May 4, 2017

Strained Analogy of the Day: France as Middle Earth

Wendy Mckee/Rex Features via ZUMA

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While we’re waiting to see if moderate Republicans have the courage to oppose an act of evil here in our own country, Robert Zaretsky describes the stakes in the upcoming French election:

Macron is our French Frodo. Just as the future of Middle Earth was thrust into the hands of an untested and provincial youth with a weakness for older blonds, this now is also the case for France.

Just step away from the word processor, professor. No one has to get hurt here. It’s May Fourth. This whole piece should have been a Star Wars analogy, amirite?

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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