Good morning! Here is your news briefing for Wednesday March 11, 2020
THE DAILY SIGNAL
Mar 11, 2020
Good morning from Washington, where the political debate is focused on the spread of the coronavirus. We’ve got two related reports from Fred Lucas, commentary from Kay C. James, and a well-informed guest on the podcast. Plus: women fight for their share of the economy, and a senator targets one of the biggest porn sites on the internet. On this date in 1918, an Army private at Fort Riley, Kansas, reports symptoms of an illness that eventually will become known as the Spanish flu and kill 675,000 Americans and about 50 million worldwide.
Before MSNBC personalities were calling it “racist” and “astoundingly gross” to note the origin of the new coronavirus, NBC News reported on what it called the “Wuhan coronavirus.”
“We are working very closely with California, Washington state, New York, Florida to develop community specific recommendations for those areas,” says Vice President Pence.
“It’s ultimately about controlling our own fates, controlling our own futures,” says Manisha Singh, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.
“In several notable incidents over the past year, Pornhub made content available worldwide showing women and girls that were victims of trafficking being raped and exploited,” writes Sen. Ben Sasse.
“Chinese people are increasingly aware of the fact that they are being run by a government that does not have their interests at heart, that is authoritarian … I think the coronavirus is something that has pointed that [out],” says Fred Fleitz of the Center for Security Policy.
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THE EPOCH TIMES
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President Donald Trump visited Capitol Hill on March 10 to meet Republican lawmakers and seek support for his stimulus plan to tackle the economic disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Read more
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden cursed and appeared to threaten a Detroit autoworker on March 10 during an argument over gun rights. Read more
U.S. stocks rose sharply in volatile trading on March 10 after President Donald Trump met with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill and emerged to deliver a message on a much-anticipated coronavirus relief plan. Read more
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) believes the revised proposal he and co-sponsor Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) hope to reintroduce later this week is the best bet in 2020 for Congress to act against spiraling prescription drug costs. Read more
Chinese leader Xi Jinping visited Wuhan, the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak, on March 10, in an apparent attempt to convince citizens that the disease is under control. Read more
The Justice Department has warned that it plans to hold businesses accountable if they attempt to violate antitrust laws because of the coronavirus outbreak. Read more
Is your retirement safe from Coronavirus market panic? Experts warn your 401(k) or IRA could be at SERIOUS risk. U.S. stocks plunged recently on fears of a global economic slowdown which led to the Dow Jones losing 2,000 points, its largest ever single-day drop. If that doesn’t get your attention—what will? Retirement accounts, savings accounts, and financial portfolios will be at the mercy of global turmoil. Goldman Sachs, however, has identified one asset class that it deems virus-resistant—Gold. Gold continues to dramatically outperform other safe havens in 2020 and has now officially become, “the currency of last resort.” Don’t wait until it’s too late—Get Your Free Copy: #1 Retirement Playbook
Ultra-Volatility Is Here
By James GorrieWith markets crashing down—and up—seemingly every other day, the only certainty in the markets right now is that there’s none to be found, anywhere in the world. Read more
Biden and Bernie to Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia: Drop Dead
By Stephen MooreThe Democratic presidential field is down to two old, white males: former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Though they are said to represent two polar-opposite wings of the party, on one issue, they are in complete agreement. Read more
Financial Crisis Made in China
By Valentin Schmid
(August 1, 2014)The epic meltdown in financial markets that occurred in 2008 was a painful reminder that even developed economies in this day and age cannot avert financial crises. Read more
In this episode of American Thought Leaders, we sat down with Rep. Mark Walker, top Republican on the Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism, at CPAC, to discuss the coronavirus outbreak, its impact on the economy, and why information coming out of China shouldn’t be trusted.
After Six More States Vote, Biden Takes Commanding Lead
With similar numbers to those we saw a week ago (Fox News). If you were watching CNN, you might have thought Sanders took the state of Mississippi (Twitter). Interesting exit poll finding most Democrats in Mississippi want Medicare for all (NBC News). From the Wall Street Journal editorial board: The mass voter mobilization of the proletariat that Mr. Sanders promises simply hasn’t materialized. As that fact becomes clearer to Democrats who want to win in November, Bernie’s chances of a comeback diminish even more (WSJ).
2.
South Korea and China See Improvement in Coronavirus Cases
Though Italy is seeing their deaths surge as China is seeing them plummet (Twitter). Before an increase today, South Korea had also seen a dramatic decline (Twitter). Meanwhile, the New York Times notes “Among the people in the United States who have died from coronavirus, almost all have been in their 70s, 80s or 90s. The youngest known fatality was a man in his 40s” (NY Times). From another story: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has ordered a containment zone in New Rochelle, a small city that has become a coronavirus hot spot, and deployed the state National Guard to help (Washington Examiner). The Washington Post is telling its staff to work from home (Daily Caller). The United States now has more than 1000 cases, a quarter of those in the state of Washington (Johns Hopkins).
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3.
Biden Tells Second Amendment Supporter He’s “Full of Sh—”
Then he shushes the woman next to him, then argues with the gun owner (Twitter). From David Harsanyi: The man in the video — whose name I wish I knew — is right. Biden supports every single serious national effort to restrict gun rights, all of them part of a concerted effort to incrementally terminate civilian gun ownership in the United States. It’s all right there on his campaign issues page. When CNN asked Biden what he had to say to gun owners who claimed that “a Biden Administration means they’re going to come for my guns,” he answered, “Bingo, you’re right if you have an assault weapon” (National Review). From Ben Shapiro: The problem here isn’t Biden’s language. No pearl-clutching from people who love this sort of stuff from Trump. The problem is Biden lying about his own position and completely botching every fact possible about guns (Twitter). When MSNBC told the story, they edited out Biden swearing (Red State). Gun ownership tends to jump when Democrats start talking (PJ Media).
4.
Top Democrat: DNC Needs to Force Sanders Out
South Carolina Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn is among those now hoping to keep Biden hidden from public view by shutting down the primary before Biden embarrasses himself further (NPR). From Mollie Hemingway: Clearly Democratic Party wants to keep Biden in a form of witness protection until he has the delegates to clinch. Question is whether that will hurt him too much in the general (Twitter). Dr. Jill Stein has been discussing the trouble with “his obvious cognitive decline” (Breitbart). Even the very kind Brit Hume said “like so many people his age, is losing his memory and is getting senile. I don’t think there’s any doubt about this. I have traces of this myself. I know what it feels like. Sometimes you’re confused, sometimes you can’t remember, ‘What are you supposed to do the next morning?’ — and I’m not running for president and it’s probably a good thing I’m not” (Fox News).
5.
Trump Calls for Tax Cuts to Stave Off Coronavirus Economic Issues
And the markets responded (PJ Media). Marco Rubio said it could be a $300 billion payroll tax cut. “That’s not gospel; it could be higher or lower” (Washington Examiner).
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6.
Left Upset Some Call Coronavirus “Chinese” or “Wuhan” Virus
The story begins “The name Covid-19 was clinical and nondescript, and that was exactly the point when the World Health Organization revealed it to guard against stigmatization of the place from which it originated. But a month later, the recommended terminology for the coronavirus has not extended to every corner of politics” (NY Times). From Lanhee Chen: The WHO is itself a political organization; it emphasizes the clinical nomenclature — at least in part — to help protect the Chinese government, which exercises a huge amount of control over it (Twitter). A look at some issues with WHO (CFR). WHO also wants to tell you how to talk about the virus (Washington Examiner).
7.
Red Tape Led to Delays in Early Virus Testing
From the story: Even now, after weeks of mounting frustration toward federal agencies over flawed test kits and burdensome rules, states with growing cases such as New York and California are struggling to test widely for the coronavirus. The continued delays have made it impossible for officials to get a true picture of the scale of the growing outbreak, which has now spread to at least 36 states and Washington, D.C. (NY Times). Unlike what has been reported, the CDC has seen funding increases every year under Trump (The Dispatch). Delays and red tape caused the mess they are now dealing with in Italy (National Review).
8.
California Democrat Pushes Bill Forcing Stores to have Gender Neutral Area for Kids
Boys and girls toy areas would be combined, as would boys and girls clothing (Christian News). From Dr. Albert Mohler: Of course, behind all of this is the worldview that gender is itself merely a social construct and that “gender binaries,” as they are called are not only false, but they are oppressive. Behind all of this is a worldview of the total transformation of the human race in a single generation with effectively the words “boys” and “girls” being as out of date as the idea that there is a girls toy department or a girls’ clothing department or a boys department or departments, similarly (Briefing).
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9.
UK Woman Suing Gender Clinic for Convincing Her to Transition to Male
She was a teenager at the time. Now she is 23 now and filled with regret.
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Breaking overnight — The Florida Department of Health late Tuesday announced eight new positive cases of the novel coronavirus, with seven of the cases described as “travel-related” and involving Florida residents.
According to the Department of Health, the eight new cases are a 46-year old male in Pasco County; a 73-year old male in Collier County; a 68-year old female in Collier County; a 64-year old female in Collier County; a 67-year old male in Pinellas County; a 64-year old male in Pinellas County; a 68-year-old male in Nassau County. and a 68-year old female Georgia resident who is in Alachua County.
All eight are isolated and will remain in isolation until cleared by public-health officials.
Former Vice President Joe Biden remains the favorite in next week’s Florida presidential primary. But the state may once again go to Donald Trump come November.
That’s according to a new survey from the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Business and Economics Polling Initiative (BEPI).
Former Vice President Joe Biden widens his lead in Florida. Image via AP Photo/Paul Sancya.
The poll showed Biden has 61% support in the Democratic primary. That tops U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who’s earning just 25% support.
U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii received 3% support in the poll. So far, she has received less than 1% of available delegates overall and is unlikely to challenge for the nomination seriously. Another 10% of respondents were undecided.
Biden and Sanders have both gained support from candidates who dropped out of the race since the previous version of the FAU BEPI survey. Biden has shot up 19 points since January, with Sanders improving by 11 points.
Sanders faces a strong headwind in Florida with state Democrats mostly backing Biden. Candidates will compete on March 17 for Florida’s 219 pledged delegates. Those delegates will go a long way to determine who will take on Trump in the general election.
But the FAU BEPI survey shows Trump on top in Florida, no matter the nominee. Trump defeats Biden 51% to 49%, according to the poll results. However, that’s within the survey’s margin of error of 2.7 percentage points.
Biden gives Democrats a better shot than Sanders, according to the poll. The survey shows Trump beating Sanders 53% to 47%.
Trump’s reelection prospects may be affected by how he handles the spread of the new coronavirus, especially given its impact in Florida.
The survey — conducted from March 5-7 — found 52% of Floridians were confident in the federal government’s response. Another 31% said they were not confident
Those results were heavily skewed by party lines, with 77% of Republicans expressing confidence, while only 38% of Democrats and 39% of independents said the same.
Two Floridians have died after contracting the COVID-19 virus thus far.
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On ‘He Said, She Said’: Session winds down — Michelle and I talk about the final week of the 2020 Legislative Session and its many accomplishments: Likely teacher pay increases, state employee pay increases, and (for the first time in years) a fully funded Sadowski Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
But the big question remains unanswered: Will any of these Session wins matter if Florida finds itself in the middle of a coronavirus-fueled economic free fall?
On the heels of International Women’s Day, we discuss the elusive concept of “likability,” Elizabeth Warren‘s exit from the presidential race, as well as the release of the new Hulu documentary on Hillary Clinton. Michelle and I draw comparisons between Clinton’s 2016 run and Warren’s 2020 bid.
Sen. Anitere Flores also joins the podcast to discuss her final days in Tallahassee; the term-limited lawmaker served six years in the House and a decade in the Senate.
Speaking of coronavirus — Michelle, Ella Joyce and I have a Disney cruise booked for late April, and so far, we’re keeping our plans.
Back to politics, talk about the nomination battle between Sanders versus Biden, and try to understand why millennials (like our podcast producer) are attracted to Sanders when he appears to be so very unlikable.
After a 24-hour flurry of votes, BillieAnne Gay, Justin Thames, Corinne Mixon and Nick Matthews are advancing to the semifinals in Florida Politics’ annual March Madness-inspired competition to determine the “best” lobbyist in the state.
Gay, who represents the Florida School Boards Association, defeated Rubin Turnbull’s Amy Bisceglia to earn a coveted spot in the Final Four. Her path got off to a rocky start — she narrowly defeated Sarah Suskey in the first round — but she’s dominated ever since, garnering two-thirds of the vote in her next two matchups.
It’s Final Four time in TallyMadness 2020.
Mixon’s had a similar run through four rounds. After a close match against Katie Flury, the Rutledge Ecenia lobbyist ran up the score in the second and third rounds.
Matthews and Thames, meanwhile, have put up big numbers throughout.
Thames, who represents the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants lobbyist, earned no less than 60% of the vote each round leading up to his faceoff with Metz Husband & Daughton’s Alli Liby-Schoonover.
Matthews, of Peebles Smith & Matthews, has notched two-thirds support throughout the tournament before going up against Lewis Longman & Walker’s Natalie Kato in the fourth round.
Voting is open in the semifinals through 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.
Today’s Sunrise
Session is now running on two separate tracks. Track one is business as usual — both chambers meeting all day long, and lawmakers are moving as many bills as possible in what is supposed to be the final week of Session.
Track two is going on behind the scenes, as a handful of lawmakers try to come up with a budget compromise and make cuts in their current spending plans, trying to beef up the state’s reserve fund in case Florida faces a coronavirus recession.
Also, on today’s Sunrise:
— A bill to compensate Clifford Williams for the 43 years he spent in prison for a murder he did not commit has cleared the legislature without a single vote against it, extraordinary for a claims bill. Now it’s up to the Governor.
— Another bill prevents local governments from banning chemical sunscreen products is on its way to the Governor’s desk. Opponents are hoping for a veto.
— Florida Politics correspondent Noah Pransky talks about dark money in U.S. elections, and a lot of it ends up in Florida.
— Chelsea Murphy, the state director of a conservative group called Right on Crime, discusses sentencing reforms. It is a subject that was once unthinkable for conservatives.
— In the latest with Florida Man, busted on a charge of practicing dentistry inside his own home without a license. It wasn’t his first time.
—@KevinCate: For many reasons, I wish the primary was still competitive, but it’s not. I don’t see any obstacles to @JoeBiden winning the nomination. I love Team @BernieSanders — & I expect y’all to take it to the convention loud & proud. But after that, we’re all on the same team.
—@mcimaps: If Sanders drops out before Florida, making my in-the-works article and planned analysis completely useless, it will be his final “f***you” to me after he invaded my life 5 years ago.
—@Beyerstein: Every outlet should take down their paywall for #covid19 coverage. Free fake news is crowding out real information.
—@Conarck: You all have my word I will never remark about DOH’s timing on COVID-19 case announcements again. That 1 a.m. business learned me.
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—@DeFede: The Grand Princess How long before there is a drag queen by that name making her debut in Key West?
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—@Book4Senate: The wait is over- #AlyssasLaw requiring panic alarms in public schools has passed in both Florida Senate and House … now heads to the Governor for signature into law. Thank you @lorialhadeff for pursuing this legislation in honor of your daughter Alyssa -her legacy lives on
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Days until
Last day of 2020 Session (maybe) — 2; 11th Democratic debate in Phoenix — 4; Florida’s presidential primary — 6; Super Tuesday III — 6; “After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News” premieres on HBO — 8; MLB Opening Day — 15; Quibi launches — 26; Easter — 32; First quarter campaign reports due — 35; Florida TaxWatch Spring Board Meeting begins — 35; TaxWatch Principal Leadership Awards — 36; Last day of federal candidate qualifying — 40; NFL Draft — 43; Mother’s Day — 60; Florida Chamber Summit on Prosperity and Economic Opportunity — 65; Last day of state candidate qualifying — 89; “Top Gun: Maverick” premieres — 107; Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee begins — 123; Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” premieres — 127; 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo start (maybe) — 135; Florida primaries for 2020 state legislative/congressional races — 160; Republican National Convention begins in Charlotte — 166; First presidential debate in Indiana — 202; First vice presidential debate at the University of Utah — 210; Second presidential debate scheduled at the University of Michigan — 218; Third presidential debate at Belmont — 225; 2020 General Election — 237; “No Time to Die” premieres (now) — 259.
Top story
The emerging threat of the new coronavirus has dominated headlines and the back half of the 2020 Legislative Session, and Florida’s top political minds have opinions on several aspects of the public health emergency.
Asked how well the Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has handled the crisis, two in five Florida Influencers gave him a “B.” Another 19% gave the Governor top marks, while a similar amount cast the executive branch’s response as average.
That leaves just 17% who found DeSantis’ leadership lacking, including 13% who tagged him with a “D” and 4% who outright flunked him.
Insiders give Ron DeSantis’ handling of the coronavirus crisis gets mostly positive reviews.
It’s possible that Influencer’s opinions were swayed by the virus’s impact on their own travel plans — a whopping 45% said they’ve had to scrub some post-Session vacation plans due to COVID-19’s growing foothold in the U.S.
And a not-insignificant number say they expect the global epidemic to bring the Legislature back to Tallahassee for a Special Legislative Session.
About a fifth of Florida Influencers say lawmakers will call a Special Session for the exclusive purpose of addressing COVID-19. Another 16% said they expected the Legislature to clock in later this year to ratify a new Seminole Compact, while 17% expect a special Session to handle both issues.
Combined, more than half of experts polled don’t think Sine Die will stick.
Dateline: Tally
“The Ron DeSantis double-play: a star ballplayer and a future politician” via John Romano of the Tampa Bay Times — He was the kind of kid who might ride his bike to the ball field off Harvard Avenue in Dunedin to throw baseballs across the outfield to build up his arm strength. A kid who would sneak off with a teammate for a home run hitting contest on the eve of the World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. All these years later, the oddest thing about seeing their childhood friend on television riding on Air Force One with the President is that none of his old teammates find it remotely odd. “I always knew he was going into politics,’’ said Brady Williams, who is now the Rays Triple-A manager in Durham and was then one of DeSantis’ closest friends.
“Tiffany Carr likely a no-show” via the News Service of Florida — The former head of the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, is unlikely to testify before a House panel that is investigating her compensation package, according to Fred Piccolo, a spokesman for House Speaker José Oliva. The Florida House for weeks has tried unsuccessfully to serve Carr with a subpoena. Since Feb. 18, the chamber has attempted to serve Carr through the mail and Twitter, as well as at her homes in North Carolina and Port St. Joe, Piccolo said. He said Carr is “very unlikely” to show up at the House Public Integrity & Ethics Committee, when the subpoena ordered her to appear before the panel.
Tiffany Carr is a now show. Image via Miami Herald.
“Frustration mounts for Tom Lee over education ‘micromanaging’ in Legislature” via Sarah Mueller of Florida Politics — “As I talk to members, I don’t think there’s anyone quite where I am yet, but I’m fed up,” said the former Senate President. “With a Legislature that spends 80% of its time focusing on 20% of the students, we might as well name our education committee the committee on charter schools and vouchers. And if we get into this budget, I got plenty to say about our education budget as well.” Lee complains there’s not a lot of flexible spending money for school districts, especially because of HB 5007, which the Legislature passed earlier this year. It changes how much state employees must contribute to the pension system. And it could end up costing school districts nearly $233 million statewide.
“Polo maker Ralph Lauren exploited tax loophole that lawmakers refuse to close” via Jason Garcia and Gray Rohrer of the Orlando Sentinel — “The multibillion-dollar clothing company that sells Ralph Lauren polo shirts and other luxury apparel sought a $1.3-million income tax refund from Florida by taking advantage of a loophole that the Republican-controlled Legislature has chosen to leave open. Accountants for Ralph Lauren Corp. argued Florida cannot tax income the New York-based company has shifted out of the state by paying itself for the right to use its own brand name and other trademarks, according to litigation records obtained by the Orlando Sentinel. The company then struck a confidential settlement deal with the Florida Department of Revenue, an agency spokeswoman said Tuesday.
“Veteran reporter Lloyd Dunkelberger honored by the Senate” via Diane Rado of Florida Phoenix — Senate President Bill Galvano said Dunkelberger would be retiring this year after his 37th regular Legislative Session. Dunkelberger helped the public understand what’s going on in state government and how laws created by the Legislature impact ordinary citizens. “We certainly wish you and your family great things and great peace and enjoyment as you enter into your retirement,” Galvano said. “I know I personally will miss our interactions and sharing information and the stories that you write and contribute to, and I’m sure the rest of the capital press corps will also miss you as well.” Galvano said: “Thank you for your service to the state of Florida, my friend.”
Budget notes
“Lawmakers look to boost Alzheimer’s efforts” via the News Service of Florida — With the number of Floridians suffering from Alzheimer’s disease expected to increase as Baby Boomers age, the state House on Tuesday unanimously passed a bill that seeks to boost the state’s efforts to address the disease. The bill (HB 835), sponsored by Rep. Matt Willhite, a Wellington Democrat, and Rep. Scott Plakon, a Longwood Republican, includes creating the position of dementia director within the Florida Department of Elder Affairs. Plakon, whose first wife died of Alzheimer’s disease, said creating the position will increase the visibility of the disease within state government.
“Tampa’s IIOP gets expansion funding in state budget” via Drew Wilson of Florida Politics — The International Institute for Orthotics and Prosthetics plans to double the size of its graduate training program thanks to an appropriation lawmakers included in the 2020-21 state budget. The $100,000 line item, included in the higher education budget, will allow the Tampa-based organization to handle 24 students, up from its current 12-student limit. RSA Consulting spearheaded the effort to land the funding, with lobbyist Kaitlyn Bailey taking point. The expansion comes as the nation faces an imminent shortage in certified orthotists and prosthetists. IIOP is one of only a dozen orthotics and prosthetics training programs in the U.S.
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Legislation
“VISIT FLORIDA could be extended to 2023” via the News Service of Florida — Days after budget negotiators agreed to maintain $50 million in funding for the state tourism-marketing agency next fiscal year, the House amended a Senate proposal (SB 362) and would authorize the agency until Oct. 1, 2023. The House expects to vote on the extension, which would send the bill back to the Senate, which has sought to extend VISIT FLORIDA until Oct. 1, 2028. Rep. Mel Ponder said the extension to 2023 was worked out with the Senate. The extension to 2023 represents a change for the House, where Republican leaders have sought to close the agency. Rep. Geraldine Thompson said the extension would provide “stability” to the agency.
“House prepared to pass latest citizen initiative restriction” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics — That bill (SB 1794) would raise the threshold for initiatives to trigger a judicial review and prevent petition signatures from rolling over to the next ballot. Republican Sen. Hutson, who spearheaded that effort through the Senate, contends his legislation will prevent the Florida Supreme Court from wasting its time on proposed amendments that never meet the threshold to head to the ballot. In the House, Tampa Republican Rep. Jamie Grant, who has led similar measures through the House (HB 7037), argued the same point. The trigger for judicial review would jump to 25% from 10% of the total signatures required to make the ballot. Those signatures must come from one-half, instead of one quarter, of the state’s congressional districts.
“Lawmakers ready to cut some corners to get faster election recounts” via Mary Ellen Klas of the Miami Herald — In the interest of speeding the process of recounting votes in a close election, the Florida House passed legislation to allow county supervisors of elections to purchase specialized equipment to conduct both machine and manual recounts. But there’s only one vendor — ClearAudit digital imaging system from Clear Ballot Group of Boston — and the prospect that the state could be dependent on a single proprietary software tool has supporters worried that security could be undermined. “Technology is a tool, not a process. This recount concept is not ready for prime time,” said Liza McClenaghan, Common Cause Florida state board chair.
Tech bill heads to Gov. — A bill that would revamp state technology rules to facilitate more communication between state agencies is ready for the Governor’s signature, Matt Dixon of POLITICO Florida reports. HB 1391 would shutter the Division of State Technology and set up the Florida Digital Service in its place. The bill tasks FDS with maintaining state data, setting up a “financial services sandbox” to demo software before it’s rolled out, and facilitating data sharing between government agencies. It cleared both chambers with unanimous votes. The measure was a DeSantis priority.
“Key West banned sunscreen to protect reefs. Legislature voted to overrule that” via Samantha Gross of the Miami Herald — When the Key West City Commission voted last year to ban the sale of sunscreens that could harm the coral reef, they celebrated. But the law won’t go into effect in January 2021, as scheduled, if the Governor signs the bill into law. Florida lawmakers approved legislation that prevents local governments from regulating any over-the-counter drugs or cosmetics. That, of course, includes sunscreen. The House voted 68-47 on the Senate version of a bill, sending it to the Governor’s desk for approval. Republican Reps. Sam Killebrew, Holly Raschein, and Ana Maria Rodriguez broke with their Party and voted against the bill.
Holly Raschein broke with her party to vote against a ban on sunscreen bans.
“Senate set to vote on pharmacist ‘test and treat’ legislation” via Florida Politics — Drama ensued in the Senate when a majority of Senators briefly refused to consider the House version of a bill expanding pharmacist powers. However, the bill got brought back up with an expansive amendment that brought language closer to that House bill. The legislation, a priority of Speaker Oliva, is thought to be a bargaining chip in budget negotiations. Sen. Travis Hutson, the sponsor of SB 714, moved to introduce the House bill, a more expansive version of the “test and treat” legislation than his Senate version. Rep. Tyler Sirois’ bill (HB 389) kept strep tests and added lice, skin conditions like ringworm and minor, non-chronic conditions to the list of possible pharmacist treatments.
“Organ transplant nondiscrimination bill prepped for Senate vote” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics — Rep. Jason Fischer‘s bill (HB 1179) would prevent health care facilities, insurers and other entities from denying organ transplant services to people with developmental or intellectual disabilities solely on that basis. Last month, the House passed the measure unanimously. The Americans with Disabilities Act prevents the discrimination of people with disabilities, including organ transplants. But Sen. Aaron Bean, who led a similar bill in the Senate up to this point (SB 1556), told the chamber floor that many don’t know they have recourse if they’re denied a transplant. “You could say we’re codifying federal law,” the Jacksonville Republican said. “But what happens is people don’t know that they’re being discriminated against in Florida.”
Aaron Bean reminds the Senate that organ transplant patients have recourse against discrimination from the ADA.
“House ready to raise smoking, vaping age to 21” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics — Rep. Jackie Toledo hopes to address another national “epidemic.” The House gave preliminary approval to a bill raising the smoking and vaping age to 21, acceding to the Senate’s proposed version and federal regulations. The Tampa Republican argued high schoolers and middle schoolers are increasingly using electronic cigarettes even as the youth smoking rate continues to decline. Sen. David Simmons‘ bill (SB 810) would prohibit the sale of most flavored nicotine liquids and distinguish vaping products from standard nicotine products. Licenses to sell standard tobacco products would still carry an annual $50 fee, while licenses to sell vape products would carry no cost.
“House backs eliminating time limit in sex abuse cases” via the News Service of Florida — The House late Monday voted to eliminate a time limit for child sex-abuse victims to file criminal complaints against their abusers. On a unanimous vote, the House approved the bill (HB 199), which would remove a statute of limitations for sexual battery cases when the victims are younger than 18 at the time the crimes occurred. The proposed law, however, would only apply to offenses committed on or after July 1. “Child rape is one of the most heinous crimes that can be committed. We need to allow child victims the time they need in able to come forward,” said Rep. Scott Plakon, a Longwood Republican who is sponsoring the bill.
“Minimum age of arrest amendment to school safety bill dies” via Sarah Mueller of Florida Politics — Sen. Randolph Bracy withdrew an amendment that would have prohibited the arrest of children 6 years old or younger. He said Rules Committee Chair Lizabeth Benaquisto would have raised a point of order regarding his amendment because it had not gone through the committee process. She did not respond to a request for comment.
“Legislators want to impose term limits on consumer advocate in utility rate cases” via Mary Ellen Klas of the Miami Herald — Using a skillful parliamentary maneuver, the Senate kept alive a measure to impose term limits on the lawyer who represents the public on utility rate increases. The measure by Sen. Wilton Simpson, a Trilby Republican, has long been a priority of the utility industry, whose lawyers have faced legal hurdles because the Office of Public Counsel has successfully challenged efforts to charge customers for out-of-state fracking operations or to raise customer rates in cases before the Public Service Commission. Under the measure, inserted by the Senate into HB 1095 and approved 37-1, the public counsel will be limited to 12 years, with three four-year terms.
More legislation
“Lawmakers back compensation for ‘wronged’ man” via Dara Kam of the News Service of Florida — Williams spent nearly 43 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit. On Tuesday, the 77-year-old man left The Capitol with apologies from legislative leaders and the promise of “clean” hands. The Florida House unanimously signed off on a measure to pay $2.15 million to Williams for the four-plus decades he spent in prison, including four years on Death Row, after being convicted of murder. “This injustice did not break his spirit. As I look into his eyes, I sense how truly grateful he is, being so humble to stand before the same state that wronged him, in a spirit of true thanksgiving,” House sponsor Kimberly Daniels said.
A claim bill for Clifford Williams, former Florida death row inmate, is on the way to the Governor.
“House scraps proposal to survey college students and faculty about political beliefs” via the News Service of Florida — The House ditched a controversial proposal that would have required state colleges and universities to survey students and faculty members about their viewpoints. Rep. Ray Rodrigues pushed the surveys as part of a wide-ranging higher education bill (HB 613). But the Estero Republican said the so-called intellectual freedom survey was “negotiated out of the bill” with the Senate and will no longer be considered during this year’s Legislative Session. The move was a concession to the Senate, which opposed the idea last year and this year. Senate Appropriations Chairman Rob Bradley warned Senators last spring that the survey idea would likely keep coming back and urged the Senate to continue blocking it.
“House, Senate split on athlete insurance issue” via the News Service of Florida — The House is poised to approve a measure that would open the field for college athletes in the state to make money off their names and images. But the Senate doesn’t agree with changes the House added. The changes would require schools to provide health insurance and disability coverage to student-athletes. Senate sponsor Debbie Mayfield said the Senate wouldn’t accept the bill (SB 646) with the House’s changes on health insurance and disability coverage. “I had a discussion with them last week and said I’m not taking these two issues,” Mayfield said. “We’re trying to keep this simple.”
“Bill overhauling state hemp program ready for House vote, but differences with Senate remain” via Florida Politics — House members took up the Senate legislation (SB 1876). Sen. Bill Montford is sponsoring that bill, which the Senate approved in a unanimous vote. But an amendment from Rep. Brad Drake will ensure the bill gets sent back to the Senate. That amendment strikes a provision from the Senate bill stating that licensees “may only use hemp seeds and cultivars certified by a certifying agency or a university conducting an industrial hemp pilot project” under state law. The hemp program has hit several speed bumps since its establishment. Drake spoke about the need for the overhaul on the House floor.
“House primed to pass electric vehicle charging station expansion study” via Renzo Downey of Florida Politics — The measure would also allow the Department of Transportation (FDOT) to construct staging areas for emergency response, adds a “shot clock” for utility infrastructure permits and create cases for utilities to cross rural land while protecting the environment. Dylan Reed, director of Advanced Energy Economy(AEE), sees the bill’s potential to increase the state’s accessibility for electric vehicle owners. “What this bill tries to start the conversation around is how do we make sure there’s enough charging infrastructure so that if someone wants to drive from Tampa to Tallahassee, there’s enough charging infrastructure there,” he said.
Today in Capitol
The Senate will hold a floor session, 10 a.m., Senate Chambers.
The House will hold a floor session, 10:30 a.m., House Chambers.
The Senate Special Order Calendar Group meets to set the special-order calendar, 15 minutes after floor session, Room 401, Senate Office Building.
Govs. Club buffet menu
Sauerkraut soup; mixed garden salad with dressings; sweet & sour coleslaw; southern potato salad; deli board, lettuce, tomatoes, cheeses and bread; roast turkey with natural pan gravy and cranberry sauce; blackened tilapia with Creole sauce and shrimp; roast pork loin with warm applesauce; buttermilk mashed potatoes; oven-roasted vegetables; haricot verts with bacon and onions; campfire s’mores for dessert.
Sunshine State primary
Voters are voting — According to the Florida Division of Elections, as of Tuesday afternoon, Supervisors of Elections have 1,127,101 Republican vote-by-mail ballots; 603,458 have returned, 424,444 are outstanding, and 3,030 are unsent. There have been 96,169 early in-person votes cast. As for Democrats, Supervisors have 1,310,903 vote-by-mail ballots; 498,830 have returned 646,561 are outstanding, and 4,846 are unsent. There have been 160,666 early in-person votes cast. Those classified as “other,” 248,056 vote-by-mail ballots, 15,058 have returned, 33,756 are outstanding, and 198,069 are unsent. There have been 1,173 early in-person votes cast.
“Bernie Sanders is a little weird. So is Florida. But they might not be a good match.” via Carl Hiaasen of the Miami Herald — A zany voice inside his fluffy head decided it would be all right to talk favorably about Fidel Castro — not worshipfully, not gushingly, but just enough to aggravate many Hispanic Democrats, a crucial voting bloc. At the time, the Vermont senator already was way behind in the state polls, trailing former Vice President Biden and ex-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The comments about Fidel did not vault Sanders to the top of the pack. Bernie can put on a lively rally, but Florida isn’t California. Many Democrats here wouldn’t describe themselves as leftist or liberal; very, very few line up as “democratic socialists.”
Bernie Sanders is weird, but is he Florida weird?
“Rick Kriseman and a bunch of Florida Mayors are backing Joe Biden for President” via Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times — One week before Florida’s primary — Kriseman joined other local leaders in backing former Vice President Biden. One of Kriseman’s top advisers, Deputy Mayor Kanika Tomalin, is also endorsing Biden, according to his campaign, as is former Tampa Mayor Sandy Freedman. Other mayors endorsing Biden included Jose Alvarez of Kissimmee, Jerry Demings of Orange County, Joel Flores of Greenacres, Dan Gelber of Miami Beach, Mark Marciano of Palm Beach Gardens, Hazelle Rogers of Lauderdale Lakes, Mike Ryan of Sunrise, Matt Sparks of Oakland, Ann Williams of Chattahoochee and Steve Wilson of Belle Glade.
“Florida Democrats announce promotions, new staffers” via Scott Powers of Florida Politics — The Florida Democratic Party announced Tuesday it is beefing up field operations with several promotions including Brittney Geathers as director of African American outreach and with a slew of new hires including Jes Cruz as training director. Other staffing moves include bumping Abigayil Yisrael, Keith Hardy, Sam Dorr, Harrison Angelis, Jami Hudson, Alex Berrios, Brooke Christy, Conner Jure and Jeffrey Pole to regional field director positions. FDP Chair Terrie Rizzo stated: “Our amazing staff of 100 campaign professionals have mobilized more than 12,000 volunteers to complete 40,000 volunteer shifts — and we aren’t stopping until we take back our state and make Donald Trump a one-term President.”
“Miami-Dade Democratic Party postpones Blue Forum & Fair over coronavirus concerns” via Ryan Nicol of Florida Politics — The “Blue Forum and Fair” was scheduled for Sunday, March 15, at the Firefighters’ Memorial Building in Doral. But Miami-Dade Democratic Party Chair Steve Simeonidis said the event was on hold. “New cases are being reported every day in Florida,” Simeonidis said. “It is very likely that the reported cases are a severe undercount, and so out of an abundance of caution, we have decided to postpone the Blue Forum & Fair.” Simeonidis’ comment that cases are likely undercounted stems from reports that U.S. officials have not yet enabled widespread testing for the COVID-19 virus. Once that testing occurs, infection numbers are expected to go up.
“As coronavirus epidemic grows, will voters be discouraged from going to the polls?” via Isaac Morgan of Florida Phoenix — “I have not heard of any specific concerns of voters being worried about voting due to the coronavirus,” said Santa Rosa County elections supervisor Tappie Villane. In her county, a 71-year-old man recently died from the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus. “We have taken the same steps for our four early voting sites, which is currently underway,” said Villane. “We will be sending hand sanitizer, hand wipes and Lysol spray to each polling site on March 17.” Voters are encouraged to vote by mail if they are concerned about going to the polls on March 17, said Steven Vancore, a Broward County Supervisor of Elections representative.
New ads
Biden — “Always”:
Sanders — “Decimated”:
Rick Scott:
More 2020
“Joe Biden adds Michigan to Minnesota, Mississippi, delivering blow to Bernie Sanders” via the Associated Press — Biden won Michigan’s Democratic primary, seizing a key battleground state that helped propel Sanders’ insurgent candidacy four years ago. The former vice president’s victory in Michigan, as well as Missouri and Mississippi, dealt a serious blow to Sanders, who is urgently seeking to jump-start his flagging campaign. Sanders could still get a boost later in the night in Idaho, North Dakota or Washington state. But fewer delegates were at stake than in Mississippi, Missouri and Michigan, where Biden’s decisive performance again showed his strength with working-class voters and African Americans, who are vital to winning the Democratic nomination. It’s a dramatic reversal of fortune for Biden, whose campaign appeared on the brink of collapse just two weeks ago.
Joe Biden is running up the delegate score. Image via AP.
“‘Remember us’: could Donald Trump lose Florida because of hurricane refugees?” via Cristian Salazar of The Guardian — Marta Rivera was an avid voter in Puerto Rico — one who enjoyed researching political candidates each election cycle in the US territory. Then, in 2017, Hurricane Maria swept through the island, destroying homes, killing thousands of people, and leaving millions of others stranded. Rivera became one of the tens of thousands of storm refugees who moved to Florida in the following months to try to build a new life. Now Rivera and the other hurricane refugees have become a vital voting bloc coveted by both the Democratic and Republican parties in the swing state, where elections are often won by just tens of thousands of votes.
“The new Joe Biden: Shorter speeches (and less time for gaffes)” via Cleve Wootson of The Washington Post — Biden’s event in St. Louis, framed by the Gateway Arch, clocked in at around seven minutes Saturday. A short time later, people were streaming for their cars after Biden wrapped up in 12 minutes. His longest speech of the weekend didn’t quite make 15 minutes. In his shortened speeches, Biden still touches on his platform points, takes subtle jabs at Sanders and makes more than a few passing references to former President Barack Obama — he just does it all much faster. The less Biden strays from his streamlined and teleprompter-ed remarks, the less likely he is to make a gaffe that could damagingly ricochet around the internet.
“Rick Scott slams Bernie Sanders in Spanish-language ad” via Gary Fineout and Marc Caputo of POLITICO Florida — As Florida prepares for its presidential primary, Scott will launch a Spanish-language ad that slams Sanders for his past praise of Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega. The ad includes footage of Sanders from the 1980s saying that Castro had “totally transformed the society.” If Democratic front-runner Biden needed a nudge going into the primary, the Scott ad could provide it. The ad is running in Miami, Orlando, Tampa and Fort Myers. The Scott campaign said the ad buy would be in the mid-five figures.
News by the numbers
Coronavirus
“3 infected with coronavirus at company that greets Florida cruise passengers” via Freida Frisaro of The Associated Press — Three employees of a company that greets cruise ship passengers in Florida have tested positive for the new coronavirus, state health officials said, urging anyone who recently traveled through Port Everglades to isolate themselves for 14 days if they start experiencing symptoms. The Florida Department of Health confirmed the company connection in a release that also said a 69-year-old woman who tested positive for COVID-19 is the fourth Broward County resident, and the third employee of Metro Cruise Services, to have the virus.
Employees of a company that greets cruise passengers have tested positive for coronavirus. Image via AP.
“Another cruise cleared to dock in Florida after virus tests” via The Associated Press — Another Princess cruise ship has been given federal permission to dock in Florida after testing of two crew members cleared them of the new coronavirus and U.S. health officials lifted a “no sail” order. A Princess Cruises spokeswoman, Negin Kamali, said in an email that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gave permission for the Caribbean Princess to return to port after the tests came back negative. The California-based cruise line said it kept passengers and crew from disembarking as planned at a Grand Cayman stop, and instead picked up test kits after notifying the CDC that two crewmembers had transferred from a Princess ship in California, where a guest had tested positive for the virus.
“As coronavirus cancellations continue, memo shows extent of impact on Central Florida hotels” via Marco Santana of the Orlando Sentinel — Coronavirus continued to wreak havoc on Central Florida’s business travel and convention industry with a sixth large conference canceling at the Orange County Convention Center as an internal Orange County Emergency Operations memo provided a more detailed glimpse at just how many cancellations are hitting local hotels. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons canceled its conference at the convention center scheduled to begin March 24 and cited concerns over COVID-19 or the virus that is grounding corporate travel across the globe. The meeting would have drawn an estimated 30,000 people. A memo dated March 5 to Orange County officials details 11 more cancellations at Central Florida hotels.
“Ashley Moody activates price gouging hotline amid coronavirus scare” via Jacob Ogles of Florida Politics — Attorney General Moody activated a price-gouging hotline amid consumer concerns about sanitary products. Consumers may call (866) 9NO-SCAM if they suspect prices on good have been artificially escalated to exploit the scare. Scams can also be reported at MyFloridaLegal.com. She said the fact that DeSantis declared a state of emergency regarding the spread of the coronavirus allows her to open the hotline for essential commodities. “We are monitoring the COVID-19 situation in Florida very closely, and following the Governor’s state of emergency declaration, our price gouging laws are now in effect,” Moody said.
“Coronavirus in Florida: PBSO buys 4,000 biological suits” via Hannah Morse of the Palm Beach Post — First responders are taking different measures to prepare for the potential spread of COVID-19 in Palm Beach County. For Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, it includes buying 4,000 biological suits for his deputies and civilian employees to use. Bradshaw and Palm Beach County Fire Rescue officials described to commissioners how their departments were attempting to protect both their employees and the public. As of Tuesday, no positive cases of the novel coronavirus had been identified in Palm Beach County. For the first time, those responding to emergency calls will now know whether a person living there is being monitored for COVID-19, Bradshaw said.
“Coronavirus in Florida: PBC schools make plans to close campuses if necessary” via Andrew Marra of the Palm Beach Post — Schools Superintendent Donald Fennoy said that if closures become necessary, administrators would try to limit them only to schools directly affected rather than shut down campuses countywide. The initial aim of any closing would be “to contain it to one school, and as we get real-time information, we would expand it,” Fennoy told county commissioners during a briefing. Educators nationwide have worried about the impact of widespread closings on students, particularly on poor children dependent on schools for nutritious breakfasts and lunches. “There are a lot of consequences of shutting down the entire system,” Fennoy said.
“How ready is Florida’s health department for the coronavirus?” via Allison Ross of the Tampa Bay Times — While DeSantis and lawmakers appear poised to boost the state’s response to the virus outbreak with $25 million in state funding, experts say that won’t make up for years of underfunding that have eroded the DOH’s readiness. “You’re not going to see a miraculous development of capacity and capabilities overnight,” said David Krause, a former toxicologist for the department. “You go to war with the army you have.” Krause and others say that, in the past two decades, capabilities in the department “have been eaten away” as budgets have been reduced, and staff with institutional knowledge have moved on. The department’s staff positions are down more than 25% from a decade ago.
“Matt Gaetz tests negative for coronavirus but will continue with 14-day self-quarantine” via Jim Thompson of Northwest Florida Daily News — U.S. Rep. Gaetz has tested negative for coronavirus. The Republican congressman who represents northwest Florida, reported the test results Tuesday afternoon, one day after he learned he had been exposed to someone later identified as a carrier of the disease. Gaetz got news of his exposure Monday as Air Force One was on its takeoff roll at Orlando Sanford International Airport for a flight back to Washington, D.C. Also onboard the plane, in addition to Trump, were National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.
Matt Gaetz tests negative for coronavirus, will still self-quarantine. Image via AP.
“Florida A&M preparing to move classes online, cancels events” via WCTV — President Larry Robinson says all plans need to be made and finalized by Sunday, March 22. Robinson made clear that no official decision has been made if the university will be transitioned to online instruction or not. Robinson tells WCTV, ” … these preparations will help ensure the University’s readiness in response to rapidly changing developments surrounding the coronavirus.” The university is also announcing travel restrictions for all university-related international travel. This restriction is effective immediately and has no end date. They are also announcing that all university-related travel inside the United States is prohibited unless approved.
“If coronavirus health depends upon Florida politicians, we’re doomed” via Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel — Please don’t listen to politicians. Not on this. Doctors? Yes. Health experts? You bet. Reputable news sources that cite doctors and health experts? By all means. But not the people who pander and politick for a living. If our public health truly depends upon them, we’re doomed. Ideally, elected leaders would offer a calm, sober and apolitical perspective during times of crisis. When I first learned the coronavirus threat was real, I didn’t call a politician. I called a doctor — someone who actually knows something about viruses, how they spread, and how worried we should be. So, I’m sticking with the CDC for solid info. And the health experts. Not political tweets.
“Florida spring break tourism in question amid spread of coronavirus” via CBS This Morning — For now, tourists are still flocking to the Sunshine State. “The weather’s great. It’s cold back home,” one visitor said. The city of Miami Beach has installed hand-washing stations directly on the sand to help fight coronavirus fears. Some visitors plan to carry their own hand sanitizer on vacation. “I always have it on me because it’s like, you walk up, you touch railings, you go to class, you don’t want to touch your face,” one woman said. A CDC warning isn’t stopping people from boarding cruise ships either. A day after the agency cautioned against ship travel, seven cruise ships left the port of Miami with excited passengers waving as they departed.
“After festival is canceled due to coronavirus fears, Ultra is not offering refunds” via Joey Flechas of the Miami Herald — In the literal eleventh hour, ticket holders received an email that made no mention of refunds. Instead, people who purchased tickets to this year’s Ultra will have access to either the 2021 or 2022 event in Miami — events that are, at this point, not even guaranteed under Ultra’s contract to use city-owned Bayfront Park. Under the title “Ultra Miami Rescheduled,” organizers explained that ticket holders could use them to enter one of two future festivals. After city officials announced that the three-day concert event would be postponed, festival organizers said the postponement would last a year — effectively canceling the 2020 event, which was supposed to mark the festival’s return to Bayfront Park.
“Central Florida schools cancel field trips that require air travel” via Leslie Postal of the Orlando Sentinel — The Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia county school districts all announced the immediate suspension of the trips that needed air travel. It was not immediately clear how many student trips would be canceled. But in Lake County, East Ridge High School students scheduled to attend the DECA International Career Development Conference in Nashville in late April will not be able to fly but could make other plans to get to Tennessee, said Sherri Owens, a spokeswoman for the Lake school district. That conference is expected to draw about 20,000 high school students, according to that group’s website.
“’Full steam ahead’: Springtime Tallahassee, festival organizers make coronavirus plans” via TaMaryn Waters of the Tallahassee Democrat — The 52nd Annual Springtime Tallahassee is scheduled for March 27 and 28 and has been canceled only once in its history. Next month, Word of South and LeMoyne’s Chain of Parks Art Festival are planned. Yet the spread of the potentially deadly virus is putting a cloud over events attracting large crowds, including conventions and festivals nationwide. Springtime Tallahassee executive director Jennifer Shafer said the organization’s executive team met and crafted a tentative “action plan.” The plan calls for distributing guidelines by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to all vendors, volunteers, parade entries and members and requesting all vendors to provide sanitizer at their booths, along with sanitizer stations throughout the event.
“Revelers at Daytona Bike Week shrug off coronavirus fears” via Patricio Balona of the Daytona Beach News-Journal — Bikers don’t seem to be frightened by the coronavirus. At least that’s the impression most reveling on Main Street gave, even with Volusia County marking its first reported case this weekend. Health officials said a 66-year-old Volusia County woman who traveled overseas recently tested positive for the coronavirus and is currently under quarantine. “It’s a bunch of boo-ha-ha,” said “Doc,” 63, from Titusville, who would not give his real name and jokingly referred to himself as Julio Iglesias. Swilling a beer and wearing a black hat studded with gator teeth, a thick silver necklace, and a sleeveless leather jacket, Doc said the media is downplaying who the virus is killing, meaning people in their 60s or older.
“Wary of coronavirus, some Central Florida churches adopt hands-off policies” via Kate Santich of the Orlando Sentinel — “Normally there is a time during the service when we welcome each other by shaking hands,” said senior pastor Scott George of Pine Castle United Methodist Church, south of Orlando. “But we’ve changed that during the last couple of weeks. We’re trying to be wise about it without scaring people.” That’s the mission for many faith leaders, who are hoping to provide comfort while complying with guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to practice so-called “social distancing.” At Maitland Presbyterian Church, co-pastors Megan and David Collins have sent an email to congregants to say the “meet and greet” portion of services is being put on hold.
More corona
“Dems press ahead on coronavirus package as Senate waits for Donald Trump” via Heather Caygle, Andrew Desiderio and John Bresnahan of POLITICO — The White House and Speaker Nancy Pelosi began preliminary talks over a legislative package to juice the U.S. economy amid the worldwide coronavirus outbreak. But House Democrats are simultaneously pressing forward with their own plan that could get a vote as early as this week — showing that even the response to a massive public-health emergency is breaking down along partisan lines. Trump presented Republican Senators with several potential actions Congress could take as lawmakers look to avert disastrous economic impacts from the virus — but he did not offer a specific economic stimulus package during their hourlong lunch meeting on Tuesday, according to several attendees.
Donald Trump, with Steven Mnuchin, meets with Republican Senators on Capitol Hill. Image via AP.
“Coronavirus: Donna Shalala introduces plan to make insurers pay for COVID-19 tests” via Alex Daugherty of the Miami Herald — Miami Democratic Rep. Shalala introduced legislation Tuesday that would require health insurers to cover the full costs of coronavirus tests for any American who has health insurance through their employer, or who has purchased an Obamacare plan. Shalala’s bill, the Covering Coronavirus Test Act of 2020, adds the coronavirus test to the Affordable Care Act’s list of preventive health services that insurers are required to cover at no cost to patients. The legislation would prevent insurance companies from passing off any portion of the testing cost to consumers. “Our government has a responsibility to do everything it can to manage this crisis,” said Shalala, who served as former President Bill Clinton’s Health and Human Services secretary from 1993 to 2001.
“Coronavirus threatens to pose an unprecedented challenge to the 2020 elections” via Isaac Stanley-Becker and Elise Viebeck of The Washington Post — When asked what kept him up at night, Ben Wikler, who is responsible for delivering a must-win state in November as chairman of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, used to answer, “unknown unknowns.” He no longer has to wonder what such a risk might look like. Presidential campaigns, parties and state election officials are scrambling to heed health warnings while safeguarding the democratic process against a growing coronavirus epidemic whose scope is difficult to predict.
“Coronavirus is mysteriously sparing kids and killing the elderly. Understanding why may help defeat the virus.” via William Wan and Joel Achenbach of The Washington Post — One of the few mercies of the spreading coronavirus is that it leaves young children virtually untouched — a mystery virologists say may hold vital clues as to how the virus works. In China, only 2.4 percent of reported cases were children and only 0.2 percent of reported cases were children who got critically ill, according to the World Health Organization. China has reported no case of a young child dying of the disease COVID-19. Meanwhile, the new coronavirus has proved especially deadly on the other end of the age spectrum. The fatality rate in China for those over 80 is an estimated 21.9 percent, per the WHO.
“Airlines slash routes, outlook and executive pay on coronavirus fallout” via Rachel Siegel of The Washington Post — The crisis has thrown much of the tourism industry into free fall. In a matter of weeks, hotels, airlines, and convention centers have seen their bookings plummet as leisure travelers stay home and businesses discourage or cancel employee travel. But the latest updates from Delta, American, United and Southwest Airlines signaled just how bleak their outlook is for the months to come. And as travelers cancel vacations, businesses discourage employees from leaving town, and conventions are canceled en mass, industry executives are comparing the outbreak’s fear factor to the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
“New sick leave policy from Darden restaurants could set industry standard amid coronavirus concerns” via Austin Fuller of the Orlando Sentinel — The new policy for Orlando-based Darden Restaurants applies to all of its more than 180,000 hourly employees. About 75% of those workers did not have paid sick leave, spokesman Rich Jeffers said. “With the stroke of a pen, they have just worked their way around everything, and they have scooped the entire industry,” said restaurant analyst John Gordon. Hourly employees at Darden Restaurants will accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked, Jeffers said. Current employees will have a starting balance of sick time based on their most recent 26 weeks of work and can use it immediately. New hires will begin accruing sick time upon starting and can use it after 90 days of employment.
“If you can work from home, you should. Now.” via William Hanage for The Washington Post — What we need to do now, before things get really bad, is think about how to protect the health care systems we rely on and keep them from being overwhelmed by a surge of cases, as is already happening in Washington state. And here’s the thing: You can help just by working from home, if your job allows it. Viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 need to transmit. Viruses spread on networks. They rely upon the ways in which we get together and allow infected folks to transmit unknowingly to everyone else. If we can stop that, we stop the epidemic. We just need to cut the links and suffocate the virus.
“Companies are putting out hand sanitizer. But for years, many have campaigned against sick pay.” via Abha Bhattarai and Peter Whoriskey of The Washington Post — As the coronavirus spreads across the United States, major U.S. companies and business groups have put out hand sanitizer and discussed precautions they are taking to keep sick workers away from customers. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised employers to “ensure that your sick leave policies are flexible and consistent with public health guidance.” Although most Americans say businesses should offer sick pay, at least a dozen states, including Florida and much of the Southeast, have passed legislation since 2011 to block efforts to require medical leave. Even in liberal-leaning states that have passed sick pay requirements, some companies sidestep the requirement by counting their workers not as employees, but as contractors.
“Social distancing could buy U.S. valuable time against coronavirus” via Carolyn Y. Johnson, Lena H. Sun and Andrew Freedman of The Washington Post — The best way to prevent a catastrophic explosion of cases in the next few weeks is to break potential chains of transmission by preventing infected people from coming in close contact with healthy ones, whether it means canceling conferences or relying on individual decisions to avoid crowded public transportation or postpone weddings. The goal isn’t to stop the virus; not anymore. It is to slow it down. The best way to prevent a catastrophic explosion of cases in the next few weeks, many experts think, is to break potential chains of transmission by preventing infected people from coming in close contact with healthy ones. The goal isn’t to stop the virus; not anymore. It is to slow it down.
Social Distancing could buy the U.S. a bit of time.
“Florida family stuck on Nile cruise by the coronavirus” via Isabel Debre of The Associated Press — When Javier Parodi returned from a tour of Egypt’s famed ancient tombs, he was unnerved to see that the cruise ship that brought him there wasn’t where he left it. The MS Asara, carrying some 150 American, French and Indian passengers, was the lone ship on the opposite bank of the Nile, isolated from the line of tourist-packed vessels over concern its passengers had been exposed to the new coronavirus. Parodi, 35, then found himself confined for days onboard the Asara, where 12 Egyptian crew members had just contracted the virus. The Nile cruiser has become the epicenter of the virus outbreak in Egypt. When passengers learned about the cases reported from their ship, Parodi said confusion quickly struck.
“Keep an eye on your local gas station. Coronavirus may cause prices to drop under $2” via Devoun Cetoute of the Miami Herald — Coronavirus has led to a lower global demand for jet fuel and gasoline, the AAA said. Crude and gasoline futures prices plummeted, hitting lows not seen since 2016. Two weeks ago, the cost of crude traded for more than $53 per barrel. Sunday night, it was around $33 per barrel. “At the rate fuel prices are falling on the stock market, Florida drivers could easily begin seeing sub-$2 gasoline this week,” AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins said. AAA doesn’t know how long the price drop will hold or how low it will go as it depends on where stock market prices go From here. As of Tuesday, Florida’s gas price average was $2.26 per gallon.
“Newsmax is telling its older-leaning audience to avoid a future coronavirus vaccine and instead give it money for something ‘far more effective’” via Eric Hananoki of Media Matters — The Donald Trump-aligned media company Newsmax has been trying to gin up paid subscriptions for its newsletter business by telling its older-leaning audience that “the worst thing” they could do regarding the coronavirus outbreak is to “get a vaccine when it becomes available” because vaccines are supposedly “a scam.” Newsmax is a right-wing media company that operates a website, cable news channel (Newsmax TV), and subscription publications. It’s led by CEO Christopher Ruddy, a friend and adviser to Trump. Newsmax TV recently debuted an evening program featuring notorious liar and former White House press secretary Sean Spicer and former Republican National Committee deputy communications director Lyndsay Keith.
D.C. matters
“White House likely to pursue federal aid for shale companies hit by oil shock, coronavirus downturn” via Jeff Stein, Will Englund, Steven Mufson and Robert Costa of The Washington Post — Trump has touted the growth of oil and natural gas production under his administration, celebrating their rise in politically crucial swing states such as Pennsylvania. But many oil and gas firms were hammered by the price war that broke out between Saudi Arabia and Russia, driving oil prices down in their steepest one-day drop in almost 30 years. White House officials are alarmed at the prospect that numerous shale companies could be driven out of business if the downturn in oil prices turns into a prolonged crisis for the industry. The federal assistance is likely to take the form of low-interest government loans to the shale companies, whose lines of credit to major financial institutions have been choked off.
“Donald Trump seeks ‘big’ stimulus steps but aides are skeptical” via Nancy Cook of POLITICO — Trump wants to ‘go big’ on a fiscal stimulus package to combat economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus, but his own White House aides remain cool to one of the centerpieces of the package — a temporary payroll tax cut. At a meeting of top economic officials on Monday night, the president and aides like Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow and Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought all broadly agreed on ideas such as paid sick leave for hourly workers and loans for small businesses affected by the coronavirus, according to two administration officials briefed on the meeting.
Donald Trump is floating the idea of a coronavirus economic stimulus.
Happening Thursday — Sen. Marco Rubio, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, will convene “The Coronavirus and America’s Small Business Supply Chain,” 10 a.m., Small Business Committee Hearing Room, 428A Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. The hearing will be livestreamed on the committee’s website here.
“Congress in grip of confusion, fear over coronavirus unsure whether to stay or go” via Paul Kane of The Washington Post — The combination of the lack of medical expertise and a political environment that is quite poisonous, metaphorically speaking, has left Congress in a state of suspended animation. Congressional leaders rejected calls for the House and Senate to leave town and adopt the “social distancing” that some experts suggest could stem the spread of the coronavirus. “We are the captains of the ship. We are the last to leave,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told her caucus during a closed-door meeting. Democratic aides acknowledged the week’s schedule was fluid, especially after up to six members of the House and Senate announced they were quarantining themselves after contact with someone at a conference who was later got diagnosed with the virus.
“Michael Waltz, Lois Frankel look to increase women’s involvement in global security work” via Ryan Nicol of Florida Politics — The newly-formed Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Caucus will be behind that push. Frankel and Waltz want to include more women in peace negotiations between nations. The pair also wants to up the number of women serving in peacekeeping and security forces. “In societies where women thrive, governments, economies and communities are stronger,” Waltz said in a statement announcing the effort. “As a Green Beret, I’ve seen the importance of women in peace processes all-around the world. Peace agreements last longer when women are included in negotiations — and our world is ultimately a safer place because of gender equality.”
Tweet, tweet:
Mother nature
“Bears are coming out of hibernation more than a month early after one of the hottest winters in human history” via Michael Thomsen for the Daily Mail — Moscow Zoo CEO Svetlana Akulova announced the zoo was making preparations for two Himalayan bears held in captivity at the zoo to come out of hibernation more than a month earlier than the April window they had been expecting. The zoo staff had begun around the clock monitoring of the bears in February and noticed they were much more actively astir than normal, indicating they were ready to come out of full hibernation. Similar reports of bears coming out of hibernation early have come from other regions in Russia, and from all over the world. Typically, bears won’t begin hibernating until the temperature drops below at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
The trail
“Ron DeSantis committee adds $675K in February” via Florida Politics — While there were 37 total contributions to the Friends of Ron DeSantis committee last month, it was the first time in five months the organization racked up less than $700,000 in contributions. Still, the organization has amassed nearly $6.7 million in contributions in total as of Feb. 29, according to the most recent Florida Division of Elections figures. The DeSantis committee continued to receive sizable individual contributions from political players. The committee chalked up two donations of $100,000 each but from the same person. Both of those top contributions were from Craig Mateer, founder and CEO of Bags Inc., a luggage company.
“Jason Brodeur, Patricia Sigman stockpile cash in SD 9 race” via Florida Politics — Former Rep. Brodeur is the only Republican running for the seat so far. But it’s Brodeur who is distancing himself from all other candidates as he has raised about $644,000 in campaign contributions through February. Brodeur has spent about $388,000, leaving him with about $256,000 on hand. February also saw $42,000 head to his political committee, Friends of Jason Brodeur. All told, he has more than $800,000 in the bank between the two accounts. Sigman has also bulked up her campaign account for the Central Florida seat. The Democrat had a robust February when she was able to raise about $80,000 in campaign contributions. That action bolstered her campaign coffers to about $195,780.
Patricia Sigman has brought in some serious cash.
“Democrat files to challenge Ardian Zika in HD 37” via Florida Politics — Jason Roberts, a Democrat who is also from Land O’ Lakes, formally filed for the race March 9. Roberts will face an uphill battle to unseat Zika, who won the seat handily in 2018. Zika scored 61% of the vote, or 48,879 votes two years ago. That dominated Democratic challenger Tammy Garcia, who could only muster 31,955 votes, or 39.5% of the ballots cast. While Roberts officially opened a campaign account with the state, he had no financial contributions listed in his coffers. His first finance report, covering March, is due next month. Zika has already raised $117,000 in campaign contributions. He won’t be able to continue adding to the pile until the 2020 Legislative Session ends.
“Lauren Melo shows $58K raised in first HD 80 finance report” via Drew Wilson of Florida Politics — The Naples Republican filed for the seat on Feb. 4. By the end of the month, she had collected nearly 100 checks, including 47 for $1,000 — the maximum allowable contribution for a state legislative campaign. Most of the campaign funds came from within the district, with Naples businesses and residents comprising two-thirds of the sheet. Max donors included Davis Oil Co., KFE Consulting and the Women’s Council of Realtors — an apt backer, considering Melo is the current president of the Naples Area Board of Realtors Spending was light, with only $875 leaving the account. The final tally: $58,164 raised and $57,289 banked.
“Rick Kozell nears $300K raised in HD 82” via Drew Wilson of Florida Politics — Kozell brought in another $43,000 last month, propelling him further in front of the competition in the race for House District 82. Kozell, a Republican, reeled in $19,325 through his campaign account and another $24,000 through his political committee, Rick Kozell for Florida. The performance makes for $147,665 in total campaign fundraising and $148,305 in committee cash. Through four months, he has raised a combined $295,970 and has about $280,000 in the bank between the two accounts. Kozell is one of three candidates seeking to succeed term-limited GOP Rep. MaryLynn Magar. He’s a former congressional candidate, having run for Florida’s 18th Congressional District in 2016.
“Eric Gerard, husband of Pat Gerard, raises 15 times more than incumbent Largo opponent” via Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics — Largo City Commission candidate Gerard is leading the fundraising race in the municipal election for Seat 3. Gerard raised nearly $22,000 in just 27 days since entering the race last month, according to February financials released Tuesday. Gerard, a small-business owner and former journalist, is challenging incumbent Commissioner CurtisHolmes. Gerard is also the husband of Pinellas County Commissioner PatGerard, who is serving as his campaign treasurer. His wife’s political connections might be giving his candidacy a boost. Gerard took in $250 contributions from Rep. BenDiamond, St. Petersburg City Council member DardenRice, lobbyist AnaCruz, former St. Pete City Council member KarlNurse and from St. Pete Mayor Kriseman’s Sunrise PAC.
Local
“Retired JEA executive: Aaron Zahn used ‘false narrative’ to justify selling utility” vis Christopher Hong of the Florida Times-Union — The portrayal of JEA as financially troubled that its now-fired CEO Zahn used as justification for trying to sell the city-owned utility was a “false narrative,” a retired JEA executive told a special Jacksonville City Council investigative committee. “The fact that there was no accountability to back their statements is troubling. They just threw a bunch of stuff out there without justification or backing it,” said Michael Brost, a former JEA vice president who oversaw the utility’s electric business before retiring in January 2019. “It just doesn’t fit with what I know about the industry.”
“Fort Lauderdale’s latest sewage spill adds 20.5M gallons to record total” via Susanna Bryan of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel — The back-to-back sewage spills that have plagued Fort Lauderdale are the worst on record in Florida history, spewing 211.6 million gallons of raw sewage into waterways and streets. A three-day spill at George English Park added another 20.52 million gallons to the total, according to a report the city filed with the state Department of Environmental Protection. “That was another major break,” Mayor Dean Trantalis said. “And while it was significant, we were able to mitigate the potential outflow because we had equipment on the ground ready to respond to the situation more readily than normally.”
“’Sieg Heil’ leads CareerSource board member to resign” via Hannah Morse of the Palm Beach Post — Kenneth Kirby, a 14-year board member, said in his resignation letter that he said “Sieg Heil” not because he believed in fascist ideology, but because he felt the “behavior I responded to … (was) extraordinarily untoward surveillance and intimidation.” “Identifying behavior as fascist does not make the identifier fascist,” Kirby wrote in his letter. His resignation and the heightened state of scrutiny came just a month after the CareerSource chief executive, Robert “Steve” Craig, retired following harassment allegations and investigations. The meeting began when members were told their sessions would be recorded, which is required for governmental bodies but not for nonprofits. CareerSource is a hybrid, a nonprofit affiliated with the state government.
A poorly considered comment is causing Ken Kirby to resign.
More local
“TCC is closing its Starbucks at Kleman Plaza but will reopen one on-campus” via Byron Dobson of the Tallahassee Democrat — A sign posted on the door thanks patrons for their support and encourages them to come in this week for specials. But Al Moran, TCC’s vice president for communications and marketing, said the Starbucks would be moving to TCC’s main campus on Appleyard Drive in the fall. Moran did not indicate what TCC’s plans are for the downtown Starbucks location, in the former Mary Brogan Museum of Arts and Sciences. But Elizabeth Emmanuel, CEO of the Downtown Improvement Authority, said it could open up some opportunities. “We’ve heard some great ideas about what could come into that space,” she said. “Quick grab-and-go food would be key, along with offerings for amenities not otherwise available within walking distance.”
Tide of anger
As Miami Beach prepares for new infrastructure projects to shore up the low-lying island against sea-level rise, residents are becoming more frustrated.
“Climate experts praise Miami Beach — a diverse, international city with wealthy sections — for devoting $1 billion to tackle the problem, and other coastal communities look to it as a model,” writes Arian Campo-Flores in The Wall Street Journal. “But some residents say plans to raise roads as much as about 5 feet above sea level and add stormwater pumps with generators the size of vans are an unsightly intrusion and a potential drag on property values.”
This presents a problem for city leaders: How to balance the concerns of residents with the city’s long-term viability.
“We will have to have the political will to make unpopular decisions,” City Commissioner Ricky Arriola told The Wall Street Journal. “Despite the overwhelming scientific evidence and engineering solutions proposed, there is going to be a group of our citizens who want us to do nothing.”
Coastal cities throughout the United States are facing a similar dilemma. Since Miami Beach is much further along in the effects of sea-level rise, many of the other areas are looking toward it for hard lessons.
Miami Beach averages about 4 feet above sea level, making it particularly vulnerable to climate change. Projections by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expect sea levels to increase by 21 inches in 2040 and 54 inches by 2070.
“Until we’ve figured out how to keep private properties dry, we should not be spending a fortune on raising streets in the entire city,” said one resident during a public comment period.
Top opinion
“Florida lawmakers go all-in on LGBTQ discrimination at voucher schools” via the Orlando Sentinel editorial board — Lawmakers sometimes are savvy enough to stop juuuust short of telling an outright lie. Not Rep. Jennifer Sullivan, who during a House debate on expanding a private-school voucher program, told this whopper about an Orlando Sentinel investigation into voucher schools with anti-LGBTQ policies: “They decided to go school by school and fabricate this picture that there are hundreds of students who are being discriminated (against) … no newspaper should co-opt this program and try to single-handedly dismantle it.” If Sullivan had read the story, which we doubt, she would know the Sentinel fabricated nothing. Two reporters did, in fact, painstakingly go through hundreds of policies of private schools in Florida that accept voucher students. It took months.
Opinions
“Trump lies all the time. This time, his coronavirus lies could kill us all” via Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald — Meantime, King Liar himself, Trump, keeps doing what comes naturally. He said a vaccine will be ready in just a few months. It won’t. He said the number of Americans afflicted is going down. It isn’t. He said anyone who needs a test can get one. They can’t. One wonders if it will be the breaking point; if, faced with direct risk to their own lives, conservatives will finally quit suckling at the teat of mass delusion. Let’s hope so, for all our sake. A virus, after all, respects no ideological borders, so the right wing’s refusal to respect reality puts everyone at risk. With apologies to The O’Jays, those lies done caught up with us all.
“Coronavirus sick time: Congress should do the job if Florida won’t” via the Orlando Sentinel editorial board — Our last hope rests with Congress, where members of the House and Senate have introduced a bill intended to force employers to offer ailing employees paid time off during public health emergencies. The issue has rarely been more relevant than it is today. Hundreds of people have been infected with the coronavirus in the United States, and many more are expected to fall ill before this epidemic runs its course. An essential component for limiting the spread is for people experiencing respiratory symptoms and fever to stay home from work. Under this bill, everyone is better off — sick employees who stay home and healthy customers and co-workers who don’t get exposed.
“A call to action: Service to nation can help bridge the rift that divides Americans” via Chrissy Houlahan and Michael Waltz for USA TODAY — Many Americans are seldom placed in situations where they must meet face to face with people who look, think or believe differently than they do. This is why the two of us — a Democrat and a Republican from different parts of the country — are working together to incentivize America to rise above the bitter divide and to get back into our communities and serve. We are working with the bipartisan For Country Caucus to pass the National Service GI Bill. As military veterans, we understand what it means to accomplish the mission, regardless of race, ideology, religious background or party affiliation. In serving your country, you learn how to lead and follow, teamwork and discipline — values America could use more of today.
“Ron Matus: Burying good news about Florida public schools” via Florida Politics — Last year, a sham “analysis” from the Florida Education Association suggested Florida’s newest private school choice scholarship, the Family Empowerment Scholarship, would harm public schools. The response from Florida media? No less than 10 stories under a stack of scary headlines, and, in every case but one, no attempt to even run the “analysis” past any other source. This year, by contrast, a rigorous new study from nationally respected researchers finds that instead of hurting public schools, Florida private school scholarships are boosting public school outcomes. The response from Florida media? Crickets. Acknowledging their progress would mean conceding the expansion of education choice has not hurt Florida’s education system — and probably helped.
“Brewster Bevis: Florida leaders best serve our state by placing a high value on superior technology for first responders” via Florida Politics — It was decided years ago that Florida’s public safety communications system, known as the Statewide Law Enforcement Radio System (SLERS), needed to be upgraded to the latest standards-based technology, designed for interoperable communications across public safety agencies. Unfortunately, the multi-bid, multiyear process, coupled with the complexity of the project, stymied the ultimate execution of the contract. We find ourselves back at the beginning, likely starting the procurement process all over again. However, it’s not always a bad thing to start over. On behalf of the Associated Industries of Florida’s Technology Council, we thank the state for its efforts to deliver superior technology and advanced connectivity. Florida will be better served as a result.
Movements
“1st District Court of Appeal seeking judicial applications” via Scott Powers of Florida Politics — Florida’s second-highest court, the 1st District Court of Appeal, is seeking applications to fill the seat opening on the bench soon with the resignation of Judge James Wolf. The court will be accepting applications through Judicial Nominating Commission chair, Richard Doran until 6 p.m. on April 1. The application can be downloaded from The Florida Bar website or through DeSantis‘ judicial appointments website. The 1st District Court of Appeal, in Tallahassee, is the intermediate appellate court one step below the Florida Supreme Court. It hears most of the high-profile cases involving the Legislature, Cabinet and Governor. Wolf announced last week he intends to retire on June 30.
“Visit Pensacola switches direction for next president, taps Darien Schaefer after first choice drops out” via Madison Arnold of the Pensacola News Journal — A search committee interviewed two finalists for the CEO and president position at the end of February and recommended hiring Pamela Johnson, deputy director of the Lee County Visitor and Convention Bureau in Fort Myers, as the next leader of Visit Pensacola. She ultimately turned down the job due to “personal and family reasons,” said DC Reeves, chair of the search committee, at the quarterly meeting of the Escambia County Tourist Development Council. Now, the board of directors is moving forward with the other finalist, Darien Schaefer, CEO of Visit Big Bear in Big Bear Lake, California. Schaefer and Visit Pensacola reached an agreement and the board of directors held a special meeting to vote on contract negotiations. Although Johnson was the first choice, the search committee had recommended that if Visit Pensacola couldn’t come to an agreement with Johnson, the board should try to hire Schaefer.
Instagram of the day
Aloe
“Uber adds emergency capacity to text 911” via Janelle Irwin Taylor of Florida Politics — Uber riders in 45 of Florida’s 67 counties can now text 911 from the ride-share company’s mobile app if they’re in an emergency situation and calling is not an option. The feature allows riders to tap the 911 assistance button within the app, which had already been available, and now includes the option to text a message to 911 operators. The feature is included in some of the state’s biggest markets including Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, Naples and West Palm Beach. Uber notes that calling is still the preferred method of communication, but the text option could assist riders in situations where that’s not an option.
Uber rolls out an emergency 911 button.
Happy birthday
Celebrating today are Emily Jeanne Barber, Floridian Partners’s Nichole Geary, and Janet Scherberger, who recently retired from Tampa International Airport.
On Tuesday, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Washington, North Dakota, and Idaho voted in the Democratic primary. Joe Biden won in Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, and Idaho; as of Tuesday night, Washington and North Dakota remained too close to call. NPR
Both sides now see Biden as the overwhelming favorite to win the nomination:
“The entire theory that Sanders has been pushing through the campaign has been that he would bring in a wave of new voters who would carry him to victory not only in the primaries, but in a general election against President Trump. Not only has Sanders not brought in new voters, but he’s actually losing ground… In 2016, Sanders won Michigan voters earning between $50,000 to $100,000 by 3 points. In 2020, Biden is winning the same group by 12 points. In 2016, Sanders won suburban voters by 3 points and rural voters by 15 points; this time, Biden won suburban voters by 8 points and rural voters by 9 points…
“The series of losses Sanders has suffered starting with South Carolina raise serious questions about how much of his support in 2016 was actually merely an anti-Clinton vote. Whereas four years ago, there was a chunk of Democratic voters who wanted to prolong the primary and deny a Clinton coronation, voters are clearly sending a different signal this time — that they want to wrap up the primary and unify around Biden ASAP. In addition to the major win in Michigan, Biden also won Missouri and Mississippi.” Philip Klein, Washington Examiner
“The loss is particularly biting for Sanders, whose campaign benefited from the idea that he would be a strong candidate in the midwest where his populist message would appeal—in contrast to Hillary Clinton’s critical loss of Michigan in the general election, as well as Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. But Sanders has struggled with two critical voting blocks that continue to propel Biden’s candidacy, black voters and moderate suburbanites, who are opting for the trusted, moderate candidate over Sanders’ message of political revolution… This adds to Biden’s growing delegate lead, with decreasing time for Sanders to stop Biden from getting a majority and ending the primary in the next month.” Pema Levy, Mother Jones
“It’s hard to find the next delegate-rich state that looks good for Sanders. The quartet of states that vote next week — Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio — all look like Biden wins. Georgia, a week later, looks Biden-friendly too. Maybe Wisconsin on April 7?… Sanders and his socialism are proving a niche interest. The entire political world got spun by the results of a trio of idiosyncratic, not terribly representative states. The deeply disappointed and furiously outraged Sanders fans will console themselves with the belief that their man came close. In state after state . . . he really isn’t coming all that close.” Jim Geraghty, National Review
“Until Super Tuesday Sanders ran largely as an Independent, a ‘democratic socialist’ attacking ‘the Republican establishment’ and ‘the Democratic establishment’ with equal fervor. While this satisfied his core base, which has seemed much larger than it actually was because of its disproportionate activity, organization and size on social media, it did little for the broader Democratic electorate… As Sanders’ chances at the presidency start to fade, perhaps the most important part of his campaign is about to start: convincing his staunchest supporters, the so-called ‘Bernie or Bust’ crowd, to come out to vote for Biden in November.” Cas Mudde, The Guardian
Other opinions below.
From the Left
“The problem extends beyond outreach strategies to the fundamental content of Sanders’s political message. As political scientists Chryl Laird and Ismail White show, black Democrats are, on average, less left-wing than white Democrats… black Democrats [also] have warmer feelings toward the Democratic Party as an institution…
“Most white people are Republicans. Those who are not Republicans have made a very conscious ideological choice to reject conservative ideology, creating a largeish bloc of voters who — like Sanders himself — are left-wing but cool on the Democratic Party. By contrast, black people who participate in black institutional life — who attend black churches, have many black friends, live in black neighborhoods, etc. — tend to have a strong affirmative attachment to the Democratic Party, even as their policy views are diverse. The essence of Sanders’s message is that progressive-minded people need to overthrow a corrupt Democratic Party establishment in order to remake it in a more ideologically rigorous direction. This is just antithetical to the main currents of black opinion and the main modes of black political engagement.” Matthew Yglesias, Vox
“Democratic voters made it crystal clear in every poll in every state that their overwhelming desire is to beat Donald Trump. The kind of transformative change they were desperately seeking was to kick Trump out of office – even more than restructuring healthcare and free college tuition, which they wholeheartedly support. Trump’s entirely botched response to the coronavirus pandemic has only intensified this electoral choice…
“Nearly 60% of Democratic voters in Missouri said they trusted Biden to handle a crisis, compared with around 25% who said they trusted Sanders… [and] in a recent national poll of registered voters of all parties, Biden beats Trump by 16 points on the question of who would do a better job of handling a crisis, while Sanders is ahead by just six points… The next two months may not just effectively end the Democratic nomination contest; they may effectively end the entire Trump presidency.” Richard Wolffe, The Guardian
Some note that “Tuesday was a good day for Biden in the vote count… but a disaster on the campaign trail. A bizarre confrontation with a construction worker in Detroit exposed the flaws that sent his campaign into a tailspin before it was revived by black voters and a Democratic Party desperate for anybody but Bernie… Under pressure, Biden lost his composure. He couldn’t handle being challenged. He got vulgar and insulting. He turned into a bully. That sounds a lot like the guy Democrats hope Biden will replace. Voters looking for maturity and stability in their president may decide that Biden is as deficient in those qualities as is Trump.” Nolan Finley, Detroit News
“The [presumed] victor of the Democratic primary is a candidate who spent the overwhelming majority of the race with a double-digit lead over dozens of candidates and one who dominated the black vote, a determinant of Democratic primaries for 32 years. Biden’s blowout may sound like a surprise in the chaos of the 24-hour news cycle, but given the facts, it makes all the sense in the world. Black voters have been and will continue to be the most influential constituency of the Democratic Party.” Tiana Lowe, Washington Examiner
“It’s not just that the establishment has quickly rallied behind him. It’s not just that the African-American vote seems to be solidly in his favour — although his numbers tonight suggest his appeal to black voters is extraordinary. Biden also speaks to poor whites, to suburban middle-classes and even to students who just hate Trump. He has a coalition that can challenge Trump in a way Clinton couldn’t…
“The nature of Biden’s success — never mind his obvious flaws — suggests the Trump campaign should be somewhat alarmed. Yes, he is a weak candidate; a restoration man from a time that many Americans would rather forget. But he’s also likeable: a good guy in the minds of a surprising number of voters… Today, a clip of Biden clashing with a factory worker in Detroit over gun laws went viral. Sure enough, it became a hot topic. Is he unstable? Or do people see him mixing with regular people in an unscripted, unslick scene and feel warmer towards him? Biden the mad old uncle is a vote-winner — and Team Trump dismisses him at their peril.” Freddy Gray, Spectator USA
“The Vermont Senator campaigned heavily in the Wolverine State, especially in college towns full of social-justice warriors and gentry liberals. Mr. Sanders won voters under age 29 by about 82% to 15%, according to the exit polls, but they were only about 15% of the electorate. Voters older than age 65 made up about a quarter of the Democrats who cast ballots, and Mr. Biden won them 73% to 23%…
“Mr. Sanders tried to turn Democrats against Mr. Biden in Michigan by running against Nafta, and charging that the former Vice President would slash Social Security and Medicare. But Democrats don’t believe the latter, and trade has gained support among Democrats as Mr. Trump has co-opted the protectionist agenda… Mr. Biden showed strength among most voter groups that Democrats will need to win in November… If this coalition and enthusiasm don’t scare Republicans and the Trump campaign, they should.” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
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🇷🇺 Situational awareness: Vladimir Putin could remain Russia’s president until 2036 under a constitutional amendment he backed yesterday. Go deeper.
Today’s Smart Brevity™ count:1,187 words … 4½ minutes.
1 big thing: Biden runs table; top Dems push Sanders to concede
Chart: Naema Ahmed/Axios
Joe Biden decisivelywon four more states — Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho — and party elders said Bernie Sanders should bow to the inevitable.
James Carville said on MSNBC: “Let’s shut this puppy down. … This thing is decided.”
David Axelrod on CNN: “You’re gonna see enormous pressure from all elements of the party to yield to the results that we now can see.”
Sanders didn’t comment on the results, and Biden began to pivot to the general election, promising remarks on the coronavirus later this week, Axios’ Alexi McCammond and Margaret Talev write.
Biden thanked Sanders — and Sanders’ supporters — for their “tireless energy” and “passion.”
Biden invited new backers, saying, “We need you, we want you and there’s a place in our campaign for each of you.”
What’s next: Biden is poised to dominate the March 17 contests that include Florida, the nation’s third most-populous state.
Coronavirus fears have begun to halt the sort of large rallies that were staples of Sanders’ campaign.
Michigan, where Biden won 53% to 37%, was a huge loss for Sanders that his campaign worked hard to avoid.
He escalated attacks against Biden — both on his record and the idea that he is the “establishment” — and some of his supporters even pushed #WheresBiden on Twitter.
Millions of workers’ lack of paid sick leave is becoming a serious concern for local officials and employers as the coronavirus spreads — and now an increasingly urgent agenda item in Washington, too.
Why it matters, from Axios’ Kim Hart, Marisa Fernandez and Alayna Treene: Front-line workers who serve food, drive buses, care for children or the elderly and run cash registers are much less likely to be able to take time off if they are sick, increasing the risk of infecting others.
President Trump said Monday that he would pursue some form of relief for hourly workers, but left a meeting with congressional Republicans yesterday without detailing a plan.
A handful of companies, including Darden Restaurants, Uber, Lyft and Instacart, have begun offering some paid sick leave as the outbreak has intensified.
Between the lines: Administration officials acknowledge the need to allow people who are sick or caring for someone who is sick to stay home from work without having to worry about losing income, a source tells Axios.
But there’s a concern about creating the wrong incentives to ditch work: “We don’t want to just basically shut down by giving everybody a blank check to not come to work, knowing that they’re gonna get paid for it,” the source said.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac called this a Super Worm Moon, “which refers to the fact that earthworms and grubs tend to emerge from their winter dormancy at this time of year, marking a sure sign of spring!”
5. Congress “last to leave” as others send folks home
President Trump and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin meet reporters after visiting GOP lawmakers at the Capitol. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
Democratic and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have told lawmakers they have no immediate plans to close Congress, Axios’ Alayna Treene and Jonathan Swan report.
Speaker Pelosi told members of the Democratic caucus that “we are the captains of the ship” and “we are the last to leave,” while seeming to throw cold water on proposals to have members vote remotely or extend next week’s congressional recess.
Why it matters: The Capitol is a potential petri dish for the coronavirus. Many lawmakers fit high-risk profiles because they’re over 60, have underlying health conditions and are mixing in close quarters with visitors, staff and reporters.
Aides told us they’re perplexed by the slowness of the institution to react and adapt to the dangers of the virus.
“The Hill may be the worst place in D.C. right now,” a senior House Republican aide told Axios. “At least in the airport, half the people aren’t shaking hands and talking to each other.”
Between the lines: Congressional leaders want to keep working to shape legislative packages to alleviate the impact of the virus.
A worker sprays disinfectant at the Maschio Angioino medieval castle in Naples, Italy, yesterday. Photo: Alessandro Pone/LaPresse via AP
🇺🇸 Of 31 U.S. deaths, 24 have been in Washington state. (N.Y. Times)
🗽 New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo “took the country’s most drastic steps, … ordering the closure of schools and other gathering places within a one-mile radius” of the New York suburb of New Rochelle, per the WashPost.
“The creation of what he called a ‘containment zone’ for two weeks will keep about half the city’s 10,500 students at home and will allow the National Guard to sanitize public spaces.”
✈️ American Airlines and Delta joined United “in slashing the number of flights across their networks, with some cuts extending through the summer, as cancellations overtake new bookings in some markets.” (Wall Street Journal)
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly told employees he will take a 10% pay cut.
⚾ MLB tries to save Opening Day, March 26: If a team can’t play ball in front of fans at home because of the virus, the league’s first preference likely would be to switch games to the visiting team’s stadium if possible. (AP)
📺 “Dr. Phil,” “One Day at a Time,” “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” are among the shows taping without studio audiences … “Ellen,” “The Bachelor,” “The Voice and other shows instituted tighter screening for tapings. (USA Today)
7. What happens when Harvard closes
Harvard students pack early for the summer. Photo: Nicolaus Czarnecki/Boston Herald via Getty Images
As colleges cancel classes and boot students off campus, they’re creating logistical and financial nightmares that could leave many students in a bind, Axios’ Dan Primack writes.
Harvard yesterday asked students to leave on-campus housing this weekend, and to treat their departures as if it were the end of the school year.
Dining halls will close after Sunday.
What we know: Harvard has nearly 7,000 undergraduate students, 98% of whom live in on-campus housing. Classes will be taught remotely, but that only resolves one part of the uncertainty students — and especially poor students — are facing.
The school is directing students who can’t afford to travel home to its financial aid office. Those who don’t have a place to go are being directed to their residential deans.
Room and board charges for the rest of the semester will be refunded.
What we don’t know:
What happens to students in work-study programs, or who work off-campus in order to pay for their tuition. The school asks students to “be patient.”
Compensation for support staff, such as dining hall workers. Harvard is pledging “emergency-related paid excused absences” for those who can’t work remotely.
Winning in real life, Joe Biden also dethroned Bernie Sanders’ weekslong command of online attention, Axios’ Neal Rothschild writes from NewsWhip data.
The 41 million interactions (likes, comments, shares) on Biden stories on social media last week is by far the highest level of attention any one candidate has received in the primary in a week.
Just last week, Sanders was still attracting more attention than the rest of what was then a five-person Democratic field combined.
Why it matters: It’s a reversal from the early stages of the race, when media cycles and engagement levels drove polling changes.
Biden’s wins in Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and Idaho came on a day when the spread of the coronavirus forced preventive procedures at polling places and altered the candidates’ schedules.
ELECTION 2020 ● By Sean Sullivan, Matt Viser and Michael Scherer ● Read more »
The results put new challenges in front of both Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders as Democrats hope to unify for the fall campaign against President Trump.
Disruption mounted in the United States as cases surged, while South Korea saw declines reversed after new cases in Seoul. Meanwhile, China said a new case came from the United States.
Some corners of the federal government, the country’s largest employer, are only just confronting what could be an unprecedented shift in how they serve the public — for weeks or even months.
But the carefully worded assertion from William Evanina does not conflict with an earlier assessment that Russia had developed a preference for President Trump.
By Ellen Nakashima and Seung Min Kim ● Read more »
The two elite Marine Raiders were killed during an operation with Iraqi forces on an Islamic State hideout in the Qara Chokh Mountains near Mahkmour, about 45 miles outside the city of Irbil.
Lawyers in the case were informed that Justice Sonia Sotomayor realized she is friends with one of the parties in one of the cases, from Colorado. She will still participate in the other case, from the state of Washington.
“My heart sank every time I looked at the pile,” Brian Bononi said. “I knew that those photos meant a lot to the people who were in them and that they’d be gone forever if I didn’t do something.”
By Mollie Hemingway
Joe Biden’s candidacy is based around a media-enabled narrative that he is a decent man who will bring civility and normalcy back to Washington. Such threatening behavior suggests he might not be the candidate to do that. Full article
By Christopher Bedford
Do not despair if you’re one of the good folks who bought a case of vodka to sanitize yourself from coronavirus, though maybe don’t admit to your friends that’s why you bought it. Full article
By Joy Pullmann
Not only is it clear that corporate media can’t be trusted to provide accurate information about an issue of public concern, it’s clear they don’t care about public health or the economy. Full article
By Kyle Sammin
Despite recent history proving money can’t buy elections, Democrats haven’t changed their tune because the call for ‘getting money out of politics’ was never about money; it was always about ideas. Full article
By Chad Felix Greene
Trans activists and the media are championing a new study saying puberty blockers are safe and necessary for transgender kids. The problem? The study is an unscientific mess. Full article
By John Daniel Davidson
Biden’s tense and bizarre exchange with a Detroit auto plant worker during a campaign stop yesterday went viral, and the media responses to it were telling. Full article
By Chrissy Clark
What took Bachelor Nation for a wild ride this season was watching Weber fall head over heels for a devoted Christian woman from the south. Full article
By Ben Weingarten
The behemoth firm BlackRock, which manages almost $7 trillion in assets, recently committed to a slew of environmentalist initiatives. Full article
By Helen Raleigh
At this critical period when the publicly feared coronavirus is amplifying in numbers worldwide, it’s clear the Taiwanese government has done something right in its containment measures. Full article
By Holly Scheer
Families can do several things to safeguard themselves, especially good handwashing, keeping a distance from sick people, and having some basic supplies on hand at home. Full article
By Tristan Justice
Michigan is the largest of the six states to vote this week in Super Tuesday 2.0 and the first major Midwestern battleground to vote in the primary. Full article
By Tristan Justice
Biden will now take a majority of the state’s 68 delegates to put Biden closer to the 1,991 of the 3,979 needed to clinch the nomination in Milwaukee. Full article
By Tristan Justice
Biden will now add Mississippi to his growing list of southern state wins after having swept every state in the south to vote this far. Full article
By Chrissy Clark
During a Fox News town hall, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said he doesn’t regret praising Fidel Castro and Cuba’s literacy programs. Full article
By Kylee Zempel
Former Vice President and 2020 contender Joe Biden got into a scuffle about guns with an an auto plant worker in Detroit during a Michigan campaign stop. Full article
By Tristan Justice
Bloomberg campaign employees in non-battleground states learned their “guaranteed” employment through November was a shallow promise. Full article
By Tristan Justice
Hawley and Blumenthal pointed to a recent $2.7 billion fine the European Union levied on Google for manipulating its search results. Full article
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By Kyle Kondik and J. Miles Coleman
Sabato’s Crystal Ball
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE
— Tuesday night’s primary results generally showed Joe Biden running stronger versus Bernie Sanders than Hillary Clinton did against Sanders four years ago.
— Biden won every single county in Michigan, Mississippi, and Missouri, and he performed more than well enough out West.
— Biden’s delegate lead is expanding, and should continue to next Tuesday.
Biden takes command
Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential primary results were the equivalent of a diner motioning across the restaurant to a waiter and mouthing two words: “Check, please.”
While a significant chunk of the party supports Bernie Sanders in his head-to-head matchup with Joe Biden, a considerably larger portion backs Biden. The size of that larger group is indicative of a party that is ready to move on to the general election against Donald Trump.
Biden’s smashing victories in Michigan, Mississippi, and Missouri were so total that Sanders did not win a single county in any of the three states.
Washington state is basically tied, with Sanders up a couple tenths of a percentage point, as mail-in ballots trickle in. There are about a million votes in, which we suspect is substantially more than half of the total votes even if turnout is very high. The eventual delegate edge that the winning candidate gets when it’s all said and done will end up being relatively negligible. The Biden campaign is surely comfortable with that outcome given that Sanders won other western states California, Colorado, and Utah last week. Biden won Washington’s eastern neighbor, Idaho, while Sanders won North Dakota.
In this newly-consolidated two-person race, Biden appears stronger than Hillary Clinton four years ago, and Sanders weaker than his previous incarnation. In Michigan amidst significantly higher turnout — close to 1.6 million ballots cast this time as opposed to just about 1.2 million last time — Biden got more votes than Clinton in every single county, while Sanders ran behind his vote total in 70 of 83 counties, per Michigan reporter Jonathan Oosting (these figures may change as the vote is finalized: Michigan is using a hugely-expanded absentee balloting system for this election).
MI-3, a Republican-leaning congressional district represented by Republican-turned-independent Rep. Justin Amash, covers most of Grand Rapids’ Kent County and other parts of western Michigan. The trend there helps to demonstrate what happened statewide (Map 1). This was Sanders’ best district in the state against Clinton in 2016; Biden ended up carrying it this time amidst significantly higher turnout (close to 110,000 total votes, up from about 75,000 four years ago).
Map 1: Democratic primary results, MI-3, 2016 vs. 2020
There were some bright spots for Sanders: It appears that he did better than four years ago, for instance, in both the city of Detroit and East Lansing (home of Michigan State University), but the negative trends far outweighed the positive ones: no surprise when a narrow victory four years ago turns into a 15-plus point defeat.
The focus on Michigan took attention away from Missouri, which Clinton only won by .25 points over Sanders in 2016. Biden pushed the decimal point two places to the right, winning by 25 points. Biden’s domination of the state was thorough: He even carried Boone County (Columbia), home of the University of Missouri, albeit just by six points (Sanders, then and now a favorite of younger and collegiate voters, won the county by 22 points four years ago).
Missouri’s turnout was only up a little bit from 2016, more than 660,000 votes this time compared to about 630,000 four years ago, a modest change compared to some other states. This is perhaps unsurprising in a state that has transitioned from competitive to safe Republican over the past couple of decades. Of 114 counties, 72 saw turnout drops (Map 2), with vast swaths of the northern and southeastern parts of the state seeing a drop. This is indicative of the weakening Democratic brand in rural parts of the state, something that has become obvious in recent statewide general elections, too. Meanwhile, some counties close to the state’s major urban centers, Kansas City in the west and St. Louis in the east, saw turnout increases. This is suggestive of the broader trend of increased Democratic engagement in suburban areas across the country.
Map 2: Missouri Democratic primary turnout changes, 2016 vs. 2020
Mississippi was very similar to four years ago overall: The state with the nation’s most heavily African-American primary electorate voted 82%-17% for Clinton and 81%-15% for Biden. Technically, the most recent reporting has Sanders at 14.8% in Mississippi — that is important for delegate-counting, because if he remains under 15%, he won’t get any statewide delegates. Regardless, Mississippi suggests Biden will enjoy landslides in the two remaining Deep South states that have not yet voted: Georgia on March 24 and Louisiana on April 4.
There are no signs things will get better for Sanders next week, when four more large states vote: Arizona, Florida, Illinois, and Ohio. Sanders has never shown any strength in Florida, and Biden should rout him there. Sanders lost Illinois narrowly and Ohio not-so-narrowly in 2016. Biden’s sweep of both Michigan and Missouri’s counties suggests we should expect something similar in their regional neighbors. Sanders carried much of downstate Illinois and also some of the Chicago collar counties in 2016. The results so far this year suggest he won’t replicate that. Sanders has done better out West, and he has also done well with Hispanic voters, which gives him a glimmer of hope in Arizona. But Arizona also has a lot of older voters and well-off suburbanites, high-turnout groups that have been flocking to Biden.
Biden’s delegate lead is increasing. As of Monday night, he was up 608 to 532 in our Crystal Ball/Decision Desk HQ count; that is now 777 to 636. So Biden’s lead has nearly doubled, going from 76 to 141. Based on proportional allocation rules, the only way for Sanders to really gain ground is to win lopsided victories in big states. But the opposite seems likely to occur next week.
Perhaps Sanders can hold out to try to score a victory in Wisconsin on April 7, a state with a liberal Democratic electorate where he won decisively in 2016. But at this rate, Biden is probably favored there too, given that he won Michigan and Minnesota, two states similar to Wisconsin, after Sanders carried them in 2016. And even if Sanders were to win Wisconsin, what would that really get him? Sanders also is disadvantaged by the nation’s public health crisis, which limits his ability to campaign and hold the big rallies that have defined his campaign both this cycle and last.Yes, there is a debate scheduled for Sunday night. Biden, a shaky performer, could fall on his face and give Democrats buyer’s remorse.
But the cushion Biden has built, and will add to, is getting so large that Sanders can’t reasonably hope to catch up. Over the past two Tuesdays, states that possess more than 40% of the total pledged delegates have spoken. Next Tuesday, four more states with 15% of the delegates will amplify, in all likelihood, the message from those states: The Democrats have seen enough, and they prefer Biden to Sanders.
By Thurgood Marshall, Jr., and Steven R. Okun
Guest Columnists, Sabato’s Crystal Ball
KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE
— The spread of COVID-19 has already begun disrupting plans across the world. Congress must begin thinking about how it could potentially disrupt the upcoming presidential election.
— Measures taken to prevent the spread of disease could come into conflict with voting.
— The closer the election gets, the harder it will be for both parties to set aside partisan considerations and agree to take actions in the name of the greater good of the nation.
COVID-19 and the upcoming election
In 1845, Congress established the “Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in every fourth year succeeding every election of a President and Vice President” as the day to hold a presidential election.
In 2020, that’s Tuesday, Nov. 3.
But just as Congress set this date, Congress can change it.
The United States Constitution gives the Congress the authority to regulate presidential elections and provides that the Congress may determine the “time” of choosing presidential electors.
With any luck, virus fears will be well behind us by the time Americans cast their votes in the fall.
But just as the public benefits from a renewed focus on efforts to reduce the spread of germs, the Congress and U.S. election administrators will also benefit from this opportunity to focus on addressing these issues in the voting process many months ahead of the actual election.
The closer this discussion comes to Election Day, the more partisan it will become. So now is the time to discuss from a public health perspective whether and how to conduct a presidential election in the time of COVID-19.
Singapore’s steps to limit the spread
Public entities in both the United States and the world are trying to figure out what they should do to prevent the spread of the disease. Singapore, where ones of us lives, has probably done a better job than any other country in the world in handling the COVID-19 outbreak.
Even if the U.S. was to do the same, logistically it would be difficult holding a presidential election under such circumstances.
For example, Singapore’s Ministry of Health recommends that organizers cancel or defer non-essential large-scale events.
Second, the government issues strict “Stay Home Notices,” which means travelers returning from mainland China and other countries are forced to remain at their place of residence at all times for 14-days.
Third, temperature screenings are imperative. This has become a basic implementation and requirement at all office buildings, schools, and large housing complexes on the island. In Singapore, one is denied entry if that person’s temperature is too high (99.8F).
The United States has never had the need to implement such a system to prevent a possible large-scale outbreak.
What would happen if Singapore’s system were in place in the United States on Election Day?
Imagine a person coming to vote only to be turned away if their temperature was above the allowable limit. Would that person not be allowed to vote? One can only imagine the arguments that would ensue, let alone the legal challenges.
This would make the challenges over the “hanging chads” in the 2000 election look civil in comparison.
What if someone is under a quarantine notice and only finds out just before the election? Would they still be allowed to vote?
COVID-19 and Super Tuesday
Super Tuesday offered the first opportunity to see how the American voting process might be affected by the Coronavirus.
Indeed, there was record turnout in many locations.
In Virginia, more than 1.3 million people voted in 2020 compared to 780,000 people in 2016.
Elsewhere, some poll workers did not show up because of fears of the new coronavirus according to the Travis County (Texas) clerk’s office.
And what happens if people go to the polls but are concerned about that the voting machines may be contaminated with the virus?
“One of the things we’ve had to caution voters about is don’t get Purell on the ballots; it makes them stick,” said Travis County Clerk Dana DeBeauvoir, per the Austin American-Statesman.
No playbook exists
Although we have some experience as a guide, there is no clear playbook yet on how to proceed.
But election administrators will need to consider a range of alternatives, many of which require substantial lead time to implement.
Israel recently completed a nationwide election as global coronavirus concerns first appeared. In a stark departure from their standard practice of voting alongside neighbors in their communities, Israel opted for a limited number of pop-up polling places staffed with paramedics and election officials clad in masks and gloves. Voters were advised to don masks and gloves and to place double-sealed envelopes containing their ballots into plastic bags before inserting them into ballot boxes.
Other measures bearing consideration will be the various methods of casting votes that are alternatives to in-person voting. Those include absentee voting, early voting, vote-by-mail, and online voting. Each carries certain benefits, but each has its flaws. For jurisdictions that lack experience with new methods there are costs, training, and other burdens that must be met well prior to implementation. Moreover, as we have recently seen with the Iowa caucus process, where a new vote-counting app utterly failed, reliance on new processes without full vetting can be disastrous. Voting irregularities can cloud an election and would spell disaster in a close contest.
In the current environment, a sudden virus outbreak in the days preceding the election could have a disastrous impact on turnout and, remarkably, the same effect could even be triggered by an unsubstantiated report.
Worse, what if a bad actor used a “fake news” COVID-19 scare to keep people from voting. Imagine if there was a false tweet of a COVID-19 outbreak at a certain polling location. People would stay away, thereby tilting the election toward one party.
Is the United States prepared for that?
Pandemic before party
In United States’ hyper-partisan environment, it is hard to get the two political parties to agree on areas in which both sides do agree — such as addressing the country’s great infrastructure needs.
Putting aside the attendant costs and related disruption, a decision to postpone an election may well be in the hands of a politician whose fate is being determined in that very election.
Now, there is time to make these decisions before their political implications are known.
To get this year’s presidential election pushed back, it would take the Democratic House and Republican Senate to both agree and pass legislation to then be signed into law by President Trump.
Let’s presume public health officials advocate for changing the Election Day.
What if the polls at that time show the president badly trailing his Democratic opponent? Would the House vote to give the president more time to get even with his challenger?
Conversely, what if they show the Democrat way behind the president? Would the Senate vote to extend the campaign to give more time for the challenger to catch-up?
The House and Senate should now consider and pass legislation with an automatic trigger on postponing the election based on an agreed-upon set of facts, such as a certain infection rate and mortality rate. That way, the decision would be foreordained before either side knows who would politically benefit from delaying the election.
We are not holding our breath for such an outcome.
The Sept. 11 attacks occurred as New Yorkers were voting in that state’s primary, some within walking distance of Ground Zero. That election was postponed by state officials.
If all of our worst fears are realized and the United States is in the midst of a pandemic this autumn, let’s hope our politicians will choose country over party in ensuring we have a fair election. Now is the time to think about it.
Thurgood Marshall, Jr., and Steven R. Okun, both graduates of the University of Virginia and the University of Virginia School of Law, served in the Clinton administration as White House Cabinet Secretary and Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Transportation, respectively. Marshall practices law in Washington; Okun has lived in Singapore since 2003 and serves as senior adviser for global strategic consultancy McLarty Associates. The views are their own.
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Officials on Tuesday announced eight new cases of the coronavirus in Illinois, including the first two cases outside of Cook County — neither of which is linked to any other known case, an indication the respiratory virus may be spreading within communities.
The total number of COVID-19 cases reported in the state since the start of the outbreak was 19 as of Tuesday, though some patients had already recovered. One patient, a Chicago man in his 60s, remains hospitalized in serious condition.
Former Vice President Joe Biden continued his march to the Democratic nomination for president, scoring a decisive win in Michigan – a key battleground state – as well as in Missouri, Mississippi and Idaho. Washington and North Dakota’s primaries were not called as of this writing.
Biden’s dramatic campaign reversal now means it is Bernie Sanders who must contemplate a path forward with his path to victory narrowing.
Across the country, states — including Illinois — have sent thousands of foster children far from home, sometimes hundreds of miles away, for care at mental health institutions. Some of the facilities have records of violence and licensing sanctions, a new Chicago Tribune/ProPublica Illinois investigation found.
The idea came to Spencer Hulsey in a doodle. During a physics discussion at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she idly sketched a belted kingfisher, a blue and orange bird she saw many times while fishing on her family’s farm outside Kinmundy, Illinois.
This year, solar power is likely to be a popular topic of conversation in Illinois, as options for renters enter the market and the state looks to boost its use of renewable energy over the next five years. As those efforts ramp up, some advocates say now is the time to get on board with solar, as current state and federal tax subsidies are making the investment more digestible.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden dealt a potentially crippling blow to Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign Tuesday as he reeled off a series of big victories, including in Michigan, the biggest contest of the night, and expanded his lead in the delegate race.
Biden, continuing a remarkable winning streak that began in South Carolina on Feb. 29, captured at least four states on Wednesday. Mississippi and Missouri were called for the former vice president within 30 minutes of the polls closing and Michigan delivered the major prize of the evening with 125 delegates, more than one-third of the total for the taking on Tuesday. He also took home the Idaho primary by 6 points.
The Washington primary and North Dakota caucuses remain up for grabs. In Washington, Biden and Sanders are neck-and-neck with 68 percent of precincts in. Sanders leads Biden in North Dakota by 6 points with 78 percent of precincts reporting.
Combining last night’s tallies with those from Super Tuesday contests, Biden has won at least 14 of the 20 states holding contests, with Sanders winning four (two states have not yet been called this morning), showing the former vice president’s commanding dominance over Sanders over the course of 10 days.
According to The New York Times, Biden leads the overall delegate race 823 to 663 over Sanders. In Tuesday night’s contests, Biden won 153 to 89, while 110 delegates are at large.
Niall Stanage: The Memo: Democrats make their choice — it’s Biden vs. Trump.
The Hill: Biden takes command of the Democratic race.
Over the past week, Sanders concentrated on the Wolverine State, eager to keep Michigan in his column after narrowly defeating Hillary Clinton there four years ago. But the state that backed Sanders by a 1.5 percentage-point margin in 2016 over the establishment Democrat changed its tune and backed Biden last night by 16 points. After he carried 73 of 83 counties against Clinton, he was unable to win a single county last night.
“To all those who have been knocked down, to all those who have been counted out, let behind — this is your campaign,” said Biden, who grew up in Pennsylvania and represented neighboring Delaware for 36 years in the Senate. “Just over a week ago, many of the pundits declared that this candidacy was dead. Now, we’re very much alive.”
“Although there’s a way to go, it looks like we’re going to have another great night,” Biden continued during a speech in Philadelphia. “This campaign is taking off and I believe we’re going to do well from this point on.”
The Pennsylvania primary is ahead on April 28.
The Washington Post: In a week Sanders had to get right, he couldn’t grow support or change the story line.
The Hill: House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.): DNC should shut down primaries, debates if Biden sweeps states.
Making matters worse for Sanders were results from Idaho, Washington and North Dakota — all states where he cleaned up in 2016, having won those states by 57, 46 and 39 points, respectively. Sanders, came nowhere close to replicating those results, having lost in Idaho, with the other states remaining too close to call.
Biden extended an olive branch to Sanders and his supporters as ballots were counted on Tuesday, commending their zeal and persistence.
“I want to thank Bernie Sanders and their supporters for their tireless energy and their passion,” Biden said. “We share a common goal — and together we’ll defeat Donald Trump.”
“Winning means uniting America — not sowing more division and anger,” Biden continued. “It means having a president who not only knows how to fight but knows how to heal.”
The Hill: Black voters deliver decisive victory to Biden in Mississippi.
Biden delivered his speech after both candidates canceled campaign events scheduled in Cleveland. Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, told MSNBC’s Brian Williams that he honored a request from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), who recommended that both campaigns cancel events that pulled masses of people together in close proximity.
Biden announced he will speak in Wilmington, Del., on Thursday about the coronavirus rather than headline a campaign event that night in Tampa.
After Sanders canceled a rally in Cleveland, he dodged reporters on Tuesday night. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), a top surrogate for the Sanders campaign, summed up the disappointment: “There’s no sugarcoating it. Tonight is a tough night” (The Hill).
Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who was born in Michigan and supports the Vermont Independent, told MSNBC late Tuesday that he hopes Sanders does not end his campaign, reminding viewers that a Democratic nominee must secure 1,991 delegates.
“I would look at the board. … This game isn’t over,” Moore said, adding that the remaining primary states should “have their say.”
However, Biden’s wins earned him the support of a multitude of Democratic organizations, along with another former rival for the Democratic nomination.
American Bridge, the foremost opposition research firm on the Democratic side, announced it is “all in” for the former vice president, while Priorities USA action, a top Democratic super PAC, announced that the group will do “everything we can” to help Biden.
Meanwhile, Andrew Yang followed the lead of Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and threw his weight behind Biden. Yang told CNN that the 77-year-old frontrunner is the “prohibitive nominee.”
“The math says Joe is our prohibitive nominee. We need to bring the party together. We need to start working on defeating Donald Trump in the fall,” Yang said.
Biden and Sanders are set to debate on Sunday in Phoenix without a live audience (a nod to the coronavirus risk). On Tuesday, four key states will weigh in on the Democratic race: Florida, Ohio, Illinois and Arizona (577 delegates). Georgia holds its Democratic primary on March 24 (105 delegates) and Puerto Rico (51 delegates) votes next on March 29; Biden leads Sanders in polling in every state and territory still on the calendar this month.
The two candidates are expected to deliver remarks in Cleveland on Tuesday night. Sanders campaigned in Rockford, Ill., early on Tuesday and has been there repeatedly over the last month.
CORONAVIRUS: President Trump on Tuesday did not unveil, as he promised he would on Monday, the “very dramatic” details of a fiscal stimulus plan to buoy a coronavirus-shocked economy.
But the president and his economic advisers sketched a menu of ideas focused on a payroll tax holiday along with federal help for workers who do not have paid sick leave; lending to small- and medium-size businesses; federal support for specific industry sectors harmed by the virus, possibly through tax deferrals; and a second round of GOP tax cuts to be introduced in the summer or early fall in time for the election.
Foreshadowing what could be a protracted faceoff with House and Senate Democrats over the best response to stave off recession and help the economy, Trump met in the Capitol with Republican senators on Tuesday and embraced the idea of waiving through November payroll taxes paid by employers and employees — revenues that by law support Social Security, Medicare and social insurance programs (The Hill).
The president criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who believes the best way to help American families ride out the coronavirus is to give them emergency paid leave if they have to be away from their jobs for any reason related to the virus; offset the costs of coronavirus testing and co-pays to consult physicians; and help workers compensated with tips, who work in the gig economy, or who shoulder irregular, on-demand shifts or seasonal work that may shrink in an economy frozen by fear because of the virus.
Trump accused Pelosi of floating proposals “that she wanted to get for other things.”
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who backs Pelosi in opposition to waiving the payroll tax to boost growth, accused Trump and the administration of “incompetence” in managing a “health crisis in America.”
Republican senators who met with Trump on Tuesday said they did not settle on the size of a temporary payroll tax and did not decide whether it would apply to both employers and workers or how to offset substantial revenues that would no longer be paid to the Treasury. The group also briefly raised an evergreen idea to pour federal appropriations into the economy: infrastructure spending. The bipartisan concept has gone nowhere since 2017 (The Hill).
At the White House on Tuesday, Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow said he could not quantify the budgetary costs or potential benefits to the economy among the proposals Trump favors. “At some point in the near future we’ll outline a more detailed package for you,” he told reporters.
Kudlow noted, however, that Trump can use his executive and administrative authority to accomplish much of the stimulus he envisions, including help for small businesses and for workers, as well as tax-deferred benefits for industry sectors, that, based on the president’s remarks on Monday, may include airlines, cruise lines, farmers, manufacturers and the hotel industry.
Kudlow said Trump’s ideas are consistent with his overall goal of stimulating economic growth over the long term and lifting “tax burdens on the middle class.”
“I think we’re going to get a big growth kicker,” he added.
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations during several dramatic financial crises, told Bloomberg News during an interview on Tuesday that the odds are 80 percent, in his view, that the U.S. economy falls into recession.
He said more than $500 billion in annual federal stimulus spending is needed by “the end of summer, [and] it wouldn’t surprise me if we need to escalate beyond that.” He called on the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and financial regulators, as well as the White House and Congress, to collaborate on “contingency planning” for what may be on the horizon.
Vice President Pence, who leads the president’s coronavirus task force, offered assurances again on Tuesday that the administration is tackling all angles of the coronavirus crisis.
“We’re going to work together to see our way through this,” he told reporters.
Anthony Fauci, the director of the government’s Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the recommended approach to mitigating community spread of the virus — transmissions that are most intense today in New York, Washington, California and Florida — could involve school closures or other recommended efforts to restrict large gatherings of people in an aggressive effort to get ahead of a roaring contagion. “Everything is on the table for consideration,” he said.
The Washington Post: The federal government is poised to test the limits of teleworking. Can a government with 2.1 million workers carry out its mission from kitchen tables? The administration is racing to develop contingency plans that would allow hundreds of thousands of employees to work remotely full time.
Pence, signaling a more muscular phase ahead in the battle against the virus, said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will publish by today new recommendations “for what ought to be done” in regions with discernible confirmed cases of COVID-19 community spread.
This morning, the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus stands at 29 among at least 1,039 confirmed cases, according to the latest information. Worldwide, 4,290 people have died from COVID-19. At least 119,357 confirmed cases have been reported in more than 115 nations.
The Hill: The United States cannot lock down millions of people the way China did in December and January, nor does it want to become the next Italy — a nation attempting to restrict the movements of its populace within its borders as the coronavirus death toll climbs.
The Hill: States are strengthening battles against COVID-19, taking new steps to protect health and economic security for vulnerable citizens and residents.
Over the top or overdue? New York, with 176 confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection this morning, is sending the National Guard to help residents get food and supplies while in quarantine in New Rochelle as schools, churches and synagogues remain closed (The New York Times).
Troubling eruptions of the virus are spreading on both U.S. coasts (The Associated Press).
The Philadelphia Inquirer: New Jersey reports its first death, and Philadelphia warns against large gatherings after confirmed cases are reported.
INTERNATIONAL: Italy experienced its first full day on lockdown on Tuesday as it labors with limited success to combat the spread of COVID-19.
The Associated Press: Italy is rocked by a soaring number of deaths among an aging population.
The number of confirmed cases of the virus in Italy this morning soared to 10,149 and 631 people have died. The health crisis is battering the country’s economy — the third-largest of the 19 countries using the euro — and threatens instability worldwide.
Other nations shut down travel or moved to do so with the struggling Mediterranean nation. The Vatican also declared that St. Peter’s Basilica (seen below) will be closed to tourists until April 3 — when the lockdown is scheduled to be lifted (Vatican News). On Wednesday, Pope Francis held his weekly general audience on Wednesday in his private audience at the Vatican rather than at St. Peter’s or the Vatican auditorium before thousands of people (The Associated Press).
Austria, which reports 206 COVID-19 cases, announced Tuesday that it is banning people who move through Italy from entering the nation, with exceptions for those holding a medical certificate (BBC).
“The utmost priority is to prevent the spread and thus the importing of the illness into our society,” Austrian Prime Minister Sebastian Kurz said at a news conference (Reuters).
Austrians who return home from Italy are asked to self-isolate for two weeks.
Axios reported on Tuesday that the Trump administration considered taking similar action against travel from Italy and South Korea but decided against it because the virus’s spread happened too quickly to be contained. The United States also was concerned due to the large military presence it has in each country and the logistical problems a travel ban would present.
CNN: Cities deserted, families separated and social life on hold in Italy’s first day of lockdown.
The Associated Press: Virus lockdown tests Italians’ commitment to the common good.
In the United Kingdom, Health Minister Nadine Dorries announced that she tested positive for the virus and has been self-isolating at home since she found out.
“Public Health England has started detailed contact tracing and the department and my parliamentary office are closely following their advice,” she said in a statement. In total, there have been 373 confirmed cases and six deaths in the U.K.
The Associated Press: Tentacles of Olympic cancellation would reach around globe.
> Oil: The White House is considering federal assistance for the oil and gas industry as it looks to weather a dip in oil prices due to the coronavirus and disputes with Saudi Arabia and Russia. The Hill’s Rachel Frazin spoke to an administration official on Tuesday, who stressed that the situation is being monitored and that any assistance should not be considered a bailout. The Washington Post reported that the aid would likely be in the form of low-interest government loans to shale companies.
The plan came as Saudi Arabia announced that it would increase oil production, a direct response to Russia’s decision not to join the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries nations and cut production.
Saudi Arabia’s decision also came after Trump spoke to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. On Monday, the president tweeted Monday’s stock market losses were due to the oil war between Saudi Arabia and Russia, along with “Fake News” (The Hill).
> Russia: Trump declined an invitation to visit Moscow for Russia’s Victory Day celebration in May, according to a senior administration official on Tuesday. The news came after a Kremlin spokesman told reporters earlier in the day that Trump would not be in attendance on May 9, with word coming down through “diplomatic channels.”
Russia’s annual Victory Day parade commemorates the Allied victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. This year is the 75th anniversary (The Hill).
The Hill: Russian President Vladimir Putin supports legislation allowing him to run for fifth term.
OPINION
How politics infected America’s first epidemic and cost lives, by Jane Hampton Cook, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/2IAh1xF
Why North Carolina is the state to watch this November, by B.J. Rudell, opinion contributor, The Hill. https://bit.ly/38F1WW3
WHERE AND WHEN
The House meets at 10 a.m.
The Senate convenes at 10 a.m.
The president will meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the White House at 12:15 p.m. Trump, the vice president and members of the Cabinet will meet at 3 p.m. at the White House with top executives from the nation’s leading banks to discuss the financial and economic shocks created by the spread of the coronavirus as well as proposed federal responses, including increased lending to small businesses (The New York Times). White House officials will also confer via teleconference today with representatives of the top tech companies related to the virus and misinformation online (The Hill). Trump and first lady Melania Trump will head to the official residence of the vice president and second lady Karen Pence for dinner and return to the White House.
Pence will speak at the National League of Cities board of directors meeting at 11:15 a.m. in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. At 1 p.m., Pence will meet in the Roosevelt Room with hospital executives to discuss the COVID-19 emergency. At 3 p.m., he joins Trump in the Cabinet Room for a meeting with bank executives. An hour later, the vice president convenes a meeting of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in the White House Situation Room, followed by a briefing for the press at 5:30 p.m. The Pences will host the Trumps for dinner at 7 p.m. at their residence.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin at 10 a.m. will testify before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs about the president’s proposed fiscal 2021 budget and other matters.
Economic indicator: The Bureau of Labor Statistics at 8:30 a.m. releases the consumer price index for February.
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➔ Federal Reserve: The central bank’s next meeting is set for March 18, and Wall Street investors expect another interest rate cut by then, this one to 0 percent (Markets Insider). On Tuesday, Trump blamed the Fed for market volatility in a pair of tweets that numerous financial analysts assailed as incorrect and unhelpful.
“Our pathetic, slow moving Federal Reserve, headed by Jay Powell, who raised rates too fast and lowered too late, should get our Fed Rate down to the levels of our competitor nations. They now have as much as a two point advantage, with even bigger currency help. Also, stimulate!” Trump wrote. “The Federal Reserve must be a leader, not a very late follower, which it has been!”
➔ Banking: Wells Fargo Chief Executive Charles Scharf sought to persuade lawmakers during a Tuesday hearing that he could fix the scandal-ridden bank after years of regulatory lapses, bipartisan outrage, and billions of dollars in fines and settlements. Scharf, the bank’s fourth CEO since 2016, told the House Financial Services Committee he wants to clean up Wells Fargo, which abused its customers and failed to abide by orders from federal regulators to overhaul its internal controls (The Hill). Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) on Tuesday asked the Department of Justice to probe whether Scharf’s predecessor, Timothy Sloan, committed perjury during a hearing one year ago that examined Wells Fargo’s extensive oversight failures (The Hill).
➔ D.C. tourism: 🌸 Some of the estimated 10,000 annual visitors to the nation’s capital each spring won’t be showing up because the coronavirus prompted cancellations of conferences that customarily attract large audiences (Reuters). Because of warm weather, the cherry blossoms may bloom earlier than usual this month. Those that find their way to the Tidal Basin to view the trees may find the annual Cherry Blossom Festival a lot less crowded (WTOP).
➔ News media dinners off (and still on): As evidence that different decisions are being made in Washington about whether large annual events are prudent in light of the coronavirus, the invitation-only, largely off-the-record spring dinner with government VIPs thrown by the news media’s historic Gridiron Club and Foundation has been canceled (Politico). The televised dinner planned by the White House Correspondents’ Association for April 25 with comedians as headliners is still a go “as of now” (The Hill).
THE CLOSER
And finally … Are you feeling lucky and charitable?
Billionaire art collector David Nahmad, 72, who lives in Monaco and owns about 300 of Pablo Picasso’s works, is preparing to part with a small still life, “Nature Morte,” created by the artist in 1921, when he was nearly 40, showing a newspaper and a glass of absinthe on a wood table.
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In raising more than $2 million last year, Rep. Cindy Axne hasn’t taken a dime from any PAC designated as linked to a “corporation” by the Federal Election Commission. Yet her campaign is still stocked with contributions from groups that represent corporate and business interests on Capitol Hill. And she’s not alone. Read More…
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ decisions to cancel campaign rallies in Ohio on Tuesday were the highest-profile examples yet of how concerns about the new coronavirus could disrupt campaigns. Read More…
President Donald Trump’s push for some form of payroll tax holiday is stumbling out of the gate as lawmakers and the White House try to cobble together a quick stimulus package to help those adversely affected by the COVID-19 virus. Read More…
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OPINION — The Democratic Party and its presidential field have spent the last year in a race so far to the left that whoever wins the nomination in the end will likely be stuck with a policy agenda out of step with centrist voters — the moderates and independents who will likely be the decisive vote this fall. Read More…
President Donald Trump’s administration has gone out of its way to skewer plans to construct a federal prison on top of a Kentucky coal mountain. The criticism deepens a deadlock between the administration and two powerful GOP lawmakers and is a rare public airing of an intraparty feud. Read More…
After nearly a decade of virtually ceding state legislative races to Republicans, the Democratic Party organization dedicated to winning those seats and other allied groups nationally are ramping up fundraising in a bid to win control of state chambers across the country ahead of census-driven redistricting. Read More…
President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that getting tested for COVID-19 is “not a big deal” after he recently came in contact with two members of Congress who are now under self-imposed quarantine. Read More…
Sen. Tim Scott debuted his weekly digital series “Two with Tim”: two-minute videos of his thoughts on “government, current events, and inspiration.” Dropping in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak, the South Carolina Republican’s first episode on Tuesday naturally included a “how to” on hand-washing and sneezing. Read More…
The House is ready to make long overdue, behind-the-scenes changes, and it set those in motion by adopting a resolution on implementing 29 recommendations of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. The House voted 395-13 on Tuesday to approve the 12-member committee’s recommendations. Read More…
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POLITICO PLAYBOOK
POLITICO Playbook: Biden closes in on nomination as Pelosi wields coronavirus leverage
Presented by
DRIVING THE DAY
SPLIT SCREEN: MARC CAPUTO in Philadelphia: “Joe Biden took a major step toward clinching the Democratic nomination on Tuesday with three dominant primary victories, including the night’s biggest prize: Michigan.” … DAVID SIDERS: “The night was so debilitating for Bernie Sanders that after retreating to his home state of Vermont on Tuesday, he didn’t even make a speech. In every way other than mathematically, his presidential campaign is done.” The delegate count
TODAY IN CORONAVIRUS … TRUMP OVER A BARREL … AMID THE BACK AND FORTH over the federal response to the coronavirus, this much the top ranks of Republican and Democratic leadership and the White House can agree on: Speaker NANCY PELOSI, once again, has extraordinary leverage over President DONALD TRUMP and the White House. One Republican put it to us this way: PELOSI has TRUMP over a barrel.
HERE’S WHY: TRUMP and his White House are the public faces of the fallout over the deadly virus rippling across the nation, and he needs PELOSI — his nemesis — to cut a deal, and pass a bill. The U.S. just surpassed 1,000 confirmed cases as of Tuesday night.
OF COURSE, PELOSI has a laundry list of priorities of her own. But rarely is the leverage as skewed as it is here.
A BIPARTISAN BILL IS PROBABLY FAR OFF, but there will be immediate action that’s worth keeping an eye on. PELOSI is going to quickly cobble a bill together, present it to Democrats today and put it on the floor Thursday for a vote. This is going to include measures that she has talked about — she’s mentioned bolstered unemployment insurance, food security, paid sick leave, free coronavirus testing — and the thinking is to dare Republicans to vote against it. They might. They might not.
BUT THIS IS JUST THE OPENING ACT OF THIS PLAY. PELOSI has also begun talks with STEVEN MNUCHIN. PELOSI and MNUCHIN are by no means close, but she shares a good relationship with the Treasury secretary and has cut deals with him in the past. MNUCHIN is exchanging paper with the speaker, detailing what the administration is looking for. At the same time, MNUCHIN and Treasury are considering measures they might take unilaterally.
SO, IF A LARGE BIPARTISAN DEAL comes together, it will likely be in days or weeks — not now.
CONVERSATIONS with senior aides, lawmakers and administration officials revealed some overlap in what the administration is looking for and what Democrats want. For example, both the White House and PELOSI are interested in some kind of paid sick leave program. The administration is aiming for 90 days, but it will be forced to take the House’s lead here.
THERE ARE ALSO DIFFERENCES. The administration seems a bit skeptical about new measures to prop up unemployment insurance, because, in part, it tends to think this crisis will not result in an uptick in unemployment applicants. DEMOCRATS, meanwhile, do believe that people will lose their jobs and file for unemployment, and that the program needs reinforcing.
THERE ARE COMPLICATED ELEMENTS, TOO. The administration is going to want stimulus measures for airlines, hotels and transportation-related entities. But the White House seems to want direct cash payments, and that’s going to be tough going on Capitol Hill.
THE NATIONAL SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM IS another huge concern for PELOSI and House Democrats. Tens of millions of children get subsidized or no-cost meals through the program. But what happens if schools are closed? Democrats were wrestling with the issue Tuesday night.
THE PAYROLL TAX CUT — which TRUMP has been trumpeting — is falling out of view, a bit, because House Democrats seem roundly against it, and even Republicans are cool to it. The White House is looking for a six-month payroll tax cut that would sunset in the lame-duck session of Congress. There is also some thinking in the administration that it may be worth saving the payroll tax cut for later in the summer if the economy is still sagging.
SOMETHING TO KEEP AN EYE ON: IN OUR CONVERSATIONS Tuesday, one influential Republican made sure to tell us that this is not like TARP. No one had suggested it was, so clearly the GOP is feeling anxious about having this branded as a massive bailout.
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL is taking a familiar position here: a seat on the sidelines. He said this all needs to get done between PELOSI and the White House.
NEW: Senate Minority Leader CHUCK SCHUMER and Sens. PATTY MURRAY (D-Wash.) and GARY PETERS (D-Mich.) are readying a letter asking TRUMP to issue a national emergency declaration for the coronavirus. This would allow FEMA to use $40 billion in the Disaster Relief Fund to assist state and local governments in their efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus. But to the public, it might also signal an escalation to the crisis.
THE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE will hold a press briefing at 5:30 p.m. in the James S. Brady briefing room. And both CDC Director Robert Redfield and acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli are due on Capitol Hill to testify.
Good Wednesday morning.
THE PRACTICAL IMPACT — WSJ’S KATE DAVIDSON, RICHARD RUBIN and ANDREW RESTUCCIA: “U.S. Treasury Likely to Push Back April 15 Tax Filing Deadline, Sources Say”: “The Trump administration is likely to extend the April 15 tax deadline as part of an effort to mitigate the effects of the novel coronavirus on U.S. households and businesses, according to an administration official and another person familiar with the matter.
“Neither the decision to extend the deadline nor the mechanics of how such an extension might work are yet final. Normally, individuals must pay their prior year’s taxes by April 15 or face penalties and interest charges. People can already get extensions through mid-October to file their returns as long as they have paid on time by mid-April. This decision would go further than that.
“Extending the tax filing deadline would effectively act as a bridge loan for individuals and businesses facing disruptions from the virus. Treasury officials are still considering how far the filing deadline may be pushed back and who would be eligible for the extension, according to the person familiar with the discussions.”
— DAN DIAMOND: “Exclusive: Email crash impeded HHS response to coronavirus”: “As health department officials worked quickly to negotiate an emergency funding package to fight the spreading coronavirus outbreak on Feb. 23, they came to a frustrating realization: Their email system had crashed. The outage in the Health and Human Services secretary’s office stretched on much of the day, with some messages delayed up to 11 hours, creating frustration and slowing the Trump administration’s coronavirus response.
“The HHS officials soon discovered the culprit: An email test conducted by the team at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a branch of the health department that hadn’t briefed HHS leaders or alerted the department’s chief information officer before sending thousands of messages through their shared system. Although it was a Sunday, top officials were negotiating with the White House over a soon-to-be-announced coronavirus funding plan and tackling other urgent decisions — which were interrupted by the email outage.
“The previously unreported episode was the latest in a series of information technology snafus caused by the department’s Medicare branch dating back more than a year. This time, HHS decided to remove the agency’s control over its own email operations and launch an audit of its entire information technology infrastructure.
“The episode has exacerbated tensions inside a department that’s already been split by intense fights between HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CMS chief Seema Verma while it strains to coordinate the government’s response to the viral outbreak.” POLITICO
MARKET WATCH — “Global Markets Buffeted Again by Virus Concerns,” by WSJ’s Frances Yoon and Anna Isaac: “U.S. stock futures and Treasury yields fell on Wednesday, pointing to sustained doubts about the ability of governments and central banks to combat the economic headwinds caused by the coronavirus.
“Futures contracts tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2%, suggesting U.S. stocks could open lower Wednesday. European stock markets opened higher, with the Stoxx Europe 600 rising 1.3%. The U.K.’s benchmark FTSE 100 was also up 1.2%, shortly after an unexpected rate cut by the Bank of England.” WSJ
WHAT METRO IS SAYING:“In addition to the measures Metro takes every day, we’ve stepped up deep cleaning and disinfecting railcars, stations, bathrooms, buses, and MetroAccess vehicles. Our staged pandemic response plan includes preparing for any service changes that may be required based on the CDC’s guidance and regional public health requirements for our employees and customers. We are mindful that Metro provides essential services, and the health and safety of our workforce and the communities we serve are paramount as this situation evolves.”
BIDEN’S NOT-SO-MINI TUESDAY …
— NYT NEWS ANALYSIS:“Joe Biden Is Poised to Deliver the Biggest Surprise of 2020: A Short, Orderly Primary,” by Matt Flegenheimer and Katie Glueck: “The state of our union is unsettled, chaotic, impossible to pin down. The state of the Democratic primary, improbably, is not.
“With a string of commanding victories on Tuesday — Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, probably any other ‘M’ state that might have bothered with a primary this week — Joe Biden appears poised to complete one of the most striking turnarounds in recent campaign memory, finding himself in a dominant position only 10 days after the first state victory of his three presidential runs. His remarkable reversal has banished Senator Bernie Sanders to a familiar electoral perch: an insurgent progressive long shot straining to catch an establishment favorite.”
— WAPO’S DAN BALZ: “The campaign for the Democratic nomination has moved at warp speed over the past 10 days, and on Tuesday night it reached a decisive turning point. Barring something unforeseen, Democrats now know that former vice president Joe Biden will be the party’s nominee to challenge President Trump in November.”
MARIANNE LEVINE: “Sen. Murphy seeks to probe agencies of political bias in Hunter Biden requests”: “Sen. Chris Murphy is requesting an investigation into whether certain federal agencies are demonstrating political bias by complying with Republican-led requests related to Hunter Biden and the Ukrainian gas company Burisma.
“In a letter set to be sent Wednesday to inspectors general for the State Department, the Treasury Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Archives, the Connecticut Democrat expressed concern that the agencies were cooperating with Republican-led investigations connected to former Vice President Joe Biden’s son. But he said those same agencies didn’t comply with congressional investigations into President Donald Trump.” POLITICO
BIG PICTURE — JOHN HARRIS COLUMN: “Biden and Trump: Don’t Stop Thinking About Yesterday”: “At a transformative moment in history — when the onrush of changes in climate, technology, demography, and global balance-of-power are creating a new generation of urgent policy challenges in the United States and around the world — the 2020 race now promises to be effectively devoid of new ideas.
“Instead, this promises to be a race above all about character and personal qualities. It will be waged by old men — age 73 for the incumbent, age 77 for the presumptive challenger — whose essential worldviews were formed decades ago and whose essential instincts and preoccupations are backward-looking.”
TRUMP’S WEDNESDAY — The president will meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at 12:15 p.m. in the Oval Office. He will hold a coronavirus response meeting with bankers at 3 p.m. in the Cabinet Room. Trump and first lady Melania Trump will leave the White House at 6:45 p.m. en route to the U.S. Naval Observatory to have dinner with VP Mike Pence and Karen Pence. Afterward, the Trumps will return to the White House at 8:30 p.m.
PLAYBOOK READS
WHAT PEOPLE IN THIS TOWN ARE ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT … @washingtonian: “Breaking tonite: Per email to parents, @NatCathedralSch @BeauvoirDC & @StAlbans_STA, elite private schools, closing over #coronavirus, citing ‘abundance of caution.’ Spring break is next week, so technically just starting break early. No schedule change announced re end of break.”
— “Gridiron Dinner, an annual D.C. tradition, canceled over coronavirus concerns,” by Caitlin Oprysko: “The spring dinner, which would have drawn around 600 attendees, has taken place almost every year since 1885, club historian and National Journal White House correspondent George Condon said. Only during World War I in 1918 and World War II in 1942 did the dinner not take place, but Condon said he could find no record of the event ever getting canceled for public health reasons, including during the 1918 influenza pandemic.”
ACROSS THE POND — “My life in Italian isolation,” by Silvia Sciorilli-Borrelli: “We sat 1 meter apart from each other, as per the health authorities’ guidelines, five on each side of the 2-meter-wide table. It was a first. During main course, I apologized and said I had to turn on the television. By the time Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that the whole country was being shut down, the guests — all, excluding myself, in their sixties and seventies — had lost their appetite and the celebration was over.” POLITICO Europe … AP: “Italy passes 10,000 infections”
— PROTOCOL is tracking how the virus is affecting life in Silicon Valley and among tech firms.
HMMM — “Intelligence Officials Temper Russia Warnings, Prompting Accusations of Political Influence,” by NYT’s Julian Barnes, Nick Fandos and Adam Goldman: “Intelligence officials told lawmakers behind closed doors on Tuesday that Russia was not directly supporting any candidates as it tried to interfere in the presidential race, an assertion that contradicted an earlier briefing and prompted accusations from Democrats that the Trump administration was politicizing intelligence.
“‘The I.C. has not concluded that the Kremlin is directly aiding any candidate’s re-election or any other candidates’ election,’ an unclassified summary given to lawmakers said, using shorthand for the intelligence community. ‘Nor have we concluded that the Russians will definitely choose to try to do so in 2020.’” NYT
— WAPO: “On Tuesday, senators also were disconcerted that [acting DNI Richard] Grenell, as the head of the intelligence community, was not present, said one of the people briefed on the session. The heads of other agencies, including acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf, were there, and Grenell had been scheduled to appear, according to a list of participants circulated to lawmakers on Monday.
“But Grenell declined to go to the Hill, citing apprehension about his preparedness to address sensitive subjects that tend to upset the president, according to three people familiar with the matter.”
TWISTING THE KNIFE — “Trump endorses Sessions’ opponent in Alabama Senate primary,” by James Arkin: “President Donald Trump spurned Jeff Sessions and endorsed Tommy Tuberville in the Alabama Senate race Tuesday, an enormous blow to Trump’s former attorney general, whom he had excoriated for recusing from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.
“The endorsement of Tuberville is a major boost for the former Auburn University football coach three weeks before the primary runoff between the two Republicans. Tuberville earned the top spot in last week’s primary, narrowly edging out Sessions but falling well short of the 50 percent of the vote needed to avoid a runoff.” POLITICO
WOMEN RULE — ANNA sat down with KATIA BEAUCHAMP, co-founder and CEO of BIRCHBOX, for a live Women Rule podcast taping last week as part of the 10th annual International Women’s Day Forum. Listen and subscribe… Story by Zack Stanton
TRANSITIONS — Leslie Shedd is now comms director for the House Foreign Affairs GOP. She most recently was an SVP at Firehouse Strategies. … Michaela Sundermann is now press secretary for the House Homeland Security GOP. She previously was digital director for Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.).
BIRTHWEEK (was Monday): Bailey La Sage, deputy comms director and digital director for Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-Mont.) (h/t Travis Hall)
BIRTHDAY OF THE DAY: Amy Weiss, CEO of Weiss Public Affairs. A fun fact people might not know about her: “In the mid-’80s, I was studying in London and got tickets to dance on stage at ‘Top of the Pops’ (the U.K. version of ‘Soul Train’ or ‘American Bandstand’ — two of my favorite programs as a kid). I danced on air to the Fine Young Cannibals’ song ‘Blue.’ Except for my trip to Liverpool to do the Beatles tour, it was the highlight of my semester.” Playbook Q&A
BIRTHDAYS: Rupert Murdoch is 89 … Michael Holley … Curt Cashour … Perri Peltz … MC Gonzalez Noguera, SVP of global public affairs at Estée Lauder … Sam Donaldson is 86 … Adam Piper, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association (h/t Kelly Laco) … Matt Sobocinski … Ben Becker of Precision Strategies … Jon Cohen, chief research officer at SurveyMonkey … Claire Burghoff of Cornerstone Government Affairs … Jen Mullin, VP of public affairs at Exelon … NBC News’ Miguel Almaguer … Austin Carson … former Interior Secretary Gale Norton is 66 … Justin Weaver … CNN’s Emily Riley … Nick Shapiro, VP and global head of trust and safety at Lime … Jason Herbert … former Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead is 58 …
… Christina Arvanites, producer at MSNBC’s “The Last Word” with Lawrence O’Donnell … Roll Call’s Micaela Rodríguez … James Pollack … Jon Schneider … Laura Zimmerman (h/t Jon Haber) … Suzanne Hammelman … Charles McElwee is 31 … Michal Grayevsky … Alice Stewart, CNN political commentator and NPR political contributor … Nik Holtan … Allison Muehlenbeck … Joe Quinn, VP of public affairs at the Aluminum Association, is 42 … Haley Viccaro … Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson … Nikki Budzinski … Rachel Dodsworth … Cookie McCarton … State’s Jeff Hayes … NEA’s Carrie Pugh … Tripp Wellde … Lars Florio is 51 … Tim Mack, press secretary for Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.) … Virginia state Del. Will Wampler (h/t Mary Trigiani)
By Shane Vander Hart on Mar 10, 2020 10:30 pm
On Super Tuesday 2: Joe Biden wins the Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, and Missouri primaries. Bernie Sanders leads in North Dakota and Washington. Read in browser »
By John Hendrickson on Mar 10, 2020 04:20 pm
John Hendrickson and Laura Ebke: Requiring a direct public notification that is sent to taxpayers is a needed reform that would help improve Iowa’s property tax accountability and transparency law. Read in browser »
By Caffeinated Thoughts on Mar 10, 2020 01:54 pm
Senate President Charles Schneider, R-West Des Moines, announced his retirement from the Iowa Senate at the end of his second term. Read in browser »
By Shane Vander Hart on Mar 10, 2020 01:01 pm
U.S. Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., requested an investigation into Pornhub for its involvement streaming videos of raped and exploited women and children. Read in browser »
Launched in 2006, Caffeinated Thoughts reports news and shares commentary about culture, current events, faith and state and national politics from a Christian and conservative point of view.
President Donald Trump will meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have a meeting with bankers on Coronavirus impacts then the president and first lady will have dinner with Vice President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence. Keep up with Trump on Our President’s Schedule Page. President Trump’s Itinerary …
CNN and the Democratic National Committee have continued their team-up effort to get former Vice President Joe Biden the nomination as quickly and painlessly as possible – this time by turning the March 15th debate into a CNN-only, TV-only, seated event that seems designed to protect Mr. Biden. Biden’s campaign …
Hunter Biden’s lawyers told an Arkansas judge on Tuesday that he is unable to attend a child support deposition scheduled for this week due to coronavirus and his pregnant wife’s imminent due date. “It is unsafe for the Defendant to travel, as travel restrictions have been implemented both domestically and …
The House of Representatives can review secret grand-jury information cited and redacted from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian election interference in 2016, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld a previous ruling by …
Vice President Mike Pence and members of the White House Coronovirus Task Force hold a briefing to update the media and the nation on the latest developments. Live Stream Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons …
The Democrat-Socialist Party loves diversity, but their two front-runners for the nomination are very old white men. Biden’s Butterfly Brain One of them, Biden, has a history of plagiarism, corruption, and gaffes. Joe’s confused bumbling has worsened with age. He sounds like an old man suffering from the onset of …
President Donald Trump presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Tuesday to General Jack Keane. The event is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. EST. Live Stream Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit …
The news has become so one-note the past couple of days that I am tempted to spend a day just drinking and writing about beer. The slightest bit of encouragement from you, dear Morning Briefing readers, could flip this to a beer blog in a heartbeat.
Actually, it’s a two-note news cycle we are dealing with here today: coronavirus and the Democratic presidential primary. Sure, people like me look at both as illnesses that need to be cured, but the latter seems to be chronic.
Tuesday was cancellation day for both the virus and the Democrats.
The week began with the St. Patrick’s Day parades in both Dublin and Boston being canceled, which should have been an omen. The parades may be no more, but people will still be in bars drunkenly sharing air and Lord knows what else. Canceling things makes everyone feel better about how they are handling the containment of the virus, however.
The NCAA Men’s basketball tournament — March Madness — is about to begin and the idea of playing games without any fans in attendance has been floated.
A couple of universities (my daughter’s included) canceled classes on Monday, and the number of schools doing so on Tuesday picked up quite a bit. Students and professors are being transitioned to a virtual classroom environment, which should be fun to see happen on the fly.
On it went.
Concerts, business conferences, and other public gatherings got the ax.
Yes, several of the larger events like Coachella have been rescheduled, but that doesn’t mean that everyone who arranged their vacation time and travel to go next month can make it in October.
While I have been advocating for erring on the side of caution, I wonder how long this cancelation fever is supposed to go on. Do we keep doing the social distance experiment until the rate of new cases slows or stops completely?
If things are still escalating in a month do summer concert and theater seasons start getting canceled?
There is money being lost all over the place here, which certainly plays into the theory we’ve been discussing the past two days about the media trying to create a frenzy that turns into an overwhelmingly negative economic impact. Look at this:
ABC News
✔@ABC
Airline passengers shared images on social media showing flights with rows of empty seats amid coronavirus concerns. https://abcn.ws/2TF2VRD
If there is an endgame it would be great if someone would articulate it. If no one does, I’m sticking with the conspiracy theory I floated yesterday.
Another Cancelation of Sorts
Michigan was supposed to be the defibrillator for Bernie Sanders’s campaign, but it may have been a dagger in the heart of it. The contest wasn’t even close, which probably has the Sanders people prepping for an exit sooner rather than later. Sanders said last night that he has plans to participate in the next debate, His biggest cheerleader wasn’t feeling it, though:
ABC News
✔@ABC
“There’s no sugarcoating it. Tonight’s a tough night,” says Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of Bernie Sanders’ highest-profile supporters.
“Tonight’s a tough night for the movement overall,” she said on Instagram. “Tonight’s a tough night electorally.” https://abcn.ws/2IOBH5b
Sanders and AOC love to talk about the “movement” that they are building. They don’t have a movement, they have a bunch of noisy kids.
A true movement is more than big rallies. Its members have to get into the weeds of politics, doing things like knocking on doors and making phone calls. That’s boring. Rallies are adrenaline rushes and fun.
The youth demographic loves fun but doesn’t really have the attention span for the nuts and bolts of politics.
They will grow up one day, however, and then we will really need to worry.
Grandpapodganda, FTW
Crazy Joe the Wonder Veep had another embarrassing off-leash moment yesterday, filled with more incoherence and that weird tough-guy posturing he’s fond of doing.
My friend and colleague Cam Edwards, who is the Editor at our sister site Bearing Arms, provided a nice synopsis:
Cam Edwards
✔@CamEdwards
In the span of 90 seconds Biden managed to misrepresent his own position, refer to AR-15’s as AR-14’s, call semi-automatic rifles machine guns, and insult a voter who knows more about the issue than he does. https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1237388457359691776 …
Steve Guest
✔@SteveGuest
Joe Biden to Michigan voter: “You’re full of shit.”
As always is the case these days, someone from the MSM quickly rushed in to defend Biden’s latest senior moment, prompting this gem of a response from Cam:
Happy Wednesday! And good morning to everyone except for Barbra Weber, who thoroughly beclowned herself on national television last night by refusing to support her son’s quest for love. Peter doesn’t deserve Madison (or Hannah Ann, for that matter), but we here at The Dispatch (Declan) are rooting for their relationship anyways. [Editor’s Note: This season of The Bachelor finally ended last night, so Declan has agreed to shut up about it going forward.]
Quick Hits: Today’s Top Stories
Joe Biden extended his delegate lead over Bernie Sanders in Tuesday’s voting, winning the Mississippi, Missouri, Idaho, and Michigan primaries, with North Dakota and Washington too close to call.
Sanders and Biden both canceled campaign events over coronavirus fears, the first time either campaign has done so.
Russia’s Vladimir Putin endorsed a constitutional proposal that would eliminate term-limit regulations and allow him to serve two additional six-year terms as president if he so chooses.
President Trump officially endorsed former college football coach Tommy Tuberville in the Alabama Senate runoff over Jeff Sessions, his former attorney general.
It’s All Over but the Shoutin’
In 2016, Bernie Sanders won 23 contests, including Michigan, North Dakota, and Washington. Hillary Clinton wasn’t able to secure the nomination until June after beating Sanders in California by single digits. But last night, the Sanders’ campaign may have reached an early end. Democrats were openly contemplating how to push him out of the race. And his campaign announced that Sanders would “not speak or appear in public to address tonight’s results.” Over at our website, Sarah Isgur looks at whether “the perceived strength of Bernie’s progressive movement four years ago was always better explained as an anti-Hillary vote.”
Joe Biden, on the other hand, continued his march to the nomination with a bigger delegate lead than he came in with. He won college educated and non-college educated voters. He won black voters and union households. He won women. He secured the endorsement of Andrew Yang on live television.
The number of U.S. citizens infected with the novel coronavirus continues to rise, with confirmed cases surging past 1,000 Tuesday. In response, more and more communities across the country are beginning to take major “social distancing” steps to slow the disease’s advance. Some of these moves—like a number of major universities announcing they will switch to online-only classes until the virus is contained—are largely preemptive. Others are attempts to blunt the damage in areas that are already seeing major outbreaks. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that the state will deploy the National Guard to a three-square-mile “containment area” in Westchester County, where gathering places like schools and churches will be closed for two weeks beginning March 12.
With just days to go before the expiration of several provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the House of Representatives finally revealed its second-draft reauthorization bill Tuesday, two weeks after the previous version ran into turbulence in markup. And wouldn’t you know it: The new version seems to be a genuine compromise bill, beefing up some protections for targets of federal surveillance—though not as many as civil liberties advocates had hoped—without substantially damaging law enforcement’s ability to carry out that surveillance in general.
The updated legislation includes several changes that have been sought by the likes of Rep. Jim Jordan, and are intended to improve oversight of the secret surveillance courts. They include: a provision placing an advocate for the requested target of surveillance in FISA proceedings to ensure that the best possible case against surveilling is also considered by the court; new criminal penalties for officials who make false representations to the court; and a provision stipulating that the attorney general must sign off on proposed surveillance of federal officials or political candidates.
Gallup released a new poll Tuesday showing “[m]ore Americans approve of the job congressional Republicans are doing than of congressional Democrats’ performance” for the first time in nearly 15 years. Not surprisingly, this change was driven almost entirely by partisans: Republicans’ approval of congressional Republicans rose 13 points since October, which coincides with their successful defense of President Trump during the impeachment inquiry and trial.
At the same time, overall partisanship in Congress is also increasing. A recent study from Michigan State University found that “[p]olarization between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress is the worst it’s ever been” noting a “sharp decline in cooperation” when looking at bill co-sponsorship across the aisle.
But a more polarized and partisan Congress may just reflect an American public that is also becoming more polarized and partisan itself.
Just last week, Pew published a study that found “[f]ar more Americans see ‘very strong’ partisan conflicts now” reflecting “rising partisan antipathy over the last several years, including larger shares in each party associating negative traits with members of the opposing party and rating the opposing partisans negatively.”
This could explain why even though an overwhelming majority of Americans believe that “compromise and common ground should be the goal for political leaders,” nearly as many say they are “tired of leaders compromising my values and ideals” and want leaders “who will stand up to the other side.”
What does this mean moving forward? Partisanship isn’t going anywhere. And as partisan behavior from members is rewarded with higher approval numbers from constituents who increasingly view the other side of the aisle as “immoral,” it is only likely to increase in the near future.
Worth Your Time
Bruno Maçães has spent the last few months traveling through Asia, and noticed clear differences in how the people there responded to COVID-19’s spread than in Europe or America. “How notable that we are all together in this, and yet every society seems to deal with the epidemic in its own distinctive way,” he writes in National Review. “One of the main divides was between the developed and the developing world. It explained the seriousness in Asia. If poverty and disease are a daily presence or at most two or three generations behind you, you are predisposed to accept that your world can suddenly collapse. The question that Americans and Europeans ask themselves—How was this allowed to happen?—makes less sense than the question of how to survive and how to protect your loved ones.”
There have been several cases already of cruise ships becoming breeding grounds for the coronavirus; the close quarters on a boat just aren’t conducive to avoiding a highly contagious illness. And yet, some people apparently don’t care, and are either going forward with already booked cruise vacations or, even crazier, buying tickets now that prices are dropping. The Daily Beast found some of these thrill seekers (ill seekers?) and published their stories, which can be read here.
The New Yorker has a lengthy exploration of one potential way to regain some privacy in our rapidly growing technological era: stealth streetwear. The clothes that author John Seabrook tests out can do things like prevent your image being picked up by AI surveillance systems (as used by the Chinese government), confuse automatic license plate readers, and hide your face from facial recognition software.
In David’s latest French Press (🔒), he discusses public trust in light of the coronavirus. “Make no mistake, much of the mistrust in the media, the government, and other vital institutions has been richly earned,” he writes. “But distrust can go too far…Americans need to understand that it is in the selfish ideological interests of the most partisan Americans to increase distrust, even in the face of overwhelming contrary facts.” Give the whole thing a read here.
Jonah had David Bahnsen on The Remnant to discuss his latest book, Elizabeth Warren: How Her Presidency Would Destroy the Middle Class and the American Dream. The timing might not be great—what with Warren suspending her candidacy last week and all—but the Massachusetts senator’s ideas and policies are still very much alive in the Democratic party. Give it a listen.
Alec has two new Dispatch Fact Checks. Yesterday he wrote on claims—from Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, and others—that President Trump cut the CDC budget. Turns out: that “while Trump has attempted to cut funding to the CDC, overall funding to the agency has increased under the Trump administration.” This morning, he has one looking at whether Joe Biden believes Iraq had WMD. It turns out it depends on when you ask him.
David Gerstman: “My father had a master’s degree from Columbia University and was very concerned about the anti-Israel and antisemitic agitation going on there at the hand of Edward Said and Rashid Khalidi. On one or two occasions he wrote to Columbia president Lee Bollinger to complain. Bollinger, to the best of my knowledge never responded. But Miriam Elman noted the other day on Twitter, Bollinger has now come forward to condemn BDS. Though he’s been praised by a number of Jewish groups, I remain a bit skeptical. Last week Columbia’s Heyman Center featured a discussion of Khalidi’s latest book, which portrays Israel as a colonial enterprise with no legitimacy. (Listening to Khalidi and his fellow travelers, you realize that to them there is no historical connection between Jews and Israel.) You can’t seriously fight campus BDS and antisemitism if you allow their intellectual underpinnings to flourish.”
Leslie Eastman: “Joe Biden and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day: Top 3 trends on Twitter…AR-14, #BidensCognitiveDecline and #DemExit. As an extra bonus, Detroit auto workers were shouting “Trump” during Biden’s tour of an auto plant.”
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Super Tuesday Round II: Another Good Night for Joe
Joe Biden is looking more and more like the near-certain nominee of the Democratic Party.
Updated delegate, and state counts from last night’s “mini” Super Tuesday.
Full results won’t be out until later today, but the most interesting outcome last night to me was Joe Biden’s win in the Michigan primary. A relatively weak showing by Sanders in a state that was once a stronghold of his working-class supporters could indicate that many of those voters may have left the Democratic Party for good and are now reliable Trump voters.
That could spell good news for the President come the general election, and signal a long-term shift in the electoral map, as well as the compositions of both parties.
Meanwhile, frontrunner Joe Biden yelled at a pro-Second Amendment Michigan auto worker. The former Vice President told the man “you’re full of sh*t,” told him he didn’t need an “AR-14,” and ended the exchange by threatening to slap him.
Not to be outdone, on Monday Bernie repeated the tired canard that authoritarian regimes like the USSR (formal name: the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) and Cuba were “not socialism.” These countries were socialist – and, I might add, worthy of Sanders’ praise – right up until the point that it became obvious to the whole world what humanitarian disasters they were. Then they became “not real socialism,” and the cycle begins yet again.
“Alarming clusters of the coronavirus swelled on both coasts of the U.S. on Tuesday, with 70 cases now tied to a biotech conference in Boston and infections turning up at 10 nursing homes in the hard-hit Seattle area.
Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden abruptly canceled rallies because of worries about the virus, and New York’s governor announced he is sending the National Guard to scrub public places and deliver food in a New York City suburb that is at the center of the nation’s biggest known cluster of infections…
More schools and universities sent students home, while conferences and other events were canceled. The United Nations announced it would close its New York headquarters to the public and suspend all tours. The Coachella music festival that draws tens of thousands to the California desert near Palm Springs every April was postponed until October. And one of the biggest resort operators in Las Vegas, MGM Resorts International, said it would close buffets at all of its Las Vegas Strip casinos as a precaution.”
Let’s hope it doesn’t get as bad here as in Italy, where measures to contain the virus have halted even basic routines and cultural greetings.
Speaking of coronavirus, CPAC released another update on the attendee who came down ill with the virus after the conference. The American Conservative Union, which hosts CPAC, gave more details about where the individual spent time during the conference, and repeated assurances that general attendees were at very low risk. No additional cases from CPAC have been confirmed, and fortunately, the 55-year-old man himself is continuing to recover in a New Jersey hospital.
From the email:
“The individual who tested positive for coronavirus did not go to the main ballroom, was not an interviewer or an interviewee on Broadcast Row, did not attend any breakout sessions and limited his interactions to very few people.
He did attend a Wednesday (2/26) evening event in the POSE Lounge. If you attended that event you are at very low risk for infection. It takes about five days for symptoms to show after contracting this particular coronavirus.
There have been no additional cases of any CPAC attendees or participants testing positive for coronavirus.”
Fashion Moment of the Week
We could all definitely use a break from the news this week, I’m guessing, so ogle this beautiful new collection from Chanel, which unlike many of the designer’s most recent runway collections, harkens back to the label’s traditional roots.
Wednesday Links
American and Canadian jet fighters were sent to intercept provocative Russian planes 50 nautical miles off the coast of Alaska. President Trump abruptly canceled his trip to Moscow, citing unresolved concerns over a naval standoff in Ukraine. (Washington Times)
Many of the 2,000 Bloomberg staffers found out that the billionaire’s promises of employment through November won’t be kept. (The Federalist)
Sen. Hawley pushes Department of Justice to include Google’s search functions in its antitrust probe of the tech giant. (The Federalist)
Why single-payer government healthcare wouldn’t help with the WuFlu outbreak, contra claims from Bernie Sanders. (The Federalist)
For DC-ers: Billy Newton reviews the National Gallery’s Raphael exhibit, collected to mark the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death. (The Federalist)
Inez Feltscher Stepman is a senior policy analyst at the Independent Women’s Forum and a senior contributor to The Federalist. She is a San Francisco Bay Area native with a BA in Philosophy from UCSD and a JD from the University of Virginia. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Jarrett Stepman, her puggle Thor, and her cat Thaddeus Kosciuszko. You can follow her on Twitter at @inezfeltscher and on Instagram (for #ootd, obvi) under the same handle. Opinions expressed on this website are her own and not those of her employers. Or her husband.
Note: By using some of the links above, Bright may be compensated through the Amazon Affiliate program and Magic Links. However, none of this content is sponsored and all opinions are our own.
Mar 11, 2020 01:00 am
Turn off mainstream media television, take a deep breath, listen to what government experts have to say, stay calm, and wash your hands (a lot). Read More…
Mar 11, 2020 01:00 am
If a situation arises where the People are threatened or abused, we expect the Press to protect us. No such luck when it comes to education malfeasance. Read More…
Mar 11, 2020 01:00 am
A black Republican has ideas that are good for whites and Chinese and blacks alike, and when he talks about being a free man, he inspires white men to free themselves alongside him. Read More…
President Donald Trump spurned his former attorney general in a tweet on Tuesday endorsing his primary runoff opponent in the race for Alabama’s seat in the US Senate. The president issued the stinging rebuke of Jeff Sessions via a tweet. “Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville) is running for the U.S. Senate from the Great State of … Read more
Small, motorized robots could boost crop yields in the U.S. and abroad.
Illinois company EarthSense and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, aided by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, developed one such robot called TerraSentia.
Farming robotics and agricultural artificial intelligence are a growing technological trend. There are new self-driving tractors and robots that can plant fields, in addition to apps that connect farmers to farming equipment on demand.
TerraSentia’s goal is to “create the next generation of more productive and resilient crop varieties,” according to Chinmay Soman, the co-founder and chief executive of EarthSense, by helping farmers make more profit by finding problems early and addressing critical threats, such as rapidly spreading herbicide-resistant weeds.
In a cornfield, the robot traverses the terrain, scanning the rows to calculate the number of plants, their stem width and their height. The robot collects and records this data using a range of sensors, such as video cameras, light detection and ranging technology, and GPS navigation.
The robot then sends the information to farmers, who use the data to optimize crop growth in real time.
So far, TerraSentia has successfully examined corn, soybean, wheat, sorghum and vegetable crops, in addition to orchards and vineyards.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
As technological advancements continue to shift the frontier between tasks that are performed by humans and those performed by machines, a growing number of Americans believe that robots will take over most of the jobs currently done by humans in the next 50 years, according to a study by the Pew Research Center. However, although millions of jobs might be lost as a result of new technology, millions of new jobs will also be created to meet the new demands of the future. As a result, a lot of people will be forced to rethink their career choices, which could be extremely challenging, particularly for older adults who have been in the same line of work for many years. But, with careful planning and execution, older adults can make it easier for themselves to switch careers and boost their chances of being successful in their new jobs.
It starts with research
A career change is a huge decision that can affect a person for the rest of their life. There’s no guarantee that the new job will provide more happiness or satisfaction, and an individual may lose some of the job benefits they accumulated in the old job after quitting, such as retirement benefits. As such, older adults need to take the time to do some thorough research to come up with a list of viable career options that align perfectly with their skills and interests, setting the stage for a smoother job transition.
They can start by doing some research to learn about various viable career options, particularly in new industries that have come up as a result of advancing technology, such as social media marketing, app design and development, and artificial intelligence. They can also talk to various professionals to find out key details about the industries such as job duties, median earnings, and overall employment outlook in potential career options. Even better, they can set up job shadowing sessions to get a firsthand look at what a typical day in the life of the career looks like.
Meeting the educational requirements
After landing on a new career path that ignites their interests, the next thing an older adult needs to do is find out what skills they’ll require for a smooth transition. In most cases, a career change will require the person to further their education in some way, especially if it’s in a new field like artificial intelligence or virtual reality, where you need to learn a lot. Having to go back to school can be scary and intimidating for older adults, and it’s even worse for those who are not tech-savvy. However, there are many resources available today that have made it easier than ever for older adults to advance their education. For example, there are accelerated online degree programs that allow people to get degrees from reputable institutions in a short time and at their own convenience.
Whether it’s a voluntary decision or one that’s forced by circumstances, switching careers does not have to be scary for older adults. Even at an advanced age, it is possible to start over and achieve great success in a new career.
American Conservative Movement
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
Representative Jim Clyburn (D-SC) gave former Vice President Joe Biden the boost he needed to win big in the South Carolina primary, launching him to victories on Super Tuesday which have translated into more success last night. Now, the Congressman is calling on the DNC to “shut this primary down” to avoid mistakes from the frontrunner the could prolong the nomination process or hurt him in the general election.
An aide for Clyburn, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak on the matter, told NOQ Report that Clyburn is concerned about Senator Bernie Sanders “tearing Biden down” in the upcoming debate. The aide also hinted at Biden’s “increasingly concerning gaffes” as a reason for him to take a break from campaigning and rest up for the general election.
Important Editor’s Note: I do not like the use of anonymous sources, but this report rings too true to ignore. Considering the sources’ positions and the fact that Clyburn said publicly the race and future debates should be shut down, we’re rolling with the story.
One source in the DNC and one with connections to the Biden campaign confirmed his interview and campaign events will be dramatically limited, though neither acknowledged it was due to concerns over harming his campaign. The Biden campaign associate said coronavirus concerns were going to limit his engagements while the DNC source said it was due to him now being the presumptive nominee.
“I think when the night is over, Joe Biden will be the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic nomination, and quite frankly, if the night ends the way it has begun, I think it is time for us to shut this primary down, it is time for us to cancel the rest of these debates—because you don’t do anything but get yourself in trouble if you continue in this contest when it’s obvious that the numbers will not shake out for you,” Clyburn told NPR yesterday.
Meanwhile, rumors were spreading early Tuesday that the DNC was making plans to quietly, amicably push Sanders out of the race. The schedule doesn’t favor Sanders with Florida, Arizona, Ohio, and Illinois next Tuesday. Other than Arizona, he is not expected to do well. But the campaign has one hope—Sunday’s debate—and if Sanders believes he can dominate Biden one-on-one, he may opt to stay in just a little longer. He has more money than Biden and has proven to be far more capable on the debate stage.
Biden has seemed lost at times recently, whether during debates, interviews, or on the campaign trail. Some have speculated he may be suffering from dementia. The campaign has fervently denied accusations that he’s lost a step mentally, but President Trump’s campaign has hammered this point continuously ever since Biden’s campaign resurrection in South Carolina.
Whether Bernie Sanders stays in the race or not, do not expect to see much of Joe Biden. He will be “resting” and preparing for the general election shift that is expected if and when Sanders drops out. Is there more to it than that?
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions has spent his entire campaign claiming wholehearted support for the man who fired him. It’s important in Alabama to have the support of the President and Sessions has done everything he can to make it reciprocal. Despite his best efforts, the President officially endorsed former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville in the upcoming runoff election to decide who will take on Senator Doug Jones in November.
….(which is under siege), is strong on Crime and the Border, and truly LOVES our Military and our Vets. He will be a great Senator for the people of Alabama. Coach Tommy Tuberville, a winner, has my Complete and Total Endorsement. I love Alabama!
Most (and by most, I mean everyone I’ve heard reacting so far) has assumed this is a matter of the President still being upset with Sessions for paving the way for the Russia probe and subsequent Mueller investigation by recusing himself in the early days of the administration. Sessions’ decision set in motion the events that encompassed the Russia hoax that dominated news for over two years of the President’s first term. Most seem to assume that he never forgot, never forgave, and is now trying to hit Sessions one last time.
But it’s deeper than that. The President has always attacked Sessions for his incompetence as Attorney General, but never for his loyalty. As the first Senator to support President Trump during the 2016 election, he maintained his composure as Attorney General despite constant Twitter attacks by his boss. He suffered through rumors of his firing for months before it actually happened and left Washington DC in shame.
Sessions’ desire to take back his old Senate seat that he vacated to join the cabinet was seen as a move the President may actually appreciate. After all, most Republicans liked Sessions as a Senator even if they disagreed with him as Attorney General. But the President doesn’t just hold a grudge against Sessions. That wouldn’t be enough for him to punch him now. That’s not the President’s style. Instead, this endorsement of Tuberville tells us President Trump doesn’t trust Sessions, not in his cabinet and not in the Senate.
Many conservatives have come to Sessions’ defense, though likely in vane. Tuberville was leading in the polls before the President’s endorsement. Now, it should be a done deal. Nevertheless, some conservatives are cautiously trying to rebuke the President’s endorsement by painting Tuberville as being against the President’s agenda. This stance, generated largely based on out-of-context comments propagated by Sessions supporters, is inaccurate. In context, Tuberville’s remarks have been completely supportive of the President’s agenda and he has vowed to be one of his staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill.
It behooves Republicans to trust President Trump’s perspectives on Jeff Sessions. He campaigned with him for months and worked with him for two years. Based on his knowledge of the man, he doesn’t trust him. He believes in Tommy Tuberville.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
As Senator Bernie Sanders watches his presidential ambitions flushed down the socialist toilet once again, his bitterness towards the Democratic Party is starting to shine through. He’s already making excuses ahead of his losses on the second big primary Tuesday in a week as Democrats flock to pinch their nose and vote for Joe “The Thing” Biden as the candidate with the slightly better-than-awful chance of competing with President Trump in November.
His latest complaint is one we’ve heard before from him, though almost always pointed at Republicans. But with the race slipping away from him, he invoked one of his favorite talking points—voter suppression—to try to set the narrative for Bernie Bros to go after the Democratic Establishment when the dust settles from his poor showing on Tuesday.
At a time when Democrats correctly attack Republicans for voter suppression, to see voters standing in long lines for hours in Michigan and around America is an outrage. Election officials must address these problems immediately, and if necessary, keep polling places open longer.
The real bad news for Sanders came on Twitter. It wasn’t that there were tons of negative reactions to his accusations. Those are expected. The real bad news is that very few were actually paying attention to him. There were no rebukes from prominent users on either side of the fence, a sign that at this point, he’s already being written off as a threat.
In reality, Sanders has nobody to blame but himself for his campaign’s collapse. He’s spent the entire campaign making enemies within his own party and promising to tear down the system that the powerful Democratic Establishment has set up. By forcing the issue on topics like Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal, he pulled other candidates to the left, something the DNC believes would be the death knell for their chances against President Trump.
Moreover, his campaign has been weighed down by violent rhetoric from his supporters. Some of it was likely manufactured by his competitors, but there is evidence that at least a small but vocal faction within his support base believes his campaign represents one of two things: a nation submitting to his Marxist demands or a nation that pays the price for not doing so. That sort of sentiment is not endearing to Americans, even most Democrats.
Bernie Sanders has found a new way to lose a nomination. In 2016, he failed to get aggressive. In 2020, he and his supporters were too aggressive. The result will be another Establishment candidate losing to President Trump in November.
Bernie Sanders has found a new way to lose a nomination.
In 2016, he failed to get aggressive.
In 2020, he and his supporters were too aggressive.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
Watching the panic that has gripped the nation over the last week, what with the stock market roller coaster and the emptying of toilet paper from store shelves far and wide, I couldn’t help but wonder why all this seemed so familiar—and then it struck me. The kind of fear that the news media have been stoking over the novel strain of coronavirus—or Wuhan Virus to all you ten-toothed bigots out there—is precisely the same fear that they’ve been trying to gin up for years over global warming. Millions of deaths, social upheaval, massive disruptions to everyone’s lives—all of these things have been hyped as the inevitable result of climate change driven by the insatiable demand for fossil fuels required by the greedy capitalist system. Only problem was, the best our activist media could threaten us with was Armageddon in another hundred years or so—and that didn’t exactly terrify people they way they had hoped.
Then lo and behold, along comes coronavirus.
And so the media shifted gears and stomped on the gas, so to speak, because here they finally had something they could use right now! to whip the masses into a frenzy—and boy, was it a doozy. An exotic virus of mysterious origin, straight out of a Hollywood thriller, escapes containment from China to the West where it stands poised to kill, kill, kill! Call it Outbreak 2: Electric Wu-hu, a sure-fire hit to make everyone forget all about that floperoo Climate Change, Actually.
Of course, true to Hollywood form, they used the same old marketing team. How can you tell? Just check out the similarities between this campaign and the last one.
1. IT’S JUST A HOAX, FOLKS
Global warmists—i.e., the media—are fond of snickering at us right-wing rubes for not “believing” in climate change, even when all the hard evidence points to an ever-changing climate on Planet Earth. This is just a rhetorical slight-of-hand, though, one that sidesteps the real argument made by climate skeptics—namely that climate change absolutely exists, as it has for all of geological time. It’s just a bit harder to pin down exactly how much human activity has contributed to it.
In the same fashion, Democrats and the media—but again, I repeat myself—have attempted to cast Donald Trump’s remarks about the media’s shoddy coverage of the coronavirus outbreak as him saying the whole crisis is a hoax. This could not be farther from the truth. Quite the contrary, the President has taken the situation quite seriously, and took affirmative steps to restrict travel from China to the United State—at a time, by the way, when Democrats were consumed with impeachment. Ironically, the very same Democrats and media who misrepresent Trump now castigated him for imposing the restrictions earlier.
2. IT’S POLITICAL, NOT FACTUAL
Criticizing the media for pushing a political agenda is a lot like yelling at Eric Swalwell for flatulence: it’s just the way they are, and they’re not going to change. So it only stands to reason that when they expend a lot of time and energy on a story, there’s probably an agenda involved. All the fuss over global warming? It had more to do with manipulating the public into turning away from the capitalism that has made them, on average, the wealthiest people in the world and toward what they present as a kind of feel-good socialism, where there are no winners and losers and a benevolent government is in control.
Coronavirus coverage is no different—except that in this case, the goal is to cast the Trump Administration’s handling of the outbreak as incompetent. Oh, and then there’s spooking the markets in an attempt to drive the country into recession, conveniently ahead of November’s election—thus taking away Trump’s strongest campaign issue, a thriving economy that his policies helped create. Everything that the media emphasizes is directed toward those two objectives, which is why you’re seeing a freakout at levels we never saw during Ebola and H1N1—which, not coincidentally, happened under Barack Obama’s watch.
3. LET’S RUIN THE ECONOMY JUST IN CASE
Have you noticed that the proposed methods for dealing with anthropogenic global warming all end up basically wrecking the world economy and consigning us all to shorter, poorer lives in which we have fewer freedoms and have to make do with far less? Oh, and they also consolidate government’s power in ways that ensure that we’ll have less and less say in how things get run. If that sounds a lot like full-bore socialism, pat yourself on the back—you’ve figured out the ultimate end game of the global warming crowd. Even at that, however, we’re told that all this is necessary just in case the warmists are right. After all, with life on Earth hanging in the balance, the stakes are simply too high not to try.
As we’ve seen, the template for coronavirus is pretty much the same. Has it killed a bunch of people? Sure—but nowhere near the same scale as the ordinary flu, or H1N1 from a few years back. Yet somehow the country didn’t begin shutting down, canceling travel, closing schools and generally start resembling abandoned towns from The Walking Dead.. Still we’re told that this epic freakout is necessary just in case the virus turns out to be as bad as the media say. Meanwhile, real lives are affected, real jobs lost, real 401(k)’s are taking a big hit and people everywhere are seeing real disruptions in their lives.
And for what? The truth is, at this point, we really don’t know.
Perhaps we should figure that part out first, instead of setting our hair on fire. In that regard, we would all do well to pay less attention to the media, thus taking away their matches.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
Dick’s Sporting Goods announced today that they are going to remove firearms and hunting departments from 440 more stores nationwide, continuing the trend away from supplying arms and ammo to customers who want to be able to defend themselves and enjoy the shooting sports.
Thus we have a continuation of a disturbing trend from the past few years of a constant denigration of everyone’s basic human right of self-preservation. In the past, these moves against individual liberty were only in response to high profile tragedies.
The current trend is an unceasing assault on liberty by the left. The liberty grabber left has continued these attack on freedom and individual rights despite the fact that there is no gun violence epidemic.
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
I have been referring to a Joe Biden election as the Autopilot Presidency. An increasing number of events in the last few days have increased my concerns about the likely nominee’s health and mental capacity. It is time for the DNC and the Biden family to come clean and tell the voters what is going on.
This video is from an event today in Michigan. There are several primary elections today including Michigan. It is more than possible the former Vice-President will be well on his way to winning the nomination outright by midnight.
Joe Biden is touring an auto plant in Michigan, a *must win* for Democrats.
A blue collar Union autoworker asks Joe about protecting gun rights.
Biden:
– Screams at voter
– Points finger in his face
– Says he will ban “AR-14s”
– Insults him
– Looks scaredpic.twitter.com/xgVLRDd2SR
I think conservatives need to avoid making light of this or mocking it. This is one of series of events where Biden has become uncharacteristically aggressive. If you watch the video, you can see he is desperately seeking a familiar face. There are none in his field of vision. His affect, or facial expression is also not typical. Add this to multiple videos where he is not capable of reading a teleprompter accurately, loses words and names completely along with other foibles and it is more than reasonable to suspect something is very wrong.
There are rumors that even the next debate between Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders is going to be modified. The candidates will be seated and take questions from the audience in a town hall format. The Sanders campaign has objected to this. When Sanders was asked about Joe’s recent issues he declined to speculate. However, he did say that a candidate needed to be able to make more than a seven-minute speech. That was the length Biden spoke for in Detroit last night.
We would all be wise to respond with valid concerns and some degree of compassion. If this were your neighbor, your uncle or someone in your community, that would be your response. I am hopeful that even President Trump provides a measured response more like Senator Sanders. Pointing out a valid deficit as Sanders did is fine. Mocking or being perceived as cruel about the signs of a type of disease that affects families on both sides of the aisle is not.
However, the Democrats need to come clean with some kind of statement. Most of the party faithful fell in line behind the DNC’s obvious Super Tuesday strategy of consolidating behind the former Vice President. It is likely that pattern will continue in the elections held today. As videos like this continue to infiltrate even the corporate media, voters will demand an explanation. Especially if the campaign or the party starts to limit or modify Biden’s public appearances.
It may turn out that President Barack Obama was being correct and kind when he reportedly told his Vice President “You don’t have to do this Joe”. It also may be significant in why he has not endorsed Biden despite the fact most prominent Democrats have. Even so, if this pattern continues, voters have an absolute right to demand some answers. Neither of the other candidates, Sanders or President Trump display these types of behaviors despite being the same age range. Further, this is not a reemergence of childhood stuttering.
The ability to maintain the illusion of normalcy is over and Americans have the right to elect their President. The individual who will make and guide policy. Not a figurehead being driven by party elites or the unelected bureaucracy. At this point it is nearly safe to assume you will actually be electing the Vice President to take that role if Biden could even complete campaign, let alone a single term.
If this was my father or husband, I would end this and take him home. I hope someone who cares for Joe at least considers it.
American Conservative Movement
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Joe Biden needs to win Michigan. It’s a swing state the President won in 2016, so winning the primary will do more than give Biden more delegates. It will solidify his reputation as being better than Bernie Sanders at defeating President Trump. But at a campaign stop at a factory today, Biden got a little agitated over a question about the 2nd Amendment.
So far, we’ve found two versions of the video. The one above is longer and seems to have better audio, while the one below from Benny Johnson gives a clearer picture of Biden’s angered facial features as he berates the guy.
Joe Biden is touring an auto plant in Michigan, a *must win* for Democrats.
A blue collar Union autoworker asks Joe about protecting gun rights.
Biden:
– Screams at voter
– Points finger in his face
– Says he will ban “AR-14s”
– Insults him
– Looks scaredpic.twitter.com/xgVLRDd2SR
Biden initially noted that he wasn’t going to take guns away, noting that “you’re full of sh*t.” Then when the worker mentioned a “viral video” Biden lampooned the notion, comparing it to other viral videos that he seemed to insinuate were false. He then proceeded to describe his love for guns, including shotguns that he and his sons used for hunting.
From there, he says he’s only going to take AR-14s away. There are, of course, no such thing as AR-14s, but it’s close enough for the discussion. He later appropriately calls them “AR-15s.” But the sticking point in the heated debate seemed to be Biden’s description of them as “machine guns” while the worker rightly referred to them as semi-automatic rifles. Biden continuously asked him why he needed 100 rounds. The typical AR-15 clip holds 30 rounds.
Joe Biden was agitated, confused, and confrontational, sticking his finger in the guy’s face at the start. But he only had two mental lapses in the minute-and-a-half video, so he can latch onto this exchange as forward progress.
American Conservative Movement
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
Just a reminder: Joe Biden has always been a “harmless” racist. They’re the left-leaning racists who don’t really mean harm when they insult people of color. In fact, they actually think they’re paying them a compliment when they call them “clean.”
While running against fellow Senator Barack Obama in 2007, the gaffe-machine Senator was really trying to paint his opponent in a positive light when said of him, “I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
Which is worse? 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden who doesn’t always know what he’s saying or 2008 presidential candidate Joe Biden who knew exactly what he was saying?
American Conservative Movement
Join fellow patriots as we form a grassroots movement to advance the cause of conservatism. We have two priorities until election day: Stopping Democrats and supporting strong conservative candidates. We currently have 7500+ patriots with us in a very short time. If you are interested, please join us to receive updates.
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AMERICAN SPECTATOR
NBC
From NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann
FIRST READ: Biden takes command of Democratic race, leaving Sanders with difficult questions
Now halfway through the primary contests, more Democratic primary voters have made it abundantly clear that they want Joe Biden’s restoration over Bernie Sanders’ revolution.
That’s the message from last night’s decisive Biden victories in Mississippi (where he’s ahead 81 percent to 14.8 percent), Missouri (60 percent to 35 percent), Michigan (53 percent to 37 percent) and even Idaho (49 percent to 43 percent).
Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images
NBC News’ Decision Desk says that Washington state is “too close to call” (where Sanders is ahead by 2,000 votes with 69 percent in), and NBC just projected Sanders the winner of North Dakota’s caucuses.
So in the 20 Democratic contests beginning with Super Tuesday last week, African Americans, older voters, moderates and voters who call themselves somewhat (but not very) liberal overwhelmingly broken for Biden – and many of those are the most reliable voting blocs for Democrats.
That’s compared with younger voters, very liberals and Latinos who have sided with Sanders.
In Mississippi, Missouri, Michigan and Washington state, strong majorities of Democratic voters – once again – said their top priority was a candidate who could beat President Trump, versus a candidate who agrees with them on most issues.
“Our very democracy is at stake in this election,” Biden said last night from Philadelphia. “As I said from the moment I announced not far from here, that I believe we’re in the battle for the soul of this nation. With Donald Trump as president, our core values, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America is truly at stake.”
And with Biden now leading Sanders by 150 delegates per NBC’s latest count (double the 77-delegate edge he had going into last night’s contests), much of the party is already starting to coalesce around the former vice president.
Guy Cecil, who heads the Democratic Super PAC Priorities USA,tweeted: “The math is now clear. Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic nominee for President and @prioritiesUSA is going to do everything we can to help him defeat Donald Trump in November.”
Another Dem group, American Bridge, did the same.
It all raises important questions for Sanders: How does he go forward, especially with the upcoming contests later this month (Florida, Georgia) on even more unfriendly terrain for him?
If he stays in the race, how does he campaign against Biden, especially with Trump waiting in the wings?
And what message does he send to his young, progressive and Latino-heavy supporters – particularly since the Dem nominee is going to need them to win in November?
TWEET OF THE DAY: Shut it down?
Breaking down where Sanders has been weaker than he was in 2016
Part of the story of the Democratic primary season has been Joe Biden’s overperformance – especially since South Carolina.
But the other part of the story has been Bernie Sanders’ underperformance.
He’s now lost several states he won in 2016, including Michigan and Idaho from last night.
The white non-college Democrats who sided with him over Hillary Clinton in places like Michigan went to Biden.
And even in Sanders’ home state of Vermont, his winning percentage went from 86 percent in 2016 to 51 percent this year.
Sanders’ best performances of 2020 have been in the Latino-heavy states of California and Nevada.
But outside of those two states, his candidacy is weaker than it was four years ago.
DATA DOWNLOAD: And the number of the day is … 18 points.
18 points.
That was Joe Biden’s margin over Bernie Sanders with voters linked to labor unions in Michigan’s Democratic primary, per exit polls.
Among the 30 percent of primary voters who said that they or someone in their household belonged to a union, 55 percent supported Biden, while 37 percent supported Sanders.
In Sanders’ narrow win over Hillary Clinton in the state four years ago, Sanders won union voters by 3 percentage points.
Biden’s win with union voters in Missouri last night was even more decisive. The former vice president won union-affiliated voters there, 63 percent to 33 percent.
2020 VISION: Troll Tide in Alabama
“President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Jeff Sessions’ rival in the Alabama Senate race,” per NBC News.
“‘Coach Tommy Tuberville, a winner, has my Complete and Total Endorsement,’ Trump said of the former Auburn University football coach. ‘I love Alabama!’”
“The president tweeted that Tuberville ‘was a terrific head football coach’ and ‘a REAL LEADER who will never let MAGA/KAG, or our Country, down!’”
The Sessions-versus-Tuberville runoff is on March 31.
On the campaign trail today: There are no public events scheduled for today after last night’s were canceled over fears of public safety amid coronavirus.
Dispatches from NBC’s campaign embeds: After Joe Biden’s multiple victories last night, Bernie Sanders chose not to address the press, NBC’s Gary Grumbach reports.
But Biden did – and he tried to sound like a presumptive nominee, per NBC’s Marianna Sotomayor: “Biden saw tonight’s victories as consequential as his last several wins in South Carolina and Super Tuesday states. But unlike those nights, he projected confidence—and at one point full acceptance—that he could be the party’s nominee. ‘This campaign is taking off, and I believe we’re going to do well from this point on.’ Biden said. He also thanked Sanders for the race he has run thus far in remarks that sounded similar to ones delivered by past nominees whose opponents had conceded the race. ‘I want to thank Bernie Sanders and his supporters for their tireless energy and their passion. We share a common goal, and together we’ll defeat Donald, we’ll defeat him together.’”
But of course, Sanders has not conceded the party’s nomination. While he hasn’t addressed last night’s results, his press secretary tweeted that she is “excited” about this week’s Democratic debate and that America will get “to see Biden defend his ideas, or lack thereof, on Sunday.”
THE LID: Primary colors
Don’t miss the pod from yesterday, when we looked at how Sanders’s 2016 success was largely built around his dominance in caucuses — and what the demise of those contests in favor of primaries has meant for his chances in 2020.
ICYMI: News clips you shouldn’t miss
Sahil Kapur has these key takeaways from last night’s primaries — and they’re not good news for Sanders.
Gabby Giffords is backing Joe Biden just days before the Arizona primary.
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“With the broader spread of the coronavirus now inevitable, the implications for the homeless are becoming more alarming.”
By Stephen Eide Los Angeles Times
March 11, 2020
The posturing on both sides distracts from what could be a productive debate about public health.
By Jason L. Riley The Wall Street Journal
March 11, 2020
Physician Joel Zinberg joins Brian Anderson to discuss the global coronavirus epidemic, public-health efforts to contain the virus’s spread, America’s medical supply-chain vulnerabilities, and more.
“If there is one central lesson to be taken from the stock market reaction to this latest disruption in the oil market, it is that oil is utterly central to global economies.”
By Mark P. Mills Manhattan Institute
March 10, 2020
The progressive narrative on homelessness has always been wrong—and new data undermine it further.
By Christopher F. Rufo City Journal Online
March 10, 2020
“[Millennials] who went to college can take heart they likely made the right decision, even if they are coping with student debt and have no home to show for it.”
By Allison Schrager Quartz
March 10, 2020
“The best kept secret about the [opioid] epidemic … is how much of it – arguably most of it – resulted from Federal policy changes initiated by both Democrats and Republicans.”
By Casey B. Mulligan Economics21
March 11, 2020
The Manhattan Institute hosted its Spring 2020 meeting of the Shadow Open Market Committee last week, held in the memory of distinguished economist and SOMC member Marvin Goodfriend. During the meeting, panelists discussed the implications of Marvin’s research for the Fed’s current policy deliberations.
CIVIL SOCIETY AWARDS
Nominations are open for the Manhattan Institute’s 2020 Civil Society Awards. This fall, four winners will each receive a $25,000 award for their efforts to keep our social fabric from fraying, assist those who need it most, and help people change the course of their lives. Nominate an outstanding nonprofit by March 20, 2020. Learn more at civilsocietyawards.com.
Manhattan Institute is a think tank whose mission is to develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility.
52 Vanderbilt Ave. New York, NY 10017
(212) 599-7000
Michigan Polling; Trump’s Tough Week; Harry and Herbert
By Carl M. Cannon on Mar 11, 2020 09:04 am
Good morning. It’s Wednesday, March 11, 2020. Last night, Joe Biden emerged — barring some extraordinary event — as the Democrats’ next presidential nominee. The 77-year-old former vice president cruised to victory over Bernie Sanders in Michigan and three other “Big Tuesday” states, while battling him a virtual tie in Washington state (and losing in North Dakota).
Essentially the entire Democratic establishment is now rallying behind Biden, and the party’s proportional allocation of delegates makes it extremely difficult for a second-place candidate to overcome a front-runner. And as if Sanders needed more problems, the coronavirus scare is canceling political rallies. Last night Biden began reaching out rhetorically to Sanders, who did not speak publicly after his string of defeats.
If it seems that Bernie Sanders’ long career in politics has run its course, today’s date shows that you never really know about that. On March 11, 1947, you certainly would have thought Herbert Hoover’s day had long since passed. But you would have been wrong. And it was a U.S. president — a president from the opposing political party — who resurrected it.
I’ll have more on that in moment. First, I’d point you to RealClearPolitics’ front page, which presents our poll averages, videos, breaking news stories, and aggregated opinion pieces spanning the political spectrum. We also offer original material from our own reporters, columnists, and contributors, including the following:
* * *
To Sanders’ Chagrin, Polls Got It Right in Michigan This Time. Phil Wegmann writes that both Joe Biden and pollsters claimed a win Tuesday night.
Bad Week for Trump’s Reelection Prospects. Sean Trende assesses the impact of Bernie Sanders’ diminished chances of becoming the president’s November opponent, and of the coronavirus crisis.
Joe Biden: The Democrats’ Consolation Candidate. Mark Lotter argues that voters haven’t settle on the former veep, they’ve settled for him.
IGs in Trump’s Crosshairs: Watching the Watchdogs. Susan Crabtree reports that key administration officials are urging the president to get rid of Obama-era inspectors general who critics say are failing to root out corruption at government agencies.
The Fed, Congress Are Running Out of Ammunition. In RealClearPolicy, Joe Minarik laments past fiscal maneuvers that have left government with few options for responding to the coronavirus’ impact on the economy.
Managing Latest Lebanon Crisis. Itai Shapira offers advice in RealClearDefense.
To Limit Divorces, Undo Husbands’ Dominion Over Wives. In Part 8 of our Women’s History Month series, we spotlight Lillie Devereux’s 1883 speech on this date.
Testosterone Is Widely Misunderstood. Matthew Gutmann sets the record straight in RealClearScience.
* * *
The letter President Truman sent to Herbert Hoover 73 years ago today was plain and to the point. “Dear Mr. President,” it began respectfully. “I want to express to you again my very high appreciation for your willingness to undertake these two surveys for the Secretary of War and me. You have made a very decided contribution to the situation in Germany and Austria and I am sure it will have a bearing on the conference in Moscow.
“Please accept my sincere thanks,” he added, before signing off: “Sincerely yours, Harry Truman.”
There was a history here and, as the letter implies, a history yet to come.
During and after World War I, the Iowa-born, Stanford-educated Hoover had made a name for himself by organizing famine relief efforts in Western Europe. His leadership was credited with saving millions of people in France, Belgium and elsewhere from starvation. Think of that for a moment: millions of people. Hoover’s international fame helped launch the political career than landed him in the White House in 1929 — just in time for the Great Depression to consume his presidency.
In a lesson we could see replaying itself today, Americans didn’t blame Hoover for the Depression, but they did blame him for what was almost universally perceived as a tardy and ineffectual response to the crisis.
By 1932, Hoover was considered so politically toxic that Franklin Roosevelt essentially refused to have anything to do with him between his November election and March inauguration. Shunning the sitting president was not in the nation’s interest — banks were failing daily — and thankfully it was not a precedent Barack Obama followed in the 2008-2009 transition period amid great economic upheaval.
But Democrats dined out on Hoover-bashing for some 50 years. The great exception was FDR’s own successor. Although a fiercely partisan Democrat, Truman realized in the aftermath of World War II that the shattered economies of Europe could again lead to widespread hunger — and a kind of civic unrest that would make the siren song of communism more appealing.
So Hoover’s talents at organization and foodstuff distribution were once again enlisted; this was the “survey” referenced by Truman in his March 11, 1947 letter.
It’s true, as some academics will hasten to remind you, that the United States’ postwar humanitarian efforts — including the Marshall Plan — were partially motivated by a desire to arrest the spread of communism. But using political exigencies for the common good is nothing to be ashamed of, and in this instance it hardly negates the benevolent impact. Americans can be proud that the first “boots on the ground” in the Cold War were soldiers and civilians delivering food, clothing, and medicine to desperate people. They can also be proud that spearheading the efforts were a current president and an ex-president, one a Democrat, the other a Republican.
As for Herbert Hoover, although he was a born humanitarian, he certainly relished a chance to redeem his good name. Who wouldn’t? And it’s a measure of Harry Truman’s character that he saw the justice in that. Truman had been a combat officer in World War I — he’d seen its devastation up close. And as a longtime pol, he saw nothing unnatural in elected officials receiving credit for their accomplishments.
In 1922, as secretary of commerce, Hoover had been responsible for forging the compromise called the “Colorado River Compact” that would divide the river’s precious water among seven states impacted by a state-of-the-art water project along the Arizona-Nevada border. By the time ground was broken on that huge dam, Hoover was in the White House, and at the dedication ceremony it was announced by Secretary of the Interior Ray Wilbur that it would be named after the president.
Hardly anyone objected at the time, but in 1933, Roosevelt’s interior secretary, Harold Ickes, changed the name back to its original concept: Boulder Dam.
If this seems petty, it struck Harry Truman that way, too. Truman was no stranger to partisanship, but he knew that as a pre-president and a former president, Hebert Hoover had led two great humanitarian drives at the behest of two Democratic presidents, Woodrow Wilson and Truman himself. And so, in 1947 Harry Truman restored Herbert Hoover’s name to the great dam that generated the power that created Las Vegas.
Below is a sneak peek of this content! Hollywood has long had little use for conservatives. It’s even worse for pro-Trumpers. That’s the topic of my new “Off the Cuff” audio commentary. You can listen to it by clicking on the play (arrow) button below. Editor’s Note: If you… CONTINUE Read More »
Bernard Goldberg, the television news reporter and author of Bias, a New York Times number one bestseller about how the media distort the news, is widely seen as one of the most original writers and thinkers in broadcast journalism. He has covered stories all over the world for CBS News and has won 13 Emmy awards for excellence in journalism. He won six Emmys at CBS, and seven at HBO, where he now reports for the widely acclaimed broadcast Real Sports. [Read More…]
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The Trump administration backing an anti-US Marxist for a second term as head of the American hemisphere’s multinational security organization.
The State Department is squeezing small Caribbean countries to vote for an anti-American radical for another five-year term as head of the Organization of American States (OAS), diplomatic sources from three countries say.
Yesterday, the UN Security Council endorsed the U.S. deal with the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” a.k.a. the Taliban. Afghan president Ashraf Ghani decided to begin releasing Taliban prisoners. What could possibly go wrong?
The answer is plenty. Our preoccupation with the Wuhan Flu may obscure another danger, namely that the agreement regarding Afghanistan’s future will unleash a renewed outbreak of another virulent pandemic: Sharia-supremacism.
A troubling comparison by Stephen Young of the Afghan deal with the one that sealed the fate of South Vietnam suggests the Taliban could well use it to retake all of Afghanistan, encouraging jihadists the world over to believe that they, too, can defeat the United States.
We need an insurance policy with volunteer veterans helping the Afghan military and a proven counter-insurgency program that would enable Afghans to defend themselves and their villages against a resurgent Taliban.
This is Frank Gaffney.
With Tyler O’Neil
TYLER O’NEIL, Senior Editor of PJ Media, Has written for the Christian Post, National Review, The Washington Free Beacon, The Daily Signal, AEI’s Values & Capitalism, and the Colson Center’s Breakpoint, Author of Making Hate Pay: The Corruption of the Southern Poverty Law Center:
A history of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)
ELECTION RESULTS: Former Vice President Joe Biden won Michigan and, with 99% of results in, is currently leading with 52%, followed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at 37%. (Michigan Secretary of State) Biden won Missouri with 60%, followed by Sanders at 35%. (Missouri Secretary of State) Biden won Mississippi and is currently at 81%, followed by Sanders at 14.9%; 28 precincts remain, which could get Sanders above the 15% mark for statewide viability. (New York Times) Biden won Idaho; with 99% of results in, he is leading with 49%, followed by Sanders at 43%. (Idaho Secretary of State) With 67% of Washington precincts reporting, Sanders leads with 32.7%, followed by Biden at 32.5%. (Washington Secretary of State) Sanders won North Dakota with 53% to Biden’s 40%. (New York Times)
OUTSIDE GROUPS: Democratic super PAC Priorities USA “is preparing an advertising campaign to defend” Biden. “The political action committee, which has not endorsed any candidate, previously announced plans to spend $150 million on television and digital ads in battleground states before the Democratic convention in Milwaukee. But on Tuesday, the organization said some of the money will likely go to ads defending Biden against Republican attacks.” (Reuters) Additionally, Democratic super PAC American Bridge “plans to support” Biden “after he secured numerous victories in key states … the group also announced a $2.2 million dollar ad buy in Pennsylvania that will launch tomorrow, initially on television but expanding to radio and digital channels as well this week.” (release)
AL SEN: President Trump endorsed former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville (R) on Tuesday in his runoff against former Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R), tweeting: “Tommy was a terrific head football coach at Auburn University. He is a REAL LEADER who will never let MAGA/KAG, or our Country, down!” (Twitter) An OnMessage Inc. poll (March 8-9; 800 LVs; +/– 3.5%) conducted for Sessions’ campaign found him tied with Tuberville, 45%-45%. (release) A Moore Information poll (March 5-7; 400 LVs; +/– 5%) conducted for Tuberville’s campaign found the Republican led Sessions, 49%-38%, a result which more closely mirrors recent public polling. (Yellowhammer News)
TX-22: A new internal poll (March 7-8, 507 GOP LVs, +/- 4.4%) showed Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls (R) leading 2018 TX-02 candidate Kathaleen Wall (R) 61%-28%. The candidates will face off in the May 26 GOP runoff for retiring Rep. Pete Olson’s (R) seat. Nehls finished first in the 15-candidate primary with 41% of the vote to Wall’s 19%. The winner of the runoff will face 2018 candidate SriPreston Kulkarni (D) in the general election. (Texas Tribune)
MT SEN: Sen. Steve Daines (R) released a TV ad running statewide that describes Montana as “a special place to live and raise a family,” saying he will fight against Medicare for All and the Green New Deal to protect the state from socialism. (release)
ENDORSEMENTS: Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC AL), Lucy McBath (D-GA 06), Donald Norcross (D-NJ 01), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ 05), Bill Pascrell (D-NJ 09), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ 11), and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH 09) endorsed Biden, as did former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) and entrepreneur Andrew Yang (D). (Atlanta Journal-Constitution/NBC News/Twitter/releases) Rep. Mark Takano (D-CA 41) endorsed Sanders.
Sanders suffered the toughest loss of his political career last night in Michigan, a state that was central to his electability argument. His win there in 2016 allowed him to argue that he, not Hillary Clinton, would have been the strongest nominee to take on President Trump. As of now, he’s losing every county in the state to Biden. Sanders has a chance to reset things at Sunday’s debate, but his path to the nomination may have closed—next Tuesday, voters will vote in Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Arizona, places where Sanders does not poll well. — Matt Holt
The Democratic establishment has already experienced the upside of the Sanders quandary: when Biden’s back was against the wall, it was very easy to rally the troops to his defense. But now it’s in for a very bitter aftertaste. Sanders is quite possibly waging his last electoral campaign and owes absolutely nothing to the party. An aggressive effort to drive him out of the race would alienate millions of voters who are already skeptical of the Democratic Party, so if he does stay in, we could be in for three more months of laying the groundwork for whoever becomes his heir in 2024 or 2028 if he doesn’t run. — Alex Clearfield
After a major loss Tuesday night, Sanders offered what may be a last ditch strategy to win the nomination, or a hint at what a post-Sanders leftist movement might look like. It involved pulling back to regroup and letting others, often people of color, fight the battles he might otherwise wage. While Sanders did not speak to supporters, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez commiserated with them on Instagram. Sanders’ national press secretary anticipated a chance to finally challenge Biden’s ideas during Sunday’s debate. And when House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, a Biden supporter, suggested cancelling debates should the former vice president win all six primary contests, Rev. William Barber II—who leads the Poor People’s Campaign and has not endorsed—pushed back, arguing that the candidates must keep debating until they fully explain their plans to address poverty. — Mini Racker
Fresh Brewed Buzz
“Asked why” Trump is “still shaking hands with people,” Vice President Mike Pence said he is doing the same, “though he also greets by bumping elbows.” (CBS News)
“The Gridiron Club and Foundation has called off its dinner this year due to coronavirus concerns, organizers announced Tuesday.” (Roll Call)
“I’m candid, I’m not stupid.” — Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), when asked which of the TV shows she appears on is her favorite. (AP)
“A week after coming in second place in North Carolina’s Democratic primary for lieutenant governor,” state Sen. Terry Van Duyn (D) “has decided not to request a runoff election, making” state Rep. Yvonne Lewis Holley (D) “her party’s nominee in the general election this fall. … Both Holley and” Mark Robinson (R), “the Republican lieutenant governor nominee, are African American. That means the next lieutenant governor of North Carolina will almost certainly be African American—a first for the state.” (Raleigh News & Observer)
DNC Chairman Tom Perez said that, unlike in 2016, “the party [now] has the ability to do ‘sub-ethnicity modeling’ in Hispanic and Asian American communities. ‘If you’re trying to persuade Tom Perez to vote for the Democrats and you’re here in Florida, you know the first question you want to ask: Is that Tom Perez from the Dominican Republic, is he from Puerto Rico, is he from Venezuela, is he from Cuba?’” (South Florida Sun Sentinel)
The Hunt, opening in theaters on Friday, is “an absurdist melee in which liberals smugly brag of a tweet liked by Ava DuVernay and shout ‘Climate change is real!’ while hunting their prey, and conservatives blame ‘crisis actor’ migrants and ‘godless elites.’ For anyone in the film spouting conspiracy theory or one-sided rhetoric, well, things don’t end well.” (Kansas City Star)
Rooster’s Crow
The House and Senate are in at 10 a.m.
Trump meets with bankers on the COVID-19 response at 3 p.m. He and the first lady have dinner with Pence at 7 p.m.
Swizzle Challenge
Former Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes and former Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins were cabinet officials for the entirety of Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s presidency.
Howard Wayne won yesterday’s challenge. Here’s our challenge: In what city is the world’s last Blockbuster video store?
And there it is… Thought leader of the left — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — says Americans are “racist” for not “patroning” Asian or Chinese restaurants over… Read more…
Because of the ‘fake news” media black-out regarding Roger Stone’s vindictive prosecution by Robert Mueller and the DOJ ,few Americans understand how and why this long-time Trump political advisor and loyalist was convicted Read more…
For decades, political pundits and pollsters have talked about “the youth vote.” The problem: The “youth” don’t show up at the polls. Even in the… Read more…
77-year-old Joe Biden on Tuesday snapped at auto plant workers in Detroit who confronted him about wanting to take away their guns. Joe couldn’t take the heat… Read more…
The House Freedom Caucus released a statement last night. The pro-Trump and pro-American caucus will not support the FISA renewal with the flimsy reform proposals… Read more…
Joe Biden won three more primary contests in Mississippi, Michigan and Missouri last night. This was on the same day he screamed at a “horse’s… Read more…
A Yale psychiatrist named Bandy Lee has repeatedly claimed that Trump is mentally unfit for office. Democrats in Congress have even had official meetings with… Read more…
Sleepy Joe Biden gave another boring speech in Philadelphia on Tuesday after primary victories in Missouri, Mississippi and Michigan. Sleepy Joe did not give a… Read more…
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@DaybreakInsider
Former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ decisions to cancel campaign rallies in Ohio on Tuesday were the highest-profile examples yet of how concerns about the new coronavirus could disrupt campaigns. Read More…
President Donald Trump’s push for some form of payroll tax holiday is stumbling out of the gate as lawmakers and the White House try to cobble together a quick stimulus package to help those adversely affected by the COVID-19 virus. Read More…
OPINION — The Democratic Party and its presidential field have spent the last year in a race so far to the left that whoever wins the nomination in the end will likely be stuck with a policy agenda out of step with centrist voters — the moderates and independents who will likely be the decisive vote this fall. Read More…
President Donald Trump’s administration has gone out of its way to skewer plans to construct a federal prison on top of a Kentucky coal mountain. The criticism deepens a deadlock between the administration and two powerful GOP lawmakers and is a rare public airing of an intraparty feud. Read More…
After nearly a decade of virtually ceding state legislative races to Republicans, the Democratic Party organization dedicated to winning those seats and other allied groups nationally are ramping up fundraising in a bid to win control of state chambers across the country ahead of census-driven redistricting. Read More…
President Donald Trump told reporters on Tuesday that getting tested for COVID-19 is “not a big deal” after he recently came in contact with two members of Congress who are now under self-imposed quarantine. Read More…
Sen. Tim Scott debuted his weekly digital series “Two with Tim”: two-minute videos of his thoughts on “government, current events, and inspiration.” Dropping in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak, the South Carolina Republican’s first episode on Tuesday naturally included a “how to” on hand-washing and sneezing. Read More…
The House is ready to make long overdue, behind-the-scenes changes, and it set those in motion by adopting a resolution on implementing 29 recommendations of the Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress. The House voted 395-13 on Tuesday to approve the 12-member committee’s recommendations. Read More…
ABC News
Cam Edwards
The Onion
Street Art Magic@streetartmagic
Here is a quick look at the state of play.
“He will be a great Senator for the people of Alabama.”
“Winning means uniting America.”
The stock markets began the week by plunging more than 7%.
Here are some explanations for Biden’s success.
The Democratic race has narrowed to a two-way battle.
