The North Pole City Council voted to relieve Mayor Mike Welch of his duties. The vote came after an executive session that occurred Monday, after complaints and revelations about poor management at the city.
Mayor Pro Tem Chandra Clack has moved to the mayor’s seat after the unanimous decision, which included Welch himself voting in favor of the motion. The next election for mayor comes in October, and Clack will serve until then unless other developments occur.
Welch had serious health conditions involving a concussion last year that forced him to take medical leave for several months, but he returned to work in April. The structure of the mayor’s office in North Pole is that the mayor runs the city’s day-to-day operations, and numerous complaints have arisen during his tenure involving procurement irregularities and access that his wife had to what are described as secure areas of city offices. He said his memory was shaky on aspects of those procurement irregularities. Some of the other issues the council was worried about were discussed in the meeting, the video of which is below:
Welch moved to North Pole in 1999 and was elected to the city council in 2005, and elected in 2008. In 2018, he was elected mayor and he was reelected in 2021. Welch filed this spring to run against House Rep. Mike Prax. Both are members of the Republican Party.
Chandra Cleck was born in Fairbanks before statehood and has been active in the Fairbanks and North Pole communities, serving on the board of Golden Valley Electric Association, running her own daycare center, and working as a substitute teacher. She is also involved with a pregnancy center devoted to saving unborn lives.
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a federal gun law, rejecting the challenge of its constitutionality by a man who was federally banned from possession of a gun due to being subject to a restraining order in a domestic violence case.
The court heard the case of U.S. v. Rahimi in November, delving into the complex issue of what constitutes “dangerousness,” and how it pertains to Second Amendment protections. Its ruling was issued Friday.
The question before the Court revolved around whether a person such as Zackey Rahimi, who is subject to domestic-violence restraining orders, should be barred from possessing firearms under federal law.
The mainstream media, including the New York Times and POLITICO, falsely reported that domestic abusers cannot possess guns, while the ruling clearly applies only to those with restraining orders.
Chief Justice John Roberts, writing the 32-page opinion for the majority, said that the law applies common sense.
“When an individual has been found by a court to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another, that individual may be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment,” he wrote.
“Since the Founding, the Nation’s firearm laws have included regulations to stop individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms. As applied to the facts here, Section 922(g)(8) fits within this tradition,” Roberts wrote.
“The right to keep and bear arms is among the ‘fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty,’” he wrote, citing McDonald v. Chicago, 561 U. S. 742, 778. “That right, however, ‘is not unlimited.” …
In an important aside, Roberts added that the Second Amendment does not jut apply to the muskets that were in use when the Constitution was ratified.
“The reach of the Second Amendment is not limited only to those arms that were in existence at the Founding. Heller, 554 U. S., at 582. Rather, it “extends, prima facie, to all instruments that constitute bearable arms, even those that were not [yet] in existence.” Ibid. By that same logic, the Second Amendment permits more than just regulations identical to those existing in 1791,” Roberts wrote.
Throughout the arguments in November, the Justices showed interest in the history of domestic violence in the United States and the specific terms of the federal gun ban for those under restraining orders.
However, the discussion by the justices had repeatedly circled back to the fundamental query of what specific conduct might cancel a person’s Second Amendment rights to possess firearms. At the time of the discussion, the majority of the court appeared inclined to uphold the federal law in question.
Friday’s decision reverses a lower court ruling that found the law to be in violation of the Second Amendment.
In the Spring of 1985, I was a visiting scholar at the Slavic Reference Services of Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Evidently, this Center is known for the largest collection of the Slavic primary and secondary sources in the United States and, I was told, presumably the third largest Slavic collection in the world.
The late Dr. Ralph Fisher was the founder and a champion for building the Slavic collection at the University of Illinois Library. Thanks to Dr. Fisher’s vision, the University Library and Slavic Reference Service provide a consummate collection and outstanding research support service to scholars around the world.
In the 1970s through 1980s, there were nearly 50 Russian Centers in the United States, mostly established by and affiliated with prestigious universities and colleges (e.g., Harvard, Berkeley, Georgetown, Indiana, Bryn Mawr College, etc.). Most of these Centers were funded and supported by the U.S. State and Defense Departments, and some private donors.
From the mid-1980s, under the ruling of the U.S.S.R.’s Chairman of the Communist Party Mikhail Gorbachev, the world faced a new chapter of the international dynamic, namely: the introduction of Glasnost (social openness) and Perestroika (economic restructuring from the planned and command economy to a free market economy) in the former Soviet Union. These progressive socio-economic changes in the former Soviet Union had a fundamental effect on how Soviets viewed the West and, subsequently, vice versa.
While I was at the Russian Center in Illinois, in one of my frank conversations with Dr. Fisher, he speculated that the end of the Cold War would result in a decrease of funding for the Russian Centers nationwide and the ultimate emergence of people-to-people unmitigated exchanges. And he was right.
In the mid/late-1980s, an international popularity of Mikhail Gorbachev was greater than “rock stars” worldwide; various peace-seeking organizations and social activists were excited about new socio-economic prospects with the Soviets and by early 1990s my academic courses (i.e., Soviet Ethnography and Culture, Soviet Character in the Soviet Literature, How Soviets View the World) became obsolete and somewhat inadequate, except for the Russian History and Russian Language courses.
In fact, for the most part, Russian experts and Sovietologists in the West found themselves antiquated; the sudden social activists and amateur historians claimed to be the new voices in Soviet affairs and history.
During the Cold War (1946 to 1991), Alaska was the only State in the U.S. that restricted travel for Soviet citizens, apart for limited scientific or academic exchanges or the official visits of the Soviet governmental representatives under auspices of the International Research Exchange Board or the U.S. State Department. Reciprocally, Siberia and some security-sensitive locations in the Russian Far East were also out of reach for the U.S. citizens.
Nevertheless, in April of 1986, Genady Gerasimov became one of the first post-World War II Soviet officials to visit Alaska. Gerasimov was a career journalist and editor of Moscow News, one of the largest newspapers in the former Soviet Union, which was published in dozens of languages and distributed worldwide accordingly.
Like all editors of the major newspapers in the former Soviet Union, Gerasimov was closely associated with Politburo (the principal policy-making committee) and the high-ranking officials of the Soviet Union Communist Party.
Sitka was Genady Gerasimov’s first stop in Alaska. Then I was employed as an archaeologist by the Tongass National Forest Service and as an adjunct assistant professor of Russian Studies at the Islands Community College in Sitka (today University of Alaska Southeast). Sitka city officials held a modest reception in honor of Gerasimov’s visit to Claudette Bechovech’s residence. Claudette Bechovec was a long-time resident of Sitka; she was married to Mr. Bechovec—a resistance fighter against Nazi Germany in Yugoslavia during WWII.
At one point during a rather unassuming reception, Gerasimov approached me, “Sasha, please would you ask the organizers to accommodate me in the hotel. I don’t want to cause any inconveniences to gracious hosts.” I quickly conveyed Gerasimov’s concerns to a seemingly reception organizer. “Oh, no,” he responded. “Bechovecs are members of the Communist Party, and they have a gun. He will be safe with Bechovecs and comfortable on this sofa,” he continued, pointing to the saggy sofa in the corner of the living room. So, I cautiously explained to Gerasimov that his request couldn’t be accommodated on such short notice.
The next day, Gerasimov pursued his travel to Juneau for meetings with the State officials and several enthusiastic activists who were preliminary engaged in the negotiation for cultural exchanges with the Soviet counterparts. Incidentally, Gerasimov’s visit to Alaska coincided with the tragic Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident on April 26, 1986. As a result, Gerasimov abruptly returned to his home country.
Soon after Gerasimov’s visit to Alaska, he was appointed to the position of Foreign Affairs Spokesman for Mikhail Gorbachev. In the late 1980s, Genady Gerasimov visited Alaska several times; he was fond of Alaskans and instrumental in fostering Alaska-Russian relations.
Genady Gerasimov’s diplomatic visits to Alaska in the 1980s were the beginning of people-to-people Alaska-Russian relations; later followed by extensive development in various social, cultural and economic spheres between two regions. Alaska-Russian communication was interrupted by the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014. Historically, however, Alaska has always experienced boom-and-bust socio-economic developments, much like boom-and-bust Alaska-Russian relations.
Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine, in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enroled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer in the Russian Center. In the U.S.S.R., he was a social studies teacher for three years, and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He lived first in Sitka in 1985 and then settled in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and has been the Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted about 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, andClipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. He was the Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Russian Old Believers in Alaska; Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During WWII; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in WWII; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka, and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.
There appears to be a counter movement afoot in Alaska — a pro-Trump voter who is not going along with the Trump endorsement of Nancy Dahlstrom for Congress.
First it was the solid-red Mat-Su Valley. Now, for the second time in two days, a major Republican club in Alaska has gone against Monday’s Trump endorsement and instead come out with a strong endorsement of Nick Begich for Congress.
The Republican Women of Fairbanks issued their resolution on Thursday.
The resolution is similar to the one passed by the Valley Republican Women of Alaska on Tuesday, reiterating that the club supports Trump for president and that “Nick Begich is the right choice at the right time for Alaska.”
The trend is also seen in a pair of polls that asked (mainly conservative) Alaskans on Monday who they favored for Congress. In that poll, Nick Begich was favored by 85% of Must Read Alaska readers who took part.
After the Trump endorsement on Monday, MRAK tried a slightly different question: “Seeing as Trump endorsed Nancy Dahlstrom who do you support for Alaska’s congressional pick in August?” The results are 83% for Nick Begich. The poll closed Thursday morning.
One-day poll results from the Wednesday, June 19 Must Read Alaska newsletter.
Both candidates have their supporters: While Dahlstrom has the Trump endorsement and is endorsed by Gov. Mike Dunleavy and the National Republican Congressional Committee, Begich has the endorsement of the House Freedom Caucus, Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Byron Donalds, and Rep. Scott Perry, as well as Vivek Ramaswamy, business entrepreneur and former candidate for president.
Now, he has the full-throated support of two of the grassroots women’s clubs that make up the strength of the Alaska Republican Party.
Since 2022, Alaska has had what is called a non-partisan primary, which means candidates from all parties share the same ballot. For the seat now occupied by Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola, there are 12 registered candidates. There are 61 days until the Aug. 20 Alaska primary election.
The final four with the most votes from the primary ballot will continue on to the Nov. 5 general election.
Editor’s note: This is the unedited version of the response sent by Sen. Dan Sullivan to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner in response to an editorial it published about the National Park Service’s actions to curtail American flags flying from private sector workers’ trucks in Denali National Park.
By U.S. SEN. DAN SULLIVAN
While I don’t always agree with the News-Miner’s editorials, I have long respected its professional work, especially getting the facts right. But the recent editorial, “The media rush that sparked a flag frenzy and got it all wrong,” misses the mark in so many ways, I felt compelled to respond personally.
But before recounting the serious problems with this editorial, let me start with what happened and share an area of agreement.
My office received a phone call from a constituent who was working on a construction project in Denali National Park. He told my staff that he had been directed to remove a 3×5 flag affixed to his truck. In working the case, my office learned that the National Park Service (NPS) caused the incident to happen as a result of a park-visitor complaint.
Subsequently, I wrote to the Director of the U.S. Park Service requesting an investigation. I made this letter public, as I do with most letters I write or co-sign to federal officials on important policy issues.
I was in direct communication on May 25 and 26with the NPS Director. He surmised that the “unfortunate issue” may have resulted from the contractor’s contract with a federal agency. He committed to respond in detail to the questions in my letter. I also strongly encouraged him to ensure that the convoy of Alaskans coming to the park with flags in protest be allowed to proceed without incident.
After these communications, I was somewhat surprised when the NPS put out a statement saying reports that NPS was involved in the incident were “false.” The NPS said, “At no time did an NPS official seek to ban or limit the flag from the project site or associated vehicles.” These statements turned out to be false.
Five days later, the NPS released another statement admitting that the NPS was involved—that an NPS official notified the Federal Highway Administration about a flag complaint and the NPS official asked if there was an “appropriate way to request the flag be detached from a contractor’s vehicle to limit wildlife and visitor impacts.”
Those are the facts.
Now, the area of agreement: Nobody should be subjected to hateful attacks and certainly not physically threatened. My office put out a statement in a published story in the Anchorage Daily News on this topic, which was left out of the News-Miner’s editorial: “Senator Sullivan condemns any and all personal attacks on public officials, including Park Service employees.” The editorial also failed to note that I never once mentioned the Denali Park Superintendent’s name or title in my letter to the NPS Director or in statements.
Where I vehemently disagree with the editorial is the claim that I was spreading “misinformation” in my letter to the NPS Director. Alaskans should feel free to read the letter here. Nothing in my letter was inaccurate. In fact, the “misinformation” came from the NPS when they initially claimed they had nothing to do with the removal of the flag and five days later admitted that they did.
Remarkably, the editorial fails to mention these critical facts.
All of this leads to a larger issue, which the News-Miner also missed in yielding to an easy narrative that blames conservative media while not holding the NPS responsible for its actions. This story is not just about patriotism and the American flag. It runs deeper, with a more complicated narrative—one that hits at the heart of our state’s fraught relationship with federal agencies that have enormous power over Alaskans, which they often abuse.
For decades, the NPS and other federal agencies have ignored or pushed the boundaries of the unique laws governing federal lands in Alaska. One of the most infamous cases is when an Alaskan named John Sturgeon was cited by NPS Rangers for using a hovercraft to go moose hunting in an area where the NPS incorrectly said it was prohibited. Sturgeon fought the NPS all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court—twice—where they unanimously agreed that the NPS was violating federal law.
But none of this has stopped the Biden Administration’s NPS and Department of Interior from abusing the law at Alaska’s expense.
Recently, we’ve seen this federal agency push the limits of federal law by locking up land in the National Petroleum Reserve of Alaska, cancelling legally obtained leases in ANWR, and reversing a decision authorizing a road to the Ambler Mining District.
These likely illegal actions dramatically undermine our state’s interests. Alaskans are fed up with this abuse.
Therefore, it touched a raw nerve when, on the eve of Memorial Day, Alaskans heard about the NPS causing a patriotic Alaskan to remove his American flag from his truck in a national park. Thousands of Alaskans were outraged, many of whom reached out to me and my office to voice their concern and ask for assistance.
The editorial referred to me as a “senator who likes to bang the outrage drum.” Actually, I’m a senator who likes to fight for my state’s and constituents’ rights, given they are frequently under attack.
Finally, the editorial castigates other media outlets for not following “Journalism 101.” The real irony here is that the News-Miner’s editorial writers never bothered to reach out to my office and check the facts. Instead, they wrote an editorial with numerous omissions and inaccuracies, looked the other way about the NPS’s false statements, and kept Alaskans in the dark about all of it. Talk about Journalism 101!
I hope the News-Miner returns to its tradition of due diligence in future editorials.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, former Alaska Attorney General and commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources, had represented Alaska in the U.S. Senate since 2015.
On Wednesday, search teams from the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, as well as Department of Public Safety’s HELO 3, continued searching around Crescent Lake on the Kenai Peninsula near Moose Pass for the two missing men from a reported plane crash that occurred Tuesday. Search teams are still in the field searching with helicopters, divers, sonar, and boats.
The two occupants of the overdue Piper PA-18 Super Cub are currently listed as missing persons and were identified as:
41-year-old Utah resident Paul Kondrat, a commercial fixed wing pilot and certified flight instructor
46-year-old Anchorage resident Mark Sletten, who is an Alaska Command J3 and fighter pilot
On Tuesday afternoon, Alaska Wildlife Troopers had been notified that two hikers had witnessed a plane crash at Crescent Lake near Moose Pass on the Kenai Peninsula. The search for the crash commenced and Wildlife Troopers soon learned that the plane was overdue. An Alaska Air National Guard rescue team was dispatched by the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center to the site; however, they were not able to locate either male. The NTSB has been notified.
This story will be updated as more details emerge.
Nearly half of Americans report that the recent spike in inflation is making it harder to make ends meet, according to a new poll.
Monmouth University released a poll Wednesday showing 46% of those polled are “currently struggling to remain where they are financially.”
That figure is the highest point recorded by this pollster since President Joe Biden took office and far higher than during his predecessor’s term.
“In polls conducted between 2022 and 2023, this number ranged between 37% and 44%,” Monmouth said in its report. “In prior polls from 2017 to 2021, this sentiment was much lower at 20% to 29%.”
Prices have risen about 20% since Biden took office, a huge increase across all kinds of goods and services. Now, inflation is rising much slowly than the breakneck pace earlier in Biden’s term.
“Even with a declining inflation rate, prices continue to be much higher than they were four years ago,” Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in the report. “That’s the metric that has really mattered to many Americans over the past two years. Economic concerns may not be the top motivating factor for all voters but it defines the contours of this year’s election.”
However, prices continue to rise faster than economists would like. Inflation slowed last month, a reprieve after months of elevated inflation. Whether that slowing is a blip on the radar or a turning point remains to be seen.
For now, Biden has to grapple with the major price increase during his term this election cycle.
The polling does show an equal percentage of Americans think either Biden or Trump cares about their economic woes.
“The overwhelming narrative is that a large segment of the American public feels it is financially behind the eight ball,” Murray said. “It is true that voters who feel more comfortable with their economic situation are likely to support Biden. But despite continued Democratic efforts to tout rosy economic indicators, the tactic of telling financially pessimistic voters they should feel differently does not appear to be working.”
The poll surveyed 1,106 adults from June 1 to June 6.
Bowen Brantingham is a righthanded pitcher for the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks this summer, but his season is being cut short, as he has to complete his summer active duty stint as an Air Force cadet. And that’s OK, because it’s been a valuable experience for Bo, and perhaps the start of a beautiful relationship between the Chinooks and the Air Force Academy.
Bo Brantingham
Brantingham, a six foot, three inch righthander, is the first military academy student to play for the Chinooks. He led his high school team – John Burroughs School in St. Louis, Missouri – to a state championship in 2023, striking out 13 batters in 6 and one-third innings of work in the deciding game. Before that game even started, the Air Force recruited him to play for the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
As one of his Academy coaches was placing players on summer ball teams, he approached Bo about the possibility of playing up in Alaska for the Athletes-In-Action team out in Chugiak.
Brantingham liked the idea, but knew his time would be short due to that summer training requirement. Speaking to Chinooks’ general manager field manager, Tim Cole, Bo got the go-ahead to play a shortened season, as Coach Cole has a deep respect for the military and knows it is important to the Chugiak-Eagle River community.
The Chinooks have close ties to the military. Assistant Coach Ted McGovern is a West Point graduate who retired from the Alaska Army National Guard as a full bird Colonel, and Chinooks Booster Club board member Austin Skelley is an Air Force Academy graduate and fellow Colonel who is currently serving at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
Additionally, eight of the nine Booster Club Board members are either veterans or currently serving, or married to current or retired military members. The team’s annual Military Appreciation Night (one of the best attended games of each season) highlights the contribution of the military members who make up the Chinook fan base.
Brantingham was one of about a dozen freshman cadets on the Falcon baseball team, and he brought his winning ways with him to Colorado Springs as the Falcon baseball team won their conference.
Asked if Alaska met his expectations, Bo said they pretty much exceeded them. The baseball quality has been awesome, the state is beautiful, and the daily discipleship has been a blessing. The Chinooks are the only faith-based baseball team in Alaska, and the players are required to attend daily discipleship classes between gym time and heading to the ballpark.
Bo said he came to the Athletes-In-Action team as a Christian, but the discipleship classes provided him with spiritual growth as the young men take deep dives into the Bible.
When Colonel Skelley, an Academy graduate himself, heard about Bo coming to Chugiak, he asked Coach Cole if the Skelleys could serve as Bo’s host family. That was an easy call for everyone, so Bo has been able to live with, and receive further leadership and religious mentoring from, the Colonel and his family. It’s been a win-win situation for Bo, the Skelleys, and the Chinooks.
The experience has given Skelley a vision for what he hopes to be an ongoing relationship between the Academy and the Chinooks. If he can help arrange future Falcon baseball players to conduct their required summer duty in at JBER, then they should be able to stay the entire summer. Again – a win-win situation.
Bo has pitched well for the Chinooks this season, and it appeared the big league scouts were paying attention when he took the mound this past weekend against Goldpanners in the Scout Weekend series. He pitched five solid innings, giving up only two runs while scattering a handful of base hits.
Coach Cole will again hand the ball to Cadet Brantingham on Thursday night as Bo is scheduled to start the 6 p.m. game against the Anchorage Bucs at Mulcahy Stadium.
After the game, he will change out of his Chinooks’ uniform, fly to his summer training site, and put on his Air Force cadet uniform. Hopefully, he will be back next summer, and will bring some fellow Falcons with him.
Tim Barto is past president and coach of the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks. He is also vice president at Alaska Family Council.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Pfizer’s Covid shot in November for “unlawfully misrepresenting the effectiveness of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine and attempting to censor public discussion of the product.”
Paxton’s alleged Pfizer made “unsupported claims” and made the public think the protection from the “vaccine” was durable. Additionally, information was withheld from the public, while Pfizer used a campaign of intimidation to con people into believing they were doing the right thing to protect their loved ones. Paxton saidthis was in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practice Act. The lawsuit is still pending.
Just recently, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach also sued Pfizer, alleging the company “made misleading claims” about the effectiveness and safety of the shot and the potential side-effects. Kobach says Pfizer provided misinformation and misled Kansas citizens into believing the shot had minimal side effects, and that the company hid information concerning the shot’s link to myocarditis and pregnancy complications. Kobach said Pfizer misled Kansans by telling them the shot was effective, even while it knew its “effectiveness” waned over time. Nor did the shot protect against all the variants the Covid virus spins off.
Kobach went on to state that Covid-19 cases continued to rise even after a widespread vaccination push in which some areas saw more deaths of vaccinated persons than those not vaccinated.
The lawsuit notes: “How did Pfizer respond when it became apparent that its vaccine was failing, and the viability of its cash cow shot was threatened? By intimidating those spreading the truth and by conspiring to censor its critics, Pfizer labeled as ‘criminals’ those who spread facts about the vaccine. It accused them of spreading ‘misinformation.’ And it coerced social media platforms to silence prominent truth-tellers.”
Kansas seeks from Pfizer, “civil monetary penalties, damages, and injunctive relief from misleading and deceptive statements made in marketing its COVID-19 vaccine.” In the complaint, Kobach alleges Pfizer deliberately hid, suppressed and omitted material facts relating to the COVID-19 vaccine. The “most egregious” facts dealt with safety of pregnant women and problems with heart conditions. Add to this the fact the shots weren’t effective with new variants, nor did the jab even stop viral transmission.
“Pfizer marketed its vaccine as safe for pregnant women,” Kobach said. “However, in February of 2021 (they) possessed reports of 458 pregnant women who received Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine during pregnancy. More than half of the pregnant women reported an adverse event, and more than 10% reported a miscarriage.”
There have indeed been research reports on pregnancy and miscarriages. Some government reports stated there was no higher risk for “vaccinated” Covid women. Other research reports showed there was an increase in major maternal child side-effects.
Pfizer had started a research project on pregnant women but ended the study prior to completion. The research project was overcome by events as the government had already stated the jab was okay for pregnant wome,n despite having limited data to support that conclusion. And pregnant women believed they were doing the right thing, rolling up their sleeves.
In June of 2021, the CDC warned that the Covid jab was having a negative effect on the heart such as myocarditis and pericarditis, especially in young men.
Yet when Albert Bourla, Pfizer CEO, was asked in January, 2023 if the jab caused severe myocarditis, he said, “We have not seen a single signal, although we have distributed billions of doses.”
“However, Pfizer knew the United States government, the United States military, foreign governments and others have found that Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine caused myocarditis and pericarditis,” Attorney General Kobach said.
Kobach also pointed out this was a cash cow for Pfizer. The company “earned $75 billion in just two years thanks to its ‘misrepresentation’ of the vaccine.”
Pfizer has claimed “the lawsuit AG Kobach is without merit.” “The representations made by Pfizer about its Covid-19 vaccine have been accurate and science-based,” the company said in a statement.
But Kobach says that five additional states will be joining his lawsuit—the only confirmed state of the five is Idaho.
Who wants to bet Alaska won’t be one of the five? As the truth keeps coming out through Congressional hearings etc., more and more lawsuits will surely follow.
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.
