Columns

Rittenhouse verdict: justice, but not joy

On Nov. 19, a Wisconsin jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on various charges related to the shootings of three people (two fatally) during an August night of “unrest” (that is, a protest turned riot) in Kenosha.

I expected to see, and did see, a diverse set of reactions to the verdict on my (also diverse) social media feeds. The reactions broke down into three overall groupings.

The Employee Crisis

There is a significant shortage of employees in the United States. One popular explanation suggests that the pandemic caused a massive realignment of personal values. Some are calling it the “great resignation.” Another popular explanation suggests that average Americans are disincentivized to return to work due to overzealous government benefits. Which is correct? There probably isn’t a single satisfying sound bite explanation, but this past week, I got schooled by my clients and my students and it made me think deeply about how we will adapt to the new normal.

Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill creates Montana jobs, lowers costs

As a farmer, I know firsthand that good things take time.

IN BRIEF

Chamber meets today

“Executive Privilege” Should Be Ended, Not Extended

On Nov. 9, D.C. District Court judge Tanya Chutkan refused former U.S. President Donald Trump’s request, based on “executive privilege,” for a preliminary injunction forbidding the National Archives and Records Administration to release documents to the U.S. House committee grandstanding on ... er, “investigating” ... the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

What time is it?

They did it to us again this past week! You know what I am talking about? OK, so you don’t know!! That’s because you have a time lapse. You gained an hour or did you lose an hour? Whatever happened you are now in a time lapse. And you do know you will have to pay an extra tax for the extra hour. When you got an extra hour you did get a tax return for that hour. Look on line 254 on page 672 in small print.

When it comes to legislation, reading should be fundamental

“Congress is gradually moving toward having only one bill per year,” former congressman Justin Amash (L-MI) tweeted recently. And that bill will have “everything stuffed into it, negotiated by just a few congressional leaders, completely behind closed doors, with no floor amendments permitted.” G

Amash presumably has the current “infrastructure” Gu bill in mind. Weighing in at more than 2,700 pages and chock-full of stuff only tenuously (if at all) related to infrastructure, it’s more of a leadership-negotiated opin door stop than an honestly debated policy proposal.

And the beat goes on

To the editor,

I know there are millions of people in the U.S. right now who are really ticked off about our president lying. Many of us would cite the fact that tens or hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are crossing our southern border in spite of the fact that all presidents take the oath of office which includes, I believe, protecting the citizens of this country.

The silent populus

To the editor,

Not only are Conservatives silent, but so are the Democrats. Every one is waiting for the next bumbling move of this president.

Special counsel requests information in hospital complaint

HELENA, Mont., Oct. 29 (AP) – The Legislature’s special counsel has given Montana’s attorney general a Nov. 5 deadline to turn over information related to his office’s investigation into a complaint over the way a COVID-19 patient was being treated at the hospital in Helena.