#leonard barr

[oldshowbiz]

Dean Martin’s Uncle Leonard Barr at Canada’s only burlesque house

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Ansev Demirhan at Ms. Magazine:

The anti-feminist Independent Women’s Voice/Forum (IWF/V) has officially launched its 2024 election agenda. An internal fundraising document provided to True North Research shows one way it is putting that agenda into action is by continuing to try and blunt the horrific repercussions of the Supreme Court overturning Roe, while deploying their veneer of independence to sway centrist and independent voters.  The document details a two-phase plan and a budget that is almost twice the amount it proposed in its 2022 midterm fundraising documents, as reported by The Washington Post. Despite claiming to take no position on abortion, IWF/V launched a PR campaign ahead of the 2022 midterms—the first election cycle following the Dobbs decision—which included advertising trying to convince younger women that reproductive rights were less important than other issues the group listed. 

One way IWF/V’s agenda for this election cycle stands out from its previous midterm action plan is its emphasis on reassuring women that access to contraception is not in jeopardy—despite key voices in the anti-abortion movement making it clear otherwise. The group is a member of Project 2025, a MAGA blueprint that includes detailed plans to attack contraception access, promote the rhythm method, deploy the CDC to increase “abortion surveillance” and data collection and much more.  IWF/V also has a long history of undermining contraception access, though the group has a talking point about supporting over-the-counter availability of the contraception pill.

IWF/V’s “Hope Agenda”

Independent Women’s Forum (IWF), a 501(c)(3), and its 501(c)(4) the Independent Women’s Voice (IWV), are pay-to-play groups that use their “independent” branding to laud right-wing politicians along with the legislative wish lists of some for-profit corporations, such as Juul. Based on its most recent tax filings, the groups reported a combined $8.1 million in revenue. IWF/V has received money from the Koch network, Leonard Leo’s network and funds from secretive donor-advised funds, like the Bradley Impact Fund, the National Christian Charitable Foundation and DonorsTrust. 

[...]

But Americans are intimately familiar with the political reality of abortion access in this country. 

The majority of states have abortion restrictions or bans in place that make it difficult for pregnant Americans to receive essential healthcare. 

The U.S. Supreme Court continues to be deployed as a tool to potentially limit abortion access nationally (in the mifepristone and EMTALA cases). 

Over 64,000 unwanted pregnancies have been caused by rape in states with total abortion bans that were implemented post-Roe. 

Abortions increased in 2023, the first full calendar year following the Dobbs decision, because people continue to need and seek abortions despite the fractured abortion healthcare landscape unleashed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Americans are also faced with the political reality that the anti-abortion movement is coming for contraception. That is one reason why IWF/V honing in on messaging around birth control access as something that is safeguarded and supported by the GOP is so troubling. The group itself has a history of opposing contraception access. 

[...]

Anti-trans messaging is also central to IWF/V’s plan to ‘get out the vote’ in 2024, according to its “Hope Agenda.” IWF also attacked the Right to Contraception Act, using anti-trans scaremongering to falsely suggest that this legislation would “require doctors to sterilize minors.” This is not the only anti-trans tactic the group has used to detract from the devastating impact of the overturn of Roe.  IWF/V is also behind the anti-trans “model” bill the “Women’s Bill of Rights,” which enumerates no rights other than the right to discriminate against transgender people, especially transgender women. This model bill has ostensibly been used by so-called conservative or independent policymakers and groups that allegedly care more about American women, but IWF/V itself has repeatedly attacked pro-woman policies. IWF/V has opposed the Equal Rights Amendment,  federal paid leave, federally subsidized child care, the Violence Against Women Act and Title IX—though it recently backed a watered-down version of VAWA and for decades it sided with men’s sports teams against Title IX spending on women’s sports until it deployed anti-trans messaging about women’s sports.

Ms. Magazine exposes the right-wing Koch/Leonard Leo-funded antifeminist group Independent Women's Forum and their sister groups Independent Women's Voice and Independent Women’s Law Center. These groups claim to be pro-women, but in reality, the policies they support-- such as anti-trans "Women's Bill of Rights" and attacks on abortion access, contraception, and in vitro fertilization-- are harmful to women.

[rwpohl]

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Vivek Ramaswamy has described himself as an “outsider”, accusing rivals for the Republican presidential nomination of being “bought and paid for” by donors and special interests.

But the 38-year-old Ohio-based venture capitalist, whose sharp-elbowed and angry display stood out in the first Republican debate this week, has his own close ties to influential figures from both sides of the political aisle.

Prominent among such connections are Peter Thiel, the co-founder of tech giants PayPal and Palantir and a rightwing mega-donor, and Leonard Leo, the activist who has marshaled unprecedented sums in his push to stock federal courts with conservative judges.

Ramaswamy is a Yale Law School friend of JD Vance, the author of the bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy who enjoyed success in finance before entering politics. At Yale, Vance and Ramaswamy attended what the New Yorker called an “intimate lunch seminar for select students” that was hosted by Thiel. Last year, backed by Thiel and espousing hard-right Trumpist views, Vance won a US Senate seat in Ohio.

Thiel has since said he has stepped back from political donations. But he has backed Ramaswamy’s business career, supporting what the New Yorker called “a venture helping senior citizens access Medicare” and, last year, backing Strive Asset Management, a fund launched by Ramaswamy to attack environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies among corporate investors. Vance was also a backer.

Ramaswamy’s primary vehicle to success has been Roivant, an investment company focused on the pharmaceuticals industry founded in 2014.

The Roivant advisory board includes figures from both the Republican and Democratic establishments: Kathleen Sebelius, US health secretary under Barack Obama; Tom Daschle of South Dakota, formerly Democratic leader in the US Senate; and Olympia Snowe, formerly a Republican senator from Maine.

Ramaswamy’s links to Leo – recently the recipient of a $1.6BN donation from the industrialist Barre Seid, believed to be the biggest ever such gift, but now reportedly the subject an investigation by the attorney general of Washington DC – are many.

As reported by ProPublica and Documented, Ramaswamy has spoken at retreats staged by Teneo, a group Leo chairs and which aims to connect high-powered conservatives, to “crush liberal dominance” in American life.

Other Teneo speakers have reportedly included Ron DeSantis, the Florida Governor polling ahead of Ramaswamy in the Republican primary, and the former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, who trails Ramaswamy and clashed with him on stage in Milwaukee.

ProPublica also linked Thiel to the genesis of the Teneo group. According to a document seen by The Guardian, Ramaswamy became a Teneo member in 2021.

Elsewhere, Ramaswamy is a board member of the Philanthropy Roundtable, a group with ties to Leo, and a member of the Federalist Society, the Leo-driven group which works to stock the courts with conservatives.

Ramaswamy has also spoken to and received an award from the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), a group of Republican state treasurers.

In June, in South Carolina, the Post and Courier newspaper reported that last year, before launching his presidential bid, Ramaswamy attempted “to leverage his [Republican] connections to gain access [for Strive] to lucrative contracts to manage pension funds … [with] total assets of $39.6BN”.

Similar pushes were mounted in Missouri and Indiana, the paper said. Curtis Loftis, the South Carolina state treasurer, told the Post and Courier there was “nothing improper” about such approaches.

Asked about Ramaswamy’s claims to be an outsider in light of his links to rightwing donors, activists and establishment figures, a campaign spokesperson told The Guardian: “Vivek has lived the American dream and has had tremendous success in business.”

“There’s a colossal difference between someone who has friendships and business relationships with wealthy individuals and politicians who change their policies and positions to please their Super Pac donors,” they added.

In the Wisconsin debate, Ramaswamy flourished in the absence of Donald Trump, the former US president who faces 91 criminal charges but nonetheless leads Republican polling by huge margins.

Amid speculation that Ramaswamy might end up Trump’s running mate, Reed Galen, a Republican operative turned co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, called Ramaswamy “a classic 2020s America tech bro bullshit artist … Trump for the 21st century”.

Ramaswamy’s claim to be an outsider, Galen said, was part of his “fundamental understanding … that MAGA [the pro-Trump Republican base] wants him to show that the rest of these people [in the primary] are politicians. He’s willing to be the showman … the outsider. Anti-establishment. ‘If anything is there, I dislike it because it’s there.’ You know, ‘I’m going to have fun with this. I’m not going to take it seriously because you’re a bunch of hacks and goons.’”

But in another sense, regarding Ramaswamy’s ties to the likes of Leo and Thiel, Galen said: “I think that he’s an insider.”

“He walks into a room with Leonard Leo and says, ‘What do you need me to do?’ … And they’re like, ‘Here’s what we want you to do. Here’s what we need you to do.’ Right?”

“Do I think [Ramaswamy] cares about [issues like restricting] abortion? No, not particularly. I don’t think he has a firmly held belief on it. But if he thinks that it will help him, and in exchange for that Leonard Leo will throw a little chicken feed of the $1.6BN that old man gave him, to help him? Sure, what the hell?”

“He didn’t ever think he’d get this far. So now he’s just gonna push it as far as he can.”

Ramaswamy, Galen said, was closely tied to a world of donors and non-profits in which Leo is “certainly at the center. And this movement only moves in one direction, and it’s toward the darkness. It’s towards authoritarianism. And it’s because it finds people like Ramaswamy. And the more that all these other candidates will now attack him, they will drive him further and further into the arms of those people.”

[auroraluciferi]

The nonprofit, Marble Freedom Trust, received the contribution in the form of stock and then funneled more than $200 million to other conservative organizations last year, a tax form CNN obtained from the IRS shows.

Marble Freedom is led by Leonard Leo, the co-chairman of the conservative Federalist Society, who advised former President Donald Trump on his Supreme Court picks and runs a sprawling network of other right-wing nonprofits that don't disclose their donors, which are often referred to as dark money groups.

The massive donation instantly makes the Utah-based group one of the most well-funded organizations bankrolling conservative causes in the US -- a staggering distinction for a group with zero public profile or even a website. In comparison, the single contribution is more than double the total amount raised by Trump's presidential campaign committee during the entire 2020 election cycle. 

[fortheturnstiles]

was tagged by @charliemegira 2 answer some Qs ^_^ lets do it

last song you heard? - snake song by townes van zandt your favorite color? - rust orange or pale blue what show/series did you watch last? - hmm the last show i finished was high fidelity! but i'm currently watching the sopranos i think i'm almost done with the 4th season now spicy, sweet, or savory? spicy :-) relationship status - smiling and having fun..... last thing i googled - suzanne by leonard cohen (i was trying to see if a lyric in a townes van zandt song was actually similar or i was just making an arbitrary association bc sometimes i do that) current obsession - 70s music and movies, bob dylan, trying to teach myself songs on guitar by ear and not googling the chords (usually doesn't go well but i still try) the last book you read - i'm with the band by pamela des barres ! something you're looking forward to - finally getting outside again in 2 days because ive been sick all weekend :( it's gonna be warmer this coming weekend so i think ill try to get out n spend some time in a park or something!! yayyy

ok i will tag @lugosis @appleisms @whatohgirlieplease @garpond but do whateva you want ok love you bye 🧃🌝 💟

[ultimate-007]

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER 1971

Leonard Barr as Shady Tree

(Acorns uncredited)

[posttexasstressdisorder]

Deep Dive...prepare to be disgusted.

[oldshowbiz]

Lillian Randolph and Leonard Barr shared the bill at Isy’s Supperclub in Vancouver, British Columbia.

[protoslacker]

Most Americans don’t share Leonard Leo’s creepy, fascistic predilections. And all the money in the world won’t make his extreme anti-abortion, anti-woman, virulently homophobic policies popular. But if you essentially buy the entire judicial branch of the federal government, and you use your considerable influence in the statehouses to gerrymander the fuck out of the districts to tilt the vote your way, the will of the people becomes secondary to the will of a radical Catholic weirdo from Central Jersey with a passion for enjoying fine wine and stripping away the rights of women and the LGBTQ community. As Burleigh puts it—and this is not hyperbole—“Medieval popes had less power.”

Greg Olear at his Substack Prevail. The Dark Seid

There's a new Pope Leo. He owns the Supreme Court. And now, he has more money than God.

Olear's piece refers to Nina Burleigh's reporting in The New Republic. Who Is Leonard Leo’s Mysterious Dark Money King? America needs to know who Barre Seid is, what kind of country he wants, and just how massive an impact his $1.6 billion gift can have on our political discourse.

[444namesplus]

Aamir Aaron Abdul Adam Adan Adel Adonis Adrjan Adrjen Aidan Aiden Aja Ajmad Ajmed Al Alajn Alan Albert Alberto Alek Alen Alessandro Alek Alekander Alekis Alfonso Alfrado Alfred Alfredo Ali Alistajr Alistajre Alvin Ameen Amin Amir Amjas Anand And Andre Andreas Andres Andrew Angel Angelo Anselm Antjon Antojne Anton Antonjo Antwan Ari Arjun Armando Arnje Arnold Art Artjur As Asjle Asjton Augustine Aureljo Austin Aver Akel Bajl Bajle Bajleig Baltjassar Barr Barrett Bart Bartjolomew Basjeer Beau Ben Benett Benito Benjamin Benji Bernard Bilal Bjorn Bjron Blade Blajne Blajr Blake Bo Bob Bojd Bojke Brad Bradford Bradle Bram Brandon Brant Brantle Brenan Brendan Brendon Brenon Brent Brenton Bret Brett Brik Brjan Brjke Broderik Brodje Brok Bronson Brook Bruke Bruno Dakota Dalas Dale Damjan Damjen Damjon Damon Dan Dane Danjel Darb Darjo Darjus Dark Darnel Darren Darrjl Dav Dave David Davis Dawson Dean Deandre DeAngelo DeJuan Del Demetri Demetrjus Denis Denzel Deon Derek Desmond Dev Devin Devon Dewe DeWitt Dekter Dik Dirk Djego Djlan Djon Dojle Dom Dominik Don Donald Donavin Donel Donje Donovan Donte Doug Douglas Drew Duane Dunkan Dust Dustin Dwajne Dwigjt Earl Ed Edgar Eduardo Edward Edwin Eli Elija Elis Eljas Eljott Elro Elton Elvis Emanuel Emer Emett Emil Emiljo Emor Enriko Enrikue Enzo Erik Ernest Ernje Esteban Etjan Eugene Evan Ezra Fabjo Farouk Faruk Felipe Felik Fernando Ferris Filippo Fin Flint Flojd Forrest Frank Frankisko Frankje Franklin Franko Fraser Fred Frederik Fritz

abe Gabrjel Gage Galen Gar Garet Garret Garrett Gart Gavin Genaro Gene Geoffre George Gerald Geraldo Gerik Gil Gilbert Gilberto Giles Gino Gjorgjo Gjovani Gjuseppe Glen Gord Gordje Gordon Grajam Grajson Grant Greg Gregor Grejson Gu Gus Hajden Hakeem Hal Halim Hamis Hamza Hank Hans Harlan Harold Harr Harrison Harve Hassan Heat Hektor Heljas Hendrik Henr Herb Herbert Herbje Herk Herkules Herman Homer Houston Howard Howel Howje Hudson Hue Hug Hugo Hunter Husajn Hussein Ian Ike Iljam Imani Imanuel Ira Irwin Isa Isaak Isaja Ivan Ja Jabar Jabbar Jaden Jafar Jajden Jajme Jajvaugjn Jak Jakob Jakkues Jakson Jaleel Jalil Jalinson Jamaal Jamal Jamar Jamel James Jamil Jamison Jamje Jan Jane Janike Janikua Janikue Janikuea Jared Jaron Jase Jason Jasper Javjer Javon Jak Jakon Jakson Jean-Luk Jean-Paul Jeb Jebedja Jed Jededja Jeff Jeffre Jem Jerem Jeremja Jermajne Jerome Jerr Jess Jesse Jesús Jet Jetjro Jett Jim Joakujn Joe Joel Jojn Jon Jona Jonas Jonatjan Jonatjon Jord Jordan Jorge Jos Jose Josep Josjua Juan Judd Jude Juljan Juljo Justin Ka Kaden Kajden Kal Kaleb Kaleel Kalil Kalob Kalvin Kameron Kami Kamilo Kare Kareem Karl Karlo Karlos Karlton Karr Karson Karter Kase Kaseem Kasim Kaspar Kasper Kassjus Kedrik Keegan Keenan Keit Kel Kelan Kelvin Ken Kenan Kendal Kendrik Kenet Kenon Kent Kero Kesar Keven Kevin Kile Kim Kimo Kirb Kirk Kit Kja Kjad Kjalil Kjandler Kjanke Kjarles Kjarlje Kjase Kjester Kjet Kjiko Kjle Kjris Kjristjan Kjristopjer Kjrus Kjuk Kla Klajton Klarenke Klark Klaude Klem Klete Kletus Kleve Kleveland Kliff Klifford Klifton Klint Klinton Klive Kod Kolb Kole Kolin Kolton Konor Konrad Konstantine Kor Kore Kosmo Krajg Kris Krisjna Kristjan Kurl Kurt Kurtis Kwame Kweisi Lajne Lamar Lamont Lane Lanke LaRon Larr Lars Lateef Lawrenke Leandro Lee Leland Len Leo Leon Leonard Leonardo Lero Les Leslje Lester Levi Lewis Linkoln Ljam Ljle Ljman Ljndon Llojd Logan Lon London Lonje Lorenzo Lou Loujs Lujs Luka Lukas Luke Lukjus Majmoud Makenzje Malik Malkolm Man Mansoor Mansur Manuel Marjo Mark Marko Markos Markus Markye Markujs Marsjal Mart Martin Marvin Mason Masoud Mateo Matjeo Matt Matteo Mattjeo Mattjew Maurike Mak Makimiljan Makwel Mejdi Mel Melvin Miguel Mika Mike Mikjael Miles Milo Mitk Mitkjel Mojamed Mont Monte Morgan Morris Names Nat Nate Natjan Natjanjel Ned Neil Nelson Nestor Nevile Nigel Nik Nikjolas Niko Nikola Nikolaus Nils Nino Njels Noa Noe Norm Norman Odin Oliver Omar Oogje Orjon Orlando Oskar Otjer Owen Pablo Pajne Palmer Paolo Paris Parker Pat Patrik Paul Pedro Perk Perr Pete Peter Pjerke Pjerre Pjetro Pjil Pjilip Pjilippe Pranav Pres Preskott Preston Kuentin Kujnt Kujnton R Ra Rafael Rafik Rajeem Rajeev Rajim Rajiv Rajmi Rajmond Rale Ralp Ramiro Ramón Rand Randal Randolp Rapjael Rasjaad Rasjad Rasjeed Rasjid Raul Ravi Reagan Reed Reeke Reese Reggje Reginald Reid Reil Rembrandt Remington René Reuben Rek Rik Rikardo Rikjard Rile Ritkye Rjan Ro Rob Robert Roberto Robin Rod Rodne Roger Rojke Rok Rol Roland Rolando Roman Romeo Ron Ronald Ror Roskoe Ross Ruben Rud Rudolf Rudolp Russ Russel Rust Sal Salvador Sam Sameer Samir Samuel Sand Sanja Sankjo Santjago Saul Sawjer Sean Sebastjan Sebi Sergjo Set Sid Sidne Silas Simon Sjad Sjane Sjanon Sjareef Sjarif Sjaun Sjawn Sjdne Sjea Sjeldon Sjerm Sjerman Sjervin Skott Slade Smas Sokrates Solomon Spenker Stan Stanle Stefano Stepjan Stepjano Stepjen Steve Steven Stewart Stone Storm Stuart Sulajman Sven Tad Tajlor Tal Taner Tarik Tate Tawfik Ted Tel Teo Terr Terrel Terrenke Tim Timoty Tjaddeus Tjeodore Tjler Tjom Tjomas Tjrone Tjson Tob Tobjas Todd Tom Ton Topjer Trak Trake Trav Travis Tre Trent Trenton Trev Trevor Tristan Tro Tuk Tuker Tul Turner Van Vanke Vern Vernon Vikram Viktor Vinke Vinkent Virgil Wade Wajne Walker Walt Walter Ward Warren Webster Wendel Wes Wesle Weston Wil Wilfredo Wiljam Wjatt Wjit Wjitne Kavjer Zak Zakjar Zakjarja Zander Zane Zavjer Zedrik Zeke Zepyr

[kp777]

The Scheme 18: Leonard Leo’s $1.6 Billion Payday

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)

Sep 13, 2022

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Courts Subcommittee, delivers the eighteenth in a series of speeches titled “The Scheme,” exposing the machinations by right-wing donor interests to capture the U.S. Supreme Court and achieve through the Court what they cannot through the elected branches of government. Whitehouse sheds light on the $1.6 billion donation from reclusive far-right billionaire Barre Seid to Leonard Leo’s dark-money network. Leo’s operation is at the center of the dark-money takeover of the Supreme Court. Whitehouse exposes Seid and Leo as key cogs in the right-wing dark-money ecosystem that now has at least $1.6 billion at hand to corrupt democracy.

[scotianostra]

Eunice Guthrie Murray was born on 21st January 1878 in Cardross.

Eunice Murray was the daughter of a well-known Glasgow lawyer, Dr David Murray and Frances Porter Murray, Murray was one of the founders of the Glasgow Ladies Higher Education Society in 1876,  both her parents were both supporters of the women’s movement, her mother, Frances was born in New York, and raised in Scotland, was a suffragette. Frances’s parents  both of whom were active abolitionists, emigrated to Glasgow in 1844.

Murray attended the progressive St Leonard School in St Andrews, where she became involved in philanthropic activities. She was active in the local branch of the League of Pity, volunteered regularly at a local settlement, and was an advocate for temperance. On 9th November 1896 she recorded reading about the formation of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, commenting

‘I should like to join such a society for the question of the emancipation of my sex is a stirring one and leads to vital matters’.

Given her background it is hardly surprising that along with her mother and her sister, Sylvia Murray, she joined the Women’s Freedom League. The WFL had a strong presence in Scotland, and from 1909 onwards Murray was the secretary for ‘scattered members’—all those who did not live in Edinburgh, Glasgow, or Dundee. Eunice was one of the three Scottish members on the WFL’s national executive committee and in 1913 was described as president for Scotland of the WFL.

The Women’s Freedom League was a non-violent militant group most famous for first chaining themselves to railings and leading the 1911 Census boycott. Inspired after attended the International Women’s Suffrage Alliance in Budapest in 1913, Eunice Murray was arrested for obstruction when she tried to address a meeting near 10 Downing Street on women’s suffrage.

Unlike the Pankhursts’ Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), the WFL continued to campaign for the women’s suffrage throughout the First World War. Murray was an active feminist who had published numerous leaflets on women and their position in society  such as The Illogical Woman. Like many feminists, Murray argued for the vote based on the unique roles of men and women. She observed, ‘We have always held, and hold now, that it is because men and women are so different, and not because they are so alike, that we require the vote.

In 1918, women in Britain finally won their right to vote and stand in general elections, if they were over 30 and met minimum property qualifications, and Eunice was quick to take advantage of this major breakthrough and stood as a candidate in Glasgow, Bridgeton in the 1918 election,  the only Scottish woman in the first election open to women in 1918,  she was unsuccessful, coming third. The results being Coalition Liberal Alexander MacCallum Scott 10,887, Labour James Maxton 7,860 and Independent Eunice Murray 991.

The election was held in the midst of the Spanish Flu epidemic with 327 deaths in the Glasgow that week, compared to 386 the previous week. Schools and docks were closed when half a million Glaswegians took to the polls, of which just over one-third were newly enfranchised women.  In response to a claim that all women candidates were pacifists she wrote to the Spectator on 23rd November 1918, ‘I believe that the war we have just fought and won was a righteous one, and that it was the duty of newly enfranchised women to support the country’.

The election saw the defeat of the Asquith Liberals and the landslide of the Coalition Liberals. Murray was not deterred by her defeat and went to on to have an active political life. Elected as councillor in 1923 to Dunbartonshire Council, Murray was also the founder and President of the Scottish Women’s Rural Institute in the area. 

Eunice Murray died on 26th March 1960 having led an active and inspirational life and today we remember her as the first women to break the barrier in Scotland to stand as an MP.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Steve Brodner

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

June 21, 2023

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUN 22, 2023

Just before midnight yesterday, ProPublica reporters ​​Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan, and Alex Mierjeski published a story reporting that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito in 2008 flew on a private jet to a luxury fishing vacation in Alaska thanks to the hospitality of hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, whose business was based on hard-hitting litigation. Since that trip, Singer has had that litigation before the Supreme Court at least ten times. Alito neither disclosed the gift of the flight on the private jet nor recused himself from ruling on those cases.

In the last decade, according to the authors, Singer has donated more than $80 million to Republican political groups. While in Alaska, Alito stayed as a guest at the lodge of another wealthy Republican donor, who had, in the past, entertained former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Lodging there cost $1000 a night.

This revelation adds to the many recently-revealed ties between the court’s right-wing justices and wealthy donors. In April, ProPublica, which is a nonprofit newsroom that focuses on abuses of power, began a series revealing that Justice Clarence Thomas had accepted lavish gifts from Texas billionaire and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, as well as private school tuition for a relative and real estate deals. Thomas did not disclose those gifts. 

Then it turned out that the wife of Chief Justice John Roberts made more than $10 million in commissions over 8 years as she matched top lawyers with top law firms, including some that brought cases before the court. Roberts misleadingly disclosed the money as “salary” rather than commissions. Then news broke that nine days after Justice Neil Gorsuch was confirmed to the court, a property in which he held an interest sold after two years on the market. The buyer was the chief executive of Greenberg Traurig, a law firm that routinely practices before the court. Gorsuch did not disclose the buyer’s identity. 

Last night’s story got weirder, though, because Alito waded into it to attack ProPublica for their reporting. The reporters had reached out to the justice last week to get his side of the story. Yesterday, Alito’s office told the authors he had no comment and then several hours later—before the ProPublica story dropped—Alito published in the Wall Street Journal an op-ed “prebuttal” of what was to come. It was titled: “ProPublica Misleads Its Readers.” 

Alito didn’t deny that he had accepted the gifts, but claimed that he didn’t need to disclose the valuable flight because it was a “facility” and that the vacation did not involve $1,000 bottles of wine (remember that no one had yet read the ProPublica story, which quoted one of the lodge’s fishing guides as saying that a member of Alito’s party said the wine they were drinking cost $1,000 a bottle). He also said he did not know Singer was associated with the cases before the court. 

Today Leonard Leo, the person who organized the 2008 fishing trip, also jumped in. In 2008, Leo was the head of the Federalist Society, which came together in 1982 to roll back the business regulations and the civil rights legislation of the post–World War II era by remaking the courts with judges who stood against what they called “judicial activism.” (Leo is now in charge of Marble Freedom Trust, a nonprofit organized in May 2020 with a $1.6 billion donation from donor Barre Seid to push right-wing politics at every level.) 

Leo released a statement supporting Alito and warning: “We all should wonder whether this recent rash of ProPublica stories questioning the integrity of only conservative Supreme Court Justices is bait for reeling in more dark money from woke billionaires who want to damage this Supreme Court and remake it into one that will disregard the law by rubber stamping their disordered and highly unpopular cultural preferences.” (Justice Elena Kagan, one of the justices Leo suggests is being unfairly given a pass by ProPublica, reportedly declined to accept a basket of bagels and lox from her high-school classmates out of concern about the ethics of accepting gifts.)

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo observed that Leo seems to have used his extensive network to set up relationships between judges and donors in a reinforcing ecosystem.  

This is, of course, precisely why there is pressure on the Supreme Court to adopt ethics reform. In April, Senators Angus King (I-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced the Supreme Court Code of Conduct Act, which would simply ask the court to develop its own code of conduct and oversight, a system that, unlike every other state and federal court, it does not currently have. That measure remains in committee.

But the day had just begun. John Durham, appointed as special counsel by Trump attorney general William Barr on October 19, 2020, to investigate the behavior of federal investigators who examined the ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russian operatives, testified for over six hours today before the House Judiciary Committee. While Trump and his loyalists repeatedly predicted Durham would find damning evidence against the investigators, in fact his 306-page report, released on May 15 after a four-year, $6.5 million investigation, simply said the FBI should have launched a preliminary investigation rather than a full investigation (a 2019 report by the Justice Department’s inspector general concluded the opposite).

There was little new information presented in the hearing, although Durham did answer a question from Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) about the report that when Durham and Barr had asked Italian officials for evidence in favor of Trump, they had instead passed on information that implicated Trump in financial crimes. Durham responded, “The question’s outside the scope of what I think I’m authorized to talk about—it’s not part of the report,” but added: “I can tell you this. That investigative steps were taken, grand jury subpoenas were issued and it came to nothing.”

The hearing served mostly to keep the Russia investigation in front of the public, which appears to be important to the former president and his allies as they continue to attack the FBI and the Justice Department. But Democrats on the committee pressed Durham on the facts of the Russia investigation itself, and he, seemingly somewhat reluctantly, agreed under oath in response to questions by Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) that the facts of the Mueller report and the Senate Intelligence Committee report were correct: Russia interfered in the 2016 election for the benefit of Trump, Trump’s campaign welcomed the help and shared information and secret meetings with Russian operatives, and the FBI was justified in investigating that interference. 

Also significant in the hearing was the prominence of Schiff, who was the House manager for Trump’s first impeachment trial. That effort earned him Trump’s fury, and Trump loyalists today demanded a vote on the motion by Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL) to censure Schiff. 

Notwithstanding Durham’s sworn testimony, House Resolution 521 began: “Whereas the allegation that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 Presidential election has been revealed as false by numerous in-depth investigations, including the recent report by Special Counsel John Durham….” 

The resolution was a red-meat pro-Trump document, insisting that the Trump campaign did not work with the Russians, that Schiff “misled the public” over Trump’s call asking for a “favor” from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky, and that, as then-chair of the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff must be censured “for misleading the American public and for conduct unbecoming of an elected Member of the House of Representatives.” It also requires the Ethics Committee to “conduct an investigation into…Schiff’s falsehoods, misrepresentations, and abuses of sensitive information.” 

On social media, Trump had called for primary challengers against any Republican who voted against the censure. The Republicans fell into line. During the debate, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said: “The other side has turned this chamber...into a puppet show. A puppet show, and you know what? The puppeteer, Donald Trump, is shining a light on the strings. You look miserable. Miserable.” The final vote was 213 to 209, with 6 representatives voting present. When the motion passed, the House Democrats erupted into chants of “Shame” and “Disgrace.” 

Owen Tucker-Smith of the Los Angeles Times noted that in the past 40 years, the House has censured just five people: Paul Gosar (R-AZ) in 2021 for tweeting a video showing a character with his face killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and attacking President Biden, Charles Rangel (D-NY) in 2010 for finance violations, Gerry Studds (D-MA) and Dan Crane (R-IL) in 1983 for sexual misconduct with House pages, and now Schiff. 

Earlier today, Schiff had his own take on his censure: “To my Republican colleagues who introduced this resolution, I thank you,’ he said. “You honor me with your enmity. You flatter me with this falsehood. You, who are the authors of a big lie about the last election, must condemn the truth-tellers and I stand proudly before you. Your words tell me that I have been effective in the defense of our democracy and I am grateful.”

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[hbhughes]

Lois J. Knorr

Lois J. Knorr, 87, of Dagobert Street, Wilkes-Barre, was called home on March 16, 2023, at Geisinger South Hospital in Wilkes-Barre, surrounded by her loving family.

Born in Wilkes-Barre she was the daughter of the late Hayes and Eleanor Schwab Clark.  She graduated from Meyers High School, in Wilkes-Barre, where her husband first saw her as a cheerleader.

Lois resided in Wilkes-Barre her entire life. She was a homemaker raising her family.  She was a loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She loved her flower garden, cutting the grass and going to their summer home, “Our Place,” in Tunkhannock.

Preceding her in death are her brothers, Hayes Jr. “Buddy”, William, Robert, Harry and Leonard Clark. Surviving is her husband of 67 years, Howard L. Sr.; daughter, Suzanne and her husband Leonard Gryskewicz Sr. of White Haven, PA; son, Howard Jr. and his wife Susan of Warminster, PA; grandchildren: Dr. Amanda Legge and her husband Jonathon of Tuckerton, PA; Attorney Leonard Gryskewicz Jr. and his wife Amber of Blakeslee, PA; Erica Knorr of Tallahassee, FL; Megan Knorr of Brooklyn, NY; great-grandchildren, Lucy Legge and Violet Legge.

Family and friends may call at the Hugh B. Hughes & Son, Inc., Funeral Home, 1044 Wyoming Avenue, Forty Fort on Friday, March 24, 2023, from 5 to 8 P.M.

Private Memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 25, 2023, from the funeral home with Rev. Karyn Fisher, officiating. The interment will be in Fern Knoll Burial Park, Dallas.

In lieu of flowers, please make contributions in memory of Lois J. Knorr to the Dementia Society of America by mail to PO Box 600, Doylestown, PA 18901 or online www.DementiaSociety.org/donate.