Mother Jones: Posts

Mother Jones

MAGA Candidate Jim Marchant Says He Was a Highly Successful CEO. His Divorce Records Say Otherwise.

Jim Marchant, the far-right Republican candidate for Nevada secretary of state, sells himself as a skilled entrepreneur. “I’m a business guy,” Marchant has said in his pitch to voters. “I had three very successful technology businesses.” But previously unreported divorce records obtained from a Florida county courthouse—along with interviews of former employees, lawsuits brought against […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

5 Candidates Who Could Help Trump Steal the Presidency

National elections in the United States are administered by local and state officials. Here are a few candidates sympathetic to Trump’s election fraud claims, who, if they win in November, could help him or another Republican steal the 2024 race. Jeanne Herman, commissioner, Washoe County, Nevada In Nevada, county commissioners approve election results, and Herman […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Sometimes I Forget How Much I Take For Granted

Editor’s note, October 25, 2022: Our CEO, Monika Bauerlein, sent this note out via email late yesterday to ask readers why our fall pledge drive has been struggling. We heard some really good feedback from readers and saw an uptick in donations, so we decided to post it here so more of the MoJo community […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Criminal Trial for Trump’s Companies Gets Underway in Earnest

Jury selection began in New York City this week for the criminal trial in which former president Donald Trump’s companies face charges for dodging taxes. Even after the judge in the case dismissed about half of the 130 potential jurors called—many because they made clear that they did not think they could be impartial—the remaining […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

How Wisconsin Became the GOP’s Laboratory for Dismantling Democracy

In his snug campaign office in suburban Milwaukee, located in a shopping plaza next to a dentist and an acupuncturist, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers scans the brightly colored maps that hang on the walls. They depict the tortuously shaped legislative districts drawn in a state now regarded as one of the most gerrymandered in the […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Arizona GOP Candidate Kari Lake Airs an Ad Featuring a Homophobic and Extremist Pastor

It’s an ordinary and straightforward negative ad. A local businessman in Phoenix named Justin Erickson, who says he’s a husband and father of five children, earnestly complains that his family and his employees are “overwhelmed” by rising costs, and, as ominous music plays in the background, he declares defiantly that he can’t vote for Katie […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Young People Are Steering Clear of Fossil-Fuel Careers

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In late May, António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, stood in blue graduation robes in front of a podium at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. Looking out at the thousand-plus graduating seniors, Guterres told them […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

“I Don’t Care If It Costs Me the Next Election. I’m Going to Do What’s Right.”

Because it is a Tuesday, Gisele Fetterman is working her usual shift at the Free Store she established 10 years ago in a repurposed and festively painted shipping container, where residents of Braddock, Pennsylvania can pick up no-cost food, clothing, and other necessities. Because it is a Tuesday roughly two months out from the November […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Exposing the Financial Costs of Climate Change—and Denial of the Climate Crisis

This piece was published originally by Capital & Main. Biting the Hand It hasn’t been the best season for the invisible hand, the 18th century principle that the market be left to its own devices free of government intervention.In August, President Biden took his right hand and applied his signature to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Why Does Every Tech Company Want to “Democratize” Something?

If you were cooking up a pitch for a tech company, you could do worse than “Our mission is to democratize X.” Many have used it in the past. Glossier, a cosmetics company, explains it is “giving voice through beauty” in order to “democratize an industry that has forever been top-down.” Robinhood, an app that […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

This Supreme Court Term Is All About White Grievance

From Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, to the deadly white nationalist riot in Charlottesville, to Fox News’ fear mongering over critical race theory, white grievance has become an animating force on the right. Now, it has officially arrived at the nation’s highest court. During this term, the Supreme Court will decide at least five cases that ask whether laws […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

“White Person in Foreign Peril”—the Movie Trope that Needs to End

Oh no! There’s a natural disaster/civil war/coup in an unnamed Latin American/African/Asian country. But what’s this? A white American/European is there too? Thus begins every movie in the genre I’m calling White Person in Foreign Peril. It’s a movie and television motif in which a disaster or conflict of some sort is happening in a […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

The Trump Organization Goes on Trial Tomorrow for “Sweeping and Audacious” Tax Fraud

On Monday, the Donald Trump’s embattled company, the Trump Organization, will go on trial. New York prosecutors allege the former president’s firm was involved in more than a decade’s worth of “sweeping and audacious” tax fraud by providing untaxed benefits, such as luxury apartments and cars, to top Trump Organization executives, including the company’s longtime […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Trump and Biden Make Clear That They’d Like to Run Again—Despite Voters’ Wishes

Picture this: A reality television star and real estate mogul from New York and a longtime Senator and former Vice President from Delaware facing off in a US presidential election. That’s obviously what happened in 2020, when Democratic nominee Joe Biden ousted incumbent Republican president Donald Trump from the White House. But recent comments from […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

It’s Nearly Halloween, So Of Course Republicans Are Freaking Out About Drug-Laced Skittles

On Friday, the Heritage Foundation tweeted a warning to parents: “The cartels are stuffing Skittles bags with deadly fentanyl,” the conservative thinktank wrote. “Happy Halloween from the Biden administration.” The price of Skittles jumped ⬆️42% from last year. Not to mention the cartels are stuffing Skittles bags with deadly fentanyl. Happy Halloween from the Biden […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

This Nearly Lost Ancient Grain Tradition Could Be the Future of Farming

This story was originally published by Atlas Obscura and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When Zemede Asfaw was growing up on a farm in eastern Ethiopia, he soaked up plant lore and other traditional knowledge the way a tree takes in sunlight and converts it to energy. “I knew the crops, and the […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

“There Should Be Consequences for People Who Undermine Our Democracy and Peddle the Big Lie”

The day before early voting started in the battleground state of Nevada, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto surrounded herself with Republicans and called out her Trump-backed opponent Adam Laxalt for embracing baseless allegations that the 2020 election was stolen. “There should be consequences for people who undermine our democracy and peddle the Big Lie and conspiracy […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

An Appeals Court Has Temporarily Paused Biden’s Student Debt Relief Plan

On Friday, a federal appeals court issued a stay temporarily pausing the sweeping student debt relief plan President Joe Biden announced in August. The Eighth Circuit’s ruling comes days after applications had opened for the program, which promised to cancel up to $20,000 in debt for borrowers earning less than $125,000 a year and households […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

A Group of Former Trump Aides Is Behind Racist and False Anti-Immigrant Ads

Baseball fans in California and Pennsylvania watching the playoffs last Saturday had to sit through commercial breaks that included racist, xenophobic ads filled with misleading and false claims. “You worked hard for what you have,” one of the ads says. “Followed the rules, paid your taxes, saved and sacrificed for your piece of the American […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Gas Drilling Is Wreaking Havoc on Animal Migration

This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In late spring, as the days begin to lengthen, the mule deer of central Wyoming begin to “surf” the sagebrush landscape. Their break is found in the low flats where they spend their winters. That’s where the first buds of greenery […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Liz Truss’ Reign Only Lasted 45 Days, But These Montages Will Last Forever

On Thursday, Liz Truss announced that, after only serving 45 days, she will be stepping down as the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Truss made history as one of the shortest-serving world leaders. But during her time, she made the most of it, jampacking her tenure with controversies. Of course, the Brits are dealing with it […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

January 6 Committee Formally Subpoenas Donald Trump

On Friday, the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol issued a subpoena for testimony and documents from former president Donald Trump, ordering him to appear before a panel of lawmakers next month. The subpoena requests that Trump hand over any legally relevant documents by November 4 and testify under oath […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

A Disturbing Number of Americans Endorse Violence to “Stop Voter Fraud” and Return Trump to Power

In the final weeks before the 2022 midterms, faced with multiple government investigations, Donald Trump has tripled down on a disturbing pattern of incitement. He continues to stoke grievance and fear and use inflammatory rhetoric that is likely to instigate random followers to violence, a technique experts call stochastic terrorism. In recent speeches, Trump has […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Steve Bannon Is Getting Locked Up

On Friday, Steve Bannon, the former Trump advisor, was sentenced to four months in federal prison for two counts of contempt of Congress. The sentence came a year after Bannon refused to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 attack requiring him to turn over records and sit for an […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Why Harvesting Solar Energy Is a Win for America’s Farmers

America’s solar industry has boomed in recent years, and is slated for a big boost from the Democrats’ recently passed climate bill. Yet solar still only accounts for about 3 percent of electricity flowing into America’s grid—less than one-seventh the share from coal. If we want to phase out fossil fuels and accommodate an electric […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Pay Attention to These Insanely Important District Attorney Races

If you care about police accountability, abortion rights, or racial justice, you should be paying attention to district attorney races this election season. As chief prosecutors in their counties, DAs hold a lot of power to choose who gets charged with a crime and who doesn’t: They can flat-out decide to never prosecute a specific […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Christian Nationalists Are Closer Than You Think to Running America

“You don’t need books!” shouts Pennsylvania state Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, waving a battered Bible. “This is the only book that’s alive and living!” Applause and cries of “amen” float up from the crowd around me. I’m with about 60 others at a conference staged by Christians Engaged, a three-year-old, Texas-based outfit aiming to salt local […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Glenn Youngkin Is Only as Moderate as the Election Denier He’s Campaigning For

Is Glenn Youngkin running for president? Paul Ryan thinks he should. A voter in Tucson told him to. The Republican governor of Virginia smiled, perhaps a little too eagerly, when an ABC News reporter asked Youngkin again on Wednesday evening after firing up a crowd of conservative voters in Scottsdale, Arizona. “I haven’t really thought […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Let Me Be Prime Minister

At this point, you know, it’s just all hands on deck. I’ll do it if no one else wants to. I’m not a Thatcherite or anything. Liz Truss to resign as UK prime minister after 45 days in office https://t.co/WdW4QyHMyl — BBC Breaking News (@BBCBreaking) October 20, 2022 Oh but full disclosure: I have never […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

The Right-Wing Attack on Public Education Began in One Elite Illinois High School

One day leading up to winter break, administrators of the predominantly white New Trier Township High School in the wealthy northern Chicago suburbs announced that “Understanding Today’s Struggle for Racial Civil Rights” would be the theme for a school-wide topical event known as Seminar Day. One of its main goals was to help “students better […]

Continue Reading…