ML2 @mathlover@social.cleverlibre.org

Rob McDuff of the Mississippi Center for Justice is representing the Mississippi Free Press in challenging a Mississippi Ethics Commission decision to declare the State Legislature not a public body under the Open Meetings Act.

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/29702/mississippi-free-press-mississippi-center-for-justice-to-appeal-closed-door-caucus-meetings

@BenCisco Get out of Texas if you are black, hispanic, a woman, or LGBTQ+. The state is harzardous to your health.

Imagine being the publisher of the Washington Post, hosting a "town hall" and not expecting all your reporters (whom you just told may be laid off) to NOT ask questions. https://twitter.com/anniegowen/status/1603071294316199937

All GitHub users who contribute code on the platform will be required to have one form of 2FA by the end of 2023

https://github.blog/2022-12-14-raising-the-bar-for-software-security-next-steps-for-github-com-2fa/

Have a friend who now lives in Colorado, used to be in TX. His daughter suffers from life-threatening epilepsy, and the ONLY cure has been cannabis. Guess what their state representative in TX said to them when they were lobbying for medical cannabis?

"We don't need your kind here. I'll gladly drive you to Colorado myself."

State rep was GOP, of course.

I only realised today that many crypto bros are basing their beliefs on the idea that near-instant and low cost electronic currency transfers are impossible using the regular banking system. So basically… we’re all having to suffer because the US banking system is antiquated. They have not grasped that for the vast majority of the world crypto is a nothingburger because its sole value proposition is only really of interest to drug traffickers and a few enthusiasts. Huh..

@drskyskull We already had Richard Mellon Scaife, John D. Rockefeller et al. Gates was never the worst we could imagine.

I miss the naive old days when Bill Gates was the worst billionaire we could imagine

I’m excited to announce my new app: Mona for Mastodon, a Mastodon client for iPhone, iPad and Mac, powered by the same amazing features of “Spring for Twitter.” A preview version of Mona will be available to Spring customers soon. You could also follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theSpringApp

getting a bit tired of people bemoaning the loss of twitter as a ‘public square’ when it was nothing of the sort.

it was a place where the algorithmically selected and advertiser friendly could hear their own voices amplified, and the rest of us were allowed to listen in.

someone’s thumb is always on the scale and it certainly isn’t the ‘public’.

the fediverse isn’t perfect, but *we* are the ones who determine what it is and can become.

the weights have been removed from the scale and what you see is what people can create when left to their own devices.

the voices you hear are those that have been amplified by the people and communities around them.

isn’t that what you mean by a ‘public square’?

Fight for the Future PETITION: Mega-corporations are trying to ban libraries from owning digital books! Sign on now to tell @AmericanPublish
to turn over a new leaf in 2023 by standing up for libraries + diverse voices.

https://www.fightforthefuture.org/actions/2023books

I took a look at Elon's new advertising plans for Twitter, and how they almost certainly violate (1) FTC consent decree (2) California privacy law and (3) EU privacy law.

It's a choice!

https://www.techdirt.com/2022/12/14/twitters-big-ad-plan-violate-both-ftc-consent-decree-california-privacy-law-to-force-users-to-hand-over-info-for-ad-targeting/

6. Over the last few weeks, we've learned of a systematic campaign, headed up by Reverend Robert Schenck, to influence Supreme Court Justices through charitable donations and invitations to social events

It was called "Operation Higher Court"

Just what we don't need - more low Earth orbit satellites polluting our night sky: FCC Approval Of New Starlink Satellites Should Help Growing Congestion Issues https://www.techdirt.com/2022/12/13/fcc-approval-of-new-starlink-satellites-should-help-growing-congestion-issues/