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Alan Dershowitz in Alaska speaks about Trump, Israel, the rule of law, and the Constitution

Suzanne Downing
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Alan Dershowitz in Alaska speaks about Trump, Israel, the rule of law, and the Constitution

Constitutional law professor and frequent Fox News analyst Alan Dershowitz visited Anchorage on Thursday and Friday, speaking at a public event sponsored by the STAND podcast and hosts Kelly and Niki Tshibaka.

His top messages were that, no matter who he has defended in court or in the court of public opinion, the U.S. Constitution is his client, and he’d like to see the next generation of Americans drop their “woke” ideologies and get back to defending the Constitution. He also commented at length on the rise of anti-semitism in America today.

In an interview format before a crowd of 325 at a south Anchorage church, Dershowitz spoke about his experiences as Donald Trump’s impeachment lawyer, giving a firsthand account of Trump’s New York trial. Dershowitz said he had lost many friends over his defense of Trump and said that some of his family members won’t even speak to him.

Dershowitz, who is 85 years old and mentally sharp, described the politically motivated prosecution of Trump, with the New York Stormy Daniels case based on unprecedented and strained legal theory.

He also addressed the conflict in Israel and the undercurrent of anti-semitism that has existed for generations in America and across the globe, which has recently emerged in the open as Israel defends itself against terrorist Hamas.

Dershowitz is a Democrat, but he sees himself more as an adherent to classical liberalism than a party Democrat. Classical liberalism advocates for free market and laissez-faire economics, civil liberties under the rule of law, with a focus on individual autonomy, limited government, economic freedom, political freedom and free speech. Read his Wikipedia biography at this link.

The STAND event came on the heels of the CNN presidential debate on Thursday. Dershowitz commented that President Joe Biden had done so poorly that the Democrats would follow their worst instincts and try to keep Biden in the race at all costs. He believes Biden should withdraw from his campaign for reelection. He commented that Trump would also be tempted to pick a running mate that reinforces his Make America Great Again platform, which could alienate some moderate voters that he might otherwise win over.

The crowd included many Alaskans not usually seen at political events, and they bid generously on the auction items, such as signed copies of Dershowitz’ books and a signed portrait of Donald Trump. A portion of the proceeds will be used to send relief to Israel for ambulances, blood transfusions, and rebuilding of homes bombed by Hamas, Kelly Tshibaka said.

While in Anchorage, Dershowitz also met with local Jewish leaders, including Rabbi Yosef Greenberg and members of the Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska.

Dershowitz’s visit was co-sponsored by several local Alaskans and Americans for Prosperity Alaska. Tshibaka, who is the Alaska chairwoman for the Donald Trump campaign, said that future events bringing in national speakers may include an October event with Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who served briefly as the National Security Adviser for President Trump.

Although Must Read Alaska does not have a video of the Dershowitz event, you can hear him on the STAND podcast as he speaks with Kelly Tshibaka earlier this year.

Kelly Tshibaka: Alan Dershowitz on STAND podcast

In one vote, Peltola votes against Israel’s defense, border security, and sides with China and Iran. But wait, there’s more . . .

Suzanne Downing
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In one vote, Peltola votes against Israel’s defense, border security, and sides with China and Iran. But wait, there’s more . . .

A bill that scales back the Biden Administration’s expansion of woke funding programs at the U.S. State Department passed the House on Friday, but Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska and all other Democrats except one voted against it.

The bill, which passes 212 to 200, has language that prohibits embassies from flying flags such as the Pride flag and prohibits funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, or any funding that supports vaccine mandates. The list of programs it supports or cuts is extensive and exceedingly specific:

  • H.R. 8771, appropriates money for the State Department, foreign operations and related programs, but trims 11% from the 2024 fiscal year’s enacted funding, and a 19% decrease to what President Joe Biden had asked for in the next fiscal year.
  • The funding resolution that Peltola voted against:
  • Has $3.3 billion in foreign military financing so Israel can defend itself against terrorist attacks.
  • Prohibits funding for the International Criminal Court, International Court of Justice, United Nations Relief Works Agency, and the United Nations Relief Works Agency and United Nations Commission of Inquiry against Israel.
  • Counters the People’s Republic of China by providing $2.1 billion for United States national security interests in the Indo-Pacific and to counter malign influence.
  • $500 million in Foreign Military Financing for Taiwan to strengthen deterrence across the Taiwan Strait and up to $2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for such purpose.
  • Has full funding the Countering PRC Influence Fund at $400 million.
  • Prohibits funds for the PRC and the Chinese Communist Party, prohibiting funds for countries to repay debt owed to China, and prohibits funds for international financial institutions from loans to the PRC.
  • Prioritizes funding and policies to combat the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States.
  • Prohibits funds that encourage or facilitate irresponsible migration towards the U.S.-Mexico border.
  • Prohibits the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps from being removed from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list.
  • Prohibits funds to implement a nuclear agreement with Iran unless ratified by the Senate.
  • Prohibits funds to be used to implement the Arms Trade Treaty.
  • Supports freedom in the Western Hemisphere, including $35 million for democracy programs for Cuba.
  • Eliminates funding for the United Nations’ regular budget, resulting in savings of $761.6 million.
  • Eliminates Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund, International Organizations and Programs, Contribution to the Clean Technology Fund, and Contributions to the Inter-American Development Bank.
  • Reduces 14 accounts in the bill below the FY19 enacted level, including Contributions to International Organizations, Contributions to International Peacekeeping Activities, Economic Support Fund, Migration and Refugee Assistance, and Peacekeeping Operations.
  • Reduces 14 accounts in the bill to the FY19 enacted level, including the United States Agency for Global Media, Peace Corps, and International Development Association.
  • Terminates more than 18 unnecessary programs, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), UN Women, UN Montreal Protocol, UN Environment Fund, and World Economic Forum.
  • Prohibits funding for Special Envoys, Special Representatives, Special Coordinators, and Special Advisors unless such positions are expressly authorized or have affirmatively received the advice and consent of the Senate.
  • Eliminates 33 Special Envoys and Special Representatives at the Department of State, including the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, Special Envoy for Racial Equity and Justice, Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons, Special Envoy for International Labor Affairs, and Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs.
  • Prohibits the Treasury Department from carrying out the Biden Administration’s climate agenda at the World Bank and other multilateral development banks, which harms developing countries and opens the door to predatory financing from the PRC.
  • Prohibits the Administration’s current practice of co-opting programming, such as that to empower women; advance democracy and freedom; or counter trafficking in persons, to instead advance the Biden radical global climate change agenda.
  • Prohibits funds for the Green Climate Fund, Clean Technology Fund, and Loss and Damages Fund.
  • Prohibits funds to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the EcoHealth Alliance, any gain-of-function research, and labs in adversarial nations like China, Iran, Russia, North Korea, or Cuba.
  • Maintains all long-standing, pro-life protections.
  • Implements the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance Policy, also known as the expanded Mexico City Policy, on all health funds in the bill.
  • Prohibits funds for controversial organizations and programs, such as the United Nations Population Fund, World Health Organization, and Gender Equity and Equality Action Fund.
  • Supports religious freedom programs abroad and religious freedom protections for faith-based organizations delivering foreign aid.
  • Allows only the American flag and other official flags to be flown over U.S embassies.
  • Bans “disinformation” and “misinformation” programs that violate the free speech rights of American citizens.
  • Prohibits funds for unnecessary regulations and controversial Executive Orders that disadvantage American businesses.
  • Refocuses attention on critical diplomatic functions, addressing the backlog of passport applications and ensuring the safety and security of our embassies.
  • Prohibits funds to implement Covid-19 mask and vaccine mandates.

Congressman Mario Díaz-Balart of Florida, Chairman of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee of the House Committee on Appropriations, issued the following statement after the passage of H.R. 8771:

“I am very pleased with the House’s approval of the State and Foreign Operations bill for the fiscal year 2025 which builds on the policy wins of the fiscal year 2024 enacted bill. This crucial piece of legislation, which funds our national security and foreign policy priorities, cuts wasteful spending while upholding key U.S. values. Among the many victories, we achieved a 19% reduction from the President’s Budget, and an 11% cut from the fiscal year 2024 enacted levels.”

The legislation “continues to reestablish American leadership where it has been severely lacking under the Biden Administration. It upholds key U.S. national security priorities by supporting allies such as Israel and Taiwan and countering adversaries such as Communist China, the terrorist states of Iran and Cuba, and terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, he said.

Chevron deference unwound: How does the herring fishing decision relate to OSHA’s Covid shot orders?

Suzanne Downing
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Chevron deference unwound: How does the herring fishing decision relate to OSHA’s Covid shot orders?

The U.S. Supreme Court has overturned what is known as the Chevron deference, which is a decades-old court decision that says if a law passed by Congress is not clear in some area, then federal agencies of the Executive Branch can interpretat of how to enforce law through regulation. Such broad powers have led to an expansion of the regulatory state.

The decision’s ramifications will go far and wide throughout many areas of life impacted by regulation, impacting decisions by the EPA and the ATF, for example.

Here’s one instance where this decision impacts 80 million workers: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate of 2021.

The OSHA COVID-19 Emergency Temporary Standard on Vaccination and Testing required employers with 100 workers or more to establish, implement, and enforce a written mandatory vaccination policy for Covid-19 for their workplaces.

OSHA used the Chevron deference (also called Chevron doctrine) as the basis for its authority to mandate the experimental vaccine to these private-sector workers.

In a case brought by the National Federation of Independent Business and others that went to the Supreme Court, the Biden Administration argued that Covid-19 remained a “grave danger” in 2022, and that the OSH Act “clearly” grants OSHA the power to protect the workforce, and the agency can act on an emergency basis to do so — all based on Chevron deference.

The Supreme Court struck down that mandate on the 80 million workers in America. In the 6-3 decision, the justices blocked OSHA from its mandate, but allowed a separate vaccination mandate for health care workers at 76,000 federally funded facilities to stand. That upheld mandate came out of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rather than OSHA.

The ruling on OSHA related to Chevron deference, but that term didn’t specifically show up in the decision, which just discussed regulatory overreach.

“Although Congress has indisputably given OSHA the power to regulate occupational dangers, it has not given that agency the power to regulate public health more broadly,” the majority said in the opinion. “Requiring the vaccination of 84 million Americans, selected simply because they work for employers with more than 100 employees, certainly falls in the latter category.”

Gov. Dunleavy, A.G. Taylor call on Biden to repeal vaccine mandate for health care workers

This past week, however, the Supreme Court was very specific when it ruled that a federal agency cannot require fishing vessels to pay the federal government for agency-mandated observers to be on their boats while they are fishing.

The justices were clear in saying that the regulatory bureaucracy needs to step back into its cage created by Congress.

In the case that will impact so many federal agency regulations across the agencies, the plaintiffs were herring fishermen from Cape May, New Jersey. The Magnuson-Stevens Act gave the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration the authority to require federal monitors on commercial fishing boats to ensure that the fishermen adhere to the NOAA mandates.

But while the Magnuson-Stevens Act requires owners of certain classes of fishing boats to pay for their own monitors, the MSA never specified herring boats as one of those classes. That was added to the requirements by NOAA bureaucrats, not by Congress. And in this decision, the court took direct aim at the Chevron deference.

Supreme Court rules in favor of local homeless encampment laws and overturns the vast regulatory authority of feds in ‘Chevron doctrine’ decision
Breaking: Supreme Court nixes Biden Covid vaccine mandate

New York Times calls for Biden to leave campaign: ‘He struggled to make it to the end of a sentence’

Suzanne Downing
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New York Times calls for Biden to leave campaign: ‘He struggled to make it to the end of a sentence’

In a major turn of events, the New York Times, the nation’s leading Democrat Party bullhorn, has called for President Joe Biden to step down from the race for reelection to the presidency.

The newspaper made the call in a Friday evening editorial penned by the newspaper’s editorial board. The board wrote that while Donald Trump is unworthy to be president, Biden can’t take him on in his addled condition.

“Donald Trump has proved himself to be a significant jeopardy to that democracy — an erratic and self-interested figure unworthy of the public trust. He systematically attempted to undermine the integrity of elections. His supporters have described, publicly, a 2025 agenda that would give him the power to carry out the most extreme of his promises and threats. If he is returned to office, he has vowed to be a different kind of president, unrestrained by the checks on power built into the American political system,” the newspaper wrote.

“Mr. Biden has said that he is the candidate with the best chance of taking on this threat of tyranny and defeating it. His argument rests largely on the fact that he beat Mr. Trump in 2020. That is no longer a sufficient rationale for why Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee this year.

“At Thursday’s debate, the president needed to convince the American public that he was equal to the formidable demands of the office he is seeking to hold for another term. Voters, however, cannot be expected to ignore what was instead plain to see: Mr. Biden is not the man he was four years ago,” the Times wrote.

“The president appeared on Thursday night as the shadow of a great public servant. He struggled to explain what he would accomplish in a second term. He struggled to respond to Mr. Trump’s provocations. He struggled to hold Mr. Trump accountable for his lies, his failures and his chilling plans. More than once, he struggled to make it to the end of a sentence.”

The newspaper then called Biden an admirable president and said the nation has prospered under his leadership, and that “the wounds ripped open by Mr. Trump have begun to heal. But the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election.”

A week earlier, the same newspaper said in a headline, “How Misleading Videos Are Trying Biden as He Battles Age Doubts.”

The New York Times is the first major newspaper in America to call for Biden to drop out of the race and make way for someone more competent to take on Trump, the man who the mainstream media helped take down in 2020 and will not want to see as president again in 2024.

Numerous times this year, the Times has run opinion columns about how Biden’s age is a perception problem, not a governing one. But since early this year, the newspaper has been increasingly critical of Biden’s mental capacity to govern.

Earlier this year, Special Counsel Robert Hur, investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents after he left government in 2017, reported that he did not think Biden could stand trial for the offenses because of his incapacity to remember important events, including the death of his own son.

Report: Biden’s serious memory issues, competency mean he can’t be prosecuted for classified stash

The Hur report described the 81-year-old president as an “elderly man with a poor memory.” Unable to take the stand in his own defense raised questions about whether he can be the leader of the free world.

House Republicans want the audio recordings of that five-hour interview with Hur, but Biden has asserted executive privilege. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the House Judiciary Committee will file a lawsuit against the Justice Department next week to enforce the subpoena for the tapes.

Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska voted against the subpoena of the audio of the interview. On Meet the Press in December, Peltola defended Biden as mentally sharp and that  “as a native person, I think age is a good thing. Wisdom and experience are a good thing. I think that Joe Biden’s mental acuity is very, very on. He’s one of the smartest, sharpest people I’ve met in D.C.”

Peltola has endorsed Biden for president but in an effort to change the subject, she has focused her campaign on fish.

Peltola’s presidential protection plan: Mary votes against holding Garland in contempt of Congress

Ben Mallott takes the helm at Alaska Federation of Natives

Suzanne Downing
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Ben Mallott takes the helm at Alaska Federation of Natives

Longtime AFN President Julie Kitka announced her retirement from the organization earlier this year. A search commenced for a new leader. Now, AFN Vice President Ben Mallott, 38, has been named president.

Mallott, of Juneau, is the son of the late Lt. Gov. Byron Mallott of Yakutat and retired schoolteacher Toni Mallott, originally of Rampart. He is a board member for various nonprofits, including being chairman of the Alaska Humanities Forum, a trustee of the Nature Conservancy Alaska and on the board of the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Mallott is a graduate of Oregon State University and has a master’s degree from American University.

Prior to working for AFN, he served as a legislative assistant for U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski on federal policy areas relating to Alaska Natives and rural Alaska. He is vice chair of NTVI, an 8(a) subsidiary of Baan O Yeel Kon Corporation.

The appointment of Mallott comes at a time when AFN had taken a sharp turn toward radical leftist politics under Kitka, who ran the organization for 33 years. In doing so, it lost some important Alaska Native corporations that left AFN due to policy differences, including Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, Doyon and the Aleut Corporation. Tlingit Haida Central Council, the largest federally recognized tribe in Alaska, also dropped from AFN.

When Doyon left AFN and later rejoined, it published a statement outlining its concerns and actions it had taken to try to correct the course of AFN:

“Doyon’s decision to withdraw from AFN was made by the Doyon Board of Directors after significant deliberation and after a long history of sharing our concerns with AFN leadership.  Doyon engaged with AFN for over a decade, sharing our concerns and advocating for continued improvement in the AFN organization, decision-making, and services provided to its members; these requests were all made well prior to the decision to withdraw.” The entire statement is at this link.

Byron Mallott, Ben’s late father, served as president of the AFN and received a “Citizen of the Year” award from the organization. Ben Mallott’s brother Anthony Mallott served as president of the Sealaska Corporation until January of this year.

Governed by a 38-member board, the Alaska Federation of Natives is the largest statewide Native organization in Alaska, whose membership includes 179 federally recognized tribes, 154 village corporations, 9 regional corporations, and 10 regional nonprofit and tribal consortiums that contract and compact to run federal and state programs.

Tlingit & Haida Central Council leaves AFN
Julie Kitka announces retirement from presidency of Alaska Federation of Natives
AFN’s missing speakers and sponsors

Department of Justice was wrong, says Supreme Court, as it tosses one charge against J-6er

Suzanne Downing
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Department of Justice was wrong, says Supreme Court, as it tosses one charge against J-6er

The Supreme Court threw out a Department of Justice’s charge against a Pennsylvania man who entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 with other protestors who were objecting to the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

In a court vote of 6-3 on Fischer v. United States, the majority agreed with former policeman Joseph Fischer that he was wrongfully charged: A crime the government charged him with was written for cases involving evidence tampering and destruction of records. Fischer did no such thing when he entered the building with other protesters. The statute in question, Section 1512(c)(2), was being improperly applied after the federal government expanded the meaning of the statute to weaponize it against Jan. 6 defendants.

The ruling could mean more than 300 other Jan. 6 defendants could see at least this one charge dropped, although others may still be pending. Fischer was originally charged with seven crimes relating to the unruliness at the Capitol.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland released a statement downplaying the importance of the ruling: “January 6 was an unprecedented attack on the cornerstone of our system of government — the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next. I am disappointed by today’s decision, which limits an important federal statute that the Department has sought to use to ensure that those most responsible for that attack face appropriate consequences.”

Merrick said the “vast majority of the more than 1,400 defendants charged for their illegal actions on January 6 will not be affected by this decision. There are no cases in which the Department charged a January 6 defendant only with the offense at issue in Fischer. For the cases affected by today’s decision, the Department will take appropriate steps to comply with the Court’s ruling.”

On Friday, a fact sheet from the Department of Justice went further in defending itself:

“Today’s decision will most significantly impact a narrow band of cases: those where the only felony for which a defendant was convicted and sentenced was 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2).  In total, approximately 52 individuals have been convicted and sentenced on that charge and no other felony; of those individuals, only 27 are currently serving a sentence of incarceration—less than 2 percent of all charged cases arising from the Capitol Breach,” the Department of Justice said in an attempt to spin the decision and absolve itself of wrongfully prosecuting Americans.

The Department also explained the impact of the decision on pending cases: “Of the approximately 249 remaining cases, there are zero cases where a defendant was charged only with 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2). In other words, in every case potentially impacted by the Fischer decision, the defendant faced other criminal charges—felonies, misdemeanors, or both—for illegal conduct related to the Capitol Breach.”

Dissenting with the majority opinion was conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett, along with liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. Agreeing with the opinion was leftist Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

The case was remanded back to the D.C. Circuit Court, where the charges against Fischer may still proceed for obstructing a proceeding of Congress.

More than 750 J-6ers have already been sentenced for J-6 crimes. Nearly two-thirds of those convicted received some prison time, from a few days of intermittent jail time to 22 years — the sentence given to Proud Boys member Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 39, of Miami.

In the 41 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,450 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the entry into the Capitol while the Senate was certifying the election. At least 500 of those are charged with felony assault of or impeding law enforcement, the Justice Department said. Jan. 6 is the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history, with the judgments coming from the D.C. District Court, where seven of the 11 judges are Democrat appointees. The Justice Department is still hunting for about 80 individuals to press charges, including the person or persons who placed bombs at the headquarters of the Republican and Democrat parties in D.C.

Exclusive video: Congressman Don Young told Alaskans that Jan. 6 was ‘not a riot, not an insurrection’

The SCOTUS opinion can be read at this link.

Read this Reason Magazine analysis of the decision.

Trump says he’s been told he is target of grand jury for Jan. 6 role

Ketanji Brown Jackson Joins Conservative Justices in Upending Hundreds of January 6 Cases

Rep. Chip Roy files resolution calling for invoking 25th Amendment of Constitution to remove Biden

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Rep. Chip Roy files resolution calling for invoking 25th Amendment of Constitution to remove Biden

By BETHANY BLANKLEY | THE CENTER SQUARE

U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, filed a resolution Friday calling for the 25th Amendment of the Constitution to be invoked to remove President Joe Biden from office after his performance at the presidential debate on Thursday night. Biden appeared to have mental and physical difficulties, prompting widespread speculation and criticism in the media and among Democrats.

The resolution calls on Vice President Kamala Harris “to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments of the Cabinet to activate Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to declare President Joseph Biden incapable of executing the duties of his office and to immediately exercise powers as Acting President.” It also states Biden “has repeatedly and publicly demonstrated his inability to discharge the powers and duties of the presidency, including, among others, the powers and duties of the Commander-In-Chief.”

In a radio interview, Roy made similar arguments to those of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, saying he doesn’t know who would replace Biden as the Democratic nominee ahead on Novembers election. Cruz says it would be former First Lady Michelle Obama.

Roy said, “Democrats have now known this for a long time,” referring to Biden’s mental and physical health. “They’ve been guilty of trying to hide it from the American people. They’ve been using him [Biden] as a puppet as a Manchurian candidate to drive their radical agenda. They’ve done that on purpose … now they saw the gig is up, that Trump could win, they were hoping they could keep the Manchurian candidate in place, they panicked. It was a controlled panic, let’s have an early debate, we’ll see how he performed. He didn’t perform. Now they have what they need to try to push him aside and end-run [Vice President] Kamala [Harris].”

Coup? Pelosi raises idea that House may try to oust Trump through 25th Amendment

Regardless of the Democrats’ problems, Roy said, “we have a constitutional duty to protect the Constitution. He’s incapable. We should force Democrats to own it and make a choice. Do you agree, do you believe he’s competent? Let’s make them choose.”

Congress proposed the 25th Amendment in 1965 after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. All 50 states ratified it in 1967. It establishes procedures for replacing the president or vice president under certain circumstances. The first time it was invoked was in 1973 after Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned, according to the Congressional Research Service. It was again used in 1974 after President Richard Nixon resigned and when Vice President Gerald Ford, who became president, nominated Nelson Rockefeller as Vice President. It has not been used since.

Calls to invoke the 25th Amendment were made in February by multiple members of Congress after Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report cited examples of Biden’s mental lapses, describing him as an “elderly man with poor memory,” The Center Square reported.

Report: Biden’s serious memory issues, competency mean he can’t be prosecuted for classified stash

Before that, and for three years, former White House physician for presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, repeatedly questioned Biden’s mental and physical health and called for him to be removed under the 25th Amendment, The Center Square reported.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, agreed with Roy’s resolution, saying, “If the need to invoke the 25th Amendment wasn’t made abundantly clear last night, it never will be. This is dire. And exactly the kind of situation for which the 25th Amendment was written.”

U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida, said if the Hur tapes were released, Biden’s cabinet would vote to remove him from office. She told Fox Business, “If we are able to hear that he is incompetent on those tapes,” she said the cabinet “would have to” vote to remove him. “I say that based on last night’s performance and the outcry from Democrats from various news outlets from the American people … calling for a new candidate or for him to step aside.”

At a campaign event in North Carolina on Friday, Biden said he wasn’t backing down. “I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to… I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. I know how to do this job…I know like millions of Americans know; when you get knocked down you get back up.”

After his campaign blamed his poor performance on a cold, co-host of CBS Mornings Gayle King said, “When you have a cold there’s many things you can take for it. We didn’t know he had a cold until he stood up. A cold doesn’t force you to lose your train of thought. A cold doesn’t force you to just throw things out randomly that to many people made no sense.

“So how long do we continue to act like that we didn’t see what we just saw last night? I thought for many people, the word I keep hearing was, ‘it was very painful to watch.’”

Breaking: State Supreme Court reversed Judge Zeman on correspondence programs in Alaska

Suzanne Downing
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25
Breaking: State Supreme Court reversed Judge Zeman on correspondence programs in Alaska

On Friday, Alaska unanimously reversed a lower court ruling that had ruled that state funding of Alaska’s correspondence school programs was unconstitutional.

Superior Court Judge Adolf Zeman said that, on its face, the correspondence school funding in Alaska was unconstitutional.

On Thursday the Supreme Court heard the arguments, and said the plaintiffs failed in their attempts to challenge the law.

“We reverse the superior court’s ruling that AS 14.03.300-.310 are facially unconstitutional. When a court rules a statute facially unconstitutional, it strikes down the statute in its entirety.5 By contrast, a court may rule a statute unconstitutional as applied to a certain set of facts, while leaving the statute in effect as applied to other scenarios. Plaintiffs face a high bar when trying to show that a statute should be ruled facially unconstitutional.”

Judge Zeman’s ruling was about to go into effect after it had been postponed from immediately being effective. He set June 30 as the effective date for his ruling, giving the Alaska Supreme Court and the State’s attorneys little time to pull together their case to defend the individualized learning that over 24,000 Alaska students use.

By not extending the stay, Zeman said that the Dunleavy Administration was not likely to win its appeal.

“Accordingly, this Court finds that a limited stay is the best solution to ensure that students, families, and school districts are protected from undue disruption and all parties are protected from unnecessary uncertainty and related harms. A limited stay until the end of the fiscal year will ensure that any correspondence allotments that were taken in reliance on AS 14.03.300-310, will be honored, while minimizing the potential for continued unfettered unconstitutional spending,” Zeman had written.

But Zeman was wrong and the Alaska Supreme Court said so in plain language in its reversal of Zeman’s ruling.

Taking a loss as an attorney for the plaintiffs was political lawyer Scott Kendall. As the court put it, “there are many constitutionally permissible uses of allotment funds. The parties all seem to agree that school districts can approve the use of allotment funds by students enrolled in correspondence study to purchase books, computers, and art supplies from private businesses. And the parties seem to agree that allotment funds can be spent on martial arts classes at a private gym and pottery lessons at an artist’s studio.”

Further, the Supreme Court said, “None of these uses of allotment funds entails a ‘direct benefit’ to a ‘religious or other private educational institution.’”

For those reasons, the Court decided unanimously to “reverse both the superior court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Alexander and its denial of the State’s motion to dismiss.”

An Alaska judge just destroyed correspondence education in Alaska. What else did Judge Adolf Zeman destroy?

The court decided to not rule on the issue of private school tuition and the justices complimented the filers of the amicus briefs on behalf of the correspondence students around the state.

No-budge judge who killed correspondence courses for Alaskans says decision is in effect June 30

Read the ruling here:

CorrespondenceDownload

Governor signs budget that has $1,718 Permanent Fund dividend, extra funds for schools

Suzanne Downing
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Governor signs budget that has $1,718 Permanent Fund dividend, extra funds for schools

On the last business day of the fiscal year, Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed the 2025 state operating and capital budgets.

The operating budget is $12.2 billion, and the capital budget is $3.5 billion line-item vetoes reduced the operating budget by $105.7 million and the capital budget by $125.3 million.

A day earlier, the governor signed Senate Bill 22 in a private, unannounced ceremony, making June 19th a paid state holiday starting next year in honor of the ending of slavery in the United States. The cost to the state of Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson’s signature legislation is nearly $1 million a year, mostly for overtime for public safety and other workers who must work on state holidays. State employees now have 12 paid holidays and most also have three weeks of personal leave.

The FY2025 budget funds state government from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025.

In the budget, there’s a $1,718 Permanent Fund dividend for every eligible Alaskan.

“The framers of Alaska’s Constitution codified a strong chief executive to ensure responsible budgeting. This budget reflects their intentions. By maintaining focus and fiscal discipline, this budget increases funding where it is needed most while at the same time reducing total Unrestricted General Fund spending,” Dunleavy said. “It provides additional funding to school districts needed to address the cost of inflation and provides additional targeted funding for programs that will improve student outcomes. We also are making essential investments in energy that will lay the groundwork for more reliable and affordable energy for Alaskans for decades to come. As has been the case every year I’ve been Governor, we are ensuring our Alaska State Troopers and Village Public Safety Officers have the resources they need to protect Alaskans, and through the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation we are helping more Alaskans be able to buy their own home and find quality housing.”

Vetoes include added funds for public broadcasting, marketing money for Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, and various other line items.

View the operating budget veto list here.

View the capital budget veto list here.

Key items in the FY2025 budget include:

Education

  • $174.6 million one-time $680 Base Student Allocation (BSA) increase
  • $7.3 million one-time Pupil Transportation increase
  • $62.8 million for School Major Maintenance, Relocations, Renovations, and Replacements 
  • $87.5 million for University of Alaska operations and deferred maintenance

Energy

  • $23.0 million for the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation Energy Efficiency Research and Energy Weatherization
  • $10.5 million for the Renewable Energy Grant Fund
  • $11.1 million to the University of Alaska Fairbanks for Alaska Railbelt Carbon Capture & Sequestration Project

Public Safety

  • $3.5 million for ten additional Village Public Safety Officer (VPSO) positions and VPSO salary increases
  • $700 thousand for investigations, outreach, and education on missing and murdered Indigenous persons 
  • $9.5 million for replacement of a patrol vessel for southeast Alaska to respond to emergencies, search and rescue operations, and enforce laws and regulations protecting Alaska coastline communities

Affordability

  • $53.2 million for Alaska Housing Finance Corporation housing programs for home buyers, owners, and renters to provide safe, quality, affordable housing
  • $2.8 million for the Alaska Addiction Rehabilitation Services residential expansion project
  • $1.5 million for the for a Denali Commission housing program

Since FY2019, budget growth has averaged 1.2 percent annually, the governor’s office said.

Click here for Office of Management and Budget FY2025 budget documents.

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