Home Blog Page 591

Win Gruening: Juneau Assembly should heed economic warning bells in latest report

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
8
Win Gruening: Juneau Assembly should heed economic warning bells in latest report

By WIN GRUENING

The economic indicators report published last month by the Juneau Economic Development Council is a wake-up call for our community. The findings are worrisome, and should be the #1 reference in guiding the Juneau Assembly’s priorities and actions for 2024.

JEDC, a private nonprofit, receives $440,000 annually from the city to promote economic development and monitor economic data. JEDC Executive Director Brian Holst shared their latest report during a recent Juneau Chamber of Commerce presentation and outlined some alarming trends impacting our community. The report reflects changes between 2021 and 2022, some of which may have become even more pronounced in 2023.

While Juneau’s economy has generally recovered from the debilitating effects of the pandemic (thanks largely to the rebounding cruise industry), the community’s aging and declining population signal problems ahead. For the first time in Juneau’s history, residents over 60 years of age outnumber those under 20. Families moving out of Juneau coupled with low fertility rates have been the main reasons, but high housing and healthcare costs have discouraged new in-migration.

Compounding this problem is the continued loss of government jobs, once Juneau’s mainstay. The state workforce declined 2.6% year over year. Significantly, half those jobs were in administration or executive-level positions.

Plummeting student populations will soon force the Juneau School District to consider facility consolidations as state education funding is tied to school enrollment.

Most agree that making Juneau a more affordable place to live will help and encourage working families to stay or relocate here. Yet many of our Assembly’s priorities have served to do just the opposite.

These economic and demographic trends can’t be reversed anytime soon. Jacking up property taxes to untenable levels or spending more than $100 million on a new City Hall and civic center won’t make Juneau more affordable. Nor will warning the one private industry that is expanding their presence in the community that their efforts are no longer welcome. Yet the Assembly recently voted informally “thumbs down” as a signal they want the cruise industry to shrink.

This begs the question, what exactly will be the plan to replace the revenue losses when visitors are reduced? It was only a few years ago that the Assembly discussed exempting food from sales taxes and, despite almost unanimous support, they were unable to deliver a plan to replace the $6 million hole it would have created in the budget.

The 2023 cruise season generated over $34 million in sales tax and passenger fee revenue. Reducing it by just one ship per day would create a similar-sized hole in the municipal budget. And that doesn’t take into account other economic impacts related to employment and cruise line purchases.

Except for mining there’s no other realistic option to sustain our economy save the cruise industry. We can hope for more independent visitors or Coast Guard cutters, but other options are speculative and long-term. None come close to replacing the kind of employment and revenue now provided by the cruise industry.

Instead of demonizing the cruise industry, why not collaborate productively with them to expand opportunities for employment and revenue growth?

One such example is Huna Totem Corp.’s Aak’w Landing dock project. So far the city seems more interested in allocating an estimated $80 million in tax revenue to purchase Juneau’s private docks than approving this project, one that could pump an estimated $150 million in private investment into our community.

Juneau’s Tourism Management Best Practices (TMBP) program has been widely lauded and copied in other Southeast Alaska communities. Despite assertions 20 years ago that further tourism growth in Juneau was unsustainable, impacts as evidenced by resident complaints have been largely alleviated. The recent increase due to the uptick in passenger volume was not unexpected and is being addressed.

More importantly, the recommendations of the Visitor Industry Task Force are just now being implemented to include a five-ship daily limit and other congestion mitigation measures. It’s premature to consider other changes until those actions can take effect.

In the meantime, our Assembly can and should concentrate its efforts on how to grow the economy, streamline the budget to reduce taxes, and reverse Juneau’s demographic decline.

After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.

Win Gruening: Juneau Assembly’s 2023 election report shows Vote by Mail deficiencies

Watch ‘The Fall of Minneapolis,’ documentary with new details surrounding George Floyd’s death

Suzanne Downing
-
61
Watch ‘The Fall of Minneapolis,’ documentary with new details surrounding George Floyd’s death

The Supreme Court has denied an appeal by former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted in the killing of violent repeat criminal George Floyd.

Chauvin had appealed his conviction on the basis that the jury was biased against him because they feared more riots in the city if they didn’t convict him.

Chauvin is serving a 20-year prison sentence for second- and third-degree murder of Floyd, whose death ignited protests and riots across the country, and claims of systemic racism. The incident spawned the Black Lives Matter movement and may have contributed to the election of President Joe Biden, as blacks across the country were motivated to vote.

“Mr. Chauvin’s case shows the profound difficulties trial courts have to ensure a criminal defendant’s right to an impartial jury consistently when extreme cases arise,” Chauvin’s attorneys argued to the high court. “This was particularly true here when the jurors themselves had a vested interest in finding Mr. Chauvin guilty in order to avoid further rioting in the community in which they lived and the possible threat of physical harm to them or their families.”

The court gave no explanation as to why it was not agreeing to hear the appeal.

Also this week, a documentary about the 2020 riots in Minneapolis was released. “The Fall of Minneapolis” is based on the book by Liz Collin, titled, “They’re Lying.”

In the book and the documentary, Collin uncovers what really happened on Chicago Avenue, through interviews with those who were there, including Chauvin and other police officers who have not spoken out about the incident before. The film contains body-worn camera video of George Floyd’s arrest, interviews with officers who served during the riots, key evidence from the autopsy, and important facts from the Chauvin trial.

“Liz exposes how the facts were manipulated to dupe and divide America,” the filmmakers say on their website. “After years of in-depth research, we show the evidence that others have ignored or outright censored. This is everything they don’t want you to see.”

The documentary can be seen for free at this Rumble link or below:

Hayden Ludwig: Fentanyl election letters reveal how partisan journalists operate

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
7
Hayden Ludwig: Fentanyl election letters reveal how partisan journalists operate

By HAYDEN LUDWIG | REAL CLEAR WIRE

The true danger to American democracy comes from the radical left. Just don’t expect to hear it from the mainstream media.

On Nov. 9, Americans learned that law enforcement intercepted a handful of fentanyl-laced letters intended for election offices across at least five states, including Georgia’s Fulton County. While alarming, fentanyl isn’t like anthrax – briefly touching it isn’t deadly. But ingesting it is – just ask the families of the 74,000 Americans who died from fentanyl in 2022 alone, much of it produced in China and smuggled in through President Biden’s wide-open southern border.

But dozens of media outlets used the poison letters to peddle the left’s favorite new “crisis”: Death threats to election workers from angry Republican voters.

I’ve tracked this myth since it was hatched in early 2021 as a sequel to the now-infamous “Zuck bucks” scheme, in which partisan billionaire Mark Zuckerberg effectively privatized the 2020 election in swing states with $420 million. After Biden’s victory, activists pivoted to solidifying that funding, only now from the federal government.

But there’s a price: With more federal funding comes even more federal control over our elections.

The scheme works because sympathetic reporters never have to prove that election officials are at a greater risk of threats from kooks post-2020 than they were pre-2020 – they simply assert it, as virtually all did with the fentanyl letters.

Except this time, the media buried a problematic detail: The fentanyl letters apparently came from the far left, not the far right.

Pictures of one letter mailed to the elections director of Pierce County, Wash., was adorned with an LGBTQ pride flag; the “anti-fascist” Three Arrows symbol marking Antifa, a violent extremist group; and an inverted pentagram, often used to denote Satanism.

The letter reads:

END ELECTIONS NOW

STOP GIVING POWER TO THE RIGHT THAT THEY DON’T HAVE

WE ARE IN CHARGE NOW AND THERE IS NO MORE NEED FOR THEM.

The FBI has since seized the letters and has yet to announce any suspects, so take the story with a grain of salt (we certainly are). But true or false, the media’s response is enlightening.

While 177 outlets covered the fentanyl letters story, just 60 stories quoted their demand to “stop giving power to the right,” according to data from Lexis Nexis. Yet almost all referenced “terrorism” or “domestic terrorism,” a key phrase in the threats-to-election-workers narrative.

Neither the Guardian nor Oregon Public Broadcasting bothered to comment on the letters’ hateful political symbols in the rush to push their preferred narrative: election worker harassment.

New York Magazine glossed over the overtly partisan symbols, noting blandly that “authorities are still uncertain as to the political leanings or particular motives of the sender.”

The Washington Post admitted that “the symbols in the letter are associated with left-leaning politics” – an astonishing euphemism when describing Antifa – before adding that the sender’s political views “remain unclear.”

Politico and NPR were the worst offenders, suggesting – without evidence – that it could be a conservative hoax:

While the symbols have sometimes been associated with leftist politics, they also have been used by conservative figures to label and stereotype the left, and the sender’s political leanings were unclear.

It’s hard to imagine those same outlets describing an alt-right symbol – say, Pepe the Frog – as “sometimes associated with far-right politics.”

All but one quoted David Becker, a political operative who runs the Washington, D.C. advocacy group Center for Election Innovation and Research, on the “sad reality” of “threats” “terrorizing” election officials. Here’s what they don’t mention about Becker: He’s a far-left elections activist working to turn states blue.

At the Justice Department, Becker earned a reputation from colleagues as a “hardcore leftist” who “couldn’t stand conservatives” – an image he’s since tried to obscure. Then he led election policy for the partisan group People for the American Way, a connection he’s also attempted to downplay or hide.

Becker accuses his political opponents of threatening election officials and spreading “election denialism,” as if well-intentioned skepticism is a disease.

We can guess why: Becker’s group, CEIR, is the source of that unproven theory through its front group, the Election Official Legal Defense Network, which was formed in early 2021 to label Republican voters a threat to democracy.

CEIR took $70 million from Mark Zuckerberg to register and turn out Democratic voters in swing states as part of the 2020 Zuck Bucks scheme, which NPR later celebrated for “saving” the 2020 election. Shamefully, the mainstream media continues to bless CEIR as “nonpartisan.”

In May, Becker hosted a conference at the D.C. Spy Museum where Colorado’s Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold declared that there are six election-denying secretaries of state, six U.S. senators, and 150 congressmen who are “desecrating the halls of Congress as we speak” – all Republicans.

“This is part of the national Republican strategy to cause chaos to [win] elections,” she blasted, later intimating that these conservatives ought to be prosecuted for their opinions.

Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes went further, labeling all conservatives “fascists” and “election deniers” for questioning the contested 2020 election. Elsewhere, he’s called Republicans “MAGA fascists” and “authoritarians” who spew “lies” in order to “destroy our democracy.”

Does that sound like someone who should be in charge of Arizona’s elections?

We’ll doubtless learn more in the coming weeks from the FBI about the source of the fentanyl letters. Or then again, Biden’s agents may bury the story completely; it wouldn’t be the first time. You be the judge of what Uncle Sam reports to the public.

But what we can’t do is fall for another conspiracy theory that has one objective: weaponizing the federal government against the Democratic Party’s enemies. The clues are all there. Will Americans pay attention before it’s too late?

Hayden Ludwig is the director of policy research for Restoration of America and the author of ERIC: the Best Data Money Can’t Buy.

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

Hayden Ludwig: Companies outraged over George Floyd death are silent on Hamas terrorism. Why?

Portland ‘trantifa’ activists violently attack feminists on sidewalk; police do nothing

Suzanne Downing
-
44
Portland ‘trantifa’ activists violently attack feminists on sidewalk; police do nothing

A mob of male transgender-antifa activists attacked a group of women who were standing with a sign as part of a women’s rights activity in Portland on Sunday.

“Four of us at the ER right now. We are in good spirits and remain undefeated. A mob of ‘antifa’ men attacked us, pepper sprayed us in the eyes, punched us, kicked us, and stole our phones. We were attempting to have an event about male violence,” wrote feminist and writer Lierre Kieth. She said that the men stalked the women to their AirBnBs, vandalized their cars as the women prepared to speak at a Women’s Declaration USA’s event in Portland. The trans men also vandalized the library where the feminist training event was taking place, forcing the library to close to the public.

Several reports are describing the attackers as appearing to be transgenders who were wearing masks. The group of women protesters, who were bloodied, bruised, and blinded with pepper spray, describe them as “trantifa.” The women said their phones were targeted, so most of the video is blurry, coming from one body-worn camera that doesn’t show the activists, but that did pick up recordings of the attack.

Many other audios are posted at Breitbart:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/11/21/transgender-activists-attack-feminists-holding-event-womens-rights/

The Women’s Declaration group promotes feminist ideas but draws the line when it comes to transgender men pretending to be women. The group says that “the concept of ‘gender identity’ has been incorporated into many influential international human rights documents. This undermines women’s sex-based rights and CEDAW’s [Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women] mission.”

“Women’s Declaration International USA (WDI USA) strongly condemns the violent attacks on us that took place near the Hollywood branch of the Multnomah County Library on Sunday November 19. In the face of this violent woman-hating terrorism, we are proud to stand with women and girls as a sex class spanning all ages, races, backgrounds, sexual orientations, and circumstances,” the organization wrote on its website. It also criticized Portland police for their inaction.

“Women’s Declaration We also condemn the Portland Police Bureau, which flatly ignored several calls made to 911 while women were being punched, kicked, and pepper-sprayed. Portland police knew of the threat in advance. The library had been vandalized. Our tires were slashed. There had already been security breaches at the library that morning. The cops had driven by and seen the crowd and chose not to disperse it. This was a case of the Portland police knowingly and deliberately abandoning us to a mob,” the group wrote.

The group issued a lengthy statement of the timeline of events:

Our event was titled “Protecting Women and Children,” and we had booked a room at the Hollywood library weeks in advance, as any member of the public can do. Our intention was to give talks about how to protect women and children from the threats we face. We invited women to attend.

We had also booked an Airbnb for the nights of Friday through Sunday. We planned a series of training sessions in the tactic of nonviolent direct action, beginning Friday evening and going through Sunday morning. Nonviolent direct action is a very specific tactic for political movements. It confronts power directly and nonviolently. In any nonviolent direct action movement, the violence of those in power already exists; nonviolent direct actionists do not bring the violence, because it’s already there. The purpose of nonviolent direct action is to make existing violence visible to the public.

In the weeks leading up to the attacks, numerous online threats were made, mostly involving the suggestion that pies or other food would be thrown at the speakers. Multnomah County security discussed these threats with WDI USA volunteers and made plans to minimize the risks. Then, the day before the event, Multnomah County security contacted the organizers to report a threat of gun violence. A concerned third party had informed them that a person planning to attend had stated, “I am going to the event and bringing my gun and if anyone messes with me I will use it.” 

The police were notified and a decision was made to move forward with the event, with an increased police presence near the library. The situation escalated when, the night before the event, vandals arrived at the house where the organizers and several participants were sleeping and slashed the tires of all of the vehicles in the carport. At that point, we were on notice that our location had been leaked to those who mean us harm, but we did not know by whom. A WDI USA volunteer called 911 to report the vandalism, but the Portland 911 dispatcher sent her to an automated non-emergency system, which then dropped. She called 911 again, and again, the Portland 911 dispatcher sent her to the same automated non-emergency system, which dropped. At that point, there was little recourse other than to proceed as planned. In this video, WDI USA president Kara Dansky and WoLF founder Lierre Keith explained what was happening. 

Also overnight, the library was vandalized. The county security representative contacted us to tell us that the glass door had been shattered and the exterior of the library building was covered in graffiti. They did not tell us what the graffiti said. As a result, the library decided to close the public areas for the day but allow our event to continue in the reserved room. 

The library’s normal opening time is 10:00 a.m. PT. It did not open on that day because of the vandalism, but by that time, the mob had already begun forming. A woman reached out to WDI USA to tell us that she was in her car near the library entrance and that several parents (mothers, in particular) and their children were there to enjoy the library and seemed frustrated that they couldn’t because of the mob that had formed.

The scheduled time of the event was 12:00 p.m. PT, and county security asked us to hold off on coming until they would be able to secure the rear entrance. However, they eventually reported to us that the mob was circling the building and that there was no way they would be able to secure our entrance into the building at all.

When told to do so by county security, we set off from the Airbnb in two moving vans, half of the participants in one, half in the other. We could see along the way that we were being surveilled. As we neared the library, county security asked us to stop, which we did. We waited while the head of county security and the library president approached the first van and asked to enter it. We admitted them, and the women in the second van joined those of us in the first van. At that point, all WDI USA participants were in one van, with the head of county security and the library president (both women). We were approximately two blocks from the library. 

They informed us that antifa thugs had surrounded the library and menaced the employees. They also told us that patrons were at a coffee shop next to the library and that there was an elderly living facility above the library. They told us flatly that they were gravely concerned for the safety of library staff, event attendees, nearby patrons of the coffee shop, and the elderly people living upstairs. The head of library security stated that she had the phone number of a Portland Police Bureau sergeant on speed dial and that she was happy to call him the instant a crime was committed. They asked us to consider canceling our event. Several of us had the distinct impression that they thought we would be surprised to hear about the behavior of antifa thugs. They seemed genuinely to believe that we would be afraid enough to cancel our event. We were not surprised to hear any of what they had to tell us. 

We had seconds to make our decision. One of the main organizers said that we were determined to continue with the event. Another of the organizers suggested that in order to avoid any violence being visited on library staff, audience members, nearby coffee shop patrons, and/or elderly residents of the space above the library, we continue with the event, but that we do it on the sidewalk where we were. The last thing we wanted to do was put innocent people, including children and the elderly, in danger. We asked the head of library security to clarify that Portland police officers were in the area and that as soon as there was any sign of a crime being committed, she would call them. She assured us that she would be nearby and would not hesitate to call in the police at the start of any criminal activity.

We need to be very clear about this: We were a small group of women who had booked a space in a public library to talk about protecting women and children. We had done nothing wrong, and we did not intend to do anything wrong. We live in a society in which women ought to be able to speak at a public library about protecting women and children but can’t do so without antifa thugs putting women, children, and elderly people at risk of violence.

We exited the van and walked with our banner reading “WOMAN = ADULT HUMAN FEMALE” to the nearest intersection, just a few blocks from the library. We did this having been assured by the head of county security that the police were nearby and that she would call them in at the first sign of criminal activity. Our planned speeches covered many of the current harms women and children face, from prison rape to addictive and destructive online content. 

The women never got to give their speeches and the police never came. WDI USA president Kara Dansky gave an introduction, and halfway through the very first speech, the women were noticed by the library mob, which advanced on them. The mob began screaming, chanting and throwing cans filled with liquid at the speaking women. Cans landed on the ground, exploding with carbonated liquid. They landed on the bodies of the women standing there. Soon, the mob rushed the women and sprayed copious amounts of blinding, burning chemicals in their faces. The first woman hit with liquid spray was president Kara Dansky but for unknown reasons, she wasn’t badly injured by it. She reports that the impact of liquid being sprayed in her eyes hurt, but the liquid did not appear to be poisonous. The pain subsided fairly quickly. Other women were injured much more severely. The mob sprayed poisonous chemicals directly in women’s eyes. The women were blinded and in excruciating pain. Several women called 911 immediately. 911 dispatchers could hear women screaming and antifa mob members yelling at the women to “GET THE F*CK OUT OF HERE.” While the women were reporting these crimes against them, antifa mob members stole their phones out of their hands, sometimes throwing phones to the ground and smashing them. They also stole two out of the three body cameras that women were wearing. 

They punched several women, who fell to the ground. While the women were on the ground, writhing in pain, antifa mob members repeatedly kicked their bodies and heads. They attacked an old woman passerby, shoving her to the ground. WDI USA volunteers quickly helped the woman to safety at the home of a neighbor who had come outside to view the commotion. A local man tried to intervene to stop the violence, but the crowd continued to beat the women and threatened him. As far as the organizers know, the police never made it to the corner, just a few blocks away from the library where they had claimed to have increased patrols. Throughout the entire ordeal, not a single one of the women participating in our event broke our commitment to nonviolence, even once.

Eventually, our group made their way into a Whole Foods nearby. The security guards were immediately helpful in escorting the women to the bathroom and again calling 911. Soon after, antifa thugs entered the Whole Foods and began taunting the women, saying “where are we going now?” At least one security guard got between them and the antifa thugs who were taunting us.

We called the vans, exited Whole Foods, found one of the vans, piled in, and left to return to the house. 

When we got to the house, we faced another conundrum: what to do now? We knew that antifa knew the location of the house. We had reason to believe that if they knew the location of the house, they might also know the door code to enter it. We had no faith that Portland police would do a single thing to protect us from theft, assault, arson, rape, and/or murder. Four of the women who were the most injured went to the emergency room to have their wounds treated.

We called 911 anyway, and they eventually showed up, hours after women were viciously attacked on the streets of Portland. They took our statements and promised to file a report. We are reasonably confident that this report will be filed, but not at all confident that anything will come of it. The city of Portland simply does not care about the lives or the safety or the civil rights of women. PPB sources tell us that officers are on orders from above not to intervene when there are groups clashing unless there is an imminent threat to life. 

Of course, this was not an incident in which “groups clashed.” This was a brutal, unprovoked attack on unarmed, unresisting women—and the men kicking prone women in the head posed a clear imminent threat to life.

Major landslide in Wrangell takes out homes, at least three have died, three are missing

Suzanne Downing
-
26
Major landslide in Wrangell takes out homes, at least three have died, three are missing

Update: There are three known dead in the landslide, one is a child; three are missing –– two adults and a child. Rescue efforts are difficult due to continuous sliding, with the slide being about 500 feet wide. Rain on Monday totaled about three inches in Wrangell. Dozens of homes are still without power beyond the slide zone.

A major landslide at about destroyed homes in Wrangell on Monday around 9 pm. Troopers and other agencies responded to the slide near Mile 11 of the Zimovia Highway. Three are known to have died, and three are missing. Three homes were in the direct path of the slide.

“A preliminary survey determined that three single-family residences were directly in the path of the landslide. The first responders started a hasty search to look for survivors. The body of one deceased individual was located during the search. Multiple individuals are believed to have been within the slide area when the landslide occurred and are believed to be missing. The Alaska State Troopers have assumed command of the search and rescue effort,” Troopers said in a statement Tuesday morning. Two minors and an adult are still missing, as of Wednesday morning.

Wrangell landslide. Photo credit: Alaska Department of Transportation.

A major winter storm has been battering Southeast Alaska with torrential rains in southern portions and snow in Juneau and northern Lynn Canal. Juneau’s Thane Road has been under an avalanche alert during this weather event.

“Our local search and rescue team is working with the Alaska State Troopers, USCG, USFS, local contractors, city staff and DOT in a concerted effort to sift through and clear debris. A large-scale search and rescue effort cannot be done at this time as the site is extremely hazardous and unstable. A state geologist will have to come in to assess the site to ensure conditions are safe before proceeding with a full-scale effort,” the City of Wrangell wrote on Facebook.

“We ask that public direct all important questions/concerns/inquiries to Mason Villarma, Interim Borough Manager at (360) 981-1010. If you are calling to report a missing person, please call the Wrangell Police Department at (907) 874-3304. We will provide periodic updates of our ongoing search and rescue mission. The next update will be at 9am AKDT.”

Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a verbal disaster declaration on Tuesday. Dunleavy said, “Rose and I are heartbroken by this disaster and we pray for the safety of all those on site and offer all the resources our state has available.”

The main slide measured about 200 feet wide, and was active throughout the night. Water taxis are being used available to help those on the south end navigate to the other side of the slide area. Zimovia Highway is closed to all highway traffic south of 6-Mile, the state Department of Transportation announcement said. Trident Seafoods is offering its bunk house for emergency housing, and businesses around town are offering free food, coffee, and shelter. Schools are closed on Wednesday.

The Department of Transportation is bringing in additional personnel and drone equipment Tuesday from Juneau. This story will be updated.

Breaking: Four of six missing found safe in Haines

Tim Barto: Riley Gaines rocks it in Alaska in support of keeping girls’ sports for girls

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
-
12
Tim Barto: Riley Gaines rocks it in Alaska in support of keeping girls’ sports for girls

By TIM BARTO

All-American swimmer Riley Gaines made her first visit to Alaska over the weekend, speaking to enthusiastic crowds who cheered her courage in standing up for female athletes. 

The 23-year-old graduate of University of Kentucky has become a hero to those who see the absurdity of allowing men to compete as women, and she has become a villain to those who dismiss biology in favor of gender fluidity while screaming “Transwomen are women!” to anyone who opposes them. 

Riley’s trip to Alaska was made possible by Alaska Family Council, a Faith-based organization that advocates for traditional family values and common sense. Alaska Family Council arranged for her to appear at Mountain City Church on Friday, an event open to the general public which drew a crowd of between 250 and 300 people.

On Saturday, the Tennessee native spoke to a private audience of 70 at the Captain Cook Hotel’s Quarterdeck, and on Sunday morning about 50 people joined Riley for breakfast with Alaska Family Council’s own Pastor Cheston McCrea, providing a Biblical message.

Both crowds greeted her with the cheers she deserves as the first college woman athlete to speak boldly against the invasion of men into the women’s sports arena. Introducing herself to the assembled, Riley established her bonafides as a subject matter expert by humbly listing her impressive accomplishments: Southeastern Conference First Team American; SEC record holder; Team Captain of the University of Kentucky Women’s Swim Team; SEC Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year; and Olympic trials qualifier.

Quite the accomplishments, but it was another event that catapulted this courageous young woman into the headlines – and into the storm.

At the 2022 NCAA Women’s Swimming championships, Riley tied Will Thomas for fifth place in the women’s 200-meter freestyle event.

Thomas, who swam on the men’s team at the University of Pennsylvania under his birth name Will, decided he was a woman, switched his first name to Lia, and was allowed to switch to the women’s team. 

At the trophy presentation ceremony following the race, it was Thomas who was photographed with the fifth place trophy. Riley described the series of events that followed by admitting that she tends to say the first thoughts that pop into her head. In this case, it was Why is Thomas getting the trophy? 

The first answer provided to her was that they were going in chronological order, which made absolutely no sense. If that meant they were going alphabetically, then Gaines should come before Thomas. 

Prodding further for an honest answer, something Riley is good at, she was finally told by an NCAA official that it was their preference that Thomas was to be photographed with the trophy and that preference was not to be challenged. To which Riley said, “Isn’t this exactly what Title IX was meant to prevent?”

The anger and unfairness of it all led Riley to speak out. The recent graduate changed her plans to attend dental school so she could make her story known and help put an end to the lunacy that allows boys and men to invade girls’ and women’s sports.

Her stance has been met with the zeal and misguided passion that comes with challenging the any newfound leftist orthodoxy. They threw drinks at her, called her every vile name imaginable, spit at her, and tried to ban her from speaking on college campuses. When she appeared at San Francisco State University earlier this year, Riley was physically assaulted and forced to barricade in a room for four hours while the self-proclaimed tolerant and enlightened pounded on the door and screamed names and threats towards her. 

Riley was able to make light of this dark event, saying the men who hit her were wearing dresses and, thankfully, didn’t hit hard enough to hurt her. But there is another troubling part of this incident that should concern everyone: Riley had police protection with her, so she asked them why they weren’t doing anything about the situation. The police told her that they were to consider the protesters, made up of LGBT people and their supporters, to be allies and to treat them as such. These protesters, Riley reported, were also calling the police pigs and fascists. 

It is difficult to believe these incidents occur and people can be so blind to their absurd senses of logic, but it’s also difficult to believe why this issue of protecting women athletes from invasion by men athletes is an issue in the first place. It should never come to this. We should not have to appeal to athletic associations, school boards, legislatures, and the United States Congress to take action to protect girl athletes from boy athletes. 

Another switched-up male swimmer sets a college record on a women’s team

Unfortunately, that is the state of our society today. Fortunately, 23 states – including Alaska! – have now taken steps to save girls’ sports for girls. While Alaska’s protections are not in statute, they were still applauded by Riley. Hopefully, we will have enough legislators that are willing to stand up for common sense, biology, and female athletes. Riley pointed out Senator Shelley Hughes, who attended Sunday’s event, as the Alaska legislator who spearheaded a (failed) bill to save girls’ sports.

Also in attendance were several young female athletes, some of whom asked questions of Riley, looking for advice on how to respond when confronted with similar situations. Riley was gracious with her time, posing for pictures, signing autographs, and chatting with the athletes and other guests who look up to her for taking a strong stand for what is right.

Riley brought her husband Louis with her to Alaska. Her legal last name is now Barker, but her notoriety came under her maiden name, so that is why she still goes by Gaines for her public appearances. The two of them are overly and unfairly good looking – a real life Ken-and-Barbie couple, but they’re also good-natured people who are having to put up with physical threats by cretins who publish their home address. Yet Riley remains steadfast and undaunted. 

She never expected or wanted this to be her life’s mission, but she will not back down. She is encouraged by those who support her, and her desire to continue on and do even more is propelled by those who oppose and attack her. 

Tim Barto is vice president of Alaska Family Council and a regular contributor to Must Read Alaska. He is thankful for an inspiring and courageous young woman like Riley Gaines Barker.

Tim Barto: Riley Gaines’ objective is to save girls’ sports, but that’s not how it is being reported
State Board of Education votes to save girls’ sports for girls

Another switched-up male swimmer sets a college record on a women’s team

Suzanne Downing
-
37
Another switched-up male swimmer sets a college record on a women’s team

A young man who swam competitively for three years in college as a man, then underwent transgender treatments and switched to the women’s team, has set a new record for New Jersey’s Ramapo College.

The man, who is now a senior going by the name Meghan Cortez-Fields, took first place and broke the school record in the 100-yard butterfly at a meet that brought six colleges together for the Cougar Splash Invitational in Dallas, Pennsylvania.

Cortez-Fields also took first in the 200-yard individual medley and second in the 200-yard butterfly. He won at least one heat in three of the four women’s meets this year, according to Ramapo News.

Ramapo College’s Instagram account quickly posted a congratulatory note about his win, but then deleted the post after women’s athlete advocate Riley Gaines called out the college for discriminating against women.

“Ramapo College swimmer in NJ goes from less than mediocre male swimmer to a record smasher competing against the women. Hm, where have we seen this before? #SaveWomensSports,” Gaines wrote on social media.

Last year, transgender Lia Thomas smashed the NCAA freestyle, after having competed at a mediocre pace for three years as his biological gender for University of Pennsylvania, then switching to the women’s team and becoming the school’s champion swimmer, and most notorious trophy taker. He tied Gaines for fifth place, but the NCAA decided to give the fifth-place trophy to Thomas. Gaines has become a crusader for girls and women in athletics since that experience. She was in Anchorage last weekend to continue her public speaking tour and raise the issue of fairness for women competitive athletes.

Tim Barto: Riley Gaines rocks it in Alaska in support of keeping girls’ sports for girls
Lia Thomas, transgender swimmer, just captured women’s NCAA title for 500-yard, and didn’t even break a sweat
UPenn transgender swimmer wins two more events at meet with Harvard women

Perks: Government-owned legislative housing in Juneau to allow legislators, staffers to have pets

Suzanne Downing
-
25
Perks: Government-owned legislative housing in Juneau to allow legislators, staffers to have pets

Beginning in 2024, Alaska legislators and their staff will have use of newly remodeled apartments in a building across from the Alaska Capitol that was donated to the Legislature. 

The new rental policy approved by the Legislative Council on Friday will allow legislators and staffers to rent studios starting at $1,100 a month or one-bedroom apartments for $1,600 a month. The tenants will be allowed to have dogs and cats in their apartments. It was a split vote, with some legislators not comfortable with putting pets in the building. Some legislators on the council do not support the entire concept of legislative housing owned by the Legislature.

Last December, the Legislative Council approved $6.6 million in renovations to the Assembly Apartments, as they were once known. That was a 20% increase over the $5.5 million estimated costs for renovations set in the summer of 2022 for the more than 30 apartments that have been created in the building, which was once apartments, then became lobbyist and other office, and now is returning to apartments. The building was given to the Legislature in 2021 by the Juneau Community Foundation, which also gave the Legislature $2 million for a renovation allowance.

With the renovations completed, legislators and staffers won’t be struggling just to find a place to live in the capital city. The proximity to the Capitol Building means tenants can get by without cars during the 90- to 120-day sessions. And the private sector can rest easy knowing that government housing has been provided to government workers through philanthropy.

Finding adequate housing in Juneau is a challenge at any time of year, but especially during late spring to fall, when the tourism season is in full swing. With housing now provided by the citizens of Alaska, the Legislature can soon more easily meet beyond the 90-day statutory limit for sessions, or the 120-day constitutional limit. Legislators won’t have to free up their apartments for incoming tourism workers.

In fact, by owning its own housing, the Legislature can have all the special sessions it wants, and collect all the per diem that goes with it. Legislators who don’t live in Juneau make $307 per diem. Special sessions typically are held without a full complement of legislative aides.

The rental policy gives priority to legislators based on their seniority, and remaining units would be made available to legislative staff, with those who have served the longest having priority.

Renovation costs rocket on Juneau building given to Legislature to house legislators and staff

Jay McDonald: Campaign finance laws must not be weaponized

Guest Writer
-
4
Jay McDonald: Campaign finance laws must not be weaponized

By JAY MCDONALD

On Nov. 16, the Alaska Public Offices Commission held a hearing on campaign-related complaints that have recently been filed with the commission.

In the afternoon, the complaint I filed against Rep. Jennie Armstrong was heard by the commission. During the hearing, Armstrong accused me of weaponizing the process unfairly. 

That is Rep. Armstrong’s opinion, but what is true? Here are the facts on what is happening and why:

  • – Campaign finance laws were written and passed by both Democrat and Republican legislators.
  • – Campaign finance laws apply equally to both Democrat and Republican legislators.
  • – The Alaska Public Offices Commission does not have the staff to audit and enforce these laws on individual politicians. 
  • Accountability and enforcement is reactive, not proactive. A citizen files a complaint, then APOC staff investigates and responds. The matter is usually referred to the commission itself for judgment.

Increasingly in recent years, high-profile Democrat operatives like Scott Kendall (Representative Armstrong’s Lawyer) and Paula DeLaiarro (Representative Armstrong’s filing consultant) have been filing APOC complaints against conservative political opponents in the races they work on. 

For example, in the 2020 election cycle Paula DeLaiarro filed complaints against Rep. Lance Pruitt, a Republican. He was fined $19,716. 

This year complaints (being represented by Scott Kendall) are currently pending against former Senate candidate and ranked-choice voting opponent Kelly Tshibaka. APOC staff have identified up to $23,000 in potential fines, although the commission has yet to finalize their decision and the outcome is still pending.

A reasonable person would call a process “weaponized” if it only applied penalties and accountability to one side and not the other. 

On average, Democrat politicians violate campaign finance statutes as often as Republican politicians. In recent years, we have been seeing judgments against Republican politicians but not Democrat politicians. This is not because APOC staff are partisan actors, this is because complaints are only being filed against Republican politicians. Republicans are not filing complaints against Democrats at anywhere near the same rate.

It is very important to me that APOC does not become weaponized. In order to ensure that the process is nonpartisan, enforcement must be as equal as possible. I will personally be filing complaints against Democrat politicians who have violated state statutes until enforcement levels are nonpartisan and equitable. We must have a level playing field with APOC.

I deeply regret that I must do this, but it is critically important for the Democratic process that campaign finance laws are equally and fairly applied. 

I have more complaints pending, as well as complaints that I have drafted, which I hope I will not need to submit. 

Jay McDonald is a citizen of Anchorage and a political activist.

1...590591592...1,835Page 591 of 1,835