Today in Labor June 30, 1906: United States Congress passes the Meat Inspection Act and Pure Food and Drug Act in response to Upton Sinclair's novel, “The Jungle,” which exposed atrocious sanitary conditions in Chicago meat packing industry. Sinclair intended his book not only to bring attention to the public health threat of the squalid working conditions, but also to the racism faced by Chicago’s largely immigrant meat workers, as well as the corruption of both the politicians and union officials. However, the public was most outraged by the prospect of getting food poisoning from the rotten meat.
"If you're itching to seize control of institutions for your own corrupt purposes, it's better if people don't trust them anymore. …
The court’s conservatives have been on a long crusade to make corruption legal; at every opportunity they’ve found ways to decide that certain kinds of corruption don’t count."
"By a 6–3 vote, the Supreme Court today blessed the practice of taking 'gratuities' as a gift for past behavior by an official, distinguishing them from 'bribes,' which require proof that there was an illegal deal in place."
"This decision that officials can accept 'gifts' so long as they are not 'bribes' might have something to do with the fact that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito have accepted significant gifts from donors—Thomas’s count is upward of $4 million—and it doesn’t relieve the sense that this Supreme Court, with its three right-wing Trump-appointed justices, is untrustworthy."
"As long as the justices accept obscene 'gratuities' after they issue decisions that overturn decades of settled precedent, it is not a bribe, according to the majority. …
The opinion in Snyder v. US was made possible by the support of two justices implicated in bribery. The opinion stinks of corruption!"
"Bow wow wow and yippie-yo-yippie-yay, whip open those checkbooks, boys! If you billionaires liked the way your Justices ruled this year, or appreciate how your governor or mayor steered contracts your way, it sure would be nice if you left them an appreciative tip so they can buy extra beer this summer, just saying!
"It’s also notable that neither Justice Clarence Thomas nor Justice Samuel Alito, both of whom have accepted expensive gifts from politically active Republican billionaires, recused themselves from the case. Thomas and Alito both joined Kavanaugh’s opinion reading the anti-corruption statute narrowly."
Justice #Kavanaugh, writing for a #conservative majority, said that the question in the case was whether federal #law makes it a #crime for state & local ofcls to accept such gratuities after the fact. He wrote, “The answer is no.”
Federal prosecutors’ interpretation of the law created traps for public officials, leaving them to guess what gifts were allowed, he added. If they guessed wrong, the opinion continued, the ofcls could face up to a decade in prison.
The decision reflected a sharp divide on the court, w/ Justice #KetanjiBrownJackson, joined by Justices Elena #Kagan & Sonia #Sotomayor, dissenting. While the #conservative wing asserted that the ruling gave discretion to state & local governments & protected ofcls from having to guess whether their behavior had crossed a #criminal line….
“Ofcls who use their public positions for private gain threaten the integrity of our most important institutions. #Greed makes govts —at every level — less responsive, less efficient & less trustworthy from the perspective of the communities they serve,” Justice Jackson wrote.
In what appeared to be a dig at #SCOTUS’ conservative bloc, Jackson added that the defendant in the case offered an “absurd & atextual reading of the statute” that “only today’s court could love.”
"In actual decisions from the justices on Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court’s conservatives weakened federal anti-corruption laws.
The conservatives did so by ignoring the plain text of the statute at issue, a point Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson made for the liberal trio in dissent."
"Although the case involved a law regulating state and local actors, it was hard not to also read Jackson’s sharp dissent through the prism of the ethical questions raised about members of the Supreme Court over the past year and a half."
The amount of public #corruption is already at unbelievable levels. We must figure out better ways to root it out and hold public officials accountable.
🚨BREAKING: The Supreme Court just officially legalized bribery in a 6-3 decision. The ruling was engineered by the justices who have been accepting billionaire gifts.
The Lever did the definitive deep dive reporting on the Snyder case, way back in March.
Jay Kuo recounts his recent interview of God, in which Kuo asked God about Alito's claim that "godliness" needs to be brought back. God's reply:
"One of the worst things about being God is that I am often defined by people who claim to be in My ‘fan club.’ Samuel Alito is extremely partisan and lied his ass off in his confirmation hearings."
"Where was he on Jan. 6? I assume his wife was busy raising and lowering crazy flags all day, as this is apparently the only thing she has to do to occupy her time. Perhaps the Alitos should remember that true godliness demonstrates love for all people. A flag is just a symbol; real godliness is shown through actions. So, I judge them by their actions. And their actions suck."
Yes, this entirely organic surge in popular support, which must be related to Trump's convictions because that's what the RW press says, is indeed shocking.
"By shielding Donald Trump from standing trial before a jury in two of his felony cases, Trump’s three appointments to the Supreme Court, along with the even more MAGA Justices Alito and Thomas and Judge Aileen Cannon, have already irreparably interfered in the 2024 election."
"Whether it’s in Orban’s Hungary, Erdogan’s Turkey, Putin’s Russia, or now the United States, authoritarian movements consistently attempt to amass and consolidate power by hijacking courts to provide them with post-hoc impunity. …
If we are to find solutions to the cancer of autocracy creeping through the American body politic we must be candid with ourselves and each other about the nature of the disorder. It has profoundly corrupted our judiciary."
Sounds like Ted Cruz and the GOP really don't want this document leak out there
They keep getting redacted by "news" sites who were hosting them. Apparently, even "free-speech" Elon Musk had them removed from his nazi-enthusiast site twitter (per Newsweek)
@flexghost The name Len Blavatnik jumped off the page at me. Then...
Blavatnik is a friend of...Netanyahu & has donated to a private legal defense fund for Donald Trump.
Blavatnik is also a longtime friend & business partner of Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg...close to... Putin & several other Russia-associated oligarchs who are under international sanctions for support of totalitarian regimes & criminal activities...
@flexghost Here's a little more info on John #Aycoth. Keep in mind, while he was in the military, Aycoff had top secret special intelligence security clearance as a cryptographer. This article is from 2006. #TedCruz#Corruption
...For a brief time he (Aycoff) joined the lobby firm then known as Black, #Manafort, Stone and Kelly, where he was introduced to representatives of countries such as Angola and the Dominican Republic...
FedSoc justices disgraced themselves and their fake pet theories in the oral argument on presidential immunity.
Remember when they were “minimalists”? Oh, but now they embarked on a long policy peregrination so as to make what Gorsuch called a “ruling for the ages.” (He actually said that.) Behind the stunning pomposity, it’s miles from “minimalist.”
Remember when they were “constitutionalists”? The constitution says they’ve got to stick to the “case or controversy” before them, and yet they went on their wild hypothetical wanderings. Some “constitutionalists.”
Remember when they were “originalists”? Follow the text, never mind the outcomes?
All gone, in hand-waving about what various rulings might portend, and what effects they could have.
Remember their recent switch (Dobbs, Bruen) to “history and tradition”? The “history” is that no president but Nixon and Trump committed crimes; none sought immunity.
The “tradition” is presidents for centuries got along just
SCOTUS’s delay in deciding Trump immunity case is inexcusable. Nixon tapes case was decided 16 days after oral argument. We have been waiting 2 months. “Every passing day further delays a potential trial on charges related to Mr. Trump’s efforts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election and his role in the events that led to the storming of the Capitol.” The public has a right to a speedy trial.