Welcome to another week of The Western Word!

Here are a few topics that caught my attention:

• MT GOP Convention
• GF Public Safety Levy
• Unabomber

MT GOP CONVENTION:

I guess the Montana Republicans held their annual convention this past weekend. The event was held in Missoula.

The Republicans have been having a great run and have been sticking with the MAGA message that seems to resonate with many in the party. As mentioned in an article in the Missoulian, U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) is the “last prize” for the Republicans to capture, although I imagine some of their attention will be on the State Supreme Court seats that are open.

According to the Missoulian, those nominated and elected to the state GOP executive committee — Chair Don “Don K” Kaltschmidt, Vice Chair Lola Sheldon-Galloway, Secretary Terry Nelson, Treasurer Brad Tschida and Assistant Treasurer Suzzann Nordwick — arrived there without open conflict between candidates.

The Missoulian also published a photo of Lola Sheldon-Galloway dressed in a jockey outfit. She looked goofy.

The keynote speaker was Stephen Miller, former senior adviser to then-President Donald Trump. The Missoulian reported that Miller is married to a former staffer of U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT). Maybe they received a discount from Miller because of this. The Missoulian says Miller “delivered a 20-minute address Friday with a white-hot intensity by the standards of Montana political speeches…”

The Southern Poverty Law Center says the following about Miller:

Stephen Miller is credited with shaping the racist and draconian immigration policies of President Trump, which include the zero-tolerance policy, also known as family separation, the Muslim ban and ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Miller has also “purged” government agencies of civil servants who are not entirely loyal to his extremist agenda, according to a report in Vanity Fair.

That was one of the milder statements about Miller.

One of the more interesting things I read in the Missoulian was the part about the Missoula County Central Committee:

Despite the apparent harmony across the weekend event, Saturday morning’s State Central Committee meeting — which was closed to the press — saw the Missoula County Central Committee ousted from the convention in its own backyard.

The story continues…

Friday night, the party’s credentialing committee heard a complaint about the Missoula County Central Committee’s paperwork filed to secure their voting credentials at the convention, lodged by people within the Missoula County Central Committee. According to several accounts of committee members, the paperwork issue was largely the culmination of internal fighting within the local central committee. Still, the credentialing committee advanced the complaint to the state central committee, which then voted to remove the four central committee delegates’ voting privileges for the remainder of the convention.
One of the central committee’s delegates whose voting privileges were revoked was Thelma Baker, a 90-year-old Missoulian who attended the convention with her son, Jim Martin, and her caretaker.

Shame on the State Central Committee for what they did to Baker. She is an icon.

One thing I did not hear is who will the Republicans get to take on Tester. It seems that a candidate would want to get their name out during this convention and start raising money.
By the time the next convention rolls around it will be too late.

Read the complete article from the Missoulian HERE.

GF PUBLIC SAFETY LEVY:

prop·a·gan·da
information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.(Source)

There will be a public safety town hall meeting this Wednesday to try and sell a massive tax increase to the voters. According to the press release from the city, “At its maximum, the levy will cost approximately $280.11 a year for a home with an assessed market value for tax purposes of $200,000.”

Look for more propaganda from the city and the proponents of the massive tax increase from now until November.

Those who complained about the small tax increase for the library should really be pissed about the massive amount they want from us for the safety levy.

I will be voting NO.

UNABOMBER:

First, it was announced that the Unabomber had died, then it was reported that Ted Kaczynski, known as the “Unabomber,” who carried out a 17-year bombing campaign that killed three people and injured 23 others, died by suicide, four people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Suicide.

A little personal story about the Unabomber…

Back in 1996 when he was arrested, near Lincoln, Montana, there were rumors that he would be arraigned in Federal Court in Great Falls. At that time the Federal Court was above the main post office on First Avenue North in Great Falls. I worked for U.S. Senator Conrad Burns and his office was about a block or two from the Federal Courthouse. When I headed to work around 6:30 a.m. that morning, there were satellite trucks from all the major news organizations lining the street in front of the federal courthouse. One was CNN. That was back when they had CNN Headline News which was news every 30 minutes. At the top and bottom of every hour for several hours, I could look down the street and see the CNN reporter do a live shot from Great Falls and then look at my YV and see the reporter on the TV. I guess they ended up arraigning the Unabomber in Helena instead of Great Falls.

Finally, I wonder if some of the wacko Republicans think the Unabomber suicide was done by the “Deep State” so they can make room in prison for Donald Trump?

## HAVE A GREAT WEEK ##