Month: August 2018

by William Skink

The power of corporate media has been on full display with the passing of John McCain. Nothing as crass as McCain’s use of the word gook or his gleeful championing of interventionist wars will stop outlets, like NPR, from framing John McCain as a lionized war hero and benevolent Senator who represents the good old days of bipartisanship, when buddies like Joe and John could sit together on the floor of the Senate:

Biden lamented the decline of bipartisanship in the Senate. He pinned the decline back to a moment in 1996. Up until then, he said, he and McCain would often sit next to each other during floor fights while issues were debated, either Biden going over to the Republican side or McCain venturing over to him.

One day, though, Biden said, McCain and Biden were each approached separately by leaders of their respective caucuses, who told them to stop sitting with each other because “it didn’t look good.”

Biden said that kind of attitude makes it “impossible to reach consensus.” He added that today, people in both parties are busy attacking each other’s motives rather than the the substance of their arguments.

NPR even interviewed Mikheil Saakashvili, the man responsible for instigating a military conflict with Russia in 2008 after his country, Georgia, attacked South Ossetia, killing Russian peace keepers. This “liberal” media outlet allows Saakachvili to fondly reminisce about McCain’s involvement in Georgia before his stupid decision to attack South Ossetia:

GREENE: Well, you say there are a lot of memories. Can you tell me about one that maybe speaks to John McCain the man and not necessarily the politician?

SAAKASHVILI: Yes. Well, in 2006 he came to see us in Georgia, and he went to a separatist enclave. And when he was leaving from there on a helicopter, they actually shot from a grenade launcher at his helicopter. And it was a narrow miss. And people from the embassy were insisting to stop the visit instantly and go back to the capital. Instead, he persevered to fly all the way to remote mountains. We met locals there. Basically – he danced with them despite the stress he had just endured. And then we went all the way to the Black Sea. That’s another one-hour helicopter ride. And he went into a very big waves of Black Sea with the jet ski. And so we ended up at, like, 3 a.m. on a Ferris wheel on the boulevard there. And then he told me a story on that Ferris wheel which I will always remember. He told me, look, I would rather be living now in the ’20s and ’30s being together with Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway in Paris. And he told me that they had such a great life.

GREENE: So this is all on the same day, he almost…

SAAKASHVILI: Yes.

GREENE: …His helicopter’s getting shot at, and then he’s dancing to folk music within hours and then on a Ferris wheel with you on the Black Sea coast telling you how he wishes he lived in Paris in the ’20s.

SAAKASHVILI: Yes.

GREENE: What does that say about John McCain?

SAAKASHVILI: That says that he was anything but a regular guy. He was genuine. He was real.

The world is a better place with John McCain dead. The victims of his warmongering are more deserving of being remembered than he is.

by William Skink

Managing information has always been a part of waging war. People don’t naturally form large groups of armed human beings to slaughter other armed human beings without a compelling reason. Usually this entails narratives we’ve been indoctrinated to accept since birth.

War is now a constant aspect of modern life. This was accomplished by shifting wars from state violence directed at tangible targets–like tribes and nations–to intangible targets, like terrorism and drug use. To accomplish this domestic populations are kept in an information haze of propaganda intended to stoke fear and maintain the acceptable boundaries of discourse.

These boundaries appeared to be obliterated with the introduction of the World Wide Web. The champions of this great democratizing force were unperturbed that this paradigm shift in information creation/consumption had a military origin story and class access issues from the very beginning.

Who can afford the technology? Who makes the technology? Where are the raw materials mined? Who makes the money? Who controls the acceptable boundaries of discourse?

That last question is at the core of information warfare. Caitlin Johnstone has been making this point explicitly since June, using the Joy Reid controversy as a leaping off point in a post titled Whoever Controls The Narrative Controls The World.

Johnstone examines the seemingly odd defense of Joy Reid after her bigoted views were exposed by the trusty way-back machine. Reid’s pathetic attempt to dodge accountability would have necessitated the existence of time-traveling hackers. As absurd as this controversy was it exposed, according to Johnstone, why Joy Reid is still a valued asset of the corporate media behemoth she shills for:

While it’s easy to find someone you can count on to advance one particular lie at one particular time, it is difficult to find someone you can be absolutely certain will lie for you day after day, year after year, through election cycles and administration changes and new war agendas and changing political climates. A lot of the people who used to advance perspectives which ran against the grain of the political orthodoxy at MSNBC like Phil Donahue, Ed Schultz and Dylan Ratigan have vanished from the airwaves never to return, while reporters who consistently keep their heads down and toe the line for the Democratic establishment like Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow and Joy Reid are richly rewarded and encouraged to remain.

The disempowered want change; those in power want predictability and consistency. The more you can guarantee predictability and consistency to those in power, the more those in power will reward you.

Those who report the news and shape public narratives are of particular interest to US oligarchs, who bought up the old media long ago and are doing everything in their power to secure influence over the new media as well. Pundits like Joy Reid are some of their most valuable assets, and they protect those assets accordingly. Because whoever controls the narrative controls the world.

In Missoula, the predictable gobbling up of the Indy by the callous corporate beast, Lee Enterprises (thanks to corporate sell-out POS Matt Gibson), and the pro-active reaction by the dwindled staff to unionize, has led to a stand-off that could shutter the Missoula Indy for good.

The staff at the Indy are appealing directly to the Missoula community for support. This could be letters to the editor of the Missoulian arm of Lee, or re-upping ad buys.

I’m not sure how helpful us bloggers can be for the Indy staff because we are a part of the problem. Over at Intelligent Discontent–sorry, I mean The Montana Post–Pete Talbot has a post about supporting the Missoula Independent. One thing they can do at their blog that re-branded itself to better resemble traditional media is stop pretending to be something they are not.

At the bottom of every post by The Montana Post there is an appeal for donations that reads like this:

If you appreciate our efforts to hold Montana Republicans accountable and the independent journalism here at The Montana Post, please consider supporting our work with a small pledge. (emphasis added)

I don’t pretend to be a journalist, and I don’t think bloggers that are obvious partisans holding ONLY Republicans accountable and ignoring their team’s transgressions should claim to be practicing journalism as well.

It’s not just bloggers pretending to be journalists that is a problem, it’s the negative pressure on financial compensation that unpaid/under-paid content creators have put on free-lance journalists actually trying to make a living telling the stories corporate media ignores/suppresses. In that regard I am a part of the problem as well.

I hope the Indy is not permanently shuttered by their corporate parent company. Like I said last April after the decision to unionize was made public, I’ve been a reader of the Indy for 18 years and look forward to Thursdays every week.

I also want to give a specific thank you to Susan Shepard, the Indy reporter who helped bring attention to the problems going down at Glacier Hope Homes. Despite being a little miffed (damn bruised ego) about my blogging efforts to bring attention to this scammer in the Flathead being mostly absent from the story, the result is what I was hoping for: shine a light and parasites will scurry for cover.

The capacity to shine an honest light is needed now more than ever. If we don’t protect that capacity then the narratives that serve the oligarchs and plutocrats and technocrats will entrench themselves in the coming generations already too coddled and indoctrinated to think critically about the national fairytales they are being told.

Is it too late to save the Indy from its corporate fate? I don’t know, but it’s worth trying. While the Missoulian is bad enough, its lone competition–the Missoula Current–is rapidly becoming a parroting, pro-development online rag not very distinguishable from its corporate competitor.

Who will push back against the dominant local narratives promoting gentrification as Missoula tries to become a little in-land silicon valley? The Montana Post won’t tell that story as long as local Democrats are running the show, and a self-interested blogger auditioning for the state GOP will only complain about it as it impacts his own sad little disenfranchised life.

Losing the Indy means losing more capacity to counter the corporate narratives intended to keep us divided and easily conquerable. If this battle is lost the one guarantee is that war will go on.

And on, and on…

by William Skink

I had this post cued up before leaving town and forgot to publish it. In light of the media blitz of over 300 op-eds reacting to Trump’s allegedly unique threat to I wanted to show one sad extreme from someone eho should know better, James Risen.

here’s the post:

James Risen thinks the media needs to stop Hitler. I mean, Trump. James Risen doesn’t think the media has done enough so far to stop Hitler. I mean, Trump. James Risen also believes in the fairytale that we have a free press and that Hitler—I mean, Trump—represents a unique threat to his fairytale depiction of corporate media:

…it is a mistake to see Trump as just another White House occupant following in a long tradition of presidential press-bashing. While the present-day U.S. is not Weimar Germany, Trump is not Hitler, and his incompetent administration has not come close to consolidating power in the way the Nazis did, Trump is nonetheless a dangerous demagogue who deploys some of the same tactics that Hitler did, and he has already gone further to attack the democratic institution of a free press than his predecessors did. He is seeking nothing less than the destruction of the legitimacy of the American press.

I’m not sure how Donald Trump is going to destroy something that doesn’t exist. The “American Press” has already done the lion’s share of destroying their own legitimacy in countless ways. And there’s a body count, like the 40 children that were blown up by US-backed forces in Yemen. I guess our legitimate American press is too busy reporting on the very important Omarosa tapes to bother reporting on what our Saudi pals do with the Lockheed toys they buy.

I’m not the only one not rising to Risen’s call to action. Here are some of my favorite comments from his “article”:

Wait_Wut:

This hypocrisy is astounding! 99% of the media, including Risen, continues to propagate lies upon lies to distract us from the dangerous truths, which, if ever widespread enough to awaken the populace, would result in a massive rebellion against our MIC and plutocrat overlords as well as their career politician and MSM lackeys. Anyone voicing the contrary is immediately shutdown, yet we’re supposed to sympathize with these shills’ hurt feelings when Trump tweets mean things their way.

Trailgrub:

Jim, I’ve referenced, outlined, and notated the framework that you’ve omitted. The question you need to be asking is, how come we have such a broken and dysfunctional mainstream news media? l’m begging you, The Intercept, Glenn and Jeremy: Please come clean and tell the truth about mainstream media. Tell us what’s happened in the past 25 years! That means to first report the story about the corporate takeover and concentrated ownership that we have today of newspapers, TV stations, radio stations, cable TV, web site properties, and internet pipelines in the U.S.A. How did we get here?

Photosymbiosis:

The last thing either corporate Democrats or Republicans – or the corporate media – want to talk about are the actual issues – for example, what about the crumbling infrastructure around the country? That’s gone right off the radar, as soon as they realized how much it will cost to fix; it would need an FDR-scale New Deal public works program to do it, and that would necessitate a hefty cut in the military-industrial complex and increased taxes on corporations and billionaires, to generate the revenue needed for bridges, roads, sewer and water treatment facilities, better power grids, etc. etc. – they don’t want to see their Wall Street profits impacted by such a change in government priorities, and that’s who finances the corporate Democrats and the Republicans. I mean, why hasn’t the press gone after Trump on his failed infrastructure promises?

It’s called gross corruption. Both corporate Democrats and Repubicans are really working for their plutocratic masters, and are competing over who gets primary access to the corrupt gravy train. Incumbents get to enrich themselves via corruption, that’s what they’re really fighting for, their place at the hog trough. So, what’s the goal Risen suggests here? Focus on getting rid of Trump, and then what, install another Obama-style corporate Democrat like Cory Booker or Kamela Harris or Michael Bloomberg in his place, another corrupt tool of Wall Street billionaires? Oh, that’s so inspiring! Pffftttt…

Cyberflaneur:

Crickets on facebook’s, twitter’s or google’s silencing of alternative media. Press “freedom” for James Risen means freedom for him to spread lies and to silence his dissenters.

BPAC:

You raise fair comments Jim, but i think that an intro referring to Nazism is way off mark. But i do see that some believe that. There is a third reaction possibility – the press neither capitulates nor fights (well not immediately anyway) but the press asks why so many, along with Trumpy, don’t trust the press. There are a lot of lies being peddled on all sides of the aisle that lying has become as accepted as oxygen. That has to change. His mocking of people on twatter is ghastly. But if the media wasn’t click-bate algorithm advert revenue selling and had more credibility, a la Risen, Greenwald and a handful of others, then the mistrust of the media will continue. Look at yourselves as media first and ask why. When MSM ceases to be overrun with lies (on all sides) then things will start to get better. Then fight him with truths and shun those tribalists who constantly post self-serving confirmation bias crappola. Just a view.

Dienne:

Yes, absolutely we need more brave journalistic outlets to criticize Trump. Hardly anyone is doing that. I mean, except for, like, MSDNC and CNN and ABC and CBS and HuffPo and DailyKos and Salon and Mother Jones and The Nation and Alternet and, and, and….. But, I mean, other than those, it’s like crickets. Because, like, those who speak out against Trump totally get shut down. Or, well, at least they get a nasty tweet from Trump, and that hurts their feelings….

And this is one of my favorites:

Anon_account:

So let me get this straight: the Democrats and the “Resistance” have created a climate in which anyone who disagrees with them is accused of working for a hostile foreign government and who risks harassment and abuse, but *Donald Trump* is a dangerous demagogue.

Let me give James Risen a little hint: Saint Rachel up on MSNBC doing all Russia conspiracies, all the time, is a far greater threat to respect for American journalism and media than Donald Trump ever could be.

Malcolm Nance, up on MSNBC, declaring a founding editor of The Intercept to be a paid Kremlin operative, is a far greater threat to respect for American journalism and media than Donald Trump ever could be.

And you, yourself, were pursued by the two previous Presidents, yet you act as if time just started with Donald Trump.

The “Resistance”/Russia Hysteria front in Democratic-aligned media is a much bigger threat than “mean tweets” could ever hope to be. You’ve resurrected McCarthyism, you’ve published conspiracy theories, and you have given your readers and viewers permission to suspend all reason and participate in a dumb, angry mob.

As for your invocation of NAZIs, your last head of state (Obama) that you adored put actual neo-NAZIs in power, in Ukraine. So spare me the silliness, OK? The only faction that has given any actual NAZIs any power anywhere is Trump Deranged Hillary/Resistance Democrats.

You’ll forgive me, all of you, if I just fail to be impressed at all by this latest vacuous media hysteria surrounding Donald J. Trump. This just another example of Hot Air.

by William Skink

Last Sunday our cat, Tiger, was killed, we think by a car on the dirt road where we live. Our neighbors, who we haven’t talked to once in the 3 years since we’ve lived at our current address, found him on the road and put him in the trash.

The wife came out when she heard me calling for him as I biked down the road. I’m glad she did, because they’re moving out, and I’m not sure they would have put much effort into reaching out had I not been biking down our road hoping for the best.

The best didn’t happen for us, and our two oldest are devastated. There was lots of crying, from all of us, except the little one who didn’t really understand what had happened.

So why am I telling you this sad pet death story? I have two reasons.

The first one is life is hard and taking a step back can be a good thing. Maybe a few weeks, maybe months, I don’t know.

The second one is be present for the people in your life who matter. Grief is a process thrust upon all of us at some point. Give grief the space to breathe. Teach your kids emotional intelligence.

Especially our boys, who need it most.

by William Skink

It’s unfortunate that with all the stirring, well articulated Westside testimonials about drugs and crime and, apparently, voyeurism, at City Council last night, the picture used by the Missoula Current is one of the Poverello Center.

It won’t matter that correlation is not causation, meaning that drug abuse has been sky-rocketing across the state and nation the last few years, coinciding with the relocation of Missoula’s homeless shelter. If people don’t feel safe it’s pointless to point out the logical fallacy of assuming moving the shelter to West Broadway created the problems Westside residents are now rightfully concerned about.

Since the Missoula Current made the editorial decision to focus visually on the homeless shelter and not, say, the casino or dirtbag motels, I feel compelled to point out some obvious things about our community’s homeless shelter:

The staff at the Poverello Center don’t have the power to arrest people like the police and Sheriff’s department do. The Poverello Center doesn’t sell alcohol, like the casino and Zip Trip do, and they don’t deal drugs like the drug dealers do. Unlike the motels, the Poverello Center has a zero tolerance policy for drugs and alcohol.

Like the jail, the Poverello Center does have an overcrowding problem. And like the rest of the state of Montana, the Pov is drowning in the dire need being exacerbated by multiple factors beyond their control, like budget cuts that decimated supportive services.

Last week, at Missoula’s City Club, Montana Attorney General Tim Fox spoke about the “frightening level” of substance abuse happening across the state. Fox tossed out the following figures from the annual crime report:

According to the State Crime Lab’s annual report, Montana saw a 375 percent increase in meth found in postmortem cases from 2011 to 2017. Over the same period, it experienced a 324 percent increase in meth found in DUI cases.

Figures related to other substance abuse issues have also seen a dramatic increase.

“This report confirms what we already knew – Montana is in the midst of a substance abuse crisis,” Fox said. “The astronomical increase in meth and heroin offenses have placed added strain on the crime lab, as well as on our courts, our jails, our foster care systems. Child abuse and neglect cases have gone through the roof.”

Yes, Tim, we know it’s bad. And many of us know it’s going to get worse because of the cuts. So what is the plan to address this crisis?

Saying the state can’t wait any longer to act, Fox and community stakeholders have gathered to explore state-based solutions aimed at policy. The issue zeroes in on both drugs and alcohol and looks at everything from treatment to early intervention, education and monitoring.

The resulting report was released last September and will serve as a blueprint moving forward, starting with the 2019 Legislature.

“It has helped us better identify how state resources are used to target substance abuse and identify gaps and inefficiencies,” Fox said. “We now have a more complete understanding of how our state can better align efforts to enhance the necessary communications and improve the outcomes for those suffering from addiction.”

While the Attorney General’s Office has partnered with other agencies including local government, the Department of Corrections and the Montana Health Care Foundation, Fox said government alone can’t solve the problem.

Rather, he said, it will require partnerships with the private sector and area nonprofits.

If you don’t know how to decipher political weasel speech, allow me to interpret: Government will keep up its punishing power to incarcerate, and for everything else, good luck nonprofits and the private sector.

Really, everything comes down to funding and how resources are allocated. Will law enforcement leverage this to get more resources? Will more law enforcement be effective if the jails are full? Is the County willing to give up the money it makes from the state by housing state inmates in the County clink?

Instead of these kinds of questions, one initial reaction from a City Council person, lone-wolf conservative Jesse Ramos, is to claim TIF funds intended to address blight created more blight by helping the new shelter get built:

It is worth noting that the Poverello Center was partially paid for using TIF funding. TIF funding is only allowed to be used, according to state law, for the purposes of eliminating blight. 

Last night I challenged my fellow council members and the mayor to find someone in the surrounding neighborhoods who thought their neighborhood was less blighted after the Poverello Center was opened.

It was great seeing so many folks come and voice their concerns last night as a collective community, thank you for taking the time to do so. I am with you all 100%. 19 concerned citizens testified last night who were affected by this problem, and that is POWERFUL.

We need to stand with the folks who no longer feel safe in their own homes and work to find a compassionate solution to this problem. No one should live in fear in their own neighborhood.

This is not lacking in compassion, this is showing compassion to the citizens who no longer feel safe in their own homes. We need to act.

What Jesse Ramos should do is ask the owners of Imagine Brewery, Tias Big Sky and Western Cider why they opened up businesses AFTER the Poverello Center relocated. I understand the need to be critical of the TIF candy MRA throws around to needy hotel developers and struggling art parks, but in this case a community resource this community VERY MUCH NEEDS was built with that assistance, and that is a good thing.

So, what’s next? Probably some placating stalling tactics from Engen, like meetings with stake holders blah blah blah, then the weather will turn cold and the problem will become less visible again. The Mayor and the Police Chief will say they will increase patrols in the area, and encourage anyone who sees something to call 911. And nothing much on the ground will change.

Eventually I think gentrification will transform this part of Missoula and these issues will move somewhere else. The exploitive owners of motels like the Colonial and the Sleepy Inn will cash in and something nicer will be built. You see, drug-fueled crime can actually be a great opportunity for developers, driving down prices to bargain levels.

I have heard developers like the Farran Groups are just biding their time.