National

Alby has had the last word on this Presidential election. There is no point in taking part in or entertaining any "analysis" beyond this.

Joe Biden can beat Trump for the simplest of reasons: People like Joe Biden. People don’t like Donald Trump. That doesn’t mean Trump can’t cheat his way to victory — we still don’t know if hackers, Russian or not, can change votes — but it’s not going to be Clinton all over again, because Biden isn’t Hillary. - Alby

Time for everyone to find a local candidate they like and work like hell for them.

Sublety? I don't need your steenkin' subtlety:  

Like it or not, liberals are a part of the Democratic coalition. Biden's recognition that they exist is a step in the right direction. At least Biden seems to understand that pushing Sanders supporters away wasn't in the longterm best interest of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

“I want to thank Bernie Sanders and his supporters for their tireless energy and their passion,” Biden said. “We share a common goal, and together we’ll defeat Donald Trump. We’ll defeat him together.” Biden allowed only that his own campaign “is taking off, and I believe we’re going to do well from this point on.” “Take nothing for granted,” Biden added. “Want to earn every single vote in every single state.”

I'm seriously asking - did Jane Brady, Ken Simpler, Brian Pettyjohn or any of our other Trump loyalists attend CPAC this year? If so, are they self-quarantined? Doesn't anyone know? I don't keep up with Delaware's wingnut twitter or blogs since the DEGOP has become a political afterthought in the state.

The Flu is seasonal. There are research papers on why this happens, and it is very possible that COVID-19 will be seasonal too. Here is an optimistic paper that suggests…

A correction from yesterday. I think I said the stock market took 13 months to bottom out last time. It was a jiggety-jaggity 16 months full of false starts and stops. October 8th 2007: DJIA 14,000 March 2nd 2009: DJIA 6,626 You'd have to be a fool to think that the Trump brain trust has any answer for this.

Most of us here have known that Bernie supporters are not uniquely cruel. Now it is proven by science.

Here is what economists were saying about Coronavirus three days ago:

Leadership is key in a crisis.  In order to avoid a recession, information should be clear, transparent, and accurate.   Action should be proactive. My sense is the administration will slow track a fiscal response and try to embrace ineffective policies. For example, enacting corporate tax cuts would be bad policy - it would take many months to have an impact, and the cuts would target the wrong segment of the economy.

Here is Trump yesterday, saying Coronavirus is "not our fault":

Closing polling places in order to create long wait times is voter suppression. It is by design. Long wait times plagued polling places in Texas throughout Super Tuesday, especially in…

It now looks like Biden will have the nomination locked up by the end of April. Of course, this is a dynamic forecast model that changes as events (primary results, endorsements, etc) come in. April 28th is Delaware's primary day (along with 5 others). It would be catnip for the DC crowd for Delaware to be the state that clinches it for Joe.

FYI

These are trump's actual words directly from a WH transcript:

THE PRESIDENT: But — but I think — I think, importantly: Anybody right now and yesterday — anybody that needs a test gets a test. We — they’re there. They have the tests. And the tests are beautiful. Anybody that needs a test gets a test. If there’s a doctor that wants to test, if there’s somebody coming off a ship — like the big monster ship that’s out there right now, which, you know — again, that’s a big decision. Do I want to bring all those people on? People would like me to do that. I don’t like the idea of doing it. But anybody that needs a test can have a test. They’re all set. They have them out there. In addition to that, they’re making millions of more as we speak. But as of right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test — that’s the important thing — and the tests are all perfect, like the letter was perfect. The transcription was perfect, right? This was not as perfect as that, but pretty good. ... THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re considering different things. But we’re also considering the fact that last year we had approximately 36,000 deaths due to what’s called the flu. And I was — when I first heard this four, five, six weeks ago — when I was hearing the amount of people that died with flu, I was shocked to hear it. Anywhere from 27,000 to 70,000 or 77,000. And I guess they said, in 1990, that was in particular very bad; it was higher than that. As of the time I left the plane with you, we had 240 cases. That’s at least what was on a very fine network known as Fox News. And you love it. But that’s what I happened to be watching. And how was the show last night? Did it get good ratings, by the way? Q I — I don’t, sir. THE PRESIDENT: Oh, really? I heard it broke all ratings records, but maybe that’s wrong. That’s what they told me. I don’t know. I can’t imagine that. ... Q What should be done about that cruise ship that’s docked (inaudible)? THE PRESIDENT: Well, that’s a big question. So I was just on the phone with the Vice President, and they’re trying to make a decision. I mean, frankly, if it were up to me, I would be inclined to say, “Leave everybody on the ship for a period of time, and use the ship as your base.” But a lot of people would rather do it a different way. They would rather quarantine people when they land. Now, when they do that, our numbers are going to go up. Okay? Our numbers are going to go up. The 240 is going to go up. And I assume that, perhaps, you know — it’s a very big ship with thousands of people on it, including the sailors and the crew. It’s — you’re talking about a massive number of people. That is a big ship. If it were up to me, I would do it that way. A lot of people think we should do it the other way. They’re Americans, or mostly Americans. And we have to take care of Americans.