John McCaslin

2 weeks ago | flatheadbeacon.com | John McCaslin

My neighbor in Bigfork phoned the Social Security Administration last week in hopes of obtaining a tax document for the estate of her late husband, who died in 2024. After being placed on hold for four hours, she finally hung up. Another indicator, or so some believe, that Donald Trump’s covert mission to privatize Social Security is afoot.

4 weeks ago | flatheadbeacon.com | John McCaslin

Oprah Winfrey’s embrace of a new novel about friendship, fate and love almost guarantees an increase in visitors to the Flathead Valley this summer, flocking no less to Woods Bay. Picture girls’ getaway trips and married couples with children in tow, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Margolis family’s musty old house overlooking Flathead Lake, bric-a-brac on every windowsill, an ancient apple orchard, and raspberry bushes that magically replenish every season.

1 month ago | flatheadbeacon.com | John McCaslin

It’s been two years since an embattled western Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke climbed back in the congressional saddle by warning that a “deep state” consisting of entrenched “billionaires” was seeking “to wipe out the American cowboy completely.”Widespread reaction to the congressman’s bemusing floor speech, the Daily Montanan observed at the time, “ranged from mockery to confusion.”Dare I say now that Zinke was on to something.

1 month ago | flatheadbeacon.com | John McCaslin

Man’s affection for dogs was on full display one recent evening as Bigfork bar-goers shifted focus from live-streaming basketball to the “Best in Show” final round of the Westminster Kennel Club. Rather than rooting for NBA favorites like Stephen Curry and LeBron James, the grown men were spontaneously shouting support for endearing canines like “Bourbon” and “Comet” as they competed for the ultimate pooch prize. Which isn’t surprising.

2 months ago | flatheadbeacon.com | John McCaslin

Search in https://flatheadbeacon.com/ Continental Divides Trump's “disloyal” list is growing: the FBI and FEMA; special prosecutors and inspectors general; political rivals and bureaucrats; the news media and clergy By John McCaslin February 12, 2025 Presidential Executive Orders. I never paid them much attention until they were weaponized, sharpened daggers to impale a president’s perceived enemies—from within.