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.
Congressman Pushing Spying Law CISPA Got 15 Percent Of His Campaign Funds From Companies Who Want It
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) allows private corporations, security firms, and the government to peek into and share your online information without you ever knowing about it or having any legal recourse against it. These intrusions are so severe that the Obama administration has threatened to veto the version of this bill
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Beyond Wal-Mart: Five Other Corporations That Bribed Officials Then Lobbied Against Anti-Bribery Laws
Imagine if the next time you were caught speeding, you decided to finance an elaborate lobbying operation to change the speed limit and weaken laws against driving too fast on public roads. You probably find that to be a silly hypothetical, but for some big corporations it’s standard operating procedure. All eyes are on Wal-Mart
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Warren Buffett’s NetJets Spent $1 Million Lobbying To Cut Fees For Its Wealthy Clients
Warren Buffett is best known in political America for his advocacy for taxing the wealthy at a similar rate to the rest of Americans. President Obama crafted the “Buffett Rule” after the idea that it’s wrong, as Buffet frequently says, for a billionaire like him to pay a lower income tax rate than his secretary.
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Former ALEC Chairman Responds To Criticism With Homophobic Slur
The corporate front group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) does not handle criticism well. In a Marietta Daily Journal piece today, a number of Georgia legislators defended their membership in the corporate lobby. One in particular, Rep. Earl Ehrhart (R), a former national chairman of ALEC, bitterly lashed out at the ALEC critics at Better
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28 Lawmakers Have Quit ALEC This Month
The exodus of major corporations from the corporate front group American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has made headlines nationwide as the group’s agenda has been increasingly scrutinized by the general public. But as these corporations have fled ALEC, there has also been one other little-noticed exodus from the group: that of legislators. SourceWatch and Keystone Progress
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Four Reasons Why Conservatives Should Oppose Corporate Front Group ALEC
The corporate-funded front group the American Legislation Exchange Council (ALEC) is panicking. After a dozen corporations and major foundations have left the group in recent days, ALEC is making a concerted effort to reach out to right-wing bloggers to come to its defense. But conservatives should not be fooled. While ALEC does promote some conservative
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Dislike: Meet The Lobbyists Facebook Hired To Help The Government Spy On You
Following the defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), lobbyists for Big Business have been very careful when writing and promoting legislation that drastically curtails Internet freedoms. Now, various corporations have gotten together to push for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA. Proponents of the bill are saying that it is
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After Its Subsidiary Bribed Mexican Officials, Wal-Mart Lobbies To Weaken Anti-Bribery Laws
A blockbuster New York Times story published this weekend details how the Mexican subsidiary of retail giant Wal-Mart paid $24 million in bribes to Mexican officials — and subsequently top Wal-Mart officials allegedly decided to cover up these offenses. The details of Wal-Mart’s complicity in bribery are shocking, but there is one important element that the
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