Tuesday’s Quick Hits

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Hello! Here are the topics for today’s independent commentary:

  • Great Falls Library Funding
  • Trump Wins Iowa
  • Political Independents
  • Super Wild Card Weekend
  • One More Thing

GREAT FALLS LIBRARY FUNDING:

I was happy to see that Great Falls City Commissioner Rick Tryon decided not to try to take money (7 mills) from the Great Falls Public Library and use it for public safety. Tryon posted a note on his Facebook page which, in part, says:

Last week I put forward a plan/idea which included allocating 7 mills (about $900,000) for our overwhelmed and understaffed public safety personnel, the totality of which is currently going to the Great Falls Public Library per a 30 year old agreement not voted on by the public and not part of the additional 15 mill levy voted on in June last year.
It is now clear to me that there is not a consensus majority on the Great Falls City Commission to go forward with that idea.

Tryon continued with:

So rather than spending staff and commission time on a public safety funding plan that the majority of my fellow commissioners will not support, I will not be pursuing that initiative. For now.
Adequately funding Great Falls police, fire, and court personnel will remain my top focus as we move into the upcoming City budget process.

I am glad they won’t be taking money from the library, but supporters of the library should be on alert for other attempts.

TRUMP WINS IOWA:

As expected, former President Donald Trump won the Iowa caucuses in a landslide getting about 51% of the vote with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley fighting it out for second. It looks like DeSantis will take second, about 30 points behind Trump.

Vivek Ramaswamy finished fourth. He suspended his campaign last night and endorsed Trump.

The Associated Press called Iowa for Trump at 8:32 p.m. EST — just half an hour after the caucuses began.

On a personal note, I lived and worked in Iowa. I consider it the toilet bowl of America.

Check out the Iowa results HERE. Next up is the New Hampshire primary on January 23.

POLITICAL INDEPENDENTS:

Gallup polling is reporting that political independents continue to constitute the largest political bloc in the U.S., with an average of 43% of U.S. adults identifying this way in 2023, tying the record high from 2014. Independent identification has been 40% or higher each year since 2011, except for the 2016 (39%) and 2020 (39%) presidential election years. Equal 27% shares of U.S. adults identify as Republicans and Democrats, with the Democratic figure marking a new low for that party in Gallup’s trend.

I consider myself a political independent. There are things on both sides of the aisle that I agree and disagree with. The partisanship shown by members of political parties turns my stomach. It’s too bad that Montana makes it almost impossible for independent candidates to run for office, or I…

Read the complete report from Gallup HERE.

SUPER WILD CARD WEEKEND:

The most competitive game over this last weekend was the Rams and Lions. The Detroit Lions beat the Los Angeles Rams 24-23 Sunday to advance. The upset of the weekend was the Dallas Cowboys losing to the Green Bay Packers 48-32.

My Chiefs handled the Dolphins at very cold Arrowhead 26-7.

There are now eight teams left. All of them, except one, will end their season in disappointment.

  • Saturday:
  • The Ravens host the Texans at 2:30 (Mountain time). ESPN/ABC has the game.
  • The 49ers host the Packers at 6:15 (Mountain time). Fox has the game.
  • Sunday:
  • The Lions host the Buccaneers at 1:00 (Mountain time). NBC has the game.
  • The Bills host the Chiefs at 4:30 (Mountain time). CBS has the game.

Check out the schedule HERE.

ONE MORE THING:

As someone on social media said, I guess we can add magnets to the list of things that Donald Trump knows nothing about.”

Somewhere in Iowa at a Trump Rally, Trump talked about magnets. Yes, magnets, He said,

“Think of it, magnets,” Trump said. “Now all I know about magnets is this, give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that’s the end of the magnets.”

You can read the story HERE. Or you can google “Trump + Magnets + Water” for more laughs!

## HAVE A GREAT WEEK ##

8 thoughts on “Tuesday’s Quick Hits”

  1. GF City Commission work session 5:30 this evening features a semi-annual budget review by the finance dept. The presentation slides are online.

    These slides show that the City is expecting ~$1.5M more in tax revenue for fiscal 2023 than 2022, although some is under protest. The slides also show that expenditures are rising faster than revenues. Rather a sticky wicket for the “Government doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem!” conservative crowd on the commission.

    Click to access MEET-Packet-222619d88c5f491388e37de4fa85f863.pdf

  2. Who I hope wins
    Texans (my brother lives in Houston)
    Packers (my high school classmate, Tom Clements is quarterback coach)
    Lions (I saw grown men crying with joy at their play-off win)
    Chiefs (love coach Reid)

  3. The GF city commission’s rejection of Tryon’s library money diversion idea surprises me. I thought it would be a done deal given the new mix of commissioners.

    When I first learned of this I assumed the idea had got shot down at the commission’s private planning retreat out in Belt early last week. But the Electric story says Tryon initiated an email flurry about it later in the week, on a date after that meeting – for whatever reason. So maybe now there’s a City email chain with commissioners on the record for some right wing activist in Tryon’s little circle to FOI and create a public hullabaloo to try and shame/pressure Tryon’s fellow commissioners. Stay tuned, the game may be afoot.

    The rejection may sting a little more than just how butt-hurt Rick comes off in the Facebook post, too. Rick’s one big non tax increase policy idea of his previous four years, somehow earmarking part of the general fund (dope tax money) for one department already funded by the general fund (police), also went down in flames. Not to mention senior guy on this new commission and passed over yet again as mayor pro tem.

  4. Good blog. I too worked in Iowa{ Clinton, Ottumwa} for years. Iowa is still better than 99% of the other countries in the world. Name calling is never illuminating. Except for Trump 🙂

    • You’re right about name calling. I shouldn’t put down Iowa, but I was bullied pretty badly as a new kid in the state, so it’s kind of cathartic for me to slam Iowa when I can. Thanks, JmB

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