Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Not all heroes wear capes.

Bark louder, little dog.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

This fight is for everything.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Horrorshow Open Thread: Maybe the Rich WANT Us to Kill Them?

Horrorshow Open Thread: Maybe the Rich WANT Us to Kill Them?

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Really, this isn’t the best time to be working everybody elses’ last nerve…

… Household help, often performed by undocumented immigrants like Ms. Zamorano, has become a fixture of American homes. In a thriving economy, even middle-class families have been able to hand off their mops, brooms and lawn mowers to low-paid workers from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and other countries. With reliable caregivers at home, many dual-income couples have raised children while building high-powered careers.

The coronavirus crisis is compelling many families to reassess. Concerns about the safety of an outsider entering their homes coupled with financial instability have prompted even the well-heeled to dispense with their help, and severance payments are a rarity.

Unlike their employers, undocumented workers cannot collect unemployment or benefit from a government bailout. They are part of the bustling informal economy, typically paid cash and off the books for the essential work they do. Without paid sick leave, remote work capability and access to jobs, they become uniquely vulnerable.



‘Progressive’ Sanders supporter who somehow failed to win a seat on NYC’s City Council:


ETA:

Just spitballing here, thinking outside the box…

Sad-trombone coda from yesterday’s outrage…

Reader Interactions

87Comments

  1. 1.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Repost from below:

    Speaking of ventilators (and we were, or at least I was), our MBA Princeling is on the case

    After Considering $1 Billion Price Tag for Ventilators, White House Has Second Thoughts
    At the center of the discussion about how to ramp up the production of ventilators is Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and a senior White House aide, who has told people that he was called in two weeks ago by Vice President Mike Pence to produce more coronavirus test kits and who has now turned his attention to ventilators. …
    So on Wednesday, despite the president’s tweet three days earlier, FEMA was still weighing competing offers in order to make a recommendation to Mr. Kushner.

    A recommendation to Mr Kushner. Somebody better check on Mr Cuomo, he may blow a gasket….

  2. 2.

    Mary G

    I am seriously thinking of torches and pitchforks after President Evil pulled out of ordering ventilators and said on Hannity that NY doesn’t need 30,000 – 40,000. Also, testing is STILL not happening.

  3. 3.

    West of the Rockies

    OT (this an open thread though), but has anyone heard of a Covid 19 case that was more than mild but not serious in which the fatigue factor goes on for a month or more?  My girlfriend and her daughter have both had a few day-long episodes days after their essential recoveries have taken place.

    Thank you for any thoughts.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Zeke Miller@ZekeJMiller· 1h

    Trump to Hannity: “I don’t believe you need 40,000 or 30,000 ventilators”

    Romney 2012 Muckety-muck Stevens:

    stuart stevens@stuartpstevens 13m

    This is on every Republican leader who supported Trump thinking they could scam history & get what they wanted while supporting an unstable moron. It never works. Fools. Character is destiny. Now Trump’s character is your destiny.

    I wonder if he worked on  any sitting GOP Senators’ campaigns

  5. 5.

    tom

    This evening, I was talking with a friend of mine who is a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist) at suburban Detroit hospital which is being converted to a facility for COVID-19 patients. Due to a lack of vents, her hospital is considering “split vents” – up to four patients per ventilator. She doesn’t think that is possible.

    How ever bad you think it is, it’s worse than you think.

  6. 6.

    danielx

    Everybody has their own reality, true enough, but these creatures live not only on a separate world but in a separate plane of existence.

  7. 7.

    Brachiator

    In a thriving economy, even middle-class families have been able to hand off their mops, brooms and lawn mowers to low-paid workers from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and other countries. With reliable caregivers at home, many dual-income couples have raised children while building high-powered careers.

    It is great that this writer points out that it’s not just the “evil rich,” but quite a few people in the middle class who employ undocumented workers. And some undocumented workers have ITINs, ID numbers that let them file tax returns, but they are not eligible for most credits, so they have no practical access to much of they safety net that helps lower income citizens.

    But I certainly applaud those people of means who still try to find a way to pay their employees, whether citizens or undocumented.

  9. 9.

    Anne Laurie

    @tom: Due to a lack of vents, her hospital is considering “split vents” – up to four patients per ventilator. She doesn’t think that is possible.

    From what little I’ve seen discussed on that topic (& my vast experience watching tv hospital dramas) it is possible to hook more than one patient to a ventilator, at least for a short period of time.  But every one of those unfortunates will get less than 100% efficiency, and will suffer for it.

    It would be inconceivable under normal circumstances, because the potential legal liability would cripple any hospital.  But in a situation where doctors are openly discussing automatic DNRs for any coronavirus victim who isn’t otherwise young & fit…

  10. 10.

    Brachiator

    Young Jared is given responsibility for more shit than Woody Allen’s Zelig.

    But what has the motherfucker ever actually accomplished?

  11. 11.

    tom

    @Anne Laurie: I understand that ventilators must be closely monitored and adjusted to match the patient’s lung capacity, respiration rate, and other things. Since no two patients are alike, and since patients recover at different rates, using split vents is really tricky. But if the situation is desperate enough, you do what you have to do I guess.

  12. 12.

    The Dangerman

    Hey, if it comes to it, $1200 ain’t gonna get you a ROLL of TP on the black market.  We will be selling single squares by that point. Now, if the square was somehow inked with the image of Trump? Maybe.

  15. 15.

    The Dangerman

    @Brachiator:

    But what has the motherfucker ever actually accomplished?

    Did his daughter?

    ETA: Shakes fist at Yuts, who got their first and far more clean.

  18. 18.

    Avalune

    Trump honors loyalty over competency. Kush doesn’t NEED to accomplish anything – just needs to be a good little lap doggy.

  19. 19.

    The Dangerman

    @joel hanes:

    The EPA … just suspended enforcement of all environmental regulations for the duration of the pandemic.

    Next:

    The Justice Department … just suspended enforcement of all voting rights laws for the duration of the pandemic.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @Brachiator:

    But what has the motherfucker ever actually accomplished?

    He’s the son Trump never really had, a man in his own image.

    I guess you could call that an accomplishment. It’s more than Don Jr. or Eric ever managed.

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    @Anne Laurie et al.

    In New York City, which has almost 30% of the nation’s coronavirus cases, intensive care units at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the Columbia University Irving Medical Center are testing how to use “split-ventilation,” Dr. Craig Smith, the hospitals’ chief surgeon, said in a note to staff this week. Smith lauded plans to care for multiple patients with one ventilator as a critical innovation, and he wrote, “Today a technique forged in the crucible of mass trauma is helping our medical colleagues manage COVID-19.”

    New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday endorsed its use. “We are going so far as to try an experimental procedure where we split the ventilators,” he said. “We use one ventilator for two patients. It’s difficult to perform, it’s experimental, but at this point we have no alternatives.”
    [snip]
    At the University of California-San Francisco, the intensive care units are working on ways to cope with a shortage and avoid using the multiple patient technique, said Dr. J. Matthew Aldrich, the system’s executive director of critical care. It is unproven and “I’m not aware of any successful use in this kind of situation.”

    Anesthesia machines in operating rooms have ventilators built in, which could at times be used to treat ICU patients, Aldrich said.

    The American Association for Respiratory Care, which represents more than 40,000 respiratory therapists, discourages hospitals from connecting two or more patients to a single ventilator, said Tim Myers, an executive at the association. The technique does not allow caregivers to ensure patients are receiving the right amount of air, or to track their respiration.

    “How will we know that your lungs are getting better?” Myers said.

    Hamilton Medical AG, one of the largest ventilator manufacturers, warns against the multiple patient technique. “Ventilators use sensors to adapt ventilation to every individual patient. This is important with critically ill patients — like COVID-19 patients,” a spokeswoman for Hamilton Medical said in a written response to questions. “If there were several patients on one ventilator, to whom should the ventilator adapt?” Source

    Also, this. New York approves ventilator splitting, allowing hospitals to treat two patients with one machine

  24. 24.

    John Revolta

    @joel hanes: John Scarne, the famous magician and card player, told a story in one of his books about a town that hosted a gambler’s convention. Somehow the local Mob replaced every deck of cards in town with their own- marked- decks. “I’m told”, he said, “that what happened next was pretty impressive”. This is the situation we currently are experiencing in the US of A.

  26. 26.

    Avalune

    We are still totally fine on toilet paper but I think Leto is going to riot if he has to keep eating my egg beaters.

  27. 27.

    dmsilev

    And, re: the first subject, unless your own income has fallen off a cliff because of this, yes you have a moral obligation to pay your cleaner, nanny, etc.

    (I have a cleaner who comes once a month to do the deep-clean stuff I suck at doing myself. I had no qualms or hesitations or anything about telling her not to come but that I’d pay her for the duration of the lockdown. It’s pure and simple the right thing to do if you’re at all able.)

  28. 28.

    debbie

    @NotMax:

    They have to at least try it.

    The local news here reported on the lines of people in NYC lining up to be tested. At Elmhurst, the link was practically around the block. They were waiting hours. I can’t imagine feeling lousy and standing in coldish weather for hours.

  30. 30.

    Brachiator

    @joel hanes:

    Labor Department, under Eugene Scalia, suspending enforcement of all affirmative action guidelines for the duration.

    Damn. Is this shit coordinated?

    This is like negative martial law. Trump is using the pandemic to effectively repeal any federal law he doesn’t like.

  33. 33.

    Fair Economist

    @West of the Rockies: Yes, one of the first recovered patients in Wuhan said he felt exhausted all the time weeks later. I can think of several hypothetical causes with this disease.

  34. 34.

    NotMax

    Dear Reverend,

    Our prayer circle is riddled with argument. Is the God’s judgment on us for

    1) a black president?
    2) same sex marriage?
    3) transsexuals in bathrooms?
    4) sinful Hollywood and lascivious music lyrics?
    5) legalized abortion?
    6) ending prayer in schools?
    7) birth control?
    8) giving women the vote?
    9) the 14th amendment?
    10) the 13th amendment?

    Prayerfully yours,

    Confused in Christ

  35. 35.

    Ajabu

    @Avalune:

    Please don’t call that charlatan “Kush”. Kush was an advanced African civilization when Kushner’s ancestors were climbing trees and painting themselves blue.

  38. 38.

    NotMax

    @Ajabu

    climbing trees and painting themselves blue

    Oh my, don’t go giving Jared ideas on how to protect from this.

    ;)

  42. 42.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    @dmsilev: Amen. My cleaning lady also works at Walmart so I had no hesitation about asking her not to come for awhile. I gave her 4 weeks lump sum payment so she would have a cushion to deal with the crisis, and told her I would send her a check every 4 weeks until it was safe for her to start working again. I mean, just because I’m old and a’skiret doesn’t mean her bills go away.

    I’m sure I’ll have to give her a bonus when she comes back to work. I do not keep the place up to her standards.

  44. 44.

    dmsilev

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: The Washington Post today had a story about the national egg shortage. Bottom line, hens only lay so many eggs per week, and it’s rather difficult to quickly scale up the number of available hens.

  45. 45.

    lgerard

    Any other time I just would have laughed at this

    President Donald Trump spoke to hundreds of pastors last Friday on a call organized by the Family Research Council about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, and he used most of his time to remind pastors how much he has done for them. He called Nov. 3, the this year’s Election Day, “one of the biggest dates in the history of religion.”

  47. 47.

    West of the Rockies

    @Fair Economist:

    Thanks for your response.  It’s been weird.  They both got it, were down for about two weeks, perked up, but have each had about 3 day-long episodes of fatigue and low-grade fevers in the 2-3 weeks after.

  49. 49.

    smintheus

    extra $2400 per month ($600 x4) in UI increases

    What the heck is this? I thought all the Democrats managed to wring out of McConnell was an extra $600 per month in unemployment insurance…for 4 months maximum.

  50. 50.

    mrmoshpotato

    @lgerard: Are lightning bolts going to hit all of these fuckers followed by a voice from the sky yelling, “Why did you let my children die?!”

  53. 53.

    Mary G

    NOW: A major hospital in the Midwest has reached its limit on ventilators minutes ago.They are handing out forms saying that only those “with the best chance of survival” will get care. Others will be getting pain medication. 1/— Andy Slavitt @ ? (@ASlavitt) March 27, 2020

  54. 54.

    Kent

    @Brachiator:

    Damn. Is this shit coordinated?

    This is like negative martial law. Trump is using the pandemic to effectively repeal any federal law he doesn’t like.

    Oh, how quaint.  You thought the Trump Administration was actually enforcing environmental laws, affirmative action, and voting rights BEFORE the pandemic?   Bless your heart!

  56. 56.

    Daddio7

    So the same people who can not believe we did not stockpile several billion dollars worth  dollars worth of ventilators, PPE and gin up tens of millions of a special test in a matter of weeks were caught flat footed when the stores ran out of TP and eggs. My wife and I had several months worth of food and butt wipes before Christmas. After China started locking down cities I added another layer to my supplies.

  57. 57.

    Kent

    @smintheus:What the heck is this? I thought all the Democrats managed to wring out of McConnell was an extra $600 per month in unemployment insurance…for 4 months maximum.

    $600 per WEEK on top of the normal weekly payment.

  58. 58.

    CaseyL

    I’d say a military coup is looking pretty good right now, but I’m not sure how many white ethno-nationalist Dominionists have wormed themselves into high command.

  59. 59.

    Mary G

    Greetings to my fans and followers with gratitude for all your support and loyalty across the years.This is an unreleased song we recorded a while back that you might find interesting.Stay safe, stay observant and may God be with you.Bob Dylanhttps://t.co/uJnE4X64Bb— bobdylan.com (@bobdylan) March 27, 2020

  60. 60.

    Poe Larity

    This is the kind of thinking that exalts Thoreau and fails to realize every single thing he did was on the back of his mother and sister who cooked his food and washed his clothes.

     

    Everyone goes back in time to kill Hitler – has anyone gone back to kill Thoreau?

  61. 61.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Eric Umansky @ericuman · 5h
    The manager of Trump’s DC hotel promises a “HUGE celebration in a few weeks.” The hotel hosts a big Easter Brunch — for $130 a head.

    He’s trying to pay off Deutsche Bank with a Contagion Buffet

  62. 62.

    Peale

    @CaseyL: yeah. I’m at wits end here. Breaking point. All we asked for is 8 weeks of staying at home and not taking kids to Disney. And white evangelicals couldn’t even give us 5 days before deciding once again to sacrifice other people.

  64. 64.

    joel hanes

    @smintheus:

    kickbacks

    IMHO, this has already happened.   Parse with me Trump’s mob-speak

    He says “we talked to the companies” and they did not want him to invoke the provisions of the DPA to compel production of pandemic materiel at a fixed contract price with the government — the volume and the price, and I think the allocation of the output, would be a matter of public record, and profiteering would be impossible.

    The companies want exactly the current situation: desperate customers competing for scarce resources, bidding against each other.   No public record of the volumes or prices or allocation.   Maximum profits.

    So I think Trump said something like “That’s good  We’ll do it your way, and you’ll be very happy with this deal, very beautiful.   But you need to be nice to us in return.   Talk to our people, they’ll help you, it will be perfect, believe me.”

    And some of those profiteering monies will find their way into the Trump organization, and others will pay for overpriced ill-defined “services” that get invoiced and paid without anything being done, etc.

  66. 66.

    joel hanes

    @Kent:

    To be scrupulously fair, there is a difference between tacit non-enforcement of regulations, and calling out loudly “Ollie ollie oxen, POLLUTE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT IT’S OFFICIALLY LEGAL NOW”

  69. 69.

    NotMax

    @Joel hanes

    “Multi-billion dollar no bid contract for ventilators awarded to 6-person concern in [insert blood red state here] which makes shoe trees. Film at 11.”

  72. 72.

    joel hanes

    @NotMax:

    I don’t think there are any government contracts at all.

    The federal government seems to have just stepped out of the way to let the profiteers have a completely unregulated no-public-records free hand.

  73. 73.

    divF

    @Ajabu: If Kushner’s ancestors were Britons, you would certainly be correct. However, Jews had a comparable civilization from about the same time as the Kush (and not so far away from them geographically).

    That said, Kushner (not Kush, your point is otherwise well-taken) is viewed by all the Jews I know as a shonda.

  74. 74.

    Splitting Image

    @oatler.:

    Scarne? The guy who proclaimed in his gambling handbook that there was no organized crime in America?

    This is actually not wrong. Organized criminals worthy of the name invest enough in lobbying activities to make whatever they are doing legal, after which they cease to be criminals.

    Criminals actually breaking laws are by definition not organized enough to be called “organized crime”. Hence there can be no organized crime in America.

  76. 76.

    Keith P

    So let’s say we invade some countries to take their hydroxyquinoline. What happens when the stuff doesn’t actually affect COVID infections?
    PS: It comes from tree bark, like regular quinine. I’m kind of surprised people aren’t chugging Canada Dry to try to cure it. If you want to invade someplace to take it, maybe find some part of the rainforest that hasn’t already been cleared to make palm oil.

  78. 78.

    terry chay

    @dmsilev: We recently started to have a cleaner come once every three months. She was scheduled to come a couple days ago — though with shelter-in-place lockdown for the last two weeks, that was cancelled.

    My wife called her yesterday (she apologized for not showing up as her mom had recently died) and we managed to pay her 6 months in advance via Venmo via a friend who was sitting next to her.  She was in tears with joy. (I’m so fortunate my wife speaks Spanish fluently.)

    I went to the local burger joint I eat lunch at on days when I work from home and purchased about 5 months worth of gift certificates. On the few days we decide not to cook, we cycle through our favorite local restaurants that have takeout.

    We are so fortunate; others much less so.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    @Peale:

    All we asked for is 8 weeks of staying at home and not taking kids to Disney. And white evangelicals couldn’t even give us 5 days before deciding once again to sacrifice other people.

    They kinda screwed up, and will end up sacrificing themselves.

  83. 83.

    Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.

    Another amazing thing about that Cowen quote: those universities all have multi-billion dollar endowments. In other words, they sit on GIANT, SELF-SUSTAINING PILES OF MONEY but shouldn’t be bothered to kick 0.0000001% of it so The Help can survive a plague.

     

    OTOH he proves Economics must be a science because it contains about 0% humanity.

  86. 86.

    PenAndKey

    @joel hanes: And yet just a few days ago someone was dismissing the notion of “shock doctrine” here on the blog. This is it in action, and they’re everything the GOP dislikes about the law from AA enforcement to environmental protection to abortion is going to be on the defensive while they pretend something as quaint as the ‘rule of law’ applies during a pandemic.

  87. 87.

    J R in WV

    The Republicans and Theocratic Calvinists may be surprised, tinkering with the rule of law during the Trump Plague may have unanticipated consequences. Once people start being refused advanced medical care because they’re too likely to die anyway (like wife with compromised immune system and lung damage) and dying as a result or the lack of equipment…

    Many of our best friends have become nurses, mostly in advanced practice (OR work, trauma care in the ER, ICU work, etc) and I fear for their health and safety without proper protective gear. They know how to protect themselves, but you can’t do it properly with a kitchen towel or bandana. I wonder what the 2nd amendment nutjobs are going to do?

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