Once Upon a Time, Presidents Read Books. Here Are Obama’s Favorites From 2019.
Former President Barack Obama took a moment out of his busy schedule of building media empires and having the 2020 Democratic nominees for president kiss his ring,to carry on a time-honored tradition he started during his presidency: Releasing his annual list of favorite books from the previous year. “This has become a fun little tradition…
Monsters of the 2010s: NFL Owners
MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News/Getty The staff of Mother Jones is rounding up the decade’s heroes and monsters. Find them all here. The National Football League spent the first half of the 2010s covering up a cover-up. The league knew that its on-field product was giving its own employees brain damage, but as the New York Times reported in 2016,…
Grumpy Cat Died This Year. The Internet Killed Her Long Ago.
Grumpy CatBruce Glikas/Getty This was the year the internet lost its cat. Grumpy Cat, whose real name was “Tardar Sauce,” died peacefully at home after contracting a urinary tract infection, her family announced on Instagram in May. The cat curmudgeon captivated millions of internet users with her iconic frown, which was likely due to feline dwarfism. Tardar…
Heroes of the 2010s: Wikipedia
Mother Jones illustration; NurPhoto/Getty The staff of Mother Jones is rounding up the decade’s heroes and monsters. Find them all here. Late at night, I read about obscure mob figures. When federal agents busted a bunch of Gambino associates a while back and announced a few had been spotted visiting an imprisoned Mafioso named Frank Locascio, I researched…
On the Road With Joan Shelley
Joan Shelley carefully calibrates the particular resonances, timbres, and tempos of her music to slow her listeners’ heartbeats and ease their fears. Her songs function as lullabies, calming anxieties about the transition between consciousness and unconsciousness, despair and connection. In the song “Teal,” from her new album, Like the River to the Sea, she expresses…
A Group of Students Were Never Taught About Their Voting Rights—So They’re Suing
Gilmanshin/Shutterstock Welcome to Recharge, a weekly newsletter full of stories that will energize your inner hellraiser. See more editions and sign up here. What does the right to vote entail exactly? What is the separation of powers guaranteed in the Constitution? At a time of impeachment, escalating climate change, and justified fears of foreign interference…