Month: December 2017

by William Skink

As we head into 2018 Montanans are faced with two competing narratives for the state of our state. The narrative coming from the Governor’s office is one of delusional optimism because Steve Bullock wants to look good as he grooms himself for higher office. The other narrative can be pieced together from the stories beginning to come out about what the impacts of the budget crisis will mean for those experiencing the fear and uncertainty of lost services and support:

AWARE Inc., a large private provider of mental health and disability services to more than 3,000 individuals and families statewide with about 1,000 employees, shut down its office and two group homes in Kalispell this fall, eliminating 20 jobs and displacing at-risk children to other residential facilities and providers, although many families are still without services.

On the heels of those downsizing efforts, WMMHC, AWARE and other agencies are still facing additional cuts emanating from the regular legislative session and a special session convened in November to address the state’s budget crisis, caused by lower-than-expected revenues and exacerbated by a costly wildfire season.

Daly said she is “waiting with bated breath” to see what the forthcoming cuts look like in their final form as the governor’s office works out the finer details.

“We’re still waiting for the second shoe to drop as it relates to the governor’s cuts,” Daly said.

As Steve Bullock blows sunshine out of his ass, the reality is we still don’t know how bad these cuts will be. Here is another story, this one from the Missoulian:

An estimated 2,100 Montanans who have developmental disabilities will no longer be able to get targeted case management services from four existing providers statewide starting this spring.

The reduction in services, a product of state budget cuts, also means the loss of more than 70 jobs across the four organizations.

State officials have told the organizations the state will absorb some of the workload after the cuts, but no one was available Wednesday to describe how that would work.

Even positive development for some—like a booming economy in Bozeman—means increased struggles for others, like the rapidly increasing homeless population that can’t afford the skyrocketing cost of housing. MTPR has that story, which includes one young man’s account of working full time at $12 dollars an hour and still not being able to afford a place to live:

Shawn Christy is standing near some lockers, wearing a goatee and stocking cap. He’s been a guest here for more than a month. I ask him why he’s here tonight.

“Just because I don’t have to pay anything to be here,” Christy says.

Like a lot of guests at The Warming Center, Christy has a job but no home. He works full-time as a dishwasher making $12 an hour and says Bozeman is an pricey place to live.

“Even to get a low-end place would be like half a month’s work for me,” Christy says. “Between clothes and food there’s not a lot of room for housing.”

Over the past six years, the cost of a house in Gallatin County has risen by more than 50 percent while wages have remained relatively stagnant. This means many working people can’t afford a place to live and an increasing number end up homeless.

Montana will be experiencing further economic woes thanks to the disastrous tax cut legislation pushed through to conclude a disastrous year, creating an estimated 60-70 million dollar budget shortfall. Will it get bad enough for enough people to wake up to the class war being waged against them?

Life under this American Kakocracy will continue to deteriorate in 2018. If you don’t know what a Kakocracy is, I made a little video of my artistic interpretation of the term. Happy New Year.

by William Skink

If you haven’t seen The Last Jedi, this will have some spoilers. I saw it last weekend. My oldest loved it, a new generation hooked. I found value in one particular scene.

Before getting to the scene I’d like to take a look at a laughable review from The Intercept proclaiming this iteration of Star Wars has taken a side in the class war. Where the first two batches of films feature princesses, politicians and other elite insiders, The Last Jedi is opening up a space for the proletariat. Yes, the review actually uses that word. Here’s more:

What “The Last Jedi” advises is a radical break from resistance as we know it: abandoning old tactics and loyalties and handing the keys — or at least more of them — over to the grassroots: the mechanics, the child laborers, the Ewoks, and the rebel foot-soldiers. The resistance of the “Star Wars” films has never been particularly visionary, operating as a kind of top-down, underground rebellion looking to reconstitute the New Republic of the prequels. Its biggest heroes have been messiah figures, princesses, and the so-called great men.

The biggest heroes of “The Last Jedi,” by contrast, are the proletariat — working stiffs who’ve gotten the short shrift throughout the franchise. They’re also mostly women, and many are people of color — not unlike the makeup of the American working-class. Rebel Admiral Leia Organa stays true to her roots as a class traitor and longtime consort to rebel scum: staying the course and boosting morale in the darkest of times, while occasionally pulling out some crazy impressive force powers for the greater good. When hotshot resistance pilot Poe Dameron flies off the handle seeking glory, Leia brings him down to earth via a well-placed blaster shot.

Shouldn’t I be elated that Star Wars is taking a side in the class war? Sure, if the suspension of disbelief worked as intended, I could sit joyfully in the movie theater basking in the warm feeling that mechanics and foot soldiers have bigger roles this time in the Star Wars franchise. But that’s just it, Star Wars is a money making beast. Diversifying the color and gender and caste of the cast is good business for the franchise.

I wish I could have just enjoyed the flick, but everything is so politicized these days that nothing escapes it. Even the source of this review–The Intercept–has a direct link to the billionaire class buying up media via Pierre Omidyar. I was reminded of that fact after reading a very interesting post at Moon of Alabama, titled From Snowden to Russia-gate – The CIA And The Media.

But this isn’t about the information wars being waged by tech-spooks and state thugs. It’s about Star Wars and what one can take away from the film.

Before getting to what I got from the film, here’s another excerpt from The Intercept review:

You don’t need an encyclopedic knowledge of a galaxy far, far away to understand that today’s resistance needs fresh blood: new fighters and new strategies, but a new vision as well. Reconstituting the New Republic — the Obama era, in our case — can only stave off the Sith for so long before recreating the same flaws that let the Empire take power the first time around. The Rebellion needs to be reborn nearly wholesale to win anything but pyrrhic victories.

As self-styled #Resistance members are lifting up America’s political dynasties as the best hope to save us from Trump, knocking the Skywalkers’s importance down a peg in the “Star Wars” franchise lands close to home amid calls for “generic” Democratic candidates and liberal pining for the Obama years. All the consultants and name recognition in the world couldn’t win the 2016 election for the Democrats — and in all likelihood probably hurt their cause. If “The Last Jedi” has a political takeaway, it’s for political revolution and a bottom-up transformation of not just who’s in power, but who gets to decide how that revolution happens.

So who gets to decide how that revolution happens?

The scene I consider the most important and insightful part of The Last Jedi takes place after the foot soldier and the mechanic make their get away from the casino planet with the codebreaker. While rifling through the ship the codebreaker brings up a hologram inventory of weapon systems, surmising the ship they have stolen must belong to a weapons manufacturer.

The audience sees a TIE Fighter, a Scout Walker, then…an X-Wing. I wonder why this scene wasn’t mentioned in the review? Maybe highlighting how real power doesn’t pick sides when it comes to fights between Imperialists and rebel scum isn’t in the interest of the billionaire who created The Intercept.

To draw a political parallel, it also wasn’t in the interest of Bernie Sanders supporters to make too big a fuss over the blatant hypocrisy of his support for the trillion dollar disaster known as the F-35:

Sen. Bernie Sanders has railed against big defense corporations at rallies, but he has a more complex history with the military-industrial complex. Most notably, he’s supported a $1.2 trillion stealth fighter that’s considered by many to be one of the bigger boondoggles in Pentagon history.

It’s worth asking again: who gets to decide how our revolution happens?

by William Skink

When thinking about the very serious problems with media in this country I think in terms of information warfare. When a Montana partisan thinks about problems with media it’s more about perceived disparities between how his party’s candidates are covered as compared to the other party.

After a Twitter tantrum that resulted in at least one Montana journalist blocked, Don Pogreba penned this polemic. Here’s an excerpt:

I’m not a journalist, but if we expect the public to be informed about the issues, we need to abandon the idea that it’s objective, accurate reporting merely to convey competing quotes from two sides on an issue and let the readers sort out what’s actually true. While newspapers do not shoulder the majority of the blame for the fact that Americans seem to live in two distinct realities depending on their political affiliation, the practice of letting dueling quotes pass as objectivity certainly doesn’t do anything to help bridge those gaps.

I’d love to live in a world where blogs weren’t necessary to complete the picture when it comes to local and state governance, politics, and education. But we don’t live in that world. As appreciative as I am of the excellent journalism that is being practiced every day in this country, every story about “adventure cats” is another story that needs to be tackled by someone else, and I’m thankful for the bloggers out there who try to fill that void just a little bit and readers who are passionate enough to spend a little bit of their day reading the work they produce.

What makes this whole polemic so disingenuous is that Pogreba is not a defender of blogs, and I’m not just talking about this blog and 4&20 Blackbirds, which was shuttered NOT because of web traffic but because Jay Stevens didn’t like how I criticized Democrats.

With the election of Donald Trump, the information war has greatly escalated. Was Pogreba worried about the state of blogging when the Washington Post used an anonymous website to attack “useful idiots” like Pulitzer Prize winner Chris Hedges? No, Pogreba doesn’t seem to have a problem with the new McCarthyism that has sprung up to tar and feather anyone who doesn’t go along with the narrative meant to discredit the president.

How about NPR’s hit piece on Lee Camp? Of course not, Camp’s Redacted Tonight is featured on RT America, and thanks to the new McCarthyism, RT has been effectively demonized along with Russia.

The corporate media consolidation that’s been going on for decades is why there is a need for blogs and alternative news sites. But this corporate media landscape can’t be full explained by a partisan because the truth includes Democrat complicity, like the Telecommunication Act Bill Clinton pushed through under his neoliberal regime in the 90’s.

Even destroying Net Neutrality can’t be wholly placed at the feet of the GOP. Despite Democrats gnashing their teeth, it took a few Democrats like Jon Tester to confirm the former Verizon lawyer to the FCC. What did Tester expect this guy to do? Either Tester was ignorant of what would happen, or complicit. Either way, you won’t hear the Montana Post (rebranded to sound like an official news site) make any noise about this vote because re-electing Tester is more important than pointing out Tester’s role in making the media landscape even more compromised and inaccessible to people who won’t be able to afford the profits that will be extracted for access.

Partisan bloggers like Don Pogreba are not interested in how far gone corporate media has become. If they were, the outrage wouldn’t be relegated to things like how Tom Lutey was a meanie reporter to Rob Quist.

The range of voices expressing criticism will continue to shorten as more corporate control is exerted over how information is disseminated. To truly be an ally in this fight, partisans need to put aside their partisanship and acknowledge that the new McCarthyism is a threat to anyone who values truth and understanding in a world rife with deception and corporate control.

by William Skink

The painful consequences of the budget crisis are starting to be felt. Over 200 clients who get case management support from the Western Montana Mental Health Center are losing that support. Case Managers got their notices last week and now the scramble is on to transition clients to some other agency for support—that is, if other agencies are able to take on more clients. Then there’s the cut to dental services which will greatly impact the health of elderly Montanans who can’t fork out thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for dentures. I guess they can just puree their food and suck meatloaf through a straw.

What is the response of the political leadership in Missoula? Last night, at the weekly City Council meeting, the focus wasn’t on how budget cuts are impacting the poor and vulnerable in our community. Instead the focus was on strengthening ordinances on “urban camping” because apparently 1% of people who live in RVs are so maddeningly non-compliant a stronger law is needed. I am still unclear how this change is supposed to help law enforcement deal with a few trouble makers, but City Council was unanimously convinced it’s needed.

Checking the Missoulian there has been no reporting yet on the cuts and the resulting protest that occurred Monday. Montana Public Radio has been, as far as I can tell, the only traditional media outlet so far reporting on this. In the blogosphere, the Montana Post has brought some attention, but only to bash Montana Republicans. What the Montana Post won’t talk about is how the main focus for Montana Dems will be getting Tester reelected. Winning State Legislative seats will not be a priority. The money is for Jon to keep his Senate seat.

While Democrats act on their priorities, desperate people will also be acting on theirs, as reported by MTPR:

Saying the layoffs could devastate some of western Montana’s most vulnerable people, about 20 mental health care workers, their supporters and even a few clients picketed the Missoula-based Western Montana Mental Health Center early Monday morning.

Rehab aide, Lisa Leon, predicts the layoffs will lead to more mentally ill people winding up on the streets, in hospitals, or in jail. Since Thursday’s announced layoffs, Leon says one client tried to commit suicide.

“Thankfully he wasn’t successful. I’m sorry, but if any of them are successful, the blood is on Western Montana’s hands and Governor Bullock and the Legislature. They were messing around with people’s lives. I don’t think they understand how many people they’re affecting with these cuts,” Leon says.

I couldn’t agree more.

One of the only ways to help the people currently being hurt by these cuts is for Democrats to take back the State Legislature, but that is not going to happen any time soon. Re-electing Jon Tester will be the main priority next year, not recruiting, cultivating and financially supporting Democrats to win State seats.

But what about the Blue Bench Project, you ask? Isn’t that a grassroots effort to get more people involved at the State level? That’s what they say, but Logicosity isn’t buying it and neither am I.

The pain people are experiencing will be used by Democrats for fundraising, but where will that money go? Ad-buys to bash Republicans? Out-of-state strategists? Payroll? The past is probably a good indicator of how Democrats will continue to operate because no one has really been held accountable for their continued electoral failure. So if the same people are still running the show, why should we expect anything different?

Cutting case managers and dental services is just the beginning. More cuts will come. And at a time when we need a viable opposition party what do we get? Bullshit schemes and partisan finger pointing.

by William Skink

For the first time in years the homeless population is rising. Homelessness on the west coast is a big part of this nationwide bump.

Once the heart of hippiedom, San Francisco is now showing some disturbing signs of a possible dystopian, techno-fascist future. Sound extreme? How about using robots to keep homeless people away from an animal shelter?

For the SPCA, the security robot, which they’ve dubbed K9, was a way to try dealing with the growing number of needles, car break-ins and crime that seemed to emanate from nearby tent encampments of homeless people along the sidewalks.

“We weren’t able to use the sidewalks at all when there’s needles and tents and bikes, so from a walking standpoint I find the robot much easier to navigate than an encampment,” Jennifer Scarlett, the S.F. SPCA’s president, told the Business Times.

Once the SPCA started using the robot on the sidewalks around its campus in early November, Scarlett said, there were no more homeless encampments. There were also fewer break-ins to cars in the campus parking lot. It’s not clear that the robot was the cause of the decreases, Scarlett added, but they were correlated.

The city is moving to stop these robots from patrolling public right of ways. I say don’t deny this technological solution, San Francisco. Program “K9” to chase these pests all the way to the hinterlands. Maybe the fires will provide the final solution.

The ultimate irony is the booming tech-sector is playing a big role in driving up the cost of housing, which–surprise, surprise–makes more homeless people! Crazy, I know.

Too bad all that brain power and rapidly evolving technological advancements can’t stop the rentier class from draining the benefits of increased productivity.