Lever Time

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Julia Rock and Rebecca Burns who detail their new story published by The Lever: “Before this weekend’s fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment prompted emergency evacuations in Ohio, the company helped kil...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota sits down with freshman Rep. Mary Peltola (D-Alaska), who recently made history as the first woman elected to represent Alaska in the House of Representatives, and the first Democrat to represent the state in the lower chamber in almost 50 years. David speaks with Mary about how she pulled off her historic win, why she opposed forcing the railroad...

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Julia Rock who details their new story published by The Lever: “The restaurant industry has long coordinated efforts to suppress labor costs through the NRA, a multimillion-dollar lobbying machine funded b...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: A few weeks ago, House Republicans passed a bill to cancel new Internal Revenue Service funding. David Sirota sits down with journalist and tax policy expert Jesse Eisinger, who provides much-needed context on the GOP’s push to defund one of our most integral government agencies. (Yes, the IRS really is necessary.) Jesse explains how the modest investments pas...

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Jordan Uhl who details their new story published by The Lever: “Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, the national debate over free speech has narrowly focused on tech companies’ social media censorship. But...

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Andrew Perez who details their new story published by The Lever: “Pfizer recently made headlines for hiking prices on roughly 100 drugs in the United States, shortly after the company announced plans to qu...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time Premium: David Sirota sits down with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) for a substantive conversation on the latest congressional developments. First, they discuss Ro’s ongoing House Oversight Committee investigation into fossil-fueled disinformation campaigns. The two also cover the U.S. airline industry debacle, the debate around banning gas stoves, and the recent vo...

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Andrew Perez who details their new story published by The Lever: "This year, for the first time, a majority of seniors eligible for Medicare will be on privatized Medicare Advantage plans. Now, the insuran...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: Last October, grocery giants Kroger and Albertsons announced they planned to merge and become one of the largest grocery monopolies in the country. To learn what’s at stake, David Sirota is joined by journalist Moe Tkacik, who has been covering the story for months, and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, who recently launched a multistate antitrust investi...

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Julia Rock, who details their new story published by The Lever: Pharmaceutical giants rang in the new year by quietly announcing price hikes in the United States on more than 350 drugs — and they continue...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: After the Southwest Airlines debacle that saw over 2,500 flights canceled and up to a million travelers stranded over the holidays, David Sirota explores how the U.S. airline industry became one of the most concentrated and despised industries in the country with the help of William J. McGee, a senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Lib...

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Matthew Cunningham-Cook who details their new story published by The Lever: For years, the retirement savings of teachers, firefighters, and other government workers have been funneled by public officials...

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Rebecca Burns who details their new story published by The Lever: Amid a financial crime spree and spate of corporate convictions, federal regulators recently floated a proposed fix: strengthening an exist...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: In light of Elon Musk’s Twitter flippantly banning journalists last week, David Sirota chats with Producer Frank and Jordan Uhl about the broader implications. Is this just another culture war sideshow, or is it the most forward-facing example of what happens when oligarchs control the public discourse (1:50)?   Then, David is joined by Evan Greer, the directo...

This mini-episode is part of our Inside The Story series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Rebecca Burns who details her new story published by The Lever: BlackRock, the world’s largest investment company, has become a top target of the right’s crusade against so-called “woke capitalism” because...

This mini-episode is part of our Lever News series, where we highlight some of The Lever’s original reporting and speak with the journalists who wrote the story. Frank Cappello speaks with Andrew Perez who details his new story published by The Lever. Flush with money after receiving the largest-known political advocacy donation in U.S. history, conservative activist Leonard Leo and his associates...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: In light of the recent breakthrough in nuclear fusion technology, David Sirota sits down with UK plasma physicist Dr. Arthur Turrell to learn about this “holy grail” of scientific research. Could nuclear fusion be deployed to combat the climate crisis, and how long would it take to do so (8:37)? If you'd like access to Lever Time Premium, which includes extend...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by New York Times global economics correspondent Peter S. Goodman to explore why President Biden and the Democrats chose to side with railroad barons by forcing rail workers to accept a contract they had already rejected. They also dig into why the rail workers’ demand for additional paid sick days became such a sticking point in negotia...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: Andrew Perez sits down with Lindsay Owens, executive director of the progressive think tank Groundwork Collaborative, to talk about why the upcoming fight in Congress over the debt ceiling is so pivotal. Owens explains how inflation will play a role in the negotiations, and discusses whether or not President Joe Biden will allow the conflict to be used as an e...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota discusses one of the country’s first-ever dark money disclosure laws passed during the recent midterms — Arizona Proposition 211 — and speaks with former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who has spent the better part of the last decade fighting to get the law passed (4:37).  Then, David is joined by Jordan Uhl, who has been covering last we...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: Progressive candidates win big! First, Producer Frank chats with The Lever’s Jordan Uhl about his takeaways from attending a recent Congressional Progressive Caucus event welcoming eleven new members of the House Democrats’ progressive wing (6:49). Then, David Sirota discusses the recent implosion of the cryptocurrency market following the collapse of the FTX...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: It’s the day after the midterm elections! David Sirota and The Lever’s entire reporting staff break down all the key takeaways, including the big progressive wins, the stunning MAGA losses, the victories for abortion rights, the surprising exit poll data, and the important ballot measures that passed (4:57). Then, David is joined by Krystal Ball, co-host of Br...

On this bonus episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is on the campaign trail tracking key Pennsylvania races in the lead-up to next week’s midterms. First, David interviews Summer Lee, the Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district. David speaks with Summer about the flood of money that has been spent against her, first in the Democratic primary and now in the general electi...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, who also serves as the chair of the Democratic Secretaries of State Association. David and Jena discuss the slate of election-denying Republican candidates who are running to oversee their state’s elections, and why the results of this year’s secretaries of state races are so vital (7:46). Th...

On this week’s episode of Lever Time: David Sirota is joined by MSNBC host Chris Hayes for a deep-dive discussion on this year’s midterm elections, the responsibility of the media in covering unprecedented threats to democracy, and what it’s like being the lead anchor of one of the country’s largest cable news networks (6:27). Then, David sits down with journalist and author Anand Giridharadas to...