Dunleavy now claims to be an expert on the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics
Gov. Mike Dunleavy, who learned about the Bureau of Labor Statistics last month, agrees with Trump that “BLS is broken and needs to be fixed.”
Dunleavy, who leads the Golden Age of Alaska, can’t say exactly what is broken, except that Trump didn’t like a jobs report and wanted a better number.
Pretending to know something is all part of currying favor with an all-powerful leader who demands obedience and flattery. Like nodding your head and smiling when Trump says gasoline is $2 a gallon.
Dunleavy has had an affinity for imaginary statistics during his years as governor.
He ran under the false claim that Alaskans could have big dividends, state services and no new taxes, a statistical impossibility.
Dunleavy propelled himself to the governor’s chair in 2018 on a foundation of lies and phony statistics—no one should forget his imaginary $6,700 dividend plan.
“The governor’s back pay proposal does not expend new dollars, rather returns what Alaskans are lawfully owed. Meanwhile, opponents of restoring a full PFD and authorizing back pay continue to paint a false choice in an attempt to solidify a multi-billion dollar tax increase on Alaskan families,” Dunleavy’s office claimed on January 16, 2019.
Dunleavy has continued to promise many billions in imaginary dividends since then, but he has never proposed a fiscal plan, forcing the Legislature to try to grapple with reality.
STORY SELECTION: Alaska Republican leaders, including Fairbanks real estate agent Cam Markwood, are attacking the Daily News-Miner for publishing the story of Charlie Kirk’s assassination on page B-3, listed as the entertainment page.
The story took up half of one page and one-fifth of another page, the longest and most detailed article in the paper that day by far.
Markwood, the vice chair of the Republican Party, claimed it was “appalling and insulting on many levels.” Suzanne Downing, who wields a poison pen for the Republican Party, said about this story placement, “No matter how much you hate the mainstream media, it’s not enough.”
Markwood and Downing are wrong with their sweeping attacks.
It was clearly a mistake by the News-Miner to not make some mention of the killing on the front page, but the exaggerated responses of the GOP critics are ridiculous.
The newspaper has a tiny staff and each day’s newspaper requires dozens of decisions about what to put where. There is no time to sit around and second guess every decision.
The newspaper puts nearly all of its effort into local news, which is understandable as that is what people value the most in Fairbanks. There are occasions when a big national story belongs on the front page. This was one of those instances. Should someone have removed the “entertainment” header from the page? Yes.
The News-Miner, by the way, has a much better track record than Downing.
I am writing this Friday evening. Downing has not corrected her lie that the man arrested for shooting Charlie Kirk “expressed strong opposition to Kirk’s conservative messages and was a member of Democrat Socialists of America.”
Politifact, which is a better source than Downing, says: “Social media users said Robinson was a member of the Salt Lake City Democratic Socialists of America. The organization said he is not a member of any of its chapters, and the photos and videos users have pointed to as evidence of his affiliation do not show Robinson.”
“Priscilla Yeverino, a national spokesperson for the organization, said the group has no members named Tyler Robinson "anywhere in the country." Yeverino said the organization has received several photos of people alleging they are Robinson, "which is vehemently false.’”
Downing has also failed to correct her claim that a Washington Post headline of “America enters a new age of political violence,” over a story about Kirk and other shootings, should have been headlined "The Left enters a new age of political violence.”
Finally, Eagle River Rep. Jamie Allard claimed that she believes Kirk’s shooting is the start of a civil war.
What we need are politicians who try to think just a bit about what they say before they commence jabbering.
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