Tag: montana

Kentucky, Montana, Idaho Among States Looking to Ban mRNA Vaccines

As calls to ban mRNA shots intensify worldwide, a growing number of U.S. states and communities are eyeing laws to prohibit or pause their use.

A bill introduced Tuesday in the Kentucky House of Representatives would ban until July 1, 2035, the administration of “any human gene therapy product for any infectious disease indication, regardless of whether the administration is termed an immunization, vaccine, or any other term.”

Lawmakers in Idaho and Montana recently introduced similar bills. Legislative initiatives are in the planning stages or have been passed at the county level in at least four other states, including Iowa, South Carolina, Texas and Washington.

“A critical mass will soon be reached, forcing the federal government to follow suit,” said epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher of the McCullough Foundation.

Dr. Kat Lindley, president of the Global Health Project and director of the International Fellowship Program for the Independent Medical Alliance (IMA), said such initiatives are “important in sending the message” to public health agencies “that states recognize the damage mRNA shots have done to U.S. citizens.”

Hulscher said the McCullough Foundation “will be actively engaged in legislative efforts to ban mRNA injections” in several states.

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Montana GOP Senator’s Bill Would Require People To Register And Pay A $200 Annual Fee To Use Recreational Marijuana

Marijuana reform advocates are sounding the alarm after a Montana GOP senator filed a bill that would require adult-use cannabis consumers to register and pay a $200 annual fee to participate in the legal program that voters approved in 2020.

Sen. Greg Hertz (R) introduced the legislation, SB 255, last week. It would create a registration system similar to what’s in place for medical cannabis in many states—except that this would be for adults in a recreational market, with a significantly higher annual fee.

Adults would need to pay the $200 fee to obtain a cannabis card from the state Cannabis Control Division (CCD). Participants would need to pay that fee each year for renewal under the proposal.

Upon applying for the card, there would be a 60-day period where adults could access marijuana from licensed retailers. But if they don’t pay the fee by the end of that window, the division “shall cancel the temporary marijuana identification card.”

“This is an outrageous attempt to gut the will of the people and re-criminalize cannabis for most Montanans. Voters legalized cannabis for all adults 21 and older,” Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), told Marijuana Moment on Thursday.

“No other adult-use state forces cannabis consumers to enroll in a state registry, and the people’s initiative explicitly prohibits this surveillance and government overreach,” she said. “Re-criminalizing cannabis for anyone who does not pay $200 per year to register with the state is an affront to Montana voters who made their voices clear when they passed Initiative I-190.”

The text of the bill states that a “marijuana cardholder shall keep the individual’s marijuana identification card in the individual’s immediate possession at all times. The marijuana identification card and a valid photo identification must be displayed on demand of a law enforcement officer, justice of the peace, or city or municipal judge.”

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Montana’s Porn Age Verification Law Is Headed to Court

It seems that a puritanical wave is sweeping the country as state governments increasingly try to make it more difficult to access pornography from within their borders. A lawsuit is challenging one of those laws, and this week, a federal judge allowed it to continue.

Montana is one of multiple states in recent years to pass a law requiring pornographic websites to verify users’ ages. Under Senate Bill 544, any website that “knowingly and intentionally publishes or distributes material harmful to minors” must “perform reasonable age verification methods to verify the age of individuals attempting to access the material,” so long as the site in question “contains a substantial portion of the material.”

The statute defines “material harmful to minors” as, essentially, the depiction of any sexual acts, covering everything from straightforward pornography all the way up to and including “bestiality.” It further notes that “reasonable age verification methods” can take the form of “a digitized identification card” or some other system that either checks a user’s “government-issued identification” or otherwise “relies on public or private transactional data.”

While perhaps well-intended, the law is a civil liberties nightmare: First of all, as a general rule, pornography is free speech protected by the First Amendment. And as Elizabeth Nolan Brown wrote in the April 2024 issue of Reason, the sort of age verification law that some states now favor “creates a record, permanently attaching real identities to online activity that many people would prefer stay private,” and “even the best verification methods would leave people vulnerable to hackers and snoops.”

The law also stipulates that it applies when the material in question constitutes “more than 33 1/3% of total material on a website,” meaning a site could be forced to enact an onerous age-verification scheme even if well over half of its hosted content does not meet the state’s definition of disallowed material. One imagines that porn sites could simply load up their servers with enough inoffensive content to stay on the right side of that ratio, but instead, sites like Pornhub have simply blocked access in Montana, as they have in many other states that have passed these laws.

In May 2024, a group of organizations and individuals led by the Free Speech Coalition filed a federal lawsuit seeking an injunction against the enforcement of the law. Per the lawsuit, S.B. 544 “operates as a presumptively-unconstitutional prior restraint on speech” since it requires “the use of some particularized approval method as a condition to providing protected expression.”

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Montana Dem Operative Caught Tampering With Ballot Box

Video obtained by Fox News shows a Democrat operative tampering with an election ballot drop box in Montana, appearing to try tearing the box off the wall.

The operative, Laszlo Gendler, has been paid by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), according to OpenSecrets.org, as Montana Talks reported. The DSCC is attempting to help incumbent Democrat Senator Jon Tester against GOP senatorial candidate Tim Sheehy.

Richie Melby, the Communications Director for Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen, told Montana Talks, “The Glacier County election administrator contacted our office expressing serious concern over surveillance footage that appeared to show an individual ‘tampering’ with a ballot box. Our Elections Director contacted the election administrator, who confirmed that the individual in the footage is Laszlo Gendler. The name of the suspect and details were turned over to Glacier County law enforcement. Our Elections Director was pleased that the individual was not able to remove the ballot box from the wall, although the activity was obviously highly suspicious and concerning.”

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Federal Court Blocks Title IX Expansion to Include Gender Identity in Texas and Montana

A district judge has granted Texas and Montana’s request for a preliminary injunction against the federal government’s attempt “to impose a sweeping new social policy” that allows for Title IX coverage for gender identity.

The ruling follows others in which federal judges have brought Title IX revisions to a halt.

In this most recent decision, Texas District Judge Jeremy Kernodle ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) can’t force state health care providers to fund gender-affirming care by threatening them with the loss of federal funding.

In May 2024, HHS issued a press release on its Final Rule, which expanded the definition of Title IX protections in 2016 to include “discrimination based on the basis of gender identity” to fit in with Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Title IX was initially established in 1972 to protect women from discrimination in public education.

“When Congress enacted the ACA in 2010, no agency—or court—had ever interpreted ‘on the basis of sex’ to mean ‘on the basis of gender identity,’” Judge Kernodle wrote. “But in 2016, HHS began to do so, issuing a rule purporting to implement Section 1557 and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of ‘gender identity.’”

Texas and Montana, two states that exclude gender-affirming care procedures from their Medicaid programs and prohibit doctors from performing them on minors, sued HHS, arguing that the federal health department has no authority to mandate that the states adhere to these revisions.

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Cigar-Shaped Glowing UFO Captured on Military-Grade Night Vision in Montana; What Does This Mean for UFO Research?

A military-grade night vision video from Montana recently caught a bright, glowing UFO in the shape of a “cigar.” This has sparked a lot of interest in the field of UFO study.

The Intriguing Sighting in the Skies

In June, a person in Montana saw a slow-moving, silent object. It looked like a blur to the naked eye but was clearer through a night vision camera.

The defense contractor SiOnyx made the camera, which showed a long cylinder-shaped light moving across the starry sky before going behind a mountain range. Even though incident occurred near Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, the video contained no commercial air movement sounds.

Alejandro Rojas, an assistant to Enigma Labs, said that the object looked a lot like Starlink satellites but was seen as a single, solid object. The video was sent to Enigma Labs for further research.

They keep a complete UAP database. Rojas talked about how important these videos are for helping people and scientists understand UFO sightings.

Historical Background and Technological Insights

This sighting could not have been possible without the SiOnyx night vision camera. People using SiOnyx’s consumer models have said they have problems with high light contrast, which can make lit things look like one solid mass. This could explain why the UFO looked like a glowing sphere instead of clear lights.

As early as the late 1800s, people have seen UFOs that look like cigars. These things, often called “airships,” have been a common theme in UFO stories for a long time. In 1977, 15 Broad Haven, Wales, students said they saw a silver plane resembling a cigar. Researchers are still interested in and confused by these sightings.

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Montana parents who lost custody of daughter after opposing gender transition claim 14-year-old was taken without warrant

A Montana couple who claim they lost custody of their daughter after opposing a gender transition now allege the 14-year-old was taken from them by the state’s child protective services without a warrant, according to a new lawsuit.

The teen’s father, Todd Kolstad, and stepmother, Krista, slapped the agency with a federal suit earlier this week, claiming that social workers allegedly took their child without due process by not having a judge sign off on the warrant, the Daily Montanan reported.

The couple also allege their religious freedoms were ignored and their civil rights violated when CPS opted to put the teen in a psychiatric facility in Wyoming instead of Montana — and then banned them from communicating with the child.

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Montana Man Pleads Guilty to Creating Massive Franken-Sheep With Cloned Animal Parts

An 80-year-old man in Montana pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felony wildlife crimes involving his plan to let paying customers hunt sheep on private ranches. But these weren’t just any old sheep. They were “massive hybrid sheep” created by illegally importing animal parts from central Asia, cloning the sheep, and then breeding an enormous hybrid species.

Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 80, owns and operates the 215-acre “alternative livestock” ranch in Vaughn, Montana where he started this operation in 2013, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice. Alternative livestock includes hybrids of mountain sheep, mountain goats, and other large mammals which are often used for trophy hunting by wealthy people.

An unnamed accomplice of Schubart kicked off the decade-long scheme by illegally bringing biological tissue from a Marco Polo sheep, the largest sheep in the world, from Kyrgyzstan into the U.S. in 2013, according to prosecutors.

How big are these sheep? An average male can weigh over 300 pounds with horns over 5 feet wide, giving them the largest sheep horns on the planet. The sheep are endangered and protected by both international treaties and U.S. law. Montana also forbids the import of these foreign sheep or their parts in an effort to protect local American sheep from disease.

Once Schubart had smuggled his sheep parts into the U.S., he sent them to an unnamed lab which created 165 cloned embryos, according to the DOJ.

“Schubarth then implanted the embryos in ewes on his ranch, resulting in a single, pure genetic male Marco Polo argali that he named ‘Montana Mountain King’ or MMK,” federal authorities wrote in a press release.

By the time Schubart had his Montana Mountain King he used the cloned sheep’s semen to artificially impregnate female sheep, creating hybrid animals. The goal, as the DOJ explains it, was to create these massive new sheep that could then be used for sports hunting on large ranches. Schubart also forged veterinarian inspection certificates to transport the new hybrid sheep under false pretenses, and sometimes even sold semen from his Montana Mountain King to other breeders in the U.S.

Schubart sent 15 artificially inseminated sheep to Minnesota in 2018 and sold 37 straws of Montana Mountain King’s semen to someone in Texas, according to an indictment filed last month. Schubart also offered to sell an offspring of the Montana Mountain King, dubbed the Montana Black Magic, to someone in Texas for $10,000.

Discussions between Schubart and an unnamed person apparently included what to call this new breed of sheep they were creating. The other person said another co-conspirator had suggested the name “Black Argali,” though noting “we can’t,” presumably because it would give away the fact that these sheep were descended from the argali species.

Schubart pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act, and conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act, which makes it a crime to acquire, transport or sell wildlife in contravention of federal law.

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Montana State Attorney Moves to Drop Case Against Kolstad Family Amidst Public Outcry and Media Storm

The Valley County Attorney, Dylan Jensen, filed a motion on February 16th to dismiss the contentious case involving the state of Montana and the Kolstad family. The legal maneuver comes after weeks of intense media scrutiny and public pressure, with the state now seeking to terminate its involvement in the family dispute.

The case, which has captured national attention, centers around the Kolstad family’s disagreement with the state’s handling of their daughter’s gender identity and associated mental health issues. The state previously sent the daughter to Canada to live with her mother as a punitive measure against the father, Todd Kolstad, for a separate civil lawsuit.

For context, The Gateway Pundit previously reported that their daughter was transported to Wyoming, a state with different laws regarding the medical transition of minors, by the Montana CPS for treatment of her sudden onset “gender dysphoria,” despite the parents’ express disapproval.

In August 2023, police informed the Kolstads of a text message from their daughter claiming she was suicidal. They were notified by police that their daughter had allegedly ingested drain cleaner and taken an overdose of ibuprofen.

The hospital found no evidence of drain cleaner and ibuprofen, which was later confirmed by a negative toxicology report. Despite this, Jennifer was admitted for observation.

A hospital aide discussed “top surgery” (elective double mastectomy) with the girl, leading to a complaint from Krista Kolstad.

Following her transport to Wyoming, the Kolstad’s daughter was subjected to social transition measures like chest binding and is now under consultation for birth control to halt her menses, actions that align with a model criticized as a fast track from social to medical transition.

The Montana Child and Family Services (CFS) petitioned the court to fully revoke their custody of Jennifer and arrange for her transfer to her biological mother in Canada, who has been an absent parent for the past seven years.

On January 19, 2024, a judge completely revoked the Kolstads’ custody rights for refusing to support their child’s transition, further instructing them to remove an online video detailing their plight.

Todd and Krista are now under a gag order with the threat of contempt of court for even speaking.

The Kolstad defied the court order, reposted the video, and communicated with the media, driven by worries about their family’s situation. Although a contempt of court hearing was scheduled for January 29, the Kolstads requested a postponement so they could travel out of state and care for a gravely sick relative in Ohio, according to Reduxx.

The attorney for the Kolstad family submitted a legal filing to the Montana Supreme Court to remove the gag order placed on them and to avoid their detention.

While the Kolstads are presently in Ohio tending to an ill relative, they have been informed that they face arrest upon their return to Montana, seemingly as retribution for their public criticism of the state’s Child and Family Services Division.

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Kolstad Family Faces Imminent Arrest Amid Legal Battle After Losing Custody of Daughter in Gender Transition Dispute

Krista and Todd Kolstad have been informed that they will be arrested upon returning to Montana, the family’s spokesperson told The Gateway Pundit.

This news comes amidst allegations that Governor Greg Gianforte (R-MO) is orchestrating a smear campaign against the family, accusing them of being unfit parents after they refused to send their 14-year-old daughter out of state for mental health care.

The Kolstad family has been in the spotlight after their daughter, Jennifer, who now wished to be called “Leo” and use male pronouns, was taken into state custody.

The Gateway Pundit previously reported that their daughter was transported to Wyoming, a state with different laws regarding the medical transition of minors, by the Montana CPS for treatment of her sudden onset “gender dysphoria,” despite the parents’ express disapproval.

In August 2023, police informed the Kolstads of a text message from their daughter claiming she was suicidal. They were notified by police that their daughter had allegedly ingested drain cleaner and taken an overdose of ibuprofen.

The hospital found no evidence of drain cleaner and ibuprofen, which was later confirmed by a negative toxicology report. Despite this, Jennifer was admitted for observation.

“The hospital continued to call our daughter Leo, even though she’s a minor, and after I stated it’s against our wishes, our religion, and our core family values, the hospital told me to call their lawyer if I have an issue, as they will do what the patient tells them,” Krista Koldstad said in a video.

“I said to them, according to State Bill 99, they may not under the law provide transgender care nor transition our child. Their response was, they are not providing surgery or hormones, so they’re operating in the gray area of the law. I further explained that my understanding of the law was a minor is a minor, and there’s no difference between a four-year-old and a 14-year-old, and we prefer to be called by her birth name,” she added.

A hospital aide discussed “top surgery” (elective double mastectomy) with the girl, leading to a complaint from Krista Kolstad.

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