Mother Jones
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“There are certain things that he would like me to remain quiet about.” A heated scene unfolded at the Cuyahoga County family court in Cleveland on Wednesday, as the key players in a bitter dispute that has grabbed national headlines assembled in one room. The case is one that Mother Jones reporter Abby Vesoulis has been covering for weeks: a custody fight over the two-year-old daughter of Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) and his ex-wife, Emily Moreno—whose father is Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio). Miller is currently defending himself against Emily's allegations that he held a gun to her head, shoved her against a wall, and threw scalding water at her—all of which he vehemently denies. Despite these allegations, and at least six Republican senators (including his former father-in-law) urging him to drop out, Miller is running for reelection and has vowed to stay in the race. The deadline to replace him on the ballot passed earlier this month. Abby got a rare chance to question Miller directly, just weeks after uncovering more than 2,000 pages of court and police records detailing the abuse allegations. Miller had initially declined to speak to the press after the hearing, referring all inquiries to his attorney. But while his lawyer was speaking, Miller interrupted to deliver what sounded like a veiled threat against Sen. Moreno. "I was a part of that family for a very long time," he said. "There are certain things that he would like me to remain quiet about, and I respectfully have... because that's not my business to share. But it's politically motivated." His lawyer went further, claiming Sen. Moreno "hates Max and wants to destroy Max" and only "came out of the woodwork" to attack Miller once reporters began asking why he had stayed silent about his daughter's allegations.
Mother Jones321,047 görüntüleme • 16 gün önce
We’ve just identified California’s top 100 Roundup users. You probably wouldn’t guess who’s at the top of the list. If you’re a fan of pistachios, mandarin oranges, or pomegranate juice, you’re probably familiar with the logo of The Wonderful Company—a multibillion-dollar producer of fruits and nuts and, according to records analyzed by Mother Jones, the top sprayer of the herbicide glyphosate in California. In 2023, the latest year pesticide records are available, the company used 328,000 pounds of glyphosate—about 68 percent more than anyone else in the state. Because California produces more than three-quarters of the nation’s fruits and nuts and nearly half of its vegetables, how its farmers use glyphosate matters to the rest of the country, too. In a statement, a spokesperson for The Wonderful Company emphasized its "sustainable business practices across its farming operations.” They added that the company “currently uses glyphosate only for weed control in our orchards and does so in full compliance with government approved label instructions.” But as more and more Americans become aware of the ecological and health risks associated with glyphosate, Wonderful’s new distinction as California’s top sprayer of the controversial weedkiller could raise hackles across the political spectrum. According to a recent survey by the Annenberg Public Policy Center, two-thirds of Americans favor banning glyphosate, including 70 percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats. Check out the link below to search our new database of California’s 100 Roundup users, some of which may surprise you. Reporting by Nathan Halverson Produced by Peter Berger
Mother Jones43,889 görüntüleme • 8 gün önce
"Loitering is not permitted in this area," an audio recording sternly warns, as uniformed National Guard troops patrol Washington's iconic, algae-plagued reflecting pool. "Please proceed to a designated location." Journalist Amanda Moore's dystopian video, shot last weekend just steps from the Lincoln Memorial, instantly went viral—a perfect 8-second encapsulation of American democracy under Donald Trump. Amanda has spent the past 18 months documenting the chaos and brutality of the administration's militarized takeovers and immigration raids in cities across the country. Her footage has been shocking, often horrifying. But it's never before been quite so absurd. (Well, maybe once.) In her latest video report for Mother Jones, Amanda takes us on a tour of the Trumpified National Mall as the nation attempts to celebrate its 250th birthday. Not far from the reflecting pool's nanobubblers and security theater, there's a very different scene: Trump's Great America State Fair. When Amanda visited this marquee anniversary event, she found a dearth of visitors, a shortage of napkins, and a decaying model of the triumphal arch the president wants to build across the Potomac. The symbolism here is about as subtle as a Jon McNaughton painting. If I hadn't seen Amanda's reporting, I never would have believed it was real.
Mother Jones273,257 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
When Ian Austin, an Army veteran, was arrested for protesting ICE in Minneapolis, he says he was detained and shackled for hours. “We're turning into something that I can't even begin to respect, and something that I literally went to war—or they told me I went to war—to fight against,” he says. Since he was arrested, he’s continued protesting. Mother Jones senior reporter Julia Lurie spoke to Austin outside the Whipple Federal Building, where ICE is based. “When they say, ‘Why would you be out here?’ How the fuck could I not be out here?” he says. “My nation is under attack."
Mother Jones546,513 görüntüleme • 7 ay önce
The Supreme Court ruled this week that construction can move forward on President Trump’s $900 million White House ballroom. But across Washington, the president’s other pet construction projects aren’t going so well. The Kennedy Center is closed, and its facade is covered with a tarp. The Reflecting Pool is drained and fenced off. The statue garden with sculptures of 250 Americans Trump hoped to complete by July 4 is nonexistent. Should we even mention the 250-foot arch? In fairness, the president has successfully fixed two ornamental fountains near the White House—it only cost the National Park Service $17.4 million (through a no-bid contract to Clark Construction) to do it. But they’re nearly impossible for the taxpayers who funded the repair to enjoy since the administration installed 13-foot steel fences around the perimeter of the park the fountains sit in. Senior Reporter Dan Friedman scootered around the capital on a recent afternoon to check in on the pet projects the president hopes will leave his mark on Washington. For the full story, click the link in our bio. Reporting by Dan Friedman Produced by Peter Berger
Mother Jones22,633 görüntüleme • 10 gün önce
NEW: “I feel like North Korea has more democracy than we do in the state of Tennessee, and it's terrifying to me that we're in this march to fascism,” Rep. Gloria Johnson tells our Garrison Hayes in this exclusive sit-down on the eve of her possible expulsion from the TN Assembly.
Mother Jones1,570,416 görüntüleme • 3 yıl önce
Forget "girl math" and "boy math." America's running on billionaire math. They own yachts that have yachts. They leave Earth just to feel something. They buy art they don’t like and tout books they don’t read and play God with things they don’t comprehend. Above all, they live by their own set of rules. There is a crude but undeniable logic to the rise of the American Oligarchy. As Tim Murphy argued in a cover story for the magazine earlier this year, decades of deregulation, concentration, opportunism, and no small amount of generally-quite-legal corruption have allowed a small group of people (mostly in Silicon Valley) to control an ever-greater share of the economy and bend the political process toward their own ends. Money begets power begets money. It’s why, laid out on the page, the net worths of the world’s richest men currently look like they’re heading toward orbit. Speaking of orbit, gravity doesn’t really exist in the same way when you’re an oligarch. If you built a car and it kept catching on fire, you would have to stop making cars. If your products drove people insane, they would be taken off the shelves. If you did a Hitler salute, people would probably just call it that. If you were responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths, you would be ostracized from polite society, and maybe even CNBC. If you invented the Metaverse, people would stop asking you to invent more things. And if you didn’t pay taxes, dear reader, you might eventually go to prison. It’s this alternative physics that gives the American oligarchy, at this particular moment, its uniquely off-putting funk—a sense that, beyond all the hockey-stick wealth charts, the centibillionaires of Silicon Valley can pursue whatever bored or perverted or maniacal project they want without fear of censure or even market correction. Time and money just don’t mean the same things they do to the rest of us. Laws become more like suggestions. Deadlines aren’t real. Or at least: They don’t have to be. Welcome to Billionaire Math, a video where we make sense of the things that don’t make sense about the world’s ruling class. Reporting by Tim Murphy Video by Peter Berger
Mother Jones38,543 görüntüleme • 28 gün önce
Did Hasan Piker just soft endorse billionaire Tom Steyer? “Tom Steyer could be a very interesting governor for the state,” the prolific streamer and political commentator said. He and Garrison Hayes sat down to talk about politics and his perspective on the 2026 gubernatorial race in California. His top pick—for the time being at least—might surprise you. “I talked to Tom Steyer, I interviewed him, and, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think he's the most interesting candidate with viability right now,” said Piker. Find the full interview on our YouTube channel or at
Mother Jones151,553 görüntüleme • 4 ay önce
Locals didn’t think Roundup was being sprayed near Lake Tahoe. So @natethecurious went to find out. Nate dug up maps from the Forest Service's website, and headed to a spot where one of them indicated spraying might already be happening. Public uproar has echoed across the Tahoe area since April, when our yearlong Mother Jones investigation revealed that, in California, the fastest-growing use of glyphosate—the main ingredient in Roundup—is to spray forested areas, including this massive new project around Lake Tahoe. As the public outcry grew over the past few weeks, news begin circulating on social media that the Forest Service was backing off. “They cancelled the plan!" one person wrote. "People showed up to meetings, called our representatives and it’s finally cancelled. OUR VOICES MATTERED ON THIS ONE.” But that wasn't true. At Sierra-at-Tahoe, Nate stood on a mountainside that clearly had been doused in glyphosate. The plants around him were nearly all dead—killed with the controversial herbicide, which the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer has deemed a probable human carcinogen—and that a 2020 report from the US Environmental Protection Agency said likely harms 93 percent of endangered species. You can read Nate's full report at
Mother Jones119,467 görüntüleme • 3 ay önce
There's a dark truth behind Trump's tariffs: Absolute control.
Mother Jones300,794 görüntüleme • 1 yıl önce
When Beverly Ogle, an elder of the Maidu tribe, was growing up, she, her brothers, and her grandmother used to harvest plants in the forests surrounding Lassen Peak in northeastern California. “It was amazing the things my grandmother knew,” Ogle said, recalling how she would explain what different plants were used for—food, medicine, basket weaving. But today, as the government coats California’s forests in the controversial herbicide glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, Ogle can’t go out into the backcountry she grew up in without fearing: “Are we gathering something that’s got poison on it?” Indigenous Californians have safeguarded their traditions through violent persecution, boarding schools, and other threats from authorities. Now, they say they're under attack again, this time from a chemical. “It’s kind of like killing our tribe again.” Watch the full investigation at Video by Nathan Halverson Produced by Peter Berger
Mother Jones18,477 görüntüleme • 22 gün önce
She said she was headed to a doctor's appointment. Federal agents still attacked her. Earlier today in Minneapolis, journalist Amanda Moore (amanda moore 🐢) documented a tense, chaotic federal operation near 34th Street and Park Avenue. The scenes unfolded amid a broader surge of federal immigration enforcement in the Twin Cities following the fatal shooting of Renée Good by an ICE officer last week.
Mother Jones131,939 görüntüleme • 8 ay önce
The recent Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais effectively killed the last remaining provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And it represents the life's work of Chief Justice John Roberts. Here's how Roberts has been steadily working for more than 40 years to destroy the country's most important civil rights law:
Mother Jones70,720 görüntüleme • 4 ay önce
"Loitering is not permitted in this area," an audio recording sternly warns, as uniformed National Guard troops patrol Washington's iconic, algae-plagued reflecting pool. "Please proceed to a designated location." In her latest video report for Mother Jones, amanda moore 🐢 takes us on a tour of the Trumpified National Mall as the nation attempts to celebrate its 250th birthday:
Mother Jones42,038 görüntüleme • 2 ay önce
Rep. Ilhan Omar tears into Trump with a defiant protest: "You have killed Americans!" The confrontation began after Trump scolded Democrats for not standing and applauding during a portion of his speech during which he claimed that the “first duty of the American government is to protect American cities, not illegal aliens.”
Mother Jones91,548 görüntüleme • 6 ay önce
"There is a bruise that accompanies the injury that appears to be in a handprint. So it appears that it was inflicted." Abby Vesoulis got her hands on police bodycam and interview footage that goes behind the scenes as detectives investigate alleged domestic violence by Republican Rep. Max Miller, which he denies. WATCH:
Mother Jones22,097 görüntüleme • 1 ay önce
It should be no surprise that Senator Adam Schiff is often on the receiving end of President Donald Trump’s rage online. He led the first impeachment of Trump back in 2020. Now a senator, Schiff has been laying out a different strategy for how Democrats might challenge the president if they reclaim Congress. 🎧️ Listen:
Mother Jones14,608 görüntüleme • 24 gün önce