Reality Room: Uncovering the News Corporate Media Covers Up
Read and share Status Coup's in-depth newsletter on the important news the gatekeepers keep from you...including additional reporting from Status Coup
Today, we’re introducing our newsletter on the unreported, or underreported, stories that are routinely ignored by the mainstream media. “Reality Room” will be a mix of quick hit news items—sometimes with additional reporting from Status Coup—as well as our take. We’re aiming to provide at least two a week (when we’re not on the road). If more of you sign up as paying Status Coup members, we might try and do it even more regularly! Let us know what you think about the newsletter, and format, in the comments! Have a tip on a story that may fit? Email us at info@statuscoup.com.
If you appreciate this newsletter, and the time-intensive work that creates it, please support Status Coup.
1) BP Power Outage Unleashes Chemical Flares, Indiana Plant Evacuated—on February 1st, the BP refinery in Whiting Indiana had a power outage that led to uncontrolled chemical flares being released. Regional News Source’s Paul Goddard reported a “source told me the they lost power and no control over anything so they had to ‘dump the chemicals.’”
Whiting residents, and those in nearby towns, could smell chemicals the day after—and were falling ill with headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. People posted on Facebook about teachers and students passing out in a nearby school. “The smell is lingering especially inside buildings,” Region News Source’s Goddard told Status Coup. In his house, nine miles south of the Whiting BP refinery, “it smelled like someone laid fresh asphalt in my living room all last night…[the] fire department was rolling call to call for odor and smoke investigations and inside gas leak calls.”
A resident in Chesterton, Indiana—which is 22 miles from Whiting—could also smell the chemicals. “We have smelled a very light smell here last night,” Tyna Bianco-Jessen told Status Coup. Despite the health symptoms the day after, BP reported its air monitoring found “no elevated readings.”
The February 1 power outage/chemical release at BP Whiting came two weeks after the same refinery had a storage tank leak on January 18—potentially leaking toxic benzene, according to Goddard.
MY TAKE: Of course, it’s all fine! There’s a reason I call it the Poisoned States of America. Our government has been purchased by corporations like BP, who poisoned the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 (and got off relatively Scott Free). Whether industrial accidents or intentional negligence, these kind of disasters occur in America all the time—causing nearby residents short-term and long-term health issues—but compliant corporate media essentially just re-print and regurgitate the “everything is A-OK spin” coming from the corporations and government agencies. But, hey…greatest country on earth, right?!?!
2) DNC Ignores Native Americans in South Carolina—After making the controversial decision to push the South Carolina primary up the calendar to become the first official, Democratic Party primary, Indian Country Today reports the DNC ignored the only federally-recognized tribe in South Carolina, the Catawba Nation, ahead of the Feb. 3 primary. Tribal leaders said neither DNC, or RNC, officials reached out to them ahead of the Dem primary or upcoming GOP Primary (Feb. 24). There were also no polling locations set up for Tribe members to vote on their own lands. As ICT reports, the 2020 census reported 32,273 Native Americans and Alaska Natives in South Carolina compared to 8,502 in Iowa.
Brian Harris, chairman of the Catawba Nation, told ICT:
“I think by having a poll in place on our reservation, even though there might be one, 5, 10 minutes away, it's not here in our community… it's not a minute away. It's not two minutes away. For that reason alone, I think it's very advantageous for our tribe to have a polling place on our reservation.”
MY TAKE: Just another campaign of lip service from corporate Democrats, “we’re the party of civil rights, gender equality, and blah blah blah, mention Native Americans.” To be fair, the 2021 Biden COVID bill did provide $31 billion for tribal governments and communities. But, in terms of actual voter outreach, easy access to voting, and a whole host of other non-election items—clean water, electricity, broadband, education, jobs, clean energy, healthcare, and reparations—the Democratic Party has mostly provided lip service, rather than real investments, for Native American tribes. And, of course, the Republican Party provides less than lip service—they’ve been open in their hostility to Native Nations.
3) Stop Cop City activists arrested after shutting down construction- On January 29th, activists Raizel Baggs and Temperance Blyck were arrested after locking themselves to Cop City construction equipment, the Atlanta Press Collective reports. They were released the next day on $3,000 bond and charged with misdemeanor trespassing. Cop City is a $110 project being built—against the wishes of the majority of Atlantans—in the city’s forrest. Police call it the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
“I think at this point, where the federal government, state, and the local are not listening to us, we don’t have a lot of options and we need to be doing something,” Baggs, one of the arrested activists, said.
Brasfield & Gorrie, the lead contractor for Cop City, had one of its worksites shut down for several hours by the activists. According to APC, Brasfield & Gorrie has donated $1 million to Cop City. The arrests are the latest in a major crackdown on protests against Cop City. Over the last year, dozens of non-violent protesters have been arrested and charged with domestic terrorism. In January 2023, Georgia police murdered Tortuguita, a 26-year-old activist, leaving them scattered with 57 gunshot wounds.
Atlanta’s Democratic Mayor, the majority of the Democratic city council, and two Democratic Georgia Senators, have expressed support for Cop City (and haven’t denounced the aggressive police actions against protesters). The two activists’ arrests comes as Georgia Republicans just passed SB 63—a law that will make it illegal for nonprofits and bail funds to bail out more than three people from jail per year.
WATCH Status Coup’s ON-THE-GROUND coverage from Cop City protests
MY TAKE: All we hear about in non-stop political fundraising emails, and on cable news, is about the “grave threat to Democracy” Trump and MAGA poses. Make no mistake, Trump does pose a real threat—but we would have to have a real Democracy for it to be threatened. Sadly, we don’t. The ramming through of Cop City—which in reality is an unnecessary militarized police commando center—and the militarized aggression to crush its opposition, is fascism.
4) Senator J.D. Vance Tells Status Coup, “I gotta see more evidence” before calling for criminal charges against Norfolk Southern—While ON-THE-GROUND reporting for Status Coup in East Palestine on the one-year anniversary of the Norfolk Southern derailment and chemical detonation, our Louis DeAngelis approached Ohio Senator J.D. Vance to ask him if he thought Norfolk Southern should face criminal liability over its decision to detonate five cars of toxic vinyl chloride over East Palestine. Vance said he wants to wait to read the full report from the National Transportation Safety Board on the derailment before making a determination.
"My strong suspicion is there was a lot of mistakes, whether there were criminal mistakes, I gotta see more evidence before I can say that,” Vance told Status Coup. In June 2023, Paul Thomas, the Vice President for Health at OxyVinyls, the owner of the vinyl chloride in those five cars, testified at the NTSB hearing on the East Palestine derailment that the company advised Norfolk Southern three times that there was no risk of the cars having an uncontrolled imminent explosion—which was the rationalization Norfolk Southern used to justify detonating the cars).
WATCH Status Coup’s ON-THE-GROUND reporting from five reporting trips to East Palestine
In response to Senator Vance’s answer to Status Coup, former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner tweeted: “What more evidence does this man need? Residents of East Palestine it’s called bought and sold by the rail lobby! WTH????” WATCH Vance’s answer to our Louis DeAngelis below:
MY TAKE: Vance is a case study on phony right-wing “populism” that, ultimately, is thinner than satin sheets. As soon as the owner of the vinyl chloride train cars—i.e. the experts on the chemicals—testified that they advised Norfolk Southern against detonating the cars, Senators Vance and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown should have been demanding criminal investigations by the Ohio and/or federal DOJ. Vance isn’t waiting to “see the NTSB report”— the agency already reported its findings during its June 2023 hearing on the derailment. Instead, Vance is auditioning for Trump’s VP, hence trying not to ruffle the feathers of donors by calling for criminal accountability against corporate America.
5) Sherwin Williams spills diesel fuel in the Cuyahoga River on January 22nd—Due to a faulty backup generator, the paint giant leaked 100 gallons of diesel fuel, with an unknown quantity dumped into the long-polluted river. Ohio’s Cuyahoga River feeds into Lake Erie—which serves drinking water to 12 million people. The river infamously became known as the “burning river” after it caught fire in 1969.
The EPA, in this case the Ohio EPA, declared there was no impact, or risk, to drinking water—somehow knowing this on the same morning of the spill. Mind you, this is the same Ohio EPA that, for a year now, has claimed to have found no elevated contamination levels in East Palestine, Ohio after the Norfolk Southern train derailment and chemical detonation (despite residents begging for help amidst chemical burns, nosebleeds, respiratory issues, nausea, dizziness, etc).
Eddie Olschansky, an activist with Trashfish Cleveland, rowed out on the Cuyahoga River the day after the leak to show the still evident oil sheen. WATCH our interview about the diesel leak and more.
MY TAKE: See today’s first newsletter item!
6) Hyundai Workers Roll the Union On in Alabama—Labor Notes reports on the latest development in the labor resurgence, this time with 30 percent of the 4,000 non-union Hyundai workers in Alabama signing union cards expressing interest in forming a union with the UAW.
From Labor Notes:
Hyundai has no sick days. With only three personal days, regardless of years at the company, workers are bound to end up in a disciplinary process.
“If you have kids and they are around the same age, if one gets sick, everyone in the house gets sick,” said Liggins. “So with three personal days for a family with small kids, there's no way around it—you're probably going to be in a phase by the time you get back to work.”
Hyundai joins the growing list of non-union auto workers organizing to unionize with UAW following its successful 2023 strike and contract victory against the Big Three. Soon after, UAW announced a campaign to unionize workers at Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Tesla, Nissan, BMW, and several more.
On January 29th, the UAW announced that over 10,000 workers across 13 companies have signed union cards. To obtain a union election, workers have to gather enough union cards to show the National Labor Relations Board there is interest among 30 percent of workers. “Our Stand Up movement has caught fire among America’s autoworkers, far beyond the Big Three,” UAW President Shawn Fain said about the 10,000 non-union workers signing union cards. Thus far, workers at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee and Mercedes in Vance, Alabama have launched union campaigns to join UAW.
WATCH Status Coup’s interview with Tennessee VW workers trying to join UAW:
WATCH Status Coup’s interviews with Alabama Mercedes workers trying to unionize with UAW (interview conducted by Jake from Valley Labor Report)
MY TAKE: I understand why the left-wing political movement in America is angry, cynical, and frustrated on flip-side of of the 2015-2020 Bernie wave. Many hoped, dreamed, knocked on doors, donated, phone banked, or drove hours to a rally. Four years later, in movie terms, it’s Back to the Future meets Neoliberal Empire Strikes Back; Biden vs Trump, sequel of corrupt, sociopathic octogenarians. But as I’ve been saying now for two years, the real action on the left, and for the working class, is the resurgence of labor—which got a big jolt from UAW in 2023.
I’m not gonna BS you that we’re anywhere near a return to labor’s heyday of the 1940s/50s, but the corporate and political decimation of unions took 40 years to pull off. Unfortunately, rebuilding was never going to happen overnight. But labor now has a fighting pulse—and I believe is the best vehicle for the structural and societal change we all desire.
7) Gaza War Protesters Dog Biden During Florida Fundraising Swing—The Miami New Times reports President Biden was dogged by protesters demanding a ceasefire during a Miami fundraising trip. “Wherever Biden went in Miami, opponents of Israel's role in the Palestinian conflict followed,” MNT reported. A a group of protesters demonstrated outside the fundraiser, which was held at the home of Chris Korge, the DNC’s finance chair and South Florida real estate developer.
From MNT:
"We are demanding that the United States stop funding Israel," 28-year-old Valentina Jadue told New Times. "The thought of money being raised in your neighborhood is a dishonor to the community of South Florida." Some who attended the antiwar rally said Biden’s pro-Israel stance will be a deal breaker come Election Day, notwithstanding a strong disdain for Trump. "I voted for Biden, but I will not be voting for him again," Krishna Madan, a South Florida resident in his 60s, said. "This issue is the last straw.
Despite the protests, Biden’s fundraiser raked in $6.2 million dollars. Status Coup previously reported on Korge and his history of donating mega bucks to Hillary Clinton and disgraced ex-DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. From our previous report: He donated tens of thousands to Wasserman Schultz and the DNC beginning in 2011 through 2016. Korge also helped raise millions for Wasserman Schultz and Clinton—and donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Foundation.
MY TAKE: Pass the caviar and champagne as we continue writing a blank check for the endless slaughter of Palestinians! That’s essentially what’s happening as Biden tours America— suckling on the teet of the mega rich who control our government and so-called democracy—while simultaneously funding Israel’s murder of over 27,000 Palestinians in four months. Like Biden supported the murder of innocent Iraqis by supporting W. and Dick’s Iraq War-of-lies, he’s currently offering lip service to Palestinians, Arab Americans, and Muslims around the world. As a non-religious Jew, I find Biden’s no-strings attached support for what Israel is doing vile. Of course, if Biden loses reelection to Trump, Democrats will blame it on Jill Stein, or Cornel West, or name your lefty—while ignoring that Biden pushed away millions of voters through his unyielding support for Israel’s carpet-bombing of Gaza.
8) 'The Guy Is a Hero': IRS Contractor Who Leaked Trump Tax Returns Gets Max Sentence—Common Dreams reports Charles Littlejohn, the IRS whistleblower who leaked the tax records of Donald Trump—leading to a major New York Times report—received a 5-year maximum prison sentence. Littlejohn also leaked tax data to ProPublica revealing how little Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg pay in taxes.
Judge Ana C. Reyes panned Littlejohn’s leaking of Trump’s tax info as "an attack on our constitutional democracy” (as policy wonk Matt Bruenig pointed out, taxes are public information in countries like Finland). Jeff Hauser of the Revolving Door Project criticized the sentence: “This whistleblower's cause has been ignored by a LOT of people who have defended much more intrusive leaking.”
MY TAKE: Thus far in the 21st century:
Not one executive from the big banks that tanked the global economy in 2008 are in prison.
Not one fossil fuel executive that has poisoned our water, air, and environment is in prison.
Not one plutocratic Pharmaceutical pill pusher—like the Sackler family—are in prison.
Not one political war criminal whose wars around the globe have killed millions are in prison
Yet Julian Assange, Daniel Hale, Leonard Peltier, and now Charles Littlejohn are in prison. As Princeton found in 2014, we live in an oligarchy…not a democracy.
9) Nancy Pelosi makes $900,000 in a little over two months on one stock trade—Unusual Whales, a popular stock trading site and Twitter account that follows the stock trades of politicians, reports that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has made nearly $100 million dollars on one trade involving Nvidia, the chip company powering companies like Microsoft and Google’s push into AI.
Pelosi’s Nvidia trade, made 73 days ago, “has added now four times her Congressional salary in 71 days on one trade,” Unusual Whales tweeted. Pelosi and her husband Paul Pelosi bet millions on Nvidia in a November 22nd, 2023 trade. According to Unusual Whales, it was her largest stock trade in three years.
Pelosi used a “deceptive tactic” to keep her Nvidia trade out of the headlines, Congresstrading.com said. “Pelosi bet millions on NVDA in November using call options. Using a deceptive tactic, she purposely disclosed this on the Friday before Christmas weekend to avoid media coverage,” the Congresstrading.com account tweeted.
MY TAKE: America, were insider trading illegal for you and I but totally legal for octogenarian political plutocrats. No wonder Pelosi wants to stick around Congress as long as possible!
10) Connecticut to begin erasing medical debt for eligible residents—Connecticut Public reports governor Ned Lamont is launching a program to erase medical debt for an estimated 250,000 residents using funds from the 2021 COVID Stimulus package (American Rescue Plan). The state will partner with a nonprofit that purchases medical debt for a reduced amount of the cost, Connecticut Public reports. Connecticut will partner with a nonprofit that buys medical debt for a small amount of the cost.
From Connecticut Public:
State residents whose medical debt is over 5% of their income, or who earn up to four times the federal poverty line, will be eligible for the relief. Those individuals could be notified as early as this summer, according to Lamont’s office. There is no application process for debt cancellation, Lamont’s office said. The chosen vendor will examine hospitals’ large portfolios of debt that meet eligibility criteria.
MY TAKE: Medicare For All would obviously be the structural elixir for medical debt, but I won’t poo poo this; it’s a real step in the right direction. As of 2021, medical debt ranked by far as the number one source of debt—with $88 billion in medical debt listed on consumer credit reports. Wiping out medical debt for a quarter of a million residents is not only the morally correct decision—it will also help stimulate Connecticut’s economy as residents redirect money going toward medical bills into the local economy. This is a good step that should be replicated across the country. A las, I won’t hold my breath.
If you appreciate this newsletter, and the time-intensive work that creates it, please support Status Coup.
Jordan
Love this format.