September 4, 2018

Republicans Who Didn’t Even Hold a Hearing on Merrick Garland Complain Democrats Are Destroying Norms

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Here is Republican Sen. John Cornyn complaining that Democrats have been rude at the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.

“This is the first confirmation hearing for a Supreme Court justice that I’ve seen basically according to mob rule. We have rules in the senate. We have norms for decorum…it’s hard to take it seriously when every single one of our colleagues on the Democratic side of the Senate Judiciary Committee has announced opposition to this nominee even before today’s hearing. So it’s hard to take seriously their claim that somehow they can’t do their job because they have been denied access to attorney client or executive privilege documents.”

The Senate has rules! The Senate has norms! The Democrats have already announced opposition to the nominee! My stars! 

What about this norm?

These cats didn’t even give Merrick Garland a hearing! 

As much as we would all like to take a stroll through Senate Norm Cemetery to mourn “Being Nice,” it’s impossible to get to that particular tomb without tripping over the grave of dearly departed “Holding Hearings At All.”

It’s going to be a long week.

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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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