This is a follow up to my April 4 post, Are the Trumps Engaged in Profiteering? You might remember this bit:
On March 27 Politico reported that a prominent DC-based Republican fundraiser had just notified his clients that he would not be working to raise funds for them after April 1. And why not? Because he’s going into the medical supplies business.
The fundraiser, Mike Gula, formed a company called Blue Flame Medical LLC, and he promoted himself as the guy to go to for all your pandemic needs.
“I don’t want to overstate, but we probably represent the largest global supply chain for Covid-19 supplies right now,” he said. “We are getting ready to fill 100 million-unit mask orders.”
Gula had no background in the medical supplies field, nor did he explain exactly what his connections were. He just said he had a lot of connections and had partnered with a lot of firms, but didn’t say anything specific.
Now Blue Flame is in the news again.
Maryland is asking its attorney general to investigate a new company formed to buy and distribute protective gear after a $12.5 million shipment of face masks and ventilators for use in the novel coronavirus pandemic never arrived, the Wall Street Journal reports. …
… Details: Maryland state officials ordered the medical supplies from Blue Flame Medical LLC, which was founded by Mike Gula, a former fundraiser for the Republican Party, WSJ reports.
Maryland officials said they waited over 30 days for the medical supplies.
Gula told Maryland officials in a letter that the state’s order had been seized by officials in China, and said he plans to deliver the materials soon after switching to a new supplier.
Maryland has more than 24,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
How can an ambitious guy make a quick buck in these conditions, I ask you? At least it was Chinese officials and not FEMA that seized the shipment this time. Maryland says it has waited a month for the shipment and won’t wait any longer. And, anyway, Maryland has its own connections in South Korea, thank you.
Back when that story first broke I commented somewhere that what Gula was doing did not seem any different than what the two brothers in Tennessee tried in cornering the market for hand sanitizer. Now I wonder what's the chances Gula / Blue Flame never actually had the merchandise to ship in the first place (the two brothers did actually have a stockpile of hand sanitizer ready to sell). There is absolutely no one and nothing associated with the label "Republican" that should be considered trustworthy or believable.
<i> At least it was Chinese officials and not FEMA that seized the shipment this time.</i>
Anybody check with the Chinese officials to see if they seized the shipment or if they did why?
Slightly OT, but still tRUMP Plague related:
If you think prediDUNCE tRUMP's musings about the drinking of bleach, injection of disinfectants, and the use of high-powered flashlights as suppositories, was bad.
And the people who devotedly followed their Teapot Tyrant's musings, were stupid.
Well, meet Vietnam!
There, as a cure for the coronavirus, or to keep it away, people are boiling black cats alive, skinning them, drying the little corpses, then grinding the remains into a fine powder to be put in food or drinks – and/or whatever else they dream-up in their nightmares!
JAAAAAAAAZOOS!!!
Wait until the Christian right comes out with their coronavirus cure.. I'm sure it's going to have as one of its primary ingredients the menstrual blood of a virgin. It will be a poultice worthy of coming from the workshop of Theodoric of York.
Now I know why the Republicans are buying up all the black cats in the county.
Money and medicine like oil and water do not mix. At many levels medicine must be socialized, more social, separated from capitalism, not for profit, patient centered, wellness centered, and, at least once in a while, do a little healing.
Even if you don't die from the Trump plague, the mental distress induced by the incompetence and graft of the Trump plague response will cause way too much mental anguish in way too many Americans. I suppose for those down the rabbit hole with fellow Trumpanistas this is not a problem. They are still trying to work through Benghazi and Jade Helm issues, not to mention that server full of e-mails in the Ukraine problem. Just no mental processing room left for these types of issues.