by Travis Mateer
I just ran across the post-election Missoulian op-ed, penned by publisher Jim Strauss and Executive Editor Jim Van Nostrand, and I think it’s adorable and hilarious. Here’s some highlights.
One clear indication of the will of the voters is that progressive candidates swept the slate. Mayor John Engen was reelected for a fifth term, all six city council winners were endorsed by the Missoula County Democratic Central Committee, and the three new municipal court judges are former public defenders who ran on a platform of a less-punitive approach.
Engen is a progressive? That’s adorable. We need a less punitive approach to criminal justice? That’s hilarious. Here’s more:
On homelessness, for example, we won’t let unhoused people freeze to death, we won’t create chain gangs for forced labor, and we won’t give them bus tickets to make the problem go away.
We have addressed homelessness with stopgap measures, but long-term solutions, as Engen points out, will not be achieved until we successfully confront the three challenges of housing, addiction and mental illness. Homelessness will only be solved by treating the underlying causes.
Cool, no more humans turned into lifeless ice cubes. Back in 2017, when Tim Lloyd died of exposure near the Union Gospel Mission, I noted how NBC Montana was THE ONLY NEWS OUTLET to take notice. Because of MY REPORTING, the Missoula Independent ended up doing a story on Tim. In summation, FUCK the Missoulian.
Regarding the pandemic, we’ve shown that we are a community that cares for the public welfare. Most of us are willing to take the tough measures to make the scourge go away. If our state’s elected leaders would get their heads out of the sand and get out of our way, we’d be in a much better place–instead of the state leading the nation in per-capita COVID-19 cases.
I don’t even know where to start with this shit. Maybe I should wish upon a star for the Missoulian to educate its readers on who gets COVID money, like that State Representative who got $50,000 for her and her hubby in small business Covid relief money. But no, the two Missoulian Jims are too busy bashing Republicans for enabling THE SCOURGE, and for somehow blocking these noble Jims from doing more for Big Pharma’s bottom line.
Now, how about housing?
And on housing, we face an existential threat. The character of our community will drastically change if working-class people can’t afford to live here. Plans are in the works to build a lot more affordable housing, but it can’t go up quickly enough. The solutions (plural) will require creative thinking, community-wide buy-in and a no-obstacles-tolerated approach.
HA! This is HILARIOUS, considering the building this bullshit is emanating from will be 125 foot condo towers after The Wags and his local enablers at WGM are done with it. But don’t worry, Missoula, WGM took the bold move of CANCELLING a meeting! And how is this cowardly move being framed by Democrats in Zoom Town?
Oh, Kimberly, I guess no one told you that the Hip Strip is already dead. Bathing Beauties is gone (to be replaced by another weed store) and Carlo’s Last Stand closed, as did the Hob Nob. But Boomers can still buy “fair trade” shit at the Peace Center, and creative re-use stuff at Upcycled for awhile longer, so maybe it’s on life support.
Since I have an allergy to narrative control by corporate fucks like these two Jims, I’m not going to repost the entire op-ed. It was hard enough reading the portions I excerpted, especially this shit about inclusivity:
INCLUSIVITY: Is Missoula a welcoming city for all? It was just the summer of 2020 when Black Lives Matters protesters gathered at the Missoula County Courthouse, some calling for the Missoula Police Department to be defunded. This last legislative session left many in Montana’s LGBTQ community feeling unwelcome. Now, the community and state are split on whether to allow Afghan refugees into our state and communities. How do we ensure that Missoula is a city where all resident feel welcome and are confident they receive equitable treatment?
I have no patience for utter shit like this. While these two Jims promote their corporate narrative control virtue-signaling, I’m still trying to understand what actually happened to Sean Stevenson at the Poverello Center on January 3rd, 2020. That was made MUCH MORE DIFFICULT when unnamed Sheriff Deputies shot and killed Sean’s alleged assailant, Johnny Lee Perry, on August 29th, 2021.
If you are not aware of these stories, that’s because the Missoulian is a vehicle for advertising, not critical information about what’s actually happening in our community.
I know this to be a fact because of first-hand experience reporting on the things the Missoulian is refusing to cover.
Most of the citizens I talk to in this town understand the Missoulian is shit and getting more obviously shitty with every passing day. Op-eds like this by the two Jims help me make my case.
Thanks for reading!