Michael Armstrong
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maarmstrong.bsky.social
Michael Armstrong
@maarmstrong.bsky.social
600 followers 390 following 310 posts
📎Writer, journalist emeritus. #prostatecancer survivor. New College-Fla. grad. I write strange science fiction. Born in Va., raised in Fla., Alaskan since 1979. I like extremes. Tuggeht-Uzintun.
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maarmstrong.bsky.social
When I lived in Florida I knew about snow but no way one told me about the magic of hoar frost. Photos taken with a #LensBaby Sweet 22 lens.
Hoar frost covers a stalk of pushki. Hoar frost glows on fireweed along a snowy trail. Hoar frost makes patterns on metal siding. Hoar frost covers a metal sculpture of a bird created by Mike Sirl.
November 10, 2025 at 7:56 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
About 700 people showed up for the #NoKings protest in Homer, Alaska. That’s almost 5% of the population on the Southern Kenai Peninsula.
October 19, 2025 at 2:23 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Some of the best reporting on l’affair Vance has been by @matt.akmemo.com . Holly Todd’s cartoon here is wonderful.

mailchi.mp/thealaskacur...
Freedom of speech for me, not for thee
Far-right Homer Rep. Sarah Vance got her way after complaining about the Homer News’ coverage of her Charlie Kirk rally
mailchi.mp
October 6, 2025 at 10:08 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
@nytimes.com reports on the resignation of four Alaska journalists.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...
Journalists at 3 Newspapers Quit Over Edits to a Charlie Kirk Story
www.nytimes.com
October 3, 2025 at 8:49 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Oh no! I’ve been scolded by Rep. Delores Umbridge.

alaskawatchman.com/2025/10/02/r...
REP. VANCE: Why I criticized Homer News for ‘vile and slanderous’ statements about Charlie Kirk
The following post was published on Alaska Rep. Sarah Vance’s Facebook page on Oct. 2. It responds to criticism she has received for calling out the Homer News for the way it characterized the late Ch...
alaskawatchman.com
October 3, 2025 at 6:23 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Here in Homer, Alaska, yet another media corporation has bent the knee because a conservative Republican Representative, Sarah Vance, did not like how the Homer News covered a vigil for Charlie Kirk.
But Alaska reporters still have integrity. #indivisible

www.juneauindependent.com/post/editor-...
Editor, most news staff of Carpenter Media’s Alaska newspapers resign due to censoring of story
Article about a Charlie Kirk vigil referring to controversies involving him was altered after a GOP Alaska lawmaker complained to company management
www.juneauindependent.com
September 30, 2025 at 5:50 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
More on l’affaire Vance in which reporter Eric Stone interviews me. My quote:
“I don't think newspapers should be intimidated by their government. I think the government should be intimidated by the newspapers.”

alaskapublic.org/programs/ala...
Alaska News Nightly: Friday, September 26, 2025
Juneau residents will soon decide whether to change the city's sales tax.
alaskapublic.org
September 27, 2025 at 2:51 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Matt Buxton nails it.
matt.akmemo.com Matt Buxton @matt.akmemo.com · Sep 27
Leave it to Homer GOP Rep. Sarah Vance to try to cancel a local paper for describing a man who once said Black women like Justice Jackson do not have "the brain processing power to be taken seriously” as holding “racist and controversial views."

My latest from the Memo:

#akleg
Cancel culture, it turns out, is conservative
All aboard the conservative cancel culture train!
www.akmemo.com
September 27, 2025 at 12:40 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
The Rep. Vance press-bullying story has been picked up by Matt Buxton of the Alaska Current.

thealaskacurrent.com/2025/09/25/a...
Alaska GOP Rep. Vance threatens boycott of Homer News over Charlie Kirk coverage - The Alaska Current
Extreme-right Republican Rep. Sarah Vance this week joined the fervent movement of conservatives using their official platforms and conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death to try to silence the pre...
thealaskacurrent.com
September 26, 2025 at 6:03 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Rep. Sarah Vance, R-Homer, didn’t like the Homer (Alaska) News coverage of the vigil she organized for Charlie Kirk. On her official letterhead she threatened a boycott.
Intimidating a free press because you don’t like what they write? I wonder who she learned that from?
September 25, 2025 at 10:36 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Every year artist Mavis Muller coordinates the creation of a beautiful basket on a beach in Homer, Alaska—and then it’s transformed into heat and light.
People gather around the 2025 Homer Burning Basket, Open, in Homer, Alaska. The 2025 Homer Burning Basket, Open, burns in Homer, Alaska. I made a little offering for the 2025 Homer Burning Basket, Open, in Homer, Alaska. I made an offering for the 2025 Homer Burning Basket, Open, in Homer, Alaska. When opened, it reads “hope.”
September 14, 2025 at 1:54 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
“The settlement is (the) largest payout in the history of U.S. copyright cases. Anthropic will pay $3,000 per work to 500,000 authors.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/t...
Anthropic Agrees to Pay $1.5 Billion to Settle Lawsuit With Book Authors
www.nytimes.com
September 5, 2025 at 11:49 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
About 145 people showed up for the #WorkersOverBillionaires Labor Day rally in Homer, Alaska.
Two people hold signs that read “Stupid White Hippies for Democracy” and “I May Be an Old White Hippie But I Know a Fascist When I See One.” A person holds a sign that reads “No One Works Hard Enough to Earn a Billion.” A person holds a sign that reads “Labor Built This Nation; Autocrats/Oligarchs Hands Off!; Billionaires, Hands Off!” Protesters in Homer, Alaska cross the highway. One man holds a sign reading “I’m for Democracy.”
September 1, 2025 at 11:16 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Scenes from the Freedom Over Fascism rally held in Homer, Alaska, on Saturday, July 19. @50501movement.bsky.social
July 20, 2025 at 10:24 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Seen in Homer, Alaska.
July 13, 2025 at 4:20 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Homer, Alaska had 700-800 attend a #NoKings protest. A Pride parade followed.
June 14, 2025 at 10:58 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
In November 1940 Paris students protested against the Nazi occupation … with fishing poles.
June 6, 2025 at 7:04 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
I bought a box of paper clips to hand out to Democracy protectors. I’m adding the paper clip to my profile.
The Norwegian Resistance was bad ass. My niece’s Norwegian husband had a grandfather who was in the resistance.
adamhochman.bsky.social 📎Adam H @adamhochman.bsky.social · Apr 14
@unauthorizedbeast.bsky.social Welcome Aboard! We Vets are taking a page from the Norwegian Underground Did during WWII #Paperclip #Quislings #resistance. We need to Connect without the Red hat
May 31, 2025 at 11:30 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
About 50 people showed up on 5/30 to greet Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan at a closed visit at the Homer (Alaska) Senior Center. They protested possible cuts to Medicaid. #savemedicaid #nomorekings
Protesters in Homer, Alaska wait to greet Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan on 5/30/25 before his closed visit to the Homer Senior Center. “Sen. Sullivan let’s nix your health care” one sign reads. A protester in Homer, Alaska waits to greet Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan before his closed visit to the Homer Senior Center. An empty chair has signs reading “Reserved for Sen. Dan Sullivan” and “Waiting for Dan-O.” Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan enters the Homer Senior Center on 5/30/25 in Homer, Alaska. About 50 protesters waited for him. He didn’t engage with them. “Shame! Shame!” some shouted. Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan drives by protesters in Homer, Alaska on 5/30/25 on his way to a closed meeting at Homer Senior Citizens Center.
May 31, 2025 at 3:19 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Signs from the #MayDay protest in Homer, Alaska. It was cold and rainy but about 50 still showed up. A blessed #Beltane to all.
A woman in Homer, Alaska holds a sign that reads “Donnie ‘Two Dolls’ must go.” Protesters in Homer, Alaska demonstrate on May 1. A protester in Homer, Alaska folds a sign that reads “Trump’s tariffs lost Alaska (Permanent Fund) Dividend $2 billion in 3 days. It’s over $2,400 for every resident in Alaska.” A protester in Homer, Alaska holds a sign that reads “When will Congress grow a spine? Impeach Trump.”
May 2, 2025 at 3:00 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Thanks to whomever on the @maddow.msnbc.com show who snagged this photo I took of the April 19 Homer, Alaska protest for tonight’s broadcast. It was a great segment on the protests in Alaska.
April 22, 2025 at 5:25 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Signs and scenes from the April 19 protest in Homer, Alaska.
April 20, 2025 at 1:21 AM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
The Irish Starry Plough flag and the Alaska flag are very similar. The Alaska flag includes the North Star with the Big Dipper. I wonder if anyone has researched this connection or the influence of the Starry Plough on Benny Benson, the AK flag designer.

discover.hubpages.com/politics/His...
April 13, 2025 at 11:06 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
About 500 people showed up for the #HandsOff rally in Homer, Alaska. About 10,000 live in the Homer area. #StandUpForDemocracy.
A sign reads “Hands off our democracy.” A sign reads “Trump’s tariffs = tariffs = taxes = recession.” Protesters in Homer, Alaska, gather for a Hands Off rally — the words on the sign. An Elon Musk puppet holds a chainsaw. His hat reads “Make Again Again Again.”
April 5, 2025 at 10:06 PM
maarmstrong.bsky.social
Alaska has a new newspaper, The Seward Folly, published in Seward, Alaska. My friends
Marylynn and Bob Barnwell started it. I’m helping them by covering the Seward City Council. Hurray for community journalism!
sewardfolly.com.
The Seward Folly
sewardfolly.com
April 3, 2025 at 8:18 PM