December 23, 2011

Bo-Gate: The Coverup Starts to Unravel

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I know that you’ve all been holding your breath over the unfolding scandal known as Bo-gate, so here’s the latest:

Scott Miscovich, who lives down the street from the Obama vacation rental home on Kailuana Place told the Star-Advertiser Sunday, “My wife saw Michelle and the kids passing by and we’ve seen Bo (the Obamas’ dog) walking.”

A White House spokesman told the Star-Advertiser that Bo did not travel to Hawaii with the first lady and daughters Malia and Sasha.

This afternoon, Miscovich released the following statement: “It is now clear my wife saw another black dog walking our neighborhood. We would like to apologize to Bo and the Obama family for any inconvenience this may have caused them. We would also like to wish them a peaceful and Merry Christmas.”

So apparently the White House is doubling down on its coverup. They say Bo didn’t go to Hawaii. They say Bo didn’t fly back to Virginia the next day in order to stage a photo op with President Obama. They say Bo doesn’t have his own private 747 to ferry him around the country. And they obviously used their well-honed Chicago thug tactics to force Scott Miscovich to recant. It’s just like Darkness at Noon.

This is not over. Oh no. It’s not even close. Maybe the Obamas can get Scott Miscovich to back down, but they’ll never get to me. This blog will bring you the truth about Bo until their jackbooted thugs drag me away from my computer kicking and screa

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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.

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