Open Post Weekend Mid July

7/15/2016

Near Ennis, MT

I have no plans this weekend.

That’s good, as I have no money.

Yep, pretty broke until the end of the month.

Feel free to talk about your finances if you’d like, or maybe that Bastille Day truck attack…as I heard the media call it this morning.

I was in France in July 2009, part of my whirlwind European tour that year.

I also went to Spain, and this past week we had a bull fighter get killed in that country.

Here in America we know that the media is telling us Mike Pence will be Trump’s VP, and Pence has to drop out of the Indiana governor’s race by noon if he wants to take Trump up on the offer.

Tough choice.

(Update 9 AM: Trump sent out a tweet that he is in fact choosing Pence)

I’m expecting a quiet weekend out of Hillary and the Donald as we digest this latest terror attack and what it means.

To me, it means we’re moving steadily closer to war.

I profiled our nation’s war costs and war debt on Monday and I hope you’ll read those numbers. They’re eye-opening.

Some numbers that are a bit closer to home involve mining in Montana, and I hope you’ll give that Thursday post a look if you haven’t already.

I’d also like to point out that Greg Gianforte actually had the balls to make a comment on MT Cowturd on Thursday night.

Do you think Bullock would ever have the courage to do that?

Feel free to answer that question or any others, or just bring up a few of your own. I'm sure I'm missing quite a bit of what's happening out there.

Gripe...complain...pontificate...or extol.

You can say anything here and I hope you do. It’s free discussion on Big Sky Words.

26 Comments

Greg Strandberg

7/15/2016 10:49:50 am

I guess I should have waited until later in the day to put up this post.

First of all, it seems that someone got around to contacting the Gianforte campaign around 10 or so this morning and no, Gianforte is "not posting on cowgirl."

Read more here:
http://mtcowgirl.com/2016/07/14/guest-post-orlando-this-time-please/#comment-259821

Finally, is there anything going on in the Capitol on this slow news Friday?

nemo

7/15/2016 12:36:29 pm

What did you think of the bashing Putin gave the press corps?

Greg Strandberg

7/15/2016 12:46:19 pm

I'm not familiar with that, did he lash out at the press? If so, good.

I like Putin. He's right to support Assad, as we can't let another dictator fall in the Middle East. It creates a huge mess and the American taxpayer has to pick up the tab.

I see the John Kerry is over in Europe talking with Putin about joint Airstrikes. The image of Putin looking at Kerry is priceless.

'You fool,' it says to me, 'don't you know that you've created and funded ISIS and that you had your foreign bankers coming into Ukraine to convert all the assets to their ownership after you mired them in debt they couldn't pay?'

The whole reason the US went in and tried to take over Ukraine was to try and get another toehold into Russia's old Warsaw Pact area for the new NATO, which is just funded by America. Now NATO is trying to start WWIII over there with Russia and it's just terrible. Of course, we hear none of that in the American corporate press.

I guess Putin also sent France's president Francoise Holland a video condolences letter. He urged the president to join him in fighting to support Assad.

To me, Putin's right - America is the one causing all the trouble in the Middle East. If we'd just pull out of there, we'd be better off. The oil companies won't allow that, and neither will the foreign bankers and arms dealers that profit off this endless war.

It's the military industrial complex run amok, and Ike warned us about them back in '60 when he left office. If we could get them and the CIA under control, we might be able to get this country back before it totally falls apart and the world goes to endless global war.

nemo

7/15/2016 01:00:07 pm

http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/putin-loses-it-journalists-i-dont-know-how-get-through-you-people/ri15456

Greg Strandberg

7/15/2016 01:14:33 pm

"Putin completely lost patience with the journalists, berating them for lazily helping to accelerate a nuclear confrontation by repeating US propaganda."

He's right. After that Putin "virtually pleaded with the western media, for the sake of the world, to change their line."

We know the corporate media won't mention any of this. That article was from July 6, so 11 days ago now. No one knows about missiles in eastern Europe and we sure as hell don't talk about the Iran Deal anymore.

This world's a mess.

nemo

7/15/2016 01:19:20 pm

Pretty sobering when one of the most powerful men on the planet speaks so plainly.

nemo

7/15/2016 01:43:46 pm

On a lighter note. Ennis, MT. Got pulled over by Johnny France on main street driving a Winnebago (while my bro's were throwing firecrackers out the door) on a 4th of July weekend back in the 80's. Pulled over in the only puddle of water around, Johnny's cowboy boots up to the ankles in water. Issued a stern warning only. Commenced to drahnkin' shortly thereafter. Good times.

7/15/2016 01:51:02 pm

Jonny France is still alive? And a sheriff? Wow. Dude's gotta be older than I am. Good for him.

nemo

7/15/2016 02:03:20 pm

He was the sheriff, but that was last century. After his 15 minutes of fame with the mountain men and the Olympic athalete.

Greg Strandberg

7/15/2016 01:56:13 pm

I put that Ennis image up because they're having the Moods of the Madison music festival this weekend.

http://moodsofthemadison.com/

I saw on Craigslist yesterday that they were hiring event staff here in Missoula for that, $9.70 an hour.

7/15/2016 03:32:46 pm

Well, I hope the Trumpster will bring law and order to.................THE POHLEECE! Them dudes need some refresher courses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2ghdM66U4Y

It happens everywhere, including here in Montana. The police are NOT your friends.

nemo

7/15/2016 03:38:12 pm

Coup in Turkey? Shit getting real?

Greg Strandberg

7/15/2016 03:57:52 pm

Yeah, I heard that on the radio about an hour ago. Turkey's always been a bit 'iffy' on supporting the war on terrorism and sometimes they show support for Russia. Maybe the CIA felt it was time to take them out.

Of course, it could just be further regional instability and the US isn't involved at all. I wonder what this will do for Greece and it's troubles with the EU as well. Let's not get into the refugee crisis mess.

Can't help but think of the book The Guns of August. I guess we're heading to something like that.

nemo

7/15/2016 04:04:57 pm

Game changer for Syria. Wonder if Kerry and Vladimir were discussing the possibility? Wonder if our nukes there are safe?

mt cowboy

7/15/2016 06:12:01 pm

Any update on the Steve/Meg affair? The whispers are getting louder around Commerce.

Greg Strandberg

7/15/2016 06:18:00 pm

I have a theory. Over the next couple weeks someone will get a promotion, or what will certainly seem like one. It'll be through pulled strings, of course. The reason for this, in my opinion, is because that someone knows the story but has agreed to play ball and not tell it.

7/17/2016 08:11:13 am

Is it true that legislators are getting pressure to investigate the Gov and his use of plane as well as his top staffers for misuse? Do they also plan to interview his security guys in regards to the affair?
Did a couple of women lose their jobs at Commerce as a result of this?

Greg Strandberg

7/17/2016 09:11:08 am

Good questions. I don't know about the legislators but I wouldn't doubt that people like Monforten and Essman might like to look into this. We know they did before, so why wouldn't they now? KGVO Radio in Missoula already forced Bullock to talk about the 2014 Missoula trip to see Paul McCartney.

In terms of staffers and misuse, I don't know on that.

I don't know about security guys at all.

I do know that a woman called me and told me that "several" people had lost their jobs over this. I have a feeling she worked at Commerce, but don't know.

I've had 3-4 people email me as far back as December telling me the affair story is true.

Democrats, both in Montana and nationally, will do everything in their power to ensure this story does not come out in the mainstream press.

Greg Strandberg

7/15/2016 06:52:34 pm

I see Bobby Calvan is leaving the AP.

He's only been on the job since January. What's up?
http://www.bigskywords.com/montana-blog/who-is-montanas-new-ap-reporter

Greg Strandberg

7/16/2016 10:40:59 am

Heard it twice now - Bobby Calvan left the Associated Press because he's going to get a job with the Democratic Governor's Association.

Now, perhaps that job is coming about from all the time Calvan spent in D.C. reporting. If I had to put money on it, however, I'd say that Bullock's role as head of the DGA this past year played a larger role.

If that's the case, why would Bullock pull those strings?

7/17/2016 10:17:21 am

So you think Democtic leaders and lawmakers know and are failing to act to stop the "retaliation" against workers?

Greg Strandberg

7/17/2016 10:33:17 am

I think some in a select inner-circle are, but who are they?

I'd start by looking at the governor's staff, which you can see here:
http://mt.gov/govt/statedir/agency/gov.mcpx

If I had to speculate on who might be covering up some of this news, as well as who's retaliating against workers, I'd immediately think of:

Tracy Stone-Manning
Ali Bovingdon
Dave Parker
Adam Schafer
Jim Molloy
Andy Huff
Tim Crowe

That's the top staff in the governor's office. In Commerce, I'd begin to wonder about what Doug Mitchell and Mary Tuttle know. To get real answers there, however, I feel you'd have to go to the secretarial pool.

Another good place to look would be employment records and who stopped working at Commerce in the past year. Begin calling those people and asking why they stopped working. I can't find that information, however.

I wonder about the role of Nancy Keenan and other top Party officials. Losing Bullock because he had people fired would be a huge blow, one that hands the governor's office to Gianforte in the election.

They can't let that happen, and cover-ups will take place. Democrats love cover-ups, as with Bill Clinton's scandals, that gun running with Mexico, and of course Hillary's crimes.

We saw hints of this with the KGVO News Talk story on the Missoula plane trip to see Sir Paul and we'll see it in the next 3 weeks or so when Bobby Calvan gets a job with the DGA. People who know and don't talk are rewarded; those who know and won't play ball are retaliated against.

That's my opinion of what's going on.

7/17/2016 01:39:44 pm

Who'd he go to the concert with? Did KGVO report that? I didn't see it anywhere else. How come?

Greg Strandberg

7/17/2016 02:09:25 pm

Good question. Let's say the reporters asked that, because there's no way from looking at the state airplane's log that you can see who was flying on the plane...at least that I know of.

So then the governor's staff can just say he went alone, or with so and so, or not say anything.

I'd like to add that I was doing just fine before I got a phone call about this all in June. Before that I hadn't written anything about this in 3 months. So...why the call, and why then?

Maybe it is a real call and the person is legit and they're concerned about how things in state government are. That's great, I wish more people would come forth.

But what if it's some GOP PAC that called me, trying to drum things up? How would you prove it either way?

So I'm not really expecting this story to go any further, unless some state employees come forth and say they were fired. Also, what if those fired employees signed non-disclosure agreements?

So when it comes to who the governor was flying around with in 2014, I don't think it'll ever really become an issue. And flying with certain people is no crime. If that's what people are going to try and go after, what good will it do?

We already know the DGA wouldn't disclose info on who Bullock went to the DGA conference in Puerto Rico with. They just won't answer, and I feel the governor's staff will do the same.

So this story isn't going anywhere anytime soon, nor do I expect it to.

7/17/2016 11:13:00 pm

These nuckers are futz!

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/36858-this-year-s-gop-platform-pushes-federal-land-transfers

Greg Strandberg

7/17/2016 11:22:41 pm

Many in Montana have forgotten how hard our congressmen worked in the 60s and 70s and even into the 80s to get so many wilderness areas and public land access points.

Most born from the 80s onward have no idea who those congressman even were or what they did.

One of our main problems today is ignorance.

Open Post Weekend Mid July

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Open Post Weekend Mid July

Leave a Reply.

MT Book 7

​Montana Blog

​Popular Posts

Categories

Archives

​My MT History Books

My Montana Novels

My Montana Short Fiction

Montana Blog

Popular Posts

My MT History Books