(Kevin Leatherbarrow and Tony Rosales pictured promoting the Cascade Effect Podcast)
The Cascade Effect Podcast bills itself as “A true-crime anthology podcast investigating corruption and negligence of law enforcement in Cascade County, Montana, a county that is known for its heavy-handed police work as well as the incarceration and harassment of innocent civilians.”
The first season of The Cascade Effect investigates a confrontation between a sheriff’s deputy and a man named Michael Hanson which resulted in the death of Hanson and wounding of the deputy. Last summer a coroner’s jury deliberated for a short time and came back with a unanimous decision that the shooting was not by criminal means. The Coroner’s Jury found no wrong doing in Hanson’s death. (It’s a long, complicated story, thoroughly covered by The Electric) https://theelectricgf.com/2024/06/04/inquest-determines-feb-23-fatal-shooting-by-deputy-justified/
Subsequently, local Libertarian activists Tony Rosales and Kevin Leatherbarrow (both are currently running for legislative seats as Republicans) and local militia promoter Bart Crabtree all filed a writ of mandamus with the Montana Supreme Court seeking a citizens grand jury to investigate the determination of the coroner’s action absolving the deputy of wrongdoing. They were joined in this request by Jake Green, the producer of The Cascade Effect.
What Does Recovery Centers of Montana have to do with all of this?
Recovery Centers of Montana (RCM) has had a relationship with the sheriff’s office to provide referrals for rehabilitation services to inmates from the Cascade County Detention Center. Recently, Recovery Centers of Montana also became a sponsor of The Cascade Effect. Jake Green posted on Facebook that, four days after announcing their partnership, RCM received the email below from the sheriff’s office.
Good afternoon. Please see the directive below. From this point forward the Cascade County Detention Center will no longer facilitate or fund services for inmates associated with Recovery Centers of Montana. It has come to our attention that RCM is a sponsor of The Cascade Effect which is a podcast promoting false narratives about members of the Cascade County Sheriff’s office which we believe is a conflict of interest in dealing with RCM. Despite our differences we still intend to encourage defence attorneys and inmates to diligently work together in getting their clients into any and all forms of treatment including treatment from RCM. If you have any questions contact undersheriff Scott Van Dyke. Thank you for your time. Alicia Otis, Community Care Coordinator.
RCM said that they have not received any referrals from the sheriff’s office since receiving the email.
Those of us who have served in public office generally understand that we will have critics, and that those critics will make all kinds of public statements. But Sheriff Jesse Slaughter, in his desire to get back at The Cascade Effect because he doesn’t like their coverage of his office, has crossed a line. Not only is it unprofessional and peevish, it is likely a violation of the Montana Governmental Code of Fair Practices’ prohibitions of retaliation for human rights activity. Both The Cascade Effect and RCM can claim damages and seek payment from Cascade County. Whether either entity will do that remains to be seen. We have to wonder where County Attorney Josh Racki was while all of this was going on.
The news hit of another murder by ICE/CBP in Minneapolis on January 24th, 2026, just days after the murder of Renee Good. The victim was an ICU nurse without a criminal record, Alex Pretti, 37 years old. A video of the incident shows Pretti recording activities with his cell phone before he is forced to the ground by federal agents and shot.
Immediately, without providing any evidenceand certainly not based on video evidence,the White House is pushing lies that Jeffrey Pretti was a “would-be assassin” and “trying to murder federal agents.” Never show restraint and wait for the truth to come out of an investigation if you can make up lies to attack a left-wing person instead, am I right?
This is the textbook right-wing response we keep seeing. When reality doesn’t fit your narrative,photoshop it so it does. And in the case of dTrump, when your documented pedophilia might come back to haunt you, obscure attention from the Epstein files by starting a war on the American people in blue states.
Please let me lick your boots! – MAGA
Like clockwork, the MAGA faction just accepts every lie and talking point fed to them by Daddy dTrump. They can’t possibly be wrong about him; it must be the rest of the world that is wrong!
Hey MAGAs, instead of twisting yourselves into a pretzel to justify every shitty, illegal, and straight up evil thing done by the dTrump administration. Consider. Maybe. Just maybe. The orange menace and his cronies are the baddies.
Yes, yes you are!
And no, it’s not about immigration enforcement. If they were truly worried about dangerous undocumented immigrants running amuck, why aren’t they focused on Texas and Florida where manymore undocumented immigrants reside? Oh right, because that’s bullshit. We know it is retaliation.
Well, we can’t work with them. So how can we resist this?
What can Great Falls Residents Do?
SHOW UP. There are now daily protests on the Central Ave West bridge in Great Falls. At noon on the weekends and at 4 PM on the weekdays, weather permitting. For your own safety at protests,do not engage with counter protesters. You have a first amendment right to film public activities. But maintain space between yourself and dangerous situations.
CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES. In Montana, our current Congressional delegation (Zinke, Downing, Daines and Sheehy) are all Trumpers, but make it uncomfortable for them. Make them have to hear our opinions. Tell them to stop funding ICE.
If you don’t know where to start, KEEP SHOWING UP. Go to rallies, go to meetings, go to community educational events. Ask questions, be loud, be a voice for empathy and humanity.
Find out where you can help and do it. Don’t wait for permission. Don’t wait to be told. If you see a need, fill it.
I read anarticle by a journalist observing the resistance to ICE that is taking place in Minneapolis. And one of the things she talked about was the widespread push back people are doing there and that there is no “central” leader, but several decentralized leaders are organizing throughout the city. Be that leader or find one to work with.
We all are needed and if everyone that is as concerned as me about the direction of this country steps up, we will win. We can do this. Don’t be discouraged. Keep Going.
Former legislator Steven Galloway has filed to run in senate district 11 in Cascade County. This video of Galloway at some Trump event says it all. If this offends you, consider running yourself. The deadline for filing is March 4th.
Nobody understands the blather Northwestern Energy is spouting to explain its plans for Colstrip, a subsidiary, customer credits, and … perhaps … bivationary falvebarms.
Thompson had this to say about the recognition, “You shouldn’t do things just to get done, to be the first one to get done. Accuracy means more to the voter in the end result… I’d rather be the last one to finish and know that it was 100% accurate as to be the first one to finish and it not to be real accurate.” She concluded, “We want to serve the people. We want to give them the confidence and trust that, you know, elections are being conducted fairly accurately, transparent and they’re secure.”
Her competence and commitment to open and fair elections is a welcome relief after the chaos created by Clerk and Recorder Sandra Merchant, Commissioner Rae Grulkowski, and their gaggle of goofy election deniers. We also can’t forget the political courage demonstrated by County Commissioners Jim Larson and Joe Briggs for standing up the these folks and removing the election duties from Merchant’s office when it became clear she was not up to the job and was taking her marching orders from Commissioner Rae Grulkowski. WTF406.com wrote extensively about the attack on our election process from far right activists in Cascade County.
Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki switched his party affiliation last week from Democrat to Republican. The county attorney released a reaaaallly believable statement about why he switched parties. (Somehow, he forgot to mention that he made the switch because he was worried about re-election…hmmmmm.) The rumor is a Republican was going to run against him and Racki wanted to hold on to his position during next year’s election.
In his statement, Racki said:
For the past several years, we have watched the Democratic party change its stance on law enforcement. Movements to ‘defund the police,’ attacks on law enforcement officials and officers, and putting criminals before victims has gone too far. The Republican Party puts the safety and freedom of law-abiding citizens first by standing with law enforcement.
Huh.
Did Josh memory hole the Republican riot on January 6, 2021? Democrats weren’t the ones beating a police officer with a flag pole, tasing, pepper spraying, and trampling officers at the U.S. Capitol. If Racki doesn’t remember that, then I have some questions about his mental ability to serve as the county attorney.
The Cascade County Democrats are dedicated to safer communities not only through law enforcement but also supporting first responders, prevention programs, recovery programs, education, access to quality healthcare for all, a growing economy and lowering the cost of living. The Republican party is currently dismantling all of these systems at the local level all the way up to the federal level…. the Cascade County Democrats will continue to do the hard work of building a future that is better for ALL Montanans.
Josh Racki Is Finally Honest With Voters
Yeah, we saw it coming
To be honest with you, the majority of active local organizers and Cascade County Democrats saw this coming from a mile away. One obvious sign is Racki is good friends with Cascade County Sheriff Jesse Slaughter, also a party flipper for political gain. Hang around with clowns become a clown.
At least now he’s being honest with the voters. Maybe some memes will help explain the situation Josh is in:
How diD you kNow he’S RePublicaN?
Josh Racki last week, probably. Living his authentic truth.
An illustration in two parts
Now, enough talking about that loser. We don’t have time for the complicit enablers. We’ve got a fascist movement to turn around in this country.
