September 24, 2014

If You Liked John Bolton’s Take On WMD, You’ll Love His Thoughts On Cuddling With Strangers

Bush’s ambassador to the UN weighs in on Grindr-like cuddling app.

<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gageskidmore/5452913636/in/photolist-4wCeih-7GehPV-9rmBGH-9rknN8-9uayT3-9u7qjZ-9rphtQ-9rd77n-cDFRks-c4VbCQ-4ZxghS-4yQLKK-4yQLKM-6yQ1A6-cFNpgw-95BhVi-9eWWvn-9VRR2D-kEBsw2-8yHqy-8yHoL-c4VaTU-c4Vbq7-c4V9tW-c4V9Jb-9iRAW3-9iRBfm-c4V8S5-c4UVau-9iNsUR-9iRB6b-9iNtWa-9iRBoh-9iNt4v-9iNtcz-c4VbUS-kMHsz4-kMKxfm-kMHqgg-kMJ2N6-c4VaEd-c4Vb8u-c4Vaq5-dVZNgZ-dW6oWs-dW6nNW-dW6oeC-dW6os7-dW6pRo-dVZMLe">Gage Skidmore</a>/Flickr

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John Bolton, a George W. Bush-era ambassador to the United Nations and foreign policy adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign, has been dropping hints to the media that he might want to run for president in 2016. In the meantime, he’s palling around with once-Republican presidential candidate and former House member Thaddeus McCotter on Fox News. On Wednesday, Kennedy, a 1990s-era MTV VJ turned libertarian champion, asked the pair to weigh in on Cuddlr, a Grindr or Tinder-like app that helps you find strangers to cuddle with. The conversation was…strange. But don’t worry, Bolton made sure to get in an attack on President Obama for discussing climate change before they went to commercial break.

Watch the video:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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