Today's big news.

  [Mother Jones]( MoJo Reader, So, the former president who's running again was just referred to the Department of Justice for criminal charges related to an attempted, and ongoing, violent overthrow of the government. Let’s both let that sink in for a minute. This is not a sentence I ever thought I would write, and it’s not one I ever want to write again. But here we are, and first off, I thought it could be helpful to share some of my colleagues’ reporting and analysis to process what it all means—there's going to be a lot of noise and BS to cut through as the story unfolds, and you probably haven't been following every wrinkle of the proceedings like our team has. Dan Friedman, who [exposed]( Steve Bannon laying out Trump’s Big Lie strategy before the election—complete with audio that [the committee played]( in two different hearings— has [a great overview](, including where it might go from here. David Corn read all 161 pages of the introduction released today, and [highlights the key points]( of a "damning document" that is "loaded with details." And Mark Follman writes about how the threat of [MAGA extremism]( goes well beyond January 6—nearly 1,000 people have now been charged in connection with those events, and the story is far from over. Second, I'm also writing this evening because I need to ask you to [consider supporting this kind of journalism with a year-end donation if you can](. Especially right now when all online gifts will be doubled. December is make-or-break for our online fundraising. If we don't hit our $350,000 goal, it's hard to see a path to the $1.4 million we need in online donations when this budgeting cycle ends—and it's not just the online fundraising portion of our budget that feels (more) uncertain this year. How uncertain? Here's a [quick look]( at how damn hard it is paying for journalism right now. The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad economics of news aren't as noticeable when the economy is hot, with media start-ups [burning through]( venture capital and [billionaires bestowing]( their largesse on [their own pet idea of what media should be](. But at the slightest sign of cooling, the bottom falls out. To wit: - BuzzFeed, the once high-flying company hailed for having found the magic formula for making money in digital publishing, is laying off 12 percent of its staff. In an [email,]( founder Jonah Peretti said it was because users are increasingly watching videos like those on TikTok, whose “monetization is still developing”—a.k.a. it’s hard to sell ads around them. - Vice Media, another once-invulnerable-seeming digital publisher, is cutting costs by 15 percent, [according]( to its CEO. - The tech magazine Protocol, launched by yet another high-flyer—Robert Allbritton, the founder of Politico—[shuttered](. Both Protocol and Politico have been sold to Axel Springer, a German media conglomerate. - The Recount, a startup that promised to “reinvent video journalism,” has [suspended operations](. - The newsletter startup Substack has told writers that it is [cutting back]( on pay and benefits. The newsletter company Morning Brew, hailed just last year as a digital publishing wunderkind, is [laying off]( 14 percent of its staff. - The Jeff Bezos–owned Washington Post [has discussed]( cuts of up to 10 percent of the newsroom as its ad business struggles. - National Public Radio has announced a hiring freeze and paused its internship program because of [a downturn]( in corporate sponsorships. - Recurrent, a company that owns lots of big magazine names like Field & Stream and the veteran-focused Task & Purpose, [laid off]( 52 employees. - Gannett, the largest newspaper company in the country, [announced]( a second round of layoffs—the previous one eliminated 400 jobs. (Gannett’s CEO is paid nearly $8 million; the median salary at the company is $48,000.) - At least five media organizations—ProPublica, the Intercept, Semafor, Vox Media, and the Law and Justice Journalism Project—are [having to scramble]( to replace massive donations and investments pledged by Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto billionaire whose (yes, high-flying) business melted down spectacularly among [charges]( of fraud and mismanagement. - In all, some 3,000 media jobs had been lost as of October, as the industry geared up for what Axios [called]( a “brutal, fearful” winter. And let’s not forget Meta, a.k.a. Facebook, which has [killed]( a program under which it paid some publishers for content that appeared on its NewsTab vertical, and Twitter, where owner Elon Musk is now going after journalists for exercising the kind of free speech he claims to espouse. You can see why I'm so concerned about our budgets and fundraising this month. It is only because of [support from readers]( that Mother Jones is not on that list. And it is especially nerve-wracking right now, because the thing about December is that a huge surge of last-minute donations usually come in during the final week, and final day, of the year—so we don't know our fate until it's too late to do anything about it. We need $240,000 to come in over the next 12 days, and I didn't do the math until just now, but that's $20,000 a day and is way more than we've been bringing in so far—so we really need the pace [of donations]( to pick up, and we're going to need more help than normal getting there. If you can right now, [please support Mother Jones' nonprofit journalism with a year-end donation](. All online gifts will be doubled until we hit our number thanks to an incredibly generous matching gift pledge. No amount is too small—growing our donor base matters a lot. The only reason Mother Jones is still here, and will be here next year, is you. Corporate America, billionaires, and their fickle dollars come and go. But [support from our community of readers]( has been our rock, and on days like today, there is no doubt our fierce and feisty reporting is essential and ready to rise to the occasion. As we go into this holiday season, I can’t think of a better reason to be thankful. Thanks for reading, and for everything you to do make Mother Jones what it is. [Monika] Monika Bauerlein, CEO Mother Jones [Donate]( P.S. Our dream scenario is growing our base of nearly 6,000 readers who [support our work with monthly donations](, so we rely less on make-or-break campaigns like we are this month.   [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Donate Monthly]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? 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