In which the nation claims a favorite field marshall and a Supreme Court justice declares war on the left with rhetorical spikes and bayonets. And more.
Clarence Thomas is a MAN, an American MAN, a magnificent example of what every man should be (notice no qualifiers). We are blessed with his presence on the SCOTUS and wherever he decides to speak truth. May he live another 50 years and remain on the court the entire time.
And he is spot on about progressivism and a helluva lot more men should be standing up and loudly proclaiming the same. Find your inner Alpha male men, be a Clarence Thomas.
He came to Christmas Mass at our parish in Richmond Hill , GA a number of years ago with his wife. Our priest said he was very quiet- they sat in the back and he did not call attention to himself. We are so blessed to have him on SCOTUS.
I agree Margot, everything the illegitimate autopen regime did during their 4 years of treason and tyranny should be overturned. Its why we must all get more engaged, its why we must also LTMW, and I mean both Trump and Thomas.
It's interesting to note that it was Senator Biden who was the most vocal opponent of Thomas's confirmation and struck me as very much like a serpent in the garden during the hearings. The tables are turned now and Biden has slithered off while Justice Thomas is the leading voice of conservatism. Isn't God amazing!
Jeff stated "On cable news and in friendly write‑ups, Democrats denounced Thomas for “blasting” progressivism, accused him of endangering democracy, and recycled the usual ethics grievances— but none of them would touch his underlying claim that modern progressivism treats rights as government favors rather than gifts from God."
In this short essay on Does Power Corrupt this idealistic call for "democracy is shown to be a farce as turning a democracy into tyranny is relatively easy... " History proves that the mytho-poetic idealism of statism only serves to legislate and codify “Power over Others. The United States recognition of the right to seek self gain, (capitalism) combined with the fact that fundamentally we are or were a “republic”, guaranteeing freedom from tyranny of other groups, or from the tyranny of minorities and any majority, be it religious, political, corporate, or a combination thereof, is highly moral. My perspective is that it is a mistaken view that capitalism causes an evil selfishness in the pursuit of material prosperity. It has been stated that there is an inescapable form of selfish desire in the actions of all men; the removal of pain, want and suffering and the attainment of lasting happiness.
Capitalism is in many respects fundamentally honest, and a partial reflection of the above. It is an admittance that personal gain is never absent, even in the most altruistic, and so capitalism makes no pretense of removing personal gain. It also makes no moral judgment of personal gain being bad. It is a neutral admittance that desire for personal gain exists, and cannot be legislated away. Social systems that vainly seek to legislate selflessness, only condense the dark side of personal gain aspect into the most powerful people within the government, and in removing liberty and power from the common man, engender helplessness in the masses.
The one who prospers in capitalism has the freedom to become a philanthropist, or the freedom to use his wealth in a narrow selfish way. Capitalism however has a basic tenant stating that even the purely selfish accumulation of material goods, if acquired in the honest production of a good or service of value to others in society, produces good for that society. However, in empowering the individual there must be a strong co-commitment element of self-responsibility. One cannot expect the protections such a society enables without both self responsibility and offering some form of service back to that society.
The love of power for the purpose of subjugating others for one’s own ends cannot be removed by any government mandate or system. It just operates less effectively within a system built expressly for protection from such tyranny. The responsibility of the US form of government is designed to prevent the formation of such tyrannies: Corporate monopolies that unfairly drive out competition, lobby groups looking for special privileges, banking methods that rig the monetary system and allow leverage of assets tantamount to gambling in fractional reserve banking on steroids, government decisions making risk public but profit private, government sponsored enterprises and un-elected three letter agencies that, under direct supervision and authority of government regulators, do all of the above, are not caused by a capitalist republic, but are a perversion of it caused by the love of power over others, and the lack of cultural wisdom as revealed by the Ten Commandments and or “Satama Dharma”. (eternal principles of righteousness) It is the failure of the US government to police the above which is dereliction of their primary responsibility, the protection of individual and small group freedom and power, from the tyranny of those with group power, in any form.
The quotes of US and world statist politicians supporting extreme statism is very long. Why this globalist attack on the US? It is, in the view of many, due to the foundational principles that separate the US from most nations. The very factors that made the US ”a light on the hill” were the foundational principles based on “God given” individual sovereign rights, which by law limit government power. (One need not have faith in the divine to partially understand the value in this ideal of protection of individual liberty above human law) https://anderdaa7.substack.com/p/does-absolute-power-corrupt?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
Yes, she was a product of the woke movement, and while most could see what a pretentious fool she was, many senators didn’t dare reject her lest they be called racist!
Sadly, their cowardice has saddled the Supreme Court with this burden for years to come!
I think that the "what is a woman?" question was way out of her league in any day forum, as a question at confirmation hearing, totally exposed her low IQ, including law.
In addition, there was a female OB/GYN questioned in the Senate if men could get pregnant. She couldn't or wouldn't answer. In my book, that is coincident with the derangement also exhibited by the justice that is being substituted for education in this country. Maybe others, but I only care about here.
My great- uncle Reverend Daniel Crowley ( I am also a MA transplant to GA in the 80’s) graduated from Holy Cross and then went to seminary. He was ordained a diocesan priest for the Diocese of Springfield. He always spoke fondly of his time there as well.
Indeed. I hate for him to retire, but I do hope he does and is replaced by someone just like him before the Dems can replace him with someone frighteningly progressive.
I’m not sure how the process works, but should Thomas retire President Trump should take his advice on his replacement - not any advisors. Barrett has been an embarrassment.
Sen Mike Lee. Read his bio, this is just a clip: Lee spent several years as an attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Lee served the state of Utah as Governor Jon Huntsman's General Counsel and was later honored to reunite with Justice Alito, now on the Supreme Court, for a one-year clerkship.
And I’m old enough to remember the pure hell that the Left subjected Thomas to during the confirmation hearings. Only by the grace of God did this good man survive those lying scurrilous attacks.
The ‘Progressives’ were emboldened by their take down of Reagan’s fine nominee, Robert Bork, which was led by (worse than Swalwell), serial, sexual abuser, Ted Kennedy (may he forever rot in hell) over racist accusations a few years earlier and they were out for blood.
From Wikipedia; Bork responded, (to a pack of lies in Ted Kennedy’s speech) "There was not a line in that speech that was accurate."[33] In an obituary of Kennedy, The Economist remarked that Bork may well have been correct, "but it worked".[33] Bork contended in his book, The Tempting of America, that the brief prepared for then-Senator Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, "so thoroughly misrepresented a plain record that it easily qualifies as world class in the category of scurrility."[34] Opponents of Bork's nomination found the arguments against him justified, claiming that Bork believed the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional, and he supported poll taxes, literacy tests for voting, mandated school prayer, and sterilization as a requirement for a job, while opposing free speech rights for non-political speech and privacy rights for gay conduct.[35]
Being that Thomas was a black man, the Progressives chose lies about sexual harassment with such idiotic claims as him placing a pubic hair on a coke can and talking about a porn movie called ‘Long dong Wong’ or some such. They got Anita Hill to lie her ass off, and of course she became a hero of the Left and still is. But Thomas stood and withstood.
Yes, I remember all their despicable, hateful acts.
You are right, we cannot hate the left enough, and I KNOW Jesus says we must love them - phew - I am just not that good. Someone else is going to have to love them for me.
Anita Hill is still alive but as you wish for Ted Kennedy that he rot in hell, I also wish for biden, her, clinton(s), obama, and so many more.
We have Christian brothers and sisters. We often disagree, even passionately. Some we may be inclined to view as enemies and despise them.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I just believe that when Jesus speaks of loving our enemies and doing good to those who despise us, he’s speaking of those within the realm of true Christian fellowship, not utterly evil worshippers of the father of Lies, who may even pretend to be Christians in efforts to prevert the faith.
I just went back and looked and it was December 2019, right before Covid hit. Our priest had come to the house to entrust it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and that’s when he told me about Justice Thomas coming to Mass. This priest was Nigerian and said he got to meet him after Mass and shake his hand.
Unfortunately those progressive retards will not listen, will never listen, and you can never win them over. They will always be Marxists, with some fascism thrown in.
When I think about the bell curve, I think we live amongst a large number of not very smart people. They need to follow some ideological figures because they truly can’t understand consequences to a significant degree.
On the bright and brightest side of the curve, there are those, good and bad, who can connect dots and grasp consequences. The good ones want what most benefits mankind as a whole because in the long run this is health and happiness.
The bad ones see how they can manipulate the masses for their personal gain without regard for future costs to mankind.
The not at all smart, kind of smart, and almost smart tend to look for what they consider the winning positions; figuring if that side is winning they must be right. They jump on bandwagons, but will jump off if the tide very obviously turns. For example, Some they/them people are trying to back away now. This flip flopping is seen with Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, etc.
That’s why I believe it is very important to win and let it be known that we are winning. President Trump says it a lot.
So how has progressivism taken root and gained so much control of our lives? Through building their "Institutional Democracy" they are so proud of - and with our money - and which has very nearly choked the life out of our Constututional Republic, our freedom our liberty. They are holding on with stolen elections and country wide lawfare by insane judicial activists and legislators at every level of government.
Did you see the news bit that California is considering outlawing video reporting on fraud? Nick Shirley keeps on finding the most egregious examples of how the unscrupulous rip us taxpapers off.
I’ve been waiting for Jeff to address this! The “Stop Nick Shirley Act” as it’s being called. Against “immigrant providers” 🙄. I thought it already passed?!
No Salty K. It recently passed out of committee, not passed the legislature. Hopefully it will not pass. If it does, I think it will not be allowed to be in effect due to First Amendment violations, but all of that court stuff could take years.
I totally agree Dan. Those progressive Judges have been a thorn in the side of so many issues/changes that this administration has tried to accomplish for the benefit of our nation and it’s people.
The answer to your question is the Global Commercial & Investment Banking Cartel and it's devotion to maintaining monopoly control over Ethos-Pathos-Logos through the use of FinTech.
Illness of the flesh. I do not completely disagree as well. Easy to understand why "medical" scientists and physicians were chosen and trained to replace priests as Empires new tip of the spear.
I do find it quite remarkable how the current makeup of the SOTUS accurately reflects our national population. I've never paid that much attention to this, but I predict a couple of the justices will have to resign soon. Its so absurd what some of them have said in public.
They were not put there to uphold the Constitution, they were put there to destroy as much of it as possible. Upholding the Constitution is diametrically opposed to their suffocating institutional democracy.
Yes, he is absolutely an existential threat to them, which is why we must all support him 100% and be existential threats to them too. Its no longer enough to talk about it. They are at war, not only with him, but with us too, and it is well past time for all of us to understand and embrace that - to their detriment.
My son lives in Austin. I live in the Hill Country. He said something so funny when describing Austinites. He said “Mom, this isn’t Texas. This is AUSTIN!” It’s different than the rest of Texas! 😂
As a fellow Texan, and resident of the Hill Country, I wholeheartedly agree with your son! Even though we’re 45 min-1hr from Austin, we NEVER go there anymore. I refuse to spend my money or time in Austin! Bravo to Justice Thomas for walking into the belly of the Beast. We locals know just how brave that was. Frankly, I’m surprised they even allowed him to speak, knowing his strong adherence to the Constitution!
The University of Austin is radically different and was founded by prominent conservatives to offer the bilge coming out of places like the University of Texas.
Well hello neighbor! My husband & I live in Canyon Lake. Unfortunately, New Braunfels, San Antonio, San Marcos & out of control builders are siphoning off the lake very quickly.
We're probably 30 minutes from you. We're off 46 near Smithson Valley HS. Despite all the growth out here, we still call it God’s Country! Heck, we probably shop at the same HEB!
The problem is liberals, being entirely unable to be self sufficient, must congregate in large groups so they can steal power and grift off of the producers of real things, food, cars, electricity, etc... left to their own devices, they shrivel up and die under their foil cone hats. It's why they gravitate to massive, omnipotent and oppressive government and marxist communism.
Let’s replace Fentanyl Floyd murals and statues with Justice Thomas; a true role model to, not only the black community, but all men of the Inited States.
He walked in and made sure to step on every single progressive toe in that room 😂
The more Keyanji opens her foul mouth and utters nonsensical delusions, the more she makes her profound intellectual inferiority obvious compared to her counterparts. What progressive, ghetto street corner did they find her on?
The progressive street corner? They call it harvard and I refuse to capitalize it. She was fully indoctrinated there during her undergrad and law school brainwashing.
COULD NOT AGREE MORE - he's an American Hero. Read his biography ! He never wavers and I have no idea how we could be so lucky as to have a man of his strength, caliber and intellectual supremacy on our highest court. Imagine having to argue with him ! He is a blessing to our country and yet - a MAN to be highly revered and hopefully emulated.
A few years back, I received a text from my daughter who was - at the time - a student at Hillsdale College. The text read: "I met Justice Thomas today at orchestra rehearsal. He is here for the dedication of the new chapel. He gave us an impromptu speech about going to Hillsdale and how lucky we were to attend a school that is steeped in liberty."
IIRC, Justice Thomas ended up quite sick shortly after this visit and I texted my daughter to say: "What did you all do to Justice Thomas?"
Who was his audience besides those in the room? Americans who need to wake up? CSPAN watchers? Perhaps even some of his colleagues on the Court who need to be reminded?
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”
And Lord, just look, a baby boomer called it. What’s impossible for men, is possible for God, including breathing life into dry bones. I ask protection & prosperity, to further this move, in those who are fighting for our nation, as well as shining Your light, for the hope of all peoples to live in freedom, that only comes from You Father.
Many fast at Lent, but we need to now!! Because Jesus said some spirits cannot be called out, without fasting & prayer. And so many spirits have blinded the masses, as we have seen in the plandemic alone. As young men come to the Lord, & the older wakes, let’s work together. Including women who hold back, afraid they will lose rights or something, which they most definitely will, if we don’t view progressivism as existential to our freedoms.
Our hope has to be in You Lord, so You can hear ALL prayers. It is You, in men’s hearts, that makes our Republic work!! One nation under God. Repentance is required to see a merciful God unleash His Might. Because then “all” will know, that He alone is the Lord. He desires that none should perish. Thank you Jesus, in Your Name we pray.
Today’s post was so interesting. As I’ve mentioned here, I talk politics and world events with my dad all the time, he turns 94 this month. My perspective has been that the 60s generation is what started the descent into what our country is today, but my dad has always said it was Woodrow Wilson. Now I’ll have to tell him that he was probably right (which I knew anyway, he’s got a much larger frame of reference than I do).
Mine said both parties are full of crooks. At the time I was a Dem and disagreed saying oh no dad the Democrats support working people and the Republicans are just for rich people. He would just smile.
Miss him every day!!! He lived long enough to see me embrace being a conservative. I lost friends which was hard but worth the sacrifice. My true lib buddies still love me. Honestly I don’t think I’ve really changed.
You made your Dad proud and I’m sure quite happy. My Dad has been gone for 50 years. I was only 26. I think of him often; he instilled good work ethics, conservative thinking, and to always save a little from every paycheck. I’ve trued to pass on this way of living to both my sons.
Ever since I took history in high school way back in the dark ages of the mid 60s, I have said Woodrow Wilson has been a thorn in the side of America. And like Biden, his wife and fellow progressive covered up his ineptness during his last few years of his presidency.
Glenn Beck listeners know well the history of Wilson and his progressive state — along with the other bureaucratic cancers unleashed during his administration — and why Glenn HHHAAAAAATES Wilson. Unfortunately those effects metastasized through later Progressives like FDR and are now at every level of government. Today’s progressives of course mix in Marxism for maximum detrimental effect.
Wilson was also the one who started the Jim Crow laws. Princeton Seminary president - tells me everything about what happened to the Presbyterian Church in the US over the past 100 years.
❤️❤️❤️I have a similar relationship with my dad, although a couple decades less mature. He’s actually a subscriber here too. I look forward to having these discussions with him when he’s in his 90s.
It’s common for people’s sense of history to only go back as far as the oldest living person they know. It’s also common for younger generations to ignore advice from older generations . And, this in a nutshell is part of why history so often rhymes and repeats.
Makes us appreciate all the more why the left fought so viciously to keep Thomas from getting on the SC. I remember. Biden and Ted Kennedy were the chief hyenas. I have detested Biden ever since. Stupid, mean, partisan hack his entire career.
He referred to it as a "high tech lynching of an uppity black man" or something close to that. Very close to the heart. You know they are itching to criticize him for being conservative while black... The first one to do that will probably end up imploding like The Witch King at Minas Tirith under the moral force of his gaze. Which would make great television, really...
Ugh not me. He falls asleep in a chair when he gets home around 5:30 pm. Wakes up to eat, then sleeps WHILE eating a bowl of popcorn. Quite the skill and I have video proof of him doing it, eyes closed, hand slowly to mouth … but me? I’m stuck awake until about 9:30 pm at the earliest. Sometimes 10:30
Good Morning C&C! Jeff, here's hoping your eye heals quickly. The problem with Justice Thomas is...he's 77. Not that he's too old. I'm not that far behind him. But at 77, he's running out of runway. I'd love for him to stay on the bench for another 100 years. Lord knows, we need his intelligence, his wisdom, and his very calm demeanor. He is a rare gem.
Far too rare. Send $10 to support Hillsdale College. It is training American youth to appreciate the views of Justice Thomas - - the waiting list for admission is very long, a bright ember in a greatly diminished fire - - -
Haha. I understand. We ancients have to make our points while we are still able (and can look out for each other). Don't worry. The world (and our critics) know perfectly well what we mean, when I mistakenly type "Hamas", and mean "Hezbollah"
Find and take an online course given by Dr. Larry Arnn (Constitution 101, or Declaration of Independence, for instance) then reconsider your statement - -
There is talk of Trump making a couple of appointments to the SC before his term ends, due to retirements. I hope Thomas is not one of them, there is no comparable replacement for him. But Ketanji Jackson should be removed for being illegally appointed. Besides being retarded.
@RJ- most gays, like most heteros, want just a quiet life where they work and enjoy the perks of working for what they want. SOME of both cultures belong in hell with a bullet hole in their heads.
Fraud vitiates everything. If it can be proven, everything done in bidens name will revert, and those deep state hacks will be imprisoned. Tough to do in four years.
My speculation as well. If the 2020 is proven in court and in public opinion to be stolen, how much Biden era legislation and executive orders are rendered null and void?
Several years ago I was working in Hollywood. Had a blog & wrote a novel. Couldn’t use real name or I’d never work in that town again. Searched around for a good nom de guerre. This was post-9/11. Decided on Alexander (kicked ass in the Persians & Arabs) and Scipio (kicked ass on the North Africans). Alexander Scipio. 👍
Love the story. Maybe you can lead a march on Hollywood, burn it to the ground, and salt the earth so nothing ever grows again. (I wonder if anything has ever grown in former Carthage in more recent years.)
I LOVE history, especially with maps at hand. There is so much to learn, so little time.
Maybe this speech by Thomas is setting him up for retirement. He’ll advise Trump on a replacement & hopefully POTUS listens. Maybe John Eastman who defended Trump & had his law license removed by CA?
It's up to Justice Thomas to retire. I think he should retire in the next two years, just to avoid the chance of a Ruth Bader Ginsburg situation happening. Just to clarify, he is doing a great job.
He is a gem. Let's pray he has enough wisdom to step down while President Trump is still president, and there are least a few months left to confirm his successor.
That is the true test of how well the progressives captured our higher education to inoculate it against hearing wisdom from speakers like Thomas … whether or not the audience tuned him out, dismissed everything, and jumped on the liberal outrage bandwagon.
I had to double check where he gave that speech, Jeff said it was at The University of Austin, but it was actually (as you said) The University of Texas at Austin, which is a different institution from the University of Austin.
Sadly, Steenroid, I have to agree. My wife and I drove from Phoenix, AZ to Minnesota three summers ago. Our first over night stay was in ABQ. It felt like a third-world country, and that was the summer of 2023.
When LoL bought Purina Mills I had to work for the commie co-op. Like all Co-ops they are evil and only function for the benefit of the managers and not for the members. Co-ops are more communist than capitalism.
Nah, NM is dominated by wealthy libtards that come from places like CA (lots of “celebrities” live here). Once the illegals cross, they want to get as far from the border as possible. They end up in NY, IL, MI, etc.
I agree that California poison is a large part of it. NM is where Epstein had his infamous ranch. And Santa Fe!! but 60,000 is a lot of people in a state with 2 million people, and where 25 percent of the children are born to non-American citizens. It will only get worse, one of those socialist places that has very little to redistribute.
Because it's cheaper to live there - incredible natural beauty (so the libtards can screw it up) - totally corrupt after decades of dummycrat rule. Lived there for ~8.5 years in Catron County.
Im an AZ native & I well remember when it was red. If you factor in Pima County & most of “Baja” Arizona (other than Cochise / Willcox) , I can’t agree it’s fully “red” anymore.
Don't forget Santa Fe, a great and beautiful place. Too many libs, though. A favorite question of mine is why do libs rush to beautiful places in mass and proceed to destroy them? Santa Fe, Asheville and Key West come to mind.
I lived in Oregon from 1979-2022. One of the frequent bumper snickers I saw was "Keep Portland Weird". My favorite bumper snicker was, "Weirds not Working". I love it when Jeff frequently clarifies statements with, "For you Portland folks".......
In case you're interested WTI (West Texas Intermediate crude oil) is at $89.00 @ 9:00AM, EDT. Oops, $87.95 before I could finish typing! Oops again $86.41. If you are crazy about this kind of stuff you can follow energy prices here: https://oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/#WTI-Crude
I still remember that day when he went on the offensive against the democrats who were trying to deny him his Supreme Court seat. I had just arrived in Pennsylvania on the way to visit my daughters and had pulled into a fireworks store parking lot when he started speaking. I was spellbound and sat in the lot as he ripped his opponents a new one!
I realized then that he was the right man for the job and he has yet to let me down.
I haven’t heard this new speech yet, only read snippets, but I will find the time!
Maybe it's a good time to flood Justice Thomas with C&C cards of appreciation! Not retirement yet!
I'm posting his address just in case anybody needs it !
Formal Address (Envelope/Letterhead):
The Honorable Clarence Thomas
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
One First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20543
Salutation (Inside Letter):
Dear Justice Thomas:
Reference in Text:
Justice Thomas or Associate Justice Thomas.
Key Details for 2026:
Clarence Thomas has served as an Associate Justice since October 23, 1991.
He is currently the longest-serving member of the Court.
He is sometimes referred to as an Associate Justice to differentiate from the Chief Justice, but "Justice Thomas" is standard.
Thank you Jeff for keeping us pointed to sanity!!
Prayers for your eyes! Wearing shades all day during treatment is something my eye doctor told me when I was younger 4 eye surgeries. Not many eye doctors tell you to keep your shades on all day and stay out of sunshine (in your beautiful state!) Maybe an ole wives tale...who knows? LOL Prayers to The Healer lifted! 😎 🙏🏼🦋💜⚓
I love your idea above! But I would like to suggest 1 more. Print a copy of his speech and send it to our Congress members. We need to help them with their thinking, encourage some political fortitude and constitutional courage. Imagine the impact of hundreds (thousands?) of Thomas’s speech showing up in their offices from “We the People!”; “Dear Rep or Senator, WE wanted to be sure you didn’t miss this important message. Please make time to read and carefully take in the truth of this speech. Praying for your courage and strength to stand in protection of our constitution and our country.”
(Probably do not include the tempting line “praying for your backbone, and for a new set of big balls”)
WE are watching with interest and expectation for good results.
Respectfully,
We the People
Anyone have a good link for the printed version of Thomas’s speech?
That's a great idea too! I tried to print it a few minutes ago. All I got was the link to it. It didn't print the actual speech. Of course it might be my computer because we've got issues! LOL I'm writing my senators today too now. Thank you!🦋🦋
I pulled this from the youtube transcription of the speech. I've tried to fix the errors, remove stutters and parse it into logical paragraphs. I'm seriously fighting sleep at 2 am to get this done, so apologies if it doesn't come out well. It's a magnificent speech!
Well, good afternoon. It's great to see so many Longhorns and friends here for a
very special occasion.
I am grateful to be part of today and honored to introduce our speaker. There is so much that a student or a lawyer, frankly, even a citizen can learn from Justice Clarence Thomas.
He has served on our nation's highest court longer than any current justice and has shaped how we think about the law in ways that will endure for generations. But before I introduce him, I want to invite us to consider something deeper because we're not only here to listen to a great jurist. We're here also to learn from someone who has devoted a life to a great experiment.
That experiment began 250 years ago, born at our nation's independence, but it's never been self- sustaining.
It endures because each generation produces people - people who seek to understand it, who take it seriously, and who are willing to live it out. Just as Thomas is in the fullest sense a great citizen of this republic, his civic life has many important things to teach us and many of them remind us of ourselves.
The first is this: Justice Thomas has always chosen to go his own way. He once wrote about reading Ralph Ellison's book, Invisible Man, and recognizing it a man who spent years going in everyone else's way except his own and resolved that he would not be that way. He has said simply, "I set out to do my best to be right."
Being right demands more than going along with what's easy or expected, but is often the only way to do things that last.
The people of Texas founded this university on a similar conviction. Our state constitution calls us to be a university of the first class. Longhorns understand what it means to lead our own path.
The second thing in his life teaches us is that freedom is inseparable from responsibility.
That bears repeating. Freedom is inseparable from responsibility.
Justice Thomas has spoken throughout his life about the difference between what we are owed and what we owe others. about the fact that a free people cannot sustain their freedom without accepting the obligations that come with it. This is the foundation of citizenship. It is why we are here. Whether you're studying law or medicine or physics or humanities, the purpose of your education is not only to develop your own mind. It is also to put your mind in service to others. The president of the Republic of Texas, Mayor Bo Lamar, who secured the future of this university, set aside public land for public education, has a famous quote you may have heard before. He tells us that the cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. He continues, "Guided and controlled by virtue, the noblelest attribute of man, just as Thomas lives out that virtue, and he invites us by his example to do the same."
Now, I'd like to close with a biographical note about Justice Thomas. He did not attend the University of Texas at Austin. But when I look at his life, the path he chose, the convictions he holds, I see the spirit of a Longhorn. In truth, he reflects what we believe and importantly who we hope to become. It is now my great honor to introduce Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Honorable Clarence Thomas.
------ Clarence Thomas Speech -------
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Well, I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.
Thank you all very much. Um, President Davis, Provost, and Bowden, Dean Dyer, faculty, students, and honored guests. I thank each of you for the for being here and I thank the school and the officials here for the invitation to visit the University of Texas at Austin.
My wife Virginia and I are pleased to be here and to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
If my memory serves me, this is only my second visit to the University of Texas, and this is the first visit at the invitation of the university, but I have hired and worked with a number of outstanding young people associated with this university.
My first was now Chief Judge Greg Mags of the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Services who was a fairly new faculty member uh at the law school when I became a member of the court. He took a leave of absence to help me as a law clerk during the second half of my
first term.
My first UT graduate to serve as a law clerk was Greg Coleman. three decades ago. Greg went on to become the first solicitor of the state of Texas. He was simply outstanding, as was his son Reed, who also was a graduate of the law school here and who was also equally outstanding. Greg's widow and our very dear friend Stephanie is with us today. Stephanie, thank you and thanks for being such a good friend.
And both Greg and his son Reed clerked for my dear friend, Judge Edith Jones, also a graduate of UT Law School. I greatly admire Judge Jones. She is one of my heroes and I admire her as a person and as a jurist and I'm grateful that she can be here today. A number of my former clerks are also here. I can't tell you which ones. Uh so let me ask them to stand to be recognized.
So, so in my chambers, UT and UT law school are very well represented.
I hope... I'm having a little trouble with this. Getting used to the podium. Sorry about that.
Um, I hope that my talk today will help in some small way to inaugurate another great initiative, the state of Texas's plan to restore the teaching of civics and western civilization to a central place in our in its flagship university. and I am grateful and honored to have been invited by Justin Dyer, the dean of the new school of civic leadership.
I'm also grateful for the assistance of my former law clerk, Professor John Woo, who has spent the last three decades at Berkeley Law School, but is now joining Justin and his team here at the University of Texas.
The school's stated mission is to help students encounter the distinct inheritance of Western civilization and the American constitutional tradition as part of a larger quest for free jut for wisdom about how to live and how to lead. Your plans not could not come at a more important moment for our nation when as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the very values announced in it have fallen over have fallen out of favor. It is my sincere hope that your work to revitalize the teaching and research of Western civilization and the American constitutional tradition will lead the way in the reform of our nation's colleges and universities. And I hope that your example will help to rejuvenate our fellow citizens' commitment to the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
I seem to always enjoy my travels to this amazing state. My wife Virginia and I have many wonderful friends and acquaintances here. And it is so special to have our dear friends H Harlon and Kathy Crowe join us today.
One of the features of this state that stands out in a way that Texans is the way that Texans talk about it. What comes through is the sustained and sustaining affection that they have for their home state. That reverential feeling for and attachment to Texas is to be respected and admired and if possible emulated.
This affection is similar to the attachment that I grew to have for my home state of Georgia and certainly for our country despite the indelible mark of segregation and its companion evils. I was proud to say that I was American by birth and Georgian by the grace of God.
It was not uncommon to hear others openly proclaim their allegiance to God and country. At our grammar school, St. Benedicts. We started each school day by lining up two by two and class by class in the schoolyard to watch the raising of our flag and to say the pledge of allegiance before silently marching to our respective classrooms.
Thank you Justin for doing this! Wow! Is the whole speech! This is very kind of you Justin. Thank you for doing this. I really do appreciate it! I'm glad I didn't send letters yesterday. I got too busy and didn't get off my letter out to to Justice Thomas yesterday, but I'll send the senators out today too !
Thank you again sir! This really does help ! 🌿🦋
Did everybody send the whole speech or did you just get the last half? I'm just wondering what people sent cuz this is really long. I'm going to send the whole thing I think! I'm also going to send it to my son's. I have a few sons that need to read this too! 🤣🌿🙏🏼💜🔥🦋
Last half? I think I got it all, but could not send it all in one message, so had to break it up. It should be easy to copy each section and put it into a word processor. You probably can't in the app, but if you go to share the link and copy that into a browser, you should be able to copy it then.
Even as so much of our God-given and constitutional rights were denied us, we still faithfully said the pledge of allegiance, memorized the preamble to the Constitution, and yearned for the fulfillment of its promised ideals.
Sadly, these sentiments are not as widely shared among our fellow citizens today, and they certainly do not seem to have that sustaining strength that they had back then. In fact, all too often the sentiments tend toward cynicism, rejection, hostility, and animus toward our country and its
ideals.
With the foregoing in mind, I would like to begin by addressing my first encounter with the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
It is perhaps not what you would immediately think. The second paragraph of the declaration proclaims, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. Throughout my youth, these truths were articles of faith that were impervious to bigotry and discrimination.
The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language defines self-evident as obviously true and requiring no proof, argument, or explanation. Whether they had a divine source or a worldly one, they were never questioned. They were the holy grail, the north star, the rock, immovable and unquestioned.
Despite the multiplicity of laws and customs that aire of bigotry, it was universally believed among those blacks with whom I lived and who had very little or no formal education that in God's eyes and under our constitution, we were equal. This was also the case with my nuns, most of whom were Irish immigrants. At home, at school, and at church, we were taught that we are inherently equal, that equality comes came from God and that it could not be diminished by man. We were made in the image and likeness of God.
That proposition was not debatable and was beyond the power of man to alter. Others with power and animus could treat us as unequal, but they lacked the the divine power to make us so. Somehow without formal education, the older people knew that these god-given or natural rights preceded and transcended governmental author power or authority.
When you lived in a segregated world with palpable discrimination and the governments nearest to you enforced laws and customs that promoted unequal treatment, it was obvious that your rights or your dignity did not come from those governments, but rather from God.
Though not a literate man, my grandfather often spoke of our rights and obligations coming from God, not from architects of segregation and discrimination. Men were not angels. They were subject to the constraints of antecedent rights. And we were not subject to their these men even as we were subjected to their whims. We knew that life, liberty, and property were sacrosanct.
Those truths were self-evident to the adults in our lives and were taught to us as indelible, undeniable truths. those around us would endure or could endure the insults of segregation uh with dignity because they knew that in God's eyes they were equal.
All too often there is an unfortunate tendency when discussing the declaration to make those these self-evident truths and first principles of government obscure. Intellectuals want you to believe that our founding principles are matters of esoteric philosophy or sophisticated debate. Even those who support them too often talk about them as if they were academic play things. They overly complicate them, take the spirit out of them, and discuss them in a way that puts us to sleep.
But the principles of the Declaration of Independence, as I encountered them, are a way of life. They are not an abstract theory that only that you only learn in college or law school, but the basic premises of our constitution and government that you can learn from the
people all around you. When Alexis de Tocqueville visited early America from France, he was struck that there was no country in the civilized world where where they were less occupied with philosophy than the United States.
But there was likewise no country where the principle of the declaration principles of the declaration were more deeply ingrained or more fiercely defended than those same United States.
That is the sense in which I knew the principles of the declaration in my childhood. That is the only sense in which those principles can sustain our country. And that is the sense in which I will speak to you about those principles today.
I believe now as I did then that the declaration of 1776 provides us with the principles to guide us as citizens of our republic.
Even in this time of questioning and criticism of our founding, we should not forget that the declaration established the principles that produced despite all of its our imperfections, our miscues, and our tragic mistakes.
It gave us the freest, wealthiest, and most powerful nation in the history of the world. It provided the moral principles by which Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King would criticize the institutions of slavery and segregation. The declaration, in fact along with the gospels is the declaration - is in fact along with the gospels one of the greatest anti-slavery documents in the history of western civilization. It did not establish a form of government. That was the work of the constitution that followed. But it stated the purpose of government.
The declaration made it clear that the purpose of government is to protect our God-given unalienable rights. Rights that all individuals equally possess.
As Abraham Lincoln declared in 1858 in the midst of his great debates with Steven Douglas, quote, "Drop every paltry insignificant thought for any man's success. It is nothing. I am nothing. Judge Douglas is nothing. But do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity, the Declaration of American Independence."
The ideas of the declaration are so powerful that our nation could not exist with the contradiction created by the great evil of slavery.
Those principles were so powerful that hundreds of thousands of Americans fought and died in the Civil War to make men free. Those ideas have been so powerful that they convinced our nation to finally end segregation.
They continue to be so powerful today that they have inspired people throughout the world to throw off the shackles of their own oppressors. And it is, it all began with our founders declaring in 1776 in the Declaration of Independence that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We should also not forget the important sentence that follows that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the govern to secure these rights, governments are instituted. The principle of consent follows from the principle of equality.
We the people can never legitimately consent to the violation of our God-given equality.
However, when I encounter the Declaration of Independence, anew today, I am most struck by the final sentence. It can be easy to forget 250 years later the courage it took for those 56 men to sign the declaration. Arguably those men committed treason against the king, risking death at the hands of an empire far mightier than the newborn United States. They thus concluded with the memorable final sentence and I quote, "And for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." I will say it again. We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Recently, I came across the definition, a definition of courage that is attributed to President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt. And courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.
In essence, the signers of the declaration were saying that they were willing to die for the principles they were asserting, the supreme act of courage. Those principles were more important than their fear. Nothing in the Declaration of Independence, I now realize, matters without that final sentence. Without that sentence, the rest of the Declaration is but mere words on parchment paper. Nice words, but nonetheless just words. What changed the world was not the words but the commitment and spirit of the people who were willing to labor, sacrifice and even give their lives uh what Lincoln at Gettysburg called the last full measure of devotion for the declaration's principles.
It is to is it is that devotion to which we owe our rich inheritance. It was that devotion that sustained the founding fathers and the Continental Army as they fought and won the Revolutionary War, braved the winter at Valley Forge, crossed the Delaware, and defeated an army many times their number and firepower to win their freedom.
It was that devotion that Nathan Hail expressed when before being executed by the British, he reportedly said, "My only regret that I have but one life to give for this country. It was that devotion that Patrick Henry invoked when he stood before the Virginia Convention and asked, "Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God, I know not what course others may take, but for me, give me liberty or give me death."
That devotion has driven the great achievements and heroism of Americans in the 250 years since.
Think of the frontiersmen who settled the West.
Think of the families who built their little towns on the prairies.
Think of the women who raised their children to love God and country and sent them off to fight wars.
Think of the soldiers on the battlefields of the Civil War who sang, "As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free."
Think of the innovators and laborers and engineers who de Tocqueville observed were so infused with the patriotism that they felt every triumph for their country as a triumph in their personal lives.
Think of how the devotion carried us from Independence Hall to Flanders Field into the beaches of Normandy.
Think of the memorable scene in the Band of Brothers when the American soldiers arrived at a concentration camp, saw the suffering, emaciated, desperate prisoners, unlocked the gates, and gave them food and blankets and warm embraces. The soldiers looked around and knew in their hearts that this is why we fight.
Think of the passengers of Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on 911, or the young men and women whom we send in harm's way even as we sit here today.
Think of my grandparents who heroically, quietly, without fanfare, sat my brother and me down at the kitchen table in August of 1955 and committed the rest of their lives to us so that we could have a chance.
They told us, "We don't have no education. We don't have no education and no chance, but you boys are going to have a chance. But we going to do to devote the rest of our lives to you boys.
It was their devotion, their love, their dedication to raising us right that has made the difference. Not the words, though the words expressed as best they could what they intended to do. Their devotion is what mattered.
Similarly, it is the devotion expressed in the final sentence of the declaration, the willingness to do anything for our principles that has throughout American history been most indispensable. It is that devotion that we are missing today and that we must find in our hearts if this nation is to endure.
I arrived in Washington DC 47 years ago. It's hard to believe. I arrived as a staffer for Senator Jack Danforth of Missouri in 1979, telling myself that the job on Capitol Hill would be a short stop on my way home to Savannah, Georgia. I then joined the executive branch during the Reagan administration, served in two federal agencies for nearly a decade, served as a judge on the Federal Court of Appeals and have for the past 34 years served on the Supreme Court.
Since the day I arrived in Washington, there was never a shortage of people espousing noble purposes, saying all the right things. All around me there have been people full of promises claiming a commitment to some righteous cause, to traditional morality, to national defense, to free enterprise, to religious piety, or to the original meaning of the Constitution. These people can be just as high-minded as the men who signed the declaration. They can mouth the words of the declaration and parro its principles. They can write essays and talk of at conferences about the declaration with the best of them.
All too often, however, this was but lip service, camouflaged by grand theories in the tall grass of big words and eloquent phrases. What seemed to be lacking, however, was that devotion. People gain positions of authority, and you learn who they really are.
To paraphrase something I recently read, combat strips us down to our essentials.
Once in the spotlight, in that combat, many people fall prey to the lords that are set up to turn them away from their previously untested principles.
They become petrified by criticisms, so fearful of negative attention that they find ways to avoid the right thing, doing the right thing. or they fall prey to the enchanting siren songs of flattery and become so bewitched by praise that they will desperately seek to conform accordingly. They are enticed by access to things that were previously unavailable to them. They get so swept up in the euphoria of acclamation and acceptance that they put aside their convictions. They water down their message, negotiate against themselves, vote against their principles, and hide in the tall grass. They recast themselves as institutionalists, pragmatists, or thoughtful moderates, all as a way of justifying their failures to themselves, their consciences, and their country.
It did not take me long in Washington to stop wondering why the Supreme Court took 60 years to overrule Plessy versus Ferguson, the 1896 decision that endorsed government enforced racial segregation and validated the Jim Crow South uh that I grew up in. It could not possibly have taken my court 60 years to know that Plessy was a hideous wrong and that racial discrimination was grossly incompatible with our colorblind constitution. The justices must have known known it all along.
The right thing to do as Justice Harland spelled out in his lone descent was obvious. as it so often is. Perhaps what stood in the way was cowardice. The justices may have been afraid of the societal consequences. They may have been afraid of coming under political fire. They may have been afraid of losing their social standing. They may have been afraid of bad press. They could have been concerned that if they began to enforce a color-blind constitution, they would have to address interracial marriage next. But in any case, for 60 disgraceful years, they made American children like me grow up in a racial cast system because it was easier to do nothing than to do the right thing.
When Americans look to Washington and wonder why it is so often disappoints, it is not because there are too few people who know what is right. It is not because we lack the intellect or the capacity or the talent. It is instead because there are too few people who are willing to do what it takes to do the right thing to sacrifice the popularity, flattery, comfort, and security that are the purchase price for principle. It is because too few of us reflect on and reflect the courage and commitment of that final sentence of the declaration.
And so many seem to have forgotten how much others have sacrificed so that this nation could exist and endure.
I will state this more poignantly.
Do any of us have what it took for our young soldiers to storm Normandy Beach to fight at Guad Canal, to later fight at Kosen Reservoir?
If we can't say that we have the courage required of these young soldiers in battle to defend our founding principles, then how do we preserve these principles and this republic?
Until we have a devotion that matches the courage of those who made this country possible, I seriously doubt any amount of study or development of insights about our constitution will make much difference. There's a world of difference between what it takes to score academic points and what it takes to protect and defend the Constitution, as we are sworn to do.
I have a friend that lost her sight in one eye due to a brain cancer. Her doctors were adamant about her using sunglasses to protect her very blue eye that still works. Insisted that everyone should be wearing sunglasses any time they are out doors.
NO. In holistically treating (successfully ) my wife's cancer virtually every cancer blood said sunglasses cause cancer by making your body think it is night and disrupting the natural producion of melatonin, seratonin, D3, and other critical hormones and vitamins. Most sunblocks cause cancer too and they are rapidly absorbed into the skin. So time to put on some more right.
@Teresa- my former brother in law is in the same situation (although he doesn't have blue eyes). His wife died suddenly last month and he cant take care of himself. Sad...
Nothing to do with the beautiful Jewish religion and its followers.
Bankers (progressives) who took control of the money supply with the Federal Reserve Act and created political action committees to control Congress are referenced in the words of Judge Thomas. No hate involved.
As fiercely as modern progressives are fighting Trump and MAGA (their fight seemingly has zero limits on what they are willing to do; take Susan Rice's threat as one example), they know exactly what Justice Thomas knows: these two forms of government "cannot coexist forever."
I hate to be that guy, but Justice Thomas spoke at The University of Texas at Austin, not the University of Austin (which is also a University here in Austin). It matters because, finally, we have an administration (President Jim Davis and Provost Will Imboden among the best) which is no longer afraid of its faculty and demonstrating real leadership in the state’s flagship university.
Outback owner here- I have a Biden Laptop Matters sticker and one that is round like the seal of The President of the United States, in the center it has 2 lines. 45/FA and 47/FO but I have considered adding a 'I'm not a lesbian' sticker just to be clear.
217409 miles on my 2015 Outback, and going strong. No stickers, being in the heart of the pharmaceutical research state of MA some lib would damage my car.
I had that mileage on my 2013 Forrester. Finally exchanged it, I wanted something different, but I couldn’t find anything I liked as well so now another Forrester. Originally found it on a list of Great cars for short people, lol.
We got our Outback in August. Love it! We’ve already put 17K miles on it. We did a roadtrip in March that included the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Monument Valley and points between. No stickers or decals on it yet, but I bought National Park stickers to add at some point.
My Ford Bronco Sport has 2 bumper stickers. One is Trust in God and the other is I AM CHARLIE KIRK. Boy here in Portland I piss off a lot of people. I get flipped of and screamed at
The worst drivers I see are the ones with college alumni license plates. Especially from well-known leftist institutions reputed to be “good” colleges. Entitled jerks, the vast majority of these drivers. As always, there are exceptions but that’s held true for most, in my experience.
How about a FRONT bumper sticker with the words Go Extinct printed in a reverse image so that the person in front of you reads it in their rear view mirror?
Yes, when the Crescent has a fundamental ideology dedicated to wiping the Star of David from the face of the Earth, “Coexist” is just a lunatic delusion. Have you seen the version with the letters configured out of different firearms? Much more realistic. Well-armed people are usually quite polite and content to actually coexist.
Actually, that strikes me as a great idea! I doubt that Jeff reads all the comments. Colloidal silver works and it's cheap, and since he didn't mention it, I'd bet Jeff doesn't know about it.
Yes, I think it would be very unsafe for President Trump to go to Pakistan. Like you said, they should come to the White House to sign the final agreement!
I agree. But I still think they will sign an agreement and not adhere to the terms. They will hand over only part of their enriched uranium and hide the rest. Iran is not a country you can trust. They will do what they want to do. Kinda like the Lib-tards. Biden knew it was against our Constitution to have open borders, but did it anyway. Stop me if you can.
Pakistan provided 5 security jets to protect the US delegation last weekend.
They provided 20 for the Iranian delegation.
It's almost as if they realized which country was the bigger threat to negotiators of the other country. Witness the Wash Po editorial calling for the murder of the Iranian negotiators if they didn't comply with US demands.
The hotel was surrounded with soldiers, also.
But obviously there is not going to be a settlement in one day. The US is not serious about a settlement.
Iran sent 5 teams of experts, including the foreign minister and the head of Parliament for the political talks. They sent the governor of the central bank and other financial experts to discuss the sanctions and their frozen assets. They sent military experts to discuss missile production. They sent security experts to talk about security guarantees, including for Lebanon and Yemen. They sent experts to talk about the nuclear issue.
The US sent the vice president and 2 New York real estate operators.
Looks like the Chief Justice is targeting the Trotskyites.
. He called progressivism “an existential threat” to America, compared it to totalitarianism and slaveholding, and explicitly called for resistance comparable to the original American Revolution. Fix bayonets! It was a declaration of war.
Done. Thank you for the reminder, God wants us to ask! I prayed, among other things, that the entire Court would do only and always God’s will, and decide for what is right and just and true in every case that comes to them. For the glory of Christ.
Im doing some research on tax cases where people have not paid the illegitimate revenue service which funds illegal Somali daycares, among other things. If anyone has any resources, send them my way!
Clarence Thomas is a MAN, an American MAN, a magnificent example of what every man should be (notice no qualifiers). We are blessed with his presence on the SCOTUS and wherever he decides to speak truth. May he live another 50 years and remain on the court the entire time.
And he is spot on about progressivism and a helluva lot more men should be standing up and loudly proclaiming the same. Find your inner Alpha male men, be a Clarence Thomas.
He came to Christmas Mass at our parish in Richmond Hill , GA a number of years ago with his wife. Our priest said he was very quiet- they sat in the back and he did not call attention to himself. We are so blessed to have him on SCOTUS.
Unlike the awful Jackson who attended the Oscars and rooted for the lefttards.
Ketanji should be removed, as she is an illegitimate product of the Autopen regime.
I agree Margot, everything the illegitimate autopen regime did during their 4 years of treason and tyranny should be overturned. Its why we must all get more engaged, its why we must also LTMW, and I mean both Trump and Thomas.
She is not intellectually worthy of her position. She is a DEI hire.
It think that she is also incapable of comprehending above fact.
04/17/26: Which is a polite way of stating that she is an intellectual cretin. Which she is.
💯
Illegitimate autopen children came to mind 🤣
DEI or affirmative action graduate.
A DEI hire who has no business whatsoever on the SCOTUS. Could not even tell us what a woman is and yet the rotten, corrupt Senate let her through.
An article in the Epoch Times I hope everyone can access and read: https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/justice-jackson-criticizes-supreme-court-saying-it-overuses-emergency-docket-6012522
The reprobate can't see the elephant in the room.
It's interesting to note that it was Senator Biden who was the most vocal opponent of Thomas's confirmation and struck me as very much like a serpent in the garden during the hearings. The tables are turned now and Biden has slithered off while Justice Thomas is the leading voice of conservatism. Isn't God amazing!
Yes, absolutely Amen! Thank you Patrick.
Jeff stated "On cable news and in friendly write‑ups, Democrats denounced Thomas for “blasting” progressivism, accused him of endangering democracy, and recycled the usual ethics grievances— but none of them would touch his underlying claim that modern progressivism treats rights as government favors rather than gifts from God."
In this short essay on Does Power Corrupt this idealistic call for "democracy is shown to be a farce as turning a democracy into tyranny is relatively easy... " History proves that the mytho-poetic idealism of statism only serves to legislate and codify “Power over Others. The United States recognition of the right to seek self gain, (capitalism) combined with the fact that fundamentally we are or were a “republic”, guaranteeing freedom from tyranny of other groups, or from the tyranny of minorities and any majority, be it religious, political, corporate, or a combination thereof, is highly moral. My perspective is that it is a mistaken view that capitalism causes an evil selfishness in the pursuit of material prosperity. It has been stated that there is an inescapable form of selfish desire in the actions of all men; the removal of pain, want and suffering and the attainment of lasting happiness.
Capitalism is in many respects fundamentally honest, and a partial reflection of the above. It is an admittance that personal gain is never absent, even in the most altruistic, and so capitalism makes no pretense of removing personal gain. It also makes no moral judgment of personal gain being bad. It is a neutral admittance that desire for personal gain exists, and cannot be legislated away. Social systems that vainly seek to legislate selflessness, only condense the dark side of personal gain aspect into the most powerful people within the government, and in removing liberty and power from the common man, engender helplessness in the masses.
The one who prospers in capitalism has the freedom to become a philanthropist, or the freedom to use his wealth in a narrow selfish way. Capitalism however has a basic tenant stating that even the purely selfish accumulation of material goods, if acquired in the honest production of a good or service of value to others in society, produces good for that society. However, in empowering the individual there must be a strong co-commitment element of self-responsibility. One cannot expect the protections such a society enables without both self responsibility and offering some form of service back to that society.
The love of power for the purpose of subjugating others for one’s own ends cannot be removed by any government mandate or system. It just operates less effectively within a system built expressly for protection from such tyranny. The responsibility of the US form of government is designed to prevent the formation of such tyrannies: Corporate monopolies that unfairly drive out competition, lobby groups looking for special privileges, banking methods that rig the monetary system and allow leverage of assets tantamount to gambling in fractional reserve banking on steroids, government decisions making risk public but profit private, government sponsored enterprises and un-elected three letter agencies that, under direct supervision and authority of government regulators, do all of the above, are not caused by a capitalist republic, but are a perversion of it caused by the love of power over others, and the lack of cultural wisdom as revealed by the Ten Commandments and or “Satama Dharma”. (eternal principles of righteousness) It is the failure of the US government to police the above which is dereliction of their primary responsibility, the protection of individual and small group freedom and power, from the tyranny of those with group power, in any form.
The quotes of US and world statist politicians supporting extreme statism is very long. Why this globalist attack on the US? It is, in the view of many, due to the foundational principles that separate the US from most nations. The very factors that made the US ”a light on the hill” were the foundational principles based on “God given” individual sovereign rights, which by law limit government power. (One need not have faith in the divine to partially understand the value in this ideal of protection of individual liberty above human law) https://anderdaa7.substack.com/p/does-absolute-power-corrupt?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
100% truth.
Great point
04/17/26: The next black American that Biden sees that he thinks is Obama will be Thomas.
Yes, she was a product of the woke movement, and while most could see what a pretentious fool she was, many senators didn’t dare reject her lest they be called racist!
Sadly, their cowardice has saddled the Supreme Court with this burden for years to come!
So, sounds like we have 2 problems. Least that's my math.
Later Jay
I think that the "what is a woman?" question was way out of her league in any day forum, as a question at confirmation hearing, totally exposed her low IQ, including law.
In addition, there was a female OB/GYN questioned in the Senate if men could get pregnant. She couldn't or wouldn't answer. In my book, that is coincident with the derangement also exhibited by the justice that is being substituted for education in this country. Maybe others, but I only care about here.
The contrast in intellectual status between Thomas and Jackson is astounding.
You left out the awful Sotomayor. just a hair less bad than Jackson.
One of the three lefty loonies occasionally is rational. Is it Kagan?
I am Canadian. I don’t follow it super closely
Canadians have grave concerns. Your country has fallen.
Albertans will likely vote to leave Chinada this autumn.
Likely the dumbest person on the court.
Qualifications were never a consideration for either of them. And that is a horrible thing to say but it is completely true.
Ugggg- don’t remind me 🙄 I still question her qualifications
what qualifications? Pure DEI hire
So does Justice Barrett.
Barrett comes from libtardia. The institution of Notre Dame is for
progressive lefties...
And don’t forget she’s also a Broadway star.
I'll agree she's a broadway but a star she is not!
🤮
The whole point of this warning….
The progressives are like the Pharisees.
Hey, hey….loke at me…I did that.
I was always delighted to hear he attended Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA. I attended that school for my college AF ROTC.
He has remained a devout Roman Catholic. Justice Thomas is one of my heroes.
A Hero to many who love our country!
My great- uncle Reverend Daniel Crowley ( I am also a MA transplant to GA in the 80’s) graduated from Holy Cross and then went to seminary. He was ordained a diocesan priest for the Diocese of Springfield. He always spoke fondly of his time there as well.
Catholocism is very very dark.
Thomas is a bearer of light.
Indeed. I hate for him to retire, but I do hope he does and is replaced by someone just like him before the Dems can replace him with someone frighteningly progressive.
I’m not sure how the process works, but should Thomas retire President Trump should take his advice on his replacement - not any advisors. Barrett has been an embarrassment.
Yes, very good idea.
In fact, Mr. President, keep his phone# on the night stand, and ask his advice on even the things you don't think you need advice on.
I am hoping he continues past the progressive wave to the other side. We still need him! 10 more years if it’s possible.
Ted Cruz should be next for a seat at the SCOTUS table.
I live in Texas and I like Cruz, but a Supreme Court justice? Don't see it.
@Jeff- He's a Constitutional attorney. Who better to interpret the Constitution than he?
Ok. Maybe Jonathan Turley.
His ability to interpret the Constitution was wrong when he ran for President. He is ineligible and he knew it yet he still ran.
Yes, of course, but somehow, he just doesn't strike me as someone to occupy that bench. But I will say, we could do a LOT worse than him.
No to Cruz. I want an American 1st SCOTUS. Ted’s American most of the time. But his career has been too intertwined with AIPAC $ for my tastes.
Or move judge Jeanine Pirro into the position. She’s fire!🔥
Sen Mike Lee. Read his bio, this is just a clip: Lee spent several years as an attorney with the law firm Sidley & Austin specializing in appellate and Supreme Court litigation, and then served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Salt Lake City arguing cases before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.
Lee served the state of Utah as Governor Jon Huntsman's General Counsel and was later honored to reunite with Justice Alito, now on the Supreme Court, for a one-year clerkship.
Absolutely not.
Ugg!
The RINOS and Dems will NOT allow another Clarence Thomas in the Supreme Court at this time.
We need the authentic, wise, truthful, heroic, God-loving Clarence Thomas as long as we can have him!
There is no one like him…
True. God broke the mold when He created our Justice Thomas.
Ted Cruz would be my choice although I’ll be the first to say that Justice Thomas is irreplaceable.
One of the few things GHW Bush got right was his nomination of Justice Thomas to the SCOTUS.
And I’m old enough to remember the pure hell that the Left subjected Thomas to during the confirmation hearings. Only by the grace of God did this good man survive those lying scurrilous attacks.
The ‘Progressives’ were emboldened by their take down of Reagan’s fine nominee, Robert Bork, which was led by (worse than Swalwell), serial, sexual abuser, Ted Kennedy (may he forever rot in hell) over racist accusations a few years earlier and they were out for blood.
From Wikipedia; Bork responded, (to a pack of lies in Ted Kennedy’s speech) "There was not a line in that speech that was accurate."[33] In an obituary of Kennedy, The Economist remarked that Bork may well have been correct, "but it worked".[33] Bork contended in his book, The Tempting of America, that the brief prepared for then-Senator Joe Biden, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, "so thoroughly misrepresented a plain record that it easily qualifies as world class in the category of scurrility."[34] Opponents of Bork's nomination found the arguments against him justified, claiming that Bork believed the Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional, and he supported poll taxes, literacy tests for voting, mandated school prayer, and sterilization as a requirement for a job, while opposing free speech rights for non-political speech and privacy rights for gay conduct.[35]
Being that Thomas was a black man, the Progressives chose lies about sexual harassment with such idiotic claims as him placing a pubic hair on a coke can and talking about a porn movie called ‘Long dong Wong’ or some such. They got Anita Hill to lie her ass off, and of course she became a hero of the Left and still is. But Thomas stood and withstood.
We cannot hate the left enough!
Yes, I remember all their despicable, hateful acts.
You are right, we cannot hate the left enough, and I KNOW Jesus says we must love them - phew - I am just not that good. Someone else is going to have to love them for me.
Anita Hill is still alive but as you wish for Ted Kennedy that he rot in hell, I also wish for biden, her, clinton(s), obama, and so many more.
We have Christian brothers and sisters. We often disagree, even passionately. Some we may be inclined to view as enemies and despise them.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I just believe that when Jesus speaks of loving our enemies and doing good to those who despise us, he’s speaking of those within the realm of true Christian fellowship, not utterly evil worshippers of the father of Lies, who may even pretend to be Christians in efforts to prevert the faith.
WS, that is really a great way of looking at the issue of loving our enemies. I have to give that some thought!
I am thinking GHWBush only saw skin color in that appointment.😖
Given what we now know, That’s certainly a good possibility.
Wow. What a blessing to have him at your service. When he speaks - all will listen.
I just went back and looked and it was December 2019, right before Covid hit. Our priest had come to the house to entrust it to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and that’s when he told me about Justice Thomas coming to Mass. This priest was Nigerian and said he got to meet him after Mass and shake his hand.
Unfortunately those progressive retards will not listen, will never listen, and you can never win them over. They will always be Marxists, with some fascism thrown in.
When I think about the bell curve, I think we live amongst a large number of not very smart people. They need to follow some ideological figures because they truly can’t understand consequences to a significant degree.
On the bright and brightest side of the curve, there are those, good and bad, who can connect dots and grasp consequences. The good ones want what most benefits mankind as a whole because in the long run this is health and happiness.
The bad ones see how they can manipulate the masses for their personal gain without regard for future costs to mankind.
The not at all smart, kind of smart, and almost smart tend to look for what they consider the winning positions; figuring if that side is winning they must be right. They jump on bandwagons, but will jump off if the tide very obviously turns. For example, Some they/them people are trying to back away now. This flip flopping is seen with Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, etc.
That’s why I believe it is very important to win and let it be known that we are winning. President Trump says it a lot.
So how has progressivism taken root and gained so much control of our lives? Through building their "Institutional Democracy" they are so proud of - and with our money - and which has very nearly choked the life out of our Constututional Republic, our freedom our liberty. They are holding on with stolen elections and country wide lawfare by insane judicial activists and legislators at every level of government.
The Federal Reserve was created and the income tax enacted in 1913 too.
And don't forget waste, fraud and abuse!
Did you see the news bit that California is considering outlawing video reporting on fraud? Nick Shirley keeps on finding the most egregious examples of how the unscrupulous rip us taxpapers off.
I’ve been waiting for Jeff to address this! The “Stop Nick Shirley Act” as it’s being called. Against “immigrant providers” 🙄. I thought it already passed?!
No Salty K. It recently passed out of committee, not passed the legislature. Hopefully it will not pass. If it does, I think it will not be allowed to be in effect due to First Amendment violations, but all of that court stuff could take years.
Yep. Theft.
AKA standard operating procedures for the left
I totally agree Dan. Those progressive Judges have been a thorn in the side of so many issues/changes that this administration has tried to accomplish for the benefit of our nation and it’s people.
Bukele threw out all of the progressive judges upon his election victory in El Salvador. One wistfully wonders if that could happen here.
The answer to your question is the Global Commercial & Investment Banking Cartel and it's devotion to maintaining monopoly control over Ethos-Pathos-Logos through the use of FinTech.
I don't completely disagree, I would simply take it to its logical, fundamental beginning: incarnate evil in those people.
Illness of the flesh. I do not completely disagree as well. Easy to understand why "medical" scientists and physicians were chosen and trained to replace priests as Empires new tip of the spear.
I do find it quite remarkable how the current makeup of the SOTUS accurately reflects our national population. I've never paid that much attention to this, but I predict a couple of the justices will have to resign soon. Its so absurd what some of them have said in public.
They were not put there to uphold the Constitution, they were put there to destroy as much of it as possible. Upholding the Constitution is diametrically opposed to their suffocating institutional democracy.
Well said, Dan
And indoctrinating our public school children for over two generations!
And this is what Democrats mean by referring to Trump as “a threat to ‘our’ Democracy”. They are not wrong.
Yes, he is absolutely an existential threat to them, which is why we must all support him 100% and be existential threats to them too. Its no longer enough to talk about it. They are at war, not only with him, but with us too, and it is well past time for all of us to understand and embrace that - to their detriment.
They have to be killed from the root.
And as evidence, witness that he went into Austin, TX to give this speech. Right into the belly of the beast.
Oh yeah!! There's Texas and then there is Austin.
My son lives in Austin. I live in the Hill Country. He said something so funny when describing Austinites. He said “Mom, this isn’t Texas. This is AUSTIN!” It’s different than the rest of Texas! 😂
As a fellow Texan, and resident of the Hill Country, I wholeheartedly agree with your son! Even though we’re 45 min-1hr from Austin, we NEVER go there anymore. I refuse to spend my money or time in Austin! Bravo to Justice Thomas for walking into the belly of the Beast. We locals know just how brave that was. Frankly, I’m surprised they even allowed him to speak, knowing his strong adherence to the Constitution!
The University of Austin is radically different and was founded by prominent conservatives to offer the bilge coming out of places like the University of Texas.
Well hello neighbor! My husband & I live in Canyon Lake. Unfortunately, New Braunfels, San Antonio, San Marcos & out of control builders are siphoning off the lake very quickly.
We're probably 30 minutes from you. We're off 46 near Smithson Valley HS. Despite all the growth out here, we still call it God’s Country! Heck, we probably shop at the same HEB!
Exactly! We Texans must make that distinction. It's like there's football, and there's the NFL. The two are not the same thing.
The problem is liberals, being entirely unable to be self sufficient, must congregate in large groups so they can steal power and grift off of the producers of real things, food, cars, electricity, etc... left to their own devices, they shrivel up and die under their foil cone hats. It's why they gravitate to massive, omnipotent and oppressive government and marxist communism.
Isn't Austin's slogan "Keep Austin Weird?"
Bravo Justice Thomas, Bravo!
Just like Portland 🙄😂
Robert asked “ Isn't Austin's slogan "Keep Austin Weird?"”
Yes that is correct. And truly Austin is worse than weird.
Or, as I like to call it, SFO East!!
Yes, a man’s man in every sense!
Agree 100%!
Every MAGA candidate for office should reprint this speech and make it the center of their campaign.
A damn good idea Joseph.
Let’s replace Fentanyl Floyd murals and statues with Justice Thomas; a true role model to, not only the black community, but all men of the Inited States.
Wow! Thanks Dan, When a man's a man, things happen for good! We need more steel in our men, in our leaders, especially in Congress!!
Exactly correct, PM.
AMEN!
He walked in and made sure to step on every single progressive toe in that room 😂
The more Keyanji opens her foul mouth and utters nonsensical delusions, the more she makes her profound intellectual inferiority obvious compared to her counterparts. What progressive, ghetto street corner did they find her on?
Yes, he did, it was magnificent.
The progressive street corner? They call it harvard and I refuse to capitalize it. She was fully indoctrinated there during her undergrad and law school brainwashing.
Justice Thomas knows what time it is. Highly recommend his documentary In His Own Words if you haven’t watched it yet.
Will definitely check it out! Thnx!
If you know where I can watch it I would appreciate the link. Everywhere I've looked says its not available.
Search says pbs.com. Maybe YouTube too.
It's on YouTube with commercials. So I can't watch it on brave browser.
May God give him many more years, that he can serve on the Supreme Court for at least another 20 years! 🙏🏼
As it was once said: "I AM NOT WORTHY."
And CORRECTION - Clarence Thomas IS the MAN
More thoughts on IRAN - https://torrancestephensphd.substack.com/p/me-too-but-not-when-it-comes-to-the
COULD NOT AGREE MORE - he's an American Hero. Read his biography ! He never wavers and I have no idea how we could be so lucky as to have a man of his strength, caliber and intellectual supremacy on our highest court. Imagine having to argue with him ! He is a blessing to our country and yet - a MAN to be highly revered and hopefully emulated.
A few years back, I received a text from my daughter who was - at the time - a student at Hillsdale College. The text read: "I met Justice Thomas today at orchestra rehearsal. He is here for the dedication of the new chapel. He gave us an impromptu speech about going to Hillsdale and how lucky we were to attend a school that is steeped in liberty."
IIRC, Justice Thomas ended up quite sick shortly after this visit and I texted my daughter to say: "What did you all do to Justice Thomas?"
Who was his audience besides those in the room? Americans who need to wake up? CSPAN watchers? Perhaps even some of his colleagues on the Court who need to be reminded?
Philippians 1:21 — “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
✝️✝️✝️
And He summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”
— Mark 8:34-36 NAS95
✝️✝️✝️
This scripture was my daily devotion this morning & here it is again — no coincidence. 🙏🙏🙏
Fascinating also that I had it saved for yesterday, but the Lord changed it up.
Thank you Janice 💗
Anyone read Compass Enews? They have mentioned Jeff in their last two updates
Can you be more specific? Is it a Substack? When I typed in Compass enews, I got several choices and none of which were exactly that.
Here's a link to their website: https://compass.org/compass-enews/
Thank you, Janice. Your posts brighten my day and my walk with our Lord. ♥
AMEN!
Yes. Amen!
And Lord, just look, a baby boomer called it. What’s impossible for men, is possible for God, including breathing life into dry bones. I ask protection & prosperity, to further this move, in those who are fighting for our nation, as well as shining Your light, for the hope of all peoples to live in freedom, that only comes from You Father.
Many fast at Lent, but we need to now!! Because Jesus said some spirits cannot be called out, without fasting & prayer. And so many spirits have blinded the masses, as we have seen in the plandemic alone. As young men come to the Lord, & the older wakes, let’s work together. Including women who hold back, afraid they will lose rights or something, which they most definitely will, if we don’t view progressivism as existential to our freedoms.
Our hope has to be in You Lord, so You can hear ALL prayers. It is You, in men’s hearts, that makes our Republic work!! One nation under God. Repentance is required to see a merciful God unleash His Might. Because then “all” will know, that He alone is the Lord. He desires that none should perish. Thank you Jesus, in Your Name we pray.
Today’s post was so interesting. As I’ve mentioned here, I talk politics and world events with my dad all the time, he turns 94 this month. My perspective has been that the 60s generation is what started the descent into what our country is today, but my dad has always said it was Woodrow Wilson. Now I’ll have to tell him that he was probably right (which I knew anyway, he’s got a much larger frame of reference than I do).
My favorite saying: “The older I get, the smarter my dad was.”
So true! I realized that a long time ago, but it’s still fun to debate sometimes.
My dad would always say ‘the only good Democrat is a dead one’ ….. he was right about that and everything he said
Ha ha Ruth, but they somehow still find a way to vote!🤣
Sounds harsh, but when one considers they created the Civil war, Wilson's stuff, FDR's stuff, less of them is better for the rest of us.
Mine said both parties are full of crooks. At the time I was a Dem and disagreed saying oh no dad the Democrats support working people and the Republicans are just for rich people. He would just smile.
Your Dad was a smart man
Miss him every day!!! He lived long enough to see me embrace being a conservative. I lost friends which was hard but worth the sacrifice. My true lib buddies still love me. Honestly I don’t think I’ve really changed.
You made your Dad proud and I’m sure quite happy. My Dad has been gone for 50 years. I was only 26. I think of him often; he instilled good work ethics, conservative thinking, and to always save a little from every paycheck. I’ve trued to pass on this way of living to both my sons.
gonna steal that and post it elsewhere
Yes 😊
That just proves how smart you are!
Ever since I took history in high school way back in the dark ages of the mid 60s, I have said Woodrow Wilson has been a thorn in the side of America. And like Biden, his wife and fellow progressive covered up his ineptness during his last few years of his presidency.
Glenn Beck listeners know well the history of Wilson and his progressive state — along with the other bureaucratic cancers unleashed during his administration — and why Glenn HHHAAAAAATES Wilson. Unfortunately those effects metastasized through later Progressives like FDR and are now at every level of government. Today’s progressives of course mix in Marxism for maximum detrimental effect.
Joe Biden was nothing more than a grifter con man and just a useful idiot tool for the progressives. IMHO of course.
Wilson was also the one who started the Jim Crow laws. Princeton Seminary president - tells me everything about what happened to the Presbyterian Church in the US over the past 100 years.
He also segregated the US military.
It was Wilson may he rot in hell. More accurately it was his wife who I hope is along side him.
❤️❤️❤️I have a similar relationship with my dad, although a couple decades less mature. He’s actually a subscriber here too. I look forward to having these discussions with him when he’s in his 90s.
It’s common for people’s sense of history to only go back as far as the oldest living person they know. It’s also common for younger generations to ignore advice from older generations . And, this in a nutshell is part of why history so often rhymes and repeats.
https://nofilterjustfacts.substack.com/p/mckinley-buried-twice
I knew there was a Mount McKinley but never knew why.
This was a fascinating read about McKinley tariffs, taxes and the London bankers. Jekyll Island.
I was puzzled why Trump keeps bringing up McKinley, now I have a better understanding.
In Trump's hands, tariffs are a very good thing.
It's long but well worth reading.
Did not start early enough . Teddy Roosevelt was the original screaming progressive, not Wilson
I do not know much about Wilson! Hmmm I will have to go reading
Justice Thomas is a gift from the Lord God.
Scott Buerge
Makes us appreciate all the more why the left fought so viciously to keep Thomas from getting on the SC. I remember. Biden and Ted Kennedy were the chief hyenas. I have detested Biden ever since. Stupid, mean, partisan hack his entire career.
So true, they savaged him with untrue, hateful attacks to try and get him to fail, but he withstood them all. And the USA won!
Wasn’t that just cruel how they treated him. “A modern day lynching” is what he himself called it. It made me cry
He referred to it as a "high tech lynching of an uppity black man" or something close to that. Very close to the heart. You know they are itching to criticize him for being conservative while black... The first one to do that will probably end up imploding like The Witch King at Minas Tirith under the moral force of his gaze. Which would make great television, really...
Most definitely commendable force is that gaze!
Hi-tech lynching, for sure
If anyone kept pubic hair in a matchbox it would be Biden 🤮🤮
That is unfortunately hilarious.
Here he is:
https://youtu.be/iXijcySC0ZU?si=vdbnfsqxvvFQaTS7
Thank you for posting today even when your eye hurts ❤️ get well soon!
I just installed the second dose of antihistamine eye drops this morning..... and I had been awake for two hours by 4:15 am. Good times.... 🤧
I’ve been awake since 3 am. 🫤 I get woken up when my husband leaves for work and then can’t fall back asleep. I’m like a zombie right now …
I hope y'all are in bed by 7 pm. 😴🛌
Ugh not me. He falls asleep in a chair when he gets home around 5:30 pm. Wakes up to eat, then sleeps WHILE eating a bowl of popcorn. Quite the skill and I have video proof of him doing it, eyes closed, hand slowly to mouth … but me? I’m stuck awake until about 9:30 pm at the earliest. Sometimes 10:30
There is apparently only one thing I can do while sleeping (other than sleeping). It resulted in my youngest daughter.
My uncle said I went to sleep, but left my motor running.
Haha, now I know why your comments are so spicy!
BUT ... Jeff made me laugh more from today's post than EVER
A true tour de force.
Amen, I thought exactly the same thing.
Good Morning C&C! Jeff, here's hoping your eye heals quickly. The problem with Justice Thomas is...he's 77. Not that he's too old. I'm not that far behind him. But at 77, he's running out of runway. I'd love for him to stay on the bench for another 100 years. Lord knows, we need his intelligence, his wisdom, and his very calm demeanor. He is a rare gem.
Far too rare. Send $10 to support Hillsdale College. It is training American youth to appreciate the views of Justice Thomas - - the waiting list for admission is very long, a bright ember in a greatly diminished fire - - -
My friends daughter got excepted so I donated $100.
I hope you meant “accepted”.
Thanks. Old people screw up. That’s what I get for watching Varney & Co and typing at same time.
Fixed it. Thanks again.
Edit didn’t work or I did it wrong.
Accepted
Haha. I understand. We ancients have to make our points while we are still able (and can look out for each other). Don't worry. The world (and our critics) know perfectly well what we mean, when I mistakenly type "Hamas", and mean "Hezbollah"
Hillsdale also offers free online courses on the constitution & other topics. Excellent source.
Set yourself up for monthly donations, and take advantage of the free curriculum on the constitution and other topics on American history.
You're right! I will.
So glad you brought this up - we have been proud supporters of Hillsdale for years.
Same here!
They are in my will.
Hillsdale could be deep state hangout.
Find and take an online course given by Dr. Larry Arnn (Constitution 101, or Declaration of Independence, for instance) then reconsider your statement - -
Linked with TPUSA.
Brain washing Gen Z to fight for Trotskyites
Vote with your feet
There is talk of Trump making a couple of appointments to the SC before his term ends, due to retirements. I hope Thomas is not one of them, there is no comparable replacement for him. But Ketanji Jackson should be removed for being illegally appointed. Besides being retarded.
I have been rebuked for calling people gay retards, though mostly by gay retards.
Not all gays are retards, on the contrary ... Scott Bessent, anyone?
And God reserves a very special place for the good ones ... and equally 'special' but not in a favorable sense ... for others
Just like ALL of us interesting and Beloved Creatures
I know. I use the term much like SouthPark would. I know gay people and developmentally challenged folks, it's not a poke at them.
Good point.
I like Bessent very much but being gay is an abomination to God. Sodom.
Well, if we're going the 'abomination route', then let's not be scrupulosity hypocrites.
Fornication is fornication
Porn is porn
The vast majority of heterosexuals live trapped in lust
Agreed.
They are abusers more than idiots.
@RJ- most gays, like most heteros, want just a quiet life where they work and enjoy the perks of working for what they want. SOME of both cultures belong in hell with a bullet hole in their heads.
I hope he gets to replace Roberts as well. He is implicated in the Ukraine impeachment that the CIA cooked up.
If PDT replaces Roberts and the Otto Pen justice, I will be thrilled.
Fraud vitiates everything. If it can be proven, everything done in bidens name will revert, and those deep state hacks will be imprisoned. Tough to do in four years.
My speculation as well. If the 2020 is proven in court and in public opinion to be stolen, how much Biden era legislation and executive orders are rendered null and void?
If Thomas isn’t replaced by Trump and we lose the senate (because of Thune), Thomas likely will be replaced by a prog, whether R or D…
Your moniker: two of the greatest was generals ever. Ruthless and effective. Would love to read your thinking…
Several years ago I was working in Hollywood. Had a blog & wrote a novel. Couldn’t use real name or I’d never work in that town again. Searched around for a good nom de guerre. This was post-9/11. Decided on Alexander (kicked ass in the Persians & Arabs) and Scipio (kicked ass on the North Africans). Alexander Scipio. 👍
Love the story. Maybe you can lead a march on Hollywood, burn it to the ground, and salt the earth so nothing ever grows again. (I wonder if anything has ever grown in former Carthage in more recent years.)
I LOVE history, especially with maps at hand. There is so much to learn, so little time.
🤣
😜😜
Maybe this speech by Thomas is setting him up for retirement. He’ll advise Trump on a replacement & hopefully POTUS listens. Maybe John Eastman who defended Trump & had his law license removed by CA?
Thomas is talking about Trump Stargate supporters and their data centers digital prison with Wilson quote.
"Worse, the justice explained, “Wilson lamented that we do too much by vote and too little by expert rule.”
Jeff opened a hornet's nest.
Kudos.
It's up to Justice Thomas to retire. I think he should retire in the next two years, just to avoid the chance of a Ruth Bader Ginsburg situation happening. Just to clarify, he is doing a great job.
I love that the word “retarded” is back in general use. I have been saying it for years. Now I fit in!
He is a gem. Let's pray he has enough wisdom to step down while President Trump is still president, and there are least a few months left to confirm his successor.
Incredibly rich (& savvy) for Justice Thomas to give such a speech in “Keep Austin Weird” Austin (truly a blight on the State of Texas).
Right?! Right in the den of vipers in Austin Texas at UT.
I wonder how his speech was “received” by the audience 😂
Probably like Vance’s speech in Munich last year!
He's speaking about Vance and the digital prison.
Remember the stories of how Hildabeast reacted on election night 2016? Prolly about the same.
I saw a standing ovation.
That is the true test of how well the progressives captured our higher education to inoculate it against hearing wisdom from speakers like Thomas … whether or not the audience tuned him out, dismissed everything, and jumped on the liberal outrage bandwagon.
I had to double check where he gave that speech, Jeff said it was at The University of Austin, but it was actually (as you said) The University of Texas at Austin, which is a different institution from the University of Austin.
Yes. The University of Austin is a recent endeavor by Bari Weiss, Niall Ferguson and a couple others.
Exactly. Not the same at all.
It’s still Austin….
Yes but this new university is committed to critical thinking and real learning.
That makes more sense! I was shocked to hear UT.
Every state has a city that is a cesspool. TX has Austin and here in NM it’s ABQ.
Sadly, Steenroid, I have to agree. My wife and I drove from Phoenix, AZ to Minnesota three summers ago. Our first over night stay was in ABQ. It felt like a third-world country, and that was the summer of 2023.
Glad your car wasn’t broken into at motel parking lot.
Phew! But I did see some creepy looking creatures milling around the hotel we were staying.
Yupp you were lucky.
And then there’s Minneapolis!! 🥴
@Merry- try living in Western NY where the completely opposite side of the state runs everything
I think I’d rather be in your situation rather than right in the thick of the insanity. Hang in there! 👍
When LoL bought Purina Mills I had to work for the commie co-op. Like all Co-ops they are evil and only function for the benefit of the managers and not for the members. Co-ops are more communist than capitalism.
I have wondered how NM became so liberal?
60,000 illegals, the vast majority from Mexico.
Nah, NM is dominated by wealthy libtards that come from places like CA (lots of “celebrities” live here). Once the illegals cross, they want to get as far from the border as possible. They end up in NY, IL, MI, etc.
I agree that California poison is a large part of it. NM is where Epstein had his infamous ranch. And Santa Fe!! but 60,000 is a lot of people in a state with 2 million people, and where 25 percent of the children are born to non-American citizens. It will only get worse, one of those socialist places that has very little to redistribute.
😔. I’m so sorry. That sounds unsustainable.
Thanks, makes sense.
Because it's cheaper to live there - incredible natural beauty (so the libtards can screw it up) - totally corrupt after decades of dummycrat rule. Lived there for ~8.5 years in Catron County.
I moved here in 1991 and the only good governor was pot smoking Gary Johnson. At least he vetoed a majority of the bills the Demtoids passed.
It’s a single party state just like CA. And that party is controlled by Mexicans on the State level.
It’s always been dominated by corruptocrats. It’s NEVER been red like AZ & CO used to be
Arizona is still red.
Mayer Katie Hobbs was installed like a toilet.
The cheating in
Maricopa county is off the charts.
But I agree the Hobbit was a corrupt “win”
Im an AZ native & I well remember when it was red. If you factor in Pima County & most of “Baja” Arizona (other than Cochise / Willcox) , I can’t agree it’s fully “red” anymore.
And Oregon has Portland, Salem and Eugene.
IDK, I’m in NM too & Santa Fe is full of soy boys & pink haired libtards of all ages. Cruces bad too
The I-25 shitholes. Hard to say which is worse.
AGREE Steenroid!
Don't forget Santa Fe, a great and beautiful place. Too many libs, though. A favorite question of mine is why do libs rush to beautiful places in mass and proceed to destroy them? Santa Fe, Asheville and Key West come to mind.
Ever seen a rats nest?
Actually, no. I've led a sheltered life!
NM needs help…It ranks 50th on the Family Structure Index. https://familystructureindex.org/
“ Every state has a city that is a cesspool. TX has Austin and here in NM it’s ABQ.“
Steenroid the far Leftist lunatics are trying to take over every major city in Texas. Houston is almost as bad as Austin.
I lived in Oregon from 1979-2022. One of the frequent bumper snickers I saw was "Keep Portland Weird". My favorite bumper snicker was, "Weirds not Working". I love it when Jeff frequently clarifies statements with, "For you Portland folks".......
Striking at the heart... well played.
The blueberry in the tomato soup I’ve heard it described.
Love you Captain Consistency!!!
Changing hearts & minds one day at a time with humor snark & relentless buoyant optimisms!
Grateful Thanks Jeff!I' ♥♥♥✅
In case you're interested WTI (West Texas Intermediate crude oil) is at $89.00 @ 9:00AM, EDT. Oops, $87.95 before I could finish typing! Oops again $86.41. If you are crazy about this kind of stuff you can follow energy prices here: https://oilprice.com/oil-price-charts/#WTI-Crude
Me too! $84.62!! I knew it wouldn't last long!
Thanks for your updates - TAW!
$84.07 at 7:41
$83.78 now. 🏆 TAW
$81.69 at 8:55mtn
$82.88 just now 🤣
Good thing I'm heavy into pipeline stocks.
I still remember that day when he went on the offensive against the democrats who were trying to deny him his Supreme Court seat. I had just arrived in Pennsylvania on the way to visit my daughters and had pulled into a fireworks store parking lot when he started speaking. I was spellbound and sat in the lot as he ripped his opponents a new one!
I realized then that he was the right man for the job and he has yet to let me down.
I haven’t heard this new speech yet, only read snippets, but I will find the time!
Get well soon, Jeff.
Everyone have a great and blessed day!
Maybe it's a good time to flood Justice Thomas with C&C cards of appreciation! Not retirement yet!
I'm posting his address just in case anybody needs it !
Formal Address (Envelope/Letterhead):
The Honorable Clarence Thomas
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
One First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20543
Salutation (Inside Letter):
Dear Justice Thomas:
Reference in Text:
Justice Thomas or Associate Justice Thomas.
Key Details for 2026:
Clarence Thomas has served as an Associate Justice since October 23, 1991.
He is currently the longest-serving member of the Court.
He is sometimes referred to as an Associate Justice to differentiate from the Chief Justice, but "Justice Thomas" is standard.
Thank you Jeff for keeping us pointed to sanity!!
Prayers for your eyes! Wearing shades all day during treatment is something my eye doctor told me when I was younger 4 eye surgeries. Not many eye doctors tell you to keep your shades on all day and stay out of sunshine (in your beautiful state!) Maybe an ole wives tale...who knows? LOL Prayers to The Healer lifted! 😎 🙏🏼🦋💜⚓
I love your idea above! But I would like to suggest 1 more. Print a copy of his speech and send it to our Congress members. We need to help them with their thinking, encourage some political fortitude and constitutional courage. Imagine the impact of hundreds (thousands?) of Thomas’s speech showing up in their offices from “We the People!”; “Dear Rep or Senator, WE wanted to be sure you didn’t miss this important message. Please make time to read and carefully take in the truth of this speech. Praying for your courage and strength to stand in protection of our constitution and our country.”
(Probably do not include the tempting line “praying for your backbone, and for a new set of big balls”)
WE are watching with interest and expectation for good results.
Respectfully,
We the People
Anyone have a good link for the printed version of Thomas’s speech?
That's a great idea too! I tried to print it a few minutes ago. All I got was the link to it. It didn't print the actual speech. Of course it might be my computer because we've got issues! LOL I'm writing my senators today too now. Thank you!🦋🦋
I pulled this from the youtube transcription of the speech. I've tried to fix the errors, remove stutters and parse it into logical paragraphs. I'm seriously fighting sleep at 2 am to get this done, so apologies if it doesn't come out well. It's a magnificent speech!
Well, good afternoon. It's great to see so many Longhorns and friends here for a
very special occasion.
I am grateful to be part of today and honored to introduce our speaker. There is so much that a student or a lawyer, frankly, even a citizen can learn from Justice Clarence Thomas.
He has served on our nation's highest court longer than any current justice and has shaped how we think about the law in ways that will endure for generations. But before I introduce him, I want to invite us to consider something deeper because we're not only here to listen to a great jurist. We're here also to learn from someone who has devoted a life to a great experiment.
That experiment began 250 years ago, born at our nation's independence, but it's never been self- sustaining.
It endures because each generation produces people - people who seek to understand it, who take it seriously, and who are willing to live it out. Just as Thomas is in the fullest sense a great citizen of this republic, his civic life has many important things to teach us and many of them remind us of ourselves.
The first is this: Justice Thomas has always chosen to go his own way. He once wrote about reading Ralph Ellison's book, Invisible Man, and recognizing it a man who spent years going in everyone else's way except his own and resolved that he would not be that way. He has said simply, "I set out to do my best to be right."
Being right demands more than going along with what's easy or expected, but is often the only way to do things that last.
The people of Texas founded this university on a similar conviction. Our state constitution calls us to be a university of the first class. Longhorns understand what it means to lead our own path.
The second thing in his life teaches us is that freedom is inseparable from responsibility.
That bears repeating. Freedom is inseparable from responsibility.
Justice Thomas has spoken throughout his life about the difference between what we are owed and what we owe others. about the fact that a free people cannot sustain their freedom without accepting the obligations that come with it. This is the foundation of citizenship. It is why we are here. Whether you're studying law or medicine or physics or humanities, the purpose of your education is not only to develop your own mind. It is also to put your mind in service to others. The president of the Republic of Texas, Mayor Bo Lamar, who secured the future of this university, set aside public land for public education, has a famous quote you may have heard before. He tells us that the cultivated mind is the guardian genius of democracy. He continues, "Guided and controlled by virtue, the noblelest attribute of man, just as Thomas lives out that virtue, and he invites us by his example to do the same."
Now, I'd like to close with a biographical note about Justice Thomas. He did not attend the University of Texas at Austin. But when I look at his life, the path he chose, the convictions he holds, I see the spirit of a Longhorn. In truth, he reflects what we believe and importantly who we hope to become. It is now my great honor to introduce Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the Honorable Clarence Thomas.
------ Clarence Thomas Speech -------
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. Well, I think I'll quit while I'm ahead.
Thank you all very much. Um, President Davis, Provost, and Bowden, Dean Dyer, faculty, students, and honored guests. I thank each of you for the for being here and I thank the school and the officials here for the invitation to visit the University of Texas at Austin.
My wife Virginia and I are pleased to be here and to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
If my memory serves me, this is only my second visit to the University of Texas, and this is the first visit at the invitation of the university, but I have hired and worked with a number of outstanding young people associated with this university.
My first was now Chief Judge Greg Mags of the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Services who was a fairly new faculty member uh at the law school when I became a member of the court. He took a leave of absence to help me as a law clerk during the second half of my
first term.
My first UT graduate to serve as a law clerk was Greg Coleman. three decades ago. Greg went on to become the first solicitor of the state of Texas. He was simply outstanding, as was his son Reed, who also was a graduate of the law school here and who was also equally outstanding. Greg's widow and our very dear friend Stephanie is with us today. Stephanie, thank you and thanks for being such a good friend.
And both Greg and his son Reed clerked for my dear friend, Judge Edith Jones, also a graduate of UT Law School. I greatly admire Judge Jones. She is one of my heroes and I admire her as a person and as a jurist and I'm grateful that she can be here today. A number of my former clerks are also here. I can't tell you which ones. Uh so let me ask them to stand to be recognized.
So, so in my chambers, UT and UT law school are very well represented.
I hope... I'm having a little trouble with this. Getting used to the podium. Sorry about that.
Um, I hope that my talk today will help in some small way to inaugurate another great initiative, the state of Texas's plan to restore the teaching of civics and western civilization to a central place in our in its flagship university. and I am grateful and honored to have been invited by Justin Dyer, the dean of the new school of civic leadership.
I'm also grateful for the assistance of my former law clerk, Professor John Woo, who has spent the last three decades at Berkeley Law School, but is now joining Justin and his team here at the University of Texas.
The school's stated mission is to help students encounter the distinct inheritance of Western civilization and the American constitutional tradition as part of a larger quest for free jut for wisdom about how to live and how to lead. Your plans not could not come at a more important moment for our nation when as we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, the very values announced in it have fallen over have fallen out of favor. It is my sincere hope that your work to revitalize the teaching and research of Western civilization and the American constitutional tradition will lead the way in the reform of our nation's colleges and universities. And I hope that your example will help to rejuvenate our fellow citizens' commitment to the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
I seem to always enjoy my travels to this amazing state. My wife Virginia and I have many wonderful friends and acquaintances here. And it is so special to have our dear friends H Harlon and Kathy Crowe join us today.
One of the features of this state that stands out in a way that Texans is the way that Texans talk about it. What comes through is the sustained and sustaining affection that they have for their home state. That reverential feeling for and attachment to Texas is to be respected and admired and if possible emulated.
This affection is similar to the attachment that I grew to have for my home state of Georgia and certainly for our country despite the indelible mark of segregation and its companion evils. I was proud to say that I was American by birth and Georgian by the grace of God.
It was not uncommon to hear others openly proclaim their allegiance to God and country. At our grammar school, St. Benedicts. We started each school day by lining up two by two and class by class in the schoolyard to watch the raising of our flag and to say the pledge of allegiance before silently marching to our respective classrooms.
Thank you Justin for doing this! Wow! Is the whole speech! This is very kind of you Justin. Thank you for doing this. I really do appreciate it! I'm glad I didn't send letters yesterday. I got too busy and didn't get off my letter out to to Justice Thomas yesterday, but I'll send the senators out today too !
Thank you again sir! This really does help ! 🌿🦋
Did everybody send the whole speech or did you just get the last half? I'm just wondering what people sent cuz this is really long. I'm going to send the whole thing I think! I'm also going to send it to my son's. I have a few sons that need to read this too! 🤣🌿🙏🏼💜🔥🦋
Last half? I think I got it all, but could not send it all in one message, so had to break it up. It should be easy to copy each section and put it into a word processor. You probably can't in the app, but if you go to share the link and copy that into a browser, you should be able to copy it then.
Even as so much of our God-given and constitutional rights were denied us, we still faithfully said the pledge of allegiance, memorized the preamble to the Constitution, and yearned for the fulfillment of its promised ideals.
Sadly, these sentiments are not as widely shared among our fellow citizens today, and they certainly do not seem to have that sustaining strength that they had back then. In fact, all too often the sentiments tend toward cynicism, rejection, hostility, and animus toward our country and its
ideals.
With the foregoing in mind, I would like to begin by addressing my first encounter with the principles of the Declaration of Independence.
It is perhaps not what you would immediately think. The second paragraph of the declaration proclaims, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. Throughout my youth, these truths were articles of faith that were impervious to bigotry and discrimination.
The American Heritage Dictionary of English Language defines self-evident as obviously true and requiring no proof, argument, or explanation. Whether they had a divine source or a worldly one, they were never questioned. They were the holy grail, the north star, the rock, immovable and unquestioned.
Despite the multiplicity of laws and customs that aire of bigotry, it was universally believed among those blacks with whom I lived and who had very little or no formal education that in God's eyes and under our constitution, we were equal. This was also the case with my nuns, most of whom were Irish immigrants. At home, at school, and at church, we were taught that we are inherently equal, that equality comes came from God and that it could not be diminished by man. We were made in the image and likeness of God.
That proposition was not debatable and was beyond the power of man to alter. Others with power and animus could treat us as unequal, but they lacked the the divine power to make us so. Somehow without formal education, the older people knew that these god-given or natural rights preceded and transcended governmental author power or authority.
When you lived in a segregated world with palpable discrimination and the governments nearest to you enforced laws and customs that promoted unequal treatment, it was obvious that your rights or your dignity did not come from those governments, but rather from God.
Though not a literate man, my grandfather often spoke of our rights and obligations coming from God, not from architects of segregation and discrimination. Men were not angels. They were subject to the constraints of antecedent rights. And we were not subject to their these men even as we were subjected to their whims. We knew that life, liberty, and property were sacrosanct.
Those truths were self-evident to the adults in our lives and were taught to us as indelible, undeniable truths. those around us would endure or could endure the insults of segregation uh with dignity because they knew that in God's eyes they were equal.
All too often there is an unfortunate tendency when discussing the declaration to make those these self-evident truths and first principles of government obscure. Intellectuals want you to believe that our founding principles are matters of esoteric philosophy or sophisticated debate. Even those who support them too often talk about them as if they were academic play things. They overly complicate them, take the spirit out of them, and discuss them in a way that puts us to sleep.
But the principles of the Declaration of Independence, as I encountered them, are a way of life. They are not an abstract theory that only that you only learn in college or law school, but the basic premises of our constitution and government that you can learn from the
people all around you. When Alexis de Tocqueville visited early America from France, he was struck that there was no country in the civilized world where where they were less occupied with philosophy than the United States.
But there was likewise no country where the principle of the declaration principles of the declaration were more deeply ingrained or more fiercely defended than those same United States.
That is the sense in which I knew the principles of the declaration in my childhood. That is the only sense in which those principles can sustain our country. And that is the sense in which I will speak to you about those principles today.
I believe now as I did then that the declaration of 1776 provides us with the principles to guide us as citizens of our republic.
Even in this time of questioning and criticism of our founding, we should not forget that the declaration established the principles that produced despite all of its our imperfections, our miscues, and our tragic mistakes.
It gave us the freest, wealthiest, and most powerful nation in the history of the world. It provided the moral principles by which Frederick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King would criticize the institutions of slavery and segregation. The declaration, in fact along with the gospels is the declaration - is in fact along with the gospels one of the greatest anti-slavery documents in the history of western civilization. It did not establish a form of government. That was the work of the constitution that followed. But it stated the purpose of government.
The declaration made it clear that the purpose of government is to protect our God-given unalienable rights. Rights that all individuals equally possess.
As Abraham Lincoln declared in 1858 in the midst of his great debates with Steven Douglas, quote, "Drop every paltry insignificant thought for any man's success. It is nothing. I am nothing. Judge Douglas is nothing. But do not destroy that immortal emblem of humanity, the Declaration of American Independence."
The ideas of the declaration are so powerful that our nation could not exist with the contradiction created by the great evil of slavery.
Those principles were so powerful that hundreds of thousands of Americans fought and died in the Civil War to make men free. Those ideas have been so powerful that they convinced our nation to finally end segregation.
They continue to be so powerful today that they have inspired people throughout the world to throw off the shackles of their own oppressors. And it is, it all began with our founders declaring in 1776 in the Declaration of Independence that we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
We should also not forget the important sentence that follows that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the govern to secure these rights, governments are instituted. The principle of consent follows from the principle of equality.
We the people can never legitimately consent to the violation of our God-given equality.
However, when I encounter the Declaration of Independence, anew today, I am most struck by the final sentence. It can be easy to forget 250 years later the courage it took for those 56 men to sign the declaration. Arguably those men committed treason against the king, risking death at the hands of an empire far mightier than the newborn United States. They thus concluded with the memorable final sentence and I quote, "And for the support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." I will say it again. We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Recently, I came across the definition, a definition of courage that is attributed to President Franklin Delanor Roosevelt. And courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.
In essence, the signers of the declaration were saying that they were willing to die for the principles they were asserting, the supreme act of courage. Those principles were more important than their fear. Nothing in the Declaration of Independence, I now realize, matters without that final sentence. Without that sentence, the rest of the Declaration is but mere words on parchment paper. Nice words, but nonetheless just words. What changed the world was not the words but the commitment and spirit of the people who were willing to labor, sacrifice and even give their lives uh what Lincoln at Gettysburg called the last full measure of devotion for the declaration's principles.
It is to is it is that devotion to which we owe our rich inheritance. It was that devotion that sustained the founding fathers and the Continental Army as they fought and won the Revolutionary War, braved the winter at Valley Forge, crossed the Delaware, and defeated an army many times their number and firepower to win their freedom.
It was that devotion that Nathan Hail expressed when before being executed by the British, he reportedly said, "My only regret that I have but one life to give for this country. It was that devotion that Patrick Henry invoked when he stood before the Virginia Convention and asked, "Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God, I know not what course others may take, but for me, give me liberty or give me death."
That devotion has driven the great achievements and heroism of Americans in the 250 years since.
Think of the frontiersmen who settled the West.
Think of the families who built their little towns on the prairies.
Think of the women who raised their children to love God and country and sent them off to fight wars.
Think of the soldiers on the battlefields of the Civil War who sang, "As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free."
Think of the innovators and laborers and engineers who de Tocqueville observed were so infused with the patriotism that they felt every triumph for their country as a triumph in their personal lives.
Think of how the devotion carried us from Independence Hall to Flanders Field into the beaches of Normandy.
Think of the memorable scene in the Band of Brothers when the American soldiers arrived at a concentration camp, saw the suffering, emaciated, desperate prisoners, unlocked the gates, and gave them food and blankets and warm embraces. The soldiers looked around and knew in their hearts that this is why we fight.
Think of the passengers of Flight 93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania on 911, or the young men and women whom we send in harm's way even as we sit here today.
Think of my grandparents who heroically, quietly, without fanfare, sat my brother and me down at the kitchen table in August of 1955 and committed the rest of their lives to us so that we could have a chance.
They told us, "We don't have no education. We don't have no education and no chance, but you boys are going to have a chance. But we going to do to devote the rest of our lives to you boys.
It was their devotion, their love, their dedication to raising us right that has made the difference. Not the words, though the words expressed as best they could what they intended to do. Their devotion is what mattered.
Similarly, it is the devotion expressed in the final sentence of the declaration, the willingness to do anything for our principles that has throughout American history been most indispensable. It is that devotion that we are missing today and that we must find in our hearts if this nation is to endure.
I arrived in Washington DC 47 years ago. It's hard to believe. I arrived as a staffer for Senator Jack Danforth of Missouri in 1979, telling myself that the job on Capitol Hill would be a short stop on my way home to Savannah, Georgia. I then joined the executive branch during the Reagan administration, served in two federal agencies for nearly a decade, served as a judge on the Federal Court of Appeals and have for the past 34 years served on the Supreme Court.
Since the day I arrived in Washington, there was never a shortage of people espousing noble purposes, saying all the right things. All around me there have been people full of promises claiming a commitment to some righteous cause, to traditional morality, to national defense, to free enterprise, to religious piety, or to the original meaning of the Constitution. These people can be just as high-minded as the men who signed the declaration. They can mouth the words of the declaration and parro its principles. They can write essays and talk of at conferences about the declaration with the best of them.
All too often, however, this was but lip service, camouflaged by grand theories in the tall grass of big words and eloquent phrases. What seemed to be lacking, however, was that devotion. People gain positions of authority, and you learn who they really are.
To paraphrase something I recently read, combat strips us down to our essentials.
Once in the spotlight, in that combat, many people fall prey to the lords that are set up to turn them away from their previously untested principles.
They become petrified by criticisms, so fearful of negative attention that they find ways to avoid the right thing, doing the right thing. or they fall prey to the enchanting siren songs of flattery and become so bewitched by praise that they will desperately seek to conform accordingly. They are enticed by access to things that were previously unavailable to them. They get so swept up in the euphoria of acclamation and acceptance that they put aside their convictions. They water down their message, negotiate against themselves, vote against their principles, and hide in the tall grass. They recast themselves as institutionalists, pragmatists, or thoughtful moderates, all as a way of justifying their failures to themselves, their consciences, and their country.
It did not take me long in Washington to stop wondering why the Supreme Court took 60 years to overrule Plessy versus Ferguson, the 1896 decision that endorsed government enforced racial segregation and validated the Jim Crow South uh that I grew up in. It could not possibly have taken my court 60 years to know that Plessy was a hideous wrong and that racial discrimination was grossly incompatible with our colorblind constitution. The justices must have known known it all along.
The right thing to do as Justice Harland spelled out in his lone descent was obvious. as it so often is. Perhaps what stood in the way was cowardice. The justices may have been afraid of the societal consequences. They may have been afraid of coming under political fire. They may have been afraid of losing their social standing. They may have been afraid of bad press. They could have been concerned that if they began to enforce a color-blind constitution, they would have to address interracial marriage next. But in any case, for 60 disgraceful years, they made American children like me grow up in a racial cast system because it was easier to do nothing than to do the right thing.
When Americans look to Washington and wonder why it is so often disappoints, it is not because there are too few people who know what is right. It is not because we lack the intellect or the capacity or the talent. It is instead because there are too few people who are willing to do what it takes to do the right thing to sacrifice the popularity, flattery, comfort, and security that are the purchase price for principle. It is because too few of us reflect on and reflect the courage and commitment of that final sentence of the declaration.
And so many seem to have forgotten how much others have sacrificed so that this nation could exist and endure.
I will state this more poignantly.
Do any of us have what it took for our young soldiers to storm Normandy Beach to fight at Guad Canal, to later fight at Kosen Reservoir?
If we can't say that we have the courage required of these young soldiers in battle to defend our founding principles, then how do we preserve these principles and this republic?
Until we have a devotion that matches the courage of those who made this country possible, I seriously doubt any amount of study or development of insights about our constitution will make much difference. There's a world of difference between what it takes to score academic points and what it takes to protect and defend the Constitution, as we are sworn to do.
I have faced this struggle myself.
AIPAC not happy.
WTF does aipac have to do with it? Jesus, you’re annoying. Shove your Jew hate up your fat ass.
What a marvelous idea! I will send a thank you note—such notes mean more to the recipient than we realize! Thanks for the address!
I have a friend that lost her sight in one eye due to a brain cancer. Her doctors were adamant about her using sunglasses to protect her very blue eye that still works. Insisted that everyone should be wearing sunglasses any time they are out doors.
NO. In holistically treating (successfully ) my wife's cancer virtually every cancer blood said sunglasses cause cancer by making your body think it is night and disrupting the natural producion of melatonin, seratonin, D3, and other critical hormones and vitamins. Most sunblocks cause cancer too and they are rapidly absorbed into the skin. So time to put on some more right.
the sun does not cause cancer. It causes sunburn
We have been lied to about everything.
Sunglasses cause cancer.
Eyes need it.
Fear of the sun and vitamin D
Is big $$.
This woman isn’t afraid of the sun, she’s afraid of loosing the sight in her one good eye.
A good exercise is to close you eye, look at the sun and then look away as a routine.
There is a book called Vision for Life with exercises.
@Teresa- my former brother in law is in the same situation (although he doesn't have blue eyes). His wife died suddenly last month and he cant take care of himself. Sad...
Oh, that is sad! I hope he has family that can either help, or get him the help he needs. 🙏🏻
Thank you.
Nothing to do with the beautiful Jewish religion and its followers.
Bankers (progressives) who took control of the money supply with the Federal Reserve Act and created political action committees to control Congress are referenced in the words of Judge Thomas. No hate involved.
Dont get your feelings caught in a bunch.
You are loved by Jesus.
LOL!!
Read the vile talmud if you want to see then "beauty" of the jew mythology.
Biglino too.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/2UE1jb50v0cO
Just ordered the Book of Enoch.
Big Mel Gibson fan.
https://youtu.be/xfwd1D1BEP0?si=49rONu4rmimik7Bj
Just putting him on his heels.
LOL.
Ooh great idea!!!
As fiercely as modern progressives are fighting Trump and MAGA (their fight seemingly has zero limits on what they are willing to do; take Susan Rice's threat as one example), they know exactly what Justice Thomas knows: these two forms of government "cannot coexist forever."
I hate to be that guy, but Justice Thomas spoke at The University of Texas at Austin, not the University of Austin (which is also a University here in Austin). It matters because, finally, we have an administration (President Jim Davis and Provost Will Imboden among the best) which is no longer afraid of its faculty and demonstrating real leadership in the state’s flagship university.
Wow, that would be good new, I will look into that. Any links laying this out?
That IS good news!! Thank you!
That's good to hear about UT.
Thank you, I had to double check that also to find out which university hosted him for the speech.
Feel better, Jeff! Ty for the post.
Also, “the most annoying bumper sticker ever made” had me in tears 😭 🤣
Always on a Prius and Subaru (sorry if you own one of these 🤪)
Outback owner here- I have a Biden Laptop Matters sticker and one that is round like the seal of The President of the United States, in the center it has 2 lines. 45/FA and 47/FO but I have considered adding a 'I'm not a lesbian' sticker just to be clear.
I love that 45/47 part, that’s awesome! 😁
Funny how since moving to SC from Commiefornia I don’t see many Priuses at all 🤣🤣🤣
Heck, in Texas, it’s a law no Priuses allowed outside sanctuary cities! Now let’s talk trucks….!
I love my Subaru! 😂
217409 miles on my 2015 Outback, and going strong. No stickers, being in the heart of the pharmaceutical research state of MA some lib would damage my car.
I had that mileage on my 2013 Forrester. Finally exchanged it, I wanted something different, but I couldn’t find anything I liked as well so now another Forrester. Originally found it on a list of Great cars for short people, lol.
We got our Outback in August. Love it! We’ve already put 17K miles on it. We did a roadtrip in March that included the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Sedona, Monument Valley and points between. No stickers or decals on it yet, but I bought National Park stickers to add at some point.
😂
Eh I’ve seen them on all kinds of cars, Honda sedans and Ford SUVs included 🤷♀️
My Ford Bronco Sport has 2 bumper stickers. One is Trust in God and the other is I AM CHARLIE KIRK. Boy here in Portland I piss off a lot of people. I get flipped of and screamed at
They’re certainly showing how well they are able to “coexist” 🙄
They're awful to be stuck behind in traffic too. #1 and #2.
The worst drivers I see are the ones with college alumni license plates. Especially from well-known leftist institutions reputed to be “good” colleges. Entitled jerks, the vast majority of these drivers. As always, there are exceptions but that’s held true for most, in my experience.
When I see that ridiculous “coexist” sticker, I wish I could as the driver what they actually believe about that.
I want to send them to a Muslim country to see how their “coexist” works out 😑
Need any help with that? Let me know!
How about a FRONT bumper sticker with the words Go Extinct printed in a reverse image so that the person in front of you reads it in their rear view mirror?
YES!!! That ‘coexist’ signals to me the driver is intolerant and mean
Yes, when the Crescent has a fundamental ideology dedicated to wiping the Star of David from the face of the Earth, “Coexist” is just a lunatic delusion. Have you seen the version with the letters configured out of different firearms? Much more realistic. Well-armed people are usually quite polite and content to actually coexist.
Guy, no I have not seen that - but I like it!!
There's gotta be a more annoying bumper sticker. But I can't think of one.
Gas, Grass or A$$. No One Rides for Free. (I suppose I’m dating myself) 😆
I remember seeing that bumper sticker, mostly on VW busses
@CWigles- EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Harris Walz comes to mind. 🙃
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I used to see them all over. Have not noticed them lately. 🤔
@Susan- same
Jeff…Colloidal Sovereign Silver. Works like a CHARM for eye issues. Even conjunctivitis. Just sayin’.
YES! Great idea, Nard!
I thought about sending some to his office via Amazon, but thought that might be a little stalker-ish lol.
Actually, that strikes me as a great idea! I doubt that Jeff reads all the comments. Colloidal silver works and it's cheap, and since he didn't mention it, I'd bet Jeff doesn't know about it.
Been using it and making it for ~10 years. I give some to my cobbler treat her cows' pinkeye
That is very sweeet, I say go for it. 💐
Yes. We will all alibi you!
😂🤣
Do it! 😁
Also chamomile tea compresses. Worked great for my kids when they were little.
@Nard- opthamologist. No one should try to treat an eye ailment without medical advice.
Suggestion..not a diagnosis ;).
Do you put it into your eye?
Yes :).
I thought “Otto von poopy head” was a reference to viktor orb-man and Fidesz’ absolutely blowout to tiszca In the Hungarian elections.
Going to Pakistan for trump would be a mistake. The security implications are horrendous. It’s a nightmare for dignitary protection.
I'd make them come to the White House myself. The danger isn't worth the trip and he's still got a lot of work to do here.
Yes, I think it would be very unsafe for President Trump to go to Pakistan. Like you said, they should come to the White House to sign the final agreement!
I agree. But I still think they will sign an agreement and not adhere to the terms. They will hand over only part of their enriched uranium and hide the rest. Iran is not a country you can trust. They will do what they want to do. Kinda like the Lib-tards. Biden knew it was against our Constitution to have open borders, but did it anyway. Stop me if you can.
Like spying with FISA bill.
It's Trump's security in Pakistan that worries me. I wish he'd stay home.
I thought the same. Very unstable country. And full of Muslims.
Pakistan provided 5 security jets to protect the US delegation last weekend.
They provided 20 for the Iranian delegation.
It's almost as if they realized which country was the bigger threat to negotiators of the other country. Witness the Wash Po editorial calling for the murder of the Iranian negotiators if they didn't comply with US demands.
The hotel was surrounded with soldiers, also.
But obviously there is not going to be a settlement in one day. The US is not serious about a settlement.
Iran sent 5 teams of experts, including the foreign minister and the head of Parliament for the political talks. They sent the governor of the central bank and other financial experts to discuss the sanctions and their frozen assets. They sent military experts to discuss missile production. They sent security experts to talk about security guarantees, including for Lebanon and Yemen. They sent experts to talk about the nuclear issue.
The US sent the vice president and 2 New York real estate operators.
Mrs. RW
Had the same thought! 😬
Looks like the Chief Justice is targeting the Trotskyites.
. He called progressivism “an existential threat” to America, compared it to totalitarianism and slaveholding, and explicitly called for resistance comparable to the original American Revolution. Fix bayonets! It was a declaration of war.
I have huge respect for Thomas, he SHOULD be Chief Justice.
Absolutely! Maybe Roberts will retire; wouldn’t that be sweet?
Pray about it, Margot!
Done. Thank you for the reminder, God wants us to ask! I prayed, among other things, that the entire Court would do only and always God’s will, and decide for what is right and just and true in every case that comes to them. For the glory of Christ.
Powerful post and words. May we all take them to heart. Time for a tea party anyone?
County me in!!
Im doing some research on tax cases where people have not paid the illegitimate revenue service which funds illegal Somali daycares, among other things. If anyone has any resources, send them my way!
When did justice Thomas become the “Chief Justice”?
Today.
I was wondering the same