DON JONES INDEX…

GAINS POSTED in GREEN

LOSSES POSTED in RED

2/5/21… 13,847.97 11/29/21… 13,832.16

6/27/13… 15,000.00

DOW JONES INDEX: 2/12/21…30,982.22; 1/29/21…30,603.36; 6/27/13…15,000.00)

LESSON for February 5, 2021 – “THIS, THAT and th’OTHER!”

It’s been a year since a still-unidentified man flounced back to Snohomish, Washington from his chataqua in China with a l’il hitchhiking buddy, a golf-ball shaped, invisible pocket of plague studded with little grabbers and snatchers as looked like the crowns on a Mad King’s head, and was thus dubbed Coronavirus-19 (the 19 being for the reason that it had first rolled into Wuhan somewhere in middle to later 2019, probably transmitted from an infected bat such as those Chinese like to eat when they aren’t consuming their chop suey or Peking Duck.

This year… 2020 and the first full month of ’21… has brought America under the thumb of two toxic critters – the aforementioned virus and President (now-Ex) Donald J. Trump. And, in consequence, most of the spleen splattered over these Lessons has had to do with one or the other of these organisms – sometimes the both in the instance of particularly dismal tidings waving from the White House; adventures like denying that there even was a plague in the first place or that, if there was, it could be cured by drinking bleach.

The plague is ever with us, and is likely to be so for a long, long time… longer by far than even the eminent Doctors Fauci, Birx, Ashton, Jah and Giggles have so far dared to predict… rather like the influenza pandemics that recur every year with the difference being that this plague is far more communicable, lethal and variable than even the Spanish infection of a century ago. It’s likely to be coming back every year – each mutant strain being more communicable and more lethal than the last until, sometime in the 2030’s or 40’s or longer, it starts to lose its potency and slowly sinks back into the uncomfortable but survivable status of the ordinary influenza variants as crop up every winter. Except this one, CV-19, is a year-round plague in which the latest developments… like that Israeli fellow who caught and survived the first wave of the distemper has now contracted one of the variants (the British or South African or, now, that new kid on the block, the Brazilian). Month after month, year after year, probably decade after decade, we will be hearing the same old oatmeal from the same old experts, until they die and are replaced by new experts… wear your masks, wash your hands, avoid other human beings, don’t travel by plane, train or automobile. No dancing in smoky places, romancing in shadowy corners. No more nights in smoke-free bars, lifting a few or looking for a hookup, no more big budget movies in big movie theaters, no more Broadway, no rock, soul, rap, jazz, country or live classical music, no more Mardi Gras or New Years or the fireworks on a Fourth of July except what’s to be had on television (or what replaces it by 2050).

We’d like to say no more Donald Trump, too, but that’s even less likely to go away soon – so long as the conditions and determinations that created MAGA survive and survive his eventual demise. Once the hullaballoo over the next failed, strange impeachment ebbs (absent the wholly viable indictment of Djonald UnPresidented for any one of numerous state, local or Federal crimes that plants him in the pokey) he will, as he said, be back in 2024 (much to the distress of the Republicans) and every four years thereafter until he finally expires, after which Don Junior picks up the standard and dons the red hat… in a nod to diversity… Ivanka throws hers into the sewer, or Jared. America is probably not ready for Erik… but who can foretell the future, based on the reversals that 2020 brought us? And even if the family falters, there are plenty of mini-Trumps ready to step up and shriek… Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Mike Lindell, that QAzy Congresslady from Georgia or, speaking of shrieking, the loud woman married to Don Junior.

As long as the races and classes, the reds and the blues, the coasts and the heartland, the Americans who crack open boiled eggs by the big or little ends all hate one another, Trumpism will bluster onwards.

If a pandemic, a crashed economy, an election either stolen by reptilian cannibal child molesters or hacked and cracked by the devious sons of Uncle Joe (the first) and Fu Manchu can’t bring Americans together, what can?

So, with the plague still plague-ing along and the bum-peachment wheezing and coughing down the road as ex-President Trump scours the scrublands for a lawyer he can tolerate (and who can tolerate him) let’s take a week off and direct the attention of Don Jones to Other Things… things which have been sort of lost in the haze of the Deploring Twenties; things which, in Other Times, would make Americans sit up, rub their eyes and cry out with pleasure or pain.

Let’s start with those ten Republican Senators traipsing through the snow down to the White House, to try and persuade President Biden that what America needs is $600B worth of stimulus money as opposed to the 1.9B that Joe and the Democrats believe it needs.

For Biden, there’s little about checks to debate. He told voters at a rally on Jan. 4, a day before Georgia elected Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff to replace two Republicans in the Senate: “Their election will put an end to the block in Washington on that $2,000 stimulus check, that money that will go out the door immediately to people who are in real trouble.”

Now he has to deliver or face the consequences. The president regards the checks as not only a political imperative, but good policy: a clear demonstration that the federal government can directly help ordinary Americans, far better than a more intangible benefit such as a tax credit, according to the people familiar with the matter.

The group of 10 Republicans who came up with the $618 billion Covid-19 proposal were led by a few moderates who have seemed eager to negotiate with Biden. But Vox (2/1… See Attachments 3A and B) contends that the entire group of senators ran “the ideological gamut from moderate to conservative,” (but no QAnonstarters) and included:

Susan Collins (R-ME)

Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)

Bill Cassidy (R-LA)

Mitt Romney (R-UT)

Rob Portman (R-OH)

Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV)

Todd Young (R-IN)

Jerry Moran (R-KS)

Mike Rounds (R-SD)

Thom Tillis (R-NC)

The meeting lasted roughly two hours, and Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) said the two sides explained their proposals further and agreed to keep talking. Nine senators joined in person, with Sen. Mike Rounds (R., S.D.) attending remotely. (See Wall Street Journal, 2/2) Collins told the Chicago Tribune that the meeting had been “frank and very useful” despite majority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) dismissing the cash payouts to American families as “socialism for rich people.”

“It was a good meeting, nothing contentious, it was all kind of matter of fact. Ours is about $600 billion. ... We're targeted to the needs of the American people," Senator Bill Cassidy, one of the 10 senators, told "Fox News Sunday."

The alt-conservative Newsmax, noting that “(m)any Democrats say that former President Barack Obama squandered the Democratic legislative advantage early in his presidency by engaging with Republicans who rejected stimulus and health-care legislation despite efforts to court their vote,” raised the possibility of the party’s left flank – which supported progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the presidential primary – has long expressed concern Biden is too worried about maintaining collegial relations with his former colleagues in the Senate and charting a moderate path.

But the White House has signaled that Biden at least will enter the meeting planning to stick to his guns.

“The risk is not going too small, but not being big enough,” Psaki told Newsmax, adding that “the size of the package needs to be commensurate with the crisis we’re facing.”

So Newsmax went out into the world looking for a surrogate… and found one in Trump’s former budget director Mick Mulvany.

President Joe Biden is an "extraordinarily weak leader" who does not have the political capital to achieve a bipartisan coronavirus stimulus bill, according to Mick Mulvaney, former President Donald Trump's Office of Management and Budget director.

"Bipartisanship is more difficult than people realize," Mulvaney said on Fox Business' "Mornings With Maria" adding that former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were successful because they could get members of their own parties to do what they did not want to do.

"Nobody voted for Joe Biden," said Mulvaney in an interview with the alt-conservative rag Newsmax. "They voted against Donald Trump. Biden comes in without a lot of political capital within his own party. His own personality may lead you to think he wants to be bipartisan and cut deals, but he doesn't have the power to get his party to do that."

Instead, Democrats will end up trying to force a COVID-19 relief bill through themselves, said Mulvaney.

Also noted in the WSJ, conservative dems Joe Manchin (WVa) and Jon Tester (Mt) expressing stimsupport… Tester saying that, if “…push comes to shove, and it doesn’t get changed, I’ll vote for the $1.9.” Sen. Joe Manchin had privately said Mr. Biden’s plan is too large but on Monday, after Jim Justice, the Republican governor of West Virginia, said Congress shouldn’t be shy about spending money on relief, he joined the rest of the party.

“If we actually throw away some money right now, so what? We have really got to move and get people taken care of and get people back on balance,” Gov. Justice said on CNN.

If President Joe was able to win support for his package from the 10 Republicans he’s met with, he would avoid a possible filibuster by the GOP, and Democrats would be able to avoid employing reconciliation, which can carry political repercussions.

Jared Bernstein, a member of Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers, said Tuesday it was “very good” to see the bipartisan discussion Monday evening but reiterated that the White House’s goal is to get a large rescue package passed quickly.

“If this stops with a good meeting, it’s not going to begin to meet the urgent needs of the American people,” Bernstein said on MSNBC. “We’ve got to get there quickly, and we’ve got to get there with a magnitude of the proposal that’s the American Rescue Plan. The danger here is not doing too much. It’s doing too little.”

Many Democrats say that former President Barack Obama squandered a legislative advantage early in his presidency by engaging with Republicans who rejected stimulus and health-care initiatives despite efforts to court their vote. And the party’s left flank – which supported progressives like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren in the presidential primaries – has long expressed concern Biden is too worried about maintaining collegial relations with his former Senate colleagues and charting a moderate path.

Cassidy complimented Biden’s approach to the talks, comparing him favorably with his GOP predecessor.

“Somebody once said you can see President Trump ran a bunch of hotels because when you’re there, he’s very gracious and kind of pulls you in. Similarly with President Biden but clearly their styles are very different, without saying,” Cassidy said. “So both of them made you feel welcome. President Biden went more towards, ‘Let’s look at the data. O.K., our data may disagree but let’s get back to you.”’

Recent history has shown that talks between the White House and opposition lawmakers can take unexpected pathways.

Here are the warring parties’ stances on the $1,400 stimulus checks and extended unemployment, nutrition and eviction aid, and longer-term changes, such as a $15 hourly minimum wage, and a few comments… as noted in the fake media…

THE ISSUE	THE DEMOCRATS SAY	THE REPUBLICANS SAY
THE MINIMUM WAGE	Cost (CNN): $15/hr.	Cost (CNN): Remain $7.25/hr.
“Gone are Democratic priorities such as a gradual lifting of the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour.” - CHICAGO TRIBUNE “If Biden were able to win support for his package from the 10 Republicans he’s meeting with, he would avoid a possible filibuster by members of the GOP. Democrats would also be able to avoid employing a parliamentary technique called reconciliation that would allow them to avoid the filibuster and pass legislation along party lines, but restricts the bill to provisions related to taxation and spending. That could make it difficult for the White House to include a minimum wage increase in the final legislation.” - NEWSMAX
STIMULUS CHECKS	Cost (CNN): $465B ($1,400 to Americans earning less than $75,000)	Cost (CNN): $220B ($1,000 to Americans earning less than $50,000)
At least two of the president’s top economic advisers, Heather Boushey and David Kamin, have privately expressed reservations about the size of the checks and at what level they would begin to phase out for higher-income people, according to three people familiar with internal discussions. The aides worry that the checks will cost so much that there won’t be enough left over in Biden’s proposed pandemic relief bill for other priorities -- supplemental unemployment benefits, an expanded child tax credit, or aid to states and local governments, the people said. - BLOOMBERG BUSINESS Under the Democratic plan, assuming the same income thresholds as in December, 84.3% of households would get the full payments while 8.4% would get partial payments. The Republican version, in addition to offering smaller payments, would reach fewer people. The full payment would go to 62.8% of households while 8.5% would get partial payments. - Kyle Pomerleau of the AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE
EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT	Cost (CNN): $350B ($400 mo. Max through September NYT)	Cost (CNN): $132B ($300 mo. Max through June NYT)
Republicans have some money for unemployment insurance, though they support a smaller weekly enhancement and would extend supplemental funding for less time than Democrats would. Republicans’ plan would maintain $300 in weekly enhanced UI through June, while Biden’s proposal would provide $400 in weekly enhanced UI through September. A current weekly UI enhancement is set to expire on March 14, so Congress must pass an extension of the program to ensure that people are able to keep receiving these benefits.
NUTRITION AID	Cost (CNN): $160B	Cost (CNN): $160B
EVICTION AID	Cost (CNN): Unknown	Cost (CNN): $12B
SCHOOL AID	Cost (CNN): $130B	Cost (CNN): $20B
There’s much less in the Republican plan for school reopenings: $20 billion versus the $130 billion allocated in Biden’s proposal.
SMALL BUSINESS AID	Cost (CNN): $50B	Cost (CNN): $50B
CHILD CARE	Cost (CNN): $40	Cost (CNN): $20
The GOP proposal contains half as much funding for child care as Biden’s, with $20 billion dedicated to the Child Care and Development Block Grant program. Biden’s, meanwhile, had $15 billion allocated to this same program, and another $25 billion for an emergency stabilization fund for child care providers.
MENTAL HEALTH	Cost (CNN): $4	Cost (CNN): $4
RENTAL ASSISTANCE	Cost (CNN): $30	Cost (CNN): Unknown, if any
EVICTION PROTECTION	Extended to September 30th	Unknown, if any
AID for STATES/CITIES	Cost (CNN): $370	Cost (CNN): Nothing
The Biden plan has $350 billion allocated to help states and local governments meet budget shortfalls, and cover costs for everything from teacher salaries to public transportation systems. Republicans’ plan, however, does not address this issue whatsoever — an approach (Vox contends) that could put states in a treacherous financial position moving forward.
CHILD TAX CREDIT	Cost (CNN): $120 B	Cost (CNN): Unknown, if any
Biden’s proposal called for raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. It’s an important Democratic priority, though it’s not necessarily a Covid-19-related one. This is one of the proposals Republicans are least likely to get on board with — and one it’s not clear Democrats can do on their own.
EARNED INCOME TAX Cr.	Cost (CNN): Increase to $1,500 yr. for childless adult, raise inc. limit to $21,000 yr. Cost unknown	Cost (CNN): Unknown, if any
HEALTH INSUR. SUBSIDY	Cost (CNN): Thru ACA, cost unknown. Veterans’ benefit: $20B	Cost (CNN): Unknown, if any
EMERGENCY PAID LEAVE	Cost (CNN): Employer paid, reimburse small businesses (under 500 employees)	Cost (CNN): None

With narrow control in the House and Senate, many Democrats are eager to pass provisions that were excluded from previous bipartisan relief efforts, and they have the power to do it. On Monday the top Democrats on Capitol Hill, House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer introduced a budget resolution that kicks off a process that would allow Democrats to write and pass the legislation with a simple majority in the Senate, instead of 60 votes.

“It makes no sense to pinch pennies when so many Americans are struggling,” Mr. Schumer said Monday.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), the incoming Finance Committee chairman, said the Republican proposal was too small and didn’t offer a long enough extension to unemployment benefits.

Democrats would need to use a procedure called reconciliation to get a bill through Congress without having to rely on Republican votes, but such a move is limited to measures with budgetary impact. A bill with 10 Republican votes in the Senate could move faster and avoid some of the quirky constraints (italics – DJI) inherent in Now that the House and Senate have approved (at least the Democrats plus VP Harris have) slightly differing version, a “reconciliation” process must occur. The only recourse left to the minority party, according to Bloomberg (see Attachment Five) are qualified.

Any senator can challenge any part of a reconciliation as extraneous by raising a point of order or offering an amendment to strike the provision. The Senate parliamentarian rules on whether the objection is valid; if so, the offending provision is typically deleted from the bill. While the Senate has traditionally deferred to the rulings of the parliamentarian on interpreting arcane rules, the actual ruling is made by the chair -- which, when Democrats need her in the chamber, will be Harris, the vice president. It would take 51 senators to overturn a ruling of the chair, and Republicans only have 50 votes. Budgets are also subject to what is known as a vote-a-rama, when senators can offer theoretically unlimited amendments to try and force Democrats to take tough votes. At some point, however, Harris could shut down those efforts as dilatory.

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., endorsed the reconciliation strategy, saying in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Wednesday that Democrats “can’t wait” and “there is an urgency to this.”

In a separate interview on “Morning Joe,” Manchin, who voted Tuesday to move forward with the reconciliation process, warned that he doesn’t want Democrats to go it alone and ignore Republicans. “I want it to be bipartisan,” he told NBC News, adding that his GOP colleagues will have the opportunity to amend the bill on the Senate floor.

The White House is aiming to get a Covid-19 relief bill passed by March 14, which is when extended unemployment benefits will expire for millions of Americans, a senior administration official said Tuesday. The official made clear that Democrats are willing to use the process to avoid needing 60 votes to overcome a filibuster.

For their part, ABC News said that Biden had admitted an openness to “targeting” the relief checks, but not reducing them.

Earlier Wednesday morning, had Biden hosted his fellow Delawareans, Sens. Chris Coons and Tom Carper, in the Oval Office. Following the hour-long meeting, Coons relayed that the president would continue to move forward with negotiations on policy, but would stand firm on his promise to deliver the stimulus to working families.

"We did have a conversation about the direct payments and how those might be modified in a way to ensure that they are targeted, but President Biden was clear with us and our caucus yesterday, he's not going to forget the middle class," Coons said. "He's not going to walk back from a commitment made not just to Georgia (during that runoff election where the donkey boys gained the necessary two seats to control, with Kamala’s tiebreaker, the Senate), but nationally to deliver targeted relief to those Americans most in need."

On Wednesday, House Democrats voted to set the stage for party-line approval of President Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill, heeding the president’s calls for swift action on his first big agenda item — but without the bipartisan unity he promised.

The 218-to-212 nearly party-line vote approved a budget bill that would unlock special rules in the Senate allowing Biden’s relief package to pass with a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes usually needed. The Senate is expected to take action on the same legislation later in the week in a process that may be called reconciliation, but is nearer to imposition of Joe-ish law.

With the budget resolutions in place, Democrats would be able to get to work in earnest on writing Biden’s proposed relief bill into law — and ultimately pass it without any Republican votes if necessary, though they continued to insist that is not their preference.

The “budget reconciliation” bills passing this week simply set spending levels for committees and instruct them to report back with legislation, so the real fights over the contents of the package are still to come, according to Wednesday’s late WashPost. “Those are likely to be fierce, even if it’s just Democrats fighting among themselves, because Democrats have a narrow majority in the House and the Senate is split 50-50 between the parties, with Vice President Harris’s tiebreaking vote giving Democrats the majority.”

If Republicans stay united against Biden’s proposal, as is looking likely, any individual Democratic senator will have outsize influence to make demands. Already, says the Post, the Biden team has been working with aides to Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.), the most conservative Senate Democrat (See Attachment Two), who has raised whether the relief package could be more targeted.

Despite the GOP criticism of the partisan “budget reconciliation” approach, Posties called it a tool both parties have used. “Republicans used budget reconciliation to pass their big tax-cut bill after President Donald Trump took office. And Obama used it for key legislation to amend the Affordable Care Act, after months of fruitless negotiations with Republicans yielded no GOP support for the ACA — another lesson for Biden from the Obama years.”

“Let’s stick together, I have your back and I hope you’ll have mine,” Biden told House Democrats in his first meeting with the group since taking office. He made an emotional case for quick action, citing the alarming rate of suicides and worsening drug addictions amid the pandemic, telling his legions that the Republican one-third offer “was not even in the cards.”

“Nothing in this resolution should come as a surprise,” House Budget Chair John Yarmuth said of GOP criticism that Democrats are preparing to jam through an expensive and “radical liberal wish list.”

“We cannot afford to slow down,” Yarmuth told Politico as Washington slipped into a deep, cold twilight Wednesday, noting that every piece of the final coronavirus package will pull from Biden’s proposals and legislation pitched by House Democrats. “We need to hurry the hell up.”

Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, complained that, “Democrats in Washington are setting up a partisan process to have the vice president cast the decisive vote in the Senate on an array of radical policies.”

“Their plans are to try to use this pandemic to seize more government control of your life,” he said.

ABC also reported, later that day, that an amended version of the bill, also passed the House – this time in a 219-209 vote, unlocking the next phase in drafting the COVID-19 rescue package.

Maine Rep. Jared Golden was the only Democrat to vote no.

"I believe the American people are looking right now to their government for help, to do our job, to not let them down. So I'm going to act. I'm going to act fast. I'd like to be doing it with the support of Republicans ... they're just not willing to go as far as I think we have to go."

The speech solidified a shift from a president who entered the White House pledging bipartisanship and met on Monday with 10 Republican senators who proposed a slimmed-down $618 billion alternative.

But Biden concluded in his Friday speech that aid at that level would only prolong the economic pain.

His remarks came several hours after the Senate had approved a budgetary measure that would let Democrats pass the plan without Republicans. Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate, her first.
Senate Democrats applauded after Harris announced the 51-50 vote at around 5:30 a.m. The action came after a grueling all-night session, where senators voted on amendments that could define the contours of the eventual COVID-19 aid bill.

The budget now returns to the House, where it will likely be approved again, ABC predicted (see Attachment Four) to reflect the changes made by the Senate. The measure can then work its way through committees so that additional relief can be finalized by mid-March, when extra unemployment assistance and other pandemic aid expires. It's an aggressive timeline that will test the ability of the new administration and Congress to deliver.

"We have been focused like a laser on getting this done," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after leading Democrats in the House met with Biden Friday. "We hope to be able to put vaccines in people’s arms, money in people's pockets, children safely in schools and workers in their jobs. That's what we are doing now."

(Presumably, the speaker was not referring to one of those “Jewish lasers” allegedly used against Americans and referenced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Qa) whose tribunal for weirdness was also taking place, as were preparations for Impeach Two, beginning next week. Congress, understandably, is moving along at a pace that would impress… if not please… even Senate Minority Leader Mitchy.)

That first other that… that bein’ Mister Trump’s impeachment from that job the voters fired him from… is just movin’ along – three days, maybe four unless Djonald Unlawyered can get his third set of shysters to make their case that they need more time to establish their defense from the indefensible and force another delay, which outcome wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference as to the trial’s outcome.

Maybe if he were squatting in a county jail, eating the green baloney and getting cornholed every night by the likes of MS-13, black guerrilla family, his own white nationalist people as turned on him after he turned on them, or some of those incarcerated cartel boy in el carcel… maybe some of his few surviving friends like, you know, like anybody could impress upon Chuck Schumer to speed things up a tad and spring the stable genius from his stable. But the matter has been speeded up already (would that vaxxing could be speeded up to only half the velocity of Impeach Two) and both sides, already knowing the outcome, are just wanting to get it over and get those supposed to be running the country get back to their day jobs of running the country.

With his Senate trial upcoming next week, the Ex President did what he does best – stir up more chaos. He fired his second gang of lawyers, a quintet of comedians with the effrontery to ask him not to testify at his trial and ramble on about the stolen election and, instead, shut up and let the case be decided on Constitutional merits.

Out they went! (See Attachment Seven)

Finally, Djonald Unlawyered dredged up a pair of shysters comparable to the Mayor of Punxsatawny reaching down into the groundhog burrow and pulling out… a rat.

These were not, as one might believe, entirely obscure. They had pedigrees!

Bruce Castor and David Schoen are a couple of characters (See Attachment Eight). Castor’s fame, such as it is, came in his former career as a Prosecuting Attorney, where he tossed out numerous complaints against Bill Cosby arguing, essentially, “boys will be boys”. Schoen’s roster of clients is even more odoriferous… he has represented Trump acolyte Roger Stone and pimp-to-the-stars Jeffrey Epstein.

And now, since the DJI cannot look away from its top two tribulations, we return… like dogs to the proverbial vomit… to the Plague.

It’s a race to the death (literally) between the vaccine developers and the insanely speedy plague mutations… to date, the Variants (four… the original, British, South African and Brazilian) are outpacing the Vaccines (two… the Pfizer and Moderna – with a third vaxx from Johnson and Johnson nearing the end of its Phase Three testing ordeal). The fourth, the game-tying Astra Zeneca injections are sputtering sliding backwards as testing has opened up a Pandora’s Box of nasty side effects, especially for the elderly, the pregnant or the polysymptomatic).

And lastly, a few remarks upon the culpability of QAnon’s own Marjorie Taylor-Green in the Capitol riots led to impeachment and next week, or a few weeks down the road, yet another majority but insufficient vote for conviction as will have ex-President Trump trumpeting his “exoneration”, conspiring with minority leaders Mitchy (Senate) and McCarthy (House) to obfuscate and frustrate President Joe every initiative… particularly those subject to filibusters… for the next four years until the glorious return of Himself to the People’s House.

So, with one exception (Thursday) we’ll turn to the Federalist Papers for some sober, sane commentaries on the Republic by sane and sober statesmen (Hamilton and Madison). This completed, we add a joker to the deck for February 4^th.

Friday, January 29, 2021

Infected: 25,923,041

Dead: 435,765

Dow: 29,982.62

JANUARY 29 – FEBRUARY 4

More contagious, more lethal, more vax-proof (49% effectivity) South African Variant (SAV) found in South Carolina (and 20 other countries). 48M vax doses produced, so far, but only 21M Americans shot. J&J serum only 66% effective, but needs only one shot and said to be better at fighting SAV. Epidemiologists call Super Sunday a Super Spreading perfect storm.

FBI predicts a weekend of terror – revolutionaries not even waiting for start of Impeach Two. More riot video footage shows woman being trampled to death, MAGAmen beating police with hockey sticks, stolen batons and… crutches? Despairing QAnons said to be flocking to self-help groups like those for drunks and cult deserters.

As G.O.P. quails at cost, President Joe insists Stim Three has to be passed… “no ifs, ands or buts.” Trump’s backwalking House minority leader Kevin McCarthy crawls back to Mar-a-Lago to receive orders from His Donfather.

““The public debts of the Union would be a further cause of collision between the separate states or confederacies. The apportionment, in the first instance, and the progressive extinguishment, afterwards, would be alike productive of ill humour and animosity.” (#7, Hamilton)

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Infected: 26,067,808

Dead: 438,708

Biden denies plot to pack SCOTUS, says he just wants “reform”. Discarding “unity”, he admits he’ll take a Democrat-only Stim 3 relief bill, now called the American Recovery Plan. Newly confirmed SecTreas Yellen asserts it will help escort millions of Americans to “the other side” – which some may find to be disturbing. Sen. Portman (R-Oh) disagrees, saying “I don’t see the need for it.”

CDC to impose a public transit mask mandate starting Monday. As Stage Coach and Coachella festivals are cancelled, Gov. Cuomo urges New Yorkers not to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Dr. Jen defends J&J, saying people shouldn’t get “bogged down” over its vaxx’s weak 66% success rate; Dr. Fauci warns that the worst Covid variant is “the one that hasn’t happened yet.”

FBI hikes its reward for the rioter who placed two pipe bombs at DNC and RNC headquarters (both duds) to $100,000. Proud Boys are being rounded up including something named William Pepe… could this be the alt-right icon Pepe the Frog in the flesh?

“There is perhaps nothing more likely to disturb the tranquility of nations than their being bound to mutual contributions for any common object, which does not yield an equal and coincident benefit.” (#7 Hamilton)

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Infected: 26,174,906

Dead: 440,942

Ex-President Trump purges all five of his defense lawyers for not going along with his strategy of defending allegations that the November elections were rigged and stolen from him. Defenseless, he’s scrambling for replacements… is Jeanne Pirro available? BilBarr the Barbarian? Is Jared a lawyer? Mitt Romney waxes pun-etic, saying: “birds of a feather lie together.” Pundit Matthew Dowd compares Djonald to a gangrened arm that has to be cut off, then waves bye bye in ABC purge. More Republicans quitting the party or quitting period… Ohio Senator Rob Portman retires in anger (but will join summit meeting with Biden to negotiate Stim Three). John Weaver, potentate of anti-Trump ‘pubs “The Lincoln Project” busted for pedophilia.

Vax shortage so acute (51M doses created, 29M administered) that states are asking healthy 75 year olds to step aside and let others take the shots. Violent anti-vaxxers do a better job barricading Cal. injection sites “for the recipients’ own good.” Backlash scuttles plan to vax prisoners at Git’mo… “let ‘em die!” Don Jones says.

“...by the offence of treason, is limited ‘to levying war upon the United States and adhering to their enemies, and giving them aid and comfort…” (#69, Hamilton)

Monday, February 1, 2021

Infected: 26,313,429

Dead: 442,710

Dow: 30,211.91

FBI proclaimed “Weekend of terror!” ends… no terror. (Except for bitter winter weather plowing East.) Trump plucks two new lawyers off the lawyer tree… Bruce Castro, a former DA who declined to prosecute Bill Cosby and David Schoen, whose clients included Roger Stone and Jeffrey Epstein. Said ten G.O.P. Senators to met President Joe today, present $600B downsizing of his $1.9 trillion Stim.

Israeli survivor of first plague waves gets the S. African variant. 100 year old Covid fighter “Captain Tom” gets UK variant (in the UK) and two Kansas City Chiefs also get it six days before Superbowl 55. Fake vaxxing appointment cards proliferate while Reddit daytraders turn to metals, sending the price of silver soaring (and a relieved stock market recovering).

“After having combined with the executive in betraying the interests of the nation in a ruinous treaty, what prospect, it is asked, would there be of their being made to suffer the punishment, they would deserve when they were themselves to decide upon the accusation brought against them for the treachery of which they had been guilty?” (#69, Fourth Objection – Hamilton)

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Infected: 26,431,135

Dead: 443,355

Dow: 30,703.35

Blizzards wreak havoc on East Coast, more snow swirling in Midwest and even more enters West. With two nor’easters on the way, groundhog Punxsutawney Phil sees no shadow, so six more weeks of misery,

Plague breaks out among K.C. players days before Superbowl. Mutant South African variant mutates again – SAV2 is duly dubbed 501V2. UKV2 also discovered. Vaccinations halted due toAmerican snowstorms. More doctors agreeing – plague survivors still should get at least one shot.

“Every man the least conversant in Roman story knows how often the Republic was obliged to take refuge in the absolute power of a single man, under the formidable title of dictator, as well against the intrigues of ambitious individuals who aspired to the tyranny and the seditions of whole classes of the community, whose conduct of all government…”( #70, Hamilton)

Wednesday, February 3, 2021

Infected: 26,554,219

Dead: 446,885

Dow: 30,129.83

President Joe’s meeting with Republicans called “cordial” (but without Stim 2 resolution; he’ll do the same with Democrats today. (See above) His toll of Eos reaches 40… “I’m not making new laws,” he says, “I’m eliminating bad policies.”

Dr. F. expresses relief and gratitude that number of hospitalizations is starting to go down; worry that new variants are partially or entirely vax-proof. “Whenever you see the evolution of mutants, you have to keep our eye on them.” Doctors are glabberfasted with news that the Russian Sputnik vaccine actually seems to be working.

NFL plans to fine players who misbehave (ie: go maskless, interact socially) as BLM activists sue it for racially rigged concussion protocols.

“A respect for truth, however, urges us to remark that they (the Founders) seem never, for a moment to have turned their eyes to the danger to liberty from the overgrown and all-grasping prerogative of a hereditary magistrate…” (#4 Madison)

Thursday, February 4, 2021

Infected: 26,574,522

Dead: 450,797

Dow: 30,982.22

Plague cancels Australian Open, but Superbowl still on schedule (most lucky ticketholders will get a free N95 mask. K.C. barber fingered as Super Spreader.

CV hospitalization down to 90K per week. Virologists claim that younger adults comprise fewer active cases, but 70% of transmissions. Actor Nick Cannon gets it.

QAnon Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene stripped of her committee assignments on mostly party-line votes 230-199. Professing to have renounced the Q’s and Capitol storming, she declares: “Any sort of information that is a mix of truth and lies is wrong.” (She does not single out information that is just plain wrong.) His own Impeachment trial just days away, ex-President Trump (advised by his duo of third-string lawyers) decides not to testify – a prospect they dismiss as “laughable”. For now. Comedy junkies weep.

Death enjoyed a bounteous week – among the fallen was award-winning actor Christopher Plummer, star of “The Sound of Music” and dozens of other big screen, small screen and stage productions. But our own favorite was a little known “spaghetti space opera” released under various names, eventually “Female Space Invaders.” The script! The direction! (Both by “Lewis Coates”, an Anglonym) The cast! Above Plummer were former child cult preacher Marjoe Gortner, Bond girl Caroline Munro and David Hasselhof (who, we are told, is very popular in Germany); also on hand were “Maniac” Joe Spinell, prolific David Tessier (who played the “Christ Child” in Tom Laughlin’s “Born Losers”) and, in a voice only role as a robot, the even more prolific Hamilton Camp.

What ever happened to Joe Bob Briggs?

Anyway, Plugger Plummer did garner the final scene as Emperor of the Universe (or was it just the Galaxy?), donning a sort of astro-toga, and imbibing a few before facing the camera, head-on, and declaiming... in what may be a sneak preview or premature requiem for the Biden Era…

“Well, it’s done. It happened.

“The stars are clear, the planets shine.

“We’ve won!

“Oh, some dark force no doubt will show its face again. The wheel will always turn.

“But, for now, it’s calm…

“And for a little time, at least, we can rest.”

Rest in peace, Chris.

It’s far too early to declare victory over the coronavirus… especially given the duel between the vaxxes and the variants playing out in stadiums and laboratories worldwide, but the economy, at least, is showing signs of stirring back to life after a year’s slumber. Not that the plague is finished with the Dow and the working Dons, by any means, but the unemployment rate did drop nearly half a percentage point and, if the stock market seems to be resting this or that side of 30,000, at least it is not falling back. Most of the “social” news, however, was bad and there may be more to come with the weather and with the prospect of massive Super Spreader Superbowl parties sending Americans back to the hospitals and the morgues. But even on the health front, the Johnson and Johnson “one dose” vax is nearing approval (when it gets there, the DJI will gain a hundred point bump the way it did with the Pfizer and Moderna cures) and, if the distribution is still incompetent, at least the Federal, State and local officials know that it is, do not deny reason or science, and will race the new, more contagious and more deadly mutations around the track for a few more turns (i.e. years).

And then there is former President Trump, reduced to a sweating, gibbering shadow as the useless post-eviction impeachment blunders into the bloodstained Capitol to further bollix up the nation’s progress until the inevitable resolution and declaration of exoneration. Democrats, so eager to pile it on, should have stepped back and looked upwards through the Time Tunnel – a Trump campaign in 2024 would either result in his re-nomination and resultant walkout by dozens of moderate (Reagan – W. Buckley elephants are now being called moderate!) Republicans to form a third party, or a series of acrimonious primary defeats that eventually shove Trump aside to form his own third party against either President Joe or a successor and a Republican the likes of Little Marco or Nikki Haley or… rising from the boneyard… Jeb!

More on that next Lesson… just this: Trump’s conviction is doomed and his triumph assured unless he kicks aside his Epstein/Stone/Coz lawyers and mounts the dais to testify.

But it will be epic fun.

THE DON JONES INDEX

CHART of CATEGORIES w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000

(REFLECTING… approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013)

See a further explanation of categories here…

ECONOMIC INDICES (60%)

DON JONES’ PERSONAL ECONOMIC INDEX (45% of TOTAL INDEX POINTS)

CATEGORY

VALUE

BASE

RESULTS

SCORE

OUR SOURCE(S) and COMMENTS

INCOME

(24%)

6/27/13

LAST

CHANGE

NEXT

1/29/21

2/5/21

SOURCE

Wages (hourly, per capita)

1350 pts.

1/29/21

+0.88%

2/12/21

1,423.50

https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/wages 25.09 nc

Median Income (yearly)

600

1/29/21

+0.025%

2/12/21

667.18

667.35

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 35,325

Unempl. (BLS – in millions

600

12/1/20

+6.35%

2/12/21

299.34

318.35

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 6.3%

Official (DC – in millions)

300

1/29/21

-0.15%

2/12/21

366.48

367.03

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 10,582

Total. (DC – in millions)

300

1/29/21

-0.07%

2/12/21

311.03

311.25

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 18,584

Workforce Participation

Number (in millions)

Percentage (DC)

300

1/29/21

+0.02%

2/12/21

311.45

311.51

In 150,000 Out 100,581 Total: 250,581

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 59.85

WP Percentage (ycharts)*

150

12/1/20

2/12/21

151.99

http://ycharts.com/indicators/labor_force_participation_rate 61.50 nc

OUTGO

(15%)

Total Inflation

1050

1/8/21

+0.4%

2/12/21

1,021.38

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.4 nc

Food

300

1/8/21

+0.4%

2/12/21

284.12

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.4

Gasoline

300

1/8/21

+8.4%

2/12/21

342.69

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +8.4

Medical Costs

300

1/8/21

+0.1%

2/12/21

289.95

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.1

Shelter

300

1/8/21

+0.1%

2/12/21

295.21

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm +0.1

WEALTH

(6%)

Dow Jones Index

300

1/29/21

+1.24%

2/12/21

335.89

340.05

https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/index/DJIA 30,982.22

Sales (homes)

Valuation (homes)

150

12/23/20

+1.05%

-0.42%

2/12/21

198.50

168.64

198.50

168.64

https://www.nar.realtor/research-and-statistics

Sales (M): 6.76 Valuations (K): 309.8

Debt (Personal)

300

1/29/21

+0.03%

2/12/21

280.69

280.61

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 62,697

AMERICAN ECONOMIC INDEX (15% of TOTAL INDEX POINTS)

NATIONAL

(10%)

Revenues (in trillions)

300

1/29/21

+0.06%

2/12/21

295.86

296.03

debtclock.org/ 3,460

Expenditures (in tr.)

300

1/29/21

-0.09%

2/12/21

223.25

223.05

debtclock.org/ 6,666

National Debt (tr.)

450

1/29/21

+0.11%

2/12/21

332.78

332.46

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 27,873

Aggregate Debt (tr.)

450

1/29/21

+0.07%

2/12/21

384.04

383.78

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 82,357

GLOBAL

(5%)

Foreign Debt (tr.)

300

1/29/21

+0.03%

2/12/21

291.83

291.72

http://www.usdebtclock.org/ 7,100

Exports (in billions – bl.)

150

1/1/21

- 4.42%

2/12/21

153.23

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/index.html 184.2 nc

Imports (bl.)

150

1/1/21

-0.80%

2/12/21

139.15

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/index.html 252.3

Trade Deficit (bl.)

150

1/1/21

- 9.52%

2/12/21

106.29

https://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/index.html 68.1

SOCIAL INDICES (40%)

ACTS of MAN

(12%)

World Peace

450

1/29/21

-0.1%

2/12/21

402.69

402.29

Russia arresting close to 10,000 more at pro-Navalny protests. President Joe denounces military coup in Myanmar.

Terrorism

300

1/29/21

-0.2%

2/12/21

247.78

247.28

Anti-vaxx protesters blockade injection sites in SoCal. Active shooter sprays gunfire across Wisconsin mall. Canada denounces the Proud Boys as (foreign) terrorists.

Politics

450

1/29/21

+0.2%

2/12/21

434.69

435.56

Losing Senator Doug Jones (AL) to join CNN. Mayorkas confirmed as Director of Homeland Security. MAGA rejoices: Hunter Biden’s new book “Beautiful Things” out in August. President Joe issues more EO’s, raises immigration quota from 15,000 to 125,000 and warns Russia: “America is back!” Ex-President Trump, facing Impeach Two, resigns from SAG/AFTRA (he had roles in “Home Alone” and “Wall Street”, remember?”) just before they can kick him out.

Economics

450

1/29/21

2/12/21

401.53

Uppity kids crash the stock market, busting hedge-fund moguls (see above) until RobinHood forum cuts deal with the High Sheriffs to freeze them out, causing a crash with a few big high and lotsa lowes. Toyota unseats VW as world’s top auto maker. SW Airlines loses 3.5M for 2020… first red ink year since 1972. Kraft/Heinz selling Planters’ Peanuts to Hormel (look for peanut chili? Peanut spam?)

Crime

150

1/29/21

+0.3%

2/12/21

261.43

260.65

31 guards at NJ prison accused of sex crimes. Escaped Arizona prisoners recaptured. Looters swarm over Alabama tornado site. Child molester shoots 5 FBI agents, killing two. McKinsey consultants guilty of promoting opioids.

ACTS of GOD

(6%)

(with, in some cases, a little… or lots of… help from men, and a few women)

Environment/Weather

450

1/29/21

-0.3%

2/12/21

424.04

422.77

Bitter cold and heavy snowfalls trek from Midwest into the Northeast. Meteorologists aver that it’s “snow globe snow”, not “snowball snow”. Their more hoity-toity elder cousins, the “climatologists”, predict climate change will result in fewer but more intense blizzards and… you know… other weather stuff. Coldest weather in decades predicted for next week as a “Siberian Express” pays call. TV meteorologist Ginger Zee complains: “I just want this stuff (snow) to go away.”

Natural/Unnatural Disaster

450

1/29/21

-0.1%

2/12/21

417.25

416.83

Heavy rains and landslides collapse Highway One in Big Sur, CA. Three skiers die in Colorado avalanche but over fifty ice fishermen rescued when the ice becomes not.

LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX (15%)

Science, Tech, Education

600

1/29/21

-0.2%

2/12/21

649.61

648.31

Parents and teachers at war over real v. virtual educations. New CDC director Walensky sides with parents. Space X test of rocket to delier vaxxes to the ISS blows up on the pad. Apple and Hyundai will collude on an electric car. Google is testing firefighter drones.

Equality (econ./social)

600

1/29/21

-0.2%

2/12/21

572.79

571.64

BLM nominated for Nobel Peace Prize! Three female directors get Golden Globe nominations. Cops stomp kids in Kissimee, FL and Rochester NY, riots and lawyers loom. Andre Hill (unarmed and black) shot by Columbus OH policeman Adam Coy. Celebrities trolling utter-ers of bad words: country’s Morgan Wallen says the n-word and gets the walk of shame, Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-QA) stripped bare (of House committees) for alleging the secret reptilian hordes are being protected by Jewish space lasers.

Health

600

1/29/21

-0.4%

2/12/21

507.35

505.32

Death toll from toxic SportMix dogfood tops 100. Government warns of heavy metal baby food; Dole recalls tainted salads. 11 (human) soldiers poisoned by bad bootleg booze at Fort Bliss, TX. “60 Minutes” alleges that China is filching Americans’ DNA data to take over the world medical systems.

Plague

-0.3%

- 201.21

- 201.81

Plague kills 9 nuns in Michigan convent and a Missouri man, kicked out of overcrowded Missouri hospital, dies in the freezing parking lot. CDC extends anti-eviction strictures in the interests of public health. Slumlords cry foul!

Freedom and Justice

450

1/29/21

-0.1%

2/12/21

450.24

449.79

Blizzard of “anti-fraud” election laws hit state legislatures. Navalny gets 2 ½ years for violating parole by skipping Russia to go to Germany after poisoning. Congress plans to fine members who try to sneak guns into meetings.

MISCELLANEOUS and TRANSIENT INDEX (7%)

Cultural incidents

450

1/29/21

2/12/21

486.88

Fans gear up for Tampa v. KC Superbowl with several Chiefs in quarantine… the team barber is the Super Spreader. Plague-ologists shudder – spectators will get free N95 masks but partygoers won’t. Animals in the act pre-Super Bowl… Nicholas the Dolphin predicts Chiefs. Martha Stewart and Snoop Dogg will do battle in Puppy Bowl. MLB delays opening of 2021 season by a month and plague halts Australian Open. To hell with Cuomo ban on February celebrations – Lady Gaga marketing pink Oreos for V-Day. Dolly Parton wins but refuses the Medal of Freedom (twice). RIP Temple hoops coach John Cheney, Animal guitarist Hilton Valentine, actors Dustin (“Screech”) Diamond and Hal (Mark Twain) Holbrook. Coming out: Tony Bennett as Alzheimer’s patient, AOC as rape victim.

Miscellaneous incidents

450

1/29/21

+0.1%

2/12/21

471.17

471.64

Jeff Bezos steps down as the Amazon King to pursue “philanthropy, space travel and the Washington Post.” QAnon Shaman and Viking King relocated to a prison that serves organic food to pursue kale. Public outrage greets plot to vaccinate Git’mo terrorists… let them die, Don Jones says. RIP Rennie “Chicago Seven” Davis.

The Don Jones Index for the week of January 28th through February 4th, 2021 was UP 15.81 points.

The Don Jones Index is sponsored by the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan, Administrator/Editor. The CNC denies, emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers (including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works, “Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best, mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.

Comments, complaints, donations (especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com

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See further indicators at Economist – https://www.economist.com/economic-and inancialndicators/2019/02/02/economic-data-commodities-and-markets

ATTACHMENT ONE – from CNN

Comparing the Biden and GOP stimulus plans

By Tami Luhby and Katie Lobosco, CNN

Updated 8:14 AM ET, Tue February 2, 2021

(CNN)President Joe Biden and a group of 10 Republican senators have very different ideas for the next coronavirus relief bill.

The President last month outlined a $1.9 trillion package that included a wide range of immediate assistance for struggling families, such as $1,400 stimulus checks and extended unemployment, nutrition and eviction aid, and longer-term changes, such as a $15 hourly minimum wage.

But the measure immediately ran into resistance from Republicans on Capitol Hill. In response, a group of 10 senators on Sunday released their own roughly $618 billion relief proposal -- less than one-third the size of the President's. They provided a chart detailing the cost of their plan on Monday morning.

The senators met with Biden on Monday to discuss their plan. Afterward, both sides described the meeting as cordial but said there was no agreement on a bipartisan deal.

Meanwhile, Democratic Senate leaders are preparing to trigger a controversial budget procedure known as reconciliation that would allow them to pass Biden's rescue package without Republican support.

Here's what we know so far about the differences between the two packages.

Stimulus payments

Both parties have traded proposals on stimulus checks. Democrats favor giving eligible Americans a top-up to $2,000, while Republicans are offering slightly less and want to lower the income range of those who would qualify.

Biden's plan would cost $465 billion, according to the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, while the Republicans say their measure would cost an estimated $220 billion.

Biden: The President's plan calls for sending another $1,400 per person to eligible recipients. This money would be in addition to the $600 payments that were approved by Congress in December -- for a total of $2,000.

Individuals earning less than $75,000 a year will receive the full $600. Married couples filing jointly earning less than $150,000 are also due the full amount of $1,200.

The payments will phase out entirely at $87,000 for single filers without children and $174,000 for those married filing jointly without children, according to an analysis by the Tax Foundation.

The new payments would go to adult dependents that were left out of the earlier rounds, like some children over the age of 17. It would also include households with mixed immigration status, after the first round of $1,200 checks left out the spouses of undocumented immigrants who do not have Social Security numbers.

GOP: The Republican senators want to send $1,000 checks, per adult, but target them to those with lower incomes. The amount would begin phasing out at $40,000 for individuals and $80,000 for couples filing jointly. The upper cap would be $50,000 for individuals and $100,000 for couples. Dependent adults and children would receive $500.

Unemployment benefits