Welcome! The Western Word is coming to you from an underground bunker deep in the Montana wilderness! Here are the topics for today:

• Sheehy’s Racial Comments
• Fentanyl & Politics
• Voting Chaos (Update)
• Crunch Time

SHEEHY’S RACIAL COMMENTS: 

NBC Montana is reporting that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy talked a little bit about his disparaging comments made toward Native Americans with a friendly Fox News reporter recently.

Sheehy has still not apologized 

NBC Montana reported that Sheehy said:

“Well listen, they’ll take recordings from years ago, chop them up and make them sound evil,” Sheehy said on Fox News. “To make me sound like somebody I’m not. The reality is, I spend more time at our Tribal communities than Jon Tester ever has. You, know we rope and brand together on the Crow Reservation. You know, we ranch alongside them.”

Sheehy goes on to say the narrative is being twisted. Then changing the subject to discuss claims that he is anti-veteran and making remarks at his political opponent. Throughout the rest of the interview, he doesn’t discuss the audio.

There were reports that Native American protestors showed up at a Sheehy rally in Billings. It was reported that “dozens” were in attendance to see Sheehy and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem. 

Sheehy should apologize.

You can read the complete NBC Montana story HERE. 

FENTANYL & POLITICS:  

We hear a lot about fentanyl these days especially since it is campaign season. The Republicans say the southern border is wide open because of Biden/Harris and fentanyl is pouring in from Mexico with those who cross the border illegally. 

That’s not true according to a story that aired on 60 Minutes Sunday night:

Commissioner Troy Miller, a 30-year veteran of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told 60 Minutes that almost all the fentanyl coming into the country is smuggled through legal ports of entry like here at San Ysidro, between San Diego and Tijuana. Miller said, “The majority (of) the fentanyl that we’re seeing, about 90%-plus is coming in passenger vehicles.

Miller also said they had seized 27,000 pounds of fentanyl in FY 2023. 

They need more people. The bipartisan border bill that Donald Trump killed might have given them the extra manpower and resources they need to combat this epidemic. 

You would think we could all work together to fight this mess, but the Republicans, led by Trump, have made it a campaign issue instead of trying to solve it. 

Read/watch the complete 60 Minutes story HERE. 

VOTING CHAOS (UPDATE):

Yesterday I wrote about an error in Montana’s electronic voting system that had left Kamala Harris and Tim Walz off the electronic ballots. 

The Daily Montanan reported yesterday afternoon that military and overseas voters can once again vote through the state’s Electronic Absentee System after the Montana Secretary of State’s Office corrected an error that left Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris and running mate Tim Walz off the ballot.

The Daily Montanan also reported about a press release issued by the Montana Secretary of State’s office:

Secretary of State (SOS) Christi Jacobsen’s office issued a news release Monday morning that started with the assertion: “No, Montana did not leave a candidate off the 2024 General Election ballot.”

Later in the story, it was reported they worked with a vendor to troubleshoot the issue and correct it.

With press releases like that, I don’t have a lot of confidence in the SOS office. 

CRUNCH TIME:

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