Happy Monday, faithful readers! Today is July 10, and here are the topics that I am providing commentary about today:

• Special Session
• Freedom Works Here
• A Different Class
• Screen Protector

SPECIAL SESSION:

Lee Newspapers and others are reporting that state Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called on Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte to bring the Legislature into a special session to address rising property valuations, namely a sharp increase for residential properties statewide.

If you review social media, right now the property tax increase is one of the top subjects in the state, so this was a good public relations move by the Democrats. Does that mean the Governor will call a special session? Nope.

The Republicans will point to the “Property Tax Relief of up to $675 this year for eligible Montana Homeowners” as a way they are combating the higher property taxes. They even spent some serious dough promoting it by mailing a postcard.

You can see the postcard HERE and HERE. Earlier when I wrote about the postcard, I said, “The refund will be great to use when we have to pay the increase in our property taxes later this year…”

As I said back on June 29, the current assessed value of my home went up almost $50,000 from the previous assessed value.

Read the full report from Lee Newspapers HERE.

FREEDOM WORKS HERE:

You may have seen some of the commercials from South Dakota saying they are hiring. They have a website up promoting the state (FreedomWorksHere.com):

Here in South Dakota, our economy is growing so quickly that our workforce can’t fill all the amazing opportunities. With more than 25,000 job openings, high wages, and no personal income tax, South Dakota is the perfect place to get to work.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem even stars in some of the commercials, like THIS ONE, where she plays a plumber.

Applause to South Dakota and Noem.

A DIFFERENT CLASS:

Reuters is reporting that tens of thousands of champagne bottles are opened during the Wimbledon Championships every year but on Sunday one chair umpire politely asked patrons to keep them corked, at least until the players on court had served:

“Ladies and gentlemen, please, if you are opening a bottle of champagne, don’t do it as the players are about to serve,” Australian umpire John Blom said on the microphone for all to hear.

I’ve never attended a professional tennis match so I don’t know about the atmosphere there, but I have attended a professional football game and never had a problem with anyone telling me when I could open my beer…

Check out the Reuters story HERE.

SCREEN PROTECTOR:

The saga continues for me with screen protectors for phones.

I purchased a new smartphone recently and, as normal, when I put the screen protector on, it had a bubble or two that I could not get out. This one contained only one screen protector, so I had just “one shot” (like the Eminem song) and I blew it.

That got me thinking that there must be a few people in the country who can put a screen protector on their phones perfectly. To me, they are like the people who can solve the Rubik’s Cube in under 10 seconds.

They should probably get some award for their work – a technology award or something for being good at it. I’m sure not.

I’m sure some tech guy/gal at Verizon or T-Mobile is laughing because they probably installed 20 screen protectors last week with no bubbles…

## HAVE A GREAT WEEK ##