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National: Federal Court Rules ObamaCare Unconstitutional, Appeal Planned By MARY KAUFFMAN - A federal judge in Texas tonight ruled the entire Affordable Care Act Law is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled in a 55-page opinion that last year’s tax cut bill knocked the constitutional foundation from under “Obamacare” by eliminating a penalty for not having coverage. O’Connor is a conservative Republican appointee by President George W. Bush.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined by twenty Republican-led states brought the lawsuit. After Trump ordered the Justice Department to stop defending the health law, a coalition of ACA-supporting states took up the defense.

The lawsuit was opposed by a coalition of 17 Democratic attorneys general, led by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a former congressman. Democrats contended that the Republican tax law lowered the federal penalty for being uninsured to $0, but did not negate the Affordable Care Act Law’s constitutionality.

In the lawsuit, Attorney General Paxton said, “The Supreme Court held Obamacare was only tethered to the Constitution by a very thin thread – the fact that the individual penalty raised some revenue. Congress severed that thin thread with the tax act of 2017, and all of Obamacare must fall.”

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said: "We expect this ruling will be appealed to the Supreme Court. Pending the appeal process, the law remains in place."

President Donald Trump tweeted that Congress should pass a new law. In his tweet President Trump said today, "As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster! Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions. Mitch and Nancy, get it done!"

Democrat Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi said in a prepared statement, “While the district court’s absurd ruling will be immediately appealed, Republicans are fully responsible for this cruel decision and for the fear they have struck into millions of families across America who are now in danger of losing their health coverage.  When House Democrats take the gavel, the House of Representatives will move swiftly to formally intervene in the appeals process to uphold the life-saving protections for people with pre-existing conditions and reject Republicans’ effort to destroy the Affordable Care Act.”

The American Medical Association called O’Connor’s ruling an “unfortunate step backward for our health system that is contrary to overwhelming public sentiment to preserve pre-existing condition protections.”

Pelosi also said in her prepared statement regarding the district court's decision in Republicans’ Texas v. United States lawsuit striking down protections for people with pre-existing conditions and the Affordable Care Act, “Tonight’s district court ruling exposes the monstrous endgame of Republicans’ all-out assault on people with pre-existing conditions and Americans’ access to affordable health care."

“The GOP Congress tried and failed to destroy the Affordable Care Act and protections for pre-existing conditions.  Then, in the midterm election, the American people delivered a record-breaking margin of almost 10 million votes against House Republicans’ vile assault on health care.  Now, the district court ruling in Republicans’ lawsuit seeks to subvert the will of the American people and sow chaos in the final day of HealthCare.gov open enrollment," said Pelosi. - More...
Friday PM - December 14, 2018

Moonshine Over The Point
Front Page Feature Photo By SHARON HOLT ©2018

Alaska: Dunleavy Administration Inherits a $1.6 Billion Deficit; Releases Proposed State Budget By MARY KAUFFMAN - Today Governor Mike Dunleavy released a revision to the prior administration's proposed Fiscal Year 2020 state budget with two changes: Updated revenue forecasts, which the Department of Revenue says is more in line with current trends, and 2019 Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) payouts according to the historic statutory formula.  

The Dunleavy administration submitted the Walker administration’s proposed $11.5 billion FY2020 budget today simply to meet the statutory deadline and, to demonstrate its ongoing commitment to be honest with Alaskans about the state’s budget shortfall. Quoting a news release, the root of the problem with the Walker administration’s budget lies in a single number – its unrealistic projection that oil will sell for $75 dollars per barrel between July 2019 and June 2020.

“The Dunleavy administration is all about truth in budgeting,” said Alaska Department of Revenue Commissioner Bruce Tangeman. “We performed a thorough analysis of the revenue estimates submitted by the previous administration and, it became clear it did not represent the true size of the budget deficit.” 

Quoting a news release, Governor Dunleavy's budget uses a more realistic oil price forecast of $64 dollars per barrel, which balloons the deficit to $1.6 billion dollars after earnings from the Permanent Fund are used to pay for government services and dividends. That figure will be the starting point for vigorous discussions with state agencies, legislators and the public. The Walker $11.5 billion-dollar spending plan is unsustainable and leaves substantial room for spending reductions and budgetary reforms that reflect the state’s current fiscal situation.

The fall forecast is the revenue department’s first revenue forecast following passage of SB 26, which established a protocol for transferring a portion of the earnings of the Permanent Fund to the general fund each year. The department is presenting the estimated Permanent Fund transfer as unrestricted revenue beginning in FY 2019.  

Under this structure, this Permanent Fund transfer will fund both the Permanent Fund Dividend as well as general government operations. 

General fund unrestricted revenues totaled $2.4 billion in FY 2018. Not counting the Permanent Fund transfer, the department is forecasting unrestricted revenue of $2.8 billion for FY 2019 and $2.3 billion for FY 2020. - More...
Friday PM - December 14, 2018

Southeast Alaska: Wolf hunting, trapping season to close in Unit 2 - The Thorne Bay and Craig Districts Ranger, Matt Anderson, under authority delegated by the Federal Subsistence Board, will close the Federal public lands of Unit 2 to the harvest of wolf from 11:59 P.M., Tuesday, December 18, 2018 until 11:59 P.M., March 31, 2019. However, due to the current weather, trappers will be allowed until 11:59 p.m., December 21, 2018, to collect gear in the field.

ADF&G and the U.S. Forest Service jointly set the regulatory year 2018 (July 2018 – June 2019) Unit 2 wolf hunting and trapping harvest quota at 46 wolves. ADF&G currently manages Unit 2 wolves for an annual harvest that should not exceed 20 percent of the most recent unit-wide, fall population estimate.

Managers anticipate that by the closure date additional harvest by hunters and trappers still in the field will reach or surpass the quota. Therefore, the wolf hunting and trapping seasons are being closed by emergency order. - More...
Friday PM - December 14, 2018

Harbor Sunrise
Front Page Feature Photo By DESTINY MADEWELL ©2018

Fish Factor: U.S. Fisheries Report Released By LAINE WELCH -  Alaska is the nation’s super power when it comes to seafood.

American fishermen landed just shy of 10 billion pounds of fish and shellfish last year valued at $5.4 billion, both up slightly. Of that, Alaska accounted for 61 percent of total landings (6 billion pounds) and 33 percent of the value ($1.8 billion).

That’s according to the  2017 Fisheries of the US Report just released by NOAA Fisheries which covers all U.S. regions and species, recreational fishing, aquaculture, trade and much more. The popular annual report also includes the top 50 U.S. ports for seafood landings and values and once again, Alaska dominated the list.

“The Alaska port of Dutch Harbor led the nation with the highest amount of seafood landings – 769 million pounds valued at $173 million – for the 21st year in a row,” said Ned Cyr, NOAA director of Science and Technology at a media teleconference. “New Bedford, Massachusetts had the highest value catch for the 18th year in a row – 11 million pounds valued at $389 million with 80% coming from the highly lucrative sea scallop fishery.”

The “Aleutian Islands” ranked second for seafood landings thanks to Trident’s plant at Akutan, the nation’s largest seafood processing facility. Kodiak bumped up a notch from fourth to third place. The “Alaska Peninsula” ranked 7th and Naknek came in at number 9.

Alaska ports rounding out the top 20 were Cordova, Sitka, Ketchikan and Petersburg. In all, 13 Alaskan fishing communities ranked among the top 50 list of U.S. ports for seafood landings.

The report also highlights the growing role for aquaculture in the domestic seafood industry.  U.S. marine and fresh water aquaculture was valued at $1.5 billion in 2016, equal to about 21 percent of the value of the nation’s combined seafood production, with oysters, clams and salmon generating the highest value.

The U.S. still imports over 80 percent of its seafood and federal overseers are intent upon turning that tide.
“The Dept. of Commerce and NOAA are committed to addressing the U.S. seafood trade deficit through regulatory streamlining, increasing aquaculture production and creating a better, fairer trading system for all Americans,” Cyr said.

Nearly six billion pounds of fish and shellfish were imported to the U.S. last year, up 1.6 percent, valued at $21.5 billion, a 10.4 percent increase from 2016. Shrimp, salmon and tuna continued to top the list of imports.

In other report highlights: - More...
Friday PM - December 14, 2018

Alaska Science: Grades keep slipping on Arctic Report Card By NED ROZELL - At this annual gathering of thousands of scientists that has grown in step with the increasing number of people on Earth, researchers at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union again sounded the alarm for a quiet place — the top of the world.

At a press conference devoted to the changes in the Arctic, expert panelists spoke of dwindling northern sea ice, its probable connection with severe weather down here, decreasing caribou populations (with a notable exception in Alaska) and the discovery that the Arctic Basin has “a higher concentration of microplastics than anywhere else in the world.”

This was the 13th consecutive year of the December release of NOAA’s Arctic Report Card, a series of essays written by scientists.

Sea ice, which floats on the Arctic Ocean and is now expanding in sheets during the cold, dark polar night, has always been the leadoff topic of the press conference at AGU’s fall meeting.

This year, Don Perovich of Dartmouth College spoke of how thin that ice is over much of the Arctic Ocean, unlike a few decades ago when lots more of it survived the heat of summer. Now, sea ice constructed of slabs more than four years old makes up just one percent of the total ice cover. - More...
Friday PM - December 14, 2018

SARA CROOM: Trump's Medicare Plan Would Be Terrible for Healthcare - "First, do no harm." That's the most basic and sacrosanct principle in all of medicine, and Department of Health & Human Services Secretary Alex Azar should take serious note of it before going ahead with a poorly drawn, "race to the bottom" plan to index Medicare Part B drug prices to countries with socialized health care, where government bureaucrats undervalue and tightly ration access to lifesaving drugs and treatments developed here in the United States.

During his campaign, President Trump promised to put a stop to bad trade agreements that rip off American business and workers. He also vowed to protect Medicare, encourage lifesaving medical innovations, and unleash free market forces into the health care system. This so-called "International Price Index" scheme would accomplish none of the above.

Trump's plan would jeopardize the coming generation of groundbreaking research and medical advancements - and quick access to those breakthroughs for 44 million Medicare recipients - while drastically undervaluing the current generation of Medicare Part B drugs.Whatever price reductions might result from this debacle would not come close to compensating for the permanent, long-term damage.

Here in America, we have medical research figured out. America's biopharmaceutical industry and American taxpayers - including Medicare recipients who have paid into the system from their first day on the job - have a partnership that is the envy of the world. Other nations know it, and they benefit from our hard-won intellectual property without paying one dime in return. Instead, using mandated price controls that can't be negotiated, they ration the lifesaving drugs and therapies we develop here in America to their people on the cheap. - More...
Friday PM - December 14, 2018

MICHAEL REAGAN: All is Fair in the War on Trump - It's not like it was something we didn't already know.

But what the FBI and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's did to President Trump's former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is fresh proof that there are two kinds of justice operating in the Washington swamp.

One kind - the mean, devious, throw-the-book-at-'em kind - is used for prosecuting Donald Trump and his people.

The other kind of justice - the nice, easy-going, so-what kind - is used for not looking into the law-breaking email fiascos of Hillary and the financial fishiness of the Clinton Crime Syndicate.

Hillary continues to skate free, unbothered by the FBI or any federal agency for the dirty things she and the Obama administration's injustice department did during the 2016 election to try to defeat Donald Trump.

But not General Flynn.

His life was ruined by the FBI bosses who set out to nail him - and did.

Comparing transcripts from phone wiretaps, the FBI caught Gen. Flynn lying about what he said in a phone call with former Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in December of 2016.

Flynn's terrible crime - a single count of lying to an FBI agent in 2017 - obviously had nothing to do with the Trump election team colluding with the Russians, mainly because there was no collusion. - More...
Friday PM - December 14, 2018