Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/author/jim-elliott/page/5/)
Well, the election is over, the dust has sort of settled, and the most obvious post-mortem on it is that political pundits didn’t have a clue as to how it would turn out. During the primaries Trump was dead meat. How could he win against all those qualified Republican candidates? OK, he won that primary, but if he continues to say outlandish things people will get wise to him and his support will plummet. OK, he won the nomination, but he can’t possibly win the election. Continue Reading →
Wells Fargo Bank recently agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement for setting up fraudulent bank accounts for existing customers—without their knowledge—and charging those same customers fees for those accounts. (more…) Continue Reading →
John Craighead died last month in Missoula. To most people he was known as a grizzly bear expert and an outstanding conservationist. To me, he was all of that, but he was also the guy who broke my Uncle John’s nose. I hasten to add that it happened under legitimate circumstances, during a boxing match at Penn State somewhere around 1938. This memory came to my mind like a gift from above as I was thinking about all the depressing current events I could write about today. Continue Reading →
The recent Wells Fargo banking scandal wherein 5,300 employees were scapegoated and fired to cover up a company policy of setting up fraudulent bank and credit card accounts for existing Wells Fargo customers (on which the customers paid fees) reeks, and not just because of the illegal behavior of Wells Fargo. (more…) Continue Reading →
When I moved to Trout Creek in 1975 to set up in ranching, I shipped my farm equipment by rail: swather, baler, combine, three tractors—including the 1941 model H Farmall I had learned to drive on—plows, disks, the whole works. It had taken 20 days to load it all so it would get the car inspection’s OK, which meant that nothing should fall off on the way. (more…) Continue Reading →
Usually, for my column on Labor Day, I write (maybe lecture) on how we should remember that what we now take for granted—the eight-hour workday, the weekend and safe workplaces—were given to us by people who often gave their lives so that the lives of others might be better. (more…) Continue Reading →
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, is an international trade treaty among 12 Pacific Rim nations (with the notable exception of China). It is an important issue in the coming election, and it is important to know why. The treaty has been put in its final form through largely secret negotiations by the trade representatives of the countries involved and is now waiting to be ratified by the governments of the 12 nations. President Obama wants it, but there is some doubt that the Senate will approve it. (more…) Continue Reading →
Jessie O’Callaghan looked rougher than a cob when I first met her in 1976. It was at her house on Swamp Creek, near Trout Creek, Mont. She was about 70 years old, short and very heavy with unkempt grey hair, and dressed in what could have once passed as a flower print dress. She was sitting in her kitchen shelling peas. Her eyes were small and blue, encased in folds of skin, and their expression seemed to alternate between skepticism and joy. Continue Reading →
Over the past months there have been numerous opinions by those in the know about why Donald Trump will be not successful in the primaries and, then, not successful in the presidential race. If the track record of these pundits is anything to go by, Trump has an excellent shot at winning the presidency. (more…) Continue Reading →
America’s elected legislators could get a lot done if the political parties just got out of the way. Over the past few decades certain politicians, political parties and independent political groups have planted and nurtured the trees of ideological hatred, and the American public harvests that bitter fruit. This is not doing anyone any good and it is time for it to stop. (more…) Continue Reading →
