July 8, 2015

Router Failure Grounds Entire United Fleet

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Greece is in trouble. China is in trouble. Puerto Rico is in trouble. The New York Stock Exchange has been shut down over a “technical issue.” And United Airlines has halted all its flights:

United midday on Wednesday said that the grounding had been caused by a computer-network router that malfunctioned, which disrupted its passenger reservations system. That meant that many passengers couldn’t check in for their flights. The disruption affected some places more than others, but it covered the entire network, which was why United decided to ground its entire mainline and United Express fleet worldwide.

Yikes! The malfunction of a single router torpedoed United’s reservation system for an entire day? That must be a pretty delicate network they’re running there.

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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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