Welcome! Here are the topics for today’s column:
- Significant Conversation
- Cell Phone-Free Schools
- Megyn Kelly’s Tirade
- One More Thing
SIGNIFICANT CONVERSATION:
Great Falls Mayor Cory Reeves offered his comments on Facebook about the “significant conversation surrounding the library management agreement and the 7 mills proposed within that agreement.”
Reeves writes that he is “deeply saddened by the volume and tone of the negative messages I have received. It’s disheartening to witness such hostility before any final decision has even been made.”
Although Reeves contends he is “committed to hearing all perspectives and making decisions that will benefit our community as a whole,” I think a decision has already been made. The city commission needs to jump through a few hoops, listen to a few irate constituents, take a vote, and the seven mills will be taken from the public library. The vote will be 3-2 or 4-1 with the MAGA members sealing the deal.
I hope they enjoy those seven mills because many of the people you need to pass a safety levy won’t vote for it if the commission screws the library.
You can read the Mayor’s comments HERE. Don’t forget to read the comments.
CELL PHONE-FREE SCHOOLS:
Last month Governor Greg Gianforte asked Montana superintendents and school board trustees to adopt policies to limit learning distractions in the classroom and improve student academic performance by establishing “cell phone-free” schools.
In a press release, Gianforte said:
For our Montana students to reach their full, outstanding potential, “we should seek to remove distractions and disruptions in our schools, a place where students should be focused on learning,” Gov. Gianforte wrote in a letter to Montana superintendents and trustees. “Unfortunately, cell phones distract students and disrupt the learning environment, and according to studies, it leads to learning loss and lower grades.”
Gianforte visited the Superior, Montana, school, and here is their plan:
Meeting with Superior School District Superintendent Labbe and teachers, the governor heard of the district’s “cell phone off-and-away policy” originally adopted in 2005 and amended in 2014 to limit student distractions. “We worked with student council over the summer to come up with our plan, not a ban. Students have a choice. They can have it off and away in their locker, off and away in their backpack, or teachers have a cell phone corral,” junior and high school Principal Angie Gray shared about their policy. (Source)
I don’t have children in school anymore, but if I did I would worry about an emergency or something and I would want my child to have a phone handy.
How do you feel about it?
MEGYN KELLY’S TIRADE:
SiriusXM talk show host Megyn Kelly (formerly of Fox and NBC) went off the deep end when she found out that Taylor Swift had endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.
First Kelly was upset with the moderators thinking they were against Trump, then she went off on Swift and later, her boyfriend Travis Kelce.
She said F-you Taylor Swift (only she used the full word). According to Variety:
“I’m allowed to criticize Taylor Swift, and I don’t give a shit who gets upset,” Kelly said on her SiriusXM talk show. “This is disgusting. If she wants to vote Harris-Walz, she can do it all she wants but to say the reason she is doing it is because of Tim Walz’s stance on LGBTQ … F you, Taylor Swift. And F all of the people who want to see these children have body parts chopped off and watch them sterilized under the age of consent and then will ride off to their multi-gazillion dollar mansions, never to think of them again.”
Then she went after Kelce:
“This pair, Taylor and her boyfriend Travis Kelce, are the epitomes of elite snobs,” Kelly added. “They both have gazillions of dollars. She doesn’t care what happens to these kids, just like he doesn’t give a shit what happens to all the young men who take the Pfizer booster he’s been pushing on them.”
The way Donald Trump treated and talked about Kelly in the past, I don’t see how she could support him now.
The ranting Kelly did was comical. She was like an old lady shouting, “Get off my lawn!”
Read the article and watch the video about the rant HERE.
ONE MORE THING:
There’s NFL football tonight. The Bills and Dolphins play on Amazon Prime Video!
## THE END ##
The Western Word 
When I was a kid your parents could call the office if there was an issue at home, or you could go to the office for help or call home. I had a half dozen or so kids working for me and it was hell trying to get them off their cellphones and do their jobs.
I pulled the former Mayor of Superior out from under a tree he fell on one of those large power lines along the highway between Superior ad St. Regis. I never knew wood could transmit electricity until that day. I put my coat under his head when they hauled him to the hospital, found myself alone in the November woods without a ride.
Great story. Thanks! -JmB
Reeves:
Cory telegraphed his position on the library money way early this year when Tryon tried to get the commission to take a vote on “renegotiating” the management agreement with only weeks to go. Corey was all for it.
It will be interesting to see what McKenney and Wolff do ultimately, because at the time Tryon’s motion was voted down in favor of taking more time both of them said something to the effect of “I will always respect the will of the voters”. Said it in public, to us the voters. Respect.
Cell phones:
But but but … what about “parental rights”? This is as terrible as making kids wear masks.
Megyn Kelly:
Phony elite snob feigning homophobic outrage in order to make money off the MAGA crowd.
Gianforte, the guy who built a creation museum and teaches that the earth is four thousand years old. HE’S the guy who’s going to lecture educators on how to run their schools? That’s a joke, right? Next thing you know he’ll ban litter boxes from schools. He’s that kinda guy. MAGA.
I have taught in at least twenty different schools throughout Montana either under contract or as a sub. Every single school had a system in place to deal with cell phones. And every teacher had their own rules for classroom behavior and use. I have NO idea what Mr. Creationism is trying to prove. He’s implying that educators are deficient and need advice from a guy who should never be allowed on a campus because of his bizarre beliefs. Put him in a science classroom and test scores will be in the toilet in no time! All of science is based upon evolution, which GG says doesn’t exist. Brilliant, right? I think he’s been sniffin’ too much kitty litter!
But when I was coaching cross country, I liked the kids having their cell phones with them because they would sometimes get so far strung out you couldn’t see them all. And the girl runners could immediately call for help if they got harassed. It was much easier to supervise the kids.
As I got older, I always ran in the back of the pack and the good runners up front would help supervise. Made things a lot safer. When you’ve got kids strung out on a trail for miles, it’s risky. Lots could go wrong, even a snake bite. Had one of those too one time, but fortunately it bit my girl runner on the cushion of her shoe. She was able to shake the poor rattler off. But ya gotta run somewhere, and trails are safer than crazies in cars!
Gianforte has got to establish top down authoritarian rule over every every aspect of life in Montana if people are doing anything that is not 100% MAGA approved. Some kids still might be watching TikTok during school hours for goodness’ sake! We can’t allow any “personal freedoms” like that!
Breathe your Covid virus in someone else’s face though, hey, go nuts. That’s a “personal freedom” Greg approves of.
And since there’s currently no unconstitutional MAGA legislative bills for him to sign to try and further restrict Montanans’ rights and control their lives this is a good substitute. Keeps him limbered up for when there are, plus gets his name in the news as actually doing something during an election year for an added bonus.
Call the whambulance! Cory is offended by the “tone” of some comments! That’s really rich coming from the guy who singlehandedly cancelled pride month of his own volition with nary a discussion, and then couldn’t understand the outrage. Talk about tone deaf! He’s the last guy who should be in charge of the tone police.
I tried to warn people that electing a cop as mayor was a bad idea, especially a cop was whose mentor was a constitutionalist sheriff, the absolutely wackiest group of law enforcement in the country. They consider themselves to be the ultimate authority regardless of the dictates of democracy. And now it looks like we’ve got ourselves a constitutionalist mayor! A regular Sheriff of Nottingham Falls! We subjects need to watch our tone or he’ll send his boys around. I know first hand. Been visited a couple of times for being a potential terrorist! (Bad tone you know). But I can’t seem to help myself. I still believe in free speech.
Cory needs to understand that the ONLY thing of significance is his adherence to democracy. Period! Ya just can’t charge people with disorderly conduct like you did in your old job if you don’t like their tone! Cops should be made of sterner stuff. Ya really can’t beat folks into submission any more, even with lil Ricky as your backup! If you’re going to wilt like a daisy at the first signs of objection to your nutty proclamations, maybe you should be back on patrol at Gibson Park looking for homeless Haitians cooking up stray geese! That’s something you can handle! And maybe take a few remedial civics classes down at the library!