"Tells us why? Women and Girls: Reports from UN Women indicate that over 38,000 women and girls have been killed in Gaza during the conflict. Of these documented deaths, approximately 22,000 were adult women and 16,000 were girls.
Children: UNICEF estimates that at least 21,000 to 22,000 children have been killed, with over 44,500 children injured. Why did they have to die to make Israel safer? That would mean that every other child in Anchorage would be dead, Look around that classroom you volunteer at and every other child would be dead.
"Approximately 1.16 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes."
Really?? What does that have to do with the genocide Israel has engaged in??
Hey but if it makes you feel better. The usual whataboutism from you."
It's easier to respond here in another post than in the comment section.
I'm trying to put myself in A's head to understand what he's (I'm guessing Anon is a 'he') trying to say and why. I guess I could just ignore it. The challenge is to respond positively. Well, at least neutrally. Just focusing on the content. Though that's hard because I'm puzzled at the hints of hostility.
1. For starters, this is clearly from someone who reads my posts often enough to refer to
He's read here about the third grade class where I volunteer
The last sentence "The usual whataboutism from you." 'Usual' suggests he reads enough to think that is something I often do.
The style and tone are similar to someone who has left other comments over the years
2. "Tells us why?"
I'm not sure what this refers to.
3. The stats on Women and Girls and then the paragraph on Children
This is detail I didn't present. I do offer data that covers children, but not women and girls specifically. As I said in the post "Nothing in depth, just a sampling" So, the commenter could have positively offered this information to supplement what I'd written. Instead, I read an accusation that I left this information out, maybe intentionally.
"Why did they have to die to make Israel safer? - A legitimate question he could have added
The reference to Anchorage children and those in the classroom where I volunteered is a powerful way to make the point I was trying to convey when I wrote "Remember each person who dies, civilian or soldier, leaves holes in people’s hearts - parents, children, spouses, siblings, fiancées, life-long friends, work colleagues. Leaves holes in families, at school, at work, in communities."
4. ""Approximately 1.16 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes."
Really?? What does that have to do with the genocide Israel has engaged in??
I'm not sure why he thinks this post is focused on "genocide Israel has engaged in." The title of the post is "People Are Dying, Are You Actively Trying to End The Killing?" implying it's about death. The first lines clarify the scope of the post: "This began as a protest against war - Netanyahu's non-stop killing of Palestinians and other Arabs, the US-Israeli war in Iran, and the various other wars going on in the world, mostly using Western weapons of destruction and death.
But then I looked at other death statistics - worldwide traffic deaths for instance. A lot more people die of vehicle crashes than war."
I'm writing about death and I mention Palestinians in the first paragraph but in the context of other wars, not that I'm focusing on Gaza. Rather, Gaza is an example of war caused deaths and destruction. And I further clarify that I realized that, as horrible as war is, more people die of car crashes than war. But Anon somehow wants it to be about genocide, specifically in Palestine. He should write his own blog. And maybe he does, but he signs in as Anonymous so we don't know.
5. "Hey but if it makes you feel better. The usual whataboutism from you."
The veiled hostility we heard in the first sentence, again.
noun what·about·ism ˌ(h)wä-tə-ˈbau̇-ˌti-zəm ˌ(h)wə- plural whataboutisms : the act or practice of responding to an accusation of wrongdoing by claiming that an offense committed by another is similar or worse" (emphasis added)
I can see how Anon might think that my saying there are more deaths from causes other than war is an attempt to downplay the deaths of war. But it ignores the whole context of the post. First, I'm not responding to an accusation (well, I guess I am here in the comment, but I wasn't when I wrote the post). Rather I wanted to write about the many unnecessary deaths in the world and first focused on war. But then realized that there were more unnecessary deaths from non-war causes. So I wrote about them as well. The whole point was to call people's attention to unnecessary deaths and then to challenge them to find ways they can personally work to decrease that number.. But I put that part off to a later post because the original post had gotten long enough.
Anon seems to have focused on the post he wanted me to write, or that he would like to write, not the post I actually wrote. He made a few legitimate additions to the numbers I offered and a poignant example of the death toll in Gaza by referring to Anchorage kids. But underlying everything was a hostility that I don't understand. I discussed issues he mentioned, but he's taken them out of context. I'm sorry for the underlying anger he seems to have that caused him to focus on some of what I wrote, but not the whole context of what I wrote.
After writing this and letting it sit, I read my book for next week's book club - The Constitution of Knowledge by Jonathon Rauch. It's pretty dense and I'm way behind. But I got to a section that talked about the evolution of the Scientific Method. It points to an important shift where scientists moved away from talking about the writer and focusing on the ideas.
That, I think, is what disturbed me about Anon's comments. They seemed more focused on me, the writer and my motives and less on what I wrote. To my knowledge he doesn't know me, except through what I write on the blog. If he had something to add or to contest, he could have done that without attacking the person who wrote it.
This began as a protest against war - Netanyahu's non-stop killing of Palestinians and other Arabs, the US-Israeli war in Iran, and the various other wars going on in the world, mostly using Western weapons of destruction and death.
But then I looked at other death statistics - worldwide traffic deaths for instance. A lot more people die of vehicle crashes than war. War, however, is intentional destruction and killing while the others, usually, are side effects other other, generally useful, activities. Though one wonders whether the deaths caused by, Elon Musk's cutting of AID funding was just stupid ignorance or intended. His white, South African cultural heritage suggests the possibility that he knew what would happen and he approved.
In any case, the intent was to call attention to the unnecessary deaths all around us, and which the United States plays, if not the main role, certainly a subsidiary role.
And then to remind people that there is something they can do to stop unnecessary deaths. As I wrote, I realized this second part would best be left for a second post.
And so this post sat here in limbo. Well, now I'm bending over backwards and sliding under the stick to finish this and post it.
WAR
Let’s just start with wars. Nothing in depth, just a sampling. Remember each person who dies, civilian or soldier, leaves holes in people’s hearts - parents, children, spouses, siblings, fiancees, life-long friends, work colleagues. Leaves holes in families, at school, at work, in communities.
US-Israeli-Iran War
“As of 2025, Iran's population is around 92 million. In recent years, however, Iran's birth rate has dropped significantly.” Wikipedia
The US population when I checked just now was 342 million at Census.gov
“IRAN WAR DEATH TOLL 2026 — LIVE US, IRANIAN & ISRAELI CASUALTIES
Last updated: July 16, 2026 — Day 140 of Operation Epic Fury — Iranian officials say US strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded more than 300 over the past week, while Jordan reports shooting down eight Iranian missiles — Iranian figures remain unverified independently
Total Iran war death toll (verified ranges, as of July 16, 2026 / Day 140): Across all fronts of the 2026 Iran-Israel-US war (Operation Epic Fury), cross-source counts put total deaths at roughly 7,144 to 9,676+ killed and about 46,965 injured (compiled casualty tallies). Iran: 3,468 confirmed by the Foundation of Martyrs, 3,636 documented by HRANA, and up to 6,000+ per US and Israeli estimates, with 15,000 to 26,500 injured. Lebanon: more than 4,000 killed per the Lebanese Health Ministry (which does not distinguish civilians from combatants), including dozens killed in renewed June 19-20 strikes amid repeated ceasefire breakdowns. United States: 13 killed in action and 365+ wounded by official Pentagon count; independent tallies cite 15 killed and 520–543 wounded. Israel: 57 killed. Gulf and other states: Iraq 119+, UAE 13, Kuwait 10, with smaller tolls in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and elsewhere. The US-Iran war is now governed by a signed memorandum (in effect since June 17) with the Strait of Hormuz reopened; the main remaining front is Israel-Lebanon, where a US/Qatar-brokered ceasefire was renewed June 19. Figures are sourced from CENTCOM, the IDF, the Lebanese Health Ministry, Iran's Foundation of Martyrs, HRANA, and verified OSINT; military and civilian counts and source estimates vary widely and are tracked separately. Note: the US-Iran strike cycle continued June 26-28 (US strikes on ~10 Iranian targets; Iran fired drones then ballistic missiles at US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain, intercepted with no US casualties). On June 28 the cycle claimed its first death — a Qatari civilian killed by shrapnel from “the military operations witnessed in the region,” with an Arab resident injured (stable). At least one person was also killed in renewed Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon.”
“IranWarLive is 100% independent and ad-free. There are no corporate backers or state sponsors. However, running state-of-the-art AI models (LLMs) to parse data, alongside the serverless cloud infrastructure that keeps the map updating every 30 minutes, comes with hard monthly costs.”
I’m using it because it is the most current and seems reasonably consistent with other news sites that are three or four months old. The AI part raises some questions though.
Palestine/Israel
Palestinian population in Israel and in Palestinian Territory (Wikipedia)
“Palestine. 5,350,000[1]
– West Bank (Palestine)3,190,000[1] (of whom 912,879 are registered refugees as of 2024)[2][3][4]
– Gaza Strip (Palestine)2,170,000 (of whom 1,476,706 are registered refugees as of 2024)[1][5][2][3]
“Occupied Jerusalem, July 16 (SANA) The death toll from Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip has risen to 73,250, with 173,751 people wounded since Oct. 7, 2023, the Palestinian Health Ministry said on Thursday.
The ministry said hospitals across Gaza received four bodies and 28 wounded people over the past 24 hours, adding that many victims remain trapped beneath the rubble or in areas inaccessible to ambulance and civil defense crews.
The ministry said 1,127 Palestinians have been killed and 3,643 wounded since the collapse of the ceasefire on Oct. 10 last year.”
“Disclaimer: Figures that are yet-to-be verified by the UN are attributed to their source. Casualty numbers have been provided by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and the Israeli authorities. The fatality breakdowns currently cited are those that the MoH in Gaza has fully identified as of 31 December 2025 out of the higher number of casualties they report. The latest casualty updates are also available on the Health Cluster’s Unified Dashboard.”
Israelis in Israel - 1162. About 1400 reported injuries
Israelis in Gaza. - 474 reported deaths; 3,004 reported injuries
Ukraine-Russia
From Ukrainian Pravda:
“The total combat losses of the Russian forces between 24 February 2022 and 17 July 2026 are estimated to be as follows [figures in parentheses represent the latest losses – ed.]:
approximately 1,425,990 (+1,370) military personnel”
“First, Russian battlefield costs continue to mount, with as many as 450,000 battlefield deaths and 1.4 million casualties between February 2022 and June 2026. These rates are astounding. Russian fatalities in Ukraine are more than four times greater than all U.S. fatalities in all wars combined since World War II, and more than nine times greater than all Soviet and Russian fatalities in all wars combined since World War II.
In addition, Russia’s monthly casualty rates of over 30,000 per month in 2026 have likely exceeded Russia’s recruitment rates of roughly 27,000 new recruits per month. The Russia-Ukraine casualty rate has likely risen to nearly 8:1 in the first half of 2026, up from between 2:1 and 3:1 for much of the war, in large part due to Ukraine’s use of drones—including AI-enabled drones—as part of its aggressive air interdiction campaign.”
Note: These are casualties for Russian soldiers, not all of whom are Russian nationals.
(Ukrainian) CIVILIAN CASUALTIES SINCE 24 FEBRUARY 2022 = 62,716
deaths = 16,126
Injured = 46,590
From RussiaMatters
“Military casualties (see footnotes for detailed source estimates)
1,000,000 Russian military casualties (killed and wounded), according to a late February 2026 estimate that a highly-informed former high-ranking Western official shared with RM.6
250,000–300,000 Ukrainian military casualties (killed and wounded), according to a late February 2026 estimate that a highly-informed former high-ranking Western official shared with RM.7
Military casualties (see footnotes for detailed source estimates)
1,000,000 Russian military casualties (killed and wounded), according to a late February 2026 estimate that a highly-informed former high-ranking Western official shared with RM.6
250,000–300,000 Ukrainian military casualties (killed and wounded), according to a late February 2026 estimate that a highly-informed former high-ranking Western official shared with RM.7
Civilian fatalities8
Russia: 8,012 “peaceful residents… killed,” according to RF government.
Ukraine: nearly 16,000 civilians killed in Ukraine according to the U.N.”
There are conflicts in various African states, in South America, in Asia which are leaving dead dead bodies and disrupting people’s lives. “Disrupting” - probably is too abstract a word. Devastating, tearing apart, scattering, are some other words. And in a few cases, the loss of an abusive husband perhaps, there is quiet relief.
It's clear that Putin has no concern for the lives of soldiers fighting for Russia. While I want Ukraine to win, I still have to feel bad for the Russian soldiers being killed for Putin's war.
OTHER CAUSES OF DEATH
While war usually catches the headlines, there are other factors that kill more people:
Cuts to USAID funding around the world. - These are harder to quantify. Here's an estimate from a book review of Into the Wood Chipper by Nicholas Enrich, USAID's Bureau for Global Health in 2025. The review tells us that book explains many programs, what they provided, and how cutting them will impact the people relying on them.
"It was a combination of administrative incompetence and malice, and the book illustrates the grim process by which dull bureaucratic procedures can end up killing human beings en masse. Meetings are held, emails are sent, phone calls are made, and something like 520,000 children die of malnutrition, diarrhea, tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV. As the book goes on, it becomes clear it was more the second explanation rather than the first—DOGE’s destruction of the agency was driven primarily by animosity rather than ignorance."
“ These estimates reflect excess deaths resulting from the US federal government’s discontinuation of USAID funding. Brooke Nichols’ impact trackers suggest that these deaths will continue to rise if USAID funding is not restored. Credit: Impact Counter.”
The leading causes of death are illnesses - heart diseases, strokes, cancers, and more. While everyone is going to die one day, better health care, better education, and other preventive measures can eliminate some of these illnesses and give people many more years of life.
This post is mainly aimed at people who are isolated (maybe lucky or privileged are better words) enough that they aren't directly and personally affected by war and other causes of premature death in the US and around the world. To document some of the numbers and personalize some of the deaths.
Step 2
What can you do to help more people live their natural lives? I'll address that in another post, soon, I hope. And when I do I'll link to it here.
Meanwhile, get limber in your thinking and in your efforts to make the world a better place. As they say, each dollar adds up. As does each effort no matter how small.
"They may have carts and boats but there will be no need to ride in them; they may have armor and weapons but they will never need to display them. Let the people go back to tying knots for record-keeping; let their food be savory; their clothing beautiful; their customs pleasurable; their homes secure. Though they may gaze across at a neighbor's holdings and hear the sounds of its dogs and chickens, they will not bother them, coming and going. They will die of happy old age." - Translated by Jerry C. Welch, Chapter 81
Regulars here know that there will be a bit more than just Waterbiking.
Our kids gathered on Bainbridge Island last week for a family celebration. We had a good time in pleasant weather, all the nicer knowing we were missing a week of rain in Anchorage. The views from my window seat weren't spectacular on the way back yesterday. As we got to Prince William Sound, we were already told to prep for landing early - trays up, electronics unplugged, etc. Then the next 20 minutes or so were variations of gray clouds with one brief opening where I could see land below. That darker stretch is Fire Island, but even parts of it are clouded over. We did have a smooth landing.
So I'd been wondering whether I would have decent biking weather to get to my dermatologist appointment today. The weather app wasn't hopeful last night, but this morning when I opened the shades, there was even sunshine! My doctor has moved since my last appointment. He was in the Providence medical high rises. Now he's in midtown - the modern glassy building on C St. between Northern Lights and Benson. I noticed the sign in the elevator - Self Cleaning Buttons. Never noticed a sign like that before.
In today's world, nanoseptic self-cleaning buttons are changing the game for places lots of people touch.
These innovative buttons clean themselves using nanoseptic technology, so there's no need to use regular cleaners on them.
The magic behind their cleaning power is a powerful oxidation reaction from mineral crystals that get energy from light you can see.
This process breaks down nasty stuff like organic contaminants into harmless things such as CO2, making everything safer and cleaner.
Not only do they work well, but these buttons also last a long time. They're a solid choice for keeping germs at bay.
With nanoseptic button covers, upgrading those high-touch spots becomes easy and does wonders for public health."
The office takes up the whole 8th floor. My exam room was on the northeast corner. I've reserved the room for all future visits.
And then I was done, with the sun still shining. So I headed off along C Street to Dowling to pick up the Campbell Creek south trail.
The water was muddy and high as it passed under C Street. I was concerned about what the Arctic underpass would look like. With good reason. A biker and his dog came the other way. Okay, let's do it.
I came out the other side with wet feet - I'm guessing it was six or seven inches deep at the deepest point. So, how is the Minnesota underpass going to be?
Not as bad as Arctic, but it does go on a bit further on the other side.
So where the trail ends I decided to go back on Dimond and get back to the trail at C Street. Dimond's not the nicest biking environment, so I went exploring on Vernye Place, which quickly becomes Della and that connects with Runamuck Place.
It's only a short block long and Wakefield is a dead end, between Dimond and Campbell Creek.
So back up to Dimond. The sidewalk deadended near the Minnesota overpass, but a path went down to the bike trail on the other side of the bridge (so I didn't have to go through the puddles again.)
At Arctic, to avoid the deep water, I went back up to Dimond where I saw this assortment of political signs:
This is why a lot of folks were upset when Matt Shultz pulled out of the US House race. Here's Independent Bill Hill's sign up with a Sullivan (the Senator, I assume, not Daniel J.) The Bronson and Church (for Governor) and McGuire and Rasmussen (for Governor}. All the others are Republicans. What is he telling Republicans that he's not telling Democrats? Or does this mean the Republicans really don't like Rep. Nick Begich?
Because I also see Bill Hill signs next to Mary Peltola signs. If he pulls it off, there will be some upset voters when he picks a side to caucus with.
At C Street, back down to the bike trail and home. Well one more detour. I'm sure the underpass at Old Seward Highway will be flooded, so I get off at the new bridge over Campbell Creek - which is 50th and cross Old Seward and get back on the trail on the other side of the bridge. Sure enough, it's also got lots of water. Plus it has lots of bumps.
This is across the creek from the Arctic Road Runner.
July has only gotten about three inches of rain so far. While that's three times the normal rainfall, it's not really a lot of rain over three weeks, though much of it probably came this last week. And I suspect there was more rain in the mountains where the creek originates.
But I hope these flood zones are on the Municipalities fix list.
It's dark and cloudy again as I finish this post at 3pm.
I’m on Bainbridge Island for a short notice, brief family gathering.
I don’t think it’s the travel that has made blogging harder. It’s the general overload of negative stimuli. There’s too much to write. Nothing to write that others haven’t covered more than I can, but still not adequately.
So, my fallback is recent photos. [And since I’m traveling I took my iPad instead of my MacBook and there’s all sorts of little quirks. I mastered most of them last fall when I had the iPad with me in Turkey, but I have to relearn them. Like just now when I clicked to upload photos, it tells me I can’t unless I sign in with my Google account or allow cookie access to proceed. Well, I already did the google account sign in to be able to start blogging. And unlike my laptop where it has a button to allow cookie access, in the iPad it has a button for more information. And the information isn’t helpful. On my laptop I can go to Safari preferences but doing that on the iPad isn’t as straightforward. So probably there won’t be a post tonight. No, let me post this and when I figure out how to get the pictures up, I’ll add them to this.]
I’d add that when I started blogging on Blogspot, it hadn’t yet been bought by google. And Apple shares some of the blame. The stuff I need is there, I know. Just in a different place with a different symbol.
A few minutes later. I googled again on how to unblock cookies. It told me to go to apps and then find Safari.
It was already unblocked. I blocked it and unblocked it again. Back to Blogger, and this time it worked. Grrrrr!
“THESE CHARGES ARE OF A PERSONAL CHARACTER, AND WHILE THEY SEEM TO BE SUSTAINED BY THE RECORD OF THE TRIAL AND THE PAPERS BEFORE ME AND TEND TO SHOW THAT THE TRIAL WAS NOT FAIR. I DO NOT CARE TO DISCUSS THIS FEATURE OF THE CASE ANY FURTHER, BECAUSE IT IS NOT NECESSARY. I AM CONVINCED THAT IT IS CLEARLY MY DUTY TO ACT IN THIS CASE FOR THE REASONS ALREADY GIVEN, AND I, THEREFORE, GRANT AN ABSOLUTE PARDON TO SAMUEL FIELDEN, OSCAR NEEBE AND MICHAEL SCHWAB THIS 26TH DAY OF JUNE, 1890.
JOHN P. ALTGELD,
GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS”
The Sunday Solidarity book club is reading Fight Like Hell by Kim Kelly. It’s a review of people who fought for the rights of workers in the US since the early 1800s. One section focused on Lucy Parsons and the Haymarket Eight.
“On May 4, 1886, a mass meeting of workers gathered in Chicago’s Haymarket Square to listen to a handful of local anarchists and labor organizers speak in support of workers at the nearby McCormick Reaper Works, who were on strike for an eight-hour workday and had been viciously attacked by police the day before. Among the speakers were Lucy’s husband, Albert, August Spies, and Samuel Fielden, three anarchists who were steadfast advocates for the eight-hour workday movement that had been gathering momentum among the city’s laboring classes. [Albert Parsons spoke]
Fielden was up next, and as he was finishing his speech, police arrived to break up the rally. A bomb was thrown into the path of the advancing phalanx, and the cops began firing wildly into the crowd. In less than five minutes the square was emptied, eleven people were dead, and more than seventy had been injured. Despite the fog of chaos making it nearly impossible to tell who had done what exactly in the melee, Parsons, Spies, Fielden, and fellow anarchists Adolph Fischer, George Engel, Michael Schwab, Oscar Neebe, and Louis Lingg were arrested and tried for conspiracy and murder. There was no firm evidence connecting any of the men to the bombing itself, and as one policeman who’d been present told a reporter, ‘A very large number of the police were wounded by each other’s revolvers.’
”An openly hostile judge and jury, along with the public’s distrust of the defendants’ anarchists politics, sealed their fates. All were declared guilty, with Parsons and Pies among the four sentenced to the gallows.” (Fight Like Hell 61-62)
The book then mentions there’s a memorial for the Haymarket Massacre in Forest Park, Illinois. I have good friends who live in Oak Park, the next suburb over. So I asked them to check out the memorial and send me some pictures for the book club. And that’s one of them above. Thanks Norma and Lewis.
At that Sunday Solidarity meeting after the book club, one of the activities was putting together comfort kits for kids who have had trauma in their lives. There were small blue fabric boxes that we filled with balloons, tiny stuffed animals, colored pencils, small coloring books, a timer, and other goodies.
Although I’ve gotten the photos up, they are not responding to the normal controls to move to the left, center, or right. Below is a picture from the Bear Tooth theater where we saw Argentina defeat Switzerland. That was Saturday, before the meeting on Sunday, but I just can’t move the pictures around predictably so I’ll leave it here.
Tuesday morning we were on a plane in Anchorage, waiting to take off in the rain. Not complaining, rain is good and we were taking off on time for Seattle.
We got to Seattle and took the light rail to the ferry. We were hoping to catch the 3:50pm ferry and we were cutting it a bit tight. But it turned out that both the 3pm and 3:50 ferries had been cancelled and we eventually got the 4:45 ferry.
But because of the two cancelled ferries, the crowd in the terminal had gotten way bigger than normal.
[“A Way With Words”. Metal art by Rob Satterwhite. There’s a phone number, so if you want to buy it, contact me and I’ll get it to you. At $95 it’s a bargain compared to other art works there.]
There was a small art exhibit in the Bainbridge Island library today and I liked the quote of this piece. I think you should be able to read it.
And there’s lots of heather blooming.
And that’s that. One of the most frustrating posting experiences in a long time.
The Division of Elections said it had a June 28 deadline to print primary ballots.
But then they took Daniel J. Sullivan off the ballot in the US Senate race and were challenged in court and required to put him back on by the Superior and then Alaska Supreme Court.
Then a sample ballot appeared on their website which left off Daniel J.'s political party and added "Incumbent" to Senator Dan S Sullivan's name on the ballot. (Honorifics are not allowed and someone checked the last four elections and reported that no one had 'incumbent' by their name.)
Since then there's been almost complete silence.
Were the ballots printed? If so, what do they look like?
Did Daniel J. file any sort of legal complaint?
What do the judges think about all this? They said they'd trust the professionalism of the Division of Elections, but that was clearly a mistake.
The only word has been from NBC saying the US Department of Justice and the Alaska Attorney General's office are investigating a conspiracy around putting Daniel J. on the ballot. Because he was trying to confuse the public. I can think of others they should investigate first on that charge.
Do you think the Republicans are worried about losing the Senate?
It's July 7 already and no word. Yes, the July 4 holiday took up some time. In fact the Division of Elections office in Anchorage was closed Friday AND Monday.
[UPDATE: July 7, 2026: I stopped by the Anchorage Division of Elections again today to drop off a voter registration form. (I'm a voter registrar.) The door was locked. Entry required me to call them.
When the door finally opened, I handed off the registration form and I had two questions.
Were the primary ballots printed? The woman answered, "Yes and they were sent to overseas voters last week."
My follow up question was: what did the Senate ballot say? "The sample ballot is on our website." Below is a copy of the sample ballot for District 1. (They show the ballots for each district to show that the order of the names is rotated for each district as required by law.)
As you can see, Daniel J. Sullivan has Jr. after his name and his party was left off. Dan S. Sullivan got to have both Republican AND "Incumbent" listed.
" (4) The director may not include on the ballot, as a part of a candidate's name, any honorary or assumed title or prefix but may include in the candidate's name any nickname or familiar form of a proper name of the candidate.
(5) The names of the candidates shall be placed in separate sections on the state general election ballot under the office designation to which they were nominated. If a candidate is registered as affiliated with a political party or political group, the party affiliation, if any, may be designated after the name of the candidate, upon request of the candidate. If a candidate has requested designation as nonpartisan or undeclared, that designation shall be placed after the name of the candidate. If a candidate is not registered as affiliated with a political party or political group and has not requested to be designated as nonpartisan or undeclared, the candidate shall be designated as undeclared."
Therefore, as I read this, placing "Incumbent" after the current Senator's name would seem to fall into the category of 'honorary or assumed title'. I believe it was the Chief Justice who raised this in the Supreme Court hearing. Sen. Dan's attorney brushed it off.
And Daniel J.'s political party - Republican- should have been printed under his name. No matter how much the GOP argue that he only recently registered as a Republican, there is nothing that addresses when one registered, except it has to be done before you turn in the forms for candidacy.
Is Daniel J.'s attorney working on this? I don't know. This is where we are today, as far as I can tell.
[UPDATE: I did email Daniel J.'s attorney and he responded that he can't comment at this time.]
Writing on politics these days can get one down. But riding on Anchorage bike trails can restore one's sense of well being. Here are some pictures from the last couple of weeks.
Campbell Creek reflecting the afternoon sun.
A grebe in Westchester Lagoon
A moose off in the distance. We're about 1/4 mile from a major road in Anchorage. But on the bike trail, at times like this I feel like I'm in the middle of the wilderness
New goslings huddle (in the lower right} at the Alaska Native Medical Center (ANMC) campus
The path through the University of Alaska Anchorage
Headed home near Valley of the Moon park about 10 pm.
For most people dandelions are weeds, but close up, they are amazing.
On the Campbell Creek trail just west of the Seward Highway. This is the kind of traffic blockage I don't mind.
This spot at Goose Lake is always changing and most always spectacular.
The listing is for Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. There is no party listing. He is the only candidate with no party listing even if it is just "(Undisclosed)." I listened to the Court arguments yesterday and to part of the hearing again today. It was my impression that the Court expected a party designation of Republican next to Daniel J.'s name. Though they never explicitly said so.
My comment at the end of yesterday's post was that I had less confidence that the Division would do the right thing than the Court seemed to have. The Republican Party, from the national level (the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) made the first complaint about Daniel J. Sullivan being on the ballot) to the many states that sent in amicus briefs supporting the Division's decision to delete Daniel J. from the ballot, to the Alaska Republican Party which filed two more complaints, and whose members include Lt. Governor Dahlstrom (who oversees elections) and the Division head Beecher.
And here we are. Today's the day the ballots are scheduled to be printed. The Division's attorney, Chris Murray, did say that if Sullivan doesn't like how his name appears on the ballot he can appeal it. But, as Chief Justice Carney replied, the time is short.
Thank you to Matthew Beck who posted this last night on Bluesky
Below is my transcript of part of Monday's court hearing. As I listened to it, I noticed several things.
1. Mr. Murray is good at saying he agrees with what a Justice just said, but then he twists it in his own favor.
2. The Justices - particularly Chief Justice Carney - appeared to believe that Daniel J. Sullivan had registered as a Republican before filing and that he should have that designation by his name. Though Mr. Murray casts doubt on Daniel J's Republican credentials:"if or to the extent that he ever registered with the Republican Party he did when he filed his declaration of candidacy"
3. Mr. Murray points out he can be listed as a Republican or nothing at all. He keeps that option open, though what I heard from the justices was that he was a Republican and should be listed that way.
4. Murray points out that if Sullivan doesn't like his designation, he can appeal it, but Chief Justice Carney immediately points out the time crunch.
"Chief Justice Carney: 49:09 The Division’s proposal not to list him as a Republican after certifying his declaration of candidacy as a Republican would appear to be a little outside its discretion, wouldn’t it? Don’t they have to list him as Republican?
Chris Murray: I would respectfully disagree there and I would point you Madame Chief Justice to Alaska Statute 151530 Subsection 5. If you look there, this talks about how the ballot is prepared. What’s got to go on there, basically the Division must do and what the Division can do. And I would point you to the second sentence of that subsection. which says, if a candidate is registered as affiliated with a party or group it doesn’t - it doesn’t sound as if there is any debate here, Mr. Sullivan, if or to the extent that he ever registered with the Republican Party he did when he filed his declaration of candidacy
Justice Henderson: He registered
Murray: Justice Henderson, I wanted to get to the next piece.
Justice Henderson: I don’t see anything in this subsection that allows the Division to force someone to have a descriptor in terms of affiliation, political affiliation, that is contrary to what they requested.
Murray: So, there Your Honor, I agree with you. And in our briefing we suggested that he be listed as non-partisan. I will say that’s a product of speed, it’s simply not correct. I think he could be listed as Republican or nothing at all. That’s what could be done. So, I think you make a very fair point there. But I will say that when it comes to the partisan affiliation, the statute says it may be designated after the name of the candidate.
Chief Justice Carney: Well, if you journey back to felons in Outside prisons part of that appeal was that if the Democrats didn’t really want to associate with a felon in an Outside prison, right? He got to appear on the ballot as a Democrat did he not?
Murray: In that case again, there was never a challenge from, the Division never made any findings on that. The context of the Beecher case was, can you elevate more than one from fifth place for the top fou, I know this court is very familiar with it. You decided it.
Chief Justice Carney: Absolutely. But the Division’s briefing at the Superior Court there has multiple references to, for example on page 17 of his opposition to his motion below, “Mr. Hafner is qualified. He correctly completed his declaration of candidacy. That was as a Democrat. That was what he was listed ultimately, as a Democrat on the ballot.
Murray: I also don’t believe there was any question as a Democrat out of state. Here again I would say that if the determination regarding how Mr Sullivan goes on the ballot that he doesn’t like, he does have a right to challenge it. I’d hate to do it, but he does have a right to challenge it. We don’t deny that.
Chief Justice Carney: You may have noticed that the time is running short?
Murray: There’s no question about that, Madame Chief Justice and I would also like to echo what Mr. Robinson said that we appreciate both Judge Matthews below and this court’s expeditious hearing here. We would ask the court, if it decides Mr. Sullivan has to go on the ballot, that it remand and let the division make the determination about how he goes on the ballot. If the court is unwilling to do that, we ask that the court direct us to do that, but we don’t think that’s this courts place"
I tried to call the number listed for Mr. Sullivan on the other sample ballot, but, understandably, it's blocking callers. Will he take advantage of the appeal that Mr. Murray mentioned? We'll see.
Is this worth all the time we've spent on it? The Republicans seem to think so. Sen. Sullivan is listed as one of the more vulnerable Republican US Senators. Having Republcan next to his name probably would get Daniel J. more votes. If Sen. Sullivan is not reelected and a few other incumbent Republican senators lose, the US Senate would become majority Democratic and that would greatly change the direction of the country. So it is a big deal.
