Caught My Eye…

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Happy Friday! Here are the topics that caught my eye this week:

  • Great Falls Public Schools
  • Cascade County & Syphilis
  • USA Oil Production
  • NASA Tool Bag
  • One More Thing

GREAT FALLS PUBLIC SCHOOLS:

The Electric reported this week that the Great Falls Public Schools board voted unanimously during their March 25 meeting not to pursue a levy and to restructure the district administration, cutting an assistant superintendent position.

I applaud the Great Falls Public Schools board for their work on the budget.

The Great Falls City Commission could learn a thing or two from the Great Falls Public Schools board.

Read the complete report from The Electric HERE.

CASCADE COUNTY & SYPHILIS:

In what is sure to help with the growth of Great Falls and tourism, MTN News reported this week that syphilis, a sexually transmitted infection, has steadily been on the rise around the country, and Montana is no exception. In Cascade County, cases nearly tripled between 2020 and 2023:

  • 2020: 22 cases
  • 2021: 32 cases
  • 2022: 43 cases
  • 2023: 62 cases
  • 2024: 12 cases to date

I guess Cascade County will need more penicillin in the future!

Check out the full report from MTN News HERE.

USA OIL PRODUCTION:

The Telegraph is reporting that the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in January that US domestic production of crude oil for September 2023 set a new all-time high of 13,247,000 barrels per day. That fact probably deserved more notice than it received given that it was the most oil any nation on earth had ever managed to produce in a single month. The high-tech modern US oil and gas industry is completely transformed.
Even more remarkable is the fact that US producers managed to break the record in November, and then exceed the September number again in December, the most current month for which full data is available.

Imagine that, “the most oil any nation on earth had ever managed to produce in a single month” and Joe Biden is the President.

The MAGAs don’t want you to know this…

Read the full report HERE.

NASA TOOL BAG:

It did not make much news when it happened, but a tool bag got loose from an astronaut and is now orbiting the Earth.

USA Today reports:

A bag of tools that drifted away from astronauts on Nov. 1 while on a maintenance spacewalk outside the International Space Station is in a slowing orbit around the Earth – and for now is giving stargazers an extra artificial object to look for in the night sky.
During a spacewalk that lasted six hours and 42 minutes, NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara completed one of the spacewalk’s objectives, replacing a trundle bearing assembly that helps the port solar alpha array to track the Sun and generate electricity for the station.
While performing an ensuing task to stow a communications box, the astronauts determined there wasn’t enough time to finish the task. While assessing the task, the tool bag drifted away and was irretrievable. The tools were not needed for additional work on that spacewalk.

There’s an X account (formerly Twitter) called “ISS Tool Bag” that keeps followers up to date on the tool bag. You can view it HERE.

ONE MORE THING:

As many of us celebrate Easter Sunday, former President Donald Trump has now decided that he can make money selling Bibles.

The Associated Press (AP) reports:

Former President Donald Trump is now selling Bibles as he runs to return to the White House. Trump, who became the presumptive Republican nominee earlier this month, released a video on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday urging his supporters to buy the “God Bless the USA Bible,” which is inspired by country singer Lee Greenwood’s patriotic ballad. Trump takes the stage to the song at each of his rallies and has appeared with Greenwood at events.
“Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless the USA Bible,” Trump wrote, directing his supporters to a website selling the book for $59.99.

The AP also reports:

Billing itself as “the only Bible endorsed by President Trump!” the new venture’s website calls it “Easy-to-read” with “large print” and a “slim design” that “invites you to explore God’s Word anywhere, any time.”
Besides a King James Version translation, it includes copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as a handwritten chorus of the famous Greenwood song.

There’s no word if you can get the Trump Bible and Trump Sneakers together.

Here are some comments HERE and HERE via social media about the Trump Bible. Enjoy!

## HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND ##

13 thoughts on “Caught My Eye…”

  1. This is very scary. Have we reached fascism yet? I was banned from Facebook months ago and never told why. Something about safety. I think it’s because I often quoted Jewish Holocaust survivors who referred to the war in Gaza as a genocide exactly as the Nazis had done to them. I guess this made me a security threat. There’s apparently no way to find out what I did or to protest. Very strange to be considered a security threat when quoting Holocaust survivors. Not even my own words.

    https://www.yahoo.com/news/fbi-agent-says-hassles-people-170134302.html

  2. I guess that for those of us old enough to remember the wanted posters of JFK splattered all over Dallas just prior to his assassination by the general JFK fired, Edwin Walker, who violated the Hatch act, this sort of thing is not humorous or clever at all. And Walker and his John Birch buddy the daddy of the Koch brothers who paid for the posters, should have been arrested. But this is even worse. This is Latin American coup encouragement stuff. The secret service needs to get on top of this and put this crazy man in jail before he can do serious damage to our democracy.

    http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/carl-gibson/109895/this-is-a-felony-experts-call-on-secret-service-to-arrest-trump-over-kidnapped-biden-post

  3. The whole Bible selling deal isn’t anything new … on the non-secular side of things, the Catholics, among others, have been selling Bibles for years. Secular book stores sell Bibles every day … my reaction to Trump selling Bibles would most likely be the same as it would be if Biden suddenly decided to start selling Bibles too.

    I was raised on a farm … leaking cattle trucks on 10th Ave South don’t bother me much.

    Disease won’t ever be a left or a right issue (just like selling Bibles). Lack of good health affects us all at some point and the state statistics on STD’s doesn’t look good … for any of us.

    The last officially compiled statistics for STD’s for the state are from 2022 —

    Given the numbers I would tend to imagine that Great Falls might not be as bad off as one might be led to believe (although any rise in STD’s can be concerning)

    According to the CDC – Rates of P&S syphilis increased in most racial/Hispanic ethnicity groups, with greatest increases among non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native persons who also had the highest P&S syphilis rate in 2022 (67.0 per 100,000).

    The state statistics reveal this as well – Over half of the reported statewide syphilis cases are Native American at 63% with 31% of the cases attributed to Caucasian.

    63% is an alarming number (for those of you who might want to play some sort of political football with the stats, please note that Native Americans overwhelmingly vote Democrat)

    Statewide numbers from 2022-

    Chlamydia 4,071 cases

    Gonorrhea 1,292 cases (11% decrease from the previous year)

    Syphilis (all stages) 603 cases

    Congenital Syphilis 15 cases

    For those of you who might need a refresher, we just came out of a pandemic, with lock downs for all. No other lock downs across the state were worse than the lock downs on the Reservation – These Federally controlled and manipulated people were subject more to the whims of the federal government than they were to the state government. The federal government is obligated by law to provide medical care to American Indians and Alaska Natives — The IHS is chronically underfunded — Even Tribal health clinics on the reservation are struggling, so it comes as no surprise that the statistics are so high for our Native American friends.

    As an aside – If you’ve ever wondered what single payer health insurance might really look like, all you have to do is take a good long look at the IHS.

  4. Commissioner Tryon actually has a very thoughtful editorial for once about the growth policy. I think it’s worth a read, and I think we should stay engaged as he suggests. I would only disagree with one thing he says. He says folks are against growth. I don’t think that’s exactly true. It’s the mindless growth that continues raise our taxes that’s really bothersome. We apparently get to subsidize all these new businesses we don’t even utilize. I mean, how many times a week can we wash our cars while driving between Starbucks for coffee on our way to stay in a fancy new hotel before a trip to a new bank?

    For me, Great Falls has lost a lot of its unique charm and character over the last thirty years in the name of growth. And we nearly killed the city off completely with the idea that the country’s largest slaughter plant would be a great addition. I, too, would have said adios over that one. It was insanity and a Hutterite wet dream! We dodged a bullet but for how long? Until the next get rich scheme comes along?

    And therein lies the problem. A lot of folks making the big development decisions are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. In fact, some are even MAGAs! Too stupid to pour you-know-what out of a boot and too stupid to realize it. And then you’ve got the cheerleaders like Doney who thinks any growth is peachy keen!

    I know there are lots of intelligent people in our community who are familiar with urban planning. I have spoken to them. Now is the time for them to come to the fore before the rah rah MAGA crowd turns our community into a giant crap hole. They know that the most attractive thing about Great Falls is the quality of life here. Junk that up with hundreds of leaking cattle trucks up and down Tenth Ave. daily and it’s game over. 

    Diligence is the name of the game. I too love GF and want to see a sustainable future even though I’m old as dirt and bout ready to be under dirt! Give Rick and the planners an earful. You have just as much right to determine our future as the nutjob MAGAs who would prefer a whacko church on every corner and the closure of our library. GF still stands for Great Falls not Gilead Falls!

    https://ecitybeat.com/do-you-want-great-falls-to-grow/

    • I think that’s the best thing I’ve read that you’ve written. Thumbs up.

      • Thanks. I feel strongly about this issue. Not many places like Great Falls left. No need to turn it into something that we’re not. We know what we have. The world will come to us. No need to advertise for every kook outfit out there to move here.

    • Reading the lengthy Facebook responses to Rick’s article, it’s obvious his followers aren’t going to solve Great Falls’ “growth problems”. Especially Jeremy Trebas and his whining – presumably about the City insisting he adhere to current safety codes.

      I’m mostly happy with this city being pretty much the same as it was when I left after high school. Which was a long time ago, graduating within a yr or so of fellow Bison Tryon. It’s why I moved back here. Was tired of the big city and the crowding. Used to take 1.5 hrs to get to my accountant on freeways and tollways, and I never left civilization. Here I can be out of town (or anywhere) in 15 min, and up to Lincoln or down to Helena or halfway to Billings in that 1.5 hrs.

      Except we had a lot more local businesses back then. And a much more vibrant downtown.

      Could use a few more good restaurants now though (p.s. – NOT Olive Garden dreck). And stores where you can actually find what you went for, before you get PO’ed and go home to order off Amazon like you should have done in the first place and conclude, “screw it, I just won’t bother anymore”.

      • Good information and background. It seems from all the posts that almost every one has an opinion. I don’t see a lot getting done. Thanks, JmB

  5. Not only record oil production, but stock market records too. Not bad.

    The steady rise in Cascade County syphilis cases might explain the rising insanity of the right in this county.

    And last but not least, thanks much for that Instagram video of the woman reading the new Trump bible and turning pages with the tiny hands. LOL! Cracked me up and started my morning out right. With a translation like that, no wonder the thing has a one star rating.

    • Great points about the stock market and Cascade County syphilis cases.
      The lady reading Trump’s Bible is Leah Knauer. She is on instagram and TikTok with some additional Bible readings. Funny lady.
      Thanks, JmB

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