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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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News

‘None of That Is True’: RFK Jr. Fact-Checked Repeatedly in Heated Senate Hearing

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May 14, 2025

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Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lashed out as he was repeatedly corrected by U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), who accused him of breaking his confirmation hearing promises to the committee, during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

Secretary Kennedy repeatedly interrupted Senator Murphy, forcing the Connecticut Democrat to declare that “none” of what RFK Jr. had said was true.

“You … promised Chairman Cassidy that the FDA would not change vaccine standards from ‘historical norms,’ but what happened as soon as you were sworn in?” Senator Murphy declared. “You announced new standards for vaccine approvals that you proudly referred to in your own press release as a radical departure from current practice, and experts say that that departure will delay approvals. You also said specific to the measles vaccine that you support the measles vaccine, but you have consistently been undermining the measles vaccine. You told the public that the vaccine wanes very quickly, you went on the Dr. Phil’s show, and said that the measles vaccine was never fully tested for safety. You said there’s fetal debris in the measles vaccine.”

Kennedy interjected: “All true. All true,” he insisted. “You want me to lie to the public?”

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“None of that is true,” Murphy replied.

“Of course it’s true,” Kennedy said.

After more back and forth and an interjection from the Republican Chair, Murphy continued:

“Just this morning in front of the House of Representatives, you also said that you, in fact, would not recommend that kids get vaccinated for measles, you said you would just lay out the pros and cons. So this is the summation of everything that you have said to compromise people’s faith in the measles vaccine, in particular, is contrary to what you said before this committee.”

“You said you support the measles vaccine,” Murphy added, “but then you have laid out a set of facts that are contested, and I will submit information for the record from experts who contest what you have said about the vaccine, and the result is to undermine faith in the vaccine. It’s kind of like saying, ‘Listen, I think you should swim in that lake, but, you know, the lake is probably toxic, and there’s probably a ton of snakes and alligators in that lake, but I think you should swim in it.'”

Senator Murphy went on to challenge Secretary Kennedy, asking him point-blank, “Are you recommending the measles vaccine or not?”

Kennedy replied that during his confirmation he would “tell the truth,” and have “radical transparency.”

“Are you recommending the measles vaccine?” Murphy again asked.

“I am not going to just tell people that everything is safe and effective. If I know that there’s issues, I need to respect people’s intelligence,” Kennedy replied.

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“You’re answering the question. I think you’re answering the question,” Murphy concluded, calling Kennedy’s remarks “really dangerous for the American public and for families in this country.”

Professor of Medicine and Surgery Dr. Jonathan Reiner, weighed in, saying: “The measles vaccine has 60 years of safety and efficacy data and was tested in a placebo controlled trial. There are no fetal parts in the vaccine. It doesn’t wane quickly. Sec Kennedy consistently misstates the facts about this vaccine. No amount of scientific data will convince him otherwise. It’s an obsession.”

Watch the video below or at this link:

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‘Bootlicking’: Johnson Ripped for Shrugging Off Trump Ethics Oversight

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6 hours ago

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May 14, 2025

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Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says he has no concerns about any potentially unethical or unlawful actions being taken by President Donald Trump, arguing that Trump is acting “in the open.” Defending his decision not to pursue oversight, Johnson baselessly claimed that aggressive investigations into then-President Joe Biden were justified because his allegedly concealed actions were integral to what the Speaker called the “Biden Crime Family.”

Johnson’s top three committee chairmen were tasked with investigating President Biden and his son Hunter Biden, and on his watch a formal impeachment investigation was opened. The committees in part relied on a former FBI source who later admitted he had made up the lies about President Biden and his son.

Speaker Johnson on Wednesday was asked whether he is “equally concerned about President Trump’s family’s business dealings, especially given the fact that he is in a region now where his family has billions of dollars in investments in Doha, Saudi Arabia, and the fact that he has a crypto business now, where he’s auctioned off access to the White House for the highest bidder in his meme coin?”

“Look,” Johnson replied, “there are authorities that police the executive branch, ethics rules. I’m not an expert in that. My expertise is here in the House, okay?”

READ MORE: Trump to Middle East: ‘You’re the Envy of the World’

“I will say that the reason that many people referred to the Bidens as the ‘Biden Crime Family’ is because they were doing all this stuff behind curtains in the back rooms,” Johnson alleged. “They were trying to conceal it, and they repeatedly lied about it, and they set up shell companies into a family was all engaged in getting all on the dole.”

“Whatever President Trump is doing is out in the open, they’re not trying to conceal anything,” Johnson insisted.

NBC News’ Chief Capitol Hill Correspondent Ryan Nobles, who had asked the initial questions, informed Speaker Johnson that “the investment in the meme coin, those folks, are not transparent. We do not know who those people are.”

But Johnson vowed ignorance, while insisting that others have oversight responsibilities.

“I don’t know anything about the meme coin thing. I don’t, don’t know. I can just tell you that, I mean, President Trump has had nothing to hide. He’s very upfront about it, and and there are people who watch all the ethics of that, but, I mean, I’ve got to be concerned with running the House of Representatives, and that’s what I do.”

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“Congress has oversight responsibility, but, um, I think, so far as I know, the ethics are all being followed, so…”

Critics blasted the Speaker.

“Congratulations to @SpeakerJohnson for making Chapter 15 of Profiles in Sycophancy!” said U.S, Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL), mocking the Speaker. “Can’t believe it took you this long. ‘It’s not crime if it’s out in the open except for the memecoins I don’t understand’ isn’t a legal opinion. It’s bootlicking.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: GOP Plan Redefines Dependent Child as ‘Under 7’—But Adds Loophole for Married Couples

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Trump to Middle East: ‘You’re the Envy of the World’

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8 hours ago

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May 14, 2025

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President Donald Trump, during his visit this week to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, declared the Middle East “the envy of the world,” “the center of the world,” while asserting that the region’s leaders know exactly “where my loyalties lie.”

The “America First” president, aiming to sign defense and economic agreements worth about $2 trillion, also announced the end of sanctions on Syria. Trump has also been lobbying to accept a controversial and possibly unconstitutional gift from Qatar of a $400 million “flying palace” luxury jetliner, to use as Air Force One.

“I’ve seen tremendous unities, tremendous friendship, and the whole world is watching the Middle East, and many are watching with envy,” Trump declared, according to video from Bloomberg News, as he lavished praise on the Middle East leaders. “You have something very special going on. Incredible opportunities are within reach for this region.”

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Trump, who offered no praise for the U.S., blasted his predecessor repeatedly during his remarks, telling the Middle East leaders that “the Biden administration created havoc and bedlam by basically being incompetent, but by empowering Iran and its proxies, sending them billions of dollars, billions and billions of dollars.”

“Everybody at this table knows where my loyalties lie. Always have,” he insisted. “They’ll never waver, never. And we’ll stand with our friends and partners, and we’ll confront the aggression that threatens us all.”

Trump claimed that “we have a mandate from the American people, the likes of which people haven’t seen for 129 years. They say it was the most consequential election in America in 129 years. So that sounds like a long time, so we’ll take that.”

“It’s all started on November 5th with the election, but a stable and peaceful Middle East will be a successful and prosperous Middle East, and that’s what you’ve done, and that’s what you’re doing. And, you know, it’s amazing because when I was here last, it was fine, it was doing good, and then I see the things that you’re doing here, and in your countries, it’s just an incredible, what you’re doing is the whole world is talking about it. The whole world is watching us,” Trump said.

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“The whole world, the whole world is talking about what you, what you’re doing and you’re the envy of the world together. We’re in this room and we’re going [to] forge a Middle East that well be a thriving commercial, diplomatic and cultural crossroads at the geographic center of the world. That’s what it is. It’s the center of the world.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

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Image via Reuters

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