Boycott Fairbanks MAGA businesses!

 

Student Lunch Debt in Fairbanks, AK

 

Oct 22nd, 2024 the Fairbanks Daily News Miner reported that 800 of our district’s students struggled to pay for meals at school. Whether they have money or not, the Food service has committed to feeding them anyway.

https://www.newsminer.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/supporting-student-nutrition-and-reducing-meal-debt/article_dc8f9028-8d9d-11ef-819d-1341c488c344.html


That article said food debt was up to 14,000. Now it is over $32,000 and that debt may carry over to the next year for families. If you can, make a donation to the FNSBSD Nutrition Services and help pay off a child’s lunch debt.


Donate here:

Food service Donation QR code

https://ak-fairbanksnorthstar-lite.intouchreceipting.com/NSCDonations 

Follow them on FB:

Nutrition Services - Fairbanks School District

https://www.facebook.com/nutritionfnsbsd/

Twenty Lessons, read by John Lithgow

 

Key selections from On Tyranny, for viewing and sharing

Timothy Snyder

Mar 30, 2025

Here is my best guidance for action, rendered beautifully by the great John Lithgow. I first published these lessons more than eight years ago, in late 2016. They open the twenty chapters of On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. Millions of you, around the world, have put these lessons to good use; it has been humbling to learn how from courageous and creative dissenters, protestors, and oppositionists. I am delighted to have this special chance now to share the lessons again. I was honored when John, a wise advocate for civil discourse and civic engagement, volunteered to read them aloud.

Above is his film. Below is the text, excerpted from the book. Do share this.

Share

(There are 20 points)

1. Do not obey in advance. Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.

2. Defend institutions. It is institutions that help us to preserve decency. They need our help as well. Do not speak of "our institutions" unless you make them yours by acting on their behalf. Institutions do not protect themselves. They fall one after the other unless each is defended from the beginning. So choose an institution you care about -- a court, a newspaper, a law, a labor union -- and take its side.

3. Beware the one-party state. The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the multiple-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local and state elections while you can. Consider running for office.

4. Take responsibility for the face of the world. The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.

5. Remember professional ethics. When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor.

6. Be wary of paramilitaries. When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching with torches and pictures of a leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.

7. Be reflective if you must be armed. If you carry a weapon in public service, may God bless you and keep you. But know that evils of the past involved policemen and soldiers finding themselves, one day, doing irregular things. Be ready to say no.

8. Stand out. Someone has to. It is easy to follow along. It can feel strange to do or say something different. But without that unease, there is no freedom. Remember Rosa Parks. The moment you set an example, the spell of the status quo is broken, and others will follow.

9. Be kind to our language. Avoid pronouncing the phrases everyone else does. Think up your own way of speaking, even if only to convey that thing you think everyone is saying. Make an effort to separate yourself from the internet. Read books.

10. Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.

READ MORE:

On substack.

https://snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-lessons-read-by-john-lithgow 

Great News! State legislature overrides Education Veto!

 

Alaska Legislature overrides Gov. Dunleavy’s veto of public school funding bill

The override may be the first of several; two of the bill’s funding mechanisms could be vetoed by the governor

By: James Brooks and Corinne Smith - May 20, 2025 9:33 am

Alaska’s public schools may see the largest permanent funding boost in well over a decade, after the Alaska Legislature voted for the first time since 2002 to override a sitting governor’s veto.

With a 46-14 vote, lawmakers significantly increased Alaska’s per-student public funding formula, overriding Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s decision to reject House Bill 57. Forty votes were needed for an override. 

“This was a truly bipartisan vote reflective of everyone in Alaska,” said Speaker of the House Bryce Edgmon, I-Dillingham.

...

The override means a permanent increase of $700 in the base student allocation, core of the state’s per-student funding formula.

READ MORE:

https://alaskabeacon.com/2025/05/20/alaska-legislature-overrides-gov-dunleavys-veto-of-public-school-funding-bill/

Budget Bill gives a $7 trillion tax cut on the backs of the poor and does NOT cut deficit!

 

Write a letter to your congressman or a letter to the editor about the new budget bill!

And, as I suspected, the new budget bill slashes services to the poor while handing out a tax cut to the billionaires. The U.S. House Committee on Financial Services wrote this: "Not only will this bill hand billionaires like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg a massive $7 trillion tax cut, but it also slashes $880 billion in Medicaid and funding for food stamps. At a time when our nation is facing a worsening housing and climate crisis, this bill guts funding for affordable, climate-resilient housing."

The US House Committee also says it will "Drive U.S. Toward 2008-Style Recession"


And it says the bill will " These sweeping deregulatory measures defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which was created after the financial crisis of 2008 to protect working-class families from financial fraud and abuse and has saved consumers $21 billion since. It abolishes oversight bodies like the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, established to regulate auditors after two major accounting scandals and the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), and Office of Financial Research (OFR), leaving millions of American families vulnerable to a financial crash."
https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413304


Furthermore, the Committee for a Responsible Federal Government says that “The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimated that the bill as written would increase deficits by $3.8 trillion through 2034, or 1.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP); if all of its expiring policies are extended permanently, we estimate it would add $5.3 trillion to deficits, or 1.5 percent of GDP.”
https://www.crfb.org/blogs/permanent-ways-means-bill-could-add-53-trillion-deficits


So, they have made very harmful cuts that will impact the poorest of Americans and asked us all to sacrifice but they are NOT reducing the deficit or the debt, but raising it, while giving tax cuts to billionaires. I feel that this is sinister, and that we should all object to this bill.


Crushing dissent. A quote from the ACLU (May 13th) regarding the new budget bill:

“In an apparent effort to aid President Trump’s discriminatory clamp down on free speech, Republicans on the House Ways & Means Committee have snuck a dangerous anti-dissent bill into their massive, new tax package.

“This provision, formerly known as H.R. 9495, would grant the executive branch the power to effectively shut down any non-profit organization — including news outlets, universities, and civil liberties groups — by accusing them of “supporting terrorism” and using that accusation to suspend their tax-exempt status without any real due process. It was defeated last year, yet extreme politicians are now trying to resurrect it once again.”

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-urges-house-committee-to-remove-dangerous-anti-dissent-provision-from-tax-bill


Allowing the government to curb our free speech in this manner is a dangerous road to go down, and smacks of totalitarianism.

Republican tax bill could slap ‘terrorism’ label on non-profits opposed to Trump

(From the Guardian, May 14th)

Fears sparked that Trump would wield law against groups that file lawsuits or organize voters against his policies

Chris Stein in Washington


Non-profit groups are sounding the alarm over an attempt by Republican lawmakers to insert a provision allowing the government to cancel the tax-exempt status of organizations it deems “terrorist supporting” in a massive bill under negotiation in the House of Representatives.

The provision’s potential inclusion in the spending and taxation legislation that Donald Trump and his allies refer to as “one big, beautiful bill” has sparked fears that the administration will wield it against groups who file lawsuits or organize voters against his policies.

Lia Holland, campaigns and communications director at tech policy non-profit Fight for the Future, described the provision as “a five-alarm fire for non-profits nationwide”.

“Any organization with goals that do not line up with Maga can be destroyed with a wink from Trump to the treasury”, likely those that oppose his policies towards Israel, or advocate for causes like racial justice and the environment, they said.

Trump had made plain his desire for revenge against his enemies, and since taking office has sought to deport foreign students who engaged in pro-Palestinian activism, blacklisted law firms who have worked for his political opponents and backed the arrest of a county judge on charges of obstructing immigration authorities.


“This provision has nothing to do with keeping Americans safe and instead is an attack on free speech, the security of our communities, and the work of non-profit organizations and charities,” said Skye Perryman, president and CEO of Democracy Forward, which has repeatedly taken the White House to court over its policies.

READ MORE:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/14/tax-status-non-profits-terrorism-republicans

PROTECT ABORTION ACCESS AND TRANSGENDER HEALTHCARE, IN AK

 

The state legislature is working on the budget, now is a good time to review ALL of it and express your concerns to your legislators.  In particular, please see the attached regarding changes to state medicaid funding.

When you call/email please include:

Your full name, the city you live in,

and “please vote to remove all budget amendments that would limit Alaskan’s access to abortion or transgender healthcare!” or something similar

The amendments specifically make it so that Medicaid would not be allowed to cover abortion care or trans healthcare. If you want to say anything about why access to those services are important to you, please do!

Here are the emails of all the senators on the committee:Senator.James.Kaufman@akleg.gov, Senator.Lyman.Hoffman@akleg.gov, Senator.Bert.Stedman@akleg.gov, Representative.DeLena.Johnson@akleg.gov, Representative.Andy.Josephson@akleg.gov, Representative.Calvin.Schrage@akleg.gov

and the phone numbers:

Sen. Lyman Hoffman: 907-465-4453

Sen. James Kaufman: 907-465-4949

Sen. Bert Stedman, 907-465-3873

Rep. DeLena Johnson, 907-465-4958

Rep. Andy Josephson, 907-465-4939

Rep. Calvin Schrage, 907-465-4931

.