The fossil fuel industry experienced a boom in profits during the first nine months of 2021, raking in tens of billions of dollars as Americans faced a jump in gas prices. A new report by Accountable.US shows that 24 top oil and gas companies made $174 billion in profits between January and September, lining shareholders’ and CEOs’ pockets. Sixteen of those companies raised their dividend at least once in 2021, the report found, and most of their CEOs had compensation packages of over $10 million. Companies like Exxon and Chevron have posted high profits in the third quarter of 2021;…
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Top Shareholders of Pfizer and Moderna Made Over $10 Billion After Omicron Arose
In the first week that the Omicron variant sparked global fears of a new wave of infections, a small handful of investors and executives with Pfizer and Moderna — currently the world’s preeminent makers of Covid-19 vaccines — saw over $10 billion in new wealth, with the Moderna’s CEO alone adding over $800 million to his personal fortune. Based on data compiled by Global Justice Now and released Saturday, “just 8 top Pfizer and Moderna shareholders” added a combined $10.31 billion to their fortunes last week after stock prices soared in response to the emergence of Omicron. According to a…
At Least 40 Democrats Are Now Calling for Boebert to Be Removed From Committees
As Democratic leaders consider their options to punish Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colorado) for her Islamophobic comments toward Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), the list of Democrats calling for Boebert to be removed from her committee assignments is growing. On Thursday, 38 progressive lawmakers in the House released a statement in support of the punishment for Boebert. Led by Representatives Jamaal Bowman (D-New York), Cori Bush (D-Missouri), André Carson (D-Indiana) and Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington), the lawmakers decried Republican leaders’ tacit endorsement of hate speech against Omar and Muslims across the country. Over past weeks, videos have emerged showing…
January 6 Commission Votes to Forward Contempt Charges for Trump DOJ Official
The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack has voted to forward contempt charges for Jeffrey Clark, a former Trump-era Department of Justice (DOJ) official who has refused to comply with the committee’s subpoena requests. When Clark appeared before the January 6 commission in early November, he refused to answer questions about his role in trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump. On Wednesday, the commission voted unanimously to forward the consideration to hold Clark in contempt of Congress — but lawmakers added that they will drop their…
Poll Finds Most Young Americans Say US Democracy Is “In Trouble” Or “Failed”
As the U.S. faces converging existential issues perpetuated largely by establishment politicians and the right wing, new polling released on Monday finds that a majority of young Americans believe that U.S. democracy is on the brink of failure — or that it has already failed. The poll surveyed 2,109 Americans, aged between 18 and 29 years old. Thirty-nine percent of respondents said that the U.S. is “a democracy in trouble,” while 13 percent said that the U.S. is “a failed democracy,” adding up to 52 percent. Only 27 percent of respondents described American democracy as “somewhat functioning,” while a mere…
People Will Have to Travel 250 Miles on Average for Abortions If “Roe” Is Axed
If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, as it could very well do next year, the average American will have to travel about 125 miles or more — or about 250 miles round-trip — to access the closest abortion provider, according to data from the Myers Abortion Facility database that was first reported by Axios. Currently, with Roe v. Wade still in place, people only have to travel 25 miles on average for abortion access. Overturning Roe will nearly immediately quintuple that distance, forcing people who are seeking an abortion to face further restrictions and hardship. The gutting of…
Supreme Court’s Conservative Justices Indicate They’ll Upend Roe v. Wade
The United States Supreme Court appears ready to completely undo or drastically weaken decades of established precedent protecting abortion rights. On Wednesday, the High Court heard arguments regarding a restrictive Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In filing its initial briefs earlier this year, Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch laid out a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, a Supreme Court ruling from nearly 50 years ago that recognized the right to abortion access in every U.S. state. The Court’s conservative majority spent much of their time on Wednesday discussing whether to take a narrow view…
Proposal to Democratize United Auto Workers Elections Leads in Referendum Vote
A potentially consequential proposal to help democratize voting within United Auto Workers (UAW) is on track to win, with most regions’ votes counted as of Tuesday afternoon. The proposal, known as “one member, one vote,” would allow union members to vote directly for members of the 13-member UAW International Executive Board, which is responsible for overseeing the union with over 600 locals across eight regions. With about 35 percent of the votes counted, election reform is leading by 63 to 37 percent, or a margin of 26 percent. For the past 70 years, the 400,000-member union has had a delegate…
DOJ Accuses Steve Bannon’s Lawyers of “Frivolous” Complaints in Contempt Trial
On Sunday night, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a 10-page briefing accusing Steve Bannon’s lawyers of trying to issue “frivolous” complaints to stir up public support for their client from Trump supporters. Bannon, who is a former Trump advisor, faces contempt of Congress charges for refusing to adhere to subpoenas filed by the January 6 commission earlier this fall. While justifying his refusal to cooperate with the investigation into the Capitol attack, Bannon made dubious claims of executive privilege, asserting that he was unable to share relevant documents with the commission because it would violate Trump’s purported…
Starbucks Is Swarming Buffalo-Area Shops With Top Execs to Quash Union Drive
In June of 2018, just weeks before stepping down, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz issued a farewell address with a few words of wisdom for the company he’d leave behind. In it, he encouraged Starbucks workers of all stripes to “never embrace the status quo,” advising them to approach the world with a sense of “empathy” and “kindness.” But in recent months, as dozens of Starbucks employees organize a first-of-its-kind union drive — an effort that would ostensibly upend the company’s status quo — critics argue that Starbucks has plainly jettisoned its ethos of empathy and kindness to stamp out…
Expanding Carbon Capture and Storage Would Delay Transition From Fossil Fuels
After decades of sowing doubt about climate change and its causes, the fossil fuel industry is now shifting to a new strategy: presenting itself as the source of solutions. This repositioning includes rebranding itself as a “carbon management industry.” This strategic pivot was on display at the Glasgow climate summit and at a Congressional hearing in October 2021, where CEOs of four major oil companies talked about a “lower-carbon future.” That future, in their view, would be powered by the fuels they supply and technologies they could deploy to remove the planet-warming carbon dioxide their products emit – provided they…
Schumer Got $66K From Top Health Insurance Lobbyist Amid Build Back Better Talks
This article was produced by Sludge, an independent, ad-free investigative news site covering money in politics. Click here to support Sludge. In the third quarter of this year, as the Democratic leaders of Congress were scrambling to decide what to keep in President Biden’s reconciliation package and what to cut, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer accepted a $66,000 bundle of campaign contributions from the head of the health insurance industry’s top lobbying group. The bundle of checks, collected and given to Schumer’s campaign by Matt Eyles, the president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), was disclosed in a…