So a preacher gets pepper-sprayed on the Montana State University campus in Bozeman, and not a peep out of The Montana Human Rights Network. That story tops this week’s Political Trough. Plus, as an armored vehicle for the Bozeman police draws attention- how the BearCat stopped a bullet for law enforcement in Missoula. And, even from the Left- as Democrat John Lewis (D-MT) fumbled the latest US House debate. All that and more is below.
The Daily Caller: Preacher Pepper Sprayed On MSU Campus
Holes, also known as Shawn the Baptist, was preaching in a common area on the south side of campus when an unidentified white male, carrying a large aerosol can, approached him.
Holes, who lives in Idaho, was surprised at his attacker’s animosity. “I’ve always been well received. They’ve always been kind to me.”
Has anyone heard anything from the left-wing Montana Human Rights Network about this apparent “hate crime?”
And this from The Billings Gazette: Tuition doubles since 2000
Tuition to Montana’s four-year colleges has doubled over the past 14 years, leaving a growing number of students strapped with a mountain of debt as they enter the workforce, a group of advocates said Tuesday.
With the average Montana student now holding more than $27,000 in debt, students are spending a larger portion of their income paying off college loans, reducing their ability to contribute to the state economy after graduating.
By the way, Democrats have been in charge for 10 of those 14 years.
LTE: Democrats pitting 1 group against another
Democrat Amanda Curtis says Republican Steve Daines is not qualified to be our representative to the U.S. Senate because he is “not like us.” It is true. There are many differences between Curtis and Daines but the phrase “not like us” is more reflective of the differences between Democrats and the citizens of Montana.
The Democrats believe to gain control and win over the voting public, they must resort to class envy by pitting one group against another, the well-to-do against the poor and middle class and black against white against Hispanics. Cannot women effectively represent men and cannot African-Americans effectively represent Caucasian Americans? Must a person who represents the poor be poor? Daines believes dividing Montana’s citizens is counter productive to Montana’s values and beliefs.
The Missoula Independent: BearCat Stops Bullet Aimed at Missoula Sheriff’s Deputies
Missoula County Sheriff’s Department Capt. Brad Giffin points to a small bullet hole just below a firing turret on the driver’s side of the department’s BearCat, a $334,343 armored military style vehicle.
“It was a .22 (caliber),” Giffin says, pointing at the small hole sustained during a nearly day-long standoff with an armed man in a Westside trailer park late last summer.Missoula law enforcement officers were inside the 17,000-pound BearCat when the bullet struck, leaving Giffin to praise the vehicle as an essential tool.
Breitbart.com- CDC, FBI: Bicycle and Falling Deaths Far Exceed Deaths from ‘Mass Shootings’
Death statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) coupled with crime statistics from the FBI show that bicycle and falling deaths far exceed deaths from “mass shootings.”
For example, the CDC bicycle-related injury report for 2010 shows that almost twice as many people died on bicycles in that one year than were killed in “mass shootings” during the 14 years studied by the FBI. Thus, while there were 418 deaths in “mass shootings” from 2000 to 2013, there were 800 deaths by bicycle in 2010 alone.
For those of you who commented on the rally against state owned land featuring former GOP Secretary of State Bob Brown (who lost the Governor’s race against Brian Schweitzer) and questioned whether Brown is really a Republican anymore…check this out- Brown is endorsing the Democrat in a critical state senate race, as The Havre Daily News reports:
Longtime Montana Republican elected official Bob Brown has endorsed Sen. Greg Jergeson, D-Havre, in the race for Montana Senate District 14.
Jergeson is facing a strong conservative candidate- US Army and CIA veteran Kris Hansen.
Normally, you’d expect the Indy to serve as the cheerleader in chief for a city government takeover of a private business…but even The Missoula Independent is starting to wonder.
Even before the city launched a costly fight for control of Mountain Water, critics claimed Mayor John Engen’s spending had gotten out of hand. Is he giving voters what they want or asking for too much?
While a poll conducted by Missoula legal counsel found 70 percent of residents want the city to own Mountain Water, not everyone believes it should engage in an expensive legal dispute to get it. Some, including Missoula City Councilman Adam Hertz, who ran for office on a platform of fiscal conservatism, question the financial prudence of picking a legal fight with a company that has seemingly endless resources.
“Just as I’ve said from the get-go, I think that we’re just pouring good money down the drain,” Hertz says.
From the Left- Crisp Obviously Not Impressed With Dem House Candidate John Lewis
Here’s what Billings Outpost editor David Crisp had to say at LastBestNews.com:
Zinke did seem to do a better job of pinning unpopular Democratic policies on Lewis than Lewis did of pinning Republican weaknesses on Zinke.
Lewis denied that he was an architect of the Affordable Care Act and rendered a defense of it that was less than full-throated.
Lewis drew scattered groans from the crowd when he said that Common Core appeared to be working in Montana.
cc @mtstreetfighter MT @AmericaRising: NEW: MT Democrat Can’t Name ONE Budget Item He’d Cut http://t.co/6eAbhRLfCa #mtpol #mtal @mtforlewis
— Robert Jones (@robertsays) September 30, 2014
Politico’s Morning Energy: GROUPS FIND BIG SPENDING ON BLM SAGEBRUSH LANDS
Visitors to the Bureau of Land Management’s sage-brush lands in 11 Western states spent $623 million in those regions in 2013, according to a report out today written by the consulting firm ECONorthwest for the Western Values Project and the Pew Charitable Trusts. More than 40 percent of BLM’s land in those 11 states is sagebrush, an ecosystem home to the greater sage-grouse, for which federal agencies are writing up a conservation plan. Oil and gas companies with large reserves in the sagebrush areas are looking to boost the grouse’s population without federal agencies placing protective restrictions on its habitat. The report: http://bit.ly/1vq7QRJ
Yep…nothing biased about that “report” either (right?).
The Hill: Chertoff warns ISIS could hit US targets
Former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) could strike the U.S. homeland.
Chertoff, who led the DHS under President George W. Bush, contends that President Obama waited too long to address the threat from ISIS. He says the terrorist network could send fighters to the United States or inspire local terrorists to plan attacks.
Read the article here.
The Great Falls Tribune: Zinke, Lewis differ on troops, role of government
Democrat John Lewis and Republican Ryan Zinke offered contrasting views on the role of the federal government and the need for ground troops to battle Islamic militants during a Monday night U.S. House debate.
Zinke returned repeatedly during the hourlong event to his theme that less federal government is key to a thriving private sector.
He said he supported the budget plan from House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as a framework for sweeping changes that would reduce the size of government.
Lewis said he agreed with Zinke about the need to address the deficit, yet he fumbled and could not come up with an answer when asked what specifically he would be willing to cut from the federal budget.
TheBlaze.com: The two words conservatives can say to win any argument about climate change, according to Will Cain and S.E. Cupp
By giving them the premise that is the purpose of their life, man is causing climate change. I am unconvinced of that fact, by the way, SE. I don’t care. If I confront one of those people, my first thing to say will be, ‘you’re right.’
Cupp agreed, and had a slogan that gets to the crux of the matter: “Climate change is real, and man is behind it. That’s it. Now what?”
The Billings Gazette: Tiny fish hold up bridge repair in Golden Valley County
A four-inch minnow has delayed Golden Valley County’s plans to replace a 35-foot bridge two miles southwest of Lavina.
The Belmont Road bridge’s supports were broken by the icy runoff that thundered down Big Coulee Creek in March.
The bridge was built in 1975 and is barely adequate by Federal Highway Administration standards, according to the National Bridge Inventory Database. On average, about 100 cars a day use the bridge.
The Hill: Obama will ‘make good’ on immigration reform promise, aide says
President Obama will “make good” on his promise to implement eexecutive actions on immigration by the end of the year, press secretary Josh Earnest said Sunday.
The president had initially pledged to take unilateral action on immigration by the end of the summer, but the White House announced earlier this month that he would hold off until after the midterm elections.
The White House has seen a sharp drop in Latino support following his decision to punt on immigration reform. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll earlier this month showed just 47 percent of Hispanic voters approve of the president’s performance, down 15 percentage points from April, 2013. Fewer than 3 in 10 Latino voters described themselves as “very positive” about Obama.
The Wall Street Journal: Thousands of Migrants Have Failed to Report to Immigration Offices; Families Caught at Border Who Haven’t Reported to ICE May Still Be Attending Immigration Court Hearings
Thousands of families apprehended for entering the country illegally and then released by U.S. authorities have subsequently failed to report to immigration offices as required.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, about 70% of migrant families encountered at the border since May and released haven’t reported to an office of the agency as instructed. Between May and August, agents apprehended about 40,000 people entering the U.S. in family units, amid a surge in illegal immigration from Central America.
The Daily Signal: Conservatives Decry Obamacare’s Hidden Abortion Coverage
In 2009, promoting the Affordable Care Act to Congress and the American public, President Obama pointedly said: “No federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”
But after a new report from the Government Accountability Office showed that assertion to be wrong, conservatives weren’t shy in calling out Obama.
“In my opinion, the president and [former Health and Human Services Secretary] Kathleen Sebelius knew full well that Obamacare plans would be funding abortion,” Huelskamp said.
Full GAO Report:
http://images.politico.com/global/2014/09/15/embargoed_gao_report.html
Also from The Daily Signal: In 3 Minutes….Why You Can’t Keep Your Plan if
The Laurel Outlook: Krayton Kerns on Gov Bullock’s (D-MT) Pre-Kindergarten Proposal
Obamacare is no more about care than climate change is about climate; both are euphemisms intended to persuade the unwashed to surrender to the wishes of the ruling class. Similarly, the mantra “it’s for the children” is not for the children at all. To the contrary, today it is used to cleave the parent/child bond and shift the rearing of children to the collective. Progressives are crafty bastards, but their trickery does not fool me because I learned the truth years ago.
A parent’s time with their children is incredibly short and for the ruling class to shorten it even more is criminal. Montana’s Governor Steve Bullock is spinning his new Pre-Kindergarten program as being “for the children.” It is not. Costing $37 million every two years, this program empowers the ruling class and teacher union leadership at the expense of three- and four-year-olds. The children do not belong to the community, they belong to their parents and they reach their greatest potential only when they spend their younger years with their parents. I will not be in the 2015 legislative session to reject this taking of our children, but I trust there are those I left behind who will.
— Krayton Kerns is a representative to the Montana House of Representatives and a veterinarian from Laurel.
I know the political ads in Montana are fairly quiet this time around…but things sure are getting brutal down in Colorado. How dare he call his opponent a “nice guy?” Seriously, this is hilarious…and a great ad: