Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene have combined forces. It's a walking disaster.

View in browser   May 10, 2021 Where were you in 2004? Me? I was in high school, a bored student with equally bored friends who couldn't wait to quit the suburbs. But lest you forget, as I certainly did, it's also the year that celebrity mega-couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez announced that they were splitting up, ending the ill-fated engagement known around the world as Bennifer. It was also the last time we heard from billions of cicadas, the insects that stay burrowed underground until nearly two decades later when it's time to do their thing. Now, 17 years later, both phenomena are suddenly back, offering the perfect surprise to your Monday news cycle, which we all know could use a dose of serendipity. Some pep.  "It's natural between them and the chemistry is unreal," is how a source close to Lopez described the Bennifer-is-back-in-action reports to E! News. While I have yet to read such a steamy assessment about the return of cicadas, an opinion piece from the Times today claimed "these cicadas will offer something more, a lesson we can all use about now: how to emerge from the darkness." Wow, how poetic. Hopefully, Lopez, Affleck, and the cicadas have given you a reason to smile and reflect on the early aughts today.  —Inae Oh Advertisement   A Trump Rule Paved the Way for Predatory Lending. The Window to Reverse It Is Closing. The rule allows "rent-a-bank" schemes, which help lenders evade interest caps. BY HANNAH LEVINTOVA   Researchers say they've uncovered a massive Facebook bot farm from the 2020 election BY AJ VICENS Labor law is stuck in 1947. It's no surprise companies keep winning. BY NOAH LANARD Watch: Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene combine forces at a rally in Florida BY STEPHANIE MENCIMER Moms have borne the brunt of pandemic turmoil at work and at home BY DAN FRIEDMAN Advertisement   "Queen Sugar" Author Natalie Baszile on How Black Farmers Can Help Save the Planet "Those old indigenous practices have everything to do with carbon sequestration." BY JAMILAH KING   Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. Donate SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE Let Us Know How You Marked Mother’s Day A year ago today, just two months into the pandemic, I wrote a Recharge headlined “The Radical Roots of Mother's Day as a Pandemic-Fighting Movement," a historical view long before “vaccine surplus" was a conceivable news story (and for much of the world, it still isn’t). I wrote then that for the millions of mothers working on the front lines and millions more incarcerated across America—80 percent of women in jail are mothers—spending Mother's Day at a mandatory distance is a “test of resilience,” of “solidarity,” of many, many things. An 8-year-old and a 10-year-old had created an online newspaper with their mother called the Quarantine Times; a mother and a daughter had graduated that week in North Carolina together; doulas and midwives were organizing for workers’ rights; and 150 hospital staff got a musical surprise for Mother's Day in the Bronx. "Let us know how you view motherhood beyond Mother's Day at recharge@motherjones.com," we asked, promising to highlight your stories on “our new daily Recharge blog." New daily Recharge blog! A year and a blog and a vaccine later, we want to hear from you again: Is your family vaccinated? Did you see your mother or get seen by your mother? In person? Do you know the naming story and biography of our magazine's namesake? (Are you a reader who addresses us in correspondence as “Dear Mother”?) Mother's Day has taken on new resonance as vaccine rates surge, but major challenges remain. The day is traceable to anti-war activist Anna Jarvis, blues pioneer Bessie Smith, voting-rights activist Julia Ward Howe (who wrote the “Mother's Day Proclamation”), and tens of billions of women throughout history. Share your 2021 stories of motherhood at recharge@motherjones.com. —Daniel King Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by forwarding it to a friend or sharing it on Facebook and Twitter. Donate Subscribe This message was sent to franchmaverickk.secretwords123@blogger.com. 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? Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today. www.MotherJones.com PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755