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They’re pushing back on Peltola, who is campaigning on abortion, which she calls ‘freedom’

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Congresswoman Mary Peltola, a Democrat representing Alaska’s at-large congressional district, talks about abortion constantly.

“I’m not going to stop until every single person in our country has their right to choose is protected,” Peltola wrote Thursday morning on Twitter in one of her many tweets about abortion. On the campaign trail, Peltola speaks about abortion just about as much as all other topics combined.

She uses the word “choice” when she speaks of the procedure that stops a beating heart. She calls it “freedom.” She never says the word “abortion.” And curiously, she says “person” rather than “woman” when speaking of abortion rights. Recently, Peltola has also taken to listing her approved pronouns.

But it was not universally accepted in the Twitterverse on Thursday that “choice” would only be about abortion. Several libertarian-leaning readers responded that, as long as she’s talking about choice, maybe she should consider other choices, such as vaccine mandates. Others asked about the choice of the child, or when was it too late to tear a child limb from limb.

Peltola has not addressed things like trimesters, nor has she publicly acknowledged that the overturn of Roe vs. Wade sent the decision on abortion legality back to the states, and in Alaska, abortions are legal until the moment of birth. She just sticks with “freedom” and Alaskans have been giving her a pass on that because of her cheery personality.

Indeed, Peltola has received lavished praise from people like Sarah Palin and Sen. Lisa Murkowski. Murkowski said she will be voting for Peltola, while Palin, who has been a pro-life candidate in the past, has all but said the same.

While Twitter is a neighborhood that typically gives Peltola a lot of tweet reinforcement with hearts and re-tweets, her views were not universally supported in the responses over the past several hours since she made her broad-stroke abortion statement.

Some of the pushback Peltola got includes these quips to her “right to choose is protected” insistence. A selection of responses:

“Including vaccinations?”

“I’m choosing life and those that protect it.”

“I’m glad to hear you’re against Vaxx Mandates. Thank you.”

“Right to choose what? Abortion on demand? Any gestational age? Stop w campaign slogans.”

“What about the innocent baby’s right to choose?”

“To choose what? To choose to kill their own child. That is in no way a right.”

“Choose? Like choosing to own a gun? Or just whatever fits your agenda?”

“Every woman having unprotected sex has already made the choice.”

“Amen. These vaccine mandates are outrageous.”

“Who cares.I’m worried about food on my table……….”

“Right to kill a baby? Kill, kill, kill, dismember, rip apart, shred limb from limb? You mean that choice instead of abstaining or protecting.”

“Does this include the child that is being burned by acid ? or the child tat is being ripped apart by pliars? asking for a friend.”

“I choose realism. ‘Pro-fish’ is a joke! Your husband runs the FSB unfairly allocating our states fish and wildlife resources based on whim, not science or law. Do you even fish? For what? My family uses nets, dipnets, rod and reel and we are successful despite your empty words.”

“No one has the right to choose to kill their own child.”

“They do have a ‘right to choose’ one of the over 21 methods of birth control available today. By making smart decisions, they can avoid unwanted pregnancies from occurring. You are promoting the “right to choose”, you are promoting abortion, the taking of life.”

“I choose not to get the ineffective booster.”

“Why does everybody want to kill babies what about the baby.”

“Thank you! My Right, as a Senior Citizen, to chose my Doctor, my Medical Care, my Medications, whether to Vaccine or not, what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, where and when to Worship, where to live, where to travel, are God Given Rights!”

“Except babies though… those are just parasites until the cord is cut.”

“Why is it “pro-life” vs “pro-choice” and not “pro-life” vs “pro-death/abortion/murder/killing” ?”

“So your whole life revolves around the ability to abort a child. Forget the insane Inflation & not being able to afford to live. It’s more important to abort a kid. You’re a sick loser.”

“What you are really saying is “I’m not going to stop until every single person in our country has their right to kill innocent human beings is protected”. That is wrong. The unjustified taking of human life should always be illegal.”

“How about advocating for responsibly sex decisions too? Ya know, to avoid pregnancy and abortion. And should abortion be available up until birth? Third trimester babies should be aborted? Is that your position?”

“Are you talking about vaccines, too, or just killing babies?”

“ICYMI there was a document called the US Constitution that became effective in April of 1789 that did that! Or are you speaking for the millions of ‘persons’ murdered by abortions. What about their rights?”

There were a few positive comments as well, but a surprising number of readers who were not standing for it and were willing to ask the tough questions, such as this one:

“Do babies at some point have a right to life? AT what point does you moral center tell you to not rip a baby apart?”

Leaked document: FBI has turned its attention to those who spread election misinformation or disinformation

Project Veritas, an investigative journalism project that recently revealed Sen. Lisa Murkowski campaign staffers taking about how their colleagues had worked to rig Alaska elections with Ballot Measure 2 in 2020, has released a newly leaked document showing steps the FBI will take to intervene in “election crimes.”

The document comes at a time when Alaska’s congresswoman has called for “repercussions” against those who spread misinformation online. Congresswoman Mary Peltola, a Democrat, made that remark during a campaign debate on Wednesday in Anchorage.

The FBI lists “misinformation” as a possible election crime, describing it as “false or misleading information spread mistakenly or unintentionally.”

The document categorizes “disinformation” also as a possible election crime, and says it is as “false or inaccurate information intended to mislead others.”

It continues, “Disinformation campaigns on social media are used to deliberately confuse, trick, or upset the public.”

How “misinformation” and/or “disinformation” is distinguished by the FBI isn’t described. But Project Veritas reminds readers that not long ago the Biden Administration attempted to create a “Disinformation Governance Board” at the Department of Homeland Security. Early in the Biden Administration, the effort was focused on unacceptable information about the Covid-19 virus, its origins, treatments, and vaccines.

Now, the focus has turned to elections.

Read more at Project Veritas at this link.

Read: DHS: Terrorism and grievance-based violence is a post-lockdown threat

Under the Biden-Harris Administration, DHS is prioritizing combating all forms of terrorism and targeted violence, including through its efforts to support the first-ever National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism. Since January 2021, DHS has taken several steps in this regard, including:    

  • established a new domestic terrorism branch within DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis dedicated to producing sound, timely intelligence needed to counter domestic terrorism-related threats;   
  • launched the Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships (CP3) to provide communities with resources and tools to help prevent individuals from radicalizing to violence;   
  • designated domestic violent extremism as a “National Priority Area” within DHS’s Homeland Security Grant Program for the first time, resulting in at least $77 million being spent on preventing, preparing for, protecting against, and responding to related threats nationwide;   
  • provided $180 million in funding to support target hardening and other physical security enhancements to non-profit organizations at high risk of terrorist attack through DHS’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP);   
  • increased efforts to identify and evaluate MDM, including false or misleading narratives and conspiracy theories spread on social media and other online platforms, that endorse violence; and,   
  • enhanced collaboration with public and private sector partners – including U.S. critical infrastructure owners and operators – to better protect our cyber and physical infrastructure and increase the Nation’s cybersecurity through the Department’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Debate: Peltola promotes limits on First Amendment, and doubles down on more restrictions on Second Amendment

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During the Debate for the State on KTUU on Wednesday, Congresswoman Mary Peltola doubled down on her statement about how the Second Amendment is primarily for hunting and subsistence, and that she would support legislation limiting the sales of firearms to 18-year-olds.

Taken to its logical conclusion, that would mean young men could go to Afghanistan and die for the country, but not be able to own a gun to protect his home.

Peltola also said there should be repercussions for people who spread misinformation in the media and online.

Taken to its logical conclusion, Peltola would want people punished if they express views she disagrees with or statements she feels are not factual, a violation of the First Amendment.

“The fact that across America people can go on television and radio and print media and online and tell lies and there are no repercussions, I think that being able to broadcast lies has really caused a lot of division on things that should be an open and shut case,” Peltola said.

Peltola also said she is for President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program. That program has been ruled illegal. Peltola has also come out in favor of more food stamps to help veterans make ends meet.

In other words, fewer rights for Americans and more handouts.

Peltola appeared with three other congressional candidates at the KTUU-Alaska Public Media-KTOO Debate for the State on Wednesday. She and Sarah Palin continued their mutual admiration society, complimenting each other, and Palin nodded in agreement with Peltola’s answers, while Republican Nick Begich and Libertarian Chris Bye stuck to conservative principles.

In his closing statement, Nick Begich differentiated himself from Peltola, saying she was controlled by the D.C. lobbyists already. Begich said there are two teams: One that wants to take more money from taxpayers’ pockets, and wants no resource production in America, and another team — Republicans — who want to put more money in Americans’ pockets and give them their rights back. Peltola, he said, is on the wrong team.

Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka radio stations sold to California company

All six commercial radio stations in Juneau have been sold to BTC USA Holdings Management, Inc., based in California and owned by Cliff Dumas, a morning host in Bakersfield, Calif. The $1.3 million deal includes stations in Ketchikan and Sitka, as well as Texas.

The Alaska radio stations changing hands are:

Juneau

  • Country “Taku 105” 105.1 KTKU Juneau
  • Hot AC “Mix 106” 106.3 KSUP Juneau
  • Sports “Hawk 107.9” K300AB Juneau/KSUP-HD2
  • News/Talk 630 KJNO/97.5 K248DQ Juneau
  • Full Service Oldies 800 KINY/94.9 K235DA/103.5 K278GE Juneau and additional translators 103.9 K280DX Angoon, 103.7 K279AF Haines, 103.9 K280ED Hoonah, 103.5 K278GE Kake and 104.7 K284AM Skagway
  • Classic Hits “93.3/1330 KXJ” KXXJ/K227DP Juneau

Ketchikan

  • Gateway Country” 106.7 KGTW Ketchikan/98.3 K252EJ Wrangell/99.5 K258AD Craig
  • Talk/Hot AC 930 KTKN/93.3 K227DQ/97.5 K248AI Ketchikan

Sitka

  • Hot AC “Mix 103” 103.1 KSBZ Sitka
  • Full Service Classic Hits 1230 KIFW/102.3 K272FV Sitka

“Dumas will own 80 percent of the new company through his Broadcast 2 Podcast Inc. with the Bryan Woodruff-led Local First Media Group holding the other 20 percent. In addition to hosting mornings at KUZZ, Dumas has also hosted mornings at KRST Albuquerque and spent a decade at KSON San Diego. Dumas is a member of the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame for hosting mornings at KHAM Hamilton and CISS-FM Toronto, was the voice of CMT Canada and the Canadian Country Music Awards, and produced and hosted many Canadian Country music specials,” according to RadioInsight.com.

Report: Alaska’s fiscal health emerged best in country from pandemic

By MERRILEE GASSER | THE CENTER SQUARE

Alaska exited the Covid-19 pandemic with a financial surplus of $96,800 per taxpayer, snagging first place in an analysis of each state’s fiscal health.

Alaska had a $41.5 billion tax surplus following 2021, according to financial watchdog Truth in Accounting. The group studied the most recent data from all 50 states’ 2021 annual comprehensive financial reports. It found that 31 state governments did not have enough money to pay all their bills, in some cases leaving hefty tax burdens on future taxpayers.

The story was very different in Alaska, where the state had $41.5 billion to pay $15.4 billion worth of bills, leaving it with still billions left in surplus.

The state’s healthy financial position was fortified further by $12 billion in federal COVID-19 funding and increases in rents and royalty revenues, the report said.

“Notably, like most states in this year’s report, some of Alaska’s economic condition improved only on paper due to stock market increases in 2021. However, these increases are transitory as financial markets are volatile and the gains recorded previously may not have been realized through actual sale of the market assets,” the authors wrote.

State debt overall appeared to improve due to increased market valuations of pension plans and federal COVID funding, according to the report. But as Covid funds go away, and market conditions continue to fluctuate, 2022’s financial evaluation is poised to look less favorable for state debt, the report predicted. 

Unlike some states, Alaska was able to fully pay public employees’ retirement benefits in 2021. Across the country, total unfunded pension liabilities were $699 billion, the report found.

“Unfunded retirement liabilities were the largest contributing factor to the $1.2 trillion in state-level debt,” said the authors. “One of the ways states make their budgets look balanced, when they are not, is by shortchanging public pension and OPEB (Other Post-Employment Benefits) funds.”

Other top-ranking states boasting taxpayer surpluses were North Dakota, Wyoming, Utah and South Dakota. On the flip side, taxpayer burdens were the heaviest in Massachusetts, Hawaii, Illinois, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

This isn’t the first time Alaska has landed at the top of TIA’s list for fiscal health. The analysis included the state’s Earning Reserve Account as assets available to pay bills. It also found the long-term debt in Alaska went down, noting it was primarily due to a decrease in unearned revenue and Covid relief funds.

“Even though Alaska was financially sound before and during the pandemic, the state still received federal support from Covid-19 related grants which contributed to the continuing financial health of this state,” the report said. “The uncertainty surrounding the full economic recovery post-Covid makes it impossible to determine how much will be needed to maintain government services and benefits in the coming years. However, the surplus Alaska had and additional funds will help the state weather any future public health or economic crises and downturns in the market.”

Read the report at this link.

Official Democrat newsletter says Liz Vasquez is too Trumpie, U.S. military vets are Nazis, while pansexual and diehard socialist are just perfect for the Legislature

You heard it first from the Alaska Democratic Party. That is, you heard first it if you get the Alaska Democratic Party’s radical newsletter:

The Alaska Democrats’ say that their candidate Jennie Armstrong, who has lived in Alaska for so few months that she has only qualified for two Permanent Fund dividends, is better than former Alaska Rep. Liz Vazquez, who checks all the boxes for “identity” but who supported Donald Trump in 2020. The support for Trump is a dealbreaker with the Alaska Democrats, even if Vazquez is Hispanic, first generation American, female, and a lawyer. The Democrats are going with the white pansexual.

Yes, Armstrong, running for the West Anchorage House seat, calls herself a “pansexual,” which means she is sexually attracting to whatever suits her at the moment. She is married to someone who identifies as a man, and the two have humans who identify as children.

Armstrong says she moved to Alaska in May of 2019; that would give her barely the time she would need for residency to qualify as a candidate, and the Division of Elections won’t pursue the matter.

The Alaska Democrats’ newsletter also calls Republican Jamie Allard a Nazi sympathizer, and then the newsletter throws shade on retired Navy SEAL Rep. Laddie Shaw for being an ally of Allard.

Allard is a U.S. Army veteran, a Latina, and an Assembly member who represents Chugiak-Eagle River on the Anchorage Assembly. Shaw, who served two tours of duty in Vietnam, is a decorated war veteran. The Democrats are painting them both as Nazi supporters.

Allard is running against a man with a long history of mental illness and extensive criminal court record, and Shaw is running against a Democrat who came to Alaska after being a member of the Occupy Wall Street, and Occupy Anchorage movement. You can read David Schaaf’s communistic views at this Howard Zinn website. To be clear, the Democrats would rather have a socialist representing Anchorage than a war hero.

The language of Democrats has become strident and increasingly radical over recent years. Now, the Alaska Democrats are openly supporting the most extreme candidates on the ballot.

Armstrong has been endorsed by all the extremist groups, such as:

  • Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates
  • National Education Association of Alaska
  • LPAC (lesbian political action committee)
  • The Alaska Center (for the environment)
  • Alaska March On (radical abortion activists)
  • Alaskan’s Together for Equality (radical educational and advocacy organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Alaskans)

Schaff has been endorsed by Big Labor:

  • Anchorage Central Labor Council
  • Alaska March On
  • NEA Alaska
  • The Alaska Center
  • Laborers Local 341
  • Teamsters Local 959
  • APEA/AFT
  • IUOE Local 302
  • ASEA/AFSCME Local 52
  • IBEW Local 1547
  • IUPAT Alaska Local 1959
  • Unite HERE Local 878
  • Alaska AFSCME Retiree Chapter 52
  • Plumbers & Steamfitters UA Local 367

Bob Griffin: Anchorage voters rejected Inlet View school proposal, and district has too much school property

By BOB GRIFFIN

Anchorage voters already rejected the Inlet View expansion proposal in April. Some are now advocating that we ignore the voters and knock Inlet View down and replace it with a $34.3 million, $742 per square foot — $170,000 per student — major school expansion project, 42% larger than the existing campus. Worse yet, the money currently being considered to fund the rejected project was intended for property tax relief.

This expansion proposal has exceptionally bad timing because Anchorage School District is simultaneously considering retiring six schools in other neighborhoods, reflecting the dramatic drop in enrollment across the district.

Anchorage has an enormous quantity of excess schools — and maintaining them is robbing resources from classrooms. Current projections are that the student population in five years in Anchorage School District brick-and-mortar schools will be 5,000 fewer students than 1978, when the district’s building footprint was at least 2.9 million square feet smaller than today. To visualize 2.9 million square feet, it’s more floor space than all current Anchorage School District high schools combined, plus six elementary schools.

Inlet View Elementary may be old by the standards of our very young city, built in 1957, with expansions in 1972 and 1985, but my granddaughters currently attend a very effective neighborhood elementary school in Portland that was last expanded in 1925. Well-maintained public buildings don’t “wear out.”

The White House was built in 1800. Replacing functional buildings because they’re “old” is a luxury we cannot currently afford. There’s plenty of school capacity downtown. Inlet View is surrounded by half a dozen campuses operating far below capacity. Downtown already has the Chugach Optional program and the renovated and expanded campus at Denali Elementary. A much more urgent concern than an expansion project in a favored neighborhood is addressing Anchorage’s $824 million deferred maintenance backlog.

Some have argued that Inlet View is overcrowded. By Alaska Department of Education and Early Development standards, the campus has the capacity for 257 students with a projected enrollment of 203 students or less, by the time the project could be completed.

For context, the very popular Winterberry Charter School has less than half the current floorspace of Inlet View, with a student population of 226 kids — and a waiting list to get in.

In 2012, school district changed its local Education Specification, which now puts Inlet View at a capacity of 170 students — without any changes to the building. Since the change, Inlet View has chosen to consistently exceed its new capacity limitation by allowing zone exemptions for dozens of students from outside the neighborhood. Adding insult to the proposal to override of the rejected Inlet View project, the dollars being considered for this project are funds allocated by the Legislature to aid in property tax relief.

For several years, bond debt reimbursement from the state was suspended and property taxpayers had to shoulder the full burden of bonds passed. In 2022, the Legislature allocated an amount equal to the extra burden taxpayers bore during the suspension of bond debt reimbursement. The Mat-Su Borough has already indicated that it will be giving their property taxpayers a one-mill tax rebate with its portion of the same legislative allocation, despite their growing student population.

Funding the rejected Inlet View expansion project, with money intended for taxpayers, while we’re closing other schools and continue to have an enormous maintenance backlog, is a very bad idea. And more importantly, every dollar misallocated on unnecessary capital projects is a dollar not available for intensive reading instruction, career and technology programs, language immersion, gifted and talented enrichment, sports programs, and a wide variety of classroom operations popular with parents and students.

There’s a process for major construction projects. That process involves consulting the voters who will be responsible for paying for the maintenance of the projects. If the voters feel they are being ignored or disrespected in that process, it may become very difficult to pass future bond measures needed to address the ongoing Anchorage School District facilities debacle.

Bob Griffin is a senior education research fellow for Alaska Policy Forum and a member of its board of directors. A retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot and former chair of the Budget Advisory Commission for the Municipality of Anchorage and the Anchorage School District, he is a board member of the Alaska State Board of Education and Early Childhood Development.

Anchorage to Rep. Josephson: Stop saying police department endorses you

An attorney for the Municipality of Anchorage has sent a “cease and desist” letter to Rep. Andy Josephson, telling the legislator to stop saying in his political ads that the Anchorage Police Department endorses him.

“It has come to our attention that you have represented in your campaign advertisements that you are ‘endorsed by the Anchorage Police Department.’ The Anchorage Police Department is a department of the Municipality of Anchorage. Neither the Anchorage Police Department nor the Municipality of Anchorage has endorsed your campaign. We request you cease stating or implying that you are endorsed by the Anchorage Police Department or any other department of the Municipality of Anchorage immediately,” the letter states. It was sent Oct. 24.

Josephson is running against Kathy Henslee for a newly drawn area of Anchorage that is more conservative than he is. But as a veteran of many campaigns stretching back a decade, Josephson, a Democrat and a lawyer, knows how to word things “just so,” and in some cases he has put, in small letters, that it is the police union that is supporting him, while in large letters he states it is the police department itself.

Nothing to sneeze at: Covid symptoms have changed, according to new study, pointing to evolving virus

Since the arrival of the Covid-19 virus in the United States in early 2020, common symptoms have shifted. Sneezing is now a very common symptom of Covid, and is being reported more and more by those who have been vaccinated. It’s just one of the many symptom changes shown by the health tracking application developed by ZOE, a British health company that has over 4 million participants in its Covid science project.

Sneezing as a reaction to Covid is associated with the Omicron variant, which is causing more upper-respiratory symptoms than earlier variants, which were more likely to cause pneumonia or other lower-respiratory tract infections.

Some of the newer symptoms of Covid resemble those of a common cold or seasonal influenza.

Things like “loss of smell” are much lower down the list, as is shortness of breath and even having a persistent cough.

“As with all viruses, the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus which causes COVID-19 is rapidly evolving both its ability to spread and infect people, as well as the symptoms it causes,” the authors of the ZOE App wrote in the ZOE report.

The ZOE Covid study app allows users to log in and report their symptoms, and other circumstances, such as when they were last vaccinated and how many doses of vaccine they have received. The ZOE team “managed to identify the current symptoms that have emerged in recent weeks, and they differ depending on if you’ve been vaccinated, and how many doses you’ve had.”

The symptoms rankings below are based on user reports in the app alone and do not take into account which variant caused the virus or demographic information.

“Generally, we saw similar symptoms of COVID-19 being reported overall in the app by people who had and hadn’t been vaccinated. However, fewer symptoms were reported over a shorter period of time by those who had already had a jab, suggesting that they were falling less seriously ill and getting better more quickly,” the researchers wrote.

Here is the current ranking of COVID symptoms after two vaccinations:

  1. Sore throat
  2. Runny nose 
  3. Blocked nose
  4. Persistent cough
  5. Headache

“Curiously, we noticed that people who had been vaccinated and then tested positive for COVID-19 were more likely to report sneezing as a symptom compared with those without a jab. If you’ve been vaccinated and start sneezing a lot without an explanation, you should get a COVID test, especially if you are living or working around people who are at greater risk from the disease,” the researchers wrote.

For those who have not gotten the vaccine doses, there is a slightly different ranking of symptoms, but there have still been changes since the beginning of the pandemic:

  1. Headache
  2. Sore Throat
  3. Runny Nose
  4. Fever
  5. Persistent cough

“Loss of smell comes in at number 9 and shortness of breath comes far down the list at number 30, indicating the symptoms as recorded previously are changing with the evolving variants of the virus,” the researchers wrote about those symptoms appearing among unvaccinated control group.

More details can be found at the ZOE website at this link.