Democrats challenge nominating papers of Trump-backed Republican governor candidate Tim Michels

Democrats challenge nominating papers of Trump-backed Republican governor candidate Tim Michels

Related:

Donald Trump endorses Tim Michels for Wisconsin governor, inserting himself into competitive GOP primary:

The backing of Michels from Trump comes a week after Michels adopted a more aggressive stance toward the 2020 election, reversing himself and calling for the abolition of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Tim Michels Says He ‘Always Spent 183 Days’ a Year in Wisconsin

Tim Michels Home: $17 Million Connecticut Mansion, New York Penthouse Raise Residency Questions:

[Tim] Michels’ wealth was largely accumulated through public projects and taxpayer money, including more than $1 billion from the State of Wisconsin; his company builds roads and pipelines. Some contracts have been controversial, including alleged double bidding.

The couple purchased a New York penthouse while the subway project was happening. However, the subway project had ended before the LLC we’ve tied to them purchased two Connecticut homes worth millions. Their daughter and youngest son graduated from high schools out east after the subway project’s completion.

The campaign has painted Michels as a blue-collar figure rooted in Wisconsin who baled hay as a kid, graduated from small-town Lomira High School, joined the Army, and then worked for the family company headquartered in Brownsville, Wisconsin. In his announcement speech, Michels stood before red utility vehicles and posed with construction workers. An east coast lifestyle full of yachting and polo clubs is clearly not the image the campaign is after.

The Washington Quid Pro Quo and a Comment on Roe v. Wade

The Washington Quid Pro Quo and a Comment on Roe v. Wade

As to Neuburger’s on Roe v. Wade, the fact that many people are mighty unhappy about it being overturned is not germane unless they manage to pass new Federal legislation, which seems unlikely. Women’s advocacy groups collectively need to be taken out and shot. If you read the original ruling, it’s a handwave. It was always vulnerable to being reversed. And yet those with most to lose did nothing to protect their rights. The response to abortion doctors being shot and women going to abortion clinics being threatened didn’t elicit remotely the warranted level of outrage. This action should have been made domestic terrorism in the laws of the Democratic-leaning states and prosecuted as such. The defenders of abortion acting like a bunch of wimps helped pave the way to where we are.

Comment by Yves Smith

CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders

CDC Tracked Millions of Phones to See If Americans Followed COVID Lockdown Orders

The documents reveal the expansive plan the CDC had last year to use location data from a highly controversial data broker. SafeGraph, the company the CDC paid $420,000 for access to one year of data, includes Peter Thiel and the former head of Saudi intelligence [Turki bin Faisal Al Saud] among its investors. Google banned the company from the Play Store in June.

The CDC used the data for monitoring curfews, with the documents saying that SafeGraph’s data “has been critical for ongoing response efforts, such as hourly monitoring of activity in curfew zones or detailed counts of visits to participating pharmacies for vaccine monitoring.” The documents date from 2021.

Zach Edwards, a cybersecurity researcher who closely follows the data marketplace, told Motherboard in an online chat after reviewing the documents: “The CDC seems to have purposefully created an open-ended list of use cases, which included monitoring curfews, neighbor-to-neighbor visits, visits to churches, schools and pharmacies, and also a variety of analysis with this data specifically focused on ‘violence.’” (The document doesn’t stop at churches; it mentions “places of worship.”)

Related:

Data Broker Is Selling Location Data of People Who Visit Abortion Clinics

Location data broker SafeGraph stops selling information on visits to abortion providers

SafeGraph Provides CDC and 1000+ Organizations With Data to Fight the COVID-19 Crisis

Google Bans Location Data Firm Funded by Former Saudi Intelligence Head:

On its website SafeGraph says “We believe places data should be open for all.” In April 2017, Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, the former head of Saudi Arabia’s intelligence agency, invested in SafeGraph as part of a $16 million Series A funding round. SafeGraph said it had “assembled the deepest policy thinkers.” Beyond Faisal Al Saud, SafeGraph said it had enlisted the help of former U.S. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, author Sam Harris, Meghan O’Sullivan who ran Iraq and Afghanistan policy under President George Bush, former Deputy Chief of Staff to President Obama Mona Sutphen, and former German Minister of Defense Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, among others. Peter Thiel is also an investor in the company.

More investors: SafeGraph Raises $16 Million Series A