Mother Jones
Think of Earth as a Kinder Egg, a ball of surprises (plastics) and danger (chemicals known to the state of California to cause cancer) that is reduced to shit by human consumption. Of the many universes, PBS tells me, life can only form in a few—and most of those tolerate but don’t encourage it, the way […]
Mother JonesThe day after the Brazilian national team beat Switzerland in the group stage of this year’s World Cup, a handful of players went out for dinner. The group included Arsenal’s Gabriel de Jesus and Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior. Ronaldo, Brazil’s former striker and a talismanic figure in football, attended. They chose to eat at Nusr-Et. That […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. I thought it was a blood moon at first. The dark orange glow appeared at dusk on the far side of the shimmering silver band that is the Xingu River. It was just before 8pm, after the parrots had […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On May 6, 2022, Adam Baz, a resident who lives near El Sereno, a Northeast Los Angeles neighborhood, noticed a freshly cut pile of black walnut wood on the hillside next to his house. The trees are protected […]
Mother JonesLet’s hear it for the girls who are just like other girls. I still don’t entirely “get” Taylor Swift (although Anti-Hero still made my top five in Spotify Wrapped), but I have absolutely, undeniably fallen in love with Swifties. Swifties are punk rock. They couldn’t get tickets to the Eras tour? Looks like Ticketmaster/ LiveNation […]
Mother JonesWhen the Biden administration announced in late summer that they would be cancelling $10,000 of student debt per borrower, Americans had thoughts. Some cried tears of joy on TikTok, others went off online with assorted criticisms: The administration should cancel more debt, or less debt, or tighten relief eligibility, or loosen it, and also deal […]
Mother JonesNearly two years after a pro-Trump mob unleashed a violent attack against the US Capitol, the House committee investigating the events of January 6th has released its final report documenting former president Donald Trump’s lead role in fomenting the mob, as well as his efforts to overthrow democracy. As my colleague David Corn wrote shortly […]
Mother JonesFormer Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who offered dramatic testimony at a January 6 Committee hearing in June, detailed her own lawyer’s efforts to keep her quiet in an explosive deposition made public Thursday. Now he’s taken a leave of absence from his law firm, in a swirl of controversy over ethics violations. According […]
Mother JonesBelow is our list of heroes and monsters from 2022. For the last few years, we’ve taken inventory in this fashion—personal, idiosyncratic, and somehow when assembled a snapshot of yet another unsettled, strange, glorious 12 months. (You can read the full archive here.) At this point, it’s become something of a holiday tradition. As always, our list is […]
Mother JonesThis year was filled with reactionary dorks. In Arizona, Blake Masters tried and failed to larp his way into the Senate by posting creepy videos of himself shooting his many guns. In Manhattan, a dozen-or-so people maybe turned a bit fascist and maybe a bit Catholic and writers tried to figure out why rich kids would […]
Mother JonesNearly one year after Eric Adams was sworn in as New York’s 110th mayor, many of the same questions remain. How does Adams, against a plummeted approval rating and barely alleviated housing affordability crisis, still fit in all that partying? Is he sure about crypto? What’s the deal with those twin dudes? The only general consensus […]
Mother JonesIn September, thousands of inmates in Alabama’s state prisons went on a labor strike, compelled by truly appalling living conditions. The state’s prisons are the deadliest in the country, and a US Department of Justice investigation revealed that Alabama “routinely violates the constitutional rights” of inmates, failing to protect them from homicide and sexual assault, among other abuses. This […]
Mother JonesImagine you are the seventh of eight children born to poor, illiterate farmers in the countryside of northeast Brazil. You spend your early life in a house made of mud and sticks. When you’re seven years old your family sets off for the big city, and you find work as a shoe shiner. As a […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Late last month, New York City posted a job listing for a new “director of rodent mitigation,” a title that was soon slimmed down to “Rat Czar,” to work under the direction of Mayor Eric Adams and his deputy mayor for operations, […]
Mother JonesThe Capital One Café in New York City’s Union Square is hesitant. I suspect that it’s not fully committed to its performance. On Google Maps, it is labeled as a Capitol One Café but the exterior simply reads “Capital One”— no mention of a coffeeshop. When you walk inside it just looks like a Capital […]
Mother JonesOver the past few days, I’ve attempted to pinpoint the exact moment in my life where I had to be strong, some kind of milestone that demanded I step up in the face of hardship. But nothing specific ever emerged. As the eldest daughter in an immigrant family, a nebulous expectation to abandon my vulnerabilities […]
Mother JonesAs a reformed member of the Bob Dylan worship cult, I take no pleasure in reporting that the jig is up. A few years ago, I regarded Dylan with the deference usually reserved for a god. His 1960s run was miraculous, his lyrics Biblical. Everyone who has fallen under the Dylan spell says the same […]
Mother JonesIn March 2020 the writer, scholar, and activist Mike Davis—who passed away earlier this year from complications from Esophageal cancer—addressed the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, and what must be done to survive it, in an essay for Jacobin. It was titled “In a Plague Year.” As usual, he was prescient. He predicted nursing homes […]
Mother JonesOn Monday, the New York Times published an explosive story revealing that George Santos, a New York Republican elected last month to the House of Representatives, had made what appeared to be brazenly false statements about his background, including assorted claims about his business career. He had boasted of being an accomplished investor and financier […]
Mother JonesThe problem with men like British tabloid personality Jeremy Clarkson is that they exist solely to piss you off. How else to explain Clarkson’s stunning record of repeated on-air racism, his calls for striking workers to be shot and executed, or his claims that television is obsessed with hiring “Black Muslim lesbians?” So to condemn Clarkson for […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The same racketeering legislation used to bring down mob bosses, motorcycle gangs, football executives and international fraudsters is to be tested against oil and coal companies who are accused of conspiring to deceive the public over the climate crisis. […]
Mother JonesThe Democratic-controlled House Ways and Means Committee voted Tuesday night to begin releasing information from former President Donald Trump’s tax returns. Two reports released by the committee immediately after the vote show, despite Trump’s claims he was under audit and couldn’t release his tax returns, that he actually wasn’t during much of his time in […]
Mother JonesIn another setback for immigrant rights groups, a Trump-era border policy that summarily expels migrants and asylum seekers has been given an afterlife. On Monday, Chief Justice John Roberts granted a request by 19 Republican attorneys general to block a lower court’s ruling that ordered the Biden administration to lift the border restrictions known as […]
Mother JonesOn October 16, Kanye West appeared on the popular hip-hop podcast Drink Champs. Hosted by the rapper N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN, Drink Champs is a free-flowing interview show—think of a more convivial version of The Joe Rogan Experience but for rappers and with more booze. At its best, you’ll hear a story from Ghostface Killah about […]
Mother JonesI’ve lost count of how many times I was asked the same perfectly appropriate question as the final game of the 2022 World Cup approached: Who are you rooting for? After all, I am a big soccer—I call it football, for what it’s worth—fan and closely followed the tournament. But, in my case, I imagine […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Only two countries in the world have not joined the UN Convention on Biological Diversity: the Vatican and the US. Few have missed the Holy See, but the US not joining the CBD 30 years ago has been described as the […]
Mother JonesIt used to be what paid for journalism in America. Car dealerships and movie theaters brought us local newspapers and TVs; clubs and restaurants underwrote the alternative weeklies where I got my start; classified ads were the reason there was a reporter at your local city council meeting or your state Capitol. Liquor, perfume, and […]
Mother JonesAfter 18 months of investigation and hearings, the House January 6 committee has confirmed the obvious: “The central cause of January 6th was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed. None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.” The committee cited this conclusion in a 161-page introduction to […]
Mother JonesThe House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on Congress voted Monday to ask the Justice Department to charge former President Donald Trump with crimes. The committee referred charges against Trump of conspiracy to make a false statement, conspiracy to defraud the United States, obstruction of an act of Congress, and inciting insurrection. The […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Scientists have discovered a record number of dead fir trees in Oregon, in a foreboding sign of how drought and the climate crisis are ravaging the American west. A recent aerial survey found that more than a million acres of forest […]