Congrats on making it to Friday! Here are the topics that caught my eye for this column:

• State House Bill 20
• Trump & Religion
• Fake News
• Eagles vs Chiefs

STATE HOUSE BILL 20:

House Bill 20 in the Montana Legislature would require voted levies to be in dollars rather than mills. HB 20 passed the State House with a vote of 63-37 and is now in the State Senate. (Source)

State Representative Larry Brewster (R) is the sponsor. (Source) 

MTN News reports that HB 20 would require local governments to instead propose levies in terms of a fixed amount of money they want to collect. Then, if property values rose, they would need to lower the number of mills they charged to keep the total revenue the same.

Many Republicans in charge of local governments have forgotten about fiscal responsibility. They are taxing us to death. I like the idea of a “fixed amount of money.” MTN News reported that State Rep. Brewster said he saw a 45% increase in his own property taxes based on voted levies. He argued many local governments should be doing more to control their spending.

I say “Amen” to the part about local governments doing more to control their spending. I encourage the state senate to pass this bill.

TRUMP & RELIGION:

President Donald Trump signed another Executive Order (EO) Thursday. This one is titled, “Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias.”

Trump says the purpose of the EO is:

It is the policy of the United States, and the purpose of this order, to protect the religious freedoms of Americans and end the anti-Christian weaponization of government.  The Founders established a Nation in which people were free to practice their faith without fear of discrimination or retaliation by their government. 

I’m pretty sure that Trump’s EO leans toward the Christian religion and not the many other religions in the USA like Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism, Baha’i, Wicca, Native American religions, etc. 

Trump took time in the EO to slam the Biden Administration for several things, like “targeting peaceful Christians, while ignoring violent, anti-Christian offenses.” 

During the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, Trump announced that he would create a White House faith office and direct Attorney General Pam Bondi to lead a task force on eradicating what he called anti-Christian bias within the federal government. The White House Faith Office will be led by Rev. Paula White, who has served as a religious adviser to him for many years. (Source)

White is 58 and has at least one thing in common with Trump. She is in her third marriage. Trump is on his third marriage. You can read more about White HERE. 

It looks like Trump is blurring the lines of church and state.

FAKE NEWS:

I saw a few posts saying that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) provided over $8 million in funding to the news and policy media company Politico LLC. President Donald Trump, the White House press secretary, and DOGE Director Elon Musk promoted misleading statements about USAID and Politico.

That was false. The fact is the agency paid $44k to Politico for subscriptions, not $8 million. (Source) 

Another fake news story I saw was that Chelsea Clinton received $84 million in taxpayer dollars from the U.S. Agency for International Development.

That was false.

A graph that social media users claimed showed Chelsea Clinton received $84 million from USAID is actually a reference to the Clinton Foundation. Further, government data from fiscal years 2008-24 showed that USAID had not given more than $7.5 million to that foundation. Finally, tax returns show Chelsea Clinton does not receive any compensation for her work at the foundation. (Source)

EAGLES VS CHIEFS:

I was born in Missouri and grew up cheering for the Kansas City Chiefs. My heroes on the Chiefs back then were Len Dawson, Otis Taylor, Willie Lanier, and Jan Stenerud. We had some bad years, but people like Derrick Thomas, Neil Smith, Tony Gonzalez, and Deron Cherry kept the team competitive through the years.

Then a few years ago Andy Reid became the coach. Then we drafted this kid named Patrick Mahomes. We have had quite the run in the past seven years and now the Chiefs are hated because they win.  

Will the run end this Sunday or will the Chiefs be the first team to win three straight Super Bowls? I like our chances. The Chiefs are slight favorites. Of the 67 ESPN experts who weighed in, 41 picked the Chiefs (61.2%).  

I won’t be posting on Monday – I’m taking the day off.

## GO CHIEFS ##