Contributing Writers

We speak with journalist David Sirota about his new book, Master Plan: The Hidden Plot to Legalize Corruption in America. Co-authored with Jared Jacang Maher, the book is based on their award-winning investigative podcast of the same name for The Lever.

The central fight in the U.S. federal government shutdown has been over healthcare costs, with Democrats demanding that Republicans agree to extend subsidies for the Affordable Care Act set to expire this Saturday. Without an extension of those subsidies, health premiums could more than double for millions of people across the country. The enhanced subsidies were first put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 1.4 million federal employees missed their first full paychecks on Friday as the government shutdown enters its fifth week. Meanwhile, the Department of Agriculture warns that food aid to 42 million people could be cut off starting November 1, as the Trump administration refuses to use a $5 billion contingency fund to maintain SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, popularly known as food stamps.

Sudan’s military has withdrawn from El Fasher, its last stronghold in the country’s Darfur region, ceding control of the city to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces after an 18-month siege. The United Nations and the African Union have called for safe passage for civilians and an immediate ceasefire, condemning reports of war crimes by RSF fighters including summary executions of civilians.

The new short film Criminal highlights the injustices of the criminal legal system with a look at how for-profit bail preys on the poor and mentally ill.

A record 164,000 people cast ballots in New York on the first two days of early voting in the city’s mayoral race. If elected, Zohran Mamdani would be the city’s first Muslim mayor. In recent days, he has faced a string of Islamophobic attacks.

Israel has carried out repeated attacks in Gaza and killed about 100 Palestinians over the past two weeks since the U.S.-backed ceasefire deal with Hamas came into effect. Jeremy Scahill, co-founder of Drop Site News, is one of the few Western journalists in regular contact with Hamas leaders. “It’s utter malpractice on the part of all of these news organizations that have not regularly been interviewing the leaders, the negotiators of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The Trump administration has now killed at least 43 people in 10 strikes against so-called drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean. The threat of war against Venezuela and the surrounding region is growing as the Pentagon deploys the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, to the Caribbean.

The new short film Criminal highlights the injustices of the criminal legal system with a look at how for-profit bail preys on the poor and mentally ill.

“The Republican Party has really become an extremist movement.” Amid a growing political divide in the Republican Party over the release of federal documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, we speak to former Republican political operative Stuart Stevens about the erosion of support for Donald Trump from some of his most prominent backers.

Israel’s Knesset has advanced legislation that would effectively annex the West Bank, prompting rare criticism from the Trump administration, which says it does not support annexation. We get a report on the state of illegal settlement activity in the Palestinian territory from the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Jan Egeland, who has just returned from the occupied West Bank.

New York mayoral candidates held their final debate Wednesday before the November 4 election, with early voting beginning Saturday. Democratic nominee and front-runner Zohran Mamdani faced off against Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the primary to Mamdani.

The new short film Criminal highlights the injustices of the criminal legal system with a look at how for-profit bail preys on the poor and mentally ill.

“The Republican Party has really become an extremist movement.” Amid a growing political divide in the Republican Party over the release of federal documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, we speak to former Republican political operative Stuart Stevens about the erosion of support for Donald Trump from some of his most prominent backers.

Israel’s Knesset has advanced legislation that would effectively annex the West Bank, prompting rare criticism from the Trump administration, which says it does not support annexation. We get a report on the state of illegal settlement activity in the Palestinian territory from the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Jan Egeland, who has just returned from the occupied West Bank.

New York mayoral candidates held their final debate Wednesday before the November 4 election, with early voting beginning Saturday. Democratic nominee and front-runner Zohran Mamdani faced off against Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the primary to Mamdani.

New York mayoral candidates held their final debate Wednesday before the November 4 election, with early voting beginning Saturday. Democratic nominee and front-runner Zohran Mamdani faced off against Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the primary to Mamdani.

The new short film Criminal highlights the injustices of the criminal legal system with a look at how for-profit bail preys on the poor and mentally ill.

“The Republican Party has really become an extremist movement.” Amid a growing political divide in the Republican Party over the release of federal documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, we speak to former Republican political operative Stuart Stevens about the erosion of support for Donald Trump from some of his most prominent backers.

Israel’s Knesset has advanced legislation that would effectively annex the West Bank, prompting rare criticism from the Trump administration, which says it does not support annexation. We get a report on the state of illegal settlement activity in the Palestinian territory from the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Jan Egeland, who has just returned from the occupied West Bank.

In recent weeks, the United States has conducted several deadly airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea, which the Trump administration has claimed, without providing evidence, were being used to traffic drugs. A group of United Nations experts said U.S. strikes targeting boats in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela amount to “extrajudicial executions.

New York mayoral candidates held their final debate Wednesday before the November 4 election, with early voting beginning Saturday. Democratic nominee and front-runner Zohran Mamdani faced off against Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, running as an independent after losing the primary to Mamdani.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the latest top U.S. official to visit Israel as part of a push to maintain the Gaza ceasefire. Reports suggest the Trump administration is worried about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu undermining the agreement, with the U.S. visits dubbed “Bibi-sitting” missions to prevent any sabotage.