About: Zaid Jilani
Bio: Zaid Jilani is a reporter for The Intercept. He is the former Communications and Outreach Coordinator for United Republic and the former Senior Reporter-Blogger for ThinkProgress. His work has also appeared in outlets including Salon and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He graduated from the University of Georgia in 2009 and moved shortly after to Washington to work to make America a more just and free place.
Amazon.com Is Funding Global Warming Denial In Our Schools
Last month, Tennessee passed a law that would establish protections for teachers who chose to teach unscientific theories doubting global warming in a science classrooms. (It was somehow attached to a bill also providing protections for teachers instructing about creationism.) The group behind these climate denial laws, which have popped up all over the country, is
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What Politicians Are The Avengers Donating To?
Today, an alliance of superheroes known as The Avengers will entertain American moviegoers from coast to coast with their cosmic powers and witty banter as they unite seeking to save the earth from the film’s villain, Loki. As these superheroes band together thanks to their shared belief in saving humanity, the real-life actors who play them donate
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After Obama Moves To Protect Vets From Predatory Colleges, Some In Congress Run To Their Defense
Last week, President Obama made headlines when he signed an executive order designed to protect U.S. troops, veterans, and their families from the predatory abuses of some for-profit colleges. The executive order takes aim at some deceptive recruiting practices by these colleges — which soak up taxpayer dollars with little accountability — and requires them
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75,000 People Demand Bank Of America End Its Political Donations
Bank of America will be holding its annual shareholder meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 9th. A group of shareholders led by Trillium Asset Management will be introducing a resolution calling on the megabank to cease all political donations, as these “contributions can backfire on a corporation’s reputation and bottom line.” For example, retail giant
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Did Atlanta’s Mayor Hand Off Airport Space To Big Donors?
Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport is the world’s busiest airport, with more than 78 million people using the facility in 2008 alone. That’s why as the airport expands, major businesses and vendors are scrambling to grab spaces to open restaurants, shops, and other retail outlets. The city moved late last year to award contracts to these
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This May Day, Remember That Big Money Is The Reason American Workers Don’t Have More Rights — And Income
Today is May Day, a global day of celebrations in favor of workers’ rights — and the day that labor unions in the United States marked as their day of action to win an eight-hour workday. Yet as American unions and Occupy activists take to the streets to celebrate our hard-fought rights, it’s important to
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Leaked Documents Show How Corporations Have Veto Power Over ALEC Bills That Affect Our Lives Every Day
The corporate front group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) brings together legislators and powerful corporations. Drawing the vast majority of its funding from Big Business, ALEC serves as a conduit for corporations to write legislation and then pass it off to state legislatures to be secretly passed without citizens ever knowing that these laws
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Four Nebraska Lawmakers Leave ALEC
As of last week, 28 lawmakers decided to end their membership in the corporate front group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Today, four Nebraska lawmakers — state senators Heath Mello (D), Jeremy Nordquist (D), Danielle Conrad (D), and Ken Haar (D) — announced that they are leaving ALEC or recently decided not to renew their membership. “They’ve
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