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What did Trump, Biden, Murkowski, Sullivan, and Begich say about the passing of President Carter?

Suzanne Downing
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What did Trump, Biden, Murkowski, Sullivan, and Begich say about the passing of President Carter?

President Jimmy Carter passed at the age of 100, which led President Joe Biden to take a brief break from his vacation to give live remarks.

Breaking down in tears, President Joe Biden spoke fondly of Carter from a stage set up his vacation villa in St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. His written remarks provided by his staff can be read at this link.

President Joe Biden breaks down in tears talking about the late President Jimmy Carter.

Biden also ordered an official state funeral to be held in Washington D.C. at a time unstated, but which will be set before Biden leaves office.

President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social, “President Jimmy Carter is dead at 100 years of age. While I strongly disagreed with him philosophically and politically, I also realized that he truly loved and respected our Country, and all it stands for. He worked hard to make America a better place, and for that I give him my highest respect. He was a truly good man and, of course, will be greatly missed. He was also very consequential, far more than most Presidents, after he left the Oval Office. Warmest condolences from Melania and I to his wonderful family!”

Passing: President Jimmy Carter, 100, the president who signed ANILCA

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said on social media, “President Jimmy Carter will be remembered for his service to our nation and his post-presidency dedication to humanitarian efforts across the globe. He led a remarkable life and left a legacy of peace. My prayers are with President Carter’s family and loved ones.”

Sen. Dan Sullivan wrote, “Regardless of our significant political differences about Alaska and the critical importance of a strong U.S. military, I appreciated President Carter’s devotion to faith, family, service to others and Middle East peace. I also have deep respect for his service to our country in the U.S. Navy where he was involved in the development of our country’s first nuclear submarine. Julie and I are praying for his family during this time of mourning.”

Congressman-elect Nick Begich said, “While our political perspectives were quite different, President Carter dedicated his post-presidential service to the pursuit of peace and free democratic elections in the developing world, both causes deeply worthy of pursuit. He had a true heart for humanity, and reminded us that we can passionately disagree while also sincerely caring for one another.”

Rep. Mary Peltola has not issued any public statements since Dec. 10 and as of late Sunday afternoon, had not broken her silence.

Passing: President Jimmy Carter, 100, the president who signed ANILCA

Suzanne Downing
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Passing: President Jimmy Carter, 100, the president who signed ANILCA

President Jimmy Carter, America’s 39th president, has died at the age of 100 at his home in Plains, Ga. A lifelong Democrat, he was the longest-lived president in American history; two years ago he went into hospice care.

Carter was born Oct. 1, 1924, served as a state senator in Georgia, as governor of Georgia, and as president from 1977 to 1981, after he had narrowly defeated Republican incumbent President Gerald Ford in November of 1976.

During his time as president, Carter had a large impact on the future of Alaska when he signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) into law on Dec. 2, 1980, just weeks before the end of his presidency; he had lost to Ronald Reagan in a landslide in November of 1980.

ANILCA set aside over 100 million acres of land in Alaska to create national parks, national wildlife refuges, national monuments, national wild and scenic river designations, national forests and more. It is the largest expansion of federal parks and woodlands in American history and more than doubled the size of the national park system.

ANILCA also expanded the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and created what is now known as Denali National Park and Preserve.

Carter thought of it as one of his major life achievements. Carter used the Antiquities Act to designate 56 million acres as 17 National Monuments through executive order.

“The passage of this act is one of the proudest achievements of my presidency and one that will endure through the centuries,” Carter wrote later.

“When I was president, I became thoroughly familiar with four maps. One was of Israel and the occupied territories; I knew it almost by heart. I also learned in detail about the Panama Canal Zone. Another focus was on a very small area of Iran. Finally, I learned the map of Alaska,” he wrote in an essay for the National Park Service.

“Just as memorable to me as Alaska’s map are the people who were deeply involved in the political contest over the future of her public lands. The debate really began as soon as Alaska became a state and culminated on December 2, 1980, when I signed the Alaska National Interests Lands Conservation Act into law.

“This was the largest and most comprehensive piece of conservation legislation ever passed, involving fierce debate and compromise. One of the gifts to the nation bequeathed to us by the act was the 54 million acres of national park lands in Alaska,” he wrote on the 25th anniversary of ANILCA’s enactment.

Many Alaska lawmakers have noted that ANILCA’s “no more takings” clause has been repeatedly violated by agencies the federal government and, thus, some are not fans of the legislation.

Born and raised in Plains, Georgia, Carter attended high school in his home town, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946, and joined the Navy’s submarine service. He then returned home to Plains after his father died and took over his family’s peanut farm. That is when he started getting involved with the Georgia Democratic Party, which led to his storied political career.

On his second day in office, Carter pardoned all of the draft dodgers from the Vietnam War. In his four years, he established the Department of Education and Department of Energy and was challenged by incidences such as the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan, inflation, a recession, and the Iran hostage crisis, after Iranian revolutionaries captured the American Embassy in Tehran, after which Carter imposed an embargo on Iranian oil imports. The crisis was resolved and the 52 hostages released as soon as Reagan was sworn in.

In February of 2023, his foundation, the Carter Center, announced that he was entering hospice care, and would not be receiving any more medical interventions for brain cancer. Usually people entering hospice care are assumed to have fewer than six months to live.

His wife Rosalynn Carter died Nov. 19, 2023. Jimmy Carter was the oldest living former U.S. president in U.S. history.

Carter had many humanitarian causes he cared about, such as Habitat for Humanity, human rights, ending discrimination and segregation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 in recognition of his efforts to resolve international conflicts — efforts that at times vexed or were at odds with presidential administrations that succeeded him.

The Carters had three sons, who were grown by the time he became president, and one daughter — Amy Lynn — who lived in the White House from age 9 until the family moved back to Georgia in 1981.

Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter traveled to Alaska several times to enjoy the wilderness and to fish. Read an account of him fishing in Bristol Bay in 2017 at this link.

Fritz Pettyjohn: The original Fritz Pettyjohn of the 82nd Airborne, and my first summer in Alaska

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Fritz Pettyjohn: The original Fritz Pettyjohn of the 82nd Airborne, and my first summer in Alaska

By FRITZ PETTYJOHN

In 1917 Frederick Smith Pettyjohn II was born in a sod house on the White River, just north of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. His mother was a devout Irish Catholic, who died in 1931 after giving birth to her ninth child.  He fought with his father, ran off and lived on his own, doing men’s work, like driving a team and bucking hay.

In 1941 he was a sergeant in the Army, and when the 82nd Airborne Division was formed he volunteered. In World War II the Airborne’s mission was to jump behind enemy lines and wreak havoc. They were on their own, until the regular infantry could fight its way through enemy lines to relieve them. He fought all the way from North Africa to Berlin, at the tip of the spear.

In September of 1944 he was badly wounded at the “Battle of Arnhem, the Deadliest Airborne Operation of World War II.”  The story is in the book.  I’ve seen the scars on his back.  He’d been hit multiple times by automatic weapons fire.  He returned to the States to recuperate, and rejoined his unit, the 505 Parachute Infantry Combat Team, in December for the Battle of the Bulge and the subsequent liberation of Berlin.

The first time I met him was at the Anchorage airport in 1969, when I was 23. I was having a hard time of it, and he and his wife Helen Mary took me under their wing. That summer of 1969, in Anchorage, Alaska, was a turning point in my life.  I knew what I wanted now. I wanted to live in Alaska.

I never served in the military, so I missed the Vietnam War. I’d smashed up my ankle when I was at Cal, and I was 4-F, due to that ankle. I didn’t dodge the draft. When I was freshman at Cal in 1962, I joined the Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. When I was a junior, I was going to take the Marine option and graduate as a 2nd Lieutenant in the USMC, in 1966.

That didn’t happen, and I felt a little guilty for not serving. I told him about it, and he said not to worry about it. “Vietnam is not a good war”, he said about the war, which had by then claimed 40,000 American lives and in that year had its highest number of American troops in Vietnam — 543,000. His words made me feel a little less guilty.

I spent a lot of time with him that summer. He was, among other things, a godfather and patron to the local Hell’s Angels.  He hired them to go out in the bush and stake mining claims.  Then he’d sell the claims to people who wanted some sort of legal basis for putting up a cabin in the Alaska wilderness. He was making pretty good money at it. I saw him make the sales. He always let everyone know he’d been a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne.

He told me a lot of stories about the war. Before a jump, like D Day in France, they were meticulous about their equipment. Every strap tightened just right. At Normandy he had 20 pounds of explosives strapped to each leg, to be used in blowing up bridges. In the war he weighed 220 pounds, with a 53-inch chest.

Everything was screwed up when they landed, the entire unit scattered across the countryside. He hooked up with three other troopers, and they spent the next few days wreaking havoc.

The war was the great experience of his life. Nothing could ever compare to it. We can only imagine what it all was like.

Exactly 75 years after he jumped, my second grandson, Cruz Oakley Pettyjohn, was born. Maybe he’ll turn out like the original Fritz Pettyjohn, of the 82nd Airborne, who was my father.

Fritz Pettyjohn was a prosecuting attorney for the City of Ketchikan, Alaska in 1973 and served in the Alaska Legislature in the 1980s. He blogs at ReaganProject.com

Fritz Pettyjohn: Our new congressman was elected on merit to serve in an exciting time
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Trump will face federal union pushback as he tries to lower government footprint in Americans’ lives

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Trump will face federal union pushback as he tries to lower government footprint in Americans’ lives

By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE

President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to drastically cut government and clean out inefficiencies, but he faces an entrenched power in Washington, D.C. that may throw a wrench in his plans: federal government public employee unions.

“For president-elect Trump to succeed at making the federal bureaucracy more efficient and accountable to the American people, he’ll have to once again do battle with federal unions,” Max Nelsen, a labor policy expert at the Freedom Foundation, told The Center Square.

Trump has tapped top businessmen Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency effort. Musk has claimed he can cut $2 trillion in federal spending.

n a November joint editorial in the Wall Street Journal, Musk and Ramaswamy pledged “mass head-count reductions” in the federal government.

Firing federal workers is notoriously rare and difficult, but Ramaswamy has publicly said that mass, indiscriminate firings may allow for circumventing the usual bureaucratic holdups for firing a federal employee.

Trump himself recently pledged to cut “hundreds of billions” in federal spending.

“Government unions are hands down the single most significant defenders of the administrative state,” Nelsen said. “Their interests are always served by bigger, more expensive, less accountable government, and their partisan allegiance to the radical Left leads them to both overtly and covertly undermine conservative policy changes across the federal government…”

The first battle with unions in the DOGE war may be federal work from home policies, where unions have already threatened legal action to protect their pre-arranged deals with the Biden administration.

Trump threatened to fire federal employees who are not willing to report to the office, a clear shot at federal work-from-home policies, something Musk has also blasted in recent weeks.

“If people don’t come back to work, come back into the office, they’re going to be dismissed,” Trump told reporters during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago. The largest federal employee union quickly shot back after Trump made the comments and threatened legal action.

Trump’s comments are likely at least in part reacting to a Biden administration official negotiating a deal with a union that extends until 2029, after Trump is scheduled to leave office.

As The Center Square previously reported, Social Security Administrator Martin O’Malley negotiated a deal with union leaders to codify work-from-home policies, keeping telework in place for his 42,000 employees until 2029.

Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union, pointed out that these contracts are legally binding.

“Collective bargaining agreements entered into by the federal government are binding and enforceable under the law,” Kelley said. “We trust the incoming administration will abide by their obligations to honor lawful union contracts. If they fail to do so, we will be prepared to enforce our rights.”

Trump’s backers may have an ace in the hole, though, in the form of new Supreme Court precedent.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year in a landmark case to overturn Chevron deference, the longstanding legal practice of giving federal agencies broad power to interpret and practically change and expand federal laws as they deemed fit, citing their expertise.

Now, Musk and Ramaswamy will likely have more leeway in cutting rules from the books and workers from the payroll.

Nelsen said Trump should limit the amount of federal dollars that go toward unions, and that he should increase union transparency.

“Additionally, President Trump will need a cadre of energetic appointees at the Office of Personnel Management, the Federal Labor Relations Authority, and in labor relations departments government wide to aggressively implement his directives,” Nelsen said. “Finally, to truly have a long-term impact, President Trump will need a successor in four years committed to continuing the fight.”

Incoming chair of Senate Energy and Natural Resources blasts International Energy Agency

Suzanne Downing
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Incoming chair of Senate Energy and Natural Resources blasts International Energy Agency

Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, the incoming chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, issued a critical report this week accusing the International Energy Agency of abandoning its foundational mission of ensuring global energy security.

Established in 1974 in response to the Arab Oil Embargo, the IEA was originally tasked with safeguarding the world’s oil supplies through unbiased and policy-neutral energy market analysis.

However, Barrasso’s report asserts that since 2020, the IEA has shifted its priorities to align with international climate goals, focusing on achieving “net zero” emissions by mid-century. This pivot, the report claims, has compromised the IEA’s commitment to energy security, undermining investments in oil and natural gas and creating a precarious energy future.

Central to Barrasso’s critique is the IEA’s abandonment of its “Current Policies Scenario,” a traditional “business-as-usual” reference model. The report alleges that the IEA replaced this with a “Stated Policies Scenario” (STEPS), which is based on hypothetical and unimplemented policies. Barrasso, currently the top Republican on the committee chaired by retiring Sen. Joe Manchin, described the scenario as “grounded in unrealistically optimistic assumptions,” particularly about the adoption of electric vehicles and other decarbonization measures.

This shift, according to the report, led to biased projections in the IEA’s influential World Energy Outlook. These projections, he argues, discourage critical investments in fossil fuels while promoting unattainable climate targets.

The report emphasized that the IEA’s approach jeopardizes global energy security by potentially reducing oil, natural gas, and coal production. It warns that such a reduction would leave energy supplies concentrated in adversarial countries like Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and China, which have historically disregarded international security norms.

The IEA’s Executive Director Fatih Birol is on the record saying“there will not be a need for new investments in oil and gas fields.” He has made similar statements on other occasions, most notably, “Looking at the world today or tomorrow, no one can convince me that oil and gas represent safe or secure energy choices for countries and consumers worldwide.”

The IEA’s current trajectory is gambling with the world’s energy security, the report said. If its members act on this advice, the global energy supply chain will be dominated by nations that pose a threat to international stability.

The report also criticized the IEA’s “Net Zero Emissions” scenario, which it labeled as unrealistic and economically unsustainable. The IEA has failed to account for the enormous costs of achieving net zero emissions by 2050, while ignoring its energy security implications.

The report highlighted the Biden administration’s reliance on IEA projections to justify pausing permits for liquefied natural gas exports earlier this year, a move described as shortsighted. Biden’s decision disregarded projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which anticipates strong global demand for natural gas through 2050.

Barrasso’s report called for a comprehensive overhaul of the IEA’s priorities and methodologies. He urged the agency to restore its commitment to producing unbiased, policy-neutral energy scenarios and to focus on the security implications of the global energy transition.

The report outlined specific measures for the upcoming 119th Congress to address the issue, including:

  • Requiring the IEA to produce a “business-as-usual” reference case in its World Energy Outlook.
  • Ensuring the agency does not endorse ending investments in oil, natural gas, and coal.
  • Mandating full transparency of IEA data and methodologies.
  • Strengthening the U.S. representation on the IEA Governing Board.

As Barrasso prepares to lead the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, his report signals a push for renewed focus on traditional energy security measures amidst global climate ambitions. He has already called for the repeal of the Democrats’ $7,500 electric vehicle handout.

“The Democrats’ EV subsidies are a bribe to push their unpopular climate agenda, killing American jobs and abusing taxpayer funds. Repealing this subsidy will put Americans back in the driver’s seat,” he said.

“The new Senate Republican Majority begins January 3, 2025. So, our day one starts in three weeks. Republicans will enter the next Congress with a long ‘Fix It’ list on behalf of the American people,” he said.

“At the top of that list is an agenda that lowers costs and restores American energy dominance. Prices today we know, are 20 percent higher than they were 4 years ago. And just this morning, we learned once again that prices have gone up in November,” Barrasso said. “And we know the culprits – the problem behind the high prices: Wasteful Washington Spending. And we’ve seen a lot of it the last four years. The other reason, of course, is the Democrats’ throttling American energy production.”

Read the report at this link.

DEI discrimination fight taken to Costco shareholders

Suzanne Downing
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DEI discrimination fight taken to Costco shareholders

A Costco shareholder proposal brought by conservative investment activists asked the company to probe its diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and report back on whether they should be eliminated.

The company’s board has recommended against the change for the company that is one of the biggest retailers in Alaska, with five membership-only warehouse outlets. There are more than 600 of the warehouse-style stores nationwide, and another 300 overseas; Juneau’s Costco is the company’s smallest warehouse.

The activist shareholder group is working with the National Center for Pubic Policy, which says certain DEI initiatives may expose Costco to discrimination lawsuits from “white, Asian, male or straight” workers or contractors.

Already, companies such as Walmart, Tractor Supply, and others have changed their DEI policies due to public and shareholder pressure, but Costco is based near Seattle, which is Ground Zero for DEI politics.

The shareholder statement says: “Last year, the US Supreme Court ruled in SFFA v. Harvard that discriminating on the basis of race in college admissions violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Prior legal advice regarding the legality of corporate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs has been called into question post-SFFA. As such, Attorneys General of 13 States warned Fortune 100 companies that SFFA implicated corporate DEI programs. Since SFFA, a number of DEI-related lawsuits have been filed. A corporation was successfully sued for a single case of discrimination against a white employee resulting in an award of more than $25 million, and the risk of being sued for such discrimination appears to be rising. Additionally, many major companies have begun to roll back prior DEI commitments and lay off employees from DEI departments.

The statement reminds shareholders that Alphabet and Meta cut DEI staff and DEI-related investments, Microsoft laid off an entire DEI team, as did Zoom, and John Deere publicly stated that it has halted many policies that were previously part of its DEI efforts after Tractor Supply explicitly stated that it has eliminated DEI roles and retired current DEI goals.

“It’s clear that DEI holds litigation, reputational and financial risks to the Company, and therefore financial risks to shareholders,” the shareholder statement says. “And yet Costco still has such a program, though it was apprehensive enough to recognize this as it recently and quietly rebranded its DEI program to ‘People and Communities.'”

Sticking a new label on discriminatory practices doesn’t protect Costco and its shareholders from the risks. The renamed program still openly expresses a “commitment to equity,” employs a “chief diversity officer,” has a supplier diversity program that picks suppliers based on their race and sex. Costco factors in race and sex in hiring and promotion, and contributes shareholder money to organizations that advance the discriminatory agenda of DEI.

“All of these practices are staples of corporate DEI programs and are consistent with Costco’s DEI program prior to its rebranding. With 310,000 employees, Costco likely has at least 200,000 employees who are potentially victims of this type of illegal discrimination because they are white, Asian, male or straight. Accordingly, even if only a fraction of those employees were to file suit, and only some of those prove successful, the cost to Costco could be tens of billions of dollars,” the shareholders say.

The Costco board of directors unanimously voted to recommend a shareholder vote against the proposal. Such a vote will take place at a later date among qualified shareholders, typically investment funds.

“For our employees, these efforts are built around inclusion – having all of our employees feel valued and respected. Our efforts at diversity, equity and inclusion remind and reinforce with everyone at our Company the importance of creating opportunities for all. We believe that these efforts enhance our capacity to attract and retain employees who will help our business succeed. This capacity is critical because we owe our success to our now over 300,000 employees around the globe. We welcome members from all walks of life and backgrounds. As our membership diversifies, we believe that serving it with a diverse group of employees enhances satisfaction. Among other things, a diverse group of employees helps bring originality and creativity to our merchandise offerings, promoting the ‘treasure hunt’ that our customers value. That group also helps to provide insights into the tastes and preferences of our members. And we believe (and member feedback shows) that many of our members like to see themselves reflected in the people in our warehouses with whom they interact. Having diversity in our supplier base, including appropriate attention to small businesses, is beneficial for many of the same reasons diversity benefits our Company. We believe that it fosters creativity and innovation in the merchandise and services that we offer our members,” the board statement says.

Costco heading off a run on meat by rationing to 3 items

Censorship industry may face its demise as Trump targets government encroachment on free speech

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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Censorship industry may face its demise as Trump targets government encroachment on free speech

By KATELYNN RICHARDSON | DAILY CALLER NEWS FOUNDATION

The Trump Administration has a major opportunity to deal a blow to the sprawling censorship industry, both inside the government and in the private sector.

Trump promised in a campaign video from Dec. 2022 to “shatter the left-wing censorship regime” by, among other proposals, signing an executive order banning agencies from collaborating with private platforms to suppress speech and ordering the Department of Justice to investigate parties involved in censorship.

“If Trump takes the steps that he has indicated he will, one focus of anti-censorship efforts I anticipate is nonprofits like the Atlantic Council and Stanford Internet Observatory that operate as middlemen between the government and the tech companies,” New Civil Liberties Alliance attorney Jenin Younes said. “As President, Trump should ensure that the White House and his executive agencies do not work with these groups to censor ‘mis’ or ‘disinformation.’ In fact, all government efforts in the MDM [misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation] sphere should end, since this clearly results in suppressing First Amendment protected speech.”

Under the Biden administration, White House staff made explicit requests for platforms to restrict Covid-19 related speech. Other agencies participated in speech suppression, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention flagging posts for removal and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency forwarding misinformation reports from local election officials to platforms, a practice they called “switchboarding.”

CISA likewise helped create of the Election Integrity Partnership in 2020, which the Stanford Internet Observatory played a key role in running, to monitor “misinformation” and report it to platforms during the 2020 election. A federal judge declined last week to dismiss a lawsuit against the Stanford Internet Observatory, along with several other groups, over their alleged targeting of conservative speech.

“Private entities cannot be permitted to partner with the government to censor Americans’ speech,” Nicholas R. Barry, America First Legal Senior Counsel, said in a statement.

Younes told the Daily Caller News Foundation she would like to see “punishment for government actors who have violated Americans’ First Amendment rights.”

“At this time, such individuals manage to escape accountability for their actions because of doctrines like qualified immunity,” she said. “However, there can be exceptions to qualified immunity when government officials knowingly flout people’s civil rights, and those exceptions should be applied in the First Amendment context.”

Trump’s other suggestions included firing bureaucrats who have engaged in censorship, ensuring federal dollars do not go towards nonprofits and universities labeling domestic speech as misinformation and asking Congress to revise Section 230 to “get big online platforms out of censorship.”

The Biden administration has issued $267 million in grant funding for projects including the term “misinformation,” including $127 million specifically relating to Covid-19, according to a November Open The Books report. The Daily Caller News Foundation reported in 2023 on several projects funded by the NSF to develop censorship tools, including a dashboard to forecast misinformation “trends” and another studying how misinformation influences online networks.

Smash This Censorship Cartel’

Many Trump nominees have been vocal about their commitment to promoting free speech.

Andrew Ferguson, who Trump selected as the new Federal Trade Commission chair, said on War Room in late November that Trump can cut off some censorship outright, ordering officials to stop communicating with platforms and ending government funding for entities participating in speech suppression. But private censorship would likely move to “new fronts,” he noted, making it important for the FTC to take “investigative steps.”

Ferguson said “advertiser cartels” could violate antitrust laws by agreeing to boycott certain shows, podcasts and platforms.

“If the government is going to get out of the business here in the states of cooperating and colluding with the platforms to suppress the speech that they don’t like, then it’s up to the FTC to make sure that that sort of cooperation and collusion doesn’t move into the private sector,” Ferguson said.

Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Communications Commission Brennan Carr likewise said in a NewsNation interview that one of his top priorities would be to “smash this censorship cartel.”

Other appointees took strong stances on censorship. Jay Bhattacharya, Trump’s choice for National Institute for Health (NIH) head, co-authored the Great Barrington Declaration pushing back on COVID-19 lockdowns and responses. United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. brought his own lawsuit against the Biden administration for alleged First Amendment violations.

Harmeet Dhillon, who is set to run the DOJ’s civil rights division, worked with her firm on a case challenging the California Secretary of State’s Office coordination with Twitter to suppress speech.

Continued Litigation

While the Supreme Court found in June that plaintiffs who challenged the Biden administration’s censorship efforts failed to link their accounts’ restrictions to the government’s communications with platforms, the Missouri v. Biden lawsuit is ongoing. In November, the district court allowed the plaintiffs to pursue more discovery to establish the government’s involvement.

“Depending on the approach the administration takes, it is conceivable that cases like ours could resolve in a consent decree, in which the government acknowledges its wrongdoing and takes various specific steps to safeguard against future violations of Americans’ First Amendment free speech rights,” Younes told the Daily Caller News Foundation regarding the case.

The Alliance Defending Freedom recently launched a new Center for Free Speech aimed at targeting censorship entities, pointing to the “new opportunity” free speech defenders will have as Trump takes office.

ADF Senior Counsel Phil Sechler said the center is intended to create “substantial pushback on global censorship,” which he said has increased over the past decade by both private and government actors.

Potential targets include state level election laws, like the California laws targeting political satire that ADF already filed a lawsuit against on behalf of the Babylon Bee, along with debanking practices and other censorship by private actors.

“There is a lot of work to be done to dismantle this censorship industrial complex that’s been built up over many years,” Sechler said.

Texas governor orders state to safeguard infrastructure from Chinese threats, espionage

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Texas governor orders state to safeguard infrastructure from Chinese threats, espionage

By BETH BLANKLEY | THE CENTER SQUARE

Ahead of the state legislature convening in January, Gov. Greg Abbott issued four executive orders to safeguard Texas from espionage threats posed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The first order directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to target and arrest anyone implementing CCP influence operations like “Operation Fox Hunt,” an initiative of the PRC to forcibly return people to China that it’s identified as so-called dissidents living in the U.S., The Center Square reported.

The second directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management and Public Utility Commission of Texas to prepare for potential threats against Texas’ critical infrastructure from a hostile foreign government or its proxies, including the CCP and PRC.

The third directed state agencies to divest from investments originating from China.

The fourth directed all state agencies and higher education public institutions to harden their systems and safeguard “critical infrastructure, intellectual property, and personal information from being accessed by hostile foreign nations that attempt to infiltrate Texas,” including the PRC and CCP.

“Our No. 1 priority is to protect Texans, including from espionage threats from the Chinese Communist Party and its proxies,” Abbott said. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that the Chinese government has actively targeted local and state officials as part of their strategy to undermine the national security of the United States. Hardening our state government is critical to protect Texans from hostile foreign actors who may attempt to undermine the safety and security of Texas and the nation. With this Executive Order, Texas will safeguard our critical infrastructure and information from threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party.”

Foreign adversaries identified in the order include the PRC, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Russia and Venezuela, whose leaders have “engaged in a long-term pattern or serious instances of conduct significantly adverse to the national security of the United States or security and safety of United States persons.”

The order requires all state agencies and public higher education institutions to implement seven measures including to:

  • Require any company that submits a bid or proposal to certify that none of its holding companies or subsidiaries are owned by a foreign adversary government;
  • implement stronger background check procedures on state employees and contractors who have access to critical infrastructure;
  • prohibit state employees from accepting gifts from or work-related travel to foreign adversary countries;
  • prohibit state agencies from contracting with companies owned or controlled by a foreign adversary government;
  • prohibit public higher education faculty and employees from participating in any foreign recruitment program by a foreign adversary nation.

The order also requires public higher education institutions to submit reports on foreign gift disclosures to the legislature every year. They are also required to prohibit faculty and employees from participating in any foreign recruitment programs sponsored by foreign adversaries, including the PRC’s Thousand Talents Program.

Abbott also instructed all state agencies and public higher education institutions to certify their compliance within 60 days of the end of the regular legislative session next year.

His order cites congressional and counterintelligence reports outlining threats posed by the PRC, CCP, and other foreign adversaries, including Chinese spies allegedly infiltrating the New York governor’s office.

The orders follow other actions Abbott and the legislature have taken.

In 2021, Abbott signed into law the “Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act,” which the Texas legislature unanimously passed to ban Texas governmental entities and businesses from entering into contracts with companies owned or controlled by hostile foreign nations to gain access to Texas’ critical infrastructure. They did so after learning that a Chinese billionaire and former Chinese People’s Liberation Army general bought over 130,000 acres of land just miles from Laughlin Air Force base in Val Verde County, the largest air force pilot training base in the U.S., The Center Square reported.

In the last legislative session in 2023, Abbott said he would sign a bill banning foreign nationals from countries, including the PRC, that pose national security threats to the U.S. from purchasing land in Texas. The bill passed the Texas Senate with bipartisan support but was blocked from advancing in the House by a committee chair, Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, after the CCP spearheaded a campaign against it, The Center Square reported.

The actions were taken after the U.S. House this year passed several bills to combat Chinese national security threats. They did so after the greatest number of Chinese nationals – more than 176,000 – were reported illegally entering the U.S. under the Biden administration, The Center Square reported.

Foodies and foragers: New Year’s bacon-wrapped wild-caught appetizers

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Foodies and foragers: New Year’s bacon-wrapped wild-caught appetizers

By BRENDA JOSEPHSON

New Year’s celebrations include a variety of traditional meals, each having its own meaning and cultural significance. Whether you’re serving moose stew or black-eyed peas, everyone will enjoy starting the festivities with delicious appetizers made from your cache of wild-caught seafood.

Bacon-Wrapped Wild-Caught Appetizers are a delicious way to start a party, with bite-sized salmon, halibut, crab, or other seafood covered with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon. This simple recipe allows you to make the appetizers ahead of time, refrigerate them until ready to serve, and then bake them as a final step for a warm and tasty treat.

This preparation works well with a variety of fish and seafood, providing plenty of options for creatively using your subsistence catch. The thinly sliced bacon acts as a wrap, transporting the centerpiece of the dish from the serving tray to the palate. The cream cheese topping perfectly brings this surf and turf combination together.  

As we ring in the new year, let’s keep our food simple to allow us more time to reflect on the past year and toast the possibilities that lie ahead.

Bacon-Wrapped Wild-Caught Appetizers

Ingredients:

12 to 14 ounces of seafood (salmon, halibut, crab, or other seafood)

12 bacon strips (thinly sliced)

3 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

1 tablespoon sundried tomatoes (finely chopped)

1 tablespoon capers

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon sriracha hot chili sauce

1 teaspoon seafood seasoning blend (more or less to taste)

24 large toothpicks

Seafood Seasoning Blend: 

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Baking Time: Approximately 30 minutes at 350°F

Total Preparation and Baking Time: 1 hour

Servings: 24 appetizers

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cover a large sheet pan with parchment paper and arrange bacon on it. Bake at 350°F for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the bacon begins to brown but is not crisp.

Bacon, brown but not crisp

Remove the bacon from oven and place it on paper towels to remove any excess grease. Then, cut each bacon strip in half.

Prepare the cream cheese topping.

Cream cheese topping ingredients

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese and stir until smooth. Then, add the lemon juice and sriracha, mixing until thoroughly combined. Add the finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes and mix to combine. Finally, add the capers and stir just enough to incorporate them into the cream cheese mixture.

Create a seafood seasoning blend by mixing together the salt, garlic powder, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.

Dust all sides of salmon filet, taking care to not over-season.

Lightly dust all sides of the fish or seafood with the seasoning blend. Do not over season; there will be more seasoning than needed. 

Cut the seasoned fish or seafood into bite-sized pieces, approximately 1/2 ounce each. The pieces should be small enough to wrap the protein and cream cheese topping in a half-slice of bacon.

Prepare to assemble by placing the bacon, cream cheese mixture, protein, and toothpicks nearby.

Assembling the appetizers.

Assemble the appetizers by laying out the bacon, adding the protein, then a dollop of the cream cheese mixture. To ensure consistency, I use a heaping measure of 1/2 teaspoon to place the cream cheese on each one. Pull up the bacon side to the top and secure with a toothpick. 

Note: To reduce food waste, save any remaining cream cheese mixture to use as a topping for baked fish or a small serving of seafood dip.

Appetizers are ready for the oven.

Place the prepared appetizers in an oven-safe baking dish, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for up to a day before you plan to serve.

When it is time to serve the appetizers, take them out of the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap, and place the dish in a preheated oven at 350°F for 6-10 minutes, or until cooked, but not overdone. 

Serve warm and enjoy!

Brenda Josephson is a Haines resident. She holds degrees in Culinary Arts and Food Business Leadership from the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, NY and an MBA with a specialization in Strategic Planning from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh Business School. She enjoys spending time fishing, foraging, and savoring Alaska’s abundance of natural and wild foods with her family.

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