There’s a new ProPublica report on a trio of right-wing oligarchs fulfilling Clarence and Ginni Thomas’s champagne wishes and caviar dreams. You can read the whole thing here (and pitch in a few quid for the tremendous public service ProPublica reporters are doing here if you’re so inclined).
The latest report says that in addition to the mind-blowing largesse Thomas and the kooky missus receive from Harlan Crow, the justice has three other right-wing billionaire sponsors: H. Wayne Huizenga, David Sokol and Paul “Tony” Novelly. All three met Crooked Clarence after Bush appointed him to the Supreme Court, and all independently decided to shower Thomas with luxuries out of the goodness of their hearts:
During his three decades on the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas has enjoyed steady access to a lifestyle most Americans can only imagine. A cadre of industry titans and ultrawealthy executives have treated him to far-flung vacations aboard their yachts, ushered him into the premium suites at sporting events and sent their private jets to fetch him — including, on more than one occasion, an entire 737. It’s a stream of luxury that is both more extensive and from a wider circle than has been previously understood.
Like clockwork, Thomas’ leisure activities have been underwritten by benefactors who share the ideology that drives his jurisprudence. Their gifts include:
At least 38 destination vacations, including a previously unreported voyage on a yacht around the Bahamas; 26 private jet flights, plus an additional eight by helicopter; a dozen VIP passes to professional and college sporting events, typically perched in the skybox; two stays at luxury resorts in Florida and Jamaica; and one standing invitation to an uber-exclusive golf club overlooking the Atlantic coast.
Rhetorical question: does Thomas ever pay for his own vacations? He probably can’t afford it since he’s barely scraping by on his $285,000 annual salary, plus whatever off-the-books piles of cash for “consulting work” that Leonard Leo can funnel to the dumb-as-a-post insurrectionist wife.
When ProPublica busted Alito for corruptly accepting a luxury fishing vacation, he snippily typed out a pained and misleading prebuttal for publication in the WSJ because that’s how he rolls. Thomas is mostly silent in public, but the scale of his entitlement snaps into view with occasional recorded comments:
(Thomas) once complained that he sacrificed wealth to sit on the court, though he depicted the choice as a matter of conscience. “The job is not worth doing for what they pay,” he told the bar association in Savannah, Georgia, in 2001, “but it is worth doing for the principle.”
Sure it is, as long as you can also loll around on yachts anchored off the Amalfi coast. Also, ProPublica obtained a Thomas “biography” the right-wing oligarch Huizenga hands out to family and friends that contains this choice quote from Thomas:
“We are in a society where everything is quid pro quo,” Thomas said, but not with the Huizengas. “I don’t do anything for them and they can’t do anything for me.”
Except send a private and lavishly decorated 737 just for him, of course. Jesus, these people are absolutely shameless.
Sure Lurkalot
Queue up the howls from the usual suspects how the reputation of this stellar representative of jurisprudence is being sullied by these allegations of impropriety.
different-church-lady
Has the man paid for anything himself in the past 35 years?
Ken
@Sure Lurkalot: For values of “jurisprudence” that don’t include filling out the paperwork as required by law.
JML
It’s just staggering.
One of my law professors clerks for Thomas, and extolled his virtues often. Did any of the billionaire largess trickle down? Said professor wrangled himself a into a federal judgeship and I often wonder: does he hold to any ethical standards, or does he follow in his mentor’s footsteps?
You just know Alito is just as bad, Scalia was in this up to his neck back in the day…Roberts does it differently via his wife’s career mostly (I’m betting) but still probably has a bunch of this stuff lurking…and I’m betting that Kavanaugh is sitting furious that the gravy train might be finally stopping before he got to have his 20-30 years of it (we already know he had some shady finances in his past).
Abe Fortas was forced to resign over nothing compared to this.
Cacti
Too low on the salary. He makes $274,600.
Juju
One would hope he’d resign, preferably in shame, but I’m not going to hold my breath waiting for that to happen. The justice is going to stay on the court as long as he possibly can, because if he resigns, he holds no value with the billionaires and then the “ friendships “ would dry up and he’d have to fly with the riff raff.
Old Man Shadow
It’s staggering what’s legal, ain’t it?
Baud
@Cacti:
Barely scraping by.
Cacti
@Baud: Right?
Betty Cracker
@JML: Yep. And Justice Kagan told old high school friends she couldn’t accept a box of bagels because it might have the appearance of impropriety. The mind reels.
jonas
Can you imagine what would be happening right now if it came out that Sonia Sotomayor or one of the other liberal justices had been galavanting around on George Soros’s yacht and private jet for years? I’m sure at least one car bomb would have already been set off in front of the SCOTUS building.
Old Man Shadow
@Juju: I suspect whatever consciences they might have possessed have long since been silenced so guilt and shame are impossible to conjure up.
The only thing they understand and will respond to is power. Congress needs to slap them down, but won’t because it’s only corruption when it’s Hunter Biden.
Rob in CT
John Roberts is no doubt preparing to write another op-ed whining about these attacks on the honor of SCOTUS.
The reality is there’s very little that can be done about this, other than complain and hope the public cares (which is infuriating, of course).
rikyrah
Clarence Thomas is a HO….Leave it on the nightstand HO
Cacti
Even though Clarence’s salary puts him in the 98th percentile for household income, he doesn’t make FU, I could buy my own football team money.
And in his mind, that’s unfair.
Betty Cracker
@Cacti: I saw at least five different salaries from usually reputable sources while Googling — I’m gonna edit it to $285,000, which is what a WaPo article from this year pegs the salary as, with a gift link to the source. Thanks for alerting me to the issue!
Scout211
I guess it’s up to the voters because congress has decided they won’t pass judicial ethics reform.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Cacti:
A song cue if ever I heard one .
Kent
It is simpler than that.
He thinks he made them rich by protecting them against government regulation and taxes. So he expects his cut of the action.
We are ruled by mobsters.
NJHenderson
Link to ProPublica donation in post is dead. https://donate.propublica.org/give/141278/#!/donation/checkout
kindness
Trey is a national treasure.
waspuppet
“Crooked Clarence” is good.
“Tires Thomas” is good for variety’s sake. It was “only” $1,200, but the fact that the man doesn’t feel like he has to pay for his own tires needs to be more widely known.
But he should not be called anything but one of these two things, any time, ever, until the day he dies.
jonas
If you recall, Scalia died while on a junket to some Texas billionaire’s luxury hunting ranch. Just a disinterested friend of the court, I’m sure. I recall at the time asking myself WTF a SCOTUS justice was doing running around a luxury villa with a bunch of big Texas Republican machers, but the media was too busy collecting soundbites about how witty he was.
trollhattan
As we ponder the greed of our nation’s biggest assholes, a postscript on Sinead O’Connor, who was buried a few days ago. The woman was a saint, even while being the last human the Church would consider sainthood. Letters of Note:
Betty Cracker
@NJHenderson: Fixed — thanks!
trollhattan
@jonas: IIUC it was one of those “hunting” clubs stuffed with tame critters to shoot, similar to the place Cheney bagged his first lawyer.
Suzanne
Oh, fuck you, you worthless piece of garbage. He makes enough in one year that would be a life-changing amount of money for most people in this country, like, a lottery windfall kind of money. And he’s whining that all he gets out of it is the chance to impose his will on us?!
Cry more.
Kent
@Betty Cracker: $285,400 seems to be the current base salary. With an emphasis on “base”
They get a minimum of 3 MONTHS of vacation per year when the court is in recess and a very light workload when it is in session
They have catered meals, transportation, etc. paid for
They have unlimited outside income opportunities from posh speaking engagements to fake book deals for books written by ghostwriters.
They have an astonishingly gold-plated retirement program
Their total compensation probably has a fair monetary value that is double their actual salary.
jonas
Bingo. And also, they make a big fuss over him and give him nice shit, unlike those elitist snots at Yale so many years ago who turned their noses up at him because they thought he was admitted under a racial quota. Who’s got the affirmative action, now, bitches!?
Jeffro
It’s all parts of the same thing: big money buying SCOTUS, buying Senators so we can’t defeat (and then abolish) the filibuster, buying individual statehouse reps so they’ll flip parties
We can’t have a democracy and a plutocracy at the same time, America.
Mike in NC
“Champagne wishes and caviar dreams” brings to mind a really terrible reality TV show that frequently trotted out a colorful asshole named Donald Trump. Wonder what ever became of that guy?
trollhattan
In case you’ve been wondering “What could possibly go wrong?” with Russia strip-mining Russian prisons for dudes to throw into the Ukraine war, the answer is exactly what you thought.
Baud
You libs are so bigoted. It’s ok for a justice to have all the poor friends they want, but as soon as they find a few rich friends, y’all scream CORRUPTION! We see you.
Betty Cracker
@trollhattan: Wow. That’s not the only story I’ve read since her death that illustrates what a kind and generous person Sinéad O’Connor was, in addition to being a fearless truthteller and incredible talent.
trollhattan
@Mike in NC: “Hamberder wishes and covfefe dreams.”
Rugosa
I’ve heard that it’s better to have a friend with a boat than to have one yourself. Probably the same with luxury vacation accommodations and private jets (where the hell would you park the thing? in your driveway?)
Doug R
@Old Man Shadow: Even the law weak as it is has been broken by Clarence.
SFAW
Your question is nothing but a “high-tech lynching for uppity Blacks.” It’s worse than the Holocaust.
etc. etc. etc.
Their shamelessness is their superpower [sic].
ETA: Or what Baud said @ 33.
JML
@Kent: I mean, part of the point was to pay them enough and ensure they had a secure life that they couldn’t be bought easily. but because of the greed and arrogance and entitlement of people like Clarence Thomas…they’ve been bought and paid for under the table, and will be protected from consequences by a feckless republican party that cares nothing for their corruption so long as it favors their ends.
Because the circuits have grown and there’s more activity there’s a good argument to be made that the SCOTUS should expand to manage the workload properly…but it’s still an insanely good gig for anyone who doesn’t think they’re entitled to have FU money for it.
sdhays
@Suzanne: “What they pay” should honestly be more than plenty to do any job worth doing, unless it’s something you really, viscerally hate.
trollhattan
@JML: Soon as they begin rubbing shoulders with actual rich people, some portion are going to “want me some of that.” A lifestyle no gummint salary can approach.
IIRC the highest paid positions in California state government are at PERS, the state retirement system, where they need “investment banker” types managing the portfolio. They make far more than the governor.
smintheus
They didn’t even send a 747. A 737, pshaw…all the bellyaching just shows they’re trying to cancel Ginni’s free speech.
trollhattan
@smintheus: Guessing Donny has a 757 because he thinks a higher number=better airplane. “You see, this is a seven-FIVE-seven; that’s ten more than a seven-four-seven.”
JWR
This bit gave me a chuckle:
And thus was born another grudge to be held forevermore.
Redshift
There was an excerpt from another article (one that’s not new, I think) about how at the EEOC, Thomas had the agency pay for cleaning personal travel, with obviously fake efforts to make it “work-related.”
It describes one instance where he flew to Boston to meet with Thomas Sowell, one of his conservative mentors. He summoned a local EEOC official to sit in his hotel room while he and Sowell ate a room-service dinner so it would be official business. Just brazenly improper, entitled behavior; the kind of thing that’s given as the obviously wrong answer on everyone’s workplace “is this ethical?” training.
trollhattan
@JWR:
Reminiscent of the NFL–the NFL–deciding Donny was too louche for them and prevented him from becoming a team owner. Call the whaaambulance.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for US?
@Suzanne: I mean just for basis of comparison, I don’t see any evidence that SCOTUS judges work long hours, or that the workload requires it. That goes for all the justices not just the conservative ones. Frankly it doesn’t seem like their schedules are any more onerous than a bog standard GS 14 Civil Servant. They make twice what those guys make. AND those guys can’t accept a gift worth more than $25 without risking dismissal.
JoyceH
Even his RV which is supposed to be indicative of his plebeian tastes is a luxury behemoth that wouldn’t fit into the average driveway, and yes, it was funded by yet another billionaire.
trollhattan
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for US?: They have all those clerks to do the judging stuff, they just need to sit there in robes while in session. In Clarence’s case, he doesn’t even need to talk or pretend to be interested.
rikyrah
Khalil MHS, CETC, MsT, LDP (@cfrank149) posted at 8:27 AM on Thu, Aug 10, 2023:![]()
C’mon now! The Montgomery Brawl Chair has gone international!
(https://twitter.com/cfrank149/status/1689629670621302784?t=Xce4efZxgHNfXjAaXC64Ag&s=03)
AM in NC
Just a question about this, as regards to action. Do y’all call your Senators about this every time there is a story? I am wondering if they are hearing anything about this from constituents, because there is just so much other stuff to deal with, maybe this gets lost in the shuffle. I’m trying to get a sense of if this is even on their radar screen in any meaningful way. Tillis isn’t hearing much from NC folks, says DC office intern.
I think there is a good case to be made to some GOP Senators to support court reforms, because it is so clearly not a red/blue issue but a corruption vs non-corruption issue. And maybe if they are hearing from us about it (and news media as well so they build the story) it starts to be more than Sheldon Whitehouse (and D friends) out there fighting the good fight.
trnc
“The job is not worth doing for what they pay,” he told the bar association in Savannah, Georgia, in 2001, “but it is worth doing for the principle.”
Pretty sure he’s more interested in the interest and dividends.
Edmund dantes
@trollhattan: 757 are a really amazing aircraft. Very capable on long range flights and roomy for their segment. Lots of airlines are mad Boeing has never really developed a successor to it.
trollhattan
@Edmund dantes: My pilot friends all think the 757 should have been refreshed in lieu of the 737 Max, but Boeing beancounters and Southwest Air’s bidnez model dictated the 737 must live on. Oops.
Donny understands none of this, of course.
p.a.
Props to ProPublica; I’m assuming (without any evidence) they had all this info from early on, but successive releases have the wonderful effect of keeping KOA Clarence’s corruption, as music radio would put it, in continuous rotation. No one-off here.
I hope the bum is at least a little discomfited wondering “shit, what’s next?” Sadly it may be the only negative result for him given current situation.
Betty Cracker
@rikyrah: The funniest riff on the Montgomery river brawl I’ve seen so far was repurposed song lyrics: “Lift every chair and swing!”
@WaterGirl: That’s because I fixed it after the commenter kindly brought it to my attention. I had screwed it up somehow!
Roger Moore
@Juju:
Shamectomy is mandatory for anyone who wishes to ascend to the higher ranks of the Republican party.
John S.
@rikyrah:
He probably had a first edition copy of the classic Velvet Jones book How to be a Ho.
Juju
@Roger Moore: I know. My point was he’s shameless and aware enough to realize he has no value to the billionaires if he is not a Supreme Court justice, and the gravy train would end.
JoyceH
@Betty Cracker: On Twitter I’m seeing a lot of “thoughts and chairs”.
UncleEbeneezer
In local news, not a huge surprise but a lawsuit by an Officer claims that Pasadena Police has an internal gang called The Good Old Boys and that they harassed, demoted and even assaulted him for reporting several violations to supervisors. And that the PPD purposefully refused to investigate or forward the matter to the District Attorney. I had the “pleasure” of doing a coffee meeting with one of the former acting-chiefs (Clawson) and he came across as just the sort of bully/dick as the lawsuit suggests. Wouldn’t surprise me at all to have it confirmed that there is indeed a gang and that he is one of the ringleaders.
mrmoshpotato
Oh for fuck’s sake!
Destination: Sun
West of the Rockies
@p.a.:
Maybe a nice extended bump up on his BP, say 200/130, and whatever health consequences ensue?
trollhattan
They said it couldn’t be done. And yet….
The EDD building is an especially bland, cheesy, Brutalist offering that cannot be made any worse than it appears, today. This is the actual heart of downtown and with all the market rate apartments also going in, will eventually transform the city center to a space that is no longer vacant on weekends.
Baud
Via Mastodon
Wapiti
@trollhattan: I was stationed in Panama during the invasion. Just before the invasion, a soldier had been convicted of (iirc) raping another soldier. During the invasion, the MPs emptied the guardhouse, arming the prisoners and putting them on the perimeter of the base for security – including the guy who was being held for transport to Leavenworth. Luckily, he only killed himself.
trollhattan
@Wapiti:
Ye gods, that’s horrifying.
trollhattan
@Baud: Corporations are people, my friend. Fucked up people.
Seems like an apt time to note California bans non-compete clauses. Baby steps.
Roger Moore
@JML:
For a lot of them- for a lot of people, even very well off people- a secure life isn’t enough anymore. This is one of the ways the extreme wealth of the 0.001% is incredibly destructive of our whole society. For all but a handful of people, there is always someone to look up to who is worth vastly more than them. Even “ordinary” billionaires can look enviously at people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos and realize they’re unlikely ever to match them. It’s so much worse for people like Clarence Thomas, who have whole strata of wealth between them and the top. They see all that and know they can never get anything like it on a salary and start thinking about how they can get a piece of that pie.
OzarkHillbilly
I’ll bet they didn’t have to dig very deep for it.
HumboldtBlue
This is an open thread, after all.
I wonder when we will see the photos from this On The Road post.
hueyplong
@HumboldtBlue: What have they got against Job Creators?
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
“Is the purpose of your visit business or pleasure?”
“Both.”
Baud
Ceci n est pas mon nym
But I understand it was parked in the Walmart parking lot, right?
zhena gogolia
@HumboldtBlue: Wasn’t that a movie with Julie Walters?
laura
@trollhattan: I love the SPB Building! I hope they do a sage smudge of EDD before the revamp.
Regarding Uncle Ruckus- Christ, what an asshole.
HumboldtBlue
@zhena gogolia:
Out of Africa?
Baud
Via reddit
The oligarchs are going to be coming after Biden next year like nothing you’ve ever seen.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
That’s only if you exclude employees of the University of California. IIRC, the highest paid employee of UC (technically of UCLA) is Jim Mora, the football coach.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@HumboldtBlue: From which I learn that while The Ukraine is now Ukraine, Gambia is now The Gambia.
I forget whether The Bronx is just Bronx now.
Here’s an article on this issue. If it was just sex tourism between consenting adults, I think I wouldn’t see a major issue. But it sounds like these guys are really taking over the beaches, that it’s often a prelude to a full-fledged romance scam, and the Gambian government feels it’s depressing the tourist trade.
JMG
On another site I frequent, a commenter noted that for the billionaires, the only drawback to financing Thomas’s vacations was that they might have to take them with him.
matt
Someone needs to make a Clarence Thomas WHORE shirt.
UncleEbeneezer
BellyCat
@trollhattan:
Well done! The interwebs have been won for the day.
BellyCat
@Jeffro:
But we sure as shit can (do) have a plutocracy guised as a democracy.
Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg
@UncleEbeneezer:
This would be a good time to have some Heinz ketchup shares – there are a lot of bottles hitting walls.
LAO
The government has asked for a January 2, 2024 trial date in the J6 case.
Baud
@UncleEbeneezer:
I like it. It’ll be done in time for his Florida trial.
ETA: Bunch of lawyers aren’t going to be enjoying the holidays.
rikyrah
@UncleEbeneezer:
Tee hee hee
LAO
@UncleEbeneezer: can’t wait to see the defendant’s response.
Ceci n est pas mon nym
@UncleEbeneezer: Poor Aileen Cannon, no longer the sole gatekeeper of TFG’s legal future. In fact, soon to be largely irrelevant, whether or not Jack Smith chooses to attempt her removal.
Although the documents crimes do particularly piss me off.
Geminid
@Baud: I wonder if these regulations come out of the Corporate Transparency Act passed during the 2020 “Lame Duck” session. The circumstances of its passage caught my eye. The CTA was attached to the National Defense Authorization Act shortly before the larger bill was voted on. Trump vetoed the bill, and then the veto was overridden in the last few days of that Congress.
A writer for Forbes Magazine called the Corporate Transparency Act the most important corporate reform legislation in decades.
BellyCat
NOMINATED!
BellyCat
SNORT. This well and truly made my day.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Sometimes I get jealous of these big ticket resorts and such, especially in the mountains.
Then you realize there are parties you don’t want to be invited to. Parties that would drive a normal person mad. Parties that would make you envy the damned
It’s cults all the way down with these people. Trumpism is a cult. Ginny was in a cult. And Leonard Leo’s office boy here is in a Clarence Thomas cult.
eversor
I’ll note Thomas is also CHRISTIAN and very Christian at that. It’s also why the rubes support him, Christianity. So unless we are all going to get rid of that, spare me the outrage over it. And if you are a Christian, whelp, you got it, you own it, now wear it proudly. But within 50 years, be prepared for Christian to be the same as Nazi cause that’s coming harder and faster than even Rod Drehers fever dreams.
eclare
@Baud:
Yep
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: the detached part of me is wondering if anyone is speculating on oil prices, and can I get in on it, since we know Prince Bonesaw is gonna be cutting production around Memorial Day, ’24. Maybe a bit later. I’m sure Frank Lutz has charts on when the price shock would be most damaging to an incumbent.
C Stars
Of all the powerful and high-ranking public servants I have ever lavished luxury vacations upon, Clarence Thomas is without a doubt the humblest, noblest, most ethical one to neglect to report decades of financial gifts on his reporting documents. A hero among men.
eclare
@Baud:
My guess is TIFG and his co-conspirators won’t be either, if they can be said to enjoy anything.
JWR
@trollhattan:
Re retrofitting downtown office space for housing, I saw a news report the other day about low income housing in Los Angeles, and the reporter finally asked a very good question: How affordable is low income housing in L.A.? The answer stunned me, though it shouldn’t have, but for a Single apartment? $3800/mo! I suppose if they cram three, maybe four families inside it would count as “low income” housing, but this makes me really want to claw back and repurpose most of the free money we’ve gifted our betters, er, billionaires over the last 50 years.
Geminid
@eversor: Well, those politicized Christians took a licking in Tuesday’s referendum in Ohio. Seems like we do ok fighting them on a case by case basis, without declaring total war.
eclare
@JMG:
So true, such a miserable, wretched person.
eclare
@JWR:
That is low income? Holy shit.
Prometheus Shrugged
@Roger Moore: Mora was two coaching regimes ago but your point is correct. The post of highest paid California government employee is currently held down by noted public servant Chip Kelly.
The athletic directors are next in line for salary. Certain professors outside the med schools earn well north of $300 k per year.
Jay
@trollhattan:
According to Families of the Prisoners, and various Prisoner Rights Organizations in Ruzzia,
Prisoners who are 16-70 years of age, are one of the following categories, healthy, have Military experience, have a “skill” like driver or mechanic, are being pulled from Prisons all across Ruzzia, and being sent to a prison outside Rostov, for 4 weeks training, or sent directly to “Storm Z” units in Occupied Ukraine.
They are not being given a choice, a contract, military ID or being paid.
https://nitter.net/i/status/1689006806067200000
BellyCat
@eversor: Snore….
Substitute: Male, Black, or Supreme Court Justice for Christian and your observation remains just as plausible and equally bonkers (except for six out of nine justices).
Srsly… Just stop. And if you can’t stop, at least use *Christian Extremists* or some such shit. I personally agree that virtually all organized religions which heavily employ hierarchical structures are inherently problematic, but in continually singling out solely Christianity you’re badly undermining your other worthwhile insights on other topics.
(Sorry to feed the religious bigot, Jackaltariat.)
Redshift
@trollhattan:
News Alert! Stopped clock that is somehow right only once a year – McMeghan actually has a column that’s pretty much correct!
Want employees to return to the office? Then give each one an office.
JPL
@LAO: It might be time for them to ask for more money. They are going to be busy
Jury selection would be 12/11.
trollhattan
@JWR:
Amazing, isn’t it? Sacramento’s adjusted median rent is $2500, basically an order of magnitude higher than when I was last a renter here.
Often pass by the apartment I lived in for several years and it’s the same dump today as it was back in the day. Oh, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt the orange shag carpet has been replaced at some point, but the ’60s exterior is exactly the same.
Paul in KY
@trollhattan: Jimmy Freaking Haslem can be an owner, but TFG can’t…ha ha
LAO
@JPL: I read the papers and it’s an aggressive schedule. I don’t expect Judge Chutkan will adopt it. Although I do think it’ll be way sooner than the defense proposes.
Just my opinion, I’d be happy if I’m wrong.
Shalimar
@LAO: Defendant’s response will be “January 2nd, 2025? Sure, we agree to that date.”
Shalimar
@eversor: You really should stop noting your opinion on Christians. Everyone knows what you think. If you would stick to sharing your occasionally insightful opinion about everything other than Christians, no one would be calling for you to be banned.
Scout211
Did you know that Boris Epshsteyn is a creep? See my shocked face.
Trump Adviser Accused of Groping Two Women at Scottsdale Club in 2021: Report
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@trollhattan:
I’m curious, are the funds actively managed by them, as in they decide what the funds are invested in? Because active management can’t consistently beat passive/index investing
MisterDancer
Replaced with WHAT? You know there are literally dozens of big-assed religions out these, some with more worshipers than the very broad umbrella of “Christianity,” and many with some really bad actors and even governments shallowly and destructively adhering to them.
And given the various bigotries of people like Dawkins and Sam Harris, don’t even try me about Atheism being inherently “better”.
What’s hilarious is that, if you had a twinge of nuance, most of us would agree with you. Hell, your core arguments aren’t too far removed from some of the Postcolonialist works I’m reading at the moment.
But the way you talk and approach these issues is as much nonsense as the people who insist that the way to end Racism is to kill Capitalism.
Immanentize
Some of you may remember Thomas’ confirmation hearing. I watched every minute of it I could BEFORE the Anita Hill fiasco started. I was in Texas representing Death Row inmates and we were all in shock that such an undistinguished guy was being put up for the Court. I knew the Republicans were racist (mostly in the Reagan ways then) but that was really the first time I saw how cynical they were about race. It was the first major race trolling I witnessed (or rather was aware of). Then, Anita Hill and things went sideways. It seemed sexual harassment was even scarier to discuss than race! (Remember, we were still in the “tough on crime, sentence harder, juvenile predators, crack babies, satanic panic days.)
Then Thomas’ rebuttal — here was a man who went out of his way to say there was no racial influence in his success, that we should all go color blind… Here was that jerk immediately turning to racial metaphor to save his nomination from going down the tubes.
“High tech lynching.”
You see, he was the victim of white mobs — (including black women! And women generally!) Lynched! Just like Emmett Till! But with technology! But not dead, not mutilated, just inconvenienced at a job interview.
Motherfucker!
But I could see at that moment what all the Harlan Crowes saw — an easy mark for actual racists to get some shit done. All Clarence needed was some stroking. Flattery. “You are the smartest, best! You should hate those libs who questioned your qualifications at Yale (although they weren’t libs). You deserve your due. And we support you, and we will support you, we agree you were wronged! We see you! And in fact, we love you! We are your real non-racist bosom buddies. Forever. Here and on vacations.”
He was the most easily corrupted Supreme Court Justice ever (and there have been more than a few). Easy mark because he was so unqualified, but had such a huge chip on his shoulders; so craved acceptance and feeling worthy, that no price was too high to pay to get it — but he was had cheap.
I was having dinner with Scalia in Austria one night in 1996 — Scalia who took Thomas’ vote every time it was offered — and he famously told me and the few others at the table: “Justice Thomas really wasn’t ready for the Court.” Even his biggest partner there knew he was a hack.
C Stars
Scottsdale is so fucking trashy. I can truly say that having lived and worked there for a couple of years in a one-percent-adjacent capacity. Shockingly trashy. Once had a man parade his younger (wife?mistress?) in front of me in lingerie, so we could discuss the quality of her new boob job.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Shalimar:
They could also just clarify they mean extremist Christians. Still wouldn’t justify the eliminationist rhetoric
eclare
@Immanentize:
Thanks for your stories!
West of the Rockies
@matt:
A where’s work doesn’t harm millions of other humans and the environment and democracy and equality…
Thomas is something far worse.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Immanentize: I recall it too and the lie that struck me was when he was asked about Roe and said something like he hadn’t given it any thought.
Bupalos
@Paul in KY: I think the poster meant a professional sports team. Haslam owns the Browns.
West of the Rockies
@eversor:
Do you ever bore yourself?
For the record, I am agnostic-leaning-atheist. Can’t stand evangelicals, cultists, prosperity gospel “teachings”, fundamentalists of every ilk, and rude proselytizers.
JPL
@Immanentize: It doesn’t matter though, because Robert’s will just shed puppy tears in front of some group, stating that the court is upstanding.
btw you had some interesting dinners.
Tony Jay
@eversor:
On the one hand, the last person I know of this performatively obsessed with something they claimed to hate was eventually found hanging half-dead and raving out of a too-tight glory hole in a public toilet down the road from their Evangelical megachurch.
Food for thought, eh, Pastor Predictable?
On the other hand, it could just be that your side-hustle is harvesting NFTs of people calling you a one-note knobhead and selling them a thousand a throw on the Dark Web, in which case you’ll be a Twitcoin trillionaire before the end of this thread.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Immanentize:
Interesting story!
The “high-tech lynching” thing really is insulting to the memories of those black people who were lynched, such as Till. A real revealing character moment for Thomas
Funny that Scalia was willing to admit privately to you that Crooked Clarence is unqualified. I’m sure he still appreciated his vote on the SCOTUS all the same
trollhattan
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
They function more or less like a mutual fund, but with more oversight and some added investment guidelines.
https://www.calpers.ca.gov/page/investments/about-investment-office/investment-organization
They were valued at $463B June 30, 2023.
JPL
What are the odds that Ginny drunk dials someone tonight. She might not be able to call Anita anymore, but you can be sure that her name will be mentioned.
West of the Rockies
@West of the Rockies:
Whore’s… FU autocorrect.
marklar
@eversor: Yes, Clarence Thomas is a Christian. So is Sheldon Whitehouse, who is working diligently to create a code of ethics for the Judiciary. What exactly is your point?
I’ve said this before…your posts about John McCain and Tim Miller show a great deal of nuance. Some advice from an atheist/agnostic Jew, try using that lens for Christians as well!
cmorenc
The late Justice Abe Fortas, whom President Johnson nominated for Chief Justice, was forced to resign over far less than the value Clarence Thomas has accepted. And Fortas returned the money involved.
Burnspbesq
@JPL:
Pbbbt. F’in whiny litigators. Transactional lawyers never get holidays, cuz there are always deals that need to close by year-end. Early in my career, I billed time on five Christmases in a row.
Bill Arnold
@Redshift:
Wow! She even cited the 2018 Bernstein/Turban study.
The impact of the ‘open’ workspace on human collaboration (Ethan S. Bernstein and Stephen Turban, 02 July 2018)
This recent one is also of interest:
Open-office noise and information processing (July 17, 2023, Lewend Mayiwar Thorvald Hærem,)
JWR
@Tony Jay:
Heh! “Pastor Predictable”. Almost too perfect!
trollhattan
@marklar: Clarence is “Christian” in the fashion of the Falwells.
Gravenstone
A shame we couldn’t swap ol’ Clarence for Payne Stewart or Otis Redding/Stevie Ray Vaughn…
Where’s a good old fashioned helicopter/small plane crash when you need one?
cain
@marklar: As I’ve remarked before – his rants are indicative of a trauma and usually those of us who suffer from trauma the involuntary reaction it generates is hard to suppress and certainly in a online forum like this even harder.
Tony Jay
@JWR:
I can’t abide it when people harp on endlessly about their unchanging resentments.
That’s my job!
cain
@JPL: Probably Stephen Miller. Why? The answer is in Hunter Biden’s laptop.
Gravenstone
@rikyrah: Wondering if that was the idea of the model or the designer?
trollhattan
@Gravenstone:
An electric pylon awaits.
JPL
@LAO: What does this mean
In a separate filing, prosecutors are opposing #Trump’s effort to toll time under the Speedy Trial Act, saying time is already tolled because of pending motions, but that it’s too early to consider separate motion to toll time.
greenergood
the dumb-as-a-post insurrectionist wife – Ginni may be dumb as a post – but she’s fucking clever when it comes to grifting
MisterDancer
Ha! :)
As another such person, allow me to say your harping is not only highly entertaining (I wish I had half your facility with wordsmithing!) — you’re also educational to us Yanks without implying we’re idiots for not knowing what what know.
M31
I don’t know what it means legally but hopefully it’s something along the lines of “tick tock motherfucker”
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
THIS.
Sure he doesn’t make millions a year but he does rather well, somewhere close to $300 grand. But that won’t buy him 35 acres in the secluded area with a 20K+ sq ft mansion on it. You know, just what he deserves for being so, what is it, oh yes receptive to cash and gifts.
Steve in the ATL
@Immanentize:
“Don’t drop names!”
LAO
@JPL: short answer, defense counsel are morons. The statute is already tolled.
long answer: foreshadowing a never-ending cycle of stupid motion practice.
rikyrah
@LAO:
why not?
This is August
They get Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec to prepare.
West of the Rockies
@eversor:
I would genuinely like to hear your story if you’re willing to share it: how did you come to your perspective on Christianity? This is an extremely intelligent collection of people here; we know religious trauma exists.
I experienced a couple of smackdowns from women of the cloth (Catholic nuns). A younger sister attended an evangelical church in San Diego–her pastor later went to prison for bombing an abortion clinic. My wife experienced forms of abuse from her long-ago Mormon bishops.
Steve in the ATL
@Burnspbesq: I had a few New Year’s Eves like that, because the purchase and sale needed to happen in different calendar years. Good times!
LAO
@M31: I’m sorry to disappoint- the Speedy Trisl Act requires that a defendant be tried 70 days from arraignment. However, it’s not really 70 days because much of trial practice, for example filing motions, stops the speedy trial clock.
Ruckus
@UncleEbeneezer:
It wouldn’t surprise me that most city police/sheriff departments have something like this, especially in bigger cities/counties. They often see their job is to enforce the law, rather than follow it, and that they are doing the most basic, most dangerous part of the job and deserve everything they can get for doing it.
Tony Jay
@MisterDancer:
That’s very gracious of you, but IMHO there’s a reason you’re a valued front-pager, and it’s not just because you have the only existing drafts of Cole’s Monk/Scooby Doo fan-fiction locked in a safety deposit box as security.
eclare
@LAO:
Ha! Thanks.
rikyrah
@Jay:
NOT BEING PAID?
Nora
@Mr. Bemused Senior: That was proof, if you needed it, that he was a liar. Never thought about it, my ass! You can’t get through law school without talking about Roe.
JML
@Tony Jay: well, that made me snort-laugh loudly enough for the person in the next office to come check on me…
:D
Anyway
@Baud:
Not holding my breath but if they ever get to it I will consume cake, pie, champs — all those things that WG reserves for indictments … reining in oligarchs/plutocrats is so necessary. This will be step 1 of many,
JWR
@Bill Arnold:
I worked as a machinist / Toolmaker / tooling engineer for quite a few years, and when Tyco Electronics bought us out they decided it would be better if they moved our nice little, quiet little, basement tooling department upstairs, right next to all the WWII era Brown & Sharp screw machines, slamming their tools around, and boy, it didn’t take long for all of us to have noticeable symptoms. Anxiety went way up and concentration went all to Hell. For my part, I started having honest to goodness panic attacks, which was no fun at all! We agitated for, and finally got a soundwall, but was that ever an experience.
ETtheLibrarian
At what point does the selfishness and obsession over reputation of the other Justices prompt them (looking at you Roberts) – to force the issue? I mean the publicity over Clarence’s shenanigans shines too much of a light and makes it harder for them to effectively use the GOP grift train. And anyway, white men don’t like to be mocked and they are getting second hand (or first in the case of Alito) mockery that has to sting.
I suppose this is the benefit of their secrecy and almost literal ivory tower. It is ironic that Roberts’ who obsesses over the Courts rep is Chief Justice at a time when their rep is very low on their own account. Of course, this is partly a problem of his/their own making (and tolerating) so I don’t feel bad for him/them.
Roger Moore
@Redshift:
I saw that McMegan column and was surprised at how reasonable it was. My guess is the Post is trying to force people back to the office, and that’s her big motivation for it. They’ve certainly been publishing a lot of articles and editorials about how great and important it is for workers to come back to the office.
LAO
@rikyrah: It’s just my opinion. I’ve never seen a federal case move that fast.
Jay
@rikyrah:
Not being paid is quite common amongst the Contract Soldiers and Mobliks, ( along with not being armed, fed, body armor, medical care, evacuation, rotation).
The thing with the prisoners is,
no consent, so they are just being forcibly taken
no “contracts” so they don’t exist in the system
no military ID, so they are just another meat cube abandoned to feed the sunflowers in UKraine.
The pay thing is a result to the other conditions. No pay, no pension, no record of service, no pardon or parole, no grave, etc.
JWR
@Tony Jay:
And you do it so well! ;)
Anyway
@Immanentize:
Nominated for bestest name-drop on BJ! I had no idea.
Q for the legal observers – Back then Crony Clarence never questioned a witness or wrote (? is that the right verb, NAL) an opinion – he just signed on to Fat Tony’s . Has that changed now? Does he do more independent work?
Anyway
They recently had a column by Bloomberg saying companies should force employees back to the office. There’s a definite push …
LAO
@Immanentize:
@Anyway:
I concur, absolute BEST name drop.
Jay
@Anyway:
Apparently he is Leo’s favorite “cleaner”. The gifted RV is apparently quite useful for body dumps and crime scene clean ups.
Roger Moore
@ETtheLibrarian:
Never. They love talking about reputation, but the conservative justices care far more about implementing their 1850s jurisprudence than about their reputation. Not to mention that Thomas is far from the only one engaging in this kind of corruption, and the other corrupt justices’ desire for self-protection will mean they have to defend Thomas, too.
Ruckus
@Bill Arnold:
I worked in an open office situation for 11 yrs. In this situation, having to work in an open office situation, I fortunately was on the road 8-9 months of the year. I’m not sure that was better. But. Had one woman who sang at her desk. Not really loud, but loud enough. Had a magazine department about 20 feet away, and on last day before issue final it could get a bit loud. Always heard anyone’s phone ringing. It was a lovely working environment. And lies sometimes roll right off my fingers.
Roger Moore
@Jay:
Their superiors had better never leave those convicts alone, because surrendering ASAP seems like it would be the only sensible response.
pieceofpeace
After college, I applied for a Juvenile Parole agent for WA state. First interview, and I was nervous, anxious to make a good impression.
After the usual information gathering by them and me, they asked only 2 questions, both have remained with me, for their lesson learned. The first was “If you’re visiting the child’s family, they’re snacking and offering you an apple, do you say okay?” I enthusiastically said yes, thinking it was a good communal move. Next was, “As you’re leaving, they hand you a box of apples. Do you take it.” (Sirens going off in my head, with a heaviness beginning to rumble somewhere in the body) No, say I, which I knew was ‘right.’ They ask, “Why not?!” Unable to answer that one.
The next scenrio/question was about the same dilemna-type, and I failed that too. The stomach rumbling became a leaden watermelon for me as they suggested I reapply in a few years. I knew why.
My later reaction to these queries was to go over and over that interview until I realized where my thinking (and feeling!) reactions were unexamined, unformed. Clarence and wife never got beyond thought #1 = “I want that!”
How can government choose these very important positions to be filled, so they’re less political? I well remember the CT confirmation hearing and the sense that little was learned of this man back then. And why is this position for life, because it’s assumed(!?) one gets smarter, wiser with age?
Cameron
Sorry, but I’m afraid the commenters have tap-danced through 150+ comments without plainly stating the actual import of this ProPublica report: it just proves, once again, that Democrats are the real racists.
cain
@trollhattan: pylon.. or cylon? :D
JWR
@Jay:
If you can’t do the time, don’t do the war crime?
Craig
@Immanentize: this is very good. Thank you.
geg6
@Deputinize Eurasia from the Kuriles to St Petersburg:
They must be making tons of money off of MaL and Bedminster ketchup “accidents.” Heinz just recently gave a local very low income school district (Aliquippa) here a ton of cash (1.3 million) to help cover the costs of the renovation of their football field and an athletic/academic center. That field and team is legendary and, in fact, has more former players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame than any other high school in the nation and just saw former Quip student/player Darrelle Revis inducted last weekend. Throw more ketchup, Cheetolini!
https://youtu.be/-gCdUwF7d8Y?si=lhfYpLaF9foGzdmm
West of the Rockies
@LAO:
This one time, Cary Grant and I were camping with Marilyn Monroe, and JFK showed up, drunk as a skunk…
LAO
@West of the Rockies: a very close second. 😂
JML
@Ruckus: Let’s be honest, “open plan” work stations are driven by management, who wants to be able to see everybody easily, so they can check up on people to determine if they’re slacking. It has nothing to do with collaborative work environments, it’s all about lack of trust. Which is also what a lot of the objections to WFH policies are about too.
One of the other things smart organizations discovered with WFH policies is that they didn’t need as many middle managers when they weren’t sucking up people’s time with fairly unnecessary meetings that they didn’t realize weren’t necessary or important until they had to do them via technology that naturally depressed the amount of sidechat and exposed the people who talked a lot without actually saying anything or adding value to the conversation.
Geminid
@West of the Rockies: Wait a minute! That sounds kind of like the plot from the movie The Misfits. Were you the model for Clark Gables’ character? Don’t be shy now, you can tell us.
LifeInTheBonusRound
@trollhattan: From 1995-2000 I lived in a downtown “high-rise” (11 stories) residential building in the neighborhood. It was an odd experience, like a reverse suburb. It would fill up in the day and empty out after work. But it was peaceful until the crows came in from the fields at sunset. And while I agree that the EDD building is unappealing in many ways, it it no way “Brutalist”. I now live in Boston, where our City Hall is regarded as one of “The 9 Brutalist Wonders of the Architectural World.” We have a few more of those around here as well. The EDD building postdates Brutalism by a number of decades. It’s still ugly. But that’s not really a synonym for Brutalist.
Miss Bianca
@eversor: yap yap yap
LiminalOwl
@Immanentize: Thank you, as always.
LiminalOwl
@cain: And if that is indeed the case, much sympathy. However, in online forums such as this there is ample opportunity for second thoughts, or deletions. (Also, getting some good trauma therapy would likely be more beneficial to the survivor than ranting is.)
LiminalOwl
@Redshift: Unfortunately, that wouldn’t take care of hellish commutes, the avoidance of which is the biggest WFH benefit for most metro-area office employees that I know.
Paul in KY
@Bupalos: Well played….