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 |   Tales from real life |
| Well, if they're not true, they oughta be! |
The conservative majority of SCOTUS ruled six to three this week that it is not a crime to bribe government officials. It’s only a crime for the bribe to be paid up front. The case involves a small-town mayor who received a $13,000 gift from a garbage company shortly after awarding them a million-dollar garbage contract. A reasonable person might conclude that a large cash payment following a lucrative contract award indicates that a favor was granted in return for the cash. State and local courts ruled that the payment was in fact a bribe. The Roberts court, however, overturned those rulings. The MAGA majority found that a gift following a favor is merely a gratuity for a job well done. It's definitely not a quid pro quo, merely an understanding between friends that first I need you to do me a favor. Justice Kavanaugh wrote the majority opinion and should have included the infamous quote from Donald Trump's Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney: "It happens all the time . . . get over it." Kavanaugh did acknowledge a few basic rules of etiquette for public corruption. Payment of the bribe must follow completion of the favor and there can be no contractual agreement up front. There can be no incriminating emails with price negotiations, no awkward text exchanges that predate the favor, and no inconvenient witnesses to the agreement. But as long as there is no admissible evidence of prior collusion, then there is total exoneration! A legal basis for bribery is an important point for MAGA to establish in the law, especially for self-serving justices Thomas and Alito, who maintain that accepting gifts from wealthy political donors is not illegal or even unethical. They have both received lavish gifts from wealthy friends but have not always disclosed such gifts. And recent revelations of past gifts are not merely an embarrassing tax liability, corrupt justices could potentially face impeachment. So, overturning the mayor's bribery conviction gives them precedent to avoid their own bribery charges. In his opinion, Kavanaugh described such gifts as gratuities, given in appreciation for a job well done. A reasonable person might conclude that this actually smells like bribery. The Roberts court, however, has agreed with Thomas and Alito that SCOTUS is above any legal or moral requirement to act ethically. Kavanaugh's use of the word gratuity may seem odd, but Donald Trump has recently decided to push a tax break for tips. Could this be a quid pro quo? Trump is granted immunity from criminal prosecution, and in return the justices won't have to pay income tax on their gratuities. It seems that MAGA greed truly has no limit. When I worked in the corporate world, I was required to take yearly ethics training. These presentations emphasized that even the appearance of misconduct was unacceptable. We were told not to pursue a personal friendship with a vendor or a customer. We were told not to accept gifts from vendors or give gifts to customers. Even wearing a ball cap with a logo could be construed as evidence of favoritism. This mandatory training for all employees was put in place after a few high-level executives were found to have acted unethically to secure business contracts and personal perks. It may have been cynical for the bosses to push ethics training on us peons, but at least they acknowledged that ethical behavior should be the norm. President Trump made many grandiose promises for his first day in office. He was going to make dozens of major changes in his first week. He promised to repeal and replace multiple laws that he disagreed with. But what he actually did that first week was to cancel the customary ethics training that had always been given to incoming White House staff. We don’t need no stinking ethics! Little did we know that ‘his’ judges would make this the official motto of the Supreme court. And now this smack-down of ethical behavior has been codified in U. S. law by a Supreme Court ruling. Choices have consequences and bad choices have bad consequences. A corrupt President Trump appointed corrupt judges and those corrupt judges make corrupt rulings. We should all keep that in mind in November. I can’t help but wonder, and hope, that the blatantly unethical behavior of the Roberts court will enable future courts to find reversible error. Not just with this case but with any ruling handed down by SCOTUS since Roberts was appointed Chief Justice. These so-called conservative justices have openly admitted that they take gifts from interested parties. They do not recuse themselves from cases that involve their wealthy patrons. And they have ruled that this is acceptable behavior for government officials at all levels. As far as I’m concerned, a future court can overturn any decision from the Roberts era simply because it has the taint of a Roberts ruling. |
| Reposted from Real Fake News: Vice Guys Double Down by staff reporter D. S. Gustin Co-conspirators, bootlicking toadies, and vice-presidential hopefuls have closed ranks around the ample cheeks of former president Donald Trump. But even a bigly backside can't provide enough lip space to accommodate this race to the bottom. Faithful maganaughts are pushing and shoving each other to gain the spotlight for their professions of unconditional fidelity. There appears to be no bar low enough to shake their faith in the convicted felon. "Donald Trump could revoke my citizenship and I would still vote for him," declared Nikki Hailey. "In fact, he could deport my entire extended family and they would all vote for him, too." "Donald Trump could tie a black man to his bumper and drag him down the national mall and I would still vote for him," promised a smiling Tim Scott. "He could even use the rope we bought for Mike Pence." "Donald Trump could date a 14-year-old girl and I would still vote for him," leered Matt Gaetz. "In fact, I'd drive her across state lines to meet him." "Donald Trump could send me dozens of dick pics and I would still vote for him," gushed Marjorie Taylor Greene. "It's not icky at all, a lot of people like mushrooms." "I feel very comfortable in voting for Donald Trump again," said Susan Collins. "Surely he's learned a lesson from two impeachments, an election loss, two defamation judgments, 91 indictments, and a felony conviction." "Donald Trump could organize a nambla professional wrestling tour and I'd still vote for him," said Jim Jordan. "In fact, I'd sign up for the teen age class myself." "Donald Trump could choose Hannibal Lecter as his running mate and I would still vote for him," said Marco Rubio. "There's nothing in the constitution to prevent a felon or a fiction from holding office, and I'd hope to be invited to the White House for dinner." "I would be proud to join Nikki on the first deportation flight of Donald Trump's second term" boasted Vivek Ramaswamy. "And even from India, I would still vote for him. Non-citizens cast ballots for Trump all the time, believe me!" "Donald Trump could lie about being a felon to purchase an AK-47, outfit it with a bump stock, shoot up my grandson's school, and I would still vote for him," solemnly swore Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. "He could raw dog a $20 hooker, abort the pregnancy on live TV, eat the fetus with a nice Chianti, and I would still vote for Donald Trump," said Kari Lake." "Donald Trump could post a TikTok video of me cleaning his balls between holes at Mar-a-Lago and I'd still vote for him," cooed Lindsey Graham with a coy smile. “Donald Trump could attack my wife with a hammer, and I would still vote for him,” insisted House Speaker Mike Johnson. "Not only would I vote for him, but I'd use the bloody hammer as my official gavel." "Please, God, let me kneel in Hell with Donald Trump rather than stand in heaven with Joe Biden," prayed televangical Franklin Graham from a street corner in Gomorrah. "And I can still vote for him by mail-in ballot. Dead republicans do that all the time, believe me!" |
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