Caught My Eye…

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Quote for the Day…

I’m a pretty nice person, but I also realize that if there was an a-hole championship, I would place respectively in my weight division. – Unknown

CME is the once-a-week column that is posted every Friday morning. This is when I look at some of the stories I did not have time to write about during the week.

Here are some of the things that “Caught My Eye” this week:

  • Vaccine Mandate
  • Great Falls Homeless Issue
  • Jeopardy
  • Reading Assignments

VACCINE MANDATE:

On Wednesday the Associated Press (AP) reported that Montana’s governor and its two Republican members of Congress (Gov. Greg Gianforte, U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale) asked the Biden administration to grant exemptions from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate to federally funded health care facilities where losing unvaccinated staff might jeopardize access to medical care.

Unvaccinated people working in healthcare? No thanks.

I hope the Biden administration responds to the three stooges with, “Hell No!”

Meanwhile, COVID cases are spiking around the state with 2,978 new COVID cases reported in Montana on Thursday, with 18,090 total active cases in the state. (MTN News)

Montana was, once again, listed as one of the least-safest states during COVID-19. Montana was ranked #40. (Source)

In the MTN report, Benefis Health Systems in Great Falls had this to say:

“We are seeing a dramatic increase in hospitalized COVID-19 patients as cases continue to spike around the state. Please remain diligent during this time – wash your hands, wear a mask, and stay home if you are experiencing any symptoms.”

If only Montanans were smart enough to follow that expert advice.

Read the AP report HERE.

Read the MTN News report HERE.

GREAT FALLS HOMELESS ISSUE:

“The Electric” did a report this week about the homeless issue in Great Falls and what the United Methodist Church is trying to do to help with the problem.

The church is close to the downtown area.

“The Electric” reported:

Rev. Jeff Wakeley, pastor at the church, said that his church has always had lunch programs for the homeless but over the last year, he said he’s expanded that to allow them to sleep and gather on the property as long as they don’t drink alcohol.
Over the last year, the number of people on the property has significantly increased, as have concerns from residents and businesses in the area.

I’ve read many of the comments on social media about the issue and on accounts from some locally elected officials. All I can say is we have some cold-hearted bastards in the Great Falls community. I can understand some businesses and homeowners close to the area having concerns, but Rev. Wakeley and his church are doing what they are supposed to do.

Missoula is addressing its homeless problem by creating a sanctioned campsite (Source). That’s a good step.

Great Falls needs strong leadership and compassion to handle this issue. I have not seen that yet from our officials.

Read the full report from “The Electric” by clicking HERE.

JEOPARDY:

I am a big Jeopardy fan. My wife and I watch it every night. We also record it.

Wednesday evening, I was watching the 5:30 news and I received alerts from the Washington Post and NBC News telling me that Amy Schneider’s winning streak on Jeopardy had ended at 40 games.

This was about 20 minutes before it aired in Great Falls. So, I was a little pissed.

I was impressed with Schneider. I was not impressed with some of the commentary on social media about Schneider being transgender.

Here is how the Washington Post described it:

Schneider is transgender, and the most monumental thing to note about this is that it wasn’t treated as monumental. There were no public hissy fits, no tedious pontificating from the Piers Morgans of the world. There was nobody fretting that the children might be seeing this (if your children are watching “Jeopardy!” of their own volition, then congratulations). There was only a middle-aged woman on a middle-aged show, correctly answering clues about the Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl, or the British adventurer Robert Falcon Scott.

Unfortunately, there were a few people making comments who are still living in the 1950s. We are getting better at accepting ALL people, but we still have a long way to go.

Congratulations to Amy Schneider for the great run.

READING ASSIGNMENTS:

Here are some articles to read…

NBC- Justice Stephen Breyer to retire from Supreme Court, paving way for Biden appointment
Breyer is 83. Next is Clarence Thomas who is 73. Samuel Alito is 71. (Source)

White House – President Biden Announces Six New Nominees to Serve as U.S. Attorneys
I thought Biden would nominate Zeno Baucus for Montana…

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##

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12 thoughts on “Caught My Eye…”

  3. Only mildly related to anything in today’s blog, there was some recent good news in Montana’s fight against crime.

    A car was stolen in Butte. Inside the car was some dope and some condoms. The car was soon located at a local car wash, because where else do you go when you steal a car. A woman was arrested. Best of all, “Officers were also able to recover the condoms and the marijuana.”

    https://mtstandard.com/news/local/police-blotter-stolen-vehicle-dui-with-child-in-vehicle-pfma-third-offense-felony-dui/article_2c3dc4e2-3e6d-543d-b8df-62540447feb8.html

  4. Imagine me sitting down with my morning coffee, ready to enjoy the best part of the day, searching for something read, full of anticipation to slowly digest the news at my leisure, and then falling upon the following article. I was horrified. An outta state wacko pastor moves to eastern Montana and starts advocating violence against people we know and respect. Good people. Decent people. Some of the finest our community has to offer. Public officials and the elites of society.

    And if that wasn’t horrific enough, we have our lying, deceitful constitutionalist sheriff joining right in with him to offer his support…….supporting violence against public officials!

    I tried to warn people when Jesse came out of the closet as a constitutionalist sheriff, for I knew what was coming. But it appears to be even worse than I thought. The pastor is preaching pure hate and violence against members of our society. The is no redeeming quality in his message. It is not Christian. It is christofascism. And Jesse is part of his choir.

    It was a huge mistake to elect Slaughter, but we didn’t know he was lying. He wasn’t a democrat. He was in the kook camp all along. We can be forgiven for having been deceived, but we must now vote him out before he destroys our sheriff department. With Jesse as the law, there is no law.

    https://dailymontanan.com/2022/01/27/lobbyist-lawyers-file-for-sanctions-in-suit-involving-sidney-pastor/?fbclid=IwAR0raMY0p4XtRO4UDX42KEXSK8-otggFHEhu1EF2wk5VnGG5yrKtI4yI3cM

    • Larry – I read the article first thing this morning. This type of anti-authority talk and action has got to stop. I’m all for spirited debate, but it must be peaceful.
      One added note – let’s keep the name-calling to a minimum. State your opinion and stop with the silly name calling. It harms your argument. Thanks, JmB

      • Mike, good blog, I agree about the name-calling, but I do not understand which names Larry used.
        Solution ? simple. Put our system to work, DON’T VOTE FOR THESE PEOPLE.

      • John – Thanks. In the last post to answer your question about name-calling:

        -Wacko
        -Lying
        -Deceitful
        -Kook camp
        Other recent posts…
        -Fruit cakes
        I just think it detracts from the argument. Yes, I do some name calling myself, but I run the place!
        Thanks for reading. -JmB

  5. I did not read anything in that Electric story about the homeless issue where commissioner Tryon offered an immediate solution for where he would relocate the homeless people currently camping out on First United property, should the city crack down with their nuisance ordinance like he wants. The longer term ideas he proposes, even shipping containers, are a long way down the road.

    As city manager Doyon was quoted about the usual crackdowns, “The problem does not get solved, it gets moved.” What other downtown neighborhood would Tryon prefer they move to? Perhaps an expansion of the encampment behind the bushes by the tracks north of the Milwaukee depot, so that property can deal with them? Or maybe he favors the same as one of his scholarly crime proposals, a one way bus ticket out of town?

    The First United situation has been simmering since last summer, at least. Why hasn’t Commissioner Tryon got things moving on his shipping container village or other solution long before things reached a boil?

    • Terry – Great points and some pertinent questions that need to be answered. To be fair, the issue precedes the commissioner you mentioned. I just hope someone steps forward to show some leadership and compassion since it has become a bigger problem. Right now on social media Great Falls seems to be full of heartless bastards.
      Thanks, JmB

      • You are correct homelessness has been around Great Falls for a long time. The specific situation at United Methodist has been on the commission’s radar since at least last summer.

        The fundamental issue is summed up in manager Doyon’s statement at the end of the article, “As city manager, I personally do not believe that City of Great Falls (as in the organization) is in a position to purchase, operate, or continually fund a homeless shelter.”

        I don’t know how many times I heard some Crime Task Force member say something similar in the course of the various meetings last year such as, “That’s outside the City’s purview” or “Running a program or facility like that is not the responsibility of the City. We have to find private partners.” or “We can’t ask taxpayers to pay for that.” So why is that? Who has the problems, and who do we expect to address them? No one I know elects outside partners to deal with City issues. We elect and pay a City government.

        This seems to me a similar situation to how hardliners are always clamoring to have every single criminal locked up even for the smallest first offense, but then are first in line howling against the slightest tax increase to pay for more jail space or prison guards. In this case, quite understandably no one wants a homeless encampment in their neighborhood, but City leaders don’t feel the City and its taxpayers are in a position to continually fund a solution. Everyone wants a fix but no one is willing to pay for it. Maybe the problem will magically go away.

      • Terry – I agree. I think it is good that the church may be forcing them to finally address this problem. Thanks, JmB

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