I plan to attend the Hands Off rally at the Minnesota capitol in St. Paul tomorrow, April 5, 2025. The website says the event runs from noon until 2 p.m. This will be the first time in my life I have ever attended a protest rally.
Why?
I owe myself, and anyone who asks, a clear answer. So here are my reasons.
- Jan. 6
- Hands off the constitution
- Insurrection Act
- American gulags
- Intimidating judges
- Chainsaws
- Conflicts of interest – hands off
- Hands off the first amendment
- DEI
- Radical recklessness
- But wait, there’s more
- Impressions after attending
- How to win me over
Jan. 6
First, go back to a dark day in American history, Jan. 6, 2021. MAGA propaganda wants the faithful to believe that something other than the U.S Capitol riot killed five law enforcement professionals. In MAGA world, forcing elected representatives to stop a vote counting ceremony and flee for their lives was not an insurrection attempt, just a misunderstanding. Trump claims that Officer Sicknick’s strokes and four officer suicides were unrelated to the events of that day. I challenge anyone from MAGA world to look those officers’ families in the eye and spew that hogwash.
The truth is, Trump and his cronies saturated all media with lies leading up to that day. They seduced thousands of people into trouble. Four rioters died. All to support lies. They were also victims.
At a memorial ceremony one year later, only two Republicans showed up; Liz Cheney and her dad. The Republicans and Cheney’s constituents barbecued her in the 2022 election.
On Jan. 20, 2025, President Trump’s first day of his second term, he signed an executive order pardoning or commuting the sentences of every single Jan. 6 rioter. This included some who were found guilty and sentenced to multiple years in prison. Why? Because, with the inauguration coming fast, Trump did not want to devote the time to reviewing every case. He said, “F*** it. Release ’em all.”
MAGA world cheered, while also claiming they supported law enforcement. Trump desecrated our elections, we let him get away with it, and then he gave the finger to the law enforcement professionals MAGA world claims to support. Less than three months into his second term, we are only now starting to realize the consequences of our choice.
Hands off the Constitution
Section one of the fourteenth amendment to the US Constitution opens with this sentence. “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Today, we call this birthright citizenship.
One of President Trump’s day-one executive orders tries to usurp our constitution to deny birthright citizenship. Read the order for yourself. Also read my blog post about it.
We can debate whether birthright citizenship is good or bad. But changing our constitution by executive order cannot stand. If we want to amend the constitution to remove birthright citizenship, then two thirds of the US House and Senate need to propose it, and three fourths of the states need to ratify it. Allowing any president to change our constitution by an executive order is a sure path to tyranny.
Keep your hands off our constitution.
Insurrection Act
Trump signed lots of executive orders on his first day in office. This one didn’t get much attention, and it might be a sleeper path to tyranny. Section 6(b) says:
(b) Within 90 days of the date of this proclamation, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit a joint report to the President about the conditions at the southern border of the United States and any recommendations regarding additional actions that may be necessary to obtain complete operational control of the southern border, including whether to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807.
The Insurrection Act of 1807 says the president can declare an emergency and deploy federal troops across the country to keep order. The scenario is, around April 20, 2025, the Defense and Homeland Security secretaries deliver their report to Trump that says, sure ’nuff, there’s an emergency, just look at all radical left wing protesters around the country. So Trump invokes the act and deploys troops across the country to “preserve order.” What could possibly go wrong? And who will stop him?
Keep your hands off my freedom.
American Gulags
And that leads to American gulags. Read the story of Jasmine Mooney, who spent two weeks traveling the United States in the back of prison busses and living in cages. Her offense? A paperwork issue with her passport. And apparently she visited Mexico. The government pays private prison services per person per day, so they maximize profits by shuttling prisoners around the country in busses so their attorneys and loved ones can’t find them. Or read about the Tufts University graduate student, grabbed off the street and stuffed into a van in front of a security camera. Or the University of Minnesota student. Or the Columbia University student. Just a few stories that made national news. Their offenses? Mostly speech that Trump world didn’t like.
We’ve had an immigration problem in the United States for decades. We’ve also had a Congress unwilling to do its job and pass useful legislation. So now we declare all immigrants terrorists, round them up, and rotate them through a system of American gulags. After Trump’s ninety-day emergency report comes in and Trump uses it as a pretext to declare martial law, who knows?
Intimidating Judges
On March 17, 2025, the Trump administration flew more than 200 immigrants to a notorious El Salvador prison. A federal judge ordered the operation stopped. Team Trump ignored the judge and posted this on his Truth Social platform:
This Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge, a troublemaker and agitator who was sadly appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, was not elected President – He didn’t WIN the popular VOTE (by a lot!), he didn’t WIN ALL SEVEN SWING STATES, he didn’t WIN 2,750 to 525 Counties, HE DIDN’T WIN ANYTHING! I WON FOR MANY REASONS, IN AN OVERWHELMING MANDATE, BUT FIGHTING ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION MAY HAVE BEEN THE NUMBER ONE REASON FOR THIS HISTORIC VICTORY. I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!! WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!
from https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114183576937425149
On March 18, 2025, Chief Justice Roberts weighed in and posted:
For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.
But calls to impeach judges who rule against Trump keep coming. Impeachments are unlikely to succeed. At least, not yet. Maybe later. For now, intimidation might work. I want Trump to keep his hands off the Judicial branch. The Judicial branch does not report to the Executive branch.
The Department of Justice admitted it sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to that El Salvador prison by mistake. A federal judge ordered the government to return him. Good luck with that. The Trump team claims everyone they sent to El Salvador is a notorious gang member, but offers no supporting evidence.
On April 1, 2025, Reuters reported that dozens of those detainees have active asylum cases.
Chainsaws
On Feb. 20, 2025, Elon Musk strutted the CPAC conference stage waiving a chainsaw. Millions saw the video. The idea was, cut away waste, fraud, and abuse with a chainsaw. The spectacle reminds me of “Chainsaw” Al Dunlap, who destroyed many troubled companies by indiscriminately firing people. A few privileged shareholders cashed out, leaving the rest of the world holding the bag. Many speculate this is what’s going on with DOGE. See “Conflicts of Interest.”
Conflicts of Interest – Hands off
One of the first DOGE activities was firing lots of inspectors general, the people Congress hired to root out waste, fraud, and abuse. And then DOGE began a rampage of gutting departments across the government, not subject to any oversight. In one famous case, Elon Musk criticized the FAA modernization project. One of Musk’s companies, Starlink, is now competing for billions of dollars in FAA business. As the person in charge of making the government more efficient, Musk will play a role in deciding which telecommunications provider the FAA uses. Of course, Musk denies any conflict of interest.
Hands off, Elon. you’re either a customer or a vendor. You can’t be both at the same time.
Hands off the First Amendment
A few news organizations have filed reports critical of the Trump administration. In one case, Trump banned the AP from the Whitehouse because the AP refused to acknowledge the Trump renamed Gulf of America. In another move in the name of freedom of speech, the White House declared that the Trump press team will decide which reporters can cover Trump in press pools, instead of the Whitehouse Correspondents Association.
Trump is also punishing attorneys for filing cases he opposes.
Keep your hands off the first amendment.
Hands Off DEI
I added this section a few days after the rally. I regret not thinking of it earlier.
I read story after story about how women and minority groups contributed to our country. In WWI and WWII, not only did minority groups fight in the war, they fought for an opportunity to fight for our country that discriminated against them. More than one million African American men and women served in every branch of the US armed forces during World War II. Hollywood made a movie about The Tuskegee Airmen. Hollywood also made movies about the Native American WindTalkers, Women Airforce Service Pilots, the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion, and others.
I work in the technology industry and only recently learned about the women who put together the original ENIAC programming in the 1940s. One of my personal heroes, Grace Hopper, was also a technology pioneer.
There are countless examples of women and minority groups who fought prejudice, segregation, hostility, and overwhelming odds to contribute to our country. Their reward – often more prejudice, segregation, ridicule, hostility, and jealousy. As of April, 2025, to comply with Trump’s executive order to get rid of DEI across the government, the United States Army celebrates minority group accomplishments on its website like this:
Treating anyone like a second-class citizen is wrong and counterproductive. Erasing minority group contributions from official history is a lie. If we really want to make America great again, then we need to celebrate and encourage those special qualities that American minority groups keep showing the world.
Radical Recklessness
Back on Dec. 18, 2018 when I wrote, “Hollywood Hackers – Guess the Password, Save the World,” I wrote:
Good to know, if I want to send a super-secret message to a general commanding an overseas operation, I do it over the public internet. We should maybe re-think that.
But they say truth is stranger than fiction.
On March 24, 2025, we learned that the geniuses at the top of our United States Federal Government really do trade messages about military bombing targeting details over commercial cell phone service and the public internet.
How did the we find out about this? Because United States National Security Director, Mike Waltz, included The Atlantic Magazine Editor-in-Chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, in the Signal text thread. To Goldberg’s credit, he waited until after the Houthi bombing to publish what happened.
After Trumpworld barbecued The Atlantic, it eventually published the entire thread. But The Atlantic resides behind a paywall. Al Jazera shared it without restriction.
But not to worry. Our MAGA leaders assure us that discussions about bomb targeting details and how to handle reactions from world leaders are not classified. And using commercial telecom services for these messages is not a big deal.
Except it is a big deal.
There are good reasons why using public telecom services for this kind of stuff is a really really really bad idea. Consider a few variables.
- Assuming your private device is secure is a good way to lose your secrets. Or worse.
- But even if your device is secure, somebody else’s might not be.
- And even if all devices are secure, somebody eavesdropping on the encrypted conversation can record it for later analysis.
- Your top Middle East envoy might accidently include a reporter as part of your text message group and publish what you say for the whole world to see.
- And even if nobody decrypts your conversation, just engaging in the conversation over a public medium can tip off enemies that something is up.
Look up how Jamal Khashoggi died. Saudi Arabia infiltrated his phone and persuaded him to visit a Saudi embassy, where they murdered him. Khashoggi thought his phone was “secure.” He was wrong. That mistake led to his murder. And then look up an Israeli company named NSO Group. Governments go to lots of trouble to attack personal devices belonging to people they care about.
One of the first things we learn in cybersecurity is, “secure” is not a binary on/off thing. Security is all about risk management. If you tell somebody who knows what they’re talking about that your device is secure, they might act polite, but they won’t take seriously anything you say after that.
I have a hard time thinking of anything more reckless these clowns could have done than that text thread. But they’ll probably come up with something.
But wait, there’s more.
I did not include Ukraine, NATO, tariffs, Canada, Panama, and Greenland in my reasons to protest.
I don’t know if Trump supports Ukraine or Russia. Trump treated Ukrainian President Zelensky shamefully in the White House a few weeks ago. But Trump also recently threatened Putin. If I detect Trump tilting toward Russia, I’ll add that close to the top of my reasons to protest, because supporting Russia in the war Putin started with Ukraine is beyond destructive. I had plenty to say about the Russian invasion back in 2022 and it’s all still relevant. I wish Biden had given Ukraine even more weapons and more freedom to use them.
Giving NATO the finger, giving the world the finger with tariffs, and talking about taking over Panama, Canada, and Greenland, is bad policy and just plain dumb. Nothing good will come from any of it. But desecrating our elections and destroying our own government is worse. We need to preserve the system of government our Founding Fathers handed down to us, and then we can fix these dumb policy decisions.
I have a hunch I will disagree on lots of policy matters with many attendees tomorrow. But, left or right, conservative or liberal, blue or red, I hope most Americans agree that we like the system of government our founding fathers created. It seems, now it’s our turn to defend it. After we defend our way of life against tyranny, I look forward to arguing about policy matters.
I would like to share this on social media. May I copy/paste including credit to the amazing author?
Hi Toni – of course!