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Maddow: Posse Comitatus, "sovereign citizens", Jim Crow, the Reconstruction, and Cliven Bundy.
This is absolutely fascinating:
This guy makes similar points:
7 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
= new reply since forum marked as read
Last edited Tue May 6, 2014, 02:54 AM - Edit history (1)
This entire mess was promoted by FNN to take attention away from Reid's Koch-busting revelations:
The Facts About The Koch Brothers
1. The Kochs want to abolish Social Security.
“In 1980, David Koch ran in and funded a presidential campaign that called Social Security “The Ultimate Pyramid Scheme” and promised to abolish and replace it.” Read more.
2. The Kochs want to eliminate minimum wage laws.
“According to Charles Koch, the U.S. needs to get rid of the minimum wage, which he counts as a major obstacle to economic growth.” Read more.
3. The Kochs are against extending emergency unemployment benefits.
“It causes employers to face higher taxes, too, which discourages them from hiring new employees.” Read more.
4. The Kochs spent $400 million on misleading attack ads in the last election cycle.
via Republic Report
“A labyrinth of tax-exempt groups and limited-liability companies helps mask the sources of the money, much of which went to voter mobilization and television ads attacking President Obama and congressional Democrats, according to tax filings and campaign finance reports.” Read more.
5. The Kochs want to put insurance companies back in charge of your health care.
“It articulated a take-no-prisoners legislative strategy that had long percolated in conservative circles: that Republicans could derail the health care overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push fellow Republicans — including their cautious leaders — into cutting off financing for the entire federal government. … The billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David, have been deeply involved with financing the overall effort. A group linked to the Kochs, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, disbursed more than $200 million last year to nonprofit organizations involved in the fight.” Read more.
6. The Kochs are trying to dismantle our public education system.
“National advocacy groups powered by the Koch brothers and other conservative megadonors have found a new cause ripe with political promise… Push to expand school choice by offering parents tax credits or vouchers to help pay tuition at private and religious schools. Next, rally the troops to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. Then it’s on to eliminating teacher tenure.” Read more.
7. The Kochs want to dismantle Medicare as we know it.
“The Ryan plan to eliminate traditional Medicare was described in the media as a ‘Tea Party proposal.’ But it would be more accurate to call it a ‘Koch proposal,’ an ideological scheme to realize long-standing ultra-right hopes to privatize and radically shrink a major national social program.” Read more.
8. The Kochs are against measures that would reduce the gap between the wages women and men earn for the same work.
“IWF-affiliated writers have argued that the gender gap in income exists because of women’s greater demand for flexibility, fewer hours, and less travel in their careers, rather than because of sexism.” Read more.
9. The Kochs want even more tax breaks for themselves.
“They are known for bankrolling conservative, Libertarian and Tea Party causes and became poster boys for corporate tax reform last year when an Obama Administration official suggested Koch is organized as an S Corp. and so pays no corporate level taxes.” Read more.
UPDATE: The Kochs have issued a statement disputing the claim made by the official. The Kochs have supported the Ryan budget, which provides tax cuts for the wealthy and protects taxpayer subsidies for big businesses and oil companies.
kochs_unionmembers
via The New Republic
10. The Kochs made improper payments to win contracts in Africa, India and the Middle East. And they sold millions of dollars of equipment to Iran, a state sponsor of terrorism.
“Internal company records show that Koch Industries used its foreign subsidiary to sidestep a U.S. trade ban barring American companies from selling materials to Iran. Koch-Glitsch offices in Germany and Italy continued selling to Iran until as recently as 2007, the records show.” Read more.
11. The Kochs lobbied against recognition of formaldehyde as a cancer-causing carcinogen because it might be bad for their business.
“A prominent philanthropist, cancer survivor, and American businessman, David Koch, has given millions to the cause of cancer research, while his company—Koch Industries—has lobbied against formal recognition of formaldehyde as a carcinogen, The New Yorker reported in a piece published today.” Read more.
12. The Kochs rank as one of America’s most toxic air polluters.
13.The Kochs have received over $88 million in government subsidies.
14. The Kochs have admitted they have “a radical philosophy.”
“Charles Koch seems to have approached both business and politics with the deliberation of an engineer. ‘To bring about social change,’ he told Doherty, requires ‘a strategy’ that is ‘vertically and horizontally integrated,’ spanning ‘from idea creation to policy development to education to grassroots organizations to lobbying to litigation to political action.’ The project, he admitted, was extremely ambitious. ‘We have a radical philosophy,’ he said.” Read more.
http://www.reid.senate.gov/koch-facts#.U0AZsa1dUi4
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024781021#post14
Think what this means in terms of what the GOP has been doing. They all need to be voted out of office at the local, state and federal level. To claim both parties are doing the same, belies the path of the money being put out by the Koches. And the intent of each legislative action put forward by ALEC and the GOP.
You Better Believe It that Fox did the Koch brothers' bidding. They took up days and made this grifter's story international news and took the public eye off the truths Harry spoke.
When people start the routine that Democrats aren't fighting back, it's not true. At times the only air time we get is CSPAN video of a person speaking and putting in the record the truth of those who need a voice, to an empty house as the GOP boycotts the nation's needs.
We don't own the media, the Koch brothers do, and Americans have been played once again. Most of DU has completely forgotten in the Bundy fuss what Reid said and why they are gunning for him in his own backyard.
We have to think several steps ahead to get ahead of the ubiquitous GOPropaganda. It comes in many forms, all made to fit any demographic, and that includes progressives and liberals who don't think about the results of what they doing.
