GAVIN NEWSOM is not my favorite politician. For years I made fun of him. I called him “Gavin Loathsome.” I refused to vote for him in the last election, left it blank. I hereby apologize.

I don’t know of anyone who would have done better in this scenario.

(On opening up). The bozos and Tea Party holdovers who are getting their kicks by demonstrating at the Courthouse are doing exactly NOTHING for their cause. How about letting the Public Heath professionals do THEIR jobs.? What a concept!

Here’s a prediction which I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else: I predict that 30% of the folks who are working at home will NOT end up back at the office. Some people really LIKE working from home (I didn’t ) and will persuade their employers to set them loose. We’ll see.

Our Fake President, on his interminable “briefings”, from CNN: Peter Baker summed things up nicely, writing in NYT, “The lure of cameras in the Rose Garden proved too hard to resist. For a president who relishes the spotlight and spends hours a day watching television, the idea of passing on his daily chance to get his message out turned out to be untenable despite his anger over his coverage.”

MIKE PENCE IS AN IDIOT as evidenced by recent reporting. Read it HERE.

AND SO IS THE SON-IN- LAW: From POLITICO: ONE MILLION INFECTED AND NEAR 60K DEAD … JARED KUSHNER on “Fox and Friends” this morning: “Again, we’re on the other side of the medical aspect of this and I think that we’ve achieved all the different milestones that are needed. So, the government, federal government rose to the challenge and this is a great success story and I think that that’s really what needs to be told.” Yes, he actually said,”A great success story”.

THE BIDEN THING:

The WaPo editorial board on Wednesday called for Joe Biden to address Tara Reade’s allegation of sexual assault. The newspaper’s editorial board, in a piece titled “Biden himself should address the Tara Reade allegations and release relevant records,” wrote that she “deserves to be heard, and voters deserve to hear her.” WaPo added, “They deserve to hear from Joe Biden, too.”

WaPo noted that Trump has been accused of sexual assault by dozens of women. “It may seem unfair to hold Mr. Trump’s likely rival in the 2020 race to a standard that Mr. Trump has failed to meet again and again,” the editorial board acknowledged. “But Mr. Trump shouldn’t be allowed to set that standard. A better man could.”

Here’s Ted Lieu’s TWEET OF THE DAY: Rep. @TedLieu responds to conservative pundit Ben Shapiro downplaying elderly deaths: “My parents are not expendable. Senior citizens across America are not expendable. The callousness of some Republicans and those on the right with regards to human life is appalling. The first duty of government is to protect its people, and that includes senior citizens.”

And from the NYT:

“Empathy has never been considered one of Mr. Trump’s political assets. He views public displays of sadness as weakness and has made a point of stressing resolve, even at the risk of overlooking the deep pain afflicting so much of the country. His favorite words in his televised appearances of recent weeks are ‘powerful’ and ‘strong.’ He talks of ‘incredible’ days ahead without dwelling on the miserable days of now. He plans fireworks while Americans plan funerals.” — TO WIT, WITH 60,000 DEAD … TRUMP, in the White House on Thursday: “Our death totals, our numbers, per million people, are really very, very strong. We’re very proud of the job we’ve done.”

The New York Times is running an introductory special, $4 per month for the first year, which is a real deal compared to the usual price. For comparison, I pay about $130 a year for the New Yorker and about $120 for the Washington Post. I’m glad not to have to go without any of them during this hideous election year.