(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



AZ police arresting even Wall Street Journal reporters now... [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']

Date: 2023-01-06  

...at least if reporting while black

Okay, the arrest of a Journal reporter interviewing passers-by about their savings accounts outside a Chase branch in Phoenix gets your attention. Here are some details from CNN:

While visiting family in Arizona for the Thanksgiving holiday, Rabouin, who is Black, attempted to interview passersby on a sidewalk outside a Chase branch for an ongoing story about savings accounts, he told the Phoenix affiliate. Representatives from the bank approached him and asked what he was doing and Rabouin said he identified himself as a journalist. Rabouin said he was never asked to leave, but an officer soon arrived on the scene. Rabouin said he volunteered to simply stop reporting from the scene, but video captured by a bystander shows the responding officer handcuff him, put him in the back of a police vehicle, and even threaten to shove him in if he did not comply.

And yet it’s not an isolated case. There have been 217 other arrests of journalists in the US since 2020. More than a quarter of the 2022 arrests were in Arizona, ten times the state’s proportion of the country’s population. Who wants to live like this?

Arizona has combined conservative love-of-liberty virtue signaling with a real taste for strong-arm tactics by the state since Goldwater. Which coincides with the time when Arizona was the retirement destination of choice if you’d set up a small business, maybe defrauded your business partner Delay-style, and then absconded with whatever assets weren’t nailed down.

The new act in town, of course, is Florida. The state has gained over 600,000 new Repugnican registrations under DeSantis since 2018 (Democratic registrations have been flat). Ready to retire with the goods from your waste-disposal/exterminator/pillow/organ-sales business before the bills come due? Move to the new land of the free where the Governor will keep the government off your back.

Unless, of course, you’re a journalist. Here’s a recent sample of mostly state actions trashing the First Amendment (remember when it used to apply to speech other than bratty campus provocations?) in the Sunshine State, courtesy of the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker:

Broadcast photojournalist assaulted after filming fight in Miami Beach

Sarasota Herald-Tribune prohibited from publishing deputies’ names

Two Occupy-Democrats journalists removed from press conference with Florida governor

Twitter account of FL governor’s press secretary suspended for abusive behavior against an AP reporter

Reporter assaulted during Miami anti-mask mandate protest

Journalist at advocacy news organization dragged from press conference

CBS News 4 reporter hit, sprayed with alcohol as she reported in Miami Beach

The problem, looking back at the pattern in Arizona and now Florida, may be mildly affluent retiring baby boomers afraid they’re one lawsuit away from losing the cabin cruiser. Not exactly lovers of liberty, but then again, neither was Goldwater.

Let’s wrap up with a happy thought. May they all move to Florida. You can already feel the effect as voters and, especially, donors shift mildly blue in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/1/6/2145776/-AZ-police-arresting-even-Wall-Street-Journal-reporters-now

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/