Alaska Dispatch files for bankruptcy and falls into teabagger hands, essentially at the same time.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:

Alaska's largest newspaper filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Saturday evening and new owners — an Alaska family that made its fortune hauling freight and tourists on the Yukon River and its tributaries, and a company that owns rural newspapers in the state — have been lined up. 

In a prepared statement Saturday, Alaska Dispatch News LLC owner Alice Rogoff, who also has served as publisher, said it was a "truly bittersweet" moment for her, though she is relieved the newspaper will live on under new ownership. Her four-paragraph prepared statement didn't name the new owners, though the group interested in buying the paper issued a statement Saturday. 

"We've worked hard to help illuminate the issues of our day and provide a platform for points of view from across Alaska," Rogoff said Saturday. "Yet like newspapers everywhere, the struggle to make ends meet financially eventually caught up with us. I simply ran out of my ability to subsidize this great news product. Financial realities can't be wished away."

I have not really been paying a whole lot of attention to the Dispatch these days so I have mixed feelings about this.

What I am not so mixed about is who the paper is being sold to.

The potential buyers, working together, are a company composed of siblings Ryan Binkley, Wade Binkley, James Binkley and Kai Binkley Sims, as well as Alaska Media LLC, which owns three rural Alaska newspapers. The group is led by Ryan Binkley and Alaska Media owner Jason Evans, according to a statement the group issued Saturday. Former Anchorage Daily News publisher Jerry Grilly, who retired as president and CEO of the Denver Post in 2012, is a consultant to the group, Ryan Binkley said.

These Binkley siblings are the children of former state senator John Binkley, a hard core teabagger who ran interference for Sarah Palin during the Troopergate fiasco.

Okay so people will likely say that just because the dad is a Right Wing douchebag does not mean that the kids have the same political outlook.

Sure, but this buy out is costing millions, and I am fairly certain that big daddy still controls the purse strings. Especially for s purchase this large.

Add to that the fact that Papa Binkley is seriously talking about running for governor of Alaska, and suddenly this seems like a Trumpian move to establish a propaganda outlet for Right Wing views and positive coverage of a preferred candidate.

Or hey, maybe I'm wrong and this is completely on the up and up.

(P.S. I'm not wrong.)

I think the Trump team has been trying to keep coverage of the Women's March off of the front pages. So here is more about the brave Alaskan women who participated on Saturday.

Courtesy of ADN: 

Snow, frigid temperatures and harrowing driving conditions weren't enough to keep thousands of Alaskans from participating in Women's March events across the state Saturday. 

Organizers reported hundreds of people in cities like Palmer, Homer and Juneau. Even remote communities like Adak, located in the Aleutian Islands, reported 10 people in attendance. At least 38 marched in Unalakleet, a Northwest Alaska village of 700 people.

Anchorage and Fairbanks both estimated march attendance in the thousands.

Some estimate that around 3,500 showed up in Anchorage while another 2,000 participated in Fairbanks.

Worth noting that Anchorage was in the middle of a snow storm and Fairbanks had temperatures around 30 below zero.

And just check out these women marching in Haines.

The March in Haines, Alaska. Respect. pic.twitter.com/ezKpFmnT9C

— Patti Digh (@pattidigh) January 22, 2017

Yet another reminder that Sarah Palin by no means represents real women in Alaska.

This movement is only going to grow and by the time we get to 2018 it will be a political force that nothing is going to be able to stand against.

And don't bother trying to compare this to the Tea Party.

These ladies would squeeze their teabags until they crumpled to the ground in agony.

Commercial for Fairbanks bus service.

Alaska is well known for having some of the worst commercials of all time. (Think I'm kidding? Get a load of this guy.)

So it is nice to see a fairly humorous commercial that pokes a little gentle fun at Alaskans, while also advertising an important service.

By the way not ALL Alaska men look like that. Some of us are much hairier.

(P.S. Just for the record I would not live in that city if you nailed my scrotum to the Welcome to Fairbanks sign and left me to freeze to it overnight. No offense.)

Man attempts to hire hitman to kill Sarah Palin's lawyer, and, surprise, it has nothing to do with Sarah Palin.

"Wait, you mean everything's not about me?"

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

A former Fairbanks chiropractor who pleaded guilty to possessing illegal weapons tied to a murder-for-hire plot has been sentenced to three years in federal prison. 

Guy Christopher Mannino, 56, offered a machine gun and silencer to an informant for use in shooting attorney John Tiemessen, the attorney for former Gov. Sarah Palin, in a matter unrelated to Palin, the 2008 Republican nominee for vice president, federal prosecutors say.

Okay so wait, if this has nothing to do with Palin then just what does it have to do with?  

Tiemessen represented another Fairbanks chiropractor in a lawsuit filed by Mannino, who claimed the other chiropractor during a courtesy adjustment had seriously injured his back. 

"The defense, essentially, was that the lawsuit was fraudulent, and though the adjustment occurred, the injury never occurred," Tiemessen said. 

Mannino thought he was going to lose the case, Bottini said at sentencing Wednesday. He solicited a fellow firearms enthusiast and occasional employee to carry out the murder. 

The murder plot was not carried out. The man called Alaska State Troopers and agreed to act as an informant.

So just to make things even more bizarrely coincidental, it turns out that this Mannino fellow was also tied to the Schaeffer Cox trial.

I wrote about it right after Mannino's indictment over that explosion was dismissed by a jury in Fairbanks.

Here is a snippet of a conversation about Mannino recorded by then FBI informant Bill Fulton: 

VERNON: I was going to ask you, you don’t deal with an Mannino, do you? 

FULTON: Who’s Mannino? No. 

VERNON: Okay. 

FULTON: Who is he? 

OLSON: He’s a dealer. 

VERNON: No, no, no, no, no, no. He’s a tour president and everybody — he’s in the ‘dot gov’ thing. He is a worm … 

FULTON: Okay, who is this asshole? (…) 

OLSON: He’s a chiropractor. 

VERNON: He’s the one that — he’s a meddler. 

OLSON: He’s got class three. 

VERNON: Oh, yeah, he’s got — he’s got explosives and everything. But, if you try to buy… 

OLSON: Don’t deal with him. 

VERNON: If you try to buy something from him, all of a sudden you make the list, on his list, and all of his buddies are the cops, FBI, everything. He is such a smartass. 

"All of his buddies are the cops, FBI, everything." Hmm.

I have no idea if this connection means anything, but I did say at the time that it was bizarre that the explosion caused by this guy did not earn him at least some time in jail.

Well clearly his "luck" did not hold out this time around.

Todd Palin finishes the Iron Dog in the middle of the pack.

"I don't care if you think it 's gross, people are watching."

Courtesy of the Iron Dog Groupie's Facebook page:  

Congratulations to all the teams in this year's brutal Iron Dog! It's the world's longest and toughest snowmachine race – 2200 miles across Alaska – and Todd's been competing in it for 22 years. I made it home in time to join family and friends at the finish line in Fairbanks after having been at the CPAC convention in D.C. the day before where I had the honor of highlighting the United States Military and our veterans. 

The Iron Dog trail was rugged; it sure tested the mettle of these athletes and the metal of their equipment in bone crunching conditions. Todd's Team #11 raced in honor of our vets who endure far worse in the name of securing our freedom. Again this year their cowlings proudly displayed the logo that reminds us of America's loyalty to Chris Kyle and the Chris Kyle Frog Foundation, knowing this can raise awareness and funds for this worthy cause to help wounded warriors.

You know it figures that the family of a woman famous for lying, would use this opportunity to pimp for an organization named after another well known liar. Don'tcha think?

Wow good thing Willow went to hair school. Hey, where's Bristol? Oh yeah, I forgot.

 By the way, not that I want to give Tod Palin too much credit, but more than half of the Iron Dog teams scratched this year and were unable to finish, so the mere fact that he managed to reach the finish line is no small feat.

Of course considering the conditions, it would have seemed smarter to me that they simply cancel the race this year. But hey, what do I know?

Bill Maher comes all the way up to Alaska to call Sarah Palin: “the least qualified candidate for office since Caligula nominated his horse.”

Courtesy of the Fairbanks Newsminer:  

Maher, the liberal host of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” and creator of the movie “Religulous,” came deep into what many consider enemy territory to perform at the Blue Loon. Maher told the audience Friday that many of his liberal friends seemed taken aback to learn he was performing in Alaska. 

“It’s not Syria,” Maher said. 

Indeed, Maher had nothing to worry about. The Interior’s liberal community came out in force for the performance, selling out preferred seating and leaving standing-room only. 

Maher didn’t wait long to shoot his first volley at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, receiving raucous applause from the crowd. 

“No,” Maher responded, “ I didn’t come here to make fun of Sarah Palin.” 

That answer from Maher caused the closest response of the night to displeasure from the audience — bringing on substantial good-natured booing from the crowd of several hundred. 

“Well, maybe I did,” he conceded. 

Maher kept the Palin references low, which no doubt took a great portion of his willpower. Palin’s name came up perhaps a half dozen times throughout Maher’s two-hour set. 

He did at one point, however, mock Palin’s national political campaign at length, calling her “the least qualified candidate for office since Caligula nominated his horse.”

Standing room only? In Alaska? For one of Palin's most hated enemies?

Well so much for people saying that this is Palin country.

I actually doubt at this point that she could draw a big enough crowd to fill a school bus. much less leave standing room only at any venue in the state. 

Well stay tuned folks, if the last few weeks have been any indication, Palin will simply HAVE to respond to this on Facebook in the next day or two.

Well, unless she is intimidated by Bill Maher that is.

Want to REALLY insult an Alaska politician? Just compare them to Sarah Palin and see what happens!

Courtesy of Policymic: 

On May 2, ThinkProgress writer Josh Israel wrote a hit piece against Alaska Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, who is currently exploring a bid for the United States Senate in 2014. The title? "Meet Mead Treadwell: The Male Sarah Palin." 

Huh? 

I guess it's not technically libel to compare someone to Sarah Palin, but ThinkProgress's intent is clear: to malign Treadwell's character and present him as a fringe conspiracy theorist rather than a serious politician. Let's go through Israel's eight major points and explain why not one of them validates the comparison.

"It is not TECHNICALLY libel to compare someone to Sarah Palin." No but it IS close enough to libel in Alaska that people feel compelled in Alaska to defend their candidate against that comparison.

 This young man, Will Bishop, then goes on to try and disassemble each point made in the article by Think Progress, using at times even minor differences to make space, so that Treadwell, who is currently "exploring" the idea of running against Mark Begich for the Senate in 2014, can avoid the stain of being associated with Palin.

I do not know either Mead Treadwell nor Will Bishop, but I would not be at all surprised to learn that this effort was supported, if not directed, by Treadwell himself in order to avoid that comparison.

And the fact that you will find essentially ALL Alaska politicians taking similar steps if they find themselves similarly slimed with an association with Palin is why I did not even bother to discuss the recent, and clearly unscientific, poll by Harper Polling which suggested that Palin could win the nomination for the Senate and beat out all other Republican candidates.

No, no she could not. And that may be a shock in other parts of the country but it is obvious to everybody living in Alaska.

We do NOT like her! Period!

And much of the reason for that was her incredible pettiness, which Bishop brings up in the close of his article in support of Treadwell.

Around the time of Sarah Palin's resignation as governor in 2009, Rod Boyce, managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, wrote a long column detailing his months-long attempt to get then-Gov. Palin in the room with the News-Miner's editorial board. Palin considered the paper an adversary because it had opposed the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act. Boyce noted that either of Palin's predecessors, Frank Murkowski and Tony Knowles, would have come into the board room and argued heatedly with skeptics of their policies, trying to win them over. Palin didn't believe in that. Either you were for her or against her, and she didn't see any point in talking to opponents.

So just imagine how Palin would be treated by the press, and  the Alaskan people she abandoned in 2009, if she were to throw her wig into the ring for ANY political office up here.

Can you say "eviscerated?"

The REAL reason that Joe Miller dropped his lawsuit.

'Wait, you want to depose me under oath concerning who is financing my lawsuit? You know $5,000 sounds like a reasonable settlement to me."

Courtesy of Fairbanks NewsMiner:  

On Thursday, the borough filed a motion brimming with exasperation, asking the court to order Miller to “stop playing games” and require Miller to produce the documents outlining his legal expenses and who has paid them, even though the case is close to being finally settled. 

“At the risk of understatement, using campaign funds for personal reasons unrelated to the campaign would seem to be a problematic interpretation of federal election law,” the document states. “This is probably why Miller willfully refused to discuss his damages in any detail. … For unknown reasons, Miller has persistently and continually refused to ‘come clean’ about who was funding his litigation and in what amount.” 

The latest filing also requests Miller pay the borough’s legal fees. 

In previous documents Miller had cited attorney-client privilege as well as the need to hire an expert when declining to answer questions about his legal expenses. 

In the months leading up to the judgment, Miller had offered to have the borough agree to a judgment of $50,000, then later $25,000. The borough made one settlement offer where Miller would get nothing. 

The June 6 hearing resulted in a judge ruling against Miller’s claims for monetary compensation for damages resulting from the alleged leak of information. The only remaining issue after the hearing was the question of whether the borough had violated his privacy. 

On June 18, the borough filed a request to depose Miller on July 31, where it would have also asked Miller to produce documents relating to his legal fees, any statements made by borough employees that he believed are false, secretly taped audio recordings of conversations with borough employees the borough believes he has as well as complete records of any conversations he had with political figures, such as Sarah Palin or David and Charles Koch, regarding his employment at the borough.

As we know on Tuesday, the day IMMEDIATELY after the borough's request to depose Miller, he SUDDENLY decided that this had gone on long enough and accepted a payoff of a measly $5,000. 

Which of course means we now don't get to learn exactly who was financing Miller's personal crusade to punish the North Star Borough for daring to educate the voters of Alaska as to why they should NEVER elect Joe "Palin butt boy" Miller to political office in Alaska. And THAT, by the way, sucks!

But obviously it was somebody that Miller did NOT want revealed in court, and I am pretty sure that it was the same people who financed his Senate campaign in the first place. If that is true than Miller will do everything in his power to keep that quiet.

Want a hint? They were NOT from Alaska, and what they did (Which was well before Citizen's United) was VERY, VERY illegal at that time. And THAT is not something which the "Vaguely Bearded One" wants anybody to find out.

But do you know what? That information is on it's way. Oh yes it is!

And so is the connection between Miller, the GOP takeover, and Sarah Palin. Count on it.

Meet Alaska's newest domestic terrorist, "Ricin" Mary. Oooh the crazy is strong with this one!

Mary Ann Morgan enters courtroom for arraignment on Tuesday November 8 2011.

Courtesy of the Fairbanks NewsMiner:

Mary Morgan was not offered bail at court hearing Wednesday morning, but a federal magistrate left open the door to releasing her before trial if she can find a third-party custodian to watch over her. 

Morgan, 53, is charged with being a felony in possession of a firearm for allegedly having a handgun while trying to cross the Canada border last month. 

Prosecutors say Morgan cannot be trusted to make court dates and is a danger to the community because she had documents in her car related to poisonous plants and instructions on making a pipe bomb. Prosecutors also say Morgan is part of the sovereign citizen movement, whose members believe the government does not have authority over them. 

After two hours of testimony Wednesday morning, Magistrate Scott Oravec said the information about the pipe bomb and poisonous plants was “very disturbing to the court,” and the main reason he would not order her released without a third-party custodian. 

My first thought upon hearing that the courts would only release Morgan to a third party custodian was, "What kind of lunatic would take her into their house?"

But I just had a conversation with somebody in the know who says that there are potentially a number of Schaeffer's fellow militia goons that might be perfectly willing to take her in until the trial, for the good of the cause.

That is NOT good news Alaska!

As you may remember Morgan not only had a handgun in her car, but that she also had pipe bomb making material and information about the production of Ricin, a deadly bio-toxin that coincidentally was also being manufactured by a militia group in Georgia that were recently arrested.

Whether or not there is any connection between that group in Georgia and our own "Ricin" Mary is as yet undetermined, but as a source told me earlier, "When one group comes up with a crazy idea, it pretty much spreads to other groups in a matter of days."

Oh and my source also told me that Mary Morgan, might just be crazy. Though I think that was something I could have determined on my own.

Breaking news! Mary Ann Morgan, associate of accused domestic terrorist Schaeffer Cox arrested in Fairbanks. Update from the Fairbanks NewsMiner and Alaska Dispatch.

Schaeffer Cox and his pals play dress up.

I received a tip the other day stating that Mary Ann Morgan had been arrested on weapons charges the other day.

You can see that she was in court today for her first appearance before Judge Oravec:


9:00 AM Judge Oravec
Fairbanks MJ Courtroom
USA vs.MARY ANN MORGAN
(Steve Skrocki)* (FPD-as Friend of the Court)*
INITIAL APPEARANCE ON COMPLAINT

Apparently Morgan is a member in good standing among the Alaska Militia members and was one of the individuals present when Schaeffer put himself on trial in that Denny's Restaurant in Fairbanks. You remember, the one where he had his Peacemaker's militia buddies find him not guilty, right before the Feds demonstrated just how much legal standing a fake trial held in the home of the Grand Slam breakfast had in the world of law enforcement.

Mary Ann is a frequent poster on Norm Coleman's Alaska Militia forums, and as you can see from this comment, has been itching for a run in with the local police for quite some time:

Guns don't kill people. Until they do. (Or almost do.)

Courtesy of the Newsminer:

Fairbanks police are investigating a report that a 5-year-old boy accidentally shot his 3-year-old sister in the chest with a .357 revolver Friday afternoon in an apartment near Party Palace on Peger Road.

The girl was in stable condition as of Friday evening and had been flown to Anchorage, officer Alana Malloy said. 

The girl’s parents drove her to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, where police were called at 2:42 p.m. The gun belonged to the children’s parents and it was not immediately clear why the boy had access to it, she said.

You can already imagine what the father's argument was for purchasing this weapon. 

"We need to for protection.  The world is a dangerous place. Think of the kids."

Yes think of the kids.

A day ago this 5 year old boy was just a regular kid who had NOT just blown a hole in his little sister's chest with a .357 handgun.  And the suddenly in the blink of an eye, and the twitch of a finger, he was.

The good news is that it sounds like the little girl will pull through.

The bad news is that she will undoubtedly be returned to a family that clearly cannot protect her from their stupidity.

Attorney for Alaskan man indicted on charges of plotting to kill State Troopers and local judges gets bail reduced from two million dollars to $100,000. WTF?

Courtesy of the Fairbanks News Miner:

Attorney Tim Dooley said he planned to file documents on Wednesday asking for a federal bail review for North Pole resident Coleman Barney, who is being held without bond. If the move is successful, the 36-year-old electrician hopes he can gather enough money to get out of jail, Dooley said.

Barney convinced state Superior Court Judge David C. Stewart on Friday to drop his bail on state murder and kidnapping conspiracy charges from $2 million to $100,000.

Dooley said relatives and supporters have scraped together enough money to pay the bond.

Dozens of relatives, friends and church members sent letters to the court requesting a lower bail for Barney. His wife, Rachel, is scheduled Friday to give birth to the couple’s fifth child.

Barney remains imprisoned, however, because he also is charged with federal weapons violations.

“If it was just the state charges — which are more serious than the federal charges, I should add — he’d be out,” Dooley said.

Barney is one of five local defendants with ties to the Alaska Peacemakers Militia who are accused of concocting an elaborate plot they dubbed “241.” That effort, which was reportedly discussed during hundreds of hours of secret FBI recordings, involved a conspiracy to kill two Alaska State Troopers or state judges anytime a militia member was arrested or killed by authorities.

Prosecutors say the plot was concocted to protect Schaeffer Cox, the militia leader who was a fugitive last February for failing to appear at trial in February on misdemeanor weapons charges.

Coleman and Rachel Barney also are charged with harboring Cox as he hid from authorities.

I'm sorry but reducing this guy's bail to one-twentieth of what it was originally set is completely insane.

The guy was plotting to kill state judges and law enforcement officials, and these people want him out on the streets? The whole reason that it was set so high was to ensure he would NOT be getting out, so asking for it be reduced defeats the entire premise of setting such a high amount in the first place.

What, do they think this guy became LESS dangerous while sitting in his jail cell fuming over his incarceration and plotting his revenge?

And WHO would donate to the fund to get him out?  Did they not see what this guy was charged with?

According to the complaint, "The plan would then have the tactical teams going to the target's houses, cutting the power, shooting the inhabitants as they come out to check on their power; then the team would kick the target's residence's doors in, kill everybody inside and set the house on fire. Then the team would lay in hiding and take out the initial responding officer before moving on to the next target."

What else does he have to do to demonstrate that he is mentally unstable and a danger to his community, dress in colonial garb while carrying an automatic weapon?

Oh yeah, that's right.

What in the hell is wrong with these people?

Religious harmony between Christians and Muslims in Fairbanks, Alaska? And here you thought you knew Fairbanks.

From the Fairbanks Newsminer:

About 50 Fairbanks residents from Kuwait, Egypt, Nigeria, the Sudan, Alaska, Pennsylvania, New York, the Midwest and many others places dined on saffron rice, Scottish short bread, American chili, German potato salad, smoked salmon and banana Jell-O and much more at Christ Lutheran Church on Saturday evening.

Zakia Chowdury brought lamb and rice, a traditional food from her home of Bangladesh.

“The dish goes all the way back to the Mughal kings,” she said, referring to the empire that ruled India and present-day Bangladesh from the 15th through the 18th centuries.

This was the first potluck dinner between the Christian and Muslim communities in Fairbanks. The crowd, a mix of engineering professors, students, lawyers, teachers, religious leaders and others, discussed everything from conflict in Libya to gas prices in Alaska to Saturday Night Live.

After a short prayer and a hearty meal, attendants stood up one by one and shared where they were from and what brought them to Fairbanks. They joked about pronunciations and professional and cultural stereotypes.

“This is what world peace looks like, if you could look at it. This is the picture,” said George Riley, a member of Christ Lutheran.

The relationship started when Granata and other Christian pastors were invited to a Ramadan celebration last year. That was organized by Alaska Interfaith Power and Light, which fosters linkages among various religions and other sections of society.

“Both of our religions have a history of trying to missionize and convert others,” Granata said. “It’s not about trying to convert somebody. It’s to let the spirit of God be in our midst and do the work of the spirit, which is bringing people together and closer to God.”

Well I just have to say that after ALL of the crazy stuff that has been happening in my state these last several months, I REALLY needed to read this.

Now maybe somebody can send this story to those people in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, just to let them know how much better it is to open your hearts to let the love in, rather than to open your mouths to let the hate out.

Member of Peacemaker's Militia delivers phony legal documents to the court on behalf of Shaeffer Cox, resulting in two misdemeanors for him and two new ones for Cox. Quite the intellectual conclave they have up there in Fairbanks isn't it?

From the Fairbanks Newsminer:

A member of Francis “Schaeffer” Cox’s Peacemaker’s militia was charged with a pair of misdemeanor offenses for delivering fake court documents to court officials, including a purported restraining order demanding that law enforcement officers stay 1,000 feet from Cox.

The papers were delivered in December and January while the district court was preparing to try Cox on a misdemeanor weapons charge.

Kenneth R. Thesing was issued summons on Friday to face two counts of “simulating legal process,” the crime of sending fake court documents with the intent of causing the recipient to take an action.

Many of the documents are signed by Cox and address his belief that he is a sovereign citizen and not subject to the state court. In the documents, Cox refers to a trial held for him at the Fairbanks Denny’s Restaurant by members of his Alaska Assembly Post group.

Each count of simulating legal process is a class A misdemeanor, punishable by a maximum of one year in jail.

Cox also is mentioned in the charging document and faces these two counts, district attorney Michael Gray said.

Thesing has not been implicated in any of the felony offenses Cox and four of his Peacemaker Militia members have been accused of. Cox and the others were arrested March 10 for allegedly plotting to kill and kidnap government authorities.

Filed with the charges are 22 pages of documents allegedly delivered by Thesing. They have also been entered as evidence in the state felony case against Cox.

In the documents Cox refers to himself as the Commander-in-Chief for the delegates of the United State of America as amended to 1791 A.D., the year the U.S. Constitution was ratified.

He uses a number of official-looking symbols including a U.S. Flag with 13 stars, which bears the label 2010 civilian flag of peace and a seal with the words “First Judicial District of Tens, Interior Region, Alaska.”

The restraining order he says Alaska officials have “invaded the Republic, under color of law, with acts of war,” and orders them to keep their distance from Cox.

The last document is a letter to Superior Court Judge Michael McConahy, asking him to present testimony at the Denny’s trial.

Read more: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner - Charges filed against one of Schaeffer Cox s militia followers

Doesn't the Fairbanks Court system get it? 

Schaeffer Cox was already tried and found innocent while enjoying the Grand Slam breakfast at the local Denny's restaurant/"sovereign court of the lunatic fringe." 

I know what you are thinking, "Well Gryphen that is just crazy."

Really?  Well then perhaps you are unaware that the Denny's restaurant is a sovereign nation unto itself.

Or have you NOT read the Denny's Bill of Rights.

See? Not only are they much easier to understand than our country's Bill of Rights, but they also smell of delicious maple syrup.  And here you thought Schaeffer Cox and his Peacemaker's militia were a bunch of idiots.

Now don't you feel silly?

New details released by the FBI leave very little doubt as to the identity of one of their informants in the Schaeffer Cox domestic terrorism case.

From the Alaska Dispatch:

Two confidential sources on the payroll of the FBI helped the government make its case against Fairbanks-area militia members who are accused of stockpiling illegal weapons and plotting to kill judges, Alaska State Troopers and others, according to information in federal court records unsealed Friday.

Neither source knew the other one was working with investigators, but both began assisting in the investigation last June, according to affidavits filed with the court in order to obtain search warrants earlier this month.

One is described as a convicted felon facing new fraud charges who agreed to cooperate in hopes of getting the charges reduced. That informant was an insider, promoted in February to the command staff of the Alaska Peacekeepers Militia headed by Fairbanks resident Schaeffer Cox, one of those arrested on numerous federal and state charges.

The other is a person with no criminal record but in the affidavit is said to be someone who the defendants approached to buy grenades, silencers and other weapons because he was thought to "be in a position to produce possible weaponry." Some in the militia community have speculated that the weapons supplier might be William Fulton, former owner of the Drop Zone military surplus store on Spenard Road. He abruptly signed over his store to an employee and disappeared a few days after the Fairbanks arrests. Nothing in the affidavit gives any information about Fulton, whether he may be connected to the case, or why he might have vanished.

The affidavit says both sources were compensated for their assistance and will continue to be paid. Conversations between the sources and the defendants were audio or video taped with the consent of the informants.

I have mentioned before that the evidence seems to point to the fact that Bill Fulton is the Anchorage supplier who Cox came to for the items he wanted in order to kidnap and possibly kill State Trooper and a local judge.  In the beginning I thought possibly that Fulton handed his business over and went underground out of fear that he was possibly going to be arrested next.

However now with some time having passed that scenario seems much less likely since, at the very least, Fulton would have popped up on the militia message boards to let his pals know that he was on the lam from the Feds, as that would have made him a hero in their eyes.  He has not done so, which definitely makes it far more likely that he is the Anchorage weapons supplier identified in the indictments.

Now did you notice WHEN the FBI started working with this informant?

The relationship began in June of last year.  So if it is Fulton (And let's be honest, who else could it be?), that means he was already working for the Feds when Joe Miller hired him, and his Drop Zone goons, to manhandle the local press. (You know we kind of wondered why the Anchorage Police did not arrest Fulton that day.)

So it is an almost certainty that Fulton was working for failed Senate candidate Joe Miller at the SAME TIME that he was on the FBI payroll.  Well isn't that interesting?

Miller's connection to the Alaska militias has been well established, so it stands to reason that if the FBI had a man as close to Miller as Fulton was that they might have done a little information gathering on our local Teabagging Senate candidate at the same time they were building their case against Schaeffer and his militia buddies. Don'tcha think?

I have to imagine that right about now Joe Miller is sitting in a pool of his own sweat, pulling on his sorry excuse for a beard, and trying to remember exactly what he might have said while in the company of his old buddy "Drop Zone Bill" and whether or not he is on his way to a Federal Penitentiary right along with his other old buddy Frances "Schaeffer" Cox.

By the way I have learned recently that the Federal part of Cox's court case will be held in Anchorage, so you can count on some first hand reporting from your old buddy Gryphen during the trial. Oh this ought to be fun!

Schaeffer Cox and Co. plead not guilty to charges.

From Fairbanks Newsminer:

The five Fairbanks-area residents arrested March 10 for allegedly plotting to kill and kidnap local officials appeared together in the Rabinowitz Courthouse on Tuesday to face charges returned by a grand jury.

All five defendants now have attorneys and pleaded not guilty to all charges.

According to a charging document filed March 11, the five defendants had developed a plan called “241” — two for one — to forcibly resist any attempt to execute a warrant on co-defendant Francis “Schaeffer” Cox, who was wanted for failing to face a misdemeanor weapon charge at a Feb. 14 jury trial.

The defendants were functioning as “command staff” members of Cox’s Peacemakers Militia, had identified targets for murder and kidnapping and had stockpiled weapons for the task, according to the charging document.

Much of the evidence against the defendants so far reportedly comes from a series of secret FBI recordings of militia meetings.

I believe THIS is my favorite part of the article.

At the arraignment Tuesday, the defendants entered the room one at a time. Unlike previous hearings at the Fairbanks Federal Courthouse and the Fairbanks Correctional Center, they were all in courtroom at the same time. All wore pink shirts, orange jumpsuits and handcuffs.

Kind of hard to swagger and act like a bad ass while resplendently attired in pink, orange, and accessorized with metal handcuffs now isn't it?

I am not a religious man but I am praying like crazy that this trial gets moved to Anchorage.  You can bet your ass I will be right there everyday if in fact it does.

I wonder if I am allowed to bring my popcorn in the courtroom?

Update: Alaska Dispatch is on the case of the missing militia "supply sergeant."

On March 15, a Drop Zone employee arrived at work to find Anchorage attorney Wayne Anthony Ross waiting for him in the parking lot. Ross had documents, signed by Fulton, handing over the shop with all its debts and assets to the employee.

The militia's email lists, websites and Internet chat groups where Fulton was an active participant under the names "Drop Zone Bill," "DZ" and "Bob Bob" started buzzing. "Anybody know what happened to DZ?" queried a poster named ironartist.

Others began to theorize that Fulton had gone underground to ready a “safe room” for the “fallout that could possibly be coming.”

Well my theory about the whereabouts of William Fulton is a little less Red Dawn, and a little more The Informant!, which I laid out fairly comprehensively in my previous post on Saturday.

Go ahead and read the article at the Dispatch and tell me which possibility sounds the most logical to you.

Alaska Rep. Don Young now following Joe Miller's lead by denying any connection to Schaeffer Cox. Update!

Courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center:

A Republican congressman from Alaska, who also is on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association, now is attempting to distance himself from a Fairbanks militia leader accused in a high-profile firearms, murder and kidnapping plot.

The connection between Young and Cox is drawing national attention from the National Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, the liberal Crooks and Liars blog, and Media Matters Political Correction, a liberal monitor of the political right.

That apparently is drawing heat to the congressman.

A staff aide at the Alaska congressman’s office in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that several calls had been received, but that the office had not issued a formal response. The aide referred inquiries to Young’s press secretary, Meredith Kenny, who had left Washington, D.C., for a week-long visit to Alaska, possibly because of the developing controversy in the state.

“The Congressman has absolutely no affiliation with Mr. Cox,’’ Kenny said in a brief E-mail response when asked Tuesday for reaction. The press spokeswoman confirmed that the YouTube video was taken at an Open Carry Day in Fairbanks in 2009.

“Congressman Young attended solely as a staunch defender of the Second Amendment,” Kenny said. “The letter the Congressman signed expresses the view that we should elect those who will defend the Constitution, and in turn the Second Amendment, as written, or vote them out of power.”
Let's face it Don Young was teabagging way before teabagging was cool.

Like many old time Alaska politicians he has a love hate relationship with the Federal government. 

On the one hand he wants all of that government pork for his pet projects and to repay the people who contribute to his campaigns, but on the other hand he does not want the Feds to make any rules he has to abide by. In other words he is like a petulant teenager who wants dad and mom to buy them things but not make them stick to a curfew or do their homework.

However THIS time Young might have shot his fat mouth off one too many times.

Check out the video below. (Young shows up at the 42 second mark.)



There you have Congressman Don Young telling his constituents NOT to obey the laws of the United States of America. In other words essentially telling people in his state to break the law, if in fact they do not agree with it.

Now Schaeffer Cox did that very thing, and because of his lack of respect for the law, and his belief that he was above it. he now faces Federal charges and possibly life imprisonment.

After watching the above video it is hard NOT to see that Rep. Young had some part to play in the fact that Cox did not feel he had to obey the laws of the government if he did not agree with them. I believe that somebody needs to ask the Congressman what he meant when he said what he said to this impressionable young man, and what message he believed he sent to everybody in that Denny's restaurant by signing that treasonous letter.

Update: A new website is urging Don Young to repudiate the letter he signed for Schaeffer Cox and to re-swear his oath to uphold the Constitution.  Part of that oath reads as follows:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

The Constitution is the supreme law of the land and, while subject to amendment, it does not countenance insurrection or violence against the government. In fact, one of the express powers in the Constitution (Article I, Section 8) is the ability of Congress to call out the Militia to suppress insurrections, not foment them. By signing a document that countenances violence against the United States government, Representative Young has violated his oath “to support and defend the Constitution” and given comfort and support to its domestic enemies.

I think that perhaps there are a number of Republicans currently serving in the Senate and the House who would do well to revisit this oath as well.

New Federal charges filed in Militia murder plot.

From ADN:

New federal charges were filed Thursday in an alleged conspiracy to kill an Alaska federal judge, the judge's family and an IRS employee.

According to a written statement issued by (U.S. Attorney Karen) Loeffler's office:

"Lonnie Vernon and his wife Karen Vernon conspired to murder the District Court Judge who was presiding over a civil tax case filed against them in federal court seeking past unpaid taxes, and also conspired to kill an IRS employee. In furtherance of that conspiracy, it is alleged that Lonnie Vernon possessed a pistol with a silencer. The indictment charging Cox, Coleman and Lonnie Vernon alleges that those three men engaged in a conspiracy to obtain destructive devices, including grenades, and unregistered silencers, and that Cox possessed an unlawful Sten machine gun, and an unlawful firearm silencer, as that Cox and Barney possessed destructive devices.

I do not believe that the FBI is finished after these indictments.  I have a feeling that there are a lot of others who are soon going to learn first hand that calling themselves a "sovereign" is not going to keep them out of a Federal penitentiary.

By the way it appears that Schaeffer still has supporters as somebody started a website called "Stand by Schaeffer," which offers you the chance to hear the wife beater and domestic terrorist in his own words, see pictures of him with his friends and family, and learn just what kind of a misunderstood individual poor Frances Cox really is. (Probably the media's fault. Isn't that the usual fall back position for these nut-jobs?)

The website even makes the following suggestion:

Write to Schaeffer in Jail (he’d love to hear from you)

Francis Schaeffer Cox Fairbanks Correctional Center
1931 Eagan Avenue
Fairbanks, AK 99701

Hmm I guess even terrorists need pen pals.

Federal agents recorded Shaeffer Cox and other militia members plotting to murder Alaska State Troopers and judges. (And also learn of his connection to Sarah Palin.) Reading this will make your blood run cold.

 

From ADN:

Cox had originally been arrested in March 2010 for approaching a police officer and failing to disclose that he was carrying a concealed gun. When Cox did not show up for a Feb. 14 court appearance, a judge issued the arrest warrant and Cox went into hiding with his wife and child.

Cox and his associates had been plotting in the days before the scheduled court hearing, according to prosecutors. The militia leader detailed his plot at a meeting on Feb. 12 that was secretly recorded by the FBI.

Cox wanted militia members to respond with violence if authorities tried to arrest him on the misdemeanor warrant, the charging documents say. He allegedly told the militia members, "I know you're ready to die, but you have to be ready to kill," according to an FBI recording referred to in the criminal complaint.



Militia member Coleman Barney.

 "At that February 12th meeting COX specifically unveiled his "241" (two for one) plan which called for his militia to respond to attempts to arrest or kill him by responding against state court or law enforcement targets with twice the force and consequences as happened to him or his family," according to the criminal complaint. "If he was arrested, two state targets would be "arrested" (kidnapped). If he was killed, two state targets would be killed. If his house was taken, two state target houses would be burned."

(To the left is a picture of Coleman Barney, one of Shaeffer Cox's co-conspirators, standing with an AK-47 while dressed as a colonial soldier as he listens to the speaker during the Second Amendment March on Monday, April 19, 2010, in Veterans Memorial Park in Fairbanks, AK.)

During the time that Cox and his wife were hiding from the law, they were staying in the house of fellow militia member, and tax evader Lonni Vernon's house.  Unsurprisingly Vernon is just as unhinged as Shaeffer Cox.

On Feb. 17, Lonnie and Karen Vernon met with a militia member at a restaurant, according to court documents. Lonnie said he didn't agree with Cox when Cox said the militia was not strong enough to carry out Plan 241. They talked about having two-man teams create diversions, while other two-man teams carried out the attacks.

According to the complaint, "The plan would then have the tactical teams going to the target's houses, cutting the power, shooting the inhabitants as they come out to check on their power; then the team would kick the target's residence's doors in, kill everybody inside and set the house on fire. Then the team would lay in hiding and take out the initial responding officer before moving on to the next target."

Karen Vernon is alleged to have said, "It's war now," and that survivors of the shootings would "cook like in an oven."

As I have written before these groups are extraordinarily dangerous in their belief that they have the right to engage in guerrilla military tactics to "defend" themselves against the Federal government, or in Shaeffer's case at least, ANY law enforcement that they feel infringes on their personal rights as "sovereigns." In other words they are not accountable, nor do they recognize, any authority other than God and the original Constitution of the United States. You know before it became watered down with all of those pesky Amendments.

This same FU point of view toward the Federal government is prevalent up here and can be found not only in the Alaska Militia, but also the so-called 2nd Amendment Task Force, the Alaska Independence Party (You know, the one Todd belonged to, and to which Sarah delivered that address for their convention in 2008.), and many other  splinter groups scattered across Alaska as well.

And if you are thinking that this kind of "We don't have to follow the rules" rhetoric sounds familiar, than congratulations because you have made the obvious connection between these dangerous nutjobs and their defacto leader (Though shhh, nobody is supposed to know that.).

And if you think I am trying a little to hard to tie the Grizzled Mama to this bunch of dangerous anti-American criminals, than just allow Schaeffer Cox himself tell you of their affiliation. (The pertinent part starts at the 2:50 mark.)



For those who have believed that I have gone after Sarah Palin so hard out of a personal dislike, or simple ideological differences, you could not be more mistaken.  You see I know the kind of people, and anti-American politics, that Sarah Palin represents. These anti-government thugs have helped her every step of the way in her career and hoped that with a pretty face as the symbol of their ideology that they could finally get control of this country.

(Leaders of the AIP)Chryson and Stoll viewed Palin's ascendancy as a vehicle for their own political ambitions. "She got support from these guys," Stein remarked. "I think smart politicians never utter those kind of radical things, but they let other people do it for them. I never recall Sarah saying she supported the militia or taking a public stand like that. But these guys were definitely behind Sarah, thinking she was the more conservative choice."

"They worked behind the scenes," said Stein. "I think they had a lot of influence in terms of helping with the back-scatter negative campaigning."

But the TRUE face of their idealogy is represented in the video right above these words. And that face belongs to Shaeffer Cox.

In fact the Teabaggers, who Sarah Palin helped to create, are really just a cleaned up version of the AIP and miltia groups from Alaska that have now found a voice on the national stage.  Just like those who first supported Sarah Palin always hoped would some day come to fruition.

Perhaps somebody needs to tell Rep. Peter King that if he wants to see examples of terrorism that have NOTHING to do with Islam, he need look no further than Fairbanks, Alaska.

Schaeffer Cox pictured in the middle.

From ADN:

Five people in the Fairbanks area were arrested Thursday by state and federal law enforcement on charges connected with an alleged plot to kidnap or kill state troopers and a Fairbanks judge, according to the Alaska State Troopers.

"Schaeffer" Cox, Lonnie Vernon, Karen Vernon, Coleman Barney and Michael Anderson are accused of conspiring to commit murder, kidnapping, and arson, as well as weapons misconduct, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence, according to trooper spokeswoman Megan Peters in a written statement late Thursday.

An investigation "revealed extensive plans to kidnap or kill Alaska state troopers and a Fairbanks judge," the statement said. The plans included "extensive surveillance" on the homes of two Fairbanks troopers, the statement said.

While Peter King is engaging in a massive display of religious intolerance by opening hearings to investigate American Muslims for possible terrorist ties, we have individuals right here in Alaska, professed Christians all, who are plotting to kill our local law enforcement officials.

And by the way this Schaeffer Cox is the same guy who named Joe Miller as a personal friend.

Schaeffer Cox offered but tepid support of Miller saying, “He's going to try to run things in a more conservative way, but he's still trying to run things -- so he has the same fundamental problem of all the other politicians.” He volunteered in the Salon interview, however, " that he personally knows and likes Miller."

You remember Joe Miller right?  Palin's hand picked candidate to run against Lisa Murkowski? The guy with his own personal militia, which he used to harass local journalists?

So my question is why is Rep. Peter King wasting his time, and this nation's precious resources, going after Muslims instead of focusing his attention on the real "enemy within?"  You know the friends and supporters of Sarah Palin, and her AIP associated group of thugs up here in Alaska?

Besides in my opinion the followers of Sarah Palin are far more unstable and potentially hazardous to this country than any Islamic terrorist sympathizer that Peter King could ever manage to ferret out during that ridiculous sideshow in Washington.

Update: Here are some other examples of non-Muslim home grown terrorism that might interest Peter King, if that is he is really serious about addressing the threat of terrorism in this country.