A couple of months ago I put up a picture of Saddleback, a pair of mountains that form the backdrop for most of my part of Orange County. However, it was a panoramic view that didn’t give a good sense of the way that Saddleback sort of looms over everything around here, and I promised to put up a better picture eventually. Well, today’s the day, with this photo taken at a fairly normal focal length and showing Saddleback with some office buildings in front of it. This is the more common view of Saddleback, though it’s usually a little hazier than it is in this picture.

September 29, 2020 — Irvine, California

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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