Opinion

Mr. Smith and the Senate filibuster

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One of the great motion pictures of all time was the 1939 Academy Award blockbuster directed by the legendary Frank Capra called Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The movie was based on an unpublished manuscript by Lewis R. Foster with the title, “The Gentleman from Montana.” Columbia pictures offered the leading role to Montana actor Gary Cooper who turned it down, so the Mr. Smith character was accepted by the young up-and-coming actor, Jimmy Stewart.

Passenger rail service is important, but overstated in recent guest opinion

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A guest opinion in the Glendive Ranger Review Dec. 19, 2021 by Jason Stuart, Vice Chairman of the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority (BSPRA) and Executive Director of the Dawson County Economic Development Council (DCEDC) stated, referencing efforts to bring back passenger train service through Glendive: “We firmly believe that we can say without hyperbole that this is the most important economic development effort in Glendive/Dawson County in at least the last 50 years, and the DCEDC is leading in that effort. The restoration of passenger rail service will be a major economic boon to our community, providing increased economic activity for our hotels, retail stores, restaurants and tourism sites. It will help create new opportunities for new businesses to open and flourish. It will create new jobs for ticket agents, baggage handlers, depot staff and other support services. It may even present an opportunity to put the now decommissioned locomotive repair shop back in operation. And it will improve the quality of life for our community, providing our residents with another option for travel that is safe, weatherproof, reliable and affordable.”

No Surprises Act protects families against unexpected medical bills

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A new federal law that AARP advocated for is now in effect that protects consumers against so-called “surprise” medical bills and “balance billing.”

Keep moving, nothing to see here

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No one was shocked recently when the General Accountability Office (GAO) announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had overpaid farmers billions of dollars during the slapdash tariff-mitigation scheme ordered by the Trump White House in 2018 and 2019.

There is power in listening

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You can learn a lot by listening to what someone has to say, especially if you disagree with them. I’m not talking about learning only about what issue they might be talking about, I mean that you can learn a lot about the person you’re listening to, you learn to respect them as a person, and I think it goes the other way, too, that they learn to respect you.

Responsible gun owners need to be heard

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I own a closet full of guns.

Every person deserves to carve out their own destiny

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As an “Alberta clipper” descends today and “whiteouts” are being reported all over the area, one rather wishes a “white out” could descend over all the discussions and issues facing us these days in our country as we step over the threshold into 2022. The Corona virus numbers continue to grow and we are now over 800,000 recorded deaths from the disease. The opioid crisis has receded into the background but is still taking lives in the hundreds of thousands yearly. What saddens is that opioids are pain killers and people who take them are desperate to ease the pain of injury and disease. It is a cruel deception when these people are then destroyed by the very thing they hoped would help them.

Alternatives to bigger jails aren’t a partisan issue

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If you know someone is a Republican or Democrat, then you might assume you know exactly where they stand on whether local jails need to be expanded.

‘You can only postpone reality for so long’

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Despite an honest-to-goodness flood of evidence to the contrary, more than 100 million American adults continue to deny the existence of climate change. That’s roughly one third of the country.

Goodbye 2021’s high profits; hello 2022’s high costs

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It always seems odd to use the final week or two of the current year as a platform to view the coming year. How does looking in the rearview mirror give anyone a clear sense of what’s ahead?

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