Ever wonder why the Koch brothers want to quash environmental regulations? Why they support ALEC, which writes model legislation for states to deregulate corporations? Why they are in an alliance with far-right titans like the DeVos family?
Ever wondered how they made their wealth?
This article, published in 2014 by Rolking Stone, answers your questions.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Good one. I have linked to this one for years, when I link to your posts on how these criminal oligarchs are destroying education in North Carolina
North Carolina Plans to Adopt Koch-Funded Social Studies Curriculum:
Civics Lessons Financed by the Koch Brothers:
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Thanks for keeping track of these links.
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“The Koch brothers get richer as the costs of what Koch destroys are foisted on the rest of us – in the form of ill health, foul water and a climate crisis that threatens life as we know it on this planet.”
The Koch brothers are the quintessential capitalist pigs. They take, manipulate, ignore laws until they get caught and hire lawyers for a get out of jail free card. Yet, they see themselves a entrepreneurs of “good moral character and high integrity.” Beyond this, they use their wealth to weaponize laws that suppress democracy, limit the power of the federal government and destroy unions through ALEC. Now with their civics and history “curriculum,” they want to brainwash future generations so they can continue to plunder the environment under the guise of libertarianism, which loosely means “I am selfish and do not value the common good.” Sadly, the Koch brothers are apparently “too big to jail.”
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WOW…that is truly frightening. And to have all the money….for what? No one could ever spend that much money. It’s greed for the sake of being greedy. How empty their lives must be.
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much like a drug addiction, their empty lives only feel “full” when they are in acquisition/takeover/control mode — they have little (zero?) ability to find fulfillment in social responsibility
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Ed reform held yet another echo chamber event:
On Friday, AEI hosted an event about education savings accounts (ESAs) and the future of educational choice.
Gov. Jeb Bush delivered a keynote address on the need for disruption and innovation in our education system. He highlighted that our education system is not keeping pace with advancements in other sectors of society and that families need to be able to customize education for each individual student’s uniqueness.
Gov. Bush and AEI’s Nat Malkus then discussed how the landscape of school choice has changed in recent decades, the need for a variety of educational choice options, what makes ESAs a unique form of choice, and policymakers’ role in education.
The afternoon included a panel moderated by the Center for Advancing Opportunity’s Gerard Robinson. Lindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation summarized research surrounding how families are using ESAs to customize their children’s education. Adam Peshek of the Foundation for Excellence in Education explored the potential for ESAs to bring about new accountability and innovation. Jonathan Beckham of Step Up for Students explained how ESAs can work in practice and become scalable. Lastly, Darrell Allison of Parents for Educational Freedom in North Carolina emphasized the importance of connecting with communities and families when navigating the choice landscape.”
Not that it matters, but Jeb Bush said the same thing about ECOT in Ohio- that it was a “revolution” in education.
They ignore their massive failures. That isn’t science. It’s ideology. Bush is peddling the same garbage he peddled in Ohio ten years ago and the echo chamber are ALL cheerleading it. Again.
If they’ve captured your state legislature you need to fire them or you’ll end up like Ohio- cleaning up the mess they leave.
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Speaking of innovation, Jeb Bush hasn’t had a new idea in at least 10 years. He is peddling the same garbage as
DeVos, and she has not had a new idea in her lifetime. They are good at disruption.
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Since ed reform are energetically peddling cheap ed tech garbage to public schools it will really be up to local school leaders to evaluate their sales pitches.
The best place to start would be to stop hiring their “experts”. If you’re listening to “experts” who are inside this echo chamber you are not getting good advice. It’s bad enough they peddle it while they’re on the public payroll at the US Department of Education and state education agencies Don’t give them more public funding by hiring them as consultants.
Stop hiring them. That’s something any superintendent or principal can do. Cease. No more pricey contracts with ed reform consultants who come out of the echo chamber.
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Chiara,
The Superintendents who buy tech junk are often getting payoffs to do so. Like
legislators getting campaign contributions to ignore charter corruption.
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“…the Oil Directorate of the Supreme Council of the National Economy took a shining to Winkler-Koch – primarily because Koch’s oil-industry competitors were reluctant to do business with totalitarian Communists.”
This, of course, was back in the days when America was Great…
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