Columnists

Wow! Over a four day span, stretching from the South Carolina Democratic Primary to the conclusion of "Super Tuesday," Joe Biden vaulted from the position of a marginal Democratic presidential candidate to the frontrunner. The 538 website now predicts that Biden has a 93 percent chance of winning the Democratic nomination. Here's my assessment of Biden's pros and cons.

The latest Real Clear Politics summary of national polls shows Biden beating Trump by an average of 6.3 percent. Nonetheless, we remember all too well that Clinton led Trump throughout a long and agonizing campaign and then lost the election, courtesy of the electoral college. Uncle Joe can beat Trump but it's far from certain. -more-

It is intrinsic in human nature that people will have incorrect beliefs. People will always have incorrect beliefs. A million years from now, if humans survive long enough to evolve into something better, those descendants will have incorrect beliefs. The human mind, and at a likely guess, the mind of any creature, terrestrial or otherwise, has a representation of truth, but not truth itself. This is analogous to looking at a map versus navigating the terrain that the map represents. -more-

Coronavirus: Some Jaw-dropping Advice

A Bay Area radio reporter covering a coronavirus-driven mob-shopping event at a CostCo in Novato asked a number of participants about their thoughts on the spiraling outbreak of the contagion. One woman said she heard alcohol was effective against the disease "so I'm stocking up on wine."

Another lady advised against overreacting to the threat of the fast-spreading Wuhan virus. Her advice: "Everyone just needs to stay calm, slow down, relax, and take a deep breath."

I'm mot sure about that last part. -more-

Both South Korea and the U.S. knew about the coronavirus (COVID-19) as early as January this year. Since then, South Korea has tested more than 140,000 for COVID-19 whereas the U.S. has only tested about 5,000 because of the lack of tests. -more-

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s latest gamble in Syria’s civil war appears to have come up snake eyes. Instead of halting the Damascus government’s siege of the last rebel held province, Idlib, Turkey has backed off, and Ankara’s Syrian adventure is fueling growing domestic resistance to the powerful autocrat. -more-