Tuesday, January 03, 2023

It Is Okay, He’s Our Guy.

For the Republicans all that matters to them is that they are Republican.

You can be a liar, a cheat, an adulterer, a racist, homophobe and transphobe, it doesn’t matter as long as you are a Republican and you give them a majority in the legislature.

Here is a guy who lied his way into office. Have you heard any Republicans in Congress speak out against him?

NBC News reported…

Santos, who made LGBTQ political history when he won the November race in New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which covers parts of Long Island and Queens, admitted to what he described as “overstat[ing]” and “embellishing” his qualifications in at least three interviews Monday.

Um… except he lied about being gay.

Politico wrote…

The Republican Jewish Coalition on Tuesday condemned Rep.-elect George Santos after he admitted to lying about key details of his credentials and misrepresenting his Jewish heritage.

Anything thing from the Republicans in Congress about this? Just crickets.

CNN

CNN’s KFile uncovered more falsehoods from Santos, including claims he was forced to leave a New York City private school when his family’s real estate assets took a downturn and stating he represented Goldman Sachs at a top financial conference where he berated the company for investing in renewables.

What have we heard from Republican congressional delegation?

From the NBC article…

There is at least one Republican defending Santos: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. In a Twitter thread posted Tuesday afternoon, Greene said the “real reason” Santos is being attacked by “the left” is that he is the “first openly gay Republican elected and they hate him for it.”

“I’m glad George is being honest with his district now and look forward to seeing how George legislates & votes,” Greene wrote.

Stand by your man.

Fox News

Washington Examiner columnist T. Becket Adams responded with the dreaded F word – facts. "Biden lied about being the first in his family to go to college, lied about his scholarship, lied about finishing in the top half of his class, lied about having 3 undergrad degrees, and lied about being a professor. but, by God, the law degree is real!" 

Oh look over there! Don’t look behind the curtain!

Fact check by CNN from January of last year,

The President also made multiple false claims about important policy matters, notably including three subjects that occupied much of his time: the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the economy and the Covid-19 pandemic.

And Biden was incorrect on numerous occasions when ad-libbing about a wide assortment of facts and figures – sometimes in a way that appeared inadvertent, but other times in a way that helped him make a political point.

Unlike his uniquely dishonest predecessor, Biden did not bury fact-checkers in a daily avalanche of serial falseness. Biden never came close to making a dozen false claims in a single speech, let alone five dozen false claims in one address, as Trump once did. In fact, the total number of Biden false claims so far is in the dozens, while Trump delivered well over 1,000 total false claims in his own first year and more than 3,000 the next year.

Biden is no Trump. With that said, dozens of false claims from the President of the United States is not nothing. And considering that Biden added dozens more claims that were misleading or lacking in important context, he provided more than enough material to keep fact-checkers on their toes.

I don’t know about you but I see a difference between the falsities that President Biden made and using falsities to get elected by claiming to be members of a minority. 

From the New York Times,

House Republican leaders were silent on Tuesday after Representative-elect George Santos admitted to a laundry list of falsehoods about his background but still vowed to be seated in Congress.

~~~~~~

Then we have the criminal investigations…

N.Y. Rep.-elect George Santos is being investigated for lying about his past
NPR
By AP News
December 29, 2022


U.S. Rep.-elect George Santos of New York was under investigation by Long Island prosecutors on Wednesday, after revelations surfaced that the now-embattled Republican lied about his heritage, education and professional pedigree as he campaigned for office.

Despite intensifying doubt about his fitness to hold federal office, Santos has shown no signs of stepping aside — even as he publicly admitted to a long list of lies.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly, a Republican, said the fabrications and inconsistencies were "nothing short of stunning."

"The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress," she said. "If a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it."

[…]

Federal campaign records show that he loaned his campaign more than $700,000, but the source of that money has yet to be explained.

They're also looking into other possible criminal irregularities in his campaign reports

Circle the wagons! We have to protect our boy!


Update: January 4, 2023 8:00AM

Well, it turns out that he might be a wanted man in Brazil.

The New York Times reported...

But an older criminal case may be more pressing: Brazilian law enforcement authorities intend to revive fraud charges against Mr. Santos, and will seek his formal response, prosecutors said on Monday.

The matter, which stemmed from an incident in 2008 regarding a stolen checkbook, had been suspended for the better part of a decade because the police were unable to locate him.

A spokeswoman for the Rio de Janeiro prosecutor’s office said that with Mr. Santos’s whereabouts identified, a formal request will be made to the U.S. Justice Department to notify him of the charges, a necessary step after which the case will proceed with or without him.

[...]

Mr. Santos admitted the fraud to the shop owner in August 2009, writing on Orkut, a popular social media website in Brazil, “I know I screwed up, but I want to pay.” In 2010, he and his mother told the police that he had stolen the checkbook of a man his mother used to work for, and used it to make fraudulent purchases.
Just another lying, stealing Republicans. You want to bet that the House Republicans just ignore it and circle the wagons?



Update: January 6, 2-23 @ 7:30 PM

It gets even worst, he is also a white supremist, the Advocate reported,
Waiting to be called, the incoming lawmaker stood in the aisle of the House chamber listening for his name to be called for the 10th time.

“Santos,” the clerk called out.

With his right hand raised and his left hand across his midsection, he made a sideways “OK” gesture by making his index finger and thumb meet. 

[...]

C-SPAN video of the incident shows that Santos had pre-positioned his hand along his body in an unusual way to create the gesture.

Far-right extremists, mainly white supremacists, have coopted the gesture to symbolize a “W” and “P” for white power, according to the Anti-Defamation League. 

The Southern Poverty Law Center also categorizes the gesture as a white power gesture but explains that on the right, the gesture is often used to troll liberals.

Because the gesture is similar to the innocuous “OK” symbol, context matters, the hate-group monitoring organization says.

When groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Front conduct their activities, they have been photographed flashing the gesture.

In those cases, the intent of the meaning of the sign is clear, but through gaslighting, those who make it claim just to be indicating that everything is all good, while often sporting a disingenuous smirk or grin, the SPLC reports.

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