No Rain, Perfidy and Malfeseance Abound

Well, no rain again.  It's very depressing.  It's hotter than hot, and with the cloud build ups it's humid.  We get out of the house to ride shortly after 7 am and it's just a sauna out there.  It does bring us some nice sunsets, but I would rather have the rain.

I think I mentioned being angry.  I have now moved on to incendiary.  Thank you, Tom and Lisa for bringing this to my attention.  Heather Richardson is an excellent researcher and writer who put up a piece on the moving of data from CDC to HHS.  It's going in to a piece of software called HHS Protect and TeleTracking which are partially owned by Peter Thiel.  This whole thing is just gruesome.  The source article is found here, hopefully I will not get a cease and desist for cutting and pasting part of her writing.

HHS Protect is developed by Palantir Technologies, a data-mining firm that works with the Pentagon and law enforcement agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Peter Thiel, a billionaire Trump supporter, co-founded the company, which last week confidentially filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to go public. An initial public offering (IPO) would have made bucketloads of money in any case, but a federal contract to compile coronavirus information is a sweet addition to its portfolio.

The TeleTracking system also raises suspicions of a financial deal. On June 3, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), wrote to the director of the CDC, Dr. Robert Redfield and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Robert P. Kadlec, to ask why HHS had awarded a $10 million no-bid contract to create this data system that duplicated the one the CDC already had. Why indeed?

There is, in the letter shifting data collection, a peculiarly nasty stick. Underlined on the first page of the instructions is that “We will no longer be sending out one-time requests for data to aid in the distribution of Remdesivir or any other treatments or supplies. This daily reporting is the only mechanism used for the distribution calculations, and the daily [sic] is needed daily to ensure accurate calculations.” 

So, the message is clear.  The orange man will control the data, hospitals will be forced to use the reporting tool, or they won't get drugs, and Peter Thiel will  profit from this.   They're not even hiding their malfeseance anymore.  This is an operational definition of evil.

In news of the good, the situation in Portland, OR is now on the front page of all the major papers, and all over social media.  It appears that the acting director of DHS has dispatched CBP troops to foment violence against the "violent anarchist" graffiti sprayers.  They're taking people off the streets and transporting them in unmarked vehicles.  This is pretty much kidnapping.  Hopefully with this much press coverage these people will be withdrawn from Portland.  It's surprising to me how long it took to bubble up to the mainstream media.  If you haven't seen it, here is an article on HuffPost, which is not behind a paywall.

In news of the fun to watch, the orange man did an interview with Chris Wallace.  In an interview with another talking head, Chris mentioned that it was about 100 degrees where they were sitting outside.  Orange wondered whose idea that had been, to sit out in the sun.  It was the idea of orange, who wanted to see Chris sweat.  The orange man tried to claim Biden wanted to defund the police, Chris said no he didn't.  Orange tried to say it was in the document Biden and Sanders had signed, Chris said no it's not.  So, orange dude had the document brought to him, and was unable to find where Biden said to defund the police.  You can watch the exchange here.  The interview airs Sunday morning on Fox News, it will be interesting to see how much they cut out.

In news of the childish and petty, the orange man had the official portraits of Presidents Clinton and Bush removed from their position of prominence and put into the family dining room, which is primarily used as storage.  It has been tradition to have the paintings of the last two presidents front and center for the current president to see when he comes down the stairs.  Petty, just petty.

I swear, someday I will do a post that does not include complaining about the current administration, but each day brings such a truck load of perfidy and malfeseance that it's hard not to.