First, to better understand the “Tangible Damages” memo our legacy media gatekeepers tried to conceal from the public, check out Western Montana News’ coverage and link to the ACTUAL memo, provided to the public via Matthew Monforton. Thanks Matt!
After reading the insightful analysis I’m more satisfied than ever with my hyper-local political stance because it’s becoming more and more clear to the general public that BOTH parties in Montana feature vile, self-serving grifters who seem to lack consistent principles and/or a guiding moral framework to ground them during these disorienting times.
While I suggest reading the WMN article in full, there are some things that stood out I’d like to highlight, like this excerpt:
The most revealing passages center on the party’s dependence on Montana’s judicial system. One section bluntly states: “A citizens’ initiative to enshrine the nonpartisanship of judicial races in the state Constitution must pass on the next ballot (2026), or Democrats and the left will face an existential threat.”
This admission amounts to a strategic confession. Democrats understand that their electoral path is narrowing amid cultural backlash. Montana’s courts—not the electorate—have become the firewall for policies the party cannot pass through legislation.
The report concedes that this strategy could backfire: “Every time a court rules against these extreme bills, it fuels Montana Republicans’ zealous attacks on the courts, bolstering their claims of judicial politicization.” Yet Democrats double down, asserting that independent judges “uphold Constitutional rights… and ensure the continued nonpartisanship of Montana’s congressional and legislative redistricting process.”
This perspective is one I’ve had to personally endure as a citizen journalist who once had the first amendment protection to write about a Missoula non-profit, that non-profit’s director, and the relationship between this non-profit to the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office and the nationally trending narrative of rampant homelessness, especially in the cities Democrats control.
Not only have I tracked the changing colors of Sheriff chameleons like T.J. McDermott and Jesse Slaughter, who both rebranded as Conservatives once they sensed the political winds shifting, but I’ve highlighted how promotions of people like Jason Johnson to a new statewide Chaplain position is VERY suspect when you know the local terrain like I do.
Since I don’t subscribe to party politics as a hyper-local citizen journalist I am free to criticize Gianforte’s appointment of Aaron Flint’s wife, Jessica, to a position on a board that replaces the ACLU. If Conservatives are happy about this then that’s a good indication they are incapable of taking off their partisan blinders to see how narrative control ACTUALLY FUNCTIONS in Big Sky Country.
A typically quiet legislative panel focused on criminal justice policy continues to serve as the stage for a political turf war.
A considerable Republican lineup — Montana’s entire congressional delegation, along with four statewide elected officials, 40-some legislators and a handful of others — co-signed a letter on Monday supporting Gov. Greg Gianforte’s appointment to the Criminal Justice Oversight Council.
Two weeks ago, Gianforte’s office notified the American Civil Liberties Union of Montana its representative had not been reappointed to the CJOC and was being replaced by a staffer from the Alliance for Defending Freedom, an ideological opposite of the ACLU. ADF is an influential, Christian-conservative advocacy group that’s grown more active in litigation, policymaking and campaigning in recent years.
The move prompted a protest last week by the ACLU’s allies in the criminal justice arena, including the Montana Innocence Project and the Montana Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, as well as other active social justice groups, such as Planned Parenthood Advocates of Montana, Forward Montana and Western Native Voice. The groups’ opposition largely hung on what they called the lack of expertise of the ADF and its appointee, Jessica Flint.
Will Aaron Flint be LESS LIKELY than he already is to criticize the Sheriff/Highway Patrol side of the criminal justice system now that his wife will be getting privileged information from around the state? I think the answer is pretty obvious.
Stupid Democrats and stupid Republicans who don’t give a shit about their constituents should ALL be weary of how fucking sick of this bullshit EVERYONE is getting. Did anyone in Helena this past session do anything substantive to counter the spiraling cost of housing? Because, by 2030, Montana is going to be the MOST UNAFFORDABLE STATE IN AMERICA.
If you think Democrats like Ellie Boldman and Danny Tenenbaum can do productive things with a “Republican” Governor who long ago sold out to a CIA-connected tech company, well, I’m not sure there’s anything I can do to help that very wrong impression put into your brain by propagandists.
Stay tuned for more local coverage from a truly non-partisan perspective as I navigate the restrictions placed upon me by the bathroom judge who I just wrote a very fun song for, one I’d like to share if it wasn’t for my concern that the judiciary, especially in Missoula, have forgotten what the Constitution is supposed to protect.
Thanks for reading!