June 23, 2017

Friday Cat Blogging – 23 June 2017

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Catblogging is a few minutes early this week because I have to drive Marian to the airport. She’s flying to Colorado via Phoenix, where it’s a balmy 112º today. Apparently this means that the tarmac won’t melt the wheels of her plane, so everything should be hunky dory.

In cat news today, Wim Van Neer of the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels has been collecting ancient cat specimens for the past decade and putting them through the genetic wringer. His conclusion: “It was the Egyptians who turned them into the lovable fur balls we know today.” Thanks, Egyptians!

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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