Month: July 2016

by William Skink

When I read the assessment from the Dallas Police Chief that ‘we’re asking cops to do too much in this country’ I nodded my head in vigorous agreement. Here’s the statement in context:

“We’re asking cops to do too much in this country,” Brown said at a briefing Monday. “We are. Every societal failure, we put it off on the cops to solve. Not enough mental health funding, let the cops handle it. Here in Dallas we got a loose dog problem; let’s have the cops chase loose dogs. Schools fail, let’s give it to the cops. That’s too much to ask. Policing was never meant to solve all those problems.”

My work at the shelter doing outreach put me on the streets doing direct interventions in order to divert that 911 call and the whole expensive siren show that descends. The more impossible, absurd situations I encountered the more I sympathized with the unrealistic expectations we have of police to solve the inconvenient symptoms of broken systems.

I remember one guy in particular, a terrible alcoholic. His drinking and chronic medical conditions led to both legs being amputated. And he was a tremendous asshole when drunk.

I knew this client for years, but one night in particular stands out. I was delivering food to his motel room after a long day at work. I was delivering food because he had lost services at the shelter due to sneaking in and drinking lots of vodka. He needed the shelter because the nursing home had kicked him out for flagrant disregard of their tobacco policies.

Nursing home, homeless shelter, motel room is not an unusual progression for a client like this. What was unusual was that I showed up just as the police had arrived to remove him from the motel room. Apparently, in his drunken stupor, he had started throwing things against the wall of his room, and the family (yes, family) living in the room next door had called the police.

These are the calls cops hate. They more than likely know the guy by name, and they know how little anyone can do. The glimmer that I could help this guy was enough for them to leave it to me once I had arrived on the scene. And I had no idea what to do.

It was cold outside, so the possibility of wheeling him to the park to sleep it off was off the table. The police, who had already been called to deal with the situation, had left it to me. The shelter wasn’t an option, because there are rules that have to be upheld in even the most terminal of cases. So what could I do?

I started pushing him down Broadway as he swung his skinny arms, punching feebly behind his head at me and shouting profanities. At one point he suggested that I push him into the river. I told him that ethically that would be a problem for me, but if he was suicidal, I could wheel him to St. Pats for an assessment. I was literally excited that he was expressing the intention to harm himself because it meant that maybe he could stay in the ER overnight.

His response was that hospital security had told him he would be trespassed if he wheeled onto hospital property again without a medical reason for needing services. Bingo, I thought. Let’s get him arrested for trespassing.

And that’s ultimately what happened. I wheeled this chronic alcoholic onto St. Pats property, then talked to their security and explained the situation. He called the police, and the responding police officer was courteous and understanding because I was able to lay out the fact that the homeless shelter wouldn’t take him, the motel had kicked him out, and it was cold outside, so eventually there would be a medical need to do something if we just left him outside in his wheelchair exposed to the elements.

So the cop to took this guy to jail for trespassing.

Police and other first responders are dealing with more shit than most people can possibly imagine. That reality needs to be a big part of the conversation about how to pull cops back from the precipice of being a militarized occupying force.

A good place to start the process of pulling back would be to abandon the use of Israeli tactics and implement the Crisis Intervention Model.

by William Skink

On the eve of Bernie formalizing his capitulation to less-evil Hillary, let’s take a quick spin around the local blogosphere to see what the sentiment is like out there.

First up, Cowgirl. While this post is from the end of June and is about the disunity of Montana Republicans, I was able to get a peek into the wishful thinking of Democrats:

Democrats keep a good sense of what voters care about, and they allow it to exert a pull, a force, on their thinking, their policies, their pronouncements, their speeches, their message. It’s one of the reasons that you rarely see internal divisions in the same extent as what you see among Republicans. Wittich having been convicted of a massive scheme to evade the law, it doesn’t matter. He is a true believer, and therefore welcome to be leader. Winter is coming for the GOP, and it’s going to be cold, dark and lonely.

To be fair, this post was written before Comey enshrined Hillary’s immunity from being held criminally accountable for her recklessness with classified information–much more serious than what Wittich did–but since then, and after losing progressive fights over the platform, there has been nothing from Cowgirl that indicates any of that matters. Cowgirl must be a true believer of identity politics, and therefore Hillary is welcome to be “her” leader.

Moving on, here is a pretzel of a post from “Logic Rules” over at Logicosity, titled Hillary or The Donald: Lack of Integrity Disqualifies Who?????(I hope I got the number of questions marks correct). Let’s see what Logic Rules has to say:

I am no Hillary fan. Guilty or not, her “unforced errors” demonstrate a level of arrogance that is dangerous. But as for governing, I have all the confidence in the world that she will stand for the policies that she endorses: Infrastructure spending, expanding health care coverage, protecting voter rights, and yes, tax the rich.

Those that think Trump is the answer are blind to the fact that this guy lies about everything, and uses standard propaganda techniques to stir the masses.

I don’t even know where to start with this crap. Anyone actually paying attention to Hillary’s record of deceit, corruption and actual policy decisions that have perpetrated death and destruction in places like Libya and Honduras can’t be allowed to let all that pass by using a term like “unforced errors” to minimize Hillary’s long list of treachery. And then, after the bland acknowledgement that those errors demonstrate “a level of arrogance that is dangerous”, to state in the next sentence that “I have all the confidence in the world that she will stand for the policies she endorses” is simply breathtaking. Where the hell is the logic in that, Logic Rules?

The last two paragraphs are even better:

Hillary lacks personal integrity but it will not impact how she performs her executive duties–it’ll only be upsetting when we don’t get all the specifics of what or how she accomplishes them. Trump lacks any integrity, both personal and political, There is no policy that he espouses today that you can expect him to support as President.

And my vote will be cast for who I think can govern best. I’ll do my best to set aside my personal feelings about the candidates’ ethics, and decide based on who will govern most effectively. With Trump, anyone who professes to know what they’ll get is a liar. Unfortunately, one of the worst kind, because they are lying to themselves.

How can anyone claim to know that lacking personal integrity won’t impact performing executive duties? How can anyone ignore the plethora of policy shifts Hillary has enacted when the polling shows she can? And when did ethical concerns stop mattering to a voter’s consideration of who to support for president?

Personally, I don’t think the worst kind of liar is the one who lies to themselves. I think the worst kind of liar is the one who lies to obtain wealth and power. I don’t know if Trump is that kind of liar (he probably is), but I am absolutely certain Hillary is that kind of liar, and so far her lies have proved fatal for far more people than Trump’s.

I saved the best for last. At Intelligent Discontent some Bernie activist writing as “ABC” has a guest post titled The Insurrection May Have Fanned Out, But Will the Embers of Revolution Continue to Bern?

There are a lot of well-meaning, earnest words and sentiments expressed in this post–even a bit of Neoliberal criticism, which I always appreciate–but the crux of the post, at least for me, is how that criticism of Neoliberalism pivots to supporting Hillary over Trump:

We reject the techno-plutocratic world of austerity and free trade in favor of Democratic Socialism; there is neither a duty nor an expectation that we should forget this critical distinction and enthusiastically endorse Hillary. That said, 2016 is exceptional in its proximity to neo-fascism helmed by Con-all Trump. Within the landscape of the status quo there is still room for direct action and political dissent. In Trump’s world, we would have no space to agitate for social democracy. Neoliberalism is far more preferable than Fascism; the two are not even comparable. Thus, those of us who live in battleground states should strongly consider pulling the lever for Clinton while the rest of us may want to either write in Bernie or vote Jill Stein. Regardless of who we choose for president, we must turn out this November in full force in order to elect the most progressive candidates to our local offices.

Yeah, no thank you ABC, I XYZ that you want to zip it up and keep the junk contained, and you’ll probably get your wish of seeing progressives turn out to do that dirty work of bloodying their hands for Hillary, but you mistakenly assume that different terms mean different operating principles behind different political parties.

The trade deals coming–the sovereignty-killing trade deals Hillary’s neoliberal foot soldiers helped kill on the platform level–have a better shot getting pushed through by a Democrat. Another Clinton proved that last century. One of Trump’s greatest political maneuvers has been to get to the left of Hillary on trade.

The terms we throw around may have less relevance as this new form of Corporatism we are just getting a peek at through trade agreements like the TTP emerges to claim a legal authority superseding national sovereignty. Fascism includes government as a part of the authoritarian structure ordering society. This emerging Corporatism suggests eradicating the authority of government, leaving consumers helpless to the whims of profit, power and control.

Let’s say, for example, the people of Dallas decide that as horrible as the Rambo assault on police was, the use of a robot to blow up the suspect is just one dystopian step too far, and they pass a local ordinance limiting the use of robots to non-lethal functions, like remotely detonating bombs.

Those who support the coming trade deals want a future where any governmental limitation on business, like selling bomb-delivering-robots for the lethal disposal of psychotic police killers, can be challenged in a higher, supranational court system.

Fascism might be a conveniently scary term to toss at Trump, but those who have taken a deeper look at the horrors wrought by Neoliberalism understand the success and continuation of the Neoliberal assault is just as dangerous, if not more so for its greater potential for success than last century’s failed Fascist push to rule the world.

by William Skink

My mom made a comment today as we talked about the mind-numbing barrage of violence that’s unfolded this week. I’m glad we moved to Missoula, she said. But then she corrected herself by saying, of course, it could happen here, but in my mom’s estimation, Missoula is a step up from bigger city living. After Seattle and Kansas City, Missoula has been an ideal place for them to move to, and not just because they have three precious grandkids to spoil.

If you can afford to live here, Missoula is great. And lots of people want to live here because just look around. I moved here 16 years ago, during the summer the Bitterroot burned and riots broke out downtown over the presence of Hells Angels and an overzealous show of force by police (mostly it was because of the police). We lived near the interstate that summer, on the north side of town. Then, with help from the in-laws, we bought a house in the slant streets for a ridiculously low price.

The housing bubble catalyst that brought on the ongoing economic crisis didn’t hurt the value of our house one bit. When we sold last year, we were shocked to hear the initial estimate of what we could ask. We were under contract within 24 hours of putting it on the market.

I’ve benefited from a growing Missoula that grows because that’s how much people want to live here, and being a non-native Montanan, I’m a part of the influx that’s lately been getting some attention. So while I’m plenty open to accusations of hypocrisy, I’m going to go ahead and chime in on some coverage of the gripes and moaning I’ve been seeing pop up as the world burns down around our beautiful Missoula bubble.

Over the holiday weekend I witnessed the great “towathon” on Kona Ranch road. This is my backyard now, so to speak, so I cross that bridge all the time, and I was frankly surprised to see the amount of tow trucks and Sheriff deputies involved in the enforcement of this no parking area. I would much prefer law enforcement catching drunk drivers and meth dealers, but maybe that’s just me. When I read Kidston’s piece, I rolled my eyes.

The gist of the story is relatively new, and pretty nice, homes have angry residents who have suffered some traumatizing inconveniences, like blocked driveways and constricted roadways, so enough noise was made by these property owners, causing Missoula County to allocate law enforcement resources to oversee car towing. On the 4th of July.

So now that this is a problem, our lawmakers are going in search of money to fix it because one of ’em lives out here:

Rep. Willis Curdy, D-Missoula, who lives on Kona Ranch Road, has seen parked cars stretching down both sides of the road for a distance of 1,000 feet. He said the road isn’t wide enough to accommodate parked vehicles.

“With all the parking that’s been taking place there, it has become problematic for emergency vehicles, and the neighbors have complained about people blocking their driveways and turning around in their property,” Curdy said. “When you have two vehicles parked on both sides, it gets very narrow, and speed is a problem out here.”

Curdy believes the problem at Kona Ranch Road is symptomatic of a larger issue. The Missoula population is growing, placing increased pressure on recreational sites and public access. He believes it’s time for city and county leaders, as well as the state, to sit down and find a solution.

“As our population grows, there’s going to be even more use,” said Curdy. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”

As state legislators prepare for the next session, Curdy plans to seek funding from the Habitat Montana Program to improve recreational opportunities, including access to popular sites like the Bitterroot and Clark Fork rivers.

Ah, now I see why precious law enforcement resources were deployed on the 4th of July weekend. Now go get that money, Willy!

If too many trucks obstructing his view is bumming Willy out, he might be sympathetic to Flash in the Pan’s KIDS GET OFF MY LAWN missive on the phenomena of hipsters killing farmers markets. And also, people with strollers. Luckily the Indy responded with a real life farmers-market-killing hipster striking back. I think we can safely file all this under first world problems.

Pete Talbot has a good post worth reading, asking how do we grow?

What I see, unfortunately, is examples of how not to grow, like bonding a vast park by Fort Missoula that the city will have to scrape pennies together to maintain now because, whoopsie, no one apparently anticipated the cost of ongoing maintenance, and there’s even a question whether the city can recoup money it expected to from park fees.

Meanwhile, the County can barely maintain its current transportation infrastructure. Now that I live out here, and now that my kids are going to be regularly riding a bus over a one-lane bridge getting twice as much traffic as it was built for, I’m discovering that behind the Save Maclay Bridge signs the real message is save my South Street property value from building the bridge where all the expensive reports have said the bridge needs to go.

The inverse of property owners compelling County resources to be expended on the 4th of July weekend is property owners preventing action when action is needed. This piece about this issue is from September, 2015:

Plans to tear out the old Maclay Bridge and send traffic down South Avenue across a new bridge are still generating sharp divisions within the Target Range community.

Although Missoula County already signed off on the plans to redevelop the west end of South Avenue to connect with the new bridge, opponents are still dug in with their insistence the Maclay Bridge could be rehabilitated.

They worry about safety along South, especially by Target Range School. But the new bridge has its backers too, who are convinced it’s the best long-term option that will solve neighborhood traffic problems and be better for the environment along the Bitterroot River.

“They are bringing essentially a new collector route through a mature, developed residential area, so it’s a safety issue,” Maclay Bridge Alliance Director Bob Schweitzer said.

“A study which was done over the last couple of years [with] a different group of scientists and engineers came to the same conclusion – that the existing bridge is obsolete and unsafe and that it should be replaced with a new bridge,” countered Don St. Peter with the Maclay Bridge Common Sense Coalition.

Both factions are expected to continue pressing their points in the coming months.

I admittedly didn’t follow this very closely before moving out here, but now that my kids travel on a bus over an unsafe bridge, well, I’m a bit more interested in why nothing is happening.

I think about growth while I sit in traffic on Reserve Street, and when I see the new bank going up downtown, and when I see another convenience store with a casino getting a facelift, I guess because business is good in the hope-for-a-jackpot market.

Basically what I think about when I think about how Missoula is growing is that it’s growing the way anything grows in America, with money, so if the money keeps coming in, what’s to stop it? People can throw tantrums over the screaming neon of the Verizon store on Broadway, or lament the imminent demolition of the Merc, or argue over light pollution from some silly project to light up bridges (even the one falling apart, I guess), but money makes things happen, so if money is talking, best learn to shut up because no one is listening otherwise.

Especially once the new bullet proof glass goes up for the clerks in Municipal Court, and the Mayor gets his escape hatch to flee from the crazies not even the jails or hospitals will take anymore.

by William Skink

So a former US Congressperson tweeted this after what happened in Dallas tonight:

3 Dallas cops killed, 11 wounded.

This is now war. Watch out Obama. Watch out black lives matter punks. Real America is coming after you.

I guess this is how America will tear itself apart, along racial lines that obscure the class war this has always been about. Divide and conquer never worked so easy.

Last week I went up north to spend a few a days by the lake, then down to Spokane to see family. Despite them being conservative and Christian and all that (a few are even Trump supporters) I passed a pleasant day with them and their suspiciously well-behaved kids without incident.

The way things are going in this world, and the books I’ve been reading as of late, have me more sympathetic than ever with biblical end-times speculation, like prophecies fulfilled and such. I’m finishing up a great story now about how Nimrod was a giant-hybrid building a stargate known as the Tower of Babel, and right now in modern times there are lots of known inter-dimensional portals around the world that Satanists are trying to open, which accounts for UFOs and all other manner of supernatural occurrences, which will only get more frequent as we approach armageddon.

Because why the fuck not?

The situation in Dallas is ongoing as I write this. The best I can think to do is go the fuck to sleep and tomorrow just ignore the eruptions that will occur.

Yeah right.

by William Skink

How do we deal with a culture of racial fear that seems to spark lethal interactions between white police officers and black men? I don’t mean to oversimplify the latest two tragedies in Louisiana and Minnesota, but I think there’s a good chance that two white men in similar situations wouldn’t have ended up shot to death.

That there is such a thing as good policing seems to rarely be a part of the conversation that ensues when we are confronted with the visceral evidence of how just being non-white can be the escalating factor that results in getting shot to death in front of your girlfriend and her four year old daughter, or getting shot to death while people casually go about their business outside a convenience store.

I know there is such a thing as good policing because I have seen it. I have seen Missoula police officers use their training to deescalate situations that could have gone the other way. From my years working at the shelter, I actually developed a lot of sympathy for what law enforcement and other first responders deal with on a day to day basis.

Good policing requires strong leadership, effective training and engaged community partners working with police before tragedy happens. If those basic elements aren’t in place, then how can we expect cops to deal with increasing racial tensions exacerbated by economic pressures and policy failures, like the war and drugs, stop and frisk and the dubious social theory of broken windows?

Unfortunately, I don’t see this situation between law enforcement and the communities they police improving any time soon. At the macro-level, this country defaults to violence as the main reaction to the problems we face abroad and at home. Until there’s the political will to deal with that, these tragedies will continue.