Mother Jones
When he was a teenager, Ben believed that he struggled with friendships and romantic relationships more than others his age. Discerning personal boundaries and finding ways to effectively communicate often bewildered him, and he wasn’t sure what certain signals meant or how many he may have missed. As someone with autism, cerebral palsy, and expressive […]
Mother JonesRobert F. Kennedy Jr., the prominent conspiracy theorist and anti-vaxxer, is officially running as an independent. On Monday, the Kennedy scion, who has been politically disowned by much of his family, announced that he was ditching his longshot efforts to defeat Joe Biden in the Democratic primary. The announcement prompted more family disavowal. Kennedy’s sister, […]
Mother JonesIn January 2020, Barbers Hill High School in Texas made national headlines after suspending a Black student over his dreadlocks, ordering DeAndre Arnold to cut them if he wanted to attend graduation. The incident partly inspired the CROWN Act, a state law that prohibits race-based hair discrimination in schools, housing, and workplaces. But on August […]
Mother JonesRep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), like Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the man he hopes to replace as House speaker, lies a lot. Jordan’s rapid-style monologues—on topics such as Russia’s attack on the 2016 election, Donald Trump’s 2019 effort to extort Ukraine, Hunter Biden, and internet censorship—are often loaded with allegations that are demonstrably false. He has […]
Mother JonesThis year, California was poised to become the first state in the nation to ban discrimination based on caste, the hereditary social hierarchy that originated in South Asia but persists around the world. But on Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have added add caste to existing laws banning discrimination in public […]
Mother JonesA quarter-century ago, doctors at Duke University Medical Center and three other major research universities set out to test new brain wave monitoring device on patients under general anesthesia. Usually, physicians monitored blood pressure, heart rate, and pupil dilation to figure out if patients were regaining consciousness. But the new device aimed to streamline the […]
Mother JonesHours after Palestinian militants launched a deadly multi-pronged assault on Israeli towns from the Gaza Strip yesterday, and Israel responded with a barrage of airstrikes, several Republican presidential candidates tried to lay blame for the escalation in the decades-long conflict at the feet of President Joe Biden. The Republican candidates claimed Saturday’s attacks—which have led to […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Canada’s National Observer and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Gabe Jules is pulling back on his deer hunts. He has witnessed a drop in both the numbers and health of the deer population in his territory, which has been ravaged by two devastating wildfire seasons in three […]
Mother Jones“Elections don’t work,” Greg Gutfeld explained, as the co-host of “The Five” and Fox News’ answer to Jimmy Kimmel descended into a dorm room caliber monologue that attempted to justify why a civil war in the United States may be necessary to reverse American “decline.” The good guys in this one will not be opponents of slavery, but […]
Mother JonesOn Saturday morning, Hamas launched a major and unexpected attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip by land, air, and sea. The assault comes just after the 50th anniversary of the Israeli military being taken by surprise in the Yom Kippur War. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to the attacks by saying “we are […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Hakai Magazine and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. There was a time when we human beings used to put animals on trial for their alleged crimes against us. The earliest of these prosecutions in the Western tradition of law appears to be a case against moles in […]
Mother JonesOn Friday afternoon, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain announced that, in response to major last-minute concessions, the union would not expand its targeted strike of the Big Three automakers. In a move that Fain said would have been previously “unthinkable,” General Motors has now agreed to put electric-vehicle battery plants under its master agreement with the […]
Mother JonesOn Thursday, the Biden administration announced that it will build an additional 20 miles of the border wall in Starr County, Texas, a busy crossing point for migrants along the Rio Grande. The move is a sharp turn from President Joe Biden’s long-standing criticism of the US-Mexico border wall, a controversial hallmark of the Trump […]
Mother JonesIt’s the American Library Association’s annual Banned Books Week, a tradition that started in 1982. This year, the theme is “Let Freedom Read!” in honor of record-breaking efforts to censor books now sweeping the nation’s libraries and schools. Yesterday, I published a story about Wyoming’s Cambell County Public Library, which, after a controversy over sex-ed books, last […]
Mother JonesThis week, hundreds of delegates from around the world began a monthlong meeting as part of Pope Francis’ “Synod on Synodality”—a gathering to discuss the future of the Catholic church. It could radically change the religion. The group is considering groundbreaking alterations to orthodoxy on same-sex unions and whether or not women can be ordained as priests. The […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. At least 20 board members at California public universities have direct ties to the fossil fuel industry, a new analysis has found, sparking criticism from climate advocates on and off campus. Of the state’s 32 public universities, board members at one-third of them […]
Mother JonesIf you attended high school in the United States, you likely learned about the “Great Slaughter” of the American buffalo: During the 19th century, with the aid of the railroad, hide hunters poured into the Great Plains by the thousands, indiscriminately shooting buffalo (or, technically, “bison”) to collect their furs and tongues, which were sold as hairbrushes. […]
Mother JonesOn Thursday afternoon, Nancy Marks, the former campaign treasurer for Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to defraud the United States. As part of her plea, Marks admitted to helping to craft a fake campaign donor scheme—an operation first reported by Mother Jones in February. Prosecutors allege that Santos played an […]
Mother JonesYet again, X, the social media firm formerly known as Twitter, has gone through an abrupt design change. As of Wednesday, users can no longer see headlines to links shared on the platform. While it’s a blow to news sites, the change also hampers the site’s accessibility to screen readers, software that people who are blind […]
Mother JonesDonald Trump is in court this week as he defends a $250 million civil fraud lawsuit. But he doesn’t really seem to be trying too hard to win. Instead, the former president—perhaps aware that the case against him appears to be overwhelming—is seeking to derail the proceedings in any way he can. “There’s no jury […]
Mother JonesIn June, Texas authorities installed the first segment of an anti-migrant floating barrier in the Rio Grande, the 1,900-mile waterway separating the state’s southwest from northern Mexico. The structure, which consists of metal saw blades strung between large buoys, sits along a thousand-foot stretch of the river near Eagle Pass, a busy crossing point on […]
Mother JonesRudy Giuliani sued President Joe Biden in New Hampshire on Wednesday, alleging that Biden had defamed him by calling Giuliani a “Russian pawn” during a 2020 presidential debate in Nashville. Suing the president under any circumstances is hard. And Giuliani faces another problem: There’s a lot of evidence that appears to support Biden’s claim. The […]
Mother JonesOn April 15, 2009, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the California Republican, brought Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the leader of the House GOP caucus, to a rally in his home town of Bakersfield. It was Tax Day, and in 200 or so cities across the nation, a new political force called the tea party was staging […]
Mother JonesIn June, Democratic advisers began circulating the usual warning: The party needed to change its message. As the Washington Post explained, focus group testing had shown that the slogan of “‘economic fairness’ was a loser.” Instead, Democrats should talk about “growing the middle class.” Soon, leaders like Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Apple’s recent announcement of its first-ever “carbon neutral” product was questioned in a new report by a Chinese environmental research organization that gathers and tracks data on greenhouse gas emissions from China’s manufacturing sector, which makes the majority of […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Apple’s recent announcement of its first-ever “carbon neutral” product was questioned in a new report by a Chinese environmental research organization that gathers and tracks data on greenhouse gas emissions from China’s manufacturing sector, which makes the majority of […]
Mother JonesThe Campbell County Public Library is a handsome, low-slung building in the center of the small city of Gillette, Wyoming. Steps lead up to two sturdy stone columns that support an overhang, where patrons can sit on benches protected from the summer’s baking sun or the winter’s driving prairie snow. A tidy garden of wildflowers […]
Mother JonesThe Campbell County Public Library is a handsome, low-slung building in the center of the small city of Gillette, Wyoming. Steps lead up to two sturdy stone columns that support an overhang, where patrons can sit on benches protected from the summer’s baking sun or the winter’s driving prairie snow. A tidy garden of wildflowers […]
Mother JonesOn Wednesday, an estimated 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers across five states and Washington DC walked out in the largest health care workers strike in US history. After several days of negotiations over fair labor practices and higher wages, company and union members failed to reach a compromise. Both groups “are still at the bargaining table, […]
Mother JonesEditor’s note: This essay is anonymous in order to protect the writer from potential reprisals. Yevgeny Prigozhin, co-founder of the notorious private military company Wagner, died in a fiery crash in August when his private jet exploded in midair and went down near Tver’, midway between St. Petersburg and Moscow. Western media outlets were quick […]