Mother Jones
Since October 7, there has been a divide. Polls have found that Democratic voters are about equally sympathetic to Palestinians and Israelis, do not approve of Israel’s response to the attack by Hamas, and favor sending humanitarian aid to Gaza by far larger margins than sending weapons to Israel. But these have not been the priorities of the […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The US and UK militaries “owe” at least $111 billion in reparations to communities most harmed by their planet-heating pollution, a first-of-its-kind study calculates. The research employs a “social cost of carbon” framework—a way to estimate the cost, […]
Mother JonesIn 2010, Barack Obama signed the Plain Writing Act into law, requiring that federal government documents use clear, straightforward language. Despite its passage more than a decade ago, though, getting plain-language information about government policy—ranging from the federal to local level—isn’t always easy. Plain-language documents serve a dual purpose: they can make information more accessible […]
Mother JonesSenator Joe Manchin of West Virginia will not run for re-election next year. The conservative Democrat called the choice—which he shared the news in a video he posted to X—”one of the toughest decisions of my life.” Instead of running for Senate, Manchin said he would be “traveling the country and speaking out to see if […]
Mother JonesGOP presidential candidates are threatening to deport international students who they accuse of sympathizing with anti-Israel terrorists. “If you are here on a student visa as a foreign national, and you’re making common cause with Hamas, I’m canceling your visa and I’m sending you home, no questions asked,” vowed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during Wednesday […]
Mother JonesOn Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in United States v. Rahimi, a firearms case challenging a federal law that for three decades has prohibited people who have domestic violence restraining orders from possessing guns. Based on oral arguments, it appears likely the policy will stand. But the reasoning is complicated, and far from a clear […]
Mother JonesIsrael will pause fighting in the northern Gaza strip for four hours each day to allow civilians to flee, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Thursday. Kirby told reporters that Israel’s military would issue an announcement three hours prior to each day’s pause, NBC News reported. “We remain concerned that Hamas will discourage or prevent […]
Mother JonesPeople of all ideological stripes are prone to using the words of Martin Luther King Jr. to fit whatever agenda they have at the moment. The nearly-six decades since his death are rife with misappropriation, like when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee claimed that King would be “appalled” by the Black Lives Matter movement. It’s […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Climate change looms larger in Louisiana than it does almost anywhere else in the United States. The state is facing down monster hurricanes as well as sea-level rise, and it still relies on a fossil fuel industry that pollutes the state’s […]
Mother JonesIt took the GOP presidential candidates more than 90 minutes to address abortion rights during Wednesday night’s televised debate—even though they were gathering just one day after Ohio became the latest state to enshrine a constitutional right to access abortion. The candidates were forced to acknowledge that voters have resoundingly endorsed abortion rights on the […]
Mother JonesFive GOP presidential candidates sparred at the third Republican debate Wednesday night, and one of the most contentious issues was…TikTok. The Chinese-owned video app has long been a boogeyman for lawmakers who fear the Chinese government could use it to obtain Americans’ data. The NBC News debate moderators asked the candidates if they would “ban […]
Mother JonesIvanka Trump took the stand on Wednesday in her father’s civil fraud trial, but to hear her tell it, she wasn’t sure why. Trump was polite and relaxed, in stark contrast to her father—who took the stand on Monday, rambling and frequently devolving into emotional outbursts during his testimony—and brothers, whose testimony was often defensive. […]
Mother JonesHeading into Tuesday’s off-year elections, and with an eye to 2024, Republicans have been searching for an issue that can motivate voters to flock to the polls the way abortion rights have galvanized Democrats since the fall of Roe. It is now clear one thing is not effective: anti-trans messaging. Anti-trans platforms failed to deliver […]
Mother JonesIn 2019, Guo Wengui was building a political empire in the United States. Guo—a real estate mogul who had recently fled China and styled himself as a leading critic of the Chinese Communist Party—ran a network of US-based nonprofits and media sites and was forging ties with MAGA movement luminaries like Steve Bannon and Rudy […]
Mother JonesAfter months of interviews, TV appearances, and hype, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin—and his vision of himself as the new standard bearer of how to win as a Republican—ran into a problem: He lost. On Tuesday, Youngkin’s dreams of helping bring about a GOP-led General Assembly were crushed. The state’s Democrats secured the majority in both […]
Mother JonesIs the “parental rights” movement slowing down? In 2021, there was a broad push after the pandemic from the right to retake education institutions. Across the country, “Moms for Liberty”—a sprawling national organization the Southern Poverty Law Center labeled an anti-government extremist group—ran school board candidates to challenge inclusive policies and push book bans. The […]
Mother JonesIn 2021, the so-called “parents’ rights” conservative movement was ascendant. Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin ran on a platform based almost entirely on opposing the teaching of anti-racism and LGBTQ-inclusive curriculum in schools, marshaling the support of a group of self-proclaimed “Mama Bears” to propel him to victory. But last night, Democrat Schuyler VanValkenburg defeated Youngkin’s […]
Mother JonesOnce again, American voters in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision that last year nullified a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion have told the Republican Party what they think of its crusade to restrict reproductive freedom: Get lost. On Tuesday, abortion won. In Ohio, 57 percent of the Buckeyes who went to […]
Mother JonesYusef Salaam, one of the exonerated “Central Park Five,” earned a new title on Tuesday: New York City Council member-elect. Salaam, a Democrat who will represent a central Harlem district, ran unopposed after beating out a crowded primary field in June by a landslide. He campaigned on building more affordable housing to gentrifying Harlem, local […]
Mother JonesDemocratic victories in Tuesday’s off-year elections were also major triumphs for the efforts to protect democracy and expand voting rights—a continuation of a trend from last year’s midterms, when Republican candidates who had sought to undermine fair elections lost in key battleground states. In Virginia this year, Democrats won both houses of the state legislature, […]
Mother JonesRep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Tuesday became the 26th member in the history of the US House of Representatives to be censured after 22 Democrats joined nearly all Republicans in voting to punish the only Palestinian American in Congress for criticisms that, the resolution claimed, were tantamount to “calling for the destruction of the state […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A fashion industry push to reduce the environmental impact of the clothing it sells is being undermined by an ongoing addiction to buying new clothes, with the average British person buying 28 items every year. Asos and Primark are among the big names signed […]
Mother JonesOhio voters have approved Issue 1, amending their state constitution to enshrine the right to abortion—and proving, ahead of 2024, that support for abortion rights remains a compelling force among voters. The success of the measure, which was passing 58-42 as of 9 p.m. Tuesday night, is an encouraging sign for similar initiatives being prepared for next […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Kentucky’s Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, has been called the state’s “consoler-in-chief.” He’s presided over a period of extreme weather in the state, from tornadoes that leveled entire towns in the farmlands of western Kentucky, to record flooding that washed out thousands of […]
Mother JonesWhen Donald Trump took the witness stand Monday as the defendant in a $250 million civil fraud case, he found himself on a public stage he had no control over—and he hated it. Facing direct questions from New York prosecutors about what role he played in fraudulently inflating his net worth, Trump struggled, and often […]
Mother Jones“Are you a Republican or a Democrat?” asked a Stafford County, Virginia voter as she stood inside her screened-in porch Thursday evening. “I’m firstly a person,” replied Leonard Lacey, the Democratic candidate running to represent District 64 in the Virginia House of Delegates. It was the start of Lacey’s elevator pitch to voters, one he’s […]
Mother JonesA record number of United Nations aid workers have been killed in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, according to information released yesterday. Eighty-eight people employed by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East—tasked with providing essential services for Palestinian refugees—have been killed since Oct. 7, marking […]
Mother JonesWhen Lela Casey decided to speak up at a school board meeting of Pennsylvania’s Central Bucks School District in September, she was still troubled by an incident that had happened at a similar meeting in March. The mother of three who grew up in northeast Pennsylvania was sitting in the audience of about 50 or […]
Mother JonesOn a Thursday in September 2019, Philip Esformes arrived for his sentencing at the federal courthouse in downtown Miami looking pale and gaunt. The previous April, after an eight-week trial, Esformes, heir to a large, successful chain of nursing homes, had been convicted of fraud, kickback and money laundering crimes, and obstruction of justice. Citing […]
Mother JonesNew numbers from a New York Times/Siena College poll offer a grim portrait of the 2024 presidential election in five major swing states: Voters hate both candidates. But the bigger news is that despite having been impeached twice and indicted four times on criminal charges, former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden in […]