Caught My Eye…

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Here we go folks – it’s Friday – and time for Caught My Eye!

Today’s topics include:

  • 2024 Candidate Filing
  • January 6, 2021 Riot
  • Football Roundup
  • Diplomat
  • One More Thing

2024 CANDIDATE FILING:

Today was the first day to file for elective office in Montana and, as I get ready to post this column, it looks like 108 candidates filed for 90 offices, so far.

In the Cascade County area, two well-known Democrats have filed for the State House of Representatives. Former County Commissioner Jane Weber is running in House District 19 and former Clerk and Recorder Rina Fontana Moore is running in House District 20. Republican Steve Fitzpatrick has filed to run in HD 24.

The Cascade County Democrats held a press conference at the Great Falls Senior Center to introduce five candidates running for office. I watched part of the event on Facebook. The candidates are Don Ryan (candidate for county commissioner), Jane Weber (HD 19), Lela Graham (HD 21), Rina Fontana Moore (HD 20), Sandor Hopkins (now filing in HD 23),

In the judicial races, I was happy to see that Elizabeth Best is running for reelection as a District Court judge. I think Best is the top judge in Judicial District 8.

Check out Weber for HD 19 by clicking HERE. You can keep track of the candidates filing for office by checking out the website from the Secretary of State’s office HERE.

The Western Word always welcomes information from the candidates. Please feel free to add The Western Word to your press list: Western_Word@Yahoo.com.

JANUARY 6, 2021 RIOT:

In case you missed it, the long arm of the law is still finding people who took part in the January 6 insurrection. This time it’s someone from Montana.

KTVH is reporting that newly filed court documents accuse West Valley Fire Rescue Chief Frank Dahlquist of pepper spraying and assaulting police at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riot. A warrant was issued for Dahlquist’s arrest on January 4, 2024. He made his initial appearance at federal district court in Great Falls on Wednesday. A criminal complaint and statement of facts have been filed with the court. There are no charges at this time.

If you have read my comments about the folks involved in the insurrection, then you know that I think those folks are the scum of the earth. Many were given light sentences, which I strongly disagree with.

If Dahlquist is charged and found guilty, I hope he goes away for a long time.

FOOTBALL ROUNDUP:

We’ve had several coaches in the college and NFL ranks who have decided to retire, move on, or were fired this week.

Probably the greatest coach ever in college football decided to retire. Nick Saban is leaving Alabama with six national championships. He also won another national championship while coaching LSU. Saban won 80% of his games and his record is 297-71-1. (Source)

Probably the greatest coach ever in the NFL, Bill Belichick, parted ways with the New England Patriots after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl championships. He is probably not done with coaching. (Source)

The NFL Super Wildcard Weekend starts Saturday with two games. Sunday gives us three games, and there’s a game on Monday night. Is this a great country or what?

The Dolphins will visit Arrowhead to take on my Chiefs. It’s supposed to be very cold in Kansas City on Saturday (Not Montana cold, but Missouri cold). The Chiefs beat the Dolphins earlier this season, but with the way my Chiefs have played this season, I don’t know what to expect from them.

I am looking forward to the Packers/Cowboys game and the Rams/Lions game.

You can check out the schedule HERE.

DIPLOMAT:

I use Grammarly to check my writing for this blog. They sent me a 2023 review of my writing skills.

Grammarly claims that my writing style makes me a “Diplomat.” Grammarly goes on to say “In 2023 your communication was neutral, appreciative, and informative.”

Grammarly says, “Number one on your list of skills: staying on everyone’s good side. The Diplomat tends to acknowledge everyone’s point of view and reserve judgment whenever they write. Their neutral tone makes them an excellent mediator and a trusted adviser to many.”

I guess they missed the few columns where I called some people assholes…

A faithful reader asked that since this blog was started on January 10, 2005, if I knew how many columns I had written during that time. I looked it up, and I have written 4,921 columns during those 19 years. That is about 259 per year.

Psst…all of them were damned good…

ONE MORE THING:

This song has been stuck in my head this week…

Mama told me when I was young
“Come sit beside me, my only son
And listen closely to what I say
And if you do this it’ll help you
Some sunny day”
Oh, yeah
Oh, take your time, don’t live too fast
Troubles will come and they will pass
You’ll find a woman, yeah, and you’ll find love
And don’t forget son there is someone up above
“Simple Man” – Song by Lynyrd Skynyrd (Video)

## STAY WARM ##

3 thoughts on “Caught My Eye…”

  2. A few other stories of interest this week:

    Rep. Matt Rosendale is once again doing the only thing he knows how to do, tear down other people’s hard work, as he and fellow R extremists undermine the new Speaker and tank a deal he had cut. That was a short honeymoon.

    https://dailycaller.com/2024/01/10/house-conservatives-tank-key-rule-vote-blow-mike-johnsons-speakership/

    To start 2024 out on the same note where 2023 left off, a judge strikes down yet another of the 2023 legislature’s ill-considered and apparently unconstitutional laws, this one that piled ballooning licensing fees on dope dispensaries with more than one location. Brings the total of bills struck down to about 6,324 since the end of the session, give or take a few. That legislature – what absolutely brilliant legal minds.

    Judge strikes down state’s new dispensary licensing fees 

    Greg Gianforte names his much-ballyhooed property tax reform task force/flying wedge, and tasks it with doing pretty much the obvious. Notably absent are any names from Cascade County, legislative or otherwise. One particularly glaring absence is that of local pol Rick Tryon, the guy who has been braying the loudest about “tax reform! tax reform! tax reform!” Though, in possible defense of Gianforte’s bypass of that luminary, Tryon has never suggested one actual concrete idea about what that “tax reform!” he brays about would entail.

    https://dailymontanan.com/briefs/gov-gianforte-launches-property-tax-task-force-announces-members/

    And finally, disarray at Gianforte’s DPHHS as far as contracting with and paying state health care providers is causing a crisis. “I’ve never seen it this dysfunctional,” said Jim Hajny, executive director of Montana’s Peer Network, a state contractor affected by the delays. “Something just completely broke down, but there is nothing coming out. Not even a letter to say, ‘Hey, sorry, we’re not going to get the contracts out.’”

    Primarily the problems seem to stem from new red tape measures piled on the state contracting process by the legislature and administration (hey, didn’t we have a task force about red tape?), including this particularly curious note: “One of the legislative mandates [DPHHS spokesman] Ebelt cited as a factor in the delays is a new state law requiring state contractors to verify in writing that they won’t discriminate against companies that make, distribute, or sell guns, or firearm associations.” Was that even ever a thing in Montana as far as health care providers? More brilliant foresight from our legislators, and leadership by the Gianforte administration. Then again, the bottled up contracts and payments mostly affect the poor people and addicts and mentally ill these contractors serve, so no real biggie to our lawmakers. As long as we can protect the gun pushers.

    https://dailymontanan.com/2024/01/11/delays-in-state-contracts-leave-montana-health-providers-strapped/

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