Santos Funding Suspicion & Mining On Meteors (Maybe)
January 26, 2023
George Of The Jungle Of Lies
Everyone’s favorite political trickster George Santos is back in the spotlight this week, but not for anything as fun as old drag queen photos or an entirely made-up personal background. This time, the skeletons in his closet are the worst kind: financial ones. On Tuesday, Santos filed updated campaign reports with federal regulators that have raised even more questions about both his campaign and his finances.
Previously, Santos claimed that he’d personally lent his campaign over $700,000. In direct contrast to this claim, his updated Tuesday filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) had two changes: the boxes showing that the loans of $500,000 and $125,000 came from Santos’ personal funds were now unmarked, raising questions about where that money came from. “I have no idea what’s going on with the loans,” said Jordan Libowitz of watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. “It is without a doubt the most confusing FEC filing I’ve seen.”
Santos’ campaign filed 10 amendment reports to the FEC, the latest in the campaign’s long line of amendments. Santos has already become known for filing updates to his original campaign finance reports, and the FEC has sent the campaign over 24 requests for clarifications over the course of its last two election cycles.
“It could be that this is the single sloppiest bookkeeping of any candidate that we’ve ever seen,” said Libowitz, but the updates could also be a messy attempt to cover up funds coming from an unsanctioned source. Candidates are allowed to donate an unlimited amount of money to their campaigns, but they can’t covertly accept six-figure funding from others. The claim it came from Santos was suspect anyway – in 2020, he listed a salary of $55,000 and no assets, but by 2022 he reported $750,000 from the Devolder Organization, which he claimed is “his family’s firm.”
Good News
- Landmark deals give Indigenous key role in Canada resource projects (Guardian)
- Alaska’s Tongass National Forest logging restrictions reinstated (NPR)
North Korea Catches A Cold
- According to South Korea’s NK News, the North Korean capital of Pyongyang has been locked down for five days due to an outbreak of an unspecified respiratory illness. While a government notice from North Korean officials didn’t mention Covid-19, Pyongyang residents are now required to stay indoors and undergo temperature checks. On Tuesday, NK News also reported that Pyongyang residents were stocking up on supplies for the lockdown – you do the math there.
- North Korea has been very opaque about its Covid-19 situation. The country reported its first case in 2022, but announced that it had conquered the disease by August. It has also never confirmed how many of its citizens had the disease, instead only disclosing the daily number of patients who’d contracted fever. That number reached 4.77 million at one point, with the country’s population totaling just 25 million. North Korea has stopped reporting even that number since July 2022.
Not A Crime, Still A Sin
- In his first interview since the death of former Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis discussed his health, his critics within the clergy, his health, and the Catholic Church’s relationship with homosexuality. “Being homosexual isn’t a crime,” he told the Associated Press, adding that certain conservative bishops who support laws criminalizing homosexuality “have to have a process of conversion” to recognize the dignity of LGBTQ people.
- Francis went on to say that laws discriminating against LGBTQ people are “injust,” and that the Catholic Church “must” use its power to put an end to them. This is the first time that a pope has spoken out in support of LGBTQ people. To be clear, Francis still referred to homosexuality as a “sin,” but stated that lack of charity with other people is also a sin.
- The 86-year-old pope said he was in good health for his age, despite his knee issues which have landed him in a wheelchair recently. He also noted that a wave of conservative clergy had voiced criticisms of his papacy after Pope Benedict’s death. “The only thing I ask is that they do it to my face because that’s how we all grow, right?” he added.
Additional World News
- Heavy snow causes havoc in Japan as cold snap sweeps through Asia (Reuters)
- Cargo ship capsizes off Japan’s coast with 22 aboard (CNN)
- Beirut blast investigator charges key figures after long suspension (BBC)
- Lemekani Nyirenda: Zambian student who died fighting for Russia in Ukraine laid to rest (CNN)
- The U.K. government says more than 200 child asylum-seekers are missing (NPR)
- US issues Mexico security alert as Cancun taxi drivers block road, harass Uber cars (USA Today)
- Rwanda accused of ‘act of war’ as DRC fighter jet is hit mid-air (CNN)
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” – Steve Jobs
A Different Kind Of Pill
- On Wednesday, drug manufacturer GenBioPro in West Virginia and Dr. Amy Bryant, a doctor in North Carolina filed separate federal complaints, both seeking to end their state’s restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone. Bryant and GenBioPro, who manufactures the drug, both argue the restrictions on the pill violate rules set by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
- Since the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in June, at least 14 states have stopped performing abortions and limited or banned access to medication abortion. This has increased demand for mifepristone, which terminates an early pregnancy by blocking the hormone progesterone with just one pill. Earlier this month, the FDA expanded the rules to allow retail pharmacies to dispense the drug for the first time.
- North Carolina and West Virginia have their own rules when it comes to dispensing the drug, even though the FDA allows it to be prescribed over telehealth. North Carolina requires that the patient obtain the drug through a physician in a specially certified surgical facility, and receives state-mandated counseling 72 hours in advance of any abortion, including one resulting from mifepristone.
Rising Up For The Renters
- You may have noticed the cost of living has gotten a little higher in the U.S. On Wednesday, the Biden administration introduced plans to help protect renters during this period of astronomical rent and egg prices. Multiple federal agencies will gather information on unfair housing practices, and a “Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights” was included that will set guidelines to help renters stay in affordable housing.
- Even as the Federal Reserve’s efforts to slow inflation have started to show signs of working in the last few months, rent has continued to increase rapidly, and for lower-income communities that spend the bulk of their monthly budget on housing, it’s becoming a crisis. There’s also a significant lack of housing available, which complicates the matter even more. (WaPo, $)
Additional USA News
- Tornado damage near Houston ‘catastrophic,’ official says as storm moves eastward (CNN)
- Teacher shot by 6-year-old texted a dire warning to a loved one before she was wounded, source says (NBC)
- Judge orders the release of a Hawaii man in the case of a 1991 rape and murder (NPR)
- National Archives misses deadline to give House info on Biden’s classified docs (Axios)
- McCarthy taps GOP members to investigate Covid policies (Politico)
- McCarthy officially denies Schiff and Swalwell seats on House Intelligence Committee (CNN)
- Lawmakers codify abortion rights in state constitution, sending it to voters (Politico)
AstroForging A New Future
- Asteroid mining startup AstroForge has announced that it will launch its first two missions into space this year, marking a new milestone in humanity’s campaign to extract resources from everything within reach. While it won’t be mining precious metals from asteroids anytime soon, the company hopes that its goal of reducing the environmental impacts of mining on Earth will come to fruition soon.
- AstroForge’s first trek into space will be launched on the back of a SpaceX rideshare rocket in April. That launch will test methods for refining platinum from metals found on asteroids in a space environment. The second mission will take place in October, searching for a good asteroid to mine.
- Currently, extracting platinum and similar materials on earth is extremely expensive and environmentally damaging. The company’s goal is to extract platinum-like metals from asteroids roaming space and refine the metals on the asteroid itself, saving the Earth from environmental damage associated with both extraction and refining. Despite this green messaging, the act of launching rockets is also very environmentally damaging as well, though the company’s use of ridesharing rockets at least slightly lessens that impact.
Additional Reads
- Survey shows a lack of Holocaust awareness in the country that was home to Anne Frank (NPR)
- As Israel bans Palestinian flags, one artist protests with his brush (CNN)
- Where is Physics Headed (and How Soon Do We Get There)? (NYT, $)
- NASA will join a military program to develop nuclear thermal propulsion (Ars Technica)
- Alice Springs: Alcohol limited in Australian town due to violence (BBC)
- Razzies Apologize for Nominating Child Actor, Introduce Age Limit (Variety)
- Eight-time Gold Glove 3B Scott Rolen makes Baseball Hall of Fame (ESPN)