Caught My Eye…

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Welcome to Friday! Here are the topics that caught my eye for today’s independent commentary: 

  • Cascade County Detention Center
  • More Attacks On Tester
  • Pete Hegseth

CASCADE COUNTY DETENTION CENTER:

I happened to catch a story on the NonStop Local website about the Cascade County Detention Center having “significant financial and operational challenges.” 

According to Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter, the detention center was originally built to serve local needs but is now increasingly relying on revenue from renting beds to outside agencies. 

Slaughter said, “So basically, what I’m trying to do is educate the community of Cascade County that the model in which the county has done for years… is that we’ve made it affordable for the taxpayer by selling the beds. This model is no longer sustainable.” 

It was also reported that Slaughter emphasized the need for a long-term solution, stating, “We need the community support to come up with a plan to self-fund our jail so that our jail is paid for by our taxpayers and that the beds here are reserved for the people who are arrested in pretrial detention in Cascade County.”

My question about this issue is since the voters approved a county public safety levy in November 2022 ($2.46 million) (Source), did/will any of that funding go to the Cascade County Detention Center?

The taxpayers in Cascade County are tapped out. We can’t afford any more tax increases. The City Commission recently robbed the Public Library of funding for public safety needs. That was a move I was completely against. 

MORE ATTACKS ON TESTER:

My friend, Aaron Flint, who has a conservative talk radio program here in Montana is still attacking U.S. Senator Jon Tester even after Tester was soundly beaten by Republican Tim Sheehy. Flint is a very passionate MAGA guy who has helped many MAGAs get elected over the years. 

Sheehy will take office in January and Tester will end his tenure in the U.S. Senate after 18 years. 

I happened to catch a story written by Flint that was posted on the KMMS website. The article is written like a news report, but I think Flint should list it as an opinion.

The only part that I agree with Flint about is this sentence:

Even though he lost the US Senate race in early November, he’s still on the job and collecting a paycheck from we the people until the new Senate is sworn in January 3rd, 2025.

That is true. On November 20, 2024, when Tester and U.S. Senator Steve Daines missed some votes, I mentioned they were being paid $174,000 to be there. They should be there to vote. 

When my boss, Conrad Burns, lost to Tester in 2006, I stopped going to meetings basically because the invites stopped. I spent my remaining days packing up the office and overseeing seven other office closures. 

As for errors in Flint’s opinion piece, there are many. I giggled at the line about Tester “not wanting to answer an uncomfortable question- it raises even more questions” when Flint’s guy ran from reporters all campaign long. I suspect CNN’s Manu Raju will corner Sheehy in a DC hallway someday and ask him some tough questions. Sheehy ran from Raju in Bozeman. If I run into Sheehy, I’ve got 5-10 questions I will ask him. 

The bottom line is that after January 3, 2025, the Montana delegation in Washington, DC will all be Republicans. The U.S. Senate and House will be controlled by Republicans. On January 20, 2025, Trump, a Republican, will be sworn in. Flint may need to go to work for Sheehy for something to do since his punching bag will be heading home to the farm. I’m thinking Chief of Staff for Mr. Flint. 

PETE HEGSETH:

On Wednesday I said that I thought President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to be the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, would withdraw by the end of the week. I still don’t think he will make it much longer.

This week his mother (Penelope Hegseth) went on Fox News to defend her son. Her son is 44 years old. 

According to the Associated Press, a New York Times story, published Saturday, quoted from a private email that Penelope Hegseth sent to her son in 2018 while he was in the midst of divorcing his second wife. She criticized his character and treatment of women, suggesting that he get some help.

“I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around and uses women for his own power and ego,” she wrote to her offspring. “You are that man (and have been for many years).”

Ouch! Social media is having fun with Hegseth. One post said:

Hegseth does not want women to serve in combat roles yet he has his mother out here fighting his battles. 

Then there’s the promise he made about drinking alcohol, which was reported by NBC News and other sources:

Hegseth said he is “not going to have a drink at all” if he is confirmed as secretary of defense, saying he wants Trump, senators and U.S. troops to know that he can be called 24/7 and would be “fully dialed in.”

“This is the biggest deployment of my life, and there won’t be a drop of alcohol on my lips while I’m doing it,” he said.

Social media also had fun with that promise. One post said:

“I’ll quit drinking if you let me run the Pentagon” is the most alcoholic thing anybody has ever said. 

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##

4 thoughts on “Caught My Eye…”

  3. First it was MAGA Republican Tryon attempting to raise our taxes, and now it seems MAGA Republican Slaughter wants to do the same thing. Again. Kind of a pattern emerging with these Republicsns. What happened to that trusty Republican standby of cutting out the fraud and waste, the yarn every one of them spins when they are runnimg for office?

    Don’t think Slaughter is going to find much of a receptive audience for a tax hike after we just gave him one. And that one was a mill !evy that is growing in value above its nominal $2.46 million at the rate of property appreciation. Far faster than our incomes and ability to pay are growing. IIRC he received something like 33% more than the $2.46 million starting year one of tax collections thanks to our big property value hikes of 2023 and immediately went about finding additional ways to spend it all. Classic tax and spend.

    I would vote for a City safety levy first. Which would be an impossible sell around here for many years to come if Slaughter beats the city to the punch. Again.

  4. Looks as if we’ve got an election office redux in the sheriff office. When are folks gonna learn that electing MAGAs gets you a MAGA government. In other words, total incompetence. The constitutionalist sheriff thingy should have been the tip-off!

    Good to know that Hegseth answers only to trump and God. But one small problem with that. WHICH god? At last count, there were some three thousand religions on earth. I think Commandante Pete may have an inflated sense of his job description! People who talk directly to the Almighty belong in a facility, not the defense department!

    https://www.rawstory.com/you-answer-to-us-hegseth-slammed-for-saying-he-only-answers-to-trump-senators-and-god/

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