Mother Jones
This story was originally published by Capital B, a nonprofit newsroom that centers Black voices. To read more of Adam Mahoney’s work on climate change, visit Capital B. As Los Angeles battled its largest wildfires in history, parts of the southern U.S. faced a very different kind of disaster — record-breaking snowstorms not seen in over 125 […]
Mother JonesOn Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order “to combat anti-Semitism” that allows for a broad crackdown on pro-Palestine speech, including deporting demonstrators on student visas. The order, titled “Additional Measures to Combat Anti-Semitism,” asks federal agencies to report within 60 days all ways to combat antisemitism, including identification of “all civil and criminal […]
Mother JonesRobert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearings to become Secretary of Health and Human Services could have been a window into Kennedy’s beliefs and how he’d run one of the largest departments in the U.S. government. Instead, Kennedy spent much of the two days he was questioned before two different Senate committees denying his past comments, obfuscating his […]
Mother JonesOn Monday, workers at Philadelphia’s Center City Whole Foods voted 130-100 to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. It marks the first time an Amazon-owned Whole Foods store has voted to unionize—and it is one of the first major union elections of the second Trump presidency. The organizing effort, which […]
Mother JonesOn Wednesday, an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into a commercial American Airlines flight as it was in the process of landing at Ronald Reagan International Airport in Washington, DC. Officials believe that there were no survivors among the 67 people on both craft. After tragedies like these, it’s typical for American presidents to address […]
Mother JonesAt her first White House press briefing on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that the Trump administration had paused $50 million in funding for “condoms in Gaza.” Leavitt called the money a “preposterous waste” and the pause an example of how the new administration is safeguarding “tax dollars.” The next day, President Donald Trump […]
Mother JonesFor sixteen years, Eric Fatoma seldom ventured beyond the boundaries of Firestone’s 185 square mile property in Liberia, where he was employed at the American-founded tire company’s rubber plantation. Around 7,000 employees and their families live on what the company describes as the world’s largest contiguous natural rubber farm, relying on Firestone for food, education, […]
Mother JonesFor sixteen years, Eric Fatoma seldom ventured beyond the boundaries of Firestone’s 185 square mile property in Liberia, where he was employed at the American-founded tire company’s rubber plantation. Around 7,000 employees and their families live on what the company describes as the world’s largest contiguous natural rubber farm, relying on Firestone for food, education, […]
Mother JonesIn the frenetic days following the November election, longtime abortion provider Amy Hagstrom Miller spent a lot of time in meetings—some in person, some on Zoom—rallying her troops. As one of the most prominent, and tenacious, independent abortion providers in the country, with six Whole Woman’s Health clinics in four states, it was a safe […]
Mother JonesIn the frenetic days following the November election, longtime abortion provider Amy Hagstrom Miller spent a lot of time in meetings—some in person, some on Zoom—rallying her troops. As one of the most prominent and tenacious independent abortion providers in the country, with six Whole Woman’s Health clinics in four states, it was a safe […]
Mother JonesIn the frenetic days following the November election, longtime abortion provider Amy Hagstrom Miller spent a lot of time in meetings—some in person, some on Zoom—rallying her troops. As one of the most prominent, and tenacious, independent abortion providers in the country, with six Whole Woman’s Health clinics in four states, it was a safe […]
Mother JonesGabriel Filippelli opened up his email inbox on Monday to encounter some unexpected news: a notice that his $300,000 grant from the State Department was no more. Filippelli is the Chancellor’s Professor of Earth Sciences and executive director of the Environmental Resilience Institute at Indiana University. Previously a senior science advisor to the State Department, […]
Mother JonesFederal workers comprise less than one percent of the US population, but are responsible for facilitating programs that help all 330-plus million Americans have access to health care, veterans’ services, safe transportation, clean water, nutritional assistance, and so much more. On Tuesday evening, a memo titled “Fork in the Road,” from a mysterious Office of […]
Mother JonesDuring his campaign, President Donald Trump frequently repeated the inflammatory and outrageous lie that, without parents’ knowledge, schools are sending children for gender-affirming surgeries. During a campaign stop filmed by Fox News at a Bronx, New York, barbershop, Trump answered a voter’s question about failing school systems by saying, “No transgender, no operations—you know, they […]
Mother JonesLast Friday, my colleague Julianne McShane and I broke the news of a pair of letters sent by 30 prominent anti-abortion movement leaders to the heads of the Departments of Health and Human Services and Justice, asking them to use the powers of their agencies to attack abortion pills. During his contentious confirmation hearing as […]
Mother JonesTrump’s first week back in office delivered what he does best: dystopian showmanship. Photos of deportation flights released with glee; shots of the military deployed to the border to handle an “invasion” at its lowest levels in years. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) publishing on social media numbers of arrests and deportations (not that much […]
Mother JonesTwo decades ago, while serving in President George W. Bush’s Justice Department, Steven Bradbury wrote a series of memos justifying waterboarding that former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called “permission slips for torture.” Now, Bradbury is Donald Trump’s nominee for Deputy Transportation Secretary. When it comes to writing about why the United States can torture, Bradbury […]
Mother JonesA few hours into his confirmation hearings on Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services, had a tense exchange with Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN). The subject was Kennedy’s misleading claims that antidepressants caused teenagers to commit school shootings. As Smith pointed out, reams […]
Mother JonesSix minutes into his opening statement at his confirmation hearing Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied. President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services brazenly repeated a statement that has been cited as false multiple times. “News reports claim I am anti-vaccine…I am not,” he said in his opening statement […]
Mother JonesDuring his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, glossed over key details about his involvement in the 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa that killed 83 people, most of whom were unvaccinated children. Under oath, Kennedy claimed that his trip to […]
Mother JonesThis week, the FBI’s Office of Integrity and Compliance issued a memo ordering that posters mentioning diversity should be taken down. The memo, signed by Catherine Bruno, the office’s assistant director, stated that diversity had been considered one of the agency’s “core values,” along with accountability, compassion, fairness, integrity, leadership, respect, and “rigorous obedience to […]
Mother JonesIn 2016, Chris Turner, a new father in Georgia, began a process familiar to many parents: He set about trying to plan his children’s education. His neighborhood schools failed to impress him; they were too rigid, with too much busy work. To his dismay, he found that despite the hefty price tags for private schools, […]
Mother JonesOn the first day of his second term, President Donald Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency he had promised after winning the 2024 election. Watchdog groups were ready to challenge DOGE from the start under the assumption it would fall under the legal rules governing outside government advisory groups. Indeed, within minutes of Trump’s […]
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. The media has failed the public on a crucial matter: the derangement […]
Mother JonesThis story was originally published by Vox.com and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. If you pick through Donald Trump’s parade of executive orders upon taking office on January 20, you’ll discover many that revoke orders made by Joe Biden. But in one, Trump dug even further back: He revoked an executive order issued by Jimmy Carter in […]
Mother JonesThis piece is adapted from Holy Ground: On Activism, Environmental Justice, and Finding Hope by Catherine Coleman Flowers, published by Spiegel & Grau on January 28, 2025. Just before Christmas in 1965, my mother was recovering from the birth of her fifth child, David, at the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital, on the campus of the […]
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. The media has failed the public on a crucial matter: the derangement […]
Mother JonesIn the early 2010s, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went through a contentious divorce with his second wife, Mary Richardson Kennedy. It was ugly. Richardson had found a diary RFK Jr. kept that chronicled multiple extramarital affairs he had engaged in—possibly numbering in the dozens—and she was enraged and tormented by his infidelity. She was drinking […]
Mother JonesOn Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order attempting to sharply curtail access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth, up to and including 18-year-olds. The executive order does not impose an immediate ban on gender-affirming care. Instead, it directs federal agencies to begin taking steps to end gender-affirming treatments for children. By defining “children” […]
Mother JonesIn a scathing letter to the Senate ahead of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s confirmation hearings to become Secretary of Health and Human Services, Biden administration ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy has described her cousin as a hypocritical “predator” who is unqualified for the job and “addicted to attention and power.” In a video her son, […]