In his 2026 Supplemental Transportation Budget proposal, Washington state Gov. Bob Ferguson wants to borrow $2.1 billion for maintenance and preservation of roads and bridges, and to speed up ferry construction to replace aging ferries. Washington already has the highest per-resident debt in the region, owing approximately $15,400 per capita, making it the 11th highest in the Read More…
2025 was a historic year for Montana. Tim Sheehy, a former Navy Seal, joined me in the U.S. Senate, along with Troy Downing and Ryan Zinke in the U.S. House. Working together, we’ve made major strides advancing Montana priorities, from increasing our energy dominance, protecting our public lands, and supporting farmers, ranchers, veterans, and working Read More…
When the Montana Supreme Court stripped identifying information from more than a thousand convicted sexual and violent offenders, including 90 classified as Tier 3 the highest risk to the public, it didn’t just rewrite our registry laws. It made a conscious decision to protect criminals at the expense of our communities. The court’s ruling in Read More…
“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.” (John Fitzgerald Kennedy) World War I is considered the most important event of the 20th century. Just about everything that occurred worldwide was a result of WWI: The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, World War II, the Holocaust, and the atomic bomb. Read More…
The Washington Post’s recent series on campaign finance, beginning with the frighteningly titled “How billionaires took over American politics,” offers a dramatic narrative about money in politics. Unfortunately, the initial article predictably misunderstands campaign finance law and misrepresents the actual data regarding political spending. As someone who has spent decades studying and implementing campaign finance law, Read More…
A quiet but important shift is taking place in conservative energy policy. Across the center-right, a growing number of U.S. policymakers, business leaders, and investors are returning to classical principles — recognizing that markets, not government intervention, are the best way to secure America’s energy future. That’s what makes Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s lawsuit Read More…
After Democrats got wiped out of every statewide office last year, most Montanans thought things couldn’t get any worse for their political party. Then the 2025 legislative session came and 10 Democratic state senators who will be up for election again voted three times to keep corrupt Republican Senator Jason Ellsworth from being expelled from Read More…
Remember when Americans were told that the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) would lower health care costs and that if you liked your doctor, you could keep her? How things have changed over the past 15 years. Health care costs continue to rise faster than inflation and millions of Americans have discovered that Read More…
Our region boasts three states in the top 10 for having the most competitive tax structure, according to the Tax Foundation. The latest numbers show that Wyoming is the most taxpayer-friendly state, Montana is sixth, and Idaho is ninth. While this is impressive, Washington coming in near last at 45th is cause for concern. The Read More…
The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act – which was sold as temporary help during the challenges of COVID-19 – expanded Affordable Care Act subsidies in a way that reshaped who the program serves and who profits from it. New enrollments were concentrated in states that had previously declined the federal government’s offer to expand Medicaid, fearing Read More…
At the end of the 2025 legislative session, Democrat leaders praised a massive tax-shift bill, which they helped pass despite objections from conservative Republicans. The bill was rushed and broken, but Democrats and a handful of self-identified “Republicans” got it over the finish line at the last minute, ignoring warning after warning from fiscally responsible Read More…
Congress has long recognized that stablecoins should not function as unregulated bank deposits. The intent of the recently enacted GENIUS Act is clear: to prohibit stablecoin issuers from paying interest or yield to holders, maintaining a distinction between payment instruments and bank deposits which are not only used for payment purposes but also as a Read More…
From unleashing the coronavirus, to controlling the social media app TikTok, or evading U.S. sanctions, Beijing has repeatedly attempted to exploit the American people. In recent years, communist leaders have looked to a dangerous new form of leverage against U.S. citizens – gaining control of our domestic agricultural and food supply chains. There is no doubt that Read More…
Montana renters are about to pay the price for one lawmaker’s political gamesmanship. Rep. Llew Jones of Conrad the self-styled architect of Montana’s property tax “reform” is now scrambling to explain how his signature legislation wound up raising taxes on apartment buildings across the state. That mistake, buried deep in hundreds of pages of last-minute Read More…
Hundreds of thousands of college students returned to campus last month. Yet the protests and violence that plagued our universities in the spring have not disappeared. Instead, the fall semester has also started down a dark path: Leading conservative voice Charlie Kirk was murdered in front of 3,000 people at Utah Valley University. In the wake of his assassination, universities have Read More…
Democrats and the self-identified “Republicans” who allied with them to block real property tax relief for Montana families have no shame. Instead of being honest about the tax shift they passed earlier this year, they’re repeating lies in hopes of fooling voters. Thankfully, most Montanans are smart enough to see through their charade. Sen. Josh Read More…
“Dependency on the federal government is nothing to celebrate, it can come at a deep cost to taxpayers and our state’s sovereignty.” I repeat often the mantra that there are no free lunches in government. At the end of the day, all government spending must eventually be paid for by the taxpayer in the form Read More…
The big banks are at it again. They enjoy tremendous market power over American consumers, and between government regulation and the shift to digital payments, it’s nearly impossible to function without a bank account. You can barely pay with cash for much of anything anymore. And checking accounts are notoriously sticky – anyone who has Read More…
As many small businesses struggle to find and retain qualified workers, several states across the country have implemented government-run systems to pay unemployment to individuals who voluntarily walk off the job to go on strike. Unemployment benefits for striking workers create an incentive for employees to abandon their responsibilities without negative consequences like termination or Read More…
In a recent op-ed, Rep. John Fitzpatrick rushed to defend Montana’s broken judicial election system dismissing conservative reforms as “malignant” threats to independence. But let’s cut through the spin: this is just another establishment hack protecting the system that keeps power in the hands of partisan liberals. Ironically, these “malignant” threats were support by Fitzpatrick’s Read More…
Across our region, policymakers have been taking action that significantly moves the economic needle: cutting waste and trimming red tape. It’s a key reason Idaho, Montana and Wyoming regularly show up among the least-regulated states in the country, and is a major draw to families, job creators and taxpayers alike. Washington has made some permitting Read More…
President Trump’s tariffs and hardline trade negotiations are not just political theater; they are the backbone of a bold America First economic strategy. The results speak for themselves: stronger leverage abroad, revitalized U.S. industries, and greater economic security here at home. Critics may complain about short-term price fluctuations, but the numbers prove the policy is Read More…
Everyone over the age of 35 remembers exactly where they were on September 11, 2001. For the past quarter century, every September 11th, Americans pause for a moment and are brought together by our shared suffering and the shock and horror of seeing thousands of our countrymen killed in the blink of an eye. That Read More…
Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) recently released its 2025 Freedom Index Rankings for states. SEL is a global leader in power system protection, automation and control solutions. The SEL report ranks the most economically and politically free states in the nation. It utilizes data from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the Cato Institute, and various government agencies to Read More…
There were 1,152 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 414,854 in the last 365 days. The Unaffordable Care Act: Rate hikes are coming News Provided By The Office of the Montana State Auditor, Commissioner of Securities and Insurance August 11, 2025, 15:32 GMT Share This Article Montanans are about to face Read More…
Montanans have a long and proud tradition of insisting that judges serve the law—not political parties, special interests, or ideological causes. But if we want that system to actually mean something, we need more than rules on paper. We need judicial candidates who are honest with voters—especially about their own political histories. Judge Amy Eddy, Read More…
President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill is a tremendous win for Montana. It will spur economic growth, strengthen border security as well as expand Montana’s energy sector and provide much-needed funding for our military. And thanks to the diligent work of the entire Montana congressional delegation, we defeated attempts to sell our public lands. Nearly every Read More…
America deserves better than the degenerate propaganda machine that passes for “elite” journalism. We deserve better than the evil “cracked out clown show” the Democratic Party has become. The New York Times and The Washington Post all but ignored DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s bombshell press conference Wednesday, at which she announced that she had sent criminal Read More…
A myth is a story that expresses the collective dreamworld of a culture: its fears, its wishes, its self-conception. Some myths refine themselves over generations. Others spring into consciousness in an instant. A bit of story or news captures the imagination so thoroughly that the entire culture suddenly projects its hope or terror onto a Read More…
Europe won’t pay its NATO share, COVID tied to bioweapons work and other commentary Breaking News
Mahmoud Khalil won’t condemn Hamas — but some Democrats are still racing to kiss his ring Breaking News
My fabulous friendship with Imelda Marcos — the first lady of the Philippines Breaking News
Columbia must expel antisemitism Breaking News
Adults need to stop sucking the fun out of Little League Breaking News
Here’s alarming news: AI bots rely heavily on Wikipedia, which feed them a diet of half-truths, ideological bias and leftist lies — and then pass along the propaganda to millions of unsuspecting readers. A new study from Axios reveals that ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude — three of the most popular AI bots — use Read More…
Border Czar Tom Homan threw down a welcome warning to illegal-immigrant thugs — and a lifeline to beleaguered New Yorkers: ICE is coming, and it’s going to “flood the zone.” That’s good news: New York City’s crazy “sanctuary” laws let illegal immigrant criminals hide in plain sight. “Sanctuary cities are now our priority,” Homan announced, after an Read More…
The United States may finally be getting serious about defanging the Muslim Brotherhood. A new bill making its way through Congress, the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025, represents a new chapter in America’s complex history with the oldest and most influential Islamist movement. The bipartisan legislation, led by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Read More…
Columbia University’s long-overdue crackdown on the dozens of students who violently took over Butler Library mark significant if belated steps toward accountability. For nearly two years, these students have occupied campus buildings, spread terrorist propaganda, praised convicted terrorists, posted Nazi-style antisemitic flyers, smashed doors, disrupted classes, harassed Jewish students and openly endorsed “liberation by any Read More…
President Donald Trump has identified a real problem: artificial intelligence systems are exhibiting an undeniable political slant. His administration’s new AI action plan, released Wednesday, promises to eliminate “ideological bias” from American AI. Silicon Valley engineers do lean left, and they’ve built their AI systems to reflect progressive values. The results have been embarrassing for everyone. When Google’s Read More…
The Issue: Hunter Biden’s comments on immigration, his father and other topics during a recent interview. Hunter Biden is a lowlife — everyone knows this (“Joe on Ambien for debate: Hunter,” July 22). Why, then, would any decent interviewer give this person a platform to spit out his vile thoughts? It is dangerous and exceedingly Read More…