Send comments and tips to talk at talkingpointsmemo dot com. To share confidential information by secure channels contact me on Signal at joshtpm dot 99 or via encrypted mail at joshtpm (at) protonmail dot com.
So much is going on that a lot of it I don’t get a chance to share with you, or discuss with you. One pretty important thing has to do with the privacy of IRS records, your tax returns. DOGE operatives embedded at IRS last week were putting together a plan to allow IRS to share confidential tax records with agencies and civil servants across the government. As near as I can tell, and except for in very specific and limited circumstances, that’s illegal. The IRS lawyers said, wait, that’s illegal. You can’t do that. So that got shut down. But now they’re looked for creative ways to do it anyway. In other words, the illegality appears not to matter. They also creating an ‘agreement’ through which the Department of Homeland Security can request that certain businesses be audited. In theory, that’s because ICE suspects they’re employing undocumented immigrants. Again, against the law. But they seem to be on the way to doing it anyway. It’s that next step which is the big thing here and which we are seeing again and again. 1. That’s illegal. 2. Try harder. 3. Okay.