It would just be my little independent X space uh sitting in my car from 5:30 until I have to go in. So it would only be like a 20-minute space. I don't know if that's worth it or not. We'll see what happens. I don't know. Maybe I'll just spend more time at home instead of getting here so early in the morning. But then I'll have to hit traffic. Okay, whatever. You don't need to hear all of that. My thinking out loud. Alright, let's move on to let's see. This woman here, this little 22-year-old girl, woman, lady, whatever you want to call it, female, she faked a pregnancy. Young mom admits she faked entire pregnancy, tried to pass off silicone doll as the newborn. This is interesting, I think, anyway. I don't know how she got away with it. How do people do this? I don't know. That takes a lot of work, I would imagine. A so-called young mom in Scotland has admitted to bizarrely faking her entire pregnancy. And why would you want to do this? What kind of mental disorder do you have where you would want to even do this? And even trying to pass off a silicone doll as her newborn. We'll get to the silicone doll in a minute. Kira Cousins 22 issued a groveling apology on Tuesday after her massive hoax was uncovered and started spreading rapidly across the social media. I'm so sorry, she wrote in a now deleted Instagram story obtained by the Daily Record. Ooh, I'll have to check out the Daily Record. Uh, I wasn't pregnant. There was no baby. I made it up and kept it going way too far. I faked scans, I don't know how she did that, messages, a whole birth story, and acted like a doll was a real baby. This lady needs some help. Cousins had managed to fool her loved ones, including who she claimed was the baby's father, into believing she was pregnant and had given birth to a little girl who she named Bonnie Lee Joyce, that is a kind of a cute name, on October 10th. Uh Cousins sported a growing prosthetic bump to fuel the ruse and held a lavish gender reveal party in the weeks before the birth. And she has pictures of her. There's pictures in here of her being pregnant, and it is quite uh quite believable. Uh and she has a picture of this doll, and if you just glance at it, it you know, it might be mistaken for a real baby. Uh photon social media captured cousins smiling and posing as she cradled the bump throughout the so-called pregnancy. Uh as part of the elaborate hoax, cousins also posted images of scans and even claimed tests had detected a heart defect in the baby. What in the world? Cousins then claimed she gave birth alone and promptly started showing off the newborn, which ultimately turned out to be the reborn doll. A reborn doll. That is a real thing. That's a the brand name of it. It's called Reborn Doll, and it's used in therapy type situations. Uh the wild sham came crashing down though, when her mom found the doll in the bedroom last week. Just prior to coming clean, cousins went as far as telling the supposed father that their newborn had died. Gosh, dog. The story quickly spilled out on social media as friends and loved ones branded her a serial liar. I don't think this is the first lady that has done this. I think I remember a year or so ago I read another story about the same thing. Different woman, obviously. Some loved ones have since claimed they started becoming suspicious when no one had heard the baby cry and that cousins wouldn't let anyone touch the newborn. I guess not, it's a doll. In her bizarre apology, cousins defended those she'd fooled into believing the doll was actually real. She said, in everyone's defense, the doll could move. You could change the facial features, arms and legs, she said. You could feel the you could feed the doll, making it pee or poo. So when no one is close to the doll, it does look real. No one was looking at my baby expecting it to be a doll. Honey, I'm sorry, but if I am your mother and you have a grandbaby, I am p I'm taking that grandbaby. I don't know why this mother didn't want to pick up the baby and and love on it. I don't know. Reborn doll, here we go, about the reborn dolls. Reborn dolls, which can retail for as much as two thousand dollars, are hyper-realistic baby replicas that are often used as a form of therapy for those struggling with infertility, infant loss, or dementia. The dolls have become part of the cosplay type trend in recent years, in which people pass the dolls off as real children, siccos, going as far as breastfeeding them and taking pictures with them out in public. And that's the end of the story. That's how it ends. That's how it ends for you. Okay, let's move on to the next story, I guess. That is some crazy stuff. Get some therapy. I don't know why. Would people do this? Can you give me an explanation of why people would want to do this? This is a this is an elaborate thing to do. Wow. Sicko. She'll probably get a Netflix uh documentary, something like that. Who knows? All right, next up. Oh, this is disgusting. Y'all be careful when you go to port-a potties. You might be on camera. An Iowa pervert allegedly hid cameras inside port-a-potties to film dozens of people, including children, during local events, according to authorities and reports. Tyler Pavlik, who is 32 years old of Des Moines, Iowa of Des Moines, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with seven counts of sexual exploitation of a minor to engage in an act and three counts of invasion of privacy involving nudity for allegedly stashing cameras inside porta potties. Uh, wow. Pavlik allegedly installed a camera under the under the toilet seat. Isn't that lovely? To secretly coord dozens of adults and children during two different local events. I want to know how they found this camera. I guess, I mean, people were in there. Were they not looking around? I want to know. I want to talk to the person who discovered it. But no, they didn't talk to the person who discovered it. I want to know. I want to know. I want to meet that person who discovered the camera and tell me how they found it. Uh one camera was one one camera was discovered in a port-a potty, John, at the Harvest and Handmade Fair at Waterworks Park in Des Moines on October 4th, the outlet reported. The camera had filmed unknowingly adults and children as they entered the port-a potty and used the toilet. Why, why, I don't understand, people. We live in a sick and demented world. Do we not? This is why I want oh my gosh, I can't. I wow. I used to never read stories like this. Before the internet, I used to go on about my day like the world was perfect. Oh my gosh. Now I'm just jaded and disgusted with everything. On Thursday, the Marshall County Sheriff's Office announced they were also you don't need to look, you don't need any more of that story. That's enough of that story. I mean, really, at least they caught the guy. All right, so our last one here. Oh my gosh, a person hit a million dollar jackpot in Las Vegas on a Wheel of Fortune slot machine on a$3 bet. So when we do the slot machines in Tunica, we do the$3. Um, and we've won, we've won a couple of hand pays, which means they have the machine stops, you know, it's uh over a certain amount. The machine stops, a light goes off on the top, and a person has to come out who works there, comes out, an employee comes out, takes our information, gives us the tax paperwork and stuff like that, and then pays us the cash. But it's only over a certain amount. I forget what the amount is, like maybe$1,200,$1,500, something like that. Congratulations to a local guest on hitting the incredible$1 million jackpot paying we'll playing the Wheel of Fortune Cash Link big money at Sunset Station last night. The Sunset Station Hotel and Casino posted on Facebook. I've never heard of the Sunset Station. That must be off the main the main old strip the main old news strip. Okay, that doesn't make any sense. There's two different areas in in Vegas. There's the one where the big famous one, I think is the big famous one where it has the Bellagio, it has all the big hotels on it, Caesars, all that. Uh, but then there's a one Fremont Street, I think it's called, where all the younger people like to go. And I want to say, back in the day when it first started, that was the original Las Vegas. Okay. Let's let's continue on. The casino shared the update in a celebrity celebratory post on Saturday, sparking multiple congratulatory comments from fans and fellow gamblers online. The post included an image of the Progressive Video slot machine showing the grand prize of a million. Okay, blah, blah, blah. I have played the Wheel of Fortune slot machine before. It's kind of fun. Alright, that's really all you need to know. The property caters largely to locals seeking the game, the same gaming excitement as the strip without the crowds and parking headaches. Well, there you go. So that's why you've never heard of it. It's off the beaten path. Well, congratulations. And here's the thing: when you go to Vegas, you don't play table games because you're not gonna win. All right, you can play slots, they're kind of fun, but don't play table games when you go to Vegas. All right, that's my that's my advice for you today. All right, we need to move on to the question of the day. Okay, tell me what kind of shoes you're wearing. What are your go-to shoes that you like to wear that are comfortable or that you wear all the time? What shoes are you wearing right now? I used to make fun of people wearing New Balance. Well, let me tell you what. Guess what I have on my feet right now? New Balance. I didn't make fun of them, not really. But I used, you know, I didn't like them. I didn't think, especially uh my husband wears them all the time. And you know, they're okay. You know, they're all right, they're comfortable shoes. And then I went shoe shopping uh a while ago, and I saw these new balances for women, they're so cute, they're like the little platformed ones. I have this I'll have to put a picture out on on my ex feed. They're cute, I like them, so I bought a pair and I love them. I wear them all the time now. Love them. Okay, I also like my little Converse Chuck Taylors too, but I'm really liking these new balance, they make me a little taller and they're comfy. Alright, I gotta go. Thanks for listening. Bye.