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House Finance Moves Gasline Bill Out of Committee

Natalie Spaulding
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House Finance Moves Gasline Bill Out of Committee

Today, June 10, 2026, House Finance moved the Alaska LNG gasline bill (HB 381 version T, and as amended) out of committee with a vote 11-0.

During the hearing, Representative Jamie Allard stated that the bill is “good for every single child, man and woman across the state of Alaska. And I think this is pretty historic, so I really appreciate everybody coming together, whether we disagreed or not, moving this out and moving it forward.”

Governor Dunleavy commented on X following the vote: “This legislation provides the certainty and stability needed to move the Alaska LNG Project forward, strengthen our economy, create thousands of good-paying jobs, and deliver long-term benefits for Alaskans. I appreciate the committee’s work and look forward to continued progress as this important bill now moves to the House floor and on to the Senate.”

https://x.com/i/status/2064829864834892047

The House Finance Committee includes Representatives Jeremy Bynum (R-Ketchikan), Sara Hannon (D-Juneau), Nellie Unangiq Jimmie (D-Toksook Bay), Alyse Galvin (NA-Anchorage), Will Stapp (R-Fairbanks), Elexie Moore (R-Wasilla), Jamie Allard (R-Eagle River), Calvin Schrage (NA-Anchorage), Andy Josephson (D-Anchorage), Neal Foster (D-Nome), and Frank Tomaszewski (R-Fairbanks).

Opinion: Two Dan Sullivans and the Death of an Honest Ballot 

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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Opinion: Two Dan Sullivans and the Death of an Honest Ballot 
Incumbent U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan

By State Representative Kevin McCabe (R-Big Lake)

I have often argued that Ranked Choice Voting, and especially the jungle primary that came with it, rewards political camouflage and punishes political clarity. It encourages candidates to blur distinctions, avoid firm positions, and present themselves as something they are not. I have called it structured dishonesty built into the system itself. What I did not expect was to see the camouflage become this literal. 

As of this week, Alaska voters may find themselves looking at two Dan Sullivans on the ballot in the 2026 US Senate race. One is our sitting United States Senator, a retired Marine, former Attorney General, and a public servant, Dan S. Sullivan, whose record is well known to Alaskans. The other is a relatively unknown candidate from Petersburg who filed at the eleventh hour and whose campaign materials have been linked to a progressive political consultant. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has raised concerns about what many Alaskans are already wondering: when you cannot beat a candidate on his record, do you try to make it harder for voters to find him on the ballot? 

To be fair, facts matter. The Peltola campaign denies any involvement. The second Mr. Sullivan says he is running a legitimate campaign. I do not know who encouraged whom to run, and I will not pretend to know facts I cannot prove. 

But I do know this: a system that creates an opportunity for this kind of tactic has a problem. 

And make no mistake about why anyone would bother. This race was never just about Alaska. 

Chuck Schumer recruited Mary Peltola into it himself. His allied groups have already spent millions going after Senator Sullivan, and the campaign has barely started. Senator Sullivan has said Schumer is prepared to spend millions more to beat him. They are not spending that kind of money because they care about Alaska. They are spending it because control of the United States Senate may come down to this one seat. If Schumer flips Alaska, he and the same anti-Alaska Democrats who fight our drilling, our development, and our way of life are one step closer to running the Senate. What happens on our ballot will be felt far beyond our borders, and it will be felt here in Alaska for decades. 

Call it the RCV Nuclear Option. 

If political operatives believe they cannot beat an incumbent, they find someone with the same name and put that person on the ballot. Maybe it works, maybe it does not. That is not really the point. The fact that anyone would even consider it a viable political strategy tells you something important about the RCV system itself. Voters should never have to wonder whether the name they marked is actually the person they intended to support. 

Some defenders of the current system will point out that ballots include middle initials and other identifying information. Fair enough. But if election officials have to explain to voters how to tell two candidates with the same name apart, the problem is already obvious. Elections are supposed to be straightforward.  The incumbent Alaska Senator, the Republican Senator, is Daniel S. Sullivan and voters should not need a guidebook to figure out which candidate is which. The burden should be on the system to provide clarity, not on voters to navigate confusion that never should have existed in the first place.  

This is the rotten fruit of Ballot Measure 2. 

I have said since it was first placed on the ballot, that the greatest weakness in Alaska’s current election system is not even the ranking process itself. It is the jungle primary, where every candidate from every party is thrown onto the same ballot and the top four advance. That is exactly where two identical names can do their damage. Confuse enough voters, split enough support, and a strong candidate can be pushed down the field before the ranked-choice process even begins. What was once an occasional accident in a crowded race becomes a tactic available to anyone willing to exploit the rules. 

This would have been far less likely under the system Alaska had before outside money sold voters on “reform.” Republicans selected a Republican nominee. Democrats selected a Democratic nominee. Candidates appeared on the general-election ballot with clear labels and clear distinctions. The genius of that system was not that it was perfect. It was that it was legible. A voter could read it. 

Supporters of Ranked Choice Voting promised more civility, broader appeal, and elections that better reflected the will of the people. Instead, every election cycle seems to reveal another weakness. We have seen exhausted ballots. We have seen outcomes that leave voters questioning whether they were fully represented. And now we may see two candidates with the same name competing for votes in one of Alaska’s most important races. 

In November, Alaskans will again have the opportunity to decide whether this system should remain in place. Wherever you stand on that question, we should all be able to agree on one basic principle: elections should be clear, transparent, and worthy of public trust. 

Two Dan Sullivans on one ballot is not transparency. 

It’s a sneaky magic trick. 

And Alaskans deserve an election, not a sleight of hand. 

Alaska Lt. Governor Investigates Validity of Petersburg Dan’s Filing for U.S. Senate Against Incumbent Dan Sullivan

Natalie Spaulding
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Alaska Lt. Governor Investigates Validity of Petersburg Dan’s Filing for U.S. Senate Against Incumbent Dan Sullivan

A man of the name Dan Sullivan from Petersburg has filed to run against incumbent U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat up for election this November. Petersburg Dan, who filed as a Republican, stands accused of running with the intention to confuse voters and cheat incumbent Dan Sullivan of votes.

Alaska’s Lieutenant Governor, Nancy Dahlstrom, opened an investigation into Peterburg Dan’s campaign validity. She sent a letter to Petersburg Dan, stating, “I’m troubled by the allegation that you filed for office in coordination with another campaign with the intention of confusing Alaskan voters in a way that will benefit one candidate over another. If true, it suggests that your declaration of candidacy, which was submitted under penalty of perjury, was not genuine and not properly filed. For these reasons, this letter serves as notice that I have requested an investigation of your recent declaration of candidacy for United States Senate before determining whether you can appear on the ballot and, if you can appear, in what manner your name will appear on the ballot.”

In her letter, Dahlstrom says there are “credible allegations” that Petersburg Dan filed “out of intention to confuse and manipulate voters by capitalizing on the fact that you share a first and last name with the incumbent senator.”

Dahlstrom writes that Petersburg Dan sent a letter on June 3 “responding to these allegations,” but that the letter “did not adequately respond to the specific allegations.” She then asks Petersburg Dan to respond to several specific questions regarding certain campaign decisions and potential connections to Democratic strategists. She asks whether he would object to his name appearing on the ballot as “Sullivan, Daniel James Jr. (non-incumbent)” to avoid voter confusion.

Petersburg Dan must provide his responses in an affidavit signed under penalty of perjury on or before noon on Wednesday, June 10, 2026.

Senator Sullivan, who believes Petersburg Dan is a “sham” candidate recruited by Democrats, stated he would file a lawsuit if Petersburg Dan remains on the ballot. “He is a liberal progressive,” said Senator Sullivan in an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju. “We’ve seen his donations to all the far-left groups. He’s donated to Peltola. And his whole purpose of running is to confuse Alaskans to make Alaskan voters think that somehow he’s me, so they could rig the vote in favor of Mary Peltola.”

Senator Sullivan is the target of a large-scale Democrat smear campaign to manipulate voters.

Senate Majority PAC Spends $10.6 million on Smear Campaign Against Sullivan

Readers can access Dahlstrom’s June 8th letter and Petersburg Dan’s June 3rd letter here:

6.8.26 Lt. Gov. Letter with enclosureDownload

Opinion: The Hard Job of Conserving America’s Identity and Fighting Progressive Chaos

Natalie Spaulding
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Opinion: The Hard Job of Conserving America’s Identity and Fighting Progressive Chaos

The nation is buzzing with excitement with the upcoming 250th Anniversary of the United States of America, this July 4, 2026. Celebrations are being organized throughout the states, Americans are taking time to reflect on the state of our nation, and the desire to fight for the good of America is being rekindled in all who love our dear country.

America turns 250 years old during a time of intense political polarization and animosity. On the left are Americans who believe America has an evolving identity that should progress toward a universal world order that secures what they believe to be human happiness.

On the right are Americans who believe America has a fixed identity that must be protected, conserved, and honored. To the conservative mind, progressive policies do not improve America, they confuse her. They befuddle her with a myriad of contradicting philosophies and leave her in a state of mental crisis.

A strong sense of identity is essential to a strong and healthy mind. Identity confusion creates chaos, instability, and mental crisis whether in a individual’s life or in a country’s cultural life.

So, who is America?

That is the question every conservative must face if they hope to be effective against progressive forces. For what it is worth, liberals know what they want. They have a utopian vision that they are working toward with fierce consistency and strategy.

Love requires deep understanding of whom you love. If we are to love America, we must understand her, not recreate her. That is where conservatism begins.

Unfortunately, partly due to leftist efforts in education and media, many conservatives either lack a deep understanding of America’s identity or they simply have given up fighting for it.

No man or woman is an island. We exist in society, in what Aristotle coined the polis. According to Aristotle, humans are political creatures. To exist outside the polis is to deny part of your identity as a human being.

Conservation does not happen as a default. On the contrary, decay is the default, a law we see in nature as well as in politics. Conserving America’s values, principles, history, and identity is hard work.

Similar to the impossibility of expressing a loved one’s entire identity in a few words, we cannot expect to capture America in her essence without writing volume after volume. And indeed, volume after volume have been written seeking to answer that question. Yet, there are qualities of our dear America that ought to unite conservatives across the nation.

Politically, America is a Democratic-Republic with a governing structure that gives the power to the people first and foremost, insists on checks-and-balances between three branches of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial), and rejects despotism.

Economically, America is a free-market capitalist country. Socialism and communism are foreign to her and poisonous.

Culturally, America is God-fearing. Despite how far our country has wandered from her founding principles enshrined in our founding documents, America cannot reject God without rejecting her own identity. The Declaration of Independence is clear: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Inalienable rights are endowed by the Divine Creator without whom there is no basis for our rights other than whatever rights the government decides to bestow. The principle that God, not the government, gives us our rights is essential to America’s identity.

These founding principles are the lifeblood of America and if we do not protect her, her heart will grow cold, and she will be buried among the other nations who were once great.

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Opinion: The “Why Now” Answer to the LNG Special Session Is Tied to Deadline for Carbon Credits

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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Opinion: The “Why Now” Answer to the LNG Special Session Is Tied to Deadline for Carbon Credits

By Dana Raffaniello

The following article is a partial reprint of the article “The AKLNG Pipeline’s 30-Day Window,” originally published on the author’s personal Substack, June 1, 2026.

In December 2022, three and a half years before this special session, Governor Dunleavy published an op-ed titled “Alaska’s Map to Clean Hydrogen Leadership.” He wrote that natural gas is a key ingredient for hydrogen production, that increasing global demand for low-carbon hydrogen is fueling progress for Alaska LNG, and that Alaska is well positioned to compete because of its geology suited for carbon capture and its vast gas supply. The op-ed was published on RealClearEnergy and hosted on the AGDC website.

That same month, AGDC submitted a concept paper to the U.S. Department of Energy seeking $850 million in federal hydrogen hub funding. The Alaska Hydrogen Hub concept anticipated producing more than 600 tons of clean hydrogen per day, using North Slope natural gas feedstock via the Alaska LNG project and sequestering the captured carbon dioxide in underground geological formations. AGDC initially refused to release the concept paper. The DOE discouraged the application.

In June 2022, Governor Dunleavy concluded a trade mission to Japan. The AGDC newsroom described his meetings as covering Alaska’s potential to export blue and green hydrogen as part of Japan’s energy transition, alongside LNG.

In 2025, Dunleavy’s Alaska Clean Energy Week proclamation described the Alaska LNG project as including a “carbon removal and sequestration plant” and characterized it as “among the lowest carbon impact projects on the planet.” That is not a description of a natural gas export project. It is a description of a carbon credit architecture.

None of this appeared in the urgency argument for the special session. The urgency argument was “LNG market window.”

The Deadline Nobody Will Name

The Legislature’s own oil and gas consultant, GaffneyCline Senior Director Nicholas Fulford, told the Senate Finance Committee on May 27 that natural gas “is not the driver” of the project’s economics and that it “is not worth much.” If the LNG market window is the urgency and LNG is not the driver, the urgency argument contradicts itself in testimony from the state’s own paid advisor.

There is one deadline in the public record with a specific date attached to this project’s actual economic architecture. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law on July 4, 2025, extended the Section 45V clean hydrogen production tax credit but moved the construction commencement deadline forward to December 31, 2027. The special session’s bill, SB 2001, contains a construction commencement trigger of January 1, 2028. Those two dates are identical. That is not a coincidence in drafting.

The 45V credit pays up to $3 per kilogram of qualifying clean hydrogen produced, for ten years, to projects that begin construction before January 1, 2028. On the separate 45Q carbon capture side, the credit is worth approximately $85 per ton of CO2 sequestered, an estimated $595 million annually to the project operator at projected volumes. Alaska’s return from that activity under HB 50, the 2024 carbon storage law, is $2.50 per ton. Less than three cents on every dollar of federal credit value generated using Alaska’s geology.

The Governor has been describing this architecture in public since 2022. He described it as Alaska’s hydrogen leadership map. He described it at trade missions in Japan. He described it in AGDC’s federal funding applications. What he has not described, in this special session, is the December 31, 2027 IRS construction commencement deadline that explains the 30-day clock better than any LNG market condition.

The State’s Own Advisor Said Wait

GaffneyCline’s December 2025 report to the Legislative Budget and Audit Committee, written by the same Fulford who testified in the special session, stated plainly that a definitive fiscal framework for the project “cannot yet be contemplated” because the required detailed economic model does not exist. Six months later, the special session is being asked to pass exactly that definitive fiscal framework, permanently, in 30 days, without the model.

The state’s own chief economist told Senate Finance that the project’s cost could reflect a 100% increase over the $46 billion public figure, putting the range between $46 and $92 billion. The Senate Finance co-chair called the $46 billion figure “complete garbage.” Fulford called the cost baseline “wishful thinking.” No updated figure has been provided by the developer.

The legislature is being asked to set a permanent tax rate on infrastructure of unknown cost, on a 30-day clock, to meet a federal tax credit deadline that nobody in the urgency campaign will name, while the social pressure apparatus attacks legislators who order dinner during remote hearings.

Senator Sullivan Works to Ensure Survivors of Abuse Receive Legal Support and Protection

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Senator Sullivan Works to Ensure Survivors of Abuse Receive Legal Support and Protection

By U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan

Dear Alaskan,

One of my top priorities as a U.S. Senator is ending domestic violence and sexual assault in Alaska.

I brag about Alaska all the time, but this is one area where there is nothing to boast about. Alaska has some of the highest rates of domestic violence and sexual assault in America, and those rates fall disproportionately on Alaska Native women. In 2020, Alaska Native women were killed by men at more than 3.5 times the rate of women statewide. These numbers are heartbreaking, unacceptable, and demand action.

This issue has been a priority of mine since my time as Alaska’s attorney general, when I led the governor’s rural sub-cabinet and traveled across our state listening to communities about their public safety challenges. Again and again, Alaskans told me about the devastating toll of domestic violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and the lack of public safety resources in too many communities.

Those conversations helped lead Governor Sean Parnell and me to launch Choose Respect— a statewide initiative to change our culture, bring domestic violence and sexual assault out of the shadows, and make clear that violence against women and children has no place in Alaska.

Choose Respect was about more than one program or one rally. We held events in villages and cities across the state. We worked with schools, law enforcement, faith leaders, Alaska Native leaders, advocates, and community organizations. We pushed for stronger laws. Most importantly, we encouraged Alaskans to speak openly about an issue that had too often been met with silence.

When I came to the Senate, I carried the work of Choose Respect with me. I authored the Choose Respect Act, which was signed into law in 2022, to continue building awareness around healthy relationships, safety, and respect in our homes, schools, and communities. Last year, the Senate unanimously passed my resolution recognizing October 1 as National Choose Respect Day— a national reminder that all of us have a role to play in ending domestic violence and sexual assault.

One of the first bills I introduced in the Senate was also rooted in the work we started in Alaska: the POWER Act, modeled after the pro bono legal summits I hosted throughout our state. Its goal is straightforward but powerful: to help create an army of lawyers providing free legal services to survivors of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual assault, including in Indigenous communities.

And it matters. Legal help can be the difference between a survivor remaining trapped in a dangerous situation and being able to protect herself and her children. In one study, 83 percent of victims and survivors with an attorney were able to obtain a protective order compared to less than 30 percent without one.

Since its passage, the POWER Act has helped reach more than 80,000 lawyers and legal professionals across America to encourage free legal assistance and help break the cycle of violence. In districts that include tribal communities, the law also encourages partnerships with Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations so Native women have greater access to legal support and resources.

Public safety in our villages is another essential part of the solution. Too many rural communities still lack the law enforcement presence and resources they need. In 2019, I urged Attorney General William Barr to come to Alaska and see the rural public safety crisis firsthand. His visit led to an unprecedented investment from the Department of Justice in rural Alaska public safety–more than $62 million in grants supporting prosecutors and funding 39 law enforcement positions to help strengthen village law enforcement and victim services.

Village Public Safety Officers are often the first line of response in some of the most remote parts of our state. I commend Governor Dunleavy and the Alaska Legislature for making meaningful progress in rebuilding the VPSO program, with the number of VPSOs more than doubling from 42 in early 2020 to 87 by early 2025. That progress is crucial, but we need to keep going–strengthening recruitment and retention, improving training and support, and ensuring that village law enforcement has the resources they need.

We must also continue confronting the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons crisis, which is inseparable from the broader cycle of violence affecting too many families in Alaska. On May 5–the National Day of Awareness for MMIP–I hosted a roundtable at Cook Inlet Tribal Council with Alaska Native leaders, law enforcement, victim advocates, federal partners, and community organizations to discuss strengthening investigations, improving coordination, supporting victims’ families, and delivering justice to communities that have waited far too long for answers.

At the roundtable, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Billy Kirkland announced a new Department of the Interior effort to build on and reinvigorate Operation Lady Justice–the initiative launched during the first Trump administration under the leadership of Alaska’s own Tara Sweeney— which helped bring long-overdue federal focus to this crisis, elevate the voices of tribal leaders, families, and survivors, and improve coordination and accountability in MMIP cases.

These efforts are all connected. Through Choose Respect, the Choose Respect Act, the POWER Act, and continued efforts to strengthen public safety and address the MMIP crisis, I will keep working to ensure survivors of abuse and the families of those unjustly taken receive the legal support, protection, and justice they deserve.

Sincerely,
Dan Sullivan
United States Senator

Alaskan-owned HEX Expands Beyond Cook Inlet with Coastal Plain Leases

Natalie Spaulding
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Alaskan-owned HEX Expands Beyond Cook Inlet with Coastal Plain Leases

HEX Energy LLC has acquired oil and gas lease tracts 82 and 112 in Alaska’s Coastal Plain through the Bureau of Land Management’s 2026 lease sale. HEX Energy appreciates the work of the President of the United States, the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of Land Management, and the many federal and state professionals who support a transparent and orderly leasing process in Alaska. HEX is grateful to local community members who affirmed at the recent Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) Board Meeting that responsible development can support long-term stability while respecting subsistence resources and traditional ways of life.

“This acquisition reflects our long-term confidence in Alaska and our commitment to developing energy opportunities with discipline, local knowledge, and respect for the regulatory process,” said John Hendrix, President and CEO of HEX Energy. “HEX Energy brings together a team with deep Alaska roots, North Slope experience, and international oil and gas expertise. I’m excited to be back working on the North Slope and to apply that experience to this important new opportunity for Alaska. This opportunity allows HEX Energy to commence diversifying and expanding its role in the dynamic energy industry of Alaska.”

HEX Energy is a subsidiary of HEX LLC, Alaska’s only locally owned oil and gas company and operator of strategic assets and critical infrastructure in the Cook Inlet. This lease acquisition marks a significant step in its strategy to expand beyond Cook Inlet’s natural gas operations, while maintaining the company’s focus on responsible, Alaska-based energy development. Additional operations in the Coastal Plain has the potential for HEX Energy to strengthen America’s energy and national security while creating jobs for Alaskans and new
opportunities for local suppliers and service providers.

Press release provided by HEX LLC.

Service to My Country: Josh Church, Marine Special Ops

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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Service to My Country: Josh Church, Marine Special Ops

By Josh Church

I served in the United States Marine Corps for nine years. During that time, I served with 2nd Reconnaissance Battalion and later Marine Special Operations. I deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, worked alongside partner nation forces on multiple continents, and helped oversee projects ranging from military training facilities to operational logistics in combat environments.

Military service was not unusual in my family, going back to at least the Civil War, and likely much further. Serving was simply something honorable men in the family had done for generations.

I chose the Marine Corps because it had the reputation for being the hardest branch. At twenty, that mattered to me. I wanted to test myself. I wanted to do hard things, big things. The Marines did not promise comfort, status, or an easy life.

Like many young men who join the military, I thought I understood hardship before I enlisted. I did not. The Marines and war have a way of stripping life down to the essentials very quickly. Fatigue, discomfort, fear, responsibility, and teamwork stop being abstract concepts.

I faced challenges and overcame some of them by the skin of my teeth. From days spent in hundred plus degree weather without water while studying the enemy, to miles upon miles of movement with more than a hundred pounds on your back. Nights of sheer exhaustion when bushes and rocks come alive like some bad dream.

The harder challenges came when the stakes were high and the consequences were permanent. Combat forces you to make decisions under stress while exhausted and uncertain. There are moments where hesitation can get people hurt and moments where overconfidence can do the same.

One lesson that stayed with me long after I left the military is that confidence is earned through competence, not talk. In reconnaissance and special operations communities, people generally care very little about titles or appearances. They care whether you can perform when things become difficult. Can you stay calm? Can you solve problems? Can people rely on you? That mindset shaped the rest of my life after the military.

The greatest challenge of my time in the Corps was giving it everything I had and learning to live with the knowledge that sometimes it was not enough. Sometimes, no matter how clear headed you are, how fast, or how strong, you cannot bring them all home.

War is not something to glorify. After nearly a decade in the military, my view is that we need serious leaders with the wisdom, intelligence, and courage to avoid unnecessary wars whenever possible, because the costs are real and they are carried by ordinary people for the rest of their lives.

If I could say one thing to Americans between eighteen and twenty five years old, it would be this: do hard things voluntarily.

Modern society often encourages comfort, convenience, and avoidance of discomfort. But growth rarely happens in comfort. Some of the most meaningful experiences in my life came from situations I initially did not think I could handle.

Service can take many forms. Young people benefit tremendously from experiences that force responsibility, accountability, discipline, and teamwork. Challenge yourself physically. Learn useful skills. Put yourself in environments where performance matters and excuses do not.

You will discover strengths you did not know you had. You will also discover weaknesses, and that is equally important.

Josh Church is a 2026 candidate for Lieutenant Governor running with Dave Bronson.

More in Series

Service to My Country: Dr. Michael Hanifen, United States Air Force Veteran

Want to Submit Your Story?

We hope to keep this series going all the way to Veterans Day! If you are a veteran or active duty service member, please consider sharing your military story and/or encourage friends and family to submit their stories! We will be publishing submissions in the order they are received, every Monday at 9am.

A recent op-ed by Army veteran Paul A. Bauer inspired this series. Bauer writes: “The problem is not gratitude itself. The problem is shallow gratitude. Many veterans do not need strangers to perform respect with a slogan. They often prefer real curiosity, human recognition, and informed conversation.”

Opinion: Making “Thank You for Your Service” More Meaningful

We invite veterans and active-duty service members to send us articles sharing your story. You can use the questions below as inspiration. You do not have to respond to all the questions, and you are not limited to them. Please include the branch you served in and how many years you served.

Guiding Questions

What did/ do you do in the military?
How long did you serve?
Did anyone else in your family serve?
Why did you choose the service branch that you did?
What was the greatest challenge you faced during your service and how did you overcome it?
What was the most significant lesson you learned during your service?
If you could say one thing to young Americans aged 18-25, what would you say?

Requirements

Please follow these requirements for your submission:

  1. Word limit: 1,000 words
  2. Must be written in first person
  3. Must be published with original author’s legal name (no pennames/ ghostwriting)
  4. No foul language
  5. All direct quotes and data points must be cited (a link to source is sufficient)
  6. Have fun! Be creative!

Submit your story to [email protected].

Must Read Alaska says thank you to all our amazing veterans!

The Cross is the Scale Where Justice and Mercy Meet 

Deacon Desiderio "Dez" Martinez
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The Cross is the Scale Where Justice and Mercy Meet 

In the recesses of the human heart lies deception. We see ourselves, our imperfect views and perverse desires and actions, though rose-colored glasses. Proverbs 21:2, lays bare this blunt truth: “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the Lord ponders the heart. 

We have become the masters of justification and able designers of excuses. We explain away our sin, minimize our failings, and even more sadly, we compare ourselves to others to feel better about our own failings.  

I have been there, just like the Pharisee in Luke 18:11. I made a similar statement to my wife: “At least I am not like other men.” She quickly shut me down.  

That was a tough pill to swallow, especially when I believed I was above “those” other men. She told me she did not care what other men were doing with their lives. It was me, my soul, my salvation she was worried about. Everyone needs that “someone” in their lives who is not afraid of telling you like it is. But I digress. 

We talk ourselves into thinking our motives are pure, our intentions are the noblest, all the while, our actions oppose the very principles we claim to live by. 

God cannot be fooled. He sees right through our carefully crafted excuses, and the self-righteous anger we cling to with our very lives. He sees the darkness that skulks within us, the hidden motives, the twisted desires that ignite the fuel of our actions.

Our own scales are rigged, because we rig them to lean our way. God’s scales are perfectly balanced. He weighs our hearts, not just our actions. He observes our motives, our thoughts, the very core of who we are, and His judgement, truly unlike our own, is always accurate, always just, always true. 

This is a chilling vision for those who cling to their self-righteousness. It is a wake-up call, or at least it should be, for those who believe they can dupe God with their outward displays of piety, all the while, their hearts remain cold and unchanged.

How shall we, with our self-indulgent lives and unexamined conscience, face the judgement-seat of Christ? 

When God’s pure light shines into the darkness of our hearts, the weight of our sin can feel unbearable. It is a crushing realization that we are not as upright as we thought we were, that our motives, more often than not, are extremely selfish, and we fall far short of His perfect standard. 

Nil desperandum my brothers and sisters, nil desperandum. Across the desert lies the promised land; it is an invitation to repentance. It is a chance to lay down our pride, to confess our sins, and to seek forgiveness from the One who alone can cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

If we do not love penance for its own sake, let us love it on account of our sins; for you should “work out your own salvation in fear and trembling; for God is at work in you…” Phil 2:12-13.

When we surrender our will to God’s judgment, we open ourselves up to His transformative power. He does not just condemn us, as many might think; He offers us a new heart, a new spirit, a new life (Ezekiel 36:26). 

This, by no means is this a quick fix or an easy solution. It is a process, a lifetime of purification and sanctification, of allowing the Holy Spirit to mold us into the image of Christ. It is a journey of constant repentance, of recognizing our own sinfulness and clinging to the grace that saves us. 

“To know how to submit ourselves with our whole soul, is to know how to imitate Christ.” – St. Basil the Great 

So, how do you believe your heart will fare on God’s scales? Are you willing to let Him examine your motives, your thoughts, your deepest desires? Are you ready to surrender your self-righteousness and embrace the very painful but necessary process of repentance? 

Endeavor to act as you would wish to have acted when you stand before your Judge. This is the rule of the Saints, and the only rule for all. 

The choice is always yours, as God has given to you free will. The one thing that you should never forget: God’s judgment is inevitable. There is no escaping it. No lawyers, no character witnesses. Just you and Jesus. 

God’s justice is always joined to (and fulfilled through) mercy, and God’s mercy never cancels truth. In a word: God’s justice is not only retribution; it is the love that restores right order. 

Humble yourself before Him now, while there is still time to turn away from the ways of the world and find forgiveness in the Lamb of God, who shed His blood for you on Calvary. For it is only then that you will truly find the peace, joy, and freedom that come from a heart aligned with His perfect will. 

Put this to memory: “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.” St. Augustine of Hippo 

Live your life worthy of HIS Sacrifice + 
God Love You + 
Deacon Dez

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