Capitalism in its full flowering as we see it today provides unimaginable riches for those at the top. In addition, it provides unimpeded power to influence politicians, bureaucrats... even Supreme Court justices.
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In June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.

If Thomas had chartered the plane and the 162-foot yacht himself, the total cost of the trip could have exceeded $500,000. Fortunately for him, that wasn’t necessary. He was on vacation with real estate magnate and Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, who owned the jet — and the yacht, too.

For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.

The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court.
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FULL STORY -- https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow

#USA #Politics #Corruption #Anticapitalism

Imagine writing a law in 2023, with only 27 words, to regulate weapons built by future generations in 2255—despite your zero knowledge of tech 232 years in the future—and no other context is available.

That's how absurd it sounds when people today claim a 1791 Amendment encompasses all weapons in 2023 and cannot be questioned in any capacity.

It bears repeating:

America doesn't have a health CARE system. We have a health INSURANCE system. That ain't the same thing.

When anyone walks in the door, our first question isn't "How can we fix you?", it's "How're you gonna pay for this?"

That's barbaric.

It comes from having profit incentive at the core of our health CARE system. Those two things - profit incentive & health CARE are mutually exclusive propositions. They cannot co-exist.

The inmates are running our health care asylum and killing us because of it.

#healthcare #medicine #insurance #corruption

By refusing to sell #mifepristone by mail even in states where it's legal, #Walgreens, the 2nd-largest pharmacy chain in US, is offering an object lesson for companies in bending down and licking the boots of America's aspiring fascists.

#Walgreens is dangerous to your health. https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/walgreens-abortion-pill-access

Noam Chomsky on ChatGPT: It’s "Basically High-Tech Plagiarism" and "a Way of Avoiding Learning"

https://www.openculture.com/2023/02/noam-chomsky-on-chatgpt.html