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Ashton Pittman

22 Dec, 9 tweets, 5 min read

NEW: Trump has appointed former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant to his #1776Commission—an effort to preserve revisionist history in schools that focuses on elite white male "heroes" while sanitizing the nation's history of slavery, genocide and oppression. 1/
mississippifreepress.org/7725/trump-tap…

President Trump's decision to appoint ex-Mississippi Gov. Bryant to his "Patriotic Education" fund comes after a tenure in which Gov. Bryant yearly declared April "Confederate Heritage Month." 2/
mississippifreepress.org/7725/trump-tap…

@JxnFreePress

Since 2016, Gov. Bryant has aligned himself with pro-Brexit British nationalists on a mission to "Make Great Britain Great Again."

I covered that in my award winning investigation for @JxnFreePress: "God Save the Governor: Phil Bryant, Brexit Soldier." 3/ jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/nov/…

As Gov. Bryant joins Trump's effort to revise history, he's helping revise the facts of current history as it unfolds in real time.

Today, he praised Carol Swain, the #1776Commission's Black vice chair, as she called on God to help Trump stay in power. 4/mississippifreepress.org/7725/trump-tap…

Dr. Swain: “Stand strong, Mr. President. We have your back! We serve a God of miracles. ... We just need to humble ourselves and plead our case before Him. ... Ask God for your miracle and ask him for wisdom and supernatural favor. VICTORY!” 5/ mississippifreepress.org/7725/trump-tap…

@carolmswain

“Dr. @carolmswain is a prayer warrior ... . She is a bold voice for freedom,” the former governor wrote, quoting Carol Swain’s tweet that urged Trump supporters to ask God to overthrow the American electorate with a heaven-ordained, "miraculous" coup. 6/
mississippifreepress.org/7725/trump-tap…

Carol Swain, a former Vanderbuilt poli sci professor, once said Islam “poses an absolute danger to us and our children unless monitored.”

In October, a video recording surfaced in which she compared Black Lives Matter protesters to the Ku Klux Klan. 7/mississippifreepress.org/7725/trump-tap…

@LynnFitchAG

“Good work by @LynnFitchAG. Agree or disagree, the Supreme Court of the United States has always been the final word in such matters,” Phil Bryant tweeted on Nov. 9.

He has changed his tune since SCOTUS rejected Trump's challenge, though. 8/ mississippifreepress.org/7725/trump-tap…

Trump appointed Gov. Phil Bryant to the #1776commission for two years.

But upon taking office next month, President-elect Joe Biden could disband the commission, ending Trump's effort to shift history education further in favor of white male elites. 9/
mississippifreepress.org/7725/trump-tap…

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More from @ashtonpittman

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

21 Dec

I tried to use reverse psychology on our pitbull, Dorothy, so she would stop fussing at me long enough for me to finish reading an article. She...was not amused, nor was she having it.

Missing from this clip: Right before I started recording, I was singing, "Dorothy is a good girl" to a tune, but the reviewer in the room had a very sour look on her face and I didn't wanna inflict my singing on anyone else.

Here's another clip of Dorothy, from the time she discovered typewriters.

Read 5 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

20 Dec

@TateReeves

THREAD: As Mississippi hospital hallways overran with patients without beds & statewide ICU availability tanked to 7%, Gov. @TateReeves has gone 11 days without a press conference.

He did, however, stage an announcement to declare today a "Day of Prayer, Humility & Fasting."

In prayer tweets today, Gov. Reeves asked God to "grant wisdom to elected officials...who've been asked to make tough choices with no playbook in this time."

But we have a playbook—and expert voices crying out in the wilderness for Gov. Reeves to issue a statewide mask mandate.

God sent Gov. Reeves four prophets last month, who wrote:

“The upcoming winter is going to be difficult for Mississippians. We know that wearing masks will ... protect all Mississippians from this deadly virus."

They were four of the state's top doctors. mississippifreepress.org/7177/health-le…

Read 14 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

20 Dec

"Congress" isn't holding up aid.

The Senate GOP, led by Mitch McConnell, is:

a) Blocking stimulus checks > $600

b) Demanding limits on the Fed's ability to boost the economy under a Biden admin—a political ploy to help the GOP in 2022/2024 at the expense of jobs/livelihoods.

The media needs to be honest and specific about who is doing it. House Democrats passed a much stronger second stimulus bill in May that the GOP Senate refused to consider.

If the GOP keeps the Senate after Georgia runoffs, these tactics will consume the next 2-4 years.

Now! Some Americans may understand this and prefer this kind of partisan outcome where economic relief is stifled in order to help one party's electoral chances. Fine.

But the media ought to be clear about what the stakes are and who is doing what.

Read 14 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

19 Dec

Mississippi Gov. William Winter, who died today, wasn't a typical southern Democrat.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, when most white MS Democrats ran on white supremacist platforms, Winter staunchly opposed the KKK and the segregationist Citizens Councils. mississippifreepress.org/7633/william-w…

Winter first ran for governor in 1967. After he led in the first primary, the KKK threatened his life for being too open-minded on race. He persisted with the campaign, but segregationist John Bell Williams ultimately defeated him in the second primary.
mississippifreepress.org/7633/william-w…

When Gov. Winter led the effort to change Mississippi's state flag in 2000, neo-Confederate Jim Giles appeared at a public hearing, denouncing him:

"Now listen, Mr. Winter. You are despicable. You have been nothing but a parasite your entire career..." mississippifreepress.org/3710/you-white…

Read 15 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

19 Dec

One final act of public service to the people of Mississippi:

The memorial service for Gov. William Winter, who died today after devoting his life to public education and racial reconciliation, will be held only after COVID-19 has passed and it is safe to gather once more.

More on Gov. Winter, a Democrat who served in the early 80s:

Winter linked education with economic development in the nation’s poorest state, observing, “The road out of the poor house runs past the school house.”
mississippifreepress.org/7633/william-w…

Historian David Halberstam:

"Winter, more than any other politician, is the architect of the new Mississippi and the new America. By contrast, we are all too aware of politicians who can play to the darker side of our nature.” mississippifreepress.org/7633/william-w…

Read 4 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

19 Dec

@OleMiss

BREAKING: After Ombudsman Caffera refused to help unmask whistleblowers, @OleMiss has appointed an interim replacement.

One faculty member says the goal is "to stamp out efforts...that challenge the racism our university embraces in the name of donors." mississippifreepress.org/7602/um-appoin…

“They just got rid of a guy who refused to cooperate with them in hunting down these whistleblowers, so I am only left to think that they would not appoint somebody else like that who would refuse to cooperate,” said one faculty member. mississippifreepress.org/7602/um-appoin…

Faculty members who have relied on the ombudsman to share confidential workplace concerns are worried that the new appointee, UM law professor William Berry, cannot serve as a neutral, independent ombudsman because he is a longtime faculty member. mississippifreepress.org/7602/um-appoin…

Read 7 tweets

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