US politics: When DeSantis go marching in

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

20 minutes ago, LongRider said:

Now she can grift that loss into lots of $$$$$$.   It’s better than winning. 

That’s the Trumpanista way…

[Larry of the Lawn]

48 minutes ago, Martell Spy said:

Probably doesn't gain anything on this issue. But you know what? Sanders does have a good reason to believe in tactics like this. He caused Amazon to raise wages and without passing legislation, by drawing attention to the issue. 

Pure speculation on my part but I'd guess a strike would draw even more attention and put actual economic pressure on the railways to budge.

[Martell Spy]

1 hour ago, LongRider said:

Now she can grift that loss into lots of $$$$$$.   It’s better than winning. 

I wish her all  happiness.....OUTSIDE the electoral process.

[Corvinus85]

I see there have been more attacks on electrical infrastructure, this time in Pierce County, Washington. Three substations vandalized, over 14k people without power the morning of Christmas day. https://abcnews.go.com/US/2-power-substations-attacked-washington-state-7k-lost/story?id=95812232

[ThinkerX]

2 hours ago, Corvinus85 said:

I see there have been more attacks on electrical infrastructure, this time in Pierce County, Washington. Three substations vandalized, over 14k people without power the morning of Christmas day. https://abcnews.go.com/US/2-power-substations-attacked-washington-state-7k-lost/story?id=95812232

This has been going on for a while. I saw blurbs on the prior incidents weeks ago, but the articles vanished shortly afterward. Several people in the comments sections believed that the articles revealed sensitive information (locations, security) about these facilities. And no, these were separate incidents from those in North Carolina. I want to say Washington State and maybe Michigan but am highly uncertain.

 

On that note, there is a bit of 'map editing' going on when it comes to infrastructure. It used to be the more detailed maps would show things like powerlines and pipelines. But, last year, I checked with the Borough (County to most of you) about a minor issue on the family homestead and noticed the new maps did not show any of the local powerlines. Stated reason: security.

[DireWolfSpirit]

Its certainly domestic terrorism and i cant buy that its not coordinated.

If someone dies in these frigid temps due to these attacks, they better seek the severest penalties for all these very cruel accomplices.

[LongRider]

2 hours ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

Its certainly domestic terrorism and i cant buy that its not coordinated.

Dept of Homeland Security seems to agree with you, these are a bit dated, but still relevant,  me thinks. 

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Three men pleaded guilty today to crimes related to conspiring to attack power grids throughout the United States in furtherance of racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism advocating for the supremacy of the white race.        Yes, this dated 2/23/2022, still applies. 

and

Targets of potential violence include public gatherings, faith-based institutions, the LGBTQI+ community, schools, racial and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, U.S. critical infrastructure, the media, and perceived ideological opponents.   9/30/2022

 

[LongRider]

Here is the article I was looking for.   It is rather scary, but important for learning more about domestic terrorism.  

 

Quote

An accelerationist handbook being shared among extremist Telegram channels calls for shooters to bypass softer targets in favor of causing chaotic blackouts by emulating on a broader scale an unsolved sniper attack on a California transmission substation.

The cover of the 14-page PDF features a depiction of a masked and hooded gunman wielding a semiautomatic handgun with a suppressor affixed and wearing panoramic night-vision goggles. In the branches of a swastika behind the gunman are depictions of acts of violence including three people being hanged, a group of buildings ablaze, and a police car on fire next to a figure holding an incendiary weapon.

https://www.hstoday.us/featured/accelerationist-guide-calls-for-metcalf-style-attacks-on-sitting-duck-electricity-infrastructure/

[Zorral]

It isn't even certain he's gay, as he's currently claiming; that he is the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor turns out to be another of his countless lies.

The Making of a Congressional Con Man
How the Democrats and media allowed George Santos to lie his way into the House.

.... New York Democrats lost big in the midterms because the state party is a sclerotic machine that serves mainly as a job placement center for clubby insiders. ....

https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/george-santos-congressional-con-man/

Quote

 

.... The failure of Walker and Lake indicate that when the GOP nominates radically unworthy candidates, voters will reject them. But that happens only when the Democrats put up a good fight and the media provides the necessary fact-based reporting for making a sound judgement. This happened in much of America in 2022, notably in Pennsylvania and Michigan as well as Georgia and Arizona. It singularly failed to happen in New York State, which was perhaps weakest link in the Democratic coalition (rivaled only by Florida).

In the wake of Santos’s victory and new revelations about his flagrant lying, the media and the Democrats are engaged in a contest of finger-pointing. Many are asking why the Times did an in-depth expose of Santos only after he already won. Others are pointing out the failure of the campaign of the Democratic Party candidate Robert Zimmerman, which provided the media with some oppo research but missed many of the major problems with Santos.

One example of the genre was a tweet by New Republic editor Michael Tomasky, who wrote, “It’s not The New York Times’s job to get dirt on George Santos. It’s the Zimmerman campaign’s and the NY State Dem Party’s job.” (Tomasky later took back his defense of the Times). ....

.... The failure of the Zimmerman campaign and the New York State Democratic Party speaks to another deep structural problem. New York Democrats lost big in the midterms because the state party is a sclerotic machine that serves mainly as a job placement center for clubby insiders. As my Nation colleague Ross Barkan noted in a piece for New York, “The long-running open secret among New York politicos is that there is no serious, functioning statewide Democratic organization. This was as much true under Andrew Cuomo as it is under the newly elected governor, Kathy Hochul. In fact, there have been few times in modern history when the state party mattered at all as an organizing vehicle, a place to recruit candidates, or a tool to turn out the vote.”

It’s hardly surprising that a dysfunctional political machine that is instinctively hostile to left-wing politics would lose the ability to do even basic oppo research. The Zimmerman campaign did unearth a few nuggets to use against Santos—but these were minor compared to the whole story. ....

 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/26/nyregion/george-santos-interview.html

George Santos Admits to Lying About College and Work History
The congressman-elect confirmed The New York Times’s findings that he had not graduated from college or worked at two major Wall Street companies, as he had claimed.

Quote

 

.... The House can only prevent candidates from taking office if they violate the Constitution’s age, citizenship and state residency requirements. Once he has been seated, however, Mr. Santos could face ethics investigations, legal experts have said.

Mr. Santos, through representatives, has declined multiple requests to speak with The Times. His interviews did not fully address the scope of The Times’s reporting, which also included omissions on his financial disclosure forms and a charity he claimed to have founded and registered with the I.R.S. ....

 

George Santos’s Early Life: Odd Jobs, Bad Debts and Lawsuits
Representative-elect George Santos, who is under scrutiny over potentially misrepresenting key parts of his campaign biography, had other undisclosed troubles in his early career.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/nyregion/george-santos-republican-resume.html

Quote

 

.... Where Mr. Santos currently lives remains unclear, in part because he has offered conflicting accounts. In October, he suggested on Twitter that he still lived in Ms. Pothos’s apartment, citing a robbery “two blocks away from my home in Whitestone.”

Mr. Santos had also told Newsday that he would eventually move to Oyster Bay, N.Y. Instead, he appears to have settled in a house in Huntington, a town just outside his district’s boundaries. (Members of Congress are only required to live in the state they represent, not the district.)

On Wednesday, three neighbors said that they had seen Mr. Santos or his husband at the house in Huntington, in a hilly neighborhood full of well-kept, middle-class houses, some of which have been turned into rentals. One man who lived across the street said that Mr. Santos had moved in sometime in August.

Neither Mr. Santos nor his husband is listed on property records for the home, and the house’s owner did not respond to a phone call or social media messages seeking more information. ....

 

 

[Varysblackfyre321]

3 hours ago, Zorral said:

It isn't even certain he's gay

He’s a republican politician married to a woman so it’s probable he is.

[Mindwalker]

On 12/24/2022 at 11:55 PM, Martell Spy said:

I wish her all  happiness.....OUTSIDE the electoral process.

You're a better person than I am...

[Zorral]

First we're told it is college educated single women ruining the country since they selfishly have careers and work, instead of staying home, staying igornant and toilet training each new kid while pregnant with the next one.  Also, you know, stealing the jobs from white guys, who can't be bothered to be educated.

Now They Say it is the retirees, who have retired, as they reached retirement age, instead of working.  Teachers particularly, who aren't making a living salary, who can face any moment death by a gun in the hands of a young white guy who thinks he's in a video game, who don't have a decent classroom or teaching supplies, and a community that abuses and despises them. And also expects them to get covid from their unmasked unvaccinated kids, who also, more and more, reflecting their parents, commit violence on the teachers.  They Say there are incredibly high wages out there, but teachers don't get them. In fact, universities have fewer and fewer faculty, and the adjuncts who struggle to make do, sure as hell don't have 'very high wages.'  They don't even have living wages.

IOW this report makes little sense, particularly in view of the many who believe that older people who are more vulnerable to severe, death dealing covid, and Long Covid, should be left to 'just deal' and / or die, since they are of no use to the economy.  As some on this very board have so informed us.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/27/business/economy/labor-shortage-retirees-boomers.html

Quote

 

... Among Americans ages 18 to 64, the labor force participation rate — the share of people working or actively looking for work — has largely rebounded to early 2020 levels. Among those 65 and up, on the other hand, participation lags well below its prepandemic level, the equivalent of a decline of about 900,000 people. That has helped to keep overall participation steadily lower than it was in 2020.

“Despite very high wages and an incredibly tight labor market, we don’t see participation moving up, which is contrary to what we thought,” Mr. Powell from the Fed said during his final news conference of 2022, adding: “Part of it is just accelerated retirements.”

As would-be employees stay out of work, the resulting labor shortages have reverberated through the economy. Consumers are still shopping, and understaffed firms are eager to produce the goods and services they demand. As they scramble to hire — there are 1.7 job openings for every jobless person in America — they have been raising wages at the fastest pace in decades.

With pay climbing so swiftly, Fed officials worry that they will struggle to bring inflation fully under control. Wages were not a major initial driver of inflation but could keep it high: Businesses facing heftier labor bills may try to pass those costs along to their customers in the form of higher prices.

That risk is why the Fed is focused on bringing the labor market back into balance, and it is what makes the wave of retirees particularly bad news. ....

 

 

[LongRider]

She claimed her pronouns were "I Won", now I would say they are "Loser Loser"

 

[DMC]

Republican Jewish Coalition says George Santos ‘not welcome’ at events after revelations:

Quote

The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) on Tuesday said Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) “deceived” the organization and “misrepresented” his Jewish heritage, adding the incoming lawmaker is no longer welcome at its events.

CEO Matt Brooks said he was “disappointed” in Santos after the congressman-elect admitted to embellishing key facts about his life in two separate interviews on Monday.

“He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish,” Brooks said in a statement. “He has begun his tenure in Congress on a very wrong note. He will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”

 

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

6 minutes ago, DMC said:

Republican Jewish Coalition says George Santos ‘not welcome’ at events after revelations:

 

Is there enough support in the House to expel Santos?

[DMC]

2 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Is there enough support in the House to expel Santos?

Expulsion takes 2/3s, so no.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

1 minute ago, DMC said:

Expulsion takes 2/3s, so no.

Damn…

[Zorral]

Calls for Congressman-elect George Santos’ Resignation, Investigation After Bombshell Report

The call to resign is coming from many fronts, not just the district he's supposed to represent -- though, again, it seems he doesn't even live there.

https://www.longislandpress.com/2022/12/21/george-santos-resign-investigate/

Calls for Congressman-elect George Santos’ Resignation, Investigation After Bombshell Report

https://www.longislandpress.com/2022/12/21/george-santos-resign-investigate/

Quote

 

Republican Congressman-elect George Santos has yet to attempt to refute allegations that he fabricated much of his resume as calls for his resignation and an investigation continue to grow.

Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan (I-Woodbury) says he has submitted a letter to the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York that requests a federal investigation into Santos’ finances and campaign activity, which were called into question in a New York Times investigation published Monday. Lafazan has also requested that the House Ethics Committee conduct an investigation.

“Yesterday I joined with civic leaders from across District 3 in calling on Mr. Santos to answer for his past fraudulent behavior, and to immediately resign,” Lafazan said. “However in the 24 hours since, Mr. Santos has chosen not to refute one single allegation. He has remained silent, shielded by his lawyer, and hiding from the public. In fact, nobody can answer this one simple question: Where is Mr. Santos?”

 

And then get all those elderly NY Dem Party Org Clubbers to resign too.

Of course there are those like the NY Post who say if everyone who runs for office and lies was investigated and made to resign that would be the end of Congress.  So leave the poor kid alone.  He's admits to lying but he ain't resigning, and he shouldn't have to.

[Jace, Extat]

7 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Is there enough support in the House to expel Santos?

His constituents deserve their representative, sir. Frankly I'm ashamed of you. (Not really, this is a bit) 

This lying fraudman huckster-person is following the American Dream, as defined by its 45 President, ok? "Its BeSt presiDENT the best PREcedent there's ever precedentited in presentdential dentiaLism... TUMP! Illegal, Faudulant bad bad vot bad vot not TUMP

TUMP! TUMP! TUMP WN TUMP WN TUMP WN! U LY U LY TMP WN" -This dude's voters, I assume

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

35 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Is there enough support in the House to expel Santos?

Listen man, Kevin needs every vote there is.