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Mother Jones

Kyrsten Sinema Didn’t Fail, She Could Only Be Failed

After switching her party affiliation from Democratic to independent in 2022, Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema didn’t really act like someone who was planning on sticking around Washington for the long haul. Her fundraising stagnated and her campaign wasn’t bothering to collect signatures. She was polling a very distant third in a hypothetical general election, behind […]

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Dartmouth Basketball Players Vote to Become the First Unionized College Sports Team

The Dartmouth men’s basketball team voted 13-2 in favor of forming a union on Tuesday, in a move that could make them the first unionized group of college athletes. The players voted to join SEIU Local 560, which already represents some employees at the college. Their efforts to unionize began in earnest last September, when the […]

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How the Biden Administration Kneecapped the Most Essential Aid Group in Gaza

In mid-January, Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the United Nations’ agency responsible for Palestinian refugees—known as UNRWA—received the names of 12 employees who had allegedly participated in the October 7 attack by Hamas. The Israeli diplomat who shared the information provided no evidence to support the claim. Nevertheless, Lazzarini flew to the United States from […]

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ExxonMobil CEO Blames Climate Crisis on the Public, Stirring Outrage

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The world is off track to meet its climate goals and the public is to blame, Darren Woods, chief executive of oil giant ExxonMobil, has claimed—prompting a backlash from climate experts. As the world’s largest investor-owned oil company, Exxon is […]

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Millions of Americans Will Soon Lose Internet Access. That’s a Disaster For Rural Health.

On New Year’s Eve 2021, the federal government launched the Affordable Connectivity Program, which has helped over 20 million American households afford internet access with monthly subsidies of $30 (or up to $75 on some tribal lands). But funding for the program is set to run out in April unless Congress acts by Friday—depriving many […]

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Mother Jones

Millions of Americans Will Soon Lose Internet Access. That’s a Disaster for Rural Health.

On New Year’s Eve 2021, the federal government launched the Affordable Connectivity Program, which has helped over 20 million American households afford internet access with monthly subsidies of $30 (or up to $75 on some tribal lands). But funding for the program is set to run out in April unless Congress acts by Friday—depriving many […]

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UN: Hamas Committed Sexual Violence in October 7 Attacks and Against Hostages

A United Nations inquiry found that Hamas perpetrated sexual violence against Israelis in its attacks on October 7, as well as against its Israeli hostages, according to a report released today, following a group of experts’ weeks-long trip to the region. The experts—led by UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, […]

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The Supreme Court Went Out of Its Way to Protect Trump

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed Donald Trump to appear on every state’s ballot, despite a constitutional provision barring from office insurrectionists who had previously sworn to support the Constitution. All nine justices agreed that states have no power to bar presidential candidates under Section 3 of the 14th amendment. But five of the six […]

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Moms For Liberty Had a Chance to Explain Themselves. It Didn’t Go Well.

Since its founding in 2021, the conservative organization Moms for Liberty has billed itself as a champion for “parents’ rights,” pushing campaigns across the country to ban books and the use of pronouns in schools. Their crusade, as my colleague Kiera Butler has reported, often alleges that educators, specifically in public education, are out to […]

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Supreme Court Allows Trump to Stay on Colorado’s Ballot

Donald Trump will appear on voters’ ballots in Colorado—and every other state. The Supreme Court sided with the former president on Monday, finding that the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on insurrectionists holding office, known as Section 3, does not allow states to keep Trump from participating in the election. In an unsigned opinion, the court stated […]

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Tired of New Jersey Corruption, Young Democrats Fight Back Against the Machine

When Ethan Block heard that Andy Kim was running for Senate, he got to work. Over winter break, the Rutgers University senior launched a campus group to spread the word about the low-profile congressman taking on Bob Mendendez, the longtime Democratic senator who’d just been indicted for allegedly accepting bribes of gold bars and cash-stuffed envelopes. […]

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Study Calls US Infrastructure Spending a “Climate Time Bomb”

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Roads, roads, and more roads. The US is continuing to spend billions of dollars on expanding enormous highways rather than fund public transport, with a landmark infrastructure bill lauded by Joe Biden only further accelerating the dominance of […]

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Nikki Haley Just Won a Primary

GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley just won the Washington, DC, primary, beating former president Donald Trump by almost 30 points, with nearly 63 percent of the vote. It’s her first success in a primary that has so far been an uphill battle for the former South Carolina governor. Haley made something of a power move […]

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Ohio GOP Candidate Who Used a Slur Drops Out (Again)

Ohio Republican J.R. Majewski dropped out (again) on Saturday, after he used a slur for intellectually disabled people on a podcast last week. Majewiski was running for the GOP nomination to fight Democratic incumbent Rep. Marcy Kaptur in November. Kaptur’s seat in Ohio’s Ninth Congressional district is one of just five nationwide where a Democrat […]

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A Large Percentage of Republican Primary Voters Can’t Stomach Trump

Former president Donald Trump easily swept to victory in a handful of additional Republican caucuses this weekend, looking ever more imperious in his bid for the GOP nomination. But new data from the Associated Press suggests his easy victories are hiding a serious potential problem: Never Trumpers aren’t changing their minds. The AP reported on […]

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Around the Globe, Virus Hunters Are Working to Avert the Next Pandemic

This story was originally published by Undark and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. It all started when Christopher Mason’s 3-year-old daughter licked a subway pole. Like any parent, he was horrified, but also keenly curious: What types of microbes might be clinging to a metal pipe gripped by countless commuters every day? Mason, a […]

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YouTube’s Austin Ambitions Aren’t Going Well. Just Ask These Workers.

On Friday, a YouTube Music contractor named Jack Benedict took the podium before Austin’s City Council. He was there to urge the council members to encourage Google to negotiate with the Alphabet Worker’s Union-CWA Local 9009. Instead, mid-testimony, he learned that he and 42 of his colleagues had been laid off. The jaw-dropping moment, captured […]

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This Week’s Episode of Reveal: How to Catch a Corrupt Philly Cop

Philadelphia Police Detective Philip Nordo was an unusually lone wolf. In the tightly regimented bureaucracy that is big city policing, he was rarely supervised and often worked alone. The upside? He got results. Nordo was known throughout the department for having a hand in efficiently convicting more than 100 people. He was a third generation […]

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Nex Benedict’s Death Triggers Federal Investigation

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Education announced an investigation into an Oklahoma school district for allegedly failing to respond to reports of sex-based harassment after the death of Nex Benedict, a trans teen who died the day after an altercation with three girls inside a high school bathroom. The DOE dropped the news in […]

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US Cities Could Be Capturing Billions of Gallons of Water Per Day

This story was originally published by Wired and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Your city is a scab on the landscape: sidewalks, roads, parking lots, rooftops—the built environment repels water into sewers and then into the environment. Urban planners have been doing it for centuries, treating stormwater as a nuisance to be diverted away as quickly […]

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Walgreens and CVS Will Sell the Abortion Pill—and the Pill’s Investors Could Make Bank

On Friday, Walgreens and CVS announced they would begin selling the abortion pill mifepristone in their pharmacies in select states, part of a plan to eventually expand access to about half of US states where abortion is still legal. The announcement is notable ahead of arguments in a Supreme Court case that could further restrict […]

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Nikki Haley Joins GOP Colleagues In Suddenly Pivoting on IVF

Just a week after saying that “embryos, to me, are babies,” Nikki Haley is now joining other Republicans in suddenly claiming to support IVF access in the wake of rising abortion restrictions and the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling that frozen embryos can now be considered children under state law. “I think there should be federal […]

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It Can Happen Here

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. In 1935, Sinclair Lewis published […]

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Trump Says Gov. Abbott, Who Doesn’t Want to Be Vice President, Is “Absolutely” A Contender for Vice President

Trump is considering Texas Gov. Greg Abbott as a potential running mate, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday…even though Abbott has said that he doesn’t want the job. When Hannity asked Trump if Abbott was on his short list during a joint interview with the two politicians in Eagle Pass, Texas—the epicenter […]

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Not Even a Child’s Death Can Stop These Lawmakers From Spewing Hate

Trans teen Nex Benedict died after an altercation in the girl’s bathroom of his public high school in Owasso, Oklahoma a bathroom he was required to use because of the state’s 2023 legislation forcing students at public and charter schools to use bathroom and changing facilities that match their biological, sex rather than their identity. The exact […]

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Donald Trump Has One Week Left to Pay E. Jean Carroll. But Will He?

Lawyers for E. Jean Carroll are urging the judge in her defamation case against Donald Trump to reject the former president’s last-minute request to avoid paying the $83.3 million Carroll had been awarded as he appeals the ruling. In a new filing on Thursday, Carroll’s lawyers blasted the request, arguing that it amounted to little […]

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How Todd Akin’s “Legitimate Rape” Debacle Previewed the Abortion Agenda of Today’s GOP

A few months before the 2012 elections, Todd Akin, the Republicans’ Senate candidate in Missouri, sent his party scrambling when he explained his opposition to abortion even in cases of rape with a now infamous line: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” Republicans […]

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Utility Fraud and Corruption Are Threatening the Clean Energy Transition

This story was reported by Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action. At a press conference last month, flanked by sheriffs and attorneys, Ohio Attorney General David Yost announced the indictments of two utility executives who allegedly tried to “hijack” state electricity policy for their own corrupt ends by paying […]

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Washington State’s Biggest Union Backs “Uncommitted” Democratic Vote

Washington state’s largest labor union has followed Michigan voters‘ lead, urging its 50,000 members to vote “uncommitted” rather than for Joe Biden in its March 12 primary. The news, first reported by NBC today, comes as Biden faces growing protests from voters on the left about his support for Israel in its war in Gaza, and concerns about […]

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GAO Report Warns Climate Change Could Unearth US Nuclear Waste

This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Ariana Tibon was in college at the University of Hawaiʻi in 2017 when she saw the photo online: a black-and-white picture of a man holding a baby. The caption said: “Nelson Anjain getting his baby monitored on March 2, 1954, by an […]

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