President Joe Biden has already pardoned, commuted, or granted clemency to 8,027 convicted criminals, including his own son, and he still has five weeks to go.
To compare the swarm of pardons with those of 14 previous presidents, it’s extraordinary. Here are the numbers:
Franklin D. Roosevelt – 3,687
Harry S. Truman – 2,044
Dwight D. Eisenhower – 1,157
John F. Kennedy – 575 (his term was cut short by his assassination)
Lyndon B. Johnson – 1,187
Richard Nixon – 926
Gerald Ford – 409
Jimmy Carter – 566 (plus 200,000 blanket pardoned draft dodgers from the Vietnam War)
Ronald Reagan – 406
Bill J. Clinton – 459
George W. Bush – 200
Barack H. Obama – 1,927
Donald J. Trump – 237
Joseph R. Biden – 8,027
Among the people Biden had previously granted clemency to were two probable Chinese spies convicted of espionage and a relative of an officer in the Chinese Communist Party who had possession of tens of thousands of images of child porn on his computer while he was a doctoral student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. All three were part of a prisoner swap with China.
A Biden commutation was given to a pair of Pennsylvania judges who had sent nearly 1,500 juveniles to for-profit detention centers in exchange for kickbacks. Former Judge Michael Conahan was the ringleader along with Judge Mark Ciavarella in the “Kids for Cash” judicial corruption scandal.
Biden’s most eyebrow-raising pardon was a blanket pardon for his wayward son Hunter, who was set to be sentenced on Dec. 12. The president pardoned him for all known and unknown crimes that took place in a 10-year period, during which Biden was vice president and also president.
Most of his recent pardons and commutations were for felony drug convictions possession or selling of meth, cocaine, and crack cocaine.
President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said that Republicans will work together to end the semi-annual changing of the clocks between Daylight Savings Time and Standard Time.
“The Republican Party will use its best efforts to eliminate Daylight Saving Time, which has a small but strong constituency, but shouldn’t! Daylight Saving Time is inconvenient, and very costly to our Nation,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social page.
Eagle River House Rep. Jamie Allard is all about that. Last year, she filed a bill to end Daylight Savings Time, but could not get it heard in committee. She’s not giving up — this year, she’s preparing to pre-file a similar bill before the end of this month. Although Republicans are in the minority in Alaska’s Legislature, Allard says it’s worth a try.
Arizona and Hawaii already do not observe Daylight Savings Time, having taken advantage of loophole in the federal DST law. Also not switching their clocks back and forth every six months are the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Trump’s message was echoing the views of his Department of Government Efficiency allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have called the time-switching process inefficient. Others have noted that there are health concerns with going back and forth twice a year — trouble sleeping, trouble waking, fatigue, and even high blood pressure.
Other leaders have attempted to end the practice, most recently Sen. Marco Rubio, who in March introduced the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make Daylight Saving Time permanent.
“We’re ‘springing forward’ but should have never ‘fallen back,'” Rubio said. “My Sunshine Protection Act would end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth.” Like Allard, he served in a Democrat-dominated Senate and his bill was relegated to the back bench.
While some say that Standard Time should be the permanent time, others want Daylight Savings Time to be the norm. Daylight Savings Time allows for earlier sunrises in the winter, but the evening darkness happens earlier too.
In Alaska, where sunlight changes rapidly much of the year due to its northern location and the orbit of the earth around the sun, the clock change is just one more thing that busy Alaskans have to adjust to.
On Dec. 15, 2024, Alaskans under clear skies may see the most northerly moonrise and moonset of the year — and, in fact, until the year 2043. The moonrise in Alaska is expected to occur around 12:01 a.m. on Sunday morning.
Colloquially, this is known as the Cold Moon, due to being during the darkest days of winter in the northern hemisphere.
But this moon is special. Every 18.6 years the moon comes to what is referred to as a “lunar standstill,” according to the explanation at TimeandDate.com. This is when the moon reaches the extremes of its orbit, rising and setting at its most northerly and southerly positions on the horizon.
One of Must Read Alaska’s favorite winter moon-watching websites is the sea ice camera in Utqiagvik, where you can sometimes see the moon dip and rise on the sped-up web cam replay, as shown here:
Hit the play button to watch the moon head for the horizon in the Arctic but then change its mindand head south.
The Griffith Observatory explainsthat while the moon reaches its northernmost and southernmost position every 29 days, the actual limits of moonrise and moonset change much more so than the sun.
“Over an 18.6 year cycle, the greatest northern and southern positions of the moon extend beyond those of the sun,” the Observatory says. “And just as the sun lingers at its limits at each solstice, once the moon reaches these extremes, its limits don’t seem to change.”
As we approach the winter solstice — the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the sun will indeed seem to pause for a few days. But according to the Observatory, a major lunar standstill can last for a couple of years.
Learn more about this astronomical phenomena at TimeandDate.com.
If clouds are in your way in Alaska, you may be able to watch the event at the Griffith Observatory’s livestream here:
While the moon will be at its fullest on Sunday, it will still look full on Monday, Dec. 16.
This year, the winter solstice occurs six days after the full moon.
This season, add a festive touch to your holiday gatherings with a slightly sweet mix of cranberries, pecans, and dark chocolate topped with rosemary sprigs.
The holidays are a time for reflection and gratitude. It’s the season to appreciate the blessings of the past year as we look forward to the year ahead with hope and positivity. The joy of spending time with loved ones and creating new memories is the most valuable gift we can share this time of year.
Frosted Holiday Mix with Twigs is a blend of flavors and textures that embodies the essence of the season. A sweet sugar frost delicately balances the tart cranberry flavor. Toasted pecans provide a crunchy texture and salty richness. The addition of dark chocolate pieces completes the flavor profile, creating a harmonious treat. Sugar-frosted rosemary sprigs top the mix, creating an illusion of frozen pine needles reminiscent of a walk in the forest on a winter’s day.
The combination creates a taste sensation that carries symbolic significance in some aspects. In both cuisine and life, harmony occurs when intensity and sweetness combine to achieve balance in bittersweet experiences.
The preparation of the mix is easy, but frosting the cranberries and rosemary requires a significant amount of waiting time to allow the sugar to solidify. Plan to start about four hours before you need the finished mix.
Frosted Holiday Mix with Twigs
Ingredients:
Frosted Cranberries and Rosemary
2 cups of fresh cranberries or fresh lingonberries
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 cups granulated sugar (separated into 2 portions of 1 cup each as listed below)
1 cup water
Toasted Pecans
3 cups pecan halves
3 tablespoons of butter (melted)
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Dark Chocolate
6 ounces of dark chocolate 65% cocoa or higher (or more or less as desired)
Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time required: 4 hours
Makes approximately eighteen 1/3-cup servings.
Preparation:
Frosted Cranberries and Rosemary Sprigs
Rinse the cranberries and rosemary.
Separate any spoiled or soft cranberries, retaining only the firmest and freshest ones.
Cut the rosemary sprigs into smaller pieces to resemble a small pine twig, for use as garnishment.
Place the water in a small saucepan on low heat and add 1cup of sugar, stirring frequently until the sugar is dissolved to create a simple syrup. Remove from heat.
Ensure that the syrup is warm, but not hot. If the syrup is hot, wait for it to cool down before use. Then pour it over the cranberries and rosemary and soak for 15 minutes.
After soaking in syrup for 15 minutes use a slotted spoon to place the cranberries and rosemary on a pastry rack or parchment paper for drying.
Allow the cranberries and rosemary to rest for 1 hour to allow the sugar to become sticky.
Note: To reduce food waste, strain the simple syrup and refrigerate it for later use in adult beverages or mocktails.
After 1 hour, place 1 cup of sugar in a small bowl and transfer the cranberries and rosemary with a slotted spoon, shaking off any excess syrup.
Coat the cranberries and rosemary with sugar rolling it to ensure all sides are frosted.
Transfer the frosted pieces to a clean sheet of parchment to allow the sugar to setup and dry for 1 hour.
After allowing time to dry at room temperature, store the cranberries and rosemary in an airtight container and refrigerate. If the cranberries take on moisture during storage, recoat with sugar before serving.
Toasted Pecans
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place pecans on the parchment.
Pour melted butter over the pecans and toss to coat evenly.
Sprinkle the salt over the pecans and place in the preheated oven for ten minutes.
Remove from the oven after 10 minutes and gently toss, turning over the pecans.
Return to the oven for an additional 10 to 15 minutes until toasted.
Dark Chocolate Pieces
Use a cutting board and chef’s knife to cut the dark chocolate into small, bite-sized pieces.
Finally, assemble the sugared cranberries, toasted pecans, and dark chocolate pieces onto a serving dish and garnish with the sugared rosemary sprigs. Enjoy!
For best results, prepare the mix the same day you plan to serve it.
Brenda Josephson is a Haines resident. She holds degrees in Culinary Arts and Food Business Leadership from The Culinary Institute of America and an MBA with a specialization in Strategic Planning from Herriot-Watt University. She enjoys fishing, foraging, and savoring Alaska’s abundance of natural and wild foods with her family.
The Legislative Council, which handles various administrative duties for the Alaska Legislature, was set to award a bid that would set up security screening like that found at most airports — X-ray machines and pat-downs for those who refuse walking though a metal detector.
But after meeting in executive session on Thursday, the council could not come to an agreement. No machines will be at the entryway of the Capitol in Juneau, and there won’t be special color-coded badges and the ability to avoid screening for lobbyists and state employees. Only visitors would be screened under the proposed policy, which was supported by Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson and Senate President Gary Stevens, but opposed by Sen. Jesse Kiehl.
Alaska’s capitol building is one of a handful around the country that do not screen people as they enter. Several lawmakers in the capitol are known to be strong supporters of the Second Amendment and some may keep a firearm on them.
The Legislative Council voted to move the Capitol mailroom to an off-site location out of an abundance of caution. It has been on the main entry floor for generations.
It happened over Alaska in 2023, when the U.S. military shot down a drone, believed to have come from China, over the hard ice of Prudhoe Bay, but never told the public anything further about what it had destroyed in the dead of winter. According to official statements, there was no recovery of the object or blown-apart pieces.
Now, the Biden Administration is not telling the public what it knows about the swarms of apparent drones that are spooking people by coming off the ocean and over neighborhoods in New Jersey, New York, and apparently elsewhere in the country.
Apparently, the government doesn’t know much and is not particularly concerned.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a joint statement about the drones that have lit up the sky — and social media — on Thursday:
“We have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus. The FBI, DHS and our federal partners, in close coordination with the New Jersey State Police, continue to deploy personnel and technology to investigate this situation and confirm whether the reported drone flights are actually drones or are instead manned aircraft or otherwise inaccurate sightings,” the statement said.
“Historically, we have experienced cases of mistaken identity, where reported drones are, in fact, manned aircraft or facilities. We are supporting local law enforcement in New Jersey with numerous detection methods but have not corroborated any of the reported visual sightings with electronic detection. To the contrary, upon review of available imagery, it appears that many of the reported sightings are actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully. There are no reported or confirmed drone sightings in any restricted air space,” the agencies said.
“We take seriously the threat that can be posed by unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), which is why law enforcement and other agencies continue to support New Jersey and investigate the reports. To be clear, they have uncovered no such malicious activity or intent at this stage. While there is no known malicious activity occurring in New Jersey, the reported sightings there do, however, highlight the insufficiency of current authorities,” the agencies said.
On Sunday a swarm of a dozen drones reportedly tailed a 47-foot U.S. Coast Guard vessel and 50 other drones were sighted flying into New Jersey from the ocean.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy also said he doesn’t know if the drones pose a threat to the public.
Congressman Mark Green, who chairs the House Homeland Security Committee, said the drone activity must be taken seriously.
The committee’s Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence and Subcommittee on Transportation and Maritime Security held a joint hearing Tuesday to examine the full scope of the homeland security threats posed by unauthorized, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or drones.
Keith Jones, deputy executive assistant commissioner of Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations; Robert W. Wheeler Jr., assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Critical Incident Response Group; and Brad Wiegmann, deputy assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice all provided testimony.
“In the hearing, the DOJ and FBI witnesses left Congress and the American people with few answers on the mysterious sightings over New Jersey. However, it is clear that in the wrong hands, drone technology has the potential to negatively impact the essential mission of law enforcement agencies, disrupt our critical infrastructure or mass-spectator events such as NFL games, and even surveil sensitive U.S. military sites. This is especially true in the event that state and local law enforcement do not have the authorities needed to swiftly mitigate the threat. Earlier this year, the House Homeland Security, House Transportation and Infrastructure, and House Judiciary Committees introduced the bipartisan Counter-UAS Authority Security, Safety, and Reauthorization Act of 2024,Congress’ strongest effort, to date, to build a counter-drone framework that will empower federal, state, and covered local law enforcement agencies to swiftly detect, track, and mitigate hostile drone use,” the subcommittee reported. Read more about that hearing here.
Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey today said the Biden Administration is not coming clean.
“The Biden Administration continues to be dismissive of New Jersey residents who have witnessed these drones in swarms, including coming from the ocean, following a Coast Guard lifeboat, and flying over extremely sensitive military bases like Naval Weapons Station Earle in my congressional district. Some press reports—including one from the Daily Mail—cite intelligence experts who suggest Russia could be responsible,” Smith said.
“The American people and our trained local law enforcement officials have rightfully asked for real answers—not doublespeak from top Biden officials who still admit they do not know the origin or intent behind this unidentified drone activity. The Biden Administration has an obligation to the American people to figure out and tell us what is going on immediately. Their lack of decisive action and empty reassurances will only cause increased speculation and continue to escalate the valid concerns that so many people have,” Smith said.
The House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic recently issued its final After Action Review of the COVID-19 Pandemic. It is an exhaustive 557-page document covering almost every aspect of the pandemic. I could not find any record of the official vote of the subcommittee on the issuance of the report, but based on public comments by the members, it was likely approved along party lines. The report, unfortunately, was written from a distinctly partisan viewpoint, which will undermine its value. However, once you set aside the gratuitous partisan grandstanding, the report has a great deal of important information.
Here are some of the key takeaways.
Origin of Covid: Almost since Covid first appeared, a debate has raged about whether the virus’s emergence was zoonotic (transferred from an animal to a human) or whether it was the result of a lab leak from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The subcommittee concluded that “the weight of the evidence increasingly supports the lab leak hypothesis.” If anything, I would say that is an understatement.
The Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market, where the zoonotic emergence supposedly occurred, is about seven miles from the WIV. For a coronavirus to have naturally evolved within seven miles of a lab working on gain-of-function research on coronaviruses would be one of the most remarkable coincidences of all time.
The subcommittee also amassed an impressive body of evidence that some officials and researchers attempted to discredit the lab leak theory out of fear of political blowback on the federal government’s involvement in funding GOF research. The report describes how the World Health Organization downplayed the possibility of lab leaks because of international political considerations, highlighting a structural shortcoming that affects that agency’s efficacy.
The report also highlights the difficulty in regulating this extremely hazardous type of research. Both the Trump and Biden administrations tightened rules on GOF research, but it is very difficult for laypeople to know whether enough has been done. One clear conclusion from this episode is that we cannot rely on the research community to regulate itself.
Suppression Tactics: The report argues that most of the non-medical suppression efforts, principally masks, social distancing, and lockdowns, had, at best, a limited impact on the spread of the virus and probably did more harm than good. It also suggests that public health officials had little scientific data to back up their guidance concerning their non-medical suppression efforts.
I mostly agree with the report’s conclusions in this area. However, the report suggests there was a sinister aspect to these recommendations, or that they were, at least, the result of bureaucratic hubris. I disagree with that take. I think public health officials were overwhelmed with the potential magnitude of the pandemic, and at the time, they were still uncertain about the virus’s lethality. However, I agree that the public health establishment and other groups, especially the teachers’ unions, clung to these strategies long after it was clear that their efficacy was minimal.
Vaccines: The subcommittee lauded the Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed for the unprecedented speed in spurring Covid vaccine development. However, it pushed back against vaccine mandates, citing that the data never showed the vaccines would suppress transmission. It noted the toll the mandates took on the military and healthcare workforces at a critical time.
Vaccine mandates are a complicated and nuanced issue. Some vaccines are referred to as sterilizing vaccines, which completely block transmission. The two most notable are the polio and measles vaccines. There is a strong case for mandates of sterilizing vaccines because they protect society at large.
But it was clear early on that the Covid vaccines were not blocking transmission and there was little indication in the trials that they would. Therefore, the case for mandating the vaccines was always thin. (Healthcare workers seemed to me to be a special case because of their unique exposure to the virus and proximity to patients, many of whom were particularly vulnerable to it.)
The report throws a bone to those who have argued that the Covid vaccines had widespread adverse effects by noting the large number of reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and calling for those to be more thoroughly investigated. However, the report also points out the difficulty in discerning correlation from causation with regard to adverse effects. Reading that section, I got the impression the authors were struggling to mollify many in the Republican base who believe the vaccines were/are dangerous.
Oversight of Financial Aid: I suspect few will be surprised that the subcommittee found evidence of widespread fraud in the use of the various aid programs the federal government rolled out to dampen the financial impact of Covid. Something I had not heard before was that there was a significant transnational, organized crime component to the fraudulent use of the aid. I recently talked to an FBI agent who told me his office was overwhelmed with Covid aid fraud referrals.
Discounting Natural Immunity: The report discussed that the public health establishment largely discounted natural immunity to Covid. I agree with that observation. I think the motivation was to encourage people not to rely on natural immunity and to get the vaccine.
Loss of Institutional Credibility: The downplaying of natural immunity was one of several examples of the public health establishment being less than candid with the American people. I believe those who engaged in this dissembling did so with good intentions. They believed, I think correctly, that the more Americans who were vaccinated, the lower the ultimate death toll would be. Therefore, they believed they were justified in minimizing the importance of natural immunity to encourage people not to rely on it.
But the public health establishment’s dissembling did tremendous damage to its credibility and turbocharged anti-vax sentiment. More damage was done as it clung to suppression efforts when it was increasingly obvious to the public that they were not effective and were causing significant hardships for the American people. This loss of credibility by the public health establishment may have repercussions that reverberate long after the effects of the pandemic are gone and may make our ability to respond to the next one even more challenging.
This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.
This week marked the four-year anniversary of the federal government’s Emergency Use Authorization for Pfizer’s Covid shot series.
Then- President Donald Trump touted how “Operation Warp Speed” took less than a year to get approved, when most vaccines require ten years or more of research before approval.
President Joe Biden crowed that his administration got the jab into people’s arms and said he had a plan when Trump didn’t have one.
The one common actor present in both administrations was the “wonderful” Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose work won him a place as one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2020. People spoke about Fauci as though he was a saint.
In 2020, Pfizer published data on the first Covid shots it produced. Pfizer stated the “vaccines” were 95% effective for preventing infection and there were no “serious safety concerns.”
These same data were used to approve the Emergency Use Authorization on Dec. 11, 2020.
Of interest, a team of researchers have recently evaluated Pfizer’s initial clinical trial data and found discrepancies. There was one death that occurred after a participant’s second shot. It is alleged that Pfizer delayed reporting this information for 37 days, which was “a violation of Pfizer’s own clinical trial protocols, which mandate immediate reporting of serious adverse events.”
More importantly, this death was allegedly not disclosed during the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meeting on Dec. 10, 2020, when the Food and Drug Administration evaluated Pfizer’s data for the original EUA approval.
In an address to the American people in the winter of 2021, Biden told us we were looking at a “winter of severe illness and death” for the unvaccinated and if you got all your shots and boosters, you’d be “protected from severe illness and death.”
That was using “fear” as the ultimate weapon against American citizens.
Four years later, the unvaxxed are still walking amongst us. And sadly, some folks who were “vaccinated” and boosted have died from Covid or suffered severe side effects.
Remember in the beginning you were told to get your shot, so you didn’t get Covid.
Then it was, “Yes you could still get Covid after the shot, but the illness would be less severe.”. Then it was, “you need to take a booster every year to prevent getting Covid that could still kill you.” The government pushed this misinformation even though the effectiveness of the jab continued to decrease as the nasty little virus mutated.
Judicial Watch is one of the organizations attempting to get to the truth about Covid jabs. It’s been a long, hard process despite multiple Freedom of Information requests. Here’s what Judicial Watch found:
Information obtained that Moderna did studies in rats where they injected mice with Covid-19 vaccine. Those injected had babies born with skeletal abnormalities whereas non-injected rats had healthy rat pups. This information was known to FDA prior to giving Emergency Use Authorization to Moderna.
Communications obtained among senior US government scientists showed vaccine safety officers were under pressure to approve these jabs despite seeing information concerning myocarditis in young people and other health risks.
Information was obtained that demonstrated the massive public relations campaign being levied against the American people to get the jab. Government strategy included using social media influencers, professional sports, celebrities, etc. to encourage people to take the jab and to shame those who refused to do so.
Information obtained that in 2021 roll out of Pfizer booster, the “robust” scientific study included only 23 subjects prior to roll out.
Injuries and death occurred from these jabs despite the safe and effective mantra of Big Pharma and our federal government.
Facebook coordinated heavily with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to “control” the Covid narrative, and suppress opinions of other well-known doctors who did not support the government narrative,
Social media provided the government $3.5 million in free advertising for the accepted government narrative.
Further information obtained by Judicial Watch showed “these emails confirm Facebook censored Americans at the direction of the Biden White House and Biden’s Surgeon General’s political operation.”
Emails received showed in the Pfizer records that “many of the tests the drug development experts felt should have been done on the Covid ‘vaccines’ were, in fact, not done.”
By now, none of this should be a surprise to anyone. Sadly, it only reinforces lack of trust in our federal government, the medical community, mainstream media and all others who forced a one size fits all in response to a pandemic. And the same group of “professionals” silenced any voice that did not support the predetermined agenda.
I am angry that we shut our country down, closed our schools to the terrible detriment of our children, and let loved ones die alone. I am angry that more people suffered losses because of the draconian response that was full of winners and losers.
Health and Social Services Secretary Xavier Beccera said, “ the extension is needed because Covid 19 poses a ‘credible risk’ to public health now and in the future.”
What does this all mean? It means immunity from liability save willful misconduct for any claim for Big Pharma. And it’s meant to last through the Trump Administration. More protection for Big Pharma, none for American citizens.
The more I learn, the more I know someone needs to be held accountable.
The government told you in the first round of jabs that you would have immunity. That was a lie.
The only immunity I see anyone got from this debacle was Big Pharma and the elitists who made money off people’s misery.
President-elect Trump needs to write an executive order retracting President Biden’s protection for Big Pharma. It’s the right thing to do for the American people.
Linda Boyle, RN, MSN, DM, was formerly the chief nurse for the 3rd Medical Group, JBER, and was the interim director of the Alaska VA. Most recently, she served as Director for Central Alabama VA Healthcare System. She is the director of the Alaska Covid Alliance/Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom.
I spent 24 years wearing our nation’s uniform as a fighter pilot in the US Air Force. I hold tightly to the belief the United States and the principles behind its creation are one of the greatest achievements in human history. Many Americans, myself included, are concerned about the direction our nation is headed.
If this election taught us anything, it’s that a majority of Americans still love this nation and want a return to normalcy. There is nothing wrong with loving your country. The winning candidate was brashly America first and won by a wide margin. Proof enough.
As a state senator in Alaska for 8 years, and a resident for most of my adult life, I have witnessed a host of special interest constantly push left wing ballot initiatives here. Why? We are a vast state by landmass, but small in population with around 730,000 citizens. Leftist can “buy” laws in Alaska on the cheap and out of sight, let me explain.
This last election cycle there was a citizen grass roots ballot initiative to repeal ranked-choice voting. The left-wing groups who spent millions to install RCV in Alaska in 2020, spent almost $15 million dollars to defend ranked-choice voting in 2024. According to the Alaska Public Offices Commission data, roughly $10,000 of that $15 million was generated from inside Alaska, the rest was “dark money” from those left-wing organizations from outside Alaska.
The Alaska citizens who rallied to repeal RCV raised about $155,000, with virtually all of it coming from inside our state. Do the math. We were outspent 100 to 1 by out of state billionaires and left-wing front groups like Arabella Advisors and the 1630 fund. Those are incredibly tough numbers to compete with. We don’t have the resources in our tiny state to defend ourselves against such an onslaught.
To put it another way, to buy a law in California based on the population size it would have costs them roughly $800 MILLION to run a similar ballot initiative compared to the “chump change” it costs in Alaska. They spent $93 dollars – PER VOTE – to save RCV. Alaskans for repealing it had only $.93 cents – PER VOTE. It then becomes clear why they pick on Alaska to run such initiatives. For much less money, the law gets passed, then they use Alaska as a springboard to other states to push the initiative pointing out how great it works up north where no one is paying attention. Alaska isn’t exactly on the national news with regularity.
For our part this year, even being vastly outspent, the effort to repeal RCV was defeated by just a few hundred votes out of about 350,000 votes cast. Imagine if Alaskans had even a few million to spend to counter the influence of dark money? Considering polling consistently showed a 60% or greater unfavorable view of RCV its clear the repeal would have easily won.
The pro RCV groups lied, used lawfare, had spies in the repeal campaign and inundated Alaskans with propaganda for a year! If it sounds like desperation on their part, it was. The reason is clear upon reflection. If they can install RCV across the nation then they can more quickly achieve their ultimate goal, a one-party system where the left has complete control of the political landscape and, therefore, the country.
But if Alaska repeals RCV it throws cold water on the RCV narrative. If it’s so great, why did Alaska repeal it? Hence, it’s an all-out, spare no expense, tell any lie, desperate campaign they must win for their long game to be successful.
For those who aren’t aware, RCV is a left wing created voting scheme designed to turn a red state blue. It’s touted to give voters more “choice” but in reality, has numerous faults. It is well documented that it is complicated, confusing and disenfranchises the elderly, minorities, English language learners and those with less than a high school graduation. It will, over time, actually suppress the voter turnout.
As reference, RCV allowed the first democrat to be elected to Alaska’s only US congressional seat for the first time in 50 years. That happened even though there are twice as many republicans in Alaska as democrats. RCV did that. Sen Murkowski was censored by the Alaska republican party in 2022 and would not have survived the primary, but the “jungle” primary with RCV in Alaska allowed her to stay on the ballot and defeat the more conservative challenger. RCV did that too.
Without spending an entire article on RCV, suffice it to say, after 4 years and 2 election cycles of it in Alaska, we are ready to “cancel” it for good.
However, fear not! Even though we lost this round, barely, Alaskans are tough. We’re sick and tired of being influenced by lower 48 special interests. We aren’t about to give up. The effort to repeal RCV has already begun anew for the next election cycle. We will gather our forces, build our war chest, and take the left head on. We will win, it’s just a matter of time.
For the rest of the nation? Let Alaska be your canary in the coal mine. Don’t be fooled into thinking ranked voting is good. It’s not. In fact, fight it with all your might. I can attest personally the future of our nation depends on it.
Sen. Mike Shower represents Wasilla in the Alaska Legislature, where he serves as Republican minority leader in the Senate. This column was published first at Patriot Post.
