China Shows Us How to Handle Twitter Nuisances

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The Wall Street Journal reports that people in Wuhan are bitter about how authorities handled the coronavirus last year:

There are signs that authorities are rattled by the initial outpouring of anger in Wuhan, where people suffered the worst horrors of the pandemic. Censors have clamped down on criticism of the early response. A citizen journalist who covered the pandemic in Wuhan, Zhang Zhan, was sentenced to four years in prison in December after being accused of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble.”

Welp, that would be one way to handle our Twitter and Facebook problem. Half the people who use them would be in prison.

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DECEMBER IS MAKE OR BREAK

A full one-third of our annual fundraising comes in this month alone. That’s risky, because a strong December means our newsroom is on the beat and reporting at full strength—but a weak one means budget cuts and hard choices ahead.

With only days left until December 31, we've raised about half of our $400,000 goal—but we need a huge surge in reader support to close the remaining gap. Whether you've given before or this is your first time, your contribution right now matters.

Managing an independent, nonprofit newsroom is staggeringly hard. There’s no cushion in our budget—no backup revenue, no corporate safety net. We can’t afford to fall short, and we can’t rely on corporations or deep-pocketed interests to fund the fierce, investigative journalism Mother Jones exists to do. That’s why we need you right now. Please chip in to help close the gap.

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