Category: Pandemic

This Reminds Me of Bush and Hurricane Katrina

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By August of 2005, Karl Rove had managed to manipulate the public discourse in such a way as to make meaningful criticisms of George W. Bush almost unthinkable.

Then came Katrina, and much like New Orleans and its levees, the ensuing backlash washed away Rove’s carefully constructed barriers intended to protect bush, and everything started coming out.

The same is going on with Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo right now, and here is an update:

  • We have another claim of sexual harassment, this one from a current aide, “He called her and her co-worker “mingle mamas.” He inquired about her lack of a wedding ring, she said, and the status of her divorce. She recalled him telling her she was beautiful — in Italian — and, as she sat alone with him in his office awaiting dictation, he gazed down her shirt and commented on a necklace hanging there.“
  • Also, we have reports that the  FBI is investigating ties between campaign donations from nursing homes and his inserting immunity provisions in legislation, “FBI investigators probing the Cuomo administration’s handling of nursing homes during the pandemic last spring are seeking information about a state budget provision that gave operators legal immunity, THE CITY has learned. ……… FBI officials started to make house calls this month, showing up at people’s residences and leaving business cards, according to the three sources.“

FWIW, I don’t think that “Rat Faced Andy” is going to resign except perhaps as part of a plea deal, because he wants to make sure that he has this chip in his pocket until it is certain that he won’t be going to jail.

I so hope that he goes to jail.

Not Enough Bullets

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Peter Diamandis, a tech entrepreneur who seems to won every single game of bullsh%$ bingo that he has ever played, just topped himself.

He held a conference that doubled ad a Covid-19 superspreader event, and then he tried to convince people to buy his quack cures. 

No charges, of course, because nothing is a crime any more if you are rich:

In late January, tech impresario Peter Diamandis hosted an exclusive, indoor conference for a group of ultra-wealthy patrons in Los Angeles. As MIT Technology Review reported last month, the get-together, where no masks were required, became a covid-19 superspreader event.

Four days later, as staff, speakers, and attendees began testing positive for the virus, an email went out to those who had taken part. It invited them to join an “informational webinar” featuring a doctor who had been at the event—an attempt to put their minds at ease.

Diamandis had held the Abundance 360 Summit, or A360, in violation of a ban on private gatherings during a covid surge. At least 86 people were present, some having flown in from around the world; many had paid $30,000 in assorted fees for the privilege of attending in person. Everyone was tested daily, but the virus took hold nonetheless, and at least 32 people contracted covid either directly or indirectly as a result of the four-day program.

The webinar on January 30 featured Matt Cook, a trained anesthesiologist from the San Francisco Bay Area who had started a medical practice using alternative therapies. A follow-up email sharing the URL to view a recording of the call was accompanied by an order form for products from Fountain Life, a company focused on longevity treatments, of which Diamandis is a cofounder and director.

Between the webinar and the Fountain Life order form, attendees were told about a range of products that were claimed to either treat covid-19 or prevent it outright. What they were not told was that seven of the recommended products were also classified by the US Food and Drug Administration as “covid-19 fraudulent.”

The fraudulent cures included amniotic fluid, the liquid that surrounds a baby in utero and is rich in stem cells, and colloidal silver, a suspension of metal particles often touted as having antimicrobial effects, but which the FDA has said “is not safe or effective for treating any disease or condition.” Cook recommended taking both of them as an inhaled mist using a nebulizer, an electric machine similar to an asthma inhaler.

In a more enlightened time, this guy would be in jail awaiting trial. 

If it were just the rich people who were exposed, I would not be outraged, but you have to figure that a lot of people who caught this were ordinary Joes who were bartending, serving canapes, and generally submitting to the whims of said rich folks.

They Do Want Vaccines, You Racist Dirt-Bag

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Sites in PG County mostly serve (White) folks from outside the County

So, now Maryland Governor Larry “Ratf%$#” Hogan is claiming that it’s not his policies that are undervaccinating Black people, it’s that Black folks don’t want vaccines. 

While the never Trumpers see Hogan as the future of the party, it is clear that he as extensively relied on racist appeals to maintain his popularity, particularly by deliberately short-changing Baltimore City and Prince George’s County, the which have the two largest minority communities in the state:

A 94-year-old veteran got so tired of waiting for an appointment that he drove around his Washington suburb at random, hunting for a vaccine.

A partially blind 81-year-old wanted a shot but had no computer or smartphone to register online. Yet another elderly Black resident of Maryland’s hardest-hit county, this one 102 years old, relied on church friends a few decades younger to help her through a distribution system best navigated by Gen Z.

Amid concern that prioritizing speed has heightened vaccine inequity statewide, Prince George’s County stands out: The majority-Black suburb has by far the most coronavirus cases in Maryland, and the lowest percentage of vaccinated residents.

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) has repeatedly cited vaccine hesitancy among minority groups as the key cause for the lagging rates, saying at one point that African American and Latino residents in Prince George’s, who represent 84 percent of the county’s population, are “refusing to take the vaccine.”

But local, state and federal leaders from across Maryland — all of them Democrats — blame the state’s decentralized sign-up system, which they say prioritizes those with more time, technology and information at their disposal over those who are disproportionately dying.

In interviews, more than a dozen vaccine-seeking Prince Georgians agreed.

………

Statewide, Black people represent 31 percent of Maryland’s population but only 16 percent of vaccine recipients for whom race has been reported. That disparity has grown wider over the past two months, according to a state analysis. Prince George’s lags far behind other counties, with just 8.3 percent of residents having received their first shot as of Thursday. 

………

An equity task force Hogan created released plans on Thursday to target underserved communities with pop-up clinics and other efforts, and solicit ideas from community groups about how best to deliver vaccine doses. The governor acknowledged the state was “not where we need to be with the Black community or the Hispanic community.”

But Hogan also said he believes the state has done far more than others to acknowledge and address racial inequity in vaccine distribution.

“I’m not going to respond to every criticism of every person who does not like what we say or do,” he said.

To quote John Mulaney, “That’s what I thought you’d say you dumb f%$#ing horse.”

Last week, the governor outraged Democratic lawmakers when he said Baltimore City was receiving more doses than it was “entitled to.” 

Yes, massah. 

He’s got more class than Trump, who doesn’t, but he’s pandering to the same racist dirt-bags.

Cuomo Advisers Altered Report on Covid-19 Nursing-Home Deaths – WSJ

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It now appears that members of the Cuomo administration falsified reports on nursing home deaths from Covid-19, one would assume to give their boss some political cover.

Falsifying official government documents is a crime, and you can be pretty dam sure that hizzonner knew.

The response to this news should be the AG opening a criminal investigation:

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top advisers successfully pushed state health officials to strip a public report of data showing that more nursing-home residents had died of Covid-19 than the administration had acknowledged, according to people with knowledge of the report’s production.

………

The changes Mr. Cuomo’s aides and health officials made to the nursing-home report, which haven’t been previously disclosed, reveal that the state possessed a fuller accounting of out-of-facility nursing-home deaths as early as the summer. The Health Department resisted calls by state and federal lawmakers, media outlets and others to release the data for another eight months.

No, they falsified their reports.

That is a very different. and quite illegal, thing.

State officials now say more than 15,000 residents of nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities were confirmed or presumed to have died from Covid-19 since March of last year—counting both those who died in long-term-care facilities and those who died later in hospitals. That figure is about 50% higher than earlier official death tolls.

………

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn asked the Cuomo administration in February for information about nursing-home deaths, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Federal prosecutors expressed interest in the July report, people familiar with the matter said.

Cuomo has aided and abbeted corruption as a way to further his power for over a decade, see the convictions of New York House Speaker Sheldon Silver and New York Senate leader Dean Skelos for corruption, as well as his actions to shut down his own anti-corruption commission, the Moreland Commission, when it too close to him and his.

In response to questions from the Journal, administration officials said Thursday that Mr. Cuomo’s advisers advocated against including data on out-of-facility deaths because they had concerns about its accuracy.

Concerns about accuracy, my ass.  This was a coverup to maximize Cuomo’s political advantage as he attempted to sell himself to the American public as “Governor Covid”.

………

State lawmakers from both parties have said the out-of-facility death data was critical for them to evaluate nursing-home policies that could prevent future fatalities. They said the Cuomo administration’s decision to delay its release constitutes a coverup of data the governor knew would be damaging to his political stature.

………

The Justice Department, through its Civil Rights Division, began requesting information about nursing-home deaths from New York and other Democratic-leaning states in August.

………

The initial version of the report submitted to Mr. Cuomo’s team for review included both data on deaths of nursing-home residents in hospitals and deaths of residents inside nursing homes, people familiar with the report’s production said.

………

In January, a report by the New York Attorney General said the state had undercounted nursing-home deaths and said the governor’s directive may have spread the disease.

It’s corruption all the way down, and I really would like to see Governor Cuomo become defendant Cuomo.

Headline of the Day

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Joe Biden Owes Neanderthals an Apology After Comments on Texas Mask Mandate Lift

—Charlie Pierce

Yes, the Texas governor has decided to lift all Covid restrictions, because  ……… TEXAS, and the governor of Mississippi has decided to lift all Covid restrictions, because  ……… they can’t abide TEXAS out-stupiding them.

Biden described this as, “Neanderthal Thinking,” which is, as the eminently quotable Mr. Pierce notes, unfair to Homo Sapiens Neanderthalensis, who by all indications were just as capable and intelligent as our own Homo Sapiens Sapiens.

I think that we should give Texas back to Mexico, if they will take it.

As to Mississippi,could someone please take them?  Anyone?

Oh, Canada

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After discovering that teachers were leaving classroom windows open to improve ventalation and reduce the spread of Covid 19, Officials in Abbotsford, B.C. Canada brought in contractors to screw the windows shut. 

So, just in case you are wondering, asshole incompetent school administrators appear to be a universal thing:

Officials at a school in Abbotsford, B.C., had windows in the building either screwed shut or blocked from opening wider than a few inches after teachers began using them to compensate for poor ventilation, says the Abbotsford Teachers’ Union.

Teachers at Godson Elementary School had assumed a proper ventilation system was installed throughout the entire school — to maintain airflow and reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission — but they were shocked to learn in December that this wasn’t the case in an older wing of the building.

After teachers began opening windows wide to increase airflow in the affected classrooms — despite cold temperatures outside — the school district responded by sending contractors to fix the issue.

The district says those contractors found safety issues with the windows and partially sealed them.

………

On Feb. 14, health officials ordered one division at Godson elementary to self-isolate because of COVID exposure.

………

The wing with no ventilation system houses some 200 students and staff in 18 rooms.

“To start by screwing the windows closed — was instantly a large stress,” said Brooks.

“It was a great surprise to the staff. The day that it happened the teachers were very upset.”

She said the district supplied small air purifiers to process classroom air, but described it as “Band Aid” solution.

I think that this could be settled with a friendly game of hockey between the parents and the teachers, with the school administrators being the puck.

Of Course They Are

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Despite the Pandemic, despite the new variants spreading across the nation, despite the fact that sick workers coming into work further spread the disease, Republicans are still trying to kill paid sick leave, because if your employer cannot exploit you, they want you dead:

Pennsylvania state Rep. Seth Grove introduced legislation last month to block cities and municipalities from imposing paid sick leave requirements on businesses, even as COVID-19 cases are raging throughout his state and the country. Last week, local news media reported that the Republican lawmaker was now quarantining after exhibiting coronavirus symptoms and awaiting test results.

Grove’s preemption bill is the latest salvo in an ongoing war over stripping worker protections that continues to be fought in statehouses and Congress, even as the coronavirus pandemic spirals out of control. With Democrats in Washington preparing to drop paid sick leave from President Joe Biden’s first COVID relief bill, potentially leaving 87 million workers without protection, the responsibility for providing the benefit to workers now falls squarely on states — the very place the war has been waged for the last decade.

Paid sick leave statutes require businesses to provide employees with medical leave for ailments and injuries. Grove has been pushing for legislation to bar localities from imposing such requirements since 2013. His latest bill, reintroducing the measure, would be retroactive to 2015 — the year Democratic strongholds Philadelphia and Pittsburgh passed laws mandating paid sick leave.

 F%$# them, and the horse they rode in on.

People Are No Longer Afraid of Rat-Faced Andy

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Democratic members of the New York House and Senate are considering rescinding the Covid powers that they granted Andrew Cuomo in the budget bill following credible allegations that he and his administration covered up nursing home deaths for political advantage.

The fact that they are considering this at all is significant, Cuomo is known for his vindictive nature, and the fact that they are considering going against him means that they think that the time is right to do this.

It may be better to be feared than liked, but at some point, if the fear goes away, and everyone hates you, things can get unpleasant: 

Some Democrats in Albany have floated the legally dubious idea of threatening to rescind Gov. Cuomo’s pandemic powers and issue subpoenas as leverage in upcoming budget negotiations.

Over the weekend, the governor’s fellow Democrats, who control both houses in the Legislature, continued to hold discussions about scaling back Cuomo’s sweeping pandemic powers after a top aide admitted the state paused the release of nursing home death data over concerns it would be politicized by the Trump administration.

Senate Dems met virtually Sunday to consider rescinding the governor’s executive authority or potentially creating a commission that could outright reject executive orders, similar to a 10-member panel used in Connecticut, sources said.

The Legislature already has the ability to overturn any COVID-related executive order via a majority vote.

On Friday, 14 Democratic state senators, including a handful from the city, joined Republicans in backing the idea of taking away Cuomo’s emergency powers before they expire in April.

………

But threatening such actions, especially subpoenas, without intent to follow through in order to influence fiscal talks could backfire big time, insiders said. “It could legally be seen as extortion,” a source said.

Yeah, much in the same way that Marty Walsh’s insisting on a concert promoter using competent workers in Boston could be legally seen as extortion? (see prior post)

………

Barclay and others have spent months demanding subpoenas, hearings or a federal probe into the state’s nursing home policies amid the pandemic.

The Cuomo administration came under renewed fire last week, facing accusations of a coverup and mounting backlash over its failure to release a full count of nursing home deaths for nearly six months.

In a call meant to bridge a growing divide with fellow Dems, the governor’s most trusted confidant, Melissa DeRosa, told lawmakers that officials “froze” last year when the Department of Justice made an inquiry into elder care facilities.

DeRosa said the administration postponed responding to legislative requests and failed to include nursing home residents who died in hospitals in publicly available data because President Trump had turned the matter “into a giant political football.”

The call came two weeks after a report from Attorney General Letitia James estimated that the state was under-counting deaths of nursing home residents by as much as 50%.

Cuomo was not concerned about Trump, he delighted in fighting with him.

This was about his attempting to cast his incompetent and corrupt management of the Covid-19 crisis (It only looked good in comparison to Donald Trump) as a triumph rather than a disaster.

New York State needs to raise taxes on the wealthy, and to end the corrupt environment that Cuomo thrives in.