Here are the topics that caught my eye for Friday:
- State Rep. Zooey Zephyr
- U.S. Senator Jon Tester
- State Senator Jeremy Trebas
- Montana State Fair
- NFL Draft Day #1
- One More Thing
STATE REP. ZOOEY ZEPHYR:
Yesterday I wrote that Montana is home to bigots. That is what most of the world is thinking today (Thursday).
UPDATE: That’s the same today (Friday). The attacks on transgender legislator Zooey Zephyr continue.
Photos of Zephyr sitting on a bench outside the House floor working circulated around the world yesterday and it caused Montana House Speaker Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, to tell her she would need to move. Minority Leader Kim Abbott, D-Helena, came to her rescue and Zephyr stayed on the bench.
Regier has dug himself a hole and he should stop digging. All across the fruited plains, his actions have painted him as a bigot and transphobic.
Then it was reported that the Republicans did something else to silence Zephyr.
The Daily Montanan reported:
“…Republican leadership announced that the committees on which Zephyr serves will no longer be meeting for the remainder of the legislative session.”
According to the Daily Montanan, Zephyr said:
“This is an additional undemocratic step taken by the leadership of the Republican Party for the disenfranchised voters who elected me to represent them in the people’s House.”
There’s a lot of hatred from the Republicans in Montana toward people who do not toe the MAGA line. The classless way they have treated Zephyr is now being noticed around the globe. Shame on the bigots.
The Editorial Board of the Los Angeles Times noticed. You can read their editorial HERE.
Read the complete report from the Daily Montanan HERE.
U.S. SENATOR JON TESTER:
The Republicans in Montana have been clamoring for U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) to chime in on the issue with State Representative Zooey Zephyr because they think if Tester supports the transgender legislator, it will hurt his reelection chances. That’s the only reason why they want to hear from him. It’s politics.
I checked social media this morning and I don’t see any updates where Tester has said anything about Zephyr.
I want to hear from Tester, too. This is a human rights issue and an issue dealing with Democracy. It deals with decency. It deals with his state. If I were advising Tester, I’d tell him to give the strongest possible support for Zephyr and let the chips fall where they may. The bottom line is it’s the right thing to do.
Tester’s silence is telling, and I am disappointed.
STATE SENATOR JEREMY TREBAS:
Over at the blog WTF406.com, they write about Montana State Senator Jeremy Trebas going on an unhinged Twitter rant, using slurs and intentionally misgendering Representative Zooey Zephyr.
On Wednesday I wrote about Trebas and gave my thoughts:
“Then, what is also troubling is we have some Republicans, like State Senator Jeremy Trebas of Great Falls, who have misgendered Zephyr in tweets on purpose. He thinks he is a big shot. Misgendering trans people on purpose is hateful and wrong. I have always felt that Trebas was a piece of shit, but now I am certain.”
WTF406.com took the issue a few steps more:
“After Trebas’ tweets were shared by an NBC reporter, citizens contacted WTF406 to ask if the Great Falls Rescue Mission is aware of Trebas’ online behavior. A look at their website shows Trebas is the Operations Director. We reached out to the Great Falls Rescue Mission.”
You can read the exchange with the Great Falls Rescue Mission HERE.
In short, if the leadership of Great Falls Rescue Mission does not realize they have a problem with their employee, Jeremy Trebas, then they are blind. I think he is tarnishing the image of the rescue mission, which I have supported in the past.
Trebas does not seem to have the loving/caring Christ-like heart that many working at the Rescue Mission have.
I know what I would do if Trebas were my employee.
MONTANA STATE FAIR:
It’s that time of year when people who follow the happenings of the Montana State Fair in Great Falls complain about the night show lineup.
The night show for the 2023 Montana State Fair was released yesterday.
The shows include Chris Janson, Toby Mac, Josh Turner, Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, The Commodores, and AWOLNATION.
I think it’s pretty tough to put together the night shows and I applaud the Montana State Fair staff for the work they put into this part of the fair.
The Montana State Fair is July 28 – August 5, 2023, in Great Falls. More information can be found HERE.
NFL DRAFT DAY #1:
The sad news is I was not selected in the first round of the NFL Draft yesterday and it’s not looking good for the remainder of the draft.
I was thinking it was because I am slow. During the 40-yard dash, they timed me with a calendar.
Nonetheless, Alabama quarterback Bryce Young with the top pick of Thursday night’s NFL draft. He was drafted by the Caroline Panthers. (Source)
Kansas City and the Chiefs put on a great show for the first night of the draft. Applause!
ONE MORE THING:
When you truly don’t care what anyone thinks of you, you have reached a dangerously awesome level of freedom. – Anonymous
The Western Word 
Another O.T:
Last evening GF school board candidate Rodney Meyers came to visit our neighborhood council. Just the usual intro, here’s who I am, here’s what I believe.
Things were going along fine until he said he was in favor of implementing Sen. Daniel Emrich’s “Truth in Science” proposal that stated “Science instruction may not include subject matter that is not scientific fact” and “As used in this section, ‘scientific fact’ means an indisputable and repeatable observation of a natural phenomenon.” In other words, no theories. And presumably nothing about things that can’t be directly observed.
This proposal was opposed by students, science teachers, the Board of Public Education, and others, and in the end didn’t even make it out of the Senate Education and Cultural Resources committee, tabled by unanimous vote.
But Mr. Meyers is apparently not done with it. He specifically mentioned teaching about global warming (presumably the kind caused by humans) as science he would eliminate from our schools. He claimed the constantly growing arctic ice cap proves that wrong. When challenged by a council board member as to where that came from, he answered he could not remember where he read it.
When I was in 8th grade at East Jr High our science teacher brought in a young physics graduate student to teach us about relativity. It was one of the most strange and wonderful things I had learned to that time. But it is only a theory. So it would be off limits. I would hate to think kids today would be banned from learning things like that – or any new ideas in the world of science at all – because of someone’s personal political agenda. So hard pass for me on Mr. Meyers.
Some background stories.
People testify in opposition:
https://dailymontanan.com/2023/02/06/montana-students-teachers-blast-bill-that-would-limit-science-education-to-scientific-fact/
The actual state of Arctic and Antarctic ice according to NASA:
https://earth.gsfc.nasa.gov/cryo/data/current-state-sea-ice-cover
Sen. Emrich’s rejected bill:
https://leg.mt.gov/bills/2023/billhtml/SB0235.htm
Seems like Rodney is in his own world. Thanks for the info. -JmB
There’s a Draft in the air, here, there,everywhere: in Helena too. Have you noticed that sucking -sound? That’s the ratiocinative vacuum between the ears.
Off topic for today but …
The other evening both Matt Rosendale and Ryan Zinke both voted YEA for the Republicans’ deceptively named Limit, Save, Grow act that would cut and cap Federal spending.
Matt Rosendale and Ryan Zinke apparently hate our veterans. According to a V.A. press release, this would mean “81,000 jobs lost in the department’s health services, 30 million fewer outpatient visits for veterans and [a cut of 6,000 VA staff resulting in] an increase of disability backlogs by 134,000 claims, among a range of other concerns.” It would also: Cut Housing for Veterans, Increase Food Insecurity for Veterans, Deprive Veterans of mental health, substance use, and other health services, and Eliminate Job Training and Other Supports to Homeless Veterans.
Disdain for his constituents is par for the course for Rosendale, but the callous lack of concern for the welfare of fellow vets is particularly heinous coming from Zinke who never passes up an opportunity to trumpet his service background.
Summary: https://www.yahoo.com/news/veterans-sound-alarm-mccarthy-budget-220831185.html
Detail: https://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=5874
Good information. Thanks, JmB
An excellent news program on Zooey. The entire rest of the country is now watching closely this disreputable and hateful saga brought on by the MAGAs in our legislature. They well deserve the condemnation they’re receiving, but Montana doesn’t. Hopefully the country will realize that these MAGAs are an aberration and not representative of who we really are.
https://news.yahoo.com/banned-mt-dem-zooey-zephyr-032247137.html
I received this tidbit in my email this morning. “Another action you can take to support Zooey is to contact Humanities Montana, and let them know their Board Member, Jeremy Carl, has been harassing and doxxing Zooey online. He used a popular neo-nazi website to get private info on Zooey which he has now posted on twitter.”
I read a little about this via Twitter. Thanks, JmB
Dear Ruth Johnson,
Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. Humanities Montana strives to select leadership that is representative of the state. In addition, founding legislation mandates that up to twenty-five percent of our members are appointed by the governor. Board members must adhere to a code of conduct and the full board recently passed a statement of commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility. The Humanities Montana board of directors continues to engage with issues of freedom of expression and the commitment to show respect for all peoples, therefore this feedback will be forwarded to the executive committee for further consideration.
Sincerely,
Kim Anderson (she/her)
Interim Executive Director
406-243-4043
kim.anderson@humanitiesmontana.org
http://www.humanitiesmontana.org
Their website says Jeremy is an appointee of the governor. Probably not a damn thing their board can do about it.
Nice pick, Greg.