Do the citizens of Seward realize this?  Do the local politicians?  Has anyone even discussed this arrangement locally?  Worst of all, do we want to see Alaska, starting with Seward, become a surveillance state? Alaskans have always prided themselves on independence and freedom, and yet here we are on the front lines. Do we want police to have access to personal surveillance systems at the click of a button?

Seward Police Department, activation date October 15th, 2019. Seward PD is the first police department in the State of Alaska to start working with Amazon on citizen surveillance.

Pro civil liberty advocates are raising the red flags on privacy issues as the tech giant Amazon gathers video, audio, and facial recognition data from its devices. This story broke big across the United States earlier this year when it was discovered that Amazon has been marketing the devices and technology to police departments across the nation — turning police into de facto advertising firms for Amazon’s products and services. Will Seward PD do promotions for Amazon Ring, as seen in other departments across the lower 48?

Amazon Ring provided a Neighbors Law Enforcement Map to the Washington Post, showing all activated police partnerships with the company. The map had no entries for Alaska.  Just to make sure, I contacted the Anchorage Police Department (APD) in August and was assured by MJ Thim, the communications director at APD via email that “We have not partnered with Ring.”

After this communication with APD, I discovered a new star over Alaska and it was the Seward Police Department, activation date October 15th, 2019. Seward PD is the first police department in the State of Alaska to start working with Amazon on citizen surveillance.

The Seward Journal, Seward Police Department Facebook page, and Community of Seward Website page say absolutely nothing about this new partnership. This is very surprising to me and a bit disturbing because of the access the Amazon Ring provides for law enforcement and how the police version of the neighborhood apps works.

Control the Narrative

We do not yet know if this working arrangement with Seward Police Department is operational yet.  It may be waiting for the green light from Amazon.  According to the Ring representative letter below Amazon works very hard to make the partnership and promo not appear to be a paired event, even though it really looks like it is. These subsidy programs work well for Amazon as the primary beneficiary of police now advocating for their equipment to the public. The Houston Police last March ran a promotional deal funded by Amazon with free Ring devices. Citizens using Ring had to sign up for the Ring video recording plan paying a small fee of $3/month to Amazon.  This agreement also allows local police to have access to the collected data on request.

Taken from the Houston Police Promo

“Ring has graciously donated several Ring doorbell cameras to the Westside Division and your neighborhood “Briarwood” has been chosen to receive these doorbell cameras for free. There is limit amount of cameras to give out and there some requirements to receive the free Ring doorbell camera. The requirements on getting a free Ring doorbell are, you must have Wi-Fi internet service, sign up for the Ring video recording plan for a Small FEE ($30 a year or $3 a month), agree to allow HPD to access the cameras when a crime occurs when we request it, and must place the doorbell where it has a good sight picture.“

Ring Doorbell Cameras!

Police Officer Q.T. Vu from Houston Police · 29 Mar  link to story

Amazon Ring isn’t going to stop your packages from being stolen, car being broken into, or bike from disappearing. What it will do is allow you, Amazon, and local law enforcement to see a video of it.

There is no statistical data that we can find as yet that shows this partnership makes neighborhoods safer. Amazon Ring also records everyone who visits your house, what is said, and what its camera sees. There is a reason Amazon is a trillion-dollar company.  As we have seen with Google and Facebook, if you don’t know what the product it in the online world, YOU are the product.  Our local police departments are now working with Amazon to sell Ring and the surveillance on your home it gathers.  This is not necessarily a positive activity for personal privacy.  Perhaps we should pump the brakes on this a bit.

It appears that Amazon controls the narrative and pre-writes almost all of the messages shared by the police across social media.  Is this why we have yet to hear from Seward on their new partnership?

For instance, for nearly three weeks in June, the Boca Raton Police Department was engaged in a partnership with Ring that went publicly unreported. The delay in announcing the city’s deal with Ring occurred at the company’s request. Emails show that Ring was interested in keeping the public’s attention focused on a separate subsidy deal it struck with the city designed, according to the city’s press release, to “incentivize the purchase of Ring Video Doorbells and Ring security devices.” (Two hundred residents were slated to receive $100 discounts on Ring doorbell cameras.) Keeping the department’s use of the portal under wraps, a Ring representative said, would help give the subsidy program “full public attention and greatest chance for success.”” Dell Cameron  7/30/19 5:34PM

Ring Representatives Email to Boca Raton Police Department

Safety vs Freedom

“I would say to anybody who thinks this is another case of Big Brother watching or us trying to invade privacy, go to step one: it took the consumer to invest in the product,” he said. “They chose to pay for a service that enables it to be viewed by either us or Ring. The consumer knows what they’re getting into… If you’re a good upstanding person who is doing things lawfully, nobody has concerns.” said Tony Botti, public information officer for the Fresno Sheriff’s Office, after partnering with Amazon.

Typically, there is a willingness on the part of the community to help with investigations, Botti added. However, he noted there is a workaround if a resident happens to reject a police request. If a community member doesn’t want to supply a Ring video that seems vital to a local law enforcement investigation, they can simply contact Amazon, which will then supply the video on request.  If the customer deletes it, they are only deleting their view of it, as the data remains on the cloud. This is entirely legal because cloud-stored data isn’t protected the same way wiretapping is.

“If we ask within 60 days of the recording and as long as it’s been uploaded to the cloud, then Ring can take it out of the cloud and send it to us legally so that we can use it as part of our investigation,” he said.

Typically, this shouldn’t be necessary, Botti said. According to what police have been told by Amazon, most people “play ball” because they want their community to be a safer place, he said, trading liberty for safety and in the end getting neither.

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.  4^th Amendment

As far as I can tell, residents of Seward didn’t ask to be the tip of the personal data / privacy rights spear or even join that argument.  But today, you appear to be just that, as Amazon picked your community for the initial test for this sort of joint corporate – local government surveillance in Alaska.  Now that you have a new mayor, maybe it would be good time to at least ask Mayor Christy Terry about the new partnership your law enforcement is involved in.

Ultimately, the public needs complete transparency about what this partnership so they can make an informed decision about how much audio, video, and personal data from your front door that you want stored in their corporate servers to be available upon request to local law enforcement.

By Sarah Paulus

Local Alaskan
paulus.designs@gmail.com

Cited Stories:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaymcgregor/2019/08/06/heres-how-amazons-ring-doorbell-police-partnership-affects-you/#3f3422c967a6

One Great Benjamin Franklin Quote About Liberty And Safety. https://wisdomquotes.com/liberty-safety-benjamin-franklin/

Ring Doorbell Cameras! (Houston Police) — Nextdoor. https://nextdoor.com/agency-post/tx/houston/houston-police/ring-doorbell-cameras-106854768/

Is the Amazon Surveillance Machine Secretly Infiltrating …. http://humansarefree.com/2019/08/is-amazon-surveillance-machine-secretly.html

Everything American Cops Say About Amazon’s Ring Is …. https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2019/07/everything-cops-say-about-amazons-ring-is-scripted-or-approved-by-ring/

Amazon’s Ring Video Camera Alarms Privacy Advocates. https://www.govtech.com/security/Amazons-Ring-Video-Camera-Alarms-Privacy-Advocates.html

The post Why has the Seward Police Department activated an Amazon Ring Partnership without Public Disclosure? appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

It has been said that the road to a Very Hot Place is paved with good intentions, though in this case I doubt the good intention.  Tuesday night, 3/05, by a unanimous vote, the Anchorage Assembly made it illegal to own items without serial numbers.  You can read the ordinance here:  http://publicdocs.muni.org/sirepub/cache/0/fuckp245a2ejtheddp533wi2/95739503072019101029645.PDF

The ordinance was the brainchild of downtown Assembly Member Chris Constant, who is gleefully travelling the same path toward destruction of property rights here in Anchorage that Dick Traini did years ago when he pushed an ordinance that allowed the Muni to seize vehicles driven by DUI drivers.

Constant’s rationale for this is to somehow address the problem of stolen bikes, propane tanks, appliances, and other material showing up in pawn shops, in the homeless camps, or discarded across town.  The ordinance assumes that possession of something without a serial number is by definition possession of stolen material, which the ordinance now empowers APD to seize without compensation as evidence of a crime.  Expect APD to quickly start selling these items to raise money as they quickly fill up available storage.  Expect this Mayor and Assembly to support that effort.  https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2019/03/06/its-now-illegal-in-anchorage-to-remove-a-bicycle-serial-number/

The owner must have a bill of sale or proof of ownership of the item.  No more gifts without supportive paperwork allowed here in Anchorage.

Police or their designees are allowed to stamp new serial numbers on items after seizing them, changing the legal ownership under this ordinance without benefit of a bill of sale.  As always, it is Good to be King.

The final little gift from the Assembly is located in the end of the ordinance under 10.20.035 – Pawnbrokers – Prohibited acts.  It states the following:

Property which lacks a serial number of identification in violation of AMC 8.20.050 shall be presumed to have been stolen, embezzled or otherwise illegally obtained for the purpose of this section.

No presumption of innocence in Anchorage any more.  Think about it a while.

Under this leftist Assembly and Mayor, you are assumed guilty until you prove yourself innocent.  It will only be a matter of time before seized goods will be sold by the Muni to start funding its operations, not unlike what Chicago, Ferguson, MO and other bastions of property rights preservation do with vehicles in violation local ordinances.  And we once again are dabbling with law enforcement for fun and profit.

And to think this awful ordinance passed unanimously.  We need a new Assembly.  Keep this in mind when you vote next month.

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 is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post Another Assault on Property Rights by the Anchorage Assembly appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

Uh, no.

And it’s not for the reasons that you would expect:  Big government; big spending; gun grabbing; Medicaid expansion; big taxes, anti-development, pro-green, PFD.  While all of these are slam dunk reasons to vote against Mark Begich for the next Alaska governor, I would point out that it will be his approach to the Bush, the Native separatists out there, and his approach to state sovereignty that worries me the very most.

The last time we elected a democrat as governor, the guy who Begich started out his political career driving for, Tony Knowles gave up a large chunk of state sovereignty by unilaterally and with prejudice pulling out of an appeal of the Katie John case.  This was done as a payoff to Bush separatists who supported him.  True to his word, he ordered his Attorney General, one Bruce Botelho, to pull the State of Alaska appeal.  Botelho, who went on to his fame and fortune staffing the Walker administration with every single democrat in the state, happily complied.  Perhaps he figured that he served Knowles rather than the citizens of the state.  https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/article/alaskas-bid-overturn-latest-ruling-katie-john-case-rejected-supreme-court/2014/03/31/

Well, Begich is traveling the same trail Knowles blazed, happily proposing to turn over state sovereignty over navigable waters on federal lands to the feds in return for a native preference for subsistence.

The vehicle this time around is State of Alaska support for the ongoing John Sturgeon fight with the Department of the Interior.  Sturgeon is on his way back to the Supreme Court of the United States with yet another appeal.

Mark’s promise?  From his website:

As Governor, I will continue these efforts and ensure that my administration understands, values, and protects these rights. That also means ensuring the state does not participate in any activity that could jeopardize subsistence rights like the State’s recent support of the Sturgeon case which could have devastating impacts on our rural communities and subsistence rights.

You can read it and the other promises he makes here:  https://www.markbegich.com/priorities/fish/

The last democrat governor tossed state sovereignty to the feds in return for native votes.  And the wannabee next one wants to do the very same thing.  The first time around is a tragedy.  The second is often a farce.

Sturgeon wouldn’t even be a topic in this discussion had the Ninth Circus not gotten cute in its opinions on Sturgeon.  They borrowed from the Katie John opinion, the one that Knowles withdrew from, the one that the SCOTUS would have slam-dunked overturned had Knowles not turned tail and ran.

Subsistence started out as a deadly serious enterprise, for if you didn’t take your fish or game, you and those that depend on you would have died.  That part of subsistence ended completely the instant the first welfare check hit the Bush.  Nobody in Alaska starves anymore unless they want to.

Today, we are left with the spiritual aspect of subsistence, that of respecting and taking care of the resource, using it in the best way humanly possible, thanking God for helping us fill our larder, and that of being one with the Earth and the resource.  Why is this a spirituality restricted to only Alaska Natives?  If it is truly a positive worldview wouldn’t all of us benefit from it?  Wouldn’t the entire citizenry benefit from proper respect and reverence for the bounty bestowed upon us by God or whatever your description of Him may be?

Yet Knowles and now Begich tell us that the only people who can participate in subsistence are Alaska natives and they are both ready, willing and able to turn over control of the taking of fish and game, control of the very lands and waters of this Great State to the feds who haven’t a bloody clue how we do things, why we do things, and really don’t care either way as long as they are in charge.  Isn’t that a racial preference?  How about government support of a religion?  And I thought those things were double plus ungood.  Silly me.  (/sarc)

Basically, Mark Begich it is telling us that most of all he wants to be Governor of Alaska Subsistence people, especially if they are natives, and the interests and needs of every single other Alaskan can go straight to either a very hot place or a very cold place depending which Circle you choose to occupy.

And by definition, this makes Mark Begich a less honorable Alaskan that they guy he is trying to replace, Bill Walker, something that scares me to death.

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 is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post Mark Begich for Governor? appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

First nasty ad out of the Begich – union hopper following the self-immolation of the Walker – Mallott ticket is a little ditty accusing Republican Mike Dunleavy of failing to support Bree’s Law.  This was the effort of Bree Moore’s parents to create a legislative solution to the vermin that murdered their daughter.

The ad ranks right up (or down) there with the 2014 Begich ad accusing then candidate Dan Sullivan of being responsible for the death of two grandparents and the subsequent rape of their 2-year-old granddaughter by a guy named Jerry Active, released from prison on a plea bargain.  Sullivan was the Alaska Attorney General at the time of the murder.  It was one of the nastiest ads in the entire national 2014 campaign cycle and Begich quickly pulled it.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2014/11/13/the-worst-ad-of-the-2014-campaign/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f30e80a1504c

Doesn’t look like former Walker-supporting Unite Alaska (unions, Sealaska and Walker sycophant Robin Brena) are going to pull this one any time soon.

Now here’s the funny part:  The Moore’s have no part whatsoever in crafting or supporting the ad.  Unite Alaska got the photos they used from local TV video.  The Moore’s have gone so far as to ask the Begich-supporting Unite Alaska to pull the ad out of respect for them and their loss.  Of course, Unite Alaska refused and the ad continues to run.

So let us reprise what really happened along the way to passage of Bree’s Law.

Bree’s Law was named after a 20-year-old woman physically abused by her boyfriend and killed in 2014.  She hid the abuse.  Her parents decided the solution should be public education about dating abuse and domestic violence and pushed for legislation.

By 2015, two Bills were moving through the legislature, both mandating additional coursework in Alaska public schools.  Erin’s Law was a bill mandating sexual assault prevention education.  Bree’s Law mandated public education about dating and domestic violence.  As they generally addressed the same sorts of things, they were combined.

Senator Mike Dunleavy was supportive but concerned about yet another unfunded legislative mandate on the public schools.  As someone with extensive experience inside public education statewide, this reaction not only should be expected, but celebrated, as it is the very definition of responsible legislative concern.  He worked to make sure the new mandate was properly funded.  https://www.adn.com/politics/article/parents-behind-brees-law-blunt-education-alaska-politics/2015/06/10/

The combined legislation called the Alaska Safe Children’s Act was finally passed on the last day of Bill Walker’s numerous special sessions in 2015.  https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/article/governor-signs-alaska-safe-childrens-act-law/2015/07/10/

And for this, the newly renamed Begich-supporting, Sealaska, union and Robin Brena funded Unite Alaska is now claiming that Dunleavy does not care about violence against women.  Really?  Not a lot uniting going on here, is there?

But the legislative argument was all about technique rather than basic policy.  Casting this argument as blatant crass failure of a candidate to care about domestic violence to women is going a bit far, though something we have come to expect from Mark Begich, democrats, Alaska Firsters, and their union supporters to the point where it would be a surprise not to get it that way.  And the notion that yet another hour or two long class shoe-horned into the public education year will solve the problem of domestic abuse is laughable on its face.

Will it work?  Who knows?  My guess is probably not, as it doesn’t approach the underlying cause of societal ugliness, that of removing religion, Christianity, from the public square for over half a century.  And nobody, but nobody is calling for that to be reversed.  But they should.

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 is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post The Unite Alaska Bree’s Law Ad appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

Since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, black voters swung their support almost exclusively to democrat candidates in political campaigns.  That support persisted for a half century despite the ongoing destruction of the black family structure by the democrat backed and constructed welfare state.

Since then, from time to time Republicans made their political case to black voters to at least consider voting for their candidates.  They were usually rejected, sometimes the rejection was harsher than others.  After a half century, that artificial political construct appears to be unraveling, at least for the democrats.

President Trump made a case to black voters in 2016 to vote for him.  Essentially he pointed out that they had been voting for democrats at nearly a lockstep level for over half a century and their life has never improved.  By many measures, their lives have gotten progressively worse.

Trump asked those communities to vote for him.  More importantly, he asked them what they had to lose if they did vote for him.

As a result, the black vote for Trump was the largest percentage for any Republican in two decades.  And as his first term proceeds, it looks like that percentage may be increasing.   Trump only has to take away 5% or so of the lockstep black vote for democrats to utterly destroy the democrat party in elections for years to come.

This is why democrats are doing their level best to import as many new dependent people into the nation as humanly possible (illegals) that they can install on the freebie gravy train and register to vote for them.

We have a similar problem here in Alaska, with the Bush voting lockstep democrat for decades.  Yet the individual lives in the Bush are on a similar downward spiral as the black inner cities, and not for entirely unrelated reasons.  Perhaps it is time for a Republican gubernatorial candidate to ask Bush Alaska for their vote with the follow on question:  What do you have to lose?

When you have societal breakdown that leads to high suicide rates for young men, skyrocketing drug use, awful sexual assault rates, and rampant charges of racism, it is easy to blame everyone but yourself.  And it is all about perspective for when you see yourself as a hammer, the entire world you deal with ends up being a nail.

Democrats have long played the race-baiting blame game.  They are good at it.  It is in their genes.  It is in their blood and part of their DNA.  They have been doing it since the early 19^th Century.  Examples here in Alaska?

• Blame societal breakdown in the Bush on the lack of reservations and Indian Country
• Blame low standards of living on problems with the availability of subsistence
• Blame societal breakdown on the destruction or disrespect of traditional lifestyles
• Blame societal breakdown on white racism
• Blame the awful educational results in the Bush on budget cuts due to Republican legislative racism

There are others, but you get the idea.

This is how you end up with people like current LtGov Byron Mallott and democrat LtGov candidate Debra Call running around the state, channeling their inner David Duke, race baiting for all they are worth, and blaming everybody else but themselves and the communities they deign to represent for what they have led and participated in over the last half century.

Message to my neighbors in Bush Alaska:  You guys have been doing and voting for the same thing for a long, long time.  Why not try something else?  I am tired of it.  I expect you guys are too.  Vote for Begich, Call, Walker and / or Mallott and you end up with same old, same old.  Perhaps it is time to consider something else.  After all, what do you have to lose?

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 is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post What Do You Have to Lose? appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

Our ever-classy (classless?) LtGov Byron Mallott put up a new large format photo (art work) in the LtGov’s office a few weeks ago week.  This “art” was a large, color enhanced photo of the Tongass People’s “shaming totem” raised in front of the Saxman Tribal House ridiculing William Seward’s failure to reciprocate a potlatch given in his name in 1869.  http://mustreadalaska.com/new-art-lieutenant-governors-office-honors-shaming-of-seward/

The current pole is new, and is the third version erected over the last 135 years.  If you do the math, it took the tribe a full 13 years to decide that they were dissed and start carving totems in response, as the visit was 148 years ago.  Perhaps in this case absence did not make the heart grow fonder.

The second pole was erected in the 1930s as part of an FDR-era CCC project.  It lasted until 2014 when it was taken down as rotted and unsafe.  It took a local “craftsman” three years to replace it.

That’s kind of a long time to hold a grudge.  But for our tribal neighbors, channeling their best imitation of generations’ long blood feuding between Hatfields and McCoys 150 years ago, any slight, perceived, or real, is enough to kick around a guy who has been gone from this earth for over a century.

So, the new pole goes up, photos taken, and a good time was had by all, celebrated for all to see by our esteemed LtGov.

The article out of the Ketchikan Daily News of the totem being raised last April quoted one tribal member saying that “He never returned the potlatch, he didn’t understand the honor, and that’s why the pole went up.”  http://www.ketchikandailynews.com/premium/scene-5-13

It is not clear in either article whether or not Seward or anyone in his entourage even knew local traditions associated the potlatch or their responsibilities afterwards.  It is not clear that any member of the tribe relayed the associated protocols and responsibilities for accepting attendance at a potlatch to Seward or his entourage.  Nothing like playing I’ve got a secret with distinguished visitors and then blasting away for nearly a century and a half at someone who was totally clueless about local custom.

For his part, Mallott claimed that the totem is an admonishment to all visitors that all people should be treated with respect, everyone that is except William Seward.  Where I come from, respect is earned.  Trashing someone in effigy for nearly a century and a half is hardly a way to earn respect.

If this is ancient native wisdom, perhaps it is good that we don’t have more of it.  Problem is what the elders are teaching the young, not unlike the Hatfields and McCoys did 150 years ago.

Mallott and his tribal buddies ought to be ashamed of doing this, reveling in it, trashing the memory of someone who isn’t around to respond or return the favor.  Leadership from tribal elders?  Not observed.  Good old fashioned Christian forgiveness?  Not observed either.

Much more fun to mumble pseudo-serious words about respect or the lack thereof.

LtGov Byron Mallott demonstrates once again that he is a small minded, intolerant, vindictive, nasty, unforgiving, little man, none of which is a surprise to this writer.  One bit of old time wisdom from my culture for his consideration is the observation that when you point a finger at someone, there are 3 fingers pointing back at you.

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 is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post The Shaming of William Seward appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

Bill Walker’s Attorney General Alaska announced last week that the State of Alaska would maintain a hands off position relating to the use of banishment as a punishment in Bush Alaska.  Even though there are constitutional and civil rights (not to mention property rights) concerns, the Walker AG is going to stand idly by and allow this very questionable practice to continue.  https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/rural-alaska/2017/10/07/state-wont-interfere-with-tribal-banishments-despite-civil-rights-issues-ag-says/

Nice to see constitutional rights for Alaskans now subject to the race of the Alaskan involved.  So much for the rule of law in Bush Alaska.

Banishment was used earlier this year when a non-native longtime resident of Togiak was detained, jailed, and eventually placed on an airplane out of town twice.  He was accused of bringing alcohol into a dry village.  Those involved in the incidents include but are not limited to the Togiak Village Council, City of Togiak, the local VPSO, State Troopers, and the AG’s office.  None of the Walker employees took action though all knew something was going down.

When the 73-year old returned to Togiak at the suggestion of his lawyer, he was surrounded, detained, and put into a holding cell for six days.  He is diabetic and had trouble getting meds.  At the end of the detention, he was bound with duct tape, put on an airplane and flown back to Dillingham.

He contacted the troopers and was told they would not get involved, that he could contact the tribe, the FBI, or make a civil rights complaint.  Nice respect for the rule of law, that.  http://mustreadalaska.com/banishment-thing-alaska-gone-far/

So what are we to make of all this?  It appears that the race-baiting Walker administration (that means you, Byron) is busily constructing a race-based justice system in Bush Alaska, giving up all state jurisdiction.  Perhaps it is budgetary.  Perhaps not.

Myself, I think it is simple pandering to native separatists.

What is to be done?  The very first thing is to admit we have a problem and that this administration is doing nothing to solve it.  If we are going to turn over law enforcement to mob rule, and that is what tribal / village justice really is, all we have to do is show up with a larger mob?  Sure you social engineering rocket scientists want to go there?

Think what banishment does.  It illegally arrests someone.  It does not afford them the ability to meet the accuser in a court of law.  It removes all property from the banished, as they can neither take it with them nor return to use it.  It shuts down businesses.  When the person is removed from the community, they are essentially kidnapped.  And it does all of this with the Tribal Council, who has no judicial standing, acting as police, investigator, judge, jury and executioner.  Sure we want this sort of mob justice in Alaska?

Keep this up long enough, and the Bush is going to become lawless.  It will not be long before someone shows up with a well-armed larger mob to even the score.  Sure we want to go there?  Walker and his employees are doing their level best to go in that direction.  I think it is a mistake.  You should also.

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 is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post Race Based Constitutional Rights in Alaska appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

Stolen Car

Alaska is in the midst of a law enforcement / crime wave panic, as property crimes, stolen vehicles, home invasions all seem to be spiking here in Anchorage and elsewhere.  The last couple years have been particularly bad.

The governor recalled the legislature to yet another special session in October.  One of the topics for action is a repeal or revision of the comprehensive crime legislation passed a couple years ago, SB 91.  Anchorage state senator Mia Costello is already calling for its repeal.  http://peninsulaclarion.com/news/state/2017-09-28/senator-former-backer-sb91-seeks-its-repeal

SB 91 was passed with a significant majority in both houses of the legislature.  Only two state senators voted against it.  The overall intention was to allocate resources toward more serious crimes and ratchet back penalties for lesser crimes.  If the opposition is correct, this may have been a mistake, as it ignores the very real lessons of Rudy Giuliani as mayor of NYC decades ago, where he and his police department concentrated on lower level crime as a way to keep fledgling Bad Guys from learning their new profession.  Think of small property crime as the gateway drug to bigger and badder criminal acts.

So repeal and modification of SB 91 may indeed be a good thing to do, especially if it reinstates enforcement against lower level criminal acts.  But is it the only cause?  Perhaps not.  There may be another couple things in play.

One of those would be which party is in control of the governorship and the mayor of the largest city in Alaska.  One of the things we see politically is that under democrats we generally see higher spending, worse economic activity, and eventually higher crime rates.  Governor Walker and the democrats in his administration have been doing their level best to chase resource development jobs out of Alaska for nearly four years.  They are quite good at it and have been successful.  If there are no jobs, no hope for the future, a turn to criminal pursuits is much easier.

Obvuiously correlation is not causation, but it is interesting timing that we are seeing this crime wave when democrats are in charge.

What else could cause this crime wave?  What else has changed over the last few years?  How about the import of 0.8 – 1.9 million young, unattached, uneducated men from Central America as part of O’Bama’s DACA / DREAMER program since 2012?

No small number of these people are gang bangers.  Not only have they brought tropical diseases to the public schools, but they also brought criminal gangs like MS13 into lots of places it never existed before.  The DACA / DREAMERs are late teens to middle ‘20s in age, can’t speak the language, and have no marketable skills.  Once in country, they are dispersed and placed curtesy of organizations like Catholic Social Services here in Anchorage.

Kind of makes you wonder how many of these people have been settled in southcentral Alaska over the last several years.  How much of the new criminal activity is being done by these people?  Catholic Social Services probably has a number of people relocated and settled.  They are getting paid by the feds for doing it.

If it were me, I’d ask that question.  And if nobody is asking that question, I’d like to know why, expecting the answer is because Anchorage is now a sanctuary city.  Pretty high price to pay for virtue signaling, isn’t 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 is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post The Great Alaska Crime Wave of 2017 appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

Norm Van Vactor spins a nice tale about Pebble and Gold in a recent column in the Dispatch.  As with many tales, there are convenient sins of omission and a little clarification that warrant additional thought.  https://www.adn.com/opinions/2017/07/20/alaskans-remain-opposed-to-pebble-project/

To begin with, Pebble is primarily a copper project but that’s not as quippy.

The Pebble opposition likes to tout numbers that make it appear there is overwhelming local opposition against Pebble.  Regional organizations like the Bristol Bay Native Corporation oppose Pebble mostly as it competes with their own mining plans farther down the Alaska Peninsula.  If mining is bad, why are they pursuing it?

There was a cute trick used in one EPA comment period where people promoted a trip to Alaska and the entry was signing a post card to the EPA. This generated volume but little substance.

There was a meeting held in Iliamna when the then EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy visited to look at Pebble firsthand. Local resident Janessa Woods spoke of her desire to have a job to get off welfare and provide for her family.  She eloquently spoke to what a job meant for her.  It was a very different room in Iliamna where people employed by Pebble filled the room and the usual voices of opposition were quite subdued.

What has the Bristol Bay Economic Development Corporation has done to promote jobs for the residents of Iliamna and Newhalen displaced by the recent downscaling at Pebble?  So far, I am hearing crickets.  Jobs for those in the fishing industry good.  Jobs for the rest of us, not so much.

I do value the jobs created by this salmon runs.  But those jobs are variable depending on the size of the return and many of them go to Oregon, Washington, and other countries.  The one thing missing from the discussion is how to do mining and fishing on a sustainable basis.  I am one that believes Alaskans who love the land, resources, and fishing, can figure out how to do both.

Van Vactor wants you to think that it will be sunshine and roses in getting Pebble permitted.  That couldn’t be farther from the truth as there are many regulatory hurdles left in permitting, starting with an Environmental Impact Statement.  14 different agencies will be involved including the EPA.

People want you to believe that the EPA has somehow been sidelined.  All that has happened is their preemptive (pre-permit) attack on due process has been stopped.  The majority of Alaska’s statewide business and trade organizations spoke out against this precedent setting action because they knew if EPA could to do this to Pebble there would be no end to next projects getting the same treatment.  We have rules and processes for a reason and when we get off the rails it hurts all of us.

One thing Alaskans do support is a fair process for evaluating projects like Pebble and that is why our elected officials hold a neutral position.  Most, if not all, of Alaska’s business and trade organizations hold this position too.

The 2014 initiative was uncontested by the development community.  It put an additional hurdle in place against Pebble.  It implemented what is called a “legislative veto” – an action that the courts have consistently found unconstitutional.  I expect this hurdle will go to trial at the appropriate time.

As to the visioning exercise in Bristol Bay that highlighted residents desire for excellent schools, safe and healthy families, and local jobs.  This is what all people in Alaska want.  I would encourage the residents of SW to look to the experience of the Northwest Arctic Borough where these are provided by something called the Red Dog Mine.

If fishing or renewable resources can provide this, SW Alaska would be rich beyond its wildest dreams.  Sadly, they don’t, and SW Alaska remains one of the poorest parts of the state even with all the available fish.

Alaska is a great state with tremendous opportunity.  Pebble is one of our assets.  It should be reasonably evaluated.  Remember, that in a time of decreasing oil revenues, the more people at work, earning a paycheck, the smaller the pressure on the State treasury.

The post Pebble Response to Norm van Vactor – Latest ADN Anti-Pebble Screed appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.

There are two things we can count on out of Alice’s fish wrapper these days.  First is our weekly climatista screed warning the Arctic is melting.  Second is the weekly anti-Pebble mine op-ed.

The piece June 22, entitled “People of Bristol Bay will never trade fish for gold” by one Alannah Hurley, Executive Director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay, got me thinking about persuasion, branding, focus group tested catch phrases and the political fight over new jobs here in Alaska.  You can find her article here:  https://www.adn.com/opinions/2017/06/22/people-of-bristol-bay-will-never-trade-fish-for-gold/

The 2016 Presidential election was fought on the battlefield of persuasion, with the Master Persuader Donald Trump beating Hillary Clinton’s hired persuaders.  Normally Republican candidate never fight on this battlefield, which is why democrat branding and epithets always win.  Trump not only fought back, but he annihilated everything the Hillary team threw at him, returning fire with gusto.

Here in Alaska, the political fight over Pebble has been fought on a similar battlefield, with the best persuasion tossed against the project is that it is somehow a trade between fish and gold, as that is a bad thing.

But is it really?

What is a transaction, any transaction?  It is a trade between one thing of value with something else of value.  In the case of a commercial fisherman, it is the trade of salmon caught for payment, in other words, fish for gold.  In the case of a fishing guide, it is the trade of his expertise and knowledge of the fish in the stream for payment, access to fish for gold.  In the case of a local lodge owner, it is the trade of a place to stay close to fishing opportunities for payment, once again access to fish for gold.

So, like all lefties, the anti-Pebble crowd is engaging in projection, accusing Northern Dynasty of wanting to do the very same thing they do every single day – trading fish for gold.  And they’ve been using this argument since 2012.

So far, it has been effective persuasion, especially being done without any response from the Pebble Partnership.  Now that we know they are doing the very same thing that they accuse Pebble of wanting to do, perhaps it is time for another phrase.  I pointed this out in the comments section under the opinion piece and was promptly called a troll.

Fact of the matter is that we here in Alaska always trade fish for gold, it is what we do.  It is who we are.  It is how we keep our families fed and our freezers full.  The anti-Pebble crowd apparently believes that they are the only ones capable of making that trade without harming the resource.  I would tend to disagree.  So would most other Alaskans.  The trick is keeping that trade going over time, maximizing the access to the largest sustainable amount of fish by the largest number of Alaskans over decades to centuries.

Just because you happen to live in “The place that’s always been” (another great piece of persuasion), does not give you the divine right to define who trades what for what, especially if you are contracting with a mining company (Milrock) to do the very same thing.

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 is a small business owner and Information Technology professional.

The post Trading fish for gold appeared first on Alaska Politics and Elections.