It’s Thursday, October 3. This is The Front Page, your daily window into the world of The Free Press—and our take on the world at large. Coming up: Why the U.S. should make drones, not bombs; Peter Savodnik defends a professor’s right to call Israel “genocide-loving fascists”; a fat bear murder mystery; and much more.
But first, a strike that could put America out of business.
Donald Trump was already polling ahead of Kamala Harris on the economy when 50,000 East Coast dockworkers refused to go to work on Tuesday. The union, where a typical worker makes over $100,000, is demanding a 77 percent pay increase over six years as well as a total ban on automation in its ports.
The longshoremen strike could cost the U.S. economy $4.5 billion a day, choke the supply chain across key industries, and result in millions of job losses and soaring inflation. And if it drags on long enough to do real damage, the action could turn into a nasty October surprise for Harris.
Businesses have begged President Biden for help—but so far, crickets. On Sunday, Biden said he doesn’t “believe” in using the law to force workers back to the docks. But his hesitancy could kill off his vice president’s chances of winning the election and tip the scales toward Trump. (Meanwhile, International Longshoremen’s Association president Harold Daggett already appears friendly with Trump. He was photographed with him at Mar-a-Lago last November, and in July, Daggett said that a “wonderful” and “productive” meeting with the ex-president had given a boost to the union’s “opposition to automated terminals in the U.S.”)
Feeling the pressure, Vice President Harris accused Trump on Wednesday of “empty promises” and said the longshoremen, “who play a vital role transporting essential goods across America, deserve a fair share” of record profits made by “foreign-owned shipping companies.”
But will giving in to the union mean American capitalism has caved to the Luddites? Economist Noah Smith thinks so. He says it’s far better to embrace automation, reap its economic rewards, and help union members adjust to new technology rather than oppose it outright.
Smith also predicts the damage done by the strike “will reflect very badly on the whole labor movement” and risks alienating labor’s key allies.
But Sohrab Ahmari, founder and editor of Compact magazine, says the opposite. Yes, he writes, the International Longshoremen’s Association strike could be painful. But that’s the point.
“Here’s the hard truth,” he writes in his Free Press op-ed. “The militancy showcased by the ILA is exactly what is needed to restore a fairer, more balanced economy—the kind that created the middle class in the postwar decades and allowed your grandparents to access reliable healthcare, take vacations, and enjoy disposable incomes. Those who complain that today’s left has come to privilege boutique identity politics over bread-and-butter concerns should cheer the longshoremen. There is nothing ‘woke’ about their exercise of economic power to win material gains for themselves and their industrial brethren.”
Click here to read Sohrab Ahmari’s piece, “In Praise of the Dockworkers Shutting Down Our Ports.”
And given that dockworkers are in the news, read Rob Henderson’s entry in our “Prophets” series on Eric Hoffer, “the longshoreman philosopher” who foresaw our present moment by explaining how mass movements form, and warned about a society ruled by elites.
The U.S. Isn’t Ready for a Modern War
Between the hot wars among Iran and Israel, Russia and Ukraine, and the growing threat from Chinese aggression in the South China sea—some fear we’re on the brink of World War III. Yet far from being the dominant military superpower it once was, the United States looks more like Germany in WWII, writes Elliot Ackerman in his latest piece for The Free Press.
Ackerman, a retired Marine who has been awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Valor, and a Purple Heart, explains why: “The problem for the Germans was that they lacked industrial capacity. The Allies defeated the Axis with inferior technology that could be mass produced.”
Today the U.S. is in the same position. Elliot argues that although we excel at “exquisite technologies,” it doesn’t matter, because today’s $3,000 drone can take out a $10 million tank. When, he asks, will the American military learn that important lesson?
Read Elliot Ackerman’s full op-ed, “The U.S. Isn’t Ready for a Modern War.”
Smart People Against Free Speech
A lot of powerful, well-educated people don’t understand how free speech works. Example: Tim Walz. At Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, the Minnesota governor said the First Amendment does not cover “hate speech” or yelling “fire” in a crowded theater. (Wrong on both counts.)
Now, consider the people who run America’s universities. Last week, Peter Savodnik reported on Amy Wax, a tenured Penn professor suspended for expressing controversial views. This week, he reports on Maura Finkelstein, an anthropologist at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania, who became the first tenured professor to be fired for “pro-Palestine speech” since Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel.
In January, Finkelstein shared a post from another writer, saying, “Why should those genocide loving fascists be treated any different than any other flat out racist. Don’t normalize Zionism. Don’t normalize Zionists taking up space.”
And that cost her her job.
Peter doesn’t agree with Maura Finkelstein’s views on Israel. But, he writes, she is entitled to them, because the First Amendment applies to everyone: “It was a social media post, an opinion, and Finkelstein had every right to broadcast it to her 4,000 or so followers.”
Read his argument here: “Anti-Israel Professor’s Firing Sets ‘Very Dangerous Precedent’.”
Amid the growing war in the Middle East, Joe Biden said he does not support an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites. Presumably referring to the G7 nations, he said: “All seven of us agree that they have a right to respond, but they should respond in proportion.” One Israeli source told The Times of Israel that the country’s response will aim to cause “significant financial damage.”
J.D. Vance may have given the better performance in Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate, but next-day polls found that voters were fairly evenly split on who won the contest. In an average of four surveys, 48 percent said Vance won, while 46 percent gave the win to Walz. ICYMI: My colleague Olly Wiseman thought Vance was the clear winner.
Polling of Arab American voters finds the two candidates in a virtual dead heat, with Donald Trump at 42 percent and Kamala Harris at 41 percent. Harris is 18 points behind Joe Biden’s 2020 support among this cohort, with 26 percent of Arab American voters saying the war in Gaza is one of their top election issues. To find out why many Arab Americans are backing Jill Stein, read Francesca Block’s piece, “Battleground Michigan: A Tale of Two Communities Divided by War.”
Russia took control of Vuhledar, in eastern Ukraine, this week after Ukrainian troops withdrew from the town to avoid being surrounded. It is the latest setback for Kiev where, after a yearslong stalemate, Russian forces are now advancing. Ukrainians on the frontline say improved Russian tactics and superior firepower have tilted the balance in the enemy’s favor.
“I eventually chose freedom over an unrealizable justice after being detained for years and facing a 175-year sentence, with no effective remedy,” said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in his first public comments since his release from prison this week. Assange pleaded guilty to charges under the Espionage Act in June as part of a deal with U.S. authorities. Read Rupa Subramanya’s op-ed from earlier this year: “Julian Assange Gave America the Ugly Truth.”
The University of Wyoming’s women’s volleyball team forfeited a game against a team from San Jose State University that included a biological male. They are the third team this season to refuse to play against San Jose State, while one member of San Jose’s women’s team is suing the NCAA over its current gender policies. San Jose administrators say they are complying with NCAA rules, but that’s not the point. The problem is those rules don’t keep the game fair and women safe. Read Suzy Weiss’s 2022 dispatch about the transgender swimmer Lia Thomas: “Watching Lia Thomas Win.”
Alaska’s Katmai National Park began its “Fat Bear Week” contest a day late after a contestant mauled his competitor to death. The contest, in its 10th year, is usually a welcome celebration of furry fat positivity, with twelve animals gorging themselves on salmon ahead of winter. Each week, human viewers pick their favorite contenders until a winner is chosen. But on Monday things turned cutthroat when Bear 402, a female, got into a fight with a larger male, known to authorities as 469. A park ranger, Sarah Bruce, said the attack did not appear to be sparked by a confrontation over food, and so far, the cause of the fight is unknown. Meanwhile, the killer is still allowed to compete. It’s all a little too Hunger Games for my taste.
ICYMI: Don’t miss this week’s episode of The Free Press Live, our weekly show bringing you sharp commentary from friends of The FP. This week, co-hosts Batya Ungar-Sargon and Michael Moynihan sat down with Bari, Rep. Ritchie Torres, and former Marine special intelligence leader Elliot Ackerman to discuss the vice presidential debate and Israel at war.
Madeleine Kearns is an associate editor for The Free Press. Follow her on X @madeleinekearns.
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