vox--2020-07-27--Senate Republicans have a new stimulus bill. Here’s what’s in it.

Senate Republicans have finally unveiled their opening bid in negotiations for the next coronavirus stimulus package , setting up a serious clash with Democrats in the coming days over funding for unemployment insurance and state governments .
The GOP bill arrives as Congress faces a pressing deadline : Enhanced unemployment insurance ( UI ) is set to expire this week , with millions receiving their final federal unemployment payments allotted by the Cares Act this past weekend .
A federal eviction moratorium has also elapsed , and state and local governments increasingly feeling the strain of both dwindling tax revenues @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Congress for help .
Republicans have long chafed at spending more money on stimulus , and this reluctance is apparent in the new bill .
Currently , UI recipients are receiving an extra $ 600 per week on top of their standard benefits , an amount Republicans would like to cut to $ 200 through September .
Additionally , GOP lawmakers have prioritized the inclusion of liability protections for businesses , which would shield them from coronavirus-related lawsuits , while appearing to shy away from more funds for state and local governments .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Heals Act , 10 weeks after House Democrats passed their version , the Heroes Act , in the lower chamber .
While the two proposals have some overlap — including support for another round of $ 1,200 stimulus checks — lawmakers have many other differences they still need to work out .
Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged as much in a statement Monday , while criticizing Republicans for dragging their feet on their proposal amid an economic crisis .
Republicans have argued that they waited on approving more aid , in part , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the economy could rebound on its own as states reopened .
“ We have stood ready to negotiate for more than two months , ” Pelosi said .
“ I call upon the Republican leadership of the House and Senate and representatives of the President to come to the Speaker ’ s Office and join Leader Schumer and me within a half an hour of releasing their plan today to negotiate and get the job done.
” Both parties will have to buy into a final stimulus plan to get any bill through @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have already indicated that several members of the Senate GOP conference won ’ t support the stimulus , potentially giving Democrats more leverage on a final proposal .
The Heals Act is notably narrower than the Heroes Act : It ’ s set to allocate roughly $ 1 trillion in new stimulus compared to the more than $ 3 trillion the Democrats ’ proposal did .
In addition to a difference in scope , it also focuses on its own set of priorities .
The two bills share some provisions — including funding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus testing and schools — but the GOP legislation puts a much greater emphasis on legal protections for businesses .
Here are some of the tenets the GOP bill includes and how the bill differs from Democrats ’ vision : • A second stimulus check : Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have announced support for another wave of direct payments to Americans , a provision that looks very similar to what was included in the Cares Act .
Through the Cares Act , which was signed into law in March , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adjusted gross income ( AGI ) of $ 75,000 annually were eligible to receive a $ 1,200 check , along with an additional $ 500 payment per qualifying child .
Payments were cut off for individuals who had an AGI of more than $ 99,000 .
In the Heroes Act , Democrats proposed that individuals receive up to $ 1,200 per dependent , capped at three dependents .
Republicans don ’ t support the larger dependent payments , though they do back the application of the $ 500 payments to adult dependents as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus vaccine development , testing , contact tracing , and treatment : There ’ s bipartisan interest in additional funding for coronavirus testing and treatment , though Republicans are proposing less than Democrats have : $ 16 billion in their bill versus the $ 75 billion that was allocated in the Heroes Act .
Republicans would also allocate $ 26 billion to vaccine development .
Reducing coronavirus cases is of the utmost importance not just for saving lives but also for a successful economic recovery as many businesses and industries have had to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) as part of their efforts to limit the spread of the virus .
Increasing federally administered funds for testing , tracing , and treatment could go a long way toward getting case counts under control , MIT finance professor Jonathan Parker said : “ The haphazard national response to the virus means that even when places that have seen major outbreaks contain them , other places in the country are not containing the virus and will have outbreaks that then spill over and reinfect other places all over again.
” • Funding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have placed a major emphasis on providing schools with the funding they need to reopen safely , though each party has proposed different amounts .
Republicans are interested in allocating $ 105 billion for schools and higher education institutions while Senate Democrats have introduced a $ 430 billion package that would provide funds for day cares , schools , and higher education institutions .
Previously , House Democrats had included $ 100 billion in the Heroes Act , a detail Republicans have pointed to as evidence of potential common ground .
• More @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats are both interested in more support for small businesses , many of which have already seen the funds they previously obtained via the Paycheck Protection Program ( PPP ) run out .
Republicans say they ’ d like to do another wave of PPP that better targets the businesses that are struggling the most to stay afloat .
These additional funds would enable smaller businesses — those with 300 or fewer employees that have experienced major financial difficulties — to procure a PPP loan even if they ’ ve already received one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for targeted funding that reaches underrepresented business owners , particularly people of color and women .
• A “ fix ” for unemployment insurance : The UI expansion in the Cares Act added another $ 600 in federal funds to the weekly unemployment payments that recipients get from states .
Republicans have long been interested in either eliminating or reducing the extra money because they see it as deterring people from returning to work .
Their critique overlooks the current reality of the pandemic : Right now , the UI is helping people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and others from the coronavirus .
Additionally , the Republicans ’ view doesn ’ t acknowledge the fact that many jobs that have been lost aren ’ t coming back in the near term .
“ ‘ We are just furloughing people until we can reopen.
’ That was what a lot of those early [ layoffs ] looked like , ” said Heidi Shierholz , senior economist and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute , who noted that many of these temporary job losses have now become permanent .
In the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a reduction in the expanded UI amount from $ 600 to $ 200 through September .
Starting in October , their bill would change the sum of workers ’ boosted and existing benefits to match 70 percent of their preexisting wages ( up to a specific limit ) , a calculation that ’ s expected to prove challenging for states to do .
Experts warn that any alterations in expanded UI will be tough for states already overwhelmed by the surge in UI applications to execute .
“ There will be states that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are unable to make pandemic unemployment payments for a couple of weeks while they reprogram their systems , ” UC Berkeley economics professor Jesse Rothstein tells Vox .
• Liability protections for businesses : Republicans have repeatedly said that one of their chief goals is ensuring that businesses and other entities are protected from coronavirus-related lawsuits that emerge from customers and employees .
“ One helpful policy would be strong legal protection for schools , colleges , nonprofits , and employers who are putting their necks on the line to reopen , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ So long as institutions follow the best available guidelines , they should not have to live in fear of a second epidemic of frivolous lawsuits.
” Liability protections would shield schools , companies and health care providers from lawsuits related to coronavirus exposure and treatment between December 2019 and October 2024 .
Lawmakers now have a narrow timeframe for negotiations In addition to a pending deadline on unemployment insurance on July 31 , Congress is planning to leave for recess on August 7 , giving lawmakers a tight time window in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Due to current party dynamics in Congress , Democrats could have more sway on what a final bill looks like .
At the moment , many Republicans are opposed to the idea of any more spending for stimulus .
Many worry about the government having to take on more debt — even though current interest rates make borrowing less burdensome for the US government .
“ Half the Republicans are going to vote ‘ no ’ to any more aid , ” Sen. Lindsey Graham ( R-SC ) said during a Fox @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s just a fact.
” Even if all 53 Senate Republicans were to stick together , they ’ d need at least seven Democrats to back a stimulus bill to get it through the chamber .
With some Republicans likely to defect , the GOP — though in the majority — would need even more Democrats to support the Senate version of any final legislation .
Additionally , no bill will be able to make it through the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives without the votes of most Democrats in that chamber .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ pushback on this Republican proposal , including its attempts to curb expanded UI as well as its treatment of state aid .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

Senate Republicans have finally unveiled their opening bid in negotiations for the next coronavirus stimulus package, setting up a serious clash with Democrats in the coming days over funding for unemployment insurance and state governments.
The GOP bill arrives as Congress faces a pressing deadline: Enhanced unemployment insurance (UI) is set to expire this week, with millions receiving their final federal unemployment payments allotted by the CARES Act this past weekend. A federal eviction moratorium has also elapsed, and state and local governments increasingly feeling the strain of both dwindling tax revenues and rising coronavirus costs are looking to Congress for help.
Republicans have long chafed at spending more money on stimulus, and this reluctance is apparent in the new bill. Currently, UI recipients are receiving an extra $600 per week on top of their standard benefits, an amount Republicans would like to cut to $200 through September. Additionally, GOP lawmakers have prioritized the inclusion of liability protections for businesses, which would shield them from coronavirus-related lawsuits, while appearing to shy away from more funds for state and local governments.
Republicans introduced their stimulus bill, dubbed the HEALS Act, 10 weeks after House Democrats passed their version, the HEROES Act, in the lower chamber. While the two proposals have some overlap — including support for another round of $1,200 stimulus checks — lawmakers have many other differences they still need to work out.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi acknowledged as much in a statement Monday, while criticizing Republicans for dragging their feet on their proposal amid an economic crisis. Republicans have argued that they waited on approving more aid, in part, because they were interested in seeing whether the economy could rebound on its own as states reopened.
“We have stood ready to negotiate for more than two months,” Pelosi said. “I call upon the Republican leadership of the House and Senate and representatives of the President to come to the Speaker’s Office and join Leader Schumer and me within a half an hour of releasing their plan today to negotiate and get the job done.”
Both parties will have to buy into a final stimulus plan to get any bill through the two chambers of Congress; Republicans have already indicated that several members of the Senate GOP conference won’t support the stimulus, potentially giving Democrats more leverage on a final proposal.
What’s in the Republicans’ bill
The HEALS Act is notably narrower than the HEROES Act: It’s set to allocate roughly $1 trillion in new stimulus compared to the more than $3 trillion the Democrats’ proposal did. In addition to a difference in scope, it also focuses on its own set of priorities.
The two bills share some provisions — including funding for stimulus checks and additional money for coronavirus testing and schools — but the GOP legislation puts a much greater emphasis on legal protections for businesses.
Here are some of the tenets the GOP bill includes and how the bill differs from Democrats’ vision:
A second stimulus check: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have announced support for another wave of direct payments to Americans, a provision that looks very similar to what was included in the CARES Act.
Through the CARES Act, which was signed into law in March, most adults who made less than an adjusted gross income (AGI) of $75,000 annually were eligible to receive a $1,200 check, along with an additional $500 payment per qualifying child. Payments were cut off for individuals who had an AGI of more than $99,000.
In the HEROES Act, Democrats proposed that individuals receive up to $1,200 per dependent, capped at three dependents. Republicans don’t support the larger dependent payments, though they do back the application of the $500 payments to adult dependents as well as children.
Changes to unemployment insurance: The UI expansion in the CARES Act added another $600 in federal funds to the weekly unemployment payments recipients get from states. Republicans have long been interested in either eliminating or reducing the extra money because they see it as deterring people from returning to work.
Their critique overlooks the current reality of the pandemic: Right now, the UI is helping people stay home in order to protect themselves and others from the coronavirus. Additionally, the Republicans’ view doesn’t acknowledge the fact that many jobs that have been lost aren’t coming back in the near term.
“‘We are just furloughing people until we can reopen.’ That was what a lot of those early [layoffs] looked like,” said Heidi Shierholz, senior economist and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, who noted that many of these temporary job losses have now become permanent.
In the new bill, Republicans are pushing for a reduction in the expanded UI amount from $600 per week to $200 through September. Starting in October, their bill would change the sum of workers’ boosted and existing benefits to match 70 percent of their preexisting wages (up to a specific limit), a calculation that’s expected to prove challenging for states to make.
Experts warn that any alterations in expanded UI will be tough for states already overwhelmed by the surge in UI applications to execute.
“There will be states that can’t adjust in time and are unable to make pandemic unemployment payments for a couple of weeks while they reprogram their systems,” UC Berkeley economics professor Jesse Rothstein tells Vox.
Funding for coronavirus vaccine development, testing, contact tracing, and treatment: There’s bipartisan interest in additional funding for coronavirus testing and treatment, though Republicans are proposing less than Democrats have: $16 billion in their bill versus the $75 billion allocated in the HEROES Act. Republicans would also allocate $20 billion to vaccine development.
Reducing coronavirus cases is of the utmost importance not just for saving lives but also for a successful economic recovery as many businesses and industries have had to reduce operations (and lay off workers) as part of their efforts to limit the spread of the virus.
Increasing federally administered funds for testing, tracing, and treatment could go a long way toward getting case counts under control, MIT finance professor Jonathan Parker said: “The haphazard national response to the virus means that even when places that have seen major outbreaks contain them, other places in the country are not containing the virus and will have outbreaks that then spill over and reinfect other places all over again.”
Funding for schools: Both Republicans and Democrats have placed a major emphasis on providing schools with the funding they need to reopen safely, though each party has proposed different amounts.
Republicans are interested in allocating $105 billion for schools and higher education institutions while Senate Democrats have introduced a $430 billion package that would provide funds for day cares, schools, and higher education institutions. Previously, House Democrats had included $100 billion in the HEROES Act, a detail Republicans have pointed to as evidence of potential common ground.
More money for small businesses: Republicans and Democrats are both interested in more support for small businesses, many of which have already seen the funds they previously obtained via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) run out.
Republicans say they’d like to do another wave of PPP that better targets the businesses that are struggling the most to stay afloat. These additional funds would enable smaller businesses — those with 300 or fewer employees that have experienced major financial difficulties — to procure a PPP loan even if they’ve already received one.
Democrats, too, have argued for targeted funding that reaches underrepresented business owners, particularly people of color and women.
Liability protections for businesses: Republicans have repeatedly said that one of their chief goals is ensuring that businesses and other entities are protected from coronavirus-related lawsuits that emerge from customers and employees.
“One helpful policy would be strong legal protection for schools, colleges, nonprofits, and employers who are putting their necks on the line to reopen,” McConnell said in a June floor speech. “So long as institutions follow the best available guidelines, they should not have to live in fear of a second epidemic of frivolous lawsuits.”
Liability protections would shield schools, companies and health care providers from lawsuits related to coronavirus exposure and treatment between December 2019 and October 2024.
Lawmakers now have a narrow time frame for negotiations
In addition to a pending deadline on unemployment insurance on July 31, Congress is planning to leave for recess on August 7, giving lawmakers a tight time window in which to approve the new stimulus package.
Due to current party dynamics in Congress, Democrats could have more sway on what a final bill looks like.
At the moment, many Republicans are opposed to the idea of any more spending for stimulus. Many worry about the government having to take on more debt — even though current interest rates make borrowing less burdensome for the US government. “Half the Republicans are going to vote ‘no’ to any more aid,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said during a Fox News appearance this weekend. “That’s just a fact.”
Even if all 53 Senate Republicans were to stick together, they’d need at least seven Democrats to back a stimulus bill to get it through the chamber. With some Republicans likely to defect, the GOP — though in the majority — would need even more Democrats to support the Senate version of any final legislation. Additionally, no bill will be able to make it through the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives without the votes of most Democrats in that chamber.
As a result, expect heavy Democratic pushback on this Republican proposal, including its attempts to curb expanded UI as well as its treatment of state aid.


vox--2020-07-27--Nursing home deaths in Texas rose 64 percent in the past 2 weeks

When coronavirus cases began to spike again , experts outlined the worst-case scenario : that those spikes , initially concentrated among younger people who were more cavalier once businesses reopened , would eventually migrate to older people — particularly long-term care facilities , where so many seniors have already died from Covid-19 .
And now , according to a new data analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation , it seems those fears are being realized .
The question is how bad it will get .
Over a two-week period from late June to July 10 , in 23 states that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” the number of cases in long-term care facilities increased by 18 percent .
That was lower than the overall increase in cases over the same period in those states , which was 49 percent , but it was still substantially higher than the increase in long-term care cases in the not-hot spot states ( about 4 percent ; overall cases in those states rose by 11 percent ) .
That disparity strongly suggests the more dramatic increase in long-term care cases in the hot-spot states is the result of broader community spread @ @ @ @ @ @ @ nursing homes are taking to keep the virus out can only do so much good if the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the outside world .
Texas and Florida , for example , saw the largest increases in overall cases during the time period studied — and they experienced the biggest spikes in long-term care cases .
Overall cases in both states have doubled ; infections in nursing homes jumped by 50 percent .
“ These increases are particularly troubling given that they have happened amidst the strict measures that facilities have put @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the policy analyst at KFF who wrote the analysis , told me .
You could be tempted to take heart that the number of cases among long-term care patients has not increased as much as cases for the general population in US hot spots .
But considering how much more adverse their outcomes are likely to be , that is actually little solace .
Long-term care patients account for less than 4 percent of all confirmed US Covid-19 cases , but more than 25 percent of the nearly 150,000 deaths .
The disease @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than 10 percent of people older than 80 who contracted the coronavirus in Spain , Italy , and South Korea have died .
According to the New York Times , the overall US case fatality rate is about 4 percent , but in nursing homes it is closer to 20 percent .
The same trends are playing out in the states currently enduring surges .
Chidambaram told me that long-term care deaths in the new hot spots had increased at six times the rate of the states with more contained spread over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , deaths in nursing homes leapt by more than 60 percent in that time ; Florida also saw a 20 percent increase .
“ We are more likely to see severe illness and death among those in long-term care facilities , so any rise in cases is concerning , ” she said .
As I covered previously , the US had set itself up for failure in containing a pandemic within long-term care settings .
For too long , those facilities have been poorly funded and they had not been adequately prepared for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shortages in providing adequate Covid-19 testing for patients and protective gear for staff compounded the preexisting problems .
But the US is now months into the pandemic and this new data shows the country hasn ’ t been able to fully insulate nursing homes and assisted-living facilities when the virus is spreading in the broader community .
Long-term care facilities have taken precautions — mandated testing , restrictions on visitors , isolating sick residents — but it still hasn ’ t been enough to suppress the virus ’ s spread .
“ There @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we know how to shield the most vulnerable when there is widespread community transmission , ” Marc Lipsitch , a Harvard epidemiologist , told me recently .
And nursing homes are still enduring shortages in staffing or protective equipment or both ; about 1 in 3 facilities have reported those problems , per KFF .
Lags and gaps in reporting make it difficult to ascertain the exact toll of the virus on long-term care workers , but even a cursory attempt to reconcile the federal data on residents specifically with the Times ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in nursing homes , including workers , suggests tens of thousands of workers have gotten sick and hundreds if not thousands of them have died in the pandemic .
So mitigation measures focused on nursing homes can ’ t totally prevent the coronavirus from finding its ways to vulnerable populations .
Instead , the best way to protect nursing home residents and other older people is to contain the virus altogether .
Several experts have pointed out to me that the countries that have seen the best results in long-term care settings are @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whole , kept their outbreaks under control .
As William Hanage at Harvard put it to me , both Massachusetts and Norway have seen about 60 percent of their coronavirus deaths occur in nursing homes .
But for Massachusetts , that amounts to nearly 5,000 deaths , while in Norway , it is less than 200 .
“ The best way to keep these people safe is to keep community transmission low , ” he said .
Instead , the recent spikes have led to record highs in new daily cases .
Hospitalizations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ started to plateau in the past few days , but they aren ’ t dropping yet .
If the goal is to suppress spread overall to protect the elderly , as experts say it should be , then the US still has a long way to go .
This story appears in VoxCare , a newsletter from Vox on the latest twists and turns in America ’ s health care debate .
Sign up to get VoxCare in your inbox along with more health care stats and news .
Every day at Vox @ @ @ @ @ @ @ important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today .

When coronavirus cases began to spike again, experts outlined the worst-case scenario: that those spikes, initially concentrated among younger people who were more cavalier once businesses reopened, would eventually migrate to older people — particularly long-term care facilities, where so many seniors have already died from Covid-19.
And now, according to a new data analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation, it seems those fears are being realized. The question is how bad it will get.
Over a two-week period from late June to July 10, in 23 states that KFF characterized as “hot spots,” the number of cases in long-term care facilities increased by 18 percent. That was lower than the overall increase in cases over the same period in those states, which was 49 percent, but it was still substantially higher than the increase in long-term care cases in the not-hot spot states (about 4 percent; overall cases in those states rose by 11 percent).
That disparity strongly suggests the more dramatic increase in long-term care cases in the hot-spot states is the result of broader community spread. It also indicates that the precautions nursing homes are taking to keep the virus out can only do so much good if the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in the outside world.
Texas and Florida, for example, saw the largest increases in overall cases during the time period studied — and they experienced the biggest spikes in long-term care cases. Overall cases in both states have doubled; infections in nursing homes jumped by 50 percent.
“These increases are particularly troubling given that they have happened amidst the strict measures that facilities have put in place,” Priya Chidambaram, the policy analyst at KFF who wrote the analysis, told me.
You could be tempted to take heart that the number of cases among long-term care patients has not increased as much as cases for the general population in US hot spots. But considering how much more adverse their outcomes are likely to be, that is actually little solace.
Long-term care patients account for less than 4 percent of all confirmed US Covid-19 cases, but more than 25 percent of the nearly 150,000 deaths. The disease is extremely deadly for older people: more than 10 percent of people older than 80 who contracted the coronavirus in Spain, Italy, and South Korea have died. According to the New York Times, the overall US case fatality rate is about 4 percent, but in nursing homes it is closer to 20 percent.
The same trends are playing out in the states currently enduring surges. Chidambaram told me that long-term care deaths in the new hot spots had increased at six times the rate of the states with more contained spread over a recent two-week period. In Texas, deaths in nursing homes leapt by more than 60 percent in that time; Florida also saw a 20 percent increase.
“We are more likely to see severe illness and death among those in long-term care facilities, so any rise in cases is concerning,” she said.
As I covered previously, the US had set itself up for failure in containing a pandemic within long-term care settings. For too long, those facilities have been poorly funded and they had not been adequately prepared for a major infectious disease outbreak. Early shortages in providing adequate Covid-19 testing for patients and protective gear for staff compounded the preexisting problems.
But the US is now months into the pandemic and this new data shows the country hasn’t been able to fully insulate nursing homes and assisted-living facilities when the virus is spreading in the broader community. Long-term care facilities have taken precautions — mandated testing, restrictions on visitors, isolating sick residents — but it still hasn’t been enough to suppress the virus’s spread.
“There is so far not much evidence that we know how to shield the most vulnerable when there is widespread community transmission,” Marc Lipsitch, a Harvard epidemiologist, told me recently.
And nursing homes are still enduring shortages in staffing or protective equipment or both; about 1 in 3 facilities have reported those problems, per KFF. Lags and gaps in reporting make it difficult to ascertain the exact toll of the virus on long-term care workers, but even a cursory attempt to reconcile the federal data on residents specifically with the Times’s count of all cases and deaths in nursing homes, including workers, suggests tens of thousands of workers have gotten sick and hundreds if not thousands of them have died in the pandemic.
So mitigation measures focused on nursing homes can’t totally prevent the coronavirus from finding its ways to vulnerable populations. Instead, the best way to protect nursing home residents and other older people is to contain the virus altogether. Several experts have pointed out to me that the countries that have seen the best results in long-term care settings are the ones that have, on the whole, kept their outbreaks under control.
As William Hanage at Harvard put it to me, both Massachusetts and Norway have seen about 60 percent of their coronavirus deaths occur in nursing homes. But for Massachusetts, that amounts to nearly 5,000 deaths, while in Norway, it is less than 200.
“The best way to keep these people safe is to keep community transmission low,” he said.
Instead, the recent spikes have led to record highs in new daily cases. Hospitalizations matched their spring peak. Cases have started to plateau in the past few days, but they aren’t dropping yet.
If the goal is to suppress spread overall to protect the elderly, as experts say it should be, then the US still has a long way to go.
This story appears in VoxCare, a newsletter from Vox on the latest twists and turns in America’s health care debate. Sign up to get VoxCare in your inbox along with more health care stats and news.


vox--2020-07-27--“He did not believe in giving up”: Remembering a friendship with John Lewis

When Rep. John Lewis died on July 17 at age 80 , the country , in the midst of several crises , came to a halt to reflect on a leader who never stopped fighting for racial justice .
Known for his direct action in movements like the sit-ins at Nashville lunch counters and the Selma to Montgomery marches aimed at registering Black voters , Lewis inspired countless people .
As former President Barack Obama said , “ He believed that in all of us , there exists the capacity for great courage , a longing to do what ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all people , and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect.
” Lewis had a particular influence on Bernard Lafayette , a civil rights leader who met Lewis in 1958 when they were roommates together in college .
They became friends based on their shared experiences with Jim Crow and would strengthen their bond through the Freedom Rides , an activist effort in the early 1960s that sought to desegregate buses in the South .
According to Lafayette , who laid the groundwork for activism in Selma , Alabama @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” — the kind of energy that would never recoil in the face of injustice .
“ If you would push him back , he would come back , ” Lafayette said .
I spoke to Lafayette as he and the country reel from the loss of Lewis and other civil rights leaders , including C.T .
Vivian and Charles Evers , and as a new generation of leaders are demanding that racist systems be dismantled .
Lafayette talked to me about his friendship with Lewis and why the late leader never made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Our conversation , which has been condensed for clarity , also touched on the pursuit of nonviolence — even when one ’ s life is at risk — and how that relates to the movement today .
Tell me about your friendship with John Lewis .
How did it start and what kept the two of you together for so many years ?
We met as students at the American Baptist College in Nashville in 1958 .
He was in the year ahead of me .
We were roommates , and he tutored @ @ @ @ @ @ @ courses that I was enrolled in .
I was taking advantage .
We were both from the South , and we had a lot of experiences with segregation and discrimination when we were growing up , like when John couldn ’ t get a library card when he was younger , and how if I was catching a streetcar with my grandmother , we ’ d have to sit in the back .
We would talk about all of this all the time .
We both shared the idea of doing something about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It sounds like Lewis was already a mentor to you at that young age .
How else did he influence you in school ?
He is the one that persuaded me to go to workshops on nonviolence that were conducted by James Lawson Jr .
I had to be persuaded because I was so busy .
I didn ’ t have time !
But once I went , I got really excited about it .
The workshops are what prepared us for the movement .
We were focused on lunch counters .
Lawson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than three months , we desegregated the lunch counters in Nashville by using nonviolent tactics [ like sitting quietly and patiently waiting to be served and having back-ups once the first group of demonstrators were arrested ] .
C.T .
Vivian was there and Diane Nash and Jim Bevel and a lot of people all participated in making that happen .
The Christmas of 1960 , before the Freedom Rides started , John Lewis and I had decided to desegregate the Greyhound bus .
We sat in the front seats of the bus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tried to force us off .
We rode all the way down to Troy , Alabama , where John got off .
And then I rode down to Florida .
So we desegregated the buses at that time — not completely — but just the two of us .
And how did that experience lead you and John Lewis to participate in the Freedom Rides ?
Once the Freedom Rides were announced in May 1961 , John applied and I applied too , but I was not 21 so I couldn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ When I called my father and asked him , he said , “ I ’ m not gon na sign your death warrant.
” The Freedom Rides were halted because of the violence — the burning of the buses in Anniston , Alabama , and because of evil people in Birmingham .
They stopped the Freedom Rides because people had been promised protection , but they didn ’ t get any .
However , we decided to continue the Freedom Rides between late May and September of 1961 .
So I didn ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I was of age ] .
John Lewis had the first group going to Birmingham , to continue to ride .
And we had a backup group that I led after John Lewis got arrested in Birmingham .
In Montgomery , we were met by mob violence there .
At that point , we decided to regroup , bring other people on , and train them to get them ready to continue the Freedom Rides .
We learned this strategy of having back-up groups of people in the workshops .
The training that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the world .
In thinking back to how John Lewis convinced you to join the workshops and take part in the Freedom Rides , what do you believe that says about his character ?
Well , he was the president of his class at American Baptist College in Nashville .
And then , the next year he was the president of the student body .
John Lewis was not just a student , like many of the students at the school .
They were leaders in their communities and some were pastors of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ churches .
It was no coincidence that he ended up being the chairman of SNCC , the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee .
He had the leadership qualities .
What gave us the confidence that he could do that was he made us believe things could change if we did not give up .
So the main thing that characterized John Lewis is he is a person who did not believe in giving up .
He had what you call a “ comeback spirit.
” If you would push him back , he would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the only way you could move forward — you would come back .
Can you talk about this idea of the “ comeback spirit ” from your experience ?
What was it like for you to be so close to death so many times when it came to the lunch counter sit-ins or with the times that you desegregated the buses ?
How did you keep going when you knew you could lose your life to violence ?
I can best explain this through my experiences in Selma .
I was sent to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the director of the Alabama voter registration project when nobody else would go .
Two teams of SNCC workers had already gone down to Selma , and when they came back they told the head of SNCC that nothing could be done there — and these were people who had been involved in sit-ins and Freedom Rides .
Both teams had the same reasons why nothing could be done : The white people were too mean and the Black people were too afraid , they said .
I had just gotten off the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be director of my own project .
They told me they didn ’ t have any more assignments .
But on a map that was on the blackboard , they had an “ X ” through Alabama — they weren ’ t going to go down there .
And I said , “ Well , what about this place here ?
And they said , “ Well , if you want to take a look at it.
” So I said , “ I ’ ll take it if nobody else wants to.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ do my research .
I studied the White Citizens ’ Council and the Ku Klux Klan .
I wanted to be fully aware of those kinds of things .
By this time , they had already had the Montgomery movement in Alabama , the Birmingham movement — so I kept asking myself , how is it that folks in Selma are so mean ?
What can be meaner than the other places where they put dogs on people and beat them up and throw them in jail ?
So when I went into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I started learning a lot of things firsthand .
And to answer your question , there was one night in particular in 1963 that can show you how we stood up against the violence that existed .
That night I drove up to my apartment building .
There was a car out in front that looked like it was disabled since the hood was up .
There were two white people there , one in the driver ’ s seat and the other under the hood of the car .
The one under @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked how much I would charge to give them a push .
I said I wouldn ’ t charge anything and quickly got ready to give them a push .
But first I asked him if the car bumpers matched — they had to match or otherwise the bumpers would lock .
He suggested I take a look , so I bent down .
When I did , this fella clobbered me and knocked me down in the middle of the street .
I got up , and I looked at him .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the head .
And then the third time , he jumped up in the air and hit me in the middle of my head .
I went straight down to the ground .
Every time he hit me , I fell .
But I got back up and looked at him .
I had been trained in nonviolence so this was the expected response .
He started shaking because he was a huge guy and he should have knocked me out during the first go-around .
He started backing up , and I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hand was a gun .
He was going to shoot me .
I turned around and called my neighbor who was upstairs so somebody could witness this murder about to take place .
He was a light-skinned Black person so we called him “ Red.
” I yelled out over the banister , “ Red !
” Red !
” He came out onto the porch upstairs with a rifle .
He had been to Korea ; he was a marksman .
He started aiming at this guy , and I blocked him @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fella who had a gun on me and faced Red .
I held up my hands and told Red , “ Don ’ t shoot !
Don ’ t shoot !
” Red was trying to get a beam on him and trying to go around me .
I wouldn ’ t let him .
I was protecting the guy ’ s life who was trying to kill me .
In nonviolence , what you do is always try to find a nonviolent way to solve the problem , even when your life @ @ @ @ @ @ @ psychology of it is this : Does it make sense for a guy to shoot you in the back when you are trying to block someone from killing him ?
You see , that psychology ?
We were taught to take steps that help you reach the goal you ’ re trying to reach .
And the goal I was trying to reach was to stop people from shooting each other — all people .
This is part of how I laid the groundwork for the Selma movement .
Wow , that is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thinking about the protest and desegregation tactics that you employed back then , how do they connect to what you ’ re seeing today with Black Lives Matter ?
I ’ ve been doing a lot of training with young leaders because we have to have a strategy when it comes to nonviolence .
You don ’ t just be nonviolent and march .
For example , what you want to do is think about how you can win people over to support your movement .
You have to constantly recruit people .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ones you have .
And you constantly train people .
Many people don ’ t know that a lot of the marshals of the Selma march were actually gang members from the West Side of Chicago , the Vice Lords .
I trained them in Chicago to come down and participate , so when the movement started in Chicago , they would have a meaningful role to play .
Do you think that what ’ s happening across America today — that more people are being recruited into the larger movement — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Yes .
I ’ ve been very excited about the large number of young people who have come out .
I also feel very excited about the young ladies taking leadership roles in these different groups that are coming together .
The fact that they are staying in the movement — that ’ s the whole idea , you can ’ t just have one or two marches .
You have to have an ongoing march .
And when you look at it , people all around the world , my goodness !
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that kind of traction , of young leaders from around the world , that ’ s good .
So even though they are saying , “ Black Lives Matter , ” they are also saying “ All Black Lives Matter.
” That is very inclusive .
I like that very much and feel that things are going to change because the people have changed .
Young people are not smiling anymore .
They ’ re very vocal .
You have to make sure that those who participate have the training in nonviolence .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ people over .
What ’ s one thing you ’ d like to see today ’ s movement prioritize ?
I ’ d like to see more participation in the election and voting among young people because that can really make the difference and their voices can be heard .
Not just on the radio , TV , and in the streets .
Their voices must be heard in our system of government , in the legislature .
I want to see more young people participating in voting .
My suggestion is that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 17 .
These legislators could be elected by their fellow youth in every district .
It ’ s only a matter of time before they turn 18 , so these groups can give young people a chance to practice voting , running for office , and being legislators .
And the rest of the people involved can see who can be the best leaders of the future .
To bring us back to your friend John Lewis , and in light of the ongoing protests today , what part of his legacy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moving forward ?
Everyone should first of all recognize that John Lewis started at an early age , and he continued .
He was a person who cared about everybody — it wasn ’ t about John Lewis .
That ’ s why he put his life on the line many times , because he cared about people .
He was not afraid of death .
He was afraid about the conditions that existed , unjust conditions faced by masses of people , especially the young people .
When we think about worth @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people think about money .
But John Lewis thought about how valuable he would be to other people .
That was his worth .
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Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
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When Rep. John Lewis died on July 17 at age 80, the country, in the midst of several crises, came to a halt to reflect on a leader who never stopped fighting for racial justice.
Known for his direct action in movements like the sit-ins at Nashville lunch counters and the Selma to Montgomery marches in Alabama aimed at registering Black voters, Lewis inspired countless people. As former President Barack Obama said, “He believed that in all of us, there exists the capacity for great courage, a longing to do what’s right, a willingness to love all people, and to extend to them their God-given rights to dignity and respect.”
Lewis had a particular influence on Bernard Lafayette, a civil rights leader who met Lewis in 1958 when they were roommates together in college. They became friends based on their shared experiences with Jim Crow and would strengthen their bond through the Freedom Rides, an activist effort in the early 1960s that sought to desegregate buses in the South. According to Lafayette, who laid the groundwork for activism in Selma, Lewis possessed a “comeback spirit” — the kind of energy that would never recoil in the face of injustice. “If you would push him back, he would come back,” Lafayette said.
I spoke to Lafayette as he and the country reel from the loss of Lewis and other civil rights leaders, including C.T. Vivian and Charles Evers, and as a new generation of leaders are demanding that racist systems be dismantled. Lafayette talked to me about his friendship with Lewis and why the late leader never made the fight for justice about himself. Our conversation, which has been condensed for clarity, also touched on the pursuit of nonviolence — even when one’s life is at risk — and how that relates to the movement today.
Fabiola Cineas
Tell me about your friendship with John Lewis. How did it start and what kept the two of you together for so many years?
Bernard Lafayette
We met as students at the American Baptist College in Nashville in 1958. He was in the year ahead of me. We were roommates, and he tutored me because he had already taken the courses that I was enrolled in. I was taking advantage. We were both from the South, and we had a lot of experiences with segregation and discrimination when we were growing up, like when John couldn’t get a library card when he was younger, and how if I was catching a streetcar with my grandmother, we’d have to sit in the back. We would talk about all of this all the time. We both shared the idea of doing something about it and how to change things.
Fabiola Cineas
It sounds like Lewis was already a mentor to you at that young age. How else did he influence you in school?
Bernard Lafayette
He is the one that persuaded me to go to workshops on nonviolence that were conducted by James Lawson Jr. I had to be persuaded because I was so busy. I didn’t have time! But once I went, I got really excited about it. The workshops are what prepared us for the movement. We were focused on lunch counters. Lawson conducted the workshops, and in less than three months, we desegregated the lunch counters in Nashville by using nonviolent tactics [like sitting quietly and patiently waiting to be served and having back-ups once the first group of demonstrators were arrested]. C.T. Vivian was there and Diane Nash and Jim Bevel and a lot of people all participated in making that happen.
The Christmas of 1960, before the Freedom Rides started, John Lewis and I had decided to desegregate the Greyhound bus. We sat in the front seats of the bus and refused to leave when the driver tried to force us off. We rode all the way down to Troy, Alabama, where John got off. And then I rode down to Florida. So we desegregated the buses at that time — not completely — but just the two of us.
Fabiola Cineas
And how did that experience lead you and John Lewis to participate in the Freedom Rides?
Bernard Lafayette
Once the Freedom Rides were announced in May 1961, John applied and I applied too, but I was not 21 so I couldn’t go because you needed parental permission. When I called my father and asked him, he said, “I’m not gonna sign your death warrant.”
The Freedom Rides were halted because of the violence — the burning of the buses in Anniston, Alabama, and because of evil people in Birmingham. They stopped the Freedom Rides because people had been promised protection, but they didn’t get any.
However, we decided to continue the Freedom Rides between late May and September of 1961. So I didn’t need parental permission then [because I was of age].
John Lewis had the first group going to Birmingham, to continue to ride. And we had a backup group that I led after John Lewis got arrested in Birmingham. In Montgomery, we were met by mob violence there. At that point, we decided to regroup, bring other people on, and train them to get them ready to continue the Freedom Rides. We learned this strategy of having back-up groups of people in the workshops. The training that Lawson gave made all the difference in the world.
Fabiola Cineas
In thinking back to how John Lewis convinced you to join the workshops and take part in the Freedom Rides, what do you believe that says about his character?
Bernard Lafayette
Well, he was the president of his class at American Baptist College in Nashville. And then, the next year he was the president of the student body. John Lewis was not just a student, like many of the students at the school. They were leaders in their communities and some were pastors of churches or preparing to be pastors of churches.
It was no coincidence that he ended up being the chairman of SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. He had the leadership qualities. What gave us the confidence that he could do that was he made us believe things could change if we did not give up. So the main thing that characterized John Lewis is he is a person who did not believe in giving up.
He had what you call a “comeback spirit.” If you would push him back, he would come back. He thought that was the only way you could move forward — you would come back.
Fabiola Cineas
Can you talk about this idea of the “comeback spirit” from your experience? What was it like for you to be so close to death so many times when it came to the lunch counter sit-ins or with the times that you desegregated the buses? How did you keep going when you knew you could lose your life to violence?
Bernard Lafayette
I can best explain this through my experiences in Selma. I was sent to Selma, Alabama, by SNCC as the director of the Alabama voter registration project when nobody else would go. Two teams of SNCC workers had already gone down to Selma, and when they came back they told the head of SNCC that nothing could be done there — and these were people who had been involved in sit-ins and Freedom Rides. Both teams had the same reasons why nothing could be done: The white people were too mean and the Black people were too afraid, they said.
I had just gotten off the Freedom Rides, and I wanted to be director of my own project. They told me they didn’t have any more assignments. But on a map that was on the blackboard, they had an “X” through Alabama — they weren’t going to go down there. And I said, “Well, what about this place here? And they said, “Well, if you want to take a look at it.” So I said, “I’ll take it if nobody else wants to.” From there, I began to do my research. I studied the White Citizens’ Council and the Ku Klux Klan. I wanted to be fully aware of those kinds of things.
By this time, they had already had the Montgomery movement in Alabama, the Birmingham movement — so I kept asking myself, how is it that folks in Selma are so mean? What can be meaner than the other places where they put dogs on people and beat them up and throw them in jail?
So when I went into Selma in the fall of 1962, I started learning a lot of things firsthand. And to answer your question, there was one night in particular in 1963 that can show you how we stood up against the violence that existed. That night I drove up to my apartment building. There was a car out in front that looked like it was disabled since the hood was up.
There were two white people there, one in the driver’s seat and the other under the hood of the car. The one under the hood came over to me and asked how much I would charge to give them a push. I said I wouldn’t charge anything and quickly got ready to give them a push. But first I asked him if the car bumpers matched — they had to match or otherwise the bumpers would lock. He suggested I take a look, so I bent down.
When I did, this fella clobbered me and knocked me down in the middle of the street. I got up, and I looked at him. And then he hit me again in the head. And then the third time, he jumped up in the air and hit me in the middle of my head. I went straight down to the ground. Every time he hit me, I fell. But I got back up and looked at him.
I had been trained in nonviolence so this was the expected response. He started shaking because he was a huge guy and he should have knocked me out during the first go-around. He started backing up, and I realized the instrument he had in his hand was a gun. He was going to shoot me. I turned around and called my neighbor who was upstairs so somebody could witness this murder about to take place.
He was a light-skinned Black person so we called him “Red.” I yelled out over the banister, “Red!” Red!” He came out onto the porch upstairs with a rifle. He had been to Korea; he was a marksman. He started aiming at this guy, and I blocked him. I turned my back on the fella who had a gun on me and faced Red. I held up my hands and told Red, “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” Red was trying to get a beam on him and trying to go around me. I wouldn’t let him. I was protecting the guy’s life who was trying to kill me.
In nonviolence, what you do is always try to find a nonviolent way to solve the problem, even when your life is at stake. But, the psychology of it is this: Does it make sense for a guy to shoot you in the back when you are trying to block someone from killing him? You see, that psychology? We were taught to take steps that help you reach the goal you’re trying to reach. And the goal I was trying to reach was to stop people from shooting each other — all people. This is part of how I laid the groundwork for the Selma movement.
Fabiola Cineas
Wow, that is quite the psychology and strategy. In thinking about the protest and desegregation tactics that you employed back then, how do they connect to what you’re seeing today with Black Lives Matter?
Bernard Lafayette
I’ve been doing a lot of training with young leaders because we have to have a strategy when it comes to nonviolence. You don’t just be nonviolent and march. For example, what you want to do is think about how you can win people over to support your movement. You have to constantly recruit people. You can’t just go with the ones you have. And you constantly train people. Many people don’t know that a lot of the marshals of the Selma march were actually gang members from the West Side of Chicago, the Vice Lords. I trained them in Chicago to come down and participate, so when the movement started in Chicago, they would have a meaningful role to play.
Fabiola Cineas
Do you think that what’s happening across America today — that more people are being recruited into the larger movement — is working to bring about change?
Bernard Lafayette
Yes. I’ve been very excited about the large number of young people who have come out. I also feel very excited about the young ladies taking leadership roles in these different groups that are coming together. The fact that they are staying in the movement — that’s the whole idea, you can’t just have one or two marches. You have to have an ongoing march.
And when you look at it, people all around the world, my goodness! That is incredible. When we have that kind of traction, of young leaders from around the world, that’s good. So even though they are saying, “Black Lives Matter,” they are also saying “All Black Lives Matter.” That is very inclusive. I like that very much and feel that things are going to change because the people have changed. Young people are not smiling anymore. They’re very vocal. You have to make sure that those who participate have the training in nonviolence. That’s how you win more people over.
Fabiola Cineas
What’s one thing you’d like to see today’s movement prioritize?
Bernard Lafayette
I’d like to see more participation in the election and voting among young people because that can really make the difference and their voices can be heard. Not just on the radio, TV, and in the streets. Their voices must be heard in our system of government, in the legislature. I want to see more young people participating in voting. My suggestion is that you have a youth legislature ages 12 to 17. These legislators could be elected by their fellow youth in every district. It’s only a matter of time before they turn 18, so these groups can give young people a chance to practice voting, running for office, and being legislators. And the rest of the people involved can see who can be the best leaders of the future.
Fabiola Cineas
To bring us back to your friend John Lewis, and in light of the ongoing protests today, what part of his legacy stands out to you as essential to moving forward?
Bernard Lafayette
Everyone should first of all recognize that John Lewis started at an early age, and he continued. He was a person who cared about everybody — it wasn’t about John Lewis. That’s why he put his life on the line many times, because he cared about people. He was not afraid of death. He was afraid about the conditions that existed, unjust conditions faced by masses of people, especially the young people.
When we think about worth — how much you are worth — people think about money. But John Lewis thought about how valuable he would be to other people. That was his worth.


Mischief Managed

Here is the first honorable use of venture capital : using the funds to design , prototype , test , and then build a rubber chicken pipe to smoke weed out of .
The first time I saw Puff The Squeaky Chicken in real life , I can honestly say I was floored .
What incredible stoners , I thought .
After I used it for the first time , with a couple of friends in a basement , I was convinced : I was inhaling the future — or at least toking a vision of it .
Earlier that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s creators at their non-office office nestled in the heart of Williamsburg .
It was November then , and there was no hint of what was lurking just around the corner .
While the ongoing pandemic has sent the world into lockdowns and mass quarantine , the internet has flourished in its way : people around the world have been posting through the new restrictions on daily life , by turns angry , depressed , and horny .
It ’ s sent businesses into a tailspin , and in America , it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — more than 40 million people — unemployed .
Through it all , MSCHF , the creators of the chicken pipe , have continued their work , which is mainly to spread delight .
MSCHF — pronounced “ mischief ” and styled like an aughts post-pop band — is a startup that variously describes itself as an art collective , a band , or a creative label .
Since last year , when this present iteration of the company was incorporated , the group has been putting out projects designed to do one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were the Jesus Shoes , which were fully customized Air Maxes that sold out instantly and retailed for $ 3,000 apiece ( and are still doing a lively trade on the resale sites ) , and there have been the more conceptual projects , like This Foot Does Not Exist , which married neural net-generated feet with an academic treatise on why feet pics matter online .
I was inhaling the future — or at least toking a vision of it I found the rubber chickens sitting on a table littered with the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just inside their office .
A pentagram was drawn with white paint on the rough concrete floor just past their heavily graffitied front door , and to its right was a group of desks cluttered with computers .
I spotted a tarp over a spot on the second floor spray-painted with the word “ forbidden.
” It felt a little like a TV parody of a Williamsburg workspace — but functional .
It ’ s here where MSCHF founder Gabriel Whaley and his motley crew of artists , designers , and product developers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the internet , by which I mean the world .
Every other Tuesday , the group has a Supreme-esque drop , new stuff that ’ s used to alternate between physical products and online ones .
But lately , the format has shifted .
MSCHF ’ s supplier is fucked by the coronavirus , too .
Even so , everything is limited : once something ’ s sold out , it never returns .
The company is cagey about the money , too .
There ’ s no doubt that it does , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ playfully artistic projects and products , but it also employs 13 specialized full-time employees living in and around New York City .
And while the company has done advertising before and has turned down acquisition offers from larger agencies , Whaley is adamant that MSCHF won ’ t ever do ads again — even if it ’ s between that and survival .
“ We ’ ll never do advertising , ” he says .
“ We just wouldn ’ t do it .
We ’ d shut it down.
” How long @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beautifully dumb shit ?
Obviously , there ’ s an unresolved tension here between the idea of Absolute Artistic Integrity on one hand and the common , shared reality of needing money to survive on the other .
Within creative circles , it ’ s pretty common to value the art over the money , even though you literally can not have one without the other .
( If someone in a creative field does not seem to be concerned by money , in other words , assume they have tons of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the internet is even harder because the idea that you ’ d make money off of the creative work you do there is a relatively new concept .
And yet , for now , MSCHF is still here .
The idea factory is running smoothly .
But how long can one startup find a balance between the two ?
How long can Whaley and his company keep making beautifully dumb shit ?
When I visited MSCHF , it was a Friday , their day for structured brainstorming , when the team orders sandwiches @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early .
The team broke into groups , were assigned topics , and then split up to brainstorm .
I was paired with Whaley and Dan Greenberg , a recent NYU grad who was juggling working full-time as a growth guy at MSCHF and going to class at the time .
We made our way to a nearby upscale coffee shop populated by the kind of freelancer who works at a café solely for the ambiance ( or the kind who did before COVID-19 ) .
Our topic was plants , and so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ associative insights — my notebook says “ ginkgo , ” “ weed , ” “ flowers , ” and “ invasive species ” — and then turning those into workable ( or not ) ideas for future MSCHF projects .
One idea Whaley came up with was a Kudzu Bomb .
He described it as a mass of the fast-growing , invasive plant ’ s seedlings , which could then be deployed against ugly condo buildings and other corporatized nuisances .
Greenberg wanted to do an experiment in plant growth by playing one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another MSNBC , to see which grew better .
Unfortunately , we didn ’ t have a chance to get into specifics ; our time had run out , and we were due back at the office .
There , we returned to the pentagram to present our work , set to a soundtrack of Russian Orthodox church music .
The atmosphere was permissive , good-natured , and welcoming .
The point was clearly to find an idea that the whole team would be excited to work on .
This is the process @ @ @ @ @ @ @ projects , and it ’ s had a remarkably high hit rate .
Their first drop , in May 2019 , was a 2008 Windows laptop running six pieces of malware , which have collectively caused $ 95 billion in financial damage .
It eventually sold for $ 1.34 million .
After that , MSCHF put out “ Man Eating Food , ” a YouTube channel that had videos of a guy eating any food viewers requested ; it obviously went viral .
Then there was a version of Times New Roman that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( “ Times Newer Roman ” ) , a Slack-based guessing game ( “ Word of the Day ” ) , a Google Chrome extension that let you watch Netflix at work by making it look like you were on a conference call ( “ Netflix Hangouts ” ) , and a website that converted any article on Wikipedia into academic prose ( “ M-Journal ” ) .
The feeling of stumbling across a MSCHF product in the wild is a little like discovering a TV show you love and then realizing you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ watch .
It ’ s magical and maybe even a little secret , a place where you might even find some community .
“ It ’ s not necessarily marketing .
We ’ re just creating experiences that people end up sharing , ” says Whaley .
“ I think it ’ s definitely made for a generation that is more online than any other.
” And MSCHF is focused on winning that particular war for attention .
It ’ s not Supreme , which is a ) physical , and b ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has a double purpose .
It ’ s meant to do the thing it does — be a rubber chicken weed pipe — and draw millions of eyeballs online .
( And their physical drops , Greenberg says , sell out in seconds . )
All of the projects MSCHF creates add up to a coherent vision .
And while those get a lot of press coverage together , it wasn ’ t until Jesus Shoes , which debuted last October , that MSCHF became widely known as an independent creative entity .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ white Nike Air Max 97s with references to the Bible , 60ccs of water from the River Jordan , and crucifixes hanging off the tongue ; they were priced at $ 1,425 and immediately sold out .
Drake bought a pair ; MSCHF made some money .
“ There was a lot of labor involved , and I can ’ t really talk about how many we sold , ” says Whaley .
“ But we did well.
” That ’ s an obvious dodge .
It could mean a lot of things @ @ @ @ @ @ @ finances .
( Which makes sense ; we know Whaley and co. are good at building hype by being mysterious . )
When I visited the office for the first time , some of the staff told me they ’ d knocked out some walls in what ’ s now their kitchen to give the place a more open feel .
None of that is cheap , especially in Williamsburg , one of the most expensive places for real estate in the country .
For me , what it added up to was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the part in a horror movie when you begin to suspect that it ’ s not just the pipes you hear settling in your beautiful new country house .
I wondered how long it could last .
In a lot of ways , the story of Gabriel Whaley mirrors the story of MSCHF : both are prankish outsiders .
For Whaley , who grew up on a farm in North Carolina to a “ Korean tiger mom ” and an “ ex-military white guy ” dad and who attended and then dropped out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those military dorms .
He ’ d intentionally fail all of his white glove room inspections — “ where someone comes in checks every horizontal surface , if there ’ s any dust , you get dropped for , like 1,000 push-ups ” — and so he ’ d do things like slide a copy of The Communist Manifesto into his bookshelf , just to see if they ’ d notice .
After a couple years of push-ups , he transferred to the University of North Carolina ( philosophy major ) , learned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York .
All the while , he kept making projects that attracted media attention — like , for example , a sexist tip calculator .
BuzzFeed eventually offered him a job making lists and quizzes , where , just as eventually , he found himself bored .
On his own time , he kept circling a single question : “ How do you just create something that will naturally spread across the internet without having to resort to hacking an algorithm on Facebook or optimizing for what YouTube wants to see ?
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company that ’ s the answer to that particular question .
That amount of attention on demand is something that agencies and brands are willing to pay a lot for , which is possibly why Whaley doesn ’ t seem too worried about the money .
“ I think that as they grow and they have more people on salary , there ’ s going to be a different kind of bottom line that is going to be quite interesting in terms of just trying to kind of keep the lights on , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at DXAgency , which specializes in marketing and advertising .
“ But , you know , it doesn ’ t seem like they ’ re going to want to take a traditional route , so I ’ m definitely curious to see how it goes.
” For marketing firms , the traditional route Hordell mentions is : make some interesting creative projects that get some good press , then start signing clients ( or get acquired by a larger brand ) .
For now , MSCHF plans to do neither .
“ I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we would consult different brands throughout the city , but those days are kind of in the past , ” Whaley tells me .
MSCHF has always found a way to make the money it needs to survive .
“ And now we sort of hit this clip , and this momentum where we ’ re dropping something every two weeks .
And the money is no longer an issue.
” “ We ’ re not here to become a DTC chicken bong company.
” The company ’ s Securities and Exchange Commission @ @ @ @ @ @ @ organization can take such a haphazard approach to making money .
At the end of last September , MSCHF raised $ 3.5 million from two outside investors by selling equity in a seed round .
By the end of January , MSCHF had 11 investors and , in another round , raised another $ 8 million .
The investors weren ’ t named , but there was a clue : Laura Chau , an East Coast technology principal at Canaan Partners , had joined MSCHF as a director .
Chau declined to comment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me that Canaan had led the seed round and said that the company had taken $ 11.7 million in outside funding .
I knew MSCHF was clever enough to convince a bunch of VCs to throw them some dough , but I couldn ’ t figure out what they might have said in those rooms : maybe , like , we make stuff that kids like online ?
It ’ s pretty straightforward , Whaley says .
“ We have a repeatable process that creates output that self-distributes on the internet without requiring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Every other similar brand that has tried to IPO has achieved this kind of massive online scale through a commensurately massive paid spend , Whaley notes .
“ But , ” he says , “ we ’ re saying we can do it without that.
” Greenberg , who recently graduated from NYU ’ s Stern School of Business , told me that while he was in school , his classes would occasionally use case studies drawn from MSCHF .
“ As you can see , my face is just in pain @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ They used one of the projects I worked on as a case study in class and we had to do a write up on it.
” He didn ’ t tell anyone he ’ d worked on it .
“ Here ’ s the kicker : I do a write up on my own project .
They give me a B minus.
” “ Puff The Squeaky Chicken ” was MSCHF ’ s next physical drop after the Jesus Shoes .
The custom-designed rubber chicken pipe went on sale for $ 42 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ $ 4.20 provided you texted the company and proved you weren ’ t a narc .
It ordered 1,000 from a factory overseas , which means MSCHF netted somewhere between $ 4,200 and $ 42,000 on the drop .
That doesn ’ t include the costs of manufacturing and designing the product , which took six months from conception to sale .
“ We ’ re not here to become a DTC chicken bong company , ” says Greenberg , the company ’ s head of growth .
“ We ’ re not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ There ’ s room for us to create that opportunity and then turn it down , ” Whaley adds , “ cuz we ’ ll just keep on moving .
We ’ re not here to milk something until it ’ s dead.
” We were speaking in a park on an unseasonably warm afternoon in November .
In the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge , Whaley was wearing a chore coat over a thin blue Patagonia puffer ; Greenberg was wearing joggers and a Volcom hoodie over a wrinkled Jets tee.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ able to do more of what we ’ re always doing at a greater scale , ” says Whaley .
“ It ’ s like a child growing into an adult.
” With MSCHF , Whaley has realized that the more often it creates these products , the more momentum the company builds , and the more doors spring open .
“ We ’ re not necessarily here to make the world a better place , ” he continues .
“ We ’ re not gon na be disillusioned like that .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to transform products and experiences around us into unexpected moments of surprise and delight.
” To create joy from nothing .
MSCHF is also very concerned with being a quote-unquote real company because , as Whaley tells me , “ that ’ ll kill the magic.
” That magic is the brand .
“ What I ’ ll say to that is that whenever someone sees a MSCHF project , they should see what is hopefully a refreshingly new take on storytelling that defies what platforms dictate they should be , ” Whaley @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a sudden , the word content is almost synonymous with quick bites of video content that bigger richer people try to come in and capitalize on .
And that ’ s why what MSCHF does is it ’ s almost like a punch up at the powers that be to tell stories in a way that ’ s more human and less platform dependent.
” But how do you reconcile punching up with taking a ton of money in venture funding ?
“ Maybe they ’ re just pawns in the art @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ re along for that ride , ” says Whaley .
And then adds : “ Investors should beware.
” Whaley and Greenberg say the pandemic hasn ’ t changed much about MSCHF ’ s business , with two exceptions : Greenberg is now working from his parents ’ basement and the aforementioned supply chain disruption .
“ Something interesting that I have observed is the common thread of people who have been reaching out saying how much they need , or look forward to the MSCHF drops even more now , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ April .
“ There ’ s nothing to do .
People are just bored.
” That has given MSCHF a renewed sense of mission , one that ’ s at least half-generated by the scads of people who love their work .
“ It is kind of ironic that we like to feel that we have pull on the internet , but now we ’ re literally doing it from basements , ” he says .
And their physical drops continue to sell out .
MSCHF recently cut the spots out of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ individually , for $ 480 apiece ; now the spots themselves are on the resale market .
“ As far as monetization goes , and like how we ’ re making money as a business this year , nothing has changed from our original plan , ” says Whaley .
Well , sort of .
MSCHF isn ’ t hiring .
And though the team had planned to open a physical space this year , that won ’ t happen either .
Whaley is also aware of how internet culture is changing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ expect from someone who spends a lot of time thinking about how to make art online .
“ The internet is just becoming pretty creative , ” says Whaley .
“ People are finding ways to kind of like , bring some levity to the situations we ’ re dealing with .
Like all these horny people on Twitter , they ’ re just being funny , right ?
Like , it ’ s actually funny .
This isn ’ t people being gross , or , like , inappropriate.
” In a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s creating their own MSCHF .

Here is the first honorable use of venture capital: using the funds to design, prototype, test, and then build a rubber chicken pipe to smoke weed out of. The first time I saw Puff The Squeaky Chicken in real life, I can honestly say I was floored. What incredible stoners, I thought. After I used it for the first time, with a couple of friends in a basement, I was convinced: I was inhaling the future — or at least toking a vision of it.
Earlier that day, I had visited the chicken’s creators at their non-office office nestled in the heart of Williamsburg. It was November then, and there was no hint of what was lurking just around the corner. While the ongoing pandemic has sent the world into lockdowns and mass quarantine, the internet has flourished in its way: people around the world have been posting through the new restrictions on daily life, by turns angry, depressed, and horny. It’s sent businesses into a tailspin, and in America, it has left a quarter of the workforce — more than 40 million people — unemployed. Through it all, MSCHF, the creators of the chicken pipe, have continued their work, which is mainly to spread delight.
MSCHF — pronounced “mischief” and styled like an aughts post-pop band — is a startup that variously describes itself as an art collective, a band, or a creative label. Since last year, when this present iteration of the company was incorporated, the group has been putting out projects designed to do one thing: blow up online. There were the Jesus Shoes, which were fully customized Air Maxes that sold out instantly and retailed for $3,000 apiece (and are still doing a lively trade on the resale sites), and there have been the more conceptual projects, like This Foot Does Not Exist, which married neural net-generated feet with an academic treatise on why feet pics matter online.
I was inhaling the future — or at least toking a vision of it
I found the rubber chickens sitting on a table littered with the remains of dollar bills and PVC pipes just inside their office. A pentagram was drawn with white paint on the rough concrete floor just past their heavily graffitied front door, and to its right was a group of desks cluttered with computers. I spotted a tarp over a spot on the second floor spray-painted with the word “forbidden.” It felt a little like a TV parody of a Williamsburg workspace — but functional.
It’s here where MSCHF founder Gabriel Whaley and his motley crew of artists, designers, and product developers have decided to make their mark on the internet, by which I mean the world. Every other Tuesday, the group has a Supreme-esque drop, new stuff that’s used to alternate between physical products and online ones. But lately, the format has shifted. MSCHF’s supplier is fucked by the coronavirus, too. Even so, everything is limited: once something’s sold out, it never returns.
Puff The Squeaky Chicken, a bong that squeaks when you smoke it, was MSCHF drop #10. Photo: MSCHF
The company is cagey about the money, too. There’s no doubt that it does, in fact, make money off their playfully artistic projects and products, but it also employs 13 specialized full-time employees living in and around New York City. And while the company has done advertising before and has turned down acquisition offers from larger agencies, Whaley is adamant that MSCHF won’t ever do ads again — even if it’s between that and survival. “We’ll never do advertising,” he says. “We just wouldn’t do it. We’d shut it down.”
How long can Whaley and his company keep making beautifully dumb shit?
Obviously, there’s an unresolved tension here between the idea of Absolute Artistic Integrity on one hand and the common, shared reality of needing money to survive on the other. Within creative circles, it’s pretty common to value the art over the money, even though you literally cannot have one without the other. (If someone in a creative field does not seem to be concerned by money, in other words, assume they have tons of it.)
Anyway. Creating things for the internet is even harder because the idea that you’d make money off of the creative work you do there is a relatively new concept. And yet, for now, MSCHF is still here. The idea factory is running smoothly. But how long can one startup find a balance between the two? How long can Whaley and his company keep making beautifully dumb shit?
When I visited MSCHF, it was a Friday, their day for structured brainstorming, when the team orders sandwiches, plays games, and knocks off early. The team broke into groups, were assigned topics, and then split up to brainstorm. I was paired with Whaley and Dan Greenberg, a recent NYU grad who was juggling working full-time as a growth guy at MSCHF and going to class at the time. We made our way to a nearby upscale coffee shop populated by the kind of freelancer who works at a café solely for the ambiance (or the kind who did before COVID-19).
“It’s not necessarily marketing.”
Our topic was plants, and so we spent some time thinking of free associative insights — my notebook says “ginkgo,” “weed,” “flowers,” and “invasive species” — and then turning those into workable (or not) ideas for future MSCHF projects. One idea Whaley came up with was a Kudzu Bomb. He described it as a mass of the fast-growing, invasive plant’s seedlings, which could then be deployed against ugly condo buildings and other corporatized nuisances. Greenberg wanted to do an experiment in plant growth by playing one set of plants Fox News broadcasts and another MSNBC, to see which grew better.
Unfortunately, we didn’t have a chance to get into specifics; our time had run out, and we were due back at the office. There, we returned to the pentagram to present our work, set to a soundtrack of Russian Orthodox church music. The atmosphere was permissive, good-natured, and welcoming. The point was clearly to find an idea that the whole team would be excited to work on.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Founder Gabriel Whaley in MSCHF’s headquarters in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
This is the process by which MSCHF comes up with their projects, and it’s had a remarkably high hit rate. Their first drop, in May 2019, was a 2008 Windows laptop running six pieces of malware, which have collectively caused $95 billion in financial damage. It eventually sold for $1.34 million. After that, MSCHF put out “Man Eating Food,” a YouTube channel that had videos of a guy eating any food viewers requested; it obviously went viral. Then there was a version of Times New Roman that was slightly wider than the original font (“Times Newer Roman”), a Slack-based guessing game (“Word of the Day”), a Google Chrome extension that let you watch Netflix at work by making it look like you were on a conference call (“Netflix Hangouts”), and a website that converted any article on Wikipedia into academic prose (“M-Journal”).
The feeling of stumbling across a MSCHF product in the wild is a little like discovering a TV show you love and then realizing you still have four perfect seasons left to watch. It’s magical and maybe even a little secret, a place where you might even find some community. “It’s not necessarily marketing. We’re just creating experiences that people end up sharing,” says Whaley. “I think it’s definitely made for a generation that is more online than any other.” And MSCHF is focused on winning that particular war for attention. It’s not Supreme, which is a) physical, and b) concerned with retail. Everything MSCHF makes has a double purpose. It’s meant to do the thing it does — be a rubber chicken weed pipe — and draw millions of eyeballs online. (And their physical drops, Greenberg says, sell out in seconds.)
Jesus Shoes were MSCHF drop #7. The soles of Nike Air Max 97 sneakers have been injected with water from the River Jordan. Photo: MSCHF
All of the projects MSCHF creates add up to a coherent vision. And while those get a lot of press coverage together, it wasn’t until Jesus Shoes, which debuted last October, that MSCHF became widely known as an independent creative entity. The group customized $200 pairs of white Nike Air Max 97s with references to the Bible, 60ccs of water from the River Jordan, and crucifixes hanging off the tongue; they were priced at $1,425 and immediately sold out. Drake bought a pair; MSCHF made some money. “There was a lot of labor involved, and I can’t really talk about how many we sold,” says Whaley. “But we did well.”
That’s an obvious dodge. It could mean a lot of things. MSCHF declined to comment on their finances. (Which makes sense; we know Whaley and co. are good at building hype by being mysterious.)
When I visited the office for the first time, some of the staff told me they’d knocked out some walls in what’s now their kitchen to give the place a more open feel. None of that is cheap, especially in Williamsburg, one of the most expensive places for real estate in the country. For me, what it added up to was a creeping sense of unease, like the part in a horror movie when you begin to suspect that it’s not just the pipes you hear settling in your beautiful new country house. I wondered how long it could last.
In a lot of ways, the story of Gabriel Whaley mirrors the story of MSCHF: both are prankish outsiders. For Whaley, who grew up on a farm in North Carolina to a “Korean tiger mom” and an “ex-military white guy” dad and who attended and then dropped out of West Point, it happened in those military dorms. He’d intentionally fail all of his white glove room inspections — “where someone comes in checks every horizontal surface, if there’s any dust, you get dropped for, like 1,000 push-ups” — and so he’d do things like slide a copy of The Communist Manifesto into his bookshelf, just to see if they’d notice.
After a couple years of push-ups, he transferred to the University of North Carolina (philosophy major), learned to code, and moved to New York. All the while, he kept making projects that attracted media attention — like, for example, a sexist tip calculator. BuzzFeed eventually offered him a job making lists and quizzes, where, just as eventually, he found himself bored.
On his own time, he kept circling a single question: “How do you just create something that will naturally spread across the internet without having to resort to hacking an algorithm on Facebook or optimizing for what YouTube wants to see?” Lo and behold: MSCHF, a company that’s the answer to that particular question.
MSCHF founder Gabriel Whaley poses for a portrait outside of the company’s Brooklyn office. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
That amount of attention on demand is something that agencies and brands are willing to pay a lot for, which is possibly why Whaley doesn’t seem too worried about the money. “I think that as they grow and they have more people on salary, there’s going to be a different kind of bottom line that is going to be quite interesting in terms of just trying to kind of keep the lights on,” says Ben Hordell, a partner at DXAgency, which specializes in marketing and advertising. “But, you know, it doesn’t seem like they’re going to want to take a traditional route, so I’m definitely curious to see how it goes.”
For marketing firms, the traditional route Hordell mentions is: make some interesting creative projects that get some good press, then start signing clients (or get acquired by a larger brand). For now, MSCHF plans to do neither. “I mean, there was a time where we would consult different brands throughout the city, but those days are kind of in the past,” Whaley tells me. MSCHF has always found a way to make the money it needs to survive. “And now we sort of hit this clip, and this momentum where we’re dropping something every two weeks. And the money is no longer an issue.”
“We’re not here to become a DTC chicken bong company.”
The company’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, however, show why the organization can take such a haphazard approach to making money. At the end of last September, MSCHF raised $3.5 million from two outside investors by selling equity in a seed round. By the end of January, MSCHF had 11 investors and, in another round, raised another $8 million. The investors weren’t named, but there was a clue: Laura Chau, an East Coast technology principal at Canaan Partners, had joined MSCHF as a director. Chau declined to comment for this story.
A pair of Jesus Shoes in a corner of MSCHF’s office. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Whaley confirmed to me that Canaan had led the seed round and said that the company had taken $11.7 million in outside funding. I knew MSCHF was clever enough to convince a bunch of VCs to throw them some dough, but I couldn’t figure out what they might have said in those rooms: maybe, like, we make stuff that kids like online?
It’s pretty straightforward, Whaley says. “We have a repeatable process that creates output that self-distributes on the internet without requiring paid spend.” That’s it.
Every other similar brand that has tried to IPO has achieved this kind of massive online scale through a commensurately massive paid spend, Whaley notes. “But,” he says, “we’re saying we can do it without that.”
Greenberg, who recently graduated from NYU’s Stern School of Business, told me that while he was in school, his classes would occasionally use case studies drawn from MSCHF. “As you can see, my face is just in pain saying this,” says Greenberg. “They used one of the projects I worked on as a case study in class and we had to do a write up on it.” He didn’t tell anyone he’d worked on it. “Here’s the kicker: I do a write up on my own project. They give me a B minus.”
Detail of a wall across the street from MSCHF’s office. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
“Puff The Squeaky Chicken” was MSCHF’s next physical drop after the Jesus Shoes. The custom-designed rubber chicken pipe went on sale for $42, though you could get it for $4.20 provided you texted the company and proved you weren’t a narc. It ordered 1,000 from a factory overseas, which means MSCHF netted somewhere between $4,200 and $42,000 on the drop. That doesn’t include the costs of manufacturing and designing the product, which took six months from conception to sale. “We’re not here to become a DTC chicken bong company,” says Greenberg, the company’s head of growth. “We’re not going to roll out more colors.”
“There’s room for us to create that opportunity and then turn it down,” Whaley adds, “cuz we’ll just keep on moving. We’re not here to milk something until it’s dead.”
We were speaking in a park on an unseasonably warm afternoon in November. In the shadow of the Williamsburg Bridge, Whaley was wearing a chore coat over a thin blue Patagonia puffer; Greenberg was wearing joggers and a Volcom hoodie over a wrinkled Jets tee.“The goal is just to be able to do more of what we’re always doing at a greater scale,” says Whaley. “It’s like a child growing into an adult.” With MSCHF, Whaley has realized that the more often it creates these products, the more momentum the company builds, and the more doors spring open. “We’re not necessarily here to make the world a better place,” he continues. “We’re not gonna be disillusioned like that. But we think that we have the ability to transform products and experiences around us into unexpected moments of surprise and delight.”
To create joy from nothing. MSCHF is also very concerned with being a quote-unquote real company because, as Whaley tells me, “that’ll kill the magic.”
That magic is the brand. “What I’ll say to that is that whenever someone sees a MSCHF project, they should see what is hopefully a refreshingly new take on storytelling that defies what platforms dictate they should be,” Whaley tells me months later. “All of a sudden, the word content is almost synonymous with quick bites of video content that bigger richer people try to come in and capitalize on. And that’s why what MSCHF does is it’s almost like a punch up at the powers that be to tell stories in a way that’s more human and less platform dependent.”
But how do you reconcile punching up with taking a ton of money in venture funding?
“Maybe they’re just pawns in the art project. Our investors know that they’re along for that ride,” says Whaley. And then adds: “Investors should beware.”
Whaley and Greenberg say the pandemic hasn’t changed much about MSCHF’s business, with two exceptions: Greenberg is now working from his parents’ basement and the aforementioned supply chain disruption.
“Something interesting that I have observed is the common thread of people who have been reaching out saying how much they need, or look forward to the MSCHF drops even more now,” says Whaley when we video chat in April. “There’s nothing to do. People are just bored.” That has given MSCHF a renewed sense of mission, one that’s at least half-generated by the scads of people who love their work. “It is kind of ironic that we like to feel that we have pull on the internet, but now we’re literally doing it from basements,” he says.
And their physical drops continue to sell out. MSCHF recently cut the spots out of a Damien Hirst painting and sold each, individually, for $480 apiece; now the spots themselves are on the resale market. “As far as monetization goes, and like how we’re making money as a business this year, nothing has changed from our original plan,” says Whaley. Well, sort of. MSCHF isn’t hiring. And though the team had planned to open a physical space this year, that won’t happen either.
Whaley is also aware of how internet culture is changing, which is about what you’d expect from someone who spends a lot of time thinking about how to make art online. “The internet is just becoming pretty creative,” says Whaley. “People are finding ways to kind of like, bring some levity to the situations we’re dealing with. Like all these horny people on Twitter, they’re just being funny, right? Like, it’s actually funny. This isn’t people being gross, or, like, inappropriate.”