With a website that live-streamed a town hall in New Hampshire, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie came out of the gate on Tuesday as a candidate for president.
Christie formally declared his intention to seek the Republican nomination in 2024 on Tuesday. He joins one of the largest — and growing — rosters of GOP candidates in recent history and he made it clear he is not afraid taking on former President Donald J. Trump, who easily bested Christie in the 2016 primaries, when there were 17 major Republican candidates prior to the GOP nominating convention.
Christie criticized Trump for growing the national deficit by $3 trillion during his term in office, and for Trump’s excessive admiration of Russia President Vladimir Putin, who he called a thug. He also said President Joe Biden showed how weak he is when Biden said that a “small incursion” by Russia into Ukraine “wouldn’t be a problem.”
Christie spoke authoritatively about foreign policy and the war in Ukraine.
“This is a beginning of a hot proxy war between China and the United States,” Christie said.
He spoke at length about China’s various tentacles of aggression, saying “my concern about this is we’ve allowed them to have advantages. It needs to stop, in my opinion.”
“The reason I’m here tonight is because this is one of those moments,” Christie remarked, drawing the parallel between America’s history of freeing Europe starting on D-Day 79 years ago, and the current political landscape.
At 60 years old, Christie presents himself as the candidate most ready to challenge not only Trump, but also Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but polls put him at about 1%. DeSantis has consistently polled in second place for the Republican nomination.
Only about 2,000 people tuned in to watch it live on YouTube. Trump went to social media to make fun of Christie’s weight.
This is Christie’s second bid for president and he is clearly a long-shot in a field that already has several other long shots, including former Vice President Mike Pence, who filed his paperwork on Monday with the Federal Election Commission and is expected to roll out his campaign on Wednesday.
Others besides Trump who have formally declared are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, commentator Larry Elder, Dallas businessman Ryan Binkley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. In addition to Pence, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is also planning to announce this week, sources said. That makes 10 for the Republican side so far.
A pair of bills that safeguard the freedoms of Americans to buy and use gas cooking stoves failed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday. Rep. Mary Peltola voted against it, as did every Democrat.
The bills ended up failing not because of Peltola and the Democrats, but because the Republican Freedom Caucus, still mad at Speaker Kevin McCarthy over the negotiation of the bill that lifted the nation’s debt limit, didn’t want to give McCarthy a win on anything. The Freedom Caucus was flexing its muscles at McCarthy and House leadership.
The bills would prevent future restrictions and energy conservation standards on these appliances, which are popular with many Americans who love to cook at home. The legislation sought to counteract the increasing number of state and local governments imposing bans on gas-fueled stoves, furnaces, and water heaters in new buildings to combat climate change.
Proponents argue that over one-third of American households rely on gas stoves for cooking, and they accuse the Biden administration of pursuing regulations that could impede citizens’ freedom to choose their preferred cooking methods.
“The White House wants to limit your ability to purchase and use gas stoves,” said House Rules Committee Chairman Tom Cole on Monday. Many other lawmakers view the potential regulations, led by cities such as Berkeley, Calif., as unnecessary government overreach.
Democrats emphasize the importance of reducing carbon emissions resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels, including natural gas.
The procedural vote on H.R. 1615, the Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act; and providing for consideration of the bill H.R. 1640, Save Our Stoves Act, failed 206 to 220, shocking many in the Capitol because the freedom to buy and use gas stoves hits home for so many Americans.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus held a press conference after the vote to continue their criticism of McCarthy and the House Republican leadership.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., announced the committee will conduct a contempt hearing for FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday at 9 a.m.
The move comes in response to Wray’s violation of a congressional subpoena by not providing unclassified documents sought in a broadening investigation into foreign payments tied to President Joe Biden and his family.
Wray’s refusal to release the documents has added fuel to Republicans’ growing concerns about potential corruption within the FBI, perceived as favoring left-leaning politicians. The FBI director’s noncompliance has provoked significant backlash from GOP leaders who argue it undermines the agency’s credibility.
Republicans continue to press their claims of partisanship within the bureau, based on an ongoing investigation into the Biden family receipt of millions of dollars in foreign payments.
Jim Geraghty, writing in the Washington Post, explains why Americans should care:
“Let’s assume that, as President Biden’s fans insist, there’s no evidence of lawbreaking in the deals that had foreign companies paying more than $10 million to Biden family members during and after Biden’s years as vice president,” Geraghty wrote.
“And no doubt, the House Oversight Committee led by Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) has its own preconceived narrative that Biden is on the take from all kinds of shady characters. An indictment of bribery or corruption would require proof that, at some point while in office, Biden acted or influenced a U.S. government policy decision to benefit one of those companies, and the House Oversight Committee, so far, does not have that proof.
“Yet we’re still left with a motley collection of odd and unsavory figures sending a lot of money through a lot of companies to a lot of members of the Biden family, with little explanation why. Comer contends that bank records confirm more than $10 million in payments, run through at least 20 businesses, mostly limited liability companies, to the president’s son Hunter Biden; the president’s brother, James Biden; James’s wife, Sara Jones Biden; Hallie Biden (widow of Joe Biden’s son Beau, who died in 2015); Hunter’s ex-wife, Kathleen Buhle; Hunter’s current wife, Melissa Cohen; and, as Comer noted, ‘three children of the president’s son and the president’s brother.'” the columnist wrote in May.
Chairman Comer, referring to an anonymous informant who brought the allegations to light, said the person was a “trusted, highly credible informant, who has been used by the FBI for over ten years and has been paid over six figures.”
“We need answers, transparency, and accountability,” Comer stated during his announcement, voicing frustrations mirrored by many Americans who have lost faith in the FBI’s ability to impartially enforce the law.
The White House has dismissed the allegations surrounding the Biden family, insisting that these claims are unfounded.
Wray served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Criminal Division in George W. Bush’s administration, from 2003 to 2005. On June 7, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Wray to be the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, replacing James Comey, who was fired by Trump a month earlier.
Wray barely survived the Trump administration and was kept on by President Biden in 2021.
He has contradicted both the Trump and the Biden Administration official party lines at times. For instance, this year, he told Fox News he supports the theory that the Covid-19 virus may have leaked from a Wuhan, China laboratory. On March 2, 2021, Wray told a Senate committee that the Jan. 6 surge into the U.S. Capitol was a case of domestic extremism.
Rep. Mary Peltola of Alaska has refused to sign a letter led by the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources and sent to U.S. Department of the Interior Sec. Deb Haaland, demanding answers about Haaland’s conflicts of interest and apparent ethical violations.
The letter by Chair Rep. Bruce Westerman of Arkansas and other committee members asks for documents from Haaland, including all relevant communications between her and her radical activist daughter, who is part of the Pueblo Action Alliance, a group based in New Mexico, and Haaland’s husband, who is also involved in anti-fossil fuel activism.
Peltola is an ally of Haaland, which explains her refusal to sign the letter.
Pueblo Action Alliance, at the heart of this probe, champions the deconstruction of America’s economic and political systems and has led numerous protests and lobbying campaigns across the nation.
The committee’s interest was piqued by the department’s recent decision about mineral withdrawal around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park.
The committee scrutinized Secretary Haaland’s interactions with PAA leaders since she became Secretary of the Interior, especially in relation to their opposition to oil and gas production on federal lands, which falls under the Interior’s management.
Attention was also directed towards Haaland’s family connections to the Pueblo Action Alliance.
Haaland’s daughter, Somah Haaland, has been employed by the group since 2020, around the same time Deb Haaland was becoming President Joe Biden’s Interior Secretary. Somah took part in a Pueblo Action Alliance’s lobbying trip to the U.S. Capitol in 2022, advocating for legislation that sought to ban lease sales for oil and gas development on federal land.
Somah has also represented Pueblo Action Alliance at several events, including a “People vs. Fossil Fuels” rally. The committee wants to see what the ongoing advocacy relationship is between Haaland and Haaland, including all documents and communications on oil, gas, minerals and leasing on federal lands, Pueblo Action Alliance, Laguna Development Corporation, the Pueblo of Laguna, the People vs. Fossil Fuels protest in Washington in 2021, the withdrawal of federal lands from oil and gas leasing, and efforts to influence members of Congress or federal officials.
The committee letter highlighted Secretary Haaland’s husband, Skip Sayre, who is a consultant for the Laguna Development Corporation, the business arm of the Pueblo of Laguna, a federally recognized tribal entity that can access funding and services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a branch of the Department of Interior.
The connections raise concerns about possible conflicts of interest and the degree to which Secretary Haaland’s personal and familial ties could sway her decision-making in her role as head of the department.
As of now, there has been no public response from Secretary Haaland’s office to the committee’s letter.
However, Power the Future, a pro-energy advocacy group, responded to the letter with a statement:
“For more than two years, the Biden Administration has acted without any serious congressional oversight and we have all suffered the disastrous consequences,” said Daniel Turner, founder and executive director of Power the Future.
“Secretary Haaland’s relentless crusade against American energy producers knows no limits, and the public deserves to know about any financial connections she stood to gain from her family employment. Chairman Westerman deserves great credit for this fact-finding mission into potential influence peddling driving the anti-energy agenda. We are hopeful other congressional committees will follow suit and shed more light on those pulling the strings behind the scenes of the Biden Administration,” Turner wrote.
After a full year of suppression and semi-obscurity, writer and speaker Matt Walsh’s iconic documentary has gone viral — on steroids. Latest figures show it with nearly 200 million views.
We all have been linked to so many “must see” videos that we can tend to overlook them, so I was not going to be stampeded when my wife said that she had seen the first 20 minutes, and that I should see it with her, too.
I sighed, and it turned out justifiably so, because I had a feeling that this was going to be difficult, but compelling, to watch. I don’t need to be convinced that the “trans” movement is off-the-rails in mental madness. I had to watch it in increments because the arrogance, psychobabble and circular, incestuous logic of the “professionals” that receive all the gushing tributes from the White House to the mainstream media fully manifest itself in this documentary.
And Walsh, host of “The Matt Walsh Show,” was a genius in his handling of all this. He was a comfy as an iguana on a hot rock, maintaining professional composure even while his mad subjects are seen squirming at various points, with body language and chip-on-the-shoulder sensitivity, threatening to terminate the interview, and in the case of an extremist congressman from California, actually doing so.
I have come to the conclusion that these people need pity, not combat. Their self-delusions are so painfully obvious that it makes your head swim. Long have I told my students that the human mind — and soul — is powerful. It can conceive of artistic masterpieces, gigantic ships, great cathedrals and sky-scrapers, weave complex tapestries, motivate through the written and spoken word.
But the human mind is a two-edged sword: It can create an empire based on pornography, convince millions that large segments of humanity are not worthy to live, designs H-bombs and ICBMs, mastermind global conspiracies of vast and inhuman destruction, and make lies sound like truth.
Fortunately, our Creator gave us an immortal soul, and despite being on the lowest rung of spiritual beings with a limited intellect, mankind can — and because he is redeemed — will be able, sooner or later, to cut through the fog of lies.
The problem has always been, however, how much damage can be done before all this is stopped? I am writing this from Italy right now, and I can say that the aftermath of the Second World War still permeates everything, and throughout Europe. Whether it came from Nazis or Communists, the destruction of millions of innocent lives, beautiful cities, great works of art and a Christian culture was its outcome. Followed by decades of prosperity and security, it has bred a complacent attitude that focuses on the material and temporal, rather than the spiritual and eternal.
But there is always hope. How many fascists, Nazis and communists have repented, allowed themselves a self-examination and “come clean” with interviews and books? Many. Madness is temporary, and because of this, is different from insanity.
One thinks of Albert Speer, who wrote Inside the Third Reich, or Herbert Kappler, the SS commander of occupied Rome, Bernard Nathanson in Aborting America, or the many co-authors of The Black Book of Communism.These men repented, and wanted to make amends, however infinitesimal their efforts might prove to be.
And so this is how we must view today’s mad scientists, whether they be part of the Covid vaccine hoax, the trans movement, or whatever else a satanic mind has in store for us. These people are not insane, but merely mad. We can all fall into this trap. We can be “madly in love”, but it doesn’t last long, and can lead to a lasting marriage; we go mad at a sporting event, or in a mob. Later, we can reflect on our actions, and repent.
Watch Matt Walsh’s 1+ hour video. It is hopeful. It has interviews with those who have self-imposed great suffering, and came out of madness, as well as medical professionals who have resisted — and at cost — the engines of suppression. It will provide us all with the spine to resist, and lead the enemies of humanity back into a world of hope, rather than their self-created delusions of an impossible future, and their self-righteous hate of anyone who works against them.
It’s the movie they really don’t want you to see: #WhatIsAWoman?
Bob Bird is chair of the Alaskan Independence Party and the host of a talk show on KSRM radio, Kenai.A celebration of life of Dan Gensel will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 23, at Soldotna High School, 425 W. Marydale Ave. The public is welcome.
The Alaska Board of Education will convene in Soldotna this week to discuss, among other topics, a regulation that could restrict male students’ ability to compete as females in some school sports.
If passed, the proposed regulation would prevent boys from competing on girls’ teams in situations where those teams are set up exclusively for girls. Students would be limited to either participating in multi-gender sports teams or joining a team specifically designated for their actual gender, as determined by their biology. Sometimes this is called “gender assigned at birth” by those who believe gender is a social construct.
The vote will determine whether the proposal should proceed to a 30-day public comment period or be dead in the water.
The issue has been a contentious topic in various states. As of now, 21 states have policies in place that prevent male students from participating in sports or other activities based on their preferred female gender identities. These rules typically apply to teams made up of children in middle or high school. School sports organizations across the nation have implemented a range of regulations on this matter.
The U.S. Department of Education, under the Biden Administration, is trying to prevent these policies from spreading and has begun its own regulatory process to allow flexibility for boys who want to compete as girls. The Biden Administration is walking a tightrope, as most parents understand the need to allow girls to play on a level field with other girls.
Several instances of injuries to girls in competitions in which boys have been assigned to girls’ teams have been reported, fueling concerns among athletes and parents. Numerous trophies and awards have been won by male athletes in competitions that were previously exclusively reserved for female athletes.
The question of whether boys can compete on girls’ track, volleyball, or soccer teams comes at a time when Matt Walsh’s documentary, “What is a Woman” has become the one of the most successful documentaries ever.
It’s the movie they really don’t want you to see: #WhatIsAWoman?
The question also comes at a time when a significant court case is underway. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a friend-of-the-court brief Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit urging it to protect equal opportunity for girls’ athletics.
Although the rule would apply to both sexes, it’s almost unheard of for girls to be winning trophies in boys athletic divisions. This is mainly about protecting female athletes.
In March, the state Board of Education passed a resolution supporting girls’ athletics and asking the state athletics governing group to get control of the situation.
But the Alaska School Activities Association Board of Directors met and decided it was up to the state, not a nonprofit organization. The group’s rules say that, for now at least, it’s a decision that local school districts must set for themselves.
Alaska State Sen. Loki Tobin (she/her) sent a stinging letter to the state Board of Education, expressing her strong objection to the regulation:
“I am alarmed by the proposed regulation change to interscholastic activities that will be considered at the upcoming State Board of Education and Early Development meeting in Soldotna. These changes not only supersede anticipated federal guidance prohibiting such blanket trans athlete bans, but they also undermine local control and parental rights, which are guiding principles in education policy in the State of Alaska,” wrote the Democrat from urban Anchorage.
“It is unfathomable to me why State Board members would weigh into a topic that is so publicly divisive without any authorizing legislation passed by the Alaska Legislature and signed into law by the Governor to indicate a need for regulatory change. Furthermore, I find it especially appalling that the Department of Education and Early Development is justifying discrimination against trans and non-binary children by referencing AlaskaStatute 14.18.040, which prohibits discrimination in recreational and athletic activities. I hope that you reject enshrining a regulation that unfairly targets and discriminates against trans and non-binary children who are simply trying to be children,” Tobin wrote.
Tobin went on to explain that she participated in wrestling as a youngster against males and had no problems.
“I would note that there is a provision in Alaska law that allows official documents like a birth certificate to be corrected or amended. I am assuming your misguided intent is for the Department of Education and Early Development, ASAA, or some other entity to be able to ignore an amended birth certificate in favor of an original interpretation about who a person is based on their genitalia. By continuing to pursue this proposed regulatory change, you are putting our already struggling school districts in danger of legal action that could harm public school systems across Alaska. For what purpose?” Tobin wrote.
The Alaska Board of Education will meet in the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly Chambers, 144 N. Binkley Street, Soldotna on June 7-8. This item is set for the June 8 agenda, which is at this link.
Identity Inc. is militantly dedicated to convincing Alaska children they should transition from one gender identity to another with the use of puberty hormone blockers.
In material published on its own website, the gender identity group says that although hormone treatments are “off label” for gender transition purposes, they have been used safely for years, a claim that is disputed by some who have gone through the treatments and suffered long-term consequences. The group provides “consent forms” for youth and their guardians to sign, showing they fully understand these consequences. The group’s health clinic then writes the prescription for the drugs for the confused children.
Rep. Mary Peltola wants Alaskans to go to Identity Inc’s website and support the group. In a “Pride Month” social media message, Alaska’s only House representative wished everyone a “Happy Pride Month,” and encouraged Alaskans to volunteer with Identity Inc. She linked a donation page for the group.
The question of whether children can truly provide consent to chemical castration and the blocking of normal hormones is controversial, with critics explaining that children are too young to fully understand the consequences that these drugs have on them permanently.
Antony Latham, a retired general practice physician and the chair of the the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, wrote, “Gender dysphoria is a persistent distress about one’s assigned gender. Referrals regarding gender dysphoria have recently greatly increased, often of a form that is rapid in onset. The sex ratio has changed, most now being natal females. Mental health issues pre-date the dysphoria in most. Puberty blockers are offered in clinics to help the child avoid puberty. Puberty blockers have known serious side effects, with uncertainty about their long-term use. They do not improve mental health. Without medication, most will desist from the dysphoria in time. Yet over 90% of those treated with puberty blockers progress to cross-sex hormones and often surgery, with irreversible consequences. The brain is biologically and socially immature in childhood and unlikely to understand the long-term consequences of treatment. The prevailing culture to affirm the dysphoria is critically reviewed. It is concluded that children are unable to consent to the use of puberty blockers.” His paper is at this link.
But while British courts have concluded children cannot consent to puberty blockers, this new gender medicine a big business in the United States, where doctors conspire with pharmaceutical companies to hook kids on puberty-blocking drugs. The kids then become lifelong customers of Big Pharma for the chemicals needed to maintain their new gender appearance.
Rep. Peltola is pushing the chemical-gender agenda on Alaskans during Pride Month, possibly out of step with the majority of Alaskans.
The U.S. Coast Guard responded to a reported fire aboard the Wilderness Discoverer, a 178-foot passenger vessel, in Glacier Bay National Park.
All 51 passengers and 16 crewmembers were safely evacuated and transferred to the Sapphire Princess cruise ship.
The Coast Guard received an initial distress call from the crew of the Wilderness Discoverer at 7:30 am, urgently requesting assistance to combat a fire that had broken out on the vessel. Coast Guard watch-standers in Juneau initiated rescue using Coast Guard cutters Pike and Anthony Petit, along with an Air Station Sitka MH-60 Jayhawk aircrew. The National Park Service also provided additional resources to support the rescue operation.
“The safety of the passengers and crew is our utmost priority,” stated L.t. j.g. Maximilian Carfagno, the command duty officer at the Sector Juneau command center. “The quick launch of our assets and the exceptional teamwork demonstrated by the Sapphire Princess were instrumental in ensuring the timely rescue of all individuals involved.”
The blaze was extinguished, and there were no reported injuries or pollution resulting from the incident; other cruise ship traffic remained unaffected.
Amid good weather conditions of 5-mile visibility, winds at 15 mph, and 3-foot seas, the Coast Guard and the National Park Service are facilitating the towing of the Wilderness Discoverer to Ketchikan. The vessel will rendezvous with the tug boat Taku Wind, which will be responsible for towing the vessel south.
At present, eleven crew members remain aboard the Wilderness Discoverer to assist with the towing operation and ensure the safety of the vessel during transit.
Wilderness Discoverer, operated by UnCruise Adventures, offers luxury adventure cruises in Alaska. The ship was built in 1992 in Rhode Island and refurbished in 2011. The ship guest capacity is 76 and it can have a crew of 27.
My previous articles in Must Read Alaska about the Office of Children’s Services have generated several positive meetings with legislators and their staff interested in resolving these systemic problems.
They’ve acknowledged the repetitive patterns of shocking behavior by OCS that have plagued Alaskan families for decades. They realize any further delay to meaningful reform will result in more families being destroyed and some children being trafficked.
State officials from OCS, Department of Law, and Office of Public Advocacy are a different breed, though. They typically don’t return my calls or respond to emails. On the rare occasions I’ve had an opportunity to talk with them, they’ve walked away or hung up the phone.
These executive branch bureaucrats are supposed to be public servants, but instead are prone to retaliate when their actions are questioned. They live in an echo chamber insulated by hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state funds which buys them loyalty. Working together, these three agencies have suppressed our constitutional rights to liberty and justice with their greed for more money and power.
Decades of failures by some legislatures and governors to reform OCS suggest we should redirect our focus to reforming the judiciary branch. It’s common sense after all. Laws and policies mean nothing when our judges ignore them and get away with it.
Bad judicial behavior – the norm
Take AK Mom’s case for example. Her five children were taken by OCS one night under an unsubstantiated claim of “emergency medical abuse.” Existing laws to protect the family’s rights were blatantly ignored by the judiciary. A judge was required to make a finding, within 48 hours, that there was a substantial chance each of the five children had to be removed immediately to protect their lives.
No judge did that though, likely because there was absolutely no evidence to support OCS’s actions.
Two years later, the judiciary still hasn’t forced OCS to prove anything. In April, a trial started but Judge Kristen Stohler gave the entire two weeks of allotted time to OCS. AK Mom was not given a chance to present any evidence in her favor. She’s had expert witnesses on standby for over a year, ready to testify she did nothing wrong, but the judiciary keeps stringing them along.
What AK Mom’s family and supporters hoped would be an opportunity for justice ended up as a cruel and expensive tease. Her legal bills increased by $20,000. Judge Stohler appears to have joined forces with OCS to play the delay game when the truth makes our government look bad.
The trial won’t resume until mid-July. After a few days it will be put on pause again and not start again until late October. A judicial system that denies a family a chance at justice and reunification for two years is an outrage, but stringing out the trial an additional seven months is pure viciousness.
Most of AK Mom’s kids were in attendance in the courtroom throughout the two weeks to support their mother. They wanted to go home but that critical fact meant little to Judge Stohler.
What the public is watching is a slow moving trainwreck with five innocent kids on it. The judiciary can stop it but won’t.
The harm to AK Mom’s family grows daily. The day after the trial was put on hold George ran away again from another foster home. He was gone all night, but no one from OCS bothered to inform AK Mom. She found out about it the next morning from a friend who sent her an APD Missing Juvenile Alert.
It’s practically useless under our existing system to file a complaint against the judges involved, and they know it. Any complaints go into the black hole known as the Alaska Commission on Judicial Conduct, an agency notorious for protecting judges behind their closed doors.
Good judicial behavior – a rare glimmer of hope
Two weeks ago, Alaskans got a glimpse of what judges should do when OCS breaks laws. Bethel Superior Court Judge Terrance Haas showed Alaskans he not only cares about families but was courageous enough to face down OCS. Haas issued an incredibly rare public sanction against OCS for their callous behavior towards a 12-year-old girl in their custody.
This girl had expressed suicidal ideations, causing OCS to remove her from a foster home and admit her into a hospital. OCS kept her there alone for a week. They didn’t bother to notify the girl’s parents, tribe or guardian ad litem. They just left her there, by herself, for a week — a 12-year-old thinking of suicide.
As usual, OCS’s actions violated several laws but for once a judge called them out. His order drew attention to one of the primary problems in our foster system — OCS, DOL, OPA and the judiciary operate in a largely secret environment, creating outcomes the public and the Legislature are not aware of.
Judge Haas will likely need legislative and public support to hold on to his job. OCS is renowned for retaliating against people who stand up to them, and the Bethel judge just did that — in a major way. Even though Haas’s next retention election isn’t until 2028, OCS may not wait that long to retaliate. OCS has extremely deep pockets and influence over many individuals; some eager to curry the favor of a powerful bureaucracy, and others who can be manipulated by fear.
Watch your back Judge Haas; false claims against you or your family may surface out of nowhere.
Judges like Terrence Haas are rare, but Alaskan families put at risk by OCS misconduct desperately need more like him. Fortunately, the Legislature has the power to ensure federal and state laws protecting families are upheld by more competent, knowledgeable, and humanistic judges like Haas.
A few months ago, Sen. Mike Shower and Rep. George Rauscher introduced similar bills seeking judicial reform. SB 31 and HB 82 quickly got bogged down in committee, but Chairs Sen. Scott Kawasaki and Rep. Sarah Vance can make up for lost ground by working on them over the summer.
I submitted comments and proposed amendments to both bills back in March. One amendment called for the creation of specialized family courts with judges selected by non-partisan elections. Former Attorney General for Gov. Hickel, Edgar Paul Boyko, was a very outspoken proponent of legislatively created family courts towards the end of his career.
My next article will focus on these proposed amendments and Boyko’s recommendations as a viable solution to a decades long nightmare.
David Ignell was born and raised in Juneau, where he currently resides. He holds a law degree from University of San Diego and formerly practiced as a licensed attorney in California. He has experience as a volunteer analyst for the California Innocence Project, and is currently a forensic journalist and author of a recent book on the Alaska Grand Jury.
