Welcome! Here are the topics for today’s column:
- Reefer Madness in Great Falls
- Great Falls City Commission Race
- Ghislaine Maxwell
- One More Thing
REEFER MADNESS IN GREAT FALLS:
I saw another drive-by hit piece from the MAGAs in Cascade County. This time, the hit piece is posted at the E-City Beat blog by Philip M. Faccenda.
The post on the blog shows a photo of Great Falls mayoral candidate Jasmine Taylor, “…holding a half-full weed pipe and lighter…”
The horror! The horror!
The blog did correctly point out that recreational marijuana use is legal in Montana.
It passed with about 57% of the vote in the state. Cascade County approved it with about 55% of the vote. By the way, I voted for it.
Faccenda would like the people holding the next candidate forum to ask drug-related questions so they can try to “get” Taylor.
I would like the City Commission to stop raising my taxes, rates, and fees. The current mayor won’t get my vote because he has supported increasing our taxes, rates, and fees on multiple occasions.
Finally, I leave you with this thought: “Five drunk guys will start a fight. Five stoned guys will start a band.”
Party on…
GREAT FALLS CITY COMMISSION RACE:
The Montana Free Press (MTFP has published the first of two articles about the four candidates for the Great Falls City Commission:
On Nov. 4, voters will decide who will fill two open seats on the Great Falls City Commission. Four candidates are running for the positions, and the top two vote recipients will win. Those candidates are Matt Pipinich, Casey Schreiner, Pete Anderson and incumbent Joe McKenney.
Montana Free Press interviewed all four candidates. This week’s newsletter features comments from Pipinich and McKenney. Next week, comments from Schreiner and Anderson will be featured.
You can read the article HERE.
GHISLAINE MAXWELL:
The United States Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Ghislaine Maxwell, the imprisoned former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein. (Source)
The Associated Press reports that she is serving a 20-year prison term, though she was moved from a low-security federal prison in Florida to a minimum-security prison camp in Texas after she was interviewed in July by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.
I believe that she has damaging information on Donald Trump, and I think she will receive a pardon from Trump after the November 2026 election. It could be sooner, but it makes sense to do it after the 2026 midterms. Meanwhile, she can relax in the minimum security prison “camp.”
ONE MORE THING:
Everyone has an annoying friend. If you don’t have one, it’s probably you.
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The Western Word 
I remember about ten years ago Rick talked a lot of smack about Tracy Houck when he ran against her for commissioner. He lost by 7 votes and cried until they did a recount. He lost that by 11 votes. I commented on his blog that he should use that pain and put it in his music, some blues maybe. I also asked if he got heart burn when he would pass a 7/11 store. Anyhow he demanded my full name and googled it. I found out I was a musician in Benoit and he banned me from posting. I checked and I died 5 years later. I’d say Rick has some issues with women.
Incredible! He got pissed at me around the same time over me writing that he should quit complaining about the loss to Houck. -JmB
He has certainly succeeded in almost single-handedly transforming our non-partisan city election into nasty partisan affairs. So there’s an achievement.
Too bad his Crime Task Force achieved nothing. His one original idea. Much like McKenney’s Public Safety initiative.
Though it it kind of hard to achieve much in that vein when the commission simply ignores/buries the recommendations. Or like in the case of commissioner McKenney and the CTF outright refuses to spend the time to consider them.
Tryon posted the same picture on Facebook and gave one of his, “ I don’t give a rats ass but,” speeches. She must have them worried.
Tryon is actually the one who is an embarrassment. He has set the city back a decade as a commissioner. -JmB
That E-City Bleat, never failing to.lower the standards of yellow journalism.
Though, since many City employees are required to regularly pee in the cup, it might be a bad look for a city commission member to openly smoke dope. But no problem, just take the Pete Hegseth pledge not to [name vice here] during the term in office and the MAGAs will swallow that whole.
What the candidate forums really should be asking the candidates, especially the incumbents, is if they will pledge to truly conduct City business in a transparent manner. Because the $2 millon/yr infrastructure subsidy slush fund fee hike was not transparent, with crucial details hid from the public in internal memos that were not posted or discussed publicly.
Or maybe ask them about putting a little thought into when they should recuse themselves from votes. Because if you are for instance a realtor, and something like an infrastructure developer subsidy slush fund comes up that stands to ultimately benefit your business, and the local realtors group knows it will benefit realtors too so has weighed in with “pro” support for the developer subsidy vote, then maybe it is kind of a bad look for you the realtor to be sitting up there on the dais aggressively pushing that subsidy much less voting yea to hit ratepayers with the fees for it.