Moving On

I got the following email today from someone:

I see Flathead Memo has new officers list up. I couldn't find anywhere else. No change same old people same old ideas. Mostly same heavy Missoula and urban influence.  

Guess Keenan keeps her job. Willl be all about Tester and no gains in any other positions. Very disappointing. Don't know if I care anymore. There is no reach out to those rural voters needed to win. I am so excited that a old gray haired 65 has been woman is going to rally all of us!!(Sexton) I hope
she gives all those hard working staff a raise that never answer the phone or respond to emails surely for Keenan for her losing ways.

Maybe if Tester loses then there will be changes. Tester was saying party needs to reach out to people that don't think like us. Wow think that will happen?

Yeah, James did a good job getting us those names. He must have a good email source.


And I have to totally agree on the city/Missoula influence.


Bryce Bennett? Who the hell is he going to help? Oh yeah...people that are going to vote D no matter what. But he knows how to raise money, so therein lies his use.


I also agree that there’s nothing to get excited about when it comes to D politics in Montana.

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Moving on…
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Perhaps you saw that ID/RD 'debate' between those two MT bloggers. I guess it's been awhile since they went at each other, so maybe it's time. Wish they wouldn't drag my name into it.


I was interested to see that Kevin Curtis - Amanda Curtis’s husband - stopped in and made a comment, one suggesting that if anyone wants to know what Amanda is doing, just call.


Well, I emailed.


I sent the following to Kevin Curtis, Amanda’s husband:

Hi Kevin,

I saw you comment on the ID discussion about primarying Tester in '18.

What plans does Amanda have for next year? I hope to see a real challenge to Tester, myself, but I'm not sure that'll happen. Whoever does it will probably be cast out of the Party as well.

I also saw Logicosity mention that Amanda might be taking a job in Helena soon.

Any insight?

Thanks,
Greg

I got a pretty quick response:

Post removed

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Personally I think Tester has been in D.C. too long and I hope someone primaries him. I doubt that will happen though.


Tester and Hilltop are the biggest drags on the Montana Democratic Party.


But saying stuff like that won’t take you too far...unless your goal is to piss off every major MT Democrat.


Amanda is kind of between a rock and hard place. If she goes against Gianforte (which could be a very flawed move) she will lose not only because the reporter thing only matters to liberal Dems, but also because she'd get no support.


Yep, she’ll get no state or national Dem support as that will all flow to Tester. So she may lose worse than last time, which hurts her chances for anything. Still, Brad Johnson and Monica Lindeen did come back after numerous losses.


I think she should stay in the legislature and run against Arntzen for OPI in 2020. Arntzen and Stapleton are very beatable.


OPI seems the place for Amanda as she’s a teacher. That way she could make a run for governor when Fox is done. That’d be 2028 most likely. Amanda would be around 47-years-old by that point.

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I think she would be a great candidate for OPI and then maybe governor. I know it might be wishful thinking, but nobody can beat Fox.


Logicosity had a great article about ‘name one Democrat other than Bullock.’

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Mostly, there’ll be no change in MT Dem’s leadership style until after 2018, and then only if Tester loses. So I guess if he wins nothing changes.






Moving on…


One thing I’ve noticed is that the Missoulian copied the exact same Flathead Beacon story from 4 days ago and ran it as their own.


Now, I haven’t clicked on the Missoulian article, so maybe there are some differences.


But it’s clear plagiarism in that they copied the idea.


Clearly they saw a successful story, one that probably got a lot of social media action. So they saw a chance to bump some short-term earnings, and they took it.


Sadly, they’ve pissed away whatever journalistic integrity they had left, at least in my book.


And really, this is nothing new. I’ve seen the Missoulian copy other story ideas before, even a couple of my own.


The upper-level staff at the Missoulian - Kathy Best and her ilk - are very good at copying original ideas.


They’re terrible at coming up with their own.

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Moving on…


I saw a headline in the Missoulian that a 105-acre South Hills property is selling for $16 million.


That’ll be bought up real quick and the open space will be developed.


Is that such a bad thing...and if so, for whom?


Personally, I’m pining for a stock market crash/adjustment, as well as a major burst to our housing bubble.


I’d love to see Missoula’s $250,000 average home prices fall to around $100,000, even less.


That’d create a buyer’s market, something that would really help me out a lot.


Like most Americans that - for whatever silly reason - believe that the American Dream still exists, then buying a house is a gold standard.


Alas, in wage-slave Missoula where it’s hard to find jobs offering more than $11 an hour (most offer $9, it seems to me from my daily study of the job postings), you just can’t save up enough to buy a house these days.


Maybe some people can, but I don’t feel the majority of people can.


But what incentive is there for employers to pay more? There’s a steady supply of young, dumb schmucks coming here to go into debt (get educated), and they’re happy to take all these menial jobs for little pay.


Then we sometimes get this stilly story about a workforce shortage.


I even had the Missoula Chamber of Commerce ask me what I thought about that in their candidate questionnaire.


I said if that really is a problem, then pay more.


Supply and Demand...it isn’t that hard to figure out.

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Moving on…

It’s been reported that Montana now has 8,000 medical marijuana patients.

I believe we once had 30,000 and then before the hoopla last year we were at about 13,000.

8,000 just isn’t enough.

We need more people smoking pot, a lot more.

I’d like to see 100,000 people have that card in their pocket, allowing them to buy pot.


We know that’s how many smoke pot each month in
Montana anyways, or at least in 2014 when the NY Times reported on it.


I think my life would be better if at least half the state was stoned all day, everyday.
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• People would be nicer
• We’d have less hassles in traffic
• There’d be fewer political arguments
• We’d decrease the number of sexual assaults
• DUI’s would plummet
• UM might regain some of its students
• The state would make a lot of money
• We’d create thousands of new jobs
• Restaurant revenue would skyrocket

I just don’t see any downsides.


Mostly, let’s get people off the booze and the pills and the powder and get them onto the green leaf of pot.


I think it’s a win-win for everyone, except those that are hurting society so much now (beer companies and our for-profit justice system).


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Moving on…and away for the day. Have a good Sunday.