Rep. Mary Peltola has partnered with a company that will track her supporters’ purchases, and round-up to the next dollar, an amount that will be donated to her reelection campaign.
By using Good Change, Peltola allows her supporters to have all their commercial transactions captured in what is promised by the company to be a secure system.
That means purchases made with credit cards for flights, books, food, booze, dating, toys, and porn will be sieved through the company’s database, which will automatically round up the purchase amount, and put it into a digital wallet for Peltola.
The Alaska Democratic Party has also partnered with Good Change to raise party funds.
The company describes the process this way:
1. Your donors will open a GoodChange account, then connect a credit card or bank account with GoodChange. 2. Each time they make a purchase, we will round up their spare change to the nearest dollar. 3. At the end of the round up cycle, GoodChange will transfer your donors’ total spare change into your GoodChange account.
There is a fee for the service, so not every penny will go to candidates. There’s a 10% fee captured by Good Change, plus a $3 charge for every new donor. If you return an item and get a refund, you won’t get the round-up portion back.
This is new territory for campaign fundraising. It’s not associated with ActBlue, which is the very successful crowdfunding application founded in 2004 and used by Democrats, which quickly transformed campaign fundraising, raising millions for Democrats quickly, and causing a competing firm, WinRed, to launch in 2019 to support Republican candidates.
Good Change, which appears to cater to Democrats, was started by a couple of millennial-age women in Arkansas, and is also being used by Rep. Adam Schiff, who is running for Senate to replace retiring Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
The Democratic Party of Arkansas is another client, as is the Arkansas Black Caucus. Adam Frisch, a Democrat challenging Rep. Laurent Boebert of Colorado, also is signed up to use the system.
Lambda Legal and other LGBTQ advocacy lawyers have filed a federal class action lawsuit in Washington state against Premera Blue Cross, challenging the insurance company’s policy of denying coverage for gender-affirming chest surgery, also known as breast mutilation surgery, for patients under 18.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a 15-year-old girl who has her parents’ permission to do whatever it takes to live as transgender male adolescent.
A.B.’s medical providers recommended the breast removal as part of the child’s treatment for gender dysphoria. However, Premera Blue Cross, which also serves Alaska businesses and residents, has refused to authorize coverage for the surgery, despite the agreement of A.B., his parents, and his medical providers’ insistence that it’s needed.
Lambda Legal Counsel and Health Care Strategist Omar Gonzalez-Pagan said the surgery is evidence-based, safe, and effective. He criticized Premera’s denial of coverage, citing an arbitrary age cutoff policy that Lambda says is discriminatory and not in line with clinical practice guidelines.
A.B. has experienced negative effects on her health due to wearing a chest binder, hindering her ability to live a happy, healthy, and physically active life, according to the lawyers, who say that Premera’s policy violates the Affordable Care Act by unlawfully discriminating based on sex and age. Premera does covering similar necessary surgeries for insured individuals under 18 who are not transgender, the lawyers allege.
The child’s parents appealed the Premera denial decision but were denied again on Dec. 30. As a result, the parents had to pay out-of-pocket for the expensive procedure.
Premera filed documents showing that the prefrontal cortex–the area of the brain that regulates planning, memory, and impulse control doesn’t develop fully until people are in their mid-20s. Thus, 15-year-olds are not seen as mature enough to take such risks as surgery.
The insurance company covers other forms of gender-affirming care for minors, including prescriptions for puberty blockers hormones and mental health care.
French President Emmanuel Macron was captured on video dad-dancing during an Elton John concert during the hit song “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.” Elton John is on a farewell tour and was in Paris for the final concert in France, during which he also sang “Burning Down the Mission.”
Outside, North African youth were literally burning down parts of France for the fourth night, and people were fighting in the streets as riots consume the country following the police shooting of a 17-year-old driver of North African descent.
The New York Times characterized it as “protesting.” Washington Post said it was due to France’s police brutality in the same way riots in America were blamed on the police killing of George Floyd in 2020, during the middle of a presidential election year. In a sense, this is France’s George Floyd moment, but the difference is that President Macron is an unabashed socialist; he was finance minister under Socialist President François Hollande.
But video from bystanders show major fires raging in cities in France, the burned-out husks of buses, and people battling off the rioters with baseball bats and sticks in hand-to-hand combat in the streets. Reports of tourists being trapped in buses, and there are reports of deaths. Police have arrested more than 1,300.
How the media is covering it and how countries are reacting around the world, according to LeMonde:
China, usually quick to report social tensions and police violence in Western countries, has limited its coverage. “This possibly is another sign of how Beijing has been trying to spare French President Emmanuel Macron, who is the country’s privileged European interlocutor since his last visit to China in April,” the newspaper said.
Russian media, however, is covering the events “with a mix of bewilderment and rejoicing.” On Thursday evening’s prime-time news in Russia, viewers saw video of two towns in the Paris region, with amateur footage of clashes, fires, and destruction. The newscast also reported social media users were “actively discussing” Macron’s presence at an Elton John concert “at the time of the worst clashes.”
CNN reports the riots as a “wave of protests,” sparking a “ban on demonstrations in some cities, travel warnings and reigniting a debate on over-policing in marginalized communities.”
The major network pretzeled itself to avoid saying these were North African immigrants and their offspring who were rioting. Instead, CNN wrote, “Scenes emerged of people setting fires to vehicles and climbing onto buildings with smashed windows, while riot police officers fiercely clashed with demonstrators.” The word riot was applied to police, rather than rioters.
CNN further wrote that the rioters, which CNN says are “activists” believe Nahel’s race was a factor in his killing, “unraveling deep-rooted tensions over police discrimination against minoritized communities in France.”
“Minoritized” is a word that has emerged from the Left to replace the term “minority.”
AlJazeera was more forthcoming than mainstream U.S. media: Paul Brennan, reporting from Nanterre, said some towns are “taking matters into their own hands”.
“For example, Marseille has banned public gatherings. Toulouse is stopping short, it’s not imposing a curfew as yet, but many cities and towns are taking their public transport off the roads,” Brennan said, AlJazeera reported.
“In the last hour, we’ve seen footage on social media suggesting down in the south of Paris … daylight looting has been taking place,” Brennan added.
Teenage groups are also targeting shopping malls during the day, and are “sweeping through with high speed,” Brennan said.
Some French territories are also seeing violence. In French Guiana in the French Caribbean, police came under fire and a government worker was shot to death in Cayenne, reportedly by a stray bullet. Other damage includes dumpsters being set on fire and buildings being vandalized, along with looting of stores. French Guiana is on the Atlantic coast in northern South America. Riots, looting, and vandalism were also reported on the Indian Ocean Island of La Reunion, a French territory.
A violent hail storm in western Nebraska destroyed the panels of an entire solar farm, forcing the nearby community of Scottsbluff to return to traditional power sources, local officials said.
Cowboy State Daily was the first to report the destruction of the solar farm by hail coming down at a velocity of 150 miles per hour.
The Community Solar Project, a 4.4 megawatt solar field made up of 14,000 solar panels, is not currently operating and will remain offline until repairs are completed, the Nebraska Public Power District confirmed to Fox News Digital. The state-owned public utility and energy firm GenPro Energy Solutions developed the solar project just three years ago.
“The solar complex was destroyed by hail,” Scottsbluff City Manager Kevin Spencer said to news reporters. “They’re assessing the damage, but it certainly looks destroyed to me.”
“I don’t think we’re ready to give up on solar power,” he said. “It was our understanding that these solar panels were at least hail resistant. This hail was extreme, you know, the size and probably the speed of it. So, I don’t know that we would give up on it just yet.”
Read about the violent storm’s damage that also involved a tornado that destroyed one home, at Cowboy State Daily.
Scottsbluff is has a population of 14,400 and is located in the western part of Nebraska, in what’s known as the Nebraska Panhandle.
An Alaska business legend has passed. Charlie Bussell, who served in the Alaska House of Representatives, died at his home in Kona, Hawaii, where he has lived for the past few years, traveling back to Alaska regularly to tend to his businesses.
He served in the Alaska House from 1983-1984, representing Anchorage.
“The First Lady and I express our condolences to the family of former legislator Charles Bussell,”said Gov. Mike Dunleavy in a statement. “Charlie was a true Alaskan. He served in our House of Representatives, flew all over Alaska with his private pilot’s license, and loved fishing. He leaves a long legacy of service to our great state.”
Charlie was a businessman from Anchorage who had served in the U.S. Army for three years. He was a member of many Alaska organizations, including the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, the Alaska World Affairs Council, the Blood Bank of Alaska, the Alaska Miners Association, the Resources Development Council, the Institute of Electrical & Electronic Engineers, Montana Creek Dog Mushers Association, the Anchorage Yacht Club, and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. He was a longtime supporter of the arts.
He was born Oct. 4, 1934 in Minnesota. He learned the electrical trade as an IBEW apprentice, completing a 4,OOO-hour course. After moving to Alaska, he was associated with several businesses, including Alaska Bussell Electric Company; Ditch Witch of Alaska; Natural Gas Fuel Systems; partner, Denali Leasing Company; consultant with Pacific Hydroelectric Company. Inc.
Charlie was known to have a brilliant intellect, avid curiosity about the world, and a sharp wit. He was the father of Brian and Rob, and husband to Victoria, who survive him.
Gov. Dunleavy has ordered that Alaska and the United States flags fly at half-staff at a date that will be announced after consulting with the family of the longtime Alaskan.
Planned Parenthood has said many things in the past years that make conservatives cringe. The group, funded by taxpayers, says that sex is a label you are “assigned by a doctor at birth.”
Gender is a social construct — made up by society, the group says.
Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider and is now one of the largest providers of gender-transition services in America.
Now, Planned Parenthood is saying that “Virginity is a social construct. It is almost always a term used to describe young women.” At least in that sentence, the group acknowledges that there are, indeed, women.
The organization says that the term virginity is not scientifically based, and should not be used because it comes from a patriarchal point of view.
In a blog post by Planned Parenthood, the organization writes, “Virginity is a one and done deal. Once you’ve lost your virginity, you can never get it back.”
That much everyone can agree on.
“That’s why we focus on abstinence and effective forms of birth control instead. Abstinence is something you can return to throughout your life when that is the right decision for you,” the group continues.
In other words, the organization agrees that scientifically, virginity is a one-and-done deal. But the organization is going further, and disputing the idea that virginity is something worth holding onto.
“In other less progressive parts of the country where abstinence-only education is king, young women are taught during sex education that virginity is something to be cherished. During some of these classes, teachers give a live demonstration of what they think virginity is all about by asking students to share a piece of chewed gum, comparing that gum to people who have had sex,” Planned Parenthood writes, making abstinence-only education into a male construct (king, rather than queen).
Whether or not the story of chewing gum is true, the organization is clearly taking aim at social conservatives and Christians who promote chastity.
“That makes young women think if they have sex once, no one will ever want to have a relationship with them, and that is simply not true. We need to move far away from this type of shaming and toward sex education that is proven to work.”
The sex education proven to work for Planned Parenthood is pushing boys to take hormones to help them transition their gender appearance into female, and helping girls grow beards and lower their voices in anticipation of having their breasts chopped off and artificial penises constructed from arm tissue.
And for the rest of the children who insist on heterosexuality, the abortion mill wants them to not wait to have sex, because that dries up the market for abortions.
The recently released annual report of Planned Parenthood for the years 2021-2022 reveals that taxpayer funding has reached a record-breaking level for Planned Parenthood, while it keeps its main ambitions on abortion. By the numbers, there has been a decline in visits for essential healthcare services such as cancer screening and prevention, and prenatal care. In addition, Planned Parenthood has expanded its range of services to transgender services, with an apparent aim to establish dominance in this field.
According to the medical data section of its report, Planned Parenthood provided the following statistics:
The number of abortions performed in 2020 was 374,155, close to the previous year’s all-time high of 383,460.
Breast screenings and Pap tests accounted for 470,419, indicating an increase from 373,755 in the previous year.
Adoption referrals totaled 1,803, a slight decrease from 1,940 in the previous year and less than half of the 4,279 reported three years ago.
Planned Parenthood performed 208 abortions for every adoption referral. Additionally, the number of patients served by Planned Parenthood declined once again, with a total of 2.13 million patients.
In other words, Planned Parenthoods needs those lifetime transgender chemically dependent clients, and they also need girls to abandon the idea of chastity.
It’s a business model to keep the customers coming. So to speak.
Attorney General Merrick Garland last week called criticism of the Justice Department an “attack” on “democracy.” He was speaking of criticism that came after reports that the Justice Department ignored the IRS recommendation to charge Hunter Biden with felony tax crimes. Responding to a reporter’s question about whether Americans should be concerned about the Department of Justice’s integrity, Garland said criticism “constitutes an attack on an institution that is essential to American democracy.”
This week, however, Garland’s boss President Joe Biden criticized the U.S. Supreme Court several times, and warned he would have the last word in his quest to reinstate systematic racism in college admissions. Biden said the Supreme Court cannot have the last word on the Constitution.
“While the court can render a decision, it cannot change what America stands for,” he said on Thursday from the White House. He said that the current Supreme Court is not a “normal court.”
Merrick did not then defend “democracy” when the president, who is the head of the Executive Branch, attacked the third branch of government — the Supreme Court.
Such is the double standard employed by the Biden Administration.
In the ruling on ending affirmative action practices in college admissions, Merrick said he and the Biden Administration would find ways to work around the ruling, which refocuses admissions practices on academic merit rather than race.
“The Supreme Court’s decision undercuts efforts by universities across the country to create a diverse group of graduates prepared to lead in an increasingly diverse nation. It will significantly set back efforts to advance educational opportunity for all Americans. And it upends nearly 50 years of precedent,” the Department of Justice said in a statement criticizing the Supreme Court.
“The Department of Justice remains committed to promoting student diversity in higher education using all available legal tools. In the coming weeks, we will work with the Department of Education to provide resources to college and universities on what admissions practices and programs remain lawful following the Court’s decision,” Garland’s department said.
Garland was once nominated to the Supreme Court by President Barack Obama to fill the position after the death of Antonin Scalia, but Garland failed to get Senate confirmation, after the Senate Judiciary Committee delayed hearings due to the political turbulence of the election year. Garland’s nomination expired 293 days after it had been made by Obama, and that allowed President Donald Trump, in 2016 to nominate a conservative to the court. He nominated Neil Gorsuch, who went on to win confirmation, 14 months after the death of Scalia.
Had Garland been confirmed, the ruling in favor of Students for Fair Admissions on June 29, 2023 would have been 5-4 instead of 6-3.
If you pay attention to the workings of the City and Borough of Juneau, one hears a great deal about sustainability and diversity. This is especially true with the Assembly and its senior management.
I’m a big fan of listening to diverse viewpoints. And sustainability is a worthy goal, one I try to follow in my personal life.
The trouble with all the chatter about diversity and sustainability by our local politicians and senior management is that it often rings hollow.
The current Assembly is oddly imbalanced and lacks diversity. Our assembly is “majority millennial,” while the fastest growing segment of our population is seniors. How is that “diverse?”
Our current Assembly is also composed mostly of members who are employed or were employed by government or by non-governmental organizations that are closely aligned with or dependent on funding from government or grants for their existence. The experience and aptitude gained from participation in the oft-discussed but infrequently reached private sector is lacking among this Assembly. The level of participation by the senior management staff at the city and borough in actual enterprises that are needed to efficiently deliver goods or services is miniscule.
Lacking in genuine diversity, this group of elected officials and senior bureaucrats does not reflect the world in which most individuals live. Yet they have advanced a number of ideas and concepts related to “sustainability,” none of which are linked to the idea of a sustainable economic future for Juneau or a genuinely sustainable budget.
The truth is, the current Assembly and senior management team are in love with spending.
Think I’m wrong?
Reflect a bit on the manner by which property taxes have been assessed and handled the last few years. Our population remains stagnant, but tax increases have shot up dramatically and the municipal budget continues to spiral upward.
Do you believe we have a lean operating budget at the CBJ? The total, all-in budget is around $450 million dollars a year. More importantly, the General Government budget was stable for a long period at around $100 million for years but has jumped up to $133 million.
Not only that, twice in the last couple of years the CBJ has discovered over-spending errors exceeding $2 million. A couple of million here, a few million there; pretty soon you’re looking at real money being squandered without apparent accountability.
The recent decision by the voters declining to fund a new city hall, complete with expensive underground parking, obviously had no impact and apparently counts for nothing among the Assembly. The election results have been ignored in the pursuit of a personality driven agenda to build a new facility instead of focusing on the public interest as expressed by the electorate.
Juneau is a great place in most regards. But our local Assembly is ignoring the electorate and instead acting to rubber-stamp decisions cooked up by the City Manager and the City Finance Director, both of whom and heading out the door. This pattern of electorate abuse needs to stop.
We need to adopt a genuinely sustainable budget that will help the hard-working individuals and families who live in this community, most of whom don’t have time to spend hours trying to rein in an out-of-control Assembly. Juneau needs a more diverse Assembly that reflects actual experience with finance, budgeting and the efficient administration of services.
A lot of the virtue signaling and talk about diversity or sustainability emanating from City Hall might make many of the current Assembly members feel good about themselves. That would be really swell if we were operating a support group down at City Hall for politicians and government managers. We’re not.
It’s time to focus attention on basic services and getting our local government finances and budget under control. Until we accomplish this essential task, Juneau will slowly and steadily stagnate and become a less desirable place for many individuals and families to live.
Joe Geldhof is a lawyer in Juneau. He has held a number of positions requiring administrative and financial skills. Joe still plays ice hockey at the Treadwell Arena, albeit very slowly.
The Congressional Budget Office issued a warning this month that the United States’ national debt is on an unsustainable long-term trajectory.
Under the CBO’s extended scenario in the Long-Term Budget Outlook, federal debt held by the public is projected to surge from 97% of Gross Domestic Product at the end of Fiscal Year 2022 to 181% by the year 2053 if current laws remain unchanged.
The “Alternative Scenario,” which incorporates assumptions of some expiring provisions being extended, faster discretionary spending growth, and weak revenue collections, predicts an even worse outcome, with debt reaching 222% of Gross Domestic Product by the end of 2053.
The report further highlights the explosive growth of budget deficits. If no changes are made to existing policies, the budget deficit is projected to grow from 5.8% of GDP in 2023 to 10% by 2053.
This deficit in 2053 would be the highest outside of World War II and the Covid-19 pandemic, nearly three times the 50-year historical average of 3.6 percent of GDP.
The CBO’s Alternative Scenario presents an even graver outlook, with the deficit potentially reaching 12.6% of GDP by 2053.
The government projections show that government spending will consistently outpace revenue.
According to the extended baseline, spending will decline to 23.1% of GDP by 2026 but will subsequently rise to 29.1 percent by 2053.
In contrast, revenue is expected to decrease to 17.4% of GDP by 2025 before edging back to 19.1% by 2053. The primary drivers of this spending growth are increased retirement, healthcare, and net interest costs.
The CBO estimates that by 2052, debt will total 177% of GDP, 8 percentage points lower than the previous estimate of 185% of GDP. The projected deficit for 2052 is expected to be 9.8% of GDP, down from 11.1% in the previous long-term outlook. These improvements are primarily attributed to the $1.5 trillion of 10-year savings outlined in the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
High levels of debt impede income and wage growth, increase interest payments on the national debt, reduce fiscal flexibility during recessions or emergencies, burden future generations, and heighten the risk of a fiscal crisis.
If left unaddressed, the government projections suggest that the national debt will grow rapidly, reaching unprecedented levels relative to the size of the economy. With a nominal increase of approximately $120 trillion, the debt held by the public is forecasted to surge from $25 trillion to nearly $144 trillion by 2053.
