Caught My Eye…

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Quote for the Day…

This week has been longer than my last CVS receipt. – Unknown

Caught My Eye (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:

  • Reefer Madness in Great Falls
  • Bullet-Riddled Books
  • MAGA Threat to Democracy

REEFER MADNESS IN GREAT FALLS:

Tuesday evening, I watched the Great Falls City Commission meeting. That is two hours I won’t get back, but what the hay.

I was interested in what the city would do regarding where marijuana businesses could operate if the voters approve it in November, or if a judge makes the city allow recreational marijuana businesses inside the city limits.

People who support recreational marijuana in Montana have had to jump through several hoops all around the state although the voters approved it 57% – 43%.

Several people spoke during the hearing. Many did not understand what the hearing was about.

The Electric reported that commissioners voted 3-2 to amend the regulations to limit the allowance of marijuana operations in industrial districts.

So, I guess if it all works out, a person can buy a tractor and next door get a bag of pot.

I said long ago that the city should allow recreational marijuana businesses in the same locations they allow casinos and bars. That is fair.

Read the article from The Electric HERE.

BULLET-RIDDLED BOOKS:

Montana was embarrassed again…

The Daily Montanan reported that three library advisors have resigned from the Kalispell library after workers found books shot with what police believe was a .22 caliber rifle in a book donation bin, the library director said this week. The resignations of staff follow other recent high-profile controversies at the library, including one over books with LGBTQ themes, said Ashley Cummins, executive director of the Flathead County ImagineIF Library System.

It seems the incident is being downplayed by some. The Daily Montanan reported that police determined the books likely were used as target practice and then mistakenly donated,

Seriously?

This incident is shameful, but that’s not the first time Montana has been embarrassed by someone shooting something to get their point across.

Back in 2012, a person brought an outhouse to the Montana GOP convention in Missoula, and it was called the “Obama Presidential Library.” The outhouse contained several bullet holes. That was also a classless act.

By the way, “Banned Book Week” is coming up September 18-24. More information can be found HERE.

Read the Daily Montanan story HERE.

MAGA THREAT TO DEMOCRACY:

Reuters reported this week that days after Democratic President Joe Biden gave a fiery speech attacking former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies as an extremist threat, a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Wednesday found a majority of Americans believe Trump’s movement is undermining democracy. Fifty-eight percent of respondents in the two-day poll – including one in four Republicans – said Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement is threatening America’s democratic foundations.

I believe the MAGA folks are undermining democracy right here in Montana. Several elected officials act like mini-Trumps when they give speeches and make posts on social media.

Read the complete article from Reuters HERE.

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##

12 thoughts on “Caught My Eye…”

  1. I missed this one. Looks as if Jesse has appointed himself superintendent of schools too. Apparently there’s nothing he can’t do, except maybe get his safety budget full of Rube Goldberg schemes passed. Scares the hell outta me to think there’s gonna be some random Rambo with a gun hanging around little kids all day in schools. That’s a recipe for disaster.

    https://www.krtv.com/news/montana-and-regional-news/sheriff-slaughter-outlines-plan-for-armed-guards-at-public-schools

    • I think we’ll see more of these “ideas” to get people to vote for the safety levy. -JmB

      • Research on having armed individuals on campus is interesting. I wonder how much research Jesse has done. But here is a good scholarly article. Before we waste money on the random Rambo program, we should know what we’re getting. Is it effective, or could that money be put to better use?

        “ The well-documented weapons effect explains that the presence of a weapon increases aggression.6 Whenever firearms are present, there is room for error, and even highly trained officers get split-second decisions wrong. Prior research suggests that many school shooters are actively suicidal, intending to die in the act, so an armed officer may be an incentive rather than a deterrent.4 The majority of shooters who target schools are students of the school, calling into question the effectiveness of hardened security and active shooter drills. Instead, schools must invest in resources to prevent shootings before they occur.”

        https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2776515

        I wonder if Jesse could provide his scholarly research indicating that his idea is a good one and has merit? And no, no constitutionalist books allowed.

  3. My wife who is also my pusher tells me that the people who frequent our pot dispensary are older like us. I’m willing to pay twelve dollars for a candy bar that I can break off five mg. pieces until I get the dose I want. The people that are serious about getting baked wouldn’t be interested. Rather than pay two to four hundred an ounce for their weed at the business they can get it much cheaper on the street. Much cheaper. Me, I even mix near beer up with my Budweiser.

    • Bill – great info. I had not heard of mixing near beer with real beer. Interesting.
      Thanks, JmB

  4. On my second try at growing pot I wound up with a little over one pound of bud that I figure I spent fifty dollars to grow from four plants.. Most of that was spent purchasing auto-flowering seed. I gave it to a grateful second cousin and he made me some cannabis butter. The price per gram or ounce you pay plus tax makes growing your own a no brainer. I wish the rest of my garden went as well. The stuff grows like a weed. So why make it so difficult and expensive to purchase it at a business?

    • Bill – good points. One of the only reasons I’d buy it from a business is hoping the business would have a better understanding of the potency of what they have for sale.
      Thanks, JmB

    • Our elected officials and senior civil employees want to try to make it expensive and difficult to buy dope because they know better than the voters, and feel it is their job to use their positions of power to thwart the will of the voters. So here in Great Falls, buyers have to drive max 15 minutes to an industrial district instead of maybe 5-10 to a commercial strip like in other Montana cities. That will show those wrong-headed voters! And will discourage oh-so-many!

      Plus, by voting to limit the dispensaries to industrial districts, they can put on a show of mollifying the reefer madness folks who show up to the meetings to tell fantastic off-topic stories and beg commissioners to use their positions to thwart the will of the voters (because their own petition effort to de-legalize failed miserably). “Okay, look here, we’re making buyers drive 15 minutes instead of 10, so that will prevent the massive crime wave, corruption of youth, and epidemic of overdose deaths you keep warning about!”

      And finally, some in our city government were mightily P.O.ed that anyone would dare to legally challenge the city’s “no land uses for things that are illegal under Federal law” statute behind which these officials were smugly hiding to keep dope shops out of city limits. So this relegation to industrial zones is also punishment/retribution.

  5. Even former allies find Trump a threat to democracy. Sometimes hilariously so. Anyone still supporting Trump at this point is a mental defective or a willing dupe, or as Biden has said, a person who rejects democracy for fascism. And then there are those who just flat out approve of criminality as evidenced by their history like a washed up seal on a beach thrashing about. Whatever the case, they do pose a threat because of their attempts to use violence and lies to overthrow the duly elected government.

    https://www.rawstory.com/rick-wilson-trump-lawsuit/?cx_testId=4&cx_testVariant=cx_undefined&cx_artPos=5&cx_experienceId=EXC93HV4HK4I#cxrecs_s

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