Chinese officials recorded the deadliest day for the coronavirus thus far: 242 deaths, which brings the total to 1,357.

That’s very concerning, of course. And tragic.

Now let’s do gun deaths in the United States. Since New Year’s day. The total is 4,557. Now, yes, the majority of those deaths are by suicide. So let’s take out the suicide gun deaths and we still have… 1,719 deaths. Which is still more than 20% higher than the coronavirus death total. If only we could quarantine gun owners.

*The judges will also accept “Jen X-Rated”*

*The judges will even accept “How YOU doin?”

This is how Jennifer Aniston celebrated turning 51, with a photo shoot for Interview magazine. You’re still our girl, Helen Mirren, but Jen’s gaining on you.

by John Walters

Starting Five

1. Bernie, Baby: Bernie Sanders, 78, and Pete Buttigieg, 38, go neck-and-neck in New Hampshire. Keep up the good fight, Liz-Klo! Meanwhile, read this editorial, Paging Michael Bloomberg, by Thomas Friedman in The New York Times. We wholeheartedly agree with him. You don’t have to, but we do.
2. Stone Cold: All four DOJ prosecutors in the Roger Stone trial quit after their boss at the DOJ, William “Lowering The” Barr, tells the judge that their recommended sentence for Stone, who has already been convicted of both perjury and obstruction of justice, is too severe. Now who’s going to try the case for these four civil servants having been stabbed in the back?
3. Coronavirus Tops 1,100: This virus has gone viral!
4. Zion Torches Blazers: Rookie Zion Williamson has his first 30-point NBA game as the Pelicans pummel Portland, 138-117. The NBA rookie scored 31 points without making a single trey. How often is that done any more?
5. Siba Attack: Siba the standard poodle wins Best in Show at the Westminster Dog Show.

A surprisingly good year, off the beaten track:

1. Supermensch: Shep Gordon is a one-of-a-kind character who has lived as rich a life as you could ever imagine (just one anecdote from a movie with a surfeit of them: on his honeymoon on a remote tropical island his computer wasn’t working so the hotel staff found a fellow guest who was able to fix it: Bill Gates). You will absolutely love this film about the agent who all of his rock star/movie star/celebrity chef clients adore.
2. Whiplash: The opening scene is stirring, while the dinner scene always gets me. You may find this An Officer And A Gentleman goes to Julliard screenplay by newbie Damien Chazelle is “not quite my tempo,” but I loved it.
3. The Imitation Game: Of the two tortured British genius films of this year (the other being The Theory of Everything), we’ll take Benedict Cumberbatch as the homo who deciphered the Nazi enigma machine over Eddie Redmayne as Stephen Hawking. And we didn’t really mean “homo” in a bad way.
4. Chef: The fun part about this Jon Favreau sleeper hit is the film-within-the-film. Favreau, the guy who got noticed making Swingers but who got rich making Ironman, plays a burned-out Brentwood chef who’s sick of the relative fame while not being able to make the dishes about which he’s passionate. Sound familiar?
5. The Babaook: Is it a horror movie or is it a film about the loneliness of being a widow with a young, socially awkward son? This low-budget Aussie thriller is a gem.

Never saw John Wick but want to. Same with Foxcatcher. Saw Grand Budapest Hotel but Wes Anderson’s work just eludes us.

Was rushing out the door earlier today, but two thoughts on Michelle Caruso-Cabrera’s decision to file to run against AOC in the Democratic primary:

First, of all the districts to choose, MCC chose that one.

Second, as a Democrat? Hunh. I watched MCC on CNBC (MCCNBC?) for years and she’s even farther away from being part of the Donkey party than Michael Bloomberg. She’s a Kudlow Democrat, if ever such a thing were to exist (Larry Kudlow wrote the foreword to her book, You Know I’m Right, i.e., You Know I’m Far-Right, and Donald’s financial advisor is as conservative as they come).

So this is a knockout strategy from, if not the White House itself, than by the CPAC conservative Schlappdicks. My guess is that MCC has not resided in that district in decades, if ever. Although that’s a technicality, of course (as when HRC ran for the Senate in New York state).

If I’m AOC, I take the compliment. The GOP is this threatened by her that they’re going to run a reasonable facsimile who just happens to be relatively famous but is fiscally conservative. And if you ever watched her on air, you know that MCC is combative.

Wonder if any CNBC anchors will note that nothing about MCC’s past suggests she has a Democratic viewpoint.