Today began with another story about yet more ties between Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas and Republican billionaire Harlan Crow. Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott, and Alex Mierjeski of ProPublica reported that Crow paid the private school tuition for Thomas’s grandnephew, to the tune of more than $6,000 a month, ultimately adding up to an amount that may have been more than $150,000. Thomas did not report the payments.
Is there any recourse? Can those decisions be revisited? Can Justice Thomas be forced to return those funds? What about the IRS? Can he have a lien put on his undeserved salary? Can he be recalled?
"....there was an implicit agreement to prevent Biden from becoming president."
And the work continues - said the Attorney General..
See Prosecutor Jack Smith...
Our national disgrace will continue for years. We must wonder if the Republican Party will reform itself... and jettison its worst elements...
President Trump will be charged, and charged, and charged, tried, and tried, convicted and convicted...sentenced and sentenced... and jailed... for state and federal crimes... thus erasing the feeling of the Pardon granted by President Ford for President Nixon...
President Biden is unlikely to pardon President Trump without a full and honest confession in writing, spoken aloud to the nation - that admits his lies and crimes... clearly.
President Trump's long sentence will be served with Secret Service protection at a remote location...
No matter what disclosures come out about Clarence (and Ginni) Thomas and their illegal activities, Clarence is still seen in photographs with that smug look on his face. He knows the Koch Klub is covering his back and will continue paying him big bonuses as long as he votes for their causes.
Justices of the Supreme Court should be supremely ethical, both in their private lives, and in their professional lives.
When they fail to meet ethical standards, there should be consequences. It appears that any improper behavior has been ignored if it does not rise to the level of impeachable offense.
The leaders of the Proud Boys most likely never considered that they would be tried and convicted of seditious conspiracy. Tucker Carlson never thought that Fox News would fire him. Trump fully expected to be installed as President for Life on January 6.
More daylighting, less gaslighting. The long arc of history may yet swing toward justice.
Why hasn't the initiative been taken to add justices to the SCOTUS? It seems like the house is on fire but those who have access to the extinguisher would rather the house burn to the ground than use it.
So now we know that the two SCOTUS decisions most destructive of fairness and transparency in politics and of free and fair elections -- Citizens United and Shelby County v. Holder -- are utterly and completely compromised, and the integrity of the court as a whole beyond those two decisions is stinking like 4-day-old fish. That is how deep the corruption runs in this country, and we don't even know if that is indeed the bottom.
Oligarchic control of politics via limitless and unaccountable dark money and barrier-free voter suppression, which resumed only days after the Shelby decision came down and today is widespread, are two conditions the far-right _has_ to have. They know their goal -- permanent oligarchic, male, white-supremacist, theocratic control of the country -- would be completely rejected by the voting public at large, if all eligible voters were allowed to vote. Therefore, the moneyed interests must be able to control the politicians who run the federal, state, and local systems. And they in turn ensure that only the "right" or "real" people can vote and that no one else can have meaningful representation or significant political power.
And now we know they bought at least one SCOTUS justice to ensure the desired outcomes on the two relevant cases. We really do have the best "democracy" and the best legal system money can buy.
Land of the free. If you're rich, white, straight, male, and Christian, that is.
In my 89 years I have witnessed Watergate, Irangate, Cheney-Rumsfeld-Bush in Iraq, Church Committee hearings on CIA assassination plots, our involvement in the overthrow of democratic governments, and many other untoward incidents that made me ashamed of and concerned for the country I love.
I have never encountered a more disturbing single night’s listing of a wrong-directioned America than what Heather has catalogued today:
1) A Supreme Court Justice who seems to be in the pocket of a right-wing billionaire who has a collection of Nazi memorabilia including personal Hitler ‘souvenirs;’
2) The wife of this Supreme Court Justice who was surreptitiously paid countless $$$ from right-wing sources in a manner intended to hide such payoffs;
3) Four insurrectionists convicted of ‘insidious conspiracy’ for events related to the January 6th insurrection with which a former president is being investigated for being the instigator;
4) The attorney general announcing that over 600 individuals have already been convicted for their participation in this insurrection;
5) The prospect that the United States could default on the ‘full faith and credit of the United States’ because a pipsqueak guy is more concerned with retaining his squalid speakership than serving the interests of his country. He is playing Russian roulette with the American and global economy.
6) An ex-president involved in a bevy of criminal and civil indictments, while he proclaims that his re-election in 2024 would ‘restore justice’ in America.
What the hell is happening to your and my country? President Biden is fighting for the soul of our country against the Armageddon reflected in the alternative. Hitler, Stalin, and Togo were no less a threat to America than are Trump and his sycophants.
Jon Meacham, in his THE SOUL OF AMERICA, wrote about the ups, downs, and then ups in America’s nearly 250 years. I believe that he would agree with me that today is America’s greatest crisis since the Civil War.
Then we had Abraham Lincoln, a stalwart warrior for the soul of America. Today we have President Biden, who has succinctly stated the choice: “Do not compare me with the Almighty, but compare me with the alternative.”
"...it appears a key vote on the court that decided those cases was compromised."
"Compromised" is appropriate usage for this excellent summary and commentary of today's major news. But is there any reason to doubt that Justice Thomas' votes were bought?
Bribery is defined as "the offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving of any item of value as a means of influencing the actions of an individual holding a public or legal duty."
The 'little' guys are getting convicted, and jailed, one after the other, and the big kahuna who incited them to storm the Capitol is still freewheeling, flitting unhindered to Scotland for a round of golf, opining freely on all kinds of matters, just not admitting guilt in any of his indictments and is now getting the stage at a CNN-hosted townhall? What a disgrace that MSM is giving him that center stage even now!
My friends and i share a profound bond that some say is as deep as the ocean, and yet recent news still leaves me troubled.
Of my many fine friends, none has offered to pay my nephew's private school tuition, as did Harlan Crow for his dear friend Clarence Thomas.
Not one has selflessly bought the home of my mother and refurbished it while allowing her to live there rent-free.
I suppose it goes then without saying that none of my friends has bothered to send their private jets to whisk me to the yacht for a jaunt around Indonesia.
This beautiful friendship of Harlan Crow and Clarence Thomas makes my own friends look kind of shabby by comparison.
Are these radical R's that evil? They really eschew democracy. The corruption of Clarence Thomas abetted by none other than Leonard Leo is truly eye opening. This Leo who professes to be a man of deep Catholic faith, pro life, is in fact dishonest and lacking any modicum of compassion that his faith teaches. Who does he think he's looking at when he looks in the mirror? A magic mirror could show a twisted, ugly soul.
When the Fresno Bee calls out Republicans it must be pretty bad.
Is there any recourse? Can those decisions be revisited? Can Justice Thomas be forced to return those funds? What about the IRS? Can he have a lien put on his undeserved salary? Can he be recalled?
"....there was an implicit agreement to prevent Biden from becoming president."
And the work continues - said the Attorney General..
See Prosecutor Jack Smith...
Our national disgrace will continue for years. We must wonder if the Republican Party will reform itself... and jettison its worst elements...
President Trump will be charged, and charged, and charged, tried, and tried, convicted and convicted...sentenced and sentenced... and jailed... for state and federal crimes... thus erasing the feeling of the Pardon granted by President Ford for President Nixon...
President Biden is unlikely to pardon President Trump without a full and honest confession in writing, spoken aloud to the nation - that admits his lies and crimes... clearly.
President Trump's long sentence will be served with Secret Service protection at a remote location...
Think Napoleon - and the King of Belgium...
No matter what disclosures come out about Clarence (and Ginni) Thomas and their illegal activities, Clarence is still seen in photographs with that smug look on his face. He knows the Koch Klub is covering his back and will continue paying him big bonuses as long as he votes for their causes.
Justices of the Supreme Court should be supremely ethical, both in their private lives, and in their professional lives.
When they fail to meet ethical standards, there should be consequences. It appears that any improper behavior has been ignored if it does not rise to the level of impeachable offense.
The leaders of the Proud Boys most likely never considered that they would be tried and convicted of seditious conspiracy. Tucker Carlson never thought that Fox News would fire him. Trump fully expected to be installed as President for Life on January 6.
More daylighting, less gaslighting. The long arc of history may yet swing toward justice.
Why hasn't the initiative been taken to add justices to the SCOTUS? It seems like the house is on fire but those who have access to the extinguisher would rather the house burn to the ground than use it.
Do you see any chance that something will be done to get Thomas off the supreme court?
So now we know that the two SCOTUS decisions most destructive of fairness and transparency in politics and of free and fair elections -- Citizens United and Shelby County v. Holder -- are utterly and completely compromised, and the integrity of the court as a whole beyond those two decisions is stinking like 4-day-old fish. That is how deep the corruption runs in this country, and we don't even know if that is indeed the bottom.
Oligarchic control of politics via limitless and unaccountable dark money and barrier-free voter suppression, which resumed only days after the Shelby decision came down and today is widespread, are two conditions the far-right _has_ to have. They know their goal -- permanent oligarchic, male, white-supremacist, theocratic control of the country -- would be completely rejected by the voting public at large, if all eligible voters were allowed to vote. Therefore, the moneyed interests must be able to control the politicians who run the federal, state, and local systems. And they in turn ensure that only the "right" or "real" people can vote and that no one else can have meaningful representation or significant political power.
And now we know they bought at least one SCOTUS justice to ensure the desired outcomes on the two relevant cases. We really do have the best "democracy" and the best legal system money can buy.
Land of the free. If you're rich, white, straight, male, and Christian, that is.
In my 89 years I have witnessed Watergate, Irangate, Cheney-Rumsfeld-Bush in Iraq, Church Committee hearings on CIA assassination plots, our involvement in the overthrow of democratic governments, and many other untoward incidents that made me ashamed of and concerned for the country I love.
I have never encountered a more disturbing single night’s listing of a wrong-directioned America than what Heather has catalogued today:
1) A Supreme Court Justice who seems to be in the pocket of a right-wing billionaire who has a collection of Nazi memorabilia including personal Hitler ‘souvenirs;’
2) The wife of this Supreme Court Justice who was surreptitiously paid countless $$$ from right-wing sources in a manner intended to hide such payoffs;
3) Four insurrectionists convicted of ‘insidious conspiracy’ for events related to the January 6th insurrection with which a former president is being investigated for being the instigator;
4) The attorney general announcing that over 600 individuals have already been convicted for their participation in this insurrection;
5) The prospect that the United States could default on the ‘full faith and credit of the United States’ because a pipsqueak guy is more concerned with retaining his squalid speakership than serving the interests of his country. He is playing Russian roulette with the American and global economy.
6) An ex-president involved in a bevy of criminal and civil indictments, while he proclaims that his re-election in 2024 would ‘restore justice’ in America.
What the hell is happening to your and my country? President Biden is fighting for the soul of our country against the Armageddon reflected in the alternative. Hitler, Stalin, and Togo were no less a threat to America than are Trump and his sycophants.
Jon Meacham, in his THE SOUL OF AMERICA, wrote about the ups, downs, and then ups in America’s nearly 250 years. I believe that he would agree with me that today is America’s greatest crisis since the Civil War.
Then we had Abraham Lincoln, a stalwart warrior for the soul of America. Today we have President Biden, who has succinctly stated the choice: “Do not compare me with the Almighty, but compare me with the alternative.”
"...it appears a key vote on the court that decided those cases was compromised."
"Compromised" is appropriate usage for this excellent summary and commentary of today's major news. But is there any reason to doubt that Justice Thomas' votes were bought?
Bribery is defined as "the offering, giving, soliciting, or receiving of any item of value as a means of influencing the actions of an individual holding a public or legal duty."
It's time for a Justice Department investigation.
The 'little' guys are getting convicted, and jailed, one after the other, and the big kahuna who incited them to storm the Capitol is still freewheeling, flitting unhindered to Scotland for a round of golf, opining freely on all kinds of matters, just not admitting guilt in any of his indictments and is now getting the stage at a CNN-hosted townhall? What a disgrace that MSM is giving him that center stage even now!
My friends and i share a profound bond that some say is as deep as the ocean, and yet recent news still leaves me troubled.
Of my many fine friends, none has offered to pay my nephew's private school tuition, as did Harlan Crow for his dear friend Clarence Thomas.
Not one has selflessly bought the home of my mother and refurbished it while allowing her to live there rent-free.
I suppose it goes then without saying that none of my friends has bothered to send their private jets to whisk me to the yacht for a jaunt around Indonesia.
This beautiful friendship of Harlan Crow and Clarence Thomas makes my own friends look kind of shabby by comparison.
Are these radical R's that evil? They really eschew democracy. The corruption of Clarence Thomas abetted by none other than Leonard Leo is truly eye opening. This Leo who professes to be a man of deep Catholic faith, pro life, is in fact dishonest and lacking any modicum of compassion that his faith teaches. Who does he think he's looking at when he looks in the mirror? A magic mirror could show a twisted, ugly soul.
Is there a mechanism whereby all rulings made by the SC in which Thomas was demonstrably corrupt can be revisited by the SC without Thomas?
We have become a world leader in corruption, so much so, that the public has learned to accept it.