Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 29/03/2026About 700 people attended a #NoKings rally today in Homer, Alaska (pop. 5,500). @indivisible.org 14570129
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 11/01/2026About 150 people in Homer, Alaska attended an #ICEoutForGood protest against ICE and a vigil for #ReneeGood. It was the first event I covered for the #HomerIdependentPress after coming out of retirement so of course someone rolls coal. (Photos by Michael Armstrong/Homer Independent Press) 36114
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 01/01/2026Well, I thought I had retired from journalism… I’m now the volunteer editor for the Homer Independent Press. We went live on New Year’s Day. homerindependentpress.com/2026/01/01/e...homerindependentpress.comEditorial: Castles in the air – Homer Independent Pressby Michael Armstrong Interim editor, Homer Independent Press Decades ago, when my wife and I added on to our 320-square-foot dry cabin on Diamond Ridge, we had to jack up the building to put in a full... 5328
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 23/11/2025Protesters showed up on a sunny but chilly day for the #RemoveTheRegime rally in Homer, Alaska. 15418
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 12/11/2025Holy coronal mass ejection! I think these are the most amazing auroras I’ve seen in 45 years in Alaska! Taken from Diamond Ridge, Homer, Alaska, looking all directions. #auroras #NorthernLights 714917
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 10/11/2025When 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. 090
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 19/10/2025About 700 people showed up for the #NoKings protest in Homer, Alaska. That’s almost 5% of the population on the Southern Kenai Peninsula. 734149
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 06/10/2025Some of the best reporting on l’affair Vance has been by @matt.akmemo.com . Holly Todd’s cartoon here is wonderful. mailchi.mp/thealaskacur...mailchi.mpFreedom of speech for me, not for theeFar-right Homer Rep. Sarah Vance got her way after complaining about the Homer News’ coverage of her Charlie Kirk rally 230
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 03/10/2025@nytimes.com reports on the resignation of four Alaska journalists. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...nytimes.comJournalists at 3 Newspapers Quit Over Edits to a Charlie Kirk Story 0114
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 03/10/2025Oh no! I’ve been scolded by Rep. Delores Umbridge. alaskawatchman.com/2025/10/02/r...alaskawatchman.comREP. VANCE: Why I criticized Homer News for ‘vile and slanderous’ statements about Charlie KirkThe 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... 060
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 30/09/2025Here 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-...juneauindependent.comEditor, most news staff of Carpenter Media’s Alaska newspapers resign due to censoring of storyArticle about a Charlie Kirk vigil referring to controversies involving him was altered after a GOP Alaska lawmaker complained to company management 2153
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 27/09/2025More 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...alaskapublic.orgAlaska News Nightly: Friday, September 26, 2025Juneau residents will soon decide whether to change the city's sales tax. 1141
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 26/09/2025The Rep. Vance press-bullying story has been picked up by Matt Buxton of the Alaska Current. thealaskacurrent.com/2025/09/25/a...thealaskacurrent.comAlaska GOP Rep. Vance threatens boycott of Homer News over Charlie Kirk coverage - The Alaska CurrentExtreme-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... 110
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 25/09/2025Rep. 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? 4159
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 14/09/2025Every 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. 082
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 06/09/2025“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...nytimes.comAnthropic Agrees to Pay $1.5 Billion to Settle Lawsuit With Book Authors 140
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 02/09/2025About 145 people showed up for the #WorkersOverBillionaires Labor Day rally in Homer, Alaska. 2178
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 20/07/2025Scenes from the Freedom Over Fascism rally held in Homer, Alaska, on Saturday, July 19. @50501movement.bsky.social 210721
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 14/06/2025Homer, Alaska had 700-800 attend a #NoKings protest. A Pride parade followed. 4396
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 06/06/2025In November 1940 Paris students protested against the Nazi occupation … with fishing poles. 010
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 01/06/2025I 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. 251
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 31/05/2025About 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 17710
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 02/05/2025Signs from the #MayDay protest in Homer, Alaska. It was cold and rainy but about 50 still showed up. A blessed #Beltane to all. 33113
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 22/04/2025Thanks 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. 352
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 20/04/2025Signs and scenes from the April 19 protest in Homer, Alaska. 3213
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 14/04/2025The 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... 110
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 05/04/2025About 500 people showed up for the #HandsOff rally in Homer, Alaska. About 10,000 live in the Homer area. #StandUpForDemocracy. 193
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 03/04/2025Alaska 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.sewardfolly.comThe Seward Folly 39819
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 30/03/2025I’ve started a new column in the Homer News, “Aging Gracefully.” www.homernews.com/life/aging-g...homernews.com 030
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 10/03/2025About 350 people showed up on International Women’s Day in Homer, Alaska, in a Stand Up for Democracy protest. #resist 45012
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 01/03/2025Number 2,457 in “How those DOGE cuts are working out in red state America.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/c... 321
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 23/02/2025#AlaskaJournalists: Are you following the Associated Press guidance on using the dead president name for Denali? I can’t remember what the Alaska AP Style book pre-2015 said. 060
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 19/02/2025Here’s the ad Bezos didn’t want published in the @washingtonpost.com. www.commoncause.org/articles/jef... 063
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 18/02/2025I guess I wasn’t the only one to give Mt. McDeadPresidentWhoNeverVisitedAlaska a bad review. Google Maps turned off review posting. #Alaska #Denali 020
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 16/02/2025Today’s act of resistance: Leaving a 1-star review for “Mountain named after a dead president who never visited Alaska” on #GoogleMaps. #DenaliForever #Alaska #TruckFump . 021
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 11/02/2025Progress report, day 21 of the second Trump presidency: a sign at the Soldotna, Alaska, Fred Meyer store. 000
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 09/02/2025Winter carnival parades in small town Alaska are different than other northern cities. The Bossy Pants dance troupe march with the Krewe of Gambrinus, “a social and pleasure club,” in the Homer Winter Carnival Parade. This year’s theme was “Sunshine and Snowflakes.” Note the XtraTufs. 060
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 06/02/2025A pair of great gray owls have been hanging out at the Homer Alaska Airport. On 2/5/25 they were at the end of FAA Drive. About six photographers with huge lenses showed up. What3words location civil.tingly.headlights. 051
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 01/02/2025The Homer (Alaska) Bookstore owned by my wife and her partners now sells e-books through the Bookshop.org platform. Now there’s an alternative to buying from a billionaire who pals around with FOTUS. And look! They sell my novel, Truck Stop Earth. bookshop.org/beta-search?...bookshop.orgBookshop.org US 0132
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 30/01/2025Trump’s executive order restricting gender-affirming surgery on teenagers begs for malicious compliance by doctors. According to this study, 97% of breast reduction surgeries were done on cisgender male teens. hsph.harvard.edu/news/gender-...hsph.harvard.eduGender-affirming surgeries rarely performed on transgender youth | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthA new Harvard Chan School study found little to no utilization of gender-affirming surgeries by transgender and gender-diverse minors in the U.S. 010
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 30/01/2025My wife’s hippeastrum bloomed so fast it knocked itself over. Fortunately, I staked it with an old fishing rod. 010
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 28/01/2025Fuck Google. When Google Maps makes the Denali map change, Alaskans should flood Google with corrections. “Google said it will change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to ‘Gulf of America’ and change Denali to ‘Mount McKinley.’” www.cnbc.com/2025/01/27/g...cnbc.comGoogle says it will change Gulf of Mexico to 'Gulf of America' in Maps app after government updatesIn posts on X on Monday, Google said it will follow the government's lead in changing the names on its Maps app. 041
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 24/01/2025You can change the maps but you can’t stop the mountain. Denali is its name, forever and from time immemorial. 050
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 18/01/2025In February 1981, 40,000 Alaskans didn’t even blink at being outdoors to see Pope John II. Also, he held Mass. www.adn.com/opinions/202...adn.comRemembering Alaska’s visit from the Pope, 40 years laterAlthough his stopover was only 4.5 hours long, his schedule was crammed! 040
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 14/01/2025Canadian humour can be a bit too biting for tender Texans. bc.ctvnews.ca/vancouver-st...bc.ctvnews.caVancouver strip club's X account suspended over cheeky marquee messageThe marquee at The Penthouse strip club in downtown Vancouver is known for its edgy comments on politics and pop culture. 031
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 05/01/2025I love this fact from Tom Kizzia’s article on Jimmy Carter. “The state Department of Labor recently ran a check to see how many current Permanent Fund dividend applicants also applied as adults in 1982, the first year of the dividend program. The answer: less than 12%.” www.adn.com/politics/202...adn.comJimmy Carter shaped modern Alaska in profound, lasting waysHe was the only U.S. president to hang a map of Alaska on the wall of the Oval Office. By championing the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, he helped create millions of acres of nationa... 250
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 31/12/2024On March 1, 1976, Jimmy Carter spoke at New College of Florida while running for president. He made a solid stump speech and a joke explaining the gap between his sons’ and Amy’s birth (“Rosalyn and I had a fight and then made up.”). Carter was a decent and honorable man. 050
Michael Armstrong @maarmstrong.bsky.social · 25/12/2024My sister gave me a #Lensbaby Sweet 22 lens for Christmas so of course one of the first things I photographed was a dead fish on the Homer Spit beach. 230