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It took two years, but on Feb. 18, 2021, Gov. Mike Dunleavy finally had enough. In a blistering three-page letter, the governor reamed Sen. Lora Reinbold, R-Eagle River, for her rampant misinformation campaign as head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Despite the governor and Sen. Reinbold belonging to the same political party, Dunleavy issued a stream of vitriol seldom leveled at even his Democratic foes in the Legislature. Everyone has a breaking point, and the governor found his.

You deceived the people of Alaska about their governments response to the largest public health crisis in a century. In doing so, you violated the obligation you have, as a member of the Legislature, to promoting and protecting public health, the governors missive to Sen. Reinbold read. Your baseless, deleterious and self-serving demands on government resources amounts to an abuse of public resources and will no longer be tolerated.

Its not hard to understand why Gov. Dunleavy unleashed his ire on Sen. Reinbold: For a full month, the senator has used her bully pulpit at the helm of the Judiciary Committee to belittle administration figures, partake in fact-free rants that misinform the public about the COVID-19 pandemic, entertain conspiracy theories, promote debunked medical claims and interview fringe figures who are all too happy to smear the medical and scientific establishment to gain personal notoriety. Reinbold falsely claimed the governor was making COVID-19 vaccines compulsory and equated his health mandates to martial law.

Given Sen. Reinbolds frequent and flagrant misinformation, the question most Alaskans asked themselves when they heard of the governors letter likely wasnt why, but why did it take so long?

Its a good question, and its one worth asking on a national level as well. Over the course of several years, the Republican Party in the United States has undergone a transmogrification, with a conspiracy-minded, xenophobic populist faction suddenly at the reins of the party Abraham Lincoln founded. Ten years ago, if youd asked a Republican why they chose their party, they would likely have answered with some mix of fiscal conservatism, belief in a strong national defense, the importance of the Second Amendment, and a sense that the U.S. was drifting toward moral relativism. Ask a self-identifying Republican today, and you might still get that answer or you might get an unhinged tirade about stolen elections, a cabal of child abusers, and the COVID-19 pandemic being a Chinese government plot.

Though the Republican Party is still nominally one party, its hard to see how the old guard of the GOP can coexist with the QAnon faction and the election-fraud diehards. The latter groups increasingly maintain their beliefs in direct contravention to reality. The predictions of Q have been repeatedly debunked and dozens of lawsuits alleging election fraud have been found wholly without merit, but it matters not a whit to the hardcore believers, who appear to think they can make these fabrications into reality through sheer force of will. And lately, these delusions have taken more and more dangerous form: Sen. Reinbolds anti-mask activism and COVID-19 quackery, if accepted by most Alaskans, would bring case counts roaring back to all-time highs. And five people died in January when election-fraud myth adherents, whipped into a frenzy by former President Donald Trump, rioted at the Capitol building in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden.

One participant in that riot, facing federal felony charges, was set to testify before Sen. Reinbolds Judiciary Committee on Friday, about the purported medical benefits of hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment. (It is apparently immaterial to Sen. Reinbold that the Food and Drug Administration has warned against the use of the drug by coronavirus patients.) Fortunately, Senate President Peter Micciche canceled that hearing personally on Thursday, preventing the spread of more misinformation. Which, again, should lead Alaskans to wonder, why did it take so long?

The answer is that decisions that would otherwise seem like common sense become more complicated when political reality intrudes. Despite Sen. Reinbolds well-established tendency to embarrass her caucus, shes not alone among legislators in her skepticism of COVID-19 health measure, and the Senate majority cant afford to lose very many members before its in danger of no longer being a majority thats why Sen. Reinbold came to be the Judiciary chair in the first place, and why the caucus ditched its requirement that members stick together on budget votes. Thats also why, rather than repudiating the discredited election-fraud claims and QAnon adherents in their ranks, GOP members in the Lower 48 opted to censure and deride those who spoke against them.

But at some point, there has to be a reckoning, and it seems like its coming soon, both in Alaska and across the U.S. the Republican Party cant exist long in its present state. It must choose to reject the fringe that has come to dominate its rank-and-file, or it will become a fringe party itself, fixated on misinformation and raging at imagined enemies. For the health of our state and our country, we should hope it chooses to return to its principles.

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For the GOP in Alaska and nationwide, how far is too far? - Anchorage Daily News

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Washington President Joe Biden reportedly wont rule out using executive orders to crackdown on Americans constitutionally protected Second Amendment rights. The revelation was made during a White House press conference on Tuesday in response to a statement that Biden put out last week calling for banning semi-automatic firearms in addition to other gun control measures, the Daily Wire reported.

What is your timetable for action on what the president calls common sense measures? a reporter asked White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, And whats the realistic hope that you have this will pass both houses?

Well, we havent proposed a package at this point, Psaki responded. So its hard for me to make a prediction about its likelihood of passing. But I will say that the president is somebody throughout his career who has advocated for smart gun safety measures. He is not afraid of standing up to the NRA. Hes done it multiple times and won on background checks and a range of issues. And it is a priority to him on a personal level, but I dont have a prediction for you, or preview for you on a timeline of a package, and certainly not what it will look like and how it goes through Congress.

WATCH:

Later in the press conference, a second reporter asked Psaki, Does the president still plan to take executive action on gun control? Next came the disclosure that its feasible.

The president has a range of actions at his disposal, Psaki responded. He hasnt ruled out either of those options.

The question came after Biden called on Congress late last week to enact commonsense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets.

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Biden won't rule out cracking down on Second Amendment rights with executive orders - LawOfficer.com

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

President Joe Biden, on the anniversary of the horrible tragedy called the Parkland school shootings, promised his administration would forever protect innocent Americans from similarly senseless crimes and soon enough, with Democrats holding majorities in both House and Senate, pass commonsense gun law reforms.

What he means by that, of course, is the end of the Second Amendment as we know it.

This administration will not wait for the next mass shooting to heed that call, Biden said.

We will take action to end our epidemic of gun violence and make our schools and communities safer, Biden said.

Today, I am calling on Congress to enact commonsense gun law reforms, including requiring background checks on all guns sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets, Biden said.

These are the lies of the left.

The truth, in rapid-fire fashion, is this: Americas epidemic of gun violence is not in the schools, but rather in the streets in the gang-banging, drug-infested streets of mostly Democrat-controlled communities. And if Biden and Democrats really wanted to stem the tide of gun-related violence with a commonsense approach, theyd first go after the guns being carted by lawbreakers i.e., gang-bangers and drug-dealing scum and not those carried by legal owners.

Its not the Second Amendment to blame for Americas gun-related crimes and deaths.

Its the culture.

Or, more to the point, its the blind eyes the Democrats turn to the lawbreakers, so as not to rock politically incorrect boats lawbreakers who then shoot up the culture.

[H]omicides in major cities including Baltimore are not race neutral, wrote John Hudgins, an associate professor of sociology at Coppin State University, in an April 2020, Baltimore Sun piece. Of the more than three hundred people killed in the streets of Baltimore last year, just about all of them were African Americans. The shooters (killers) were most likely black as well.

Hudgins went on to write that stop-and-frisk and mass incarcerations are civil rights hot points but commonsense controls that recognize the real sources of gun violence are nonetheless needed.

Commonsense controls that target illegal weapons, for instance, he said.

His viewpoint coincides with statistics from The Trace that found 3,010 people in 2020 were injured and killed in mass shootings the disproportionate share of which struck black neighborhoods. Why is this?

Its certainly not because of a lack of laws.

After all, its already illegal to shoot to kill; its already illegal to commit crimes with firearms. So the problem, to paraphrase Bill Clinton on the economy, is the culture, stupid.

In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau found that while the percentage of White children under the age of 18 who lived with both parents was 74.3%, the percent of black minors living with both parents was 38.7%.

The nonprofit Kids Count reported similarly for 2019 that roughly 64%, or two-thirds, of minor-aged Blacks were raised in single-parent homes. Kids Count also reported 42% of Hispanics in 2019 were raised in single-parent homes, compared to only 24% of Whites. With 64% of all Black youth and 42% of all Hispanic youth in the country being raised by single mothers single mothers who have to work, who have to work more than one job, who arent as attentive to the raising of their children as they might be with a father in the home its no wonder the Black communities are breeding grounds for gangs. Its no wonder Hispanic communities face the same issues.

In 1996, the National Youth Gang Survey found the ethnic backgrounds of gang members in America were as follows: 44% Hispanic, 35% Black, 14% White, and 7% Asian or other. And the ages of these gang members? As the National Gang Center reported, between 1996 and 2011, between 35% and 50% of Americas gang members younger than 18 years old.

These are not shocking statistics.

These are well known, well reported, well documented.

Its like the open secret of Americas crime rate the vastly ignored truths of Americas gun crimes.

So commonsense gun law reforms, as put forth by Biden and the Democrats? Seriously. Theres nothing commonsense about it.

If Democrats truly wanted to address gun violence in America, they would address the problems of those who choose guns and violence as viable ways of life. They wouldnt seek to regulate the ones who dont need regulation in the first place.

They wouldnt seek to needlessly restrict Second Amendment rights to needlessly claim the God-given right to self-defend. Theres nothing commonsense about that at all.

Cheryl Chumley can be reached at[emailprotected]or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast Bold and Blunt byclicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter byclicking HERE. Her latest book, Socialists Dont Sleep: Christians Must Rise Or America Will Fall, is available byclickingHERE.

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Joe Biden's 'commonsense gun law reforms' are the lies of the anti-2nd Amendment left - Washington Times

This past Sunday, Joe Biden did what we knew was coming he officially announced his intention to launch an assault against Americans Second Amendment rights. Using the anniversary of the Parkland school massacre and shamelessly exploiting those dead children, Biden dubiously couched his affront against the Constitution as commonsense. He listed several gun law reforms he wants Congress to pass. Notably, none of them would do anything to stop criminals from acting criminally, and at least some of them would make criminals of law-abiding citizens.

Bidens reforms include requiring background checks on all gun sales, banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and eliminating immunity for gun manufacturers who knowingly put weapons of war on our streets.

As we have repeatedly noted over the years, none of these reforms deal with the actual root problems of crime. Rather, they only work to further infringe on Americans Second Amendment right to bear arms for self-defense and as a check against government tyranny. Being an elitist Democrat, Joe Buy a Shotgun Biden clearly believes in neither.

In his push to finally deal with gun violence (as far as we know, theres never been an incident in which a firearm, acting on its own volition, shot someone), Biden did not rule out the possibility of issuing an executive order to assault the Second Amendment. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked if Biden would consider using an executive order. The president has a range of actions at this disposal, she responded. He hasnt ruled out either of those options.

Leftists in developed nations around the globe have long targeted citizens right to bear arms as a primary hurdle to their agendas. Recall how quickly New Zealands prime minister unilaterally acted to strip Kiwis of their gun rights in the wake of the 2019 mosque attack in Christchurch, all in the name of commonsense action.

Moreover, according to The Hill, Canada is expected to pass sweeping gun reform legislation, including a measure that allows municipalities to ban handguns [emphasis added]. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the new measures on Tuesday, a sweeping package that builds on a ban of more than 1,500 assault-style firearms. Trudeau said at a news conference on Tuesday that the country would move forward with a buyback program in the coming months. Trudeau ridiculously asserted, You cant fight gun violence for any violence on just one front. You cant fight it without addressing its root causes. Well, its clear that his administration is more interested in blaming inanimate tools rather than actually digging into the root human causes of violence and crime.

But we dont need to go to other countries to see how anti-gun leftists are determined to do everything in their power to limit gun rights. That much is demonstrated by Democrat Representative Sheila Jackson Lees bill HR 127 that would, among other things, create a mandatory registry of gun owners and the number of firearms they own.

Kevin Hasset, president of the Retired Police Association of the State of New York, noted, This is very dangerous, especially for retirees. Things have gone so downhill with this level of hostility towards cops and we are out there with the label that we are no longer cops. Retired cops dont have partners or backup. We are out there on our own. The same can be said of millions of other American citizens. Hasset further warned, This bill will go after all the lawful gun owners. If you are ever interested in robbing my house, you can look me up and know where my guns are stored.

Biden has made his intentions clear: He aims to assault our Second Amendment rights. And given his penchant for signing executive orders, this threat is no malarky.

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Thomas Gallatin: Biden Targets the Second Amendment The Patriot Post - Patriot Post

"The concern is they are going to get rid of that international tie to call you a domestic [terrorist], Scott said.

BONNER COUNTY, Idaho A live meeting with constituents over Zoom had Rep. Heather Scott,, R-Blanchard, talking about gun rights, the federal prosecution of insurrectionists and warning those in the call against public education, as reported by our news partner the Bonner County Daily Bee.

One of the biggest topics of the night, gun rights, was brought up in several questions throughout the video call.

Some constituents expressed concerns over whether President Joe Biden might sign an executive order restricting gun rights.

I do not see any [executive orders] on guns, but apparently, Biden has made some comments that he wants Congress to take up gun legislation, Scott said. That's what we're all afraid of. They're coming for our guns and I keep telling people, by the time they come for our guns it's going to be too late.

Scott encouraged those on the call to look into the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance, a group that describes itself as a no-compromise gun rights organization. Others, Scott said, are not.

You can forget about the NRA, she said.

In response to a question about red flag laws laws that would allow police or family members to petition the state to temporarily remove firearms from someone deemed to be a danger to themselves or others Scott said there are many attempts to push them through, which have been largely unsuccessful.

Still, Scott said, she believes there is an ongoing threat to gun rights.

Scott also discussed federal prosecution of insurrectionists at the Capitol building in Washington D.C. on Jan. 6, acknowledging the Sandpoint man who was arrested Friday in connection with the insurrection.

I don't know if he did something bad there or if he just went to protest, but he's been [charged] with an insurrection. This is a huge problem, she said. We don't have to agree with everything government says or does. And so but they are going to start tightening the screws on American citizens and free speech.

Although there are currently no federal offenses designated for domestic terrorism without connection to a foreign entity, Scott said shes concerned that if one is added it would allow the government to infringe on citizens rights.

The Biden administration says he's going after domestic terrorists. The concern is they are going to get rid of that international tie to call you a domestic [terrorist], she said. What that will do is that will make every single person that says something they don't like a domestic terrorist.

Scott criticized Gov. Brad Little on multiple occasions, saying that he, and many of the state legislators are not truly conservative and claimed many politicians to be influenced by globalism and corporate interests through lobby groups.

The governor is part of the [National] Governors Association, she said. The National Governors Association, guess who they have a new partnership with? The World Economic Forum It's the globalists that are basically running the governors.

Scott went on to make the unsubstantiated claim that the group, or globalists, were responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic and are planning a cyber attack.

They are the ones that came out with COVID. And they are the ones that are coming out with a cyber attack, she said. They just said COVID is going to be nothing compared to the cyber attack coming.

Throughout the meeting, Scott said she believes Idaho is not conservative, and that within the Idaho Legislature she estimates there are probably three conservatives in the Senate, and maybe 20, 25, in the House.

She also blamed other legislators for a lack of legislative progress; namely Republican representative Fred Wood, for not hearing bills by more conservative legislators.

[He] will not hear any bills about vaccinations or the health districts or anything, she said.

In response to questions about education, Scott said she believes college to serve only as indoctrination.

I would not send my kids to college, I would find another route, she said. I feel the same way about public schools, unfortunately.

One caller asked whether there would be consequences for Gov. Little banning hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 and the deaths from the virus during that time.

Hydroxychloroquine, which was touted as a treatment for COVID-19 by former President Donald Trump, despite a lack of evidence.

It's just not, it's not going to get better, she said. We're not going to just do this and it's all going to be fixed. It's going to take a lot more than that. And I hope it doesn't take blood but I'm, I'm beginning to wonder.

The Bonner County Bee is a KREM 2 news partner. For more from our news partner,click here.

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North Idaho Rep. Heather Scott discusses gun rights, insurrection, free speech - KREM.com