Pamela Moses was sentenced to six years in prison for trying to register despite a felony conviction but officials admitted making a series of mistakes
People arrive to vote early in the general election in Memphis, Tennessee. Photograph: Karen Focht/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock
Hello Fight to Vote readers,
For the last few months, I’ve been following the case of Pamela Moses, a 44-year-old activist in Memphis who was convicted in November for trying to register to vote while she was ineligible. On Monday, Moses, who is Black, was sentenced to six years and one day in prison.
To my eye, the case is far more complex than it seems.
Amy Weirich, the local prosecutor, has trumpeted both the conviction and the sentence in press releases. She has highlighted that Moses has an extensive criminal record, and she told a straightforward story about Moses’ voting crime. In 2015, Moses pleaded guilty to perjury and tampering with evidence in connection to allegations that she stalked and harassed a local judge. Tampering with evidence is one of a handful of felonies that causes someone to permanently lose their voting rights in Tennessee. Nonetheless, Moses, still on probation, knowingly tried to register to vote in 2019.
The case caught my attention for a few reasons. First, it is rare to see a prosecutor bring criminal charges against someone for election crimes, and I was curious whether this was a bona fide case of fraud or of someone who had made a mistake. Second, there has been growing awareness of racial disparities in punishments for election-related crimes. Black people such as Crystal Mason and Hervis Rogers have faced years in prison for making mistakes about their voting eligibility. White voters have received much lighter sentences for election-related crimes.
Weirich’s office did not respond to interview requests, but the more I looked into Moses’ case, the more I realized the case wasn’t straightforward at all. Behind the scenes, Tennessee officials conceded that they had made a series of mistakes concerning Moses’ voting eligibility.
The US state that fought back after Republicans tried to rig its elections
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In 2015, when Moses pleaded guilty to her felony, she says no one told her she couldn’t vote. “They never mentioned anything about voting. They never mentioned anything about not voting, being able to vote … none of that,” Moses told me last year. (She added she hadn’t discussed the case with her two sons, 24 and 13, but described it as “traumatic”.)
At the time, election officials should have removed her from the rolls, but the court never sent election officials in Memphis the documents they needed to do so, according to a letter from an election official I obtained.
Moses didn’t know anything was amiss until 2019, when she launched a long-shot mayoral campaign. Election officials said she couldn’t appear on the ballot because of her felony. When they began to look into her eligibility, they also realized she had never been taken off the voter rolls. Moses went to court and asked a judge to clarify whether she was still on probation, and the court confirmed that she was. What happened next is at the crux of the case against her.
Moses did not believe the judge had correctly calculated her sentence. So she went to the local probation office and asked an officer to figure it out. An officer filled out and signed a certificate confirming her probation had ended. In Tennessee, people with felony convictions who want to vote need that document from a correction official. Moses submitted it to local election officials along with a voter registration form.
But the day afterwards, an official at the corrections department wrote an email to election officials saying a probation officer had made an “error” on Moses’ certificate. Moses was still serving an active felony sentence, they wrote, and was not eligible to vote. The department offered no explanation for the mistake.
Such errors are actually fairly common in Tennessee, where the voting rules are extremely confusing for people with felonies, Blair Bowie, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center, told me. A 2017 study found that about 8% of the certificates submitted were rejected because the voters remained ineligible. Bowie said she was unaware of any voter in the state ever facing criminal charges for submitting a certificate but later turning out to be ineligible to vote.
During Moses’ trial, prosecutors argued that she knew she was ineligible to vote when she submitted the certificate. They pointed to the fact that she submitted it even though a judge had recently told her she was ineligible.
“Even knowing that order denied her expiration of sentence, Pamela Moses submitted that form with her application for voter registration and signed an oath as to the accuracy of the information submitted,” prosecutors wrote in their request for an indictment. “Pamela Moses knowingly made or consented to a false entry on her permanent registration.”
“You tricked the probation department into giving you documents saying you were off probation,” the judge sentencing her said last week.
“That seems absurd to me on its face,” said Bowie, who is involved in a challenge to Tennessee’s process for restoring voting rights. “The instructions on the certificate of restoration form are very clear to the probation officer or the clerk. They say you will check these records and you will sign off on this based on what the records say.
“They’re saying that she tricked the probation officer into filling out this form for her. That creates a really scary prospect for people who think they’re being wrongly told they’re not eligible.”
Moses is currently in custody and an appeal is expected. But the case highlights the byzantine maze that people with felony convictions have to go through to figure out if they can vote. And it shows the harsh consequences prosecutors can bring if people with felony convictions make a mistake.
Today’s “The Daily” treats inflation as entirely a natural consequence of stimulus checks, etc – rather than a choice by corps with record profits. @mikiebarb@RBReich: “Slowing the economy will hurt the most vulnerable… reduce corporate market power.”https://t.co/Gq4HtzeEOi
Conservatives want to cancel non-white humanity. Conservatives want to cancel elections. Conservatives want to cancel the separation of church and state.
GOP: gaslight, obstruct, project
NEWS: The Jan. 6 select committee has subpoenaed for the phone records of Arizona GOP chair KELLI WARD and her husband Michael.
Both signed false Electoral College certificates and sued Pence as part of pressure campaign.
The above is about politicians in Kentucky trying to shield / block reports of bad actions done by cops and other political groups from the public and to make it easier for utilities to raise rates on customers with less input. Just jack prices for profit.
This is disgusting persecution of a woman who served her time. There is no justification for any of this. https://t.co/eGc9GBIcGU
You will typically get far less jail time, if any, by participating in an armed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol than you will by registering to vote after you were informed you were allowed.
No grey area here. Simply a black and white issue.
If this six year old could stand the discomfort of walking through crowds of shouting angry people screaming obscenities and throwing things at her, knowing that if they were allowed they would hurt her, then white six year olds can learn of her, what she did, and why.
"It's okay to murder children if you think they're bad" is incredibly immoral and evil. ffs. https://t.co/qqKFHsvBSd
What crimes! Oh the made up ones in Rudy’s mind? The right wing fever dream of Hunter being the worst being on earth? Oh Hunter used drugs. Have they seen the videos of Donnie Jr? He is clearly tanked up off his ass on something. The right did not care about Donnie Jr illegally hunting animals in other countries, they did not mind Ivanka getting an unheard of number of trademarks from China in a short time frame when China wanted things from tRump, they don’t mention that Jared couldn’t get a security clearance because he was such a risk but tRump gave him one anyway. Hunter Biden is an adult, he is not in the WH, he is on the WH payroll, he is not an unofficial advisor to the president. But the right needs desperately to find something to hit Joe Biden with, so they reach for the personal struggles of his son. Great people.
The right wing is preoccupied with crime as it again causes fear. Be afraid, be very afraid is the mantra of the misleading right wing media. Fact is urban crime is down, rural crime is up, and all crime is still far below historical levels. What is the rights solution to crime. Not to see what causes crime and fix it, nope. The right wants more militarized police officers to aggressively occupy the lower incomes and non-white people. They want more people in for profit prisons to do slave labor for the corporations. They want to cut any government assistance programs that would help curb crime such as after school programs and to cut any diversionary programs that help rehabilitate people as that might cost the wealthy a few bucks in taxes. And they blame democrats even though that is not the truth because they want the white people to be afraid and misinformed so they vote Republican.
The consequences seem to be causing Putin to have some second and third thoughts on invading. I wouldn’t mock Biden too hard on that front. He is pulling the world along with idea of sanctions if Putin invades. As for the minor incursions that was because there are already small groups of Russian military in the Donetsk. Biden did not want the misleading right wing media opinion hosts such as Hannity to use that to push the US into actions that would be premature. There are some Republicans wanting Biden to sanction and move aggressively against Putin now such as Lindsey Graham because that would force Putin to act and we would have the war Graham’s donors want.
The consequences seem to be causing Putin to have some second and third thoughts on invading. I wouldn’t mock Biden too hard on that front. He is pulling the world along with idea of sanctions if Putin invades.
Josiah Kenyon after his arrest, left, and during the Capitol riot.
An accused Capitol rioter got into a tense exchange with a federal judge during a status conference in his case on Thursday afternoon.
The incident began when Josiah Kenyon asked U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols for permission to speak during the hearing, according to a report from Politico’s Kyle Cheney.
After Nichols warned that Kenyon might want to consult with his attorney first, Kenyon shot back: “I have a high enough IQ range to not screw up there, boss.”
Kenyon then proceeded to ask Nichols to “acknowledge that he had a right to defend himself if prison guards in DC tried to assault him,” Cheney reported.
“I’m not making any finding one way or another about that,” Nichols responded.
“Okey-doke,” Kenyon said.
Finally, at the end of the hearing, Nichols asked Kenyon if he had any other issues to raise.
“My wife and children homeless on the street. Have a wonderful day,” Kenyon told the judge.
Kenyon is accused of assaulting police with several objects — including a table leg with a protruding nail — during the Jan. 6 insurrection. According to the Department of Justice, Kenyon wore a Jack Skellington costume, based on a character from the movie The Nightmare Before Christmas, to the Capitol.
He was arrested in December after authorities found him hiding out in a travel trailer with a cache of weapons. Kenyon and his wife, Elizabeth, reportedly were charged with child endangerment after being found in the unheated trailer in the Nevada foothills.
The NAACP is sending a strong message to people of color traveling through Missouri: Go at your own risk.
The organization is circulating a travel advisory after the state passed a law that Missouri’s NAACP conference says allows for legal discrimination. The warning cites several discriminatory incidents in Missouri, included as examples of “looming danger” in the state.
The NAACP says this is the first travel advisory ever issued by the organization, at the state or national level. The Missouri conference initially published the advisory in June, and it was recognized nationally at the NAACP’s annual convention last week.
“Individuals traveling in the state are advised to travel with extreme CAUTION,” the advisory warns. “Race, gender and color based crimes have a long history in Missouri.”
Why now?
The advisory was issued after Senate Bill 43 – which makes it more difficult for employees to prove their protected class, like race or gender, directly led to unlawful discrimination – passed through the Missouri Legislature in June. Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed it into law soon after.
Greitens and other supporters of the bill have said it puts Missouri’s standards for lawsuits in line with other states.
But that’s not how the NAACP sees it. The Missouri NAACP State Conference called the legislation a “Jim Crow Bill.”
“This does not follow the morals of Missouri,” Conference President Rod Chapel Jr. told CNN. “I hate to see Missouri get dragged down deep past the notion of treating people with dignity.”
There have been other instances of discrimination in the state that could have elicited an advisory before this, several of which are listed in the warning. Among them are racist incidents reported at the University of Missouri that prompted protests across campus in 2015, as well as the state attorney general’s annual report that found black drivers were stopped by police at a rate 75% higher than white drivers.
Chapel said he met with Greitens about the Senate bill several times. After the bill passed, he said they had a “fair and frank discussion” about what the legislation would do. At a later meeting, Chapel said he brought several faith leaders in the community to talk with the governor about theology and morality.
“Ultimately, none of that worked,” Chapel said.
The governor’s office did not comment on the advisory, but acknowledged that Greitens met with “passionate advocates on both sides” of the bill.
The Missouri Division of Tourism has not responded to multiple requests for comment.
What does it mean?
The advisory doesn’t tell people to not go to Missouri. Rather, the NAACP wants minority travelers to be aware of what it says are potential risks.
“People should tell their relatives if they have to travel through the state, they need to be aware,” Chapel said. “They should have bail money, you never know.”
In the advisory, the NAACP urges individuals to “warn your families, co-workers and anyone visiting Missouri to beware of the safety concerns with travel in Missouri.” These concerns, the organization writes, could include unnecessary search and seizures and potential arrest.
Traditionally, travel advisories are released ahead of severe weather or political disruptions. The State Department publishes international travel warnings and alerts for countries with ongoing violence, frequent terrorist attacks or increased health risks, to name a few.
The ACLU has issued travel advisories similar to the NAACP’s in the past: one for Arizona in 2010, and one in Texas earlier this year. Both advisories were circulated after state laws passed allowing law enforcement officers to question a person’s immigration status.
What will it take for the advisory to be lifted?
After SB43 passed through the Legislature, the initial travel advisory was supposed to last until August 28, when the bill would potentially go into effect.
That changed when Greitens signed it into law.
“We see this travel advisory remaining in effect for the foreseeable future,” Chapel said.
He wants to see several changes in the state before the advisory is lifted, starting with the repeal of the law that prompted the advisory in the first place.
Chapel also said there should be a plan in place on how the state is going to address people of color being stopped by police at a disproportionate rate. He also wants to see a change in how Missouri prosecutors handle hate crimes.
“We need to have some basic ground rules for how human beings treat each other,” Chapel said.
After an Independence police officer was killed in a shootout in September, Missouri state law enforcement initially refused routine federal assistance in tracing the murder weapon. The same month, a Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper released a federal fugitive after a traffic stop.
The incidents are described in a blistering court brief filed Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Justice outlining the consequences of the Second Amendment Preservation Act, a new state law that prohibits Missouri police officers from helping enforce certain federal gun laws. The document paints a stark portrait of how SAPA, also known as House Bill 85, has disrupted cooperation between federal, state and local law enforcement.
The DOJ says the Missouri state crime lab, operated by the Highway Patrol, is refusing to process evidence that would help federal firearms prosecutions. The Missouri Information and Analysis Center, also under the Highway Patrol, no longer cooperates with federal agencies investigating federal firearms offenses. And the Highway Patrol, along with many other agencies, have suspended joint efforts to enforce federal firearms laws.
The DOJ brief comes in an ongoing lawsuit challenging SAPA, filed by St. Louis City, St. Louis County and Jackson County. A Cole County court this year upheld the law, a decision being appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court.
“The United States has an exceedingly strong interest in this suit because H.B. 85 poses a clear and substantial threat to public safety. Since taking effect, the law has already seriously impaired the federal government’s ability to combat violent crime in Missouri,” the brief says.
SAPA declares “invalid” many federal gun regulations that don’t have an equivalent in Missouri law. These include statutes covering weapons registration and tracking, and possession of firearms by some domestic violence offenders.
Local departments are barred from enforcing them, or risk being sued for $50,000 by private citizens who believe their Second Amendment rights have been violated. Police are also prohibited from giving “material aid and support” to federal agents and prosecutors in enforcing those “invalid” laws against “law-abiding citizens” — defined as those who Missouri law permits to have a gun.
Federal and local law enforcement officials have previously warned SAPA would harm their ability to investigate federal firearms crimes in Missouri. The DOJ, Democrats and other critics of the law, signed in June by Republican Gov. Mike Parson, have argued for months it’s blatantly unconstitutional.
The brief appears to include the most extreme examples to date of the measure’s toll on law enforcement. It says the law “is not only damaging valuable institutional relationships for enforcing firearms laws, but also increasing dangers in the field across a broad array of law enforcement operations.”
DOJ says a Highway Patrol trooper in September released a federal fugitive back into the community rather than risk liability for the state agency. The brief provides no additional details, including the location of the incident or what the fugitive was wanted for.
SAPA also initially hampered the investigation into the shooting of an Independence police officer in September, according to the DOJ. Officer Blaize Madrid-Evans was killed on Sept. 15 during an exchange of gun fire with a man sought for violating parole on a firearm conviction. The suspect, identified by authorities as Cody L. Harrison, died at the scene.
“Later the same month, after an Independence police officer was killed during a shootout with a burglary suspect, state law enforcement initially declined routinely provided federal assistance in tracing the murder weapon,” the brief says.
The DOJ provides no additional information about the circumstances of the refusal or how or why it was reversed. A Highway Patrol spokesman declined to comment, citing pending litigation. A spokeswoman for Parson didn’t immediately comment.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt’s office, which is representing the state in the challenge to SAPA, hasn’t yet filed a brief in the appeal’s case.
A week after Madrid-Evans’ death, Parson expressed an openness to amending the law. Speaking to reporters after a police officers’ memorial prayer breakfast in St. Charles, the former sheriff described SAPA as intended as a political statement.
“You’re going to have to work with federal partners,” Parson said, according to KFVS. “And you’re going to have to work with other agencies. And we’ve got to make sure that can happen.”
One of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Eric Burlison, a Battlefield Republican who is running for Congress, and its other sponsor, Rep. Jered Taylor of Republic, have called the reactions of Missouri police, such as their withdrawal from federal partnerships, unnecessary. Taylor told “60 Minutes” in a story that aired In November that he is “not willing to even consider [changes to the law] at this point.”
In an October letter to Republican leaders, the Missouri Police Chiefs Association wrote that the law’s “wording and structure have caused confusion and potentially unintended legal implications.”
The MPCA has proposed specifying that the law would only apply to new federal gun restrictions approved after this past August, and that it doesn’t apply to suspects whom police encounter committing a crime.
It has also proposed clarifying which weapons-related federal crimes local police are allowed to help enforce. The current law allows them to help enforce gun restrictions that are similar to those in Missouri law, as long as those charges are “merely ancillary” to another criminal charge — wording that police groups have called vague.
Republicans would have you believe they are ‘tough’ on terror. They are, in fact, not tough.
Trump released over 5000 Taliban fighters, deserted our Kurdish allies, and abandoned American military bases, weaponry, and equipment to hostile foreign interests.
US Conservatives and Russians are both trying to dismantle American democracy
Lindsey went all in for Trump and Brett Kavanaugh. Non-stop bad faith. Never forget.
“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” – Frédéric Bastiat
Thinking things through isn’t their strong suit
Pass this on to your ‘both sides’ Putinists.
So… 250k gives you the *option* to *purchase* a 2 night stay at Mar-a-Lago.
The desperation runs from the right wing media to find anything to pin on Biden is driving them crazy. They think centralist Joe is following socialist Sanders. Have you seen the things Biden endorses right wing people, he is not being led by Sanders anywhere.
The right wing wants to paint Dr. Fauci as lying to the people. Why? Because their Doctors that push Ivermectin and other things that doesn’t work on Covid are lying or crazy. The head doctor of frontline doctors Stella Immanuel has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches. She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious. She is a pediatrician not a virologist or immunologist. But they believe her over a Immunologist because she says crazy shit they also believe.
At CNN, they hold their own accountable, while at Fox, they give them bonuses and promotions. Somehow because the CEO was having an affair with a vice-president executive in the company and did not report it he felt because he broke the rules he enforces he should resign, and did. Fox did not have anyone in high position that had the same integrity. But that some how makes CNN sinking? Get real.
While she was wrong in what she said I don’t think there was any malicious intent. I think she was trying to express a point about inhumanity and was not fully versed in the mentality of the Nazis. She apologized with a real apology, not some fake one that put the blame on the victim.
So these people believe infecting others and being 97 times more likely to die from the virus is freedom? What about their responsibilities to their fellow humans? I guess it is freedom to not care for others or how what you do effects them. Seems pretty selfish to me, and if that has been the principle we wouldn’t have had a nation, fought a war to end slavery, joined a war to fight fascism, and so much more that takes the idea that doing something for the good of others even if it costs you personally is worth while.
There is no war on police. There is a war on bad actions by police. There can be no defending police that shoot unarmed people, that torture and beat black people for no reason, police that kill believing they are entitle to do so. There is a movement to adjust the duties and role of police to end militarized policing and return policing to community based serve and protect. It really is that simple. There is no reason to have the police act as an occupying army.
Nice cartoon, but late to the game. See the rate of inflation has slowed. Food prices are stabilized or coming down. The Fed and most economists think that inflation was caused by Covid resulting having to shut down the economy and then the fantastic reopening of everything. Like trying to run a whole swimming pool through a small funnel. But sadly many corporations took advantage and engaged in price gouging also.
Debts and Deficits only seem to matter when Democrats are in the White House. Get the corporations and all the rich to pay their FAIR share. That stop in the 1970s. The lower and middle class can’t make up for that crap. Debts and deficits matter if payments can’t be made on them. The U.S. economy has been growing during my lifetime and it hasn’t been an issue.
My blood sugar has been uncontrolled all day causing me to have periods of extreme tired. As my sugar soars and then the insulin fights to bring it down and then soars again I am seesawing between feeling OK and not able to keep my eyes open. I have been back to bed four times so far today. I feel I have not gotten anything done.
I found out that my part D insurance company wont pay for the insulin my doctor prescribed. Now I have to find what insulin they will cover and see if the doctor thinks that will work for me. It is not about what works best and what the doctor thinks will be the best choice for my medical condition, it is what the insurance company will pay at least part of. I sure could have used that lower drug prices and $15 insulin in the Build Back Better bill that wealthy yacht living Maserati driving Manchin says I don’t need.
In just the first month of 2022, drugmakers have raised the prices of prescription drugs by 6.6%.
Rather than take on Big Pharma's greed, two corporate Democrats and 50 Senate Republicans would rather block Build Back Better and line their own pockets with Big Pharma cash.
Make no mistake: These 52 senators are enabling billion-dollar drug companies to raise drug prices in the middle of a global pandemic. A moral outrage. https://t.co/VIs2KjrLvF
If only the #NYT were this concerned about the debt when #TFG was ramming through tax cuts for corporations and rich people.
What about interest on the W Bush tax cuts and his two endless wars?
They said ‘don’t politicize the bench, no judicial activism’. They lied. It’s what conservatives do.
Most of the braindead Right have no idea of the mission of the Federalist Society. They can’t connect the dots between their grievances with life and a corporate fascist judiciary/SCOTUS.
How do you work for Putin without saying you work for Putin. Hawley is a Russian rat.
If your version of American history is completely positive with all the negative parts whitewashed away, then it's not history — it's propaganda. https://t.co/z46x6YpluP
Too bad he and the legislature spent all that time playing to the all important constituency of fox news’ primetime hosts instead of fixing the power grid. Maybe we can use those critical race theory and abortion bounty laws to keep warm https://t.co/TkufhkhEYR
Always a different set of rules for [mediocre white] men.
Would like to see this broken into Red State and Blue State deaths per capita to compare policies.
NYT avoids telling why the US has such a high death rate: right wing disinformation & Putin
The idea is to walk softly but carry a big stick. I agree with Ukraine on this. Russia would love it if Ukraine’s economy crashed and their businesses closed. That actually could be used by Russia to invade. So world, be ready to act but don’t scream about it world wide.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Misleading right wing media cartoons / memes
Nope, not even close. What was requested is he stop promoting lies about a health crisis and getting people killed. Even he admitted he had to try harder to give the correct information.
No Biden did not base his pick just on skin color, skin color is just one of the qualifications he requires of the nominee. Those who keep complaining of this see only that he is picking a black woman as if it was a random person he seen on the street. The complainers are not even worth arguing because they are doing it in bad faith, wanting to find some fault with Biden, and fault at all.
What’s that have to do with car crash? he prison system in the US always fails. The reality is that it doesn’t rehabilitate. It teaches people to be better criminals. We have more people in the jail and prison than any other country. Yes, the system has certainly failed.
The right is up in arms because ICE is moving families to new locations. They act as if ICE has never moved people around the country and in the night at that. Well I posted on the many flights they did to hide kids taken from their families in the middle of the night. Companies started to refuse ICE to fly these scared kids who were under orders not to talk and who no one was allowed to talk to. This was the real abuse. These kids were taken from their families and taken across the country to be given to adoption agencies (usually christian adoption agencies)to place in families for money. That is called child trafficking.
So the cartoonist admits the average person in the US can not afford necessities which is increasing petty crimes of theft. I think it is time to tax the wealthy and large corporations the way they were taxed in the best economic times of the US such as the 1950’s so the government can take care of the needs of the people. The government can create programs to insure people have the things they need and are not so deep in poverty that they need to steal to stay warm and clothed.
Whoopi Goldberg made a foolish comment about the Holocaust. She apologized. Mike Lester nevertheless piled on.
Less than a year ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene, an actual member of the U S Congress, made vile comments trivializing the Holocaust in the context of criticizing mask mandates as tyrannous. Even Kevin McCarthy condemned them. Mike Lester bravely and forthrightly responded by . . . publishing cartoons condemning mask mandates as tyrannous.
This is, of course, the same Mike Lester who in October 2018, following the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, published cartoons attacking the criticism of Halloween costumes as cultural appropriation and depicting Stacy Abrams as a common thief. It’s pretty clear what bothers Mr. Lester and what doesn’t.
I remember night flights when ICE took children who had been taken from their parents at the Southern border and taken across the US to mostly Christian adoption agencies to be placed with US families for a price. The frighted kids were not allowed to speak to anyone and ICE agents wouldn’t let anyone talk to the children. This is child trafficking. It was done under the tRump administration and it was because of the tRump separation policy that they had children they had to move around the country.
Complete lie. It is stupid to even promote that idea. Remember the US is a country of laws and the DA and Gov. of Texas along with other states have go to court to block every attempt that Biden has made to change rules at the border. The only one rule change that was made was that families seeking asylum are not detained but verified given ways to track them and sent to family or NGO’s in other parts of the country. There are cities and towns in the US that are welcoming as many immigrant families as they can get. Reality is the US has places dying because of lack of people living there. Immigrants bring life back to these places. But that is the only rule change. The borders are not open, apprehensions are up. Facts matter
Whoopi Goldberg made a foolish comment about the Holocaust. She apologized. Mike Lester nevertheless piled on.
Less than a year ago, Marjorie Taylor Greene, an actual member of the U S Congress, made vile comments trivializing the Holocaust in the context of criticizing mask mandates as tyrannous. Even Kevin McCarthy condemned them. Mike Lester bravely and forthrightly responded by . . . publishing cartoons condemning mask mandates as tyrannous.
This is, of course, the same Mike Lester who in October 2018, following the Tree of Life synagogue shooting, published cartoons attacking the criticism of Halloween costumes as cultural appropriation and depicting Stacy Abrams as a common thief. It’s pretty clear what bothers Mr. Lester and what doesn’t.