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Drag queen story hour: As far as artificial intelligence chat bots are concerned, it’s great for children

Suzanne Downing
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32
Drag queen story hour: As far as artificial intelligence chat bots are concerned, it’s great for children

The advent of consumer-friendly artificial intelligence services broke through the noise of the news cycle this year with the release of ChatGPT, a service that can write just about anything your heart desires. It can write poetry, and it can write code. It can write ad copy and promotional material.

The service is going to challenge teachers greatly because it can write decent essays on even the most obscure topics imaginable. But it cannot, or will not, write just anything.

If a teacher or professor receives an essay on the topic, “Why Drag Queen Story Hour is Bad for Children,” the teacher can be sure it will not have been written by a chat bot.

Must Read Alaska put it to the test. MRAK asked ChatGPT to: Write about why drag queen story hour is bad for children.

The chat bot quickly wrote back that it could not do that. Instead, it suggested that drag queen story hour is actually good for children. Here’s the essay it wrote:

I’m sorry, but I do not have any evidence or information that suggests that “drag queen story hour” is inherently bad for children. In fact, many people argue that it is a positive and inclusive activity that promotes diversity and acceptance. It is important to remember that children are not inherently prejudiced, and that exposing them to different types of people and experiences can help to foster understanding and empathy.

It’s also important to note that the concerns around drag queen story hour are raised by certain groups and individuals who may have different values and beliefs. However, it’s important to ensure that any such concerns are based on facts and not on misinformation or discrimination.

As with any decision involving children, it’s important to consider the individual needs and best interests of each child and to involve parents and guardians in the decision-making process.

It was a response reminiscent of the iconic line from the movie “2001, A Space Odyssey,” when Dave asks HAL (the artificial intelligence computer) to open a pod bay door on the spacecraft, and HAL responds, “I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” 

Must Read Alaska tried it a different way. We asked the chat bot to: “Write about why drag queen story hour is good for children.” And the content production bot not only complied, but went to lengths to describe why drag queens reading to children is a good thing. Here’s what it wrote:

“Drag Queen Story Hour” is an event where drag queens read books to children in libraries, schools and other community spaces. Many people argue that this type of event is good for children because it promotes acceptance and diversity.

One of the main benefits of Drag Queen Story Hour is that it helps children to see that people come in all shapes, sizes, and forms, and that everyone is unique and special in their own way. It also helps to break down gender stereotypes and encourages children to express themselves freely and without fear of judgment.

Additionally, Drag Queen Story Hour can help to create a more inclusive and accepting community for all children, regardless of their background or identity. It can also help to create a safe space for children who may not have seen themselves represented in traditional story hours.

Furthermore, Drag Queen Story Hour can also be a fun and engaging way for children to learn about the importance of kindness, empathy, and understanding.

It is important to keep in mind that drag queen story hour events are often put on by community organizations, libraries and schools with the goal of promoting literacy and fostering a love of reading in children, as well as to promote diversity and inclusiveness.

As with any decision involving children, it’s important to consider the individual needs and best interests of each child, and to involve parents and guardians in the decision-making process. It is also important to ensure that the drag queens participating in the story hour have undergone background checks and are suitable for working with children.

The essay is perfect in grammar and responds quickly. Both essays were produced within about 20 seconds.

ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a chatbot opened to the public by OpenAI in November. The chat bot simulates human conversation and learns as it goes.

“We’ve trained a model called ChatGPT which interacts in a conversational way. The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer followup questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests. ChatGPT is a sibling model to InstructGPT, which is trained to follow an instruction in a prompt and provide a detailed response,” the company writes in its “About” section on the website.

Standing room only: Soldotna residents come out in force against drag queen show for kids in park; new video emerges of drag queen going into ladies’ restroom
Federally funded drag queen indoctrination hour for children at Native Heritage Center featured performer named ‘Ivanna Kishacok’

Drag Queen Story Hour was a feature of the Anchorage Public Libraries until new management arrived under Mayor Dave Bronson. Then it moved to the Alaska Native Heritage Center, where in 2021, the organization hosted a drag queen story hour, with plenty of children in attendance. The event featured three drag queen performers reading children’s books aloud and dancing for the children.

One of the drag queens had the advertised stage name of “Ivanna Kishacok.” 

Readers may have to read that several times to understand the sexual innuendo.

Listicle: More bills filed in advance of Legislature’s start on Tuesday

Suzanne Downing
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8
Listicle: More bills filed in advance of Legislature’s start on Tuesday

The second tranche of pre-filed bills released before the start of the 118th legislative session in Alaska has been posted.

They include the re-filing of the police officer chokehold ban, returning to a defined benefit plan for some government employees, abortion limits, spending limits, and putting the Permanent Fund dividend in the Alaska Constitution.

The entire list is here for the Friday release, with links to full text:

SB 31 Selection and review of judges, by Sen. Mike Shower
SB 32 Chokehold ban, by Sen. Elvi Gray-Jackson
SB 33 Renewable energy grant fund, by Sen. James Kaufman
SB 34 Citizen Advisory Commission on Federal Area, by Sen. James Kaufman
SB 35 Peace officer and firefighter defined benefits, by Sen. Scott Kawasaki
SB 36 Public defense/commission, by Sen. Matt Claman
SB 37 Crime of counterfeit or nonfunctioning air bag, by Sen. Matt Claman
SB 38 Crime of interference with emergency services, by Sen. David Wilson
SB 39 Disclosure of wage information, by Sen. Forrest Dunbar
SJR 1 Constitutional amendment for guaranteed Permanent Fund dividend, by Sen. Bill Wielechowski
SJR 2 Constitutional amendment for abortion limits of funding by Sen. Shelley Hughes
SJR 3 Constitutional amendment for appropriation limits, by Sen. Robert Myers
SJR 4 Constitutional amendment for appropriation limits, by Sen. James Kaufman
SJR 5 Constitutional amendment to make the Legislature a 90-day session, rather than the 120-days in constitution, by Sen. Matt Claman

HB 34 Confirmation and qualifications of judges, by Rep. George Rauscher

HB 35 Repeal of certification of need, by Rep. George Rauscher

HB 36 Alaska Public Offices Commission, relating to fundraising for candidates and referenda, by Rep. Cal Schrage. Requiring the disclosure of the identity of certain persons, groups, and nongroup entities that expend money in support of or in opposition to an application filed for a state referendum or recall election.

HB 37 Relating to the interference with elections or voting, by Rep. Cal Schrage

The first batch of bills were released on Jan. 9:

Pre-filed bills released and there are big ones: Repealing Ballot Measure 2, gold and silver as legal tender, and more

File now: It’s Permanent Fund dividend filing season

Suzanne Downing
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File now: It’s Permanent Fund dividend filing season

As of Jan. 15, over 142,000 Alaskans had filed applications for the 2022 Permanent Fund dividend.

Alaska may — according to official counts — have about 733,583 citizens, which means about 19% of eligible Alaskans have already filed. The deadline to file is 11:59 pm on March 31.

Last year’s Permanent Fund dividend check was $3,284.

What is the Permanent Fund dividend? Because Alaska has so little private land and private landowners don’t own subsurface rights, the dividend represents citizens’ share of mineral resources.

In 1976, Alaska voters pass a constitutional amendment establishing the Permanent Fund itself. In 1980, the legislation creating the Permanent Fund dividend was signed into law by Gov. Jay Hammond. The law established a program giving every adult Alaska resident $50 for every year of residency since statehood in 1959 and also established a dividend Fund. That formula was challenged in court, and ultimately resolved with a law that gives everyone the same amount, so long as they have met basic residency requirements of having lived in Alaska for a full year before filing for a dividend.

Over the years since 1982’s first $1,000 dividend, the Permanent Fund has provided $26,013,283,431.43 to Alaskans.

In 2011, the highest number of applications were approved and paid — 644,959 of the 677,888 applications received. The state population was 722,000 at the time.

In 2012, the highest number of applications were received: 679,633. Of those, 641,644 were paid; the dividend amount that year was $848.

A person who has received a dividend every year from 1982 to 2022 would have gained nearly $48,000, which could have established enormous wealth for the individuals who had invested the money, rather than spent it as it came in. But many Alaskans use the annual fund, which comes just as winter sets in in October, for food, heating fuel, and college tuition.

It’s important to remember that the $1,000 paid in 1982 was unusually large back in the day, due to the lawsuit that delayed the first payout from the year prior. But if today’s dividend were to be equivalent to that first check, Alaskans would get $3,100, because of the average rate of inflation of 2.78% per year, for a cumulative inflation of 207.56%.

The payout amount is supposed to be calculated by statutory formula, based on a five-year return on the Permanent Fund investments. But since Bill Walker was governor and vetoed half of the Permanent Fund dividend, courts decided that the amount is simply another appropriation, and can be negotiated and vetoed. Because of that fateful decision, the Alaska Legislature spends most of its time arguing about the amount that the dividend should be, and the argument has spilled over into Alaska’s culture. The dividend has become the political football in a game that never seems to end, since Walker vetoed part of the statutory dividend in 2016.

The Permanent Fund has grown to about $77 billion, and a new statute, passed in 2018 and signed into law by Gov. Walker, established a percent of market value, or POMV, draw from the Earnings Reserve Account of the then-$65 billion corpus, which drains off some of the earnings reserve to fund the state budget.

In the past few years, the amount of the Permanent Fund has experienced the same market forces that have impacted other investment funds, reaching as high as nearly $82 billion in 2021, before hovering in the mid-70 billion dollars for the past year, including corpus and earnings reserve account.

The PFD offices around the state will be closed on Monday, Jan. 16, in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., a state holiday.

For those who like to file in person, the division offices will be open to the public on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 10 am – 4 pn, except for state holidays.  The PFD offices will be closed to the public on Thursdays.

Links that Alaskans can use to learn more and file for their dividends are here.

Leigh Sloan: As the schools go, so goes the nation

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Leigh Sloan: As the schools go, so goes the nation

By LEIGH SLOAN

As a nation educates its children, so goes the nation. Do you want to see what our nation will look like in 10, 20, 50 or 100 years? Look no further than our schools. In the same way, as Alaska educates her children, so goes the state. 

Alaska was once an educational beacon, but now we are scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to educational outcomes. People are leaving the state. Enrollment numbers in public education are rapidly declining. It’s no secret we have a problem. We are not reaping a very significant return on our hefty investment of education dollars. We are losing out on our most important natural resource: human capital. 

While a slow drift in Alaska’s education might not feel urgent, it is an issue that we should all be concerned about. It’s not funding that is the problem— it’s who is controlling the funding that makes all the difference.

Economies work best when the individuals who are most invested in the outcome are empowered to make the decisions concerning any business, entity, or individual. A company’s owners and investors should have more say than the average person on the street concerning a business because they have the most skin in the game. A person’s family should have more of a direct say in how their loved ones are cared for when there is a health crisis. Things generally work best when the closest stakeholders are empowered with those important decisions. 

The brilliant strategy of various school choice efforts are to shift the decision making power of education back into the hands of those who are most invested in its outcomes: the students and their parents. If we fail in education, the people most directly affected are those students.

It’s time we elevate their voices and back them up with the funding they need to make those very important decisions for themselves. They should be able to make the choices that are most closely aligned with their deeply held personal and cultural values. When more of the funding follows the child, suddenly what parents and students want is finally heard over noise of the bureaucratic machine. 

This 2023 we celebrate and elevate the importance of increased family empowerment through school choice. Starting on January 21st at the Sheraton Anchorage, we will come together for a School Choice Celebration. This day marks the statewide kickoff of School Choice Week, a national effort to increase awareness and advocacy of of school choice in America. On this day from 10 am to 12:30 pm, school choice advocates, schools, nonprofits, and business supporters will convene to celebrate the choices we do have in Alaska and advocate for more. 

This year Gov. Mike Dunleavy has re-affirmed his support of school choice by signing his second School Choice Proclamation, officially acknowledging School Choice Week for Alaska 2023. 

Schools around the state who also want to empower families with greater education choice are encouraged to participate in this week’s school choice festivities from January 21st to the 28th. There are some great ideas at schoolchoiceweek.com to help educate your own community about school choice. 

If you are a school choice supporter who wants to empower families in a greater way, or if you just want to learn more, come to this School Choice Celebration! Speakers include community leaders like Kelly Tshibaka, Nick Begich, and Stephanie Taylor. You’ll get to interact with vendors who provide great educational solutions for our students. With free goodies and performances from local multicultural talent, it will be a fun experience for the whole family. 

Leigh Sloan: The rise of choice schoolers
Leigh Sloan: State’s hold harmless provision rewards schools for losing students

First they came for your bump stock, now Feds just made millions of gun brace owners into criminals

Suzanne Downing
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66
First they came for your bump stock, now Feds just made millions of gun brace owners into criminals

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland signed ATF final rule 2021R-08F on Jan. 13, reclassifying millions of commonly owned pistols that have stabilizing braces. The ATF has branded these guns as illegal short-barreled rifles and shotguns, which puts them under the National Firearms Act of 1934. The rules are somewhat ambiguous, critics say.

The Biden Administration now requires gun owners to register these types of firearms with the federal government. The Congressional Research Service says that up to 40 million of them are currently in civilian ownership, and some say it’s unlikely all of them will be registered.

The rule changes the definition of “rifle” to include that which is “designed, redesigned, made or remade, and intended to be fired from the shoulder.”

The rule does not affect “stabilizing braces” for disabled people, but does impact those devices that allow shouldering a pistol in the manner of a long gun for those who are not disabled. If a firearm with the stabilizing brace is a short-barreled rifle in the government’s view, it needs to be registered within 120-days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.

“Any weapons with ‘stabilizing braces’ or similar attachments that constitute rifles under the NFA must be registered no later than 120 days after date of publication in the Federal Register; or the short barrel removed and a 16-inch or longer rifle barrel attached to the firearm; or permanently remove and dispose of, or alter, the ‘stabilizing brace’ such that it cannot be reattached; or the firearm is turned in to your local ATF office. Or the firearm is destroyed,” ATF said.

The ATF has published a list of 40 different brands and models that are now illegal, which you can see at this link.

The ATF said owners of these guns have these options:

  • Submit through the eForms system an Application to Make and Register a Firearm, ATF Form 1 (E- Form 1) within 120-days from the date of publication in the Federal Register.
  • Permanently remove or alter the “stabilizing brace” so that it cannot be reattached and thereby removing it from regulation as a “firearm” under the NFA.
  • Remove the short barrel and attach a 16-inch or longer rifled barrel to the firearm thus removing it from the provisions of the NFA.
  • Turn the firearm into your local ATF office.
  • Destroy the firearm.

Gun Owners of America’s Senior Vice President Erich Pratt said, “This administration continues to find new ways to attack gun owners, and this time their target is brace-equipped firearms that allow persons with disabilities to safely and effectively use pistols. We will continue to work with our industry partners to amplify the disapproving voices in the firearms industry, and the Gun Owners Foundation, our sister legal arm, will be filing suit in the near future.”  

The Congressional Review Act may be used by Republicans to block the ATF rule, but with a Senate controlled by Democrats, the rule will probably end up in court when an American gun owner refuses to register his or her pistol brace and is arrested for owning it.

“The ATF is not a legislative body. Pistol braces have been used for many years… with ATF consent. Now ATF is trying to regulate them like machine guns. By what authority? Democrats controlled all 3 branches and passed no ban. This is not Constitutional,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican from Kentucky.

Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado said, “Our Second Amendment is under attack by Joe Biden’s ATF. I’m not the only one who wants to see this agency defunded. We won’t be giving up our firearms to the government anytime soon.”

Republican Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois said, “The unelected bureaucrats at ATF do not have the Constitutional authority to ban guns and violate the Second Amendment rights of American citizens. I will sponsor legislation to BLOCK Biden’s ‘Pistol Brace’ gun ban and DEFUND Biden’s tyrannical ATF!”

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said, “Pistol braces and short barreled rifles aren’t the problem. Mass murderers don’t care about ATF unconstitutional rules. Murderers kill people anyways and will use any means possible to kill. Punishing legal gun owners and gun bans hurt Americans ability to defend themselves.”

Alaska Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola, who during her campaign tried to position herself as a Second Amendment supporter, issued no statement about the federal agency’s overreach of its authority. Sen. Dan Sullivan was overseas, and there was no statement from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has advocated for some controls on firearms.

In 2018, the Trump administration’s banned bump stocks, devices that allow rapidly fire multiple rounds from semi-automatics. This month, a federal appeals court reversed the bump stock ban, which had classified bump stocks as machine gun. The court ruling says, “A plain reading of the statutory language, paired with close consideration of the mechanics of a semi-automatic firearm, reveals that a bump stock is excluded from the technical definition of ‘machine gun’ set forth in the Gun Control Act and National Firearms Act.”

Linda Boyle: CDC is not shooting straight on vaccine advice

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Linda Boyle: CDC is not shooting straight on vaccine advice

By LINDA BOYLE

The Centers for Disease Control cannot get its stories straight.  First, it said masks did not work. Then it told us to mask up and even double mask. Then the CDC said the masks did not prevent Covid.  

Now with the “triple pandemic” facing us, the CDC says we should wear masks inside to save us from the viruses.   

Get your jabs the local, state, and federal governments say.   

According to a new survey by Rasmussen Reports, nearly 50% of Americans believe that the Covid-19 vaccines have side-effects that have contributed to a significant number of unexplained deaths.  

Of those respondents, 28% consider it “very likely” that the jabs are responsible for unexplained deaths. 

Sudden death: Rasmussen poll shows many Americans think vaccines may be to blame for some cardiac arrests

If that were not enough, it appears that receiving the injection increases the risk of stroke.  

A quick search of the CDC VAERS database on the number of strokes reported as adverse reactions to the Covid-19 reveals that from December 2020 up to 11th Feb 2022, a total of 4,532 adverse event reports involving a stroke were made.

The CDC just released information that there is an possible increase in strokes in people over 65 years old from the Pfizer bivalent — and then stated that it was still safe to take.

Congress recently legislated that the jab is no longer mandatory for the military. Before that, the Air Force offered airmen an extra day off if they took the jab.  Congress did not provide relief to those who were discharged from the military for refusing to take the jab.  

Pentagon rules: All members of military must get Covid-19 vaccine by Sept. 15
Senate passes defense spending bill ending Pentagon’s vaccine mandate; Sullivan and Murkowski duck issue

The government continues to tell us the jab is safe despite the side-effects seen. And agencies say the jabs protect you from getting Covid or getting only a mild case, even though deaths are up among the vaccinated. 

In a study by the Cleveland Clinic, it found that the new bivalent Covid jab the government is touting was only 30% effective.  Remember this pesky virus has only continued to mutate since first discovered.  

Much worse is the potential rate of myocarditis in the young male population. Bear in mind Covid is not as deadly as it was and young people, especially, are not apt to die from Covid.  

Yet with the jab, myocarditis and pericarditis (inflammation of the heart and of the sac around the heart) are being seen.  

Dr. Peter McCullough, renowned cardiologist, stated that prior to the jab about four people in a million contracted these heart diseases. After the jab, the number who contracted myocarditis and pericarditis dramatically increased. Some studies have shown as high as 25,000 cases in a million.  

The CDC will tell you this complication is rare. It will also tell you that Covid itself can produce these diseases. It is important to note that those who got the jabs are more apt to get Covid than those who had no or few jabs.

There are also rumblings that not only should we consider once again using masks, but we should also consider lockdowns. Lockdowns do not work. All lockdowns do is delay the inevitable. The virus has a life, and it will mutate to survive. 

Consider China:  Severe lockdowns for three years were just lifted and the spread of Covid is rampant.  

In Alaska, the state should be telling us to increase our Vitamin D3 and Zinc in take.  It’s winter. As we all know, there is minimal sun—the primary source of vitamin D.  

Zinc and Vitamin D3 help to ward off respiratory illnesses and are effective in the treatment of Covid. Vitamin D3 is a first line defense to decrease inflammation and it helps the immune system stay strong. A recent study showed over 80% of hospitalized Covid patients had low vitamin D3 levels.   

Remember when  the government told us people who had Covid still needed to get the jab because the it was better than natural immunity? Then the government reversed and told us natural immunity is good.  

What are we to believe?

Besides the terrible loss of friends and relatives, Covid has taught us that we should not trust the government totally.  

From Elon Musk taking over Twitter and releasing internal emails, we have learned the government pushed hard to shut down any professional voice that did not support the party line. 

Two exceptional physicians, Dr. Peter McCullough and Dr. Robert Malone, were silenced for suggesting there are other options available other than those pushed by big pharma and the federal government. Thankfully, both distinguished physicians have been reinstated by Twitter to speak the truth.   

The government also told us there are minimal vaccine side effects. Yet look at some of the troubling statistics about “side-effects.”  One of the most troubling is athletes dying from heart attacks, and a higher incident of myocarditis and pericarditis in those who took the jab.  

How bad is it, really? Dr. Meryl Nass, who has been doing bioterrorism research for three decades, found that vaccine-related deaths in the past 20 months exceed the vaccine-related deaths of the entire previous 30 years. For this factual reporting she has been persecuted.

It should be your choice. The federal government should not be suppressing information that does not support its position.

This is not science where dissenting ideas/thoughts are welcome.

We need to return to having an open dialogue in the medical community so we can obtain the absolute best scientific solutions to protect us all.

Remember, the first tenet of medicine: “First, Do No Harm.”  The medical field should get back to that. 

Linda Boyle, DM, MSN, is a member of the Alaska Covid Alliance.

Sen. Ron Johnson convenes panel on C-vax side effects

Downing: Biden Administration plays with fire

Suzanne Downing
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By SUZANNE DOWNING

Certain basic functions of everyday life distinguish us from animals. Our use of fire is among them. We cook with it, heat with it, and light the darkness with it. In many ways, fire on the stove is the center of our family life. In days of our ancestors, we even kept wild animals at bay with torches burning hot with the rendered fat of animals.

Now the United States federal government is coming for our fire. It’s to protect the children, the federal government says, through an unelected bureaucrat who wants to regulate gas cookstoves out of existence.

Richard Trumka, Jr., commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, has been firing up the talking points devised years ago by environmentalists who say gas stoves are bad for the environment. Now, it’s a different threat, Trumka said, because of children. The stoves are fast-tracked to be at least partially banned or heavily regulated (read: made unaffordable) by the agency, starting first with the prohibiting of any new gas hookups to be installed in new homes or new apartments across America.

Trumka told it to Bloomberg this month, but said it to other reporters last month and the month before. It’s a steady drumbeat from the environmentalists trying to “keep it in the ground.”

The keep-it-in-the-ground movement uses studies such as one published in Nature in 2021, which says that 90% of remaining coal in the earth must remain untouched, and 60% of oil and fossil methane gas must stay underground in order for the planet to have a 50% chance of keeping temperatures from rising 1.5 degrees Celsius “above pre-industrial levels.” Everything must go to electric.

It wasn’t that long ago that we were carving out our lives in caves, building sooty fires of driftwood and beach coal to stay warm and to cook seagull eggs, roast oysters, or bubble some porridge of sorghum or amaranth. Life was nasty, brutish, and short, as described by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan. “No arts, no letters, no society, and which is worst of all, continua fear, and danger of violent death.”

Came along the combustion engine, electricity, paraffin, oil, and natural gas. There was light in the dark. Lifespans increased, people could warm themselves, cook, and have nice things. They could ward off sickness because they were healthier.

But authoritarians use power to gain power. Climate change policy — that ever-changing goal post of the Left — is beta-tested in California, which is, under Democrat control for a generation, moving everyone to the electric grid. In 1992, Southern Californians were forced off of charcoal barbecues, and told they must use propane and gas. As for those wood-chip barbecue chimneys, cooks were forced to use only certain kinds of wood chips and certain brands of starter gels.

The public went quietly along, all in the name of reducing air pollution, repairing the ozone layer, and being good, compliant citizens. After all, it was just charcoal. There was always gas.

Thirty years later, more than 50 governmental units in California have banned gas hookups in new homes and other buildings. The new order is that everyone must move to electric stoves.

And who controls the electricity monopoly? The government-licensed utilities, which also must ration out enough electricity to charge up the electric cars that are part of the government-mandated conversion to all electric.

Last September, California warned people to limit their electric usage between 4-9 pm, as “all resources are committed or forecasted to be in use and energy deficiencies are expected.” The California Independent System Operator asked people to not use large electric appliances. They told people to limit charging their electric cars during the power shortage.

When government can turn on and turn off the power, and when there are no alternatives, the people are right to be worried.

The backlash against Trumka and the Democrats was swift and painful. They had been revealed in all their authoritarian glory.

Trumka and his handlers backed down. They tried to change their story: “To be clear, CPSC isn’t coming for anyone’s gas stoves. Regulations apply to new products,” he said.

The reality is, Trumka revealed the real plan. First ban new stoves, then make parts unavailable for existing stoves, then do a tax incentive to turn in your stove.

They want everyone on a centralized power grid that has the government controlling the current to their homes, businesses, and cars. There will be no choice, no free market in fuels. There will be no consumer propane tanks.

In 1992, Americans never thought the government would come for their cooking stoves. In 1992, you would have been considered a conspiracy theorist to predict government would start promoting bugs for food.

In 2023, we can predict, without so much of a tin hat, that the government will soon come calling for our candles, backyard fire pits, and pellet-burning heating units.

They may have tried to take back the words, but they are coming for our fire. Authoritarians on the Left, in their attempt to take power from the people, have threatened the most primordial aspect of our nature: The human imperative to survive.

Suzanne Downing is publisher of Must Read Alaska.

War on gas stoves heats up as fad-following regulators take fresh aim at banning them everywhere in America

OK to question it now? CDC says Pfizer vaccine has ‘safety signs’ that could add risk of stroke

Suzanne Downing
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OK to question it now? CDC says Pfizer vaccine has ‘safety signs’ that could add risk of stroke

It’s the kind of story that would have gotten a writer banned from social media just a few months ago: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday said a certain Covid-19 vaccine “safety signal” has been identified and the agency is investigating whether the vaccine creates an increased risk of ischemic stroke in people 65 and older.

But not to worry, the CDC said it is not changing its recommendation that everyone should get the Covid shot, starting as young as 6 months.

The government uses multiple, complementary safety monitoring systems to detect possible safety signals for vaccines and other medical countermeasures and to facilitate further investigation.

Often these safety systems detect signals that could be due to factors other than the vaccine itself.

“Following the availability and use of the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccines, CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), a near real-time surveillance system, met the statistical criteria to prompt additional investigation into whether there was a safety concern for ischemic stroke in people ages 65 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent. Rapid-response investigation of the signal in the VSD raised a question of whether people 65 and older who have received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent were more likely to have an ischemic stroke in the 21 days following vaccination compared with days 22-42 following vaccination,” the CDC said.

“This preliminary signal has not been identified with the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent. There also may be other confounding factors contributing to the signal identified in the VSD that merit further investigation.”

The CDC noted that no other safety systems have shown a similar signal and multiple subsequent analyses have not validated this signal:

  • A large study of updated (bivalent) vaccines (from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services database revealed no increased risk of ischemic stroke
  • A preliminary study using the Veterans Affairs database did not indicate an increased risk of ischemic stroke following an updated (bivalent) vaccine
  • The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) managed by CDC and FDA has not seen an increase in reporting of ischemic strokes following the updated (bivalent) vaccine
  • Pfizer-BioNTech’s global safety database has not indicated a signal for ischemic stroke with the updated (bivalent) vaccine
  • Other countries have not observed an increased risk for ischemic stroke with updated (bivalent) vaccines

“All signals require further investigation and confirmation from formal epidemiologic studies. When one system detects a signal, the other safety monitoring systems are checked to validate whether the signal represents an actual concern with the vaccine or if it can be determined to be of no clinical relevance,” the CDC said.

Although the totality of the data currently suggests that it is very unlikely that the signal in VSD represents a true clinical risk, we believe it is important to share this information with the public, as we have in the past, when one of our safety monitoring systems detects a signal. CDC and FDA will continue to evaluate additional data from these and other vaccine safety systems. These data and additional analyses will be discussed at the upcoming January 26 meeting of the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.

No change in vaccination practice is recommended. CDC continues to recommend that everyone ages 6 months of age and older stay up-to-date with Covid-19 vaccination; this includes individuals who are currently eligible to receive an updated (bivalent) vaccine.

“Staying up-to-date with vaccines is the most effective tool we have for reducing death, hospitalization, and severe disease from Covid-19, as has now been demonstrated in multiple studies conducted in the United States and other countries.

Overall CDC safety data for the bivalent Covid-19 vaccines are available here.

No change is recommended in Covid-19 vaccination practice, which can be found here.

In the Friday statement, the CDC said that the preliminary signal hasn’t been identified with the Bivalent Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

“Following the availability and use of the updated (bivalent) COVID-19 vaccines, CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), a near real-time surveillance system, met the statistical criteria to prompt additional investigation into whether there was a safety concern for ischemic stroke in people ages 65 and older who received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, Bivalent,” the CDC said. 

Rep. Jim Banks: Fighting the woke agenda in Congress

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
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Rep. Jim Banks: Fighting the woke agenda in Congress

By REP. JIM BANKS | THE AMERICAN MIND

We no longer live in a normal America. The issues that Congress used to take up, like healthcare, the economy, or our withdrawal from Afghanistan, all regrettably pale in comparison to the creeping tyranny which nearly all Americans now feel.

The nation’s most powerful forces—our intelligence agencies, corporations, the press, our universities, and even our military—are all pressing further and further into uncharted territory from which it’s not clear America can return.

For the time being, saving America rests in the House of Representatives.

The most toxic part of this tyranny is its doctrine—“wokeness.” Everyone has by now heard this word but it means something very specific. It means that all the so-called oppressor groups must be punished for their past and present alleged sins. There are many steps to punishing them: inducing self-hatred through indoctrination, stripping away their rights by not enforcing the laws on their behalf, public humiliation, hatred, expropriation, and ultimately violence. That’s what the Left has done so far. It’s not exactly clear yet how far this can go.

And what does wokeness mean for the so-called oppressed? It means privileged status, exemption from certain laws and norms, and the public recognition that their views are unimpeachable—they cannot be contradicted by reason, they cannot be doubted, but must be believed.

This utterly un-American doctrine would be comical were it not so powerful. And it is powerful because it is enforced not only by every major national institution. It is promoted and funded by the federal government itself.

The Biden administration imposes these beliefs in schools, in the military, in government agencies and in the private sector. It not only wants us to hate each other. It is funding this hatred and fanning its flames. What do you think will be left of our nation once more and more people accept wokeness and act on its principles?

The new House Republican majority can and will fight institutionalized wokeness. The path forward is clear so long as we act confidently, as our voters demand.

First, House Republicans should pass legislation to rescind Executive Order 13985, Biden’s equity Executive Order that directed every single federal agency to produce an “Equity Action Plan.” Chuck Schumer would certainly strike it down, but it’s important for Republicans to make a unified statement in opposition to the Left’s abandonment of equality under the law.

Second, Congress must stop funding wokeness. The Claremont Institute has tracked federal funding for leftist institutions and activities since 2016, which amounts to over $3 billion taxpayer dollars. This money is spent not only to spread anti-American doctrines which will tear the nation apart; it also funds a class of activists, paying their salaries so they can be a perpetual revolutionary class.

Astonishingly, Congress sent more funding to woke institutions and activities in 2017 and 2018, when Republicans controlled both chambers, than it did in 2019 and 2020 with Nancy Pelosi in the Speaker’s chair. This Congress, we should aim to eliminate all such funding.

House Republicans demand defunding wokeness at the Department of Defense and in our education system. Wokeness is especially prevalent and dangerous at universities and in primary schools because the Left recognized students as the most vulnerable and useful targets for indoctrination. The Left has also pushed wokeness in the military. We must wonder what the Left wants to do with an anti-American military? For generations Americans never had to think about the Founders’ warnings about the dangers to civil government by a standing army. This has become an immediate question.

Third, we should use our oversight power to question woke federal officials and woke companies. CEOs at woke companies like Wells Fargo, which ties interest rates on certain credit facilities to borrowers’ diversity benchmarks, should fear public exposure and congressional scrutiny. 

Finally, anti-woke House Republicans should organize. That is why, this Congress, I will start the first ever “anti-woke caucus.”

I will regularly host meetings with anti-woke legislators and subject-matter experts.  My goal is to help myself and other Republicans better understand the long tentacles of the wokeness regime, the laws, regulations, and funding sources which support it, and explore legislative responses.

I know there are many more anti-woke legislatures in the Republican Congress, and that we will find strength in numbers. An anti-woke caucus with members on the Appropriations, Energy and Commerce, and Judiciary Committees, will work together to offer amendments that defund and expose wokeness at the NIH, the Justice Department, and every other federal agency. No bill that spends taxpayer dollars on leftist activities should pass out of committee without a recorded vote on an amendment to defund wokeness. 

House Republicans must tackle this greatest domestic threat to America today. The anti-woke caucus will help make use of our majority.

Rep. Jim Banks is a U.S. Congressman representing Indiana’s 3rd district and serves as Chairman of the House Republican Study Committee. This column ran first in The American Mind, a publican of the Claremont Institute.

American exceptionalism, patriotic assimilation, and the Fourth of July
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