At long last the new year is here! Behind us are the floods, blizzards, pandemics, elections, and the vast array of distractions that have clouded our skies. It is time to get down to... — Updated 1/18/2023 Full story

It is always wise to count our blessings, especially halfway between election day and Christmas. I juxtapose those dates because the seasonal background noise is seamless. Election day... — Updated 12/1/2022 Full story

Politically, the United States has been on a long slow drift to the left ever since Franklin Roosevelt threatened to expand the Supreme Court in 1937 in order to get his progressive... — Updated 10/6/2022 Full story

Being cynical by nature, and having a solid distrust of the integrity of the popular press, it crosses my mind that the political determination of the United States and its NATO allies... — Updated 9/15/2022 Full story

With the recent rash of opinions handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court this spring, there has been a great deal of conversation about whether the 'democracy' is at risk. Whether we are a... — Updated 8/4/2022 Full story

Those of us who watch such things are well aware that Senator Murkowski has been the strong vocal lead in the Senate when it comes to sounding the alarm that the country is at... — Updated 6/30/2022 Full story

When I first heard the term "greenwashed," I naturally assumed that it referred to the endless stream of misrepresentations that the American Environmental Industry dumps on a gullible pu... — Updated 5/12/2022 Full story

On April 12, 2013, Governor Sean Parnell signed into law Senate Bill 1, "An Act establishing May 10 of each year as Alaska Mining Day; and providing for an effective date" (Chapter 6,... — Updated 5/5/2022

This past week the Biden Administration released a document ineptly entitled "Fundamental Principles for Domestic Mining Reform." It would have been more accurately called "Eleven Ways... — Updated 3/10/2022 Full story

In today's topsy-turvy world, perhaps the question we all should be asking is, in the unforgettable opening words of Admiral James Stockdale during the 1992 Vice Presidential debate,... — Updated 3/4/2022 Full story

In 1951, Life Magazine (remember "Life"?) dubbed the New York Times the "Old Gray Lady" "by way of acknowledging its special marks: starch conservatism and circumspection." How things hav... — Updated 2/3/2022 Full story

If global warming and the associated risk of climate change is due, at least in part, to anthropomorphic causes, it stands to reason that there are too many anthropoids (specifically,... — Updated 12/16/2021 Full story

If there is one thing that most Americans can probably agree on, I think, it is that Joe Biden is the worst President we have had since Donald Trump. Since they both had a lot of things... — Updated 10/28/2021 Full story

Decennially, the question of whether Alaska shall have a constitutional convention must appear on the ballot. Alaskans have voted on this issue five times since 1972 and defeated it... — Updated 10/28/2021 Full story

Following the model set by other successful generals such as George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Dwight Eisenhower, after having essentially won the War in Europe,... — Updated 9/30/2021 Full story

Over the past quadrennial, there has been a great deal of conversation about "truth." Especially in the political arena. Ostensibly, the number of "lies" that have emanated from the... — Updated 7/29/2021 Full story

Although new cases of COVID-19 are still appearing throughout the nation in general and Alaska in particular, at the moment they are hovering at the 40-per-day level apparently. The vacci... — Updated 6/24/2021 Full story

I always tend to look at the world through the wrong end of the telescope. For instance, many people regard the so-called political divisions in our country as being a problem, but for... — Updated 5/27/2021 Full story

In February, the Alaska Miners Association (AMA) released its annual report on the Economic Benefits of Alaska's Mining Industry. That report highlighted the fact that 4,700 direct and 9,... — Updated 4/1/2021 Full story

Without a doubt, 2020 was somewhat less than a perfect year. If you didn't like the way it started out, with an impeachment and a pandemic dominating the news, you might not have liked... — Updated 2/25/2021 Full story

It has often been said that one should never watch sausages or laws being made. There are good reasons for saying that, especially in our quasi-democratic environment. For just cause we... — Updated 2/11/2021 Full story

The fourth quarter in any given year, actually the period between Columbus Day and Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, is always an interesting period. Every eighth year (more frequently with... — Updated 11/25/2020 Full story

The successful appointment of Justice Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court has possibly put an end for the time being to the national drift to the political left. Without disparaging any... — Updated 10/29/2020 Full story

Every four years Americans get the delicious treat of a Presidential campaign during which contenders for leadership of the free world get to stand before the electorate and pontificate... — Updated 8/27/2020 Full story

Each July for the past four decades I have traveled to the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation’s Annual Institute for the purpose of maintaining my credentials as a lawyer and to... — Updated 7/30/2020 Full story