But I thought we was owning the libs

Oliver Willis of Daily Kos wrote from a New York Times report that Musk and his DOGE boys have entered the Integrated Data Retrieval System of the IRS. This “would allow DOGE to manipulate transaction data as well as harvest sensitive information for millions.”

Both Trump and Musk have repeatedly shown interest in pursuing a vendetta against their adversaries, now they have access to some of the most private and sensitive data held by the U.S. government to pursue this agenda.

Willis reported:

The mainstream media is offering a tepid response to President Donald Trump’s decision to ban the Associated Press from covering official White House events. AP has been barred from reporting on at least two White House events because the wire service has said they will be using the term “Gulf of Mexico” in reference to the Gulf of Mexico.

The AP is still using “Gulf of Mexico” as only the US recognizes the name change and the AP is read around the world and must use easily recognizable place names for all audiences. The response is called “tepid” because while few have released statements in support of the AP they won’t “take any action beyond their statements, like boycotting White House events in solidarity with AP.”

Bending to Trump’s will while voicing support for the Associated Press would seem to be in complete contradiction.

Morgan Stephens of Kos reported on protests titled “No King in Presidents Day” or “No Kings Day.” The protests are led by 50501 a grassroots activist group that started on Reddit. The name means “50 protest, 50 states, one movement.” A website listed 80 events. The group demands “justice,” “transparency,” and “accountability” to “uphold the Constitution” and end Trump and Musk’s “executive overreach.” Stephens posted images from protests in Boston, Philadelphia, the National Mall, St. Augustine, and Austin. Another group of protesters are outside Tesla dealerships, where sales have been in decline.

Presidents Day was created in the 1880s to celebrate the birthday of President George Washington, but in Trump’s second term, it’s shaping up to be a day of resistance.

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included a tweet by Dan Cluchey that was posted in response to the firing of several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, the people who staff air traffic control. Cluchey wrote:

Whole lot of folks, drenched by misinformation, are about to figure out that the 'deep state' they've been taught to despise are actually civil servants who keep our planes in the air, stop diseases from ravaging our communities, prevent banks from preying on us, et al.

Down in the comments is a meme posted by exlrrp and written by Ron Filipkowski:

It seems to me that if Musk has proof that millions of Social Security checks have gone out illegally to dead people, he should be presenting that evidence in front of a Grand Jury under oath tomorrow instead of s---posting it on social media. When can we do this under oath?

paulpro posted a cartoon by Slyngstad showing a guy in a red hat and a “I (heart) Elon” shirt. In the first panel he says:

Why are these libruls so mad that Elon Musk has their Social Security number! Oh, ‘cuz he’s ‘unelected’? Is that why? He’s fixin’ the system and he needs all that stuff. Grow up libs. Every one of them burecrats has your info and is unelected!”

In a second panel the man has a bill and a “You’re Fired” notice on his desk.

Whatdya mean I lost by job and lost all my Medicaid benefits? But I thought we was owning the libs. My grandma’s Social Security check too? But she needed that. All my bills are higher now ‘cuz no one can tell companies not to do that?

That makes me think of the saying: The best way to fleece someone is to get them to believe they are helping you fleece someone else. Paul Fell posted a cartoon of two children in “DOGE” shirts carrying a bucket of money. One is blowing a raspberry the other has a hand up to stop a skeptical Uncle Sam. The second child says:

Yes, we’re the experts President Musk has tasked with cleaning up govt waste, fraud, and abuse, and no, you can’t see what’s in the bucket.”

Below that exlrrp posted memes and screen shots showing the DOGE team is finally posting examples of their spending cuts. And the amounts and the claims around them are lies. Denise Oliver Velez posted a substitute roundup because the regular host could not. There is little in the body, though the comments have the usual bunch of cartoons. One of those was posted by Fiona Webster and is by Christopher Weyant. It shows a DOGE guillotine and being led to it is a person labeled “Government.” Beside him is Musk saying, “Don’t worry – I won’t feel a thing!” Bill in Portland, Maine, in his Cheers and Jeers column for Kos wrote about the movie Mickey 17 to be released in a couple weeks. I watched the trailer and it’s way too violent for me. Bill mentions it because the bad guy, a despot, is Mark Ruffalo, playing against type. Bill quoted a report on CNN:

[A]s he drew upon a range of real world despots to form the character, Ruffalo found himself considering how: “They all end the same way.” “I mean, it might be brutal on the way to getting there, but all of these guys end the same way. It’s not sustainable,” Ruffalo told CNN on the red carpet, in London’s Leicester Square. “And I think that’s kind of one of the nicer things about the movie, is that, in the end, the people always win. It just takes some time and some suffering—horrible, you know, terrible things. But we gotta remember that we always win and they always lose. They’re too selfish, they’re too self centered, they’re too arrogant, they’re too stupid, they’re too insane for them to triumph,” added Ruffalo.

I like that sentiment, but it isn’t always true. A despot has been in control of China for 75 years. A family of tyrants has been in control of North Korea for nearly 80 years. However, in the case of America our current tyrant is indeed too selfish, too self centered, too arrogant, too stupid, and too insane. In another Cheers and Jeers column Bill wrote about the winners in this year’s contest by the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s name a snowplow contest Some of the winners:

We’re Off to See the Blizzard Plowabunga! Don’tcha Show I Came, I Thaw, I Conquered