Day: December 23, 2024

An “Ethical Crisis”

For years now many of us here in the blogosphere have been telling the world that there was a moral and ethical crisis within our Supreme Court….now a report has been issued but it will be attacked as misinformation and just naysayers popping off.

Some of the judges have been taking favors from special interests and some have been openly partisan and others….well you get the jest….

The report of which I spoke….

A report released Saturday by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee after a 20-month investigation declares the Supreme Court “has mired itself in an ethical crisis of its own making.” The report lists a series of ethical lapses and failures and estimates the value of gifts accepted by Justice Clarence Thomas in the millions of dollars. “The number, value, and extravagance of the gifts accepted by Justice Thomas have no comparison in modern American history,” the report says, per the Washington Post. Those gifts sometimes came from people with issues before the court, it adds.

Congress needs to enact an enforceable ethics code that would provide for an independent panel to review complaints, the report says. The committee approved such a bill this year along party lines, per NBC News, but Republicans prevented a Senate vote. “It’s clear that the justices are losing the trust of the American people at the hands of a gaggle of fawning billionaires,” Chairman Dick Durbin said in a statement. Republicans on the committee did not take part in the investigation.

The report lists previously documented gifts as well as free travel by Thomas that hadn’t been disclosed, including a yacht trip to New York City sponsored by Harlan Crow, a Texas billionaire and Thomas benefactor. Thomas did not answer investigators’ inquiries but previously maintained he wasn’t obligated to report many gifts because they were covered by a “personal hospitality” exemption in force at the time. As polls have shown its public popularity falling, the court approved an ethics code a year ago, per the Post, that has no enforcement mechanism.

More than few people have been calling for some sort of true reform of SCOTUS….from term limits to retirement age to recusal mandatory when appropriate….things need to change the court is NO longer the ‘referee’ of our government but the spokesman for one party.

This is just a wish list as we head into yet another dismal 4 years and all I can do is just fight back as I see fit.

When I read the report I thought ‘seriously?  How long did it take to come up with this conclusion?  A conclusion that many already have.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Biden’s Shot In The Dark

Biden’s days are numbered and he will soon retire to someplace in Delaware and write a book. But before he goes he took a stab at looking like a president that cared.

His big announcement was about the environment….

President Biden is pledging to cut US greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% by 2035 as he fights to ensure his legacy on slowing global warming, even as President-elect Trump vows to undo much of Biden’s climate work when he takes office next month. Biden said the new goal—which supersedes a previous plan to cut carbon emissions at least in half by 2030—keeps the United States on track to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy-wide by 2050, per the AP. The US is making a formal submission of the new target, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution, to the United Nations under terms of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, Biden said Thursday.

The new goal calls for reducing net emissions by 61% to 66% below 2005 levels in 2035. “I’m proud that my administration is carrying out the boldest climate agenda in American history,” Biden said in a videotaped statement. “We’re doing it by setting ambitious goals,” such as deploying 30 gigawatts of offshore wind and conserving at least 30% of US lands and waters by 2030, Biden said. His administration also has set strict new standards to cut air pollution from cars, trucks, and power plants and signed into law the most significant investments in climate and clean energy in US history, he said.

The proposal would require sustained changes across the economy, from power generation to transportation, buildings, agriculture, and industry, including significant increases in renewable energy and steep cuts in emissions from fossil fuels. The US pledge includes methane reductions of at least 35% from 2005 levels by 2035, Biden said. Cutting methane emissions is among the fastest ways to reduce near-term warming and is crucial to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The action by the Democratic president comes just over a month before he’s set to leave office. Trump has already promised to unleash a series of executive actions that will seek to undo most or all of Biden’s climate agenda as the Republican president-elect pushes for “energy dominance” around the globe. More here.

This is a bold proposal but where was it 4 years ago?

How will this be carried out when in just days the most climate hostile president will take office?

This was lame and a shot in the dark….kinda like most Biden policies.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”