User:Michael-Moates/sandbox/Michael Moates

For Moates' Wikipedia account, see User:DoctorTexan

Michael Moates (born January 14, 1995) is an American journalist, educator, mental health professional, and political commentator. He founder of the Narrative Times. He is also a Senior Member in Civil Air Patrol, the U.S. Air Force Auxiliary and currently resides in Denton, Texas. Moates is a former contributor for the Washington Examiner and a former community contributor for DailyKos and Buzzfeed.

Early Life and Education
Moates was born in 1995 in North Richland Hills, Texas. He has two younger sisters.

Moates attended high school at W.E. Boswell High School. He also went to Saginaw High School to participate in Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and the Hollenstien Career and Technology Center for Forensic Science and Law Enforcement.

Moates graduated from Tarleton State University in 2017 with a Bachelor of Science with concentrations in psychology and criminal justice.

In 2018, he received an Associate of Arts in Criminal Justice through reverse transfer from Lone Star College System.

In 2021, he graduated from Liberty University with a Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with areas of study in psychology and communications.

He was formerly enrolled in a PhD in Media Psychology and transferred to a Doctor of Education at Fielding Graduate University.

Mental Health Career
Moates has been a mental health and behavior specialist since 2015. He became certified by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board in 2020 as a registered behavior technician. In 2021, the State of Virginia licensed him as a Qualified Mental Health Professional - Trainee.

In 2020, he worked for both Mayhill Hospital and Carrolton Springs Hospital in North Texas. He previously worked as a behavior therapist using the techniques of Applied behavior analysis.

His topics of research include virtual reality to treat mental disorders, the effects of video games on gun violence, and Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Journalism Career
In early 2016, Moates formed the non-profit the Narrative Times and DC Chronicle. He also ran the Nation One News Foundation. The organization worked to hire college students who wanted to learn about journalism. The project would place these students at various events to gain real-world experience. Although being accused of leaning conservative, Moates and the Times have been criticized by the right. Moates has failed one fact check. During his time in journalism he also completed extensive investigations taking advantage of the federal governments FOIA statute. He also served as the White House correspondent for the Times a little over a year.

Notable Stories
Moates broke a story in 2017 addressing a young woman peeing on the American flag. The young woman had posted a video on Facebook where she could be seen peeing on the flag. He subsequently reported on it which caused it to go viral.

In October of 2017, Moates broke a story after reviewing financial statement of the NRA and Planned Parenthood. He claimed that Planned Parenthood spend nearly 10x time more than the NRA in political influence.

Moates broke a story in 2017 where former senate candidate and revenge porn website operation made disparaging remarks at his potential constituents.

Political Career
In 2016, Moates became the Director of Communications for American Youth in Politics. Through his relationship with the founder he met Dr. Kelli Ward and joined her 2016 campaign for senate against John McCain as a media operations intern. He stayed on for her subsequent campaign before resigning in July of 2018. After leaving, he returned to journalism where he interviewed Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Ward's opponent.

In 2020, he announced his candidacy for the TX-26 District constituency in congress as a Libertarian. He withdrew from the election in late December.

He has engaged in activism with the Texas Legislature.

In 2021, he endorsed Dr. Marilyn Tolbert in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District elections for Place 1 on the Board of Education.

Social Media Controversy
Donald Trump Jr., son of then President Donald Trump shared a meme to which Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez responded with a threat warning him that Democrats will have subpoena power in January. Moates responded with "There is a new standard in Congress. B**ches will subpoena you if you troll them. ” The congresswoman responded with “Wow! A Republican journalist calling me the B word as he deliberately misinterprets my statement,” and “Awesome job. How many female leaders have you covered in your career? I’m sure your coverage was very fair and not subconsciously biased at all.” The story was subsequently picked up by the mainstream media.

After being suspended for operating a Facebook page titled QAnon, Moates filed a lawsuit against Facebook in November 2020 and the case is ongoing. The case is titled "Moates v Facebook". He has posted messages echoed by the QAnon conspiracy theory in the past.