US House Of Representatives 3: The Dems Govern While The GQPers Genuflect To The Former Guy

[47of74]

Rep Biggs (Traitor-AZ) was whining about NPR on twitter  

He promptly got ratioed for his dumbass tweet. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Sigh:

 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

9 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Sigh:

 

Wrong wrong WRONG! The point of the military is primarily to keep peace. The second point is to protect with as little damage (human and otherwise) as possible. Oh hey guess who never served in the military? I’ll give you a hint- his name is VERY close to the delicious cookie line Chips Ahoy (the soft ones are the best!)

[GreyhoundFan]

I’m already done with Qevin’s grandstanding. 

 

Also, many of his fellow rethuglikans wouldn’t understand 99.999% of the constitution. They certainly don’t understand the second amendment. 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

1 hour ago, GreyhoundFan said:

I’m already done with Qevin’s grandstanding. 

 

Also, many of his fellow rethuglikans wouldn’t understand 99.999% of the constitution. They certainly don’t understand the second amendment. 

I have a better idea. Have all members of Congress take the same test on the Constitution I had to take in 8th grade. A passing grade was required in order to advance to high school. (One part was to write the Preamble word for word. God bless everyone who was involved in that episode of Schoolhouse Rock.) I think a passing grade should be required to retain a seat in Congress. 

[front hugs > duggs]

9 hours ago, AlmostSavedAtTacoBell said:

I have a better idea. Have all members of Congress take the same test on the Constitution I had to take in 8th grade. A passing grade was required in order to advance to high school. (One part was to write the Preamble word for word. God bless everyone who was involved in that episode of Schoolhouse Rock.) I think a passing grade should be required to retain a seat in Congress. 

Or be able to pass the citizenship test, but maybe have to answer more questions (I’d expect government leaders should know more than an average citizen). 
 

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/questions-and-answers/100q.pdf

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

10 hours ago, front hugs > duggs said:

Or be able to pass the citizenship test, but maybe have to answer more questions (I’d expect government leaders should know more than an average citizen). 
 

https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/questions-and-answers/100q.pdf

I agree they should have to know more than the average citizen, but I was noting that my fellow 8th graders and I clearly knew more than some sitting members of Congress and even TFG who clearly couldn’t even name the three branches of government, their functions, and their powers (including power limits.) I would totally be on board with your suggestion though. When I deal with people who complain about the immigrants, I challenge them to pull up the test on their phone right there, take a look at it, and honestly ask themselves if they could pass it. I point out that not only do the immigrants trying to become US citizens have to pass a test they themselves probably couldn’t, which makes the immigrants more knowledgeable about our country than they, but that test is only one part of the arduous process to become a U.S. citizen so the immigrants are likely MORE committed to this country as they have had to do far more to be a U.S. citizen than just be born on US territory. 

[front hugs > duggs]

1 hour ago, AlmostSavedAtTacoBell said:

I agree they should have to know more than the average citizen, but I was noting that my fellow 8th graders and I clearly knew more than some sitting members of Congress and even TFG who clearly couldn’t even name the three branches of government, their functions, and their powers (including power limits.) I would totally be on board with your suggestion though. When I deal with people who complain about the immigrants, I challenge them to pull up the test on their phone right there, take a look at it, and honestly ask themselves if they could pass it. I point out that not only do the immigrants trying to become US citizens have to pass a test they themselves probably couldn’t, which makes the immigrants more knowledgeable about our country than they, but that test is only one part of the arduous process to become a U.S. citizen so the immigrants are likely MORE committed to this country as they have had to do far more to be a U.S. citizen than just be born on US territory. 

And in many cases, having to answer these difficult questions in a language that isn’t their native one. My husband is English, so that isn’t a struggle for him, but when we’ve gone through different parts of the green card process, we’ve both been very confused at times, and we aren’t even dealing with a language barrier. I can’t fathom how daunting this process would be otherwise. 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[Ozlsn]

I cannot get over how much time and energy some people spend on fighting something that literally will affect them in no way whatsoever. I wish they would take a third of that energy even and look for solutions to climate change, hunger, etc.

[Howl]

EDIT: Gack! WRONG THREAD, y'all!   Sinema is the senior Senator from AZ; not House.  

And just like that, whack-a-doo pretend Democrat and fashion icon Kyrsten Sinema is now an Independent.  Really, no surprise there.  

 

 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Howl

[Howl]

So, let's say Kevin McCarthy can't muster sufficient votes to be Speaker.  What then? Who will be put forth? What horror is waiting in the wings? 

Will Republicans find someone who is interested in putting forth policy or will it just be the usual wing nut performative idiocy. 

After the gravitas of the Jan 6th committee, it won't look good if they begin with the same idiotic screeching that was on display during the impeachment hearings. 

[Xan]

36 minutes ago, Howl said:

After the gravitas of the Jan 6th committee, it won't look good if they begin with the same idiotic screeching that was on display during the impeachment hearings. 

They don't care about looking good.  They only care about their base.  I have a terrible feeling that the screeching monkeys will have their way in the end and it will be someone like Andy Biggs.  Marjorie Taylor Greene will refuse to compromise.  The Trumpers are like their idol.  They'll burn it all down before they'll be forced to lose face.

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

7 hours ago, Xan said:

They don't care about looking good.  They only care about their base.  I have a terrible feeling that the screeching monkeys will have their way in the end and it will be someone like Andy Biggs.  Marjorie Taylor Greene will refuse to compromise.  The Trumpers are like their idol.  They'll burn it all down before they'll be forced to lose face.

It’s what every R who refused to denounce Trump deserves. Many continued to laud him until he became too toxic and then didn’t condemn him but just switched entirely to “Biden sucks” mode or worse, “Hunter Biden’s laptop” mode. The few who had the moral fortitude to stand up from the beginning and say the emperor has no clothes were punished severely by their own party. I am enjoying watching Mitch see his own chances at leading the Senate go away because of Trump and his ilk taking away what should have been an easy swing to R majority in that chamber of Congress. The battle for control of the House head is just a bonus blooper reel. The party is fighting so hard within itself because so many of the members either used Trump when he was useful or stood by quietly to keep their own careers safe, all sure that when the time came the beast they had allowed to grow could be easily defeated. Well, that particular beast has cost them the White House and their red wave but within the party is wreaking destruction and it appears no one is able to stop it. So their own “enemy”, the Ds, have mastered their own beast and in the midterms for the most part turned it against them by gambling that putting money behind the Trump type candidates they would stop the red wave. It worked. It also looks good for 2024 because Trump, to the dismay of the Rs, is insisting on running again for POTUS. He is a wrecking ball now and they know it. (Yes, I am missing metaphors.) The ones who stood up at the beginning can rightfully feel vindicated. They knew and they tried to stop it all from happening. Hell, we knew. Let them reap what they sowed. The seeds of Trump were always disloyalty, deception, and distrust. It’s no wonder the garden has been choked out by weeds and anything that was once considered bountiful and useful is struggling if not dead. 

[Ozlsn]

On 12/11/2022 at 12:14 AM, Howl said:

So, let's say Kevin McCarthy can't muster sufficient votes to be Speaker.  What then? Who will be put forth? What horror is waiting in the wings? 

Well I can think of a couple of horrors offhand - about the only advantages of some of them would be they would be too busy screeching to actually organise... also there's a good chance they won't show up.

[Howl]

A report from the Pentagon inspector general has confirmed what we all knew about DaDooRonRon (Ronny Jackson R-Drunk), former WH physician now representing TX District 13.  Basically, classic raging alcoholic behavior:  screaming at and belittling subordinates, taking Ambien, sexual harassment, drunk on the job.  

Scathing report finds Rep. Ronny Jackson engaged in 'inappropriate conduct' as White House doctor Jackson denied the allegations, saying he would never conduct himself in a way that undermines his oath to the country or his constituents.

[GreyhoundFan]

This is a good sit down with Nancy and Chuck:

 

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

5 hours ago, GreyhoundFan said:

This is a good sit down with Nancy and Chuck:

 

I really enjoyed their description of their relationship. I absolutely believe they are very close and like brother and sister. Chuck Schumer praising Nancy Pelosi for how she handled Trump was really nice. They were raised in a generation where women were “lessee than” men even more than now (although it feels like we are going backwards) so knowing that to rise to the ranks they both achieved usually takes a lot of ego it says something that he was quick to give her credit for being the one who wrangled Trump. 

[Howl]

So, about Republican Congressman-elect George Santos,  elected by the folks in northern Long Island. 

The New York Times just published an  exposé: Who Is Rep.-Elect George Santos? His Résumé May Be Largely Fiction.  Mr. Santos, a Republican from New York, says he’s the “embodiment of the American dream.” But he seems to have misrepresented a number of his career highlights. (paywalled, so a snip below and more under the spoiler)

<snip> "His campaign biography amplified his storybook journey: He is the son of Brazilian immigrants, and the first openly gay Republican to win a House seat as a non-incumbent. By his account, he catapulted himself from a New York City public college to become a “seasoned Wall Street financier and investor” with a family-owned real estate portfolio of 13 properties and an animal rescue charity that saved more than 2,500 dogs and cats."

More from the NYT article under the spoiler -- deep dives into the items claimed on his bio found no evidence to support any of it: education, work history, animal rescue, finances, none of it.  "But he seems to have misrepresented a number of his career highlights" is a serious understatement, and avoids saying Santos fabricated a life + blatantly lied his achievements.  His animal rescue group did one fundraiser, but sent exactly $0 to the beneficiary.

Spoiler

Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, the marquee Wall Street firms on Mr. Santos’s campaign biography, told The Times they had no record of his ever working there. Officials at Baruch College, which Mr. Santos has said he graduated from in 2010, could find no record of anyone matching his name and date of birth graduating that year.

There was also little evidence that his animal rescue group, Friends of Pets United, was, as Mr. Santos claimed, a tax-exempt organization: The Internal Revenue Service could locate no record of a registered charity with that name.

His financial disclosure forms suggest a life of some wealth. He lent his campaign more than $700,000 during the midterm election, has donated thousands of dollars to other candidates in the last two years and reported a $750,000 salary and over $1 million in dividends from his company, the Devolder Organization.

Yet the firm, which has no public website or LinkedIn page, is something of a mystery. On a campaign website, Mr. Santos once described Devolder as his “family’s firm” that managed $80 million in assets. On his congressional financial disclosure, he described it as a capital introduction consulting company, a type of boutique firm that serves as a liaison between investment funds and deep-pocketed investors. But Mr. Santos’s disclosures did not reveal any clients, an omission three election law experts said could be problematic if such clients exist.

And while Mr. Santos has described a family fortune in real estate, he has not disclosed, nor could The Times find, records of his properties.

This guy has built a complete house of cards. If he has invented an entire resume, what was he up to in his actual life?  He's been evicted TWICE in New York.  Where did all of his wealth come from? 

He also claims Jewish heritage through his mother's side of the family and has courted the Jewish vote, but now that's being called into question as well. Congressman-elect George Santos campaigned as a Jewish Republican. Was he lying?

I'm going to speculate that anyone who fabricates to that extent will have many, many skeletons in his closet.  As my best friend always says, "More will be revealed." 

Edited December 20, 2022 by Howl

[CTRLZero]

2 hours ago, Howl said:

I'm going to speculate that anyone who fabricates to that extent will have many, many skeletons in his closet.  As my best friend always says, "More will be revealed." 

I’ll be looking for updates on this story.  🍿 What can be done about officials who so blatantly lie to get elected?  I saw a mention that he might be in trouble due to campaign finance rules, but I wonder if there are any other penalties.  Probably his constituents don’t care, as long as he has that “R” designation.  

[AlmostSavedAtTacoBell]

46 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

I’ll be looking for updates on this story.  🍿 What can be done about officials who so blatantly lie to get elected?  I saw a mention that he might be in trouble due to campaign finance rules, but I wonder if there are any other penalties.  Probably his constituents don’t care, as long as he has that “R” designation.  

MadCaw got in trouble for violating the campaign finance rules. If the Rs in power think he’s another Maddy they may go that route on him too. 

[Howl]

OK, since this involves a bitch fight between  *FJ, ARE YOU READY?*   MTG and Boebert, who apparently doesn't believe in Jewish Space Lasers. 

 

[AnywhereButHere]

https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/the-gop-could-lose-a-precious-house?r=gc6me&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email

This is an interesting look at Santos. Lying on his CV, lying about his college attendance, questionable income/campaign funding sources, evading a criminal past in Brazil?And yeah, why didn't Zimmerman and the Democratic Party leadership expose all this before the damn election. You can't make this shit up. Unfortunately. 

 

Spoiler

Hoo boy. This story is peak 2022.

The GOP has no shortage of “colorful” characters in its House caucus, from QAnon conspiracy peddlers like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) to gun-toting Christian Nationalists like Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to professional trolls under federal investigation for sex trafficking like Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). I could go on. But the latest character to emerge is Rep. George Santos (R-NY)—if that’s even his real name. Reporter Benjamin Dryer aptly described Santos as “the love child of Marco Rubio and Kari Lake” and now it’s hard to unsee. Santos’s story is perhaps the weirdest I have ever written about…and I’ve covered Hershel Walker. But welcome to late stage Republicanism.

Santos, 34, describes himself as a gay (sorry, fam), Latino Republican—a rare combination of identities that may be the only true things about him. In November, he ran again for a House seat in a race he had lost in 2020, but this time he won as part of the GOP wave that swamped suburban districts in the state of New York. His victory helped Kevin McCarthy attain a narrow majority in the House.

But voters in his district are fuming after the New York Times published an exposé suggesting that almost nothing about Santos’s resume is actually true. Let’s review some of what smells really rotten.

Subscribed

Apparent Lies About His Background

Santos claims he graduated from Baruch College, but neither the Times nor a separate investigation by NPR could confirm this. The school told NPR it had found no match for a George Santos born July 22, 1988 with a graduation year of 2010.

A biography of Santos on the National Republican Congressional Committee’s website also claimed he attended NYU for a time, but the university found no record of his attendance, and according to the Times that claim is not repeated anywhere else.

Santos has stated that he worked for both Citigroup and Goldman Sachs as a “seasoned Wall Street financier and investor,” but both companies told the Times that they had no record of him working for their firms.

Santos supposedly ran “Friends of Pets United,” a non-profit that rescued 2400 dogs and 280 cats, but the Times could find no record of that organization ever existing as a tax-exempt charity.

Santos even claimed in an interview with WNYC Public Radio that four of his employees died in the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, in 2016, but the Times could find nothing linking any of the victims to companies or firms associated with Santos. (This claim is particularly galling, if untrue, because it amounts to leveraging the real pain and deaths of others for political gain.)

All of this points not to a rags-to-riches story of success, but to a conman who pathologically lied his way into his position. Now, it might be highly unethical to outright lie about your entire CV while running for Congress, but it’s probably not illegal. So it’s worth also noting that there are some extremely shady facts around Santos’s finances and criminal background worth exploring too, which could land him quickly in legal trouble and even force a resignation.

Where Does His Money Come From?

On the surface, Santos looks and acts like a person of great means. He lent his campaign $700,000 for his midterm election and donates extensively to other candidates. He reported a $750,000 salary and dividends of over $1 million from his company, Devolder Organization, which Santos has described as his “family firm” that does “capital introduction consulting” with over $80 million in 13 different real estate assets. 

Here’s where things get weird. The Devolder Organization has no website or LinkedIn profile, and the Times could find no record of these real properties nor any disclosures of any of its consulting clients—a problem under election law if such clients actually exist. Also, while Santos reported between $1 million and $5 million in dividends on his Congressional disclosure form for 2022, this compares with just $55,000 in income he reported from a different employer when he ran for the same seat two years earlier. That’s quite a jump.

A separate investigation a year ago by Talking Points Memo, conducted after Santos made up a story about gas prices, raised some serious questions about the Devolder Organization. The company appears to have been first registered by Santos in May 2021, but then it ceased to exist in September 2022 due to failure to file annual paperwork. If the records are correct, as Josh Marshall of TPM notes, “[S]ometime between his first and second run in 2020 and 2022 Santos became a millionaire super fast with a company that seems to have no paper trail besides a Florida corporate registration that lapsed after one year for not filing an annual report.”

Then, surprise, surprise, just days ago on December 20, 2022, according to a follow-up report by Talking Points Memo, Santos filed documents to have his company reinstated. Is Santos trying to cover his tracks? Where did all that money come from, and who is behind it? Does he really have a wealthy family, or is he being secretly financed by third parties? And why has he not disclosed any of this?

Adding to the smoke is the fact that Santos is apparently a fugitive from the law in Brazil. The Times reported that Santos faced criminal charges for stealing checks at age 19 from a man his mother was caring for and making fraudulent purchases with them. Two years later, at age 21, Santos confessed to the crimes and was charged, but then didn’t respond to an official summons and could not be located at his given address, according to a Brazilian court representative. This time period overlaps with the time Santos claims he was attending Baruch College, which again has no record of his attendance.

So What Happens Now?

It’s extremely frustrating that these reports of Santos’s fabricated resume, shady finances, and criminal record are coming out only now, weeks after the election. The Democratic Party and Santos’s general election opponent have committed what amounts to political malpractice by not surfacing any of this through standard opposition research. There are already calls for Santos to resign and for a federal investigation, particularly over his financial disclosures and whether he has committed election fraud by failing to report, or by misreporting, his sources of income and his supposed clients. It would comes as a surprise to many if it turned out Santos had one or more big financial backers, perhaps even foreign ones, who really don’t want their identities to be known.

For his part, Santos has issued a statement which blasts the New York Times for having it out for him but failed to rebut any of the allegations or provide any information to support his biographical claims or financial disclosures. Santos’s office is likely in damage control mode, but it’s hard to see how this problem just goes away.

Looking at the larger political picture, Kevin McCarthy is unlikely to take action against Santos, who has already pledged his support for McCarthy to be Speaker. McCarthy cannot afford any more defections or lost votes at this time, so we aren’t likely to see him do the right thing here, namely to refuse to seat someone who has lied his way into office and apparently is a fugitive with a criminal past. It will be one more example of the party accepting the very worst candidates in order to achieve the votes it needs to hang on to power. (To add to the gross factor here, Santos recently attended a gala event in Manhattan that drew white nationalists, conspiracy theorists and European representatives of far-right parties.)

Legal questions are likely to dog Santos long after he presumably is seated in January. It will be up to his district constituents and the press to keep the pressure on Santos and to hold him accountable for any lies, cons, or illegal behavior. We’ll also have to see what action the Justice Department might undertake in light of the Times report, particularly over questions around Santos’s financial disclosures, who is bankrolling him, and that pesky criminal summons he fled in Brazil.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

His story just keeps getting better: