Month: August 2021

by Travis Mateer

On the same day I learned the Providence Health Care system won’t release their policies unless legally required to, I ran into Michael sitting in his wheel chair with his pants half down, trying to fish out some dirty cash from his soiled jeans.

Michael is old school, meaning I’ve known him since the OLD Pov days, when the shelter was located downtown. When I say Cockeyed Joe, Michael knows exactly who I’m talking about.

Before running into Michael halfway between the NEW Pov location and St. Patrick’s Hospital (run by Providence), I spoke with him near Target, where he was panhandling, so I already knew a bit about why he was back on the streets.

But I hadn’t seen his foot.

The video I recorded, with Michael’s permission, is focused on his foot and it is graphic and unsettling if you’re not a first responder or someone with similar experience.

Then, for additional context, I biked a few blocks to record myself non-professionally assessing the situation with St. Pats in the background.

If you don’t want to watch the video, here’s the gist: Michael is a Veteran and was paying a nightly OFF season rate at one of the Motel 6’s (but not the one Adam stayed at), meaning he was paying, allegedly, nearly $3,000 a month.

When the seasonal rates hit, Michael couldn’t afford the cost, so he was back on the streets.

I’m sure there’s more to the story, but, at the end of the day he IS a Veteran and Missoula DOES CLAIM to be able to deal with this kind of stuff.

Anyway, here’s the video of Michael’s foot. If it ruins your next meal, I’m not sorry.

If you got this far, you get extra bonus points if you can tell me what color Michael’s skin is.

by Travis Mateer

Yesterday I had the opportunity to speak about my experiences mobilizing against the mask mandate with other like-minded people. One of my suggestions was using contrasts to undermine the supposed position of caring and empathy the fabric authoritarians are exhibiting.

I’ve been using contrasts on the refugee/homeless front for many years, most recently this article from last March, but don’t tell Doug Odegaard that. He wanted to let me know, after advocating for bringing Afghani refugees into a rental market with a vacancy rate of LESS THAN 1%, just how prepared they are to do this:

Yes, Doug ain’t speculating about what they can do for refugees, just like I’m not speculating about what Missoula IS NOT doing for homeless folks, like ensuring the “safe space” at the Pov is free of murder and rape.

In case Doug thought his noble efforts was being attacked by some heartless right-winger, I let him know the director of the Missoula Refugee Resettlement office, Jen Barile, was a former volunteer of mine when I worked the Poverello Center.

Other volunteers who spent time with my Homeless Outreach program include a candidate for Municipal judge, Jacob Coolidge; the creator of the Missoula Interfaith Collaborative, Casey Dunning; and the Public Information Officer for the Missoula Police Department, Lydia Arnold.

I’m referencing these notable former volunteers of mine because social media has given people a far too easy method of venting their hateful thoughts from their propaganda-infected minds, and anyone who has the temerity to question a NEW DICTATE, like the mask mandate, is going to get attacked.

Even a 12 year old girl?

I don’t think Patrick Ricci, a former locomotive operator in Missoula, actually understands his “F#$k them” comment includes a 12 year old girl who got up to speak against the mask mandate on Tuesday, August 3rd. And why would he? He wasn’t there, listening, like I was, so it’s easy for this dude to sit at his keyboard and type this:

If any PRO MASK MANDATE people want to be a guest on my podcast, hit me up at willskink at yahoo dot com. We can discuss all that amazing science you think justifies wishing death on the non-compliant.

While I wait for a screen-warrior to accept my challenge, I’m hoping to interview a parent involved with the legal challenge of the mask mandate this coming week. I’ll ask him why he’s a crazy Trumptard with a psychotic death wish suggesting the naked faces of our children get dusted with DELTA.

So, stay tuned…

by Travis Mateer

For today’s post I’d like to highlight two things.

First, a local online fundraising effort was launched six days ago to raise money for a legal challenge to the Missoula County public school mask mandate. Nearly $4,000 of the $30,000 has already been raised. From the link:

A group of parents in Missoula County has joined forces to file a legal challenge to school mask mandates by Missoula County Public Schools and Target Range Public Schools. 

We believe that mask mandates in schools are an infringement upon citizens’ constitutionally-protected rights to make decisions for their families. 

And, second, I’d like to bring some positive attention to a gutsy Broadway star who is taking a stand against medical authoritarians (formerly known as artists) and their coercive methods to impose conformity on those who claim personal autonomy in making health decisions for themselves and their families.

Laura Osnes is a badass, and this is a portion of her statement:

In early May, I accepted an invitation to perform in a one-night benefit concert at East Hampton’s Guild Hall. A month ago, I was informed that protocols had changed, and I would now need proof of vaccination to participate. I was disappointed but responded that I would have to withdraw, as I have not yet gotten the vaccine. It is also important to clarify that none of my fellow performers ever “pressed me on the matter” before I withdrew. It was a drama-free and discrete transition. 

Page Six wrote that Guild Hall representatives claimed, “performers have the option to provide proof of full vaccination OR a recent negative Covid test result.” This negative test option was never extended to me. I would have tested in a heartbeat — something I have been doing for months, and will continue to do, in order to keep working safely. 

Knowing the issue of vaccines passionately divides people, let me share the details around my current vaccination status. First, it is a legal right of all Americans to have their medical privacy protected. Mine has now been broadcast with an attitude of shame and demonization. Secondly, I believe individuals have the right to do the research, consult a doctor, and come to their own conclusions before deciding whether or not to get any injection.

My case is personal. I stand by the decision my husband and I, with input from our physician, have made for ourselves, our family planning, and our future. There is so much that is still unknown. Someday, perhaps we will feel more confident in the research to consider a different position. With the information that is currently available, however, I have a conviction that I (and many others, both in and out of my industry) feel compelled to stand by. 

Covid-19 has negatively impacted millions of lives and is still a very real concern for me. The safety of my colleagues and audience members is extremely important to me. I have been involved in several projects that have successfully navigated production during this time, carefully and completely Covid-free. Venues and artists have proven it can be done without vaccine mandates, through regular testing, social distancing, improved ventilation, quarantines, and other protective measures. I say this for myself and so many others, who are concerned about their rights, reputations, and livelihoods being on the line. 

Every soul is entitled to live according to their convictions and work without being publicly ostracized. My conviction does not discount my care and commitment to safety during this unprecedented time.

And how will the caring, inclusive liberals who believe woman should be able to make their own choices about their bodies react to this?

Yes, it’s true, many formerly tolerant liberals have been infected with a mutant strain of cancel culture known as the January 6th variant. This virulent strain impacts the liberal mind by inverting concepts once seen as GOOD–like autonomy to make medical decisions based on informed consent–and transforming them into dangerous RIGHT WING PLOTS.

Conservatives experienced something similar after 9/11, when religious freedom and personal liberty had to go because enough naive patriots were convinced Islam was the problem and it was extremist Muslims who were attacking us because they hated our freedom.

Remember that?

Maybe someday people will stop erroneously assuming we have two distinct political parties and wake up to the harsh reality that our political duopoly is a BIG CON designed to keep us fighting each other while billionaires send their dick rockets into space, but I don’t think that day is today.

Have a great weekend!

by Travis Mateer

While I enjoyed performing last week, I am NOT going to repeat that performance this week at a different location, like I had planned, due to an ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION for the feelings of others.

Yes, while people like me are being demonized on social media, including explicit wishes for us to be denied medical care, denied freedom of movement, and ultimately squeezed on every front until we experience enough pain, bullying and social pressure to acquiesce to the jab, I’ll change my truth-amplifying strategy because of how OTHERS feel unsafe.

If you have ever watched the show Stranger Things you might be familiar with the UPSIDE DOWN.

I’d like to make that fiction again.

by Travis Mateer

Yesterday’s post about the rush to exploit the death of a child on social media by Missoula County’s Communication Coordinator, Allison Franz, received some criticism from City Council candidate J. Kevin Hunt. In defense of the communication specialists I regard as propagandists for state power, Hunt had this to say:

Additionally, a PIO is not expected to be, and could never be, an expert on the various subjects she is tasked with communicating. If the standard is 100% perfection on the part of both the PIO and the entity supplying the information, no one could ever meet it, including you. That the Health Dept. issued a very prompt correction, is to be commended, not ridiculed. The Health Dept. is not tasked with determining causes and manners of deaths, either, and collects and aggregates data provided to it by physicians and hospitals. If it’s really necessary to persecute someone, you could always seek a copy of the death certificate and query whomever made the determination of cause and manner of death. This is not even determined to be an error at this point, but rather a conclusion that was premature. Where’s the scandal?

This comment is a straw man response to an argument I’ve never made. I’m not claiming public information officers should be experts in all subjects with 100% perfection. That is why I acknowledged our human fallibility at the beginning of the post. Instead I’m criticizing how paid government officials tasked with interfacing with the public to promote government transparency prioritize the use of their time and the topics they are putting on social media blast.

While I try to get information from various agencies about how our local government promotes “public safety”, an article from the Missoula Current highlights how our local government is approaching the communication challenges of the 21st century: MORE MONEY!

First, before getting to the article, I’d like to remind readers about the $46,000 in Tax Increment Financing our local officials tossed at Spider McKnight’s consulting firm, Six Pony Hitch, to develop a communication plan for MRA. While I haven’t seen the results of that money spent last August, I know we have LOTS of communication specialists doing communication work, like Ginny Merriam for the Mayor’s office, Lydia Arnold for the police and Allison Franz for the County.

Yet, despite all those paid communication professionals, we are being told another $100,000 is needed for our government to be able to effectively inform us lowly citizens of the machinations of said government. From the link:

Citing the advent of digital media and misinformation, members of the Missoula City Council on Wednesday considered funding an effort to enhance the city’s communications and outreach, particularly those related to ongoing initiatives.

The one-time budgetary request of roughly $100,000 would enable City Council to “get ahead” of public engagement, provide media briefs, post regularly to social media and prepare public presentations, among other things.

What I bolded should sound VERY familiar to J. Kevin Hunt because it’s the same rationale Mayor Engen used two years ago to justify schedule changes around the public comment opportunity for Nick Checota’s BIG DRIFT. Here’s a trip down memory lane and a portion of Kevin Hunt’s first-hand account from the comment thread:

In his opening remarks, Engen said the reason for “the rush” was that “rumors begin and spread quickly in this town, and I thought we needed to get ahead of the rumors and get this underway” (near-verbatim, from my memory). In my citizen comment (of about five minutes length, the only one from a critic; two others simply told the council to “go for it”), I told Engen that his explanation about “getting ahead of rumors” was a euphemism for “we can’t let the ignorant unwashed public slow us down with their questions.”

We need to remember who we are dealing with in local government when six figure numbers are being thrown around and Bryan Von Rocket Scientist says shit like this:

Council president Bryan von Lossberg said the modern communications landscape has shifted greatly in recent years, moving well beyond what he described as the “pre-Internet era of well-resourced local newspapers, local TV and radio coverage.”

He said citizens receive the majority of their news and government information from online sources, including social media platforms and online news sites “of various degrees of trustworthiness.”

Boy, I really wish Lossberg would specify exactly which online news sites he has a problem with because if one of ’em isn’t the MISSOULA CURRENT then I have a problem with that.

Why? Because I don’t consider a “former” spokesman for the Montana Democratic party to be a trustworthy source of objective information.

To back up this awkward fact, here’s a 2012 post from Flathead Memo that quotes an article featuring Kidston in his former political role. To get the full context about what kind of “kinks in the pipe” Kidston is talking about, go to the link.

Democrats were frank about the funding connection. 

“You’re right, there’s not too many kinks in that pipe,” said Martin Kidston, Montana Democratic Party spokesperson.

Again, without specificity from the Rocket Scientist, I can only speculate as to which online news sites he finds troubling, but I think it’s safe to say it’s probably NOT the one he’s being quoted in.

Now, here’s more “reporting” from Kidston’s virtual rag regarding the “need” to throw $100,000 dollars at this alleged communication problem:

The city has embarked a wide number of initiatives, though it rarely promotes them publicly. That has led to frustration among some council members who believe the work undertaken by the city, including its housing efforts, police reform and infrastructure goals, aren’t getting through to the public.

As a result, Von Lossberg and other council members believe the city is missing out on opportunities to engage with the public on various initiatives and arm the public with what council members described as factual information.

“I spend a huge amount of time communicating. A lot of times, it’s basic correction because there is a lot of misinformation out there from a variety of sources,” said council member Gwen Jones. “It goes to a larger communications issue in general. We’ve got some things to think about in the budget that are going in that direction. We’re always behind instead of ahead.”

Only spanking-new residents, amnesiacs, and people with cognitive decline will be able to read this drivel and come away with the impression that our elected officials actually WANT to engage with the public.

Anyone with functioning brain cells who has lived in Missoula for more than a two years might recall how von Rocket Scientist and Pitbull Jones dealt with the public during the anti-TIF uprising, and if you DO NOT recall any of that, well, I’m going to do my best to remind my fellow citizens about what exactly was going down before the pandemic allowed our elected officials to retreat to virtual meetings.

I hope those involved in that fight remember what we are up against.

Stay tuned…