SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2022
We can't say we're totally sure: Why has Pamela Moses been sentenced to prison?
Given the way our news orgs work, we can't say we're totally sure. As is almost always the case, the basic facts in this emerging case have proven quite hard to assemble.
Menwhile, the novelization has been fairly clear. Either that, or the basic journalistic incompetence.
On Thursday night, this rather complicated case became the horse Rachel Maddow rode out on.
Maddow was heading off to spend several months making an unutterably pointless film about Spiro Agnew's free lunch money during the Nixon years.
In fairness, Ben Stiller will apparently be involved in the film, so it may be part of the Dodgeball franchise. At any rate, Maddow built her final TV show around the Moses case.
In Rachel's hands, the Moses case became the standard example of misconduct by a mustachio-twirling judicial villain in Tennessee.
That said, what actually happened in this case? It's very hard to be sure. We'll note two basic points:
First point: Alas! We can't show you what Rachel said on Thursday night. Her "cable news" channel continues to slow-walk its transcript production.
(As we type, they're offering transcripts through this past Monday night, January 31.)
At this point, can anyone really believe that this slow-walking is anything other than what it seems to be? If so, we'll have one of what you're having! Life must be unspeakably great on Blind Trust and Pure Belief.
Second point: This morning, the Washington Post has presented a lengthy report about the Moses case. Sadly, it's impossible to know from this lengthy report what actually happened in the matter under review.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but our discourse is dying off fast. It's pretty much nothing but Storyline now:
Whatever became of such well-known entities as competence, clarity, basic skills, elementary relevant facts?
Sounds like the lady committed a crime (or several crimes?) while on probation. Tsk. Not a good idea.
ReplyDeleteBut she'll appeal for sure, dear Bob, so who knows how it might end up...
I don’t know if there’s more to the story, but even so, that s a hideously out of proportion sentence.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to keep an eye on the story, as such things are often misrepresented in the press, fine. Bob has correctly called things out before ( while of course, screwing if all up in such cases) Here he is just assuming Maddow and the Post have something wrong.
ReplyDeleteIf it turns out BOB is wrong, you can assume this is the last we will hear of it.
Wrong about what?
DeleteMaddow being wrong. That is his assumption here.
DeleteMaddow's blog includes a description of her situation and why she was sentenced to jail, but not why she got 6 years when others got much less for greater offenses.
ReplyDeleteThe obvious explanation is bigotry and dislike of her involvement in BLM. I can't imagine how Somerby is going to explain the discrepancy.
Mao's remark is wrong. She was not on probation. Her "crime" is that she didn't understand she could not vote after committing a crime and tried to register. She did not vote anywhere or attempt to vote, just register. Others who actually voted using dead relatives registrations got far less jail time.
Mao's nonchalance about sentencing discrepancies is noted.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/02/04/tennessee-pamela-moses-voting-fraud-prison/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_politics
ReplyDeleteThis says that she has an “extensive record of felony violations”, but does not say if she’s ever served any jail time for any of that history , but rather was given probation.
Still this seems like an issue where there was plenty of blame to go around.
She was the girlfriend of a man charged with growing pot. I assume you know that pot is now legal in many states. But if this seems fair to you, that is another example of your extensive record of lack of empathy.
DeleteAnd since this is sort of Bob’s job, can’t he get TiVo or take notes?
ReplyDeleteCheck out Guardian UK story. Seems clear, even if biased.
ReplyDeleteJust to play devil's advocate, maybe they under staff the transcription writing, maybe nbc is just greedy and not efficient. It's easy to be paranoid. Sometimes it deserves it but I can't say, I'm not that wise.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same amount of work to create timely transcripts as it is to create three day old transcripts.
DeleteThere are no transcripts at all over at Fox News for any show.
DeleteSomerby's expectation for transcripts, much less timely ones, shows entitlement about something he is not owed. There is a full description at Maddow's blog. This is just another manufactured complaint to make Maddow and MSNBC seem like a bad news source, when they are no different than anyone else.
David, if it takes longer to create a transcript than the show itself runs, then a single person trying to create transcripts will fall behind, inevitably. You might be able to figure out from the lab how much longer it takes to create a transcript than to just listen to the show. Since you cannot start creating the transcript before the show starts, it is difficult to see how a transcript can be done without lag. So, the question is just how much lag and is Somerby's expectation reasonable given the amount of work involved.
Deletelag not lab
DeleteLord, they run most of the shows twice, if he doesn’t have TiVo, find a VCR or take some notes….
DeleteAll of the Maddow segments are available on the msnbc website and on YouTube. YouTube has an automatic transcription feature as well.
DeleteMaddow has been a disingenuous, lying jackass from the word go. Good riddance. Now the implosion of MSNBC that had begun before Trump, was put on hold due to Trump and Maddow's ridiculous, baseless lies about a collusion with Russia, will complete itself. The ratings are already worse than a mid level teenage Youtuber's.
Delete"due to Trump and Maddow's ridiculous, baseless lies about a collusion with Russia"
DeleteThey should both be banned from the public square for lying that trump's election wasn't due to the Republican base being so turned-on by Trump's bigotry.
What next, that Republican voters wouldn't crawl across a football field of broken glass to vote for a bigot?
Thank God Maddow is gone. Think of all her lies and outright propaganda - like claiming Russia could take over out power grids. Insane! It was a bad idea for the left to try to become Fox News by emulating their propaganda model. The damage she has done will last for a long, long time. But at least now the bleeding can be stopped.
Delete9:04,
DeleteThis is exactly why it’s wrong to reach out to “the Others“.
You have to lie to get them to agree with you, but all the agreeing on lies does is speed the race to the bottom for the country.
Also, in an adult nation, this would be the nail in the coffin to listening to corporate mouth pieces.
9:58,
DeleteWhy would someone think all Republican voters are racists, just because they were gung-ho about Maddow’s employer getting a HUGE tax break from Trump, but tried to overthrow the Capitol when “urban” votes counted in an election?
It is stupid comments and thinking like that propagandists like Maddow and Fox have wrought. Whaddya going to do?
DeleteIt’s almost never about bigotry, and almost always those other things no person can put into words.
Delete11:01,
DeleteI’m on board with your plan to cancel culture corporate-owned media.
11:15,
DeleteAt least there is a story about Russia helping get Trump elected, unlike the claim that there is a Republican voter who isn’t bigot.
My favorite U2 song:
Delete“Where the Republican voter who isn’t a bigot has no name”
Some think Republicans aren't "bigots", but are instead "morons" because they voted for a guy who has spent his career stiffing his contractors through financial leverage, after saying they care about the rigged economy.
DeleteTheir mistake is in not realizing Republicans lie when they say they care about the rigged economy.
If She was told, or even if She wasn’t, that it was OK to vote, what possible relevance is that to a six year sentence? If you have been convicted of a violent crime, do you get six years for J walking or a speeding ticket?
ReplyDelete“Why has Moses been sentenced to prison?”
ReplyDeleteOf all the complications surrounding this case, this is by far the least difficult to answer.
She was sentenced for “voter fraud.”
The real question is: was the sentence of 6 years justified? And did she really engage in fraud?
At issue was the accusation that she made false statements concerning her eligibility to vote.
Where is Somerby to chastise the prosecutor for making such an accusation (a prosecutor who, by the way, was all over Memphis media publicizing this prosecution)?
By Somerby’s logic, how do we know Moses didn’t actually believe she was eligible to vote?