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THE BEST MONEY CAN BUY … "Bloomberg Hires Fyre Fest Meme Team," by WFB’s Andrew Stiles: Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg hired the social media team [Jerry Media] behind Fyre Festival, the most catastrophic public misadventure since Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign ...
The promotional materials for the failed festival, which was driven by celebrity endorsements on social media, convinced thousands of rich idiots to fly to the Bahamas in hopes of seeing Blink-182. What they found instead was utter chaos.
HOW TO LOSE THE HOUSE IN TWO YEARS … "In Early States, Voters With Private Health Insurance Abandon Sanders," by WFB’s Collin Anderson: A Washington Free Beacon analysis of census data and early primary results found that Sanders finished no higher than third and as low as fifth in the three Iowa counties with the highest proportion of privately insured adults …
His failure to succeed in areas with high concentrations of privately insured voters reinforces concerns that the Vermont senator could undermine down-ballot Democrats in the general election.
OUCH … "‘South Bend Needs a Do-Over’: City Councilman Blasts Former Mayor Pete," by WFB’s Elizabeth Matamoros: South Bend, Ind., city councilman Henry Davis Jr. said … Buttigieg "chose not to deal with" issues facing African-American residents of South Bend.
"You're talking about double-digit unemployment. You're talking about a very high poverty rate, over 40 percent. You're talking about high crime. You're talking about schools shutting down and closing," he said.
RICH LIBS NOT GIVING UP YET … "Joe Biden to host over 250 donors from Wall Street, big business at NYC fundraisers – here’s the guest list," via CNBC: A guest list, first obtained by CNBC, shows that the events will draw some of the biggest names in the financial services community to Biden’s side, despite his campaigns recent struggles. Biden landed in fifth place in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday and finished fourth in last week’s Iowa caucuses.
Biden’s campaign is expected to raise at least $1 million between the two gatherings.
PRINCIPLE$ … "Mike Bloomberg Is Hiring So Many Operatives, Local and State Campaigns Are Starving for Help," via INTERCEPT: "I’ve heard it in every state that we’ve been in," said [senior Bernie Sanders adviser Chuck] Rocha of the Bloomberg effect, adding that one staffer recently came to him and said, "‘Hey Chuck, I’m with Bernie, I’m gonna vote for Bernie, but I’m gonna go get this money, cuz he’s gonna double my salary and pay me till November and I’ve gotta pay my bills when this thing is over.’"
SANDERS BACKS JUSSIE’S GIRL … via POLITICO: Bernie Sanders is throwing his weight behind Kim Foxx, the Cook County state’s attorney who is facing several primary challengers after a first term that has been simultaneously celebrated by progressives and come under fire nationally for her handling of actor Jussie Smollett’s case.
QUIET PART OUT LOUD … "Maxine Waters: California Should Have More Say Over Primary Process Because of Its Rich Donors and Fancy Parties," by WFB’s Graham Piro: "We have candidates who fly out to Los Angeles from everywhere to raise money," Waters said Thursday on CNBC. "You would have two, three, four at a time in Beverly Hills having dinners and some of our contributors, who are very rich, were holding fancy parties, trying to accommodate the requests for donations and contributions."
"The thinking is that if we are supplying tremendous dollars to candidates, we ought to have more say," she added.
WAKE UP, BORIS … "China’s Huawei Charged With Racketeering," via WSJ: Huawei Technologies Co. and two of its U.S. subsidiaries were charged with racketeering conspiracy to steal trade secrets in a new federal indictment unsealed Thursday, opening another front in the Trump administration’s battle with the Chinese telecommunications firm.
SEND THE BOMBERS … "U.S. Warship in Arabian Sea Seizes Suspected Iranian Weapons," via REUTERS: The military said that the weapons seized on Sunday were "identical" to those seized by another U.S. warship in November … In recent years, U.S. warships have intercepted and seized Iranian arms likely bound for Houthi fighters in Yemen.
BUILD THE WALL AND THE BOMBERS … "Pentagon seeks to cut F-35s, other equipment to pay for Trump’s border wall," via DEFENSE NEWS: The Pentagon is seeking to divert $3.8 billion, largely from its fiscal 2020 weapons procurement budget, in order to fund President Donald Trump’s border wall …
Among the victims of the cuts: a mass of aircraft purchases including F-35 joint strike fighters, C-130J cargo aircraft, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and P-8 maritime surveillance planes … For the Navy, the Pentagon would cut two of the six F-35B short takeoff and landing aircraft added to the FY20 budget by Congress and two MV-22 Ospreys.
AND SESAME STREET MAINSTREAMS HOMELESSNESS … "Liberal professor claims 'Paw Patrol' is pushing pro-capitalism 'propaganda' to kids," via FOX NEWS: "Paw Patrol" is an animated series about a group of do-good dogs and a 10-year-old boy named Ryder who rescue various people in tricky situations …
[Kings College professor Liam] Kennedy said the depiction of the state and local government officials like Mayor Humdinger and Mayor Goodway are "portrayed negatively." …
"That's problematic in that the 'Paw Patrol' creators are sending this message that we can't depend on the state to provide these services," he told Zanbergen.
HOPE AND DATA … "EXCLUSIVE: Obama Advisers Trash Biden in WhatsApp Group Chat," by WFB Staff: Pod Save America: Mr. President, sir, we really need to talk about viable options, i.e., who can beat Donald Trump in November. So I recommend we consider Mayor Pete.
Brennan: Mayor Pete's a good guy. He did great work for us in Somaliland. The 🍞-pricing fiasco in Canada was not his fault. Ottawa station owns that screw up
Ayers: I can't believe what I'm hearing, Barry. Are you the same community organizer who couldn't stop talking about praxis? Or are you some corporate sellout who listens to a CIA company man who left the communist party in disgrace?
Bernardine Dohrn: Srsly, Barack. If u endorse Pete we're kicking u out of Weather Underground.
DAYS SINCE JOE BIDEN DID A SUNDAY SHOW: 5. Welcome back, Joe!
"You know who really doesn’t have it? Joe Biden." —Former President Barack Obama
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