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

• Reminder – Commission Meeting
• Reeves – No Debate
• Religious Expression
• Missing Congressmen
• One More Thing

REMINDER – COMMISSION MEETING: 

There is a Special City (Great Falls) Commission Meeting (TODAY), Tuesday, July 29, at 5:30 p.m. to discuss fireworks use in Great Falls. You can read the agenda HERE. 

REEVES – NO DEBATE:

The race to become the next mayor of Great Falls is making this summer an interesting time. The race is between the current Mayor, Cory Reeves, and challenger, Jasmine Taylor. The election is in November. 

Reeves announced on his Facebook page that he is “not interested” in debating Taylor.  Reeves writes, “Seems like the losing candidate always wants a debate when they’ve got nothing to lose and I’ve got nothing to prove.” He then says, “To be honest, I’m already tired of this campaign.”

I wonder if Reeves is as tired of the campaign as Great Falls residents are of Reeves and the current city commission, which are raising our taxes and fees almost every month.  

Interestingly, Reeves closes his post with, “Our differences are clear. Just look at her, and look at me, and vote accordingly.”

He might want to explain that last statement.  

The comments from Reeves’ supporters were pretty vile and obscene about Taylor. Apparently, a well-educated female who stands up for what she believes scares the shit out of Reeves and his supporters.

RELIGIOUS EXPRESSION:

The Hill and other sources are reporting that the Trump administration released a memo Monday that aims to protect religious expression among federal workers, outlining that employees can attempt to persuade co-workers about why their religious beliefs are “correct.” 

The Hill further reports: 

The memo also said one or more employees should be allowed to engage in individual or communal religious expressions and that employees can engage in conversations on religious topics “including attempting to persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views, provided that such efforts are not harassing in nature.” Federal workers can also “encourage their coworkers to participate in religious expressions of faith, such as prayer, to the same extent that they would be permitted to encourage coworkers participate in other personal activities,” the memo said.

I think religion is a personal choice, and although I think people should have a relationship with God, opening up the federal workplace in this way is not the answer. 

You can read the complete memorandum HERE. 

COMMENTARY – MISSING CONGRESSMEN:

The commentary from Peter D. Fox that appeared in the Daily Montana is worth a read. The commentary is titled: 

Have you seen him? Montana’s missing Congressmen still ducking us

Fox talks about how our two U.S. Senators and two U.S. Representatives are going into the August recess and are not scheduled to hold any in-person town hall meetings.

He also talks about how he understands the fear apparently being felt by the delegation, even by the three men who are so proud of their warrior status as SEALS and in combat search-and-rescue, and the fourth member who honed his skills with 28 years of private-sector business experience.  But guys – give us a chance, would you? 

He closes his commentary with:

For the sake of our collective civic health in Montana, we cannot go on with the intolerable situation of our congressional representatives stiff-arming our requests to meet face-to-face with them. Somebody must blink – if our four representatives will not change their practices, then it is up to we citizens to make the effort to try to forge a better way forward for all of us.

I think that Montana’s congressional delegation has shown that they are cowards when it comes to town hall meetings. 

You can read the full commentary HERE. 

ONE MORE THING:

Isn’t it weird that Star Trek goes where no one has ever gone before, and they always find someone there? 

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