A must read about Clarence & Ginni Thomas and conservative/Republican connections

[RSherman]

https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow

"For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.

The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court."


This is a long, investigative article. Worth the read.

[JHB]

1. Thomas' flatly ignoring conflicts of interest is what should have disqualified him...

...even before Anita Hill entered into it.

[multigraincracker]

2. All Americans are equal.

SC justices are more equal.

[Scrivener7]

3. Everything republiQans say is projection. They are always harping about the deep state.

That article describes the ACTUAL deep state. The cabal of rich republiQan men who pull the strings and decide things while vacationing in exclusive Adirondack estates and on private island-hopping yachts.

There should be ethics requirements for SC justices. Currently, there seem to be none that are enforced.

Also this: "Virginia Canter, a former government ethics lawyer who served in administrations of both parties, said Thomas “seems to have completely disregarded his higher ethical obligations.”

And finally: why does republiQan "art" always suck so bad?

[B.See]

4. EXACTLY! The REAL Deep State:

Federalist Society
Heritage Foundation
Koch Brothers
Murdoch and FUX "News"
CPAC
NRA
Vladimir Putin

[Scrivener7]

5. I know people will think I am a conspiracy monger, but I think there's a smaller

group, and this article describes a part of it, that uses THOSE groups as tools for pulling strings to make them richer and abuse the earth with more impunity.

Also, if you sit down and think about their motives, it is a sickness. They are like hoarders, only what they hoard is power and money. How immense must the holes in their souls be!

[blogslug]

6. Clarence's billionaire pal, Harlan Crow, gave Ginni Thomas $500,000 to fund Liberty Central

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2019/06/virginia-thomas-extends-her-conservative-reach-for-2020/

...In 2009, Thomas founded the group Liberty Central, a 501(c)(4) created to “promote education and civil discourse focused on protecting the core founding principles of the United States,” according to its website at the time. The group received nearly $1.5 million in its first two years from undisclosed donors. As a so-called “dark money” issue-advocacy group, it was not required to reveal the source of its donations.

Liberty Central’s officers included several prominent conservatives, including current president of the Federalist Society Leonard Leo, current chairman of the American Conservative Union Matt Schlapp, and former FBI agent Gary Aldrich, who gained fame for writing a book critical of the Clinton administration’s security protocols.

According to tax documents, Liberty Central had approximately 25 employees in 2010, as well as 10 volunteers. That year, it spent $600,000 on payroll (including a $120,000 salary for Thomas) and an additional $850,000 on “other expenses.”

Liberty Central’s now-defunct website featured various forms of conservative advocacy. A blog entry from June 7, 2010, for example, encourages readers to contact their senator and encourage a “no” vote on a cap-and-trade bill. When the Supreme Court took up the Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2011, more than 70 Democratic members of Congress wrote a letter calling on Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from the case on the basis that his wife’s anti-ACA lobbying activities through Liberty Central made it impossible for him to remain unbiased. Justice Thomas declined to do so and ultimately wrote his own dissenting opinion in the case...

[demmiblue]

7. But, but, but... he prefers Walmart parking lots!

Link to tweet

[In It to Win It]

8. My ENTIRE Twitter feed is this story 😂

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. @SenatorDurbin 's statement on reports of undisclosed gifts accepted by Justice Clarence Thomas.

Link to tweet

[dalton99a]

10. It is a must read.