News bit: Clarence Thomas reported his gifts until the press wrote about it

Yahoo! News writes:

It was 2004 when the Los Angeles Times disclosed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted expensive gifts and private plane trips paid for by Harlan Crow, a wealthy Texas real estate investor and a prominent Republican donor.

The gifts included a Bible that once belonged to abolitionist Frederick Douglass — a gift Thomas valued at $19,000 — and a bust of Abraham Lincoln valued at $15,000.

"I just knew he was a fan of Frederick Douglass, and I saw that item come available at an auction and I bought it for him," Crow explained at the time.

He also flew Thomas on his personal plane to Northern California to be his guest at the Bohemian Grove, which held all-male retreats for government and business leaders.

Thomas refused to comment on the article, but it had an impact: Thomas appears to have continued accepting free trips from his wealthy friend. But he stopped disclosing them.

Yesterday, Thomas released a statement saying that he had been advised that he did not have to disclose gifts. But one time he did disclose. So either Thomas is a liar and just stopped disclosing gifts he wanted to keep secret illegally, ~98% chance, or someone did tell him that he didn't have to disclose gifts and he stopped disclosing, ~2% chance.

Big, fat, corrupt liar

News bits: Christofascist judge bites nationwide abortion access hard: Etc.

By now, we are all very familiar with US District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in the fascist state of Texas. He has become a favorite forum for American Christofascist theocrats seeking to desecularize America by ramming God's fv#!ed-up rules into our unwilling lives. I've been watching this case and now, as I confidently expected, the Christian nationalist poison flows out into the light. 

Multiple sources are reporting on this major, unwarranted intrusion of Christian Sharia law into American society. Bloomberg reports:

Abortion Pill to Be Blocked Nationwide Under Judge’s Order

Trump-appointed judge upends FDA approval of mifepristone

A federal judge in Texas issued a ruling Friday on the medication abortion drug mifepristone, saying he will suspend the FDA’s two-decade-old approval – but paused his ruling for seven days so the federal government can appeal.

Less than two hours later, a federal judge in Washington state ruled the FDA must keep medication abortion drugs available in more than a dozen Democratic-led states.

The two decisions mark the most significant abortion-related rulings since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year.

One important point to know is that this is the first time ever that a federal judge has forced a drug the FDA approved as safe and effective off the market for no reason. Mifepristone has been on the market for about 20 years. There is no valid reason for any federal judge to make such an outrageous, clearly illegal decision. 

Another warning about Christian nationalism (CN)

I keep providing rock solid evidence showing the very real power and obvious intent of American Christofascism. I will keep warning about how dead serious the CN movement is about getting rid of secular Constitutional law and replacing it with Christian Sharia law. The CN movement holds secular law in open contempt and refuses to acknowledge its validity. God's law trumps the Constitution, settled law and public opinion. This is another warning about the rise and power of toxic Christofascism in American government, law, society and commerce.

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Regarding ignorance of the law: The NYT writes:

Justice Clarence Thomas said on Friday that he had followed the advice of “colleagues and others in the judiciary” when he did not disclose lavish gifts and travel from a wealthy conservative donor.

In a statement released by the Supreme Court, the justice said he believed he was not required to report the trips.

In a statement, the justice said that he had followed past guidance from others at the court, but that he would now comply with new guidelines and disclose gifts and free travel.

How is it possible that a US Supreme Court justice could not know his legal obligation to disclose gifts? It is easily possible if the judge feels he is above the law. Here, Thomas really is above the law. He will face little repercussion for his law breaking, just like T**** has faced little legal repercussion throughout his adult life.

Also note that those sources of legal advice that Thomas claims to have followed are unnamed. They are unnamed because they probably don't exist. Even if someone comes forward now and says, ‘I gave Clarence bad advice 20 years ago’, I would not believe it unless (i) the bad advice was recorded or in writing, (ii) made public, and (iii) the authenticity of the evidence independently verified as genuine. Genuine verification means not verified by Mike Lindell, Ginny Thomas, Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, any Republican federal judge, Tucker Carlson, Donald T**** or any other Republican elite. 

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Regarding American fascism in Tennessee: One of the outrageous things about Republicans in the Tennessee legislature is their blatant, insulting irrationality about their fascism. Yesterday, NPR broadcast comments by a radical right Republican legislative leader who justified expelling two Black lawmakers. His justification was stupid and ridiculous. It was an outrageous insult.

In essence, the fascist excuse for expelling the two Black guys, but not the White lady, was that they disrupted legislative proceedings on the very topic, gun safety legislation, that the expelled lawmakers wanted to see progress on. What??? Impeding progress on gun safety legislation?? In Tennessee?? Oh for Fv#^'s sake. No one outside an insane asylum is that mentally impaired.

What an outrageous insult. The Tennessee legislature is controlled by radical right Republicans. They have no intention of ever passing a meaningful gun safety law. It has had decades to pass meaningful gun safety law. Why is a short peaceful protest somehow any impediment to the legislature not doing what it had no intent to ever do?

Equally insulting is fascist Tennessee Republican propaganda comparing the peaceful protest to the 1/6 coup attempt. Fascist arrogance here just takes one's breath away. 

The insults and contempt of the fascists is what finally led to switching from calling it and them radical right authoritarian to calling to what it is, i.e., fascism, Christofascism, American fascism and the like. Divisive or not, it's just a matter of calling a spade a spade.

From the pro-life Republican Party…

North Dakota Senate Votes to Increase Its Own Meal Budget After Rejecting Free School Lunch Bill

Just over a week ago, North Dakota lawmakers voted to prevent giving free school lunches to low-income students. Then, on Thursday, they voted to increase the amount of money they get to spend on their own lunch.

Debating free school lunch for low-income kids, North Dakota State Sen. Mike Wobbema (R) says families are to blame for their hunger: "It’s really the problem of parents being negligent with their kids, if their kids are choosing to eat in the first place."

The bill died, 23-24.

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) March 29, 2023 Link here.

On Thursday, the Senate voted 26–21 to pass a bill to raise per diem meal reimbursements for state employees traveling within the state, from $35 to $45.

Now I don’t know all the ins-and-outs of these bills.  And I do know politics and the media can be overly dramatic in presenting the so-called facts.  But on its face, this stinks to their high heaven. 

If there is a problem with parents abusing the allowances for their kids lunches, work on fixing that.  Don't scrap the allowance altogether for such kids in need.

Q: Do you agree that there is something wrong with this picture?  What’s the justification for decreasing meals for kids, while increasing meal allowances for your own meals?  Explain that to me.

This story gave me the chills !! 😏

 

German Doctors Are Attempting to Reverse Death and Resurrect Humans

• A company called Tomorrow Biostasis is focusing on human cryopreservation in the hopes it can eventually reverse death.
• The new Berlin startup has already preserved the bodies of about 10 deceased humans.
• Liquid nitrogen is the main ingredient used to ensure cryopreservation.
• According to a report from Tech.Eu, the company’s “standby ambulance” has already been busy, with cofounder Emil Kendziorra working to launch Europe’s first cryogenics company (there are already a handful of them in the United States). Kendziorra’s goal: As soon as somebody dies, Tomorrow Biostasis immediately responds to preserve the person’s body and/or brain in a state of stasis. Then, once future advances materialize, the company will treat and reverse the person’s original cause of death and bring them back from the dead to enjoy a life extension.
• When the bodies get transported to Rafz, Switzerland for long-term storage at the European Biostasis Foundation—the process is technically considered a scientific body donation, to make it legal—they get cooled to -196 degrees Celsius and placed inside an insulated tank with liquid nitrogen to lock in the preservation.
• Of course, waiting for medical advancement to progress to the point it can reverse what caused your death isn’t the only hurdle in this entire cryopreservation concept. There’s still the small issue of nobody knowing how to actually revive a dead cryopreserved human. Sure, they can freeze the brain to preserve cells and tissues, but bringing a previously dead brain back to life with regular function and memories isn’t quite a thing in our world—yet.
• https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/technology/german-doctors-are-attempting-to-reverse-death-and-resurrect-humans/ar-AA17dn8P?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=8aee92684d5a4cccb44c542fe72c9e87&ei=14
  

America's radical right is full-blown fascist

Patience has run out

I held off as long as I could. I just can't do it any more. It's long past time to call a spade a spade. Most Republican Party elites (~95% ?) are full blown American-style fascist tyrants (Christian nationalist zealots and/or brutal brass knuckles capitalists). Most of the Republican rank and file (~85% ?) are either (i) full blown American-style fascist tyrant supporters, or (ii) horribly duped and manipulated into a false belief that they are innocent, terribly persecuted pro-democracy patriots valiantly defending democracy, the rule of law, civil liberties, mom, the flag, apple pie, inconvenient truth, etc. 

I don't know what the other ~15% might be, maybe mostly chronically pissed off people mad at the world and/or their plight in it. Regardless, both narratives are indisputably much more bullshit than truth.

Regardless, the false radical right narrative is much more bullshit than valid complaint.

Another warning

Salon writes:

Republicans caught off guard by the left's ferocious backlash

The GOP is an authoritarian, extremist political party that is out of the mainstream of American life

Reacting to the counter-culture of the 1960s and the massive social changes it engendered, the left wing of the Democratic Party was always admonished by the centrist and conservative wings not to go too far or too fast. The media even blithely asserted that "America is a conservative country" as if it were an act of God. This article of faith hobbled progress for a very long time and empowered the Reagan Revolution through the Tea Party and Donald Trump's MAGA movement.

Nobody ever seemed to consider that enabling the right wing to become more and more extreme over the course of many years might engender a backlash of its own. It appears as if that time may have finally come — and it's clear the Republican establishment doesn't know what to do about it. The question is whether the Democratic establishment does either.

The most interesting aspect of it remains the fact that the Republican establishment is circling the wagons around him once again while Republican voters seem determined to push him to the nomination.

Donald Trump has been dragging the GOP down for years but they just can't quit him. However, the party's rapid descent into extremism is bigger than Trump and the backlash is continuing to show itself in ways that are shattering the status quo.

The swing state of Wisconsin has been a battleground for years with a polarized electorate that has had power swinging back and forth between the two parties with razor-thin margins. It was assumed that the high-stakes election this week for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court would be similarly tight. The future of the outrageous gerrymander that makes Republicans massively over-represented in the state legislature was at issue but, most importantly, abortion rights were front and center. Abortion has been illegal in the state since last June when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and an archaic law banning abortion that had been on the books since 1849 was no longer moot. The hard right legislature and the conservative state Supreme Court wasn't going to fix that.

And then there was the grotesque display we witnessed in Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday when the Republicans expelled two Black lawmakers, Justin Pierson and Justin Jones, for staging a protest for gun safety legislation on the floor of the House. Here's an illustration of what took place: an odious, condescending comment delivered by a Republican House member who is clearly hard-pressed not to go full Bull Connor and address his colleague as "boy":

Rep. @Justinjpearson: “You all heard that. How many of you would want to be spoken to that way?”

Pearson responds to Rep. Farmer’s belittling, disrespectful rant. #TennesseeThree pic.twitter.com/5uWznU7atq

— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) April 6, 2023

Yes, calling most mainstream Republican voters and most GOP elites full-blown American fascists is divisive. I get it. 

But it is true. There is not one shred of good faith or good will left in among Republican elites, politicians, major donors, professional propagandists or most of the rank and file. Not one damned shred shred. 

The radical right shows no willingness to reasonably compromise. No acceptance of inconvenient fact, true truth or sound reasoning. Almost nothing pro-democracy is there. America's radical right is a wasteland of lies, slanders, corruption, false narratives and pro-tyranny sentiment.

Acid sarcasm about Clarence Thomas

A Walmart parking lot:

America’s preferred playland

An acidic WaPo opinion piece by Alexandra Petri says what I have been thinking since I read the ProPublica reporting yesterday about Clarence Thomas and his corrupt, sleazy behavior and jaw-dropping lies:

“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. … I prefer the RV parks. I prefer the Walmart parking lots to the beaches and things like that. There’s something normal to me about it.” — Justice Clarence Thomas, speaking in a documentary about his life, quoted in a ProPublica report released Thursday that Thomas has accepted undisclosed luxury trips from a prominent Republican donor, including travel by yacht and private jet, for more than two decades.

Please keep in mind, my fellow Americans, that each moment I spent on the yacht was torment! That is why I did not disclose it. It was not my idea of a vacation. Every second I spent on those magnificent islands, in those bucolic retreats, eating meals cooked by private chefs, I was seething internally, wishing I were in a Walmart parking lot.

The horrible private yacht

The terrible private jet

The miserable private estate

“Is everything to your liking?” numerous solicitous waitstaff aboard the yacht asked, and I sighed, dropping my cigar butt into the provided ashtray with a heavy heart. “No,” I said. “This — ” here I indicated the blue sky, the balmy sea breeze — “is not my idea of a good time, for I am a man of the people, with the tastes of the people, and I wish I were pursuing amusement as they do, by driving to Walmart on the weekend to make memories.”

A tear came to my eye as I spoke, for I could picture them so clearly, the happy weekenders, the salts of the earth who flocked to Walmart parking lots for their entertainment. Their children in the back seats, clamoring, “Walmart! Walmart! Walmart!” Their wrinkled elders, saving their pennies so that they could arrive at that cherished destination. Those parking lots are so full, always, and that is surely because they are a magnet for Americans who want to enjoy themselves.

Well, that describes me. I am not above anyone, except in the slight technical sense that I do control what rights you get to have. But you need not worry: I understand you and I am not contemptuously pandering to you: I genuinely think that you drive to Walmart for the delight of it! The simple joy of moving the carts around and putting them back, stopping at the little stop sign, and yelling indistinctly at your children not to run in front of other people’s cars! A classic American vacation!  

So be reassured, my fellow Americans! I am just like you. I am not ruling over you without remembering what life is like for you. I, too, put on my pants one leg at a time — with only the most nominal assistance from my billionaire friend’s butler. Every time I have eaten caviar, it has been with great distaste, as I loudly remarked that it paled in comparison with Dippin’ Dots. All the private jet flights? Well, they lack the comfort and security of a larger plane, and I do not get to watch the charming United preflight video or rejoice in the whimsical Southwest safety announcements, nor partake in the American family pastime of sitting in an airport (that heaven on earth, full of shops and treats!) for hours while my flight is delayed and delayed and then canceled. I am denied such joys. Do you not feel sorry for me, when you hear that?

And the yachts were just miserable. Awful. I bit into the meal prepared by the chef and wrinkled my nose with disgust, sad the instant I noticed that it was not a DiGiorno pizza.

I prefer to be where the rest of you — the rest of us! — love to be, which I assume from how much time you seem to spend there must be the parking lot of Walmart. Or an RV park! Yes, that is all I wish. The simple life.

So, you see, I could not possibly disclose any of these things, for they were not blessings but curses. These are the weights I must bear in my position. If someone with the power I wield were not meant to accept these heavy burdens, surely we as a court would have adopted a formal ethics code. But there is no need: It is understood that I take no pleasure in any of this. The American people need not worry. The yachts were suffering enough.

Note the exotic plants

Poor Clarence suffering for us!