Month: March 2017

by William Skink

How corrupt is Missoula? And how entitled are government functionaries with our tax dollars?

There have been a few interesting stories coming from local media, like NBC Montana’s examination of Missoula officials credit card expenditures. While nothing outlandish was uncovered, the optics of thousands of dollars in lunch meetings and other questionable purchases, like expensive sports sandals, aren’t good.

Slightly more concerning is the recent disclosure that Missoula’s Sheriff, TJ McDermott, is a silent partner in his undersheriff’s purchase of Montana Electronics, a company that does thousands of dollars of business with Missoula County.

Here is the money quote from McDermott:

“I really don’t think you have a story here,” McDermott said Friday. “I am entitled to make any venture I want.”

With painful budget cuts coming, elected leaders, like Sheriff McDermott, should understand that the concern over conflicts of interest absolutely makes his “silent” partnership in a business that DOES business with the County a story local media should be telling.

And, with painful budget cuts coming, any city official with a credit card better figure out that most taxpayers don’t get to charge a couple hundred dollars on the company credit card for a lunch meeting, so maybe show a little more sensitivity to the taxpayers you are suckling off of.

For local media, there’s blood in the water. I expect more stories to come out because I bet they are getting views and clicks on these stories.

And for any prospective political opponent, the opportunity should be clear: if you say read my lips, no new bonds, you could probably become the next Mayor of Missoula.

by William Skink

The latest reason to gnash one’s teeth if you are hoping Democrats can avert their cataclysmic tailspin is Amanda Curtis losing to Cowboy Quist for a chance to win a Congressional seat. I was told by a commenter more involved in this stuff than I am that this head-to-head showdown represents generational tension in the Montana Democratic ranks.

I know a lot of people care deeply about this election because they are looking for any glimmer of hope that their future isn’t consigned to right-wing fascist dystopia, but I just can’t get all gung-ho to support a party that is supporting a slow-motion coup against an elected president.

The latest controversy instigated via Twitter is Trump’s accusation that Obama ordered his tower tapped. Once again hysteria over what, at first glance, appears absurd, is distracting from the very real moves Obama made to free-up the the IC (Intelligence Community) to share information:

WITH ONLY DAYS until Donald Trump takes office, the Obama administration on Thursday announced new rules that will let the NSA share vast amounts of private data gathered without warrant, court orders or congressional authorization with 16 other agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Department of Homeland Security.

The new rules allow employees doing intelligence work for those agencies to sift through raw data collected under a broad, Reagan-era executive order that gives the NSA virtually unlimited authority to intercept communications abroad. Previously, NSA analysts would filter out information they deemed irrelevant and mask the names of innocent Americans before passing it along.

The anti-Russian obsession Democrats have is dangerous, and unlike Voodoo economics, it actually does trickle down to local partisans, like Nathan Kosted who posted another steaming pile at ID, titled Daines and Jeff Sessions: Moscow Love Affair:

Senator Daines is thrilled that Jeff Sessions is Attorney General.

Montanans and Americans who do not like Russian intrusion from Vladimir Putin into our elections, executive branch and governmental decision-making process probably disagree with Senator Daines.

Jeff Sessions had meetings with Russian officials, ambassadors, spies possibly and then lied about under oath at his confirmation hearing for Attorney General. This is perjury and he has recused himself from investigations into Trumps’ campaign about ties to Russians interfering in our elections.

The question is, does Daines stand with America and Montana or Russia and Sessions?

I know it seems like this Russia gambit is going to get loser Democrats a foothold back to power, but is it worth making a deal with the devil–and by devil I mean the treasonous bastards in the IC who think they can keep pulling their shadowy strings since most politicians don’t want to be assassinated like JFK?

Another Montana Democrat who likes to out-hawk Republicans but in a totally progressive way is COMBAT VETERAN Josh Manning. A recent example is Manning’s post at Cowboygirl about Trump failing his first national security test.

This failure is the infamous Yemen raid that resulted in one dead American and lots of innocent people Manning doesn’t refer to at all. Also missing is any justification for America’s role in supporting this horrific war. Instead, Manning uses statements made by Trump to take a position like this:

I am not a total hawk. I do not believe the military is a hammer that needs to hit every nail, screw, or whatever else is presented to it. But I do believe in the use of our forces as a scalpel and especially the use of those who are trained to do the elite work in a rapid and clean way that can affect real change. I have seen this up close and the success that can come if this used in the right way.

For me, the most chilling word in this statement is “clean” and it’s also the most instructive.

The insidious success of Obama’s neoliberal foreign policy is precisely what Manning is defending: using “cleaner” methods of killing to achieve essentially the same things as the clunky occupiers of the Bush regime were trying to achieve.

Now, with literal blood in the water, a cheerleader of drone strikes and clandestine death-dealing comes forward to rally Democrats around some progressive war porn.

No thank you.

As long as Democrats continue promoting increased tensions with a nuclear armed country, I will not give them a scratch from my proverbial pencil come election time.

by William Skink

The state of Israel is a magical state. Its influence on American politics transforms commonly held values upside down.

Republicans are thought of as pro-business and anti-regulation. They don’t like government interfering in the free-flow of capital. Right? Well, not when a nasty boycott against the apartheid state of Israel is involved. The BDS movement inspired Montana Republicans to temporarily suspend their pro-business posturing to try and do this:

Republican House Speaker Austin Knudsen of Culbertson said his bill allows Montana to stand in solidarity with Israel. His bill “sends the message that we will not send our taxpayer dollars to companies which chose to participate in the boycotting and sanctioning of one of our nation’s strongest allies,” Knudson said.

The bill would direct the Montana Board of Investments to sever ties with companies supporting a pro-Palestinian movement to boycott Israel. It would also bar public agencies — including counties, cities and towns — from doing businesses with companies that don’t agree to certify in writing that they are not engaged in a boycott of Israel.

On the other side of the aisle, Democrats like to oppose racism. They don’t like racists and think pretty much anyone who doesn’t agree with their concept of diversity are racists. Right? Enter the state of Israel and its billionaire supporters, like Haim Saban. When a Democrat trying to get a position of leadership with the party even acknowledges Palestinians are humans, it’s a problem that needs to be taken care of:

ZAID JILANI: Yeah, well, it’s really interesting. Keith Ellison started out very strong in this race. He received endorsements not only from Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but also from Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, from a wide variety of labor unions. I mean, in a way, he really was the unity candidate in that he had brought together Sanders backers and Clinton backers.

But as the campaign developed, we started to see more and more negative hits pop up in the media. We saw one of the largest donors of the Democratic Party, entertainment tycoon Haim Saban, who’s an Israeli-American businessman, come out and say that he’s an anti-Semite, say that he’s anti-Israel. The Anti-Defamation League called on Keith Ellison to be disqualified. The night before the vote, delegates were getting emails from the American Jewish Congress saying that, you know, Keith will be really bad for the U.S.-Israel relationship and that he shouldn’t be confirmed.

There was a widespread sort of smear campaign targeting Keith Ellison for his view about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is actually quite moderate. You know, he believes in a secure Israel. He’s voted for aid to Israel most of the time. But he also believes in rights for Palestinians. He opposes the blockade on Gaza. He opposes the settlement construction. And he’s been vocal about that. And he’s talked to both sides, and he’s been very close to both the American Jewish community and the American Muslim community.

So, in conclusion, when it comes to Israel, Democrats support racism and Republicans support anti-business regulation. Weird. Also, disgusting.

Here’s what I think about it:

by William Skink

I want to provide an update on this post about Glacier Hope Homes, a non-profit that claims to help homeless Veterans.

I can’t get too specific about who I talked to, because I wasn’t wearing my blogger hat when they agreed to talk to me, but I will say I talked to two people who work with Veterans in the Flathead Valley, and they both think there is something more going on than just disgruntled Vets complaining about a service provider.

The first person I talked to said she would not refer a Vet to Glacier Hope Homes unless the situation was dire enough that the Vet faced potential death, like sleeping outside in -20 degree weather. That person told me a national organization that works with Vets stopped referring to them as well. She did some digging of her own, and said there is a funder from Great Falls that brings up some red flags.

The other person I talked to said he took the complaints as he would any complaint about another service provider, with a grain of salt. Anyone working in social services understands there is always a percentage of the people you serve who will not be happy. But with Glacier Hope Homes, he said, from his perspective it became more than just the normal percentage of unhappy customers making complaints.

I made sure to let both the people I talked to know about the recent comments that suddenly appeared last month at 4&20 Blackbirds. I emphasized that this rash of commentary allegedly comes from someone who works for Glacier Hope Homes. You can find the whole rant at the first link, but here’s a taste:

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.

It’s language like this that makes me hope some serious scrutiny gets directed at Glacier Hope Homes. I am in contact with one of the commenters at the original post at 4&20 Blackbirds, but if anyone else wants to contact me, hit me up here: willskink at yahoo dot com.

I know the Missoulian can’t cover a story like this, especially after getting Gulledged by an editorial move that cuts more staff and reduces the capacity to create local content, but I would think some journalist out there may be interested in looking into this.

Did I mention Steve Daines made an appearance at Glacier Hope Homes in August of 2015?