George Santos (R, NY-3)

Republican Congressman George Santos (AKA Anthony Zabrovsky, Anthony Devolder, George Devolder and Kitara Ravache) of New York’s 3th District is now a member of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology (because he lied about developing carbon capture technology), and the House Committee on Small Business (because he lied about his business experience). At least he’s not on the Ethics Committee.

If you’re keeping score at home, George Santos lied about his: high school, college, ever going to college, volleyball prowess, grad school, religion, race, family history, work history, finances, owning 13 real estate properties, knee replacements, his yacht brokerage, appearing on Hanna Montana, developing carbon capture technology, film acting, losing employees in the Pulse nightclub shooting, getting mugged, being a drag queen, having a brain tumor, running a pet rescue charity, past marital status, getting COVID, and his own mother’s death. More is sure to come.

But as Jon Stewart observes: “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.”

How did he get elected in the first place? By telling Democratic and Republican voters in his district what each wanted to hear. As Bill Maher puts it: “He is the first one to realize that since we are all in our hermetically sealed media bubbles, now you can pretend to be everything to voters in both parties.”

The Republican majority is so slim that GOP members are reluctant to pressure Mr. Santos into resigning from the House. His district could easily elect a Democrat to replace him, so he’ll stay until the federal, state, Nassau County, Queens, and/or Brazilian courts catch up with him.

More:

“Rep. George Santos Appears to Have Ripped Off His Former Boss’s Resume in Crafting His Backstory,” Virginia Chamlee, People

“George Santos’ backers include a migrant smuggler, a big Trump donor and the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch,” Clare Hymes and Graham Kates, CBS News

“Another Santos Money Mystery: He Struck a Curious Business Deal With a Veteran GOP Operative,” Noah Lanard and David Corn, Mother Jones

“Campaigns Linked To Santos Left Donors Feeling Ripped Off After Questionable Credit Card Charges,” Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky, TPM

Update:

“Scientists Welcome ‘Astronaut,’ ‘Nobel Winner’ George Santos To House Science Committee,” Chris D’Angelo, HuffPost

________________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-CYa

Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com. Download a copy here. Note: Politifact hasn’t yet fact-checked George Santo’s statements. Maybe it’s too overwhelming.

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

The Honorable George Santos (R, NY-3)

Outside of Hollywood, you’d think doing business with someone who is using an assumed name would raise concerns, but it didn’t. As a result, George Santos, AKA Anthony Zabrovsky, Anthony Devolder, Kitara Ravache, and George Devolder (of dubious investment firm Harbor City Capital) is now the newly-sworn-in Republican Congressman representing New York’s 3th District.

After he was elected, Rep. Devolder Zabrovsky Ravache Santos admitted to embellishing his résumé, but it’s all embellishment, no résumé. He lied about his: high school, college, ever going to college, volleyball prowess, grad school, religion, family history, work history, finances, owning 13 real estate properties, developing carbon capture technology, losing employees in the Pulse nightclub shooting, running a pet rescue charity, past marital status, and his own mother’s death. Other dirty shoes will probably drop.

George Santos makes Herschel Walker look like the very soul of probity. He should be an embarrassment to Congressional Republicans, but they are noted for lack of shame, and their majority is so slim they’re reluctant to pressure Mr. Santos into resigning from the House. His district could easily elect a Democrat to replace him, so he’ll stay until the federal, state, Nassau County, Queens, and/or Brazilian courts catch up with him.

Months before the election, some of George Santos’ falsehoods were uncovered by the local North Shore Leader newspaper, and some lies were known to Republican consultants. These red flags were ignored in the heat of the campaign.

New York Magazine calls George Santos “The Luckiest Liar in Politics.” If you want to congratulate him on his fabrication-based good fortune, send cards to: The Honorable George Santos, 1117 Longworth House Office Building, Washington DC, 20515-3203 or call him at 202-225-3335.

Constituent well-wishers may prefer to contact his District Office in Queens: 242-09 Northern Boulevard, Douglaston, NY 11363 (phone 718-631-0400).

Rep. Santos doesn’t have a public email address, but his Chief of Staff does.

Want George Santos to attend your new waste disposal service’s ribbon-cutting or your nephew’s bar mitzvah? Use this handy contact form.

Update:

George Santos has been appointed to two House committees. He will sit on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology (because he lied about developing carbon capture technology), and the House Committee on Small Business (because he lied about his business experience).

More:

“Keeping track of all of NY Rep.-elect George Santos’ lies, from his education to charity falsehoods,” Bruce Golding, New York Post

“Rep. George Santos Appears to Have Ripped Off His Former Boss’s Resume in Crafting His Backstory,” Virginia Chamlee, People

“George Santos’ backers include a migrant smuggler, a big Trump donor and the cousin of a sanctioned Russian oligarch,” Clare Hymes and Graham Kates, CBS News

“Another Santos Money Mystery: He Struck a Curious Business Deal With a Veteran GOP Operative,” Noah Lanard and David Corn, Mother Jones

“Campaigns Linked To Santos Left Donors Feeling Ripped Off After Questionable Credit Card Charges,” Hunter Walker and Josh Kovensky, TPM

 

________________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-CVG

Image by Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com. Download a copy here. Note: Politifact hasn’t yet fact-checked George Santo’s statements. Maybe it’s too overwhelming.

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

A New Kind of Chinatown

Old Chinatowns were segregated urban ghettos settled by low-skilled laborers. Newer versions have emerged in New York, Sydney, LA, Melbourne, Vancouver, and Toronto. A Quartz video by Nikhil Sonnad and Tony Lin.

_________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-xC0

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

 

Arsonist Torches Fox Fake Christmas Tree

A homeless man with a Bic lighter set the Fox News Christmas tree on fire last week. Fox is the HQ of fake news, so of course it was a fake tree. The 50-foot-tall tree-shaped object was really a graduated series of metal hoops festooned with green fringe, glass ornaments, and lights. God takes decades to make a 50-foot tree, but Fox put theirs together in 21 hours. Fox faked up a second “tree” 24 hours after the incineration.

Update:

Comedy Central claims Fox News covered the tree torching as “Pine-Eleven.”

_____________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-yf7

Music: “Christmas Tree On Fire,” written and recorded by Tom Heinl, 2003.

Comments are welcome ifhttps://wp.me/p6sb6-xn6 they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Anthony Weiner Gets Top Job

Disgraced sleazoid and former congressman Anthony Weiner (aka Carlos Danger) has a new top job. That’s right, he’s working for a Brooklyn kitchen countertop company. Wait, you’re gonna eat off of that? Like Mr. Weiner, the countertop materials are recycled.

In case you forgot, Donald Trump, a great judge of character, donated to Anthony Wiener’s 1997 city council campaign and 2007 and 2010 congressional campaigns.

More:

“Anthony Weiner piecing together shattered life as CEO of broken glass factory,” Reuven Fenton and Bruce Golding, NY Post

__________________

Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-vCe

Image manipulated by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Trump Steaks in the Meatpacking District

Photographer-artist-provocateur Andres Serrano has assembled an array of 1,000 Trump-related objets in an exhibition called “The Game: All Things Trump” at 409 W 14th Street, in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Mr. Serrano has been assembling his collection for thirty years, and organized the exhibition to show that President Trump “didn’t appear out of nowhere.” Exhibits include a slice of cake from Donald and Melania’s 2003 wedding, Trump Vodka, Trump Steaks, remnants of the Trump Shuttle, and a Trump University diploma.  “I wanted to paint a portrait of Donald Trump using his own brushes,” Mr. Serrano told the Washington Post.

The show’s title is drawn from the 1989 Milton Bradley board game “Trump: The Game,” released with the tagline “It’s not whether you win or lose, but whether you win!”

More:

“All things Trump: behind Andres Serrano’s memorabilia museum,” Nadja Sayej, The Guardian

___________________

Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-t5X

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

L.A. Foodie Explores NYC

California food columnist Lucas Kwan Peterson explored Big Apple foodways in the April 1 edition of the Los Angeles Times:

“My first culinary encounter was with pizza, a mysterious kind of baked tlayuda, covered in macerated tomatoes and milk coagulation, and occasionally smothered with a type of thinly sliced lap cheong called pepperoni. The odd dish, sometimes referred to as a pie, washed ashore from Naples some years ago. While the taste takes some getting used to, pizza can be enchanting when done properly.”

— “For cramped New York, an expanding dining scene,” Lucas Kwan Peterson, Los Angeles Times

___________________

Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-sYc

Top image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Amazon: Escape From New York!

In a corporate blog post on Valentine’s Day, Amazon announced it won’t build a publicly-subsidized headquarters campus in New York City after all. The Long Island City project was popular with local real estate developers and top politicians but elicited vocal protests from residents and unions as well as NY State Senator Mike Gianaris and celebrity Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Amazon intends to expand its planned Northern Virginia HQ2 instead. Maybe.

More:

“Amazon Pulls Out of Planned New York City Headquarters,”

“Amazon pulls out of $3 billion deal to bring HQ2 to NYC,” Bob Fredericks, New  York Post

“Amazon won’t be building HQ2 in New York City after all,” Gaby Del Valle, Vox

“Why Amazon Bailed on Its New York Headquarters,” Josh Barro, New York Magazine

“Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez jubilantly trumpets Amazon’s cancelled HQ2 plans,” Summer Meza, The Week

“Amazon’s Winning Streak Ends in New York,” Shira Ovide, Bloomberg

“Jeff Bezos Is Right at Home in the D.C. Swamp, but Amazon Might Have Bit Off More Than It Can Chew with the Big Apple,” Joel Kotkin, Daily Beast

______________________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-sJ1

Image by Mike Licht (with apologies to Barry E. Jackson). Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Carlos Danger Rides Again — Into Bachelorhood

Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner (aka Carlos Danger) was caught with his pants down again, outed by the New York Post for sending sexty photos to strange women. His wife, foreign relations pro and Hillary campaign advisor Huma Abedin, invoked the 3-strikes-you’re-out rule and announced the couple’s separation.

Since quitting Congress and losing a local election in New York City, Anthony Weiner has been a commentator for Time-Warner cable news outlet NY 1 and a columnist for the New York Daily News. The TV outfit has put him on “indefinite leave,” and the Daily News cut him loose.

Serial adulterer and Anthony Weiner campaign contributor Donald Trump expressed sympathy for Ms. Abedin and smeared her boss Hillary Clinton in a single tweet. Anthony Weiner should remind his pal Mr. Trump how dangerous Twitter can be.

More:

“Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin says she’s separating with Anthony Weiner amid third sexting scandal,” Jeff Stein, Vox

“Trump sees personal tragedy and embarrassment as just political fodder,” Ruth Marcus, Washington Post

“Don’t Expect Donald Trump to Stop Lying About Huma Abedin,” Robert Mackey, The Intercept

___________________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-opw

Image manipulated by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

New York Plagued by Ice Cream Rustlers

New York City was once known as “A Summer Festival” but this year, with Climate Change, the the Big Apple’s summer is big, hot, sweaty mess. And now there are ice cream thieves.

Shoplifting swarms have been emptying retail freezers at Manhattan CVS, Duane Reade, and Gristedes chain stores. Thieves steal the $6.00 containers of Häagen-Dazs, Ben and Jerry’s, and Talenti ice cream and sell them cheaply to corner stores, which retail them for $5.00.

Things are so bad this summer that John Catsimatidis, billionaire owner of the Gristedes grocery chain, is offering a $5,000 bounty for the arrest of ice cream rustlers. So get your posse together, ride them varmints down, and get the reward. Quick, before it melts.

More:

“Ice cream bandits are wreaking havoc on NYC supermarkets,” Reuven Fenton and Linda Massarella, New York Post

“So Maybe Don’t Buy Ice Cream At A Bodega,” Nell Casey,  Gothamist

Update:

“Stolen, Sold and Savored: Ice Cream Is a Hot Commodity in Manhattan,” Michael Wilson, New York Times

___________________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-ol2

Image (“Lady With an Ice Cream Sundae, after d’Agesci”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine