The Monday Memo

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Monday, Monday, can’t trust that day! 

Here are the topics for today’s column:

  • Taylor Running For Mayor
  • Judge Hannah Dugan
  • Common Sense Commentary
  • One More Thing

TAYLOR RUNNING FOR MAYOR:

The race to be the next mayor of Great Falls just got a little more exciting. I saw over at the blog WTF406.com in a post by Ken Toole that on April 18th, Jasmine Taylor filed to run for mayor, challenging incumbent Cory Reeves. 

Tool also writes that for those who complain that politicians are all the same, take heart, it is hard to imagine two candidates who are more different than Taylor and Reeves. These two have dramatically different positions on many of the problems facing Great Falls. 

It did not take long for Great Falls City Commissioner and MAGA supporter Rick Tryon to chime in with his pick, writing, “There may be others entering the mayor’s race, but if this is the choice it’s a no-brainer. Mayor Reeves is a workhorse, Jasmine Taylor is a show horse.” (Source)

As for Mayor Reeves, he even posted about his opponent HERE.  

I don’t know who else will enter the race, but I do know that I won’t be voting for any incumbent in the race for mayor or commissioner who voted to raise fees and/or taxes. 

JUDGE HANNAH DUGAN:

Many of my readers are probably aware of the FBI arresting Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County judge, for allegedly obstructing federal authorities who were seeking to detain an undocumented immigrant. 

Dugan is facing two charges for obstruction and concealing the individual from arrest. She made an initial appearance in court and was released. (Source)

What has not been widely reported is the information about the man she is charged with concealing. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel tells us who he is below: 

The man, Eduardo Flores Ruiz, was born in Mexico and is a Mexican citizen. He was appearing in court on three counts of misdemeanor battery, domestic violence, and infliction of physical harm.

The report says that Flores-Ruiz lived in the United States and was issued a notice and order of expedited removal by United States Border Patrol Agents on January 16, 2013. Shortly after, he was arrested and deported to Mexico through the Nogales, Arizona, Port of Entry. The Department of Homeland Security stated that Flores-Ruiz never sought or obtained permission to return to the United States.

On March 28, 2025, the Milwaukee Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO) Office was informed that Flores-Ruiz, who was charged in a Milwaukee court case and facing three misdemeanor battery counts.

They planned to arrest Flores-Ruiz following a pretrial hearing scheduled for April 18, 2025.

So, he was thrown out of the USA once and came back into the country illegally. That’s game over for me. He does not deserve to live here. 

As for the judge, I don’t understand what she thought she was doing in trying to conceal a person who was in this country illegally. That was just dumb.

COMMON SENSE COMMENTARY:

The other day, I heard someone say they were a “free thinker” and that they “have no team.” I think that describes me pretty well. I get called a leftist or a liberal by some and a conservative by others. Have I changed since I grew older? Yes. The one thing I am sure of is that I am against Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. I can proudly say he never received my vote. I would probably be called a RINO if I were a Republican officeholder. I consider myself a moderate independent. 

So if you like free thinking with no team affiliation, I’m your blogger.

I would like to invite you to subscribe to The Western Word blog. On the upper right corner of the home page, just below where it states, “Subscribe to TWW,” just enter your email and hit “Sign Me Up.” It is free! 

You can also like/follow my Facebook page HERE. I am also on X (Twitter) and post there throughout the day. Check it out @TheWesternWord. 

Feel free to send this to your friends and your enemies! 

ONE MORE THING:

In between the “Game of Politics,” we lost humanity somewhere. -@ewordpower

## HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEK ##

6 thoughts on “The Monday Memo”

  1. Regarding Judge Dugan – if my understanding is correct, she was protecting the boundaries of her courtroom from officious, blustering MAGAts who felt entitled to violate those boundaries with no regard for due process. That understanding is reflected by the announcement by another judge that she would close her courtroom before allowing that sort of violation.

    More of the unconstitutional malice fostered by Nixon, “When the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.” With trumpsky leading the way, we’re seeing, “If the president does it, it’s not only illegal, it’s based on bigotry and incessant lies.”

    • I see your point. I am worried that any judge for any reason who goes against Trump might be arrested.
      Nonetheless, the person who was in the courtroom had already been deported and came back illegally. Game over.
      Thanks, JmB

      • I don’t disagree with that individual’s culpability for illegal (re)entry. So, arrest him at home, on the street, in a store, driving a vehicle. All those places and activities that actually are open to the bigoted thugs of ICE and CBP.

        But, barging into a courtroom, church, or school is an entirely different matter.

        It’s called “lynching.”.

  2. A local mover and shaker in Republican politics I know has said to me several times, “I don’t know why anyone runs for mayor or commissioner. If you want to get anything done run for legislature.”

    And it’s kinda true. The legislature totally straitjackets city governments on what they can and cannot do. So our commission is reduced to pretty much just voting yea or nay on various spending or zoning proposals City staff brings. Then that vote invariably goes the way manager Doyon wanted it to go all along.

    The few actual interesting policy initiatives they kick off themselves like Crime Task Force or Public Safety Advisory Commission end up going nowhere with the recommendations gathering dust in a drawer. On very rare occasion there’s a tough call like the library money.

    With all due respect for the amount of homework they’re expected to do, and all the criticism they deflect/absorb from the public, IMO it really does not matter who is mayor or commissioner because they’re not the real policy makers. Except maybe for the general tone of the commission and the very few things they can control unilaterally like proclamations.

    • You pretty much nailed it. Some commissioners believe they are more powerful than they really are. Here in GF, the “Dept Heads,” “city staff,” and the “city manager” have all the power. Thanks, JmB

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