Holocaust study: Two-thirds of millennials don’t know what Auschwitz is

[One Bad Pig]

One of my dad's friends is a holocaust denier. He doesn't deny that that many people were killed; he denies that Ashkenazis are Jews. Allegedly, they're descended from peoples who converted to Judaism - which means that their killing doesn't matter, or something.

[rogue06]

Could you provide evidence of this? I remember seeing someone argue this a while ago with some evidence, but I can't remember the specifics.

Likely my responding to Starlight/JimL/Tassman/Jaecp.

Here are two.

Until relatively recently Republicans enjoyed an advantage in getting support from the ultra-rich but this has flipped. In the last election an examination of the data provided by OpenSecrets found that of the 22 billionaires pumping money into campaigns and causes over half (13) gave money to the left with the remaining 9 donating to conservatives or equally splitting donations between the left and right. And of those giving the most, liberal billionaires easily led the list way outspending conservatives^[1].

If you have any doubts keep in mind how often Bernie sanders blasted Hillary Clinton’s reliance on the support of the "1%" (it was one of his campaign's biggest themes in the Democratic primaries).

And the same was true in the 2014 election where the 100 biggest donors during that election cycle gave approximately $174 million to Democrats in comparison to $140 million to Republicans.

Much of this has been brought up previously when starlight complained about billionaires giving money to Republicans:

Not just George Soros (who made much of his money trying to wreck the British economy^[1] and convicted of breaking inside trader laws) but James Simons, Peter Lewis and Warren Buffett. And then there are Tom and Jim Steyer.

Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used to rarely let a day go by without wringing his hands about the influence that the Koch brothers supposedly had over the Republican party while remaining silent over the influence that folks like the Steyers wield over Democrats. For instance, in 2014 Tom Steyers gave $5 million to Senate Majority PAC, the pro-Democratic Super PAC run by former Reid aides. The New York Times reported that as of April 2014 "Mr. Steyer and his wife, Kat Taylor, were the top source of super PAC money in the country this election cycle, contributing a total of more than $11 million."

Steyer offered $100 million to Democrats that promised to support his energy agenda, chiefly blocking the proposed Keystone XL pipeline (which would cost him financially if it were built) but also includes massive new energy taxes and support for various "green energy" schemes that he is invested in.

But its only Republicans who have a problem with billionaire donors















1. Even liberal economic icon Paul Krugman has been highly critical of how Soros gets wealthy wrecking economies and financial markets writing "[N]obody who has read a business magazine in the last few years can be unaware that these days there really are investors who not only move money in anticipation of a currency crisis, but actually do their best to trigger that crisis for fun and profit. These new actors on the scene do not yet have a standard name; my proposed term is 'Soroi'."

1. The two top liberal donors in 2016 each gave more money than all the conservative donors did combined! Tom Steyer gave in excess of $11 million (and gave a whopping $74 million in 2014) and has pledged to spend at least another $50 million whereas the top conservative donor contributed a comparatively paltry $2.5 million.

Source: Michael Bloomberg Will Spend $80 Million on the Midterms. His Goal: Flip the House for the Democrats

Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has decided to throw his political clout and personal fortune behind the Democratic campaign to take control of the House of Representatives this year, directing aides to spend tens of millions of dollars in an effort to expel Republicans from power.

Mr. Bloomberg — a political independent who has championed left-of-center policies on gun control, immigration and the environment — has approved a plan to pour at least $80 million into the 2018 election, with the bulk of that money going to support Democratic congressional candidates, advisers to Mr. Bloomberg said.





Source

© Copyright Original Source

Dang-blasted billionaires using their wealth to try to sway elections in favor of Republicanssmiley fist shake.gif

And from a few years ago on a slightly different topic...

I recall reading an analysis of what sort of "return on investment" companies typically received as a result of donations to US politicians. It worked out at about 1000%. For every dollar they donated to politicians, they'd receive ten back in terms of increased business. Unfortunately, gaming the system itself often tends to be the most profitable form of "business investment" a company can make.

Do unions and other organizations see similar returns? They are among the largest contributors to political candidates and parties according to the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets Of the top 15 contributors 7 are unions including 3 of the top 5:

• Service Employees International Union: $222,434,657 with 99% going to Democrats

• ActBlue^[1]: $160,637,963 with 100% going to Democrats

• American Federation of St/Cnty/Munic Employees (Union): $93,830,657 with 99% going to Democrats

• Fahr LLC^[3]: $75,289,659 with 100%^[2] going to Democrats

• American Federation of Teachers (Union): $69,757,113 with 100%^[2] going to Democrats

• Las Vegas Sands^[4]: $69,440,942 with 100%^[2] going to Republicans

• National Association of Realtors: $68,683,359 with 49% going to Democrats and 52% to Republicans

• Carpenters & Joiners Union: $67,778,534 with 94% going to Democrats

• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (Union): $63,572,836 with 99% going to Democrats

• United Food & Commercial Workers Union: $63,229,927 with 100%^[2] going to Democrats

• AT&T Inc: $61,004,110 with 48% going to Democrats and 52% to Republicans

• Laborers Union: $57,644,241 with 94% going to Democrats

• Perry Homes^[5]: $55,482,749 with 100%^[2] going to Republicans

• Goldman Sachs: $52,230,718 with 54% to Democrats and 47% to Republicans

As the Washington Examiner noted if you total the the contributions of the top 20 organizations thus far, Republicans have received $18.5 million compared with Democrats’ $129.3 million.

Of the top 20 individual contributors, nine give to Democrats and eleven Republican with the top two being Tom Steyer^[3] (100% to Democrats) and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg (95% to Democrats).
























1. A political action committee (PAC) established in 2004 that enables anyone to raise money on the Internet for the Democratic Party candidates of their choice

2. Actually they did give some money to the other political party but less than 1%

3. Established by Thomas Fahr Steyer a hedge fund manager it contributes money to liberal causes, groups and candidates

4. The first company or corporation on the list, Las Vegas Sands Corp. is an American casino and resort operating company

5. A construction company that builds homes and apartments

[Starlight]

It's always interesting to see people fervently hold mutually contradictory positions like "conservatives are dumb, liberals are bright" and "conservatives get all the big money".

Given those aren't contradictory the interesting thing here is you and your psychology that misperceives them as contradictory.

[One Bad Pig]

Given those aren't contradictory the interesting thing here is you and your psychology that misperceives them as contradictory.

Oh, so conservatives magically manage to swindle those brighter than them into giving up mass quantities of dough? Keep digging. I look forward to seeing how far down you go. In your case, it's usually quite impressive.

[Sparko]

Oh, so conservatives magically manage to swindle those brighter than them into giving up mass quantities of dough? Keep digging. I look forward to seeing how far down you go. In your case, it's usually quite impressive.

Rich people are stupid. That's why they are rich. If they were smart they would be poor and let the government take care of them by taking the money away from the stupid rich people.