Ashton Pittman
@ashtonpittman.bsky.social
74K followers 11K following 5.5K posts
News Editor @mississippifreepress.org •Writer 🖋️ •Film Shooter 📷 •Husband 🏳️‍🌈 •Pibble Dad 🐾 Opinions = mine
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ashtonpittman.bsky.social
The mystery roll of film I developed yesterday turned out to be from my 2017 trip to Rodney, Mississippi—a ghost town on the banks of the Mississippi River that almost became the state capital.

Here you can see Rodney Presbyterian Church, whose façade is still damaged from a Civil War battle. 🧵
a photo of a woody area shows an old church in the distance, surrounded by woods and trees. Photo by Ashton Pittman
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
The Emmett Till Interpretative Center will continue its “Remembering Emmett” series with events across Mississippi in October and November, including at Tougaloo College, in Gulfport and in Mound Bayou.
buff.ly/eZfJ74m
Emmett Till Center to Honor His Legacy With Events Across State
The Emmett Till Interpretative Center will continue its “Remembering Emmett” series with events across Mississippi in October and November.
www.mississippifreepress.org
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
As a writer, her incredible songwriting is what made me fall in love with her.

Life of a Showgirl is far from her best lyric writing, but that's because it's supposed to be a silly, boppy, fun album.

If you want her doing great lyricism, I'd recommend my favorite TS albums, Folklore and Evermore.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
propublica.org
The Education Department has hired at least 9 people from the America First Policy Institute, co-founded by Secretary Linda McMahon.

The think tank’s listed goals include ending the separation of church and state and “plant[ing] Jesus in every space.”
These Activists Want to Dismantle Public Schools. Now They Run the Education Department.
Under Trump, the Department of Education has been bringing in activists hostile to public schools. It could mean a new era of private and religious schools boosted by tax dollars — and the end of publ...
www.propublica.org
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
This woman is the reason I got to be in a stadium of 70,000 people where we all shouted "Fuck the Patriarchy"
in Unison as she sang it. And I'm supposed to think she's a MAGA trad wife because she sings about wanting "the driveway with the basketball hoop."
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
If people want to have nuclear families and they aren't forced into it, that's fine!

Just as long as they don't try to force it on other people and remake society in their own image.

Mutual respect for people having the autonomy to chart their own life course is important.
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
First off, what in Taylor Swift's 19-year career in the spotlight has made anyone think she didn't want marriage and kids?

Second, let's just stop essentializing gender.

The point is people (men, women, non-binary people... anyone) should have choices, and biology shouldn't define their options.
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
Y'all, what the hell.

A woman isn't a trad wife simply because she wants to get married and have kids.

Especially not a woman who is a self-made billionaire, mostly through the power of her own pen.

We are really losing the plot here.
And look, maybe I'm too paranoid about the far-right Christian conservatism creeping across the U.S. that's trying to convince women that their only purpose in life is to get married and have babies. Or maybe I'm just projecting, and thought my favorite artist shared my opinion that marriage is outdated and unnecessary for women. But one of the greatest songwriters of our time couldn't think of a more interesting way to convey her deep love without a pick-me undertone or resorting to the girlhood fantasies of domestic bliss that the far-right is pushing hard? The Swifties on TikTok doing backflips to defend this album will say I'm a miserable hag, but I feel fine saying that I think this is a major bummer.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
thetnholler.bsky.social
WATCH: Trump’s lawless Ice goons shoot an unarmed priest in the head with a pepper ball. Completely out of control.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
donmoyn.bsky.social
This is the genius of the Portland protests - they make the claims of lawlessness look not just wrong, but comical
thedailyshow.com
The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who once bested Donald Trump in court, was charged Thursday as part of a mortgage fraud investigation that the president urged Justice Department officials to pursue.

She's the latest foe of the president to be prosecuted.
buff.ly/Z5DizxJ
New York AG Who Beat Trump in Court Indicted at His Urging
New York Attorney General Letitia James was charged as part of a mortgage fraud investigation pushed by the Trump administration.
www.mississippifreepress.org
ashtonpittman.bsky.social
The thing is, CNN knew Project 2025 really was Trump's plan. We all knew.

That's why @mississippifreepress.org had a special section on our elections page devoted to helping people understand what the Project 2025 plans would mean for their lives.

Meanwhile, legacy media laundered Trump's lies.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
mississippifreepress.org
Five schools across Madison, Ridgeland, Petal, Hattiesburg and Ocean Springs are approved to accept students using Mississippi’s Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship.

But large areas of Mississippi, including the Delta and northeast region, lack a nearby approved special-purpose school.
Dyslexia Scholarship Helps Mississippi Families Access Therapy
Five schools across Madison, Ridgeland, Petal, Hattiesburg and Ocean Springs are approved to accept students using Mississippi’s Dyslexia Therapy Scholarship. But large areas of Mississippi,…
buff.ly
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
stevemullis.net
The documentary "Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink," about how Hedge fund Alden Global Capital is gobbling up newspapers across America and gutting them, is available to watch on PBS.
Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink
A handful of journalists rebel against a hedge fund that is gutting newspapers nationwide.
www.pbs.org
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
elienyc.bsky.social
Turns out, the MAGA Supreme Court is the one interested in converting your kids through the use of quack doctors with medically unsound practices based on no scientific evidence. "Every accusation is a confession" with them.
My latest in @thenation.com
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
The Supreme Court Wants to Convert Your Kids
During a hearing this week, the court’s theocrats made it clear that they’ll vote to end a ban on conversion therapy for minors.
www.thenation.com
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
aselrod.bsky.social
We’ve also got to stop imagining that this will all somehow stop and go back to normal overnight once Trump makes some specific key mistake or, eventually, leaves the stage entirely.

We are a decade into Trumpism. Whatever comes after him for the GOP isn’t going to be a McCain or a Bush.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
radleybalko.bsky.social
Nothing remotely resembling an insurrection is happening anywhere in the country. Any violence associated with protest has been isolated, mild, and, in nearly every case, instigated by federal law enforcement. If we let Trump get away with calling dissent an insurrection, our republic is over.
BREAKING: Trump Admin 'Seriously' Considering Using the Insurrection Act, Reports NBC
President Trump is "seriously" considering invoking the Insurrection Act in order to more easily deploy National Guard troops to major cities as part of crime crackdown, NBC reported on Wednesday
www.mediaite.com
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
donmoyn.bsky.social
This pretty much captures the contradictions of the politics of Kirk and Turning Point: Of course we oppose doxxing and violence, but we will absolutely use inflammatory language, false claims, and enemies list that fuels threats and intimidation.
Several days after publishing the petition calling for Dr. Bray’s dismissal from Rutgers, the Turning Point USA chapter added an update saying that it did not support harassment or the doxxing of him or anyone else.

“I think that all death threats and doxxing are unjustified and not how political disputes should be resolved in civilized society,” Ava Kwan, a Turning Point USA chapter member, said in an email on Wednesday.
But she defended the broader point of the petition, saying, “I think Dr. Antifa, who believes in violence as a political tool, should be fired, of course. Taxpayer money should not fund the salaries of terrorists.”

For years, Turning Point USA has maintained a watch-list of hundreds of professors whom the group accuses of advancing leftist propaganda in the classroom. Dr. Bray is on the list.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
ryanmarino.bsky.social
The MMR vaccine is one of the most stunningly effective medical therapeutics in existence. It’s also safer than most of your everyday activities. This is simply an attempt to stop people from vaccinating.
Reposted by Ashton Pittman
jessdkant.bsky.social
Arbitrarily breaking these up means people who do get their kids vaccinated will still inevitably pick and choose, because that’s what always happens. This will drop uptake rates not just for “skeptics” but for people who believe in vaccination because 3 shots psychologically feels like too many.
ryanmarino.bsky.social
The MMR vaccine is one of the most stunningly effective medical therapeutics in existence. It’s also safer than most of your everyday activities. This is simply an attempt to stop people from vaccinating.
melodyschreiber.com
The acting director of the CDC called for new, separate MMR shots. That would be "remarkably complicated, time-consuming, costly, but more importantly unnecessary," @jasonlschwartz.bsky.social told me:
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...