In the end, people will judge you anyway, so don’t live your life impressing others – live your life impressing yourself. ~ Anonymous

Welcome to “Caught My Eye” (CME)!

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:

• CME Milestone
• Tester’s Haircut
• Montana GOP
• Trump & Social Media
• One More Thing

CME MILESTONE:

Today’s Caught My Eye (CME) is the 500th CME here at The Western Word!

The first CME was published way back on July 23, 2010. The column has been posted almost every Friday since then. The topics that caught my eye back then included:

• New U.S. House Tea Party Caucus
• Montana GOP & sex education in Helena
• Montana Democratic Party & the Montana press
• Unemployment
• Rep. Charlie Rangel

To show my appreciation, the first five readers who send me their name and mailing address (USA only) via email at Western_Word@Yahoo.com will in return receive “The Western Word” bumper sticker! Please put “TWW Bumper Sticker” in the subject line of your email.

Thanks for reading!

TESTER’S HAIRCUT:

U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) is known for having a flattop haircut and for being a farmer. During this pandemic, Tester has gone without a haircut and several people noticed that his hair was getting longer.

The senator stopped by the RiverView Barber Shop in Great Falls this week and got himself a new flattop haircut. He had a photo taken of him and the barber to commemorate the event. He posted it on Twitter and Facebook.

Most of the comments were not about the haircut, but about the fact that Tester and his barber were not wearing facemasks.

Whoops!

There were some interesting debates going on in the comment section about it. I imagine Fox & Friends will lead off their show about it in the next few days. Trump may even Tweet about it!

MONTANA GOP:

I subscribe to receive email updates from many different groups from both sides of the aisle. This week, one from the Montana GOP caught my eye:

Equally shameful, however, would be Montana electing California Kathleen Williams to Congress only to see her stand with Pelosi as she burns through taxpayer dollars on liberal pet projects.

The Republican Party has proudly held Montana’s lone seat in the House of Representatives for the last 20 years and we cannot afford to lose it this year to a California-born, Berkeley-educated radical liberal who does not hold Montana values.

My first thought was, “Does anyone read what is being sent from the Montana GOP?”

The Montana Republican Party has several Republican candidates and/or officeholders who are not from Montana:

• U.S. Senator Steve Daines – Born in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, CA
• U.S. Representative Greg Gianforte – Born in San Diego, CA
• State Auditor Matt Rosendale – Born in Baltimore, MD
• Secretary of State Corey Stapleton – Born in Seattle, WA

I’m sure there are several others I missed.

The part about “burns through taxpayer dollars” gave me a chuckle. Everyone burns through taxpayer dollars when elected. They don’t care. Trump promised to eliminate the national debt in eight years, but according to PolitiFact, “the gross federal debt has grown by about 16% since he’s been in office.”

TRUMP & SOCIAL MEDIA:

There are over 100,000 deaths in the USA from coronavirus. Around 40 million people in the USA are unemployed. There was an unarmed black man murdered by four police officers in Minneapolis. People are rioting and destroying Minneapolis.

What does President Trump do? He issues an Executive Order on Preventing Online Censorship. Read it HERE.

Trump was upset that Twitter did a fact-check on two of his tweets recently. Twitter did not delete Trump’s tweets. Trump’s free speech was not infringed upon. His feelings were hurt. That’s it.

Trump’s attacks and misinformation (lies) he has posted on Twitter will be the subject of debate for decades to come. Trump was never held accountable as a child or as an adult until he became President.

I think Trump has severe mental problems. Nobody in their right mind says the shit he does daily.

Jack Balkin, a Yale University constitutional law professor, probably said it best: “The president is trying to frighten, coerce, scare, cajole social media companies to leave him alone and not do what Twitter has just done to him.”

I applaud Twitter and all the sites and people who fact-check statements and information on social media. Don’t be bullied by the mentally ill President or his followers.

ONE MORE THING:

This coming Tuesday (June 2) is primary election day in Montana, so don’t forget to vote!

Click HERE to find out how to register to vote in Montana.

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