motherjones--2020-06-23--How the Coronavirus Spread QAnon

How the Coronavirus Spread QAnon

Jaylnn Schroeder , an Instagram influencer with 50,000 subscribers , seems like any one of the thousands of people who have grown an audience on the platform by presenting a curated glimpse of their life .
With a bio of “ Sharing my Passions + Purpose ” that notes “ I believe in love + light + 🍟 , ” she mostly posts photos of family , friends , and outfits .
But at the beginning of March , around two weeks before the coronavirus lockdowns started in the United States , Katie Simon , one of her followers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Randomly one day she popped up in my feed , talking about a spiritual awakening , ” Simon said on the phone .
“ She was being vague and saying how she felt like shining light on this was her calling and she felt the need to use her voice and platform.
” Curious , Simon dug deeper .
In Schroeder ’ s Instagram Highlights , which are Instagram stories selected by posters to stay up longer than the normal 24 hours , Simon found a set of messages titled “ Theory.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Schroeder “ started going off on how Tom Hanks was a pedophile , and how he ’ s not actually quarantined , he ’ s under house arrest.
” The posts discussed rampant child trafficking , and told followers that a “ Great Awakening ” was coming , using a QAnon community term describing the supposed impending mass arrests of elites liberal pedophiles .
She also posted a link to an over two and a half-hour YouTube video about the “ secret cabal ” running the world .
Aghast and bemused , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hoaxes to her own Instagram story in early March , showing off its absurdity .
Her followers starting responding , saying they too had seen more and more such theories start popping up on the pages of other influencers .
The conversations kicked into high gear just a week or so after the lockdowns aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus had started in the U.S. Others noticed the trend .
Azadeh Ghafari , a licensed psychotherapist who runs the.wellness.therapist Instagram account , observed that the alternative medicine , wellness , and pseudoscience @ @ @ @ @ @ @ starting to share the same types of QAnon and fringe-right conspiracies .
Accounts offered stories about elite cabals keeping children in tunnels underneath New York City , and how the coronavirus was either a part of a plot to save them , or a coverup to harm even more children .
“ It ’ s unlike what I ’ ve looked at before .
You would assume these hippies are progressives , ” she recently told Mother Jones .
“ There is this faction of ultra-conservative , some Christian , mixed in with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lifestyle folks.
” As these theories reach new audiences , Travis View , an independent conspiracy theory researcher who hosts the podcast QAnon Anonymous , says there ’ s been an uptick in the number of people coming to him to express concern about loved ones falling down the QAnon rabbit hole .
“ It was once or twice a month .
Now in there are people in my [ Twitter ] DMs two or three times a week , ” View says .
Data compiled from social networking sites and Google and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in interest around QAnon among Americans after businesses started to close and various lockdowns started in mid-March in anticipation of further viral spread .
Online activity around QAnon and related topics rapidly climbed to all-time highs .
Interest in the search terms has yet to return to pre-COVID levels .
Google Trends shows spikes in searches about the group , of its abbreviated motto “ WWG1WGA ” ( where we go one , we go all ) , and for “ adrenochrome ” in line with the conspiracy ’ s belief that elites @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adrenochrome , a therapeutically injected chemical compound .
The uptick in searches for such terms on Google and other platforms started around March 13 , when US businesses started closing , and hit new peaks just a few days later on around the 17th , depending on the platform .
Searches for WWG1WA had another peak around the beginning of June .
On Wikipedia , data tracking pageviews for “ QAnon ” and “ adrenochrome ” show nearly identical trends .
According to Wikipedia ’ s Pageview Analysis tool , views of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 13 , hitting 19,518 views in a day before reaching new peaks on March 18 and April 2 of roughly 65,000 .
Since that climb , views of the page haven ’ t dipped below 37,000 views—six times the previous average 2020 average of 6,000 daily views .
Adrenochrome page views on Wikipedia present an even more dramatic version of the same pattern .
While daily views almost never went above 2,000 prior to March 13 , they skyrocketed around March 17 , hitting a new peak of over 56,000 .
Another dramatic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
That ’ s almost 40 times the average page views before the coronavirus broadly hit the US .
It ’ s unclear what generated a second , smaller spike in QAnon related searches at the end of May , however it could be the result of Q followers believing that George Floyd ’ s murder at the hands of the police was a false flag , faked for some reason .
A Mother Jones analysis of nearly 500,000 tweets posted across one week in April found that the average number of tweets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ increased by 160 percent as compared to the averages compiled over six months of 2019 by the Twitter user @ conspirator0 ( Twitter later limited searches of posts on its platform , making other comparisons difficult . )
The highest daily number of QAnon tweets documented by the account in 2019 was 75,349 .
After the onset of the US ’ s coronavirus crisis , that figure nearly doubled , reaching a high of 147 , 748 tweets on April 4 , 2020 .
Anecdotal examples bolster what the data shows .
Internet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so are now associating with far-right conspiracies like QAnon , impending mass arrests of elites for running pedophile rings , and liberal megadonor George Soros ’ s supposed plots .
Across Instagram , pseudoscience wellness influencers , lifestyle influencers , anti-vaxxers , at least one contributor to Gwyneth Paltrow ’ s Goop site , and other seemingly unrelated groups have all pivoted to spreading versions of these conspiracies that emerged on the far right .
QAnon ’ s rise appears to have generated enthusiasm for the movement ’ s goals , including a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director , Anthony Fauci , who is leading the Trump administration ’ s response to the disease , which reached an apex in mid-April when President Trump retweeted the # FireFauci hashtag .
Q followers have actively not liked Fauci since at least March 21 when QAnon researcher Travis View noticed that they had turned on him for praising Hillary Clinton in an email from 2016 that was published by WikiLeaks .
Their contribution in pushing # FireFauci is difficult to measure , and the movement @ @ @ @ @ @ @ outside of the Q universe .
An analysis from Indiana University ’ s Hoaxy tool shows that cjtruth , a popular Qanon poster , was by the far and above largest disseminator of the hashtag the Saturday , April 18 , following the president ’ s tweet .
A June 16 search suggests that this may be a consistent trend .
Most # FireFauci traffic around that date was driven by @ DianLong22 , another pro-QAnon poster .
Whitney Phillips , a professor of communication and rhetorical studies at Syracuse University who researches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ QAnon can be placed near one end of broader a spectrum of conspiratorial right-wing thinking .
“ QAnon is a piece of the puzzle , but you have to bring all the variables together that have brought us to this moment , ” she said , noting that many on the right find QAnon to be too extreme , but , like Fox News host Sean Hannity and many other prominent conservatives , do believe that there is a deep state plot to undermine the president .
Some won ’ t even use @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but will say that Democrats are engaged in a corrupt conspiracy to undermine the president and his allies .
“ It ’ s all different gradations of the same idea , ” she said .
If any kind of political conspiracy ideation takes hold , Phillips said , ideas along the whole spectrum get a boost ; QAnon benefits even when tepid , downstream conspiratorial thinking is pushed by more “ normie ” Republicans at places like Fox News , whose anchors famously downplayed the effects of coronavirus as a liberal plot to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Instagram influencer whose conspiratorial shift in posting habits raised questions for Simon , represents the phenomenon .
Even though her posts contain language and themes that are prevalent in the pro-QAnon community , she told me over email that she “ would not claim to be a full fledged follower of Q.
” “ I became passionate about sex-trafficking recently and that is what pulled me into these ‘ theories , ’ Schroeder said .
“ There are some aspects of these theories that drew me in and as I researched , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Human trafficking is an issue regardless of who is doing the trafficking.
” View gave a simpler explanation for the QAnon ’ s rise amid the pandemic .
“ People are trying to make sense of the world during a trying time , ” he said pointing to a study conducted at the University of Warsaw that found links between “ high-anxiety ” situations and conspiratorial thinking .
While the paper found a link between stressful conditions and belief in anti-semitic conspiracies , it noted that a predisposition to anti-Jewish thought is often @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this case , the seeds for a broader turn to QAnon and other fringe-right wing conspiracies among more mainstream online and conservative communities were set long before the coronavirus by conspiracy mongering by the likes of Fox News and elected Republican officials .
With the groundwork laid , the coronavirus seems to have set off a broader flight of fantasy .

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
Jaylnn Schroeder, an Instagram influencer with 50,000 subscribers, seems like any one of the thousands of people who have grown an audience on the platform by presenting a curated glimpse of their life. With a bio of “Sharing my Passions + Purpose” that notes “I believe in love + light + 🍟,” she mostly posts photos of family, friends, and outfits.
But at the beginning of March, around two weeks before the coronavirus lockdowns started in the United States, Katie Simon, one of her followers, noticed an unusual post from Schroeder. “Randomly one day she popped up in my feed, talking about a spiritual awakening,” Simon said on the phone. “She was being vague and saying how she felt like shining light on this was her calling and she felt the need to use her voice and platform.”
Data shows a spike in QAnon searches after lockdowns started. Interest has yet to return to pre-COVID levels.
Curious, Simon dug deeper. In Schroeder’s Instagram Highlights, which are Instagram stories selected by posters to stay up longer than the normal 24 hours, Simon found a set of messages titled “Theory.”
In the posts, Simon said, Schroeder “started going off on how Tom Hanks was a pedophile, and how he’s not actually quarantined, he’s under house arrest.” The posts discussed rampant child trafficking, and told followers that a “Great Awakening” was coming, using a QAnon community term describing the supposed impending mass arrests of elites liberal pedophiles. She also posted a link to an over two and a half-hour YouTube video about the “secret cabal” running the world.
Aghast and bemused, Simon posted screenshots of Schroeder’s hoaxes to her own Instagram story in early March, showing off its absurdity. Her followers starting responding, saying they too had seen more and more such theories start popping up on the pages of other influencers. The conversations kicked into high gear just a week or so after the lockdowns aimed at stopping the spread of coronavirus had started in the U.S.
Others noticed the trend. Azadeh Ghafari, a licensed psychotherapist who runs the.wellness.therapist Instagram account, observed that the alternative medicine, wellness, and pseudoscience communities she follows on the app were starting to share the same types of QAnon and fringe-right conspiracies. Accounts offered stories about elite cabals keeping children in tunnels underneath New York City, and how the coronavirus was either a part of a plot to save them, or a coverup to harm even more children.
“It’s unlike what I’ve looked at before. You would assume these hippies are progressives,” she recently told Mother Jones. “There is this faction of ultra-conservative, some Christian, mixed in with anti-vaxxers, mixed in with health and lifestyle folks.”
Video Related: How QAnon Is Mutating for 2020
As these theories reach new audiences, Travis View, an independent conspiracy theory researcher who hosts the podcast QAnon Anonymous, says there’s been an uptick in the number of people coming to him to express concern about loved ones falling down the QAnon rabbit hole. “It was once or twice a month. Now in there are people in my [Twitter] DMs two or three times a week,” View says.
Data compiled from social networking sites and Google and Wikipedia search trends show a broader spike in interest around QAnon among Americans after businesses started to close and various lockdowns started in mid-March in anticipation of further viral spread. Online activity around QAnon and related topics rapidly climbed to all-time highs. Interest in the search terms has yet to return to pre-COVID levels.
Google Trends shows spikes in searches about the group, of its abbreviated motto “WWG1WGA” (where we go one, we go all), and for “adrenochrome” in line with the conspiracy’s belief that elites use the blood of children to create adrenochrome, a therapeutically injected chemical compound. The uptick in searches for such terms on Google and other platforms started around March 13, when US businesses started closing, and hit new peaks just a few days later on around the 17th, depending on the platform. Searches for WWG1WA had another peak around the beginning of June.
On Wikipedia, data tracking pageviews for “QAnon” and “adrenochrome” show nearly identical trends.
According to Wikipedia’s Pageview Analysis tool, views of the QAnon Wikipedia page started climbing on March 13, hitting 19,518 views in a day before reaching new peaks on March 18 and April 2 of roughly 65,000. Since that climb, views of the page haven’t dipped below 37,000 views—six times the previous average 2020 average of 6,000 daily views.
Adrenochrome page views on Wikipedia present an even more dramatic version of the same pattern. While daily views almost never went above 2,000 prior to March 13, they skyrocketed around March 17, hitting a new peak of over 56,000. Another dramatic peak of 77,888 came on April 5. That’s almost 40 times the average page views before the coronavirus broadly hit the US.
It’s unclear what generated a second, smaller spike in QAnon related searches at the end of May, however it could be the result of Q followers believing that George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the police was a false flag, faked for some reason.
A Mother Jones analysis of nearly 500,000 tweets posted across one week in April found that the average number of tweets per day using the hashtag #QAnon increased by 160 percent as compared to the averages compiled over six months of 2019 by the Twitter user @conspirator0 (Twitter later limited searches of posts on its platform, making other comparisons difficult.) The highest daily number of QAnon tweets documented by the account in 2019 was 75,349. After the onset of the US’s coronavirus crisis, that figure nearly doubled, reaching a high of 147, 748 tweets on April 4, 2020.
Anecdotal examples bolster what the data shows. Internet communities that hadn’t previously done so are now associating with far-right conspiracies like QAnon, impending mass arrests of elites for running pedophile rings, and liberal megadonor George Soros’s supposed plots. Across Instagram, pseudoscience wellness influencers, lifestyle influencers, anti-vaxxers, at least one contributor to Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop site, and other seemingly unrelated groups have all pivoted to spreading versions of these conspiracies that emerged on the far right.
QAnon’s rise appears to have generated enthusiasm for the movement’s goals, including a persistent fringe right-wing push to fire the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director, Anthony Fauci, who is leading the Trump administration’s response to the disease, which reached an apex in mid-April when President Trump retweeted the #FireFauci hashtag. Q followers have actively not liked Fauci since at least March 21 when QAnon researcher Travis View noticed that they had turned on him for praising Hillary Clinton in an email from 2016 that was published by WikiLeaks. Their contribution in pushing #FireFauci is difficult to measure, and the movement has been boosted by anti-vaxxers and others outside of the Q universe. An analysis from Indiana University’s Hoaxy tool shows that cjtruth, a popular Qanon poster, was by the far and above largest disseminator of the hashtag the Saturday, April 18, following the president’s tweet.
A June 16 search suggests that this may be a consistent trend. Most #FireFauci traffic around that date was driven by @DianLong22, another pro-QAnon poster.
Whitney Phillips, a professor of communication and rhetorical studies at Syracuse University who researches and writes about disinformation, explains that QAnon can be placed near one end of broader a spectrum of conspiratorial right-wing thinking. “QAnon is a piece of the puzzle, but you have to bring all the variables together that have brought us to this moment,” she said, noting that many on the right find QAnon to be too extreme, but, like Fox News host Sean Hannity and many other prominent conservatives, do believe that there is a deep state plot to undermine the president. Some won’t even use the term “deep state,” but will say that Democrats are engaged in a corrupt conspiracy to undermine the president and his allies. “It’s all different gradations of the same idea,” she said.
If any kind of political conspiracy ideation takes hold, Phillips said, ideas along the whole spectrum get a boost; QAnon benefits even when tepid, downstream conspiratorial thinking is pushed by more “normie” Republicans at places like Fox News, whose anchors famously downplayed the effects of coronavirus as a liberal plot to take down the president.
Schroeder, the Instagram influencer whose conspiratorial shift in posting habits raised questions for Simon, represents the phenomenon. Even though her posts contain language and themes that are prevalent in the pro-QAnon community, she told me over email that she “would not claim to be a full fledged follower of Q.”
“I became passionate about sex-trafficking recently and that is what pulled me into these ‘theories,’ Schroeder said. “There are some aspects of these theories that drew me in and as I researched, I felt there was some truth. Human trafficking is an issue regardless of who is doing the trafficking.”
View gave a simpler explanation for the QAnon’s rise amid the pandemic. “People are trying to make sense of the world during a trying time,” he said pointing to a study conducted at the University of Warsaw that found links between “high-anxiety” situations and conspiratorial thinking. While the paper found a link between stressful conditions and belief in anti-semitic conspiracies, it noted that a predisposition to anti-Jewish thought is often seeded before a high-stress situation.
In this case, the seeds for a broader turn to QAnon and other fringe-right wing conspiracies among more mainstream online and conservative communities were set long before the coronavirus by conspiracy mongering by the likes of Fox News and elected Republican officials. With the groundwork laid, the coronavirus seems to have set off a broader flight of fantasy.


motherjones--2020-06-23--Kentucky Votes Today. Here Are All the Ways Mitch McConnell Has Made That Harder.

It ’ s been a primary season full of polling-place disasters , and as Kentuckians vote on Tuesday , there ’ s reason to believe another one could be on the way .
Amid coronavirus concerns , Kentucky has cut the number of polling places from its usual 3700 to just 200 , with just one polling place each for the state ’ s two biggest cities , Louisville and Lexington .
The likes of LeBron James have tweeted their dismay about the possibility of long lines and voter suppression .
The most-watched race in the state is the Democratic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Amy McGrath to decide who will face off against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Ky. ) in November .
Primary elections throughout the country this year have been marred by long lines and confusion over mail-in ballots , and Kentucky ’ s may be no exception .
But McConnell has been steadfast in blocking a series of bills passed by the Democratic-led House of Representatives that would make it easier to vote .
Here are the major bills McConnell is refusing to hold votes on : • In March 2019 , the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Act , ” the most significant democracy reform bill in a generation .
It would make it easier to vote through policies like nationwide automatic voter registration and two weeks of early voting in every state .
McConnell strongly opposed the bill , dubbing it “ the Democrat Politician Protection Act , ” and called the idea of making Election Day a federal holiday a “ power grab ” by Democrats , seemingly admitting that Republicans lose when more people vote .
• In December 2019 , the House passed a bill to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that states with a long history of voting discrimination no longer needed to approve their election changes with the federal government .
It would require states like Georgia and Texas—which have slashed hundreds of polling places in recent years , leading to six-hour lines at the polls—to seek federal approval for such potentially discriminatory election changes .
McConnell has taken no action on the bill for 200 days and said in 2016 that he opposed reinstating the preclearance section of the VRA .
• In May @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the “ Heroes Act , ” a coronavirus relief bill that would give $ 3.6 billion in election aid to help states run their elections in November .
This would allow states to open more polling places , buy new voting equipment to handle a surge of mail-in ballots , and equip election workers with protective gear to shield them from coronavirus .
It would also require states to expand vote-by-mail and have at least 15 days of early voting to guard against the spread of COVID-19 and would give the United States @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with vote-by-mail .
McConnell has yet to schedule a vote on it , saying only that the next round of coronavirus relief should be “ narrowly crafted.
” Republicans have also blocked consideration of the “ VoteSafe Act ” by Sen. Kamala Harris ( D-Calif. ) , which includes many similar election reforms .
• McConnell has blocked three bills passed by the House aimed at preventing election interference .
They would require campaigns to notify the FBI and Federal Election Commission if contacted by foreign actors and require states to use voting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ been sharply criticized by election officials in his home state for blocking funding for election security .
McConnell ’ s opposition to these bills could have an outsize impact in Kentucky , where the Republican-controlled state legislature passed a new voter ID law for November that could make it more difficult to cast a ballot and is expected to disproportionately affect voters of color , who are less likely to possess the required photo IDs .
The legislature also has yet to commit to expanding vote-by-mail for the general election .
In 2016 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s election performance index , which measures each state ’ s voter participation and ballot access .
McConnell ’ s refusal to make it easier to vote amid an unprecedented public health crisis and widespread voting problems in the primaries will only increase the likelihood of an election meltdown in November .

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.
It’s been a primary season full of polling-place disasters, and as Kentuckians vote on Tuesday, there’s reason to believe another one could be on the way. Amid coronavirus concerns, Kentucky has cut the number of polling places from its usual 3700 to just 200, with just one polling place each for the state’s two biggest cities, Louisville and Lexington. The likes of LeBron James have tweeted their dismay about the possibility of long lines and voter suppression.
The most-watched race in the state is the Democratic US Senate primary between Charles Booker and Amy McGrath to decide who will face off against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in November. Primary elections throughout the country this year have been marred by long lines and confusion over mail-in ballots, and Kentucky’s may be no exception. But McConnell has been steadfast in blocking a series of bills passed by the Democratic-led House of Representatives that would make it easier to vote.
Here are the major bills McConnell is refusing to hold votes on:
McConnell’s opposition to these bills could have an outsize impact in Kentucky, where the Republican-controlled state legislature passed a new voter ID law for November that could make it more difficult to cast a ballot and is expected to disproportionately affect voters of color, who are less likely to possess the required photo IDs. The legislature also has yet to commit to expanding vote-by-mail for the general election. In 2016, Kentucky ranked 44th in MIT’s election performance index, which measures each state’s voter participation and ballot access. McConnell’s refusal to make it easier to vote amid an unprecedented public health crisis and widespread voting problems in the primaries will only increase the likelihood of an election meltdown in November.


motherjones--2020-06-23--For Tarra Simmons, Her Time In Prison Isn’t a Liability. It’s a Campaign-Trail Identity.

This story was published in partnership with The Marshall Project , a nonprofit newsroom covering the US criminal justice system .
Sign up for their newsletter , or follow The Marshall Project on Twitter and Facebook .
One of the first things Tarra Simmons tells voters when asking for their support isn ’ t the prestigious fellowships she ’ s won or the legislation she ’ s helped write .
It ’ s about the years she spent behind bars .
It ’ s a story Simmons , a candidate for state representative in Kitsap County , Washington , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ these days are entirely online : How she lost her car , her house , her nursing license , her voting rights .
How after coming home in 2013 , most of her minimum-wage paychecks from Burger King were taken to pay the $ 7,600 she owed in court fees .
How she managed to climb out of that life , get a law degree and begin a civil rights nonprofit .
And how all of it made her realize that only those who have lived through the system can fully understand how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prison .
It ’ s not something I ’ m proud of , but I understand how people end up there , ” Simmons said at a May campaign fundraiser via Zoom , her digital background set to a generic corporate lobby .
“ Our criminal justice system is just a Band-Aid ; I want to prevent [ incarceration ] from happening to begin with.
” Simmons is one of a new crop of political candidates in 2020 for whom being formerly incarcerated isn ’ t a disqualifier or a political liability @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say is vital to represent in state capitals and the hallways of Congress , as lawmakers try to overhaul a system that spends billions to lock up mostly Black and brown people .
The ongoing protests against racism and police violence , sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis , have highlighted the distance between two Americas : one that has lived under the pressure , surveillance and control of the justice system , and one that has not .
It ’ s unacceptable , candidates say , for only people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ side of law enforcement to write the laws that affect those who have .
Simmons , who identifies as white and Hispanic , speaks often of the disproportionate impact the criminal justice system has on people of color .
“ I am a mother of two Black sons and have been working on racial equity for nearly two decades , ” Simmons wrote in a recent campaign email , “ and I will be the first formerly incarcerated individual in our state legislature if we succeed in this election.
” She has called @ @ @ @ @ @ @ funding into community programs .
Kevin Harris is running for state representative in Detroit , Michigan , where he recently served as the departing representative ’ s legislative director .
He came home from a 14-year sentence in 2006 and soon got involved in community organizing .
He was 18 when he went to prison .
“ It was the height of the crack epidemic .
I had a little bit of a political awakening in understanding how the Department of Corrections treated people , ” he said .
“ It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the Black community have criminal records .
We ’ ve been targeted—we ’ ve always been targeted.
” Now , Harris said , it ’ s even more important to talk about his experience in prison .
As a Black formerly incarcerated organizer working on criminal justice , voters know he ’ s been “ in that fight ” long before George Floyd was killed .
Now is his moment , he said .
“ I ’ ve got to get to this place so my voice is elevated , so I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said of the state legislature .
“ One-third of all Americans have some kind of criminal record .
Almost every family has been touched by it.
” There has been a dramatic shift in the criminal justice conversation in recent years .
A majority of voters from both parties now say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate “ who supports criminal justice reform.
” And whether people leaving—or still in—prison can vote received unprecedented attention in the Democratic primary race .
But voters rarely hear from candidates who have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Several formerly incarcerated candidates stressed that their platforms weren ’ t solely about prison reform , especially amid catastrophic public health and economic crises .
“ I had to become more of an intersectional candidate , to respond to what my community needs , ” said Simmons , who at recent meetings talked about everything from how political districts are drawn to protecting habitats for salmon .
But she hopes her message of decarceration is more timely than ever .
“ We ’ re going to have more momentum , especially if we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ economic argument … Incarceration costs us a lot of money.
” Making it into the room where it happens will still not be easy .
Fundraising for first-time candidates is a particular challenge with door-knocking on hold and in-person events cancelled because of the pandemic .
And , like many other parts of civic life for those with felony convictions , serving in government is restricted by thousands of state-level laws .
Multiple states—such as Illinois , Alabama , and Delaware—ban people with criminal convictions from holding most public offices .
Others , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ certain crimes , like bribery , or bar people for multiple years after their release .
These laws disproportionately keep people of color , who are more likely to be sent to prison , out of public office .
If someone is legally able to run , the stigma of incarceration can still be a deterrent .
Even Simmons—who was convicted of a lower-level drug offense in a liberal state—has faced significant blowback .
In 2018 , a conservative political action committee used her story in a smear campaign against one of her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Randall had recently posted on Facebook , cheering Simmons ’ bid to become a licensed attorney .
The mailers against her read : “ TOO SOFT ON CRIME … Randall has supported Tarra Simmons , a drug-addicted ex-con.
” To Simmons ’ surprise , the ads sparked a statewide backlash .
The chair of the Washington state Republican Party called to apologize .
It made Simmons think voters might be ready for a formerly incarcerated candidate .
When state senator Sherry Appleton , the 16-year Democratic incumbent , encouraged Simmons to run @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kitsap County prosecutor Chad Enright , who leads the same office that sent Simmons to prison , has also endorsed her .
But in news coverage of her candidacy , Simmons has had to deal with headlines calling her “ ex-inmate ” or stories that list her criminal conviction as one of the only details .
“ There ’ s a missing voice in our legislature , ” Simmons said .
“ You have a lot of well-intentioned advocates who are trying to push criminal justice reform , but they can ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have survived it.
” “ Survived ” is the right word to describe Simmons ’ early life .
As is true for most women who end up in prison , she was the victim of serious crime long before she was the perpetrator .
Growing up in Bremerton , across the Puget Sound from Seattle , Simmons said most members of her immediate family dealt with addiction .
Most had served time .
No one graduated high school .
Simmons ran away from home and by 14 , had lived through foster care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ assault and trafficking .
At 15 she had her first child .
His birth marked a new chapter for Simmons , connecting her with social services and prompting her to enroll in an alternative high school .
As a single mother , she worked her way through high school , college and nursing school , eventually getting a steady job as an E.R .
nurse .
She had a second child .
But a series of events resurfaced Simmons ’ childhood trauma .
A spinal injury led to a painkiller prescription , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addictions spiraled into drug dealing , and soon she was facing criminal charges for theft , drugs and gun possession .
In 2011 , a judge sentenced her to 20 months in prison .
Simmons began substance abuse treatment while incarcerated .
When volunteer law students helped her file a motion to maintain custody of her kids , she started thinking about applying to law school herself .
Simmons wanted to fight the avalanche of civil legal consequences that came with her criminal conviction : a house in foreclosure , the loss of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ People only associate me with my incarceration history , not the tremendous amount of violence I ’ ve survived , ” Simmons said .
“ I had a really hard time trusting people .
Meeting these volunteers made me believe I could heal.
” After her release in 2013 , Simmons enrolled at Seattle University School of Law .
She graduated with honors and won a prestigious Skadden Fellowship for recent grads working in public interest law .
Governor Jay Inslee appointed her to lead a new statewide reentry council .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ again get in the way .
The “ character and fitness board ” of the Washington State Bar Association wouldn ’ t let her take the exam required to be a licensed lawyer , claiming that she minimized her drug abuse in her application .
“ [ S ] ome of the attitudes she expressed in the record and at the hearing signal that her acquired fame has nurtured not integrity and honesty , but a sense of entitlement to privileges and recognition beyond the reach of others , ” board members wrote @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Shon Hopwood—another formerly incarcerated attorney and Georgetown Law professor—and appealed the decision to the state ’ s highest court .
“ They let someone with five armed bank robberies into the bar , ” Hopwood said , referring to himself .
“ Losing my shit is the nicest way to describe how I felt .
There are few people on this planet who have overcome the things that she has.
” The Washington State Supreme Court handed back a unanimous decision the same day they heard arguments .
She won .
Simmons is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Civil Survival Project , a nonprofit focused on reducing barriers for people coming home from prison and involving them in policy-making .
The group has been pushing for legislation to automatically restore voting rights for people leaving prison and to expunge certain criminal records .
Many supporters who attend Simmons ’ campaign events carry the invisible burden of a criminal record , and know intimately the innumerable , byzantine obstacles it creates .
“ I couldn ’ t get life insurance because I have a felony , ” said Woodean Nickerson , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Simmons ’ campaign launch in January .
“ I couldn ’ t get a job , ” said Andre Henderson , a college student who , despite great grades , was initially denied a work-study position .
When the community college told him they had to run a background check , “ it was like I was being policed and patted down all over again .
It ’ s traumatizing , ” he said .
A felony curtails involvement in civic life , too .
Keeda Haynes , a former public defender who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in 2006 , is currently running for Congress in Nashville , Tennessee .
But she could not run for local office or even sit on a jury until she petitioned a court to restore her civil rights—a legal process that can be difficult to navigate .
“ This is an opportunity to change the narrative and have tough hard conversations around barriers to reentry , ” she said of her campaign .
In a recent mailer comparing her record on racial justice to her opponent ’ s , Haynes noted her “ personal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Candidates say that experience is invaluable in shaping policy .
“ There ’ s a huge difference between wisdom and education .
Education is what you learn from books .
Wisdom is what you learn from your own life , ” said Angela Stanton-King , who is running as a Republican for Congress in Georgia ’ s 5th District , against longtime civil rights leader and Rep. John Lewis .
She has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and law enforcement during the ongoing protests for racial justice .
Stanton-King served @ @ @ @ @ @ @ She says being shackled while giving birth prompted her to push for a federal ban on the practice .
Unlike many Republicans , she supports the right to vote for anyone with a felony conviction once they leave prison .
“ I ’ m here to dispel the saying , ‘ once a felon always a felon.
’ That ’ s not true , ” she said .
The countdown is on to August ’ s Democratic primary for state races in Washington .
As the pandemic continues , Simmons has increased online @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also been using to connect vulnerable constituents with resources during the shutdown .
So far , Simmons has raised over $ 165,000 , a little over $ 20,000 of which came from a January fundraiser in New York City , hosted by several national criminal justice advocates , records show .
( The organizers included a member of The Marshall Project ‘ s board of directors . )
Her main opponent in the primary is Leslie Daugs , a current Bremerton City Council member , who has raised a little more than $ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ true litmus test for voters .
“ The same way we ask the question is the ‘ U.S .
ready for a female president ?
’ —are we ready for a U.S. representative that has a felony on their record ?
” asked Haynes , the Tennessee candidate challenging incumbent Jim Cooper in that state ’ s 5th congressional district .
“ I would like to think the answer is yes , but we will see .
I don ’ t think that ’ s going to be the deciding factor.
” In @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mckayla Wilkes spoke openly about her experience in juvenile detention and a brief stint in jail while pregnant , for driving with a suspended license .
She lost in the primary on June 2 , against long-time incumbent Rep. Steny Hoyer .
“ I never thought that someone formerly incarcerated like myself would even be taken seriously , ” she tweeted .
“ We lost .
But it does appear we won more votes than any primary challenger to Hoyer in 40 years.
” Regardless of election results , just seeing people speak @ @ @ @ @ @ @ turning point for some .
Kelly Olson , an Olympia , Washington , organizer with the Civil Survival Project , attended one of Simmons ’ early campaign events in December .
For the first several years after she came home from prison in 2007 , Olson didn ’ t share her past unless absolutely necessary—including during an internship at the Washington state senate .
It was only after she met Simmons that she “ came out ” as formerly incarcerated .
“ I was holding my own life back , it was my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so important for people to see us as humans , to see we ’ re capable of leadership , ” Olson said .
“ Seeing Tarra do it [ makes me ] realize our stories do matter .
I wish I had come out sooner .
”

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This story was published in partnership with The Marshall Project, a nonprofit newsroom covering the US criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletter, or follow The Marshall Project on Twitter and Facebook.
One of the first things Tarra Simmons tells voters when asking for their support isn’t the prestigious fellowships she’s won or the legislation she’s helped write. It’s about the years she spent behind bars.
It’s a story Simmons, a candidate for state representative in Kitsap County, Washington, has shared at countless campaign events, which these days are entirely online: How she lost her car, her house, her nursing license, her voting rights. How after coming home in 2013, most of her minimum-wage paychecks from Burger King were taken to pay the $7,600 she owed in court fees. How she managed to climb out of that life, get a law degree and begin a civil rights nonprofit. And how all of it made her realize that only those who have lived through the system can fully understand how to fix it.
“I went to prison. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I understand how people end up there,” Simmons said at a May campaign fundraiser via Zoom, her digital background set to a generic corporate lobby. “Our criminal justice system is just a Band-Aid; I want to prevent [incarceration] from happening to begin with.”
Simmons is one of a new crop of political candidates in 2020 for whom being formerly incarcerated isn’t a disqualifier or a political liability. It’s an identity—one they say is vital to represent in state capitals and the hallways of Congress, as lawmakers try to overhaul a system that spends billions to lock up mostly Black and brown people.
“I went to prison. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I understand how people end up there.”
The ongoing protests against racism and police violence, sparked by the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, have highlighted the distance between two Americas: one that has lived under the pressure, surveillance and control of the justice system, and one that has not. It’s unacceptable, candidates say, for only people who have never been on the other side of law enforcement to write the laws that affect those who have.
Simmons, who identifies as white and Hispanic, speaks often of the disproportionate impact the criminal justice system has on people of color. “I am a mother of two Black sons and have been working on racial equity for nearly two decades,” Simmons wrote in a recent campaign email, “and I will be the first formerly incarcerated individual in our state legislature if we succeed in this election.” She has called for demilitarizing the police and reinvesting police funding into community programs.
Kevin Harris is running for state representative in Detroit, Michigan, where he recently served as the departing representative’s legislative director. He came home from a 14-year sentence in 2006 and soon got involved in community organizing. He was 18 when he went to prison. “It was the height of the crack epidemic. I had a little bit of a political awakening in understanding how the Department of Corrections treated people,” he said. “It’s not a coincidence that so many people from the Black community have criminal records. We’ve been targeted—we’ve always been targeted.”
Now, Harris said, it’s even more important to talk about his experience in prison. As a Black formerly incarcerated organizer working on criminal justice, voters know he’s been “in that fight” long before George Floyd was killed. Now is his moment, he said. “I’ve got to get to this place so my voice is elevated, so I have a bigger bullhorn,” he said of the state legislature. “One-third of all Americans have some kind of criminal record. Almost every family has been touched by it.”
There has been a dramatic shift in the criminal justice conversation in recent years. A majority of voters from both parties now say they would be more likely to vote for a candidate “who supports criminal justice reform.” And whether people leaving—or still in—prison can vote received unprecedented attention in the Democratic primary race. But voters rarely hear from candidates who have firsthand experience with the justice system.
Several formerly incarcerated candidates stressed that their platforms weren’t solely about prison reform, especially amid catastrophic public health and economic crises. “I had to become more of an intersectional candidate, to respond to what my community needs,” said Simmons, who at recent meetings talked about everything from how political districts are drawn to protecting habitats for salmon.
But she hopes her message of decarceration is more timely than ever. “We’re going to have more momentum, especially if we can ground it in a health and economic argument … Incarceration costs us a lot of money.”
Making it into the room where it happens will still not be easy. Fundraising for first-time candidates is a particular challenge with door-knocking on hold and in-person events cancelled because of the pandemic. And, like many other parts of civic life for those with felony convictions, serving in government is restricted by thousands of state-level laws. Multiple states—such as Illinois, Alabama, and Delaware—ban people with criminal convictions from holding most public offices. Others, like West Virginia, outlaw it after certain crimes, like bribery, or bar people for multiple years after their release. These laws disproportionately keep people of color, who are more likely to be sent to prison, out of public office.
Like many other parts of civic life for those with felony convictions, serving in government is restricted by thousands of state-level laws.
If someone is legally able to run, the stigma of incarceration can still be a deterrent. Even Simmons—who was convicted of a lower-level drug offense in a liberal state—has faced significant blowback. In 2018, a conservative political action committee used her story in a smear campaign against one of her supporters, Washington state senator Emily Randall. Randall had recently posted on Facebook, cheering Simmons’ bid to become a licensed attorney. The mailers against her read: “TOO SOFT ON CRIME … Randall has supported Tarra Simmons, a drug-addicted ex-con.”
To Simmons’ surprise, the ads sparked a statewide backlash. The chair of the Washington state Republican Party called to apologize. It made Simmons think voters might be ready for a formerly incarcerated candidate. When state senator Sherry Appleton, the 16-year Democratic incumbent, encouraged Simmons to run for her seat, Simmons agreed. Kitsap County prosecutor Chad Enright, who leads the same office that sent Simmons to prison, has also endorsed her.
But in news coverage of her candidacy, Simmons has had to deal with headlines calling her “ex-inmate” or stories that list her criminal conviction as one of the only details.
“There’s a missing voice in our legislature,” Simmons said. “You have a lot of well-intentioned advocates who are trying to push criminal justice reform, but they can’t know it as intimately as people who have survived it.”
“Survived” is the right word to describe Simmons’ early life. As is true for most women who end up in prison, she was the victim of serious crime long before she was the perpetrator. Growing up in Bremerton, across the Puget Sound from Seattle, Simmons said most members of her immediate family dealt with addiction. Most had served time. No one graduated high school. Simmons ran away from home and by 14, had lived through foster care, juvenile detention, homelessness, sexual assault and trafficking. At 15 she had her first child.
His birth marked a new chapter for Simmons, connecting her with social services and prompting her to enroll in an alternative high school. As a single mother, she worked her way through high school, college and nursing school, eventually getting a steady job as an E.R. nurse. She had a second child.
But a series of events resurfaced Simmons’ childhood trauma. A spinal injury led to a painkiller prescription, which led to an opioid addiction. Her addictions spiraled into drug dealing, and soon she was facing criminal charges for theft, drugs and gun possession. In 2011, a judge sentenced her to 20 months in prison.
Simmons began substance abuse treatment while incarcerated. When volunteer law students helped her file a motion to maintain custody of her kids, she started thinking about applying to law school herself. Simmons wanted to fight the avalanche of civil legal consequences that came with her criminal conviction: a house in foreclosure, the loss of her nursing license, her car repossessed.
“People only associate me with my incarceration history, not the tremendous amount of violence I’ve survived,” Simmons said. “I had a really hard time trusting people. Meeting these volunteers made me believe I could heal.”
After her release in 2013, Simmons enrolled at Seattle University School of Law. She graduated with honors and won a prestigious Skadden Fellowship for recent grads working in public interest law. Governor Jay Inslee appointed her to lead a new statewide reentry council. But her own criminal history would yet again get in the way.
The “character and fitness board” of the Washington State Bar Association wouldn’t let her take the exam required to be a licensed lawyer, claiming that she minimized her drug abuse in her application. “[S]ome of the attitudes she expressed in the record and at the hearing signal that her acquired fame has nurtured not integrity and honesty, but a sense of entitlement to privileges and recognition beyond the reach of others,” board members wrote.
“There are few people on this planet who have overcome the things that she has.”
Simmons enlisted her friend and mentor Shon Hopwood—another formerly incarcerated attorney and Georgetown Law professor—and appealed the decision to the state’s highest court.
“They let someone with five armed bank robberies into the bar,” Hopwood said, referring to himself. “Losing my shit is the nicest way to describe how I felt. There are few people on this planet who have overcome the things that she has.”
The Washington State Supreme Court handed back a unanimous decision the same day they heard arguments. She won.
Simmons is now the founder and executive director of Civil Survival Project, a nonprofit focused on reducing barriers for people coming home from prison and involving them in policy-making. The group has been pushing for legislation to automatically restore voting rights for people leaving prison and to expunge certain criminal records.
Many supporters who attend Simmons’ campaign events carry the invisible burden of a criminal record, and know intimately the innumerable, byzantine obstacles it creates.
“I couldn’t get life insurance because I have a felony,” said Woodean Nickerson, a social work student, over appetizers at Simmons’ campaign launch in January.
“I couldn’t get a job,” said Andre Henderson, a college student who, despite great grades, was initially denied a work-study position. When the community college told him they had to run a background check, “it was like I was being policed and patted down all over again. It’s traumatizing,” he said.
A felony curtails involvement in civic life, too. Keeda Haynes, a former public defender who served nearly four years in federal prison in 2006, is currently running for Congress in Nashville, Tennessee. But she could not run for local office or even sit on a jury until she petitioned a court to restore her civil rights—a legal process that can be difficult to navigate. “This is an opportunity to change the narrative and have tough hard conversations around barriers to reentry,” she said of her campaign. In a recent mailer comparing her record on racial justice to her opponent’s, Haynes noted her “personal experience with the racist criminal justice system.”
Candidates say that experience is invaluable in shaping policy. “There’s a huge difference between wisdom and education. Education is what you learn from books. Wisdom is what you learn from your own life,” said Angela Stanton-King, who is running as a Republican for Congress in Georgia’s 5th District, against longtime civil rights leader and Rep. John Lewis. She has been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and law enforcement during the ongoing protests for racial justice.
Stanton-King served over two years in federal prison. She says being shackled while giving birth prompted her to push for a federal ban on the practice. Unlike many Republicans, she supports the right to vote for anyone with a felony conviction once they leave prison. “I’m here to dispel the saying, ‘once a felon always a felon.’ That’s not true,” she said.
The countdown is on to August’s Democratic primary for state races in Washington. As the pandemic continues, Simmons has increased online events and phone banking—which her campaign has also been using to connect vulnerable constituents with resources during the shutdown.
So far, Simmons has raised over $165,000, a little over $20,000 of which came from a January fundraiser in New York City, hosted by several national criminal justice advocates, records show. (The organizers included a member of The Marshall Project‘s board of directors.) Her main opponent in the primary is Leslie Daugs, a current Bremerton City Council member, who has raised a little more than $20,000.
Election day will be the true litmus test for voters. “The same way we ask the question is the ‘U.S. ready for a female president?’—are we ready for a U.S. representative that has a felony on their record?” asked Haynes, the Tennessee candidate challenging incumbent Jim Cooper in that state’s 5th congressional district. “I would like to think the answer is yes, but we will see. I don’t think that’s going to be the deciding factor.”
“The same way we ask the question is the ‘U.S. ready for a female president?’—are we ready for a U.S. representative that has a felony on their record?”
In her campaign for Congress in Maryland, Mckayla Wilkes spoke openly about her experience in juvenile detention and a brief stint in jail while pregnant, for driving with a suspended license. She lost in the primary on June 2, against long-time incumbent Rep. Steny Hoyer. “I never thought that someone formerly incarcerated like myself would even be taken seriously,” she tweeted. “We lost. But it does appear we won more votes than any primary challenger to Hoyer in 40 years.”
Regardless of election results, just seeing people speak openly about their criminal record is a turning point for some. Kelly Olson, an Olympia, Washington, organizer with the Civil Survival Project, attended one of Simmons’ early campaign events in December. For the first several years after she came home from prison in 2007, Olson didn’t share her past unless absolutely necessary—including during an internship at the Washington state senate. It was only after she met Simmons that she “came out” as formerly incarcerated.
“I was holding my own life back, it was my own internal shame. It’s so important for people to see us as humans, to see we’re capable of leadership,” Olson said. “Seeing Tarra do it [makes me] realize our stories do matter. I wish I had come out sooner.”


motherjones--2020-06-23--An Inside Look at Weeks of Demonstrations Following the Killing of George Floyd.

To someone who grew up in New York City , the NYPD will always be synonymous with Amadou Diallo .
One of the first protests I ever attended was at City Hall in 2000 , after the police officers who shot at Diallo 41 times were acquitted and the city erupted in anger .
His killing solidified and reaffirmed a generation of New Yorkers ’ understanding of who the police really were , who they served and protected , and who they did not .
People called for change , and politicians promised that the police would be reformed .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ NYPD as they racially profiled countless youth through stop and frisk , shot at Sean Bell 50 times , choked Eric Garner to death , and denied justice to the family members of Delrawn Small , Elvin Diaz , Ramarley Graham , Jayson Tirado , Mohamed Bah , Shantel Davis , Iman Morales , Kimani Gray , Alberta Spruill , and Rexford Dasrath—all men and women who have been killed by the NYPD over the past 15 years .
Year after year , from New York to Missouri , police continue to kill @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all while serving as the most powerful apparatus of racist violence in the United States .
After the killing of George Floyd , 25 days ( and counting ) in New York City have been marked by hundreds of protests and marches that have spread out across so many neighborhoods it seems like they might reach every person in the city .
Young people , around the same age Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown would have been if they were alive today , are leading marches with confidence and strength .
Older residents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and windows cheering from a safe distance , thanking them for putting themselves on the line .
Just a month ago , the hospitals were overflowing .
So many lives were lost , and just as with police violence , the victims have been disproportionately Black and Brown .
Some of the protests are enormous and others are small , some are joyful and others mournful , some are run like campaign events organized by local politicians and others more like DIY actions scraped together by high school kids .
What they all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people are feeling it , and the way people are showing it .
This is a movement , not a series of protests , and within weeks it has already put politicians on the defensive , pressuring them to enact reforms that have been long overdue .
And still , the movement knows that this is not enough , and it is not backing down .
Floyd ’ s killing is infuriatingly nothing new or different .
But the outrage , activism , and protest it has inspired , the Black Lives Matter @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the calls to defund and abolish the police that are going beyond more of the same placating reforms , and the momentum of a movement that simply will not stop—all this is new .
From my one small lens in this great big city , this time feels different .

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To someone who grew up in New York City, the NYPD will always be synonymous with Amadou Diallo. One of the first protests I ever attended was at City Hall in 2000, after the police officers who shot at Diallo 41 times were acquitted and the city erupted in anger. His killing solidified and reaffirmed a generation of New Yorkers’ understanding of who the police really were, who they served and protected, and who they did not.
People called for change, and politicians promised that the police would be reformed. Instead billions of dollars flowed into the NYPD as they racially profiled countless youth through stop and frisk, shot at Sean Bell 50 times, choked Eric Garner to death, and denied justice to the family members of Delrawn Small, Elvin Diaz, Ramarley Graham, Jayson Tirado, Mohamed Bah, Shantel Davis, Iman Morales, Kimani Gray, Alberta Spruill, and Rexford Dasrath—all men and women who have been killed by the NYPD over the past 15 years. Year after year, from New York to Missouri, police continue to kill Black and Brown people with impunity, all while serving as the most powerful apparatus of racist violence in the United States.
Amadou Diallo’s killing solidified and reaffirmed a generation of New Yorkers’ understanding of who the police really were, who they served and protected, and who they did not.
After the killing of George Floyd, 25 days (and counting) in New York City have been marked by hundreds of protests and marches that have spread out across so many neighborhoods it seems like they might reach every person in the city. Young people, around the same age Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown would have been if they were alive today, are leading marches with confidence and strength. Older residents and young children stand outside their stoops and windows cheering from a safe distance, thanking them for putting themselves on the line. Just a month ago, the hospitals were overflowing. So many lives were lost, and just as with police violence, the victims have been disproportionately Black and Brown.
Some of the protests are enormous and others are small, some are joyful and others mournful, some are run like campaign events organized by local politicians and others more like DIY actions scraped together by high school kids. What they all have in common is their power—the way people are feeling it, and the way people are showing it. This is a movement, not a series of protests, and within weeks it has already put politicians on the defensive, pressuring them to enact reforms that have been long overdue. And still, the movement knows that this is not enough, and it is not backing down.
Floyd’s killing is infuriatingly nothing new or different. But the outrage, activism, and protest it has inspired, the Black Lives Matter movement’s spread and influence, the calls to defund and abolish the police that are going beyond more of the same placating reforms, and the momentum of a movement that simply will not stop—all this is new. From my one small lens in this great big city, this time feels different.


motherjones--2020-06-23--Justice Department Pressured Prosecutors to Go Easy on Roger Stone, Attorney Says

A Justice Department lawyer who prosecuted Roger Stone is alleging that attorneys involved in the case were pressured by their superiors to “ cut Stone a break ” due to his relationship with the president .
Stone was convicted of five counts of making false statements—as well as obstruction of Congress and witness tampering—after lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his efforts in 2016 to contact WikiLeaks regarding Democratic emails hacked by Russia .
Evidence compiled by special counsel Robert Mueller showed that Stone consulted personally with Donald Trump and senior Trump campaign officials about Stone ’ s efforts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for disseminating the stolen emails .
“ What I heard—repeatedly—was that Roger Stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the President , ” Aaron Zelinsky says in written testimony submitted to the House Judiciary Committee ahead of a hearing scheduled for Wednesday .
“ I was told that the Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia , Timothy Shea , was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break , and that the US Attorney ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on political considerations .
I was also told that the acting US Attorney was giving Stone such unprecedentedly favorable treatment because he was ‘ afraid of the President . '
” Shea was installed as acting head of the DC federal prosecutors ’ office by Attorney General William Barr after Barr removed former US Attorney Jessie Liu .
Shea is now the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration .
This alleged meddling in the Stone case appears to be part of a pattern .
Barr later moved to drop a case against @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , who had already pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States .
And late last Friday , Barr ousted the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York , Geoffrey Berman , who was overseeing several cases related to Trump associates .
Spokespeople for the DOJ , the DC US attorney ’ s office , and the DEA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Zelinsky ’ s testimony .
Zelinsky describes how Shea and other Justice Department officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to recommend a more lenient sentence for Stone than those prosecutors believed was fair .
Zelinsky says their jobs were threatened .
“ We were told by a supervisor that the US Attorney had political reasons for his instructions , which our supervisor agreed was unethical and wrong , ” he says .
“ However , we were instructed that we should go along with the US Attorney ’ s 10 instructions , because this case was ‘ not the hill worth dying on ‘ and that we could ‘ lose our jobs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ line.
” The prosecutors initially suggested that Stones should receive more than seven years in prison .
But the day after a 1:48 am tweet in which Trump complained that the recommendation was “ horrible and very unfair , ” Zelinsky says he learned that the department would issue a new memo recommending a lighter sentence .
In failing to adhere to normal sentencing guidelines , the department “ treated Roger Stone differently and more leniently in ways that are virtually , if not entirely , unprecedented , ” Zelinsky says .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the case in protest of this political interference .
It ’ s not clear if the DOJ reversal actually affected Stone ’ s sentence .
US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ultimately sentenced Stone to 40 months in prison , citing “ the egregious nature of Stone ’ s conduct.
” Cleary referring to Trump , Jackson said it was important that the sentence not be influenced by anyone whose “ political career was aided by the defendant .
And surely not someone who has personal involvement in the events underlying @ @ @ @

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A Justice Department lawyer who prosecuted Roger Stone is alleging that attorneys involved in the case were pressured by their superiors to “cut Stone a break” due to his relationship with the president.
Stone was convicted of five counts of making false statements—as well as obstruction of Congress and witness tampering—after lying to the House Intelligence Committee about his efforts in 2016 to contact WikiLeaks regarding Democratic emails hacked by Russia. Evidence compiled by special counsel Robert Mueller showed that Stone consulted personally with Donald Trump and senior Trump campaign officials about Stone’s efforts to glean information on WikiLeaks’ plans for disseminating the stolen emails.
“What I heard—repeatedly—was that Roger Stone was being treated differently from any other defendant because of his relationship to the President,” Aaron Zelinsky says in written testimony submitted to the House Judiciary Committee ahead of a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. “I was told that the Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia, Timothy Shea, was receiving heavy pressure from the highest levels of the Department of Justice to cut Stone a break, and that the US Attorney’s sentencing instructions to us were based on political considerations. I was also told that the acting US Attorney was giving Stone such unprecedentedly favorable treatment because he was ‘afraid of the President.'”
Shea was installed as acting head of the DC federal prosecutors’ office by Attorney General William Barr after Barr removed former US Attorney Jessie Liu. Shea is now the acting head of the Drug Enforcement Administration. This alleged meddling in the Stone case appears to be part of a pattern. Barr later moved to drop a case against former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had already pleaded guilty to lying to federal investigators about his contacts with the Russian ambassador to the United States. And late last Friday, Barr ousted the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Geoffrey Berman, who was overseeing several cases related to Trump associates. Spokespeople for the DOJ, the DC US attorney’s office, and the DEA did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Zelinsky’s testimony.
Zelinsky describes how Shea and other Justice Department officials pressured the front-line prosecutors in the case to recommend a more lenient sentence for Stone than those prosecutors believed was fair. Zelinsky says their jobs were threatened. “We were told by a supervisor that the US Attorney had political reasons for his instructions, which our supervisor agreed was unethical and wrong,” he says. “However, we were instructed that we should go along with the US Attorney’s 10 instructions, because this case was ‘not the hill worth dying on‘ and that we could ‘lose our jobs’ if we did not toe the line.”
The prosecutors initially suggested that Stones should receive more than seven years in prison. But the day after a 1:48 am tweet in which Trump complained that the recommendation was “horrible and very unfair,” Zelinsky says he learned that the department would issue a new memo recommending a lighter sentence.
In failing to adhere to normal sentencing guidelines, the department “treated Roger Stone differently and more leniently in ways that are virtually, if not entirely, unprecedented,” Zelinsky says. He and other lawyers who prosecuted Stone withdrew from the case in protest of this political interference.
It’s not clear if the DOJ reversal actually affected Stone’s sentence. US District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ultimately sentenced Stone to 40 months in prison, citing “the egregious nature of Stone’s conduct.” Cleary referring to Trump, Jackson said it was important that the sentence not be influenced by anyone whose “political career was aided by the defendant. And surely not someone who has personal involvement in the events underlying the case.”
Read Zelinsky’s prepared testimony:


motherjones--2020-06-23--Trump Administration to Asylum Seekers: Find a Homeless Shelter

As the Trump administration readies a plan to bar many asylum seekers from working , it has some advice for them : Start getting familiar with “ homelessness resources.
” Currently , asylum seekers are allowed to apply for work permits 150 days after submitting their asylum applications .
A new rule released Monday by the Department of Homeland Security would extend the waiting period to a full year , and it would prohibit work permits for asylum seekers who cross the border without authorization , which is often the only way for them to avoid waiting in dangerous border @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of entry .
In response to a draft of the rule released in November , critics wrote in public comments that the rule could force asylum seekers into homelessness .
DHS responded to those comments in the final version of the plan released Monday : “ Asylum seekers who are concerned about homelessness during the pendency of their employment authorization waiting period should become familiar with the homelessness resources provided by the state where they intend to reside.
” That recommendation is buried on page 213 of the new DHS rule , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ later this year .
It was noticed on Twitter by Yael Schacher , a senior US advocate at Refugees International .
There are many arguments against the rule change .
The government did a remarkably good job of summarizing them before providing rebuttals like the one concerning homelessness .
Here are those objections , according to DHS : A majority of the commenters opposed the rule .
Many commenters were concerned that the rule would place an “ inordinate burden ” on asylum seekers , many of whom are impoverished and “ will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ upon their arrival into the United States.
” Many commenters argued that asylum seekers should be allowed to work and support their families while they are in the United States .
The commenters believed that allowing asylum seekers to work would promote self-sufficiency , alleviate the need for them to rely on government benefits , save U.S. taxpayer dollars , and reduce the incentives to work illegally .
The commenters also believed that asylum seekers should be able to contribute to the U.S. economy , realize the American dream , and integrate into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the rule was immoral , cruel , and inhumane , because many asylum seekers who had already fled persecution in their home countries and were already poor and destitute would have to wait even longer before they could start a new life in America and support themselves and their families .
Some commenters argued that denying work to asylum seekers was not in keeping with Christian and American values .
Other commenters believed that the motives behind the promulgation of the rule were not deterrence but based on xenophobia and racism .

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As the Trump administration readies a plan to bar many asylum seekers from working, it has some advice for them: Start getting familiar with “homelessness resources.”
Currently, asylum seekers are allowed to apply for work permits 150 days after submitting their asylum applications. A new rule released Monday by the Department of Homeland Security would extend the waiting period to a full year, and it would prohibit work permits for asylum seekers who cross the border without authorization, which is often the only way for them to avoid waiting in dangerous border cities to request asylum at official ports of entry.
In response to a draft of the rule released in November, critics wrote in public comments that the rule could force asylum seekers into homelessness. DHS responded to those comments in the final version of the plan released Monday: “Asylum seekers who are concerned about homelessness during the pendency of their employment authorization waiting period should become familiar with the homelessness resources provided by the state where they intend to reside.”
That recommendation is buried on page 213 of the new DHS rule, which the agency plans to put into effect later this year. It was noticed on Twitter by Yael Schacher, a senior US advocate at Refugees International.
There are many arguments against the rule change. The government did a remarkably good job of summarizing them before providing rebuttals like the one concerning homelessness. Here are those objections, according to DHS:


motherjones--2020-06-24--Thought COVID Wreaked Havoc on the Primaries? Just Wait Until November.

Another primary day , another set of voting problems .
There were two-hour lines to vote Tuesday in Lexington , Kentucky , which had only one polling location open , while at Louisville ’ s lone polling place , more than 100 people were locked outside when polls closed at 6 p.m. , chanting “ open the doors !
” ( They were eventually let in . )
In New York , there were widespread reports of voters not receiving absentee ballots they requested and polling places opening late .
But voters in these states had it good compared to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ month were forced to wait up to seven hours to vote because of malfunctioning voting machines and a shortage of polling sites and poll workers .
Or voters in Milwaukee , where some lines in April were reported to be as long as a quarter of a mile .
Following several highly competitive contests in Kentucky and New York , the 2020 primaries are mostly over .
And a pattern of voting problems suggests that there will be major barriers to ballot access for the presidential election in November , when the coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over .
Throughout the country , states have closed a large share of their polling places amid coronavirus concerns , leading to long lines in Georgia , Nevada , South Carolina , Wisconsin , and Washington , DC .
People have voted by mail in record numbers , and states have struggled to process an unprecedented surge in mail-in ballots .
Many voters have not received mail-in ballots they requested , or ballots cast by mail have been rejected for minor errors or because they arrived too late .
In some states , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the results .
Meanwhile , President Trump has pushed increasingly absurd lies about mail voting—claiming that absentee ballots will be printed by foreign countries or stolen from mailboxes—and seems to be laying the groundwork to challenge the legitimacy of the election if he loses .
All of this bodes ill for a smooth election in November .
Here ’ s what we ’ ve learned from the primaries and what it means for the general election : In nearly every state that held primaries in the spring , a majority of voters cast @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than 10 states with a mail-in vote majority in 2018 .
The sudden increase in voting by mail has led to a number of problems .
There have been many reports of voters not receiving ballots they requested .
In Maryland , which was supposed to automatically mail a ballot to every registered voter , 160,000 ballots were never delivered , according to CNN .
Fourteen thousand ballots never arrived in Wisconsin ; 1,600 ballots that were supposed to be delivered to voters in Milwaukee were instead found at a post office in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ test run , this problem will likely only get worse in November , when many more people—including new and infrequent voters—vote by mail .
In Michigan , for example , one million people voted by mail in the primary , a record for the state .
This November , that number will likely triple , predicts Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson , with two-thirds of the electorate voting by mail .
One of her biggest worries is whether the election system can handle that volume .
“ Now the system has to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ballots ] as it typically does , ” says Benson , a Democrat .
And ballots cast by mail are more likely to be rejected than ballots cast in person , because of small errors like mismatched signatures or because they were sent in too late .
“ People who vote in person , if they make a mistake , their ballot is rejected by the machine and they have an opportunity to fix it , ” says Benson .
“ We don ’ t have that feedback loop when voting from home.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ primaries are shocking .
New Jersey election officials threw out 10 percent of mail-in ballots in a May municipal election .
If the share of rejected ballots is even a fraction of that come November , millions of voters will have their ballots tossed .
Nearly every state that held a primary during the COVID-19 crisis cut the number of polling places , often because they couldn ’ t recruit poll workers or find locations that met social distancing guidelines .
But voters still turned out to vote in person , either because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mail-in ballots never arrived and they were forced to vote at the polls .
In Wisconsin , Milwaukee went from 180 polling places in 2018 to five , and Green Bay went from 31 to two .
There were 80 fewer places to vote in metro Atlanta , where a majority of the state ’ s Black voters live .
Clark County , Nevada , home to 1.1 million registered voters , had just three polling sites .
Lines lasting up to seven hours were the result .
The polling place closures exacerbate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ history of voting discrimination that previously had to approve their election changes with the federal government have closed 1,600 polling places since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013 .
That has led to a rise in voter disenfranchisement .
In Georgia , the closing of 214 polling places from 2012 to 2016 prevented anywhere from 54,000 to 85,000 people from voting in 2018 , the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported .
One of the clear lessons from the primaries is to make sure there are enough polling places open , even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mail .
“ We ’ re going to be very conservative in reducing in-person voting resources , ” says Benson .
As he slips in the polls , Trump is launching an ever-more-ridiculous attack on mail-in ballots , despite the fact that the president and 15 members of his inner circle have voted by mail .
Trump and the Republican National Committee are also spending $ 20 million on litigation opposing efforts to make it easier to vote by mail .
“ This threatening wave of misinformation is going to increase in magnitude @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” says Benson , whom Trump attacked on Twitter for sending forms to request ballots to every registered voter .
This could make it harder for GOP officials to embrace vote-by-mail .
In Iowa , where the Republican secretary of state sent absentee ballot request forms to every registered voter , the GOP-controlled legislature passed a law preventing him from doing the same thing in November without its authorization .
Georgia ’ s Republican secretary of state , who also mailed absentee ballot request forms to registered voters , has said he will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election despite the disastrous voting problems in the primary .
Some states have taken steps to make voting easier .
Wisconsin , for example , will mail absentee ballot request forms to nearly all registered voters , while California is going further and sending a ballot to all registered voters .
Republicans have been less likely to vote by mail than Democrats in some states .
In Pennsylvania , for example , two-thirds of Democrats voted by mail but only one-third of Republicans did so .
Since mail ballots take longer to arrive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sets up a scenario where Republicans could be ahead when results are first released but Democrats take the lead after mail ballots are counted—a situation that Trump would certainly exploit to spread conspiracy theories undermining the legitimacy of the count .
‘ ‘ My biggest concern in the state as well as nationally is that voters lose confidence in the sanctity of the process , ” Benson says .
“ The misinformation , the hyperpartisanship , the photos and the stories of how the system has failed in the primaries all can combine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ democracy , and then they either won ’ t vote or won ’ t have faith in the accuracy of the results.
” If you thought the primaries were bad , just wait until November .

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Another primary day, another set of voting problems. There were two-hour lines to vote Tuesday in Lexington, Kentucky, which had only one polling location open, while at Louisville’s lone polling place, more than 100 people were locked outside when polls closed at 6 p.m., chanting “open the doors!” (They were eventually let in.) In New York, there were widespread reports of voters not receiving absentee ballots they requested, polling places opening late, and long lines in some precincts.
But voters in these states had it good compared to voters in Atlanta, who earlier this month were forced to wait up to seven hours to vote because of malfunctioning voting machines and a shortage of polling sites and poll workers. Or voters in Milwaukee, where some lines in April were reported to be as long as a quarter of a mile.
Following several highly competitive contests in Kentucky and New York, the 2020 primaries are mostly over. And a pattern of voting problems suggests that there will be major barriers to ballot access for the presidential election in November, when the coronavirus crisis is likely to be nowhere near over.
Throughout the country, states have closed a large share of their polling places amid coronavirus concerns, leading to long lines in Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Washington, DC. People have voted by mail in record numbers, and states have struggled to process an unprecedented surge in mail-in ballots. Many voters have not received mail-in ballots they requested, or ballots cast by mail have been rejected for minor errors or because they arrived too late. In some states, it’s taken weeks to count the results.
Meanwhile, President Trump has pushed increasingly absurd lies about mail voting—claiming that absentee ballots will be printed by foreign countries or stolen from mailboxes—and seems to be laying the groundwork to challenge the legitimacy of the election if he loses.
All of this bodes ill for a smooth election in November. Here’s what we’ve learned from the primaries and what it means for the general election:
Problems with voting by mail
In nearly every state that held primaries in the spring, a majority of voters cast ballots by mail, compared to fewer than 10 states with a mail-in vote majority in 2018. The sudden increase in voting by mail has led to a number of problems.
There have been many reports of voters not receiving ballots they requested. In Maryland, which was supposed to automatically mail a ballot to every registered voter, 160,000 ballots were never delivered, according to CNN. Fourteen thousand ballots never arrived in Wisconsin; 1,600 ballots that were supposed to be delivered to voters in Milwaukee were instead found at a post office in Chicago.
Though the primaries were a test run, this problem will likely only get worse in November, when many more people—including new and infrequent voters—vote by mail.
These problems will likely only get worse in November, when many more people—including new and infrequent voters—vote by mail.
In Michigan, for example, one million people voted by mail in the primary, a record for the state. This November, that number will likely triple, predicts Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, with two-thirds of the electorate voting by mail. One of her biggest worries is whether the election system can handle that volume. “Now the system has to process three times as many [mail ballots] as it typically does,” says Benson, a Democrat.
And ballots cast by mail are more likely to be rejected than ballots cast in person, because of small errors like mismatched signatures or because they were sent in too late.
“People who vote in person, if they make a mistake, their ballot is rejected by the machine and they have an opportunity to fix it,” says Benson. “We don’t have that feedback loop when voting from home.”
Some of the numbers from the primaries are shocking. New Jersey election officials threw out 10 percent of mail-in ballots in a May municipal election. If the share of rejected ballots is even a fraction of that come November, millions of voters will have their ballots tossed.
Long lines at the polls
Nearly every state that held a primary during the COVID-19 crisis cut the number of polling places, often because they couldn’t recruit poll workers or find locations that met social distancing guidelines. But voters still turned out to vote in person, either because they distrusted mail voting or because their mail-in ballots never arrived and they were forced to vote at the polls.
In Wisconsin, Milwaukee went from 180 polling places in 2018 to five, and Green Bay went from 31 to two. There were 80 fewer places to vote in metro Atlanta, where a majority of the state’s Black voters live. Clark County, Nevada, home to 1.1 million registered voters, had just three polling sites. Lines lasting up to seven hours were the result.
As he slips in the polls, Trump is launching an ever-more-ridiculous attack on mail-in ballots.
The polling place closures exacerbate an existing trend: States with a history of voting discrimination that previously had to approve their election changes with the federal government have closed 1,600 polling places since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013. That has led to a rise in voter disenfranchisement. In Georgia, the closing of 214 polling places from 2012 to 2016 prevented anywhere from 54,000 to 85,000 people from voting in 2018, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
One of the clear lessons from the primaries is to make sure there are enough polling places open, even as voters are encouraged to vote by mail. “We’re going to be very conservative in reducing in-person voting resources,” says Benson.
Trump’s attacks on mail voting
As he slips in the polls, Trump is launching an ever-more-ridiculous attack on mail-in ballots, despite the fact that the president and 15 members of his inner circle have voted by mail. Trump and the Republican National Committee are also spending $20 million on litigation opposing efforts to make it easier to vote by mail. “This threatening wave of misinformation is going to increase in magnitude and intensity in the months ahead,” says Benson, whom Trump attacked on Twitter for sending forms to request ballots to every registered voter.
This could make it harder for GOP officials to embrace vote-by-mail. In Iowa, where the Republican secretary of state sent absentee ballot request forms to every registered voter, the GOP-controlled legislature passed a law preventing him from doing the same thing in November without its authorization. Georgia’s Republican secretary of state, who also mailed absentee ballot request forms to registered voters, has said he will not do so again for the general election despite the disastrous voting problems in the primary.
Some states have taken steps to make voting easier. Wisconsin, for example, will mail absentee ballot request forms to nearly all registered voters, while California is going further and sending a ballot to all registered voters.
Republicans have been less likely to vote by mail than Democrats in some states. In Pennsylvania, for example, two-thirds of Democrats voted by mail but only one-third of Republicans did so. Since mail ballots take longer to arrive and count than in-person votes, that sets up a scenario where Republicans could be ahead when results are first released but Democrats take the lead after mail ballots are counted—a situation that Trump would certainly exploit to spread conspiracy theories undermining the legitimacy of the count.
‘‘My biggest concern in the state as well as nationally is that voters lose confidence in the sanctity of the process,” Benson says. “The misinformation, the hyperpartisanship, the photos and the stories of how the system has failed in the primaries all can combine for citizens to lose faith in our democracy, and then they either won’t vote or won’t have faith in the accuracy of the results.”
If you thought the primaries were bad, just wait until November.