a lot from the koch's in 2011 rebecca donated more than $25000000.00 towards the koch's political activities but in some ways the mercers are even more radical . they supported donald trump in 2016 with their own network using dubious tactics and a lot of money to gain access to the white house. david mager man was taken aback by his boss's actions by 2016 he had worked over 20 years for robert mercer and had health developed the algorithms that earned billions for the family i felt that i had my my intellectual efforts and my work had gone into creating the possibility of people having outsized influence on politics. during the $26000.00 election campaign the mercers didn't just rely on the dividends of a classic campaign they invested an additional $10000000.00 in the breitbart news

network far right populist steve bannon head of breitbart and mercer's confidant headed trump's election campaign the mercers also invested in cambridge analytical the london based it to influence voters now with the power of the internet facebook social media and the. ability for funding to come in to support almost arbitrary scaled efforts to to deploy this kind of technology we really don't have any kind of control over the political process anymore. while donald trump celebrated his triumph david mager man was plagued with guilt i was in eat position of knowing the motivations of one of donald trump's most secretive and influential contributors after the election i kind of you know. just felt guilty and then as i saw that scene that being built up around donald trump and the

advisers that were coming from the foundation funded by this donor and it just i realize that the story wasn't over. after the election david mack decided to go public with his insights including his bosses racist views he believes that a system that gives billionaires like the mercers this degree of influence is anything but healthy. the koch brothers also understand the power of media the power of words and images except they're slightly more old fashioned than the mercers in 2018 they provided $650000000.00 to back the acquisition of the time publishing group. that was just them trying to expand their network to some extent and exert political influence through another channel they hadn't really had any type of acquisition at that scale of time. a prime example of this type of lobbying

is rupert murdoch in 1980 he helped ronald reagan enter the white house media deregulation was subsequently amended to murdoch's advantage in 87 the fairness doctrine requiring broadcasters to provide balanced reporting was overturned the coast was clear for the likes of fox news. i'm pleased it's a media system. by the private sector with news channels that serve special interests it's satisfying a certain clientele do it it's no longer a case of accountability and exercising that function as a full of the state is on and their teachers could see you. they earn money by intensifying party political polarization some time off a shift then z. if you're a republican politician you have to get along with fox news if you without the support of folks news you have little chance of winning the next election at any given fox news played a critical role in the election of trump to the presidency they were strong

articulate and emotional advocates for trump for his policy for his notion of immigrants are a danger to us for his racism it's almost a joke now where we see he tunes into fox he hears something from a commentator on fox news and then he talks about it as if it's a policy that should be followed. donald trump's populist rhetoric however was not good news for koch industries and its reliance on cheap immigrant labor is protectionist trade dispute with china also went against their interests and their dislike was mutual in a tweet to a fund raising event in 2015 trump sniped by a twitter i wish good luck to all the republican candidates that travel to california to beg for money etc from the koch brothers puppets the koch brothers

some of them via come from us here for koch brothers worked to gain strength during the election campaign and they supported other candidates tried but have since made their peace but he has since delivered results for these interest groups if you look at the recent tax reforms the oil industry among others has profited massively the corporations also benefit from the massive deregulate. in the environmental sector. in 2019 charles koch hit back a truck with a surprising move new organization started emerging within his otherwise strictly conservative network that now explicitly advocated democrats a joint think tank with left leaning multi billionaire george soros was just one notable example the subject disarmament. this is a very interesting and high profile development because it shows that old party political distinctions are no longer applied in certain areas at least in the.

impact of the seemingly disparate sources of funding remains unclear and u.s. policy is not immune to foreign influence either the powerful national rifle association is a case in point. approximately $15000.00 people die in the u.s. each year from firearms school massacres have sadly become a regular occurrence. basis did she really is a hero and i am very proud to say that he and i think there. and one of them really was an amazing person but he died doing what he was protecting a kid that meant the world you heard after each such attack. machine goes on the off chance the only thing that stops bad guy with a gun is a good guy with the. romans on showed video.

and manages to nip any initiative on gun regulation in the bud. even with 80 or 90 percent of the population after a school massacre are in favor of gun ownership reform the n.r.a. is still able to ensure that congress takes no action this is your kind of politicking mid-city forget according to analysts only as research the n.r.a. also receives great support from foreign weapons manufacturers such as are rather in italy or austria based block although the n.r.a. is not supposed to be using foreign funding to spend on u.s. politics it's really hard to distinguish a watch which funds are used for what it's hard to say if the same dollar going into the n.r.a. was ultimately used for lobbying or used to influence an election and so it raises a lot of potential risk of foreign money seeping into u.s.

elections on shacked which violates variety of different campaign finance laws potentially. koch industries is also a supporter of the n.r.a. but it's backing extends to other fronts with college students also in their sights financial donations by the charles koch foundation increased steadily between 252017 totaling a quarter of a $1000000000.00 that covered $450.00 campuses including numerous elite universities such as harvard yale and princeton. but there is a. distance to the lobby groups. samantha parsons was studying at george mason university in virginia the university that receives the most money from koch industries when she realised that her lecturers were not entirely independent and came in and mentioned that as professor stated that climate change is not real and that if students wanted to debate him on that fact that they could leave and never

come back which again mind you this is a required course the students have to sit in it and they're a little bit of online research we found out that he that professor himself is directly funded by the koch foundation. the kooks were eager to finance institutions that focus on the free market economy among them the required a center at george mason university most of the $1000000.00 contracts were drawn up in secret and with certain requirements. those terms and conditions include influence over what is being researched and the research outcomes and influence over what curriculum is being taught in the classroom of the programs that they're funding and even influence over who's hiring who's being hired and fired. samantha parsons believes there is even more behind the koch's commitment the intent to recruit young educated people and

a libertarian elite to be the dominating force in future policy. they view the young people that they can reach through their university programs as the future staff of their think tanks of their grassroots nonprofit they even hope someday maybe that those young people become legislators themselves or judges themselves and during the coronavirus pandemic conservative think tanks have not relented in their fight against environmental protection in a letter to politicians. in march 2019 the texas public policy foundation was adamant that renewable energies should not benefit from government aid climate change is not an immediate threat to humanity we had a lot of people sign on to that letter to remind them that you know really shouldn't be making these investments with tax dollars she shouldn't be burdening taxpayers more especially during the pandemic and now is not the time to

essentially waste taxpayer money on investments in green billing the legislative package was eventually adopted without any support for renewable energy having inside information about policy is useful for jason i sat and personal contacts until 2018 he had himself been an active republican politician. tremendously knowing that things a lot of times get done behind closed doors and not open to the public because people are having one on one conversations with members of the legislature and when you know those members it's easier to call them and to say how do you feel about this particular piece of legislation or the beautiful moment you know you really are currently in a phase where the environmental protection agency has been transformed into an environmental destruction agency the humvee of an decrees a shell during the crisis they have done away with air and pollution control regulations is so those orders to move public land and national parks are currently

being opened up for gas and oil drilling unthinkable even a few years ago i was doing it the information of being its destruction on a scale where you can only shake your head. while polluters including koch industries feel anything but frustrated steve bannon also a trusted adviser to the mercer family helped to see the paris climate accord nullified so we're getting our. money in politics has been a problem continues to be and looks like it will be for the forseeable future the only. solution to the problem is to regulate the money being spent on elections and to restore the power of the voter as opposed to the the power of the dollar. but the citizens united verdict remains valid giving companies and billionaires the right to spend unlimited amounts of money to exert influence you know we have

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this is deja vu news live from berlin boris johnson cancels christmas for millions in the u.k. begins with a very heavy heart i must tell you we continue with christmas those plans the prime minister unveils tighter coverage restrictions as a new strain of the virus fuels fears also coming up israel starts its rollout of the covert 1000 that scene for the palestinians half the way with the west bank in lockdown and infection rates on the rise there authorities have get sick your supplies of the shot. and in bonus league umpire knew it capped off a great 2020 with

a win at leverkusen putting them top of the table over the winter break. i'm going to craft welcome to the program millions of people in the united kingdom will have to spend christmas without their loved ones after prime minister boris johnson ordered people to stay home under new coronavirus rules households in london and south east anglia and will not be allowed to mix for the holidays and non-essential shops are to close it's a reversal of earlier plans to ease the rules over christmas prime minister boris johnson said the new measures were necessary after a new strain of the virus was speeding up the spread of infections. shoppers in london made a final dash to the stores before the new restrictions went into force set made nice under the latest rules many will be forced to cancel their christmas plans

indoor meetings between different households are now banned as all travel from areas under stay at home orders the number of cases are going up so i guess it's needed it's not so great for business it's not good news for people but. i guess there's no way to avoid this kind of a sad day for me he. said. to the best that in far the room. you have. the decision to add more christmas get togethers in london and surrounding areas is a major climbdown for british prime minister barak johnson. we don't want to as i say to ban christmas to cancel it and i think that would be frankly in human bodies with a very heavy heart i must tell you we cannot continue with christmas as planned

millions of he johnson said a new viral strain had forced him to change his mind when the science changes we must change our response when the virus changes its method of attack we must change our method of defense and as your prime minister i sincerely believe there is no alternative open to me scientists say the evidence shows the new variant of the corona virus is more infectious than no there strains is has been linked to a surge of infections in recent weeks in southeast england. and now millions of people living in the area will spend christmas and last day in the seasonal sparkled told by the pandemics force. earlier we spoke to our london correspondent charlotte chosen pill and i asked her what these tougher restrictions mean for people in the u.k.

the rules up until today have been 3 households would be allowed to meet indoors for 5 days that has now been cut back to being the people in these new 4 restrictions as that quote won't be allowed to leave that area is that being honest just to remain within their own household and as for the rest of the country well they're now being told that they can only need for one day that's on christmas day and those measures people around the country are being advised not to travel far and to cut down socialising with with other households where possible let's turn to some other stories making headlines now. berlin has paid tribute to the victims of a terrorist attack at a christmas market 4 years ago and islamised hijacked a truck and killed the driver even rammed a vehicle into the crowded market killing 11 people and injuring dozens more he was shot dead 4 days later by italian police near milan. u.s. president donald trump is question whether russia was behind

a massive cyber attack on u.s. government agencies and companies the statement contradicts his secretary of state my pompei o who on friday blamed russia for the security breach the hackers exploited widely used security software to get inside critical u.s. government networks. thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in sudan to demand faster reforms on the 2nd anniversary of the uprising which ousted president omar al bashir many protesters say they're unhappy with the slow pace of change under the country's transitional government. lebanese riot police have confronted students protesting a big hike in tuition fees security forces fired tear gas to disperse a gathering outside beirut's american university they and another university have decided to peg tuition to a much higher exchange rate with the us dollar than the official value for the

lebanese pounds. israel will begin its covert 1000 vaccination rollout on sunday with health care workers and people over 60 at the front of the line prime minister binyamin netanyahu already got his telling reporters he wanted to set an example for the country a successful vaccination program could give netanyahu a much needed political boost critics have blamed his government for its handling of the pandemic which has come amid a corruption scandal. it's unclear if israel's vaccination plans include the palestinians living under israeli occupation infection numbers in the west bank and . cars are rising rapidly as authorities there wait on vaccine supplies. the streets of jericho aren't usually this quiet most businesses a shot apart from pharmacies and bakeries palestinian police are in forcing the strict lockdown in the west bank. it's going to be like this till the beginning of

january the palestinian controlled parts of the west bank were already suffering economically before the pandemic people are hoping they will get the job soon i know when this will of all of the palestinian people need a vaccine which is certified by the world health organization it would help the palestinians who are suffering a lot from the coronavirus pandemic which is adding to the problems of the israeli occupation that elected our little light show a lot of baloney and with god's will this vaccine will be effective and we can escape this crisis which has affected every part of our life she untied me and so. at the coronavirus testing labs more and more samples are testing positive for covert 19. countries in the region like saudi arabia bahrain and israel are beginning mass vaccination programs. but the cash strapped

palestinian government has not closed any supply deals with drug companies yet. it will be many months before we receive a quantity of the vaccine sufficient to vaccinate people on mats. bethlehem is usually bustling during the christmas season christians normally flock to the holy sites on the west bank but this year the celebrations will be muted as it struggles with a pandemic. now it's been coronavirus that's been dominating headlines this year but that doesn't mean other crises have gone away and one of those is migration countless people trying to reach europe in hopes of a better life and this year has seen a sharp increase of migrants in the atlantic trying to reach spain's canary islands off of africa's western coast. nash yano was born just

a few days ago but she will never know her father. he died a few weeks ago while trying to reach the canary islands by a barge on the sort of cold atlantic route. the removal of only wanted was to improve his living conditions also i am sick and he wanted to provide for me his wife and children sent to go west africa one starting point for the atlantic route this year 10 times as many people have attempted the voyage as in 2019 hundreds of them lost their lives. the pandemic is one reason behind the increase jobs are vanishing just falling tourists are staying away migration routes through libya and across the mediterranean have become more difficult many of the migrants used to make a living from fishing but they say a large troll is from the e.u. and other big countries a wiping out fish stock. family life is hard and there is little hope we lived mainly off the fishing and built our houses that way solved our problems sent

our children to school. most of the migrants are young men driven by a desire to support their families as well as misconceptions about europe. many young people believe that europe is looking for more workers because of the high death toll associated with covert 19. they know the voyage to europe is dangerous but for a better life they're willing to risk everything. here round in the chinese city of the river banks of the yangtze river attract a steady stream of visitors 2020 changed all that locked down fear that waterways could be caring coronavirus all that kept people away but china's massive surveillance system and contact tracing efforts have outbreaks of the decrease and

crowds have now flocked back to the river banks and even over the edge. warming up before a bracing daily ritual in hunh. these are the riverside regulars' refresh by a frigid plunge into the young sea river many credit their good health to a vigorous swim through its murky brown waters. but. there's a difference between swimming in winter and swimming in summer but as for winter swimming i can say after you try you may not be able to change the habit and will be addicted to it. a famous figure from china's past popularized the practice chairman mao founder of communist china in 1966 a stage women a young sea helped him out launched a political comeback nearly 50 years on his strongman image has remained afloat

among the river swimmers of. chairman mao was still swimming in the young sea in his seventy's so we learned from chairman mao to swim in the big waves of the river right having such a good source of water we must learn from the practice we must insist on swimming in the young sea river. while a fund a version for strong swimmers the mighty young sea also poses a drowning hazard a volunteer lifeguard squad some 2000 strong make it their business to be ready so far they've chalked up 700 rescues. where we swimmers saved people from the water before we formed an official volunteer squad but we did not have scientific rescue skills so we decided to get organized and train with each other to carry out scientific rescue operations from which although you know those who are joining. as winter sets in

a steady flow of swimmers slices through the water another sign of the city coming back to life and its people going out to seize the day. and bonus league of football byron munich travel to laver cousin in a bid to knock their host off top spot and go into the winter break in 1st place they have a close in war the last down be in team left this season having conceded only 10 goals along the way but they were too generous this time around and had their hearts broken i'll last minute winner. a gracious gesture from the hosts laverick who is in boss is presenting flowers to newly crowned player of the year robert levon dusky and goalkeeper of the year manuel neuer. but once the game started leverkusen turned less hospitable patrick schick opening the

scoring with 14 minutes gone i'm the flowers a distant memory for noir. a short corner now the memories are king pass and schick beautifully meeting the ball on the volley for the opener. then byron got another present just before half time who else but robert evans off see the beneficiary across from thomas and liver couzens defense left the world's best player unmarked just scored the equaliser. and laver couzens generosity continued in the game's final seconds live and dusty getting his 2nd of the night i'm going to tend to with the defensive blunder and the prolific poles shot deflected off edman top soba into the net. $21.00 the final score and higher munich and a fantastic 2020 and they're a custom spot top of the table. watching debate is live from berlin you can

always get the latest news from d.w. dot com and of course follow us on twitter and instagram at u w news coming up next andy wu is jerusalem's a father christmas on the border just a minute on the other side of this tower and i'll see you a little bit later thanks very much. the story of produce and propaganda. they were cold the rhineland bastards born after the 1st world war. their mothers were germans living in the occupied rhineland their fathers were soldiers from the french colonies in the fifty's half of the german children had a hard time because they were reminder of the german defeat. it.