The Daily Moth 3-4-2020
Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Wednesday, March 4. Ready for news?
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Super Tuesday: Biden big winner; Bernie still in it; Bloomberg drops out; Warren unsure
Super Tuesday told us a lot about who the strongest Democrats are for the 2020 presidential race. Fourteen states and the American Samoa voted.
The biggest winner was Joe Biden, and the biggest loser was Mike Bloomberg. Bernie Sanders is still a strong contender and Elizabeth Warren did not win any states.
Biden got the most votes and delegates in nine states: Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Minnesota, and Massachusetts. Biden has continued his dominance that he found from the South Carolina victory.
Biden, in a speech last night in Los Angeles, said his campaign will send Donald Trump “packing.” He thanked Amy Klobuchar for her endorsement and said it’s why he won Minnesota. He also thanked Beto O’Rourke for his endorsement, saying it helped him do well in Texas. He said he would keep Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House, win back the Senate, and that he is an “Obama Biden Democrat.”
There were two protesters who rushed the stage holding a sign that said, “Let Dairy Die,” but they were quickly taken away. Biden’s wife, Jill, helped to stop one of the protesters. Biden was clearly startled but quickly continued his speech.
Bernie won Colorado, Utah, Vermont. He is leading over Biden in California and is neck-to-neck in Maine — both states are still counting their votes.
As of afternoon today, Joe Biden has 513 delegates to Bernie’s 461 delegates. So it’s very close. A candidate needs 1,991 delegates to win the Democratic nomination.
Bernie said in a speech last night in his home state of Vermont that he is very confident that they are going to win the Democratic nomination and defeat the “most dangerous president in the history of this country.”
Warren came in third place in her home state of Massachusetts. She was able to get only 12 delegates out of over 1,000 that were up for grabs on Super Tuesday. She has 53 delegates in total. It was a very disappointing day for her campaign as she was considered one of the top candidates when the Democratic race started. Her campaign said they would take the time to think through the right way to continue this fight.
Bloomberg won the territory of American Samoa and received four delegates. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI), who was born there, came in second place and received one delegate. Bloomberg has 50 delegates in total.
This morning, Bloomberg announced he would drop out of the 2020 race and would endorse Joe Biden. He has spent over $500 million on advertising, but clearly that didn’t make much of an impact. To compare, Biden won in some states in which he barely personally visited or campaigned in.
So, what is coming up next? Next Tuesday is a “mini” Super Tuesday with six states voting: Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, and Washington.
All indications point to a two-man race for the Democratic nomination between Biden and Bernie, and the winner will go up against President Trump. Biden is 77, Bernie is 78, and Trump is 73.
https://www.axios.com/mike-bloomberg-drops-out-027d9882-3e65-4663-aec0-70025387def6.html
https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/super-tuesday-speech-transcripts-biden-sanders-warren-bloomberg-speeches-to-supporters
https://www.npr.org/2020/02/10/799979293/how-many-delegates-do-the-2020-presidential-democratic-candidates-have
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/live-blog/2020-super-tuesday-live-updates-14-states-hold-primaries-n1146871
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March 4 coronavirus updates
Here is the latest on the coronavirus outbreak.
At least eleven people have died from the virus in the United States. 10 of them are in Washington state and one is in California. Five of the deaths are linked to a nursing home in the Seattle area. The California death is an elderly person in Sacramento.
There is an outbreak in the Seattle area. One high school student tested positive for coronavirus and his school, Hazen High School, was closed.
There are at least six new cases in Los Angeles County, which has prompted officials to declare a local state of emergency. The six got the virus either from someone else who was exposed or because they had a history of international travel. Officials said there could be more cases in the coming days and that families should prepare for school closures and cancellation of public events.
In New York, there was a man who tested positive for coronavirus — making him the second case in the state after a Manhattan woman tested positive. Officials said the man’s wife, son, and daughter tested positive — and a neighbor tested positive after driving the man to a hospital. The man recently attended a synagogue in Westchester County, just north of New York City. Many other people who attended services at the synagogue were ordered to self-quarantine. The man is now in a hospital in Manhattan in serious condition and the family is quarantined in their home. Now there are at least six cases in New York.
There are at least 135 cases of coronavirus across 16 states in the U.S.
There is now a bipartisan deal proposed by lawmakers in the House and Senate to provide a $8.3 billion emergency coronavirus bill. The money would fund agencies to aid them in their response to the virus.
The U.S. Surgeon General, Jerome M. Adams, said people should stop buying masks because they are not effective in coronavirus prevention and would harm health care providers because they are unable to get any when supplies run out. Dr. Adams said the best way to prevent the virus is to wash hands regularly and for those who are feeling sick to stay home. He tweeted a guide that showed the purposes of two different kinds of masks — a surgical mask and a N95 respirator. A surgical mask is intended to protect the wearer from large droplets, splashes, or sprays of bodily fluid. It also protects others from the wearer’s respiratory emissions. A N95 mask will protect the wearer from outside particles, but it requires a perfect fit in order for it to be effective, and if people touch the mask often to shift it, it actually increases the risk of infection.
There are almost 200 cases of coronavirus in Spain. Officials in the country said they believe a 69-year-old man who died from pneumonia in Valencia on February 13 is the first European person to die from coronavirus.
There are 240 cases in Germany. Britain has 85 cases. France has over 200 cases. India has at least 28 cases.
Italy reported that over 2,500 people tested positive for coronavirus. At least 79 people have died. All schools and universities are closed until March 15.
South Korea has over 5,000 cases and is the hardest-hit country outside of China. At least 28 died.
Vice President Mike Pence said the U.S. will screen all travelers coming on direct flights from South Korea and Italy.
Japan said they hope the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo will continue as scheduled with the start date of July 24 and told all athletes to continue to prepare for the games. Officials said they have formed a task force to evaluate the coronavirus impact and would follow the advice of the World Health Organization. There is a possibility that the games will be postponed to a later date in 2020.
The release date of James Bond film “No Time to Die” starring Daniel Craig has been postponed to November because of coronavirus.
U.S. stocks had big gains today -- the DOW went up over 1,100 points. Analysts said it was because of Biden’s Super Tuesday victories and because of the bipartisan coronavirus bill in Congress.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/04/world/coronavirus-news.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
https://nypost.com/2020/03/03/members-of-coronavirus-patients-westchester-synagogue-ordered-to-self-quarantine/
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/coronavirus-outbreak-death-toll-us-infections-latest-news-updates-2020-03-03/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/03/03/coronavirus-live-updates-covid-19-california-cdc-numbers-deaths/4929223002/
https://twitter.com/Surgeon_General
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News Briefs: Alex Trebek gives update; BMW redesigns logo; Trump phones Taliban leader
Here are three top news briefs.
The first — Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek posted a video with subtitles of an one-year update of his battle with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He said the one-year survival for pancreatic accent patients is at 18% and he is very happy to have reached that marker. He said the journey was not easy and that he did wonder if it was really worth fighting on, but he brushed that aside because if he gave up, he would be betraying his wife Jean, other cancer patients who have supported him, and of his faith in God and the millions of prayers that were said on his behalf. He said his cancer doctor is very positive that he will beat the 7% survival rate for people who are in the second year.
The second news— German automaker BMW announced a redesign of their logo. You will see in the image that the major change is the removal of the dark black outer circle. The new design is “flat.” The white and blue colors represent the flag of the German state of Bavaria.
The third news — President Trump announced yesterday that he spoke with “the leader of the Taliban” on a phone call in which they discussed a peace deal to stop violence in Afghanistan. Trump wants the Taliban to stop attacking Afghan security forces and instead focus on killing terrorists — likely referring to ISIS. The Washington Post said it is the first verbal communication between a U.S. president and the Taliban in 18 years. But today news broke that the U.S. conducted an airstrike against Taliban fighters because they were attacking an Afghan security checkpoint. The peace deal would have to have the support of the Afghan government, who has their own demands. The U.S. has had troops in Afghanistan in a war that started after the 9/11 attacks. So it is a very complicated situation.
https://twitter.com/Jeopardy
https://www.creativebloq.com/news/new-bmw-logo
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-taliban-phone-call-baradar/2020/03/03/b2a01a4e-5d87-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html
https://www.npr.org/2020/03/04/812019977/u-s-launches-defensive-strike-at-taliban-as-fragile-afghan-peace-deal-teeters
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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!