Lever Time – Details, episodes & analysis

A group of Montana activists is pushing a ballot initiative attacking Citizens United, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that granted corporations the right to spend unlimited money in politics. While Montana’s Republican Attorney General  attempted to block the ballot initiative this week, the fight is far from over. In the third episode of Lever Time’s MONEYBOMB series, David Sirota sits down with political strategist Tom Moore from The Center for American Progress. That nonprofit is spearheading the Transparent Election Initiative, Montana’s new plan to purge dark money from the state, which could potentially rewrite national politics. Could this effort deal a blow to the corporate takeover of politics? And could it blaze a path for other states to follow? Click here to order our book, MASTER PLAN: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. To read more of Tom Moore’s writing about The Montana Plan, click here. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/join. To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For 15 years, lawmakers have been trying — and failing — to overturn Citizens United, the landmark Supreme Court decision that allows corporations and billionaires to overrun our political system with money. Now, some Congressional Democrats are going big — by trying to enshrine campaign finance protections in the Constitution. In the second episode of Lever Time’s MONEYBOMB series, David Sirota sits down with Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), cosponsor of the new Citizens Over Corporations Act, which would introduce a Constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling. Does the effort have a real shot at fixing our democracy crisis? Click here to order our book, MASTER PLAN: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. Get ad-free episodes, bonus content and extended interviews by becoming a member at levernews.com/join. To leave a tip for The Lever, click here. It helps us do this kind of independent journalism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

First, they cancelled Stephen Colbert; now they’ve pulled Jimmy Kimmel off the air. The common denominator? Corporate power. On today’s episode of Lever Time, David Sirota talks with media-consolidation expert Craig Aaron and monopoly authority Matt Stoller about how media corporations are transforming the news and information environment to curry favor with the Trump administration. Where is this all heading? Are our most basic freedoms going to survive?  Click here for a full transcript of the episode. The kind of accountability journalism that The Lever does every single day is under assault in a way it has never been in our lifetimes. Help us fight back. Click here for a 30% discount on a Lever subscription right now.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with Jerusalem-based journalist Nathan Thrall to discuss what life has been like in both Gaza and the West Bank since the Oct. 7 attack in Israel. The pair also explores what is motivating Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue the war, and why Netanyahu’s iron-fisted approach to the Palestinian territories may be the norm, not an outlier, in Israeli politics.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For months, Joe Biden has struck a defiant tone in his support of Israel despite the concerns of allies and nationwide protests. Biden has been a fervent supporter of Israel throughout his political career, but his current moves appear to be driven by three close advisors who have consolidated control over the administration’s Israel policy.  Today on Lever Time, David Sirota and Arjun Singh look at the people shaping Biden’s Israel decisions and get an on-the-ground report on how the war has played out in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.  The Lever is subscriber supported. To become a subscriber, and get access to exclusive bonus content, head here: https://www.levernews.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since 2021, economists and pundits have tried to blame inflation on workers and rising wages. But a new bombshell exposé spotlights a different cause: oil companies engaging in an alleged price-fixing scheme with Saudi Arabia and other countries that may have fueled roughly one-third of all U.S. inflation in 2021.  A recent Federal Trade Commission case uncovered text messages and documents suggesting the founder of a big oil company colluded with the Saudi government and other oil-producing countries to keep energy prices high. Another lawsuit alleges multiple American oil companies were engaged in a price-fixing scheme.  Today on Lever Time, Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project discusses his groundbreaking reporting on the matter — and explains how this alleged collusion could have played a major role in the country’s inflation crisis.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As colleges and police departments crack down on campus protests, law enforcement are using tools borrowed from corporate America’s ballooning surveillance regime to spy on students — and anyone else they deem a threat.  When New York City police raided Columbia University on Tuesday to remove student protesters from a building they’d occupied, Mayor Eric Adams justified the move by claiming “outside agitators” had infiltrated the group. If the claim was even true, how did authorities get that information? What sort of technologies are authorities using to monitor the protesters — and where did these spy tools come from? This week on Lever Time, David Sirota and producer Arjun Singh look at college protests in the age of total surveillance. They talk with Alistair Kitchen, a student journalist who’s been reporting from Columbia’s campus, and explore how corporate America has taught the intelligence community new ways to use consumer data to spy on people everywhere If you’d like to follow Alistair Kitchen’s reporting, subscribe to his newsletter here: https://substack.com/@alistair  Our work is subscriber supported. If you want to support us, and hear exclusive podcast content, head to levernews.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After years of pressure, the Department of Transportation announced it would require airlines to automatically refund flyers the cost of canceled or significantly delayed flights. Days later, a bipartisan group of senators — who also happen to be some of the largest recipients of campaign cash from the airline industry — unveiled new legislation that could undermine that rule.  In this episode of Lever Time, Lever reporter Katya Schwenk unpacks how a small line in a massive bill could quietly kill a consumer protection rule that was years in the making.  Our work is subscriber supported. If you want to become a subscriber, and get access to exclusive podcast content and articles, sign up here at levernews.com  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thirty years ago, Amazon was a quirky internet bookseller. But even back then, founder Jeff Bezos wanted to build an empire. Today, Amazon has inserted itself into almost every facet of daily life, and it’s done so by ruthlessly muscling out competition — likely using illegal market tactics. For years, regulators watched Amazon’s growth and failed to investigate claims that the company violated federal law by engaging in predatory pricing. That changed last year when Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan announced she and 17 state attorneys general were suing Amazon and charging it with being an illegal monopoly. The thing is, Amazon probably could have been sued a long time ago.  On this week’s Lever Time, David Sirota and Arjun Singh unpack how an ideological movement successfully suppressed efforts to challenge corporate monopolies in the United States for nearly half a century and enabled Amazon’s unprecedented rise.  To become a Lever premium member and get access to exclusive bonus podcast content and more, head to levernews.com to subscribe.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, we’re excited to announce the relaunch of The Lever’s flagship podcast Lever Time. In this week’s episode, David Sirota and Senior Podcast Producer Arjun Singh discuss the 2024 presidential election and the Democratic Party’s efforts to prevent a real primary challenge to President Joe Biden. Since 2008, the Democratic Party leadership has worked to suppress primary challengers and support incumbent politicians. That approach was on full display during the 2024 Democratic primaries, where the DNC worked with state affiliates to ensure that, in some cases, Biden’s two primary challengers didn’t even appear on the ballot. Given Biden’s consistently low approval ratings and palpable anger over his handling of the war on Gaza, the matter raises troubling questions: Did the party prevent a proper primary because they were afraid of what it could do to Biden? And if so, could their plan to suppress a primary contest backfire and end up hurting Biden in November? This week on Lever Time, David Sirota and Senior Podcast Producer Arjun Singh unpack Biden’s popularity and look to the 1980 Democratic primary, when Democratic senator Ted Kennedy challenged incumbent president Jimmy Carter. Our work is subscriber supported. If you'd like to become a Lever subscriber, and get access to our original reporting and bonus podcast episodes, head here: https://www.levernews.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices