Photo by Dominic Gwinn
Good morning, this is The Smoke Eater for Thursday, March 26, 2020, and we need some balls and a ton of luck.
Quick Hit
* The Postman * China's propaganda machine * Biden's VEEP * The Saudi oil price war with Russia *
NOTE: Today's issue is short because I need to file for unemployment and unfuck my taxes! The Smoker Eater is always mobile friendly, ad-free and supported by super awesome readers. If you want to be super awesome, tip me on Ko-Fi, or subscribe to my Patreon!
Everything Is Awesome
For decades plans have been around that would use neighborhood mail carrier as a frontline logistics soldiers in the event of a catastrophe, Garrett Graff writes for Wired. The "Postal Plan" was created as part of "Continuity of Government" operations following 9/11, and modeled after a Cold War scheme to use the U.S. Postal Service as a point-of-contact resource in the event of a nuclear apocalypse. The highly secretive plan was updated and made public during the Obama administration to function as a distribution hub for medical supplies in the event of a biological attack. Yes, it's kind of like that awful Kevin Costner movie.
Jeff Kao and Mia Shuang Li write for ProPublica about how China's growing propaganda efforts have rapidly morphed from Hong Kong-bashing shitposts to coronvavirus disinfo on Twitter. As public outrage grew over the ruling party's attempts to cover up the extent of the outbreak, the anti-Hong Kong accounts deleted followers, changed names and profile pictures, and began posting propaganda that framed Beijing's response as big and beautiful. ProPublica estimates the full extent of their moves is likely much larger, as some legit accounts appear to be getting hijacked.
Fact Check: No, Joe Biden didn't say he "will not be president for very long" if elected. In February, Biden told a New Hampshire town hall that, in the event he were elected President, he would, "Have to pick someone if, God forbid, tomorrow, if I contracted what my son had or something like that, that the person is ready on day one to be president of the United States." Yes, the man is old, has a well documented speech impediment, and has long suffered from what I call “foot-in-mouth disease,” but as the Daily Show points out, his speaking problems are not Donald Trump’s.
Though an increasing number of states have postponed their primaries due to concerns over the coronavirus, Biden still holds a delegate lead that is almost insurmountable. The DNC is downplaying talk about about changes to the nominating convention in July, but there are reports that both the RNC and DNC are quietly reconsidering their options now that there's a pandemic.
In the March 15 debate Biden committed to picking a woman as his running mate, and David Catanese writes for McClatchy that Biden's short list for VEEP picks likely includes Sen. Kamala Harris, Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto, Stacey Abrams, Rep. Val Demings, but other names are being floated, like New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Reps. Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia.
One More Thing...
Today's virtual G-20 meeting could get interesting. It's being chaired by King Salman of Saudi Arabia. His son, Prince Mohammed, started an price war in the oil markets with Russia right around the same time the coronavirus exploded outside of China's borders. The whole scheme may not be playing out the way kingdom had hoped.
On the other end of that, Moscow is having a particularly rough time too. The Saudi's oil war has knocked Putin off his high horse. CFR fellow Amy Myers Jaffe thinks this could have wide ranging implications for the global energy sector, and the rest of the world. Meanwhile, Putin's plans to stay in power another decade are now up in the air, and Moscow is reporting a suspiciously low number of coronavirus cases.
There's a joke being passed around by Russians and foreign policy nerds right now:
Russia only has 35 cases of coronavirus!
How many tests did they run?
35...
Now for some warm fuzzies: IT'S LULU!
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