Episode 10 - China is the Enemy, Mueller's Biased Team Exposed, Big Tech Tracking COVID
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Summary
Max Baucus has been quoted by Chinese state media saying that President Joe Biden will not criticize China as much. Why does this matter? And what does it tell us about our leaders in dealing with China in an era where they truly are a global competitor?
Transcript
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Welcome to Hot Takes. Happy Friday. Let's talk about the news. The U.S.-China relationship
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is the most important thing in the news. It is the most important challenge of our generation.
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And if you're looking for a place to see the soft, sleazy, corrupt underbelly of that U.S.-China
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relationship, you've got to check out the National Pulse. My friends Raheem Kassam and Natalie Winters
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have explosive reporting today. Obama's China ambassador, Biden's China man, Max Baucus,
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has recently been quoted in Chinese state media saying, well, Biden won't criticize China as
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much. So why does this matter? Who is Max Baucus? And what does this inform on regarding the policy
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choices and legislative choices that we have to make regarding how our leaders will and should
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interact with China in an era where they truly are the global competitor? I think Steve Bannon
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likely said it best, China is not our quirky workplace competitor. They are the enemy. And
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if young people are going to continue to lead the world in America, we've got to be ready to meet the
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challenge that China presents over the next several years and several decades. So let's get into this
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Max Baucus situation. And really, it's emblematic of what author Peter Schweitzer writes about in his
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fantastic book, Secret Empires, if you've not picked that up. There is a certain business model
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to how establishment politicians in both parties cash in on the backs of foreign governments,
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advocating for the interests of foreign governments, at times against the United States of America. And if
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you accept as the premise that we are not in a cooperative posture with China, we are in a competitive
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posture with China. Someone getting on on, you know, the payroll of the Chinese Communist Party and
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their various corporate and government and educational subsidiaries is just not good for our country.
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You know, it's one of the reasons why Congressman Mike Gallagher and I have introduced legislation to
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ban members of Congress from being able to go and serve as agents of foreign governments after their
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time has concluded in public life. I don't think that's too much to ask. I don't think it's too much
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to ask to say, if you want to have the honor and privilege of serving in the United States House of
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Representatives of the United States Senate, that means that you are making a life choice to be on
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Team USA forever. And you don't get to go and then like moonlight for Team Turkey or Team United Arab
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Emirates or Team Qatar afterwards or Team China, for that matter. But it is it is the way of Washington.
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It is quite something to see the number of these like, oh, beloved, you know, celebrated members of
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Congress inside the beltway who then turn around and for money start playing for other countries.
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And, you know, that's why Congressman Gallagher and I, great guy out of the state of Wisconsin,
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fellow Armed Services Committee member, why we're working to make that change. But let's get back to
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Max Baucus because because Baucus really is emblematic of this business model of, you know,
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developing a brand and influence in the United States of America and then sort of being part of
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the revolving door in and out of government to be able to cash in on those relationships and then to
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be able to potentially even be in the government after having been on the payroll of of one of our
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nations, great competitors. So one of the ways that members of Congress kind of play this game
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is they set up the the nonprofit. So Max Baucus has got the the Baucus Institute at the University of
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Montana. And what they then do is take cash from Chinese entities, Chinese companies, sometimes
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Chinese educational institutions for for these joint ventures, whether it's study abroad,
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kind of cross mojinating U.S. professors and Chinese professors. And let me just tell you something.
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This is not for the benefit of our country. Like when the Baucus Institute takes cash from entities
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that are linked to China, it's not to ensure that America does better. It's to ensure that China does
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better. And of course, there's, you know, lifestyle benefit that comes with that. So that's one part of
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the business model. The second part is that a lot of these cats go and serve on corporate boards for
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companies that they really don't have our nation's interest at heart and oftentimes are appendages
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of governments that hate us. So Alibaba is a Chinese company, consumer products company.
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It is very linked to the Chinese Communist Party. And Max Baucus is one of their board members. He is an
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Alibaba board member. And I'm, I'm just, I was talking to Rahim Kassam, who with Natalie Winters
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wrote this piece. And it is shocking to me that this is, this is even allowed that he would be able
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to do that. And then of course, Chambers of Commerce allow folks to give paid speeches and, and really
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Baucus is able to do these things, get these payments because he was the former ambassador. And
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then, then what, you know, that's the benefit to him. So what's the deliverable? Well, what China
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really values is the ability to have like US politicians, US former lawmakers go and trash
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the United States and Chinese state media. And they then use that as part of their totalitarian
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propaganda effort domestically. And they also use it to try to make their case on the world stage.
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So think about that. They go pay the former members of our team to go in and, you know,
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neg our own team in their state run media. And that's precisely, you know, what, what some of
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these folks have done. And, and in Baucus, you see someone who's consistently criticized our country
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and our response to coronavirus, which is pretty fricking rich when you consider the fact that China
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birthed this virus on the world, lied about it, and then went and tried to do everything
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they could to shore up PPE as everyone was having to deal with a problem that they either purposefully,
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or I think more likely negligently allowed to escape from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. And that's the
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intelligence that Secretary Pompeo has referenced in, in relation to the causation of this great global
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calamity that we're now dealing with. Now, how does this have to do with the future? You know,
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so Baucus, bad guy, taking money from these Chinese entities saying, oh, you know, Biden will be soft on
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China to state run media, running down the US response to Chinese state media. And I just found
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it interesting and very well sourced in the National Pulse article that in 2013, like it wasn't some other
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person in the Obama administration that was trying to set up Max Baucus to be the China guy. I mean,
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it was Joe Biden. And so I think one of these enterprising reporters out there on the campaign
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trail should ask Joe Biden, like, would you consider Max Baucus to be a potential player in your
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administration in the future? Would he be someone that that would go back to China, perhaps on behalf of
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our government after trashing our country and our government in Chinese state run media? These are
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fair questions, because part of the way that these folks maintain their value to the people paying
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them and paying their institutes and their institutions and all these things that enhance
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lifestyle is by kind of rolling in and out of government. So I don't know if Baucus wants to be
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in the Biden administration or not. But I think it's a fair question, since Biden was the guy who set up
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Baucus to be the point man in China. And now we see that that's having an America last result for our
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country. So Max Baucus, you got caught, my good friends at the National Pulse got you. Now we'll see
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if this continues to be another anchor around Joe Biden. Remember when the national media was telling us
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all that the Mueller probe was fair, that the people involved were unbiased, these were great patriots that
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were professionals that were doing their duty to the country. And to the contrary, folks like Jim
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Jordan and Mark Meadows and myself were out there saying, this is not a group of people that lacks
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bias. You know, these are folks who absolutely have an agenda, have a bone to pick with the president.
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Here's some of the commentary that that you heard from our team of warriors on the bias of the Mueller
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team. That Peter struck, we learned, had all these text messages. We got to read some of them early
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this morning. Now, as my colleagues have pointed out, some of them are, you know, they show he didn't
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like Trump. He and Ms. Page are exchanging text messages back and forth, show they don't like
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the president. But that's nothing new. Everyone on Mueller's team, no one on Mueller's team likes
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Trump. We already knew that. Most private sector law firms and even in prosecutorial agencies,
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if you have a bias, you've got to disclose that bias because it's an ethical violation
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to take a conflict of interest case. So people check that out. These biases are not
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not inconsequential. If you're giving $30,000 to Democrats, guess what? You're all in.
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Isn't it weird that Robert Mueller seemed to have a total lack of curiosity regarding the manner in
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which clear bias could have infected his investigative decisions? I was just baffled by that answer.
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So now, lo and behold, the Mueller investigation was not successful in impeaching the president. It was
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sort of the false start to the Ukraine impeachment that they endeavored to go upon. And one of the key
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moments, obviously, was Mueller's testimony. And I remember sitting there after just like the first
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few questions from the first few members of Congress to Mueller. And it was very clear the guy like
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wasn't all there. He wasn't completely with it. So let's roll some of the Mueller testimony. And you
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tell me if this this sounds more like someone who is in full control of their faculties, if it sounds
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more like the current incarnation of Joe Biden. Is it also true that you issued over 2,800 subpoenas,
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executed nearly 500 search warrants, obtained more than 230 orders for communication records and 50
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pin registers? That went a little fast for me. Okay. Did Attorney General Sessions tell you about
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that little? I am not certain of the person who originally copied that quote. The name of that firm was
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Fusion GPS. Is that correct? And you're on page 103? 103. That's correct. Volume 2.
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When you talk about the firm that produced the steel reporting, the name of the firm that produced
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that was Fusion GPS. Is that correct? I'm not familiar with that.
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Well, let me just help you. It was. It's not a trick question. It was Fusion GPS.
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And so who really was running the Mueller team? And what was their motivation? The answer,
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Andrew Weissman. And if you want to know who Andrew Weissman is, he was the top deputy for Mueller.
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He was the guy crying at Hillary Clinton's non-election victory party. He was the person who
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was sending emails congratulating people in the administration for resisting President Trump's
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directives as the duly elected leader of our country. And if you really want to get the
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comprehensive book on Andrew Weissman, it was actually written by Sidney Powell,
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the brilliant lawyer for General Michael Flynn. It's called License to Lie, and it does really indict
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the practices of Andrew Weissman. Now, why is this in the news today? Because Weissman has
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the audacity to serve himself up as the fireside chat special guest for a Joe Biden fundraiser.
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So for Andrew Weissman, the mission never really stopped, right? The mission was to elect Hillary
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Clinton. That failed. So he then assembles this team with like, you know, Mueller, obviously,
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mentally out to lunch. And then now Weissman is engaging as a political actor. You know, maybe he
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wants to be a politician or some political force. And I mean, like, what do you think that Weissman
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fireside chat with Biden is going to be about? You think they're going to ask him about his austere
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legal career? You know, his time going after drug dealers? No, they're going to ask about his efforts
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to delegitimize Donald Trump after his election. And it is unfortunate that the Biden campaign would
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entertain this because it continues on the path that Democrats have been on to erode confidence
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in an independent, fair judiciary. You know, I have repeatedly said I want to build a justice system,
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a FISA system that works no matter which party is in power, because I think both parties will
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exchange power during the course of my lifetime. And it just would be nice if there were rules
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that applied equally and that did not allow the party in power to convert the institutions that
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we value to tell us the truth and to be honest into their political proxies. And that's what
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happened in the Obama Biden administration. Andrew Weissman was a key player. And you know what?
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Maybe he maybe he's out there auditioning, you know, for a role in a potential Biden administration.
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But this is a sick way to do it. And it vindicates the claims that we made about Weissman and his bias.
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Big Tech's got a COVID play. There's a great write-up in Bloomberg by Mark Gurman and Garrett DeVinck
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about the Apple and Google effort to create exposure notification applications on their platforms.
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Here, users would download apps. And then if users tested positive, they would upload that information.
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And then the app would notify people who may have come in contact with the person who had uploaded
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a positive result. So there are some issues here to tweeze through. A lot of governments have actually
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been pushing for more information in this partnership with Google and Apple. The governments want to know,
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well, who is it that tested positive? And right now, the platform doesn't allow that. What it does is
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simply create a system of user notifications where the tech company notifies the users of some potential
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positive contact. The newly released 13.5 iOS update will have these applications. And it really begs
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the question, you know, would you do it? Right? Would you download an app that would tell you if you'd
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come in contact with someone who might have coronavirus? I can just tell you this, you know,
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my first reaction to this story was, heck no. The last thing I want to do is get into a system where
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Google and Apple and other big tech companies are aggregating massive amounts of personal health data,
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my personal health data. I mean, you know, today it's to create a contact tracing system. But do I know
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that's not going to be something that's sold off into some secondary or tertiary market to sell me ads based
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on my health? Is that going to be used to notify other people of information? So I don't know. I
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think there is a slippery slope. And the fact that you already see some changes being made by the tech
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companies to give public health officials more of an ability to contact even anonymously someone who's
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tested positive indicates that this is an evolving dynamic that you don't necessarily know, you know,
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when you upload something, whether or not that is solely going to be used for the stated purpose. So
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that was my first reaction. But then I got to tell you, I mean, I went back to standing there on Air
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Force One. The plane is about to take off from Orlando, Florida to go to Washington. And I get a
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frantic phone call from my chief of staff saying that they had just received information that I
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am in a picture holding the phone of someone who had coronavirus. And I just thought to myself,
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like, you know, if I were to become a vector of this disease, to someone who works in the White
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House, to the president or a member of his team, to anyone, to a member of my family, I mean, I would
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never be able to live with myself. And so, you know, as as the president was, was saying, wrap gates and
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cellophane. I was I was self quarantining. And certainly at that point, I would have done
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anything to ensure that anyone I'd come in contact with got tested, got every advantage if I was
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carrying this disease. So, you know, I sort of am still open minded about these tech platforms. I do
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think that there is substantial risk to privacy. I'm glad that Apple and Google have put out
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statements on that subject. But frankly, given both of those companies behaviors on issues of
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privacy, they don't have the most credibility. And so I think it requires a lot of diligence.
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So think about it. Would you download the app? Would you upload your information?
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Go read Bloomberg News. Let me know in your reviews and comments.
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Airplanes are sort of weird these days. You get on, folks are wearing the mask. And ESPN is
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today reporting that some other weird stuff's been happening on airplanes. The title of the article
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in lawsuit NFL player says he was sexually harassed, assaulted during United Airlines flight. So an
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unnamed NFL player is suing United Airlines, alleging that a female passenger who was in his row made a
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series of unwanted sexual advances, that she pulled down his face mask, that she groped him and that he
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had repeatedly asked for flight attendants for assistance and that ultimately this NFL player
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alleges in the lawsuit that he had to move to a different part of the plane and that that the
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airline provided no assistance in this circumstance. So the lawsuit's been filed in Los Angeles. And I
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guess we'll see. We'll see how it goes. I'll be watching this. I find it interesting just to see
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sort of how a few of the legal issues here and PR issues play out. You know, I mean, is there going
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to be a different standard applied because, you know, the gender roles appear to be reversed here from
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the typical news coverage around these these harassment events and the fact that it's an NFL player and the
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fact that that really the airline has to define what their standard of care is for their passengers. I mean,
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does the airline have an obligation in a circumstance where someone is repeatedly complaining
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to step in and do something about it? So NFL players on the run from the sexual harassers on
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the airplanes. We'll see how it goes. I hope everyone has a safe Memorial Day weekend and take the time
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to reflect on what a blessing it is to live in this great country, a country that inspires such a sense
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of service and patriotism that folks go out there and wear the uniform. They prepare at a hair trigger
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of readiness. They defend our interests and our freedom and our safety and our values. And at times
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our military force is required to make the ultimate sacrifice. And when we have the opportunity to honor
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that, to hold it up in the highest esteem, we should do so in every corner, in every town, in every
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city in this great country. I know we'll be doing that here in Northwest Florida. We pride ourselves
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on being one of the most military friendly communities and one of the most military friendly
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states in the country. So get outside a little bit. I hope it's warm air that's zapping that coronavirus
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so that we can enjoy our families, enjoy our great country and honor those who've made the ultimate
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sacrifice. Have a great weekend, everyone. We'll be back next week with more hot takes.