Both Mastodon and Bluesky offer decentralized alternatives, but only one puts users first. While Bluesky’s VC-backed model serves shareholder interests, Mastodon’s nonprofit structure safeguards a truly open internet. The future of social media shouldn’t be for sale.
As users flee from Twitter/X, two visions of social media's future compete: Mastodon's community-controlled network versus Bluesky's venture-backed promises.
@Sovereign it's definitely a good learning experience, and it's really great that the bar to spinning up your own instance is fairly low. This is how the internet was originally meant to work. It was supposed to be lots of individual servers talking to each other, not a handful centralized platforms.
@Sovereign yeah LLMs can be helpful in getting something going, I think services like masto.host becoming more common will help as well. I think a big aspect of it is whether people feel it's worth their time and money to self host.
@Sovereign I ended up going with masto.host cause it's all managed for you, it's like 6 bucks a month which is pretty reasonable and I don't have to do any admin work
I still don't think most normies will be able to pull it off like I did. Although I'm not a networking expert, I'm still a lifelong PC user. ChatGPT was enough to get me over the hump but it isn't a idiot proof guide. Maybe in a few years LLMs will be advanced enough that literally anyone will be able to do the same. I'm still learning tricks on how to best run my instance as an admin.
and if I were an undecided voter, this is supposed to convince me to vote for his party? Because everyone wants more garbage lying around? Ffs #sarcasm
The Trump administration is re-interpreting a key word in the Endangered Species Act that could have big consequences for the habitats of species at risk.
Revealed: world’s largest meat company may break #Amazon deforestation pledges again - theguardian.com/environment/20… "Brazilian ranchers in Pará and Rondônia say #JBS can not achieve stated goal of deforestation-free cattle" time to boycott them
The two tipping points for when we officially become a dictatorship could occur this week
1. The first way the Trump regime clearly becomes a dictatorship is by directly defying a Supreme Court order.
2. The second way we officially become a dictatorship is if the Trump regime can accuse any American citizen of being so dangerous as to justify being sent to a foreign prison, without any independent court review of the regime’s evidence.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on April 16 the closure of the State Department’s office responsible for countering foreign disinformation, citing concerns about free speech and the rights of American citizens.
How is it even possible that a private company can record (and keep recordings!!!) of public spaces like that? What do else do they do with those videos? How is the public informed they are recorded? How do people consent to be recorded? There are no privacy laws at all?
hey this article talks about AI bots on social media for police work and the other guys (social media) are listed has anyone seen any AI bots here on Mastodon?
getting to the point where microsoft windows installs are going to be downloading a vm image and then dd'ing that to your computer before applying system updates because the installer is so actively hostile
I mean that's basically what the installer is already, install.wim is just a disk image that gets cloned to your drive. The trick, as always, is just breaking out of the stupid OOBE.
SPD is now doing 24/7 surveillance of the CID, Aurora North, & Belltown/Downtown. The surveillance includes both people watching camera feeds and algorithms including object recognition. ALL vi…
Seattle's big brother camera network is being deployed along Aurora and in two very dense deployments in the Central District (CID) and a swath of Downtown.
16 on Aurora 17 in CID 30 cameras downtown
The police have self reported the locations of sixty cameras so far on the dashboard below:
As we said months ago when the city council voted for this dragnet spy network, there are now people whose entire day and life will be on these cameras.
Each of these near neighborhood-wide deployments cover critical services and in some cases enough essential services that a person might be on camera everytime they leave home for years on end.
I'm getting word from activists at City Hall this morning reporting an excessive deployment of police by SPD and the city council.
During this morning's city safety council meeting council members held public comment about SOAP/SODA legislation which aims to jail and fine sex workers and homeless people $5k for existing in major parts of town.
CM Cathy Moore's loitering laws have caused significant community resistance so council members cut short public comment.
The constitution, 4th amendment, sound crime research and public comment didn't work, concerned Seattle citizens held a noise demo at Bob Kettle's house. City council's loudest supporter of this crap, ex-SPD cop and current neighborhood watch captain of Queen Anne.
And you know what? Bob's band of sundown town vigilantes violently attacked the protesters and I was smashed in the head for holding a fucking sign.
Attached: 2 images
A lot of people don't realize Seattle contains a few sundown towns. Well tonight Queen Anne proved sundown towns are alive and well in Seattle.
So naturally Bob Kettle, city council's most excited ex-cop who wants a spy network, refused to turn over video footage of my assault directly infront of his home surveillance camera 🥴
I guess Bob Kettle likes his privacy more than solving crimes.
Yet here we are, spying on a few thousand old asian grannies in the CID and probably helping get them in trouble with ICE.
They include a ring of HD cameras in a 360 ring. They can optionally also have an added PTZ camera with significant zoom capabilities which enabled it to track a person at distances over one mile!
The cameras come with software for everything from tracking individual people to detecting "loitering".
Given the terrain of Seattle and the fact that these cameras will be mounted high up and possibly in intersections, this means that one mile range could be used to peer into homes and down streets significantly further than SPD's misleading maps suggest.
At 1 mile these cameras can detect people. And at half of a mile they can pickout a basic description of clothes and peoples motions.
A panopticon's weakness is that while it can take in vast amounts of information, it cannot possibly process that much information. The more it tries, the more it fails.
Any department of cops has a boss, a budget, and a finite attention span. They've convinced themselves that they have supercop powers which allow them to intuitively know which people are up to no good. Fucking with them by drawing their attention and wasting their time not only annoys their boss and uses up their budget and attention span, it also provides cover for people who are actually doing cool stuff and don't want cop attention.
If you're more privileged and have relatively little to hide, then acting hella sus in front of the cameras is a really good piece of praxis. It helps out the people who are doing cool stuff.
If you're less privileged or you have something to hide from the cops, then play it cool, the others will draw
A panopticon's weakness is that while it can take in vast amounts of information, it cannot possibly process that much information. The more it tries, the more it fails.
Any department of cops has a boss, a budget, and a finite attention span. They've convinced themselves that they have supercop powers which allow them to intuitively know which people are up to no good. Fucking with them by drawing their attention and wasting their time not only annoys their boss and uses up their budget and attention span, it also provides cover for people who are actually doing cool stuff and don't want cop attention.
If you're more privileged and have relatively little to hide, then acting hella sus in front of the cameras is a really good piece of praxis. It helps out the people who are doing cool stuff.
If you're less privileged or you have something to hide from the cops, then play it cool, the others will draw the attention away from you.
If you were the weird kid growing up, but you've always shied away from causing actual trouble, this is your moment. Your weirdness and your clean rap sheet are all the weapons you need. The revolution needs you to do what you do best.
@passenger @BendingUnit Are you sure Trump isn't at some point going to start ordering cops to just start shooting anyone sus? When the wheels inevitably come off the MAGA clown car, I think there's a good chance he'll elect for extreme violence.
@Shivviness @BendingUnit To that I would argue that there's not enough cops for all of us and there never will be. Cops are dependent on everyone else being quiet so they can concentrate on a few dissidents at a time.
If we think back to the Hong Kong umbrella uprising: China is a vast country with immense police power and even so they had to bring in resources from all around the country to put down one city in revolt. If other cities had been engaged in sus shit at the same time they wouldn't have been able to do this.
Likewise, let's think back to the George Floyd uprising. Cops beating up protesters? Just smash some shop windows in a different part of town and suddenly they have to leave the protesters alone. Cops can't be everywhere at once.
The panopticon relies, as Bentham explained it, on us not knowing whether we are the one person under surveillance at any particular time, and therefore having to behave as if we are. But if we draw its attention, we tilt those odds for others.
@Shivviness @BendingUnit To answer more directly, no, I can't guarantee that Trump won't give that order. I certainly can't guarantee that some police commander isn't going to give that order themselves, in an example of "doing what the leader would want."
But at the point where the cops are doing that, the government has already fallen. It just hasn't realised it yet. At that point other tactics are more important.
And while I would never ever want someone to be a martyr, innocent people being murdered by the state in cold blood has a way of galvanizing public resentment and resistance in ways that few other things do. While BLM was ultimately unsuccessful in most of its goals because Democrats and Republicans both turned counterrevolutionary, the movement would never have become as big or visible without video footage of a man being murdered.
@passenger @BendingUnit I agree with your point re the panopticon. Ultimately, the police don't have the numbers, and with some deft organisation the sensibles should prevail. But I still think MAGA are itching for an excuse to decisively put the boot down at some point, and that will mean killing people, which Trump has no qualms about. We can't rely on the Democrats to form any form of resistance, and indeed most of them I think will actually happily collaborate with MAGA. So, it will be up to regular members of the public, which is a good thing.
Except then it generally just boils down to the algorithm: isBlack or isHomelessLooking or isWearingFacemask Then criminal = true Else criminal = false
@JessTheUnstill @BendingUnit If there's one thing I believe humans are good at doing, it's coming up with weird corner cases that were not considered before.
What if a person is homeless looking but in a kinda hipster way that indicates they might be a web frontend developer, and is loitering in a lounging sort of way?
What if a person is dressed respectably and carrying a briefcase but also a set of phillips screwdrivers and spends hours examining the camera mountings really closely?
What if a person is dressed as a clown and is handing out free uncooked pasta, and is *probably* not a drug dealer?
I don't know what your local cops are like, but every set of cops will have an umbral area where they dislike the thing you're doing but they don't have actual grounds to shut you down for it, and if you find this umbral area then they are going to be shaking with frustrated rage and unable to concentrate on anything else.
In your and my vocabulary, it's pen testing. It's "a pen tester walks into a bar and orders -1 beer" but applied to the logic of public order.
I like and agree with all of this. I would say that the point of the panopitcon (at least in Bentham's design) is not that the cop is seeing and processing everything but that at any moment they might be watching you. Even if it's a infinitesimley small chance, it's still a posibility.
So yes, they can't process all the information, but they might process yours. Chilling effect, etc.
@passenger @BendingUnit In fact, when the panopticon is working properly they don't need to process any of the data. The threat that they might is enough.
@pete @passenger @BendingUnit the literal express point of the panopticon was to make the watched prisoners self-police so it would be possible to employ drastically fewer guards
if the a given panopticon mechanism isn't doing that it's a failed panopticon design, by definition
did you know the US has a vibrant culture of HS Shooting Clubs? A number of them even have ranges on campus. It's fascinating in that they use Air Rifles and seek to teach marksmanship and safety. The equipment is retail, and inexpensive comparatively for sports programs generally but can get real fancy and bespoke. Anyways they're at most sporting goods, don't require id to purchase
@passenger @BendingUnit When i was in high school they installed cameras to monitor the grounds. I used to make fireballs after school with a friend under one of the cameras while some other friends were making out nearby. Somehow they never cared about the fireballs until the day i did it when my friends were not making out 🙊
all the more reason to mask up seattle and keep identifiable markings and traits under covers... 3 neighborhoods becomes 6, becomes half the city, becomes the whole city
Of course the best answer (for a given definition of best) is to avoid the region and make it as unprofitable as practicable, while finding ways to support conventional policing and strengthen democratic institutions in other regions.
So it is therefore clearly on a completely unrelated note that I share this link to amusing printed masks of your favourite topical celebrities and politicians, (from a Chinese supplier, please do share a link to manufacturers in friendlier states, if anyone has one).
@GhostOnTheHalfShell do that, and then make some crows angry. every time crows see the real person, they'll go bonkers. they remember who touched their nest, even if you don't actually do anything to it.
@GhostOnTheHalfShell they found this out, at University of California, by wearing a Dick Cheney mask and doing this. every time they went outside again with the Dick Cheney mask on, the crows would start making a lot of noise and swooping.
Thanks for this. I live in a really small town in the middle of BF Wyoming but I imagine soon the Federal office of All Things Big Brother will be issuing funds for street cameras to keep an eye on the libs.
I have a feeling that overly large hoodies are going to become standard wear in Seattle as they are in a lot of European cities that have similar CCTV setups.
I'm sure smart criminals will do some target practice on those cameras once they figure out where they all are. Or just cut the wires and sell the copper.
No desire. Our city council has two ex cops, a cia officer, an ex rez judge, and all are dabbling in being real estate bros who think the homeless people their rental practices evict are unsightly.
If enough people wear masks that cover their noses and dark sunglasses to cover their eyes, that will provide cover for migrants and political fugitives to do the same so AI and facial recognition can't identify them.
Also these cameras are vulnerable to all the usual tactics including paintballs for temporary results at moderate risk. The labor to take a paintballed camera down for cleaning is the same as the labor to replace one with a rifle bullet in it. Enough paintball attacks and the camera will come down.
The headline then becomes "Seattle's big brother camera network is being DESTROYED along Aurora..."
@D3C4FF has asked a great question and I would like to follow up on that. Basically he had asked whether "[...] an attacker can identify if a CCTV camera is on/operational without direct physical a...
@D3C4FF has asked a great question and I would like to follow up on that. Basically he had asked whether "[...] an attacker can identify if a CCTV camera is on/operational without direct physical a...
Step back for sure. But in good news for privacy advocates, Idaho just banned the use of any automated / passive license plate reading cameras except in Misd. / Felony investigations / Missing Persons. Specifically banned are traffic infraction (red light) cameras. Though there is still too much wiggle room to allow dragnet activities on Misd. / Felony basis (no specific crime is needed) legislature.idaho.gov/sessioni…
From the thread, it seems you've gone the local government route, and it isn't your first rodeo. Still, sharing this thread because it's on-topic and contains (what ppl from the US tell me is) useful advice.
Y'all, I'm a former local government person, and I want to talk about the things that I saw that did move the needle. (I was pushed out of government due to fighting racism, but before that, I was able to push meaningful things through.)
In normal times, it's enough to call your senator or representative. However, right now, we aren't in normal times, and it may become necessary to take advantage of the limits of Federal government power.
then they would be fortunate. There are plenty of reasons to be skeptical of how we are educating a generation into debt *and* it would be great if those critics wanted to improve education, not just tear the system down.
To be fair, student loans are TOTALLY a scam. It's a shame most people have to get loans that keep them at an economic disadvantage in order to get an education.
This is actually something that happens to all of us. Many of our most deeply held values were not arrived at rationally, but actually were built up over time to justify choices that we already made. Say one day you have a choice to cheat on a test. If you do, then you'll justify that to yourself and build values that allow cheating in some cases. If not, then you'll justify that with rigorous values against cheating.
- speaking of which, I wonder if UPenn ever regret (clearly being paid off to) graduating Trump? Especially now, as no university seems immune to his toilet use musings of defunding education and institutions of higher learning. To their credit, it takes chutzpah for a university to graduate a student with a Grade 3 student’s intellectual level.
Librarians in UK increasingly asked to remove books, as influence of US pressure groups spreads - theguardian.com/books/2025/apr… this is an awful development; needs to be mapped and fought #censorship #lgbt
@KimSJ 'Most UK libraries follow the Cilip ethical framework, which states that published materials should not be restricted on any grounds but the law, said Jewell. “That gives them the confidence and assurance to reject demands” for censorship."'
The big problem comes if or when, for a quiet life, librarians start to comply in advance.
NB. You can always ask a (public) library to get a book for you, then maybe, if enough of you ask, they'll also get it for stock.
@KimSJ The long-running Banned Books Week is just such a response. It's a nice gesture but it can only be a gesture.
Unfortunately there's more insidious and more effective form of book-banning running on both sides of the pond. If the library service is defunded — in the US this is usually an explicit act, in the UK it's implicit with the defunding of local authorities that was accelerated by Austerity and now Austerity 2.0 — then there's no need to ban the books because there's no books to ban. Frozen or painfully limited book funds have been a feature of the English public library scene for more than three decades. "Save our library" campaigns tend to begin and end with keeping a building open, they seldom if ever secure the range of services and resources the library had been providing and given the extent of funding cuts to LAs it would, sadly, be unrealistic to expect it these days. So the book banning is achieved without fanfare and we think it's an exotic creature.
Truer words were never spoken. You may have noticed that the 4th Reich has torn down and broken many things but has not built or created anything -- especially anything that actually helps the United States. Only billionaires have benefited.
Voting for Trump as Nothing of value, may not be seen this way by the racists, bigots, misogynists and xenophobes, and GOP, those bought by the oligarchs?
The misleadingly-named ‘Fix Our Forest Act’ (H.R. 471) is bad news for forests — it seeks to greatly increase logging on federally managed public lands, all under the guise of wildfire suppression.
The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave this morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.
There is something very wrong in this country when six young people meeting to discuss politics in a Quaker Meeting House are arrested by the police after a mass (twenty officers) invasion of the building (armed with tasers).
The freedom to protest, or even the freedom to meet in a room to discuss current affairs, are central to a democracy... if this freedom is now compromised (further), as it seems to be, we are in a very bad place!
And it is so transparently attempted intimidation. I mean, nobody serious claims that the possibility of violent resistance was even a consideration here. Although, given the way that even non-violent action leads to long prison sentences nowadays, activists may want to recalculate. If a well-placed Molotov cocktail carries the same price...
1/ @ChrisMayLA6 @Thebratdragon Please note that two faces #starmer doubled down on the Public Order Act and specifically instructed the police chiefs to 'rigorously apply the letter of the law'. It started as a cunning plan directed at us #SODEM(outside the HoC) and #XR (on the bridge).
2/ The law and the judiciary are 'obliged' to disregard the moral or ethical reasons behind a 'gathering of 6 persons or more for the purposes of political protest'. How they'd have dealt with the anti-apartheid rallies and the poll tax protest doesn't bear thinking about. We are visibly moving towards a totalitarian state. #Farage and #Reform must be rubbing their hands with glee.
@bjornsdottirs ☠️ 🙃 ☠️ ❝...These billionaires WILL fucking kill you, to keep doing capitalism on a boiling planet. They're installing fascism so you don't have a choice, they're controlling police states because they mean to preserve their world order, with violence--that's actually why security forces exist, everywhere...❞ - AnarchoNinaWrites
@EvelineSulman Whatever the reasoning, it will be justified in legal terms around conspiracy to protest in a way that would prove illegal, would be my guess - essentially its the thought police!
Given the Met's recent track record in other matters I guess they're being sent out mob-handed on these outrageous raids so they don't get up to any mischief..
We've known for a long time that the MET has a deeply dysfunctional organisational culture - it really has to be broken up into much smaller forces with entirely new leaderships, drawn from elsewhere. The interaction of its existing chauvinist ethos with repressive protest legislation really is dangerous.
And there's another context to this police repression: their utter failure to deal with real crime, with detection and conviction rates at truly shocking, miniscule levels - hovering around 2% for serious crime like rape and burglary. The good are targeted, the criminals are laughing.
@GeofCox Was just posting about this today. The crime clearance rate (resulted in a charge or summons) in the UK is 5.7%, down from 16% in 2015. In Germany it’s 58% & in Ireland 41%. The UK police are uniquely bad at their *claimed* purpose even with broadly comparable spending as a % of GDP (DE 0.9%, UK & IE 0.8%). They were always largely shit. Now they are laughably so
Seems the politicos are terrified of the people they are supposed to represent. Something is very wrong. Am pretty sure #neoliberalism is to blame, at least in part.
I thought I no longer had the capacity to be shocked by what this Government is enabling, but arresting peaceful people in a place of worship is a step even I had not imagined might happen.
@spanghero @KimSJ Quakers (all the ones I have known) are lovely but very determined people. And they know lots of non violent ways to make your life hell having had 400 years of practice.
I was so surprised I've signed-in to comment. I was talking with my son only yesterday about the Quakers. I know they hire their Houses out to the general public. How did the police know this group was meeting & what they discussed, I wonder? Did they spy on them on SM? What happened? It's been a long hard trek towards a police-state but - looking good for them now.
How did the police even know they were there and what they were doing (whatever it was)? It was a small group, behind closed doors, probably organised on an encrypted chat group (if they had any sense). How could they get the 20 'officers' organised for a raid without some sort of inside info prior.
@davidgrieve My guess is that they organized on Facebook or some other un-secure social media app that is feeding information directly to the cops. It was apparently a "Welcome talk".
@JizzelEtBass I do a bit protesting myself (anti monarchy), I have never had an issue with the police.
Having said that, our top organisers were all arrested on the morning of the coronation day. Later released without charge and very later given compensation payouts from the MET.
Much like all humans, the police have a range of political views and levels of competence in their ranks.
serving Metropolitan Police Officers gave character witness statements to try and lessen the sentance their warrent carrying, still serving colleague got for raping and murdering Sarah Everard.
That says everything about the Metropolitan Police in my view.
@JizzelEtBass They temporarily detained me at Buckingham Palace after a protest. Let us go after about 40 minutes after they realised we had not broken any law.
I am sure some of them wanted to take us round the back for a kicking mind you.
@davidgrieve @JizzelEtBass my Uncle was in the Met and he basically taught us that if we're ever aproached by the police: •be polite. •be honest. •never volunteer information. •be careful because there are some right bastards on the police force.
Grotesque and inexcusable. I played a benefit fundraiser for relief of Gazans at our local Quaker Meeting House. Tell me Mr Human Rights Lawyer Prime Minister #Starmer does that make me a "terrorist" because if it does, i will answer for it in Court. This is on YOUR watch Starmer. It is ON YOU. Put a stop to it AT ONCE , or see your credentials as a one-time lawyer evaporate for good.
Yes. What happened to Starmer and Reeves etc to turn them into the despicable caricatures they have become? Arresting quakers.. FFS. Reeves pushes the HMRC to go for tax avoidance. This is the party for the workers. It means go for the easy targets again, the plumbers and other self employed workers. The education sec says take meals from infants. Vote Labour, get Tories .Vote Tory get Trump look-a-likes.
"conspiracy to cause a public nuisance" is a good all purpose crime that could be used for pretty much anything, like say, imprisoning someone for being on a Whatsapp chat.
If they are indeed central to a democracy and they are compromised, then … … a "bad place" falls short of being the logical answer, being an a-political phrase. "it's not [qualifier] democracy" sounds like the logical answer; qualifiers, like "a good", "at all", etc. may apply.
Why this comment? Because it's disappointing to see 'democracy' disappear from commentary critical to the status quo, while being used excessively by the status quo to praise itself.
@65dBnoise Well, I appreciate that point; but as you will see across my regular posts on politics I have not shied away from the word 'democracy' both in texts & as a #, but just didn't today....
I do appreciate both raising the issue of the raid, and your regular posts (which I hope to follow closer from now on), and indeed the reply. My comment was not personal; I just found an opportunity to express my general frustration on this issue.
@65dBnoise Aha, fair enough.... and broadly I would agree with your original point; too often we lose sight of the incremental destruction of ur democratic rights
the only major news outlets I’ve seen cover the story are CNN, which has limited info, gbnews, which seems like a Fox News kinda vibe, and some indies. Where is the British media on this? Breaking into a house of worship to arrest some climate activists seems pretty outrageous.
Republicans at a town hall in Spokane, WA angrily demanded aggression against Canada cease.
Their cowardly #GOP Congress critter is now whining that he wants to have telephone town halls instead. People are too angry at the fascist shit he's supporting. Boo hoo.
@Luketoop Alt text: Rep. Sylvia Garcia @RepSylviaGarcia Let's be clear: the Department of Education exists because states wouldn't fund poor schools, wouldn't protect kids with disabilities, wouldn't follow civil rights law, especially in the South. Anyone calling to abolish it is calling to turn back the clock —and we can't let that happen.
Judd Legume (journalist, founder & former editor of Think Progress) appears to have a memo from Acting Deputy SSA Commissioner Doris Diaz outlining "proposed changes to the claims process that would debilitate the agency, cause significant processing delays, and prevent many Americans from applying for or receiving [#SocialSecurity] benefits." popular.info/p/exclusive-memo-…
The biggest change contemplated by Diaz's memo is to require "internet identity proofing" for "benefit claims… made over the phone." When an SSA customer is "unable to utilize the internet ID proofing, customers will be required to visit a field office to provide in-person identity documentation."
Because the SSA serves a large population that is either older or physically disabled, many cannot access the internet. Under the new system, this would force these populations to v
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Judd Legume (journalist, founder & former editor of Think Progress) appears to have a memo from Acting Deputy SSA Commissioner Doris Diaz outlining "proposed changes to the claims process that would debilitate the agency, cause significant processing delays, and prevent many Americans from applying for or receiving [#SocialSecurity] benefits." popular.info/p/exclusive-memo-…
The biggest change contemplated by Diaz's memo is to require "internet identity proofing" for "benefit claims… made over the phone." When an SSA customer is "unable to utilize the internet ID proofing, customers will be required to visit a field office to provide in-person identity documentation."
Because the SSA serves a large population that is either older or physically disabled, many cannot access the internet. Under the new system, this would force these populations to visit an office to have their claim processed. The Diaz memo estimates it would require 75,000 to 85,000 in-person visitors per week to SSA's offices to implement the policy. ___
And of course, they'll be cutting the workforce and closing SSA offices which will make it nearly impossible to file for your claim.
An internal Social Security Administration (SSA) memo, sent on March 13 and obtained by Popular Information, details proposed changes to the claims process that would debilitate the agency, cause significant processing delays, and prevent many Americ…
A couple months ago I needed to visit the nearest social security office. When I showed up about 20 minutes before the doors opened there were over a dozen people in line. Just before opening, a security officer came out and said staff was only seeing people that had an appointment.
He also said anyone without an appointment could come in and wait up to several hours. But all we could do is make an appointment to come back another day.
Tip: The security officer shared the *local* phone number for that SSA office. I went home, called that *local* number and was able to make an appointment.
Note: I previously tried calling the SSA 800 number to make an appointment but the wait was endless and I gave up.
Really good tip. A good friend recently hit 65 and needed to call them to get medicare sorted by the deadline.
It was 4.5hrs on hold. That call only resulted in a grumpy combatitive person giving him an appointment for a call back in a couple weeks. He diligently waited by his phone starting 30 minutes beforehand. then noticed he'd missed a call (didn't know ignore unknown callers was on)
Panic call to the number provided a phone number for the local Ventura SSA office. Only on hold for a few minutes with them before being answered by a pleasant person who was able to help him sort everything.
Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency’s “My Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.
The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.
Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said in a statement that “by requiring seniors and di
Beginning March 31st, people will no longer be able to verify their identity to the SSA over the phone and those who cannot properly verify their identity over the agency’s “My Social Security” online service, will be required to visit an agency field office in person to complete the verification process, agency leadership told reporters Tuesday.
The change will apply to new Social Security applicants and existing recipients who want to change their direct deposit information.
Connecticut Rep. John Larson, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, said in a statement that “by requiring seniors and disabled Americans to enroll online or in person at the same field offices they are trying to close, rather than over the phone, Trump and Musk are trying to create chaos and inefficiencies at SSA so they can privatize the system.”
The DOGE website says that leases for 47 Social Security field offices across the country, including in Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina, have been or will be ended. ___
The Diaz memo estimates it would require 75,000 to 85,000 in-person visitors per week to SSA's offices to implement the policy - while many of those offices that are slated to be closed
The Hill has a list of the 26 #SocialSecurity offices with set closure dates out of the 47 planned to be closed. Most dates are in April, May, or June. And most of them are in states that voted for Trump.
To be fair, when I had to make changes to mom's social security account two years ago, I had to drive to California (600 miles one way) to speak to a person because neither the website nor phone (never did get a person, I was on hold for hours) was any use.
@dougfir Even before Trump's inauguration, this was still a problem, but things got much better in the last two years of the Biden administration. The SSA under Biden made a gargantuan effort to improve the responsiveness of SSA phone support (I personally k now people who worked on this). Needless to say Trump is not only throwing away all that progress but making things many times worse. Let's be honest about what's happening here: this is no accident.
A big tip others have shared before is to search for the number to your local office instead of calling the main number. That's who is going to help you eventually anyways. The main number just gets the ball rolling, often merely scheduling a call back appointment with the local to you office.
after close to 10 calls in 2 days, I have an in person SSA appointment scheduled for mid-May. I am a savy retired person and this was not easy! Multiple system hangups, 120+ minute phone wait times, website system taking me to the wrong application and a letter telling me erroneous information.
The SSA staff I did finally connect with (I figured out a work around local ph no.!!) were all kind and I was the same to them.
Young #cedar #tree is all dressed in magnificent #mosses & #lichen 💚 One of the lovely sights you can see & admire, while exploring the coastal temperate rainforests in BC.
@RandomSarah I was out in the wilderness in 1994, trying to protect old growth forests from being logged at 2 different resistance camps on Southern Vancouver Island. A lot of old growth has been clear-cut since you visited.
We really need to conserve the remaining old growth not in parks & make ecocide a real crime against humanity.
@RandomSarah It takes a global village of concerned citizens willing to do what they can to protect irreplaceable, biodiverse ecosystems that sustain lifeforces which all living beings depend upon for survival. Humans who become too disconnected from nature & too dependent on capialism, usually become greedy inhumane folks, who contribute to destroying ecological habitats & try to justify the destruction, after the fact.
EXCLUSIVE: The White House says it ignored a court order to turn around two planeloads of alleged Venezuelan gang members because the flights were over international waters and therefore the ruling didn't apply, two senior officials tell @MarcACaputo. t.co/8WfTjeXlNH
@hermannus : I have no info regarding the order of events, but even if planes departed before the judge ruled, it seems at least not very "prudent" to order them to take off right before the ruling of the judge.
BREAKING: Hét grote nieuws vandaag was dat Trump een wet uit 1798 heeft ingeroepen om mensen die als vijand van de staat worden gezien zonder proces (!) uit te zetten. Een rechter zette daar een streep door en liet zelfs vliegtuigen omkeren. Trump deporteert nu honderden mensen alsnóg.
@hermannus : uit france24.com/en/americas/20250…: ❝ US District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order Saturday blocking the deportations but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order.
“Oopsie…Too late,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a Trump ally who agreed to house about 300 immigrants for a year at a cost of $6 million in his country’s prisons, wrote on the social media site X above an article about Boasberg’s ruling. That post was recirculated by White House communications director Steven Cheung. ❞
Bron: upstreamism (@
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@hermannus : uit france24.com/en/americas/20250…: ❝ US District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order Saturday blocking the deportations but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order.
“Oopsie…Too late,” Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, a Trump ally who agreed to house about 300 immigrants for a year at a cost of $6 million in his country’s prisons, wrote on the social media site X above an article about Boasberg’s ruling. That post was recirculated by White House communications director Steven Cheung. ❞
"US District Judge James E. Boasberg issued an order Saturday blocking the deportations but lawyers told him there were already two planes with immigrants in the air — one headed for El Salvador, the other for Honduras. Boasberg verbally ordered the planes be turned around, but they apparently were not and he did not include the directive in his written order." france24.com/en/americas/20250… #politics #USPol #immigration
The Trump administration deported hundreds of immigrants to El Salvador and Honduras, defying a federal judge's order halting such actions under an 18th-century law aimed at Venezuelan gang members.
With the USA reneging on support treaties. Calling #Ukraine the aggressor threating #Canada #Panama and #Greenland with annexation (invasion). Forcing all the allies to act counter to #trump and form an opposing alliance. And calling #Putin and chairman #Kim mates while criticising #Trudeau #zelensky and other #Democratically elected leaders. One thing is obvious
#USA is now a member of the #axis of evil states and not part of the time free world
"Police officers and employees misusing access to police database now account for over half of all cybercrime prosecutions in the UK. The harms this can cause are considerable. Yet police continue to call for encryption to be weakened to allow for greater access to communication data." - Alice Hutchings, Director, Cambridge Cybercrime Centre, Cambridge University. (3pp PDF: cl.cam.ac.uk/~ah793/papers/202…)
Anyone intending to BUY NOTHING this Friday should also consider the other ways we commonly hand money to the oligarchs of capitalism. As well as not buying things from Amazon, Walmart, Target, and big corporate chains, don't give them their add revenues. Don't go to Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Bing, Google search (or other search engines with sponsors). Washington Post, Google News, or other billionaire owned sites get paid when you put eyes on their website. Are you using AI? This Friday don't if your work and life will allow it. Admittedly, I think this rebellious act is equivalent to throwing toothpicks at titans. And those titans will probably find it more amusing damaging. But, hey, maybe they'll token-rage at us and it will make another nutcase go off on another CEO.
I’m old enough to remember a time when freedom of speech meant something in this country. Nowadays, our culture has been completely usurped by leftist lunatics who want to cancel us for even the slightest transgression, and we have to constantly walk…
Yogthos
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in reply to Yogthos • • •🇨🇦🇩🇪🇨🇳张殿李🇨🇳🇩🇪🇨🇦
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in reply to Yogthos • • •If there is no actual decentralization then the "protocol" doesn't matter.
It's centralized.
Yogthos
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