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

• Voters in Great Falls
• Update – Still There
• MAGA Senator Sheehy
• Young Republicans’ Racist Chat
• One More Thing

VOTERS IN GREAT FALLS:

Ballots will be mailed next week for the Great Falls Municipal Election. The Montana Free Press (MTFP) has published “A Guide to the 2025 Great Falls Ballot” to help acquaint you with the candidates and an important question about fireworks. 

The MTFP reports:

This is an all-mail municipal election that features races for Great Falls mayor and two city commissioner positions. The ballot will also allow voters to choose whether fireworks will be banned within city limits — even on the July 4 holiday. 

One of the more interesting pieces of information I discovered in the article is Mayor Cory Reeves’ view on a sales tax:

In his interview, Reeves emphasized the challenging proposition of putting additional property taxes before voters. He said he’d like to see more support from the state that could include a sales tax, though only if the measure was balanced by removing a tax elsewhere.

If the last two years of Reeves’ term as mayor are any indication, I expect him to vote to increase taxes, rates, and fees. That one utility rate increase of 27% that he supported might foreshadow what’s to come if he is reelected. His view about a sales tax should worry everyone in Great Falls.  

Check out the full report from the MTFP HERE. 

UPDATE – STILL THERE: 

This is an ongoing report about a dead deer on a city street in Great Falls.

On Tuesday, I wrote about taking my daily walk last Thursday and seeing a dead deer partially on the road within the city limits. I noted the location (23rd St. S. by MSU-GF) and when I arrived home, I called the non-emergency police department number. I gave the officer the location. He told me he would let Animal Control know. 

As of 12:45 Wednesday afternoon, the deer was still there. 

MAGA SENATOR SHEEHY:

When Tim Sheehy was running for U.S. Senate, he was well-known for dodging the press. There were so many questions they wanted to ask him about, like his Glacier National Park gunshot wound, his claim that he parachuted into Glacier National Park, where he grew up, etc.  

He won the race not for his honesty and openness, but because he was MAGA. 

Now Sheehy has ventured out from behind his keyboard, and once in a while, we see why he only likes to do interviews with friendly press people. 

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins interviewed Sheehy Tuesday night. It was so bad that Sheehy may never venture outside the Fox News realm again. 

The New Republic reports:

During an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Sheehy was asked about the $1 billion grant that the Department of Energy pulled from the Pacific Northwest Hydrogen Hub, a clean energy project spanning Washington state, Oregon, and Montana.

Sheehy tried to blame it on the government shutdown. The New Republic reports:

But Energy Secretary Chris Wright had specifically told Collins earlier this month that the canceled grant had nothing to do with the shutdown, or the Democrats, for that matter. “He said they would’ve done that even if the government wasn’t shut down, that that was months in the making even before the government shut down,” Collins said.

The two fell silent, as Sheehy’s desperate excuses evaporated. After a long moment, Sheehy replied: “Well, it’s unfortunate we’re still shut down. We shouldn’t be.”

The coverage of Sheehy’s “deer in the headlights” moment was hysterical. Here are a few key lines:

• Sheehy was left floundering when he realized he couldn’t blame the cuts on the shutdown.
• Tim Sheehy of Montana was briefly at a loss for words…
• MAGA Sen. Tim Sheehy froze after CNN’s Kaitlan Collins fact-checked his defense…
• Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT) was stunned into silence on Tuesday night…

YOUNG REPUBLICANS’ RACIST CHAT:

When I read the article from Politico, it made me sick to think that people had those thoughts. 

Politico reported that leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.

They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

One person wrote, “I love Hitler.” 

Read the full report from Politico HERE. The Hill has some background on some of the members of the Young Republican group HERE. 

ONE MORE THING: 

My patience is basically like a gift card. Not sure how much is left on it, but we can give it a try. 

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