4 March 2020 — 1539 mst

It’s been an eventful 36 hours

Sometimes one big news story after another in a narrow time frame jackhammers the brain into near numbness. The last 36 hours was one of those times.

• Joe Biden’s campaign sprang from the grave and now may bury Bernie under an avalanche of nostalgia for the Wall Steet dominated Obama administration.


• Steve Bullock now seems inclined to take a crack at the senate seat currently occupied by Steve Daines. If so, he’ll nullify the good faith hard work by John Mues, Wilmot Collins, Cora Neumann, and John Knoles. And there’s no guarantee he can beat Daines.


• Democratic gubernatorial candidate Whitney Williams tapped 67-year-old barley farmer Buzz Mattelin for her running mate. It’s an odd choice, but consistent with her attitude that experience in elective office is a detriment to winning the affection of the voters. I'm voting for Cooney — he knows how to govern — but I'm going to ride him hard until he begins asserting that health care is a human right.


• Fear of Wuhan Fever, exacerbated by bumbling by the Centers for Disease Control and Trump’s inability to comprehend public health science and policy, seems to be affecting behavior in the Flathead. Yesterday, I could not find a store in Kalispell with hand sanitizer or isopropyl alcohol in stock. At one store, the shelves holding paper towels and bumwad were partially denuded.


• Incidentally, don’t try to substitute denatured alcohol for isopropyl. The denaturing agent is methanol, which is highly toxic. I’ll leave it to our medical authorities to identify substitute disinfectants. In the meantime, use soap and water (not that easy on the road; I know).

I’ll have more on these and other subjects tomorrow.