It’s Time for a Blue Tea Party

Is a tax revolt coming? Damn, I hope so. And not just because of the threats to entitlements, needless economic turmoil, sickening corruption, or blatantly unconstitutional fuckery going on (see today’s Spotlight below for more on this).

Check this out: The IRS’s acting chief counsel has been axed from his role and replaced with a yes-man because he pushed back against Elon Musk’s attempts to access our tax records. Musk’s team says this infiltration has something to do with efficiency. I call bullshit. This is about the federal government, under the auspices of a temporary, executive-branch organization (“DOGE”), invading your privacy.

Now consider this: According to The New Republic, the FBI is moving to criminalize groups receiving grants from the EPA under the Biden administration. A court filing revealed that Citibank has been forced to freeze Habitat for Humanity’s bank accounts, because the FBI is alleging it is involved in “criminal violations,” including “conspiracy to defraud the United States.” Thank God Jimmy Carter isn’t here to see this.

Have you ever made a donation to Habitat for Humanity or any of the groups now flagged by the FBI? Did you report it to the IRS? Well, well.

Guess what, folks? You might have hated the Tea Party, but some of this stuff is exactly what we were marching against back in 2009. If you cut out all the culture war crap, you may find you have more in common with us than you thought.

On that note, I’m a big fan of the Tesla protests and boycotts. No violence or vandalism, but a little civil disobedience? Absolutely. If you don’t know what that means, it’s simple. If they tell you to leave, you peacefully hold your ground. If they arrest you, you don’t resist, but you don’t make it easy for them either. This is going to be really uncomfortable for good citizens who’ve followed the rules their whole life (or at least since the late ‘60s — you know who you are, Boomers).

But the social contract has been breached. We can’t repair it until people realize it. We can show them with protests. We can show them with boycotts. And we can tell them they won’t get another dime from us until we get some accountability.

So embrace your inner reactionary, Democrats! It’s TEA time in America again, my friends.🫖

• Check out my podcast from earlier today! Democrats, Take It From A Former Right Wing Culture War Practitioner: On The Transgender Issue, Most Americans Are With You

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Here are our Heroes of the Week…

• THE JUDICIARY. The judges are still kicking ass. Special honors this week go to U.S. District Judge William Alsup, who ruled that several federal agencies must reinstate fired workers, and U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has ordered that Elon Musk and “DOGE” turn over a wide array of records and answer questions.

• TINA SMITH. On the Hill, Sen. Smith didn’t back down on her harsh words for Musk. Good.

• TOM SUOZZI. In the lower chamber, Rep. Suozzi had some choice words as well.

• DEMOCRATIC ATTORNEYS GENERAL. These 21 AGs have sued the administration over the gutting of the Department of Education. (Remember, my conservative friends—we have a PROCESS in this country. It’s not about whether you agree with it as a matter of policy.)

• ZOHRAN MAMDANI. New York City mayoral candidate and NY State Assembly Member Mamdani confronted “border czar” Tom Homan over the detention of protester Mahmoud Khalil (see my Spotlight piece below for more on this).

Did we miss anyone? Send your heroes our way!

So what can you do? Here’s a great idea from Rep. Jamie Raskin…

Congressman Raskin is encouraging all U.S. citizens to join him in filing formal demands for access to their personal data obtained by DOGE and Elon Musk. Use the DOGE Privacy Act request form. Just print, complete, and mail!

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