Track Palin's bail paid by friend, so he can return to his now gun free house while wearing an ankle monitor. Update!

Courtesy of ADN:  

Palin, 28 and the oldest son of the former Alaska governor, was approved for house arrest with an electronic ankle monitor by a Palmer judge on Wednesday afternoon. 

He had been jailed on $5,000 bail and release to a third-party until then. Magistrate Judge Tara Logsdon signed off on the change. 

Big Lake resident Kaleb Westfall posted Palin's bail Thursday with $5,000 cash, according to a receipt in the court file with Palin's charges. 

If Palin doesn't comply with his conditions, the state gets the money. 

Under Logsdon's order, Palin can live alone at his Wasilla home. But he is under 24-hour supervision by Alaska Pretrial Services with an ankle monitor and a facial recognition device that tests for alcohol. 

The private company is also charged with clearing Palin's home of weapons and pills. 

Company owner Dennis Johnson said late Wednesday morning "that's being conducted as we're speaking." 

Palin can leave the house only for specific reasons: work at a Palmer drilling company; medical visits; and legal or court visits. He can drive himself.

So that is proof that Track's family would have left him to rot in jail rather than pay for his bail themselves.

According to Radar Online Palin taped Track's attack on Todd:

Multiple sources told Radar that the former vice presidential candidate recorded the terrifying incident because she “wanted to be prepared” for any potential legal action.

“They knew he was coming, and were ready,” a family insider told Radar. “They wanted to be prepared for anything.” 

Local police refused to comment on the existence of a video recording of the incident, but a source told Radar that if cops do have the tape, they cannot release it to the public for months. 

They knew he was coming and yet they did not call the cops until he already started beating on Todd?

Good planning.

And yer even with all of this going on apparently Sarah still wants to visit Track and bring both Piper and little Trig to see him as well.

I am not sure that is a wise idea at this point, especially as he starts going through withdrawals due to no access to alcohol or drugs.

That could be quite terrifying for both Trig and Piper.

I also hope that somebody is on suicide watch right now.

Track just lost everything, and the drugs he takes to cope with his demons, that leaves him especially vulnerable to truly bad decisions, and the idea of taking his own life to punish his family is sure to be one of them.

Update: Jordan Loewe gives interview to the Daily Mail:

Loewe, however, told DailyMailTV that Track's parents had not always been in favor of involving authorities. 

'He's told me he was going to kill me and his parents knew that,' she said. 

'They didn't want me to call the police. They know, there's no doubt about it. I think they wish they didn't know but they know. 

'I did stay quiet each time, I never spoke about anything before this. I wanted to respect their privacy and mine and I just didn't think the world needed to know. 

'But I'm at the point that keeping quiet didn't do anything and he's hurt more people, so it's time to speak up.' 

Loewe said that she was angered by the court's decision to allow him to be released on a low bail. 

She said: 'I think he has a lot of issues – not just instability but a lot of mental health issues that have never been addressed. I think there's a bit of PTSD there but that's not the main problem. There's a lot of problems and that maybe just adds to it. It's the same with alcohol, it exacerbates it.' 

Jordan said she was unaware if Track, a veteran who served in the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, in Iraq, was using drugs. 

'When I was with him, he was sober for year at that time and there was still a lot of violence problems,' she said. The issues are there, with or without substance abuse. He doesn't think have a problem so much as anyone wants to help him – you can't help yourself.' 

So Jordan was getting constant death threats from Track and his parents dissuaded her from calling the police? Apparently they were willing to risk her life, rather than force their son to get help.

Yeah, a little counseling is NOT going to turn any of this around.

Track either accepts being in therapy for the long hall, or he is going to kill somebody. 

Period.

Track Palin was arrested for beating his father, Todd Palin! Update!

Track, the beater, is on the far right, and Todd, the beatee is 4th from the right. One person separated from Track's last victim.

Courtesy of ADN: 

Wasilla police came to the Palin home after Sarah Palin called them just after 8:30 p.m. to say her son was "freaking out and was on some type of medication," according to a sworn affidavit filed in court by Wasilla officer Adam LaPointe. 

Track Palin came to the house to confront his father over a truck he wanted to pick up, according to the affidavit. Todd Palin told his son not to come because he'd been drinking and taking pain medication. 

"Track told him he was (going to) come anyway to beat his ass," LaPointe wrote. 

Todd Palin told the officer he got his pistol to "protect his family" and met his son with the gun when he came to the door, according to the affidavit. 

Track Palin broke a window and came through it, and put his father on the ground, the report states. He began hitting him on the head. 

Todd Palin escaped and left the house. He suffered injuries to his face and head, the officer wrote. He was bleeding from several cuts on his head and had liquid coming from his ear. 

Track Palin was arrested on charges of felony first-degree burglary and misdemeanor criminal mischief and fourth-degree assault.

Well I guess we now know what really happened during Todd's supposed "snowmachine accident" last year.

Did you see the part where Todd went to get a gun?

He was literally so afraid of his son that he was preparing to shoot him dead.

THAT is fucked up, even for the Palin family.

By the way leaking liquid from your ear is a pretty good sign of a ruptured eardrum or possible damage to Todd's brain.

I wonder how Sarah feels today about helping her boy avoid jail time, or any real counseling, after he attacked and beat his pregnant fiancee?

How did that work out for you Sarah?

Update: According to Court View the charge for destruction of property, which we now know to mean the Palin family window, has been dismissed.

The bail is set at $5,000.00 but it does not appear that anybody has paid it yet.

And the date for his preliminary hearing is December 27th, at 1:00 PM.

Gee I wonder if a bandaged up Todd will show up as the star witness?

Update 2: Here's more from ADN:

As police arrived, they saw two vehicles leaving the home: Todd Palin was in the first, and officers could see blood running down his face, LaPointe wrote. 

Sarah Palin, in the second, was "visibly upset," he wrote. Officers learned Track Palin was alone in the house, and they could hear yelling coming from inside. 

Police called to Track Palin to come out, and he came out the partly open front door, according to the affidavit. 

"Track stood on the porch," LaPointe wrote. "Communication was attempted which failed due to Track yelling and calling myself and other officers peasants and telling us to lay our guns on the ground before approaching the residence." 

Palin walked back in and the officers saw him moving around, the affidavit states. Then he came out an upstairs window onto the garage roof. 

"He moved around in a strange manner and assumed a prone position just behind the roof line in what appeared to be an attempt to locate officers on the property," LaPointe wrote. 

He went back inside, the officer wrote, but communication was re-established after 10 or 15 minutes of silence and Palin came back outside to talk. 

Police put him handcuffs without incident and read him his Miranda rights in the back of a patrol car, according to LaPoint.

He told the police to lay their guns down?

What kind of entitled POS thinks he can tell the cops, who arrived to place HIM under arrest, what to do?

Well, a Palin POS of course. 

Anchorage broke another record. A really bad one.

Courtesy of the ADN: 

The death of a man whose body was found in Butte is now being investigated as a homicide in Anchorage, Alaska State Troopers said Monday. That would bring the city to a record number of homicides in a calendar year. 

The body of Anchorage man Weston Gladney, 36, was found in the Jim Creek recreation area of Butte, in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, on Dec. 2. 

"Investigation by troopers has determined that the homicide occurred in Anchorage," Alaska State Troopers spokesman Tim DeSpain said. "At this time there is no additional information available for release in regards to this ongoing investigation."

Gladney's killing was the 35th homicide in Anchorage in 2017, police said – a new record. In 2016, there were a total of 34 homicides in the city, which also set a record.

Of course these statistics may seem minor when compared to big cities, but keep in mind that Anchorage has less than 300,000 people living there.

And yet Forbes Magazine once ranked us the tenth most dangerous city.

It should come as some comfort that most of those murdered knew their killers, or were involved in criminal activity.

In other words every day citizens of the city should feel relatively safe. (Or as safe as you can feel when every other asshole is probably carrying a gun.)

Now why is Track Palin's attorney talking about moving his case to a Veterans Court in Anchorage?

Jordan Loewe and Track Palin, Before all the hitting started.

Courtesy of ADN: 

Track Palin, the 27-year-old son of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, may face criminal domestic violence charges in a special court for military veterans. 

Palin, a U.S. Army veteran, was arrested in Wasilla in January after what police described as a drunken altercation with a woman at his family's home on Lake Lucille.

Of course we all know that the woman is in fact Jordan Loewe Track's fiance, and now soon to be baby mama.

The article goes on to describe the events of that night in January which I think all of us here are pretty familiar with, including all of the hitting and kicking, and then lists the charges against Track: 

Track Palin was charged with three misdemeanors: fourth-degree domestic violence assault; interfering with a report of domestic violence; and fourth-degree weapons misconduct.

The article also points out that there was a "no contact" order given by the courts which Jordan tried to have lifted, though it apparently stayed in place.

Of course since Jordan is now pregnant we will assume that Track ignored that guideline as well.

The next question to ask is why does Track's attorney think this is a good idea for Track?

Here are the prerequisites for having the case moved to the Veterans Court according to their website:

The veteran must reside in the Municipality of Anchorage. 

• The veteran must be eligible for VA services, as defined by federal law and con firmed by the Veterans Administration. 

• The veteran must be charged with a criminal offense. A veteran charged with a felony offense will be considered on a case by case basis to ensure public safety. Considerations will include the seriousness and the class of the current offense, and offender’s criminal history. 

• The veteran must voluntarily agree to waive his or her right to a speedy trial while they participate in Anchorage Veterans Court. 

• The veteran must have no other pending cases in district or superior court. All open cases must be heard at Anchorage Veterans Court hearings. 

• The veteran must have a treatment need (related to the criminal conduct charged) that the VA can address through one of its programs in order to participate in the Veterans Court Program.

Well first off Track does NOT reside in Anchorage which should immediately make him ineligible, though according to the ADN article the court has the ability to make exceptions to that rule for special circumstances.

Also according to ADN Track would have to plead guilty, or no contest, to at least one of the charges in order to qualify for this program, but he could receive a lesser sentence if he agrees to a treatment program. (Aha!)

I have also been told that these court proceedings are open to the public so there would be no expectation of a media blackout.

My guess is that the Palins know that Track is screwed if he goes to regular court and that this Veterans Court is his only hope of avoiding some serious time.

This also explains all of those continuances. They were looking for a way out.

As usual.

Mediaite reminds us who else had missing emails besides former IRS official Lois Lerner.

Sarah Palin at Newsmax dinner.

So all of you undoubtedly remember that last week Palin unleashed a nasty little Facebook post comparing the missing IRS e-mails to the 18 minute gap during the Watergate investigation.

Well that reminded the folks at Mediaite of a little something:

Perhaps Palin forgot what it was like to be the subject of a similar investigation exactly three years earlier after her office released her emails to the press. On June 13, 2011, the Anchorage Daily News reported that “Nearly a month of former Gov. Sarah Palin’s emails are missing from the documents released to media organizations last week, a gap that raises questions about what other emails might also be missing from what’s being nationally reported as her record as Alaska governor.” 

According to the documents Palin’s office provided, she sent no official emails from between December 8, 2006 and December 29, 2006, in other words her first full month in office. As the paper put it, “That means zero emails during a period during which, among other things, Palin put out her proposed state budget, appointed an attorney general, killed the contract for a road out of Juneau and vetoed a bill that sought to block state public employee benefits to same-sex couples.” 

The Anchorage Daily News that the gap was due to Palin’s preponderance to use a personal Yahoo email account instead of the official state account, thereby allowing her to hide certain communication from public view. The first email Palin was on record as sending came on January 2, 2007, one month after she took office. 

You know I think a couple of you brought that up last week as well.

And Mediaite is right that once again Palin is demonstrating a staggering amount of hypocrisy, especially when you remember that she created that Yahoo account specifically to keep her e-mails from being subpoenaed in case of an investigation, which kind of makes it seem that she was always planning to engage in some unscrupulous behaviors even at the very beginning of her first term.

I am sure that Richard Nixon would beam with pride at her deceptive activities and attempts to outmaneuver those who were supposed to keep her on the straight and narrow.

(More Newsmax photos here.)

If a Right Wing convention fails in the woods, and nobody notices it, does anybody get teabagged?

Okay so as all of you know I skipped attending this Wasilla nutjob convention this weekend.

Instead I went to see the new X-Men movie, which I HIGHLY recommend, so I feel I made the better choice.

However I figured I would go ahead and do a follow up post on whatever was written up by whatever poor reporter was sent to cover this "event."

So I waited. And I waited. And I waited.

Nothing, nada, zilch.

I checked ADN. Not a word.

I checked Alaska Dispatch. Only the sound of crickets.

Well since its a small event I thought perhaps the Fairbanks Newsminer and Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman might cover it.

Nope, they did not even seem to notice.

Well surely Sarah Palin will post something on her Facebook page about it, after all it is down the street, and it features Teabaggers speaking in the sports center she had built to honor her ex-lover.

Not a peep.

So then I began to wonder, was the damn thing held at all?

So I went to their site. Where I see this:

So apparently they held a straw poll. But how many people were even there to vote in it?

Absolutely NO idea!

So I thought about it, and decided that this is probably very telling.

After all if an uber Right Wing convention, held in the backyard of the person who is arguably most responsible for the formation of the Tea Party, garners ABSOLUTELY no interest from the media, and in fact does not even attract Palin herself, then I think we can assume that for all intents and purposes the Tea Party is over.

Damn, am I glad I didn't waste my time driving all the way out to Wasilla yesterday.

Rats continue jumping from the sinking ship that is the Pebble Mine.

Courtesy of ADN:  

Global mining giant Rio Tinto is pulling out of the Pebble mine project in Alaska, the latest blow to the controversial plan to build an open pit mine in the best wild salmon stronghold in the world. 

Rio Tinto said Monday that it will donate its share in the project to a pair of Alaskan non-profits, the Alaska Community Foundation and the Bristol Bay Native Corp. Education Foundation. 

Rio Tinto's decision comes after the Environmental Protection Agency moved closer in recent weeks to blocking the mine. EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said Pebble would "likely have significant and irreversible negative impacts on the salmon of Bristol Bay." She said her agency would decide on action to protect the salmon under the Clean Water Act, which could lead to a veto of the project. 

The British mining powerhouse Anglo American pulled out of the Pebble project last year. Now Rio Tinto is abandoning the effort as well, saying Monday "the Pebble Project does not fit with Rio Tinto's strategy." 

What? Gouging giant trenches in the pristine Alaska wilderness and possible poisoning an important fishing area does not fit with Rio Tinto's strategy?

Actually I think, that in most cases, it does.

Freeport Mine, a Rio Tinto joint venture.

What I don't think is in their strategy is to have the EPA block their efforts, and for thousands of residents to be actively attempting to protect the surrounding environment.

Ever since Sarah Palin helped to derail the initiative that would have stopped the Pebble Mine in its tracks, Alaskans have been fighting to keep it from going forward.

Today it looks like that has finally come to pass.

Just another left over Palin mess that Alaskans have been working to clean up a whole five years after she quit her job as Governor.

Alaska Ear outs Sarah Palin as a nonresident of Alaska for the second year running.

"Look saying I'm a fake Alaskan, is like saying my glasses and hair are fake. Who'd believe ya?"

So this little tidbit showed up in our weekly political gossip column the Alaska Ear yesterday:  

Earwigs who don't care for Our Sarah are taking heart from the fact she didn't apply for a Permanent Fund dividend this year, presumably because she was out of the state longer than is allowed. They seem to think this means she can't run for the U.S. Senate in Alaska. 

Sorry. Not so. 

Ear checked with Elections Goddess Gail Fenumiai, who said federal rules require only that one be 30 years old and an "inhabitant" of the state. Which is why that wacko from Brooklyn who was in Zaz Hollander's ADN story Friday can probably show up here and run in the primary. 

Just what we need. Are there no shelters for the weird in Brooklyn? 

Anyhow, while serious lobes were thinking politics, Ear was noticing that Todd, Trig and Piper did apply. So apparently, they don't spend as much time Outside as Mom. 

Now of course the article focused on the question of whether Palin could run for the Senate or not, but I know there is no way that she would run for political office again, so that part did not interest me. 

What did interest me was the revelation that Palin had not filed for her PFD this year.

As you know I already documented the fact that she did not do so last year either. So I did a check over at the Alaska Department of Revenue, and sure enough Palin's name was not on there.

Bristol was on there. As were Todd's mom Faye, his sister Diana, Track's daughter Kyla Grace, Piper, Todd, Track, and Trig.

But no Sarah.

The other name that was missing was Willow, who I assume was gone to "hair school" in Arizona for much of the year, but who still should have qualified since attending school out of state does not a disqualify you for the PFD. Here are the guidelines for such an absence:

1. receiving secondary or postsecondary education on a full-time basis; 
2. receiving vocational, professional, or other specific education on a full-time basis for which, as determined by the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, a comparable program is not reasonably available in the state;

So perhaps Willow did not qualify for some other reason, or somebody in her family did not prepare the appropriate paperwork.

However what is not in dispute is that Sarah Palin, for the second year running, is no longer a resident of Alaska.

And that is something we Alaskans need to advertise far and wide.

Sarah Palin is no longer Alaska's problem, she now belongs to the world. (And more specifically Arizona.  Ha, ha, ha Arizona!)

Bill O'Reilly admits that he was wrong about no Republicans being invited to the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington. Quick somebody check and see which sign of the Apocalypse this falls under!

Courtesy of ADN:

Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly has apologized for incorrectly stating that no Republicans were invited to participate in a ceremony this week marking the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for civil rights and Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. 

In fact, Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor were invited but did not attend. Former President George W. Bush sent a statement in commemoration. O'Reilly had made the incorrect claim on Wednesday, the day of the ceremony. 

"The mistake — entirely on me," O'Reilly said on his show Thursday. "I simply assumed that since all the speakers were liberal Democrats, Republicans had been excluded. So here's the tip of the day: Always check out the facts before you make a definitive statement and when you make a mistake, admit it." 

Okay what just happened here?

If Fox News really began to "always check out the facts" before making a "definitive statement," and then admitted when they made a mistake, they would essentially cease to exist as we know them.

Let's face it they would then simply be just another cable news channel. You know one that actually did factual reporting instead of spreading propaganda for the RNC and the Koch brothers.

And if Bill O'Reilly is REALLY going to start admitting mistakes that he has made in the past, then the content of his next hundred or more shows will be nothing BUT that. (Remember this is a guy who once claimed that nobody could explain how the tides go in and out.)

Well I personally look forward to Bill O'Reilly's upcoming Apology-a-palooza, however I somehow doubt that Roger Ailes is going to let that go on for very long. Simply put that is NOT the Fox News business model.

Palin appointee under federal indictment. Methinks somebody's milk just went sour.

Courtesy of ADN:

 A 57-year-old Wasilla woman has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges she defrauded the state of Alaska and lied to the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the operation of the now-defunct Matanuska Creamery. 

The indictment also charges Valley Dairy CEO and investor Karen B. Olson with concealing the alleged criminal conduct of the former dairy manager, Kyle Beus. 

A grand jury in December indicted Beus on charges he misused federal grant money, and he awaits trial. 

The charges against Olson allege she fraudulently obtained a $430,000 state agriculture department loan to keep the Valley Dairy afloat by concealing its finances. The indictment also said she submitted false documents to convince the USDA in 2008 to waive its prohibition on using dairy and ice cream-making equipment at Valley Dairy as collateral on state loans. The equipment was purchased in 2007 using federal grants that didn’t allow the equipment to be sold or encumbered without special authorization from the USDA. 

Alaska Dispatch has more here:  

By the mid-1980s, Mat Maid was faltering, and a state-run corporation took over management. It struggled until Sarah Palin became Alaska's governor. She arrived on the scene shortly before the state Board of Agriculture and Conservation, which had watched the dairy bleed cash for years, voted to deny it further loans. 

With that move threatening to kill the dairy, Palin fired the board and appointed another, which voted to give the dairy more money. That went on until the new board realized, as did the old board, the dairy just couldn't compete in the real world of modern-day Alaska with cheaper milk shipped in from the Lower 48. 

Enter Beus, then a Valley dairy farmer, and Bob Havemeister, another dairy farmer. They formed a joint venture to take over the equipment and operations of Mat Maid in an effort to keep it alive. Beus was the one who eventually ended up with most of the equipment and set up a company called Klondike Creamery and Candy, which briefly marketed ice cream in Alaska. 

It was not long, however, before it was rolled into Valley Dairy -- a joint effort of Beus, Robert Wells and Olson. Olson was the former Alaska state executive director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency, a job she held from 1993 to 2001. 

Olson has insisted in a number of interviews with Alaska Dispatch that the only interest she ever had was trying to keep the dairy business alive in Alaska. After she joined Beus at Valley Dairy, the company began efforts to tap a $5-million pool of USDA money set aside for rural development. 

Beus was indicted last year on charges he took at least $120,000 of that money for his own "personal and discretionary use." Where and when Olson learned of his alleged activities is not explained in the indictment against her, but it says she devised a scheme "to conceal the true nature of the Valley Dairy finances and the fraudulent activity of Beus, and to obtain a loan from the ARLF (Alaska Revolving Loan Fund) to keep the Valley Dairy, of which Olson was an investor and employee, operating." 

As many of you undoubtedly know there was a rather suspicious fire that burned the old Matanuska Maid Creamery to the ground. (I know, right?)

If you are new to this particular Palin scandal there is no better place to catch up then over at Andrew Halcro's now defunct blog.

Now some are suggesting that THIS might finally be the straw that snaps the back of Palin's uncanny ability to avoid incarceration. However I would not count my eggs TOO quickly, because while it seems that Olsen has every reason to reduce her sentence by ratting out her old boss, Palin has somehow slipped through the grasping fingers of the Feds a few times before.

So let's stay tuned and see how this plays itself out.

Mark Begich dares to respond to the Lunatic from Lake Lucille on Twitter. So you know what that means....it's on like Donkey Kong!

The above graphic was on little Miss Nasty's Facebook page along with this quote:

Alaskan Chameleon (an endangered species)...

So essentially Palin is using an argument made in the Anchorage Daily News, a paper that she has a long and adversarial history with, in order to slam Begich for telling the truth about her?

Boy it's a good thing that Piper learned about computer graphics.

I guess Palin used that quote because she could not spell "Neener, neener, neener!"

But wait, THAT'S not all!

Palin also tweeted this

More on Begich's voting record... http://t.co/k8OtsXvKRh
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) July 11, 2013

And to make sure that people could see her tantrum, used Twitter to direct them to the image on  her Facebook page

Alaskan Chameleon (an endangered species)... http://t.co/Eb9IPDgW9w
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) July 11, 2013

One has to wonder if it EVER occurs to her that these infantile attacks simply reinforce the worst opinions that the American people have formed about her?

Mark, I believe the ball is in your court.

Update: Oops I almost missed these! (Also posted on her Facebook page.)

Damn she is in a rage!

When was the last time you heard of Palin going after somebody this hard who was NOT President Obama?

She is such an idiot! All this does is get Mark Begich's name in all the media outlets and give him a boost in name recognition and importance. Hell she even posted his voting record for him!

I am literally cracking up about this.

10 dead after plane crashes in Alaska.

Courtesy of ADN: 

An air taxi crashed at the Soldotna Airport on Sunday morning, killing all 10 people onboard in the worst aviation accident in Alaska in more than a decade. 

The de Havilland DHC-3 Otter airplane crashed at 11:20 a.m. at the Soldotna Airport, according to the Alaska State Troopers and Soldotna Police Department. The plane was operated by Rediske Air, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. 

The National Transportation Safety Board described the flight as an air taxi, but on Sunday evening was still trying to confirm who was onboard and where they were going. 

This news really shook me this morning because my daughter is currently on the road for a television program.

However as I read the details I calmed down as she is driving in a rental car, with no plans as far as I know to fly anyplace, and this accident took place on the other side of Alaska from where she is supposed to be.

I wish I could say this kind of crash is a rarity, but up here it simply is not.

Many of you will undoubtedly remember that it was a plane crash  which ultimately took the life of Senators Stevens, and it has been plane crashes that have taken many Alaskan lives over the years.

My own experiences with flying on smaller planes have been nothing short of terrifying and I have tried to keep my daughter off of them over the years, which is difficult because sometimes her job requires traveling through parts of Alaska not easy to reach by the road system. (She DID in fact fly in a small plane for a job at one point and decided simply to forget to let me know. Not happy about that.)

Anyhow as you can imagine I feel badly for the people involved in this tragedy and my thoughts are with the families.

(Don't hold your breath waiting for a response from the Grizzled One, she is no longer interested in local problems. Especially if she cannot find someway to blame it on President Obama.)

Alaska lawmakers pass bill exempting Alaskans from Federal gun laws.

Courtesy of ADN: 

In a chamber dotted with female legislators wearing new camo scarves, the state House on Monday passed a gun measure that is wildly popular among the GOP-controlled Legislature even though it raises serious constitutional issues. 

House Speaker Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 69, which passed 31-5 on Monday after a lengthy and impassioned debate. 

It declares that guns and ammunition possessed by Alaskans are exempt from federal gun laws. It also subjects federal agents to felony charges if they try to enforce any future federal ban on semi-automatic weapons or ammunition or enforce any new federal requirement for gun registration. 

A legal opinion from a legislative lawyer said the measure likely is unconstitutional. When federal and state laws conflict, the U.S. Constitution declares that federal law is supreme, legislative counsel Kathleen Strasbaugh wrote in a Jan. 30 memorandum. 

Republicans said they are willing to let the courts sort out the issues. They said that they must stand up for Second Amendment gun rights and won't bow down to the federal government on this. A number said they heard from constituents who back the bill. 

You know sometimes living here is like being the only hominid on an island of non-tool using, old world monkeys. Except I would probably expect even the monkeys to realize how stupid a law like this is, and the potential for conflict that it creates.

Number one this is NEVER going to stand up to legal scrutiny, but number two it attempts to pit local law enforcement against Federal agents in some sort of Roman gladiator fight for dominance over gun laws.

Not to mention that it sends a message to every anti-social, barely literate, asshole who came to Alaska to hide in the woods because the voices in their heads told them that the government was beaming messages into their brains from space (And yes we have a lot more of these then you might imagine.) that they don't have to listen to federal laws and that if they happen to come under investigation for a federal crime they can fight back and expect local law enforcement to have their back.

What would happen if the Feds were trying to serve a warrant concerning a weapon that was used in a crime in another state and the accused called the State Troopers to defend him and tell them they have no authority over him in this state?

A scenario very much like that just played out here recently concerning the murder of a teenage barista. And I hate to damage anybody's view of our state but we attract way more than our fair share of serial killers.

When the people who fought so hard to get statehood for Alaska did so, they did so with the understanding that we were then subject to federal laws and guidelines. And they were fine with that because it offered far more positives than negatives in their opinions.

These Republican idiots get into office and immediately seem to forget that the state they represent is one of the united states in the United States of America. They are not politicians in Mexico or Canada, they are politicians in the good old US of A, and it is high time that they acted like it instead of acting like insurgents attempting to overthrow an evil dictator.

You know I think it is well past time for the progressives up here to wrest control of our state from the oil funded conservative morons that are currently in charge. Personally I am tired of this shit.

Power outage update part deux.

Courtesy of  ADN: 

 In Northeast Anchorage, one of the hardest-hit parts of the city, cottonwoods lining a street north of Anchorage Baptist Temple looked like a giant stand of wheat mowed down by a scythe. Municipal crews chopped up birch that once sheltered the parking lot at Cheney Lake. Uprooted trees could be seen along nearly every north-south street from Chester Valley to Mountain View. Utility and city crews worked through neighborhoods, clearing hundreds of downed trees from streets and trails. 

The National Weather Service recorded gusts of 88 mph at McHugh Creek and 63 mph at the Port of Anchorage. Much of the rest of the Anchorage Bowl had gusts topping out in the 60 mph range. Sensors in many of the windiest places, like the upper Hillside, lost power before the apex of the storm. Meteorologists said gusts likely reached 100 mph or more. On its Facebook page, the agency circulated one "unofficial" wind report from a resident, who said he measured gusts at 131 mph in the Glen Alps area. 

"Nobody here can remember a storm this strong, this early in the season," said meteorologist Shaun Baines. 

Neighborhoods were full of scenes of tree cutting and lawn clearing as winds continued to jangle wind chimes. Children, out of school, rode bicycles through the downed branches.

This is essentially MY area of town so you have some idea as to how bad it was here.

My power  was restored  about 6:00 Alaska time, but as of yet do not yet have any internet, cable, or home phone service. All of thee are tied to my bundle through GCI which has suffered a significant setback with this storm.

I am currently typing this at a local Starbucks on my little crappy laptop that I purchased for my trip to Washington D.C..

Right now I am hearing that all of my services will not be up until sometime tonight.

So please bear with me until I am completely back on my feet and I will try to get over here later today to publish your comments and provide an update.

Just FYI Alaska is NOT usually slow to recover from harsh weather conditions, but THIS one was a humdinger!

The ADN has an excellent graphic to illustrate the convictions handed down to the Alaska domestic terrorists yesterday.

Graphic courtesy of ADN.

I was perusing the various news sites that covered the trial and I stumbled across this from KTUU:

Cox became angry as the verdict was read, telling jurors, "The prosecutors withheld evidence from you guys." He looked at his wife Marti Cox and cried as bailiffs led him away, refusing to speak with reporters.

I know it may seem cruel but part of me is glad that Cox burst into tears as he finally understood that he was now headed to federal prison,  and that essentially his life was over. That is EXACTLY what you are supposed to feel when you are convicted of the kinds of criminal activity that Francis and his buddies engaged in.

You know when I was sixteen years old my father, who had worked as a sheriff's deputy in Arizona, told me of the things he had seen while dealing with prisoners in the correctional facilities there.  My dad held nothing back and told me stories that scared the shit right out of me.

I tried to play it off, and puffed up my chest to play the bad-ass.  But my Dad leaned right in and said, "Boy you may think you are the cock of the walk out here, but in that place it is wall to wall bad-asses who have nothing left to lose by cutting your dick off and choking you to death with it. And I have seen that very thing take place. I am sure you will fight, but eventually you will lose. You're a good kid, and it would break my heart to see you end up like that."

My dad was not always the best dad, but that was a very important thing to tell his often pugnacious oldest son. And it was something I never forgot.

All of my life I remembered what he said and I lived my live to avoid that consequence.  I was quick tempered and quite aggressive, but I respected the rule of law, and I made damn sure that I did not do ANYTHING which would put me behind bars.

Francis "Schaeffer" Cox would have been well served with similar parental advice from HIS father. But if he received any, Cox did not pay attention, and now he will suffer for his arrogance and lack of respect for the law.

And as far as I am concerned he deserves whatever fate awaits him there.

This case was very important NOT just because it got these criminal assholes off of the street, but also because it sends a message to OTHER potential sovereign citizen militia members and 2nd Amendment lunatics, that the rule of law is still in place, and that just because they don't respect law enforcement, it does not mean they cannot get thrown into a dank, isolated cell for the rest of their natural lives.

The other important outcome from this case is that it has re-energized the Feds, who had essentially lost their mojo  after the unfortunate Ted Stevens debacle, and now there is a MUCH stronger possibility that we will start to see federal investigations launched on a whole slew of very deserving Alaska criminal types.

And, to me at least, THAT is very good news indeed!

Bristol Palin's reality show simply can't get any love, EVEN in Alaska!

This from the ADN:

 The day she shows up to work at the charity, Help the Children, she’s given a tour of skid row by car. “What’s skid row?” she asks, viewing the homeless encampments from the safety of the car. “I’ve heard of it before.” 

Going out with friends, presumably while Tripp stays home with Willow, she encounters an obnoxious guy at a bar who shouts out that her mother “is a whore.” To her credit, Bristol confronts the guy, asking him why he hates Sarah so much. After some more generalized vitriol from the jerk, she says, “Is it because you’re a homosexual?” It turns out, the guy, who filed suit against the show last week alleging he didn’t know what the cameras were for, is gay, but we’re left wondering why she made that assumption in the first place. He never said a word about Palin’s positions on gay rights or any issue, for that matter. Maybe Bristol’s stint on “Dancing With the Stars” fine-tuned her gaydar. 

On the one hand, it’s commendable that Bristol wants to be on her own, sister Willow notwithstanding, and to work for a charity. On the other, how many young women stop to have a catch-up lunch with their “DWTS” partner? 

Ever since Bristol was put in the spotlight as unmarried and pregnant during the 2008 campaign, she’s tried to build on her notoriety, for lack of a better word, by writing a book, competing on “DWTS” and now doing the new reality show. 

The challenge is that she’s just not that interesting. She’s not especially glamorous, and, at the other end of the spectrum, is no Alaskan Snooki either. She’s relatively level-headed, although she pitches a weeping hissy fit when Willow wants to leave Los Angeles, saying “she has no idea the pressure I’m under,” and breaks down in tears after confronting the Palin-hating moron at the bar. 

If she’s under so much pressure, why would she subject herself to having cameras follow her around 24/7? And if life’s such a “Tripp,” where’s the kid? We see mom explaining to him what a bidet is when they get to the mansion (“I don’t think there’s a single bidet in all of Alaska,” she says), but having Willow on-hand as a nanny frees Bristol to go out with friends and have lunch with “DWTS” pals. 

To be fair this review was not written by an ADN reporter, but it IS the one that they chose to put in their paper.

But just in case you think that based on this we shouldn't read too much into how Alaskans might view the show, here is a sample of what is written in the comments section

So this means we're never going to have to hear another Palin whining about having her privacy violated, right? Because all they want is to be left alone? 

It should be called "Send me your cash, I hate working". 

Is there a BristolPAC we can donate to? Poor thing has to live in a mansion and can't afford a nanny, so her sister skips school to do it. 

To be fair this article did attract at least one relatively positive comment, from somebody named AkBrownie: 

I'd hit it. 

And after all, isn't THAT pretty much how the Palin women gauge their value?

Yeah Alaskans are beyond finished with this bunch of half wit grifters, and judging from the abject negativity of these "Life's a Tripp" reviews, so is the rest of the country. 

Ted Nugent agrees to pay $10,000 fine because some "crazy law" in Alaska will not allow him to leave enraged wounded bears roaming the wilderness. Update!

This from the ADN:

Activist and musician Ted Nugent has signed a plea agreement with federal prosecutors admitting he illegally shot and transported black bear in Southeast Alaska two years ago, according to the agreement.

Nugent, 63, launched an arrow at a black bear while on a bow-hunting trip with friends in Tongass National Forest in May 2009. Federal prosecutors say he wounded the bear, attracted to the hunters by a bait station. Nugent's lawyer says the arrow grazed the animal and it scampered off alive. 

Whether injured or merely scratched, the bear got away. Nugent shot and killed another bear four days later. Then he put the scenes on TV.

Now this law is fairly self explanatory, and Nugent really did not have much  flexibility with which to launch a defense. However just to make sure he would lose he hired ex-Plain flunkie, and worst lawyer ever, Wayne Anthony Ross (We call him WAR) to defend him.

You remember WAR right?

He was sort of like Elmer Fudd's less capable brother, who Sarah Palin once tried to foist on Alaskans as their Attorney General, but who the Alaska bloggers, and others, helped send back into the shadows.

Here is what Ross had to say about this law and his client:

 "They've got apparently some crazy law in Southeast that says if you even touch an animal with an arrow, it becomes your animal," Ross said by phone Friday. "He looked to see if he had hit it and didn't believe that he'd hit it fatally." 

Ross said he watched video from that episode of "Spirit of the Wild." The lawyer and gun-rights advocate said the arrow "touched" the bear and stuck in the ground. It might have cut the bear's skin, he said. 

I like how Ross characterizes it as just "touching" the bear. As if Theodore simply walked up to the bear and tapped it on the nose saying, "This time I will let you go, but next time you are going to be a throw rug."  In reality Nugent tried to kill the bear while trying to show his best side to the camera crew that accompanied him, hit it, and then left the wounded animal to wander off to either bleed to death or, in an enraged state, attack another hunter or camper who had no idea they are sharing the woods with five hundred pounds of wounded fury.

"There wasn't any blood trail that they could find," Ross said. "There was a little blood apparently at the spot, but nothing that indicated the bear was hard hit." Nugent and his hunting buddies looked for the bear but didn't find it, Ross said. 

"The bear didn't die. He only took one bear."

Okay now personally I have issues with the whole idea of "Bear baiting" anyhow.  Essentially that is where you put out the Ursine version of a picnic basket and wait for a hungry bear to wander by before shooting it from the safety of a tree blind, while sitting in a comfortable folding chair knocking back a few brewskies.  It is essentially to hunting what Wii Bowling is to sports.

Ross goes on to say that Nugent has hunted in Alaska for years, which of course means he should have known about the law, or perhaps even had the personal integrity to make sure that he did not allow a wounded bear to wander the Alaska wilderness.  But let's face it, Nugent does not exactly respect the laws of our country now does he? Which is why he recently had to explain his veiled threats directed at our President to the Secret Service, and why he also ignores those "crazy" statutory rape laws as well.

You know I have to wonder exactly HOW Nugent came to be represented by Sarah Palin's best buddy Wayne Anthony Ross in the first place? Just how close IS Palin to this confessed pedophile and lawbreaker?

Makes you wonder doesn't it?

Update: It appears that the military did not buy Nugent's excuses for making threats against the President. Courtesy of  the Hollywood Reporter:

Citing inflammatory language while expressing his displeasure with President Barack Obama, the military has uninvited rock star and conservative political activist Ted Nugent from performing at Fort Knox in Kentucky, according to the U.S. Army post’s Facebook page.

“After learning of opening act Ted Nugent’s recent public comments about the president of the United States, Fort Knox leadership decided to cancel his performance on the installation," it's Facebook posting says.

Gee, the military is not comfortable having a confessed pedophile, who threatens their Commander-in-Chief, play really bad music for the troops? Who could have guessed?

Here is an interesting e-mail concerning Palin's frustration that the ADN was still asking about the birth of Trig where she claims to have pictures of the "birth."

This one was dated Dec. 7, 2008:

 From: Palin, Sarah (GOV sponsored) 
To: McAllister, William D (GOV); Leighow, Sharon W (GOV) 
Cc: Nizich, Michael A (GOV); Perry, Kristina Y (GOV) 
Sent: WedDec 17 19:05:21 2008 
Subject: Baby 

Flippin ridiculous. My doctor (CBJ, she delivered Trig and served on our Health Care Council and was named America’s Top Family Physician a few yrs ago) called Todd to give me a message requesting that I call her tomorrow - to discuss "a phone call she received from Lisa Demer at the ADN"! Sheeeesh, this is one busy doctor and she has to continually be bugged by media about this ridiculous issue?


Maybe we can be clever about this and use the opportunity to point out how wacko some media outlets have become. If you can think of anything clever, let me know.., we’ll do it. I’ll even do a press avail on it, if need be. 

Short of producing the photos that Bristol took of me having Trig (and it’ll be over my dead body that they’re released without major photoshopping done first), (Interesting how quickly Palin brings up the idea of photoshopping.) I don’t know how else to prove I gave birth to Trig. CBJ has testified, she’s released my health records summary.., what else does it take.

So according to Palin there are actual photographs that Bristol took of her that show her giving birth to Trig. That is interesting because I had heard that everybody in the family arrived AFTER the "blessed event."

Now if these photographs do indeed exist, WHY would Palin not have put some carefully edited version of them in her book? I mean would that not have  been fairly compelling evidence that she did indeed give birth? Or, why did she at least NOT offer to show these to Lisa Demer, with the understanding they would not be shared with the public, just to convince her that the accusations were ridiculous? I have seen woman share much more embarrassing pictures than that with each other before, and childbirth is nothing to be ashamed of.

Answer, because these pictures simply do not exist, and this is yet ANOTHER lie.

But look at how riled up the very idea that she was still being asked these questions made Palin spokesperson Bill McAllister:

From: McAllister, William D (GOV)
To: Palin, Sarah (GOV sponsored); Leighow, Sharon W (GOV) Cc: Nizich, Michael A (GOV); Perry, Kristina Y (GOV) 
Sent: WedDec 17 19:23:28 2008 Subject: 
Re: Baby 

How about I call a press availability tomorrow and on your behalf say we won’t dignify these questions and call out by name the reporters pursuing them? We can talk about the doctor being harassed, AP trying to implicate you re: racist e-mails by a few state employees, and much other garbage. And we could announce the new website critiquing the media. Will this make them back off? No, at least not entirely. But right now we’re in an ax fight without an ax. Let’s at least demonstrate publicly our pride and honor that we’re not going to let this evil stand. 

Now, we could go sarcastic, with a presser in which we acknowledge that Bigfoot is a member of your Cabinet who has counseled predator control and that you are really the descendant of Anastasia, who survived the execution of the czar, s family, proving that not only can you see Russia but that you’re actually from there, and that you’ve got all of Imelda Marcos’ shoes plus Michael Jackson’s white glove. And then we can ask the ADN reporter why they’re not covering session. 

There are a number of ways we can handle this. But let’s go.get ’em.

"Let's go get.em." Yet it never occurs to this media guy to simply offer the proof that Palin claims she so readily has available.

Interesting.

P.S. Here is the full text of ADN editor Pat Dougherty's e-mail exchanges with Palin over this matter. As you can see he also expresses confusion as to why the Governor simply did not cooperate to help put this "rumor" to rest.

Hey guess who else shows up in this new batch of e-mails? Yours truly.

Now as many of you who have been around for awhile (Or who bothered to read the Important Immoral Minority posts on the right hand side of this blog) know I once did an impromptu interview with Sarah Palin back in January of 2009 with my friend Dennis Zaki. (You can read that a post about that experience here.)

This took place at the AT&T Sports Center in Wasilla, where Dennis and I had shown up on a whim as part of a series of interviews we were doing with people in Wasilla about Palin, and how they now viewed her since her return from the campaign trail.

As I write in my post, I had NO idea that we would run into the Governor.  But we did, and Dennis REALLY wanted to see if she would agree to a quick interview since she had avoided local press for several months by then.

After she agreed to the interview we could see that her thumbs were pounding away on her Blackberries and that she looked stressed, but we had no idea if it had anything to do with us, or if it was something else.

Well now we know.

What she was doing is revealed in a series of e-mails that can be found here.

Finally! State of Alaska releases last of Palin e-mails.

"I am not having a good week here!"

Courtesy of ADN:

The state of Alaska on Thursday released what officials say are the last of Sarah Palin's emails from her time as governor. 

Citizens and news organizations, including The Associated Press, first requested Palin's emails in September 2008, as part of her vetting as the Republican vice presidential nominee. The state released a batch of the emails last June, a lag of nearly three years that was attributed to the sheer volume of the records and the flood of requests stemming from Palin's tenure. 

The 24,199 pages of emails that were released last year left off in September 2008. 

Thursday's release includes 17,736 records, or 34,820 pages, generally spanning from October 2008 until Palin's resignation, in July 2009. Of those, 13,791 records were released without redactions, according to the governor's office. 

The release also includes some records that the current governor's deputy chief of staff said were inadvertently omitted from the earlier release.

As far as I'm concerned this could be the motherlode, but I am still quite skeptical about our chances of finding anything too revealing as the state has delayed this release numerous times while they redacted the hell out of them.

I still wish that somebody would "accidentally" release the e-mails that Bailey has in his possession.

Since I don't have access to these emails yet I would appreciate if all of you would keep an eye out for any articles posted about them, or any site possibly hosting them for public perusal.

There still MIGHT be something good if we just know how to look for it.