Trump “Terminated” Defense Secretary Mark Esper
Ssgt. Jack Sanders/Defense Department For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.Mark Esper was fired as defense secretary on Monday, becoming one of the first casualties of President Donald Trump’s post-election purge of officials seen as insufficiently loyal to him. Esper’s ouster had been rumored…
Trump Refuses to Authorize Biden Transition Planning
Chuck Myers/ZUMA For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.It’s not as though this is surprising, but still: A Trump administration appointee is refusing to sign a letter allowing President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to formally begin its work this week, in another sign the…
Private Prison Stocks Drop as the Reality of Biden’s Win Sinks In
Sue Ogrocki/AP For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.Private prison companies have taken a financial hit in the past week as President-elect Joe Biden’s win became apparent. Stock prices for the country’s two largest prison companies, the GEO Group and CoreCivic, have fallen 14…
Chart of the Day: How Much Do You Hate the Other Party?
I don’t remember where I saw this, but a few days ago I came across a recent study that compares the US to other countries on the question of how much we hate the other political party. The authors created an overall metric for “affective polarization,” but I think it’s more interesting to break it…
Want to Fight the Zombie Fire Apocalypse? Weaponize Math.
A local activist extinguishes a peat fire near a village outside of the Siberian city of Novosibirsk in September 2020.Alexander Nemenov/Getty For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.This piece was originally published in Wired and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. The largest…
Flailing Trump Campaign Shares Doctored Image of a 2000 Newspaper to Dispute Biden’s Victory
Alex Brandon/AP For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.The Trump campaign’s latest attempt to deny President-elect Joe Biden’s victory is to claim that the media can’t call the race, and therefore it’s not over. To make this point, on Sunday the campaign’s spokesperson released…