Montana

Totalitarian madness is beginning to infect rural Montana • Daily Montanan

Published

2 years ago

March 9, 2024

Totalitarian madness is beginning to infect rural Montana • Daily Montanan

Psychic Totalitarian Madness Infects Rural Montana

The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast
The slowest now will later be fast
As the present now will later be past
The order is rapidly fadin’
And the first one now will later be last
‘Cause the times, they are a-changin’. – Bob Dylan

On Jan. 30, the Gallatin County Commission met in Bozeman, and approved an 8,000-square-foot indoor commercial tennis facility over the objections of long-time rural resident-taxpayers.

Our rural quality of life and mule deer winter range were “thrown under the bus” for yuppie colonial settlers who want an indoor commercial tennis facility in a rural, agricultural district — vital mule deer winter range.

In an instant uncertainty and anxiety replaced a decades-long, relatively stable, relationship between the county commission and resident-taxpayers living on the west bench of the Bridger Mountain Range.

I am ashamed of our county government and their bullying tactics, apparently aimed at deregulation, social destabilization and seizure of rural land for the exclusive private benefit of Bozeman’s expanding ruling elite.

“New variant” totalitarianism is pathologized, weaponized and masked to conceal its true political essence. To exist, it must not appear as authoritarian. It simulates beneficence responding to a legitimate “growth crisis” or “homeless crisis,” any “emergency” capable of driving anxious commoners into a frantic state of order-following panic.

Self-righteous “new variants,” for example, our commissioners, constantly remind themselves and each other that they’re the true “defenders of democracy” as they drive us like livestock down the commercial path to colonial conquest.

On Feb. 1, 1996, the Gallatin County Commission approved the Middle Cottonwood Zoning District and Regulation but insisted that our zoning regulation include a section providing for “Conditional Use Permits,” which was defined as follows: “…specific uses, other than those specifically permitted in each District or Zone, which may be appropriate under certain safeguards or conditions.”

The Zoning District was formed to stop the rapid expansion of residential subdivisions. Huge tracts of farmland were being converted into hundreds of “McMansions” on 1-acre lots.

Since 1996, commissioners generally honored and respected the values, intent and purposes of our zoning regulation. The plan was to 1) limit density to preserve wildlife habitat and prevent overcrowding; 2) ensure adequate water quality and quantity; and 3) preserve agricultural lands — all key constituent elements one associates with a quiet, slow-paced rural environment.

Mule deer winter range is explicitly featured and protected with a density limit of 40 acres per parcel of record on Febr. 1, 1994.

One commercial exemption just cancelled out 28 years of trust and mutual respect by seriously undercutting the regulatory mechanisms in place to protect agricultural land, mule deer winter range and the rural atmosphere.

CUPs, unavoidably, cause problems. They appear on the surface like other zoning mechanisms, such as special exemptions and variances. However, CUPs function and operate differently.

Their primary purpose is to provide flexibility. True, flexibility can provide public benefits (schools, churches, etc.), but flexibility also hands great power and discretion to county commissioners to grant or deny undesirable/unwanted land uses. County government has been asleep at the wheel, operating with no wildlife standards, “moving fast and break things” and maximizing tax revenue at the expense of rural resident-taxpayers and wildlife.

Commissioners are signaling their hegemonic goals to the masses by doubling down on discretionary power, which threatens wildlife, rural residents and their land.

Rural residents want recognition, greater respect, and the bad attitude to cease.

Steve Kelly is an artist, gardener and environmental activist who lives in Bozeman, Montana.

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Montana

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Published

4 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Apparent AI Glitch in Filing by Montana Public Defender, Recent Congressional Candidate

Everyone makes mistakes, even experienced professionals; a good reminder for the rest of us to learn from those mistakes. The motion in State v. Stroup starts off well in its initial pages (no case law hallucinations), but is then followed by several pages of two other motions, which I don’t think the lawyer was planning to file, and which appear to have been AI-generated: It begins with the “Below is concise motion language you can drop into …” language quoted above.

Griffen Smith (Missoulian) reported on the story, and included the prosecutor’s motion to strike that filing, on the grounds that it violates a local rule (3(G)) requiring disclosure of the use of generative AI:

The document does not include a generative artificial intelligence disclosure as required. However, page 7 begins as follows: “Below is concise motion language you can drop into a ‘Motion to Admit Mental-Disease Evidence and for Related Instructions’ keyed to 45-6-204, 45-6-201, and 4614-102. Adjust headings/captions to your local practice.” Page 10 states “Below is a full motion you can paste into your pleading, then adjust names, dates, and styles to fit local practice.” These pages also include several apparent hyperlinks to “ppl-ai-file-upload.s3.amazonaws,” “ppl-ai-fileupload.s3.amazonaws+1,” and others. The document includes what appears to be an attempt at a second case caption on page 12. It is not plausible on its face that any source other than generative AI would have created such language for a filed version of a brief….

There’s more in that filing, but here’s one passage:

While generative AI can be a useful tool for some purposes and may have greater application in the future, when used improperly, and without meaningful review, it can ultimately damage both the perception and the reality of the profession. One assumes that Mr. Stroup has had, or will at some point have, an opportunity to review the filing made on his behalf. What impression could a review of pgs. 12-19 leave upon a defendant who struggles with paranoia and delusional thinking? While AI could theoretically one day become a replacement for portions of staff of experienced attorneys, it is readily apparent that this day has not yet arrived.

The Missoulan article includes this response:

In a Wednesday interview, Office of Public Defender Division Administrator Brian Smith told the Missoulian the AI-generated language was inadvertently included in an unrelated filing. And he criticized the county attorney’s office for filing a “four-page diatribe about the dangers of AI” instead of working with the defense to correct her mistake.
“That’s not helping the client or the case,” Smith said, “and all you are doing is trying to throw a professional colleague under the bus.”

As I mentioned, the lawyer involved seems quite experienced, and ran for the Montana Public Service Commission in 2020 (getting nearly 48% of the vote) and for the House of Representatives in Montana’s first district in 2022 (getting over 46% of the vote) and in 2024 (getting over 44%). “Его пример другим наука,” Pushkin wrote in Eugene Onegin—”May his example profit others,” in the Falen translation.

Thanks to Matthew Monforton for the pointer.

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Montana

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

Published

17 hours ago

March 2, 2026

Press Room

Your guide to local sports events, plus what’s on TV

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Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

HELENA — You probably have goals and plans for 2026—the Montana Department of Agriculture does too.

“We’re really focusing on innovative agricultural practices,” Montana Department of Agriculture director Jillien Streit said.

It’s no secret that agriculture—farming and ranching—is not easy. There are long days, planning, monitoring crops and livestock, and other challenges beyond farmers’ and ranchers’ control.

(WATCH: Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026)

Montana Department of Agriculture focusing on innovation in 2026

“We have very low commodity prices across the board,” Streit said. “We still have very high input prices across the board, and we have really high prices when it comes to our equipment, and so, it’s a really tough year.”

But innovation, including new practices, partnerships and technology use, can help navigate some of those challenges.

“We can’t make more time and we can’t make more land, so we need to start putting together innovative practices that help us maximize what our time and land can do,” Streit said.

Practices range from using technology like autonomous tractors and virtual fencing—allowing rangers to contain and move cattle right from their phones—to regenerative farming and ranching.

“It is bringing cattle back into farming operations to be able to work with cover cropping practices to invigorate the soil for new soil health benefits,” Streit said.

The Montana Department of Agriculture is working to help producers learn, share, and collaborate on new ideas to work in their operations.

The department will share stories of practices that work from farms and ranches across the state. Also, within the next year or so, Streit said the department is hoping to roll out technology to help producers collaborate.

“(It’s) providing a communication platform where people can get together and really help each other out by utilizing each other’s assets,” she said.

While not easy, agriculture is still one of Montana’s largest industries, and Streit said innovating and sharing ideas across the state can keep it going long into the future.

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