April 25, 2011

Today in ‘Are You Effing Kidding Me?”

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There is just too much crap on the web that is making my jaw drop today. Here’s a quick link-n-run.

A lawyer in a New York rape case compares a woman’s bruised lady parts to a Venus Flytrap. Did I mention, she was (reportedly) raped while unconscious? By NYPD police officers?

A transwoman was brutally beaten in a Maryland McDonald’s by two people while employees looked on, filmed it, and laughed. One finally intervened.

A Mexican environmentalist was shot dead. He had been objecting to Mexican mafia illegally clearing forests to grow opium poppies.

The FBI’s definition of rape is 82-years-old. And it only applies to women. Grrr.

A flight was delayed nearly 3 hours after a passenger said fellow fliers were acting suspiciously. Their offense? Taking pictures.

Apple says it “must have” location-specific data gleaned from your iPhone to “better serve” you. Uh huh.

There is a baby that laughs when her dog chases soap bubbles. It’s really cute.

A little girl went to the MoMA and was pissed there were no dinosaur bones. I will second that.

 

 

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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