Friday Cat Blogging – 5 July 2019

My parents both went to USC, so naturally I’ve been a USC fan all my life. But I wonder if I should change loyalties? When I was roaming around the UCLA campus last weekend I discovered that there’s a UCLA cat. He apparently belongs to the Department of World Arts and Culture, which provides him with a food bowl and a note to please not overfeed the cat. Perhaps one of my readers happens to know someone who knows someone who knows the cat’s name?

Anyway, it was a very calm and friendly cat, and it certainly says good things about UCLA that they have a little mascot like this around. Does USC have a cat?

UPDATE: Apparently this cat used to hang out at the Powell Library and is known as Powell Cat. Fan club is here. But why did his loyalties change to the World Arts building?

And for you dog lovers, I also have a UCLA dog. This guy had just finished doing his business on the lawn, and as you can see, he was pretty pleased with himself. I photoshopped out his leash in order to provide the illusion of total freedom for this fine-looking canine.

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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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