Bizarre, Media

Bill Maher Celebrates The Death of David Koch And Hopes That He Died In Pain

In what may be the single most vicious commentary that I have read in recent memory, HBO host Bill Maher said Friday that he is “glad” billionaire  David Koch, a conservative activist, is dead and added that he hoped “the end was painful.” I strongly disagreed with Koch’s view of climate change and his anti-environmental stances. However, I cannot imagine saying such a thing about someone because I disagree with his heart-felt convictions. Koch was committed to a set of principles that Maher can disagree with but to celebrate a painful death is truly breathtaking.

I have previously written about the sense of a license among some to be uncivil and hateful as well as the unbalanced coverage of such commentary.

Maher stated on air: “Yesterday David Koch, of the zillionaire Koch brothers, died of prostate cancer. I guess I’m going to have to re-evaluate my low opinion of prostate cancer . . . He was 79, but his family says they wish he could live longer, but at least he lived long enough to see the Amazon catch fire.” He added “Condolences poured in from all the politicians he owned, and mourners have been asked in lieu of flowers to just leave their car engines running. As for his remains, he’s been asked to be cremated and have his ashes blown into a child’s lungs.”

I do not object to the latter part of that statement about car engines and his remains as fair game for a comedian. Koch was a polarizing public figure. However, it takes an utter lack of humanity and decency to celebrate someone’s cancer. Imagine if a conservative celebrated the return of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s cancer. Would the response be equally muted in the media?

240 thoughts on “Bill Maher Celebrates The Death of David Koch And Hopes That He Died In Pain”

  1. The Kochs are philanthropists whereas George Soros a manipulator of currency and known as a terrorist by several leaders of countries.

    =====

    Currency manipulation: A large part of Soros’ multibillion-dollar fortune has come from manipulating currencies. During the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad accused him of bringing down the nations currency through his trading activities, and in Thailand he was called an economic war criminal. Known as “The Man who Broke the Bank of England”, Soros initiated a British financial crisis by dumping 10 billion sterling, forcing the devaluation of the currency and gaining a billion-dollar profit.

    https://humanevents.com/2011/04/02/top-10-reasons-george-soros-is-dangerous/

  2. This type of conduct is common among those to the left of JFK. It is frightening and disgusting.

  3. FRONTLINE PRESENTS “CLIMATE OF DOUBT”

    PBS’ Frontline aired this film in October of 2012 describing Koch Bros efforts to build a political machine devoted to denial of Climate Change. Amazingly the Koch Bros and their deputies availed themselves to Frontline and cheerfully admitted their denial efforts.

    The film notes that when George W. Bush took office in 2001, the majority of Americans accepted the science behind Climate Change. So the Koch Bros went to work and spent millions to create the illusion that the science community was sharply divided over Climate Change. No such split ever occurred. In fact the few scientists doubting Climate Change were actually stooges paid by oil-related companies to produce official-looking reports.

    Sadly the Koch Bros were highly successful in their denial efforts. By 2012, pollsters were finding that the number of Americans doubting Climate Change had risen dramatically since 2000. There are scenes in this film where Koch Bros deputies proudly take credit for that rise in doubt. Viewers are introduced to ‘The Heartland Institute’, a Koch-funded proxy group spearheading denial.

    https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/climate-of-doubt/

      1. DSS – Michael Mann is an academic fraud. Anyone who has read those emails knows that.

          1. Mann sued Mark Steyn in order to silence persons who disagreed with Mann’s opinions Re. climate warming; judgement favored Steyn. Independent scientists who saw that judgement favoring Mann would silence scientific debate, argued on Steyn’s behalf.

        2. Peter, since in your mind the only legitimate publications are the rag known as the Washington Post and the frequently erroneous Wikipedia I will quote from Wikipedia.

          “In 2004, Power Line was named Time magazine’s first-ever “Blog of the Year.”[1] When AOL added blogs to their news website in 2007, Power Line was one of the five blogs included.[2] A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described Power Line as one of the five best-read national conservative blogs.[3]”

          I will even provide an address. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_Line

          You judge everything based on how they are labeled rather than their character and honesty. This is a source of several people on the blog. Maybe you ought to try reading it. It is likely too high above sewer level for you to pay any attention to.

          1. Allan ends with this: “It is likely too high above sewer level for you to pay any attention to.”

            Typical.

  4. He’s never been a fan of self governing citizens. I’m not even sure he is a citizen. strike one. In his case strike one is strike three.

    1. Unfortunately yes, he is a citizen of the US. But we need to bring back laws of Sedition.

  5. “I strongly disagreed with Koch’s view of climate change and his anti-environmental stances.”

    – Professor Turley
    ______________

    Notice that the communist lexicon evolves and adapts with each of its incremental losses of credibility. “Global warming” becomes “climate change” since “global warming” has not worked out so well given increased cooling and outright fraud in the enviro-wacko calculi. Of course, no one can deny “climate change” given that the universe has been continually changing since the “Big Bang.” Based on their obsessive envy of superior, successful American free enterprisers, aka capitalists, the communists will do anything to diminish the reputation of natural and healthy wealth creation and expand the ranks of their ideology including use of the “scare tactic” of “global-warming-cum-climate-change.” Bizarrely, the enviro-wackos CELEBRATE the birthday of “global warming” even though they quietly effected the previously mentioned, significant modification in semantics.
    ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

    “Happy 35th birthday, global warming!”

    “Global warming is turning 35! Not only has the current spate of global warming been going on for about 35 years now, but also the term “global warming” will have its 35th anniversary next week. On 8 August 1975, Wally Broecker published his paper “Are we on the brink of a pronounced global warming?” in the journal Science. That appears to be the first use of the term “global warming” in the scientific literature (at least it’s the first of over 10,000 papers for this search term according to the ISI database of journal articles).”

    “In this paper, Broecker correctly predicted “that the present cooling trend will, within a decade or so, give way to a pronounced warming induced by carbon dioxide”, and that “by early in the next century [carbon dioxide] will have driven the mean planetary temperature beyond the limits experienced during the last 1000 years”. He predicted an overall 20th Century global warming of 0.8ºC due to CO2 and worried about the consequences for agriculture and sea level.”

    – RealClimate – Climate Science From Climate Scientists

    http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/07/happy-35th-birthday-global-warming/

  6. Who is Bill Maher?

    What wealth has he created – what good has he done?

    I couldn’t find him on the Forbes 400 which listed the Koch brothers’ net worth as $107 billion.

    Is he a court jester – a clown?
    _______________________

    “Lawrence O’Donnell Praises David Koch in Emotional Return to MSNBC” – June 24, 2014

    “Lawrence O’Donnell made his triumphant return to MSNBC’s “The Last Word” on Monday after recovering from a car accident and made a surprise salute to his long-time political opponent. O’Donnell was off the air for two and a half months recovering from his injuries while on vacation. The liberal commentator observed that the first words he saw when he went to the hospital was “David H. Koch.” “Yes, that David Koch,” O’Donnell said. “Now brace yourselves please for the first positive words said about David Koch on this program. I agree with Harry Reid’s critique of the Koch brothers’ contributions to American politics, but that is not the only thing they contribute to.” O’Donnell said that the conservative billionaire’s contributions made a difference in helping those medically in need — including himself. “You can be outraged by what the Koch brothers do with their money in politics and you can appreciate what they contribute to hospitals and medical research, and you can do that at the same time and still retain an ability to function,” O’Donnell said. “And so, yes, I feel some gratitude to David Koch.”

    https://www.thewrap.com/lawrence-odonnell-praises-david-koch-in-emotional-return-to-msnbc-video/

    1. Of course he would have nice things to say about Koch since Clinton was the first Koch brothers president.

      Koch funded the DLC than made Clinton’s

  7. KOCH BROTHERS BUILT POLITICAL MACHINE

    DENIAL OF CLIMATE CHANGE..

    COMPLIMENTED OIL-RELATED BUSINESS

    Construction on the Koch political machine began in the 1970s, after Charles Koch took over the family company. He and David began funding and orchestrating a political project to restrain government power in the United States through lobbying, think tanks and political donations. The effort accelerated in the 1990s after a Senate committee, following a long investigation, accused Koch Industries of stealing oil from Native American reservations where the company was operating. That experience convinced David and Charles Koch that they needed to have a stronger presence in Washington to fend off their critics.

    The machine reached full fruition in 2008, when Barack Obama was elected president. The machine is so effective because it is multifaceted. In addition to one of the largest registered corporate lobbying offices in the country, located about two blocks from the White House, there is a constellation of Koch-funded think tanks and university centers. They all convey a consistent message: that government programs can only cause more harm than good and that market forces alone must shape human society. And their work is bolstered by a private network of donors that David and Charles Koch assembled over the years, a network that gives donations at levels rivaling a political party.

    Finally, Koch controls a “boots on the ground” army in the form of Americans for Prosperity, a network of employees and volunteers who knock on doors, attend rallies to protest climate change legislation, and visit the offices of any lawmakers who seem likely to cross Koch Industries on the issue.

    This machine has been employed to great effect to ensure that no government action is taken to control greenhouse gas emissions. In the early 1990s, President George H.W. Bush made it clear that he would support a treaty to limit carbon emissions. The Republicans even had a market-based solution to tackle the problem, a system called “cap and trade” that put a price on pollution and allowed companies to buy and sell the right to pollute. Cap and trade had been used to great effect to reduce power plant pollution and acid rain. But in 1991, the Cato Institute, a Koch-funded think tank, held a seminar in Washington called “Global Environmental Crises: Science or Politics?” This was part of a decades-long effort to cast doubt about the reality of climate change.

    David Koch worked tirelessly, over decades, to jettison from office any moderate Republicans who proposed to regulate greenhouse gases. In 2009, for example, a South Carolina Republican, Representative Bob Inglis, proposed a carbon tax bill. Koch Industries stopped funding his campaign, donated heavily to a primary opponent named Trey Gowdy and helped organize teams of Tea Party activists who traveled to town hall meetings to protest against Mr. Inglis. Some of the town hall meetings devolved into angry affairs, where Mr. Inglis couldn’t make himself heard above the shouting. Mr. Inglis lost re-election, and his defeat sent a message to other Republicans: Koch’s orthodoxy on climate rules could not be violated.

    Edited from: “David Koch Was The Ultimate Climate Change Denier”

    The New York Times, 8/23/19

  8. “I strongly disagreed with Koch’s view of climate change and his anti-environmental stances.”

    – Professor Turley
    ______________

    Notice that the communist lexicon evolves and adapts with each of its incremental losses of credibility. “Global warming” becomes “climate change” since “global warming” has not worked out so well given increased cooling and outright fraud in the enviro-wacko calculi. Of course, no one can deny “climate change” given that the universe has been continually changing since the “Big Bang.” Based on their obsessive envy of superior, successful American free enterprisers, aka capitalists, the communists will do anything to diminish the reputation of natural and healthy wealth creation and expand the ranks of their ideology including use of the “scare tactic” of “global-warming-cum-climate-change.” Bizarrely, the enviro-wackos CELEBRATE the birthday of “global warming” even though they quietly effected the previously mentioned, significant modification in semantics.
    ___________________________________________________________________________________________________

    “Happy 35th birthday, global warming!”

    “Global warming is turning 35! Not only has the current spate of global warming been going on for about 35 years now, but also the term “global warming” will have its 35th anniversary next week. On 8 August 1975, Wally Broecker published his paper “Are we on the brink of a pronounced global warming?” in the journal Science. That appears to be the first use of the term “global warming” in the scientific literature (at least it’s the first of over 10,000 papers for this search term according to the ISI database of journal articles).”

    “In this paper, Broecker correctly predicted “that the present cooling trend will, within a decade or so, give way to a pronounced warming induced by carbon dioxide”, and that “by early in the next century [carbon dioxide] will have driven the mean planetary temperature beyond the limits experienced during the last 1000 years”. He predicted an overall 20th Century global warming of 0.8ºC due to CO2 and worried about the consequences for agriculture and sea level.”

    – RealClimate – Climate Science From Climate Scientists

    http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/07/happy-35th-birthday-global-warming/

    1. The Koch Brothers founded the CATO Institute and like agencies. Neither you nor Jane Mayer know manure from apple butter.

      1. This is Absurd,
        Wrong! Jane Mayer knows how to write 15,000 word left wing hit pieces for The New Yorker.

      2. Foxtrot Foxtrot Sierra says: August 24, 2019 at 2:52 PM:

        “When you can’t defend your position, pull the race card.”

        You heard it here. Straight from the horse’s a$$.

        1. The previous comment was in response to TIA’s ‘manure’ remark. It has nothing to do with Foxtrot…

  10. When Maher dies and goes to the Pearly Gagtes, the man at the pulpit , Saint Peter, will say: “NOT THE IRISH!”

  11. “Is The U.S. Becoming A Third World Nation?”

    http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2019/08/is-us-becoming-third-world-nation.html
    (Charles Hugh Smith)

    From the above article:

    “…What characterizes Third World/Failing States isn’t just poverty, crumbling infrastructure and endemic corruption; at a systems level these are the key dynamics in Third World/Failing States:
    1. The status quo protects insiders at the expense of everyone else.
    2. There is no real accountability; failure has no consequences, bureaucrats are never fired for incompetence, reforms are watered down or neutered by institutional sclerosis.
    3. Pay-to-play is the most cost-effective way to influence policy or evade consequences.
    4. The status quo is incapable of differentiating between complexity that serves the legitimate purposes of transparency and accountability and complexity that serves no purpose beyond guaranteeing insiders’ paper-shuffling jobs. As a consequence, complexity that adds no value chokes the economy and the government.
    5. There are two sets of laws: one for insiders and the super-wealthy, and another harsher set for everyone else.
    6. The super-wealthy fear nothing because the system functions to serve their interests.
    7. The super-wealthy and state insiders control the media’s narratives and the machinery of governance to serve their interests. Reforms are in name only; the faces of elected officials change but nothing changes structurally.
    8. Insiders, well-paid pundits and the technocrats serving the corporate and state elites believe the status quo is just fine because they’re doing fine; they are blind to the soaring inequality, systemic corruption, stupendous waste and the impossibility of real reform.
    Does America’s status quo protects insiders at the expense of everyone else? Yes. As for the other seven characteristics: yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and yes.
    And lets’ not forget #9: the vast majority of the economic gains flow to the elite at the very top of the wealth-power pyramid: is this true in the U.S.? Definitively yes. Just look at this chart: this is a chart of an informal kleptocracy which cloaks itself in the faux finery of democracy and a (rigged) “market” economy.

    That’s the very definition of a Third World failed state….”

    IMO every single point above applies equally to the DNC and GOP. You can post your own examples. NOTHING “CHANGED” under Obama. Here’s my GOP example. US Senator for Utah Mike Lee: a few years ago Lee was all on board with investigating the biggest Tech companies for corruption, anti-trust, and monopoly violations. After two years of Tech giving financial hand outs to Utah, “free” tech, building Tech Centers in Utah, and direct money to re-elect Lee………….crickets, no more investigations. Lee is a walking, talking piece of human dung to me. Does he give a crap that Tech desires and slowly achieves full and complete control over the Western world and beyond? Not as long as Lee gets his share. (Also see Tech’s business with Chinese security services and Chinese AI science.)

    This morning NPR let a commenter speak for about 6 minutes straight, how awful is the civilian suffering resulting from the legally installed Syrian government push against Assad’s military enemies. Did this slime ball ever once say who arms, trains, and finances all or most of the militants in the ME? You and I do, through our “peace loving” governments.

    If you don’t think the MIC has full control over 99% of what you hear and see on the “news,” think again.

    1. Here our most stupid ‘Anonymous’ (Estovir, no doubt) wants to change the subject from David Koch to Ted Kennedy. Never mind that those two men had little in common.

      Estovir thinks us liberals will tear our hair out when confronted by Chappaquiddick. Like we’re going to be so shaken by the visual image of these youtube squares, it will make us forget any arguments regarding David Koch.

      Estovir was even smirking to himself when he posted these. He then went to the kitchen to tell his wife how he “shut the liberals up”. She only rolled her eyes and wondered how she married such a nerd.

  14. I guess his handlers at Correct-the-Record told Peter Shill to try look-squirrel diversion.

    1. This is absurd x XI says: August 24, 2019 at 1:14 PM
      “I guess his handlers at Correct-the-Record told Peter Shill to try look-squirrel diversion.”

      Standard fare offered up by one of the regular Turley-Blog Twits. They’ve found their small pond…

  17. At New Hampshire town hall, Biden asks: What would have happened if Obama had been assassinated?

    — Post Politics (@postpolitics) August 24, 2019

    “Imagine if, God forbid, Barack Obama had been assassinated after becoming the de-facto nominee. What would have happened in America?” — Joe Biden, tonight in New Hampshire

    — Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) August 24, 2019

    Joe Biden to voters: Imagine if Obama had been assassinated

    — The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 24, 2019

    NEW tonight: Joe Biden, returning to NH and attempting to put the focus on the foibles of President Trump, took an unusual departure toward the end of a 70-minute dive into health-care policy by asking the crowd to imagine the assassination of Barack Obama

    — Matt Viser (@mviser) August 24, 2019

    1. “Obama was not assassinated but there still is time”
      – Hillary Clintonus

      🙏🏽

        1. This is why Conservatives lose in politics thinking “nice” wins against the Left

          grow the f8ck up and man up to modern politics

          George W was a loser because he played “nice”, dumb chit

    2. Anony … OH, let’s see. Taking part of a quote out of context is only reserved for the LEFT???
      You fool.

  18. AH, and here is one or the best and brightest minds teaching our kids:
    “US Teacher placed on leave after telling students he’d ‘be the best school shooter”
    OR Joe Biden asking his audience “to imagine Barack Obama’s assassination”.

    And you and your kind think your ready to run this country? Neener neener

  19. For some reason the left is ok, fine, and even good with wishing the most vicious evil, pain, suffering on those with whom they DISAGREE. I cannot even imagine the vile spew that they would do for those whom they truly hate.

    2. sleeper…..you’re so right.
      That’s why I’ve always said that if Democrats would think of fetuses as illegal aliens, abortions would end.

  20. FOR YEARS DAVID KOCH CHAIRED..

    AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY

    Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian/conservative political advocacy group in the United States funded by David H. Koch and Charles Koch. As the Koch brothers’ primary political advocacy group, it is one of the most influential American conservative organizations.

    After the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama, AFP helped transform the Tea Party movement into a political force. It organized significant opposition to Obama administration initiatives such as global warming regulation, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the expansion of Medicaid and economic stimulus. It helped turn back cap and trade, the major environmental proposal of Obama’s first term. AFP advocated for limits on the collective bargaining rights of public-sector trade unions and for right-to-work laws, and it opposed raising the federal minimum wage. AFP played an active role in the achievement of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives in 2010 and in the Senate in 2014.

    In the 2014 mid-term election cycle, AFP led all groups, other than political action committees (PACs), in spending on political television advertising. AFP’s scope of operations has drawn comparisons to political parties. AFP, an educational social welfare organization, and the associated Americans for Prosperity Foundation, a public charity, are tax-exempt nonprofits. As a tax-exempt nonprofit, AFP is not legally required to disclose its donors to the general public. The extent of AFP’s political activities while operating as a tax-exempt entity has raised concerns among some campaign finance watchdogs regarding the transparency of its funding.

    Edited from Wikipedia profile: “Americans For Prosperity”
    …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

    Yesterday The Washington Post’s obituary of David Koch noted that he inherited $300 million when his father died in 1967. Koch would have been 27 years old that year. $300 million in 1967 would be more than a billion today adjusted for inflation.

    So with David Koch we have a man who was mega-wealthy at an early age by virtue of inheritance. Yet a large share of his efforts were devoted to preventing the expansion of health care to low-income Americans, opposing hikes in the Minimum Wage and muzzling labor unions.

    The Wikipedia article goes on to detail efforts by Americans For Prosperity to meddle extensively in the politics of various states; most notably Wisconsin where Governor Scott Walker was essentially a creation of AFP. For decades Wisconsin had been a showcase of clean, progressive government. But under Scott Walker, Wisconsin became hothouse of bitter divisions as organized labor found itself struggling to survive hostile legislative attacks.

    Wikipedia also notes that Americans For Prosperity has used its funds and organizational power to fight cigarette taxes, among other things. Apparently David Koch was indifferent to lung cancer but was known to get emotional when discussing prostate cancer which took his life yesterday.

        1. FDR and JFK inherited their fortunes. Nixon and Reagan made their own, relatively small filotunes.
          Good point, Brock Boy Hill.

        2. Peter, get back to us when you understand what is meant by ‘putting capital to work’.

          1. Tabby, if you have a comment I invite your input. But that’s not ‘you’.
            Your only concern is crafting snippy little putdowns with a catty scratch.

            Am I to believe David Koch was a great man who left the world a better place? Not in these United States. In addition to Climate Denial, the Koch’s devoted considerable effort to busting labor unions.

            The Koch Bros, and all their proxy groups, essentially waged war on working people. Like ‘keeping employees poor made them more obedient’. That’s how dumb it gets. All in the name of ‘libertarian principals’. Like ideology is more important than working people.

            David Koch inherited $300 million in 1967 when he was 27. For years he was known as a New York socialite. It wasn’t until his 50’s that Koch became a discipline of Libertarian principals. And he was only following older brother, Charles, who ran the actual company knowns as “Koch Industries”.

        3. Soros started his career with the Nazis turning in Jews and helping take their property.

          1. That’s a total lie, Alan. I doubt the Jewish community would forget such treachery. But it works for rightwing media.

            1. Peter the history is well written and backed up by a 60 minutes interview that suddenly disappeared but since then reappeared. You can see it for yourself plus you can read about it based on what survivors said. The interview is probably still on the net.

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