The Wednesday Read

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Here we go! These are the topics for today’s column: 

  • Oops!… Sheehy Did It Again
  • Zinke vs Tranel
  • Library & Public Safety Levies
  • Banned Books Week 2024 

Oops!… Sheehy Did It Again:

A story from Native News Online says that Montana Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy, who is already in hot water with Native American tribes in Montana for his racist and disparaging remarks about members of the Crow Nation, has been caught on tape making a false comparison to Indigenous Afghans and Indigenous people of Montana.

Native News Online reports:

Speaking in front of the Fort Peck Tribal Council last month, Sheehy said: “You know, I lived amongst the Indigenous folks there who were colonized, lived in mud huts for months and years on end, eating their food, learning their culture, learning their language.”

It was also reported:

A former Navy Seal, while serving time in Afghanistan, Sheehy apparently spent time with some Indigenous people of the war-ravaged country.

Perhaps, Sheehy feels his time spent among the Afghans has prepared him for working with the eight tribes in Montana.  However, his previous comments don’t reflect his ability to maintain a trusting relationship with the Montana tribes.

I don’t see how anyone can trust Sheehy. 

Zinke vs Tranel:

Two years ago, Republican Ryan Zinke beat Democrat Monica Tranel 49.8% to 46.4% in Montana’s western Congressional district (MT-1). The race this time around may be closer.

The Daily Montanan reports that internal polling done through the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee shows Tranel and Zinke neck-and-neck after a multi-modal poll taken between Sept. 11 and 13, with a margin of error of +/- 3.3%. Zinke still has a slight lead, 46% to 45%, according to the new DCCC poll. There were 864 likely voters surveyed in the Congressional district.

I don’t normally trust partisan polling. Two other earlier polls had Zinke up by four and five points. 

Library & Public Safety Levies:

In case you missed it, The Electric has a column posted with a timeline of both the library and public safety levy discussions in Great Falls. 

Great information! Check it out HERE. 

Banned Books Week 2024:

In case you missed it, we are in the middle of Banned Books Week 2024 (Sept. 22-28).

According to a story from MTN News:

Over 10,000 books were banned in public schools during the most recent school year, according to research from the nonprofit organization PEN America. The amount of books banned in the 2023-2024 school year was nearly triple the amount banned during the year before, according to the findings.

It is a shame that so many books are banned. I think parents/guardians should have the final say on whether their child should read a book instead of having a ban where no child can read it. Banning books limits learning. 

Check out the American Library Association banned and challenged books page HERE. 

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10 thoughts on “The Wednesday Read”

  2. Story in apparently respected right wing news source that Tester still takes constituent meetings from plain old everyday citizens really cuts the legs out from under that oft-played Sheehy commercial that Tester doesn’t listen to us his constituents anymore. Nice find, Swede.

      • Another one what? Federalist story has nothing to do with the Tester constituent meeting or the Freebeacon story about it. Simply another derogatory story? Those are dime a dozen.

        I’ll admit the Federalist is also “an apparently respected right wing news source”. At least I have heard of it before, unlike the Freebeacon which must really be out there in the weeds. And I know in the past some of the Federalist editors and writers have had the integrity to call Trump out for his many transgressions and much BS. So it can’t be all bad.

        Though based on this particular story I am not sure exactly why it is supposedly respected: Pretty weak assertion that Tester is tied to Harris at the hip simply because he approved of her as Biden’s choice for VP. Extremely weak assertion that he “voted for her dangerously liberal agenda 95 percent of the time” since she is VP not president and does not set the agenda. As for Tester “recruiting” her to run for senate, she was already well on her way. That’s what ambitious AG’s do. Very shallow story based on little but innuendo.

        However the original point about “apparently respected right wing news source” was actually a shoutout that hey, right here, in a far righty fringe blog that Swede apparently respects because he would not bring us things from garbage sources, even they are telling us that the pro-Sheehy campaign ads about Tester no longer listening to “us” are a lie. So thanks for bringing that bit of reality to us.

  4. Ban too many books and I’m afraid that everyone in Montana might end up sounding like Tim Sheehy! (Uneducated) Or corrupt as Zinke! (Very) Or as scientifically illiterate as Gianforte. (The creationist guy).

    Montana has such a rich history of producing some of the country’s greatest writers and artists that it’s more than a little ironic and frustrating that people here would ever conceive to ban a book. It’s not who we are. Our landscape and culture itself has inspired these artists to create unparalleled works of art that the whole world admires. Book bans simply stifle and discourage our innate creativity.

    And as much as I’d love to find Sheehy an attractive candidate, I can’t. I admire his military service, but because of his MAGA creds and support of trump, I could never vote for the guy. That much alone indicates a fatal character flaw. He may be a really decent guy, but based upon his comments so far, he’d be a horrible embarrassment in D.C.

    And the last thing we need is more public figures making a joke of our reputation to the rest of the country. Until he becomes a little more “indigenous” so to speak, and learns what indigenous actually means, he better stay here! It’s for the best. His tribe is the outta state billionaire tribe, the most notorious tribe in our state’s history! And D.C. is already full up of them.

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