Try Listening to Yourself Like Studs Terkel Would
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Reeling from Lorrie Moore’s withering review of my generation in the New York Review of Books via a Sally Rooney takedown—is Moore right? Is she dead wrong? Is it both?! Why am I weeping?!—I needed a boost. So I went to Ben Fountain, who…
Federal Agents Invade Portland, Citing Trump’s Executive Order Protecting Statues
Federal agents patrol in Portland after dispersing a crowd protesting police brutality on Independence Day.Nathan Howard/ZUMA For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Portland has been invaded by federal agents—including unidentified, camouflage-clad officers who have emerged from unmarked minivans to arrest protesters. These officers have reportedly refused to say…
Mask Wearing Is No Political Theater
Kevin Drum For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Over at National Review, David Harsanyi points out that the federal government probably doesn’t have the authority to force everyone in the country to wear masks. Fair enough. But then he goes further: Mask wearing has become just another stupid…
Coronavirus Growth in Western Countries: July 16 Update
Here’s the coronavirus death toll through July 16. We’re still puttering around at 2 deaths per million. The raw data from Johns Hopkins is here. The Public Health Agency of Sweden is here.
The Trump Files: Watch Donald Nominate Eminem for President
Mother Jones illustration; Shutterstock For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.This post was originally published as part of “The Trump Files“—a collection of telling episodes, strange but true stories, and curious scenes from the life of our current president—on August 5, 2016. Donald Trump didn’t speak at the…
Defend History. Tear Down the Confederate Statues.
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters. After the Civil War, Edward Virginius Valentine returned from Europe to his hometown of Richmond, Virginia—the former Confederate capital—and began using his training in classical sculpture to enshrine the myth of the Lost Cause. Over the next few decades Valentine made…