The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Dark Money Is Getting Even Darker
A fossil fuel company admitted it made $9.5 million worth of political expenditures to advance its corporate interests — and a Delaware court is helping hide the details.
327 Article(s) by: David Sirota
David Sirota is editor-at-large at Jacobin. He edits the Lever and previously served as a senior adviser and speechwriter on Bernie Sanders’s 2020 presidential campaign.
The Electoral College Makes It Easier for the Courts To Steal Elections
The Electoral College is an undemocratic mess. It also creates a far higher possibility of narrow elections being overturned by courts, according to a new study.
Amy Coney Barrett Has Close Ties To the Fossil Fuel Industry
Amy Coney Barrett’s father helped lead the American Petroleum Institute for 20 years — the same lobbying group that is right now pushing Supreme Court justices to limit states’ power to stop fossil fuel projects.
At the Debate Last Night, Biden Finally Distanced Himself From the GOP’s Austerity Talking Points
After pushback, at the presidential debate last night, Biden thankfully dropped his deficit hawkery and made a strong statement in favor of public investment. Will he be held to his new position if he wins?
Amy Coney Barrett Is Doubling Down on Climate Denial
Democrats finally pressed Amy Coney Barrett to commit to recuse herself from oil company cases. In response, she is now refusing — and reiterating her absurd assertion that climate science is “controversial.”
Amy Coney Barrett’s Climate Denialism Should Disqualify Her
Amy Coney Barrett told senators that she is impartial and that her views on climate science are irrelevant. But she showed a dangerous bias against environmental action that would make the climate crisis far worse.
Why Are Democrats Silent on Climate During the Amy Coney Barrett Hearings?
Amy Coney Barrett refuses to agree that humans contribute to climate change, while Democrats fail to ask her to recuse herself from a landmark climate case involving Shell, the oil company that employed her father. Democrats must bring up the climate in Barrett’s confirmation hearings — the future of our planet is at stake.
Amy Coney Barrett Is the Supreme Court Justice Big Oil Needs
Yesterday, Amy Coney Barrett told lawmakers she doesn’t have “firm views” on climate change. For decades, her father was a lawyer at Shell Oil, which now has a major climate case in front of the Supreme Court.
Supreme Court Expansion Isn’t Even a Tough Call
To court pack, or not to court pack? That is the question Democrats are doing everything they can to avoid answering — even though Republicans have been successfully packing the courts for years.
Donald Trump Took Advantage of the US’s Legalized Corruption
Donald Trump is deeply corrupt. That corruption is a product of the larger kleptocratic system, created by a judiciary that would favor the rich even more with Amy Barrett on the Supreme Court.
The Pennsylvania GOP Is Undermining Its Own Vote-By-Mail Reforms For Trump
Donald Trump wants to suppress the vote, and Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers want to help him — by limiting the vote-by-mail system they themselves helped create in 2019.
Kamala Harris Did Not Need to Tout Fracking Last Night
Polls show Pennsylvania voters support important restrictions on fracking. There was no reason for Kamala Harris to tout Joe Biden’s endorsement of fracking at the vice presidential debate last night or for Beltway journalists to claim the election hinges on the position.
Trump Reduced Workplace Safety Enforcement — Then Workers Died While Begging for Help
New data shows that COVID-19–related deaths followed after workers requested help from federal safety officials. Instead of helping, Donald Trump reduced enforcement of workplace safety laws.
Senate Dems Have a Big Supreme Court Opportunity Today. Will They Use It?
Mitch McConnell desperately wants unanimous consent to pass a measure keeping Trump’s Supreme Court nomination on track. Democrats could potentially stop it. The question is whether they’re willing to.
Shut Down the Supreme Court Confirmation
If the roles were reversed, Mitch McConnell would use his power to to stop a Democratic president’s Supreme Court pick. Democrats now face pressure to fight Trump’s nominee just as vigorously.
Trump Could Only Ignore the Reality of Coronavirus for So Long
The lesson of Donald Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis is not that he deserved it or that anyone should celebrate — it’s that you can’t pretend that the basic laws governing the universe don’t apply to you forever.
Private Equity Firm Blackstone Actually Had a Sub-Zero Tax Rate Last Year
Even though Blackstone, the world’s largest private equity firm, raked in billions in profits last year, new documents show their tax rate actually went below zero. This may help explain why CEO Stephen Schwarzman has spent nearly $25 million to help Trump and GOP senators win: to ensure the tax breaks enriching Blackstone stay in place.
Our Tax System Allows and Encourages Massive Rip-Offs Like Trump’s
It’s tempting to turn the new reporting on Donald Trump’s tax shenanigans, paying only $750 in taxes in 2016 and 2017, into a story about Trump as a singular villain. He’s despicable, but he could only get away with it because we live under a system that allows the wealthy to rip off $266 billion from the country every single year.
Amy Coney Barrett Worked on Bush v. Gore
Donald Trump says he expects the Supreme Court to decide the 2020 election, as it did in Bush v. Gore. If Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed, the court will have three justices who worked directly on the case that undemocratically determined the 2000 election.
Supreme Court Nominee Amy Coney Barrett Is an Enemy of Workers
In August, Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett delivered a key ruling blocking many gig workers from suing in court when tech companies deny them overtime pay. It’s just one in a long history of decisions that favored corporate interests.