March 20, 2014

US Lawmakers Fight Russia on Twitter: “I Guess This Means My Spring Break in Siberia Is Off”

McCain: Will Seberger/ZUMA; Coat: <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-154946795/stock-photo-happy-man-covered-by-snow-enjoying-winter.html?src=11IMqT6f5JJIf1pmzXSixg-1-52">Jan Mika</a>/Shutterstock; Landscpape: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hobnob_malevolence/4903553713/sizes/o/in/photolist-8tiZFx-4TfsGX-4i6Gmc-jRf4gi-dy83K8-fnYpk1-fnYoWJ-fnJ8B8-fnJ7QT-fnJ8oT-fnYnRE-fnYmN1-fnJ7KP-fnJ7F6-fnJcc2-fnYndW-fnYqHy-fnJaPM-fnYoAq-fnJ826-fnJbjk-fnJ9bH-fnYrtU-cxCLfC-7cN432-7cSYZU-5Zw2TF-afEMJw-afC3Kc-afDbHp-afEMJ5-afEPzG-hPPebu-6p2dAe-5Uj7Fb-afFXDW-afFXCL-afFXGL-afFXF1-afEPCu-afEPDu-afC3Zk-afEPAU-afC3ZX-afEPAj-afC3PK-afEMFJ-afC1NR-afC1U6-afDD6t-afEMKj/">hobnob_malevolence</a>/Flickr. Photoillustration by <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/authors/matt-connolly">Matt Connolly</a>.

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


On Thursday, shortly after President Obama expanded sanctions against Russia for its role in the Ukraine crisis, the Russian Foreign Ministry released its own list of nine US officials and lawmakers who will be targeted by sanctions. The list includes three White House aides—deputy national security advisors Ben Rhodes and Caroline Atkinson, and senior advisor Dan Pfeiffer—as well as six US lawmakers: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)?, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)?, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)?, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)?, Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.)?, and Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.)?.

Many of the Sanctioned 9, none of whom will be allowed to visit the Russian Federation or attend Valdimir Putin’s birthday party (assuming it is held in the Russian Federation), took to Twitter to win the morning show their strength and solidarity.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.)?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.)?

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.)

Brendan Buck, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), to senior White House advisor Dan Pfeiffer

“What did you do during the war, daddy?”

“Twitter, mostly.”

WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT.

We have a considerable $390,000 gap in our online fundraising budget that we have to close by June 30. There is no wiggle room, we've already cut everything we can, and we urgently need more readers to pitch in—especially from this specific blurb you're reading right now.

We'll also be quite transparent and level-headed with you about this.

In "News Never Pays," our fearless CEO, Monika Bauerlein, connects the dots on several concerning media trends that, taken together, expose the fallacy behind the tragic state of journalism right now: That the marketplace will take care of providing the free and independent press citizens in a democracy need, and the Next New Thing to invest millions in will fix the problem. Bottom line: Journalism that serves the people needs the support of the people. That's the Next New Thing.

And it's what MoJo and our community of readers have been doing for 47 years now.

But staying afloat is harder than ever.

In "This Is Not a Crisis. It's The New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, why this moment is particularly urgent, and how we can best communicate that without screaming OMG PLEASE HELP over and over. We also touch on our history and how our nonprofit model makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there: Letting us go deep, focus on underreported beats, and bring unique perspectives to the day's news.

You're here for reporting like that, not fundraising, but one cannot exist without the other, and it's vitally important that we hit our intimidating $390,000 number in online donations by June 30.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. It's going to be a nail-biter, and we really need to see donations from this specific ask coming in strong if we're going to get there.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate