I’m all for demonizing the Kochs as much as possible, the same way the right did with George Soros (though preferably without an analog of the overt-Antisemitism):
[H]ere at home, over a thousand activists gathered outside the gates of a exclusive resort where the Koch brothers were hosting one of their periodic con-cons. These invitation only events where the rich and powerful scheme to take over the world have formerly operated under the radar, but no more.David Dayen in an eye-witness account reports 25 were intentionally arrested but overall it was a peaceful protest. The LAT and NYT has more coverage and quotes from the crowd, who were chanting “this is only the beginning.”
I think the Kochs will get bored with funding teatardism and go back to just paying Ayn Rand fans to create glibertarian propaganda via think tanks. But in the meantime, their activities should get more attention.
BGinCHI
What about their porn film company, Atlas Fugged?
(altruistic reach-arounds prohibited)
mikefromArlington
I’m not so sure Soros was in it to game the system as much as the Koch’s are though.
Poopyman
So the protesters were “Chicago” fans, eh?
Fuckin’ hippies.
Superluminar
@BGinCHI
But isn’t a selfish reach-around just masturba…oh right, we’re talking about glibertarians.
OT – BBC News are reporting that Egyptian military have just stated they will not use force against protesters.
Michael
This saddens me. In a just world, David Koch would have to employ food tasters, a guy to inspect the underside of his limo and discreet guards to watch over him during sex with his mistresses (lest one of them decide to pull a Charlotte Corday).
Superluminar
Thought this bit of the OP a bit silly:
What are they going to use? Mutated Sea Bass with Kochs on their heads?
OTOH, liked the coinage of “con-con”.
JGabriel
@Superluminar:
That makes sense. Al Jazeera reported that soldiers on the ground around Tahrir Square were saying the same thing last night.
.
Poopyman
OT, but anybody remember Sandmonkey?
Well, the Guardian Live Updates page has this:
Glad to see he’s still around — and apparently still kicking!
Michael
PS – I hate the markets. The manipulators have appealed to the fears of the pussified fraidycats, and have convinced them that the Suez may shut down. The upshot is that oil has gone up based on speculation.
Combine that with the fact that fuckers at Moody’s (all of whom need to be lined up on a wall and machine gunned as the righteous punishment meted from a unanimous verdict of a revolutionary tribunal) downgraded Egyptian debt due to fears that social spending will go up under a more responsive government, and I go nuts.
MonkeyBoy
Well, I guess the opposite of Antisemitism is calling the Koch family Nazis – actual Nazi collaborators.
Violet
Glenn Beck was playing clips of interviews with protesters who were at yesterday’s protest outside the Koch billionaire enclave on this show this morning. The people interviewed were saying things like, “I’m a soshulist” and “What do we want? Soshulism!” And then Beck went on with comments about scary they are, etc.
I figured it must have the attention of a few wingnuts if Beck’s playing clips and trying to make the protesters sound super scary.
Also, I caught about ten minutes of Limbaugh’s show today. He managed to say that the “outbreak of democracy” in Egypt was all George W. Bush’s doing about ten times. Apparently this is the new talking point. Someone here said it would be, several days ago.
Michael
Except that had this happened during the Bush Administration, we’d be going “all in” to support Mubarak and Israeli military units would be rattling sabers and taking up “forward defensive positions” in Egyptian territory while dropping bombs in Gaza.
The Terror Alert Color Code would be carnelion, and John Bolton would be agitating for us to bomb Pyongyang and Tehran as the instigators.
Superluminar
@jGabriel
putting on my massively super knowledgable mid-east hat for a second, I have to say the interesting thing to me so far is the lack of any real violence from the military (unlike the other security forces). I suspect that Murbarack’s time is up, they’re just negotiating the endgame…
Brian
“David Dayen in an eye-witness account reports 25 were intentionally arrested…”
What is accidentally arrested?
Mike in NC
@Violet:
Per the LA Times, Beck has attended this shindig in the past, and among the bootlickers in attendance this time was Eric Cantor (R-Philip Morris).
Can’t wait until the GOP House unveils its new School Lunch program: do you kids want filtered or unfiltered?
Violet
@Michael:
Well of course we would. But since it’s a black, Mooslim, Democrat in the White House, the narrative must be different.
@Mike in NC:
Ohhh…no wonder he was talking about it. He was defending his
paymastersfriends.JGabriel
@Superluminar:
Yes, I think so too. But who does the military support for president, or interim president? Suleiman, ElBaradei, or some third actor? Suleiman buys them nothing — the protests will continue — but supporting ElBaradei means accepting a civilian leadership when the country has been led by a former military leader for the past 55 years.
Maybe they’re searching for a general who would be acceptable to the opposition?
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Redshift
@Brian: It means intentionally on the part of the protester, not the police. (Presumably all arrests are intentional on their part.) It means, basically, they understood that they were disobeying instructions from the police, rather than being randomly nabbed in a more chaotic situation.
I don’t know if this is now standard practice in other areas of the country, but at some point the DC police came to understand that some portion of protesters wanted to be arrested to make a statement, and would make it clear where everyone who didn’t want to be arrested had to stay, and then round up the rest in a fairly orderly and nonviolent way.
Superluminar
The military seems to be pretty smart so I would bet against Suleiman, and I think any other alternative from outside the military – the only alternative the public will now accept IMO – means civilian democratic rule full stop. So we may well be in a place where the military’s best play is to negotiate with a civilian leadership that will allow as much as the present MIC to remain as possible. This may well be bolstered by behind the scenes by the US establishment making it clear the present level of support will only be continued if a civilian govt takes power. Just my 2 dinars worth.
The Other Chuck
How do you unintentionally arrest someone? Oops, I don’t know how those handcuffs got there!
Cris
We in this country are not too proud for anti-Dutch slurs.
Cris
That’s called a “sweep.”
J sub D
The Bilderbergs! The Trilateral Commission! The CFR! International Jewry! The Illuminati!
We’re onto you now.
Angry Black Lady
Is it just me, or is there something really sad about protesting the meeting of some muckity mucks. I’m all for a good protest, but this one strikes me as sad. Like I can imagine all the people in the meeting tut-tutting and smoking cigars and wondering what’s all that ruckus outside, and sending jeeves to go “investigate.”
pragmatism
mcmegtard thinks this is an affront to the kochporation’s right to free assembly. http://twitter.com/#!/asymmetricinfo/status/32079060200849409
JGabriel
Superluminar:
Yeah, going over all the options, it’s been pretty clear since last night, if not earlier, that backing a civilian government is the military’s best eventual end play. But militaries don’t always choose the smartest move.
Doubt it. Can’t imagine that the US would make such a threat. It wouldn’t be credible, given the need to enforce Gaza’s south border.
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Brachiator
Insanely rich people are funny. You can never tell when they get bored with something. For some, only a return to a true oligarchy, with a thin sliver of middle class folk, will scratch that itch.
@JGabriel:
How often have military leadership backed civilian government since, say the 1950s when there has been serious unrest? Not too often, I’d bet.
burnspbesq
@Brian:
It depends on whose perspective you look at it from. For example, I don’t think Bradley Manning intended to be arrested.
burnspbesq
” the rich and powerful scheme to take over the world”
The way some commanders here talk, you would think this was a done deal. It’s not?
drkrick
@J sub D:
You forgot Bohemian Grove. Anybody else watching Decoded?
joe from Lowell
@Michael:
Indeed. One need only look at how the Bush administration backed the dictator Musharrif right up to the end, when he was faced with his own mass protests, to see how deep the right’s alleged commitment to democracy runs when it’s “our bastard” whose dictatorship is threatened.
joe from Lowell
@J sub D:
Ho ho ho, aren’t you clever?
Here’s the footage of David “I’ve never been to a tea-party event. No one representing the tea party has ever even approached me.” Koch taking reports from his paid operatives about their work organizing “grassroots” teabagger parties.
Wah wah wah waaaaaaaaaaaaaa….
liberty60
@Redshift:
I was at the protest; the organizers had consulted with the cops beforehand, and notified them that a dozen or so protestors wanted to get arrested as an act of civil disobedience.
The police were courteous and professional, and allowed us to gather in the street and driveway of the hotel; after a time, they announced that we had to clear the driveway or risk arrest, and the 25 stayed put, while the rest of us moved back.
Re ABL, it is sad that citizens- you know, the people for whom the Constitution was written, and much blood and suffering was expended to empower- had to protest outside, while the powerbrokers inside plotted to enrich themselves.
But there is a certain grim satisfaction in knowing that their conference inside was accompanied by the thumping of the helicopter that circled endlessly outside, and the chants and roars of the crowd.
The fact that Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart and others were there frantically trying to provoke and nutpick means that we engaged the other side, and drew attention to something the Koch Brothers would rather everyone not notice.
Protects like this also serve as a handy counter-convention of like minds- As an organizer of my local MoveOn group, I spent a fair amount of time networking with fellow DFHs and recruiting.
Thymezone
Great title Doug.
Royce
@Angry Black Lady: No, it’s just you … and other strangely unseeing fools.
Sorry ABL just tired of your loud sanctimony about things YOU personally care about, while practicing whiny dismissal of things you don’t care about (ie, ‘understand’).