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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022

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Sam Brinton Warrant Issued—Biden Official Accused of Stealing Luggage Again

A felony arrest warrant has been issued for Brinton, who is non-binary, after accusations they stole luggage from the Harry Reid International Airport, Las Vegas TV station KLAS reported.

The charge is for grand larceny with a value between $1,200 and $5,000, the warrant states.

Grand larceny is a category B felony in Nevada and punishable by one to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.

So I think it's safe to say I believe that that Tweet thread that accused him of having a continually escalating fetish was right. IIRC there was some criticism of the Tweeter's objectivity and credentials, but I guess even a broken clock..

I suppose my reaction could be called bigoted but I'm not surprised by this, nor was I surprised by the initial charges or even the claims that he was playing out a sexual fetish. In fact, I found it highly more plausible than the alternative given his bizarre behavior and reported lies when confronted.

Taken as a whole, I am more likely to distrust someone who shows such suspect behavior while also apparently being hellbent on signaling deviancy. Not a good combination.

EDIT: Strong language edit.

All I can think is how sad it is that most everything's so lame and retarded and pointless – the war, the culture war, the zero covid war, the economy, the sacred cows. Even as the machine intelligence aims at superhuman heights, humans seem committed to degenerate to protozoa. This Brinston guy is the Nuclear Fuel Czar, give or take. In a more high-T world, he could've become a supervillain. He could've created a harem on a secret island. But instead he's... stealing women's luggage in airports? Purportedly for fetish reasons? Like, what? What is this, cringeworthy ecchi anime?

On the other hand, it seems that he pushes for novel reactor types, so that's pretty cool. Would be a pity if that project falls through due to his kleptomania.

In a more high-T world, he could've become a supervillain. He could've created a harem on a secret island.

...I guess Sam Brinton kind of looks like a more feminine Dr. Evil. Dammit, I want that Austin Powers movie now.

I guess Sam Brinton kind of looks like a more feminine Dr. Evil. Dammit, I want that Austin Powers movie now.

Nah. Liberal villains suck, I want classic Bond movie with (neo)conservative villain that had been made long ago.

Well, it hadn't been, but it should have.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/institutionalizing-the-trans-revolution/

Just a note to observe that the transgender revolution is now entering its institutionalization phase, at least among the elites. The Washington Post today sympathetically profiles Giselle Donnelly, a senior national security analyst with the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute. Giselle used to be Thomas Donnelly, who — see here — has had a long career as a national security hawk in policy circles.

...

For another, as I say in the headline, the Giselle Donnelly phenomenon represents the institutionalization of the transgender revolution. Think of it: a 65 year old man who has spent his life as a national security hawk working among conservative elites, as a fixture in one of the two most powerful right-of-center think tanks in Washington, now says he’s a woman, and presents himself as such. Those same elites — represented by Brooks and Pletka — embrace his transition uncritically. This signals to the rest of official conservative Washington that this is not only okay, but expected of them.

How it began and how it ended

"I am Ernestine Stavro Blofeld, and I expect you to respect my gender identity, Mr Bond. Once this contraption slowly submerges you into this pool full of piranhas, I expect you will not misgender and deadname me any more."

edit: link fixed

Was this intentionally channeling KulakRevolt, or are we seeing convergent evolution?

More seriously, the US government pay scale isn’t supervillain material. Good luck luring a harem in that percentile.

Perhaps in high-T world Brinston was an aggressive embezzler, but it seems just as likely that they get punched out by a kickass loose-cannon cop.

Where's Brinton in this table?

Not actually sure.

“Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition” isn’t exactly the cream of the crop. It looks like such offices are actually on the Executive Schedule, and while it’s not listed, I’m guessing level IV.

Still not private-island money. Luggage might just be a side hustle.

Office of Spent Fuel and Waste Disposition

Depends what they did and how many years experience, but Glassdoor is telling me median salary is $110,716 in a range $88-140k. Since Brinton has no previous similar experience, I'd expect them to be on the lower end of the scale, e.g. for someone with up to 1 year's experience, the range is $44-71k, median $55,688.

Current vacancies (until/unless Brinton gets the boot) for Deputy Assistant Secretaries:

US Department of Energy

DOE Science, Technology and Policy Program - Office of Asian Affairs Opportunity

Washington, DC

$60K-$91K Per Year (Glassdoor est.)

APDAS for Regulatory and Policy Affairs

Washington, DC

$178K-$204K Per Year (Employer est.)

So indeed probably worth it to steal suitcases containing clothes, jewellery and makeup that all add up to a couple of grand in value, rather than having to buy that themselves!

So indeed probably worth it to steal suitcases containing clothes, jewellery and makeup that all add up to a couple of grand in value, rather than having to buy that themselves!

If your salary is not enough for you, there are so many possible side gigs that do not involve danger of prison.

Especially when you have lots of free time because your job is no work sinecure given to you as political favor - there is no disposal of nuclear waste and never will be.

Remember when Newton was given position of Master of the Mint as reward, and shocked everyone by actually going there and doing the job instead of only collecting his salary as expected.

Sadly, Brinton is no Newton ;-(

All I can think is how sad it is that most everything's so lame and retarded and pointless – the war, the culture war, the zero covid war, the economy, the sacred cows. Even as the machine intelligence aims at superhuman heights, humans seem committed to degenerate to protozoa.

This is not about "humans", this is about Western degeneracy ;-(

Many very colorful, comic book worthy characters among African warlords and Latino druglords, even in our time.

This Brinston guy is the Nuclear Fuel Czar, give or take. In a more high-T world, he could've become a supervillain. He could've created a harem on a secret island. But instead he's... stealing women's luggage in airports?

Hard to be supervillain on the salary of Deputy Assistant Secretary at US Department of Energy (and not many opportunities for grift on this job either).

It appears one big upside to Western degeneracy is an inability to create super villains.

Barely-six-figures seemed like an implausibly low estimate to me, so I dug a bit more; apparently FOIA requests say his offer was $178,063, which sounds more like what I'd expect, even if it's also not nuclear-powered-island-supervillain money.