A fire overnight broke out in a small strip of businesses in Haines. The Quick Shop, Outfitter Liquor store, Outfitter Sporting Goods, and Mike’s Bikes and Boards were burned to the ground. Four apartments were also destroyed by the fire, which was reported at about 9:30 p.m.
The source of the fire is believed to be in one of the apartments in the building. All persons in the building are said to be accounted for. By morning, the building, owned by Mike Ward, was smoldering but the blaze was under control.
According to Ashbrook, all of residents, about 12 people total, including a new family with a baby less than one year old, have lost their home along with all their possessions.
The building housing businesses and apartments in Haines smolders on Sunday morning after a blaze destroyed four businesses and apartments.
They worked so well that the Mary Peltola campaign picked it up and started using the attack in her ads over the weekend.
The attack vector accuses Republican congressional candidate Nick Begich of calling Social Security a Ponzi scheme and continues down that bunny trail, accusing him of wanting him to shut it down along with Medicare.
Oh, the horror. Oh, the humanity. Oh, the shock.
This line of attack by Democrats is at least half a century old, used early and often 1944 – 1984. Congratulations to Alaska Democrats for updating their campaign to reflect current issues … not.
Alaska Democrats and Peltola should know all about Ponzi schemes. The party and its top candidate benefited from the crypto Ponzi scheme of Sam Bankman-Fried, who gave the party thousands of dollars last election cycle — money that was then passed on to help Peltola win her seat in Congress. He’s now in prison, serving 25 years for the Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors.
Actually, Lottsfeldt and Peltola’s line of attack reflects little more than their personal economic illiteracy. How so? It was Democrats who created the Social Security Ponzi scheme and knew exactly what they were doing in 1944.
What is a Ponzi scheme? It is an investment scheme that pays early investors with money taken from later investors. It is otherwise known as a pyramid scheme. Social Security has always relied on payroll taxes paid by people currently working to pay the benefits of retirees.
As long as more people are working than are drawing retirement, all is well. But as that number decreases, the system gets very tight. Social Security has been under economic pressure for at least half a century and as the number of people in the system increases, most recently by Harris – Biden putting a significant number of newly arrived illegals on it, the more economic pressure it is under. What happens when the benefits to be paid are greater than the income from payroll taxes?
Begich at least recognizes the problem. Lottsfeldt and his fellow travelers in economic illiteracy, like Mary Peltola, do not. Nor do they care.
The Rule of Holes states that when you find yourself in one, the first thing to do is to quit digging. Begich recognizes the hole. Lottsfeldt and Peltola don’t. It’s very difficult to solve a problem you don’t even acknowledge exists.
In a way, I suppose I would feel sorry for Peltola, whose campaign built on Fish, Family and Freedom for the Future appears to be falling flat despite being pumped up by millions of Outside money (something the 2020 ranked-choice voting ballot measure was supposed to stop, but that’s another story).
King salmon runs statewide are crashing, and Russian trawl fleets continue to rake the ocean, in spite of Peltola’s pronouncements.
And it’s tough to be interested in “family” when Peltola’s dark money supporters and the Harris – Biden regime she is supporting is busily shutting down all resource development in the state from Cook Inlet to the Arctic Ocean. No jobs for families under Harris-Biden.
Finally, Peltola is not smart enough to realize that the Supreme Court ruling of Dobbs simply moved the entire abortion decision back to the states. Congress critters don’t play there anymore.
By the way, Mary, what is the Yup’ik word for abortion?
Right. There isn’t one.
So, all Peltola has left is to try to dust off a half century old Democrat smear. Is she really that badly out of airspeed and ideas? At least she still has millions available to run ads demonstrating that she is a smiling idiot with little to no realization of simple economic issues facing all of us, issues she promises to solve should she be reelected.
Nick Begich at least realizes there is a problem, which is the first step to solving it. Peltola, not so much, which makes our election day choice for Congress critter from Alaska pretty easy.
Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.
Rep. Mary Peltola has broken state law before and is doing it again, since the State of Alaska didn’t penalize her the first time.
Earlier this year, she held a campaign event at North Pole High School, in violation of state law. No party or legal entity challenged her, although Must Read Alaska pointed out the clear violation of state statute.
Next week, she’ll be a repeat offender. as she and Alaska Senate candidate Savannah Fletcher host a partisan political event at Fort Yukon School on Oct. 12.
In Alaska, school districts are prohibited from using public resources, including school facilities, for political events or activities that promote a particular candidate, party, or ballot measure. Sate law restricts the use of public resources for political purposes.
School districts may host nonpartisan events, but this is a meet-and-greet that is sponsored by specific active candidates for office and who are in the act of campaigning.
Nick Begich was the keynote speaker at the annual Alaska Outdoor Council’s banquet, held this year at the Sullivan Arena in Anchorage on Saturday night.
The Alaska Outdoor Council has endorsed Begich for Congress. The council has numerous clubs and member organizations dedicated to outdoor recreation, hunting, and conservation.
Also spotted at the Alaska Outdoor Council banquet was Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom, Alaska House Speaker Cathy Tilton, Rep. Kevin McCabe, Rep. Mike Cronk, and Rep. Stanley Wright.
Alaska House Speaker Cathy Tilton, center, along with Rep. Kevin McCabe, Rep. Mike Cronk, and Rep. Stanley Wright.
Begich told the hundreds in attendance that he had spoken with former President Donald Trump, who told him to tell Alaskans that, “On day one, I am going to get to work repealing those 66 executive orders” that President Joe Biden has made that targeted Alaskans and their rights during his one term in office.
Earlier this week, Begich announced the endorsement of that National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the leading national advocacy organization for small businesses.
Begich is the Republican candidate running to replace Democrat Mary Peltola.
Anchorage faces potential crisis with the local police force. Lack of police, not mentioned in Mayor Suzanne LaFrance’s budget for 2025, is reaching a critical level with resignations increasing.
On top of that, the Anchorage Assembly and mayor control the public narrative over officer-involved shootings and their radical supporters in the community are demanding third-party control of Anchorage police.
Party for Socialism and Liberation Facebook page.
Each of the police-involved shootings has involved dangerous suspects with weapons, some of whom have shot or shot at officers. All officers have been exonerated by the state Office of Special Prosecutions.
Mayor LaFrance and Assembly have reacted to these assaults against officers by calling for independent reviews, civilian oversight, and the mayor specifically blamed officers — even before an investigation was started.
Then there’s the Anchorage Police Department Employees Association, through its Political Action Committee, which endorsed or supported these anti-law-enforcement Assembly members and the mayor.
How are the rank and file police officers reacting to their own union’s slow and timid support in most cases? Sources say they are discouraged.
The union finally sent a strong message to the mayor, but only after pressure from members. An unprecedented number of officers attended a membership meeting in September, where Mayor LaFrance was invited to try and explain why she threw them under the bus after the Easter Leafa shooting on Aug. 13. LaFrance had immediately called a press conference to say the shooting should not have happened.
After meeting with the police force members, she promised a public apology. She did not make that apology in the same setting that she cast the blame — in a press conference setting. Instead, she gave a half-hearted “apology” at an Assembly Public Health and Safety Committee meeting, which was hastily called and witnessed by few. Her “apology” was a winding paragraph of explaining that everyone deserves fair treatment. She never actually said, “I’m sorry that I did not back our men and women who put their lives on the line to protect our community.”
The union is also contributing to the staffing and morale problems at the Anchorage Police Department.
APD officers, by both internal police policy and Municipal Code of Ethics, are not allowed to take public political positions under the color of authority. It’s not only wrong, it’s illegal.
But the police union is doing so — endorsing candidates that the police force itself isn’t supportive of. In a recent political flyer supporting Eagle River Sen. Kelly Merrick, a personal endorsement was made by the union’s vice president wearing full APD uniform — a glaringly illegal act.
The photo of Police Officer Matt Fraize is the actual property of the Anchorage Police Department and officers may not use their badges in support of candidates.
Anchorage Municipal Code 1.15.025(I)(4) provides: A municipal employee shall not: a. Use position over another municipal employee to solicit a campaign contribution, endorsement, or other support for a political candidate. b. While on duty, engage in political campaigning for elected public office, political endorsement, or election campaign fundraising for any person or office. c. When engaging in political activity outside scheduled work hours, act in a manner to suggest that the employee is acting in the employee’s official capacity, or has official municipal endorsement, or is otherwise representing the municipality. d. Use official position to discourage or inhibit any person from exercising voter franchise. e. Use or depict municipal property and facilities in a manner unavailable to the public. This restriction applies to use or depiction of a uniform in political endorsement if the uniform identifies the person as a municipal employee, regardless of ownership of the uniform.
The Anchorage police officers know the union is doing something illegal, but now they can’t even object to the illegality, because they are already wedged between a mayor and Assembly that has made them a target and a union that barely stands up for them while they face danger every day.
The attacks against police officers continue by leftists on the Assembly’s Health and Safety Committee. A meeting this past week included a report to the committee for a major change to the Internal Affairs discipline process that was explained as a “modification of the current procedure.”
This is the meme that is being circulated around the Anchorage police officer workforce, showing the skepticism the force is experiencing right now with leadership and union bosses.
What is that modification? A third party picked by anti-police politicians will investigate and make the final reports as to whether there was a violation of policies, procedures, or training and ultimately will decide what discipline Officer Alexander Roman receives; Roman is the officer who shot Easter Leafa, who was coming at him with a knife on Aug. 13.
Although Roman’s actions have been cleared by the State Office of Special Prosecutions, Mayor LaFrance wants a “third party” of her choosing. Is it unclear how the union, which is completely in the tank for LaFrance, will react to this “outside” review of one of its officers, which may even violate the union’s collective bargaining agreement.
The ultimate goal seems to be to curb the use force officers can employ when dealing with suspects who are attacking them.
So far, the union has been silent how it will react to this extra-judicial, politicized investigation. The union has also been silent on the lack of prosecutors in the city and the fact that 50% of arrested criminals are being released without trial, due to Rule 45, which requires a trial before 120 days.
Police say that only operating under the influence (OUI) and domestic violence cases are being prosecuted at this point, and thousands of arrests every year are being dismissed by the courts due to lack of timely trials. Read more here:
But the union has been busy hanging flyers on the doors of Eagle River and Chugiak in support of its chosen candidate, Kelly Merrick, who is in poor standing in the community due to her allegiance to Democrats like the ones leading the attacks on police officers.
The flyer makes the outlandish claim that Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that backs Jared Goecker for Senate, is a “defund the police” group, raising the question: Who will take the police union to task for illegal campaigning?
Anchorage police union flyer tells lies about Americans for Prosperity in its recent flyer.
I hate these whack-a-mole moments. Just when you think it’s over, it pops up again. Same script, slightly different language, seeking same result: the ability of the United Nations, World Health Organization, and World Economic Forum to dictate what you can or cannot do. The move toward a world power view rather than individual government sovereignty.
In January, the globalists had their annual World Economic Forum meeting with many heads of state in attendance. The WEF and the WHO met to discuss worldwide pandemics and how to manage them.
The WHO organization is a bit wonky. Every employee gets diplomatic immunity and has no accountability for any actions he or she might take.
The plan that was supposed to be ratified on May 24, 2024 would have given the WHO unlimited powers to declare pandemics. It would have also given the WHO the power to tell nations what they needed to do, including mandatory lock downs, face masks, and the possible shut down of supply chains.
In essence, your sovereignty wouldn’t matter. It would be for the greater good. Thus, an unelected official of a foreign country would control your nation during the next pandemic.
I was excited when the WHO resolutions did not pass. Yet, I was smart enough to know that the unelected bureaucrats would figure out an end around in an attempt to obtain their goal.
When the initial “treaty” didn’t pass, the UN unveiled a new version called, “Pact for the Future.”
This latest version was passed by “consensus” at the last UN meeting on Sept. 22. However, no vote was recorded—only a vote on a Russian amendment that was dramatically defeated by 7 to 153. This amendment would have drastically decreased the powers of the UN.
The good news is that 22 nations said they were not particularly happy with the pact. But the pact still passed with a unanimous vote.
Why should you care? Even though the initial attempt was defeated, they have gone about it again. Yes, it is more watered down, but it is also not very specific. They will be working on those specifics now.
When the United Nations General Assembly adopted this “Pact for the Future” on Sept 22, 2024, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated this “landmark agreement is a step-change towards more effective, inclusive, networked multilateralism.”
Just what is multilateralism? It requires all states in the Pact to follow what are deemed by consensus to be the international norms and to show more respect to “international institutions”. The rules must be applied equally to all nations with “no exceptions for powerful states”.
I did receive some good news from Dr. Meryl Nass who will be discussing this topic at our upcoming event on Oct. 26. She sent me this email on September 29, 2024:
“When I was here (Alaska) three years ago, I met with both the AG and the governor, and neither of them seemed very responsive. However, subsequently each has signed on to letters signed by 26 Republican governors and 22 Republican attorneys general that say they will not comply with orders from the WHO.”
I was glad to see Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Attorney General Treg Taylor signed up to not complying with orders from the WHO. Some folks do see our sovereignty is more important than the global elites who want to rule the world.
Do you want to follow the rules such as, mask mandates, mandatory lockdowns, and shutting down a nation’s economy when you have no say?
Dr. Nass is returning to Alaska to speak on the WHO and its attempts to overrule America’s sovereignty during the next pandemic.
Come hear Dr. Nass at our event on Oct. 26 at the Egan Convention Center in Anchorage. Go to: www.alaskacovidalliance.comto buy tickets.
If you cannot make it to our live in-person event, you can Zoom.
Invest just a very small part of your PFD to hear 10 experts!
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.
After an engine room fire sidelined the U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy, repairs are complete and the ship is heading north from Seattle to maintain a presence in the Arctic Ocean, where it is expected to arrive around Oct. 25, not returning to its homeport of Seattle until about Dec 15.
The crew will support scientists conducting three science missions during Healy’s fall 2024 Arctic deployment. Other science of opportunity across a broad spectrum of disciplines will also be supported as time and weather allow, the Coast Guard said.
The first mission supports the Arctic Port Access Route Study. During this mission, the cutter will perform bathymetric mapping in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.
The Coast Guard has initiated an Arctic port access route study to analyze current vessel patterns, predict future vessel needs, and balance the needs of all waterway users by developing and recommending vessel routing measures for the Arctic, the Coast Guard said. The Arctic PARS may lead to future rulemaking or international agreements that consider coastal communities, fishing, commercial traffic, military needs, resource development, wildlife presence and habit, tribal activities, and recreational uses.
For the second mission, Healy will embark 20 early career polar scientists and their mentors on an Arctic Chief Scientists Training Cruise sponsored by the National Science Foundation and University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System. These early career scientists will conduct multidisciplinary research, including mapping to fill critical bathymetric gaps and scientific sampling across various disciplines, in addition to developing skills in shipboard leadership, coordination, and execution.
The final mission of the deployment will support other science of opportunity to include sea floor mapping for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Coast Survey.
“We are thrilled to support numerous diverse research objectives in the northern polar region this fall. In an era of increasing vessel traffic, our work will contribute to navigation safety in a region where existing soundings are sparse,” said Capt. Michele Schallip, Healy’s commanding officer. “We are elated to have been able to reschedule our opportunity to help inspire future principal investigators in the Early Career Scientist mission. Healy’s crew, port engineering staff, and General Electric Verona worked diligently during our inport to ensure the cutter is ready to safely operate in the remote, unforgiving Arctic environment.”
Healy is the United States’ largest polar icebreaker and the Coast Guard’s only icebreaker explicitly designed to support Arctic research. The platform is ideally specialized for scientific missions, providing access to the most remote reaches of the Arctic Ocean. Healy is designed to break 4.5 feet of ice continuously at three knots and can operate in temperatures as low as -50 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Democrats are confused: They won’t or can’t define what a woman is, but they sure want Alaskans to elect more of them.
During the 2022 confirmation hearings for President’ Biden’s Supreme Court nominee Judge Katanji Brown Jackson, she was asked to define the word “woman.”
“I can’t — ” Jackson replied to Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee. The Democrats (and Sen. Lisa Murkowski) decided Jackson had the judgment to sit on the nation’s highest court.
But if a judge who will interpret the nation’s laws can’t define what a woman is, neither can the Democratic Party, which supports men using women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, as well as playing on women-designated sports teams and leagues.
Rep. Mary Peltola, who supports men using women’s bathrooms and locker rooms, is now endorsing Savannah Fletcher for Senate, with the Alaska Democratic Party telling voters to “elect more women.”
Savannah Fletcher, the presiding officer of the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly, is the social justice attorney trying to keep pornograhic books inside school libraries — books with graphic depictions of gay sex, such as the controversial gay sex book “Gender Queer,” which school librarians have put in front of children.
Fletcher, a Northern Justice Project lawyer who has registered as an independent, is now running to represent portions of Fairbanks and the Interior. She has financial entanglements with the Democratic Party, as she is paying to use their coordinated campaign program, and she has volunteered at their booth at the Tanana State Fair. Fletcher is one of the “fabulous fake” candidates who pretend to be nonaligned in order to trick votes.
The Alaska Democrats want more of Peltola and Fletcher, who will represent the party’s transgender-centric agenda. And the Democrats want fewer heterosexual men in general, according to their most recent posting. The party is actually telling voters to vote by sexual characteristics, not by merit, policy, experience, or character.
The “vote women” is the party’s push to diminish the role of straight men in general, politics and society. A look at the party’s officer listing shows it is being taken over by women and gay men.
But the Alaska Democrats are part of a pattern that is evident the Biden-Harris Administration: U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona refused to define “woman” during a House Appropriations Committee in 2023
Cardona’s testimony can be seen at this link on YouTube. It came as the president changed the definitions used by Title IX law passed by Congress and signed by President Richard Nixon in 1972, ensuring fairness for women and girls in sports at America’s public schools and universities.
Biden included transgenders as women, allowing unfair competition in sports and said no school that prohibited transgenders from competing as women would be eligible for federal funding. The Supreme Court has blocked that ruling for now.
Walter Featherly, running against Republican Rep. Julie Coulombe for House District 11 in Anchorage, says he is not with any political party, but he’s a Democrat, the record shows.
He is one of the fabulous fakes who say they are independent but are deeply entangled with the Alaska Democratic Party.
Featherly’s campaign finance report shows he not only pays the Alaska Democratic Party for its campaign services, he contracts with the leading Anchorage Democrat campaign consultant, Amber Lee Strategies. He gets donations from people like Democrat activist Hal Gazaway ($250), George “Occupy Wall Street” Martinez ($100), and NEA Alaska President Tom Klaameyer ($500).
Unions are bringing in the big bucks for Featherly, along with the House Democratic Campaign Committee ($2,000).
Featherly’s personal political history makes his Democrat loyalties even more clear.
He was not only recalled from the Anchorage School Board for corrupt practices through secret meetings, he fought his recall, saying the petition wasn’t valid. Although Harvard-trained, he lost in court.
Ironically, in 2019, Featherly turned around and signed the petition to recall Gov. Mike Dunleavy.
That particular recall campaign started within a few weeks of Dunleavy being sworn in as governor, and the issue involved Dunleavy’s hope for a better quality in the list of judicial candidates given to him by the Alaska Judicial Council, a group run by the Democrat-led Alaska Bar Association.
Featherly is a member of the Alaska Bar Association.
Featherly in 2014 signed the petition that was trying to restore the progressive oil tax that had resulted up driving many oil companies out of Alaska. The petition was to restore ACES and get rid of the legislation known as Senate Bill 21. ACES had destabilized Alaska’s economy, but Democrats favored ACES because the taxes were so high.
Just last week, Featherly claimed an endorsement from the Associated General Contractors, but was immediately forced to take it down. The group had never endorsed him.
Rep. Julie Coulombe, running for reelection after her first term, is still a political newcomer, having spend just one term in office, but has proven her judgment credentials. The Harvard lawyer Featherly is still carrying baggage from his history of political activism.
