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Masked thief caught after stealing luggage at Ted Stevens International Airport

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(Editor’s note: This is a story in which the editor of Must Read Alaska is able to work in the late Sen. Ted Stevens, Congressman Don Young, and Nicholas Begich III, as well as a masked bandit and an airport heist.)

A woman who stole luggage from the baggage claim area at Ted Stevens International Airport has been apprehended.

“Earlier this month Airport Police officers received reports of stolen luggage from the baggage claim areas. Officers used the many cameras in the area to identify the suspects and how they arrived at the airport,” the airport announced.

“Due to these investigations, officers were able to apply for and were granted a search warrant for the suspects’ residence,” the Anchorage Airport Police and Fire Department wrote.

Officers were able to locate the luggage and brought several charges of felony theft against the bag lady.

Nicholas Begich, former campaign chair for Congressman Don Young, said his family was among those who had their luggage stolen. It was the Begich baggage that made him aware of the stealing spree going on Carousel Number 2.

The suspect, of course, was wearing masks.

“This is why we have to defend, not defund the police,” said Begich, who was returning from political meetings in Washington, D.C. “We owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women who protect this community and keep all of us safe.”

Begich is the Republican grandson of the late Congressman Nick Begich, who served in Congress before disappearing in a plane during a trip from Anchorage to Juneau. Congressman Hale Boggs of Louisiana was also on board, as well as the pilot.

The Anchorage airport was later renamed the Anchorage Ted Stevens International Airport.

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Juneau-Douglas Crimson Bears basketball team wins regional; district won’t let them compete for state title due to Covid policy

The storied Crimson Bears basketball team from Juneau-Douglas High School won its regional championship, but has been informed by the District it may not travel for state championships in Wasilla, and thus will have to forfeit to Ketchikan, after Crimson Bears won 16 of their 17 games this season.

Some of the boys on the team put out a plea through the social media channels to get Alaskans who support athletics to help them convince the school board to let them travel. They said they had been played together since third grade and this is their last opportunity to play together.

The JDHS boys team is the only team in the state, the boys said, which is not allowed to play for the title.

The boys are asking people to send emails to [email protected] to influence the board to reverse its decision, which is based on its Covid-19 policy.

The selection and final decision to put the Ketchikan boys team into the finals will be made Sunday evening.

To understand how devastating it is to the team and the school, one must understand the depth of passion for basketball that exists in Southeast Alaska, and also the long reputation of the JDHS basketball program.

Must Read Alaska spoke to the team’s spokesperson, who said she appreciates the help that the Alaska community may provide to change the ruling by the Juneau School District.

Biden’s rough honeymoon, complete with trips, slips, and falls

By SUZANNE DOWNING / MUST READ AMERICA

President Joe Biden is two thirds of the way through the first 100 days of his presidency. How is it going for him? Is it time yet to do a welfare check or do we wait until Day 100?

Inasmuch as the mainstream media might contort the truth, neither he nor his image makers can say it’s going peachy for Biden.

The Chinese told America in no uncertain terms last week that they don’t respect or fear what we in America have considered to be the greatest nation in the history of the world. The CCP sees America as weak. In Anchorage, the communist diplomats blistered Secretary of State Antony Blinken, humiliating the Biden Administration in its first big foray into stagecraft diplomacy.

The Chinese accused the U.S. of hypocrisy, of being a bully, and of horrible human rights problems at home. The Chinese are tired of the U.S. lecturing them about human rights. They have all the B-roll they need from the George Floyd riots to toss back in our faces.

For the past four years, the hype about America’s racism has been hammered on by the Left, a theme spoon fed and nurtured by the left-dominated media. That hammer is being used by the C.C.P., which accused the United States of “slaughtering” Blacks. 

If our compromised news media and half of our elected lawmakers say we are an unredeemable, racist country, then we must be, and the Chinese need only refer to our Fourth Estate for corroboration.

The world’s leaders assessed the stress points of Biden-Harris Administration and found them soft. Russian President-for-Life Vladimir Putin trolled Biden, challenging him to a live-broadcast “conversation.” There must have been something in their January phone conversation that told the Russians listening in everything they need to know about Biden’s cognition. 

“‘I want to invite President Biden to continue our discussion, but on the condition that we do it actually live,” Putin said to a reporter, in a broadcast. “I think this would be interesting for the Russian people, for the U.S. people, and for many other countries as well.”

Biden, of course, cannot accept that invitation, even though the White House has promised future communications would be “transparent and consistent.” He is too mentally incapacitated to put his garbled speech on full display to the world. This is a president who could not even deliver a State of the Union address in February.

Noteworthy, Putin never extended such a debate challenge to President Donald Trump.

Since Biden’s inauguration, America’s southern border turned into a sieve, with thousands of illegal immigrants flooding in and hundreds of children being trafficked daily into detention camps. The Administration just announced it will spend $86 million to house illegal immigrants in hotels along the border, and it will fly others to northern states along the Canadian border for processing. 

An undeniable human disaster, the border now has thousands of pregnant women in line to get into America, where they can start their chain migration. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday said, incredibly, that “the border is closed” and at the same time that the U.S. will not turn “vulnerable children” away.

He also said that domestic ideologically driven terrorists are more of a threat to the U.S. than foreign terrorists.

The news media, the same one that mocked the wall that President Trump undertook, is not pursuing this humanitarian crisis at the border because they hope it will all be resolved. They hope this is just a short-lived migration.

As if to symbolize his crippled presidency, Biden stumbled not once, not twice, but three times while trying to get aboard Air Force One. That video is playing all over the world — and the memes spinning off from it are shaping the narrative of an America that is weakened. 

The president had broken a bone in his foot in December after a fall at his home. But the visual of him falling while taking the stairs to the jet illustrates to world leaders what they already suspected, that America has installed a weak leader. So weak, that he can be toppled by the breeze, which is the White House’s official explanation of the falling-up incident.

While the disasters pile up on Biden-Harris, the media tells America only about the ones that cannot be easily concealed. We can see with our eyes the invasion at the border, so the media skims that story. We can see on Russian media the invitation by Putin for a debate. We witness on YouTube the humiliation of Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Anchorage. We see the faltering steps.

Our malfunctioning president has spent a lifetime as a politician and his muscle memory is relatively good for the theater of the presidency. He knows what needs to be presented outwardly because he had the catbird’s seat for eight years under Obama. 

But age is a harsh taskmaster for all of us and thus, Biden is having a rough honeymoon, with a skinned shin and a couple of metaphorical black eyes to show for it. Thank goodness he has a sympathetic handmaid in the media giving him a soft landing for his trips, slips, and falls.

In Anchorage, when the FBI calls, you’d better have an alibi for Jan. 6, 2021

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Jay McDonald was puttering around his Anchorage house when the call came in on Feb. 8. The man with the raspy voice identified himself as an agent with the FBI at the Anchorage Field Office, and he wanted to know if McDonald had traveled to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6.

Jan. 6 was the day of the protest, when hundreds of thousands of Americans thronged to the nation’s Capitol to object to the certification of the Electoral College. A small number of the protesters surged into the Capitol while the Senate was in session; the vote to certify was delayed while the protesters were cleared. There was violence at the front of the surge that is being characterized by the Left as an insurrection.

At first, McDonald couldn’t comprehend what was being inferred or why he was being called. But he knew something was up, and the wheels of his brain were turning.

It didn’t seem like a prank call — the guy on the other end of the phone sounded legitimate. But this kind of query from federal law enforcement is something McDonald thought would be done in person. Later, he verified that the call had, indeed, come from the Anchorage Field Office of the FBI.

The “agent” proceeded to try to question him about his whereabouts on Jan. 6, but McDonald refused to cooperate. There were absolutely no grounds for the allegation, and McDonald knew it. He hasn’t left Anchorage in a year, and has not left Alaska in five years. He was starting to wonder about his civil liberties.

“I mean, if you’re with the FBI wouldn’t it be pretty easy to see flight records?” McDonald asked the man on the other end of the phone. The man agreed but said this way was easier and faster.

“My goal is to get this shut down and make this go away, if at all possible,” the agent replied.

McDonald then asked the agent: Who had made the report? Who had told the FBI that he was in Washington, D.C. that day. The agent refused to tell him and said he would have to put in a “Freedom of Information Act” request for that.

“And that information will be released to you,” the agent said. “My goal is to resolve this as quickly and peacefully as possible.”

The exchange went on for a few more seconds, and McDonald, who is a U.S. Army veteran, had had enough.

He asked the FBI agent why the agency wasn’t pursuing Anchorage mayoral candidate Forrest Dunbar, who bragged on social media that his cousin was taking part in the Portland riots. The agent dodged the question, as he was establishing that he was the one who was going to be asking, not answering questions.

“I don’t feel like talking to you. If you want to bring me in or arrest me, then we could talk,” McDonald said.

“OK, look forward to it sir,” the agent replied.

Must Read Alaska has an audio copy of the second half of the conversation, which McDonald managed to tape after he realized what was going on with the call. He did not capture the agent’s name, which was at the beginning of the call.

Through an attorney, Must Read Alaska has performed that Freedom of Information Act request regarding the matter, and has been denied by the agency.

McDonald has his ideas about how the agency came to put him on a list of suspicious persons to call. He is politically active in campaigns for Republicans, and has developed a reputation as a formidable opposition researcher. He actively campaigned for former Rep. Lance Pruitt and against Liz Snyder, the Democrat who won District 27.

He believes it was most likely a Democrat operative targeting him with malicious intent. He also wonders if the FBI is simply compiling information on average Americans during this dragnet operation, building a type of “social credit score,” as the Chinese Communist Party is doing with its citizens.

As the FBI sweeps through the country to find people who may have physically entered the Capitol in DC on Jan. 6, its methods of discovery include asking people on social media to help the agency identify people who were there.

“The FBI is accepting tips and digital media depicting rioting and violence in the U.S. Capitol Building and surrounding area in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021,” a post on the FBI website reads.

“If you do not have an attachment but have information to provide, please submit it at tips.fbi.gov,” according to the posting.

And thus, the probability that Democrat political operatives all over the country may have reported people who they think simply fit the profile of someone who may have gone to the protest on that day, with or without evidence. Or they may be turning in people they want to harass and intimidate.

Protocol fail: Secretary of State Blinken hangs Alaska flag upside down

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In final remarks to the media, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stood before two perfectly coiffed flags — the U.S. flag and the Alaska flag, in the ballroom of the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage.

Only there was a tiny problem: The Alaska flag was hung upside down, as seen in the photo above by the media pool photographer for the New York Times.

Generally, when the U.S. flag is flown upside down it’s an indication of “to convey a sign of distress or great danger.” When the Alaska flag is flown upside down, it generally signifies a diplomatic flub.

Frank Dahl: Mike Robbins is the only viable choice for mayor of Anchorage

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By FRANK DAHL

Word on the street is the Anchorage mayor’s race is competitive.

Mike Robbins and Dave Bronson are battling for the pole position from a large chunk of GOP-centric voters. Mayor Berkowitz’s municipal manager, Bill Falsey, is gaining ground on 37-year-old Peace Corp candidate Forrest Dunbar. Candidates Bill Evans, another attorney, and George Martinez, are pushing their narratives hard, too – but, if you’ve followed what their goals are, one would wonder if they match those of yours and your family.

I’m actually unsure who will be the top two vote-getters and move to the next round in the run-off election, but I suspect it will be Robbins – as it should be.

I’ve written previous opinions and it’s no secret I’m for Mike Robbins. Acumen and experience with business, negotiation, and playing hardball are three reasons I support him. And I know first-hand having negotiated and worked with him on hospitality industry events in the past. The other fellows simply don’t have Robbins’s skill sets; particularly the ones we need to speed up our economy and keep it growing for future generations.

An observation I’ve made about this particular campaign cycle, and others have informed me the same, is Dave Bronson’s absence at numerous forums. GCI is one of the largest private-sector employers in the city and when you have 250+ voters interested in your vision for the Municipality, and you’re absent again (I’m told he’s missed many candidate forums), one ponders what’s up his sleeve. 

Anchorage voters will get their ballots this week. You have until April 6th to mail them in and change the city’s direction for decades to come.  If you want to see our city back to what it used to be, then make sure to vote.

I’m guessing it’s down to Dunbar, Robbins, and Bronson.

If Dave Bronson gets to a run-off against Dunbar, and Dave’s kitchen cabinet of hard-right puppets him along with out-of-state consultants, my hunch is he’ll get defeated. The supporters of Falsey and Evans and Martinez likely won’t play craps and risk our future on a Dave Bronson in a run-off. I tend to agree.

It’s not personal. It’s reality. I can thank Dave for his service all day long. But Dave Bronson is too polarizing. His most fierce supporters castigate anyone who disagrees. Just ask Assembly freshman and blowhard Jamie Allard. I don’t know her, but I see her, and I hear her loud-and-clear. Toxicity won’t get our city out of the mess we’re in. 

And before you point at me and question my philosophy, take note I’m even more conservative than Dave Bronson.  I’m pro-life, pro-gun, and pro-military, and pro-business, having owned many for 50+ years… No one can pull rank on me carrying the torch high and proud for the likes of Ronald Reagan, Charlton Heston, and Donald Trump.

This mayor’s race will be close. It doesn’t have to be.

Take note of a retired F-22 Raptor Squadron Commander like Senator Mike Shower, and injured war veteran and hero Senator Josh Revak, and former Navy SEAL and patriot Representative Laddie Shaw, and intelligent, conservative Assembly members like Eagle River-Chugiak’s Crystal Kennedy who have endorsed and support Mike Robbins.

Push innuendo and favorites and gossip and slander aside, as you suffer through campaign ads and out-of-state talk show hosts’ nonsense and online rhetoric.

If you want to save our city, protect our businesses, and defeat Forrest Dunbar and the bullying, ill-equipped Left, vote for the candidate that will defeat them and bring us back to a community we can all be proud of!

Mike Robbins is the only viable choice for the Mayor of Anchorage.

God Bless America and Alaska.

Frank Dahl is an entrepreneur who has owned bars, restaurants, and lodges throughout Alaska and in the Lower 48 for over five decades including Blues Central at the Chef’s Inn. As the founder of Anchorage CHARR and a former Board Member of Alaska CHARR, he has been active in hospitality and tourism industry policy development for years. He is a member of Rotary and a recipient of an Alaska Legislative citation for public service.

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Power the Future: China-US talks, and nary a word about ‘existential threat’ of climate change

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POWER THE FUTURE

In the first meeting between top US and Chinese officials under the Biden administration, things started off a bit testy.  The mini-summit, held in Anchorage, began Thursday and wrapped up Friday.  They involved Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on the US side, sitting across the table from China’s most senior foreign policy official, Yang Jiechi, and foreign minister Wang Yi.

BBC noted the “sharp rebukes” and “ill-tempered talks” between the two nations, going so far as to state: 

In a blunt opening statement before the talks in private, Mr. Blinken said the US would “discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyber attacks on the United States, economic coercion of our allies.”

A glaring subject was omitted from the list, especially as it relates to Biden’s stated policy priorities: climate change.

Power The Future’s Alaska State Director Rick Whitbeck heard from sources that climate change was to be a “front and center” issue, but then was taken off the table midday Thursday.  

Why?  If you listen to the eco-radicals who propped up the Biden campaign and will end up placing hundreds of “true believers” into key administration posts, getting China to act on climate has to be a US priority.

Here’s a hint: Because “climate change” is only a posturing priority when it comes to sucking in Americans who would rather see US national and economic security weakened, and make the American public more dependent on a larger, more wide-reaching federal government. 

“Climate change” is given its vast amount of media coverage because Americans allow it; they feed off the “existential threat” narrative, and encourage the story to be perpetuated by the mainstream media over and over again.

Because if the climate was such a critical issue, it would have been the topic of conversation between the countries, not one pushed aside at an initial meeting.

Read more at PowertheFuture.com

Governor Dunleavy has phone call with Secretary of State Blinken

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Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not meet in person during Blinken’s visit to Anchorage this week, but did speak by phone about critical national and international issues impacting Alaska.

The conversation covered a range of topics from environmentally safe oil and gas development in Alaska’s Arctic region, to negotiating an agreement with Canada allowing Americans to resume travel on the highway corridor between Alaska, Canada, and the Lower 48 states, the governor’s press office said.

Dunleavy also stressed the importance of Alaska’s rare earth mineral deposits to the nation’s economy and overall security.  

“The goal of my discussion with Secretary Blinken was to encourage him and other members of the Biden administration to engage with Alaska officials on policy decisions impacting our state, before those decisions are made,” Dunleavy said. “My hope is that message leads to a more open dialogue, and we can stop the unilateral decision-making process that’s threatening Alaska’s economy and the ability to raise a family here.”

The phone conversation came after two days of difficult diplomatic talks between White House diplomats and Chinese diplomats, during which the Chinese made it clear they have no respect for the Biden Administration or the United States of America. The Biden Administration has been described by some insiders as having taken a chilly disposition toward Alaska since taking office Jan. 20, 2021.

Read the transcript of the opening remarks from the talks here.

CDC now says students can sit three feet apart, if masked

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed its Covid-19 guidelines for schools Friday afternoon, saying students can now sit three feet apart in classrooms, rather than six feet apart.

The CDC says this reflects “the latest science on physical distance between students in classrooms. CDC now recommends that, with universal masking, students should maintain a distance of at least 3 feet in classroom settings.”

The new CDC guidelines say:

  • In elementary schools, CDC recommends all students remain at least 3 feet apart in classrooms where mask use is universal — regardless of whether community transmission is low, moderate, substantial, or high.
  • In middle and high schools, CDC also recommends students should be at least 3 feet apart in classrooms where mask use is universal and in communities where transmission is low, moderate, or substantial.
  • Middle school students and high school students should be at least 6 feet apart in communities where transmission is high, if cohorting is not possible. Cohorting is when groups of students are kept together with the same peers and staff throughout the school day to reduce the risk for spread throughout the school.  This recommendation is because Covid-19 transmission dynamics are different in older students – that is, they are more likely to be exposed to SARS-CoV-2 and spread it than younger children.

Across the country, schools have torn apart their campuses to meet the previous guidelines of desks six feet apart, which has made it difficult to accommodate students. Districts have staggered school times and cut down the number of hours that students are in school. That, after many students had been out of school altogether for nearly a year.

“We don’t really have the evidence that six feet is required in order to maintain low spread,” an official from the CDC said, who added that younger children are less likely to get seriously ill from Covid-19 and don’t seem to spread the illness as much as adults do.

The new guidance also removes recommendations for plastic shields or other barriers between desks, because there is no evidence that this is effective, the CDC said.

The CDC recommends that in common areas of the school, students should keep a six-foot distance from each other. Also, students should be spaced six feet apart in situations where there are a lot of people talking, cheering or singing, such as chorus practice, assemblies and other events.

As for teachers and other adults, the recommendation is that they stay six feet apart from each other and from students.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said these new guidelines are an “evidence-based roadmap to help schools reopen safely, and remain open, for in-person instruction.”