Lever Time

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by The Lever’s reporters Julia Rock and Rebecca Burns to discuss recent news, including a climate protest that made international headlines for dousing a Van Gogh painting in tomato soup (4:38), and a sketchy financial bait-and-switch by Microchip giant Intel (9:00). Julia and Rebecca also break down their massive stories on Republican S...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: On this week’s episode of Lever Time Premium: Joel Warner speaks with attorney and drug policy expert Shaleen Title about Joe Biden’s recent announcement on marijuana decriminalization and reform. Joel and Shaleen break down every aspect of Biden’s plan, as well as the corporate interests hoping to turn a profit from marijuana legalization (6:03). Then, David...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David is joined by comedian Dave Anthony and screenwriter Josh Olson, hosts of the Lever’s new “educational” podcast, The Audit. David, Dave, and Josh break down the news of the week, including shocking revelations about Herschel Walker and Dr. Oz, new GOP Facebook ads attempting to monetize their cruelty towards migrants, and the new slate of high-profile Sup...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by Andrew Perez and Jacobin staff writer Luke Savage to analyze a moment of open corruption during a House committee meeting (1:57), discuss how Joe Manchin’s dirty pipeline bill is getting “greenwashed” (12:46), and score an inside look at Savage’s new book, The Dead Center, about the failures of modern Liberalism (23:03). Then, David a...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David is joined by New York Times’ global economics correspondent Peter S. Goodman and Labor Notes reporter Jonah Furman to break down the looming railroad workers strike, which could potentially bring the U.S. economy to a screeching halt (7:03). Then, David interviews Charlie Crist, the Democratic nominee running for governor of Florida against Ron DeSantis....

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by The Lever’s Andrew Perez and ProPublica’s Andy Kroll, who break down their follow-up reporting on Barre Seid, the secretive Chicago billionaire responsible for the single largest political advocacy donation in U.S. history (3:25). Then, David sits down with political sportswriter Dave Zirin to discuss his new documentary about the his...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time Premium: David Sirota discusses Joe Biden’s recent comments on what he considers the biggest threat to American democracy (2:35); Julia Rock breaks down her reporting on the dark side of Biden’s student debt policy, including how his Justice Department is fighting debtors in bankruptcy court (9:38); and Matthew Cunningham-Cook updates us on how a corporate Demo...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by The Lever’s Andrew Perez and Matthew Cunningham-Cook to discuss Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan and dissect the internet’s obsession with ‘Dark Brandon' (3:15). Then, David sits down with author, filmmaker, and co-founder of the Debt Collective, Astra Taylor, and Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Utah, Marshal...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota breaks down The Lever’s blockbuster story detailing the largest political donation in U.S. history — $1.6 billion — and how that money found its way into the hands of Leonard Leo, the man responsible for packing the Supreme Court with right-wing extremists. David is joined by The Lever’s Andrew Perez, who uncovered the donation, as well as ProPubl...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota and Andrew Perez discuss Andrew’s recent investigative reporting on the Washington Post’s fact checker, which led WaPo to issue a correction (2:10). Then, Julia Rock interviews technology procurement expert Hassan Khan about the recently passed CHIPS Act and what it means for domestic semiconductor manufacturing and the tech giants who will benefi...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time Premium: The Lever’s staff discuss the Democratic party’s favorite constituents: the Private Equity industry (3:16). Then, Julia Rock and Producer Frank sit down with journalist Alex Pareene to explore the history of centrist Democrats’ “Never-Ending War on the Woke” (24:13). Finally, Matthew Cunningham-Cook and Julia Rock interview economist Jason Furman, who...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David speaks with New York Times columnist David Wallace-Wells about the strengths and weaknesses of Democrats’ surprise climate deal (10:20). He then talks to Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, who’s running against a right-wing extremist in arguably the most important race of 2022 (42:15). Finally, David sits down with actor a...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time Premium: In the midst of a global heatwave, David discusses Biden’s pattern of inaction (2:20). Next, David speaks with journalist Laura Krantz about her new narrative podcast series, Wild Thing: Going Nuclear, which explores the history and potential future of nuclear energy (14:00). Then, David interviews human rights attorney Steven Donziger, the man who suc...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David speaks with historian Harvey Kaye and journalist Robert Kuttner about how Joe Biden will need to “go big” with his policy proposals in order to salvage his presidency and stave off rising fascism in the United States, in the same way as FDR (9:10). Next, David sits down with Lucas Kunce, who’s running in a Democratic primary for Senate in Missouri, and w...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David speaks with Democratic strategist Mark Longabaugh about what a potential Biden 2024 presidential run could mean for the future of the Democratic Party (7:46). Then, he’s joined by the hosts of 5-4 Pod for an in-depth conversation about how the Supreme Court methodically legalized corruption, culminating in the recent decision in FEC v. Ted Cruz For Senat...

After this past week’s barrage of devastating Supreme Court decisions, we’re doing a SCOTUS deep-dive. First, David is joined by The Lever’s Andrew Perez to discuss his recent piece about the conservative dark money network that has been bankrolling judicial nominees for the past twenty years. Then, David speaks with Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and Colorado State Senator Julie Gonzales a...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David speaks with Alex Lawson, the executive director of Social Security Works, to discuss Lindsey Graham’s recent comments on entitlement reform and whether the Biden administration will capitulate to Republicans (5:07). He’s then joined by Andrew Perez, whose recent Lever story explored a free medical clinic filling critical health care gaps in Sen. Manchin’...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David exposes the major problem with the January 6 hearings and how they may result in a better outcome for Republicans than Democrats (2:42). Then he’s joined by economics professor Joshua William Mason and The Lever’s Julia Rock to discuss Julia’s recent piece about how the Federal Reserve is planning to curb inflation… by lowering workers’ wages (16:10). Af...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David is joined by author and professor Roger Stahl to discuss the “military-entertainment complex” as it relates to the recent success of Top Gun: Maverick (3:10). Then The Lever’s Matthew Cunningham-Cook stops by to talk through his recent piece about how the Biden administration is hiking the price of Medicare premiums and funneling the money to private ins...

On the inaugural episode of Lever Time, David speaks with civil rights lawyer and founder of Civil Rights Corps, Alec Karakatsanis, about how police in the US are not legally obligated to protect its citizens (10:10). Next, The Lever's Julia Rock discusses her reporting on the landmark climate justice lawsuit Juliana v. United States in which a group of teenagers are suing the federal government f...

Coming soon — it's Lever Time! Hosted by award-winning journalist David Sirota, Lever Time is the flagship podcast from the investigative news outlet The Lever. This is the trailer for that podcast.  Just listen to it. It'll explain everything.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices