Closing time
Time for you to go out go out into the world.
Closing time
Turn the lights up over every boy and every girl.
Closing time
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer.
Closing time
You don’t have to go home but you can’t stay here.
– Semisonic (Video)

Welcome to “Caught My Eye” (CME)!

CME is coming to you, STILL coronavirus free, from deep inside an underground bunker in Montana. The bunker also serves as the worldwide headquarters for The Western Word blog!

CME is the once a week column that is posted here every Friday morning. This is when I take a look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week. There may be some sarcasm and pointed independent commentary so be warned!

Here are the topics that “Caught My Eye” this week:

• Great Falls, Montana
• Goodnight California
• The Orange President
• Chinese Food
• Fake News
• One More Thing

GREAT FALLS, MONTANA:

Due to the impact of the Coronavirus, the City of Great Falls declared a state of emergency and the City-County Health Department banned in-dining at bars and restaurants, although takeout, drive-through and delivery still are allowed at area businesses. It is effective at 6 a.m. Friday through Friday, March 27, a total of seven days. (GF Tribune)

In the briefing, officials mentioned casinos being closed. Since Great Falls has several casinos on what seems like every block, the traffic in town should be light for a few days. That is a good thing.

There are no confirmed cases yet in Great Falls/Cascade County. Some of the reasons why we don’t have as many confirmed cases nation-wide is because testing is not yet readily available (except for the rich). When more testing is done, watch for the number of cases to skyrocket around the country.

Stay safe my friends!

GOODNIGHT CALIFORNIA:

California is closed. Well, not really closed, but Governor Gavin Newsom has told people to stay at home in hopes it will help stop the spread of the coronavirus.

On a side note, Newsom was once married to former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle (2001-06). Guilfoyle is now hanging out with Donald Trump, Junior.

This stay at home order will be interesting because there are about 40 million people in the state.

Some things will stay open. There’s a list of rules in the Los Angeles Times. You can still go to the grocery store and walk your dog.

THE ORANGE PRESIDENT:

While I was watching the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing Thursday morning a thought came to my mind: “Does anyone ever tell the President that he has too much orange spray tan or makeup on?”

Anytime Trump is on TV I try to watch to see what stupid shit he says. Lately, I have been watching him for an added reason: To see how orange he is.

Here is a photo from my iPhone:

I bet if you touched Trump’s face, your fingers would look like you had been eating Cheetos.

CHINESE FOOD:

During the White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing on Thursday, President Trump was asked the following question from a reporter working for One America News (OAN) which is a far-right news channel:

Do you consider the term “Chinese food” racist?

Trump answered, “No, I don’t think it’s racist.”

Trump has been calling the coronavirus the “Chinese Virus” and some believe that is racist.

The reporter then asked this:

On that note, major left-wing news media, even in this room, have teamed up with Chinese Communist Party narratives and they’re claiming you are racist for making these claims about the Chinese virus. Is it alarming that major media players, just to oppose you, are consistently siding with foreign state propaganda, Islamic radicals, and Latin gangs and cartels, and they work right here, at the White House, with direct access to you and your team?

Trump responded with:

It amazes me when I read the things that I read. It amazes me when I read the Wall Street Journal, which is always so negative. It amazes me when I read the New York Times. It’s not even — I don’t — I barely read it. You know, we don’t distribute it in the White House anymore, and the same thing with the Washington Post. Because, you see, I know the truth. And people out there in the world, they really don’t know the truth. They don’t know what it is. They use different slogans and different concepts for me almost every week, trying to catch something.

Trump continued with his response and you can read the whole briefing HERE (this question and answer are toward the end). He closed out his answer by saying, “But the press is very dishonest.”

FAKE NEWS:

Just about anyone who reads The Western Word knows how much I hate fake news. I have a hard time understanding how a person can post or forward a story without checking to see if it’s true. I know one reason they post it is that they hate the person the story is about so much that they just don’t care.

HBO has a new documentary out called “After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News.” It is really good.

It talks about the “Pizzagate” conspiracy where people believed that human trafficking and child sex ring were being run out of a pizza place in Washington, D.C. and Hillary Clinton was connected to it.

The documentary touches on a lot of other conspiracies. You can watch the trailer HERE.

Please verify something is true before you forward it. It only takes a minute or two.

ONE MORE THING:

Someone asked me the other day how long I would continue blogging since I have been at it since January 2005. I answered:

I will quit blogging when they pry my cold dead hands from the keyboard.

Have a great weekend!

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