1/ With so many bringing new activism to oppose the NRA, I thought I'd hit a few of the highlights on @MotherJones last six years of reporting on them. First up, their membership numbers are nowhere what they claim: motherjones.com/crime-justice/…
2/ In 2012 @AdamWeinstein wrote about how NRA lobbyist Marion Hammer pushed the fist Stand-Your-Ground law through the Florida legislature. That law allowed George Zimmerman to walk free: motherjones.com/politics/2012/…
3/ The NRA's top lawyer for decades once was arrested for murder, set free due to shoddy police work. An NRA president was also charged with murder, btw. motherjones.com/politics/2014/…
4/ Here's how the NRA pushed Congress to effectively cripple the ATF, ensuring, among other things that no modern database helps them track gun crimes: motherjones.com/politics/2016/…
10/ The NRA likes to claim its acting on behalf of its members. But really it acts on behalf of gun makers. Here is everything you need to know about the leading ones: motherjones.com/politics/2016/…
11/ People are considering boycotting companies that do business with/give discounts to the NRA might also want to check their own 401Ks: motherjones.com/politics/2016/…
13/ When we started intensively reporting on gun violence in 2012, following the Aurora massacre, we began with a question, were mass shooting really intensifying, or did it just seem that way: motherjones.com/politics/2012/…
14/ Sadly there's no doubt now. But the database we built is still used by researchers and reporters all over the world to this day: motherjones.com/politics/2012/…
16/ The Parkland kids are jolting America from its resignation that nothing can be done about the NRA's deadly hold on our politics. But they're also building on work of other activists, like @shannonrwatts and Moms Demand: motherjones.com/politics/2014/…
18/ Now, after calling NRA leaders "great Americans" Trump is trying to raise money off of Parkland victims. Let. That. Sink. In: motherjones.com/politics/2018/…
19/ And Trump is echoing NRA's talking point of arming teachers and turning schools into prisons: motherjones.com/politics/2018/…
20/Philando Castile was a school worker legally licensed to carry a gun. When a cop murdered him in front of his partner and her little girl, the NRA said nothing. Because he was black. Then NRA is an explicitly racist organization: motherjones.com/politics/2017/…
21/ Look at the NRA's own ads to see its descent from sport and safety group to far-right racist hate-mongerer: motherjones.com/politics/2013/…
22/ I might pick this back up later, but for now know that the public opinion, which has long favored gun control, is growing stronger and stronger in favor of substantive change: motherjones.com/politics/2018/…
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1/ So @jasonleopold just posted a big story about one of Elon Musk's DOGE goons, the 19-yo Edward Coristine, who was fired from a data-security firm internship for...sharing company secrets. (gift link) bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
2/ Under one of his on-line aliases, JoeyCrafter, he posted to Telegram sites about the Nazi site Daily Stormer and also Kiwi Farms...
3/ Kiwi Farms is a forum that specializes in doxxing, SWATing, and otherwise harassing people, particularly trans people, as @alibreland wrote for @MotherJones in 2023 motherjones.com/politics/2023/…
1/ Whether or not Biden explicitly endorses Harris, it's hard to imagine who would a) decide to go up against her and b) wind up on top with the amount of time left.
Maybe a year ago or even six months ago. But now?
2/ Biden cannot make his delegates vote for Harris. Sure, if he was like "imho, she's the only one for the job" they'd be *even more* likely to go for her. But they're not legally bound to follow his lead.
To many, this signals chaos ahead. But another way to think about it...
3/ Is that a process that wasn't kicked off by Biden being super explicit about his wishes would still likely wind up with Harris, but with less worry that voters would feel they were forced to supporters.
1/ Today we began to roll out an incredible 2.5 year project with @reveal and @publicintegrity. We found 1250 formerly enslaved people who WERE given the 40 Acres Gen Sherman promised them, only to have it seized back after Lincoln was killed motherjones.com/politics/2024/…
2/ It began when @AlexiaCampbell found some documents deep in the US Archives…
@AlexiaCampbell 3/ Years of document dives, many reporting trips, and a giant database build later, @publicintegrity reporters not only found land titles given to 1,250 emancipated people (there are likely thousands more) but traced the geneology of many: motherjones.com/politics/2024/…
1/For years, the mother of mass shooter Elliot Rogers has been quietly helping experts prevent future massacres. For the past two years, she's been talking to @markfollman. This is an important story, unlike any other: motherjones.com/criminal-justi…
2/ Family, friends, the many therapists he saw—they all knew he struggled. But nobody thought he was suicidal, much less murderous. How can we all learn from missed signals, and ensure that our communities have threat assessment teams to flag and help divert potential killers?
3/ Elliot Roger is especially infamous b/c left behind misogynistic rants. But the media label of “intel ringleader,” say the experts who’ve studied him for 10 years, is skewed, and it’s help fuel copycat cases. And this is important, generally, because...
1/ Jesus, Blue Wave twitter has, yet again, completely lost its mind re @maggieNYT. Guys, texting with sources is how you get the inside dope and "start writing" isn't an order from Trump HQ, it's like, start your process and I'll maybe feed you something.
2/ Does a reporter coax info out of someone by...coaxing, yes, yes they do. It's a game of cat and mouse where each side hopes to get something from the other. The journalist: info. The source: sympathy/spin/down payment on future leakage, etc.
3/ In a case like this the source and the journo have known each other for years, maybe decades. They are each doing a dance to get what they want. Nobody in this case is a media naif.
1/ Today, we launched a giant project on American Oligarchy.
From the rise of Trump, to crippling housing prices, to reality TV, there's nothing that explains America's crises like seemingly limitless power (and oft farcical vanity) of the super rich: motherjones.com/politics/2024/…
2/ First, a quick video preview of what a full issue of @MotherJones magazine, plus a lot more online, holds: tiktok.com/@motherjonesma…