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16 May, 4 tweets, 2 min read
Hi national media!

In Mississippi, 68% voted to legalize medical marijuana—way more than the 57% who voted Trump!

On Friday, the MS Supreme Court overturned that vote & killed our ENTIRE BALLOT INITIATIVE PROCESS.

When y'all gonna care about democracy in a 38% Black state?
The MS Supreme Court's decision to strike down the ballot initiative process not only killed medical marijuana, but also killed ballot initiative efforts underway to expand early voting and expand Medicaid—issues popular with voters, but not lawmakers.
mississippifreepress.org/12260/in-blow-…
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More from @ashtonpittman

Ashton Pittman Profile picture
17 May
Speaking of the "sanctity of life," Mississippi has the WORST infant mortality rate in the US at 8.43 infant deaths per 1000 births (vs 5.8 nationally).

Broken down by race in Mississippi:

White Infant Mortality: 5.9
Black Infant Mortality: 11.6

But yup, sanctity of life.
Regarding "the sanctity of life," 2019 data suggests Mississippi would've saved 1,000+ lives from 2014-2021 WITHOUT A PANDEMIC if the state had expanded Medicaid for ~200k folks.

Gov. Reeves says he's against "Obamacare expansion" & offers no alternative.
Here's the study & data on how many lives Mississippi could've saved if Gov. Reeves and other leaders had accepted over $1 billion a year from the federal government to expand Medicaid (totally free in first few years; federal govt covers 90% later years). cbpp.org/research/healt…
Read 7 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
17 May
Today, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a challenge to Roe v. Wade.

In 2016, the media ignored Hillary Clinton as she emphasized the court's importance.

Others mocked her.

"Use scare tactics much? ... What's scarier? You in the Oval Office. WE will write in Sen. Sanders." Image
A lot of left-wing men who weren't fans of Hillary Clinton similarly responded to her tweets about the Supreme Court with derision.

Example: "what utter BS talk policies and stop fear mongering for votes. You should be ashamed!" Image
On March 30, 2016, Hillary Clinton gave a major speech in WISCONSIN about the Supreme Court.

Trump-obsessed media either ignored the speech or ignored the issue. Ex, this headline from a story on the speech:

"Clinton Says Republicans Have Only Themselves to Blame for Trump" THE NATION 2016 article: Hi...For the most part, if the s...
Read 17 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
17 May
THREAD: In 2019, I reported in @JxnFreePress that Mississippi lawmakers' weren't passing abortion bans simply to ban abortion in Mississippi.

Their true goal: To get a case to the U.S. Supreme Court in an effort to overturn Roe v. Wade nationwide. 1/
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/feb/… A Jackson Free Press magazi...
As Trump began remaking the Supreme Court, I reported in 2019, anti-abortion lawmakers in the Mississippi Legislature saw, for the first time in decades, "an opportunity to achieve the holy grail of the pro-life movement: the overturn of Roe v. Wade." 2/
jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/feb/… Image
With Trump fundamentally altering the Supreme Court, which had a 5-3 pro-Roe majority on the day of the 2016 election, anti-abortion lawmakers set out to make Mississippi "the battleground for Roe v. Wade's future."

Today, they succeeded. 3/ jacksonfreepress.com/news/2019/feb/…
Read 5 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
17 May
HUGE NEWS: The Supreme Court will hear Mississippi's challenge to the "most central principle of Roe v. Wade" in a case that has the potential to end abortion rights in states nationwide.

Trump's three Supreme Court appointments could prove decisive. 1/
mississippifreepress.org/12273/u-s-supr…
"Thanks to millions of voters in 2016, President Donald Trump appointed three new Supreme Court Justices."

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves celebrated this morning as the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Mississippi's challenge to the core of Roe v. Wade. 2/ mississippifreepress.org/12273/u-s-supr…
Gov. Reeves: “The sanctity of life. The future of our children. Mississippi is at the forefront of protecting both. And that is what is at stake in the case we have been praying the U.S. Supreme Court would decide to hear." 3/ mississippifreepress.org/12273/u-s-supr…
Read 8 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
17 May
I see a lot of people blaming the state of democracy in Mississippi on Republicans. I get it; GOP lawmakers nationwide have been seriously rolling back voting rights.

But Mississippi's democracy has always been limited ever since the reign of segregationist Dixiecrats.
Mississippi didn't create any laws rolling back voting rights this year. We already have the most limited voting access in the country (no early voting, no mail voting, minimal absentee options, no online registration).
Lawmakers in Georgia engaged in Jim Crow tactics with their rollback on voting rights—there's no doubt. But you couldn't have done those same rollbacks on voting rights in MS—because we don't have them to begin with.

Even now, GA's current voting laws would be a huge step in MS.
Read 5 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
16 May
READ THIS THREAD: On Tuesday, cancer patient Jonathan helped launch a Medicaid expansion ballot initiative: "(Many) days I feel pretty helpless. Today I feel pretty good—we have a chance..."

On Friday, the MS Supreme Court killed ALL ballot initiatives. 1/mississippifreepress.org/12117/medicaid…
“I have just learned I have another surgery coming up. Without insurance, I can’t afford any of this. At this point, I feel like I shouldn’t be worried about battling the treatment; I should be battling the cancer,” Jonathan said Tuesday. 2/
mississippifreepress.org/12117/medicaid…
Jonathan's hope: With a ballot initiative, MS would be able to bypass lawmakers & expand Medicaid to 200,000 working Mississippians who can't afford health care. @YesOn76MS began collecting signatures Tuesday.

On Friday, the court killed those plans. 3/ mississippifreepress.org/12117/medicaid…
Read 78 tweets

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