US Politics, May 2023: May 1 never happened

The Egg, though.

having grown up in the Albany burbs, I can't defend it.

DeSantis shoots his state in its collective dick again...watch the video.

Negative impact on Florida has begun from the recently passed DeSantis’ anti-immigrant bill. Immigrant labor is leaving as construction work sites grapple with new restrictions. All to demonize people who simply want to work and be left alone while providing for their families. pic.twitter.com/JQfqPxKbsC

— Thomas Kennedy (@tomaskenn) May 7, 2023

Circling back on this legitimately alarming bit:

So Florida is simultaneously trying to institute the death penalty for child sexual abuse while insisting that queer and trans people are by definition sexually "grooming" children.

The math is grim.https://t.co/QjG93iZxa6

— Absurdistwords (@absurdistwords) May 5, 2023

Yeah that's the thing I keep shouting about, it's scary, esp since SCOTUS is almost sure to uphold it because "lol precedent who cares"

To link grooming with pedophilia has always been the goal. They can't go after the marriage decisions, so you go with the most despised in society by even libs.

And here he is crowing about it:

DeSantis, having a normal one this morning pic.twitter.com/a1726JuSu5

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 8, 2023

Everything but the bloodhounds yappin' at his rear end!

DeSantis shoots his state in its collective dick again...

Florida's collective dick? I was informed that Florida is itself somewhat dick-shaped.

So a dick within a dick is... dickception? or metadicktion?

Do we have or need or general strike thread?

behold:

Rolling Labor Action Thread

Thank you!!!

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/09/republican-drag-shows-danger-for-kids-resigns-misconduct-intern

A Republican Texas state lawmaker who once proposed banning children from attending drag shows to supposedly shield them from being groomed for abuse has resigned after he was found to have engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct with a 19-year-old intern.

Bryan Slaton, 45, resigned on Monday while facing mounting calls from the state’s Republican party and conservative groups to step down. A state house investigation last week determined that he supplied alcohol to the intern and another young staffer, had sex with the intern after she had become intoxicated, and later showed her a threatening email while saying everything would be fine if she kept quiet about the encounter.

gasp!

That bitter cynicism of yours is something you've acquired since you left Radcliffe

It strikes me that Eric's disloyalty and ingratitude must be contagious!

JUST IN: Sen. Dianne Feinstein is returning to the Senate after an absence due to health issues prompted calls to resign. https://t.co/HVCAMDVOFu

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) May 9, 2023

The good news/bad news joke writes itself.

Stop, guys. She's rested and recharged for another century of service.

does her return in person make it easier for her to step down from her committees and be replaced by a democrat?

She should declare her candidacy for president.

She's back and ready to vote on Scalia's replacement

Is she too late for the 4:30 auto-gyro?

Stop, guys. She's rested and recharged for another century of service.

― the dreaded dependent claus (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, May 9, 2023 4:11 PM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

irl lol

George Santos indicted on federal charges. (Indictment is still sealed but he might be in court tomorrow.)

For now Biden demanding that Congress raise the debt ceiling unconditionally to avoid a default and McCarthy still insisting on his ransom price of spending cuts. They will meet again on Friday.

The Santos charges are out: seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives. He's in custody. From the Times:

Broadly, George Santos has been charged in three schemes outlined in the indictment:

First, a fraudulent political contribution solicitation scheme, in which prosecutors say Santos and an unnamed Queens-based political consultant induced donors to give money to an LLC he controlled. He then used the money for personal expenses, including to buy designer goods and to pay off personal debts.

Second, an unemployment insurance fraud scheme: Prosecutors say that in June 2020, in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, Santos applied for government assistance in New York, even though he was at the time employed by a Florida-based investment firm and drew an annual salary of $120,000.

And, finally, the indictment says Santos misled the House of Representatives about his financial condition. In May 2020 – during his first, unsuccessful campaign – he is accused of overstating one source of income while failing to disclose his investment firm salary. And in September 2022, when he ran a second time, Santos is accused of including a number of falsehoods in his financial disclosure form.

Perp walked too.

You know he loved it. No such thing as bad publicity etc

Seriously, though, how come these things sometimes go fast from investigation to charges or arrest, and sometimes they drag on for years?

They flipped someone fast.

Santos also doesn't have the wealth, status, and lawyers of certain ex-presidents, all of which helps to grind these things down to an excruciatingly slow pace

It’s a hell of a thing. The organization was independent or it wasn’t. The money was in your personal account or not. You were unemployed or not. You disclosed or you didn’t. It’s not rocket science. They have an accomplice, text messages, bank records … https://t.co/CsQMZKUDPI

— Richard M. Nixon (@dick_nixon) May 10, 2023

always a good idea to run for office on the national level when committing federal crimes

-Donald Trump

I feel like the Santos story I haven't read enough about (but may have missed) is what his whole election says about the weaknesses of the system. Sure looks easy to just buy a congressional seat with a completely made-up candidate.

santos technically had an opponent, too, a DNC stooge who managed to pale in comparison to the charisma of george santos

It seems like yet another one of those honor system norms that always worked, but only when there was at least some sense of an honor system, and norms.

PBKR can correct me here, but I don't think they even bought many ads or did much campaigning.

It's probably easier to sneak one of these dudes in when the number of reps per media market is very high, especially with fewer local publications and limited tv markets. You have to be a real glad-handing grifter who's hitting the road and going to events in a state with four or fewer reps. In a state with twenty-six? Just find the right one and ride it out.

God only knows what would turn up if you did a fact check on 20 years of congress people.

that also reminds me of something i was reading recently about congressional apportionment, arguing that we need way more than 435 house reps. 435 reps was set in 1913, when the US had a much smaller population, so the number of constituents per house representative has gone way up. in 1793, each rep had 34,436 constituents, on average. in 1913, when the overall number of reps was set at 435, it was 210,000. now it's 761,000 constituents per rep.

it seems like a difficult problem to address, because doubling the number of reps means doubling the number of house rep races every 2 years and doubling the number of horrible assholes in congress

oops, xp mh - was typing that at the same time, but also thinking about number of reps

would head a PAC for z-tbc for Congress

as soon as I get his name right

thank u alfred. we should flood the zone with different spellings of candidate names, causing confusion and low voter morale from the very beginning

Didn't someone in one of the Illinois elections a year or two ago change their name to more or less that of their opponent?

You know what kind of feels nice about this Santos thing? Maybe it's just me, but for once it does not feel like a distraction from Trump. It feels like an accumulation, momentum.

actual consequences

^ that, it's refreshing to see tangible consequences, even if it is for the most blatant, obvious, low hanging shit.

Santos will go down for the sin of not being particularly useful to anyone with real power.