Thursday Thoughts

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Hello and welcome! Here are the topics for today’s commentary:

  • Restrict Bathroom Use
  • Half-Staff
  • Biden’s Farewell Address

RESTRICT BATHROOM USE:

It is kind of embarrassing to read about what the MAGAs are doing in the Montana Legislature. The hatred they have towards others is scary. 

The Montana Legislature is living up to the name “Circus” very early in the session. The MAGAs in the State House voted to support HB 121, the bathroom bill, by a 58-42 margin (Second reading). 

The Daily Montanan reports that if passed, the bill would define sex, require public restrooms for males or females, and ensure people use restrooms “designated for their sex” and “external genitalia present at birth.” The Daily Montanan also reported that the bill would cover bathrooms and changing rooms in correctional centers, juvenile detention facilities, local domestic violence programs, public buildings, public schools, and other places.

I don’t know how this will be enforced if it passes. I don’t think it will be constitutional and Montana will again be embarrassed by their backward thinking. 

Just imagine someone monitoring the entrance to the restrooms and looking over everyone who enters to see if they are male or female. Crazy!

You can read coverage about the bill passage HERE, HERE, and HERE. 

HALF-STAFF:  

Former President Jimmy Carter died on December 29, 2024. He was 100 years old. As customary, the current President directs the flag to be flown at half-staff for 30 days from the date of death. President Joe Biden did that HERE. 

It is also the law. 4 USC 7 states:

1. The flag of the United States shall be flown at half-staff on all buildings, grounds, and naval vessels of the Federal Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and its Territories and possessions for the period indicated upon the death of any of the following-designated officials or former officials of the United States:

(a) The President or a former President: for thirty days from the day of death.

The flag shall also be flown at half-staff for such period at all United States embassies, legations, and other facilities abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.

But then President-elect Donald Trump started whining about the flags being at half-staff on his inauguration day. Poor baby. 

I’m sure Jimmy Carter hung on to life so he could mess with Trump. What a whiny little bitch Trump is.  

So now Speaker Mike Johnson has ordered the flags at the capitol to be flown at full-staff on inauguration day, then lowered back down to half-staff the next day. (Source)

Trump does not respect our laws nor does he respect those who have gone before him. Republican leaders like the Speaker are afraid of Trump and will break the law to keep from pissing him off. 

Shame on them. 

BIDEN’S FAREWELL ADDRESS:

President Joe Biden gave his farewell address last night. The speech preempted my Jeopardy viewing so that ticked me off from the beginning. By the way, you can usually find Jeopardy on YouTube if the local channel does not cover it. Just search for “Full Jeopardy Episode Today.” 

You can watch the speech HERE. It starts at 16:20.  

I’m not much for farewell speeches. Biden has had a long career in public service, so I commend him for that. I also commend him for beating Trump and saving the country for four years. 

I am also pissed that he did not step aside and let other candidates fight it out for the Democratic nomination and maybe beat Trump again. Biden and Trump are both too old to be the President.  

In 10 or 20 years what will we remember about the Biden Presidency? Will the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan be a major stain?  

So now we wait for Trump to take over. I can’t wait to see 99-cent eggs and gas under $2 per gallon. Flowers will be blooming. The grass will be greener. Love will take over the country. Money will be growing on trees. 

America will once again be great! 

## END ##

11 thoughts on “Thursday Thoughts”

  1. Is This A money making bill?
    Recently I was called for jury duty by Lewis and Clark County. Potential jurors sat in the courtroom all morning. Little progress was made and finally we were allowed a break. Naturally the bathrooms were in steady use.

    I was at the end of the line for the women’s bathroom and had the bathroom to myself. When I opened the door to leave the toilet stall, I saw a very large man bent over the bathroom sink. He mumbled that he was trying to remove his contact lens without losing it down the drain. He seemed shocked that he had entered the Women’s bathroom by mistake. I left and asked other women to wait before going in. When the man came out, he apologized and said he could hardly see and entered the women’s restroom by mistake.

    If HB 121 had been in effect during this incident, could I and the other women who wanted to use the women’s bathroom in a public building sue Lewis and Clark County? If no one disputed the law and the facts in the case, how much would you expect a court to award me and the other women for a breach in a law adopted as HB 121?

    • It sounds like you might have had a case if the law was in effect. Thanks, JmB

  2. Thank goodness for the Biden presidency. Because of it and its commitment to DEI he damaged his party beyond repair.

    Throw the CA fires into the mix for further confirmation and you’ve created a hole you’ll never crawl out of.

    • The utter shellacking the Republicans took in 2008 with the actual landslide election of Obama, coupled with a 257-178 margin in the House and a 57-41 margin in the Senate, was far far worse than this squeaker in every regard the Republicans won in 2024. Some people back then thought it was all over for them. This latest Republican assumption of power isn’t even as much of a mandate as when Biden was elected.

      There’s zero question Trump will screw things up, at the minimum royally tanking this excellent economy he is inheriting from Biden, and perhaps even endangering the nation existentially, given all the total incompetents he is naming to cabinet level positions coupled with his own lack of intelligence and what looks to be exclusion of anyone with a differing perspective. Then the worm will turn yet again just like after GW Bush and his generation of Republicans also drove the country into the ditch, and after Trump himself drove it into the ditch during his first term.

      As Romeo Void famously sang, “Never Say Never”.

      • The fires? Really, Swede? You know better than to use that stupid talking point. Swede, we both know folks who got burned out around Billings. It’s terrible, and tragic. And unavoidable. If you build in the beautiful coolies, there’s a good chance that some day you’ll get burned out, just like the folks in Emerald Hills found out.

        But the difference is that I never heard anyone trying to place blame and politicize those disasters. It’s eastern Montana, a semi-arid climate in the midst of a drought. And climate change. All we felt was saddened for their terrible loss. I almost built in one of those coolies. It’s some of the prettiest land in Montana. It’s the real old west.

        So, Swede, you can accuse libs of lots of faults, but denigrating folks during a natural disaster is crass for even by MAGA standards. I’ve been in some of those beautiful homes destroyed in Cooley fires, and all I felt was terrible sadness for their loss. I’m sure the fires have been close to your place too. If you got burned out I would never be gleeful. That’s just a cheap shot I would never use.

      • Went thru 2 forest/prairie fires Lar. I was able to mow around and cut back brush which was surrounding buildings.

        In CA/LA you can’t do any preventative clearing. My prep saved all my barns and outbuilding.

      • Glad to hear that, amigo. Help educate other folks. Not everyone is as savvy as you. We’re all in this together. Many people have never lived in fire country. They see just the beauty but not the danger. Better to work for change than curse the darkness.

      • Following story pretty much throws cold water on the righty theory of “if only they had cleared the brush”. Which pretty much anyone could have figured out anyhow given that kind of wind.

        https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/los-angeles-california-wildfires-clearance-b2678877.html

        Not to mention, denude the hills and then it would be mudslides.

        Off topic but I know but the other day I discovered where Tubby Trump picked up that limp sissified tiny fist salute thing he does. Who knew he was a Wendy O. Williams fan?

        https://tinyurl.com/msmbewf2

  3. You’ve heard the phrase “ put on your game face.” I call this photo putting on your hate face. All the MAGAs use it. Severe, twisted, cruel, uncaring, and mean. And it’s repulsive! You eventually get the face you deserve. The inner you becomes the outer you for all the world to see. No hiding it. If this is such a good bill, why isn’t Seekin-Crowe happy? Smiley faced? No pleasure in hurting others I guess.

    Wait ‘til the abortion bills. The christofascists, supposed followers of Christ, reflect something other than divine love of Jesus in their faces.

    https://dailymontanan.com/2025/01/16/dont-be-fooled-the-bathroom-bill-has-nothing-to-do-with-toilets-or-safety/

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