This is the newsletter of OptOut, a free news aggregation app for exclusively independent media that's available for Apple and Android devices. Find out more about the app at optout.news.
This was a big week for OptOut!
We hope you all saw that we published our first piece of original reporting. In partnership with Center for Media and Democracy and the Important Context newsletter, we dug into the funding behind conservative activist Candace Owens’ BLEXIT Foundation.
Owens founded her group in 2018 hoping to spark a realignment of voters of color from the Democratic Party to the GOP. Owens has framed her organization as a counter to Black Lives Matter. It is unabashedly pro-cop and rejects the concept of systemic racism. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the group hasn’t caught on with its intended audience. But there is one group that bought in: wealthy, right-wing billionaires.
Look through our story to learn about some of the funders of Owens’ pet project. OptOut plans to do more collaborative work in the future with our participating outlets.
With that, please enjoy our selection of other top stories for the week.
WHAT THE HELL?!
This week COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna revealed that it was considering hiking the price of its lifesaving jab by 400%. STATUS COUP had a good breakdown of the implications.
BORDER/LINES broke down the implications of the Biden administration’s recent expansion of Title 42 and its immigration policy more broadly.
Fascism is making an unfortunate comeback around the world. UNICORN RIOT published a story this week about the resurgence of Greece’s Golden Dawn group, which saw its Nazi leaders prosecuted in 2020.
SUPREME INJUSTICE
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a number of states have clamped down on abortion rights, or eliminated them altogether. In Nebraska, lawmakers are considering a heartbeat bill, which could ban the often-lifesaving procedure after just 6 weeks. NEBRASKA EXAMINER reported the story.
THE NATION gave us a good rundown of a potentially consequential case before the Supreme Court that could gut labor’s power.
CLIMATE
A new report revealed that greenhouse gas emissions rose last year. GRIST covered the report and explained why there is good reason for hope.
Republican lawmakers, looking to protect big oil, have sought to combat ESG, or environmental, social, and corporate governance, movement to make corporations more socially responsible. Texas recently banned its state government from doing business with companies that take sustainably into account and a number of other Republican states may follow suit. However, a new report suggests that this could be a costly blunder. STATES NEWSROOM covered the news.
Did you read our latest climate-focused newsletter? OptOut Climate Editor Cristian Salazar rounds up the best independent reporting about climate change, energy, and the environment every other Wednesday.
LABOR
HELLGATE did some truly excellent coverage this week of the striking nurses in NYC.
Since COVID-19 struck, labor has been having a resurgence. In November, however, the Biden administration, with the support of his Democratic governing trifecta (now lost), imposed an unpopular employment agreement on rail workers to prevent them from striking. IN THESE TIMES published a piece about the power of strikes this week.
MEDIA MALPRACTICE
FAIR wrote a retrospective on the American press coverage of Venezuela as the country’s opposition-controlled parliament voted to end the so-called “interim government” led by Juan Guaidó.
The OptOut Media Foundation (EIN: 85-2348079) is a nonprofit charity with a mission to educate the public about current events and help sustain a diverse media ecosystem by promoting and assisting independent news outlets and, in doing so, advance democracy and social justice.
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