text: Beware of Greeks Bearing Gifts, Someone Dolefully Said -
  Yesterday it was casually announced that NFL Hall of Famer, Deion Sanders, in partnership with the Koch brothers' political arms, will create a funnel to provide economic and other assistance to the poor in Dallas, Texas. The photos linked to the release, together with crafted statements could not honey-me-up more. Who would find fault with charitable aid to the poor? But, before I open my door a crack to assure myself that the aid offered, is what it purports to be, particularly from the Kochs, I ought to examine the source of the help and motivations.
  The channel selected is Deion Sanders's company PrimeTime, an entertainment business. The company plans to ameliorate the poor's lot by targeting what they believe are the five forces that are the roots of poverty:
  1. Joblessness 2. Educational failure 3. Addiction 4. Personal debt
  5. Breakdown of the family
  That the five drivers identified are easily debunked, in terms of priorities and causation, are not the focus here. I am more concerned with the political issues and aspirations of the seemingly secretive donor group.
  Were the Kochs and the wealthy interested in helping the jobless poor in Dallas, somewhere among the five drivers will have been minor criminal records being used to screen citizens out, making them unemployable for jobs the applicants are quite qualified to do. Mr. Sanders, being of the African American community ought to have included help to deal with a criminal justice system that is the number one contributor to family breakdown in the African American community. It also concerns me that the second stratagem is the Educational failure, rather than equality of educational opportunity. So sorry that I cannot address more, but with the drivers heading off the cliff, at least they were warned.
  Even as the aid announcement was made, conservative Republicans in the Koch networks of political action were upset that the cuts to Medicaid are not deep enough. Tim Phillips, head of Americans for Prosperity chose his words carefully in describing the devastating eliminations as "nip and tuck" ACA (Obamacare) He deemed it "immoral" that the cuts are so slight. Strange, when considering that the same people that he and Sanders want to help are Medicaid recipients. But Sanders, who ran his Charter School into financial insolvency, found the words to laud the Kochs as a being a nice family whose only desire is to help the country. He opined that the Kochs are unfairly criticized. I can't help a digression to the eleven African-American pastors that willingly appeared as a group at a Trump rally, for the single purpose of attesting that Trump is not racists. I wail.
  Mr. Sanders appears to be a person eager to do good and genuinely set out to help others –the poor and those not as gifted as himself. He should be commended for trying. He might be encouraged to get involved in projects that he has at least a rudimentary knowledge of their functioning. A big heart is not necessarily a success requisite. In fact, as the frog that agreed to help a stranded scorpion cross the river discovered, the big heart, if not discerning, can be a useful fool. The Kochs are interested in power, not people.
  This is power harnessed and managed by the Koch brothers and should frighten every American. The Koch political network is among the most influential in the nation. They have bigger budgets and more staff than the entire GOP national networks. They are the dreaded cat that GOP mice in the three branches of government have to appease……always. Absolutely!
  With the objectives of appointing public officials from top to bottom in federal, state and municipal governments, and shaming influence on the Supreme Court, what would be there to stop them implementing any whim? On a larger scale, when the Citizens' bread is on the end of a string held by the Kochs, are they not Kings? If they feed you, they own you and your family.
  So, Deion Sanders and others who readily attribute benign purposes to the Kochs, know this -the Trojans were as comfortable as you when someone agreed it was a marvelous idea to have the Wooden Horse, brought in.
  Posted in Agency Development, citizen activism, criminal justice, education, Government Administration, Koch Brothers, Citizens United, Americans for Prosperity, Focus on the Family, DNC, labor rights, Race, Trump, Trump's fascist GOP.