The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. – Thomas Jefferson

Today’s independent commentary deals with these people/issues:

• Civil War
• Dumb vs Dumber
• Ed Buttrey – Update
• One More Thing

CIVIL WAR:

Back in October 2019, Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service released the results of a poll saying the average voter believes the U.S. is two-thirds of the way to the edge of a civil war. On a 0-100 scale with 100 being “edge of a civil war,” the mean response is 67.23. (Source)

I kind of laughed when I read that. I know we have some divisions in this country and it has gotten worse since Donald Trump was elected, but would we kill each other and go to war over it?

Yes. It’s now 11 months later I believe the divisions are so deep that we just might fight.

The New York Times reported:

In a concentrated predawn burst, the president posted or reposted 89 messages between 5:49 a.m. and 8:04 a.m. on Sunday on top of 18 the night before, many of them inflammatory comments or assertions about violent clashes in Portland, Ore., where a man wearing the hat of a far-right, pro-Trump group was shot and killed Saturday after a large group of Mr. Trump’s supporters traveled through the streets. 

I don’t post 89 Twitter messages in a week and I am sure I have fewer responsibilities than the President.

Trump is fanning the flames to divide us. Instead of sitting on a horse safely behind the lines, he’s probably sitting on the toilet firing off tweets to stir up his supporters. Remember – he has bone spurs so he won’t be near the fight.

Maybe we won’t be divided as the north versus the south, but we will be divided by support or non-support of Trump. Those fighting may not stand yards apart and fire volleys, but participates may kill off a few during protests that turn violent.

Maybe Portland and Kenosha are the front lines.

Remember the most important thing: This is Trump’s America. He is in charge. He owns what is happening.

Stock up and pray for peace.

DUMB VS DUMBER:

If you read my columns very much you know that I don’t hold State District Judges in very high regard.

The latest episode of the State District Judge being dumb and endangering citizens comes from Missoula County District Judge John Larson, who was substituting for Cascade County District Judge Greg Pinski in Great Falls.

The Great Falls Tribune reported that Larson held a Cascade County resident, Phillip Dupaul, in contempt of court for refusing to wear a mask during jury selection. When Dupaul refused to wear a mask Larson held him in contempt of court and ordered him jailed for 24 hours.

The Cascade County Detention Center is a hotspot for the coronavirus with some reports saying there are 66 inmates and staff testing positive for the virus.

So it was pretty shitty of Larson to send Dupaul into the coronavirus hotspot of Cascade County for 24 hours. He endangered Dupaul. If he gets sick, I hope he sues the county for a few million dollars.

But then we have rookie Sheriff Jesse Slaughter ride into the scene. Of all things he could do, the Tribune reported he issued a news release Friday morning criticizing Larson for holding a Dupaul in contempt of court for refusing to wear a mask.

It’s too bad Slaughter is not as forthcoming with comments on real cases.

The Tribune reported that in Slaughter’s press release he said:

“I’m extremely frustrated and disappointed in how this situation was handled by Judge Larson,” Slaughter said. “He did not consult with me regarding his decision. This whole mask order is contentious, to say the least. We as the government should not be incarcerating and oppressing our citizens during this crisis over a mask order.”

With all the coronavirus cases in the Cascade County Detention Facility, maybe Slaughter should have been “oppressing” his inmates a little more.

A little further down in the article, the Tribune reported that Slaughter continued by saying he had met with all the Cascade County judges months ago, and they assured him that they would not put him in a position where one of his deputies would be forced to arrest a citizen for not wearing a mask.

I wonder what else Sheriff Slaughter has worked out with the local judges.

I strongly believe we need to wear a mask when out in public. Judge Larson screwed up by sentencing Dupaul to 24 hours in Cascade County’s coronavirus hotspot, instead of a stiff fine.

As for Slaughter, he screwed up by criticizing the judge publicly. It was unprofessional. The Judge does not have to “consult” with him. Slaughter should stay in his lane.

In this situation Judge Larson is dumb and Sheriff Slaughter is dumber.

ED BUTTREY – UPDATE:

In Friday’s column I wrote the following:

Earlier this week MTN News reported that Jaime Horn, a Democratic candidate to represent Montana’s 21st House District in the Montana Legislature, sent a photo to MTN News this week of his Republican challenger Ed Buttrey sitting in a room that has a Nazi swastika framed on the wall.

To give some credit to MTN News, they investigated and found out that Buttrey was attending a meeting at the local VFW where the VFW displayed the Nazi flag because it was captured in WWII. Someone took the photo in hopes to harm Buttrey.

I closed my comments about it by writing:

Sadly we live in the day and age of gotcha politics. This attempt backfired.

Very early Friday morning, Jaime Horn responded:

Press covering my campaign has exploded plus no evidence my message backfired beyond trolling by the alt-right. Sorry not sorry to your [sic] and your good friend.

Another commentator said, “It backfired. Trust me. Grow up!”

Later in the day, Horn responded to the “backfired” comments by saying,

Really? Because my fundraising has exploded. Lol, get over it. 

I appreciated all the comments, but I don’t think Horn can compete against Buttrey, but that is why we count the votes.

ONE MORE THING:

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently. – Warren Buffett

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