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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

The authors compliment Koch for grant agreement disclosure. Considering the ugly history, this is lol-able. #Koch was forced into (limited) disclosure after its corrupt influence on faculty hiring & curriculum was exposed: www.nytimes.com/2018/05/05/u... publicintegrity.org/politics/koc...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

AEI donor disclosure fail: Soros gives "slightly more than half of the foundation money to Bard College" ... AEI's data also shows Charles Koch's foundations giving 64% of GMU's funding. AEI gets many millions of dollars from Koch, where authors of this @insidehighered.com op-ed work.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

This is how Fox News attempts to Goebbels the Trump/Epstein news: crime & racist headlines up top, then Clinton/Epstein waaaaay below the fold. And then, a tiny podcast link at the very very bottom, obscured by the much larger "We Don't Deserve Trump." Exactly. Nobody deserves a pedo president.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

Did you know I make music? UNIVERSE COMPLETE is on Bandcamp & all streaming platforms! linktr.ee/UniverseComp... It's a gritty #desertrock album written, performed, recorded, mixed & mastered by Chas Storrow + me. Teaser vid shows the "studio" we recorded in. #music #rock #taos #denver

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

*checks notes* Charles Koch's groups gave $1.6 million to the Alliance Defending Freedom from 2020 - 2023. ADF is egregiously hateful. Mr. Mild Midwestern Manners is comfy with white christian supremacy. @yessfun.com & @emorwee.bsky.social have moar here

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

@tesla-takedown.bsky.social relevant: Musk/DOGE is basically doing what the Koch bros attempted for decades: abolish most federal agencies, reduce the government to a "night watchman" to protect the property of the rich. newrepublic.com/article/1548... www.emporiagazette.com/opinion/edit...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

Meanwhile, Chase Koch is dancing on stage with Aloe Blacc on Good Morning America and taking photos with Killer Mike, earning favorable press. The Koch nonprofits that predominantly focus on real charity (no overlap with their policy/politics) is 4.5% of their total spending. 4.5 / 100 is charity.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

#Koch nonprofit money becomes for-profit revenue: Koch's "Stand Together Communications" was paid $345M in contracts by Koch nonprofits since 2018. $107M of that was paid in 2023. Most of these entities share the same office building in Arlington, VA.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

"net" = the total after accounting for $715 million Koch orgs spent between themselves. So the gross spending total exceeded $1.5 billion in 2023. This is the figure you get if you simply total the expenses disclosed on IRS and FEC records. Screenshot here with some of the nerdy data:

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

Thanks @andrawatkins.bsky.social for having me on for this conversation about the dishonest "debanking" crusade: open.substack.com/pub/andrawat... with @shaynaolesiuk.bsky.social, who detailed how the trend overshadows actual problems of discrimination in banking. #debanking #climate #uspolitics

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 19/03/2025

www.trialmonitors.org/statement-of...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

The "justice" system at work here against my former employer @greenpeaceusa.bsky.social. Many have reported on the problematic jury selection, likely to sympathize with the polluter Energy Transfer. northdakotamonitor.com/2025/03/05/n... #WeWillNotBeSilenced #ImWithGreenpeace Stop #BigOilBullies

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

It's worse to see Killer Mike doubling down with the Koch family. He's aware of the criticism: www.thefader.com/2023/12/08/r... Charles Koch worked for John Birch Society during the US Civil Rights movement, stole oil from the Osage tribe, etc...FFS. Mike with Charles Koch's wife & son:

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Here's a piece by Kors in 1999, the year he founded the FIRE. IMO, it has some classic white supremacist dog whistles about defending "Western Civilization" from "barbarians at the gates" aka "multiculturalists" ... as cited in the book: phillysoc.org/kors-did-wes...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

FIRE was set up by Alan Kors, while he was affiliated with Charles Koch's Institute for Humane Studies. As detailed in the book "Free Speech and Koch Money" by Ralph Wilson and Isaac Kamola:

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 14/03/2025

Note the FIRE's rules about civil disobedience...attempting to be the arbiters of protest conduct, and portraying anti-genocide activists as particularly violent. The FIRE was silent about the hate crime that got Jonathan Yudelman canned at Arizona State, I'll note. None of this is surprising...🧵

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

Tax cuts were the "top" priority for KochWorld, a victory: theintercept.com/2018/02/25/k... Their game plan: theintercept.com/2017/07/26/k... These policies involved Congress as much as Trump. Many (most?) of Trump's sycophants on The Hill are longtime beneficiaries of Koch PAC / AFP Super PAC $$$

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

The lying entertainer, soon to be our president again, is happy to take Koch's help & talent when it suits him. His last cabinet had dozens of Koch people in it. @publiccitizen.bsky.social: www.citizen.org/news/trumps-...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 24/12/2024

ChatGPT drafting concept images for an upcoming music project. Not quite right, but close. Universe Complete. Album out early 2025. Written, performed, recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by two childhood friends from a rural VT town who reconnected in the desert west in our 30’s.

AI-generated image of two men holding guitars walking on an alien planet, silhouetted by a rising star. The landscape features desert cliffs and monuments, and the dim dawn sky features a galaxy and a nearby planet. The image is a concept for an upcoming musical album, the debut project of a new band called Universe Complete. The album will be released in early 2025.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

Explosive details confirmed in this @reuters.com investigation @raphae.li: DCI group was involved in (indirectly) hiring hackers and leaking hacked documents to interfere with climate denial lawsuits against ExxonMobil. DCI shared the info with Exxon before leaking it. Exxon paid DCI $10M / year

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

It's cool you noticed this. Thanks for reading the report! I wanted to mention this letter from Blundell to Koch, but these threads were already way too yuge. Here's the letter, another great find by the Corporate Genome Project.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Ultimately, they wanted to kill off the EPA's "endangerment finding," in order to preclude any efforts to limits greenhouse gas emissions. William Happer of the Koch-funded CO2 Coalition was involved, and he's talking about it again. @scottpwaldman.bsky.social: www.science.org/content/arti...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Many other Koch-funded organization opposed the BBB package: Alliance Defending Freedom, American Energy Alliance, ALEC, CEI, Goldwater Institute, Heritage [Action], Independent Women’s Forum, Texas Public Policy Foundation...among others: atr.org/sites/defaul...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Press releases indicate that Koch's AFP spent at least $12 million dollars advertising against the "Build Back Better" legislative package, and then against the Inflation Reduction Act compromise. This large expenditure represents several waves of ads that AFP announced:

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

...and the articles are syndicated. The one above was cross-published by the Daily Signal, which is operated by the Koch-funded Heritage Foundation. Heritage has received millions of dollars from Koch foundations. It is unclear if Stossel Productions received any financing from Koch since 2019.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Again, groups in the Koch-founded, Koch-funded, Koch-controlled Stand Together network were involved in the litigation targeting the Chevron doctrine: www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/c... www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

SCOTUS dealt Koch another big win this year, dismantling the "Chevron doctrine," as explained by @zteirstein.bsky.social @gristnews.bsky.social @coveringclimatenow.org: www.sierraclub.org/sierra/supre...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Egged on by amicus briefs filed by AFP + other Koch-funded orgs, SCOUS has restricted the EPA's ability to limit greenhouse gas emissions. As @fastlerner.bsky.social reported: theintercept.com/2022/06/30/s...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

This is significant. Many reporters were suckered into a distracting Koch vs. Trump narrative, as @juddlegum.bsky.social and others have dissected: popular.info/p/how-koch-m... "We’ve made more progress in the last five years than I had in the previous 50," Charles Koch said in 2018.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

The document was meant to impress the many other wealthy donors assembled by Charles Koch, who coordinated their money around specific causes & candidates. The long list of achievements included progress on repealing the Clean Power Plan, and withdrawing from Paris Climate Agreement.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

I'm skipping many examples. @alanzibel.bsky.social did a great report @publiccitizen.bsky.social tracking 44 people in the Trump admin w connections to Koch, as of Nov. 2017: www.citizen.org/news/44-trum... These pages summarize several key people, and early victories they delivered to Koch:

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

It's late 2016, Trump won the election. Many Koch folk helped with Trump's transition, led by Mike Pence, a favorite in the Koch donor network. @kenvogel.bsky.social: www.politico.com/story/2016/1... AFP chair Frayda Levin was amazed by their influence. David Koch attended Trump's victory party.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

I'm gonna skim over the rest 2010-2016 real quick. One of AFP's top targets was the "Clean Power Plan," established by the Obama EPA to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Via @nrdc-org.bsky.social: www.nrdc.org/bio/aliya-ha... Amongst other activity: www.desmog.com/americans-fo...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Inhofe noted his ongoing relationship with Charles and David Koch's organization in his home state of OK. AFP gave him its "top award," as he put it. As a Senator, Inhofe received $111,150 from Koch Industries’ PAC & employees, second only to Lockheed Martin. www.opensecrets.org/members-of-c...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

AFP's featured speaker in Cancún was Senator James Inhofe (R-OK - now deceased). Inhofe was known for being the most committed climate change denier in modern US politics. He wrote "The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

As 2010 wound to a close. AFP took its "Hot Air Tour" to Cancún, Mexico to lampoon the "bureaucrats gone wild" at COP16, the UN climate change summit AFP's president Tim Phillips attended. So did some Tea Party activists. At least one was turned off by AFP: www.theday.com/op-ed/201101...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Summarizing 2009-2010: *Koch secretly funded ACCF/NAM study + Willie Soon's research. *Much "Climategate" hysteria from Koch, Cato, CEI, AFP *Koch lobbyists plotted against the national climate bill. *AFP used "No Climate Tax" pledge and held 80+ events opposing climate legislation, which died.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Soon's research on polar bears contradicted previous research by many scientists about the threats to bear populations from climate change. Unlike Soon, they specialized in conservation biology. news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science... www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5931051 www.spiegel.de/internationa...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Koch previously granted $110,000 for Soon's research in 2005-2007. In short, Soon concluded that polar bears aren't threatened by global warming. As @greenpeaceusa.bsky.social summarized in 2010 and 2015:

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Koch supported Soon's research that (conveniently) found the sun was responsible for global warming, rather than fossil fuels. Very few scientists continued to assert this debunked argument, at the time. See @skepticalscience.bsky.social page from 2010: web.archive.org/web/20101224...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

In 2009 + 2010, the Charles Koch Foundation gave grants in the amounts of $65k + $55k to the Smithsonian's Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, MA. Years later, it was revealed that an aerospace engineer, and prominent climate science denier Willie Soon was the recipient of these grants.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Koch eventually added text about the scandal to its web page on climate sometime between March 25 and June 25, 2010: web.archive.org/web/20100625... The updated text linked to a Weekly Standard article by Steven Hayward, affiliated w many Koch-funded groups: www.desmog.com/steven-f-hay...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

CEI was another group that feverishly promoted the controversy. You might remember from earlier in this thread that 2009 was the year David Koch gave a hidden $100,000 payment to CEI: bsky.app/profile/gras... That could just be a coincidence, I don't know.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Greenpeace's 2010 Koch report found at least 20 Koch-funded organizations amplified the controversy. During a live webcast from Copenhagen, AFP's Steve Lonegan proclaimed global warming was the "biggest hoax the world has ever seen." The video is now offline: web.archive.org/web/20091213...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

People at Koch-funded groups had a field day. (Many were Cooler Heads Coalition affiliates, if you remember that far back in this thread). The scandal jumped from climate deniers to mainstream news as @leefang.bsky.social's old skool ThinkProgress post showed: web.archive.org/web/20100825...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Moving on... Did Koch grants to the Cato Institute ($250k annually, at the time) support this expensive 2009 newspaper ad campaign?? More from @gristnews.bsky.social, @realclimate.org & PolitiFact: grist.org/politics/200... www.realclimate.org/index.php/ar... www.politifact.com/factchecks/2...

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

As the @greenpeaceusa.bsky.social 2010 Koch report found, NAM & ACCF previously published similar reports on other climate bills. More ACCF/NAM reports appeared in subsequent years. @desmog.bsky.social: www.desmog.com/2019/08/19/k... Koch granted steadily to ACCF in those years...just sayin'.

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

The 2010 Koch climate page I mentioned a couple times linked to the NAM/ACCF report: web.archive.org/web/20100110... (So did Koch fund other efforts on that page? Likely SPPI, as I detailed above)

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

The study was published by the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) + National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in August, 2009. The ACCF version claimed affiliation w the Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), which had to clarify...no. h/t @milesgrant.bsky.social again:

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Connor Gibson @grassrootbeer.bsky.social · 20/11/2024

Koch's strategy involved lobbying, of course, and the AFP "No Climate Tax" pledge. Koch also secretly funded a dubious study to exaggerate the climate bill's supposed costs. (Yet another Kochland reveal--images). See @milesgrant.bsky.social article @gristnews.bsky.social: grist.org/politics/200...

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