a reminder the next time you hear your politician bewail the parliamentarian or some other fake excuse
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David Sirota
@davidsirota@mastodon.online
mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Founder/editor-in-chief, The Lever. Oscar nominated for "Dont Look Up." Denverite.
3135 Followers
12 Following
50 Posts
Joined November 08, 2022
my statement on the passing of Senator Sheev Palpatine (R-Naboo)
🚨 SCOOP: The Winklevoss Twins funneled $20 million of bitcoin to Trump's super PAC just after Trump officials administration moved to vacate an action against the brothers’ crypto exchange, according to new documents.
Details at LeverNews [dot] com
As Gov. Whitmer tries to stop Abdul El-Sayed, remember: Whitmer’s dad was Blue Cross’s CEO, she appointed a Blue Cross CEO co-chair of her transition & got more Blue Cross cash than any MI candidate — as Blue Cross denies 1 in 6 claims
Story at LeverNews [dot] com
Nobody can afford food, gas, electricity, housing and health care - and the elites of both parties not only don't seem to care, they seem intent on live broadcasting their lavish parties with their sides' celebrities as the rest of the country starves.
This is "let them eat" cake - but blasted out 24-7 to millions of people's screens. It's genuinely unprecedented in human history.
Establishment Dems are insisting the anti-incumbent wave in blue districts is pointless because the districts are already Dem.
But the opposite is true: The wins scare every Dem incumbent. It tells them rhetorical liberalism is no longer enough - they must deliver results or they'll lose their job.
maybe…just maybe it is always darkest before the dawn
the entire algorithm-fueled propaganda system and billionaire-owned attention economy is meticulously designed to gaslight you into forgetting this core truth
In 2025, James Carville demanded Democrats “roll over and play dead” in the face of Trump’s rampage.
15 months later, Democratic primary voters have been throwing out Democratic politicians who took that advice.
Stevens' final argument in the primary is that corruption - including Big Money's effort to buy her a Senate seat - is merely an esoteric "educated issue" that has nothing to do with corrupt lawmakers creating corrupt policies fueling the affordability crisis
I don't know of a more clear example of Democratic elites' contempt for Democratic voters than a 74-year-old senator from a very blue state voting more for Trump's agenda than any other Senate Democrat - and then refusing to show up to even one debate with his primary opponent as a recent poll suggests the race is tightening.
ideological bias in corporate media operates at the story selection and story framing level — which makes it more insidious
Boosted by @VeroniqueB99@mastodon.social
🚨YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS UP: A little-noticed IRS report show 164 taxpayers with an average unreported foreign account balance of $1.3 billion were identified for examination - but only 12 were audited.
The agency didn't do more audits even after they discovered $39 million of taxes owed among the 12.
https://www.levernews.com/offshore-accounts-for-me-turbotax-for-thee/
yes, normie libs are finally realizing that what a handful of us have been berated for saying for literally 30 years is actually true
it’s been a great trip
🚨NEWS: In the state that sets America's corporate legal standards, the law firms that helped Elon Musk gut the country's investor protections are now bankrolling the reelection bids of the Dem lawmakers who did the gutting - and who now face primary challenges.
Find the story at LeverNews [dot] com - and pass it on
I am pleasantly surprised that the NY Times ed board — not exactly a populist voice! — on this specific point appears to understand the meaning of this moment & appears to be throwing shade at corporate Dems trying to weaponize the situation for their ideological project.
my first time shucking oysters…amazing trip here at the western edge of America
Day 3 of our trip mostly off grid at the edge of America…I’m assuming no big news has happened in these last few days…right? 😂
Life hack: The cheapest Mint Mobile plan + an old dumb phone whose number only your family knows = brain healing and a reclamation of your consciousness that your smartphone and the attention economy are stealing from you
been off the grid at the edge of the world…I trust that no big news happened in the last day…right?
gazing out at seals and bald eagles from the edge of America reminds me that we are tiny and fleeting, and that it’s very good to take some time to get so far away from news/media/politics/headlines that you don’t know what’s happening and don’t particularly care
🚨WE'RE HIRING
The Lever has new job listings for:
- Executive Editor to run the whole outlet
- Audience Editor
- Video Producer
- Video Field Reporter
- Social Media Producer
- Investigative Political Reporter
Jobs at LeverNews [dot] com [slash] jobs
Sotomayor apologizing for politely speaking the truth about the right on the same day Thomas insults half the country is such a perfect commentary on the asymmetry in politics.
Cowering liberals think this is a manners contest while conservatives are waging an ideological war.
On this day, everyone should watch this C-Span clip of Alan Greenspan being absolutely wrecked by Bernie Sanders, at a time when every other lawmaker was kissing Greenspan's ass.
https://www.c-span.org/clip/house-committee/user-clip-bernie-sanders-blasts-alan-greenspan/4539705
ferry ride at the edge of America
🚨NEW: How elite Dems in D.C. and their big donors are trying to weaponize Graham Platner’s withdrawal to pull off a corporate coup and thwart the anti-oligarch policy demands of the largest primary vote in Maine’s history.
Find the story at LeverNews [dot] com — and pass it on
Among the most destructive ideas implanted in liberals' minds is the idea that they must vote for who they (often wrongly) calculate will be the most "electable" rather than whose policies are actually good.
This pervasive voter-as-pundit pathology has been manufactured by corporate media and the propaganda system. It is deeply cynical, evil & an obstacle to progress.
🚨Can Democrats Win Without Corporate Money? Phil Weiser Says Yes.
My @levernews@mastodon.online interview with Colorado’s Dem gubernatorial nominee
just after his shocking upset victory against out-of-state billionaires.
Find it at YouTube [dot] com [slash] LeverNews — and pass it on
On my reporting trip to Maine (pre-sex-scandal allegations), I bumped into Rebecca Traister at a Platner rally, where we discussed his appeal & the mood in Maine. She has written a really good piece I encourage you to read.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/what-women-saw-in-graham-platner.html
🚨Documents show John Roberts proudly casting himself as a leader of the opposition to “activist” judges.
Now, newly revealed secret memos show he led the charge to wield unprecedented judicial activist power — to make sure corporations would never be forced to reduce pollution.
apparently I’m now trending on Twitter/X because I interviewed Graham Platner 😂
Find the interview at The Lever’s YouTube page or search “Lever Time” in your podcast app — pass it on
🚨INVESTIGATION: How corporations & the Trump administration have effectively shut down shareholders' ability to ask CEOs to change policy - under threat of getting themselves sued.
This story is absolutely mind-boggling & terrifying.
What stage of capitalism is this?
https://www.levernews.com/the-man-whom-exxon-tried-to-drill/
🚨THE LEVER IS HIRING
Our newsroom is growing! We have new job listings for:
-
Executive Editor to run the whole news outlet
-
Audience Editor
-
Video Producer
-
Video Field Reporter
-
Social Media Producer
-
Investigative Political Reporter
Jobs at LeverNews [dot] com [slash] jobs
Today's Supreme Court rulings on presidential power are the culmination of a secret 50-year plot that is not well understood - but that we reveal in the new season of MASTER PLAN.
Search "Master Plan" in your podcast app or go to The Lever's YouTube page - and pass it on.
Conservative groups and the Trump administration aiming to whittle down anti-bribery laws just convinced the Supreme Court to issue a two-line order on its secretive shadow docket. Almost nobody noticed. Here's what it might mean.
🚨NEWS: Utility CEOs are hiking your electricity bill and using the profits to jack up their pay and give themselves private jets, luxury condos & other lavish perks.
Inside this year's $600 million upward transfer of wealth from your utility bill to corporate executives. Find the story at LeverNews [dot] com
INVESTIGATION: How the U.S. government ignored warnings & shut down America's helium reserve - just before the Iran War has now cut off foreign helium supplies for everything from medical equipment to computer chips.
Shortages are on the horizon as prices skyrocket.
This is the biggest economic story you’ve almost certainly never heard about.
This chart from SCOTUSblog shows how the Roberts court votes on presidential power issues.
When a Democrat is the president, the justices vote less for the government position.
When a Republican is the president, the justices vote more for the government position.
On the 50-year anniversary of All The President's Men, if you closely rewatch one scene, you can see the film was sending a warning about the media industry, journalism and the downsides of the attention economy that distracts from the hard work of holding power accountable.
https://sirota.substack.com/p/journalism-vs-the-attention-economy
🚨NEW: Establishment Dems & some of their liberal fans are desperately denying that their party's donor complicity & failure to deliver created backlash conditions for Trump's rise.
Some populist Dems are speaking out & warning that Dems must avoid repeating the same failure.
https://www.levernews.com/the-liberal-fiction-that-will-lead-to-another-trump/
giant overflow crowd at an event for Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner in Old Town, Maine on a rainy Sunday evening
There’s a lot of national press suddenly parachuting into Colorado to try to tell you what’s happening in our elections. But if you want the real story from on the ground, listen to this new City Cast Denver episode I was on. Find it in your pod app — and pass it on
If you're looking for media content that only confirms your priors & only boosts politicians you've been inculcated to worship, you aren't actually seeking journalism that holds power accountable - you are seeking party propaganda that soothes your ego.
https://www.levernews.com/journalism-isnt-here-to-protect-your-politics/
LEVER TIME: The secret 40-year plot to bury you in tax paperwork & force you to pay accountants - rather than letting the IRS send you your completed tax returns like other countries do.
This story is enraging - it's a plot to enrich tax prep companies & make you hate taxes.
Search “Lever Time” in your podcast app to find the episode and hear this maddening tale.
🚨SCOOP: Jill Biden's former spokesperson is appearing on Fox News as a Democratic spokesman touting GOP Sen. Susan Collins - without Fox disclosing that he works for D.C.'s most Trump-connected lobby firm and is now lobbying for corporate clients funneling PAC cash to Collins.
🚨NEWS: The Supreme Court case is this week considering a Trump-backed case designed to block cancer victims' lawsuits against pesticide corporations.
Nature just published a study suggesting pesticide exposure may be linked to accelerating rates of cancer in young people.
https://www.levernews.com/roundup-maker-begs-scotus-to-block-cancer-suits/
The Lever's reporters contacted the offices of every member of the Congressional Black Caucus asking whether they will provide the decisive House votes the GOP needs to renew Donald Trump's warrantless surveillance power.
Only one of them responded.
https://www.levernews.com/lawmakers-play-coy-as-surveillance-bill-looms/
🚨BREAKING: The Supreme Court just helped J.D. Vance create Citizens United 2.0
In the text of today’s ruling, the court insists that the alleged strength of already weakened anti-corruption laws justifies a ruling that now creates a new conduit for billionaires to buy elections.