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.

Saudis to Behead TV "Sorcerer"

—By Adam Weinstein

| Thu Apr. 1, 2010 11:28 AM PDT

In a spectacular display of theocratic zeal that makes The Crucible look like The Sound of Music, the government of Saudi Arabia—America's petro-partner in the war on terror—is preparing to get medieval on a Lebanese TV personality: The popular host is to be beheaded Friday for practicing "sorcery" on his Arabic-language TV show. And according to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, the man's ordeal is but one strange front in a renewed Saudi offensive to root out un-Islamic thoughtcrimes. As one Amnesty worker puts it, "If JK Rowling lived in Saudi Arabia, she could be arrested for practising 'sorcery' with her Harry Potter books."

[Read more in the Riff blog]

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Obama: The "First Gay President"?

—By Adam Weinstein

| Wed Mar. 31, 2010 10:47 AM PDT

Judging from the Family Research Council's official bio of its vice president Tom McClusky, you'd think the guy was a pretty mild-mannered, if conservative, politico. He's worked for Bush the Elder, Jack Kemp, and George Allen, among others—not your typical Tea Party rabble—and he's written lots of anti-tax policy papers. He appears like the sort of staid, quiet guy who'd say something like this to Fox News: "It seems like for only six months, every two years—right around election time—that we're even noticed."

Fortunately for the good-humored progressive, McClusky fills that down time with highly entertaining ramble on a blog for the right-wing, "family values"-oriented FRC. It's called the Cloakroom—not to be confused with a closet, for it is here that McClusky details the evils of homosexuality...as well as women's rights, homeland security (when it's Democratic-run), and the like. And few of his Cloakroom rambles are as fun as the one he posted yesterday calling Barack Obama gay. The First Gay, in fact. Wrote McClusky:

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

We Can "Live With" a Nuclear Iran: Brzezinski

—By Adam Weinstein

| Tue Mar. 30, 2010 2:34 PM PDT

Iran's stubbornness on its nuclear program has dominated a meeting this week of the G-8 nations' foreign ministers—and even convinced Canada, the US's "peaceful neighbor to the north," to press for sanctions against the Middle Eastern state. But as the ministers focus on taking steps against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime, a trusted ally of the Obama administration and former national security adviser is telling the Arab media that America can "live with" a nuclear armed Iran, if necessary.

Zbigniew Brzezinski—who served as President Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, and is a mentor to numerous current and former US diplomats—made the comments in an extended interview that's set to air Wednesday on an Al Jazeera English TV show titled Empire. When asked if the US could tolerate a nuclear Iran, Brzezinski replied thus:

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

Paging Dr. James Franco

—By Adam Weinstein

| Tue Mar. 30, 2010 11:57 AM PDT

Dear ~~Dr. Franco~~ James,

I read with great distress this morning of your plan to matriculate in the PhD program in English at Yale University. This would be where most people congratulate you on your acceptance. But most people are sycophants who mistake fame and physical attractiveness for innate character. I am not one of those people. I've known the truth about you ever since you made a campy joke of my alma mater, the US Naval Academy, in an Annapolis performance that by comparison gives Officer and a Gentleman the gravitas and dynamism of an Olivier stage romp.

This Yale thing, of course, would not be your first foray into the hallowed halls of academe. You dropped into UCLA, then dropped out, then back in. You almost gave a commencement speech there, then didn't. Then you went to my other alma mater, Columbia, for a master's in fine arts with an emphasis on creative writing, as well as a nap. At the same time, you also enrolled in NYU's Tisch School for acting.

And now, Yale wants you. To the list of earthly phenomena that mystify me—the riddle of Schroedinger's cat, the Second Law of Thermodynamcs—I now add this: The Ivies and other top-tier institutions shower degrees on you like so many Sony HD minicams in an Oscar-party grab-bag giveaway. And I must strenuously object. Please read the following appeal:

[Read more in the Riff blog]

Is Iraq's Allawi a Murderer?

—By Adam Weinstein

| Mon Mar. 29, 2010 1:54 PM PDT

As Mother Jones reported last week, the political future of Iraq didn't get any clearer with the results of its early-March parliamentary elections. One surprise, though, was the strong showing of ex-prime minister Ayad Allawi, a former strongman for Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party who had forged an alliance of secular Sunnis and Shiites. Allawi's Iraqi National Accord gained 91 seats, a "thin plurality" that was two seats better than the current prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, and his Shiite coalition. As regional expert Juan Cole noted today, it's unlikely Allawi has an easy path to resuming his old position, but he's clearly become—once again—a heavy player in Iraqi politics.

All of which makes it worth asking: Is Ayad Allawi a stone cold killer?

[Read more in the MoJo blog]