Rep.-elect George Santos faces scrutiny over campaign filings his team blames as 'database error':

 https://www.foxnews.com/politics/rep-elect-george-santos-faces-scrutiny-over-campaign-filings-team-blames-database-error

According to FEC filings, the Santos campaign recorded 37 expenditures between April 2021 and February 2022 that totaled $199.99, one cent below the threshold for federal law requiring receipts.

Among the expenses were rooms at Florida hotels, supply runs to Staples and Target, airline flights and meals at various restaurants.

"If they did provide an amending filing to the FEC to change it, and if the FEC agrees that it was a database error, the FEC would have already changed the website," Ravel said.

Ezra Sheinberg: I paid my debt

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/365242

Upon leaving the prison with a smiling, Sheinberg was asked if he had anything to say to the victims, and replied: "May they be well. I have paid my debt." Regarding providing compensation to the victims, he said: "They sued in a civil court. They will hopefully receive it."

'West using Ukraine to destroy Russia' - Putin

 https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-726278

In a nine-minute message - the longest New Year's address of his two-decade rule - Putin accused the West of lying to Russia and of provoking Moscow to launch what it calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Sketchy George Santos burned campaign cash on hotels, meals — and ducked reporting mandate

 https://nypost.com/2022/12/30/rep-elect-george-santos-burned-campaign-cash-on-hotels-meals-and-199-taxis/

The election season spending spree included:

$12,386 on Hyatt hotels from West Palm Beach, Fla., to El Paso, Texas.

$14,000 at pricey Queens restaurant Il Bacco.

More than $38,000 crisscrossing the country on Delta Airlines, with which the campaign made 123 separate transactions covering airfare and baggage fees since the start of 2021.

The 34-year-old’s campaign also covered five stays at the Garden City Hotel in his Nassau County-based district — costing nearly $3,000 on top of the almost $11,000 more spent on renting an apartment for “staff.”

“The sheer volume of travel is very unusual for congressional candidates,” Daniel Weiner, a former Federal Elections Commission lawyer who now works at the NYU School of Law’s Brennan Center for Justice, told The Post Friday about Santos’ campaign spending habits.

Six GOP House Members Who Need to Resign for Anti-Semitism Before Ilhan Omar

 https://theintercept.com/2019/02/15/ilhan-omar-aipac-republicans-anti-semitism/

Trump wants Ilhan Omar to resign from Congress over purportedly anti-Semitic remarks. Why hasn’t Trump asked for these six Republicans to resign, too?

‘Jew-ish’: Santos’ evolving claims of Jewish heritage

Donald Trump payed $0 in taxes in 2020

Trump Issues 'Dangerous' Warning After Tax Returns Released

 https://www.newsweek.com/trump-issues-dangerous-warning-after-tax-returns-released-1770396

In a statement sent to Newsweek, Trump warned that House Democrats "should have never" publicized the tax records—some of the most privately held documents in the nation—and that the U.S. Supreme Court "should have never approved it."

"It's going to lead to horrible things for so many people," Trump said. "The great USA divide will now grow far worse. The radical, left Democrats have weaponized everything, but remember, that is a dangerous two-way street!"

Trump’s Taxes Are the Best Case Yet for Putting Him in Prison

 https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-taxes-are-the-best-case-yet-for-putting-him-in-prison?ref=scroll

Perhaps most glaring in the tax returns is that they include 26 Trump businesses—or imaginary businesses—with zero revenue and hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax deductions for expenses.

Unless Trump can produce records showing the expenses are real and meet other standards to be deductible, that’s fraud. That Trump did it 26 times as a candidate and as president is powerful evidence that he qualifies for prosecution by the federal government and New York State for criminal tax fraud.

Full List of Trump's Foreign Bank Accounts

 https://www.newsweek.com/full-list-trumps-foreign-bank-accounts-1770459

In 2016, Trump held accounts in China, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Saint Martin, according to CNN. He again listed the first three the following year, and only the U.K. in 2018 and 2020.

Trump's Tax Shenanigans Show Need for Real Reforms

 https://www.newsweek.com

Despite bragging that he's "very rich," former President Donald Trump paid little or nothing in federal income taxes, year after year after year. The IRS never audited Trump as president, in contrast to its own rules, though it audited every other president from Jimmy Carter to Joe Biden.

Trump's low tax payments illustrate his willingness to break the law. But there's a bigger problem. The law itself is rigged in favor of the wealthy and against the rest of us. While Trump likely acted illegally at times, much of his tax avoidance was perfectly legal.

Congress should unite around a basic principle that Republican, Democratic, and independent voters support: the wealthiest, whether they are presidents, CEOs, or just rich heirs, should pay their fair share. Using Trump's tax maneuvering as a guidebook could make the tax code much fairer for all of us.

Congressman's SANTOS Bill Aims to Ban the Obvious: Candidates Who Lie

 https://www.newsweek.com/congressmans-santos-bill-aims-ban-obvious-candidates-who-lie-1770285

Democratic New York Representative Ritchie Torres of the Bronx announced on Twitter that he will introduce a new bill that would require candidates for public office to disclose information about their background and qualifications under oath.

The title? The Stop Another Non-Truthful Office Seeker (SANTOS) Act, named after Torres' soon-to-be House of Representatives colleague, George Santos.

Hershey sued in US over metal in dark chocolate claim

 https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64123157

But the lawsuit refers to recent findings by US magazine Consumer Reports (CR), which tested 28 dark chocolate bars for lead and cadmium.

The magazine alleged that 23 of them, including chocolate from Hershey, Godiva and Lindt, contained "comparatively higher levels" of the metals.

"For 23 of the bars, eating just an ounce (28g) a day would put an adult over a level that public health authorities and CR's experts say may be harmful for at least one of those heavy metals," it claimed.

In particular, Hershey's Special Dark bar and Lily's 70% bar were high in lead, while Lily's 85% bar was high in lead and cadmium.

"Any food can contain heavy metals if they are present in the soil in high concentration," nutritionist Sheeba Majmudar told the BBC.

Did MIT Study Prove Pfizer Vaccine Raised Heart Problems?

 https://www.techarp.com/science/mit-pfizer-vaccine-heart-problems/

People are jumping to wholly unjustified conclusions based on the little they read about the MIT study, often without even reading it!

The truth is – the MIT study did NOT prove that the Pfizer vaccine raised the risk of heart damage in people who received them.