Clarence Thomas’ writings seem so bitter for someone who has so many friends
— Aki Peritz (@AkiPeritz) August 10, 2023
BettyC already covered the news about Clarence & Ginni’s extravagant vacations, but wait, there’s more!…
NYT finds Thomas got his RV through the largesse of a wealthy patron and didn’t disclose it. ?? https://t.co/Q0OpeBY49F
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) August 5, 2023
Justice Clarence Thomas met the recreational vehicle of his dreams in Phoenix, on a November Friday in 1999.
With some time to kill before an event that night, he headed to a dealership just west of the airport. There sat a used Prevost Le Mirage XL Marathon, eight years old and 40 feet long, with orange flames licking down the sides. In the words of one of his biographers, “he kicked the tires and climbed aboard,” then quickly negotiated a handshake deal. A few weeks later, Justice Thomas drove his new motor coach off the lot and into his everyman, up-by-the-bootstraps self-mythology.
There he is behind the wheel during a rare 2007 interview with “60 Minutes,” talking about how the steel-clad converted bus allows him to escape the “meanness that you see in Washington.” He regularly slips into his speeches his love of driving it through the American heartland — “the part we fly over.” And in a documentary financed by conservative admirers, Justice Thomas, who was born into poverty in Georgia, waxes rhapsodic about the familiarity of spending time with the regular folks he meets along the way in R.V. parks and Walmart parking lots.
“I don’t have any problem with going to Europe, but I prefer the United States, and I prefer seeing the regular parts of the United States,” he told the filmmakers, adding: “There’s something normal to me about it. I come from regular stock, and I prefer being around that.”…
Yeah, we all just loan our buddies a quarter mil to buy a personal bus.
Clyde didn’t even use the cash to buy an American made one. https://t.co/6nhOABOhqY
— Clean Observer (@Hammbear2024) August 6, 2023
Happy to report that NYMag is keeping their helpful list up to date, if you want a scorecard:
We’re keeping track of the recent pileup of revelations regarding secret financial arrangements between the justice and his rich friends. https://t.co/wwf6Zs9wJr
— New York Magazine (@NYMag) August 7, 2023
It won’t change until two conservatives in the Alito Six are no longer on the court. https://t.co/ei2YOgcDUO
— Clean Observer (@Hammbear2024) August 5, 2023
Call me a dreamer, but it seems as though the Permanent ‘Conservative’ Government Party may be leaning towards using Thomas as a scapegoat — a blatantly corrupt sacrifice for us Democrats and other honest types to purge, in order to protect the more activist (and younger) SC(R)OTUS judges. They’ve engineered a majority without him, and probably figure it’ll be easier to McConnell an eight-member court now than it would be during a (Murphy willing) second President Biden term. Many people are saying…
Clarence Thomas needs to resign or be forced off the court. pic.twitter.com/gab58ZXcKl
— Antonia Lee Donnelly (@DonnellyAntonia) August 11, 2023
Make it 6.
Clarence Thomas must resign. https://t.co/PbrpKyUC9T
— Robert Garcia (@RobertGarcia) August 10, 2023
khead
Two phrases I miss:
“duty to retreat” and “mere appearance of impropriety”
SpaceUnit
Billionaires are just really friendly people.
Suzanne
There’s so much to unpack here. WTF.
Take your luxury RV to an Ohio diner and get off the Court.
Hang out with “regular stock”.
schrodingers_cat
What a gross person.
Omnes Omnibus
Complete and utter bullshit. Private planes, private clubs, billionaire “buddies.” Regular stock, my pink ass.
Jeffro
Fuck it, this is just straight-up corruption – anyone and everyone can see that.
Thomas will never resign, and the RWNJ Noise Machine will howl, but here’s hoping Dem candidates make “cleaning house” or “restoring ethics” or some damn phrase part of their usual speeches this year and next.
(just not “drain the swamp”, FSM please no)
Cameron
@Suzanne: Regular stock? Wonder how many shares he holds.
Dangerman
Regular Stock. Bonds. Cash.
Captain C
Most people who “come from common stock” don’t seem to feel the need to use it as a talking point.
(edited for spelling ‘coz I’m at a metal show)
Trivia Man
My dream is that Ginny’s clear, obvious, and outrageous involvement in January 6 is Clarence’s undoing. Recusal, divorce, something I can’t imagine… if (when) TIFG gets it to the Supremes it would be delicious if Clarence is the undoing of it all.
RobertDSC-iPhone 8
One way to get these cretins back is to deny them any honors after death. No lying in state in the Rotunda, no statuary, not even lowering the flag to half staff.
They don’t deserve any of it.
The same goes for TIFG. When he dies, he gets none of the usual ceremonies. Not a single penny should go to any of them after they die.
Omnes Omnibus
@Captain C: Kind of like this.
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: I find it deeply gross how he refers to other humans as “that”. Indicative.
TS
@Trivia Man:
He is going to take every last case to SCOTUS – he thinks he will always win there
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-11/trump-appeals-dismissal-of-e-jean-carroll-defamation-claim/102718506
Donald Trump appeals against judge’s dismissal of defamation claim against E. Jean Carroll
HumboldtBlue
FUCK YEAH! The great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania comes though with a Teamster headed to the Mrs. America contest!
Omnes Omnibus
@TS: He hasn’t won there so far.
Sure Lurkalot
I don’t know if the drip, drip, drip of the reporting that conservative SC justices are corrupt is intended, but please more and more and more.
And please, serve up Leonard Leo.
JaySinWA
@Omnes Omnibus: Now now, he’s just taking one for the team. He’d much rather be around the common [breed] stock, but needs must.
matt
the word corruption is a good one for this sort of scene, because it evokes the stench of corpses decaying.
JaySinWA
@Omnes Omnibus:
F’n ingrates, I tells ya. I made them and I can break them! /T
JML
@HumboldtBlue: As a proud member of Teamsters Local 320, I’m down with this. :) Teamsters Strong!
JaySinWA
@Sure Lurkalot: Propublica on PBS tonight indicated that the stuff they found on other justices was reported by them. Thomas stands alone in both the number and the lack of reporting.
ETA they are open to any info on unreported gifts to the other justices, they just haven’t uncovered any.
eclare
@HumboldtBlue:
She’s very attractive!
NotMax
(grasping a soda can, knocks on door of the neighboring RV at Walmart)
“Howdy, neighbor. Can you spare a lock of pubic hair?”
//
HumboldtBlue
Although I am familiar with the show, I’ve never watched an episode of King of the Hill, but this remix with a dua Lipa cover is fantastic.
brendancalling
@Captain C: who are ya seein?
Trollhattan
Spain-Netherlands knotted 1-1 in overtime. Nail chewing time.
sdhays
@HumboldtBlue: I’m happy for her, but these female judging contests are just gross.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Sure Lurkalot: I heard one of the reporters interviewed today and someone asked him how he got this story and he said, trips like these aren’t just billionaires and their guests, there’s support staff, bartenders, fishing guides…
The specificity of that last one struck me.
SFAW
One wonders whether he has ever come to realize that he was/is one of those things he hates most — an Affirmative Action hire. Maybe he has, and that’s why he’s so bitter.
[For the youngsters: the primary — perhaps only — reason he was nominated to SCOTUS was because GHWB and his people (fuck ’em) wanted a reactionary Black man to replace Thurgood Marshall.]
TS
@Omnes Omnibus:
But he sure keeps trying
different-church-lady
He doesn’t have friends. He has sponsors.
different-church-lady
@Suzanne: Oh. Yeah. I have people paying for everything in my life all the time, despite my six-figure salary. It’s just part of being a normal, common person.
BruceFromOhio
MrsFromOhio and I covered this during drive-time today. We concluded that a) the Senate won’t do anything, b) there’s more shit-show to come, and c) other than a fatal stroke or dying of old age, the only way Thomas goes is Roberts pushes him to resign.
It also reinforces the Dem strategy of “We’re competent, capable, and not corrupt.”
HumboldtBlue
@Trollhattan:
Absolute brilliant counter and excellent finish from Spain. That shut the Dutch up, Beerensteyn was talking shit about the US and got shut down.
piratedan
@HumboldtBlue: she had a few opportunities and never got it on the box. I really thought Spain outplayed them overall.
HumboldtBlue
@piratedan:
I agree, and I liked seeing that Spanish flair win out, but the Dutch are always tough. My vitriol was localized to this game, I admire Dutch football in general.
HumboldtBlue
@sdhays:
Understood.
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Unca Clarence is a HO. A leave it on the nightstand HO.😡😡🤬🤬
JaySinWA
I assume that means someone who believes they can trust the payer? Not messing with someone that they have to count the money.
HumboldtBlue
Rupert Murdoch has fouled our world with distorted media for more than three decades.
JaySinWA
@JaySinWA: To be clear, that’s a question. I am not sure what the expression means.
Redshift
@different-church-lady:
But not according to him – all of this should be no big deal, because these are just friends doing nice things for each other. Hence the joke in that tweet.
Frankensteinbeck
@JaySinWA:
The expression refers to the cliche practice of paying prostitutes by leaving the money on the nightstand for her to pick up as she leaves.
kalakal
@RobertDSC-iPhone 8:
I think TFIG should get a memorial.
The Donald J Trump National Public Toilet. The Bigliest and Best!
With his name all over it. I want the bastard to go to his grave knowing that for decades to come, people will see his name and think of him while they…
JaySinWA
@Frankensteinbeck: Yes, I got that part of the allusion, but I think it was more than a prostitute allusion, but the kind of prostitute.
Shalimar
@BruceFromOhio: The only power Roberts has over Thomas is to never give him any decisions to write when both are in the majority. Which I don’t think Thomas gives a damn about.
NotMax
Maui update:
Brachiator
@NotMax:
Thanks for the update. I live in Southern California, where we know how devastating brush fires can be, but even so, what is happening in Hawaii looks absolutely horrifying.
I heard an interview with a resident who noted that earlier homeless people were scurrying towards the beach to try to find some safety.
Hang in there. It’s good to see the success of the containment efforts.
NotMax
@Brachiator
Coast Guard successfully rescued people who had leapt into the ocean and swum out to sea for safety because boats in the harbor were ablaze, and burned down to the waterline.
Tony Jay
@rikyrah:
Poor Clarence. Wants so bad to be a Made Man, but he’s nothing but a Kept Man. In every possible sense of the word.
Ruckus
@Omnes Omnibus:
Your’s is still pink?
How’s that happen?
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@HumboldtBlue: I was never a regular King of the Hill watcher but there was this one episode I caught where his son Bobby goes on the road with Christian rock band and when Hank tracks him down to bring him home he sums up Christian rock perfectly by telling the lead singer of the band “Don’t you understand? You’re not making Jesus cooler, you’re just making rock and roll worse!”
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@different-church-lady: Yeah this is the thing. I draw a paycheck from the federal government and live in the DC area. I’m like if it’s so commonplace, where are my billionaire friends? Why don’t I have a similar group of rich people giving me RVs, private plane rides and yacht cruises etc.?
WereBear
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: It’s a great show :) That’s a fave.
SFAW
@Tony Jay:
Like Tommy DeVito?
AM in NC
@BruceFromOhio: Just to edit your awesome slogan a tiny bit:
Vote for Competence, Caring, and Not Corruption – Vote Blue
CCC vs KKK
Chris Johnson
@SFAW: He’s black. So probably JUST like Tommy.
Paul in KY
@Suzanne: ‘Regular Stock’ does not use a Prevost Coach to RV about. What a scumbag…