What A Day - Clarence The Big Red Flag

Episode Date: July 10, 2023

A New York Times report published Sunday revealed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s involvement in the exclusive Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans. According to the The Times, Justice Thomas’s three decade membership granted him access to benefits – many unreported – from wealthy members and friends.Last Friday, the Dutch government collapsed after the parties in its ruling coalition failed to agree on migration policy. A general election will be held this fall, and in the meantime, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his government will continue operating in a caretaker capacity.And in headlines: U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that Sudan is on the brink of a full-scale civil war, Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth can take effect immediately, and Tracy Chapman has made music history.Show notes:New York Times: Where Clarence Thomas Entered an Elite Circle and Opened a Door to the Court - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/us/clarence-thomas-horatio-alger-association.htmlWhat A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Monday, July 10th. I'm Treville Anderson. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice, and this is What A Day, where we can't believe we actually have to say this, but please stop throwing objects at musicians on stage. You know, Josie, back in my day, we used to just throw our panties and bras on stage, but now they're throwing cell phones. What's going on?

Right, if you're going to throw something, let it be soft and fabric. And let me also just say, generally don't throw things at people. That's like a general rule. Right. On today's show, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that Sudan is on the brink of a full-scale civil war. Plus, Tracy Chapman has made music history.

But first, the Clarence Thomas drama continues. It's like watching a car crash if that car crash also didn't believe in systemic racism. On Sunday, the New York Times published a piece about the Justice's involvement

in the Horatio Alger Association and all the benefits that it has brought him over the years. Oy yoy yoy. We've been talking a lot over the last few months about Mr. Thomas

in particular. So with this issue, let's start with the obvious. What on earth is the Horatio Alger Association? Great question. I had never heard of it either, even though I thought I'd heard of every conservative society during my three years in enemy territory, I lost school. But anyway, the group is named after the author Horatio Alger, who is known for his quote unquote rags to riches stories. And the association Horatio Alger, who is known for his, quote unquote, rags to riches stories. And the association was created in 1947, quote, to dispel the mounting belief among our nation's youth that the American dream was no longer attainable. Let's play pop quiz. What happened many years after 1947? Black people getting just general rights.

So I feel like it's rich. It's rich to create this association in 1947. The goal of the association is, quote, to recognize men and women of outstanding achievement as a way to remind Americans of the limitless possibilities that exist through the free enterprise system. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. It's exactly right.

This is like the classic straw man fallacy, I feel like. At least no one is saying today no one can attain the American dream, or even that no black person could attain the American dream. People believe that it's harder for some people, particularly minorities and historically oppressed groups, to attain that dream than others. So the point of this association, this society is like to refute an argument that no one's really making, right? The second thing I'll say is that this Americans of Outstanding Achievement thing that ends in the limitless possibilities that exist in the free enterprise

system, I feel like we're not going to be on the short list for this association. And maybe that's because we're not in the Supreme Court. Fair, right? But I bet you Ketanji Brown-Jackson is also not on the short list because that line about the free enterprise system tells us all we need to know about who is actually going to be invited to be part of this group. Yeah, it's not sounding great. OK, so tell us a little bit about how Justice Thomas became part of this group and what that actually means. Yeah. So he became part of this group within months of being appointed to the Supreme Court, which to me feels, you know, the timing. I have questions. As for what it meant, it's a little like complicated. According to the New York Times, quote, while he has never held an official leadership position, in some ways, he has

become the association's leading light. And that's meant a few things. So first, he's granted the organization a lot of access and attention, right? According to the Times, every year he presides over the group's signature event, a ceremony in the courtroom at which he places medals around the necks of new lifetime members. It's weird. The vibes are off, you know? The main concern is what have members done for him, really? Because it's clear that it's a real path to access to prominent conservatives. And so, for example, David Sokol, a very rich financier, he's part of the organization. He describes himself as close personal friends with Justice Thomas and his wife, Jenny.

And there are many others as well. The article outlines trips he's taken with Sokol and with others and opportunities that have arisen and that he's kind of created from being part of this organization, right? The article does not allege any direct corruption. They do not say that Thomas ruled a certain way due to his relationships. But I think the point is that all of this contributes to the perception that Thomas has these ties and he's intentionally not disclosed how deep these ties go in these conservative social, financial, and political circles. So no matter what political party you belong to, this is kind of concerning, you know. The article mentions a couple of other relevant things. First, that Thomas's willingness to accept gifts from influential conservatives

goes back before his time as a SCOTUS justice. In fact, it goes back to at least the mid-80s when he was chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission under Reagan, which apparently, yes, he was. And I know what you're thinking, because I was thinking it. An ex-girlfriend of his says that a vacation of theirs was paid for by a quote-unquote buddy of Thomas's back then. And apparently, a friend of his paid for the justices' 1987 wedding reception. And that's according to the friend himself who told the Times that he did that. Another relevant thing that the article mentions, in the first decade or so of his tenure on the Supreme Court, Thomas did disclose some of the private flights he took and some of

the gifts he received. And then in 2004, the LA Times reported on those gifts and travel. And so then he stopped reporting. Which is interesting. It is interesting. Just as not inspiring confidence, I'll put it that way. Yeah, not at all. Is this allowed, right? Like, is he breaking any laws, any ethical rules, perhaps? It's funny because the answer is no. What we would expect of him morally is very different than what he's required to do. And pound for pound, Supreme Court justices may be the most powerful people in America, and they're the highest body of the judiciary, and they are totally unaccountable to the American people. Like at least presidents have to run for reelection. These people traditionally just have to do nothing and they don't have to disclose anything and they have lifetime tenure. It's

crazy. Like on one hand, I do get the value of this non-political, at least in theory, government body. On the other, if they have lifetime tenure, lifetime tenure should mean basic ethical guidelines that they have to meet, right? Like reporting gifts they get from partisan fanatics. That just feels very basic to me. And it's not going to just be Thomas, right? He's not going to be the only person who's been on a private plane. It's all of them, probably.

At least we know it's some of them. And it's crazy that we're just now finding this out. Recently, the court system has said that there will be tighter disclosure rules, including when people travel by private jet, as well as free vacations at commercial properties. But there's still plenty they don't have to report. So they don't have to report their spouse's income, for example. And trust me, I would love to know where Miss Jenny is getting her money, because she is getting that money left and right.

And they don't have to report information about personal hospitality, which includes, quote, food, lodging, or entertainment of a personal non-business nature, which all of this could be, right? Because it's me hanging out with my friends, like me hanging out with my association members. But the point is, like, your personal non-business stuff leaks into your business stuff. And as American citizens, we should know about this. You know, this is kind of the tone from justices these past few months. Like I'm a person, I get to have friends. The answer is like, yes, you can have friends. But if you go to dinner with your friends, you have to pay. You can't go to the fancy ranch. You can't get on the plane. You are a public servant and you have to act like one. That is bottom line, right? You would think. You would think. But we keep having

all these examples of people doing otherwise. Absolutely. Well, thank you for that update on Mr. Thomas getting on our nerves more and more. Now on to some news about other people's governments and their problems. Late last week, the Dutch government collapsed after the parties in its ruling coalition failed to agree on how to address the Netherlands migration issue. Their inability to do so prompted Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is one of Europe's longest serving leaders, having overseen four cabinets now, to tender his resignation to the country's king. He told reporters on Friday, quote, it is no secret that the coalition partners have very different views on migration policy. And today, unfortunately, we have to draw the

conclusion that those differences are irreconcilable. Oof, that is intense and seems like a big deal. Tell us more. How did we get here? First, some background. The Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy, which means that their head of state is, in this case, a king whose powers are laid down in the constitution. But his powers are fairly limited, and it's the ministers under the direction of the prime minister that really operate the government.

Now, Prime Minister Ruda's government was composed of a four-party coalition. His own party, which is the center-right People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, as well as the centrist pro-European D66, and two centrist Christian parties called the CDA and the Christianian union just for the record i know you all hear freedom and democracy and you think liberal and progressive but it don't work that way over there fyi okay so be careful yeah all these groups sound not great you know they could be better they all could be better for sure so for a months now, the parties in the coalition have been struggling to agree on how to address migration, like I mentioned. Even though the Netherlands already has immigration policies on the books that are stricter than other European Union nations, there's been a severe strain on the country's housing capacity.

More than 400,000 people immigrated to the Netherlands last year. That's an increase from the year before. And more than 21,000 people from outside the European Union sought asylum in the Netherlands last year. All of that is according to the Dutch government. Now, there were a number of policy proposals that the coalition discussed. Two of the ones that seem to be central to this split that we're now seeing are one, a policy that would create two classes of asylum, one class that would be temporary for people fleeing conflicts, and another one that would be permanent for people trying to escape persecution. And then the second policy would have reduced the number of family members who are allowed to join asylum seekers in the country.

Reportedly, while the coalition parties were ready to agree with the two-tier asylum system, they would not agree to the second proposal, which would have also put in place a two-year waiting period before refugees already living in the Netherlands could be joined by their children. So they basically wanted to keep families apart a lot longer than was necessary. So that's what led to the prime minister to say to himself, give it up delicious and, you know, submit his resignation. Yeah, this is really not good. So what happens now? Well, this government just took office in January of last year, and it was supposed to be set until 2025. But with Ruda's resignation, a general election will be held this fall, likely in November. In the meantime, Ruda and his ministers will continue to serve as caretakers for the government, but they won't be really passing any major laws or legislation in the meantime. But all of this is really interesting, though, because we've seen and we've been witnessing

how far-right conservatism is spreading. We've obviously seen it here in the U.S., but it's also happening globally. And we've covered at length, for example, you know, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgio Maloney, who was elected last year, as well as Greece's Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who was re-elected last month. And a lot of that far-right conservatism is in favor of the type of hella restrictive migration policies that Ruda and his side of the coalition in the Netherlands have been pushing. And so the collapse of the Dutch coalition government over these proposed refugee policies really underscores in so many ways

how potent of an issue immigration is in Europe's politics and how stopping far-right parties from capitalizing on it is a growing issue for more mainstream and progressive politicians. Again, we're seeing it and experiencing it here in the U.S., but it's also happening

internationally as well. Now, that is the latest for now. We're going to take a quick break to pay some bills and we will be right back. Now, let's wrap up with some headlines. Headlines. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Saturday that the ongoing war in Sudan has pushed the country to the, quote, brink of a full-scale civil war. He also warned that the war could potentially destabilize the entire region. That's according to a statement by the UN chief's deputy spokesman. In the statement, the UN secretary general also condemned an airstrike in the Sudanese city of Amdermen

Saturday, which reportedly killed at least 22 people in the city, making the airstrike one of the deadliest attacks in the nearly three months of conflict. As you'll remember, the fighting broke out back in April between the Sudanese military and the paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. Since then, more than 3,000 people have been killed and over 6,000 others have been wounded, according to Health Minister Haitham Mohamed Ibrahim. Meanwhile, millions of others have had to flee their homes due to the clashes.

In his statement, Guterres once again reiterated his call for the rival factions to cease fighting and quote, commit to a durable cessation of hostilities. Starting tomorrow, President Joe Biden will join leaders gathering in Vilnius, Lithuania for this year's annual NATO summit. Among other things, they'll be discussing whether or not to admit Sweden as the military alliance's 32nd member, as well as Ukraine's potential membership. President Biden weighed in on the topic of Ukraine joining NATO during a CNN interview that aired on Sunday, in which he said that the country was not, quote, ready for membership in the alliance. Biden also said that he doesn't believe there's unanimity in whether or not to bring Ukraine into the alliance right now, adding that it's premature to call for a vote at this time because there's, quote,

other qualifications that need to be met, including democratization. President Biden's five-day European trip began yesterday. He'll be meeting with King Charles at Windsor Castle today to discuss climate change before heading to Lithuania on Tuesday for the NATO summit. Biden's last stop will be Finland, where he will meet with Nordic leaders. Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth can take effect immediately, a federal appeals court ruled on Saturday morning. The panel of three judges voted two to one to reverse a lower court's injunction last month, in which a judge had blocked large swaths of the law from taking effect on July 1st. The law bans transgender therapies like hormone blockers and gender-affirming surgeries for minors,

all of which are essential for healthy transitioning. The ruling remains preliminary until September 30th, when the appeals court plans to reach a final decision on the law. Tennessee is one of at least 20 states that have recently enacted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, and in places like Kentucky and Indiana, judges have also blocked those laws from being enforced. 20 states that have recently enacted bans or restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors, and in places like Kentucky and Indiana, judges have also blocked those laws from being enforced. In response to Tennessee's ruling, the ACLU in a statement said, quote, We want all the transgender youth of Tennessee to know this fight is far from over,

and we will continue to challenge this law until it is permanently defeated and Tennessee is made a safer place to raise every family. We have been keeping the ACLU busy lately, and I'm glad they keep showing up. Absolutely. And finally, some good historical news. Tracy Chapman has made music history as the first Black woman with a sole songwriting credit on a number one country hit after Luke Holmes' cover of her folk soul hit, Fast Car, topped the Billboard charts. Fast Car came out more than three decades ago on Chapman's 1988 debut album. It tells the story of a woman dreaming of escaping poverty and starting over somewhere

new. In 1989, Chapman took home three trophies from that year's Grammys, where she won Best Contemporary Folk Recording, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for Fast Car, and Best New Artist. Fast Car was also nominated for Record and Song of the Year. In response to being on the country charts this year, Chapman, who is usually pretty private, told Billboard last week that she was honored and, quote, grateful that new fans have found

and embraced Fast Car. We love this win. It's great news. Absolutely. Fast Car is like one of those like queer anthems that you know so good but a lot of folks don't know today because they're all 10 that's so sad to me i can't believe people don't know fast car like i can't believe that's where we are as a society that explains so much you know i mean people are listening to listening to Luke Holmes sing it for the first time and they love it.

But do know as much great music. OK, it first came from a black queer woman. All right. Oof. Speak it. That's beautiful. Know your history. Know your history. And those are the headlines.

One last thing before we go. A quick correction. On Friday's show, we attributed the site Mastodon to Jack Dorsey, when Mastodon is in fact a decentralized social network that was created by Eugene Rochko, not Jack Dorsey. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave reviews, stop throwing objects on stage, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Clarence Thomas' long list of GIFs like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Cricut.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Rice.

I'm Traevel Anderson. And stream Fast Car. The Tracy Chapman original version. Yeah. You can stream the Luke Combs one too, but you gotta stream the Tracy Chapman one just as many times or more. Absolutely. Now, you know, she's going to get the coins regardless because she is the writer and she owns the publishing rights. Shout out to her.

But yeah, stream the original. Please and thank you. Well, today's a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our show's producers, Itzy King-Denia, Raven Yamamoto, and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers. Our intern is Ryan Cochran, and our senior producer is Lito Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilli, and Kashaka.