Mother Jones
Zooey Zephyr was tired of watching Montana’s Republican-controlled legislature pass laws targeting trans residents, so last year, the 35-year-old Missoula native decided to join the chamber herself. She ran for an open seat and was elected with 79 percent of the vote. “If you wanna make a difference, get in that room,’” Zephyr recalled a […]
Mother JonesZooey Zephyr was tired of watching Montana’s Republican-controlled legislature pass laws targeting trans residents, so last year, the 35-year-old Missoula native decided to join the chamber herself. She ran for an open seat and was elected with 79 percent of the vote. “If you wanna make a difference, get in that room,’” Zephyr recalled a […]
Mother JonesEarlier this week, seemingly out of the blue, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton issued a statement calling one of the most powerful politicians in the state a drunk. Citing a video that was circulating of Dade Phelan, the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, stumbling over his words while presiding over the chamber, Paxton […]
Mother JonesThe leader of the far-right Oath Keepers, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy last year, received an 18-year prison sentence Thursday following a hearing in which he defended his role in the January 6 attack. “I’m a political prisoner,” Stewart Rhodes said at his sentencing. “And like President Trump, my only crime is opposing those […]
Mother JonesLast night, in a Twitter Spaces marred by glitches, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that he was running for president. Within hours, former President Trump took to Instagram with a seemingly AI-generated video so absurd that I had to double-check that it was in fact posted by @realdonaldtrump. The video, laced with homophobic and anti-Semitic […]
Mother JonesOn Thursday, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion that provides liberals, conservatives, and libertarians a rare chance to celebrate the same thing. The court’s decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County will block about a dozen states and the District of Columbia from keeping surplus funds from the homes they sell after residents fail to […]
Mother JonesJohn Durham’s final report blasts the FBI for using the so-called Steele dossier, a compilation of unconfirmed claims about Donald Trump and Russia, without sufficiently considering Steele’s findings could have contained deliberate Russian falsehoods. But Durham himself relies substantially on a sketchy intelligence product that may be Russian disinformation to push a partisan political narrative. […]
Mother JonesJohn Durham’s final report blasts the FBI for using the so-called Steele dossier, a compilation of unconfirmed claims about Donald Trump and Russia, without sufficiently considering the chance that Steele’s findings contained deliberate Russian falsehoods. But Durham himself relies substantially on a sketchy intelligence product that may be Russian disinformation to push a partisan political […]
Mother JonesHenry Kissinger is turning 100 this week, and his centennial is prompting assorted hosannas about perhaps the most influential American foreign policymaker of the 20th century. The Economist observed that “his ideas have been circling back into relevancy for the last quarter century.” The Times of London ran an appreciation: “Henry Kissinger at 100: What He Can […]
Mother JonesThree years ago today, George Floyd was murdered, and his death, alongside the killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor, acted as a catalyst for many news organizations to address their lack of diversity. In 2020, media institutions created diversity and inclusion positions, hired more people of color, and launched programs aimed at reducing racial bias. […]
Mother Jones“Our government is a government of laws, not a government of men,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared last August, standing at a podium in Tampa with a phalanx of armed officers behind him. “That means that we govern ourselves based on a constitutional system.” The occasion was a triumphant press conference announcing his suspension of […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A new investigation into Chevron’s climate pledge has found the fossil-fuel company relies on “junk” carbon offsets and “unviable” technologies, which do little to offset its vast greenhouse gas emissions and in some cases may actually be causing communities harm. Chevron, […]
Mother JonesOn Wednesday, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expected to announce he’s entering the 2024 presidential race in the evening, the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) released a damning report on the state of higher education in the potential candidate’s home state. “Academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance in Florida’s public colleges and universities,” the […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Yale Environment 360 and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Off the coast of southeastern China, one particular fish species is booming: the oddly named Bombay duck, a long, slim fish with a distinctive, gaping jaw and a texture like jelly. When research ships trawl the seafloor off that […]
Mother JonesIt wasn’t long after Jessica Madison graduated in 2009 that she realized her student loans were a terrible mistake. She had borrowed $21,000 for a paralegal program at Everest College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the hope of building a more secure life, but instead she spent the next three years looking for a full-time […]
Mother JonesDonald Trump was summoned to appear Tuesday before a Manhattan judge, who warned the former president that he could face additional legal trouble if he publicly rants about the evidence against him in his criminal fraud case—a recurring problem during the E. Jean Carroll sexual assault lawsuit earlier this month. Trump’s virtual appearance was brief, […]
Mother JonesAmid high-wire negotiations over the nation’s debt ceiling and the increasing likelihood of a US default, House Republicans on Tuesday took a moment to turn their attention to a used chapstick belonging to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. That chapstick—which, according to Politico, was a cherry-flavored souvenir from Florida Congressman Aaron Bean’s campaign—was to be auctioned […]
Mother JonesThe NAACP is the latest organization to warn Black people and members of marginalized communities against traveling to Florida amid the relentless right-wing bills signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis. The travel advisory, issued on Saturday, condemned Florida as “openly hostile towards African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ+” people and urged people to […]
Mother JonesThis morning, Andrew Yang announced that Krist Novoselic of Nirvana joined Forward—his political party that is “not left,” “not right,” but “FORWARD” (and pretty hard to take seriously). Yang is famous for running unsuccessfully for president and for mayor of New York City. He has staked his claim on the technocratic, centrist dream that problems […]
Mother JonesThe Texas legislature passed a series of bills on Monday that amounted to a sweeping power grab giving Republicans more control over how elections are run and administered in the state’s most populous Democratic county, which includes the city of Houston and is home to nearly 5 million people. One bill would allow the secretary […]
Mother JonesOne year after a suicidal 18-year-old opened fire with an AR-15 rifle inside Robb Elementary School, most of the public discussion remains focused on how a swarm of law enforcement failed for more than an hour to put an end to the attack. By the time police finally went into the classroom and killed the […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. After more than a year of intense negotiations, the states along the Colorado River have reached a deal to solve one of the most complex water crises in US history. The solution to this byzantine conundrum is deceptive in its simplicity: […]
Mother JonesIn his first interview since being charged with second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Jordan Neely, Daniel Penny said that he couldn’t be “a white supremacist” because he was, among other things, “planning a road trip through Africa.” In an interview with the New York Post, the ex-Marine said that allegations against him of racism are “a […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The world’s top fossil fuel companies owe at least $209 billion in annual climate reparations to compensate communities most damaged by their polluting business and decades of lies, a new study calculates. BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Total, Saudi Arabia’s state oil […]
Mother JonesThe specifics of Bill Gates’ relationship with Jeffrey Epstein have been an open question since details about their ties were revealed in 2019. In 2022, Gates’ ex-wife, Melinda French Gates, revealed that her then-husband’s relationship with the child predator financier even contributed to their divorce. On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal shed new light on their dynamic, […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. By the end of March, the surface temperature of the world’s oceans was above anything seen in the 40 years that satellites have been measuring it. Records were “headed off the charts” and, as the heat refused to fade for more […]
Mother JonesAfter Daniel Penny was charged on Friday with manslaughter for choking Jordan Neely to death on the F train, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) tweeted a link to donate to Penny’s legal defense fund. “We stand with Good Samaritans like Daniel Penny,” DeSantis wrote. “Let’s show this Marine…America’s got his back.” Other Republicans followed suit. “I […]
Mother JonesFormer President Trump is a twice-impeached sexual abuser, who possesses a unique ability to make people laugh—unfortunately or fortunately, to use his verbiage. He made that clear at a CNN town hall last week, when he had an audience of mostly Republicans laughing hysterically over the charming subject of an alleged rape. However odious his behavior, Trump’s charisma—or, […]
Mother JonesFirst, liberals canceled Christmas. Then, Thanksgiving. Now, they’re throwing Mother’s Day out with the trash. At least, that’s how Fox News sees it. In a recent article, the right-wing site accused “the left” of “trying to erase mothers.” Among the apparent culprits are trans people. “A mother is a woman who by birth or adoption […]
Mother JonesOn Saturday, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, vetoed a bill that would ban most abortions in the state after 12 weeks. But this is far from the end: The Republican supermajority in the state legislature is poised to overturn the veto and enact an abortion ban. It would be a blow not just […]