Quote for the Day…
Don’t be afraid of being different. Be afraid of being the same as everyone else. – 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
- More Political Hit Pieces
- Montana State Library Commission
- Safest States During COVID-19
REEFER MADNESS:
The Electric reported this week that district court judge David Grubich has ruled that Great Falls’ ordinance prohibiting marijuana businesses within the city limits is invalid. Grubich ruled late in the afternoon on Oct. 11 that the city cannot refuse to process a safety inspection certificate application from Dale and Janelle Yatsko for a marijuana business on the basis of its ordinance prohibiting such businesses in the city.
Whoop! Whoop!
Almost everyone knew what the outcome would be when this issue went to the court – I guess everyone knew except city staff and the city commission.
The Yatskos probably missed a lot of sales due to the ignorance of the city. The city of Great Falls wasted a lot of money.
According to a Facebook post by the City of Great Falls, the court’s ruling will not be appealed by the City.
The City of Great Falls also posted the language for the question about marijuana businesses in Great Falls:
On August 2, 2022, the City Commission passed Resolution 10471, which refers to the voters of the City of Great Falls, the question of whether or not to specifically prohibit all types of commercial marijuana businesses from operating within the City. The question will be placed on the General Election ballot for vote on November 8, 2022.
• A “FOR” vote means the voter wants to prohibit all types of commercial marijuana businesses in city limits.
• An “AGAINST” vote means the voter does not want to prohibit marijuana sales in the city limits.
I do not want to “prohibit” marijuana sales in the city limits, so I will be voting “AGAINST.”
Commercial marijuana businesses should be treated the same way that bars and casinos are treated in the city. When the city leaders and commission realize this, things will be much better.
Read the story from The Electric HERE.
MORE POLITICAL HIT PIECES:
Like I said earlier this week, you can almost set your clocks to it. Days before the absentee ballots hit the mailbox, the political hit pieces from the various groups start arriving.
On Thursday, I received another flier, this time from the Montana Federation of Public Employees promoting Justice Ingrid Gustafson for Montana Supreme Court and calling her opponent, James Brown, a “lobbyist” and saying, “We can’t trust Brown to uphold our Montana Constitution and protect public lands access.”
Click on FRONT and BACK to see the flier.
I plan on voting for Gustafson. We need the Montana Supreme Court to be a check and balance to all the MAGA batshit crazy bills passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature.
MONTANA STATE LIBRARY COMMISSION:
The long state-wide nightmare is over, but the embarrassment will live on for quite some time…
The Daily Montanan reported that the Montana State Library Commission voted 4-2 on Wednesday to adopt a new logo featuring a prism design and colors similar to an earlier rejected proposal that proved controversial to some for resembling the Pride flag.
Conservatives get so worked up over a nothingburger.
Next up, I heard a rumor that the Library Commission will be voting on whether they should look at rainbows or not.
You can check out the design and the article from the Daily Montanan HERE.
SAFEST STATES DURING COVID-19:
I thought Montanans were pretty safe during the Bullock Administration when it came to COVID-19. Of course, we had the MAGA folks complaining about masks, shots, and social distancing.
Then the Gianforte Administration came into power and the MAGA folks took over. We were less safe and the following study from WalletHub reports that Montana came in as the 51st safest state (dead last).
Here is the methodology:
To identify the safest states during the COVID-19 pandemic, WalletHub compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across five key metrics: 1) “Vaccination Rate,” 2) “Positive Testing Rate,” 3) “Hospitalization Rate,” 4) “Death Rate,” and 5) “Level of Community Transmission.”
Check out the complete report from WalletHub HERE.
The Western Word 
Covid death by state per capita. As of October 5, 2022
I know the writers of the study mentioned a variety of criteria but deaths is an important one.
Montana 23rd from highest which is Mississippi.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/
Thanks for the info! – JmB
Good one. I hope the women of money are paying attention.
Oops. Montana. Not money. Thanks correcter thingy.
I’m a little perplexed as to how you can think that the flyer against Brown is a hit piece. If anything, it’s terribly understated. His bio is public record. Everything mentioned in the flyer is verifiable. God help us if the truth ever becomes construed as a hit. God help us if being a lawyer and lobbyist for the worst corporate dark money group attempting to destroy Montana becomes qualifications enough to sit on our Supreme Court. There’s way to much at stake to let the fox in the hen house regardless of how much dark money is backing him.
https://helenair.com/opinion/columnists/erik-thueson-lawyer-to-lawyer—-james-brown-not-qualified/article_20ca20ec-01fe-56a5-bea0-0beebe1341b9.html#tncms-source=signup
Larry – as like the one I posted o. Wednesday it shows a less than flattering photo. The Union used the word “lobbyist”in a negative way. It was a promotional piece for one candidate and an attack on another.
I think the Union failed big time and wasted their money on this. It could have been more pointed. They should look at hiring someone else to do these things – someone who has some guts and fire in their belly. They don’t seem to want to walk up to the line.
Thanks for your comments, JmB
It’s not the fact that he was a lobbyist, it’s who he lobbied for. As I mentioned, you can’t get the whole story on a flyer. But if folks want the extended version of his bio and who he worked for, the Frontline program tells it all. Montana is in the crosshairs of the big money corporate elites. They want it all, and the average Montanan needs to figure that out pretty quickly or it’s all gone.
https://www.pbs.org/video/frontline-big-sky-big-money/
Both sides try to make lobbyist a bad word. I heard a MAGA person attack Racicot for lobbying. He would not have done that if Racicot would be doing ads for Brown. That’s disingenuous. As you have proved, hit pieces are in the eye of the beholder. In this case I support Gustafson, but wanted to point out the hit piece from her supporters. It should have been stronger. – JmB
good blog good work Except your blindness about C.T.E 🙂 : Oh, also the broken record rolls on. Wake up Montanans, Rinky Dinky Lyan Zinke was Trump’s right hand man , and you would vote for him? D.V.F.T.P. (don’t vote for these people)