ProPublica is out this morning with another big story on the billionaire lifestyle being led by Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife Gini. The investigative publication reports on 38 luxury vacations that Thomas and his wife have taken paid for by billionaires and never reported on Thomas’ financial disclosure forms. The billionaires who lavished these gifts on Thomas are all arch-conservatives who have donated to the Republican Party and conservative causes, including groups that Ginni Thomas has either worked for or been associated with.
He and his wife are flat out grifters and crooks. He should be in jail! The sense of personal entitlement these grifters have is overwhelming. And why did it take so long to surface 😡‼️
Or not, that's one of the problems: we simply do not know that, and can usefully default to the standard plea of law students facing a tough hypothetical, "We need more facts!"
That's what the Department of Justice and eventually, the FBI are for.
Ask the schizoid American legacy mass media, occasionally capable of diligent, even stellar journalism exposing corruption, fraud, sheer incompetence and staggering mendacity - but all too often happy to play lapdog, seeking incessantly to shine in the reflected charisma that attaches to immense political and financial power.
Not impossible but just as likely the watched the process unfolding and was ready to swoop in to make everything even more fascistic, possibly quoting from the Book of Matthew, Chapters 24-25-26, about the "End Times," in her twisted version of biblical hermeneutics.
I remember a couple of pretty inflammatory tests Ginni sent while 1/6 was in progress, but the MSM seems to have decided NOT to say very much about this. so I suppose we're supposed to bow to their collective wisdom.
one can only suppose that when they were drafting the Constitution, the framers didn't entertain the notion that crooked, highly partisan, money-hungry assholes would be appointed to SCOTUS. too bad. and last year or thereabouts, didn't Lucian post a very succinct, yet thorough account of how Marbury vs. Madison (which has bedeviled us for very nearly as long as the country's been in existence), a HIGHLY partisan decision, came to be?
that it's possible to whore out the inside of the SCOTUS building to obviously partisan players is totally fucking amazing.
Yup, a national experiment that has stumbled along "One Step Forward Two Steps Backwards"* BUT ALSO also hammered out magnificent ideals that have inspired all sorts of anti-colonial liberation movements for generations and still does (the Kurds, some Afghans, Iranians, some swath of so-called `Arab Spring,** although they were some of them for generations, at it anyway, of course), warred internally with literally "brother against brother," *** warred with mostly white settlers (Buffalo Soldiers**** to the contrary notwithstanding) illegally & immorally and of course very profitably but recklessly vis-a-vis the ecological habitats and sacred Native American sites, treaty obligations, etc., and so much more -labor struggles, women's rights, the war to end chattel slavery and then the vicious KKK and Jim Crow reaction to Reconstruction, [[all topics, btw, I realize you ALREADY (Where's the Font options on Substack?! I guess too costly, tha would be completely understandable but I STILL want it!!) comprehend far better than most of 340 million + population, David, thus these asterisks are to get ME to nail down at least one "set of potentially connected data points" for various writing projects, as you might guess]] and through all of that, your point about the role of the SCOTUS has always been valid: what the FORK, exactly and in great detail, has specifically degenerated so far as to lead to the "quasi-seditious" texts you reference?!? We really are "better than this," but you wouldn't know it by the bloviating wingnuts grandstanding in Congress, etc.
Max Romeo - One Step Forward {{The VIDEO alone amazes for its street-level grit of Jamaica "of a certain era and sub-culture," we played this constantly in Tempe/ early 1980's}} ** en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midaq_Alley_(novel) Some of the roots, no wonder Naguib Mafouz ended up targeted by the Islamist whack jobs in Egypt, Nobel Prize for Lit. means NOTHING but trouble and dissent to them! -
"The task of drawing the attention of Confederate raiders away from the Siege of Vicksburg fell to Col. Benjamin Grierson, a former music teacher who disliked horses after being kicked in the head by one as a child. Grierson's cavalry brigade consisted of the 6th and 7th Illinois and 2nd Iowa Cavalry## regiments." {{Music teacher became "Railroad section hand brokenhearted and bitter about doctors after young beloved wife incompetently killed during (unnecessary) surgery while he watched," played by John Wayne in The Horse Soldiers, was just watching that on DVD I ordered, stumbled on real raid used for the plot in a "wiki search branching out" excursion, also appreciate the fine irony of the music teacher growing up despising horses becoming a renowned commander of cavalry in a war as hard fought as our Civil War! "He is most noted for Grierson's Raid, an 1863 expedition through Confederate-held territory that severed enemy communication lines between Vicksburg, Mississippi and Confederate commanders in the Eastern Theater. After the war he organized and led the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment from 1866 to 1890." "Grierson was born in the borough of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, today a section of Pittsburgh. He was the youngest of five siblings. Grierson became afraid of horses when, at age eight, he was kicked and nearly killed by a horse, after which he hated horses. He eventually became a great cavalry commander."
"Grierson decided to pursue a career in the Regular Army after the war, which was unusual for an officer whose only prior military service was as a volunteer officer during the Civil War. His lack of West Point credentials made him suspect to many fellow officers. On 28 July 1866 he was commissioned a colonel in the Regular Army and assigned as the commander of the 10th U.S. Cavalry, one of two mounted regiments composed of black enlisted men and white officers, called the Buffalo Soldiers. This assignment also made him unpopular with other officers, including his superior, General Philip Henry Sheridan, because of his support for and trust in his troops. His sympathy and courtesy to Native American tribes also led to questions about his judgment.
`The only White officer who supports the unit is Regimental Commanding Officer Colonel Benjamin Grierson. Ostracized by other officers for his enthusiastic command of the African-American troops, Grierson believes in the abilities, dedication, and record of performance of the Buffalo Soldiers and declines offers to lead at any other post. General Pike offers to relieve Grierson 'of this self-imposed exile and have him commanding a real cavalry regiment within a month,' but Grierson refuses.'"
##en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Iowa_Cavalry_Regiment - One direct connection to your point about institutional degeneration is that Iowa entered the Union as a free state, the Underground Railroad began at the Iowa-Missouri border in Keokuk on the Mississippi River, we shouldn't forget the effects of "slave hunters" crossing interstate borders to track and try to capture escape black slaves on a population which had to some degree taken pride and expressed their own religious/moral views by settling in a free state, and send more volunteers per capita to fight for the Union than any other.
I need someone to tell me - is this legal? Beyond this obviously, to the "average' person like me, constituting a bribe, I know that it is not, legally. But doesn't he have to pay taxes on these gifts? Somebody please agree and tell me that it looks like Clarence Thomas is a tax cheat of some sort.
I also know of NO provision in the Constitution that prevents judges from being indicted for tax evasion or other crimes, correct?
Apparently they can do anything they damn well please, which is another "note to self", do not give someone absolute power. It truly does corrupt them, particularly if they already arrived with a healthy dose of corruption.
Correction: "[T]hey THINK, some of them, they can do anything they damn well please," but we live in interesting times, when a rising thirst for equal justice under the law may end up slapping them silly and back into the lucid, sincere respect for the rule of law those same people have been bloviating about as the foundation of their entire careers.
There was a first case, or group of connected cases, that established every single universal human right we enjoy in every democracy, to the extent its protections are then duly enforced, and not undermined by "the usual suspects."
I saw a little line in the blistering new set of revelations from ProPublica that Thomas might have said something vague somewhere that he would observe the rules he didn't know about. I wonder if he understands nobody will ever not watch every move he makes again. He can't sneak off. Too high profile and way too much interest in this. And Roberts, whose face I've come to see as silly, with his super silly comments constantly and refusing to appear before Congress. And the more they say nothing to see here, the more people want to know just what there is to see. This should matter to every single American, no matter their political persuasions. It is one of the most deeply disappointing of all the great disappointments of the last eight years or so and all those years it was in the making before we were sure and could see exactly why we were so squeamish about things.
Years ago while in college I worked for a rural weekly newspaper one summer. Hot story was a local judge who went on fishing trips with local attorneys to Ireland. This is not a new story, probably common everywhere, sad to say.
But the scale of misdeeds is always on the legal agenda, it is taken into account (at least ostensibly) at every step of any legal interaction between Joe or Jane Q. Public and The Law.
Sigh. Note that Alito shrieks in public when his grifting is exposed. Nietzsche: "A bad conscience is easier to cope with than a bad reputation." Thomas, Chief Justice, SGOTUS (Supreme Grifter Of The United States), is more phlegmatic when he's caught out. John Steinbeck: "To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolish...to a monster, the norm is monstrous."
Proverbs 21:10 (ESV), "The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes" has come down to us as "There is no honor among thieves." Whether Biblical or contemporary, Defendant Trump and SGOTUS Thomas share the same amoral pup tent.
Yes, I have been weeding out what I consider unconscionable uses of the Bible (in its numerous iterations) from my own world-view for over fifty years now, to winnow the wheat from the chaff!
Roberts should be begging Congress for a code of ethics and a committee to oversee it. But he's not. He sits silently by as Alito and Thomas, always Thomas, make his already corrupt partisan court look even more corrupt and partisan. And he wonders why his legacy will be as the guy who allowed the Supreme Court to fall under the weight of corruption and illegitimacy brought on by the Republican Party and the Federalist Society.
I have trouble getting excited about this, its hard to see these payments as bribery since Thomas hasn't changed the way he rules on anything. He's always been a Neanderthal claiming to be an originalist, and like most conservatives favors the rich whenever possible. I'd be more interested in seeing how Kavanaugh magically paid off his loans, mortgage and country club fees, or how the rest of Congress have all become millionaires on government salaries.
That would be interesting reading, but I think it's unlikely that we read it anytime soon. There just are not enough people asking questions yet. I think that's why this article is exciting, getting the information out there to get everyone on the same page.
How any given person deploys an ad hoc, impressionistic comprehension of "bribery" has zero legal force, thankfully, and that applies to beggars and kings.
As if the Harlan Crow payola weren’t revealing enough, apparently Clarence & Ginni (or Bonnie & Clyde, to some) believe themselves to be worthy of, or entitled to rich people’s goodies from multiple donors. And it’s hard to know if the misnamed “Justice” has paid these donors back in kind. I will say this: this aggrieved Black man, aggrieved *because* he is Black, must have the hide of a rhinoceros to still remain on the bench. He must be grateful, however, that his equal in the integrity department, our unhinged former president, is taking up much of the news-hole what with being indicted all over the country and having a breakdown at the same time.
He's always been so Wonky, I don't know if I could tell the difference. I've not visited Truth Social, and I avoid him in videos. Just can not stomach him..
Breakdown? What breakdown? He sounds the same as he's sounded for years. He attacks the people he hates-- and whom his followers then hate as well-- in vulgar, insulting and occasionally threatening terms. So what's new?
True enough as far as it goes, there's nothing "new," on the other hand, the course of a descent into waking hallucinations, for example, might be tracked in Trump's case via granular details, examples of his verbal behavior, and so on.
Maybe some long term abuse of prescription drugs leads to frenzied intrapsychic ideation which Trump conveys via the quasi-word salad - arguable it would require a team of about a dozen highly experienced psychiatrists and mental health professionals to arrive at a sound diagnosis.
It was part of his ramblings during his recent 'speech' in Alabama or one of those stops in the past week. Really insane! He seems to be obsessed with water flow!
Which part of the New Testament has God striking down human malefactors via diseases, I am always interested in arcane scriptural interpretations, thanks in advance for any relevant citations!
Aaaahhhh--- at last! Someone (you) saying that Thomas is "aggrieved" BECAUSE he's black. For years I've been claiming that if Thomas could peel off-- or even tear off-- his black skin and replace it with white skin, he'd do it in a New York minute.
It is said by people I respect that the nuns ruined him. He was one of two Black boys in a Catholic school. I don't think Black identity can develop in a mostly White atmosphere.
His war with race was such that, to this day, he does not acknowledge that he benefited from affirmative action. Well, please. (So of course he voted to kill it when he had the chance -- not too long ago.)
I think his second marriage, to a White woman, was no accident, and unfortunately for him, she was not wrapped real tight. She had to be deprogrammed out of a cult, and an Omaha friend who knew her family (the Lamps) said they were rather ordinary and John Bircher right wingers.
Yeah it would make more sense to work on a bribery case implicating the both of them, than trying to nail Clarence for egregious tax violations.
GOP controls House of Reps very very narrowly, Clarence and a few others may face the very real prospect of impeachment sooner than they believe possible.
That's like "Income Tax 101," no one is magically exempt, including the Supreme Court - as the vernacular phrase sums it up, "No one can be a judge in their own case."
Anyway the Supreme Court appointment cannot also bestow immunity from {EDIT! not "arrest," but instead} the congressional processes for "high crimes and misdemeanors," i.e., impeachment, or vulnerability to the criminal law covering homicide, theft, etc. Why tax fraud wouldn't be included is a hymn the right-wing choirs will be howling like dyspeptic alley cats.
The impunity with which they reject transparency and accountability. They were appointed with the expectation that they will act and judge with impartiality and honesty. I thought so anyway.
A paradigm case of wasting your life, and with so much access to ongoing opportunities to experience some form of metanoia, too. It's pathetic, and would be maybe only that if he were not ON THE SUPREME COURT!
Great! Now I have to wash my mouth out with soap because of the many things I said, out loud, while reading this. Is there enough soap in the house? What arselingtons! Unethical with impunity! What a gig! I used to think I wanted an ambassadorship to someplace small: Andorra or San Marino, just so I could be charming and delightful, but not really work. Now I aspire to the Supreme Court where its “partay” all the time.
Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, here's the lyrics (one version anyway)
Winsborro Cotton Mill Blues
Song by Pete Seeger {{ It's not "by" the late great Pete Seeger, he adapted a traditional blues, but on the other hand "Immature poets borrow, mature poets steal," so we have the song and it has a haunting bluesy melody, too!}}
The Chief Justice sure talks and acts as if he is petrified of Uncle Clarence and Gini. By now shoulda' called him up while his RV is parked at a Walmart and he and Gini are jetting off to an island getaway, then ask AJ Thomas to resign. If that failed, suggest it in public at one of Leonard Leo's hifalutin Federalist Society black tie events just not one held in the SCOTUS building.
Just think, according to the current ethical constraints on supreme court justices, a six-figure check from the NRA, with the memo line reading “Thank you for your ruling on New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen!” would not be considered in any way evidence of corruption by justice Thomas.
Just a gesture of friendly appreciation from his good friends at the NRA…
Bribery is as old as time. And that's exactly what this is. There's nothing we can do about it. What's almost as bad though is the liberals simply had to know about this and have said nothing for years.
This just gets worse and worse and worse. No wonder Trump is so corrupt. This is a vein that's been running up there in the 1% of the 1% for decades. We are patsies.
I do believe that the word “patsy” is a derogatory term for an Irish worker who had to do the bidding of the labor bosses. Many immigrants came to America as indentured servants. Irish and Chinese immigrants built railroads and other physically demanding and dangerous jobs. The term is offensive and derogatory!
We who refuse to become involved in the political process must not be surprised when things run amok. Our right to complain is protected by the Constitution, but it doesn’t guarantee using racial slurs.
I prefer Merriam Webster's patsy etymology myself, "perhaps from Italian *pazzo* fool." I find no "racial slur" roots online, including in wikipedia. Unless you can document your ethnic disparagement allegation, I expect to continue using the word patsy with a clear conscience. Don't we have enough to worry about without inventing insults without cause?0
I take umbrage, Babette. Patsy usually means “the fall guy!” Or the diminutive of Patricia. Or the Italian Pazzo, which means mad man! As one of Irish decent, my blood boils when I’m wished a Happy St. Paddy’s day...because THAT is the racial slur!
I was unaware of the points you have made. It's good that you educate others. I hope you consider giving a person a chance to consider what you have said, so that the spirit of your message isn't lost in their rush to defend themselves.
If you're collecting ersatz reasons to restrict your vocabulary, Bliss Grey, a friend once suggested to me that the expression "oh boy" might have racist undertones. So there you go—a bonus term in common, innocent usage that you can strike from your own. NEXT DAY: This snark was posted in reply to what appeared to be support for criticism of the common usage of the word patsy.
Let's all take a really deep breath here and remember we're in the bigger picture together. I am sorry for my contribution. I usually just stay quiet. It would have been better. I was going to forget most of it anyway.
I think we are all enriched by this experience. It's not ab out mistakes, it's about how we worked it out. Right? That is the example the world need to see. We worked it out. 😊
I hope you will read the comment Babette posted recently in the main channel, not in this thread, Bliss. … I referred to the idiomatic exclamation "oh boy," which has only mutually understood contextual meaning and does not address or describe anyone as a boy. … It's a wise practice to specify the person you're replying to in a forum. By the time three people are in the conversation it's usually needed to prevent confusion. Your omitting to do so has caused a lot of misunderstanding here.
The only thing I am embarrassed about is gathering my courage , and words, to defend you, then mistakenly posting it to you. A comedy of errors on my part.
Oh, I am sorry. I should also be old enough to just shut up. No just me being an ass. Big apologies. And speaking of embarrassing, I deleted my assholery. Note to self: No need to overreact.
Well you are probably not going this is one damn bit funny, but I posted this to the wrong person. I was intending to post it to the individual that smacked you down, needlessly. I apologize for my mistake.
No Mary, it wasn't you. Of course you defended yourself, attacked twice. I was short on sleep and being my Father's child, could not sit quietly. It was but a little fire, and now we can be friends. It's good to meet intelligent outspoken women in here. I hope you don't mind if I follow you? -Bliss
He and his wife are flat out grifters and crooks. He should be in jail! The sense of personal entitlement these grifters have is overwhelming. And why did it take so long to surface 😡‼️
they’re both on the take, asking no questions.
may be that many justices of our supreme court act like this, as well?
Or not, that's one of the problems: we simply do not know that, and can usefully default to the standard plea of law students facing a tough hypothetical, "We need more facts!"
That's what the Department of Justice and eventually, the FBI are for.
Ask the schizoid American legacy mass media, occasionally capable of diligent, even stellar journalism exposing corruption, fraud, sheer incompetence and staggering mendacity - but all too often happy to play lapdog, seeking incessantly to shine in the reflected charisma that attaches to immense political and financial power.
It's as if Clarence and DJT are in a personal race to jail.
I’ve been hoping Ginni would turn out to be 6th co-conspirator
Not impossible but just as likely the watched the process unfolding and was ready to swoop in to make everything even more fascistic, possibly quoting from the Book of Matthew, Chapters 24-25-26, about the "End Times," in her twisted version of biblical hermeneutics.
I remember a couple of pretty inflammatory tests Ginni sent while 1/6 was in progress, but the MSM seems to have decided NOT to say very much about this. so I suppose we're supposed to bow to their collective wisdom.
one can only suppose that when they were drafting the Constitution, the framers didn't entertain the notion that crooked, highly partisan, money-hungry assholes would be appointed to SCOTUS. too bad. and last year or thereabouts, didn't Lucian post a very succinct, yet thorough account of how Marbury vs. Madison (which has bedeviled us for very nearly as long as the country's been in existence), a HIGHLY partisan decision, came to be?
that it's possible to whore out the inside of the SCOTUS building to obviously partisan players is totally fucking amazing.
Yup, a national experiment that has stumbled along "One Step Forward Two Steps Backwards"* BUT ALSO also hammered out magnificent ideals that have inspired all sorts of anti-colonial liberation movements for generations and still does (the Kurds, some Afghans, Iranians, some swath of so-called `Arab Spring,** although they were some of them for generations, at it anyway, of course), warred internally with literally "brother against brother," *** warred with mostly white settlers (Buffalo Soldiers**** to the contrary notwithstanding) illegally & immorally and of course very profitably but recklessly vis-a-vis the ecological habitats and sacred Native American sites, treaty obligations, etc., and so much more -labor struggles, women's rights, the war to end chattel slavery and then the vicious KKK and Jim Crow reaction to Reconstruction, [[all topics, btw, I realize you ALREADY (Where's the Font options on Substack?! I guess too costly, tha would be completely understandable but I STILL want it!!) comprehend far better than most of 340 million + population, David, thus these asterisks are to get ME to nail down at least one "set of potentially connected data points" for various writing projects, as you might guess]] and through all of that, your point about the role of the SCOTUS has always been valid: what the FORK, exactly and in great detail, has specifically degenerated so far as to lead to the "quasi-seditious" texts you reference?!? We really are "better than this," but you wouldn't know it by the bloviating wingnuts grandstanding in Congress, etc.
*www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lixm0ajWCi8
Max Romeo - One Step Forward {{The VIDEO alone amazes for its street-level grit of Jamaica "of a certain era and sub-culture," we played this constantly in Tempe/ early 1980's}} ** en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midaq_Alley_(novel) Some of the roots, no wonder Naguib Mafouz ended up targeted by the Islamist whack jobs in Egypt, Nobel Prize for Lit. means NOTHING but trouble and dissent to them! -
***en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grierson%27s_Raid - and this is also **** Buffalo Soldiers if you follow the hyperlinks - I just now noticed this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Grierson, so it's even possible I have some wyrd (as in `Ye maun dree yer ain Wyrd," "You must work out and embrace your own Fate" Scottish proverbial sense) connections through my own ancestors, a Border Reiver Clan en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_reivers)...
"The task of drawing the attention of Confederate raiders away from the Siege of Vicksburg fell to Col. Benjamin Grierson, a former music teacher who disliked horses after being kicked in the head by one as a child. Grierson's cavalry brigade consisted of the 6th and 7th Illinois and 2nd Iowa Cavalry## regiments." {{Music teacher became "Railroad section hand brokenhearted and bitter about doctors after young beloved wife incompetently killed during (unnecessary) surgery while he watched," played by John Wayne in The Horse Soldiers, was just watching that on DVD I ordered, stumbled on real raid used for the plot in a "wiki search branching out" excursion, also appreciate the fine irony of the music teacher growing up despising horses becoming a renowned commander of cavalry in a war as hard fought as our Civil War! "He is most noted for Grierson's Raid, an 1863 expedition through Confederate-held territory that severed enemy communication lines between Vicksburg, Mississippi and Confederate commanders in the Eastern Theater. After the war he organized and led the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment from 1866 to 1890." "Grierson was born in the borough of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, today a section of Pittsburgh. He was the youngest of five siblings. Grierson became afraid of horses when, at age eight, he was kicked and nearly killed by a horse, after which he hated horses. He eventually became a great cavalry commander."
"Grierson decided to pursue a career in the Regular Army after the war, which was unusual for an officer whose only prior military service was as a volunteer officer during the Civil War. His lack of West Point credentials made him suspect to many fellow officers. On 28 July 1866 he was commissioned a colonel in the Regular Army and assigned as the commander of the 10th U.S. Cavalry, one of two mounted regiments composed of black enlisted men and white officers, called the Buffalo Soldiers. This assignment also made him unpopular with other officers, including his superior, General Philip Henry Sheridan, because of his support for and trust in his troops. His sympathy and courtesy to Native American tribes also led to questions about his judgment.
`The only White officer who supports the unit is Regimental Commanding Officer Colonel Benjamin Grierson. Ostracized by other officers for his enthusiastic command of the African-American troops, Grierson believes in the abilities, dedication, and record of performance of the Buffalo Soldiers and declines offers to lead at any other post. General Pike offers to relieve Grierson 'of this self-imposed exile and have him commanding a real cavalry regiment within a month,' but Grierson refuses.'"
— Turner Network Television's documentary, "Buffalo Soldiers".
##en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Iowa_Cavalry_Regiment - One direct connection to your point about institutional degeneration is that Iowa entered the Union as a free state, the Underground Railroad began at the Iowa-Missouri border in Keokuk on the Mississippi River, we shouldn't forget the effects of "slave hunters" crossing interstate borders to track and try to capture escape black slaves on a population which had to some degree taken pride and expressed their own religious/moral views by settling in a free state, and send more volunteers per capita to fight for the Union than any other.
\
me too. let's dream on...
Thomas gives whores a bad name. (apologies to all honest working girls everywhere)
He did improve the public awareness of Long Dong Silver a few years ago...
I must look that up!
That was one of the salacious adult film titles that spiced up the deadly serious character assassination of Anita Hill.
Edit: You best be careful about an online search unless you are immune to "shocking content," though!
I need someone to tell me - is this legal? Beyond this obviously, to the "average' person like me, constituting a bribe, I know that it is not, legally. But doesn't he have to pay taxes on these gifts? Somebody please agree and tell me that it looks like Clarence Thomas is a tax cheat of some sort.
I also know of NO provision in the Constitution that prevents judges from being indicted for tax evasion or other crimes, correct?
Apparently they can do anything they damn well please, which is another "note to self", do not give someone absolute power. It truly does corrupt them, particularly if they already arrived with a healthy dose of corruption.
Or a lifetime appointment!!!
Correction: "[T]hey THINK, some of them, they can do anything they damn well please," but we live in interesting times, when a rising thirst for equal justice under the law may end up slapping them silly and back into the lucid, sincere respect for the rule of law those same people have been bloviating about as the foundation of their entire careers.
There was a first case, or group of connected cases, that established every single universal human right we enjoy in every democracy, to the extent its protections are then duly enforced, and not undermined by "the usual suspects."
I saw a little line in the blistering new set of revelations from ProPublica that Thomas might have said something vague somewhere that he would observe the rules he didn't know about. I wonder if he understands nobody will ever not watch every move he makes again. He can't sneak off. Too high profile and way too much interest in this. And Roberts, whose face I've come to see as silly, with his super silly comments constantly and refusing to appear before Congress. And the more they say nothing to see here, the more people want to know just what there is to see. This should matter to every single American, no matter their political persuasions. It is one of the most deeply disappointing of all the great disappointments of the last eight years or so and all those years it was in the making before we were sure and could see exactly why we were so squeamish about things.
Years ago while in college I worked for a rural weekly newspaper one summer. Hot story was a local judge who went on fishing trips with local attorneys to Ireland. This is not a new story, probably common everywhere, sad to say.
But the scale of misdeeds is always on the legal agenda, it is taken into account (at least ostensibly) at every step of any legal interaction between Joe or Jane Q. Public and The Law.
Sigh. Note that Alito shrieks in public when his grifting is exposed. Nietzsche: "A bad conscience is easier to cope with than a bad reputation." Thomas, Chief Justice, SGOTUS (Supreme Grifter Of The United States), is more phlegmatic when he's caught out. John Steinbeck: "To a man born without conscience, a soul-stricken man must seem ridiculous. To a criminal, honesty is foolish...to a monster, the norm is monstrous."
I will borrow “SGOTUS” and give you attribution.
SOL (Smile Out Loud). Use it in good health, and thank you.
“To a criminal, honesty is foolish” seems to describe The Thrice Indicted Twice Impeached Defeated Former Guy” perfectly.
Proverbs 21:10 (ESV), "The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes" has come down to us as "There is no honor among thieves." Whether Biblical or contemporary, Defendant Trump and SGOTUS Thomas share the same amoral pup tent.
Yes, I have been weeding out what I consider unconscionable uses of the Bible (in its numerous iterations) from my own world-view for over fifty years now, to winnow the wheat from the chaff!
Roberts should be begging Congress for a code of ethics and a committee to oversee it. But he's not. He sits silently by as Alito and Thomas, always Thomas, make his already corrupt partisan court look even more corrupt and partisan. And he wonders why his legacy will be as the guy who allowed the Supreme Court to fall under the weight of corruption and illegitimacy brought on by the Republican Party and the Federalist Society.
The Sunshine Patriots are unreliable as hell, we collectively learned that in the 1770s!
I have trouble getting excited about this, its hard to see these payments as bribery since Thomas hasn't changed the way he rules on anything. He's always been a Neanderthal claiming to be an originalist, and like most conservatives favors the rich whenever possible. I'd be more interested in seeing how Kavanaugh magically paid off his loans, mortgage and country club fees, or how the rest of Congress have all become millionaires on government salaries.
That would be interesting reading, but I think it's unlikely that we read it anytime soon. There just are not enough people asking questions yet. I think that's why this article is exciting, getting the information out there to get everyone on the same page.
How any given person deploys an ad hoc, impressionistic comprehension of "bribery" has zero legal force, thankfully, and that applies to beggars and kings.
As if the Harlan Crow payola weren’t revealing enough, apparently Clarence & Ginni (or Bonnie & Clyde, to some) believe themselves to be worthy of, or entitled to rich people’s goodies from multiple donors. And it’s hard to know if the misnamed “Justice” has paid these donors back in kind. I will say this: this aggrieved Black man, aggrieved *because* he is Black, must have the hide of a rhinoceros to still remain on the bench. He must be grateful, however, that his equal in the integrity department, our unhinged former president, is taking up much of the news-hole what with being indicted all over the country and having a breakdown at the same time.
Is he having a breakdown? Any chance the good Lord will hear my prayer and give hIm a serious embolism, preferably fatal?
The things he's been saying at rallies and the ironically named "Truth Social" would indicate that he is, indeed, having a breakdown.
He's always been so Wonky, I don't know if I could tell the difference. I've not visited Truth Social, and I avoid him in videos. Just can not stomach him..
Breakdown? What breakdown? He sounds the same as he's sounded for years. He attacks the people he hates-- and whom his followers then hate as well-- in vulgar, insulting and occasionally threatening terms. So what's new?
True enough as far as it goes, there's nothing "new," on the other hand, the course of a descent into waking hallucinations, for example, might be tracked in Trump's case via granular details, examples of his verbal behavior, and so on.
Recent comments about water, sinks, showers and his shampoo techniques had me SMH!!
I am not familiar with what you write, but I do remember crackpot potus going on about toilets and toilet water.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-showers-suds-south-carolina-speech_n_64cf3898e4b0313d2fcb7bcd
This is really NUTS!!!
Maybe some long term abuse of prescription drugs leads to frenzied intrapsychic ideation which Trump conveys via the quasi-word salad - arguable it would require a team of about a dozen highly experienced psychiatrists and mental health professionals to arrive at a sound diagnosis.
Curious? You could do worse than starting here:
us.macmillan.com/books/9781250212863/thedangerouscaseofdonaldtrump
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dangerous_Case_of_Donald_Trump
It was part of his ramblings during his recent 'speech' in Alabama or one of those stops in the past week. Really insane! He seems to be obsessed with water flow!
And he always rambles on in a stream-of consciousness manner, sounding like your old uncle Harry, who has dementia.
Which part of the New Testament has God striking down human malefactors via diseases, I am always interested in arcane scriptural interpretations, thanks in advance for any relevant citations!
Aaaahhhh--- at last! Someone (you) saying that Thomas is "aggrieved" BECAUSE he's black. For years I've been claiming that if Thomas could peel off-- or even tear off-- his black skin and replace it with white skin, he'd do it in a New York minute.
It is said by people I respect that the nuns ruined him. He was one of two Black boys in a Catholic school. I don't think Black identity can develop in a mostly White atmosphere.
His war with race was such that, to this day, he does not acknowledge that he benefited from affirmative action. Well, please. (So of course he voted to kill it when he had the chance -- not too long ago.)
I think his second marriage, to a White woman, was no accident, and unfortunately for him, she was not wrapped real tight. She had to be deprogrammed out of a cult, and an Omaha friend who knew her family (the Lamps) said they were rather ordinary and John Bircher right wingers.
So you’re saying Ginny “married up”?
You have been a veritable fount of extremely useful info for a long time on here, thanks again, Margo!
Well, thank you! I take in a lot, and amazingly, for an old bag, I remember it.
There are all kinds of ways to age gracefully, and being alert and witty is one hugely valuable way!
In thinking about it, is it possible that there is an IRS code that would require that Thomas would have to pay tax on any of these gifts?
I would think the gift givers, like Harlan Crow, would be the ones owing a gift tax.
Perhaps we should call them “Grift Givers.”
Yeah it would make more sense to work on a bribery case implicating the both of them, than trying to nail Clarence for egregious tax violations.
GOP controls House of Reps very very narrowly, Clarence and a few others may face the very real prospect of impeachment sooner than they believe possible.
That's like "Income Tax 101," no one is magically exempt, including the Supreme Court - as the vernacular phrase sums it up, "No one can be a judge in their own case."
Anyway the Supreme Court appointment cannot also bestow immunity from {EDIT! not "arrest," but instead} the congressional processes for "high crimes and misdemeanors," i.e., impeachment, or vulnerability to the criminal law covering homicide, theft, etc. Why tax fraud wouldn't be included is a hymn the right-wing choirs will be howling like dyspeptic alley cats.
Alito is the poster boy for lying by omission.
Oh, and with.
Unacceptable
The impunity with which they reject transparency and accountability. They were appointed with the expectation that they will act and judge with impartiality and honesty. I thought so anyway.
Is unimaginable AJ Thomas could live an entire life w/o honor or shame. In their stead an unending Bucket List.
A paradigm case of wasting your life, and with so much access to ongoing opportunities to experience some form of metanoia, too. It's pathetic, and would be maybe only that if he were not ON THE SUPREME COURT!
Great! Now I have to wash my mouth out with soap because of the many things I said, out loud, while reading this. Is there enough soap in the house? What arselingtons! Unethical with impunity! What a gig! I used to think I wanted an ambassadorship to someplace small: Andorra or San Marino, just so I could be charming and delightful, but not really work. Now I aspire to the Supreme Court where its “partay” all the time.
Plus it's possible to coast on whatever base of legal knowledge you arrived with, and farm out the cases to your staff, nice!
This rogue "justice" would take the pennies off a dead man's eyes -- and his wife would take the eyes.
OMG, that's brilliant. May I use your statement please?
Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues, here's the lyrics (one version anyway)
Winsborro Cotton Mill Blues
Song by Pete Seeger {{ It's not "by" the late great Pete Seeger, he adapted a traditional blues, but on the other hand "Immature poets borrow, mature poets steal," so we have the song and it has a haunting bluesy melody, too!}}
… Down in Winsboro, South Carolina
There's... some person put some new verses
Uh, to the old "Alcoholic Blues"
… Old man seargent sittin' at the desk
The damn old fool won't give us no rest
He'd take the nickels off a dead man's eyes
To buy a Coca-Cola and a Eskimo pie
… I got the blues, I got the blues
I got the Winsboro cotton mill blues
Oh Lordy, Lordy spoolin's hard
You know and I know, we don't have to tell
You work for Tom Watson got to work like hell
I got the blues, I got the blues
I got the Winnsboro cotton mill blues
… Now, when I die don't you bury me at all
Hang me up on the factory wall
Place a bobbin in my hand
So I can keep on workin' in the Promised Land
… I got the blues, I got the blues
I got the Winsboro cotton mill blues
Oh Lordy, Lordy spoolin's hard
You know and I know, we don't have to tell
You work for Tom Watson, gotta work like hell
The Chief Justice sure talks and acts as if he is petrified of Uncle Clarence and Gini. By now shoulda' called him up while his RV is parked at a Walmart and he and Gini are jetting off to an island getaway, then ask AJ Thomas to resign. If that failed, suggest it in public at one of Leonard Leo's hifalutin Federalist Society black tie events just not one held in the SCOTUS building.
Roberts will never ask Thomas to resign because Biden would nominate his replacement, and the Dems have a majority in the Senate.
Just think, according to the current ethical constraints on supreme court justices, a six-figure check from the NRA, with the memo line reading “Thank you for your ruling on New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen!” would not be considered in any way evidence of corruption by justice Thomas.
Just a gesture of friendly appreciation from his good friends at the NRA…
Bribery is as old as time. And that's exactly what this is. There's nothing we can do about it. What's almost as bad though is the liberals simply had to know about this and have said nothing for years.
This just gets worse and worse and worse. No wonder Trump is so corrupt. This is a vein that's been running up there in the 1% of the 1% for decades. We are patsies.
I do believe that the word “patsy” is a derogatory term for an Irish worker who had to do the bidding of the labor bosses. Many immigrants came to America as indentured servants. Irish and Chinese immigrants built railroads and other physically demanding and dangerous jobs. The term is offensive and derogatory!
We who refuse to become involved in the political process must not be surprised when things run amok. Our right to complain is protected by the Constitution, but it doesn’t guarantee using racial slurs.
I prefer Merriam Webster's patsy etymology myself, "perhaps from Italian *pazzo* fool." I find no "racial slur" roots online, including in wikipedia. Unless you can document your ethnic disparagement allegation, I expect to continue using the word patsy with a clear conscience. Don't we have enough to worry about without inventing insults without cause?0
Have I told you how much I appreciate you?
The feeling is mutual, rest assured.
Ah, now that lightened my mood and put a positive good on this day.
MV—do look up Babette's recent comment in the main channel, out of this thread.
I take umbrage, Babette. Patsy usually means “the fall guy!” Or the diminutive of Patricia. Or the Italian Pazzo, which means mad man! As one of Irish decent, my blood boils when I’m wished a Happy St. Paddy’s day...because THAT is the racial slur!
And Paddy wagon.
I'm going to continue to use it because I don't relate it that way and for God's sake, I do not need an attack from inside the house.
I was unaware of the points you have made. It's good that you educate others. I hope you consider giving a person a chance to consider what you have said, so that the spirit of your message isn't lost in their rush to defend themselves.
If you're collecting ersatz reasons to restrict your vocabulary, Bliss Grey, a friend once suggested to me that the expression "oh boy" might have racist undertones. So there you go—a bonus term in common, innocent usage that you can strike from your own. NEXT DAY: This snark was posted in reply to what appeared to be support for criticism of the common usage of the word patsy.
Oh dear, what rancor has been unleashed! Is this was lurks beneath our civil conversations?
This thread has become seriously confused. Don't fret, Babette. (A sequel to "No, No Nanette"?) But really, not to worry. We'll all survive.
Please read the above apology to your friend.
In regards to the use of the word Boy, in my neighborhood, that would most likely be considered racist.
Let's all take a really deep breath here and remember we're in the bigger picture together. I am sorry for my contribution. I usually just stay quiet. It would have been better. I was going to forget most of it anyway.
I think we are all enriched by this experience. It's not ab out mistakes, it's about how we worked it out. Right? That is the example the world need to see. We worked it out. 😊
I hope you will read the comment Babette posted recently in the main channel, not in this thread, Bliss. … I referred to the idiomatic exclamation "oh boy," which has only mutually understood contextual meaning and does not address or describe anyone as a boy. … It's a wise practice to specify the person you're replying to in a forum. By the time three people are in the conversation it's usually needed to prevent confusion. Your omitting to do so has caused a lot of misunderstanding here.
Read it earlier, points taken. Thank you.
The only thing I am embarrassed about is gathering my courage , and words, to defend you, then mistakenly posting it to you. A comedy of errors on my part.
Oh, I am sorry. I should also be old enough to just shut up. No just me being an ass. Big apologies. And speaking of embarrassing, I deleted my assholery. Note to self: No need to overreact.
Please do not shut up. We can laugh about this, and meet again in another thread to comment together.
Well you are probably not going this is one damn bit funny, but I posted this to the wrong person. I was intending to post it to the individual that smacked you down, needlessly. I apologize for my mistake.
Not you. I just took it down. I went way too far and I'm sorry about that. Twas a bad day and I made it worse.
No Mary, it wasn't you. Of course you defended yourself, attacked twice. I was short on sleep and being my Father's child, could not sit quietly. It was but a little fire, and now we can be friends. It's good to meet intelligent outspoken women in here. I hope you don't mind if I follow you? -Bliss
The remark about rushing to defend ones self, was in reference to the person you were correcting.
He needs to go. Now.