Quote for the Day…

If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet. -Anonymous

Caught My Eye (CME) is the once-a-week column that is posted every Friday morning. This is when I 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:

• Searching for Gianforte
• The Capitol Insurrection
• Amy Schneider

SEARCHING FOR GIANFORTE:

This was not a good week for Governor Greg Gianforte (R-MT).

Thursday morning, I was thinking that he should name his staff, “the gang that could not shoot straight.”

They screwed up just about everything. Gianforte spokespeople Brooke Stroyke and Travis Hall should probably just turn in their credentials and find another occupation.

Gianforte was missing and it became national news. It became a national embarrassment. His photo was on fake milk cartons. Twitter went wild.

Meanwhile, Montana was flooding and Gianforte’s people were not answering questions about his whereabouts. It appears they were caught when the Lt. Governor signed a document instead of the governor.

It appears that Gianforte thought he was going to jet-set around the globe, and nobody would notice. If he was a private citizen, maybe, but he is not.

When asked where Gianforte was, his staff said, that the office “does not share the governor’s location while he is out of country for security reasons.”

They said it was a “personal trip.” Maybe the floods happened after he left, but there are many problems that he needs to work on such as the state prison and hospital. Those were problems before he left.

OK, so he is out of the country. The press figured that out. Doesn’t Montana’s governor have security even for personal trips? He can afford to pay them.

Then there was some concern about the authorization for the Lt. Governor to take over. Some reporters asked for the written authorization and had a hard time getting it.

The national CBS Evening News on Thursday had a short interview with Lt. Governor Juras who repeated the “security reason” line for the national audience to laugh at.

We heard that Gianforte was somewhere in Italy. It was also reported that he would be returning to Montana Thursday night. Remember, this is a man who has his own plane and can go anywhere at any time. He is not a typical Montanan or American.

I figured he was big game hunting with Donald Trump, Jr. I guess he was tasting wine in Italy.

I hope the Montana press gets aggressive and asks him several questions about this trip. He is a public official. I suggest they stay back a few feet as he might punch you if he gets pissed. That has happened before.

One other thing – Greg should be reminded that fire season is approaching. I said, “fire season” not “firearm season.”

Mettiti al lavoro, Greg!

THE CAPITOL INSURRECTION:

I listened to some of the testimony Thursday from the U.S. House Committee that is investigating the capitol insurrection.

I first want to say, God bless Mike Pence. He was being hounded by the President and came very close to being found by the insurrectionists in the capitol. They wanted to hang him. They wanted to kill other leaders.

Second, Donald Trump and his followers are destroying the United States. I can accept that some people (not me) may have voted for Trump the first time. But after seeing four years of lies and Trump only looking out for his family and himself, if you voted for Trump a second time, you are helping bring the country down.

It’s like the MAGA folks are hooked on drugs and need intervention.

We may never have another safe Presidential election. We may have a civil war. There are even ignorant MAGA folks in and around Great Falls talking about (or threatening) “a storm coming.” Is that a threat to people who don’t see politics your way?

We must send people to prison for their actions on January 6. Donald Trump should be one of them.

AMY SCHNEIDER:

Jeopardy fans may remember Amy Schneider who won 40 games on the show. Schneider threw out the first pitch during “Pride Day” in San Francisco this past weekend. Schneider is transgender.

The Giants were hosting the Dodgers.

Fox Sports was airing the game and showed a NASCAR driver throwing out the first pitch from a few days before instead of Schneider.

NBC News reports that a Fox Sports representative said in a statement the network didn’t mean to overshadow Schneider.

Sure, you didn’t, Fox Sports, sure you didn’t.

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##