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Gotta love this. Since airlines now routinely charge large fees for checked baggage, it makes sense that the fee should be refunded if your checked baggage doesn’t successfully get to your destination with you. Airlines, of course, are outraged at the idea:

In comments filed with the federal agency last week, the [Air Transport Assn.] said each airline should have the choice of offering a refund, depending on competition in the marketplace….The airline group also said it opposed the refund idea because a government mandate like this would only raise fares for everyone, including people who don’t check bags. Finally, the association said a refund won’t work because the requirement for “timely delivered” bags is a “subjective standard” and would “not account for varying conditions.”

Varying conditions indeed. It’s one thing if your flight is late due to weather or mechanical problems or whatnot. But if your flight makes it to your destination but your bags don’t? What’s the excuse other than airline incompetence? And why should I pay $25 a bag for that?

Feel free to take this kvetching with a grain of salt. I’m annoyed because Delta Airlines managed to trash yet another piece of my luggage yesterday. Considering that Marian and I don’t travel more than a few times a year, it’s remarkable how quickly our luggage falls apart these days. Is it crappy luggage or is it airline abuse? I guess I’ll never be able to prove it one way or the other, will I?

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WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

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