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Undeterred Clarence Thomas under fire after reports revealing more undisclosed trips aboard the GOP billionaire’s private jet and nearly $4.2 million in gifts

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Clarence Thomas Claims Critics Have Plotted to

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is under fire again over his repeated acceptance of luxury gifts and free travel after Senate Democrats released a series of documents showing the veteran lawyer didn’t disclose three private flights he took with billionaire Republican Party donor Harlan Crow in 2017–2021.

As detailed in a document provided by Crow’s lawyers to the Senate Judiciary Committee, two of the flights were round trips and one included multiple destinations.

The latest revelation in the case follows a shocking ProPublica report last yr that exposed Judge Thomas usually accepted gifts from multiple billionaire Republican megadonors, including former Berkshire Hathaway executive David Sokol, former Miami Dolphins owner H. Wayne Huizenga and Crow, a Dallas real estate mogul, amongst others.

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Clarence Thomas claims critics planned to 'bombard' his reputation amid calls for his resignation
Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks at the Heritage Foundation on October 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. Clarence Thomas has served on the Supreme Court for 30 years. He was nominated by former President George H. W. Bush in 1991 and is the second African American to serve on the Supreme Court, after Justice Thurgood Marshall. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Judge Thomas never mentioned it in his annual financial reports, regardless that he received very expensive gifts for over 20 years.

The Senate Finance Committee can also be investigating Thomas’s financial dealings over the past 20 years amid increased calls for stricter ethics rules and Thomas’ resignation.

Recent documents show that Judge Thomas traveled across the country at will, which indicates that in May 2017 he flew on a Crow private jet from St. Louis to Kalispell, Montana, and then went to Dallas. Then, in March 2019, the conservative justice took the billionaire’s private jet from Washington, D.C. to Savannah, Georgia, and back. In June 2021, Thomas secretly flew from Washington, D.C., to San Jose, California, and back, in line with logs obtained by the Judiciary Committee.

The most notable discovery is that Thomas made three journeys that had not been previously disclosed.

The news got here shortly after a report by the group Fix the Court found that Thomas had received more gifts than every other Supreme Court justice in history, with the total value of those gifts since 1981 exceeding $5.87 million, including nearly .2 million dollars were received in just the last 20 years, in line with the commission’s reading.

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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, criticized Thomas for what he called a transparent violation of ethics and decency.

“Nearly $4.2 million in gifts, and even that was not enough for Judge Thomas, with at least three additional trips that the Commission has not disclosed to date, the Commission found,” Durbin said in a press release. press release. “The Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the Supreme Court’s ethics crisis provides new information – like the one we released today – and makes clear that the high court needs an enforceable code of conduct as its members continue to choose not to meet for the moment.”

Thomas previously admitted that he received only 27 gifts on federal disclosure forms before Fix the Court released its research, while his lack of transparency led to ongoing discussions on Capitol Hill about judicial ethics.

Legal experts suggested that failing to reveal the trips would likely not result in any penalty for Thomas.

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The Code of Conduct for Judges, established in November 2023, has no provisions on consequences in the event of breaches, nor does it provide a mechanism for determining whether such breaches have occurred.

The code, devoid of any real enforcement power, has come under increasing criticism in the wake of the various ethics scandals which have engulfed the Supreme Court over the past yr.

More recently, the controversy surrounding Justice Samuel Alito and the display of far-right flags at two of his residences in reference to the January 6 attack only highlighted the ineffectiveness of the code.

Last June, Alito also sought to dispel a ProPublica report alleging that he went on a luxury fishing trip to Alaska 15 years ago with a billionaire Republican donor whose hedge fund was the subject of several Supreme Court decisions that Alito never he didn’t withdraw.

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Meanwhile, a few of the gifts Thomas received helped cover various living expenses, including private school tuition for his grandson, automobile batteries and tires for the family vehicle, ProPublica reports.

But Crow was the one who really raised the lifestyle for the conservative justice after a few of the financial difficulties Thomas had in his early years on the Supreme Court.

According to ProPublica, Crow paid for Thomas’ extravagant around-the-world vacation on a private jet, and also financed exotic cruises on a luxury yacht and the purchase of a luxury RV with a $267,000 loan that Thomas didn’t should repay.

The reasons for the largesse towards Thomas remain unclear, raising concerns about potential attempts to influence and corrupt the highest court in the land.

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Crow previously insisted that he and Thomas were close friends and that Thomas had not adjudicated on any matters involving his estate.

Yale Law School professor George Priest, who has spent summers with Thomas and Crow in the past, told ProPublica that he believed Crow’s generosity was geared toward improving Thomas’s quality of life fairly than attempting to influence his legal opinions.

Lawmakers use every ethics controversy as a platform to call for a code of conduct that imposes real consequences for actions perceived as undermining confidence in the Supreme Court.

“As a result of our investigation and subpoena authorization, we are providing the American public with greater clarity about the scope of Supreme Court justices’ ethical lapses and the need for ethics reform,” Durbin also noted in his statement. “Despite his lowest ever approval rating and endless self-made scandals, Chief Justice Roberts continues to refuse to use his current powers to implement an enforceable code of conduct.”

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As with all revelations about Thomas, the latest report sparked criticism of the Supreme Court justice and calls for his removal or resignation.

“Stop framing it as, ‘Thomas must resign’ – he won’t ever, ever, ever try this – start pushing for impeachment. With each revelation about Clarence Thomas’ gifts from billionaire donor Harlan Crow, it becomes more and more clear: Congress must impeach Thomas,” one X user wrote.

“Accepting money shows he has no integrity. It would take honesty to resign. He has served the far right throughout his career,” wrote one other user. “This man is an embarrassment to every bar card holder and has no shame in bringing the same to SCOTUS.”

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This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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Politics and Current

The new head of social insurance administration caught that he had no idea what his work was in condemning the leaking sound

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New Head of Social Security Administration Caught Admitting He Had No Idea What His Job Was In Damning Leaked Audio

The new head of social insurance administration said that he has no idea what the work entails when Trump’s administration used him for the position of the Social Insurance Commissioner.

Former director of Wall Street, Frank Bisignano, presented this attention on the leaking audio tapes meeting with agency managers from throughout the country on Wednesday.

ABC News has obtained a recording Meetings that weren’t independently confirmed by Atlanta Black Star.

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The new head of social insurance administration caught that he had no idea what his work was in condemning the leaking sound
Frank Bisignano, nominated by US President Donald Trump as a commissioner for social security administration, testifies at the hearing confirming the financial commission in the Senate in the office constructing of the Dirksen Senate on March 25, 2025 in Washington. (Photo of Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“So I get a phone call and it’s about social insurance. And I’m not really, I swear that I’m not looking for a job. And I say:” Well, what should I do? ” So I experience social insurance. Bisignano said on the tape.

“I say:” What the hell is the Social Insurance Commissioner? ” – he added.

The social security official told ABC News that the new head of the SS “is working on the transformation of the agency into the most important service” and that he clearly “makes fun of themselves so that everyone in the room feel free to conduct an open conversation …”

Millions of Americans depend on social security in the case of retirement income, disability and survival advantages. According to Trump’s administration, the agency was thrown away by significant employees of employees, closed local offices and breaks on web sites.

Bisignano said during the meeting that social insurance is secure and can proceed. “This is America, you know, a safety net – it doesn’t go away. And I hope you hear how I tell it every day. You know who wants me to tell people? Guess. President.”

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President Donald Trump promised during the campaign in 2024 that social security advantages would remain intact if he won the next term. But the agency is in confusion. In a number of short months of Trump’s return, almost half a dozen people supported the office.

“I was noticed:” Will the fuss from the last five months end? Are you here to cause more confusion? ” Bisignano said in the recording. “I do not think this can be a confusion of the last five months, although I will probably be the fifth because , November, right?”

Bisignano tried to brighten the mood of the meeting. “Are we having fun already? Everything is okay?”

According to ABC, the new head of the SSA also repeatedly criticized media leaks from the agency during the meeting. Although Bisignano has experience in managing large corporations, including complex payroll systems, he has no experience in the government or in the administration of social security.

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During confirmation interrogations This month before the Senate, the Democrats repeatedly recalled Bisignano comments about being “basically a person of dogs.” At some point, the so -called government efficiency department was led by billionaire Trump and head of Spacex Elon Musk.

In a controversial musk movement “Prusty, fraud and abuse” at the agency. Doge presented little proof of fraud or abuse and was not transparent in terms of movements he made in the agency.

Bisignano, previously the president and general director of Fiserv Inc., a technology company, tried to distance himself from Doge during his confirmation, but one of the Democrats quoted an announcement informing about informing about Bisignano personally asked the dog to intervene in SSA.

A spokesman for the White House ABC News said“Commissioner Bisignano brings a valuable and much needed perspective. Social security administration. The proven success of Commissioner Bisignano in the financial services industry is exceptionally positioning him to conduct reasonable efforts of Trump administration in order to modernize the agency and improve its performance.”

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Bisignano was confirmed at the starting of this month by the Republican majority in voting on the party line.

This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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Viral photo of Trump’s “White Farmer” – comes from Congo, not South Africa

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President Donald Trump created a very spectacle through the Wednesday oval meeting of the office with the President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphos, attempting to strengthen his claim for the white “genocide” on this country. However, some of Trump’s evidence presented proved to be false.

Trump issued many printed articles and played almost 5-minute video assembly to reporters within the White House, which, he claimed, proved that white African farmers were victims of genocide in South Africa.

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“Death, death, death,” said Trump, when he was holding one printed article after the opposite after restoring the film about what, he claimed, were “funeral places” “over a thousand” white farmers who were murdered by the presumably black inhabitants of South Africa. However, Factcheck.org He determined that the video actually showed an indication at 2020 – not the burial place – to attract attention to the death of farmers of all breeds, not just white farmers.

President Trump also showed an image of what, he claimed, were bags with white farmers who were murdered in South Africa; However, Reuters Reported that the painting was humanitarian employees who bury the organs within the Democratic Republic of Congo. Outlet said that the image was a screen printing of Reuters in February after deadly battles against rebels supported by Rwandy who captured town of Goma.

Trump’s emphasis on white genocide going down in South Africa occurs after years of conspiracy theories from far -right groups. He was strengthened by the billionaire Elon Musk, born in South Africa, who’s a detailed advisor to the president and runs the Department of the White House.

While crime in South Africa is high, the information show that almost all of the victims of the murder within the country – over 26,000 in 2024 – was actually black. As for the farmers themselves, only 44 murders were related to farmers. Only 7 of these murders were white.

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In the middle of an actual conflict with farmers in South Africa there’s a disproportionate amount of land belonging to white African farmers, consequently of a ten -year Apartheid system in a rustic that shared and deprived of civil rights of Black South African Africa. Although they constitute only 7% of the population, they’ve 75% of arable land.

The act signed by President Cyril Ramaphos in January was geared toward starting the legislative process to repair the inequalities of land. It mainly allows the federal government to take over private land. President Trump has repeatedly pointed to the fitting as proof that they’re the goal of white farmers. However, the federal government of South Africa stated that no land was taken over. The government also said that as an alternative he tried to encourage white farmers to sell his land willingly, says Reuters.

The first group of 49 white inhabitants of South Africa goes to the USA after Trump offered them refugee status

Trump’s fascination on pushing lies about South Africa and treating white farmers was criticized by activists as an try and push the white policy of Greivance, which reflects the policy of Trump’s anti-dei-dei policy within the United States.

He continued: “As a master of racists, he knows well that black resistance and black perfection must be fully gutted to realize the global vision of Trump of the uncontrollable rule of” white “.

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(Tagstranslate) Donald Trump

This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Politics and Current

Trump removes truck drivers who don’t speak English

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Truck Driver, Arrest, Crime, Decapitating Woman


Truck drivers can have to pass the CDL exam and test that they will speak English. According to the Secretary for Transport, Sean Duffy signed a directive enabling the American Department of Transport To remove truck drivers who are usually not fluent in English. The transfer of Duffya directly responds to the ordinance of President Donald Trump on April 28.

According to the order, Trump directed a seek for testing of proficiency in English and law enforcement policy. In 2016, under the rule of former President Barack Obama, the Federal Safety Administration of a motor carrier (FMCS) removed the penalty for putting drivers for serving for violation of federal proficiency in English. Obama’s administration softened punishment for a quote.

However, Trump’s executive order changes him back to forcing drivers from the road.

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“The policy of my administration is the support of American trucks and protecting our roads by enforcing the joint English language requirement in English and removing unnecessary regulatory loads that undermine the working conditions of American truck drivers.” Trump states in his executive orderadding that “it will help to provide a safe, safe and efficient car carrier industry.”

Fears of truck drivers who speak English because the second language

American Truck Association He praised Trump for a brand new punishment In accordance with the order within the statement.

“Thank you to Trump’s administration for the response to our fears regarding the uneven application of this existing regulation, and we are waiting for cooperation with FMCS and the law enforcement authorities at the objective, coherent and effective standard of enforcement.”

However, others are afraid that the brand new guidelines will result in discrimination on the road, because law enforcement agencies resolve who to stop to perform an proficiency test in English.

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According to data from the Transport Department, almost 4% of CDL owners are limited in English proficiency. It is estimated that 16% discover as immigrants.

“Is it someone who has an accent, or maybe someone who wears a turban?” Mannirmal Kur, senior federal policy manager at Sikh Coalition, said: “An order outside the service may be potentially unemployment for a truck driver … With a potentially limited appeal.”

(Tagstranslate) Trump Administration

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This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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