Clarence Thomas on Wednesday delivered a televised broadside against progressivism, a political philosophy he described as an existential threat to America and the principles that founded it 250 years ago.

“Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence and hence our form of government,” Thomas said in a speech at the University of Texas Austin Law School pegged to the nation’s upcoming milestone birthday.

A spirit of “cynicism, rejection, hostility and animus” toward America -- by Americans -- has taken hold, Thomas said in remarks carried live on CSPAN.

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[–] 169 points 6 months ago (14 children)

Is this man aware he is black?

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  • [–] 67 points 6 months ago (5 children)

    Back in the day, certain slaves were "house slaves" who were still treated like shit and beat. But were "allowed" to do work in the plantation house instead of the fields.

    They were often more racist then the slave owners. The only way they could build themselves up was by tearing their brothers and sisters down.

    The worst the slave owner consider them, the better the ones in the house seemed by default.

    While Thomas should be aware of all that as a "legal scholar" who would have had to study shit like this for years...

    The mentality isn't relegated to just slavery.

    Pick any random minority, and you can find a member who does similar.

    So he probably wouldn't mind if slavery came back, because in his head he'd still be one of the "valuable exceptions" and has done the mental gymnastics to think he'd even hold onto his position.

    Understanding how they think is important to stop them.

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  • [–] 17 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    It's worth listening to the More Perfect podcast episode on wtf Clarance Thomas's ideological deal is.

    https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolabmoreperfect/episodes/clarence-x

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  • [–] 11 points 6 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 15 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    He's a corrupt sexual assaulter who thinks black people shouldn't receive any assistance despite the lack of civil rights they've historically had, and feels liberals are the cause of all his problems and intends to piss them off every chance he gets.

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  • [–] 14 points 6 months ago

    Fred Hampton once said (paraphrasing from memory) "a pig is a pig is a pig. No matter black, white, yellow, or polka dot".

    I think this applies here in the sense that race can be ignored as a factor in the corrupt, the same way you can rule out a coherent doctrine. The only academic question about Thomas is has he received a bribe, or is he angling for a gratuity?

    I'm saying this as someone who's tried to comprehend his political/ legal philosophy for years. Observers have often said that Thomas believes that black Americans can find more equality in capital than they can with the franchise. The reasoning goes that black Americans can never rely on voting because they're a permanent minority and therefore perpetually dependent on the good will of white America; good will that can never be trusted. Valid point IMO. But nah... Justice Thomas was just corrupt.

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    [–] 84 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Seems fair, as progressives would describe Thomas as a threat to America.

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  • [–] 43 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Corrupt hack should eat shit.

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  • [–] 31 points 6 months ago*

    Nothing more pathetic than a man who hates himself so much that he's willing to take his whole race and country back four centuries just to feel superior. Fuck you, Clarence.

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  • [–] 30 points 6 months ago*

    Black man resents equal rights, news at 11. Clarence Thomas is the epitome of "fuck you I got mine"

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  • [–] 29 points 6 months ago

    MAGAts are a threat to the whole world.

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  • [–] 24 points 6 months ago

    The entire US justice system is the enemy of the people.

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  • [–] 23 points 6 months ago* (3 children)

    A spirit of “cynicism, rejection, hostility and animus” toward America – by Americans – has taken hold, Thomas said in remarks carried live on CSPAN.

    Progressivism means Americans criticize America because they are interested in making it better. Conservativism refuses to criticize America because it has no interest in making it better.

    And that's why conservativism is ultimately so pathetic. To fix flaws you have to admit to them, and put in work to change your own habits and the world around you, both of which are hard. To refuse to acknowledge flaws is easy, and you don't have to fix anything about yourself or the world. It's a fundamentally infantile, weak way of existing.

    When I see people with Thomas' opinions, I think, "Well, there's a child whose mind just got older, but never grew up." It's incredible to realize, as an adult, just how many of the "adults" around us fit that model, and how much power they often end up having.

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  • [–] 10 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Conservativism refuses to criticize America

    Convservatism criticizes America all the fucking time. Anytime anybody in America gets a little too "woke" for them.

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago

    Small but very important distinction:

    They criticize Americans. They think (or act that way for the cameras) that America is perfect and everything is preordained. That is a point of faith, not-coincidentally - criticizing America elicits the same defensiveness as criticizing their religion. Any issues are with flawed Americans misinterpreting the grand plan of the Founders (as if they didn't also disagree with each other) or God, but nobody gets away with trashing "America," except Trump whose believers instantly recompile it to mean "America-as-long-as-it's-run-by-democrats-and-women-and-non-whites-and-woke-ideology."

    This is why conservatives routinely separate people into "real Americans" versus everyone else.

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago

    Progressivism means Americans criticize America because they are interested in making it better. Conservativism refuses to criticize America because it has no interest in making it better.

    I'd just like to add that freely and openly criticizing your country, its government, and its leadership is the founding ideal of America. It's rich that he brings up "the premise of the declaration of independence and hence our form of government" as if exercising freedom of speech is not the cornerstone of both.

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  • [–] 39 points 6 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    You do realize who would appoint his replacement, right??

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  • [–] 20 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Amended sentiment: Wait for Dems to retake Congress in the midterms and then fuck off and die.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    "We cannot elect a new judge in a election year" such obvious tactics. Annoying it worked for gop but never against them

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    Or just keep voting against whatever justice Trump nominates, until time runs out.

    This one? Nope.

    This one? Nope.

    This one? Nope.

    This one? Nope.

    This one? Nope.

    And just repeat that until Trump is out of office and no longer able to nominate justices.

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  • [–] 19 points 6 months ago*

    Biden ran the Senate judiciary committee for approving Thomas and buried Anita hills testimony on Thomas's sexual harassment, after promising Hill time to speak. Yet another win for the centrists that keeps on giving all these years later. That fiasco alone should have sunk that aipac idiot's chances at the vp and then president spots. And it is one of innumerable outright idiotic fuckups of Biden's career.

    This right here, this Clarence Thomas BS, is the inevitable result of centrists philosophies.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    Man who 100% benefitted from progressive policies in his youth seeks to pull ladderup behind him. Tale as old as time. Hell, he said he used a Carnegie library before desegregation.

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  • [–] 16 points 6 months ago
    [–] 14 points 6 months ago

    Blatantly corrupt judges are the real threat

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  • [–] 13 points 6 months ago

    This fucking hump belongs in prison, and so does his treasonous bulldog wife.

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  • [–] 13 points 6 months ago

    If he doesn't understand the definition of "progressive", he is not mentally competent to be a judge at any level.

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  • [–] 12 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    Fucking, 30 years of bad headlines from this one POS.

    WHERE THE HELL ARE THE:

    term limits/ votes of no confidence/ calls for impeachment/ efforts to reform the Judicial/ ... The adults?

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago

    I was ranting about this the other day, I'm afraid that most people, at least most Americans, are not good enough at standing up to authority for America to fundamentally work as it is supposed to. Some jobs, especially in politics and law, inherently require a pathological John Adams-like willingness to be a problem for the whole ship to stay afloat.

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    [–] 10 points 6 months ago* (1 child)

    Progressivism seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence

    What?!? The central idea of progressivism is egalitarianism, or to put it another way, All Men Are Created Equal..... What kind of an RV or Private Island retreat paid for this ironclad legal and historical reasoning?

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago*

    He sees the threat every day in the morning when he looks in the mirror.

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  • [–] 9 points 6 months ago

    Supreme Court Justice Uncle Ruckus

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  • [–] 41 points 6 months ago (7 children)

    Well if he is so against progress, we can get him to start picking cotton again

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago

    Take the camper bribe Clarence and then never leave the woods again.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago

    altr

    He what? Blasted his head off? He... oh. Never mind 😞

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago

    Every accusation is a confession.

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago

    Uncle Clarence taking up for his masters again I see.

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  • [–] 7 points 6 months ago

    Progressivism is bad? Well, time to become a slave again then, asshole.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago

    How nakedly partisan of him. Completely unbecoming of a judge. What an embarrassment.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago

    The biggest piece of trash to ever disgrace the Supreme Court and a failure of a human being.

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  • [–] 6 points 6 months ago

    He seems uncomfortable with a world where he couldn't openly take bribes.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    "America is the land of opportunity for one thing and one thing only: capital. Its why we believe in Capitalism. Communism? No, Community is evil. Socialism? No, Socializing is evil. Progressivism? No, Progress is evil. Environmentalism? No, the Environment is evil. Welfare? No, Wellness is evil."

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    Correct. It is a threat to YOUR America.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago (1 child)

    He knows progressivism will undo his life's work.

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago

    They are indeed a threat to his supply of free yachts

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  • [–] 5 points 6 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago

    Well, I'm a Land Back lefty, so yeah... I definitely do think America and its values should fuck right off.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago

    All of these right wingers are so fucking weird. Apparently, Thomas likes to talk about the porn he watches with other people.

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  • [–] 4 points 6 months ago

    If this guy thinks its a threat, its probably where you should be putting your energy.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    Uncle Thomas hoping he can caddy for Trump Jr if he says the right words.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    How does someone this out-of-touch with political philosophy, end up a Supreme Court Justice?

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    retire faster

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago*

    delivered a televised broadside

    I know everyone is up in arms on his content (I am too), but did I miss something with a Supreme Court Justice going on TV like this in the first place?

    Edit: Ah it was at a speech to the UT School of Law.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago (3 children)

    He's actually a moron, completely misinterpreted Woodrow Wilson, like not even close to what Wilson was actually writing about.

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  • [–] 8 points 6 months ago (2 children)

    he's not a moron, he's evil. this is intentional twisting to fit his agenda.

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  • That's right. Thinking is a threat of america. Don't think, just pray and obey. You will do what your masters tell you and nothing more. They'll tell you what to think. What to say. How to dress. How to get plastic surgery....

    Insanity that this is a supreme court justice.

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    Hey, Uncle Thomas, progressivism is the reason you're sitting on the Supreme Court and cruising around in that RV instead of picking cotton in some cracker's field.

    Fucking idiot.

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  • [–] 3 points 6 months ago

    Don't you got cotton to pick, house slave?

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  • [–] 2 points 6 months ago

    Using science including research and facts to direct social policy is a threat to White Nationalism, Neocons, and Neoliberals. Not so much for everyone else.

    Kind of funny though, because I was just thinking a week ago about when they are going to start actively demonizing progressives again.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    Corrupt Uncle Tom and his traitor of a wife need to sit down and STFU.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    Wow, that was a loud blast

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    Only thing it's a threat to is his next bribe suite of undeclared gifts

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    There wasn't a fucking independent country until the Declaration of Independence and we were only onboard with the idea because of "hostility and animus" towards King George.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    He's free to find the descendants of the people that enslaved his ancestors and enter into a life of involuntary servitude again; it's a free country.

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  • [–] 1 point 6 months ago

    Corrupt cunt, clearl6 we're doing something right

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