Page 822 – Must Read Alaska

Tax assessment doxxing weaponized: Borough assessors target Rep. McCabe’s home based on ‘reporter’s complaint’

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September 3, 2022

Tax assessment doxxing weaponized: Borough assessors target Rep. McCabe’s home based on ‘reporter’s complaint’

A complaint filed with the Mat-Su Borough’s Assessment Office led to two property assessors showing up at the home of Rep. Kevin McCabe on Friday. They were there to do an inspection and reassessment because someone they would only identify as a “reporter” had made a complaint that McCabe’s property wasn’t assessed high enough.

None of the properties around that neighborhood have been assessed since 2013, and McCabe said he asked the assessors if they were also doing an assessment on any of the other seven homes in the area between East and West Papoose Lakes. No, they told him, just his property. They weren’t going to reassess anyone else’s properties.

McCabe says he has 40 acres, a house, and a pole barn, plus a couple of chicken coops. There’s nothing special about his place, he said, that would make it stand out for a targeted reassessment.

“I welcomed the borough assessors to come look at my property. I have nothing to hide and they were consumate professionals and very pleasant (and apologetic). When asked, they admitted that they came only to assess my property at the request of some reporter,” McCabe said. “It sucks that people can weaponize the bureaucracy to harass a public official whom they disagree with politically. Where does that end? Can anyone ask the borough assessors office to go out and assess an opponents property? I don’t agree with some of the assembly members position on things, can I ask that they have a special assessment?” McCabe said.

McCabe noted that the lack of property assessments in the area is emblematic of the growth the borough has experienced. “The borough provides no means to self-report ones properties value – and I am not an appraiser anyway,” he said.

McCabe was the subject of a lawsuit earlier this year lodged by former newsman Mark Kelsey, who complained that he had been blocked from McCabe’s official Facebook page. Kelsey, a Mat-Su borough resident but not a constituent of McCabe’s, filed the lawsuit June 1 in Anchorage Superior Court. Kelsey was a publisher of the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman from 2011-2016, and had been a reporter and managing editor for the paper and other newspapers at various times before that. He also worked for the Department of Commerce for a few years.

Kelsey has, in the past, posted extensive social media comments specifically relating to McCabe’s property, including his tax assessment information that is available at the borough, and has called him out as a “tax chiseler.”

Kelsey’s lawsuit over being blocked on Facebook, and others similarly brought against legislators, have prompted the Legislature to begin to revise the wording on its social media policies. Lawmakers have to walk a fine line — they need to allow people to comment on their official pages, but also need to protect people from being abused, bullied, harassed, and elected officials have to monitor comments for vulgarity and threats.

The Legislature’s current social media policy was last updated in 2011 and Alaska has no case law to inform the issue about when a lawmaker can block someone for repeated instances of harassment.

But meanwhile, it appears a resident of the borough — maybe one with strong political and criticisms of Republicans — has elevated the doxxing of a lawmaker to a new level — sic’ing the property assessors on him to increase his tax payments.

Top medical schools are cutting applicants who don’t show enough devotion to diversity, equity, inclusion agenda

The 907

Suzanne Downing

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September 3, 2022

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Top medical schools are cutting applicants who don’t show enough devotion to diversity, equity, inclusion agenda

America’s most prestigious medical schools are training a new crop of advocates for “diversity, equity and inclusion,” or DEI, as they bring onboard their new cohorts of medical students, according to a new report by a group that is pushing back on “woke” medical trends that are replacing science and medicine with social justice training. The report shows DEI advocacy begins during the medical school admissions screening.

Some 36 of the top 50 medical schools ask applicants their views on, or experience in diversity-equity-inclusion causes. Many of the medical schools come right out and ask whether applicants agree with certain political statements about race and the causes of different health outcomes.

“This focus on identity politics is not limited to elite medical schools. Schools outside the top-ranked tier are also probing for information about candidates’ attitudes toward race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and more. The goal, it appears, is to turn ideological support for health equity and social justice initiatives into a credential that increases an applicant’s chance of acceptance, to screen out dissenters, and to signal to all applicants that they are expected to support this new cause,” the Do No Harm report says.

Do No Harm’s review finds that 80 percent of the top 10 schools use probing questions that make it clear what response they are looking for from applicants regarding views about diversity, equity, and inclusion topics. Eleven of the top medical schools in the US News & World Report’s top 50 ask the most egregious questions, which appear to be intended to uncover the candidate’s true devotion to social justice and health equity.

Some medical schools take a subtler approach by requesting autobiographical or socioeconomic information or by asking applicants to self-identify with particular demographic labels, Do No Harm writes. But some institutions explicitly question applicants about their positions on, and commitments to, racial identity politics and institutional initiatives related to DEI. The message is: Comply with our politics or you will not be admitted. Examples include:

Duke University asks applicants if to explain their understanding of race and its relationship to health care inequitites:

“Potential sources of health inequities include race, gender, education, income, disability, geographic location, and sexual orientation. Moments to Movement (M2M) is Duke’s collective stand against systemic racism and injustice. The name signifies going beyond passive moments of reflection and becoming more active as we build to make lasting change for our patients, their loved ones and each other. Describe your understanding of race and its relationship to inequities in health and health care.”

UCLA’s Geffen Medical School asks applicants if they identify as “marginalized” when they consider access to education or health care.”

Marginalized includes “LGBTQIA, disabilities, federally recognized tribe,” and UCLA asks applicants “how this inequity has impacted you or your community and how educational disparity, health disparity and/or marginalization has impacted you and your community.”

Do No Harm links this question to a statement on the medical school’s DEI web page: “The core values of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion are inseparable from our institutional goals of excellence in all tenets of healthcare, research, education, and community engagement.”

University of Minnesota Medical School asks applicants about their identities as well as incidents in which they “personally experienced or acted with implicit or explicit bias.” In its application, the school asks students to talk about their views on racism:

“Our country is reckoning with its history, racism, racial injustice, and especially anti-black racism. Please share your reflections on, experiences with, and greatest lessons learned about systemic racism.”

Those who want to know exactly what the university is looking for in a response may look up key words on the ““Defining Our Terms” web page at the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, where applicants can find definitions for terms like such as “micro-aggression,”“privilege,” and “anti-racism.” Use of these words in answering the questions on the application may be helpful for gaining admission.

Florida Atlantic University’s application asks students how they will personally dismantle racism:

“As a community FAU Schmidt COM has made a commitment to be anti-racist and address systemic racism in education and healthcare. Institutionalized racism can be defined as “macro level systems, social forces, institutions, ideologies, and processes that interact with one another to generate and reinforce inequities among racial and ethnic groups.” As a future medical student at FAU, how can you play an active role in addressing and dismantling systemic racism?”

Read the report here.

Do-No-Harm-–-Only-DEI-Advocates-Need-Apply Download

Study: In 10 years, student loan debt will be high as ever

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

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September 3, 2022

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Study: In 10 years, student loan debt will be high as ever

By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE

It will take less than a decade for student loan debt to return to the level it was at before President Joe Biden canceled nearly half a trillion dollars of the debt at taxpayer’s expense, a new report from a leading budget group says.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released the analysis. They estimate that Biden’s debt cancellation of $10,000 per borrower and $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients will cost the federal government between $440 billion and $600 billion.

However, they say it will only take a few years for student debt levels to rise again, erasing the cuts of Biden’s cancellations.

“We estimate that if all eligible borrowers receive debt cancellation, the overall student debt portfolio would return to its current level of $1.6 trillion in five and a half years – in 2028,” CRFB said. “In inflation-adjusted dollars, student debt would return to its current level in 2031.”

CRFB also pointed out that the delay in payments, which has gotten little attention compared to debt cancellation, has a big cost for taxpayers as well.

“This four-month payment pause extension will add $20 billion to the deficit,” the group said. “The repayment pause has now been extended seven times, lasting 33 months, bringing the total cost of the pause since the beginning of the pandemic through the end of this year to $155 billion.”

CRFB isn’t the only one critical of Biden’s plan. Several economists have raised the alarm about how the cancellation will hike inflation.

Former Obama administration economist Jason Furman said the cost of forgiving the loans will be felt by the rest of the country.

“Student loan relief would lead some people to spend more,” said Furman, who also works as a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “We can’t make more so others would consume less. The way that happens is inflation. Budget constraint. If you add hundreds of billions to the deficit, eventually taxes will rise or spending will be cut. Or some tax cut or spending increases that could have happened won’t. Either way a cost. A full evaluation of student loan relief would take this into account. You might still like it – it benefits recent college grads and hurts most everyone else, both rich and poor. But don’t assume it is ‘free’ money – it is not.”

Furman said the plan would be “gasoline on the inflationary fire.”

“Pouring roughly half a trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire that is already burning is reckless,” Furman wrote on Twitter. “Doing it while going well beyond one campaign promise ($10K of student loan relief) and breaking another (all proposals paid for) is even worse.”

The majority of Americans feel the same way. As The Center Square previously reported, a NBC/Momentive poll from last month showed that 59% of surveyed Americans report they are concerned that canceling student debt will raise inflation.

“Republicans are especially concerned: 81% of Republicans say student loan forgiveness will make inflation worse, nearly double the number of Democrats who say the same (41%),” Momentive said.

Lawmakers also blasted Biden for the plan, citing inflation, which has hit the highest level in over four decades.

“Now, President Biden is doubling down on his abandonment of working Americans by issuing an illegal order to use hundreds of billions of your tax dollars to ‘forgive’ the loans of college-educated individuals who voluntarily took on debt to finance their education,” U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said. “The American people, who are already struggling to keep up with Biden’s raging inflation crisis, are disgusted with the Democrats’ dangerous, socialist agenda and demanding action. Republicans must stand united to repeal the IRS supersizing and pass my bill to force every member of Congress to go on the record for student loan forgiveness.”

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.

Biden’s use of U.S. Marines as props for speech draws criticism, but White House defends it as normal

Suzanne Downing

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September 2, 2022

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Biden’s use of U.S. Marines as props for speech draws criticism, but White House defends it as normal

Two U.S. Marines in uniform, standing at attention against an ominous red background while President Joe Biden delivered a harshly partisan damnation of former President Donald Trump and his supporters has drawn sharp criticism. It’s improper to use the military as a prop for a political speech, critics are saying.

Thursday night’s speech at Independence Hall in Philadelphia clearly was political, as it bashed Biden’s most likely opponent — Trump.

But the White House says it was all proper.

“The presence of the Marines at the speech was intended to demonstrate the deep and abiding respect the president has for these service members, to these ideals, and the unique role our independent military plays in defending our democracy no matter which party is in power,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

But even some in the mainstream media were shocked at the breach in protocol:

“Whatever you think of this speech, the military is supposed to be apolitical. Positioning Marines in uniform behind President Biden for a political speech flies in the face of that. It’s wrong when Democrats do it. It’s wrong when Republicans do it,” wrote CNN anchor Brianna Keilar on Twitter.

“Like or loathe what he said tonight, it should be noted: The president spoke tonight on the grounds of a national park, flanked by US Marines, and took direct, specific aim at his predecessor and members of the Republican Party,” wrote CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe. “Another thing we don’t see everyday.”

Jean-Pierre said it is quite normal for presidents to use military as a backdrop, and that “Standing up for democracy is not political.”

“The president gave an important speech last night, a critical speech at an inflection point, and our democracy, our values, our values that our men and women who protect us every day and fight for every day believe in as well,” Jean-Pierre said Friday.

MAGA derangement syndrome: Biden condemns ‘Make America Great Again,’ says Trump Republicans are threat

Alex Gimarc: Voters sent a message to Sarah

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

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September 2, 2022

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Alex Gimarc: Voters sent a message to Sarah

By ALEX GIMARC

The results for Alaska’s first rank choice election were announced on Aug. 31, with Mary Peltola being the first Democrat elected to represent Alaska in the U.S. House of Representatives for nearly half a century.

A look at the numbers is instructive. From the Division of Elections results:

After round 1, Peltola held around a 17,000-vote lead over second-place Sarah Palin, and a 22,000-vote lead over Nick Begich III. Around 40% of all voters voted for Peltola, the Democrat, while 60% voted for a pair of Republican candidates.

In the second ranked-choice round, Nick Begich was the first candidate out, with his votes going to whomever was marked second on their ballots. Once that total was computed, the total was shrunk by the 11,222 votes Begich got in the initial round when voters didn’t make a second choice. This dropped the total by 6%. Remember that ranked choice voting is a subtraction problem, which is precisely what we saw Wednesday.

On the Begich ballots, 27,042 were transferred to Palin, around 50% of the total. Another 15,445, around 29% went to Peltola. Finally, 11,222 ballots were exhausted (didn’t have a second vote), or around 21% of the total.

In the end, after the ranked-choice round, Peltola won by 5,219, just under 3% of the remaining 177,193 vote. There were 3,743 blank and overvoted ballots in the ranked-choice round. I do not know how this total was folded into the final number.

What happened? We learned several lessons. First and foremost is that a single, bullet vote for a single candidate is a fool’s errand. Like I and others pointed out previously, a bullet vote is the functional equivalent of half a vote for whomever is left. Anyone telling you otherwise is at best woefully under-informed.

Second and perhaps more importantly is that there are a LOT of Republicans out there still mad at Palin for her role in removing Sen. Ted Stevens from office in 2008, when she demanded he resign following a fraudulent prosecution. They are still mad at her for endorsing Bill Walker for governor rather than incumbent Gob. Sean Parnell in 2014.

These actions stand out before any discussion about the breathtaking expansion of state government while she was governor and raising taxes on the oil and natural gas producers sky high.

Clearly, Sarah has some fence mending to do between now and November. Like all lifestyle choices, it remains to be seen if she understands how this new world works sufficiently to do that. My guess is not, based on her initial response.

Sarah’s first response to the loss? Demand Nick Begich drop out of the race for Congress. This is unhelpful, coming from a woman who has been instrumental in making sure Republicans don’t win statewide races over the last 14 years.

Sarah could have done what Begich did during debates, push rank the red on the second and third choices. She chose to be cute, refusing to answer the question while showing a ballot with no second or third choices marked. Instead, she told voters to only vote for her.

She helped turn three statewide elections since 2008 to democrats, U.S. Senate, Governor, and now U.S. House. Will there be a fourth?

Intentionally doing this is hardly the stuff of conservatism. As of this writing, it is roughly nine weeks until November. Sarah and her supporters have some work and “splainin” to do if they want to elect someone other than a Democrat to Congress. We will see if they are up to it.

Alex Gimarc lives in Anchorage since retiring from the military in 1997. His interests include science and technology, environment, energy, economics, military affairs, fishing and disabilities policies. His weekly column “Interesting Items” is a summary of news stories with substantive Alaska-themed topics. He was a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

Tim Barto: Ichiro and El Hombre had work ethic, practice discipline that kept them at top of their game for decades

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

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September 2, 2022

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Tim Barto: Ichiro and El Hombre had work ethic, practice discipline that kept them at top of their game for decades

By TIM BARTO

Ichiro Suzuki was the best baseball player in the Japanese big leagues when he signed a multi-million dollar contract with the Seattle Mariners in 2001 and brought his game to America.

Despite winning three Most Valuable Player awards and seven batting titles in seven seasons in his native Japan, there were many Americans – fans, players, coaches, and owners – who doubted that the skinny 27-year-old right fielder with the unorthodox, running start swing could make it in the American major leagues.

But make it he did, winning Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors that season while leading the league in hits, batting average, and stolen bases.

If there were any remaining doubters after his rookie season, Ichiro silenced them with his first 10 seasons as a Major League player. Each season from 2001 to 2010, the Mariners’ right fielder was selected as an All-Star, won a Gold Glove Award for being the best fielder at his position, and collected at least 200 hits. Each season.

In 2004, he broke the record for most hits in a season with 262. His statistical achievements invoke comparison with the greatest names the game has ever known: Honus Wagner, George Sisler, Ty Cobb, Lou Gehrig, Stan Musial, and Pete Rose. As he gained popularity in the United States, he remained as popular as ever, probably more so, in his native Japan. Japanese television carried Mariner games, and Japanese fans took vacation time to travel to Seattle to see their beloved Ichiro play.

How popular was Ichiro? When Paul Kariya, a Canadian of half Japanese ethnicity was playing hockey in the NHL, he dressed up as Ichiro for Halloween.

After 11 and a half seasons in Seattle, Ichiro went on to play two and a half seasons for the New York Yankees and three for the Miami Marlins, before returning to Seattle in 2019 to finish out his career. This past weekend, the Mariners organization honored Ichiro with membership in their team’s Hall of Fame. In two more years, he is a shoo-in to be elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

While a player, Ichiro learned English, but being concerned that his words were conveyed properly, he relied on an interpreter. When giving his Hall of Fame acceptance speech in front of a packed stadium, he delivered it in English. In addition to learning English while a player, Ichiro also learned Spanish because of the influx of players from Spanish-speaking countries.

Albert Pujols stands for the National Anthem. Photo credit: Kevin Wong, 2014, Flickr.

Albert Pujols was born in the Dominican Republic in 1980, and made his Major League debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2001, the same year Ichiro debuted with the Mariners. Over the same ten year period in which Ichiro was piling up hits in the American League, Pujols was tearing up the National League, averaging over 40 home runs and driving in over 100 runs per season while recording batting averages no lower than .312 each year.

As the Seattle fans endeared themselves to Ichiro, so did the St. Louis fans with Pujols, who they started calling “El Hombre,” Spanish for “The Man.” It was done out of respect for Pujols because the most popular Cardinal of all, Stan Musial, was known as Stan “The Man.” Pujols let it be known that he did not prefer the moniker, feeling it was improper to compare himself to Hall-of-Famer Musial, a man respected as a true gentleman of the game.

St. Louis fans began calling him “La Maquina” because he produced like a machine. That name stuck.

Pujols and the Cardinals won the World Series in 2011, with Pujols tying Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson for most home runs in a World Series game (three, in game seven). But in the offseason, Albert opted to exercise his rights as a free agent, leaving his beloved St. Louis for the deep pockets of the Los Angeles Angels and guaranteeing himself better than 25 million dollars a year for the next ten years. In 2022, Pujols returned to St. Louis to close out his career.

As of Aug. 29, La Maquina has 694 career home runs, two behind Alex Rodriguez and only six shy of the hallowed territory of 700, achieved by only three players in history – Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds. Unlike Rodriguez and Bonds, Pujols’ achievements have been accomplished without the aid of steroids, and his reputation is of one who played the game clean. Albert is a man of deep Christian faith who treats fans well and is generous in his philanthropy. One of his daughters, Bella, has Down’s Syndrome and competes as a Special Olympics swimmer. Pujols has responded by setting up a family foundation that contributes generously to Special Olympics.

Five years from now Albert will be eligible for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and, like Ichiro, his election is guaranteed.

These two men with completely dissimilar builds but a deep love for the game and respect for its history, are remarkable athletes closing out their careers with class, returning home to where their American sports journeys began.

Sure, they’ve made mistakes and disappointed fans along the way, but their athletic achievements and commitment to greatness are deserving of respect. Their work ethic and practice routines kept them at the top of their sport for more than a decade. They were two of the ballplayers that would garner everyone’s attention when they came to the plate; Ichiro for his unique swing and style of play, and Pujols for his strength and clutch performances. They earned the admiration of their coaches, fellow players, and fans. Even fickle and highly opinionated baseball fans are able to stop, reflect, and appreciate the excellence these two ballplayers strove for and the entertainment they provided.

Well done, gentlemen.

Tim Barto is President of the Chugiak-Eagle River Chinooks baseball team, and Vice President of Alaska Policy Forum. Photo credit: George Oates, Flickr.com

D.C. dark money pours into effort to block an Alaska Constitutional Convention

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR

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September 2, 2022

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D.C. dark money pours into effort to block an Alaska Constitutional Convention

By HAYDEN LUDWIG | CAPITAL RESEARCH GROUP

As the country prepares to head to the polls this November, Alaskans will also be asked if they want to hold a constitutional convention to decide important issues like reapportioning the Permanent Fund dividend, which has become a charged issue in recent years.

As you might expect, where money’s involved D.C. special interests aren’t far behind.

The main group opposing the convention is Defend Our Constitution, which has been described as a “bipartisan” mix of Republican lawmakers, ex-Attorney General Bruce Botelho, and Big Labor.

The group’s website explains that it was formed to stop “outside special interest groups and dark money” from promoting their own agenda over that of Alaskans.

Left unmentioned is its top contributor: the “dark money” group Sixteen Thirty Fund, which dumped a cool $500,000—you read that right—into Defend Our Constitution’s coffers in July, accounting for 61 percent of the latter’s contributions since December 2021.

That name shouldn’t sound familiar… and that’s the point. Sixteen Thirty Fund is part of a $1.7 billion political machine run by Arabella Advisors, a D.C.-based consultancy for liberal mega-donors, many of whom share the same last name: Foundation.

It’s unclear why Arabella is mixed up in the convention fight. But after more than three years of tracking and reporting on this “dark money” giant, I’m certain of one thing: Left-wing donors choose Arabella because they want to fund politics, not philanthropy.

The Arabella empire specializes in funneling secret money to the Left’s most extreme causes, including packing the Supreme Court with “progressive” justices and granting statehood to D.C. One of the network’s creations, States Newsroom, is already spreading partisan news to Juneau, Anchorage, and other cities across Alaska.

Incredibly, this machine went totally unnoticed by the mainstream media until the Capital Research Center exposed it in 2019. Since then, Arabella’s become the poster child of “dark money” and its activist campaigns have been dragged into the light.

Because most of the Arabella network’s donors remain hidden, we don’t know who channeled the $500,000 grant through Sixteen Thirty Fund to Defend Our Constitution, or why.

But we do know that the same sort of professional operatives we’ve exposed in the past are working on overdrive to defeat Alaska’s convention measure.

As of late August, Defend Our Constitution had spent over $278,000 in independent expenditures (largely campaign ads) opposing the measure since January. In comparison, the measure’s main backer, ConventionYes, has spent less than $5,000, according to steering committee member Jim Minnery. It doesn’t expect to spend much more than that.

On Aug. 9 alone, Defend Our Constitution dumped $18,634 into social media ads through Yuit Communications, an Anchorage-based P.R. firm with staffers drawn from the congressional campaign of Alyse Gavin (D) and Gov. Walker’s (I) administration.

Amazingly, no fewer than nine—almost half—of Defend Our Constitution’s board members come from Ship Creek Group, a prominent Democratic full-service campaign consultancy. The company’s website boasts voter registration and campaign services for a host of Democratic or left-leaning politicians, including congresswoman-elect Mary Peltola (D), former Anchorage Assemblyman John Weddleton, and state house candidate Genevieve Mina (D), whose resumé boasts “engaging historically low-voter turnout neighborhoods” in the 2018 election (translation: likely Democratic voters).

Ship Creek Group was founded in 2015 by political operative John-Henry Heckendorn—also present on Defend Our Constitution’s board—an ex-Walker political aide who managed the governor’s failed 2018 reelection campaign.

Defeat aside, Washington elites were entranced by Heckendorn, whom liberal Politico gushed over as “reviving progressivism” in Alaska in an article titled “How to Turn a Red State Purple (Democrats Not Required).”

Here’s the bottom line: There’s more to this ballot question than meets the eye.

Deciding on a constitutional convention isn’t a simple black-and-white issue. Alaskans should weigh the merits for themselves—and that starts with having all the facts.

Hayden Ludwig is a senior investigative researcher for the Capital Research Center.

MAGA derangement syndrome: Biden condemns ‘Make America Great Again,’ says Trump Republicans are threat

Suzanne Downing

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September 1, 2022

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MAGA derangement syndrome: Biden condemns ‘Make America Great Again,’ says Trump Republicans are threat

In a widely panned speech on Thursday night in Philadelphia, President Joe Biden attacked Republicans and other supporters of former President Donald Trump.

The speech, given in Independence Hall, is being widely seen as a condemnation of Republicans in the same way that Hillary Clinton called Republicans “deplorables” in 2016, only this time Biden painted Republicans who support Trump with the “extremist” label and said they are a threat to democracy.

“Too much of what’s happening in our country today is not normal,” Biden said. “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.”

Biden said, “Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology. But there is no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven, and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.”

The White House insisted the speech was not political, but Biden implored his listeners to “vote, vote, vote.” He brought up Trump many times, and spoke to the differences between his vision of America and what he perceived to be Trump’s vision. On the White House Facebook page, numerous messages condemning MAGA Republicans, including lawmakers, were posted throughout the day by the Biden social media staff. Some found his message to be menacing. Behind him stood two U.S. Marines, in uniform.

The bulk of his speech, after the introduction, focused on “MAGA Republicans,” the danger of Trump, and how scary these Americans are who have influenced the Republican Party. Watch the speech at this White House Facebook link.

The transcript of the majority of the speech not summarized above:

These are hard things, but I’m an American president, not a president of red America or blue America, but of all America. And I believe it’s my duty, my duty to level with you, to tell the truth no matter how difficult, no matter how painful.

And here, in my view, is what is true: MAGA Republicans do not respect the Constitution. They do not believe in the rule of law. They do not recognize the will of the people. They refuse to accept the results of a free election, and they’re working right now as I speak in state after state to give power to decide elections in America to partisans and cronies, empowering election deniers to undermine democracy itself.

MAGA forces are determined to take this country backwards, backwards to an America where there is no right to choose, no right to privacy, no right to contraception, no right to marry who you love. They promote authoritarian leaders, and they fanned the flames of political violence that are a threat to our personal rights, to the pursuit of justice, to the rule of law, to the very soul of this country.

They look at the mob that stormed the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, brutally attacking law enforcement, not as insurrectionists who placed a dagger at the throat of our democracy, but they look at them as patriots. And they see their MAGA failure to stop a peaceful transfer of power after the 2020 election as preparation for the 2022 and 2024 elections.

They tried everything last time to nullify the votes of 81 million people. This time, they’re determined to succeed in thwarting the will of the people. That’s why respected conservatives like Federal Circuit Court Judge Michael Luttig has called Trump and the extreme MAGA Republicans “a clear and present danger” to our democracy.

But while the threat to American democracy is real, I want to say as clearly as we can, we are not powerless in the face of these threats. We are not bystanders in this ongoing attack on democracy. There are far more Americans, far more Americans from every background and belief, who reject the extreme MAGA ideology than those that accept it. And folks, it’s within our power, it’s in our hands, yours and mine, to stop the assault on American democracy.

I believe America is at an inflection point, one of those moments that determine the shape of everything that’s to come after. And now, America must choose to move forward or to move backwards, to build a future or obsess about the past, to be a nation of hope and unity and optimism or a nation of fear, division and of darkness.

MAGA Republicans have made their choice. They embrace anger. They thrive on chaos. They live, not in the light of truth but in the shadow of lies. But together, together, we can choose a different path. We can choose a better path forward to the future, a future of possibility, a future to build a dream and hope, and we’re on that path moving ahead.

I know this nation. I know you, the American people. I know your courage, I know your hearts, and I know our history. This is a nation that honors our Constitution. We do not reject it. This is a nation that believes in the rule of law. We do not repudiate it. This is a nation that respects free and fair elections. We honor the will of the people. We do not deny it. And this is a nation that rejects violence as a political tool. We do not encourage violence. We are still an America that believes in honesty and decency and respect for others. Patriotism, liberty, justice for all, hope, possibilities — we are still at our core a democracy.

And yet, history tells us that blind loyalty to a single leader and a willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy.

For a long time, we’ve told ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed, but it’s not. We have to defend it, protect it, stand up for it, each and every one of us. That’s why tonight, I’m asking our nation to come together, unite behind the single purpose of defending our democracy regardless of your ideology.

We’re all called by duty and conscience to confront extremists who put their own pursuit of power above all else. Democrats, independents, mainstream Republicans, we must be stronger, more determined and more committed to saving American democracy. And MAGA Republicans are destroying American democracy.

We, the people, will not let anyone or anything tear us apart. Today, there are dangers around us we cannot allow to prevail. We hear — you’ve heard it, more and more talk about violence as an acceptable political tool in this country. It’s not. It can never be an acceptable tool. So, I want to say this plain and simple: There is no place for political violence in America, period, none, ever.

You saw law enforcement brutally attacked on January the 6th. We’ve seen election officials, poll workers, many of them volunteers of both parties, subject to intimidation and death threats. And, can you believe it, F.B.I. agents just doing their job as directed, facing threats to their own lives from their own fellow citizens.

On top of that, there are public figures today, yesterday and the day before predicting and all but calling for mass violence and rioting in the streets. This is inflammatory. It’s dangerous. It’s against the rule of law. And we, the people, must say this is not who we are.

Ladies and gentlemen, we can’t be pro-insurrectionist and pro-American. They’re incompatible. We can’t allow violence to be normalized in this country. It’s wrong. We each have to reject political violence with all the moral clarity and conviction this nation can muster now.We can’t let the integrity of our elections be undermined, for that is a path to chaos. Look, I know politics can be fierce and mean and nasty in America. I get it. I believe in the give and take of politics, in disagreement and debate and dissent. We’re a big complicated country, but democracy endures only if we, the people, respect the guardrails of the Republic. Only if, we the people accept the results of free and fair elections. Only if, we the people see politics, not as total war, but mediation of our differences. Democracy cannot survive on one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: Either they win or they were cheated. And that’s where the MAGA Republicans are today.They don’t understand what every patriotic American knows. You can’t love your country only when you win. It’s fundamental.

American democracy only works only if we choose to respect the rule of law and the institutions that were set up in this chamber behind me. Only if we respect our legitimate political differences.

I will not stand by and watch — I will not — the will of the American people be overturned by wild conspiracy theories and baseless evidence-free claims of fraud. I will not stand by and watch elections in this country stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost. I will not stand by and watch the most fundamental freedom in this country, the freedom to vote and have your vote counted, and be taken from you and the American people.

Look, as your president, I will defend our democracy with every fiber of my being, and I’m asking every American to join me.

Throughout our history, America has often made the greatest progress coming out of some of our darkest moments like you’re hearing in that bullhorn. I believe we can and must do that again, and we are.

MAGA Republicans look at America and see carnage and darkness and despair. They spread fear and lies. Lies told for profit and power.But I see a different America — an America with an unlimited future, an America that’s about to take off. I hope you see it as well. Just look around. I believe we could lift America from the depths of Covid, so we passed the largest economic recovery package since Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and today America’s economy is faster, stronger than any other advanced nation in the world. We have more to go. I believe we can build a better America, so we passed the biggest infrastructure investment since President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and we’ve now embarked on a decade of rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges, highways, ports, water systems, high-speed internet, railroads.I believe we can make America safer, so we passed the most significant gun safety law since President Clinton.

I believe we could go from being the highest cost of prescriptions to the world to making prescription drugs and health care more affordable, so we passed the most significant health care reform since President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act.

And I believed we could create a clean energy future and save the planet, so we passed the most important climate initiative ever, ever, ever.

The cynics and the critics tell us nothing can get done, but they’re wrong.

There is not a single thing America cannot do, not a single thing beyond our capacity if we do it together. It’s never easy. But we’re proving that America, no matter how long the road, progress does come.

Look, I know the last year, few years have been tough, but today Covid no longer controls our lives. More Americans are working than ever. Businesses are growing, our schools are open, millions of Americans have been lifted out of poverty. Millions of veterans once exposed to toxic burn pits will now get what they deserve for their families in compensation. American manufacturing has come alive across the heartland, and the future will be made in America, no matter what the white supremacists and the extremists say.

I made a bet on you, the American people, and that bet is paying off, proving that from darkness, the darkness of Charlottesville, of Covid, of gun violence, of insurrection, we can see the light. Light is now visible. Light that will guide us forward. Not only in words but in actions. Actions for you, for your children, for your grandchildren, for America.Even in this moment with all the challenges we face, I give you my word as a Biden, I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future. Not because of me, but because of who you are.We’re going to end cancer as we know it, mark my words. We’re going to create millions of new jobs and a clean energy economy. We’re going to think big. We’re going to make the 21st century another American century because the world needs us to. That’s where we need to focus our energy. Not in the past, not on divisive culture wars, not on the politics of grievance, but on a future we can build together.

The MAGA Republicans believe that for them to succeed, everyone else has to fail. They believe America, not like what I believe about America. I believe America is big enough for all of us to succeed, and that is the nation we’re building, a nation where no one is left behind.

I ran for president because I believed we were in a battle of the soul of this nation. I still believe that to be true. I believe the soul is the breadth, the life and the essence of who we are. The soul is what makes us, us.

The soul of America is defined by the sacred proposition that all are created equal in the image of God, that all are entitled to be treated with decency, dignity and respect, that all deserve justice and a shot at lives of prosperity and consequence. And that democracy, democracy must be defended, for democracy makes all these things possible.

Folks, and it’s up to us. Democracy begins and will be preserved, and we the people’s habits of the heart — in our character, optimism that is tested, yet endures, courage that digs deep when we need it. Empathy that fuels democracy. The willingness to see each other not as enemies but as fellow Americans.

Look, our democracy isn’t perfect. It always has been. Notwithstanding those folks you hear on the other side there. They’re entitled to be outrageous. This is a democracy. But history and common sense — good manners is nothing they have ever suffered from — but history and common sense tell us that opportunity, liberty and justice for all are most likely to come to pass in a democracy. We have never fully realized the aspirations of our founding, but every generation has opened those doors a little bit wider to include more people who have been excluded before.My fellow Americans, America is an idea; the most powerful idea in the history of the world, and it beats in the hearts of the people of this country. It beats in all our hearts. It unites America. It is the American creed.The idea that America guarantees that everyone be treated with dignity. It gives hate no safe harbor. It installs in everyone the belief that no matter where you start in life, there’s nothing you can’t achieve. That’s who we are. That’s what we stand for. That’s what we believe.

And that’s precisely what we’re doing — opening doors, creating possibilities, focusing on the future — and we’re only just beginning.

Our task is to make our nation free and fair, just and strong, noble and whole, and this work is the work of democracy, the work of this generation. It is the work of our time for all time. We can’t afford to leave anyone on the sidelines. We need everyone to do their part, so speak up, speak out, get engaged, vote, vote, vote!

And if we do our duty, if we do our duty, in 2022 and beyond, then ages still to come will say we, all of us here, we kept the faith. We preserved democracy. We heeded our words. We heeded not our worst instincts but our better angels. We proved that for all its imperfections, America is still the beacon to the world, an ideal to be realized, a promise to be kept. There’s nothing more important. Nothing more sacred. Nothing more American. That’s our soul. That’s who we truly are. And that’s who we must always be.

I have no doubt, none, that this is who we will be and that we’ll come together as a nation that will secure our democracy. That for the next 200 years we’ll have what we had the past 200 years, the greatest nation on the face of the earth. We just need to remember who we are. We are the United States of America, the United States of America. And may God protect our nation, and may God protect all those who stand watch over our democracy.

God bless you all. Democracy. Thank you.

Sixty percent of Alaskans voted Republican in August, yet a Democrat was elected to Congress; national Republicans condemn ranked choice as a scam, unfair system

Suzanne Downing

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September 1, 2022

171

Sixty percent of Alaskans voted Republican in August, yet a Democrat was elected to Congress; national Republicans condemn ranked choice as a scam, unfair system

Although 60% of voters chose a Republican — Nick Begich or Sarah Palin — during the Aug. 16 special general election for the vacant congressional seat, Alaska has elected the 40% candidate — Mary Peltola, a Democrat, who will fill out the remainder of the term vacated by the late Congressman Don Young.

The Alaska Republican Party has been silent on the result, but the party has been largely paralyzed by the ranked choice voting system now being used by Alaska.

Nationally some Republican leaders are speaking out about the system of jungle primaries and ranked choice general election voting systems that robbed either Republican from being able to advance to represent Alaska in Congress. The reliably red seat just went to a Nancy Pelosi-Joe Biden Democrat. Alaska’s congressional seat was won by a congresswoman-elect who has a D rating from the NRA.

“The race in The Last Frontier was the first federal test of the state’s unusual voting system that is gaining influence across the country,” writes Emily Brooks in The Hill. The story is linked here.

“Ranked-choice voting is a scam to rig elections,” Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas tweeted after Alaska’s results came in Wednesday afternoon. “60% of Alaska voters voted for a Republican, but thanks to a convoluted process and ballot exhaustion—which disenfranchises voters—a Democrat ‘won.’”

Not all Republicans agreed with Cotton. Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, who picked Palin as his vice presidential running mate, said, “Political hacks will come up with absolutely any excuse for a loss other than just admitting their candidate was bad.” Meghan McCain has been a stinging critic of Palin, who she said brought too much drama to the McCain-Palin ticket.

But Republican National Committee national press secretary Emma Vaughn said in a statement to The Hill that the Alaska special election results “prove what we’ve known all along — ranked-choice voting disenfranchises voters. Our Republican nominees earned nearly 60% of Alaskans’ votes on the ballot, and now every single one of those voters lost their voice to choose their representative in Congress. Alaskans deserve an equal and fair process, two things this special election were not.”

Now, an RNC national committeeman from Arizona has told The Hill that he plans to lead a resolution for the RNC to formally oppose ranked choice voting at the party’s next winter meeting at the start of 2023.

Tyler Bowyer, national committeeman for Arizona, said he will offer the resolution. “It eliminates any possibility that someone that’s more conservative — and really, on the Democratic side, more progressive — can ever make it through that system,” Bowyer said to the newspaper.

“In the Alaska system, voters pick one candidate in a nonpartisan jungle primary. Then the top four candidates head to the general election, where voters rank their choices. If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of the vote, there is an automatic runoff where ballots for the candidate with the least votes are reallocated to the next-choice pick, if the voter made one,” The Hill described in its story about the Alaska experiment.

Robert Dillon, a Murkowski ally, told The Hill: “The reason the party doesn’t like it is because it takes the decision about who the candidates are away from the party and gives it back to voters. The parties naturally, you know, find that threatening, but voters don’t.” Alaskans for Better Elections is the group that put ranked choice voting on the ballot, pushed it through, and is now defending it. The newspaper did not disclose Dillon’s paid association with Alaskans for Better Elections.

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Sixty percent of Alaskans voted Republican in August, yet a Democrat was elected to Congress; national Republicans condemn ranked choice as a scam, unfair system

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