Sigh. Providing funding for the common defense is a Constitutionally mandated function of the Federal government. Providing funding for speech is NOT.

In fact, doing so is a basic violation of the reasons for the First Amendment – because speech that the Federal government does not like can be effectively suppressed by refusing to fund it. (This is not the case for PBS, as the Federal funding is only a small part of their finances – but the threat is always there for any government funded outlet, whether it is a Left or Right wing administration pressuring them to conform.)

I would be absolutely opposed to the Federal government (or, indeed, any government) funding NRA TV – and they should not be funding PBS or NPR, either, regardless of their political bias.

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About the IRS allegation, I think it was about inappropriate screening of political groups in general, and not about specific partisan groups.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRS_targeting_controversy
(although certain groups felt the brunt of this rule, there is no reason to suspect that they were targeted).

About tax evasion and high tech companies, you’ll find no disagreement from me though.

Trump proposed elimination of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting while rapidly increasing defense spending in his recent budget. This is a “shoot for the stars” opening bid in negotiating, but still it’s amazing to think that PBS should be a bargaining chip for anything. It’s almost as if that budget were a big document to troll liberals.

A reader of one of James Fallows’ columns coined the word “kleptofascism” to describe the Trump presidency. I try to avoid political buzzwords, but I think that is a fair characterization of appointment of officials whose only qualification seems to be that they are rich and ideologically opposed to the mission of the department they are supposed to run and stand to benefit financially from doing so.

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And where did you develop these mad ideas?

“We’re led by a loathsome would-be dictator, and the sooner we can impeach Trump—don’t get your hopes up under the spineless Republican Congress—the better off we’ll all be.”

The proto-dictorial government abuses took place under Obama, who brought Chicago-machine politics to the federal government. It’s why Chicago is so corrupt. it’s what reforming the city is impossible. Criticize City Hall, and all of a sudden a host of city agencies descend on you, looking for ways to prosecute and fine you. That’s why the Obama administration used the IRS to crush conservative, pro-life, and pro-Israel non-profits.

During Election 2016, I wondered why so much effort was being devoted to pull out all the stops to elect Hillary. I now see. Her only talent is covering up corruption and there’s a heck of a lot of it. What’s starting to leak out now makes Watergate look like a church picnic.

And why the Koch brothers? Read Charles Koch’s Good Profit, describing his business practices, and compare it the tax evasion and contempt for the law being demonstrated by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google in Scott Galloway’s The Four. You’ll discover tax evasion on a massive scale.

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