The Smoke Eater For Tues., Feb. 25, 2020
A debate, getting down with the sickness, and digital dollary-doos.
Good morning, this is The Smoke Eater for Tuesday, February 25, 2020, and there's a leak in the boiler room.
Quick Hit
* Yes, there's another presidential debate * New and improved Russian fuckery leaves same bad taste * A Corona Virus conundrum * What would we call a US crypto coin anyway?
NOTE:
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The 10th Democratic presidential debate will be airing tonight on CBS, and streaming on CBSN, starting at 8:00 p.m. ET. The talking heads are certain Sen. Bernie Sanders, now the frontrunner after winning the Nevada caucuses, will be forced to defend himself from charges that he's a card-carrying communist after he brushed off concerns over his past praise of current and former socialist dictatorships in a 60 Minutes interview over the weekend. One key difference between this debate and last weeks is the addition of Tom Steyer, and Joe Biden and Mike Bloomberg telegraphing their respective "nuke Bernie" strategies to the press.
37 Flavors Of Fuckery
David Porter, the assistant section chief of the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, spoke at a conference and warned Russian fuckery was part of an overarching campaign to "degrade confidence" in our elections and elected leaders, and "to weaken [The US] from within" by exploiting political differences "to create an environment of permanent cacophony, unrest and conflict." Porter added, according to CNN, "To put it simply, in this space Russia wants to watch us tear ourselves apart while it seems China on the other hand would rather manage our gradual economic decline over the course of generations." This morning Trump tried to downplay yet another story about benefiting from Russian election interference by insulting CNN's Jim Acosta.
Erin Branco reports in The Daily Beast that some current and former Ukrainian officials are starting to get freaked out about the MAGA binging and purging inside Trump's White House. With fewer people around who can point to Ukraine on a map there's concern a Russian wish list could make its way into the Oval Office.
The Wall Street Journal reports Facebook has been investigating suspicious pro-Sanders activity on Facebook with potential links to Russia actors and/or pro-Trump groups, but the results were inconclusive. When it comments on these issues, the Sanders camp has suggested toxic rhetoric online from people claiming to be Sanders supporters are actually to malicious actors, and over the weekend Sanders asked them to stop. However, The Daily Beast reports the campaign has fired one senior staffer in Michigan over deliberately offensive anti-Sanders shitposting on gay-twitter.
Sick Of Winning?
The spread of COVID-19 is shutting down travel and shaking global markets as health officials struggle to contain the virus. A recent surge in Italy over the weekend sent people scrambling. Over in South Korea, people have started to call each other up and ask, "Are you alive," albeit half-jokingly, the AP reports. This comes as the country announces plans to test another 200,000 members of a cult-like church officials believe to be at the center of South Korea's sudden outbreak.
Late this morning, a top CDC official told reporters that it was only a matter of time before the US experienced a community-level outbreak, adding, “It’s not a question of if this will happen but when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illnesses.”
After Iran suddenly started reporting infections, this morning the Iranian deputy health minister -- who has been briefing journalists -- has tested positive for the virus, reports Middle East Eye. Suspicions arose when footage of the minister sweating and coughing during a presser was published yesterday.
The virus's rapid spread has caused Trumpland to start considering its potential to jeopardize Trump's reelection chances. Politico reports Trump's central campaign message, that the economy hasn't collapsed, may not be the best reelection platform if the virus continues to affect global markets. Conservative talking heads are already claiming the virus is a conspiracy harm Trump’s chances in 2020.
With markets already skipping around, Trump tried to calm the fears of Wall Street with some shitposting, and by claiming the virus is a, "problem that's going to go away." However, last night the administration sent another $1.25 billion emergency funding request to Congress to combat the virus. So far the administration has had to ask for for $2.5 billion in emergency funding. The latest request, Vox explains, comes amid the administration's repeated cuts to public health programs and government research agencies, like the Center for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health.
Buzzfeed has brief rundown of the numbers of infected persons, and what they might mean as the virus continues to spread. Vice has a piece that downplays some of the panic by noting global health officials aren't completely stupid.
FACT CHECK: The World Health Organization is trying to stamp out nonsense associated with the virus by reminding people not to stereotype groups of people based on unfounded stigmas. Additionally, Snopes has a piece debunking a rambling social media post about the Chinese government secretly burning dead bodies. China has not started mass cremation in the city of Wuhan. While China has suspended burials in areas affected by the COVID-19 virus, the colorful maps floating around are actually coal plants emitting sulfur dioxide. It's rather improbable China is cremating enough bodies to make an observable sulfur heat map as humans are less than one percent sulfur (the other 99 percent is just old bong resin, coffee grounds and water).
BONUS: The WHO says there is still no scientific evidence that you can spread from your pets.
One More Thing...
The US is mulling over a proposals to create a digital currency. China is already fast at work at developing a state-backed digital currency to act as an analogue to its existing currency. Proponents think this is a great way to expand the reach over cryptocurrencies, eliminate a middle man in the banking industry, and create overall savings in a world that's increasingly less reliant upon physical currency. Skeptics argue digital currencies are still magical internet funny money, and their value, like all currency, is only as good as the faith people put into the system (which, in this case, includes a of shruggy emojis).
If we do have digital dollars, I vote we call them, “dollarydoos.”
OK, now here's a warm and fuzzy critter video: IT'S LULU!
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