Holiday Catblogging Extravaganza

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

I asked for festive cats, I got festive cats.  So here they are.  Here on the front page we have the usual suspects: Domino on the left, sporting a festive Yuletide ribbon, and Inkblot on the right, hanging out under the Christmas tree waiting for Santa to deliver a case of cat food. But there are loads more cats below the fold. Just click here to see them all.

Left: Luna. “He was not thrilled, but tolerated the interruption to his long, long nap.” Right: Pudgy Mewler. “She really does have eyes.”

Left: Gately Claus says “Lots of Kibble to All and to All a Good Nap!” Right: Sam puts up with his holiday bow tie. 

Left: Spitfire. Right: Fiona.  “When I bought the basket, a marital debate ensued about whether she’d actually use it.  Good kitty.  She came through.”

Left: Oliver My Heart Throb. Goes by Ollie. Right: Arod. “It’s complicated.” Both are from the author of Cat Tales: A Love Story.

Left: Lily Right: Ditto. These are two of my mother’s cats. I assume you can all figure out how Ditto got his name?

Left: Maybelle, aka Butterball. Right: Leo, “parking himself in the middle of the Christmas village we set up around the tree every year.”

Left: Tiggy Winkle, Lucie and Woody. Right: Pluto.

Left: Milo (in the tree) and Otis (watching). Right: Nikki.

Left: Kellie. Right: Donna. “They are sisters and littermates; I got them at the San Francisco SPCA a year and  a half ago, when they were three years old.”

Left: A photo taken nineteen years ago. “The kittens are two of three born to a stray who temporarily adopted us, just to give birth and leave.  Wusslet, had a short, but happy life, and Ginger, the black cat lived until just a few weeks ago.  Sadly, she didn’t quite make it long enough to enjoy the tree this year.” Right: From the same family, Schroedinger, “who adopted us between Christmas and New Year’s Day seven years ago.  It was right before a major cold snap, and she was so skinny at the time we didn’t think she would make it in the outside weather.  The whole house smelled like the Christmas tree when she moved in with us, so every year when we set up the tree, she sticks her nose into the tree and inhales deeply for the first hour or so, and beds down under the tree whenever she can.”

And finally, two last minute entrants. Left: Magic, “an overly intelligent (and slightly pudgy) character who’s been hanging out with me for over 9 years. I’m not sure that she’s aware of your blog, but she’s certainly been on my lap (and my keyboard) plenty of times while I’ve been reading it. As you can see, every Christmas brings her a new exciting waterbowl (tree stand) and many new play toys (bags, ribbon, and wrapping paper).” Right: “the imperial Coco,” captured among the Christmas lights by an iPhone.

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate