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Russian strategic bombers conducted a third circumnavigation of the U.S. Pacific island of Guam last week as other bombers flew close to Alaska and Europe, defense officials said. Two Tu-95 Bear H bombers made the flight around Guam, a key U.S. military hub in the western Pacific, on Dec. 13. No U.S. interceptor jets were dispatched to shadow the bombers. Separately, two Canadian F-18s intercepted two Bear bombers that intruded into the Alaska air defense identification zone on Dec. 8 that a military spokesman called “unwanted, provocative, and potentially destabilizing.” Around the same time in Europe, NATO jets intercepted Russian...

<p>President Barack Obama announced Tuesday that he's removing more than 52,000 square miles of waters off Alaska's coast from consideration for oil and gas exploration or drilling.</p> <p>The president said in a video announcement that Bristol Bay and nearby waters, covering an area roughly the size of Florida, would be withdrawn from consideration for petroleum leases. He called Bristol Bay one of the country's great natural resources and a massive economic engine.</p>

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Governor Palin posted to Facebook:See more here:http://insider.foxnews.com/2014/12/13/eric-bolling-blasts-cia-torture-report-i-have-zero-sympathy-terrorists  Connect with Governor Palin on Facebook

Slumping oil prices have helped push Alaska’s potential budget deficit this year to $3.5 billion — an increase of $2.1 billion from what lawmakers expected in April. The price of oil, forecast at $105 a barrel in the state’s spring revenue forecast, is now expected to average about $76 a barrel for the fiscal year that ends June 30. The price is forecast to dip even lower, to $66 a barrel, during fiscal 2016 before rebounding. The average price last fiscal year was $107 a barrel, according to the fall revenue forecast released Wednesday. The forecast expects unrestricted general fund...

Governor Palin responded tonight to the proposed ‘Omnibus Spending Bill’ currently being proposed before the U.S. Congress: Governor Palin provided two links in support of tonight’s post.Some more on what the solution is: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/mitch-mcconnell-ted-cruz-lame-duck-session-111017.htmlGOP leaders already going wobbly, hoping us peons won’t notice: http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/12/09/GOP-Whip-Steve-Scalise-Comes-Under-Fire-For-Supporting-Obama-s-Executive-Amnesty-Via-Omnibus-Backing Check ‘em out!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[ Update 11:25 pm ]Sarah Palin’s warning to establishment GOP leaders was reinforced with an article by Breitbart News contributor Matt Boyle that emphasized the links provided in the Governor’s post. The first is a Politico story that details how Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell differ greatly on how to handle this lame duck session of...

Some lawmakers negotiated the inclusion of land grab provisions in the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which will expand the already massive federal real state holdings. Critics consider those provisions pork because they have nothing to do with defense or national security. The NDAA provides guidance for U.S. defense spending and policy. It is considered a “must-pass” legislation. ... When asked to comment on the potential land grab, Catherine Frazier, a spokeswoman for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), told Breitbart News, "Controversial legislation that has not been debated and is completely irrelevant to our national defense should have no part...

The Opec meeting of Nov. 27 brought new strategic thinking to Opec's deliberations and redirected its fixation away from short-term oil pricing toward greater commercial transparency and market-based commodity pricing. This was due in no small measure to Saudi Arabia's determination to eliminate ill-advised oil price manipulations and restore Opec's credibility as the price setting leader of international oil markets. This reality check became inevitable when Opec finally focused on the stark facts of a weak global economy and soft oil demand at a time of abundant oil supplies and inflated prices. The kingdom was forceful in advocating the reality...

If you’re like most Americans, you haven’t been questioning the welcome drop in gasoline prices. You just fill ’er up and feel grateful that you’re spending less.But why has this remarkable drop come about? And what can we do to help keep prices lower?Some of it, unfortunately, is beyond our control. Worldwide demand for oil is down now. That always causes the cost of gasoline to drop.But the other side of the equation -- the part that is under our control -- has gone largely unheralded in many media accounts: the boom in U.S. energy production. Simply put, we’re producing...

New Gov. Bill Walker took office Dec. 1 and ordered immediate changes in top echelons of state government. Walker brought back several top officials from Gov. Sarah Palin’s administration for senior positions in the natural resources and revenue departments. Walker defeated former Gov. Sean Parnell by about 6,200 votes in the Nov. 4 Alaska elections. Parnell first took office in July 2009 when Palin resigned before the end of her term. Out were several state commissioners and deputy commissioners including Joe Balash at the Department of Natural Resources, Susan Bell at Commerce and Economic Development, Bill Streur at the Department...

ANCHORAGE – Government business in Alaska is pretty much open to the public, except when it comes to natural gas. Lawmakers gathered at the Legislative Information Office in downtown Anchorage Friday, discussing information on the proposed Alaska liquified natural gas project. The public was not invited. Lawmakers who attended the hearing defended the action. “We have an ongoing project that is closer that ever before at bringing the necessary parties together to make an Alaska North Slope pipeline happen,” said Rep. Mike Hawker. Gov.-elect Bill Walker discussed the secret session with KTVA as the meeting took place. “Public money is...

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from taking action against a massive Alaska mining project that the agency says could be catastrophic for the best run of wild salmon remaining on the planet.

On-again, off-again plans for the world's largest gold and copper mine could be back on again, after a federal judge in Alaska issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Environmental Protection Agency from its ongoing efforts to bury the project. Pebble Partnership, the Canadian company behind the project, which would take place near Anchorage, claims the regulatory agency has conspired illegally with opponents of the mine to devise scientific and environmental justifications for blocking it. Salmon fishermen in Washington state and Alaska, Native American groups and environmental organizations have opposed the massive project for several years, and had appeared to have...

FAIRBANKS — Former Fairbanks North Star Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker has been picked by Gov.-elect Bill Walker as his chief of staff, according to a news release sent out by Walker’s campaign Wednesday night. The former mayor’s selection is one of the first official positions to be announced as the independent candidate begins the transition to the governor’s office after Republican Gov. Sean Parnell conceded defeat during the weekend.

The Senate narrowly rejected legislation to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline on Tuesday, handing a defeat to the oil industry and dealing a major blow to Louisiana Democrat Mary Landrieu, who staked her political career on the outcome. The Senate voted 59-41 for the legislation, falling one vote shy of the 60 needed for passage under the deal bringing it to the floor. But Keystone supporters insisted the defeat would be short-lived. Republican leaders are vowing to try again after they take over the chamber in January — when they will have more than enough votes to get a measure...

ANCHORAGE — First-term Democratic Sen. Mark Begich has conceded his race against Republican challenger Dan Sullivan, the former Alaska natural resources commissioner who has led in his first run at elected office since Election Day on Nov. 4. According to a Division of Elections update Monday afternoon, Begich trailed Sullivan by more than 6,200 votes, about 2.2 percent. Spokespersons for the Begich campaign had said repeatedly since Election Day that every vote deserved to be counted and hinted that uncounted votes from rural Alaska might put Begich ahead. The Associated Press called the election for Sullivan on Nov. 11. Nearly...

Finally. An additional 7,286 votes were added to the Alaska Senate totals today so far. And while Begich received almost 58% of those votes, Sullivan still leads by 6,211 votes. It is believed there will no more than 3,000 additional ballots to count by this Wednesday (Nov 19).

Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell conceded the gubernatorial race Saturday, issuing a statement a day after independent challenger Bill Walker was declared the winner. […] Parnell has served as governor since July 2009, when Sarah Palin resigned. He won election in his own right in 2010. Palin had endorsed Walker. …

Airplanes are being warned to avoid airspace near an erupting Alaska volcano as it spews ash 30,000 feet above sea level. The National Weather Service said Saturday ash is being blown to the west and northwest of Pavlof Volcano. Pavlof began erupting three days ago, pushing lava out from a vent near its summit. On Friday, the ash cloud reached 16,000 feet. Alaska Volcano Observatory Geophysicist Dave Schneider says the eruption intensified at 6 a.m. Saturday, sending the ash cloud higher.

Howeird Dean-- once chair of the DNC, once Governor of Vermont, who grew up at the Maidstone Golf Club in the Hamptons, attended prep school both in the US and in the UK, went to Yale, dodged the draft-- is having a meltdown again.Once famous for melting down on the air after coming in third in the Iowa caucuses, thereby ensuring he won nothing else, Dean is complaining that Obamacare was written by a bunch of elitists who don’t understand Americans.Well, duh: They’re Democrats. “The core problem under this damn law is that it was put together by a bunch...