So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key. –The Eagles (Already Gone)

Today’s quick hits deal with these important subjects:

• Face the Nation
• Miss Montana
• We Build The Wall
• Memorial Day Thoughts…

Face the Nation:

U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) was a guest on “Face the Nation” Sunday where he talked about veterans, agriculture, trade, and tariffs.

Toward the end of the interview, Tester was asked about the Democrats running for President and host Margaret Brennan mentioned that Tester’s home state governor was a candidate for President. Here is the transcript I obtained of the exchange:

MARGARET BRENNAN: Your home state governor is one of them.

SEN. TESTER: –of staying grounded. My home state governor is one of them. That is correct. Yep. And so the bottom line is that whoever comes out of this 24 or 25 people who are running for president, needs to be able to connect with rural America and you do that by applying common sense.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Are you going to endorse your governor?

SEN. TESTER: I’m going to be endorsing- I will tell you this, Margaret it’s going to happen in the next week and hopefully you’ll be the first to know.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Alright. Thank you very much, Senator Tester. We’ll be right back with our panel.

SEN. TESTER: It was a pleasure talking to you Margaret, thank you very much.

Tester made it about as clear as mud who he would be endorsing. On the Sunday 5:30 news, one of the MTN News stations said Tester would be endorsing Montana Governor Steve Bullock next week.

I’m not sure that is correct and I can’t find the 5:30 news video, but if I were in Tester’s shoes I would wait until after a debate or two before I endorsed a candidate.

If Tester does endorse a candidate in the next week, I hope he lets his favorite blog, The Western Word, know in advance…

Miss Montana:

I’ve been seeing headlines about “Miss Montana” for a few weeks.

One headline stated that “Miss Montana” would be heading to Normandy which I thought was pretty cool that she would be representing Montana there.

Another headline said, “Volunteers working hard to get Miss Montana to D-Day event.”

Then, the sad headline said, “Miss Montana’s departure to Normandy delayed.” Another one said, “Weather delays Miss Montana departure.”

Then I found out that there’s a way of “Tracking Miss Montana’s flight to Normandy.”

Finally, I read the headline “Miss Montana leaves US airspace” and wondered why they reported her trip like that.

I decided to read the whole article instead of the headlines.

I found out that the “Miss Montana” getting most of the headlines was a 75-year-old Dakota DC-3 airplane known as “Miss Montana.” The plane would be dropping parachutists as part of the international D-Day commemoration in Normandy. The plane is then scheduled to head to Germany to take part in events marking the 70th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift. (AP)

By the way, Laura Haller of Helena was crowned Miss Montana in June 2018.

The more you know…

We Build The Wall:

Newsweek and several other sources were reporting on Monday that a private group that raised over $22 million to construct a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border announced the completion of their first section on Memorial Day.

Newsweek also reported that “We Build The Wall,” which is headed up by Air Force veteran Brian Kolfage, announced that the first section of the wall had been completed in three days near the Texas-New Mexico border with a post to their Facebook page on Monday. Former Trump adviser Steven Bannon, who chairs the advisory committee for the group, told CNN that the wall had connected two sections of existing fencing that stretched for 21 miles.

The new section is about a mile in length.

I wonder if those who donated to “We Build The Wall” received a bumper sticker or anything for their donation.

Memorial Day Thoughts…

I spent my Memorial Day morning watching the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on C-SPAN. This is my usual thing to do on Memorial and Veterans Day.

My Twitter and Facebook feeds were pretty quiet. I only posted a couple things and they were about Memorial Day and they were not political.

For me, watching the events on C-SPAN is far better than attending local events. There are too many generals and not enough sergeants at the local events. I dropped my memberships to several veterans’ organizations because they are too political and have too many asses.

Vice President Mike Pence was the speaker at the Arlington event. He did a pretty good job. You can watch the whole ceremony on C-SPAN HERE. In my opinion, Barack Obama delivered some of the best speeches over the years during Memorial Day and Veterans Day.

There are several things that still amaze me and one of them is how people still confuse Memorial Day with Veterans Day and Veterans Day with Memorial Day.

I lose respect for the person when I hear them make this mistake. I guess it’s a pet peeve of mine – like showing up on time.

Have a great week!

 

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