Month: February 2021

by Travis Mateer

A Missoula teenager is not waiting for others to fix the climate crisis. That’s the headline of this Missoula Current article about Grace Gibson-Snyder, a 16 year old teenager who is pictured leaning against a tree.

How did this teenager become a Montana version of Greta Thunberg? Here is an excerpt from the article that explains how Gibson-Snyder came to this position of teenage climate warrior:

Gibson-Snyder had just finished her freshman year at Hellgate High School in Missoula. With an affinity for human rights and women’s issues, she had been encouraged to work on environmental projects but didn’t want to. She wanted to do something for people.

Over the course of several conversations with her parents, though, Gibson-Snyder’s perspective started to shift, and she came to the realization that climate change is about people.

The emphasis highlights the fact Gibson-Snyder had to be “encouraged” to become a climate warrior. Who encouraged her, her parents? Or was it teenage activist bootcamp? Here’s more from the link:

Her new interest in climate issues gained steam at the Global Leadership Forum, where she met youth from all over the world.

While there, Gibson-Snyder developed a project called Bring Your Own (BYO), which aims to decrease plastic waste in restaurants in Missoula. This was her introduction to climate work but is now on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ah, so Gibson-Snyder went to the Global Leadership Forum. What the heck is that? I don’t know, but a cursory look at their board of directors brings up people like Norma B. Clayton. Who is Norma B. Clayton? Here is her pedigree from the GLF website:

Norma Clayton is a retired Boeing executive She has held leadership roles within Boeing Defense, Lockheed Martin, General Electric, RCA, and General Motors. Among her many community activities, Clayton serves as first vice chair of Tuskegee University’s Board of Trustees and as a Boeing executive focal for Michigan State University. She is a member of Leadership America, the American Society of Industrial Engineers, and the National Association of African Americans in Human Resources.

I hope no one tells Grace Gibson-Snyder that companies like Boeing aren’t really known for their concern regarding climate change.

What they ARE known for is building machines of war that pollute and kill people, something I doubt Grace would appreciate being a part of.

But thanks to her parents, Grace Gibson-Snyder IS a climate warrior, writing op-eds and suing the government. That latter effort was reported on back in March of last year:

The lawsuit says that current policies violate the kids’ right to live in a clean environment. 

The law firms Our Children’s Trust, Western Environmental Law Center and McGarvey Law are representing the 16 kids, ages 2 to 18. The defendants include the State of Montana, Gov. Steve Bullock and a number of state agencies, including the Montana Dept. of Environmental Quality and the Montana Public Service Commission.

I feel sorry for the kids being exploited by their parents for this because no matter how well-meaning they are, their kids will be used by corporations to create the illusion of climate activism while the wars and pollution continue.

by Travis Mateer

This week’s episode of Zoom Town is a conversation with local poet Mark Gibbons. We talk about poetry, politics and why we don’t shut up like the poet Eileen Myles said we should simply because we were born with dangly appendages between our legs.

Mark reads a poem about playing the piccolo and I read a poem that triggered a major HR incident at the non-profit where I used to work, resulting in a signed apology letter given to me by City Councilperson, Gwen Jones.

If you have ideas about who I should interview next, or other information you would like to share, contact me at willskink at yahoo dot com. If you would like to make a financial contribution to my work, visit my about page for ways to support me.

Thank you.

by Travis Mateer

I’m worried that my ANGRY WHITE MAN morning workout routine might not be having the desired effect.

You see, this Missoulian article is supposed to be a fluff piece about fluffy snow and non-white people, but I have a problem. I cannot help but NOTICE certain things in articles, and then I make certain CONNECTIONS.

It’s a problem air-punching and Lego-building might not be able to solve. From the link:

The 20 participants stood in a circle, their bundled snow clothes and keen energy keeping them warm. Whirling snow fell from the sky dusting their hats and scarves. Fog obscured the surrounding mountains.

They spread out with outstretched arms, putting distance between one another, before Golden Yolk breakfast sandwiches and ski gear were handed out. They chatted with one another, some making new friends and other catching up with old ones.

Ok, why the heck did I emphasize Golden Yolk? Because connections are fun, and I remember seeing Golden Yolk in the portfolio of Mary Stranahan’s Goodwork Ventures:

And I ALSO remember that THE GOLDEN YOKE is only named THE GOLDEN YOKE because Ethan realized it would be a dumb business decision to remain Ninja Mike’s.

Here is a master-class in woke virtue-signaling from a good little hen:

Beloved Missoula restaurant Ninja Mike’s announces that, beginning today, it will operate under its new name: Golden Yolk Griddle. With its complete rebrand, the community relationship-centered business can better pursue its mission of offering Missoula delicious, consciously-sourced meals.

“We want to be a supportive force for justice and equity in our community and commit to an anti-racist action plan for our business,” said Golden Yolk Griddle owner Ethan Siegel on the decision to no longer continue under the Ninja Mike’s brand. “Changing our name is a necessary first step in this continuous work. We are glad to be cultivating conversation and participation within our community. ”

Good decision, Ethan, because I doubt you would have gotten the nice product placement without the re-brand.

This is the imminent future of Stakeholder Capitalism.

by Travis Mateer

On this Valentine’s day Missoula is proving its love for the mask because wearing one shows how big and virtuous your heart is. Also, science. And if you dare deviate from loving the mask and the scientific protection you think it gives you, well, who am I to disabuse you of the feels you get strapping on that thin layer of whatever across your face?

To bolster the conception of how amazingly caring Missoula is, our corporate newspaper has a very loving and scientific news article about Missoula’s deep and abiding love for the mask, which we will be wearing until enough people have been vaccinated to stop transmission. From the link:

“We still have vulnerable community members left to vaccinate and we still have transmission (of Covid-19 infections),” Farr said. “We do still intend to enforce the mask mandate in Missoula County.”

Yes, Missoula is still deeply in love with mask wearing. And science. Especially from places like Kansas, where they are known for their science. Farr references some study that happened in Kansas, but for some reason our corporate newspaper doesn’t offer a link. Here is the quote:

Farr said a recent study of Kansas counties that did and didn’t maintain mask protocols showed those that didn’t support face covering had significant increases in COVID infections. Another study in the January Journal of the American Medical Association found that 59% of infections come from someone who is not currently experiencing symptoms of their own infection.

Since the Missoulian and their new teenage-looking city editor don’t include links, here is one from NPR about the Kansas study. Clearly, according to their data, counties that didn’t enforce mask wearing saw higher infection rates.

What is NOT being reported is the type of tests that are being conducted. Why is this important? Because if it’s the PCR test, the cycle threshold of the test is significant, since a higher cycle threshold increases the chances of a false positive.

But that might create vaccine hesitancy, and if enough people don’t take the vaccine, then we don’t reach herd immunity (based on the NEW definition by the WHO). Here’s more from the Missoulian:

“We don’t know how long this is going to continue,” Farr said. “The vaccine is in short supply. Until we get a large majority vaccinated–until we get herd immunity and no longer see large amounts of the disease in the community–until that happens we continue with the mask mandate.”

Our non-elected health czar is being a good puppet for Big Pharma and parroting the line about herd immunity being dependent on vaccination rates. Here is the Big Pharma logic our unelected health czar is operating on:

When will the pandemic end? This is the question hanging over just about everything since Covid-19 took over the world last year.

The answer lies in the rate of vaccinations.

Bloomberg built the largest database of Covid-19 inoculations given around the world, which showed that more than 119 million doses were administered in 67 countries by February 5.

US health officials such as Anthony Fauci suggested it will take 70 per cent to 85 per cent coverage of the population for things to return to normal.

On a global scale, that is a daunting level of vaccination. Shots are being delivered at an average rate of 4.54 million a day. At this rate, it would take years to achieve a significant level of global immunity.

Do you see what is going on here? People who refuse to be vaccinated are being set up as the scapegoats for why we are never returning to any semblance of normality. This couldn’t be achieved if the old definition of herd immunity was being used.

Don’t worry, fragile Missoulians, I won’t be putting my mask skepticism into practice for the beleaguered service sector workers I interact with. I got a new hoodie from my favorite boutique and it has a button-on mask that attaches to the hood.

On the outside I’ll look just like you, but on the inside I will preserve the knowledge that this isn’t about keeping humans safe, it’s about keeping sociopaths in power and centralizing MORE control for them over our lives.

by AA (anger alchemist)

Hello, and welcome to a pilot that is destined to become a movement: THE ANGRY WHITE GUY WORKOUT SHOW.

If you have a garage (which of course you do, you privileged asshole) then please join me there to transform your anger into a productive workout. Maybe I’ll even share some hints about navigating life as an angry white guy.

NOW, LET’S GET PUMPED!!!