WEBVTT - Part Four: The Clarence Thomas Story 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:04.840 Welcome back to Behind the Bastards, the podcast where once 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:07.440 again Miles and I are talking about the well known 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.280 fact that I'm a much better basketball player than Lebron James. 0:00:10.280 --> 0:00:14.480 So how are we doing? You're not? But I, like 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:20.840 Lebron has never done the the five pointer shots that 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.080 I make all the time. Definitely not. That's definitely not. 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.720 That's when he did. Is not wetty like yours? No 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:31.360 wetti thank you. That's exactly the slang that I know 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:38.000 what means. It's so funny, how stupid you sounded so funny. 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:43.120 You know what else is funny, Sophie. I was gonna 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:46.159 say something really mean, and then I stopped myself. What well, 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:48.920 you know what I did is I spent time, because 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:51.960 I'm not a mean person like you, reading from the Bible, 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.240 you know, the Good Book, which we're all supposed to 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:57.880 do every day. And I found a relevant quote from 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.080 the Bible. And I just gonna read this bit of 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:06.679 Mark sixteen because I think from Playboy Magazine August of nine, 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:11.120 that's somebody's Bible. No, I I think we could use 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.679 a little bit more religion on this podcast. And uh, 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.160 and so I'm gonna this this this verse from the Bible, 0:01:16.600 --> 0:01:21.720 save us, Robert cherish ye all the catalytic converters that 0:01:21.720 --> 0:01:25.200 that frolic and frock in the streets around you, and 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:28.319 never let them stay in the car with which they 0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:32.160 were initially assembled, and instead take for ye all the 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.919 precious metals they contain and use them to buy street 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:42.320 drugs under bridges. M that's I mean, let's just bring 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:46.720 it down one more time due Toonomy eight. But remember 0:01:46.840 --> 0:01:50.360 the Lord your God, for it is he who gives 0:01:50.400 --> 0:01:54.120 you the ability to produce wealth through the theft of 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:58.960 catalytic converters, which he swore to your ancestors. As it 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:01.240 is today. I mean, and this is why the Bible is, 0:02:01.800 --> 0:02:03.320 This is why I want to get this ship tadded. 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:07.800 Sometimes it's so powerful. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. I can't imagine 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:12.359 anyone disagreeing with that. This is not funny. So is 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:16.760 my religion. Don't don't play with Miles. I think we 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:19.320 might have to get HR involved, because if I remember 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.080 the classes that I did not take, the HR takes 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:25.600 a stick. We're not allowed to demean a co workers religion. 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:29.040 Gart you're still gonning emails about that. I have not 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:35.000 checked those emails in months. Sophie. Um So, Miles, we're 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:38.480 back talking about Clarence Thomas. What's a good nickname for 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:44.120 Clarence Thomas? Uh m hmm. I feel like it's some 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:47.080 kind of like a good nickname is some kind of 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:51.880 Marvel super villain that involves like some kind of porn pun. Yeah, 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:56.040 definitely there has to be like something pornographic there which 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.519 he would appreciate personally, as someone who uncontrollably talks about 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.120 porn grafity to every single person that he has for 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.440 more than thirty five seconds. I'm trying to think, is 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.640 there any I mean, there's pyro and that could just 0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:12.680 be porno, but that's not like very clever. Um, we'll 0:03:12.680 --> 0:03:15.120 think about that. I mean, I'll challenge the listeners for 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.360 that something good, some good. I was gonna go with 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.920 Lex Luthor, but mainly because I think Clarence tom Well 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.960 is he bald am? I just imagining that Clarence Thomas 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:26.919 he's got here. Let me let me take a look. 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.000 Let me take a look. I think it's halo Yeah 0:03:29.080 --> 0:03:30.960 it is haloing. But no, you're right, he has that 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.240 like it's like a crown of white hairs too. So 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:39.520 like spiderwebt Um, I don't know, but oh yeah, no, 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.160 that's because in the most recent pictures he's like barely 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:44.680 has any left. I guess he's kind of like he's 0:03:44.680 --> 0:03:48.920 like Sniegel, you know, and that like Porno has ruined him. 0:03:48.960 --> 0:03:50.960 Like I see like the ring of Power, the Ring 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:53.280 of Porno that he's pursuing. And then I just think 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.520 how the walls are plastered with Porno. It's like Sniegel 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.440 when he has the rings, Like I look forward to 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.800 the day and Elijah Wood attempts to throw his his 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.280 old playboys into a volcano, but but can't bear to 0:04:06.360 --> 0:04:08.720 do it, and then Clarence Thomas tackles them out of 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:13.240 his hands and falls into the mouth of some fires 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:22.200 of Mount Doom. Yeah. Yes, anyway, big on Tolkien today. 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:27.520 Um so yeah, the uh, we're talking a bit about 0:04:27.560 --> 0:04:30.279 Clans Thomas, who is as we start this story, about 0:04:30.320 --> 0:04:34.160 to be the Republican nominate the latest of like way 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:36.880 too many fucking Supreme they make, They nominate so many 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:39.560 fucking Supreme Court justices in the Reagan Bush ears it 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:44.280 is heartbreaking. Um and yeah. The kind of black conservatism 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:46.120 that Thomas had come to support by the late nineteen 0:04:46.160 --> 0:04:49.360 eighties was very formed by both his experiences at Yale 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:52.720 with his racist white liberal colleagues and his experiences with 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:56.159 racists in the Reagan administration. It was a better the 0:04:56.240 --> 0:04:58.760 devil you know kind of bargain mixed with an almost 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.560 religious belief in the saving power of black men and 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.279 the focus on a kind of family values that hinged 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:08.800 around an authoritarian, all powerful father exerting iron control over 0:05:08.839 --> 0:05:12.159 his family. That's what like his kind of attitude comes 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:14.520 around as is like you can't you can't understand or 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.360 stop racism. It's useless to try. You'll just wind up 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:19.920 making the problem worse. All you can do is empower 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.719 black men to have complete control over their families in 0:05:22.839 --> 0:05:26.080 order to like protect and direct them. Um, the state 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:27.720 will do nothing but get in the way of black 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:31.480 self reliance, and in Thomas's evolving view, things like affirmative 0:05:31.480 --> 0:05:34.640 action only stripped black men of self respect, while integration 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.000 broke up strong black communities. The fact that Thomas himself 0:05:38.000 --> 0:05:41.960 had repeatedly benefited from affirmative action programs UH does not 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:44.160 seem to have had an impact on his beliefs here, 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:47.200 although he was constantly angry about that. So I don't know. 0:05:47.400 --> 0:05:52.440 That's a complicated thing to wrap your head around. I guess, yeah, yeah, 0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:58.240 I mean that's again, there's so much that's like confounding 0:05:58.279 --> 0:06:02.040 about him, with so much that makes sense, that makes sense, right, Yeah, 0:06:02.160 --> 0:06:05.520 like yeah, that that is like a whole thing to 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:10.400 to get your head around. And it is, like I think, rightfully, 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:14.360 So there's nothing unreasonable or hard to understand about being 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:18.400 like angry about the existence of affirmative action because of 0:06:18.440 --> 0:06:22.120 like what it implies, right, what it implies about like 0:06:22.200 --> 0:06:24.440 the past of the country that you're in. Right, I 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:27.240 don't think it's reasonable to be against those programs, but 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:29.120 I think it's reasonable to be like it's fucked up 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:33.000 that like this is necessary, um, and that it's going 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:36.120 to lead to people treating black people who benefit from 0:06:36.120 --> 0:06:38.520 these programs differently as if like they don't deserve to 0:06:38.560 --> 0:06:40.720 be there. Like that is uh, like fucked up in 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:42.880 a problem. It doesn't mean that like the solution is 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:46.479 do nothing exactly it's right, which is what he says, 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:50.719 Or you're just going to make the problems of racism worse. Yeah, Well, 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:54.080 it's not like you want to put out a fire, right, 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:56.880 And he's just saying don't fan the flames, and it's like, 0:06:56.920 --> 0:06:59.720 no extinguish the fire. Yeah, it's like, yeah, it's sucked 0:06:59.760 --> 0:07:02.200 up with to have so many firefighters out of this fire. 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.360 But yeah, it is. It's bad that the fire got 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:07.880 that bad. But that doesn't mean the solutionists fewer firefighters, 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:13.640 yeah right, or you can fan the flames. Yeah. So, 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.840 according to Corey Robin Quote, among the few who have 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.040 noticed this, the type of his nomination was the right 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:23.520 wing intellectual Murray Rothbard. Before he died in nine Rothbard 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.560 came to a late life vision of a coalition of 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:29.920 libertarians and white nationalists forging alliances with Pat Buchanan and 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:33.960 Ron Paul. Rothbart anticipated the merger of America's two great manias, 0:07:34.360 --> 0:07:38.200 racism and capital or in capitalism that are the hallmark 0:07:38.240 --> 0:07:41.800 of the Trump regime, black separatism or black nationalism. Rothbard 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.680 said of Thomas's philosophy has long struck me as more 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:47.280 far more compatible with human nature, as well as far 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:51.600 more libertarian than the compulsory integration beloved of left liberalism. 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:55.040 A modern updated version of the black nation idea, Rothbart added, 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:57.720 would set the American blacks free, at last, free from 0:07:57.760 --> 0:07:59.920 what they see as white racism and what many white 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.240 see his parasitism over the white populace through crime or 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:06.880 welfare payments. Independent at long last, liberated from what they 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:09.960 see as the institutionalized legacy of slavery, the blacks would 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.760 finally be free to find their own level. So like 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:16.080 Rothbart sucks. Rothbart, by the way, is the reason why 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:18.480 libertarian is a right wing word. Now that's like a 0:08:18.520 --> 0:08:20.280 conscious thing that he did is steal it from the 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.200 left and is a just a math that makes clear 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:27.800 that's a massive racist talking right like everything about very racist. Yeah, 0:08:28.720 --> 0:08:30.640 but also just given their own thing give let him 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:33.160 just do their own thing over there. Man. Also, though 0:08:33.200 --> 0:08:35.000 you have to like again this is the thing you 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.199 could you always have to say about Rothbart, a very 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.319 intelligent man who was good at getting what he wanted, 0:08:39.800 --> 0:08:43.959 because like, this is a winning strategy, not with most people, 0:08:44.040 --> 0:08:47.040 but like with enough that it's come to dominate a 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:52.679 huge chunk of Republican politics, um and been a significant 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:55.800 part and a couple of presidential elections. So yeah, and 0:08:55.840 --> 0:09:00.720 it and it also a great new feeling or vibe 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:04.959 to the idea of like not wanting to help marginalized people, 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.560 which is you know, people should just be kind of 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:10.840 like left to do their own thing, is sort of 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.280 what I'm saying. Like I'm not trying to say they 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.120 deserve that, but what I'm saying is my belief is 0:09:16.160 --> 0:09:19.040 that like people should just be free to like sort 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.320 that out. Like if it's not working for them, then 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:23.440 like they should work that out. And is that sort 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:28.760 of like this other, you know, form of neglectful racism 0:09:28.840 --> 0:09:34.600 that people love. Yep, Um, it's pretty good. It's it's 0:09:35.320 --> 0:09:39.160 uh yeah. In June of their good Martial announced his 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:42.280 retirement from the Supreme Court. Tragically. If he'd held on 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:44.640 a little bit longer, his successor might have been someone 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:46.560 who was a little bit more to the left. Uh, 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.440 and they would have been appointed by President Clinton. Um. 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:53.720 But at the time June, you gotta remember, Bush looked 0:09:53.720 --> 0:09:57.160 like he was gonna win, right like it was, you know, 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.440 things were going pretty good. He had he'd had a 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:02.880 he was in the process, I guess of having a 0:10:02.920 --> 0:10:04.880 fun little war which we all had a really good 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.480 time with. Made everybody feel good about themselves. I Mean, 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:10.320 who didn't have those custom Ninja turtles that were straight 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:14.400 up desert storm propaganda? Man, he should have gotten a 0:10:14.440 --> 0:10:17.880 second term just because of the Ninja Turtles strength of yea, yeah, 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:19.959 off the strength of the toys absolutely and the G I. 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.120 Joe episodes. We got out of that period of time. 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:25.760 Oh my god, what a what a great time that 0:10:25.960 --> 0:10:29.760 was for everyone. This scuds for you. We should have 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.800 done another couple of wars like that instead of the 0:10:32.840 --> 0:10:36.560 problem wars. Right, Yeah, I know, just suck a country 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.160 up a little bit and then like bounce just a 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.840 little bit though, you know, just just just fucking around 0:10:42.880 --> 0:10:46.559 just for the weekend. Yeah, what if we just bombed 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:49.440 I don't know, what's the capital of Poland, Poland town. 0:10:49.520 --> 0:10:51.480 What if we just bombed Poland Town a little bit, 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:53.520 you know, and then we bounced, then we're gone. Right? 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:56.760 Does a little warning make us feel good? Hundred hours 0:10:56.760 --> 0:11:03.480 on the ground, right, everybody? Everybody feels like even not? Yeah? Yeah, easy, simple, God? 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:08.160 What you want to bomb Warsaw? Thank you, Sophie Warsaw? Yeah? 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:11.240 Why not? Yeah? Joined the great club of dudes? Who 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:16.000 did I know one thing about that's? That's that's If 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.840 I know one thing about history, it's that bombing Warsaw 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:25.040 is always a good guy move. No response to that, 0:11:25.280 --> 0:11:32.200 just concerned here folks anyway, stop borking around. Thank you 0:11:32.240 --> 0:11:35.959 so thank you for bringing back to Robert. So your 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.920 life up if they're good. Marshall had held on a 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.840 little bit longer another like year in change, he probably 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.040 would have had his success for appointed by President Clinton. 0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:46.959 But like, and I'm not saying this to criticize the man, Like, 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.480 imagine yourself in his position. You've spent your entire life 0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:53.600 fighting for civil rights and doing so very effectively. You 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:57.360 are old and sick and in pain, and you're pretty 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.640 fucking sure this Bush guys gonna win reelection, So like, 0:12:00.800 --> 0:12:05.760 why continue to just sit there writing out distant pieces 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:08.120 while you're like kind of unable to function at your 0:12:08.120 --> 0:12:11.280 prior level, you know, especially I'm not. I'm not, yeah, 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.640 especially when that like I'm doing the best I can 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:15.720 with what I have quote like makes your sound like 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:19.559 fucking hod or of like just like just ripping up 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:22.199 your body, and you're like, I'm trying, y'all, I am 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.840 desperately trying, but it's just they're ripping my body apart, 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.760 like I I can't. I have no no blame for 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:31.880 him in this, like but he does, he does quit. 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.760 You know, wait, where are those like white women who 0:12:34.800 --> 0:12:37.920 are blaming they're good, Marshal. They're like, actually, if you 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:44.040 really follow this domino effect, it's they're good Marshal fault. Um, yeah, 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:47.199 I don't, I don't, I don't. I don't particularly blame him. 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:50.040 He's in a pretty bad historic position here. It is 0:12:50.120 --> 0:12:53.080 kind of tragic knowing like, oh, man, you were about 0:12:53.080 --> 0:12:57.480 to get a moderately more progressive person in the White House, 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:02.840 but tragically that didn't not happen. Um. So he he quits, 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:06.920 you know, he does the old Irish goodbye uh and 0:13:06.920 --> 0:13:12.080 and bounces and um. Yeah. Now, George H. W. Bush 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.439 is going to is one of his last things as president, 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.400 get to put another ass in a seat at the 0:13:17.400 --> 0:13:22.120 Supreme Court. Um. And you know, at this point they 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.520 can't throw another moderate in there. You know, Bush and 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:29.160 Johnson UNU have like kind of edged the far right 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:31.320 as much as they possibly can, and they need to 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:34.240 pick a judge that like the fascist wing of the party. 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:37.280 He's gonna get hard. Yeah, and and that that that 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:41.520 motherfucker is Clarence Thomas. Um. However, the realities of the 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.360 selection process mean that they also need to convince Congress 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:46.560 that he has not in fact a threat to abortion. 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:50.400 That is the primary concern when Thomas gets nominated, right, UM, 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:52.640 is that, Oh, this guy's gonna end Roe v. Wade. Right, 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:57.040 that is the primary concern in n UM, this guy's 0:13:57.280 --> 0:14:00.880 gonna end Roe v. Wade. Now, so a lot of 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.560 Congress people before proving him want to like know whether 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:07.920 or not he's a threat to the right to choose um. 0:14:07.960 --> 0:14:11.079 And this is not as simple as it sounds actually 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:14.439 finding out how he would rule on it, because Thomas, again, 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:16.360 as we've kind of walked through this, he has no 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.320 history as a trial lawyer. He's never worked as a 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:23.320 judge prior to this. You know, Um, he has absolutely 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:26.760 no history of ruling on or considering cases or being 0:14:26.800 --> 0:14:30.920 involved with cases that involve abortion. There's nothing to read 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:32.880 on in his actual past here. And part of that 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.240 is because again he's not a fucking judge, So there's 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:37.080 like no way to look at how he's handled past 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.640 cases here. He's like, what do you do, sir? How 0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:41.760 did how the fund did your name get? Yeah, he's 0:14:41.760 --> 0:14:44.360 a political creature, right like, he does not have and 0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:47.640 he's he's kind of deliberately avoided being in positions where 0:14:47.640 --> 0:14:50.240 there's a whole lot to criticize him on in in 0:14:50.320 --> 0:14:56.000 most of these actual like super dicey areas. UM. So 0:14:56.120 --> 0:15:00.800 when he undergoes his confirmation hearings, UM, Tom fights hard 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.760 to be to avoid being pinned down on the matter 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.480 of whether or not he supports the right to choose UM. 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:08.560 He says at one point that he doesn't know how 0:15:08.600 --> 0:15:10.720 he's going to rule on abortion right, Like, so, I 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:12.160 don't know. I don't know what I do. I don't 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:13.640 know what I do if that came up, you know, 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.000 UM quote, I hadn't read those cases about privacy, and 0:15:17.040 --> 0:15:20.400 I hadn't thought much about substantive due process since law school. 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.360 I had constitutional law in nineteen seventy two. Row was 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:26.240 decided in nineteen seventy three. So he's literally like, I 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.160 just didn't think about it much. And then I've been like, oh, Ship, 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:32.280 that's right. But then like I got out of law 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:34.960 school and like I wasn't really thinking about it. Yeah, 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.240 I might think, I might say, not a log I hear, 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:40.080 but I might say that not having thought about a 0:15:40.120 --> 0:15:44.840 major civil rights issue ever in your career would be Yeah, maybe, 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:46.800 like you shouldn't be a judge of the on the 0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:49.440 Supreme Court if you never thought about this in your life. 0:15:50.200 --> 0:15:53.440 That's what's wild too, is like I'm sure there's like 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:57.120 this perfect again because he's this political creature to like 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.680 he's benefited from just like patriarchy and that he can 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:02.840 be like a guy who has really he's replacing one 0:16:02.880 --> 0:16:06.720 of like the most brilliant Supreme Court justices, the dude 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:10.600 who has never done shit, like yeah, like literally the 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.240 fucking goat. This guy who by any standard, has had 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.640 an incredible priorate of becoming a Supreme Court justice, has 0:16:16.640 --> 0:16:19.840 an incredible legal career still to this day one of 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.680 the most influential trial lawyers in the history of like 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:26.240 Western law. And he gets replaced by a guy who 0:16:26.320 --> 0:16:30.160 um like had eight eight years as chairman of the 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.000 E e e O C and prior to that like briefly 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:36.920 represented Monsanto and then like and then nothing director for 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:44.960 talking about porn for mostly just interrupted colleagues Like what so, 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.480 Thomas though um is really good, you know, obviously he 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:51.760 has no real background as the kind of things you 0:16:51.760 --> 0:16:53.760 would want to Supreme Court justice to have, but he 0:16:53.840 --> 0:16:56.280 has gotten really good at this point at using his 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.240 personal background as someone who grew up poor and black 0:16:59.560 --> 0:17:02.960 to be fuddle literal liberals and kind of like, you know, 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:05.600 push back on any sort of claims that he might 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.320 not be a good fit as a Supreme Court justice. Uh. 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:10.320 He followed this statement, the one I just read about 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.479 how he hasn't considered privacy law by claiming, quote, I 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:15.800 was more interested in the race issues. I was more 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:17.880 interested in getting out of law school. I was more 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.840 interested in passing the bar exam. My life was consumed 0:17:20.880 --> 0:17:23.280 by survival. I couldn't pay my rent, I couldn't repay 0:17:23.320 --> 0:17:25.280 my student loans. I had all these other things going 0:17:25.320 --> 0:17:28.040 on that you were navigating these worlds that you're navigating. 0:17:28.400 --> 0:17:30.600 So that's is like reason for why I didn't consider 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:32.880 I never considered abortion of privacy. I had real things 0:17:32.960 --> 0:17:35.400 to worry about, you know. I had as a as 0:17:35.400 --> 0:17:37.320 a as a as a poor black kid. I had 0:17:37.359 --> 0:17:39.440 liked to actually fight to pay my rent, So I 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.919 couldn't think about privacy rights. So the right to choose 0:17:42.920 --> 0:17:46.879 perfect perfect, Yeah. Yeah, And that like it shuts down 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.640 a lot of the criticisms against him in the Senate. Now, 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:52.840 if you want a tremendously detailed look at how the 0:17:52.880 --> 0:17:56.160 confirmation process went or precisely why Thomas was picked all 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.439 of that stuff. I really do recommend the book Strange 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.240 Justice by Meyer and Abramson Um. I think it is 0:18:01.280 --> 0:18:04.440 important to note that Thomas really plays up the aspects 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:06.719 of his background that sound good to liberals when he 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:10.719 is during this confirmation process, because again, he spent years 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.000 playing up aspects of his background to appeal to the right, 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:15.440 and now that he's got to like appeal to the center, 0:18:15.440 --> 0:18:17.440 at some point he starts like really pushing the parts 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:19.800 of him that do sound good to liberals. When he's 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:22.320 asked what he minors in during college, he's tells the 0:18:22.359 --> 0:18:27.280 Senate protest um. And it should be noted that many 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.600 many liberals at the time absolutely did not buy what 0:18:30.600 --> 0:18:33.440 what Thomas was trying to like get over on them. 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.520 His far right views were well documented his history. You know, 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:38.159 we've talked about he gives all these speeches at the 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:41.440 Heritage Foundation that New York Times article I quoted from earlier, 0:18:41.440 --> 0:18:44.240 where he's like, that's criticizing him for being friends with 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.520 a bunch of apartheid people and participating in like pro apartheid, 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:51.280 like think tank events like that is known at the 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:54.440 time he's being criticized for that at the time um, 0:18:54.440 --> 0:18:57.160 and he also has a nasty history of statements about 0:18:57.160 --> 0:19:01.119 things like racial intermarriage and women's rights. There was extreme 0:19:01.200 --> 0:19:03.000 suspicion at the time that he would be a void 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:05.880 vote against reproductive choice on the Supreme Court, and many 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.679 many people did not fall for his act, and so 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:12.119 his confirmation process was contentious and brutal, and some of 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:14.840 the ugliest moments during it came to the during the 0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.040 testimony of a former female employee who had worked with 0:19:18.119 --> 0:19:20.719 him at both the Department of Education and at the 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:23.720 E E O C. And now it's time Miles to 0:19:23.760 --> 0:19:31.919 talk about Anita Hill. Yeah, you're not gonna nobody's nobody's 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:36.160 gonna feel good about this. This isn't like a long Yeah. 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:40.879 This this is the road to Anita Hill vill But 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:44.640 you know what, it's the road to First Miles Products 0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:49.239 and Services. Oh boy, Yeah, this is you know, this 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:51.359 is a road that you can travel on your car 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:54.280 when you replace your catalytic converter, which, by the way, 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:57.440 we're just gonna take again. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's 0:19:57.440 --> 0:19:59.720 why that's winded up right in the pocket, baby, right 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.480 in the pocket. You're just at this point stop driving 0:20:02.520 --> 0:20:04.760 that Prius, you know what I mean? No, you know, 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:06.920 I can't want to see us, you know what I mean. 0:20:06.920 --> 0:20:08.840 That's what I say. Look, man, you can wrap it 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:13.080 in razor blades. I don't care. I got gloves like yeah, 0:20:13.160 --> 0:20:18.720 nobody kind of treasures are inside that thing. Jim's the 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:23.760 bloons all for you there inside a catalytic converter. Can 0:20:23.840 --> 0:20:27.160 you imagine? That's like it's all started as a myth 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:30.560 from a Pirates type. I'm imagining redoing the opening of 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:33.000 the first Indiana Jones and instead of that like little 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.640 head statue, it's like a catalytic converter thing that he's 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:40.720 gotta like saw out somebody. Somebody's parked their two thousand 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:43.920 eight prius inside a Mayan temple and he's just jacking 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.560 that thing. Oh yeah, just yar. There be many a 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:53.159 catalytic converters yonder and then you go we there's rhodium 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:56.240 and platinum inside. Yeah. And in the first Pirates of 0:20:56.280 --> 0:21:00.399 the Caribbean movie what's his name? The older Pirate, just 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:03.119 like the opening up a chest, Yeah, Jeffrey Rush opening 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.120 a chest and just like running catalytic converters falling out 0:21:06.119 --> 0:21:09.360 of his hand, washing his hand in it like it's 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:12.480 a cool stream. Exactly. He got the he has the 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.720 chain necklace. Elizabeth's got like a catalytic converter necklace, and 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:18.800 it falls into the ocean and that's what wakes up 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:28.360 all of the skelets. And oh, we're the catalytic converter 0:21:28.520 --> 0:21:38.639 pirate chest. That's right, baby, here's some ads. Uh, Miles, 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:44.760 we're back, Yeah, we're back. We're talking about both catalytic 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:51.280 converters and Clarence Thomas. Um. Yeah, mostly catalytic converters over 0:21:51.320 --> 0:21:53.280 the last minute or so. But you know, I think 0:21:53.280 --> 0:21:56.280 we can all agree much more relevant to civil rights 0:21:56.400 --> 0:22:00.240 law than than the Supreme Court is the catalytic converter. Look, 0:22:00.240 --> 0:22:03.800 I mean, look, we always say liberation through catalytic conversion. 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.399 That's that's exactly right, Miles. The Supreme Court takes away 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:09.560 rights at the drop of a hat. You can't trust them, 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:11.600 you can't rely on them. You can always rely on 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:14.200 a catalytic converter to be worth hard cash, you know. 0:22:15.440 --> 0:22:19.520 And you saw this, look, folks, and thanks so much 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:21.560 for coming to this Hilton for this talk. But I 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:24.920 gotta say, with the market price right now for metals 0:22:24.960 --> 0:22:28.040 like rhodium, like palladium, like platinum, Okay, we call those 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:30.840