A California Wildfire Nearly Destroyed This 130-Year-Old Observatory
The Lick Observatory at the top of Mount Hamilton, in the Diablo Range just east of San Jose, California.Marty Bicek/Zuma For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.This piece was originally published in Wired and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. On the morning, of Sunday, August…
Fact of the Day: Manufacturing as a % of the Workforce, 1985-2020
Margaret Sullivan notes today that fact-checking has outlived its usefulness: As scholars have observed, calling out falsehoods forcefully may actually cause people to hold tighter to their beliefs. That’s the “backfire effect” that academics Brendan Nyhan and Jason Reifler wrote about in their study “When Corrections Fail” about the persistence of political misperceptions: “Direct factual…
Don’t Forget the Other Radical Activists in Professional Basketball: WNBA Players
The Washington Mystics wear T-shirts with seven red circles on the back to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake by police. Courtesy Espn2/ZUMA Wire/Cal Sport Media via AP Images For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.NBA players return to the court today after ending a strike that started…
The NBA Wildcat Strike Is How a Revolution Starts
On Wednesday, the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, scheduled to play the fifth game of their first-round playoff series against the Orland Magic, walked out. The players of five other teams joined their strike. WNBA players pushed the league to cancel the three games on its docket. Major League Baseball’s Milwaukee Brewers, scheduled to face the Cincinnati…
Fact Check: The Trump Era Has Been a Gold Mine for Drug Companies
Dean Baker is one of the few lonely folks who continues to hold out hope that the truth matters in our fallen age. I’m still with him, despite the abundant evidence that we’re both wrong, so here he is factchecking Donald Trump’s claim that he’s tough on drug companies and has cut prescription drug prices…
Here’s How Kenosha Cops Will Try to Get Away With Nearly Murdering Jacob Blake
People in New York City protest the shooting of Jacob Blake by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer.John Lamparski/SIPA USA via AP Images For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Somewhat predictably, the Kenosha police union has come to the defense of the officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times…