Mother Jones: Posts

Mother Jones

A Nixon-Era Food Program for Babies and Pregnant People is Running Out of Cash

In any given month, about 1.63 million women, 1.71 million infants, and 3.52 million children under the age of 5 receive federal food assistance from a program colloquially known as WIC. Among the recipients of that aid is the 3-year-old daughter of Emily Church in Athens County, Ohio. Three years ago, when her daughter was […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

This Is What It Costs to Be Rich

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Bans on Single-Use Plastic Bags Seem To Be Working

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Over the past several years, US cities and states have passed hundreds of policies restricting the sale and distribution of single-use plastic bags. A new report says these laws have largely succeeded in their goal of reducing plastic bag use. The report—copublished […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Trump Shares His New Hampshire Victory With an Accused Sexual Predator

After winning the Republican primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday night, Donald Trump took the stage at his victory celebration and delivered a rambling speech in which he repeatedly denigrated Nikki Haley, who he had hired to be his UN ambassador when he was president. He did not offer thanks to any specific person. He […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

A Crash Course on Yemen: Are Biden’s Attacks on the Houthis the Solution?

The Biden administration says that it has being trying to prevent the ongoing war in Gaza from spreading to other parts of the region. Yet despite these efforts, Israel’s massive bombing campaign, which has claimed tens of thousands of civilian lives, has spurred fighting between Lebanon-based Hezbollah and Israel, attacks from Iran at targets in […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Oil Firms Target Rural Communities Again, Now for Lithium Mining

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Chantell Dunbar-Jones remembers when her hometown of Lewisville, Arkansas, seemed to have oil wells on every corner. The small town, located in the southwestern part of the state, sits atop the Smackover Oil Formation, one of the largest oilfields in the United States. […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Two Impeachments, Four Indictments, and One Step Closer to Regaining the Presidency

New Hampshire isn’t merely the Granite State. After tonight, it’s also the déjà vu state, having almost certainly cemented a familiar general election match-up between Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Minutes after the state’s voting locations closed Tuesday night, the Associated Press declared Trump triumphant over the last serious Republican challenger standing, Nikki Haley. Her […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Florida Man Facing 91 Criminal Counts Wins New Hampshire Primary

Donald Trump won. Again. For months, New Hampshire—with its famously independent electorate and its history of upending primary campaigns—had seemed like the best chance for a Republican to stop the MAGA machine. It wasn’t. On Tuesday, Trump defeated his one remaining GOP opponent, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, in the Granite State’s Republican contest, according […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Nancy Mace Flip-Flops Again…And Endorses Donald Trump

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) is nothing if not inconsistent. After claiming the January 6 attack on the US Capitol had “wiped out” Donald Trump’s legacy and that she wanted to be a “new voice” for the Republican party, the South Carolina congresswoman has endorsed Trump’s re-election campaign just one day before the New Hampshire primary. […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

How the Right Uses the Bogeyman of “DEI” To Call for Upending Civil Rights Law

On Sunday, the New York Times published a front-page investigation into the campaign by a cadre of think-tank-ists on the intellectual right to push state officials to expunge diversity, equity, and inclusion programs from higher education. Using a trove of documents, the report focused on Texas and efforts by the Claremont Institute—a think-tank that has tried to make […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

“Independent” New Hampshire Voters Like Nikki Haley and Loathe Trump. There’s Just One Problem.

The stuffy VFW hall in the Hallmark-esque town of Franklin was swarmed with “independent” New Hampshire voters who came to see Nikki Haley make her closing pitch the day before the state’s pivotal Tuesday primary contest. “I just feel like she could bring people together. She’s attracting a lot of independent, undeclared voters, which I […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Haley Is More Climate Conscious Than Trump—Which Isn’t Saying Much

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In her recent memoir, presidential candidate Nikki Haley recounted a telling anecdote about her role in pulling the US out of the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017 when she served as the nation’s United Nations ambassador. Secretary of State Rex […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Some of Trump’s Biggest Fans Wish He Would Show a Little Restraint. Lol.

Donald Trump has a well-earned reputation for spouting falsehoods. In New Hampshire, even some of this most diehard fans are shaking their heads at his prevarications, including the lie that he has been repeating throughout the Granite State that Democrats are allowed to vote in the Republican primary. (They can’t.) “You have a governor here […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Some of Trump’s Biggest Fans Wish He Would Show a Little Restraint. Lol.

Donald Trump has a well-earned reputation for spouting falsehoods. In New Hampshire, even some of this most diehard fans are shaking their heads at his prevarications, including the lie that he has been repeating throughout the Granite State that Democrats are allowed to vote in the Republican primary. (They can’t.) “You have a governor here […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

In New Hampshire, Trump Isn’t the Only Candidate Keeping Reporters Out

Former President Donald Trump looked out into the red-and-blue-clad crowd at his packed rally in Manchester, New Hampshire Saturday night and pointed toward the back of the arena, where credentialed media were required to sit. “Biden and his radical thugs have weaponized the DOJ, and his protectors, and the fake news media. Right back there. […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Monet Changes Everything

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Welcome to America’s Wealthiest Zip Code

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

These Billionaires Want to Disrupt Death—and Keep Their Fortunes Forever

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

There Is a Very Good Reason Why Donald Trump Thinks Everything Is Rigged

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Elon Musk’s Texas Takeover

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Why We Can’t Look Away From Rich People’s Drama

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

How “Woke Capitalism” Became a Right-Wing Obsession

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

A Brief History of Superyachts

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Billionaires’ Giving Pledge: Part Tax Strategy, Part PR Stunt

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Philanthropy in America Is Broken

When the US targeted Russia’s oligarchs after the invasion of Ukraine, the trail of assets kept leading to our own backyard. Not only had our nation become a haven for shady foreign money, but we were also incubating a familiar class of yacht-owning, industry-dominating, resource-extracting billionaires. In the January + February 2024 issue of our magazine, we […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

In GOP Primary Bubble, Nobody Gives a Damn About Climate Change

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In the wake of an Iowa primary election chilled in a record blast of cold weather—which scientists say may, counterintuitively, have been worsened by global heating—Republican presidential candidates are embracing the fossil fuel industry tighter than ever, with little to […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Don’t Blame a Puzzle for the Demise of Ron DeSantis’ Campaign

Hours before Ron DeSantis officially dropped out of the race on Sunday, NBC News published a nearly 4,000-word autopsy of his failed campaign that highlighted a fun detail: Scott Wagner, the head of DeSantis’ super-PAC, which played a major role in the Florida governor’s disastrous Iowa bid, spent “a significant amount of time in the […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Ron DeSantis Quits Presidential Race and Endorses Trump

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out the presidential race Sunday and endorsed Donald Trump in remarks that echoed Trump’s baseless claims that he is the victim of a justice system conspiracy. “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” DeSantis said in a video he […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Biden Challenger Dean Phillips Signals He Might Not Leave the Race Quietly

Dean Phillips may not go quietly into the night after the expected fizzle of his longshot primary challenge to President Joe Biden The Minnesota Democratic Rep. told the New York Times Saturday that he would mull running on the ticket of No Labels, the third party organization loathed by liberals that is considering mounting a […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Why the COP28 Climate Pact Likely Won’t Cut It

This story was originally published by Yale E360 and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Climate negotiators meeting in Dubai last month pledged to chart a course for stabilizing the climate system using good science. But many scientists say these promises are at best ill-defined and at worst a travesty of good science—vague and full […]

Continue Reading…