Alaska

Friday

Cockburn

Nancy Mace is ‘feline’ fine

Nancy Mace appeared on her new video podcast Get Maced Thursday wearing a garment X posters called a “cat suit.” Technically speaking, it was a skin-tight black leather top with a zipper down the front. The outgoing (in every sense) South Carolina Congresswoman did resemble Catwoman from the DC Universe. Was the DC pun somehow intended? Graphics appeared on the screen during the video in the style of comic book drawings. The video pushed her YouTube audience to just over 70,000 subscribers. She spoke in an unsettlingly calm voice about topics such as the Iran war (“why we want it to end”), potential Democratic nominees and Hasan Piker (not yet a potential Democratic nominee). Throughout the video, Mace unpacked opinions on Yemen and Qatar as they relate to the war.

nancy mace cat suit

Thursday

The Spectator

Portrait of the week: Ukraine talks, inflation rises and a new house for the Prince and Princess of Wales

From our UK edition

Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, joined President Volodymyr Zelensky and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Finland, the EU and Nato in a visit to Washington three days after the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska. On his return he chaired a virtual meeting of a ‘coalition of the willing’ to discuss security guarantees for Ukraine. Asylum seekers were to be removed from the Bell Hotel, Epping, Essex, after the High Court granted an injunction sought by Epping Forest district council against their being housed there. The ten councils controlled by Reform would try to emulate Epping. The number of migrants arriving in England in small boats in the seven days to 18 August was 968.

Saturday

Freddy Gray

Did Putin get the upper hand in Alaska?

From our UK edition

Donald Trump hasn't left his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska with a deal to end the war in Ukraine. He told reporters that 'great progress' was made but 'we didn't get there'. To discuss who really got the upper hand, Freddy Gray is joined by Spectator associate editor and Russia correspondent Owen Matthews.

Trump Putin
Doug Bandow

The Alaska summit went much as expected

The summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin ended predictably, without a ceasefire deal or, it seems, assent on much else. Trump said “Many points were agreed to, and there are just a very few that are left,” but failed to offer any details. Even if true, the leftovers are critical, and the gulf between the two governments on the war remains huge. Critically, Putin cares more about security than image or economics, and understandably believes that he would lose leverage by agreeing to halt military operations before winning the concessions he demands from Ukraine. Nevertheless, the summit improved, however slightly, the prospects for negotiating an end to the war.

Friday

Tim Marshall

Trump, Putin, and the hidden power of the Bering Strait

Ahead of the Trump-Putin summit in Alaska to discuss Ukraine, President Trump said there would be “some land swapping.” He waxed lyrical about “prime real estate.” The summit’s location is a good example of land swaps and prime real estate and is in a region of growing geopolitical importance.   In 1867 Russia "swapped" Alaska for $7.2 million in a deal mocked as Seward’s Folly after Secretary of State William H. Seward who negotiated the exchange. It turned out to be a snip. Commercially viable oil was discovered three decades later and has brought in more than $180 billion in revenue since Alaska became a state in 1959.

Trump Putin Alaska Bering Strait

Thursday

James Heale

Does European solidarity over Ukraine matter?

From our UK edition

14 min listen

Ukraine's President Zelensky has spent today with Keir Starmer at Number 10. This is in anticipation of tomorrow's Alaska summit between Presidents Trump and Putin – where European leaders will be notably absent. Zelensky's visit to the UK is designed to project an image of solidarity with Starmer, and European leaders in general – but does it really matter? And is Putin really closer to accepting a ceasefire? Tim Shipman and James Heale join Lucy Dunn to discuss Plus – Tim talks about his article in the magazine this week, for which he spoke to George Finch, the 19 year old Reform councillor who is leader of Warwickshire County Council.

Tuesday

Derek VanBuskirk

What Trump’s executive orders will do

The newly sworn-in President Trump had a busy inaugural day. Between swearing into office and waving a saber around while dancing to “YMCA” at an inaugural ball, he also signed several executive orders and proclamations. After signing his cabinet and other nominations, President Trump’s first order of business was to proclaim that all flags should be flown at full staff for this and all future inauguration days. Following the inaugural parade, President Trump signed a bevy of additional executive documents as thousands of his supporters cheered.

Tuesday

Matt McDonald

Donald Trump dominant on Super Tuesday

Donald Trump is cleaning up in the Republican primaries on Super Tuesday. The 45th president has secured victories in Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. Nikki Haley's sole victory is in Vermont. President Biden also bagged easy wins in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. The Democrats also held caucuses in American Samoa and Iowa on Tuesday. Biden won Iowa with 91 percent of the vote, but lost American Samoa to unknown businessman Jason Palmer.

trump super tuesday

Saturday

Amber Duke

Alaska prisons drop policy banning Catholic Mass

The Alaska Department of Corrections reversed its policy banning alcoholic wine from religious ceremonies in prison facilities on Friday, following a report from The Spectator. The interim policy, which was issued on June 6 and signed by Commissioner Jennifer Winkelman, stated that "no altar wine or other alcoholic beverages will be used by anyone who is involved with any activity. The use of a non-alcoholic substitute (juice) for altar wine may be considered." The policy effectively banned Catholic masses, which require alcoholic wine in order to be considered valid, from the prison system. Catholic prisoners would thus be unable to fulfill their holy obligation to attend Mass each Sunday.

alaska mass

Thursday

Amber Duke

Alaska prisons effectively ban Catholic Mass

The Alaska Department of Corrections has instituted a new policy that banned the use of altar wine during religious ceremonies, effectively barring Catholic Mass from being offered at correctional facilities. "No altar wine or other alcoholic beverages will be used by anyone who is involved with any activity. The use of a non-alcoholic substitute (juice) for altar wine may be considered," the interim policy established on June 6 reads. 816.01-IPPMDownload The interim policy effectively bans Catholic masses, which require a priest to consecrate and consume both bread and wine in order for the Mass to be considered valid.

catholic mass alaskan prisons

Thursday

Sarah Montalbano

Sarah Palin isn’t done yet

Sarah Palin was defeated by Democrat Mary Peltola on Wednesday in a special election to fill the late Don Young’s seat in the House. She lost by a margin of 3 percent amid Alaska’s first ranked-choice voting election. Ranked-choice voting is when voters get to select their second, third, and so on choices of candidates in a field, rather than choosing just one candidate. Though left-leaning publications like the New York Times have wasted no time in declaring “defeat for MAGA Republicans,” such a conclusion is premature. Palin’s failure to win four short months in Congress does not necessarily mean conservatism has been repudiated. It mostly reflects the warped mechanics and unintuitive strategies of ranked-choice voting.

Tuesday

Sarah Montalbano

Lisa Murkowski doesn’t need the Republican Party

The Alaska Republican Party no longer wants Lisa Murkowski. That's just fine by her. In a traditional one-person-one-vote system, Murkowski would be sweating bullets right about now. The Alaskan Republican Party has censured her and endorsed Kelly Tshibaka, the former commissioner of the state's Department of Administration. President Trump has also thrown his weight behind Tshibaka. Murkowski has repeatedly voted against the Republican Party and Alaskan interests on key issues. In any other situation, she would be losing her seat — and for good reason. Fortunately for Murkowski, this year will be the test of Alaska’s ranked-choice voting (RCV) system. The ballot measure, which passed narrowly in 2020, established a nonpartisan top-four primary and RCV for the general election.

Friday

Fred Fleitz

A diplomatic disaster in Alaska

It goes without saying that when conducting high-level diplomacy, you don’t insult the other party at a joint press conference before the negotiations begin. And if you choose to do something so foolish, you must be ready when the other party retaliates in its response. It is incredible that secretary of state Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan did not understand this when they began talks with their Chinese counterparts in Alaska yesterday. At what was supposed to be perfunctory two-minute statements by the US and Chinese delegations to the press before the talks began, Blinken and Sullivan criticized Chinese activities against the Uighurs, in Hong Kong and Taiwan, as well as for cyber attacks on the US and economic coercion of US allies.

alaska