rename brand
<div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see morph
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see Leo</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">12/17 retrench rebrand retreat</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">james martin ctr</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">this began as node about success in name and shame forcing an org to "morph"</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">but listening aaron matte reminding me that the trump cand was an exercise in brand boosting [and of course pique) that he never expected to win, remind me on how so much now comes down the branding, memes [and extraction, see Team Human]</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>an 8 23</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> former United States Department of Justice trial attorney under ex-President Bill Clinton <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/22/d-c-attorney-general-is-probing-leonard-leos-network-00112331" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">is probing</a> Republican billionaire and ex-President Donald Trump donor Leonard Leo along with "his network of nonprofit groups," POLITICO exclusively reports.
</span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Washington, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb's investigation comes after the GOP billionaire and Federalist Society leader's trust fund, Marble Freedom Trust's latest Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filing revealed in June Leo's mission to control right-wing politics</span>, <a href="https://www.alternet.org/playing-fast-loose-megadonor-watchdog/" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">according to a Truthout report.</a></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><b>Truthout notes the IRS filing obtained by progressive watchdog Accountable.US "</b>shows the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Federalist Society leader 'has dumped at least $411 million into fueling right-wing infrastructure in the U.S. since mid-2020.'"</span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><strong>POLL: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2022poll-2656328721-2656635245-2657039473-2659450392/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">Should Trump be allowed to hold office again?</a>"</strong></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/22/d-c-attorney-general-is-probing-leonard-leos-network-00112331" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">According to POLITICO</a>, the probe also "comes after <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/01/dark-money-leonard-leo-judicial-activism-00084864" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">POLITICO reported</a> in March that one of Leo's nonprofits — registered as a charity — paid his for-profit company tens of millions of dollars in the two years since he joined the company.'</span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The news outlet notes that "a few weeks later, a progressive watchdog group filed a complaint with the D.C. attorney general and the IRS requesting a probe into what services were provided and whether Leo was in violation of laws against using charities for personal enrichment."</span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">POLITICO <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/22/d-c-attorney-general-is-probing-leonard-leos-network-00112331" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">reports</a>:</p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin-left: 20px;">Best known as Donald Trump's White House 'court whisperer,' Leo played a behind-the-scenes role in the nominations of all three of the former president's Supreme Court justices and promoted them through his multi-billion-dollar network of nonprofits. Trump chose his three Supreme Court picks, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, from a list drawn up by Leo. More recently, Leo was the beneficiary of a $1.6 billion contribution, believed to be the biggest political donation in U.S. history.</p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">"There are questions as to whether Leo-affiliated nonprofits have diverted substantial portions of their income and assets, directly or indirectly, to the personal benefit of Leonard Leo," the <b>Campaign for Accountability</b>'s complaint said. </span>"Such payments were generally listed as made in exchange for alleged consulting, research, public relations, or similar services. However CFA has reasonable questions about whether those alleged services were actually rendered at all or, if services were rendered, whether the payments made were substantially in excess of fair market value."</p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;"><strong>READ MORE: </strong><a href="https://www.alternet.org/playing-fast-loose-megadonor-watchdog/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">How a Republican megadonor is 'playing fast and loose' to push 'dangerous, extreme agenda': watchdog</a></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Per the report, "The news of the investigation comes as the<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> nonprofit that was a subject of the complaint quietly relocated in recent weeks from the capital area to Texas,</span> according to paperwork filed in Virginia and Texas," after "for nearly 20 years the nonprofit, now known as <b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The 85 Fund</b>, had been incorporated in Virginia."</p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">The news outlet <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/22/d-c-attorney-general-is-probing-leonard-leos-network-00112331" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">notes</a>:</p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; margin-left: 20px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Leo-aligned nonprofit <b>The 85 Fund — which is registered as a tax-exempt charity — paid tens of millions of dollars to a public relations firm in Virginia which he co-chairs in the two years since he joined the firm, known as CRC Advisors</b>.</span> The <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23741538-campaign-for-accountability-irs-complaint-leonard-leo-nonprofits" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">watchdog complaint </a>alleges the total amount of money that flowed from Leo-aligned nonprofits to his for-profit firms was <b>$73 million over six years beginning in 2016.</b></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">According to POLITICO, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">attorney David B. Rivkin Jr., who represents the parties in the probe, "said in a statement that the complaint 'is sloppy, deceptive and legally flawed and we are addressing this fully with the DC Attorney General's office.'"</span></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">READ MORE: <a href="https://www.alternet.org/largest-political-donation-ever/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="self" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">'Largest political donation ever': Trump ally received $1.6 billion through Federalist Society contact</a></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Politico's full report is available <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/08/22/d-c-attorney-general-is-probing-leonard-leos-network-00112331" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(11, 13, 101); outline: none; opacity: 1; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;">at this link</a>.</p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-family: Georgia, sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">
</p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font color="#313131" face="Georgia, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 20px;"> HEIDI PRZYBYLA</span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font color="#313131" face="Georgia, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 20px;"><b>08/22/2023 </b></span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font color="#313131" face="Georgia, sans-serif"><span style="font-size: 20px;">Washington </span></font></p><section class="page-contentrow page-contentrow--story" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; z-index: 2; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 84.375rem; border: 0px; padding: 1.875rem 1.875rem 0px;"><div class="container container--story story-layout--fluid-fixed" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; border: 0px; flex-direction: row;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story summary-middle" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 960px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%;"><div class="containerrow containerrow--story story-layout--fixed-fluid" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row; border: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%; margin-top: 0.625rem;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-horizontally" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-direction: column; width: 630px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; margin-top: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%; margin-left: 1.875rem;"><div class="story-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 39.375rem; margin: 0px auto;"><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb is investigating judicial activist Leonard Leo and his network of nonprofit groups, according to a person with direct knowledge of the probe.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">The scope of the investigation is unclear. But it comes after <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/01/dark-money-leonard-leo-judicial-activism-00084864" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="POLITICO reported (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">POLITICO reported</a> in March that one of Leo’s nonprofits — registered as a charity — paid his for-profit company tens of millions of dollars in the two years since he joined the company. A few weeks later, a progressive watchdog group filed a complaint with the D.C. attorney general and the IRS requesting a probe into what services were provided and whether Leo was in violation of laws against using charities for personal enrichment.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">David B. Rivkin Jr., an attorney for the parties in the investigation, said in a statement that the complaint “is sloppy, deceptive and legally flawed and we are addressing this fully with the DC Attorney General’s office.”</p></div></div></div></div><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story hide-under-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 18.75rem; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 1.875rem;" /></div></section><section class="page-contentrow page-contentrow--story main-section" data-content-section="8" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; z-index: 2; margin: 1.875rem auto 0px; max-width: 84.375rem; border: 0px; padding: 0px 1.875rem;"><div class="container container--story story-layout--fixed-fluid" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; border: 0px; flex-direction: row;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-horizontally hide-under-medium" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 18.75rem; border: 0px; min-width: 0px;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 960px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; margin-top: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%; margin-left: 1.875rem;"><div class="containerrow containerrow--story story-layout--fluid-fixed" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex: 1 1 0%;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-horizontally" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-direction: column; width: 630px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%;"><div class="story-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 39.375rem; margin: 0px auto;"><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-0" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">The news of the investigation comes as the nonprofit that was a subject of the complaint quietly relocated in recent weeks from the capital area to Texas, according to paperwork filed in Virginia and Texas. For nearly 20 years the nonprofit, now known as The 85 Fund, had been incorporated in Virginia.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-1" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">Gabe Shoglow-Rubenstein, Schwalb’s communications director, declined to confirm or deny the existence of the probe, including whether the attorney general took any action in response to the complaint.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-2" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><a href="https://oag.dc.gov/about-oag/our-structure-divisions/about-attorney-general" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="Schwalb, who took office in January (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">Schwalb, who took office in January</a>, has a background in tax law and <a href="https://oag.dc.gov/about-oag/our-structure-divisions/about-attorney-general" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="served as a trial attorney (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">served as a trial attorney</a> in the tax division of the Department of Justice under President Bill Clinton.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-3" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">Best known as Donald Trump’s White House “court whisperer,” Leo played a behind-the-scenes role in the nominations of all three of the former president’s Supreme Court justices and promoted them through his multi-billion-dollar network of nonprofits. Trump chose his three Supreme Court picks, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, from a list drawn up by Leo. More recently, Leo was the beneficiary of a $1.6 billion contribution, believed to be the biggest political donation in U.S. history.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-4" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">He is also the co-chair of the Federalist Society, the academic arm of the conservative legal movement, for which he worked in various capacities for decades while building his donor base.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-5" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">While Leo grants few interviews, in mid-July he was featured in a two-part podcast with the Maine Wire, a conservative news organization. Asked why he’s become a “lightening rod for criticism,” Leo cited his commitment to “defend the Constitution” and spoke about the “long history” of dark money in U.S. politics.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-6" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">“It’s not to hide in the shadows,” he said. “It’s because we want ideas judged by their own moral and intellectual force.”</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-7" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">He did not address any allegations of potential misuse of nonprofit tax law.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-8" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">Real estate and other public records illustrate that the lifestyle of Leo and a handful of his allies took a lavish turn in the course of the making of the current ultraconservative court, beginning in 2016, the year he was tapped as an unpaid adviser to Trump. Citing the report, a progressive watchdog group <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-influence/2023/04/06/watchdog-asks-irs-for-probe-of-leo-linked-nonprofits-00090910" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="called on the IRS (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">called on the IRS </a>and D.C. Attorney General a few weeks later to investigate whether the groups may be violating their tax-exempt status by “siphoning” assets or income for personal use.</p></div></div><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-vertically right-zone hide-under-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 18.75rem; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; justify-content: center; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 1.875rem;"><div class="story-enhancement" id="aside-0" data-aside-index="0" style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></div></div></div></div></div></section><section class="page-contentrow page-contentrow--story is-full-width-bleed" data-ad-section="8" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; z-index: 2; margin: 1.875rem auto 0px; max-width: 100%; border: 0px; padding: 0px;"><aside class="story-enhancement" style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></section><section class="page-contentrow page-contentrow--story main-section" data-content-section="20" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; z-index: 2; margin: 1.875rem auto 0px; max-width: 84.375rem; border: 0px; padding: 0px 1.875rem;"><div class="container container--story story-layout--fixed-fluid" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; border: 0px; flex-direction: row;"><span style="width: 18.75rem; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; border-image: initial;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-horizontally hide-under-medium" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 18.75rem; border: 0px; min-width: 0px;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 960px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; margin-top: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%; margin-left: 1.875rem;"><div class="containerrow containerrow--story story-layout--fluid-fixed" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex: 1 1 0%;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-horizontally" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-direction: column; width: 630px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%;"><div class="story-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 39.375rem; margin: 0px auto;"><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-0" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">Anthony Burke, a public affairs specialist with the IRS, declined to comment. “Under the federal tax law, federal employees cannot disclose tax return information,” he said.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-1" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The Leo-aligned nonprofit The 85 Fund </b>— <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">which is registered as a <b>tax-exempt charity</b> — paid tens of millions of dollars to a public relations firm in Virginia which he co-chairs in the two years since he joined the firm, known as <b>CRC Advisors.</b></span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-2" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23741538-campaign-for-accountability-irs-complaint-leonard-leo-nonprofits" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="watchdog complaint (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation;">watchdog complaint </a>alleges the total amount of money that flowed from Leo-aligned nonprofits to his for-profit firms was $73 million over six years beginning in 2016.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-3" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">“There are questions as to whether Leo-affiliated nonprofits have diverted substantial portions of their income and assets, directly or indirectly, to the personal benefit of Leonard Leo,” read the Campaign for Accountability’s complaint.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-4" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">“Such payments were generally listed as made in exchange for alleged consulting, research, public relations, or similar services. However CFA has reasonable questions about whether those alleged services were actually rendered at all or, if services were rendered, whether the payments made were substantially in excess of fair market value,” said the complaint, which covers the period between 2016 and 2020.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-5" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">POLITICO reported that a total of $43 million flowed to Leo’s company over two years and that the </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">bulk of it came from </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The 85 Fund</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">, a nonprofit run by his allies which has spent tens of millions of dollars over the past decade to promote Trump’s Supreme Court picks, file briefs before the court and, more recently, used an alias to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/27/honest-elections-project-conservative-voting-restrictions" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="push for voting restrictions (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation;">push for voting restrictions</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gFW4sb1lps" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="accuse Democrats (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation;">accuse Democrats</a> of cheating in the 2020 election.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-6" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">It is now run by Carrie Severino</span>, an attorney and former clerk for Justice Clarence Thomas</b> listed as director in the group’s most recent IRS paperwork and is collecting massive amounts of anonymous funds: $117 million in 2021.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-7" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">In discontinuing the group in the state of Virginia, the new address Severino listed is a virtual office suite in Fort Worth, Texas, <a href="https://twomenandatruck.com/movers/tx/dallas/fort-worth?utm_source=Google&utm_medium=Organic&utm_campaign=GMB" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="shared by a “Two Men and a Truck” (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">shared by a “Two Men and a Truck” </a>franchise.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> The <a href="https://www.crexi.com/lease/properties/122334/texas-regus-alliance" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="office building (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation;">office building</a> advertises virtual and coworking spaces.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-8" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">Further complicating the picture: in Texas, a new registration for “The 85 Fund” was filed on June 27 under yet <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@32.9330163,-97.2170359,3a,75y,211.75h,84.76t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sYHarrTCYjIMXdU8OtLAbAw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="a different address (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">a different address</a> in a different city than the one listed on the Virginia paperwork.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> It is also registered in Texas as a for-profit entity.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-9" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This location is a UPS store in a strip mall </span>next door to a restaurant called the “Snooty Pig Cafe.” As POLITICO previously reported, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The 85 Fund had been using a UPS drop box in DC’s Georgetown neighborhood as its principal office address.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-10" style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">Beginning in 2016, Leo formed or helped reorganize two for-profit businesses — CRC Advisors and <b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">BH Group </b>— to perform millions of dollars in services for his aligned nonprofits.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " data-content-child-index="0-11" style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In those five years, BH Group brought in $15 million from the nonprofits. Yet </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">unlike CRC, <b>BH Group doesn’t appear to have advertised itself as a consulting or public relations firm, or even have had a website</b>. During some of that time, Leo was employed full-time as a vice president at the nonprofit Federalist Society, raising questions about how he could have reasonably generated millions of dollars in consulting fees at the same time, the complaint says.</span></p></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></section><section class="page-contentrow page-contentrow--story is-full-width-bleed" data-ad-section="20" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; z-index: 2; margin: 1.875rem auto 0px; max-width: 100%; border: 0px; padding: 0px;"><aside class="story-enhancement" style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></section><section class="page-contentrow page-contentrow--story main-section" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; z-index: 2; margin: 1.875rem auto 0px; max-width: 84.375rem; border: 0px; padding: 0px 1.875rem;"><div class="container container--story story-layout--fixed-fluid" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; border: 0px; flex-direction: row;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-horizontally hide-under-medium" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 18.75rem; border: 0px; min-width: 0px;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 960px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; margin-top: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%; margin-left: 1.875rem;"><div class="containerrow containerrow--story story-layout--fluid-fixed" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex: 1 1 0%;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-horizontally" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-direction: column; width: 630px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%;"><div class="story-text" style="box-sizing: border-box; max-width: 39.375rem; margin: 0px auto;"><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The 85 Fund’s switch to the Fort Worth office building came days after POLITICO inquired, on June 30, about certain Leo allies who may have personally benefited from millions in anonymous donations that moved through the 85 Fund over the past decade.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><b>A number of the groups that receive contributions from Leo’s “dark money” network, in turn, hold sizable contracts with his firm, CRC Advisors</b>. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This includes the Federalist Society, the nation’s preeminent conservative debating society where Leo was executive vice president and still serves as co-chairman. Among payments <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23741538-campaign-for-accountability-irs-complaint-leonard-leo-nonprofits" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="the complaint flagged (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation;">the complaint flagged</a> to the IRS and DC attorney general is $3.1 million which the Federalist Society paid to CRC between 2020 and 2021 for “media training.”</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On July 7, a Leo spokesperson offered an initial response to inquiries POLITICO had made about </span><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">The 85 Fund, previously known as the Judicial Education Project.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That was the day paperwork with Severino’s signature was filed “surrendering” The 85 Fund’s charter in Virginia.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">In the paperwork, Severino stated the plan to move to Texas was adopted by a majority of the board of directors on Dec. 8, 2022.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> It has three board members. In addition to Severino, they include treasurer<b> Gary Marx and chair Todd Graves, </b>according to <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23437428-85-fund-990-for-2021" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label="the latest IRS paperwork (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation;">the latest IRS paperwork</a> available.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">It’s not the only major conservative nonprofit to have moved to Texas in recent years. The National Rifle Association, contesting multiple lawsuits from attorneys general in New York state and Washington, D.C., alleging violations of nonprofit law, announced in early 2021 that it would relocate to Texas.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Yael Fuchs, who was a senior lawyer on the New York case against the NRA, said Texas has limited regulation over charities, making it a more attractive legal environment for nonprofits.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">“This gambit isn’t going to deprive the regulator [DC] of jurisdiction over past wrongdoing but it could create some hurdles,” she said. They include complications in gaining injunctive relief or obtaining evidence, “but there are ways of getting over those,” said Fuchs, former head of charities enforcement in the New York attorney general’s office.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><b>It’s also not the first time a Leo-aligned group has shifted operations after media scrutiny.</b></p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A separate Leo-aligned group that appears to have been involved in the 2017 sale of GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway’s company was dissolved last fall,<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/20/dark-money-leonard-leo-00078657" class=" js-tealium-tracking " target="blank" data-tracking="mpos=&mid=&lindex=&lcol=" aria-label=" three days after (opens in a new window)" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 123, 199); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; touch-action: manipulation;"> three days after</a> POLITICO inquired about whether it helped to facilitate the multi-million-dollar deal while she was advising Trump on judicial candidates.</span></p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In his statement,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> <b>Rivkin</b>, the lawyer for the groups targeted in the CFA complaint, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">said CFA was connected to Arabella Advisors, a firm that was founded by former Bill Clinton appointee Eric Kessler</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. Leo has long compared his business practices to those of Arabella.</b></p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px 0px 1.875rem; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;">Both Michelle Kuppersmith, CFA executive director, and Steve Sampson, Arabella spokesperson, said their groups have no financial relationship. However, CFA was originally part of the Hopewell Fund, a nonprofit for which Arabella provides administrative support. CFA spun off from Hopewell in 2017, both groups confirmed.</p><p class="story-textparagraph " style="margin: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 1.125rem; line-height: 1.6;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Arabella is a for-profit company that provides administrative, HR and accounting services to largely philanthropic nonprofits which are largely independently run.</span></p></div></div><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-vertically right-zone hide-under-small" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 18.75rem; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; justify-content: center; margin-top: 0px; margin-left: 1.875rem;"><div class="story-enhancement" id="aside-2" data-aside-index="2" style="box-sizing: border-box;" /></div></div></div></div></div></section><section class="page-contentrow page-contentrow--story below-article-section" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; z-index: 2; margin: 1.875rem auto 0px; max-width: 84.375rem; border: 0px; padding: 0px 1.875rem;"><div class="container container--story story-layout--fixed-fluid" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; border: 0px; flex-direction: row;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-horizontally" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-direction: column; width: 18.75rem; border: 0px; min-width: 0px;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; width: 960px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; margin-top: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%; margin-left: 1.875rem;"><div class="containerrow containerrow--story story-layout--fluid-fixed" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row; flex: 1 1 0%;"><div class="containercolumn containercolumn--story center-horizontally" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-direction: column; width: 630px; border: 0px; min-width: 0px; flex: 1 1 0%; color: rgb(105, 109, 112);"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto;"><aside class="story-enhancement" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="story-tags" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px auto; display: flex;"><ul role="list" aria-label="Filed Under:" class="story-tagslist" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; list-style: none none; font-size: 0.75rem; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: 0.1rem;"><li aria-hidden="true" class="story-tagslist-item title-tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; text-wrap: nowrap; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: 700;">FILED UNDER: </li><li class="story-tagslist-item" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/us-supreme-court" class="" target="top" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">U.S. SUPREME COURT</a>, </li><li class="story-tagslist-item" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.politico.com/tag/u-s-supreme-court" class="" target="top" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">U.S. SUPREME COURT</a>, </li><li class="story-tagslist-item" style="box-sizing: border-box; display: inline; text-wrap: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/federalist-society" class="" target="_top" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; background-color: transparent; touch-action: manipulation;">FEDERALIST SOCIETY</a>,</li></ul><button class="story-tagsmore" aria-label="More Tags" style="touch-action: manipulation; border-radius: 0px; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; margin: 0px 0px 0px 5px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; overflow: visible; appearance: button; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: block; padding: 0px; border-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; cursor: pointer;"><svg class="icon" height="20px" width="20px" viewbox="0 0 20 20" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><path class="st0" d="M10,12c0.8,0,1.5-0.7,1.5-1.5S10.8,9,10,9s-1.5,0.7-1.5,1.5S9.2,12,10,12z M5.5,12C6.3,12,7,11.3,7,10.5
S6.3,9,5.5,9S4,9.7,4,10.5S4.7,12,5.5,12z M14.5,12c0.8,0,1.5-0.7,1.5-1.5S15.3,9,14.5,9S13,9.7,13,10.5S13.7,12,14.5,12z M0,10
c0,5.5,4.5,10,10,10c5.5,0,10-4.5,10-10c0-5.5-4.5-10-10-10C4.5,0,0,4.5,0,10z M16.3,3.6C18,5.3,19,7.6,19,10c0,2.4-0.9,4.7-2.6,6.3
S12.4,19,10,19c-2.4,0-4.7-0.9-6.3-2.6C1.9,14.7,1,12.4,1,10c0-2.4,0.9-4.7,2.6-6.3C5.3,2,7.6,1,10,1C12.4,1,14.6,2,16.3,3.6z" /></svg></button></div></aside></div></div></div></div></div></div></section></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/advertisers-beware-elon-musk-and-linda-yaccarino-are-trying-lure-you-back-rebranding">https://www.mediamatters.org/twitter/advertisers-beware-<b>elon-musk</b>-and-linda-yaccarino-are-trying-lure-you-back-rebranding</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">===</span></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an badash 1 23</font></div><div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">From <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/energy/this-is-toyotas-boldest-ev-rebranding-exercise-yet/2023/01/30/7d1af020-a063-11ed-8b47-9863fda8e494_story.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">electric vehicles</a> to <a href="https://cosmeticsbusiness.com/news/article_page/Avons_boldest_and_most_expensive_rebrand_yet_People_were_saying_it_feels_a_bit_dated/206491" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">cosmetics</a>, and even the word “<a href="https://observer.com/2023/01/museums-rebrand-mummy-as-mummified-persons-to-humanize-egyptian-remains/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">mummy</a>,” there is <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/01/26/the-rise-of-corporate-rebranding" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">a lot of rebranding going on</a>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Bowingto anger from right-wingers and conservative commentators, M&M’s
decided to rebrand the decades-old multi-colored candies after outrage
over its latest addition, purple, and its new “spokescandy,” also named
“Purple.”</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Roughly a year ago, Mars Wrigley updated the look of its <a href="https://www.mars.com/news-and-stories/articles/mms-creating-a-more-inclusive-world" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">M&M’s characters</a>,
announcing an initiative to make the mascots fit a ‘more dynamic,
progressive world.’ As part of these changes, the company introduced new
designs of some of M&M’s characters and <a href="https://twitter.com/kelsaywhat/status/1617576474701357056" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">wrote weirdly elaborate backstories</a> for others. Most notably, the company <a href="https://www.vox.com/the-goods/22893919/green-mms-change-mars-candy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">made the green M&M less ‘sexy’</a> by shortening her legs and replacing her high-heeled boots with sneakers,” Vox Media’s <a href="https://www.polygon.com/23567793/m-and-m-spokescandies-controversy-explained-shoe-change-green-tucker-carlson" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Polygon</a> reported last week.</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox
News personality Tucker Carlson infamously has waged war on the “woke”
spokescandies, declaring at one point, “M&M’s will not be satisfied
until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally
androgynous.”</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Fast forward to now: Actress and comedian Maya
Rudolph is their new spokesperson</b>, although the “spokescandies,” perhaps
after some additional rebranding, will be returning in a new ad on
Super Bowl Sunday.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Which brings us to the rebranding of another icon: Jesus Christ.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He too will be part of the Super Bowl Sunday ads</span>.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/01/trump-aligned-christian-nationalist-group-taps-into-unholy-well-that-threatens-democracy/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Trump-Aligned Christian Nationalist Group ‘Taps Into Unholy Well’ That Threatens Democracy</a></strong></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over
the next three years a $1 billion mostly-dark-money campaign – which
reportedly will include funds from billionaire right wing anti-abortion
and <a href="https://www.advocate.com/religion/2019/3/19/christian-foundation-huge-funder-anti-lgbtq-hate-groups" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">anti-LGBTQ funder</a> <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/?s=%22David+Green%22" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked"><strong>David Green</strong></a>,
the founder of Hobby Lobby – will promote Jesus in ads, including
during the Super Bowl on February 12. Those two Super Bowl ads to “to
redeem Jesus’ brand” will cost $20 million, <a href="https://religionnews.com/2023/01/26/he-gets-us-organizers-hope-to-spend-1-billion-to-promote-jesus-will-anyone-care/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Religion News Service</a> reports.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The
campaign to promote Jesus includes $100 million in ads declaring “He
Gets Us,” from “the Servant Foundation, an Overland Park, Kansas,
nonprofit that does business as <a href="https://thesignatry.com/press/bill-high-fnc/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">The Signatry</a>,” RNS adds.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The
“donors backing the campaign have until recently remained anonymous —
in early 2022, organizers only told Religion News Service that funding
came from ‘like-minded families who desire to see the Jesus of the Bible
represented in today’s culture with the same relevance and impact He
had 2000 years ago.'”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the full list of donors remains unknown.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Jason
Vanderground, president of Haven, a branding firm based in Grand Haven,
Michigan, that is working on the ‘He Gets Us’ campaign, confirmed that
the Greens are one of the major funders, among a variety of donors and
families who have gotten behind it.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">READ MORE: <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/01/pelosi-attack-video-release-leads-to-criticism-of-musk-right-wingers-who-trafficked-in-homophobic-conspiracy-nonsense/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Pelosi Attack Video Release Leads to Criticism of Musk, Right Wingers Who ‘Trafficked in Homophobic Conspiracy Nonsense’</a></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2022/10/12/he-gets-us-christians-jesus/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">Washington Post</a>
interview last year, Vanderground “said Christians see their faith as
the greatest love story, but those outside the faith see Christians as a
hate group.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But rather than try to convince self-identified
followers of Christ to act as Jesus would want, right-wing interests are
spending $1 billion to convince others of what Christianity is supposed
to be about.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Our research shows that many people’s only exposure
to Jesus is through Christians who reflect him imperfectly,</span> and too
often in ways that create a distorted or incomplete picture of his
radical compassion and love for others</b>,” Vanderground told The
Washington Post.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> “We believe it’s more important now than ever for the
real, authentic Jesus to be represented in the public marketplace as he
is in the Bible.”</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some are not impressed, and are more-or-less asking, “What would Jesus do?”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They
are latching on to this touchy-feely, conveniently vague, designer
Jesus,” podcaster, author, and secular activist Seth Andrews told RNS.
Andrews “poses the question of what Jesus would think of the amount of
money spent on the ads. Would he prefer that the money be spent on
ministering to people’s physical needs or making the world a better
place?”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>READ MORE: <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/01/mccarthy-sat-for-an-interview-with-trump-jr-one-bragged-about-an-illegal-act-one-wished-his-dad-would-show-some-love/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">McCarthy Sat for an Interview With Trump Jr. – One Bragged About an ‘Illegal’ Act, One Wished His Dad Would ‘Show Some’ Love</a></strong></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Or would he say, no, go ahead and spend $100 million to tell everybody how great I am?”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On-air,
CNN said, “at first blush, it can all read like a stand against radical
right-wing politics and related divisiveness,” but adds that “some are
calling this a ‘right-wing stunt for politics.'”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“‘He Gets Us’ is
funded by anonymous donors acting through a Kansas non-profit linked to
staunchly conservative causes,” CNN’s report (video below) notes, saying
it “raises alarms for some skeptics.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch CNN’s report below or <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2023/01/1-billion-campaign-from-group-linked-to-staunchly-conservative-causes-will-try-to-redeem-jesus-brand-in-super-bowl-ads/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="rm-stats-tracked">at this link</a>.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=
</font></div><div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/as-charles-koch-cultivates-anti-war-image-koch-industries-profits-from-defense-contracts/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/as-charles-koch-cultivates-anti-war-image-koch-industries-profits-from-defense-contracts/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>As Charles Koch cultivates anti-war image, Koch industries profits from defense contracts</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Kotch / The American Prospect<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>July 26, 2019</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Libertarian billionaire industrialist Charles Koch has gone to great lengths to paint himself as an anti-interventionist. He has funded foreign policy-focused think tanks and university centers such as the conflict-averse Center for the Study of Statesmanship at Catholic University and the Notre Dame International Security Center, which is directed by anti-NATO professor Michael Desch.</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Most recently, he teamed up with an extremely unlikely ally, liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros, to found the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. The Charles Koch Foundation and Soros’ Open Society Foundations each contributed $500,000 to help found the Quincy Institute, which will open in September, along with $800,000 from other donors.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Political leaders have increasingly deployed the military in a costly, counterproductive, and indiscriminate manner, normalizing war and treating armed dominance as an end in itself,</b>” reads the institute’s website. “The Quincy Institute is an action-oriented think tank that will lay the foundation for a new foreign policy centered on diplomatic engagement and military restraint.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But Koch Industries, the giant oil, chemical, paper, and electronics conglomerate owned and led by Koch, has been cashing in on Department of Defense contracts. Since 2016, two Koch Industries subsidiaries have gotten federal contracts worth a total of close to $2.3 million to provide the Navy with circuit boards</b>for its ships, according to Sludge’s review of federal contract data from the Federal Procurement Data System.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Navy spokesperson told Sludge that “circuit boards are used in a variety of ships, submarines and aircraft” but declined to provide additional details regarding the use of the Koch subsidiaries’ electronics.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The two most recent contracts, which total nearly $500,000, went to Camarillo, California-based Interconnect Systems, which Koch Industries subsidiary Molex acquired in 2016. Naval Surface Warfare Systems Crane, a Navy office with a mission “to provide acquisition engineering, in-service engineering and technical support for sensors, electronics, electronic warfare and special warfare weapons,” initiated a $247,350 contract with Interconnect Systems in March 2019 for “digital signal processing computer card[s].” The company had signed a similar contract in September 2018 with NSWS Crane for $243,950.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Interconnect Systems scored a $1 million contract for circuit cards in July 2018 from the Defense Logistics Agency’s (DLA) maritime facility in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. DLA Land and Maritime “manages the supply chain for ground-based and maritime weapons systems repair parts, small arms parts, and fluid-handling systems.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nallatech, a subsidiary of Interconnect Systems, has gotten close to $247,000 worth of Navy contracts since 2016. The majority of that money came from NSWC Crane, but some came from the NAVSUP Weapons Support Systems agency, which supports naval weapons systems. NSWC Crane gave Nallatech its largest contract, for $147,000 worth of hybrid processors, in September 2017.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since 2016, Interconnect Systems and its subsidiary, Nallatech, have gotten $2,260,000 worth of Defense contracts.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Nallatech, which last year integrated with Molex subsidiary BittWare, has received over $617,000 worth of Defense contracts since 2008, the year it was acquired by Interconnect Systems, according to usaspending.gov. The company advertises military and aerospace products such as radar systems for manned and unmanned vehicles that “provide unprecedented situational awareness and target coordination,” as well as a “ballistic digitizer.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Molex, an Illinois-based manufacturer of electrical connectors, provides parts for a number of industries. In its defense section, the Molex website lists products for use in unmanned vehicles, missiles, and ground vehicles.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Koch Industries, the Quincy Institute, the Charles Koch Foundation, and Open Society Foundations did not respond to requests for comment.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More Navy Connections</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A partially Koch-funded foreign policy center at a California state university is also involved with the Navy.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The University of California at San Diego’s Center for Peace and Security Studies</b> got a $3.3 million multi-year grant from the Charles Koch Foundation in 2017, its second year of existence.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’re excited about U.C. San Diego and its scholars’ work to better understand emerging issues in security studies and their implications for U.S. foreign policy,” said Charles Koch Foundation Vice President for Research William Ruger in a university news story. Ruger, an Afghanistan war veteran, is in the Navy Reserve.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Center for Peace and Security Studies also gets funding from the Office of Naval Research’s Minerva Research Initiative. Its current grant, covering 2014-19, is called “Deterrence with Proxies.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The center’s website describes its work on military automation. “Technologies that supplant human labor in battle—such as UAVs (drones) and ground combat robots—lower military labor costs and limit political risks associated with friendly casualties. The tendency should thus be for military automation to increase the scope of threats or uses of force by the most advanced economies, geographically and in terms of the issues in dispute.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>UCSD has a long and lucrative relationship with the Navy;</b> the Navy’s Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, which works with the defense industry to create new weapons systems, has been headquartered at the university since 1997. Since 1981, UCSD has raked in nearly $250 million from Navy contracts, according to data from the Federal Procurement Data Service.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political science professor Erik Gartzke, a former Army and Navy officer who runs the Center for Peace and Security Studies, has written papers about “costless combat” drones.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Meanwhile, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Koch-backed corporate bill mill, supported domestic drone use through its proposed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle program.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘The Case for Private Defense’</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Charles Koch’s anti-interventionist posturing is more clearly understood through his decades-long support of anarcho-capitalist scholars who have developed and championed the call to privatize police and military defense,” said Ralph Wilson, co-founder of the Corporate Genome Project and former research director of activist group UnKoch My Campus.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Koch’s political views are shaped by the Austrian School of economics, which advocates unfettered free markets and small governments. One prominent right-wing think tank that has promoted these concepts is the <b>Mises Institute, </b>which was established in 1982 and is named after one of the 20th century’s leading Austrian economists, Ludwig von Mises.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The late Murray Rothbard, Mises’ close associate and vice president of academic affairs at the Mises Institute for 13 years, argued against the state entirely and advocated a privatized military and police force.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Like Rothbard, Mises Institute senior fellow Hans-Hermann Hoppe supports fully privatized security. In a paper first published by the Mises Institute in 1998, Hoppe argues that “collective security is a myth that provides no justification for the modern state, [and] all security is and must be private.”</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a 2002 essay, republished by the Mises Institute in 2010, Mises Institute fellow Robert Murphy made the case for privatized defense. Since then, he has continued to speak on the issue; Murphy held a session called “The Market for Military Defense” at this month’s “Mises University,” an annual free-market-economics boot camp.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Murphy owes much of his career to the generosity of Koch;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> he’s a research assistant professor at Texas Tech’s Free Market Institute, which is heavily funded by the Charles Koch Foundation (but also, ironically, gets substantial funding from the state government); a senior economist at the Institute for Energy Research, which Koch helped found and which has received funding from the three Koch family nonprofits; and a research fellow at the Independent Institute, which has scored grants from two Koch foundations.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rothbard and Koch co-founded the libertarian Cato Institute in 1977 but had a falling out in the early 1980s. Still, their spheres continue to intersect, as several other current Mises Institute associates teach in university programs also funded by the Charles Koch Foundation.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font style="" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Just Another Rebrand?</b></font></div><div style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Koch family has struggled with image problems for some time. Koch, along with his younger brother, David, has helmed a libertarian-minded political operation for decades, which has helped propel conservative Republicans to state and national office, and helped to found the Tea Party. Koch Industries is one of the country’s biggest polluters and has had to pay over $800 million in fines for environmental, labor, workplace, and other violations.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Because of their poor reputations, Koch Industries and Koch’s political network have undergone a series of rebrands, including Koch’s newest incarnation as a philanthropist who works with both parties to<b> reform the criminal justice system and restrain America’s forever wars. </b>For several years now, Koch has compared himself and his network of wealthy conservative donors to civil rights heroes such as Frederick Douglass and Martin Luther King.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But critics say these recent initiatives are largely distractions from Koch’s core mission, which he has always followed: to cut taxes and slash regulations in order to maximize Koch Industries’ profits.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Koch Industries has consistently chosen corporatism and profit over their own ‘principled’ libertarianism, whether contracting with the U.S. military or accepting over half a billion dollars in local, state, and federal subsidies,” Wilson told Sludge.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Koch will likely continue to fund think tanks focused on preventing wars, but his company’s simultaneous role in the military-industrial complex should not be overlooked.</font></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div>