Tag Archives: COVID-19

Political Rants

At the COVID Hilton.

Spent most of the week in the belly of America’s healthcare beast. And it started with something in my belly. Suffice to say, I needed an ambulance ride to the ER and emergency surgery for something totally unforeseen, unrelated to but in the midst of the current COVID crisis.

I will tell you that the nurses, orderlies, custodial and food workers were all kind and dedicated professionals, and I couldn’t be more grateful to them. But there were some truly bizarre moments, and I want to share one of them with you.

I’m lying on a gurney in the ready room at the COVID Hilton, my gut scrubbed and primed for incision. The bemasked surgeon enters the room and asks the nurse attending me, “Where is the other doctor?”

“Jeremy is here,” she says, tapping away at the roll-away laptop next to my bed on wheels.

“Jeremy,” the surgeon repeats, looking around. He turns to me and asks if I’m ready. I say something vaguely affirmative, but he’s distracted. He sits down at a desk across from me and takes out his phone.

The surgical nurse arrives, introduces herself to me, then starts helping the attending nurse with her data entry. “You can’t confirm the post op care plan because it hasn’t been entered yet,” she’s says. “See? They haven’t done it.”

“Where is the second doctor?” the surgeon barks into his phone, his legs up on a chair.

“Scroll down,” says the surgical nurse. The accounting system is giving them an argument. “It won’t let you confirm until you put something in here,” she says.

“When the patient dies, who’s going to call the family?” asks the surgeon.

Another guy in scrubs and hairnet arrives. The surg nurse hails him. “Jeremy! Where did you come from?”

“My mother,” Jeremy says. “Always.”

It seemed we were ready. On the way into the operating theater, the orderly sang, “We’re off to see the wizard!”

When I was discharged on Thursday, I was asked to sign an agreement that, if I were to return to the hospital with any additional problems related to this health issue, I would need to do so by noon the next day or it would be considered a second incident and, therefore, be charged separately (i.e. not be covered by insurance). This is America’s health care system in a nutshell. (As it turned out, I went back the next day at 4am. Plenty of time!)

luv u,

jp

Check out our political opinion podcast, Strange Sound.
Political Rants

Joe. mentum.

Bernie’s out. I guess it’s no surprise. There really wasn’t a reasonable electoral path forward to the Democratic nomination after the crushing defeats on Super Tuesday and in subsequent contests in Michigan, etc. While there are still many voters yet to be heard from, the mainstream Democratic party has coalesced around their preferred standard-bearer, the somewhat limp-minded former vice president, whose halting commentaries from a foot or two in front of an IKEA backdrop are barely making a ripple, even in MSNBC land. 

I almost never hear from Biden until his watery opinions are being criticized by left commentators. What the hell kind of communication shop are they running there? Is this a presidential campaign or a race for dog catcher? Just this past Tuesday, as Wisconsin voters were queuing up to vote in the midst of a pandemic, thanks to their state Republican party, the most Biden could manage to say about this disaster was that the science should decide whether or not it went forward. Really? Best you can do, Joe? What the fuck. Are you sure you want to be president?

Check out our political opinion podcast, Strange Sound.

It just never ceases to amaze me how dedicated the Democratic party can be to its own self-immolation. We had more than twenty people to choose from on that debate stage, and we went with the guy whose turn it was … the guy who the party felt was due a spot on the top of the ticket, just as Hillary was in 2016, regardless of his skills as a candidate, his mental acuity, his political baggage, etc. This outcome sets us up for a serious fight in November, and it’s not clear to me how we can possibly prevail, given the degree to which Trump and the Republicans are dedicated to gaming this election nine ways from Tuesday. Trump is already setting the predicate for claims of voter fraud, spouting BS about voting by mail. This, combined with the COVID-19 scare, will make it all the easier for the GOP to claim either victory or fraud, and who knows what consequences will proceed from that.

In any case, I want to acknowledge Bernie Sanders’ remarkable contribution to American politics over the past ten years in particular. Since he made that long speech on the Senate floor in the wake of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Bernie has brought progressive politics to the fore in a way that simply has no parallel in the modern history of this country. Across a broad range of issues he has staked out a distinctly leftist position in such a way as to pull the Democratic party in our direction and away from the neoliberal consensus that has ruled it for several decades. For that we owe him a debt of gratitude.

Regardless of who the Democratic presidential nominee is likely to be, Bernie has done a lot of the hard work of structural change since 2011. It is up to us to finish what he started.

luv u,

jp

Political Rants

Donnie’s hour.

Check out our political opinion podcast, Strange Sound.

The COVID-19 crisis is a major disaster in several respects. First, it’s a health disaster of the first order, one that is going to cost many thousands of people their lives over the coming weeks and months. That would be more than bad enough on its own. But it’s also an economic catastrophe for individuals, families, businesses, and organizations all over the country. This aspect, too, will be the undoing of many of its victims. It’s hard to imagine how people on the edge are going to get through these next few months. It’s just as hard to imagine that small businesses won’t fold by the million as the economic shutdown, by necessity, continues. This crisis has the potential, as many have said, to reshape our economy and our society in fundamental ways, and not clearly for the better.

Take the response (or “CARES”) package passed by Congress and signed into law by the moron-in-chief. David Dayen has laid this out in detail in the American Prospect. Simply put, the funds being directed to poor and working people are going to be way too slow in coming. If you aren’t set up to receive tax refunds via EFT, you could be waiting a long time for that check to arrive. People in the informal economy (including many working musicians, as it happens) may not get any help at all. Small businesses can apply to get loans through the SBA that would become grants if they retain their workforce, but the SBA is a slow-moving entity and not resourced to handle the national crush of requests that will be coming its way. On the other hand, major corporations will benefit from a $500 billion bailout, $425 billion of which will be vested in the Federal Reserve to provide base capital for up to ten times that amount in low-interest loans to big business, financial institutions, etc. That money does not require workforce retention – companies can use it for downsizing, mergers and acquisitions – everything short of stock buybacks, which are barred for the term of the loan.

That combination of factors will greatly advantage larger players over smaller ones in this economy. That auto shop on the corner? He’s history. Bring your car to the dealership. That’s what this could look like. Meanwhile, the president is having the time of his life. He’s bragged about the ratings his 5pm daily Coronavirus update is drawing, and he’s treating these press events like it’s a reality show, bringing on the My Pillow nutcase, picking fights with journalists, spewing garbage like a leaky barge. Two weeks ago, he was talking about ending the social distancing measures, but now he’s seen the advantage of just riding with it. And to some extent, the American people, in their infinite wisdom, are rewarding him with marginally higher poll numbers, despite the fact that Trump’s inaction over the last three months has blown this pandemic threat into a full-fledged national emergency that, at best, will kill well more than 100,000 Americans, and likely multiples of that number.

Trump thinks 100k deaths would be evidence of his competence. It’s anything but. He needs accountability, and we need to keep this country from slipping into the oligarch’s paradise he’s always dreamed of.

luv u,

jp