Month: February 2017

by William Skink

One of the things I brought to my work at the shelter was an ability to collaborate with people I didn’t necessarily agree with. I set aside my strong opinions to find common ground on which to work because I wanted to get things done. I was at least able to make some inroads with people and agencies where not much collaboration existed.

Partisanship is the opposite of collaboration. Republicans played a paralyzing game of partisanship for 8 years at the national level to stop Obama, and now Democrats are using the same playbook to stop Trump. Cynicism abounds, and the only things that get done are the things the big donors want their puppets to get done.

Partisanship exists in its most potent form at the national level. As it trickles down, partisanship gets more diluted, and that’s because it starts running up against the need to get things done.

One example of this is the surprisingly honest and idiotically partisan rationalization by Jeff Essmann to force cash-strapped Counties to carry out the special election because:

“All mail ballots give the Democrats an inherent advantage in close elections due to their ability to organize large numbers of unpaid college students and members of public employee unions to gather ballots by going door to door,” Essmann’s letter said.

Democrats, Essmann said, have “perfected the mechanics of using mail ballots” in recent elections. Essmann said he fears “the long-term viability of our Republican Party” if Montana switches to all-mail ballots.

Essmann ran afoul with his own party because fiscal conservatives dealing with grim budget decisions balked at this nakedly partisan attempt to prioritize winning elections over the day-to-day reality of County governments getting things done.

In this situation, the partisan position was not the winning position.

I didn’t recently defend State Representative Adam Hertz just because I find the partisans writing at Intelligent Discontent to be insufferable hypocrites stuck in a protracted tantrum over election results they helped create. I defended Hertz because I think he’s a collaborator who can get things done.

Evidence of this assertion came today via Missoula Current. The irresponsible owners of the defunct Smurfit Stone site won’t pay their taxes, and the cost of unpaid taxes continues to burden the county, impacting schools and infrastructure. To deal with this, a “R” and a “D” worked together to craft legislation palatable to both parties:

Hertz, whose House district includes the former mill site, said he got involved when Dudik’s bill came before the taxation committee, of which he is a member.

“I could see issues with it and that it wasn’t going to make the cut with Republicans,” Hertz said. “But I could see the value of it for the Frenchtown site, and potentially in the future for Columbia Falls (the former aluminum mill site) and Colstrip (the power plants).”

Hertz joined Dudik as a co-sponsor and worked with her on amendments that would make the bill more palatable to the GOP majority.

Subsequent amendments eliminated the bill’s call for treble damages, allowed the prevailing party to collect attorney fees, and added a provision limiting the bill to property taxpayers who were $250,000 or more in arrears.

That answered most of the Republican legislators’ concerns, and the bill passed out of the taxation committee late last week.

True collaboration (not the corporate sponsored kind prevalent among environmental collaborators) gets things done. I saw this first hand during one of the many clean ups I was involved with at the homeless camps under and around the Reserve Street bridge. I got to work with the Health Department, the Clark Fork Coalition and a bunch of volunteers to remove tons of trash from an area that had become a no-man’s land. It’s still not ideal out there, but there are less people engaging in unsafe behavior (like stabbings and homicides), less trash, and the Montana Department of Transportation doesn’t have to spend well over ten thousand dollars to hire contractors to clean up the mess.

Collaboration is not always going to be the answer, but with such rancid partisanship on both side, it’s nice to know there are still a few things a Republican and a Democrat can work together to accomplish.

by William Skink

Yesterday Tom Perez beat Keith Ellison to lead the DNC further into irrelevancy. For the youngsters still prone to feeling the bern, the message should be loud and clear: fuck off.

To anyone that considers themselves part of the resistance, something else should be clear: you aren’t just fighting Trump. You are also fighting the iron-clad grip of deep pocket control over the Democratic Party. If yesterday’s vote doesn’t make that clear, I don’t know what will.

If you don’t see the fight ahead as a fight that includes the Democratic establishment, you are part of the problem. If the Democratic party is allowed to continue business as usual, opposition will be hopelessly absorbed into the corrupt political apparatus of Democrat controlled opposition.

For those that want to ignore recent history, this is where movements go to die. See the anti-war movement.

The Democratic establishment doesn’t think it has anything to change because its apparatchiks refuse to accept any responsibility for the electoral loss to Trump. This is the direct result of explanatory narratives blaming Putin, the FBI and anything/anyone else they can blame for their abysmal failure.

Jon Tester is one of those Democrats and Mt Cowgirl is a part of the establishment messaging infrastructure that should be dismissed as irrelevant to a viable opposition taking on the true scope of the problem with American politics. To emphasis this point, I offer exhibit A: Senator Tester vs. Ivan Drago:

Time and time again Senator Tester has stood for Montana in the halls of power and called for transparency, for decency, honesty, and fairness in our government.

Montana Senator Jon Tester has called on Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson to launch a full investigation into the Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election.

In a letter to Chairman Johnson, Tester outlined the need for an investigation into Russian President Vladimir Putin, and laid out evidence of the Russian government’s actions to interfere with the election.

“It has been firmly established that Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian government unleashed a pervasive influence campaign in the United States designed to sway our recent election.” Tester wrote. “Only a thorough, transparent investigation will allow the American people to learn exactly what transpired during the 2016 presidential campaign and what changes, if any, are necessary to safeguard our nation’s critical infrastructure from further hacking.”

This is where the corrupt Democratic establishment wants you to look, at Russia, not at the substance of the email disclosures which exposed pay-to-play corruption and media collusion by the Clinton machine, which is the real reason Hillary Clinton lost.

Jon Tester is part of the problem, but will the resistance see Tester as part of the problem, or will they continue to marginalize anyone that diverges from the maniacal focus on stopping Trump by any means necessary?

Democrats have chosen to continue business as usual. The resistance doesn’t have to make the same choice.

by William Skink

Criticism of the media seems to be coming from everywhere these days. Its power to shape narratives and control minds is coming under fire in ways I have never seen before.

Critics come in all shapes and sizes. Don Pogreba, for example, is a perennial media scold because local media doesn’t adhere to his expectations of what to cover, and how. A few journalists and an editor have even pushed back a bit, obviously tired of the endless harping.

At the national level, there is now open warfare between corporate media and Trump, inspiring this telling exchange on MSNBC:

SCARBOROUGH: “Exactly. That is exactly what I hear. What Yamiche said is what I hear from all the Trump supporters that I talk to who were Trump voters and are still Trump supporters. They go, ‘Yeah you guys are going crazy. He’s doing — what are you so surprised about? He is doing exactly what he said he is going to do.'”

BRZEZINSKI: “Well, I think that the dangerous, you know, edges here are that he is trying to undermine the media and trying to make up his own facts. And it could be that while unemployment and the economy worsens, he could have undermined the messaging so much that he can actually control exactly what people think. And that, that is our job.”

Politicians and corporate media figures all appear to be coming unhinged. A local example is how a recent claim by State Rep. Kerry White turned out to be complete bullshit:

More than 100 people showed up to testify, the vast majority opposition to White’s revolution. But John Todd says he didn’t hear anything he would consider a threat.

“Rep. White’s insinuation is as false as it is absurd. I was at the hearing with my 7-year old daughter. I did not testify, and I had to leave early because it was a school night and it was getting close to her bedtime.”

Todd is the conservation director for the Montana Wilderness Association.

After the hearing, White’s group Citizens For Balanced Use named Todd, along with four other Montana-based conservationists, in their Facebook post, which asked, “Has it really come to bodily harm and threats for their cause?”

John Todd was the only one of the five people named in the Facebook post who attended Monday’s hearing.

Michael Garrity, executive director of the Alliance for the Wild Rockies, was also named in the post. He called it part of a disturbing trend, in which both of Montana’s Senators have called environmental groups “extremists” for opposing timber sales.

“This is just part of what happens when politicians call citizens who are exercising their rights under a democracy to voice their viewpoints, when they start calling them names, that it leads to something like this where people start making up that we are now violent.”

This particular lie from a Republican politician is exacerbated by years of bipartisan demonization, which has been happily facilitated by local corporate media. So don’t expect much attention from Lee newspapers or Democrat blogs over this blatant false depiction of non-collaborating environmentalists as violent extremists.

There are many fronts in this information war, but one of the most pernicious ones brewing is between those fighting child trafficking and those providing cover for pedo-networks that implicate the rich and powerful. On that front there was an interesting claim about media complicity from the Attorney General in Utah:

The Utah Attorney General scolded the media Thursday, saying they don’t do enough reporting on human trafficking crimes.

Attorney General Sean Reyes made the statements at a press conference Thursday, where he announced the arrests of 16 people since January 1.

Each of the suspects were involved in human trafficking or internet sex crimes against children, Reyes said.

But then Reyes turned his focus to the media.

“People don’t believe it can happen here, fueled sometimes by media stories and reports that these kind of things don’t exist, that they’re fabricated by law enforcement,” Reyes said while standing off to the side of the podium.

“Fueled by media reports that these things don’t exist?” one reporter at the event asks.

“Sure,” Reyes replies.

“Any specifics?” another reporter asks.

“No, not right now,” Reyes responds, moving back toward the podium. “I do have one more thing to comment on though, because I don’t want to hijack…”

“No, please…” one reporter says before another adds, “That’s quite an accusation…”

Reyes replies: “You can look and do your own homework. I have read articles and reports where people have speculated that this is not actually happening. And I think it would be irresponsible to take that view, because we have put so much time, so much effort, so many resources, and we know these cases exist.”

I have done my homework, and I think Reyes is right–the media is not doing enough to raise awareness regarding how extensive organized child abuse is, and how many powerful and influential people are implicated. Unlike Reyes, I will provide an example: the Franklin Credit Union Scandal.

The documentary that broke open this scandal, Conspiracy of Silence, never aired as intended in 1994. It was pulled at the last minute. Gee, I wonder why?

The media has been reporting on mass arrests happening as pedophile rings are busted in places like Toronto, Norway and Los Angeles.

Child trafficking is a deeply disturbing and well-organized criminal enterprise with dangerous political and intelligence entanglements. That is, if you take it seriously and haven’t succumbed to the pizzagate fake news psyop. Many people have succumbed because it’s easier to believe it’s fake than to accept the reality that it’s not.

by William Skink

Nathan Kosted is a relatively new voice at the partisan hack blog, Intelligent Discontent. In a recent hit-piece Nathan chose to articulate his discontent with State Rep., Adam Hertz, who didn’t vote on the attempt to blast the failed anti-discrimination legislation. Here is how Nathan expresses his intelligent discontent:

Adam Hertz is a coward who does not deserve to represent the wonderful community of Missoula. Do not forget this come election 2018. He did not even have the nerve to stand up for his values or his constituents. He just ran away. We don’t need cowards in government.

Unmentioned in this weak attack is how Hertz made a recent, non-cowardly attempt to support legislative efforts to abolish the death penalty in Montana. Like the time Adam saved Missoula from being sued by the ACLU after “progressive” Caitlin Copple tried to ban sitting on downtown sidewalks (a move that outraged her LGBTQ supporters), he used a fiscally conservative argument to support abolishing the death penalty.

Adam Hertz is someone who can reach across the aisle because he’s reasonable and he listens to people. With Democrats in the minority, Adam is someone who can be worked with, so it’s very unfortunate that the ID partisans have resorted to childish name calling.

I would have commented directly on this piece, but I am not able to post comments at ID, and Don Pogreba is a liar when he stated recently on Twitter that I am not banned. Like Trump, when I called him out, he just doubled down on his lies.

It’s sad that with so much losing of elections, partisan hacks can’t seem to figure out why they keep losing, and make the necessary adjustments. Attacking a reasonable conservative like Adam Hertz won’t do anything good for Democrats or Missoula.

Unfortunately I don’t think that reality will stop the tantrums. Sad!

by William Skink

Every now and then I check 4&20 Blackbirds just for the heck of it, and I’m glad I did today. A post a wrote back in June of 2015 received some new comments that I find quite interesting, but before I get to that, a little background.

I titled the original post with a question: a new shelter for Vets or an expensive scam? Multiple comments over the subsequent years seem to point to serious problems with this non-profit. Here are some examples:

Steve: I personally know that Jason Stevens left Omak, WA owing people money. He appears to be a man with big ideas and little follow-through. I have a $10,000 promissory note from him, which he has made no effort to repay. If he is involved, hold onto your wallet. I will be making a trip to Whitefish to look Jason up and try to collect on my debt. I am sure I am not the only one he left scammed in Washington.

Publius: As a former resident of glacier hope homes I can attest to the fact that Stevens requires disabled veterans to do labor that they are not physically able to do in order to pay for their housing. Also, when vets pay out of pocket for gasoline to shuttle vets to appointments they are not paid back. Vets also are required to pay in part for their food.

Washing Ton: Jason Stevens is not a “rags to riches” success story. This man has had umpteen businesses in Washington all of which ended up utter failures. His previous group home in Omak was utterly filthy and the two residents were not well cared for. It was a flop house for his family and a chronic alcoholic/drug user. The reason why he became “homeless” is because the man who rented the house out to him and invested in his business scams became enraged after Jason owed him over $10,000 and had no way to pay it. He then ran away to Montana to stay with his grandson’s ex girlfriend who was a single mother. During his “stay” he did attempt to find work because he was too busy concocting more business scams. He was told to leave after a few months and then began staying in the homeless shelters. He now has his grandson building cabins for him who is a convicted thief in Washington and still has three active warrants. He also has other troubled family members staying there and working with the residents. Although the idea for the program is fantastic, Jason is not an honest man and this business should be heavily scrutinized.

Angry vet 88: This program is a hoax. Jason Stevens and his grandson Michael Hicks are both using the veteran named to fill their pockets. I know this personally as I was involved with them for about six months recently until I saw the corruption first-hand. Neither one of these guys are veterans nor do they care about our veteran community. I have heard this expressed to me first-hand by Jason Stevens himself. I have listened to him complain about our veterans and threatened to turn the ranch into rental property for the profit of himself his family and his Rich private investors. As a superintendent out there I’ve personally witnessed finances being filtered through the grandson before it went to trades that earned the money. There was also a fish market that was going on to support the program which was ran into the ground by his grandson and profits not distributed throughout the program. If I had to guess and it would be an educated one. Every cent went into the boys pocket. Stolen Valor my friends.

I had read these comments previously, but they are not the reason I am writing this post. The reason I think renewed scrutiny should be directed at Glacier Hope Homes is a recent comment, posted February 10th, 2017, by “Social Media Support @ G.H.H.”.

I did a little digging at Glacier Hope Homes, and I think the comment posted a few weeks ago came from Janette Nelson, G.H.H.’s Social Media Manager. If you want to know a little more about Janette before reading her comment, here is the bio from Glacier Hope Home’s website:

Janette Nelson is married to Jonathan Leal, a Veteran. They have two dogs that are like children to them. Janette has completed two Degrees from Flathead Valley Community College (FVCC) – one in Culinary Arts and the other as a Patient Relation Specialist. Jonathan and Janette have lived in the Flathead Valley for 30 Years and are members of the American Legion in Columbia Falls. Ms. Nelson is new to supporting Glacier Hope Homes but cannot wait to help out wherever needed. She is currently working as Social Media Manager.

I wouldn’t take the step of providing this kind of information about Janette were it not for the following comment. If Glacier Hope Homes is actually providing appropriate, confidential services for Veterans, great. This comment (1 of 4, I should add), if it actually came from the Social Media Manager at G.H.H., is incredibly problematic. Here it is:

Social Media Support @ G.H.H.: Amidst a time of true controversy in this country, we don’t need people, mainly angry and disgruntled veterans who did not adhere to the programs standards, and were dismissed or voluntarily left because they needed to drug or drink. Most of the adversity towards Glacier Hope Homes is coming from recent ex donors, residents or a combination of them both.

Glacier Hope Homes has been visited by regulating authorities on regular basis. Not only are they providing an excellent service to the veterans who need it, but they are currently expanding to house more veterans as they plan to take this incredible model for homeless veterans National. The naysayers and outright liars in these comments are being politically and financially motivated by rogue entities who wish nothing better than to cause mayhem within the Glacier Hope Homes Organization. A 501(c)3 Nonprofit organization.

The aforementioned individuals have done nothing to help America’s Homeless Veterans. While our Board Members vote on everything that goes on and Jason Stevens is constantly being criticized for living like a King while the Veterans pay for his lifestyle is the most outrageous and irresponsible outlook on this Organization.

Many of the aforementioned are mentally ill in one capacity or another and they make up the wildest stories about the on goings and operations at G.H.H., a standalone veteran’s shelter which does a tremendous service to the community by taking in Homeless Veterans. Housing,Feeding, Mental Health Professionals are on board, Staff in many capacities to include but not limited to are: Volunteers, Mental Health professionals,Marketing and Sales Professionals, Social Media staff, Equine and Farm Care. Some of these positions are filled by qualified veterans, that live on the nearly self sufficient 30 acre Farm in Columbia Falls.

We invite any guest to our property to see for themselves what goes on here. Each of them leaves not only pleasantly surprised, but also asking how they can contribute.

The 30 Acre Ranch has Horses,Cows,Chickens,Ducks,Turkeys and very happy,. very well cared for Veterans who need our services.
Posting this kind of pessimistic, negative press about people that are doing so much and have such good intentions for each veteran charged to our care is despicable.

You’re nothing but a bunch of psychotic,druggie,alcoholic disgruntled and discharged veterans and bad businessmen who had ill intentions for your donations to our organization and lack of control of our daily organizational functions. That’s what we have Board Members for. That’s what we have a staff for. Our donors who have gone rogue on us in the past, have no say, nor any authority to determine, who we house or hire onto our staff.
So, since this Blog began in 2015, it is now 2 years later, and GlacierHopeHomes.Org is still here. We are getting better and better at what we do, with each passing day.

And with a little less negativity, we should be able to accomplish our goals.
Now, go back and hide under a rock somewhere. Shame on you! You’ve none nothing to deal with these veterans on a daily basis.

And just to clear the air, our veterans live here and are cared for for nearly free. Those that are on SSI, Disability or has a source of income are asked to pay $80.00 per month towards their food costs. That is It! That $80.00 per month is nowhere near the actual cost that it takes to facilitate the needs of the veterans charged to our care. Resort? This is not Disneyland. But what is wrong with providing clean,safe housing to America’s veterans. That is one of the distinguishable factors that sets G.H.H. apart from the typical homeless shelters around the country. That is the design of our Mission and our Vision. To have Veterans Present,Past and Future living in par standard society, while working on their goals, living out their dreams and reconvening a normal life in the United States of America!

But our adversaries would rather they live in dumps and roach and pest infested housing and discarded to the side as misfits!

What is wrong with providing upper scale housing to America’s Veterans? They deserve it! They don’t need more of the same old poor treatment, low standard,low quality, low wages and alienation!

They have room to grow here. They are treated with dignity and respect. They come and go when they please. If they don’t have transportation, we provide it for them. We’re not running any kind of Scam here folks.

Currently, with the loss of one of our donors, it has been a setback. But we are resilient,resourceful and determined to make the Mission and the Vision a success.

So again, you are welcomed to come out and tour our place anytime you’d like. We’re sure you’ll be pleased with what you see currently going on.
The new construction in phase 2 is a little shy of completion. We are asking the public and corporate sectors for contributions to help us with construction costs and labor.

Thank you

Our GoFundMe account is:
https://www.gofundme.com/GlacierHopeHomes

In Phase 3 G.H.H. has plans to build even further on the farm to house as many as 500 more homeless veterans from around Montana and the Nation.

If you have no positive words or contributions about G.H.H. on the internet, Shut your Mouth! You are only hurting veterans who do need our services,support and Love.

A few suggestions. If this comment is from paid staff at Glacier Hope Homes, that staff should be fired immediately. This person is either under the influence of something, or completely incompetent. I would also suggest maybe a reporter or veterans advocacy group look into this non-profit. The accusations are anonymous, but they claim first-had knowledge.

I would not have caught this original story had it not been for a tweet from @Lgpguin almost 2 years ago, so thank you for being curious about this initial story, “Missoula, mostly”. And I would not be writing this now were it not for some incredibly unprofessional commentary from someone allegedly involved with this organization. So thank you, whoever you are. I’m so intrigued I’m going to be making a few calls tomorrow. Stay tuned…