It was stuck about 16 miles into a route that runs by Knik Glacier, sunk into the silt and meltwater with no other way out.
I spoke with the Black Hawk charter company that assisted with the job for my initial report, which explained that the chopper alone cost $8,250 to deploy.
Now, we have more info from the tow company that executed it all, as well as Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources.
Since the creation of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in the mid-1970s, America has never been backed into such an energy corner as we’re in now, thanks to the Biden Administration selling off much of our oil reserve to countries like China.
It’s an invisible trap about which most Americans are oblivious, but it has everything to do with inflation, recession, and national security. Americans may soon feel the pain of rising prices, supply shortages, and a faltering economy, if OPEC, Russia, and China succeed in taking advantage of our suddenly depleted energy stockpile.
Under President Joe Biden, this drawdown of our reserve oil masks political problems he blames on Russia. But that dog won’t hunt. Let me explain:
Recall that it took just one year after Biden became president for Russia President Vladimir Putin to invade Ukraine. Putin had also seized parts of Crimea during the years when Barack Obama was president.
Putin held his Ukraine ambitions in abeyance during the four years of President Donald Trump. Love him or hate him, Trump was the president with whom Putin did not want to mess. For four years, the United States was strong enough to stall the expansion plans of the Russian strongman until that fateful day when American voters evidently elected a man who would hardly leave his basement to campaign for president.
For Biden, the price of oil doubling under his administration was a serious problem starting in 2022; the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was his solution to keep Americans calm after the price of gas had doubled quickly last year.
Thus, oil poured forth from the strategic reserve month after month, invisibly suppressing the supply problem Biden was creating with his other anti-oil policies. Much of that oil sold by the Biden Administration went to companies that were middlemen for China.
How much oil? Last year, the Department of Energy sold off over 180 million reserve barrels. This was about 21 gallons of crude oil for every man, woman, and child in America.
In one year alone, the Biden Administration drained nearly a third of what was in the emergency reserve and he has more sell-offs on the schedule. The Administration says its efforts have lowered gasoline prices by 17-42 cents over what they would be without this action.
The reserve, which can hold 714 million barrels of oil, was meant as a deterrent to adverse actions by OPEC, and is supposed to help give the country a leg up in foreign policy.
But now, with just 346 million barrels left, OPEC and its sidecar Russia can read the charts: The United States has not only run through its emergency supply, it doesn’t allow enough domestic oil to be developed to meet its own needs.
Military power is one toggle on the global geopolitical chessboard and the U.S. still has that — we hope. Oil production is another big player, and in a way is the Queen with more moves.
The opposing players have announced their next moves: Saudi Arabia cut oil production by one million barrels a day, effective July 1.
Russia, still under oil sanctions by major Western countries, has moved its oil across the oceans in spite of sanctions. Before the G7 changed the export rules on Russia to western world countries in 2022, Russia exported 33,000 barrels of refined product to the African continent per day. By March of 2023, it had built that to 420,000 barrels per day to Africa.
Russia’s oil continues to trade above the $60 price cap set by the participating embargo countries back in December. In July, Russian Urals crude oil futures breached the $60 limit and is now trading over $63, about where it stood at the time Russia invaded Ukraine and before the G7 sanctions were announced.
To drive prices higher still, Russia will now reduce oil exports by 500,000 barrels per day starting in August, the same time Saudi Arabia is scaling back.
Thus, price caps on Russia had only had a temporary effect.
As the chess piecesmove around the board, President Biden will be forced to purchase oil to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve at higher prices than the price at which he sold reserve oil to China last year. Or, he simply may not replenish the supply and hope for the best.
Hope is a bad strategy. The storage caverns are half empty. With America using 20 million barrels a day, we’re down to a 17-day supply of emergency oil.
The Biden Administration has backed us into a corner, and Americans should hope and pray for a warm winter, because the price of heating our homes may be more than we can afford in January.
U.S. Senate Republicans launched a video claiming that President Joe Biden has “created the largest child trafficking ring in U.S. history.”
The video quotes Republican senators at hearings expressing concern about the extraordinary number of unaccompanied minors being trafficked to and through the U.S. southern border.
In one clip, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, says “Biden does not care about the 300,000 plus unaccompanied children that have been placed with sponsors since he became president.”
Over 85,000.
That’s how many children are missing under Joe Biden.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, says, “the Biden administration has utterly failed to secure the border and has encouraged parents to send their minor alien children on dangerous trips to the United States unaccompanied. It’s failed to protect these children after they’ve been let into the United States.”
The video points to reports that reveal at least 85,000 children have gone missing because the federal agencies tasked with caring for them can’t account for where they are. After the children were smuggled into the U.S., the Biden administration released them to sponsors under the oversight of the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Service’s Office of Refugee Resettlement.
The Biden administration says the children are coming to live with family members. But reports show many weren’t placed with family members or anyone else they knew.
Initial reports indicated more than 45,000 children, in just a few months evaluated in an Axios investigation, were missing by early 2022. Since then, that number has more than doubled. Unaccompanied minors using falsified papers have been working in meat processing plants, prompting federal investigations over alleged child labor law violations. They’ve also been involved in encouraging others to participate in organized crime at a public school by soliciting funds to pay their human smuggler, or coyote, who helped them illegally enter the U.S.
Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called for an investigation and asked the Florida Supreme Court to empanel a grand jury to investigate trafficking of children into Florida. It did, and the grand jury found the federal government’s management of unaccompanied children’s release and transport resulted in “facilitating the forced migration, sale, and abuse of foreign children.”
The process “exposes children to horrifying health conditions, constant criminal threat, labor and sex trafficking, robbery, rape and other experiences not done justice by mere words,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said when announcing the findings in April. She also called on Congress to investigate and take action.
Since then, Congress has held several hearings, and clips from those hearings are highlighted in the Senate GOP video. The video also highlights information from New York Times investigations into child trafficking of children from the border.
In January, The New York Times reported that unaccompanied minors were placed with human traffickers by the Biden administration. In February, it reported “exploited” migrant children were working in “brutal jobs across the US” in violation of child labor laws. In August, it reported “the White House and federal agencies were repeatedly warned of risks” to children and the “warnings were either ignored or missed.”
Moody and many others have called on Congress to impeach Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, claiming he’s violated federal law, lied multiple times under oath before Congress, and is endangering American and unaccompanied children’s lives.
Border Patrol Union Vice President Art Del Cueto has also said that the majority of Border Patrol officers want Mayorkas impeached.
U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, says he’s written to the FBI asking it “to find out where the 80,000-plus children are that this administration has lost. They don’t know.
“The kids are in danger. The kids are in slavery. They are being exploited. And it should not happen in the United States of America.”
The Biden administration has maintained that the border is closed and that after the children are placed in homes with sponsors, HHS is no longer responsible for them.
While saying the border is closed, the administration created another parole program inviting millions more people from four countries to come to the U.S. to “unify families.” It did so after on May 31, it ended DNA testing to determine if family units were really family units arriving at the border. Border Patrol agents have told The Center Square the policy is incentivizing crime.
Prior to apprehensions declining last month between ports of entry and increasing at ports of entry, the Border Patrol union warned, “[Mexican] cartels are still running the border. That hasn’t changed. They control the flow of illegal aliens coming in. Period.”
Since Biden’s been in office, more than 8 million people have illegally entered the U.S. – totaling more than the individual populations of 38 states.
Congressional oRepublicans raised questions about the security of the White House on Thursday after a U.S. Secret Service probe failed to find out how cocaine ended up in the White House.
House Committee on Oversight and Accountability Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said he expected better from the Secret Service.
“The White House is supposed to be the most secure residence in the world, but today Secret Service officials failed to answer basic questions or provide any meaningful information related to security failures and cocaine being found at the White House,” he said in a statement.
Comer said the Secret Service must “reassess their security operations to prevent illegal substances from entering the White House.”
The U.S. Secret Service said Thursday it closed its investigation into cocaine found at the White House because of a “lack of physical evidence” 11 days after the illegal drug was found in one of the nation’s most secure buildings.
“There was no surveillance video footage found that provided investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited the found substance in this area,” the U.S. Secret Service said in a statement. “Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered. At this time, the Secret Service’s investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence.”
Officers from the U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division discovered what later turned out to be cocaine July 2 inside a vestibule leading to the lobby area of the West Executive Avenue entrance to the White House. The stash was located inside a receptacle used to store electronic and personal devices before entering the West Wing. After finding what was then an unknown white powder, the Secret Service temporarily closed down the White House as a precaution.
Last week, the White House declined to provide additional information about the matter, but said the cocaine was found in a “heavily traveled area.”
“We have confidence that the Secret Service will get to the bottom of this,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the time.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said the White House is supposed to be the “most secure location on the planet.”
“You better damn well believe that if [the Biden administration] wanted to go figure out where that cocaine came from, the Secret Service of the United States in the White House could figure it out,” Roy said during an interview with Fox News.
On the Amy Demboski Show on 650 KENI, Nick Begich announced he is running for Congress, taking on Rep. Mary Peltola, who is a Democrat.
Begich called into the show toward the end of the two hours on Thursday, and talked about energy issues, congressional oversight, geopolitical concerns, and more before saying, “I’m in.”
Begich highlighted the opportunity that Alaskans still have in front of them, with 25% of America’s estimated undiscovered oil reserves and nearly every critical mineral on the critical minerals list.
Alaska is poised to answer the nation’s pivot away from Chinese production, he said.
Begich first filed for Congress in 2021. After Congressman Don Young died in 2022, Peltola won the seat in the first open-primary, ranked-choice voting scenario that Alaskans had experienced under the new voting system ushered in by Ballot Measure 2. Sarah Palin came in second, and Nick Begich was third.
No other candidate has yet announced to run against Peltola, who comes up for reelection next year and who has already started running.
Nick Begich is from a family known to many as Democrats, but he comes from the Republican side of the family and since high school he has been a Republican; he was a member of his high school’s Republican Club. His grandfather was a conservative Democrat, Congressman Nick Begich, who died in a plane crash over Prince William Sound in 1972. Since 1973, Alaska was represented by Republican Don Young until Peltola replaced him.
“Mary Peltola also voted against legislation that would support domestic energy production, Alaska’s largest economic driver. She’s even voted in favor of lower minimum sentences for criminals convicted of violent crimes such as carjacking and robbery!,” Begich said in a press release. Peltola votes with radical squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar 98% of the time, according to ProPublica.
When Mokie Tew and I ran for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Assembly, we both promised two things:
We’d fight for a fiscally responsible government.
We’d defend all residents of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough against an overreaching bureaucracy.
We are proud to say that we both have repeatedly delivered on these promises. But we need your help to do it again.
On July 18, we are establishing a working group to fix a nearly 40-year-old issue with our half-written water body setback code, and we need those residents who are affected by this to come serve.
I’ve heard the argument that there is nothing wrong with the 75-foot setback that is currently in place, and if it was simply a setback rule, I would agree.
However, due to the incomplete nature of the ordinance, it has placed undue financial burden on those who had built homes closer than 75 ft to the water’s edge prior to the ordinance being enacted.
Last year I had a concerned constituent reach out to me regarding repairs that he needed to make to his home to preserve the structural integrity. Now he lives in a home badly in need of repair but cannot fix it due to the incomplete nature of the current setback ordinance, which prescribes no remedy for homeowners to become compliant with the current Matanuska-Susitna Borough code.
Other owners who were “grandfathered” in, who have homes closer to the lake than the 75-foot setback are finding that they cannot sell their homes unless they can find a cash buyer or are able to do an owner finance deal.
Homeownership is the single largest store of wealth that most Alaskans have and these upstanding Mat-Su residents who have lived in their homes for decades are finding that it’s nearly impossible for them to access that, through no fault of their own.
I was not elected to ignore situations like this. I will not stand by idly by and ignore him or the other 672 homeowners that are also finding themselves in a similar situation. We, as a community, owe it to these folks to finish the ordinance that was created in the 1980’s and give these homeowners a path forward. I was elected to lead and fix tough problems, and that’s exactly what Mokie and I are working tirelessly to do.
Are you, or someone you know, one of the 700+ homeowners, who through no fault of your own, can’t get financing on your home because it accidentally violates the 75-foot waterbody setback ordinance? Was your home affected by the 2018 earthquake but cannot be repaired because it violates this setback? Are you required to sell your home for a cash deal only because it violates the rule?
We recognize that most (673) homes in violation were built prior to the adoption of the set back rule in 1987. The remaining homes accidentally violated the rule because of the Borough’s lack of permitting requirements that would have prevented future builds from occurring within the prohibited 75 feet.
What are the solutions? Bulldoze and start new? Hire a moving company to move these homes? What about homes that don’t have 75 feet from a waterbody to build? After nearly 40 years of code violations with no path for homeowners to become compliant, Mokie and I have introduced a much-needed solution, but we need your feedback and approval.
Ordinance 23-049’s top priority is to protect our precious water source while still providing a means for owners to become compliant. If adopted, the ordinance would provide a permit only if: 1) a civil engineer develops plans constructed in accordance with local, state, and federal laws and 2) the owner is solely responsible for maintaining the Borough approved pollution mitigation plan.
Right now, homes out of compliance pose a potential pollution to our water supply because we lack regulations, yet these homeowners have no intention of causing issues. This waterbody permit would provide an incentive to these homeowners to spend the extra money on a mitigation plan and its implementation, which is in the best interests of all residents.
If you are a homeowner affected by this waterbody set back, please contact Mokie, myself, or Mayor Edna Devries to join our task force of concerned borough citizens, industry experts, professional engineers, and governing officials to create a common-sense reform that will protect our water for generations to come. Call or text my cell phone at any time at 907-232-8340.
Gun Owners of America, a prominent Second Amendment advocacy group, on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives over its controversial “zero tolerance” policy aimed at shutting down gun stores.
The lawsuit, titled Morehouse Enterprises v. ATF challenges the ATF’s rigid inspection guidelines for federal firearms licensees implemented in January 2022, which make it easy for the agency to pull a gun store’s federal license.
The gun-rights group argues that the ATF’s zero tolerance policy infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens and is a weaponization of federal agencies for political purposes.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt criticized the Biden administration’s approach: “This zero tolerance policy towards lawful commerce guaranteed by the Second Amendment is just the latest example of this Administration weaponizing federal agencies against their political enemies.”
Pratt called for defunding the ATF, asserting there is an immediate need to protect the rights of gun owners.
Sam Paredes, a board member of the Gun Owners Foundation highlighted the detrimental impact the ATF’s policies have on small businesses, saying “It’s ridiculous that good people trying to make an honest living are facing this assault on their livelihoods simply over inconsequential paperwork errors.”
The lawsuit came after the ATF targeted a North Dakota gun store, Morehouse Enterprises. Morehouse had already filed a lawsuit against the ATF, after which the agency conducted a surprise inspection of Morehouse, and found five violations — out of 5,000 gun sales or purchases by Morehouse. Before Morehouse filed its lawsuit, it had never gotten a visit for the ATF, which is now trying to suspend Morehouse’s gun store license.
Now’s the time to protect girls’ sports for biological girls. The State Board of Education has issued a proposed regulation to prohibit transgender males-to-females from participating in girls’ sports activities.
You don’t have to be a parent, grandparent, uncle, or aunt to participate in the public comment period, which ends soon. You only have to be an Alaskan resident to save girls’ sports.
You can help by providing your comments to support girls in K12 sports. Your comment doesn’t have to be long or complex. You can merely say, “I support the proposed regulation as published.”
Or you can personalize it with your child’s experiences in sports. How has K-12 sports helped your child succeed in school? Has your child learned to act as a team? Has your child’s participation in sports helped improve her academics? And has your child learned how to better interact socially with fellow students?
There are some who oppose this regulation. These include the ACLU-AK, Planned Parenthood of Alaska, and some notable state legislators.
Sen. Loki Tobin is leading the charge to allow transgender “females” to participate in K12 girls’ sports. It seems as if she wants to kill girls’ sports.
Here is one of her tweets comparing those who support keeping girls’ sports for only biological girls. Note the comparison to the Ku Klux Klan (a radical group which was formed by the Democratic Party following the end of the Civil War):
When did girls’ sports become a race issue? It’s apparent when the Left dislikes something, they attack by using race or some “phobia” to demean the messenger. Sen.Tobin has also allied with Planned Parenthood of Alaska to push for transgender females participation in girls’ sports:
Planned Parenthood of Alaska has a preformatted letter that its supporters can send to the State Board of Education.
Planned Parenthood says that not allowing transgender females to participate in girls’ sports will “profoundly violate all students’ privacy by forcing educators and coaches to identify and separate transgender youth from their peers.”
Planned Parenthood does not mention the privacy of the biological females in locker rooms.
Sen. Tobin sent an admonishing letter to James Fields, Chair of the State Board of Education and Early Development. Tobin wrote:
“Instead, the proposed regulations will override the thoughtful and often extremely personal input of parents, guardians, teachers, and administrators in favor of inserting government bureaucracy into the process”.
The irony is that she believes teachers and administrators, who are government bureaucrats, should play an equally important role in the decision to allow transgender females to participate in biological girls’ sports.
In her letter, Sen. Tobin further asks, “Will the state be sanctioning nonprofit volunteers and school activity directors to check genitals?”
This refers to the proposed regulation which would require the ASAA (Alaska Schools Activities Association) to restrict participation in girls’ sports to only those who were female at birth.
She has taken that statement and amplified it to literally pulling down children’s pants. Sad.
Even if you do not have any girls participating in sports activities, it is important that your voice be heard. Otherwise, this may be the death knell for K12 girls’ sports.
It’s Lucy and the football at the Anchorage Assembly.
The Anchorage Assembly, finally having the chance to open the Golden Lion hotel for housing, delayed approving funding for the a property that it approved the purchase of from the proceeds of the sale of Municipal Light & Power.
The Golden Lion, initially intended to be a drug rehabilitation center under the previous administration of Mayor Ethan Berkowitz, faced opposition from the community and a nearby preschool operator. Under the leadership of Mayor Dave Bronson, plans have shifted to convert the building into affordable housing for vulnerable individuals struggling to afford rent, but not a flophouse for homeless individuals or druggies.
The Assembly did approve on Monday paying for $479,000 in repairs to the building, which is located at the corner of 36th Avenue and New Seward Highway. But it would not approve the $250,000 in operating funds to open the building and house people. The Assembly will take up the appropriation and the lease agreement with Henning Inc. on July 25.
The mayor’s team has contracted with Henning, a nonprofit that managed the Sullivan Arena wintertime homeless shelter for street people who were unsuited for structured shelters but still needed to be kept safe from sub-freezing temperatures. Henning is ready to move 17 people into the Golden Lion next week. The hotel can hold up to 80 people.
According to the mayor’s team, that would take care of more than 10% of the problem. There are 775 people living on the streets and in the greenbelts around Anchorage and when temperatures drop into the 30s, they need to be offered a warm shelter at night, even if it means a cot or foam mattress on the floor of some facility.
The Golden Lion was something the Assembly fought to have open but which was something the current mayor initially balked at, instead preferring to work on a navigation center to help homeless people find solutions tailored to their individual situations. The Assembly blocked that navigation center project after paying for it, and it remains unfinished.
Now that the mayor is on board with the Golden Lion as part of the solution, the Assembly is balking and is picking apart the plan.
That plan is to rent the rooms out at the Golden Lion for about $200 a week, which is about as cheap a rent as anyone can find in Anchorage. Henning Inc. will oversee maintenance, security, utilities, and administration of the facility, whose target occupants are individuals in need of a little help around the edges of daily living. Case managers will assist them in finding more stable long-term housing options.
The Golden Lion would function as housing, rather than shelter. Tenants would pay rent, and it is assumed most tenants will have some financial assistance to do so from Social Security, Medicare, or federal housing vouchers.
In other words, federal taxpayers will be paying the rents on these rooms that are owned by the city and are to be managed by the nonprofit.
Another site owned and operated by the city is the Sockeye Inn in Midtown, which is designed for older indigent people.
Although Bronson submitted his request to the Assembly for $250,000 to support the Henning contract, Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel had a problem with the terms of contract. In her day job, Zaletel is the executive in charge of the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness, a group that in no way has been helpful in reducing homelessness in Anchorage, and has no accountability to funders.
Assembly Chair Chris Constant said he was uncomfortable with the contract with Henning. Assemblyman Daniel Volland said that $800 was too much to charge in rent, so he also had a problem with the contract.
Observers note that with this Assembly, it’s always something, and nothing has ever been good enough for them, as they let the clock run out on summer and precipitate another crisis this fall. On Tuesday night, they pulled the football out from the kicker one more time.
