Happy Monday, faithful readers! Today I provide independent commentary about the following topics:
- Zinke’s SAFE Act
- Battleground States
- Municipal General Election
- One More Thing
ZINKE’S SAFE ACT:
Last week in a press release, Congressman Ryan Zinke (R-MT/01) announced that he introduced the Safeguarding Americans from Extremism (SAFE) Act to prevent Palestinian terrorists from abusing the United States’ legal immigration system by requiring the Department of Homeland Security to implement a pause on all visas, refugee status and granting of asylum for individuals holding a passport issued by the Palestinian Authority (PA). It also revokes any entrance of covered aliens who were granted visas or entered the United States on or after October 1, 2023.
“This legislation keeps America safe. I don’t trust the Biden Administration any more than I do the Palestinian Authority to screen who is allowed to come into the United States,” Zinke said. “This is the most anti-Hamas immigration legislation I have seen and it’s well deserved. Given the circumstances, the threats to our immigration system and the history of terrorists abusing refugee, asylum and visa processes all over the world, the requirements in this bill are necessary to keep Americans safe. This bill does exactly that.”
The Huff Post reported on Zinke’s bill and added this:
Zinke’s bill, co-sponsored by 10 other members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, stands no chance of becoming law but represents an escalation of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim rhetoric from the right. Zinke made no effort to differentiate between Hamas, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government, and residents of the Palestinian territories, not all of whom even live in the Gaza Strip where Hamas operates.
The Independent reported:
Though Mr. Zinke claims his proposed legislation is for safety measures, other members of Congress and activists say it is racist. “This is the textbook definition of racism,” California Rep Barbara Lee wrote on X.
New York Rep Ritchie Torres said he would vote against “any and all” legislation that discriminates on the basis of race, ethnicity or nationality.
“Anti-Palestinian hate and Islamophobia has no place in America. None,” Mr. Torres wrote.
If Zinke was looking for publicity, he got it. I am embarrassed by his actions.
BATTLEGROUND STATES:
The New York Times is reporting that President Joe Biden is trailing Donald J. Trump in five of the six most important battleground states one year before the 2024 election, suffering from enormous doubts about his age and deep dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and a host of other issues, new polls by The New York Times and Siena College have found.
The NYT reported that the results show Mr. Biden losing to Mr. Trump, his likeliest Republican rival, by margins of four to 10 percentage points among registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Mr. Biden is ahead only in Wisconsin, by two percentage points, the poll found.
So, we have a 77-year-old (Trump) leading an 80-year-old (Biden). These two guys are way too old to be running our country.
The Washington Post reported on Sunday that Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations.
The future does not look too bright…
MUNICIPAL GENERAL ELECTION:
Just a reminder that Tuesday (tomorrow, November 7) is the Municipal General Election in Great Falls. We will have the opportunity to elect a mayor, two city commissioners, two municipal court judges, and a neighborhood council. We will also be asked to vote Yes or No on a Public Safety Levy and on Bonds for public safety improvement.
Thank you to all the candidates who are running for public office.
I completed my ballot on Sunday and will take it by the Elections office today. I did not vote for any incumbents as they voted to raise my taxes and fees too much in the past few years. The incumbents seemed to be on the city bureaucracy side and not the voters. I voted No on the Public Safety Levy and No on the Bond request. The requests were just too high and will cost me and my family too much. If it is defeated I hope they come back with a request that is about a quarter of the one on this ballot, and I might be able to support that.
ONE MORE THING:
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist. – Indira Gandhi
The Western Word 
Yeah, I should have joined up and protected the Vietnamese from the communists. How’d that go? Good luck on your surgery Mr. Brown.
These Zionists are modern day Nazis. Who gave their god the right to exterminate anybody?
https://www.commondreams.org/news/netanyahu-genocide
No, what I said is Hamas’ plan hasn’t worked out for the citizens of Gaza. As far as Israel’s response, when is a war supposed to be “proportionate.” I quoted Sherman, read up on his views on ending a war quickly. Dresden, Manila, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Berlin. Or they could do a Vietnam, Afghanistan. I think of the farm worker from Thailand getting his head hacked off with a hoe. Proportionate?
For the record, Billy, I was in Vietnam. We’re you?
No my draft number was 223 and was smart enough not to join.
I hear ya, Bill. Somebody had to stay behind and protect the women and children. Thank you for your service !
Zinke’s SAFE Act pairs up with Steve Daines’s GAZA Act. These two dorks are hell bent on worsening Montana’s political image. https://mooreonmontana.com/2023/11/05/racist-reactionaries/
Thank you!
If the Washington Post reports that the Russians are helping Trump plan his revenge – then I’ll worry. I voted for incumbents & for both levy & bond.
Thanks. Being able to vote the way we feel makes our country great! -JmB
Zinke, racist moron still pimping for industry by demonizing a defenseless population of Arabs. What a guy, what a guy. First steal their land, then their resources. Instead of speaking about the desperation of the people and the inhumanity of the situation, Zinke appears to be positioning himself for a lobbying job in industry some day as a reward for his cruelty. Pretty much par for the course for Zinke. Pretty much a sleaze ball continually embarrassing Montana.
https://www.planetcritical.com/p/everybody-wants-gazas-gas
Hamas’ plan slaughtering civilians, taking hostages, and hiding underground seems not to have worked out well for the citizens of Gaza. “War is Hell.” I voted against the levy and the bond. Couldn’t bring myself to vote for any of the candidates.
Um, so you therefore approve of genocide, Bill? Is that what you’re implying? One horrific act justifies a disproportionate genocide in response? You might be one of the few remaining folks out there that haven’t heard of the occupation.
And let’s be clear. What Israel is doing in Palestine is genocide Even Jewish scholars admit this. Pretty much the entire world knows it too. Hence, huge demonstrations around the world. It’s never going back to the way it was. Israel’s occupation and apartheid has sickened decent people everywhere.
https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide
Larry I am not sure what response exactly Hamas expected invading a next door country and slaughtering 1400 of its citizens including women and children. The USA would not sit still for that if Mexico or Canada did it.
The again, the USA has not locked up the residents of Mexico or Canada in an open air prison for 75 years to make them angry and desperate. But still no excuse for the Oct. 7 massacres.
Probably what they expected is exactly what’s happening, maybe in hopes of focusing the world’s attention back on the unresolved Israel/Palestinian issues, and/or maybe inflaming a wider war against Israel, and/or maybe totally ruining any chance of better relations between Israel and additional Arab nations, and/or all of the above. Callously using the lives of their own families and friends as fuel for the fire.
Or maybe some outside actors put them up to it to divert U.S. attention from Ukraine or Taiwan. Who knows.
It is a sad and sorry mess for sure. But proportionate I’m not sure that even enters in the equation for a despicable horror such as Oct . 7. How many people in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere died in payback for the U.S. victims of 9/11? How many Japanese for Pearl Harbor? Etc.
There’s a reason war is considered bad. Lots of people die. So best not to start one.
Nicely put. Thank you. -JmB
Terry, all of the above. And it’s working. A careful reading of Israel’s edicts from Netanyahu on down indicate that the extermination the Palestinian people was Israel’s ultimate goal. What choice did they have. To go quietly to the ovens so to speak, or do a Warsaw ghetto? They chose the latter, just as the Jews did.
And now, as a result, the entire world is laser focused on the injustices and genocide that’s going on. The Israelis have backed themselves in a corner. And they don’t seem to care that they are alienating most of the world. It won’t end well for them. They’ve blown any sympathy they had left. Racism and apartheid ended all that.
A few Israelis and most of the world’s leaders get it. They stole the land, and it’s only right that they share it.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/former-israeli-prime-minister-israel-203622296.html
Unfortunately Larry it seems the ultimate goal of radical Palestinian factions and their benefactors in Iran and elsewhere is also total elimination of the state of Israel, “push them into the sea”, “from the river to the sea”, and all that.
So the two sides are perpetuallly locked in a death struggle. Would be great if the establishment of a Palestinian state would resolve all the issues and everyone would live and let live. But hard to believe in that vision as long as there are so many inside the Palestinian territories, in Lebanon, and across the middle east who feel Israel should not exist at all.
Terry, best commentary I’ve seen yet. Netanyahu again calls for the literal slaughter of the Palestinian people. And we as a country are subsidizing this evil man.
And don’t forget that AIPAC is the most pernicious lobby in the country, responsible for much of the right wing terror we face today in America. And yet if we question any aspect of Israel we are labeled anti Semitic?
It’s time to ask some difficult questions, and people around the world are.