March, 24 2025, 09:19am EDT
As Republicans Prepare Tax Giveaway Package, Oil and Gas Companies Try to Avoid Corporate Minimum Tax
New report details efforts by fossil fuel industry to escape 15% minimum corporate tax
With Republicans in charge of the White House and Congress, the fossil fuel industry has been lobbying to undermine a tax put in place under former President Joe Biden’s landmark climate law, according to a report out today from United to End Polluter Handouts, a new campaign to combat the massive subsidies the U.S. government gives to fossil fuel companies.
The report, “Minimum Tax, Maximum Influence,” details an effort by Sen. James Lankford (R–Okla.) to allow U.S. oil and gas producers to escape the 15% corporate alternative minimum tax that was a cornerstone of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. This measure was designed to stop profitable corporations from taking advantage of loopholes to pay nothing or nearly nothing in taxes. The new report draws on investor calls and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission to identify oil companies that may benefit from Sen.Lankford’s legislation.
Earlier this year, Lankford (R–Okla.) introduced the Promoting Domestic Energy Production Act, which would provide oil and gas drillers a special loophole to deduct certain drilling costs from taxes owed under the corporate minimum tax. Lankford’s proposal may be added to the mammoth Republican tax cut package benefitting the wealthiest Americans and large corporations while slashing health benefits for everyday Americans later this year.
“It is simply outrageous that the GOP is using its trifecta to create yet another fossil fuel subsidy,” said Lukas Shankar-Ross, deputy director of Friends of the Earth’s Climate and Energy Justice Program and co-author of the report. “If this polluter handout is snuck into the GOP tax bill, then cuts to Medicaid and food stamps could well pay for another giveaway to Big Oil. That’s obscene.”
If passed, this newest tax break would add to more than $170 billion in existing subsidies for fossil fuel companies.
“Oil and gas companies are using the political influence they purchased to dodge paying even a minimal part of their fair share,” said Alan Zibel, energy research director with Public Citizen and co-author of the report. “If individual taxpayers understood the magnitude of the extreme subsidies for Big Oil, they would be shocked. The newest effort to bypass even the most modest of tax bills by the industry is shocking, but sadly not surprising.”
Public Citizen is a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization that champions the public interest in the halls of power. We defend democracy, resist corporate power and work to ensure that government works for the people - not for big corporations. Founded in 1971, we now have 500,000 members and supporters throughout the country.
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In Fox News Op-Ed, Warren Blasts Trump for Breaking Promise on Credit Card Rates
"While Trump claims he wants a credit card interest rate cap, his own regulators are helping out those very same Wall Street banks that are ripping off Americans."
Feb 23, 2026
Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday slammed President Donald Trump for breaking his promise to cap credit card interest rates.
In an op-ed published by Fox News, Warren noted that Trump last month gave the major US credit card companies a deadline of January 20 to set their interest rates at a maximum of 10% over the next year, or face some form of consequences.
However, that deadline has long since passed and Trump still hasn't done anything to punish the credit card firms for keeping their interest rates high.
What's more, Warren wrote, Trump and his administration have continued gutting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), which could be used to launch an investigation into credit card billing practices.
"While Trump claims he wants a credit card interest rate cap," Warren argued, "his own regulators are helping out those very same Wall Street banks that are ripping off Americans and blocking states from protecting their citizens from sky-high loans."
The Massachusetts senator also slammed major financial institutions for claiming that capping credit card interest rates would lead to economic disaster.
"Give me a break," she said. "These are the most profitable financial institutions in the history of the world. There is no reason for them to demand 25% or 30% interest rates when smaller banks and credit unions are offering much lower credit card interest rates and are still making solid profits."
Warren revealed that she had a conversation recently with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in which she made a case that it would be politically beneficial to pursue legislation on the issue, but so far the senator has not heard back about any follow-up plans.
"After six weeks, there’s no deal to help the American people," explained Warren. "We don’t need more speeches. We need an agreement on legislation and a commitment from the president to actually fight for it."
Trump's inaction on credit card interest rates came under fire last month from Mike Pierce, executive director of advocacy organization Protect Borrowers, who said that the president would need to lean harder on his congressional allies to make his promises a reality.
"Banks are charging the highest rates ever recorded—raking in windfall profits because both American life and Americans’ debts are more expensive," Pierce said. "If the president is serious about helping families, he needs his Republican allies in Congress to make this a top priority and stand up to the executives and lobbyists trying to protect banks’ bottom lines."
Matthew Stoller, senior researcher at the American Economic Liberties Project, was not surprised that Trump failed to live up to his credit card interest rate pledge.
"Shocker," he wrote in a social media post. "Trump was lying about his 10% credit card interest rate cap."
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Arrest of Ex-UK Ambassador Peter Mandelson Over Epstein Ties Sparks Renewed Calls for Justice in the US
"In the UK, they are prosecuting the Epstein class..." said Rep. Ro Khanna. "We need accountability in the United States."
Feb 23, 2026
After a second prominent associate of Jeffrey Epstein was arrested in the UK, calls are growing louder for those in the US who may have been complicit in his crimes to face similar accountability.
Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the US, was arrested by police on Monday on "suspicion of misconduct in public office.” The arrest is reportedly in connection with an investigation opened into the former minister earlier this month.
Mandelson was dismissed from his ambassadorship by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in September after leaked emails showed that he'd maintained a close friendship with Epstein long after the financier had been convicted of soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008.
A criminal probe was opened last month after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) released more files, suggesting that in 2009, Mandelson—then a member of the UK government—had passed Epstein sensitive internal economic information that could have affected international markets.
Bank statements also show Mandelson accepting $75,000 from Epstein over several years for an unknown purpose.
He is the second powerful figure in British society to be arrested amid scrutiny of his relationship with Epstein this month. Last week, former Prince Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in office, after emails showed him forwarding trade reports to Epstein, which were produced during his role as an official UK envoy.
Epstein had been charged with the sex trafficking of dozens of underage girls before his death in jail in 2019, and connections with the financier have led prominent individuals across Europe to be shamed out of office or out of influential corporate positions.
Neither Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor nor Mandelson has been criminally charged with any sexual misconduct related to the billionaire. However, at least two women have publicly accused Mountbatten-Windsor of having sex with them while underage after procuring them through Epstein.
In 2022, Mountbatten-Windsor settled a civil suit for about £12 million with Virginia Giuffre, who alleged that the former prince had sex with her when she was 17.
The arrest of yet another British government official for inappropriate dealings with Epstein has only heightened the contrast with the unaccountability of American elites, who have thus far emerged from the Epstein scandal unscathed despite damning connections.
"Peter Mandelson, the former British Ambassador to the US, was arrested today on suspicion of misconduct in public office. This is after files revealed Jeffrey Epstein sent $75,000 to accounts connected to him," wrote the official social media account for the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, which oversees the release of the files. "As we have said before: No one is above the law. We will make sure accountability and justice come to everyone in Epstein's world."
Files released by the DOJ in January, in compliance with a law passed last year, showed that at least one woman had accused Trump of sexually assaulting her in the 1980s after being introduced to him by Epstein, and that the FBI considered her to be credible, speaking to her on at least four occasions. It is not known what happened as a result of the investigation, and the DOJ slideshow referencing her allegation has since been scrubbed from the department's website.
Meanwhile, at least six other members of the current Trump administration have documented ties to Epstein revealed by the files.
Most notably, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was revealed to have lied when he claimed to have cut off connections to the billionaire in the early 2000s. In fact, Lutnick maintained a relationship with Epstein for nearly a decade after the billionaire registered as a sex offender and even visited his infamous Caribbean island with his family.
Many other figures in the upper echelon of American society also maintained close relationships with Epstein despite his criminal conviction, including former President Bill Clinton, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers.
Following news of Mandelson's arrest, US Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)—who has led the charge for the release of the files in full to the American public, along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.)—said he wanted to see similar investigations and charges against Epstein's American associates.
"In UK, they are prosecuting the Epstein class [Massie] and I have exposed," Khanna wrote on social media. "We need accountability in the United States."
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Investigation Details IDF's 'Execution-Style' Massacre of Gaza Medics
"What this investigation reveals is that there was a shoot first policy, and that is unlawful under international law," said one legal expert.
Feb 23, 2026
An investigation published Monday meticulously dissects last year's killing by Israeli soldiers of 15 Palestinian aid workers in southern Gaza and the Israel Defense Force's subsequent efforts to cover up the massacre, which the Palestine Red Crescent Society called "one of the darkest moments" of the US-backed genocide.
IDF soldiers fired nearly a thousand bullets—at least eight of them at point-blank range—during the March 23, 2025 attack on a convoy of Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and Palestinian Civil Defense ambulances and a PCD fire truck in Tel al-Sultan north of Rafah, according to the investigation by Forensic Architecture and Earshot.
"Our investigation confirms that Israeli forces attacked the aid workers while they were traveling in clearly marked humanitarian vehicles, in the absence of any threat or exchange of fire," a summary of the report states. "Spatial and audio analysis conducted in partnership with Earshot reveals the positions from which Israeli soldiers fired on the aid workers—in at least once instance within one to four meters of their victim—over a period of more than two hours."
Eyewitness and survivor testimonies and analysis of various recordings showed that some of the aid workers—who included eight PCRS workers, six PCD employees, and one staffer with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. They are among the hundreds of Palestinian humanitarian aid workers killed by Israeli forces since October 2023, including more than 370 members of UNRWA, according to the agency.
The new report shows how IDF troops ambushed and attacked the convoy, firing on its vehicles. IDF spokesperson Col. Nadav Shoshani claimed that unmarked convoy vehicles "were identified advancing suspiciously toward IDF troops without headlights or emergency signals" and that nine of the first responders were “terrorists from Hamas and the Islamic Jihad."
However, as is often the case, IDF officials could not support their claim with evidence, and video recorded by PRCS worker Refaat Radwan before he was killed shows clearly marked ambulances traveling with lights on and sirens wailing.
The IDF's lies poured fuel on the fire of international outrage over the massacre. Trey Yingst, chief international correspondent at staunchly pro-Israel Fox News, said that Israel's version of the massacre story was "clearly not true."
Gaza authorities previously reported that some of the victims had apparently survived the initial attack and were handcuffed and executed before being dumped together into a deep hole and buried along with their destroyed vehicles.
Survivors Munther Abed and Assad al-Nassasra testified "that Israeli soldiers opened fire on the rescue convoy as the aid workers exited their vehicles and approached the ambulance on foot," according to the new investigation.
"Asaad recalled crawling toward an ambulance where two colleagues—Muhammad Bahloul and Saleh Muammar—had taken shelter," the publication continues. "Muhammad had been killed, and Saleh was severely wounded. Muhammad al-Hila crawled up behind Asaad, and as the two men embraced, Muhammad was shot and killed."
Autopsies revealed that some of the slain aid workers were shot in the chest and head, with one doctor who examined the bodies calling the "specific and intentional location of shots at close range" indicative of an "execution-style" killing.
Of the bodies found in the mass grave of victims, “one was beheaded,” according to PRCS spokesperson Mahmoud Basal, who said that “the least harmed among them had at least 20 bullets fired at him."
Jonathan Whittall, who headed the UN humanitarian affairs coordination office in Palestine at the time, told Drop Site Monday that “following our discovery of the mass grave, the narrative from Israeli forces shifted multiple times; we were fed several versions of a blatant lie."
The IDF cover-up attempt was underway. The new investigation says that the IDF "deliberately concealed and disturbed evidence, and in the weeks after repeatedly mischaracterized the incident and denied any wrongdoing."
Meanwhile, survivor al-Nassasra was captured by Israeli troops and taken to the Sde Teiman military prison in Israel's Negev Desert, where he was jailed for 37 days and tortured during interrogations. Sde Teiman gained global infamy following reports of torture, rape, and murder of detainees. The IDF is investigating the deaths of at least 36 Palestinians at the lockup, including one who died after allegedly being sodomized with an electric baton.
Israeli soldiers pulled Abed, the other survivor, from his ambulance, bound his hands, beat him, and detained him on the ground near where the other vehicles had been ambushed. Abed testified that he was stripped, beaten, threatened with death, and interrogated before being released later that same day.
Katherine Gallagher, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told Drop Site that the new investigation "presents a very compelling case, and honestly, a very devastating one.”
"What this investigation reveals is that there was a shoot first policy, and that is unlawful under international law," she continued.
“When you zoom out and look at this in the context of the way the Israeli assault has been carried out over many months and years in Gaza and we see that there is a pattern and practice of attacks on medical personnel—similar to journalists and other groups that are explicitly and uniquely protected as classes of civilians in international humanitarian law—it raises even more questions and deep concern about the lack of accountability, because what we know is that impunity breeds repetition," Gallagher added.
There has been no accountability for those who ordered, carried out, and tried to cover up the paramedic massacre, for the killers of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza—most of them women and children—or for the countless victims of Israeli arbitrary imprisonment, torture, sexual violence, and other thoroughly documented crimes.
While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, the Biden and Trump administrations have unwaveringly backed Israel's war, providing tens of billions of dollars in armed aid and diplomatic cover including vetoes of numerous UN Security Council cease-fire resolutions.
Adding insult to injury, the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation—whose aid sites have been called "death traps" where more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed—established a distribution center atop the mass grave where the massacred paramedics were buried.
“Now, the US, under the so-called Board of Peace, plans to build a ‘New Rafah’ over this crime scene," Whittall told Drop Site. "Without meaningful accountability, ‘New Rafah’ will be a monument to impunity.”
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