coronavirus
US Just Giving Coronavirus Medical Supply Contracts To Any Old Telemarketer Or Arms Merchant
It's not like anyone's checking.
May 29, 2020 09:20 AM
Right on the heels of The Lady Who Couldn't Feed Puerto Rico and The Wedding Planner Who Might Not Feed Anyone Either, we learn from a ProPublica investigation that the US government has handed out a whole bunch of multimillion-dollar no-bid contracts to companies that have never had federal contracts before, including
A firm set up by a former telemarketer who once settled federal fraud charges for $2.7 million. A vodka distributor accused in a pending lawsuit of overstating its projected sales. An aspiring weapons dealer operating out of a single-family home.
So let's all tune in to the hot new hit, So! You Think You Can Get A Huge Medical Supplies Contract! (Sure, You Can!)
<p>You see, the COVID-19 pandemic is an emergency, and under federal purchasing law, that means government agencies can overlook rules requiring competitive bidding when there's an "unusual and compelling urgency." And in the rush to make up for inadequate supplies of medical equipment all over the country, a number of agencies have sought to fast-track purchases of scarce supplies by doing the bare minimum of vetting, looking only at whether "companies and their owners were not officially barred from receiving government contracts." That's led to all sorts of fun shenanigans, like arranging contracts with companies that only incorporated "days or weeks before landing multimillion-dollar government contracts." </p><p>But don't worry: Since the contracts don't pay out until the supplier actually delivers something, no taxpayer money is being handed to incompetent contractors up front, hooray. But the downside is that when suppliers don't actually supply a single thing, the government has to go back, award another contract, and hope maybe the <em>next </em>outfit knows what it's doing, and that leads to delays and uncertainty about the supply chain in a goddamned emergency. The article includes several informative insights from experts on government and emergency supply management on why this is a shitty way to do things, which we will skip right past so we can tell you about the screwups. </p><p>For context's sake (and possibly to let us know this may be a series), ProPublica points out that there are a LOT of brand-new contractors getting in on the medical supplies money. Many of them may even be perfectly legit! There are </p><blockquote> about 345 first-time federal contractors promised at least $1.8 billion in deals by the Trump administration since March, representing about 13% of total government spending on <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus-contracts" target="_blank">pandemic-related contracts</a> of $13.8 billion. [...] Like the three companies, many of the new contractors have no experience acquiring medical products.<br><br>ProPublica's analysis found that 51% of the deals with first-time contractors were without competition, compared with 32% of pandemic-related contracts overall. </blockquote><p>Big surprise: One of the three firms in the report, the wannabe arms merchant whose official address is a house in Pittsburgh, hasn't delivered bupkis, and its contract was cancelled. The other two may not be able to meet their contracts' deadlines, either. </p><p>But wow, that weapons merchant! </p><blockquote>On April 20, the Department of Veterans Affairs granted a <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus-contracts/contracts/36E77620C0059" target="_blank">$14.5 million contract</a> for N95 masks to <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus-contracts/vendors/bayhill-defense-llc" target="_blank">Bayhill Defense</a>, which formed in 2017 and lists a house in Pittsburgh in government filings. (The firm also has warehouse space in a Pittsburgh suburb, according to <a href="https://www.bayhilldefense.com/" target="_blank">its website</a>.) </blockquote><p>It's a really cool company, at least as far as its website goes. You need former Soviet-bloc attack helicopters, Bayhill says it'll sell 'em to you! Or at least the site has a lot of photos that are among the first results for a Google image search of any given weapon system. </p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzMyODc0My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjA2NjQzNX0.E-I-hTWnABihUu9inzNyLX4VUa8Myznxs4dUQ-CbztQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="0a9ed" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5f4880883a1659a21949ea54224e2605" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image">
</p><p>ProPublica notes the company has a federal firearms license, and its website says it can deliver guns, ammo, and weapons systems to "the United States and other friendly nations." In what may be a bit of a letdown, a search of procurement data shows Bayhill "has never received a contract from the Department of Defense." Probably because the owner misplaced the keys to the attack helicopter in the backyard. As for its mask contract, </p><blockquote>Bayhill Defense a<span style="background-color: initial;">greed to provide the masks in 10 days, but it never delivered any, and the VA canceled the contract this month without paying </span>the company. Reached by phone, <span style="background-color: initial;">Andrew Taglianetti, the company's president, declined to explain how Bayhill Defense secured the deal or why it failed. <br><br></span><span style="background-color: initial;">"It's all good,</span>" Taglianetti said.</blockquote><p>Keep reaching for your dreams, Mr. Taglianetti! </p><p>The other examples aren't quite as flamboyant, because it's hard to top "arms dealer in a split-level" <em>(poetic license; we do not know the actual floorplan)</em>, but they <em>also </em>do not seem like companies that are well-suited to fulfilling a big government contract. The telemarketer guy, Paul Wexler, settled a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit in 2013 after his company was accused of "illegal robocalling, making unauthorized charges to consumers' bank accounts and falsely claiming to be a nonprofit organization," and also "misrepresented itself as a credit counseling service," too. The company was hit with a $2.7 million judgment in the case. </p><p>But nothing prevented Wexler from getting a federal contract, so he incorporated an outfit called <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus-contracts/vendors/fillakit-llc" target="_blank">"Fillakit LLC"</a> in Florida. A week later, on May 7, Fillakit got a FEMA contract worth $10.5 million to provide nasal swabs and nasal swab accessories. </p><p>Mr. Wexler, whose voice I imagine sounds just like Dan Aykroyd trying to explain to Jane Curtain that the "Johnny Invisible Pedestrian" Halloween costume is perfectly safe, didn't have time to talk about his company with ProPublica: </p><blockquote>"I'd love to help you, I can't right now," he said. "We're doing so much right now, the volume that we're doing, I've got hundreds of people and I just don't have time to do this."<br><br>Wexler said Fillakit is preparing to send the swabs and containers to FEMA. "We're just pumping them out as fast as we can for them, so I've really got to stay on point here," he said.<br><br>In a written statement last Friday, FEMA said it has paid Fillakit $381,000 for one delivery of swabs and containers. The company has less than six weeks to provide the remaining $10.1 million worth of test supplies.</blockquote><p>See? Already successful! And the man is busy, busy, busy on the rest of it. How dare you mock. (See the full story for fun thoughts from a dude who did business with Wexler in 2012, too. </p><p>The vodka company, Medea Inc., sounds like it's doing a great job, too. It got a $48.8 million contract to supply masks to FEMA, although the company has a pending fraud lawsuit against it for allegedly making false claims that "Costco and Kroger had agreed to stock the brand nationwide." But pending litigation isn't a roadblock to federal contracts, either, so the company, which sells vodka in<a href="https://medeavodka.com/" target="_blank"> bottles with customizable LED lights</a> on 'em, should do a bang-up job of fulfilling the contract by June 1, although in this case, FEMA wouldn't say whether any masks had yet been shipped. </p><p>But our favoritest story in the piece is about a company whose contract fell through due to circumstances that were a bit beyond its control:</p><blockquote>The VA gave a <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus-contracts/contracts/36C24120C0021" target="_blank">$14.7 million contract</a> for masks to <a href="https://projects.propublica.org/coronavirus-contracts/vendors/aunt-flow" target="_blank">Aunt Flow</a>, an Ohio-based seller of tampons and other menstrual products for dispensers in women's bathrooms. When orders for its products slowed during the pandemic, the company converted its own manufacturing facilities in China to produce surgical masks, and it began selling them to existing clients as well as federal agencies. Then, it tried to capitalize on its manufacturing relationships in China to bring in a shipment of the heavier-duty N95 masks for veterans hospitals. <br><br>But as the supplies were being loaded on a plane, the Chinese government ordered all of the manufacturer's masks diverted for domestic use, said Claire Coder, the company's CEO. She said she immediately called the VA to inform it that the company couldn't fulfill the deal, and the money was never paid.</blockquote><p>So honestly, even though Aunt Flo's performance was a bit spotty, at least that company wasn't caught trying to pad its résumé. It's not the company's fault it was cursed with bad luck, and only the Red Army should be blamed for cramping its style. Heck, this wasn't even a case of bloated bureaucracy. So don't rag on them: The best laid plans of mice and menstrual product makers don't always work out so hot, Flash.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/a-closer-look-at-federal-covid-contractors-reveals-inexperience-fraud-accusations-and-a-weapons-dealer-operating-out-of-someones-house" target="_blank">ProPublica </a>/ Photo: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/cristiano_betta/432834207" target="_blank">Christiano Betta,</a> Creative Commons <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/" target="_blank">License 2.0</a>]<br></p><p>Yr Wonkette is entirely AD-FREE because you people keep giving us money, even after that last paragraph we hope. Please help us keep the servers humming, the writers paid, and Dok in a Time Out. </p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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2020 presidential election
President Biden Remembers 100,000 American Lives Lost To Coronavirus
Where's Trump? Don't give a fuck.
May 28, 2020 04:43 PM
As America reached and surpassed 100,000 (confirmed) coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, Donald Trump marked the moment by whining about Twitter hurting his feelings, going to Florida for SPACESHIP! but Elon Musk couldn't get it up womp womp, and by announcing he was going to sign an executive order about Twitter hurting his feelings.
Oh yeah, and a day late and so many dollars short, somebody else wrote this tweet for Trump this morning:
We have just reached a very sad milestone with the coronavirus pandemic deaths reaching 100,000. To all of the families & friends of those who have passed, I want to extend my heartfelt sympathy & love for everything that these great people stood for & represent. God be with you!
We know somebody else wrote it because all the words are spelled correctly, there are no illiterate and weird "quotation marks," there are no lies, and he didn't even accuse any innocent people of murder or WITCH HUNT or whatever else. Oh yeah, and no whining.
Trump may be the stupidest person in America, but let's be fair, he's also empty, broken, and devoid of empathy and all other normal human emotions. He couldn't write even that pissant phoned-in message.
It's easy to forget, during this historic pandemic, but we are electing a president in 159 days, which means we are in full-on election season. If this were the 2016 election, for comparison's sake, we'd be days away from seeing the first major evidence that Russia was fucking with the 2016 election. For 2020 it's ... LOL fuck it, it's probably the same timeline.
But we do have a presumptive nominee, and his name is Joe Biden, and if there is one thing Biden is good at, it's being the comforter-in-chief, especially when grief is involved. And he released a video message to mark 100,000 lives lost, and you can watch it and remember what a president looks like, and what it could be like to once again have a president who possesses the humanity to actually fucking say something.
<p>Biden has of course experienced more than his share of personal grief in his life, but this video isn't necessarily that different from what you might get from President Clinton, President Obama, or even, yes, President Gee Dubya Bush, who was very comforting when he wasn't heckuva-jobbing or pet-goating. <em>[Editrix's note: Speak for yourself EVAN. Now watch this drive.]</em></p><p>Fox News, in the understatement of the century, reported this as <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-biden-mark-coronavirus-death-toll-in-different-ways" target="_blank">"Trump, Biden mark coronavirus death toll in different ways."</a> That's one way of putting it! (Full transcript follows.)</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-youtube">
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2f7ef02248b8e8dc99f1f88b35ea3c5d"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/P8s68ufJbOQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<small class="image-media media-caption" placeholder="Add Photo Caption...">Joe Biden reacts as US coronavirus death toll passes 100,000</small>
<small class="image-media media-photo-credit" placeholder="Add Photo Credit...">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8s68ufJbOQ" target="_blank">www.youtube.com</a>
</small>
</p><blockquote><strong>BIDEN:</strong> My fellow Americans, there are moments in our history so grim, so heart-rending, that they're forever fixed in each of our hearts. Our shared grief today is one of those moments .100,000 lives have now been lost to this virus here in the United States alone, each one leaving behind a family that will never again be whole. <br><br>I think I know what you're feeling. You feel like you're being sucked into a black hole in the middle of your chest. It's suffocating. Your heart is broken. There's nothing but a feeling of emptiness right now. For most of you, you weren't able to be there when you lost your beloved family member or best friend. For most of you, you were unable to be there when they died alone. <br><br>With the pain, the anger, and the frustration you'll wonder whether or not you'll ever be able to get anywhere from here. It's made all the worse by knowing that this is a fateful milestone we should have never reached. It could have been avoided according to a study done by Columbia University, if the administration had acted just one week earlier to implement social distancing and do what it had to do. Just one week sooner as many as 36,000 of these deaths might have been averted. <br><br>To all of you who are hurting so badly, I'm so sorry for your loss. I know there's nothing I or anyone else can say or do to dull the sharpness of the pain you feel right now. But I can promise you from experience, the day will come when the memory of your loved one will bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eyes. My prayer for all of you is that they will come sooner rather than later. But I promise you it will come, and when it does you know you can make it. <br><br>God bless each and every one of you and the blessed memory of the one you lost. This nation grieves with you. Take some solace from the fact that we all grieve with you.</blockquote><p>You know, except Donald Trump, who's off crying somewhere because Twitter dared to suggest he was full of shit. That piece of shit is not grieving with you.<br><span></span></p><p>Biden may not have been your perfect candidate. He wasn't ours, personally. But man, oh man, to hear a president speak like that again. </p><p>We can have that, in January, after we elect the guy in November and spend the next two months leaving trails of Big Macs to lure Donald Trump out of the White House while he tweets about how rigged it all was.</p><p>OPEN THREAD.</p><p><strong>Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/evanhurst" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE, DO IT RIGHT HERE!</a></strong></p><p><strong>Wonkette is fully funded by readers like YOU. If you love Wonkette, WE NEED YOUR LOVE GIFTS TO KEEP US GOING.</strong><br></p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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White House
Mike Pompeo Using Government Resources To Boost His Political Ambitions? UNPOSSIBLE!
Secretary Ragey McGriftergrab strikes again.
May 28, 2020 03:45 PM
This little piggy went to market. This little piggy stayed home. And THIS little piggy used the power and prestige of the United States government to build his donor base for a 2024 presidential run all the way home.
It seems like just last week we were talking about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his lovely wife, Susan, using State Department resources to host lavish dinners for Republican mega-donors and celebrities — complete with commemorative swag bag, natch — in a blatant attempt to ingratiate himself with people who could boost his political fortunes. Because it was just last week, although who can remember when there are so, so many Pompeo scandals to keep straight? Shit, even Tom Friedman thinks Pompeo's the "Worst Secretary of State Ever."
Sorry to say, however, that Pompeo has added another turd to the many floaters already bobbing around that nasty punchbowl. Don't faint, but Mr. and Mrs. Pompeo's political-climbing grift didn't start when Mike took over at Foggy Bottom. Before he became secretary of State, the couple ran the same scam when Pompeo led the CIA.
<p><a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/27/mike-pompeos-cia-advisory-board-rankled-agency-veterans-283350" target="_blank">Politico</a> reports that Pompeo used the CIA "advisory board" as just another tool to build his political network, stacking it with billionaires like tech entrepreneur Marc Andreessen and GOP insiders like future attorney general Bill Barr, who was then on Time Warner's board of directors. In fact, billionaires played a big role advising Mr. Pompeo, with "a billionaire hotel magnate representing the hotel chain Hyatt, a billionaire tech CEO and venture capitalist, and the chairman of a large wealth management fund" trooping down to "the Farm" for hand-curated national security field trips coordinated by Susan Pompeo. Because you know that wherever Mike Pompeo goes, Susan is there maximizing his political exposure. That's why she got an office and staff, both at the CIA and at the State Department.</p><blockquote>"These were designed vanity experiences for the attendees, clearly designed to expand Pompeo's network at government expense and under the rubric of a formal body," said one former official. "They were not substantive and were solely designed to advance Pompeo's potential funding and political network." Pompeo's wife, Susan, who is not a government official, was also involved in planning the events, according to three former officials.</blockquote><p>Under previous directors, the boards were made up of a mix of business and national security leaders who would meet at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia for a fun day huddled in a conference room discussing personnel, business, and management issues. <br></p><p> "We would get breakfast and lunch; the meetings would break up around 5 p.m. and you were on your own for dinner," said Bob Deitz, senior counselor to former director Michael Hayden. But then Mike Pompeo fired all those boring security types like General Stanley McChrystal and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Susan got to work adding some sparkle in the form of "'lavish' dinners, classified briefings, and at least one trip to the CIA's secret training facilities," a source told Politico.</p><p>Want to be flown to the Farm for a tour that includes firing guns on a real, live G-man target range? No problem. </p><p>How about a temporary security clearance to receive a classified briefing? You got it!</p><p>Finish up the day with an exclusive dinner party at the CIA's historic <a href="https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/2018-featured-story-archive/the-women-who-lived-at-cia.html" target="_blank">Scattergood </a>mansion? Susan Pompeo will make sure the wine list is up to snuff.</p><p>Politico reports that "Susan, who is not a government official, helped set schedules, plan menus and chart the general agenda for advisory board events, said one former official. She also often requested to vet analysts' prepared briefings to the board." Sounds legit, particularly at the CIA, where the actual mission is secret intelligence.</p><p>And while Susan was playing hostess, Pompeo's bagman Brian Bulatao was there to make sure his boss's political fortunes were ever on the rise. Pompeo's fellow West Point alum was present at every advisory board event and was laser focused on making sure agency decisions were made with his boss's political ambitions in mind, according Douglas London, a former senior CIA operations officer who left the agency in 2019 and now teaches at Georgetown.</p><p>"It was clear from the counsel Brian offered at meetings prioritizing his boss's image, and the issues which garnered his attention, that Brian's interests were not supporting CIA's mission, but in making Pompeo president," London told Politico.</p><p>Naturally, Bulatao, who followed Pompeo to State, was the one dispatched last week to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/pompeo-says-he-didnt-know-fired-inspector-general-was-investigating-him/2020/05/18/3ab08dca-9923-11ea-b60c-3be060a4f8e1_story.html" target="_blank">smear the just-fired Inspector General </a>Steve Linick as a leaker. Gotta protect the principal!</p><p>OINK OINK.</p><p>[<a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/27/mike-pompeos-cia-advisory-board-rankled-agency-veterans-283350" target="_blank">Politico</a>]</p><p><strong>Follow Liz Dye on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/5DollarFeminist" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE!</a></strong></p><p><strong>Please click here to support your Wonkette. And if you're ordering your quarantine goods on Amazon, <a href="https://amzn.to/2wbH77j" target="_blank">this is the link to do it.</a></strong></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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Bill Barr Gonna Unmask The Obamagates For Trump, Because That's What Daddy Wants
Errand boy does errand.
May 28, 2020 02:15 PM
Attorney General Please-Sir-May-I-Lick-Another strikes again!
Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec announced Wednesday night on the Hannity TV show that Bill Barr has appointed yet another US attorney to do Donald Trump's dirty work, investigating the investigators who caught Trump and/or his associates redhanded, committing various crimes.
[Kupec] said the attorney general had tasked John Bash, the U.S. attorney in the Western District of Texas, to examine the practice of "unmasking," which many Republicans charge was abused by the previous administration to unfairly target people close to Trump.
"The attorney general determined that certain aspects of unmasking needed to be reviewed," Kupec said. "We know that unmasking inherently isn't wrong, but . . . can be problematic."
Sure, you betcha, we bet Bill Barr found something that is very problematic (for his boss, the man he serves as de facto personal and private lawyer).
Bash will be "looking specifically at episodes both before and after the election," Kupec said. "The frequency, who was unmasking whom, all of these circumstances and events can shed light and give us a better understanding of what happened with respect to President Trump, his campaign and, of course, what happened after he was elected, as well," she added.
In other words, Bash will be investigating OBAMAGATE! which was the BIGGEST CRIME! and you know what it is, because it is OBAMAGATE!
<p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1265608389905784834" id="twitter-embed-1265608389905784834" type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1265608389905784834&created_ts=1590579528.0&screen_name=realDonaldTrump&text=OBAMAGATE+MAKES+WATERGATE+LOOK+LIKE+SMALL+POTATOES%21&id=1265608389905784834&name=Donald+J.+Trump" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="0fcb1eb29faf4b5b3d879ff8557fa4fd"></iframe>
</p><p>We will always read that as OBAMAGATE SMELLS LIKE POTATOES! <span></span></p><p>Anyway, Bash is a Trump appointee, so you can just assume he knows what his real job is here.</p><p>As we have explained one-thousand <em>fucking</em> times, most recently <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/gop-demands-to-know-who-listened-in-as-all-our-foreign-adversaries-were-secretly-chatting-up-michael-flynn" target="_self">right here,</a> and going <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/susan-rice-unmasking-thing-still-bullshit-even-though-republicans-hate-her-a-lot" target="_blank">all the way back to 2017,</a> the "unmasking" non-scandal is bullshit. Trumpers are just furious that confessed criminal Michael Flynn got caught whispering sweet nothings about sanctions relief to the Russian ambassador during the transition, then subsequently got caught lying to the FBI about it. "Unmasking," no matter how hard Devin Nunes has <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/devin-nunes-full-of-shit-about-unmasking-according-to-literally-everyone" target="_blank">fucked that chicken in the past,</a> is not an improper act. </p><p>It's really simple: When a foreign actor under American surveillance gets picked up talking to an American — in Flynn's case about sanctions relief for Russia, which President Obama was in the process of punishing <em>right that very second</em> for attacking our election — the White House has every right to ask "Hey, who is that American?" Of course, as Wonkette <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/gop-demands-to-know-who-listened-in-as-all-our-foreign-adversaries-were-secretly-chatting-up-michael-flynn" target="_blank">recently noted,</a> of all the "unmaskings" where Flynn's name came up, the Russian ambassador stuff constituted only a small part, because, as we know, fucker <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/lets-talk-about-that-idiot-michael-flynn-because-it-is-a-day" target="_blank">was foreign-agenting</a> <em>all over the damn place</em>. </p><p>Was the Obama administration <em>targeting Flynn</em>, and thereby targeting Trump? No, because he had to be "unmasked," which means by definition the Obama administration <em>didn't know who the fuck he was</em>. It's not former national security advisor Susan Rice's fault if every other time she did a routine unmasking request, it turned out to be a Trump idiot conducting secret shadow foreign policy with an American adversary. </p><p>But that's the point of Barr's new bullshit investigation. They want to make a crime out of <em>catching</em> Trump and his associates committing crimes. It's very Kremlin-y!</p><p>By the way, a reminder of how often "unmasking" happens:</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-twitter_embed">
<iframe width="100%" height="150" scrolling="no" class="rm-shortcode twitter-embed-1260209013452615680" id="twitter-embed-1260209013452615680" type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="/res/community/twitter_embed/?iframe_id=twitter-embed-1260209013452615680&created_ts=1589292217.0&screen_name=20committee&text=According+to+the+DNI%2C+NSA+received+these+amounts+of+SIGINT+%22unmasking%22+requests+per+year%3A%0A%0A2016%3A+9200%0A2017%3A+9500%0A20%E2%80%A6+https%3A%2F%2Ft.co%2F85wIxpK3st&id=1260209013452615680&name=John+Schindler" frameborder="0" data-rm-shortcode-id="650263b57c76cd43cee5a28cfed9bfa6"></iframe>
</p><p>They do this THOUSANDS OF TIMES per year, and most of the time, it's no big deal. (By the by, it looks like the Trump administration did it a lot more than usual in 2018, and almost twice as much as Obama in 2016. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/us/politics/nsa-unmaskings-surveillance-report.html" target="_blank">Wonder why!</a>)</p><p>And remember, unmasking is not the same as leaking, no matter how much Republicans want you to conflate the two in your mind. <em>Unmasking</em> only tells the government official asking for the information which American was involved in whichever foreign fuckery they're looking at that day, which is very different from leaking that intel to a reporter.</p><p>Let's step back quickly and remember the context in which all of this is happening. </p><p>Bill Barr has been appointing US attorneys pretty much every time he takes a shit, to find new ways to investigate the investigators who have this pesky habit of catching Trump people <em>in flagrante delicto</em>. To review:</p><p>1. There is the <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/everything-you-never-wanted-to-know-about-bill-barrs-totally-real-global-carmen-sandiego-on-bath-salts-adventures" target="_self">Durham investigation,</a> AKA "the biggest bullshit of them all," where John Durham, US attorney for Connecticut, is on some sort of Carmen Sandiego-on-bath-salts adventure with Bill Barr, traversing the globe to find the REAL Deep State killers who started the Russia WITCH HUNT! Barr <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/bill-barr-probably-not-going-to-lock-her-up-obama-and-biden-probably" target="_blank">recently said</a> Durham <em>probably</em> won't investigate Barack Obama or Joe Biden personally, <em>probably</em>, as if it's even normal for him to suggest something like that, even if just to deny it. </p><p>2. There is the thing where Barr <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/bill-barr-just-checking-for-50th-time-to-see-if-michael-flynn-wuz-framed-111-1-ghazi-1" target="_self">asked Jeffrey Jensen,</a> US attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, to please drop everything and check for the millionth time to see if MICHAEL FLYNN WUZ FRAMEDDDEDED!1111!!GHAZI! And surprise, the Justice Department decided he <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/bill-barr-drops-case-against-michael-flynn-just-in-time-for-trump-russia-no-collusion-palooza-2020" target="_blank">TOTALLY WUZ!</a> (You know, because a man who's held a clearance as long as Flynn is too stupid to know we have the Russian ambassador under surveillance, and that lying to the FBI is bad.)</p><p>3. There is the <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/02/scott-brady-rudy-giuliani/" target="_blank">Pittsburgh Thingie,</a> where Scott Brady, US attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, was given the very important task of handling "Ukraine evidence" on the Bidens provided by "public" (Rudy Giuliani). Of course, everything "public" (Rudy Giuliani) <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/rudy-giuliani-actually-thinks-hes-helping" target="_self">has to share</a> about the Bidens in Ukraine is a conspiracy theory, some of it from the Kremlin, and has been roundly <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/bloomberg-puts-rudys-ukrainium-one-lie-out-of-our-misery" target="_self">debunked.</a> But sure, OK! </p><p>4. And then, the thing where Bill Barr <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/is-bill-barr-trying-to-cockblock-the-sdnys-ukraine-invesigations-sure-looks-like-it" target="_blank">cut off the dick</a> of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), by HEREBY DECLARING that Richard Donoghue, US attorney for the Eastern District of New York (EDNY), was the only one allowed to investigate <em>real</em> crimes involving Ukraine. You know, all that shit SDNY was reportedly <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/sdny-and-chicago-investigating-rudy-giulianis-pals-together-is-that-good-or-bad-for-rudy" target="_blank">investigating Giuliani</a> for. Haven't heard much about that, have you? Maybe it's because Barr shoved it all across the river to the EDNY, for the purpose of burying it and shielding <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/lev-parnas-maybe-more-f-cked-who-bill-barr-will-save-rudy-giuliani-now" target="_blank">Trump, Giuliani, and their associates</a> from scrutiny. </p><p>And now this new guy will try to rustle up some uNmAsKinG cRiMEssssZzsSSzghAZI! </p><p>This is also happening as Congress is having just a bizarre amount of trouble reauthorizing the FISA foreign spying program, because of how Donald Trump keeps sticking his Mario Kart dick in the middle of the situation and <a href="https://www.wonkette.com/trump-keeps-america-great-by-blowing-up-his-own-fisa-bill" target="_blank">blowing up the bill</a> his own Justice Department negotiated.</p><p>Oh, and in case you hadn't heard, as he was walking out the door, Ric Grenell, who served as the (acting) director of national intelligence for a few terrible minutes, <a href="https://talkingpointsmemo.com/prime/grenell-puts-ratcliffe-in-hot-seat-for-flynn-doc-release-push" target="_blank">declassified transcripts</a> of the conversations between former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak and Michael Flynn, handing the hot potato turd of deciding whether to release them to newly confirmed DNI John Ratcliffe. It was unclear why they hid all that for so long, but maybe this new Bash investigation is Barr's way of softening the blow, whenever the transcripts come out and we see how awful they really are. </p><p>So what does all this mean? It means Bill Barr is still a low-rent, empty Funyuns bag broken truck stop condom dispenser version of Roy Cohn for Donald Trump, and he always will be. </p><p>[<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/barr-appoints-texas-prosecutor-to-review-obama-officials-unmasking-requests/2020/05/27/c32c6ddc-a089-11ea-9590-1858a893bd59_story.html" target="_blank">Washington Post</a> / <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/28/barr-russia-probe-attorney-286920" target="_blank">Politico</a>]</p><p><strong><span></span>Follow Evan Hurst on Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/evanhurst" target="_blank">RIGHT HERE, DO IT RIGHT HERE!</a></strong></p><p><strong>Wonkette is fully funded by readers like YOU. If you love Wonkette, WE NEED YOUR LOVE GIFTS TO KEEP US GOING.</strong><br></p><p></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/33mKzZe" target="_blank">Do your Amazon shopping through this link, because reasons</a>.</p><p></p><p></p><form name="donation" method="post" class="donation-form"><p class="subheadline">How often would you like to donate?</p><div class="form-row row--plan"><label class="plan-type__label"><input type="radio" name="plan_type" value="once" class="plan-type" required="" checked> Just once
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