Mother Jones
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. I tend not to get all dewy-eyed about bipartisanship. It was bipartisanship that […]
Mother JonesProject 2025’s stance on the Department of Education is clear: “Federal education policy should be limited and, ultimately, the federal Department of Education should be eliminated.” Donald Trump’s imminent presidency has raised concerns among disabled advocates, kids, their parents, and others about the federal government’s role in making sure disabled students get an equitable education. […]
Mother JonesJD Vance is learning what it’s like to be a target of Trump supporters. Chaos in MAGA world ensued after the Vice President-elect told Fox News Sunday host Shannon Bream that not all insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 will receive pardons from Donald Trump. “It’s very simple,” Vance claimed on the […]
Mother JonesWhile Donald Trump rages on Truth Social—sharing memes and baselessly blaming Democratic politicians in California for the devastating LA wildfires—Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) fears he will withhold disaster aid from the state in a bid to score political points. In an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press, Newsom told NBC News correspondent […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Atlas Obscura and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Sado Island perches like a butterfly with its wings outstretched just off the curved west coast of Japan. Yet this land mass is better known as the home of another winged creature: the crested ibis, called toki in Japanese. Hop on a shinkansen (a high-speed train) from Tokyo […]
Mother JonesPresident Joe Biden has issued a flurry of pardons during his final days in office, beginning with his grant of clemency to his son Hunter and continuing with a mid-December announcement that he had pardoned or commuted the sentences of nearly 1,500 Americans. This week, Biden told reporters that he was still considering issuing preemptive […]
Mother JonesFormer New York City mayor and Trump hanger-on Rudy Giuliani was found in contempt of court on Friday—for the second time in a week. Giuliani faces two different federal lawsuits against him stemming from his comments about a pair of Georgia elections workers, Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, whom he falsely accused of helping rig […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Multiple major wildfires, fanned by unusually strong seasonal winds, have been burning through the Los Angeles area, leaving devastation in their wake. Thus far, those fires have led to at least 11 fatalities, massive evacuations, and the destruction of […]
Mother JonesThe Supreme Court on Friday heard oral arguments on the future of TikTok—whether to let the platform go dark on January 19 according to a bipartisan law passed by Congress, or to intervene and spare the platform. The case pits the First Amendment free speech rights of TikTok and its users against the government’s assertions […]
Mother JonesLos Angeles has been hit with its worst-ever wildfires, which continue to blaze, already claiming at least ten lives and devastating air quality—just as a spate of mask bans have been enacted or proposed around the country, including in LA itself. Since authorities began issuing evacuation orders across the area, Joaquín Beltrán, a community organizer […]
Mother JonesJanuary 10, 2025, marks the second anniversary of the death of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who was restrained and fatally beaten by five now-former Memphis police officers during a traffic stop. After countless marches, talks with politicians, and pending court cases, his family are still fighting for justice for their loved one. “This […]
Mother JonesLynn Levin-Guzman spent her Tuesday night within spitting distance of SUV-sized flames, trying to salvage her 90-year-old parents’ home with a mere garden hose. As the Eaton Fire devastated the Hastings Ranch neighborhood in Pasadena, California, the family seemed especially screwed: Their insurance provider had recently canceled their fire coverage. “I know I’m not supposed […]
Mother JonesDonald Trump’s criminal case ended with a sputter on Friday morning as a New York City judge sentenced him to no jail time and discharged his case. While the incoming president received no actual punishment for his 34 convictions for concealing hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, the sentencing did formalize his […]
Mother JonesWith Donald Trump less than two weeks away from taking office and promising an agenda of mass deportations, Democrats are poised to hand Republicans major new powers over immigration policy. Why? Still shell-shocked from the November results, they apparently fear their reelection prospects if they don’t. The Laken Riley Act—named for the 22-year-old Georgia woman […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The sun glared red as it sank into the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday, casting an orange hue over the carnage smoldering on the southern Californian coast. It will be a day not soon forgotten in Los Angeles, which by evening was […]
Mother JonesCountless words have been spilled—including in Mother Jones—on the topic of medical care for transgender youth. The attention, in part, comes from a steep jump in the number of teens who self-identify as transgender in surveys—and, even more significantly, by the massive, coordinated, right-wing campaign designed to politically weaponize transgender kids’ very existence. At least […]
Mother JonesThe Supreme Court on Thursday narrowly denied President-elect Donald Trump’s last ditch effort to delay his sentencing in the New York hush money case in which he was convicted of 34 felony counts in May. That sentencing will now proceed tomorrow, January 10. Trump was found guilty of falsifying business records to cover up payments […]
Mother JonesThe ongoing Los Angeles wildfires have reportedly killed at least 5 people and destroyed thousands of structures, leaving entire neighborhoods in heaps of ashes. With stately homes burned to the ground, or too damaged to imminently return to, wealthy Angelenos reportedly fled to hotels or other cities: Those who could afford the nightly rate of […]
Mother JonesFor the last two mornings, I’ve woken up from broken sleep in my house on Los Angeles’ east side in a blind panic, the smell of smoke permeating the air. The light slanting in is a horrible, eerie orange, illuminating the white kitchen cabinets like a nightmare projection screen. When I climb onto the roof, […]
Mother JonesOn Tuesday, Los Angeles County caught fire. Driven by unusually strong Santa Ana winds, as my colleagues report, five fires have ignited some 27,000 acres of land (and counting), and forced state officials to issue evacuation orders for more than 100,000 residents. Five people have already died in the fires, authorities say. The Palisades Fire, […]
Mother JonesOn Tuesday, Los Angeles County caught fire. Driven by unusually strong Santa Ana winds, as my colleagues report, five fires have ignited some 27,000 acres of land (and counting), and forced state officials to issue evacuation orders for more than 100,000 residents. Five people have already died in the fires, authorities say. The Palisades Fire, […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Slate and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The firestorms that have been ravaging Los Angeles and Southern California since Tuesday afternoon are nothing short of calamitous. Thanks to dry weather and a burst of high-speed Santa Ana winds—some billowing in at close to 100 miles per hour—brush fires began flaring […]
Mother JonesWhat’s next for disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.)? Possibly a run for governor of the Sunshine State. In an interview he gave the Tampa Bay Times, published on Tuesday, Gaetz says he’s “starting to think about running for governor” in Florida next year. The state’s current Gov. Ron DeSantis is term-limited. Gaetz seems undeterred […]
Mother JonesFour large fires have burned over 15,000 acres in 24 hours in Los Angeles County, with wind gusts reaching hurricane-level strength in one of the region’s most destructive fires in history. Authorities warn that the severe winds are likely to intensify in the hours ahead. But as of this writing, 80,000 people are under mandatory […]
Mother JonesLuchia Brown used to bomb around Denver in her Subaru. She had places to be. Brown, 57, works part time helping to run her husband’s engineering firm while managing a rental apartment above their garage and an Airbnb out of a section of the couple’s three-story brick house. She volunteers for nonprofits, sometimes offering input […]
Mother JonesDonald Trump has won. He is set to be inaugurated on January 20, and he has convinced many Americans not only that his attempt four years ago to carry out a self-coup is not disqualifying, but that mentioning it now is kind of gauche. Everyone feels they know what happened on January 6. It was […]
Mother JonesThe Republican majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked the state election board from certifying the victory of one of the court’s own members—Democratic Justice Allison Riggs. In doing so, the state’s highest court laid the groundwork for potentially overturning the election and handing the seat to Riggs’ GOP challenger. Riggs […]
Mother JonesAs Big Tech scrambles to placate Donald Trump before he reassumes office, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that his company would replace their fact-checkers with user-generated Community Notes, beginning in the United States and then rolling out globally. Zuckerberg said in a video and in an announcement on Threads that the shift—largely the same […]
Mother JonesThe Consumer Financial Protection Bureau finalized a rule on Tuesday that will bar medical debt from being included in credit scores. Medical debt impacts people’s ability to qualify for home mortgages, car loans, and even renting. The rule will go into effect 60 days after it has been published in the Federal Registrar, which has […]
Mother JonesYou probably saw the cartoon that went viral before the election: A long line of women enter the voting booth wearing handmaiden-esque robes and bonnets, only to emerge in slinky black dresses and take-no-bullshit pantsuits. Or the ads in which white women accompany their obviously GOP husbands to vote, blinking each other a silent signal […]