Having failed to destroy Clarence Thomas 32 years ago with preposterous sexual harassment charges (disbelieved at the time by 60% of Americans), now the left is resorting to attacking the ethics of a man vastly more honorable than the collection of degenerates reviling him.
The sole purpose of the media's sudden fixation on the Supreme Court's "ethics" is to morally intimidate conservative justices by reminding them that the left controls the culture. Since they lost abortion, liberals have been in a panic that the court will junk other liberal sacraments, like gay marriage and affirmative action, too. That's the reason for the stream of calumnies directed at the justices.
As usual, the main target of the left's rage is Thomas. We're supposed to be appalled that Thomas' billionaire friend Harlan Crow took the justice and his wife on a vacation that (the media claim) would have cost Thomas more than $500,000!!!
Well, yeah, but Thomas and his wife, Ginny, weren't going alone. They hadn't just won a cruise sweepstakes. They were joining Crow on a vacation he was taking anyway. Cost to donor: a few extra chicken cutlets and string beans.
Crow sounds like a great guy, but when you're going on vacation with a benefactor, it isn't like he's handing you an expensive bauble. You are the expensive bauble.
We went on a cruise on my private yacht in Indonesia and served Jeroboam of Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1945. [Meh.]
We went on a cruise on my private yacht in Indonesia and Justice Clarence Thomas was our guest. WINNER!!!!
Cui bono? Everybody!
The media want us to believe that generosity from personal friends is an ethical issue, but that's because that's not how liberals bribe government officials. They bombard their targets with the sort of public adoration that money can't buy -- or the sort of public hate that money can't block. Your choice: Be beloved from every corner of society or be subjected to nonstop ridicule.
Adored: Anthony Fauci, BLM, Michelle Obama, Trevor Noah, transgenders, Ukraine, black people, pot, Elon Musk (pre-Twitter), Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Hated: Ron DeSantis, the Proud Boys, Melania Trump, Dave Chappelle, Christians, Russia, white people, cigarettes, Elon Musk (post-Twitter), Clarence Thomas.
Thus, during her quarter-century on the court, Ginsburg was showered with alms from the media, Hollywood, universities, television, publishing, the music industry, museums, clothing manufacturers, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Post Office and an array of nonprofits.
It's a miracle she ever had time to write opinions with the constant procession of awards, retrospectives, portraits and honors -- the Berggruen Prize for Philosophy and Culture; the LBJ Foundation's Liberty & Justice for All Award; the World Peace & Liberty Award; a lifetime achievement award from Diane von Furstenberg's foundation; the 2020 Liberty Medal by the National Constitution Center; and the World Peace & Liberty Award from the World Jurist Association and the World Law Foundation.
I would wager that most people would prefer ceaseless public praise to a cruise, no matter how nice the yacht.
The U.S. Postal Service produced an RBG "Forever" stamp; the U.S. Navy named an oiler the "Ruth Bader Ginsburg"; Los Angeles' Skirball Cultural Center put on a large-scale exhibition on her life; the Cleveland Museum of Natural History named a species of praying mantis after her; she was slobberingly interviewed by Stephen Colbert; a Sam Adams beer was named in her honor; and she received honorary degrees from literally dozens upon dozens of universities.
Say, did any of these outfits have an interest in cases that might come before the court? Perhaps MSNBC could look into that.
It's curious that the very cultural institutions bestowing all these goodies on liberals don't see them as "gifts" at all. There are no somber invocations of "ethics" when the Sundance Film Festival features a North Korean-style documentary about Ginsburg. Nor when The New York Times gushes that Ginsburg was "a trailblazing feminist ... [continuing] to point the way toward greater equality ... she never wavered in her commitment to the court as a vehicle for a more just and more equal America. She was a dogged, tireless fighter ... [gag, gag, gag]."
Try to imagine that string of accolades being given to Thomas, much less the Tiger Beat worship -- the coloring books, documentaries, bobbleheads, and so on.
It's inconceivable. In fact, the "honors and recognition" section on Thomas' Wikipedia page contains a single item: "In 2012, Thomas received an honorary degree from the College of the Holy Cross, his alma mater."
The only reward a conservative titan like Thomas will receive in this lifetime will be his friends spending their own money to enjoy his company. So the media have decided that's a conflict of interest. Fawning media coverage worth millions of dollars: not a conflict of interest.
Let's compare!
Value of private supporters' gifts to Justice Thomas over the years: Maybe a few million dollars -- and that's according to liberals, although the donor was going on these vacations with or without Thomas, so the cost to him was minimal.
Value of liberal institutions' gifts to Justice Ginsburg over the years: approximately $3 trillion.
It's been a long time coming, but we finally have a Supreme Court that isn't dying to impose faddish liberal ideas on the country by claiming to discover never-before-seen constitutional rights. If anything, the Dobbs opinion should have calmed lefties. Abortion is no longer a "constitutional right," so now it's up to the states. And guess what, liberals? Americans are voting to allow abortion!
But Democrats are mostly neurotic women, so "calm" is not their middle name.
Contrary to the left's self-advertisements as huge fans of democracy -- Democracy Dies in Darkness! -- the last thing they want is people voting on their crazy ideas. That's why they've got to discredit the current court.
If all goes according to plan, Trump will lose another election for the GOP next year, handing Democrats super-majorities in Congress, whereupon they will pack the court. Finally, liberals will have their magical Supreme Court back! How much is that penumbra worth to you, New York Times?
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