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Expelling George Santos Was a Mistake

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George Santos, the former Republican representative from New York, seemed like he stepped out of an episode of the HBO political-comedy show Veep. His reality-TV antics and ostentatious fabrications about his life, and the criminal allegations swirling around him, made him a surreal character in an already surreal Congress.

Today he became only the sixth member of the House to be expelled, following a House Ethics Committee investigation and his indictment on federal charges of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly stealing donors’ identities and using their credit-card numbers to “ring up tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges,” as the Associated Press reported. Of the five previously expelled representatives, three had taken up arms against the United States in the Civil War, and two had been convicted on federal charges.

[Read: We hardly knew George Santos]

Santos has not been convicted of anything yet. The comedic absurdity of his actions—having lied about “his distinguished Wall Street background, Jewish heritage, academic and athletic achievements, animal rescue work, real estate holdings and more,” as the AP put it—do not render him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes of which he has been accused. That is for a jury to decide. Expelling Santos post-conviction would have been fully justified; pushing him out beforehand is not.

Had I lived in Santos’s district, I would not have voted for him. But once the electorate renders its decision, only an extraordinary justification should overturn its will. In the five previous expulsions, there was no doubt about what the members had done. In this case, Santos maintains his innocence. Finding him persuasive is not necessary to see that Congress deciding for itself whether voters have made a mistake could lead to more members being expelled for things that they are only alleged to have done, or that fall far short of criminal convictions or armed insurrection. The fact that Santos lied to his voters about his life does not meet this high bar—it is not as though dishonesty is an atypical quality for a politician, even if Santos carried it to an atypical extreme.

[David A. Graham: The non-end of George Santos]

Is it embarrassing that Santos was elected in the first place? Yes. But that’s democracy. Sometimes voters make mistakes. The role of members of Congress is to represent their constituents, not to overturn the will of the voters just because they believe those voters have acted unwisely.

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jsled
7 days ago
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South Burlington, Vermont
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The Remedy Connected Universe is my MCU

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Saga Anderson standing in front of the case board in her mind place in Alan Wake 2.
Image: Remedy Entertainment/Epic Games Publishing

The joys of intertextuality and close reading

Continue reading…

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jsled
24 days ago
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South Burlington, Vermont
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Ring Is Cashing In on the UFO Craze to Promote Its Surveillance Dystopia

jwz
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The "Million Dollar Sighting" contest is Amazon's latest scheme to make people think of Ring cameras as wacky and fun instead of frightening and paranoid.

Sold as a home safety device, Ring is really great at violating your neighbor's privacy and delivering footage to cops without your consent. The American suburb is a paranoid place and Ring plays on those fears to sell cameras and generate reams of data for Amazon to sell. Advocacy groups petitioned the FTC to ban the cameras in 2021, but the plea failed. Meanwhile, Amazon has continued to expand its partnerships with police departments, making it easier for the cops to see what Ring users have recorded. [...]

Anyone who manages to capture the first hard evidence that America is being visited from beyond is entitled to $1 million paid out in $50,000 installments every year for the next two decades. But don't worry, people who dress like an alien and goof off in front of the surveillance device they installed on their porch have a chance to win a $500 Amazon gift card.

Having cameras plastered over our neighborhoods that automatically send footage to the police is bad, but at least we might get some wacky footage of kids dressed up as aliens narrated by Wanda Sykes.

Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.

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jsled
65 days ago
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South Burlington, Vermont
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Office for the Preservation of Normalcy

jwz
1 Comment and 3 Shares
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jsled
81 days ago
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South Burlington, Vermont
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1 public comment
chrisrosa
81 days ago
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Love these. Click through for more.
San Francisco, CA

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Temple

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Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Let us rise and make similar noises!


Today's News:
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jsled
127 days ago
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South Burlington, Vermont
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1 public comment
greggrossmeier
126 days ago
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You know, I'd go to this temple.
Ojai, CA, US

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Garfield

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Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
I heard the Internet likes comics about cats?


Today's News:

Big thing coming MONDAY!

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jsled
147 days ago
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South Burlington, Vermont
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