Month: April 2020

by William Skink

Like many out there I’m trying not to fall into pits of despair. Taking walks in the woods helps. Today’s walk at Blue Mountain produced a socially responsible 6 foot interaction with two humans I know, a former co-worker and a member of the Outer Limtis crew.

I thanked the latter for this incredible post about the incredible power of consciousness and the effort yesterday to use that power in a globally coordinated meditation to heal our collective sickness, a sickness which entails much more than a virus.

I had every intention of sitting quietly focusing on breath for 20 minutes at the right time yesterday, but instead a much needed absence of children resulted in the wife and I binge watching Tiger King.

Yes, I have joined the masses by entering the fucked up world of big cats and can safely declare this sad spectacle is truly the perfect metaphor for the moment we find ourselves in.

And to make the whole spectacle even more surreal, the gay, gun toting, mullet sporting star of the docu-series, Joe Exotic, has apparently contracted Covid 19 in prison.

You really can’t make this shit up.

The hell we’re being told is coming in the next two weeks sounds ominous, and to counter the anxiety I’ll work on my Covid music video to play my small part in addressing this global pandemic.

Stay tuned…

by William Skink

We are starting to see a shift from the shaming campaigns to enforce social distancing to the alleged need of law enforcement to intervene. Two days ago the Billings Gazette reported that arrests are possible for “blatant violations”:

“Blatant and egregious” violations of social distancing and isolation requirements ordered by Montana and Yellowstone County health officials could lead to arrests or citations.

“I don’t want to prosecute any of my fellow residents for any of these violations,” said Yellowstone County Attorney Scott Twito during a Wednesday press conference. “But I took an oath to follow the law, and I will.”

These draconian steps only apply to people who live in houses, apartments and mobile homes. If you live in your vehicle, homeless camp or overcrowded emergency shelter, like the Poverello Center, you are exempt.

NBC Montana recently reported on a letter they received from a Missoula first responder, which you can read in full here. Here is a portion of what the first responder saw at the Poverello Center:

While responding to 1110 West Broadway, the Poverello Center here in Missoula, I observed several groups of men and women standing among the broken down vehicles that line the roadway. Clustered together sharing cigarettes and beverages. Some living in cars, others the sidewalk. Many tucked into doorways, many drinking openly.

As concerning as the exterior was, the interior was far more shocking. Interior hallways had multiple people in chairs, all sitting in close proximity to each other. The reception desk area itself was crowded with people. Well within the distancing recommendations of our health professionals. I was astonished to see a cafeteria/day area full of people. People laying on the floor, people sitting and standing, people eating, people everywhere.

Allowing people to congregate contradicts current public health safety recommendations and puts everyone at risk. First Responders already have limited supplies and personnel, situations like this put their ability to safely respond in danger. The shelter also allows intoxicated individuals, adding yet another safety issue to the First Responders. Hopefully this sheds some light on these issues and changes can be implemented.

I can only imagine the frustration first responders are experiencing as they see the incredibly dangerous conditions that our Governor apparently condones through his reckless exemption of the homeless.

When will Governor Bullock acknowledge that his big punt to overwhelmed municipalities on the homeless issue is putting people at risk, especially the people WE ALL RELY ON when we need emergency medical attention?

The Governor has used the massive power of the state to shut down local businesses under threat of fines and arrests. The justification for these serious actions that many people won’t bounce back from is to supposedly FLATTEN THE CURVE, right? And the reason to flatten the curve is to protect our health care workers, including first responders, right?

THEN WHY THE FUCK EXEMPT HOMELESS PEOPLE, GOVERNOR BULLOCK?

The Governor’s actions are reckless and will undermine the very thing he is willing to destroy local businesses to accomplish. Health care workers are already scared and facing retaliation for describing the dire conditions they are being forced to work in, so maybe the Governor can take that into consideration as he turns Montana into a police state.

Except for homeless people, because they’re exempt.

by William Skink

If the dystopian reality we could be experiencing in a few months does materialize, it might be good to reflect now on why my kids may have to grow up with people like Marty Zuckerfuck determining what is real and what is not for them.

To be clear, Marty Zuckerfuck is one of those enlightened tech-bros now tasked with making sure we all understand Covid-19 came from bat soup.

If you don’t think Covid-19 came from bat soup, and you harbor wild ideas of bio-labs that do actually exist–even one in proximity to the bat soup market!–well, Zuckerfuck has a bone to pick with you, not mention the massive power of his platform to Big Brother those rogue thoughts down the memory hole.

Online censorship is just one of many juicy apples the police state was waiting to pluck from the branches of America’s covert fascism, lurking here in the states ever since that Dulles bro helped get all those out of work Nazis jobs at the CIA and NASA after WWII.

Why does all this matter amidst pandemic? Because to understand Covid skepticism (even the hardcore deniers) you have to understand that there are legitimate reasons to not believe corporate mass media.

To help interpret how these mockingbirds sing, here’s the always-worth-reading Caitlin Johnstone with a post titled People’s Skepticism About Covid-19 Is The Fault Of The Lying Mass Media:

Coronavirus disinformation is the hot topic of the day, with pressure mounting on social media platforms to censor incorrect information about the virus and mainstream news outlets blaring dire warnings every day about the threat posed by the circulation of false claims about the pandemic.

“As fast as the coronavirus has raced around the globe, it has been outpaced by a blinding avalanche of social media sorcery and propaganda related to the pathogen, much of it apparently originating in Russia,” the Washington Post editorial board warns. “As always when it comes to its relations with the West, Moscow’s main currency is disinformation, and it spends lavishly.”

This would be the same Washington Post who falsely assured us that the Bush administration had provided “irrefutable” proof that the government of Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The same Washington Post who falsely assured us that Russian hackers had penetrated the US electricity grid to cut off heat during the winter, and who circulated a McCarthyite blacklist of alternative media outlets designated “Russian propaganda” compiled by a group of anonymous internet trolls. The same Washington Post whose sole owner is a literal CIA contractor yet never discloses this brazen conflict of interest when reporting on the US intelligence community as per standard journalistic protocol.

If outlets like The Washington Post had done a better job of consolidating their reputation as a reliable news source instead of constantly deceiving their readers about very important matters, people would believe them instead of believing a “blinding avalanche of social media sorcery” (and web wizardry and internet incantations and electronic enchantments and net necromancy).

Corporate media has destroyed its own credibility by lying to us over and over about serious things, like war, because the priority is not producing an informed public but an enriched shareholder.

If you think a global pandemic has suddenly changed that priority then your brain is occupied territory.

by William Skink

The multi-million dollar development project proposed for the Riverfront Triangle in Missoula is officially on hold:

Months before construction was set to begin on one of the largest urban infill projects in Missoula, developers behind the plan are hitting pause and will wait for the markets to reveal their post-pandemic future.

After years of planning, Riverfront Triangle Partners said they’re now taking a day-by-day approach while analyzing the first phase of their project and what happens with the national economy.

“We’re still enthusiastic about it, but given the current situation, I think everyone has hit the pause button to see how this all plays out,” said Jim McLeod with the Farran Group in Missoula and Riverfront Triangle Partners. “The equity markets and our lenders, they’re all kind of in the same boat, waiting to see how it all plays out.”

The Farran Group is taking a wait and see approach because we are at the start of a global economic depression. This depression will be blamed on the Coronavirus, but the reality is the Federal Reserve deferred the consequences of Wall Street’s greed a decade ago, and now it’s time to pay up.

Who will pay for the greed and corruption of our big banks and corporations? The public, of course. Why? Because we’re suckers conditioned by years of propaganda to ignore the abuses of our late-stage, crony capitalist system.

For now the 16.5 million dollars in public TIF money won’t be gobbled up for a parking garage, but don’t assume the fight over how TIF is being used in our community is over. With a global depressions settling in, how will our elected leaders deal with Missoula’s financial future now that the growth they have pegged our tourist economy on is evaporating before their eyes?

All the public money sitting at the Missoula Redevelopment Agency should be saved to backstop the budget so our rapacious local government isn’t tempted to raise taxes during a global pandemic. That would be the responsible thing to do.

Let’s hope our elected leaders take their responsibilities seriously enough to understand that a post-pandemic Missoula will have more serious things to deal with than incentivizing development with public money.