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23-Year Old Beheaded In Anti-Gay Hate Crime Murder In South Africa

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A 23-year old transgender and gay man was beheaded in his home town of Kuruman, South Africa Friday, in an anti-gay hate crime. Thapelo Makutle, who was crowned Miss Gay Kuruman, was murdered by two men who remain at large. Reports state that police, for reasons of language and training, are not classifying the murder as a hate crime, and do not understand the significance of the attack. On report states the police reject that Makutle was beheaded, but acknowledge his throat was slashed.

Mamba Online reports:

According to the group Legbo Northern Cape, Thapelo Makutle was attacked at his place of work in the John Taolo Gaetsewe district on Friday. The organisation said that there was an argument related to “his sexuality and homosexuality”.

His two attackers are believed to have followed him to the room where he lived and on Saturday cut his throat, decapitating him.

They left his body under a blanket as though he were sleeping.

Makutle, who identified as both gay and transgender, was a volunteer for Legbo Northern Cape. He recently participated in the Kimberley Out In Africa Gay and Lesbian Festival, was known as a beauty queen named Queen Bling and was recently crowned Miss Gay Kuruman.

“It’s so sad. I can’t describe the pain that we are feeling right now,” Shaine Griqua, director of Legbo Northern Cape, told Mambaonline. “We have lost a young, talented, gay man who was open about who he was. The last few days have been like a dark cloud.”

He said that no arrests have yet been made in connection with the murder. He expressed his frustration with the lack of support for LGBT people in the Northern Cape and noted that hate crimes are on the rise in the province.

“We recently had a lesbian stabbed three times in a bar because they said that she should be a woman and not a man. She chose not to press charges because she didn’t want her family involved,” Griqua said.

“The government is not interested in this problem,” he added.

A later report form Mamba Online states:

According to the Mothibistad police, Thapelo Makutle’s body was found lying on the floor of his rented room. It is alleged that the victim has been out with his friends that night. He left unannounced and his friends assumed that he had gone home to sleep.

Shaine Griqua, Director of Legbo Northern Cape, who first reported the attack, said that confusion around the state of the body likely stems from miscommunication due to most people in the area not speaking English as a first language.

Griqua believes that the attack was a hate crime and said that he has information that Makutle was killed as a result of an argument about his sexuality and gender appearance, but police have yet to confirm this, saying that the motive is as yet unknown.

He told Mambaonline that the police in the area are ill-equipped to deal appropriately with a hate crime.

“These people [the police] are not reliable. They don’t even know what a hate crime is. If you ask them if it was related to his sexuality they will say ‘no’ because they don’t understand the context,” Griqua insisted.

Global Post adds:

In a statement, Cosatu’s Northern Cape secretary Anele Gxoyiya condemned “this brutal attack on a young, brilliant and educated soul whose head was chopped off in a hate crime.”

While South Africa is one of the few countries in the world to extend equal rights to homosexuals, and the only nation in Africa to allow same-sex marriage, the reality of life in townships and rural areas for gays and lesbians has been one of often brutal violence.

In a high-profile incident last year, Noxolo Nogwaza, a lesbian activist based in KwaThema township near Johannesburg, was gang-raped and then stabbed and stoned to death, in what the New York-based group Human Rights Watch described as part of an “epidemic” of hate crimes against gays and lesbians in South Africa.

Politics Web published a statement in response to the murder, by Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, Democratic Alliance Parliamentary Leader:

This violent and gruesome assault is yet another reminder that many of our country’s people are still denied the basic rights and freedoms which our Constitution enshrines.

There is a spate of homophobic hate crimes which have recently taken place across our country, including the repugnant and unconscionable crime of so-called “corrective rape” committed against lesbian South African women.

At this time, South Africa needs strong leadership from President Jacob Zuma, and an indication of his commitment to ensuring that all South Africans are able to live their lives free from fear of discrimination or violence.

Unfortunately, the silence from the Presidency has been deafening. This silence is made worse by the fact that President Zuma has in the past shown himself to be prejudiced towards homosexuals.

Last year, the DA welcomed the establishment of a government-led Joint Task Team on a “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) Intervention Strategy”, established in September 2011, under the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

Unfortunately, this task team has yet to make any report on its work.

Meanwhile, the spate of crimes continues.

President Zuma must speak out against this weekend’s horrific murder, and the many others like it, which are in danger of becoming all too commonplace in our country today.

I will today be calling for a debate in Parliament about the prevalence of these crimes in South Africa, and calling on MPs to discuss what can be done by the government to address this ongoing problem.

In addition, I will also be writing to the President to ask what immediate steps his government will be taking to address the violence and intimidation that homosexual South Africans must face on a daily basis.

Such crimes, and the President’s silence on them, cannot be allowed to continue.

Hat-tip: Towleroad

 

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‘You Answer to Us’: Hegseth Slammed for Saying He Only Answers to Trump, Senators, and God

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Donald Trump’s embattled nominee for U.S. Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, appeared angry and defensive Thursday afternoon in the halls of Congress as he lashed out at reporters, saying he does not answer to them, he only answers to Donald Trump, the U.S. Senators who may vote on his confirmation, and his “lord and savior.” Moments later, he added his wife, who was standing behind him, and his family to the list.

The video (below) of his remarks, which has gone viral with well over a quarter-million views in just two hours, has drawn outrage.

Saying he’s “proud” of what he fought for and is “not gonna back down from them one bit,” Hegseth, a Fox News weekend co-host, snapped at reporters. “I will answer all of these senators’ questions, but this will not be a process tried in the media.”

“I don’t answer to anyone in this group,” he told the press.

“None of you, not to that camera at all,” he said, as he began pointing. “I answer to President Trump, who received 76 million votes on behalf — and a mandate for change. I answer to the 50 — the 100 — senators who are part of this process and those in the committee, and I answer to my lord and savior. And my wife and my family.”

READ MORE: ‘Sympathy for Dictators’: Ex-NatSec Officials Warn on Gabbard, Want Closed Door Hearings

Hegseth has been dogged by numerous allegations of sexual misconduct, sexual infidelity, possible intoxication on the job, “aggressive drunkenness,” sexist behavior, financial mismanagement, and tattoos which suggest an affinity for Christian nationalism.

“And as long as Donald Trump wants me in this fight, I’m gonna be standing right here in this fight, fighting to bring our Pentagon back to what it needs to be,” Hegseth vowed.

Fred Wellman is an Army veteran of 22 years who served four combat tours, and is now a political consultant and the host of the podcast “On Democracy.”

“You pointed right at me Pete,” Wellman said in response to Hegseth’s angry remarks. “You answer to us…the American people. We don’t get to ask you questions but the media does. This pompous ass needs to get the f**k out of this game now.”

Political commentator, MSNBC contributor, and New York Times bestselling author Brian Tyler Cohen noted: “Not here to serve Americans, but rather to serve Trump. The perfect encapsulation of MAGA.”

The Bulwark’s Marc Caputo noted, “this is the type of defiant prime-time performance Trump loves.”

Texas Democratic Strategist Olivia Julianna observed, “Actually the entire point of being a public servant is serving the public…”

READ MORE: Pete Hegseth’s Mom Urges ‘Female Senators’ to Ignore Media Reports, Confirm Him as SecDef

The Bulwark’s Joe Perticone appeared to mock Hegseth: “‘I don’t answer to anyone in this group. None of you. Not to that camera at all.’ he says while gesturing to his most recent employer’s camera.”

Carey Lohrenz, whose bio says she is “the first female F-14 Tomcat Fighter Pilot in the U.S. Navy,” and a best-selling author, remarked, simply, “Such hubris.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Trump May Balk at Hegseth Over Drinking History, Not Sexual Misconduct Allegations: Report

 

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‘Sympathy for Dictators’: Ex-NatSec Officials Warn on Gabbard, Want Closed Door Hearings

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Dozens of the nation’s former national security officials say they are “alarmed” about President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Tulsi Gabbard as the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), the top official overseeing the entire U.S. Intelligence Community. They are calling for closed-door sessions during the confirmation process so senators can “consider all information available to the U.S. government” regarding the former member of Congress.

The ex-officials cite what they say is Gabbard’s lack of experience and her “sympathy for dictators,” which “raises questions about her judgment and fitness.”

“As the Director of National Intelligence, Ms. Gabbard would be entrusted with oversight of 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, including the identification and protection of human sources working in the most dangerous settings around the world to defend our national security, and the protection of our most sensitive sources and methods of gathering intelligence,” the officials write.

READ MORE: Trump May Balk at Hegseth Over Drinking History, Not Sexual Misconduct Allegations: Report

“In light of this extraordinary responsibility,” they say in the letter published by Punchbowl News’ Andrew Desiderio (below), “Senators must carefully scrutinize her qualifications as an intelligence professional and her record, including her uncoordinated trip to Syria in 2017 to meet with President Bashar al-Assad. Several of Ms. Gabbard’s past actions call into question her ability to deliver unbiased intelligence briefings to the President, Congress, and to the entire national security apparatus.”

The national security experts, nearly 100, warn of Gabbard’s “sympathy for dictators like Vladimir Putin and Assad” and say it “raises questions about her judgment and fitness.”

In their letter, they suggest America’s intelligence partners may be unwilling to continue to share valuable information and assets if Gabbard is confirmed. They also suggest she is not qualified.

“Ms. Gabbard, if confirmed, would be the least experienced Director of National Intelligence since the position was created. Prior directors had executive branch experience working on intelligence matters or served on a congressional intelligence committee. Most have also had significant management experience. The Senate must carefully evaluate whether Ms. Gabbard is equipped to effectively oversee an organizational structure as unique and large as the National Intelligence Program and also the effect of her holding this position on the willingness of our closest allies to share intelligence with the U.S.”

The officials also “ask that the Senate fully exercise its constitutional advice and consent role with respect to this and other nominees, including through appropriate vetting, hearings, and regular order. In particular, Senate committees should consider in closed sessions all information available to the U.S. government when considering Ms. Gabbard’s qualifications to manage our country’s intelligence agencies, and more importantly, the protection of our intelligence sources and methods.”

READ MORE: ‘Perfect RT Talking Head’: Kremlin Propaganda Outlet Influenced Gabbard’s Views, Ex-Aides Say

In 2017, during his first few months in office and just after firing then-FBI Director Jim Comey, Trump threatened America’s relationship with its intelligence partners around the world by handing highly classified information to Russian officials during a closed-door Oval Office meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and then-Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. No other Americans were in the room, but a Russian photographer was, and Russian media published his photos.

The letter from the former national security officials is dated Thursday. It is addressed to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, and his incoming Republican successor, Senator John Thune.

Some of the more well-known officials whose names appear on the letter include Wendy Sherman, former Deputy Secretary of State; Anthony Lake, a former National Security Advisor and Executive Director of UNICEF, Tom Malinowski, a former Member of Congress and Assistant Secretary of State; Daniel Kurtzer, a former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt and Israel; Rose Gottemoeller, a former Deputy Secretary General of NATO; and John Tien, a former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security.

“The DNI has access to every single secret that the United States has, every single bit of information that we know,” It’s the keys to the intelligence community kingdom,” said U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), The Hill reported last month. A former CIA officer, Congresswoman Spanberger sits on the House Intelligence Committee. She said she was “appalled” by the selection of Gabbard for DNI.

READ MORE: Hawley Throws Hegseth Under the Bus: ‘Not 100% Clear Who Trump Really Wants Right Now’

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Trump May Balk at Hegseth Over Drinking History, Not Sexual Misconduct Allegations: Report

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Donald Trump has chosen at least four people to join his administration who have allegations of sexual misconduct in their background, as does Trump himself. But one, Pete Hegseth, his choice to be Secretary of Defense, may have an issue that’s too much for the President-elect: an alleged history of heavy use of alcohol. Hegseth has promised to not drink if confirmed, and says he does not have a problem with alcohol.

“I’ve never had a drinking problem,” Hegseth said Wednesday, according to Newsweek. “No one’s ever approached me and said, ‘You should really look at getting help for drinking.’ Never, never sought counseling, never sought help, but I respect and appreciate people who do. But you know, what do guys do when they come back from war oftentimes? Have some beers. How do you deal with the demons you see on the battlefield? Sometimes it’s with a bottle.”

“This is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I’m doing it,” he vowed, Newsweek added.

While he has denied having a problem, he has been open about some of his experience with alcohol.

“By Pete Hegseth’s account, his heavy drinking began after a brush with death when an RPG ricocheted off his vehicle but didn’t explode while he was serving in Iraq with an Army infantry unit,” The Washington Post reported Wednesday evening. “When he returned home to a Manhattan apartment after the deployment ended in 2006, disconnected from the people he served with while his wife at the time worked long hours, he turned to alcohol, he said.”

READ MORE: ‘Perfect RT Talking Head’: Kremlin Propaganda Outlet Influenced Gabbard’s Views, Ex-Aides Say

The Post quoted Hegseth’s remarks from his August 2021 appearance on “The Will Cain Show” podcast.

“I’d look around at 10 o’clock and be like, ‘What am I going to do today? How about I drink some beers? How about I go have some lunch and have some beers? How about I meet my one or two buddies and have some beers?’”

“And one beers leads to many, leads to self-medication, leads to ‘I’ve earned this.’ Like, ‘Don’t tell me I can’t.’”

At a Republican conference in 2017, “Hegseth was so ‘visibly intoxicated’ that it enabled a woman to be the ‘aggressor’ in having sexual relations with him, according to a statement from Tim Parlatore, his attorney — an encounter that the woman later described as a rape to police. Hegseth disputes that claim, saying the encounter was consensual, and prosecutors declined to file charges,” according to The Post.

The Post also details Hegseth’s “reputation as a heavy drinker,” citing “six former Fox News employees.”

“Several years ago, during a St. Patrick’s Day segment on ‘Fox & Friends Weekend,’ support staff at the cable news network set up a display of beers for a holiday segment on the show. After the segment aired, Hegseth walked by the display table and drank each beer, according to two former colleagues who witnessed the incident and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive episode. The incident struck the colleagues as jarring for two reasons: One, the displayed drinks had been sitting out for hours and were stale and warm; two, the show wraps up at 10 a.m., an early hour for alcohol consumption.”

READ MORE: Hawley Throws Hegseth Under the Bus: ‘Not 100% Clear Who Trump Really Wants Right Now’

The Post explains that Trump himself “has been troubled by the allegations about Hegseth’s excessive drinking,” noting that although he “has stood by numerous aides and appointees accused of sexual assault or indiscretion … he has long disdained the abuse of alcohol by those around him dating back to the death of his brother, Fred Trump Jr., who suffered from alcoholism and died of related diseases at the age of 42.”

On CNN Thursday morning, a panel discussed The Post’s report, and noted that Republican Senators are also uncomfortable with Hegseth’s reported drinking. CNN’s Stephen Collinson said Hegseth should “keep this going” into next year if he wants to be confirmed, and force the GOP Senators to openly defy Trump.

GOP strategist Erin Perrine on CNN described Hegseth as a “test case,” for Trump to see if a nominee can “fight the battle of political opinion in the court of public opinion on media.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: Hegseth: Trump Told Me ‘I’m Behind You All the Way’ But Reports Suggest Otherwise

 

Image via Reuters

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