Amidst a sea of bad news, a small island of good (TW: politics, calling bad people bad etc)

"MrSnrub" (sv100)
08/23/2019 at 17:44 • Filed to: None

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I have never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure.

DISCUSSION (41)

Spanfeller is a twat > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 17:56

I saw the episode on them by Patriot Act today . I was wondering how Koch co.’s culture would change as the brothers died or retired.

Guess I’ll find out much sooner than I thought

CB > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 17:57

I knew a man who put it best:

“But let us speak good of the dead: He’s dead. Good.”

MrDakka > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 18:00

What’s wrong with the Koch brothers?

I don’t agree with their stance on some issues, but I don’t see them being any w orse or better than any other rich person.

Nick Has an Exocet > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 18:01

I’ve always felt like people have an unhealthy obsession with the Koch’s. Their legend is kind of the Clinton body count of the left. Both are kind of ridiculous.

For Sweden > MrDakka
08/23/2019 at 18:04

The man on the TV said they were uniquely bad.

For Sweden > Nick Has an Exocet
08/23/2019 at 18:07

Hey, anyone who wants to loosen occupational licencing requirements needs to die this is not up for debate.

MrSnrub > MrDakka
08/23/2019 at 18:14

Aside from their pernicious influence on our political system, efforts to accelerate ecological catastrophe, and run of the mill fraud and thievery, nothing I guess.

This article is a good read :

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-164403/

My favorite part is where two children burn to death because the Kochs were too fucking greedy to pay for routine pipeline maintenance.

MrSnrub > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 18:26

Which TV man is that?

RPM esq. > MrDakka
08/23/2019 at 18:29

It is certainly true that the Koch brothers are no worse and no better than any of the other rich persons who have dedicated their fortunes to making the lives of nearly everyone else on the planet demonstrably worse, and depicting them as uniquely bad is deleterious insofar as it obscures how many other bad people there are . However, it is also true that many rich people have opted not to spend their time and money hurting, again, nearly everyone else in order to make a buck, and I would suggest that those people are less bad.

Similarly , Dracula isn’t really any better or worse than any other vampire just because he’s the most famous , but not every Eastern European aristocrat is a murderous creature of the night .

MrDakka > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 18:30

That’s par for the course of any rich person. You don’t get to the top and stay there without a pile of bodies in this case literal . It’s the nature of the game.

The Koch bros are unusual in that their company is privately held, whereas most of the players are publicly traded, so they won't be sacked when any unsavory details emerge.

For Sweden > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 18:31

John Stewart. I remember when the Koch’s were rebranded from the people that paid for PBS into The Bad People.

It was an interesting time. Some guy named Donald Trump had the top show on Network TV and walked red carpets.

fintail > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 18:32

What news for a Friday.

Oh the libertarians are going to whine now. No matter that the Koch cabal are really corporatists who just want cheap labor and no accountability.

Nothing of value was lost. The family is an argument against dynastic wealth and lowering estate taxes.

https://theintercept.com/2018/02/25/koch-brothers-trump-administration/

Kissinger next please.

fintail > CB
08/23/2019 at 18:33

I don’t plan on attending the funeral, but I approve of it.

RPM esq. > Nick Has an Exocet
08/23/2019 at 18:36

I’m no particular fan of the Clintons, but that is one hell of a false equivalency—one of these things is a wildly defamatory fiction and one of them concerns, like, actual money spent for the purpose of making billions of actual people’s lives worse in pursuit of the almighty dollar. Both of those obsessions might be unhealthy, sure. But only one of them is also ridiculous.

MrSnrub > MrDakka
08/23/2019 at 18:38

I don’t disagree about the nature of the game, the implication being that it’s gone badly wrong and needs to be changed.

MrDakka > RPM esq.
08/23/2019 at 18:40

He’s counting the number of victims he’s taken the night before.

Kinja'd!!!

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > MrDakka
08/23/2019 at 18:40

That’s par for the course of any rich person.

You’re doing an awful lot of “all sides”ing here. There are PLENTY of rich people who aren’t hell bent on bankrolling some of the most destructive ideologies out there.

And very few rich people have ever done it to the same extent. They’ve funneled hundreds of millions of their own money to line the pockets of politicians to impact regulation, that then directly results in improving their own business prospects.

Yes, other people do similar things but not nearly to that same scale, and very rarely on topics so damaging to others.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 18:43

I remember when the Koch’s were rebranded from the people that paid for PBS into The Bad People.

Why can’t someone be both? You’re being very selective with your words and hip like you always do, but that statement pretty much brushes away all the demonstrably evil things they funneled money in to. It’s not just because some guy on TV told us to hate him, get real man.

RPM esq. > fintail
08/23/2019 at 18:44

I was kind of hoping Robert Mercer or Sheldon Adelson would complete the trifecta but Kissinger’s good too.

MrDakka > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
08/23/2019 at 18:44

There’s only a few rich people doing it to the extent of the Koch bros precisely BECAUSE they aren’t as rich as the Koch bros.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 18:44

Ah yes, that’s all they ever wanted and what we’re all all huffed up about!

MrSnrub > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 18:45

I was never a regular watcher. Though he wasn’t wrong.

The media is going to re-re-brand him back to generous philanthropist again if that NBC clip is any indication

MrDakka > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 18:45

Game’s been going wrong sin ce the start of civilization or perhaps since the start of life

Nick Has an Exocet > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 18:45

Loosen existing? Nah. Be real careful about adding any new ones? Hell to the yes.

Also, does a Barber or Cosmetologists really NEED to be licensed in an age of litigation and Yelp?

Also, “die” is too strong. People are entitled to their opinions.

For Sweden > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
08/23/2019 at 18:49

If we ever believed "why can't someone be both" we wouldn't cheer deaths. Which is a great idea that will never happen.

For Sweden > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
08/23/2019 at 18:51

People get quite huffed by the idea of cosmologists not needing approval from the government to work.

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ZHP Sparky, the 5th > MrDakka
08/23/2019 at 18:53

False - there are MANY rich people who are richer or of similar levels of wealth who haven’t participated in nearly as many horrible political gamblings.

That’s a great excuse though, poor guy - it’s just BECAUSE he’s so rich that he had to do that, couldn’t help himself!

For Sweden > Nick Has an Exocet
08/23/2019 at 18:53

Welcome to the Koch network, brother

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Nick Has an Exocet > RPM esq.
08/23/2019 at 18:55

Eh, one word: Haiti. It’s really hard to find good articles written in English about it, but people died as a result of the mismanagement of Haiti by the Clintons. They bought up land, stole donations (0.6% of earthquake donations went to haitian organizations), and my favorite: that time the Clintons started a sweatshop. The real difference between the Clintons and Kochs is their stranglehold on the media. To get good reporting you have to look at non English and the occasional BBC article:

Possibly the most enduring criticism of the Clinton Foundation’s work in Haiti stems from its signature project, a garment factory known as the Caracol Industrial Park.

The foundation, working with the Clinton State Department, helped arrange a US-subsidised deal with the Haitian government to build the $300m factory complex in 2012.

Several hundred farmers were evicted from their land to make way for the 600-acre manufacturing site, which produces clothes for retailers such as Old Navy, Walmart and Target.

South Korean textile giant Sae-A Trading Co, which is the main employer at the facility, subsequently donated between $50,000 to $100,000 to the Clinton Foundation.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 18:56

Ladies and Gentlemen, yet another cryptic (and very cool) one liner from For Sweden!

Your statement means absolutely nothing. My point was that yes they funded some good things, but also poured millions in to absolutely disgusting efforts. People are allowed to call them out for that. Sorry I’m not shedding a tear over one of them having died.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 18:57

Trust me, that is very far down on the list of Koch pet projects that I (and many others on this thread I can guarantee you) are less than impressed with them about. But yeah keep clutching to the idea that that’s all it is. We’re all being soooo unreasonable!

Nick Has an Exocet > Nick Has an Exocet
08/23/2019 at 18:58

By the way, news articles called it a “economic development project”. Workers are predominantly women and earn $4.50/day. Hahaha.

MrSnrub > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 18:59

Radical libertarian billionaires do not donate to public broadcasting out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it to buy influence. If you think otherwise you’re naive or lying. Any good he did was vastly outweighed by the bad, and since his passing stops him from continuing to do bad things, it is good

Nick Has an Exocet > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 19:01

I would love to know what a cosmetologist does that isn’t available in one form or another in a “do it yourself at home” kit. Maybe I’m just lacking the chromosomal structure to understand why these people need special licensing .

Kinja'd!!!

RPM esq. > Nick Has an Exocet
08/23/2019 at 19:03

That’s not remotely what the Clinton Body Count conspiracy theory or “unhealthy obsession” refers to and you know it. If the argument you wanted to make was “t he Clinton foundation is not good,” you could have just said so, and I would have questioned its relevance to the Koch brothers but otherwise agreed with you.

MrSnrub > For Sweden
08/23/2019 at 19:22

Snark is one thing, but this is disingenuous and unproductive. I don’t give a shit about cosmetology, and I know you know that. If you want to say I’m wrong and tell me why, then please do so. Discussions between people with different opinions can be worthwhile if they’re open and in good faith, but frankly you’re just being kind of a dick. Will you engage honestly or should I just ignore you?

For Sweden > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 20:11

I have no doubt he made donations to boost what he likes. He probably gave all that money to cancer research because he rather disliked having cancer.

For Sweden > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
08/23/2019 at 20:12

Yes, the idea of not cheering death is indeed cryptic. Yes indeed.

MrDakka > ZHP Sparky, the 5th
08/23/2019 at 22:04

Reply got kinja’d, but I saved it.

https://mrdakka.kinja.com/i-never-said-that-he-had-to-do-it-because-of-his-wealth-1837526668?utm_medium=sharefromsite&utm_source=default_copy&utm_campaign=top

MrDakka > MrSnrub
08/23/2019 at 22:04

Thanks for the link. It was a good read.

pip bip - choose Corrour > MrSnrub
08/24/2019 at 06:31

now for his brother