The Commentariat -- February 28, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Annie Karni of the New York Times: Speaking at CPAC, "Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, on Friday blamed the media for exaggerating the seriousness of coronavirus because 'they think this will bring down the president, that's what this is all about.'... The news media has [have!] been covering the global spread of coronavirus for months. But Mr. Mulvaney claimed that the news media was too preoccupied covering impeachment, he said, 'because they thought it would bring down the president.'" Mulvaney also complained that the press wasn't covering Trump's great relationship with his youngest son, even those Melania Trump has jealously guarded the child's privacy. Here's a Hill story.

Peter Sullivan of the Hill: "Democratic lawmakers expressed frustration Friday with the Trump administration's response to the coronavirus, saying they left a closed-door briefing by top health officials with many unanswered questions." ~~~

~~~ Adam Cancryn & David Liu of Politico: "Several House Republicans walked out of a closed-door coronavirus briefing Friday with Trump health officials in protest after a senior Democrat blasted the Trump administration's handling of the response effort. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) kicked off the briefing sharply criticizing the administration as disorganized and lacking urgency in combating the coronavirus, lawmakers said. Her speech frustrated Republicans and some Democrats assembled to hear from the slate of officials from the CDC, NIH and State Department.... [Dr. Tony] Fauci emphatically denied reports that the White House is preventing him from speaking publicly about the virus. Vice President Mike Pence's office had asked him to delay pre-scheduled television hits and seek renewed clearance to do the appearances in the wake of Pence's appointment as response leader, he said." ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Rep. Ted Lieu, speaking on CNN, said he asked mike pence if pence thought the virus was a "hoax," and pence refused to answer. pence is so afraid of angering his lord & master that every federal professional must get pence's approval before saying "coronavirus," yet pence also is so petrified that he can't say one definitive thing about the virus. There's your government's "response."

Fred Imbert & Eustance Huang of CNBC: "Stocks tumbled once again on Friday, adding to the market's worst week since the financial crisis, as worries over the coronavirus and its impact on the economy continue to rattle investor sentiment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 910 points, or more than 3.5%, to below 25,000. The S&P 500 slid 3.5% while the Nasdaq Composite fell nearly 3%. The major averages were under pressure on Friday in part because investors kept adding to their bond-market exposure and fleeing equities. The benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury yield touched a fresh record low. It was last at 1.18%. Yields move inversely to prices."

** Maria Sachetti & Nick Miroff of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court in California halted the Trump administration's 'Remain in Mexico' immigration policy on Friday, a blow to the president's restrictive immigration agenda that cripples one of the government's approaches to curbing migration across the U.S. southern border. The program -- officially known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP -- called for pushing asylum seekers back into Mexico to await their U.S. asylum hearings, part of an effort to limit migrant access to U.S. soil and to lessen a record migration surge among Central American families. More than 470,000 parents and children crossed into the United States last fiscal year, and most were quickly freed into the country to await U.S. immigration court hearings.... The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 to uphold a lower-court's injunction on MPP, saying that the policy 'is invalid in its entirety due to its inconsistency with' federal law, and 'should be enjoined in its entirety.'" An NBC News story is here.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal appeals court has turned down a lawsuit claiming that ... Donald Trump's luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., is unfairly undermining the business of other venues in the city. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday against a lawsuit a D.C. wine bar filed in 2017, claiming it was losing business to the Trump International Hotel because some customers were seeking to use their dollars to win favor with the president."

Zach Montellaro & Holly Otterbein of Politico: "The Iowa state Democratic Party has completed its partial recount of the Feb. 3 presidential caucuses, and the result hasn't changed: Pete Buttigieg still has a very narrow advantage over Bernie Sanders in state delegate equivalents. The state party announced Thursday evening that it recounted results in 23 precincts that were requested by both campaigns, and Buttigieg leads Sanders by roughly one state delegate equivalent, a difference of about four hundredths of a percentage point."

~~~~~~~~~~

Too busy to read today's synopsis of the top stories? No problem. Read Akhilleus's synopsis of the synopsis at the top of today's Comments. P.S. If you're wheezy or raspy, better stay home, call the doc & pray with mike. Update: Here's an even briefer, if not as humorous, summary of the last couple of days of Trumpandemic news: ~~~

~~~ Paul Krugman: "So, here's the response of the Trump team and its allies to the coronavirus, at least so far: It's actually good for America. Also, it's a hoax perpetrated by the news media and the Democrats. Besides, it's no big deal, and people should buy stocks. Anyway, we'll get it all under control under the leadership of a man who doesn't believe in science." But do read on. ~~~

~~~ Trump Expects "Miracle" to Make Coronavirus Epidemic "Disappear." Summer Concepcion of TPM: "... President Trump again touted his administration's response to the [coronavirus] outbreak [Thursday].... Trump also seemed to suggest that the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. would be worse if it hadn't been for him. '15 people is almost, I would say, a miracle,' Trump said, referring to the amount of confirmed cases in the U.S.... However, Trump added that the coronavirus outbreak could worsen before getting better. 'It's going to disappear. One day it's like a miracle, it disappear. And from our shores, you know, it could get worse before it gets better,' Trump said. 'It could maybe go away. We'll see what happens. Nobody really knows. The fact is the greatest experts I've spoken to them all, nobody really knows.'" Mrs. McC: Now, that's leadership! ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Will Sommer & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump spent 45 minutes [Thursday] talking to the lead actors of a low-budget conservative play about the so-called Deep State. Phelim McAleer, the playwright behind the play FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers, told The Daily Beast that the meeting with Trump had originally been scheduled for just 15 minutes but went 30 minutes longer than that.... Trump hasn't seen the play, according to McAleer, but praised its concept: a script based entirely on congressional testimony and the text messages between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who discussed the FBI's investigation into Trump's campaign and Russia while having an affair." ~~~

~~~ MEANWHILE. Steve Contorno of the Tampa Bay Times: "The country's new point man on coronavirus response, Vice President Mike Pence, is expected to travel to ... the moneyed barrier island town of Longboat Key, [Florida,] where he'll be the main attraction for Congressional Republicans in one of their biggest fundraisers of the year. It's $2,500 to get in the door and $5,000 to take a picture with the vice president, according to an invite obtained by the Tampa Bay Times. And $25,000 buys dinner with him, too.... The event, hosted by the Florida Republican congressional delegation, benefits the National Republican Congressional Committee, according to the invite."

Matt Phillips of the New York Times: "Global markets tumbled for a sixth consecutive day on Thursday, dragging down the S&P 500 more than 10 percent in just a week, reflecting rising fears over the coronavirus that is spreading quickly around the world. The S&P 500 fell 4.4 percent on Thursday, the worst single day slide for the market since August 2011. The index is on pace for its worst weekly performance since the 2008 financial crisis. Stocks in Europe and Asia were also hard hit on Thursday. The sell-off came after public health officials in the United States and Germany said new patients in each country had no known connection to others with the illness, a development that could complicate efforts to track the virus." The CNBC story is here. Mrs. McC: Wow! Democrats really upset traders. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Emily Cochrane, et al., of the New York Times: "Federal health employees interacted with Americans quarantined for possible exposure to the coronavirus without proper medical training or protective gear, then scattered into the general population, according to a government whistle-blower. In a portion of a complaint filing obtained by The New York Times that has been submitted to the Office of the Special Counsel, the whistle-blower, described as a senior leader at the health agency, said the team was 'improperly deployed' to two military bases in California to assist the processing of Americans who had been evacuated from coronavirus hot zones in China and elsewhere. The staff members were sent to Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base and were ordered to enter quarantined areas, including a hangar where coronavirus evacuees were being received. They were not provided training in safety protocols until five days later, the person said. Without proper training or equipment, some of the exposed staff members moved freely around and off the bases, with at least one person staying in a nearby hotel and leaving California on a commercial flight." The Washington Post story is here. The Hill has a summary report here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Stifling the Experts. Michael Shear & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: “The White House moved on Thursday to tighten control of coronavirus messaging by government health officials and scientists, directing them to coordinate all statements and public appearance with the office of Vice President Mike Pence, according to several officials familiar with the new approach.... Mr. Pence said Thursday that he had selected Dr. Deborah L. Birx, the director of the United States effort to combat H.I.V. and AIDS, to serve as the Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House.... With Mr. Pence's announcement, Dr. Birx becomes the third person to be designated as the administration's primary coronavirus official. Mr. Trump said that 'Mike is going to be in charge, and Mike will report back to me.' Mr. Pence said it will be Dr. Birx. Meanwhile, Alex M. Azar II, the health and human services secretary, remains the chairman of the government's coronavirus task force.... Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, one of the country's leading experts on viruses and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, told associates that the White House had instructed him not to say anything else without clearance." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

Trump's plan for the coronavirus so far: -Cut winter heating assistance for the poor -Have VP Pence, who wanted to 'pray away' HIV epidemic, oversee the response -Let ex-pharma lobbyist Alex Azar refuse to guarantee affordable vaccines to all' -Disgusting. -- Sen. Bernie Sanders, in a tweet yesterday evening

Related Hill story here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Matt Gertz of Media Matters: "The Centers for Disease Control is warning that it expects to see an expanded outbreak [of coronavirus] in the United States and is planning for a worldwide pandemic.... But at this delicate moment, the feedback loop between Fox News and President Donald Trump is powering the president's response. The network hosts who influence Trump the most are fixating his attention on Democrats and the media, who they claim are deliberately politicizing coronavirus in order to damage his reelection campaign. And Trump is apparently listening to them and is spouting the same talking points.... Fox ... hosts and personalities targeted the media and Democrats for their treatment of coronavirus throughout Wednesday night and Thursday morning." --s

Dan Diamond of Politico (Feb. 26): "Hundreds of Americans were left stuck on a cruise ship that later became the single biggest source of U.S. coronavirus cases -- a CDC decision. Dozens of public health labs are still waiting for tests that will allow them to diagnose coronavirus -- a CDC responsibility. One of [CDC Director Robert] Redfield's deputies on Monday urged businesses and schools to start preparing for the disease's inevitable spread -- stamping the CDC's imprint on public fears and irking White House officials who worry about panicking Americans and driving down financial markets.... 'CDC's stumbled,' said one official, referencing the agency's lab-testing failures. 'It's too early to tell if those stumbles will mean we miss an outbreak ... It's a pray-and-see situation.'... Inside the health department, officials have complained that Redfield and CDC have been slow to resolve essential problems, like clarifying whether dozens of public health labs around the nation will soon have diagnostics capable of testing for coronavirus."

Martyn McLaughlin of the Scotsman: "Patrick Harvie MSP, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, said there were reasonable grounds for suspecting that the US president, or people he is connected with, 'have been involved in serious crime.' He has called on ministers to apply to the Court of Session to seek answers as to how Mr Trump's bankrolled his multimillion acquisitions of land and property in his mother's homeland. Responding at First Minister's Questions, Nicola Sturgeon stressed she was 'no defender' of Mr Trump, but said any allegations of criminality were a matter for Police Scotland and the Crown Office." Harvie asked the government to investigate via an "unexplained wealth order," a rarely-used tool designed "to target suspected corrupt foreign officials who have potentially laundered stolen money through the UK." (Also linked yesterday.)

Lisa Rein of the Washington Post: "The Department of Veterans Affairs' inspector general has opened an investigation into allegations that Secretary Robert Wilkie tried to dig up dirt on an aide to a top Democrat in Congress after she said she was sexually assaulted at the agency's Washington hospital. Inspector General Michael J. Missal, after a preliminary review of Wilkie's conduct following the woman's report last fall, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday that he has decided to move forward with a full-blown inquiry."

Robert Reich in the American Prospect: "William Barr was installed as attorney general specifically to turn the Department of Justice into an arm of the Trump Cover-Up. And we've seen him do exactly that. Barr has corrupted and politicized the Department of Justice, working hand in hand with Donald Trump to bend federal law enforcement to the president's will. Here are some of the ways Barr is helping Trump turn our democracy into a dictatorship: 1. He intervened in the sentencing of Roger Stone.... 2. Barr has green-lit an 'intake process' for any information that ... Rudy Giuliani may dig up about Ukraine and the elections.... 3. Barr misled the public about the contents of the Mueller report.... 4. Barr refused to accept the findings of the inspector general report investigating the origins of the Russia probe.... 5. Barr buried the whistleblower complaint that kick-started the impeachment inquiry and tried to keep it from reaching Congress."

Ryan Mac, et al. of BuzzFeed News: "The United States' main immigration enforcement agency [ICE], the Department of Justice, retailers including Best Buy and Macy's, and a sovereign wealth fund in the United Arab Emirates are among the thousands of government entities and private businesses around the world listed as clients of the controversial facial recognition startup with a database of billions of photos scraped from social media and the web. The startup, Clearview AI, is facing legal threats from Facebook, Google, and Twitter, as well as calls for regulation and scrutiny in the US. But new documents reviewed by BuzzFeed News reveal that it has already shared or sold its technology to thousands of organizations around the world.... Clearview's software ... has been used by people in more than 2,200 law enforcement departments, government agencies, and companies across 27 countries, according to the documents.... Clearview AI's facial recognition has been deployed at every level of American society and is making its way around the world." --s

Impotent Dems, Ctd. Josh Lederman & Anna Schecter of NBC: "A House committee investigating potential surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, is struggling to get records and text messages from Robert Hyde, the GOP congressional candidate who claimed to have her under surveillance, according to emails obtained by NBC News. Hyde, in response, is accusing the House Foreign Affairs Committee of 'trying to set me up.'" --s

Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "The top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee has privately expressed concerns about his colleagues' corruption investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, further exposing divisions within the GOP over whether to continue pursuing an effort that led in part to President Donald Trump's impeachment. In a Dec. 5 meeting, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) told the leaders of the Senate Homeland Security and Finance committees -- Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, respectively -- that their probe targeting Biden could aid Russian efforts to sow chaos and distrust in the U.S. political system, according to two congressional sources familiar with the meeting.... Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has hinted at similar unease with the Biden investigation, and he has said that some of those concerns were relayed to him by Burr...."

Frank Rich is particularly Rich today, with ruminations on Trump the Virus King, the Democratic presidential primary (so depressing), & MSNBC's attempt to mirror Fox "News."

Presidential Race

Sheryl Stolberg & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi, facing deep alarm among moderate Democrats who worry that Senator Bernie Sanders will win their party's presidential nomination only to cost them control of the House, has begun distancing her caucus from the race for the White House in an effort to insulate her rank and file and preserve the party's majority. Ms. Pelosi, the highest-ranking Democrat and the de facto leader of her party, insisted in public and in private on Thursday that Democrats would be united around their nominee no matter who it was -- even as she pointedly refused to embrace Mr. Sanders's agenda, especially Medicare for All, which lacks the votes to pass the House."

Zack Budryk of the Hill: "The Boston Globe Editorial Board on Wednesday endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld's long-shot primary challenge to President Trump. 'Although sometimes dismissed as a gadfly because of his Libertarian Party vice presidential bid in 2016, Weld is a solid, substantive, hyper-smart figure. As governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997, he demonstrated an ability to work with an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature to produce impressive results,' the Globe said." The Globe's editorial is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Hannah Dreier of ProPublica: "Previously undisclosed emails, including some filed in lawsuits against Purdue [Pharma] and others provided by sources, reveal a little-known relationship, forged in part by mutual philanthropic interests, between the Sacklers [of OxyContin infamy] and Michael Bloomberg. They show that when the Sacklers were facing critical media coverage, they looked to Bloomberg and his news and philanthropic organizations for help. Bloomberg advised Mortimer Sackler on how to handle negative coverage in 2017, and steered the family to a crisis communications specialist who had been his mayoral press secretary. In 2018, Bloomberg Philanthropies staff met with Sackler to discuss launching a joint initiative to combat the opioid crisis."

Courts Offer Small Favors

Juliet Eilperin of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Idaho ruled Thursday that a Trump administration policy limiting public input on oil and gas leasing decisions was 'arbitrary and capricious,' overturning the 2018 directive and voiding nearly 1 million acres of leases out West as a result. The ruling by U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Ronald E. Bush represented a win for environmentalists, who challenged the leasing policy as part of a broader effort to block drilling in habitat for the imperiled greater sage-grouse. The contested area spans 67 million acres across 11 Western states." Mrs. McC: The accompanying photo of a couple of horny sage-grouse is awesome.

Josh Gerstein of Politico: "A federal appeals court has rejected former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio's bid to wipe out a judge's guilty finding that preceded ... Donald Trump's pardon of Arpaio in 2017. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that Arpaio is not entitled to have the guilty verdict on a misdemeanor contempt-of-court charge vacated because it has no legal significance in the wake of Trump's pardon."

Rachel Bitecofer in the New Republic has a long piece on how 'negative partisanship' is going to be a main driver in the 2020 election. --s

Beyond the Beltway

Alabama. American "Democracy". Sam Levine of the Guardian: "In 2018, with the midterm elections approaching, Alfonzo Tucker Jr [an African American] was particularly eager to vote. The mayor of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tucker's hometown, was running for governor, and the year before he had canvassed for Doug Jones, a Democrat running in a closely watched US Senate race. But Tucker wasn't able to cast a ballot -- state officials refused to even let him register. It wasn't until weeks later that he learned why he had been deprived of the right to vote. He owed the state $4." --s

Maryland. Luke Broadwater, et al., of the Baltimore Sun: “Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who held elected offices in Baltimore for two decades and was elevated by voters to lead the city following the upheaval of 2015, was sentenced to three years in federal prison Thursday for a fraud scheme involving a children's book series.... 'I have yet frankly to hear any explanation that makes sense,' the judge said. 'This was not a tiny mistake, lapse of judgment. This became a very large fraud. The nature and circumstances of this offense clearly I think are extremely, extremely serious.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Way Beyond

Turkey, Syria, Russia. Carlotta Gall of the New York Times: "The Turkish Army suffered mass casualties in an airstrike in northwest Syria late Thursday, an attack that could dramatically change the course of the Syrian war as fears grow of a direct conflict between Russia and Turkey, a NATO member. At least 33 Turkish soldiers were killed and more than 30 wounded, said Rahmi Dogan, the Turkish governor of the southern province of Hatay, where the Turkish casualties were arriving. Turkish officials said the strike had been carried out by Syrian government forces, but Russian jets have been conducting most of the airstrikes in the area in recent weeks. Turkish protesters in Istanbul converged on the Russian Consulate there early Friday, chanting 'Murderer Russia! Murderer Putin!'" ~~~

~~~ Plus Europe. Orhan Coskun & Ezgi Erkoyun of Reuters: "Turkey will no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe, a senior Turkish official said, as Ankara responded on Friday to the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in an air strike by Syrian government forces in Syria's northwestern Idlib region.... Some one million civilians have been displaced near the Turkish border since December as Russia-backed Syrian government forces seized territory from Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, marking the worst humanitarian crisis in the nine-year war.... The threat to open the way for refugees to Europe would, if executed, reverse a pledge Turkey made to the European Union in 2016 and could quickly draw Western powers into the standoff over Idlib and stalled negotiations between Ankara and Moscow.... Turkey hosts some 3.7 million Syrian refugees[.]" --s

U.K. Thomas Colson of Business Insider: "Brexit is set to have cost the UK more than £200 billion in lost economic growth by the end of this year -- a figure that almost eclipses the total amount the UK has paid the European Union budget over the past 47 years. According to research by Bloomberg Economics, the cost of the UK's vote to leave has already reached £130 billion, with a further £70 billion likely to be added by the end of 2020.... [T]he British economy is 3% smaller than it might have been if the UK had not voted to leave the EU." --s

News Ledes

The New York Times' live updates of developments in the coronavirus epidemic are here.

Hill: "Health authorities in California have confirmed a second coronavirus case in a person who had no previous connection to anyone else with the disease. According to Santa Clara County officials, the person is an adult woman with chronic health conditions who has no known history of travel to countries hit by the outbreak. The Washington Post reported that she is 65 years old."

Forbes: "On Friday morning, U.K. authorities reported the first death of a British citizen from COVID-19, the disease caused by the now-worldwide SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus outbreak. The man who has not currently been named was a passenger on board the Diamond Princess Cruise ship and was made to stay in Japan for treatment after testing positive for the virus, as many other British passengers were evacuated last week. The other five fatalities from the ship so far are Japanese citizens. 705 people from the ship containing 3,711 people have now contracted COVID-19, with it becoming increasingly apparent that the quarantine protocols on the ship were poorly enforced and wholly inadequate to protect passengers. The 705 cases are thought to stem from just one man from Hong Kong who was a passenger on the ship in late January and later tested positive for the virus after returning home."

Comments

[Akhilleus]

So...just taking a glance at the first five or six stories linked here this morning, here’s what you find: no one really knows what’s going on. Fatty sez The half-pence is in charge.

The half-pence sez it’s someone else.

Another guy sez it’s him, and the real expert has been told to shut his mouth.

But not to worry. Trump claims he can work miracles and the coronavirus will just disappear. Presto! Nothing to it.

And the guy he put in charge is hard at work. Going to a ritzy fund raiser on a swanky gated island community in Florida to make sure that the rank incompetence of his party can be kept going. Finding a way to ensure that a deadly pathogen doesn’t spread can wait. Besides no one knows anything.

Which is why the markets are tanking all around the world.

And guys they sent to stop the spread of this deadly disease used the Trump method of handling the problem: ignorance, incompetence and hope for a miracle.

Meanwhile Fatty is mesmerized by some wingnut high school play purporting to support his belief that FBI agents are making out in his bedroom when he’s not there. Oh, he hasn’t actually seen the play. He’s just mesmerized by the idea of it.

But don’t worry. Everything is jake.

And that’s all just in the first few stories.

Jesus fuckin’ A Christ. Let’s give these imbecilic dunderheads four more years.

[safari]

ALERT: Lindsey Graham convincing lazy reporter to rewrite history:

"Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has hinted at similar unease with the Biden investigation..."

--This is journalistic malpractice, giving cover to a Trumplethinskin boot-licker to glibly point to when the bill comes due on his pathetic career as the propaganda enforcer for a wanna-be despot. Graham has repeatedly sat his sad, empty soul in front of cameras FOR MONTHS declaring the need for investigations into the Bidens. He literally LAUNCHED A PROBE into the matter. See the Nov 22 2019 article by Colby Itkowitz of The Washington Post: "Graham launches probe of Bidens, Burisma and Ukraine" in which he write a formal letter to Pompeo requesting documents. I assume those documents are coming and he'll keep talking about them, even as he "hints at unease" of doing Putin's/Trump's bidding.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/graham-launches-probe-into-bidens-burisma-and-ukraine/2019/11/21/5a5675b4-0ca5-11ea-97ac-a7ccc8dd1ebc_story.html

And that's not to mention poor, castrated Senator Burr, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, who can't channel the energy to make a single full sentence in front of cameras to the American public bringing his "private concerns" to the American public he is supposed to be serving that his own party is beholden to Russian propaganda and is actively participating in sowing discord within our own borders.

These two stooges are what qualify for senior Republican "leadership" nowadays. A perfect distillation of the argument that Drumpf is a symptom of a much, much larger disease.

[PD Pepe]

The economist, Dean Baker, says he has often gone after the media for printing large numbers that are meaningless to almost most readers. In this piece he breaks all those billions and trillions down into a meaningful understanding.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/naked-fearmongering-at-the-new-york-times/

And this is the kind of thing that would be mighty helpful when Bernie and Lizzie tout their numbers giving SOME to have gigantic hissy fits.

Best news of the day thanks to Judge Bush (see safari's link above) who saved the land along with those sexy "horny sage-grouses"––keep on replicating and have fun doing IT.

Bad news besides the usual from the "most stable genius" and his inept dwarfs is the bit about poor Alfonzo Tucker Jr. from Alabama who was prevented from voting because he owed $4 to the county coffers. Oh, forgot to mention–-Alfonzo is black––but then you guessed that, didn't you?

I wasn't impressed with the Frank Rich piece; does he actually watch MSNBC in its entirety? Hayes and Maddow do not follow the usual script by any means. Rich mentions Harris, Booker and Castro having to back out but neglects to mention why––MONEY–- and money is why we have someone like Bloomberg and T.S. –-their ability to plaster ads all over. I think our election system stinks.

[Marie Burns]

@PD Pepe: Yeah, I don't care what Republicans do, but Democrats had better buy a new drawing board & come up with a better system than the one that has gone from bad to worse. It wasn't so noticeable when there were only two viable candidates in 2016 (and whose fault is that? -- no incumbent & the only serious candidate to challenge Madame Hillary wasn't even a member of the Democratic party??), but when we end up with Tweedledee & Mr. Moneybags from a field of about ten potentially electable candidates, it's clear the candidates aren't all at fault; it's the "system."

And, no, I don't think the geniuses who are running the current system are capable of thinking up a better one.

[PD Pepe]

P.S. @AK: your "Jesus fuckin’ A Christ." woke him up much too early but was thrilled you evoked his name even though in vain, as they say, since so few do these days. "Dad always gets top billing, but I did most of the work on the ground," he says, but always adds, "I'm just a chip off the old block."

Praise Jesus!

[Anonymous]

Michael Harriot in The Root: "Every Democratic Candidate's 'Black Agenda' Ranked"

"We asked policy experts, legal scholars and political pundits, all of whom were black, to help us devised a policy matrix. Then we graded each plan on a scale of 1 to 10 using the following criteria:"

The criteria are economics, criminal justice, education, politics, comprehensiveness, blind spots, feasibility, history, intentionality, impact. Its well worth a read. Harriot is smart and witty. Spoiler - Warren ranks 1st.

https://www.theroot.com/every-democratic-candidates-black-agenda-ranked-1841959166

[PD Pepe]

@ANON: this Root piece looks quite interesting–-don't have time to read it carefully but will later–-thanks. Love the fact that Warren wins the contest and Pete sure- nough does his best to curry favor with the black population that apparently shuns him some. Here's the link to your piece:
https://www.theroot.com/every-democratic-candidates-black-agenda-ranked-1841959166

[safari]

I'm waiting for the Stable Genius to lash out at Californians for letting the coronavirus in and blaming Nancy Pelosi for mismanaging it and intentionally spreading it to battleground states because, you know, Democrats are vicious like that.

[RAS]

I forgot to give credit the other day to the person that picked out
Trump's tie at the coronavirus press conference, they found the perfect shade of pink to match his eyes. Maybe that is what is freaking out the stock market?

[Hattie]

Anonymous -
Thank you for “Every Democratic Candidate's 'Black Agenda' Ranked”.

and

PD -
Likewise, for your link: much simplifies subway / cellphone in-transit reads.

[periscope]

@RAS
Was it my imagination, or did you also see a shimmer of matching lip gloss to pick up the tie color?

I'll have to go back in the records to see if there was a market reaction to Obama wearing the tan suit.

[Bobby Lee]

Same question as @pat. The articles were here early this morning but disappeared later on.

[periscope]

Obama's tan suit fashion faux pas occurred on August 28th 2014, and on that day the market was down.

From Value Line for 8/28/2014: "the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 42 points; the broader S&P 500 Index was off three points; and the technology-laden NASDAQ was lower by 12 points. The market was modestly lower on balance, as declining stocks slightly outnumbered advancers on the NYSE"

So yes, fashion makes a difference, although I'd really like to meet the people who come up with the one-liner rationalizations for why the market was up or down on any particular day.

[Hattie]

RAS & periscope -

“The Donald J. Trump Signature 100% Handmade Silk Tie Collection” (including a series in Pink) is no longer sold at Macy’s. But can be found - new and used - on EBay.
(They’re manufactured in China.)

also

Perhaps someone had slipped despotus the lip gloss by “LipSlut” called “Impeach”.

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/10/8602213/lipslut-impeach-donald-trump-lipstick

[Ken Winkes]

Longer flight than I thought. Don't even know what day it is. Posted this on yesterday's comments, I see. Not a good start, Ken.

'Ken Winkes' added The Commentariat -- February 27, 2020:

Flew back from Tampa earlier today, so missed the chance to drop 2500 bucks to see pence in person. Mostly wanted to see if he is one--or the wind-up toy he appears to be.

Just as well. Now that the Dems are crashing the market probably couldn't have sprung for it anyway.

Anyway, back and checking the news, which I studiously avoided since our Feb 8 departure. No news at all, just a couple of Pretender faces flashing on passing screens and too many MAGA hats as we moved up the west Florida coast from Key West to Georgia. And yes, even wrested myself away from RC for the duration.

Didn't miss the news, but did miss you all, and see I can't avoid politics much longer. I have to make a decision before my state's looming presidential primary, just around the corner.

Helped me a little maybe, but not thinking about the state of the nation for three weeks didn't help a lick with that.