January 30, 2017

All Hail Roger Federer and Serena Williams

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Before the day is over, I want to interrupt immigration-gate to acknowledge the following news. First this:

And this:

Federer’s match with Rafa was just fantastic, exceptional tennis. Neither man deserved to lose, but I’m thrilled that Federer has now won at least one more slam before he retires. Rafa still has the French Open coming up, after all.

Federer and Williams were born seven weeks apart and are both 35 years old, which is ancient in tennis years. It used to be, anyway. That makes this a victory not just for them, but for all of us old folks. We are privileged to live in an era that has produced the best tennis players in history on both the men’s and women’s side.

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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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