 As vaccinations continue to tick up, daily new COVID-19 cases are continuing to trend downward. And that's really, really good news. But, having said that, the protections put in place during the pandemic are still very much needed because it is going to take years to build back what we lost during the pandemic. People who lost their jobs, lost their health insurance, lost their livelihoods are still trying to find their footing. Some still haven't yet, and it's going to take time. So you can't just automatically declare the pandemic over and get rid of all of the protections put in place during the pandemic. If we actually care about people, then we have to make sure that there are still protections that remain in place for a while. But there are some individuals, oligarchs in particular, like Charles Koch, the Koch brother, who did not die, who's already trying to undo pandemic-era protections. And he's doing this before the pandemic is even over yet. So as Andrew Perez and David Sarota of The Daily Poster explain, billionaire Charles Koch's foundation has bankrolled three conservative legal groups leading the court battle to eliminate prohibitions against tenant evictions during the COVID-19 outbreak. At the same time, Koch's corporate empire has suddenly stepped up its real estate purchases during the pandemic, including making large investments in real estate companies with a potential financial interest in eliminating eviction restrictions. In the last few months, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, the Pacific Legal Foundation, and the New Civil Rights Alliance have been pushing federal courts to strike down the CDC's eviction moratorium, which is designed to protect millions of Americans from being thrown out of their homes during the pandemic. The groups have so far won two rulings. Between 2017 and 2019, the Charles Koch Foundation contributed almost $7.7 million to those three conservative organizations. According to the Foundation's tax returns, reviewed by The Daily Poster. So long story short, it is not lucrative to have these moratoriums on evictions for an extended period of time. Landlords, real estate developers, they want to make money. So they want these eviction moratoriums to be gone as soon as possible. And they're winning that battle. And Charles Koch is helping to bankroll this process because he also has financial incentives to make sure that these moratoriums on evictions go the way of the dodo. It's truly disgusting. I mean, evicting people in general, that in and of itself is wrong, considering we have to decmodify housing in America. But to do this during a pandemic, that is really like a unique kind of evil. And to push for this, it's just, it's gross. I mean, I don't have much to add here to the story because I think that the details speak for themselves here. They're trying to evict people during a pandemic who are struggling to survive. The federal government offered almost no help compared to other developed countries. And already the pandemic is not even over and what little protections remain in place. We have right wing ghouls. We're trying to get them thrown out. It's just despicable. But this isn't at all shocking when we live in a late-stage capitalist society where policy is dictated by what the oligarch and ruling elites want. I think that it's important to shine a light on what he's doing because this truly cannot just go without mentioning. I know that folks are used to Charles Koch being a piece of shit. And I know that this is basically what we expect in our society now, which cares more about profit than people. But we still shouldn't just like not talk about it because we're numb. We should still call it out and shame these idiots who do things like this that are just absolutely to the detriment of public health and just humanity in general.