October 12, 2009

Where’s Salin Palin—on Twitter?

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Where’s Salin Palin? On Twitter, that is.

Before resigning as governor of Alaska in July, Palin had become a prolific Twitterer, sending out news of her official doings to about 150,000 followers. She also shared with them quotes from Aristotle, Thomas Paine, and other big thinkers. On July 17—nine days before her resignation was to take effect—she wrote this tweet:

10 dys til less politically correct twitters fly frm my fingertps outside State site.

That seemed a promise: as soon as she left office, she would trade her official governor’s Twitter account for an unofficial one and start firing off 140-character missives, telling the world what she really felt about things.

Well, it’s been three months since then, and Palin has disappeared from Twitter. There’s no new account for her and, thus, no “less politically correct” tweets flying from her fingertips.

What does this mean? Did she consciously decide to pull back for a while? Can she not handle tweeting while writing her book? There’s been no explanation for her Twitter silence. Maybe she’s too busy with Facebook.

By the way, see my most recent PoliticsDaily.com column for more on the latest Palin news—or non-news.

Daivd Corn is still on Twitter. Check out his feed to follow his latest postings and media appearances.

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“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.

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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.

payment methods

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