Month: July 2020

by William Skink

Maybe I’m too cynical and should channel the delusional optimism of local government.

Or maybe I’m just jealous and deep down wished I had steady employment and other people’s money to play around with.

The article that triggered this reflection is informing us of the important news that the Rocky Mountain Exploration Center is “still tracking for a spring groundbreaking.”

Thank GOD!!!

With a little pandemic dramatically altering the trajectory of people’s lives, with illness and lost jobs and small businesses that won’t be coming back, it’s nice to know that, as far as the Rocky Mountain Exploration Center goes, the pandemic was just a little blip disrupting fundraising efforts (my emphasis):

“When the virus hit, it really threw off our fundraising, but we’ve gone through some reorganization and are back on track,” said Jerry Marks, the MSU extension agent for Missoula Count. “We really felt with a lot of our potential donors, that kind of declined, but the stock market has rebounded in many ways. The last couple weeks, things have moved forward in a much more positive way.”

This quote is actually a little peek into a completely different world, the world of “potential donors”.

When central banks fire up the fiat presses to inject billions and billions into the economy, they aren’t doing it to keep your average Joe and Jane housed with food on the table. Nope, the unsustainable liquidity injections are for those “potential donors” who live on passive income and the resulting optimism that their gaping greed-holes are in much closer proximity to the Fed’s money shoveling than lowly wage slaves and other paycheck-to-paycheck suckers.

While plenty of people in Missoula continue to deal with their own precarious realities, people like Jerry Marks, who play with other people’s money, are whining about how they might not be able to pony up the additional money to obtain LEED certification for this unnecessary 12.5 million dollar project:

Missoula County commissioners on Tuesday approved the architectural and engineering agreement with A&E Architects and Jackson Construction, setting the groundwork for the estimated $12.5 million project.

But whether the project will pursue LEED certification or simply build with LEED approved technologies remains uncertain. It’s likely that LEED certification could add more than $300,000 in costs to the project, leaving officials with other ideas.

“We could build to those certifications and not spend the extra money getting it certified,” said Commissioner Josh Slotnick said. “We can make our own plaque. We can do our own education.”

I guess putting the entire project on hold is just too unthinkable for our local braintrust, but look at those BIG IDEAS from Josh Slotnick! Just don’t spend the money on certification and make your own plaque. Fantastic!

Delusional optimism is a powerful psychological force, and politicians who decide how to spend money that isn’t theirs seem particularly susceptible. How else to explain Dave Strohmaier’s train pipe dream?

Reading articles like this, it’s like the pandemic doesn’t exist. This is VERY delusional optimism:

The Missoula City Council placed its unanimous support behind a growing effort between counties in southern Montana to form the Big Sky Passenger Rail Authority in a push to restore intercity rail service across the state.

Eleven counties have signed on to the resolution forming the authority, which goes to individual county votes in the coming weeks. The city of Missoula is the first municipality to back the effort in a resolution of support.

“It’s a monumental effort, but if we all work together, we can bring it back,” said City Council member Jordan Hess. “Passenger rail has a lot of benefits.”

Among them, Hess said intercity passenger rail through Montana’s most populated region would provide a sustainable mode of transportation, reducing both congestion and emissions. But it also would provide a significant economic jolt to cities and towns along the route and further develop the region’s tourism.

That last paragraph hits the buzzword trifecta with SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION and an ECONOMIC JOLT and TOURISM!

But to get to these amazing FUTURE benefits, the infrastructure must be built up NOW and only then will these amazing benefits materialize:

Advocates believe the initial infrastructure costs will be recovered in economic and other public benefits. As it is in many other countries around the globe, Strohmaier said, passenger rail ought to play a larger role in America’s portfolio of public transportation.

“This isn’t about nostalgia,” he said. “This is a little back to the future and investing strategically in a greener, more sustainable and equitable mode of transportation for our friends and neighbors.”

Please recall, dear readers, that Dave Strohmaier is the County Commissioner responsible for using stalling tactics to sabotage replacing the “functionally obsolete” Maclay bridge, which I have written about here, here and here.

So, when I hear Dave Strohmaier talk about a “mode of transportation for our friends and neighbors” I think about how many times my kids went over Maclay bridge in a bus that weighs around the weight limit of the bridge WITHOUT kids in it.

The only part of our NEW NORMAL that our elected leaders appear enthusiastic about is forcing us to put a mostly worthless layer of cloth over our faces. When it comes to their pet projects and pipe dreams, it’s FULL STEAM AHEAD.

In conclusion, you might not be able to pay your rent or mortgage next month, your kids schooling is up in the air, you may or may not have a job, but at least our local braintrust is building a home for butterflies and dreaming of crowded passenger trains amidst a pandemic.

by William Skink

I am so thankful for the Missoula Current, Martin Kidston’s online “news” start-up, where ex-military and ex-spook lawyers can disseminate anti-Trump propaganda.

I have learned a lot about the movers and shakers in our community and our state, like Julie Sirrs.

Who is Julie Sirrs, you ask?

Well, currently she is a lawyer with Boone Karlberg in Missoula, and a member of Montanans for National Security, but years ago she was allegedly warning Bush Junior about a terrorist named Osama Bin Laden.

Check out this Observer article, titled Ex-Spook Sirrs: Early Osama Call Got Her Ejected, from the distant year 2004:

President George W. Bush has a bold plan: to gradually shift American intelligence operatives-now free from hunting down Saddam Hussein-to Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden.

To Julie Sirrs, it’s a case of too little, too late. A former military analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency, Ms. Sirrs was the first intelligence officer to report on the significance of Osama bin Laden moving his terrorist operation from the Sudan into Afghanistan. She wasn’t listened to five years ago, and though she’d like to speak before the Congressional 9/11 commission, it is unlikely that she will be listened to now. Her story is a tableau of tangled politics and internal wrangling that got in the way of vital intelligence-gathering leading up to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

When I wrote my little tirade against the two party political system in this country, I used the analogy of mafia families/cartels to illustrate my perception of how these political enterprises operate.

Democrats have enthusiastically embraced “former” spooks and “former” military personal as political candidates, a trend reported on by MSM two years ago:

They put their lives on the line in foreign war zones, conducted secret missions to collect valuable intelligence and made enormous sacrifices for their country — only to see their former colleagues disrespected by President Donald Trump.

Now, driven by the president’s conduct, they’re taking matters into their own hands and gearing up for a different challenge: running for Congress as Democrats.

Fed up with what they see as Trump’s disdain and distrust of the intelligence community — and his refusal to embrace fully the conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election — an unusually large number of former intelligence officers and operatives are campaigning for office as Democrats in this fall’s midterm elections, according to experts.

How did that Russiagate operation go, spook-loving Democrats?

I’ve also written about this trend, specifically identifying Joshua Manning as one of Montana’s dedicated “former” military anti-Trump political insurgents.

We can now add Julie Sirrs and Andrew Person to that list. Here is part of their “Voices” Missoula Current propaganda piece:

When the news broke that the Russian government, through its military intelligence agency, the GRU, paid bounties to Taliban fighters for killing American soldiers in Afghanistan, it wasn’t just another headline for many Montanans – it was personal. That’s because Montanans have among the highest rate of military service and veterans in the nation.

For those of us who were close friends or family with troops killed by Taliban fighters, our response is visceral. We’re angry. We demand action – not words- from our government in response.

As Michael McFaul, a former U.S. Ambassador to Russia, born and raised in Montana, recently wrote: “ While deeply disturbing, this effort by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is not surprising: It follows a clear pattern of ignoring international norms, rules and laws – and daring the United States to do anything about it.” Since 2017, multiple reliable sources, including the U.S. general on the ground in Afghanistan, have reported that Russia has been supporting the Taliban.

This Cold War 2.0 propaganda bullshit COMPLETELY omits the LONG HISTORY of Afghanistan as a geopolitical hot spot. If Sirrs and Person were NOT being emotionally exploitive and intellectually dishonest, they would acknowledge it was THEIR OWN COUNTRY in the 80’s funding the Mujahideen that created the Taliban.

I’ll even quote the evil imperial bastards at the Council on Foreign Relations to back up that statement:

The Taliban was formed in the early 1990s by Afghan mujahideen, or Islamic guerilla fighters, who had resisted the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan (1979–89) with the covert backing of the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI). They were joined by younger Pashtun tribesmen who studied in Pakistani madrassas, or seminaries; taliban is Pashto for “students.” Pashtuns comprise a plurality in Afghanistan and are the predominant ethnic group in much of the country’s south and east. They are also a major ethnic group in Pakistan’s north and west.

Julie Sirrs and Andrew Person are part of a larger intelligence effort to reverse the results of the 2016 election.

While I think Trump is also acting as a duplicitous asset of a different cartel-like criminal faction of our unelected power elite, this effort by Democrats is as Democracy-destroying as anything those bad, bad Republicans have done.

So, which white, male mafia don are you going to vote for, oh ye lovers of the illusion of Democracy?

by William Skink

Since the Mayor’s Communication Director had her personal life become a headline news story, I got curious about what her partner, Bradley Layton, is up to in Missoula when he’s not drunkenly careening through yards nearly killing people.

The first business endeavor of Layton’s I took a look at is his Human Powered Future company. The front page of the website highlights these four areas of expertise: expert witness services, structural and mechanical engineering services, recycling/zero waste consulting, and renewable energy consulting. At the bottom of the page, under additional consulting services, “biomedical engineering” is listed. Interesting.

At Coengineers dot com Layton’s profile claims he is also the cofounder of Integrated Engineering Blockchain Consortium. Here is some gobbledygook I found online about what this “consortium” does:

The goal of the Integrated Engineering Blockchain Consortium is to develop applications for blockchain technology and smart contracts for integrated engineering delivery serving construction, infrastructure, manufacturing and diverse technologies upon which society depends.

Ok, moving on.

Bradley Layton is a busy guy. He engineers, he consults, he blockchains and he also recycles with Integration Energy. According to Buzzfile, Integration Energy

…primarily operates in the Recycling, Waste Materials business / industry within the Electric, Gas and Sanitary Services sector. This organization has been operating for approximately 4 years. Integration Energy is estimated to generate $78,275 in annual revenues, and employs approximately 6 people at this single location.

I wonder if any of these business endeavors have ever received paid work from the city of Missoula? Might be worth looking into.

And you better believe I WILL continue looking into ALL the players in our little valley who, up until now, have flown under the radar, comfortable with the status quo and their insider connections.

by William Skink

Or are we destined for Civil War 2.0?

I don’t know the answer to that question, but like 2016, I am not going to legitimize this totally corrupt political system by voting in the upcoming presidential election.

I’d like to begin this screed against our two party political system by first addressing Trump supporters: if you support Federal agents using unmarked vans to snatch protestors off the streets of a US city, then anything you say about supporting constitutional rights, like our right to due process, is complete and total shit.

Do you hear me? Your principles don’t mean a goddamn thing if you can watch militarized federal shock troops toss US citizens in unmarked vans and not be horrified REGARDLESS OF THEIR POLITICS.

Let me help you imagine a similar scenario, since it appears many conservative brains are too stunted by propaganda to properly assess what’s happening.

Imagine it’s 2024 and President Biden is directing his new Ministry of the Mask to indefinitely detain anyone who doesn’t comply with Biden’s National Mask decree.

Does that help?

Now, Democrats, it’s your turn. Are you seriously going to try and sell me on your cognitively impaired, racist Grandpa? A man who would have called Trayvon a super predator while he nuzzles your hair and moves his hand from the small of your back to the contour of your irresistible ass? That guy?

You think it’s a coincidence Biden’s progeny smokes the occasional crack rock (though would never get a black man’s lengthy prison sentence) while screwing a stripper–first with his dick, then by being a dick–pathetically denying the paternity of the child his dick created until forced to by a judge?

No, I don’t think so.

I don’t think the political party that fucked over Bernie TWICE because they would RATHER SEE TRUMP WIN than see progressive issues get a presidential champion deserves any support.

But RBG has cancer again! And the stakes have never been higher!! SO YOU MUST VOTE! VOTE!! VOTE!!!

Um, no. Not going to happen. Not a fucking chance.

In 2016 I poured lighter fluid on my ballot and set it on fire.

Then, after Trump shocked the political establishment, I watched the two criminal enterprises you democracy cultists call “political parties” go at each other like mafia families at war and I decided never again will I support anyone deluded enough to proudly claim allegiance to either party.

I’m sure some will waste their time and spew a few futile words in response to this brief diatribe. Go ahead if it makes you feel better.

Poetry sometimes makes me feel better, so here’s one about Montana’s Senate race. Enjoy.

CAMPAIGNS

Governor Aloof and
Senator Who Cares
barely make an effort
playing musical chairs

while Governor Aloof
lets Counties heavy lift
forcing masks on faces
tearing political rifts

Senator Who Cares
lets his money talk—
incumbent donor schmoozing
all top shelf on the rocks

and you? who are you?
ready to cast a vote
like your silly ballot
can bridge their vile moat?

they see you as neofeudal
so better get a clue
and open wide your eyes before
you’re dipped in their fondue

by William Skink

What we’ve got here is failure to communicate…
–Cool Hand Luke

Today’s post is number 1,000 here at Reptile Dysfunction, so I thought writing about the topic of communication would be appropriate.

The quote that opens this piece is from the 1967 movie Cool Hand Luke, with Paul Newman. The reason I am familiar with the quote is because Guns and Roses used the movie clip at the beginning of their epic song, Civil War.

While it’s easy to take communication for granted, since we do it all the time, there is a very wide range of techniques one can use when it comes to effective forms of communication.

How does one glean whether or not one’s communication has been effective? one definition of being effective is when you are successful in producing a desired or intended result. With that definition in mind, let’s examine this blog’s critical communication regarding how Missoula uses Tax Increment Financing to incentivize growth in our little valley.

My intent in writing about Tax Increment Financing is to raise awareness about how this complicated financial mechanism diverts tax revenue away from the general fund to the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, where unelected board members decide how to disperse millions in public funds.

Have I been successful?

I know from direct conversations that my posts about TIF helped inform the backlash that emerged when Mayor Engen announced Nick Checota’s intent to save the Convention Center project (at the Riverfront Triangle site) from collapsing. As part of that deal, 16.5 million in TIF funds were earmarked to purchase the parking garage portion of the build-out.

The real impetus for the outrage over this massive pledge of public money to a private developer, though, was NOT my blog posts, but the sky-rocketing cost of housing in Missoula. With a service-sector/tourist economy exploiting the willingness of people with Master degrees to froth rich people’s espresso drinks, 16.5 million for a parking garage was the straw that broke the Paddlehead’s back.

A lot has happened since then, with a pandemic and lockdowns and people losing their shit over masks, but thanks to Mayor Engen’s disingenuous claim of Covid-19 as the reason for using TIF money to buy a bed-bug infested motel (in a Trump opportunity zone), the concern over TIF abuse is not going away.

Perhaps the best evidence of this blog’s effectiveness in communicating the problems with how Missoula’s brain trust uses TIF is a recent email sent out by the director of the Missoula Redevelopment Agency, Ellen Buchanan. The subject line of the email reads as follows: MRA Communication Plan – Request to Recommend a Communications Firm and a Proposal for Professional Services

I’m going to paste the entire content of the email below. The bold parts are my emphasis. I can only hope the terrible communicators at MRA find the right communication consultants to help them more effectively brainwash us into going along with their TIF skim-and-give gentrification schemes.

*

SUBJECT: MRA Communication Plan – Request to Recommend a Communications Firm and a Proposal for Professional Services

As the Board is aware, the City issued a Request for Qualifications with the intention of creating a pool of communications consultants with varying skill sets that could be accessed by the various City departments on an as needed basis. As a result of that solicitation, the City Communications Office has provided the departments with a list of ten firms with a variety of strengths that they can bring to a specific need. The purpose of this was to create group of pre-qualified firms that departments could engage without going through separate RFQs for each endeavor. This is similar to the City’s historic use of pre-qualified design firms for engineering services.

The MRA staff has many strengths particularly as relates to the execution of important development projects which bring the city much needed benefits. The MRA staff specializes in the execution of projects that generally involve infrastructure in the form of sidewalks, trails, streets, alleys, utilities and landscaping; buildings, both public and private; and planning studies that lead to economic development, growth and appropriate urban design. Communicating what we do and why we do it has never been a staff strong point nor a skill set that has been sought when bringing on new staff members coupled with the fact that our time is fully consumed with project origination, management and execution.

It has become apparent that the need to better explain the whats and whys of the use of TIF financing to the public is increasingly important. A significant portion of the population does not understand the tool that we call TIF, how we use the tool and how the public benefits from those investments. There is a long list of projects that have been made possible or made better through the investment of TIF dollars and most of our citizens may know of the projects and how they benefit from them but have no way of knowing that TIF financing played a significant role in their existence. Staff and the Board need the ability to communicate these things to a broad audience.

Staff would like to engage one of the communications firms that has been identified as part of the City’s pre-qualified pool. We think that we know what needs to be communicated, but we lack the skills to do this in the most effective manner. The Agency has worked with some of these firms on various projects and we believe that the skills that we need are available from one or more of these pre-qualified communications firms. This request is that the Board authorize the staff to select the most qualified firm to create the tools and messaging that MRA needs and bring a proposal back to the Board at a future meeting for selection, scope and funding approval.

Recommendation: Staff requests that the Board direct staff to select the best communications firm in the City’s pre-qualified pool to work with staff and the Board to develop the tools necessary to effectively present what MRA does, how MRA functions, the importance of Tax Increment Financing and how TIF is used to benefit the community and bring a recommended selection and a proposal for professional services to the Board at a subsequent meeting.