Quote for the Day…
No matter how low I lower the bar of expectations, some people manage to roll right under it. – Rusafu
In today’s column, I take a quick look at these people/issues:
- Rep. Liz Cheney
- Tax Rebates
- More Shootings
REP. LIZ CHENEY:
If you look at news reports from across the country then you’ll see that most reporters and political pundits believe that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY/AL) will lose today (Tuesday) in the Wyoming Republican primary to a Donald Trump MAGA opponent.
I doubted that the people in Wyoming would be dumb enough to dump Cheney, but they have drunk the MAGA Kool-Aid, and it looks like it will happen.
Cheney has some options if she loses. One report I watched said she could run as a write-in candidate in the General Election, which could be some revenge. Another option is to take her substantial war chest and start running for President, that is after she gets Trump indicted.
Cheney knew that following her oath of office would have repercussions:
“As soon as I voted to impeach, I knew I’d be in this position. I clearly put my oath of office above political calculations. What surprises me is there are so few who have done that.” (Source)
I’m surprised, too. History will be kind to Cheney.
Maybe Montana could trade Matt Rosendale and/or Steve Daines for Liz Cheney?
TAX REBATES:
MTN News is reporting that Montana lawmakers will once again be asked if they want to hold a special legislative session this year, this time to consider using the state’s budget surplus for tax rebates.
According to the article, the surplus could be over $2 billion.
With that much surplus, MTN reports:
The lawmakers made three proposals: property tax rebates of up to $1,000 for homeowners’ primary residences; income tax rebates of up to $1,250 for individuals and $2,500 for couples filing jointly; and a $100 million payment to reduce Montana’s bonded debt. Hertz said they are currently working on a draft bill.
I would encourage the lawmakers to vote “YES” on the special session. Give it back! I hope to be able to list who voted yes and who were the tightwads.
Read the MTN report HERE.
MORE SHOOTINGS:
It’s very disturbing, but when you have a group like the MAGA folks attacking the police in the capitol then calling for civil war and outing the officials who served a search warrant on their supreme leader, it’s no surprise what is happening in our country.
NBC News is reporting that there have been nearly 19% more shootings of police officers this year, compared to this time in 2021.
That information came from the National Fraternal Order of Police. You can see the report HERE. You can read the NBC report HERE.
The Western Word 
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I also think they should wait till regular session because God knows where this will go with the Mega crowd. No doubt abortion, trying to do away with Montana Supreme Court more illegal election bills which end up in court etc. Lew Jones is very powerful but don’t know if he can stop this. I guess doesn’t much matter as wackos are running things in Helena so either now or January it will be a 3 ring circus. So I would like them to deal with State Hospital and State Prison issues but Gianforte seems to have no interest. In way guess thousand dollars now helps pay for county taxes in November. But these are mostly all fools so I’m not holding my breath if we ever see a dollar.
Sadly just watched Liz Cheney get beat by 30 points. Trump passed out a lot of kool-aid in Wyoming. Cheney just gave one of best speeches I’ve heard in years. Well worth reading.
That was a very good speech from Cheney. Thanks, JmB
I heard that Trumpsky is adding another fund-raising scam for the low-wattage bulbs that continue to send him money. He’s asking for help to pay the enormous fines that the Archives are charging him for all those overdue documents. Probably exceeds the national debt by now.
Haha
good blog. Invest the surplus. Take the interest and reduce indebtedness. Rainy days are coming.
Thank you. We’ll see if that is in their plan. -JmB
Dunno about rainy days but its highly unlikely there will be any more super sunny months when $12.9 billion of free Federal pandemic aid falls from the money tree onto the heads of the Montana Legislature and when they end up with $1.5 billion left in the kitty they can brag, “Oh look what a fabulous job of budgeting we did! We can give back this surplus ‘tax’ we collected!”
How about using that money to fix the nursing home crisis, etc
https://www.ktvq.com/mtn-investigates/nursing-homes-in-crisis-amid-staff-shortage-funding-deficit
Yes, that is one of several problems that could be addressed if they want. Thanks, JmB
Too funny. FBI 1, MAGA 0.
https://crooksandliars.com/2022/08/wish-granted-trumper-dares-fbi-come-and
Is a special session in late September really necessary when the the regular session begins January 1? Three short months is that crucial? Seems like a waste of taxpayer dollars designed 100% to put on a political stunt right before the election, to buy votes.
Plus we know any special session will be hijacked for other purposes too like voter suppression and radical attempts to limit bodily autonomy. We really don’t need to give term-limited extremists like Derek Skees one last crack at imposing Christian nationalism on Montanans.
And what about those “inflationary pressures” Republicans love to blither about when it is Dems proposing to channel money to the people?
Terry – you make some very good points. Thank you.
As for my personal opinion, I would like to have the rebates sooner rather than later. Let the chips fall where they may.
– JmB
My guess is the average Montanan would see yawner rebates much like those stimulus payments former Pres Bush sent that had people excitedly planning their next exotic vacation … to the corner bar. I would rather see whatever money our next legislature thinks is excess applied in a large lump to reducing state and local govt debts and thus the annual cost of debt service, so that taxes could theoretically be reduced for every year going forward. The $100 million of debt reduction proposed in the story is a drop in the bucket compared to Montana’s combined state and local debt of $6 billion+. Even compared to the State’s nearly $3 billion.
Terry – in regard to the Bush stimulus, I used them to employ a local business for two days to do some remodeling on my home.
Thanks, JmB
I going with Terry on this. No need for a special session. I sometimes agree with Llew Jones, especially when he said, “The surplus should be returned to taxpayers, but not through an inflationary direct rebate, but rather by reducing our current liabilities and emphasizing investments that reduce future spending.” He also noted that taking up the surplus in January gives legislators time for deliberate thought.
I always thought of Lew Jones as one of few who have common sense. That’s a terrible position to be in with all the MAGA fools. He sometimes goes along with them, which is sad. Thanks, JmB