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Beijing Biden? House committee kicks off first impeachment inquiry hearing

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Beijing Biden? House committee kicks off first impeachment inquiry hearing

By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE

U.S. House Republicans launched the first impeachment inquiry Thursday into President Joe Biden, who faces an array of allegations around bribery and financial impropriety related to personal business dealings spearheaded by his son, Hunter Biden.

Republicans say they have significant evidence to back allegations that Hunter Biden received more than $20 million from several overseas entities in China, Ukraine, Russia and more. Hunter also faces gun and tax-related legal difficulties.

The impeachment inquiry, though, forces Republicans to focus on how much President Biden in particular was involved and benefited from these alleged dealings as Democrats argue the evidence is lacking.

“Evidence reveals that then-Vice President Joe Biden spoke, dined, and developed relationships with his family’s foreign business targets,” House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., said in his opening statement, referring in part to testimony from IRS whistleblowers and long-time business associate of Hunter Biden, Devon Archer.

“These business targets include foreign oligarchs who sent millions of dollars to his family,” Comer added. “It also includes a Chinese national who wired a quarter of a million dollars to his son.”

The wire in question from a Chinese national broke headlines this week and added further weight to the allegations against the president. Comer said this week that multiple wire transfers from Chinese nationals listed the president’s home address in Wilmington, Delaware, as the beneficiary address.

“This happened when Joe Biden was running for President of the United States. And Joe Biden’s home is listed as the beneficiary address,” Comer said. “To date, the House Oversight Committee has uncovered how the Bidens and their associates created over 20 shell companies – most of which were created when Joe Biden was Vice President – and raked in over $24 million between 2014 to 2019.

“We’ve also identified nine members of the Biden family who have participated in or benefited from these business schemes,” Comer added.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who launched the impeachment inquiry earlier this month, referenced those wire transfers when speaking with reporters ahead of the hearing.

“While Joe Biden was running for president and told, and his attorney told too, that they received no money from China, we now know that yes, it came from Beijing,” McCarthy said. “It came from Jonathan Li, and the address on the wire is Joe Biden’s address. And then you find out, how did he meet this Jonathan Li? Well, he took Hunter Biden on Air Force Two when he went to China, and then Hunter had him meet the vice president then.

The vice president … he wrote letters of recommendation for his children too,” McCarthy added.

The House Ways and Means Committee also released documents and communications earlier this week, including one with Hunter Biden “bragging in a 2017 email to a Chinese business executive that he negotiated a contract for $10 million per year for ‘introductions alone.'”

Democrats remained steadfast during the hearing, arguing that there is no evidence against President Biden, specifically.

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the ranking member on the committee, called it “preposterous,” and a “fairy tale.”

“They’ve got nothing on Joe Biden,” Raskin said, arguing that former President Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani sparked this “conspiracy theory.”

They also pointed to the indictments facing former President Donald Trump, who faces 91 charges across several states and from the federal government for his handling of classified documents, alleged ‘hush money’ payments to an adult film star, and his role in allegedly working to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

“It’s scandalous to use impeachment to establish a counterfeit moral equivalence between President Biden, an honorable public servant who has never been indicted or convicted of anything in his career of more than 50 years in public life,” Raskin said. “…and Donald Trump, a twice impeached president who’s recently been found in court to have sexually abused and defamed a woman and fraudulently inflated the value of his real estate properties…”

Democrats also blasted Republicans for focusing on impeachment when the federal government is just days away from shutting down if Congress does not pass a new spending measure.

“They are wasting time and taxpayer dollars in an illegitimate impeachment inquiry when we’re about 48 away or so from an extreme MAGA Republican government shutdown, and this is what they’re focused on?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told reporters.

NTSB releases preliminary report on deadly Eugene Peltola plane crash

Suzanne Downing
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NTSB releases preliminary report on deadly Eugene Peltola plane crash

The National Transportation and Safety Board has issued a preliminary report filled with details about the plane crash that took the life of Eugene Peltola, husband of Rep. Mary Peltola, on Sept. 12, 2023.

On that day at about 8:47 pm, a Piper PA-18-150, tail number N109T, sustained substantial damage when it crashed near St. Mary’s. Eugene Peltola, the pilot and lone occupant of the plane, died in that crash.

Two days before the accident, Peltola had flown a group of five hunters, a guide, and their equipment from a lodge’s airstrip in Holy Cross. The group set up camp next to the landing strip, which was oriented north-south within hilly terrain about 80 miles northwest of Holy Cross.

The group planned to hunt for a moose and take it back to the lodge at Holy Cross. During the day before the accident, the group successfully hunted a moose and coordinated with the Peltola via satellite messaging devices to ferry the meat the next day.

On Sept. 12, Peltola arrived at the camp about 3:40 pm. Peltola and the hunters loaded the airplane with the first batch of meat, and the airplane departed to the north from the airstrip.

After takeoff, the airplane made an uneventful climbing right turn over an adjacent ridgeline that paralleled the airstrip to the east and then continued in the general direction of Holy Cross.

Peltola returned to camp about 7:40 pm for the second and final load of meat.

During the next hour, Peltola and the hunters loaded the airplane with the meat. One of the hunters reported that the airplane held about 50 to 70 pounds more meat than during the previous flight. Later it was determined there was about 520 pounds of cargo, mostly moose meat and antler.

The meat was strapped into the rear passenger seat area with both the seatbelt and rope and was loaded into the airplane’s belly pod, which did not have tie-down provisions. The pilot then tied the antlers to the right wing strut; the antlers were cupped outward and perpendicular to the direction of flight.

Peltola told a hunter that he had performed fuel calculations and would be at reserve fuel levels on arrival at Holy Cross. They discussed the weather and observed that the wind at the airstrip was generally calm and from the north but that the wind was also intermittently variable and gusting.

Members of the group reported to Peltola that the wind was gusting much stronger at the departure end of the airstrip.

Peltola then boarded the airplane and positioned it for a departure to the north. The hunters noticed that the ground roll was slightly longer than before, and that the airplane appeared to be more “labored” than during the previous flight.

They stated that, as the airplane reached the end of the airstrip, it pitched up and turned sharply to the right but, rather than climbing as before, the airplane flew behind the adjacent ridgeline and out of view. The group initially thought that the pickup had been successful, but the airplane did not reappear from behind the ridge. The group ran to the top of the ridgeline, looked down, and saw that the airplane had crashed.

One of the hunters approached the accident site and found Peltola still conscious. The hunter activated the SOS feature on his satellite messenger device, but the pilot succumbed to his injuries within two hours of the accident.

The airplane’s emergency locator transmitter activated during the accident, and an alert signal was received by the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center about 8:48 pm. According to the hunters, an Alaska Air National Guard team arrived at the accident site via helicopter between 1:30 and 2 am on Sept. 13.

One of the hunters recorded a video of the accident takeoff. The video showed that the airplane began the ground roll at the southern end of the airstrip and departed to the north and uphill. The flaps were retracted, and the tail of the airplane came up as soon as the pilot applied engine power (see figure 1).

The ground roll lasted about 530 feet, and, immediately after takeoff, the airplane pitched up and rolled about 20 degrees to the right. The airplane then appeared to roll to a wings level attitude.

The video ended a few seconds later and it did not capture the accident. The engine was heard operating during the recording, and the airplane was not trailing smoke or vapors.

NTSB inspectors arrived on Sept. 15. Examination revealed that the airplane came to rest on a 30-degree downward slope on the other side of the adjoining ridge line, at an elevation of 1,210 feet mean sea level, about 10 feet lower, and 600 feet east of the departure end of the airstrip (see figure 2).

The surrounding area consisted of rolling hills covered in tundra, grass, and low-lying shrubs and bushes.

The fuselage was on a north heading, and both wings remained partially attached and generally in line with each other on a northwest-southeast orientation. The first identified point of impact, which was located about 20 feet below the main wreckage, consisted of a divot in the soil that contained blue and white fragments that matched the right wingtip (see figure 3).

Next, the right wing landing light assembly and right window frame were located about 5 ft uphill in a west direction. A large divot in the soil, which was located 5 ft farther uphill, matched the general dimensions of a main landing gear tire. Adjacent to this hole was the propeller, which had separated from the crankshaft.

Inspectors say the engine contained oil, and there was no evidence indicated a catastrophic engine failure.

Although the wing tank fuel lines had been breached, residual quantities of fuel were observed in both tanks. Both propeller blades exhibited similar damage, including tip twist, leading-edge nicks and dents, trailing-edge S-bending, and chord-wise scratches.

The airplane cargo was weighed at the accident site, revealing a load of about 520 pounds that consisted primarily of moose meat and a set of moose antlers.

About 150 pounds of meat was found in the forward section of the belly pod; the remaining portions were firmly secured in the rear cabin seating area. The antlers were secured to the inboard side of the right-wing strut.

Breaking: Gene ‘Buzzy’ Peltola Jr. dies in plane crash
Downing: Alaska air crashes and politics collide, once again

Republican debaters throw slings and arrows, but all prove they have the chops to take on Biden

Suzanne Downing
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Republican debaters throw slings and arrows, but all prove they have the chops to take on Biden

There were moments in the Wednesday evening Republican presidential debate that seemed chaotic, with some of the more animated candidates talking over each other and throwing accusations, but overall the seven GOP candidates who qualified for the debate showed that the Republican Party has plenty of talent to take on Democrat Joe Biden.

Republicans are not afraid to brawl, and brawl they did on stage at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif.

Each showed how they would be a strong contender against Democrat Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, or Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, possible replacements for the aging and mentally feeble President Biden.

But the question remains, can any of the seven get past former President Donald Trump, who did not attend the debate, but held a rally in Michigan instead. Trump is still the leading candidate in the polls, as far as Republican voters are concerned. He has over 60% of their support, according to more polls.

For the seven who did debate, it was more about leadership style and whether they can convince people they’ll follow through on promises; for the most part, they agreed on everything from the need to strengthen the border again to the importance of putting an end to child mutilation, commonly known now as “gender-affirming surgery.” They disagreed on approaches to Russian aggression and U.S. funding support for Ukraine.

As with the first debate, some of them took pot shots at Vivek Ramaswamy, the energetic entrepreneur who, unlike the others, has never held elected office.

“The Republicans showed it is the party of good ideas and at the end of the day, our bench is so much better than theirs,” said one Republican attending a debate party in Juneau.

A straw poll at that party, held at the Prospector/Ramada, showed that Republicans in the capital city thought Nikki Haley won the debate, followed by Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie.

Some of the interesting moments:

Vivek Ramaswamy called for the end of birthright citizenship for kids who were born in the US with parents who illegally entered the country:

“I favor ending birthright citizenship for the kids of illegal immigrants in this country. Now, the left will howl about the Constitution and the 14th Amendment. The difference between me and them is I’ve actually read the 14th Amendment. What it says is that all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the laws and jurisdiction thereof are citizens. So nobody believes that the kid of a Mexican diplomat in this country enjoys birthright citizenship.”

Chris Christie lashed out at Donald Trump for not attending the debate: “You’re not here tonight because you’re afraid to defend your record. You’re ducking. We’re going to call you Donald Duck.” The audience booed, just as the first debate brought out boos for Christie whenever he went after Trump, which he did repeatedly on Wednesday, serving as the stage’s primary attack dog on the presumed nominee.

Nikki Haley lashed out at Ramaswamy for being a TikTok user. TikTok is owned by communist Chinese, who can scrape users’ data.

“I have a radical idea for the Republican Party,” Ramaswamy responded. “We need to win elections, and part of how we win elections is reaching the next generation of young Americans where they are.” 

Haley yelled, “This is infuriating. TikTok is one of the most dangerous social media apps that we could have,” She said that every time she hears Ramaswamy, she feels “dumber.” 

Haley continued to harangue Ramaswamy with a diatribe that ended with, “We can’t trust you!” 

Ramaswamy responded kindly, “I think we would be better served as a Republican Party if we’re not sitting here hurling personal insults and actually have a legitimate debate about policy.” 

Ron DeSantis responded to a question from Univision’s Ilia Caldaron, who was repeating misinformation spread by Vice President Kamala Harris about changing the slavery history curriculum in Florida schools:

DeSantis said, “First of all, that is a hoax that was perpetrated by Kamala Harris. We are not going to be doing that. Second of all, that was written by descendents of slaves. These are great black history scholars, so we need to stop playing these games.Florida represents the revival of American education.

“We’re ranked No. 1 in the nation in education by U.S. News and World Report,” DeSantis said. “My wife and I, we have a 6-, 5-, and 3-year-old. This is personal to us. We didn’t just talk about universal school choice; we enacted universal school choice. We didn’t just talk about a parents’ bill of rights. We enacted the Parents’ Bill of Rights.”

“We eliminated critical race theory, and we now have American civics and the Constitution in our schools in a really big way, just like President Reagan asked for in his farewell address back in 1989,” DeSantis said. “Florida is showing how it’s done. We’re standing with parents, and our kids are benefiting.”

DeSantis also refused to participate in one question, which was when Dana Perino asked the candidates to write down the name of one candidate who should be “voted off the island.”

“It’s now obvious that if you all stay in the race, former President Donald Trump wins the nomination. None of you have indicated that you are dropping out. So, which one of you onstage tonight should be voted off the island?” Perino said. “Please use your marker to write your choice on the notepad in front of you, 15 seconds, starting now.”

DeSantis responded, “With all due respect, I mean, we’re here. We’re happy to debate, but I think that that’s disrespectful to my fellow competitors. Let’s talk about the future of the country.”

Christie did respond, however, as the hits on Trump continued: “I vote Donald Trump off the island right now. And the reason I vote him off the island … every person on this stage has shown the respect for Republican voters to come here, to express their views, honestly, candidly, and directly, and to take your questions. I have respect for every man and woman on this stage because they’ve done it.”

Christie said, “This guy [Trump] has not only divided our party, he’s divided families all over this country. He’s divided friends all over this country. He needs to be voted off the island, and he needs to be taken out of this process.”

Sparks fly at GOP debate, as Vivek Ramaswamy spars with field

Couple arrested for fraud after obtaining $1.6 million in Covid funds from Anchorage Assembly

Suzanne Downing
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Couple arrested for fraud after obtaining $1.6 million in Covid funds from Anchorage Assembly

An Anchorage couple was arrested and indicted on charges of fraudulently obtaining millions in Covid-19 relief funds through deceitful business practices.

The Anchorage Assembly gave $1.6 million in 2021 to the charity, which said it worked to help homeless addicts get shelter and treatment.

Rosalina Natazha Mavaega, 41, and Pastor Esau Malele Fualema Jr., 44, stand accused of using their nonprofit, House of Transformations, a homeless services enterprise, and associated corporate entities to deceive the Municipality of Anchorage. Back in 2015, Mavaega was banned by the State of Alaska from ever being authorized as a Medicaid provider, due to shady practices.

Assembly gave woman $1.6 million in Covid funds; now Rivera wants her off the Equal Rights Commission

In April 2021, court records reveal that the duo sought over $1.6 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) from the Assembly. These funds intended to support businesses hampered by the Covid pandemic policies put in place by government lockdowns and mandates.

The application included misleading details regarding the scope of services to be provided by their nonprofit, such as housing, treatment, and vocational training. Further, financial and management data for House of Transformations were falsely portrayed to inflate their entitlement to these funds.

By August of the same year, the couple had received a substantial payment from the Anchorage Assembly, amounting to $1,623,165. Rather than channeling these funds to their stated cause, Mavaega and Fualema are alleged to have redirected the money for personal gain. This included financing their for-profit ventures, settling tax debts, acquiring a personal loan, and purchasing cryptocurrency.

The couple’s fraudulent activities didn’t end there. In December 2021, they are said to have made deceptive applications to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program. The intent behind these applications was to acquire over a million dollars by falsifying business statuses, overreporting employee counts, misrepresenting company structures, and illicitly using personal identification of others to simulate association with their corporate entities.

Their illegal scheme peaked in the summer of 2022, with another alleged attempt to defraud the Municipality of Anchorage, seeking approximately $2 million in additional ARPA grants.

The charges against Mavaega and Fualema include major fraud against the U.S., wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and aggravated identity theft.

Arrests were made at the Captain Cook Hotel for Mavaega and Fualema’s residence. Pending court appearances, they could face a minimum of 24 months imprisonment.

This case was unveiled through a joint announcement by U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker of the District of Alaska; IRS Criminal Investigation, Seattle Field Office, Special Agent in Charge Adam Jobes; and Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, Western Region Special Agent in Charge Weston King.

The investigative charge is jointly shouldered by the IRS Seattle Division and the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys James Klugman and Karen Vandergaw, along with former U.S. Attorney George Tran, are leading the prosecution against the indicted.

Senate reinstates dress code after Fetterman takes it too far with hoodies, shorts, and jokes

Suzanne Downing
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Senate reinstates dress code after Fetterman takes it too far with hoodies, shorts, and jokes

Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania may have laughed off those who criticized him for showing up in gym shorts on the floor of the U.S. Senate, but Americans were not laughing.

After the Democrat-run Senate changed the dress code to accommodate Fetterman, so he could wear shorts and hoodies on the floor, the American public wasn’t laughing, and wondered where the dignity of the Senate had gone.

Wednesday, the Senate rolled back the relaxed dress code, and reinstated the formal dress code, which includes a suit and tie for men, in a resolution sponsored by Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat. The vote was unanimous.

“…business attire be worn on the floor of the Senate, which for men shall include a coat, tie, and slacks or other long pants…” the resolution reads. In other words, no hoodies and baggy shorts.

Fetterman released a statement saying he would wear a business suit, as now required, while on in the Senate chamber, but will continue to vote from the cloakroom when he is not in business attire. He made no mention about how he will dress in committees.

While running for office, the Harvard-educated Fetterman presented himself as a working class guy, wearing Carhartt brand rather than suits or even sports jackets. Fetterman’s campaign make light of the whole matter by selling t-shirts and other swap in its online store, with shirts quoting conservatives calling Fetterman’s attire “Disgraceful,” “Disgusting,” “Revolting Slob,” and “Crazy Stroke Victim.”

Sen. John Fetterman makes fun of the controversy he caused by his dressing like a disrespectful slob in the Senate.

At one point in the political theater, an artificial intelligence-created depiction of Sen. Rand Paul was being passed around in social media, showing what appeared to be the senator from Kentucky in a red bathrobe, sitting on the steps of the Capitol. Sen. Paul joined in the joke by posting the comment, “I thought I was clear when I said no photographs.'”

Downing: Democrats have a zombie problem

Target joins exodus from two urban crime zones in Seattle

Suzanne Downing
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Target joins exodus from two urban crime zones in Seattle

Target Corporation, which suffered from a consumer boycott earlier this year after embracing gender modification for children, has announced it will close two of its Seattle outlets by the end of October. The affected stores are located in Seattle’s bustling University District and the lively Ballard neighborhood.

Target adds ‘pride’ clothing from Satan-promoting LGBTQ designer

The decision comes from growing concerns about theft and organized retail crime in the city.

Target is drawing the curtains on seven other stores across four states for a total of nine. Locations to close include San Francisco, Oakland and Pittsburgh. The decisions have been influenced, at least partially, by the mayhem and rampant crime found in major cities run by leftists. Target will be left with 22 stores in Seattle.

Target isn’t the first major brand to retreat from Seattle this year. Earlier, Nike made closed its downtown Seattle outlet that had been running since 1996. Additionally, Amazon decided to close one of its Amazon Go stores on Fifth Avenue and Marion Street in June.

A recent report from the Seattle City Auditor says that in 2022, Seattle police received 13,103 calls from the city’s top 100 retail outlets. Responding to these calls consumed over 18,000 hours, equivalent to the annual work hours of nine full-time patrol officers.

Alaska Target stores skip over Memorial Day, go straight for Pride Month themes at entryways
Downing: Can we boycott them all?

Win Gruening: Does vote-by-mail work? It’s time for another look

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Win Gruening: Does vote-by-mail work? It’s time for another look

By WIN GRUENING

Voting last week in Juneau’s “rolling” municipal election seemed more like a chore that needed to get done instead of the patriotic civic-minded custom I was taught to revere. 

When the Juneau Assembly ditched a tried-and-true voting system to opt for vote-by-mail, it robbed voters of the opportunity to come together in our neighborhood precincts to collectively take part in democracy.

It’s been a short and slippery slope.

First came the pandemic. We were told we couldn’t gather in enclosed spaces, once a year, even for a few minutes, to greet our neighbors, mark our ballot, and personally insert it in the vote-counting machine. This apparently wasn’t as important as going to liquor stores or bars – all of which remained open 365 days a year. 

But we complied. In 2020, the Assembly told us vote-by-mail (VBM) was only temporary, implying that once the emergency was over, we could return to in-person voting. Then, this year, with little fanfare, despite the vastly increased cost and citizen opposition, the Assembly decreed VBM permanent for all future Juneau municipal elections.

City leaders have continued to insist that VBM makes voting more convenient, guarantees that every vote is counted, and increases voter turnout.

Regrettably, that has not been borne out by the facts.

Afte receiving my ballot packet in the mail and opening it, I found a ballot, a security sleeve, a return envelope, and two pages of instructions on how to fill out my ballot, sign it, verify my identity, insert my ballot in the sleeve and envelope, seal it, apply postage, and then deliver it to the proper place. Inadvertently omitting some of these steps runs the risk of your ballot being invalidated.

There’s also a warning in bold red letters that your ballot must be postmarked on or before election day when mailed. In Juneau’s 2021’s election, almost 8% of ballots were invalidated for various reasons, 352 of them for missing postmarks.

For that reason, city officials have cautioned people concerned about this to personally take their ballot to the post office to have it postmarked. Other non-mail options include using drop boxes in Auke Bay or Douglas and dropping off your ballot or voting in person at either the Mendenhall Valley Public Library or City Hall.

None of the alternative options offered are more convenient than traditional voting in your local precinct on election day. Considering all the extra pieces of paper and steps involved, VBM is actually less reliable since mistakes may happen that would easily be caught by helpful poll workers in a traditional in-person election.

Furthermore, voter turnout has not increased. Except for the 43% voter turnout in 2020, when VBM was a novelty, turnout the last two years has been virtually identical to the 31% who voted in 2019, our last traditional election.

So why were taxpayers stuck with a bill for $1 million establishing a system with an annual cost that is several hundred thousand dollars more than in-person voting?

27,767 ballots will be printed and mailed to Juneau voters this year. Barely a third of those will be returned.

Voters visiting the post office are greeted with scores of unused ballots thrown in waste receptacles and left on desk stands. How does that teach new voters the value of voting and what does it say about the regard we have for the most critical duty we have in our democracy?

Moreover, when voting in-person now, your ballot isn’t as private. Regardless of how you deliver your VBM signed ballot envelope, ultimately it is handled by many people with your identity still attached before being counted. You no longer have the option of marking a secret ballot in a voting booth and having it anonymously counted by machine while you watch.

Changing election day to whenever you want to vote, coupled with the loss of privacy, and sometimes waiting days or weeks for conclusive results, undermines the transparency of elections and diminishes the ritual and importance of voting. 

On a positive note, Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon and Assemblyman Wade Bryson voted against the change to VBM this year.

Weldon said she “tolerated” vote-by-mail during the pandemic but thought it’s important for people to all come together on one day to vote. “I feel that Election Day is kind of sacred,” she said. “By voting by mail, I think we’ve taken some of the emphasis off of how wonderful it is to go out and vote.”

When the new Juneau Assembly is seated, its most important item of business should be to restore the trust and respect our electoral process deserves. 

After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.

Win Gruening: New City Hall for Juneau comes down to dollars, sense

Arctic Angels? Not so much, says Army’s new report on behavior problems in 11th Airborne Division

Suzanne Downing
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Arctic Angels? Not so much, says Army’s new report on behavior problems in 11th Airborne Division

Last year, the U.S. Army redesignated its Alaska force as the 11th Airborne Division, with hopes of creating a tip-of-the spear fighting force unparalleled in the Pacific. The change was done to help create a “sense of identity” among those serving in Alaska, and in part to reduce the incidence of suicide among Alaska-based troops.

“One of the things we’ve found that we think is contributing to what we’ve found in Alaska is that some soldiers there don’t feel like they have a sense of identity or purpose around why they’re stationed there,” said Army Secretary Christine Wormuth during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in 2022. She also said every soldier in Alaska will receive mental health evaluations from a surge in mental health professionals that she is sending to the state for a six-month period.

Now, however, soldiers in the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 11th Airborne Division, based in Alaska, report sexual harassment and other problems, according to a new report

Military.com reporter Steve Beynon has the report that says an internal Army assessment conducted recently of the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team found “a culture of inappropriate joking and behavior that included sexist or racist remarks, evidence of rampant alcohol abuse, and a pace of training missions that was overwhelming leaders and junior soldiers.”

Alaska’s Army teams set to be renamed 11th Airborne Division, as Army looks for ways to reduce suicide

The assessment of the team was done by the Army’s Cohesion Assistance Team, or CAT. Among the findings Beynon reported from the two-week review:

  • 3% of the soldiers reported being offered a reward or special treatment for sexual favors.
  • 5% said they experienced catcalling, ogling, or leering in ways that made them uncomfortable.
  • 6% of soldiers said they experienced unwanted touching.
  • 16% said they had heard racist comments.

There were also stories of excessive drinking, especially on weekend nights.

Read the Military.com story with the list of grievances in greater detail at Military.com.

Army activated 11th Airborne Division in Alaska today

Tim Barto: Rest in peace, Brooks Robinson, human vacuum cleaner

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Tim Barto: Rest in peace, Brooks Robinson, human vacuum cleaner

By TIM BARTO

Brooks Robinson was the best-fielding third baseman of all time.

That statement will be argued, as all such statements about baseball are, but there are very few people who followed the game who will not include Brooks in the discussion of great third baggers.

He played 23 seasons of big league baseball, from 1955 to 1977, all of them with the same team – the Baltimore Orioles, and won two World Series championships during his career, one of which occurred in 1970, when Brooks almost singlehandedly beat my beloved Cincinnati Reds with the most impressive fielding display in October Classic history. Robinson broke my 8-year-old heart with diving snags and impossible throws from across the diamond, leading me to hold a ridiculous grudge for 53 years. 

Death has a way of causing us to reassess feelings, so it’s time to give up this five decade grudge, especially since Brooks Robinson was one of the class acts of baseball. Even Norman Rockwell, that painter of the most ‘Murican of Americana, was a fan, immortalizing Brooks in a piece of art that showed Brooks signing autographs for a young fan. Brooks was a devoted Christian, husband, and father, and Baltimore fans adored him.

As a stereotypical “good-glove-no-bat” baseball player myself, I was enamored with Brooks Robinson’s defensive skills and approach to the game; so much so that I had two posters of him on my walls as a kid. One of them was printed by the Equitable Life Insurance Company, and had the phrase, “Brooks! There’s nobody else exactly like him.” The photo was taken after he robbed Johnny Bench of a line drive base hit in that 1970 Series, and it became the classic action shot of Robinson’s career. 

The Gold Glove Award is presented annually to the season’s best defensive player at each position. Brooks won it 16 years in a row. He played over 700 more games at third base than any other player in history, was voted the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1964, and World Series Most Valuable Player for that 1970 performance against the Reds. 

The Orioles retired his uniform number (5), and in 1983 he was deservedly elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2020, he received the Bob Feller Act of Valor Award for his dedication to American military members. 

It brings back good memories to write about such a man as Brooks Robinson. He bridged that gap between the old school game of the 1950s and the modern game ushered in during the 1970s, and he did it with class. He was not the most athletic of ballplayers, and he was never flashy or self-aggrandizing. As I mentioned, it brings back good memories.

Tim Barto is a lifelong baseball fan who coached for Grace Christian High School and the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks. He is also Vice President of Alaska Family Council. Sitting through 45 minutes of SportsCenter, eagerly awaiting some mention of Brooks Robinson’s passing, led him to write about the man they called the human vacuum cleaner.

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Keith Dobson: How AI Transformed Human Engagement, Looking Back From 2030

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By KEITH DOBSON From Passive Consumption to Active Creation Looking back...

Alaska’s Citizen-Only Voting Initiative Mirrors Trump’s Election Security Focus

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In a move that resonates with President Donald Trump's...

The Plan to Avoid Gelding Part 2

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By Michael Tavoliero Remember the last two of Alaska’s largest...

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