Medred on media double speak; Hope for democrats to flip the US Senate?

In News by wp_sysadmin

COVID 19

Double Speak
Craig Medred, March 30, 2020

Alaska’s largest newspaper is again downsizing, but it is understandable if you missed this news.  The email to ADN.com viewers from editor David Hulen required fluency in Orwellian doublespeak.  One could easily have taken at face value his pitch that “ADN has mobilized to cover the coronavirus crisis” and missed the contradiction that followed:  “We’ve had to temporarily cut back hours and pay for all employees, along with some painful layoffs.”  A reduction in force through layoffs, shrinking man hours and pay cuts is not a mobilization. It is what the military would call a demobilization.

IRS Gives Stimulus Check Distribution Details, Says Payments To Begin Within Three Weeks

OIL

Oil Search adds to industry job losses
The Australian Pipeliner, March 30, 2020

Approximately 100 Oil Search staff have lost their jobs after the company moved to reduce operating costs in response to current market conditions.  The cuts were made to Oil Search’s offices in Sydney and Anchorage, Alaska, while its board and executive will also take a 20 per cent salary reduction for the next six months.  The move comes in response to the oil price crash and the COVID-19 pandemic, with the company having already suspended all upcoming discretionary activities, other than those required to maintain production of oil and gas from its Papua New Guinea facilities.  Oil Search Managing Director Dr Keiran Wulff said the decision had been “very difficult”.

GAS

Shell drops out of major US LNG project
Ron Bousso, Shradha Singh, Scott DiSavino, Reuters, March 30, 2020

Royal Dutch Shell Plc pulled out of a major U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant under development following the recent crash in energy prices, quickly followed by its partner, Energy Transfer LP, delaying its final decision on whether to go ahead with the project to next year. The Lake Charles, Louisiana, facility is one of several LNG export projects worldwide that have been delayed in recent months by the collapse in global energy prices. Global LNG demand has been hitting record highs for years, thanks to big demand from Asian nations like China and India as they diversify away from dirtier coal power generation.

MINING

Dunleavy is doing the right thing on Pebble
Pete Kelly, Anchorage Daily News Opinion, March 30, 2020

Gov. Mike Dunleavy came into office with a message to potential investors that Alaska was open for business. It was not a carte blanche invitation to roll into the state and get rubber-stamped permits. Rather, it was a message to potential investors that if they play by the rules and meet strict state and federal regulations, then Alaska will provide a fair process to determine if a project is right for us. Here’s how the Dunleavy message applies to the Pebble Project: Prove your project under our rules, using solid science, and if it’s good for Alaska – we will welcome the opportunity. How will we know it’s good for Alaska? The permitting process. That’s the scientific review by which we evaluate all projects. And that’s the counterpoint to all the madness over Pebble.

POLITICS

New Polls And New Candidates Are Giving Democrats Some Hope Of Flipping The Senate
Nathaniel Rakich, FiveThirtyEight, March 30, 2020

The topsy-turvy Democratic primary for president dominated political news for the first two-and-a-half months of 2020 — and rightfully so, it was bonkers — but now that it’s settled down, it’s time for us to check in once again on the other major political battle of 2020: the fight for the U.S. Senate.  Republicans started the cycle with the advantage, but Democrats have had reason for optimism of late. New polls have shown Democratic challengers ahead of GOP incumbents, the party is recruiting strong candidates, and, perhaps most importantly given the tight correlation between presidential and Senate voting, former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democrat who has polled the best against President Trump, has become the party’s likely presidential nominee.