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Jay Murdock

Jan 28, 2017
3 min

In search of the truth about Trumpism

Is Trumpism a scam, or is the country confronting something even more troubling: a president unhinged from reality E. J. Dionne Jr./The Washington Post – January 26, 2017 WASHINGTON: Is Trumpism a scam? And if so, who is Donald Trump scamming? Or is the country confronting something even more troubling: a president unhinged from any realities that get in the way of his impulses, unmoored from any driving philosophy, and willing to make everything up as he goes along, includin

Birtherism and America’s history of white supremacy: What we can’t let ourselves forget about Donald

Jay Murdock

Jan 22, 2017
15 min

Birtherism and America’s history of white supremacy: What we can’t let ourselves forget about Donald

In a web exclusive, Bill Moyers and four historians discuss the big lie behind the rise of Trump BILL MOYERS, BILLMOYERS.COM In this web exclusive, Bill Moyers and four historians dissect the big lie Trump rode to power: the birther lie. Nell Painter, historian and Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, at Princeton University; Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of history, race and public policy at Harvard Kennedy School; Christopher Lebron, assistant professor of Af

Jay Murdock

Jan 2, 2017
3 min

2017’s Priority: Protecting Democracy

E.J. DIONNE JR. on Jan 2, 2017 To say this is not alarmist. Nor is it to deny the importance of other issues. Preserving the gains in health insurance coverage achieved by the Affordable Care Act should be a high priority. So should preventing a shredding of the social safety net and stopping budget-busting tax cuts for the best-off Americans. But even these vital matters are secondary to preventing a rollback of democratic values and a weakening of the institutions of self-r

How the Kochs and their Friends Engineered the Federal Shutdown, Part Two

Jay Murdock

Oct 9, 2013
25 min

How the Kochs and their Friends Engineered the Federal Shutdown, Part Two

Eric Zuess; Investigative Historian – Posted 10/07/2013 This blog is the second part of a story chronicling the Koch brothers’ influence on the shutdown. Read the first part here. On Thursday, 25 March 2010, the Toronto Globe and Mail bannered “David Frum Fired After Lamenting Republican Failure,” and reported that, “David Frum, the Canadian-born conservative pundit [and George W. Bush’s speechwriter from 2000 to 2003] who has been harshly critical of the Republican battle pl

Jay Murdock

May 21, 2013
2 min

Global Capital and the Nation State

Robert Reich: Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley; Author, ‘Beyond Outrage’ – Posted: 05/20/2013 10:54 am As global capital becomes ever more powerful, giant corporations are holding governments and citizens up for ransom — eliciting subsidies and tax breaks from countries concerned about their nation’s “competitiveness” — while sheltering their profits in the lowest-tax jurisdictions they can find. Major advanced countries — and th

Exposing ALEC’s Agenda to Defund and Dismantle Public Education

Jay Murdock

May 7, 2013
3 min

Exposing ALEC’s Agenda to Defund and Dismantle Public Education

Dennis Van Roekel – President, National Education Association Posted: 05/07/2013 11:52 am Iron Man 3 just opened this past weekend, followed soon by more would-be blockbusters. I’m sure a lot of these movies will be entertaining, but none will be more important or relevant than a half-hour documentary I recently watched: The United States of ALEC. This film, featuring Bill Moyers, does a masterful job of explaining how the closed-door manipulations of the American Legislative

Having Spent Millions Influencing Three Branches of Government, Kochs Look to Buy Fourth Estate

Jay Murdock

Apr 25, 2013
3 min

Having Spent Millions Influencing Three Branches of Government, Kochs Look to Buy Fourth Estate

by Brendan Fischer: PR Watch – April 24, 2013 – 8:27am The billionaire industrialist Koch brothers have spent tens of millions for decades on a long-term plan to reshape the legislative, executive, and judicial branches according to a corporate-friendly form, and may now make inroads into what is often referred to as the fourth branch of government: the press. The New York Times reports that the Kochs are considering a purchase of the Tribune Company’s eight regional newspap

Jay Murdock

Dec 12, 2012
1 min

Tax the Rich: An animated fairy tale

#PublicSchools #conservativepolitics #EconomicCrisis #plutocracy #Labor #KochBrothers #onepercenters #publicserviceemployees #99ers #OccupyWallStreet #FoxNews #ALECExposed

Why is State Farm Involved in Education Policy? Conservative Think Tank Exposes ALEC as Exchange of

Jay Murdock

Nov 30, 2012
3 min

Why is State Farm Involved in Education Policy? Conservative Think Tank Exposes ALEC as Exchange of

Brendan Fischer — November 30, 2012 – 8:54am Topics: Corporations, Education, Politics – Projects: ALEC Exposed A press release from a conservative think tank criticizing the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) provides crucial insight into how the organization works — and helps illustrate that ALEC does not facilitate an exchange of “practical, state-level public policy issues,” but instead sells policy and access to the highest bidder. The release documents how the

ALEC’s Economic Policies Do More Harm Than Good, New Report Shows

Jay Murdock

Nov 28, 2012
5 min

ALEC’s Economic Policies Do More Harm Than Good, New Report Shows

by Rebekah Wilce – November 28, 2012 – 7:51am, Topics: Economy, Politics Projects: ALEC Exposed Corporate lobbyists and right-wing legislators of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) will be gathering in Washington, DC today for ALEC’s annual States and Nation Policy Summit. Today also marks the release of an in-depth report on the failure of ALEC’s economic recommendations for the states. The report claims that “states that were rated higher on ALEC’s Economic Ou