NEW: Eddie Nabors, a GOP candidate for mayor in Batesville, Miss., was in D.C. on Jan. 6.
He met with with Doug Mastriano, who was assisting Trump's efforts to overturn the election. A photo also shows Nabors with members of The Proud Boys in D.C. 1/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
It is unclear whether Nabors was near the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection; he did not respond to repeated requests for comment. But he was in town at the time along with his adult daughter, Laura Nabors, a post on his personal Facebook page says. 2/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
On Nov. 14, 2020, Laura Nabors shared videos and photos of her with her father at the Million MAGA March in D.C.
"We're gonna walk with The Proud Boys," she said in one video. She posted a photo of herself & her father posing with a group of Proud Boys. 3/mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
In early December 2020, Eddie Nabors asked apostolic Christian preacher Dutch Sheets to "post the Liberty Bell video." He was referring to a video in which Sheets described a prophetic vision. Sheets repeatedly claimed God would keep Trump in office. 4/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
"Lord, you’ve already made your decree, & you said, ‘This is my son, & I say the nations belong to him, & you’re either going to submit to that or a rod of iron is gonna crush you,'" Sheets says in a video where he explains the "liberty bell" prophecy. 5/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
Laura Nabors promoted Dutch Sheets' "Operation Valkyrie," with Trump supporters issuing holy "decrees" nationwide after midnight on Dec. 2.
From 12:30 am-3 a.m. EST on Dec. 2, "Operation Valkyrie" participants declared:
“We decree the next 4 years of Donald John Trump’s presidency will see the fruit of God’s divine reset of America. We will experience a third great awakening." 7/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
In Washington, D.C., 10 days after Operation Valkyrie, Laura Nabors joined another biblically themed event with the Trump faithful’s own version of the biblical tale: “The Jericho March.” (It is not clear whether Eddie Nabors was also in attendance). 8/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
In the Book of Joshua, the Israelites lay siege to the enemy City of Jericho, marching around the city 7 times; the priests blow their shofars, an instrument made of a ram’s horn, and let out a shout, bringing the walls of Jericho tumbling down. 9/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
Jericho Marchers imitated the Israelites at Jericho's walls, blowing shofars around the Supreme Court "with prayers for the walls of corruption & election fraud to fall down.”
"(We’re in) Jericho, we’re inside the walls of the Deep State. And there is evil & there’s corruption. And there’s light & there’s truth. We’re going to get to the light & we’re going to get to the truth," said Flynn, who confessed to lying to the FBI. 11/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
On Jan. 9, Laura Nabors tweeted a video Dutch Sheets posted earlier that day.
Sheets told followers to “keep in mind this is a spiritual battle” involving “demonically inspired hatred driving an ongoing plan to turn America away from God..." 12/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
Dutch Sheets: "We are a nation created to carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. ... When President Trump was elected and the momentum of this backsliding was stopped, anger rose within Satan’s kingdom. He hates Trump’s resistance.” 13/mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
Sheets assured followers that God “had 40-50 dreams sent to me during the past few months by credible prophets” who assured him that “the battle was not over.” He described a dream featuring a “distraught" Donald Trump seated behind the Resolute Desk. 14/mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
“All I ever wanted to do was release freedom in America," the dream Trump said, weeping. "All I wanted was for the people to hear the sound of freedom. The sound of freedom has been captured. I tried for four years to free this sound. Have I failed?" 15/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
“No sir, you have not failed,” dream-Sheets assured the crestfallen dream-Trump.
Sheets told viewers he believed God was “going to work a miracle in the midnight hour” before the inauguration to keep Trump in office. 16/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
“Warring for what is right is always right. Always. Stay in this fight.”
He urged Christians to “declare that the president will be saved by the one who put him in office” and that “every enemy of the Lord will be struck down.” 17/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
Neither Eddie nor Laura Nabors’ accounts indicate their whereabouts on Jan. 6.
Eddie Nabors last tweeted on Jan. 6 at 8:24 p.m., in defense of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by Capitol Police while storming the Capitol.
On June 8, Eddie Nabors, who won the GOP primary in April, will appear on the ballot for Batesville mayor alongside two independents: Jerry Autrey, the incumbent mayor, and businessman Hal Ferrell.
“I think all three of you candidates recognize that whoever gets elected will win because of the minority vote,” Panola County NAACP President Gloria Tucker told the men at a candidate forum. 20/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
Nabors’ steadfast support for Trump and his travels to D.C. for rallies with Trump’s supporters as Trump sought to overturn the election have drawn suspicion to him from some Black Batesville residents. 21/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
“I just don’t think anybody who was up there during an insurrection ought to be running for mayor of Batesville,” said one Batesville resident, who also shared a photo of Nabors and his daughter at the Million MAGA March in November. 22/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
Nabors has been quiet publicly about his trips to Washington, D.C., since Jan. 6, but he did not shy away from explaining in a forum that he chose to run as a Republican because he believes in “the Make America Great Again side” of the party. 23/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
When talking to voters, Eddie Nabors says he wants to “build our workforce” and to “build relationships at the state and national level (to bring) attention" to Batesville's potential. 24/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
Social media photos show Eddie Nabors with Steven Bannon during a 2017 Roy Moore campaign event and with Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas during the Million MAGA March. 25/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
Interesting tidbit: Eddie Nabors defeated Margaret Eubanks, a white woman, in the April 6 Republican primary; she still made history as the first woman to run for elected office in Batesville’s history. 26/ mississippifreepress.org/12809/batesvil…
As always, feel free to DM me with any tips related to Mississippians who may have been at the Jan. 6 insurrection, or send an email to:
ashton[at]mississippifreepress[dot]com.
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THREAD: In 1922, Mississippians noticed that the state revenue agent, Stokes V. Robertson, was earning $40,000 a year on taxpayer's dime—a salary equal to about $635,000 today.
Revenue Agent Stokes V. Robertson came up with his own plan to stop voters from using a ballot initiative to slash his exorbitant salary: He'd ask the Mississippi Supreme Court to kill the state's entire ballot initiative law on a technicality. 2/ mississippifreepress.org/12703/democrac…
Starting in 1912, Mississippi voters (meaning white men then), frustrated with legislative inaction, demanded the Legislature allow voters to create an initiative & referendum process so they could make laws themselves when lawmakers failed. 3/ mississippifreepress.org/12703/democrac…
Mississippi is now so far behind the rest of the nation in COVID-19 vaccinations, Mississippi State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs @TCPubHealth is now offering to come to people's houses to give them the vaccine.
"Mississippi is conspicuously absent from some of the Biden administration’s month of action plans. Mayors from Louisiana, Tennessee & Alabama are already included in the “Mayors Challenge" competition to grow vaccine rates—but not Mississippi. mississippifreepress.org/12780/mississi…
Not all vaccine holdouts in Mississippi are anti-vax.
A survey found that 1 in 4 MSians are worried about the cost of vaccinations or about taking time from work. Some may not realize the vaccine is free.
Mississippi Code Annotated Section 23-15-7 says that “… No fee shall be charged or collected for the application for or issuance of a Mississippi Voter identification card” and that the State’s general fund shall cover any related costs.mississippifreepress.org/12773/fact-che…
Other states with voter ID requirements do not provide free identification, raising concerns that such laws amount to “poll taxes.”
Mississippi is 40% Black state & must have a majority-minority congressional district to be in compliance with the VRA.
But instead of a 55% or 60% Black district, Republicans drew a 67% Black district (the 2nd CD).
Result:
1st CD: 29% Black
3rd CD: 35% Black
4th CD: 24% Black
Drawing the maps this way helps ensure that white Republicans have 3 safe districts and Democrats have one safe district.
A 55-60% Black district could've resulted in a relatively safe Dem seat but also another competitive district.
Rep. Bennie Thompson of the 67% Black 2nd congressional district was the only Democrat to vote AGAINST the For The People Act #HR1, apparently because of it threatened the existence of such heavily racially packed districts as his. foxnews.com/politics/benni…
"So many workers have left an industry that clearly doesn’t value them, whose model is predicated on them being disposable. Frankly,” Weil said, “a lot of industry people are dead. Line cooks had a higher mortality rate this past year than medical workers.”mississippifreepress.org/12527/breaking…
"These establishments chose not to use that PPP money to rehire workers for hybrid models, or to-go models...Industry workers didn’t opt out of work. They were all terminated by places that were happy to operate without them, until the pandemic was over.” mississippifreepress.org/12527/breaking…
THREAD: This is me back in 2010 with my congressman, Gene Taylor. He was a conservative Democrat who I did some tough reporting on in my student newspaper.
I had a black eye at the time (long story, college). I told him we to pretend he was punching me for a tough question.
When I first began reporting for my college paper, I called D.C. asking to interview Rep. Gene Taylor, thinking there was no way he'd make time.
20 minutes later, he called. I interviewed my congressman for 30 minutes. Steven Palazzo unseated him in the Tea Party wave that year.
Since then, I haven't been able to talk to my congressman. He makes no appearances at town halls. He doesn't debate opponents. He basically never answers questions from media unless he knows they're on his side.