George Santos and life in deceptive times

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is in federal custody after the Justice Department unsealed federal charges against the Republican for fraud, misuse of public funds, money laundering and making false statements to the House of Representatives. Santos's life calls to mind Sir Walter Scott's quote "Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive." In other words, lies are like spider webs — they fan out beyond the initial lie into more serious and complex patterns of deception, especially in a digital world. Consider the FBI's probe into how and why a member of the U.S. military…