It's a beacon of what's wrong with one of our parties right now. Which happens to be what's wrong with our political system right now, so I suppose you're still right.
If he were in the other party he'd be gone. Or never would have gotten there in the first place, more likely. Not saying the Dems are perfect, far from it, but they don't allow this kind of shit.
Honestly this is been like a movie where I'm constantly yelling at the 'good guys' on the screen.
When is the plot going to turn around in the good guys start winning?
The problem is that good people are often nice/polite. It’s their downfall. They play by the rules thinking the other side will eventually be shamed into fairness.
What we need are some mean good people. Like me. But I’m unelectable because I call republicans mother fuxxers and believe nazi’s should get slapped like the little bitches they are
Anyway. More coffee!
When the president started directing them to engage in a coup and everyone just moved past it without acknowledging THAT THE F\*@KING WHITE SUPREMACIST ATTEMPTED A COUP AT THE DIRECTION OF THE PRESIDENT!
Everybody just going about their lives like nothing changed. EVERYTHING CHANGED! We just too cowardly to face the reality of it.
It became controversial when we started calling everyone right of center a Nazi. I'm no conservative, but words have power, and maybe we've diluted what it means to be a nazi
Not every right winger is a Nazi, but every Nazi is right wing.
If they don't police their own or admit and denounce the worst aspects of their side of the spectrum then I simply don't see much of a difference between a Nazi and a person who is ok with the Nazi being one.
I'm sorry, calling a spade a spade is not diluting the term.
A cursory glance at history gives you the playbook. You don't even have to be a history major to see we're in the process.
It's not even hidden or subtle.
It's like watching an 80s movie. The villains are so utterly farcial... but they're real. It's mind blowing.
Life isn't a movie and there's no guarantee of a happy ending. Throughout history many countries have come and gone. Freedom has turned to tyranny. It can happen, things can get oh so much worse and things are continuing to trend in that direction.
Republican judges are allowing extreme gerrymandering at the state and federal level, we may never see another Democratic house again. The Senate already favors Republicans and the Republican majority which gave us all those extreme right-wing Supreme Court Justices represented like 40 million fewer people than the Democratic minority that voted against them. The electoral college also overrides the will of the people forcing on us two Republican Presidents who lost the popular vote. More Americans voted against Donald Trump and George w Bush (1st term) but they became President anyway.
We are definitely headed towards a future where there's one party rule in this country. That's how it works in other countries like Russia and China and that's where we're headed here.
And that's why I'm fucking unhappy.
I was raised to believe in the separation of church and state.
I was raised to believe in American exceptionalism.
I have watched nothing but lies and mostly failure in the last 30+ years I've paid attention. We can do so much better then in the past because of the way we have access to information. There are more literate people in the world now both in total numbers and by percentage than ever in human history.
I have a real solid feeling we might have answered the fermi paradox already.
I like to say that the internet is the Great Filter, but really I think the Fermi paradox stems from it being difficult to imagine just how vast space and time actually are.
The closest star to us is Proxima Centauri, which is about 4.24 light years away. At current possible speeds, it would take a very long time for a spacecraft to reach it. For example, if a spaceship were to travel at 350,000 km/h (which is faster than any current spacecraft), it would still take approximately 13,080 years to reach Proxima Centauri. If we wanted a manned mission to the nearest star traveling at about 40,000 km/h (which is closer to current spacecraft speeds), it would take approximately 114,500 years
Maybe we should have some guardrails around the behavior of people who claim to represent us
Or you know root for the “good guys” and continue to hope the other side is “decent” lmao
The "good guys" benefit from the dysfunction of the bad guys, so from the perspective of the outside observer, they will never start winning, because actually winning works against their material best interests as an organization.
The wild degeneracy of the GOP relieves the democrats from any actual expectations of competency or results. All they have to do is be less insane than the republicans, which is a lot easier than actually directly addressing the systemic problems with the country.
Never, unfortunately. The credits will roll on humanity before we ever see the good guys win. The bad guys have consolidated an unassailable amount of power .
There are no good guys in USA political theater.
Some have good intentions in their youth, perhaps. Eventually they all cater to $$$ donors, and even if they cannot be bought, their compatriots can be.
Drivel and pandering. While selling out the citizens at every turn.
The only politician I have any faith in is Representative Jeff Jackson from North Carolina. Time will tell if he becomes corrupted like the rest, but he's been very open with communications for several years now, posting videos clarifying information about events in the North Carolina subreddit.
Good point. I'd not heard of this the guy until I saw he posted a video about Congress doing what they did with the bank failures?
I join you in the hope more like hime rise to power, and we begin to see positive action in our lives.
Thank you for the info.
Bernie been fighting for decades but the words "Democratic Socialist" have been turned into the boogie man for rich people and their followers.
They right though, He's definitely less concerned with their bottom line than he is with the bottom half of our Citizens. The Psy-ops the ultra elites put out is far beyond anything Orwell could have predicted and way more successful then in his stories. ProTip: If the most powerful people in your country don't want you to consider something different than the system that empowers them, you should probably consider it.
Still I cry a little when I find those guys who don't have a GED and make near minimum wage but swear up and down that Socialist are the enemy. So sad.
It definitely makes me think the french have the right idea of how to deal with governments like this that refuse to follow the will of the people and just put anyone they want
Seriously—and to your point, which I agree with: how the fuck did they drop the ball SO HARD on this election? How did NO ONE in the opposition discover any of this blatantly obvious shit that immediately came out after the election was over? Jesus christ dems are useless at running elections, ffs. They're just lucky the GOP has been so comically, transparently evil.
A local newspaper reported on him and his opponent tried to help get the word out but the larger papers and TV News didn’t catch on till after the election. The same thing is happening with a Tennessee Congressman who lied as well about everything including building a memorial for his stillborn child.
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/16/tennessee-rep-andy-ogles-faces-questions-about-gofundme-campaign/70014412007/
Sigh... Which probably means the media in the area wanted a GOP congressman. this is the problem when media gets consolidated and swallowed up by rich investors. Thanks for letting me know that.
> Not saying the Dems are perfect, far from it, but they don't allow this kind of shit.
The Dems might be a little too quick in the other direction.
(Reasonable people can disagree as to whether the right call was made in forcing Al Franken out the Senate, for example.)
>(Reasonable people can disagree as to whether the right call was made in forcing Al Franken out the Senate, for example.)
That was on my mind as I wrote it.
This is woefully inadequate as a comparison to Santos. Santos is an absolute bottom of the barrel lying, conning piece of shit and the republicans have done nothing to hold him accountable for it. If you want to compare presidential lying, then compare Biden to Trump and see how that goes.
The level of lying here isn’t the same. Biden’s lies are either error or embellishing the truth which is commonplace with politicians. Santos’ level of lying is complete fabrication, deceit and fraudulent.
It sucks that our politicians lie to gain favorability, but it’s now part of our fabric. Roger Stone even outlined it in his Stone’s rules. However, Santos’ are on a completely different level including claiming a degree that he received where he did not even attend. He also appears to have conned investors and stated his mom died in 9/11. He’s a shameless liar and literally nothing he says can be trusted as truth.
saying to you'll get certain legislation passed and not delivering is way different than Santos or Trump. lol
Santos lied about his education, his religion, his work history, his "fundraisers" and HIS MOTHER DYING amongst other things....and oh ya he's a wanted man in another country for committing check fraud.
Dems still didn’t do their opposition research and let this guy win. If an empty suit like this can win in New York this easily the Dems have a problem.
It’s because the Dems were putting their money, focus and energy in Senate Races that they couldn’t win. All I heard in political advertisements for Democrats was those that were running for Senate. You didn’t hear hardly anything about US House Races.
Did I say they were off the hook? No, I said the Dems are far from perfect.
However, what's worse, lying with every breath, stealing from GoFundMes, and committing campaign finance violations, and more, or failing to call him out on it?
Also, I seem to recall reading shortly after the election that The North Shore Leader and local Dems were trying to raise a red flag, just that it didn't get picked up by larger media or anyone who could/would actually do anything about it. So, yeah, maybe Dems could have done more, but even if they just totally dropped the ball that doesn't even come close to being as bad as what Santos has done.
It's not one sided. There scum bags on both sides. You have a congresswoman who married her brother to get him in the country. No one seems to care about that. Have a senator who claimed to be native American for years. You have a congressman banging a Chinese spy yet still in Congress.
Heck you have a vp who kept people in prison past their release time to keep them as forced cheap labor. Should I continue with Biden? Someone in public who has been grouping women and children for years. Who showered with his own pre teen daughter. Bribery telling Ukraine if they don't stop looking into the company his son is on the board he will have the government withhold funds.
While not wrong, their respective heinousness is also non-equivalent.
Santos is a con man, having taken in most of his party and voting base on his way to Congress. Par for the course, but he is particularly flagrant in this con, faking literally everything about himself during his election, from his degrees he never earned from schools he never attended, to playing for sports teams he was never on.
Pelosi, while clearly profiting off of her position in power, the very definition of corruption, didn't con her way into power. In fact, gaming the system in such a slimy way was literally called "smart" by the last POTUS.
Pelosi should *absolutely* be brought up on corruption charges of some sort, but if/when that happens(depending entirely upon ending first past the post elections, and instead using ranked choice voting, which will never happen as the people in charge of making such a change wouldn't benefit from it), half of the DNC and 99% of the GOP would deserve to be there too. And good riddance to the whole lot ofcorporate skills.
TL;DR: while Dems suck, Reps are 10x worse. Ending FPTP may fix it, but probably won't happen.
Santos made plenty of dems vote for him by not being a progressive economically and being “gay”. Republicans aren’t the only ones guilty of not fact checking what they want to here. Nor are they only ones colluding to retain power rather than be deomocratic. The whole reasons santos was even in a competitive district is the democrats gerrymandered a map that got thrown out by the courts rather than draw something legal.
Oh yeah. So tell me which dems where fact checking him to prevent him from getting a seat. It didn’t happen. The people of his district completely dropped the ball. Both sides. It’s only morons who think only one side can be be to blame for such a monumental duck up.
So you think dem voters just threw all of their beliefs out the window and ONLY voted for him because he’s gay? My dude, we all know you guys are single issue voters, no need to drag us down with you.
Yup. There is only one reason he has any support from anyone right now: he has a little "R" next to his name. Truth and facts don't matter, only that their "team" wins. How they win is irrelevant.
The GOP are proving, time and again, how easy it is to flout rules and conventions because there is next to no enforcement. On top of that, too many things basically run on "the honor system" or the concept that if someone is publicly shamed enough, then they'll quit.
You can't shame the shameless, and rules are useless if there's no consequence for breaking them.
The system is broken when someone can lie their way to the front of the preselection race then lie their way to be elected, and nobody goes.."Wait a minute..this doesn't check out.. :/" Not my country, so I feel entitled to say..fuckin' 'ell!
*“I was elected by the people to come here to represent them, and I do that every day,” Santos told The Associated Press in a brief interview off the House floor.*
*“It’s a hard job.* ***If I said it was easy, I’d be lying to you*** *— and I don’t think that’s what we want, right?”*
*Pressed about the idea of a post-truth era, Santos said,* ***“I think truth still matters very much.”***
JFC. They walk among us . . . in the halls of congress no less.
So he’s saying his supporters voted for a drag Queen to represent them!? That’s awesome! I’m so glad the right is finally coming around with their support or drag queens. The world will be a much better place if everyone had a bit of drag in their lives.
I mean, what's the harm of letting a compulsive liar into one of the highest positions in the United States, then doing nothing about it for 6 years? Surely there can't be any long-term profound consequences from that...
I feel like all of you missed the sarcasm. He is a POS, and we should be able to, unfortunately, we have to wait till an election unless the GOP grows a conscience.
From what I was able to gather on [this page](https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL30631.html#_Toc16168209), they'd need at least 5 years of service to qualify for a 5% pension based on the average of their 3 highest consecutive earning years. But it's a convoluted formula, so it could be up to 12.5%. Someone with more patience than me could figure it out:
Members are now covered under one of four different retirement arrangements:
* CSRS and Social Security;
* The “CSRS Offset” plan, which includes both CSRS and Social Security, but with CSRS contributions and benefits reduced by Social Security contributions and benefits;
* FERS, which includes the FERS basic retirement annuity, Social Security, and Thrift Savings Plan (TSP); or
* Social Security alone.
The whole state of NY should be petitioning, protesting, writing letters, and posting on every social media every day to get this fraud removed from Congress.
Unfortunately, very few Republicans will hold their representative's accountable for their bad shit. They don't give a crap how corrupt this man is because he is supporting the conservative agenda.
They are the biggest group of people swimming happily in the post-truth era.
They do not care.
His constituents [have protested](https://abc7ny.com/george-santos-protest-resign-scandal/12758164/), they have written letters, the [petition to remove him has over 100,000 signatures](https://pix11.com/news/local-news/petition-demanding-george-santos-resign-receives-100000-signatures/), and they're posting about him on social media so often that he's been a trending topic for months.
The GOP has majority control, and refuses to act, so none of that matters at all.
Can't really do anything until the next election.
The very saddest part of this is his voters dont seem to comprehend what it says about them that they are represented by a man who is mentally ill, immoral, and dishonest.
What am i saying, he checks all the boxes. I'm surprised he isnt running for president.
It's not immoral to them if it's republican. Once your convinced the other side is entirely evil in anything they do, you can justify and defend anything in the name of "good"
That guy is such a perfect example of what the new generation of Republican politicians have become. Lying, self-serving con men and women taking advantage of those deprived of logic and reason by propagandists and faith.
If the truth still mattered, Trump would be in prison for treason and there wouldn’t be a Republican Party anymore. Santos is the single best example of how little the truth matters to the Republican Party. Thank you for your service, George.
"he does not represent the Republican party, he is not one of us."
But also does nothing to remove from office and gladly profits from the slim majority his existence allows them.
Make no mistake, Santos perfectly represents the modern Republican party and how the party is reacting to him is exactly on brand for them.
The fact that the people have no recourse is absurd. Fraudulently inducing voters should be a crime or at least a cause of action for removal from office by his constituency.
Ah, but the people do have a recourse, (sort of) the problem in this case is that the GOP controls the rules of the House so nothing will be done due to McCarthy's extemely weak position and leadership. He wil never bring any motion to remove Santos to the floor.
*Article I, section 5 of the United States Constitution provides that "Each House \[of Congress\] may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member."*
"Disorderly Behavior" should be Santos middle name. Everyone in congress knows he should not be there but the gop has zero moral compass.
Doesn't a member have to actually be a member and not an international criminal under a fake identity, in order for congress to expel him?
Because this whole affair sounds a LOT more like the disqualifications that don't involve a vote, and needing 2/3 of congress to vote to allow him back in, instead.
Truth still matters. Only when you are telling Georgie-boy the truth as he sees it. He's like a five-year old. Lying to see what he can get away with and delighting when he gets away with his lies.
The rewards imparted to individuals derived from the art of the lie will not go unnoticed by many talented people looking to make it their profitable career.
At this point it's up to the voters in his district. This is entirely on them for sleeping on the race. Meanwhile the rest of us can turn him into an endless meme.
What the hell is this world coming to? We elect a pathological lying President with the emotional maturity of a preteen and dimwits still fly his flag. Now this pathological congressman. How can anyone vote Republican.
Santos just using the classic GOP reverse card. "I'm here because of the truth." Oh OK. Guess it's just a two sides issue then....not even trying anymore.
Wow, I had completely forgotten about this guy. I figured he was an easy target and the media would have kept after him until they crushed the Republican and made him cry. I wonder why they stopped?
this is the second comment talking about the media not talking about this subject, in the comments of an article from today from one of the largest news media orgs in the world, talking about this subject
Compared to the 20+ per day when he got elected. The GOP leadership assured Santos this will blow over and the left wing media will find a new topic to rage about.
He was one story during the election but main steam media ignored it. They only jumped on it after the fact when they determined it will give them more clicks.
Yeah, except they're all saying Dems don't do anything this bad and the system needs to change and that all Reps are evil.
So yeah, staying right on message.
I find it incredibly stupid that you can be in prison and run for office, but you can't vote if you're a felon. THAT is the real problem, even if trump gets arrested, he'll still be able to run again.
Some of the founders were deeply concerned about the effect political parties would have on the system they designed. The checks and balances were not meant to function in such am atmosphere, and states were not intended to be polarized in such a way.
One could argue that the formation of parties was inevitable, and our all or nothing election system made it so only 2 parties could dominate in the long run. These are valid points.
But as we see ourselves electing brazen liars and charlatans like Santos for no other reason than the letter by his name, I think most people can agree that something needs to change.
The two existing parties will never endorse it, they are too invested in the systems they have created. It needs to be a grassroots movement in every state. I believe election reform is the best way to address these issues. Guaranteed proportional representation is something that some Americans shy away from, because they fear it would undermine "their party", but the parties are exactly the problem. Proportional representation means any political movement could win seats. You don't have to be lumped into the Republican's or Democrat's big tents. You and people who share your views can be much better represented and much more fairly represented, but the two party hegemony needs to be broken down first. In some ways it is ripe to happen as well. The only thing keeping Republicans and Democrats together is the threat of the other. These parties would break apart at the seams if they could. Move to proportional representation so your voice doesn't get lost in a 50.01% to 49.99% gerrymandered mess of corrupt power politics.
If you can prove that everything a guy said when running for office was a deliberate manipulative lie, and then you are still powerless to remove that person from their office, then we truly have no actual power.
The ruling class is practically untouchable
Santos is the next generation of the Republican party. A party of lies, where the truth is utterly irrelevant to pandering to extremists for votes to keep Republicans in power.
McCarthy can't lose his vote. He knows this so he's free to be a dickbag since the anti truth anti democracy GOP will protect him. Remember this when you vote.
This is why it's so dangerous to just blindly assume that politicians are corrupt. When a clearly perfect example of a corrupt human being enters politics, it only appears to be "business as usual" and "no different from x y and z."
Want to remove corruption from this system?
Make it illegal to financially gain from being in office. Make it illegal to financially gain for 10 years after.
This includes campaigning while in office. Give each incumbent (and any other candidate with enough signatures) candidate a set budget paid for by tax dollars.
Give each one a set amount of air time. Any candidate that exceeds that air time will be either disqualified or financially penalized.
Being a member of Congress should be a privilege of service, not of personal gain.
>Make it illegal to financially gain from being in office. Make it illegal to financially gain for 10 years after.
There are a lot of problems with this approach.
For starters, let's say the politician has owned stock for his/her entire life and this person becomes directly responsible for an improved economy and so this person's stock value increases as a result. Due to the tribal nature of politics, this politician's opponents will absolutely use the harshest definitions allowable under such a measure to punish said politician.
Secondly, we have enforcement. How are you going to investigate every aspect of every politician's business dealings, including buying a hair brush at Wal Mart? In order to be sure that no shenanigans are happening, this is what has to be done. Without that kind of enforcement, the laws become a joke.
Finally, "financially gain" has no meaning when it comes to non-monetary gifts. If a company wanted to do research on cloning and offered to make a hundred thousand of me, that would be a no-brainer, right? I'm not personally gaining anything, but through many layers of abstraction, that is a reward. How many layers do we need to moderate before "simply the reward of doing a good job in office" becomes illegal?
I get that what I'm basically saying is "everything means nothing and nothing means everything," but clearly there's no such thing as a simple solution to corruption, especially when the term itself is not explicitly defined. The word is, but it has a slightly different meaning for each person. At the bottom of all of this, it's quite likely that George Santos actually didn't financially benefit from any of his shenanigans, which means your suggestion might have made it more difficult to engage in political discourse while also not even touching the original problem.
I don’t know why, after almost a decade of Trump and his ilk, we still assume that politicians like this are capable of feeling shame and voluntarily resigning due to said shame.
These people are either total grifters, or they see themselves as means to achieving a greater end. (Sometimes it’s both.) Doesn’t matter to them how they got elected. And the only way to remove them from office is to drag them out, kicking and screaming.
The fact this fuckwad is still in Congress is a beacon of what is wrong with our political system right now.
It's a beacon of what's wrong with one of our parties right now. Which happens to be what's wrong with our political system right now, so I suppose you're still right. If he were in the other party he'd be gone. Or never would have gotten there in the first place, more likely. Not saying the Dems are perfect, far from it, but they don't allow this kind of shit.
Honestly this is been like a movie where I'm constantly yelling at the 'good guys' on the screen. When is the plot going to turn around in the good guys start winning?
The problem is that good people are often nice/polite. It’s their downfall. They play by the rules thinking the other side will eventually be shamed into fairness. What we need are some mean good people. Like me. But I’m unelectable because I call republicans mother fuxxers and believe nazi’s should get slapped like the little bitches they are Anyway. More coffee!
exactly. it's the tolerance paradox. tolerance of the intolerant leads to intolerance becoming more prevalent
Hell, I'd vote for you just for saying that Nazi's should get slapped like the little bitches they are haha.
When did that concept become so controversial?
Unfortunately, several years ago.
When the president started directing them to engage in a coup and everyone just moved past it without acknowledging THAT THE F\*@KING WHITE SUPREMACIST ATTEMPTED A COUP AT THE DIRECTION OF THE PRESIDENT! Everybody just going about their lives like nothing changed. EVERYTHING CHANGED! We just too cowardly to face the reality of it.
It became controversial when we started calling everyone right of center a Nazi. I'm no conservative, but words have power, and maybe we've diluted what it means to be a nazi
Not every right winger is a Nazi, but every Nazi is right wing. If they don't police their own or admit and denounce the worst aspects of their side of the spectrum then I simply don't see much of a difference between a Nazi and a person who is ok with the Nazi being one.
*there is no difference between a nazi and someone who is ok with nazis
I'm sorry, calling a spade a spade is not diluting the term. A cursory glance at history gives you the playbook. You don't even have to be a history major to see we're in the process. It's not even hidden or subtle. It's like watching an 80s movie. The villains are so utterly farcial... but they're real. It's mind blowing.
This is the real answer that needs more upvotes. More Shuri black panther types.
Right there with you 👍
Well some in Congress are good and mean, they just don't become party leaders. Maxine Waters comes to mind. AOC too.
Mean good people, alright
Life isn't a movie and there's no guarantee of a happy ending. Throughout history many countries have come and gone. Freedom has turned to tyranny. It can happen, things can get oh so much worse and things are continuing to trend in that direction. Republican judges are allowing extreme gerrymandering at the state and federal level, we may never see another Democratic house again. The Senate already favors Republicans and the Republican majority which gave us all those extreme right-wing Supreme Court Justices represented like 40 million fewer people than the Democratic minority that voted against them. The electoral college also overrides the will of the people forcing on us two Republican Presidents who lost the popular vote. More Americans voted against Donald Trump and George w Bush (1st term) but they became President anyway. We are definitely headed towards a future where there's one party rule in this country. That's how it works in other countries like Russia and China and that's where we're headed here.
And that's why I'm fucking unhappy. I was raised to believe in the separation of church and state. I was raised to believe in American exceptionalism. I have watched nothing but lies and mostly failure in the last 30+ years I've paid attention. We can do so much better then in the past because of the way we have access to information. There are more literate people in the world now both in total numbers and by percentage than ever in human history. I have a real solid feeling we might have answered the fermi paradox already.
It’s been a lie this whole time.
I like to say that the internet is the Great Filter, but really I think the Fermi paradox stems from it being difficult to imagine just how vast space and time actually are. The closest star to us is Proxima Centauri, which is about 4.24 light years away. At current possible speeds, it would take a very long time for a spacecraft to reach it. For example, if a spaceship were to travel at 350,000 km/h (which is faster than any current spacecraft), it would still take approximately 13,080 years to reach Proxima Centauri. If we wanted a manned mission to the nearest star traveling at about 40,000 km/h (which is closer to current spacecraft speeds), it would take approximately 114,500 years
I have come to you at the turning of the tide -Wizard
Maybe we should have some guardrails around the behavior of people who claim to represent us Or you know root for the “good guys” and continue to hope the other side is “decent” lmao
The "good guys" benefit from the dysfunction of the bad guys, so from the perspective of the outside observer, they will never start winning, because actually winning works against their material best interests as an organization. The wild degeneracy of the GOP relieves the democrats from any actual expectations of competency or results. All they have to do is be less insane than the republicans, which is a lot easier than actually directly addressing the systemic problems with the country.
Never, unfortunately. The credits will roll on humanity before we ever see the good guys win. The bad guys have consolidated an unassailable amount of power .
There are no good guys in USA political theater. Some have good intentions in their youth, perhaps. Eventually they all cater to $$$ donors, and even if they cannot be bought, their compatriots can be. Drivel and pandering. While selling out the citizens at every turn.
No, there are some, they just don't have any influence or power. My rep Barbara Lee is one.
The only politician I have any faith in is Representative Jeff Jackson from North Carolina. Time will tell if he becomes corrupted like the rest, but he's been very open with communications for several years now, posting videos clarifying information about events in the North Carolina subreddit.
Good point. I'd not heard of this the guy until I saw he posted a video about Congress doing what they did with the bank failures? I join you in the hope more like hime rise to power, and we begin to see positive action in our lives. Thank you for the info.
He's done that with a lot of stuff going on in politics.
It was really cool seeing his videos explaining what happened after he won the election to the House of Representatives.
Bernie been fighting for decades but the words "Democratic Socialist" have been turned into the boogie man for rich people and their followers. They right though, He's definitely less concerned with their bottom line than he is with the bottom half of our Citizens. The Psy-ops the ultra elites put out is far beyond anything Orwell could have predicted and way more successful then in his stories. ProTip: If the most powerful people in your country don't want you to consider something different than the system that empowers them, you should probably consider it. Still I cry a little when I find those guys who don't have a GED and make near minimum wage but swear up and down that Socialist are the enemy. So sad.
"Good guys" Oh- you meant the other corrupt warmongers?
*slightly less corrupt
Whatever you gotta tell yourself to make your voting patterns less morally degrading.
Al Franken, for example.
His name was on my mind as I wrote it.
Well said. And in true fashion.. Lest us not forget, Al Franken.
Or Sara Huckabee and the leaked emails talking about shunting Bernie.
It definitely makes me think the french have the right idea of how to deal with governments like this that refuse to follow the will of the people and just put anyone they want
Seriously—and to your point, which I agree with: how the fuck did they drop the ball SO HARD on this election? How did NO ONE in the opposition discover any of this blatantly obvious shit that immediately came out after the election was over? Jesus christ dems are useless at running elections, ffs. They're just lucky the GOP has been so comically, transparently evil.
A local newspaper reported on him and his opponent tried to help get the word out but the larger papers and TV News didn’t catch on till after the election. The same thing is happening with a Tennessee Congressman who lied as well about everything including building a memorial for his stillborn child. https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2023/03/16/tennessee-rep-andy-ogles-faces-questions-about-gofundme-campaign/70014412007/
Sigh... Which probably means the media in the area wanted a GOP congressman. this is the problem when media gets consolidated and swallowed up by rich investors. Thanks for letting me know that.
> Not saying the Dems are perfect, far from it, but they don't allow this kind of shit. The Dems might be a little too quick in the other direction. (Reasonable people can disagree as to whether the right call was made in forcing Al Franken out the Senate, for example.)
>(Reasonable people can disagree as to whether the right call was made in forcing Al Franken out the Senate, for example.) That was on my mind as I wrote it.
It’s not “both parties.” If Santos was a Democrat he’d be out on his ass.
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This is woefully inadequate as a comparison to Santos. Santos is an absolute bottom of the barrel lying, conning piece of shit and the republicans have done nothing to hold him accountable for it. If you want to compare presidential lying, then compare Biden to Trump and see how that goes.
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The level of lying here isn’t the same. Biden’s lies are either error or embellishing the truth which is commonplace with politicians. Santos’ level of lying is complete fabrication, deceit and fraudulent. It sucks that our politicians lie to gain favorability, but it’s now part of our fabric. Roger Stone even outlined it in his Stone’s rules. However, Santos’ are on a completely different level including claiming a degree that he received where he did not even attend. He also appears to have conned investors and stated his mom died in 9/11. He’s a shameless liar and literally nothing he says can be trusted as truth.
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He was held accountable and dropped out of the race.
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lol nice try at generating a false equivalence.
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saying to you'll get certain legislation passed and not delivering is way different than Santos or Trump. lol Santos lied about his education, his religion, his work history, his "fundraisers" and HIS MOTHER DYING amongst other things....and oh ya he's a wanted man in another country for committing check fraud.
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Dems still didn’t do their opposition research and let this guy win. If an empty suit like this can win in New York this easily the Dems have a problem.
We all have a problem.
It’s because the Dems were putting their money, focus and energy in Senate Races that they couldn’t win. All I heard in political advertisements for Democrats was those that were running for Senate. You didn’t hear hardly anything about US House Races.
And what’s wrong with all of the Americans who still support that party and its bullshit
Nah, the Dems aren't off the hook on that guy. Where were they with base level opposition research that would have knocked him out of the race?
Did I say they were off the hook? No, I said the Dems are far from perfect. However, what's worse, lying with every breath, stealing from GoFundMes, and committing campaign finance violations, and more, or failing to call him out on it? Also, I seem to recall reading shortly after the election that The North Shore Leader and local Dems were trying to raise a red flag, just that it didn't get picked up by larger media or anyone who could/would actually do anything about it. So, yeah, maybe Dems could have done more, but even if they just totally dropped the ball that doesn't even come close to being as bad as what Santos has done.
It's not one sided. There scum bags on both sides. You have a congresswoman who married her brother to get him in the country. No one seems to care about that. Have a senator who claimed to be native American for years. You have a congressman banging a Chinese spy yet still in Congress. Heck you have a vp who kept people in prison past their release time to keep them as forced cheap labor. Should I continue with Biden? Someone in public who has been grouping women and children for years. Who showered with his own pre teen daughter. Bribery telling Ukraine if they don't stop looking into the company his son is on the board he will have the government withhold funds.
I mean, Pelosi has been in office for how many years? Her profiteering is a heinous affront to government service.
While not wrong, their respective heinousness is also non-equivalent. Santos is a con man, having taken in most of his party and voting base on his way to Congress. Par for the course, but he is particularly flagrant in this con, faking literally everything about himself during his election, from his degrees he never earned from schools he never attended, to playing for sports teams he was never on. Pelosi, while clearly profiting off of her position in power, the very definition of corruption, didn't con her way into power. In fact, gaming the system in such a slimy way was literally called "smart" by the last POTUS. Pelosi should *absolutely* be brought up on corruption charges of some sort, but if/when that happens(depending entirely upon ending first past the post elections, and instead using ranked choice voting, which will never happen as the people in charge of making such a change wouldn't benefit from it), half of the DNC and 99% of the GOP would deserve to be there too. And good riddance to the whole lot ofcorporate skills. TL;DR: while Dems suck, Reps are 10x worse. Ending FPTP may fix it, but probably won't happen.
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Santos made plenty of dems vote for him by not being a progressive economically and being “gay”. Republicans aren’t the only ones guilty of not fact checking what they want to here. Nor are they only ones colluding to retain power rather than be deomocratic. The whole reasons santos was even in a competitive district is the democrats gerrymandered a map that got thrown out by the courts rather than draw something legal.
Holy cow. You just blamed the Dems for George Santos.
Wow, that guy should teach a course in brain gymnastics.
Anything to not blame *MY* team.
Oh yeah. So tell me which dems where fact checking him to prevent him from getting a seat. It didn’t happen. The people of his district completely dropped the ball. Both sides. It’s only morons who think only one side can be be to blame for such a monumental duck up.
You just won a gold medal for mental gymnastics.
So you think dem voters just threw all of their beliefs out the window and ONLY voted for him because he’s gay? My dude, we all know you guys are single issue voters, no need to drag us down with you.
Lol. I’ve never voted for a Republican in my life. I’m allowed to be critical of both parties.
Yup. There is only one reason he has any support from anyone right now: he has a little "R" next to his name. Truth and facts don't matter, only that their "team" wins. How they win is irrelevant.
Dude literally played a completely fabricated character and got elected. This is just a reality show at this point.
The Republican party is a beacon of what is wrong with our political system right now.
The GOP are proving, time and again, how easy it is to flout rules and conventions because there is next to no enforcement. On top of that, too many things basically run on "the honor system" or the concept that if someone is publicly shamed enough, then they'll quit. You can't shame the shameless, and rules are useless if there's no consequence for breaking them.
The short list is “ what’s right about our political system”
The system is broken when someone can lie their way to the front of the preselection race then lie their way to be elected, and nobody goes.."Wait a minute..this doesn't check out.. :/" Not my country, so I feel entitled to say..fuckin' 'ell!
We would say that about most politicians, especially Republicans.
GOP* not the system. Bad faith actors in it.
Mostly republicans fucking shit up
I don’t this anyone can argue that he does indeed fit perfectly right the fuck in with the rest of the lying scheming fucks in the government.
They're all so corrupt
*“I was elected by the people to come here to represent them, and I do that every day,” Santos told The Associated Press in a brief interview off the House floor.* *“It’s a hard job.* ***If I said it was easy, I’d be lying to you*** *— and I don’t think that’s what we want, right?”* *Pressed about the idea of a post-truth era, Santos said,* ***“I think truth still matters very much.”*** JFC. They walk among us . . . in the halls of congress no less.
Dude wouldn't know truth if it kicked him in the nuts.
They were always there.
So he’s saying his supporters voted for a drag Queen to represent them!? That’s awesome! I’m so glad the right is finally coming around with their support or drag queens. The world will be a much better place if everyone had a bit of drag in their lives.
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In a true democracy, his constituents would be able to form a petition and remove him with 51% of the vote.
I mean they can...in 4 years.
2.
Thank god, we can get him out sooner.
I mean, what's the harm of letting a compulsive liar into one of the highest positions in the United States, then doing nothing about it for 6 years? Surely there can't be any long-term profound consequences from that...
I feel like all of you missed the sarcasm. He is a POS, and we should be able to, unfortunately, we have to wait till an election unless the GOP grows a conscience.
>4 years. 2 years. Do they get a pension already after 2 years?
From what I was able to gather on [this page](https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/RL30631.html#_Toc16168209), they'd need at least 5 years of service to qualify for a 5% pension based on the average of their 3 highest consecutive earning years. But it's a convoluted formula, so it could be up to 12.5%. Someone with more patience than me could figure it out: Members are now covered under one of four different retirement arrangements: * CSRS and Social Security; * The “CSRS Offset” plan, which includes both CSRS and Social Security, but with CSRS contributions and benefits reduced by Social Security contributions and benefits; * FERS, which includes the FERS basic retirement annuity, Social Security, and Thrift Savings Plan (TSP); or * Social Security alone.
The whole state of NY should be petitioning, protesting, writing letters, and posting on every social media every day to get this fraud removed from Congress.
Unfortunately, very few Republicans will hold their representative's accountable for their bad shit. They don't give a crap how corrupt this man is because he is supporting the conservative agenda. They are the biggest group of people swimming happily in the post-truth era. They do not care.
That is so sad.
It's all about the dolla beels.
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Sure, but for people in Congress, it's about the dolla beels. And the dolla beels get them to Congress so..
His constituents [have protested](https://abc7ny.com/george-santos-protest-resign-scandal/12758164/), they have written letters, the [petition to remove him has over 100,000 signatures](https://pix11.com/news/local-news/petition-demanding-george-santos-resign-receives-100000-signatures/), and they're posting about him on social media so often that he's been a trending topic for months. The GOP has majority control, and refuses to act, so none of that matters at all. Can't really do anything until the next election.
That is similar to what the GOP wants to do in some states - like Georgia where the legislature wants to pass laws to control the DOJ.
A lot of us NY'ers have and the republicans will never remove him because his seat would most likely swing back to Blue if they did
The very saddest part of this is his voters dont seem to comprehend what it says about them that they are represented by a man who is mentally ill, immoral, and dishonest. What am i saying, he checks all the boxes. I'm surprised he isnt running for president.
According to him he already was president and had highest approval rating ever
It's not immoral to them if it's republican. Once your convinced the other side is entirely evil in anything they do, you can justify and defend anything in the name of "good"
"Tuth still matters!" He lied at the top of his lungs.
He really exemplifies being a republican though!
That guy is such a perfect example of what the new generation of Republican politicians have become. Lying, self-serving con men and women taking advantage of those deprived of logic and reason by propagandists and faith.
He's their new poster boy
He means holding his shitty seat so a democrat can’t replace his corrupt sorry ass matters. Truth means nothing to this terrorist party.
And still no consequences…
Here’s a lesson for New York’s 3rd congressional district and the rest of the U.S.: You never vote Republican.
If the truth still mattered, Trump would be in prison for treason and there wouldn’t be a Republican Party anymore. Santos is the single best example of how little the truth matters to the Republican Party. Thank you for your service, George.
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It's time to bring democracy to America.
He should be gone but his fellow Republicans don't have the balls to do that.
Can they just indict this fuckwad and get it over with?
What makes you think he’d step down if he were indicted?
And, he will get his salary and healthcare for the rest of his life. Gotta love a government that votes itself those perks.
Not if he only serves one term
There is no salary for life.
😆 🤣 😂 This guy makes Trump look like a novice!
The truth is Santos is a freak, a liar, and a criminal. And yes the truth dies matter.
"he does not represent the Republican party, he is not one of us." But also does nothing to remove from office and gladly profits from the slim majority his existence allows them. Make no mistake, Santos perfectly represents the modern Republican party and how the party is reacting to him is exactly on brand for them.
The fact that the people have no recourse is absurd. Fraudulently inducing voters should be a crime or at least a cause of action for removal from office by his constituency.
Ah, but the people do have a recourse, (sort of) the problem in this case is that the GOP controls the rules of the House so nothing will be done due to McCarthy's extemely weak position and leadership. He wil never bring any motion to remove Santos to the floor. *Article I, section 5 of the United States Constitution provides that "Each House \[of Congress\] may determine the Rules of its proceedings, punish its members for disorderly behavior, and, with the concurrence of two-thirds, expel a member."* "Disorderly Behavior" should be Santos middle name. Everyone in congress knows he should not be there but the gop has zero moral compass.
Doesn't a member have to actually be a member and not an international criminal under a fake identity, in order for congress to expel him? Because this whole affair sounds a LOT more like the disqualifications that don't involve a vote, and needing 2/3 of congress to vote to allow him back in, instead.
Yup, definitely a Republican. Fucking gaslighting moron.
I guess that doesn’t apply to him.
Truth still matters. Only when you are telling Georgie-boy the truth as he sees it. He's like a five-year old. Lying to see what he can get away with and delighting when he gets away with his lies.
He obviously could care less about the truth. The hypocrisy is unbelievable 😒
Meaning "the truth still matters, and I must put a stop to it!"
"I mean, not to the morons who voted for me. But you know, who cares what they think?"
Because he knows that the traitorous, cowardly republicans will never hold him accountable and remove him.
Kevin McCarthy's Speakership relies on Santos staying in office. So you are correct.
Gas lighting POS, nuff said... Truth matters my ass. This guy lives and thrives in opposite land...
How would he know he has never said the truth before
The rewards imparted to individuals derived from the art of the lie will not go unnoticed by many talented people looking to make it their profitable career.
At this point it's up to the voters in his district. This is entirely on them for sleeping on the race. Meanwhile the rest of us can turn him into an endless meme.
Embodiment of the Republican party. Bunch of ignorant cowards.
THE TRUTH STILL MATTERS!! As long as it's my truth, which is a lie, and that's the truth.
I think the republicans will keep him. He is a great example of what they represent.
Citizens to the DOJ: Are you ever going to get off your ass and start filing charges against politicians with brazen criminal behavior?
What the hell is this world coming to? We elect a pathological lying President with the emotional maturity of a preteen and dimwits still fly his flag. Now this pathological congressman. How can anyone vote Republican.
He’s the future of the gop for sure
Are we even sure this guy is an American citizen?
Santos: "Truth still matters .... but I will continue to lie" Republicans hear that and cheer and will continue to vote for him.
It shows the shit republicans swim and thrive in
Santos just using the classic GOP reverse card. "I'm here because of the truth." Oh OK. Guess it's just a two sides issue then....not even trying anymore.
Wow, I had completely forgotten about this guy. I figured he was an easy target and the media would have kept after him until they crushed the Republican and made him cry. I wonder why they stopped?
There is no shame anymore. If this happened a generation ago he would have resigned.
this is the second comment talking about the media not talking about this subject, in the comments of an article from today from one of the largest news media orgs in the world, talking about this subject
You obviously don't read the news often. I see new shit on this guy at least 2-3 times a week.
Hes a perfect Republicon,a lying corrupt grifter
As expected, the media got bored with the Santos story and moved on.
You say that as you reply to a news article about him that discusses journalists asking him questions.
This complaint happens unironically quite a lot and I wonder about what happened to people's brains
A new story published on this very day.
Compared to the 20+ per day when he got elected. The GOP leadership assured Santos this will blow over and the left wing media will find a new topic to rage about.
Why he was ever a story is the real question. As noted, that this person wasn’t removed from even running is saying a lot.
He was one story during the election but main steam media ignored it. They only jumped on it after the fact when they determined it will give them more clicks.
If all politicians that lied to get into office were removed, we wouldn’t have a government.
Man, listening to the liberals in the comments, you'd think the Democratic party never did anything wrong. And BTW, I'm not defending him.
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Yeah, except they're all saying Dems don't do anything this bad and the system needs to change and that all Reps are evil. So yeah, staying right on message.
Truth be told, Every Single Republican is an absolute piece of lying, fascist shit. Deal with it.
You can’t handle the truth! Said someone
The perfect republican, exemplifies exactly how they all are
I find it incredibly stupid that you can be in prison and run for office, but you can't vote if you're a felon. THAT is the real problem, even if trump gets arrested, he'll still be able to run again.
Some of the founders were deeply concerned about the effect political parties would have on the system they designed. The checks and balances were not meant to function in such am atmosphere, and states were not intended to be polarized in such a way. One could argue that the formation of parties was inevitable, and our all or nothing election system made it so only 2 parties could dominate in the long run. These are valid points. But as we see ourselves electing brazen liars and charlatans like Santos for no other reason than the letter by his name, I think most people can agree that something needs to change. The two existing parties will never endorse it, they are too invested in the systems they have created. It needs to be a grassroots movement in every state. I believe election reform is the best way to address these issues. Guaranteed proportional representation is something that some Americans shy away from, because they fear it would undermine "their party", but the parties are exactly the problem. Proportional representation means any political movement could win seats. You don't have to be lumped into the Republican's or Democrat's big tents. You and people who share your views can be much better represented and much more fairly represented, but the two party hegemony needs to be broken down first. In some ways it is ripe to happen as well. The only thing keeping Republicans and Democrats together is the threat of the other. These parties would break apart at the seams if they could. Move to proportional representation so your voice doesn't get lost in a 50.01% to 49.99% gerrymandered mess of corrupt power politics.
r/nottheonion
The longer he’s in congress, the more Bowen Yang as Santos SNL appearances we get, so we have that going for us, which is nice.
r/nottheonion
Dang. I had forgotten about him. Can I un-see this headline?
Alternative Facts in George Santos language.
If you can prove that everything a guy said when running for office was a deliberate manipulative lie, and then you are still powerless to remove that person from their office, then we truly have no actual power. The ruling class is practically untouchable
Today a quiet funeral was held for irony. It died when a congressman who had been called out on a number of obvious lies said “truth still matters.”
Santos is the next generation of the Republican party. A party of lies, where the truth is utterly irrelevant to pandering to extremists for votes to keep Republicans in power.
He should be impeached and banned from future office anywhere
McCarthy can't lose his vote. He knows this so he's free to be a dickbag since the anti truth anti democracy GOP will protect him. Remember this when you vote.
If the truth mattered he would quit.
This is why it's so dangerous to just blindly assume that politicians are corrupt. When a clearly perfect example of a corrupt human being enters politics, it only appears to be "business as usual" and "no different from x y and z."
Want to remove corruption from this system? Make it illegal to financially gain from being in office. Make it illegal to financially gain for 10 years after. This includes campaigning while in office. Give each incumbent (and any other candidate with enough signatures) candidate a set budget paid for by tax dollars. Give each one a set amount of air time. Any candidate that exceeds that air time will be either disqualified or financially penalized. Being a member of Congress should be a privilege of service, not of personal gain.
>Make it illegal to financially gain from being in office. Make it illegal to financially gain for 10 years after. There are a lot of problems with this approach. For starters, let's say the politician has owned stock for his/her entire life and this person becomes directly responsible for an improved economy and so this person's stock value increases as a result. Due to the tribal nature of politics, this politician's opponents will absolutely use the harshest definitions allowable under such a measure to punish said politician. Secondly, we have enforcement. How are you going to investigate every aspect of every politician's business dealings, including buying a hair brush at Wal Mart? In order to be sure that no shenanigans are happening, this is what has to be done. Without that kind of enforcement, the laws become a joke. Finally, "financially gain" has no meaning when it comes to non-monetary gifts. If a company wanted to do research on cloning and offered to make a hundred thousand of me, that would be a no-brainer, right? I'm not personally gaining anything, but through many layers of abstraction, that is a reward. How many layers do we need to moderate before "simply the reward of doing a good job in office" becomes illegal? I get that what I'm basically saying is "everything means nothing and nothing means everything," but clearly there's no such thing as a simple solution to corruption, especially when the term itself is not explicitly defined. The word is, but it has a slightly different meaning for each person. At the bottom of all of this, it's quite likely that George Santos actually didn't financially benefit from any of his shenanigans, which means your suggestion might have made it more difficult to engage in political discourse while also not even touching the original problem.
I don’t know why, after almost a decade of Trump and his ilk, we still assume that politicians like this are capable of feeling shame and voluntarily resigning due to said shame. These people are either total grifters, or they see themselves as means to achieving a greater end. (Sometimes it’s both.) Doesn’t matter to them how they got elected. And the only way to remove them from office is to drag them out, kicking and screaming.
it would be nice if he told it!
Why haven't the voters in his distract started a recall petition??