Advocates try again on bill to halt the practice of charging inmates for phone calls in #Maryland.

But the potential cost of $8 million a year, at a time when the state faces a massive budget deficit, could dim its prospects.

marylandmatters.org/2025/01/10…

Advocates try again on bill to halt the practice of charging inmates for phone calls - Maryland Matters

Three cents a minute may not sound like much, but it adds up to millions of dollars every year for those in Maryland prisons. Sen. Jeff Waldstreicher doesn't think that's right, and has sponsored a bill to do away with the charges.

^{William J. Ford (Maryland Matters)}

I am straight, but I still believe love is love.

I am light skin, but I still believe black lives matter.

I was born biologically, physically male, and remain so, but I still believe regardless of your gender or identity, you have rights.

You do not need to be a woman, you don't need to have a different skin color or ethnic background, and you do not need to be LGBTQ+, to have empathy, sympathy, and general respect for other people who are different from yourself. -- It's called being human.

#WomensRights #TransRights #LGBTQ+ #BlackLivesMatter #Equality #Humanity #JusticeForUsAll

Now that Musk’s experiment has succeeded

Now that Elon Musk’s experiment with Twitter has succeeded, Mark Zuckerberg is following suit with the MAGAfication of Meta – meaning Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. More, they’re pushing to take all of this hate parade out past the US and into other countries, as a fairly-openly-declared plan to boost fascist and near-fascist far-right movements across the globe.

I told everyone that Musk’s experiment would be repeated, and here it is, being repeated, exactly as I said it would be.

These are grim times. There are no longer good outcomes, there are only more and less bad ones – we’re most certainly doomed to miss some critical windows now.

It’s still worth fighting for the less bad outcomes, mind you. It’s still desperately important to do so, because the sort of nightmare unfolding in the LA fires right now will not be going away on its own, and there’s still a big difference between “oppression” and “pogroms.”

The question has now become how many disasters we can prevent, rather than can we stop them from happening at all.

So.

It may surprise you that unlike with Twitter – where the stakes were both obvious and even higher – I don’t really know what to tell you about Meta. Despite functionally designating LGBT people, immigrants, and women as fair game – while occasionally being downright petty about it – the situation overall is… a little less clear.

No, honestly. It is. Bear with me on this.

You see, the crux of the argument to leave Twitter – “X” – came down to two key factors:

First: X was an experiment to see whether you could take over a major social media site, turn it into a fascist disinformation and propaganda platform, and survive. While that hasn’t worked out – yet – in direct financial terms, it’s worked out in terms of getting Trump back into office, so has worked out in indirect power-and-money terms… which means it’s worked.

Second: Elon Musk was and is actively on the side of the fascists. He’s promoting them, having his algorithm promote them, paying them outright to be there, censoring left and critical voices throughout, and making it as clear as possible that his foot has been on the goddamn scale as hard as it could be. (Yes, he said repeatedly that wasn’t true. We call that “lying.”)

The first item is no longer applicable. His experiment worked. It gained him both money and power, even if “X” is still losing money had over fist as an individual company. (That, too, may be temporary; he’s asserted many times that ad boycotts should be illegal, that companies should be required to give him money, and as de facto Co-President, he may in fact see that happen.)

The second item is … less clear with Facebook/Insta/Threads. It’s quite possible that Fuckerberg (Suckerberg, Cuckerberg, there are so many variations) may plant his foot on the algorithmic pedal there, as well.

If he does – as Musk did with Twitter – then “stay and fight” becomes truly nonsensical and the only option is to leave. You can’t fight a propaganda war when the algorithm makes sure that no one is allowed to see you. All you’re doing at that point is raising money for your own oppressor.

But until that happens, “stay and fight” might be a valid option.

Is it?

I don’t know yet.

One of the reasons I don’t know yet is that unlike with “X”, the employees are reportedly generally up in arms about this. Will Suckerberg institute mass firings? Will he push out all the women, queers, and BIPOC like Musk did at Twitter?

Maybe. But Facebook is far, far larger than Twitter ever was, and far, far more complex. It will not be so easy as it was for Elon.

I don’t think we know enough to know what to do, yet. Certainly, protest. Certainly consider leaving. Certainly, see if you can pull your friends to other social media.

If you have group obligations keeping you there, it’s time to move them to another service if you can. I myself have managed to get one group which required my professional attention onto another platform; perhaps you can, as well.

Preparation for evac in these situations is always good.

But unlike with Twitter, even with all this vileness, I can’t say for sure that “stay and fight” isn’t a valid response. It might well be one.

Until it’s clear that Zuck’s putting the Bad Succ on Meta display algorithm, it might just be a legitimate option.

And it’s worth considering, because honestly, if I couldn’t get people to leave Literal New Daily Stormer, I don’t see how in hell we’ll get people to give up Instagram.

Particularly once TikTok is gone.

I imagine – as things unfold over the next few weeks – we’ll get a clearer view. I hope so, at least.

Until then, well… play it by ear – and by conscience, too, of course.

That may well be all we really have left.

#Facebook #fascism #meta #Twitter #uspolitics

Meta terminates its DEI programs days before Trump inauguration

Meta, fresh off announcement to end factchecking, follows McDonald’s and Walmart in rolling back diversity initiatives

^{Adria R Walker (The Guardian)}

There's been a serious snack malfunction, I would like to speak to the manager.

#Caturday