Page 1148 – Must Read Alaska

The event took place at a hangar adjacent to Lake Hood and had a pre-COVID-19 vibe about it, with a few people wearing masks, but everyone wearing smiles.

In many ways, it was like the “old days,” when Republicans charged forward excited and engaged in Alaska, confident in their prospects.

“This next session is the most important in state history and that makes this election also the most important. You can send down people to Juneau who are interested in dipping hands in people’s pockets or send people to do the hard work required to tackle the challenges in front of us. We need to put the Republicans back in charge,” said Lance Pruitt, House Minority leader. He gave a rousing speech to rally everyone to get through the final stretch and bring the Republicans back to power in the House this November.

The election is 33 days away, and it’s common for the House Republicans to hold an October fundraiser that can be used to drive the messages for their members during the final days.

Most all of the House Republicans were present, with the exception of Louise Stutes of Kodiak, and Steve Thompson and Bart LeBon of Fairbanks. LeBon was taking advantage of good weather in Fairbanks to go door to door, as he is in a competitive race against Democrat Christopher Quist.

Numerous candidates who won primaries but are not yet incumbents were also in the hangar, including Ron Gillham of Soldotna, Keith Kurber and Kevin McKinley from Fairbanks, Mike Cronk from Tok, and several from Anchorage and MatSu — Tom McKay, Ken McCarty, Kevin McCabe, Kathy Henslee, Paul Bauer, and James Kaufman, to name a few.

The mood was upbeat and positive, and although not all of the candidates will prevail in November, the sense of the room is that the Republicans will take back the House Majority that will work more cooperatively with the governor. The governor’s Chief of Staff Ben Stevens attended the event.

Republicans were victorious two years ago, but after the election in 2018, seven Republicans betrayed the majority and installed Democrats in power in a bipartisan coalition. Most of those have been unelected by their districts at this point in the election cycle, but the new Republican candidates still have to make the case to the voters that Republicans present better ideas and will govern smarter than the Democrats did over the past two years.

Breaking: President Trump declares national mineral emergency, signs order to boost domestic mining

Politics

September 30, 2020

Breaking: President Trump declares national mineral emergency, signs order to boost domestic mining

ALASKA TO BENEFIT FROM MINING RENAISSANCE

President Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order, declaring a national emergency over the country’s over reliance on minerals from countries that are considered adversaries.

Trump said that the supply of critical minerals are vulnerable to disruption because out national security relies on foreign adversaries for these raw materials.

His order calls for the Secretary of the Interior to identify critical minerals and throughout all relevant agencies he has made it the policy of the United States to “reduce the Nation’s vulnerability to disruptions in the supply of critical minerals.”

Alaska has rich repositories of minerals, including many rare earth minerals needed by the military and communications sectors. The state of Alaska and job seekers stand to benefit from the president’s order.

The Department of Interior will, according to the order, conduct a review of the 35 minerals that are essential to the “economic and national security of the United States.”

“These critical minerals are necessary inputs for the products our military, national infrastructure, and economy depend on the most. Our country needs critical minerals to make airplanes, computers, cell phones, electricity generation and transmission systems, and advanced electronics,” Trump wrote in his executive order.

America lacks the capacity to produce the majority of minerals needed in the quantities the country needs, he said. Instead, American producers depend on foreign countries to not only supply but process them.

“For 31 of the 35 critical minerals, the United States imports more than half of its annual consumption. The United States has no domestic production for 14 of the critical minerals and is completely dependent on imports to supply its demand,” he wrote.

Trump specifically called out the People’s Republic of China, saying the U.S. imports 80 percent of its rare earth elements directly from China, with portions of the remainder indirectly sourced from China through other countries.

“In the 1980s, the United States produced more of these elements than any other country in the world, but China used aggressive economic practices to strategically flood the global market for rare earth elements and displace its competitors. Since gaining this advantage, China has exploited its position in the rare earth elements market by coercing industries that rely on these elements to locate their facilities, intellectual property, and technology in China. For instance, multiple companies were forced to add factory capacity in China after it suspended exports of processed rare earth elements to Japan in 2010, threatening that country’s industrial and defense sectors and
disrupting rare earth elements prices worldwide,” he wrote.

Barite is one of the minerals mentioned in the executive order. The U.S. imports over 75 percent of the barite it consumes, and over 50 percent of the nation’s barite comes from China.

The U.S. depends on foreign sources for 100 percent of its gallium, with China producing around 95 percent of the global supply. Gallium-based semiconductors are indispensable for cellphones, blue and violet light-emitting diodes (LEDs), diode lasers, and fifth-generation (5G) telecommunications, Trump wrote.

“Like for gallium, the United States is 100 percent reliant on imports for graphite, which is used to make advanced batteries for cellphones, laptops, and hybrid and electric cars. China produces over 60 percent of the world’s graphite and almost all of the world’s production of high-purity graphite needed for rechargeable batteries,” he wrote.

“In addition, I find that the United States must broadly enhance its mining and processing capacity, including for minerals not identified as critical minerals and not included within the national emergency declared in this order. Mining and mineral processing provide jobs to hundreds of thousands of Americans whose daily work allows our country and the world to ‘Buy American’ for critical technology,” Trump wrote.

The executive order comes with several target deadlines for agencies to respond and develop plans for increasing the domestic supply of minerals.

Read the entire executive order at this link.

Sen. Sullivan says meeting with nominee Amy Barrett left good impression

The 907

Suzanne Downing

September 30, 2020

Sen. Sullivan says meeting with nominee Amy Barrett left good impression

Sen. Dan Sullivan was among the first senators to meet with the Trump nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Amy Coney Barrett is making the rounds to meet with senators who will be sitting in judgment of her confirmation. Hearings in the Senate begin Oct. 12.

Sullivan spent 45 minutes with the judge and came away impressed with her as “a thoughtful and intelligent jurist with many credentials to her name. Some of the topics we covered right at the outset — the role of a judge on the federal judiciary … it’s the role of a judge to interpret the law, not to legislate from the bench. I think she was in full agreement on that.”

Sullivan said their discussion focused on Alaska-specific topics, and the unique aspects of Alaska, including the complex laws surrounding the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act and ANILCA, the Trans Alaska Pipeline Act, the Tax Act of 2017, which has a section on the opening of ANWR.

“We went into depth about how federal courts often misinterpret these very important laws for our state, which could do huge damage to Alaska. I told her to keep an eye on these kinds of cases, and then we went into depth on the Sturgeon vs. Frost case. This is an example of lower courts, in this case, the Ninth Circuit, really misinterpreting federal law. Fortunately, the Supreme Court, in two different opinions, finally got ANILCA and Alaska right in the Sturgeon case. I respectfully gave her this case and asked her to read it,” Sullivan said.

“We talked a lot about the Second Amendment. She is a strong, strong defender of the Second Amendment,” – Sen. Dan Sullivan

“We had a deep discussion also on the issue of the power and limitations of federal agencies, administrative agencies. She had written an opinion on limiting the power of the Waters of the United States (Rule) that I thought was very important, and we had a long discussion on that as well. We covered other topics as well. But I would say I’m certainly looking forward to seeing more of her views as the Judiciary Committee hearings kick into gear. But, overall, it was an important meeting today. I think she came away with a sense of just how important and unique many of the federal laws that come before the U. S. Supreme Court relate to Alaska, and that was my goal today.”

Ombudsman says Black Lives Matter banner at Performing Arts Center is a problem for Muni

The 907

Suzanne Downing

September 30, 2020

Ombudsman says Black Lives Matter banner at Performing Arts Center is a problem for Muni

COULD KKK, ANTIFA PUT BANNERS ON PUBLICLY OWNED BUILDING?

The Ombudsman for the Municipality of Anchorage received a complaint about the Black Lives Matter banners placed on the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts building in downtown Anchorage.

Darrel Hess, in a memo, says after looking into the matter, he sees the use of the building to showcase advocacy groups creates a public forum for the exterior of the downtown structure, and that is problematic.

“The ACPA building is a Municipal facility, although it is managed by a nonprofit. Placing the BLM banners on the building is problematic, as it potentially creates a public forum. If the Municipality allows community organizations to place non-Municipal banners, posters and other materials on or in Municipal buildings, it can create a public forum. This means that we would have to allow ‘Blue Lives Matter Banners’, ‘All Lives Matter Banners’, ‘White Lives Matter Banners’, or even Klu Klux Klan or neo-Nazi banners,” he wrote in a memo.

The Black Lives Matter banner was allowed to be hung, and municipal resources were used to hang it last month after the Alaska Black Caucus contacted the Berkowitz Administration about hanging the banners.

Chris Schutte, director of Economic Development for the city, talked over the matter with the director of the Alaska Performing Arts Center, and they approved the three banners, which were paid for by the Alaska Black Caucus.

But the Alaska Black Caucus did not pay a fee to have them placed. Normally, the shows that rent space in the building pay the facility a fee to hang banners for upcoming performances.

“Hanging the BLM banners for free makes this more problematic and sets a bad precedent,” Hess wrote.

The Municipality and Performing Arts Center committed to keeping the banners up through Oct. 2.

“Regardless of what Legal determines about hanging banners moving forward, removing the banners early might be more problematic than keeping them up through October 2nd,” Hess wrote.

“The Performing Arts Center banner policy implies that only show banners will be placed. Legal probably needs to work with the ACPA regarding their banner policy. Non-show related banners also most likely violate the sign code if permits are not obtained,” Hess wrote.

Members of the grassroots group “Save Anchorage” are beginning an initiative to request that their banner be put on the side of the building.

Was it Antifa?

Politics

Suzanne Downing

September 29, 2020

A rash of vandalism on the Anchorage hillside was discovered on Tuesday, with campaign signs for Republican candidates defaced with Antifa symbols, words, and anti-Trump messaging.

Candidates Sen. Josh Revak, Rep. Mel Gillis, and the “Vote No on One” signs were defaced.

Antifa is a loose-knit group across America that purports to be anti-fascist but is actually a terrorist network.

Phony claim? Holleman says he was an ‘R’, but for years while donating to Democrats

Politics

Suzanne Downing

September 29, 2020

Phony claim? Holleman says he was an ‘R’, but for years while donating to Democrats

Andy Holleman jumped into the race for Senate Seat M late, as an Indie-Democrat, a current trend as liberals try to hide their true political leanings from voters.

Holleman skipped the Primary and is a plug-and-play petition candidate for the Democrats against Sen. Josh Revak, the Republican.

On the ballot, Holleman calls himself nonaffiliated. But he has the Democrats’ backing and they are advertising his meet-and-greet fundraisers for him. He has endorsed another fake independent, Al Gross for Senate. Gross is also backed by the Democrats, who don’t have their own candidate to offer.

Holleman says he was a Republican until 4 years ago.

“I was a Republican for 45 years. It’s the only party I’ve ever belonged to. But four years ago, I saw changes I just couldn’t agree with. I’ve been undeclared since, and it’s a fine place to be,” he writes on his campaign website.

But campaign contributions are a bitter master for Holleman.

A look at his donation history tells a different story than what he’s been telling voters. Holleman has been donating to Democrats at least since 2008, a curious behavior for a Republican. Here is a partial file:

ALASKANS FOR BEGICH	2008	HOLLEMAN, SAM A
OBAMA FOR AMERICA	2008	HOLLEMAN, SAM
OBAMA FOR AMERICA	2008	HOLLEMAN, SAM
ACTBLUE	2010	HOLLEMAN, SAM
NEA FUND FOR CHILDREN AND PUBLIC EDUCATION	2009	HOLLEMAN, SAM A
ACTBLUE	2010	HOLLEMAN, SAM
MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION	2012	HOLLEMAN, SAM
NEA FUND FOR CHILDREN AND PUBLIC EDUCATION	2012	HOLLEMAN, SAM A
NEA FUND FOR CHILDREN AND PUBLIC EDUCATION	2012	HOLLEMAN, SAM A
NEA FUND FOR CHILDREN AND PUBLIC EDUCATION	2012	HOLLEMAN, SAM A
NEA FUND FOR CHILDREN AND PUBLIC EDUCATION	2012	HOLLEMAN, SAM A
ALASKANS FOR BEGICH 2014	2013	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ALASKANS FOR BEGICH 2014	2013	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ALASKANS FOR BEGICH 2014	2014	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ALASKANS FOR BEGICH 2014	2014	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
FRIENDS OF FORREST DUNBAR	2014	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ALASKANS FOR BEGICH 2014	2013	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ACTBLUE	2013	HOLLEMAN, SAM
NEA FUND FOR CHILDREN AND PUBLIC EDUCATION	2013	HOLLEMAN, SAM A
ACTBLUE	2013	HOLLEMAN, SAM
ALASKA DEMOCRATIC PARTY	2013	HOLLEMAN, SAM
ALASKANS FOR BEGICH 2014	2014	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ALASKANS FOR BEGICH 2014	2013	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ACTBLUE	2019	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ACTBLUE	2019	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ACTBLUE	2019	HOLLEMAN, SAM
ACTBLUE	2019	HOLLEMAN, ANDY
ACTBLUE	2019	HOLLEMAN, ANDY

Act Blue is the same organization raising money for fake independent candidates Alyse Galvin, Al Gross, and also for Black Lives Matter. It is a company that caters only to Democrats.

Leaders of free world mirror our ugly national discourse

Must Read America

Suzanne Downing

September 29, 2020

Leaders of free world mirror our ugly national discourse

If President Donald Trump and Joe Biden thought they were persuading the undecided voters on Tuesday night, they were mistaken.

Most viewers of the first presidential debate were done with it after the first 10 minutes of over-talking and insults, and the poor moderating by Chris Wallace.

It wouldn’t surprise this writer to learn that viewership was the highest in history during the first 10 minutes, but dropped dramatically after that. Yes, it was that difficult to watch.

In the end, neither men represented America well, but they did represent the pitiful level of discourse now heard across the land: Chaotic, harsh, and unyielding.

Biden told the president to “shut up.” He called him a liar. He called him a clown. He called Trump a racist. He told him to shush. He said Donald Trump is the worst president the nation has ever had.

Biden said Americans died because Trump didn’t close the country down fast enough. Trump said when he closed the incoming flights from China, Biden had called him xenophobic.

Trump also badgered and hounded Biden, telling him he had 47 years to make America better and that he had no plan. Trump spent much of his time defending his record.

Most of the debate, however, was either petty or unintelligible. The three men talked over one another and moderator Wallace repeatedly lectured the president to stand down so Biden could get a word in edgewise. Trump could not find it within him to dial it back a notch.

Biden blamed Trump for the social unrest, saying he drives racial division, while Trump said Biden was not for law and order. Moderator Wallace asked Trump to disavow white nationalism.

An example of the piling on of Wallace and Biden:

Wallace: “Are you willing tonight to condemn white supremacists and militia groups…”

Trump: “Sure…”

Wallace: “And to say that they need to stand down and not add to the violence in a number of these cities as we saw in Kenosha, and as we’ve seen in Portland.”

Trump: “Sure, I’m prepared to do it, but I would say almost everything I see is from the left wing, not from the right wing. I’m willing to do anything. I want to see peace..”

Wallace: “Then do it, sir.”

Biden: “Do it, say it.”

Trump: “What do you want me to call them? Give me a name.”

Wallace: “White supremacicsts and right-wing militias.”

Biden: “Proud Boys.”

In this exchange, both Wallace and Biden twisted the historical fact that Antifa and Black Lives Matter are burning down America.

The debate reinforced the base for each of the candidates, but would not have persuaded the 11 percent of voters who are undecided. It was too loud, too belligerent, and too incoherent.

Now, the two campaigns and their surrogates will clip the debate up into video remnants, and post those pieces around the internet to prove that one side or the other won the debate, scored points, or looked unpresidential.

No one won Tuesday’s debate. It reflected our polarized political views in America.

But Trump was up against two opponents, and he held his own.

Bear doctoring

Columns

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

September 29, 2020

By CRAIG MEDRED

What killing a bruin has to do with getting things done for your state in the U.S. Senate is hard to say, but candidate Dr. Al Gross is campaigning as “Bear Doctor” in one campaign spot, and in another the claim is made “he killed a grizzly bear in self-defense after it snuck up on him.”

The problem is that there is no record Gross ever killed a bear, although he reportedly shot at one.

And that’s where this story gets interesting. But first for non-Alaskans, a little background.

There is nothing much more Alaska-manly than shooting a bear in self-defense. Gross’s ads, which have been swamping television in the 49th state, were a sizable one-up on the old tradition of Alaska candidates swinging a maul to mightily split wood.

Still, Gross’s claim to have killed a bear was little more than your standard election-season goofiness before Newsweek reported that “Republicans 4,200 miles away in Washington, D.C. really want to know” if the bear story is true.

“So badly (do they want to know), in fact, that the GOP opposition research and communications firm America Rising, based in the DC-area, has sought to dig up dirt on Dr. Al Gross by making a public records request about the Independent Senate candidate’s campaign ad claim…,” reporter Ramsey Touchberry wrote.

OPPOSITION RESEARCH

How exactly this information arrived in Touchberry’s hands is not made clear. The story says Newsweek made a public records request to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game which revealed the America Rising inquiry, but later says a photo of Gross with a dead bear and “a copy of the decades-old incident report from the Alaska Department of Public Safety” was provided Newsweek “by the Gross campaign.”

The story doesn’t say which came first, but it does conclude from the information provided by the Gross campaign that the candidate “did indeed once kill a grizzly in self-defense.”

Only that’s not what the information shows. An incident report from Public Safety at the time says “Jeffrey Jones and Dr. Alan Gross contacted FWP (Fish and Wildlife Protection) ref. they shot a sow bear (DLP)….Incident location: Sweetheart Flats.”

DLP is an abbreviation for “defense of life and property.” Anyone in Alaska is legally entitled to kill a bear in self-defense.

Read more at CraigMedred.news.

Bear doctoring

Al Gross’ bear tale doesn’t add up on state documents

Politics

Suzanne Downing

September 29, 2020

Al Gross’ bear tale doesn’t add up on state documents

Alaska Fish and Game records show that the female brown bear Al Gross claims to have shot in 1995 may have actually been shot by his friend Jeffrey Jones.

Jones, of Juneau, was the one who actually turned in the skull, hide, and tooth sample to Fish and Game in 1995. It’s unusual for someone to turn in the remains of a bear and identify himself as the hunter if he did not actually kill the animal.

The name of the hunter on the official “Brown Bear Sealing Certificate” is Jeffrey C. Jones.

Gross has been spinning the bear story since the beginning of his campaign, but has never mentioned the fact that Jones was with him. He has claimed that the bear snuck up on him.

Administrative Code 5AAC92.410 requires hunters to turn in the skull, hide, and the claws, in the case of a defense of life and property (DLP) killing. The person who shoots the bear is the one who typically reports.

The sow bear was killed at Sweetheart Flats near a popular dip netting spot south of Juneau on Oct. 19, 1995. Sweetheart Creek is known for brown bears to congregate and fish the falls.

Brown-bear-sealing document Download

Gross provided the photo below to news outlets as proof that he shot the bear. It shows him with the trophy.

On a separate report from the Department of Public Safety that week, the incident was described as “they” shot a sow bear (DLP). WW W600108 to Jones. Incident Location: Sweetheart Flats.”

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