Hello, friends! Today is Tuesday, November 14, 2023, and here are the topics for today’s commentary:

• Unsubstantiated
• Cayman Islands
• Trump’s Campaign Promises
• One More Thing

UNSUBSTANTIATED:

I’ve learned a lot this week about the City of Great Falls Ethics Committee. First, I never knew the City of Great Falls had an ethics committee, and second, it really does not have much clout to do anything.

To refresh your memory, a local activist, Jasmine Taylor, filed an ethics complaint against Great Falls City Commissioner Rick Tryon. The Electric reported that Taylor alleged that Tryon has violated the city’s ethics code for his association with Stray Moose Productions, a local company owned by Phil Faccenda; and for publishing articles on E-City Beat, a local right leaning blog affiliated with Stray Moose and Faccenda.

The Electric and other sources reported that the Ethics Committee found the complaints to be unsubstantiated based on the evidence presented and available information within the scope of their jurisdiction.

That’s fine with me. I was not overly impressed with the complaints, but I am sure that in the next four years, Commissioner Tryon will step out of bounds. He’s a bully and models himself after Donald Trump. Stepping out of bounds does not bother me as much as his past votes to raise taxes and fees on the citizens of Great Falls, which will probably happen again in the future since he was reelected.

It was reported that Tryon did not show up for the hearing, which seems cowardly to me.

The Electric reported that Tryon did not attend the ethics committee hearing but wrote in a written response to the complaint that he’s a part-time employee of Stray Moose Productions but is not an employee of E-City Beat, only a volunteer contributor.
Asked for documentation proving that he receives no financial gain from E-City Beat, Tryon responded to the city attorney’s office that he would not submit any private, personal financial tax or other documents to the city “based on speculation and innuendo contained in an ethics complaint which contains allegations completely outside of my official duties as a city commission.”

I’m sure the back and forth between Taylor and Tryon and their blogs will continue.

Check out the excellent reporting on this issue from The Electric by clicking HERE.

CAYMAN ISLANDS:

The Last Best Place PAC is running a political attack ad that you’ve probably seen that says Montana Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy “… does business in the Cayman Islands—a place where millionaires like him go to skip out on paying their taxes.”

They also have a website dedicated to “Shady Sheehy” HERE.

I wonder if this is true. Voters need to know…

TRUMP’S CAMPAIGN PROMISES:

The Associated Press (AP) reported Sunday that if Donald Trump wins in 2024, here are some of his plans:

• Trump would try to strip tens of thousands of career employees of their civil service protections.
• He would immediately direct U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to undertake the largest domestic deportation operation in American history. Trump says he will move thousands of troops currently stationed overseas and shift federal agents, including those at the Drug Enforcement Administration and FBI, to immigration enforcement. He also wants to build more of the border wall.
• Trump wants to reimpose his travel ban that originally targeted seven Muslim-majority countries and expand it to “keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the country.”
• To deter migrants, he has said he would end birthright citizenship, using an executive order that would introduce a legally untested interpretation of the 14th Amendment.
• Trump says he will institute a system of tariffs of perhaps 10% on most foreign goods.
• Trump claims that even before he is inaugurated, he will have settled the war between Russia and Ukraine.
• Trump says he will ask Congress to pass a bill establishing that “only two genders,” as determined at birth, are recognized by the United States.
• Trump has pledged to terminate the Department of Education, but he also wants to exert enormous influence over local school districts and colleges. He has said he would cut funding for any school that has a vaccine or mask mandate and will promote prayer in public schools.
• Trump wants to force the homeless off city streets by building tent cities on large open parcels of inexpensive land. At the same time, he says he will work with states to ban urban camping, giving violators the choice between being arrested or receiving treatment.
• He says he will require local law enforcement agencies that receive Justice Department grants to use controversial policing measures such as stop-and-frisk. As a deterrent, he says local police should be empowered to shoot suspected shoplifters in the act. “Very simply, if you rob a store, you can fully expect to be shot as you are leaving that store,” he said in one recent speech.

You can read the complete AP story HERE.

ONE MORE THING:

He wants to dream like a young man
With the wisdom of an old man
He wants his home and security
He wants to live like a sailor at sea
Beautiful loser, where you gonna fall?
You realize you just can’t have it all

• Beautiful Loser (Bob Seger)

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