Greetings! Here are the topics for today’s column:
- Primary Election Results
- Mayor Cory Reeves
- Dr. Anthony Fauci
- NBA/NHL Finals
PRIMARY ELECTION RESULTS:
Every Election night I get kind of teary-eyed when the results roll in. Last night was no different. We live in the greatest country on earth and we get a say.
These results are not final, so check the links at the bottom of the section for updated results. These are the results from around 10:30 p.m.
It’s going to be Jon Tester (D) defending his seat against Tim Sheehy (R). If Sheehy thinks the going has been tough so far, it’s going to be 100 times tougher on him and his family during the General election. He will have to answer questions about his lies.
Troy Downing (R) was running away with the Republican nomination in the Eastern Congressional race and he was declared to winner.
John Driscoll (D) was leading the Democratic race in the Eastern Congressional District.
Greg Gianforte (R) and Ryan Busse (D) will face off to be the next Governor of Montana.
In the Great Falls and Cascade County area:
The citizens of Great Falls and of Cascade County basically said “Hell No” to spending $100,000 in the city and $150,000 in the county for a government study commission. We want the city and county to tighten their belts.
In the Cascade County Commission Republican primary race, Eric Hinebauch was leading incumbent Rae Grulkowski 5,877- 4,224.
In the District 13 Republican State Senate primary, Josh Kassmier was leading Lola Sheldon-Galloway 61%-39%.
In the District 20 Republican State House primary, Melissa Nikolakakos was leading Steven Galloway 51%-49%. (25 votes).
If these results hold, it might be a bad night for MAGAs in Cascade County, and that’s alright by me!
Check the Montana SOS page HERE. The Electric in Great Falls has results HERE. WaPo covered the election HERE
MAYOR CORY REEVES:
Great Falls’ new Mayor, Cory Reeves, announced on Facebook that he decided not to issue a proclamation for LGBTQ+ Month. Here is his full statement:
As mayor, I have decided not to issue a proclamation for LGBTQ+ Month. While I firmly believe in equality for all individuals, I also believe that the government should not be involved in matters concerning personal and private relationships, whether they involve straight individuals or members of the LGBTQ+ community. My goal is to ensure that all citizens are treated with equal respect and dignity, without government interference in personal matters. The government should never condemn nor celebrate who should love who; those are personal life choices that the government should not interfere with.
The City of Great Falls website lists the rules for proclamations:
Proclamations are issued at the Mayor’s discretion to honor, celebrate or create awareness of a noteworthy event, milestone, or achievement generally related to a community benefit. Requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis subject to their significance to the city and its residents.
Proclamations are ceremonial and do not carry any legislative or legal value, and are not statements of policy.
So, it is up to Reeves to decide about a proclamation. That’s a funny rule to have on a five-member commission. Maybe they should vote on proclamations.
I think a proclamation recognizing June as Pride Month would be fine. I think Reeves has opened a can of worms with his refusal. I disagree with his decision. Besides, as the website states, “Proclamations are ceremonial and do not carry any legislative or legal value, and are not statements of policy.”
On the other hand, does the new mayor refusing to issue a proclamation show the haters just what type of place Great Falls really is?
I’m sure people will watch the mayor in the future to see what he personally deems as noteworthy, a milestone, or an achievement that will make the grade for his proclamation.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI:
We should all be concerned about how Republican members acted toward Dr. Anthony Fauci during a U.S. House subcommittee hearing about the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the origins of the virus.
Fauci is 83 years old. He served the American public health sector for more than fifty years and has acted as an advisor to every U.S. president since Ronald Reagan. In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States, for his work on the AIDS relief program PEPFAR. (Source)
He and his family suffered greatly from his work during the COVID-19 pandemic. They received many death threats.
Besides Marjorie Taylor Greene going off the deep end and embarrassing herself, several members posted things about Fauci on social media, like Ryan Zinke:
So many schools shut down, elderly forced into isolation, small businesses shuttered, Americans persecuted and prosecuted because Lord Fauci’s 6-foot decree. Strip his pension and send him to prison for his crimes.
Zinke – you are a moron. I have lost all respect for you.
Then there’s Representative Sam Graves of the sixth district in Missouri:
Dr. Fauci lied about mask mandates.
Dr. Fauci lied about sending our tax dollars to Wuhan, China.
Dr. Fauci lied about lockdowns.
Dr. Fauci lied about shutting down schools.
He needs to be held accountable.
Shame on Graves. He has been in Congress since 2001 and accomplished nothing.
The bottom line is that Fauci’s leadership saved lives. Trump and his MAGA followers turned the pandemic into a political issue and that cost thousands of lives.
NBA/NHL FINALS:
The NBA Finals start Thursday night with the Dallas Mavericks visiting the Boston Celtics. The game will be televised on ABC. You can find more information about the NBA Finals HERE.
The Stanley Cup Final will feature the Florida Panthers facing the Edmonton Oilers. The first game is Saturday in Florida. ABC is televising the game. You can find more information about the Stanley Cup Final HERE.
The Western Word 
What a glorious morning in Great Falls we woke up to! The MAGAs took it in the shorts! I’m so glad that I helped by switching ballots. The Gilead Galloways are gone. Grandma can wear he goofy hats for her grandkids now and spare us the spectacle. Rae Rae go by by! Now the county commission can get back to business as usual without the nonsensical interruptions and delays, providing a sense of normalcy that has been sorely lacking. And Rae Rae can return to her normal haunt, conspiracy land. And Miss Kitty Litter received a whopping nine percent of the vote! Her insanity, although entertaining, will not be missed! Excuse me while I gloat. Perhaps the MAGAs need to send lil Ricky to a cheerleader camp this summer to get the MAGAs back on track! And a hearty congratulations to all the non-MAGA winners!
And now, mayor Cory shows his true colors. Funny thing is I’ve always considered the the office of mayor to be strictly ceremonial anyway when we accidentally elect someone totally unqualified for the position. Hard to see how being a cop and best buddy to a constitutionalist sheriff provides the required job skills and experience to run a city. Guess we’re seeing that now! Remember that Jesse was best buddies with world class bigot pastor Jordan Hall, who eventually got run out of Montana. Is Cory channeling the good pastor?
Might be a little too early to gloat as there are still some precincts in Cascade County only partially counted according to SOS website. But I can’t tell what those are and if they would affect the races you mentioned.
However if the current results hold up, GF Commissioner Rick Tryon might actually be proved right about something for a change. A few weeks ago he claimed he felt “a reckoning” coming on. Appears the voters of Cascade County (and Choteau County and maybe others) decided to “reckon” with the most egregious of Tryon’s local fellow running dog far-right fringe extremists by sending them packing and delivering the message, “Enough of the conspiracies, chaotic nonsense, and blatant self-dealing. Let’s get our government bodies back to work on solutions for all the people.” Restores one’s faith in one’s neighbors.
Great point – the “Reckoning!” The sun is shining just a little brighter today. -JmB
Proclamations are an absolute waste of time. No proclamations going forward would be fine. Last month was Asian & Pacific Islanders month. I am surprised Cory made the decision to not issue one. I saw him as a namby pamby kinda guy. Reminds me of Blacks complaining, about February Black History Month – oh sure the shortest month!
I’m all for proclamations recognizing local kids who accomplish something, or local groups that accomplish or do something. They deserve recognition and encouragement.
But now that Reeves has decided he doesn’t want to recognize one group based on their identity, he should make his newly announced principle a hard and fast rule, keep government out of more people’s lives, and issue zero further identity based proclamations.
Unless of course he’s simply picking and choosing what local groups he wants to recognize based on his own personal biases.
Fauci – When Covid was new, no one knew exactly what kind of disease it was. All we knew was it was killing lots of people and the hospitals were overwhelmed. There was no vaccine and no herd immunity. The recommended precautions were prudent to protect lives.
And that’s all they were, recommendations. Any enforcement was at the direction of others. Including Trump. And “crimes”? Recommemding a mask or social distancing is in the criminal.code somewhere? People like Zinke yapping in hindsight just because Covid got Trump beat truly are morons
Reeves – The last sentence of his statement about “personal life choices” gives away the game. Reeves believes LGBTQ is nothing more than a lifestyle “choice”, instead of the way God made these particular childten of His. And, by refusing to issue a proclamation recognizing this particular “personal lifestyle choice”, signals he does not approve of it.
Well, that’s fine Mayor, proclamations are up to you and the choice of which ones to do or not do reflect on your character. But let’s be fair about it going forward, and refuse to do any more proclamations whatsoever based on personal choices people made. Treat all citizens equally, neither condemn nor celebrate their choices, and keep government out of them.