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<title>10 March, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Latest Attack on the Abortion Pill Is Forty Years in the Making</strong> - If a Texas lawsuit prevails, mifepristone will no longer be available anywhere in the nation, even in states where abortion is legal. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-latest-attack-on-the-abortion-pill-is-forty-years-in-the-making">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Abandoned American Hostage Finally Makes It Home</strong> - After more than two years of neglect by the Trump and Biden Administrations, Mark Frerichs describes how he survived Taliban captivity in Afghanistan. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/an-abandoned-american-hostage-finally-makes-it-home">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Right Side of History</strong> - How should historians respond to the urgency of this current political moment? - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-education/the-right-side-of-history">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>2024 Trump Is Even Scarier Than 2020 Trump</strong> - When the front-running ex-President campaigns on a platform of “retribution” and “termination,” it’s best to take him seriously. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/2024-trump-is-even-scarier-than-2020-trump">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Inside Story of the U.N. High Seas Treaty</strong> - A new global agreement protects marine life in parts of the ocean that laws have been unable to reach. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-inside-story-of-the-un-high-seas-treaty">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><strong>Meet the gas stove influencer sponsored by the propane industry</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Dean Sheremet poses behind a counter." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jautYmyWe_OI4shDnI0hhRx72lA=/333x0:3000x2000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72058578/GettyImages_632212068.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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The propane industry is working with Dean Sheremet, the host of Fox’s <em>My Kitchen Rules</em>, to combat gas stoves’ public image problem. | NBCUniversal via Getty
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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He’s on local TV blaming the user, not the product, for health concerns.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="cUCdD9">
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At first glance, a local news station in San Diego seemed to be airing a soft news piece helping viewers achieve their new year’s resolutions. The host for <em>San Diego Living</em>, a CBS8 program that sometimes airs sponsored content, said their next guest, a celebrity TV star, would deliver fun facts about healthy living and showcase some recipes.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="55dVB2">
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Then, they dove in. The next <a href="https://www.cbs8.com/video/entertainment/television/programs/san-diego-living/new-year-new-habits-cooking-cleaner-healthier-meals-with-chef-dean-sheremet/509-c4de3185-2d3d-4724-9d70-5ab615286a33">four minutes</a> were indistinguishable from an ad, paid for by the propane industry. The show’s host made a brief disclosure at the beginning, but after that, viewers would have had to read the tiny fine print on screen that the chef Dean Sheremet was there on behalf of the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC). By the time it aired in February, Sheremet had already taken to multiple local programs touting the benefits of cooking with gas and propane.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ygx58J">
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For both the propane and gas industries, stoves serve the same purpose: They are an important tool to turn opinion against climate campaigners trying to electrify buildings, so that eventually they’re powered by solar and wind. It drives a wedge for people who would otherwise likely support these climate solutions, warning them they’ll lose their beloved stove if they support climate activists.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ydhQp6">
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For years, gas groups <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2020/06/gas-industry-influencers-stoves/">have hired influencers</a> to help ward off gas bans in cities. Recently, the strategy has changed. Their pitch used to focus on arguing that gas was the superior fuel for cooking. Now they are instead pushing back squarely on air-quality concerns. Influencers are helping the industry argue to the public that it’s really the individual who’s the problem, not the product. They ignore that the product itself produces carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and benzene by combusting fossil fuels, instead arguing that chefs are simply using the wrong cooking oils or heating food at the wrong temperature.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YUvCng">
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The shift in rhetoric is a signal of just how worried the industry is that its most reliably popular appliance is losing ground. No other appliance captures the American imagination <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/">quite like the gas stove</a>. But as important as public opinion is to the fate of the stove, it’s also more fickle than the industry’s stronghold on lobbying. So when the fossil fuel industry tries to take its case directly to the consumer, it has often relied on paid influencers to deliver the message.
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</p>
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<h3 id="wgTFQz">
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The industry is blaming the cook for the gas stove’s problems
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="shINFs">
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The face of the propane industry’s recent campaign is Dean Sheremet, a celebrity chef who is also known for his divorce from the singer LeAnn Rimes. He stars in a Fox show called <em>My Kitchen Rules</em> and has had appearances on a number of other networks.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YKXfVR">
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His latest business venture has been with the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC), a trade association made up of propane companies. Propane is a petroleum gas, a slightly distinct category from natural gas, and the smaller fuel source of the two used in just <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/home-electrification-heat-pumps-gas-furnace/">5 percent of homes</a>. Otherwise, propane and natural gas share the same characteristics as any kind of fossil fuel combustion.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7FYzQm">
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PERC in the past has hired other TV personalities, like HGTV’s Matt Blashaw and science communicator Emily Calandrelli, to appear in sponsored ads on propane used for home heating and school buses. PERC confirmed to Vox that it “engaged with Dean Sheremet to educate consumers about the benefits of cooking with propane and to share best practices for cooking indoors.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="r213ah">
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Appearing in a kitchen equipped with a ducted range hood and a propane placard propped in the background, Sheremet responded directly to the ongoing storm over indoor air quality. “I love propane,” the influencer said in multiple scripts. “They are absolutely safe.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bR52bk">
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In the <a href="https://www.cbs8.com/video/entertainment/television/programs/san-diego-living/new-year-new-habits-cooking-cleaner-healthier-meals-with-chef-dean-sheremet/509-c4de3185-2d3d-4724-9d70-5ab615286a33">CBS San Diego</a> segment, Sheremet said, “as a father of a 4-year-old, indoor air quality and just health in general is paramount for me.” He went on to advise viewers to turn on their hood or open a door for ventilation, but also “making sure we’re cooking with the proper oils at the proper temperature. You’re not just reaching for that bottle of olive oil, chucking in the pan and cranking it up and creating a bunch of smoke and fumes inside your home kitchen.”
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</p>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="Dean Sheremet stands in a kitchen." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/1ravMIYWorwtZ4vX1P8omwWiEdI=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24485949/Screen_Shot_2023_03_07_at_9.52.48_AM.png"/> <cite>Screenshot from CBS8</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Dean Sheremet, a celebrity chef, appeared on a local station in San Diego promoting cooking with gas. The sponsorship by Propane Education & Research Council appears in fine print.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<figure class="e-image">
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<img alt="A screenshot of a local news program showing a gas stove." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/jk-ZrRGnSK5Xd1l0yiik42BP7ZM=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24486750/Screen_Shot_2023_03_07_at_2.15.27_PM.png"/> <cite>Screenshot from KOIN</cite>
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<figcaption>
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Sheremet appeared on <em>Everyday Northwest</em> to promote cooking with gas.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4KsIrU">
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On another segment aired on <em>Everyday Northwest</em>, a <a href="https://www.koin.com/everydaynorthwest/celebrity-chef-shares-healthy-recipes-perks-of-cooking-with-clean-energy/">Portland-area program on KOIN,</a> he noted, “there’s been a lot of misinformation and hysteria in the news and there’s been a lot of competing studies and I know that there’s further review that’s going to be needed. But for me as a chef, I want to teach people how to effectively cook and realize no matter what cooking source you’re using, you’re going to impact your<strong> </strong>interior air quality.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bHA0rF">
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In this segment, Sheremet’s relationship with PERC wasn’t disclosed at all. When Vox reached out for comment from the station, the show host and producer Ashley Howard replied, “This was not a sponsored piece for us. We do not have knowledge of the working relationship between Dean Sheremet and the Propane Education & Research Council.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qKTv9O">
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Sheremet did not respond to Vox’s requests for comment. PERC confirmed it did not pay <em>Everyday Northwest</em> for the segment, which was set up by a PR company.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wKpIxc">
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At least seven of these segments aired on local stations after the <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2023/1/11/23549303/gas-stove-regulation-explained">recent controversy over gas stoves</a>, several of them in markets where cities are considering phasing out gas and propane in new construction. Meanwhile, other segments did not clearly disclose Sheremet’s connection to PERC. <em>The Hampton Roads Show</em> notes his sponsorship in fine print. At no point in the interviews did Sheremet volunteer that he was working for PERC, aside from a small placard in his kitchen saying “propane.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WSCjYS">
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The blurry world of sponsored content, expert opinion, and faulty claims could pose legal and ethical problems for the propane and gas industry.
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</p>
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<h3 id="uW55S5">
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Gas stove influencers blur the lines of what’s ethical and legal
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="iae0dl">
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Gas stove influencers have been around for years. What’s new about Sheremet is the abrupt shift in content. “Previously we’ve seen influencers hired to talk up the benefits of cooking and the performance of stoves, and we’ve seen influencers on TikTok and other social media platforms discussing why they love cooking with gas,” said Charlie Spatz, a researcher with the fossil fuel watchdog group Energy and Policy Institute.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="q0IbTg">
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What’s especially new here, Spatz explained, is an influencer blaming the user. Earlier influencer campaigns by the American Gas Association and American Public Gas Association promoted stoves as stylish, accessible, and cool. Influencers often didn’t have the recommended range hoods that even the industry says is necessary to promote safe indoor air quality. Industry leaders often preferred to stay away from the indoor air quality debate entirely, like Sue Kristjansson, now president of Berkshire Gas, arguing in a <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2021/06/how-the-fossil-fuel-industry-convinced-americans-to-love-gas-stoves/">2021 email,</a> “If we wait to promote natural gas stoves until we have scientific data that they are not causing any air quality issues we’ll be done.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="NBDJ7E">
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The calculus has clearly changed. Air quality was at the forefront of Sheremet’s recent appearances, but his emphasis is on user error rather than the appliance. For example, Sheremet noted in multiple appearances that all cooking produces emissions, and the type of cooking oil matters more. This is not true. While all cooking can produce some particulate matter, fossil fuel combustion adds emissions that would not be there if the appliance was induction.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XR7v8P">
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“It’s a misdirection to blame the consumer for indoor air-quality problems when it’s the product itself that creates combustion emissions, including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and benzene,” Spatz said.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<aside id="c6Xfd5">
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<q>“It’s a misdirection to blame the consumer for indoor air-quality problems when it’s the product itself that creates combustion emissions”</q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R0ChKO">
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The gas industry has had a problem on its hands as public awareness shifts to realize these consequences. Gas utilities and propane companies alike are dependent on selling gas to millions of Americans, and their future survival depends on expanding that base.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zNUJLf">
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Gas utility trade groups like the American Gas Association (AGA) have had their own influencer campaigns that use the gas stove to gain favor with the public. The propane industry has had its own initiative fighting back.
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</p>
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<div id="4F9Gei">
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<div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zvocTO">
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Both PERC and AGA get their funding for anti-electrification efforts from companies that pass those costs along to consumers. Trade associations are supposed to use these fees for education and safety campaigns, but there is little oversight of their activities by the Department of Justice. Environmentalists have called into question whether promoting the gas stove’s health impacts should qualify.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4iTG8a">
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“PERC takes its mandate from Congress to support the safe use of propane, provide for research and development, and educate consumers very seriously and does not use funds to influence legislation or elections,” PERC’s senior vice president of communications Erin Hatcher emailed Vox.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J37IW3">
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The PERC campaign also raises questions about whether it’s running afoul of Federal Trade Commission guidelines for <a href="https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-255">advertisers</a> and <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/topics/truth-advertising/green-guides">deceptive marketing around greenwashing</a>. Earthjustice’s climate senior attorney Hana Vizcarra noted Sheremet’s assertion that propane leads to a “healthier lifestyle” and puts “less CO2 into the environment versus traditional electric cooking,” a claim that has no basis in data.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7rdj7t">
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“At a minimum, I think they are veering into the deceptive practices territory, possibly violating guidance about how to be straight with your consumers around who is speaking on who’s behalf, and truthful in what you’re saying,” Vizcarra told Vox.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lXdTv3">
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PERC in particular faces scrutiny for its advertising practices. Following a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/11/climate/climate-propane-influence-campaign.html">New York Times</a> investigation into PERC in January, four Democratic senators and one representative <a href="https://www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/heinrich-colleagues-call-on-doe-to-exercise-oversight-of-federally-chartered-trade-associations-reported-anti-electrification-campaign">called</a> on the Department of Energy to “exercise its statutory oversight responsibilities” to ensure funds collected by PERC are being used appropriately.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Am7jY2">
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PERC maintained, “All of PERC’s sponsorships are in compliance with federal regulations identifying PERC as the sponsor. Stations are fully aware of their guests’ sponsors.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="5rWcNL">
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The industry messaging will continue to shift as regulators and politicians take a closer look at the stove. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recently opened for comment on how to proceed on gas stoves’ health concerns, even though it has already taken any outright ban on new appliances off the table. Cities like Portland and states like New York are already considering regulations that would phase out gas pipelines to new buildings. Gas utilities and propane companies have been trying to influence that debate. “The gas industry’s clearly experiencing a lot of anxiety,” Spatz said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="50sB1m">
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But while the stoves are the battleground, there is far more on the line. Most of the industry’s profits come from gas used by larger appliances, including furnaces, water heaters, and, in some households, dryers. The gas stove is just the most visible and popular of these fossil fuel appliances — one that the industry is committed to defending to maintain an important mental foothold with the public.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>Ron DeSantis supports the current thing</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Photo illustration of Governor Ron DeSantis with yes-no speech bubbles coming out of his open mouth." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/7lzsnIVHcHa4N6jydhqdZmkOtas=/240x0:1680x1080/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72058455/R2_VoxFinal_3_7.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Paige Vickers for Vox
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The Florida governor’s career is full of opportunistic shifts toward whichever cause will benefit him most.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="12gHC4">
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If Ron DeSantis does end up challenging Donald Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, the media will be awash in attempts to explain who he “really” is. Is he <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/ron-desantis-covid-19-vaccine-grand-jury">an incipient authoritarian</a>, or is he really just <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/14/desantis-normal-republican/">a typical Republican</a>?
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="MhmZG1">
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In my view, he can be either — depending on what’s in his interest at the time.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XLXECq">
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Looking back through DeSantis’s career in elected politics, the main through line isn’t policy principle or ideological fealty, but rather apparent opportunism. In just over a decade, his persona has undergone a series of quite calculated shifts based on what DeSantis evidently felt could help him climb the next rung.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qtLM28">
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All politicians pander to the prevailing mood to some extent. But what sets DeSantis apart is the number of makeovers he’s had in just over a decade in politics — and how successful each has been in advancing his ambitions.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="imZVM4">
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Being a Tea Party conservative got him into Congress. Becoming a staunch Trump defender got him the Republican nomination for Florida’s governorship. Being a pragmatist who avoided national controversies helped boost his approval rating early in his governorship. Now, his latest reinvention as an “anti-wokeness” culture warrior has helped make him the leading alternative to Trump in polls of national Republican primary voters. Each shift was optimized for his next political objective.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CtrE3k">
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Some on the right like to mock what they see as liberals’ tendency to champion “<a href="https://slate.com/technology/2022/05/current-thing-meme-twitter-elon-musk-marc-andreessen.html">the current thing</a>” — falling in lockstep behind a new cause suddenly in vogue in the media or among their peers. DeSantis has made supporting the right’s version of the current thing the core of his political strategy, and it has paid off immensely. (Asked for comment, DeSantis press secretary Bryan Griffin said, “Vox is not a serious or objective publication,” and that this amounted to “dressing up wild leftist talking points as truthful analysis and reporting.”)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ugelme">
|
||
The problem with shifting so often and so blatantly is that it opens you up to criticism for being a phony who lacks all principles. But DeSantis has embraced each new identity so fervently that he’s avoided that pitfall up to this point — though Trump <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/03/03/trump-plan-attack-desantis">will surely go after him</a> with that line of attack.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="H0ILE5">
|
||
It also makes it difficult to assess what his actual underlying policy beliefs are and how he’d govern as president.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HjpGt2">
|
||
Liberal commentators disagree on whether a President DeSantis would be <a href="https://newrepublic.com/article/170441/ron-desantis-presidency-even-worse-trump">an authoritarian demagogue</a> using the power of the state to promote bigotry and impose censorship, or whether he poses <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/27/opinion/desantis-trump-president-comparison.html">far less of a threat</a> to democracy than Trump.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CDz9SQ">
|
||
On the right, commentators disagree on whether a DeSantis administration <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/14/desantis-normal-republican/">would bring about</a> “a post-Trump GOP return to normal” or whether he’d be an <a href="https://amgreatness.com/2022/12/18/only-ron-desantis-can-win-in-2024/">even more effective heir</a> to Trump’s legacy on the issues that matter.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zYnu5N">
|
||
These debates boil down to which DeSantis you foreground during a decade-long political career that has seen many pivots. The only thing we can likely say for sure is that the DeSantis we see today will not necessarily be the one we see tomorrow.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="79yNuR">
|
||
The previous political personas of Ron DeSantis, explained
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6p3gm2">
|
||
A <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2022/05/current-thing-meme-twitter-elon-musk-marc-andreessen.html">popular meme among the right</a>, captioned “I support the current thing,” mocks what they see as liberals’ lemming-like tendency to quickly and passionately embrace new causes simply because they are popular in the media or among their social circle.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="svnWYl">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="zxx">
|
||
<a href="https://t.co/CfoJ3qdCRJ">pic.twitter.com/CfoJ3qdCRJ</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Elon Musk (<span class="citation" data-cites="elonmusk">@elonmusk</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1503276966874595330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 14, 2022</a>
|
||
</blockquote></div></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IhUVJM">
|
||
DeSantis is the “current thing” politician for the right. He regularly tries on different political identities, all of which seem optimized for his next ambition and for the causes that happen to be in vogue among the audience he’s cultivating at the time. Here are some of those personas.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AAC5IX">
|
||
<strong>The Tea Party conservative:</strong> DeSantis first entered politics by running in a crowded GOP field for a newly created US House district in 2012. With few ties to the local establishment, his <a href="https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/politics/2012/07/26/newcomer-ron-desantis-has-become-darling-right/15859733007/">strategy was to win</a> endorsements from national conservative groups like FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth, as well as nationally known conservative figures like <a href="https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/politics/2012/05/24/politijax-former-un-ambassador-backs-desantis-run-congress/15865839007/">John Bolton</a> and a certain celebrity developer splitting his time between Florida and New York:
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="ORe3bE">
|
||
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" dir="ltr" lang="en">
|
||
Ron DeSantis, Iraq vet, Navy hero, bronze star, Yale, Harvard Law, running for Congress in Fla. Very impressive. <a href="http://t.co/kkPDZv7r">http://t.co/kkPDZv7r</a>
|
||
</p>
|
||
— Donald J. Trump (<span class="citation" data-cites="realDonaldTrump">@realDonaldTrump</span>) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/182184932486033411?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2012</a>
|
||
</blockquote>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qS4g1Z">
|
||
During those Tea Party years, defining yourself as a conservative champion meant pushing for cuts to government spending, so DeSantis embraced that cause, saying he wanted to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/09/politics/kfile-ron-desantis-privatize-social-security-medicare/index.html">partially privatize</a> Medicare and Social Security. He won the House seat and followed through on his commitments once in Congress, supporting the effort to <a href="https://www.floridadems.org/2018/02/09/after-cheering-2013-shutdown-desantis-ditches-freedom-caucus-votes-for-budget/">shut down the government</a> (in an attempt to defund Obamacare) in 2013 and <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/house-freedom-caucus-conservative-legislation-114593">becoming a co-founder</a> of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus in 2015.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Vm5PVQ">
|
||
That year, Sen. Marco Rubio launched his campaign for president, so DeSantis gunned for Rubio’s Senate seat, rolling out endorsements <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/itsallpolitics/2015/05/07/404805852/meet-the-tea-partys-new-favorite-candidate">from those same groups</a>. But the old playbook didn’t work again. DeSantis’s <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160809164535/http://mason-dixon.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/FL-6-16-PollPart2.pdf">polling</a> was <a href="https://www.baynews9.com/fl/tampa/news/2016/3/7/exclusive_political_">bad</a>, and he appeared headed for defeat, in an early indication that conservative voters had moved on to other issues with Trump’s rise. (He got a lifeline when Rubio, defeated by Trump, decided to run for his seat again after all, letting DeSantis <a href="https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/22/desantis-bails-senate-race-after-rubio-dives-back-will-look-keep-his/15714509007/">retreat and run</a> in his House district in a face-saving way.)
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="qOPIPE">
|
||
<strong>The Trump superfan:</strong> Once President Trump was in office, DeSantis saw a new path for advancement: becoming one of Trump’s biggest congressional defenders. In August 2017, he <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2017/08/28/mueller-investigation-republicans-russia-242108">started a push to defund</a> special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s Russia ties, and he <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jNJ_dMN4pM">grilled Justice Department officials</a> over whether the probe was politically biased. He then got to <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2017/12/08/gaetz-desantis-fly-with-trump-to-pensacola/">ride with Trump on Air Force One</a>, where, <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2017/12/22/trump-endorses-desantis-for-governor-via-twitter-161236">according to reports</a>, Trump pledged support for his bid for Florida’s open governorship, saying, “You’re my guy.” A presidential endorsement <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2017/12/22/trump-endorses-desantis-for-governor-via-twitter-161236">came by tweet</a> in December 2017.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="N4b5xL">
|
||
Still, DeSantis remained locked in a tight race with Adam Putnam, a better-known candidate tied to the state’s traditional GOP establishment. So he hugged Trump ever tighter, to the point of absurdity, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1YP_zZJFXs">with an ad</a> showing him “building the wall” of blocks with his daughter and reading <em>The Art of the Deal</em> to his baby (“Then Mr. Trump said, ‘You’re fired.’ I love that part”).
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="PNcV9D">
|
||
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;">
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="v9lJ3c">
|
||
It worked: DeSantis won the primary by 20 points. But the strategy may have come back to haunt him in the general election, when he eked out a victory over Democrat Andrew Gillum by a <a href="https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/tribune/article_popover.aspx?guid=ba6b5fdf-83ab-4d47-a314-8103860cfc9a">mere 0.4 percent margin</a>. Florida voters’ shift to the right was enough to save him in a year of Democratic backlash, but only just.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="o3F9vA">
|
||
<strong>The conciliator:</strong> So DeSantis recalibrated again when he took office as governor in 2019, and spent much of his first year winning praise for his approach.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vKwR1Z">
|
||
Initially, DeSantis “seemed determined to govern from the center on the environment, education, marijuana, criminal justice and public accountability,” and he won “unexpected praise from both the right and the left for his efforts,” <a href="https://news.yahoo.com/ron-de-santis-shifting-political-brand-shows-how-he-could-win-in-24-100027244.html?guccounter=1">Andrew Romano later wrote for Yahoo News</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="jhrgzk">
|
||
DeSantis focused on <a href="https://democratsofindianriver.org/desantis-makes-clean-water-a-priority/">clean water</a>. He posthumously pardoned <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/11/groveland-four-desantis-florida-pardon-black-men-accused-rape/2550190002/">the Groveland Four</a> (four Black men who had been accused of rape in 1949 but are now believed to have been innocent). He pushed to <a href="https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/politics/state/2020/01/14/florida-gov-ron-desantis-calls-for-continuing-lsquoboldrsquo-plans/112144130/">raise teacher salaries</a>. He <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article223422995.html">appointed some Democrats</a> to his administration.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="578YUo">
|
||
It’s not that he fully abandoned the right. He still, for instance, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2019-05-09/florida-gov-ron-desantis-signs-bill-to-allow-teachers-to-carry-a-firearm-in-school">signed a bill</a> letting teachers carry guns in school and <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/florida-gov-ron-desantis-signs-sanctuary-city-ban-11560536897">banned Florida cities</a> from protecting some unauthorized immigrants from deportation. But he stayed off Fox News, in what the <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/12/01/ron-desantis-isnt-on-donald-trumps-tv-anymore-thats-on-purpose/">Tampa Bay Times reported</a> was a concerted strategy “to avoid questions that could suck him into polarizing partisan battles.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/HZMGJWpBIHSUuN6JsM0OeGkJ9Ws=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24476807/GettyImages_1182626783.jpg"/> <cite>David Santiago/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks in Miami Gardens, Florida, on May 9, 2019.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="SYug8E">
|
||
His approval rating <a href="https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/florida-news/poll-governor-ron-desantis-receives-highest-approval-rating-of-any-florida-governor-in-a-decade">soared</a>. “Where did this Ron DeSantis come from?” the <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2019/02/10/where-did-this-ron-desantis-come-from-floridas-governor-surprises-everyone-but-himself/">Tampa Bay Times editorialized</a>, writing that he “has shattered assumptions that he would govern exclusively from the right.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="R0myDi">
|
||
“Ron DeSantis is showing the GOP a different path forward,” Reihan Salam <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/01/ron-desantis-and-future-gop/581137/">wrote</a> in the Atlantic. “Though campaigning as a Trumpist was enough to secure him a razor-thin margin of victory, Florida voters seem to want a pragmatic problem-solver who can deliver better public services at a lower cost, all while preserving the wonders of Florida’s natural environment.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WI45SO">
|
||
Salam continued: “Rather than simply react to new political currents, as he did when he embraced the Tea Party moment and, later, when he climbed aboard the #TrumpTrain, DeSantis is now trying to anticipate what will come next.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="HJ9N2c">
|
||
The DeSantis we know now
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="aIcOvK">
|
||
What came next turned out to be the Covid-19 pandemic and soaring conservative interest in culture-war issues, and these spurred DeSantis to abandon his conciliatory style and adopt his current persona.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i5R6Vl">
|
||
<strong>The anti-expert: </strong>DeSantis flat-out rejected the expert consensus on how to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially, he was hesitant to shut Florida down, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/01/825383186/florida-governor-orders-statewide-lockdown">when he acquiesced</a> on that after <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/17/us/desantis-covid-florida-invs/index.html">harsh</a> <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/03/24/dumbest-s-desantis-takes-heat-as-he-goes-his-own-way-on-coronavirus-1268818">criticism</a>, he did so for just a month before beginning a <a href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/04/29/florida-will-start-lifting-stay-at-home-orders-on-monday-gov-ron-desantis-says/?ads=b&utm_expid=.OkR8_rI9TJCniE4SYU689w.2&utm_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tampabay.com%2F%3Fads%3Db">phased reopening plan</a> in May 2020. Cases then surged in the summer, leading critics on Twitter to dub him “<a href="https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/as-coronavirus-cases-mount-in-florida-deathsantis-trends-on-twitter/Slideshow/30947074">#DeathSantis</a>,” but he pressed onward.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/q8ndfquibHI7EfkoZJ6jLKuOBTs=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24476827/GettyImages_1228216238.jpg"/> <cite>Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Gov. Ron DeSantis removes his mask after arriving at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando to participate in a roundtable discussion with theme park leaders about safety protocols and the coronavirus pandemic on August 26, 2020.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="sKvBxi">
|
||
By September 2020, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virus-outbreak-florida-business-ron-desantis-donald-trump-e64376aba8306681b53d52956d15bcd7">he had lifted</a> all pandemic-related restrictions on restaurants and businesses in the state, and he reopened in-person schooling that fall. And in early 2021, despite him being “pilloried as a reckless executive driven more by ideology than science,” <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2021/03/18/how-ron-desantis-won-the-pandemic-492163">Politico’s Michael Kruse wrote</a>, “Florida has fared no worse, and in some ways better, than many other states.” Florida subsequently struggled with the delta and omicron variants, but so did the rest of the country, and overall, Florida’s <a href="https://news.bloombergtax.com/tax-insights-and-commentary/california-versus-florida-a-covid-reckoning-justin-fox">death rate hasn’t been wildly out of line</a> with what was seen in other states with very different policies.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VRlb0M">
|
||
Meanwhile, once the variants arrived, DeSantis took on the experts even more aggressively, battling anyone — the <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2021/11/04/desantis-vows-biden-vaccine-mandates-are-absolutely-going-down-1392312">president</a>, local officials, or corporations — who wanted to impose <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/florida-playbook/2021/08/23/floridas-mask-wars-continue-to-escalate-sarasota-becomes-first-trump-county-to-buck-desantis-is-the-peak-finally-here-494079">mask</a> or <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/12/politics/florida-covid-vaccine-mandate-leon-county-fined/index.html">vaccine</a> mandates. He also began <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/12/15/23509091/ron-desantis-trump-2024-president-covid-vaccine">cozying up to vaccine skeptics</a>, despite his <a href="https://www.flgov.com/2021/01/23/governor-ron-desantis-florida-putting-seniors-first-and-leading-the-nation-in-vaccinations-for-those-65/">early enthusiastic promotion</a> of vaccines, making this one of the rare issues where he’s more in sync with GOP base voters than Trump.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="CbYGaq">
|
||
Here DeSantis was cultivating two audiences. He tapped into many conservatives’ resentment of experts and elites who in their view were too eager to impose restrictions on freedom. But he also tapped into many Floridians’ desire to return to normal — a desire that went beyond the conservative base. Indeed, he made his reopening of the state <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXMKpM_0B9M">a major theme</a> of his 2022 reelection campaign, and he <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/ron-desantis-has-moved-florida-from-purple-to-red/2022/11/09/f490022a-5ff5-11ed-a131-e900e4a6336b_story.html">won in a landslide</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="pLHdaQ">
|
||
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;">
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QHJ0DS">
|
||
<strong>Warrior against wokeness</strong>: The memory of DeSantis being a middle-of-the-road governor who avoided hot-button cultural issues seems like a distant dream because, in the past couple of years, he’s deliberately leaned into one national controversy after another, focusing particularly on denouncing “wokeness.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RyA1ap">
|
||
“The woke is the new religion of the left,” <a href="https://www.democracyinaction.us/2022/cpac/desantis022422spt.html">DeSantis said</a> at the Conservative Political Action Conference last year. “And the problem that we face as conservatives is a lot of major institutions in our country have become infected with this woke virus.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="K1t7oW">
|
||
The idea was hardly original on DeSantis’s part. Rather, he again seemed to accurately assess what the right was most passionate about in these years: panicking about “<a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/23025505/leftist-groomers-homophobia-satanic-panic-explained">groomers</a>,” pushing back against <a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/7/27/23279760/trans-rights-school-boards-federal-law">trans acceptance</a>, denouncing <a href="https://www.vox.com/22443822/critical-race-theory-controversy">critical race theory</a>, and complaining about the alleged liberal tilt of big tech and big corporations.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BmrqLh">
|
||
So he signed legislation or took executive action on all these topics. He <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/06/01/desantis-transgender-sports-bill-491495">banned trans athletes</a> from playing girls’ or women’s sports. He signed a bill, denounced as the “<a href="https://www.vox.com/2022/3/15/22976868/dont-say-gay-florida-unconstitutional-ron-desantis-supreme-court-first-amendment-schools-parents">Don’t Say Gay” law</a>, to ban classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity for students in third grade and below, and then <a href="https://www.vox.com/23036427/ron-desantis-disney-first-amendment-constitution-supreme-court">took aim at business benefits</a> for Disney when the company objected.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<figure class="e-image">
|
||
<img alt=" " src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/iuYtDuAeSBxfdjqvjTsbcDwYthg=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24486116/GettyImages_1247270776.jpg"/> <cite>Daniel A. Varela/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images</cite>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a news conference after signing HB 7, known as the “Stop Woke Act,” in Hialeah Gardens, Florida, on April 22, 2022.
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Q1wnXs">
|
||
He signed an “<a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/09/09/1035687247/florida-anti-riot-law-ron-desantis-george-floyd-black-lives-matter-protests">anti-rioting</a>” law that critics said could chill peaceful protest. He had migrants <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/9/17/23357832/desantis-marthas-vineyard-flights-gop-immigration-stunts">flown to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts</a>. He <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23593369/ron-desantis-florida-schools-higher-education-woke">required</a> all books in Florida school libraries be checked for inappropriate content. He signed a law that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/florida-business-travel-lifestyle-laws-0c80db388feb83a96f2930128fd087fd">would fine</a> social media companies for banning candidates for office from their platforms. He appointed conservative ideologues to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/14/us/ron-desantis-new-college-florida.html">overhaul</a> a small, progressive state college, and <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/23593369/ron-desantis-florida-schools-higher-education-woke">ordered</a> the end of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at others.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="xn7yAu">
|
||
His critics denounced much of this as demagoguery and pandering to bigots. Several of these policies were <a href="https://news.wfsu.org/state-news/2023-01-24/controversial-anti-protest-bill-temporarily-blocked">blocked</a> by <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/23/1100831545/appeals-court-florida-social-media-law-unconstitutional-desantis">courts</a>, at least temporarily, while their legality was contested.<strong> </strong>Some, like the migrant flights, were effectively <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/02/us/migrants-marthas-vineyard-desantis-texas.html">callow stunts</a>. Some, like his election fraud and voting rights efforts, had very real consequences, including <a href="https://www.vox.com/podcasts/23428681/voter-fraud-arrests-florida-elections-desantis">wrecking lives</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="r10faC">
|
||
Will there be another pivot? Or is this one hard to come back from?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="z4bFXO">
|
||
One might think that DeSantis has so effectively entrenched his new persona as a culture warrior that he’ll be bound to follow through with all that once in office.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1bNTpN">
|
||
Yet if you look at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@RonDeSantisfl/videos">campaign ads DeSantis aired in his 2022 reelection race</a>, this culture war pugnacity is scarcely present. Occasionally an ad praises him for fighting “woke liberals,” but the ads are sunny and positive, praising him for reopening Florida and saving jobs. Florida voters may have seen a very different DeSantis from the one portrayed in the culture war-focused national media.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gT2B0m">
|
||
</p>
|
||
<div id="czjalm">
|
||
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0; padding-bottom: 56.25%;">
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Aj1CCh">
|
||
The culture warring is aimed at a different national audience — for instance, at viewers of Fox News, which has <a href="https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/2/28/23617987/fox-news-rupert-murdoch-dominion-trump-election-fraud">heavily featured DeSantis</a> in recent years, in part because he’s picked these specific fights that national conservatives care about. Those are the voters he’ll need to win over if he forges ahead with that next electoral challenge, his toughest yet: dislodging Donald Trump’s hold over the GOP electorate.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XJtxdp">
|
||
If past is prologue, then we would see a different DeSantis if he makes it to the general election. Yet if DeSantis does manage to wrest the nomination away from Trump, he’ll still need to try and convince enough Trump die-hards to turn out in the fall, and that may well mean more pandering to those die-hards. Should he manage to win office, he’ll face pressures to keep his base coalition happy and to live up to the many campaign promises he’ll no doubt have made during the primaries.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="g9aqGe">
|
||
All politicians face these incentives and pressures to some extent, but DeSantis stands out both because of how enthusiastically he’s made these shifts and because of how successful they’ve been in advancing his career.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bgtL3g">
|
||
Political pragmatism and opportunism can be good traits if they align the politician’s incentives with simply doing a good job for the country. But they can also be quite dangerous if the politician is willing to throw anyone under the bus to advance himself politically — for instance, by demagoguing marginalized groups.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="osEBrJ">
|
||
DeSantis’s views may be less authentic than other politicians’, but that doesn’t necessarily make them less menacing to liberals. The Trumpist right remains powerful and influential, and if DeSantis continues to view their support as crucial to his success, he’ll likely do whatever it takes to get and keep them on his side.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><strong>Did George Santos lie about everything?</strong> -
|
||
<figure>
|
||
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/Q1-aClNl4aOXViLz06YZR9kLMAU=/163x0:2775x1959/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71778710/1245739587.0.jpeg"/>
|
||
<figcaption>
|
||
New York Representative-elect George Santos speaks during the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19. | David Becker/Washington Post via Getty Images
|
||
</figcaption>
|
||
</figure>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The Republican representative who allegedly made up his life story, explained.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="p7v4ia">
|
||
The biography of newly elected Congress member George Santos seemed quite impressive. The 34-year-old son of immigrants had graduated from Baruch College, a public college in New York, before going on to work at firms like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup. Santos eventually became a successful financier who started an animal rescue charity. The problem is that biography was apparently a lie, and now he might be facing not only political consequences but <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/nyregion/george-santos-long-island-investigation.html">legal consequences</a> for his wholesale inventions.<strong> </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="07Zbsg">
|
||
As revealed in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/nyregion/george-santos-ny-republicans.html">the New York Times</a> on December 19, it wasn’t just that Santos exaggerated his résumé — he had allegedly invented it out of whole cloth.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<aside id="MvOVty">
|
||
<div>
|
||
|
||
</div>
|
||
</aside>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="1DbH55">
|
||
The Times found that he apparently did not graduate from Baruch College, he did not work for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, there were no records of him being a successful financier, nor were there of him registering his animal rescue charity. The Times also found that he had been charged with check fraud in Brazil.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TfMwmd">
|
||
Further, a number of outlets have <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2022/12/george-santos-republican-congress-jewish-long-island-brazil-family/">found no evidence</a> of Santos’s repeated claims to be Jewish, to have Jewish heritage, or to be descended from refugees fleeing the Holocaust. Santos <a href="https://forward.com/fast-forward/529798/george-santos-jewish-american-republican-congress/">even described himself</a> at one point as a “proud American Jew” in a campaign position paper.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2A7c2z">
|
||
In a media tour with friendly outlets on December 26, Santos <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E20WpTB4ZgA">admitted</a> to putting “a little bit of fluff” on his résumé. In other words, he conceded that he never graduated from college, never worked for Goldman Sachs or Citigroup, and wasn’t Jewish (though he <a href="https://nypost.com/2022/12/26/rep-elect-george-santos-admits-fabricating-key-details-of-his-bio/">claimed</a> to be “Jew-ish”). Santos brushed off lying about basic biographical information as embellishment, and he pushed back on the Times’s reporting about his criminal charge in Brazil. “I am not a criminal,” he told the New York Post.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WHJ6nB">
|
||
The story has sparked one of the more bizarre political scandals in American history. Members of Congress have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/03/02/temporarily-insane-a-congressman-a-sensational-killing-and-a-new-legal-defense/">committed murder</a> in office. In fact, a member of Congress <a href="https://history.house.gov/Historical-Highlights/1800-1850/A-fatal-duel-between-Members-in-1838/">has even killed</a> another member of Congress. Even in the present day, we’ve seen every scandal under the sun, from Anthony Weiner tweeting a lewd picture of himself, to <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/03/no-one-likes-marjorie-taylor-greene-but-can-they-stop-her.html">Marjorie Taylor Greene’s</a> infamous Facebook post about Jewish space lasers. But it’s hard to think of a precedent for a scandal like this as Santos faces calls for his resignation from fellow Republicans and investigations into potential criminal misconduct.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="1YHt0F">
|
||
Who is George Santos?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="B6320B">
|
||
There are some things we know about Santos. The openly gay son of Brazilian immigrants, he was elected in November to an open congressional seat that includes a thin slice of Queens and much of the North Shore of Long Island in Nassau County. Santos <a href="https://www.politico.com/2022-election/results/new-york/house/">defeated</a> Democrat Robert Zimmerman by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent. This represented a major swing from 2020 when Biden had won the district by the same margin. That year, Santos <a href="https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/new-york/house/">ran against</a> incumbent Tom Suozzi in a similar district and lost handily by a margin of 56 percent to 43.5 percent.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Cdb7t4">
|
||
Santos is also an ardent Trump supporter — so much so that he was at Trump’s Ellipse rally on January 6, 2021, and has repeatedly falsely claimed that the former president won the 2020 election.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="h2oht4">
|
||
Also, for all his alleged lying about his résumé, it is clear that <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/george-devolder-santos-maga-house-candidate-in-new-york-haunted-by-gig-at-alleged-ponzi-scheme">one company Santos worked at, Harbor City Capital</a>, has been accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of being a Ponzi scheme. As for Santos’s other employment, he <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/nyregion/george-santos-republican-resume.html">did spend a stint </a>as a Portuguese language customer service agent for DISH Network a decade ago.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="eDnRRn">
|
||
Santos has also been <a href="https://patch.com/new-york/oysterbay/disabled-veteran-george-santos-took-3k-dying-dogs-gofundme">accused of setting up a GoFundMe</a> that raised $3,000 to pay for lifesaving surgery for the dying service dog of a disabled homeless veteran and then pocketing the money.<strong> </strong>He <a href="https://twitter.com/santos4congress/status/1616120284788174854">responded on Twitter</a> by claiming “the reports that I would let a dog die is shocking & insane.” Santos added, “Over the past 24hr I have received pictures of dogs I helped rescue throughout the years along with supportive messages.” <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/01/feds-probing-santos-service-dog-charity-scheme-00080706">Politico has reported</a> that this alleged scam is being investigated by federal law enforcement.<strong> </strong>Questions <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/06/nyregion/santos-pets-animal-charity.html">have been raised</a> about whether he had misappropriated other funds that he had raised on behalf of animal welfare.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TXw4Ok">
|
||
He <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/09/santos-charged-theft-2017-dog-breeders-00082091">was charged with theft</a> in Pennsylvania in 2017 in connection to writing bad checks to Amish dog breeders. The charges were eventually dismissed after Santos convinced law enforcement in the state that his checkbook was stolen.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9g4IoG">
|
||
The New York congressman also falsely claimed in a 2017 Seattle court hearing for a convicted fraudster that he worked for Goldman Sachs. Santos made that statement, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/24/george-santos-lied-to-a-judge-in-2017-bid-to-help-a-family-friend-charged-with-fraud-00084341?nname=playbook-pm&nid=0000015a-dd3e-d536-a37b-dd7fd8af0000&nrid=0000014e-f10f-dd93-ad7f-f90ff5ec0001&nlid=964328">according to Politico</a>, at a bail hearing for Gustavo Ribeiro Trelha, who was eventually convicted of fraud for skimming card information from ATMs. The two men had previously shared an apartment in Florida. Trelha <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/09/santos-masterminded-atm-fraud-feds-00086417">has since implicated</a> Santos as being the mastermind behind the scheme in a sworn statement sent to federal law enforcement.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="fN5ULi">
|
||
Santos has also pushed back against <a href="https://thehandbasket.substack.com/p/the-daily-santos-vol-7">the claim that he dressed in drag</a> while living in Brazil. A drag performer who goes by the name Eula Rochard <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/us/embattled-us-rep-santos-was-drag-queen-brazil-pageants-say-associates-2023-01-19/">told multiple outlets</a> that Santos used to perform in drag under the name “Kitara Ravache.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7OQem1">
|
||
Santos initially mounted an aggressive denial <a href="https://twitter.com/Santos4Congress/status/1616062983578189824?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1616062983578189824%7Ctwgr%5E8036e215f8a947bd4ab5df5806d6d44325763854%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.foxnews.com%2Fpolitics%2Fgeorge-santos-denies-performing-drag-queen-brazil-categorically-false">on Twitter</a>. “The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or ‘performed’ as a drag Queen is categorically false,” said the embattled New York Republican. “The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BWFbkl">
|
||
Eventually, he <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/21/politics/george-santos-denies-drag-queen-brazil-festival/index.html">conceded to reporters</a> at LaGuardia Airport that he did dress in drag but that he was simply having “fun at a festival.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="WHMFIX">
|
||
What don’t we know?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kgkzl7">
|
||
We don’t know a lot. This ranges from basic facts about Santos’s biography to details about his dealings with the Brazilian criminal justice system, and everything in between, including where he actually lives.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QtGsUA">
|
||
But most importantly, we don’t know where Santos’s money comes from. The representative loaned his own campaign $700,000 during the 2022 cycle and <a href="https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2022/10050385.pdf">claimed an income</a> of $750,000. He also listed millions of dollars in assets including an apartment in Rio De Janeiro worth up to $1 million and a seven-figure savings account. It’s a major shift in fortune for <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/nyregion/george-santos-ny-republicans.html">someone who was evicted twice,</a> in 2015 and 2017, for failing to pay rent and had been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/23/nyregion/george-santos-republican-resume.html">taken to court for not paying debts</a>. Even in 2020, he <a href="https://disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/financial-pdfs/2020/10035760.pdf">reported</a> income in only one category — compensation in excess of $5,000 paid by one source — with <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/george-santos-was-just-elected-to-congress-he-faces-scrutiny-over-his-resume-11671627601?st=45insz04d459bh4">no other assets</a>.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2VOnmZ">
|
||
Santos initially provided no information on his finances on his media tour, except to concede that he owned no property. He had previously <a href="https://twitter.com/Santos4Congress/status/1358981815495704581?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">claimed on Twitter</a> to be a landlord who owned 13 properties. The representative eventually <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/12/28/2022/george-santos-tries-to-explain-his-wealth">claimed in an interview with Semafo</a>r that his newfound wealth came from “capital introduction” where he helped broker deals for the wealthy. Santos used a yacht sale as an example of how he earned a living: “If you’re looking at a $20 million yacht, my referral fee there can be anywhere between $200,000 and $400,000.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<h3 id="SQPnxr">
|
||
What happens now?
|
||
</h3>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="l4kN5I">
|
||
Santos <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/28/nyregion/george-santos-long-island-investigation.html">is already being investigated</a> by federal and local prosecutors while the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James has been “looking into some of the issues that have come out.” <strong> </strong>Further, a <a href="https://campaignlegal.org/document/clc-files-complaint-alleging-rep-george-santos-violated-federal-campaign-finance-laws">complaint</a> has been filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC)<strong> </strong>by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center alleging Santos illegally hid the source of the money he loaned his campaign through a straw donor scheme and other alleged violations, including whether he used campaign funds to pay for personal expenses. The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/01/27/santos-doj-investigation-fec/">reported</a> in late January that the Justice Department has asked the FEC to hold off any enforcement actions so that it can pursue a criminal investigation.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ZozCgb">
|
||
Although Santos had originally accepted an assignment from House GOP leadership to sit on the science and small business committees, he announced on January 31 in a meeting of Republican lawmakers that he would step aside from those positions. The announcement came only a day after a closed-door meeting with McCarthy.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WEJDtd">
|
||
Dan Goldman, a fellow representative from New York and a former prosecutor, has suggested that Santos face criminal investigation for conspiracy to defraud the United States as well as filing false statements to the FEC.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="gbsnGa">
|
||
In a December interview with Vox, Goldman shied away from weighing in on whether Santos should be denied his seat in Congress. “I think the bigger question is not whether I think George Santos should be a member of Congress. The bigger question is whether Kevin McCarthy and the Republican leadership think that George Santos should be a member of Congress.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="revASB">
|
||
A number of Santos’s fellow Republicans have called on him to resign as well. <a href="https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/albany/story/2011/02/the-fall-of-the-nassau-republican-machine-and-the-rise-of-homeland-security-chair-peter-king-067223">The Nassau County Republican Party</a>, long considered the most powerful county party in New York, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/11/local-n-y-gop-leaders-to-call-on-george-santos-to-resign-00077450">called on Santos to step down</a> as have other New York Republicans, including Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Nick Langworthy, and Brandon Williams.<strong> </strong>Joe Cairo, the chair of the Nassau County GOP, <a href="https://twitter.com/GarrettHaake/status/1613213759505371141">told reporters</a>, “George Santos’ campaign last year was a campaign of deceit, lies and fabrication” while demanding his resignation.<strong> </strong>
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="tAp8bR">
|
||
Rep. Max Miller (R-OH), one of only two Jewish Republicans in the House and a longtime Trump White House aide, <a href="https://twitter.com/RepMaxMiller/status/1613681580186259457">called on Santos to resign in mid-January</a>, and cited the New York Republican’s lies about his family ties to the Holocaust in doing so.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7QDe6x">
|
||
The result has left Santos in a state of limbo with no committee assignments and a constant pack of reporters following him around the Capitol. But, as McCarthy <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/mccarthy-says-santos-will-removed-congress-ethics-committee-finds-brok-rcna67366">acknowledged to reporters</a>, if the Ethics Committee finds that Santos broke the law, the New York Republican should be ousted from Congress. Further, there is new grist for the Ethics Committee with a prospective staffer <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/george-santos-sexual-misconduct-allegations-derek-myers-house-ethics-committee/">accusing the New York Congress member</a> in early February of sexual harassment.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="8C9vih">
|
||
However, as of now, McCarthy needs Santos almost as much as Santos needs McCarthy. McCarthy <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/1/7/23543163/kevin-mccarthy-speaker-of-the-house-vote-elected">only became speaker</a> by the skin of his teeth on <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/01/kevin-mccarthys-tarnished-triumph.html">the 15th ballot</a>. With a narrow majority — and the likelihood of frequent member absences now that the House has gotten rid of proxy voting — <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/10/2022-midterms-kevin-mccarthy-is-the-man-in-the-maga-middle.html">McCarthy</a> needs every vote he can get.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="QZr2ml">
|
||
Further, because Santos represents one of the most Democratic seats in Congress held by a Republican, forcing him to resign under any circumstance is risky. It would be a difficult seat for a Republican to hold in a special election and a loss would further imperil an already slim GOP majority.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="n1L4UZ">
|
||
In the meantime, it’s a matter of waiting for the next shoe to drop. As unsustainable as the current status quo might seem, the only impetus right now for Santos to resign would be a sense of shame, and it seems unlikely that he carries that burden.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="IUr7Zj">
|
||
<em><strong>Update, March 9, 8:06 pm ET: </strong></em><em>This story was originally published on December 21, 2022, and has been updated multiple times, most recently with news of past connections to legal cases in Seattle and Pennsylvania.</em>
|
||
</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ocean Of God shines</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ashwin becomes leading wicket-taker in Border-Gavaskar Trophy history</strong> - Ashwin picked up 6 wickets in the first innings of the fourth Test against Australia</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Aceros and Makiwa please</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Europa League 2022/23 | United beats Betis; Di Maria inspires Juventus to win</strong> - Premier League leader Arsenal was held 2-2 at Sporting Lisbon in their Europa League round-of-16 first-leg match; West Ham win their Europa Conference League fixture</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Australian batter Shaun Marsh retires from first-class cricket</strong> - Marsh ended with 2,265 Test runs to his name at an average of 34.31, playing his last Test in January 2019 against India</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Need proactive approach, tech interventions to minimise damage from natural disasters, says PM Modi</strong> - PM Modi said entire world has applauded the country’s disaster relief work after the massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>U.P. CM Adityanath approves over infrastructure projects worth ₹400 crore in Ayodhya</strong> - The major part of the ongoing construction work of the new Ram Temple in Ayodhya following the Supreme Court’s 2019 verdict is expected to be completed by the end of this year</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Measures to protect Sasthamcotta Lake</strong> -</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>KSRTC Budget Tourism Cell draws up diverse itinerary for summer vacation</strong> - Additional trips, including inter-State packages, to woo more visitors</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Father and son die after falling into a tank</strong> - Excavation of tank bed caused the victims to drown, allege villagers</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hamburg shooting: Seven killed in attack on Jehovah’s Witness hall</strong> - An unborn baby was among seven killed by the gunman, who was a former member of the religious group.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>UK to push France on efforts to stop boat crossings</strong> - Rishi Sunak says £63m a year is delivering benefits, as he meets French President Emmanuel Macron.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>European court at odds with British values, says Suella Braverman</strong> - The home secretary’s plans to stop small boat crossings could be challenged by the Strasbourg court.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Russia fires hypersonic missiles in new barrage</strong> - At least nine people die as Russia fires powerful weapons, including hypersonic missiles.</p></li>
|
||
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: Why Russia’s infrastructure strikes strategy isn’t working</strong> - Russia’s destructive but sporadic strike tactics could indicate a shortage of certain weapons.</p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PlayStation’s new Discord integration is a key step for the cross-play dream</strong> - Before this week, there was no universal VoIP platform for online games. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1922762">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Rocket Report: Boeing to bid SLS for military launch; Ariane chief says all is well</strong> - “We believe the proven SLS capabilities can be an asset.” - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1922798">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Gun violence is the top killer of US kids—the pandemic made it worse</strong> - Researchers call for firearm policy changes and efforts to address structural racism. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1923114">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Malware infecting widely used security appliance survives firmware updates</strong> - Update-resistant malware is part of a pattern by highly motivated threat actors. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1923115">link</a></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Best standing desk accessories to get you on your feet</strong> - Combat fatigue and reap the benefits while you stand at work. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1921402">link</a></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
|
||
<ul>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man is obsessed with trains.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
A man is obsessed with trains, so he finally steals one and immediately crashes it, killing several people…
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
At the trial, the man is found guilty of multiple murders and is sentenced to death.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Before he is executed, he is offered a last meal, and asks for a single banana, which is given to him. The next day, he is led to the electric chair. They strap him in, pull the switch, and… nothing happens.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
There has never been a failure before. Since you cannot punish a person twice for the same crime, the court is forced to let him go free.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Within a week’s time, naturally, the man, who is obsessed with trains, goes and steals another one. He doesn’t care that he can’t drive it or that he failed catastrophically before; he is obsessed with trains and his only desire is to operate one. As before, he crashes it, and kills several people. Again, he stands trial, and again, he is sentenced to death, showing no remorse, only delight that he got to operate the train.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
His last meal request is again a single banana.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
When he goes to the chair, the executioner pulls the switch, but nothing happens. As before, he goes free again.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The train-obsessed maniac, once more on the loose, wastes no time in hijacking a train and crashes it.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
His trial is swift, as this has already happened twice, and he is again sentenced to death. They ask him what he would like for his last meal.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“A single banana,” he says.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Oh, no you don’t, you son of a bitch. We’re on to you, now. We know all about your little banana trick, and you’re not escaping this time!” The guards refuse his request, and instead serve him a standard last meal of steak, potatoes, and apple pie.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
The next morning they strap him into the electric chair, pull the switch, and… nothing happens.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“Did you give him the banana?” demands the head guard.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
“No, sir! He asked for the banana but we didn’t give it to him, we swear!” says one of the guards.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Turns out the banana had nothing to do with anything.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
He was just a really bad conductor.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/DooleyMTV"> /u/DooleyMTV </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11n3qhp/a_man_is_obsessed_with_trains/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11n3qhp/a_man_is_obsessed_with_trains/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>She has been shot (up).</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Guy: Doctor, my Girlfriend is pregnant, but we always use protection, and the rubber never broke. How is it possible?
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Doctor: Let me tell you a story: “There was once a Hunter who always carried a gun wherever he went. One day he took out his Umbrella instead of his Gun and went out. A Lion suddenly jumped in front of him. To scare the Lion, the Hunter used the Umbrella like a Gun, and shot the Lion, then it died!
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Guy: Nonsense! Someone else must have shot the Lion.
|
||
</p>
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Doctor: Good! You understood the story. Next patient please.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/StrippedPoker"> /u/StrippedPoker </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11nc9vj/she_has_been_shot_up/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11nc9vj/she_has_been_shot_up/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A policeman stops a car… Policeman: “Whose car is this, where are you headed and what do you do for a living?”</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
Miner: “Mine.”
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Majorpain2006"> /u/Majorpain2006 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11msgyi/a_policeman_stops_a_car_policeman_whose_car_is/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11msgyi/a_policeman_stops_a_car_policeman_whose_car_is/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What did the egg say to the boiling water?</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
I’m not sure if I can get hard, I was just laid this morning.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/ainsleyadams"> /u/ainsleyadams </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11n4i27/what_did_the_egg_say_to_the_boiling_water/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11n4i27/what_did_the_egg_say_to_the_boiling_water/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Respect people who wear glasses</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
|
||
<div class="md">
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
||
They paid money to see you.
|
||
</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<!-- SC_ON -->
|
||
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/adriancoronado1995"> /u/adriancoronado1995 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11n9jq0/respect_people_who_wear_glasses/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/11n9jq0/respect_people_who_wear_glasses/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
|
||
</ul>
|
||
|
||
|
||
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