The Fight Over the “Ground Zero Mosque” Was a Grim Preview of the Trump Era
Protesters demonstrate against the planned Park51 Islamic Center on September 11, 2010.David Goldman/AP Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.There’s no one moment that gave us Donald Trump, because his rise was the sum of many afflictions: a susceptibility to fraudsters, a broken…
Does Banning the Taliban From Social Media Actually Help Afghans?
A Taliban fighter searches for a network signal for his mobile phone at a hospital in the Andar district of Ghazni province.Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.When earlier this month the Taliban overtook Kabul, gaining control of Afghanistan, accounts on…
Who Is Mayim Bialik? A Terrible Choice for Jeopardy Host
Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.Yesterday, the producers of the long-running gameshow Jeopardy! announced two new co-hosts to replace the late Alex Trebek: the show’s executive producer Mike Richards and actress Mayim Bialik. Richards has his own issues—including being named in a…
We Have the War on Terror to Thank for Donald Trump
Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.Spencer Ackerman has had as interesting—and tempestuous—a relationship to national security reporting as anyone in the field. In his nearly two decades on the beat, Ackerman exposed Islamophobic training sessions at the FBI, won a…
A Conservative Radio Host Mocked the Vaccine. Now He’s Hospitalized With COVID.
Phil Valentine hosting his radio show in 2020.PhilValentine Show/YouTube Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.The family of a conservative radio host Phil Valentine, who is now hospitalized in a Tennessee critical care unit with COVID-19, issued a statement on his behalf Friday, expressing…
How Trump and Conservative Media Are Cashing in on Disinformation
Brian Cahn/ZUMA Fight disinformation. Get a daily recap of the facts that matter. Sign up for the free Mother Jones newsletter.There is a transmission chain of disinformation on the right that is profitable both financially and politically. This week, Donald Trump supplied a text-book example. The former president sent out email soliciting donations for his…