March 12, 2020

Donald Trump reverts to form...

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1238046001744826369

March 12, 2020

Europe condemns the U.S. travel ban as more nations add restrictions.

Source: New York Times

The European Commission, the governing body of the European Union, issued a scathing statement condemning the move.

“The coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” it said. “The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation.”

The restrictions apply only to the 26 countries within the bloc’s Shengen free-travel zone and did not appear tied to the severity of outbreaks in individual countries. Britain and Ireland were not included in the ban.

Tens of thousands of Americans in Europe scrambled to figure out what they needed to do before the 30-day travel ban goes into effect on Friday, many unclear on the scope of the ban and worried that their flights home would be canceled. And airlines, hotels and scores of other industries — many of which had already been hurting from restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the virus — braced for even steeper declines.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/coronavirus-news.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

March 12, 2020

NBC News: Trump had to be talked into giving the Oval Office Address on COVID-19

...no doubt explaining the hostage video tone.

March 12, 2020

I was on a call with Tom Perez yesterday...there is NO plan to cancel an in-person Convention.

March 12, 2020

Coronavirus arrives on Capitol Hill: First Senate staffer diagnosed with covid-19

Source: Washington Post

A Washington staffer for Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, in what’s believed to be the first confirmed case of covid-19 on Capitol Hill, her office announced Wednesday night.

“The individual has been in isolation since starting to have symptoms,” the office said in a public notice. “On the advice of the Attending Physician, the senator has closed her Washington, D.C. office this week for deep cleaning and staff will be teleworking.”

According to the notice, the infected Senate staffer, who has not been publicly identified, “had no known contact with the senator or other members of Congress.”

“The senator is requesting that testing be done on any other staffers who have been in contact with the individual and show symptoms,” her office said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/03/12/coronavirus-cantwell-staffer/

March 12, 2020

Novel Coronavirus Can Live on Some Surfaces for Up to 3 Days, New Tests Show

Source: Time

The new coronavirus can live in the air for several hours and on some surfaces for as long as two to three days, tests by U.S. government and other scientists have found.

Their work, published Wednesday, suggests that the virus can spread through the air as well as from touching things that were contaminated by others who have it, in addition to direct person-to-person contact.

Since emerging in China late last year, the new virus has infected more than 120,000 people worldwide and caused more than 4,300 deaths — far more than the 2003 SARS outbreak caused by a genetically similar virus.

For this study, researchers used a nebulizer device to put samples of the new virus into the air, imitating what might happen if an infected person coughed or made the virus airborne some other way.

Read more: https://time.com/5801278/coronavirus-stays-on-surfaces-days-tests/

March 12, 2020

After multiple clarifications about what Trump's Europe travel ban REALLY meant, Dow futures are at

...-1,400

March 12, 2020

ANOTHER Trump speech error...

Lewis Goodall
@lewis_goodall
·
1h
UPDATE on US travel ban. According to Homeland Security document it isn’t all of Europe, it relates to those countries in the Schengen area. So looks like both the UK, Ireland and Cyprus excepted. And presumably the other non EU countries too.

March 12, 2020

BREAKING: Trump screwed up the reading of his speech. Will NOT apply to cargo...

https://twitter.com/sdonnan/status/1237919778687332353

March 12, 2020

I'll put it out there: Biden DOESN'T have to make a play for Sanders' voters...

In his speech today, Bernie Sanders claimed his campaign had won the "ideological debate" and said that Biden and the DNC needed to respond to to the issues his base voters cared about. I'm going to say: no he doesn't.

In 2016, Clinton arguably needed (and didn't get) Sanders voters on the left, BECAUSE she lost marginal centrist voters (Independents and Republicans) in the Battleground States; voters who had supported Obama but either didn't like Clinton personally or were fed up with politicians from both Parties and decided to try a "businessman".

In 2020, those marginal centrist voters are gettable by Biden because they've seen what President Trump is like and don't wan't another four years of this. They're open to a safe, moderate Democratic choice (like they had in the 2018 House races) but aren't looking for a "revolution". Those (still under-voting) people on the left are also far less likely to be in Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin; and we don't need more voters from NY and California.

Doesn't mean Biden can't be accomodating to the broad issues that voters on the left care about, but he doesn't need to re-craft his policy proposals to make them happy.