Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven […]
Southern white slave owners were the group most responsible for African-American slavery. Sounds like a fairly obvious statement, doesn’t it? Those revisionists who try to blame African slave-traders or other groups are rightfully associated with the the alt-right, the Klu Klux Klan or the lunatic fringe. Until they start teaching at public universities. In today’s […]
The billionaire Koch brothers were apparently quite pleased with the passage of the GOP’s tax scam bill. In fact, as International Business Times reports, Charles Koch handed House Speaker Paul Ryan a nearly $500,000 thank-you gift mere days after the House passed its version of the bill. The report notes that five other wealthy donors also contributed $100,000 […]
If you’re like David Letterman and still don’t know about Siegfried and Roy Koch (better known as the Koch brothers), Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) is here to explain on the second of six episodes of his Funny Or Die web series, Boiling The Frog.
The second plank of Trump’s job program is the much touted and much delayed “trillion-dollar infrastructure jobs plan,” favored by White House adviser Steve Bannon. However, the plan has yet to be drawn up and is not scheduled for presentation until next year. It remains to be seen if Trump and Bannon can harmonize their infrastructure jobs program with that of Senate Democrats or the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Last year was the hottest year on record, beating the record set in 2015. And 2015 topped the record set in 2014, according to NASA. Scientists say that this is the first time that temperature records have been broken three years in a row. For all the time spent worrying about jihadist terrorists and Mexican criminals, they don’t constitute an existential threat to humanity. Climate change does.
Many right-wing media figures have accused anti-Trump protesters of being “paid” on a widespread basis to demonstrate against President Donald Trump. Not only do these allegations lack any evidence of a systematic effort, they also ignore the fact that the conservative tea party protests of the early 2010s were “astroturfed” — heavily supported and organized by large, outside groups like the Koch brothers.
Besides defying Republican leaders on the border tax, the Koch-led organization on Sunday challenged Trump on a policy he implemented on Friday to stop the movement of people from countries with large Muslim populations from traveling to the United States.
After the election, an influential advocacy group met to discuss how to leverage the extraordinary shift of power to Republicans in the rest of the country. Group members said they would push bills to reduce corporate taxes, weaken unions, privatize schooling and influence the ideological debate on college campuses.
The best political party in America is not the Dems nor the Repubs. By far, the best political party is a real party named “Fighting Bob Fest.” It’s a daylong political festival run by a coalition of Wisconsin progressives who believe in “putting the party back in politics.”
Building up a circuit of progressive speakers who hone and craft their message directly to voters would force Democrats to match their message to the mood and needs of the people who will become the next generation of activists. It could bring the Democratic message back to places like Macomb that Democrats need to win in 2020.
Gov. Greg Abbott, the multimillionaire protege of the Koch brothers, revealed that he has penned NINE new amendments to the Constitution. Forget the Bill of Rights, Abbott is proposing a Bill of Sale, effectively transferring the title of our national government from The People to The Plutocrats.
Donald Trump is not the only — or even the biggest — real and present danger to our democratic republic. Dark money from the Koch brothers and their billionaire brethren is the real threat.
The right wing has recognized that while the media and both major parties are riveted on this year’s macabre contest for the White House, that’s hardly the only race that matters.
Former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson has emphasized his support for marijuana legalization and touts an anti-war stance in an attempt to lure progressives to his cause. But progressives are likely less aware of his links to the radical right and the Koch brothers.
Since 1980, the family foundations of billionaire industrialist Charles Koch have gifted roughly $200 million to U.S. colleges and universities, largely to promote libertarian, free-market economics programs around the nation.
They may not want the GOP standard-bearer’s dirt on their hands, but their minions are cleaning up behind him.
The Koch’s Freedom Partners network has a budget of about $750 million, and they will spend it supporting Republican candidates across the nation. Make no mistake: While the Koch brothers have an ideological difference with Trump which they cannot overlook – on free trade — the Republican Party is still theirs.
At Florida State University, the initial memorandum of understanding between the Charles Koch Foundation (CKF) and the school’s economics department gave the foundation control over hiring decisions and the curriculum.
Koch money courses through the veins of conservative politics: consultants, think tanks, academic chairs, advertising agencies, politicians: Everyone knows the Kochs, everyone fears the Kochs, everyone listens to the Kochs.
Trump’s particular popularity with veterans is, historically speaking, lower than it should be. Compared to polls of previous GOP presidential candidates in the summer months preceding an election, a Morning Consult survey shows that Trump’s candidacy has split the usual Republican advantage in half.
Television ads aired this month by the Koch-funded Freedom Works PAC accuse former senator and current candidate for senate Russ Feingold of knowingly ignoring a memo that spotlighted the overprescription of opioid painkillers and other drugs at the Tomah VA Medical Facility. Of course, Feingold never saw the memo, and its author says the Koch ad is a “lie.”
Our friends the Koch brothers routinely give money to socially conservative groups to win over middle- or working-class followers otherwise not served by the family’s economic agenda. The brothers themselves have shrugged at gay marriage, saying they have no problem with it. Perhaps, just perhaps, the working-class whites targeted by culture warriors don’t really care all that much about these issues.
While it might be well-known that deep pockets finance the big names in politics, there is little known about the private world they inhabit and how their money is allocated.
For today’s report, I have a bunch of statistics for you. Wait — don’t run away!