Along with more than a thousand other Juneauites, I attended the “No Kings” protest last Saturday. I didn’t agree with everything I heard from those who spoke to the crowd. I’m sure none of us did. But I guarantee no one was there because they are “unwilling to accept the outcome of the November election” that returned Donald Trump to the White House.
That’s what Suzanne Downing wrote on Must Read Alaska. Not only was she absolutely wrong, she had to be blind to the irony that her website still publishes diatribes about “the obviously stolen election of 2020” and “Dominion voting machines that talk to cell towers.”
But according to Sen. Dan Sullivan, Downing has an “unwavering commitment to holding the mainstream media accountable.”
That’s what he said on the Senate floor when he paid a tribute to Downing last July. “Tens of thousands of Alaskans read Suzanne’s stories on Must Read every day,” he said. She writes “two, sometimes three or more stories a day,” applying knowledge “that comes from real world experiences, the kind of varied experiences that so many journalists lack today.”
She was probably a good journalist once. But not anymore. If she was, instead of inserting her unfaltering bias into the article, she would have interviewed some of the thousands of Alaskans who attended the No Kings protests around the state.
Retired District Court Judge Phil Pallenberg spoke for many of us in Juneau when he explained why he was there.
“As a judge, I was trained to be cautious,” he began, “not to say more that is necessary, and most of all, not to get involved in politics.” But after running through a bulletlike recap of the disturbing news from the previous week, including two Minnesota state legislators who had been shot in their homes and a U.S. senator being handcuffed at a Department of Homeland Security press conference, he said “I cannot remain silent anymore.”
Then he told us a personal story.
“My mom loved this country. But she never took our freedom for granted. She was born in a democratic Germany. But she came of age in a totalitarian, Nazi dictatorship. She knew that what happened in Germany could happen here.”
But he “believed our founding fathers had created a set of checks and balances would keep anyone from accumulating the power of a dictator. Turns out I was naïve.”
That statement doesn’t point just at Trump and the unflinching loyalists in his administration. It’s an indictment of Republicans in Congress who, as Sen. Lisa Murkowski recently said, aren’t fulfilling their constitutional duty to check the president’s abuse of power.
A month ago, I argued that Trump’s acceptance of a jumbo jet from the Qatari government, the private dinner he hosted with investors in his new crypto meme coin, his family’s management of World Liberty Financial crypto coin, and real estate deals in three Arab countries development deals Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Qatar were all screaming conflicts of interest if not outright corruption.
The following week I pointed out that six judges he appointed have ruled he’s violated our laws. Last week I complained about his “defiance of the judiciary” and “overt political retribution.”
Sullivan can’t defend any of those egregious acts. Or those that Pallenberg spoke about.
Or what happened to Brad Lander this week.
According to a DHS spokesperson, the New York City’s Comptroller and a Democratic candidate for mayor was arrested for assaulting a law enforcement officer. “No one is above the law,” she said, “and if you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will face consequences.”
One problem with her statement is that the video of the incident shows Lander assaulted no one. The other is it’s a complete contradiction to Trump’s pardon of hundreds of people convicted of violently assaulting Capital Police officers during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“This isn’t about policy,” Pallenberg said as he was wrapping up his speech. “It isn’t about right or left. It’s about who we are as Americans. It’s about whether we still believe in liberty and justice for all.”
If you believe in equal justice for all, it’s imperative to take a stand against the President of the United States who certainly doesn’t.
Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.
