Opinion

Editor, To Senator Daines - recently, you proclaimed that the inauguration of Donald Trump as 47th president marks a new day in America. Wow. Where to start. Calling Trump’s cabinet nominations “all-star” is laughable. Pete Hegseth, ousted as head of two veterans’ groups for mismanagement and misconduct, as Secretary of Defense? Tulsi Gabbard, apologist for Edward Snowden with no formal role in intelligence, as Director of National Intelligence?  Robert Kennedy, conspiracy theorist extraordinaire whose stances on vaccines depend on who’s listening, as Director of Health and Human Services?  Kash Patel, no relevant experience, and supporter of th...

Property tax relief is a top priority for Senate Republicans this legislative session. I’m sponsoring one such bill, SB 2, which reforms how tax increment financing (TIF) districts sunset – if they ever do – in order to lower property taxes for all local taxpayers. Essentially, the bill rew...

Editor, As recounted by Economist Roger Smith, (Jan. 21), the U.S. lags behind other G7 nations in many metrics of national wealth: poverty, incarceration rates, infant mortality, academic performance, homelessness, and … health outcomes. Why, given our dismal standing among developed nations, i...

Editor, I have seen an ad in the Advertiser for several weeks now, recommending a book titled Tribal Tyranny. I have not read it so I am not aware of her issues, but based on the title, I feel it necessary to respond. I have lived on the Flathead Reservation since 1994. In my early years here, I was oppos...

Editor, A few years ago I was introduced to a book “The Ultimate Revolution” by Walter Starke, published in 1969.  It helped me change my life as I seriously contemplated this portion of his writing I share here. “This is a revelation to reveal the whole person.  It won&rsqu...

Montana’s agriculture sector has always been vulnerable to changes in climate, and generations of farmers and ranchers have proven their ability to adjust and prosper as conditions demand. Current climate changes driven by rising greenhouse gas emissions, chiefly produced by burning fossil fuels, im...

I can’t believe it’s been a year already. Where did the time go? We’re still moving in. Please join us on Friday, Feb. 14, as we celebrate our one-year anniversary in our beautiful building. We will have cake and punch (from a vintage recipe we found while moving out) and a drawing for a gi...

There’s a morbid thought to start your day or week or year.  But it is – unfortunately – true. Let’s start with the obvious: divorce. A marriage ending in divorce is a bad ending. It is something none of the participants saw coming – at least not in the beginning.&nbs...

The United States cannot continue its current economic trajectory; it’s as simple as that. We are more than $36 trillion in debt and on track to hit $55 trillion by 2034. Our country has to pay more than a trillion dollars annually – nearly half of federal individual income tax revenue – ju...

I am a hick.  There, I said it out loud. I am a hick from a small, rural town in a northern state that gets a lot of snow in the winter. (But has many lovely lakes.) Not everyone wants to live there, but the people who do enjoy it. Embrace it. Love it.  Much like I hope you love the nei...