Quote of the day…

I love sarcasm. It’s like punching people in the face with words. – Unknown

Welcome to another exciting edition of Caught My Eye (CME)!

CME is the once-a-week column that is posted 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.

Here are some of the things that “Caught My Eye” this week:

>Sanctuary Cities
>Sports Bet Montana
>Derek Chauvin Murder Trial
>Dumbass of the Week
>One More Thing

SANCTUARY CITIES:

Over the years, I have written that somewhere in the Montana state capitol there must be a silly fountain that many Republican legislators drink from, and then they do crazy shit and act like clowns. Often they embarrass our state.

The Associated Press (AP) reported this week that Montana Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill Wednesday banning sanctuary cities in the state.

In the second part of the opening sentence, the AP reported: “…despite the fact that Montana does not currently have any sanctuary cities.”

Beam me up, Scotty.

Read the full AP report HERE.

SPORTS BET MONTANA:

A few days ago, I saw an MTN News story about Sports Bet Montana.

I am in favor of sports betting in Montana, but I don’t want to have to be in a bar to do it. We have the technology to do it from home in Montana. It’s just that the powers that pushed (lobbied) to make it only available while visiting their establishments – so they can make money. I often wonder how much money they spent lobbying for this crazy rule.

MTN reported that businesses take in 6 percent of the total handle bet on their kiosks or from people using the Sports Bet Montana app while in their establishments. That’s the only place the app works, and that continues to be customers’ biggest complaint, along with betting lines that yield smaller payouts.

One of these days, the state will realize what they are missing. Until then, I won’t be playing.

Read the full MTN report HERE.

DEREK CHAUVIN MURDER TRIAL: 

This week I watched a few hours of the murder case against former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin who is accused of killing George Floyd.

According to several reports, Chauvin is facing three charges: second-degree unintentional felony murder, third-degree “depraved mind” murder, and second-degree manslaughter.

I think when this is over, the jury will find him guilty of third-degree murder. I think the jury and the prosecution are in a tough spot to make sure they get a conviction.

It was apparent to me that Chauvin used excessive force. I had years of law enforcement training in the military and the “use of force” was always a major theme in my training. I was trained to use the minimum amount of force to stop the threat. After Floyd was handcuffed, much of the threat was over. There was no need to put pressure on his neck and back with the knee.

On the other side of the coin, the defense will need to try and show that Floyd did not obey the commands and that was the reason for the force used. If he had drugs in his system, they will need to capitalize on that fact.

DUMBASS OF THE WEEK:

It was no contest. U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) easily won this week’s “Dumbass of the Week” award from The Western Word.

In case you missed it, U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) made an ass of himself for his remarks while visiting the southern border last week. People all across the fruited plains made fun of Daines.

Daines said the following:

“Twenty years ago in Montana, meth was homemade. It was homegrown. And you had purity levels less than 30 percent. Today the meth that is getting into Montana is Mexican cartel. It has purities north of 95 percent. Far more dangerous, far more addictive, and it’s less expensive.”

It sounded like Daines was promoting Montana meth like he would promote Montana beef over imported beef. It’s a gaffe that keeps giving.

Daines blamed the “reporters from east coast newspapers.” His staff blamed the “mainstream media and liberals” for what was a failure of their boss to communicate effectively.

Senator Daines – you own this one. It’s on you.

ONE MORE THING:

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## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##