Quote for the Day…
Truth sounds like hate to those who hate the truth. — Todd Wagner
In today’s column, I take a quick look at these people/issues:
- Great Falls Homeless Issue
- Pot of Money
- Reelect Incumbents?
- Proof
- The Western Word Poll
GREAT FALLS HOMELESS ISSUE:
The Electric in Great Falls published a story last Thursday about the homeless issue in Great Falls. The Electric reported that the city and the First United Methodist Church are working to address zoning issues with the tent encampment on the church property.
Reading some of the comments on the Facebook post, it looks like Great Falls residents should try to address their lack of compassion for the homeless.
Some want the church fined for helping the homeless. If someone did agree with what the church was doing, they were told to move the homeless to their front yard.
Although these comments were mild compared to what is posted on other Facebook pages, it is apparent that Great Falls has a long way to go in finding some compassion for the less fortunate. We also have a long way to go in finding officials in the city who have the leadership skills to address this issue. Apparently, we are stuck with those who bloviate about it every week or so to feed their MAGA folks some red meat.
Read the complete story from The Electric HERE. You can view the post on The Electric’s Facebook page HERE.
POT OF MONEY:
MTN News reported this week that Montana is six months into the launch of recreational marijuana sales, and now, counties are receiving the first payments of their local-option marijuana taxes.
Tops at six months is Yellowstone County. The county is set to receive $246,656 for first-quarter sales of adult-use and medical marijuana. They will share that funding with three municipalities: Billings, Laurel, and Broadview.
Read more about the local-option marijuana taxes HERE.
REELECT INCUMBENTS?
Gallup is reporting a slim majority of U.S. registered voters, 53%, say their representative in Congress deserves reelection, while 41% disagree. The percentage endorsing reelection is similar to what Gallup has measured in its final pre-election reading in most recent midterm election years, ranging from 50% in 2018 to 54% in 2006 — except for 1998 and 2002, when voters were much more positive about reelecting their representative.
Check out the report from Gallup HERE.
PROOF:
Lee Newspapers reported that District Court Judge Michael Moses on Monday pressed the Secretary of State’s attorneys for proof of the alleged identification forgery that stoked new voting restrictions passed by the state Legislature last year.
Apparently, the judge did not receive any proof.
Montanans should be thankful that we have a judicial branch that holds the executive and legislative branches accountable for some of the idiotic laws they passed in the last session.
Read the complete story from Lee Newspapers HERE.
THE WESTERN WORD POLL:
This week’s poll question asks, “Should President Joe Biden run for reelection?” (Background)
The results will be posted later this week.
The Western Word 
Incumbents: This one deserves its own comment.
Matt Rosendale continues to embarrass, and reveals he hates Montana’s hunters, anglers, and all who enjoy Montana’s wildlife. He has signed on as co-sponsor of a wingnutty bill to end the funding source for the Federal dollars that flow to states for wildlife conservation, a century old excise tax that gun and ammo producers pay, 10% and 11% respectively.
The sponsors’ reasoning? The tax supposedly unduly burdens those who want to buy guns, even though the tax is on producers not buyers and even though somehow Americans have managed to buy over 400 million guns anyhow. Matt must be suddenly concerned about the very poorest Americans. LOL as if. This group also claims that taxing gun and ammo producers is somehow a violation of the 2nd Amendment. And oh yes, this bill would also end or cap taxes on fishing tackle, because that too is apparently protected by some amendment. But the real motivation seems to be to divert attention from meaningful discussions of America’s gun violence problem.
That’s our Matt, busy as a beaver in Washington devising novel solutions to the nation’s problems and getting those solutions signed into law. Maybe any day now.
The following opinion piece fairly well nails it:
“Having no Congressional accomplishments, Rosendale has jumped in the clown car with those who seek self-recognition while making a bad situation even worse.”
https://helenair.com/opinion/columnists/article_27ce88ed-92df-5a4c-bd7c-668ce9f16b19.html
A couple other takes:
https://montanawildlife.org/news/mwf-calls-on-rep-rosendale-to-abandon-his-attack-on-federal-wildlife-conservation-funding/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/gop-bill-pittman-robertson-gun-tax-repeal_n_62c75cfce4b0359fa47932fb
Terry – great analysis. I am not sure if any of the candidates can beat Rosendale, but I sure hope someone does. Thanks, JmB
Homeless: That encampment seems to grow ever larger. Unfortunately it seems our City leaders have no ideas to address the issue other than lawsuits etc. to make these people just go away. Somewhere.
Marijuana: A friend reported that he saw some reefer madness folks at the downtown GF post office pressuring PO patrons to sign a petition to put de-legalization for Cascade County on the ballot. Do they even have the legal paperwork filed with the County yet? Haven’t read anything about it. Anyone else seen them out and about? Based on current and projected sales Cascade County would take in enough money annually to fund at least four additional law enforcement officers throughout the county, exactly what many righties constantly call for. These de-legalize folks and the local “conservative” politicians involved with them apparently favor hitting us with more general anti-crime taxes instead.
Terry – Thanks. I have not seen the reefer madness folks. I think when some counties see the dough rolling in they may change their tune. At least that is what I’m hoping for! Thanks, JmB
Occasionally the reality of homelessness runs smack into good intentions. It’s extremely complicated even for the most liberal among us. What are you gonna do when you’re living in ground zero?
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-06-21/portland-liberal-support-lags-homeless-services-drugs
Good story, Larry.
It certainly illustrates the issues that come with simply expecting the homeless to find their own space and camp willy-nilly. The approach taken by Phoenix seems like maybe a better solution, though there’s no doubt issues with that as well. These human beings are not going away and simply doing nothing and hoping they will magically disappear isn’t a viable approach, especially with so many conservative citizens opposed to paying higher taxes to build new jail space to get homeless off the streets or even accommodate “real” criminals. It’s an expensive problem either way.
To make matters worse, the no good predatory billionaires have nothing left to spend their money on, so they’re buying up all the real estate in the country and then renting it out at exorbitant prices. We are fast becoming a nation of renters with no hope of home ownership.
I have friends who live in some really nice trailer courts. They have received notice that the courts are to be sold soon in the future. They have no place to go, because all the other courts have been sold to.
I get letters all the time asking me I want to sell my land. I just laugh at them and tell them they can’t afford what I want. But the bottom line is that at the rate the billionaires are buying up property, there soon won’t be much left. Why? Very few of us can out bid billionaires. It’s the return of company housing.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/18/corporations-are-buying-houses-robbing-families-of-american-dream/
A return to company housing, company stores, and filthy rich robber barons like Pullman and Clark to exploit all the dummies who voted R all these years on the divisive emotional issues like guns, CRT, etc. that the right’s propaganda media pushes. Been saying for years that is the true goal of the “conservative” movement. Back to the era of the late 1800s.
I heard the other day that some Richie Rich is buying up all the land out by Craig to turn that area into a gentrified development for the rich. Will be a rude awakening for the hardscrabble natives who have lived there for years and proudly fly their Trump flags.