Well this is sure a PPP kick in the teeth

There have been plenty of jaw-dropping loans made as part of the Paycheck Protection Program. The first one that comes to the mind of this Bostonian: the nearly million dollar loan made to TB 12, Tom Brady's health and wellness business. Now the money didn't go to Our Their Tom; it went to his company. And his company may well have needed the money, as I'm sure their business has been down. But it was plenty bad optics when a man with Brady's wealth (not to mention the wealth of his super-model wife) is tin-cupping the Federal government, even if it's indirectly.

Then there were plenty of cash-rich mega corporations that took the loans, which, since they're mostly forgivable, are pretty much handouts. 

But while plenty of deserving entities - especially smaller ones - got short shrift from the program, many businesses (and non-profits) were helped out considerably. Admittedly, there were some scammers attracted to the program. But just because I don't like Tom Brady and TB 12, doesn't mean they didn't apply for the loan in good faith, that they're not deserving of the money they were granted, and that they didn't use it appropriately and well.

But then comes this news:

Five prominent anti-vaccine organizations that have been known to spread misleading information about
the coronavirus received more than $850,000 in loans from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, raising questions about why the government is giving money to groups actively opposing its agenda and seeking to undermine public health during a critical period. (Source: WaPo)

Some of these groups that received PPP were even flagged by Facebook - and we know how wonderful they are about managing lying liars who lie - for peddling misinformation about COVID, and prevented from advertising. 

A relatively small loan $72K, was given to the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center, which is run by an anti-vaxxer doctor of osteopathy. They went so far as to get "banned from Facebook in December for spreading misinformation." But worthy of a pandemic loan. Panhandlers!

Mercola Health Resources got $335K, even thought this outfit is considered by some to be "one of the leading 'superspreaders' of misinformation about the coronavirus."

Then there's the Children's Health Defense Co., which certainly sounds like a noble endeavor. Who doesn't want to defend the health of children? Plus they've got the cachet of having been founded by Robert Kennedy Jr. So they must be good and noble and righteous, right? 

Alas, his organization is big into questioning the safety of vaccines. Plus:

The group has posted on its social media channels about the “great reset” conspiracy theory, which holds that “global elites” such as Bill Gates will use the pandemic to advance their interests and push forward a globalist or Marxist plot to destroy American sovereignty and prosperity and control the population. 

Oh. ("Has anybody here seen my old friend Bobby? Can you tell me where he's gone? I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill, with Abraham, Martin and John" a bunch of batshit crazy anti-vaxxers.)

So, at a time when vaccines are at last coming online in significant volume - or so I hear; there's not a lot of evidence of that in Massachusetts as of yet, other than the supposedly-cheering news that Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park will be mass vaccination sites - and at a time when COVID is raging and we really need people to get vaccinated, we're subsidizing fringe organizations working against public health. Swell. 

“Lending money to these organizations so they can prosper is a sickening use of taxpayer money. These groups are actively working to undermine the national covid vaccination drive, which will create long-term health problems that are felt most acutely in minority communities and low-income neighborhoods,” said Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

It's sickening both literally and figuratively. 

These organizations sure don't lack for gall. They remind me of the joke about the fellow who was being tried for killing his parents, and threw himself on the mercy of the court because he was an orphan.