September 11, 2016

Hillary Clinton Has Pneumonia

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Hillary Clinton has contracted pneumonia and is taking antibiotics for it. I hope she gets better soon. In the meantime, though, the news is going to be grim. Expect all of the following:

  • Washington Post: This makes Clinton’s health a genuine issue.
  • Charles Krauthammer: She should have told us hours earlier than she did. Is there nothing the Clintons won’t lie about?
  • Vox: Here’s a pneumonia explainer.
  • Wall Street Journal: Can Hillary keep up the pace on campaign trail?
  • Fox News All-Stars: William Henry Harrison died of pneumonia after 32 days in office.
  • Don Lemon: Is it possible Clinton actually has Ebola?
  • Time: New focus on Kaine as Clinton struggles with health.
  • @realDonaldTrump: Hillary tried to hide sickness. But I’ve been warning about her health for months. Need more transparency!
  • @KatrinaPierson: Doctors say it might actually be cystic fibrosis or lung cancer. Public deserves full medical workup.
  • @RogerJStoneJr: Hillary has Legionnaires’ disease.
  • National Enquirer: Hillary Clinton given months to live by docs.
  • New York Times: Questions raised about Clinton diagnosis.
  • Facebook News: Trending topics: How long does Hillary have to live?
  • Politico: Will Clinton recover in time for debate?
  • Etc.

The real story, of course, is that she caught pneumonia. It’s a common illness, and antibiotics should get rid of it pretty quickly. Even during a presidential campaign it’s a fairly ordinary kind of story. But the talking heads need more than that to talk about. We need some kind of morality play. We need the “real questions this raises.” We need analysis. We need daily updates, accompanied by slo-mo analysis of Clinton’s latest walk to her car. So we’ll get them. Sigh.

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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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