Investigation finds Clarence Thomas accepted more undisclosed gifts from wealthy friends through elite association
Investigation finds Clarence Thomas accepted more undisclosed gifts from wealthy friends through elite association
A New York Times investigation revealed that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was brought access to the wealthy through relationships he built with members of the Horatio Alger Association of …
Seems we haven’t reached the bottom of the pile yet…
on one hand, this is outrageous, ESP for SCOTUS.
on the other hand, I can be sure nothing will be done about it.
27Nothing will be done about it (not in the immediate future) because this shit has been going on for, at least, one hundred years. J.R.R. Tolkien wrote about this as "diseased dragons laying on mountains of gold" and it is perfectly captured by Wealth Shown to Scale. The first time that I tried to make it through that website (five years ago), I became so fucking sick to my stomach, I couldn't get through the first 1/3.
TL;DR there are, currently, around 400 disgusting diseased dragons (<- these are real humans) that control almost everything that happens on Earth. They don't give a flying fuck about anything except getting more money and power.
21The "lol just kidding we're only 1/3 the way" is awful.
6well I didn't make it 1 second on that site - apparently I can't sidescroll with shift+wheel.
3
This guy should be in prison but is instead telling the people of America they can't get health treatment. What an absolute farce.
22The Times reported that just months after Thomas joined the bench in 1991, he was welcomed into the Horatio Alger Association...where he forged relationships with a select group of largely wealthy conservatives. This organization granted him access to wealthy friends who gifted Thomas with vacation retreats and V.I.P. tickets to sporting events, as well as invited him to parties, according to The Times.
The Times’s investigation discovered that Thomas received benefits from the members of the association and large donors to conservative causes. Among many of the contacts he made through the group was David Sokol, an investor and former executive at Berkshire Hathaway, who hosted Thomas and his wife Ginny at their ranch in Montana and property in Florida.
The investigation said that Thomas did not disclose many of the gifts and trips over the last two decades reported by the Times. Thomas used to report the personal gifts and travel benefits he received, but the Times reported that after a 2004 investigation by The Los Angeles Times came out about his disclosures, he largely stopped disclosing them.
The Times noted that Sokol, along with other members of the association, also funded the marketing for an HBO film about Anita Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment brought against Thomas. Thomas has also been a speaker at the Horatio Alger Association’s annual inaugural reception and ceremony, which he has hosted at the Supreme Court, according to the investigation.
According to the association’s website, Thomas is an honorary member of the board of directors.
Emphasis mine.
Sorry to quote so much of the story, but for any who don't actually read the articles, these are the main points and pretty damning. So not only has Thomas been proven to receive extravagant gifts from wealthy, conservative donors who have had cases seen before the Supreme Court, without disclosing them or recusing himself, he is also proven to have been involved with an organization that made a documentary about the woman who accused him of sexual misconduct. And he is a member of that board.
He couldn't be more corrupt if he tried.
20Anyone else remember when he was being interviewed and claimed he would rather be in a Walmart parking lot than on the beach? Really weird guy. Very bad liar lol
15Anything worth saying here is better said in this way: https://www.theonion.com/you-people-made-me-give-up-my-peanut-farm-before-i-got-1819585048
14Well said, Onion. This guy is soooo corrupt!
4
This is a serious question: I realize there are only political solutions (impeachment) to the Clarence Thomas problem, which can't occur in the current political climate, but aren't there Department of Justice solutions to the Billionaires that are bribing Supreme Court Justices?
9Not when the same Supreme Court says it’s not bribery unless they say the magic word. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_v._United_States
6There must be tax implications for the B boys. Isn’t that what the understaffed IRS should be asking?
How can this much corruption be legal?
6It's corruption at every level. Like, people keep talking about whatever stupid thing the toxic clowns of the Republican party are doing. The whole point is to ensure no effective laws are passed. It is not about the clown politics it is about maintaining the insignificant tiny set of laws and protections in the USA. The US has a tenth of the laws present in any western country. This is the whole point. Keep the laws ineffective and inadequate to exploit every possible person and loophole by any means necessary. The only thing that matters is controlling the conversation and holding the government hostage to a constant ddos attack. If anything gets deregulated or changed for the worse it is just a bonus side effect for the parasitic billionaires.
5
Non pay walled link to original article linked by The Hill: https://archive.is/20230709170903/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/us/clarence-thomas-horatio-alger-association.html
9Clarence is corrupt as they come, so this should surprise nobody.
6My favorite part: the Times reported that after a 2004 investigation by The Los Angeles Times came out about his disclosures, he largely stopped disclosing them.
I wish I had the choice in my life to give so FEW fucks that I could be that brazenly corrupt.
6Drip drip
2Ahhh, the sound of wealth trickling up. Just as planned.
3