By MICHAEL TAVOLIERO
It is time to boycott, divest and sanction the Anchorage Daily News, its owners, employees, advertisers and supporters.
Enough of these Marxists who ridicule, criticize, and condemn the good and honorable leaders of our community. They have no intent of to improve our community. Their sole purpose is to help the political elite maintain power and control over Anchorage and Alaska.
The ADN’s campaign against on the Bronson Administration is shameful. It seeks to squelch free speech, censor dissenting opinions and beliefs, and ban or boycott the Bronson Administration and any of its supporters who do not comply with the ADN’s orthodoxy. It is a continual and constant hatchet job wielded by the ADN’s management under the grace of the ADN’s owners.
Enough.
With the change of ownership to the Binkley Company LLC, many members of the Anchorage community were encouraged. We thought that a fair and balanced approach to journalism would finally become the norm, because most of us saw the sire of the Binkley brood, John Binkley, as a respected and thoughtful conservative.
Before the Binkley Company LLC purchase of the ADN, the newspaper was the Anchorage Daily Pravda. Its goal was to seek and destroy the reputations of honorable conservative members of our community, while supporting leftwing politicians who destroy economic development opportunities in Alaska. It was an instrument of the deep state.
But now with this latest editorial hit job demanding the City Manager Amy Demboski be fired, the ADN demonstrates its willingness to use every Saul Alinsky angle to pick apart, intimidate, and excoriate the new mayor and his organization.
ADN is the current equivalent of the China Daily. Its sole focus is journalistic bullying. The editorial department presents what looks like real news articles, artfully crafted with an Alinsky spin, especially regarding local news events.
The ADN’s quest is to disguise and blend freedom of the press with Saul Alinsky’s 13th rule: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Alinsky wrote, in part: “Obviously there is no point to tactics unless one has a target upon which to center the attacks.” (Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky).
Historically, what better target is there than Amy Demboski, who has tirelessly served the Anchorage community?
This is not journalistic competence or professionalism. It is not our Founders’ anticipated goal of the 4th Estate designed to check and balance a government of, by, and for the people.
As Thomas Jefferson argued correctly, given the choice between “a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government,” he wouldn’t hesitate to choose the latter. But honestly, why does our free press remain liberty’s assassin in a community such as Anchorage?
Indeed, the ADN, its owners, its staff, and its advertisers and supporters are a compliant trusted ally of the Marxist cabal which seeks to destroy conservatives, our children’s futures, and our American system.
This is muckraking, yellow journalism, and propaganda designed to persuade the public that their targets are worthy of our disdain and to exile offenders without due process from our community.
It is we as conservatives who have the true power in our understanding of our constitutional republic. We have in our numbers a profound sense of maturity, patience, and intelligence. We have a community largely composed of those who have sworn the oath to support and defend our constitutional republic.
It is time to demand that same faith be put into action.
Why should we purchase this Marxist propaganda for our news when there are so many other respectable media sources available to us, such as locally Must Read Alaska and the Alaska Watchman and globally the Epoch Times and Newsmax?
Why should anyone buy the products and services from the companies who support the ADN through their advertising?
Conservatives, it’s time to put our money where our mouths are. We must cancel all support for the owners of the ADN, its employees, and anyone advertising in the ADN.
Boycott by withdrawing your support of the ADN and all of its parts.
Participate in divestment campaigns by putting pressure on any entity or institution, public or private, and ask that they withdraw investments and support in the ADN.
Endorse campaigns to pressure local and state governments to end any taxpayer subsidies and other forms of support for the ADN.
The Anchorage Daily News, its owner, the Binkley Company LLC, has four members who each have a share in this business. These owners are responsible for the current offensive noise coming from the ADN. They are James M. Binkley, Member, 12%, Kai Binkley Sims, Member, 12%, Ryan E. Binkley Manager, Member, 51%, and Wade M. Binkley, Member, 25%.
Alaska is still a small and friendly community. Contact them personally and let them know your disappointment.
Chugiak and Eagle River, especially, the Demboski family are your friends and neighbors and do not deserve this type of venom.
Michael Tavoliero is a realtor in Eagle River, is active in the Alaska Republican Party and until recently chaired Eaglexit.
You just have to laugh about Bronson suspending fluoridation at the request of the AWWU as some sort of scandalous abuse of power. It’s Kyle Hopkins pushing it too, not one of the news kids who came up here recently.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but if the level of fluoridation exceeds the max standard in a given time period, it is normal to suspend the fluoridation until the correct level is acquired? The doofuses at ADN are grabbing anything they can to trash this honorable Mayor. Who knows, this may have been a set up for another “news” story,
Oh – Kyle Hopkins. Isn’t he married to the Alaska News Source reporter who spent a glorious 36 hours in Hawaii with gal pal Gov. Bill’s daughter? Ugh! What a sorry bunch of politicians and news acolytes we have in this Anchorage/Alaska microcosm!
Eto pravda?
The assembly didn’t wait for any information to come forward before they started their search and destroy campaign
LAL, who needs facts and information, when you have self-righteous and blind zealotry on your side?
The assembly didn’t wait for any information to come forward before they started their search and destroy campaign
Contact the ADNs advertisers to let them know you will no longer patronize their businesses. Money is the only effective tool these print liars understand.
Thank you for your article, Mr. Tavoliero. The Binkley brood that you reveal are the grandkids of Captain Jim and Mary Binkley, stalwart Republicans and business entrepreneurs up in Fairbanks, from decades ago. Outstanding conservatives and ambassadors for Alaska .Their tour business and it’s expansive wealth were handed down to the grandkids, all who own homes up in Fairbanks. Their dad is John Binkley.
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Why the grandkids turned out so left-wing and opposite to the political beliefs of their grandparents is a big mystery. This does happen though, especially when inheritance is the vehicle to antecedent’s wealth. None of them had any prior experience in the newspaper business.
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Since wokeism and Marxism seems to be their brand at the ADN, maybe the father, John Binkley can answer. With all of his involvement in Alaska politics, the answers may be self-revealing. One thing for sure, the disgraced and corrupt Bill Walker and his boy, Scott Kendall, are loving the Binkley grandkids. And the ADN is his personal, daily campaign brochure.
Quite sure ADN will respond to a bunch of anonymous posters. LMAO
The posters might be their first cousins. LMFAO. ?
Such as you here, Frank?
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You have always been one of the most stalwart radical leftist trolls in the ADN online comments sections.
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Regardless, you again demonstrate your lack of intelligence, not to mention basic reading comprehension, with this comment. Caterina was not advocating contacting and complaining to the ADN, but to those who ADVERTISE in the ADN.
Please try to keep up with the adults here, Frank.
I dropped them within weeks of the new publisher, and I told them why in a text.
I am against the cancel culture but in the case of the hate they spew, I’m all in. Guess I’ll have to grab one from a diner and write down the advertisers names.
We need a list of all advertisers and donors. Follow the money.
I don’t even get near a news paper any more. Similarly, who uses a phone book anymore? Phone books went away because they lost advertising dollars from lack of use. Newspapers are the way of the dinosaur anyway. If they get no advertisers, the print media will go away. But that doesn’t stop the media company from the same stories getting published online. And advertising online works differently than content providers getting direct advertising. Like why am I looking at a CDC “Take VaxCard with you everywhere” advertisement right next to this comment box I’m typing in on this website.
Newspapers, the actual physical newspaper’s primary value, in this day and age, is that once the words are put down on paper, they cannot be invisibly edited behind the scenes at any given time. In my opinion, there is nothing like holding a good newspaper in your hands and reading it while sipping on ones beverage of choice. For this, I have only looked to The Epoch Times for the past few years now. What a great newspaper! When I am done reading it, it meets its final purpose, firing up the old particle emitter…
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Yeah, that VaxCard advertisement is heinous. Antithetical to individual liberty and fully deserving of being relegated to obscurity.
I donate a hundred bucks every once in a while because I feel that I’m getting my money’s worth with MRAK. I do read the ads … only place I ever read ads.
I enjoy the spitting matches in the comment section. I get a little rough with some, but I hope they never go away.
I am bewildered as to how they are staying in business. I know no one who reads ADN let alone subscribes. Are they being funded by outside sources? Would not be a surprise I suppose. And how do we know who the advertisers are if we do not read the paper?
Thank you for highlighting this.
Watching their emails hit the inbox, offering subscription at an increasingly lower rate, over the past few years has brought me great joy.
I remember a time when the Anchorage Daily News was local. Now we get copy/pastes from the AP and Washington Post.
Read it for free, pick you article and just as it starts to load, hit the escape key, its tricky to time right, just like a video game, but when you do time it right– FREE articles. #thankcraigmedredforthetip
Michael – do the Demboski’s still live in Chugiak or Eagle River?
Advertisers are probably provided free as a filler.
This is a money loser kept a float by Soros .
I wonder how much taxes it pays?
Without the filler it would be down to 3/4 of the page.
I have had way more than “enough” of the ADN, which regurgitates the same slanted spew as the Washington Post, The NY Times, and other such wretched organs. If one had never heard of the Binkleys, one might reasonably suppose the ADN to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the WaPo. I was once tempted to subscribe for home delivery, but as with all other vices one can declare, “Get thee behind me, ADN.”
I will no longer support advertisers in the ADN. I will do our grocery shopping at Three Bears and City Market, and no longer buy sprits from their advertisers. Hit them where it hurts
It is an interesting question as to why a so called conservative family (Binkley) who purchased the ADN would allow the news outlet to continue being Alaska’s version of Pravda. One reason might be that the Binkley family is not as conservative as some might think. Another, possibility is that the Binkley family believes that Pravda sells. After all, the vast majority of America’s metro newspapers have a distinct liberal bent. Why not trendy Anchorage?
It’s time to relentlessly call out what the ADN really is: fake news. If the ADN isn’t producing it’s own contrived stories that suits its liberal narrative, it is publishing the syndicated drivel purchased from the Associated Press or the ‘paper of record’, New York Times. It is simply news that is unfit to read. Encouraging people to get their news from more reliable sources is a good start. Calling out ADN’s inaccuracies when they occur, helps build the case of fake news. Dropping print and on-line subscriptions sends a message too. It might change the Binkley belief that pushing their leftest world view in everything they publish pays.
Wayne, that is all very true, with the exception of all the syndicated drivel that they reprint, most of which comes from the OTHER establishment mouthpiece, the Washington (Com)Post — “all the shit that’s fit to print!” Indeed, the ADN should probably be renamed the Washington (Com)Post, Anchorage edition.
While I’m a big believer in voting with your wallet, it won’t do much good here.
ADN made a business decision to cater to the hard left. That’s their subscription base. Further, most big dollar advertising (Freds, Carrs, Walgreens, ect) are on the same team politically. They are willing to run the risk associated with choosing sides.
Lastly, too many people cling to the romantic ideal of an Alaska that no longer exists.
This is a left of center state, and Anchorage is hard left.
Actually I’m not so sure that Anchorage is hard left. It just appears that way because the left is overconfident, smug, and presumptuous and good at making sure everyone notices them. And Alaska is definitely not left of center. Chin up.
“ADN is the current equivalent of the China Daily” This is where the money comes from. Funneled via entities like soros, et al. And, it is right down to the small city / town level–not just Anchorage and not just ADN. Michael acknowledges Alinsky like tactics–it is obvious they are pulling out all the stops, as they divide communities all over. The last bulwark is the family. Part of the plan is to divide that too.
After Bronson is recalled, Mike T can run for Mayor and find out he has a minority opinion
All men named Frank are blessed with egos that supercede their cranial output by a factor of 10.
More like 50, Frankie.
Only in your fevered radical leftist dreams will that ever happen, Frank.
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Admit it: you and your extreme authoritarian hard-left buddies simply cannot acknowledge, or still come to terms, with the fact that your chosen boy Forest Gump Dunbar was not elected, and that Mayor Bronson was.
If Bronson is recalled for legitimate abuses of power or illegal actions, so be it. However, I’m inclined to agree with Mike T. The ADN and KTUU each have gone beyond reporting facts to the public and inserted inuendo’s and alt opinions with their reporting; that has clearly influenced/motivated/encouraged the progressive’s ruling the Assembly to initiate inquiries and harangue the Bronson Administration when both should be working together to find common ground solutions to the various real problems plaguing the Muni. I too want to dump ADN altogether, but there’s not much in alternatives for local news that’s truly fact based. All the news sources Mike suggested in his article also report facts biased toward conservative opinions, so I continue reading a variety of online media sources, realizing some are biased left; others right.
Probably time for you to go lay down by your dish.
And woe unto the great liar and false profit ADN
And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.” Mark 13:33
Sounding like the cancel culture
I certainly agree. However, all Anchorage Daily News writers are not equally driven to carry the far left agenda. Kyle Hopkins and his apparently employer, Pro Publica (and Soros and company) have begun pushing Walker by doing the same job on Dunleavy that the Daily News did on Parnell.
Hopkins has a very transparent, dogma-driven motive and message. Remember all the National Guard sex scandals the Daily News put around Parnell’s neck right up until Walker won and then dropped the issue entirely? Hopkins is doing that with blaming Dunleavy for bush issues that have been endemic in Alaska for generations; the irony is that Dunleavy understands bush Alaska better than any governor since Hammond.
James Brooks does at least an OK job in being objective with his coverage of the legislature except he is unwilling to do the homework necessary to understand the budget games; but so are school boards, municipal mayors, the Municipal League, etc.
I have decided that the Daily News doesn’t give Brooks the resources to understand the budget. It really does depend on the reporter: Right now the Juneau Empire (an almost dead and gone newspaper) covers the budget better than any other newspaper may be doing.
I do think we need to tell merchants with whom we do business to stop advertising in the Anchorage Daily News. We do need to dress down the Anchorage Daily News reporters. And not entirely unrelated, we need to make sure the state budget doesn’t subsidize Public Broadcasting as the Anchorage Daily News, Pro Publica, National Public Broadcasting and Media, and Bloomberg are all very connected.
And don’t think for a minute that the public employee unions and many state employees are not directly tied to the socialistic spin in Alaska media today.
ADN is not doing the community any favors. It accurately undermines and divides on a routine basis.
I quit the paper several years ago., when Alice owned it. It had no discernment. I wanted to keep it away from my kids, kinda like a dirty magazine, and told them so to teach them discernment Thought I might be able to subscribe after new ownership. Unfortunately not. A very ugly paper that chooses to destroy our community rather than build.
Thanks Michael.
I have no idea who their advertisers are. I’ve long since abandoned them.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t they receive more money in PP loans and CARES Act money than they paid for the already failing newspaper? They are flush with money and can now continue to put out their propaganda without the support of subscribers. Sort of how it worked in the USSR. I am convinced that even with no subscribers and no advertising that this rag would continue to circulate. Because it is not a newspaper at all.
As much as I need bird cage lining and fire starter, I had to give up my daily subscription to ADN long ago. They continue the tradition of muck-raking and have added Alinsky tactics, much to my disappointment. Mr. T, you nailed them.
I have watched Amy Demboski advance her service to the communities served by ADN–the farther she got the more aggressively ADN targeted her. Her presence at the Anchorage Assembly meetings has been misrepresented consistently by ADN and I agree that we need to de-monetize ADN, their owners and their advertisers. Go Amy!
Putting it lightly, ADN is pure scum and the devil’s advocate and nothing more to say. Never will subscribe to their liberal nonsense! Ever!
Two things:
1. Can anyone remember when ADN nearly/did file bankruptcy? What happened? Is there really a heightened demand to do business with them? What changed? I don’t know anyone who continues subscribe to their service.
2. Growing the counter voice is key. I hope Suzanne has an aggressive team in respect to business development. In modern times, knowledge of CPM marketing, traffic arbitrage and guerilla tactics to organically grow a digital news site is paramount. How about traffic monetization? I hardly see any new site-specific advertisers nor reputable third party publishers. I appreciate mildly invasive advertisement but this is a little too mild.
I’m in it for the editorials and comment section. There’s some smart cookies with MRAK, writing sensible editorials, making comments, and I learn a lot from them.
I tried them for a few weeks after the new owners took control; same old Pravda and I dropped them.
Gave up on local printed news when the Times disappeared. Binkley is no better than McClatchy. Had very slight amount of hope; therefore, I was not disappointed with the direction Binkley took…
These so called news outlets are just propaganda and the enemy of our Republic. It appears that revenue is not a issue. Would be fascinating to see where the monies to keep these outlets afloat is coming from.
ADN has blocked my comments, deleted my account. LOL
I was a long-time regular poster in the ADN comments sections, until I was summarily banned by the editor himself last year — he sent me a personal message to that effect. And my ‘crime’? Questioning the efficacy of mass public mask wearing in preventing viral disease transmission.
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So much for the (formerly) much-vaunted, yet completely spurious, “liberal” “tolerance”.
Sadly in my opinion, the ADN is no longer dependent on sale/advertising revenue. They now get grands and other monetary funding from foundations like ProPublica and others. This frees them from the pesky need to actually report fairly and be held accountable by the readers. Now these funded positions get to spew the drivel their real employers (ProPublica) want. ADN is no better than any union rags out there, which blatantly support politicians that give them more.
ADN is the localized version of the Huffington post. Their sole purpose is to spread misinformation and instill hate of conservatives among its readers. Never subscribed to them and never will. That’s $159.50 that can be put to better use elsewhere.
The Juneau Empire and the other small publications throughout the SE are exactly the same. They hide under the guise of freedom of the press, but we need to realize they are not the “press.” They are not reporters, they are not journalists, they are not “news” people (with the exception of maybe sports and the weather). Time for some lawsuits?
Stop funding the ADN with any government, state, local or federal subscriptions. Boycott advertisers and tell them why. We need a list of local advertisers and their contact numbers so no one has to buy the rag to get contact numbers to call the advertisers regarding boycott.
Obama said “Thats not us” Now we know what he meant! lolol
I just took Must Read Alaska off my Ad Blocker list. I have to admit it was there unintentionally. So if you can earn a little more through ads, go for it!
Now where is that DONATE button?
In order to boycott advertisers in Pravda North one must first know who they are. For most that would mean having to buy a copy now and then. Not a good thing.
Perhaps one of our more internet-skookum readers hereabouts might volunteer to post a weekly (s)Hit List of businesses who have declared their anti-American leanings by contributing to the survival of a former newspaper whose corpse is rotting even as it yet slithers.
So you want to “sanction” a privately-held newspaper? Do you even know what the words you use mean? You certainly have no idea what “Marxist” means, since all y’all do is throw it at people who have no beliefs actually resembling Marxism in any way.
But let’s see if Suzanne has the courage to a leave a contrary opinion up on her “reputable” website!
Ivan, yes, exactly. What is wrong with boycotting a (so-called) privately-held business of ANY sort, when one fundamentally disagrees with their hateful, intolerant, and destructive misinformation and propaganda?
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And if you were not so ignorant, you would already recognize and have noted that Suzanne does indeed allow contrary and differing opinions to be posted here, all the time. Unlike the vile ADN, who rabidly censors their gulag of an online comment section, and summarily bans for life all posters who do not hew to their narrow and dogmatic political agenda.
Right! Useful Idiot of Marxism is more factually correct! Real Marxist are at the universities and left media.
I’m down. Help us out with a nice little list of advertisers please.
I do desire that both sides have a publication that they both read. But the ADN ain’t it. They actually root for their community to tear itself apart so they can blame the leadership that isn’t part of their tribe and claim victory and make the left see the right as total villains until we apologize and bend the knee or get frustrated and feel ostracized and harassed until we give up or something. That’s not at all what I think is a healthy debate. It’s not based on merit, integrity, logic, or facts and certainly isn’t something that brings a community together. That’s just tribalism that’s egotistical and impossible and should be opposed and defeated so we can have healthy discussions and a healthy community.
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I sure hope MRAK readers are donating to MRAK.
Respectfully disagree, Michael.
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ADN “reporters” provide a valuable window into what Anchorage’s ruling class are thinking.
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ADN provides a valuable punching bag (figuratively!) for readers frustrated with their ruling class.
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ADN provides valuable, if unintentional, encouragement to the success of “Must Read Alaska”.
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The ADN lot do have a First Amendment right to do what they do.
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When, Michael, you’re elected to public office and ADN’s lot become your constituents; you’ll represent them with the same energy you dedicate to normal constituents, no?
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Yes, ADN “reporters” and “news” seem dedicated to irritating Conservatives, but what American Conservative wants the sobriquet of “He Who Shuts Down Newspapers”?
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Shutting down idelogically undesirable news media is the jihad of America’s radical Left, no? The obssession with shutting down ideologically undesirable news media clearly distinguishes America’s radical Left from America’s Conservatives, no?
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To Michael, possibly a rising star on the conservative scene, may we suggest: do -not- blur that distinction. You’re defending America’s Constitution, not doing the radical Left’s job for them, yes?
Talk about a bunch of dysfunctional group of yellow journalist! It’s not about reporting the news anymore. It’s about how many souls they can drag to the dark side of politics where there is no shame. The ends justify the means.
I learned very early in childhood that if you have to lie to make your point, maybe the whole mess is rotten. That pretty well defines ADN and their “reporting.” Why anyone would read that crap is beyond me; however, there remain folks who get their news delivered to their doorstep, and they also watch network news, and some even believe what they read. It is a sad state of affairs, but there are also those who read it and find their own idiocy reflected back upon them, and they like it. Not much help to be had to fix that horrid situation. As they used to say, a conservative is a liberal who has been mugged. Maybe the crashing economy, the eternal masks, and all the other stupidity will open their eyes.
Agree. Solid comment.
ADN is part of the propaganda machine that is trying to destroy America.!
Exactly! Point on! Thank you!!!
Not even willing to use their obituary service for my brother (Pete Johnson) who recently passed. I don’t want people to have any reason at all to crack the pages, real or virtual, of that paper.
Suggestions to the author: Too long, too bombastic, too apocalyptic. I have read the ADN with great skepticism for over fifty years. Like most on the Left, the ADN distorts but they also consistently overreach. The First Amendment allows them to publish. Fewer and fewer people read the newspaper. I get most of my state news elsewhere. This website is the best.
And then they want $ for the trash???/ lololol
Why would you expect anything else from the Cruise ship industry……make no mistake, the Binkley’s are solidly in bed with the Cruise Lines.
Jobs they say ……….. Money for Alaskans they say ……….. Maybe in the short term, but you only have to look at what cruise has done in other places to know this is a short term gain at best.
Already their passengers are sequestered to their buses and private trains take them to their hotels. Essentially, the only difference between Alaska and the Caribbean is they haven’t put the fences up around their compounds yet. It’s been a few years, but all the shops I remember as a kid are now seasonal and staffed with people flown in for the summer. Shop local they say………. Hard to do when 2/3 of the commercial space is taken up by stores that are open 4 months a year at best.
From a life long Alaska who was born and raised in Sitka, AK
I’ve despised the editorial content of the ADN since back in the early 90s when then editor-in-chief Howard Weaver published his how-to-blow-up-the-trans-Alaska-pipeline terrorist manual on the front page. Or when a clever employee blacked out a front tooth of a friend because she was in ad for an organization that the ADN vociferously opposed (they later offered a half-apology saying it was a glitch in the printing process). At every turn the ADN and its staff have published truly irresponsible articles that do not represent the majority of the community they claim to serve. I support v-e-r-y few of their advertisers and sponsors. There’s more: for decades when visitors from the Lower 48 come to Alaska, I used to take them on the train to Fairbanks and then to the Binkley’s Riverboat Tour. I’ve even arranged for my employer to rent the boat for business friends, employees and board members. NOT ANY MORE. I’m as done with the Binkleys as I am with the ADN until that rag of paper stops practicing yellow journalism and starts reporting news for those who are so far left that they cannot even see straight.
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