Dr. Anne Zink, the state’s chief medical officer, said the Omicron variant is in Alaska, and cases of Covid-19 are on the rise. According to the state variant dashboard, Delta variant remains the dominant strain in Alaska, although the data lags by several weeks.
For Jan. 5-6, 3,640 new cases of Covid were diagnosed in Alaska, there was one new death reported and 70 total hospitalizations.
“Thankfully, we do expect in general to see more mild disease with Omicron, both because of the nature of the virus as well as many Alaskans either being vaccinated or previously having had COVID,” she wrote on Twitter.
She said that hospital capacity remains stable and the state continues to work with hospitals through the surge. Depending on a person’s underlying condition, the new variant may be mild or serious, but with more vastly more cases come at least some increase in hospitalizations.
“Both testing and treatments options have become more limited through this surge and we continue to work with communities to improve access given limited supplies and increased demands. Layered prevention helps protect against severe disease, and if you are ill, talk to your provider about treatment options,” she wrote. She did not say what treatment options are effective or available, and she advised people to get up-to-date on their vaccinations to protect against serious disease.
One aspect of Omicron that is being discussed in research circles is that people with previous immunity from a Covid infection or from a vaccine appear more vulnerable to Omicron than to the Delta variant, which appears to be on the wane.
As for treatments, monoclonal antibodies are used in some of the major population centers in Alaska to treat those with the Delta variant. The antibodies act as substitute antibodies for people whose immune systems might not produce enough natural fighters. Some of the more known monoclonal antibody brands, however, are not as effective in reducing the impact of the Omicron variant.
Sotrovimab, administered as a single dose by IV infusion, is said to more successful in treating Omicron. It is administered as a single dose by IV infusion. “This treatment should be given within 10 days of symptom onset,” according to the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services website. But it’s in short supply everywhere, including Alaska.
Paxlovid, the new Covid pill from Pfizer, is being distributed to the states by the federal government, but in extremely limited amounts. In December, Alaska was given just 120 doses of the 65,000 that were made available for shipment.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for Paxlovid (also called nirmatrelvir tablets and ritonavir tablets) for the treatment of mild-to-moderate Covid in adults and children 12 and older who are at high risk for progression to severe Covid-19.
“An initial 65,000 courses of Paxlovid will be made available for shipment to states and territories and will begin arriving at dispensing sites by the end of December,” theHHS website says.
Other treatments for Omicron’s typically milder symptoms may be over-the-counter medications that many people take to reduce symptoms from cold or flu.
To check variant data for Alaska, check the Alaska Coronavirus Variants Dashboard atakvariants.github.io.
Filing for Anchorage elected office starts at 8 am on Jan. 14 and will end at 5 pm, Jan. 28.
Seats to be decided on by voters during the April 5 election include Assembly Seat A – Eagle River/Chugiak; Assembly Seat D – West Anchorage; Assembly Seat F – Midtown; Assembly Seat H – East Anchorage; Assembly Seat J – South Anchorage; School Board Seat A; School Board Seat B; and various Service Area Board of Supervisor seats. The entire list of offices that will be on the ballot is posted at muni.org/elections/candidates.
Candidate filing forms are available atmuni.org/elections. Forms are also available at the Anchorage Election Center, 619 E. Ship Creek Avenue, Door D, and at the Municipal Clerk’s Office at City Hall, 632 West 6th Ave., Suite 250, where the forms will be found in the hallway.
During the filing period, candidates may file at the Election Center, or may make an appointment to file at the Clerk’s Office by calling 907-243-VOTE (8683). Candidates may also return their filing paperwork by email ([email protected]) or fax (907-343-4313). Note that Anchorage Municipal offices are closed Monday, Jan. 17, for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
The Clerk’s Office advises that names will be drawn to determine the order that candidates will be listed on the ballot. On Thursday, January 13, 2022, at 1:00 p.m., the public is invited to witness the random drawing of letters of the alphabet by the Municipal Clerk’s Office of Elections. The drawing will take place in the MOA Election Center, 619 E. Ship Creek Avenue, Door D, Anchorage, AK 99501.
The April 5, 2022 Regular Municipal Election is a mail-in only voting system and registered voters will be mailed a ballot packet at least 21 days before the end of the election.
“Voters will have the opportunity to study the ballot with trusted resources, mark their choices, read and sign the voter declaration, and return their ballot by placing it in one of 18 secure drop boxes, bringing it to an Anchorage Vote Center, or sending it through the US Mail with first-class postage,” the Clerk’s Office advised.
The Biden Administration at the Supreme Court on Friday defended the president’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate on employees of large businesses.
The order that goes into effect Monday pertains to 80 million or more American workers, who must submit their vaccination papers to their employers, per regulations from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The hearing on the Biden regulation was made in a nearly empty court chamber, closed to the public. Only court workers, justices, counsel for each side, and reporters were allowed in the building. The request for the emergency stay of the Biden order was broadcast on the internet.
The hearing indicated that the majority of the Supreme Court is leery of the administration’s authority to require millions of Americans to be vaccinated or tested for Covid as a condition of employment. The cases are linked hereand here.
Note: A second case heard today involves the Biden Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ mandate for health care workers on the same topic of vaccination mandates. Those cases are linked here and here and effect 10 million health care workers.
Notes from the first hearing on the OSHA mandate:
Solicitor General the United States Elizabeth Prelogar, on behalf of the Biden Administration, argued that OSHA’s Covid vaccine mandate is “commonplace” and is the most effective way to control the spread of a highly dangerous virus.
Prelogar was confirmed in the Senate in October as the federal government’s top advocate at the Supreme Court. She has argued nine prior Supreme Court cases.
“We are asking for an extraordinary stay, we understand the gravity of the situation,” said NFIB attorney Scott Keller. Keller has argued 11 prior cases before the Supreme Court and 12 cases before the Texas Supreme Court.
Justices Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor assisted Solicitor General Prelogar in arguing for mandates, as if they were co-counsel for the Biden Administration.
Justice Breyer said all current cases could be immediately stopped with mandates.
Breyer cited the explosion in Covid cases and asked the NFIB’s lawyer how it could “conceivably” be in the public interest to block OSHA’s vax-or-test rule right now.
“Are you really asking us to issue a stay?” “If we delay it a day… then 750,000 more people will have Covid.”… “What are the consequences of a stay… won’t it really make a difference?” … “I would find that unbelievable” that the Supreme Court would stop the mandate from going into effect, he said.
Sotomayor, who appeared remotely in the hearing (but not because she is sick with Covid,) did not seem to know the difference between state and federal power. She called OSHA’s authority a “police power” over workers, a statement that has strong fascistic implications.
Sotomayor said Omicron is as deadly as the Delta variant and that there are over 100,000 children in serious condition with Covid, “many on ventilators.” Children are not regulated by OSHA, which prevents them from being in the workforce. Sotomayor seemed to not understand that this case is about workers.
Sotomayor later asked, “Why is a human spewing a virus not like a machine spewing sparks?”
Justice Clarence Thomas asked “is the vaccine the only way to treat Covid?” The answer from the Biden Administration was yes, it is the most effective way.
Thomas reminded the court that OSHA regulates employers not employees. He noted that “…the vaccines could have significant health consequences.”
Justice Samuel Alito asked whether the Biden Administration objected to the court taking a few days to issue an administrative stay, to consider the issue before people start losing their jobs. Solicitor General Prelogar, on behalf of the federal government, skirted the question in her answer. Alito responded: “It’s a simple question. You can say no.”
Justice Neil Gorsuch said Congress has had a year to act on the vaccine mandates, but yet Congress hasn’t acted. So now the fed government is doing an agency workaround. Why, under the Consitution, should the people’s representatives not resolve the vaccine mandate issue?
Chief Justice John Roberts hinted at a pro-vaccine mandate stance: “Workers sitting next to each other for a significant length of time working together in close contact. That presents a different kind of risk,” he said.
But at another time in the hearing, Justice Roberts noted, “Fifty years ago, Congress enacted a general law. I don’t think it had Covid in mind at that time. The fed government has never mandated vaccines on private employers or employees before.”
Sotomayor, who has referred to herself in the past as a “wise Latina,” kept repeating, “This is not a mandate.”
When does the emergency end?” asked Justice Amy Coney Barrett. When does OSHA resort to its regular authority and not in this “quick way” that precludes the public’s ability to weigh in on matters that impact their bodies? she asked. Do we have any reason to believe that Covid will be any less dangerous two years from now?
Biden’s attorney Elizabeth Prelogar, the 2004 Miss Idaho, said this is a true emergency, an unprecedented pandemic that puts the country in grave danger.
Justice Gorsuch said there are other deadly illnesses like flu and asked why OSHA hasn’t mandated a vaccine before.
Prelogar said Covid-19 is a unique pandemic and much more dangerous.
Gorsuch cited polio as a pandemic with grave consequences, but the federal government didn’t require the vaccine of workers.
NFIB Attorney Scott Keller said, “We need a stay now before enforcement starts. Our members have to submit their plans on Monday on how to comply. You need two vaccines to comply.”
There is a shortage of tests, and the price for tests is going up, he noted. Worker will quit right away if no stay is granted before Monday. He argued that when the case if finally heard before the Supreme Court at a later date, NFIB is likely to win.
Keller also said it is unreasonable to assume Congress gave OSHA unprecedented power over American industry and that OSHA has never before been allowed to mandate vaccines. He said there was no clear mandate in the legislation that created OSHA that gave it power over forced medications.
“We need stay now, before enforcement starts. Employers are required to submit plans on Monday. Employees would have to get vaccines right away. That’s why workers will quit right away,” he said.
“Our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends. We would respectfully request a stay before Monday,” Keller said.
Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington announced Thursday that he will advance a bill that makes lying or spreading lies about free and fair elections by elected officials a gross misdemeanor, if those lies have the likelihood to stoke violence. The law would also apply to candidates for elected office.
“It’s yelling ‘fire’ in a crowded theater,” Inslee said to reporters on Thursday.
“January 6 is a reminder not only of the insurrection that happened one year ago, but that there is an ongoing coup attempt by candidates and elected officials to overturn our democracy. They are willing to do this by provoking violence, and today I proposed we do something about that in Washington,” Inslee said in a published statement on his governmental website on Thursday.
“Soon, legislation will be introduced in the state House and Senate that would make it a gross misdemeanor for candidates and elected officials to knowingly lie about elections. The proposed law is narrowly tailored to capture only those false statements that are made for the purpose of undermining the election process or results and is further limited to lies that are likely to incite or cause lawlessness,” Inslee said.
“This legislation attempts to follow the relevant U.S. and state supreme court opinions on this issue. We’re talking about candidates and elected officers knowingly throwing bombs at democracy itself when doing so is likely to result in violence,” Inslee said. “We can outlaw actions that provoke political violence and in doing so also protect our democracy. There is more that can be done by states and Congress to protect our democracy. I am open to any proposal that will protect the will of the voters and the institutions they use to decide who governs them.”
Inslee cited the court case Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969). In that case, it was found that speech that supports law-breaking or violence in general is protected by the First Amendment unless it directly encourages people to take an unlawful action immediately. More about that case at this link.
Inslee is a governor who rules with a heavy hand. In May of 2021, he ordered workplaces in Washington State to not only check employee vaccination documents, but to force employee badges to show their vaccination status, in violation of their health privacy.More about that illegal action at this link.
Washington state has been a hotspot for lawless behavior by Antifa, Black Lives Matter, anarchists, and other leftist groups during the months leading up to the 2020 election. Those activities gained national attention as leftists took over a section of downtown Seattle, vandalized and set fire to buildings, and clashed with police for weeks on end.
But rather than focus on actual lawlessness, Inslee’s new bill is aimed at conservatives who have legitimate concerns about the security of the election process.
Get ready for more crowded flights for the rest of the month, Alaska. With an unprecedented number of employees unable to work because of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, Alaska Airlines has cut back its flight schedule by 10 percent for the rest of January. That generally means every set will be filled on the remaining flights.
“We’re at our best when we are safe, reliable and caring. And right now, we need to build more reliability back into our operation as we deal with the impacts of omicron and during a time when guests generally fly less.” the Alaska Air Group Inc. unit said in a statement.
“As we have entered 2022, the continued impacts of omicron have been disruptive in all our lives and unprecedented employee sick calls have impacted our ability to operate our airline reliably. We are deeply grateful for how our incredible employees have pulled together to take care of our guests and each other, operate safely and make the best of a very difficult situation. To our guests, we apologize for the considerable inconvenience and are working hard to return to the level of service they know and expect from us,” the company said.
“We’ve decided to reduce departures by about 10% through the end of January. This will give us the flexibility and capacity needed to reset while continued flexible travel policies enable guests to adjust their plans accordingly. This will also give us time and space to find our path forward together, with Covid-19 as a continued reality in our business and our world,” the company said. “We will learn from these challenges, improve where we must and deliver on our promise to deliver nonstop care each and every day.”
The company’s Twitter feed was filled this week with complaints from passengers unable to get where they were scheduled to go, and airline customer care employees were responding as best they could to complaints of missed flights, lost luggage, and long waits on the tarmac.
On a brighter note for the company, Alaska Airlines was ranked the 8th safest airline of the major companies in the world this week by AirlineRatings.com, and the safest U.S.-based airline:
After Alaska’s Online Voter Registration System was breached last year, along with 2020’s contentious election, and what is shaping up to be a similar one in 2022, it’s essential that our state election officials evaluate potential changes to ensure our state voting system remains secure.
Toward this end, Gov. Mike Dunleavy and Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer recently announced forthcoming administration-backed legislation entitled the Election Integrity Bill. In draft form now, it includes elements of election reform legislation introduced by both Republican and Democratic legislators.
While common areas of agreement among all legislators exist, this well-intentioned modest effort could become controversial if rational debate devolves into partisan exaggerations and emotional hyperbole.
The reasonable voting changes that were enacted last year in the state of Georgia, for example, were labeled by President Joe Biden as “Jim Crow on steroids.” The controversy was later described by The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board as, “…a stew of falsehood, propaganda and panic.” TheJournal blamed the uproar on partisan distortions, echoed by the media, and “CEOs of major companies who are uninformed at best or cowardly at worst.”
This doesn’t need to happen in Alaska and consensus is possible if we focus on the facts – not partisan message points.
This is especially important as three significant impacts will simultaneously influence our next statewide election: Newly formed election districts under redistricting; a completely new and complicated voting system (Ranked Choice Voting); and the likely continuation of widespread absentee balloting.
In 2012, the Pew Foundation released a reporton the voter registration systems maintained by the states. The report found that approximately 24 million – one in every eight – voter registrations were either inaccurate or no longer valid. More than 1.8 million deceased individuals were listed as voters and 2.75 million individuals were registered to vote in more than one state.
Last month, the Heritage Foundation published an Election Integrity Scorecard, which, for the first time, compared the election laws and regulations of each state. Alaska is ranked in the middle at #25 with state of Georgia ranked #1. This would indicate that, while Alaska’s voting system has served us adequately, there is room for incremental improvement.
Accordingly, Alaska’s Election Integrity Bill is intended to address areas of concern that have arisen in our state. To date, changes being considered are:
Updating and streamlining the state voter database. Census data in Alaska have revealed that an estimated 42,000 names on the current state voter list may not be legal voters. Cumbersome and lengthy procedures to remove invalid names would be modified.
Requiring Permanent Fund Dividend applicants to affirmatively opt-in (to register to vote) instead of automatically being added to voter rolls.
Delineating procedures which allow observers during election recounts.
Defining procedures for “curing” of ballots incorrectly filed or filled out.
Allowing the expansion of mail-in voting in small election districts where poll elections are difficult to administer.
Defining election fraud and fund training of law enforcement to investigate possible crimes. Provide forroutine forensic examinations, chain of custody protocols, and ballot tracking systems.
Enhancing signature verification requirements and acquiring associated equipment.
Postage-paid envelopes for returning absentee ballots.
These changes are designed to make voting more straightforward and less complicated while recognizing the importance of each individual vote.
Given the high stakes of elections today, the incentive to cheat is always present. The June 2021 formal accusation of former Alaska legislator, Rep. Gabrielle LeDoux, for voting irregularities is the most recent example of that.
The Democratic Party’s tiresome practice of describing every proposal to increase election security as “voter suppression” will not serve to ultimately increase voter turnout. Ironically, it may do just the opposite.
In Alaska, very few election crimes are prosecuted as they remain rare. But vulnerabilities in our system that make election fraud easier to commit (and harder to detect) diminish voters’ faith in the integrity of our elections – thereby discouraging voter participation.
President Thomas Jefferson noted that “we do not have a government by the majority. We have a government by the majority who participate.” To increase participation, Americans must have faith and trust in an election system that guarantees their votes matter.
After retiring as the senior vice president in charge of business banking for Key Bank in Alaska, Win Gruening became a regular opinion page columnist for the Juneau Empire. He was born and raised in Juneau and graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1970. He is involved in various local and statewide organizations.
(This story has been corrected from original version on Jan. 6)
KTOO in Juneau is reporting that one out of every 12 ballots cast by Juneauites in its mail-in-only election in October were rejected. They didn’t count.
Some of those mailed ballots arrived too late, while others arrived late, but with no postal cancellation mark that would prove they were mailed on time. Still others had voter signatures that were not accepted by the ballot counters in Anchorage.
In October, Must Read Alaska reportedthat one out of 50 ballots had been rejected in the Juneau local election.
But since then, more ballots have trickled in to the Anchorage Election Office. Juneau contracted with the Anchorage Municipal Clerk to do the counting because Juneau’s Assembly didn’t want in-person voting due to the Covid pandemic. The number of rejected ballots is now over 700 ballots.
Anchorage’s municipal election in March and April had a high number of rejected ballots as well. The problem of rejected ballots didn’t exist when people voted in person, but is a growing concern, with numerous people reporting that they tried to “cure” their ballots but that their signature was rejected twice by the vote counters at the Anchorage Elections Office.
Arguably, the Juneau voting disaster is the worst public relations snafu for any election in Alaska history in terms of voter confidence.
There are 27,684 registered voters in Juneau, according to the City Clerk’s office, and that is in a city of 32,255 people. With 8,517 voting in October, turnout was at about 31 percent. Voters were choosing a mayor (an uncontested race), two Assembly members, three school board members, and deciding whether to extend a 3 percent sales tax. None of the race results would have changed if those 700 ballots had been counted.
The Juneau Assembly has voted to spend $700,000 on a vote-counting facility so that the city can keep doing vote-by-mail. For the past two elections, it has had all of the ballots sent to the Anchorage Municipal Clerk’s Office, which has a vote-counting facility with a checkered history.
Beth McEwen, Juneau City Clerk, explained to voters how the voting would work in this YouTube video:
In October, KINY news reported that Assemblywoman Carole Triem was happy with the new vote-by-mail system, and that she thought the election went well.
Asked on Action Line how she thought the new voting process has worked for Juneau, she said, “I think it’s going well. I’m glad we have made a decision on what we’ll do moving forward. Obviously this year was another kind of interim year where we’re counting on the Anchorage muni to help us out but next year we’ll have it all self contained here in Juneau. We’ll be able to control the process from start to finish.”
Triem told listeners she was convinced to support going to by mail elections on a permanent basis and supporting the funding to do so because of the increased turnout that occurred in last year’s initial by mail balloting.
The Juneau chapter of the League of Women Voters also supported the mail-in-only system and the use of the Anchorage Election Office as a bridge to managing the count locally.
Marjorie Menzi of the League of Women Voters told the Assembly in September that “The league believes that success is identified in a democracy by citizen participation. We consider voting by mail a success in Juneau. Voting by mail is a secure and fraud-free method of voting. … Providing adequate funding for our most fundamental right seems a reasonable expenditure of public dollars,” according to a previous radioreport.
As the Anchorage School District searches for a new superintendent to replace retiring Superintendent Deena Bishop, it is asking for community input, even if that request is buried on its website.
This “superintendent search” is the kind of item that would normally be found on the home page of the district’s website, so all can easily find it. Instead, it takes three computer clicks to find the “superintendent search” page, and another click to find the “community survey.” It’s difficult, even for those who visit the school district website often.
Most Anchorage citizens have probably not heard of the community survey that is being done by the district, but survey construct is similar to a “push poll” structured to get the desired answers.
The survey is divided into categories of respondents. Teachers are listed first, followed by administrators and then all other district support staff. One would think all the ASD employees would be a single category. Why were these employees divided into three categories if the answers are not to be weighted?
Then parents (of students) are listed, followed by students and lastly, “non-parent community member.” Indeed, the majority of Anchorage citizens fall in the last category. Are these groups’ answers also to be weighted with the majority counting the least? It’s impossible to tell from the survey.
The survey itself lists 31 qualities/characteristics that a superintendent should possess. The respondent is to choose 10 of those qualities that are of greatest value to the person taking the survey.
One superintendent quality is: “Has a strong moral compass that is rooted in justice and equality.”
Another quality is: “Is able to lead district diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts,” which is a dog whistle for those who understand how Critical Race Theory is being actively pushed in the district.
Most of the remaining qualities are commonly found in a school district leader, such as an emphasis on student achievement/performance would be at the top of anyone’s list. Accountability of staff is not found in the survey.
Those who want to help influence the choice of the next superintendent can complete the survey at: https://www.asdk12.org/Page/18773.
The survey closes on Feb. 2, 2022.
David Boyle is Must Read Alaska’s education writer.
It’s the Super Bowl for the Democrats, the day to score touchdowns and field goals against Republicans and the former President Donald J. Trump. A day to show “Democrats-good, Republicans-bad.”
Jan. 6 is a day the D.C. media, leftist pundits, and Beltway insiders have been looking forward to for months. It’s a year to the day when an unruly mob of Trump supporters surged into the U.S. Capitol, when one of the protesters was killed by Capitol Police, and when numerous people, including law enforcement personnel, were injured. What makes it different from other moments in history is that it was all filmed in real time, and the footage is disturbing.
President Joe Biden, in a fully produced speech in Statuary Hall in Congress, squarely blamed the mob’s actions on former President Trump. He said Trump could not accept that he had lost or that 81 million Americans had voted for Biden, whose approval ratings have since slipped from 51 percent last April to 44 percent in December.
Protesters at the Capitol a year ago were objecting to the certification of the Electoral College vote that awarded the win of the presidential election to Joe Biden. The decisive final vote had Biden winning more votes than any other presidential candidate in history.
It’s a matter that still divides Americans. Many Republicans still believe the election was not held fairly. An NPRpoll in November showed that just 58 percent of Americans think the nation’s elections are fair. The breakdown of that poll was 90 percent of Democrats trust U.S. elections, while 60 percent of independents and just 33 percent of Republicans do.
In today’s speech, Biden called Trump a liar and a sore loser. Vice President Kamala Harris and Biden used the cameo moment to push their legislative agendas. Harris compared the uprising to mass casualty events Pearl Harbour and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, unfazed by the fact that at Pearl Harbor, in 1941, at least 2,390 Americans lost their lives; on Sept. 11, 2001, 2,974 were slaughtered by terrorists, while on Jan. 6, 2021, only one person — protester Ashli Babbitt — was shot and killed by Capitol Police.
Today, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski issued the following statement,reflecting the trauma she experienced that day:
“Today marks one year since the U.S. Capitol was stormed by a mob incited by our former president. Those of us who were there to fulfill our constitutional responsibilities can never erase what we saw and heard, nor will we ever forget the desecration and violence that took place.
“A year later, the sadness and anger of knowing that it was Americans who breached the center of our democracy, to thwart certification of a lawful election, remains with me. There is not a day that goes by that I am not thankful to our Capitol Police officers, who attempted to hold the line on that awful day to protect Congress and those of us who serve as part of it. I mourn for the individuals we lost and for those who continue to stand watch with injuries, both visible and invisible. My heart is also heavy knowing that American institutions and ideals remain tarnished by this terrible event.
“We cannot ignore the riots of January 6th nor what led up to the insurrection at our Capitol. We must understand so that it is never repeated. Our nation – and especially those who would lead it – must also focus on healing our divisions instead of deepening them. That is the only way we will remain a country committed to civil discourse, the right to peaceably assemble, and, so importantly, the peaceful transition of power.”
Kelly Tshibaka, Murkowski’s opponent in the upcoming election, also issued a statement:
“The people who committed crimes and acts of violence are being held responsible for their actions by the judicial system, which is what is appropriate and constitutional. The January 6th Committee is a partisan witch hunt which is essentially the third attempt to impeach President Trump. It is nothing more than a rehashing of the second sham impeachment. If that committee wanted to be useful, it would examine ways to better protect the Capitol, which would actually be within its authority. The Senate has already acquitted President Trump on the question of January 6th, despite Lisa Murkowski’s vote to remove him from office after he was already gone. Democrats are trying to keep the issue alive in their desperation to hold onto power in Congress, and they have Murkowski as an ally.“
U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan was measured in the statement released by his office today:
My statement from January 6, 2021 remains relevant today. The violence that transpired that day in the U.S. Capitol building was a disgrace and will go down as one of the sadder and more dispiriting days in our country’s history. Those who perpetrated that violence should be brought to justice. The world witnessed our Capitol under siege during the day, but by the evening, members of Congress fulfilled their constitutional duties, thus demonstrating the resiliency of American Democracy,” Sullivan said.
“It is important to point out that the vast majority of those who came to D.C. that day, including many Alaskans, did not commit violence or break the law. They were doing what we all have the right to do in America—exercising their First Amendment rights and peacefully protesting. This is a critical distinction that has not been fairly portrayed in media reports on that day. Further, when federal law enforcement makes mistakes, as they have in some instances during their investigation into those responsible, they need to acknowledge such mistakes and apologize.
“Finally, I am deeply troubled that some, including Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, are using the events of January 6 as a political springboard to fundamentally alter the very American institutions, like the U.S. Senate, that safeguard our Democracy. I will continue to vigorously fight against such attempts, as I believe most Americans and Alaskans want me to do,” Sullivan concluded.
During the year since Jan. 6, 2021, many Americans have seen their civil liberties trampled, including Alaskans Marilyn and Paul Hueper. The Huepers were in the nation’s capital to hear Trump speak that day, but did not enter the Capitol building. They remained outside, even while others went through the ultimately unguarded doors.
But on April 28, 2021, the door to their Homer, Alaska home was broken through by FBI, Capitol Police, and U.S. Marshalls, who handcuffed them and held them hostage for hours, while searching their home without producing a search warrant until near the end of their search. The lawmen said they were convinced the Huepers were in possession of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s laptop, which was apparently stolen when protesters took over her office. The laptop, if it has been stolen, has not been announced as recovered to this day.
It wasn’t until months later that the FBI arrested the actual subject of their search — a Pennsylvania woman.
A similar event happened to 69-year-old Joseph Bolanos of New York. Bolanos, a pillar in his Upper West Side community association and Red Cross volunteer after the 9/11 attacks, has his home raided and ransacked by the FBI.
“Yes, he attended then-President Donald Trump’s rally in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6, but he never entered the Capitol. He was in a friend’s room at the JW Marriott a 30-minute walk away when the Capitol breach occurred,” the New York Post reported.
“Nonetheless, he was raided in February by the FBI anti-terrorism task force, handcuffed, paraded and detained for three hours while his apartment was ransacked and all his devices confiscated. Four months later, he hasn’t been charged and doesn’t have his devices back, but his neighbors are shunning him, and he’s had two strokes from the stress,” the Post reported. His neighbors all think he is a domestic terrorist.
“It’s destroyed my reputation,” he told the reporter. “I’m not a violent invader … I do not condone the criminality and violence on [Jan. 6] whatsoever.”
The FBI told Bolanos, who is a registered Democrat, that a tipster in the neighborhood told the FBI hotline said he had boasted about being at the Capitol.
Back in Alaska, an Anchorage resident who never went to the Capitol that day, got a call from the FBI because of a tip that he was the kind of person who would have gone.
On Wednesday, the “eve of Jan. 6,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the Department of Justice will be relentless in its pursuit of all people associated with the entry into the Capitol, to hold them accountable.
“The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last,” Garland said Wednesday in his speech at the Justice Department’s Great Hall. “The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. We will follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Garland continued, “We build investigations by laying a foundation. We resolve more straightforward cases first because they provide the evidentiary foundation for more complex cases … “There cannot be different rules for the powerful and the powerless.”
Merrick made no mention of pursuit of the pipe bomber from Jan. 5, 2021, setting bombs at both Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. Nor did he apologize to those who, such as Paul and Marilyn Hueper, who had been wrongly detained and who have been put on TSA extra-scrutiny lists simply because they went to D.C. to hear a speech.
Liberal commentators repeated expected condemnation of what they called a violent insurrection and terrorist attack. Newspapers widely reflect that characterization.
Conservative commentators had varying remarks about the day:
“I wonder if history will view January 6, in retrospect, as America’s Tiananmen Square. Desperate protesters seeking to have their voices heard. Vicious government crackdown and prosecution. No-dissent policy enforced across society via mass censorship and one-party media,” wrote author and filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza in October.
“Today is the first anniversary of January 6, a riot predicated on a falsehood pushed by President Trump — a riot which did not prevent the certification of the 2020 election by Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,” wrote conservative commentator Ben Shapiro.
Tucker Carlson, in an essay on Fox News, said, “It’s about feelings — how the survivors feel, especially the reporters who survived. The feelings of reporters in Washington matter a great deal in America. They certainly matter a lot more than how you feel at the moment. How you feel, as you’ve probably realized by now, is totally irrelevant to anyone. No one cares. But the journalists of Capitol Hill? They do care. And they’re upset. Many still haven’t recovered from what they saw that day. As they lie down to sleep at night, the horrible images replay on a loop on the back their eyelids: The deafening thunder of cannon volleys. The smoke from the remorseless artillery fire, blotting out the sun. The screams of the mortally wounded calling out for their loved ones, echoing like some demonic soundtrack against the walls of the speaker’s lobby. Hell in a very small place,” he said.
“Unless you were there, you cannot possibly understand what it was like. Imagine the Tet Offensive, plus Fallujah, plus the night before Thanksgiving at Whole Foods. On Jan. 6th, you couldn’t tell who the enemy was, unless you looked down and saw they’d bought their shoes at Walmart. Then you knew. But otherwise, it was the fog of war, my friends,” Carlson said, mocking the overreaction of the Left.
“Kasie Hunt was there that day. Hunt is now something called the ‘chief national affairs analyst’ over at CNN. As a veteran of the siege of the Capitol, Hunt took to Twitter today to give hope to her fellow survivors. ‘Tomorrow is going to be a tough one for those of us who were there or had loved ones in the building. Thinking of all of you and finding strength knowing I’m not alone in this….#January6th'” Carlson continued, sarcastically.
“That was just a tweet. But, someday, you’ve got to believe, because this is a hopeful country, Hunt and her fellow survivors of the insurrection massacre of Jan. 6 will come together in some more formal way: Annual reunions, held in the shadow of Washington’s certain-to-be-built Jan. 6 memorial, the one they’ll have to bulldoze the Washington Monument to construct. Hunt and graying grizzled veterans of the Washington Post and Bloomberg News, and Politico, and The Daily Beast and the Atlantic Magazine will raise their White Claws as one, and remember how they cheated death that terrible day,” he said, continuing in the vein of mocking the media.
“Ok, we’ll stop. It’s way too embarrassing. We’re feeling shame even making fun of it. And in fact, as a political matter, the anniversary of Jan. 6th is not a joke. It’s a very serious thing. Pretending that a protest was actually a failed coup is the Democratic Party’s entire strategy to win this year’s midterm elections. At this point, it’s all they’ve got. Governing didn’t work. That’s why today, the attorney general of the United States, one of the most political men in Washington, announced the Department of Justice will continue to harass and arrest people voted for Donald Trump,” Carlson said.
“Be sure to check the FBI website,” Carlson advised, as the FBI continues to post photos — but not of its own agents who were in the crowd that day.
“They’re not only posting photos, they’re taking them off the site, including the most wanted list. Remember Ray Epps? He’s on video several times encouraging crimes, riots, breaches of the Capitol on January 6th. He was on the FBI website. Now he’s gone. Hasn’t been charged with anything, apparently. Why is that? That’s a real question. No one in Congress seems to care, even supposedly conservative Republican senators,” Carlson said.
