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Mother Jones

Health Secretary Says “Everything Is on the Table” to Protect Abortion Pill Access

Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra said the administration is willing to do whatever it takes to protect access to the abortion drug mifepristone, after a federal judge in Texas suspended the FDA’s approval of the medication on Friday. As my colleague Madison Pauly reported, the ruling could have “potentially explosive implications for the […]

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Mother Jones

What Chicago’s New Mayor Means for Environmental Justice

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Brandon Johnson, the newly elected mayor of Chicago who won a tight race on Tuesday, campaigned on crime and education but he also talked about something else: environmental justice. Johnson, 47, a former teacher and union organizer, currently serves as a […]

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Mother Jones

Does Elon Musk Know What He’s Even Doing?

There are plenty of data points you could plot on the “Does Elon Musk Have Any Idea What Is Going On?” chart. Here’s a quick and incomplete primer featuring his most ludicrous actions since he bought Twitter and took over as CEO at the end of October: Lifting a conspiracy theory about Paul Pelosi from […]

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Kamala Harris Leads a Furious Chorus Over Ouster of Black Tennessee Lawmakers

Public outrage was immediate and intense on Thursday following the Tennessee legislature’s Republican supermajority decision to expel two Black lawmakers for an act of protest. Fired-up demonstrators in the State Capitol rotunda welcomed Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, both Democrats, as fallen heroes with impassioned chants. Their anger was amplified from the highest office […]

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Mother Jones

Biden Vows To Fight Unprecedented Abortion Pill Ban

President Biden slammed the unprecedented Friday-night ruling by a Texas judge that suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone—a drug that has been used in medical abortions for over two decades. As my colleague Madison Pauly explained last night, the case has potentially explosive implications for the availability of abortion nationwide. Biden called the decision […]

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This Tiny Battery Could Supercharge Distance Driving for Electric Vehicles

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory and the Illinois Institute of Technology have created a solid-state battery that could be used to vastly expand the range of EVs, and it could unlock the ability to use batteries on short-haul […]

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Mother Jones

A Federal Judge Just Blocked the Most Common Form of Abortion Nationwide

A federal judge in Texas on Friday suspended the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, a drug commonly used in medication abortions, in a closely watched case with potentially explosive implications for the availability of abortion nationwide, regardless of state laws and politics. Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s order suspending the FDA’s approval of mifepristone takes […]

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Report: Trump Wants to Hire Laura Loomer, a Racist Who Lost Elections

On Friday, the New York Times reported that former president Donald Trump would be interested in hiring Laura Loomer, despite the concern of potential backlash. Staffers anticipated pushback because Loomer is a bigot. There is no other way to describe her. Loomer is not a political operative who is also known to be racist. She is not a […]

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A Massive Arctic Drilling Project Is Moving Forward Despite Biden’s Campaign Promises

President Joe Biden is facing the inevitable political fallout from his approval of the Willow Project this week, after a federal judge declined to halt construction on ConocoPhillips’ $8 billion oil drilling venture in the western Arctic. Willow, one of the most contentious fossil fuel infrastructure projects since the Dakota Access and Keystone XL pipelines, was formally […]

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Utah Is “Protecting” LGBTQ+ Kids by Letting Their Parents Read All Their Messages

In March, Utah lawmakers passed a bill requiring parental consent for minors to join social media platforms—and enabling parents to read their children’s messages and posts. While this isn’t ideal for any teen, granting homophobic or transphobic parents full, unquestioned access to the messages and posts of a teen still in the closet could spell […]

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Mother Jones

Insect Farming Is Booming—But Is It Cruel?

This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Insects are strange, wondrous beings. Butterflies can see parts of the light spectrum that are invisible to human eyes and use these ultraviolet patterns to find their way to tasty plants. Moths use the Earth’s magnetic field to orient themselves on journeys of […]

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Mother Jones

Tennessee Republicans Expel Two Democratic Lawmakers Who Joined Gun Control Rally

Tennessee’s House of Representatives on Thursday expelled two Democratic members who participated in a gun control protest following the mass shooting at a Nashville grade school. Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson have been stripped of their titles and legislative responsibilities, an extraordinary development in the GOP-led effort to punish him for his involvement in […]

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Mother Jones

Revenge-Obsessed Donald Trump Is Pushing the Right to New Levels of Retribution Rage

Donald Trump loves revenge. Who says so? He does. For years before he became president, he gave speeches touting the value of vengeance and its critical role in his own personal success. And now, as the first ex-president to be indicted, arrested, and arraigned on criminal charges, he is once more turning toward avengement. Trump […]

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Mother Jones

Blood, Soil, and Grass-Fed Beef

During an appearance on Steve Bannon’s podcast in January, Noor Bin Ladin—right-wing influencer, Osama’s niece—said she had a message for Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chair of the World Economic Forum: “I don’t want to eat the bugs.” This requires some backstory: In 2020, Schwab and the WEF introduced a plan called “The Great Reset.” A […]

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Mother Jones

It’s Time to Harden the Schools. No, Really.

Last month, in the wake of the school shooting in Nashville that killed six people, Congressman Tim Burchett (R.-Tenn.) said in an interview that went viral, “If you think Washington is going to fix this problem, you’re wrong. They’re not going to fix this problem.” He added, “I don’t see any real role that we […]

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Mother Jones

Rural Georgia Town Squares Off With Rail Company That Wants Its Land

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A majority-Black rural community in Georgia is battling to stop a railroad company from seizing private land for a new train line they say will cause environmental and economic harms. Residents of Sparta, a poor community of 1,300 people located 100 […]

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Mother Jones

Exclusive: Defiant Tennessee Dem. Decries “March to Fascism” Ahead of Her Possible Expulsion

“I feel like North Korea has more democracy than we do in the state of Tennessee, and it’s terrifying to me that we’re in this march to fascism,” state Rep. Gloria Johnson told me today in an exclusive sit-down interview at the Capitol in Nashville. “And it seems like the Tennessee supermajority is leading the […]

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Mother Jones

Crime Mattered in Chicago’s Mayoral Race—Just Not How Pundits Implied It Would

In the weeks leading up to Chicago’s mayoral election, polls showed that voters were especially concerned about crime. This led plenty of journalists and political pundits to suggest that the candidate with a tougher, police-centric approach to public safety would have an advantage. They were wrong. On Tuesday, Brandon Johnson, one of the most progressive mayoral […]

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Mother Jones

Abortion Rights Win Elections. Again.

If history were any indicator, yesterday’s Supreme Court election in Wisconsin should have been a dud. Voters notoriously stay at home when there isn’t a presidential race and when the election isn’t in November—and that’s saying nothing of the storms that barreled down on southeastern parts of the state this week, wiping out power for […]

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Mother Jones

Scenes From the Spectacular and Totally Wacky Donald Trump Arraignment Circus

Whatta mess. Donald Trump’s arraignment in Manhattan drew more press than, well, everyone else, including photographer M. Scott Brauer, who covered the circus for Mother Jones. Brauer heard one NYPD officer say he’d never seen so much media in one place. Many of the Trump supporters on hand seemed to be performing for the cameras—and […]

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Mother Jones

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer Overturns 1931 Abortion Ban

Michigan enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution last November, but a 1931 abortion ban remained on the books. On Wednesday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed a law repealing that abortion ban, ensuring that Michigan’s laws align with its constitution and solidifying the right to an abortion in the state. Whitmer struck down three laws: one that banned […]

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Mother Jones

Mining Giant Is One Court Ruling Away From Destroying an Apache Holy Site

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. For nearly a decade, tribal leaders in Arizona have fought to save Oak Flat—a sacred site central to the religious practices of the San Carlos Apache and other Indigenous nations connected to the area. Now, the site’s fate rests with the […]

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Mother Jones

Trump’s Tedious Banquet of Lies and Self-Pity

You used to be able to count on former President Donald Trump’s speeches being at least entertaining. But hours after his historic indictment in New York on charges related to hush money payments he allegedly made to an adult film star, Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago to offer a rambling, lie-filled monologue that left the Mother Jones […]

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Mother Jones

Progressives Win a Majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court

Liberal judge Janet Protasiewicz won a critical seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday, giving progressives their first majority on the court since 2008 and a pathway to challenging the GOP’s decade-plus stranglehold on power in the Badger State. Occurring on the same day as Donald Trump’s arrest in Manhattan, Protasiewicz’s victory over former […]

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Mother Jones

Tennessee House Republicans Move to Expel Three Members for Gun Control Protest

A little over a week after a devastating shooting at a Nashville grade school, the Tennessee House of Representatives, in a historically rare move, took the first steps to expel three Democratic members for participating in a gun control protest. On Monday, Republican lawmakers filed resolutions to remove Reps. Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones, and Justin […]

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Mother Jones

Here Is the Full Indictment Against Donald Trump

New York prosecutors on Tuesday released the formal indictment against Donald Trump, detailing 34 felony counts related to Trump’s alleged hush money payments to Stormy Daniels. Pundits have been speculating for weeks about the exact nature of the allegations against the former president, but this is the first time the full details have been made available. Trump […]

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Mother Jones

Trump Pleads Not Guilty

Former president Donald Trump was formally arrested, fingerprinted, and charged with 34 felony counts related to hush money payments from 2016 that he allegedly made to cover up an extra-marital affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 34 counts. Trump arrived at the New York Supreme Court in lower […]

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Mother Jones

How Do You Keep Migrating Birds off a Giant Toxic Lake?

This story was originally published by High Country News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. As darkness fell on Nov. 28, 2016, residents of Butte, Montana, heard the unmistakable honking of some 60,000 snow geese circling the Berkeley Pit, a defunct mine now flooded with toxic water. A snowstorm hit that night after an unusually […]

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Mother Jones

Mitt Romney Said That Bike Lanes Increase Emissions. Really?

In Denver, e-bike vouchers have been a smashing success. Every other month, Denverites can snag $300 discounts on e-bike purchases and $500 on e-cargo bikes, with higher rebates offered for low-income cyclists. The available vouchers are typically snatched up in minutes. On Sunday, the first warm spring day in Denver, the transformative effects of the […]

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Mother Jones

An Exiled Mogul’s Jailed Aide Has a Secret Backer. The Description Matches Steve Bannon.

It’s been nearly three weeks since Yanping “Yvette” Wang was arrested and charged with helping her boss—exiled Chinese mogul Guo Wengui—orchestrate a $1 billion international fraud scheme. Her attorneys are still struggling to get her out of jail. Wang, according to her lawyers, has a mysterious benefactor willing to assist in that effort. A “very […]

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