Happy eclipse day.
Earlier this afternoon I caught the partial eclipse in New York City with my Mother Jones colleagues Ali Breland and Jackie Flynn Mogensen...while wearing our eclipse glasses, of course, which I spent about 20 minutes waiting in line for this morning alongside a bunch of Columbia University students.
To me, the coolest thing about catching the eclipse was the communal experience—marked by anticipation and awe—that it created for New Yorkers and eclipse-watchers everywhere. And particularly in a city like New York, where it's basically standard practice to avoid eye contact with your fellow inhabitants on the streets and subway, that's no small feat.
But while much of the continent—and the Mother Jones staff—seemed to be delighting in the opportunity for a diversion from the workday and the chance to collectively marvel at Mother Nature, the folks over at Fox News had a different approach: make it about migrants! As my colleague Isabela Dias reports, Fox anchors were actually claiming that the eclipse—which made its first US appearance in Eagle Pass, Texas, the epicenter of the fight over control of the US-Mexico border between the feds and Texas officials—presented "a real opportunity for smugglers and cartels and migrants to come right in." Huh?
If that seems like a reach, here's something that's not: Trump stared directly at a solar eclipse in 2017, which a New York City optometrist told my colleague Inae Oh can cause "permanent retinal damage." (Although, personally, I'm more concerned with his egregiously wrong comments on abortion this morning than the state of his vision.)
Here's to the wonders of Mother Nature, and more collective experiences of awe to come...including those provided by Fox News.
—Julianne McShane
P.S. Did you check out this week's episode of Reveal, produced in partnership with the Associated Press? As my colleague Jamilah King writes, it's the harrowing story of an officer living in exile after deserting the Russian army and fleeing the country with the help of an antiwar group helping ex-soldiers like him. Make sure to give it a listen wherever you get your podcasts.
P.P.S. Love Reveal? We're hiring a producer! If you have top-notch audio storytelling expertise and want to help grow our crucial investigative journalism—or know someone who does—make sure to check out the job description and apply!
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