LEVER WEEKLY: What It’s Like When Private Equity Comes For You

What The Lever Reported This Week:

• The Church Of Leonard Leo — The Supreme Court’s dark-money operative bought a church near his tony summer home, where neighbors are protesting his political crusade.

• Amid Heat Wave, GOP Adds Climate Denial To Spending Bills — House Republicans are helping their fossil fuel donors with legislative fine print that would block climate action.

• Private Equity Wreckers Come For Your Health Insurance — As hundreds of thousands lose coverage and face major additional out-of-pocket expenses, private equity enters the spotlight.

• The Magical Math Behind Disney’s Content Purge — Streaming services are pulling content to avoid paying workers — and could claim a tax break for doing so.

• Senate Bill Would Stop Tax Deduction For Fox’s Defamation Settlement — New legislation from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse would end a tax writeoff for defamation settlements, following The Lever’s reporting.

• YOU LOVE TO SEE IT: Teamsters Deliver A UPS Deal — Also, the IRS proves its worth and hungry kids get lunch.

Stuff To Watch Or Listen To:

• LEVER TIME: The Great Bank Robbery Of 2023 — David Sirota speaks with financial regulation experts about big banks’ interest rate grift.

• MOVIES VS. CAPITALISM: Robocop (w/ Mike Benner) — The MVC team discusses Paul Verhoeven’s hyper-violent satire of the corporate police state.

• LEVER TIME PREMIUM: Attribution Science Can Help Curb Climate Change — A climate scientist explains a groundbreaking innovation in climate science.

• LIVE EVENT: Why Is John Roberts Blocking Scrutiny Of The Supreme Court? — The Lever team and paid subscribers discussed the troubling legacy of SCOTUS Chief Justice John Roberts.

• VIDEO: Disney’s Financial Magic — A video explainer on how the Walt Disney Company is removing TV shows and movies from its streaming platforms and then using questionable accounting to claim massive losses and potential tax write offs.

Thank You To Our Lever Leaders:

Lever Leaders provide us with our highest level of support and score additional perks in return. Each week, we highlight folks who’ve taken that step, and the reasons they say they’ve done so, if they wish to share.

• Milton H Whaley: “In-depth reporting is crucial to maintaining our democracy.”

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