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BATTLE AGAINST NRA TO CONTINUE FROM PRISON … "Dem Megadonor, Gun-Control Activist Harvey Weinstein Convicted of Rape," via REUTERS: Once one of Hollywood’s most powerful producers, Weinstein, 67, was convicted of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006 and raping Jessica Mann, a onetime aspiring actress, in 2013.
He faces up to 25 years in prison on the sexual assault conviction.
ADIOS, 29 ELECTORAL VOTES … "Florida Dems in uproar after Sanders’ Cuba comments," via POLITICO: Bernie Sanders says he’s the Democrat best-equipped to defeat Donald Trump in November. But Florida Democrats insist he‘s the worst-equipped after Sanders’s refusal Sunday night to thoroughly condemn the Cuban Revolution …
Florida doesn’t have a single Latino community. It has immigrants and exiles from multiple Latin American countries where "socialism" is a loaded term. When Sanders says he wants to lead a "revolution," it sounds like "revolución!" to many in South Florida who fled [Fidel] Castro and other leftist regimes.
MONEY CAN’T BUY HUSTLE … "You’ve Gotta Respect How Lazy the Bloomberg Social Media Recruits Are," via NY MAG: It is a testament to how obscenely wealthy Mike Bloomberg is that he can find so many different ways to waste money on social media … [such as] the campaign of "digital field organizers" who get $2,500 bucks a month to spam their phone contacts and social media followers …
[The] employees were so unenthusiastic about the work that some just copy-and-pasted the materials that the campaign had supplied, garnering almost no engagement from their assumed (and tiny) audience … One worker instantly followed up a pro-Bloomberg text message he was required to send with, "Please disregard, vote Bernie or Warren."
STRATEGERY … via CNN: Asked directly by reporters Sunday night whether [Bernie] Sanders is a risky nominee for the Democratic Party, [Elizabeth] Warren said this: "I think Michael Bloomberg is the riskiest candidate." Interrupted by another reporter to note that the question was about Sanders, not Bloomberg, Warren replied "I heard you," before continuing on in her attack against the former New York City mayor.
SMALL TEEPEE … "Abortion Groups Spend Big to Purge Pro-Life Democrats," by WFB’s Yuichiro Kakutani: EMILY's List and NARAL Pro-Choice America, which usually focus on opposing Republicans, have this cycle targeted pro-life House Democrats Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Dan Lipinski (Ill.), two of the four remaining pro-life members of the Democratic caucus …
Kristen Day, who runs a group promoting pro-life views in the Democratic Party, was the audience member who confronted Buttigieg on the issue during the town hall. She told the Free Beacon that pro-abortion interest groups are pushing the Democratic leadership in the "wrong direction" by alienating pro-life voters like her.
SICK MAN OF ASIA ROCKS MARKETS … "U.S., global markets plunge as coronavirus cases spike outside China," via WAPO: The Dow Jones industrial average sank by more than 1,000 points, or 3.6 percent, to close at 27,960.80 after Wall Street interpreted new disease clusters in South Korea, Italy and Iran as a sign that the respiratory illness has outraced confinement efforts. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index fell by more than 3.7 percent.
Factories around the world are grappling with parts shortages as their Chinese suppliers struggle to resume normal operations.
MESSAGE TO MADURO … "Trump administration to step up pressure campaign on Venezuelan oil: U.S. envoy," via REUTERS: U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to step up a sanctions campaign on Venezuela’s oil sector and will be more aggressive in punishing people and companies that violate it, the top U.S. envoy to the Latin American country said on Monday …
U.S. Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams told Reuters in an interview that Washington would go after continued customers of Venezuelan oil, including those in Asia, and target intermediaries helping Caracas hide the origin of its oil.
PIVOT TO THE GENERAL … "Phil Is Doing His Best to Give Bernie His Due": After a Sanders Surge and a Matthews Gaffe, MSNBC Prepares to Pivot," via VANITY FAIR: "Will they bring in more contributors that are pro-Sanders? That’s where the chatter is," another insider told me. "As a matter of news, you have to. Management is sensitive to it" … I ran that notion past a network executive. "Yes, the race has changed over the last couple of weeks, and we are going to reflect that and make adjustments," he said. "One easy way to do that is to seek out more smart, pro-Sanders voices from people who can make our coverage more insightful."
STARVING FOR RATINGS … "CNN continues obsession about Trump’s eating habits, this time over food options in India," via FOX NEWS: The liberal network that once hyperventilated because President Trump is sometimes served an extra scoop of ice cream has struck again—this time mocking the president because he might have to eschew a cheeseburger or two during his trip to India …
The report made sure to note that "even one of the president's favorite fast food restaurants, McDonald's, doesn't serve beef in India," so a former official is concerned.
WORKERS OF THE WORLD, TOUGH S**T … "The Young Turks’ Progressive Founder Urged His Staff Not To Unionize," via HUFFPOST: In the [Feb. 12] staff meeting, the network’s co-founder and influential host, Cenk Uygur, urged employees not to do so, arguing that a union does not belong at a small, independent outlet like TYT, according to two workers who were present …
His talk―at times emotional, the staffers said, with Uygur throwing his papers to the ground at one point, and chastising an employee―seemed to contradict the progressive, worker-first ethos that TYT broadcasts to its millions of lefty followers.
JUSTICE FOR JUICY … "Jussie Smollett goes back to court, facing 6 new counts of making false reports to police," via CNN: Flanked by a massive entourage, Smollett entered a Chicago courthouse Monday to face six new counts of making false reports to police for allegedly fabricating a hate crime …
Chicago police investigated the case as a hate crime but later said the actor orchestrated the incident. They said he paid two acquaintances—brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo—to stage the incident for publicity.
DEEP THOUGHTS … "The Wit and Wisdom of Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg," by WFB’s Andrew Stiles: Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg, the 38-year-old presidential candidate who previously served as mayor of Indiana's fourth-largest city, is the Democratic Party's most gifted rhetorician since Barack H. Obama. His deep-voiced demeanor and majestic oratorical prowess have made him a formidable candidate among a select demographic of wealthy whites with graduate degrees …
If Democratic voters are looking to nominate a masterful wordsmith … they can't do better than Buttigieg.
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