Deion Sanders was a superstar in sports. He opened charter schools in Texas, which have closed. Now, he is joining with the notorious Koch brothers in a plan intended to end poverty in Dallas. The program, called Stand Together, aims to raise $21 million.
Chalk this one up to innocence. Or ignorance. Or naivete. No one has done more than the Koch brothers to rip apart the social safety net that helps Americans who are down on their luck than the Koch brothers.
The story in Inside Philanthropy begins:
As we’ve pointed out time and again, David and Charles Koch are eager for an image makeover. After decades spent attacking governmental overreach and financing the right’s policy infrastructure, as well as bankrolling GOP candidates, the Kochs found themselves with a family and company brand that had become synonymous with extremist and self-interested politics. Among other things, their recent efforts to repair that damage have included large-scale grants to institutions that help African Americans and stepped up work on bipartisan criminal justice reform, as we’ve been reporting.
What’s received less attention is Koch backing for a new national anti-poverty group Stand Together, which recently led Charles Koch to find a surprising ally in Deion Sanders, a larger-than-life figure also known by the nickname “Primetime.” Sanders has the distinction of being the only athlete to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. Following such an illustrious sports career, Sanders wants to give back, and he’s doing so in partnership with Koch and Stand Together.
According to Sanders, Koch is hardly the profit-hungry villain he’s sometimes made out to be. Commenting on a new joint effort between himself and the Koch-backed “venture philanthropy” organization, Sanders says, “I saw firsthand how wonderful and gracious and giving and kind the Koch family was in regards to really trying to make this country a better place for everyone.” High praise indeed, especially from a celebrity with very different roots than the usual Koch set.
Sanders’ charter chain, which opened schools in Dallas and Fort Worth in 2012, closed in 2015.
Even before Sanders’ first charter school opened, the Dallas Observer called them a “primetime scam.”
When the schools closed, they were in administrative chaos and saddled with crushing debt and dwindling enrollments.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Neon Deion the athlete was a showboat who only cared about himself, not his teammates. Perfect for Koch. Yup, this has scam written all over it in bright, neon letters.
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Diane Unless the Koch’s have had a huge moral and political conversion (possible but highly doubtful), this note about the Kochs’ helping erase poverty is a lesson-learned from their trying to move too fast their neo-liberal, Ann Randian ideas in other venues. Instead of ushering in a “Jim Crow era,” this is ushering in a “David Koch era.”
The only difference: instead of core KKK thinking, it’s core Oligarchic thinking that fuels the movement–both are based in un-grounded, and unfettered, contempt, arrogance, and self-aggrandizement.
In this case, and slowly-now, the edge of the tent is held up, so the camel can stick his nose under it, by a probably well-meaning Primetime (the super-athlete D. Sanders).
The more general and long-term problem with movements of privatization is that, even if well-meant and implemented, when oligarchs die or merely change their minds, or when the corporation has a downswing from ANY source at all, the well-meant and implemented is left high and dry–to fall to whatever vacuous, predatory, less well-meaning forces that are out there.
It’s too much like what happens when a tribal-king dies. the power moves to the whims of whose left standing.
WHEREAS, when the well-meant and implemented is PUBLIC and rooted in a finely-drawn constitution and set of laws, then the good that is done is more likely to be trans-generational and REALLY do some long-term good. So in the long run, it doesn’t even matter if the Kochs have had a said conversion.
That’s also why Trump is so dangerous with his tearing away at the good swamp, as it were, of public institutions (and regulations) and the committed workers who do their jobs as they are supposed to.
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ADDEMDUM: I should have mentioned that the Constitution and its laws are WRITTEN DOWN. The power has migrated FROM residing in a particular person or group TO the Constitution, the law, and the surrounding documents. This movement of power from person to founding documents affords the development of vibrant civilizations and the longevity of peace. Not bad things to keep close, when you think about it.
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Good grief…ALL ABOUT HIMSELF.
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When the Koch brothers declare war on poverty, I will not be surprised if that means throw everyone living in poverty in prison or line them up and shoot them.
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LOL. Well said. Roll in the tanks!
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“Primetime” had (and still has) a primetime PR crew at his side to help him sell his image. Similar to the Trump “brand”.
He was the best one on one cover cornerback I’ve ever seen on a football field, followed closely by Revis. And an excellent kickoff returner, as well. But his Achilles Heel was against the run. Not primetime when it came to taking someone down. That’s why I’d choose Revis over him if I was choosing an all star team.
He was a pretty good baseball player but not close to great. Bo Jackson had it all over him in both sports.
Can’t tell you how much it bothered me to see him in the education business. I paid a lot of attention and the stories weren’t pretty.
These people learn how to play the spin and then milk it to the bone. Cosby. OJ Simpson. Trump. Pump ’em up and float ’em in the Thanksgiving Day Parade.
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“Pump ’em up (Trump, etc.) and float ’em in the Thanksgiving Day Parade.”
I like that image when it includes Trump and DeVos and the Koch brothers, and the Walton family and Richard Mercer, etc.
We could use an air-hose from a gas station, and you know where to insert that tire inflator nozzle before pressing the trigger. Once you start pumping that compressed air into ETC., don’t stop … until they p*p.
Don’t EVER try this on anyone, even on you. It is extremely dangerous and not funny at all. That compressed air can blow you up. I mean “blow” you up as in an explosion.
But I still like that image when it includes Trump, etc. but not anyone else but that short list.
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I like and agree with the disclaimer, Lloyd.
“Commercial simulation. Do not try this in your home”.
Agreed: not the safest way to go.
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” According to Sanders, Koch is hardly the profit-hungry villain he’s sometimes made out to be. Commenting on a new joint effort between himself and the Koch-backed “venture philanthropy” organization, Sanders says, “I saw firsthand how wonderful and gracious and giving and kind the Koch family was in regards to really trying to make this country a better place for everyone.” ”
Uh-huh.
That sounds like something Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson’s character) from Django Unchained would say.
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