Welcome! Here are the topics for today’s column:

• Great Falls – Another Tax Increase
• Housing Migrant Families
• Biden & COVID & Polls

GREAT FALLS – ANOTHER TAX INCREASE:

The Electric reports that Great Falls City Commissioners voted 4-1 during their July 16 meeting to approve their intent to increase property taxes.

Thanks to Commissioner Shannon Wilson for having the guts to vote against the tax increase.

The Electric reported that Commissioner Rick Tryon said, “I am satisfied that the small marginal increases in property tax are justified and they balance out with the expectation of this community for city services.”

The problem with Tryon’s thinking is when you add up all these “small marginal increases” in taxes and fees, the folks in Great Falls are getting hosed over and over.

Many folks are fed up with these increases. We need to elect people who will represent the citizens of Great Falls and not the department heads running the city.

Read the complete report from The Electric HERE.

HOUSING MIGRANT FAMILIES:

Almost everyone agrees that we have a border problem. Until the Republicans and Democrats decide to work together, it will continue. It is their fault.

You’ve probably seen the commercials that say President Joe Biden is spending $86.9 million to house migrant families in hotels after they cross the U.S.-Mexico border. In Montana, they try to tie U.S. Senator Jon Tester to the spending.

Snopes rates the claim true. Here is what the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) says:

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has signed a short-term contract with the non-profit division of Endeavors to provide temporary shelter and processing services for families who have not been expelled and are therefore placed in immigration proceedings for their removal from the United States.
The $86.9 million contract provides 1,239 beds and other necessary services. The families will receive a comprehensive health assessment that includes COVID-19 testing.
Our border is not open. The majority of individuals continue to be expelled under the Centers for Disease Control’s public health authority.

The thing that Tim Sheehy and other Republicans don’t want you to know is that migrant families were also housed in U.S. hotels during former President Donald Trump’s administration.

The Obama Administration did the same thing.

Review the fact check HERE.

BIDEN & COVID & POLLS:

The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that President Joe Biden tested positive for COVID-19 while traveling Wednesday in Las Vegas and is experiencing “mild symptoms” including “general malaise” from the infection, the White House said.

There was more bad news.

The AP also reported that nearly two-thirds (65-35%) of Democrats say President Joe Biden should withdraw from the presidential race and let his party nominate a different candidate, according to a new poll, sharply undercutting his post-debate claim that “average Democrats” are still with him even if some “big names” are turning on him.

It was also reported that the new survey by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, conducted as Biden works to salvage his candidacy two weeks after his debate flop, also found that only about 3 in 10 Democrats are extremely or very confident that he has the mental capability to serve effectively as president, down slightly from 40% in an AP-NORC poll in February.

## GOD BLESS AMERICA ##