January 1, Dems Trade Shots in Sloppy Charleston Debate

This Day in History | 1993

The World Trade Center in bombed by radical islamic terrorist. Although the terrorist bomb failed to critically damage the main structure of the skyscrapers, six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured.

Good morning Middle Americans, 

Well that was ugly and completely out of control. The New York Post called it a “scrappy schoolyard screaming match.” Bloomberg didn’t blow it this time. Biden had some signature gaffes, but did ok. And Bernie did Bernie, once again defending Fidel Castro’s regime, kinda. 

If you missed the train wreck that was last night’s debate we have a link for you below. 

We also have another look at how bad the division in the Democratic party really is. Bloomberg campaign offices all over the country have been vandalized with graffiti. 

It looks like another down day for global stock markets as the reality of China’s coronavirus problem starts to take root. 

And the NTSB says a fatal Tesla crash was the result of a driver distracted by a video game. Just a reminder that we don’t have autonomous autos quite yet. 

Read all about it.

– Fraser Dixon

Democratic Debate: Chaos Reigns as Shouting Match Breaks out in South Carolina

(NY Post) – The South Carolina presidential Democratic debate quickly devolved into a scrappy schoolyard screaming match on Tuesday night — all of the candidates furiously talking over each other as the CBS moderators seemed helpless to do anything about it.

CBS News moderators Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell struggled to keep the unruly seven candidates in line as they rushed to attack Bernie Sanders who they now realize is on an unstoppable march to the nomination.

At one point, all of the candidates were wildly flapping their hands and yelling over each other before former veep Joe Biden chastised their on-stage decorum.

“I guess the only way to do this is jump in and speak twice as long as you should,” Biden said as ex South Bend-mayor Pete Buttigieg went on a long sermon about how Sanders would cost Democrats the House majority, a statistic based on polling conducted by Bloomberg’s campaign.

Watch the debate here

Related: (NY Times) – With Tickets $1,750, Debate Audiences Are Elite of the Elite

Vandalism hits Bloomberg Campaign Offices Across the U.S.

(NBC News) – At least seven of Mike Bloomberg’s campaign offices have been vandalized over the last two weeks, campaign officials say, in a string of incidents that the Bloomberg campaign has blamed without evidence on Bernie Sanders’ supporters.

In the latest case, discovered early Monday morning, a Chicago office was graffitied with the words “racist,” “sexist,” and “oligarch” spray-painted in red on the windows of the building. Other vandalism at offices in Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee have referenced Bloomberg’s wealth and stop-and-frisk policing policy.

See the pictures here

Coronavirus Fears Spook Markets as Outbreak Spreads; France, Iran Report New Deaths

(Washington Post) – European financial markets fell sharply Wednesday and U.S. futures tilted lower as the economic costs of the coronavirus spooked investors, a day after the Dow Jones industrial average slumped to its largest two-day percentage decline in two years.

London’s FTSE 100 index fell 1.7 percent, while the benchmark Stoxx Europe 600 shed 2.4 percent and U.S. crude-oil prices slid toward $49 a barrel. Earlier, losses in Asia were milder, with Tokyo ending the day down 0.8 percent and Hong Kong closing 0.7 percent lower.

While economic alarms flashed, there was little sign that the epidemic was relenting after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned of the “inevitable” spread of the coronavirus in the United States.

Read more here

NTSB: Driver in Fatal Tesla Crash was Playing Video Game

(San Francisco Chronicle) – Tesla’s partially automated driving system steered an electric SUV into a concrete barrier on a Silicon Valley freeway because it was operating under conditions it couldn’t handle and because the driver likely was distracted by playing a game on his smartphone, the National Transportation Safety Board has found.

The board made the determination Tuesday in the fatal crash, and provided nine new recommendations to prevent partially automated vehicle crashes in the future. Among the recommendations is for tech companies to design smartphones and other electronic devices so they don’t operate if they are within a driver’s reach, unless it’s an emergency.

Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the problem of drivers distracted by smartphones will keep spreading if nothing is done.

“If we don’t get on top of it, it’s going to be a coronavirus,” he said in calling for government regulations and company policies prohibiting driver use of smartphones.

Read more here