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Oglala Sioux tribe asserts sovereignty, banishes Gov. Kristi Noem from Pine Ridge tribal land

Suzanne Downing
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Oglala Sioux tribe asserts sovereignty, banishes Gov. Kristi Noem from Pine Ridge tribal land

Not only is the Oglala Sioux tribe unhappy with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, due to her stance on border security, the tribe has officially banished her from certain tribal lands.

Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out wrote a letter on behalf of the Pine Ridge Reservation after Noem said she would be willing to send razor wire and National Guard personnel to Texas to help deter illegal immigration. She also said that cartels from south of the border have begun to infiltrate the state’s Indian reservations. Noem made the remarks during her State of the State address on Jan. 31 to the South Dakota Legislature.

“Due to the safety of the Oyate, effective immediately, you are hereby Banished from the homelands of the Oglala Sioux Tribe!” Tribe President Frank Star Comes Out said in his letter to Noem. The term “Oyate” translates to people or nation.

Star Comes Out defended “Indian people from such places as El Salvador, Guatemala, and Mexico” that come to America for a better life.

He took umbrage at Noem’s statement that a gang that calls itself the “Ghost Dancers” is affiliated with border-crossing carters that are using South Dakota reservations to traffic drugs throughout the Midwest, and that these gangs are murdering people on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Star Comes Out’s banishment letter, in full, to Gov. Noem (editor’s note, typos are his):

STATEMENT OF OGLALA SIOUX TRIBAL PRESIDENT FRANK STAR COMES OUT RESPONDING TO S.D. GOVERNOR KRISTI NOEM’S BORDER ADDRESS TO THE JOINT SESSION OF THE S.D. LEGISLATURE (February 2, 2024)

First, I would like to say that I am an honorably discharged U.S. Marine that served tours in the Gulf War and Somalia, and currently serve as the President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.  

This statement is issued on behalf of the Tribe in response to Governor Kristi Noem’s border address to the Joint Sesson of the S.D. Legislature on January 31, 2024.

Secondly, I would like to state for the record that the Oglala Sioux Tribe is a sovereign nation that is neither a Democrat nor Republican tribe; the tribe has to work with whatever administration, Democrat or Republican,that is elected into power.  

The Tribe’s nation-to-nation relationship with the United States began when we entered into the Treaty of July 5, 1825 (7 Stat. 252) with the United States, which brought the Tribe under the under the protection of the United States.  The Tribe is therefore a protectorate nation of the United States, not the State of South Dakota.  

It is the United States that should be protecting the Tribe from “invasions,” if any actually exist within the meaning of the Art. 1, Sec. 10, Cl. 3 (“Compact Clause”) of the U.S. Constitution.  

Thirdly, Governor Noem’s use of the term “invasion” as a justification to send S.D. National Guard troops to Texas under the Compact Clause in misplaced because:

 Only entry plus enmity constitutes an invasion. The unlawful entry of people into the United States cannot be construed as an invasion.  Nor, for the same reason, can the prospect of further illegal entry in the imminent future be so construed.  [T]he unlawful entry of criminal groups into a jurisdiction by itself insufficient to constitute an invasion . . . .[1]   

Thus, calling the United States’ southern border in Texas an “invasion” by illegal immigrants and criminal groups to justify sending S.D. National Guard troops there is a red herring that the Oglala Sioux Tribe doesn’t support. 

Fifthly, the Oglala Sioux Tribe also rejects the following statements by Government Noem in her address to the S.D. Legislature:

  • NOEM: “We see the effects of Joe Biden’s failures at the border every day herein South Dakota. “  

OST RESPONSE: The failures at the border are the result of both Democrats and Republicans to resolve border issues in bi-partisan legislation.

The truth of the matter is that Governor Noem wants the use the so-called “invasion” of the southern border as a Republican “crisis” issue to help get former President Donald Trump use it as a campaign issue to get re-elected as President, and in turn increase her chances of being selected by Trump to be his running mate as Vice-President.

Governor Noem should instead join Senator John Thune and other senators and congressmen to support the bi-partisan border deal in Congress.  It is the best deal that Republicans will get even if Trump somehow manages to get elected as U.S. President again.

  • NOEM:  The drug and human trafficking pouring over the border devastate our people.  Make no mistake, the cartels have a presence on several of South Dakota’s tribal reservations.  Murders are being committed by cartel members on the Pine Ridge Reservation and in Rapid City, and a gang called the “Ghost Dancers” are affiliated with these cartels.

We in state government do not have the jurisdiction to unilaterally intervene and provide law enforcement support to our tribes. That is a treaty obligation of the federal government. 

The Oglala Sioux Tribe sued the federal government. They pointed to evidence that the level of violent crime, drug trafficking, and gang activity on the Reservation is staggering, unprecedented, and overwhelming law enforcement resources. A federal judge ordered the Biden Administration to come to the table and work with the Oglala Sioux Tribe to provide the desperately needed law enforcement resources. But Biden has failed to make good on that obligation, so now the Oglala Sioux Tribe is suing again. They said that these crimes were being perpetrated primarily by “non-Native” individuals. They’re talking about the cartels.

OST RESPONSE:  Drug and human trafficking are occurring throughout South Dakota, and surrounding states, not just on Indian reservations.  

It is true that the Tribe has filed two lawsuits in federal court alleging that drugs and gang activity on the Reservation is over whelming law enforcement resources. But this is a result of the future of the U.S. Government to fulfill its treaty obligations to the Tribe.  But it isn’t only Biden that is to blame for not complying with the court’s order; Biden only signs bills passed by both houses of Congress.  It is the gridlock, primarily caused by the Republican controlled House of Representatives that has refused to pass a budget that would allow for more police officers on the reservation.  The same problems, lack of adequate funding for reservation law enforcement, also existed under the previous Trump Administrator. 

  • NOEM:  The cartels are using our reservations to facilitate the spread of drugs throughout the Midwest. In particular, fentanyl – which is being manufactured by the Chinese and smuggled over our Southern Border – is causing these [overdose] deaths. 

OST RESPONSE: Drugs are being spread from places like Denver directly to reservations as well as off-reservation cities and towns in South Dakota.  Reservations cannot be blames for drugs ending up in Rapid City, Sioux Falls and even in places like Watertown and Castlewood, S.D.   This was going on even when Trump was President.

In closing, believe that many of the people coming to the southern border of the United States in search of jobs and a better life are Indian people from such places as El Salvadore, Guatemalan and Mexicao and don’t deserve to be dehumanized and mistreated by people like Governor Abott and his cohorts.  They don’t need to be put in cages, separated from their children like during the Trump Administration, or be cut up by razor wire furnished by, of all places, South Dakota.

I joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served honorable in foreign wars to protect the freedoms of all Americans, even Indians throughout the nation.  I don’t to see our Indian people and reservations used as a basis to create a bogus border crisis just to help Trump get reelected President and Governor Noem his running mate as Vice-President 

Lastly, I agree with Noem’s statement that “we are a nation of laws and not men.”[2] At least we should be.  This is why the United States and the State of South Dakota should be honoring our treaty rights within our Sioux homelands, not constantly trying to degrade and diminish them.    

[1] Joshua Trevino, The Meaning Of Invasion Under the Compact Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Texas Public Policy Foundation, Nov., 2022, pgs. 7-8).   

[2] Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137 (1803) (“[The] government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws, and not of men’).

Listicle: How did Anchorage’s cold spell measure up?

Suzanne Downing
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Listicle: How did Anchorage’s cold spell measure up?

Sure, it’s been cold in Anchorage in 2024. In fact, Anchorage last week set a new record for a low temperature for Jan. 31, when the thermometer dropped to -18 degrees Fahrenheit.

It was then -17 on Feb. 2, with a high of -6 in the afternoon, which turned out to be the lowest high temperature since January of 2009.

But have we hit truly cold temperatures, compared to the ups and downs in recent years? Let’s take a look at the coldest dates each year for Anchorage for the past 70, according to the website CurrentReport.com, which reports that these measurements are from the Ted Stevens International Airport and go as far back as 1954.

The lowest temperature in those years was -34 degrees Fahrenheit on Jan. 05, 1975. Here’s the list of annual record cold days:

-12December 20, 2022  
-9December 15, 2021
-11January 08, 2020
-7January 07, 2019
-2February 05, 2018
-15January 19, 2017
-8December 05, 2016
-8November 18, 2015
0February 11, 2014
-11December 17, 2013
-15January 28, 2012
-12January 16, 2011
-8December 25, 2010
-24January 07, 2009
-15December 31, 2008
-17January 08, 2007
-11January 26, 2006
-8February 05, 2005
-18January 17, 2004
-14December 02, 2003
-11January 26, 2002
-15December 17, 2001
-10January 16, 2000
-28February 04, 1999
-11January 05, 1998
-21January 07, 1997
-14December 31, 1996
-15January 13, 1995
-15November 25, 1994
-22February 02, 1993
-16March 05, 1992
-14February 07, 1991
-24December 01, 1990
-30January 29, 1989
-9January 28, 1988
-12January 12, 1987
-8March 01, 1986
-10February 22, 1985
-18January 24, 1984
-17January 09, 1983
-20January 07, 1982
-16December 30, 1981
-23December 17, 1980
-16December 31, 1979
-11December 16, 1978
-16December 09, 1977
-13February 10, 1976
-34January 05, 1975
-18January 20, 1974
-27January 26, 1973
-28January 11, 1972
-24March 07, 1971
-14December 31, 1970
-16January 05, 1969
-18February 03, 1968
-18February 14, 1967
-21December 10, 1966
-21February 19, 1965
-30December 14, 1964
-22January 09, 1963
-22January 27, 1962
-30December 28, 1961
-23January 13, 1960 +
-17January 01, 1959
-18December 31, 1958
-20December 26, 1957
-26February 12, 1956
-27December 10, 1955
-29December 28, 1954

Republican governors join Abbott at Texas border

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Republican governors join Abbott at Texas border

“If we put up resistance, we show we can secure the border.” – Gov. Greg Abbott

By BETHANY BLANKLEY | THE CENTER SQUARE

Thirteen Republican governors joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in Eagle Pass, Texas, Sunday to pledge their commitment to border security and states’ constitutional rights to self-defense.

“Half of the governors of the United States have joined with Texas in our cause to make sure states should do everything possible to secure our border,” Abbott said. “We are here to send a loud and clear message that we are banding together to fight to ensure that we will be able to maintain our constitutional guarantee that states will be able to defend against any type of imminent danger or an invasion that has been threatened by Joe Biden and his abject refusal to enforce the immigration laws of the United States of America.”

Abbott cited the self-defense clause of the U.S. Constitution, Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3, which more than 50 Texas counties have cited in their invasion declarations, saying, “We’re all fighting for a safer, more secure border and country.”

Joining Abbott were the governors of Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Utah.

They appeared in Shelby Park, where concertina wire barriers are the focus of one of three lawsuits filed over border barriers in the Eagle Pass area between Texas and the federal government.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said there are hundreds of Tennessee troops currently serving along the Texas-Mexico border.

“We are prepared even today to send additional troops working with the Texas Department of Military to do just that,” Lee, said, adding that states were doing the job the federal government failed to do, “to protect this country.”

“Each one of us understands the devastating effects that the border policy has had on every one of our states individually. We’re here together to collaboratively work to support Texas and to provide for the safety and security of people all across the country,” Lee said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said they were standing with Abbott “because every state in our country now is a border state [and] if our border is not secure, our country is not secure and Joe Biden’s policies are making our country less safe.”

He cited the record number of people being apprehended on the terrorist watch list, asking how many of them “are in our country that we didn’t apprehend?” He cited the record 458 million lethal doses of illicit fentanyl and 56,000 pounds of methamphetamine that OLS officers have seized, adding, “think about the doses that were not.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, “obviously by the strong showing and the sheer number of governors that are stepping up across the country, it’s very clear that this is not just a fight that Texas is having. This is a fight that all of us have to engage in.” She said the president has not only “failed to protect our border, to protect our people … but he’s been dishonest about it. He’s trying to pass off the idea that somehow he has no ability to do anything to fix it, and Congress has to step up when every single person knows he can make changes and steps right now today to help secure our border and protect our country. Yet he simply refuses to do so.”

In his absence, she said, “there is no fight right now that is more important for us to engage in” as governors “because we have to, because it’s absolutely vital for the long term safety and security of our country.”

She also said Arkansas sent National Guard troops to Texas last year and will continue to do so this year “as much as we can and as much is needed.”

Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said, “Our states are being invaded by the people crossing illegally. Our constitution gives the states the right to self-defense. That’s what Governor Abbott’s doing and that’s why we’re here standing with him today. Biden is doing the exact opposite.”

Abbott said the states’ efforts were working. There used to be 3,000 to 4,000 foreign nationals illegally entering through the park a day. Today, the average is three a day.

“If we put up resistance, we show we can secure the border,” Abbott said, adding that states can secure the border. “Joe Biden should not be stopping that.”

Bronson closes Golden Lion, Aviator for warming

Suzanne Downing
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Bronson closes Golden Lion, Aviator for warming

Due to increasing temperatures and a decrease in use, Mayor Dave Bronson closed the Aviator Hotel and the Golden Lion Hotels as warming facilities, starting at 8 am on Sunday.

“Under the emergency declaration that went into effect on January 26, 2024, warming facilities were established at three locations across Anchorage. Capacity for the warming facilities was set at 30 people at each location. At the peak of operations, The Golden Lion served 23 people in a 24-hour period, Aviator Hotel served 32 people in a 24-hour period, and CWS served 68 people in a 24-hour period,” the mayor wrote.

Golden Lion Hotel devolves into homeless shelter

The emergency declaration is still in effect and the warming area at the cold weather shelter at the former Solid Waste Services building will remain open for the duration of the emergency.

The temperature in Anchorage a this writing is 12 degrees Fahrenheit, with a low of 4 degrees at night. It will warm up into the 20s this week, with lows in the teens.

“If you or someone you know is heat insecure or in need of community resources related to food pantry, shelter, rent assistance or other resources please call 211 or email [email protected].”

Assembly’s homelessness task force pulls switcheroo on Midtown Anchorage, wants Golden Lion Hotel for homeless shelter

Alexander Dolitsky: Anyone can become a victim of a far-left cult

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Alexander Dolitsky: Anyone can become a victim of a far-left cult

By ALEXANDER DOLITSKY

Most people believe cult members are mentally unbalanced or are misfits who live in remote places, like the doomed devotees of Jim Jones and David Koresh; or various far-left cult members, including “Climate Change” activists, “Black Lives Matter,” “ANTIFA,” and some “World Peace” organizations that are calling for cease-fire in Gaza.

We take comfort in the fact that the influences of cults are far removed from our everyday lives. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In her book, Cults in Our Midst: The Hidden Menace in our Everyday Lives (1995), Margaret Thaler Singer (MTS for short in this article), outlined several key categories of cults and their followers. Here are some excerpts from her book, with my editorial comments:  

“Today, nearly 20 million people have joined about 5,000 cults in the United States. Often a cult is disguised as a legitimate organization, and anyone, especially our young, could be susceptible to the covert and seductive nature of a cult. During periods of traumatic life changes, people are especially vulnerable to these masterful manipulations.” (MTS)

It is imperative, therefore, to prevent the spread of cults’ influence the way our society prevents the spread of racism, neo-Nazism, anti-Semitism, and discrimination of minorities. In order to prevent the spread of cults’ influence, one has to clearly understand the characteristics cults have in common. What are cults? Who are the people most likely to join cults?

“There are several major types of cults in the United States: (1) Neo-Christian religious; (2) Hindu and Eastern religious: (3) Witchcraft and Satanist; (4) Spiritualist: (5) Zen philosophical-mystical orientation; (6) Racial orientation; (7) Flying-saucer phenomena orientation; (8) Political.” (MTS)

…and, more recently: (9) Climate Change; and (10) Black Lives Matter. 

“The label cult refers to 3 factors: (1) The origin of the group and role of the leader; (2) The power structure or relationship between the leader and the followers; (3) The use of a coordinated program of brainwashing.” (MTS)

… and (4) Indoctrination of our youth by far-left social activists, media and radical educators in our public schools and universities.

“Cults and cultic groups normally refer to any one of a large number of groups that have sprung up in our society and that are similar in the way they originate, in their power structure, and in their governance. Cults range from relatively benign to those that exercise extraordinary control over member’s lives and use brainwashing to influence and control members. Cult denotes a group that forms around a person who claims that he or she has special mission or knowledge, which will be shared with those who turn over most of their decision making to that leader. The process of brainwashing or mind control is the route by which the cult leader gains control.” (MTS)

This process of brainwashing is strikingly similar to the strategy and information’s manipulation of the far-left media, which is controlled by a powerful elite class.

“Eventually, cult leaders and their most close followers subject other members to mind-numbing treatments that block critical and evaluative thinking and subjugate independent choice in a context of a strictly enforced hierarchy. A cult leader’s motivation is to harass, to financially destroy, and to silence criticism. Cult leaders keep the focus of love, devotion, and allegiance on themselves. In many cults, for example, spouses are forced to separate, or parents are forced to give up their children as a test of their devotion to their leader.” (MTS)

As a rule, cult leaders claim to be breaking with a tradition, offering something novel, and instituting the only “viable” system for change that will solve life’s problem or the world’s challenges—e.g., advocating for neo-Marxist ideology, White Privilege doctrine, Critical Race Theory, Black Lives Matter standings and, most recently, anti-Semitic pro-Palestinian movement.

“Cults tend to require members to undergo a major disruption or change in lifestyle. Many cults put great pressure on their members to leave their families, friends, and jobs to become immersed in the group’s major purpose. In this closed system of logic, one is not allowed to question or doubt a tenet, or rule, or call attention to factual information that suggests some internal contradiction within the belief system, or a contradiction with what one has been.” (MTS)

…very much resembling a totalitarian regime, with a brutal dictator and an “inquisition-type “of justice system in charge of the masses, similar to the Soviet socialist-style of governing. 

The far-left “Climate Change” activism is, historically, one of the most recent cult-type movement. Indeed, it is a political instrument of the radical groups and progressive social activists who are attempting to create a fear among people by manipulating and exaggerating environmental data.

Most professional prehistoric archaeologists or paleo-environmentalists are aware and able to present cyclical cooling and warming periods, and environmental changes that took place on Earth for millions of years prior to the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries (from about 1740s to 1860s AD). 

Ironically, it seems that Juneau and Anchorage in Alaska have been suffering from the climate change for several weeks this winter. In fact, this year (2024) Juneau just broke a record for snowiest January ever with more than 76 inches. But for the far-left Climate Change activists, no matter whether it’s unusually wet or dry, hot or cold, snow or rain, or any “unusual” weather event is attributed to global climate change these days. And for the Climate Change cultic activists, “unusual” means simply anything more uncomfortable than average. 

Certainly, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of speech and beliefs to all citizens. But it also guarantees to minors the rights to choose their own ideological and spiritual path. Our educational and legal system should recognize that minors should not be subjected to any forms of intense indoctrination or brainwashing by the far-left progressive educators in our public schools; nor should minors have to live in an environment which manipulates their choices and desires.

I encourage our educators to objectively and impartially discuss the subject of a cult in school. Furthermore, our legal and political authorities must recognize dangerous effects of a cult’s environment and the far-left woke ideology upon the development of our youth. The far-left cults are more pervasive than ever before.

Covert far-left political groups are targeting the elderly, young, family, and the workplace world-wide, including our country. Be alert, anyone can become a victim of a far-left cult.

Alexander Dolitsky: Israel and United States are close friends

Alexander B. Dolitsky was born and raised in Kiev in the former Soviet Union. He received an M.A. in history from Kiev Pedagogical Institute, Ukraine, in 1976; an M.A. in anthropology and archaeology from Brown University in 1983; and was enroled in the Ph.D. program in Anthropology at Bryn Mawr College from 1983 to 1985, where he was also a lecturer in the Russian Center. In the U.S.S.R., he was a social studies teacher for three years, and an archaeologist for five years for the Ukranian Academy of Sciences. In 1978, he settled in the United States. Dolitsky visited Alaska for the first time in 1981, while conducting field research for graduate school at Brown. He lived first in Sitka in 1985 and then settled in Juneau in 1986. From 1985 to 1987, he was a U.S. Forest Service archaeologist and social scientist. He was an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Russian Studies at the University of Alaska Southeast from 1985 to 1999; Social Studies Instructor at the Alyeska Central School, Alaska Department of Education from 1988 to 2006; and has been the Director of the Alaska-Siberia Research Center (see www.aksrc.homestead.com) from 1990 to present. He has conducted about 30 field studies in various areas of the former Soviet Union (including Siberia), Central Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and the United States (including Alaska). Dolitsky has been a lecturer on the World Discoverer, Spirit of Oceanus, andClipper Odyssey vessels in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. He was the Project Manager for the WWII Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease Memorial, which was erected in Fairbanks in 2006. He has published extensively in the fields of anthropology, history, archaeology, and ethnography. His more recent publications include Fairy Tales and Myths of the Bering Strait Chukchi, Ancient Tales of Kamchatka; Tales and Legends of the Yupik Eskimos of Siberia; Old Russia in Modern America: Russian Old Believers in Alaska; Allies in Wartime: The Alaska-Siberia Airway During WWII; Spirit of the Siberian Tiger: Folktales of the Russian Far East; Living Wisdom of the Far North: Tales and Legends from Chukotka and Alaska; Pipeline to Russia; The Alaska-Siberia Air Route in WWII; and Old Russia in Modern America: Living Traditions of the Russian Old Believers; Ancient Tales of Chukotka, and Ancient Tales of Kamchatka.

Alexander Dolitsky: Understanding anti-Semitism and anti-Semites in America

Alexander Dolitsky: Understanding anti-Semitism and anti-Semites in America

A few more of Dolitsky’s past MRAK columns:

Read: Russian Old Believers in Alaska live lives reflecting bygone centuries

Read: Russian saying: Beat your friends so your enemies fear you

Read: Neo-Marxism and utopian Socialism in America

Read: Old believers preserving faith in the New World

Read: Duke Ellington and the effects of Cold War in Soviet Union on intellectual curiosity

Read: United we stand, divided we fall with race, ethnicity in America

Read: For American schools to succeed, they need this ingredient

Read: Nationalism in America, Alaska, around the world

Read: The case of the ‘delicious salad’

Read: White privilege is a troubling perspective

Read: Beware of activists who manipulate history for their own agenda

Read: Alaska Day remembrance of Russian transfer

Read: American leftism is true picture of true hypocrisy

Read: History does not repeat itself

Read: The only Ford Mustang in Kiev

Read: What is greed? Depends on the generation

Doggone it: Colorado Democrat legislator has a bill to tax pets

Suzanne Downing
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Doggone it: Colorado Democrat legislator has a bill to tax pets

A new way for the government to skim from families has popped up in the Colorado House of Representatives, where Rep. Regina English, a Democrat, has introduced a pet tax for all pets — vertebrate and invertebrates.

Colorado House Bill 24-1163 would impose a tax of up to $8.50 on every pet, an annual fee.

But wait, there’s more: The government, in addition to requiring all pets to be registered and taxed by the Department of Agriculture, would be required to tell the government who the “designated caregiver” is for the pet. Failure to disclose the designee would result in a $25 fine. If the dog or cat pet is not spayed or neutered, the tax would be $16 annually per pet.

The bill requires the commissioner of the Department of Agriculture (commissioner) to develop, implement, and maintain an online pet animal registration system (system). The state registration and tax system would not deduct any locally levied dog licenses.

A fish aquarium with 10 fish would be charged $85 per year, and failure to designate a caregiver for the pet fish would be $250 per year.

According to World Population Review, 64.7% of Coloradans are pet owners who would be subject to this tax. Livestock such as cows, horses, sheep, and other grazing animals are not included. The bill does not specify is service animals are considered pets.

Denver and other cities in Colorado have ordinances limiting the number of dogs and cats that people may own. In Denver, a person may own up to five; if they have three dogs, they can only have two cats. All must be licensed, which is $15 a year for each dog. The city has a restriction of two rabbits per household and a person can own no more than 25 pigeons or doves.

Denver is said to have about 158,000 dogs in the metro area, which would give the state over $1.3 million in registration fees alone per year, not counting the $25 fee for not disclosing an alternate caregiver. Colorado Springs similarly limits households to four dogs and four cats.

An active dog mushing community in Colorado would be impacted by the new tax, but dog breeders are apparently exempted. Sales of pets are covered under Denver and Colorado sales taxes. Denver County has an 8.81% sales tax, which includes the state sales tax of 2.9%.

The new state pet registration tax would ostensibly be used to help connect owners with their pets after an emergency, should they be separated, according to the bill sponsor.

Colorado’s House of Representatives has been controlled by Democrats since 2012. In 2022, Democrats won a 46-19 majority. Once viewed as a swing state politically, Colorado has been trending Democrat, as younger people moved there from California and elsewhere. More than 200,000 people moved from California to Colorado from 2009 to 2019. According to The Visualist website, in 2020-2021, nearly 27,000 Californians moved to Colorado.

Bob Griffin: The claims that Alaska public education needs more money does not hold up to scrutiny

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Bob Griffin: The claims that Alaska public education needs more money does not hold up to scrutiny

By BOB GRIFFIN

A recent major university study on adequacy in K-12 public education spending finds that Alaska not only has one of the most adequately funded K-12 systems in the US, it also has one of the most equitable ones.

In a January 2024 joint report from Rutgers and the University of Miami, Alaska was listed second in the nation for adequacy in K-12 funding in 2021, out of 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Not only was Alaska listed as one of the top most-funded systems, Alaska was also highlighted as having one of the most equitable distributions of education funding to low-income students. 

A recent analysis from the Alaska Policy Forum reached a very similar conclusion using a different technique. It’s widely accepted that spending on education will vary greatly based on the affluence of one place or another. It’s no surprise that the U.S. spends more per student on K-12 than Mexico, because the U.S. has a much more affluent population. Although Alaska has one of the highest per-student funding rates in the country, 12 states ranked higher than Alaska in wealth from personal income per capita. 

APF found that Alaska led the nation in 2022 in the amount of funding that was dedicated to K-12, compared personal income in the state. The analysis was based on per-student spending figures from the National Education Association and personal income figures from the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. 

Alaska’s spending on K-12 in the 2021-22 school year was equal to 6.7% of all personal income. Luckily, oil revenues continue to pay for a very large portion of all state spending. If Alaskans had to fund K-12 at our current level, it would take a 6.7% personal income tax on all Alaskans, rich and poor, with no deductions or exemptions, just to pay for K-12 at our current spending levels.

The national average for K-12 spending relative to the income was 46% lower than Alaska, at 4.6%. Florida, one of the highest performing states in K-12 test results, was less than half the effort of Alaskans at 3.1%.

Alaska does not have a K-12 funding problem. We have a resource allocation problem.

Between 2003 and 2022, Alaska increased spending per-student 98% according to the NEA, while inflation was only 56%. Spending in K-12 in Alaska should be carefully refocused on areas we know will improve student outcomes – like continuing to improve early childhood literacy, reinforcing our best-in-the-country charter school programs, solving our worst-in-the-country chronic absentee problem and recruiting and retaining high quality educators.

Bob Griffin is on the board of Alaska Policy Forum and serves on the Alaska Board of Education and Early Development, but writes this in his own capacity.

Bob Griffin: Why it was right to recalibrate Alaska education test standards
Bob Griffin: Alaska Reads Act is up for the challenge shown by national reading assessment scores

Semper Fidelis: Sen. Sullivan officially a veteran

Suzanne Downing
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Semper Fidelis: Sen. Sullivan officially a veteran

Sen. Dan Sullivan officially retired from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves during a ceremony on Feb. 1 at the Marine Barracks in Washington, D.C. During the ceremony, Sullivan was honored for his time in the Marine Corps and congratulated for his 30 years of service.

U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Gen. David Bellon (left), commander of Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces South,
shakes hands with Col. Daniel Sullivan for a photo during his retirement ceremony at Marine Barracks Washington, D.C., Feb. 1, 2024. Photo credit: Lance Cpl. Sarah Pyshe.

Sullivan is a U.S. senator from Alaska who pursued a career in the Marine Corps Reserve simultaneously with his service as a senator, retiring as a colonel, having served from 1993 to 2024 across the globe.

In his remarks at the podium, Sullivan said, “I think [the Marine Corps] represents the best of America, focusing on values that most Americans want and can admire – honor, courage, commitment. Our oath, Semper Fidelis, focuses on fidelity not just for America, but also to each other. Despite the hardness, toughness, and discipline the Marines are known for, there is an intense ethos of taking care of each other in the Corps.”

MRAK Show: Sen. Dan Sullivan announces he is retiring from U.S. Marine Corps Reserves

Must Read Alaska Show ranked top political podcast in Alaska

Suzanne Downing
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Must Read Alaska Show ranked top political podcast in Alaska

Feedspot, a database company that ranks podcasts, has named the Must Read Alaska Show as the #1 political podcast in Alaska for 2024.

Second on the list is the East Anchorage Book Club, produced by Rep. Andrew Gray, an Anchorage Democrat, followed by ADN Politics from the Anchorage Daily News and With All Due Respect by Andrew Halcro, also a production of the ADN.

On ListenNotes, another ranking company, the Must Read Alaska Show is ranked in the top .5% out of the 4.3 million podcasts in the world. The Must Read Alaska Show launched in September, 2020 and has completed 376 episodes.

Host John Quick took over hosting the online show more two years ago after the first host, Scott Levesque, moved out of state. Quick has had national figures on his show, including governors, senators, financial advisors, faith and business leaders, and even the president of the nation of Palau. Last week he interviewed the Alaska president of the AFL-CIO, Joelle Hall.

“I really enjoy hearing from people from all walks of life, and view each podcast as a human interest piece highlighting the work my guest does, regardless of his or her politics,” Quick said. He produces the show from his home in Nikiski on the Kenai Peninsula.

Last week, Quick interviewed the former governor of Missouri, Eric Greitens, who is a former Navy SEAL and who now engages in humanitarian work around the world. You can hear Gov. Greitens, who has authored the book, “Strength and Courage,” about his experiences on the battlefield and in the Governor’s Office of the Show Me State, at this link.

Search past episodes of the Podcast at ListenNotes with this app:




You can hear the ust Read Alaska Show on Facebook, at this link, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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