Coronavirus Section

25 years-ago today, we lost Selena.  She would be 48 years old.  She would for sure be putting out comforting messages on social media during this pandemic.  She would be a leader in the Latino community that folks would be looking to.  Don’t you miss her?

Everyone knows that Commentary subscribes to the Chron hard copy.  Today, they have a new section, sort of, page A13, that is called Coronavirus.  They have also blended the Sports Section into the front section because there really are no sports going on these days. Got it?

Donald Trump says he inherited a messed-up system for fighting the coronavirus.  Excuses, excuses.  We all need to push back and remind him that he had had three years to fix the so-called messed-up system.

The White House press corps needs reporters like Yamiche Alcindor from PBS and Jim Acosta from CNN to hold that MFer’s feet to the fire and not let him get away with sh_t.

Bloomberg has a story today about hospitals threatening their employees if they tell the press and others about supply shortages.  This is crazy.

I was watching the daily briefing yesterday and Donald Trump said he knew a lot about South Korea and said that Seoul had 38 million people.  My reaction was like wow, I didn’t know that.  CNN later said that Seoul has a 9 million folks. That being said, a lot of Trump supporters now know it is a fact that Seoul has 38 million folks.

I am now convinced that every morning CNN airs New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s briefing, CNN is reminding the rest of the country that this is the standard.  Just saying. Sad.

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Godzilla Game

On a much lighter note, 20 years ago this evening, the Yankees played the Astros in the Inaugural Game at what is now known as Minute Maid Park.  I was there.  Were you?

It doesn’t hurt these days to catch-up on:

Bless me Father, for I have sinned.  It has been (amount of time) since my last Confession.

And:

Act of Contrition

O my God, I am heartily sorry for
having offended you, and I detest
all my sins, because of Your just
punishments, but most of all because
they offend You, my God, who are
all-good and deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve, with the help of
Your grace, to sin no more and to
avoid the near occasion of sin.

Got it?

I was just turning 10 when the Cuban Missile Crisis hit us.  I was really too young to grasp the issue, but I do remember folks being apprehensive.  Maybe I was too young to feel threatened.

When I was 18, I was well aware of the Vietnam War and the possibility of being drafted, but I did not think Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon’s support of the war personally endangered me.  I was against the war. I felt that if I got drafted, what were the chances I got shipped off to Vietnam and killed?  I said it before that my draft lottery number kept me from being drafted.

After 9/11, I had issues on how 43 dealt with the response, but I did not feel personally threatened.  Yeah, our way of life changed, but I didn’t feel I was in danger.

This morning, I feel personally threatened with how the MFer Donald Trump has handled the COVID-19.  He’s made decisions or rather not made decisions that have endangered me.

No other occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has ever had that impact on my life.

He is a piece of s_it mother fu__er.

Don’t argue with me, please.

How can you even defend an arsehole who just yesterday tweeted about his TV ratings for the briefings when people in this country are scared of an unknown?

His MO. He says something stupid or dangerous.  It is on video.  He is called out.  He denies ever saying it.  It is replayed on video.  His base sees it and then believes him.  How wacko is that!

Some have chastised the cable news networks for covering Trump live at his daily briefings.  Some are saying they won’t watch.  I watch.  I want to know what kind of lies he’s spewing on the COVID-19 pandemic.  My life depends on me knowing what is going on.

My take on yesterday’s briefing.  Trump suggests some New York City hospitals are running a black-market mask racket.  Pitiful.

Let me just say this.  The Texas Governor has let us down.  He has failed to lead.

I gave up in snagging some Purell hand sanitizer.  I’ll have better luck finding “Eye of newt, and toe of frog, Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork, and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg, and owlet’s wing.”

You know how some folks are stuck at home and are putting stuff on Twitter to entertain like the one last week to tweet your favorite movie and quote and tag five others.  I would have tweeted one of the first two “Godfather” flicks.  My good friend, State Sen. Carol Alvarado, tweeted a quote from “Godfather”.  I did not know that was her favorite movie.  A good one was this past Saturday when someone tweeted insert “Godzilla” in place of a word in a movie title.  There were some good ones.  I probably would have tossed out there “Cool Hand Godzilla”, “Yankee Doodle Godzilla”, “Driving Miss Godzilla”, “Godzilla at Tiffany’s”, and “Godzilla of the Caribbean”.

Sen. Alvarado also tweeted last week that she had reorganized and cleaned out her plastic container shelves.  Why not?  I did the same and got me to do other similar projects.

Kroger cut me off.  They aren’t letting me do the surveys anymore after I called them out on their unsanitary and unsafe practices.

Stay safe and consider others.

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Leadership (In)Action

The USA is number one in the universe in coronavirus positives.  We’re just getting started folks.

About 2 pm yesterday, well 1:59 pm to be exact, I was jolted out of my chair when I got a Stay Home alert on my iphone. Wow!

Observations.

Donald Trump – incompetent and dangerous.  No explanation needed.

Gov. Greg Abbott – timid. Should be a stay-at-home state.

Gov. Greg Abbott – erratic.  Announcing a two-week self-quarantine if you fly in from New Orleans.  Nothing about driving in on I-10 from NOLA.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo – bold. No explanation needed.

Governor Andrew Cuomo.  Decisive.  No explanation needed.

These are just a few observations.  They decided to run for office.

The Texas Democratic Party State Convention will not be held in San Antonio in early June.  It will be a virtual event.

We lost Astros great Jimmy Wynn yesterday.  He was 78.  His number 24 was retired back in 2005.  He was a huge part of the Astros family.  The Toy Cannon will be missed but not forgotten.

At the Tuesday morning press conference where Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo issued the County’s Stay-At-Home order, a local reporter asked her if she had been in town this past weekend.  She said yes.   I wonder where that question came from?  Left field?

Zack Greinke went six innings last night, Devo came in for the 7^th and 8^th and Joe Smith finished as the Astros put it on the Angels last night, 8-1.  #SpringerDinger led off the bottom of the first with a round tripper.  Altuve and Bregman also had dingers last night with an SRO crowd watching.  That’s a leadoff dinger for #SpringerDinger 3 out of the last 4 Opening Days.  The price of a Saint Arnold went up again.

I wish.

Stay safe this weekend and consider others.

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Miya Slayed

The economy is still tanking.  That means Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is still alive.

Opening Day was supposed to happen this evening.  The usual gang would have gotten together at an eatery next to The Yard before the game.  The Angels were supposed to be in H-Town for a four game weekend series.  I have no idea when MLB will resume this season.

This is from a story yesterday by the Chron’s Astros beat writer, Chandler Rome:

On the eve of baseball’s now-canceled opening day, commissioner Rob Manfred acknowledged that a 162-game regular season “probably” won’t happen due to the coronavirus pandemic, but offered optimism that Major League Baseball could be “gearing back up” in May.

The Commissioner can do math.

In case you weren’t paying attention yesterday, KTRK-TV’s Miya Shay shut down Dillard’s.   Dillard’s was trying to pull a fast one and say they were essential.  Perfume and make-up aren’t essential.  Miya went out to interview the store managers and they gave here the old heave ho out of the store.  Folks were paying attention to Miya’s reporting and voila, they were shut down. They should have had a little display of hand sanitizers at the entrance.

Sure, who knows where to find hand sanitizers these days.

Commentary has 70% alcohol that I put into spray canisters as a substitute.

Jasper Scherer of the Chron tweeted out about furniture stores being essential.  Some furniture outlets advertise in the Chron, just saying.

Also from Chandler Rome:

Major League Baseball’s investigation against the 2018 Red Sox is complete, but more pressing matters from the coronavirus pandemic have prevented commissioner Rob Manfred from finishing and disseminating his written report.

“There’s been a delay in terms of producing a written report, just because I, frankly, have not had time to turn to it with the other issues,” Manfred said Wednesday night on SportsCenter. “But we will get a Boston report out before we resume play.”

I don’t know about holding it back.  Some folks are spending their time reading books.  Some are binge watching TV programs.  I want to read the Red Sox report.

Some retail outlets are better than others at letting you know online what they have in stock in certain stores.  Some are lousy or don’t have that capability.  Commentary won’t reveal the good and bad.  I don’t want to start a stampede if you know what I mean.

I don’t know how we are doing this.  This is a whole new world and a whole new experience.  I try not to go out. When I do, I am avoiding folks, avoiding walking down an aisle if someone else is in it.  Using my credit card instead of handing over cash.

God help the first responders, medical community, retail clerks, sanitation workers, the media and everybody else who has to be out there on the front lines.

Stay safe and consider the safety of others.

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Staying Home

Here is from Royko on Judge Lina Hidalgo:

Sure hope she is a one term wash-out. The media shows Emmett far more often then her.

Emmett who?

Easter is in 18 days.  I wonder if Royko has picked out what he is wearing to his packed Easter Sunday service?

Kidding aside, I get where folks want to scrutinize, study, comment on and criticize Judge Hidalgo’s stay-at-home order.  This is America.

Chron reporters were comparing her order to the Dallas County order.  The Chron E-Board gave her a shout out of sorts. Folks are debating what services are essential and which ones are not and the Chron has a story on this subject today.  Hurricane preparedness and evacuation expert Bill King, who is also a good friend, has a take that I have posted below.

Let me just say this as an example.  When Bill King put forward recommendations on how to evacuate the Gulf Coast as a hurricane approached, he had the luxury of studying how we had responded to previous hurricanes.  Judge Hidalgo, Dallas County and others don’t have that luxury.

This isn’t a case of we have a Category 4 sitting out in the Gulf and here is what we have to do or we will be sending the Hurricane Plane up and gather data or here is what the Doppler Radar is picking up.  Folks, we have major news organization reporters sitting in their basements providing us with the news.  The only so-called data folks like Judge Hidalgo have is sort of real time of what is going on in China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, New York City, Seattle – you get the picture or rather lack of picture.

There really isn’t a playbook folks can reference on a fast moving virus that we still don’t fully understand.

Here is part of King’s take on Judge Hidalgo’s order:

Not much will change. Almost all of the restrictions in the order have already been adopted by the County’s residents, businesses and institutions. In addition, the definition of “Essential Activities”, “Essential Businesses” and “Essential Government Activities” is so broad just about anyone can find an exception for almost anything they want to do. Even liquor stores are exempt.  But given the circumstances, I guess I can see a strong case for them being an essential business!

Mostly this seemed to me to be a public relations effort to get some people that are not practicing social distancing to take it more seriously. For example, some friends told me that they went to run at Memorial Park over the weekend and people were basically shoulder to shoulder on the jogging track.

I want to commend Mayor Sylvester Turner for the role he played in this. My sources tell me that for the last several days he has been pushing back on more draconian restrictions Hidalgo had originally proposed. Ultimately, he was forced to go along with her because under state law the county judge has the final say. His presentation at the podium was critical in allaying fears as he mostly emphasized how little effect the order would have on what people are already doing.

After this is all over, we need to have a conversation about the sweeping powers Judge Hidalgo has purportedly just exercised. Just think for a minute about an elected official presuming to have the power to tell people they cannot go to their places of worship. Pretty sure that wouldn’t pass constitutional muster. I also wonder if some creative plaintiff lawyers may come up with some inverse condemnation claims for affected businesses.

In the end, will this do any good to prevent our hospitals from being slammed with a spike in COVID-19 cases? I don’t think there is any way we can or ever will know. I am skeptical. But it might do some good and only marginally increases the burden residents are already under.

If you ask me, draconian restrictions are probably warranted for those who aren’t essential.  I would rather be inconvenienced than dead. A lot of folks around us aren’t taking this a serious as they should.  We all know that and see that.

Go on ahead and say what you want about Judge Hidalgo, at least she is not singing the tune the arsehole from 1600 Pennsylvania is singing, you know:

“Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter bonnet.”

If you need convincing on whether or not liquor stores are essential, check this story: https://globalnews.ca/news/6724155/coronavirus-liquor-stores-essential-addiction/.

Sen. Bernie Sander says he wants to debate former Vice President Joe Biden in April.  Joe Biden should say nope!

 

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We Are the World

It’s too late Dude.  Governors, Mayors, and County Judges are taking the lead in shutting things down for a while.  Donald Trump has absolutely no chance of getting it back to the way it used to be because he says so.  Nope!  It is clear that he is shell-shocked at what has happened on his watch.  We are all out here fighting for our survival and he is worried about November.

Sorry pal, no self-respecting movie theater, bar, or restaurant is going to open because of what you say.

An AP story from the SA Express News website:

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas’ lieutenant governor said Monday night that the U.S. should get back to work in the face of the global pandemic and that people over the age of 70, who the Centers for Disease Control says are at higher risk for the coronavirus, will “take care of ourselves.”

Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick made the comments while appearing on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” Patrick, 69, went on the program after President Donald Trump said earlier Monday that he wanted the country getting back to business in weeks, not months.

“Let’s get back to work. Let’s get back to living. Let’s be smart about it,” Patrick said. “And those of us who are 70 plus, we’ll take care of ourselves. But don’t sacrifice the country.”

What does “don’t sacrifice the country” mean?  What is he talking about?  As much as I hate to say this, I sure hope the Governor doesn’t leave the state anytime soon.  This is certainly not steady leadership in my book. My goodness!

Lionel Ritchie mentioned yesterday that maybe it was time to do a reboot of “We Are the World” to kind of help get us through these times.  How many of the soloists from the 1985 video tune are no longer with us?

Harris County is going to stay at home mode.  Commentary is waiting on Fort Bend, Galveston and Montgomery Counties.  Don’t let us down.

The Summer Olympics have been moved to 2021.

Just so you know, the 1940 and 1944 Summer and Winter Games were cancelled due to World War II.

In the order they sang the solo in “We Are the World”, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Michael Jackson, Al Jarreau and Ray Charles are no longer with us of course.

If we could get the old gang back together, who would you replace the five with?

Mine would be Garth Brooks, J-Lo, Madonna, Beyonce and Alicia Keys, with Beyonce subbing for Michael Jackson’s solo.  I would also name Taylor Swift as first alternate in case any of the original soloists were not up to the task.  Can you do better?

The final exhibition game was supposed to be played this afternoon at The Yard.

Stay safe and think of others.

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Gimme Shelter

Come on
Oh, a storm is threat’ning
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away

Dallas County is going shelter in place.  What about neighboring Collin, Denton and Tarrant Counties?

Harris County should be going shelter in place.  So should neighboring Fort Bend, Galveston and Montgomery Counties.  Isn’t that how it is supposed to work?

What is the holdup?

Yesterday I only stepped outside twice for less than a minute.

The Governor postponed the political party primary runoffs to July 14.  Things being how they are, he really didn’t have a choice.

People are dying and losing their jobs and the GOP members of Congress continue to whore out to big business.  That does not surprise Commentary, nor should it surprise you.

What Sen. Rand Paul did this past week was criminal.  Don’t argue with me.  He is a sorry arse selfish MFer.  Piece of s_it!

Do I Need A Check? I didn’t all of a sudden lose my job last week.  Why do I need a check from the federal government?  Those of us who didn’t lose our jobs, do we need checks?  The Treasury Secretary said 20% of the workforce could be unemployed.  Give them checks until we ride this out.  Why should the 80% who are working get a check?

Commentary is a Kroger guy.  There are three of them in my ‘hood.  The big one on N. Shepherd and 11^th, another big one on Studemont and I-10, and a smaller one on Yale and 20^th.  Grocery stores like Kroger are making a killing during this pandemic.  They can at least make sure their customers are safe by keeping their cleaning wipe dispensers at the entrances stocked.  They need to do better.  Sloppiness is dangerous.

Lesson.  Carry extra napkins with you if you have to be out or wipes if you can score any.

MLB was supposed to return to The Yard this evening.

Did you know that Little League has suspended their season until May 11?  Now you know.

Only if you are as old as Commentary do you remember the 1963 “The Great Escape” flick that starred Steve McQueen, James Garner, Sir Richard Attenborough, James Coburn and Charles Bronson.  It is an epic World War II flick about a planned and executed escape of a German POW camp.  It has arguably the best chase scene in cinematic history involving a motorcycle ridden by McQueen.  McQueen’s character also tried to escape before, and he is thrown into solitary where he is provided a baseball glove and baseball and he spends his time bouncing the ball off of his cell wall and snagging it.  At the end of the movie after he is captured, they return him to solitary and hand him the glove and ball.

It airs tomorrow morning on TCM.  I will tape and see how a baseball glove and baseball ended up in a German POW camp during World War II.

The obvious question – is “The Great Escape” a baseball movie?”

Stay safe and remember others.

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Preparing

This is part of a Trib story today:

The May 26 runoff elections are another lingering uncertainty. (Texas Gov. Greg) Abbott has previously signaled they could be disrupted by the outbreak, and he said at the town hall that his office could have guidance as soon as Friday about the fate of the elections.

Here is a letter to the Chair of the Texas GOP from the Chair of the Texas Democratic Party:

Dear Chairman (James) Dickey,

Thank you to you and your team for joining me and mine today to discuss how we provide Texans with the continuity of government and maintain our democratic systems in the wake of this public health emergency. We all know that the First Amendment gives each of our parties the right to run our nomination processes independently, but appreciate a collaborative discussion to find a way to hold the primary runoff elections scheduled for May 26th.

 In our conversation this morning, you suggested postponing the election and not immediately making significant changes to our election processes that would address or accommodate voting in the current public health crisis. It is my understanding that your argument was based on the assumption that the public health situation would be considerably improved by June. We do not believe that the available scientific evidence supports these claims but even were they to prove true, we still believe the public education of these few days presents enormous obstacles to voting systems that require in-person contact. As leaders of this state, we believe it is our responsibility to take immediate and decisive action to make plans for this election that allow it to go forward even amid a continued public health crisis.

 You also raised concerns about transmission of COVID-19 by mail. However, it is our opinion that we should look to the guidance of the United States Postal Service (USPS) as the source of truth on these issues. To date, the USPS is continuing service and said on March 17, 2020 that there is “currently no evidence that COVID-19 is being spread through the mail.” Therefore, we believe we must immediately move forward planning for a primary runoff election that reduces the need for in-person voting and enhances Texans’ ability to vote by mail.

While it won’t be easy, we are confident that our county election officials and Secretary of State can carry out a meaningful election that ensures the participation of all communities with minimal delays. However, we must immediately provide them the guidance, financial support, and other resources they need in order to do so.

To that end, we will provide you with our proposal for the path forward by noon Monday and look forward to seeing your team’s proposal as well. Rose Clouston on my team will coordinate with Brandon Moore on yours to find a time on Monday afternoon for all of us to discuss these proposals and hopefully chart a joint path forward.

 Sincerely,

Hon. Gilberto Hinojosa

Chairman, Texas Democratic Party

CC: Governor Greg Abbott c/o Luis Saenz

Secretary of State Ruth R. Hughs

Jose A. “Joe” Esparza, Deputy Secretary of State

Keith Ingram, Director of Elections

Christina Adkins, General Counsel, Elections Division

Manny Garcia, Executive Director, Texas Democratic Party

Brandon Moore, Organization Director, Republican Party of Texas

I sure hope our Democratic Party Chair is being advised by folks who know how to conduct elections and have our safety in mind.

Commentary hates to say this, but I will.  When Donald Trump tells governors that they have to go find their own life saving medical equipment, he’s doing his very best to avoid taking responsibility.  Just watch.

State Sen. Carol Alvarado and State Rep. Anna Eastman each sent a letter to the State Comptroller requesting that he let restaurant, bar and event venue folks defer paying their sales taxes for a couple of months.  Bars and events venues have been shut down.  Restaurants can only do takeout.

There is a whole heck of a lot of folks who are taking a hit and it isn’t their fault.  It is not as though the bar and restaurant business were acting financially irresponsibly and now, they want a handout.   Cut them some slack.

Commentary has been stocking up on stuff in case we are put in lock down.  I am not talking about prepper style stockpiling. I am talking about maybe three or four weeks.  Don’t worry, I am not one of those who has overdone it at the expense of some helpless souls.  I have also not broken my Lenten commitments.  Not yet.

This has made me plan out meals and stuff like that.  I have also started using my freezer which I normally don’t except for ice cream, which by the way I need to get.

I am picky on my sliced whole wheat bread and it hasn’t been available on the shelves the past couple of days.  Same for Campbell’s Chunky.  I now know what soups folks don’t prefer.  They stand there alone on the shelves.

What can you say about two GOP U.S. Senators who were briefed behind closed doors earlier this year on the coronavirus and then went off and sold a few million dollars of stock.

From the Daily Beast today:

Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Richard Burr sold up to $1.5 million in stocks in early February, while assuring the public that the U.S. was prepared to take on the coronavirus, ProPublica reports. Burr’s committee was reportedly receiving daily briefings about the coronavirus at the time of his Feb. 13 selling spree—during which he sold off anywhere between $582,029 and $1.56 million worth of holdings. More specifically, he sold off up to $150,000 worth of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts shares and up to $100,000 of Extended Stay America shares. One week after Burr sold his stocks, the markets tanked and have lost about 30 percent since. Wyndham Hotels stock has reportedly lost two-thirds of its value, while Extended Stay America shares are worth less than half of what Burr sold them at. Just six days before his sales, he reportedly wrote in an op-ed that the country was “better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus.”

His spokesperson said Burr’s sales were made “several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility” due to COVID-19. “As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy,” the spokesperson said. His office has not spoken about what kinds of briefing materials Burr may have been receiving prior to his sales.

This comes after the senator was caught on a secret recording telling individuals the virus was “more aggressive in its transmission” than anything in recent history. Burr slammed the article on his remarks as “journalistic malpractice,” but did not address ProPublica’s report.

And this:

The Senate’s newest member sold off seven figures’ worth of stock holdings in the days and weeks after a private, all-senators meeting on the novel coronavirus that subsequently hammered U.S. equities.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) reported the first sale of stock jointly owned by her and her husband on Jan. 24, the very day that her committee, the Senate Health Committee, hosted a private, all-senators briefing from administration officials, including the CDC director and Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, on the coronavirus. 

“Appreciate today’s briefing from the President’s top health officials on the novel coronavirus outbreak,” she tweeted about the briefing at the time.

That first transaction was a sale of stock in the company Resideo Technologies valued at between $50,001 and $100,000. The company’s stock price has fallen by more than half since then, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average overall has shed approximately 10,000 points, dropping about a third of its value.

It was the first of 29 stock transactions that Loeffler and her husband made through mid-February, all but two of which were sales. One of Loeffler’s two purchases was stock worth between $100,000 and $250,000 in Citrix, a technology company that offers teleworking software and which has seen a small bump in its stock price since Loeffler bought in as a result of coronavirus-induced market turmoil.

Knowledge is power.  This time they got caught red-handed.  That’s your GOP Senate for you.

I will say it again.  Good thing the U.S. House of Representatives is controlled by Democrats.

Have a very safe weekend.

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Moving Elections and Senator Cornpone

Under the authority the Texas Governor now has because of this current disaster emergency declaration, he has given local government entities the power to move their May 2 elections to November 3.  I would move them.  Of course, some local burgs, ISDs and water districts prefer holding May elections because of the certainty of low voter turnout.  November elections turn out more voters who aren’t as attentive to local stuff if you know what I mean.   Move your election for the sake of the safety of your election workers.

I will say it again.  Good thing the U.S. House of Representatives is controlled by Democrats.

Texas U.S. Senator Cornpone is an embarrassment to us.  That arsehole needs to be voted out of office.  During one of our critical times we are facing and he will go down in history for tweeting a bottle of Corona and making a racist statement.  Think about that.  Nice job, Cornpone.

Yep.  It is kind of tough to go negative in political campaigns these days.  Check this from Politico:

President Donald Trump’s top political advisers in recent weeks envisioned unleashing a massive advertising campaign against Joe Biden to define him for the general election before he had a chance to recover from the primary.

Then the novel coronavirus arrived.

With the death toll rising and daily life grinding to a halt, Trump’s sprawling political operation has put on hold any plans to use its nine-figure war chest to unload on the former vice president. The strategy, mimicking the playbook of Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign against Mitt Romney, was aimed at crippling the lesser-funded Biden before he could unify the Democratic Party behind him and marshal his forces for November.

The reprieve is a blessing for Biden: Rather than spending valuable time fending off an assault, he is free to present himself as a steady leader amid a national crisis and to regroup for the general election.

The Trump operation’s reassessment underscores how the pandemic has disrupted virtually every element of the campaign for both parties. With less than eight months until Election Day, Trump and Biden are being forced to rethink their plans on everything from fundraising to field operations to staffing.

“With Biden running away with it now, this would have been a good time to define him right off the bat. But it won’t break through now, nor would it look good,” said Ari Fleischer, who served as press secretary in the George W. Bush White House. “This hiatus in many ways helps Biden.”

Here is the entire Politico story: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/19/trump-biden-coronavirus-136197.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott is being called out for how he is handling the coronavirus in Politico here: https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/19/texas-coronavirus-response-136061.

Same for the Florida Governor here: https://www.politico.com/states/florida/story/2020/03/18/florida-coronavirus-briefing-gets-heated-1267761.

Hey, we have Spring Break partying going on in South Padre and Clearwater, Florida just saying.

That’s all I have.

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Contact Sport

CNN’s coverage last night was all about the Democratic Primary election returns and the coronavirus pandemic.  The most sobering news I got last night was CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta saying Americans were failing miserably at social distancing, a term I just learned a couple of week ago. Dr. Gupta was kind of hinting that we were headed the way of Italy.

America is shutting down restaurants and bars.  Church services are being cancelled. Movie theaters, concerts and stuff like that are on hold. HEB is installing plastic shield sneeze guards to protect their checkout staff.  Campaign rallies are gone.  You get the picture.

On conducting our elections, I put out a take yesterday.  Here is from Kuffer today:

As the story notes, not a lot of people 65 and older, who are eligible to vote by mail no questions asked, take advantage of it now. Travis County Clerk Dana Debouvoir puts the figure at 10-15% there, and I’d bet it’s similar in Harris County. We could already have a lot more people voting by mail right now if they wanted to. The HCDP has a program where it sends a vote by mail application to all of its known-to-be-Democratic voters and then calls them to remind them to send it in (I’ve participated in that), and you can see the effect it has had in recent elections. Thanks to the high level of turnout in this year’s primary we have a lot more Dems identified, and we could get a lot more mail ballot applications sent out. It’s up to the voters themselves to take it from there.

Go check out all of Kuffer here: http://www.offthekuff.com/wp/?p=94689.

I put out a tweet yesterday on the folks who want mail ballots sent to all 16 million voters in Texas for the May 26 runoffs.  Here is what I tweeted:

How do you determine which Party’s mail ballot you get if you didn’t vote on March 3?

Fair question.

We have all heard the term politics is a contact sport.  It has a different meaning in these times.   The folks who will be conducting our elections will be at the front lines so to speak.  They will be the ones who will be in contact with the public.   Commentary would like to know what they think.  How should we proceed?  What makes sense and what is safe?  We saw what Ohio did.

As far as the May 2 uniform elections and May 26 runoff primaries go, I kind of think a decision has been made on how to proceed.  The Governor has said a decision is coming very soon and the Harris County Clerk’s Office has sent her staff home.  Stay tuned!

It is being reported that Sen. Bernie Sanders is reassessing his campaign status.  Good.

I finally snagged some toilet paper yesterday.

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