Welcome! Here are the topics for Tuesday’s Quick Hits:

• Cascade County Detention Center
• Radio Station Journalism
• Trump & Rob Reiner
• One More Thing

CASCADE COUNTY DETENTION CENTER:

The Montana Free Press (MTFP) is reporting that at least three inmates at the Cascade County Detention Center tested positive for hepatitis C for the first time after they were served food contaminated with a kitchen worker’s blood in September, according to a lawsuit.

MTFP also reports that the case, filed earlier this month by 27 inmates, claims that employees of the jail’s food service vendor told kitchen staff not to dispose of the contaminated food and that inmates could “scoop around” the blood. The lawsuit names the food service vendor, Summit Correctional Services, and five unnamed employees as defendants.

Another interesting item reported by MTFP is that Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter stated he had no further comment due to the pending lawsuit. Neither Cascade County nor the sheriff’s office is a defendant in the lawsuit. Slaughter did say that Summit is still the jail’s food service vendor.

I am shocked that they still have the same vendor. 

The “no further comment” was interesting, as the Sheriff normally goes on Facebook Live to get information out and control the message. 

RADIO STATION JOURNALISM:

A few days ago, I happened to see a post on the personal Facebook page of Great Falls City Commissioner Rick Tryon complaining about a media group and their coverage of news. 

Tryon said:

Looking at a local radio station’s ‘news’ posts recently, I was reminded of something I said awhile back about the same ‘media group’:

“I guess they think that the successful strategy for broadcast and print online media is to produce lots of irrelevant, flashy, mostly trashy, often ill informed and poorly written clickbait pieces to entice the gullible.

I have a strategy too: unfollow, block, delete.”

A reminder – local disc jockeys aren’t journalists.

And when they think they’re being clever and edgy by splurting out their biased opinions under the guise of GF ‘news items’ on social media under radio station logos/banners, and trying, unsuccessfully, to palm it off as relevant and informed, they fail miserably and do more harm than good for their brand, advertisers, and listeners.

I figured the news being posted was not MAGA-approved. 

Then, Great Falls Mayor Cory Reeves made some comments from his Facebook page account, named “Mayor Cory Reeves,” saying:

Townsquare Media is fake news, plain and simple. They can “report” all they want, but they’re completely irrelevant as a trustworthy news source. It’s actually hilarious watching radio station DJs suddenly pretend they’re journalists. They crank out click-bait articles that are not only lazy, but continually false, which only hurts our community.

If they want to play pretend in their little echo chamber, fine. But the rest of us know better. I suggest anyone find more factual articles by reputable journalists!

A little later, Reeves said, “Most of the articles in TownSqare [sic] media are trash.”

I’m sure that Tryon and Reeves would like to see an all-MAGA lineup in all the media in and around Great Falls. These two people are elected officials, and even though they are commenting on personal pages, I don’t think their comments are good for the community, nor are they good for attracting new businesses. 

TRUMP & ROB REINER:

Actor, director, and producer Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, were found murdered on Sunday in their California home. Their son, Nick Reiner, has been arrested for the murders. 

Condolences came in from all over. 

President Donald Trump had to make it about himself by saying the following in a social media post:

A very sad thing happened last night in Hollywood. Rob Reiner, a tortured and struggling, but once very talented movie director and comedy star, has passed away, together with his wife, Michele, reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, sometimes referred to as TDS. He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump, with his obvious paranoia reaching new heights as the Trump Administration surpassed all goals and expectations of greatness, and with the Golden Age of America upon us, perhaps like never before. May Rob and Michele rest in peace! 

Several people made comments on the post disagreeing with Trump:

• As a MAGA I have tried my best to support you every step of the way but not this time.  EVERY human.  I repeat EVERY human deserves respect during something like this.  I am ashamed that you posted that. You must humble yourself and ask for forgiveness in what was a very HUGE lapse in judgement.

• Terrible response to this tragedy.  Unbecoming of the Office of the President.  I voted for you three times but this is beyond the pale.

• Mr. President, the man and his wife were brutally murdered.  If you cannot say something nice about them, it is best to just not say anything, at all.

I agree with each of these responses. Our president is despicable. 

ONE MORE THING:

According to several reports, including People, the popular diner chain “Denny’s” has launched a new product called “Sticky Kicks” — syrup-filled sneakers — for National Syrup Day on Dec. 17. 

The high-top sneakers, designed by shoe artist Mache, contain real syrup “for real drip fans,” per an announcement from the brand. You should not open the sneakers and eat the syrup, Denny’s says. They retail for $195

Check out the sneakers HERE. 

Is this a great country or what?

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