https://twitter.com/inminivanhell/status/1638910156959526916

https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kxpky/leaked-emails-reveal-an-anti-trans-holy-war

‘Under His Wings’: Leaked Emails Reveal an Anti-Trans ‘Holy War’

Leaked emails from anti-trans lobbyists and state lawmakers read, at times, like scripts from “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

“Under His wings,” one lobbyist wrote in an email. “The Devil never sleeps,” another person sent in an email chain about the distinction between gender and sex. “I pray for the 2nd coming more and more.”

These missives are part of a trove of leaked emails between South Dakota GOP Rep. Fred Deutsch, anti-trans lobbyists, and other state lawmakers about anti-trans policies that are filled with language so deeply religious that, at times, the communications read like scripts from The Handmaid’s Tale. It’s the language, one expert told VICE News, of Christian nationalists who believe they’re engaging in a holy war.

The repeated notes about “blessings” and “prayers,” as well as sign-offs like “God bless you” and “Under His wings,” proliferate throughout the emails.

Explicit references to warfare pop up in the emails a few times: “I prayed for you and the others supporting the bill today. Asked the Lord to put all of you in the Armor of God for this fight,” wrote Elisa Rae Shupe, a trans woman, in an email. Shupe, at the time, had detransitioned and was an anti-trans advocate. She’s since re-transitioned, renounced her ties to Christianity, and shared the emails with journalists. “I fell prey to the belief that if I did what they suggested that I would be cured of my gender dysphoria… I was encouraged to confess my sins, ask for forgiveness by Jesus, and turn my plight over to the Lord Jesus Christ. I was also asked to accept that my transgender status was a sexually motivated sin and to cure myself by attending a religious 12-step program, which I did for approximately a year,” Shupe told VICE News.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/a-wrestler-died-of-heatstroke-his-college-will-17849065.php

A wrestler died of heatstroke. His college will pay his family $14M.

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"They would literally make fun of him for drinking water," Moncus told The Washington Post. "They probably thought it was funny to withhold water that day."

But when Brace arrived, wrestling coaches often said that "water is for the weak" and didn't meet Brace's hydration needs, the lawsuit said. When Brace requested water breaks, coaches warned he would be punished and often asked, "Do you think you are special and are allowed more water?" the lawsuit states. Sometimes, a coach placed a water bottle over his crotch while spraying water into Brace's mouth, the lawsuit said.

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Brace returned to the school's wrestling room and begged for water while lying on a mat, the lawsuit said. Coaches yelled at teammates who tried to provide Brace with water, the lawsuit stated. Brace said he felt his pupils shaking and thought his head was going to explode, as he pleaded, "I feel like I am going to die," the lawsuit alleged.

Brace then started talking nonsense, saying that he was going to leave in a parade and that he ate a fork, the lawsuit said. He yelled and cursed before charging and tackling a teammate, it said, and coaches demanded that he leave.


After exiting the building, Brace tried to find water. He located a water fountain that was nonfunctional and couldn't enter another building, the lawsuit said. Moments later, Brace collapsed about 250 yards from the wrestling room and was later declared dead, Moncus said.

https://news.yahoo.com/undercover-agents-saw-nothing-lewd-120000748.html

The Dec. 28 performance featured campy skits like “Screwdolph the Red-Nippled Man Deer” and shimmying, bare-chested men who wouldn’t have been out of place at a Madonna concert. Also a hip thrust or two, similar to what is sometimes indulged in by NFL players after a touchdown. All of it was dutifully recorded by the undercover agents on state-issued iPhones.

But while the agents took photos of three minors at the Orlando drag show — who appeared to be accompanied by adults — they acknowledged that nothing indecent had happened on stage, according to an incident report obtained exclusively by the Miami Herald.


“Besides some of the outfits being provocative (bikinis and short shorts), agents did not witness any lewd acts such as exposure of genital organs,” the brief report stated. “The performers did not have any physical contact while performing to the rhythm of the music with any patrons.”

Still, the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation proceeded to file a complaint against the nonprofit that runs Plaza Live, claiming the venue had illegally exposed children to sexual content. The complaint, issued Feb. 3, seeks to strip the small, nonprofit theater of its liquor license — a serious blow that would likely put it out of business.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/nepal-solo-trekking-ban-intl-hnk/index.html

Five years after banning solo adventurers from climbing Mount Everest, Nepal’s government has extended the restriction to the whole country.

Nepal is home to eight of the world’s tallest mountains, but it is also known for its beautiful rural trekking regions. From now on, travelers who hope to trek in remote regions must hire a government-licensed guide or join a group.

While the trekking industry is one of the country’s biggest moneymakers, the cost of search and rescue missions for solo hikers who get lost is significant.

“When you are traveling solo, in case of emergencies there is no one to help you,” Mani R. Lamichhane, Director of the Nepal Tourism Board, tells CNN. “It is fine if they are traveling in the cities, but in the remote mountains, the infrastructure is not adequate.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/thiel-founders-fund-withdrew-millions-005223787.html

Peter Thiel’s Founders Fund had no money with Silicon Valley Bank as of Thursday morning as the bank descended into chaos, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Thiel’s Founders Fund Withdrew Millions From Silicon Valley Bank

Founders Fund withdrew millions from SVB, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing private information. It joined other venture funds that took dramatic steps to limit exposure to the now-failed financial institution. Founders Fund also advised its portfolio companies that there was no downside to moving their money away from SVB, even if the risk was low.

Founders Fund acted in other ways to move its business away from SVB. On Thursday, as the bank was beginning to unravel, the firm started what’s known as a capital call. That’s a run-of-the-mill activity in the venture capital world, in which a VC firm asks its investors, or limited partners, to send it money in order to make investments in startups — the core function of most VC firms. It began by asking those backers to transfer the funds to accounts at SVB, as it has done for years, the person said.

But the firm learned that its limited partners were encountering issues using SVB services as they tried to transfer the funds — they weren’t immediately going through as expected, the person said.

Quickly, Founders Fund asked its investors to transfer the money to other banks instead. The fund acted to ensure that startup funding deals that were slated to close in the coming days were not delayed, the person said.

George Santos eviction tapes show him begging to feed pet fish, mulling public assistance



In the summer of 2014, eight years before his election to the U.S. House of Representatives, George Santos was in Queens Housing Court, begging a judge to let him feed his pet fish.

Santos, then 26, had recently been evicted for failing to pay rent on a two-bedroom apartment in Jackson Heights that he shared with his mother, sister and a rotating cast of roommates. He needed to get back inside, he told the judge, “so I can get my belongings and feed my fish.”

“I have a big fish tank,” Santos added, according to audio of the court hearing.

As with so many of his statements, there is cause for doubt. Yasser Rabello, a former friend who lived in the apartment with Santos, said he had no recollection of a fish, let alone a large tank of them.

“That’s a lie, too,” Rabello said. “He’s a pathological liar.”

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Despite making comments during his candidacy for Congress that equated welfare with laziness, Santos also appeared willing to seek public assistance. When a judge suggested he apply for emergency rental aid to cover $12,000 in unpaid rent, Santos replied softly: “I can do that.”

https://gothamist.com/news/listen-george-santos-eviction-tapes-show-him-begging-to-feed-pet-fish-mulling-public-assistance

But the poll offers warning signs about those proposals, showing they remain broadly unpopular among the same voters that delivered a sweeping landslide for Republicans last fall.

A Florida GOP plan to ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy, a much stricter rule than the state’s current 15 weeks, is opposed by 75% of voters, compared to just 22% who back it.

DeSantis’s move to allow unfettered concealed carry of guns is even more unpopular, with just 21% supporting it.

Powerful majorities of Sunshine State voters in the poll also support a constitutional amendment to legalize recreational use of marijuana and oppose DeSantis’s plans to halt efforts to increase diversity in public colleges and restrict discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools.


“Many voters we spoke to are not so thrilled about some of DeSantis’s most recent proposals in his war on ‘woke’ culture,” Binder said.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-desantis-trump-florida-republican-president-2024-abortion-guns-20230309-cds6uy76zreofh66lg52s3syim-story.html

https://www.macon.com/news/state/georgia/article272822720.html

A man is in custody after he was accused of kidnapping his boss, killing her and throwing her in a Georgia river, news outlets report. Erica Atkins, 40, was first reported missing early in the morning March 5, The Eatonton Messenger reported.

Ten hours later, a fisherman called the Jones County Sheriff’s Office to report that he had seen a body while fishing on Cedar Creek. As deputies responded to the body in the creek, a report went out about a possible kidnapping in Locust Grove, about 40 miles southwest, The Eatonton Messenger reported.

Officials determined the body in the river and the missing person were both Atkins, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills told the Union Recorder. Locust Grove Police Chief Derrick Austin told The Eatonton Messenger one of Atkins’ employees, 38-year-old Romero Johnson of Norman, Oklahoma, had been taken into custody. Austin told the news outlet Johnson and Atkins were “friends and coworkers.” Locust Grove police told the Union

Recorder they believe Johnson kidnapped and killed Atkins at her home before driving her body through multiple counties headed east. They accused Johnson of then dumping her body in Cedar Creek along the highway.

Read more at: https://www.macon.com/news/state/georgia/article272822720.html#storylink=cpy

https://m.arcamax.com/currentnews/newsheadlines/s-2791672?fs

A. also found support from the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, boosted by thousands of new donors and pledges from Seattle, King County and Oregon in the months following last May's leak of the Supreme Court's draft decision on Roe.

The fund booked her flight and hotel, paying for both, as well as the abortion. The nonprofit also arranged for rides during her stay, and picked up the tab for breakfast and sandwich fixings delivered to her room.

"They've kind of made it so the only thing I really have to do is get there and heal," A. said.

'A different country'

A few nights later, A. sat on a bed with her sister in a Renton hotel room, near the clinic where she had an appointment the next morning. Her arrival in a place where abortion is considered a right, rather than murder, seemed to awe her.

"I went to a different country today," she said.