Adam Weinstein

Engagement Editor

I'm Mother Jones' engagement editor and Tumblrizer, specializing in explanatory journalism and new-media reporting. As a Navy vet and ex-Iraq contractor, I'm also committed to articulating all things martial—good, bad, and weird—to new audiences.

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Adam Weinstein is Mother Jones' engagement editor, having previously served the magazine as its national security reporter and copy editor. Before that, he worked at the Wall Street Journal, the Village Voice, and the Tallahassee Democrat. He's written for the New York Times, New York magazine, GQ, and Newsweek. A Navy veteran, two-day Jeopardy champion and ex-political scientist, he also did a recession-fueled stint as a military contractor in Iraq. For more about Adam and his writing, click here.

PHOTOS: New Evidence Released in Trayvon Martin Case

—By Adam Weinstein

| Thu May. 17, 2012 5:29 PM PDT

Trayvon Martin died of a single gunshot to the heart, and had traces of marijuana in his blood and a single scratch on one knuckle when he died, according to a trove of new evidence released by the state of Florida Thursday night. According to the documents, the Sanford police believed that the teen's death was "ultimately avoidable," if his killer, George Zimmerman, had "remained in his vehicle and awaited the arrival of law enforcement" on that fateful night in February.

The evidence includes hundreds of pages of documents and photographs gathered by Florida Special Prosecutor Angela Corey and shared earlier this week with the attorneys of Zimmerman as part of the discovery process in his trial for second-degree murder. Zimmerman admitted to shooting the 17-year-old Martin in February, but has claimed that he killed the unarmed, hoodie-wearing African American teen in self-defense.

Corey's office made the evidence available to reporters online Thursday night, and highlights quickly emerged on social media. The evidence included these photos:

The gun George Zimmerman used to kill Trayvon: a 9mm Kel-Tec PF9 double-action pistol: State of Florida

A cellphone found at the crime scene, believed to be Trayvon Martin's: State of Florida

Photo of George Zimmerman after the shooting: State of Florida Photo of George Zimmerman the night of the shooting: State of Florida

Cuts on Zimmerman's head the night of the shooting: State of FloridaAnd then there's the first known picture of Zimmerman from on the scene of the shooting. According to the New York Times: "The police took only one photo at the scene of any of Mr. Zimmerman’s injuries — a full-face picture of him that showed a bloodied nose—before paramedics tended to him…It was shot on a department cellphone camera and was not downloaded for a few days, an oversight by the officer who took it."

The first on-scene photo of Zimmerman, which wasn't recovered from a police officer's cellphone until days after the killing: State of Florida Photo of Zimmerman recovered from a police officer's cellphone days after the killing: State of Florida

Details from the newly released collection of documents quickly emerged on Twitter late Thursday, as journalists pored through the documents:

https://twitter.com/search/%2523Trayvon">#Trayvon was shot through the heart by https://twitter.com/search/%2523Zimmerman">#Zimmerman, according to autopsy http://bit.ly/KpJSOy">bit.ly/KpJSOy
— OSTrayvonMartin (@OSTrayvonMartin) May 17, 2012

The things https://twitter.com/search/%2523TrayvonMartin">#TrayvonMartin carried: red "711" lighter; $40.15; pack of https://twitter.com/search/%2523Skittles">#Skittles; headphones and a photo button
— Russell Goldman (@GoldmanRussell) May 17, 2012

Cops reported witness heard #GeorgeZimmerman yell "help me" 14 times in 38 seconds while allegedly battered by #TrayvonMartin
— Russell Goldman (@GoldmanRussell) May 17, 2012

Document: Forensic audio analysts couldn't tell if cries for help came from Trayvon or Zimmerman - scr.bi/JW5Ye1
— Matthew Keys (@ProducerMatthew) May 17, 2012

Police: When Tracy Martin first heard the cries for help on the 911 tape, he said it was NOT Trayvon's voice.
— Frances Robles (@RoblesHerald) May 17, 2012

One witness was adamant: there was no fighting when the gunshot rang out.
— Frances Robles (@RoblesHerald) May 17, 2012

Cutcher told cops: "I know they were not physically fighting at the time that gun went off when we heardshot and the kid hit the ground."
— Frances Robles (@RoblesHerald) May 17, 2012

Trayvon had blood stains on his shirt -- blood from both him and Zimmerman. #trayvon
— Frances Robles (@RoblesHerald) May 17, 2012

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Why Mitt Romney Is No Fan of Breastfeeding

When it comes to moms and their babies, Romney has been hungry to suckle at the corporate teat.

—By Adam Weinstein

| Thu May. 17, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

Jerry Holt/ZUMA Press

Breastfeeding is having another moment. Thanks to Time magazine's creepy cover pic of young mom Jamie Lynne Grumet nursing her three-year-old son, the nation has once again gone tits-up over how mothers opt to feed their young. The choice is not an easy one: As previous Mother Jones parents will attest, there's an enormous emotional and physical cost to breastfeeding. On the other hand, mother's milk doesn't contain secret toxic chemicals, put babies at increased risk for diabetes and asthma, or enrich already-bloated pharmaceutical companies to the tune of $8 billion a year.

One person doesn't seem very conflicted about favoring formula, though: Mitt Romney. As Massachusetts governor, he took steps friendly to Big Pharma that helped push pre-fab formulas on new moms. Romney's pro-corporate, anti-mammary agenda could now have implications as he struggles to convince a key constituency of female voters that he's got their interests at heart.

Romney's role goes back to early 2006, when Massachusetts' Public Health Council tried to ban so-called baby swag bags, totes full of free supplies that were given to new mothers as they left their delivery hospitals. Formula manufacturers had stuffed the bags with samples and coupons; the panel worried that the moms would see that as a hospital endorsement of less-healthy formulas and would influence the moms to miss out on the medical and financial benefits of breastfeeding.

A marketer funded by the "International Formula Council" also worked on Romney's presidential campaign.

"The marketing of infant formula undermines the initiative to nurse," Phyllis Cudmore, a council member, told the Boston Globe. "I don't think there's any place in a hospital for corporate America trying to influence a vulnerable population." A pediatric expert at Boston University's medical school added: ''The commercial stuff like gift bags—it's like Pepsi-Cola in the schools." (Statistics show three-fourths of moms start out nursing their kids, but fewer than half are still breastfeeding after six months.)

Romney was having none of it, decrying the swag ban as "the heavy arm of government" squeezing dear ol' ma. "I think that the mother should have the right to decide whether she is going to use infant formula or breast-feed," he said in a press conference. "And allowing her to make that decision is best [done] by letting her have the formula, and if she wants to use it, fine."

By May 2006, Romney had removed three anti-swag council members, including Cudmore, and added new ones who permanently reversed the ban. Shortly thereafter, in early June, Romney's administration proudly announced that Massachusetts had beaten out three other states to get a $660 million facility for pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb—parent company to the manufacturer of Enfamil, one of the country's biggest-selling infant formulas.

[Read the full article]

National Guard Confirms Identity of Alleged Neo-Nazi Soldier

—By Adam Weinstein

| Fri May. 11, 2012 11:13 AM PDT

Mother Jones has confirmed that a soldier in the Missouri National Guard, an Iraq war veteran, is being sought for allegedly joining and training a paramilitary white supremacist group that was preparing for a coming "race war" in the United States. A spokeswoman confirmed that the soldier in question is Spec. Ryan Riley, a member of Company A, 1/138th Infantry Regiment based in Boonville, Missouri. "We are conducting an internal investigation," said the spokeswoman, Maj. Tammy Spicer.

Mother Jones first reported the allegations against Riley on Wednesday, which were detailed in an affidavit against Marcus Faella, an alleged ringleader of the neo-Nazi American Front. Faella and at least a dozen other suspects were arrested in a joint FBI terrorism investigation this week alleging that the group members had trained with weapons at their Central Florida compound and planned a series of violent hate crimes. According to the affidavit, Riley—a "patched" member of the American Front's Missouri gang—traveled to Florida to train the group in military tactics:

Riley's identity was first guessed at by milblogger Jonn Lilyea, who found a Missouri-based "Ryan T. Riley" in Army Knowledge Online, the service's internet training portal for soldiers. Spicer confirmed Riley's identity to Mother Jones in an email Friday afternoon. Riley served eight years in the Army (an unusually long time for someone of such a junior rank), joined the Missouri National Guard in May 2011, and deployed to Korea in 2004-05 and Iraq in 2006-07, according to the military.

Spicer wouldn't comment directly on the National Guard's interactions with law enforcement or on Riley's current status in the service, but added the Army was looking into the matter. "The facts outlined in the affidavit are being investigated pursuant to military protocol," she said. "Appropriate disciplinary and personnel action will be taken at the conclusion of the investigation, consistent with military regulations and procedures."

Representatives of the FBI, which is leading the criminal investigation, declined to comment this week about Riley or his alleged role in the neo-Nazi terror ring. But a Central Florida sheriff's deputy who helped serve arrest warrants against the other group members told Mother Jones on Wednesday that Riley had "not been caught yet." We will continue to post updates as the investigation unfolds.

USS Freedom, Navy's $600M Showcase Ship, Springs Some Leaks

—By Adam Weinstein

| Fri May. 11, 2012 12:05 AM PDT

USS Freedom, gathering rust: US Navy/Ken Mierzejewski

Note to future admirals and members of Congress: If you're going to name a ship Freedom, you'd better make darn sure it's seaworthy. According to an internal report, the US Navy's latest greatest toy, the USS Freedom, poses a "high risk" to fail sea trials, can't pass half the basic standards for a warship, and has been called a "no-go" by a senior inspector.

Proponents have long defended the Freedom, commissioned in 2008 as the first in a new class of 55 "Littoral Combat Ships" designed for missions close to shore. It's supposed to be a cost-effective, flexible fleet. "As we continue serial production, we're reducing costs and building these high-quality ships faster," Joe North, VP of Freedom-builder Lockheed Martin, said this week. A 2010 Congressional Budget Office report (PDF) predicted the ships could cost as much as $626 million apiece—assuming everything went smoothly.

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

US Soldier Trained Neo-Nazis in Florida for "Race War"

—By Adam Weinstein

| Wed May. 9, 2012 12:53 PM PDT

The 10 members of a Florida-based neo-Nazi militant group arrested last week received training in close-quarters combat and other Army-approved tactics from a member of the US Army National Guard, according to court filings.

The co-conspirators, alleged to be members of the violent white-power American Front, face felony charges for hate crimes, paramilitary training, and preparing for a coming "race war" against blacks, Jews, and immigrants at a fortified compound in the marshlands of St. Cloud, Florida, just south of the amusement-park haven of Orlando. A short paragraph buried in the group's arrest affidavit shows a disturbing link between the Florida gang and a US military employee:

Who is Ryan Riley, and how has he been able to lead the life of both a trained American soldier and a card-carrying neo-Nazi? I've reached out to the Missouri National Guard and the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, who booked the Florida conspirators, for comment. Both said they'd get back to me and I'll add an update as soon as they do.

On the phone, the Guard's public affairs officer sounded surprised by the allegations, as if she hadn't heard them before. An Osceola County deputy involved in the case declined to comment about Riley in detail because the investigation—a cooperative effort with state authorities and the FBI—was still open, he said. Riley has "not been caught yet," he said.

We've reported before on military members joining Oathkeepers, a "patriot" group full of tin-foil hat theories and anti-government plans. And many of the nation's most infamous political criminals and terrorists—from Lee Harvey Oswald to Timothy McVeigh to Nidal Malik Hasan—were veterans. But it would be unfair to the majority of conscientious service members to overstate a link between military service and violent radicalism. As conservative military blogger Jonn Lilyea points out, "One guy in the Missouri National Guard doesn't a conspiracy make."

On the other hand, one active soldier with alleged terrorist connections—domestic or otherwise—is one too many. If Riley is in fact using his military know-how to prepare for war with American blacks and Jews, it's fair to ask what the military can do to keep guys like him out of uniform.

Editor's Note: We removed the image originally published with this post; on Wednesday afternoon it had been available for use on Flickr under a Creative Commons license, but its author since changed the license and asked that we no longer use it.

Read the full arrest affidavit:

American Front White Supremacist's Arrest Affidavit (PDF)American Front White Supremacist's Arrest Affidavit (Text)