Hello! Here are the topics for today’s commentary:
- Hate Falls?
- Day of Reckoning
- One More Thing
HATE FALLS?
Yesterday I wrote about Great Falls’ new Mayor, Cory Reeves, announcing on Facebook that he decided not to issue a proclamation for LGBTQ+ (Pride) Month.
I disagree with Reeves’ decision
Tuesday night The Electric reported several community members attended the June 4 City Commission work session to voice their disagreement with Mayor Cory Reeves’ decision not to issue a proclamation for LGBTQ+, or Pride, Month.
The Electric reported that Jasmine Taylor, a local activist, said that in the 1930s and 1940s, Nazis were marking people they considered undesirable, to include a pink triangle identifying men as gay. She said the city commonly provides proclamations in recognition of minority groups and they’re important. The decision to not issue a Pride Month is discriminatory and “this decision is a mistake and is hurtful.”
Another, Isaac Bacon, reportedly said that the point of a proclamation was to draw attention to a person or group of people often marginalized and the LGBTQ+ community was such a group. The neutrality, he said, makes a statement of indifference, or worse, condones discrimination.
It was also reported that Commissioner Rick Tryon said he supported Reeves’ decision not to issue a proclamation and agreed with his reasoning. Surprise!
Tryon said he objected to people speaking during commission meetings and implying that commissioners were dishonorable or leading people to commit suicide, or were homophobic or bigoted. “That is reprehensible,” Tryon said. “Nobody up here is homophobic or wants to see anybody for any reason commit suicide or be hated on anybody in this community.”
I think by Reeves not issuing the simple proclamation he is basically telling the LGBTQ+ community that they do not matter. He can spin it any way he chooses, but that is what I and many others see.
Read the complete report from The Electric HERE.
DAY OF RECKONING:
Some MAGA clowns in Great Falls talk about the day of reckoning. It appears that day came on Election Day, June 4, when several of the right-wing MAGA nuts lost primary elections to more moderate Republicans.
A local Political Action Committee (PAC) put out a list of “Best Conservative Choices for the 2024 Republican Primary” and most of their choices were MAGA folks.
They endorsed Rae Grulkowski for county commissioner, Lola Sheldon-Galloway (SD-13), Steven Galloway (HD-20), James Osterman (HD-21), James Whitaker (HD-22), Peter Anderson (HD-23), and James Bergstrom (HD-78). They all lost.
I know that some Democrats voted on the Republican ballot to help rid the area of MAGAs. I don’t know how many did. Nonetheless, even if the Republicans go on to win in the general election we will have better representation. I do think the Democrats will win a few seats in Cascade County this time around.
ONE MORE THING:
Today is the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
From History.com:
D-Day was the name given to the June 6, 1944, invasion of the beaches at Normandy in northern France by troops from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and other countries during World War II. France at the time was occupied by the armies of Nazi Germany, and the amphibious assault—codenamed Operation Overlord—landed some 156,000 Allied soldiers on the beaches of Normandy by the end of the day.
Despite their success, some 4,000 Allied troops were killed by German soldiers defending the beaches. At the time, the D-Day invasion was the largest naval, air and land operation in history, and within a few days about 326,000 troops, more than 50,000 vehicles and some 100,000 tons of equipment had landed. By August 1944, all of northern France had been liberated, and in spring of 1945 the Allies had defeated the Germans. Historians often refer to D-Day as the beginning of the end of World War II.
God bless the greatest generation! Thank you for your sacrifices.
FYI– One of the greatest books and films about D-Day and the invasion of Normandy was “Band of Brothers.”
The Western Word 
I watched some of Band of Brothers again and a character called Buck reminded me I had an uncle Buck that was a paratrooper with the 101st airborne during the war. He was wounded in Bastogne. I remember he was always bragging and going on about one thing or another but never talked about his service. My dad had five brothers that served but you wouldn’t know it from them. Two of them during the war.
Bill
Great story! The men back then just seemed to be made better. Thanks, JmB
These guys truly were made of different stuff. Fascinating story.
Lynn DeRoche… my neighbor. Not surprised she ran as a republican. I know her as my neighbor. A
One of Montana’s finest Supreme Court Justices, Bill Hunt, stormed the Normandy beaches on D Day. I stood behind him at Steve Ambrose’s Helena D Day book signing years ago. Judge Hunt showed Steve the map he was issued and talked about his landing. I was honored to overhear the conversation and not only count Judge Hunt as a friend but as a hero.
That’s a great story. Thanks for sharing. – JmB
Justice John C. Harrison was also a WWII veteran of the European Theater. I’m not sure if he came in at Normandy but he did talk about being in France and was involved in fierce fighting there. I also believe Justice Frank Haswell was a WWII veteran. It was quite a time for Montana law when those three were serving on the Montana Supreme Court.
We all owe a lot to them.
Amen to that. We owe them much! -JmB
We also owe a lot to our outstanding university professors who also served in WWII. Although I never took a class from Nathan Blumberg, his influence on Montana journalism was legendary. I had many professors just like him. How fortunate we were to have these guys as role models.
https://sfbgarchive.48hills.org/sfbgarchive/2012/02/15/nathaniel-blumberg-1922-2012/
On another note, voters in ultra-conservative NE Montana also may have signaled they have had enough of the special Knudsen brand of nuttiness. His dad Miles Knudsen went down in flames in the HD 29 race, as did his mother Rhonda Knudsen, current house speaker pro tempore, in the SD 15 race. Neither contest even close. Now we just need a lot more Montanans to learn what the folks in the Knudsen ancestral stomping grounds already know.
Wonderful news. Thank you, JmB
Democrats crossing over may have been a factor in close races like Steven Galloway’s loss. But the shellacking voters gave Lola Sheldon-Galloway and Rae Grulkowski can only be seen as a thorough repudiation of these two by both Republican and independent voters too.
And Dems may not even have been all that responsible for Steven Galloway. As mentioned previously, I saw yard signs in the district flipping from “Galloway” to “Melissa” as the primary season went on, Steven himself was notably absent from neighborhood doors (an echo of how he ignored constituents when the legislature was in session) while Ms. Nikolakakos was out and about impressing people with what a nice lady she is even if parts of her message don’t resonate, and there was that state level Republican PAC that pumped in money for the winners and against the losers in both Galloway races.
I also seem to recall a story that claimed George Nikolakakos put his wife up to running against Steven Galloway late in the game in response to Galloway recruiting former rep Whitaker to run against Nikolakakos. If that’s a true story … karma! Gotta love Cascade County politics.
It was a community team effort of reasonable citizens banding together to rid our governments of these three extremists. Though Rae probably feels her vote was rigged.
I saw that many MAGAs were defeated who were running for Precinct person. One notable person who lost was Sandra Merchant. -JmB
Another notable committee person loser was Randy Pinocci. Rejected by the conservative voters of his home town Sun River and environs.
Surprised to see Lynn DeRoche win committee person as a Republican, after so many of the local MAGA nuts had vilified her as a loyal Dem ally of Rina Fontana-Moore. Unless there is another Lynn DeRoche. Or maybe the nuts were wrong.
Can you imagine how conflicted Rick would be if he met a gay cop? I agree that Band of Brothers was great and would add Saving Private Ryan.
Yes, Saving Private Ryan was a great movie, too. The opening scene was intense.
Thanks, JmB
ACCUALLY NO. Why do you think you know what his reaction would be? Just a lame comment & fail at cleverness.
Actually Mr. Kralj is clever, I’m just a smart ass. You should read up on Rick’s comments about the Blue and LGBTQ. I did and made an educated guess.