Guest essay by Eric Worrall
In his life David Koch helped create thousands of jobs. He supported mass immigration and opposed President Trump. But none of this was enough to overcome the bogeyman image created by the green movement.
David Koch, a Bad Man, Has Died
Jack Mirkinson
Yesterday 9:37amDavid Koch, the conservative billionaire who, along with his brother Charles, helped to make the world a worse place, has died at 79, Charles Koch announced on Friday.
David Koch was a major philanthropist in the arts world; if you live in New York, you will see his name plastered all over the place in cultural citadels like the Metropolitan Museum and Lincoln Center. But what animated him most was using the vast sums of wealth he and his brother amassed through their company, Koch Industries—his net worth was an astounding $58.7 billion—to fund the conservative movement in America. The Koch brothers have been very successful in doing this, to the detriment of the rest of us.
…
Read more: https://splinternews.com/david-koch-a-bad-man-has-died-1837504323
There’s more;
David Koch’s Monstrous Legacy
By Sarah Jones
By the time he died on Friday at the age of 79, David Koch was worth $42.4 billion. He will be remembered for what he did with it. Some people will probably praise his charitable spirit, perhaps even his support for criminal-justice reform, or his skepticism of military intervention. “The vast bulk of Koch’s philanthropy was not political,” Brian Doherty noted in an obit for Reason magazine. “It included hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research (he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1992) and major arts and sciences institutions, museums, schools, and public television, with much of his institutional philanthropy centered in New York City, his home for decades.”
But Koch’s largesse wasn’t free. We are paying for it now, and have been paying for it for decades. Koch’s legacy is a testament to the power of weaponized philanthropy. For Koch did not restrict himself to supporting artists and scientists. He, along with his brother Charles, who survives him, committed their vast family fortune to the construction of a powerful conservative network. We live in the world that he helped build, and it is on fire.
…
Read more: http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/08/david-kochs-monstrous-legacy.html
A more balanced memorial from The Independent;
David Koch’s legacy wasn’t perfect – but it was far more positive than you’ve been led to believe
Caleb Franz
To celebrate the death of one of America’s greatest philanthropists because it is politically convenient is a disservice to his true legacy
David Koch, the political philanthropist who nearly everyone has an opinion on, has passed away at the age of 79. Many remember him as a cartoon villain of modern politics; however, the truth of his legacy is that, along with his brother, he championed many positive and noble causes that tend to be supported across the political aisle.
David was philosophically a libertarian, and even once, in 1980, ran as the VP candidate on the Libertarian Party ticket.
When he stepped down from his position at Koch Industries due to his failing health during June of last year, the LP reflected on all he and his brother gave to the movement: “The Kochs have teamed with the American Civil Liberties Union, the Centre for American Progress, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the Coalition for Public Safety, and the MacArthur Foundation to reduce incarceration and promote criminal justice reform. It’s informative that Koch political activism and charitable activities are motivated by classical liberal idealism, not by crony capitalist self-interest. They have changed the political atmosphere in a way that both conservatives and liberals can comfortably move in a more libertarian direction.”…
Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/david-koch-death-cancer-brother-money-charles-a9076881.html
It is sad that someone who did so much good has passed.
But it is also sad that a large number of people today are marching to a philosophy of green intolerance, a philosophy which is so rigid and unforgiving, they can’t find anything good to say about someone who supported at least some of their ideas, someone who gave billions of dollars of his own money and many hours of his time to worthy causes.
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The world isn’t on fire, but their pants are.
+10
Several people here have commented that the left attacks the person rather than the policies or ideas. This is pure Saul Alinsky. Alinsky was the father of “Community Organization” as a career path. In his “Rules for Radials” published in 1971, his 13th rule (one he felt was the most important) follows:
“13 Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.”
Need I say more?
I thought “rules for radials” was about how much treadwear was acceptable before you needed new tires.
HA!
Damn the auto spell checkers! “Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals” by Saul D. Alinsky, 1971.
From the article: “But what animated him most was using the vast sums of wealth he and his brother amassed through their company, Koch Industries—his net worth was an astounding $58.7 billion—to fund the conservative movement in America. The Koch brothers have been very successful in doing this, to the detriment of the rest of us.”
“The rest of us” should actually read “the rest of us socialists”.
Leftists and socialists have a bad habit of assuming they speak for everyone. They don’t. They speak for themselves and other socialists.
They don’t speak for conservatives who have large enough numbers to elect a President of the United States, and those tens of millions of Americans like the conservative movement just fine.
Power to me and my friends (aka “the People”)!
He must have crossed Obama at some stage. Obama has a very powerful propaganda machine at his disposal – even today – and it pulled out all stops to demonise the Kochs.
Interesting that that same propaganda machine never focussed its baleful glare on Jeffery Epstein?
Many people in this country are starting to realize that “mass immigration” is one of the truly evil events to have happened in the US this century. It facilitates many of the other truly evil actions that are happening to undermine the fundamental goodness of this country.
From the article: “But Koch’s largesse wasn’t free. We are paying for it now, and have been paying for it for decades. Koch’s legacy is a testament to the power of weaponized philanthropy. For Koch did not restrict himself to supporting artists and scientists. He, along with his brother Charles, who survives him, committed their vast family fortune to the construction of a powerful conservative network. We live in the world that he helped build, and it is on fire.”
The author, Sarah Jones, does live in a world on fire: The Delusional Socialist World.
The Real World is doing just fine.
#HateLovesAbortion
The left – the self-proclaimed luvvies are united in their love of hate. Their tactics are the same as those of a rather well known regime of hate who thought of themselves as benefactors. So, what was that reviled regime based on twisted logic and Nationalist and Socialist ideals? What is the name of that reviled regime that the left faithfully follow in logic and tactics, but refuse to allow their name to be uttered unless it is them accusing others of being them?
The answer is, as many should recognise is ………….the NAZIS.
What will we say when Soros goes?
Not sure what we’ll say. But the fact is Soros funds violent radicals. And he made his initial fortune by nearly collapsing the British economy. There is no comparison between the two men.
I’ll be saying, “Slainte!” (been binge watching too many UK productions). But I’m not condemning anyone for their glee over someone’s death (although I strongly disagree with them on this one). IMO, he is evil, but in some respects, evil may somewhat depend upon your point of view. The H-man still has his followers today, but most people of all political bent would call him evil.
I also toasted the death of Ted Bundy. No idea what his political leanings were. I can’t think of anyone on the far-right whom I would classify as evil, though I’m sure there must be some. I’ll toast their departures as well.
Evil stands on its own, independent of political leanings.
Ted Bundy’s upbringing and psychological profile were akin to Bill Clinton’s, with comparable results. Impulses just a little more under control for Clinton.
I read a similar article to the ones included in the story. In it the author claimed that David Koch contributed $127 million to climate change denial over the last 20 years and essentially claimed that money is why nothing has been done to prevent “hell on earth”. So $6 million per year was all it took to prevent the world from taking action. Really?
The left needs a boogeymen and the Koch Brothers are definitely it.
“The left needs a boogeymen and the Koch Brothers are definitely it.”
Yes, the left always has to have a political obstacle on which to vent their rage and hate and if it wasn’t Koch, it would be someone else they would demonize.
Look at how they demonize Trump. This is Standard Operating Procedure for the Democrats/Left and has been going on for decades with the only change today being that now the volume of the personal attacks has been turned up to 11.
“the author claimed that David Koch contributed $127 million to climate change denial over the last 20 years”
That amount was donated to pro-business think tanks, which in turn spent only 10–15% of it on the climate change issue.
And 127M is chump-change compared to the trillions spent on eco-lunacy.
Oh please. As if the conservative side won’t do the exact same thing when, say, George Soros passes away. People are flaming hypocrites.
The fact is Soros funds violent radicals. And he made his initial fortune by nearly collapsing the British economy. There is no comparison between the two men.
You’re probably right, but I don’t think the Koch brothers participated in the Holocaust on the NAZI side like Soros did.
Conservative? Declaration of Independence, The Constitution, Bill of Rights, predominantly pro-life conservative? Prophecy?
#LoveTrumpsHate because it’s the right action. Anything else is cold left overs.
Nothing new. This is simply the convenient focal point of the day fro the focus of their endless hate and bottomless ignorance.
One of the things we learned traveling around a lot of the US with a travel trailer is how many public works have been long funded or endowed by the “ROBBER BARONS.” Using local public libraries, often not well appreciated by government types, (among other observations) produced convincing evidence that private money can be better spent for the public than government. It is easier to stop a private troublemaker than a government one.
When I was responsible for our share of the Syncrude oil sands project, Koch Industries owned a large, sophisticated refinery that was a valued customer for our product.
My impression of Koch Industries was positive – it was competently-run, which reflects well on senior management and ownership.
I believe the Koch family were great contributors to America. RIP David Koch – a very good man.
Regards and condolences to the Koch family,
Allan MacRae – another retired engineer.
______________________
Those who vilify fossil fuels are woefully ignorant, and are apparently motivated by hatred and intense stupidity. Here is why:
12. Fossil fuels comprise fully 85% of global primary energy, unchanged in decades, and unlikely to change in future decades.
The remaining 15% of global primary energy is almost all hydro and nuclear.
Eliminate fossil fuels tomorrow and almost everyone in the developed world would be dead in about a month from starvation and exposure.
Despite trillions of dollars in squandered subsidies, global green energy has increased from above 1% to below 2% is recent decades.
Intermittent energy from wind and/or solar generation cannot supply the electric grid with reliable, uninterrupted power.
“Green energy” schemes are not green and produce little useful (dispatchable) energy, because they require almost 100% conventional backup from fossil fuels, nuclear or hydro when the wind does not blow and the Sun does not shine.
There is no widely-available, practical, cost-effective means of solving the fatal flaw of intermittency in grid-connected wind and solar power generation.
Hydro backup and pumped storage are only available in a few locations. Other grid-storage systems are very costly, although costs are decreasing.
To date, vital electric grids have been destabilized, electricity costs have increased greatly, and Excess Winter Deaths have increased due to grid-connected green energy schemes.
REFERENCES:
1. “CO2, GLOBAL WARMING, CLIMATE AND ENERGY”
by Allan M.R. MacRae, B.A.Sc., M.Eng., P.Eng., Jun 15, 2019
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2019/06/15/co2-global-warming-climate-and-energy-2/
2. “STATISTICAL REVIEW OF WORLD ENERGY”
https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/energy-economics/statistical-review-of-world-energy.html
3. “WIND REPORT 2005” – note Figs. 6 & 7 re intermittency.
http://www.wind-watch.org/documents/wp-content/uploads/eonwindreport2005.pdf
Those celebrating a death are to be condemned. But I wonder, who here would not celebrate Mike Mann suffering a massive stroke and being cremated next week? The left’s celebration of Kock’s death is shameful, yes. But would you rise above this level of shame?
SteveF:
The evidence does not support your hypothesis.
I have been active on this blog since ~forever, and the worst anyone has recommended for these criminal warmists is to throw them in jail – which they richly deserve.
I do not recall anyone in the skeptics’ camp advocating the death of the miscreants who have promoted false runaway global warming hysteria and wilder weather falsehoods, despite the fact that they have squandered trillions of dollars and caused the deaths of many millions of innocents.
Upon reflection, the warmist leadership are world-class criminals and mass-murderers. Hmmm…
SteveF has just illustrated Progressive rationalization/projection/justification – the ‘both sides do it’ line.
No. One side does it.
No, I for one wouldn’t, and I suppose that most skeptics here would not wish Mann a painful death.
The humiliation which he so richly deserves, yes. Painful death, no.
My condolences to the Koch family.
Green intolerance is always built on raw emotion, rather than the use of the higher mental faculties of which the human brain is capable. Thus whether it be nuclear power, carbon dioxide, or plastic drinking straws, they always need something to despise. Being able to blame and hate individual people is a bonus as far as they are concerned.
There are some sick people out there. Most of us recognize them and ignore their delusional rants. Unfortunately the mainstream media has enough sympathizers with this particular species of sicko that they publish their tripe. Yet another indictment of the mainstream media mob.
The New York Times referred to David Koch as a “right-wing libertarian”.
Such a construct is a bit hard to fathom.
The Greens are authoritarian, who’d a thunk it?
https://youtu.be/2Oy6DwHAi70
Well at least he didn’t die from fuel poverty like the 10,000 per year in the UK .
Their very own home grown population culling strategy .
Bill maher’s attitude is disgusting. Maybe we should start responding to them with hatred like they do to us. There’s no excuse for this type of hate mongering. He and all others like him are a waste of skin .
It’s a another good example of why the climate war has little to do with science or data.
Yet, a substantial and influential set of skeptics, many of whom are found in this forum, refuse to acknowledge the ideological underpinnings of the climate and greater green agenda. They heap praise to largely political deniers such as Dr. Curry who is only 1/2 contrite about her alarmist supporting career and plays the trivial pursuit debate points like none other and well represents the broad skeptical climate debate delusion. Her half baked epiphany is less than a decade and seems to have missed 50 years of virulent leftist green activism from the inception of her field and the later 20th century of Greenshirt emergence in general. No one says a word, this brand of skepticism and skeptics are welcomed like heroes here and elsewhere.
A solid lump of skeptic’s are fools or fifth columnist’s. They’re staring right at totalitarianism but want play kiss-in-the-ring make believe because of their twisted contradictions, weaknesses and need to get along. What they pretend doesn’t exist are ready to send them to re-education camps and prisons as needed. Consider what alarmists do socially to marginal skeptics? They make them the focus, the most extreme dissent imaginable while the bulk of hard line climate dissent is completely dismissed as nonexistent. Skeptics comply to these social rules of the public debate. The cowering RINO model in another form. SINO (skeptic’s in name only).
So skeptic’s are about as effective as White Russians arguing outside of Moscow in 1918. Born to lose. I never see an internal audit among skeptic’s at all to a common political goal. Where is the common ground lobby to exit the UN Climate Framework? Denounce it all as leftist globalism? When I see that emerge I might become more optimistic.
Perhaps even a plurality of skeptic’s are a pathetic disgrace of hoo-ha obtuseness. Some of it clearly willful.
“Soma?” It’s a term I’ve been using for years. I define it as the drug millions become addicted to in the form of a government handout, grant, forgiven government loan or debt, or any other kind of government dependency.