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Dan Fagan hanging up the microphone on the popular Dan Fagan Show

Suzanne Downing
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Dan Fagan hanging up the microphone on the popular Dan Fagan Show

Dan Fagan said it was “liberating” to turn in his 30-day resignation today. After the end of the year, Fagan, who is a household name in Alaska, will call it good on his four-year run hosting the Dan Fagan Show on 650-KENI.

“I know it was the right thing,” Fagan said. For four years he has hosted the popular morning show that features a wide-ranging conversation among Alaskans on the issues of the day, whether it’s the Permanent Fund, elections, or the shortcomings of lawmakers.

Before he launched the show, he had a conservative news site, the Alaska Standard, and he hosted a popular talk show at KFQD for several years. He also was a political reporter for Channel 2, and taught journalism at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

Fagan moved to New Orleans a several years ago, which made it easier to host a show that started at 5:30 am Alaska time, five days a week.

There is no word yet of who might replace him in that 3.5-hour slot.

Over the past year, Must Read Alaska‘s Suzanne Downing has been a regular guest on the show typically twice a week, as the two would discuss politics in Alaska and at the national level. Fagan has also written many columns for Must Read Alaska, and may continue to do so on occasion in the future — between golf games.

Coming soon: Twitter’s Fauci files are ‘big time,’ as Elon Musk says nation’s Covid doc lied to Congress

Suzanne Downing
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Coming soon: Twitter’s Fauci files are ‘big time,’ as Elon Musk says nation’s Covid doc lied to Congress

Elon Musk teased that the Twitter Files that pertain to censorship of Covid-19 information will be released soon, “big time.” He also tweeted today a joke that his pronouns are “Prosecute/Fauci.”

It appears that Twitter was not only involved in rigging national elections by suppressing information about Hunter Biden’s laptop and coordinating suppression of speech with federal agencies such as the FBI, there is now evidence that the government worked with Twitter to smother the voices of those who questioned the official Covid narrative.

Musk’s tweet joke about his pronouns led to a scolding from one Twitter user, retired astronaut Scott Kelly, who begged him not to make fun of LGBTQ people with pronoun jokes, and added that “Dr. Fauci is a dedicated public servant whose sole motivation was saving lives.”

Musk was not in the mood to be lectured by Kelly: “I strongly disagree. Forcing your pronouns upon others when they didn’t ask, and implicitly ostracizing those who don’t, is neither good nor kind to anyone. As for Fauci, he lied to Congress and funded gain-of-function research that killed millions of people. Not awesome imo.”

In fact, it’s been known for over a year that Fauci lied to Congress about the gain-of-function research that the National Institutes of Health had funded at the Wuhan laboratories in China.

Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which is part of the NIH, told Congress in May of 2021 that the NIH “has not ever and does not now fund gain-of-function research in the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”

But Richard Ebright, board of governors professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Rutgers University and laboratory director at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology, told Newsweek last year that documents show unequivocally that NIH grants were used to fund gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, Newsweek wrote, referencing The Intercept blog, a leftist publication that published the grant proposals.

“The documents make it clear that assertions by the NIH director, Francis Collins, and the NIAID director, Anthony Fauci, that the NIH did not support gain-of-function research or potential pandemic pathogen enhancement in Wuhan are untruthful,” Ebright said. “Multiple sections of the grant proposals and grant progress reports make it clear that the grants funded gain-of-function research of concern in Wuhan.”

The Intercept, which is heavily funded by crypto crook Sam Bankman-Fried, released two documents last year, which can be seen here and here.

Read the Newsweek report on the gain-of-function work funded by NIH.

Thus, the question about whether Fauci lied has been debated for well over a year. Now the question is, what more does Twitter have in its files to show government collusion on the Covid virus and vaccine.

Former CIA Director John O. Brennan, who served as head of the spook agency under President Barack Obama, replied to Musk on Twitter, “Dr. Fauci is a national hero who will be remembered for generations to come for his innate goodness & many contributions to public health Despite your business success, you will be remembered most for fueling public hate & divisions. You may have money, but you have no class.”

Brennan, the retired spy, also wrote it’s time to curb free speech: “Good people in democracies need a more effective way to prevent attention-craving, emotionally immature, & highly devious individuals, esp those of means, from being socially, culturally, & politically destructive. We certainly seem to have far too many of them lately.”

The fourth release of of the Twitter Files on Saturday by journalist Michael Shellenberger shows how the leftist management team at Twitter changed company rules on the fly in order to blacklist former President Donald Trump.

Twitter Files: Leftist censors used bots and government agents past and present to shape elections
Twitter Files: How the social media giant suppressed the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop just before 2020 election

Assembly leftists jump on mayor over Snowmageddon plow-out

Suzanne Downing
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Assembly leftists jump on mayor over Snowmageddon plow-out

Anchorage Assembly members told an Anchorage Daily News reporter they were not informed about the shortage of snow plow operators, but the record shows otherwise.

Anchorage Daily News reported the snowmageddon situation as a lack of planning.

The mayor’s office told the Assembly in October it would need more funds for snow clearing this winter, due to higher fuel costs and other cost drivers. The Assembly was also told there is a serious shortage of workers. Later, the Assembly was told that even with more money for plowing, there are just not enough workers.

No one knew, in October or November, that there would be an historic snowfall in early December that would coincide with the historic challenge of getting licensed commercial truck operators.

“We weren’t briefed on this situation,” Assemblywoman Meg Zaletel falsely told the newspaper. The Assembly has been told on the record and in writing that there is a shortage of workers. During the budget work sessions with the Assembly in October, Public Works Director Lance Wilber advised the Assembly on the staffing challenges. The municipality, like the school district, has a hard time getting commercially licensed drivers.

Assemblywoman Austin Quinn-Davidson also falsely stated that the Assembly wasn’t informed, but her lack of attendance at meetings might be part of the reason she doesn’t know what occurred at budget work sessions.

Anchorage has been conducting round-the-clock snow clearing operations since Tuesday, since the “snowmageddon” winter event that dumped over 24 inches of snow in two days. The snow plowing operations are run by a city streets manager who has over 27 years experience removing snow from Anchorage streets.

Anchorage plowing crews work the main arteries first, and sometimes that takes several passes to keep them clear. Then, they move into the collector streets (larger roads that feed into neighborhoods) and finally into neighborhood streets.

With the latest storm, which started Sunday afternoon, the Anchorage School District has announced schools will be closed on Monday.

One thing residents don’t always understand is that some of the main roads in Anchorage are maintained by the State of Alaska, not the city.

To view which streets are managed by the city or state, visit this link. Information on the State Department of Transportation roads are also found here.

The city has had 21-28 graders on the streets continuously, 24 hours a day, since the last snowfall on Tuesday, and has nine sidewalk clearing operators. Those sidewalk-clearing operators also need to have commercial drivers licenses.

One of the challenges of the workforce challenge is that under the Biden Administration, it now costs up to $8,000 to get a commercial drivers license, and sometime it can take months. Biden Administration policies have made CDL drivers scarce across the country, with all trucking and commercial driving operations and retailers suffering. It’s the same problem that has led to a lack of availability of goods around the country, with worker shortages contributing to the supply chain crisis.

Another reason for the worker shortage is the legalization of cannabis, and the fact that many workers cannot pass a drug test now.

Unions are a big part of the worker shortage problem, because they run as cartels. Unions won’t allow some operators to work in some job classifications, even if there is a proven need. The city is bringing in new apprentices to work some of these jobs, which have been hard to fill, and the city has asked the unions for assistance in reassigning qualified CDL drivers to run plowing equipment during large plow-out events. The mayor could probably get around the union cartels by declaring an emergency.

The city has brought more contractors in to haul snow, including an extra 25-30 trucks a night working the snow hauling.

“Our MOA crews and contractors have been running 24/7 operations since Tuesday. We are grateful for the partnership and cooperation from Local 302, Local 71, the Teamsters, and our numerous contractors to plow out our municipal streets. We also recognize the challenges the State of Alaska has with resources as well, and we appreciate residents’ patience as we move into our next storm, which we anticipate may bring another 10-16 inches of snow,” said Amy Demboski, Anchorage’s city manager.

To see the latest updates on which roads and sidewalks have been plowed, please go to the MOA Snow Plow Hub. The page is updated at the end of each shift.

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

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

By LINDA BOYLE, MSN, DM, ALASKA COVID ALLIANCE

By now, most Americans have been inundated with information on the Covid virus.  But the actual facts have been nearly impossible to determine.

Do you believe the government’s story?  Do you believe the healthcare community?  

Or do you believe those who have pushed back against the federal government’s version of the virus’ origin? Why has there been no open dialogue in the health care community about this virus, as there normally has been for past viruses? 

Initially out of fear, many Americans took either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccinations. The government told Americans to get the jab, or they may die, or they could infect their elderly relatives, who could perish. Many were threatened with loss of their jobs.

Schools were closed to protect grandma and grandpa. Businesses were closed to protect the citizens. Churches were closed because they could be closed. Masking was mandated.

Yet very little was known about this virus. Americans only knew that their government and mainstream media said they should be very afraid.

And Americans were afraid. After all, loved ones died alone in hospitals. The public trusted and believed the health care community.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) convened a panel of health-care experts, “The Second Opinion,” to discuss the vaccine side-effects, early treatment protocols and the long-term effects of the vaccine. The first meeting was in January, and the second meeting was held Wednesday.

Sen. Johnson led the discussion, “COVID-19 Vaccines: What They Are, How They Work, and Possible Causes of Injuries,” to shed light on the current state of knowledge surrounding the vaccine and the path forward. Medical experts and doctors who specialize in Covid-19 vaccine research and treatment joined him, including Dr. Robert Malone and Dr. Peter McCullough.

Virology experts explained that because this virus is constantly and rapidly mutating, we are chasing a different virus with the same mRNA vaccine. That is not effective medicine, they said.

Those alpha and delta viruses no longer exist. Even the omicron mutation morphed into a different form.

But the government will not admit that its vaccines are not effective on stopping the new virus variants or preventing viral infection.

Now many people are dealing with the side-effects of the vaccines.  The federal government has not messaged this at all. Instead, vaccine injury appears to be a secret between it and Big Pharma.

But there is available information in the V-safe database. This database has a checklist for you to fill out. The checklist should contain all the adverse reactions from vaccines. But it doesn’t. It doesn’t even include myocarditis, which is a major known side-effect, especially for teenage boys.

The federal government only wanted side-effects following a one-week post-injection period. It did not want any data on longer side-effects.

The data shows that 7.7% of those who were vaccinated needed medical care for some effect from the jab. That is one of every 13 persons.

The UK has stopped the vaccine program for those under age 50. Denmark has stopped the jab for those under 12 years. But America just keeps on jabbing with an ineffective vaccine, regardless of the data.

Dr. Harvey Risch, Professor of Epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, said the risk of Covid mortality increases with age. But how bad is the risk?  

This graphic shows that risk based on age. Underlying conditions, such as diabetes, lead to higher mortality.  But Dr. Risch stated the overall risk is about the same as a standard flu season. 

Note that the risk is minimal for those under the age of 50.

There was no information from the Centers for Disease Control and prevention on early treatment of Covid. Why didn’t the CDC recommend early treatment options including off-label drugs such as Ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, Vitamin D3, steroids, etc? 

Big Pharma teamed up with government bureaucrats to control the conversation and define early Covid treatment as misinformation. That early treatment would have saved thousands of lives according to Dr. Pierre Kory, president of the US Frontline Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance.

Dr. Kory, who is a pulmonary specialist from Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center in Wisconsin, said that at the start of this pandemic the government recommendation to those who became infected with Covid was to simply stay home and take Tylenol until “our lips turn blue.”

“We are telling the world this is the solution to COVID-19,” said Kory, speaking of early treatment, use of Ivermectin, Hydroxycholoroquine, and other treatments that reduce the severity of the virus early.

No effort was made to provide off-label use for drugs that have worked in the early treatment of other viruses. In fact, drugs such as Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine seemed to have been anathema for the mainstream healthcare community. 

Dr. Paul Marik, renown pulmonologist, (formerly Professor of Medicine and Chief of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School) said Western doctors should have adopted these drugs starting in March of 2020. That alone would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, he said.

“We’re not allowed to treat patients with safe, effective, cheap, repurposed drugs,” Marik said. Instead, the hospitals were in favor of Big Pharma control.

Dr. Marik said that 40% of drugs used in hospitals are off-label drugs. That’s OK for a variety of illnesses, it was not OK for treating Covid. 

As a practicing pulmonologist, he was not even allowed to give Vitamin C in the hospital to assist in Covid treatment. The only drugs he was allowed to use were FDA-approved drugs. 

The hospital wanted him to use Remdesivir, which is a drug Marik said is toxic and ineffective. It’s a drug that increases the risk of renal failure by two-fold, and increases the risk of dying by 4%.

Click here to read a previous Dr. Marik’s presentation on Remdesivir.

Furthermore, any discussion concerning vitamin D3 and its use at helping to protect people from severe Covid was not allowed by the medical establishment. 

Even Alaska’s Department of Health and Social Services did not recommend the use of vitamin D3 to stave off Covid and still does not make the use of vitamin D3 easily available information on its webpage.

Dr. Paul Alexander, an expert in evidence-based medicine, said studies were done in countries that rapidly vaccinated all age groups. These studies showed that the more Covid vaccines given in a short period of time led to increased negative efficacy. Those vaccinated are being infected repeatedly. 

If society keeps vaccinating for Covid, it will increase the amount of Covid and increase infections, he said. If the country had not vaccinated in this way, it probably would have herd immunity, making Covid no longer an issue. 

Dr. Janci Lindsay, who has her doctorate in biochemistry, expressed concern about where the gene therapy (mRNA) goes when injected into an arm. Initially, scientists said it would stay in the arm.   

However, the mRNA has been distributed throughout the body with uptake seen in the brain, spleen, endocrine system, ovaries and testes.  This uptake in ovaries and testes is of particular concern.  

Dr. Lindsay said it could lead to infertility issues and potentially reproductive harm. Of utmost concern, Dr. Lindsay said it can be passed on as inadvertent gene therapy if in sperm, and may have a profound effect on future generations.

Dr. Lindsay stated these gene therapies should not be used in reproductive age people.

Watch the presentation at this link.

Linda Boyle is a member of the Alaska Covid Alliance.

House GOP pledges investigation of Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal that left 13 American service members dead

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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House GOP pledges investigation of Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal that left 13 American service members dead

By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE

House Oversight Republicans pledged to use their newfound majority to hold President Joe Biden “accountable” for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan last year.

That withdrawal, the subject of much controversy, left 13 U.S. service members dead, billions of dollars of military equipment behind, and plunged Afghanistan into chaos as the Taliban quickly took power.

U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., was selected to chair the Oversight Committee and pledged in his acceptance to dig into what went wrong in Afghanistan and who is responsible. That investigation is one of several piquing Republicans’ interest as they lead the House for the next two years.

“The destructive path paved by the Biden Administration ends when Republicans have the gavel in January,” he said. “We will continue our investigations into the national security threat posed by the Biden family’s influence peddling and shady business schemes, President Biden’s border crisis, COVID origins and U.S. taxpayer dollars used to fund dangerous research in Wuhan, the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, President Biden’s energy crisis, waste and mismanagement of pandemic relief funds, and more.”

Comer did not waste time on the Afghanistan front. The same day as his chairmanship announcement, he sent a letter to several Biden administration officials demanding relevant documents, information and communications.

“It has been over a year since the Biden Administration’s botched Afghanistan withdrawal and the American people have not received any answers about this national security and humanitarian catastrophe. U.S. servicemen and women lost their lives, thousands of Americans were abandoned, billions of taxpayer dollars are still unaccounted for, military equipment fell into the hands of the Taliban, progress for Afghan women has stalled, and the entire region is under hostile Taliban control,” Comer said. “Under a Republican majority, the Biden Administration’s obstruction of this investigation will be met with the power of the gavel. We owe it to the American people to provide answers, transparency, and accountability.”

Recently released Gallup polling shows that Afghanis report a spike in suffering since the U.S. withdrawal. As The Center Square previously reported, Gallup released polling data of Afghanis earlier this month, which found that 98% of surveyed Afghanis “rate their life so poorly that they are considered suffering” while a quarter say their life right now is “the worst possible.” The poll also found that 39% say they expect their life in five years will be “the worst possible.”

“Between 2021 and 2022, the percentage of Afghans who have been unable to afford food they and their families need shot up 11 points to 86%,” Gallup said. “This is not only a new record high for Afghanistan, but it also statistically ties the world record for any country over the past 16 years (87% set by the Central African Republic in 2010).”

Critics have blasted Biden for Afghanistan as well as Ukraine, saying sending such large sums overseas without enough oversight is a recipe for disaster.

“Supporting our allies doesn’t mean blindly sending tens of billions of dollars with ZERO accountability,” U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., a veteran, wrote on Twitter. “Biden’s ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach is exactly how we wound up with the catastrophic withdrawal from Afghanistan.”

Casey Harper is a senior reporter for the Washington, D.C. Bureau. He previously worked for The Daily Caller, The Hill, and Sinclair Broadcast Group. A graduate of Hillsdale College, Casey’s work has also appeared in Fox News, Fox Business, and USA Today.

Twitter Files: Leftist censors used bots and government agents past and present to shape elections

Suzanne Downing
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Twitter Files: Leftist censors used bots and government agents past and present to shape elections

Elon Musk keeps releasing new information he has uncovered about the political operations that were baked into Twitter corporate practices.

Musk wrote, “Twitter is both a social media company and a crime scene.” He has uncovered serious evidence of actual election interference, and his revelations show that former CEO Jack Dorsey actually lied to Congress numerous times when asked whether Twitter censored conservatives.

Now, the Twitter Files show that the leftists running the platform were using high-tech tools like bots to monitor, reduce reach, or completely black out the visibility of conservative voices, including high-profile names like Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, Jack Posobiec of Human Events, Dan Bongino of Bongino Report, Breitbart News, and actor James Woods, to name a few.

Image posted by Elon Musk on Dec. 10, 2022.

Twitter kept secret lists of topics and accounts to prevent conservative topics and people from trending, according to data released to journalist Bari Weiss. Conservative commentators like Bongino were blacklisted or, in the case of Kirk, put on “do not amplify” lists.

Journalist Matt Taibbi was the first to release the damning files that show how Twitter was essentially a political organization, rather than a social media platform: “The bot ends up becoming an automated tool invisibly watching both Trump and, apparently, Breitbart.”

Part III of the Twitter Files, released Friday through journalist Matt Taibbi, shows how the company operatives, in coordination with federal agents, decided to ban former President Donald J. Trump’s account on Jan. 8, 2021.

Part I and III of Twitter Files with Matt Taibbi at this link.

Part II of Twitter Files with Bari Weiss at this link.

Part IV of Twitter Files released by Michael Shellenburger, M.D., at this link.

In July, a news site reported that Twitter had hired an alarming number of former federal agents and spies. The news never made it to the mainstream media.

“Studying a number of employment and recruitment websites, MintPress has ascertained that the social media giant has, in recent years, recruited dozens of individuals from the national security state to work in the fields of security, trust, safety and content,” Alan MacLeod reported this summer.

MacLeod wrote that in 2019, Dawn Burton was recruited from her job as senior innovation advisor to the director at the FBI to become senior director of strategy and operations for legal, public policy, trust and safety at Twitter. In 2020 Karen Walsh left the FBI after 21 years to become director of corporate resilience at the silicon valley giant. Twitter’s deputy general counsel and vice president of legal, Jim Baker, spent four years at the FBI, where he was a senior strategic advisor before joining Twitter.

The FBI itself and Twitter top censors held weekly meetings leading up to the 2020 presidential election to anticipate “hack-and-leak operations” that pertained to Hunter Biden and foreign state actors. This gave Twitter all the reason it needed to bury the New York Post’s bombshell story on Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Some of the revelations that have been uncovered by Musk include:

  • Yoel Roth, Twitter’s former head of safety Yoel Roth was meeting with the FBI on a weekly basis around the 2020 election.
  • In 2017, Yoel Roth tweeted that there were “ACTUAL NAZIS IN THE WHITE HOUSE.”
  • A Stanford doctor who argued that Covid lockdowns would harm children was secretly placed by Twitter on a “Trends Blacklist,” which prevented his tweets from trending.
  • Talk show host, Dan Bongino (@dbongino), was slapped with a “Search Blacklist.”
  • Twitter set the account of conservative activist Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) to “Do Not Amplify.”
  • Twitter denied that it does such things. In 2018, Twitter’s Vijaya Gadde (then Head of Legal Policy and Trust) and Kayvon Beykpour (Head of Product) said: “We do not shadow ban.” They added: “And we certainly don’t shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology.”
  • “VF” refers to Twitter’s control over user visibility. It used VF to block searches of individual users; to limit the scope of a particular tweet’s discoverability; to block select users’ posts from ever appearing on the “trending” page; and from inclusion in hashtag searches.
  • “We control visibility quite a bit. And we control the amplification of your content quite a bit. And normal people do not know how much we do,” one Twitter engineer told us. Two additional Twitter employees confirmed to Weiss.
  • The group that decided whether to limit the reach of certain users was the Strategic Response Team – Global Escalation Team, or SRT-GET. It often handled up to 200 “cases” a day, Weiss reported.
  • But there existed a level beyond official ticketing, beyond the rank-and-file moderators following the company’s policy on paper. That is the “Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support,” known as “SIP-PES.”
  • This secret group included Head of Legal, Policy, and Trust (Vijaya Gadde), the Global Head of Trust & Safety (Yoel Roth), subsequent CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal, and others. This is where the biggest, most politically sensitive decisions got made. “Think high follower account, controversial,” another Twitter employee told us. For these “there would be no ticket or anything.”
  • One of the accounts that rose to this level of scrutiny was @libsoftiktok—an account that was on the “Trends Blacklist” and was designated as “Do Not Take Action on User Without Consulting With SIP-PES.”
  • The account—which Chaya Raichik began in November 2020 and now boasts over 1.4 million followers—was subjected to six suspensions in 2022 alone. Each time, Raichik was blocked from posting for as long as a week.
  • Twitter said it justified her suspensions because her posts encouraged online harassment of “hospitals and medical providers” by insinuating “that gender-affirming healthcare is equivalent to child abuse or grooming.” In other words, if an account insinuated that gender transition surgery is child abuse or grooming, Twitter would take action to ban or suspend the account.
  • “These latest Twitter files shatter past denials of “shadow banning” and other suppression techniques targeting disfavored viewpoints. That includes denials by former CEO Jack Dorsey under oath before Congress and public denials by top corporate executives. The legal ramifications will become clearer as more information emerges. Yet, a far more significant problem already is confirmed in these files: the existential threat of corporate censors to free speech,” wrote Jonathan Turkey at The Hill. “You don’t need a state ministry of information if the media voluntarily maintains official narratives and suppresses dissenting views. And what emerges from these files is the notion of an effective state media in America — an alliance of media, business and political figures who act, not out of government compulsion, but out of personal conviction.”

Since journalists are major users of Twitter and rely on Twitter to gather information for stories, it’s impossible to capture and condense how Twitter has been shaping the mainstream news narrative and thus the political outcomes in the country, due to its practices of banning conservative speech.

More about this story at Breitbart.com, National Review, and The Hill.

Twitter Files: How the social media giant suppressed the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop just before 2020 election

Criminal minds: A half hour with true crime podcaster and pop culture host Danny Murphy

John Quick
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Criminal minds: A half hour with true crime podcaster and pop culture host Danny Murphy

By JOHN QUICK

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Not Another True Crime Podcast co-host Danny Murphy, who has grown in popularity in the podcast world.

Having been a fan for some time, it was great to finally ask Murphy about how he created a fun and informative podcast on topics that some would consider taboo, as a program “for people who love all types of sketchy things—from cults to conspiracy theories to, of course, crime.”

Murphy joined Not Another True Crime Podcast in 2019.

Murphy talked about the trials and tribulations of getting started in the podcasting world, his goals and ambitions, and how people can pursue their passions while balancing everyday life.

His word of advice for those seeking to start a podcast is to make sure that you have enough free time to dedicate to developing the programming, and make sure that you can pay all of your bills. In other words, don’t bank on instant success in the field. It is crucial to be passionate and driven in the podcasting endeavor.

Hosting a true-crime podcast isn’t the only thing that Murphy does; he is also a successful writer, comedian, and podcaster for the New York Post. He was asked to produce for Page Six, a partner company of the New York Post that features the celebrity and entertainment columns. He hosts a second podcast for Page Six known as Virtual Reali-Tea.

His association with Page Six has allowed Murphy to interview celebrities on his podcast. His latest anticipated project is the case of Anna Delvey, the Russian-born German con artist who posed as a wealthy heiress to scam millions of dollars from wealthy elites in New York City. Be on the lookout for that future episode on Virtual Reali-Tea. 

We also discussed the difference between recording a podcast and hosting a live show, with an audience. While I anticipate hosting a live show soon, Murphy gave me and the audience some much-needed advice about producing a successful live podcast. For his live podcast sessions, he direct-messages fans and posts in Facebook groups to build momentum around the event and then begin negotiating with various venues.

A lot of energy and interaction with the audience makes it a fantastic experience for both him and his listeners because it doesn’t have the para-social (one-sided social) element of podcasting.

I asked Murphy what advice he would give others pursuing their “passion projects” while balancing full-time jobs. He said, think long term. People come up with ideas that may seem reasonable but then realize that they have less material than they could work with once they have a few episodes.

I proposed an example of someone who works at a hardware store, and he responded with the idea that such a person could branch out into a podcast about interior design or home decor. While it may not be everyone’s first choice, narrowing it down can help build an audience as Murphy niched down to true crime and celebrity gossip.

Murphy said he had to balance a 9-to-5 job while trying to develop his true-crime podcast. While it wasn’t easy, he knew it could be done. “Don’t rush into doing it immediately because you want to do it, make sure you have the foundation but don’t be too afraid that you’ll never do it,” he said.

One of his final thoughts was that for beginners in podcasting, even if no one listens, at least the podcasters is are doing something he or she is passionate about. With that passion, you can build the foundation and attract listeners.

The positivity that Murphy left on our audience with this episode will inspire others to begin their next step in their passion project journey — whatever it is.

Find Murphy on Instagram @kashmeredanny. His true crime podcast is at Not Another True Crime Podcast. Murphy’s celebrity podcast can be found at Virtual Reali-Tea.

Listen to this episode of the Must Read Alaska Show at any of the major podcast providers, including TuneIn.com, and Facebook.

John Quick is Vice President of Must Read Alaska and prime host of the Must Read Alaska podcast, which has broadcast over 270 episodes.

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Federal court blocks Biden transgender surgery mandate, which means doctors of conscience don’t have to do it

Suzanne Downing
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Federal court blocks Biden transgender surgery mandate, which means doctors of conscience don’t have to do it

A federal appeals court in North Dakota has permanently blocked the federal mandate on doctors and hospitals, a mandate that would force them to perform “gender transition” surgeries and procedures against their conscience. The Biden administration is sure to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Sisters of Mercy v. Becerra is the second circuit court to block the federal mandate. In a related case, the the Fifth Circuit ruled similarly this year (Franciscan Alliance v. Becerra.)

The groups wanting to opt out of being forced to perform gender transition surgery include the Religious Sisters of Mercy; Sacred Heart Mercy Health Care Center, (Alma, MI); SMP Health System; University of Mary; Catholic Benefits Association; Diocese of Fargo; Catholic Charities of North Dakota; Catholic Medical Association and the State of North Dakota, which sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

The hospitals’ case is based on religious freedom. The federal government, through the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), says no institution that accepts federal payments for services may discriminate based on “gender.” That means that even patients covered by private insurance or are who are paying cash for services cannot be denied gender transition surgery at almost any hospital in America.

In May 2016, the government began implementing a mandate requiring a doctor  to perform gender transition procedures on any patient, including children, even if the doctor believed the procedure could harm the patient. 

The government required virtually all  private insurance companies and many employers to cover gender reassignment therapy or face severe penalties and legal action.

Two major insurance plans were exempted from HHS’s mandate — Medicare and Medicaid, plans run by the federal government.

Research shows these so-called “gender reassignment” surgeries have serious consequences, including heart conditions,  increased cancer risk, and loss of bone density. Other studies of children with gender dysphoria show that the vast majority of children with gender dysphoria outgrow their condition. The federal government’s panel of medical experts  concluded  these therapies can be harmful and advised against requiring coverage of them under Medicare and Medicaid. 

In 2020, the government attempted to fix the unlawful rule, but that effort was blocked by other courts.

A court  struck down the mandate in 2016. The federal government appealed to the Eighth Circuit, which heard oral argument on Dec. 15, 2021. A decision was expected in early 2022, but was released on Friday, Dec. 9, 2022, nearly a year later.

“The federal government has no business forcing doctors to violate their consciences or perform controversial procedures that could permanently harm their patients,” said Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at Becket. “This is a common-sense ruling that protects patients, aligns with best medical practice, and ensures doctors can follow their Hippocratic Oath to ‘do no harm.’”  

“Today’s victory sets an important precedent that religious healthcare professionals are free to practice medicine in accordance with their consciences and experienced professional judgment,” Goodrich said. “The government’s attempt to force doctors to go against their consciences was bad for patients, bad for doctors, and bad for religious liberty.”

The Biden Administration has 45 days to ask the Eighth Circuit to rehear the Religious Sisters of Mercy case, or 90 days to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. 

More information can be found at www.transgendermandate.org. 

Rep. Eastman trial to go ahead on Monday, judge says

Suzanne Downing
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Rep. Eastman trial to go ahead on Monday, judge says

Superior Court Judge Jack McKenna has turned down Rep. David Eastman’s request to toss the lawsuit challenging his qualifications to continue serving as a legislator.

On Friday, the judge released his ruling after the previous day’s hearing during which the Wasilla lawmaker argued for the dismissal.

Eastman, the lawsuit says, should not be seated as a lawmaker because he is a member of the Oath Keepers, a group of primarily former military and law enforcement personnel who are defenders of the Constitution.

The leader of Oath Keepers and another person involved in the group have been convicted of seditious conspiracy for trying to overthrow the government in the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when hundreds of Americans surged into the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the certification of the presidential election.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes convicted of seditious conspiracy for Jan. 6, 2021 events at Capitol

There are believed to be between 5,000 and 38,000 members of Oath Keepers in America, but it is a loose-knit organization. There are reportedly about 250 member of the group in Alaska.

The complainant in the lawsuit, Wasilla partisan political activist Randall Kowalke, asserts that mere membership in the group disqualifies someone from serving in the Legislature or any public office, due to the “disloyalty clause” of the state Constitution. If Kowalke succeeds in that argument, even a municipal worker could be removed from an official position, if he or she is a member of Oath Keepers.

The trial is set to begin Monday in Palmer, which is closer to where Eastman and Kowalke live. The Northern Justice Project is representing Kowalke, and Alaska attorney Joe Miller is representing Eastman. If the ruling goes against Eastman, the matter is surely headed for an appeal.

McKenna said that the disloyalty clause applies only to “unprotected association, speech, and conduct,” and that Kowalke will need to prove that the Oath Keepers are an organization not only advocating overthrow of the government by force, but that the group has in fact “engaged in such conduct.”

Eastman won his most recent race with 52.3% of the vote, with two other Republicans running against him in what is a deeply Republican part of the state.

On Thursday, Rep. Eastman will ask judge to throw out lawsuit claiming he violated Alaska Constitution clause
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