And another day where we learn Clarence Thomas might have broken laws, GOP fascism thrives in TN House, WI GOP plans to impeach new Dem Justice, SCOTUS lets trans girl run track, and Tesla workers shared sensitive images comes to a close:
“Our country is poisoned from within. Ethics be damned. And with his wife, Ginni, being a major GOP influencer with multiple organizations that funnel and accept money in GOP circles—and certified Q quack—Clarence Thomas should not be allowed anywhere near a judicial decision. From J6 to yachts, we have to fight the rot.” — Denver Riggleman
“Is Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas corrupt? I don’t know. But his secretive actions absolutely have the appearance of corruption. And he apparently violated the law. For the good of the country, he should resign.” — Ted Lieu
Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire. If Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of the trip could have exceeded $500,000. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t necessary: He was on vacation with real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet — and the yacht, too. 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. These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said. He also should have disclosed his trips on the yacht, these experts said…Through his largesse, Crow has gained a unique form of access, spending days in private with one of the most powerful people in the country. By accepting the trips, Thomas has broken long-standing norms for judges’ conduct, ethics experts and four current or retired federal judges said…The Supreme Court is left almost entirely to police itself. There are few restrictions on what gifts justices can accept. That’s in contrast to the other branches of government. Members of Congress are generally prohibited from taking gifts worth $50 or more and would need pre-approval from an ethics committee to take many of the trips Thomas has accepted from Crow. Thomas’ approach to ethics has already attracted public attention. Last year, Thomas didn’t recuse himself from cases that touched on the involvement of his wife, Ginni, in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. While his decision generated outcry, it could not be appealed…Crow’s access to the justice extends to anyone the businessman chooses to invite along. Thomas’ frequent vacations at Topridge have brought him into contact with corporate executives and political activists. — Justice Thomas needs to be impeached.
Report on Justice Thomas's trips renews calls for a Supreme Court code of ethics. The ProPublica investigation raises a series of potential conflicts of interest between Thomas and Harlan Crow, a billionaire businessman. Crow took Thomas and his wife, Ginni Thomas, on vacations, including cruises and private flights, that could cost millions of dollars; Thomas did not report them as part of his annual financial disclosure, according to the report.
Progressive lawmakers renew call for impeachment of Justice Thomas. Progressive representatives on Thursday called for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas shortly after a ProPublica report detailed how he took lavish trips funded by a Republican billionaire donor that he did not disclose.
Tennessee’s House expels 2 of 3 Democrats over guns protest. In an extraordinary act of political retaliation, Tennessee Republicans on Thursday expelled two Democratic lawmakers from the state Legislature for their role in a protest calling for more gun control in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Nashville. A third Democrat was narrowly spared by a one-vote margin. The split votes drew accusations of racism, with lawmakers ousting Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, who are both Black, while Rep. Gloria Johnson, who is white, survived the vote on her expulsion. -- Three people do the same thing. The two black people are expelled. The one white woman is not. Racism on full display. Republicans abuse power. Republicans are racist assholes. Republicans are fascists.
“I hope that what the fascist Tennessee House did today propels Justin Jones and Justin Pearson into the forefront of national politics. And that they will get enough national power to go back and bite the racist Tennessee House in the ass.” — Mrs. Betty Bowers
A liberal just won the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Republicans are already talking about impeaching her. A GOP win in another Wisconsin race this week — the state Senate's 8th District — gave Republicans a supermajority in the chamber. With that power, Republicans there will have the ability to pursue removal proceedings of certain elected officials if the Assembly votes to impeach them...Under the Wisconsin Constitution, the state Assembly can impeach with a simple majority “all civil officers of this state for corrupt conduct in office, or for crimes and misdemeanors.” The Wisconsin Supreme Court has previously ruled that those civil officers include the governor, lieutenant governor and judges. -- Again. Republicans abuse power.
US would bar full ban on trans athletes but allow exceptions. Schools and colleges across the U.S. would be forbidden from enacting outright bans on transgender athletes under a proposal released Thursday from the Biden administration, but teams could create some limits in certain cases — for example, to ensure fairness. The proposed rule sends a political counterpunch toward a wave of Republican-led states that have sought to ban trans athletes from competing in school sports that align with their gender identities. If finalized, the proposal would become enshrined as a provision of Title IX, the landmark gender equity legislation enacted in 1972. It must undergo a lengthy approval process, however, and it’s almost certain to face challenges. While opponents sharply criticized the proposal, some advocates for transgender athletes were concerned that it did not go far enough.
High court: Trans girl can run girls track in West Virginia. The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed a 12-year-old transgender girl in West Virginia to continue competing on her middle school’s girls sports teams while a lawsuit over a state ban continues. The justices refused to disturb an appeals court order that made it possible for the girl, Becky Pepper-Jackson, to continue playing on her school’s track and cross-country teams, where she regularly finishes near the back of the pack. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas would have allowed West Virginia to enforce its law against Pepper-Jackson.
‘Shocked’ by the loss: Scientists sound the alarm on New Zealand’s melting glaciers. At the end of March, the team of scientists spent eight hours flying over the peaks, taking thousands of photographs of glaciers for the annual snowline survey. Andrew Mackintosh, a professor at Monash University in Australia who was on the flight, said in a statement that he was “shocked” by what they saw. Some of the smaller elevation glaciers had largely disappeared, he said, while the famous Franz Josef and Fox glaciers showed marked signs of retreat. - Let’s be clear. In the long run, the planet will be just fine. Humans, on the other hand, will not fare so well.
IRS pledges more audits of wealthy, better customer service. The IRS released details Thursday on how it plans to use an infusion of $80 billion for improved operations, pledging to invest in new technology, hire more customer service representatives and expand its ability to audit high-wealth taxpayers. While some Republicans have suggested without evidence that the money from the Democrats’ landmark climate change and health care bill would help create a mob of armed auditors to harass middle-class taxpayers, new IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel said it will not include spending for new agents with guns. The agency’s newly released strategic operating plan lays out the specifics of how the IRS will allocate the $80 billion, through fiscal year 2031, that was approved in that legislation.
Special Report: Tesla workers shared sensitive images recorded by customer cars. But between 2019 and 2022, groups of Tesla employees privately shared via an internal messaging system sometimes highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras, according to interviews by Reuters with nine former employees. Some of the recordings caught Tesla customers in embarrassing situations. One ex-employee described a video of a man approaching a vehicle completely naked. Also shared: crashes and road-rage incidents. One crash video in 2021 showed a Tesla driving at high speed in a residential area hitting a child riding a bike, according to another ex-employee. The child flew in one direction, the bike in another. The video spread around a Tesla office in San Mateo, California, via private one-on-one chats, “like wildfire,” the ex-employee said…“We could see inside people's garages and their private properties,” said another former employee. “Let's say that a Tesla customer had something in their garage that was distinctive, you know, people would post those kinds of things.”
Members of Congress on TikTok defend app’s reach to voters. Rep. Jeff Jackson of North Carolina has used it to explain the complex fight over raising the debt limit. Rep. Robert Garcia of California has used it to engage with members of the LGBTQ+ community. And Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania has used it to give an overview of Election Day results. As pressure against TikTok mounts in Washington, the more than two dozen members of Congress — all Democrats — who are active on the social media platform are being pushed by their colleagues to stop using it. Many defend their presence on the platform, saying they have a responsibility as public officials to meet Americans where they are — and more than 150 million are on TikTok.
Why are French workers angry about raising retirement age? Hundreds of thousands of people have filled the streets of France in the 11th day of nationwide resistance to a government proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The furious public reaction to the plan has left French President Emmanuel Macron cornered and weakened...Experts say the protests show that Macron was re-elected because of antipathy for far-right contender Marine Le Pen more than enthusiasm for him. And even if the protests die down, the French president will still have sustained a political bloody nose and a permanent stain on his authority.
CDC asks doctors to look out for potential cases of a deadly Ebola-like disease. The CDC sent an alert to U.S. clinicians and public health departments about Marburg virus, due to outbreaks in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania.
Sleep apnea is linked to cognitive problems even in otherwise healthy men. Otherwise healthy middle-age men newly diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea showed poorer mental function in areas such as judgment, impulse control and recognizing other people’s feelings compared to men without the condition, according to research published Thursday in Frontiers in Sleep.
Life’s short. Live, love, create, and help others.
Until next time, my friends. Stay safe and stay sane. Good night.
No comments:
Post a Comment