Lever Time

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.

A message from David Sirota about recent violence and what we must do to stop it.

The United States government is taking a 10 percent stake in Intel, blurring the lines between capitalism and state ownership. While critics say it’s a dangerous power grab, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is praising President Donald Trump’s move.On this episode of Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with The American Prospect’s Harold Meyerson and Cornell University law professor Bob Hockett to tackle the deeper question: Should the U.S. government own pieces of big corporations? 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.

As Trump presses states to redraw their district maps to favor Republicans, David Sirota gets the inside scoop from Texas Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett, who is on the frontlines of the gerrymandering war. Doggett this week announced a shocking act of self-sacrifice, jeopardizing his own career for the battle against Trump. Click here for a full transcript of the episode.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.

Health insurance premiums for some Americans could increase by a whopping 66 percent next year. Why are insurers jacking up their rates? And why are Republicans killing off Biden-era subsidies for the Affordable Care Act, despite their overwhelming, bipartisan popularity? Could such efforts backfire and make Medicare for All inevitable? And how can individuals and small businesses prepare for insurance hikes?Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with two of America’s leading experts on the health care system, Larry Levitt and Miranda Yaver, who are sounding the alarm about insurance rate increases. We explore the reasons why the Trump administration is making it harder for Americans to pay for their health insurance — and how the coming perfect storm threatens to sink the Affordable Care Act.To read the KFF study referenced in this episode, click here.Click here for a full transcript of the episode.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.

Men are struggling with friendships and feeling lonelier than ever. The male loneliness epidemic is seeping into many facets of life — including mental health, the economy, and American politics — but why are guys having such a hard time making and keeping friends?Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with journalist Sam Graham-Felsen to explore the collapse of male friendship — and why this quiet crisis has deeper political and social ramifications than anyone wants to admit.You can read Sam Graham-Felsen’s New York Times article referenced in this episode here.A transcript of the episode is available 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.

Delta Air Lines recently came under fire for announcing that artificial intelligence will be setting 20 percent of its ticket prices for its domestic flights by 2026. While Delta subsequently denied using the tech to engage in “personalized” price gouging, many airlines, big businesses, and data brokers have allegedly been dabbling in “surveillance pricing,” the growing corporate practice that exploits personal data to charge customers the most they’re willing to pay.In this episode of Lever Time, David Sirota talks to Lee Hepner, antitrust expert at the American Economic Liberties Project, to learn how companies are tracking our online and offline behavior to deliver personalized (and potentially higher) price tags. As Hepner reveals, corporate entities have been quietly fine-tuning the practice for decades — and we’re now entering an era of one person, one price.Click here to read The Lever’s investigation into how airlines pioneered "personalized pricing."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.

In a stunning reversal, the Trump administration just gave the green light to a major tech merger — and then fired two Justice Department lawyers who opposed it. Was corruption at play in the merger decision?Today on Lever Time, David Sirota sits down with The Lever’s Luke Goldstein and UnHerd Magazine’s Sohrab Ahmari, who first exposed the “mergers over martinis” story behind the reversal. They dive into the MAGA power struggle inside the Justice Department and tackle the big questions: What triggered the reversal? Could a Watergate-era anti-corruption law bring the truth to light? And if Trump is now opening the floodgates to corporate mergers, what will that mean for your wallet?To check out Sohrab Ahmari’s reporting, as referenced in this episode, 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.