We have a short newsletter for you this week in light of the Super Bowl yesterday in which the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in a close contest.

OptOut was not founded with sports coverage in mind. To be honest, we're not sports people. Well, most of us, anyway. Although OptOut did not have a dog in the fight/big game, we figured that many of our readers certainly would, which is why this post went out today instead of yesterday. It's also shorter than usual.

With that, please enjoy our selection and get ready for tomorrow’s climate newsletter!

MONEY IN POLITICS

CMD and GRIST reported that pipeline company Enbridge funneled millions to police amid protests. The police were supposed to be protecting protesters and the company.

Documents show how a pipeline company paid Minnesota millions to police protests - EXPOSEDbyCMD

From riot gear to PR to Dairy Queen, records show every expense Enbridge reimbursed after the Line 3 protests.

EXPOSEDbyCMDAlleen Brown, John McCracken

Speaking of Enbridge, PRISM reported that the company’s Line 5 pipeline poses a threat to indigenous lands.

Enbridge’s Line 5 threatens Indigenous land and peoples

Despite the harm oil companies like Enbridge have already caused, a federal judge refused to decommission Line 5

PrismRay Levy Uyeda

THE MARKUP published an important piece about the country’s first “right to repair” law, which was passed in New York. The new legislation gives New Yorkers a right to repair their electronic devices with caveats. The report explains how big tech companies influenced the language of the law.

How Big Tech Rewrote the Nation’s First Cellphone Repair Law – The Markup

Documents reveal tech lobbyists revised a right-to-repair bill before New York’s governor signed it

The MarkupMaddie Stone of Grist

ON THE LEFT

OptOut co-founder Walker Bragman’s IMPORTANT CONTEXT reported that YouTuber and prominent post-left comedian Jimmy Dore used a work-for-hire contract with anti-worker provisions in the Summer of 2020.

Jimmy Dore’s ‘Very Pro-Employer’ Work Contracts

An independent contractor agreement used by the YouTuber’s production company reveals anti-worker provisions

Important ContextWalker Bragman

FAIR's Counterspin interviewed journalist Evan Greer about the latest fight for control over the Federal Communications Commission and the battle for net neutrality.

Evan Greer on the Fight for the FCC - FAIR

What could be happening if Biden’s long-languishing nomination of public interest advocate Gigi Sohn were put through?

FAIRCounterSpin

RIGHT-WING MADNESS

This week, COUNTERPUNCH put out an important piece breaking down fascist Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' racist assault on higher education.

White Supremacy 2.0: DeSantis’s Big Brother Assault on Higher Education

The white supremacy of 2023 looks very different than it did prior to the civil rights era. As a nation, we’ve traded Klan robes and open celebrations of segregation for more subtle, and as a result more insidious efforts to erase discussions of racism from public memory. Such is the case with the r…

CounterPunch.orgAnthony DiMaggio

Republican lawmakers in Montana are the latest to attempt to enshrine anti-trans bigotry into the law. DAILY MONTANAN reported this week on a new House bill that would prevent teachers from disciplining students who refuse to call their trans classmates by their chosen names.  

Bill would exclude misgendering transgender students from discrimination protections – Daily Montanan

30 opponents testified against House Bill 361, which would prevent teachers from disciplining students if they call other students by their legal names instead of their chosen names and don’t use their preferred pronouns.

Daily MontananNicole Girten

Meanwhile, STATES NEWSROOM reports that Congressional Republicans are planning legislation to give tax incentives to private alternatives to public education, give parents more control over public school curricula, and ban the participation in schools of many trans athletes.

U.S. House GOP preps for debates on ‘parents’ rights,′ school vouchers, transgender athletes – New Hampshire Bulletin

U.S. House Republicans laid the groundwork for some top legislative priorities during a Wednesday hearing that examined public funding for charter schools and voucher programs, as well as increasing parents’ oversight of school curriculum.

New Hampshire BulletinAriana Figueroa

State-level Republican abortion bans have dire implications for incarcerated pregnant people. Inmates are being forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term and give birth in facilities with substandard medical conditions. THE APPEAL published a story this week about conditions at Harris County Jail in Texas that is essential reading.

Pregnant People Are Shackled and Abused in Harris County Jail

Pregnant people are among the many casualties of a politically manufactured crisis that has led to abysmal conditions at the jail.

The AppealEthan Corey

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