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Mother Jones •

He claimed God sent Hitler to create Israel. Now he's speaking at the pro-Israel rally. What?

He claimed God sent Hitler to create Israel. And on Tuesday, he is prominently featured in one of the country’s biggest pro-Israel demonstrations since the conflict began on October 7.

John Hagee, a mainstay in right-wing politics for decades, is reportedly invited to speak on Tuesday at the March for Israel event alongside Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), former CNN personality Van Jones, and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). It’s expected to garner an attendance in the tens of thousands and will reintrod...
Mother Jones •

Tesla's hometown has a message for Elon Musk

Across the nation, citizens have been protesting unelected budget-cut overlord Elon Musk and his “Department of Government Efficiency”—in part at Tesla auto dealerships, where, this weekend, Musk’s former neighbors in Palo Alto took a stand.

The Bay Area city was home to Musk and his electric vehicle empire for more than a decade. Both have since relocated to Texas, where Musk can draw even bigger paychecks, create his own SpaceX company town, and launch rockets over the Gulf-that-shall-not-be-...
Mother Jones •

Democrats are furious with Chuck Schumer

In the wake of votes by a handful of key Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, to pass a GOP-led continuing resolution funding federal operations through the end of September, fissures have expanded within the Democratic Party on how best to counter Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s ongoing assault on government agencies.

The resolution, which cuts non-defense spending by $13 billion and increases defense spending by approximately $6 billion, includes—among other steep cuts—a 57 pe...
Mother Jones •

"Pure ignorance": Veterans slam Trump's trans military ban

Donald Trump has signed an executive order targeting transgender members of the armed services.

In 2017, President Trump banned transgender Americans from the military, though with an exception for those already serving. His new order, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” goes much further—it bans all transgender service members, stating that the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and...
Mother Jones •

“Dystopian”: Trump issues new order to stamp out trans youth healthcare

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump issued an executive order attempting to sharply curtail access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth, up to and including 18-year-olds.

The executive order does not impose an immediate ban on gender-affirming care. Instead, it directs federal agencies to begin taking steps to end gender-affirming treatments for children. By defining “children” as individuals under the age of 19—including 18-year-olds, who exceed the age of majority—the order goes furt...
Mother Jones •

For scientists studying environmental health, Trump's diktats are a slow-moving disaster

Gabriel Filippelli opened up his email inbox on Monday to encounter some unexpected news: a notice that his $300,000 grant from the State Department was no more.

Filippelli is the Chancellor’s Professor of Earth Sciences and executive director of the Environmental Resilience Institute at Indiana University. Previously a senior science advisor to the State Department, he has dedicated his career to understanding and improving environmental health. “I work on issues related to pollution and air q...
Mother Jones •

Can the rule of law save the IRA?

In 2022, President Biden and Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, securing over $370 billion for climate infrastructure. According to an oversight report from June 2024, only 12 percent—or $4.4 billion—of the funding had been spent. Biden rushed to “Trump-proof” another $96.7 billion in his last days of office by signing between the government and recipients.

But that preparation may have not been successful.

On day one, Trump countered with an executive order that includes halting fed...
Mother Jones •

“Beyond terrifying”: What it is like being the parent of a trans child with Trump in office

Five years ago Minna Zelch and her then-15-year-old daughter, a transgender student, were elated when the state of Ohio granted her permission to play on her high school softball team. Just weeks later, legislation banning transgender athletes from participating in school sports was introduced in the statehouse. As the only transgender athlete who fit this category, Zelch says, her daughter overnight, “became the face of trans athletes in Ohio.” Now a 20-year-old college student out of state, he...
Mother Jones •

America will pay dearly for the NIH’s mindless war on wokeness and DEI

One Sunday in January, biologist Mark Peifer, a professor at the University of North Carolina’s medical school, got a call from campus police. Rising temperatures in a malfunctioning cold room at his lab had tripped an alarm. Materials he needed for his work—which has furthered the understanding and treatment of colorectal cancer—were in danger of being compromised.

He was able to get the cold room repaired that same day, and had the funding to do so, so the disruption was minimized. But now Pe...
Washington Blade •

Aime Wichtendahl becomes Iowa's first trans legislator

Aime Wichtendahl first made history as the first openly trans woman to be elected to government in the state of Iowa when elected to the Hiawatha City Council. She made history again this Election Day, becoming Iowa’s first trans legislator.

Wichtendahl kept the seat blue by beating Republican opponent John Thompson 52 to 48. She will succeed Art Staed (D), who ran successfully for a state Senate seat, with unanimous support from the Democratic base.
Washington Blade •

More than 35 trans, genderqueer candidates running across U.S.

When Jennifer Williams was collecting signatures for her first political campaign in 2022, people told her, a transgender woman, “I think you would do an awesome job, but you got no chance to win.”


Their hesitancy was not unfounded. Williams won her seat on Trenton, N.J.’s City Council by a single vote.


This round she is running unopposed with broad community support. She attributes this to the fact that she got her job done. “Things have gone so well,” she says, “I think I delivered on ev...
LGBTQ Nation •

Parents across the political spectrum are banding together to save their trans children

Eric Childs says he joined the army because “serving my country was a defense of freedom.” 
“I live in a small town in South Carolina,” he declares in a video while at a shooting range with his son. “I absolutely believe in protecting my rights. And I absolutely love my trans child.”
The video is the first in a series by GRACE – Gender Research Advisory Council and Education – a non-profit founded by trans veteran Alaina Kupec with the goal of reaching across the aisle on transgender rights. The...
Washington Blade •

A trans president? March organizer dares to dream

The fifth annual Transgender Visibility March returned to D.C. on Saturday, Aug. 24. This marked the first time the march has been back in D.C. since the inaugural event in 2019, which featured “Pose” star Angelica Ross and then-Human Rights Campaign president Alphonso David. 
The Washington Blade caught up with Hope Giselle-Godsey, executive director of the march, as she got ready for the festivities. 
BLADE: Would you mind telling me a little bit of background about yourself? How did you end u...
Mother Jones •

An epic battle over 1 mile of land in Wisconsin is tearing environmentalists apart

Judge William M. Conley watched as the Cardinal-Hickory Creek Transmission Line inched toward the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge—a 240,000-acre bird sanctuary through which the fully funded power project lacked the permits to pass. By January 2022, he’d seen enough. It “amounts to little more than an orchestrated trainwreck,” Conley, an Obama-appointed federal judge from the Western District of Wisconsin, wrote in a scathing 23-page opinion that delayed construction.

More than
Mother Jones •

The UK's new study on gender affirming care misses the mark in so many ways

Last month, the UK’s four-year-long review of medical interventions for transgender youth was published. The Cass Review, named after Hilary Cass, a retired pediatrician appointed by the National Health Service to lead the effort, found that “there is not a reliable evidence base” for gender-affirming medicine. As a result, the report concludes, trans minors should generally not be able to access hormone blockers or hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and instead should seek psychotherapy. While t
Mother Jones •

Not even a child's death can stop these lawmakers from spewing hate

Trans teen Nex Benedict died after an altercation in the girl’s bathroom of his public high school in Owasso, Oklahoma a bathroom he was required to use because of the state’s 2023 legislation forcing students at public and charter schools to use bathroom and changing facilities that match their biological, sex rather than their identity.

The exact cause of Benedict’s death—which occurred less than 24 hours after he was “jumped” by three other students who, in Benedict’s words, were “beating th
Mother Jones •

A 6-year-old Palestinian American boy was fatally stabbed inside his home

The family of Wadea Al-Fayoume, a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy who was fatally stabbed inside his home in Plainfield, Illinois, is preparing to bury him today. Police have accused the family’s landlord, 71-year-old Joseph Czuba, of stabbing the boy 26 times with a knife, a brutal murder the Justice Department is now investigating as a hate crime.

Wadea’s mother, Hanaan Shahin, 32, also suffered serious injuries after police officials say she was stabbed over a dozen times. According to W
Mother Jones •

The irony of Jewish activists facing anti-LGBTQ backlash for supporting Palestinians

“Mr. President, you care about Jewish people. As a rabbi, I need you to call for a cease-fire right now,” called Rabbi Jessica Rosenberg last week, interrupting Biden at a campaign reception in Minneapolis.

Biden responded with “I think we need a pause.” It was the first time Biden had wavered from his unconditional support for Israel, though he clarified that “a pause means give time to get the prisoners out. Give time.”

Rosenberg, a Reconstructionist rabbi, author, and organizer, is a member
Mother Jones •

Rep. Becca Balint becomes the first Jewish congressperson to back a ceasefire

On Thursday, Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) became the first Jewish congressperson to join the congressional call for a ceasefire in the war in Gaza. A first-term representative, Balint made history last year as the first woman and LGBTQ person to represent Vermont in Congress.

Her call for a ceasefire comes one week after activists from the Vermont chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace protested outside one of Balint’s campaign events and days after a meeting between Balint and rabbis from Rabbis for Ce
Mother Jones •

Republican senators who ditched their jobs to make a point can't have those jobs back, state court rules

The Supreme Court of Oregon on Thursday ruled that 10 Republican and Independent state senators cannot run for reelection this year. Their transgression? Not showing up for work.

Since 2019, Republicans, Oregon’s minority party, have been staging walkouts to prevent the majority party from passing progressive measures, like a proposal to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and to protest Covid restrictions. The AWOL senators were facing fines of $500 for every day of missed work, but that didn’t
Mother Jones •

16 young people in Montana just won a historic climate lawsuit

A healthy climate is included in your constitutional rights, at least if you live in Montana. On Monday, District Court Judge Kathy Seeley sided with the 16 young plaintiffs who sued Montana three years ago, arguing that its pro–fossil fuels legislation violated their right to a safe environment. Seeley ruled in the case, Held v. Montana, that “plaintiffs have a fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate as part of the environmental life support
Mother Jones •

How does the American Climate Corps compare to its predecessor?

On Wednesday, the Biden administration launched the American Climate Corps, a climate-focused youth job training program. The plan will put some 20,000 people to work doing clean energy, wildfire prevention, and coastal resilience jobs and has already cost $150 million in investment. It’s far from the original vision, which Biden announced in 2021 and which would have invested $30 billion for more than 300,000 workers. Despite this, activists, including those in New York City for the Climate Wee
Mother Jones •

Climate change caused the storms—but failed infrastructure made them deadly

When snow hit Nashville this January, residents were almost cheerful as they noted the rare occurrence. A local musician posted a video, singing in the snow, with the caption “I thought when we moved South we did not have to worry about snow…too hot to be cold!” But the upbeat demeanor in Music City dissipated as conditions became treacherous and accidents started to be reported. Then the power went out as equipment failed in the cold. Nashville residents weren’t alone in their troubles. The mul
Mother Jones •

Are these $2,000 water bills racist?

When Tyrone Pettway saw his water bill in October 2021, he thought it was a typo. The bill was for $2,384.51, some $2,300 more than what he usually owed the Prichard, Alabama, water board every month.

The document claimed Pettway, his wife, and their five kids had used 167,000 gallons of water over the course of the 34-day billing period, amounting to nearly 5,000 gallons a day. But Pettway was sure they had used no more water that month than they normally did: 3,700 gallons total, or about 18
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