Mother Jones
Last week, Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Kevin Kiley (R-Calif) introduced federal anti-SLAPP legislation, in a bid to protect journalists, whistleblowers, and individual internet users from those who use lawsuits as an intimidation tactic. SLAPP suits—formally, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation—are designed to prevent people from exercising their free speech. A common example is a person […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Climate tipping points are a specter looming over our future—thresholds beyond which the Earth’s systems switch into new states, often abruptly and irreversibly. The long-frozen soil beneath the Arctic could rapidly thaw and release vast amounts of carbon dioxide and methane stored within […]
Mother JonesAmid the inevitable Democratic identity crisis this post–presidential election winter, there have been exasperated calls for the party to return to “the economy.” The op-ed writers, angling for their future role, are painting the usual scene. The party must sit once again at the kitchen table and talk pocketbook issues. It is a long-held idea. […]
Mother JonesArizona’s attorney general has sued a Saudi-owned farm operating a massive hay operation in the middle of the Arizona desert, alleging that the business is hastening the loss of the rural community’s rapidly depleting groundwater supply. The farm owned by Fondomonte uses billions of gallons of groundwater in La Paz County each year to irrigate […]
Mother JonesMr. Smith, please come in, have a seat. Our records show you’ve been with the State Department for 17 years, the past five in the Bureau of National Security and Nonproliferation. Now it has come to our attention through an anonymous tip to the America First Compliance Program that you made a derogatory comment about […]
Mother JonesAfter a grueling hearing that stretched over two days, a federal bankruptcy judge declined to approve the sale of Infowars to Global Tetrahedron, LLC, the Onion’s parent company late on Tuesday. The result was precisely what the conspiracy mega-peddler hoped for. Last month, Infowars was sold at bankruptcy auction to the company; Onion CEO Ben […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published on Judd Legum’s Substack, Popular Information, to which you can subscribe here. A new middle school sex education curriculum in Orange County, Florida, obtained by Popular Information, eliminates previous lessons on the reproductive system, contraception, and consent. What remains is a discussion of the benefits of abstinence and a cursory review of […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. If you’re reading this, chances are you care a lot about fighting climate change, and that’s great. The climate emergency threatens all of humanity. And although the world has started to make some progress on it, our global response is still extremely lacking. […]
Mother JonesThis article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Amairani Salinas was 32-weeks pregnant with her fourth child in 2023 when doctors at a Texas hospital discovered that her baby no longer had a heartbeat. As they prepped her for an emergency cesarean section, they gave […]
Mother JonesThis article was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook. . Amairani Salinas was 32-weeks pregnant with her fourth child in 2023 when doctors at a Texas hospital discovered that her baby no longer had a heartbeat. As they […]
Mother JonesSeven Democratic senators are demanding answers from Dr. Mehmet Oz, Donald Trump’s nominee to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, over his long-held support for private Medicare plans and his financial ties to those programs. In a letter first obtained by NBC News, Democrats referred to a 2020 op-ed Oz published wherein he […]
Mother JonesWhen children in rural Hayward, Wisconsin, suffered abuse, the small community of 2,500 people was ready with an important resource: a child advocacy center with a team of experts prepared to guide them through the trauma. For nearly eight years, the Marshfield Child Advocacy Center satellite clinic was the only place in a more than […]
Mother JonesOver the years, Donald Trump hasn’t exactly been a champion of science. As president and on the campaign trail, he called climate change a “hoax“; oversaw the rolling back of more than 100 environmental policies; directed agencies to cut down on expert guidance; pushed unproven Covid treatments; pulled out of the Paris climate agreement (and […]
Mother JonesAs you may know, our felonious president-elect put billionaire Elon Musk and wannabe billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of a commission—though not an actual government department, because only Congress can create those—named for the same silly dog meme as Musk’s favorite “shitcoin.” But even in an advisory role, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency could […]
Mother JonesAs you may know, our felonious president-elect put mega-billionaire Elon Musk and mere billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy in charge of a commission—though not an actual government department, because only Congress can create those—named for the same silly dog meme as Musk’s favorite “shitcoin.” But even in an advisory role, the so-called Department of Government Efficiency could […]
Mother JonesJoe Biden made history as the first president to openly oppose the death penalty, vowing on the campaign trail to push legislation to abolish the practice at the federal level. That promise was never fulfilled, and advocates against the death penalty remain disappointed. But now with only 42 days left in office, more than 130 […]
Mother JonesOn November 19, 1996, Pedro Moreno’s life was upended when federal officials burst into his Texas home, arresting him and his wife, Melba, on charges related to marijuana distribution and taking them away from their three children. Melba was released after 13 years, but her time with her children was cut short: she passed away […]
Mother JonesDaniel Penny, a former Marine accused of fatally choking a man on a New York City subway in May 2023, has been found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide. The trial, which began in late October, lasted seven weeks and featured more than 40 witnesses. The death of Jordan Neely, a 30-year-old Black man who […]
Mother JonesThe 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. With Donald Trump tapping Kash Patel, the MAGA provocateur, conspiracy theory monger, and grifter, […]
Mother JonesIn an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press aired on Sunday, Donald Trump doubled down on two of his main campaign promises: mass deportation and ending birthright citizenship. “You promised to end birthright citizenship on day one,” Kristen Welker asked. “Is that still your plan?” “Yes,” Trump responded, “absolutely.” Welker pushed back, reminding Trump that […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Three low-income school districts in Texas have granted more than $2 billion in tax relief to new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals on the Gulf Coast, according to a report released Monday by the Sierra Club, which tallied publicly […]
Mother JonesIn late November, more than three weeks after Election Day, GOP Rep. Michelle Steel conceded to Democrat Derek Tran in one of the most hotly contested US House races in the country. In the end, Tran won by roughly 650 votes in Southern California’s 45th congressional district, making it one of the country’s closest contests […]
Mother JonesIn an unexpected development Saturday night, Syrian rebels who had been fighting government forces for over a decade, captured the capital city of Damascus, bringing an end to a more than decade-long civil war and an even longer reign of terror by the family of President Bashar al-Assad. Opposition forces reportedly announced on national television, […]
Mother JonesPresident-elect Donald Trump appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday to deliver his first televised interview after winning the 2024 election. In a wide-ranging conversation with moderator Kristen Welker, filmed at Trump Tower on Friday, he outlined some of his priorities for social policy, immigration, his plans to use the presidential pardon, the economy, […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. From the moment that the biologist Heike Vester presses play, the sound of the static of the fjord fills the room. First comes the constant, steady rumbling of a boat engine. Then, every eight seconds, like a foreboding bass drum, comes […]
Mother JonesThe United States Department of Agriculture will begin mandatory testing of US milk supplies for bird flu. The Friday announcement was a break from the previously voluntary testing program for the bird flu virus known as H5N1. This strain of bird flu was first found in US dairy cattle in March, according to the USDA. […]
Mother JonesIn 1989, Chuck Stuart called 911 on his car phone to report a shooting. He told a dispatcher that he and his wife Carol were leaving a birthing class at a Boston hospital when a man forced him to drive into the mixed-race Mission Hill neighborhood, and shot them both. Carol Stuart would die that […]
Mother JonesThe effort to impeach South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol failed on Saturday morning. Yoon was able to survive because his party, the People Power Party, ultimately opposed impeachment. The impeachment effort came after Yoon set off a political crisis earlier this week in South Korea by declaring martial law. Yoon’s move led to protests […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. At a laboratory in Newark, New Jersey, a gray liquid swirls vigorously inside a reactor the size of a small watermelon. Here, scientists with the mining technology startup Still Bright are using a rare metal, vanadium, to extract a common one, copper, from ores […]
Mother JonesBack in September, amid simmering tensions between South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and the country’s parliament, opposition leader Lee Jae-myung issued a warning: Yoon and his allies were preparing to declare martial law. The claim was roundly dismissed as alarmist, the irresponsible stuff of conspiracy theories—even by some of Lee’s supporters. But the warning […]