Mother Jones: Posts

Mother Jones

About to Break Down? You Might Be a Cybertruck.

At a live delivery event this November, where Elon Musk awkwardly opened the door for about a dozen new Cybertruck owners, he told the world: “The apocalypse can come along any moment, and here at Tesla, we have the best in apocalypse technology.” Then he showed a video of the vehicle being pummeled by a machine gun, […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

About to Break Down? You Might Be a Cybertruck.

At a live delivery event this November, where Elon Musk awkwardly opened the door for about a dozen new Cybertruck owners, he told the world: “The apocalypse can come along any moment, and here at Tesla, we have the best in apocalypse technology.” Then he showed a video of the vehicle being pummeled by a machine gun, […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Critics Say the RNC Wasted Money on Flowers and Limos. Will Trump’s Campaign Manager Put It Back On Track?

On Monday, former President Donald Trump issued a statement endorsing a slate of candidates for leadership at the Republican National Committee. Earlier this month, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel had offered to step down after the South Carolina primary amid mounting criticism from the party’s far-right flank. Among those Trump proposed taking over key party posts: […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

The American Adoption System Isn’t What You Think It Is

Cassie was a 22-year-old college student working a part-time job when she found out she was pregnant. It was too late for an abortion, and parenting seemed off the table: She felt too poor, too unsupported by her family. When she went to an adoption agency, Cassie couldn’t stop weeping. But the staffers were warm, […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Some Alabamians Can’t Even Flush Their Toilets. The EPA Is Here to Help.

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Catherine Coleman Flowers has seen it all firsthand. She’s been to homes across the state where Alabamians can’t flush their toilets, the result of failing or nonexistent wastewater infrastructure. She can tell you about the families in the state’s […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Do You Have Experience With the Adoption Industry? Tell Us About it.

For decades, adoption has been portrayed as a win-win, helping babies who need homes and parents who want children. But the adoption industry can be confusing and coercive. Birth mothers may feel pressured into relinquishing their babies; adoptive parents may not know where to turn for reliable sources of information. In the absence of regulatory scrutiny, […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

The Internet’s Favorite Supplement Titan Appears to Be Taking Cues From a Psychic

If anti-vaccine influencers had a king, it would be Dr. Joseph Mercola, the osteopathic physician whose supplement empire has netted him a tidy fortune of $100 million. Mercola has been a power broker in alternative medicine circles for years—as my colleague David Corn has reported, he received a publicity boost more than a decade ago […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

The National Book Awards Finally Expands Eligibility Rules to Include Non-Citizens

The foundation behind the National Book Awards, one of the most prestigious literary prizes in the United States, announced on Thursday that it will no longer restrict prizes to authors who are US citizens, expanding eligibility to non-citizens and other longtime residents. The change will affect prizes for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people’s literature to begin […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Donald Trump Will Be the First Former President to Face a Criminal Trial, Judge Rules

A New York judge ruled Thursday that Donald Trump will stand trial in March on charges related to the Stormy Daniels coverup. Assuming the case goes forward as scheduled, Trump will be the first former president ever to be criminally tried. It will also be the first criminal case to slot in place among the complicated judicial calendar […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

The Forgotten Origins of a Migration Crisis

The New Yorker staff writer Jonathan Blitzer first heard of Juan Romagoza when the doctor was the main plaintiff and lead witness in a human rights case in Florida in the early 2000s. Romagoza had been the victim of abominable brutalities by the military rule in his home country of El Salvador when in the […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

US Agricuture Secretary “Concerned About the State of Agriculture”

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. On Tuesday, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack helped unveil his agency’s Census of Agriculture, a huge quinquennial report that covers 6 million data points and gives the current state-of-the-state of American farms and farmers. In a presentation at the Department of Agriculture […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

What We Lose by Armchair Diagnosing Biden and Trump

Last week, a special counsel report looking into President Biden’s handling of classified documents described the president’s memory as “poor,” with “significant limitations.” Speculation about Biden’s cognitive state immediately followed. In its coverage, Fox News featured a doctor—not Biden’s—who said the president had symptoms of age-related dementia. Also stopping by the network was Republican Sen. […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

What We Lose By Armchair Diagnosing Biden and Trump

Last week, a special counsel report looking into President Biden’s handling of classified documents described the president’s memory as “poor,” with “significant limitations.” Speculation about Biden’s cognitive state immediately followed. In its coverage, Fox News featured a doctor—not Biden’s—who said the president had symptoms of age-related dementia. Also stopping by the network was Republican Sen. […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Report: Threats to Federal Judges Have More Than Doubled Since 2020

Threats to federal judges and prosecutors have more than doubled since the 2020 election, according to a Reuters report. Previously unreported data obtained by Reuters from the US Marshals Service—the agency that’s tasked, in part, with protecting 2,700 federal judges and more than 30,000 federal prosecutors and court officials—shows that the number of serious threats […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

It’s Not Just the End for Journalism. It’s a Beginning.

It’s been a brutal month for journalism. How many times have I written that sentence now, and how many more times will I need to write it? Enough that I wasn’t going to write it again, despite the headlines about an “extinction-level event” for our profession. But as the immortal xkcd reminds us, you must […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Thinking of Voting Third Party? Mother Jones Wants to Hear from You.

Ahead of this year’s presidential election, our team is putting together a series of articles on how third parties and independents have shaped American history. This forthcoming package will examine how alternative candidates such as Jill Stein, Cornel West, RFK Jr, or perhaps even a No Labels-backed contender could shape 2024. So we want to […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Thinking of Voting Third Party? Mother Jones Wants to Hear From You.

Ahead of this year’s presidential election, our team is putting together a series of articles on how third parties and independents have shaped American history. This forthcoming package will examine how alternative candidates such as Jill Stein, Cornel West, RFK Jr, or perhaps even a No Labels–backed contender could shape 2024. So we want to […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Biden’s Israel Politics Are Alienating a Critical Group: Young People Who Power Campaigns

In the throes of the pandemic, Darcy Pollard’s first full-time job was pulling long hours on the digital team of the Biden-Harris 2020 campaign. From her childhood bedroom in Maryland, Pollard monitored where on the web the campaign’s ads popped up in order to ensure Biden’s ad dollars were being spent wisely. At the time, […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Taylor Swift’s Super Bowl Jet-Setting Highlights Carbon Removal Problems

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. To get to the Super Bowl on time, Taylor Swift took a private jet from Tokyo to Los Angeles and then hustled to Las Vegas. The carbon removal company Spiritus estimated that her journey of roughly 5,500 miles produced about 40 […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

The Essential Workers Missing From the Farm Bill

The farm bill is one of the most important but least understood pieces of US legislation, and it’s overdue for renewal. But Congress couldn’t pass a new version in the fall, reflecting partisan dysfunction and also a contentious debate about what the bill ought to be—a debate that has become ensnared in the nation’s culture […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

A Love Letter to the “Pale Blue Dot”

On September 5, 1977, a 1,800-pound, ladle-shaped spacecraft named Voyager 1 took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for the edge of our solar system. After about two months, it passed Mars’ orbit. Within two years, it made it to Jupiter, and almost two years after that, Saturn. On Valentine’s […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Democrat Wins Special Election for George Santos’ House Seat

On Tuesday, Democrat Tom Suozzi was elected to replace indicted former GOP Rep. George Santos of New York in a special House election widely viewed as a bellwether contest ahead of the presidential election. Suozzi, who represented New York’s 3rd Congressional District for three terms before stepping down in 2022 to run for governor of the state, […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

The House Just Voted to Impeach Mayorkas. How Did We Get Here?

After failing to muster enough votes last week, House Republicans can now say they got nothing done and approved two articles of impeachment against Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. Democrats and constitutional law experts have decried the proceedings, which charge Mayorkas with “willful and systemic refusal to comply with the law” and “breach of public trust,” […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

My Dad Was a White Slave, Kentucky Republican Tells NAACP

A Kentucky Republican politician made an audacious claim on the first day of Black History Month, according to a local report: her white father, she said, was a slave. State Rep. Jennifer Decker made the comments, first reported by the Louisville Courier Journal, while speaking to a local chapter of the NAACP on Feb. 1 […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Elise Stefanik’s Latest VP Audition? Seeking to Have Letitia James Disbarred.

The Trump veepstakes rages on. The latest apparent audition? Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) on Monday filed an ethics complaint against New York Attorney General Letitia James over her handling of the state’s $370 million civil fraud trial against Trump. Stefanik, the fourth-highest-ranking House Republican and chair of the House GOP Conference, alleges that James conducted a “biased […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Let Your Friendships Radicalize You

Over the past year, the question of whether or not to try and have a second child has plagued me. I constantly calculate what resources I’ll have to raise two humans, and whether similar resources will be around to care for me when I’m old. This accounting, which always induces mild panic, invariably refracts a […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Joe Biden’s Age Is an Issue. So Is How the Media Cover It.

Editor’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. Joe Biden’s age has become a black hole. […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Charlie Kirk Doesn’t Really Seem to Mind White Nationalism

In 2012, Charlie Kirk deferred his acceptance to Baylor University to found Turning Point USA and establish himself as a young conservative whisperer who could convince his peers of the wonders of capitalism. In early 2016, the organization’s website argued that through “non-partisan debate, dialogue, and discussion, Turning Point USA believes that every young person […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Like ‘Em or Not, Climate Defiance Is Determined To Get In Your Face

This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The Wellesley Rotary Club was having a perfectly ordinary country club dinner on Thursday, Jan. 25, until about 18 climate activists hopped on stage and started talking about fossil fuels. “Brian Moynihan is one of the top five funders of […]

Continue Reading…

Mother Jones

Joe Biden’s Garage Is the Most American Thing About Him

On Thursday, Special Counsel Robert Hur dropped a bombshell report concluding his investigation into whether President Joe Biden had illegally retained classified documents when he was vice president. The report sent shudders through the Democratic establishment, not because it found Biden guilty, but because the report had editorialized about the 81-year-old president’s cognitive abilities. But […]

Continue Reading…