The Wednesday Read

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

  • Great Falls Fireworks
  • Montana Public Service Commission
  • WalletHub Reports
  • Israel’s Action in Gaza
  • One More Thing 

GREAT FALLS FIREWORKS:

During a Special City Commission Meeting last night, the Great Falls City Commission voted 3-2 to set a public hearing on Resolution 10596 for August 5, 2025. Resolution 10595 is a Resolution Referring Ordinance 3278, an Ordinance Amending Title 9, Chapter 9, Section 030, of the Official Code of the City of Great Falls to Restrict Permissible Fireworks for Sale and Discharge, to a Vote of the People at an Election to be Held on November 4, 2025. (Source)

I watched the meeting, and it wasn’t particularly exciting. 

MONTANA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION:

It appears that the all-Republican Montana Public Service Commission (PSC) is experiencing some issues. Life is not peaches and cream at the PSC. 

Lee Newspapers is reporting that Montana Public Service Commission President Brad Molnar is under an internal investigation by a hired outside attorney, which he and his attorney claim is an illegal effort to silence and oust him from his position. 

Lee Newspapers also reported that the PSC’s chief legal counsel said the investigation involves “Commissioner Molnar’s interactions with others in the workplace.” 

In grade school, I think this is called “Plays well with others.” 

In my opinion, the Montana PSC is a joke. They are doing little to protect the consumers (that’s us) in Montana. They could get rid of the whole PSC, and Montanans would not notice. 

WALLETHUB REPORTS:

There were two recent reports from WalletHub that I thought were interesting. 

First, with the average American spending nearly $14,600 per year on personal health care, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2025’s Best & Worst States for Health Care.  See how your state ranked HERE. 

Second, with only 11 states currently offering universal pre-K education, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2025’s States with the Best & Worst Early Education Systems. See how your state ranked HERE. Montana was ranked 49, which is terrible. 

ISRAEL’S ACTION IN GAZA: 

I think it’s terrible what Israel is doing to the people, especially the children, in Gaza. The world needs to do something. 

Gallup Polling is reporting:

Americans’ approval of Israel’s military action in Gaza has fallen 10 percentage points since the prior measurement in September, and it is now at 32%, the lowest reading since Gallup first asked the question in November 2023. Disapproval of the military action has now reached 60%.

Gallup is also reporting that fifty-two percent of Americans now view the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, unfavorably, his highest unfavorable rating since 1997. His favorable rating stands at 29%, while 19% of U.S. adults have no opinion of him.

Netanyahu recently said, “There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.” President Donald Trump on Monday said he disagrees with Netanyahu’s claim of no starvation in Gaza, noting the images emerging of emaciated people: “Those children look very hungry.” (Source) 

The good news is that more aid is coming in, but experts say it is not enough. 

The Associated Press reported that the “worst-case scenario of famine is currently playing out in the Gaza Strip,” the leading international authority on food crises said in a new alert Tuesday, predicting “widespread death” without immediate action. The alert, still short of a formal famine declaration, follows an outcry over images of emaciated children in Gaza and reports of dozens of hunger-related deaths after nearly 22 months of war. International pressure led Israel over the weekend to announce measures, including daily humanitarian pauses in fighting in parts of Gaza and airdrops. The U.N. and Palestinians on the ground say little has changed, and desperate crowds continue to overwhelm delivery trucks before they reach their destinations.

ONE MORE THING:

Talking to some people is like folding a fitted sheet…

## THE END ##

2 thoughts on “The Wednesday Read”

  1. Trump must have a pretty incompetent national intelligence crew if he didn’t know people were starving in Gaza before recent photos. Or he just wasn’t listening to them. Or he just didn’t care enough to say anything before now. Not a flattering portrait of the office of the president of the USA.

    • So typical of his past and present behavior.

      He knew about it but did not care before. Now, he must have some new plan to extort something from Netanyahu or pay back to the Saudis or someone else.

      This is part of the problem with serial liars, they either forget or ignore that they are contradicting themselves. Its only the newest scam that they are focused on.

      A further indictment of the mainstream press, they just allow him to go on without any real analysis or pushback. They don’t want to jeapordize their “access” for softball interviews.

      All out of fear of a doddering bully! How far we have fallen!

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