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#361 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,848
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You don't seem to understand the difference between "any job" and the 'job' of being an elected representative. |
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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#362 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 93,921
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#363 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 31,708
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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get to me. . |
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#364 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 5,023
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Please temper your expectations if you are going to argue with a nazi sympathizer |
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#365 |
I lost an avatar bet.
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 28,767
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The problem with making telling the truth a requirement for taking office is where does one draw the line.
If Santos told one less lie should he be booted without a 2/3 vote from the House. What about 3 fewer lies? 10 fewer lies? Or is the requirement going to be not a single solitary lie? |
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I lost an avatar bet to Doghouse Reilly. |
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#366 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 93,921
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#367 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 93,921
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#368 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 31,708
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Why not a minimum of honesty? With this guys background, he isn't qualified for the bare minimum of tech or finance jobs. Yet it's ok for him to be a US Congressman sitting on the Science committee?
I think if you post information about yourself on your campaign bio and it's demonstrably false you should be ineligible for the office you're seeking. PERIOD. |
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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get to me. . |
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#369 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 30,300
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#370 |
Muse
Join Date: Apr 2020
Location: St Aines
Posts: 797
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If this board is too exciting for you, try my Flickr pages. Warning: may cause narcolepsy! Some people call me 'strange'. I prefer 'unconventional'. But I'm willing to compromise and accept 'eccentric'... |
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#371 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,848
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Yes, he was elected! He was elected by lying to his constituents (to his party, too, but they were well aware what he was up to and approved), he managed to make them elect him. They gave him the power to make decisions on their behalf. Why is it so difficult for you to understand this principle?! The voters gave him the right, and now he doesn't have to concern himself with their wishes or needs for the next couple of years and he is (more or less) free to sell his decision-making powers to the highest bidder. That's representative democracy! His own conscience and "Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable," are all that matters. He just has to convince them, not people who voted for him, that he is doing the right thing, and we all know how easy it is to convince those entities ... |
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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#372 |
Muse
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bonnie Scotland
Posts: 947
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So, if he got the position of a bank president, voted on by the board with a contract lasting 2 years, he shouldn't face any repercussions if it is found that 99% of his resume was false? I find the defence "but he was elected" to be puerile. An entity with the name George Santos was elected under false pretences, now that they know the truth a majority of his electorate are calling for him to go but your response is "tough - caveat emptor". That isn't democracy, that is fraud on a grand scale and there should be repercussions for it.
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I was not; I have been; I am not; I am content - Epicurus When you're dead you don't know that you're dead, all the pain is felt by others....................the same thing happens when you're stupid. |
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#373 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,848
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Yes, apparently! And your first question answers itself: Honesty wouldn't get him elected!
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But reality tells you that what you think is wrong. It is obvious that lying doesn't make you ineligible for the office you're seeking! (Unless you are lying about being born in the USA.) On the contrary, it gets you elected. You can lie to your constituents, and you can make promises that you never in a million years intend to keep. That's representative democracy. |
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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#374 |
Lackey
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: South East, UK
Posts: 109,588
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I do think a good "democratic" governance system will have a mechanism for their constituents to recall them.
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I wish I knew how to quit you |
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#375 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 30,300
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#376 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Dharug & Gundungurra
Posts: 14,972
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The main problem is that some guy called George Santos was elected to US Congress by the good folks of Long Island, but this compulsive liar named Anthony Devolder has taken his place in the House and is pretending to be him. If that's not voter fraud then I don't know what is!
Then again, it's no problem for the GOP, who let some piss-weak lying asshat called Donald Trump pretend to be US President for four years. ![]() |
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...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015 |
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#377 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 93,921
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#378 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,848
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Why do you guys keep bringing other jobs into this. He didn't get the position of bank president, did he? You completely misunderstand what I am writing if you think that it's a "defence" of anything. Do you actually think that representative democracy is a good thing? Honorable and dignified and worth defending? It's a system of government that makes people hand over decision-making to others who get to decide on their behalf rendering them more or less impotent. The representative gets to decide. They don't. He's the Decider! (In the case of Santos, it's on a pretty small scale.) And the constituents now know the truth about George Santos, but they obviously don't know the truth about how representative democracy works. Neither do you, apparently. |
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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#379 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: Dharug & Gundungurra
Posts: 14,972
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...our governments are just trying to protect us from terror. In the same way that someone banging a hornets’ nest with a stick is trying to protect us from hornets. Frankie Boyle, Guardian, July 2015 |
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#380 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,848
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Why do you think that representative democray makes such a big deal out of separating people from power, of making them hand over decision-making to representatives? In my own country:
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There's a new war on the horizon? Or a pandemic? Climate change? Sick leave? Sorry, but you don't have a say in this. It's all up to your elected representatives, and you don't get to tell them what to do. You have left it to George Santos to decide. |
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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#381 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 17,848
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/dann "Stupidity renders itself invisible by assuming very large proportions. Completely unreasonable claims are irrefutable. Ni-en-leh pointed out that a philosopher might get into trouble by claiming that two times two makes five, but he does not risk much by claiming that two times two makes shoe polish." B. Brecht "The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions." K. Marx |
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#382 |
Official Ponylandistanian National Treasure. Respect it!
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Ponylandistan! Where the bacon grows on trees! Can it get any better than that? I submit it can not!
Posts: 50,196
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![]() ![]() "George’s new drag name needs to be Miss Information" or "Liza Bunch". https://twitter.com/MoonPixieDC/stat...70191462400002 |
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"Never judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes... Because then it won't really matter, you’ll be a mile away and have his shoes." ![]() |
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#383 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 11,077
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Somebody was asleep at the switch
Upon initial examination Robert Zimmerman was hardly an objectionable candidate, and I have heard that this district was considered a safe seat for democrats (Zimmerman lost 54 to 46 percent). One group that should be ashamed of its performance is the leadership of the Democratic Party. They should have given Zimmerman's campaign more money or spent it themselves to publicize the exploits of the talented Mr. Santos. "Much of that so-called “opposition research” had appeared in various news outlets prior to the election. But no press release from the Zimmerman campaign, the state Democratic Party or the DCCC referenced the bulk of the Times reporting, which focused on the many alleged fabrications included as part of Santos’ resume as well as dug deeper into the animal rescue nonprofit Santos claimed to have founded." link
That having been said, I get the impression that the party did do something. "He [Zimmerman] pointed to an 87-page opposition research document the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee released that could have led to national exposure of Santos as a person unworthy of the office before voters went to the ballot booth." |
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It is possible both to be right about an issue and to take oneself a little too seriously, but I would rather be reminded of that by a friend than a foe. (a tip of the hat to Foolmewunz) |
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#384 |
I lost an avatar bet.
Join Date: Dec 2001
Posts: 28,767
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On the contrary, scale is exactly what I am talking about. Almost all of us agree 60 lies is too much. But we still have to agree on a number that is the cutoff line for having too many lies. Is 30 an acceptable cutoff? 15? 7? Or as some here say is one proveably false statement enough to nix a candidate?
If we go with one, then does mean that H. Clinton is ineligible because of her claim that she came under fire at an airport? …… And what if the provably false statement is based on misremembering something rather than intending to deceive people. If a senator says “10 years ago, I voted against senate bill S123,” but it turns out that person voted for the bill. Does that provably false statement count as a lie? And how recent do these lies have to be? Does a 15-year-old lie count as part of a candidate’s lie tally? …… As for comparing this job to other jobs with a fiduciary duty, other jobs require applications with specific questions (level of education, place of education, previous employment, criminal convictions, etc). The applicant then signs a statement that the information is correct. But if we require that, then Santos (or someone like Trump) could have told the truth on those questions and still have lied about contracting brain cancer, AIDS, and COVID; having a mother in the towers on 9/11; and all the other goofy claims that wouldn’t appear on an application. Are those lies serious enough to exclude the candidate. Do Trump’s incessant lies about setting new attendance records in every venue he spoke in (because, according to him, he talked a fire chief into allowing extra people into a venue) count as disqualifying lies? |
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I lost an avatar bet to Doghouse Reilly. |
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#385 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 31,708
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You don’t think I understand? I understand full well.
You're saying that someone who runs as a graduate of Baruch University with a degree in economics, but who in reality is a high school drop-out should be able to get away with his fraud against the voters in his district. If he had run as a high school dropout and elected, I have no issue. How can he fairly represent the voters of his district when he can't fairly represent who he is? |
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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get to me. . |
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#386 |
Muse
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Sag-Nasty
Posts: 927
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When conservatives realize they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will abandon democracy. IIDB is back, baby! |
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#387 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 31,708
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Are you saying that George Santos mis-remembered attending the Horace Mann School, Baruch University and NYU? Are you saying he mis-remembered working for Citicorp and Goldman Sachs?
Which one of his falsehoods do you think are simply a case of misremembering? We need to find a way to curb the rampant dishonesty in politics. We may not be able to eliminate it entirely, but a candidate should be accountable for telling the truth. |
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Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get to me. . |
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#388 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: I live in a swamp
Posts: 26,912
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https://www.gawker.com/politics/meet...ictional-staff
He's recruited some real failed genetic experiments to work on his staff. The fact that you have to go to Gawker to find them tells you what you need to know. His team isn't the bottom of the barrel; they're living with the worms and slugs in the dirt under the barrel. |
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Fight like a Ukrainian. |
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#389 |
Lackey
Administrator
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: South East, UK
Posts: 109,588
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And if the “will of the people” is to recall him?
We’ve only recently had a mechanism to recall MPs introduced in England and Wales, I think a political system that doesn’t have a recall procedure is lacking a safeguard. Obviously the actual procedure has to have many caveats, checks and balances and so on, it shouldn’t be open for a politician to be recalled because their constituents (even if it is a majority) disagree with their voting record. Have a read of MPs recall procedure in the UK for an example. Many other countries also have recall procedures. |
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I wish I knew how to quit you |
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#390 |
Muse
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Bonnie Scotland
Posts: 947
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Oh no sir, I understand representative democracy. The people of this district wanted a competent businessman with a record of charitable support and a personal understanding of issues affecting the disadvantaged and different in society as well as the strength and courage to overcome personal and familial tragedy. That might even be a representative worth having, Republican or not. But that is not what they got. They got a fraud and a shape shifter but you think, because they were misled or fooled they have to suffer this "representative" for 2 years! To be fair this is one of the problems of FPTP systems like congress in the USA or Parliament in my own country, this idea of winner takes all but in a proper democracy there would be repercussions for this kind of behaviour since honour or good behaviour now counts for little in politics and governments.
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I was not; I have been; I am not; I am content - Epicurus When you're dead you don't know that you're dead, all the pain is felt by others....................the same thing happens when you're stupid. |
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#391 |
persona non grata
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 1,156
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In Jorge's defense, he did record a verbal correction: https://soundcloud.com/daleleopold/c...social_sharing |
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Truth, like the sun, allows itself to be obscured; but, like the sun, only for a time. __Bovee Truth will ultimately prevail where there is pains taken to bring it to light. __George Washington All great truths begin as blasphemies __Shaw |
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#392 |
Nasty Woman
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 93,921
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This is an arbitrary cherrypicked point. How about he's mentally ill? And yes, it should have applied to Trump as well but that's off-topic.
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![]() [snipped the rest of this nonsensical post] You continue to ignore the facts of this case, the larger picture, the common sense difference. |
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#393 |
Illuminator
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 4,192
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'A knave; a rascal; an eater of broken meats; a base, proud, shallow, beggardly, three-suited, hundred-pound, filthy, worsted-stocking knave; a lily-livered, action-taking knave, a whoreson, glass-gazing, superservicable, finical rogue;... the son and heir of a mongral bitch: one whom I will beat into clamorous whining, if thou deniest the least syllable of thy addition."' -The Bard |
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#394 |
Official Ponylandistanian National Treasure. Respect it!
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Ponylandistan! Where the bacon grows on trees! Can it get any better than that? I submit it can not!
Posts: 50,196
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Somebody find a picture or video of him in drag holding a children's book, please.
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"Never judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes... Because then it won't really matter, you’ll be a mile away and have his shoes." ![]() |
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#395 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Aug 2016
Location: In the Troll Ignoring Section
Posts: 22,595
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I keep reading this thread title as "George Soros" and am expecting it to be about crazy ****. Certainly not disappointed.
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"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" -Mark Twain "Half of what he said meant something else, and the other half didn't mean anything at all" -Rosencrantz, on Hamlet |
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#397 |
Penultimate Amazing
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: United States
Posts: 30,300
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Comedian Leslie Jones:
Do you know how much you have to lie to be known as 'the lying Congressman'? She's got a point. "He stole from a disabled, homeless veteran's dying service dog? Oh, my god, you evil and stupid!" She's got another point. |
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#398 |
Philosopher
Join Date: Mar 2010
Posts: 5,023
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Please temper your expectations if you are going to argue with a nazi sympathizer |
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#399 |
Graduate Poster
Join Date: Apr 2008
Posts: 1,268
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George Santos is the current and future face of the Republican Party!
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There is nothing as deceptive as an obvious fact. |
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#400 |
Master Poster
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Ottawa
Posts: 2,410
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Elected office in a representative democracy is a very unique station, unlike just about any other job one can take. The qualifications are as basic as they come; citizenship, age, and an ability to convince enough people to vote for you. That's about it. No standards in education, experience, honesty. If the candidate finagles the position without committing a crime, then he's rightfully in.
The will of the voters is sacrosanct. Whether they are deceived or are in on it. Which is why I keep saying a People gets the Government it deserves. |
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