Alaska Man Monday - Veterans, Alaska Liberals, and Hoverboard Dentistry

The folks up here in the Great Land treat veterans pretty well. It doesn’t hurt that there is a big military presence in Alaska, from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson just outside Anchorage to Fort Wainwright in the north near Fairbanks, with a few other small installations scattered around. Eagle River, just north of Anchorage, has a big proportion of veterans, and there are plenty of us here in the Valley as well.

Which is why we see this kind of thing:

Disabled veteran gets new Fairbanks home!

Memorial Day usually is a solemn occasion for Americans to remember and thank U.S. military personnel who lost their lives in combat.
But there was no sorrow during a ceremony held last week near Fairbanks to honor Army veteran Andy Armstrong who survived a brush with death. Armstrong was given a new house, courtesy of a program that helps wounded combat vets rebuild their lives.
The only tears shed at Thursday’s gathering to honor Armstrong’s service came from his wife, Elise, after one of the sponsors of the event gave her the keys to the cabin.
“So please join me and welcoming the Armstrong family to their new home!” said Adam Little, a regional Bank of America/Merrill Wealth Management marketing executive.

This is the kind of thing that makes one feel good about being an American. Let’s hope that the Armstrong family enjoys many happy years in their new Fairbanks abode.

Alaska Man score: five moose nuggets. No downside to this; none at all.

But here’s the other side: We have liberals and hypocrites here, too.

Alaska liberal (yes, we have them) advocates for taxation while his own business license is expired.

Yes, really.

Larry Persily, who writes op-eds regularly for the Anchorage Daily News, has a new column out on his usual theme of “Alaska needs to tax Hilcorp.”
Persily is the owner of Good Journalism, LLC, which is the owner of the Wrangell Sentinel LLC, a paper he bought decades ago, sold, and then repurchased a few years ago.
The Wrangell Sentinel’s business license has been expired since 2022, or so it shows at the Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing.
Persily is running his newspaper business through an LLC, just like Hilcorp owner and CEO Jeff Hildebrand is running Hilcorp as an LLC, and Persily is not paying personal income tax or corporate income taxes for either Good Journalism, LLC or the out-of-compliance Wrangell Sentinel, LLC.

Rules for thee, but not for me, seem to apply to too many people on the left, no matter how far north, south, east, west or sideways they locate themselves. Pay your fees, Larry! You're a liberal, not a libertarian - you're supposed to love taxes and fees!

Alaska Man score: two of five moose nuggets. A few points for being amusing and giving us another example of hypocrisy to tweak Alaska’s few lefties with. Demerits for, well, being a hypocrite.

And, finally, we have a hoverboard dentist – or, we had a hoverboard dentist. And now the hoverboard dentist has got his. Yes, hoverboard dentist. You read that right. What I'd really like to know is where he got a hoverboard.

The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld the state’s decision to suspend the dental license of a man who became internationally infamous after extracting a tooth while riding a hoverboard.
Former dentist Seth Lookhart has been convicted of numerous crimes, including Medicaid fraud and standard-of-care violations that almost killed two patients.
Sentenced to 20 years in prison with eight suspended, he sought to retain his dental license after it was revoked by the Board of Dental Examiners.
When the revocation was upheld by a lower court, Lookhart appealed to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled Friday.

Hoverboard dentistry, though. I have a lot of questions about that. But I get the feeling Mr. Lookhart won't be interested in discussing that particular little bit of athletic healthcare delivery just now.

Alaska Man score: 3.5 of five moose nuggets. While Lookhart loses points for being a conman and crook, he gains because, I mean, a hoverboard dentist.

Now for a word from your humble host on getting out and relaxing.