Iranian Protests: “They’d choose the women who were pretty and suited their appetite. then the officer would take one of them from the cell to a smaller, private room.” CNN: How Iran’s security forces use rape to quell protests. The world has to support Iran’s women and protesters.

+ Heeling Touch: “As the shooter was pinned under a barrage of punches from Fierro and kicks to the head from James, he tried to reach for his pistol. Fierro grabbed it and used it as a bludgeon … When a clubgoer ran by in heels, Fierro told her to kick the gunman. She stuffed her high-heeled shoe in the attacker’s face, Fierro said. Del Lusional, a drag queen who performed at Club Q on Saturday night, said on Twitter that the patron who intervened with her heel was a transgender woman.” ‘It’s the reflex’: Veteran helped disarm gunman at gay club. Meanwhile, the reason such heroism was needed in the first place: Colorado shooting suspect purchased gun despite 2021 bomb threat arrest.

+ Highs and Lows: Good cholesterol may not be that good after all.

+ Bear Hug: “When Brown University’s baseball season starts in February, one of the players taking the field will make history. Olivia Pichardo, a first-year student from Queens, N.Y., will be first woman on the roster of a Division I college baseball team in the U.S.”

+ Bahama Mama: “Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, his parents and senior executives of the failed cryptocurrency exchange bought at least 19 properties worth nearly $121 million in the Bahamas over the past two years, official property records show. Separately, attorneys for FTX said on Tuesday that one of the company’s units spent $300 million in the Bahamas buying homes and vacation properties for its senior staff.”

+ Bee Best: “Hours after Elon Musk took control of Twitter in late October, the Trust and Safety team responsible for combating hate speech on the site received an urgent directive: Bring back the Babylon Bee.” WaPo: Musk’s ‘free speech’ agenda dismantles safety work at Twitter. That was the whole point of the purchase. Truth Social probably has a more moderate owner…

+ Avatar Pit: GQ: The Return of James Cameron, Box Office King. “The Way of Water was expensive to make—How expensive? ‘Very fucking,’ according to Cameron, who told me he’d informed the studio that the film represented ‘the worst business case in movie history.’ In order to be profitable, he’d said, ‘you have to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history. That’s your threshold. That’s your break even.'” SBF thinks this is a risky business model…