Montana Articles

Damn Right, ‘Hit Him Hard!’

6/30/2016

I saw this tweet today from Dillon Kato of the Missoulian:

I've noticed a trend that almost all of Denise Juneau's campaign emails are just nasty notes on Zinke. She went negative fast and hard.
— Dillon Kato (@DillonKato) June 30, 2016

I went ahead and retweeted that with this little message attached:

Good job, Denise - now do the same on the airwaves and social media, places that won't raise funds, but votes #mtpol https://t.co/dLOpw1HzqL
— Greg Strandberg (@gpstberg) June 30, 2016

I’ve been saying for some time that Denise Juneau needs to take the gloves off if she wants to take Ryan Zinke’s U.S. House seat away from him.

So…what are Zinke’s weak points? What does he view as strengths but which we can turn to weaknesses?

It’d be good to identify these things.

Remember what Sun Tzu said about laying plans:

“To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”

So what opportunities does Zinke provide us with which to defeat him?

Juneau seems to have pinpointed one in a June 20 article on her site called Washington, D.C. Congressman Zinke Votes to Keep Dark Money in Politics.

That article talks about Zinke’s vote for HR 5053, which “allows dark money groups to remain anonymous.”

Juneau tells us this will “benefit special interests,” and I think many people will see this firsthand when they get a bunch of unidentified mailers before Montana campaign mailing rules change in August.

We’re also told that Zinke “started his very own Super PAC,” something that makes it easy for “unlimited amounts of special interest money to go toward his campaign.”

So Zinke’s on the take from mega-corporations and big business groups.

That’s bad, right? I mean, that’s not what we want.

Still, isn’t Juneau taking money from similar groups? I’m not sure, but we did dig into Juneau’s campaign finances back in May and there were some questionable things there.

Despite that, it should be easy to convince the Democratic base to vote for Juneau. Hell, I plan to vote for her.

But damn, getting those swing voters and independents to vote for her is going to be tough.

So keep hitting this dark money angle, as I think it might work…and for God’s sake, clean up your own fundraising.

So what else can Juneau do to hit Zinke hard?

Again, let’s go to Sun Tzu, this time from Weak Points and Strong book:

“Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.”

So…where is Zinke not expecting attacks?

Again, what are his strengths and how can those be turned against him?

You might be able to hit him on his flip-flopping on public lands votes, but gosh, that’s a hard issue for regular people to understand when it gets all nuance-y.

Zinke did spend $545 of campaign funds at a Billings gun store for a fundraising event back in November 2015…and did say he’d give away an AR-15 to supporters.

Really, though…is that going to get those swing voters, maybe some moderate GOPers?

I don’t think so.

Then there’s Zinke’s military service, and his going around and awarding Montana Vietnam vets. Boy, that’s a hard one to hit him on…but could it be done?

Hell, why are we making so many new vets with our ungodly wars in the Middle East?

When the hell is the Iraq War going to end, damn it, and when in God’s name will we finally get out of Afghanistan?

But no, instead all we get from Zinke is tough talk, like Montana needs more veterans it can’t take care of.

Or was the VA doing a good job all of a sudden and I didn’t get the memo?

So yes, perhaps there is a way to hit him hard here. I think so. It's called an isolationist stance, but alas, Hillary's hold on Juneau might preclude that.

I’ll leave you with two more quotes from Sun Tzu, one from the book discussing the Army on the March and the other from the Nine Situations:

“Humble words and increased preparations are signs that the enemy is about to advance. Violent language and driving forward as if to the attack are signs that he will retreat.”

"Rapidity is the essence of war: take advantage of the enemy's unreadiness, make your way by unexpected routes, and attack unguarded spots."

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Propping Up the Fraudulent Petrodollar

6/29/2016

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What’s backing up the US dollar?

That’s right – nothing.

Since 1971 we’ve had nothing backing up our money.

That’s when we got off gold and silver, which had been the most stable system from 1870 until then.

We did this because the nation was in such a sorry state financially that Nixon felt this was the only choice.

We had monumental inflation and we got rid of gold backing up the dollar so we could export that inflation to Saudi Arabia, a country that was eager to accept oil payments in dollars.

So in that regard we have oil backing up the US dollar and that’s why we call it the petrodollar.

This is a fraudulent system, as it encourages the unlimited printing of paper money, something that eventually diminishes the purchasing power of the dollar.

Doesn’t sound too bad unless you’re on a fixed income and your purchasing power goes down, or if you’ve saved a lot and now it’s lost value as well.

So in the 70s we switched over to Federal Reserve Notes, which made it a lot easier to engage in fraud.

You see, the American dollar is often called the petrodollar because that’s what’s supposedly backing it up – oil.

It’s why the US has such a stranglehold on the world, because it forces the world to use its currency, which is backed up with nothing but fraud.

Currently nothing is backing up the petrodollar, or those Federal Reserve Notes in your pocket, except brute force and muscle.

That’s where the American military comes in, which is nothing more than a mercenary force used by the Bank of International Settlements and the CIA to enforce the will of the petrodollar.

Don’t believe me?

Take sanctions.

Because we can force the rest of the world to use just one currency – our own – we van also lock up that currency.

All those Federal Reserve Notes are forced through the system of Federal Reserve banks, whether they’re in the US or abroad.

If a country, say Iran or North Korea, is not doing as we like, we’ll just lock up their assets.

That’s quite easy as the petrodollar is based on nothing physical or tangible – like it had been prior to 1971 – and that means it’s just blips and dashes on the computer screen.

When a nation decides to play ball again, or do as it’s told by those controlling the petrodollar, it’ll have its assets unfrozen.

That’s exactly what we saw happen last year with the Iran Deal, when that country got billions of its own money back.

So that’s the carrot and the stick.

Do what we want and we’ll let you use our money, which is the only money there is.

Alas – and thankfully for all ethical people – that fraudulent system is coming to an end.

Currently we have all the BRIC nations joining together at the behest of China to form a new world currency.

This will of course be based out of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) that China is setting up, a bank that has tons of gold to back up its currency.

The AIIB has 37 member states and another 20 states that have non-regional status.

These are countries that want to get away from the fraudulent system of the petrodollar and the continuous wars that America engages in to prop that system up.

And don’t think for one second that only ‘rogue’ nations are joining the AIIB. Here’s a list of some of the big ones:

Australia
Austria
Brazil
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Iceland
India
Israel
Italy
South Korea
Luxembourg
Netherlands
New Zealand
Norway
Poland
Saudi Arabia
South Africa
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
UK

Lots of big-economy countries there that are sick of the fraudulent US system.

The US is not a member of AIIB, nor will we ever be. We had hissy-fits when some of our allies joined.

The system over in Asia is too responsible for us, not fraudulent enough. Yeah, those rich bankers can’t manipulate it to benefit themselves.

Our system is based on fraud and propping up the petrodollar with our military.

People like Muammar Gaddafi in Libya found this out firsthand.

Remember, in 2011 there was a civil war in Libya, part of the manufactured Arab Spring that the West rolled out on that part of the world.

At the time Libya had 144 tons of gold and used that to support its gold Dinar currency (the US supposedly has 8,000 tons…though there is no real verification of this, and China supposedly has 10,000 tons or more).

Libya was also oil rich, meaning they didn’t have to accept a depreciating currency (the US petrodollar) for payments for their oil.

Why would you want to take money that’s going to be worth less in a year when you can rely on your own money, which is stable due to its gold-backing, and when other responsible nations (those in AIIB) can also rely on their stable currencies?

You wouldn’t, and for the fraudsters in the US, that’s bad.

So they went in and toppled Gaddafi and set up a system that’s only using the petrodollar, not the far-superior gold-backed Dinar that was in place.

It’s because of what happened to countries like Libya that responsible countries (those not engaging in a fraudulent monetary system, like the US) created a military bulwark to protect themselves.

This is Asia’s NATO.

It’s called the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO.

Iran, Pakistan and India are all in the SCO now. Asia is flexing its muscles, and it knows the Brexit will work wonders for it.

I expect we’ll see more nations join SCO, perhaps even Turkey. Remember, the dark forces of the CIA staged a false flag attack there yesterday after Turkey’s president Erdogan apologized to Russia for shooting down a warplane.

Clearly Turkey is not getting the message that it needs to stay with the fraudulent US system, so the CIA was sent in yesterday to knock some sense into them.

Oh, we can say it’s ISIS or ISIL or whatever we want to call it, but we know that America allows that group to function, even gave them the weapons and the Toyota trucks.

Or is it somehow not possible for us to pinpoint and target the massive oil refineries and shipment ports ISIS is using to enrich themselves, it’s not possible for us to tap into their banking networks and shut them down?

No, I don’t believe that for one second.

So we false-flagged Turkey, and maybe that’ll end that leaving the EU talk. Remember, this came after Erdogan had tough words for Germany – and threatened to leave the EU – earlier this month.

Consider the June 24-26 meeting between Putin and China’s Xi Jingping.

Didn’t hear about that one? Why am I not surprised.

Well, the two met in Beijing to discuss how they can strengthen the Silk Road Economic Belt and the Eurasian Economic Union.

Haven’t heard of those things?

Well, what did you expect…you just get your news from the American corporate media, right?

So what we have here is a serious threat to the American system of fraud, and I couldn’t be happier to see it.

One Belt, One Road (as the China system is often nicknamed) is a monumental project that’s expected to cost $890 billion.

Unlike America, China pours money into infrastructure. They just had another $40 billion cash infusion to complete high-speed routes out of China to the Middle East, Central Europe, and Europe beyond.

Yes, they’ll be using high-speed rail while in America our rail infrastructure is in such shambles that we hear about an Amtrak wreck almost weekly now.

It’s clear that the Euro is collapsing as a currency. I fully expect that the strongest country in the EU – Germany – will pull out and go back to the Deutschmark.

Again, why rely on a fraudulent financial system that uses a shoddy currency that continually depreciates in value?

That’s what the American dollar is and the rest of the world is getting sick of it.

They’re sick of taking a shoddy currency for payment, knowing it’ll lose money, when they can rely on their own gold-backed currencies.

That’ll get a lot easier too as the AIIB takes off and offers an alternate to the petrodollar.

What will the US do when there’s another form of money on the block, one that nations can use instead of its fraudulent petrodollar?

At that point their military interventions against ‘rogue’ nations won’t really matter – the fraudulent system of the petrodollar relies on the whole world using it. If the whole world is not, the system comes toppling down.

But we don’t really look at long-term in this country anymore, and we don’t get our news and opinions anywhere but talking heads from corporate.

So keep looking at that Dow and keep dreaming.

Some of us know what’s going on, however, and since you read this site, you do too.

Use that information wisely.

And don’t lose hope. I’m more hopeful than ever, and feel that we’re doing better than ever.

The financial elite are worried, as they should be. More and more people are waking up to see how things really are.

The rest of the world isn’t going to take it, and here in America many of use are starting to realize how evil and corrupt we actually are.

I love it.

We’re on the cusp of change, of real and tangible change.

You can feel it around you each day, can’t you?

Things are changing and I feel we have a real opportunity to take this country back, to run these fools and charlatans, hucksters and frauds right on out of here.

My God, we’ll do it, we sure will.

1 Comment

Why’d She Get Pregnant?

6/27/2016

7 Comments

I’m sure you’ve heard the news by now.

The Supreme Court overturned some Texas abortion law and now 25 states won’t be able to limit abortions.

Fine, great, swell.

I don’t really care if a woman gets an abortion or not…but honestly, why are women getting abortions?

I think we can all agree that, given the choice, we’d rather have that woman not get pregnant in the first place.

That’s especially true for the 13,000 women getting abortions each year because they got raped, sometimes by family members.

But what about the other 1,047,000 abortions that happen in this country each year?

How do we account for so many women having abortions?

If you go to NARAL Pro Choice’s website you’ll see stories from women who got abortions.

Many talk about illnesses that the child would have, so that’s why they got an abortion.

Many more, however, were just young women that weren’t responsible.

That’s the biggest reason why women choose to have an abortion – because they weren’t responsible.

Oh, we can blame their lack of income or their lack of education or even their age.

But really, they weren’t responsible.

They could have gotten a condom, used birth control pills, or abstained from sex.

Millions of responsible people do it, after all.

Instead they let the heat of the moment get the better of them – perhaps with a little help from alcohol or drugs – and next think you know - Boom! - they’re pregnant.

So they get an abortion.

We’ve discussed on this site before that about 0.6% of the population gets an abortion each year.

Why are they doing that?

If you go by this 2016 Guttmacher Institute article on abortion it tells us that:

“The reasons patients gave for having an abortion underscored their understanding of the responsibilities of parenthood and family life. The three most common reasons—each cited by three-fourths of patients—were concern for or responsibility to other individuals; the inability to afford a child; and the belief that having a baby would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for dependents.

Half said they did not want to be a single parent or were having problems with their husband or partner.”

So these women (and the irresponsible men that knocked them up) cite issues with money, work, school, and caring for others as the main reason.

Well…why’d you get pregnant if those things were such a concern to you?

We have to ask this – why are you so irresponsible?

Honestly, hundreds of thousands of people are having sex each day in this country, maybe millions.

They aren’t getting pregnant.

But 0.6% of our population is getting pregnant, and when they don’t want to.

Am I the only one that sees this as a problem?

If you’re not happy with me blaming these irresponsible women (and the men that knocked them up), then just look at the studies.

If you go by this 2013 University of California report on abortion it says the reason women get abortions are like so:

“Researchers found 40% of these women mentioning something financial, 36% in some way discussing the bad “timing” of the pregnancy, 31% raising a partner issue, 29% speaking of “other children,” 20% talking of the child somehow interfering with future opportunities.

Less than 20% mentioned something about not being emotionally or mentally prepared (19%), health related reasons (12%), wanting a better life than she could provide (12%), not being independent or mature enough (7%), influence of family or friends, and not wanting to have a baby or to place a baby up for adoption (4%).”

So you’re telling me that 73,290 women get abortions each year because they’re “not being independent or mature enough?”

Wow, we have some serious problems in this country, don’t we?

I mean, if 73,000 women are mature enough to have sex but not mature enough to have kids (because they weren’t mature enough to use birth control)…then what the hell are we doing?

Where are the parents?

Well, probably working 2 to 3 jobs if not locked up in prison, right?

My God – another 209,400 abortions happen each year because the woman is not “emotionally or mentally prepared.”

Again, am I the only one that sees a problem here?

It seems to me that young people are run-amok these days.

Really, we have a terrible time in this country with controlling our baser desires and impulses. We have no self-control.

We’re so focused on maintaining a woman’s right to choose in this country that we never ask why we have so many abortions as it is.

Isn’t it great for all the politicians and nonprofit abortion groups, though? They can keep arguing over this issue for years, using it to raise money.

Never do we hear any of them ask, ‘how can we decrease the number of abortions?’

Never do we hear talk about the reasons why women have abortions.

It’s always just the argument that we must let women have that right to choose.

Fine, let them choose.

But why are they doing it, and why aren’t we talking about that?

Why aren’t we asking why so many women (and the men that knock them up) can’t be responsible?

Maybe it’ll get back to low incomes, education, overwork, and caring for relatives.

Those issues make our country seem very poor, very poor indeed.

So we don’t talk about them, and 1.04 million women get abortions each year.

That’s sad.

7 Comments

Having Fun with Images

6/26/2016

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Let’s have some fun with images tonight.

Hope you had a few laughs, and maybe got a little mad too.

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Hiking Up the Sleeping Giant

6/26/2016

4 Comments

I was very lucky to hike up Helena’s Sleeping Giant yesterday.

I went along with the Wolstein Family, as they were doing the hike as part of their 2016 family reunion.

The old Hilger homestead just north of Gates of the Mountains

An old schoolhouse on the Hilger homestead

A home on the Hilger homestead

Inside the Hilger and Synness families historic museum on the homestead

You'll find lots of old newspaper clippings in the museum

There was also a big wedding up at the Synness homestead on the day of our hike

The Sleeping Giant is on private land so you can’t hike up there by yourself, or at least without permission.

It’s Synness family land and has been for 131 years. Ole Synness bought a 160-acre homestead there in 1885.

At that time the Sleeping Giant was known as the Beartooth and it was quite the remote place, being 20 miles north of Helena and all.

Pastureland north of Helena

Starting the hike, just north of the Synness homestead

The view of the Sleeping Giant from the Synness homestead

It's a 2-mile hike from the homestead

Ole Synness was from Norway and brought his wife over in 1897. In 1909 Ole died in Wolf Creek Canyon after being dragged by a wagon.

His wife Maggie was left to care for five children all by herself, as well as two nephews from the Wolstein family.

“Her only income was what she could earn milking cows and selling butter and eggs,” we’re told on Helena History.

She's getting closer

Hikers making their way up to the Sleeping Giant's nose

Great vies of Helena as you walk through the forested part of the trail

The cliffs rise up above you as you walk on the trail

The rocks really begin to resemble teeth the closer you get

Prior to 1878 the Sleeping Giant was called the Beartooth or the Bear Teeth.

In 1878 there was an earthquake and landslides altered the beartooth outcroppings and formed the current look of the mountain.

It wasn’t until the 1890s, when a German immigrant in Helena mentioned the formation looked just like a sleeping burgomeister (mayor), that the name Sleeping Giant was first used.

I was looking forward to what the top of that mountain looked like and had a beautiful day for it in late-June.

Now we're on the 'saddle' area between the nose and the giant's brow

It's from that 'saddle' area that you get your first views of the Missouri River at the 80-mile mark along it's 2,639 mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico

Looking up at the Sleeping Giant's nose

This is what the trail looks like this high, and I can't help but think much of this is from the 1878 earthquake when one of the bear's teeth was destroyed

Between the nose and the upper lip, this spot affords great views...and we even saw a forest fire in the distance

Another view of the Missouri River 25 miles south of Helena

Hiking up the nose and looking over at the lips

Looking south toward Helena from the Sleeping Giant's nose

Looking down from the nose to the 'saddle' area

This is halfway up the front of the nose. You have to go around to the backside to get to the top

Hikers realizing the front of the nose is too difficult for free climbing

Great view looking east from a cleft in the rocks, a drop of hundreds of feet right in front of you

Looking at the Missouri River from atop the Sleeping Giant's nose, the highest point

Looking east

Looking south, this is another large formation that you can't see from Helena as it's behind the nose

That's me above the Upper-Missouri

Well, it was quite the hike. All of us were pretty worn-out afterward. It was fun, though, and I’m very thankful that I got to hike to the top of a mountain I’ve been looking at my whole life.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what it looks like as well.

The Sleeping Giant after welcoming some hikers

Hiking to Holland Falls in Montana

Hiking Montana’s Welcome Creek

Hiking to Montana’s Glen Lake

4 Comments

Open Post: Say Anything

6/24/2016

17 Comments

Giant Spring in Great Falls

I’ve been told that it’s a good idea for me to do an open thread, where readers can bring up any topic they like.

Fine, say what you want.

Personally, I don’t think that many will talk.

We don’t get many comments here at Big Sky Words, never have.

Is that a bad thing…and really…what does it mean?

I guess it could mean no one visits, or no one cares, or people are just so damn convinced by my arguments that there’s simply no reason to comment.

It could be something else too.

Either way, talk away!

I’d like to go ahead and mention the 600 points the Dow fell today.

Wow, didn’t affect me at all!

How ‘bout you…lose some money?

Bummer.

How’s that feel?

I guess it depends on if you could afford to lose that money or not. If not...why the hell isn’t it in the bank or in a safe in your home?

Well, rich people…no point in trying to point their greed out to 'em.

After all, why keep money somewhere where it can’t be making money?

Uh...so it’s safe.

The way the rich and their corporate propaganda wings want us to think after this Brexit is that there’s another global recession on the way.

So what.

My house has been in recession for a decade – take that bullshit to some other street where they still have something to lose.

I’ve just heard the rich cry ‘wolf’ too many times, myself.

Speaking of the rich, how about all those entitled union pricks in Helena today for the AFL-CIO Convention?

I was invited to this but chose not to go. Here are some images I pulled off of Twitter:

So there you see two losers getting applauded for their efforts to help union workers.

Oh, I’m sorry…are Denise Juneau and Melissa Romano not losers?

Because the election results I’m looking at have them down 32,000 and 26,000 votes, respectively.

Huh, maybe they’ll find those votes in that convention room there in Helena.

And how about this: A fucking political unknown does 6,000 votes better than a woman that’s been in the statewide spotlight for a decade, sheesh!

My oh my, I have to shake my head.

Before you get your feathers all ruffled, we discussed this before, this time last year in fact.

The post was called Can the Montana AFL-CIO Convention Help You at All?

In it we pointed out that the Montana AFL-CIO represents just 8% of Montana’s workforce.

Union representation in Montana altogether covers just 13% of our workforce.

My, what a failure our unions are.

I’d like 100% of our workforce unionized.

Alas, the unions don’t want that…or were they somehow working toward that?

I know – it’s by increasing the money they spend on top officials.

Top AFL-CIO officials get $6,000 a year in compensation on average, compared to the $170 that each AFL-CIO union worker gets.

That’s pathetic.

But this open thread isn’t about unions or my perceived hatred of them.

Nope, it’s about you, and what you want to say.

So please, say it.

It's clear ID and Cowturd are shutdown, so let's get some conversation going, conversation on anything.

So...what's on your mind?

17 Comments

The Brexit, Bernie, and Going Bonkers

6/24/2016

1 Comment

Let’s just get right into it.

From the Washington Post, looks like Messina's boy Cameron is done...but the bastard won't resign for another 3 to 4 months. I'm sure the foreign bankers pulling his strings will come up with something before then to alter this vote and keep him in. That's the world we live in

The Brexit

What a day, what a day!

Across the pond voters in Britain said fuck you to the foreign bankers that control them and left the EU.

They will now have their sovereignty back, they will now have their freedom.

No longer will bankers in Luxembourg and Belgium and Switzerland tell them how much to pay in interest.

The vote scared the hell out of the banking class, with financial indexes in Germany going down 10% and Japan’s dropping by 8%.

So what.

We know that in America just half of the population plays in the Wall Street casino and I bet it’s similar over there.

How many Americans own stocks?

If you're in the 'poor bastard' category like me, well...just 21% of us invest in the Wall Street casino.

Far more people are living in poverty than pissing their money away in the markets, far more people are struggling in the dying middle class to give a fuck about the bankers and their scare tactics.

And my goodness, those scare tactics were loud.

They didn’t work.

Scream and moan and bitch and wail…they did not work.

It’ll be the same in November with Hillary and her scare tactics, saying how bad Trump will be.

So what?

I don’t own stocks, I don’t own a home, I don’t have a pension, I don’t have retirement savings, I don’t have money in the bank for the kid’s college.

So please save your scare tactics and go cry wolf to someone else.

Or did our state propaganda blogs of the Dems not shut down for the better part of this week?

My, they are failures, and their message is a failure.

Let’s not forget that Gianforte is set to steamroll Bullock in November, and when Bullock’s sex scandal hits, he’s done.

I can’t wait.

And it's not like this has to happen, but in Bullock's case in particular, he's a chicken-shit.

Why not go on "Voices of America" radio show like Schweitzer used to do, or even KGVO News Talk here in Missoula?

Oh, yeah...those are Republican stations. So we'll kiss away those Reagan Democrats, the ones that will be voting for Trump in droves but might have voted for Bullock too...if he bothered to talk to them.

Perhaps some of those Columbia Falls mill workers - sorry, former mill workers - might vote for him too. Bullock won't go up there, however.

Bullock should also be blasting corporate America but he's tied at the hip with Hillary.

Sorry, Hillary's money.

So I'm looking forward to Bullock losing this year and I'm looking forward to primarying Tester in 2018.

My God, isn’t it an exciting time to be alive!

Finally, after decades of being controlled by foreign banking powers through the financial systems they foisted upon us, we’re done.

We’ve severed the ties – at least Britain has – and when Trump gets in in November we’ll do so in America to.

Just think, after 113 years we’ll get rid of the third Bank of the United States, that vile and un-audited Federal Reserve.

How much of our money do you think they stole from us and shipped overseas?

To put it another way…how much gold do we even have in America anymore?

But don’t worry about that – what do you need real money for when you can trust the bankers and their blips and splotches on the ol’ computer screen?

Yep, digital currency…what could go wrong?

I hope we see more countries leave the EU, like those southern countries that have shit economies.

The ultimate would be to see Germany’s economy plummet, perhaps their Syrian refugees rebel.

That shithole convinced every European country but themselves to ship their manufacturing away, and now everything that’s made in Europe is made there.

Germany is the one to be wary of, and I think we saw that back in 1914 and in 1936 as well. Most of Europe learned it again in 2016 with the German calls to flood their towns and cities with unemployed foreigners with no skills and no language abilities.

Yes, Germany is a big problem and I hope they suffer.

One country that won’t be suffering is Britain. Sure, stocks are down 8% but so what?

Most of those voting don’t own stocks. Remember, just 1% of the world’s population plays in that Wall Street casino – most just suffer its wrath.

But that’s coming to an end now, nationalism is rising and globalism is on the run.

That’s great for America as it means we might start giving a shit about our borders again. Right now we just let people cross anywhere they like.

Anyways, let’s move on to presidential politics.

Bernie or Bust

I’ll be voting for Trump in November.

I think it’s clear that Bernie is done.

So much for going all the way to the convention, huh? What a disappointment

That was on the Washington Post site this morning.

I think it should be obvious to you by now that I was never going to vote for Hillary.

I looked into Jill Stein a bit, but I’m not really looking to throw my vote away like I did in 2000.

Nope, this year it’ll be the GOP, because frankly, the GOP under Trump is doing a helluva better talking up Democratic issues than the Democrats under Hillary are.

Hillary is a joke, tied at the hip with foreign and corporate bankers. We mentioned yesterday all the “blood money” she’s taken from large PACs and corporations.

Do you honestly think your family is more important to her than those big money donors?

I don’t.

Now, does Trump care about me?

I don’t think so.

But hot damn, Trump is saying what I like to hear!

Bring back American jobs
Start making stuff again
Protect our borders
Get out of debt
Pay a living wage
Healthcare that’s affordable
A shovel-ready wall with Mexico
Better trade deals with China
Making the VA work again
Making the rich pay taxes
Leaving gun laws alone

You can find most of those on the positions page of Trump’s website.

I can’t find Hillary’s positions anywhere, just the tired generic Democrat talking points that have been kicked around for years.

To be honest, you’ll be hearing me talk up Trump for the next 4.5 months now.

If you don’t like that, please, just go.

Go read Cowturd and ID, the state’s two Democratic mouthpiece blogs.

They haven’t put up a new post in 3 to 4 days, and I figure it’s because they have the twin failures of Tester and Bullock to justify.

I mean, one of them is voting against the very gun proposals you they talk up all the time, while the other one is cheating on his wife and firing people to cover it up so he can stay in power.

I just don’t need that in my life.

For Tester, the man’s got a huge belly but he’s got no fire in it. His gun vote has many wondering if he’s a Democrat.

Oh, I guess he’s a Montana Democrat, meaning he can vote however the hell he wants because he’s in a tough state.

Fuck that.

If Montana Democrats are mad at Tester and tons of people like me are mad at him, then for God’s sake, let’s primary his ass in 2018!

There was a damn good post on this on RD this week, one showing how blinded-by-loyalty Democrats like Ellie Hill will just vote for Tester regardless of what he does.

Because, my God, he’s a Democrat and I’m a Democrat and if I do enough brown-nosing, kissing ass and licking feet then I can be part of the club too.

Good luck with that.

You might get a higher position but you’ve shown everyone you have no spine.

I’m not sure which Montana Democrats have spines these days. I certainly do, as I’ll go right up to you and look you in the eye and ask how you’re helping my life and then ask you to justify why you’re not.

It’s why I’m blocked on social media, never have my calls returned from state workers during state hours, and why Democrats in the state call me a Republican, anti-semitic, or whatever else they think might shut me the hell up.

Alas, I’m still here.

Bernie’s not here, as he’s given up. So much for going all the way to the convention, huh?

So I can’t wait to vote for Trump in the fall and if that bothers you, I can live with it.

Going Bonkers

I needed another ‘B’ for this post so let’s go with bonkers.

‘Bonkers’ means going mad or crazy.

Lots of people think that voting for Trump is bonkers.

For instance, how about all the talk this week that Trump’s policies will ruin the American economy?

I’m sorry…wasn’t the American economy ruined in 2008?

For me, it’s still in ruins.

Oh, that’s right – we only want the economy to fail when the rich profit off that failure, as they did in 2008.

When Hillary puts hubby Bill in charge of the economy again, we know that’s what will happen – Hillary and her ilk will profit while you and your family experience another lost decade.

Moody’s was the big one trotting out the doom and gloom this week.

By their reckoning, the US will lose 3.5 million jobs by 2020 if Trump is elected.

Considering that we lost 5 million manufacturing jobs in this country since the year 2000, maybe that’s an improvement.

Used to be 25% of Americans that were in a manufacturing job, now it’s 10%.

Something else that Moody’s is saying is that we’ll lose tons of “international trade, immigration and direct foreign investment” because of the isolationism that Trump will give us.

I think that’s great, as it’ll force us to start making things here again. Wow, just think off all the reduced transportation costs!

Hell, it’s pricey buyin’ all the oil to run those tankers of cheap plastic shit from China to our shores.

Why don’t we just stop doing that? Ain’t gonna hurt me none, and hell, if I can get a job making some cheap plastic shit here, even better.

But that wouldn’t profit the globalists and investors and moneyed class like the 1% that Hillary represents, that Democrats now represent.

Yeah, Trump took all the working class issues away from the Democrats this year…and Democrats didn’t even care.

Not one hoot or whistle out of ‘em, not one.

I’ve been saying for years that the best move in the political playbook is to take your opponent’s issues and make them your own.

Trump did that, and it’s why he has the blue-collars and the poor and the uneducated, voters that would typically go with the Dems if the Dems still cared about them.

Now Dems browbeat those folks.

No, Dems don’t care about the downtrodden and working class anymore, they only care about those throwing their money at the Wall Street casino.

That’s not the Democratic Party I know, and most of those walking around calling themselves Democrats today I have to shake my head at.

We’re told that under Trump “savings will shrink, influenced, partially, by declining stock prices and real estate value.”

Again, I have no savings I have no stocks and I don’t own real estate.

So I won't get hurt. To me, Trump scaring the hell out of the ruling class is a huge reason to vote for him!

Again, how is Trump going to hurt me?

He’s not.

He’s going to hurt those that have their thumb over me, those that are holding me down.

I like that, I like the idea of them getting hurt, I like it a lot.

If you like it too then you’ll love reading this site for the next few months.

Hell, you love it now.

So keep coming back and I’ll keep writing.

Cheerio!

1 Comment

Why is the Missoula Jail Always Full?

6/23/2016

7 Comments

Missoula Jail

Yesterday it was reported that 30-year-old Tiffany Ortego was sentenced to 30 days in jail for swearing at Judge Karen Orzech.

Today it was reported that Ortega was let out of the Missoula County jail.

“I spent a few minutes checking out the Missoula County Inmate Information Portal where I learned that despite driving under the influence, careless driving, a felony probation violation and the criminal contempt charge, Ortega was released from jail just hours after flipping out on the judge.”

What the hell is going on here?

In Missoula we continually hear about problems with our jail, overcrowding at the jail, and tons of other problems that stem from that facility and the culture we’ve created here in the Garden City.

Why is the jail full?

A total of 65.5% of Missoulians agreed to build the damn thing back in 1996 with the promise that it’d have more than enough beds, and that it’d actually earn money!

When it opened in 1999 the $17.1 million facility took over for the 86-bed unit on the fourth floor of the county courthouse annex.

We’re still paying that jail bond off, with a yearly obligation of $1.25 million, meaning it’s $18 a year on your property taxes.

It was clear Missoula had problems as early as 2008 when a $16 million bond measure was floated to build a $23.5 million emergency operations building next to the jail.

That bond vote failed, getting just 49% of the vote.

Since then Missoula has had to pay out $250,000 renovating the jail, another $565,000 in liability payments for a 2009 alcohol withdrawal death, another $255,039 for the lawyers on that case, and then in 2011 another $286,294 because a woman killed herself in the jail.

Boy, so much for making us money, huh?

So what happened?

Thankfully we commissioned a study last April for $85,000 to determine what happened.

It took 14 months, but the commission produced a 115-page report telling us the state of things.

So…what does this $85,000 report tell us?

Considering that none of the local newspapers or TV stations have told us, I’ll take it upon myself to wade through that report and tell you much of what it says.

First of all, let’s take a look at the makeup of the jail and prison system in Montana:

Montana's Prisons

That’s where many in the jails are waiting to go, either when something opens up or when they get done with their trial.

We know that nationally, 50% of our prison inmates are in for drug-related crime and just 7% of our national prison population is made up of violent offenders.

We know that the population of low-risk offenders in Montana rose by 133% from 1998 to 2013.

In Montana 24% of our jail population is women, which is nearly twice the national average of 13%.

Native Americans make up 13% of Montana’s female jail population and 9% of the male population.

Nearly 50% of the people in Montana jails are between the ages of 18 and 30.

We know that the Top 9 reasons people go to jail in Montana are as follows:

DUI (9.4%)
Criminal Contempt (5.1%)
Probation Violations (5%)
Partner or Family Member Assault (3.7%)
Driving While License is Revoked (3.6%)
Disorderly Conduct (3.6%)
Revocation of Deferred or Suspended Sentence (3.1%)
Larceny/Theft (2.9%)
Obstructing a Peace Officer (2.6%)

Those nine crimes come make up 39% of the infractions that people are in our jails for.

We know that in Missoula County 83% of prisoners report dissatisfaction with their medical care, the worst in the state (the average is 43%).

Missoula County pays $806,039 a year to Correctional Health Providers for that care.

When that contractor is unable to provide services, Missoula goes to outside healthcare in the community.

This outside care for Missoula County jail inmates costs $108,969 a year and has gone up in cost by 22% since 2011.

Missoula jail inmates report a 66% dissatisfaction rate with mental health care, more than double the state average of 30%.

Here in Missoula we have 115 full-time jail workers, which includes 84 detention officers.

Turnover is about 25% to 30% each year at the Missoula County jail and it costs $11.6 million a year to run the place.

That means you pay $195.36 a year on your property taxes to fund the jail’s yearly operations.

Missoula expects it’ll need a new 60-bed unit if the city/county population continues to grow.

This will cost $5 million with an additional cost of $2.3 million every year to staff and operate.

Currently the Missoula County jail can hold 370 adults and 24 juveniles.

Because that’s such a large amount of available bed space, the Missoula County jail contracts with the Montana Department of Corrections to fill 146 of those beds.

The contract to do this runs until 2029 so even if the county wanted to free up space, it could not.

Yes, the state is stretched just as thin as the counties are.

The jail cooks 1,100 meals a day.

In 2015 the Missoula County jail saw 4,223 individuals come through its doors a total of 5,997 times.

Yes, that means that 1,774 times that someone came into the jail, they’d been there before.

Inmate bookings have increased 31% over the past decade.

We know that 75% of the Missoula County jail population are non-violent offenders.

72% of them are men and 28% are women.

The average stay for a Missoula County jail inmate has gone up by 54% over the past decade.

In 2015 most inmates were in the jail for 12 days, and the report tells us that this is the main reason for overcrowding.

Since 2007 inmates have stayed in jail 50% longer. Back then it was about 7 days then in 2009 it was 9 days. It really shot up in 2012, with 11 days and then to nearly 15 in 2014.

Court cases have gone up by 30% over the past decade in Missoula County.

All that took me up to about page 38 of the report.

I didn’t want to read anymore. Not only is it depressing, it’s boring too.

For the next 70 or so pages we get a lot on treatment and courts. To me it seems the courts and the legislators are mainly to blame.

Early on in the report we’re told some of the main reasons that jails are overcrowded in Montana. It comes to us from a 2005 study by the Montana Board of Crime Control.

They said that we have problems with:

An inadequate public defender system
Little use of pretrial release
Lack of risk and needs assessment tools
Few instances of pre-sentence investigations
Little in the way of community-based interventions
No comprehensive statewide re-entry planning

The main suggestion of the study was to create a committee to study the problem more.

We’ve been doing that for years now, and I don’t think that will change.

So let’s get another $85,000 of the taxpayer money together and do just that.

Perhaps we’ll finally get an answer, and maybe some officials willing to act on it.

7 Comments

Discussing the Split in the Montana Democratic Party

6/23/2016

0 Comments

This is a crack

I got an email today asking me what I thought about the rich people sitting on the U.S. House floor.

Well, I don’t really care.

How is a bunch of rich people sitting on a floor going to help me?

Oh, I guess I should be excited that there’ll be more gun control laws!

Yep, I can feel my life getting better already.

Here’s what else the emailer said:

“First Hillary meets with demos on hill in morning then we have the sit in hour later. She is nervous in that it's a close race even overspending Trump 40 to 1. So now the whole campaign will be about guns not the terrible economy or how terrible she is and will be. The want to look so moral on this issue but started to fundraise off it immediately. I can hardly wait for the 2 Montana democratic mouth pieces to jump aboard. This might actually hurt democrat ticket in Montana if they aren't careful.”

So now the whole campaign will be about guns, the email says.

I have to agree with that…at least for the next week or two. Again, I have no idea how this will help my life.

I’m not worried about guns – I’m worried about all the bills I have to pay each month.

Those rich Dems sitting on the floor ain’t. They make $175,000 a year plus all the benefits they can get and all the handouts they get from the rich people that buy them off.

No, my life ain’t gettin’ better at all.

Something else we should mention is the blood money that Hillary’s raising.

Here, take a look at all Hillary’s taken from outside groups this year:

Hillary's blood money

I don’t know what many of them are but I’m confident they’re 100 times more important to Hillary than I am.

We could talk about all that money in politics, maybe sit on the floor over that. Instead we choose the issue of guns.

It’s sad.

But I guess we have to expect this’ll be the hot-button issue. Hell, one of the main guys pushing it got the shit kicked out of him 50 years ago or so.

That's his main accomplishment in life, getting the shit kicked out of him.

Now he can sit on that floor and relive those glory days, back when he wasn’t on the corporate take.

Yeah, John Lewis – took $6 million from PACs over his career but just $2 million from the people he purports to represent.

Oh, John Lewis…what a failure.

Rich people pretending to care about your life

Look at those rich people.

Do you think they care about you?

I don’t.

But I didn’t come here to talk to you about the failures of Congress, or how much the rich of this country and other countries have bought them off.

No, I came to talk about how we’ll move forward in Montana when we kick all the crooks out.

We’ve got Bullock on the run, and when his affair blows up in the media it’ll be the perfect chance to clean house and get rid of the corporate taint in the Montana Democratic Party.

So…how’d that corporate taint get there in the first place?

I began to think about this a bit more a few days ago, mainly after I got an email complaining about MT Cowturd and how much their message is failing.

“Well appears cowgirl vacation didn't help with any fresh ideas, as had to basically repeat ID post on Speaker Knudsen from Sun in article today. Trying to blame Knudsen for failed infrastructure bill instead of Bullock's lack of leadership is a real laugh. If they think that will help Bullock's race guess they need to take look at primary votes in Eastern Montana. Besides Knudsen is very popular in his area, he got 2,019 votes to demo candidate's 711.”

Remember, MT Cowturd is an anonymous site. They care so much about what they tell you that they won’t use their real name. Their convictions are so strong that they have to hide behind an anonymous site.

Is that the kind of leadership you need in your life?

No, it’s not.

We know there are splits in the Dem Party, they just aren't talked about.

How about talk that Schweitzer ran the progressives out of the party?

What about all of John Morrison's supporters...did Tester run them out?

How about the Helena Bubble that Gianforte refers to, or what I call the Helena Cabal...how small is this group, how insulated are they, and how much do they profit off things remaining the same.

So lots of questions, few answers. We know a lot about our political history a century ago, very little about a decade ago.

Hey, I’m not fan of John Morrison or the highbrow and elite brand of politics that he represents.

Hell, his grandpa was a bigwig and elected governor of Nebraska, his dad was on the Montana Supreme Court.

What I do like about Morrison is that he wrote a book, Montana Mavericks.

I read the whole thing and it’s good. More Montana Democrats should write books.

Brian Schweitzer did, and I can’t help but think that a lot of Bullock’s Blueprint for energy comes from that.

Take wind and solar, for example…right from pages 9 and 11 of the 25-page blueprint report that came out this week:

Montana Wind Jobs

Montana Solar Jobs

We had a blueprint more than a year ago with Schweitzer’s book, Power Up Energy.

It’s a good book and it makes clear that wind and solar are real viable options, as is battery storage and transmission.

That's one of the reasons I was so disappointed to see Bullock ignore Schweitzer when he did his Colstrip advisory board earlier this year.

Transmission is talked about a lot in Bullock’s Blueprint and I urge you to download that PDF and give it a look.

So both Morrison and Schweitzer have good ideas, one taking a look back to figure out where we can go and the other presenting options to transition us to a better energy economy.

Despite that, how much can we attribute the current cracks and splinters and downright splits in the Montana Democratic Party to them?

In Morrison’s case, we have to go back to the contentious U.S. Senate primary race between him and Tester.

Tester won, and we have to then ask…what happened to Morrison’s supporters?

Also, how much can we attribute Montana Democratic Party discord to Tester?

For Schweitzer, what’s with the progressive wing of the Democrats heading for the hills under his tenure?

Currently we like to call everyone DINOs but really, how much are those in power DINOs?

We continually hear that the Montana Democratic Party has become Republican-lite, and perhaps that’s the problem.

I saw the following quote on RD today:

“I’ve always said (correctly) that the Dems do not have the spine to deal with their DINOS, which is which is why they have become a permanent minority in the Montana Legislature. I remember when Max was Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and sided with Pres. Bush – the Dems gnashed their teeth, howled, and complained, but wouldn’t primary him.”

Currently we have a lot of progressive Dems howling about Tester’s vote on guns this week.

Personally, I don’t care about that vote.

What I do care about is getting rid of people that care more about corporate money and protecting their position than helping my life.

That’s why it’s critical we primary Tester in 2018.

It can be done, and it will be done. I fully expect him to resign anyways, as he’s been nothing but a failure for months now.

Tester’s failures on veterans issues have been especially sad.

Step down, Jon, step down.

But there won’t be any stepping down. Hell, there probably won’t be anything on Bullock’s affair. I’m confident the two Missoula Democrats I profiled cheating the housing authority won’t get in trouble either.

The entitled of the Montana Democratic Party do a good job protecting their own.

They do an abysmal job of helping us.

That’s not really the intention anymore, however.

No, the goal is to help as many rich people as we can while lining our own nests.

That’s the Montana Democratic Strategy these days.

Far from helping, raising more blood money will only turn people like me off more and more.

I mean, if it’s so important to raise money…why did Jesse Laslovich come in 29,000 votes short against Rosendale for Auditor?

It’s because no one gives a shit about him.

No one gives a shit about the Montana Democratic Party in Montana except for a small minority in the cities.

This won’t win the legislature, but instead of talking about that, Democrats continue on the same tired path.

So I hope we see some change.

I hope Bullock’s affair comes to light in the mainstream press and gets him out of our lives once and for all.

I hope Tester is primaried in 2018 if he doesn’t just hang it up before then.

I hope legislative losses are immense this year, statewides as well.

Only when you hit rock bottom do you really look at yourself with a hard and discerning eye, the change you always talked about finally at last ready to come about.

It’s time Montana Democrats hit rock bottom.

Their current strategy is set to make that happen.

Wow, it’ll be exciting to see it happen!

Remember, when Walsh got caught in his plagiarism scandal…your life did not change at all.

Oh, they want you to think that if some shiny-shoed asshole in a suit is gone, your life will get worse.

No, their life might...but yours won’t.

Your life ain’t changing at all anytime soon.

Hillary…Trump…Bullock…Gianforte – pal, they ain’t gonna do shit for you.

A year from now you’ll be sitting in the same boat, wondering when things will get better, hoping to hell that they do.

Maybe a vote for the Ds or Rs will help with that, huh?

Ya, keep dreamin’.

0 Comments

New Info on the Bullock Scandal

6/22/2016

9 Comments

Puerto Rico

It might all come down to Puerto Rico.

What was Meg O’Leary doing there for the 2015 Democratic Governor’s Association (DGA) meeting?

Surely Bullock must have taken her along, for at the time he was head of the DGA.

So…why’d he take her?

For more than six months now we’ve speculated on what happened that got Angela McLean fired.

You might remember this story from posts I’ve done before:

Sex in Montana Politics (Dec 2)

More Worries About Bullock’s Leadership Style (Dec 12)

A Timeline of the Bullock/McLean Dispute (Dec 17)

More Staff Changes in Bullock’s Office (Jan 6)

Digging Further Into the Angela McLean Departure (Feb 4)

When Will the Rumors of Bullock’s Affair Get Into the Campaign? (Mar 30)

As you can see, we covered most of this stuff back in December…a whopping 7 months ago.

I haven’t touched the story since the end of March, and in that post I pretty much laid it all out.

Laid it out and then moved on, for nothing new was there.

Way back in February I encouraged people to email me or call me if they had new info.

Yesterday someone called.

It was a woman calling from a restricted number. She told me that what I’d reported on the sex scandal is true.

She told me that several people have lost their jobs over this sex scandal, mainly because Bullock and O’Leary are trying to cover their tracks.

I specifically mentioned the Department of Commerce, which O’Leary heads up, and how I imagined there have been staff layoffs because of this scandal.

The woman did not deny this, nor did she deny that the same had happened in the Capitol. She said that "several" people had lost their jobs because of this.

Well…is that new?

We know that McLean lost her job over it, but how many other, not-so-high-profile state workers lost their jobs?

Remember, these are people with families and kids in school and pensions on the line. They're regular people that just want to do their job.

But they got caught in the crossfire.

These are the people that will talk, and for the reporter that’s sitting on this story, that’s a good thing.

I was told that there is a Montana reporter sitting on the Bullock sex scandal story, just waiting to run it.

If I had to guess I’d say it’s one of these people:

James DeHaven
John Adams
Mike Dennison

Those are the only three that I can think of that might have done some work on this, enough perhaps to tell us what happened…but just not enough to get their corporate papers to sign-off.

Again, it comes down to women like the one that called me yesterday, those brave souls that come forth and talk.

I did not get a name from this woman yesterday, nor did I get information on where she worked.

I would not give out that information if she had given it to me, as I’ve not given out the information on the people that have emailed me about this story starting way back in December.

That said…what good does it do?

There is no major proof, no major paper trail, and just stonewalling and silence from our state government, attacks against you after-hours if you press it.

I mentioned all this to the woman that called me. She told me that there is information, and she continued to bring up Bullock’s plane.

I mentioned that I have no access to Bullock’s schedule, reports on his discretionary funds, or when that airplane comes and goes.

On that last one I took a look at the FAA Registry but there are more than a hundred planes listed for Lewis & Clark County alone.

And let’s not forget that Bullock might have gotten around questions about the state plane by using Neptune Aviation Services in Missoula for charter planes. He spent $47,000 for “in-kind transportation” since 2014.

What I was told is that Bullock and O’Leary went off to the Kentucky Derby together, which would have been May 7…or May 2 if we go all the way back to last year.

Last year makes a lot more sense. Jet her off to the DGA conference in March and then down to the racetrack in May. Who knows what else they were doing during that time…or earlier.

I was told the two of them had gone to the Paul McCartney concert together, which would have been in Missoula way back on August 5, 2014.

Going back to our timeline we see that in December 2014 a private conversation between Bullock and McLean resulted in a hostile atmosphere.

Could talk of what Bullock and O’Leary were doing have created animosity between Bullock and McLean?

It’s not hard to believe, not hard at all.

And then there’s Puerto Rico, the site of the 2015 DGA Convention.

I was continually told by the woman that called me to look into the flight records or at least the trip that was made to Puerto Rico.

So…what the hell happened in Puerto Rico?

Many are wondering what happened, wondering and waiting. The story is ready, it just needs to come out.

I feel that James DeHaven will break this story. He did some good work in Nevada ruffling feathers and we already know that Montana Democratic Party mouthpiece MT Cowturd has taken the knives to him after reporting he did on Bullock’s campaign finances in April.

It was a long report, hard to understand for most people. Mainly, lots of money shuffling around between the Party and the PACs, lots of professionally campaign workers getting lots of money, some paid twice as they already are on Bullock’s staff.

Stories like that get pushed under the rug, as do stories like the one from June 5 that told of the $2,000 that Bullock took from the DGA for travel expense reimbursement.

Here is where we have trouble.

The trouble isn’t so much about the DGA connection – hell, Schweitzer was head of the DGA (but Bullock’s spending 292% more on travel than Schweitzer).

No, the trouble is what was being done during that travel. Let's go back to the DGA story.

Democratic Governor’s Association communications director Jared Leopold “did not answer questions about which specific events the Bullock staffers traveled to.”

Bullock’s staff added that this was not important because Bullock “does not engage in political activity on state time.”

He then “declined to respond to other questions” that DeHaven asked.

DeHaven did discover that the DGA sent “more than $1,900 in travel expenses to Montana Department of Commerce Director Meg O’Leary.”

This can only be for the Puerto Rico trip.

Again…what the hell happened in Puerto Rico?

On June 6 the Lee Enterprises scrubbed a story about the Puerto Rico trip…but not until after they published it on their site.

You can read about that on Republican Uprising blog.

The story is about the same as the one I linked to above, though it mentions $3,800 being paid to O’Leary, not $1,900.

After that some questions are asked:

“If O’Leary wasn’t at the March 2015 DGA conference in Puerto Rico, where exactly did the DGA have O’Leary travel to and why did she refuse to answer that question when she was asked about it?”

“Was O’Leary on state time while traveling to and attending this DGA function?”

“Why was a non-elected Cabinet officer like O’Leary paid by the DGA to attend a Democratic Party function in the first place?”

Lots of questions, few answers.

So where does that leave us?

To me it’s pretty clear what happened.

Sometime in 2014 Bullock and O’Leary began having an affair.

They started to jet off together so that Bullock’s wife wouldn’t find out.

After enough times of that they got comfortable, let their guard down.

They started to charge the taxpayers and the DGA for their trysts.

When these trysts became more brazen and state employees started to learn about them, people were moved to other positions or other agencies if not fired outright.

We don’t know how many people were fired, though we can assume McLean was one and that “several” more got the axe as well, as I was told by our caller yesterday.

When state newspaper and TV reporters ask about these travels, funding, schedules, or anything else they get stonewalled and aren’t given answers.

So what can happen?

The story can come out in the mainstream media and Bullock will have serious problems, ethically with voters and perhaps legally over the use of money for travel and the fired workers.

The story could remain buried until Gianforte unleashes it…and in whatever form his opposition research firms present it.

Nothing could happen.

I figure it’s likely the third option will take place – nothing.

With either of the first two Bullock is gone from the ticket or somehow stays on.

Many political hangers-on can't let that happen. The professional lobbying and consulting class that relies on Bullock's DGA kickback's to them can't let that happen. Either way, he loses and Dems lose the governor’s office.

It might all come down to Puerto Rico.

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Damn Right, ‘Hit Him Hard!’

Propping Up the Fraudulent Petrodollar

Why’d She Get Pregnant?

Having Fun with Images

Hiking Up the Sleeping Giant

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​My MT History Books

My Montana Novels

My Montana Short Fiction

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