Twitter quietly edited its hateful conduct policy to drop transgender protections by Ashley Belanger
Musk says his own tweets might be labeled under new hateful conduct policy.

The guy who, a week and a half ago, was blocking links from Substack and who suspended journalists in December for talking about his jet’s location would really like us to know that “free speech is paramount” and so that’s why there are no longer protections for trans people as part of Twitter’s policies.

If you believe Elon still cares anything about free speech you deserve to be lied to and taken advantage of, at the very least.

Advertisers See Elon Musk As A Liability As They Avoid Twitter by Mike MasnickMike Masnick

Elon Musk keeps talking about how he’s saving Twitter, but it’s difficult to see how. He’s made the site much more unstable, has been messing up basically every part of “trust & safety 101,” is now facing a growing number of lawsuits (including many over unpaid bills), has no idea how the site actually works, […]

The GOP Is Getting Creamed on Abortion. But They Still Don’t Get How Badly. by Jay Kuo
With a Supreme Court case looming this week that could strip away the right to mifepristone, an abortion medication used in nearly half of abortions nationwide, the GOP is at a crossroads. At issue is whether the party will hew to the most extreme of positions: outlawing abortion with few to no exceptions, not even in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the mother. The few moderates left within the GOP are wringing their hands and warning of electoral catastrophe, while the presidential candidates weave and dodge the issue to ensure they can still appeal to the base while not alienating centrist voters.
“This Is A Hate Crime”: Kansas City Black Family Demanding Justice After A White Man Shoots Black Boy, Ralph Yarl, In The Head Twice For Ringing Doorbell Of The Wrong Home, White Man Released By Police Hours Later by KC Defender StaffKC Defender Staff
Community members are demanding justice after a white man in Kansas City shot a black boy, Ralph Yarl, twice for ringing the doorbell of the wrong home.

I’m not holding my breath, but I hope the family receives justice and that the man who did this ends up serving some time.

My Fediverse Decision Crossroads: On Friendica
I’ve had a Friendica account on the fediverse almost since day one, even if I didn’t actively use it initially. In 2018 I started heavily using Diaspora and Mastodon instead of it since I preferred their simpler UIs. It wasn’t until early 2019 that I revisited Friendica since it tied together all of the Fediverse into one experience. It has been my primary portal into all of those networks ever since. Despite a lot of effort by a lot of people it hasn’t been all roses though. As I want to adopt a social media system that I could recommend to my dad the warts of the system still weigh on me. As I host my own I see some big ones there too. What I need to decide is if I want to do the leap to help trying to fix them, if they are fixable, or do the leap off of the platform into something else.