Quote for the Day…
I was asked in an interview if I could perform under pressure. I said yes, and I do a good version of Bohemian Rhapsody, too. – Unknown
Today’s independent commentary deals with these people/issues:
- Crime Task Force – Sparks Fly
- Peril
- The Western Word Poll
CRIME TASK FORCE – SPARKS FLY:
The Great Falls Tribune headline kind of says it all, “Sparks fly as task force discusses recommendations to City Commission.”
The Tribune noted that the debate heated up as members of the city’s Crime Task Force met Monday night to continue discussion over the draft recommendations that will be forwarded to the City Commission by their Sept. 30 deadline.
Apparently, the “sparks” were between State District Court Judge John Parker and City Commissioner Rick Tryon, according to the Tribune. Parker had some problems with the section on “Consequences,” and that happened to be the section that Tryon authored.
The Tribune reported that Tryon responded to Parker that he resented the “virtue signaling.”
I think my favorite definition of “virtue signaling” comes from the Urban Dictionary, “To take a conspicuous but essentially useless action ostensibly to support a good cause but actually to show off how much more moral you are than everybody else.”
Kind of like forming a crime task force, hey?
The Tribune quoted Tryon: “To merely suggest that we review some city codes to see what we can do is not relegating people to subhuman level,” Tryon said. “We are not going out being racist, as someone suggested in one of the comments I got today.”
The Tribune revealed that none of the public comments in the agenda packet mentioned racism. Interesting.
I think a lot of folks will be glad when September 30 comes, and the task force ends. It’s apparent to me and many others that the task force will recommend an increase in taxes for the residents of Great Falls to stop crime in its tracks!
That’s probably what the plan was from the beginning.
Read the full report from the Tribune HERE.
PERIL:
CNN is reporting that two days after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, President Donald Trump’s top military adviser, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, single-handedly took secret action to limit Trump from potentially ordering a dangerous military strike or launching nuclear weapons, according to “Peril,” a new book by legendary journalist Bob Woodward and veteran Washington Post reporter Robert Costa.
After reading the report from CNN, I am more convinced that Trump is batshit crazy. CNN reported that top officials told the authors that Trump’s outbursts reminded them of “Full Metal Jacket” at times and “Doctor Strangelove” at others.
One other part of the CNN report that is worth mentioning is how Trump tried to convince his Vice President, Mike Pence, to intervene:
When Pence did not budge, Trump turned on him.
“No, no, no!” Trump shouted, according to the authors. “You don’t understand, Mike. You can do this. I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this.”
Trump called Pence again the morning of January 6. “If you don’t do it, I picked the wrong man four years ago,” Trump said, according to the authors. “You’re going to wimp out,” he said, his anger visible to others in the office.
The “I don’t want to be your friend anymore if you don’t do this” sounds like something you would hear on an elementary school playground.
Read the full CNN article HERE. The book will be released on September 21.
THE WESTERN WORD POLL:
Last Thursday, President Joe Biden announced a six-pronged comprehensive national strategy to combat COVID-19.
You can view the President’s plan HERE.
This week’s poll question asks, “Do you agree with the President’s newest plan to combat COVID-19?”
The results will be posted Thursday.
The Western Word 
Under consequences:
3) We recommend that the City Manager task the City Legal Department and City Public Communications office to release the sentencing and prosecution records of local prosecutors and judges on the city’s website, social media, and newsletters starting January 2022 so that the public is fully informed as to how our local criminal justice system is being managed by those with the responsibility of ensuring public safety.
Well, as long as we’re looking for accountability from those responsible as to how our local criminal justice system is being managed by those with the responsibility of ensuring public safety, I came up with a suggestion of my own. As follows:
4) I recommend that since constitutionalist sheriff Jesse is now training up his deputies in the bizarre constitutionalist interpretations of the U.S. Constitution, and then sending them out to local schools to brainwash unwitting school kids, we should use that as an opportunity to educate everyone in the community. Therefore, the deputies should be required to wear body cams and record their “lessons” to the kids to be shown on a website accessible to all the public. What a great way to dispel the notion that some have the the constitutional sheriff organization is a hate group. And Jesse could even appear and explain why he feels Antifa and BLM are terrorist organizations. And then, Jesse could appear monthly before the city commission to update us on any recent terrorist activity from BLM and Antifa, and how he was taking measures to keep our community safe!
Sounds reasonable to me, at least as reasonable as Commissioner Tryon’s recommendations.
(Which ain’t sayin’ much!)
Before the Crime Task Force kicked off Commissioner Tryon made/wrote several public statements that they weren’t setting out to raise taxes. Yet the draft recommendations call for considerable new City headcount, as noted earlier here, and suggested a special levy to pay for them. The Sept 13 session recording has the CTF busy tossing on a good number more new hires as revisions to the draft for good measure. So much for the not raising taxes thing.
They’ve left it as an exercise (and expense) for City staff to figure out how much this is all going to cost.
Manager Doyon has already stated there will have to be a tax increase for next year’s budget because there hasn’t been one for a couple years and the reserve is getting low. Add to that these Tryon’s Task Force Taxes and GF taxpayers could be looking at an ask for a heavy lift in 2022.
One can only look back fondly on a Commission meeting in early 2020 when Tryon’s clique of conservative allies from the audience were going ballistic over the crushing tax burden of a proposal to spend a whopping one time $15,000 on a special climate change mitigation study.
Terry – great information. I remember when conservatives were against tax increases. That does not appear to be the case these days. Thanks, JmB