Mother Jones
John Durham—the special counsel who was appointed by then-Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate the FBI’s investigation of the Trump-Russia scandal and who utterly failed to produce evidence it was a hoax—testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. In doing so, he made false statements to Congress. He might even have lied. Durham spent […]
Mother JonesWatching the political developments in Brazil from the United States for the past several years has often felt like a kind of Groundhog Day series of parallel events—just with different languages and a two-year gap. Far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s rise to power in 2018—he became known as the “Trump of the Tropics”—followed the election of […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The makers of Roundup, the world’s top weedkiller, will pay $6.9 million for violating an agreement with the state of New York to stop making false claims about the safety of its best-selling herbicides. Bayer and Monsanto, which was acquired by […]
Mother JonesThe patients at Juana Duran’s maternity clinic are terrified. Many are undocumented, and, according to Duran—an administrative staffer at the Florida facility—they are worried that a new law championed by Gov. Ron Desantis could put them at risk of deportation when they give birth. “I know my people,” says Duran. “They are scared.” At the […]
Mother JonesThis article was produced in partnership with the nonprofit newsroom Type Investigations, with support from the H.D. Lloyd Fund for Investigative Journalism. Any woman who works in the maritime industry will remember where she was when she read about Midshipman X. This was the pseudonym used by a student at the US Merchant Marine Academy […]
Mother JonesTen years ago, Marilyn Muller began to suspect that her kindergarten daughter, Lauryn, was struggling with reading. Lauryn, a bright child, seemed mystified by the process of sounding out simple words. Still, the teachers at the top-rated Massachusetts public school reassured Muller that nothing was wrong, and Lauryn would pick up the skill—eventually. Surely they […]
Mother JonesHunter Biden has agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors, finally ending a five-year investigation into the 53-year-old’s failure to pay $1 million in federal taxes and his illegal purchase of a firearm, according to news outlets. After a probe overseen by the Trump-appointed US Attorney of Delaware, the current president’s son was charged […]
Mother JonesThis article was produced as a collaboration between Bolts and Mother Jones. On June 25, 2019, in a nightclub in Woodside, Queens, public defender Tiffany Cabán claimed election night victory as the borough’s newest District Attorney. Backed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cabán—a queer Latina woman from Richmond Hill, Queens, who ran on ending mass incarceration and the war on […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Trillions of dollars of subsidies for fossil fuels, farming, and fishing are causing “environmental havoc,” according to the World Bank, severely harming people and the planet. Many countries spend more on harmful subsidies than they do […]
Mother JonesIn September 2017, the Social Security Administration sent Gabriel Burgos’ family a letter warning that their income would be cut in half. Gabriel—a Brooklyn high schooler who lived with his mother, Marlena, and father, Jorge, in a public housing apartment—had recently turned 18. That meant the end of the monthly check he got because of […]
Mother JonesImmigrant soldiers have served in every significant US conflict since the Revolutionary War, but their presence in the military is often overlooked. When sociologist Sofya Aptekar went searching for immigrant veterans to interview for her new book, Green Card Soldier: Between Model Immigrant and Security Threat, many workers in veteran support offices told her they […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Morgen Bromell, a web designer in Brooklyn, had plans to visit their cousin in Los Angeles at the end of the summer, but last week air quality in New York City was so bad they […]
Mother JonesNewly obtained records from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) show that executives and employees at the student loan servicer are surprised and dismayed at their company’s central role in the lawsuit before the Supreme Court that seeks to undo Biden’s student debt cancellation plan. MOHELA has never been a party to the lawsuit, […]
Mother JonesEvictions are rising rapidly as pandemic-era moratoriums have ended nationwide. Citing data from the Eviction Lab, AP reports that some cities have seen eviction filings rise 50 percent higher than they were before Covid. “Across the country, low-income renters are in an even worse situation than before the pandemic due to things like massive increases […]
Mother JonesFormer Vice President Mike Pence said on “Meet the Press” Sunday that “Women pastors have had a big impact” on his family—but refused to say any more in their defense as Southern Baptist churches have recently moved to expel churches that include women in church leadership. WATCH: Fmr. VP @Mike_Pence says women ministers "had a […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. This story was co-published with Sojourners, a nonprofit publication covering faith, politics, and social justice. Rabbi Dean Shapiro recalls considering the future as he looked down at a baby’s head while giving her a Hebrew name and welcoming her into the […]
Mother JonesThe city of Minneapolis is asking a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit against the police officer who killed Amir Locke during a February 2022 raid that sparked protests. Locke, a 22-year-old Black aspiring musician, was sleeping on a couch in his cousin’s Minneapolis home, a handgun at his side, when SWAT officers entered without […]
Mother JonesAfter George Floyd’s murder in 2020, Native Americans stood beside Black protesters in Minneapolis and called for changes to policing. Now, the Justice Department is highlighting how the city’s cops have been racist against them, too. On Friday, the department released a blistering report showing that for years, the Minneapolis police have discriminated against Native […]
Mother JonesKeri Blakinger, a reporter at the Los Angeles Times, hardly owns any furniture. She likes it that way, preferring to sleep on the floor rather than a cushioned mattress, and to keep her clothes permanently in suitcases. It’s not that she can’t afford a bed or dresser: Her career has taken off in the last […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Hakai Magazine and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. This article is also available in audio format. In a narrow aisle of shelves packed with cardboard boxes, Jørgen Peder Steffensen grins like a mischievous child unwrapping a holiday present as he pulls out a plastic-wrapped hunk of ice from […]
Mother JonesAn overwhelming majority of UPS union workers voted Friday to authorize the right to strike, raising the possibility that the world’s largest package company could cease deliveries in the US as early as August 1. TEAMSTERS AUTHORIZE STRIKE AT UPS pic.twitter.com/AmO2pjKt3v — Alex Press (@alexnpress) June 16, 2023 The Teamsters union, which represents more than […]
Mother JonesAfter a two-year Department of Justice investigation into the Minneapolis Police Department—that involved a review of thousands of documents, incident files, body-worn camera videos, and department data—Attorney General Merrick Garland revealed his findings today. They were damning. If you look at “MPD as a whole,” Garland said in Minneapolis, there were clear “systemic problems.” The conclusion […]
Mother JonesRep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) knows that his political theater deploring the alleged abuses of the January 6 prosecutions is incomplete without the presence of a bona fide convict. “I did nothing wrong,” said John Strand in his testimony at a “field hearing” Gaetz staged at the US Capitol Visitor Center on Tuesday—coincidentally the same day […]
Mother JonesThis past December, as my mailbox overflowed with screener DVDs of prestige films and television shows designed to capture my vote for the Writers Guild of America Awards, I did what any respectable resident of cozy season would do: I pressed play on Partner Track, a playful romantic comedy series that the Netflix algorithm had […]
Mother JonesThe summer of 2020 was hot, explosively so in Portland. Following the murder of George Floyd, few cities erupted as furiously and as long as Portland did. Knowing that protesters on both sides weren’t necessarily keen on the media—particularly photographers—Rian Dundon immersed himself in the thick of the action with an unobtrusive point-and-shoot digital camera. […]
Mother JonesIn the lead-up to his recently announced presidential run, Gov. Ron DeSantis ramped up Florida’s use of the death penalty and shepherded through two laws expanding capital punishment. The moves, part of a broader attempt to appear tough on crime, have helped turned the state into an executions epicenter. The latest planned killing is set for Thursday […]
Mother JonesThere is no better representative of the moral slide of the Republican Party in the Trump years than House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. This congressman from California, as the ranking House Republican, excoriated Donald Trump after the January 6 insurrectionist assault on the Capitol, declaring that Trump “bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob […]
Mother JonesThousands of Reddit communities went dark this week to protest the webforum giant’s money-making plans. Ahead of an expected IPO later this year, the company’s CEO announced it would start charging for access to its application programming interface. APIs are a common feature of web platforms, essentially letting anyone peer more deeply under the hood. They […]
Mother JonesThe Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the Indian Child Welfare Act, the landmark 1978 legislation aimed at preventing Native foster children and adoptees from being separated from their families and tribes. The ruling in Haaland v. Brackeen represents a victory for Native tribes, who argued that the case threatened the basic tenets of Native sovereignty, […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Slate and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. As the Russia-Ukraine War rages on, its most devastating impacts are adding up and extending far beyond Eastern Europe. Last week offered an extremely grim example: The Kakhovka Dam, perched on the Dnieper River in Kherson province, was blown up on […]