A billionaire political donor sued Mother Jones. We won. Here's what happened. The backstory of the massive lawsuit against Mother Jones.

(Here's the back story of the lawsuit, and how we won: www.motherjones.com/media/2015/1...)

10 years ago, @motherjones.com prevailed in a massive lawsuit brought by a billionaire political donor—a preview of the legal war against the media that's been playing out ever since. Remembering Gary Bostwick, a great First Amendment champion who helped us fight it: www.legacy.com/legacy/gary-...

Twenty years later, on election night in November 2008, we stood in Chicago’s Grant Park, waiting for the Obama family to appear so a newly elected president—the first Black chief executive—could claim his victory. Nearby, Reverend Jackson clutched a small American flag and wept unashamedly. Watching him, I was carried back to the weeks we spent together on the campaign trail in 1987. During our final conversation on the road, in an unusually guarded off-the-record moment, Jackson admitted: “I know what my job is. It’s to bang on the door. Kick at the door. Bang on the door harder and push harder still. Someday, someone else will walk through it.”

Late to post, but this is such a lovely piece from former @motherjones.com Mother Jones editor Doug Foster, who shadowed Jesse Jackson on the campaign trail in 1987 and is now sharing what he couldn't share back then. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Time to rewatch The Handmaid's Tale.

Find Your News

I'm biased toward our incredible, nonprofit, fearless team. But you can find hundreds of others here findyournews.org

Support Nonprofit Journalism - Donate to Mother Jones Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Support independent media. It's the only way you can be sure a billionaire won't wreck the journalism to advance his agenda. secure.motherjones.com/flex/mj/key/...

I've tried to raise my kids to stand up for what's right, and it's hard now not to fear what might happen to them when they do.

When I lived in Minneapolis, KARE11 News was a lot of fish and weather. Right now it's a brave reporter in a gas mask documenting anger and fear www.kare11.com/watch

More so than ever today.

Pivoting to Creator: An interview with Liz Kelly Nelson. An interview with Liz Kelly Nelson, who wants to help journalists navigate the independent creator economy.

Good interview with @lizkellynelson.com, but missing mention of the newsrooms and journos who have been pushing on this for years, like my amazing @motherjones.com colleagues who racked up 66M video views last year with solid reporting and innovative creator partnerships www.cjr.org/the-intervie...

The bravery of the people—and particularly the women—of Minnesota is really giving me heart this weekend. This is the state that welcomed me as a new immigrant and that has always been capable of a particular American kind of decency.

The government is saying that violence rules. That snatching foreign leaders and territories, and shooting US citizens in their cars at point blank range, is justified. That resistance is not only futile, it is dangerous. They can say these things. But they cannot force us to believe them.

God help US travelers and service members as we cement precedent that you can can snatch anyone, on any pretext, so long as your military is big enough

Kevin Drum was the first journalist to really get into the ties between lead and crime rates (not just serial killers) and I think it is one of the most important articles we’ve ever done www.motherjones.com/environment/...

What we'll need to remember is that none of us should be expected to be a hero. That standard is self-defeating. All we are being asked—all that future generations will remember us for—is whether we took the small steps that we do have the power to take. Happy New Year!

This could be the year when America decides whether, for the foreseeable future, we will have elections that count, a judicial system that upholds the rule of law, a society that at least aims for fairness, or bows to the bullies. None of us asked to be the people who must decide. But here we are.

Many of our leaders have failed us. But courage came in the form of people helping their neighbors, judges and state legislators doing what's right in the face of threats. Strangers have shown up for one another in remarkable ways. In 2026, we can build on that.

I wondered whether we would see civil courage under the Trump administration, and what it would look like. Now we have the answer. In 2025, courage did not (with notable exceptions) come from the most powerful people in the land—Supreme Court justices, members of Congress, university presidents.

Very short🧵: At the start of 2025, I reflected on Zivilcourage—a German word that, to me, describes how everyday people can be more powerful than soldiers in battle. It's not about heroism, but small acts of standing up. Refusing to laugh at a cruel joke, blowing a whistle, walking a kid to school.

Support Nonprofit Journalism - Donate to Mother Jones Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

A huge thank you to everyone pitching in to help us make our end of year deadline, when donations to @motherjones.com and @revealnews.org are being 3x matched. This support is the one and only reason we can stay fiercely independent as others bend the knee. secure.motherjones.com/flex/mj/key/...

Facebook manipulated the news you see to appease Republicans, insiders say Sources tell us the platform tweaked its code to help right-wing publishers and throttle sites like Mother Jones

And there's history here of Meta intentionally amplifying conservative outlets, despite its own standards about "quality" news, to mollify the right www.motherjones.com/media/2020/1...

A screenshot of news outlets included in Meta's new AI partnership including Fox News, The Daily Caller, and the Washington Examiner

Really leaning into appeasement with this selection about.fb.com/news/2025/12...

Go Oakland bus driver patiently explaining the finer points of Prop 50 to fellow passenger so she can vote with confidence. Democracy is alive

Some day, perhaps this can become the home of a truth and healing commission. wapo.st/3WjyJv8

Al Letson at No Kings: Hope, Fury, and Inflatables Podcast Episode · Reveal · 10/22/2025 · 24m

Are you disappointed by news coverage of the rallies this weekend? Do you wish a great podcast had gone out to really share the voices and sounds of that day? @alletson.bsky.social has you covered with this amazing episode of More To The Story from @revealnews.org. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

This is almost meta "irony is dead"

A protester with a sign saying "Honk for Democracy"

I came off the DL to check out the big march in little San Leandro, California. Michelle Doppelt had already taken off her inflatable unicorn costume, but was looking forward to bringing him out again for the next protest. "We have to have fun and keep up hope," she said.

@revealnews.org host @alletson.bsky.social and dozens of my colleagues are covering No Kings rallies all over the country. There are inflatables, giant copies of the Constitution, flags, and a lot of joy. And if, like me, you're on the DL today, @motherjones.com will have updates for you all day!

It’s time for soft secession How blue states can use their economic clout to stand up to Trump’s agenda—starting with California.

A lot of casual secession talk is some version of "let's throw the rest of the country [note: most of which did not ask for this either!] to the wolves". @clarajeffery.bsky.social smartly flips that into "let's use the power that we ACTUALLY HAVE to make change." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

This. We need to confront and name the dangers. But I grew up around people who remembered Germany in 1935, and Italy in 1923. They could not have imagined the rights that we have—and must use.