This is the moment where we say NO. No more looting, no more stealing, no more billionaires raiding our government while working people struggle to survive.
On April 5th, we take action. Across the country, thousands of people will march, rally, disrupt, and demand an end to this billionaire power grab. We’ll show up at state capitals, federal buildings, congressional offices, and city centers—anywhere we can make sure they hear us.
A core principle behind Hands Off! is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values.
We've been pushing Hands Off! Normally it would be in the keeping an eye on section if we didn't have a new action item for today but with the length of the TDOV actions we decided not to run it today
I have SO many emails I haven't gone through...many of the substacks I get daily from you, Robert Reich, Heather Cox Richardson and more. With a difficult stressful job, I've let many newsletters go, so I haven't missed seeing you pushing Hands Off!
I eventually get to the newsletters....it can just take a while. My yahoo inbox is up to over 800 and that's after I clean up spam!
The world will have Access to All Americans personal data through AI:
Makena Kelly of Wired reported today that billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is planning to move the computer system of the Social Security Administration (SSA) off the old programming language it uses, COBOL, to a new system. In 2017, the SSA estimated that such a migration would take about five years. DOGE is planning for the migration to take just a few months, using artificial intelligence to complete the change.
Experts have expressed concern. Dan Hon, who runs a technology strategy company that helps the government modernize its services, told Kelly: “If you weren’t worried about a whole bunch of people not getting benefits or getting the wrong benefits, or getting the wrong entitlements, or having to wait ages, then sure go ahead.” More than 65 million Americans currently receive Social Security benefits. Today Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) recorded himself calling the SSA and being told by a recording that the wait times were more than two hours and that he should call back. And then the system hung up on him.
Thanks Joe. I can not understand how what Musk is doing is illegal, a million dollar lottery to entice people to sign a petition? Not sure where I can read up more on this. It seems so incomprehensible. Thanks for the coverage on Rumeysa Ozturk on Bluesky.
Chad Stanton on BlueSky covers this in depth beginning with his post:
'Literally every Black person who comes to DC visits the NMAAHC and it’s a big source of pride among a very broad swathe of people. Censoring the work there won’t be as frictionless as people imagine.'
I noticed that there was nothing about the April 5 Hands Off protest. I found out about this from Robert Reich's substack. https://www.mobilize.us/handsoff/ and https://handsoff2025.com/
From the website:
This is the moment where we say NO. No more looting, no more stealing, no more billionaires raiding our government while working people struggle to survive.
On April 5th, we take action. Across the country, thousands of people will march, rally, disrupt, and demand an end to this billionaire power grab. We’ll show up at state capitals, federal buildings, congressional offices, and city centers—anywhere we can make sure they hear us.
A core principle behind Hands Off! is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values.
We've been pushing Hands Off! Normally it would be in the keeping an eye on section if we didn't have a new action item for today but with the length of the TDOV actions we decided not to run it today
I have SO many emails I haven't gone through...many of the substacks I get daily from you, Robert Reich, Heather Cox Richardson and more. With a difficult stressful job, I've let many newsletters go, so I haven't missed seeing you pushing Hands Off!
I eventually get to the newsletters....it can just take a while. My yahoo inbox is up to over 800 and that's after I clean up spam!
I know exactly how you feel
Urgent Stop this Now- Get people in there -
The world will have Access to All Americans personal data through AI:
Makena Kelly of Wired reported today that billionaire Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is planning to move the computer system of the Social Security Administration (SSA) off the old programming language it uses, COBOL, to a new system. In 2017, the SSA estimated that such a migration would take about five years. DOGE is planning for the migration to take just a few months, using artificial intelligence to complete the change.
Experts have expressed concern. Dan Hon, who runs a technology strategy company that helps the government modernize its services, told Kelly: “If you weren’t worried about a whole bunch of people not getting benefits or getting the wrong benefits, or getting the wrong entitlements, or having to wait ages, then sure go ahead.” More than 65 million Americans currently receive Social Security benefits. Today Representative Don Beyer (D-VA) recorded himself calling the SSA and being told by a recording that the wait times were more than two hours and that he should call back. And then the system hung up on him.
We're going to have more on this this week!
Thanks Joe. I can not understand how what Musk is doing is illegal, a million dollar lottery to entice people to sign a petition? Not sure where I can read up more on this. It seems so incomprehensible. Thanks for the coverage on Rumeysa Ozturk on Bluesky.
The AG of Wisconsin seems to think it is illegal!
This is highly disturbing, but not unexpected about what is happening now in the assault on the Smithsonian:
https://apnews.com/article/trump-smithsonian-executive-order-improper-ideology-558ebfab722f603e94e02a1a4b06ed4d
Chad Stanton on BlueSky covers this in depth beginning with his post:
'Literally every Black person who comes to DC visits the NMAAHC and it’s a big source of pride among a very broad swathe of people. Censoring the work there won’t be as frictionless as people imagine.'
https://bsky.app/profile/chadstanton.bsky.social/post/3llfkcrj7ik2p
It's really awful. And I hope Chad is right that the attempt is going to cost them.