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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   34961 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of November 28, 2022

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Sam Brinton is in the news this week.

For those who don't know, Sam is the first non-binary, gay drag queen to hold a federal government leadership position. I know him for his distinctive appearance, with moustache, bald head, and typical cross-dressing clothing and makeup. Here's another piece about him, from several months ago. The culture war angle should be obvious, as this man was highlighted, along with Rachael Levine, as examples of progressive hiring in the Biden administration. Suffice to say that he is not the kind of person I can take seriously, and I do not think he should have been hired, and certainly shouldn't have been celebrated. But that's not why I'm posting.

Now, why was he in the news this week?

Brinton was caught stealing luggage from an airport terminal. I'll notice that this article has no pictures of him. A summary, from here:

On Sept. 16, a female traveler alerted the Airport Police Department at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport that she was missing a piece of luggage.

Law enforcement officers who reviewed surveillance footage that same day saw Brinton remove a navy blue, hard-sided, 26-inch roller bag made by Vera Bradley from Carousel 7, according to the criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court.

The victim confirmed, through a digital still of surveillance footage, that it was her bag with total contents worth $2,325, according to the complaint.

The same style of Vera Bradley luggage sells for $295 from VeraBradley.com.

Law enforcement confirmed that Brinton arrived at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport at 4:27 p.m. Sept. 16 on a flight from Washington, D.C., and had not checked a bag when he departed Washington.

Law enforcement learned that Brinton stayed at the InterContinental Saint Paul Riverfront hotel, and video surveillance from that hotel showed Brinton checking in with a bag that fit the description of the stolen luggage.

So he's been put on leave, for now, and he's due in court on the 19th of this month. At first, I wouldn't have considered posting this, as I simply found it funny in an absurd way, but then I ran across what is really the reason why I posted. I ran across a thread on twitter explaining why this was actually serious, and reflected a dangerous escalation of perverse behavior. I'll quote the main points:

The public needs to understand that this sexual deviant did NOT accidentally pick up the wrong suitcase, as he checked no bags on the flight. This was likely a targeted attempt at gaining access to a woman's underwear. This is what the Biden Admin desperately wants to keep quiet.

With nearly 13K clinical contact hrs, over 14+ years, working in a clinical capacity with men who sexually offend... with men who've done very deviant and heinous things to women and children... I can assure you that, once you see a man steal female items, it's really serious.

Go ahead and read the whole thread.

I hadn't considered this angle, at first, but once it's been pointed out to me, I can't shake it. It's the most plausible argument I've heard of for why Sam would steal the woman's luggage, given that all others make no sense.

So, to wrap up, my questions. First, should he be fired for stealing? Second, how likely is it that Sam stole the luggage specifically for underwear? And third, does this move the needle for you in any way, when considering whether to trust, hire, or promote people like Sam?

I’m not sure there’s an explanation that makes Sam look good or innocent, but given that he doesn’t swing that way I’m not finding the ‘stealing a woman’s underwear for sexual purposes’ particularly convincing.

I will say that his apparent inability to separate his sex life from … anything at all should have been red flag numero uno that he would do something wildly inappropriate, and that stealing woman’s clothes was probably for the purpose of wearing them(why doesn’t he just buy them? Presumably for the same reason he insists on giving interviews about how much he enjoys dressing as a dog during sex to celebrate his appointment as a nuclear waste undersecretary). Would I hire him? I mean, if he was actually qualified(which he doesn’t appear to be) and showed up to the interview looking and acting normal(which he seems entirely incapable of), possibly.

I mean, if he was actually qualified(which he doesn’t appear to be)

When first hearing about his appointment and seeing the kind of photos* he deemed appropriate for workwear in the office, that was my first thought. But seemingly he does indeed have qualifications in the field and worked there before. So it's not quite "some arts graduate got a sinecure as deputy assistant secretary of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition purely for the woke optics". And seemingly I should be referring to them as "they" per Wikipedia:

Education Kansas State University (B.S.), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.Sc.)

In 2016, Brinton was a senior policy analyst for the Bipartisan Policy Center, lobbying for updated regulations so nuclear waste can be used to power advanced nuclear reactors. In February 2020, the website of Deep Isolation, a Berkeley, California, nuclear waste storage and disposal company, listed them as its Director of Legislative Affairs and in May 2022 they were its Director of Global Strategy. In 2022, Brinton's profile at the Department of Energy indicated their previous work with the Breakthrough Institute, the Clean Air Task Force, and Third Way

*Though my fashion tastes are extremely conservative and bland, I've never worn lipstick, and all my shoes are flat and sensible. So others may find this apparel perfectly cromulent.

EDIT: And while I'm speaking about fashion and makeup, I don't think he has the kind of face that suits the makeup he wears. I don't know why he shaves his head and, er, don't educate me on gay puppy-play dress codes thanks (this is something where ignorance is bliss). But every time I see him, I get the image of the character Balok from the original Star Trek series episode "The Corbomite Manoeuvre".

I don't know why he shaves his head

They had a mohawk before, which managed to be worse, somehow. I expect part of it's a combination of drive to be 'quirky' without any particularly insightful outlets, making it obvious that "her" is the wrong pronoun, and just entering that age of the long-hours-bad-food-lifestyle where a large portion of XY folk end up stuck with a choice between 'widow's peak', 'balding', and 'shaved'.

They're 34 so a bit on the young side yet, but yes within the age range for "starting to go bald/have a bald spot in the middle" so shaving the head is the solution. But honestly, and this is just personal aesthetic taste here, they don't have the face for (1) pulling off that awful moustache they wear at times and (2) looking androgynous/wearing female makeup. They look to me like Balok, as I've said. The combination of shaved head, middling facial features, and cosmetics just looks wrong.

They don't look handsome to me, even if they presented as conventionally male. They've got those doughy, somewhat unformed, features that aren't particularly awful but aren't particularly good-looking either, but if presenting as conventionally male at least would be passable.

There's definitely some intentionally look-wrong going on -- just like there's a faction of blue-haired ladies that take the right-wing memes about aposematic signalling as an unintentional complement. So that's fair. And it's not like I don't have a face for radio and a voice for print, so I can't speak too much on it.

Personally, the vibe I got was more like the Talosians from The Cage/The Menagerie.

The Talosians have better fashion sense.

Oh undoubtedly. It was specifically his head that made me think that.

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