Thursday Thoughts

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Greetings! Here are the topics for today’s column:

  • MT DOJ Criminal Investigation
  • State House Bill 320
  • Male & Female
  • Job Approval

MT DOJ CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION:

Here we go! According to Lee Newspapers, the Montana Department of Justice is opening a criminal investigation into State Senator Jason Ellsworth, R-Hamilton, after he attempted to use state money to contract a longtime friend, the department announced Wednesday.

Lee Newspapers received a reaction from Ellsworth who said, “I’m confident that the attorney general’s investigation will clear me.”

Stranger things have happened! 

I think it is important to remember that the Montana Department of Justice is run by a Republican and Ellsworth is a Republican. 

One thing that seems to be happening is that many MAGA Republicans have soured on Ellsworth. The state Senate is in disarray with nine Republicans siding with the Democrats to create their little majority. 

STATE HOUSE BILL 320:

I saw that House Bill 320, “Montana’s Academic Prosperity Program for Scholars Act,” in the Montana Legislature failed on 3rd Reading. 

I think that is a good thing. I doubt that the bill is dead, though.

HB 320 is a school choice bill that would use tax credits to fund private education. The Reason Foundation has some information about the bill HERE. 

Many conservatives and MAGAs hate public schools and are always trying to find a way to harm them.  

MALE & FEMALE:

There’s a lot of hate toward LGBTQ people in Montana. It’s embarrassing as well as sad.  

The Daily Montanan reports that Missoula County District Court Judge Leslie Halligan didn’t mince words in her order striking down Senate Bill 458, passed in 2023, which reshaped Montana law to only have two sexes, male and female. In her ruling, released Tuesday, she said that the bill literally erased some Montana residents from existence. In doing so, Halligan said that Senate Bill 458 was facially unconstitutional, and warned that similar attempts to narrowly define sexes based on political ideology, not science, was likely to meet a similar fate.

The plaintiffs were represented by nonprofit law firm Upper Seven Law.

There are other bills in this session of the State Legislature that attack LGBTQ people. They will undoubtedly be found unconstitutional as they should.

JOB APPROVAL:

According to Gallup Polling, less than one month into his second term in office, President Donald Trump’s job approval rating is at 45%, similar to his first post-inauguration reading of 47% in January. Trump’s job approval rating is 15 points below the historical average for all other elected presidents in mid-February since 1953, but it is five points higher than the February reading in his first term. 

Gallup also reported that Americans’ approval of Congress has jumped 12 points since early January, to 29%, which is the highest rating since May 2021. Until now, congressional job approval had not risen above 20% in just over two years.

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