MOTHER JONES DAILY: Colbert’s Cancellation Is a Dark Warning, Labor Department moves to end disability hiring goal for federal contractors, America's worst polluters see a lifeline in power-gobbling AI—and Donald Trump, Where is Obama? “I’m out here!” he told me. Watch the interview., Kashana Cauley's latest book conjures a new villain for our times: the debt police 18JUL25

 

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July 18, 2025 When I was growing up, the Nightly News was my family's go-to news source, with Tom Brokaw as our trusted guide through the most urgent stories around the world.  But it was late-night television that crafted my news sense. SNL’s Weekend Update, Conan O'Brien, Jay Leno. They each had a hand in helping me understand and, perhaps more importantly, think about the headlines and our problematic lawmakers. Which is all to say, though it's been a minute since I've been a regular late-night viewer, I have a deep respect for the genre. But I don't need to have a personal history with late-night to understand the dire warnings that come with CBS's shocking decision to end The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, as Paramount, CBS's parent company, desperately tries to sell the company to Skydance Media, a deal that requires federal approval. The context: President Donald Trump has baselessly accused 60 Minutes of unfairly editing its 2024 interview with Kamala Harris. He launched a lawsuit. Paramount recently agreed to settle it to the tune of $16 million, sparking widespread criticism for bending the knee to Trump. Colbert was one of those critics. In his Monday monologue, he called the settlement a "big fat bribe." On Thursday, Colbert announced that CBS was ending the franchise. I can't overstate this enough: This marks a dangerous new chapter for the culture at large. You can read all about why, and my scorched earth hopes for Colbert, on Mother Jones dot com. —Inae Oh P.S. On this week’s More To The Story, David Sirota, a former speechwriter for Bernie Sanders and co-writer of the Oscar-nominated Don’t Look Up, sits down for a wide-ranging chat about the Texas floods being a wake-up call, how Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" is "class war in legislative form," and why some Democrats still don’t know how to respond to Zohran Mamdani. Be sure to listen.

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Colbert’s Cancellation Is a Dark Warning CBS's decision marks a dangerous new stage for the culture at large. BY INAE OH

MOTHER JONES MEMBERSHIP UPDATE THIS IS READER-SUPPORTED JOURNALISM Hard-hitting, in-depth investigative reporting is expensive—that’s why more and more corporate news sources are slashing it from their budgets. But Mother Jones is a nonprofit. We dig it, because it’s our mission. Of course, that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive.   There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Every dollar you chip in will help us produce the journalism that is needed at this crucial moment. Donate Now

Labor Department moves to end disability hiring goal for federal contractors BY JULIA MÉTRAUX America's worst polluters see a lifeline in power-gobbling AI—and Donald Trump BY MOLLY TAFT Where is Obama? “I’m out here!” he told me. Watch the interview. BY GARRISON HAYES

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Kashana Cauley's latest book conjures a new villain for our times: the debt police We talked to the author, TV writer, and social media wit about "The Payback"—and finding humor in darkness. BY JAMILAH KING

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Tell Congress to get PFAS out of your water 13AUG24

ALL politics are not just the political campaigns taking place nationally, state wide and locally. Governments at all levels are working. Congress is supposed to be working and so it is not a waste of time to contact our individual representative and senators as well as the president about one's views on issues. Food and Water Watch is asking for people to contact their representative and senators and tell them to support, sponsor and vote for the PFAS Action Act.  The action page ask you to personalize the letter being sent to Congress, here is what I added to the letter, "DO NOT  let corporate America set the agenda and dictate "acceptable" regulations for addressing  the PFAS problem, there are enough Superfund sites as well as smaller but highly toxic polluted areas across the country proving that approach does not work. It is time to prioritize the American people over corporate profit margins. Pass the PFAS Action Act during this session of Congress, not next year after the election, do it now!" Though Food and Water Watch is sending the letter on the action page to every member of Congress I did copy it with my comment and e mailed it to my representative and senators too.

PFAS "forever" chemicals can be found in almost everything — including food, firefighting foam, non-stick pans, and stain-resistant fabrics. And these chemicals are contaminating drinking water across the country. Hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. could be drinking PFAS-contaminated water right now.

The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has set enforceable limits on six types of PFAS in drinking water and designated two types as hazardous substances, but they failed to address all forms of PFAS, leaving thousands of toxic chemicals excluded from testing and regulation.

Clearly, the EPA's plan doesn’t go far enough, and more extensive regulations are needed to protect us from these toxic chemicals.

It’s time for Congress to act against those responsible for this contamination and address the public health threat!

Urge your members of Congress to pass the PFAS Action Act.

The PFAS Action Act would set clear definitions and deadlines to determine whether to regulate all PFAS in drinking water and designate them all as hazardous substances. It would also:

• Require the Environmental Protection Agency to limit the industrial discharge of PFAS.
• Provide $200 million annually for wastewater treatment.
• Require PFAS health testing.
• List PFAS as hazardous air pollutants.

Send Your Message

Corporate polluters have known for decades that PFAS chemicals are toxic, and research has made it clear that no amount of PFAS is safe.

More and more studies are uncovering PFAS’s health risks, including cancers and immune and reproductive system harm.

That’s why for years, Food & Water Watch has been calling on the EPA to use a broad, widely accepted definition of PFAS in order to protect public health. Now we need to raise our voices to make sure the EPA and corporations are not let off the hook.

Onward together,

Wenonah Hauter
Founder and Executive Director
Food & Water Watch 

Tell Congress: Don't sacrifice the environment to cut the deficit 10OKT12

IT is the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act but all the laws and regulations that protect us and our environment at risk if sequestration kicks in on 1JAN13. Please send a message to your Representative and Senators asking them to keep the EPA and other environmental regulatory agencies adequately funded. From the NRDC...


The programs that protect our air, our water, our wildlife and our national parks are facing severe cutbacks.

Unless Congress acts soon, those programs will suffer severe, indiscriminate across-the-board budget cuts, and at the same time tax credits that boost clean energy will expire. To make matters worse, some in Congress want to cut environmental protection even further, using the need to reduce the deficit as an excuse to hammer away at popular programs that protect health and the environment.

How would the across-the-board cuts affect you? There would be a shortage of meat inspectors, raising the risk of disease outbreaks; almost $200 million would be cut from fixing or building drinking water and sewage systems in your communities; more than $400 million would be slashed from finding newer, cleaner ways to produce and use energy; funding for national parks would be cut; and work to protect your air and water would struggle. And the damage under the House Republicans' spending plan would be even worse.

Congress needs to come up with a plan that will cut the deficit without harming the environment. Environmental programs have already been cut; the deficit can be reduced through a balanced, bipartisan program that looks at all aspects of the budget.

What to do Send a message right now telling your senators and representative that slashing environmental programs is unacceptable.

STOP PEBBLE MINE! Don't let a foreign mining company destroy one of our last wild places.from NRDC 29SEP10

PLEASE JOIN IN THIS ACTION FROM THE NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNCIL AGAINST THE PROPOSED PEBBLE MINE IN ALASKA....SEE BELOW FOR INFORMATION AND CLICK THE HEADER TO SEND A LETTER TO ANGLO-AMERICAN......

I urge you to speak out now to save the wildlife Eden of Bristol Bay from corporate mining giant, Anglo American. That company wants us to believe it can safely store 10 billion tons of mining waste in an active earthquake zone -- FOREVER. Please tell Anglo American you¹re not buying it. Tell them you care more about Bristol Bay¹s moose, caribou, wolves and salmon than about one company¹s profit-driven scheme.

It will only take a minute to send your message -- and it could save one of our last great places for generations to come.

Do You TRUST Anglo American to Protect Alaska’s Wilderness? BP promised a major oil spill would never happen in the Gulf. Now Anglo American is promising its massive Pebble Mine won’t despoil Bristol Bay. Do you trust a mining giant with a wildlife Eden? Dear Craig, Last Spring we ratcheted up the pressure on Anglo American and its disastrous plan to build a mega-mine in Alaska’s pristine Bristol Bay watershed. We presented a Petition -- signed by 100,000 concerned Americans -- at Anglo’s Shareholder’s Meeting on Earth Day! But in the wake of the Gulf oil spill disaster, we need to do more. It’s time to tell Anglo American we’re not buying its promises of environmental responsibility. BP made plenty of promises, too. Then it proved that corporate claims ring hollow and worst-case scenarios do happen. Tell Anglo American you don’t want another corporate giant gambling with the future of a priceless ecosystem. Oil, gas and mining companies like to say, “Trust us.” Anglo American is promising plenty of studies and environmental impact statements. They will claim that a massive release of mining waste is a “worst case scenario” that will never happen. They will claim that Bristol Bay -- the world’s largest salmon fishery and home to abundant bears, moose and caribou -- is in no danger from the colossal Pebble Mine. How gullible do they think we are? Every large copper and gold mine on Earth has suffered spills and other disasters, including acid runoff and mercury contamination. Anglo American’s own plans say that the Pebble Mine will spew some 10 billion tons of mining waste, laced with toxic chemicals, that must be stored behind massive earthen dams FOREVER in an active earthquake zone. Nothing lasts forever. The only question is, when will those dams fail? The wildlife, fishermen and Native communities of Bristol Bay cannot afford to find out the answer, because they stand to pay the ultimate price in a devastated ecosystem. Please stand in solidarity with them by telling Anglo American you won’t let them roll the dice with Bristol Bay. Polluters like to think our attention spans are short. They believe they can wait until “the storm blows over,” and then go back to business as usual. Let them know they’re wrong. Tell Anglo that, after the Gulf spill, you’re not buying any more corporate promises. Sincerely, Peter Lehner Executive Director Natural Resources Defense Council