He’ll Rot For Pot: 55 Years For Weed (Koch brothers try to lure young males to their cause)

[applegrove]

He’ll Rot For Pot: 55 Years For Weed

by Tim Mak at the Daily Beast

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/02/03/the-new-face-of-the-koch-campaign.html

"SNIP...................

Angelos is now 35 years old and has spent some 11 years behind bars.

...............

“If we’re going to deprive someone of liberty, and deal with the high cost of incarceration, it better solve a problem. And in this case, it doesn’t solve any problem,” argued Mark Osler, Angelos’ lawyer, who filed a clemency petition on his behalf in 2012.

This is where the Koch brothers come in.

The case is being highlighted by Koch-backed group Generation Opportunity, which targets millenials, in a broader campaign to press for criminal justice reforms this year.

They will kick off the campaign with a documentary highlighting Angelos’ predicament, premiering at Washington, D.C.’s Newseum next week.



....................SNIP"

[Warren DeMontague]

1. I'm confused. Why is this bad?

I mean, I understand that the Koch bros are apparently putting $ into it, but at least the $ is going towards a worthy end this time. If groups like FAMM are involved, the end result is likely to be far better than the drug war status quo.

So is the bad Koch part that they're presumably trying to rehabilitate their image with this or something?

I'm kind of like, if they want to use their considerable amounts of money to reduce ridiculous drug sentences, hey, more power to em.

[bravenak]

3. Sadly enough, I'm thinking this might not be so bad.

I also have stopped being mad at them for giving money to the United Negro College Fund. Still suspicious. But not so pissed.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. It's sort of like when Wal-Mart starts carrying organics or McDonalds adds salads to the menu.

On one hand, Wal-Mart and McDonalds still suck, on the other at least they're doing the right thing in one instance.

[applegrove]

4. I'm thinking they want to get the young male vote to go to the conservatives. They

are doing this as 2016 election season starts. Rand Paul has been up to the same thing. I agree drug policy is bad. That means that I want democrats to do something about it rather than let the GOP lop off a small percentage of former democratic voters, or democratic non voters, to vote with the GOP.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. I agree.

No one should be mad at the Kochs for doing this, they should be putting pressure on Democrats to end cannabis prohibition. I'd like to see marijuana legalization in the Democratic platform in 2016. I'd like to see an end to the entire drug war, but right now I'd settle for legalization of cannabis.

[Warren DeMontague]

13. I agree, unfortunately between people like Biden, Feinstein, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz

the National Party has seemed totally incapable of formulating a consistent message beyond maybe "we need to arrest more grannies for getting high"

[Warren DeMontague]

12. You'll get no argument from me. I think it's insane to cede issues like pot legalization to the

Libertarians, or Libertarian-Posturing Republicans like Rand Paul.

You'll note that in places where we won last year- Oregon springs to mind- our State Party was widely on board, including Senator Merkeley who broke ranks with DC and said he thought OR legalization was a good idea.

But that said, I doubt this is some kind of marketing for the GOP, although it certainly might be an attempt at Koch image rehab.

[MADem]

8. Image rehab it is...

If you've had a chance to watch Amazon's Alpha House, there are Koch-look-alikes in it who are hilarious....

[wildbilln864]

2. and a big K & R! n/t

[Tsiyu]

5. This makes no sense since they are on the board of ALEC

and donated millions to ALEC over the years,the same ALEC that helped draft and lobby for mandatory minimum sentences.

The kochsuckers are talkin out of both sides of their sorry, evil asses...mouths, I mean.

I don't trust them; never will.

[applegrove]

6. There was an election in Ontario in 1995 that neoconservatives won. They made workfare

out to be a jobs program. I had clients come into the social service office I worked in saying..."I voted for the neoconservative, he is going to make sure I get a job". People hear sometimes what they most want in the world and they don't take the rest of the platform into consideration. Within about a month of being elected the neoconservatives cut shelter allowances and created a huge crisis for the unemployed. The very same people who voted for him because they 'heard' he was going to get them a job. To tons of young males out there hearing the Koch brothers are on their side, the side of pot smokers and dealers, will equate to pot being decriminalized. These are low information voters. All the right needs is a small percentage of them to get out there and vote for Republicans on that one very narrow issue.

[DebJ]

7. I think you nailed it in your last two sentences. n/t

[Tsiyu]

19. I'm trying to figure out their angle and I can't

Here in TN, those Kochsuckers don't want us to have rapid transit or public transportation.

Now, why the fuck do two old pasty white fuckers care whether people in TN have rapid transit? This state is hurting so badly, and people lack transportation.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/04/01/3421088/koch-brothers-tennessee/

The Tennessee Senate passed a bill last week that, if approved, would broadly ban mass transit projects in the region, an anti-transit effort that’s gotten some help in the state from Charles and David Koch.

On Thursday, the Tennessee Senate passed SB 2243, which includes an amendment that “prohibits metropolitan governments and any transit authorities created by a metropolitan government from constructing, maintaining or operating any bus rapid transit system using a separate lane, or other separate right-of-way, dedicated solely to the use of such bus rapid transit system on any state highway or state highway.” The amendment is aimed at Nashville’s proposed $174 million rapid bus system called the Amp, but would apply to any mass transit system proposed in Nashville.

snip
Nashville has a bus system, McCall said, but it’s not enough to transport people throughout the suburbs and into the city, especially not as the city grows. By 2035, almost 1 million new residents will come to live in the Nashville area, according to the MTA
“It would be hugely transformational,” McCall said of the Amp. “If we don’t do it now, we’re going to be so far behind, and it’s really going to start to hinder our economic development and growth.”

Mike Schatzlein, chairman of the Amp coalition, said in a statement that the Senate’s passage of the bill was an overreach of its authority.
“The Senate basically took a local project that has been in development for five years and voted an amendment to kill it,” Schatzlein said. “The project is the first leg of a regional transit system, so this vote impacts all of Middle Tennessee.”

Again, why do two old fuckers with more money than Gawd herself want to deny people in a poor Southern state the right to get to work and to shop in an efficient, sustainable way? If the Kochsuckers were to stand in front of me right now I would spit on them, with a load of saliva that would blind them, for their destruction of people's dreams and hopes.

They FUCKED over the poor in Nashville for more goddamned $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Those two fuckers couldn't care less about the poor or the War on Drugs. They've got an angle somewhere; I just haven't figured it out yet

You are so right, applegrove. People are idiots when it comes to understanding whom they are voting for.

[AverageJoe90]

11. This. Just this. They're playing us for fools any chance they get.

I can only hope that we really do live in an at least halfway sensible world.....and that enough people will see thru their charade to the point it backfires on them.

[Tsiyu]

20. Recently I've seen some real assholes get their comeuppance.

Won't go into details, but let's just say I was squealing with delight when I heard how karma paid them back.

The Kochsuckers will get theirs, too. Just wait.

But yeah, let's hope they don't destroy everything before their evil catches up with them.

[AverageJoe90]

24. Given how screwed up our universe is, though, it may take a while.....

But even so, there is some real hope.

[Tsiyu]

25. We must always have hope.

I have great hope that one can't be as evil as those two and not have some karmic debt to pay. And they aren't getting any younger.

[AverageJoe90]

10. Unbelieveable how horribly and brazenly hypocritical the Koch Bros. are willing to be........

In order to sabotage this country.

[Warren DeMontague]

15. Well, if "sabotage" involves finally doing something about ridiculous mandatory minimum sentences

for people who are caught doing stuff like smoking a joint, then it's not such a bad thing IMHO.

[AverageJoe90]

18. I wish I shared your optimism, Warren. No joke.

But unfortunately, this honestly smells of yet another calculated move to manipulate certain sections of the public into voting for Republicans.....or at least against us.

Which is why the Democratic Party needs to step up and offer our own way out of the disastrous War on Drugs. Beat the Kochs at their own game.

[Warren DeMontague]

23. Well you and I agree 100% on that.

Like I said- I think it's positive insanity to cede the currently "trending", as the youth say, issue of MJ legalization to other parties.

[Fumesucker]

26. Only Nixon could go to China

You might recall that there was a contest for questions to be submitted to Obama quite some time ago, there was a winner who asked about legalizing pot and Obama answered with a joke.

[McCamy Taylor]

16. I'll bet the Kochs have a feud going with CCA: Corrections Corporation of America

CCA left ALEC in 2010. There has got to be some back story on that one. For profit prisons make their money by lobbying. Did CCA form a rival superpac/lobbying group? Have they refused to use Dixie Cup in their prisons?

Ooo! I know. CCA must be planning to rent out their prisoners out to chain-gangs laying railroad track! Or install solar panels on their prisons to save money. That would piss the Oil Industry but good.

[Tsiyu]

21. Now you've done it

Helped me figure out their possible angle in this bullshit. there HAS to be somebody they're screwing over with this act.

I wouldn't have thought up your speculative ideas, so thanks for your brainpower, McCamy

[Man from Pickens]

17. it's a no brainer

really sad that no major players own this policy space already

[davidn3600]

22. A broken clock is right once a day

Just days after word emerged that the billionaire Koch brothers will spend nearly a billion dollars to elect conservatives in the 2016 elections, Charles Koch sent a top adviser to Washington to urge Republicans to work with Democrats on a key issue: criminal-justice reform.

Justice reform is not a cause for which the Kochs are normally in the news. The billionaire brothers are known for their lavish giving to conservative candidates and causes, for which they are celebrated on the right and reviled by the left. But for more than a decade, the Kochs have quietly pumped several million dollars into efforts to fix a criminal-justice system that many on both sides of the aisle believe is broken.

Last month, Charles Koch co-authored an op-ed for Politico decrying the “overcriminalization of America.” Now the Kochs are teaming up with some unlikely allies on the left in hopes of rectifying the problem. And their presence in the emerging bipartisan coalition for justice reform underscores the issue’s rare—perhaps unique—status as a cause that has united liberals and conservatives in an era of bitter partisanship.

---
The Kochs’ commitment in criminal-justice reform dates to the mid-1990s, when the company became embroiled in a court case related to alleged environmental crimes at a a refinery in Corpus Christi, Tex. In 2001, a subsidiary of the company pleaded guilty to concealing environmental violations at the refinery; a multitude of other charges were dropped, but the company paid a $20 million fine to settle the matter. The owners believed they had been victimized by overzealous prosecutors and unclear statutes. “Our view was if we, a large company with many resources, were treated this way, what’s happening to the average American?” Holden says.

The Kochs began donating money to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) to combat prosecutorial abuses. “Once we got involved,” says Holden, “we couldn’t stop.” Since 2004, the Kochs have made annual donations (in the “significant six figures,” according to Holden) to the NACDL. The money is designed to address a broad range of justice issues, from mandatory minimums for drug crimes to the right to competent representation and sentencing disparities for the disadvantaged.

Last month, Holden and Koch laid out a five-point reform plan to change the criminal justice system. It includes ensuring that indigent defendants receive adequate legal counsel, reducing criminal liabilities for inadvertent violations, and restoring rights to youthful and non-violent offenders to help them re-enter the job market after their release. Such beliefs have led the Kochs to team up with liberal organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union to combat issues like harsh sentencing and Sixth Amendment rights. “It’s very, very rare where we have a moment that the stars have aligned in this way,” said Jones.

http://time.com/3686797/charles-koch-criminal-justice/

[Scuba]

27. When Democrats run away from the legalization issue they cede it to the other side.

This is the fault of Party leadership. Sometimes I wonder if they even want to win.

[Bjorn Against]

28. The Kochs have been giving to pro-legalization groups for decades

They are long time supporters of Libertarian groups, one of them even ran for Vice President under the Libertarian ticket a couple decades ago and legalization was part of the platform he ran on.

At the same time however they also give vast amounts of money to politicians who support the drug war.

The Kochs are not wrong on every issue, but the issues that they are right on are not their priorities. They use the legalization issue to get young people to their side on the issues they really care about, eroding labor rights and environmental protections.

They use the legalization issue as a tool to get people to their side, but you can be assured that they will continue giving millions to supporters of the drug war at the same time. They are not to be trusted.

Just because they are on our side on one issue does not mean we want them on our side.

[mikehiggins]

29. you may not understand but you can be sure the Kochs do.

Maybe its my age, or my involvement with the early YAF, but I have never doubted one salient fact. The right knows EXACTLY what it is doing and exactly what it wants. I was around when the Koch's started the Birchers, and others, and nothing has changed (except I learned who they were/are, something that was not common knowledge when this all started).

The right has consistently, and increasingly effectively, worked to undo the New Deal and all the rest. The general public has been lulled, deceived and tricked into ignoring what that means, leaving the field open to those who would return this nation to the days BEFORE the Civil War. Because, like somebody said, this is a private club and you and me aren't members.

Me, if I had the money I'd ship truck loads of Saul Alinsky's books to every college campus in the nation and bribe the teachers to use them in their classes, just the same way right wing "think tanks" push their fantasies.

Just saying...

[Bluenorthwest]

30. Note to Democrats in funky States: Oregon legalized cannabis and sent the Koch Bros running off with

tail between legs last November. Think about it. Their candidate lost by 20%, they pulled their money out early in shame. Oregon Democratic Party and even Jeff Merkley supported legalization.

Note the Second: In politics, doing something right to attract voters tired of injustice is what politicians are supposed to do. Why aren't yours doing it?

[hatrack]

31. PR bullshit - say the GOP wins in 2016 - this will sink and never be heard of again

It's a short-term wedge to peel off just enough voters in a few states or districts who are stupid enough to believe the Koch Brothers and their acolytes. "Just enough", you'll recall, was the essence of Rove's approach, and since the whole thing ran on division and incitement, who cares if the election's close.

Once this tactic is past its sell-by date, we'll be back to Officer Friendly and his Cavity Search Freedumb Warriors, with more and better Roid Rage - but privatized this time.