by Travis Mateer
It is entirely possible you think the title of this post is hyperbolic. Or unnecessarily sensational. Or just not true. If so, let’s take a few trips around the info-landscape to see what we can see.
While I was shouting the names of two dead black men into a megaphone on the streets of Missoula Friday evening to a mostly oblivious public, Joe Rogan was issuing his SECOND apology as the sustained attack on his podcast escalates with old audio sliced and diced and assembled for maximum impact.
Happy Black History month!
Moving on, Bloomberg “accidentally” reported that Russia invaded Ukraine a few days ago. Oops!
Bloomberg made a blunder.
The financial news site accidentally reported that Russia had invaded Ukraine Friday afternoon with a headline on its homepage.
“Live: Russia invades Ukraine,” read a jarring headline on Bloomberg’s homepage at around 4 p.m.
How does an entity explain such a “blunder”? Here’s the mea culpa:
“We prepare headlines for many scenarios and one of those headlines was inadvertently published at around 4 PM ET today on our website,” a Bloomberg News spokesperson wrote in an email. “We deeply regret the error.”
Stating information deemed to be inaccurate by an elected official was enough to silence Missoula citizen, Matt Larson, in the waning days of 2021.
In a post titled with the question A NEW METRIC FOR MAKING PUBLIC COMMENT? I included a portion of an email J. Kevin Hunt (former Council candidate) sent to local officials sounding the alarm regarding our Mayor’s enhanced powers to silence speakers of inaccuracy with technology.
Here’s the quote:
At the December 13, 2021 City Council meeting, Zoom attendee Matt Larson (with whom I have neither a personal acquaintance nor any shared political/ideological organizational affiliation of which I’m aware), had his microphone cut off by the Mayor a few seconds into Mr. Larson’s Citizen Comment (the first of three comments by Mr. Larson at this meeting). Mr. Larson was respectful and was not using profanity. Nor was he yelling. Nor was he making offensive personal comments about the Mayor or any member of the Council (although doing so would be fully protected speech and expression under both the Montana and United States Constitutions). Nor was he disruptive. Nor did he expressly or impliedly threaten violence of violation of any law. Nor did he engage in any conduct constituting breach of the peace. Nor did he utter anything akin to “shouting ‘FIRE!’ in a crowded theater”or otherwise posing a clear and present danger to anyone.
The reason given by the Mayor for abruptly censoring Mr. Larson in mid-sentence was that Mr. Larson had said two things about city policy that were historically inaccurate. This authoritarian action by the Mayor, which evoked no objection, opposition or disapproving remark from any member of the Council, violated the following provisions of the Declaration of Rights proclaimed in Article II of the Montana Constitution.
Going back to the possibility a senile, hair-sniffing American President could trigger a kinetic war with Russia over pipeline posturing in Ukraine, a handful of adorable protestors showed up on a renamed, virtue-gleaming bridge in Missoula to register their displeasure.
Despite any reasonable, sane quotes these protestors may have slipped into our shit newspaper, they can’t stop the fucked framing at the beginning with this second paragraph of the piece:
While promising no direct action in Ukraine, President Biden has ordered 3,000 troops to easter European NATO countries, while Russia has built up 100,000 in the region, raising fears of a potential invasion.
What obvious, one-sided propaganda. I hope the paycheck is worth it, Cory Walsh. Is this what you had in mind for your career when we were both attend the University of Montana?
If you’re gonna make propaganda, at least make it a little more enjoyable. Like a Mad Max homeless cart billboard machine with a megaphone, or the videos I made during the Trump days to have a laugh.
Like this one.