Amos's River of Justice

Tag: Koch Brothers

  • Is something Fishy About the MAGA Story?

    When Pope Francis was in Ireland as part of the World Meeting of Families Archbishop Viganò wrote a bombshell letter that monopolized the news cycle. Now Francis is in Panama for World Youth Day and a story about MAGA hat wearing Catholic school boys from Kentucky is still going strong. Throw in the Koch Brothers and their connections to right-wing Catholic circles, Kentucky politics and Catholic business schools, and it begins to look like a conspiracy.

    Okay I suppose it could be a coincidence, but we should probably at least give these boys and their teachers the benefit of the doubt. We know the Kochs control Kentucky, probably including the schools, but we apparently expected them to think like us anywat.

     

     

  • Sex Abuse Scandal or Free-Market Coup?

    When Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò decided to publish his letter, he went to the conservative Catholic network, with sites such as LifeSiteNews.com and National Catholic Register (owned by EWTN). In Italy he went to conservative bloggers like Aldo Maria Valli and Marco Tosatti. It was Valli and Viganò who timed the letter’s release during Francis’s trip to Ireland.

    Timothy Busch, a ‘Koch Brothers-like’ conservative Catholic sits on the board of EWTN. Viganò also discussed his plan with Busch. Busch claims the Register personally assured him that Pope Benedict had confirmed Viganò’s account. (This has been denied by Benedict’s secretary.) Busch is not only on the board of EWTN and many other Catholic organizations, he’s the namesake for the business school at Catholic University, a graduate school known for working to reconcile free markets and capitalism with Catholic teaching. This brings us to the Koch brothers, who have been making large contributions to this business school.

    The Koch’s have made good use of the pro-life movement, even though they are pro-choice and pro-gay marriage. The Tea-Party, the Chamber of Commerce, and the pro-life movement have been important tools for the destruction of democracy in Kansas.

    And then of course we have liberal corporate Democrat Josh Shapiro and his Pennsylvania grand jury. Shapiro would seem to be disconnected from the conservative Catholic media, but what they all have in common is support for free market capitalism, which would probably explain the efforts to implicate Francis in the scandal.

    By the way, it can be argued that it’s not the investigation itself that’s a problem. It’s the United States’ use of grand juries, and Pennsylvania’s grand jury in particular.

  • The Koch-Adelson Alliance

    The Koch-Adelson alliance captured the White House sometime in the last decade. The Koch brothers now have an interest in foreign policy, specifically in the Middle East, in the form of a collaboration with Sheldon Adelson.  The reelection of Barack Obama motivated them to form this alliance in 2012, and they played a large part in the 2016 election.  They have probably been influential in recent decisions in the Middle East as well. 

    From a Domestic Focus to a Hawkish Foreign Policy

    Previous to 2012 the Koch network had focused on domestic matters with an emphasis on shrinking the federal government, deregulation, and tax ‘reform’.  Adelson’s interests on the other hand have been in Israel, expanding defense spending, and promoting a hawkish foreign policy.  However they share other political and ideological aims. These include weakening unions, killing estate taxes, and mobilizing veterans to vote.  And of course they both wanted to win the White House in 2016.  If the Libertarians who voted for Trump because of his anti-war rhetoric are wondering what went wrong, this alliance might be the answer. 

    Democratic Senators Inquired About Koch’s Part in Trump’s Policies

    The Kochs may not have supported Trump’s presidential campaign but his election didn’t slow them down.  As of November 2017 the Koch brothers had close ties with 44 Trump officials.  The officials are listed in this article along with their position in the administration and their ties to the Kochs.  According to another article published in the Guardian in 2018, Democratic senators demanded an explanation from Trump of his ties to the Kochs. The senators were concerned about a report sent to a group of Koch donors, the Seminar network, that took credit for a dozen new policies passed by the Trump administration. These included the GOP tax bill and the repeal of the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. 

    The Kochs Made Their First Investment in Israel in 2017

    The Koch turn to foreign policy, which coincides with Israel’s foreign policy, is bearing fruit in Israel.  In 2017 the Kochs made their first investment in Israel through a newly formed high-tech fund.

    Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), a subsidiary of the brothers’ Koch Industries, led a group of investors putting an initial $75 million into the Israeli startup Insightec.  Elbit Imaging a company that is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and holds 31% of Insightec, made the announcement on Thursday.   

    Haifa-based Insightec was not only the first Koch investment in Israel but the first investment of any kind for KDT, which was only formed last month. 

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