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Governor’s Worker Union Ends Support of United Negro College Fund Over Koch Brother’s Gift


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After the United Negro College Fund accepted a $25 million grant from Koch Brothers, Inc and the Charles Koch Foundation, The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) sent a letter to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) yesterday ending their relationship. This includes a paid internship program.

In the letter, AFSCME President Lee Saunders condemned the action as “not only deeply hostile to the rights and dignity of public employees, but also a profound betrayal of the ideals of the civil rights movement.”

He further accused the Koch Brothers of being “the single most prominent funders of efforts to prevent African Americans from voting”.

Needless to say, these accusations are outrageous. A rational view would show that the Koch Brothers support for organizations that enhance individual responsibility and free-market solutions for education and poverty is far superior to the AFSCME policies of cronyisn and increasing the welfare state.

UNCF President Michael Lomax responded with this statement: “While I am saddened by AFSCME’s decision, it will not distract us from our mission of helping thousands of African American students achieve their dream of a college degree and the economic benefits that come with it,”

The $25 million will create a “Koch Scholars” program. In comparison, a AFSCME spokesman noted that the union donates $50,000 to $60,000 a year for scholarships and “hundreds of thousands” of dollars annually.

The libertarian-leaning Koch Brothers have been routinely vilified on the Left. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid declared in February that “These two brothers are about as un-American as anyone that I can imagine.”

You can take a look at the Koch Brother’s Foundation charitable information here. They have have pledged or contributed $1.2 billion in donations for medical and cancer research, education and science, arts and culture, and public policy.

As for the ASFCME, a politically-correct hit job “is a terrible thing to waste”

The Halbig Obamacare Case


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The next big case related to Obamacare, Halbig v. Burwell, is sitting in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The verdict should be announced soon. The crux of the case lies in the wording of the actual bill of Obamacare, which specifically lists state exchanges as a source of subsidies.

There is no mention of federal exchanges in Obamacare. This was created merely by an IRS rule authorizing the subsidies in federal exchanges.

Regardless of the outcome of the case (for a primer, click here), here’s the salient point to take away.

When you look at the plain wording of the actual bill, it really doesn’t make any sense (common sense). Here we have a perfect example of the Democrats trying — and ultimately succeeding — to push something through without looking at it or even carefully thinking through the implications of the words and provisions.

Obamacare was drafted badly, and they couldn’t even get it corrected the proper way because of the crookedness by which it was passed. Now we have a stupid mistake that the judiciary is being asked to fix. And that’s the problem.

What the government is asking the courts to do is to ignore the literal wording of the law. On the other hand, if the literal wording is indeed upheld, the immediate effect of a reversal is going to be extremely terrible.

Think about it. The IRS will have to go after people for refunds of tax credits. That will be a messy and slow and heated endeavor. Many people, especially poor people, are going to argue that they wouldn’t have used Obamacare insurance if it wasn’t for the subsidies. Not sure if that scenario is ultimately good for conservative or libertarians either, because it certainly sets up the sound-byte narratives that conservatives and libertarians want to “take away your health care”, “they hate the poor, etc”. Is it worth it?

My heart of hearts wants literal side to win, but at the same time, I’m not entirely convinced that its the best thing in the long run. Yet, if the government wins, it reinforces the precedent we’ve been seeing that it is okay to ignore the actual wording of the law, much in the same fashion that the wording of the Constitution is being ignored in some instances.

This case perfectly highlights the stupidity and utter disdain for which the Democrats have of procedure and law.