China is now reporting their first case in mid-November, so it likely traveled beyond their borders far earlier than January. It's probably much more widespread than believed already, and likely many more people have had it already than anyone will ever be aware of.

While we assume it started in China, it's only because their very controlled system spotted it as novel first, but there's been no confirmation of it there in the animal populations they've been able to study, yet. It could've started elsewhere and spread there for them to spot.

Remember, most people get mild cases of it and it is transmitted easily, even without visible symptoms. Indeed, you may have already had it and not known it, thinking it was something else.

The good news in all that - it's likely statistically less deadly than originally believed and many more people are probably already immune to it than we are know of.

People rightly compare it to the 1918 pandemic, but we have many tools available to us that were not available in 1918, including the ability to talk about it and plan over the internet, to spread information, and get food and supplies delivered to our doors. We also have the ability to create a vaccine, and trials on it are starting now, even if it will take many months to get it deployed. It is very contagious and is very much more dangerous than a typical flu, especially for those at risk. But, this is not the plague, or polio, nor measles or smallpox, all of which decimated large populations around the world.

We all need to stay in to prevent overwhelming the medical system, but in the end, the vast majority of us will be just fine. So stay home, enjoy a calmer life as our ancestors once did, without racing off to work. Read a book, watch some movies, spend quality time with your families. Consider it a world-wide spring cleaning. An opportunity to reflect on what our world has come to, and perhaps even a opportunity to make a new start to working together to solve the world's many issues.

And save some toilet paper for the rest of us!

This is what a President sounds like.

I have many friends who are Sanders supporters, and I won't argue or even engage with them on the topic, because some (not all) are so wrapped up in the personality cult aspects of the "Revolution". Many seem to have completely lost their bearings, and are spewing out GOP talking points and videos and links to Russian articles, etc. and just generally sounding like the Trumpanzees they claim to despise. It's so sad. I can't say anything to them, as that won't accomplish anything but being attacked or being disowned.

They can't seem to understand the difference between allies with different ways of approaching the problem and mortal enemies. They act like no one has ever lost an election before. I didn't act like that when Liz dropped out, and I haven't seen other friends and acquaintances who supported Buttegieg and Klobuchar or Warren act like that.

They really can't see that one of the biggest problems facing Sanders' attempts are based on Sanders' and their own actions. They don't get that they are the ones driving everyone away from their rigid positions. For many, especially Warren supporters, it's not the policies, nor the messages, but the messenger that we oppose. As a long time leader of teams and organizations large and small, I could go on at some length about how Sanders approach to leadership can never work, and how his selection of people around him demonstrates poor judgement, and how most people don't want a "revolution", we want progress and healing. But they don't listen, no matter how carefully phrased.

It will take a team of hard-working, dedicated and intelligent people from all walks of life to solve these issues, and alienating everyone, right to the edge (and sometimes over) of sexist, age-ist and racist remarks, by people who I know are not normally like that, won't accomplish that. The one-person-knows-all approach is failing us right before our eyes in DC, and they seem bent on replacing that with their form, regardless of the wishes of the majority of the people in the party and in the country. "Democracy? Vote? We don't need that, you all are too stupid to know what's good for you!" No matter how they phrase it, that's what they are saying, and it's infuriating. But I bite my tongue and wait for the results of the elections.

I'll be so glad when this primary is over.

This from someone in rural rural northern California:

"4th election in a row our polling workers, all old, MAGA demographics folks, tried screwing with our ballots. Putting our standard ballots into the provisional ballot box, trying to say my wife and son weren't registered, etc.

Yesterday, they gave my wife a Republican ballot, we're registered Democrats and Ca has closed primaries. She didn't notice, except that Trump was on her ballot and her choice wasn't. So she wrote them in. She mentioned it when we got to the car. We already had our sample ballots filled out and she said the ballot wasn't the same. I realized what happened and we went back and fixed it."

They will cheat at every opportunity

News that Sanders is preparing a round of attack ads on Biden will backfire. So far in this cycle, going negative has not worked well at all. When HRC make comments about Sanders, his numbers bumped up each time. When Liz went negative in the debates, her numbers dropped. When Pete went after Amy after Iowa, it was roundly criticized and his position in the race dropped back. There are many more examples. People are sick of this garbage, we get it every day from Trump, and most will not tolerate it from a Democratic nominee - especially attacking an ally. Save it for the real enemies: Trump, Moscow Mitch and the Russian/GOP/NRA cabal. Biden does not have the strong negatives of HRC, and is widely viewed as a nice and fair gentleman. Attacks by Sanders on Biden are strongly discouraged by this observer.

Sanders has plateaued at 30%-ish, and cannot easily win the other 70% unless he changes the character of his campaign, which is highly improbable, since it would require a change in Sanders' personal character, and the removal of several key aides. In 2016, it was at this point, in early March as things starting heading south for the campaign, that Sanders went full-on scorched Earth. It was an amateur move, damaged his credibility then, and will destroy his slim chances when he does it now. I see no path for him to gain the 50%+1 that will be required to win the nomination.

Bloomberg is out now, and without him in the race, coupled with early voting already in, Biden would likely have won CA last night, also.

I've supported Warren since 2012, and love her, and only changed to Biden late last night. I wish she was viable, but it appears that the glass ceiling applies with progressive candidates as surely as it does in the other lanes. Shocking to me, really. Liz is going to get out soon. She had one narrow path, which required winning MA, and finishing at least second in CA and TX. Whether she thinks she can go on depends on her belief that this will be a contested convention. It won't be, mark my words. She will support Biden, perhaps a bit reluctantly, and will, quite rightly, continue to push for big, bold change. As is shown by the many people here who have moved from Warren to Biden already, most of Warren's supporters are going to go there. Of course, some will go Sanders' way, but the majority, IMO, don't really much like Sanders in the first place (or they'd already have picked him, and/or were former HRC supporters who want to see a woman in the White House) or, and an even bigger incentive, want her to have a seat at the table to get her agenda inserted into the government. We are not called "pragmatic progressives" for nothing - as they say, 20% of something is better than 100% of nothing.

The demeanor in the various speeches last night says it all. Watch the body language. The tide has turned.

Biden is not the timid, confused person that only wants status quo, that he is being portrayed as. That's all bullshit. He is smart, seasoned, and will hire the absolute best people to get the jobs done, and he WILL listen, compromise and work with whatever coalitions he can put together to find real solutions to our problems. He absolutely does not believe he is some sort of "stable genius", and instead has a genuine humility that will score major points around the world. I truly do believe that, even if he wasn't my first choice in this campaign. He's already made that clear with his comments to Beto, Amy and Pete (Beto in charge of gun policy!! YES!!)

Thank you to the huge crowds that turned out everywhere last night, to show us the "will of the people". And a special THANK YOU to the black community in particular, who refused to get pulled into the divisiveness and pettiness of the race, and made crystal clear who needs to be the candidate for the Democratic Party, so that we can beat Trump, keep the House, and hopefully, take back the Senate and a bunch of state-level races.

Individuals exceeding limits and foreign campaign contributions cited. It's only 510 pages long

https://docquery.fec.gov/pdf/943/202002230300058943/202002230300058943.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1OA1TyOxxaRpJX-sfA23LdevYmVHehrbQsGdARjYoVs5YntZGp4ue-OTg

As if anyone really cares about such things, I wrote this today:

I have avoided expressing my political preferences very much in the primary so far, for two main reasons: 1 - Supporting candidate A doesn't require dissing candidate B, and all too often, that's how these discussions end. We are all allies and need to act as such. I am proud of the huge depth of potential candidates the Democratic Party has offered up, and all would be superior to the crackpot that currently resides in the WH. Full disclosure: I have donated substantially to all of the major candidates. 2 - I think the primary processes are too long and byzantine, and leads to 24/7/365 campaigns for office, which IMO, does not help in governing the country in the least.

I do, however, think it is time for the field to tighten up and defragment.

To that end, I am asking everyone to read my little essay, especially all my many friends in California (since a plurality of them live there and Super Tuesday is coming fast) and to seriously consider Elizabeth Warren for your vote. I have gone back and forth and have debated the merits of all of them, and truly believe she is the best candidate for the office of President that we have had in a long time. As a political junkie and activist since 1976, I feel qualified to make this observation. I actually wanted her to run in 2015 before she opted out. Please also refer to her website, and her bio articles. I endorse Elizabeth Warren for the following reasons:

1 - Liz has a long record of successfully fighting corruption, starting with her fighting unfair bankruptcy laws, resulting in the laws restricting the ability of corporations to force individuals into bankruptcy. She helped create and run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. She fought strongly for more stringent banking regulations after the 2008 crash. One of her main themes of her Presidential run is to remove the corruption that permeates Washington - once and for all! She has made it clear she WILL hold law-breakers in the government accountable for their actions, and will pursue criminal and civil charges as required. Her considered, rational and devastating take-down of Mike Bloomberg in the last debate shows she will not flinch when it comes to calling out Donald Trump, in public, during the General Election campaign.

2 - She is a strongly Pragmatic Progressive, who wants to tax the wealthy on their fortunes to fund the massive structural improvements in climate change, universal health care, education, child care, consumer protection, voting rights, labor laws and other items on her agenda that she proposes. She understands and advocates common sense, shared, team approaches to problem solving and has repeatedly proven herself as a leader who can be trusted to listen to the experts, as well as the layman, and make the right decisions. She doesn't believe that government should control everything, just regulate and tax corporations and the wealthy appropriately, so that the economy can work for everyone fairly. She believes in science!! Wouldn't that be a nice change?

3 - Liz is one of most intelligent people to have ever run for President, having taught law at various Universities including bankruptcy and contract law at Harvard University, and has written five books, coauthored a number of others, as well as authored many articles. She will appoint intelligent and fair judges to the Supreme Court and lower courts.

4 - She has extensive experience in foreign affairs, having served on the Committee on Armed Services, and travelled to Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere. This article from CNN outlines her positions rather well: https: //www.cnn.com/2020/01/10/politics/elizabeth-warren-foreign-policy/index.html (link broken on purpose, just remove the space after https. She supports our Veterans and wants to put in place rational, multilateral and multi-national solutions to terror and international conflict.

5 -She has a goal of reducing domestic gun violence by 80% by removing the NRAs ability to block legislation and put in place gun buyback programs, as well as funding research into the root causes of gun violence that has been stymied by the GOP for decades. She also supports common sense laws that aim to reduce gun deaths, much as previous era leaders reduced automotive deaths.

6 - She is the most well-positioned to be able to unify the various wings of the Democratic Party and lead us to the victory we all need, not only in the race for the Presidency, but in the down-ticket races for the Senate, which we MUST retake and in the House of Representatives, which we must not lose.

7 - While I am not one who cares much about endorsement, she has them from Julian Castro, the Working Families Party, Alicia Garza - the co-founder of Black Lives Matter, Robert Reich, countless current and former politicians and celebrities, and a wide variety of media outlets.

So, please join me in supporting Elizabeth Warren. I have spent a lot of effort analyzing all of the candidates, and truly believe she provides the best and most balanced approaches to solving our country's and the world's many crises, and will be able to put together the most effective coalitions, both nationally and internationally, to combat climate change, massive wealth inequality and never-ending wars. In my opinion, she has the experience, temperament, broadly-based appeal and the detailed plans required to lead us in the post-Trump mess we will find ourselves in come Jan 20, 2021.

She details these plans and many others on her website, https://elizabethwarren.com/ (just bypass the donation page, for now, but if you want to support her financially, please join us!)

Thanks!

More or less in order

Great (but all very close)
Warren
Buttegieg
Biden

Marginal:
Klobuchar
Sanders

Poor:
Bloomberg

And I expect others to disagree, even my wife does, lol

Thank you for the hearts!!