APRIL 2023 IGNOMINIOUS ABSURDITY OF THE MONTH: THE IGGY

1. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. I haven’t nominated Clarence Thomas previously for a monthly IGGY because, well, as we all know, Thomas doesn’t talk much, even in Supreme Court sessions. The paucity of absurd utterances, however, shouldn’t detract from the inescapable truth that the Thomaster is a genuinely ignominious person, validated by 32 years of SCOTUS votes and opinions.

This said, let me ask you a question. If you were a U.S. Supreme Court justice, would you accept lavish vacations , like nine days of cruising in Indonesia on a fully staffed superyacht, from a large Republican donor billionaire who might be nudging you to return verdicts that comport with his narrow worldview? Wait, don’t answer right away! What if the billionaire in question also had a giant cache of Nazi stuff, including a signed copy of Mein Kampf, two Hitler paintings, and swastika-emblazoned napkins, would that sweeten this briny bucket of sauerkraut for you? (While this doesn’t confirm he’s a Nazi sympathizer, it does raise questions.)

And if such rococo extravagance weren’t enough, what if that billionaire paid you and your family over six figures for three properties in Savannah, Georgia, including a house where your mother lived, and continued to be allowed to live, rent free, after a remodeling? The rest of the property is to be used—you guessed it—for a Justice Thomas museum

And there’s more. If you reported rental income totaling up to $750,000 over the last 17 years from a family real estate company called Ginger, Ltd Partnership that shut down in 2006 (yes, from a ghost company), would you clarify your financial connection?

Well, maybe if you were an ethical person facing potential conflicts of interest you could resist temptation, but if you were Clarence Thomas, the SCOTUS with the mostess, you’d jump at the opportunities-- and, you wouldn’t disclose them as consistent with Federal disclosure laws.

By now you’ve no doubt read or heard about the bombshell ProPublica report tying Justice Thomas to billionaire weirdo/GOP megadonor Harlan Crow. According to ProPublica, Thomas and his wife have taken vacations in private jets and yachts with Crow worth well over a hundred grand nearly every year for more than two decades—none of which were disclosed.

Crow is a longtime member of the board of the American Enterprise Institute, a major right-wing think tank. During those years, which coincide closely with his dear personal friendship with Clarence Thomas, AEI has filed amicus briefs in multiple Supreme Court cases. But that’s not all! In addition to his Nazi shit, Crow also has a statue Garden of Evil adorned with the graven images of history’s most egregious despots, including Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, and Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, and Albanian Stalinist Enver Hoxha.

A Thomas statement to set the record straight is remarkable Bottom of Formin its existence as well as its content—he’s not usually big on answering to the little people.

“Harlan and Kathy Crow are among our dearest friends, and we have been friends for over twenty-five years. As friends do, we have joined them on a number of family trips during the more than quarter century we have known them. Early in my tenure at the Court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the Court, was not reportable. I have endeavored to follow that counsel throughout my tenure, and have always sought to comply with the disclosure guidelines. These guidelines are now being changed, as the committee of the Judicial Conference responsible for financial disclosure for the entire federal judiciary just this past month announced new guidance. And, it is, of course, my intent to follow this guidance in the future.”

“Family trips,” he says. Quite a stark contrast with a Crow-funded documentary on Thomas in which the justice presented himself as a regular guy. “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,” he said. “I come from regular stock, and I prefer that—I prefer being around that.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time Thomas’s objectivity and ethical conduct have been questioned. There’s that whole “his wife is a far-right goofball who’s trying to end American democracy bit.” But that doesn’t mean conservatives have run out of excuses for his sketchy behavior.

Imagine if the right’s ubiquitous bugaboo George Soros flew Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson to Gstaad for a three-day ski weekend. Republicans would freak. Hell, imagine if Soros took any one of them out for a frozen yogurt. Tucker Carlson would be compelled to do a two-hour investigative report.

Thomas says he’ll disclose in future now that we all know about his vacations anyway. But while his legal requirement may be for disclosure, the ethical issues involved in him accepting such largesse from a major political donor and AEI board member don’t disappear. Then again, Clarence Thomas doesn’t care much for ethics. (And the claim that there is never any discussion of matters before the court? That one falls under the category of “would be hilarious if it weren’t so dangerous.”)

The cascade of stories about Thomas threatens to continue to undermine the legitimacy of this Supreme Court.

2. Republican House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan. On Thursday, Republican chair of the House Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan released a letter written on March 22 in which he subpoenaed testimony and documents connected to the indictment of Donald Trump. The letter shows that, in addition to trying to force the testimony of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jordan bypassed Bragg to subpoena testimony from a former special assistant district attorney who left the case in February.

Even more critically, Jordan demands that attorney Mark Pomerantz turn over documents related to the case, including: all communications within the Manhattan DA’s office, all communications between that office and the DOJ, and, everything related to how Pomerantz was appointed as special assistant district attorney.

This information would give Jordan and other Republican members of the committee an advance look at the evidence against Trump. It would also provide them with communications that could be used to disparage the process through which the case was developed. All of which makes this a genuinely unprecedented attempt to interfere with the case.

In almost every instance, the House Judiciary Committee, Senate Judiciary Committee, and Justice Department go to extraordinary efforts to avoid even the appearance of interfering with a case before state and local courts. Even in cases where local courts are operating with clear racial prejudice or other misconduct, the usual process is to stand back until the court renders a verdict before making comments or seeking some form of redress. Jordan just crushed that idea like a crate of eggs being trampled by an elephant.

Not only is he seeking to force Pomerantz to provide the Republican-led committee with all the inside dirt on the investigation into Trump—where it would surely find its way to both Mar-a-Lago and Fox News—he’s also seeking to drag Pomerantz into the committee to talk about his role in that investigation.

Getting a behind the scenes peek at the evidence against Trump would be a huge level of interference. Using selective quotes from communications in the Manhattan DA’s office, or between the DA’s office and the Department of Justice in order to prove some kind of “conspiracy,” would be a huge level of interference. Disparaging an assistant DA involved in the investigation is already a huge level of interference.

But Jordan doesn’t stop there.

The publicly released letter includes a whole raft of language intended to paint the investigation as unfair. That includes accusing Bragg of engaging “in an unprecedented abuse of prosecutorial authority,” “looking for some legal theory on which to bring charges,” and making an indictment “motivated by political calculations.” It also describes Trump as “unfairly disparaged” and “innocent.”

Every potential juror is being blasted with the idea that the case against Trump is unfair, that Trump is innocent, and that the Manhattan DA’s office set out to manufacture a case with no evidence. It’s already going to be impossible to seat a jury pool that can in any sense claim ignorance of the allegations behind this case, but Jordan wants to make sure that all of those jurors walk into the courtroom with the idea that this case is “an abuse.” He’s not doing that from Fox News, on Twitter, or some right-wing radio broadcast. He’s doing that on the stationary of the House Judiciary Committee.

This is what Jordan writes about Pomerantz complaints against the failure to indict Trump back in February:

“It now appears that your efforts to shame Bragg have worked as he is reportedly resurrecting a so-called “zombie” case against President Trump using a tenuous and untested legal theory. Even the Washington Post quoted “legal experts” as calling Bragg’s actions “unusual” because “prosecutors have repeatedly examined the long-established details but decided not to pursue charges.” In addition, Bragg’s star witness—Michael Cohen—has a serious credibility problem as a convicted perjurer and serial fabricator with demonstrable prejudice against President Trump. Under these circumstances, there is no scenario in which Cohen could fairly be considered an unbiased and credible witness.”

This isn’t a subpoena intended to call in a witness for questioning. It’s a document written for public consumption that is meant to sway opinions and taint the jury pool for a case that is still in its earliest stages. It’s also clearly an effort by the House Judiciary Committee to act as an extension of Donald Trump’s legal team.

When Pomerantz doesn’t comply, as he surely won’t, look for Jordan to cite him for contempt of congress and send a referral over to the DOJ. The DOJ will not act on that referral, because it knows the law. Then Jordan will get to complain that both the Manhattan DA’s office and the Justice Department are aligned against Trump.

3. Actor Jon Voight. Outspoken election fraud pontificator, Jon Voight now predicts that “President Donald Trump will return to the presidency. “He and only he can stop the swamp. Allow President Trump to rebuild our soil and our land so we can rise to our glory.”

Do you ever just listen to someone and think: Holy shit, you’ve got the IQ of a crayon?

4. Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders. When Sanders campaigned for the Arkansas governorship, she ran as a small government conservative with the commitment she would rid Arkansans of the yoke of an overreaching bunch of autocratic bloodsuckers in DC. She promised her fellow Razorbacks the “right to be free of socialism and tyranny” and vowed to defend Arkansas from the “radical left now in control of Washington.”

In January, the newly installed Arkansan Governor reiterated her commitment to keeping DC on its side of the divide. She tweeted, "As long as I am your governor, the meddling hand of big government creeping down from Washington DC will be stopped cold at the Mississippi River."

On Friday, tornadoes ripped through Wynne and other Arkansas communities, and this champion of rugged self-determination pleaded, cap in hand, for federal taxpayer cash. And once again, the blue states must pony-up to rescue their ungrateful cousins in the red welfare states.

President Biden did his bit for his fellow Americans by declaring the state a disaster area — releasing federal funds. The federal government has already committed to reimbursing the state 75 cents for every dollar it spends. This was not enough for this petulant “leave us alone” whiner. She demanded that for 30 days, the rest of the country bear the entire cost of Arkansas's recovery.

On Tuesday, this newly minted socialist announced that she had requested a 100% federal cost share for state and local clean-up.

"I’ve been across our state since Friday, surveying damage, meeting with survivors, and discussing recovery efforts with local leaders, emergency personnel, and volunteers. It’s clear that the cost to clean up the damage those storms created will be substantial. The federal government is currently covering 75 percent of all costs incurred during our recovery process, but that arrangement must go further to help Arkansans in need. Today, I’m asking the federal government to cover 100 percent of all our recovery expenses during the first 30 days after the storm."

Sanders and her state, along with the other helpless, greedy, and entitled conservative Bible Belt welfare recipients, are like teenagers demanding their independence while expecting to be housed, fed, and have their laundry done.

Nobody loves the government more than a conservative when they want it to prevent women from getting an abortion, transvestites from getting married, or when it wants cash. And no one hates it more when someone else wants money. When the federal government authorized $51 billion to aid the Northeast rebuild from Hurricane Sandy, Texas Senators Cruz and Corwyn, with 20 of the state's US Representatives, voted against it. Such hypocrisy is nauseating.

_________________________

All nominees this month are worthy candidates, but I have to give the April IGGY to “Justice” Clarence Thomas, a distinction long overdue.