July 25, 2017

Hot Mic Captures Senator Ridiculing “Unattractive” Colleague Who Wanted to Duel Her

“Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to this bunny?”

Last Friday, Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), a big supporter of the Republican effort to repeal Obamacare and replace it with…something, said he would challenge Republican “female senators from the Northeast” to a duel for opposing that effort, if only they weren’t women.

There is only one Republican female senator from the Northeast opposed to the bill. Her name is Susan Collins (R-Maine).

Cut to today. The Republicans are planning to vote on an Obamacare repeal bill. Collins was talking to a male senator, reportedly Jack Reed (D-R.I.), and the private conversation was caught on a CSPAN hot mic: 

Collins: Did you see the one who challenged me to a duel?

Reed: Trust me, you know why he challenged you to a duel? Because you could beat the shit out of him.

Collins: He’s so unattractive, it’s unbelievable. Did you see the picture of him in his pajamas next to this bunny, Playboy bunny?

Here is the photo she is referring to:

Farenthold, who was once sued by a staffer for sexual harassment (the claim was settled outside of court), has yet to comment. 

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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.

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