Clarence Thomas Family Value$

As an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas makes a measly $230,000 a year, so naturally he needs all the financial help he can get. And he gets lots of it, chiefly from his billionaire pal Harlan Crow, friend of the Court and renowned collector of Nazi memorabilia. A true believer in family values, Mr. Crow:

Paid the $120,000 salary of Mrs. Ginni Thomas and propped up her far-right Liberty Central lobby;

Paid Justice Thomas for his elderly mother’s house, fixed it up, and allowed her to live there rent-free; and

Paid the private school tuition of Mr. Thomas’s legal ward, his grandnephew Mark Martin.

Justice Thomas didn’t disclose any of this to the Court in his required annual financial disclosure reports. He also didn’t reveal his trips on Harlan Crow’s private jet or megayacht or their luxury vacation excursions.

Most of these issues were uncovered bythe non-profit ProPublica newsroom and the New York Times.

More:

“A brief timeline of Clarence Thomas, Harlan Crow and ethics questions,” Aaron Blake, Washington Post

“Billionaire Offered Tuition to Send Ginni Thomas to Law School for Second Time,” Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

Related:

“Clarence Thomas has for years claimed income from a defunct real estate firm,” Shawn Boburg and Emma Brown, Washington Post

“More ethics questions rise for Supreme Court justices,” Sareen Habeshian, Axios

“Judicial activist directed fees to Clarence Thomas’s wife, urged ‘no mention of Ginni,’” Emma Brown, Shawn Boburg and Jonathan O’Connell, Washington Post

The real reason for the Supreme Court’s corruption crisis,” Ian Millhiser, Vox

Updates:

“CREW files civil and criminal complaint against Clarence Thomas,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) [Read the complaint]

“Clarence Thomas Promises To Adopt Code Of Ethics For The Right Price,” The Onion

“Thomas’ Monsanto years offer window into justice’s enviro roots,” Pamela King, E&E News

“The strange story of Clarence and Ginni Thomas,” Lauren Mechling, The Guardian

___________________________
Short Link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-DsG

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Ireland: Dirty Dancing

A cheating scandal has rocked the Emerald Isle, and it doesn’t involve Gaelic football, Hurling, or Camogie. The highly-competitive world of Irish Step Dancing has been rocked by allegations of feiseanna and oireachtais judges trading high scores for sexual favors. Maybe it’s those short skirts and tight pants.

More:

“Major misstep: sex and cheating scandal rattles Irish dancing world,” Jack Hobbs, NY Post

“High kicks and dirty tricks: Irish dancing hit by fixing and sexual favour claims,” David Mouriquand and Ken Murray, Euro News

“Irish dancing rocked by major allegations of competition fixing involving dance teachers and judges,” Ellen Coyne, The  Independent

“Now Irish Dancing Is in the Grip of a Major Cheating Scandal,” Sophia Smith Galer, Vice

“An Irish Dancing Scandal Is the Latest in Our Season of Cheating,” Kady Ruth Ashcraft, Jezebel

Update:

“‘BagGate’ is the professional cornhole drama taking over the sport,” James Dator, SBNation

_________________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-C66

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Affirmative Action for the Privileged Rich

The admittance rate for Harvard’s class of 2025 was 3.43%, the lowest ever . . . except for “ALDCs”:  athletes, “legacies” (children of Harvard alums), “dean’s interest list” (children of rich donors) and children of Harvard faculty and employees (“fac brats“). Naturally these offspring of the school’s “Old Boy’s Club” are largely White:

.”.. 43% of Harvard’s white students are either recruited athletes, legacy students, on the dean’s interest list (their parents have donated to the school) or children of faculty and staff …. The kicker? Roughly three-quarters of these applicants would have been rejected if it weren’t for having rich or Harvard-connected parents or being an athlete.”

— “Turns out, Harvard students aren’t that smart after all,” Tayo Bero, The Guardian

_____________________

Shortlink: https://wp.me/p6sb6-y52

Image (“Harvard Legacy Admissions”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

13 Trump Officals Violated the Hatch Act in 2020

The federal Office of Special Counsel has found that 13 high-level Trump Administration officals illegally used their government positions for political activities, campaigning for Donald Trump in the 2020 election. In addition to frequent offender Kellyanne Conway (previously caught in 2018 and 2019), the high-level officials include Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, his acting homeland security chief Chad Wolf, his Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette, Secretary of Everything Jared Kushner, national security adviser Robert O’Brien, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House adviser Stephen Miller, White House deputy press secretary Brian Morgenstern, Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short, White House communications director Alyssa Farah, and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

The Hatch Act is designed to prevent government officials from using their offices for political purposes, but as the OSC report observes, “the Hatch Act is only as effective as the White House decides it will be. Where, as happened here, the White House chooses to ignore the Hatch Act’s requirements, then the American public is left with no protection against senior administration officials using their official authority for partisan political gain in violation of the law.”

Read the full OSC report here.

More:

“Probe finds Trump officials repeatedly violated Hatch Act,” Jill Colvin, Associated Press

___________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-xZo

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Trump’s Child Detention Program

“When U.S. Customs and Border Protection holds migrant children in custody, the child’s detention is supposed to be safe and short. That’s true whether the child is with a parent or without one.

But new data shows that over the last four years, detention times lengthened as the number of children held at the border soared to almost half a million. The detentions, which include both unaccompanied children and children with their families, peaked last year at over 300,000, with 40 percent held longer than the 72-hour limit set by a patchwork of legislation and a court settlement.”

— “500,000 Kids, 30 Million Hours: Trump’s Vast Expansion of Child Detention,” Anna Flagg and Andrew R. Calderón, The Marshall Project

Related:

“Judge blocks border officials from expelling unaccompanied migrant children,” Stef W. Kight, Axios

“White House killed deal to pay for mental health care for migrant families separated at border,”  Jacob Soboroff, Julia Ainsley and Geoff Bennett, NBC News

_____________________________
Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-w3S

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

The Lingering Shame of Sharpiegate

Remember last year’s Sharpiegate? President Trump doctored an NWS weather map to back up his false assertion that Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama, was corrected by Birmingham’s Weather Service office, and then a NOAA press release claimed the president was right. There’s something new:

“Top officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration violated the agency’s scientific integrity rules when they debased themselves to back up Donald Trump’s incorrect assertion that Hurricane Dorian could strike Alabama last year, an internal investigation has shown. Regardless, everyone involved appears to be bound to get off scot-free.”

— “Report: NOAA Officials Behind #Sharpiegate Violated Integrity Policies, Won’t Face Consequences Though,” Tom McKay, Gizmodo

Those lying NOAA officials are Acting Administrator Neil Jacobs (formerly of Panasonic) and Communications Director Julie Kay Roberts, who worked on Trump’s Inaugural Committee. They still hold those NOAA jobs, and the 2020 hurricane season has begun.

More:

“NOAA leaders violated agency’s scientific integrity policy, Hurricane Dorian ‘Sharpiegate’ investigation finds,” Andrew Freedman and Jason Samenow, Washington Post

_____________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-v2e

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Migrant Child Detention Center Operator Cancels Trump Golf Club Holiday Party

Caliburn International, a federal contractor making billions from imprisoning immigrant children, has canceled its planned holiday party at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia after the event became public knowlege and conflict-of-interest questions were raised. It wasn’t a party for the migrant kids, mind you, just their taxpayer-funded jailers.

Happy holidays.

More:

“Contractor that holds migrant children scraps plans for holiday party at Trump golf club,” Graham Kates, CBS News

_____________________________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-u2v

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Vatican TED Talk

“Let us help each other, all together, to remember that the ‘other’ is not a statistic, or a number. We all need each other.” – His Holiness Pope Francis @TED.

18 minutes.

_____________

Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-pLB

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Doral Golf: Trump Whiffs on G7

U.S. President, hotelier, and celebrity golf cheat Donald Trump wanted the 2020 G7 meeting held at the Trump National Doral resort in Florida, but it’s not happening. For some reason people thought holding the June meeting at Trump-owned Doral (“Come for the golf, stay for the Zika“) reeked of self-dealing just because it certainly does. It would also violate the Constitution.

Mr. Trump may think the “G” in G7 stands for “golf,” but it’s the Group of Seven finance summit. Speaking of finance, the Doral could have used the money. During the Trump presidency its net operating income fell 69%, and the Doral’s debts are international, since it was financed through loans from Deutsche Bank. The president nixed consideration of the enviroment during the 2020 G7 meeting, but there’s an environmental issue at Doral. The swimming pools haven’t been inspected in the past year.

More:

“Trump Dismisses Doral Criticism: ‘You People With This Phony Emoluments Clause,’” Julia Arciga, Daily Beast

“Trump says his Doral golf resort will no longer host next year’s G-7 summit, bowing to criticism,” Philip Rucker and David A. Fahrenthold, Washington Post

Related:

“Trump’s G7 and trade adviser Kelly Ann Shaw departing the White House,” Rebecca Falconer, Axios

Updates:

“Trump’s Doral resort was added as possible G-7 site at last minute, secret service email reveals,” Eileen AJ Connelly, New York Post

“RNC to hold winter meetings at Trump resort that was considered for G-7 summit,” David A. Fahrenthold and Michael Scherer,  Washington Post

__________________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-tZR

Top image (“President Trump Addresses the Issues”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Trump: Over 13,000 Lies in 993 Days

“As President Trump approaches his 1,000th day in office Wednesday, he has significantly stepped up his pace of spouting exaggerated numbers, unwarranted boasts and outright falsehoods.

As of Oct. 9, his 993rd day in office, he had made 13,435 false or misleading claims ….”

— “President Trump has made 13,435 false or misleading claims over 993 days,” Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo, and Meg Kelly, Washington Post

____________

Short link: https://wp.me/p6sb6-tZ6

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.