Reality Room: Uncovering the News Corporate Media Covers Up
Politicians let BP poison Indiana, AIPAC raking in the money as Israel slaughters Palestinians, crackdown on Cop City activists continues, and Nebraska juveniles in solitary confinement for a week
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1) Meeting About BP Refinery air permit abruptly cancelled —Dozens of Northwest Indiana residents arrived at a meeting on February 8th at the local high school to express their concerns—and demand action—about repeated leaks and chemical releases at BP’s Whiting Refinery that led nearby residents to suffering serious health symptoms for days—including headaches, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting. The meeting was supposed to be about BP seeking an additional air permit for that refinery.
“We had two teachers and two students lose consciousness,” Thomas Frank, a longtime Indiana environmental activist, told Status Coup about a February 1st power outage at BP’s Whiting refinery that led to an uncontrolled chemical release. “Both teachers were taken to the hospital by ambulance.”
“Let us in, let us in!” residents shouted after the local school board cancelled the meeting. A state environmental department spokesperson claimed the meeting was cancelled because the local school board was uncomfortable with media being inside the meeting. In 2023, BP was forced to pay a record $40 million fine, and invest $200 million, to cut the release of cancerous-benzene from this same refinery.
“Are you saying our school board is bought by BP?” Frank asked the environmental spokesperson. “I can not force the school board to make any comments,” he replied. In June 2023, I spoke w/ Frank after this same refinery had a leak causing a horrible smell and health symptoms for nearby residents. WATCH:
On the February 1st BP power outage/chemical release, 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.’”
MY TAKE: BP owns the local government and school board of Northwest Indiana…full stop. I can tell you this from my coverage of the East Chicago lead crisis in 2016. Back then, a low-income government housing complex was found to have lead levels in its soil—that poor Black children played in—200 times the EPA’s “allowable” limit. That contamination was due to a lead smeltering plant being built on top of a poor Black neighborhood back in the 1960s. But while I was there, I got to see the towering BP Whiting refinery—which at its $4.8 billion price tag became the largest private sector investment in Indiana history. As such—like we’ve seen in our on-the-ground coverage of Kalamazoo Michigan politicians allowing a paper mill to poison nearby Black residents with toxic gas—it is crystal clear state and local Indiana politicians are willing to allow BP to repeatedly poison residents in nearby neighborhoods with poisonous gas in order not to rock the boat with its largest local economic driver. SHAMEFUL and GENOCIDAL. I may just have to head back out there to cover ON-THE-GROUND.
2) Inside The Israel Lobby’s New $90 Million War Chest—The Lever reports the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) raked in $90 million in donations since the October 7th Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s corresponding slaughter of nearly 30,000 Palestinians. AIPAC raised $40 million in October alone; before the 10/7 attack, it received $12 million in monthly donations. The Lever reports donors included “pro sports teams owners; heads of private equity firms; real estate titans; a Maryland congressman now running for the U.S. Senate; and the former CEO of Victoria’s Secret.”
Even before the Hamas attack, AIPAC had become one of the most consequential special interest groups targeting progressives. As I saw on-the-ground reporting during Nina Turner’s 2021 congressional run, AIPAC paid for a whole lot of billboards and TV ads in Cleveland blasting her for stating voting for Joe Biden was like eating a “bowl of shit.” Overall, AIPAC spent $500,000 against Turner. From what I saw, this and other groups’ spending made the difference in her losing by just over 4,000 votes. AIPAC also spent $1.2 million in 2022 to fend off Jessica Cisneros’ progressive primary challenge to TX Rep. Henry Cuellar (they also spent $5 million to defeat progressive Summer Lee, who narrowly won).
WATCH Turner responding to my question about groups like AIPAC pouring in money to beat her:
MY TAKE: Make no mistake, AIPAC—which has perfected the art of dishonestly castigating those critical of Israel’s government as “antisemitic”— has been further emboldened in the wake of the 10/7 attack. It will have endless money to try and drown progressive candidates, and incumbents like Rep. Ilhan Omar and Rep. Rashida Tlaib who have been critical of Israel, in upcoming primaries. Whether you support Israel’s response after 10/7 or not (I believe Israel is committing unconscionable war crimes),we should all be against fanatical, one-issue interest groups like AIPAC being able to suffocate grassroots, people-funded candidates endless corporate cash on the airwaves and online.
3) U.S. labor judge orders Starbucks to reinstate high-profile union organizer—Seattle Times reports on a judge ordering Starbucks to reinstate Jaz Brisack, one of the original Buffalo Starbucks workers who helped win the first unionized Starbucks in the U.S.. In 2022, Brisack was forced to resign after Starbucks retaliated against her and other union organizers by changing their scheduling policies to make it impossible for Brisack to work part-time. On her reinstatement, she called for consumer action.
“The law offers Starbucks innumerable delay tactics and avenues of appeal, so I believe this fight will ultimately be won in the court of public opinion, through a consumer boycott of Starbucks.” WATCH my 2021 interview with Brisack and Buffalo Starbucks workers before their historic victory:
MY TAKE: Although it’s a positive development for a Starbucks union leader—who was wrongly pushed out by Starbucks—to get her job back, Brisack’s reinstatement shows the woeful limits of American labor law. Fortunately for Brisack, when Starbucks forced her to resign, she had a job to fall back on and strong, growing union to support her. This isn’t the case for most U.S. workers who are illegally fired and/or forced to quit due to an employer making their schedule unworkable. If the only punishment for Starbucks and other union busting companies are fines (they don’t care) and having to reinstate workers with backpay (they care, but still doesn’t deter their union busting), they will continue to union-bust in hopes of demotivating workers with less resources from organizing and unionizing. Until there are criminal penalties for worker exploitation and union busting, the best we can hope for is this outcome.
4) '‘Stop, you are killing me’: Son enraged over father getting ‘the vaccine’ allegedly beats him to death—Law & Crime reports on a deranged son allegedly beating his father to death over taking “the vaccine.”
“He is under my foot,” Brian John Mcgann Jr., 44, allegedly told a female family friend over the phone as he beat his father to death. The woman told police Mcgann Jr. was a conspiracy theorist who’d just started using cocaine. Deputies described him as “a delusional conspiracy theorist.” It’s not clear which vaccine the father took that enraged his son to the point of murdering him.
MY TAKE: Given our fucked up country—and the politicization of pretty much everything—I’m going to assume the looney son was infuriated over his dad taking the COVID vaccine (if it was a different vaccine, I’d have the same takeaway). Not every anti-vaxxer is unhinged enough to kill their parent; but there’s been a growing dynamic of unhinged, COVID-related behavior across America for years now. I’ve seen people harassing others for wearing a mask indoors (in once case, our Tina-Desiree Berg was attacked by someone trying to pull her mask off). How in the world someone choosing to wear a mask, or get vaccinated, would enrage one to the point of verbally, or physically, attacking others, is beyond me. It’s beyond logic or comprehension. Whether you agree or not with masking or getting vaccinated, you should immediately seek counseling if others’ decision to do so enrages you. If so, get a life!
5) Stuck in solitary: More Nebraska teens locked in ‘room confinement’ despite state law meant to limit it—Flatwater Free Press reports on juveniles locked up in solidarity confinement for as long as a week—despite a Nebraska state law that is meant to stop the practice. In once case, a teenager at Kearney’s Youth Rehabilitation spent a week in solitary confinement after “shoving a staff member, getting into a fistfight with another kid, stealing a water gun.”
That day, her son called, excited, to tell her he’d been let out of solitary at the state-run center where kids go after committing a crime. Later that afternoon, she got a call from a center staffer. Your son assaulted a staff member, the staffer told Lowman. He’s back in solitary.
More Nebraska children are spending more time locked in solitary confinement, according to a recent report by the state’s Inspector General for Child Welfare. That report suggests that the state-run detention centers and treatment centers may not be following state law meant to discourage the use of solitary for juveniles. The report, covering July 2022 to June 2023, found:
The number of times room confinement was used spiked 44% compared to the year before
A 32% jump in the total number of hours juveniles spent in room confinement
A 24% increase in the total number of confined youth.
MY TAKE: Besides the immoral aspect of locking up juveniles in claustrophobic solitary confinement for a week, what in the world makes “rehabilitation” officials think locking up kids in solitary is going to stop their violent behavior? If juveniles are lashing out against staff or other children, they do need to be separated—not in solitary confinement, but sitting on a couch with mental health professionals to address the root of their behavior. There could many sources for the behavior—mental illness, trauma, abuse—that are being made worse by tossing kids into solitary. This is likely leading to long-lasting, permanent damage to these kids. If the Nebraska AG isn’t going to step in, the DOJ must.
6) NEW: A whistleblower exposes systemic sexual misconduct at Amazon’s electric truck manufacturer—More Perfect Union reports on sexual misconduct against female workers at Rivian, an electric car start-up & partner w/ Amazon. “I could really seriously get hurt here,” April, a Rivian employee, tearfully said about male employees laughing about her “thigh gap.” She also described a female colleague who was in the women’s bathroom when a male colleague walked out of a stall—after masturbating.
“When she called him out on it he’d said ‘don’t tell on him’ because he had just been arrested yesterday for sexual harassment…this man was wanted in Springfield, or St. Louis; he had his picture on a billboard because he had raped a 16-year-old girl and gotten her pregnant,” Snyder recounted.
WATCH the report from More Perfect Union:
MY TAKE: Heinous and horrific. I can’t speak to Rivian, but I have covered Amazon’s exploitation of workers for years. Rivian isn’t an actual Amazon warehouse or company, but the rampant sexual harassment there—in many cases by violent men—has been described to me in the past by female Amazon employees who were harassed by managers. This type of harassment being permitted at Amazon—or anywhere—stems from a company’s culture and what it prioritizes. Based on my coverage of Amazon workers’ historic union victory, and other Amazon workers exploited at other warehouses, I can tell you there is very loose vetting of managers beyond arrest records. With that said, Amazon and many other similar companies’ main priority is making as much money as humanly possible by any means necessary—not the safety, or dignity, of its employees. Until the endless money that purchases our politicians is removed from the system, and a corresponding tightening of regulations against corporations including criminal penalties for allowing this type of depravity—not much will change.
7) Police raid homes of Stop Cop City activists—The Atlanta Press Collective reports the Atlanta Police Department, FBI, GBI and ATF raided two homes belonging to Stop Cop City activists on the morning of February 8th, making one arrest and issuing three search warrants. The Atlanta PD claimed the arrest and warrants were for arson and vandalism allegedly perpetrated by Stop Cop City activists months ago.
From Atlanta Press Collective:
Collected evidence included: laptops; cell phones; memory cards; a modem; and stickers, a flier, and a poster for Defend the Atlanta Forest.
The search warrant alleged violation of federal statutes on destruction of motor vehicles or motor vehicle facilities, conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud United States, solicitation to commit a crime of violence, transfer of explosives knowing or believing it will be used to commit a crime of violence, interstate domestic violence, and interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering enterprises. Police did not announce any charges related to these statutes.
“These raids are an escalation at the federal level and an attack on the movement to disappear dissenters against Cop City,” said media contacts within the opposition movement to Cop City.
A press release sent out by representatives of the Stop Cop City movement said that one officer found a nude photograph of resident of another house, which was then displayed to other officers.
Stop Cop City activists held a press conference in reaction to the raids. WATCH BELOW:
MY TAKE: The Democratic-party and militarized police’s fascist suppression of the movement to Stop Cop City continues—completely normalized by compliant media. In this case, local, state, and federal authorities go into activists’ homes commando style for arson they allegedly carried out seven months ago? Make that make sense. As Stop Cop City activist said at a press conference responding to the raid, Atlantas politicians, working with state police and the federal government, “continue to criminalize organizers and activists and continue to distract, distract, distract—through the media—the real issue at hand.” And that issue is simple and clear: the overwhelming majority of Atlanta’s citizens are against the building of Cop City—which is an unnecessary militarized police commando center being built in the middle of protected public forrest in Atlanta—and demand a yes or no public referendum to be put on the ballot. So…what is all this hububaloo about saving our holy, sacred democracy?
8) Virginia community concerned about water quality near Mountain Valley Pipeline—Augusta Free Press reports on Virginia residents expressing concerns about contaminated water as a result of the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline. A week ago, Giles County Virginia residents saw mud flowing into a nearby creek; one home was left without water.
From Augusta Free Press:
One resident’s yard completely flooded with muddy water.
“In 2018, I dealt with system failure and basically the same thing that happening in the town of Newport happened on my property,” resident Jammie Hale told WDBJ7 Roanoke-Lynchburg. The water quality if affecting the Newport community. “Everybody in these communities either have dealt with a water issue, sedimentation in the well water, not only that I’ve had to deal with a lot of traffic and if you can hear also a lot of noise.”
WATCH Status Coup’s ON-THE-GROUND reporting in Virginia covering the fight to Stop MVP.
Jonathan Sokołow, an environmental lawyer and Stop MVP activist, told Status Coup the mud flooding into local water—and sediment—is a “direct result of the construction of the pipeline.” Mountain Valley Pipeline has been fined “millions of dollars for polluting the waterways along the length of the 300 mile pipeline, threatening, endangered species, and polluting water sources for people in these communities,” Sokolow told Status Coup.
MY TAKE: As I’ve repeatedly said, this is the most dangerous “natural” gas pipeline being built in America, being built up and down the steepest slopes in America. The pipeline isn’t even in service yet, and hundreds of waterways in Virginia and West Virginia have already been contaminated during construction due to digging, blasting trenches, and excavation.
9) Florida Bill Would Ban “Identity Politics” in Teacher Preparation Programs—Truthout reports on a Florida bill that seeks to outlaw teaching about “systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege.”
From Truthout:
SB 1372 states that teacher preparation program courses “may not distort significant historical events or include a curriculum or instruction that teaches identity politics… or is based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political, and economic inequities.”
Critics of SB 1372 highlight that the bill’s ambiguous definition of “identity politics” could potentially be wielded by Florida conservatives to suppress whichever content they choose to censor at any given moment.
“Freedom is not real when the only viewpoints allowed in our public schools and colleges are those approved by state government. This bill’s vague language muzzles disfavored viewpoints in the name of so-called freedom,” said Joe Saunders, Equality Florida’s senior political director.
WATCH my ON-THE-GROUND reporting on the Don’t Say Gay Bill in Florida.
MY TAKE: You can take Ron DeSantis out of the presidential election, but you can’t take the bigoted autocrat out of Ron DeSantis. A lot of leftists poo poo the culture wars, considering it a distraction compared to economic issues. But these absurd, hateful bills do real damage to vulnerable, marginalized communities. With my own eyes, on the ground in DeSantis’ Florida, I saw what his emboldening of bigotry and hate fostered: high school kids screaming slurs at a trans teenager I was about to interview. Simple question: what the hell is the point of these bills other than distracting pea brain conservatives? Obviously, “identity politics” is not being taught in school (just like second graders are not being read gay hours by their teachers). It both angers, and saddens me, that scum like DeSantis, and his sycophantic Florida GOP sheep, continue pushing hateful, BS bills rather than addressing real issues like….Florida’s housing crisis, surging property taxes and rental prices, and horrid education system.
10) Ever since Minnesota implemented universal free school meals, more kids are getting fed—Minnesota Public Radio reports about the positive results in the year after Minnesota instituted its universal free lunch program. MPR reported in just one school, Roseville High School, the number of kids eating cafeteria lunch increased by 11 percent and breakfast meals surged by 26 percent.
The increase in students being able to eat at school has led to more money being allocated into the school food budget. The additional funding has an additional benefit: it will allow the school’s to offer more fresh, healthy food prepared on-site rather than unhealthy, processed meals. WATCH via MPR:
MY TAKE: America is catching up to the rest of the civilized, industrial world; well…at least one state is not starving its kids! It goes without saying that this is a great policy from a moral, humane perspective; we should not be OK with hungry children, nor can we expects them to excel at school if they are so undernourished they can’t focus.
If you appreciate this newsletter, and the time-intensive work that creates it, please support Status Coup.
Jordan