Mother Jones
This story was originally published by Undark and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In 2016, Ox Lennon was trying to peek in the crevices inside a pile of rocks. They considered everything from injecting builders’ foam into the tiny spaces to create a mold to dumping a heap of stones into a CT scanner. […]
Mother JonesWhen 70 percent of Texas House Republicans voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton in May, commentators expressed hope that the scandal-plagued lawyer would finally be held accountable for a multitude of alleged crimes—and perhaps most importantly, by members of his own party, who hold large majorities in the state legislature and who seem to […]
Mother JonesWhen Sen. Mitt Romney replaced Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in 2018, he was continuing a long tradition of relatively moderate Republican senators from Utah who were able to cross the aisle and get things done. (Utah hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1970.) That tradition is likely to end with him. Now that […]
Mother JonesI walked into the kitchen the other day to find my wife writing letters. Just thank-you cards. But still, you know, physical things that require more patience to produce than a text or email or Instagram post—and lasting, too, if one puts any thought into them. I used to write long letters, not so much […]
Mother JonesIn dueling presidential campaign speeches to Evangelical leaders Friday, former President Donald Trump sounded like the moderate Republican in the room, at least when it came to abortion. At the Family Research Council’s Pray Vote Stand conference in DC, the former president ticked off a long list of his pro-life accomplishments from his time in […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Agriculture is a big source of emissions. In the US, about 10 percent of greenhouse gases come from livestock or crops—and for a long time, agriculture has lagged behind other sectors when it comes to cutting its carbon footprint. Since 1990, […]
Mother JonesOn Tuesday, the Pulitzer Prize Board expanded the eligibility for the books, drama, and music awards by including artists who are not US citizens. The new policy, which begins in the 2025 cycle, will include “permanent residents of the United States and those who have made the United States their longtime primary home.” Over 2,500 […]
Mother JonesRational 360, a high-powered Washington, DC-based strategic communications firm and digital agency, promises to use “innovative” means and a network that extends “deep into the Halls of Congress, the White House, and Fortune 500 boardrooms across the country” to advance the “mission-critical goals” of its clients, a roster of corporations, trade associations, military contractors, policy […]
Mother JonesFor the first time in US history, UAW members at the Big Three automakers are on strike at the same time. The walkout began when the union’s contract expired Friday at midnight. UAW President Shawn Fain announced the initial strike targets during a Thursday night speech. The short notice is part of a new strategy […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Six young people are preparing to appear at the European court of human rights to try to compel 32 nations to rapidly escalate their emissions reductions in the world’s largest climate legal action to date. Aged from 11 to 24, the six Portuguese […]
Mother JonesA new bill has reached the desk of California Gov. Gavin Newsom that would bar the state’s public and charter schools from suspending or expelling students in sixth through twelfth grades for “willful defiance,” a largely undefined violation frequently meted out to students of color. The statewide ban, in force until 2029 once signed by […]
Mother JonesOn Monday, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin will resume abortion care for the first time in over a year. The organization will start fielding calls and emails for appointments at two locations, the Water Street Health Center in Milwaukee and the East Health Center in Madison. Planned Parenthood paused all abortion services following the Supreme Court’s decision […]
Mother JonesFederal prosecutors on Thursday charged Hunter Biden with lying about his drug use when he bought a gun in 2018. The three-count indictment is the latest twist in a series of legal issues for Hunter Biden that could impact the reelection campaign of his father, President Joe Biden. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday announced […]
Mother JonesEditor’s note: The below article first appeared in David Corn’s newsletter, Our Land. The newsletter comes out twice a week (most of the time) and provides behind-the-scenes stories and articles about politics, media, and culture. Subscribing costs just $5 a month—but you can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Our Land here. Plus, David Corn’s American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation […]
Mother JonesOn Thursday, Republicans in the Wisconsin state senate will vote to oust the nonpartisan administrator of the state’s election commission, Meagan Wolfe, in a bid to give election deniers and conspiracy theorists more control over how elections are run in the state. That follows threats by Republican legislative leaders to impeach newly elected state Supreme […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Cows are often described as climate change criminals because of how much planet-warming methane they burp. But there’s another problem with livestock farming that’s even worse for the climate and easier to overlook: To feed the world’s growing appetite for meat, corporations and ranchers […]
Mother JonesDonald Trump says he’s recently received potentially lucrative offers for some of his most iconic properties, and he’s confident he could sell them for “astronomical” amounts of money—possibly even to the Saudi officials behind LIV golf. “I would be able to sell Turnberry quickly for a tremendous amount of money, far beyond what you would say […]
Mother JonesAs perilous as it is for you to ride in a vehicle, cars may be even more treacherous for wild animals on the road. “It has never been more dangerous to set paw, hoof, or scaly belly on the highway,” writes science journalist Ben Goldfarb in his new book, Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the […]
Mother JonesFor nearly three years of med school, I teased my friends who wanted to specialize in surgery. I’d heard stories of tantrums in the operating room, of residents too tired to be friendly, much less teach. But the first time I sutured a jumbled gash into a thin, smooth line, I knew I wanted to […]
Mother JonesOver the last nine months, House Republicans have assembled a decent case that Hunter Biden should not be the president of the United States. Joe Biden, not so much. While his father was vice president and then during the Trump administration, Hunter Biden used his name and perceived White House access to get millions of […]
Mother JonesThe National Book Foundation has dropped Drew Barrymore as the host of its upcoming awards ceremony after the actress resumed production on her talk show, crossing the picket lines of the ongoing writers’ strike. On Monday, she confirmed that the Drew Barrymore Show will begin filming its newest season without writers on staff—prompting criticism from several […]
Mother JonesEarlier this year, I found an empty THC cartridge package by the court after one of my son’s high school basketball games. Cannabis vapes are illegal for everyone in Texas, where I live, much less for minors. I scooped up the box, which displayed a California Republic bear and the brand Gold Coast Clear. Later, […]
Mother JonesIf only the Republicans could get rid of Donald Trump, it could return to normal. This is a common refrain they you often hear from pundits and members of the political class, or maybe from a relative or friend. Trump, in this view, is a dangerous aberration, and all that is needed to de-Trumpify the […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A “heat wave scam” is what one social media user called the record-high temperatures reported by European scientists late last month. In a separate post, another account referred to new policies aimed at reducing the carbon emissions of buildings […]
Mother JonesThe United States’ poverty rate experienced its largest one-year jump on record last year, with the rate among children more than doubling from 2021’s historic low of 5.2 percent to 12.4 percent according to new numbers from the US Census Bureau out today. They’re the latest data to reflect the devastating effects following the expiration of nearly all […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In a landmark hearing, small island nations disproportionately affected by the climate crisis are taking on high-emitting countries in a court in Hamburg, Germany, in what is being seen as the first climate justice case aimed at protecting the ocean. During […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Heat pumps are more than twice as efficient as fossil fuel heating systems in cold temperatures, research shows. Even at temperatures approaching -22 F, heat pumps outperform oil and gas heating systems, according to research from Oxford University and the Regulatory Assistance […]
Mother JonesLast week, Republican state Attorney General Chris Carr released an indictment charging 61 “Stop Cop City” activists under Georgia’s Racketeer Influenced and Corruption (RICO) Act. The indictments followed a lengthy state investigation into demonstrations aiming to halt the construction of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, often dubbed “Cop City” by its detractors. Some of […]
Mother JonesNot long after Election Day last November, Pamela Merritt joined a call with other abortion-rights activists in Missouri to discuss a daring proposal: sidestepping the state’s ruling Republicans by directly asking voters whether to add abortion rights to their state constitution. The group hoped to capitalize on a recent trend. Since the Supreme Court overturned […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Would you live in a building, cross a bridge, or trust a dam wall if there were a 10 percent chance of it collapsing? Or 5 percent? Or 1 percent? Of course not! In civil engineering, […]