Fun and Games in the Bluegrass State

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As we all know, a few days ago MoJo’s David Corn scored yet another scoop based on a secret recording when he published a story about an oppo meeting held by Sen. Mitch McConnell’s staff back when Ashley Judd was considering running against him. As it happens, the meeting wasn’t really a big bombshell unless you’ve been living in a serious state of innocence about how politics is conducted in America—the participants mostly talked about using material from Judd’s own autobiography against her—but it created a firestorm among McConnell and his supporters, who immediately charged that someone had bugged their campaign headquarters.

(QUICK DISCLAIMER: I know nothing more about this stuff than you do. The first time I learned about it was when it appeared on the MoJo website, and I haven’t spoken to anyone at MoJo about it since.)

Anyway, it turns out that the recording was apparently made by one or two (it’s not entirely clear) guys from ProgressKY—a “heaping pile of uselessness,” in Dave Weigel’s words—who stood outside the door of the meeting room and recorded the conversation. Or maybe they stuck their iPhones down near a vent. Or something. It’s not totally clear yet. But they were ratted out by a Democratic Party operative who didn’t want to be tarred by their amateur-hour theatrics, and the two guys have now apparently turned on each other. It’s a real soap opera, and Ed Kilgore makes an interesting comment:

It’s illuminating, of course, to see liberals in and beyond Kentucky distancing themselves from the would-be guerillas of Progress Kentucky; you rarely see conservatives do that when a Breitbart-inspired stunt backfires. Some people on the left see that as a sign of weakness. But I’d say it’s better understood as a sign of understanding that what you get from skullduggery is rarely as effective as publicizing the outrages committed by people like McConnell every day, in public, as proud examples of everything they believe in and represent.

True dat. Conservatives love them some James O’ Keefe-style guerrilla warfare, but liberals more often seem vaguely embarrassed about it. Not always, though: certainly there was nothing but praise for the Romney 47% video last year. Still, there’s definitely a difference. Whether it’s a sign of weakness or something else is your call.

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“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.

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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.

payment methods

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