Awful Supreme Court Sides with Union-Busters - The Friday AM Quickie 6/14/24
As Russia prepares to put American journalist Evan Gershkovich on trial for "false and baseless" espionage charges, it's a good time to reiterate that journalism is not a crime. Have a nice weekend! Jacob's back Monday. - Corey
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THE BIG NEWS
A Mixed Bag of Decisions from the Black-Robed Hacks
Democratic Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Richard Durbin yesterday announced that staff investigators had uncovered at least three more undisclosed junkets gifted to right-wing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by his billionaire buddy Harlan Crow, the Republican megadonor and Nazi memorabilia collector. The domestic trips did not appear to coincide with any public appearances by Thomas, and took place on Crow's Bombardier Global 5000, "a jet that can cost over $10,000 per flight hour to charter," according to ProPublica. Thomas has not commented on the latest revelations about his corrupt conduct, but his attorney, Elliot Berke, tells the Washington Post he was not required to disclose these trips because they fell under a "personal hospitality exemption." Durbin says the undislcosed gifts make "it crystal clear that the highest court needs an enforceable code of conduct, because its members continue to choose not to meet the moment."
And what a moment it is! Thomas wrote the majority opinion in a decision yesterday in which the court sided with Starbucks against the National Labor Relations Board and the "Memphis Seven" union organizers the company fired. The court's latest gift to union-busting corporations was virtually unanimous; liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a separate opinion dissenting in part but concurring with the overall judgment limiting the NLRB's power to protect employees who seek to form a union from retaliation. "Working people have so few tools to protect and defend themselves when their employers break the law," Workers United president Lynne Fox said, adding that the "egregious" ruling "underscores how the economy is rigged against working people all the way up to the Supreme Court."
In another unanimous decision yesterday, the court ruled that anti-abortion groups lacked standing to challenge the Food and Drug Administration's approval of the widely used abortion drug mifepristone. The decision means mifepristone will still be sold online and through the mail in the US -- for now. However, per Politico, "tucked in the pages of the unanimous ruling were potentially useful hints for abortion opponents, laying out a path to mount similar challenges to the medication in the future and limit abortion access in other ways." (Meanwhile in the Senate, all but two Republicans voted to block a Democratic bill protecting suddenly very controversial in vitro fertilization treatments.)
The court has yet to rule on 26 cases this term, including Donald Trump's insane "presidential immunity" claims, gun control and environmental protections, social media regulation, and a challenge to the enforcement powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission and other agencies. Which means there's still time for any friendly billionaires out there to make their arguments heard.
MORE STORIES TO WATCH
Law & Order Roundup: 30 Years for Bong Water?
- Justice Department Details 'Pervasive Failings' of Trigger-Happy Phoenix Police Force The DOJ "pattern or practice" investigation says Phoenix, Arizona cops unconstitutionally harass homeless people, discriminate against Black, Hispanic and Native American people, recklessly deploy deadly force and delay medical aid to those they injure, and have a policy to "incarcerate as many individuals as possible" at protests; the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association calls the federal probe "a farce." via the Los Angeles Times and Phoenix New Times.
- South Bend Police Department Declines to Fire Cop Found Guilty of Sexually Abusing Teen While on Duty Officer Timothy Barber was allowed to resign after taking a plea deal that suspended his prison sentence entirely, and apparently still holds a certification from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy. via the Washington Post.
- Suspended Fresno Chief Begs Reporters Not to Ask 'Click Bait' Questions About His 2-Year Affair with Officer's Wife California Chief Paco Balderrama reportedly "used his position to undermine the [subordinate] officer's career moves that would have freed his weekends, which would have interfered with the affair." via the LA Times and the San Joaquin Valley Sun.
- NYPD Inspector Indicted for Covering Up Evidence of His Girlfriend Crashing His Police SUV After Drinking 7 Shots and 3 Beers in 3 Hours New York Police Department Inspector Paul Zangrilli, whose makes $200,000 a year, was also blotto when his girlfriend crashed his police vehicle into a cab; after trying to bribe the cabbie, he drove to his precinct, called the bar owner, and told him to delete the surveillance video. via the Associated Press and Gothamist.
Increasingly Incoherent Trump Still Reliable When It Comes to Tax Cuts for the Rich
Deranged felon Donald Trump turns 78 today. Most of the House Republican conference sang "Happy Birthday" to him yesterday at the Capitol Hill Club during his first return visit to the Hill since his Jan. 6, 2021 failed coup attempt. One person who was in the room tells the news nonprofit NOTUS that Trump "rambled" for an hour like "your drunk uncle at the family reunion," repeating his bizarre praise for fictional cannibal Hannibal Lecter, calling RNC host city Milwaukee a "horrible" place, and claiming that one of Nancy Pelosi's daughters told him that "if things were different, Nancy and I would be perfect together." (Pelosi's daughters all deny it.) The only policy talk seems to have been about scrapping the income tax. Trump moved on to a meeting with the dangerously tipsy Larry Kudlow at the Business Roundtable where he promised to cut corporate tax rates if reelected. Meanwhile in Georgia, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told a Black church audience that her "idiot" detractors were like "silly schoolboys" and that they don't concern her because she is "too busy working 15-hour days...to fulfill my God-given purpose" holding lawbreakers like Trump accountable.
QUICKEST QUICKIES
- Biden Signs 10-Year Security Deal with Zelenskyy, But There's One Big Loophole A future Republican president could terminate the long-term US military agreement with Ukraine simply "by providing a written notification through diplomatic channels," which is exactly what Trump did to nullify Obama's groundbreaking Iran deal in 2018. via the New York Times and the Guardian.
- 6 States Now Endorse PragerU Propaganda Videos as Public School Classroom Materials Louisiana, Florida, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Montana and Arizona have announced "partnerships" with the right-wing talk-show host Dennis Prager's nonprofit, which is not a university, granting state sanction to its "lessons"; teachers' groups slam the materials as "hyperpartisan...inaccurate and incredibly substandard." via the Washington Post.
- Centrist Democrats Backed By Bloomberg's Bucks Try to Paint DSA-Backed Black Candidate Who Grew Up in Brooklyn Projects as a Gentrifier House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is "deeply involved" in a New York State Assembly race between his preferred candidate, Stefani Zinerman, and Eon Huntley, who is endorsed by the local Democratic Socialists of America. via Politico.
- Injurious Freeway Crash Shows Why John Fetterman's Staff Refuse to Ride with Him When He's Driving Police say the Pennsylvania Democratic Senator was at fault for a Sunday morning crash on Interstate 70 in Maryland, in which he rear-ended another vehicle and sent the driver, a 62-year-old woman, to the hospital in an ambulance; Fetterman was speeding, as he is wont to do. via the Post.
SOME NUMBER
$44.9 Billion
That's how much white supremacist oligarch Elon Musk's pay package as chief executive of Tesla was worth as of April, the Associated Press reports. Tesla shareholders, chanting "Elon! Elon!", yesterday voted to uphold his outrageous compensation despite a Delaware court's recent ruling that it is invalid; the shareholder vote may or may not sway the court to reverse that decision. Tesla did not release the full results of the vote, but one Musk-friendly blogger claims 90 percent of retail investors voted to keep shoveling the floundering company's money into Musk's personal accounts.
ON THE SHOW TODAY
6/14: It's Casual Friday! And Sam is opening up the phone lines! Call in at 646-257-3920 as Sam and the MR Crew discuss the stories of the day and react to clips!
DON'T MISS MR CLIPS
Sinclair Broadcasting: A Right-Wing Threat to Democracy
Local media ownership isn't always perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than whatever this is.
MSNBC Moron Goes FULL GHOUL
Disturbing!
PARTING WORDS
"As soon as I was like, I'm not going to praise you all the time, I'm not going to be a propaganda piece for you, they stopped talking to me."
-- Alaina Wood, "a Gen Z sustainability scientist and content creator," speaking to the Washington Post about the Biden campaign's struggle to win over young voters by "courting friendly influencers while shutting out others who have been critical of the administration." Social media analytics show that in the first four months of this year, lefty TikTokers have posted anti-Biden content racking up over 100 million views; Biden's support for a TikTok ban, Israel's war in Gaza, and new oil and gas projects are particularly unpopular.
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