The U.S. Secret Service, state, and local law enforcement partners, conducted a payment card skimming and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) fraud outreach operation Aug. 1-2 in several Alaskan cities.
The law enforcement team, which included the Secret Service, Anchorage Police Department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the District of Alaska, U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Inspector General, and the Alaska State Troopers, visited 165 businesses in Anchorage, Palmer, Wasilla, Kenai, Soldotna, and Seward.
They inspected ATMs, gas pumps and point-of-sale terminals for skimming devices and left educational materials for business owners and managers.
Two skimming devices were recovered during the operation. In total, more than 1,750 point-of-sale terminals, gas pumps and ATMs were inspected, the agency said.
“In the past few months, we’ve seen an increase in credit card skimming and EBT fraud in the greater Anchorage area,” said Glen Peterson, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Seattle Field Office, whose area of responsibility includes Alaska. “Our goal is to locate and remove skimming devices before people’s credit card data can fall into the hands of criminals.”
This as the first time an outreach operation such as this has been conducted in Alaska by the U.S. Secret Service.
EBT information and other payment card numbers can be stolen when criminals install an illegal skimming device to the point-of-sale terminal in order to capture card information. They then encode the stolen data onto another card with a magnetic strip, such as a gift card or hotel key. It is estimated that skimming costs consumers and financial institutions more than $1 billion each year.
Law enforcement agencies have seen a nationwide increase in skimming over the past 18 months, particularly targeting EBT cards, which are sometimes known as “food stamps.” Each month, taxpayer money is deposited into government assistance accounts intended to help families pay for food and other basic items. This enables criminals who steal card information to time their fraudulent withdrawals and purchases around the state government’s monthly deposits, the agency said.
In 2020, a man with a Romanian passport was arrested for using credit card skimming devices in Alaska.
Marcus Rosu, an international criminal who lived in California, was sentenced in 2021 to 30 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for bank fraud using a device to steal credit card information through skimming. He was required to pay $57,713.53 in restitution to his known victims. But he was released Aug. 26, 2022.
According to court documents, he became the subject of a federal investigation in February of 2020, when the United States Postal Inspection Service intercepted a package containing hundreds of fraudulent bank cards containing customers’ card information. The cards were backtracked to more than 70 banking institutions in southern California and some were traced to fraudulent transactions in Anchorage and the Mat-Su Valley. Through the course of the investigation, Rosu was identified as the suspected mailer of the package.
Republican committees of District 1 in Ketchikan and District 28 in Wasilla now have voted to endorse Nick Begich for Congress. The primary election in Alaska ends on Aug. 20, and thousands of Alaskans have already voted an early absentee ballot.
Both Nick Begich and Nancy Dahlstrom attended a candidate forum in Ketchikan, and the decision by the district was made after the forum ended and the district had a chance to discuss the candidates. Dahlstrom has not received a single endorsement from a district.
Districts that have announced their endorsement for Begich now include 1, 6, 8, 17, 23, 25, 26, 28, 29, 34, and 36.
Also, six of seven Alaska Republican women’s clubs and both of the Young Republican clubs endorsed Begich.
Begich now has the support of 30% of the organized Republican districts — not all districts in Alaska have organized Republican groups. The rest of the districts have made no commitment to any Republican, but 30% represents a huge swath of the state saying they want Nick Begich as he attempts to replace Democrat Mary Peltola in Congress.
The fight is real as the last week before the primary commences. Political action committees from Washington, D.C. are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars a day into Alaska media buys to try to stop Nick. Ads are everywhere — television, radio, YouTube, and even telephones — to the point of annoyance, according to several Alaskans who say they can’t even watch their favorite shows right now, due to the political ad interruptions.
Begich is outspent by Peltola — and it’s not even close. Although he is the most popular candidate for local donations from Alaskans, the national money that Peltola has obtained is unheard of in Alaska campaign history. The Democrats are working hard to save her in a year when Donald Trump is on the ballot and many Alaskans will be motivated to vote. Peltola’s campaign treasury has millions of dollars to persuade Alaskans to return her to Washington.
Within hours of winning the gold medal in the women’s 66kg Olympic boxing match against China’s Yang Liu on Friday, Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who has been ruled to be a man by the International Boxing Association, filed a complaint against X/Twitter with the Paris court system’s center for combating online hate. He’s upset that people have objected to him fighting in the women’s division.
Millions of people around the world have questioned why someone like Khelif, who has had all the advantages of a testosterone-fueled physical development, should be allowed by the International Olympics Committee to fight in the women’s category. Without question, he is larger, has the physical characteristics and bone structure of a man, and has crushed his competition. He is not transgender but, according to the IBA, is technically male.
Although Khelif and a Taipei boxer named Lin Yu-Ting, also preparing to fight for gold, claim to be women, they have both X and Y chromosomes, said the International Boxing Association, which confirmed that in a press conference during the Olympic Games. Scientifically, this makes them men who are choosing to box in a category more advantageous to them.
X/Twitter is an American company. This is not the first time that it has been subjected to harassment by the French for allowing people to express their opinions.
On May 26, 2021, six French organizations brought charges against Twitter, both the international company and Twitter France, failing to promptly and systematically remove what the groups said was racist, anti-Semitic or homophobic messages posted on Twitter and reported by its users.
According to Columbia University’s Global Freedom of Expression center, the associations were UEJF (Union des Etudiants Juifs de France), SOS Homophobie, SOS Racisme, AIJP (J’accuse! Action Internationale Pour la Justice) MRAP (Le Mouvement contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples) and LICRA (La Ligue Internationale contre le Racisme et l’antisémitisme).
“The organizations’ claims were based on several reports and bailiff’s findings from 2019 and 2020, which allegedly established that only 9 to 28 percent of hateful messages posted on Twitter were removed within 48 hours,” the university reports.
France does not protect freedom of expression in the same way it is generally protected in the United States. According to French law, an insult of a person or a group of people because of their origin or their membership or their non-membership, true or supposed, to an ethnic group, a nation, sexual identity, gender identity, disability, a race or a specific religion is punishable by a fine of €500, or up to €3000 for a repeat offense.
In England, where riots have broken out as people protest the violence of immigrants who have taken control of the country, one police chief has warned that he will be coming for Americans who post information about the riots, he will extradite them, and he throw them in British prison.
“We will throw the full force of the law at people. And whether you’re in this country committing crimes on the streets or committing crimes from further afield online, we will come after you,” Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told Sky News. When asked if that meant Americans, he said, “Being a keyboard warrior does not make you safe from the law.”
NLRB v Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp (1937) established pristine and fabricated legal doctrines through case law. It marked one of the early instances where judicial pragmatism played a role in interpreting the U.S. Constitution as a “living” document.
This approach considers social and historical contexts rather than relying solely on strict textual reading of the Constitution.
Moreover, the case law-established doctrine of labor rights, particularly the principle of collective bargaining, is grounded in the broader framework of workers’ rights, now firmly established in U.S. labor law through the National Labor Relations Act of 1935.
In NLRB, the Court affirmed the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Act, emphasizing that labor relations and the right to organize are essential for preserving industrial peace and preventing disruptions to interstate commerce.
Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, who wrote the opinion for NLRB, four years previously wrote the majority opinions which declared unconstitutional three center pieces of FDR’s legislative hegemony.
Reacting to the defeat of his New Deal legislation by the court, President Franklin D. Roosevelt resurrected a plan from the Woodrow Wilson administration to reorganize the court, which although the plan was never adopted by Congress impacted the political standing of the court.
In April 1937, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the National Labor Relations Act by a 5-4 vote, which signaled a politically motivated change in the court’s jurisprudence. Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes, a progressive Republican, was the deciding vote.
“A switch in time saves nine” was the media’s slogan regarding the change in the Court’s jurisprudence in the wake of Roosevelt’s court- packing furor.
Interestingly, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion, which ruled against the Roosevelt Administration and was appealed in NLRB, clearly stated, “The Constitution does not vest in the Federal Government the power to regulate the relation as such of employer and employee in production or manufacture.”
In the U.S. Supreme Court’s NLRB dissent by Associate Justice James Clark McReynolds and joined by the other members of the Four Horsemen — Associate Justice Willis Van Devanter, Associate Justice George Sutherland, Associate Justice Pierce Butler, the dissenters stated: “It puts into the hands of a Board power of control over purely local industry beyond anything heretofore deemed permissible.”
During the Great Depression this changed the court’s judicial philosophy from the need of productive economic issues to the maelstrom of individual rights. The irony was explicit.
Effectively, the court’s upholding of the National Labor Relations Act aborted what remained of states sovereignty in favor of federal collective planning.
It took the doctrine of federalism and perverted it to tyranny.
Before NLRB, federalism yielded a splendid differentiation of sovereignty and authority between the states and the federal government. Simply, the federal government had the authority to regulate interstate commerce, and the states had authority to regulate intrastate commerce.
Hamilton in Federalist Papers No. 11 addressed the necessity of a unified regulation of trade among states under the federal government.
Madison wrote in Federalist No. 42 the need for a strong federal authority over interstate commerce to prevent states from imposing duties and tariffs on goods passing through their jurisdictions, which would hinder trade and economic unity. These duties would ultimately burden the producers of those goods and the consumers purchasing them.
The Constitution’s Commerce Clause was designed to address these economic concerns by granting Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce.
While social interactions and dealings between people are an essential part of society, the constitutional discussion and the intent behind the Commerce Clause were more centered on regulating economic activity to create a unified and efficient national market. The broader social interactions were not a focus, although they were implicitly acknowledged as part of the overall context in which commerce occurred to enable local productivity.
Intrastate commerce pronounced this as an essential local part of commerce which was guaranteed by the 10th Amendment.
Before 1937, intrastate commerce was largely regarded as the responsibility of the states. The Founders saw commerce as more than just large-scale buying and selling. It was a principle that safeguarded state sovereignty and autonomy within their own borders.
This autonomy enabled states to drive socioeconomic productivity and nurture interpersonal relationships within their communities. For the Founders, intrastate commerce was not merely about economic transactions but was deeply rooted in the social interactions among people at the local level, which, in turn, generated economic benefits.
This multiplicity of interactions made up the strength of the states and ultimately the federal government.
The original text of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights was designed to limit the federal government’s powers, reserving most powers to the states and the people. The expansive interpretation of the Commerce Clause that emerged later in NLRB was not envisioned by the Founders.
Specifically, in cases like NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., the Court interpreted the Commerce Clause in a broader manner, thereby expanding congressional power over intrastate commerce. This interpretation was based on the Court’s view of the evolving needs of the nation and the economy, rather than a strict adherence to the original intent of the Founders. The decision reflected the Court’s judgment that federal regulation was necessary to manage the complexities of a modern, interconnected economy.
Supporters of the NLRB argue that the Constitution, as a living document, is intended to adapt to changing circumstances. They believe that the economic realities of the modern age necessitate a more flexible interpretation of the Commerce Clause to effectively address the complexities of an interconnected economy.
One can argue the merits and defects of these extra-constitutional doctrines and principles, but the real question for me is do they belong in American federal jurisprudence? Would these better serve the public in a state’s system?
NLRB v Jones & Laughlin Steep Corp amended the U.S. Constitution without ratification.
Michael Tavoliero is a senior contributor at Must Read Alaska.
The Russian River Campground, one of the most popular recreation areas in Alaska, will close at midnight on Thursday, Aug. 15, and not reopen until, perhaps, December. The closure includes all roads, trails, parking lots and other facilities. Aspen Flats and Upper Russian Lakes Cabins will be open for reservations, accessible by the trailhead at Snug Harbor Road.
The Russian River is the most popular sockeye salmon stream in Alaska and is a favorite spot for rainbow trout and Dolly Varden fishermen. Each year, the area is visited by over 100,000 people who use the campground, ferry, boat launch, Russian Lakes Trail and associated sites. The campground consists of 83 campsites and 130 day-use parking spaces and is usually open with full service from May through September.
The U.S. Forest Service has a major construction underway, and the campground has been closed several times since 2022 to complete reconstruction of the campground road, retaining walls along the road, and other safety features.
Nearby access trails will also close, including, Russian Lakes Trail will be closed from Russian River Campground Road to the intersection of the Russian Lakes Trail Lower and Upper Parking Lot Trails. Angler’s Trail will only be accessible by boat or the Russian River Ferry.
Last summer, when marchers in a gay pride parade in New York City shouted, “We’re here. We’re queer. We’re coming for your children,” they were not kidding.
NYC Drag March 2024 kicks off at Tompkins Sq Park in NYC
A new short documentary out by MSNBC follows children as they experience drag queen story hour at a local library. The film crew put heart monitors on the children to gauge their responses to having stories read aloud to them by men dressed garishly as women.
The film, “It’s Okay,” is part of a wider movement to normalize up-close interactions of men who portray grotesque and garish women with children.
Director David France’s 2017 film, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson, was a Netflix original documentary about a transgender that won the Outfest “Freedom Award.” Outfest is an LGBTQIA+ promotion company and France’s films are all about the LGBTQ experience.
“We really wanted to know the kids’ experience, really absent everything else,” France said to NBC News, the parent company for the documentary on children and drag queens. “We didn’t want to interview them. We didn’t want to get their analysis of what happened. We wanted to be embedded with them intimately enough that we could experience their journey through the reading in the way that they were experiencing it.”
The “microphone vest” was mounted on one of the children, so the film crew could monitor breathing.
“We wanted to hear and feel his discomfort if he had it, his joy if he had it, his curiosity,” France said to NBC. “We really invested deeply in his experience, and I think he showed us all of that, and he did it in a real, genuine way.”
Such knowledge will be important to the Drag Queen Story Hour performers in the future, as they learn how to reach further into the psyches of innocent children by studying how the children breathe.
The small band of Republicans who are organized and active in the Democratic stronghold of downtown Anchorage have voted to endorse Nick Begich for Congress.
The District 17 endorsement of the new generation of Republican leadership brought the total to nine of the 36 organized districts in Alaska now endorsing Begich, who doesn’t take after his well-known Democrat uncles, Tom and Mark.
Nick Begich is the political renegade in the family and he has crisscrossed the state with a free-market, free people message, which is now resulting in a tidal wave of endorsements. Raised by conservative grandparents on his mother’s side, he has been a Republican since high school and is the former finance chair for the Alaska Republican Party.
In 2022’s general election, Rep. Mary Peltola won 4,418 votes in District 17, fully 70% of the vote. But the Republicans who live in downtown Anchorage are a tightly knit-together group. When they met this week, they threw their support to the candidate who got the most Republican votes there in 2022 — a businessman who isn’t a government swamp dweller.
District 17’s endorsement of Begich tips the balance even more. Now, 25% of the districts have gone with Nick Begich, rather than taking orders from D.C. elites who pushed Nancy Dahlstrom into the race last November, even after Begich had been campaigning for six months. Dahlstrom and the D.C. elites are now spending 100,000 a day bombarding Alaskans with messages on their phones, televisions, radios, and computers.
Districts that have announced their endorsement for Begich now include 6, 8, 17, 23, 25, 26, 29, 34, and 36.
Not a single Republican district in Alaska has endorsed Dahlstrom.
Begich has received endorsements from six of the seven Republican women’s clubs and both of the Alaska Young Republicans chapters. No club has endorsed Dahlstrom.
He is also the only congressional candidate who has signed the petition to repeal ranked choice voting and the only candidate who has said he will drop from the race if he is not the leading Republican candidate after the primary. Mary Peltola supports ranked-choice voting and Dahlstrom won’t take a stand because she says since it’s on the ballot, she should not comment.
Voting is already underway in the primary with early voting and absentee early voting, with Election Day on Aug 20, when the polls close at 8 p.m.
The Food and Drug Administrationwill not approve MDMA, the street drug known as Molly or Ecstasy, as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a Friday announcement from the maker of the drug, Lykos Therapeutics.
Some lawmakers — even in far-flung Alaska — have used their positions to push the drug, even though recently the studies showed there is not enough evidence to show the drug is effective. Indeed, some study participants said the drug led to suicidal ideation and said their concerns were dismissed by the study managers.
The clinical trial was a hot mess in other ways: There were allegations of sexual misconduct in the middle of the study and there are possible serious side effects like heart problems and drug abuse. FDA scientists also said the study itself was not clean because patients and therapists could easily guess who got the drug and who got the placebo.
Alaska Sen. Forrest Dunbar and Rep. Jennie Armstrong were two of the proponents of MDMA, introducing legislation to set up a task force in Alaska to create a regulatory framework in anticipation of the drug’s approval, which Dunbar falsely said on the record was imminent.
The overeager lawmakers put the cart in front of the horse. Although their legislation passed, it’s not clear the governor will sign it, since MDMA is evidently far from guaranteed approval.
Lykos Therapeutics said it will challenge the FDA decision and says the data is adequate to prove the drug is effective.
Olympic women’s boxing now belongs to the men. Algerian Imane Khelif, who has XY chromosomes that make him a male, won welterweight division gold medal Friday against China’s Yang Liu.
The mainstream media reports that Imane is a woman because he has a passport that says so.
The International Boxing Association says it has blood tests showing that Imane and another boxer fighting in the women’s division, featherweight Lin Yu-Ting of Taipei, are indeed men. They are disqualified from boxing in the IBA women’s divisions.
Controversy has centered on the women’s boxing events at the Olympics in Paris, as the two men, who are reportedly equipped with both male and female sexual characteristics, have dominated women opponents.
