by William Skink

So there I was, at the kitchen table, ready to do the deed. My wife had already signed her envelope, sealing the deal. This was existential stuff, I was told. Four years ago I used lighter fluid and torched my ballot. This year I had pledged to take a few bubbles seriously.

It was a beautiful, brisk October morning. I was fully coffee’d. Damn my cartel options for top CEO, I thought. And that’s when inspiration struck. I knew what I had to do, but first I had to compose rhymes to consecrate my table top.

cartel mob in finest threads
hunt the cracks for hooker beds
sad the pee tapes never came
after rumors of golden rain

the body politic is sick
dementia brains and missile dicks
with softer curves and shiny teeth
devouring whole our tiny feet

SAVE US, dark star, Mr. West
you have my bubble, so do your best
against the squiggles of the pit
who lust for carnage once zombie-bit

show us proof of inner fire
by dashing Kundalini spires
only then shall bubble marks
fill with light and feed the spark

Rhymes complete, I wrote his name on the ballot. Only weeks away now.

I did take a few bubbles seriously, like Cooney for that veto check on the crazy inclinations of next year’s legislature. And I voted for the person NOT named Jennifer Fielder.

Speaking of Fielder, ripples of the Missoulian’s quickly-retracted endorsement are still spreading, like this sit down Florio did with Sally Mauk. There is an interesting exchange about how some subscribers of the Missoulian cancelled their subscription in protest. This hurts the reporters during these perilous times, we are told, but then Florio does acknowledge why she thinks it’s important for those in the industry to explain the role of the journalist:

Sally Mauk Well, I think a huge part of the erosion of trust in journalism that is so pervasive now is this phrase ‘fake news.’ I don’t think there’s some phrase I hate more anymore than that phrase. How do we combat that, Gwen, and gain that trust back?

Gwen Florio I think ‘traditional journalism,’ I’m putting, like, air quotes around ‘traditional’ when I speak. But the journalism we most … often think of: the newspaper, public radio, the local TV stations, really have to do a better job of informing people why we do what we do, how we do what we do. What is very unnerving to me, there is a New York Times story that came out yesterday building on reporting by Columbia Journalism School about the proliferation of these ‘fake news’ sites, these sites that look like local news sites but are actually kind of canned journalism that is frequently funded primarily by right wing groups. And they they push a very specific agenda. And if you are not an informed consumer of news, you could look at that — the sites look very much like a traditional news site — you might think that that person has actually sat in the Missoula City Council meeting, when actually they’ve not. They could be hundreds of miles away, and again, almost writing off a script. It was really, really disturbing to read that story.

It’s a bit surreal to read this exchange while legacy media is standing by watching big tech essentially disappear Hunter Biden’s scandalous shenanigans.

It’s also unfortunate to see Florio perpetuate the OLD NORMAL idea of people sitting in physical proximity to their elected officials. That’s all done remotely now, and isn’t that convenient.

I’m trying to embrace my NEW NORMAL with some stuff I’ll be talking about soon.

Until then, I’ll be counting down the days with everyone else for a sign that others will do what I have done and write in Mr. West to save us.