Charles and David Koch, owners of Koch Industries, are looking into the purchase of the Tribune Company; a media conglomerate that owns the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. Given the Koch brothers’ extensive funding of right-wing causes the news that they were interested in buying one of America’s most powerful media companies was concerning [...]

MADISON, WI (FDL) – In the Capitol Rotunda, virtually everyone is talking about the release of the prank phone call from “David Koch” to Scott Walker. “I love when people get tripped up by their own words,” said one protester, a former Wisconsinite who drove down from Minneapolis to be at the Capitol. An older [...]

MADISON, WI (FDL) – I’ve explained the mechanics of the State Senate and Assembly votes, and the atmosphere inside the occupied Capitol. Now let’s turn to the politics, which have gotten very interesting over the past 24 hours. The prank phone call to Gov. Scott Walker by a man pretending to be billionaire industrialist David [...]

This is priceless. Ian Murphy of Buffalo Beast (the site appears to be down at the moment, but twolf1 has posted both videos on MyFDL) called up Gov. Scott Walker, posing as wealthy industrialist and campaign donor David Koch. They had a 20-minute chat. Here’s an excerpt: Koch: We’ll back you any way we can. [...]

Lee Fang adds an interesting detail to my story on yesterday’s Koch Brothers protest in Rancho Mirage. Riverside County Sheriff spokeswoman Melissa Nieburger told me that the city of Rancho Mirage contracts its police force from the county sheriff. What I didn’t know is that the sheriff’s department covered a large shortfall in their budget [...]

Twenty-five protesters were arrested in Rancho Mirage, California today, at a protest in front of the Rancho Las Palmas resort, site of the “Billionaire’s Caucus,” an annual meeting put on by the Koch Brothers and other corporate entities and conservative movement operators. Riverside Sheriff’s deputy Melissa Nieburger said that the sheriff’s department did have contacts [...]

Briefly: wanted to let you know that I’ll be in Rancho Mirage, California today reporting on the meeting of the “Uncloak the Kochs” rally. If you’re unaware of what this is all about, here’s Bob Edgar of Common Cause to explain. Charles and David Koch are holding something called the “Billionaire’s Caucus” in Rancho Mirage [...]

I don’t suppose it’s a surprise that super-rich financiers and business tycoons periodically meet to determine how to best shape the world to their ends. Actually, we had that for about a minute on the liberal side, with the Democracy Alliance; it didn’t really hold up. This Kochtopus gathering seems much more robust; and the [...]

Jane Mayer’s investigative piece on Koch Industries, the large conglomerate led by two powerful right-wing billionaire brothers who fund an important chunk of the conservative movement, does an important public service by debunking the notion of a spontaneous grassroots uprising in reaction to the new Democratic Administration. Koch funds Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks, two [...]