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Dan Smith: Deena Bishop sends weak message about possible closure of schools

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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Dan Smith: Deena Bishop sends weak message about possible closure of schools

On Dec. 21, Dr. Leana Wen, CNN Medical Analyst stated, “Don’t wear a cloth mask. Cloth masks are little more than facial decoration. There is no place for them in light of Omicron.”  

Maybe she finally got around to reading the cover of the surgical mask box. Right there on the box, for all to see, it says, “Not intended for medical use or to prevent any disease or illness.”

A few days later, Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted on MSNBC that hospitals are “over counting” Covid-19 cases in children.

“If you look at the children who are hospitalized, many of them are hospitalized with Covid as opposed to because of Covid. If a child goes in the hospital they automatically get tested for Covid and they get counted as a Covid-hospitalized individual when in fact they may go in for a broken leg or appendicitis or something like that.  So it’s over counting the number of children who are hospitalized with Covid as opposed to because of Covid,” Fauci said on Dec. 31.

Do you suppose this applies to hospitalized adults as well? Obviously it does.  

The numbers lie.

In fact, this has been discussed long before Fauci’s less-than-remarkable revelation. If you have been paying attention, you have known this for some time. Can we really rely on any information put forth by government health agencies at this point? The distrust of our government health syndicate may be a permanent condition incapable of being repaired.     

On Jan. 4, Anchorage School Superintendent Deena Bishop wrote: “The latest COVID-19 data from State of Alaska (SOA) shows an uptick for ASD and SOA. As of this time, there are no changes to our mitigation plan. More specifically, the mask requirement remains, along with testing and other mitigation procedures that were in place prior to winter break. A decision about extending the mask requirement past January 15th will be made by January 14th. We continue to closely monitor emerging developments concerning COVID-19. We remain in constant contact with our local, state, and federal partners.” 

Uptick? It appears ASD is basing decisions on case numbers, which are at best tainted with over counting. 

Covid cases are not necessarily hospitalizations. Covid cases are not necessarily deaths. Cases of the new Omicron Covid variant are increasingly symptom free or similar to a cold that we used to treat with Nyquil.  

A quick look at the State of Alaska’s Covid dashboard shows that hospitalizations are flat. Hospitals are not overwhelmed and have plenty of capacity. There is no crisis. Hospitalizations and deaths are the only real upticks we should be looking for.    

    

Superintendent Bishop went on: “The priority is keeping our schools open and safe with in-person learning. Our students belong in the classroom. Nevertheless, things could change depending on how this recent variant continues, and I want to provide some insight into what may occur if our staffing levels fall,” Bishop wrote.

“Similar to the one-week closure following the 2018 earthquake, we may need to take some time off school to build our staffing if employee absences are too great to carry out our mission. We want to keep our staff healthy. This learning time would be made up with quality instructional days throughout the spring semester, consequently adjusting the school calendar for presently scheduled non-instructional days. Virtual learning would only occur as a last resort as our students’ learning and mental health were shown to be negatively impacted last year during this time,” Bishop continued.

I’m glad to hear Superintendent Bishop has her priorities straight when it comes keeping schools open. Schools should never be closed again for this safety charade. The safety-for-liberty trade is a very old and tired justification for revocation of rights and freedoms.  

If staffing is an issue, could we recruit more substitute teachers? I hear that recruitment efforts are in the works. If this is the driving force behind another potential shut down, finding substitutes should be the number one priority. The policy of a forced 5- or 10-day absence for staff due to contraction of a cold virus should receive serious reconsideration.   

Unfortunately, the superintendent’s message is muddied by comparison to the earthquake. The earthquake damaged school buildings and made them uninhabitable due to structural, mechanical, and electrical damage. 

The virus does not make a building unsafe. It is the reaction to the virus and the choice of our school board majority to close facilities down or require teachers and staff to stay home that creates the damage. If we continue to measure the extent of a problem by an insignificant and corrupted data point like case counts, we will never see the end of bad decision making.  Covid-19 is now endemic just like influenza. We never upended our entire education system for the flu season. We never required asymptomatic people to stay home because the flu was in schools or the community. In fact, the only way to end the ASD mask mandates and shut downs may be to stop testing altogether. There is no emergency. Stop testing and it all goes away.

If Bishop desires to further her political career or even be remembered favorably, she must stand up to her employers — the majority of the school board. 

Bishop expressed her view on masks when she relinquished the mandate and favored parental choice for the last half of this year. Bishop now needs to own her prior decision to let our children breathe freely. If schools are closed again and if this miserable mask malarkey continues to persist, she will most likely be viewed as having a weak moral compass. Bishop needs to address the school board majority and educate them about the damage they continue to cause with masks and could potentially cause with another school shut down. Bishop should view this as an opportunity.    

I have no idea what Bishop wants to do in the future. I do know that bending like a willow, with each political wind that blows through, has never been a characteristic of a principled conservative. There is a real opportunity for Bishop to establish some conservative street credentials and stand by her earlier decision in favor of liberty and freedom. Rolling over and succumbing to another school shut down or a continued mask mandate is a step in the wrong direction for her and for Anchorage.          

What can the school board do, fire her? That could be a badge of honor at this point. If the school board majority insists on continued masking, it is really a case of willful ignorance. The information necessary to make a solid decision in favor of our kids is out there, if they choose to take off the blinders.

Dan Smith is a lifelong Alaskan and Anchorage resident who writes for Must Read Alaska.

Daniel Smith: Predictions for 2022

Move over Delta, Omicron, here comes IHU

Suzanne Downing
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Move over Delta, Omicron, here comes IHU

A French scientist at the institute IHU Mediterranee Infection has isolated a new variant of Covid-19, which has been named IHU, or the B.1.640.2 variant.

The variant has been detected in just 12 patients near Marseille, France, but it is said to contain 46 mutations, which may make it more resistant to vaccines. Some of the mutations in the variant are also found in Omicron, indicating it may be another fast-spreading version. Omicron has about 50 genetic mutations.

But so far, little is widely known except that it was identified in November and apparently hasn’t spread much. The World Health Organization said during a Tuesday press briefing that the variant hasn’t seemed like much of a threat and that it had “a lot of chances to pick up.”

The first patient to have been identified with the IHU variant had just returned to France from the African nation of the Republic of Cameroon.

The French scientist who discovered the mutation, Didier Raoult, was previously roundly criticized by the medical establishment for recommending the use of hydroxychloroquine and another anti-malarial drug to treat Covid.

Raoult is most known on the Covid scene since his proposed treatment for Covid-19 was touted as a miracle cure by President Trump. According to a story in the New York Times, Raoult believes that his colleagues fail to see that their ideas are the products of mere intellectual fashions — that they are hypnotized by methodology into believing that they understand what they do not and that they lack the discipline of mind that would permit them to comprehend their error.

“Raoult, who founded and directs the research hospital known as the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection, or IHU, has made a great career assailing orthodoxy, in both word and practice. ‘There’s nothing I like more than blowing up a theory that’s been so nicely established,’ he once said. He has a reputation for bluster but also for a certain creativity. He looks where no one else cares to, with methods no one else is using, and finds things. In just the past 10 years, he has helped identify nearly 500 novel species of human-borne bacteria, about one-fifth of all those named and described. Until recently, he was perhaps best known as the discoverer of the first giant virus, a microbe that, in his opinion, suggests that viruses ought to be considered a fourth and separate domain of living things. The discovery helped win him the Grand Prix Inserm, one of France’s top scientific prizes. It also led him to believe that the tree of life suggested by Darwinian evolution is ‘entirely false,’ he told me, and that Darwin himself ‘wrote nothing but inanities.’ He detests consensus and comity; he believes that science, and life, ought to be a fight,” ,” wrote Scott Sayare in the New York Times last year.

“It is in this spirit that, over the objections of his peers, and no doubt because of them, too, he has promoted a combination of hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, and azithromycin, a common antibiotic, as a remedy for Covid-19,” Sayare wrote. The article about Raoult is at this link.

Update: Mother of abandoned newborn has been located in Fairbanks, now at hospital

Suzanne Downing
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Update: Mother of abandoned newborn has been located in Fairbanks, now at hospital

Alaska State Troopers’ Alaska Bureau of Investigation Fairbanks Major Crimes Unit have identified and located the mother of the infant who had been abandoned at the intersection of Dolphin Way and Chena Point Avenue in Fairbanks on New Year’s Eve in bitter cold temperatures. The mother is a juvenile and has been taken to a Fairbanks hospital for evaluation and medical care.

The investigation into the circumstances surrounding how the the newborn baby boy came to be abandoned in a cardboard box along the side of the road is ongoing, and no criminal charges have been filed yet, the Department of Public Safety said.

“The Alaska State Troopers would like to thank our partners at Interior Alaska center for Non-Violent Living (IAC), Stevie’s Place, and FMH Forensic Nursing for the critical resources they provide, as well as the countless Alaskans that submitted tips in an effort to resolve this case and protect the wellbeing of the baby and mother,” DPS wrote.

On Tuesday, DPS said the child known as Teshawn, so named in a note that was in the cardboard box with him, continues to be in good health and is in the care of the Office of Children’s Services. Troopers were following leads leads based on the statement in the note that said the mother lived on Cormorant Street.

Fairbanks woman finds newborn baby abandoned in cold on New Years Eve

University ‘students’ sue Dunleavy (with support of UA president) over fate of unused public monies in higher ed fund

Suzanne Downing
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University ‘students’ sue Dunleavy (with support of UA president) over fate of unused public monies in higher ed fund

If the special Alaska budget sub-fund called the Power Cost Equalization Fund cannot be “swept” into the Constitutional Budget Reserve, then maybe the Higher Education Investment Fund can’t either.

Some University of Alaska students are testing that theory. They want the HEIF treated like the PCE fund and are asking the courts to decide the question.

It may not actually be students who are forcing the question. In fact, the attorneys handling the lawsuit are former Gov. Bill Walker appointees and Recall Dunleavy attorneys Scott Kendall and Jahna Lindemuth. They are regular litigants against the Dunleavy Administration.

In a message from University Interim President Pat Pitney, also a former Bill Walker functionary, it appears the University of Alaska may be behind the “student” lawsuit:

Gov. Mike Dunleavy asked the Alaska Department of Law to request an expedited ruling for yesterday’s lawsuit filed by the students. The funds at issue are the balance of the fund that was not used or needed to fund student scholarships in the current fiscal year. Those leftover funds were automatically, per the Alaska Constitution, placed in the State’s savings account, the Constitutional Budget Reserve.

Last year, the Supreme Court said the Power Cost Equalization Fund, used to help lower power costs for residents in rural Alaska, could not be swept in such a manner, creating a new legal standard for the Legislature that appears in conflict with the Constitution, but that must stand for now, due to the court order.

The issue in the case is fundamental to how Alaska’s public finances work and how the budget process is structured, the Governor’s Office said.

The lawsuit is at this link.

2022.01.04-ComplaintDownload

“The Alaska Constitution says after the Legislature borrows money from the Constitutional Budget Reserve, which is the main State savings account, this account is automatically paid back from other accounts, like the HEIF, to repay the fund at the end of each fiscal year.  Billions have been borrowed from the CBR.  Under art. IX, sec. 17(d), replenishment of the CBR is mandatory and not subject to control by the Governor, or the Legislature (absent three quarters vote to return the funds to the original accounts),” said Attorney General Treg Taylor.  “If a state account qualifies for the repayment obligation, and the transfer has not been reversed by the Legislature, there is nothing anyone can do to stop the transfer to the CBR. The transfer is compelled by the constitution.”  

Governor Dunleavy said that the Legislature, the University, the Executive Branch, and Alaskans deserve a quick answer from the Court System – the only branch of government that interprets the Alaska Constitution. “I have asked my Attorney General to seek expedited consideration of this issue,” Dunleavy said.

“I have supported scholarship funding every year I have been in office and will continue to do so. Alaska’s students can be assured their scholarships will continue to be funded regardless of this lawsuit,” Dunleavy said.

This story will be updated once Must Read Alaska gets a copy of the actual lawsuit.

Arguable: Is the state’s rural energy subsidy fund special and protected, or part of the general fund?

Jan. 12 fundraiser dedicated to help those harmed by widespread winter storms

Suzanne Downing
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Jan. 12 fundraiser dedicated to help those harmed by widespread winter storms

A who’s-who list of politicos is hosting a fundraiser on Jan. 12 to support the American Red Cross of Alaska and its efforts to aid families and businesses in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and other parts of the state who have suffered damage and harm from the New Year’s storms of 2022.

The fundraiser will be held at Saint Coyote on Dimond Blvd. By using the QR code in the graphic above, you will ensure your donation stays in Alaska. Checks can be made out to “Red Cross of Alaska” and donors are asked to note “disaster relief on their checks.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy, along with several mayors, former mayors, and numerous legislators are co-hosts and sponsors associated with the fundraiser. RSVP to 907-841-1634

Historic: Federal judge puts hold on Navy firing of SEALs who declined Covid vaccine

Suzanne Downing
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Historic: Federal judge puts hold on Navy firing of SEALs who declined Covid vaccine

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas on Monday issued a preliminary injunction against President Joe Biden’s federal Covid-19 vaccine mandate, as it pertains to certain Navy SEALs who were seeking religious exemptions.

“Our nation asks the men and women in our military to serve, suffer, and sacrifice. But we do not ask them to lay aside their citizenry and give up the very rights they have sworn to protect. Every president since the signing of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act has praised the men and women of the military for their bravery and service in protecting the freedoms this country guarantees,” wrote Judge Reed O’Connor, in the opinion that prevents the Navy from discharging men and women declaring religious exemptions from the Covid-19 vaccine mandate put in place through Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III.

“In this case, members of the military seek protection under those very freedoms. Thirty-five Navy Special Warfare servicemembers allege that the military’s mandatory vaccination policy violates their religious freedoms under the First Amendment and Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The Navy provides a religious accommodation process, but by all accounts, it is theater. The Navy has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine in recent memory. It merely rubber stamps each denial. The Navy servicemembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect. The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exemption to the First Amendment… and there is no military exclusion from our Constitution,” said O’Connor.

The court’s order can be read at this link.

By early November, 99.4% of active-duty Navy servicemembers had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19. The plaintiffs in this case represent about .6% of the Navy and are of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant branches of Christianity. They object to the vaccine because of the use of aborted fetal cell lines in the development of the shot, the belief that modifying one’s body is an afront to the Creator; receiving direct, divine instruction not to receive the vaccine; and/or opposition to injecting trace amounts of animal cells into their bodies.

“Plaintiffs’ beliefs about the vaccine are undisputedly sincere, and it is not the role of this Court to determine their truthfulness or accuracy,” the judge wrote.

“The opinion issued in this case is a victory for our Constitution, our active-duty military members, and our institutions. It is our responsibility to protect our servicemen and women from this outrageous mandate that was set in place by their own Commander in Chief. No American, especially our service members, should be required to choose between violating their religious beliefs and serving our country,” said Pam Bondi, counsel at America First Policy Institute, who represent the Navy SEALs in this case.

Nine U.S. senators, including Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), James Lankford (R-Okla.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), along with 38 members of the House of Representatives, filed an amicus brief in U.S. Navy Seals v. Biden.

The 38 House Republicans were led by Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the House Republican Conference chair.

Defense Secretary Austin made Covid vaccines mandatory, allowing for religious exemptions. But non of the thousands of religious exemption request have been granted. Judge O’Connor noted that the exemption is in name only, and does not exist in reality. He said the preliminary injunction is an extraordinary measure, and that the Department of Defense is likely to lose in court.

The ruling is historic in that it allows military members to defy a direct order given by their commander-in-chief.

Sen. Ted Cruz and 46 other lawmakers join vax lawsuit with Navy SEALs v. Joe Biden

Delta Junction man pleads guilty to death threats against Murkowski and Sullivan

Suzanne Downing
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Delta Junction man pleads guilty to death threats against Murkowski and Sullivan

An elderly Delta Junction man pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to two counts of threatening to murder a U.S. official, specifically Alaska’s two U.S. senators. Sentencing will occur at a later date.

Jay Allen Johnson, 65, left a voice mail message on Sept. 2, 2021, at the Washington D.C. office of Sen. Lisa Murkowski containing several threats, including a threat to “burn” the senator’s properties.

“I will find out … where you’re at. I will find out all of your properties. And I will burn everything you hope to have,” he said in the message.

On Sept. 29, Johnson left another voice mail threatening to hire an assassin to kill the senator. Johnson also left threatening voicemail messages for Sen. Dan Sullivan between April 2021 and September 2021, including one in which he threatened to get his “.50 caliber out,” hold a “GoFundMe page for the …shells,” and to come “with a vengeance mother*cker.”

“Resign or get the f— gone, or die,” he said on Murkowski’s office voice mail.

The document says Senator Dan Sullivan got 13 phone calls over a six-month period last year from the same phone number. In several of those message, the caller identified himself as Jay Johnson, and even left his Delta Junction post office box address.

The investigation found the call originated in Delta Junction from a cell number linked to Johnson.

Johnson admitted to leaving 17 threatening voice mails for the two senators over a five-month period and said that the messages were intended to retaliate against the senators for performing their official duties.

As part of the plea agreement, Johnson has agreed to the issuance of a three-year federal protective order following his release from federal prison. The protective order will prohibit Johnson from contacting either U.S. senator, their family or staff members. Johnson faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in federal prison for each charge as well as forfeiture of seven firearms, which the FBI discovered in Johnson’s residence during execution of a search warrant. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.

“Threatening public officials in an attempt to interfere with the performance of their duties is antithetical to our democratic system of governance,” said U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. of the District of Alaska. “To protect the functions of our government institutions and our public officials themselves, the Department of Justice will work to ensure our elected officials can serve without fear of harm.

“The FBI remains steadfast in addressing threats in our communities, including violent threats made against those who are performing their official duties,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Shawn Peters of the FBI Anchorage Field Office. “This case underscores the swift efforts by the FBI, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners as we worked together to address these threats before any potential acts of violence occurred.”

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Capitol Police investigated, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Tansey prosecuted the case.

Ed Rasmuson, philanthropist, has passed

Suzanne Downing
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Ed Rasmuson, philanthropist, has passed

Edward Bernard Rasmuson died on Jan. 4, 2022, at his home in Anchorage, the Rasmuson Foundation announced on Tuesday. At 81, the banker, philanthropist, and civic activist had incurable brain cancer and had been in hospice care during recent weeks.

“One of Alaska’s tallest trees has fallen,” said Rasmuson Foundation President and CEO Diane Kaplan, who was hired by Ed as the Foundation’s first employee in 1995. “Ed’s intense love of Alaska inspired a generation of board members and staff. He was a mentor in all matters Alaska and modeled how effective leaders balance work with a full and satisfying life. With Ed, you always knew where you stood. He gave the Rasmuson staff the encouragement and resources to pursue our passions so long as the aim was to benefit Alaskans.”

Rasmuson was born Aug. 27, 1940, in Houston, Texas, to Elmer E. Rasmuson and Lile Vivian (Bernard) Rasmuson.  Raised in pre-statehood Alaska, he joined the family business, National Bank of Alaska, starting out as teller and eventually becoming chairman of the board.

In July 2000, the family sold the bank to Wells Fargo. When his father died that year, most of the estate was bequeathed to the the family foundation created by his father and grandmother in 1955.

The gift quickly made the Rasmuson Foundation the largest private funder in Alaska, and was key to the development and expansion of many nonprofit organizations, the Anchorage Museum, Pick.Click.Give., the Alaska Community Foundation and community foundation in several communities across the state.

Since 1955, Rasmuson Foundation has provided more than $475 million in charitable donations.

The Rasmuson Foundation also got involved in politics, notably with the creation of Plan for Alaska, which promoted restructuring the Permanent Fund to the current management of the fund under an endowment model, with a “percent of market value” used to help fund government. The foundation also promoted creating new sources of revenue, budget cuts, and revision to the state’s oil and gas tax credit system. The foundation launched the Plan for Alaska to move the needle in public perception to reduce the Permanent Fund dividend and diversify income for the state.

“Data shows that our efforts had an impact. Across the board, there has been an increase in the percentage of Alaskans who support the implementation of a state income and sales tax, a combination of cuts and new revenue, and a permanent reduction of the PFD as a means of balancing the state’s budget. We shared these findings with Governor Walker and Alaska legislators as well, giving them unbiased feedback on the pulse of Alaskans that can help guide them in their decision-making this session,” the foundation wrote in 2017.

Ed’s community service included the University of Alaska Board of Regents, the Anchorage Museum Foundation board, Atwood Foundation board, Rotary Club of Anchorage (three decades of perfect attendance), Elks Club, Pioneers of Alaska, Explorer’s Club, UAF Fisheries Research Center advisory board, United Way of Anchorage, and The Foraker Group.

Rasmuson is survived by his wife Cathy, and daughters Laura Emerson and State Sen. Natasha von Imhof. He was preceded in death by sons David and Bruce.

Annual migration to Legislature begins with Wednesday’s cross-Gulf ferry from Whittier

Suzanne Downing
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Annual migration to Legislature begins with Wednesday’s cross-Gulf ferry from Whittier

Wednesday, Jan. 5, marks the day when the annual migration of legislators and their staff begins to Alaska’s capital. The Kennicott ferry leaves Whittier with cars, pets, possessions for the 90- 120-day session that begins on Jan. 18. Several legislators are planning to be on board the ferry, which is scheduled to leave at 9 am.

The Whittier tunnel is not open until about 7 am, making it likely that most legislative travelers will be at the ferry terminal later than the three hours advance requested by the ferry system. The trip across the Gulf to Juneau takes about 34 hours.

The Kennicott will make just one trip across the Gulf before going into service at the Ketchikan shipyard for overhaul on Jan. 14. Alaska Marine Highway System says the overhaul will take longer than originally scheduled due to the extent of work needed, vendor delays, and supply chain issues. The estimate is for 98 days, with a return to service on April 21.

How other legislators and staff not traveling Wednesday will get their vehicles to Juneau is a question. Some may drive to Haines to pick up the Kennicott on its last trip to that northern Lynn Canal community. From Haines, the ferry goes back to Juneau, then on to the shipyards in Ketchikan.

Built in 1998, the M/V Kennicott is one of the younger vessels in the AMHS system. It has the capacity of up to 499 passengers, up to 78 vehicles and has cabins for overnight sailings. The vessel can be transformed into a command center for emergency teams responding to a marine disaster. AMHS says the Kennicott has had little time in the shipyard over the past two years and has an extensive checklist of maintenance items.

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