Former BIA officer taken into custody after changing plea for raping Northern Cheyenne teen.

By DARRELL EHRLICK | Editor-in-Chief

Folks: In the Thursday edition of the Treasure State Update, we featured Doug James’ column. Due to a technical error, the column didn’t publish until later in the day. The link in the previous newsletter should work. However, we’re also including mention of it in today’s newsletter, too.

And, most importantly, Happy Friday (you made it)! ~Darrell Ehrlick, editor.

Among all the news from Montana and beyond, two recent lawsuits have halted logging projects by federal courts. The first is a United States Forest Service project near Whitefish, which federal magistrate Kathleen DeSoto said didn’t properly consider what the project would do to lynx habitat, especially when considering a large logging project that was adjacent to it.

In a different case, DeSoto also found that while the U.S. Forest Service considered many things about the “Golden Butterfly” project in the Sapphire Mountains, that it has not considered grizzly bear habitat, especially important because officials with the Bitterroot National Forest have recently discovered that grizzlies may be back in the area.

President Donald J. Trump announces that United States Attorney General Pam Bondi has been sacked. Some have been speculating that she was on the proverbial hot seat for not pursuing criminal investigations against those whom Trump had targeted. Trump’s former personal defense attorney Todd Blanche is the acting U.S. Attorney General.

On Wednesday night, President Donald Trump addressed the nation about the five-week war in Iran, saying that we were drawing to a close, without specific goals or stated plans. He also said that the federal government cannot afford to fund healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare or childcare. Gas prices continue to rise and the stock market slumped, officially entering “correction territory.”

On the one-year anniversary of Trump announcing sweeping tariffs, many of which were knocked down by courts, including the United States Supreme Court, the president announced new tariffs on steel, aluminum and pharmaceutical drugs, including a 100% tariff on those companies that haven’t complied with his orders to lower drug prices.

Despite Congressional gridlock about funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which continues as part of a federal government shutdown, President Donald Trump said that he’s prepared to pay workers, especially those who work as officers in airports for the Transportation Safety Administration.

Columnist George Ochenski wonders why Montana residents will have to worry about paying for childcare or healthcare, and he’s not quite sure how the state will foot that bill. During his speech to the nation, President Donald Trump said it should be up to the states to figure out how to pay for those things because Trump insisted the priority for funding must be going to the military to fund the war in Iran.

Columnist Doug James said that even though Sen. Steve Daines is retiring, that it’s unlikely he’ll stay out of Montana politics. He said that Daines has been a master of misdirection by saying one thing and then voting against it.

Andy Borowitz is a former editor of The New Yorker. He had a popular column that was written satirically and very much tongue-in-cheek. While I often admire the dedication to the witty, snarky challenge of satire, I have to confess: I find it’s hit and miss. However, in the wake of the firing of Attorney General Pam Bondi, Borowitz posted a satirical piece about her departure that captures the language of official-sounding corporate press releases that are so good at tamping down controversy, even covering it with a rosy patina. Here’s an excerpt:

WASHINGTON—Pam Bondi will leave her post as US Attorney General, effective immediately, in order to spend more time redacting documents with her family, Bondi said on Thursday.

“There’s no better way to bond with your kids than sitting around the kitchen table, blacking out billionaires’ names with Sharpies,” she said. “I’m sure they’ll do a better job than that moron Kash.”

She said that her demanding job as attorney general kept her from “doing the things I love at home, like accusing my neighbors of mortgage fraud.”

In addition to reconnecting with her family, Bondi said that she hopes to pursue her “lifelong dream” of going to law school.

For today, we turn “The Hook” over to one of our longtime friends and eDJ, Denise Boggs — who has a short message for us.

OK Denise, over to you:

“From America’s music laureate, Jackson Browne. Written about Iraq, this song applies to Iran. The more things change the more they stay the same.”

The Drums of War
by Jackson Browne

Roll out the drums, roll out the drums
Roll out the drums of war
Roll out, roll out, roll out the drums
Roll out the drums of war


Roll out the drums of war
Roll up the cover of the killing floor
Roll out the drums of war
And let's speak of things worth fighting for

[Chorus]
Roll out the drums of war (Roll out the drums of war)
Roll out the drums of war (Roll out the drums of war)
But time comes when everything you ever thought you knew
Comes crashing down and flames rise up in front of you

Roll out the drums, roll out the drums
Roll out the drums of war
Roll out, roll out, roll out the drums
Roll out the drums of war


Roll out the drums of war
Roll back the freedoms that we struggled for
What were those freedoms for?
Let’s not talk about it anymore.

If you have a song that you’d like to share, or would like to get in touch with us, please send us a note at [email protected]

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