Thursday Thoughts

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Welcome to The Western Word! Here are the topics for today’s independent commentary:

  • Great Falls Public Library
  • Restrooms on Capitol Hill
  • Trump Administration

GREAT FALLS PUBLIC LIBRARY:

Tuesday night the Great Falls City Commission decided to take funding from the Public Library to use for public safety. That was after the voters approved an increase in funding for the library and defeated two requests for a massive increase in funding for public safety. 

The Electric reports that the commissioners voted 4-1 to approve a new five-year agreement that maintains the seven mills for the current budget year, which are already budgeted, and for the next four years reduces that city support to 3.5 mills. 

Tryon voted against it probably because he wanted to take all seven mills from the library. 

The seven mills for the library have been in place since 1993. 

After watching some of the Great Falls City Commission meeting Tuesday night, one thing stood out to me:

City Commissioner Rick Tryon gets his feelings hurt a lot. Behind his tough man from the south side facade, I think he seems to be a candy ass in real life. 

Tryon spent a few minutes toward the end of the meeting saying he received negative emails from the community and was insulted. Poor baby. He also seems to have an issue with highly educated people getting paid a decent salary. Many MAGA supporters have problems with educated people.   

Tryon started this mess when he attempted to pass a massive public safety levy and bond request. They were both overwhelmingly defeated. Before that, residents of Great Falls supported a levy for the Public Library. I supported the library. I did not support the safety levy and bond request. 

Then Tryon brought up the idea of taking seven mills from the Public Library to use for public safety. The problem that the commission did not see is that people voted for the additional mills for the library on top of the seven mills they were already receiving. The library set its budget with the new mills and the seven mills being included. 

On his Facebook page, Tryon put down the people who said they would not vote for a public safety levy if the commission took money from the library. 

I am one of those people. I won’t support any levy for public safety now. I hope you will join me.  

The Library board still has to approve this agreement. I expect they will. They will also have to adjust their budget and cut services and maybe staff. 

Shame on the city commission.

Check out the post from the “What the Funk” blog HERE. 

RESTROOMS ON CAPITOL HILL:

The Associated Press (AP) reported that House Speaker Mike Johnson declared Wednesday that lawmakers and staff will have to use the restroom corresponding with their biological sex, a statement directed at Sarah McBride, the first transgender person to be elected to Congress, months before she is set to arrive on Capitol Hill.

In his statement, Johnson said:

“All single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House Office Buildings — such as restrooms, changing rooms, and locker rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex,” the Louisiana Republican said. “Women deserve women’s only spaces.”

The AP also reported that at least 11 states have adopted laws barring transgender girls and women from girls and women’s bathrooms at public schools and in some cases other government facilities.

Why can’t we just be nice? 

Montana State Representative Zooey Zephyr was in DC and posted the following message on X:

I literally just got out of meetings with members of Congress & used the bathroom on my way out.

Trans women are women—full stop.  We’re every bit as “biologically female” as cis women & @SpeakerJohnson’s statement doesn’t change the fact that women’s spaces include trans women.

Zephyr is the first openly transgender person to be elected to the Montana Legislature. She was attacked by the MAGAs in the legislature for speaking out against anti-LGBT bills. She was reelected and will be serving in the next legislative session. She is regularly attacked on social media for standing up for her beliefs. 

I have much respect for her. 

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION:

President-elect Donald Trump is putting together his team for the next four years and some of his picks are interesting, to say the least.

One person who has not been chosen for a job in the Trump Administration is My Pillow CEO, Mike Lindell.

I’m thinking Lindell could run the Small Business Administration…

God Bless America! 

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11 thoughts on “Thursday Thoughts”

  1. Wow. The looney tunes are in full bloom this year! ‘Course, Lola and Pannucci are right in there with them! You a felon? No problem. They love felons……….and Jesus! Very interesting article, and very scary to know what kind of nuts are out there. Citizen grand juries made up of MAGA nuts out for revenge? What could possibly go wrong?

    https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/county-militias-tactical-civics-grand-jury-government-overreach/article_7bdbd240-09f6-56c4-b29b-355138c68930.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

    • Swede tol a funny. You mean the Dead Horse Pipeline? No one wants it, and no one’s willing to pay for it. But hey, I’m ready for another party at Standing Rock! Nuthin’ better to rejuvenate the enviro movement than a big battle!

    • The same Keystone XL that owner TC Energy said it was abandoning for good in 2021, and has been dismantling and selling off ever since? The same Keystone XL that’s now superfluous to TC Energy since the Canadians finished their own TransMountain Expansion (TMX) pipeline in May of this year and started shipping their oil to California from BC? The same Keystone XL that was never really going to lower US gas prices anyhow because its only purpose was to transport Canadian tar sands oil to the gulf for our refineries and then easy sale and shipment overseas? The Keystone XL that even if the products of its entire throughput was dedicated to the USA which of course it wouldn’t be because it isn’t owned by the USA and oil goes to the highest bidder on the world market, would only increase the US total daily crude supply by 4%? The one a lot of US farmers and ranchers didn’t want on their land?

      Yeah that would be one useful approval. Like approving a buggy whip factory. Have at it.

      Unless maybe Trump has some buddy in mind to whom he wants to sell the license to operate it as a middleman with juicy markups, just like Putin “sells” similar assets to the Russian oligarchs.

  3. Tryon rants and raves Tuesday night about acrimony surrounding the library mils issue, and then on Wednesday posts another acrimonious Facebook entry about the library mils issue. That’s some world class self-awareness right there.

    Ridiculing the Tuesday speakers with the Blazing Saddles analogy and concluding “As if the threat of not voting for a future safety levy is a sane, convincing argument” … Anyone who seriously believes Great Falls does need to eventually pass a safety levy might give that threat some actual thought. Those are voters saying that. Whether or not some low-level local politician thinks it is in their best interest is utterly immaterial.

    The safety levy came up far FAR short of the number of yes voters needed to pass it last time. Further alienating groups of future voters with acrimonious public ridicule on Facebook following a 10 minute public excoriation of opponents in personal terms Tuesday eve doesn’t seem real bright. (A lesson all should have taken away from the election of DJT). Especially considering some people already voted no last time simply because it was “Rick’s baby”.

    Compare and contrast RT’s behavior with Mayor Reeves’ short, rational, and healing statement Tues eve.

    Once again Tryon hurts the City of Great Falls. Should either get out of the way or focus his eyes on the long game and be working to bring as many people on board for a future public safety levy as possible. As opposed to alienating even more with nasty acrimony just to score personal last words points. He was the one who made this specifically a nasty library vs public safety issue, a mess his fellow commissioners had to clean up. Continuing to create even more hard feelings just creates a deeper hole to dig out from when safety levy time comes around again.

    • Good points. I don’t think the media did the Tryon rant Tuesday night justice. It’s much “better” on video and shows a person who is throwing a temper tantrum because he did not get his way. -JmB

  4. If I vote for a safety levy in the future it will be because I feel we need it and not because some badge bunny commissioner wants it.

    • Good idea! I’ve never seen a department head in any part of government not want more funding. I always take that into consideration. -JmB

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