NOT LONG AGO, I noticed a new term trending in social media wellness circles: “certified hormone specialist.” I could have investigated it the old-fashioned way: googling, calling up an expert or two, digging into the scientific literature. I’m accus

IN 2007, AFTER Paul Ross Evans pleaded guilty to leaving a bomb outside of a women’s health clinic in Austin, he assured the judge: He never meant for anyone to get hurt. “Except,” he clarified, “for the abortionists.” For almost two centuries, the m

ON THE AFTERNOON of January 6, 2021, as election deniers armed with Tasers and tomahawks overran the US Capitol, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) handed his colleague and close friend Eric Swalwell a pen. “Here,” he said to the California Democrat. “Stic

THE WAR FOR control of the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire began to escalate in the spring of 2021, when Jeremy Kauffman got the keys to the Twitter account. Kauffman, a tech entrepreneur, had arrived in the state a few years earlier as part of th

A DAY AHEAD of the third anniversary of January 6, President Joe Biden traveled to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania—where George Washington encamped during the Revolutionary War—before delivering what he described as a “deadly serious” speech framing the s

THE FEAR OF pernicious substances getting into children’s bodies and causing lasting harm is understandably a nail-biter for parents. Maybe that’s why the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) issued new guidelines in December to help d

Barcelona-based artist Guillem Casasús has illustrated some of our favorite issues, features, and packages—like this bubble-bursting cover for our dive into third parties. What’s getting you through the 2024 election cycle? To see our masthead, visit

EVEN BEFORE THE last shots of the Revolutionary War were fired, John Adams wrote a friend to warn, “There is nothing I dread so much as a division of the Republic into two great parties.” Alas, political scientists will tell you the winner-takes-all

THEY MIGHT NOT know his name, but millions of video gamers have encountered narrative designer Evan Narcisse’s handiwork in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, which showcases more Black and Brown characters in its first few minutes than most popular

VOTERS LOVE TO complain about the two-party system, which can leave us feeling stuck: Trump and Biden again? Yet most of our elections rely on a process that guarantees frustration. Plurality voting—pick one candidate and the top vote-getter wins—usu

IN THE SUMMER of 2000, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a scion of the Democratic Party dynasty, took time out of his schedule as an environmental attorney to write an op-ed for the New York Times. In the piece, Kennedy hailed consumer advocate Ralph Nader as

IT’S BEEN A BRUTAL year for journalism so far. How many times have I written that sentence now? Enough that I wasn’t going to write it again, despite the headlines about how the current troubles in the news business represent an “extinction-level eve

TOMMY ALBA COULD be a pain in the ass. It’s how he ran two bustling cafes in coastal Virginia. His linebacker physique and booming baritone, with more than a hint of a childhood New Jersey accent, could make him intimidating. Even Lorene Alba, who ad

DOSTIE FARM, an organic dairy in Fairfield, Maine, was thriving until one day in October 2020 when owner Egide Dostie Jr. got a call from Stonyfield, his exclusive buyer. Something was off with the farm’s milk: Tests had found that it contained three

WHEN ETHAN BLOCK heard that Andy Kim was running for Senate, he got to work. Over winter break, the Rutgers University senior launched a campus group to spread the word about the mild-mannered congressman taking on Bob Menendez, the longtime Democrat

WHEN HE RAN for president in 2004, Democrats were counting on John Kerry’s military service to define him as a strong leader in a time of war. The decorated Vietnam veteran headed into the party’s convention with a small lead over President George W.

WHEN WE ASKED the Mother Jones community for their personal experience with turning away from the two parties, we got thousands of responses stretching as far back as Eldridge Cleaver. But many readers, like the sample collected here, focused on this

THERE’S SOMETHING UNSETTLING about the Venus flytrap. When it eats, it behaves more like an animal than a plant, ensnaring unsuspecting insects in its fragrant snapping trap in as little as a third of a second. And while one can understand, rationall

IN 2009, when Facebook changed its newsfeed significantly for the first time, there wasn’t much uproar over “the algorithm.” Now we’re all talking about it—whatever “it” is. The algorithm and its ramifications have been the focus of congressional hea

WESLEY BELL, St. Louis County’s first-ever Black prosecuting attorney, appeared at a virtual Democratic event in mid-October, eager to discuss the race he was running against Sen. Josh Hawley. “We’re in a place to get this guy,” Bell boasted. Come El

LIKE A REVELER who chases each of many tequila shots with a seltzer, US farm policy consists of comically clashing impulses likely to result in a nasty hangover. The Department of Agriculture doles out substantial subsidies each year to entice farmer

AT THE START of a slickly produced 19-minute YouTube video titled “How T.Rex Arms Got Started,” Lucas Botkin, the company’s 30-year-old founder, runs through an obstacle course. A guitar-heavy soundtrack plays as Botkin, decked out in tactical gear a

HALFWAY THROUGH a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by Fox Business, an ad made a jarring argument. President Joe Biden’s proposal to ban menthol cigarettes “will fuel an illicit market, lining the pockets of the Mexican cartels,” warned

MOST OF THE NEWS about the journalism business right now is grim. Storied newsrooms are being hollowed out and sold to hedge funds. Once-hot digital startups are cutting back and closing down. Even public radio and television are laying off staff. La

ONE CHILLY MORNING last October, I took a monorail through New York City’s Bronx Zoo in hopes of catching a glimpse of a famous elephant named Happy. When we finally spied her backside tucked in the far corner of the open-air exhibit, our guide begge

THE AMERICAN PUBLIC seems to have emerged from the initial jolt of the pandemic with a newfound clarity familiar to survivors of catastrophes. Many people experienced an evaporation of the things that lent their lives the illusion of stability. Jobs

CRUISING SOUTH DOWN a two-lane highway in Montana, Braven Glenn looked out onto the open road, the evening sky chilly and dark. It was November 24, 2020—half a year into the pandemic and three months after his 17th birthday. He was a good student, on

TWO BLONDS AND a brunette stumble out of the club, tipsy and teetering in heels. They pile into a two-seater Benz. It’s a rainy night in the City of Angels, lit by flashbulbs. Men clamber onto the car, screaming the women’s names. The next morning, a

This issue’s cover features a family photo of 17-year-old Braven Glenn, the Crow Nation teen whose death in a police chase led MoJo to investigate tribal law enforcement. What’s your golden rule when you’re on assignment? To see our masthead, visit m