Friday Stuff

John and Wosny Lambre of The Damage Report tell us about Almost Silent Clarence Thomas and the vacations/gratuities he’s accepted from this megadonor named Harlan Crow, starting with June ’19, when Thomas and his Qanon wife went on a 9-day junket on a yacht to Indonesia...the two of them need to be the subject of Watergate-style hearings largely, but not totally, because of this; I mean, even SCOTUS justices are supposed to disclose this stuff (amazing work by ProPublica to dig up this story)...



Update: According to ProPublica and the New York Times, the vacations go back nearly two decades...and I don't buy this nonsense of "well, Crow is a friend, so I didn't think it had to be reported" for a minute (here).

Update 4/8/23: As I read this, I had the tune “Der Fuehrer’s Face” by Spike Jones running around in my head.

HOW DARE YOU QUESTION THE INTEGRITY OF JUSTICE THOMAS AND HIS DONOR FRIEND WITH THE NAME OF A KLAN VILLAIN, YOU FILTHY LIB!! SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!!

...and Ana of TYT tells us about red states rolling back child labor protections – in Iowa for example, a bill has passed through committees even though a full vote apparently is pending, and of course Repug guv Kim Reynolds will sign it if it reaches her desk (and Sarah Huckabilly Sanders has done the same on something similar in Arkansas)...



Update: I give you another "miracle" of Repug-run state governance here.

...oh, and apparently there were more insults aimed at Marjorie Trailer Park Greene that Lesley Stahl neglected to mention in her recent interview, but fortunately, Desi Lydic of The Daily Show is ON IT, PEOPLE!!...



...and Farron Cousins tells us that there are actually signs of a pulse from the Democratic Party in Flori-DUUH!, with state party leader Nikki Fried and Lauren Book (minority senate leader) getting arrested for protesting the passage of a six-week abortion ban, which I believe passed the same day that guv Ron #DeathSantis signed his almost-as-disgusting permitless carry law (and boy, is Cousins ever right about the Dems in that state needing a fighter for a leader)...



...additionally, Trae Crowder tells us how the latest Trumpian garbage is distracting us from the recent mass shooting in Tennessee...and just as a reminder, only Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were expelled from the Tennessee state house as noted here, which is bad enough...yeah, the racism pretty much smacks you in the face (and the Bud Light reference has to do with this)...



...and Lawrence O’Donnell recently pointed out that Huckleberry Graham expressed a lot of angst over Our Treasonous, Tiny-Handed Former Chief Executive and his legal issues, but absolutely not one bit of grief or sympathy over the recent Nashville slaughter (as well as any other gun-related violence, really)...



...and I now give you the latest installment of “This Day In Doomsy History” (more or less) from 4/4/11...Rachel Maddow tells us that CEO pay had gone up 27 percent from 2010 and companies climbed their way back also, with sizeable taxpayer assistance, from The Great Recession, while worker pay was essentially flat...and yes, that was indeed a “transfer of wealth” as she tells us...”the deficit would be cut in half if we allowed the Bush tax cuts to expire”...wonder how much better that would be if we did the same thing to #45’s tax cuts also? And as noted here, CEO pay also went up over the prior year in ‘22 (21 percent...the wealth transfer continues), average worker pay increased by about 3 percent from last year (here), which is barely better from what happened in 2011, and as noted here, the unemployment rate is about 4.5 percent, which is definitely better now than where we were in the 2011 clip...the most recent job numbers from today are here (again, not great, but OK given inflation which is also letting up...more here)...



...and here’s a newer tune to help us slide into the weekend; taking a break from my recent “moldy oldies.”