Month: November 2021

by Travis Mateer

This is a timely episode on a trend that shows NO sign of letting up in Missoula any time soon. Thanks for listening!

by Travis Mateer

Daniel Carlino, fresh off his razor-thin victory for City Council, hasn’t even been sworn in yet, but that isn’t stopping him from leaping into rhetorical action over the controversy that has erupted over the redevelopment of the Missoulian property, where hard copies of our pathetic newspaper once rolled off the presses.

Here’s how the Missoulian is framing Carlino’s insertion of himself into this controversy:

Daniel Carlino, who won a seat on the city council in the November election but hasn’t been sworn in yet posted on social media over the weekend about his opposition to the project.

“This development proposal doesn’t seem to match our community’s character or Missoulians’ values, so we must not let this be the start of a new wave of gentrification,” Carlino wrote on Instagram. “Although the City Council has already approved the rezone of this area and the developer has purchased the old Missoulian building, it’s not too late to stop this wave. It’s a great time to speak up!”

Before getting to the reaction from shameless gentrifiers like Gwen Jones, I’d like to know where Daniel Carlino was between October 2019 and February 2020 as Missoula locals, like drone whistleblower Brandon Bryant, flooded City Council chambers with their opposition to the use of Tax Increment Financing to enrich a Wisconsin transplant like Nick Checota while also exacerbating the housing crisis.

Actually, I know precisely what Daniel Carlino was doing during this uprising against TIF, he was hanging out with high school kids and railing against the ravages of climate change:

“We were lied to by our country. We’ve been ignored by the media, and all of our politicians have failed us,” said 22-year-old University of Montana Environmental Studies Student and Public Service Commission candidate Dan Carlino said.

“We’re in a war with the United States government for climate justice.”

See? Carlino couldn’t be bothered with gentrification in 2019 because he was busy waging a war with the United States government for climate justice, so even though he might have made an appearance before City Council, it certainly wasn’t to get into the nitty gritty of Tax Increment Financing and the abuses of the Engen regime.

Now that Carlino is chomping at the bit to stop what he claims is a “new wave of gentrification”, why criticize his approach? Shouldn’t I be happy to have another ally in the fight against an entrenched political elite?

Daniel Carlino was far from being an ally during the time period I referenced because one of the main voices in opposition to the use of TIF was Jesse Ramos, a conservative City Council member. Developing leftist bonafides seemed more important to Carlino than finding common cause with a conservative at that time.

Another politically active individual from that time period (by the name of J. Kevin Hunt) was NOT afraid to make common cause with Jesse Ramos, but he paid a price for this strategic alliance. Ironically, the vessel who brought political retribution to Hunt during his City Council run was Daniel Carlino’s girlfriend, Maggie Bornstein.

I tried providing a teachable moment for young activists like Maggie Bornstein, but I don’t think my perspective was well received. Oh well.

Now, with all that context out of the way, let’s take a look at the responses to Carlino’s political exploitation of citizen anger on this issue. First, here’s a little perspective from Gwen Jones, the infamous ice queen who uses her time on Council to look up dirt on activists in the hopes of putting the scary ones in jail:

Councilor Gwen Jones, who represents Ward 3–which includes the Missoulian property–said many people appear to think that the council somehow has the power to block the development.

She’s received 40 emails and many of her fellow council members spent the weekend responding to people, she said.

“Our focus is that there is a lot of misinformation regarding what council can and cannot do, and how these projects come about,” she said. “We have no tool to change the design, change the developer or require affordable housing. He have no tool to do that.”

At this point, with this particular development, Gwen Jones is probably correct that there is nothing that can be done to stop a piece of shit like Aaron Wagner from building luxury condos on the Hip Strip. Even when City Council DID HAVE LEVERAGE for another Bergquist-connected development down the street from this condo-atrocity in-the-making, they squandered the opportunity and any remaining goodwill from Missoula citizens who have come to understand their precarious position in this increasingly unaffordable Zoom Town.

If Carlino wasn’t paying attention to what was happening back then, he should have been, because now he’s in the crosshairs of propagandists like Gomer Kidston, the creator of the online news journal, the Missoula Current, who wrote this (emphasis mine):

Opponents have waged a small social media campaign in recent days pushing to stop the development. Among them, the area’s newly elected member to the City Council, Daniel Carlino, has posted misleading information out on social media, suggesting the project could be stopped.

In a tweet, he suggested “our community can stop this wave of gentrification.” Carlino, who has not been sworn into office but claims on his Twitter account to already represent Ward 3, included the mayor’s office number and the email contact of the developer in an attempt to drum up opposition to the project ahead of Monday night.

Engen on Monday said state law – not emotions – guide the city’s decisions.

“Rezoning of that property has been done. The prior zoning only allowed for a newspaper to operate at that site. When the council approved new zoning, it created opportunities for redevelopment,” Engen said.

Mayor Engen and his enablers have been at this game for 16 years. When Engen was first sworn in, Daniel Carlino was just 8 years old, and now this DSA acolyte is assuming he can lead local opposition to combat the gentrification schemes of his fellow Democrats.

Opposing gentrification isn’t just some opportunity for a young politician to bolster his resume for his next campaign, it’s an ACTUAL THREAT to the lives of thousands of Missoulians who are barely making it now, and can’t continue absorbing the spiraling costs of living in a highly desirable Zoom Town like Missoula.

I hope Carlino remembers that as he wages his little anti-gentrification campaign on social media.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I am very appreciative of the latest iteration of corporate fear porn surrounding the OMICRON VARIANT. In fact, I think it’s hilarious. And also helpful for the resistance against the technocratic dystopia the global sociopaths are desperately trying to impose on populations they see as human cattle.

Yesterday, while sociopath-enablers were tweeting their hateful bullshit online, I attended the rally against employer-enforced jab mandates in Missoula. This rally was part of a state-wide show of support for individuals who refuse to get jabbed. By the time I left (around 2:45pm) there were at least a hundred people lining Reserve Street.

I introduced myself to nurse Sarah O’Hara, who received her religious exemption recently, but knows colleagues at St. Pats who were denied. Did any media outlet besides KGVO cover this? My cursory search of the Missoulian and other media platforms didn’t turn up much regarding the protest, but I DID discover that Madonna got her third tattoo, completing a tattoo trilogy!

I know this is VERY IMPORTANT news, and I’m glad the Missoulian is there (kind of) to inform their readers of the latest ink to be needled into Madonna’s skin, and NOT the required, needle-facilitated injection of a Pharma product being forced on the non-compliant like a male rapist shoving his cock into his desired target.

If you think my rape metaphor is inappropriate, then you clearly haven’t been spending time on Twitter where the psychotic blue check marks are wishing death on people like me. If anything, my rape metaphor is too tame. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

After seeing this tweet, my first thought was WHO THE HELL IS JERRY SALTZ? I did some quick Googling to find out Saltz is the senior art critic at New York Magazine. And even though this sophisticated luminary thinks he’s 97% protected, he still wants the non-compliant to die. What a moronic fuck.

Speaking of moronic fucks, here’s another screen shot of Twitter warriors trying to understand what kind of people are showing up to these anti-mandate rallies. The main moron on this brief Twitter thread is the owner of Erotique, a sex shop in Bozeman. Here’s a shot of Billy from his website:

And here’s Billy with some other sharp tools from the liberal tool box trying to figure out why there are kids and smiles instead of rage and guns:

I know I should probably be more angry than I am, but the absurdity of the OMICRAP HILLARIANT is just too funny to take seriously. I also think this latest fear campaign by corporate media runs the risk of being a catalyst for Covidians to question their faith in THE SCIENCE and Big Pharma.

Am I being too optimistic? Probably, but on this unseasonably warm Monday after a wonderful Thanksgiving break, I can’t help but feel VERY GOOD about what’s afoot in Zoom Town.

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned. December is going to be one heck of a month.

by Travis Mateer

While preparing material for a podcast appearance, I ran across this interview with David Lynch by former Indy journalist, Skylar Browning. Here is an interesting excerpt relating to Missoula:

Indy: How long did you actually live in Missoula?

Lynch: Two months.

Indy: That’s it?

Lynch: I was born there, and right after I was born my parents moved to Sand Point, Idaho. I lived in the Northwest until I was 14, but always in different cities.

Indy: During those years did you ever make your way back through Missoula?

Lynch: No. My relatives in Montana were in Hungry Horse, Montana; my aunt and uncle lived there. My parents have a log cabin up near Kalispell—what’s the name of the ski resort? Whitefish? My Dad was raised near Highwood, Montana, on a wheat ranch, and my grandfather was a state senator in Montana. They retired from the ranch and lived in Hamilton for a while. I’ve been to Montana a lot, but never really back to Missoula.

Indy: So, when you came back, you were mostly heading back to the Kalispell area?

Lynch: Exactly. It’s beautiful up there.

Indy: Do you have any memories of Missoula at all?

Lynch: Um, no. Not really. But I’ve heard people say it’s a great town and I should go visit it because it’s got a real mood. And I want to go find the hospital I was born in and see if it brings back memories. I remember it was two miles from Hell’s Canyon…St. Patrick Hospital. That’s it. I’d like to get back there.

Using David Lynch’s connection to Missoula is just one way I’ve tried luring Christopher Knowles into a podcast interview.

Today I’m upping my game with a song, which I’ll eventually turn into a video I’d like to call Baphomet Big Bird. If that doesn’t make any sense, allow me to further confuse you with the song. I hope my Twitter fans enjoy this one!

a song by William Skink

TIF aware don't dare sniff
you'll take the township off a cliff
where the drift boats always miss
danger rocks for A-list tips

debt an ocean where not a drop
sees its role as flooding mop
smearing off the dirty hordes
from a Rockefeller floor

Ivy Getty, eleven six
Pelosi stands, official hiss
lovely shards, teflon scales
with pepperoni on emails

I forgot, you like it dumb
from any hint you'll quickly run
the beam is pink and also numb
when wieners hide inside the buns

triggered always--woke and rich
rocket tweets and Pharma's bitch
like the chick on coffee cup
star your bucks, then cut your nuts

do it for the dude in dress
Mithras, man, you'd never guess
unless a Chris decodes the tongue
of Sibyl songs and secret suns

by Travis Mateer

On the day before Thanksgiving my appearance on Sam Tripoli’s Tin Foil Hat went live and I couldn’t be happier.

This is just one way I’m hitting back the narrative controllers of Zoom Town.

While I discuss issues like meth, homelessness and missing persons, a thin-skinned developer by the name of Aaron Wagner was busy pounding margaritas and shit-talking Missoula locals who don’t approve of his BIG CONDO plans.

Here’s an excerpt from the newspaper that is both reporting on this asshole AND facilitating his development project by being the property that sold to his development group:

Wagner responded to scores of commenters angrily. In one response, he wrote, “Land abduction (with crying tears emojis). I paid $10mm for the land….More than your life and soul is worth…so here’s a little tip…f— off and get a life (with a middle finger emoji).”

First, I’m curious about Wagner’s expertise on the value of souls. Does he know about the asking price of souls because he sold his? Here’s more from this POS:

In yet another response, he wrote, “Look you little pre pubescent dunk, you don’t know s— about economics or taxes or how to solve homelessness or a housing crisis. So leave that to the professionals like me, stop whining and go back to your parents basement and eat your cheetohs and play Fortnite. Us grownups have to actually fix real problems.

Well, Aaron, let me introduce myself: my name is Travis Mateer and this town has been my home for 21 years. 10 of those years I spent working at a homeless shelter and an aging services organization where I became intimately aware of how our Mayor and his cronies have been “solving” the problems you referenced.

Other things you should know about me: I haven’t lived in my parents basement since high school, I don’t eat cheetohs, and I despise video games. Oh, and my hobbies include taking my dog for a walk, building facsimile worlds out of Legos, and exposing how money rolls in this town.

Here are some things Missoula locals should know about Aaron Wagner: he likes drinking margaritas while on vacation, insulating his kids from the rage locals experience while they get gentrified out of existence, and rationalizing his drunken antics by referencing the position he played on the gridiron, linebacker.

Wagner said he is on vacation with his family and had “a few too may margaritas” before he posted some responses.

…

Wagner said he’s sorry his actions have caused a “backlash” that Bergquist will feel as well.

He noted that Bergquist played quarterback, which requires a certain level of calm.

“I’m a middle linebacker, which sometimes is a bull in a china shop and gets a little out of control,” he said. “But that’s not the best way to engage people.”

See? It’s a football thing. Or, more specifically, a LINEBACKER thing. I guess they take their pigskin ethos into the business world where winning is everything. I think I’m starting to see how this football player mentality fueled problems in our humble little mountain college town, like that rape scandal Jon Krakauer wrote about.

I’m glad former football players get a chance to make some quality loot in Missoula on the development of a property that once produced physical copies of this narrative controlling technology that reluctantly reports on the violence committed by current players.

And, since the narrative is so tightly controlled in this town, I’ll be looking for MORE opportunities to tell my story to audiences OUTSIDE this elitist bubble, where our neoliberal rubber-stampers give increasingly hollow lip-service to economically squeezed locals while providing ACTUAL services to wealth in order to reshape this town to their liking.

Fuck that.