Happy Black Friday! Here are the topics for today’s independent commentary:
- Canvass Of Election Results
- Top-Four Primary Elections
- Abortion Rights in Montana
- Radio Ads
- Post Thanksgiving Thoughts
CANVASS OF ELECTION RESULTS:
At the end of my reminder about the Canvass of Election Results for the municipal general election in Cascade County Wednesday, I said, “It might be a long meeting…”
It was. I heard from several sources that the canvass meeting ran from 3:30 to 9:30 and no results were certified. The motion was tabled.
I’m not sure what will happen next. I did not see a date/time for the canvass to continue. Maybe next week?
Nonetheless, this is a circus. It’s embarrassing. It’s more proof that changes need to be made in the Elections Office.
You can read some reports about it HERE and HERE.
TOP-FOUR PRIMARY ELECTIONS:
I saw the Montana Free Press (MTFP) is reporting the Montana Supreme Court overturned a decision by Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen to block from the ballot in 2024 a citizen initiative that would create top-four primary elections in the state.
MTFP says that Ballot Initiative 12, as it is now called, would, for most offices, replace Montana’s current system of partisan primary elections with an open primary in which the four candidates with the most votes advance to the general election regardless of party.
It will be interesting to hear the pros and cons of this Initiative. Check out the full story HERE.
ABORTION RIGHTS IN MONTANA:
I also saw a report from the Montana Free Press (MTFP) saying that reproductive rights advocates submitted a proposed constitutional amendment to the Montana secretary of state that, if allowed on the 2024 ballot and approved by voters, would explicitly protect pre-viability abortion in Montana’s foundational legal document.
If this amendment gets on the ballot, I think Montanans will approve it.
Check out the full story HERE.
RADIO ADS:
Lee Newspapers is reporting that a super PAC supporting Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy this week revealed it will spend a quarter-million on radio ads in the coming month. The 60-second radio ad from More Jobs, Less Government focuses on immigration issues and paints Sheehy as a “pro-Trump” conservative.
That’s a lot of money being spent during the holiday season when people don’t care that much about politics. Even during other times, I very seldom listen to radio, except satellite radio.
Check out the story from Lee Newspapers HERE.
POST THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS:
I was out and about in Great Falls last night and it was nice to see so many empty parking lots because the stores were closed for Thanksgiving. It was peaceful.
I am stuffed from all the food I ate on Thanksgiving, and I am looking forward to some football games today. The football games on Thanksgiving were not that competitive. Seeing 77-year-old Dolly Parton dressed as a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader and singing a Queen song plus some of her own songs was…interesting.
The NFL has a Black Friday game today. Miami plays the New York Jets at 1:00 Mountain time. The Missouri Tigers play Arkansas at 2:00 p.m. Mountain time. Oregon and Oregon State play at 6:00 p.m. Mountain time.
Have a peaceful weekend!
The Western Word 
Sort of on the subject of abortion rights …
There is, honest to God, a FAQ item on the Cascade County website for, “How can I get help, if I’m pregnant and living in my car?” That’s a pretty sad comment on the state of affairs in Cascade County. And America.
Flash forward to this past Tuesday evening, when a person from the City-County Health Department came to speak to the City commission about the WIC (Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition) Program, a low-income assistance program described as “a decades-old federal program that helps feed 53% of all infants born in the United States, along with women through and up to six weeks after their pregnancies, breastfeeding women, and children up until the age of 5”. IIRC the speaker to the City said there were some 32,000 WIC purchase transactions in Cascade County over the past year representing $958,000 (? garbled ) added to the local economy.
Good timing considering the U.S. House of Representatives this week and the Republicans’ proposed Ag Bill. It would deny any new funding for the WIC program necessary to meet inflation and population growth and also cut funding levels back to 2018. This could result “in an estimated 600,000 new parents, toddlers, and preschoolers being turned away” and onto waiting lists. Which might include that expectant Cascade County mom living in her car.
The Republicans say tough budget cuts are needed. To a program that provides food for babies and toddlers. But apparently not to programs that provide free taxpayer money to landowners to grow nothing, subsidies for Big Sugar, and etc.
Those darn Republicans. Busy as little buck-toothed beavers scurrying around passing laws to force women to carry pregnancies to term whether they are living in a car or whatever, while virtue signaling furiously as they bray “pro-life!” Pro-life right up to the moment a baby is born, anyhow. After that, society’s broodmare/mom, you are on your own. No WIC for you. And no more money for Cascade County to deal with problems here.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/21/food-aid-wic-funding-00128172
https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/republicans-push-to-gut-food-aid-program-that-helps-feed-half-of-all-infants-in-us/ar-AA1kiM1l
WIC is a much needed program that should not only be funded, but expanded. Thanks, JmB