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Culture War Roundup for the week of December 5, 2022

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Oh, you have to love this detail from that article:

Law enforcement secured an identification by cross referencing the clothing they were wearing in security footage — a shirt with a rainbow atomic nuclear symbol — with social media posts from the day the luggage was stolen.

Not exactly dealing with a criminal mastermind here, are we? Maybe don't wear the same clothes as you've publicly posted when about to commit a theft? Though I do like how the political posturing ended up hoisting them on their own petard: "I'm out! I'm proud! I'm - about to go to the chokey!" The Daily Mail (which I acknowledge is not the best of sources, but they're great for stuff like this) has the story, including the photos of said T-shirt on the security footage and selfie. And looks like Brinton did the tag-checking thing again so they knew the case belonged to a woman:

When a Las Vegas Metropolitan police officer reviewed surveillance video, the officer 'observed several nonverbal cues, or body language anomalies, from the suspect, which caught his attention,' the report stated.

'Specifically, Brinton pulled the victim's luggage from the carousel and examined the tag.

'Then placed it back on the carousel, looking in all directions for anyone who might be watching, or might approach.

'Pulling it back off the carousel and demonstrating the same behavior by looking around before walking away with it quickly.'

This is exactly the behaviour that Brinton is alleged to have done with the first suitcase theft:

A suspect was not identified until a police officer saw a news article in November naming Brinton as a suspect in luggage theft at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in September.

The criminal complaint from the incident in Minneapolis describes how Brinton traveled from Washington DC to Minneapolis without a checked bag, but then retrieved one from the luggage carousel once they'd landed in Minnesota.

Surveillance footage from the airport - which is yet to be released - is said to show them removing the luggage tug from the bag and placing it in their handbag.

Ooooh and now comes the "throwing under the bus", with questioning of Brinton's origin story by former allies:

Brinton claims to have been the victim of horrific torture at the hands of a conversion therapist, allegations that jumpstarted their career as an activist. Other LGBTQ+ advocates have raised concerns regarding the veracity of Brinton’s claims, pointing to inconsistencies in the timeline, and stonewalling by Brinton regarding the identity or even location of the therapist.

On Wednesday, Truth Wins Out (an anti-conversion therapy advocacy group) founding Executive Director Wayne Besen accused prominent LGBTQ+ activist groups of ignoring “clear warning signs” and engaging in “sloppy, ethically negligent, and shockingly unprofessional” behavior in elevating Brinton without thoroughly vetting their background.

The fascinating thing is that Brinton can look ordinary when they try; if they had gone around looking like this rather than like this (and kept the puppy play and rope bondage pics on the down low), then this story probably wouldn't be getting the same level of attention as it is.