Brodner’s Cartoon du Jour: Have I Got a Lieberman for You!

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Thinking about Avigdor Lieberman, the new hate-foaming Israeli foreign minister. Yes, FOREIGN MINISTER. I was wondering whom he reminded me of. Then I realized it’s BILLY MAYS the ubiquitous TV pitchman, who advertises KaBoom! among other things. They look alike, and who knows, they may be related. Or alter egos. In any case this alternative universe where you can find a grotesque version of something recognizable is very interesting to me. Like Bizarro-world. What if we all had a crazier, weirder version of ourselves currently living in Israel? Interesting graphic novel.

This Lieberman has opposed the Anapolis peace process, threatened Israeli Arabs with deportation unless they sign loyalty oaths, and lots more. I guess they should be grateful if they are only to be deported. This from Christopher Schult in Der Spiegle:

His words have the force of cluster bombs. He spares no one. He once proposed executing Arab members of the Knesset with ties to Hamas or Hezbollah as “Nazi collaborators.” Later he suggested that Israel should proceed in the Gaza Strip the way Russia did in Chechnya — without consideration for losses or civilians. This remark gained him a reputation as a virulent racist.

If Lieberman had his way, perhaps Tehran would have been obliterated as a punishment for Iran’s refusal to shut down its nuclear program. Years ago he threatened Egypt — Israel’s key ally in the Arab world — with the bombardment of the Aswan Dam unless the regime withdrew support for then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat. He also had one of his typical remarks at the ready for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. It was about time the president paid a visit to Jerusalem, Lieberman said, “and if he doesn’t want to come, he can go to hell.”

Here’s the good (if deeply annoying) twin:

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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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