The fading significance of Alaska’s legacy media is broken down by the numbers in the September issue of the state Department of Labor’s Alaska Economic Trends, and the picture isn’t pretty.
An industry that employed nearly 1,200 people at the start of the new millennium has 20 years later shrunk to about a quarter that size due to a market lack of interest in the product.
While Alaska media has been busy telling Alaskans what a great job it is doing, Alaskans appear to have been turning away. And it doesn’t look like anything is likely to get better anytime soon given a fall in wages almost as bad as the decline in jobs.
Labor reports the average Alaska newspaper job now pays $38,719 or about 70 percent of the average newspaper job Outside. Television pays better in the state at $55,555 per year on average, but that is only about 54 percent of the national average in that business.
For reference sake, the $600 per week pandemic stipend the U.S. government was paying out of work Americans this summer amounts to $31,200 per year, and the poverty level for an Alaska family of four is $32.750.
Low wages have market consequences. As one former Alaska journalist, who preferred not to be named for fear his comment might hurt the feelings of former colleagues, summed it, “all the smart kids have left the business.”
It doesn’t take an accounting degree to figure out the future in legacy media is grim. Better to take a job writing for government, which is the retreat to which Labor reports the greatest percentage of 900 “displaced newspaper workers” have taken refuge since 2009.
Goverment news
One of them is former Anchorage newscaster MJ Thim, who became the voice of the Anchorage Police Department. The Labor report does not go into the implications of journalists trading private sector jobs as government watchdogs (no matter how weak they might be at that job) for public sector jobs where they pretend to act like they are still journalists.
But the Los Angeles Times is now raising questions about one powerful government entity, the police, taking on the job of covering itself.
The story notes the many civilians, “including former journalists,” across the nation joining police “information teams” that selectively release information to spin media coverage.
“The media play a significant role in amplifying statements by police and allowing law enforcement sources to be the primary- and sometimes the only – voices in a story,” the Times noted. “And even as news organizations are trying to revamp their coverage of police, cuts in the industry mean there are fewer journalists to respond to scenes and develop diverse sources, at a time when there is more pressure to provide instant news.
“Many police officers feel misrepresented in the media. But unlike victims of police shootings, law enforcers have public funding at their disposal to generate favorable narratives about themselves.”
APD runs a Facebook page devoted to little else. One of its posts went viral on the global scale after police left a donut on the ground in their parking lot and then shot a video of the red squirrel that grabbed it.
No matter how entertaining, a video of a squirrel grabbing a donut left on the ground in the parking lot of the police department is not news; as the Times noted, it is an effort to generate a favorable narrative as in “we’re the fun-loving APD.”
How much Thim is getting paid these days to run these promotions for APD is not readily available, but it is surely more than the $55,555 average in the broadcasting business. The 2017 average for all employees of the Municipality of Anchorage was $89,600.
Given these kinds of wage differentials, someone would have to be almost insanely devoted to the idea that legacy news matters or foolish to stay in the journalism business in Alaska.
Big fails
Nothing in the Labor report should come as a surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to Anchorage media for the last couple of decades.
The downward slide became weightily obvious a decade ago when the Anchorage Daily News, then the state’s industry leader, went from a four-section, advertising-stuffed log that was thick enough and heavy enough to beat off a black bear to a two-section wisp of a newspaper that even when rolled up was too limp to swat and kill a fly.
There was in the mid-2010s a brief interlude in a steadily downward trend that actually dates all the way back to the death of the Anchorages Times in 1992. The Labor report shows the media slide flattening in 2012 and even ticking up ever so slightly before its next nosedive.
This was the period when Alice Rogoff – a wealthy Washington, D.C. socialite and then-wife of billionaire financier David Rubenstein – showed up in Anchorage to pump money into the Alaska Dispatch, an online-only, news startup begun by Tony Hopfinger and then-wife Amanda Coyne.
Rogoff poured money into the website, and it generated enough traffic to spook The McClatchy Company into partially reinvigorating the Daily News. McClatchy eventually ended the competition by selling the newspaper and ADN.com website to Rogoff for a now hard-to-believe sum of $34 million oin 2014.
“*Amazon CEO and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos used these words recently when addressing staff of The Post. He was distinguishing between operating at a financial loss versus making a planned choice to invest in future growth.”
Rogoff’s investment turned out to be a disaster. The Dispatch News was bankrupt in less than four years. Rogoff later claimed to have loaned the ADN $23 million to keep the operation afloat.
The newspaper and website were sold to the Fairbanks-based Binkley Company for $1 million. It almost immediately began downsizing to what the market could support and the job loss in the news business again accelerated.
As Rogoff was leaving and the Binkleys entering the Alaska news business, it became obvious KTVA-TV was facing problems similar to those Rogoff encountered.
GCI Inc. – the state’s telecommunications behemoth – had purchased the TV station in 2013 and poured millions of dollars – some estimate tens of millions of dollars – into its news operations in an effort to unseat longtime Anchorage news powerhouse KTUU.
The GCI investment looked to be a good one when the 2014 race for an Alaska seat in the U.S. Senate turned into an extremely costly battle in which tens of millions of dollars were spent on media advertising.
Election bonanza
KTVA was reported to have raked in enough of the money to a pay off much of the cost of its fancy new digs and, according to some company insiders, it settled on the idea it could use election earnings every two years to subsidize continuing losses outside the election cycle.
“Local TV establishments have historically generated more revenue in election years, and annual television broadcasting employment and wages were both up 12 percent in 2014,” the Labor reports says. “Growth flattened out in the second half of 2015 as the recession began, and the industry lost a modest number of jobs in 2016 despite increased viewership from the presidential election.
“TV employment continued to fall for eight straight quarters during the statewide recession. Losses slowed temporarily in 2018, another election year for Alaska’s governor and U.S. House representative, then accelerated during the first three quarters of 2019. In the first quarter of 2020, employment in television broadcasting hit an eight-year
low of 313 jobs.”
This year, GCI sold the station to Atlanta-based Gray Television, the owner of rival KTUU and a company once in discussions about partnering with Rogoff’s Alaska Dispatch.
Many TV stations, like many newspapers, have been slow to adjust to the influence of digital news in the marketplace. Almost from the get-go, KTVA treated its website as an afterthought instead of using it to drive eyeballs to its TV news.
But there’s no telling if that strategy would have worked all that much better with all media now being battered by a social media juggernaut that allows almost anyone to dance like a reporter, and a media credibility crisis that has turned some to their Facebook “friends” and other social media contacts for trusted news.
Even radio, which had been undergoing a resurgence at the start of the new millenium, has suffered and is likley to suffer more as the pandemic changes the way Americans work and reduces those trying to figure out how entertain themselves during drive time.
Alaska “radio broadcasting employment has declined each year since 2013,” the Labor report said. “By the first quarter of 2020, employment had dropped 19 percent, from 421 to 315.”
Rick Rydell, once the voice of morning talk in Anchorage, is one of the media types gone off to government work. He is now an aide to the Commissioner of Fish and Game.
And talk radio in Anchorage is about as untalked about in general conversation as the local newspaper. There appears no reason to believe anything is going to get better in the Alaska media business, either.
“Like the rest of the world, Alaskas have upped their internet use to unprecedented levels in recent months” with the pandemic raging, the Labor report said.
But there is no indication anyone is turning much of that attention to local news. Much more time seems to be devoted to social media of various forms where specialization is the order of the day.
The Facebook page “The Alaska Life,” which focuses on pretty scenes and wildlife, has about three times as many followers as the ADN’s Facebook page. And there are special-interest Facebook pages devoted to everything from the Alaska state budget to Alaska hiking to saving the state’s Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) to politics in all its many and varied forms to endlessly, endlessly more.
So much information is available, albeit much of question quality, that more than a few ponder #whoneedsthenews,” which doesn’t make the news any easier to sell. And no business can survive long without sales.
The state of legacy media troubles me. Craig has done good job the last few years explaining how the failing economics of it has negatively affected the quality of its product. You can see this in the ADN reliance on press releases rather than time consuming (and expensive) investigation. I find the left of center bias problematic as well. It’s not that I think it is always intentional, but it’s just that the world view of the people in the business can be seen in the story selection, questions not asked, answers assumed, etc.
I just cancelled my e-subscription to the ADN and have chosen to make monthly donations to craigmedred.news.
And one trusts these lying fools about Covid? Hahaha. Nuff said:
https://www.foxnews.com/media/clay-travis-washington-post-full-audio-interview
Rogaff – check – but not finding a tortured way to include pink salmon or face masks? You are falling off…
Having fought in the circulation war with the Times in 1992 I have to say your analogy of the demise of the ADN was right on target. “The downward slide became weightily obvious a decade ago when the Anchorage Daily News, then the state’s industry leader, went from a four-section, advertising-stuffed log that was thick enough and heavy enough to beat off a black bear to a two-section wisp of a newspaper that even when rolled up was too limp to swat and kill a fly.”
That’s the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time. We had some very talented people in those days Craig.
It makes me feel better to provide anyone chuckle. The world needs more humor.
It is amazing how much the media world has changed since that newspaper war.
Jame’s read The School of Darkness book by Bella Dodd and get back to me
Okay Bryan,
Instead of reading a book, that is outdated, how about we discuss current “Corporate Capitalism” in America today. One example, is close to me, since I was born and raised in Western Washington.
Boeing Co. largest US commercial airplane manufacture has been decimated during Covid-19, and all the mistakes made by the former CEO and his leadership team. Thousands of good quality jobs have been lost, during the last 6 months, directly related to the failure of leadership under former Boeing CEO . What did he receive, when he was fired? Find below:
“Ousted Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg did not receive any severance when he was fired in December 2019, a new regulatory filing shows, though received $62 million in benefits that Boeing says he was ‘contractually entitled’ to. Muilenburg was fired after months of criticism over his handling of the 737 Max crisis. The 737 Max has been grounded since March, 2019, following the second of two fatal crashes”..
His entitlement may have been under contract, though in America, contracts are made to be broken. Another example is the former MacDonalds CEO, who had inappropriate relationships with staff, over a number of years. He lied and received a huge payout. MacDonalds has filed suit to recover the money paid out.
Boeing CEO, should have been fired and then sued for the wages paid to him, over the last 5 years.
What a loser! And this is what you celebrate?
James , I know nothing about the author bella dodd . I must ask though- how do you determine a book is outdated? By your logic is the bible outdated ? How about dictionary’s? James is your loyalty to ideology blinding your thought process? I know many very intelligent people who get so caught in defending their “side” that they loose site of their original idealism. “searching and accomplishing betterment of humanity” they go into the weeds in search of marginally supportive cases to support their cause and in the process taints the goal . Loyalty to ideology or parties is a dangerous path . That blinds the best of us . Is it time to analyze who you are associated with and the wreckage they cause on ethics? The democrats, socialists , communists have a pretty impressively violent oppressive history. How does the bible rectify their position? The Old Testament imo was more a history lesson and showed examples what not to be like . Wheres once Christ came into the Bible his section was pretty different and clearly shows the path for humanity’s salvation. How would he feel about late term abortion? How would he feel about democrats support of slavery? How would he feel about democrats calling for violence in the streets? James those you associate with shine on you .How do you feel about killing unborn babies? Sure Jesus associated with all maner of humans . But he was pretty clear . Those who follow his path are his brothers . I think he would find many arguments against the democrats platform. . Btw im very against overt loyalty to a Republican Party because the dangers are similar. Our early presidents warned us against parties and partisan politics. Remember its easy to let party loyalty blind you to whats right or wrong. James become introspective and look into what Jesus would want you to support. Even the question- is it better to give a man a fish or teach a man to fish rings against the democrat platform. A person must not be blinded by drama . Trump is Drama and it’s easy to get forced into the weeds with his rhetoric. The platform he supports is more telling towards goodness though. Just think and let Jesus shine .
Current Fed administration’s platform is lies, disinformation and intimidation. Loser!
Send lawyers, guns & money
The shit has hit the fan
James, what you say is interesting. Please explain and elaborate?
DPR, Jame’s is upset President Trump labels riots for what they are instead of the lies by CNN of peaceful “protests”. Jame’s is either upset or agreeable with the fact that WA is run by both a psychotic Govenor and Mayor.
48 of the 50 states have Democrat infused RIOTING and Jame’s blames Trump. I refer back to Washington’s psychotic gov and mayor for what INSANITY looks like. Thankfully they both are being sued for billions. What is needed here is larges cans of RAID strapped to the wings of a Cub flying over Sesttle.
As for Boeing you said it yourself – “they were decimated by Covid”. Along with all airlines worldwide. Of course the Wuhan Red Death is Trump’s fault because CNN told you so or maybe it all is the CEO’S fault.
That whole tired lefty line “Corporate Capitalism” is just plain stupid. Let me refer you to that psychotic Mayor of Seattle and her social experent CHOP.. Guess Capitalism isn’t so bad is it?
Oh. Bryan don’t stop now! Can you tell us how you really feel? About Seattle & WA?
Keep bashing the state. which AK does most amount of business with
Without the goods and services provided by the Seattle businesses, AK would not survive.
Go ahead and bite the hand that feeds you!
See how that works for you!
DPR,
If you actually read and tried to understand the teachings of Jesus,say from the original greek texts which are at best written something like 400 yrs after his death,you would quickly conclude that he definitely wasn’t a modern day republican.Nor was he a big fan of capitalism.
I think its good to challenge our own personal beliefs from time to time.A bit of fire to test the mettle.
Along that vein Id try looking into Bart D Ehrmans “Misquoting Jesus”.Naturally you’ll want to check out the bio and due your own true due diligence, challenging beliefs takes energy, will and shouldn’t have to be said, an open mind.
Years before I read this book I was already turned off by religious dogma, it wasn’t the Big Jesus’s fault, but the hypocrisy of religion reminds me of standing next to a large Diesel engine at operating speed, with no hearing protection.
Dave Mc, what silly statements: “Jesus wouldn’t supoort a Republican or a Capitalist”. You realize the GOP came about in the 1800’s to counter Democrat slavery? You realize the GOP came about to country Democrat Jim Crow Laws, the KKK, lynchings, segregation, and Democrat anti-Civil Rights? You realize the GOP came about to allow both women and blacks the Right to Vote?
You also realize Capitalism lifts ALL BOATS and didnt come about until the 17th Century?
To blame Jesus for religious hypocrisy is also silly. This is mere mortals distorting in Jesus’s name for profit of some sort. Can’t blame the Bible or Jesus. I get that people fear the unknown, but try actually reading the historical Bible and you may come to embrace it contrary to how Democrats feel about it.
Dave Mc, im sure you are partially correct. Though you appear to confuse religious dogma with Jesus teachings. Very different. Not connected at all . I will do you a favor and look into the book you mentioned. You can do me a favor by reading the New Testament with an open mind ( as you said) . Separate Jesus teachings from dogma and garner what wisdom you can . Perhaps in the method of the Deists or whatever method you choose that assists your wisdom. Remember dogma is not Jesus teachings. Btw i dont portend any Christian greatness at all but i do recognize Jesus teachings as the primary path to mans survival on earth and off . There may be other paths but he spelled it out pretty clearly.
Bryan,
Dave Mc, what silly statements: “Jesus wouldn’t supoort a Republican or a Capitalist”.
Those statements weren’t uttered by me, but I do think they resonate completely, just to set things straight.If you think otherwise, than you haven’t spent enough time with the Bible,theres no other way around it.
DPR,
Dig into Erhmans book,youll soon find that the history of the Bible has been distorted over the centuries.It was some 3-400 yrs after the death of Jesus that the Bible was most likely written(if memory serves me right).
The average person back in the day could neither read nor write, it was all verbal history(for the minions).And of course humans never embellish a story right?
Scribes throughout the dark ages, on many counts translated the greek texts to what they wanted it to say.So reading the New Testament,genereally considered to be the King James Version is really a waste of time(imo).
The greek texts are the oldest known version of the written New Testament,and its harder to actually interpret than you think.
But that being said,I think its still important to our human makeup to believe in something.
Along those lines you might want to research Joseph Campbell (pretty sure that was his name)
And The Power of Myth
Dave Mc , so yep its a given that the Bible has been distorted over time . It doesn’t take another book by a self proclaimed expert to get me up to date on that . You are espousing old news that a 5 year old could tell me . Do you have something enlightened to share ? You say the New Testament is a waste of time . All i can say is “wow” You just attempted to claim you are smarter than the founding fathers , Einstein and everyone in between as well as billions of minds past and present . Shall i call you a savant or more accurately (delusional?) Im impressed with your audacity. You must be omniscient to know enough to call Jesus words and a rough outline of a historical occurrence a waste of time . I find it interesting you have made the assumption it was passed verbally. Were you there to proove it ? Are you saying that Jesus and his disciples illiterate? A portion was written by them within a lifetime of his death . Not 400 years later . Though compilations were made over a long period of time . I like your assumption that scibes translated it to say what they want . Were you looking over their shoulder? You should have corrected them . Yes you are right its good to believe in something. What do you believe in ? Personally I believe i can leave this earth wiser than I arrived. I cant hope for much more. Youve done a fair attempt to shoot down the teachings of arguably the most pure hearted man we have a history of . Have you got some wisdom that can benefit humanity more than Jesus since you’ve declared whats commonly known of his wisdom “ is really a waste of time” per your words . Put your money where your mouth is and give us some wisdom that tops what can be found in the New Testament. You wouldn’t want to be considered a blow hard ,so dish up . Detail it out thoroughly. Make a book of it if you wish but use your own words. That way no one can say it was pased by word of mouth and a scibe put his own opinions into it . What’s interesting is i dont even consider myself a bible thumper or Christian. Though i can tell the difference between a fool and a wise man . What you’ve misunderstood from the Bible is you were looking for scientific proof of miracles or some such and in the process you missed the teachings that can be applied to make humans get along. You were looking for errors and you found them but you lost the chance for knowledge in the process. Pity you wasted your time . I find secrets of nature even looking under rocks or talking to a street corner bum . I promise you the new Testament is a gem and you need to study it when you’ve figured out how to winnow the chaff . So knowledge becomes apparent.
DPR,
Unless something has been found in the last 20yrs,there is no text from the apostles in the time or even 100yrs past Jesus’s death.And yes, the apostles were illiterate.Its inferred that Jesus could read.Im going on faded memory(which could easily be double checked, but its not worth the time to me)the oldest known surviving written text date to about 900AD.Again if I was off by 500yrs,would it really matter.Jesus’s life was not written anywhere close to his lifetime.
Fisherman and carpenters didn’t have time, and probably not the chance to learn to read and write.
The oldest known texts are the traditional greek texts, language of the writers.The King James bible was written in the 1600’s,which is why it sounds so archaic(ellizebeth English)
Genereally speaking the only ones who had the”gift” of reading/writing were the Scribes,and priests.If you doubt that you could easily find it on the web with a bit of google/research.
The rest of the minions(euro/M.E/Africa) were kept dumbed down by there class, really all the way up until Martin Luther and the Gutenberg press, late 1400-1500’s.
Some of this you should have been taught in H.S history, the religion part youll have to find on your own.
Cheers Brah
Dave Mc, look up aramic source texts . Allegedly the language of Jesus. All evidence i find points to translation into greek from these . Apparently some were done within 20-40 years A.D . You should also look up the professions of his apostles and near deciples . Their were a fair number of buisness men who allegedly could read and write. It’s foolish to assume buisness men and tradesmen couldn’t read or right . Use of numbers is associated with literacy . That would include buisness owners and carpenters. To what extent they could read or write is a legitimate question. The jewish religion also involved/ required a fair number of literate individuals. Sure some were peasants as you call them . Maybe they couldn’t write. Though It’s appearing highly likely your bias has effected your analysis. Your 400 year hypothesis appears incorrect. Yet interestingly i find that relatively unimportant. Lets say you are right . Nothing was written for 400 years ( unlikely due to various accounts and evidence but possible , at a complete minimum the roman leaders documented Jesus ) so lets for kicks say you are right. No writing for aprx 400 years . Well what I would say is dang thats even more amazing to insert wisdom into the New Testament. I will have to rethink my stance on miracles if you are right. 😉 ( the more i learn about science and atoms / quantum entanglement ect the more probable miracles become. ) there are things that science will take ages to explore and explain. You must ask yourself Dave, if your sources are feeding your bias and skepticism? Can you be bold enough to start over and research for yourself? Can you relax your mind enough to ask – what’s possible? What are the details? Am I dismissing sources i dont agree with or am I following where evidence leads ? If you start with a supposition then of course you can find evidence to back it . Especially if you are biased . Interestingly in quantum mechanics allegedly the angle something is viewed from effects its position.
Dave Mc, I rise to your challenge sir. I think your problem is you have a distorted view of Calitalism and Socialism. You confuse generosity of Christians with Socialism while ignoring it’s oppression. Plus, there is NO doubt the bible is historically accurate. Even the Jews and Muslims acknowledge Jesus and I think they would know right? Plus, go to Israel, Saudi, or Egypt and you can actually put your hands upon validated archeological artiFACTS that compliment the Bible. I am not pushingnthe bible. That is your business. Everybody has to prepare for their own final exam. I am merely telling you that you are wrong. Without judging of course 🙂
Some light enlightenment for you:
https://www.openbible.info/topics/capitalism
These last six months have proven that the media is the real virus in America trying to “mask” the truth.
“I recently examined nearly twenty thousand charitable grants the Gates Foundation had made through the end of June and found more than $250 million going toward journalism…
Recipients included news operations like the BBC, NBC, Al Jazeera, ProPublica, National Journal, The Guardian, Univision, Medium, the Financial Times, The Atlantic, the Texas Tribune, Gannett, Washington Monthly, Le Monde, and the Center for Investigative Reporting…”
https://www.cjr.org/criticism/gates-foundation-journalism-funding.php
You recently “examined nearly twenty thousand charitable grants”? Really Steve? “Examined” suggests a close reading of all the documents associated with each grant. That would take some time. So Assuming you examined five charitable grants a day five days a week for every week of the year it would take you approx 16 years. If you examined 10 each day, 8 years. 20 each day 4 years. Pretty impressive Steve. But quite unbelievable.
Finally, just guessing due to steves use of quotation marks he was quoting someone else . ( he may not have personally reviewed) Though its not inconceivable that one person could partially review 20,000 grants if he was just reading a list of grantees . Perhaps steve could clarify for us . I also read in another article where Bill Gates is helping subsidize certain media outlets. It removes much of the ability to be objective when taking large chunks of change from someone with an agenda. Kind of how politics has been corrupted. I barely skim regular media anymore because they make so little effort towards quality or subjective writing. Its mostly trash opinion and frankly agenda driven propaganda dribble. Reuters is especially good at agenda writing because the writers are a higher class . They do a sneaky job of leading a person to a conclusion by leaving out important information and details focusing on one side. Every one knows cnn is a mess so they are not really a big deal . It’s borderline evil when respected publications utilize agenda writing instead of reporting. They have all lost my trust. I wont pay a dime for a newspaper anymore. Might as well read the inquirier . At least we know its fake .
Finally,
Apparently you did not noticed the quotations around the paragraph and the link to Columbia Journalism Review at the bottom of my cited top paragraph?
This is a scholarly peer reviewed article that examined 20,000 grants that the Gates Foundation has given to fund the propaganda arm of the media in America.
This should be alarming to anyone who has watched the “wear a mask, wait for the vaccine” stories unfold over the last six months from media outlets across the country?
“During the pandemic, news outlets have widely looked to Bill Gates as a public health expert on covid—even though Gates has no medical training and is not a public official”?
http://www.cjr.org/criticism/gates-foundation-journalism-funding.php
Craig, thank you for this report on the likely demise of “news journalism”, which has unfortunately for a generation become closely attuned to the term ‘personally biased commentary’, and your reference to the government and police hirings point in that direction. Gladly, you appear not to have succumbed,
A question from a proud former Alaskan long-termer. Because all we hear here, is a multitude of decidedly green-washed statements such as “The world has been ruined by mankind’s greed and stupidity”, and we must use windmills and Solar power, and no coal at all”. Our industries and aluminium producers cannot compete with the union costs and we’re told, the highest power prices in the world.
So, is the North Slope losing its deep-freeze, are the polar bears lacking sufficient snow, or sea-ice with air-breathing edible critters below, or a whale or two, or insufficient warm lunches in parked pickups to even scrounge a meal?
And is the permafrost melting disastrously below the Arctic Circle and letting buildings sink? Is Fairbanks’ Goldstream Valley now a wet marsh except in Winter? Is there still enough potable water for Anchorage and Wasilla from its old ‘north of Eagle’ source, was it from Susitna?
Thanks again, Craig, Chris in Sydney
The permafrost line has been ever so slowly moving north, but it’s a slow process. Goldstream Valley looks pretty much the same. Most global warming scenarios forecast Anchorage becoming more like Juneau and Juneau more like Seattle; so nobody is worrying a lot about water.
The polar bears are hanging on. There are no reports yet of their changing colors to adapt to a greener world as did the “grizzly bears” of the ABC (Admiralty-Baranof-Chichagof) Islands of the Panhandle.
Those ABC bears are genetically closer to polar bears than to their grizzly cousins. There is an interesting debate about how that came to pass: https://polarbearscience.com/2013/03/27/polar-bears-cavorting-with-abc-brown-bears-not-supported-by-geological-and-fossil-evidence/
Gotta love the ABC bears, they throw a huge monkey wrench in the works!
And where does that leave the lowly Kermode bear I wonder.I remember seeing one on the shore of(I believe) Prince Edwards island.
Fishing for the cursed pink salmon, and doing just fine.
So Bryan, professional sports are a “train wreck”, good luck with that!
Plenty of people will continue to watch, see and listen to sports on tv, radio and in person
.
Seattle’s new NHL franchise “the Kraken”, set new franchise records for store sales, and the products, were only available online.
Seattle a “chithole”? so what does that make Anchorage? The original “sin city”.
Before you throw others under the bus, take the plank out of your eye!
Oh. one other thing. How long would AK last, without Seattle “ the Gateway to AK” trade?
If you no longer want a connection with a “ chithole”, like Seattle, tell me how’s that working for you in a couple months, starting with AK Airlines, which is based out of Seattle.
Get real and BTW get a life!
Jame’s why don’t you ask the anti-Capitalist Marxist gov and mayor of WA how that would work. I think we already know since their CHOP sponsored chithole, excuse the pun”, was an utter DISASTER (as expected). What are we on now, 90 days of rioting in Portland?? Bravo Democrats…
Father son conversation in, say, 35 years or so:
Dad, what was a newspaper?
“Go Woke, Go Broke”. Next in line is watching the professional sports woke train wreck unfold and watching the media tell us how good marxist, non-nuclear family BLM is for us. How about the media lying about the facts of most police shootings? Let me help them out with a term they are unfamiliar with – THUG LIFE. How about how every large city run by Democrats turns into a chithole?
Democrats, they’re a riot….The media is Pravda.