Topic for today: Is there a bigger hypocrite on the public stage than Clarence Thomas?
The latest ProPublica look at his fishy finances starts out with a banger:
In early January 2000, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was at a five-star beach resort in Sea Island, Georgia, hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
After almost a decade on the court, Thomas had grown frustrated with his financial situation, according to friends. He had recently started raising his young grandnephew, and Thomas’ wife was soliciting advice on how to handle the new expenses. The month before, the justice had borrowed $267,000 from a friend to buy a high-end RV.
The gist of the story is, Thomas’ poor-mouthing at conservative events was what led to he and Ginni becoming the latter-day Duke and Duchess of Windsor, freeloading their way across the world, swinging from one rich friend’s guest house to the next. They vacation with billionaires, they take (forgiven) “loans” for shit like recreational vehicles, and so on:
The full details of Thomas’ finances over the years remain unclear. He made at least two big purchases around the early ’90s: a Corvette and a house in the Virginia suburbs on 5 acres of land. When Thomas and his wife, Ginni, bought the home for $522,000 a year after he joined the court, they borrowed all but $8,000, less than 2% of the purchase price, property records show.
Public records suggest a degree of financial strain. Throughout the first decade of his tenure, the couple regularly borrowed more money, including a $100,000 credit line on their house and a consumer loan of up to $50,000. Around January 1998, Thomas’ life changed when he took in his 6-year-old grandnephew, becoming his legal guardian and raising him as a son. The Thomases sent the child to a series of private schools.
I think I may have mentioned last summer, on a long drive, listening to a podcast interview with the director of a film about Thomas’ life. It was impossible not to feel empathy for him, a parent-less boy raised by his terrible grandfather, abused by virtually everyone in his life. His classmates called him “ABC,” i.e. “America’s blackest child.” His grandfather pushes him, hard, in the direction of the priesthood, for his own status-seeking reasons, but the blatant racism of his fellow seminarians drives him away. Law school at Yale exposed him to people who had been coasting on greased skids their entire lives, and Thomas thought at least here he’d graduate into some damn money, but that didn’t happen, either, and he entered government service in the Reagan era, distinguishing himself as a huge asshole at a time when there was real competition for that level. This was at the EEOC, an agency that Reagan would want a huge asshole running.
In short, hurt people hurt people, and Thomas was very good at it.
But what would Thomas, with his famous bootstrap philosophy, think of a person who bought sports cars and houses with practically no money down? He was earning around $176,000 at the time, or $300K in 2023 dollars. He would call that person fiscally irresponsible. And he would be correct. But money seems to be the bass line of so much of Thomas’ resentment. He was delivering big for the nation’s conservatives, and he expected tribute for it. Well, he got it. No one will remember him as a keen legal mind, but rather, as the fat man who rarely spoke, but always ruled predictably.
Breaking Detroit journalism news this afternoon, as local podcaster Charlie LeDuff was arrested last night for domestic violence against his wife. I’m watching the reaction unspool on Twitter. It’s interesting to see how many people are behaving, and commenting, exactly as you’d expect. The guy who loves a shiv when you’re not expecting it has deployed his own. The guy who now works for a right-wing policy shop points out the judge in the arraignment was a protege of the Democratic attorney general. There’s a lot of “not surprised,” which is Duh, because no one who knows, or even heard of, LeDuff should be even mildly surprised by this development.
Not two months ago, he was fired from his contributor’s gig at The Detroit News for calling the aforementioned attorney general a cunt on Twitter. At the time, I described him as “a downward-spiraling journalist who fancies himself a Jon Stewart/Hunter Thompson mashup and desperate to ‘go national,’” and I’ll stand by that. But I won’t do an end-zone dance; it’s sad when someone throws their career away, and he’s been doing so with both hands for quite some time.
If I were his friend, I’d tell him to follow the path of Neil Steinberg, arrested in very similar circumstances 18 years ago, who sobered up and has stayed that way ever since. But we’re not, and he didn’t ask. It’s up to him.
OK, then. Tomorrow is cleaning day. Cleaning and wrapping. As the days tick down.
FDChief said on December 19, 2023 at 5:25 pm
I’m fortunately unacquainted with this LeDuff jamoke, but based on your description how is beating up on women throwing away anything? The wingnuts love them some wife-beating; it’s the way you keep those uppity beatches in line, amirite?
He’ll gain 50K rabid wingnut followers just from the indictment and if convicted will be able to found his own streaming channel.
I think you’re grossly underestimating the depravity of the median right-wing nut here. I could be surprised. But unlike the Florida ménage a trois there’s no icky homosex stuff to turn the fash off, just good old red-blooded Murican man-stuff…
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Suzanne said on December 19, 2023 at 5:26 pm
Deborah, I meant to respond to your kind words from the prior post but a very looong funeral and an equally long trip to grocery got in my way. You are too kind. If I inspire anyone with my response to cancer, I am glad, but in reality, I am just not ready to step away from this life yet and that keeps me going. have wonderful doctors and was fortunately healthy enough to make it through the full treatment, which many my age do not. I am in remission and feel good. I do look at life differently now, though. I had to wait in line at the grocery but I thought how fortunate I am to be alive to wait in line. Or when I have a bad hair day, I think of how nice it is to have hair that can go wrong.
Clarence Thomas was always a way for conservatives to stick it to everyone else. He’s always been their token toady. Maybe he finally realized it and decided to have the last laugh by screwing them out of their money. But no matter how much they give him, in the end, he must surely understand, he is expendable.
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Deborah said on December 19, 2023 at 5:43 pm
See Suzanne, you’ve done it again, what a great attitude, “…how fortunate I am to be alive to wait in line. Or when I have a bad hair day, I think of how nice it is to have hair that can go wrong.” Wonderful, I need to think more that way.
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Deborah said on December 19, 2023 at 5:59 pm
Jeff G, that’s a lovely obituary for Buck (linked in the former thread), I’m assuming you wrote it.
We’re out at the cabin again, I’ve got a pot of beans on the wood burning stove, it’s been simmering most of the day. I’ve become very interested in finding a locally made traditional micaceous bean pot for this very thing. One of my neighbors got one locally awhile ago and I think she got it through Ghost Ranch but when I went to the website, they’re sold out. So it’s on my future purchase list.
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alex said on December 19, 2023 at 6:39 pm
Three cheers for the Colorado Supreme Court!
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Scout said on December 19, 2023 at 6:50 pm
alex – yes! I came here to post that but you beat me to it. Hopefully this sets precedent and many other states will follow suit.
Also, Judge William Pryor has denied Mark Meadows’ bid to move his criminal charges into federal court. Another conservative judge who isn’t playing MAGAt reindeer games.
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susan said on December 19, 2023 at 7:04 pm
Deborah, since I had to look up “micaceous bean pot,” I found some pots available on Etsy
Clay pots made with clay that contains sparkly mica.
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Deborah said on December 19, 2023 at 7:56 pm
Susan, those are cool, but I’d like to try and find them locally. Thanks though.
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Deborah said on December 19, 2023 at 8:17 pm
I think I forgot to mention this yesterday, maybe I already did, but LB and my husband had a John Eastman sighting at the post office. LB was standing right behind him and she didn’t recognize him. It wasn’t until they were leaving that my husband told her who it was. My husband said that Eastman just had 2 #10 envelopes that he presented at the counter but that he asked the postal guy a jillion questions about them. So of course I’m fantasizing that they were his official apologies to the Fulton County folks for his involvement in the insurrection, but they were probably just holiday related, but a girl can dream. LB was surprised how small Eastman is, she said he was shorter than her, she’s about 5’ 6”.
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Jeff Gill said on December 19, 2023 at 9:48 pm
Deborah, I wrote the core of that about two years ago. Tweaked a bit. His daughter loved it, and was conflicted about it, and said “print it.” Like most obits, it is crafted to say certain true things, while evading larger truths not suitable for this day or hour.
Someday I’ll say more about the last two weeks, but not now. Doing his funeral Saturday, and then we start sorting out from there, and I don’t mean the house, which won’t take long.
Let me add to Ann from the last thread: oh yeah. If you want a dying family member to get the best care in their last weeks and days, be prepared to put in quality time and using your best skills. And even then, you will find doors slammed well before you get to them. I cannot even imagine how horrifying this process is for people who don’t know the lingo or game rules, when I know both and still barely stayed ahead of things. Privilege? I could quit my [deleted] job and devote full time professional skills to keeping the system working for my father-in-law, and still lost more battles than I won. He had a tall white educated son-of-bitch with vocabulary working for him, and it still was touch and go. For someone without that asset? God help us.
Yeah, I’m-a gonna need some therapy here after New Year’s.
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Julie Robinson said on December 19, 2023 at 9:51 pm
We went out looking at Christmas lights tonight and that was good for the soul. Reading about the latest troubles of TFG helped too. But I cry every time I think about my friend, and we’ve got some health issues in this household that I can’t mention, and I’m struggling to find perspective.
So Suzanne, thanks for setting me straight.
Also, Christian Ziegler of the Floria Three’s Company was stripped of his powers and pay as chair of the state Republican party, and is likely to be fired outright at their next full meeting.
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Jim said on December 20, 2023 at 7:05 am
Mother Ginni tells Clarence what to do .
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Jeff Borden said on December 20, 2023 at 10:32 am
Old Clarence is standing by to give whatever assistance he can to the Orange King. Sure, his wife was an active participant in the efforts to thwart the will of American voters and was literally texting back and forth with Mark Meadows on J6, but he won’t recuse himself.
SCOTUS is just a wreck. It has little to no credibility with the public. And John Roberts isn’t even the chief justice. That would be Strip Search Sammy Alito. Wait ’til those fuckers get their hands on Mifepristone. It’s open season on women’s reproductive rights even if that flies in the face of public opinion.
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Mssr. Coffee said on December 20, 2023 at 11:18 am
“Topic for today: Is there a bigger hypocrite on the public stage than Clarence Thomas?”
I know it’s a terribly obvious answer to your question, but how about: the entire Biden crime family?
Off topic, but winter’s pretty much here. Have you all gotten your 15th booster yet?
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ROGirl said on December 20, 2023 at 11:47 am
The Biden crime family are giving the Corleones a run for their money.
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Alan Stamm said on December 20, 2023 at 11:49 am
Well-said on LeDunce. Compassion and recognition of shared humanity always beat juvenile end zone struts, as I similarly suggest at r/Detoit despite the futility of trying to inject sensitivity there.
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Jenine said on December 20, 2023 at 11:51 am
Via Metafilter, there’s a gift link to the WaPo article by Anne Lamott:
The Dressing-room encounter that made me get real about aging
What good reminders she has
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Sherri said on December 20, 2023 at 2:30 pm
Jonathan Chait, feeling the need to burnish his good centrist bona fides, says the following about the Colorado court decision banning Trump from the ballot:
“The weak point in this argument is the finding that Trump’s behavior constitutes “insurrection.” This is a defensible shorthand for January 6, one I’ve used frequently myself. But it’s not the most precise term. When I have the chance to use a longer description, I generally say that Trump attempted to secure an unelected second term in office.”
The mind boggles, in so many ways. When, oh when, can we be rid of these mediocre white men posing as pundits? (James Bennett, late of the NYTimes, had an article in The Economist that was as bad.)
The job of pundit is probably the bigger problem; nobody is capable of producing worthwhile analysis about everything. If Thomas Friedman had stuck to writing about the Middle East, he’d have a much better reputation than he does for his facile globalization takes and his taxi driver anecdotes.
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Bitter Scribe said on December 20, 2023 at 3:19 pm
To me the most baffling and infuriating aspect of Thomas’ character is his way of internalizing racism.
When he failed to get a job in private practice, did he blame the firms he applied to, for disdaining a Yale Law grad because of the color of his skin? No. He concluded that it was Yale’s fault for having tainted him with the stink of affirmative action, and that the white men who were doing the hiring were entirely justified in assuming that he would be incompetent.
So he took a job in government service, the only one he could find, and proceeded to trash the whole concept of the government serving anyone. Specifically, the concept of government having a hand in correcting racial injustices. It was one of Reagan’s many sick jokes that he was named to head the EEOC.
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Sherri said on December 20, 2023 at 7:06 pm
Thomas thought there was a point to the EEOC. He used it to pick up women. Anita Hill isn’t the only woman who worked for him that he tried to date.
Listen to the latest season of Slow Burn.
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Cheez Whiz said on December 20, 2023 at 8:57 pm
I read LeDuff’s Detroit: An American Autopsy, and having grown up on the East side in a union family that ran to the suburbs every word of it rang true to me. I hate seeing a guy with promise turn into just one more asshole, like we don’t have enough.
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Jeff Borden said on December 21, 2023 at 2:10 pm
Well, after the Colorado case, we get to watch the Heritage Foundation bought-and-paid for Supreme Court rule for tRump. The husband of the seditionist who actively participated in J6 will, of course, not recuse himself because Clarence Thomas does whatever the fuck Clarence Thomas wants to do. They’ll overturn the Colorado ruling in a New York minute.
Unsurprisingly, the East River rat named Ghouliani has declared BK so the women whose lives he utterly upended likely will never get a penny from the rancid little bastard. There’d be a national day of jubilee if any of these pricks ever –ever– were punished for their actions.
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Deborah said on December 21, 2023 at 3:26 pm
Happy Solstice! Now the days will start to get longer again, yay! Meanwhile the high is 48º today in Santa Fe, way too warm for this time of year. Freeze and thaw cycles make the condo parking lot a hazard.
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Ann said on December 21, 2023 at 10:00 pm
Jeff Gill, my heart goes out to you. It’s a terrible system and no one really seems to care.
Jeff Borden, the Georgia judgements were for intentional torts which can’t be discharged in bankruptcy. Doesn’t mean collecting will be easy, but he doesn’t get off just by the bankruptcy filing.
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nancy said on December 22, 2023 at 8:56 am
And for all those crowing, “Wait until he appeals, then the truth will come out!,” be advised he can’t appeal without posting a substantial appeal bond, and no one, but no one, will write him one. I hope those ladies at least maybe get to walk through his apartment and select a few souvenirs.
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