Media
April 6, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The great Victor Davis Hanson eloquently chronicles the “Corona meltdowns” of Nancy Pelosi, the media, and Joe Biden in his American Greatness column of that name. This is his take on the media circus on we see in the daily White House coronavirus task force briefings: Watching the media deal with the daily White House briefings reminds the country that we have never had journalism of this low character before—not
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April 6, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday the Star Tribune featured Jeremy Olson’s 1,300-word page-one story “Minnesota’s COVID-19 response shows promise in helping to slow virus.” Subhead: “Walz said he will be looking this week for updated modeling and any signs of the infection ebbing before deciding on extend his stay-at-home order.” Olson had previously reported on the model underlying the current shutdown ordered by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. I checked in on that story in
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April 5, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The Star Tribune’s Jeremy Olson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering health care. Trained in investigative and computer-assisted reporting, Olson has covered politics, social services, and family issues. I took a critical look at Olson’s first look at the model underlying the current shutdown ordered by Minnesota Governor Tim Walz in “Coronavirus in one state (3)” and in “No one here gets out alive.” Olson returns today with the 1,300-word
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April 4, 2020 — Scott Johnson
With a little help from our friends we started writing about chrloroquine as a possible treatment for the Wuhan virus on March 15. We added discussions of hydroxychloroquine to the mix and kept at it until President Trump himself picked up the cause. Well, that was enough for the media and a few governors to declare the thing a verboten outrage. Gregg Re takes a look back at the madness
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April 3, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz promulgated his first shutdown order on March 17 before broadening and extending it a week later. The governor promulgated his current shutdown order on the basis of a model that projected in excess of 74,000 deaths due to the Wuhan virus. We have questioned the projection and asked what model it is based on. Today the Star Tribune finally gets around to taking a look —
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April 1, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Eli Lake takes a look at the latest Department of Justice Inspector General report on the rot at the FBI in the Bloomberg column “The FBI Can’t Be Trusted With the Surveillance of Americans.” Subhead: “An inspector general report finds that the bureau has been systematically unscrupulous.” I posted a copy of Horowitz’s OIG “memorandum” here yesterday. It is not hard to believe how pervasive the rot at the FBI
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April 1, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Following up on “Was it something he said?,” I want to note that the FOX Business Channel invited Minnesota’s own Mike Lindell to respond to the media nutters whom he triggered with his remarks at the White House daily coronavirus task force briefing in the Rose Garden on Monday. The Daily Caller’s Scott Morefield embeds Lindell’s appearance on Lou Dobbs Tonight in “‘This Is Evil’: MyPillow’s Mike Lindell Punches Back
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March 31, 2020 — Steven Hayward
A lot of people are making the usual red-versus-blue points out of this survey data reported in the New York Times, showing Democrats more alarmed by the risk of COVID-19 than Republicans: The left, and the media, say this is proof of the insensitivity or “science denial” of Republicans or something, though I say it reflects the superior ability of Republicans to calculate risk tradeoffs better than Democrats. More on
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March 31, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Minnesota’s MyPillow man Mike Lindell joined President Trump and chief executive officers Darius Adamczyk (Honeywell), Debra Waller (Jockey — great!), Greg Hayes (United Technologies), and David Taylor (Proctor and Gamble) at yesterday’s daily White House Coronavirus task force briefing. Lindell is a recovering addict, an outspoken Christian, a fervent Trump supporter, a successful entrepreneur and all-around remarkable gentleman. Lindell spoke for less than three minutes (video below). He announced that
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March 28, 2020 — Scott Johnson
We proudly claim many men and women on the front lines of our struggle against the Wuhan virus among our readers — researchers, emergency room physicians, medical school faculty, other medical practitioners, teachers, entrepreneurs, businessmen, and other professionals. We have heard from quite a few over the past few weeks and are grateful for their messages. Yesterday we were delighted to hear from Dr. John Roback, a Minnesota native and,
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March 26, 2020 — Scott Johnson
I asked Brian Sullivan and Kevin Roche if they might be willing to respond to what I wrote in the adjacent post this morning in connection with one particularly vehement comment on it. Understanding that there is reasonable ground for disagreement, I thought that readers might find these responses of interest. I certainly hope that they can foster informed discussion illuminating the serious issues before us. Brian Sullivan writes: Using
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March 26, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz entered a stay-at-home executive order that will deepen the destructive economic impact of our current shutdown. The stated purpose of the order is to slow the spread of the Wuhan virus: “Recent developments, including the presence of community spread in Minnesota, the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases both globally and in Minnesota, and the first COVID-19 related death in our state, require Minnesota to take additional
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March 25, 2020 — Scott Johnson
This is the column that former UnitedHealthGroup general counsel Kevin Roche has sought to place in the Star Tribune under the heading STOP THE ECONOMIC SUICIDE. The Star Tribune has refused so far to accept the ad or to offer a comprehensible explanation. Kevin writes: A variety of extreme measures completely upending our economy and the lives of every American, including threatening job loss to tens of millions, mostly low-income
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March 25, 2020 — Scott Johnson
On Monday morning Kevin Roche wrote the Star Tribune at
[email protected]: “I want to put an issue ad in the paper.” The following email exchange ensued: On Mon, Mar 23, 2020 at 9:20 AM Place Ads wrote: Hi Kevin, Please send over the text you’d like to publish and we can get a rate and proof set up for you. From: Kevin Roche Sent: Monday, March 23, 2020 9:23 AM
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March 25, 2020 — Scott Johnson
Kevin Roche was general counsel of UnitedHealth Group in Minneapolis, then founder and CEO of its Ingenix division. Since leaving UnitedHealth he has invested in and sat on the boards of a number of health care companies, including one with our friend Brian Sullivan. He writes at Healthy Skeptic. I have known Kevin since we were classmates at the University of Minnesota Law School. Kevin wrote a column on the
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March 24, 2020 — Steven Hayward
We noted here a couple days ago how the New York Times actually appeared to be reporting the truth about congressional Democrats for a change. Well, it didn’t last long, as this progression makes clear. They must have got the memo from Nancy. Time to amend the old joke: How do you tell when the New York Times editors are lying? When their lips move.
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March 22, 2020 — Scott Johnson
The Daily Mail continues to stake out Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Ilhan Omar and new husband Tim Mynett in Washington, DC. The Daily Mail flags its most recent story as yet another exclusive: “EXCLUSIVE: Forget social distancing! Newlywed Ilhan Omar and her chief fundraiser husband share some PDA as they take a stroll in Washington DC.” I’ve got an exclusive of my own. Reporter Martin Gould and his Daily Mail
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