Hello Friends! Here are the topics for today’s independent commentary:

• Personal News
• Municipal Election Ballots
• NorthWestern Energy Rate Hike
• New Speaker
• Football Roundup
• One More Thing

PERSONAL NEWS:

Just as I was preparing to leave for my surgery on Wednesday, Benefis Hospital called and delayed it for two hours. Then after an hour, they called and said they would need to reschedule it. Right now, I am in a holding pattern. They may schedule me for Halloween which creates a dilemma about which type of Halloween mask I should wear to surgery or if I should bring fake blood.

For those of you wondering what I am talking about, I am having outpatient surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff and other problems in my left arm. I fell a few months ago and have not had full use of my left arm since then. Hopefully, the surgeon can repair it and I can get back to using both arms and get off the pain meds!

Thank you for your encouraging emails and messages. I appreciate you!

MUNICIPAL ELECTION BALLOTS:

My household received our ballots for the Great Falls Municipal Election in the mail on Tuesday. Is this a great country or what?

Receiving my ballots in the mail reminded me about a post I recently saw on Facebook from a MAGA nutjob. It shows a photo of a U.S. Mailbox, and the wording goes something like this:

PUT $500 CASH IN AN ENVELOPE, THEN MAIL IT TO YOURSELF.
IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE GUTS TO DO IT BECAUSE YOU’RE AFRAID IT’S GONNA GET LOST YA BETTER VOTE IN PERSON THIS NOVEMBER.

Sometimes MAGA folks are so ignorant that there isn’t a response dumb enough to answer their attacks on our voting system. I guess the best answer is Biden won, so get over it.

By the way, I hope you will join me in voting “NO” on the Public Safety Mill Levy and “NO” on the General Obligation Bond in the Great Falls Municipal Election. These two measures will increase our taxes significantly – we can’t afford higher taxes. Our city commission voted to spend up to $150,000 of our tax money to promote these tax increases. Tell them it’s too much by voting “NO” on both requests.

NORTHWESTERN ENERGY RATE HIKE:

There are five members of the Montana Public Service Commission (PSC). They are all Republicans. All five voted for the 28% increase in utility bills from Northwestern Energy.

The Montana Free Press (MTFP) reported:

Residential customers will see a 28% increase in bills as compared to August 2022, or an 8% increase since the all-Republican commission approved an interim rate increase for Montana’s largest monopoly utility last fall.

To be quite blunt, this is bullshit. The PSC is supposed to look out for us. They are not doing their job.

You add this rate increase to the increase in taxes and fees from Cascade County and the City of Great Falls and it will be too much for most people to afford. Then, if Great Falls voters pass the Safety levy and Bond request, Great Falls will end up like a ghost town.

You can read the full report from the MTFP HERE.

NEW SPEAKER:

The Associated Press (AP) reported that Republicans unanimously elected Rep. Mike Johnson as House speaker on Wednesday, eagerly elevating a deeply conservative but lesser-known leader to the major seat of U.S. power and ending for now the weeks of political chaos in their majority. Johnson, 51, of Louisiana, swept through on the first ballot with support from all Republicans anxious to put the past weeks of tumult behind and get on with the business of governing. He was quickly sworn into office, second in line to the presidency.

I don’t care what views Johnson has about abortion or guns or religion – these are typical conservative views that go along with the territory.

What worries me about Johnson is he is hard-core MAGA. Here is what The Guardian reported about the new Speaker of the House:

In the modern Republican party, supporting Donald Trump’s lie about voter fraud in his defeat by Joe Biden is hardly an outlandish position. But Johnson took it further.
After the election, he voiced support for Trump’s conspiracy theory that voting machines were rigged. Later, he was one of 147 Republicans to object to results in key states, even after a pro-Trump mob attacked Congress on January 6, a riot now linked to nine deaths and hundreds of convictions.
Johnson also authored an amicus brief filed to the supreme court in a case in which Texas sought to have swing-state results thrown out. According to the New York Times, a House Republican lawyer said Johnson’s brief was unconstitutional. Nonetheless, he persuaded 125 colleagues to sign it, using tactics some thought heavy handed.
Before entering politics, Johnson worked for the Alliance Defending Freedom – designated a hate group by the Southern Law Poverty Center, which tracks US extremists.

Of course, Montana’s two MAGA Representatives (Rosendale and Zinke) loved the election of Johnson. (Source)

FOOTBALL ROUNDUP:

I pretty much sucked last week on the college and NFL pigskin pick contests. The good news is it’s a new week!

The Montana high school football playoffs are starting this weekend. I can’t wait to see the annual story about how far a team has to travel in the playoffs. (Not really).

One of the big games is Montana State at Idaho. Montana State leads the Big Sky Conference with a 4-0 record and Idaho is 3-1. The game starts at 2:00 p.m. Mountain time.

The Montana Grizzlies host Northern Colorado. The game starts at 1:00 p.m. Mountain time.

My #16 Missouri Tigers have a bye week, then they take on the #1 Georgia Bulldogs on November 4.

The major college football game that I am interested in is #8 Oregon at #13 Utah. Utah beat USC last week and they looked good, so watch out for the Utes!

In the NFL, my Kansas City Chiefs play the Denver Broncos in Denver. The Chiefs have had Denver’s number for many years, but it has to end sometime – but not this week. On Monday the Raiders play against the Detroit Lions. I look for the Lions to win this one easily.

ONE MORE THING:

The moment you start acting like life is a blessing, it starts feeling like one. – Unknown

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