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Ashton Pittman

27 May, 11 tweets, 5 min read

@MSFreePress

BREAKING: Will Norton, the former Ole Miss School of Journalism and New Media dean whose emails with a wealthy donor were a central part of my @MSFreePress 2020 #UMEmails exposé, is no longer an employee at UM. mississippifreepress.org/12534/will-nor…

I first reported last August on a trove of emails that revealed that Dean Norton had continued seeking donations from a wealthy white donor who shared photos of Black women students he'd taken, calling them "African hookers" in emails to Norton.
mississippifreepress.org/12534/will-nor…

The donor, Blake Tartt, wrote to Norton in September 2018: “You know Oxford and Ole Miss have real problems when black hookers are working on Jackson avenue. ... I happen to know what happens when a place is overtaken by the wrong elements.”
mississippifreepress.org/12534/will-nor…

@OleMiss

Days after that email, Norton publicly condemned the @OleMiss journalism school's founding donor, Ed Meek, for a "racial" comments in a FB post that used one of Tartt's photos—while hiding Tartt's role. He continued to pursue donations from Tartt.
mississippifreepress.org/12534/will-nor…

Upon stepping down as dean in May 2020, Norton said he'd return to teaching. But he did not teach over the summer despite continuing to receive a monthly salary of $18,000+, nor in the fall while on paid sabbatical. He taught 3 spring 2021 classes. mississippifreepress.org/12534/will-nor…

UM policy says longtime faculty or admins who are “in good standing & not being investigated or considered for disciplinary action” qualify for emeritus status, which would be automatic.

But Norton is not listed as emeritus in the school directory. mississippifreepress.org/12534/will-nor…

University officials did not respond to requests to discuss Norton's abrupt retirement, which unlike other high-profile departures, was not publicly announced.

But Provost Noel Wilkin and Interim Dean Debora Wenger did confirm Norton's departure.
mississippifreepress.org/12534/will-nor…

Interim Dean Deb Wenger: “You are correct that Dr. Norton retired earlier this month. The specifics related to any individual’s retirement are confidential." mississippifreepress.org/12534/will-nor…

To read the original 3-part #UMEmails exposé, start here:

UM Emails: Part I: ‘The Fabric Is Torn In Oxford’: UM Officials Decried Racism Publicly, Coddled It Privately
mississippifreepress.org/4876/the-fabri…

UM Emails: Part II: ‘The Ole Miss We Know’: Wealthy Alums Fight To Keep UM’s Past Alive
mississippifreepress.org/4950/the-ole-m…

UM Emails: Part III: UM’s ‘Culture Of Secrecy’: Dean Quit As Emails Disparaging To Gay Alum, Black Students Emerged
mississippifreepress.org/5004/ums-cultu…

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More from @ashtonpittman

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

25 May

One thing I want people interested in making Mississippi better to understand: If your goal here is a "blue wave," you have the wrong goal.

Mississippians don't need someone else to be their voice. They need their voices heard. They need their words to matter. 1/

Pre-2007, if you wanted to be in the majority party in MS, you had no choice but to be a Democrat for ~100 years.

Since 2011, if you want to be in the majority, you've had to be a Republican.

But MS was No. 50 in most of the good rankings on both ends of these timescales. 2/

Mississippi politics went through drastic change in the 2000s, from Democratic-dominated to Republican-dominated.

But you know what didn't change (aside from health rankings, etc)?

Voting. Under Dem or GOP overlords, we remained one of the states with the least democracy. 3/

Read 25 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

25 May

@staceyabrams

THREAD: Mississippi House Speaker Pro Tempore Jason White does not want a straight fix to Mississippi's ballot initiative law without making other changes to it.

One reason? He thinks @staceyabrams is plotting to put Medicaid expansion on the ballot. 1/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

White: “You look at (Medicaid expansion), follow that money trail & see where it goes. When I get to clickin’—& I’m not a good computer tech generation like I should be...but even I, after clicking about 3 times, Stacey Abrams’ face keeps popping up." 2/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

“You mean with the Hospital Association? Stacey Abrams of Georgia?” radio host Paul Gallo replied, astonished.

“Yes sir, yes sir,” White said. “So I hate it with the people of the Hospital Association, but it’s just a fact. 3/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

Read 18 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

24 May

NEW: Amid widespread anger, lawmakers say they want to fix Mississippi's broken ballot initiative process and medical marijuana law.

But Sen. Chris McDaniel warns that some in #MSLeg will use it as an opportunity to take more power away from voters. 1/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

Sen. McDaniel: “There’s obviously an element within #MSLeg that doesn’t like the ballot-initiative process & you’re starting to hear these rumblings right now—they’re saying it’s too easy. But what they’re really saying is they don’t trust the people." 2/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

Jason White, the No. 2 Republican in the MS House, sees an “an opportunity" not only to provide a technical fix for the ballot initiative law, but to "get right how we do" initiatives.

He says many who voted for medical marijuana were uninformed. 3/ mississippifreepress.org/12472/they-don…

Read 13 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

19 May

Sinéad O'Connor: "I feel that having a No. 1 record derailed my career & my tearing the photo [of the Pope] put me back on the right track.”

"O’Connor saw herself as a protest-singing punk. When she ascended to the top of the pop charts, she was trapped." nytimes.com/2021/05/18/art…

Sinéad says her mom abused her as a child:

"O’Connor was 18 when her mother died & on that day, she took down the one photo on her mom’s bedroom wall: the image of the pope. O’Connor carefully saved the photo, waiting for the right moment to destroy it."nytimes.com/2021/05/18/art…

So much in here about misogyny in the music industry:

"When Sinéad O’Connor became pregnant in the midst of recording, she writes that the executive called a doctor and tried to coerce her into having an abortion, which she refused." nytimes.com/2021/05/18/art…

Read 5 tweets

Ashton Pittman

@ashtonpittman

17 May

https://twitter.com/tatereeves/status/1394318000313016320

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.

https://twitter.com/tatereeves/status/1394318000313016320

https://twitter.com/tatereeves/status/1394318000313016320

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.

https://twitter.com/tatereeves/status/1394318000313016320

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

@ashtonpittman

17 May

https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/679348542721380352

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."

https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/679348542721380352

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!"

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"