#RiggedDNC is making a comeback: #RiggedDNC and #RiggedPrimary were trending on Twitter Wednesday morning while Trump took to Twitter to complain about how "the Democrat establishment came together and crushed Bernie Sanders, AGAIN!" "We can say two things," writes Aaron Blake for The Washington Post about the rigged argument. "One is that the argument is severely overcooked. And the second is that this is exactly the kind of thing that Russia wants—and has actively encouraged."
The Democrat establishment came together and crushed Bernie Sanders, AGAIN! Even the fact that Elizabeth Warren stayed in the race was devastating to Bernie and allowed Sleepy Joe to unthinkably win Massachusetts. It was a perfect storm, with many good states remaining for Joe!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2020
“I was certainly glad to see Bernie crash and burn,” said Rep. Juan Vargas (D-California) after Biden emerged as the clear frontrunner after a super Super Tuesday. A bunch of other House Democrats expressed similar sentiments.
Pornhub will release its first non-adult film: That film is filmmaker Leilah Weinraub's Shakedown, a documentary about black lesbian strip club culture. I saw the film in 2017 when it came through for the Seattle Queer Film Festival and loved it. You can watch it for free during the month of March on Pornhub here. The acquisition signals a potential new phase for the porn site, which gets about 115 million visits per day. After being on Pornhub, Shakedown will be broadcast on the Criterion Channel. Jumping from Pornhub to the Criterion Channel is about as cool of a move as I could imagine.
Since I don't think this has been posted on the blog yet: Never forget. I guess we can look forward to a lot more of these gaffes.
Burn this place down to the ground pic.twitter.com/6fzKYjjmS4
— Nastaran (@NasMohit) March 4, 2020
Today's coronavirus updates: The big news today is Pence's announcement that he's coming to Washington state tomorrow.
• King County Executive Dow Constantine in a press conference today encouraged employers to allow employees to work from home and to consider telecommuting. Additionally, Constantine announced that the county would be canceling all nonessential meetings for three weeks. He asked that all community groups cancel or postpone meetings of more than 10 people. The overall message: stay home, especially if you are sick or elderly.
• Schools won't be closed, according to Seattle & King County Public Health Director Patty Hayes. Children are not a high-risk group. Cancellations are up to local schools and school systems.
• On Wednesday the Department of Health announced another death in King County, raising the statewide death toll to 10. The Seattle area continues to be the hardest hit region in the country from the coronavirus, with over 230 people currently under supervision for the virus and 39 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state.
• Vice President Mike Pence stated his intentions to travel to Washington on Thursday to meet with Gov. Jay Inslee.
• King County Metro announced a new daily cleaning program for the agency's 1,600 buses which they say will better protect riders from contracting the novel coronavirus.
DON'T LICK YOUR ENVELOPES: Washington officials are asking voters not to lick the envelopes used for mail-in ballots. What should you use instead? “We are recommending that voters, instead of licking their envelopes, they use a wet sponge or cloth to seal them,” a spokeswoman for the Washington secretary of state’s office told the Seattle Times.
“January 1 in Wuhan was March 1 in Seattle,” estimates computational biologist Trevor Bedford. “Now would be the time to start these interventions rather than waiting three weeks.” An assistant professor at Northeastern University’s Network Science Institute agreed with this estimate: “I think it’s unequivocal that there is widespread community transmission in Seattle and they have to take decisive action now."
Looking for films to watch while you're stuck at home? Don't miss Scarecrow Video's Favorites of the 2010s list, which is *chef's kiss*. Here's a snippet:
1. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015, George Miller)
2. GET OUT (2017, Jordan Peele)
3. THE FLORIDA PROJECT (2017, Sean Baker)
4. INHERENT VICE (2014, Paul Thomas Anderson)
5. ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (2019, Quentin Tarantino)
6. GREEN ROOM (2015, Jeremy Saulnier)
7. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014, Wes Anderson)
8. THE MASTER (2012, Paul Thomas Anderson)
9. MOONLIGHT (2016, Barry Jenkins)
10. THE TREE OF LIFE (2011, Terrence Malick)
Browse the rest of them here.
Sanders dropped three new ads in the wake of Super Tuesday: This one, featuring Obama feeling the Bern, got a lot of attention.
Is Bernie cozying up with the establishment? On MSNBC this afternoon, Joe Biden's senior advisor, Symone Sanders (who was the national press secretary for Bernie Sanders's campaign in 2016), suggested the ad was hypocritical considering Sanders's past critiques of Obama. Sanders defended the ad by saying "I worked with [Obama] and respect him," and accused his opponents of misrepresenting his relationship with Obama for political gain.
“In 2012, it was Sen. Sanders who noted that Obama had actually been a disappointment...He hadn’t gone far enough on a number of issues and topics, and said that it wouldn’t be too bad if he had a primary opponent.”
— Biden adviser on Sanders' ad touting relationship with Obama pic.twitter.com/s1g0kTgMlA
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) March 5, 2020
What's going on with Elizabeth Warren? TBA. She hasn't made any public appearances today.
The Washington State Senate passed a bill to appropriate $100 million to the Department of Health to help combat the spread of the novel coronavirus. The Senate stood for a moment of silence in honor of the 10 Washingtonians lost to the disease. After adding an amendment to “ensure Washingtonians can access unemployment benefits without meeting the work search requirement if they are under quarantine or isolation during the outbreak,” the bill now bounces back to the House for confirmation before being sent to the governor’s desk for a signature.
Things are bleak: But at least we have a new music video from the Dixie Chicks.
Stranger senior staff writer Rich Smith contributed to this post.