Darylsurat

Right-wing media personalities pushed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) to withdraw from the presidential race following an "embarrassingly" poor performance in the March 8 GOP primaries and caucuses.

Marco Rubio Receives "Embarrassingly Low Vote Totals" In Michigan, Mississippi Primaries

Washington Post: Marco Rubio "Was On Track To Record Some Of His Poorest Results Of The Season."  In a March 8 article for The Washington Post, Phillip Rucker reported that Sen. Marco Rubio "was on track to record some of his poorest results of the season and was in danger of not qualifying for a single delegate in either state," after "embarrassingly low vote totals in Michigan and Mississippi." [The Washington Post, 3/8/16]

Right-Wing Media: Rubio Has Failed As A Candidate 

Ed Rollins: "Marco Rubio "Has Absolutely Failed Now As A Candidate [...] I Think It's Over For Him." On the March 8 edition of Fox News' America's Election HQ, Fox contributor Ed Rollins stated that Marco Rubio has "certainly not been an effective candidate," and "there's no place for him to go, even if he wins his state." Rollins continued, stating "he has absolutely failed now as a candidate [...] I think it's over for him":

CHRIS WALLACE (HOST): Now, one last thing I want to get to with you, Ed. Marco Rubio, single digits in Mississippi. Very possibly single digits in Michigan, could end up -- 99 delegates, he could end up with none of those tonight. What happened to Marco Rubio? 

EDWARD ROLLINS: I think when he got into the fray, he had a very optimistic, he was a very smart candidate, he should have stayed on that optimism, but when he got into the fray about three weeks ago, he got battered pretty badly -- and he's certainly not been an effective candidate. There's no place for him to go, even if he wins his state, which I don't think he will, it's going to be a very close race and there's no place for him to go after that. There's no support. 

WALLACE: No support? 

ROLLINS: No support. Look at these numbers, no support. He's at fourth place, now that Ben Carson is gone, at the bottom of the pack everywhere --

WALLACE: That's right, he can't even -- if Carson wasn't there, he might be in fifth place.

ROLLINS: And it's sad, because he is a great talent, and a very smart guy. But he has absolutely failed now as a candidate, and it's -- I think it's over for him. [Fox News, America's Election HQ, 3/8/16]

Eric Bolling: "Marco Rubio Needs To Step Aside Right Now [...] Before It Gets Really Bad For." In a March 8 edition of Fox News' Hannity, Fox host Eric Bolling said "It looks like Trump will take Florida," stating "honestly, I'll call it right here on your show, Sean, Marco Rubio needs to step aside right now":

SEAN HANNITY (HOST): There is a political revolution underway in this country, and nobody seems to really want to acknowledge it, and people are complaining and talking about well, Donald Trump, you know was responding to Mitt Romney tonight, not getting the bigger picture. Thoughts? Eric?

ERIC BOLLING: So Sean, I have been doing this by the numbers for a while, because I started out trying to have an opinion on it. There is so much animosity, there is so much anger that's been built up, if you say "I think this one is going to be the one," the people who aren't that one just go crazy. So I've been doing it by the numbers, and Kimberly will attest to this. What I've seen going into tonight was that Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are the inevitable -- one of those two has to be the nominee. They're getting 70 plus percent of the popular vote, the actual ballots, they're getting 90 percent of the states or territories won so to try to take that away from them the road would be disastrous. Let me just tell you this, though, after tonight, things change. I saw a sea change tonight in the way the attitude is. People who are still, you know, the establishment class, even some pundits and some news people are going "Yeah, but, but --" but it's not "but" anymore. Right now, Donald Trump just took down Mississippi, which gives him the whole south, leaves just Florida remaining. Marco Rubio coming in fourth with 9 percent in Michigan is such a bad sign. It looks like Trump will take Florida, it's time, honestly, I'll call it right here on your show, Sean, Marco Rubio needs to step aside right now. If he wants to run for Governor of Florida, which I think he does, if he wants to save that possibility, he has to get out now before it gets really bad for him a week from tonight. [Fox News, Hannity, 3/8/16]

Chris Stirewalt: "It Is Going To Be Increasingly Hard For Him To Make The Argument That He Should Stay In." In a March 8 edition of Fox News' America's Election HQ, Fox News digital politics editor Chris Stirewalt said "Marco Rubio has some serious soul searching to do, ahead of the Florida primary," asserting "it is going to be increasingly hard for him to make the argument that he should stay in":

HOWARD KURTZ: The question going into tonight, Megyn, was had Donald Trump peaked? He lost a couple of caucuses over the weekend, was his act wearing thin? I think these victories in Michigan and Mississippi show that the answer is hell no. 

MEGYN KELLY (HOST): Is that true, Stirewalt? Can we conclude that, from these victories tonight? 

CHRIS STIREWALT: I think what we can conclude from these victories tonight is, number one, the open primary deal, when Democrats can vote he does substantially better. There are more closed primaries ahead, so that could be more challenging. I think the other takeaway from tonight is Marco Rubio has some serious soul searching to do, ahead of the Florida primary. The exit polling suggests that, yes, Ted Cruz does, in fact, or would have in fact, fared best against Donald Trump in a one on one match-up. Marco Rubio wants to stay in to Florida, says he can beat him in there, but the showing he had in Michigan, and John Kasich outperforming him substantially, it is going to be increasingly hard for him to make the argument that he should stay in, and Ted Cruz is going to be pushing him hard there. [Fox News, America's Election HQ, 3/8/16]

Dana Loesch: "There's Absolutely No Pathway Forward" For Marco Rubio. In a March 8 edition of Fox News' America's Election HQ, The Blaze host Dana Loesch said ""it is time for the Rubio camp to make a very hard decision." stating "there's absolutely no pathway forward" for Marco Rubio:

DANA LOESCH: I think one of the things tonight that we learned is I think that it is time for the Rubio camp to make a very hard decision. There's absolutely no pathway forward for him. I don't see any sort of pathway forward for John Kasich either. I think this is a two-man race, it's down between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, and it's not about the number of states won, it's about the number of delegates that people are winning. Everyone was focusing on Trump winning Louisiana, but [[and]] he and Cruz walked away with the same number of delegates. I'm not even sure if Rubio's going to meet the minimum threshold to get a delegate tonight, in a couple of these states. So that's something that we're going to have to watch, but it's a two-man race after tonight, and there's going to be --  have to be some very uncomfortable, decisions made. [Fox News, America's Election HQ, 3/8/16]

Drudge Report: "The Incredible Shrinking Campaign." On March 8, The Drudge Report featured a photoshopped image of Marco Rubio, accompanied by text stating "The Incredible Shrinking Campaign":

[Drudge Report, 3/8/16]

Erick Erickson: "#Marcollapse Happened Tonight." In a March 8 tweet, The Resurgent writer Erick Erickson tweeted "#Marcollapse happened tonight. Sigh. Cruz and Rubio allied together would be winning this thing":

[Twitter, 3/8/16]

Ann Coulter: "With Those Freakishly Big Ears," Marco Rubio Should Hear "That Distant Bugle Playing Taps." In a March 8 tweet, conservative writer Ann Coulter wrote that Marco Rubio should "be able to hear by now that distant bugle playing Taps":

[Twitter, 3/8/16]

Fox's Ainsley Earhardt: Is Rubio "Going To Get Out" Of The Presidential Race "To Save Face And To Save His Political Career?" On the March 9 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends, co-host Ainsley Earhardt suggested Rubio may need "to get out" of the presidential race "before Florida to save face and to save his political career":

AINSLEY EARHARDT: If you're Marco Rubio, and you're thinking about your political future ahead -- I used to say he's going to stay into Florida. This morning I woke up and thought, is he going to get out before Florida to save face and to save his political career?

BRIAN KILMEADE: No. I talked to him yesterday on the radio, he absolutely is not. And they say, well, what you want to do is not lose Florida and you want to stay -- stick around, avoid this, avoid a loss -- humiliating loss in case you want to be governor some day. But I think he absolutely feels, though, that he can close the gap. What was unbelievably damaging, I think, was the CNN report that said there's fighting within the higher ranks, saying that he should drop out, other say he should stay in -- in the Rubio campaign. It also didn't help Hawaii when it turns out that there was some circulation going on by some Cruz volunteers that Rubio was dropping out. [Fox News, Fox & Friends, 3/9/16]

The Trump campaign is so desperate to appeal to black voters that they appear to have photoshopped the models skin to appear darker. Twitter user Eric Ming (@ericming5) caught the apparent photoshop fail and posted the following tweet:

So it appears Donald Trump’s campaign photoshopped their model to be brown: pic.twitter.com/V0DghCiQAW

— Eric Ming (@ericming5) March 3, 2016

Clearly, this is the exact same model, except the skin has been darkened from white to a darker shade. The Trump logo was inserted and it was sent to print. Trump will surely come out and claim that the model is indeed black, but if you look at her right hip, you will see the exact same disparity in the shirt and you can clearly see the arms are the exact same shape, right down to the elbow as the white model. What are the odds? Zero.

UPDATE:

Apparently the Trump campaign got wind of the Twitter firestorm around this blatant attempt at photoshop and changed the model back to white. Phew, Trump's racist followers can breathe a sigh of relief.

http://shop.donaldjtrump.com/product-p/dtc-vnwt-gy.htm

A gigantic wooden replica of the titular mecha from Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn has appeared behind a farm house in the Daiyue District of Tai'an City in Shandong Province in the People's Republic of China. The 1:3 scale statue is the work of a local college student who graduated from the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute.

The statue is contructed entirely of a wooden framework covered in varnish and coated with waterproof paint. It stands 6.6 meters (21.65 feet) tall and weighs nearly one ton. Some 3500 bolts were used to hold the Gundam Unicorn replica together.

Constructing the statue took nearly a year, during which its maker braved heat, cold, and clouds of mosquitos as the seasons changed. The statue's creator admitted that he spent about 6 hours on the statue's construction each day, and one time he nearly injured himself by falling from the second story roof.

The statue's creator admits that spending all of this time and effort may seem a little obsessive-compulsive, but he's satisfied with the results, which are attracting visitors who wish to admire his work. He plans to start a professional studio building similar large scale models in the future.

Sources:

AC Fun via Yaraon!

CRI English

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

A new spin-off manga based on Osamu Tezuka's medical drama Black Jack is beginning serialization in Akita Shoten's Young Champion seinen manga anthology magazine, and it stars Black Jack's rival, the sinister Dr. Kiriko, as the protagonist.

The new series, entitled Dr. Kiriko ~ Shiroi Shinigami ~ ("White Grim Reaper") is written by Yuuki Fujisawa and illustrated by sanorin. The setting for the series is updated to modern times. Unlike Black Jack, Dr. Kiriko has no qualms about practising euthanasia in order to end his patients' suffering.

The 1st chapter of Dr. Kiriko ~ Shiroi Shinigami ~ will be published in the Bessatsu Young Champion special issue that hits Japanese news stands on April 05, 2016. 

Source: Comic Natalie

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

From the March 1 edition of Fox News' The Five:

Previously: 

Fox Blames Obama For Trump's Call To Ban All Muslim Immigration

The Donald Trump Vs. Fox News Clusterfuck, Explained

Fox Host: Everything Obama "Is Doing Is The Antithesis Of Being Pro-American"

Samantha Bee gave a civics lesson on her show tonight about which election was the most important. 2008 or 2010?

You have a 50/50 chance of being right, but just in case you're not sure, here's the answer.

"The most important election in your lifetimes was [2010], and you didn't vote in it, and you got your asses kicked," said Bee.

Granted, it was a midterm and not a sexy, movement-building general election with lots of bunting and flag-waving. No, it was "Just one of those boring midterm elections that Will.i.am doesn't make videos about."

The indictment: "Most of America felt it was fine to just sleep through this one."

The reminder: "You know who didn't sit 2010 out? People who were old, and white, and super cranky about something..."

"I'm sure they were just angry about how tall the President is. And just as you'd expect, when the voting public looks like the cast of Cocoon, they turned this country redder than Carrie's prom dress."

She reminded, "They shut down the government. They somehow turned 60 failed attempts at taking away people's health insurance into a badge of honor, and refused to vote on immigration reform, leaving Americans so frustrated they're willing to vote for the first two-bit wall salesman who says he'll stop Mexicans from raping their jobs."

"That's right. If you didn't vote in 2010, you built that."

read more

Bill O’Reilly has lost his legal fight to prevent his ex-wife from gaining full custody of their children. A large part of the reason seems to be that the kids prefer to live full time with their mother, Maureen McPhilmy.

From Gawker:

The lengthy decision affirms the holding of a Nassau County Supreme Court justice last year that the children, now aged 13 and 17, should live full-time with their mother (the former couple had been splitting residential custody). As we reported at the time, O’Reilly appealed that ruling, thereby delaying its enforcement (and, of course, extending his multi-front battle against McPhilmy and her new family).

read more

At the "Shokugeki! Maihama Festival" special event held on February 28, 2016, at the Maihama Amphitheater in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan, it was announced that the 2nd season of food-battle TV anime Shokugeki no Soma will be broadcast during the Summer season of 2016.

The 2nd season is entitled Shokugeki no Soma - Futa no Sara ("2nd Serving"), and will feature the principal cast of the series returning to reprise their roles. Shokugeki no Soma is based on the manga of the same name written by Yūto Tsukuda and illustrated by Shun Saeki, which is serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump manga anthology magazine.

Source: Ota-suke

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

After being remodeled to service the Hokkaido Shinkansen, a bullet-train operated by the Hokkaido Railway Company, the newly renamed Shin-Hakodate-Hokuto Station in Hokuto City, Hokkaido, Japan, will be unveiling a pun-based collaboration with the ultra-violent, post-apocalyptic manga and TV anime, Fist of the North Star, in the form of a bronze statue.

The statue will be on public display at the station beginning on March 26, 2016, when the Hokkaido Shinkansen service is scheduled to begin. The collaboration is based on a bit of wordplay: the Japanese title of Fist of the North Star is Hokuto no Ken, and Kenshiro, the protagonist of the series, practices a secret martial art known as hokuto shin ken.

Source: Narinari.com

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

"When you dare to do big things, big results should be expected. The Sanders program is big, and when you run it through a standard model, you get a big result."
– James K. Galbraith

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he wants the American people to join him and "fight for a progressive economic agenda that creates jobs, raises wages, protects the environment and provides health care for all." His website outlines a number of proposals toward this end, including increasing taxation of corporations and the wealthy and using the money to repair the country's infrastructure, extending public education four years to cover college, extending Medicare to everyone, expanding Social Security and addressing climate change.

read more

Several minutes of what seemed to be a chummy off-camera exchange between Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump were released today by comedian and radio host Harry Shearer.

The audio from a "hot mic" was released on Shearer's radio program Le Show and is purportedly from a conversation between the three in Charleston, SC, on February 17 during commercial breaks from MSNBC's town hall event with Trump.

The hosts have recently been criticized for boosting Trump on their program, and for their performance moderating the town hall in question, which was labeled a "journalistic shortfall" and "disgraceful" by media observers. The non-confrontational tone of the town hall event apparently extended seamlessly into the commercial breaks, where Scarborough, Brzezinski, and Trump engaged in friendly banter:   

1. After Scarborough told Trump that "all the polls out today look great in South Carolina," Trump asked Scarborough if he thinks super PAC ads against him are catching on, noting, "they're spending $75 million in negative ads on me over the last two weeks." Scarborough replied, "No."
2. Brzezinski pointed out what she described as a "wow moment" on the campaign trail when Trump brought two supporters up on stage. Scarborough told Trump, "We played it several times this morning." Trump responded by telling the pair that he watched the show that day and observed, "You had me almost as a legendary figure." Indeed, Gawker highlighted video of the hosts airing the video of the supporters that day on Morning Joe, which concludes with Scarborough calling the moment "quite powerful":
3. Scarborough told Trump "we were completely wrong" in thinking he did poorly in the February 13 Republican debate. He later told the candidate that "the people who mattered" thought he did well.
4. After Brzezinski thanked Trump for participating in the town hall event, Trump said, "I'm doing this because you get great ratings and a raise -- me, I get nothing."
5. Brzezinski can be heard asking, reportedly to a producer, "You don't want me to do the ones with deportation?" which is followed by Trump saying, "That's right, nothing too hard, Mika."
6. Trump asked Scarborough, "So what are the chances that something bad can happen on Saturday for me?" -- an apparent reference to the South Carolina primary. Scarborough reassured Trump by pointing out that polls in the election so far have done a good job of predicting primary results.
7. Trump and Scarborough discuss Trump's golf game.
8. Scarborough told Trump that National Journal columnist Ron Fournier "understands" Trump's campaign now after visiting Michigan, where he "got an earful" from Trump's supporters. (Trump said Fournier "has been brutal.") Scarborough added that The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza "has completely changed," and Trump responded, "Cillizza's been fantastic."

Reporting on the release of the audio, The Washington Post's Callum Borchers noted that the clip feeds "the buddy-buddy narrative" surrounding Morning Joe's relationship with Trump. CNN's Dylan Byers wrote that the audio "offered the latest evidence that the 'Morning Joe' co-hosts are too friendly toward Trump, which has become a source of discomfort at NBC."

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman told CNN host Brian Stelter on Sunday that his network should focus less on presidential polls and more on candidates' records.

"The media is so commercial, it's so driven by corporate interests," Goodman explained to Stelter during an interview on CNN's Reliable Sources. "And it's so important though that people recognize that there is a whole independent media world out there."

"We do not emphasize the polls," she pointed out. "I would love the media, there to be a month without polls. What is the value of these polls? If I am making a decision about a candidate, I want to weigh their record."

"Do I care what my neighbor thinks or the person next to me? I want to make an independent decision."

Goodman noted that even though the media had an "obsession with polls," they were often wrong.

"Instead, pour that energy, investigation and money into people's records," she advised. "Whether they're a businessman like Trump or they're politicians like Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. Look at their records, what have they done. Compare their rhetoric to what they have done throughout their life."

Stelter argued that there was "value" in knowing what proportion of the electorate supported a candidate's message.

"Well, you find that out with an election," Goodman replied. "You find it out with a primary and a caucus."

"People should just count the times that every network flashes the polls," she remarked. "Are we telling people what to think?"

Loot CrateTM, the company behind Loot Crate, Loot Gaming, Loot Pets and Level Up monthly subscription services and anime streaming service Crunchyroll, Inc. have announced a parternship to provide fans with a co-branded Loot Anime and Crunchyroll offering.

The announcement explains

Existing Loot Anime subscribers will see no change in price or frequency, but they can now look forward to even better content, exclusive access to Crunchyroll content and more. With packages starting at $22.95 per month, Loot Anime’s subscription price will remain the same. Every crate is valued at over $60, making this the most cost effective way for fans to enjoy a diverse mix of premium anime products.

Readers of this site will not be surprised at all that in 2008 Mitch McConnell sang a very different tune on confirming SCOTUS nominees during the last year of a President's administration. WaPo:

Speaking during a Senate session in July 2008, Sen. Mitch McConnell criticized the concept of the "Thurmond Rule" which some suggest allows senators to oppose the president's judicial nominations in the months before a presidential election. McConnell said Feb. 13 that the vacancy left by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia should not be filled until after the presidential election.

There is no Thurmond Rule, said McConnell. "Senator Specter has researched that thoroughly."

From the February 17 edition of Fox News' The Five:

GERALDO RIVERA (CO-HOST): I see it very pragmatically, Dana. I think that in states where there are significant minority populations, Hillary Clinton will prevail. But I was at college of Charleston in South Carolina and I could not find a Hillary Clinton supporter and I venture to say wearing a Hillary Clinton sweatshirt would be as popular as wearing a KKK sweatshirt.

DANA PERINO (CO-HOST): But you saw Bernie Sanders.

RIVERA: Bernie, Bernie, Bernie, and there were like two or three for Rubio, but vast majority were Bernie Sanders.

Previously:

Fox Guest: "Blacks Should No More Vote For Hillary or Bernie Than They Should The Grand Wizard Of The KKK"

A new book by New Yorker writer Jane Mayer lays out how the oil billionaire Koch brothers rose to the powerful position they are in today, where they wield unquestionable political influence and have shaped public opinion in drastic ways. Titled Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, the book brings to light many tactics that the Koch brothers and others in their network of like-minded millionaires and billionaires have used over the years to push their agenda while hiding the true motivations behind it.

The book examines the influence of several of the country's wealthiest conservative donors, but it pays particular attention to the activities of Charles and David Koch, who have organized their network and spearheaded the group's political efforts. "Few had waged a more relentless or more effective assault on Americans' belief in government," Mayer wrote of the Kochs.

A key element of the Koch brothers' strategy is influencing the media. Through media, they have advanced their political and ideological goals and attacked those who stand in their way. The Koch brothers and their network have paid conservative media figures to promote their message, bankrolled front groups that run aggressive anti-environmental media campaigns, and even created their own right-wing "news" outlets. Meanwhile, they've garnered some favorable mainstream media coverage by tightly controlling reporter access to their summits and other events, while attacking and otherwise intimidating journalists who dare to shine a light on their activities.

Here is how the Koch brothers and their network have infiltrated the media:

Buying A Conservative Media Echo Chamber

Creating Their Own Media Outlets

Funding Front Groups That Run Deceptive Media Campaigns

Tightly Controlling Reporter Access To Their Events And Activities

Intimidating Journalists Who Seek To Uncover Their True Agenda

"Instead of earning the media, they were paying for it."

This is how former Republican Rep. Dick Armey of Texas described the activities of the Koch front group he once chaired. Indeed, Mayer lays out several ways that Koch-backed front groups have spent money to create a "national echo chamber" in the conservative media. Most notably, she highlights two Koch-backed organizations that directly paid conservative pundits to promote the Koch agenda on air.

The first group is FreedomWorks, which originated from the Koch-founded Citizens for a Sound Economy. Mayer reported that FreedomWorks "quietly cemented a deal" in 2011 with Glenn Beck, who was a Fox News host at the time. Beck read "embedded content" written by FreedomWorks staff in exchange for an annual payment "that eventually topped $1 million." Mayer further explained: "They told him what to say on the air, and he blended the promotional material seamlessly into his monologue, making it sound as if it were his own opinion." Because of this deal, Politico reported, FreedomWorks saw "50,000 new email sign-ups."

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) -- the other Koch front group that formed out of Citizens for a Sound Economy and has received significant funding from Koch foundations -- forged a contract with conservative radio host Mark Levin to promote AFP's attacks on climate scientist Michael Mann, thereby "copying the deal that FreedomWorks had struck with Glenn Beck." Levin attacked Mann and other climate scientists, Mayer wrote, accusing "enviro-statists" of "inventing global warming in order to justify a tyrannical government takeover."

In addition to the deals between Koch front groups and conservative pundits that are identified in Mayer's book, the Heritage Foundation, which has received millions from Koch foundations, has spent millions to sponsor the radio shows of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, according to Politico.

Additionally, Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the central group in the Kochs' financial network, paid Republican strategist Frank Luntz's firm $1.5 million for messaging work in 2014. Luntz then used his media platform as an analyst at CBS News to praise the Kochs and defend their spending without disclosing his own financial ties to them.

And in 2011, Koch Industries hired Republican political operative Michael Goldfarb to improve the company's image while Goldfarb was working as opinion editor for the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard. Shortly thereafter, The Weekly Standard published a long piece defending the Kochs, which was described by investigative reporter Lee Fang in a Think Progress piece as "8,000 words of hagiography." Goldfarb is still listed as one of The Weekly Standard's contributing editors, and the conservative magazine has published several articles in recent weeks criticizing Jane Mayer and her book.

The Koch brothers and their network have had a hand in creating several "news" outlets that echo the Kochs' conservative, anti-government message: The Daily Caller, The Washington Free Beacon, and the Franklin Center.

The Daily Caller was founded by financial investor Foster Friess, a major Koch donor who has attended many of the Kochs' annual summits and donated at least $1 million to conservative causes that the Kochs support. Friess provided $3 million in seed funding to The Daily Caller, a conservative website which, according to Mayer, has "functioned more as an outlet for opposition research paid for by the donor class." Charles Koch's foundation would later back the website, and the Daily Caller News Foundation is currently listed as a "partner organization" of the Charles Koch Institute. Tucker Carlson, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller, also has other ties to the Kochs: He joined the Cato Institute in 2009, which the Koch brothers co-founded, and he is currently listed as a senior fellow there. The Cato Institute has received millions of dollars from the Koch family, and David Koch currently sits on Cato's board of directors. Mayer notes that The Daily Caller was "the chosen receptacle" for the Kochs' retaliatory attacks on her after The New Yorker published an exposé she wrote on the Kochs in 2010.

After the Kochs started receiving some bad publicity, Koch Industries hired Michael Goldfarb to improve the company's image. Later, in 2012, Goldfarb founded The Washington Free Beacon, and he remains its chairman. The website has published articles defending the Kochs, attacking their opponents, advancing the Kochs' criticisms of President Obama and Sen. Harry Reid, and promoting their agenda. Plus whatever this is.

The Franklin Center, which runs Watchdog.org, is the "investigative news" service for the State Policy Network, a network of conservative think tanks that are largely funded by Koch-backed dark money groups DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. The Franklin Center itself received 95 percent of its revenue from Donors Trust in 2011, and it was receiving millions from Donors Capital Fund as of 2013. Mayer writes that the Franklin Center frequently "attacked government programs, particularly those initiated by Obama," adding that it "claimed to be a neutral public watchdog, but much of its coverage reflected the conservative bent of those behind it." As Mayer pointed out, a couple of journalists have "t[aken] issue with the Franklin Center's labeling of its content as 'news.'" Yet the Franklin Center continues to reach far and wide, with 40 state news websites and writers in 34 states as of 2013, and its reporting appearing in state and local newspapers at times.

Key to the Kochs' success has been the "growing fleet of nonprofit groups" that "mobilized public opinion" behind their agenda, writes Mayer, particularly against action on climate change. The Koch brothers "had built and financed a private political machine," backing "[e]ducational institutions and think tanks all over the country" that "promoted [their] worldview." Mayer cited Harvard scholar Theda Skocpol, who noted: "Climate denial got disseminated deliberately and rapidly from think tank tomes to the daily media fare of about thirty to forty percent of the U.S. populace."

Mayer focused on two organizations in particular: Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and the Cato Institute. In addition to "spearhead[ing] a national drive to block action on climate change," AFP "took a lead role in organizing the Tea Party rebellion." But the Kochs insisted that they were not involved in the tea party movement, and as Mayer noted, "such denials helped shape the early narrative" in the media "of the Tea Party movement as an amateur uprising by ordinary citizens." 

The Cato Institute, which was co-founded by the Koch brothers, took a lead role in attacking the scientific consensus on human-caused climate change. Cato published "a steady stream" of misleading reports, which were frequently criticized by experts yet "echoed throughout the network of Koch-funded groups." Cato also "energetic[ally]" promoted the faux Climategate scandal -- falsely claiming that climate scientists deceitfully manipulated data -- in the mainstream media, where Cato officials were often "respectfully quoted as nonpartisan experts." One Cato scholar gave more than 20 interviews pushing the contrived scandal, spreading the story "from obviously slanted venues to the pages of The New York Times and The Washington Post, adding mainstream credence."

AFP and Cato have continued to promote their anti-environment agenda in the media without disclosing their oil industry ties. And those groups are just the tip of the iceberg; Media Matters has identified dozens of groups backed by fossil fuel interests that are working to attack the Environmental Protection Agency's climate change plan. One tactic commonly employed by these groups is to run op-ed campaigns promoting false and misleading attacks on environmental policies in state and local newspapers, as Media Matters and others have detailed.

The Kochs' political activities have largely been "shrouded in secrecy," writes Mayer, and such secrecy is a key to their success. When they do make media appearances, it is to "portray themselves as disinterested do-gooders and misunderstood social liberals."

The Kochs' biannual donor summits, where they have "succeeded in persuading hundreds of the other richest conservatives in the country to give them control over their millions of dollars in contributions," have historically been closed-door affairs. Only in recent years have the Kochs invited a handful of mainstream media reporters to attend the summits, but just in "snippets," and under tightly controlled conditions. Reporters had to agree to refrain from identifying conference attendees without their consent or approaching donors for interviews, and they were allowed in to only a select number of sessions, according to a copy of the conditions for the August 2015 summit obtained by ThinkProgress. That summit thereafter received positive coverage in publications including Politico, USA Today, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

But these conditions also drew some criticism from media ethicists. Jane Kirtley, professor of media ethics and law at the University of Minnesota's School of Journalism and Mass Communication, told ThinkProgress that the terms were "outrageous," and suggested that news organizations should "refuse to attend under these circumstances." Robert Drechsel, a professor and director of the Center for Journalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found it "remarkable" that news organizations "would agree to in effect become complicit in facilitating such secrecy and anonymity." Huffington Post media reporter Michael Calderone questioned whether the rules "still allow for reporting in the public's interest" or are "so rigid that the resulting coverage will primarily benefit the Kochs." Calderone noted in a separate article that the rules "could restrict journalists from reporting what's right in front of their eyes," and that "it's possible journalists end up reporting largely what the event sponsors want ... but less on the power brokers attending who play key behind-the-scenes roles in the 2016 election."

Mother Jones' Daniel Schulman told Calderone that the rules allow the Kochs to "closely control their images." And indeed, at the most recent conference, Undercurrent's Lauren Windsor overheard that a USA Today reporter was "prepped" by the Koch's communication staff hours before an article was published that Windsor said "dutifully relayed Koch talking points" about the new Koch group that is purportedly aiming to address poverty and education. Bloomberg News was recently prompted by a Koch spokesperson to remove a line from an article in which the reporter stated that Charles Koch "warned that climate change's worst effects would fall on people in poorer parts of the world." The article was changed to say that according to a Koch spokesman, Koch was "referring to the impact of bad climate policies or programs, not the negative effects of climate change itself."

Ever since her first long-form article on the Koch brothers in The New Yorker in 2010, Mayer has faced intimidation tactics and efforts to discredit her by the Koch network.

Koch operatives formed a "boiler room operation," seeking to discredit the New Yorker story by "undermining" Mayer. They hired a private investigation firm looking for "dirt" on Mayer, who was told by a well-informed source: "If they couldn't find it, they'd create it." After their search for dirt turned up nothing, Mayer learned that The Daily Caller intended to publish a "hit piece" accusing her of plagiarism. But Mayer reached out to the reporters she was supposedly plagiarizing, and they "offered to make public statements" supporting her, so The Daily Caller dropped the story.

Mayer is not the only journalist to experience intimidation from the Kochs (though hers may be the most extreme example). At the American Legislative Exchange Council's annual meeting, Greenpeace researcher Connor Gibson was confronted by Koch Industries government affairs director Mike Morgan. Gibson captured a partial video of the interaction, but Morgan then took Gibson's phone away from him, until Morgan was forced to return it by police. Rolling Stone reporter Tim Dickinson called Koch Industries "the most hostile and paranoid organization I've ever engaged with." Mayer also wrote that Koch security threatened to arrest Politico reporter Kenneth Vogel after catching him in a cafe at one of their summits, "[u]nless he left the premises immediately."

Koch Industries also utilizes its website KochFacts.com to combat negative reports. Mayer notes that KochFacts.com "wage[s] ad hominem attacks, questioning the professionalism and integrity of reporters whose work the company found unflattering, ranging from The New York Times to Politico." The website has blasted David Sassoon of the Pulitzer Prize-winning InsideClimate News as a "professional eco-activist" and "agenda-driven activist." It also frequently posts personal email exchanges with journalists, "sometimes to the reporter's shock," according to The Washington Post. This includes email exchanges with reporters and editors at The New York Times, MSNBC, Politico, and more.

Hopefully, Jane Mayer herself is a testament to the fact that reporters will not back down from exposing the true extent of the Kochs' influence and how it is shaping our country for the worse. There is surely more to the story not yet uncovered.

From the February 8 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

ANNA KOOIMAN (HOST): Emily, the hell that I learned about in Sunday school, a fiery furnace, weeping and wailing, gnashing of teeth, is this a bit extreme for a female not to vote for a female candidate simply because of her gender?

EMILY TISCH SUSSMAN: Look, I don't think she was actually saying that with a hard line women have to vote for women. This is something Albright has said for literally 10 years she's been saying it. It was on a Starbucks cup. But I think she is speaking from a place of truth for her. That she had to break a lot of glass ceilings. She supported other women in doing it. And she wants other women to support women who are doing it along the way. That is something that is very generational and really resonates with women like her who did have to break glass ceilings themselves. It hits a little harsher for younger women, I think, which I think is where the discussion is coming in.

KOOIMAN: Ashley, is it fair for women to vote on issues other than just women's issues?

ASHLEY PRATTE: I think it's entirely fair. I mean, women aren't just voting, you know, on women's issues or because of their gender. They're voting on pocketbook issues, as well. Things that affect their families, things that affect health care. But yet, Hillary Clinton has made the whole campaign about pandering to women who are my age and who are Emily's age. And last night actually, it was just surprising to me. I went to one of the local restaurants here. And she was in town and she was actually in the takeout line at the restaurant. And I talked to her about why it was important for young women in this election to go out and vote. And she said, you know, Madeleine Albright said yesterday that it is important for young women to get involved, confirming all of this this. I just think those comments were very despicable and alienating towards young women. And I think it will really work to her detriment against someone like Bernie Sanders who is very attractive to young people and to young women voters.

Previously:

A Comprehensive Guide To Sexist Attacks On Hillary Clinton From The 2008 Campaign

On CNN, Media Matters' David Brock Highlights Importance Of Calling Out Sexist Attacks On Clinton

Media Criticize Morning Joe's "Sexist" Critique Of Hillary Clinton's Voice

Manga author Kazuo Koike is known for many things: the creation of classic series such as Lone Wolf and Cub and Lady Snowblood, training generations of younger manga authors with his advanced level classes, offering life advice to fans, and being an inveterate otaku for DMM's Kantai Collection browser game. This last item recently caused some strife in the Koike household, as Koike himself relates:

久々に艦これをしようとしたら、前に僕がゲームを終えた時と明らかに戦況が変わっており、朝から家人と「僕のゲームに触るな！」みたいな、中学生とお母さンみたいなケンカしてる。７９才なのに…、もうすぐ８０才なのに…。(小池一夫)

— 小池一夫 (@koikekazuo) February 1, 2016

"So I'm playing KanColle and it had been a while since I'd last played it, but then I noticed that the battle situation in the game in front of me was obviously different from how I had left it. So the next morning I said to my family "Don't touch my game!", like I was a middle school student squabbling with his mother. Even though I'm 79 years old...going to be 80 soon..." (Kazuo Koike)

Truly, ship-girls are serious business.

Sources:

Otakomu

Kazuo Koike official Twitter feed

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd type: Elizabeth Banks will play Rita Repulsa in the Power Rangers movie reboot. The official Instagram shared the announcement earlier today, introducing Banks as its villain along with a not-quite-nefarious photo of the actress.

Previous cast announcements included Becky Gomez as the Yellow Ranger, RJ Cyler as the Blue Ranger, Dacre Montgomery as the Red Ranger, Ludi Lin as the Black Ranger, and Naomi Scott as the Pink Ranger. 

The late Machiko Soga's turn as the evil witch Bandora in Kyouryu Sentai Zyuranger, who would later be called Rita Repulsa in Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, is a tough act to follow. We'll see how Banks plays it for director Dean Israelite when Power Rangers premieres on March 24, 2017.

Via Entertainment Weekly

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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his new webcomic, BIG DUMB FIGHTING IDIOTS, every Thursday at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.