It’s a new week and here are some issues that caught my attention:

• Nazis visit Great Falls
• U.S. Senate Montana 2024
• Ban TikTok in Montana
• One More Thing

NAZIS VISIT GREAT FALLS:

Several folks sent me photos of a few Nazis visiting Great Falls over the weekend, and I saw that some people had posted photos on Twitter, like HERE and HERE.

These protestors should make us all very sad and angry that our state seems to welcome Nazis and white supremacists.

A website named “Adria’s Substack” posted an article about the event and named people involved:

A Nazi group advocating for for [sic] the genocide of Jews, non-whites, and LGBTQ folks stood in front of a local Town Pump for a few minutes in Great Falls and whined about the alleged oppression of their white supremacist ideals that seek to ironically oppress all other people and ideologies that don’t align with their own petty bigotry.
This group is led by a Nazi named Sebastian Campbell who resides in Butte (by way of Kentucky).

In Adria’s Substack article, there was a mention of a March 2022 report in the Great Falls Tribune titled, “’Not in my neighborhood’: Anti-Semitic, anti-trans flyers distributed in Great Falls” where Great Falls City Commissioner Rick Tryon made a fool of himself when he commented about it on Twitter and on his blog. Adria’s Substack article was not too kind to Tryon.

Check out Andria’s Substack article HERE.

I won’t hold my breath, but the Montana Legislature should take a few minutes to pass a resolution condemning this type of hate in Montana. I’m sure the city of Great Falls Commission and the Cascade County Commission will be all over it…

U.S. SENATE MONTANA 2024:

It’s been very embarrassing to read all the stories out there about the Montana GOP trying to tip the scales so they can beat U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) in 2024.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, Senate Bill 566 would establish a “jungle primary” system, where the top two vote getters regardless of party affiliation advance to the general election, exclusively for the upcoming U.S. Senate election in 2024, with a sunset date in 2025. (Source)

The New York Times has investigated what the Montana GOP is trying to do and what they found is troubling.

I’ve read the article and Montana State Senator Greg Hertz, who introduced the bill, is coming across like a pawn for the National Republican Party. I don’t think “pawn” is a very strong word to describe him, maybe chickenshit would be better. He attempts to defend himself on Twitter but just digs himself a deeper hole.

One of the key paragraphs in the report shows how the Times reviewed text messages:

In a text message chain among eight Republican senators, Mr. Fitzpatrick (Steve Fitzpatrick, State Senate Majority Leader) answered lawmakers’ concerns by telling them the bill “came from Daines” and that it was the “brainchild of the Jason Thielman,” according to screenshots of the texts obtained by The New York Times. Mr. Thielman is a longtime Daines aide who is now the executive director of the N.R.S.C.

I’ve known Thielman for a long time, and this is pretty freaking low, even for him. Shame on Thielman.

It was also reported by the Times:

At least two Republican lawmakers in Montana said they had been pressured by Mr. Daines’s office to support the bill. And one Republican state senator received a text message from state Republican Party officials explicitly saying the bill was needed to defeat Mr. Tester.

Former GOP Governor Marc Racicot was quoted saying:

“It’s a horrible commentary about how you value the votes of your fellow citizens,” said Marc Racicot, a former Republican governor and former chair of the R.N.C. “They didn’t sign up as guinea pigs.”

No wonder moderates like me decided to stop supporting the Republican Party. Unless you are MAGA, you don’t count.

You can read the NY Times article HERE (it might be for subscribers only).

BAN TIKTOK IN MONTANA:

The MAGA folks in the Montana Legislature accomplished one goal in getting the state 15 minutes of fame over the weekend for being the first state to ban TikTok. I wonder if shouts of “We’re #1, We’re #1” could be heard from the capitol?

All that is left is for Governor Greg Gianforte to sign the bill into law.

The bill had previously passed the Montana Senate 30-20 and passed the Montana House 54-43. So if my math is correct 84 idiots are roaming around Helena today thinking they are protecting us from China.

MTN reported that the bill “bars TikTok and its parent company ByteDance from operating in the state, and bars app companies like Apple and Google from offering the app for download.”

Most importantly, “People who have already downloaded the app would be able to keep using it, and users wouldn’t be subject to fines.”

So, download the app NOW. If it is signed into law and you want it, download it while you are on vacation in another state.

I feel safer already.

Just imagine the time wasted on this bill that could have been used for real needs in Montana.

ONE MORE THING:

When you hear that a politician wants 12-year-olds to get married, do you even have to be told it was a Republican? –@MiddleAgeRiot (Source)

## HAVE A GREAT WEEK ##