Month: June 2020

by William Skink

A drug deal gone bad; a stabbing that resulted in death; a murder? No, said the Missoula County Attorney’s office, we aren’t going to charge the killer with murder:

After an intensive investigation, the Missoula County Attorney’s Office has decided not to charge a Missoula man with homicide after a ‘drug rip’ went bad in the restroom of a local restaurant where a Hamilton area man was stabbed and eventually died of his wounds.
…
“Our responsibility is to get to the truth,” said Acting Chief Colyer.

Why not a murder charge? Because so many investigators responded and they worked really hard in the first 24 hours doing their job determining sometimes during a drug rip you just gotta stab the motherfucker:

“An initial perimeter was set by our patrol team and they used a police dog in an attempt to locate the suspect,” he said. “Really, within 20 minutes of the initial call we had activated an investigative team from our detective division. We sent four investigators, a supervisor and a crime scene technician to the scene and began what was a non-stop intensive investigation. We notified the county attorney’s office very early in the investigation. We had investigators working through the majority of January 2, and in about 15 hours we had identified and interviewed all the people involved. We made a lot of progress in the first 24 hours and felt we had a good grasp of the facts at that point.”

Colyer said their investigation determined whether or not a charge of homicide would be filed.

“We talked through the legal requirements with the county attorney and came to the decision that the suspect, Joshua Paniagua, was eventually charged with some other offenses but would not be charged with a homicide related offense, due to his right to use force to defend himself,” he said.

I’m sure peddlers of illegal substances are glad to know they have the right to lethally stab their customers when a meth for weed deals goes south.

Back in January, acting police chief Mike Colyer was pretty proud about how quickly his investigators determined the right of drug dealers to stab their customers. Here is how the Missoulian article concludes:

Colyer said he was proud Tuesday of the joint effort by police and prosecutors, whose early involvement in the investigation kept the case on track toward the appropriate charges.

“That helps keep this thing moving along,” Colyer said. “They’re right there, shoulder-to-shoulder, able to view the evidence with us. …From my perspective, we’re sorry that the Mousso family has lost someone, and we can’t bring that back. But what I am proud of and grateful for is all the work that went into this so quickly to get some answers.”

Doesn’t this sound nice? Cops and lawyers working so well with each other, shoulder-to-shoulder figuring out all the answers. Yet, for some strange reason, the Mousso family is unhappy with how authorities gave this drug dealer a license to kill, and today NBC Montana is reporting that top-dog County Attorney, Kirsten Pabst, is running to the AG for cover:

We’ve learned new information about a Missoula stabbing death.

18-year old Benjamin Mousso’s mom and close family friends launched their own investigation last January after prosecutors decided the man who killed him did it in self-defense.

They thought things didn’t add up and they came to us for help.

Now just days after we started asking questions, Missoula County’s prosecutor asked the state’s top attorney’s office to review the case.

In an email, Kirsten Pabst writes while her office conducted an “exhaustive review” of the investigative file and compared the case to state law, Mousso’s family is dissatisfied with the decision. She requested the Montana Attorney General’s office assign a review to its Prosecutorial Services Bureau.

This is big, and not just for the Mousso family. There are other people out there trying to understand how the County Attorney’s office perceives self defense and the justifiable use of force.

by William Skink

Despite all my skepticism about what we’re being told about this pandemic I haven’t gone full hoax like some websites have.

My biggest worry from the beginning is that something is out there and that something got out of a lab. The phrase “gain of function” is a terrifying phrase.

I had Democracy Now! on in the background today and the woman who was being interviewed was discussing the alarming, potentially long-lasting effects of Covid-19. Kidney failure, strokes, neurological problems, blood clots, etc. Even people who don’t present with flu-like symptoms may be at risk of all this other stuff, including younger people. What the hell is going on here?

I’ve been fairly consistent wearing a mask when I go into stores, but today I was downtown, outside, so my mask was in my pocket when a mentally ill woman I know from my shelter work approached me. She started cheerfully telling me how she just got back from touring America on the bus and she visited almost all 50 states. Of course she had no mask on and she got really close to me (I think she has a TBI, traumatic brain injury).

I told her to get away from me. She just kind of looked at me blankly. I said why the hell would you be be traveling around during a pandemic like that? She said don’t worry, she has been back for like three weeks and she’s fine. I shook my head and put some quick distance between me and this clueless individual.

Today was not the day to tell me about your travels, Jane.

by William Skink

There are two worlds existing in tense proximity to each other. One world is called NEW NORMAL where human contact is restricted, small businesses are shuttered, and we argue about masks on social media all day. This world is filled with fear, uncertainty, and anger.

The other world is called OLD NORMAL where the ripple effects of lockdowns and a looming economic depression are cheerfully ignored by people with secure government jobs in order to carry on business as usual. This world is filled with irrational optimism and people like Emily Brock who want Missoula voters to consider passing a 15 million dollar bond for County Fairground improvements.

Because what we need now amidst a global pandemic is more interest-laden debt and ice rinks!!! From the link:

Stakeholders are revealing new information about a possible second phase of improvements for the Missoula County Fairgrounds, partly funded by a bond.

Officials say their current plans would ask for $15 million through a bond in 2022. That money would go toward a new livestock and equestrian pavilion, as well as more green space.

Organizers are also looking to privately fund $4 million for a rodeo arena, and $6 million toward new ice rinks.

“The community has told us from their preferences that the values underpinning fairgrounds redevelopment are education and learning for our kids, making the fairgrounds safer and cleaner, and supporting families and community,” said Emily Brock, Director for the Missoula County Fairgrounds.

Only someone who is irrationally optimistic and still currently employed with a comfortable salary would have the audacity to panhandle taxpayers for fairground money at a time like this.

Brock’s audacity is apparently a limitless resource, as evidenced by this $20,000 ask to County Commissioners for stuff happening at the Fairgrounds that will be MOSTLY CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC:

Fairgrounds organizers on Monday asked Missoula County commissioners to contribute $20,000 to cover expenses associated with this year’s limited events, most of which will be closed to the general public.

“Everything has been so up in the air for so long,” said fairgrounds director Emily Brock. “We’ve thrown everything we have at the wall to see what will stick. This is what we’re landing on in terms of what we think will really work this year.”

As proposed, 4H will go forward under new guidelines, including social distancing and no open class livestock. Parents won’t be permitted in the barn while students show their animals, and animals may not be washed on the grounds.

While Brock was obnoxious as a City Council member, the job she was given to upgrade the fairgrounds has amplified that obnoxiousness into an actual fiscal threat. We need people in these government positions who understand what’s coming, and act accordingly.

Emily Brock is not one of those people.

by William Skink

A little Missoula biotech startup by the name of Inimmune recently got a 2 million dollar grant for developing new ways to deliver vaccines. Two years ago this same startup, along with the University of Montana, received a 5.4 million dollar grant to develop vaccines against bacterial infections. From the link:

The University of Montana has received a $5.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help develop a vaccine against bacterial infection.

The principal investigator on the five-year award, titled “Immunization against filamentous bacteriophages to prevent bacterial infection,” is Patrick Secor, assistant professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at UM.

Other investigators on the award include Dr. Jay Evans from UM and Inimmune, a start-up located in UM’s business incubator, MonTEC; David Burkhart and Kendal Ryter from Inimmune; Paul Bollyky and Gina Suh from Stanford University; and Chandan Sen, Sashwati Roy and Valerie Bergdall from Ohio State University. The team’s goal is to develop a vaccine to prevent infections caused by the common bacteria pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

P. aeruginosa is a deadly pathogen and a major cause of infections in diabetic wounds, lungs and other settings. Due to extensive antibiotic resistance, it is increasingly difficult to treat infections once they are established. Although it is ideal to vaccinate at-risk patients against P. aeruginosa before they develop infections, there are no approved vaccines to prevent infection.

Yes, instead of dealing with the unhealthiness of our food supply, like the insane use of high fructose corn syrup, millions of dollars are directed to things like vaccinating people against side-effect infections from core illnesses like diabetes.

And now Inimmune will get millions more in grant funding to further develop a new way to deliver vaccines to us guinea pigs and to deliver profits to its co-founder, David Burkhart.

So where did Inimmune come from? I did a little digging and found this:

MISSOULA, Mont. – Eighteen months after GlaxoSmithKline shuttered its vaccine research and development facility in Hamilton, Mont. and laid off about two dozen people, some of those jobs have returned to The Treasure State thanks to a new biotech startup partnered with the University of Montana.

The new startup is called Inimmune Corp. and its employees have a deep history working on vaccines at the former GSK site. Inimmune currently employs 22, many of which are from the former GSK vaccine facility, including its leadership team . The company is helmed by Jay Evans, who spent 15 years working at GSK’s vaccine facility. While at the Hamilton facility, Evans held several positions, including North American Pre-Clinical Innovation Team Leader, Project Leader and Investigator. Along with Evans, the company’s leadership includes David Burkhart, who also spent eight years at GSK leading the formulation R&D team. Inimmune said it expects to expand the number of its employees to at least 25 by the end of the year.

Why Hamilton? Because it has a Biosafety Level 4 lab called Rocky Mountain Labs. Here is a brief history of how RML came to be:

Although the construction of the first building of The Rocky Mountain Labs was completed in 1928, RML evolved as a result of research on Rocky Mountain spotted fever that began around 1900, in the Bitterroot Valley of Western Montana. Early settlers of the valley were plagued with a deadly disease of unknown origin that seemed to be concentrated on the west side of the Bitterroot River.

It was known locally as “black measles” because of its severe dark rash, and folk wisdom of the day suggested that infection occurred from drinking the melted snow water that gushed out of the west side canyons during spring runoff. Fatal in nearly 4 out of 5 adult cases, local residents appealed to the state governor for help.

Montana had been granted statehood in 1889, and in 1901, the Montana State Board of Health was created. Its first priority was to bring health scientists to the Bitterroot Valley to investigate the cause, treatment and prevention of spotted fever. During the next three decades a memorable cast of characters was engaged in a drama that provided an interesting chapter in the annals of medical history.

While this history is interesting, I’m more interested in learning more about the kind of people who work for a company like GlaxoSmithKline. I wonder what Jay Evans and David Burkhart would have to say about getting a paycheck from a company that does shady shit like this (Forbes, 2012):

This morning, GlaxoSmithKline announced a $3 billion criminal settlement with the Department of Justice to settle accusations that it didn’t tell regulators about safety problems with an infamous drug, marketed other medicines for uses for which they were not approved and might not have been safe, and took various steps that may have increased the amount of medicine it sold and the price of that medicine in ways that were not legal.

Is it possible to work for Big Pharma and retain one’s soul? I don’t know. Ask Jay Evans and David Burkhart, two guys who are going to make lots of money on this global pandemic.

by William Skink

We have a problem.

Some women can’t breastfeed their babies and because they can’t breastfeed their babies they use formula and making formula takes carbon and carbon is bad so…BIOMILQ!!!

What is BIOMILQ you ask? I’ll let The Science Times explain it:

A new and better breast milk alternative has arrived, and it claims to be helpful for the environment as well. The U.S. firm, BIOMILQ, is artificially producing human breast milk from cultured human mammary epithelial cells to be commercially available to consumers.

This is so exciting! And it’s getting the financial attention from some very wealthy and important people:

The start-up company has received $3.5 million from an investment fund that is co-founded by Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and Mark Zuckerberg. The fund was established to help prevent the ill effects of climate change brought about by carbon emissions.

If you are suspicious of any of this you are a paranoid conspiracy theorist who will need a looooong time at the reeducation camps before the vaccines are ready.