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Governor to hold press conference with Dr. Ben Carson on Monday

Suzanne Downing
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Governor to hold press conference with Dr. Ben Carson on Monday

It’s acceptable for world-renown brain surgeon to be at a public school in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley even if he is not welcome at the Anchorage School District.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy and world renown neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, who is the former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, and a well-published public education advocate, will hold a press conference at Iditarod Elementary School in Wasilla on Monday at 11 am. The governor’s office made the announcement on Sunday afternoon.

Carson is coming into Anchorage to speak at an Anchorage Republican Women’s Club fundraiser. While here, he was scheduled to be on stage at an assembly at Mountain View School. That was not controversial until the Anchorage School Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt axed the visit without giving a reason why.

Civic leaders scrambled late last week to set up an event for Dr. Carson to meet and greet children at the Mountain View Boys and Girls Club on Monday afternoon at 3:45 pm.

On Aug. 22, he will be speaking in Anchorage at the evening event. Tickets and information can be found here.

Banning Ben Carson: School board president says it’s all ‘misinformation’
School superintendent won’t allow Dr. Ben Carson to speak at local school
Downing: Dr. Carson doesn’t fit the woke agenda of Anchorage schools

ATF arrives on Maui to begin investigation into fire origins, but will not explore criminal aspect

Suzanne Downing
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ATF arrives on Maui to begin investigation into fire origins, but will not explore criminal aspect

In response to the inferno that swept through Lahaina, Maui on Aug. 8, the Seattle Field Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has sought the expertise of the ATF’s National Response Team to unravel the origin and cause of the fire.

The team, composed of specialists from the Honolulu Field Office and the Seattle Field Division, arrived on the island on Thursday to collaborate with local authorities and partners in the investigation.

The Lahaina fire led to over 114 known deaths so far, and many missing people. Locals say the known dead are well over 400, and are being underreported, and that the local morgues have run out of body bags.

The disaster prompted the ATF to engage its resources to support the Maui County Fire Department officials in their efforts to ascertain the cause and source of the fire.

However, the agency will not be exploring potential criminal aspects in their investigation, the Seattle branch of AFT said. Other agencies may be looking into those criminal aspects.

The squad dispatched for this mission consists of an electrical engineer from the ATF Fire Research Laboratory, two Certified Fire Investigators (CFI) and a CFI candidate from the Honolulu Field Office, and an Arson and Explosives Group Supervisor from the Seattle Field Division. Also on site now are U.S. Marshal officers, and special agents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

This deployment marks the 21st activation of the National Response Team during this fiscal year and the 910th since its inception in 1978.

The NRT’s track record includes participation in investigations of incidents such as the ship fire on the Grande Costa D’Avorio in 2023, the Nashville “Christmas Day” bombing, multiple fire scenes resulting from civil unrest across the Midwest in 2020, the series of bombings in Austin, Texas, in 2018, as well as national-level tragedies including the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon. The team also investigated the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The culmination of their findings results in an “Origin and Cause Report” that is eventually submitted to local officials and may be released to the public voluntarily or under pressure.

Banning Ben Carson: School board president says it’s all ‘misinformation’

Suzanne Downing
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77
Banning Ben Carson: School board president says it’s all ‘misinformation’

Anchorage School Board President Margo Bellamy has responded to parents who have protested the ban of Dr. Ben Carson from the campuses of Anchorage schools when he is in Alaska this coming week.

In a letter that responded to protests of the policy, Bellamy wrote that if students want to hear from Dr. Ben Carson, one of the most admired Americans in our generation, they can do so off campus.

“Families and students who wish to meet Dr. Carson can do so at the Mt. View Boys & Girls Club on Monday, August 21, 3:45-4:30pm,” Bellamy advised critics. Through the efforts of local leaders, Carson has agreed to do a separate event, since he is not being allowed to take part in a school assembly at Mountain View Elementary School.

“It is regretful that so much misinformation is surrounding the superintendent’s decision to not host Dr. Carson in an ASD school on the third day of a new school year and on the day that we are launching a new districtwide initiative.  Timing and focus on our students were the only considerations,” Bellamy wrote to inquiring constituents.

“While not consistent with your views, the decision, puts the needs of our students first and gives them the time and focus needed to successfully settle into a new school year and new school routines,” Bellamy told parents in her response letter.

Spellbinding Wiccan art is new feature at Anchorage public preschool campus

Dr. Carson had been scheduled to speak at the worst-performing elementary school in the district, a campus filled with children who have upbringings not that dissimilar to his, until the superintendent learned of the assembly and overrode the decision.

Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt told the board last week that he would answer the question as to why he was banning Dr. Carson from the schools, but he’d do so in a “Board Connect,” which is a written report to the board that is done periodically. However, in his subsequent “Board Connect,” issued on Friday, he failed to even bring up the topic.

Dr. Carson is coming to Anchorage at the invitation of the Anchorage Republican Women’s Club, which is hosting him at an evening speaking event, arranged through the efforts of Gov. Mike Dunleavy. Those who want to hear Dr. Carson speak can get more information at this link.

Anchorage school superintendent says his canceling of Dr. Ben Carson’s visit is within his ‘case-by-case’ authority
School superintendent won’t allow Dr. Ben Carson to speak at local school

Spellbinding Wiccan art is new feature at Anchorage public preschool campus

Suzanne Downing
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62
Spellbinding Wiccan art is new feature at Anchorage public preschool campus

Next to the preschool door at the King Career Academy and school district headquarters in Anchorage is a new feature for the start of the school year: A “free” table, underneath the display of a Wiccan blanket with the image of a moth surrounded by symbols of the occult.

This particular image is similar to what can be found on Pinterest and Etsy, and other sellers of dark arts imagery under the category of spell-casting, witchcraft, occult, and mystical images.

Alongside the occult display is an LGBTQ+ rainbow sign next to the preschool door.

This is the same school district that won’t allow Dr. Ben Carson to appear at an assembly on campus at the lowest-performing elementary school in the city. School Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt says he wants students to focus on things like back-to-school and safety.

School superintendent won’t allow Dr. Ben Carson to speak at local school

ASD preschool classrooms are described by the Anchorage School District as striving to “provide a safe, positive and nurturing environment in which to foster each child’s cognitive (including literacy and math), language, social, emotional, and motor development. We believe that children learn best through meaningful play and in the context of responsive relationships. Teachers intentionally design learning activities to meet the unique needs of each child. The ASD Preschool program values the importance of families in early education.”

Story edited to reflect that the image is a moth, not a dragonfly, as readers pointed out. We stand corrected.

Anchorage school superintendent says his canceling of Dr. Ben Carson’s visit is within his ‘case-by-case’ authority
Downing: Dr. Carson doesn’t fit the woke agenda of Anchorage schools

‘Robert L. Peters’ Biden may have used secret name as vice president

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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22
‘Robert L. Peters’ Biden may have used secret name as vice president

By PHILIP WEGMANN

While vice president of the United States, Joe Biden allegedly used an alternate email account, and now, House Republicans want to read all his old messages.

Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, requested Thursday that the National Archives and Records Administration turn over a tranche of emails from President Biden’s time as vice president.

More specifically, Comer wants “all unredacted documents and communications” to and from the then-vice president and his son, Hunter Biden, and his son’s business associates.

Republicans have been scouring records for months as part of their investigation of Hunter Biden.

The newest wrinkle: a pseudonym that the vice president used to set up an obscure but official government email account, a practice not uncommon among cabinet secretaries at the time.

Biden went by “Robert L. Peters” and, as vice president, could be reached at “[email protected].”

“Joe Biden has stated there was ‘an absolute wall’ between his family’s foreign business schemes and his duties as Vice President, but evidence reveals that access was wide open for his family’s influence peddling,” Comer said in a statement.

The records request to the Archives comes after the Department of Justice appointed a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden when a plea deal between the government and the president’s son, stemming from two misdemeanor tax charges and a felony gun possession charge, fell apart. Republicans have long argued that the Biden family leveraged their political connections for personal gain and sought to connect the president directly to his son’s business dealings.

White House officials, meanwhile, deny any wrongdoing on the president’s behalf. The administration has alternately said that the president “never discussed” business and was “never in business” with his son.

But the emails House Republicans want completely unredacted show, at a bare minimum, that Vice President Biden’s team looped Hunter Biden into his official schedule, and they point to two emails sent on May 26, 2016, and June 14, 2016.

The May email cited by Comer in his letter was sent by John Flynn, a personal assistant to the vice president, and included a rundown of that day’s schedule. It details how Biden was to call then-Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at 9 a.m. before traveling to Rhode Island in the afternoon and eventually returning to the “Lake House” in Delaware.

Hunter Biden was copied on that email via an address associated with his consulting firm Rosemont Seneca. He was also present at an event that weekend with the rest of the Biden family as they gathered in Delaware to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the passing of Beau Biden.

Hunter Biden was also copied on the second email from June, which included a rundown of the vice president’s schedule for then-Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman’s visit to the White House.

The president’s son served on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings from 2014 until 2019, earning a monthly salary of $83,000 despite having no experience in the natural gas industry. Republicans have noted this fact and pointed to a now infamous clip from December 2015 of Biden bragging about threatening to withhold billions in U.S. aid to Ukraine unless a prosecutor investigating Burisma was removed.

“I looked at them and said: I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,” Biden later recalled of his conversations with the Poroshenko government. “Well, son of a bitch. He got fired.”

The prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, was removed at the end of March 2016, two months before Biden’s call with the Ukrainian president, according to the emailed schedule.

Redacted versions of those emails were previously released under the Freedom of Information Act, and  Archives made them publicly available. They are cataloged online under the subhead, “Email Messages To and/or From Vice President Biden and Hunter Biden related to Burisma and Ukraine.” They correspond with emails contained on the laptop which the president’s son abandoned at a repair shop.

The only redaction: Archives appears to have omitted the phone number of Biden’s personal aide. The messages still, however, raise questions about why the president’s son, whom the White House refers to as “a private citizen,” was looped into an hour-by-hour official White House schedule.

Comer has also requested that Archives turn over “any document or communication” which included Hunter Biden or his business associates Eric Schwerin or Devon Archer.

Schwerin previously testified before the House Oversight Committee that he “was not aware” of any involvement by then-Vice President Biden in “the financial conduct” of his son’s business. Archer also testified that he was similarly unaware of any conversations between the vice president and his son.

Archer also testified that Hunter Biden had put his father on speakerphone as many as 20 times during meetings with business associates and that the former vice president met with a Chinese business associate of his son for coffee in Beijing.

Republicans believe that during his time as vice president, Biden used at least three pseudonyms, including Robert Peters, Robin Ware, and JRB Ware, revelations first reported by the New York Post. They are expected to pull at that string in the coming weeks and months. Comer has already requested that Archives turn over any documentation associated with those names as well.

The Associated Press reported that Obama administration officials were in the habit of using “secret government email accounts” to keep their inboxes from overflowing with spam. Then-White House Press Secretary Jay Carney dismissed that characterization at the time, noting that even when officials used pseudonyms, their email correspondence was still archived.

“There’s nothing secret,” Carney said. “It’s about having a public email address, as well as one for internal, you know, workings. But they’re all available for when FOIA requests are made and congressional inquiries are conducted.”

This article was originally published by RealClearPolitics and made available via RealClearWire.

Chilling effect on election observers created as Anchorage Ombudsman refers questions to Department of Law

Suzanne Downing
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29
Chilling effect on election observers created as Anchorage Ombudsman refers questions to Department of Law

The Anchorage Office of the Ombudsman has officially referred the results of an investigation into the involvement of the city’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) director, Marc Dahl, during a challenge to the April 4 municipal election to the state Department of Law.

Ombudsman Darrel Hess, a liberal partisan who works for the Anchorage Assembly, stated that he “reasonably believes that there may have been a violation of state election statutes” and is recommending that Mayor Dave Bronson terminate Dahl from his position. Dahl has been on administrative leave for several weeks.

This action by the ombudsman, who has shown strong bias against the mayor, could create a chilling effect on anyone who would sign up to be an election observer in the future. Election observers are the only way a citizen can lodge an election complaint, but lodging a complaint now appears to put citizens in peril of a legal claim against them by the Anchorage Assembly or its surrogate, the ombudsman.

The investigation centers around events that unfolded on April 11, when Dahl instructed his IT staff to publish an internal security policy related to USB (thumb) drives being inserted into the city’s intranet’s IT security web page. The thumb drives were not being checked to ensure they were not transferring data to the election equipment, and Dahl wanted to tighten up that procedure.

The new policy, developed during the election, was emailed to election observer Sami Graham. Graham and two other observers cited the content of this policy in a formal challenge to the city’s municipal election, which had occurred on April 4. Hess is concluding that Graham and other challengers were coordinating with Dahl.

Graham and the other observers wanted to ensure that people inserting thumb drives into election equipment were being supervised or that their actions were being witnessed by another employee.

The complaint against the election observers that triggered the investigation was lodged on April 26, following an April 20 public session of the Anchorage Election Commission’s canvass and adoption of the election canvass report.

The complainant expressed concerns about the Anchorage OIT director’s potential role in developing and posting the USB policy with the intent of supporting an election observer’s challenge to the municipal election.

After reviewing documents and conducting interviews with various stakeholders, including Office of Information Technology staff and former staff, the Ombudsman concluded that a longstanding internal thumb drive policy had existed for several years. This policy required OIT staff to scan USB drives before inserting them into Municipal of Anchorage equipment. This policy was solely an internal OIT policy and did not have MOA-wide applicability.

Mayor Rick Mystrom’s MOA Policy & Procedure 1-1, signed on April 8, 1997, mandates a collaborative process involving all department directors, department policy coordinators, and the Office of Management & Budget for the development of policies with Muni-wide applications. The finalized, signed document with an assigned P&P number is supposed to be shared with MOA employees. The investigation revealed that the development and posting of the Office of Information Technology USB policy on April 11 did not adhere to these requirements.

The Ombudsman reported that the OMB Director was unaware of the policy’s existence until contacted by the Ombudsman, and the OIT Chief Information Security Officer confirmed that the posted policy was solely an internal OIT policy and did not hold MOA-wide authority.

The referral of the investigation’s results to the state Office of Special Prosecutions and the recommendation for Mayor Bronson to terminate Marc Dahl’s position mark a turning point in this case that may impact the actions and the public’s confidence of future elections.

Tennessee couple found safe after hiking away from Chena Hot Springs

Suzanne Downing
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19
Tennessee couple found safe after hiking away from Chena Hot Springs

A Tennessee couple who were reported missing while hiking near Chena Hot Springs were found safe Friday evening.

Jonas Bare, 50 and Cynthia Hovsepian, 37, had left their possessions in their lodging in Fairbanks but failed to check out on Aug. 12. They also failed to make their return flight from Alaska and had not contacted family members. A search was launched by Alaska State Troopers and other rescue organizations, including PAWS rescue dogs.

On Friday evening, two hikers encountered Jonas Bare on a trail approximately 200 yards from Chena Hot Springs Resort.

The hikers brought Bare to the Alaska Wildlife Troopers search and rescue command post within the resort.

Bare was uninjured and told Troopers that he had left Hovesepian to seek help. Bare guided Troopers and rescuers to the general area where Hovesepian was located, which was approximately three miles from the resort.

Hovesepian was located by the search team after calling out for her.

Bare, Hovesepian, and the rescue teams returned to Chena Hot Springs Resort at 8:40 pm, and they were evaluated by medics.

Fidelity Charitable sued after it was caught banning conservative and faith-based nonprofits

Suzanne Downing
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3
Fidelity Charitable sued after it was caught banning conservative and faith-based nonprofits

Fidelity Charitable, the country’s largest donor-advised fund, is deviating from its pledge to honor donors’ grant requests in a “cause-neutral” manner, according to a new lawsuit filed with Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.

Dawn Manning, an account holder from Louisiana, joined forces with Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys to file the complaint, urging the state’s top law enforcement official to investigate discrimination against conservative nonprofit groups and violations of state consumer protection laws.

Alliance Defending Freedom is the group that defended the Anchorage Downtown Hope Center against a lawsuit by a male dressed as a woman who demanded entry into the women’s shelter. It has also defended a Colorado web designer who didn’t want to make a wedding page for a same-sex wedding.

Fidelity Charitable, which distributed over $11.2 billion in funds for individual donors last year, faces allegations that it is responding to pressure from left-wing organizations, including the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Amalgamated Foundation, and the “Unmasking Fidelity” initiative.

The Unmasking Fidelity coalition, based in Boston with national support, says it “is committed to challenging Fidelity Charitable’s role in funneling millions of dollars through Donor Advisor Funds to organizations that promote and further systemic oppression globally.”

The complaint from Manning says that Fidelity Charitable is hindering anonymous donations to religious and conservative groups, raising concerns about freedom of speech and philanthropic liberty and intent.

Unmasking Fidelity demands that Fidelity Charitable publicly disclose “past contributions to organizations perpetuating white supremacy and fascism.” The group says Fidelity must divest from what it describes as the “violence of white supremacy and fascism by developing a public screening policy.” And it says the charitable fund must redistribute the funds it has already given out. The groups that would get the funds must be “communities most impacted by white supremacist and fascist violence.“

In other words, the group wants to take over Fidelity Charitable and redistribute the funds that individual donors have entrusted to the organization.

Fidelity Charitable allows Americans to set up their own grant-making funds, similar to foundations, and support most qualified 501(c)(3) public charities. But Fidelity Charitable says that “Public charity status alone does not guarantee that a grant recommendation will be approved.” In other words, the company still has the final say.

“Politicizing our culture of giving is dangerous for people of all beliefs. Our freedoms travel together—including freedom of speech and philanthropic freedom,” remarked Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel and Senior Vice President for Corporate Engagement Jeremy Tedesco. He highlighted the 2021 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Thomas More Law Center v. Bonta, which affirmed the right to privacy in financial giving as part of the First Amendment’s “free association” promise.

The complaint asserts that Fidelity Charitable blocked Manning’s donations to Alliance Defending Freedom, Family Research Council, Center for Security Policy, and Pacific Justice Foundation—groups that have been targeted by “Unmasking Fidelity” and labeled as “hate groups” by SPLC.

However, Manning’s test donations to left-leaning organizations, such as Human Rights Campaign, CAIR Foundation, and Lambda Legal, were processed promptly.

Alliance Defending Freedom, which defended Downtown Hope Center, called hate group by senior Justice official

Documentation reveals that Fidelity Charitable has informed account holders in at least 12 states since 2019 that they cannot direct funds anonymously to ADF.

In the same year, “Unmasking Fidelity” began demanding public disclosure of five years’ worth of contributions to 10 specified organizations, including ADF, Family Research Council, and Center for Security Policy.

The initiative, relying on the widely discredited Southern Policy Law Center, has come under scrutiny for its inclusion of numerous parental-rights-in-education groups in its debunked “Hate Map.”

Unmasking Fidelity also seeks to impose a screening mechanism on Fidelity Charitable to restrict conservative and religious charities as donation options.

Despite public denials from Fidelity Charitable leadership, the complaint seems to indicate that the pressure exerted by the campaign is having an impact.

“Everyone should oppose this name-and-shame censorship,” emphasized ADF Legal Counsel Michael Ross. “Every American should be free to support causes they believe in without fear of harassment or intimidation. That’s why the anonymity provided by donor-advised funds like Fidelity Charitable is so important, and it’s why government officials like the Louisiana attorney general must ensure that people of faith are not treated as second-class citizens.”

Breaking: Supreme Court says web designer can’t be compelled to work on gay wedding project

Federalist Society luncheon: The Founders, money and the Constitution

Suzanne Downing
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2
Federalist Society luncheon: The Founders, money and the Constitution

The Federalist Society Alaska Chapter announced that Grant Starrett, vice president of acquisitions at Lion Real Estate Group, will address the group’s next luncheon gathering on the topic of the Founders, money, the Constitution, and the size of government.

Amidst concerns over the highest inflation rates in decades, the event at the Petroleum Club in Anchorage at noon on Aug. 21 aims to provide a fresh perspective on how the Founders’ views on sound money were enshrined in the Constitution to explicitly limit the scope of government, and how these principles have been warped over time.

Starrett is the president of Nashville Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society. He graduated from Stanford University, where he founded its Conservative Society, and later earned his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School. During his time at Vanderbilt, he gained experience working for Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), further shaping his understanding of the dynamics between government, the Constitution, and economic principles.

Starrett’s analyses and writings have been featured in prominent national publications such as the Wall Street Journal, National Review, and The Federalist. His regular book reviews on GrantReadsBooks at Substack showcase his passion for intellectual discourse and exploration of ideas.

Tickets are $10 for members and $20 for nonmembers. Lunch is included. The event is open to the public.

The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies is made up of individuals with conservative and libertarian leanings who have a keen interest in the present condition of the legal system. The organization is established upon the core tenets that the primary purpose of the government is to safeguard individual freedoms, that the division of governmental powers is a fundamental aspect of our Constitution, and that the judiciary’s role is predominantly to interpret the law as it stands, rather than as it ought to be.

The group, active in states across the nation, aims to both raise awareness about these principles and advance their implementation through its various initiatives, which include speaker series.

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