It's what they don't say that matters

Media reports on Supreme Court have the same eerie omissions

Phineas J. Whoopee was the “Man with All the Answers” on Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales, a Saturday morning cartoon which featured the misadventures of the titular character (a penguin) and his friend Chumlee (a walrus). Each week they usually screwed up, which led to their time for meeting Whoopee. He gave them a small lecture with his three-dimensional blackboard (an early iPad) to teach them something and to correct the errors of their ways. The story ended, followed by commercials for Sugar Pops and Funny Face Drinks.

Don Adams, later of Get Smart fame, voiced Tennessee and Larry Storch, later of F Troop fame, voiced Whoopee. I think Chumlee later went on to work for Pawn Stars. I do know Bradley Bolke voiced Chumlee. He left acting a few years later.

Tennessee Tuxedo of course was a kid’s show but the spirit of having a Man with All the Answers lives on in the field of journalism. I am not sure whom reporters meet Whoopee with on any given day but I am pretty sure he is a Democrat because the spin given always favors the Party of the Deep State, which pushes an unceasing narrative of allegiance to the unfireable and unaccountable federal bureaucracy.

The holiday week between Christmas and New Year’s provided a good example.

Chief Justice John Roberts chose the week to release his annual report on the judicial branch of government.

Instead of reporting what was in it, the juveniles in journalism reported what was not in the report.

The Associated Press said, “Chief Justice John Roberts on Sunday turned his focus to the promise, and shortcomings, of artificial intelligence in the federal courts, in an annual report that made no mention of Supreme Court ethics or legal controversies involving Donald Trump.”

The New York Times reported, “Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. devoted his annual year-end report on the state of the federal judiciary, issued on Sunday, to the positive role that artificial intelligence can play in the legal system — and the threats it poses.

“His report did not address the Supreme Court’s rocky year, including its adoption of an ethics code that many said was toothless. Nor did he discuss the looming cases arising from former President Donald J. Trump’s criminal prosecutions and questions about his eligibility to hold office.”

USA Today said, “Federal courts are exploring how to use artificial intelligence, Chief Justice John Roberts said in an annual report Sunday in which he touted the technology's promise but warned of its limitations.

“Roberts also avoided any mention of the ethics lapses that have become a central issue for the court over the past year.”

The Washington Post said, “The Supreme Court will be tested in the coming weeks to untangle politically consequential legal questions with the potential to reshape the 2024 presidential election. The court’s reputation remains marred by ethics controversies involving lavish travel and gifts, and public approval ratings remain low following high court rulings to overturn long-standing precedent.

“But Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. did not address any of those contemporary issues Sunday in his annual ‘Year-end Report on the Federal Judiciary.’ Instead, he looked back on technological advancements in the nation’s court system, detailing developments from the quill pens used by justices in the 19th century to electronic databases of the 1980s to online trial proceedings prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.”

Ethics, ethics, ethics, ethics. I have news for AP and NYT, it would be an actual ethical lapse for Roberts to opine about possible or pending cases.

The Roberts report was on the mechanics of the federal judiciary and not his review of upcoming litigation before the court.

But the press decided in unison to bring up ethics with NYT asserting that many said a new code was toothless.

So what are these ethics lapses, as USA Today called them?

All the stories mentioned accusations against Clarence Thomas, NYT via a link to a previous NYT story on the toothlessness of the new ethics code. A few mentioned questions about the sales of Sonia Sotomayor’s books.

But none of the stories mentioned Ketanji Brown Jackson’s failure to disclose her husband’s income from advising clients on medical malpractice litigation. The Center for Renewing America filed a complaint about that and also about her failure to disclose who donated to the party she threw to celebrate her becoming a justice.

It may be thin soup but the attacks on Thomas and Sotomayor are even thinner. Funny Faces had more substance.

What we really need is for Phineas J. Whoopee to pull down his three-dimensional blackboard and explain to the Chumlees of the Fourth Estate what actual ethics lapses are.

AP, NYT, USA Today and the Jeff Bezos Post failed to mention a president who has pocketed millions from foreign governments and companies via his brother and his son.

AP, NYT, USA Today and the Jeff Bezos Post failed to mention a Secret Service that has not recommended the prosecution of Hunter Biden for bringing his cocaine to the White House.

AP, NYT, USA Today and the Jeff Bezos Post failed to mention a Congress whose members rake in millions each year from insider trading of stocks based on information only congressmen and senators have access to.

This weekend, Democrat Congressman Jamie Raskin went on TV and banged his gums about Clarence Thomas. Raskin DEMANDED the justice recuse himself from any Trump cases the court may hear.

Raskin said, “He absolutely should recuse himself. The question is, what do we do if he doesn’t recuse himself?”

News reports on what Raskin said on CNN failed to include this tidbit.

In 2022, Business Insider reported, “Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland violated a federal conflict-of-interest law by failing to properly disclose stock shares his wife received for advising a Colorado-based financial technology trust company.

“The congressman likewise disclosed information about the sale of Reserve Trust stock eight months after Sarah Bloom Raskin dumped the stock in late 2020 for $1.5 million, an Insider analysis of federal records indicates.”

Why doesn’t HE resign?

As for the ethical lapses, the press routinely consulting a DNC Whoopee about how to spin a story is itself an ethical lapse. One of the things we learned about Seth Rich’s leaks of DNC emails in 2016 is that reporters regularly ran stories by John Podesta, who was running Hillary’s campaign for president.

Readers do not need a Phineas J. Whoopee or a three-dimensional blackboard to figure out what is going on here. The deep state seeks to discredit the court ahead of decisions on key cases this year because those decisions likely will end the abuse of constitutional restrictions on the bureaucracy.

Back when I was blogging, I said West Virginia v. EPA was the more important decision that term than the overturning of Roe v. Wade because the later merely turned abortion back over to the states. The West Virginia v. EPA decision actually horse collared an agency that is out of control. By reining in the deep state, justices put a target on themselves.

To their credit, the justices may have just begun to fight. One case this year could require the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to have Congress approve its budget.

Another case would require a person to be convicted of domestic violence before stripping his right to carry a gun.

And as The Hill reported, “Supreme Court could take sledgehammer to agency power” by requiring Congress, not bureaucrats, to authorize the expansion of an agency’s authority.

Whoopee!