You are being provided with a book chapter by chapter. I will request you to read the book for me after each chapter. After reading the chapter, 1. shorten the chapter to no less than 300 words and no more than 400 words. 2. Do not change the name, address, or any important nouns in the chapter. 3. Do not translate the original language. 4. Keep the same style as the original chapter, keep it consistent throughout the chapter. Your reply must comply with all four requirements, or it’s invalid.
I will provide the chapter now.

POLITICS IS A DIRTY – AND FUNNY – BUSINESS
 
            John Stonehouse was a British Labour and Co-operative Party
politician and cabinet minister under Prime Minister  Harold Wilson
who embezzled a bunch of money and faked his death in Miami,
Florida in 1974. He was found to be very alive in Australia two weeks
later, sent back to the UK, but only served three years in prison for
fraud due to poor health.
 
            On January 18, 1990, Washington D.C. mayor, Marion Barry, was
arrested after smoking crack with a female informant in a motel room.
Barry served six months in federal prison. He died later of a drug
overdose.
 
       The Russian word for blackmail is kompromat. During the Cold War,
the KGB blackmailed so many Western politicians that kompromat
made its way into the English language. 
 
            In 1824, a writer threatened to publish the memoirs of the Duke of
Wellington’s mistresses. The British duke’s response was, “Publish
and be damned.”
 
            Jack Ryan was the Republican candidate against Barack Obama for
the open senate seat in Illinois in 2004 until it was revealed Ryan
brought his wife to kinky sex clubs.
 
            Former professional wrestler and full-time vampire, Jonathon (The
Impaler) Sharkey, started the Vampires, Witches, and Pagans Party in
2005. They advocate for vampire political recognition.
 
            Warren G. Harding is often regarded as the most corrupt US
president in history. It’s amazing because the 29th president only
served two years before dying in office.
 
            In 2014, Malaysian politician Bung Moktar Radin tweeted “Long
Live Hitler” after Germany defeated Brazil 7-1 in a World Cup match.
German officials didn’t appreciate the support.
 
            Since the Watergate Scandal (1972-1974), many political scandals
have been given the suffix “gate.” For example – Troopergate,
Russiagate, and Billygate.
 
            The Polish Beer Lovers’ Party was established in 1990 in Warsaw,
just as the Iron Curtain was coming down. It actually won 16 seats in
Poland’s Lower House before being dissolved in 1993.
 
            Nine American towns have elected dogs as mayors. Cat lovers can
rest easy, though, the town of Talkeetna, Alaska elected an honorary
feline mayor who served for 20 years from 1997 to 2017.
 
       When South Carolina Congressmen Mark Sanford went missing for a
week in 2009, people were alarmed. When he finally surfaced, he said
he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but it was later revealed he was
in Argentina with his mistress.
 
       Adolf Lu Hitler Rangsa Marak is a politician from India. When asked
about the name, Marak said that his parents liked the name “and
hence christened me Hitler.”
 
            Former professional wrestler Jesse Ventura was elected as
Minnesota’s 38th governor in November 1998. He was the first
American professional wrestler to hold such a high office.
 
            Tired of political corruption, 100,000 residents of Sao Paulo, Brazil
voted for a female black rhinoceros named Cacareco for city council
in 1958. Although she won more votes than the other candidates,
election officials ruled Cacareco ineligible.
 
            US Congressman Hank Johnson said in a 2010 hearing on the
territory of Guam: “My fear is that the whole island will become so
overly populated that it will tip over and capsize.” His office said it
was a joke.
 
            American author Robert Anton Wilson formed the Guns and Dope
Party. It was a bit of a joke Wilson had fun with during California’s
2003 gubernatorial recall election.
 
            In addition to being involved in fraud, it was later made public that
John Stonehouse had been spying for Czechoslovakia during the
1960s.
 
            Colorado US Senator Gary Hart looked set to win the 1988
Democratic presidential nomination when news of an extra-marital
affair derailed his campaign. If only he ran after Clinton!
 
       Getting caught smoking crack on video isn’t just an American thing.
In 2013, Chris Farley lookalike and Toronto mayor, Rob Ford, got
busted for smoking crack on tape, ending his reelection bid.
 
            Porngate is the name of one of the strangest scandals in Indian
politics. The scandal involved two members of the Karnataka  state
cabinet watching porn on a smartphone when the legislature was in
session in February 2012.
 
            American conspiracy theorist Lyndon La Rouche ran in every US
presidential election from 1976 through 2004. Although a registered
Democrat, he always ran as a third-party candidate.
 
            Democratic US Congressman Philemon Thomas Herbert shot and
killed a waiter at a hotel in 1856. Herbert was acquitted of
manslaughter, but the charges ruined his career.
 
            Empress Dowager Cixi of China (1861-1908) knew how to use
blackmail as well as any man. Cixi tortured the concubines and
servants of the Guangxu Emperor, her nephew, to use as kompromat
against him.