Greetings! Here are the topics for today’s commentary:
> Cascade County Elections
> Trump & Colorado
> Grizzly Marching Band
> TWW Christmas Party
CASCADE COUNTY ELECTIONS:
It looks like the County Commission meeting to discuss who to hire to run the Elections in Cascade County has a different day and time. The county posted a message saying, “Special Commission Meeting For December 21, 2023 MOVED.” At the end of the message, they did state, “See you Friday December 22, 2023, at 11:00 a.m. New Meeting time.” (Source)
Nowhere in the message does it state the reason for the meeting. Duh.
These meetings are being held because the Cascade County Commissioners, all Republicans, voted 2-1 to strip County Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant, who is also a Republican, of her duties of overseeing county elections.
TRUMP & COLORADO:
Yesterday the Associated Press (AP) reported that a divided Colorado Supreme Court declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and removed him from the state’s presidential primary ballot, setting up a likely showdown in the nation’s highest court to decide whether the front-runner for the GOP nomination can remain in the race.
The responses from elected officials and candidates in Montana were interesting:
U.S. Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) channeled his best Jack from the movie Titanic who said, “I don’t know about you, but I intend on writing a strongly worded letter to the White Star Line about all of this.”
On social media, Daines posted the following message:
This is an unprecedented and illegal action by liberal Colorado judges.
I plan to send a letter to the US Supreme Court asking them to immediately reverse this blatant election interference for the sake of our democracy.
U.S. Representative Matt Rosendale said:
Activist judges in Colorado put election interference on full display by removing Trump from the ballot.
Colorado’s new state motto: “If ya can’t beat ’em, cheat ’em!”
U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy said:
The Radical Left’s election interference and attack on our democracy continue…and they’re not even trying to hide it. Partisan liberal activists on the Colorado Supreme Court are trying to illegally take President Trump off the ballot because the Left knows the 45th President is up big in the polls, and the American People want him back in the Oval Office!!
We cannot allow them to DESTROY our country right in front of our eyes. SCOTUS must overrule this, and we must fight back together and stand with President Trump to save our country!
GRIZZLY MARCHING BAND:
The University of Montana has kicked off an online fundraising campaign to send the Grizzly Marching Band to the FCS Championship game in Frisco, Texas. (Source)
Click HERE to find out how to donate.
TWW CHRISTMAS PARTY:
The staff of The Western Word held our annual Christmas Party Wednesday night. We do celebrate Christmas here. Since the staff consists of one person (me), it was a short celebration with a beer and some hot wings.
Happy holidays and/or Merry Christmas (whatever floats your boat).
## HAPPY HOLIDAYS ##
The Western Word 
The Montanan has an excellent new editorial about the Cascade County elections saga and partisan politics in general. Best passage in it:
“You can’t find employees because the population is decreasing – through people not having kids, having abortions, we’ve got folks that are retiring,” Rep. Steven Galloway, R-Great Falls, said during a recent public meeting.
I am not sure which is more insulting: That Galloway believes abortion is causing a general labor shortage or the not-so-subtle implication that Merchant was the best residents could find because, you know, abortion somehow has taken the brightest, too.”
https://dailymontanan.com/2023/12/21/cascade-county-has-become-a-perfect-example-of-our-national-politics/
Thanks for posting this. Good commentary. -JmB
These republican candidates are simply adding to the mixture of violent rhetoric. They are traitors. Hard to believe they get elected in Montana. This state is nuttier than I ever thought would happen. Very sad. One would expect our state and local politicians to be MAGA crazy, but you would think our representatives in D.C. would be a little more statesman like.
“”The normalization of this type of violent rhetoric — and lack of remedial action by social media entities — is cause for significant concern,” he said. “Trump’s statements, which have sought to delegitimize and politicize the actions of the courts, is serving as a key driver of the violent rhetoric. Political leaders on both sides of the political aisle need to speak out against these calls for violence, and social media platforms need to reassess their role in hosting and promoting this rhetoric.”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/colorado-supreme-court-justices-face-040204744.html