January 1, Rivals Worry Sanders Is Building ‘Insurmountable’ Lead

This Day in History | 1980

The U.S. Men’s Hockey teams beats the Soviets during the Olympics in a game that would be eventually known as the miracle on ice.

Good morning Middle Americans, 

The Iowa Caucuses are today. And a lot of us are wondering if we are going to see the same kind of chaos in Navada, as we saw in Iowa. The other story we are closely watching is the delegate count.  Right now Mayor Pete Buttigieg is in the lead with 22. Bernie Sanders is right behind him with 21 and Bernie is expected to sail out to a huge delegate lead by Super Tuesday.  Some Democrats are wondering if it will be too hard to beat Sanders after Super Tuesday. 

Also the Bernie Sanders campaign got a warning from U.S. officials. It appears that the Russians are meddling in the 2020 Democratic campaign on behalf of Bernie Sanders. It’s clear how far the Russians have gone, or what they plan to do, besides a healthy amount of internet trolling.  Homeland security officials have given the same warning to the Trump campaign.  

With so much attention paid recently to the deadly and still-spreading coronavirus, you may have missed the news that a record breaking number of kids have died from the seasonal flu this year. And doctors aren’t exactly sure why. 

And finally today. Drink up. Craft beer lovers are enjoying the golden age of one of Americas favorite adult beverages. And while that might not sound new, the extent to which the craft beer renascence is spreading is. 

Cheers!

– Fraser Dixon 

Rivals Worry Sanders Building ‘Insurmountable’ Super Tuesday Lead

(The Hill) – Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) rivals are sounding the alarm over his growing strength and warning that he could effectively secure the presidential nomination on Super Tuesday if Democrats don’t quickly align behind an alternative.

The clock is ticking fast toward March 3, when about one-third of all delegates will be allocated after 14 states get to vote in the Democratic primary race.

While Sanders and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg have effectively split the delegate hauls from Iowa and New Hampshire, Sanders is the favorite to win the Nevada caucuses on Saturday.

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Bernie Sanders Briefed by U.S. Officials that Russia is Trying to Help His Presidential Campaign

(Washington Post) – U.S. officials have told Sen. Bernie Sanders that Russia is attempting to help his presidential campaign as part of an effort to interfere with the Democratic contest, according to people familiar with the matter.

President Trump and lawmakers on Capitol Hill also have been informed about the Russian assistance to the Vermont senator, those people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

It is not clear what form that Russian assistance has taken. U.S. prosecutors found a Russian effort in 2016 to use social media to boost Sanders’s campaign against Hillary Clinton, part of a broader effort to hurt Clinton, sow dissension in the American electorate and ultimately help elect Donald Trump. 

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A Record-Breaking 105 US Children have Died from Flu his Season

(CNN) – So far this season,105 children have died from the flu, according to data released Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is the highest number of child flu deaths at this point in the season since the CDC started keeping records in 2004, except for the 2009 flu pandemic.

It has been an “unusual” flu season with a higher proportion of children and young adults affected than the older population, according to Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

The earlier prevalence of influenza B — a flu strain that tends to be more common in children — could be a reason why more children were affected, Schaffner said. Also, as the number of influenza B cases decreased, the number of H1N1 cases increased, he said. H1N1 is a subtype of the influenza A strain, which also affects children more than adults.

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Craft Beers Surge in Popularity, with More than 7,000 Craft Brewers in U.S. Alone

(CBS News) -A lot of people came together to try a lot of beer this past fall in Denver, Colorado. The Great American Beer Festival welcomed more than 60,000 people, all looking to sample beers from around the world. 

The event’s attendance is just one example of the growing popularity of craft beer – beer made by small independent operations/brewers. In 2018, domestic sales reached a record $27.6 billion, representing 24% of the American beer market.

And according to the Brewers Association, there are 7,450 craft brewers in the United States alone, like Fargo Brewing in North Dakota, Bells in Michigan, and Shipyard in Maine. 

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