It’s Friday! Here are the topics for today’s column:

• St. Mary Diversion Dam
• Congressman Pat Williams
• Planned Parenthood & SCOTUS
• F-Word Is Officially Boring
• One More Thing

ST. MARY DIVERSION DAM:

It was nice to hear about the St. Mary Diversion Dam being completed ahead of schedule, despite the funding being frozen for a while by President Donald J. Trump.  

It’s important for Montanans to remember that the project was funded by $52 million from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure and Jobs Act. Former Sen. Jon Tester was the only member of Montana’s Congressional delegation to have supported the act. (Source) 

CONGRESSMAN PAT WILLIAMS:

I received notification late Wednesday evening that former Congressman Pat Williams had passed away at age 87. 

I met the Congressman a few times, and even though he was a Democrat and I worked for a Republican, he was always friendly. He served 18 years in Congress, more consecutive terms in the U.S. House than anyone in Montana history.

You gain a lot of clout being in the U.S. House that long. We need that type of clout in the House now, but it seems that since Williams retired, we have always elected folks in the House who have big egos and want other jobs (Governor, Senator, Interior). They move on, and it hurts Montana.

My condolences to the Williams family. 

PLANNED PARENTHOOD & SCOTUS:

The Associated Press (AP) reported that states can block the country’s biggest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, from receiving Medicaid money for health services such as contraception and cancer screenings, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

Some Pro-Lifers spiked the ball when they heard about the decision, but the decision has nothing to do with abortion. Planned Parenthood does a lot more than abortions, which account for only about 3% of their services. (Source)

Since the 1980s, the Hyde Amendment has prevented federal funds from being used for abortions except in the case of rape, incest, or to save the mother’s life. (Source)

The AP reports:

Public health care money generally cannot be used to pay for abortions, but Medicaid patients go to Planned Parenthood for other needs in part because it can be difficult to find a doctor who takes the publicly funded insurance, the organization has said.

A headline from The Conversation kind of said it best:

Supreme Court rules that states may deny people covered by Medicaid the freedom to choose Planned Parenthood as their health care provider

The New Republic takes a detailed look at the decision HERE. 

F-WORD IS OFFICIALLY BORING:

The Hollywood Reporter has an article posted that I found interesting. It is titled:

That’s It, The F-Word Is Officially Boring

Just go ahead and say it, nobody minds anymore. Political leaders cursing into hot mics was just the final boss of “f**k” losing all its punch and provocation.

The article begins with, “And just like that, Donald Trump ruined something else.”

Check it out HERE.

ONE MORE THING:  

Facebook has taught me a couple of things. First, there are some incredibly brilliant people in the world. Second, they are vastly outnumbered. (Pinterest)

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##