February 13, 2020

Quote of the Day: Crackpot Having a Hard Time Getting Confirmed to Fed

Stefani Reynolds/CNP via ZUMA

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From Sen. John Kennedy, after a confirmation hearing this morning for Judy Shelton:

Nobody wants anybody on the Federal Reserve that has a fatal attraction to nutty ideas.

I’m not so sure about that. Shelton is a crackpot and a partisan hack, but there are still plenty of Republicans who are apparently unconcerned about giving her a Fed seat.

But that’s business as usual. What’s not usual is that there are actually a few Republican senators who are uncomfortable with Shelton and may block her confirmation. If that happens, she’d be the fifth Trump Fed nomination to fail even though Republicans control the Senate.

What this means is that Republicans are willing to confirm practically anyone Trump nominates for anything except for seats on the Fed. For some reason, a few of them still take that seriously. Why?

WE CAME UP SHORT.

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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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