Tuesday’s Quick Hits

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Welcome to July! Here are the topics for today’s column:

  • American Pride
  • The Lunch Monster
  • Montana Legislature
  • The Big Beautiful Bill
  • Free America Weekend
  • One More Thing

AMERICAN PRIDE:

Gallup is reporting that a record-low 58% of U.S. adults say they are “extremely” (41%) or “very” (17%) proud to be an American, down nine percentage points from last year and five points below the prior low from 2020. The 41% who are “extremely proud” is not statistically different from prior lows of 38% in 2022 and 39% in 2023, indicating most of the change this year is attributable to a decline in the percentage who are “very proud.”

These findings are from a June 2-19 Gallup poll conducted before the June 21 U.S. military action in Iran. It is unknown whether Americans’ national pride has been affected by that action.

Gallup also found:

  • Democrats are mostly responsible for the drop in U.S. pride this year, with 36% saying they are extremely or very proud, down from 62% a year ago. 
  • Political independents’ pride has also reached a low point, with 53% expressing a great deal of pride, down seven points from last year. 
  • Republicans’ level of national pride has been much steadier, typically registering above 90%, including 92% this year, up from 85% in 2024. 

As an independent, I think my pride is probably down some from a year ago. 

You can read the full report from Gallup HERE. 

THE LUNCH MONSTER:

Moore on Montana has a great cartoon posted about Montana Governor Greg Gianforte vetoing House Bill 551. The bill would have helped low-income families pay for reduced-cost lunches. It was a shameful thing for Gianforte to do. 

Check out the cartoon HERE. 

MONTANA LEGISLATURE:

The Montana Free Press (MTFP) examines the 69th Montana Legislative session and tells readers which lawmakers had the highest success rate in getting their bills passed. There were several who were shut out.

You can read the very interesting report HERE.  

THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL:

I normally don’t comment too much about bills that have yet to be passed, but the Associated Press (AP) takes a look at what the “Big Beautiful Bill” in the U.S. Senate contains. 

It is important to remember that the U.S. House passed its version of the bill, and now the U.S. Senate is working on its version. Once the Senate passes its bill, there will be a conference to iron out the differences (unless the House decides to just pass the Senate bill as is). 

In other words, it is a long way from being done.

Check out the AP story HERE. 

FREE AMERICA WEEKEND:

In case you missed it, “Free America” events protesting President Donald Trump’s administration are set to be held across the country throughout the July Fourth weekend. (Source) 

To find events in your area, click HERE. 

ONE MORE THING:

Salesman: This car seats six people without any problems! 

Me: I don’t think I know six people without any problems.

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