The Wednesday Read

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Here are a few topics that caught my attention:

  • School Elections
  • Judge rejects Zephyr’s bid
  • 68th Session Ends
  • One More Thing

SCHOOL ELECTIONS:

Around 9:30 last night, I started looking for the school board election results in Great Falls. They were nowhere to be found.

The Electric was all over the story that showed that the newly elected Clerk and Records Sandra Merchant and her crew were not ready for primetime.

The Electric reported:

  • They did not start counting ballots until after 9:00 p.m. They could have been doing that earlier in the day.
  • They did not start setting up the ballot counting machine until after 8:00 p.m.
  • They forgot a key to the machine and that delayed the count.
  • Around 10:40 p.m., the vote tabulating machine appeared to have jammed.
  • Around 12:50 a.m. they started packing up for the night. The count will resume around 10:00 this morning.

Let me play conspiracy theorist for a few minutes:

  • Everyone knows that there’s a push from Merchant and her people to eliminate voting by mail. Maybe this is just a trick to get more people to side with them.
  • Apparently, a few ballots were counted last night. Maybe Merchant’s people do not like the outcome so far and decided to stop the count and do something to throw the election to their candidate.

See how easy it is to let your mind run wild?

I heard that there were some signs out this morning calling for Merchant to resign. That would be the best thing for her and for the circus she has created.

Read the latest from The Electric HERE.

JUDGE REJECTS ZEPHYR BID:

I was not surprised that a local state District Court Judge ruled against Rep. Zooey Zephyr. If she decides to appeal to the state Supreme Court, I think the outcome will be different.

The Associated Press (AP) reported that Rep. Zooey Zephyr, the transgender state lawmaker silenced after telling Republicans they would have blood on their hands for opposing gender-affirming health care for kids, was barred from returning to the Montana House floor in a Tuesday court ruling that came just hours before the Legislature wrapped up its biennial session.

By the way, the state District Court judge is Mike Menahan.

The Montana Legislative session is over, so if Zephyr is planning on coming back next term, it might be a good thing for her to appeal and get this obstacle out of the way.

While this is a blackeye on Montana which is making the state look like it is full of bigots, this article and photo appeared on my Yahoo home page this morning that makes the state look even more hateful:

“A photo of women snickering at trans lawmaker Zooey Zephyr in Montana looks a lot like the photos of white people snickering at Black people in the 1950s”

You can read the article HERE.

68TH SESSION ENDS:

People across Montana are thankful that the 68th Montana Legislative Session ended yesterday. It was a circus, that was mostly screwed up, with plenty of clowns, led by Montana Speaker of the House, Matt Regier.

The session ended and now the lawsuits will begin. The Republican supermajority and the Governor will cost the state millions for passing unconstitutional bills and having them signed into law by the Governor.

I suspect the Democrats will make some gains for the next session. Montana Republicans embarrassed us. Now, people think our beautiful state is full of bigots and transphobic people.

Read the latest report on the session ending from MTN News HERE.

ONE MORE THING:

If Nazis say the same things you say, vote for the same people you vote for, and hate the same people you hate, congratulations, you’re a Nazi.
-@MiddleAgeRiot

## END ##

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12 thoughts on “The Wednesday Read”

  1. I think this is an important article. No one asked for an assault on trans rights. So why did our MAGAs declare war on them and the medical community too? Essentially, it was a war on all of us. When cowards and bigots run the show, cruelty IS the point!

    I doubt this session will be forgotten any time soon. And it shouldn’t be. We must forge a future for our state without the hate if we are to have any kind of future at all. Yes, lots of christofascists have moved in, but I don’t believe that’s who we are. When your entire platform is based on hate, hopefully Montanans will rally and boot the bigots out.

    https://news.yahoo.com/anger-fury-really-transgender-rights-122205100.html

    • “No one asked for an assault on trans rights. So why did our MAGAs declare war on them and the medical community too?”

      There was an interesting opinion piece on that question recently. It made the claim that once SCOTUS decided gay marriage was okay, the far right had to look around for another divisive hate issue to motivate the religious extremists and/or MAGAs to continue sending lots of money. So they made drag queens and transgenders the new hate/culture wars targets.

      • Judging from the news reports, I suspect that some moderate republicans met in secret with their Dem counterparts and agreed to shut this thing down early before the Regier dynasty could do further damage to the MAGA brand. And the state! As power drunk as he and his band were, they could’ve started taking bathroom keys from ALL the Dems! The embarrassment was daily in the national news and still is. They had to stop it!

        Tom Winters has some good comments on this crazy dynasty that’s calling the shots. I found these in another article. They’re worth a read.

        “Yesterday I spoke with Tom Winter, a former member of the Montana House who represented a district near Zooey’s. He told me that One framing left out of the conversation is that silencing Rep Zephyr due to her gender identity isn’t just bullying, it isn’t just cruel, it isn’t just bigotry— its also antidemocratic. With her off the floor— and with the GOP essentially disbanding all committees she sits on— the Montana Republicans are burning the House down with themselves inside. Stopping hearings in those committees means hundreds of thousands of Montanans— Republican and Democratic, straight and LGBTQ, rural and urban— are deprived of a constitutionally-guaranteed voice on these matters. We’re a tiny state, so Montanans have grown accustomed to direct interaction with the legislative process. Cutting them out of it to spite Rep Zephyr angers voters of every persuasion.”

        He added, “Another framing: This has been a debacle for the Montana GOP. Governor Gianforte has essentially disavowed them (and he’s a tech billionaire millienarian Christian for chrissakes) even though they are the same party and share essentials the same goals. The ‘Montana Freedom Caucus’ now realizes they can dictate the entire state government agenda. And on the legislative side, 3-4 families really control the GOP. They have multiple elected in both chambers, etc. One is Speaker Matt Regier’s family. They’ve been behind attempts to steal Native American Reservation lands, take a way a woman’s right to choose, and bully LGBTQ Montanas this session. His dad, his sister, and his mother have all been in office at one time or another. This episode has shown their inability to control the caucus, so I expect more infighting and fracturing after their favored son has so royally f*cked this situation up.”

        I agree.

  2. Re: Cascade County election

    “The resolution board looks at problematic ballots and said they had a number that had been folded incorrectly, or were cut, and wouldn’t go through the count machine so transferred those votes to fresh ballots.”

    What the what? Someone is pulling out ballots and substituting new ones in their place? Who checks to make sure exactly the same ovals are filled that thre original voter chose?

    Because in part some were folded incorrectly and wouldn’t go through the machine? Wow! HOW on earth could that have happened?

    Was bad enough before but now absolutely zero confidence in the integrity of this election.

    Re : Your REO Speedwagon

    In Missoula this coming Sunday. Or if that notice is too short also scheduled in Billings Aug 2.

    https://concertful.com/event/675842
    https://concertful.com/event/654067

    • I am hoping it’s not close so maybe no one will get any crazy fraud ideas. Who knows what happens behind closed doors.
      Thanks for the reminder about REO Speedwagon. I hope to get to see them again! Thanks, JmB

      • The Pachyderm club candidate(s?) will probably receive 3,000 more votes than the total of voters in Great Falls.

    • Maybe it is a stretch regarding the photo, but people are seeing it and the headline all over the world. Makes Montana look bad.
      I am also happy the session is done! Thanks, JmB

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