Some photos from today's belated 50501 / #Indivisible / #HandsOff #protest and march in #Memphis #Tennessee! (Last week was postponed due to tornadoes and flooding.)

There was a boisterous crowd of several hundred awesome people, plus a few radical leftist good dogs. Signs spanned all the topics: #Trump, #ElonMusk, #DOGE, #Ukraine, #xAI, #SocialSecurity, the #IRS, #science...

#Palantir Is Helping #DOGE With a Massive #IRS Data Project

"Palantir, the software company cofounded by Peter #Thiel, is part of an effort by Elon #Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (#DOGE) to build a new “mega API” for accessing Internal Revenue Service records, IRS sources tell WIRED.

Palantir representatives have been onsite...to exchange data and could be used to move IRS data to the #cloud and access it there..."
https://www.wired.com/story/palantir-doge-irs-mega-api-data/

"With Trump administration targeting recent hires across the government, the terminations hit particularly hard in Ms. Crowell’s division, large business and international. Of the more than 7,000 people laid off from the I.R.S. so far, roughly half worked in her department.

As a result, the I.R.S. may struggle even more with its basic mission of collecting taxes. Work-intensive investigations into large businesses and rich Americans could decline, a drop in enforcement that would add to the deficit even as Elon Musk says his team is helping narrow it.

The audit Ms. Crowell was in the middle of conducting is now adrift. Five of the nine people working on it, including Ms. Crowell, were laid off. What she called a slam-dunk case for the I.R.S. may not be finished.

“We were going to work through these issues and have it done in an effective professional and collaborative manner,” she said. “All of the momentum we had is gone. I’m not sure they’re going to be positioned and have the support they need to restructure and reconvene to overcome all of this.”

Firing probationary employees like Ms. Crowell was just the beginning of President Trump’s far-reaching agenda for the I.R.S. The administration is preparing budget cuts and further layoffs that could ultimately force the I.R.S. to shed as much as half of its 100,000-person work force — a drastic reduction that could mean many Americans face less scrutiny, and receive less help, on their taxes. At the same time, Mr. Trump is asserting more political control over an agency that has historically been insulated from changes in leadership at the White House."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/us/politics/irs-taxes-trump-musk-federal-workers.html

#USA #Trump #DOGE #Musk #IRS #FederalWorkers

DOGE fires government efficiency team
https://www.muskwatch.com/i/158555627/doge-fires-government-efficiency-team

"Among the team’s achievements was an #IRS program that allowed #taxpayers to file directly with the agency for #free instead of paying for filing software from Intuit TurboTax. #18F employees were also responsible for maintaining the government’s #weather alerts and #forecasts service. It’s unclear if IRS Direct File or weather.gov will continue to operate."

#Musk #Doge #Coup #Tech #Trump #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #News #US #USA

New DOGE Staffer Has Ties to a Sanctioned Russian Oligarch

Sam Corcos, a new member of Elon Musk’s #DOGE team, reportedly showed up at the #IRS demanding detailed info about #American taxpayers...
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/doge-staffer-corcos-wife-ties-russian-oligarch-1235291673/

"Corcos’ wife, Varvara Russkova Corcos, spent three years at the VC firm GVA Capital, which was previously exposed as a vehicle for one of the richest #oligarchs in #Russia"

#ElonMusk #Musk #Coup #Corruption #Trump #GOP #USPol #USPolitics #News #US #USA

No less than 76 #Democrats just voted with Republicans to overturn the #IRS's "defi broker rule" which would have required crypto firms like #MarcAndreessen's #Uniswap to collect information on their users and in so doing discourage the use of these platforms for #moneylaundering by criminals and rogue nuclear states (#NorthKorea *loves* Uniswap) and by the very wealthy to avoid paying #taxes.

The new wave of #memecoin scams like #TrumpCoin are also all facilitated/perpetrated by these decentralized trading platforms.

If any of these people are your representative you should do what you can to make sure they are primaried because they are not representing your interests. At a minimum call them and yell at them (this works better than most people think!)

The corruption of the US government by #crypto bros is extremely bipartisan.

* Full roll call of vote: https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202571

#uspol #defi #DOGE #broligarchs #SEC #CFPB #DNC #Dems #congress #house #law #tax #corruption #taxation

Elon Musk Threatens FBI Agents & Air Traffic Controllers With Forced Resignation If They Don't Respond to an #Email

Employees throughout the federal #government have until 11:59pm ET Monday to detail 5 things they accomplished in the last week.
https://www.wired.com/story/doge-elon-musk-forced-resignation-email-twitter/

“Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” #Musk wrote on X...

employees at the #FBI, #IRS, National Institutes of #Health, & #FAA, which all deal in classified #information, received similar notices."

#News #USA

IRS Bars Musk Ally From Seeing Personal Information

A document setting the terms of work at the IRS by Gavin Kliger, a software engineer on Elon Musk’s team, only allows him to see anonymized taxpayer information.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/us/politics/irs-doge-gavin-kliger.html

"The #IRS will not allow a member of Elon Musk’s team to view individual #tax returns while he works at the agency...

Gavin Kliger, a 25-year-old... [White House] pushed for Kliger to have broad visibility of IRS data"

#Musk #Politics #Privacy #News #US

Back Up Everything. Even if Elon Musk Isn’t Looking at It.

Readers worried after Mr. Musk and his team were given access to federal payment systems. Here’s how to back up all your data and documents.
#GiftLink
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/14/business/personal-data-backup-musk.html?unlocked_article_code=1.w04.Zryd.XQW3ZRMFbGe-&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

"Back up everything important, everywhere you can. Do this at least once a year or so. It’s just good hygiene."

#SocialSecurity #IRS #CreditCards #Data #ElonMusk #Musk #Trump #Politics #News #US #USA

First IRS, Now DOGE Busts Its Way Into the Social Security Administration
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/doge-busts-its-way-into-social-security-administration

"DOGE demanding access to literally everybody’s and every companies’ #tax returns at the #IRS. It seems like they now have that access, though we don’t know that for certain. (We’re basically entirely dependent on leaks since #DOGE works entirely in secret.) Now news just broke that the DOGErs appear to have busted their way into the #SocialSecurity Administration"

#Musk #Trump #GOP #Politics #US

On Sunday, WaPo reported that #DOGE is seeking access to a heavily guarded system at the #IRS w/detailed #financial #information about every #taxpayer, #business & #nonprofit in the country, & #ElonMusk’s associates have also sought access to sensitive information at the #Labor Dept.

#law #privacy #Trump #InfoSec #PersonalFinance

FOR $270 MILLION YOU CAN ADOPT THIS LITTLE BABY! 😂
#planecrash #ElonMusk #Trump #USA #GulfOfMexico #mexico #Republican #Republicans #repost #reposteria #share #sharethispost #sharepost #Threads #canada #SharePost #threads #Trump #IRS #taxes #ShareThisPost #repostchallenge #Republicans

DOGE at the IRS
https://www.thebulwark.com/i/157318856/doge-at-the-irs

"DOGE fired—with no real review, no notice, and no transition period—one in five of the #federal employees who manage our #nuclear stockpile. Maybe we don’t need all those #employees currently working at the National Nuclear Security Administration? Maybe we need more? Maybe their duties should be reorganized in some way or another?

I don’t know. Neither does #DOGE."

#IRS #Data #Musk #Doge #GOP #Trump #Coup #Government #Jobs #US #USA #News

Day 77: DOGE's IRS Infiltration...

...At the Same Time It's Being Hacked
https://davidpepper.substack.com/p/day-77-doges-irs-infiltration

" #DOGE employees... sought access to the IRS’s Integrated Data Retrieval System, which houses the data of millions of #Americans... IRS officials are considering a memorandum of understanding that would allow access to some systems.

...reports are emerging that DOGE’s own systems are poorly constructed and easily subject to hacking"

#IRS #ElonMusk #Doge #Coup #GOP #Politics #News #US #USA

Inside The ‘Bizarre’ Meeting Where DOGE Requested ‘Extensive System Access’ At IRS
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/doge-irs-extensive-system-access

#DOGE staffer #GavinKliger

"Their interest... included the operation of enforcements, it included #taxpayer service in terms of function & the personnel footprint, & they wanted extensive system access...

Levels of data protection at #IRS are higher than other agencies. … Not only is improper disclosure #illegal, but improper inspection of #data internally is illegal"

#Musk #Coup #News

Trump To Billionaires: Feel Free To Cheat On Your Taxes!
https://crooksandliars.com/2025/02/trump-billionaires-feel-free-cheat-your

#IRS #TaxBillionaires #StopTrumpNow #TrumpDidThis #RepublicansDidThis #RepublicansOwnThis #GOPKakistocracy #GOPWeirdos #NoRepublicansEverAgain #USPol

Musk says the IRS direct file is being shut down, but I just accessed it via the IRS website. However when I tried to click the link from an IRS email I'd gotten previously, it wouldn't work. Just FYI

Update: I successfully filed my taxes using IRS Direct File! If it's available in your state, you should too!

#taxes #USpol #IRS #ConstitutionalCrisis

#Republican's destruction of the #IRS , #ACA and #SocialSecurity can be considered slow death while #corporate dumps #tax loopholes into stock options.
#buybacks
#investing
#MAGA
#policy
#Premarket

I'm not counting Billy Long, since he merely tried to revoke the tax-exempt status of the Humane Society for backing an effort in Missouri (Long's state) to ban puppy mills.
https://rturner229.blogspot.com/2011/05/billy-long-recipient-of-thousands-from.html

Long is now #Trump's nominee to head the #IRS, where he will control the tax-exempt status of nonprofits.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/04/us/politics/billy-long-irs-trump.html

Wealthy Americans are still ducking the IRS crackdown on non-filers.

10s of 1000s of wealthy Americans aren't complying with recently revamped IRS efforts to get them to file tax returns.

“We continue to pursue these folks -This isn't work that we will let go.”
-IRS

A quirk in fed tax law may be incentivizing wealthy people who want to avoid taxes to not file their returns.

The IRS needs more funding, under the Trump admin, they'll likely be defunded.

#IRS #TaxCheats
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/05/irs-crackdown-on-wealthy-americans-faces-roadblocks-.html