Mother Jones
Michelle Obama's Speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention
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- Michelle Obama's Speech at the 2020 Democratic National Convention
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- Former First Lady Michelle Obama anchored the first night of the 2020 Democratic National Convention on Monday night, kicking off a week that will culminate in the party’s nomination of Former Vice President Joe Biden for president. Obama called Biden “a profoundly decent man guided by his faith” and praised his ability to tackle the multiple crises besetting America, while taking direct aim at the current occupant of the White House as their root cause. “Donald Trump is the wrong president for our country,” she said. “He has had more than enough time to prove that he can do the job, but he is clearly in over his head. He cannot meet this moment.”
The first night of the convention introduced the American public to an unprecedented all-virtual format due to the coronavirus pandemic. But, even without balloon-drops and a roaring crowd, the multi-day program still promises to contain a high-wattage roster of Democratic powerhouses, including former presidents Ba...
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- We Visualized Billionaire Wealth Gains During the Pandemic
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/31IMeaO
The richest 0.00019 percent of the US population grew their collective wealth by an estimated $685 billion so far during the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump thinks he is delivering the average American a winning hand right now—despite a cratering economy, mass unemployment, and no clear plan to fight the cause of all this calamity, the coronavirus. At a Monday afternoon press conference at the White House, Trump went so far as to say that “carpenters and policemen and farmers”—millions of ordinary Americans—”are the ones that benefit by having a good stock market, probably more than anybody else.”
Probably more than anyone else? That’s absurd on its face (only 55 percent of Americans report owning stocks, a number that correlates with higher household income, among other things.) But it’s even more disconnected from reality when you collect the receip...
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- Mother Jones in Conversation with Rep. Barbara Lee
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- Longtime California representative and progressive powerhouse Barbara Lee has built a career as a champion of the people. Throughout her 30 years in public service, the former Congressional Black Caucus chair has taken tough and just stances—standing up as the only member of Congress to vote against the post-9/11 war authorization, serving as a check on the corruption of the Trump administration, defending her home district against baseless political attacks, and recently pushing to create a racial healing commission.
Join Rep. Barbara Lee and Mother Jones’ Jamilah King as they discuss the 2020 election, protest movements and their demands for racial equity, COVID-19 and how it’s affecting our most vulnerable communities, and her hopes for the future of American democracy.
Please note: Live events like this used to bring in ticket revenue to help fund Mother Jones' journalism. But since we can't do that anymore, we'd be grateful if you could add on a don...
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- Trump Twists Coronavirus Realities by Slamming Fauci, CNN, China, and Democrats
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
On Monday, President Donald Trump pulled out all the old stops to defend his inability to control the coronavirus: delegitimizing public health experts, denouncing the media, and vilifying Democrats.
After signing an executive order limiting US government agencies’ use of foreign labor, Trump began extolling the virtues of hydroxychloroquine, the antimalarial drug that has not been proven to improve outcomes in patients with COVID-19. When a reporter countered that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the administration’s foremost infectious disease specialist, has said the drug doesn’t work, Trump replied, “I don’t agree with Fauci on everything.” Earlier in the day, Trump lashed out against Dr. Deborah Birx, apparently for accurately noting that the coronavirus is “extraordinarily widespread” in the country and for warning against reopening schools in areas with high infection rates.
...
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- Jim Jordan is Ranting Again 🙄
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Jim Jordan is Jim Jordan-ing again.
The Ohio Republican, during his turn at Friday’s House special select committee hearing investigating the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, shouted over Dr. Anthony Fauci, attempted to trap the country’s top expert on infectious diseases into bogusly attacking the ongoing protests against police brutality, and grandstanded to an audience of one, Donald Trump. It was a typical performance from Jordan, a yeller.
Fauci, demonstrating an impressive level of patience, refused to bite.
#JimJordan #Coronavirus #Trump #Protests #Fauci
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- Obama Delivers the Eulogy John Lewis Deserves
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/2D6zClz
In 1965, John Lewis was brutally beaten by Alabama state troopers as he led a march advocating for the protection of Black Americans’ right to vote—an event that helped lead to the signing of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. In his gripping eulogy to Lewis at the late lawmaker’s memorial service Thursday, former President Barack Obama condemned the modern-era restrictions on voting rights that have undermined Lewis’ legacy.
“We may no longer have to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar to be able to cast a ballot,” Obama said, raising his voice over the applause that rang out from Ebenezer Baptist Church, “but even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darnedest to discourage people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive ID laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision—even undermining ...
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- John Leguizamo on Trump, Dirty Jokes, and Whitewashing Latinx History
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/3fXu4Ix
Actor, activist, author, and educator John Leguizamo loves that his comedy makes people feel angry. In his 2018 one-man Broadway show, Latin History for Morons (now available on Netflix), the 55-year-old star splices raunchy jokes with history about the genocide of Native American people, his experience being racially profiled, and a welter of statistics about the underrepresentation of Latinx people in American media. Born in Colombia and raised in Queens, New York, Leguizamo grew up seeing negative portrayals of Latinx people in Hollywood and in the pages of the New York Times. This feeling of being an outsider, of not belonging, was a power that he eventually came to value—and harness as fuel for his comedy and acting career.
In January, Leguizamo sat down with Mother Jones’s DC Bureau Chief David Corn onstage at the Comedy Cellar, the historic New York City stand-up venue, to talk abo...
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- Donald Trump's Niece on Her Bestselling Family Tell-all
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/2X0iWTA
Many American families have their dysfunction. But in only one American family has the racist, misogynistic, ignorant blowhard uncle become the president of the United States. What is that like? Well, we don’t have to guess. Because Mary L. Trump, the niece of President Donald Trump, has written a bestseller about the horrific family environment that produced him. And this week she talked to Mother Jones about her uncle, her book, and how she came to write it.
After the Trump family went to court to stop the book—and lost—it was published last week and has reportedly sold a million copies. This memoir/psychological dissection, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man," is a harrowing account of a man and a clan shaped by ego, rivalry, the pursuit of wealth, and profound pathology.
Mary Trump’s depiction of her uncle as a broken huma...
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- Mitch McConnell Refuses to Honor John Lewis' Legacy
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Lewis nearly died in March 1965 when he was brutally beaten by Alabama state troopers during a voting rights march in Selma—an event that helped lead to the passage of the original Voting Rights Act later that year. Lewis devoted his life to expanding access to the ballot, calling the vote “the most powerful nonviolent tool we have in a democratic society.”
But while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) tweeted his praise for Lewis over the weekend, he's been blocking a vote on legislation to restore the VRA for more than 225 days.
Take a look.
#MitchMcConnell #VRA #JohnLewis #votingrights
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- Deconstructing the Design and Demolition of Confederate Monuments
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/3eF2UEO
The Jefferson Davis memorial in Richmond, Virginia, was designed to uphold the ideals of the Confederacy and white supremacy. And now: It’s gone. The central statue was toppled by protesters in early June, and the city removed most of the rest of the memorial in July.
Critics argue that removing and destroying statues is a shameful attempt to erase the country’s history. But the destruction of our cultural legacies is itself part of our cultural legacy, reaching back to ancient history. It is as old as the act of honoring false gods.
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- The Supreme Court Just Told Trump: You're Not Above the Law.
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/3iQ0czI
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that Donald Trump cannot block his accounting firm from complying with a grand jury subpoena for copies of his tax records, and it separately held that Congress can subpoena Trump’s banks for copies of his financial records. But in both matters the justices kicked the cases back to lower courts to adjudicate other issues concerning the subpoenas, meaning the requests for sensitive Trump financial records won’t be enforced any time soon.
The question of access to Trump’s most closely held financial secrets was brought to the high court earlier this spring via two related cases. The first case involved subpoenas issued by three Democratic-controlled House committees investigating a variety of issues involving the president, including the effectiveness of existing ethics rules (which Trump has claimed do not apply to him like they do to nearly all other fe...
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- Mother Jones In Conversation with Diane Guerrero
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- Actor, activist, and author Diane Guerrero experienced her own family separation when she was just 14, when her family was deported to Colombia from their home in Boston. Now, she uses her voice and talents to advocate for change in America’s immigration system. On and off camera, the Orange Is the New Black and Jane the Virgin star works to amplify immigrant stories, change immigrant narratives in mass culture, and advance reform efforts to better protect and support immigrants in the US. Join Diane and Mother Jones’ Fernanda Echavarri as they discuss how COVID-19 is devastating Latinx communities, how Trump has upended asylum, and how immigrants are depicted on screen.
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- WATCH: Cops slash car tires at protests in Minneapolis
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/2zdTJwg
After long nights of tear gas and rubber bullets, some protesters, news crews, and medics in Minneapolis last weekend found themselves stranded: The tires of their cars had been slashed.
In a city upended by protests about police brutality after the death of George Floyd, many assumed protesters were to blame. But videos reveal a different culprit: the police.
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- FULL VIDEO: Brooklyn Black Lives Matter Protest on June 5, 2020
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/2AFlTAS
Thousands of New Yorkers marched in the rain today, which would have been Breonna Taylor’s 27th birthday. This continues a week of protests against systemic racism in response to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day.
At one point, two conductors on a passing J train blared their horns. A roar went up in the crowd. Both conductors stuck their fists out the window.
The full march took over 12 minutes to wind its way past me. It took so long, in fact, the battery on my phone died near the tail end of the demonstration. In the final seconds, you can just make out the phalanx of police cars that typically trail these protests.
If you thought the protests would lose steam or wind down, there are many thousands of wet Brooklynites right now arguing against you with their feet. And the weekend is only beginning....
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- AOC: Asking for an "End of Unrest" Is "Asking for Injustice to Continue"
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/2MeAUMl
Following a fourth night of protests in Minneapolis, as thousands took to the streets demanding an end to police violence against Black people, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged her supporters to take a broad view of the demonstrations, and spoke critically about those who are calling for a stop to the unrest, which has included the looting and burning of buildings.
“If you are calling for an end to this unrest, and if you are a calling for an end to all of this, but you are not calling for the end of the conditions that created the unrest, you are a hypocrite,” she said in a video on Instagram Saturday morning, posted below. “So if you’re out here calling for the end of unrest, then you better be calling for health care as a human right, you better be calling for accountability in our policing, you better be supporting community review boards, you better be supporting the end of hous...
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- The Racist History Behind Trump's Violent Tweet
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/2XhYHl3
For Donald Trump, Friday began as many days do: with an eruption of controversy on Twitter. In a tweet, the president referred to Minneapolis protesters as “THUGS” and added, “Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way. Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” Twitter promptly flagged Trump’s tweet with a disclaimer—for the second time this week—saying it violated the social media site’s rules about glorifying violence.
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- Top Obama-Biden Aide Slams Trump for Missing the Moment for “Economic Dignity”
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Gene Sperling was a top economic adviser to both President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama. In those positions, he was involved in many of the key economic policy battles of the past few decades. During the Clinton years, he helped enact an expansion of the earned income tax credit—a major anti-poverty measure—and the creation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. In the Obama White House, he worked closely with the president and vice president to save the economy after the crash of 2008. And he battled with congressional Republicans over budgets, taxes, health care, and the debt ceiling.
Sperling has long been known as a leading economic policy wonk, and such people tend to be seen as men and women who focus on numbers and who argue about theories the rest of us can barely understand.
Sperling argues that the main goal of economic policy should not be a focus on ...
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- Top Obama Aide on a Biden Presidency: "Seize This Moment of Truth"
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Gene Sperling was a top economic adviser to both President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama. In those positions, he was involved in many of the key economic policy battles of the past few decades. During the Clinton years, he helped enact an expansion of the earned income tax credit—a major anti-poverty measure—and the creation of the Children’s Health Insurance Program. In the Obama White House, he worked closely with the president and vice president to save the economy after the crash of 2008. And he battled with congressional Republicans over budgets, taxes, health care, and the debt ceiling.
Sperling has long been known as a leading economic policy wonk, and such people tend to be seen as men and women who focus on numbers and who argue about theories the rest of us can barely understand. But in his new book, Economic Dignity, Sperling challenges that stereotype. At least for him...
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- Former US Secretary of Labor Says Reopening Isn't About "Freedom," It's About "Greed"
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Though the coronavirus pandemic shows no sign of slowing down, more and more people are going back to work as states begin the process of reopening. Yet during the lockdown, health officials indicated that many of the new coronavirus cases were coming from people who still had to go into work. These are the essential workers who make our health care and food supply systems work, deliver packages and meals, and sanitize public spaces.
Career Labor Department staff have expressed frustrations that the department hasn’t ordered employers to follow recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including the wearing of masks. Meanwhile, Secretary Scalia has been making Fox News appearances urging corporate tax cuts and liability shields for employers who bring employees back to work.
We spoke with Robert Reich, the former Labor Secretary and University of Californ...
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- A Message to Essential Workers: When This is All Over, Strike!
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Though the coronavirus pandemic shows no sign of slowing down, more and more people are going back to work as states begin the process of reopening. Yet during the lockdown, health officials indicated that many of the new coronavirus cases were coming from people who still had to go into work. These are the essential workers who make our health care and food supply systems work, deliver packages and meals, and sanitize public spaces.
While these workers are increasingly heralded as “heroes,” with applause and cheers every night in some cities, so far they haven’t gotten much by way of increased pay and benefits.
With no national hazard pay for essential workers, they’re left to the mercy of their employers. Some retailers offered temporary $2 pay bumps at the beginning of the pandemic, but many companies are starting to roll these “hero” raises back. In the absence of fed...
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- Protecting Our Democracy with Stacey Abrams
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- Election Day is fast approaching, yet it’s increasingly difficult for voters to exercise their democratic rights. A surge in civic action to protect these rights is building momentum and Stacey Abrams is leading the charge in this fight for our democracy.
Join Abrams and Mother Jones senior reporter Ari Berman, as they discuss voting rights, this crucial moment for mobilization, and the current state of democracy in America.
Please note: Donation proceeds from this event will support Mother Jones’ reader-supported and nonprofit journalism. Proceeds will not go toward any political campaign or electioneering.
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- Title
- Adam Schiff on Trump's "Extraordinary Narcissism"
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
How the hell did we get here? That's what Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) wants to know. The congressman and colleagues have introduced legislation to set up a commission to investigate and identify how the Trump administration failed in its response to the coronavirus. (Based on our timeline of the first 100 days of Trump's response, they'll have plenty to look into.)
Schiff recently joined Mother Jones Editor-in-Chief and the Commonwealth Club to talk hiring Twitter trolls into top intelligence positions, and chat about his alternative to universal basic income. "Real time oversight is vitally important," he says. Even if it's hard "to do meaningful oversight when you're dealing with bodies that don't particularly want to share the answers." But Schiff believes his experience from the impeachment trial has prepared him for it.
#COVID19 #Coronavirus #AdamSchiff #Trump
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- Trump's 100 Days of Deadly Coronavirus Denial
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/trump-coronavirus-timeline/
It’s been 100 days since officials confirmed the first coronavirus case in the United States, on January 20, 2020. In the weeks since, more than 1 million Americans have fallen ill and more than 57,000 have died. More than 26 million people have lost their jobs and Congress has approved $2.7 trillion in relief aid. A look back at the first 100 days of America’s coronavirus crisis clearly shows the consequences of President Trump's lack of preparation, seriousness, and empathy.
Here’s a visual timeline of the many times Trump praised himself, blamed others, made bogus claims, or downplayed the risk of the coronavirus since then.
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In...
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- Obama's 2010 Oil Spill Response Vs. Trump's 2020 Coronavirus Response
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
On April 20, 2010, a natural gas explosion aboard an oil rig owned by BP and located 41 miles off the Louisiana coast killed 11 workers and exposed a leak that would release an estimated 200 million gallons of oil over 1,300 miles of Gulf coastline over subsequent months. Tens of thousands of recovery workers and National Guard soldiers were mobilized to aid in cleanup efforts.
Ultimately, BP would pay $65 billion in compensation for the accident, the scars of which remain on the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem. Even today, wildlife in the region—where fishing forms the nucleus of the economy—are contaminated with oil pollution. And cleanup workers suffer from lingering health complications.
That spring, President Barack Obama, not even two years into his first term, addressed the nation from the Oval Office. He described the spill as “an epidemic, one that we will be fighting for...
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- Adam Schiff: Russia Is Still Interfering With US Elections—and Trump Is Covering It Up
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
The Russian government attacked the 2016 election to help Donald Trump.
In the years since, various intelligence officials have publicly stated that Vladimir Putin intends to intervene again in the 2020 election. But Trump doesn’t want to hear that—and doesn’t want the public to know that. Days after intelligence officials in February told House lawmakers during a classified briefing that Russia was already interfering in this year’s election and once again preferred Trump, an irate Trump ousted acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire and replaced him with a loyalist.
In an interview with Mother Jones, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, says that since then the Trump administration has been covering up intelligence on Russian interference.
#Trump #Russia #AdamSchiff #2020
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For m...
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- Rep. Schiff on Investigating Trump and Coronavirus Intelligence
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has been a relentless chaser of Trump corruption. As the top ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee in 2017 and 2018, he pushed for a robust investigation of the Trump-Russia scandal, as the Republicans then in control of the House resisted such efforts and sought to protect Donald Trump. After Schiff became chairman of the committee last year, he oversaw the congressional probe of the Trump-Ukraine scandal, ran the House impeachment hearings, and led the House impeachment managers during the Senate trial. Once Trump was acquitted by the Senate Republicans, it seemed that Schiff’s investigative pursuits might peter out in the remaining months before the coming election. But the coronavirus pandemic and Trump’s lackadaisical and inept response has raised questions about the intelligence that was shared with the White House about the looming crisis—it’s been rep...
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- Trump’s Press Conferences Are Just Infomercials Now
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/2xjU1AP
President Donald Trump doesn’t like to talk about the human toll of the coronavirus pandemic. For a long time, he wouldn’t even acknowledge there was one. When the first positive tests started showing up, he predicted that within a couple of days” the number of cases in the country “is going to be down to close to zero.” Later, when the outbreak was very much happening, he predicted that it would just disappear one day “like a miracle.” We’d be back to normal by Easter. We’d come back better than ever—we might even be better for it.
The president has nodded, in recent days, to images he’s seen on TV—of body bags, for instance, being loaded into a refrigerator truck outside a hospital in Queens—and admitted that hundreds of thousands of Americans will likely die as a result of the pandemic. More than 16,000 Americans have died thus far, but few if any of these victims of...
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- Exclusive: Sen. Warren Untangles the Trillions at Stake with Coronavirus Bailout
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Few people know more about conducting financial oversight during an economic crisis than Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who led the congressional panel that monitored how billions in federal bailout funds were spent—and misspent—following the 2008 crash. This week, she Zoomed with Mother Jones’ Washington, DC bureau chief David Corn from the back porch of her Cambridge home with her golden retriever, Bailey, by her side. Warren, who last month ended her presidential bid, discussed what could go wrong with the Trump administration’s $500 billion coronavirus corporate bailout fund and how best to monitor this “slush fund.” She also recounted her efforts two years ago to get answers from John Bolton after he abruptly disbanded the National Security Council’s global health security unit and talked about whether she is interested in the veep slot on the Democratic presidential ticket.
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- Warren: Why We Should Worry about Trump’s $500 Billion Coronavirus Slush Fund
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/34chtvN
Before Elizabeth Warren was a senator from Massachusetts and a Democratic presidential candidate, she ran the Congressional Oversight Panel that was in charge of overseeing the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout that Congress approved after Wall Street crashed in 2008. In that capacity, Warren, then a Harvard law professor, kept a close watch on where the money was going and crafted public reports that disclosed that the Treasury Department had overpaid $78 billion for assets it bought from failed banks and that large chunks of the money were not being used well. Last month, Congress passed a $2 trillion coronavirus bailout and assistance bill, and it contains a $500 billion fund—Representative Katie Porter (D-Calif.) calls it a “slush fund”—from which the Trump administration, at its sole discretion, can dole out money to big corporations in distress. What’s the best way to ...
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- Trump Administration Ignored Warren's Pandemic Preparedness Questions in 2018
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/3dShbyS
In early May 2018, media reports noted that Rear Adm. Tim Ziemer, the top White House expert on global health security, had suddenly left the National Security Council. Moreover, the NSC team he oversaw was disbanded by John Bolton, the national security adviser, as part of a reorganization. As the Washington Post put it, this meant no senior official in the Trump administration was “now focused solely on global health security.”
Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) were troubled by this news, and they sent Bolton a letter noting the dismantling of the NSC’s global health squad “comes amid continuing concerns that the nation and the world are unprepared for pandemic outbreaks or other global health threats.” (At the time, there was a new outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo.) They posed Bolton a series of questions about the NSC’s preparedness...
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- Trump vs World Leaders During a Global Pandemic
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Donald Trump has made inadequate and dangerous choices during the coronavirus pandemic. His botched response includes a failure to properly plan for the country’s testing needs, administration officials unsure how to provide adequate medical gear, and the active spreading of misinformation. It’s an embarrassing lack of leadership.
As the coronavirus pandemic overwhelms health systems around the globe, world leaders have addressed their nations in solemn tones, urging people to stay inside to curb the spread of the virus, and assuring them that their countries will get through this crisis together. Meanwhile, President Trump has been belittling reporters, joking about the “Deep State,” and whining about being called a racist.
The contrast is staggering. But hey, that’s just business as usual in the White House.
#coronavirus #trump #merkel
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- Trump Acts Like a Disaster Movie Villain with Coronavirus Response
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
If you were writing the next Hollywood disaster movie, you could construct a first act more or less by scanning the headlines from the past few weeks. We’ve got it all: workaday scientists racing to sound the alarm about a looming existential threat. Science-denying government officials ignoring those alarms. Heroes and helpers amidst the uncertainty. Gal Gadot singing for some reason.
And of course, the president. Trump’s performance here has been a real tour de force. He seems to have modeled himself on those villainous politicians in every disaster movie. He's ignored experts, shifted the blame, repeatedly downplayed the threat, stoked racism, and spread misinformation.
Watch our video to see how eerily similar Trump's approach has been to climate-denying officials in The Day After Tomorrow, the captain of the Titanic, and the spineless apparatchiks in charge of the response t...
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- Watch Trump’s Coronavirus Hypocrisy In Two Simple Clips
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Read the full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/33fhO0e
“I just think that’s a nasty question.”
That was Trump’s response when, at Friday afternoon’s coronavirus press conference, PBS’s Yamiche Alcindor pressed the president about why he refused to take responsibility for disbanding the White House office for pandemic preparedness, in March 2018.
“When you say me, I didn’t do it,” Trump scoffed. “I mean, you say we did that. I don’t know anything about it.”
In reality, the White House got rid of its global health security team in a 2018 John Bolton-led reshuffle. With the sudden departure of its leader, there was no top-ranking White House official looking after how the US should respond to crises like the coronavirus.
But when it suits the president, he’s more than happy to brag about budget cuts to health agencies, citing his business prowess.
Last month, responding to a...
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- How QAnon Is Mutating for 2020
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► Full article at Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/3ce6XHW
Remember "Pizzagate"? That far-right fever dream about Hillary Clinton's allies running a pizza parlor child-sex ring turned out to be a precursor to QAnon, a bizarre and sprawling trove of pro-Trump conspiracy theories. Its strains have been mutating and adapting ever since 2017, finding new ways to infect our politics.
Mother Jones' disinformation reporter Ali Breland and digital producer Mark Helenowski will take you inside the Trump rallies that served as offline nerve centers for the movement to ask supporters clad in Q-paraphernalia if the conspiracy is still alive and thriving, or has it peaked?
They found that this once unmissable presence has faded to a crew of Q-diehards as a decline in the volume of related social media content took hold. But in an election year, QAnon is still shaping Trump's base and could be just one presidential tweet away from roaring back to life stronger t...
- Title
- Mike Bloomberg's Past Came Back To Bite Him in His Debate Stage Debut
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Michael Bloomberg’s past came back to bite him during his Wednesday night debate stage debut.
“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against,” Elizabeth Warren said at the opening of the debate. “A billionaire who calls women ‘fat broads’ and ‘horse-faced lesbians.’ And no, I’m not talking about Donald Trump. I’m talking about Mayor Bloomberg.”
And the zingers kept coming.
Warren drilled the former mayor of New York about his history of having women sign nondisclosure agreements relating to allegations that his company, Bloomberg LP, created a hostile workplace for women. Bernie Sanders nailed him on his use of stop-and-frisk to police black and brown neighborhoods in New York—and his recent justification of the policy.
It was, in short, a bad night for Bloomberg. Watch the video to see how it went down.
#MikeBloomberg #E...
- Title
- Mike Bloomberg Is Way Richer Than People Realize
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For full article, visit Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/38GQuKg
Michael Bloomberg is rich. Really, really rich.
With $62.8 billion to his name, the former New York City mayor and CEO of the eponymous Bloomberg L.P. has a greater net worth—a far greater net worth—than all the other Democratic presidential candidates combined. (Tom Steyer’s $1.6 billion? That’s quaint.) It’s a fortune that is more than 20 times greater than estimates of President Donald Trump’s. Bloomberg alone could pay for NASA’s plans to send astronauts the moon once again—and he’d still have enough to buy Fox News (or at least, all Fox Corporation stock in existence).
It’s nearly impossible to conceptualize just how much money Bloomberg has. So we made an animation to help show the scale of the latecomer Democratic presidential candidate’s wealth. Get ready.#bloomberg #2020 #democrats
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- Title
- Can Bernie and Buttigieg Fans Unite to Beat Trump?
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For full article, visit Mother Jones: https://bit.ly/38d9m2s
Following former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s narrow win over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in last week’s Iowa Democratic caucuses, the two presidential candidates are duking it out in New Hampshire: Sanders slammed Buttigieg for accepting campaign contributions from billionaires, and Buttigieg said Sanders’ policies skew too far to the left.
Mother Jones’s digital producer Mark Helenowski caught up with Buttigieg and Sanders supporters on the trail this week to find out what pushed them to support one candidate over the other—and whether they’d vote for their candidate’s opponent. One common theme emerged, no matter what the voter’s current predilections: the need to unify the Democratic party to take on President Donald Trump in November.
#Election2020 #Buttigieg #Bernie #NewHampshire
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- Title
- Lev Parnas' Full Video of Trump Telling Associates To "Get Rid Of" Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
A lawyer for Lev Parnas released a video that captures President Donald Trump telling associates in 2018 that he wanted Marie Yovanovitch, the former US Ambassador to Ukraine, removed from her post. The relevant bit begins around 42 minutes in.
http://bit.ly/36nsv0V
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- Title
- The Next Front in the Republican War on Voting Rights
- Date posted
- 4 years ago
- Description
- On July 11, a visibly agitated Donald Trump appeared in the White House Rose Garden to announce that his administration was dropping its bid to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. Census Bureau researchers predicted it could lead to 9 million people not filling out the census. But, Trump said defiantly, “I’m here to say we are not backing down on our effort to determine the citizenship status of the United States population.”
Trump then made a move that could still turn citizenship data into a political tool to boost the influence of white Republican areas. He announced an executive order calling on federal agencies to send all existing information on who is and isn’t a citizen to the Department of Commerce, which oversees the Census Bureau.
It’s long been a bedrock principle of American democracy that elected officials represent all of their constituents, whether or not they are eligible to vote, but Trump wants to change that.
- Title
- Four Years Apart. Just Three Minutes to Hug.
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Last week, Miriam Pallares boarded a bus in Oklahoma City with her six-year-old daughter and rode through the night to El Paso, Texas for a three-minute hug with family she hadn’t seen in years.
The mother and daughter were among 2,500 people participating in a rare event in which US Customs and Border Protection opens a gate in the fence separating El Paso from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, allowing families to briefly reunify. Hugs Not Walls, or Abrazos No Muros, was started in the spring of 2016 by non-profit Border Network for Human Rights.
For many, the event marks the first—and last—time they will have physical contact with family members for years.
#Immigration #Border #AbrazosNoMuros #HugsNotWalls
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- Title
- New York City Teens Are Ditching Class For Everyone's Future
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Outside the United Nations headquarters in New York, a group of about 25 students braced themselves against strong winds from Hurricane Dorian on Friday. Ranging in age from elementary to college students, they held signs that read “As the oceans rise, so will we” and “GREED KILLS,” and chanted, “We are unstoppable, a better world is possible.”
These student-led strikes have been going on in New York every Friday for 39 weeks and are known as Fridays for Future. This week’s protest featured Greta Thunberg, the Swedish climate activist who began the school climate strike movement.
“We shouldn’t be talking about ‘believing’ in the climate crisis,” Thunberg said during the rally that followed the students’ quiet protest. “Either you understand and accept the science, or you don’t. As long as we keep talking about believing, or thinking climate change is real,...
- Title
- The US Marshals' Detention Empire: Hunting the Documents
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
The US Marshals’ far-flung detention system has never been thoroughly examined, in part because the agency has resisted the release of information. Journalist Seth Freed Wessler had to sue them in federal court to obtain the annual inspections they conduct of facilities they use.
Data found through the suit shows that 158 people died while in Marshals detention between June 2016 and June 2019, and hundreds more died in the preceding five years. It’s a rate of death that far outstrips that of the parallel federal system run by ICE, but on par with the troublingly high death rates in county jails in general.
Read Wessler's full investigation for Mother Jones, in partnership with Type Investigations, revealing that America’s oldest law enforcement agency is suffering from a massive dereliction of duty: http://www.motherjones.com/marshals.
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- Title
- Trailer: Inside the US Marshals’ Secretive, Deadly Detention Empire
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/marshals
The US Marshals Service detains tens of thousands of people every day in jails across the United States, and thanks to President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies, that number is approaching historic highs. The Marshals are supposed to safeguard pre-trial detainees, but journalist Seth Freed Wessler's reporting reveals that America’s oldest law enforcement agency is suffering from a massive dereliction of duty—telling the story of widespread neglect, and deaths inside a system plagued by a lack of accountability.
Seth teamed up with the award-winning radio producers behind NPR's Latino USA to produce this radio documentary based on his explosive findings. For the full story for Mother Jones, reported in partnership with Type Investigations, visit http://www.motherjones.com/marshals.
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- Title
- The US Marshals' Detention Empire: The Death of Isac Garcia-Wislar
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Isac Garcia-Wislar was 51 when, in March 2017, he was locked up in the Tom Green County Jail, in San Angelo, Texas. Border officials had placed an immigration hold on him and referred him to federal prosecutors. As soon as he was charged, Isac became a detainee of the US Marshals Service, an arm of the Department of Justice.
Four months after he was arrested, Garcia-Wislar told a jail nurse that he had intense pain in his back and shoulder, and he was short of breath. Jail officials refused to send him to the hospital until after he collapsed. He died a few days later.
It's just one of the deaths journalist Seth Freed Wessler details in his new investigation for Mother Jones, in partnership with Type Investigations, showing that America’s oldest law enforcement agency is suffering from a massive dereliction of duty.
For the full story, got to http://www.motherjones...
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- Join Us. It’s Time for Journalism to Stand for Something.
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
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- ► For more: https://www.motherjones.com/themoment
The truth is under attack. The business model for journalism has failed. Hard‑hitting, in‑depth reporting is needed now more than ever.
This is the moment for Mother Jones and our readers. Join our special campaign to raise $25 million for watchdog journalism. We're more than 90 percent of the way there.
Help bring us home.
No matter the amount—$5 or $5,000—your support will strengthen Mother Jones during this critical moment. And thanks to a group of generous MoJo donors, every dollar you donate to the Moment campaign will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $500,000.
Thanks for reading, and for everything you do to make Mother Jones what it is. https://www.motherjones.com/themoment
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- Title
- Warren Supporters On How To Win Over Trump Voters
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
At Warren’s largest rally to date, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts denounced corruption of all kinds, from lobbyists’ political campaign contributions to the lack of transparency about the finances of the sitting president, whom she dubbed “corruption in the flesh.” “Corruption has broken our economy, and corruption is breaking our democracy,” Warren, wearing a bright purple blazer, told the crowd, which numbered somewhere between the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation’s estimate of 8,000 to 10,000 and the Warren campaign’s estimate of 20,000.
The Warren supporters we spoke to said that her populist political ideology and emphasis on major societal change could give her an edge over Trump, who campaigned on similarly anti-establishment grounds in 2016.
Another Warren supporter, Idrid Mignott, 57, who works in non-profit fundraising, said he think...
- Title
- Elizabeth Warren Cuts Through the Dumbest Climate Argument
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
Approaching hour six of the CNN climate crisis town hall, Elizabeth Warren broke the rhythm of the marathon on Wednesday.
The moment came in response to CNN moderator Chris Cuomo’s question about President Trump’s rollback Wednesday of a regulation introduced under George W. Bush and finalized under Barack Obama to ensure energy-efficient lightbulbs. “Do you think that the government should be in the business of telling you what kind of light bulb you can have?” But the real subtext of his question wasn’t about Trump rollbacks, it was in fact one of the right’s favorite talking points, when they argue that climate change requires a major personal sacrifice of individual autonomy to government control.
“Oh come on, give me a break,” Warren said with exasperation. “This is exactly what the fossil fuel industry wants us to be talking about. That’s what they want us to...
- Title
- Bernie Sanders: "We've Got To Act."
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
In Paradise, California, climate change is impossible to ignore.
Eighty-six people died there in 2018 when the Camp Fire ravaged the community of 26,000, burning 18,000 structures to the ground and racking up $16 billion in damage.
Seated at the scene of the devastation in Paradise, Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) told Mother Jones’ Jamilah King that Americans are beginning to understand the severity of the climate crisis. The interview, focused on the launch of Sanders’ $16.3 trillion climate plan, was conducted in conjunction with The Weather Channel.
“People learn with their own eyes,” Sanders said. “More and more people are saying, ‘You know what? There’s something going on here. This is real and maybe we got to get a handle on it.‘”
Visit motherjones.com to read more about Sanders’ proposal, with reporting...
- Title
- Bernie Sanders On: What Sets His Plan Apart
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
A lot of the candidates for the Democrats’ 2020 presidential nomination have proposals to combat climate change, but Bernie Sanders thinks his $16.3 trillion plan stands out from the crowd.
Surrounded by ruins in Paradise, California, where last year the deadliest wildfire in California history killed 86 people and prompted an exodus from the once-idyllic community, the independent senator from Vermont told Mother Jones’ Jamilah King that the steps he’s outlined go further than those of his counterparts. The interview was conducted in conjunction with the Weather Channel on the release of Sanders’ proposal.
“Our plan recognizes that if we do not act in a very bold way, which I have to confess is expensive, the results will be catastrophic,” Sanders says.
He says the plan was crafted with input from scientists, environmentalists, and people who have been impacted by cl...
- Title
- Bernie Sanders on: Trump's Dangerous Climate Change Denial
- Date posted
- 5 years ago
- Description
- ► For more, visit Mother Jones: https://www.motherjones.com/
ernie Sanders admits his climate plan would cost $16.3 trillion—three times more than his fellow Democratic presidential candidates’ plans. The number seems daunting, but the independent senator from Vermont says there’s no other option.
Sanders also took the opportunity to slam Donald Trump’s climate denialism in an exclusive joint interview with Mother Jones and the Weather Channel.
“Do we believe Donald Trump, who tells us climate change is a hoax, we don’t have to do anything?” Sanders said. “I’m not here to suggest that my plan is going to solve every problem, but my plan understands the severity of the crisis and acts boldly.”
Click the link in our bio to read more on Sanders’ vision for restructuring the United States’ energy landscape while strengthening the economy, with reporting by Rebecca Leber from Paradise.
#BernieSanders #ClimateChange #Elect...