Thursday, July 30, 2026
Home Blog Page 316

FEMA workers were told to skip houses with Trump signs on them when providing disaster assistance

Suzanne Downing
-
32
FEMA workers were told to skip houses with Trump signs on them when providing disaster assistance

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell says the agency has fired the employee accused of ordering relief aid workers to skip homes in Florida that had signs supporting Donald Trump for president.

“More than 22,000 FEMA employees every day adhere to FEMA’s core values and are dedicated to helping people before, during and after disasters, often sacrificing time with their own families to help disaster survivors. Recently, one FEMA employee departed from these values to advise her survivor assistance team to not go to homes with yard signs supporting President-elect Trump. This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles to help people regardless of their political affiliation. This was reprehensible,” Criswell said.

“I want to be clear to all of my employees and the American people, this type of behavior and action will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct.

“We take our mission to help everyone before, during and after disasters seriously. This employee has been terminated and we have referred the matter to the Office of Special Counsel. I will continue to do everything I can to make sure this never happens again,” she said.

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer of Kentucky sent a letter to Criswell on Saturday asking her to show up before the committee on Nov. 19 to answer questions about the incident.

Lathrop High students in Fairbanks plan walk out over Trump election and ‘fascism’

Suzanne Downing
-
117
Lathrop High students in Fairbanks plan walk out over Trump election and ‘fascism’

Some Lathrop High School students in Fairbanks will be standing in front of their school’s entryway on Wednesday. A protest has been called by the Sunrise Movement — a Native group — and Alaska Youth for Environmental Action to have students walk out of fifth-period class and stand against “fascism” and Trump.

“Walk out against Trump”, the flyer advertising the event reads. “Our generation won’t stand for fascism.”

Among the concerns the students have is funding for eduction. They also want access to healthcare and climate action, women’s rights, equality and love.

“Help us create a safe and loving community for those who are struggling at this time,” the group advertises.

Alaska Youth for Environmental Action is a program of the Alaska Center (for the Environment) that trains Alaska’s youth to be radical warriors for the “climate justice” movement.

Among the supporters of the Alaska Youth for Environmental Action is Rep. Genevieve Mina of Anchorage, who is on the board of the Alaska Center and who encouraged students to walk out of classes earlier this year to protest what she felt was a lack of adequate funding for schools.

Lathrop High School has a graduation rate of 73%, and students score just 30% on state reading proficiency tests and 16% in math proficiency.

Students swarm Alaska Capitol, disrupt committees, egged on by Democrat legislators

Crushed it: With Arizona in, Trump cinches 312 electoral college votes and the popular vote

Suzanne Downing
-
42
Crushed it: With Arizona in, Trump cinches 312 electoral college votes and the popular vote

Days before the Nov. 5 election, pollsters predicted the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was tight. According to pollsters, early votes were going to the Democrats, and polls predicted a razor’s edge victory by Harris.

The pollsters could not have been more wrong. As of Saturday, Trump had just been named the winner in the swing state of Arizona, giving him 312 electoral college votes, to Harris’ 226. Trump needed 270 to win.

In history, that’s not a landslide, but close. In 1964, Democrat Lyndon Johnson won 486 electoral votes, while Barry Goldwater, the Republican, got just 52.

Trump has done better than Joe Biden did in 2020, when Biden (apparently) won 206 electoral votes. Somehow in 2020, Biden was awarded more than 81 million votes — the most of any presidential candidate in U.S. history.

Trump won all seven battleground states, and is the first Republican in years to also win the popular vote across America.

By the numbers: Democrats spent big bucks for failed ranked-choice voting and leftist candidates
Fritz Pettyjohn: Reagan shut down the Cold War, and Trump can learn a lesson regarding Iran

By the numbers: Democrats spent big bucks for failed ranked-choice voting and leftist candidates

Suzanne Downing
-
41
By the numbers: Democrats spent big bucks for failed ranked-choice voting and leftist candidates

Democrat candidates and their causes were well funded this year, and they hemorrhaged cash to the consultants and media experts who ran their losing campaigns.

Take Kamala Harris, for example. Her brief campaign for president raised over $1 billion and lasted just 107 days, which means she burned through $10 million a day. Her spending was at times reckless: She made her campaign spend over $100,000 recreating the “Call Her Daddy” podcast set in a Washington hotel room so she would not have to fly to California for the appearance on the show, which only had a sliver of the audience that Donald Trump had on the Joe Rogan podcast.

The Harris campaign spent $654 million to paid media, and Democratic groups working on behalf of Harris spent $726.1 million on advertising. The total comes close to $14 billion. Trump’s campaign spent $378 million, according to AdImpact.

Harris’ campaign payroll totaled $56.6 million, while the Trump campaign spent $9 million, employing far fewer people.

Harris reportedly ended her campaign $20 million in debt and can’t even pay her employees without an extra infusion of cash from donors — and the letters asking for money went out immediately.

In Alaska, Rep. Mary Peltola had a massive cash advantage, running one of the most expensive campaigns in Alaska history.

As of October. 16, Peltola had raised nearly $11.4 million for her campaign, not including the millions spent on her behalf by third-party groups, such as Planned Parenthood and the many well-heeled unions that ran their own parallel campaigns for her reelection. She had $1,163,587 cash on hand as of the Oct. 16 filing period.

In other words, Peltola’s campaign spent over $31,000 every day for the 365 days leading up to the Nov. 5 election.

Her challenger, Republican Nick Begich, raised a little over $2 million, spent $1.8 million and had $279,455 cash on hand by Oct. 16.

Like Trump, Begich was outspent by the Democrats but appears to have won.

Ballot Measure 2, repealing the ranked-choice voting system now being used in Alaska, was even more lopsided in spending.

The group trying to keep ranked-choice voting — “No on 2” — raised more than $14.6 million, nearly all of it from dark-money billionaires like John Arnold, who are not Alaskans but who opposed repealing the system they had spent over $6 million in dark money in 2020 to install.

The citizens group trying to repeal ranked-choice voting in Alaska, “Yes on 2” had under $100,000, all Alaska donations, to work with, but because the “No on 2” people kept suing to keep the question off the ballot, their debt is in at least the tens of thousands of dollars, just in legal fees fighting off the Scott Kendalls of the other side.

Around the country, the groups pushing ranked-choice voting in other states also outspent those who favor regular voting.

These figures were supplied by Phil Izon, one of the Alaskans who worked to get the signatures to repeal ranked-choice voting:

Alaska: $6.84 million + $14.64 million = $21.48 million supporting RCV over two ballot measures (Ballot Measure 2 in 2020 installed ranked-choice voting, while Ballot Measure 2 in 2024 repealed it. Those opposing ranked-choice voting in Alaska had just $1.1 million between 2020 and 2024. The imbalance was 21 to 1.

Arizona: $15.88 million supporting ranked-choice voting (Proposition 140 in 2024); $150,000 opposing it. Voters decided against installing ranked-choice voting in Arizona.

Colorado: $14.66 million supporting ranked-choice voting (Prop 131 in 2024); $460,000 opposing it. Voters decided against installing ranked-choice voting in Colorado.

Idaho: $5.50 million supporting Proposition 1 in 2024; $150,000 opposing it. Voters decided against installing ranked-choice voting in Idaho.

Montana: $44.76 million supporting CI-126 and CI-127; $70,000 opposing them. Voters decided against installing ranked-choice voting in Montana.

Nevada: $22.38 + $19.36 = $41.74M supporting Question 3 in 2022 and Question 3 in 2024. $2.08 million + $2.43 million = $4.51 million opposing (Question 3 in 2022 and Question 3 in 2024). Voters decided against installing ranked-choice voting in Nevada.

Oregon: $10.12 million supporting, $10,000 opposing Ballot Measure 117 in 2024. Voters decided against installing ranked-choice voting in Montana.

South Dakota: $1.62 million supporting; none opposing ranked-choice voting. Voters decided against installing ranked-choice voting in South Dakota.

Washington, D.C.: $1.28 million supporting Ballot Initiative 83 in 2024); $1,000 opposing. Voters in D.C. approved ranked-choice voting.

The total spent for pushing ranked-choice voting between 2020 and 2024 was at least $157.04 million. It exceeded by 24 times the amount the opposition to ranked-choice voting spent trying to preserve regular voting.

Fritz Pettyjohn: Reagan shut down the Cold War, and Trump can learn a lesson regarding Iran

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
14
Fritz Pettyjohn: Reagan shut down the Cold War, and Trump can learn a lesson regarding Iran

By FRITZ PETTYJOHN

“We are the friends of liberty everywhere, but the guarantor of only our own.”  Thomas Jefferson.

When I was in the Alaska Legislature back in the 1980’s we were all fat and happy.  With Alaska North Slope crude selling at over $100 a barrel, the only difficulty was how we were going to able to spend all the money.  

Then the price began to fall and finally collapsed in 1986 to $32 a barrel. The Alaska economy went into a mini recession, the housing market nosedived, and cuts to the operating budget were needed. None of us could figure out what was going on.

Only later, when the Soviet Union disintegrated, did it become plain what had happened.

In his first foreign policy initiative, in 1981 President Ronald Reagan proposed selling AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia. Israel and the American Jewish community were flabbergasted and outraged.  With these planes, the Saudis would have early warning of any Israeli attack and could prepare to defend themselves. The Israeli air force owned the skies of the entire Middle East, and they wanted to keep it that way.

Reagan prevailed, and the Saudis owed us a very big favor. Soon they began flooding the world oil market, ostensibly to discipline OPEC cheating. But they kept it up, year after year until the market finally bottomed out in 1986.

It was no coincidence that it was in !986 that the Soviet politburo decided they could no longer compete with us in the Cold War. 90% of Soviet hard currency came from the sale of oil. No one in the world accepted payment in rubles, and hard currency was needed to have any participation in the world economy. You can’t play the superpower game if you don’t have any money. 

Reagan had won the Cold War without firing a shot.

American economic power, when properly harnessed, can substitute for armed might. That’s how President Donald Trump will end the Ukraine war. He can use carrots, as well as sticks. He can threaten Putin with all out economic warfare if Putin rejects a reasonable settlement with Ukraine. He can also offer economic assistance once a deal has been reached.

It is in our manifest geopolitical self-interest to divorce Russia from China. This justifies giving tax breaks to American companies that invest in Russia. With American help, Putin can lead Russia to a prosperity it has never known in its entire history. Russia was poor when he took power. He can leave it rich. That can be his legacy.  

This will also inhibit Russia’s historic imperialistic impulses over the long haul. Why invade Poland when you have more money than they do?

But what about the fact that Russia is and will continue to be a dictatorship?  What about the Russian people?  Shouldn’t they have a democratic form of government?  

That’s up to them to figure out.  We’re not going to guarantee anyone’s freedom but our own.  That’s realpolitik, or rational self-interest. When we deviate from that , as in Vietnam and Iraq, it is both futile and costly in American lives and treasure.

Which brings us to Iran, which has been caught red-handed attempting to assassinate our president-elect. His entire family is in danger. This cannot be allowed to stand.  

This doesn’t require an invasion, or any other military response. We can simply impose a total embargo on Iranian exports, by both land and sea. This will strangle their economy to such an extent that the Iranian people themselves will overthrow the despots who rule them.

A new era has begun, at home and around the world.

God bless America.

Fritz Pettyjohn’s first venture in politics was working for Barry Goldwater for president in 1964. He served in the Alaska Legislature in the 1980s and writes the blog ReaganProject.com.

Bob Bird: The election, ANWR, the budget, PFD, and the 90/10

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
11
Bob Bird: The election, ANWR, the budget, PFD, and the 90/10

By BOB BIRD

Let’s get some priorities straight. Alaska cannot squander this moment. It is going to take leadership and courage to turn things around. Amazingly, it might — it should — be a bi-partisan effort.

Before reading further, first go to YouTube and watch what Gov. Walter Hickel produced in 1993, when he initiated a $29 billion lawsuit against the federal government for its failure to give Alaska what was promised at statehood. Here is the link. It isn’t long.

Incredibly, most Alaskans and many legislators, have never heard of the phrase “90/10.” It has been buried, thanks to our own congressional delegation, under the fig-leaf phrase, coined by Sen. Ted Stevens and echoed by Rep.Don Young, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. Dan Sullivan and others, which says, “Fifty percent of something is better than 90 percent of nothing.”

A better phrase would be, “Our politicians have sold out our birthright for a mess of pottage.” 

From Wikipedia: A mess of pottage is something immediately attractive but of little value, taken foolishly and carelessly, in exchange for something more distant and perhaps less tangible but immensely more valuable. 

You will find it in Genesis 25: 29-34, in the story of Jacob and Esau.

So, what is the background for Alaskans? Because the most valuable argument against Alaskan statehood was our inability to pay for self-government, congress crafted us a special gift: that oil revenues taken from federal properties would be split, not 50/50 as with the other states, but 90/10 in Alaska’s favor.

As the pro-Alaska historians, lawyers and legislators tell you in the video, this could not be unilaterally changed, but had to be OK’d by a statewide referendum. But as an inducement to open up ANWR to lower 48 congressional votes, who would have to face the media’s kissy-poo pets in the Green Lobby, our own “champions” lured them into accepting ANWR’s opening on a 50/50 split.

It was done under the radar thanks to our local media outlets in the Anchorage Daily News, and its “court historian” Dr. Stephen Haycox, who pontificated: “Hickel apparently did not realize that Congress must be free to change its legislation to conform to changing public opinion, to changes in society’s will.”

This conforms to liberal tastes that contracts can be broken by the stronger (federal) party, and to the idea that the Constitution is a “living document”.

You may recall that Donald Trump was on the cusp of opening ANWR in 2020, then “lost” his re-election bid. But it was on the 50/50 basis, thanks to Don Young, whose final years in congress took a mysterious leftward slant. 

With the kind of momentum conservatives now possess, with the Green Lobby off balance, with the pro-ANWR development natives of Kaktovik (in the heart of ANWR) voting for Trump 57-12, with our state budget and PFD in a shambles, what are we waiting for?

In debates I had in 2008 with former Sen. Mark Begich, he had the good sense to agree that 90/10 had to be defended. He completely understood that it meant more revenue for state government. Now, with his pro-development nephew likely to take our congressional seat, we have the proper alignment of the stars.

Except, of course, in the RCV-elected state legislature.

When Sen. Jesse Bjorkman and I were broadcast partners at KSRM, as a recently-arrived Alaskan, he had never heard of “90/10.” To his credit, he was all on board when it was explained to him. If he is going to forfeit his conservative credentials once again for the sake of influence in a Democrat-controlled state senate, maybe — just maybe — he can use it for this vitally important purpose. It is a chance for him to have a hand in making state history.

Do Democrats want more revenue for state government? 

Do conservatives want a new oil-and-gas boom? Do they want a balanced budget? Does everyone want a recovering economy, value-added jobs and a full PFD?

Do we want and need a gas pipeline? Do we want a generations-long economy of permanent jobs?

The questions answer themselves.

Bob Bird is former chair of the Alaskan Independence Party and the host of a talk show on KSRM radio, Kenai.

Bob Bird: Miracles still happen

Alexander Dolitsky: Expect extreme opposition to Donald Trump to continue

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
35
Alexander Dolitsky: Expect extreme opposition to Donald Trump to continue

By ALEXANDER DOLITSKY

Indeed, it was a very pleasant surprise to me and to other commonsense Americans to see how tremendously wide and strong the voter support for Donald Trump turned out and how weak the support was for the Biden/Harris Administration.

That renews my and other commonsense Americans’ hope for the possible future of the United States as a true democracy. Many more people saw through all the media, progressive “Democratic” Party, and the U.S. “intelligence” agencies propaganda than many of us expected possible, and they included a significant number of voters from the “Democratic” Party base itself (e.g., blacks and Hispanics, especially men, in addition to virtually the whole working class) who clearly were rejecting the far-left, neo-Marxist nonsense under name of liberty, equality and justice for all. 

Although the rejection of the Democrats extended to Congress, too, it was much weaker there than in the presidential election.  It looks like the commonsense Republicans might be able to control the White House and both chambers of congress for at least the next two years—those will be very important years and, hopefully, major years of reversing much of the damage already inflicted by the Biden/Harris administration and far-left Democrats. 

Nevertheless, we can be very sure that there will be very strong and organized opposition to Donald Trump and the Republicans from not only the Democrats but also their allies in the neo-Marxist media and the administrative state.  At least, now for a change, we have some reason to be hopeful instead of just politically depressed.

Clearly, during this 2024 turbulent election, Americans recognized and stood tall against neo-Marxist ideology — i.e., white privilege doctrine, Critical Race Theory, transgenderism, DEI and systemic racism demagoguery. Commonsense Americans stood strong in protecting Judeo-Christian moral values and principles — an ideological and theological foundation of our exceptional Republic.

I am writing this short piece from the Dominican Republic. And I can you tell that Dominicans, our Caribbean neighbors, overwhelmingly support Donald Trump’s victory. As for me, even Dominican salty food began to taste much sweeter.

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, and Clipper 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.

Alexander Dolitsky: In a troubled world, a touch of humor is welcome cure
Alexander Dolitsky: Israel has been homeland of Jewish people for over 3,500 years

Terror in Wasilla: FBI seeks spray-paint vandal who marked crisis pregnancy center

Suzanne Downing
-
32
Terror in Wasilla: FBI seeks spray-paint vandal who marked crisis pregnancy center

The FBI’s Anchorage Field Office seeks help in identifying the person responsible for vandalizing the HeartReach Center at 865 South Seward Meridian Parkway in Wasilla.

On Oct. 20, at approximately 12:20 a.m., the person, wearing a mask, approached the HeartReach Center and spray-painted approximately 10 swastika symbols on the building and dropped nails in the parking lot. Security footage of the incident shows the individual wearing a dark-colored long-sleeve shirt over a black hooded sweatshirt, and a light-colored face covering.

The organization provides pregnancy tests, adoption referrals, and sexual disease testing, and information that gives women more complete information about the realities of abortion.

This is at least the second instance of spray-paint terrorism intended to intimidate conservatives:

In Anchorage last month, an unknown criminal spray painted swastikas and the word “FASCIST” on the home where there were Trump flags on display.

Must Read Alaska readers say Division of Elections should release vote data; public records request filed

Suzanne Downing
-
38
Must Read Alaska readers say Division of Elections should release vote data; public records request filed

A reader poll at Must Read Alaska reveals that 97% of over 600 participants believe the Alaska Division of Elections should release the raw data from the Nov. 5 election, rather than sit on that data and not release it until after the ranked-choice calculation is completed by the computers later this month.

Due to Alaska’s complicated voting system, some races in Alaska cannot be called because the computers at the State election office must perform the extra step of reassigning second- and third-choice votes. The entire nation is now waiting on Alaska to complete the congressional race, for example, since neither candidate Nick Begich nor incumbent Mary Peltola reached the 50% + 1 vote threshold to win.

But the Division of Elections has the existing, already counted second- and third-place votes in hand and those data files are being kept secret from the campaigns and the public.

Must Read Alaska has filed a public records request with the division to release the data that it has, since this is public information and there is no legal reason to not provide it.

Rep. Allard asks Division of Elections to explain why so many rural precincts went silent, didn’t report

The first time ranked-choice voting was used in Alaska — in November of 2022 — the data was not released until after the division had already run the calculation, which gave Peltola the win over Sarah Palin. After that, the Election Division posted the raw data on its website and data analysts were able to see what occurred in the election.

As Alaska’s elections are run now, the public won’t know who won that seat until Nov. 20 — 15 days after the election ends. There is no law requiring that secrecy. If the data was released earlier, the campaigns could analyze it and understand whether or not there is truly a path forward for them.

The current standing in the Begich-Peltola race is that Begich is ahead with 125,222 votes, and Peltola has 115,089 votes. Third-party candidate John Wayne Howe has 9,880, and Democrat Eric Hafner has 2,492. Begich has a vote lead of over 10,000 votes; there are believed to be about 45,000 more votes to be counted before the Division will, after Nov. 15, run its calculation to determine where the straggler ranking votes are assigned.

Assumptions and projections on Begich-Peltola race

1...315316317...1,806Page 316 of 1,806

About us

Must Read Alaska is news of people, politics, policy, culture, and happenings in Alaska.

Contact
4021 West Hill Road,
Homer, AK 99603

Op-Ed/Article:
[email protected]

Subscription: [email protected]

The latest

The Real Meaning of Privilege: Accountability, Responsibility, and the Cost of Dependency 

AK Voices 1

By Paul A Bauer Jr.  Are you tired of hearing the word “privilege” used as a weapon against every person who works, pays taxes, accepts responsibility, and refuses to apologize for being productive?  Privilege is not determined by skin color alone. Real privilege is receiving the benefits of a society while condemning the very people whose labor, taxes, businesses, and […]

Kyle Clement Speaks Across Alaska on Spiritual Warfare and Reclamation Theology

Faith Watch 1
There is a war being waged for the soul...

New Fire Station Opens in Soldotna, Ribbon-Cutting Marks Important Moment for Kenai Peninsula Borough

Local Alaskan 0
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on July 24 for...

© Must Read Alaska