The Great Orange Smoke Screen The front pages of any major news outlet, online or otherwise, are full of news of Donald Trump and the corrupt, inept-yet-frighteningly-effective cabal of criminals that make up his administration and circle of advisors. Nearly 40 people tied to him, his administration, his inauguration, and his campaign have been indicted and more are sure to […]

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This past week, corporatists ticked off a major agenda when the United States Supreme Court decided in their favor in the Janus v. AFSCME case. With this decision, SCOTUS has turned America into a “Right to Freeload” country. Will Swaim, president of the California Policy Center, an affiliate of the Koch brothers State Policy Network (SPN), celebrated the decision to […]

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Long-term readers of this site probably know about the State Policy Network (SPN). This is the Koch brothers-funded network of state-based “think tanks” used to spread anti-worker, pro-corporate propaganda with the goal of changing policy and laws in states to favor businesses and to harm the positions of workers. Working with the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Americans for Prosperity, […]

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The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a Koch brothers-funded group that churns out pro-business model legislation for state legislators, has been incredibly effective at impacting policy at the state level. A recent study shows just how effective they have been: Building on research I am conducting with Konstantin Kashin, I used text analysis of ALEC’s model legislation, along with all […]

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The Koch brothers are in the news a lot these days. Yeah, they are written about IN news stories, of course. But that’s not what I’m talking about. The Koch brothers are in the news by actually creating the news in a way that promotes their own corporatist ideology that anything that is good for private corporations is good. Period. […]

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A web of money, power, and deception Earlier this year, I wrote about Lee Fang’s important piece in The Nation magazine titled “The Right Leans In”. In that piece, Fang detailed the pervasive influence of the corporatist network called the State Policy Network (SPN) in shaping public policy in states throughout the country. Funded heavily by corporate interests and wealthy […]

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Rewriting history to blame unions for Detroit’s crisis is offensive and ludicrous

As I announced earlier this year at the Netroots Nation conference in San Jose, California, in 2013 the conference will be held at the Cobo Center in downtown Detroit. This will be an incredible shot in the arm for the city as thousands of progressive organizers and organizations come to Detroit for several days to share ideas and strengthen their relationships. It will also be a tremendously energizing moment for the many Democratic campaigns that will be in full swing next summer as we head into the final months of the 2014 election cycle.

This clearly has corporatist, Republican-supporting groups freaked out. They want to keep Michigan in the hands of their well-funded Republican legislators for as long as possible and the thought of losing the House or, even worse, having corporatist poster child Rick Snyder removed from office must give them cold sweats at night.

As part of their response, the Virginia-based Koch brothers front group the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity wrote an opinion piece for the Detroit News titled “Netroots nation comes home to the unions’ roost”.

Click through where I unpack the myriad lies and the blatant anti-union propaganda in this offensive op-ed.

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“Chalk one up for the good guys”

Last week, I posted a piece titled “Lee Fang exposes the State Policy Network & corporate domination of public policy”. In that piece, I wrote about The Nation journalist and investigative reporter Lee Fang’s work to show how the State Policy Network (SPN) was waging a multi-pronged war to influence legislation, policy and public opinion at the state level across the country. One of the things that Fang reveals is that SPN affiliates have started their own wire services to bring their skewed version of the news to readers all over America. Here in Michigan, SPN affiliate Mackinac Center for Public Policy has done just that.

Thanks to my pals at Progress Michigan, however, today SPN and Mackinac Center lost a round in the battle to sway public opinion and government policy.

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It’s much worse than you think

I was recently contacted by journalist Lee Fang and asked to review his new book The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right. I received the book yesterday and hope to have a full review out in the next couple of weeks.

As a lead-up to the April 24th release of his book, Fang has published a stunning piece at The Nation titled “The Right Leans In”. I call it stunning because it shows just how much power the corporate-funded right has amassed in shaping public policy in America, operating primarily at the state level. If you thought our biggest problem was the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), you are quite wrong. ALEC is simply one piece of an intricate network formed to push the conservative agenda and turn it into laws and public policy across the country. Fang’s piece is essential reading for every progressive in the country.

Click through for much more.

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