18 Comments
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Lesley Smith's avatar

Excellence in writing...

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Christine Winslow's avatar

I remember the hearings. I was disgusted with the way Anita Hill was treated. Then Thomas was confirmed and I was in shock. He has no place being on the Supreme Court.

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Teri's avatar

Such a class act, that man.

/s

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Lorraine Richards's avatar

Yes, if classy is near profanity to Anita Hill and all those professionals Questioning him. What was he talking about about also as gross....And he brought up those things in professional meetings mostly. He had quite the record

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Teri's avatar
1dEdited

Thomas is a despicable excuse for a human being. It’s disgusting that he holds so much power, literally life and death.

You do know that I was being sarcastic, right?

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Handmai9999's avatar

We have to talk about Clarence! He already was deep into his resentment by time he illegally sexually pestered Anita.

By time the Gullah Geechee teen arrived at Holy Cross, he was a farmer-jean-wearing, card-carrying-member of The Black Panther Party. He hated how hard his upbringing had been and he wasn't looking back.

Then he learned some things. He got his JD at Yale in 74. What he didnt get were job offers. The Masters of the Universe scooped up all his friends and brought them to worship at the altar of Wall Street. He got a job at Monsanto briefly then began his lifetime of government work.

As an aide to Sen Danforth he became keenly aware of what a unicorn he was to the GOP. He learned how to slay, as only unicorns can. Reagan hired him to work at the EEOC where Thomas' tenure was about 15 minutes compared in time on task, to his sinecure as the most meh Supreme ever. He made a conscious choice, he'd exploit the exploitation! A career as a mediocre judge defending white mediocrity was his ticket to the top. His GOP conversion came with great gifts. He got off easy from Senate Judicial Committee under the mediocre leadership of Joe Biden. Fuck that black woman Anita! I may have never really practiced law for long enough for a partnership at even the most podunk firm, but Im on the SCOTUS biiiitttccchhes!

Carry on

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Kate Schwarz's avatar

Exactly so. I remember.

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Diane Battista's avatar

I remember these hearings

He should’ve never ever been confirmed .

Of course, Anita Hill was telling the truth

He has been bought and paid for by a billionaire

Something that was not known for many years .

The damage and the compromising he has done on the Supreme Court is irreparable

Another one about revenge and retribution

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Martha HB's avatar

There needs to be term limits on Scotus. We are stuck with people like Thomas for life. That is disgusting.

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Saralyn Fosnight's avatar

I’ve always felt that Clarence Thomas was completely ungrateful for the breaks he received for doing nothing other than being born Black, and because of those benefits he felt that others, white others, looked down on him. If he could have washed away his Blackness with several gallons of Clorox, he would have. But in America, skin color, unfortunately, makes a lot of a person’s decisions for them. Barack and Michelle Obama must have galled him to the depths of his ugly soul. They participated in American culture, ambivalent though it is, with enthusiasm and decency. But Clarence Thomas is not a decent man. He has no idea of how to be a decent human being. That much was clear in the Congressional hearings for his confirmation. And in his years on the court he has occupied a chair with very little to say because rather like Trump, he’s not a very bright person. He couldn’t begin to hold a candle when compared to Thurgood Marshall, who was actually a giant. So he’s never grown even an inch in stature or intellectual clout, as this excellent article makes clear. I believed Anita Hill and have never changed my mind about that. I’m sure it galls his soul to know, as I have a feeling he does, that there is no way on earth that he has the stature of Marshall. He’s not even a shadow of Marshall. He’s much too small for that.

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Teri's avatar

And someone please tell me…what’s he gonna do when they finally go after Loving v Virginia?

You know it’s in someone’s crosshairs.

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Monty Cobb's avatar

"Clarence Thomas has the ethics of a dropped urinal cake." Why so kind? At least a dropped urinal cake (a visual I can smell) has no ethics. Ol' Clarence has reverse ethics - do whatever you want and call it ethical.

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JUDI MASTROIANNI's avatar

I always believed Anita Hill!

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Bill Page's avatar

We know original intent. The writers of the 18th century Federalist Papers told us. The 21st century Federalist Society doesn't seem to have read them, though, and their follower Justices keep telling us the law isn't what past lawmakers meant, let alone what they clearly wrote, but what today's rich and bigoted sponsors want it to be.

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Eddie's avatar

Clarence is a dark-robed politican posing as a pompous jurist.

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.” – Groucho Marx

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EMMA GOLDMAN's avatar

Somewhere on the internet there is a voice mail message from an unknown colleague in which he says, laughing, "As soon as I heard 'Long Dong Silver,' I KNEW IT WAS THOMAS."

INFURIATING.

OTOH, better confessions from a can of Coke than Mr. LD Silver…?

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Cynthia Johnston's avatar

Apologies for the paywall, above. Also I hope I'm not "overstepping" by posting this and that but it's for the good of all. With massive gratitude to the brave souls and brilliant writers at Closer to the Edge for keeping F&L alive and well. Selah!

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