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comment by kingmudsy
kingmudsy  ·  1678 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Billionaire David Koch, Who Used His Wealth to Reshape U.S. Politics, Dies at 79

I know it doesn't really fix anything, not having him around anymore...

...but fuck him. Rot in hell. Today's a better day because he's dead.





thenewgreen  ·  1678 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    The brothers declined to spend anything on the last presidential race between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

    David Koch was less involved in politics than his brother and more known for his philanthropy to education and the arts, particularly ballet. He gave $100 million to renovate the New York State Theater in Lincoln Center, which was renamed for him in 2008.

    David Koch also committed millions to various hospitals for cancer research. Quoting the pioneer of political economy, Charles Koch said Friday the "significance of David's generosity is best captured in the words of Adam Smith, who wrote, 'to indulge our benevolent affections, constitutes the perfection of human nature.'

Sounds like even the Koch brothers couldn’t stomach Trump. Also sounds like he did some good with that money as well as support Republicans. I find it hard to celebrate any person’s death.

kingmudsy  ·  1678 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers’ corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a “kingpin of climate science denial.” The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.

    ...

    Charles Lewis, the founder of the Center for Public Integrity, a nonpartisan watchdog group, said, “The Kochs are on a whole different level. There’s no one else who has spent this much money. The sheer dimension of it is what sets them apart. They have a pattern of lawbreaking, political manipulation, and obfuscation. I’ve been in Washington since Watergate, and I’ve never seen anything like it. They are the Standard Oil of our times.”

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You don't have to celebrate with me, but I'll continue celebrating.