Earlier this year, Alaska Sen. Forrest Dunbar, of Anchorage, said that the Federal Food and Drug Administration was on the cusp of approving a psychedelic known as Ecstasy for psychiatric uses. He and Rep. Jennie Armstrong, both hardline Democrats, pushed legislation to get Alaska ready for controlled use of the drug for conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder. They urgently wanted a psychedelic drug task to develop state regulations in anticipation of the drug being legalized.
Dunbar enthusiastically pushed his legislation,SB 166, which never even made it to the Senate floor. The House version passed.
But now, a new report shows that the very studies used to decide whether the U.S. should authorize Ecstasy for PTSD missed the serious side effects of the drug, including suicidal thoughts, because the subjects in the study were discouraged from reporting adverse side effects. The studies were marked by bias.
Three individuals who were subjects in the studies told The Wall Street Journal that thoughts of suicide increased during or after using Ecstasy, “but their downward slides weren’t captured in trial data and therefore not reflected in the final results.
The Food and Drug Administration is expected this month to decide whether to approve the drug, also known as MDMA or Molly, for treatment of PTSD. The drug became a popular street drug in the 1970s and is used at “rave” dance parties. It acts as both a stimulant and psychedelic, producing an energizing effect, distortions in time and perception, loosening of inhibitions, and enhanced enjoyment of tactile experiences, according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. People who use the drug are temporarily stripped of their rational judgment.
The FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee earlier this year voted against approving the drug for the treatment of post traumatic stress disorder.
The vote, 10-1, showed that the experts feel that the drug made by Lykos Therapeutics is not safe, and its possible benefits don’t outweigh its risks. On a vote of 9-2, the committee also said that MDMA is not effective for treating PTSD, according to the research.
“I’m not convinced at all that this drug is effective based on the data I saw,” commented Rajesh Narendran, a psychiatry professor at the University of Pittsburgh who is the committee’s chairman.
Gov. Jay Inslee this week announced the launch of a first-in-the-country electric vehicle rebate program funded through the state Department of Commerce, which is intended to encourage more car owners to transition away from gasoline vehicles.
The $45 million rebate program is one of several public policies the state is pursuing as part of their ultimate goal of converting the public and private transportation sectors into EVs. One of the ongoing challenges is the higher cost for EVs compared to their gasoline counterparts.
Speaking at an Aug. 1 news conference, Inslee said that while the cost of EVs has decreased “we don’t want to wait.”
“We want to get as many Washingtonians as possible, regardless of the economic circumstances, to be able to experience the thrill of having an EV, having a quiet, safe, comfortable right, and have gas prices the way they should be – which is zero, because you don’t have to pay any,” he said.
Comparing the rebate program to the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Inslee said “we have a declaration of independence from gasoline. It is freedom, and we’re giving an opportunity for Washingtonians to enjoy that freedom.”
Under the program, state residents making 300% or below the federal poverty level in household income are eligible to apply for a rebate on an EV purchase or lease, provided the vehicle is $90,000 or less; hybrids and hydrogen vehicles are not eligible. The rebates are $5,000 for a purchase or two year lease on a new EV, and $9,000 for a three-year lease. The rebates for used EVs purchase or a two and three year leases are $2,500.
Speaking at the Aug. 1 press conference, state Department of Commerce Director Mike Fong said the program will help “level the playing field and really enabling EV adoption to go across the whole state.”
The U.S. stock market took a major dive Monday as Japan saw its worst stock market day since 1987, raising recessing fears and drawing fresh criticism for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
As of Monday morning publication, the Dow had dropped 99 points and the Nasdaq a whopping 4%, which experts say is fueled by a fear of a coming recession.
Federal jobs data released on Friday showed far fewer jobs were created than expected.
Overseas conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, possibly imminent all-out war between Iran and Israel and the ongoing threat of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan are also constant stability concerns for global markets.
Former President Donald Trump released a flurry of posts blaming Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, for the market downturn, labeling it the “Kamala crash.”
“This is a preview of the world markets without Donald J. Trump in the White House. None of this happens if Trump is in. Kamala and the markets don’t go together,” Trump said in a post online Monday morning. “She’ll destroy the markets. She’s in power now and look at what is happening. One week of the fake media saying better polls and you get a market crash.”
In 2020, Trump predicted that if Biden were to win reelection, the stock market would “crash.”
“Of course there is a massive market downturn,” Trump said. “Kamala is even worse than Crooked Joe. Markets will NEVER accept the Radical Left Lunatic that DESTROYED San Francisco and California, as a whole. Next move, THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF 2024! You can’t play games with MARKETS. KAMALA CRASH!!!”
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, Trump’s pick for Vice President, warned that the economic situation could get much worse if it is not handled well.
“This moment could set off a real economic calamity around the globe,” Vance wrote no X, formerly known as Twitter. “It requires steady leadership–the kind President Trump delivered for four years. Kamala Harris is too afraid to answer media questions and cannot lead us in these troubled times.”
Renowned investor Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway said over the weekend that he had sold over half his stock in Apple, which subsequently saw a 5% decrease in its stock price.
“He is clearly expecting a correction of some kind or otherwise simply cannot see better investments than Treasury bills,” Billionaire Elon Musk wrote on X Sunday in response to the news. “The Fed needs to drop rates. They have been foolish not to have done so already.”
District 36 Republicans, a committee representing the Interior of Alaska’s conservative base, has voted to endorse Nick Begich for Congress. It’s the largest district in the state geographically.
District 36, Alaska
That makes the fifth Republican House district subdivision of the party to endorse Begich. He is also endorsed by six of the seven Republican women’s clubs of Alaska, as well as the Alaska Young Republicans.
“The Interior of Alaska is full of potential and deserves national attention. Smart infrastructure investments coupled with improved access can open our state and reduce the cost of living, as well as build generational prosperity for Alaskan communities large and small. It’s an honor to have the support of Republicans in Alaska’s Interior!” Begich said, while traveling back from a Ketchikan campaign event.
Begich also has the endorsement of the House Freedom Caucus, as well as several conservative congressional representatives, including Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who is on Team Trump.
It’s a gold medal for Homer-born Kristen Faulkner, who competed in her first Olympic event on Aug. 4, racing in the women’s road race for Team USA in Paris and finishing in a spectacular fashion by sneaking up and pedaling to give America its first gold medal in this event in 40 years.
The road race was added for Faulkner at the last minute, when another rider for Team USA, Taylor Knibb, dropped in order to focus on other competitions.
Although she has only been racing for a few years, Faulkner was in the top 10 racers in the pack for much of the race. Within the last 20 kilometers, she powered forward and into fourth place. With 3 kilometers to go, she was in third place. Then, with .7 kilometers to go, she had moved into first place and broke away from the two leaders, putting about a half a minute between her and them. She finished in 3:59:23.
Marianne Von of Netherlands and Lotte Kopeky of Belgium came in second and their.
On Aug. 6 and 7, Faulkner will be competing in her favorite event, Team Pursuit, which is a track racing competition in a velodrome.
Faulkner, whose parents are the owners of Alaska Gold Communications Inc., the parent company of Must Read Alaska, was a world-class rower before she was a cyclist. In 2010 she won a silver medal at the Junior World Rowing Championships, and rowed crew while in college. She first started bike racing in 2019; her preferred sport is the Team Pursuit, which is on a track in a velodrome.
Faulkner went into the ITT [time trials] as the reigning Pan-American Champion, and came in second at the nationals. Her placement on the roster of the Team USA women’s road race was a surprise to her.
I’m still evaluating climate and weather issues around Alaska, but I’m going pass on that topic this week and return to energy and electrical power systems in Alaska.
Specifically I will discuss difficulties for our transition from hydrocarbon fuels to variable energy sources, in particular those that utilize inverters to connect to the grid. The topics are technically complex, to be sure, so I will not delve into the technical details but only address the type of issues I have been made aware of.
Thinking about the total quantity of inverter-based resources that are being added to grids around the country and being planned around Alaska Railbelt, makes me shudder at the increased risk of failure of the grid when we must trust all the semiconductor components that will be present in those inverter-based resources I’m not referring to the control and communications components but the power semiconductors used in all the inverters that will have high currents and high voltages, with risk of hot spots and eventual failure from heat effects.
Restoring a grid after a failure when the grid is operating with inverter-based resources and not fuel-fired internal combustion engines is much more complicated than restoring the system with standby diesel-fueled generators. Utilities will need a number of recovery plans in place to adequately contend with the nature and location of various failures
Developing computer models of an inverter-based resource or hybrid IBR/rotating machine system is more complicated than modeling a rotating machine system, as modeling data is not available for all the IBR equipment available. Current standards for IBR do not require internal fault information which can be shared with associated protective relays used in an electrical system to ensure proper interaction.
Let me be clear: I am not referring to rooftop residential and commercial IBR applications or even the remote communities’ application of renewable resources and IBR/hybrid installations. The extent, rating, physical size, and location of these installations ensure they are much less complex, require little controls, and allow for frequent evaluation of performance and condition. The rooftop solar panels and the integration of renewables into the remote communities has generally been successful, although there have been challenges. It is the large quantity of utility scale installations that cause me concern.
As mentioned, the timeline is long for development of sufficient renewable or alternate energy resources to allow significant transition of the Railbelt Electrical system. In addition, there are a lot of complexities with incorporating these resources into the existing system that require training of utility personnel and planning for what to add and how to add it to the system. I have hosted training sessions to provide instruction to utility engineers in Alaska about the requirements included in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards that cover the installation of Distributed Energy Resources. We are working on developing more workshops to cover some of the complexities that have been found to complicate the transitions.
I continue to advocate for not mandating rapid increase in the addition of renewable energy resources to the Railbelt Electric Utility. I still advocate for the use of pumped hydro or other long-duration energy storage to allow the addition of wind and solar sources to be of immediate benefit to the Railbelt Utility. I will point out that long-duration energy storage for Alaska is needed for months at a time, and not just days or a week, as it is elsewhere in the USA. Along that line, I support keeping the Eklutna Hydroelectric Project facility and adapting it to become a pumped hydroelectric resource to benefit the utility.
I am disappointed that more was not accomplished with improving the conditions that would allow rapid increase in Cook Inlet natural gas production and distribution this last legislative session. As already addressed, the timelines for other resources is too long to allow a decrease in gas production at this time.
In the winter in Alaska, when we have a high pressure dome over much of the state, the sun is not very intense and there is very little wind blowing, so Alaskans have no tolerance for running out of our natural gas fuel supply — even for a day.
Increased production of Cook Inlet gas should still be much cheaper than importing LNG. Dedicated people are working on the various distributed energy resources, but we need dedicated people working diligently on increasing production of Cook Inlet gas.
Robert Seitz is a professional electrical engineer and lifelong Alaskan.
Overturning Roe v. Wade was an undeniable imperative. The repeal ended what was the most malevolent federal government intrusion into our lives.
The emotional turmoil caused by terminating pregnancies under the guise of governmental medical authority and convenience was one of the most egregious civil policies ever conceived by those claiming to be Americans. With that said, while it appears we have successfully protected the unborn at the federal level, we may have missed an important opportunity.
That opportunity lies in our understanding of the underlying factors that allowed a case like Roe v. Wade to reach the Supreme Court in the first place. Like many traps set in our political universe, we focused on the immediate and obvious target. But did we miss the real issue, especially given the current makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court?
Roe v. Wade was influenced by a series of SCOTUS decisions that broadened the understanding of the Commerce Clause, upheld substantive due process rights, and recognized a constitutional right to privacy, where none exists.
But the single abusive expansion of federal power through the Commerce Clause is found in NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. This case, decided on April 12, 1937, contributed to a false legal and regulatory environment where the federal government played an ignoble role in the false flag assertion of protecting individual rights, thereby conning the American people.
The Commerce Clause refers to Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the power “to regulate commerce with foreign nations, among states, and with the Indian tribes.” We are talking “to regulate commerce…among states” Five words.
Prior to NLRB, Congress’s role was limited by the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights. After NLRB, Katie bar the door.
The legal landscape that led to the egregious expansion of federal power, the rise of unelected bureaucrats, the cancerous growth of the federal government, and the influence of both the deep and shallow states, which culminated in Roe v. Wade, was set in motion 36 years before Roe v. Wade was decided.
While the term “shallow state” is not commonly used or defined in political discussions, it refers to the visible yet unaccountable aspect of government operations that, due to NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., operates outside of congressional control and public accountability. Unlike the secretive, unaccountable, and malevolent deep state, the shallow state functions in the open, influenced by public unions, mass media, and the Democratic Party.
With NLRB, Americans through our highest court in the land have given the federal bureaucracy unlimited growth, a blank check paid by the American taxpayer and full authority and control over our American society, lives and future in literally every dimension of our existence.
There are few of us alive who understand the disaster this case has brought to the lives of our parents, our lives and the futures of our American families.
Unelected bureaucrats oversee our country and not those various elected officials we all believe in for “hope and change”. Let that sink in.
NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. led to the collapse of state sovereignty.
By expanding the federal government’s regulatory power over activities that have any impact on interstate commerce, the ruling erased the role of states in regulating local economic activities and labor relations. Take a moment and analyze the precursors to this case. The 16th and 17th Amendments, the Federal Reserve Act, the Federal Trade Act, the Jones Act and a myriad of federal laws and regulations opened the gate to this through the Wilson administration in 1913 as part of the Progressive Movement.
This case chilled and nullified the Tenth Amendment, which reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states or the people. By the overbroad and vague interpretation of the Commerce Clause, the Court effectively allowed federal encroachment into areas traditionally managed by states. Since we are discussing a timespan of almost 90 years, few of us have any memory nor experience of what that used to be like, which contributes to false historic revisioning.
This precedent established the excessive federal regulation of our economy. Effectively killing private sector growth in favor of the public sector flourishing. This regulatory overreach stifles business innovation increases compliance costs and hampers economic growth by imposing uniform standards that are not suitable for all regions or industries as our country is a diversified demographic and geographic tapestry.
The consequences of centralized planning and extensive federal regulation distort free market mechanisms. Market forces, rather than federal regulations, should dictate labor relations and economic activities to ensure efficiency and innovation.
Certainly, because of the NLRB decision, America’s courts engage in judicial activism by expanding the scope of the Commerce Clause beyond its original intent. The Framers of the Constitution did not envision such an expansive role for the federal government in regulating economic activities that are local in nature.
Because of this decision, we see the further expansion of federal power under the Commerce Clause with no limits to its growth. Subsequent cases, such as Wickard v. Filburn (1942), United States v. Darby (1941), Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States (1964), Katzenbach v. McClung (1964), Gonzales v. Raich (2005) and others, where the federal government used this precedent to justify regulation in areas only tangentially related to interstate commerce, thus continually expanding federal authority.
Federal labor regulations, enabled by the NLRB decision, have made labor markets more rigid and closed to innovation, because the public and private union sectors are now primarily focused on power and control, instead of its original calling, better labor conditions and relations.
Strict labor laws and union protections reduce flexibility for businesses, making it harder to adapt to changing economic conditions and leading to higher unemployment and reduced competitiveness. Therefore, we on ground zero observe and experience global corporate behemoths whose sustenance is derived off a menu of government favors, mass media support and public sector control over regulatory institutions influencing the social and cultural development of our public.
Federal environmental regulations, justified under the Commerce Clause, impose undue and harsh burdens on businesses and local governments, inhibiting economic development and infringing on states’ rights to manage their own natural resources.
The federal oversight of labor relations is slow, bureaucratic, and disconnected from the specific needs of local economies. State or local control would improve outcomes with more tailored and efficient management of labor issues.
The expansion of federal regulatory power encompasses all aspects of American life, including healthcare, housing, banking, energy, education, food, and drugs. This has led to the creation of numerous agencies and sub-agencies with billion dollar budgets, totaling 438 entities that regulate every stage of our existence, from conception to death.
This perverted view of the Commerce Clause today justifies such sweeping federal regulations oversteps the intended scope of federal authority.
It’s time to overturn NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp.
Michael Tavoliero is a writer at Must Read Alaska.
Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-Ting, a 28-year-old male, will win at least a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics after beating 34-year-old Bulgarian female Svetlana Kamenova Staneva in the women’s 57kg quarterfinals Sunday.
After the decision, Staneva defiantly would not shake Yu-Ting’s hand and made an X sign with her fingers to indicate the X chromosomes of women, in protest of the unfairness of the Olympics.
YuTing had advanced to the round on Friday with his win against female boxer Sitora Turdibekova of Uzbekistan on Friday. Yu-Ting is 5 foot 9 inches, and Turdibekova is 5 foot 6 inches. Staneva is 5 foot 8 inches.
This means both men who are fighting in women’s divisions will get at least a bronze medal.
On Saturday Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, 5 foot 9 inches, was beaten by Khelif, 5 foot 10 inches, in the welterweight division of women’s boxing, giving Khelif at least a bronze medal in the 66kg division.
Yu-ting and Khelif are the subject of controversy since they are not allowed to fight in the International Boxing Federation as women.
USA Today says today that objections to them fighting as women is a right-wing-fomented point of view. “At the Paris Olympics, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif has become a target for right-wing activists falsely labeling Khelif as transgender.”
Yu-Ting, who moves to the semi-finals on Aug. 7 to fight for silver, and Algerian male boxer Imane Khelif, who fights a Thai woman in a semi-final round on Aug. 6, have X and Y chromosomes that make them males, although they have a combination of male and female sexual characteristics.
The two men have rare conditions that used to be referred to as hermaphroditism. Because they have testicles internally, they grew up with testosterone-fueled physiques that more resemble males with stronger muscles and upper body mass.
The head of the Olympics has stated that anyone questioning the decision of the International Olympics Committee is engaging in hate speech.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has enough signatures to appear on the Nov. 5 general election ballot in Alaska and is listed as a candidate.
RFK Jr. is an activist, author and environmental lawyer. He has questioned the wisdom of mass vaccination programs and that questioning has led to some calling him a conspiracy theorist. He is the founder of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group that vaccine proponents say spreads misinformation.
Kennedy, age 70, is a son of the U.S. attorney general, U.S. senator, and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 in Los Angeles, while he campaigned for the presidency. He is a nephew of President John F. Kennedy, who was also assassinated, and he’s a member of a blue-blood Kennedy family, which is known to be staunchly Democrat.
During his campaign, President Joe Biden refused to assign Secret Service protection to RFK Jr. until after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Because CNN caved to the Democrats and would not allow RFK Jr. on the debate stage in June, Elon Musk, the owner of X/Twitter, ran a simulcast on social media with RFK Jr. answering the questions during the debate.
With the Democratic Party not giving him any way to make his case to Democrats, he decided to run as an independent. For Alaska’s November ballot, he was required to have 3,614 signatures from registered voters in Alaska.
Kennedy’s name will appear with running mate Nicole Shanahan.
At a Kennedy campaign press briefing last week (watch recording here), Kennedy Jr. announced the campaign has collected more signatures than any presidential candidate in American history — more than 1 million signatures. He said he will be on the ballots of all 50 states.
“They forced us to bear this ballot access expense and organize a tremendous volunteer effort,” said Kennedy at the ballot access press briefing. “It’s turned out to be a huge advantage in the upcoming election, as we now have more than 100,000 volunteers ready to get the vote out and win this election.”
“More than 50% of Americans now identify as Independents,” said Shanahan. “There has never been a better opportunity for a third-party candidate to have success, especially with a unity ticket. We are here to unite the country.”
The Kennedy-Shanahan campaign has now collected the signatures needed for ballot access in 42 states, totaling 480 electoral votes, 89% of the 538 total electoral votes nationwide.
Also appearing on the Alaska ballot will the name of radical leftist Cornel West, running under the banner of the Aurora Party, with running mate Melina Abdullah.
Oliver Chase is the Libertarian candidate who has made the Alaska general election ballot with running mate Mike der Maat.
Alaskans will rank presidential candidates on the ballot for the first time in history due to the new ranked-choice voting general election that was put in place by 2020’s Ballot Measure 2. Kennedy is more likely to peel away votes from Democrat presumptive nominee Kamala Harris than he will the Republican nominee Donald Trump, but he has an appeal to some who are disenchanted with the choices of the two main parties.
