Latest
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What the hell, Gianforte?
I continue to be disappointed by this governor’s decisions and his seeming inability to understand one very simple concept: MONTANA FIRST. Now he’s excitedly announcing a delegation of 30+ Montanans heading to India and Sri Lanka to showcase Montana agriculture, manufacturing, critical minerals, technology, research and universities. International trade? Great. Sell Montana products overseas and bring the money HOME. But when I see critical minerals, manufacturing, technology and university research included, I have questions. What exactly are we taking over there? What are we bringing back? Who benefits? Are we selling Montana-made products, or are we providing the resources, minerals,…
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I stumbled across something this weekend that sent me down another rabbit hole. It is called Freedom Village, and it was part of the Power to the People Festival held October 3, 2026, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., roughly one month before the midterm elections. Those who follow what…
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As I go through Facebook – basically just reading, since I prefer to avoid trolls- I’m reminded that, as an academic, I still have a lot of left-wing friends posting there. They seem to hate Trump and love Obama. On the other hand, I see friends who figure Trump is great, and Obama is to…
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Don’t wait for me to write an article on the topic – click Anti-Gun States Adopt the Jim Crow Playbook – Shooting News Weekly to read the whole thing. Here’s a quote that shows how their attempt was regarded at the Supreme Court: “The majority opinion stated that “Hawaii’s claim that this tainted artifact illuminates…
local
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We started the Mountain Ear (both times) because we wanted better coverage of local news. There are so many board meetings, and all of them are important. The Tobacco Valley News faces the same problem we do- not enough people and too many meetings, and their focus is on a larger area. So we started…
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An emergency meeting of the Trego school board was called again on May 4 at 4 PM to update the community on the methamphetamine contamination of the school grounds.. Although the meeting was poorly noticed, there were nearly 40 community members in attendance, these included parents, teachers, former students and teachers and interested community members.…
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Earlier this week, a meeting was held to formalize the existing long-term relationship between the TFS Community Hall and the TFS Fire Department. Tables were set to form a circle, and the meeting began with introductions. It was a joint meeting meant to prevent future problems, without any reason to expect them. The issue: an…
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An emergency school board meeting was held at the TFS Community Hall, Saturday at noon (which coincidentally is the time the Rendezvous Parade in Eureka began). The board acknowledged that they failed to provide adequate (48 hours notice) on the meeting, and cited the requisite MCA code allowing it in the event of an unforseen…
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When I went to get some repair work done, the person I was consulting advised fixing the structural issues and then putting the same ancient dilapidated siding back on the building. The rational? Property taxes. Last summer, we joked about how much the nice flowers my mother had on their porch raised their taxes. They…
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I spent most of a year away from the school after I finished my term. I attended a couple of board meetings because I was asked – on one hand, there was, at the least, the appearance of an unlawful board meeting . . . unlawful because it appeared to violate Montana’s open meeting law.…
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Historically, independent voters, and voters for minor third parties, do not get a large percentage of votes. Often, they’re considered “spoiler” candidates, who lose the election for someone by dra4wing critical support away during a close race. Or their thought of as simply “protest candidates” with no chance of winning. In Montana, for the presidential…
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Not many years ago, if you were faced with a cluster of unacceptable clowns on your ballot, you could write a name in and cast a protest vote. Hell, I guess you still can – the thing is, your write-in protest vote won’t be counted or reported. With the elimination of subsection 7 last year,…