Month: September 2022

Conservatives freak out over Zoom workshop on gender-affirming haircuts for teens

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/conservatives-freak-zoom-workshop-gender-affirming-haircuts-teens/

Haircuts.   This hater is accusing a hospital system of being groomers of sexual abuse of children for helping kids with hair styling tips.   This shows it is not about the kids, it is not about saving kids from abuse, it is about forcing kids to fit into a traditional stereotype gender role established by religion.  Somehow this is fits with her accusation that children in the US are getting sexual reassignment surgery, which is not true at all.  Hugs

“This panic is about punishing ALL gender nonconformity, period.”
 
By      
a person getting a haircut
Photo: Shutterstock
 

Anti-LGBTQ activist Chaya Raichik – who goes by “LibsofTikTok” on social media – is upset that transgender kids are getting access to haircuts.

On her Substack that she has been promoting since her social media accounts started getting suspended, Raichik shared an invitation to a gender-affirming workshop being run by Kaiser that says several times that it’s for “kids and their parents or guardians.”

“Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation’s largest health care organizations, is promoting gender-affirming programming to minor patients without the knowledge or consent of parents, a mother told Libs of TikTok in an exclusive interview,” Raichik wrote, describing the workshop as a “series of courses on social gender transitions.”

While Raichik has been spreading the false notion for the past couple months that children’s hospitals are performing gender-affirming surgery on trans minors – even though gender-affirming surgery isn’t performed on minors – the Kaiser workshops are mostly focused on mental health topics, like self-expression, dealing with fear, and validating emotions.

The few that deal with transitioning don’t mention surgery at all; one is about vocal exploration, another about clothing, and one is about “gender congruent hair styling.”

Raichik said that she was forwarded the message by a mother who isn’t supportive of her child’s identity and who “feels like her child is ‘becoming a guinea pig’ at the hands of medical organizations” because of the possibility of Zoom workshops about haircuts.

In the comments on Raichik’s Substack, people referred to Kaiser as “groomers,” a term used to describe child sex abusers and that Raichik popularized using to refer to any discussion of LGBTQ people in the presence of teens and children.

“Libs of TikTok’s Substack is now going after the Kaiser hospital system for such unspeakable acts as… holding a workshop on haircuts,” wrote Media Matters LGBTQ Program Director Ari Drennen on Twitter. “This panic is about punishing ALL gender nonconformity, period.”

Harvard Law School instructor Alejandra Caraballo said that it was a “straight up lie” that Kaiser was going behind the backs of parents since the workshops include parents.

Last month Raichik made headlines when she falsely claimed online that a 16-year-old transgender boy would be able to get a hysterectomy at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. Her story was picked up by other conservative media even though the hospital said that they wouldn’t perform such surgery and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) only recommends gender affirming surgery for people who are of the age of consent and after a 12-month period where they live as their real gender.

While her accusations were incorrect, the hospital received bomb and death threats from her followers.

Earlier in August, Raichik reposted about 13 tweets and a right-wing “expose” claiming that the Boston Children’s Hospital in Massachusetts was conducting gender-affirming surgery on children as young as two or three years old.

The fact-checking site PolitiFact later debunked the claims, but physicians at the hospitals received so many death threats, harassing calls, and emails that the hospital had to hire extra security and give doctors new guidance on responding to threats.

The hospital’s website says that surgery recipients must be at least 18 years old and have a “persistent, well-documented gender dysphoria.”

When she’s not claiming that children’s hospitals are performing gender-affirming surgery on transgender toddlers, Raichik mostly shares videos of LGBTQ teachers and makes negative comments about them, even if it’s not clear that the teachers are doing anything wrong. In the responses, her followers call the teachers “groomers” and claim that they’re harming children with their LGBTQ identities.

 

Angry judge blocks Montana’s latest attempt to stop trans people correcting their birth certificates

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/angry-judge-blocks-montanas-latest-attempt-stop-trans-people-correcting-birth-certificates/

“I’m a bit offended the department thinks they can do anything they want,” the judge said.
By      
A birth certificate
Photo: Shutterstock

A Montana judge has decided that the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) cannot prevent trans people from updating their birth certificates.

District Court Judge Michael Moses struck down a new rule instituted by DPHHS that said a person’s sex listed on a birth certificate can now only be changed if it was incorrectly entered by a “data entry error” or if “the sex of the individual was misidentified on the original certificate and the department receives a correction affidavit and supporting documents, … including a copy of the results of chromosomal, molecular, karyotypic, DNA, or genetic testing that identify the sex of the individual.”

According to Moses, this restrictive rule was in direct violation of his April order that blocked a state law requiring state residents to undergo a non-specified “surgical procedure” before they could change the gender listed on their birth certificates.

Montana’s Republican-led legislature passed this law, S.B. 280, in April 2021. Prior to the law, DPHHS said in 2017 that transgender residents could change the gender marker on their birth certificates if they were intersex, had undergone “a gender transition,” or had a certified court order indicating that their gender had been changed.

In April, Moses said the law’s requirement of an unspecified surgical procedure made it impossible for anyone to follow. The judge then issued a temporary injunction against S.B. 280, blocking it from going into effect.

And now, with Moses blocking the health department’s latest attempt at anti-trans policies, the 2017 rule making it easier to update one’s birth certificate is now in effect, reports the Associated Press.

Moses was not happy that DPHHS officials tried to get around his original ruling blocking S.B. 280, saying he had been “clear as a bell.”

 
 

Montana Defies Court Order On Trans Birth Certificates

Montana Defies Court Order On Trans Birth Certificates

The Associated Press reports:

Just hours after a Montana judge blocked health officials from enforcing a state rule that would prevent transgender people from changing the gender on their birth certificate, the Republican-run state on Thursday said it would defy the order. District Court Judge Michael Moses chided attorneys for the state during a hearing in Billings for circumventing his April order that temporarily blocked a 2021 Montana law that made it harder to change birth certificates.

The Montana law said people had to have a “surgical procedure” before they could change the sex listed on their birth certificate, something Moses found to be unconstitutional because it did not specify what type of procedure was required. Gov. Greg Gianforte’s administration then created a new rule that blocked changes to birth certificates entirely, unless there was a clerical error.

Read the full article.

 

Cultist Charged With Spree Of Anti-LGBT Death Threats – JMG

Cultist Charged With Spree Of Anti-LGBT Death Threats

What the republican anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric causes.     Hugs

From the Justice Department:

A California man was arrested on Tuesday, April 20, 2022 and charged in federal court in Springfield, Mass. in connection with making threats against Merriam-Webster.

Jeremy David Hanson, 34, of Rossmoor, Calif., was charged by criminal complaint with one count of interstate communication of threats to commit violence. Hanson was released on conditions following an initial appearance in federal court in the Central District of California.

Hanson will appear before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Katherine A. Robertson in federal court in Springfield on April 29, 2022.

According to the criminal complaint, between Oct. 2 and Oct. 8, 2021, Springfield-based Merriam-Webster, Inc. received various threatening messages and comments demonstrating bias against specific gender identities submitted through its website’s “Contact Us” page and in the comments section on its webpages that corresponded to the word entries for “Girl” and “Woman.”

Authorities later identified the user as Hanson. As a result of the threats, Merriam-Webster closed its offices in Springfield and New York City for approximately five business days.

Specifically, it is alleged that on Oct. 2, 2021, Hanson used the handle “@anonYmous” to post the following comment on the dictionary’s website definition of “female”: “It is absolutely sickening that Merriam-Webster now tells blatant lies and promotes anti-science propaganda. There is no such thing as ‘gender identity.’ The imbecile who wrote this entry should be hunted down and shot.”

Hanson also allegedly sent the following threatening message via the website’s “Contact Us” page: “You [sic] headquarters should be shot up and bombed. It is sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny [sic] agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality. You evil Marxists should all be killed. It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place, leaving none of you commies alive.”

The investigation identified numerous related threats, including to the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, Land O’ Lakes, Hasbro, Inc., IGN Entertainment, the President of the University of North Texas, two professors at Loyola Marymount University and a New York City rabbi.

The charge of interstate transmission of communications to injure the person of another provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000.

The Daily Beast reports:

Hanson, a Trump supporter who lives in the Los Angeles suburb of Los Alamitos, has been carrying out his threat spree for several years, prosecutors say. That April, an unnamed Land O’ Lakes employee reported a threat Hanson allegedly posted on Instagram using the handle @quinserath1: “Land O Lakes headquarters deserve to be shot up and bombed for turning into a cultural Marxist company that panders to political correctness.”

Prosecutors say Hanson followed up with an email to “several” DC Comics employees, under the subject line: “I am going to shoot up and bomb your offices for ruining Superman.” “First, you turn him into a faggot,” the body of the email read. “Now, you make him anti-American. You fucking Marxist pieces of shit. I will make you pay,” the message read, threatening to kill the publisher of DC and “rape and murder his wife.”

Anti-LGBTQ Trump Cultist Pleads Guilty To Email Death Threats Against Dictionary Company Over Its Definitions

Anti-LGBTQ Trump Cultist Pleads Guilty To Email Death Threats Against Dictionary Company Over Its Definitions

Law & Crime reports:

A California man has pleaded guilty to threatening a dictionary company and a university president. Though Jeremy David Hanson, 34, only pleaded to charges regarding Merriam-Webster and the University of North Texas, his plea agreement details an extensive history of making politically infused — and usually transphobic or homophobic — threats against people and companies.

I am going to fucking kill you,” he wrote one DC Comics writer after the company announced that Superman — Clark’s son Jonathan Kent — was bisexual. “I am going to rape your wife and decapitate her then blow up DC Comics headquarters.” “We are going to have a civil war and EXTERMINATE you cultural Marxists destroying America,” he wrote the author. “TRUMP 2024.” Court documents indicate that his threats against Merriam-Webster fit the same pattern.

From the Justice Department:

Hanson also sent the following threatening message via the website’s “Contact Us” page: “You [sic] headquarters should be shot up and bombed. It is sickening that you have caved to the cultural Marxist, anti-science tranny [sic] agenda and altered the definition of ‘female’ as part of the Left’s efforts to corrupt and degrade the English language and deny reality. You evil Marxists should all be killed. It would be poetic justice to have someone storm your offices and shoot up the place, leaving none of you commies alive.”

On Oct. 8, 2021, Hanson posted another threatening comment on the dictionary’s website and a threatening message via the “Contact Us” page that read: “I am going to shoot up and bomb your offices for lying and creating fake definitions in order to pander to the tranny mafia. Boys aren’t girls, and girls aren’t boys. The only good Marxist is a dead Marxist. I will assassinate your top editor. You sickening, vile tranny freaks.”

As a result of the threats, Merriam-Webster closed its offices in Springfield, Mass. and New York City for approximately five business days. The charge of interstate transmission of threatening communications provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

My first report on Hanson’s arrest is here. Federal investigators had reportedly interviewed Hanson about similar threats multiples times since 2015. Sentencing is scheduled for January 5th.

 

Judge removed from the bench after allegedly spewing hateful remarks

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/judge-removed-bench-allegedly-spewing-hateful-remarks/

Again a person in authority using their religious beliefs instead of the legal system / laws of the nation when doing their job.   I am really getting worried about the sneak attack religion made has made on the secular nature of the country.   They seriously think their religious dictates have more authority than the constitution and even the understandings we have today that the bible writers clearly did not.   Does this judge realize that the religion she follows was used to keep her people in control as slaves?   Hugs

“I hate these gay white men,” the Brooklyn judge allegedly said, before using slurs.
 
By      
A gavel and a chair
Photo: Shutterstock
 

A Brooklyn Surrogate Court judge was removed from the bench for spewing racist, sexist, and anti-LGBTQ remarks, according to court papers.

Judge Harriet Thompson was abruptly removed from her position in December and was barred from nonpublic parts of the Johnson St. courthouse in Downtown Brooklyn amid “serious allegations of bias and discrimination,” an Office of Court Administration spokesperson said at the time.

But the specifics of the allegations were not made public until recently, when an affidavit from state Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence Marks revealed Thompson’s vile remarks allegedly made “in the courthouse in the presence of United Court System personnel.”

“I hate these gay white men,” Thompson, who is Black, is quoted as saying. She allegedly also said that “gay racist fa***ts” were “trying to ruin me and get me… Being gay is an abomination to mankind. The Holy Ghost [is] going to get them.”

She also allegedly expressed bias toward litigants with Hispanic-sounding names. “They have a deceitful trait that goes way back to Biblical times,” she is quoted as saying. “The men are always stealing, and the women are no better. They lie, steal, and use their vaginas for anything they want.”

The affidavit also alleges that Thompson targeted natives of the West Indies, overweight co-workers, fellow female judges, white women, and Black women.

The New York Daily News noted, when reporting on her removal in December, that Thompson made repeated unprompted remarks to a reporter about Judaism. “I don’t want to be rude because I know Shabbat will be coming soon tonight,” she told the paper.

Thompson, who has not been removed from office and remains on the judicial payroll, filed a petition in April arguing for her return to the bench.

“I’m entitled to my day in court, to my right of confrontation, and to my right of cross-examination,” she said. “I categorically deny the allegations… You know what? It’s about integrity and character. That’s all I have. People lie, and people believe the lies.”

In court paper, attorneys for the state said that, “Although Petitioner claims that the administrative reassignment of her cases and the appointment of an acting Surrogate violate the law and constitute an abuse of discretion, an examination of those claims show them to be entirely without merit.”

Thompson was previously accused of homophobia by Richard Buckheit, a former public administrator appointed by judges to handle the estates of Brooklyn residents who die without wills. Buckheit, who is gay, faced several EEOC complaints about racism in 2016 as well as allegations of creating a hostile work environment.

In 2020, Thompson accused Buckheit of only hiring “young white males,” a claim Buckheit said was homophobic.

Alum calls out “dystopian” proposed rule to notify parents if their kids check out library books

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2022/09/alum-calls-dystopian-proposed-rule-notify-parents-kids-check-library-books/

How far is the right wing going to take trying to wipe the LGBTQ+ kids from existence?   How are to hurt kids are they willing to go?   How much will society let them push intolerance and stomp out curiosity and learning new / different things?  These right wing red states are desperate to institute a 

The school board wanted to require permission slips for all books used in class too.
 
By      
Zach Coltrain
Zach Coltrain Photo: Campaign website
 

Zach Coltrain spent a lot of time at the Virginia Beach school board before he graduated high school in 2020, accepting awards and recognition for his academic and extra-curricular achievements. Now, “as a gay student and alumni of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools system,” Coltrain was “sickened” at the prospect of his former school district adopting a “worst-case” parental rights resolution.

He stood up and spoke out.

“This resolution does nothing to better education standards for students, it creates logistical nightmare-level obstacles, and it risks the safety of some of VBCPS’ most vulnerable students. I strongly urge you all to vote down this mess.”

The resolution authored by board member Laura Hughes mandated the school district “shall develop a system where parents receive an email when their students check out a book from the library,” and provided “all schools require a signature before any book is distributed in class,” giving parents the option to veto required class reading they find objectionable.

Coltrain broke it down point by point.

First, he took issue with the resolution’s assertion in the preamble, “Whereas the single most important indicator of student success is parental involvement.”

“Passing legislation that cements the importance and priority of parental involvement disregards any and all students whose parents can’t make that commitment to education,” said Coltrain. “Singling out students whose parents can’t prioritize their children’s education standards at all times is a sad but true result of some of the economic disparity issues within our community.”

Second, Coltrain took aim at the parental signature requirement for books distributed in class.

“Looking at how many issues arise from permissions slips for field trips, federal cards, beginning of the year paperwork stacks, and all else, teachers do not need the extra work, students don’t need the extra responsibility, and parents certainly do not need to be the reason a student loses educational value from their teacher and classroom because a piece of paper gets stuck in a student’s backpack. This is not practical.”

Last, Coltrain went after, “Point 3, oh boy. ‘Virginia Beach City Public Schools shall develop a system where parents receive an email when their students check out a book from the library.’ Without rehashing the fact that no one needs or wants this,” Coltrain said, he wanted to “highlight the absolute necessity of protecting students wanting to learn about personal, academic or any other topic of importance. Students who read a book about being queer or wanting to ski makes no difference.”

“I came out at the age of 12, because my school made me feel comfortable enough to discover and display that about myself,” Coltrain said. But plenty of people “don’t, and won’t have that luxury. Forcing students into that situation can compromise quality of life dramatically. This resolution creates that scenario guaranteed.”

Coltrain was applauded for his concise, and heartfelt, advocacy.

After a contentious meeting, Hughes’ original parental rights resolution was voted down, and a compromise version, without the parental notifications, was adopted. It did, however, keep language from the preamble that Coltrain objected to, leaving the former student a fight for another day.

He could have a chance soon enough. Coltrain is running to become the youngest representative ever elected to the Virginia House of Delegates.

 
 

Self inflicted wounds, two days of unnecessary work

As Nan said and I may be paraphrasing this a bit “It never stops for you does it”.  😢😜😒❤

 I lost two days of blogging and replying to comments, which before I was well on the way to catching up on my comments.    Ok let us start at the beginning. 

 Tuesday we had to take the cat Odie to the vet.   On Sunday night Ron noticed a blood spot on top of his pee in the litter box and he called me into the small bathroom where the cat boxes are.   Odie had been doing ever smaller pees, and we had thought he was forcing himself to pee because we give him treaties when he uses his box.   But the pees were getting smaller and smaller until they were only like a spoonful and on that Sunday night each one had a red spot in them.   I agreed in the morning he needed to go to the vet, and I did not agree to an emergency weekend night vet hospital visit, I did not want to spend over $800 dollars just to walk into the door, and then even more on what did not seem to really be upsetting the cat.    He was not crying and seemed OK.  So Monday, as soon as the vet office we use opened Ron was on the phone with them.   Ok to give Ron some cover, we had lost our wonderful Milo due to a kidney issue and we both still miss him.   They asked Ron questions, asked about the amount of blood, where it was, and the distress the cat was showing.   The reason for this is that vets are seriously short supply, and far more are needed.    Think about it, if you are willing to do that much education and medical training why not just go into human medicine where it is thought you can make more money.    I have found a good vet is well worth more money than they get paid, but most pet owners cannot afford what real pet treatment costs.   Because pet medical insurance is not pushed as much as human medical insurance most people are stunned and at a loss when a pet needs medical help.   They gave Ron a 9 AM Tuesday appointment.  

Good news is Odie is going to be OK and he is not dying.  The bad news is he is diabetic and had a UTI.  We have to give him a shot of 3 units of insulin twice a day.   Ron gave him the first shot but it seems I have been assigned that task since that first one.   

But all day Tuesday I noticed I was having trouble with web pages.  Slow loading and pictures / videos were not loading full until I refreshed the page.  On YouTube after a video going back to the main page took longer than normal, seeming to hang up at the three quarters mark.   On Wednesday morning Ron told me he had trouble Tuesday and so did James.   I said I would look at the router stats.  That is when I found my two desktop computers were blocked from the router sign in page.   But I could reach it with my phone.   I could also reach it with Ron’s laptop.  I reset the router, then did it again.   No changes.  I should have put two things together and got the right answer.   Instead I created two days of needless work and lost blogging time.   I run Nordsvpn, Norton 360 at the most aggressive settings, I have Norton’s Ultimate Utilities with their privacy settings all on, Ashampoo® WinOptimizer 25 with all the privacy settings on, I run CCleaner professional with that group of programs, and about four months ago I added the Kamo program from that same company.  Which recently got updated.  Put a pin in that.  Recent update, new computer problems.   I run most of that stuff on Ron’s computers also, but have not gotten around to adding Kamo yet.  

I figured I could dump both computers and get them all set up again in a few hours.   I keep forgetting that my windows programs are years older and so they need a lot of updates to get up to speed.   I have a ton of programs to install and sometimes update.   It now takes a day to just do the updates and also every windows update seems to require redoing all the settings to maintain privacy.  And some programs have to wait until windows is updated enough to let them install.   So Wednesday I spent the day loading / installing computer programs while checking to make sure I could access the router.   I stopped testing that after a few hours when it seemed to be working correctly.   

Thursday morning I got up, did the morning chores, fired up the computers, and decided to check the router.  Neither computer could access the router sign in page.   Again after all that work reloading and fix the computers the day before the problem was still there.    I decided to work just on the video computer and started with just resetting the operating system which would remove the added programs and fix windows without all the windows updating.  I then loaded each program and tested the computer’s ability to access the router sign on page.   All day loading programs, testing, loading the next one, updating, testing, redoing settings, testing.   All day it worked fine.   Then I loaded Kamo.  Bam.  I couldn’t access the sign on page of the router, it just wouldn’t open.  I deleted Kamo, cleaned the computer, and tried to open the sign on page of the router.   It opened right up.   I had found the thing keeping me from the router and it was not malware or a virus.   It was one of my own programs.  I like the program because I am serious about my privacy.  This program helps stop online tracking; it randomizes your computer’s fingerprint.   The website describes it as, Prevents online tracking · Prevents online ID theft · Shields your browsing history from prying eyes · Uncovers trackers, and stops them.  With every click, your digital fingerprint gets more detailed, so using a tool like Kamo becomes essential.  Kamo is a privacy application designed to keep your identity safe from the latest online tracking techniques. It works by injecting fake information into the data that makes up your digital fingerprint.

Well two days wasted but … it got worse.  I got up Friday morning after not being able to sleep much.  Did the morning chores, found the cat pooped on the floor of our bathroom, cleaned that up.    I took all my morning medications.  Two hours later I was getting nauseous and having abdominal cramps.   Ron said I did not look well.  I decided to have a bowl of vegetable soup to see if it would calm my stomach.   It did, but not the way I planned it.   I ate and then Ron asked if I wanted to go nap with him.   Yes I would.   As I walked to the bedroom my clenching belly got worse and I was sure I was going to throw up.   So I went into the bathroom just in case.   Sure enough, I vomited up all the soup, my medications, and my morning coffee.   When I returned to the bedroom Ron said I looked like I was having a bad allergic reaction.   We went for an hour and half nap.  I got feeling much better if tired.   Now I am trying to write this up, post it, look over a bit of news, and then do as many replies as possible today.   

To sum up the last few days.    Not every computer problem is caused by malware or viruses, some days the internet itself is under attack and slow, and I have to stop being so fast at just dumping the computers.   I made two days of needless work for myself that a bit of thought about the fact Kamo had just updated and if I wanted to see if it was the problem I could have just removed it, tested the ability to reach the router sign on page, then reinstalled it. I could have realized the one program difference between my desktops and Ron’s laptop was Kamo.   But everything is up and running very well.   Best wishes.    Hugs

 

SLATE: Roberts and Kavanaugh Issue a Surprise Warning Shot to Conservative Lawyers

Roberts and Kavanaugh Issue a Surprise Warning Shot to Conservative Lawyers
The justices will tolerate only so much funny business.

Read in Slate: https://apple.news/AhGnRe7c6QuqqG_zoQrpFgg

Shared from Apple News

HUFFPOST: I Taught My 4th Grade Class About White Privilege And Their Response Was Eye-Opening

I Taught My 4th Grade Class About White Privilege And Their Response Was Eye-Opening
“Students tackled the Louisiana literacy test, which was given to would-be Black voters in the 1960s. Every one of them failed.”

Read in HuffPost: https://apple.news/A3BjSSKZgTu23N4L2IK0HHQ

Shared from Apple News

Sent from my iPad,Best wishes and Hugs,
Scottie

A temporary win for equality. But It was close

https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/14/politics/supreme-court-yeshiva-university-lgbtq-student-club/index.html

Republican Tries Using Transphobia To Attract Hispanic And Latino Voters

Blake Masters joins Fox News’s Tucker Carlson to talk about why Arizona Hispanic voters will show up for Masters in great numbers this midterm election because they believe Hispanic families do not want their kids learning “woke garbage” such as terms like latinx and pronouns. The Majority Report crew talks about how Tucker’s segment is not intended for Latino voters but for old white people. The MR crew also talks about how awkward it would be if Masters, the assistant to Peter Thiel, lost his election for Senate after being one of his largest donors.