Kroger Chair and CEO Rodney McMullen told SeafoodSource news that he is confident about the retailer’s position in its pending merger with Albertsons, as final arguments were starting Tuesday in the federal court case to decide whether it moves forward. Kroger merged with Fred Meyer in 1998, and Albertsons merged with Safeway in 2015, and had previously merged with Carrs in 1999.
McMullen said that the position of the companies is strong in their battle against Big Labor and big government, as they fight the U.S. Federal Trade Commission.
Rep. Mary Peltola has come out vocally against the merger of the grocery companies, which are trying to compete against a growing presence of Amazon and Walmart in Alaska’s food retail system. She has taken credit for stopping the companies from combining into one. Albertsons has already agreed to spin off Safeway/Carrs stores in Alaska in order for the merger to go through, but Democrats and labor unions still object.
“As we near the close of the FTC’s preliminary injunction hearing, we are confident in the facts and the strength of our position,” McMullen told the publication. “The food industry has always been competitive and will continue to be after this merger. We are committed to closing this merger because bringing Kroger and Albertsons together will provide meaningful and measurable benefits – lower prices, secure jobs and expanded access to fresh, affordable food – for customers, associates, and communities across the country.”
In lower court hearings, the companies claimed the merger would allow them to lower prices and more effectively compete with retail giants like Walmart, Costco, and Amazon, the Associated Press reported.
A new round of pro-ranked choice voting ads have been running for at least a week. The ads exhort the listener to vote against the repeal in November. The new arguments are all wrapped around supposed “loss of freedom” to vote for whomever you want to vote for in the primary election.
Who are the perpetrators of this repeal of ranked-choice voting? The ads blame usual punching bag — political insiders and shadowy political bosses.
The ads are backed by same three entities as the previous round, Unite America Institute, Final Five Fund, and the Action Now Institute. The three organizations continue to be outside non-profits using dark money to meet their political goals in Alaska.
The difference this time around is that they finally managed to find a local Alaskan to chair their effort: Lesil McGuire, former Republican state senator, who frankly ought to know better.
Note the disconnect here. After running and winning multiple elections as a proud Republican, McGuire is now arm-in-arm with a group of outside non-profits who believe Republicans, Democrats, Greens, AIP, and Libertarians should not be able to select their own party candidates. This is a mistake, an unforced error.
The biggest claim the pro-RCV crowd is making is that Alaskans who want to select their own candidates are somehow pawns of party elite, insiders. Is there any truth to that?
Given that RCV was brought to Alaska by “Team Lisa” Murkowski, after her far-too-close reelection in 2016, one can fairly easily demonstrate that the real shadowy political elite were actually the people who brought RCV into Alaska and deceptively sold it to an unsuspecting electorate.
Note that Alaska law allows anyone to get his or her name on the primary ballot. Before RCV, every single candidate who won a party’s primary made it to the general election as long as it was a recognized political party. Normally, this included Republican, democrat, Green, Libertarian, Alaskan Independence.
The Republican Moderate Party was a player for a couple election cycles. Over the years, Green, Libertarian, and Republican Moderates lost the ability to field a candidate because they received insufficient votes in the general to make the next general election ballot.
As usual, independents and registered non-partisans could make the general election ballot based on signatures gathered.
Under the old regime, we regularly saw 5-8 possible candidates for the statewide offices, with smaller numbers for more local legislative seats. But now, RCV eliminates our choices by only sending the top four candidates to the general election, doing what they accuse their current punching bag of doing.
The most important thing the current jungle primary does is minimize the ability of political parties to select their preferred candidates. Joining a party is relatively easy. You work within the party structure to select your candidate, let them sort it out in the primary with the winner going on to the general election. Should nobody get a majority in the general, they go to a runoff.
The pro-RCV crowd is of the opinion that Alaskans aren’t sufficiently intelligent to select their own party candidates, blaming all pushback on some mythical group of party insiders and elites. But we see quite clearly that the only elites involved are those connected with Team Lisa who gave us RCV and who are today furiously defending this thing.
The pro-RCV political elite continue to rail against the political choices of not so well-connected Alaskans, those who do not have the resources to bring in multiple Outside non-profits with millions of dollars of dark money to defend their new election system by blanketing the airways with ads.
In fact, the repeal effort is a completely grass roots effort. Calling it an inside job is committing fraud on the Alaskan citizens, just like they committed with the promise four years ago that RCV would eliminate Outside money, dark money from Alaskan elections, a promise conveniently dropped from the current round of ads. They lied before. They are lying today.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Don’t let them get away with it again.
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.
After missing 40% of her votes in Congress over the summer, Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola showed up to work on Tuesday to vote against the “No Foreign Election Interference Act,” a bill to crack down on foreign money influencing U.S. elections.
Every Republican voted in support of suspending rules and passing H.R. 8314, which prohibits tax-exempt organizations that receive funding from foreign nationals from contributing to political committees for eight years from the date that entity received a contribution or gift from a foreign national.
Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, introduced the No Foreign Election Interference Act. Currently, the Federal Election Campaign Act prohibits foreign nationals from donating money directly to U.S. campaigns. However, there are no laws or regulations preventing foreign nationals from influencing U.S. elections by directing funds to 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations or other tax-exempt organizations.
Under this bill tax-exempt entities would be barred from contributing to a political committee eight years from the date it received a contribution or gift from a foreign national. The first two disqualified contributions would be punished by a fine totaling 200% of the donation amount. A third contribution would result in the automatic revocation of tax-exempt status for the organization making the political committee donation.
Last month, Ways and Means Committee Republicans wrote to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Daniel Werfel raising concerns about foreign adversaries exercising influence over American-based tax-exempt organizations after recent reports shed light several U.S.-based tax-exempt organizations, including the Energy Foundation, The People’s Forum, and the Berger Action Fundthat have been funding far-left advocacy groups, promoting Chinese Communist Party propaganda, and fueling antisemitic protests to influence America’s political landscape.
The Energy Foundation claims to be headquartered in California, however, tax forms show the group refers to itself as “Energy Foundation China,” and reports suggest the majority of its operations are conducted in China with a staff that has substantial connections to the CCP. The group contributed $3.8 million to promote “green” energy policies that would increase our country’s dependence on Chinese minerals and materials.
Roy Singham, a self described socialist who’s based in Shanghai, owns and operates a complex network of America-based nonprofits and has funded the The People’s Forum which has been at the center of a number of antisemitic incidents since the October 7 attacks in Israel. Singham has provided hundreds of millions of dollars to groups that mix progressive advocacy with CCP talking points, and its reported that he works closely “with the Chinese government media machine and is financing its propaganda world wide.” To date, it remains unclear how Singham, his entities and the U.S.-based individuals he’s associated with are being funded.
The Berger Action Fund, a nonprofit funded by Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss, recently funneled $60 million to 13 left-wing advocacy groups focused on issues ranging from voter engagement to environmental initiatives. Among those subgroups he funds is the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which finances campaigns such as ranked-choice voting, Forrest Dunbar for Senate, and other leftist causes and candidates.
Peltola refused to join the 16 Democrats who voted in favor of the bill, which had 218 yeas and 181 nays. The bill needed two-thirds votes to pass, because it was considered a “suspension of the rules bill,” used for bills that typically pass easily because there is broad agreement. All of the “no” votes were Democrats.
The Division of Elections was notified Monday that several Secretaries of State and election offices across the country received suspicious packages or envelopes containing an unknown substance via U.S. mail, with no immediate reports that any of the packages contained hazardous material.
The division was alerted later that same day by the US Postal Service that, indeed, an envelope matching the description of the suspicious packages was en route to the Division of Elections office in Juneau.
On Tuesday, the Division of Elections was notified that the Postal Service was able to intercept the suspicious envelope before it reached its intended destination. The suspicious envelope and its contents have been turned over to authorities for further investigation.
“This incident was quickly and safely resolved due to the swift and proactive actions of the US Postal Service, the Dept. of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, FBI, and Division of Elections staff,” the Division of Elections said.
“Our democracy is founded on the principle that every voice matters and every vote counts. Acts of intimidation, harassment, or violence undermine these core values and erode the trust in our electoral process. We are committed to protecting our election workers and ensuring a safe and secure environment for them to carry out their duties. I urge everyone to respect the election process and those who make it possible. Threatening behavior, in any form, will be addressed swiftly and with the full force of the law,” said Lt. Governor Nancy Dahlstrom.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski announced an essay contest for fourth graders in Alaska to celebrate the 2024 U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree, which comes from Alaska’s Tongass National Forest.
The Tongass National Forest is where the Democratic Administration of federal government has made logging uneconomical since the Clinton White House, and now the Biden White House.
“The time-honored tradition of the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree is something I look forward to every holiday season, particularly when it comes from Alaska,” said Sen. Murkowski. “I look forward to selecting one young Alaskan to flip the switch and turn on the lights for the national Christmas tree when it arrives from the Tongass National Forest and graces the west lawn of the Capitol.”
Fourth grade students are invited to write no more than 250 words on what they would like the country to know about Alaska’s Christmas tree this year, and why it is so special, she said. Sen. Murkowski will select one student’s submission, and invite them and their family on an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, DC in early December to play an integral role in the tree-lighting ceremony alongside members of Congress and the public, as well as enjoy Christmas festivities throughout the District. Read Anna DeVolld’s winning submission from 2015 here.
Additional information for the essay contest:
Handwritten
No more than 250 words
Submission must include parent or guardian contact information, and can be scanned and emailed to: [email protected], or mailed to Anchorage office at: 510 L St. Suite 600, Anchorage, AK, 99501
Submissions must be received, or postmarked by, Oct. 4, 2024.
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan released a statement after the U.S. Army’s 11th Airborne Division announced the deployment of more than 100 soldiers to Shemya Island in the Aleutian Islands in response to increased Russian and Chinese warship activity near Alaska.
The U.S. military has also deployed a mobile guided missile destroyer to Shemya, and a Coast Guard cutter to the western region of Alaska, where warships were observed off Point Hope. On Sept. 10, Russia and China began the Ocean-24 military exercises in the Pacific and Arctic Oceans—Russia’s largest joint naval and air drill since the Cold War.
In the past week, Alaska-based forces detected and tracked four separate incursions of Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone and one incursion of Russian naval vessels in the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone , which are believed to be part of the joint exercises. Similar Russia-China exercises occurrednear Alaska in July as well which led to the first-ever air incursion into the Alaska ADIZ by a joint Russian-Chinese bomber task force.
“As the world becomes more dangerous, Alaska continues to be on the frontlines of authoritarian aggression,” Sullivan said. “Coordinated activity off Alaska’s shores by the Russians and Chinese is increasing: On five separate occasions in the past seven days, Russian military incursions into our ADIZ or EEZ have occurred – both naval and air. In the past two years, we’ve seen joint Russian-Chinese air and naval exercises off our shores and a Chinese spy balloon floating over our communities. These escalating incidents demonstrate the critical role the Arctic plays in great power competition between the U.S., Russia, and China.”
Sullivan noted that authoritarian regimes appear to be testing the United States.
“Dictators like Vladimir Putin see through a lens of either strength or weakness, which is why I’ve long encouraged our senior military leaders to be ready and to respond with strength. While I was pleased with our military’s response which included sending troops to the Aleutians as well as a guided missile destroyer and Coast Guard Cutter, these actions should have more of a permanent basis – like reopening the Navy base at Adak, Alaska, which I have been pressing to be done for years,” said Sullivan, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Congress and the President should do more to deter further aggression. Chuck Schumer needs to hold a vote on the National Defense Authorization Act that was voted out of the Senate Armed Services Committee in June. In addition to rejecting the proposed Biden-Harris cuts on our military forces, the legislation authorizes an additional $790 million to help continue to build out our military in Alaska. We must continue to send a strong message to Xi Jinping and Putin that the United States will not hesitate to protect and defend our vital interests in Alaska and beyond.”
Alaska’s Sen. Dan Sullivan has announced his endorsement of Republican Nick Begich for Congress.
Begich, who is in Washington, D.C. this week for meetings with House Speaker Mike Johnson and others, is the candidate who has also earned the support of Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, the Alaska Republican Party, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and a list of other House Republicans.
He also now has the support of the National Republican Congressional Committee and Congressional Leadership Fund, both active in working for Republican wins around the country. Americans for Prosperity Action has endorsed him.
“My job is to work constructively with all members of Alaska’s congressional delegation to try to advance the interests of our state. The stakes in the upcoming November elections couldn’t be greater for Alaska. The national Democrats in Washington, D.C. – both in the Executive Branch and Legislative Branch – have clearly become the anti-Alaska, anti-resource development and anti-Alaska Native party,” Sullivan said.
“This is why I have always supported candidates at the national level who will empower Republican majorities in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate and it is why I’m supporting Nick Begich for the U.S. House,” Sen. Sullivan said. “Nick will play an important role in defending a Republican House Majority and fighting against harmful national Democratic policies that imperil our state. If national Democrats win back control of the U.S. House this Fall, it will empower some of the most radical lawmakers into key leadership positions with direct responsibility over resource development in Alaska, including putting the architect of the Green New Deal, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, in line to be the next Chairman of the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources. This would be a disaster for Alaska and America.”
Polling shows that Begich is now neck-and-neck with Democrat incumbent Mary Peltola, who has worked to stop energy projects in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Cook Political Report is now predicting that the state will vote for the Republican in this race, although ranked-choice voting still makes Alaska a wild card.
“I am honored to receive Sen. Sullivan’s endorsement in this all-important House race. The nation is counting on Alaska to send a commonsense conservative to Washington so we can grow the Republican House majority and move priorities through the Congress that are important to all Alaskans: Jobs, energy, security, and prosperity,” said Begich.
First, let me be clear, I am not talking about the horse dewormer version of Ivermectin. But some people who could not get the human version of Ivermectin used the animal version, a paste, when faced with Covid-19. These individuals aren’t weirdos — they were sincerely looking for alternative treatment options in the early stages of Covid.
Some were vaccinated, some were not. All were interested in saving themselves from being hospitalized. Most of us had seen the patients being admitted for Covid, being placed on ventilators, dying alone, and many leaving the hospital through the basement morgue.
Yet the government for years only preached one solution — mRNA-based “vaccinations”. Once these Covid jabs became available, that was the only thing that was going to save you, the government said.
It mattered little if one got the Covid jab. Those with the jabs and those without the jabs both died. Minimal research was conducted to determine if potential genetic makeup would lead to a worse outcome. Neither Vitamin D levels nor comorbidities were really considered. Get the jab — that was the only answer.
How bad was it?
In a 2020 study of 5,700 patients who had been hospitalized for Covid and placed on a ventilator, nearly nine out of 10 (88%) died. This study was done in one of the largest New York health care systems. Age did make a difference; around 76% of ventilated patients between the ages of 18 and 65 died, and 97% of ventilated patients over the age of 65 died.
Granted this was in April 2020, well before the first Covid jab hit the scene. Yet other modalities for treating Covid were available, but were demonized and ridiculed by the mainstream media, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the CDC, and FDA, to name a few.
As Sen. Rand Paul said in his book, “Deception,” “rather than try to perform studies with large numbers necessary to discover an improvement in early treatment, Fauci did what he could to stymie the discussion.”
There was also a study planned using Hydroxychloroquine to treat Covid patients, but that was cancelled allegedly because of the “lack of enrollment.”
Even after the jabs, the lockdowns, the masks, and social distancing, the U.S. had the largest number of Covid deaths among highly developed nations.
Our preventive measures seem not to have worked at all.
Yes, we have a larger population than many countries, but when you normalize for that we still were number three in the world for Covid deaths.
You may wonder why such drugs as Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine were denounced.
The answer is quite simple. If there had been a cheap, effective way to treat most people affected by this disease, then an Emergency Use Authorization could not be allowed. And without the EAU, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and CDC-funded researchers would have lost billions of dollars.
Doctors who used early treatment with Ivermectin and/or Hydroxychloroquine have paid a price. Their patients overall did well because they were able to nip the disease in the bud — often before the cytokine release syndrome stormbegan. This occurs when your immune system goes into overdrive to fight an infection and if not treated quickly, can lead to life-threatening complications.
These same good doctors used steroids to stop or at least slow down this cytokine storm.
Dr. Fauci, the CDC, and mainstream media told you to stay home if sick with Covid until you couldn’t breathe, and then go to the hospital. That’s a bit late in the disease cycle of Covid, as far as I’m concerned.
Dr. Marty Macary, a professor at Johns Hopkins University, summed it up the best:
“The greatest perpetrator of misinformation during the pandemic has been the U.S. government. Misinformation that Covid was spread through surface transmission, that vaccinated immunity was better than natural immunity, that masks were effective.” “We’ve seen something which is unforgiveable. And that is the weaponization of medical research itself…public health officials were intellectually dishonest. They lied to the American People.”
You need to hear more truth and facts to be prepared for the future.
Join us for the Alaska Covid Alliance event on Oct 26, 2024 at the Egan Center. It’s titled Alaskans 4 Personal Freedom. For more information and tickets, click here.
You will not be disappointed!
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.
Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola has a failing grade from the American Energy Alliance scorecard. The energy group gave Sen. Dan Sullivan a perfect score of 100, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski got a score of 75 this year. But Peltola was only given a 37 out of 100 points based on her record of voting, scoring far worse than the average member of Congress.
Peltola repeatedly voted with Biden-Harris and far-left eco-activists against Alaska, including refusing to even vote for the Alaska’s Right to Produce Act, but simply marking herself “present.”
“Extreme Democrat Mary Peltola betrayed Alaska’s future to curry favor with San Francisco liberals. Peltola’s shameful F-minus grade underscores she’d rather cozy up to Biden, Harris and the radical Left than fight for Alaska jobs and energy freedom,” NRCC Spokesperson Ben Petersen said in a statement.
Peltola’s predecessor Congressman Don Young received a grade of 80 during his final year in office and an 89 during the 2010-2020 year.
The following core principles guide the American Energy Scorecard process as the group scores representatives and senators on their votes on different energy-related bills:
Promoting affordable, abundant, and reliable energy
Expanding economic opportunity and prosperity, particularly for working families and those on fixed incomes
Giving Americans, not Washington bureaucrats, the power to make their own energy choices
Encouraging private sector innovation and entrepreneurship
Advancing market-oriented energy and environment policies
Reducing the role of government in energy markets
Eliminating the subsidies, mandates, and special interest giveaways that lead to higher energy costs
