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Tag Archives: Seattle Times

Making News: National Media Cites on the Virus Vaccine Drive and the Stimulus Package Wrangle

03 Monday Aug 2020

Posted by Alan Tonelson in Making News

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Tags

Breitbart.com, CCP Virus, coronavirus, COVID 19, Heather Long, industrial policy, John Binder, Making News, pharmaceuticals, Seattle Times, stimulus package, The Washington Post, vaccines, Wuhan virus

I’m pleased to announce that my views on two major economic policy issues have just been featured in two leading national news publications.

In his report yesterday on the U.S. government’s efforts to help pharmaceutical companies develop a CCP Virus vaccine, Breitbart.com‘s John Binder included remarks of mine providing perspective on the latest example of what economists call “industrial policy” – team-ups between the public and private sectors to generate technological progress and ensure future U.S. prosperity.  Click here to read the article.

Moreover, last Thursday’s Washington Post piece on the debate over the next U.S. economic stimulus package contained a quote from me urging the Trump administration and Congress to “go big.”  Here’s the link.  The article, by the Post‘s Heather Long, was also reprinted in the Seattle Times on Saturday.

And keep checking in with RealityChek for news of upcoming media appearances and other developments.

 

Im-Politic: Signs That The Mob is Starting to Rule

24 Friday Jul 2020

Posted by Alan Tonelson in Im-Politic

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

cancel culture, Chicago, Christopher Columbus, Confederate monuments, Connecticut, election 2020, freedom of the press, history wars, ImPolitic, Nelson Lee, peaceful protests, press freedom, protests, public safety, Seattle, Seattle Police Department, Seattle Times, shield laws, Ulysses S. Grant, violence, Washington Post

The next time you hear or read that the vast majority of protests during these turbulent times in America are peaceful (which will surely be within the next five minutes if you’re a news follower), keep in mind this pair of developments. They give me the willies and should so unnerve you, even if you (like me) believe that the vast majority of the protests have indeed been peaceful.

The first matters because it makes clear as can be that some of the protest groups contain individuals who make the cohort of brazen looters that’s emerged in so many violence-wracked cities look nearly harmless. What else can be reasonably concluded from this Washington Post account (yes, the same Washington Post whose journalism I slammed yesterday) of a court case in Seattle dealing with whether news organizations in the city could be ordered to turn over to the Seattle Police Department photos and video their staffers had taken of protesters who had “smashed windows, set police cars on fire, and looted businesses.” The cops’ intent – use this material to find the perpetrators and arrest them.

I was hugely relieved to read that the judge presiding over the case did rule that most of the material (all unpublished or posted) must be provided. But I was aghast at the reason given for the news organizations’ resistance. The Seattle Times, for its part, did cite freedom of the press concerns – involving Washington State’s shield laws, which entitle news organizations to protect source materials. These laws, which in various forms are practically universal throughout the United States, are indeed essential for enabling journalists to secure information that governments would rather keep secret for self-serving reasons.

The Times also made the reasonable (though in this case, not necessarily dispositive) claim that such cooperating with the police would put its credibility at risk. As contended by Executive Editor Michele Matassa Flores:

“The media exist in large part to hold governments, including law enforcement agencies, accountable to the public. We don’t work in concert with government, and it’s important to our credibility and effectiveness to retain our independence from those we cover.”

But these weren’t the only reasons cited by the paper. In an affidavit, Times Assistant Managing Editor Danny Gawlowski attested “The perception that a journalist might be collaborating with police or other public officials poses a very real, physical danger to journalists, particularly when they are covering protests or civil unrest.”

Moreover, Gawlowski stated, this danger wasn’t hypothetical. It had already happened. According to the Post‘s summary of his affidavit;

“The request could significantly harm journalists, the Times argued, at a time when reporters already face violence and distrust from protesters. One Times photographer was hit in the head with a rock thrown by a protester and punched in the face by another demonstrator.”

In other words, the Seattle Times, anyway, wanted to refuse to help law enforcement protect public safety because at least in part it was afraid that some protesters might attack them even more violently than they already had.

That sure sounds like intimidation to me, and successful intimidation at that. And even though the judge thankfully ordered substantial (though not full) cooperation, who’s to say that the Times won’t pull its protests coverage punches anyway? Even more important, what if violence-prone protesters elsewhere in the country read about this case, try to strong-arm local or national news media, too, and succeed? And what if not every judge holds the same priorities as Seattle’s Nelson Lee? Talk about a danger to democratic norms – as well as public safety.

The second development concerns decisions by governments in at least two parts of the country to take down controversial statues – a major front in the nation’s history wars. Don’t get me wrong: Elected authorities removing these monuments is sure better than unelected mobs toppling or defacing them – as long as these actions follow legitimate procedures and aren’t arbitrary. And as I’ve written repeatedly, in the case of Confederate monuments, it’s usually not only completely justified, but long overdue.

But in these cases, it’s the rationale for these actions that’s deeply disturbing. In both Connecticut and in Chicago, statues of Christopher Columbus and former President and Civil War Union supreme Union commander Ulysses S. Grant, respectively, were removed (as Windy City Mayor Lori Lightfoot explained her reasoning) “in response to demonstrations that became unsafe for both protesters and police, as well as efforts by individuals to independently pull the Grant Park statue down in an extremely dangerous manner.”

Translation: “I was afraid of the mob. And I decided to let them win.” No better definition could be found of the kind of appeasement that only spurs further violence. And no more important challenge will confront the President and candidates for Congress who will be elected or reelected in November. 

Making News: A New NYC Radio Podcast, an In-Depth Look at that Border Adjustment Tax – & More!

09 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by Alan Tonelson in Uncategorized

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Tags

AM970 "The Answer", Boeing, border adjustment tax, China, Donimic Gates, Frank Morano, Lifezette.com, Making News, manufacturing, Populism, Seattle Times, summit, supply chains, Trade, Trump, Trump administration, Xi JInPing

I’m pleased to report that a podcast is now on-line of an interview I just gave to Frank Morano of New York City’s AM970 “The Answer”radio station. To listen to a great discussion of trade and other areas of economic policy in the Age of Trump, click on this link, scroll down to the April 9, “FiveAM” episode, and press the play button. My segment starts at about the 10-minute mark. And special thanks to Frank for a very generous introduction!

In addition, it was great to be quoted in a new Seattle Times article by Dominic Gates on the US aircraft industry and the proposed border adjustment tax. The subject could not be more important, as the tax could provide American domestic manufacturing across-the-board with the kind of intelligent protection that it’s long needed.

Moreover, Dominic, who has covered aerospace giant Boeing for years, is one of the nation’s very best manufacturing reporters. His article provides an impressively informative look at the politics and economics of a major industry’s supply chain, as well as at the border adjustment proposal. So it’s a must-read for anyone interested in the future of the American economy’s productive core.

Finally, my views were featured in two new posts at Lifezette.com.  The first, which can be read at this link, previewed last week’s summit between President Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. The second, found at this link, explored the rumors swirling about here in Washington that Mr. Trump is about to replace many of his more populist advisers with figures from the establishment.

And keep checking in with RealityChek for news of upcoming media appearances and other developments.

 

 

 

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Those Stubborn Facts

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  • In the News
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  • The Snide World of Sports
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  • Uncategorized

The Snide World of Sports

  • (What's Left of) Our Economy
  • Following Up
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  • Golden Oldies
  • Guest Posts
  • Housekeeping
  • Housekeeping
  • Im-Politic
  • In the News
  • Making News
  • Our So-Called Foreign Policy
  • The Snide World of Sports
  • Those Stubborn Facts
  • Uncategorized

Guest Posts

  • (What's Left of) Our Economy
  • Following Up
  • Glad I Didn't Say That!
  • Golden Oldies
  • Guest Posts
  • Housekeeping
  • Housekeeping
  • Im-Politic
  • In the News
  • Making News
  • Our So-Called Foreign Policy
  • The Snide World of Sports
  • Those Stubborn Facts
  • Uncategorized

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Current Thoughts on Trade

Terence P. Stewart

Protecting U.S. Workers

Marc to Market

So Much Nonsense Out There, So Little Time....

Alastair Winter

Chief Economist at Daniel Stewart & Co - Trying to make sense of Global Markets, Macroeconomics & Politics

Smaulgld

Real Estate + Economics + Gold + Silver

Reclaim the American Dream

So Much Nonsense Out There, So Little Time....

Mickey Kaus

Kausfiles

David Stockman's Contra Corner

Washington Decoded

So Much Nonsense Out There, So Little Time....

Upon Closer inspection

Keep America At Work

Sober Look

So Much Nonsense Out There, So Little Time....

Credit Writedowns

Finance, Economics and Markets

GubbmintCheese

So Much Nonsense Out There, So Little Time....

VoxEU.org: Recent Articles

So Much Nonsense Out There, So Little Time....

Michael Pettis' CHINA FINANCIAL MARKETS

New Economic Populist

So Much Nonsense Out There, So Little Time....

George Magnus

So Much Nonsense Out There, So Little Time....

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