Lever email full of stories that should be on the front page of your newspaper if your newspaper did hard news critical of massively powerful corporations.

Tue, Jun 24 at 12:56 PM

Forward this email to others so they can sign up   🔥 Today’s Lever story: Backed by tech money and Donald Trump’s executive orders, one entrepreneur is out to replace teachers everywhere with AI. 👇 Spend three minutes reading this 840-word newsletter to learn about:  Immigration advisor Stephen Miller’s six-figure stake with an ICE contractor. An Iranian state bank’s infamous former landlord. How the GENIUS Act puts us all on the hook for Amazoncoin. Traditional lenders' response to the "buy now, pay later" explosion. SPONSORED They can’t scam who they can’t find. Let Incogni get your personal information off the internet. Help protect yourself from identity theft, spam calls, and online threats impacting your physical safety. Get 55% off annual plans by using LEVER at the checkout. Claim 55% Off Offer Now   TODAY'S NUGGETS 💸 Deportation-driven dividends. In new filings, homeland security adviser and mass deportation architect Stephen Miller disclosed owning at least $100,000 worth of stock in defense technology and surveillance firm Palantir this spring. Founded by Peter Thiel (a GOP megadonor and ally to President Donald Trump), Palantir has been tapped by a variety of federal agencies for its surveillance technologies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which works with the company to locate migrants tagged for deportation. Miller’s investment has likely paid off: Palantir has vastly outperformed other Big Tech competitors so far this year. 💼 The president’s Iranian business pals. In the late ’90s and early 2000s, before he called Iran “the big enemy,” Trump’s real estate company did business with one of Iran’s largest banks. For years, Trump’s firm rented office space to Bank Melli, which was later designated as a state-controlled operation and accused by the U.S. government of collecting sensitive materials on behalf of the Iranian government to build the country’s nuclear program, as well as funneling money to a terror-linked unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. 😵‍💫 Amazoncoin could be too big to fail. Economic experts are sounding the alarm after Congress passed the GENIUS Act last week allowing any company in the country to issue their own virtual currencies. The Capitol Forum reports that as retailers weigh releasing their own stablecoins, taxpayers could be on the hook for a bailout if Amazoncoin or Walmartcoin go caput. And it’s not just consumers who may have to pay in stablecoin: A national grocers’ group is raising concerns that mega retailers could compel their suppliers to accept their personal currency as payment.  “Traditionally the business of banking and the business of commerce have been separated for good reasons,” one financial regulation expert told The Capitol Forum. 📢 Share this newsletter on Bluesky, X, and Facebook.   CHART OF THE DAY A reminder: “Israel is the only country in the Middle East with nuclear weapons. It refuses to allow international inspectors to view its nuclear facilities and is one of just four UN member states that have refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.” (Source: Stephen Semler/ Polygraph) YOU LOVE TO SEE IT The city kids are alright. NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani and democratic socialism are putting a fire under the feet of the city’s Democratic youth: nearly a quarter of early voters this cycle hadn’t voted in a Democratic primary in the last 13 years, and roughly one in four were between the ages of 25 and 34. Young people in NYC overwhelmingly want Mamdani over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo: Among 18 to 34-year-old college graduates, 67 percent ranked Mamdani first in a recent poll. Want more You Love To See It? Upgrade your membership to The Lever to receive a roundup of the week’s good news every Saturday. Upgrade & Hold The Powerful Accountable MORE NUGGETS! 🥡 Takeout just tanked your credit score. Americans are increasingly relying on “buy now, pay later” apps to fund everyday essentials including groceries and food delivery, and borrowers are having trouble paying back their debt. Now, leading credit software company FICO will offer two new credit score products that include consumers’ buy now, pay later spending habits, a move they said was prompted after seeking input from lenders. Nearly one in four buy now, pay later borrowers were late on a payment in 2024, up from 18 percent the previous year.  🏠 Suing a home-buying behemoth. Zillow, an online real estate marketing platform, is being sued by the largest real estate broker in the country for conspiring to maintain an anticompetitive stranglehold over digital home listings. Recently, brokerage firms like Compass have been making their homes stand out among Zillow’s 160 million properties by posting new listings first to their own exclusive marketing channels, but Zillow responded in April by permanently banning all homes from its website that are not posted within 24 hours of hitting the market. The “Zillow ban,” Compass’ lawsuit argues, illegally helps Zillow maintain its real estate purchasing monopoly and takes away consumers’ “right to choose” how to sell their homes. 🤲 Favors for an old friend. Trump’s regulators just approved the $13.5 billion merger of two major advertising firms — with a hidden giveaway included for Elon Musk. Federal Trade Commission officials OK’d the merger between Omnicom and the Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG) on the condition that the resulting ad giant is banned from pulling its resources from Twitter/X or other platforms en masse because of “political or ideological viewpoints.” Following Musk’s takeover, X lost tens of millions in ad revenue after major advertisers exited the platform. Meanwhile, the FTC is now facing a countersuit from watchdog group Media Matters after Trump regulators accused the nonprofit of illegally pressuring advertisers to pull out of X.   TAKE ACTION Tell Media Outlets to Connect Wildfires to Climate Change. Wildfires are not just tragic events–they’re symptoms of a planetary emergency. We deserve reporting that tells the full truth. Please sign the petition to demand climate accountability in major regional and national media. Sign the petition.   DOOMSCROLL DISTRACTIONS 💍 Their wedding is Venice’s most-guarded secret. But protestors have other plans. 🎩 So swanky. Thank goodness these well-dressed Vietnamese monkeys were pulled from the brink of extinction. 🏃 Run, little Forrest, run! Orkney, aged eight, ran 34 miles in five days to raise over $5,000 for wildlife conservation. FINAL THOUGHT Where have all the anti-war Democrats gone? 🎯 Enjoying this newsletter? Corporate giants, corrupt politicians, corporate media — they’re all trying to stop us. So we can continue doing this work, we need your support. If you are able, become a paid supporter today. Upgrade & Hold The Powerful Accountable Help us spread the word! Please forward this email to family and friends. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for free to receive original reporting like this in your inbox every day.