Caught My Eye…

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It’s Friday! Here are the topics that caught my eye this week:

  • Unhoused in Kalispell
  • State Liquor Warehouse
  • Unpresidential Comments
  • One More Thing 

UNHOUSED IN KALISPELL:

The Guardian posted a story this week about the unhoused in Kalispell, Montana. The story paints Kalispell in a negative light as it should be painted. They are treating the unhoused terribly.  

The article pointed out that officials had voted to close a privately run shelter. 

It also pointed out that in early 2023, Flathead County’s three commissioners wrote a notorious letter that accused those service providers of creating more homelessness. It mentioned, but did not name, a “low-barrier shelter” that had opened recently – a clear reference to the warming center.

The commissioners argued that homelessness was a problem rooted in liberal coastal cities, and it spread the result of travelers from San Francisco or Seattle seeking to export their “homeless lifestyle”. One Flathead County commissioner, Brad Abell, suggested in an interview that the root cause of homelessness was the breakdown of the American family. “And that began with Black families,” he said. “It started with the Black population of the United States.”

The article is worth the read. It’s too bad there is so much hate for the homeless in this state. We should be better.

STATE LIQUOR WAREHOUSE:

I saw an article a few days ago on the Daily Montanan website about some Montana Legislators touring the state liquor warehouse. (Source)

There was no indication in the report if the legislators received free drinks, or a bottle to take home. 

They reported that Tito’s Handmade Vodka is the most popular liquor in Montana, and Lolo has the busiest liquor store under contract with the state of Montana.

Good to know. 

In Montana, the state regulates liquor sales, and the warehouse sells to 95 privately-owned liquor stores. In liquor sales, Montana is a “control state” that manages wholesale operations for distilled spirits.  

In other states, you can buy your Tito’s Handmade Vodka and other liquor at your local Walmart or a gas station, which people would probably prefer.  

According to the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association (NABCA):

Seventeen states and jurisdictions in Alaska, Maryland, Minnesota and South Dakota adopted forms of the “Control” model. They control the sale of distilled spirits and, in some cases, wine and beer through government agencies at the wholesale level.  Thirteen of those jurisdictions also exercise control over retail sales for off-premises consumption; either through government-operated package stores or designated agents.

You can learn more about the rules in Montana HERE. 

UNPRESIDENTIAL COMMENTS:

I know I shouldn’t be, but I was shocked at the way President Donald Trump blamed prior administrations and directors for the airplane/helicopter crash in Washington, D.C. 

It was unpresidential, but we have come to expect that from Trump. 

The Associated Press (AP) reported it this way:

Trump on Thursday variously pointed the finger at the helicopter’s pilot, air traffic control, his predecessor, Joe Biden, and other Democrats including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, whom he labeled a “disaster.” Buttigieg responded by calling Trump “despicable.”

Trump was asked many questions and the AP has his responses HERE. 

Trump issued a memorandum to the Secretary of Transportation and the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration. He continues his attacks: 

This shocking event follows problematic and likely illegal decisions during the Obama and Biden Administrations that minimized merit and competence in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).  The Obama Administration implemented a biographical questionnaire at the FAA to shift the hiring focus away from objective aptitude.  During my first term, my Administration raised standards to achieve the highest standards of safety and excellence.  But the Biden Administration egregiously rejected merit-based hiring, requiring all executive departments and agencies to implement dangerous “diversity equity and inclusion” tactics, and specifically recruiting individuals with “severe intellectual” disabilities in the FAA.  

ONE MORE THING:

Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. 

President Trump now oversees the military and the FAA. One of his first acts was to fire and suspend some of the key personnel who helped keep our skies safe. Time for the President to show actual leadership and explain what he will do to prevent this from happening again. – Pete Buttigieg, Former Secretary of Transportation

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ## 

11 thoughts on “Caught My Eye…”

  1. So proud of our Canadian neighbors. They have declared war on the convicted fascist felon trump. In other uncertain terms. Now if only enough Americans had that same courage!

    • Yet Trump’s nominees who know absolutely zero about their subject matter are eminently qualified simply because they are white. 🤣

      Unfortunately for Tubby’s latest racist dimwit story designed to divert attention from the anti-FAA and safety actions he himself took just a week ago, including all his BS about hiring people with serious mental deficiencies:

      “DEI and any similar programs do not apply to air traffic control hiring, though — no one is given preferential treatment for race, sex, ethnicity or sexual orientation, a former FAA official told ABC News.

      Applicants must pass a medical exam, an aptitude test and a psychological test that is more stringent than that required of a pilot, said Chris Wilbanks, FAA deputy vice president of safety and technical training.”

      https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-evidence-appears-blame-faa-diversity-initiatives-factor/story?id=118272015

      Personally I would be more inclined to lay the blame at the feet of Republican congress people who are constantly trying to shortchange the FAA and air traffic controllers and using them (and Americans who fly) as nothing more than political pawns, like in 2023:

      https://apnews.com/article/faa-congress-spending-summer-travel-8b9c7cb54933fe0e5c591dab27e20b2a

    • Kinda some bad news for Tubby and his ranting about woke/DEI hiring of people with disabilities:

      “The FAA announced in April 2019 that it would launch a pilot program to help prepare people with disabilities for careers in air traffic operations.

      The FAA stated that those trained under the program would receive the same “rigorous consideration” in terms of aptitude, medical, and security qualifications as those doing standard air traffic controller job applications.”

      April 2019 … now I wonder who might have been president then?

      “The FAA continued to promote the disability program in the final months of Trump’s first term in office.”

      https://www.newsweek.com/trump-faa-diversity-hiring-airport-collision-disability-2023996

      • Trump spews his hate and played politics with the crash in DC. He routinely puts his foot in his mouth, like he did here. -JmB

  3. Montana Bathroom Bill

    I was recently called for jury duty by Lewis and Clark County. As a potential juror, I sat in the courtroom all morning while little progress was made in jury selection. Late in the morning, we were allowed a break. Naturally the bathrooms were in steady use.

    Since I was at the end of the line, I had the women’s bathroom to myself. But, when I opened the door to leave the toilet stall, I saw a very large man bent over the bathroom sink in obvious pain. He seemed to have a problem removing his contact lens. I slipped out the exit without washing my hands. When other women arrived to use the bathroom, I told them what was happening and they waited until the man came out.

    If HB 121 had been in effect at this time, could I and the women waiting with me sue Lewis and Clark County? If no one disputed the facts in the case, how much would a court likely award each of us for his breach of the requirements in HB 121?

  4. Zero surprise that Trump would blame someone else for anything and everything bad that happens, ever.

    When Harry Truman was president, the buck stopped with him. When Trump is president, the buck always always always stops with someone else.

    • Over in Nam you had to be extremely careful with innocent looking items you might come across because there was always the possibility that it was boobytrapped to explode if you picked it up. Hence, many suspicious unattended items were just left in the road.

      I know that commander in chief Bone Spurs never served, but somewhere along the line he picked up some esoteric bomb making expertise and displayed it for the entire world to see the only way he can. Ridiculously. Sure, pretty much the entire world laughed their butts off when he said Hamas was making condom bombs, but not me. Exploding condoms are as realistic as anything else in MAGA world!

      • Condom bombs.

        How devious. HAMAS knows that nobody in the world can resist picking up a condom they see lying in a gutter or next to a park bench or whatever.

        And Trump knows no MAGA can resist swallowing a story like that.

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