Welcome to The Western Word! Here are the topics for today’s column:
- MT02 – Text Message War
- Operation Lone Star
- The Presidential Election
- TikTok News
MT02 – TEXT MESSAGE WAR:
The U.S. House campaigns of Denny Rehberg and Troy Downing send almost daily text messages attacking each other. It’s kind of fun.
Rehberg and Downing are two of several candidates who are running for the open seat in Montana Congressional District 2.
The Downing campaign message Monday morning was that “Rehberg is a career politician who backed rigged trade deals with Communist China…”
The Rehberg campaign sent a text message in the afternoon saying, “Have you seen the news? Troy Downing is paying a Democrat lobbyist $126,000 a year from his official office.”
Both are Republicans.
As far as I know, they have been kind to their dogs and goats…
OPERATION LONE STAR:
In a press release, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte Monday announced the return of Montana National Guard (MTNG) soldiers from their deployment to the southern border to support the state of Texas through Operation Lone Star.
The team of ten volunteers, deployed on April 8, were sent in response to a request from Texas Governor Greg Abbott through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact to support the state of Texas’ efforts to secure the southern border.
I think this deployment was more of a political move than anything else. We should not use our guard members to score political points.
I imagine each will receive a medal for the deployment to the front lines in Texas – I look forward to what will probably be a much-publicized ceremony.
Read the complete press release HERE.
THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION:
Gallup Polling reports that seventy-one percent of Americans say they have given “quite a lot” of thought to the upcoming presidential election, which is on par with election year readings at similar points in the 2008 and 2020 campaigns but higher than in 2000, 2004, and 2012.
Gallup says this suggests voter turnout could be robust this year, as Gallup research has shown that, historically, the amount of thought given to an election tends to correspond with turnout. Voter turnout in the 2008 and 2020 elections — when thought given to the election at this stage mirrored today’s — was the highest since 1968.
It’s nice to see that many people care about the upcoming Presidential Election although the choices are not that great.
Read the complete report from Gallup HERE.
TIKTOK NEWS:
I was among the first to post the news about TikTok filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Government. My post was widely seen and liked:
Leave TikTok alone!
The Western Word 
Tik Tok ban? Of course. What AIPAC wants, AIPAC gets. With the Israeli genocide being live streamed and protests erupting around the world like we’ve never seen before, AIPAC is going bonkers. And since they basically own the government, of course they’re going to ban free speech if that’s what it takes to hide their war crimes.
Will it work? I doubt it for it’s too late. No going back now. Their cover has been blown. The myth of our “special relationship” with Israel is gone forever. Pretty darn hard to hide a genocide. Turns a whole lotta people off. And now, by our association with Israel, we risk becoming a pariah state also by being complicit. Time to reevaluate whom we provide arms and why.