What is now rather well known is that Republican Rep George Santos has lied about rather a lot simply to get elected to the House. Never mind that all his biographical details turned out to be fake. We also all discovered …
- His claim that his mum was in the towers on 9/11 turned out to not be true because she died years later, and because she probably wasn’t even in the United States that day
- Then there is the allegation that he stole $3,000 he had raised for a military veteran’s ailing dog
- The scarf he wore at a Stop the Steal rally was, fittingly, stolen
Yet there he sits in the House and none of his Republican colleagues appear to be too concerned about any of this. He has in fact been rewarded with committee seats.
One tweeter watching all this did muse that his Republican colleagues would only act to remove him if it was discovered that he was also a drag queen.
Well hey, guess what was discovered this past week.
Yep, George Santos, who it turns out has used many many different names, has now been alleged to have been a former Drag Queen. He denies it, but taking the word of a confirmed deceiver makes everything he says about anything suspect. There are pictures, and his fellow drag queens insist it is indeed him.
The hypocrisy is jaw dropping. Being a drag queen is of course fine, but he himself has aligned himself with a party that labels drag queens as sexual deviants who prey upon children. That was simply them projecting; they simply do not like drag queen story hours in libraries. Side note; number of kids molested at a drag queen story hour in a library – zero. Number of elected Republicans who have sexually molested underage girls, not zero by a very very long way, and that includes Trump himself. Those are credible claims. Struggling to remember, OK here are a few more names – Roy Moore hanging out in malls and hitting on underage girls, then there was Rep. Mark Foley, and Rep. Dennis Hastert. Oh and let’s not forget that Rep. Matt Gaetz is currently the subject of a literal sex-trafficking investigation. On and on and on, a total cesspit.
The George Santos saga will no doubt continue to run and run, and we shall indeed all continue to laugh at the utter absurdity of it all. Only today’s Republican cult of fools could have elected such an individual. It turns out that their due diligence into the background of their candidates is to simply check if they are breathing and that’s it, nothing else matters.
There is one very serious note here. As noted by Jon Stewart, commenting on Rep. George Santos (R-NY) …
“The thing we have to be careful of, and I always caution myself on this and I ran into this trouble with Trump, is we cannot mistake absurdity for lack of danger, because it takes people with no shame to do shameful things,”
Moving on, below you will once again find my usual selection of some truly bizarre and extreme claims that have popped up during the last 7 days. Each is laced with my snarky commentary. With my usual hat tip to my various sources, let’s dive in.
Enjoy.
Christian Nationalism Fog Horn
MTG has moved beyond Christian Nationalist dog whistles and has now broken out the Christian Nationalist fog horn. In other words, she is not simply saying the quiet part out loud, she is screaming it …
- The Lord: “Vengeance is mine” …. GOP: “Nah, we got this“
- The term “America First” was a phrase used by the Ku Klux Klan at its peak in the 1920s
Martin Luther King Jnr
John Derbyshire honored Martin Luther King Jr. Day by defending the three white men convicted of murdering Ahmaud Arbery.
- If you are wondering who, well, it’s this guy. So yes, that’s the guy who has argued in the past that the US would be better off if women did not have the vote – a real “progressive” guy, if it was 1750 perhaps.
- He used to write for National Review but they fired him because he was way too toxic.
- As a chap who is also strongly opposed to immigration, it is a tad ironic to note that he himself is from the UK and was for a period of time in the US as an illegal immigrant. It turns out that while he wants to restrict immigration, his motive is to ensure “ethnic balance”. That’s code for “white immigrants fine, any other race, nope”.
COVID Conspiracies
White nationalist Lauren Witzke, who was the Delaware GOP’s candidate for Senate in 2020, declares that as far a she is concerned, “everybody who dies suddenly or has died suddenly, it’s a result of the [COVID-19] vaccine. It’s up to them to prove me wrong.“
- quod grātīs asseritur, grātīs negātur – That which is asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.
- You can apply her “logic” in all sorts of ways. For example, “I assert that Lauren Witzke ran drugs for a Mexican drug cartel“, now prove me wrong … Oh wait, there is a slight flaw with my example. There is actual evidence that this is really true … seriously, I’m not making that up she really was a drug runner for a Mexican drug cartel.
Xenophobia
Dalton Clodfelter says that “we need to protect this country from demonic forces, from Jewish influence and control” by putting “white Christian men back into positions of power.”
- Dalton is the very incarnation of a relic from the medieval era and manages to blend both anti-semitism, religious extremism, and racism within one sentence.
- “White christian men” been oppressed has never been the problem, it is they who are the problem.
2020 Election
John Eastman appeared on a World Prayer Network call Wednesday night, complaining that he’s being “keelhauled” by “evil players” for his legal efforts to help former President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election: “What they’re doing here is about as un-American as one can get.”
- Eastman was a key participant in Trump’s attempt to overthrow a democratic election. He lied to Mike Pence when he told him Pence had the authority on jan 6th to refuse to certify the election. Luckily Pence refused to listen to him. With solid evidence of what he did, the Jan 6 committee have formally recommended that he needs to be charged with obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States.
- This guy is literally guilty of Treason and is now moaning that a few folks are more than a tad pissed about that.
- Reminder: After watching all the antics, White House lawyer Eric Herschmann also famously told John Eastman this “I’m going to give you the best free legal advice you’re ever getting in your life: get a great fucking criminal defense lawyer.”
Pink Floyd & Rainbows
Apparently Pink Floyd are now too woke for some to be able to cope.
Hitler
Nick Fuentes is not even bothering to hide his adoration of Adolf Hitler these days: “‘Hitler was a pedophile and kind of a pagan.’ It’s like, well, he was also really fucking cool. … This guy’s awesome, this guy’s cool.”
- Reminder: This is the guy who had thanksgiving dinner with Trump last Nov.
- I can only guess that the Nazi demographic is his base.
- Toss a bit of holy water over Nick and then watch as a cloud of steam comes rushing off him as he screams in agony.
Homophobia
Vincent James declares that teaching about LGBTQ issues is part of a “satanic ritual” and the only way to stop it is to impose “straight up fascism.”
- The claim that “they” are conducting evil secret rituals is a very old claim … the Romans used it against Christians; Christians used it against Jews and also witches; Catholics used it against heretics; etc… in each case it was really a power grab and a tool to manipulate large numbers of people be giving them a cause, an out-group, to hate.
- “Fascism” of course, because as history reveals it has worked out so well every time for all involved.
Truly Bizarre
The Transformed Wife has some new guidance to offer this past week …
- If only collage was actually as exciting as she claims it to be. Unfortunately it is not.
- She also does not know that in a few states, the legal age for marriage is a lot lower than 18
- Least you wonder, no she is not a parody account, her beliefs are quite real.
The False Profit$
MAGA pastor Hank Kunneman is pretty sure that President Joe Biden has been replaced by a demon.
- Personally, if demons were actually real, top of my list for potential examples would be grifters such as Hank Kunneman.
- I do however have to admit that he makes a rather strong and deeply compelling argument for … atheism.
MAGA pastor/Trump cultist Shane Vaughn tells his audience that they “are the 12 disciples that God has called to stand behind Donald Trump” and wage spiritual warfare on his behalf.“
- If his 12 listeners are role playing, then which of them will be playing Judus?
- Soooo … Trump is still, for Shane, the chosen one of God …. Remind me again which church the “Chosen One” attends?
Interesting Articles
- Ed Mazza @ HuffPost: Trump Turns On Evangelical Leaders For ‘Disloyalty’ In Angry New Rant.
- Eric Hananoki @ Media Matters: GOP nominee for House special election runs “ministry” falsely claiming to cure people from “homosexual and lesbian living.”
- Ursula Perano and Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: The Bathroom Fight Fueling Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert’s Break-Up.
- Sarah K. Burris @ Raw Story: Marjorie Taylor Greene scores prime spot on Homeland Security Committee despite 9/11 conspiracy theories.
- Kipp Jones @ Mediaite: Matt Schlapp Sued for $9.4 Million by Herschel Walker Aide Who Accused Him of Sexual Assault.
- Cyd Zeigler @ OutSports: NFL broadcasters Tony Dungy and James Brown are featured speakers at outspoken anti-gay preacher’s event.
- Elise Kaplan, Ryan Boetel, and Jessica Dyer @ Albuquerque Journal: Failed Republican candidate arrested in shootings targeting Democratic politicians’ homes.
- Alex Shephard @ The New Republic: How Right-Wing Gasbags Cooked Up a Fantastically Dumb Culture War
- Brendan Fischer and Ed Pilkington @ The Guardian: Rightwing group pours millions in ‘dark money’ into US voter suppression bid
- Craig Johnson @ Jacobin: Lula Is Giving a Lesson in How to Respond to Right-Wing Attacks on Democracy
- Ed Mazza @ HuffPost: Trump Turns On Evangelical Leaders For ‘Disloyalty’ In Angry New Rant.
- Ursula Perano and Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: The Bathroom Fight Fueling Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert’s Break-Up.
- Sarah K. Burris @ Raw Story: Marjorie Taylor Greene scores prime spot on Homeland Security Committee despite 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Statistic of the week
Of note for me here is this – Republicans: Churches great for society, but not universities or unions or schools or technology companies or banks.
The real issue for society is not that list, but those who have been brainwashed by religious groups to think like this.
The Debt Ceiling explained
She lays it all out very clearly and nobody does it better…
Meanwhile …
Comedian joins a protest and says the quite part out loud … (which really upsets them) …
… and of course the guys are indeed off to a great start this year. Comedy really is a powerful means of protest …