Santos getting icy reception from House GOP

Published

2 years ago

January 20, 2023

admin

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is getting an icy reception from colleagues in the House GOP even as he receives committee assignments and continues to serve his constituents on Long Island.

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) calls him a “bad guy;” Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) describes him as an “imposter.” A handful of other House Republicans have called on him to resign, making it clear they are less than ecstatic to have him as a colleague.

Through the hostility, Santos is insisting he can still be an effective member of Congress, adding his name to co-sponsor legislation and posting that he visited a Hindu temple in his district. But in an institution built on relationships, the sizable scandals could close many avenues to legislative success.

“It’s their prerogative,” Santos told Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on former Trump administration adviser Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast last week when asked about calls for him to resign.

“I came here to serve the people, not politicians and party leaders, and I’m gonna do just that, and I’ve been doing just that throughout this entire first two weeks — whether it was voting for the Speaker or whether it’s been the last week where we’ve been working on legislation in my office.”

Measures that Santos has co-sponsored include a bill to impose term limits for members of Congress and a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. He said his office is also working on constituent matters like securing White House tour tickets and hoping to find a way that federal authorities can address carjackings in his district.

The Santos controversy has drawn a divide within the House GOP conference, with some Republicans coming out against the freshman and others backing his continued service.

At least seven House Republicans have called on Santos to resign, five of whom are first-term lawmakers representing New York. One name notably missing from that list is Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who has stopped short of calling on the congressman to step down despite his growing list of fabrications. House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, the highest-ranking Republican in the New York delegation, has also declined to call on Santos to resign.

Last week, McCarthy said Santos deserved the opportunity to serve because he was elected by constituents of New York’s 3rd Congressional District.

“It’s the voters who made that decision. He has to answer to the voters and the voters to make another decision in two years,” McCarthy said, adding that “he will continue to serve.”

Comer, the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, and McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have echoed that sentiment even as they have lambasted Santos.

“Certainly, I don’t approve of how he made his way to Congress. And I haven’t even introduced myself to him, because it’s pretty despicable, the lies that he told,” Comer said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “But, at the end of the day, it’s not up to me or any other member of Congress to determine whether he could be kicked out for lying. Now, if he broke campaign finance laws, then he will be removed from Congress.”

The long list of Santos controversies ranges from him admitting to fabricating portions of his resume, to allegedly stealing thousands of dollars from a fundraiser for a cancerous dog (which Santos appeared to deny), to lingering questions about his campaign finances relating to his company. Local and federal investigators are reportedly looking into Santos’s finances, and he also faces multiple ethics complaints.

“I don’t know how he got through the process, being such an imposter. I don’t know why his opponent didn’t bring this out in the election. Or, quite frankly, why he wasn’t screened as a candidate better than he was,” McCaul said on CNN this week.

The first-year

congressman took a step towards legislating on Tuesday when he was recommended to sit on the House Small Business Committee and the House Science Space and Technology Committee, following speculation that he may not receive assignments at all. McCarthy initially said Santos should not serve on any top House committees, then later confirmed that he would receive assignments.

The two lower-level panels have jurisdiction over areas including the Small Business Administration and the National Weather Service. Republicans were reportedly concerned that not seating Santos on committees could set a precedent of punishing members who are facing scrutiny despite not being charged with crimes.

Lawmakers in the past have continued to sit on committees and serve in Congress even as they faced ethics issues and criminal investigation, though some have been stripped of committee assignments after indictments, controversial comments, or as punishment for going against party leadership.

Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas), the incoming chairman of the Small Business Committee, took a similar stance as McCarthy after Santos was recommended to serve on his panel, pointing to the New Yorker’s November election.

“I don’t condone what he said, what he’s done. I don’t think anybody does. But that’s not my role. He was elected. He represents a million people,” Williams said of Santos to CNN.

Santos initially expressed interest in the Financial Services and House Foreign Affairs Committees, pointing to his “14-year background in capital markets” and his “multicultural background as a human being.” But the House GOP Steering Committee, which is made up of roughly 30 House leaders and elected regional representatives, recommended that he sit on the pair of lower-level panels — giving him some seats at the table, albeit not the ones he wanted.

Santos will also likely spend time engaging with the House Ethics Committee, after two New York Democrats formally asked the panel to open a probe into the congressman’s failure to file timely, accurate and complete financial disclosure reports.

The Ethics Committee has not commented on the request for an investigation. The panel is known for taking a long time to work through investigations and does not typically slap significant punishments on lawmakers who come under scrutiny.

Though the complaint was filed by Democrats, Republicans have expressed support for the ethics probe running its course. White House blasts Trump for calling to jail journalists who broke draft abortion decision All MARC trains canceled Friday morning after system outage

“George Santos represents over 700,000 people in New York, and whether people like that or not, those people deserve to have members of Congress collaborating with the person who serves them, whether that’s on financial issues or on public safety issues. And so George Santos will have to go through the congressional ethics process,” Gaetz told CNN’s “Smerconish” on Saturday. “I don’t want to prejudge that process, but I think he deserves the chance to at least make his case.”

“I don’t think that George Santos should be subject to shunning because the Americans he serves deserve representation and they have real challenges, and we ought to work together to solve their challenges and meet their needs,” he added.

Last week, McCarthy told reporters that “if there is a concern, and he has to go through the Ethics, let him move through that.”

Entertainment

BAFTA nominations 2025: Conclave, Emilia Perez and The Brutalist lead the race as shortlists revealed

Published

39 mins ago

January 15, 2025

admin

BAFTA nominations 2025: Conclave, Emilia Perez and The Brutalist lead the race as shortlists revealed

This year’s BAFTA nominations have been revealed, with papal thriller Conclave leading the race.

Starring Ralph Fiennes as a clergyman responsible for the selection of the next Pope, the film is up for 12 awards – including best film, best director, best actor, and best supporting actress for Isabella Rossellini.

Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, which tells the story of a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender affirmation surgery, is another best film nominee and has 11 BAFTA nods in total – with star Karla Sofía Gascón up for best actress and co-stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez both in the running in the supporting actress category.

The Brutalist, an epic drama starring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War, has nine nominations – including best film and best actor, and supporting nods for co-stars Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones.

Elsewhere there are seven nominations each for Wicked, Anora, and Dune: Part Two, six for A Complete Unknown and Kneecap, and five for Nosferatu and The Substance.

In the performance categories, Gascon is up against Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Mikey Madison (Anora), Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun) and Demi Moore, whose performance in body horror The Substance won her a Golden Globe earlier this month.

Fiennes and Brody’s best actor competitors are Timothee Chalamet, for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, along with Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Hugh Grant (Heretic) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice).

Kieran Culkin, another recent Golden Globe winner, makes the best supporting actor shortlist once again for his performance in A Real Pain, alongside Pearce and Yura Borisov (Anora), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) and Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice).

Ariana Grande, who stars as Glinda opposite Erivo’s Elphaba in Wicked, and Jamie Lee Curtis, for her performance in The Last Showgirl, make up the best supporting actress shortlist.

For 14 of the 24 acting nominees – including Culkin, Grande, Gascon, Gomez and Moore – it is their first BAFTA film nomination.

Erivo and Chalamet are both previous recipients of the rising star award, which is voted for by the public.

In the best director category, Conclave’s Edward Berger is in the running alongside Brady Corbet, for The Brutalist, Denis Villeneuve, for Dune: Part Two, Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez, Coralie Fargeat for The Substance, and Sean Baker for Anora.

Baker also has nominations for best original screenplay, casting and editing, making him the most nominated individual this year.

The BAFTAs also includes a category for outstanding British film, with Conclave also shortlisted here alongside films including Steve McQueen’s Blitz, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, and Irish-language film Kneecap – which stars the rap trio of the same name in a semi-autobiographical account of their rise to fame.

In total, there are 42 films up for awards, spanning a range of genres.

“The film industry has delivered in spades once again,” said BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip.

“The skills on display from creative and technical practitioners across the board are phenomenal,” added BAFTA chair Sara Putt.

Could this be the most competitive BAFTAs for years?

Katie Spencer

Arts and entertainment correspondent

What do you get if you bring several priests, a Mexican cartel leader and an architect together under one roof?

Not the world’s most niche fancy dress party, but 2025’s BAFTA film awards shortlist.

Jazz hands and jump scares are the order of the day. Horror is unusually well represented this year, with The Substance, Heretic and Nosferatu all receiving nods, while musicals are also dominating thanks to Emilia Perez, Wicked and, arguably, the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

Speaking of music, it’s very good news for Irish language rappers Kneecap, whose self-titled semi-true biopic is up for best British film and five other awards. It’s somewhat ironic given that while they rap about wanting Irish independence, the film qualifies as being British as they’re from Northern Ireland.

In the leading actress category, it’s all to play for as none of the nominees has ever won a BAFTA. Fans of ’90s nostalgia will be hoping the Demi-ssaince continues after Demi Moore’s Golden Globe win last month for her performance in body horror The Substance.

Hugh Grant, up for lead actor, last won that BAFTA back in 1995 for his breakthrough performance in Four Weddings And A Funeral. This time around, he’s in the running for a very different role, as a creepy killer in Heretic. He’s nominated alongside another ’90s winner – Ralph Fiennes, who last picked up a BAFTA for supporting actor in 1994.

The nominations this year really showcase a diverse range of genres – and with no clear frontrunners in some categories, could this be the most competitive BAFTAs we’ve seen in a while?

The nominees for this year’s rising star award, which is the only BAFTA prize voted for by the public, have already been announced, with Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, David Jonsson, Mikey Madison and Nabhaan Rizwan in the running.

And Harry Potter star Warwick Davis has also been revealed as the recipient of this year’s BAFTA fellowship, the organisation’s highest honour, for his “trailblazing work” as an actor and for his charity supporting people with dwarfism.

The BAFTA nominations come at a difficult time for the industry, with the organisers of several US awards ceremonies, including the Oscars, pushing their own announcements back and holding more low-key events due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.

However, the Oscars ceremony is still currently scheduled to go ahead as planned on Sunday 2 March.

The BAFTA ceremony will be held at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday 16 February.

Entertainment

BAFTA nominations 2025: The full list of films and stars up for awards

Published

39 mins ago

January 15, 2025

admin

BAFTA nominations 2025: The full list of films and stars up for awards

There are 42 films up for awards at this year’s BAFTA ceremony, from blockbusters to indie breakthroughs.

Organisers have now revealed the shortlists, with papal thriller Conclave leading the nominations, followed closely by Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, and post-war epic The Brutalist.

The star-studded BAFTA ceremony will take place in London on Sunday 16 February.

Here’s the full list of the stars and films up for each prize.

BEST FILM
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Perez

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Bird
Blitz
Conclave
Gladiator II
Hard Truths
Kneecap
Lee
Love Lies Bleeding
The Outrun
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Hoard – Luna Carmoon (director/ writer)
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt (director, writer)
Monkey Man – Dev Patel (director)
Santosh – Sandhya Suri (director, writer), James Bowsher (producer), Balthazar de Ganay (producer)
Sister Midnight – Karan Kandhari (director, writer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
All We Imagine As Light
Emilia Perez
I’m Still Here
Kneecap
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig

DOCUMENTARY
Black Box Diaries
Daughters
No Other Land
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & Harper

ANIMATED FILM
Flow
Inside Out 2
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

CHILDREN’S & FAMILY FILM
Flow
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

DIRECTOR
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet
Conclave – Edward Berger
Dune: Part Two – Denis Villeneuve
Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt, Naoise O Caireallain, Liam Og O Hannaidh, JJ O Dochartaigh
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
A Complete Unknown – James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave – Peter Straughan
Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard
Nickel Boys – RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing – Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield

LEADING ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofia Gascon – Emilia Perez
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Saoirse Ronan – The Outrun

LEADING ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothee Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Hugh Grant – Heretic
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Selena Gomez – Emilia Perez
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Jamie Lee Curtis – The Last Showgirl
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldana – Emilia Perez

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice

CASTING
Anora – Sean Baker, Samantha Quan
The Apprentice – Stephanie Gorin, Carmen Cuba
A Complete Unknown – Yesi Ramirez
Conclave – Nina Gold, Martin Ware
Kneecap – Carla Stronge

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist – Lol Crawley
Conclave – Stephanie Fontaine
Dune: Part Two – Greig Fraser
Emilia Perez – Paul Guilhaume
Nosferatu – Jarin Blaschke

EDITING
Anora
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
Kneecap

COSTUME DESIGN
Blitz
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Nosferatu
Wicked

MAKE-UP & HAIR
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked

ORIGINAL SCORE
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Wild Robot

PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked

SOUND
Blitz
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
The Substance
Wicked

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Better Man
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes
Wicked

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
Adios
Mog’s Christmas
Wander To Wonder

BRITISH SHORT FILM
The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing
Marion
Milk
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Stomach Bug

EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Marisa Abela
Jharrel Jerome
David Jonsson
Mikey Madison
Nabhaan Rizwan

Entertainment

Neil Gaiman denies allegations of engaging in non-consensual sex

Published

39 mins ago

January 15, 2025

admin

Neil Gaiman denies allegations of engaging in non-consensual sex

Best-selling author of books for adults and children Neil Gaiman has denied allegations he engaged in non-consensual sex with several women.

A New York Magazine article detailed allegations of assault, abuse, and coercion levelled against the 64-year-old by eight women. A Tortoise Media podcast broadcast in July included allegations of four of these women.

Gaiman said in a statement that he had watched stories about him circulate online for months with “horror and dismay”.

“As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen,” Gaiman posted on the social media platform Tumblr.

“I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.”

The British author said he had reviewed messages exchanged with his accusers, and they read like “two people enjoying entirely consensual sexual relationships and wanting to see one another again,” he said.

“And I also realise, looking through them, years later, that I could have and should have done so much better. I was emotionally unavailable while being sexually available, self-focused and not as thoughtful as I could or should have been. I was obviously careless with people’s hearts and feelings, and that’s something that I really, deeply regret,” Gaiman said.

Most of the allegations relate to occasions when Gaiman was in his 40s or older and living in the UK, the US and New Zealand.

Gaiman, who wrote the novel American Gods and The Sandman comic book series as well as the children’s fantasy book Coraline, has had several works turned into movies and television programmes in recent years.

The author’s agent and recent publisher Bloomsbury, as well as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix which have Gaiman-related projects scheduled for this year, have not commented on the allegations.