Month: July 2023

by Travis Mateer

Well damn! Synchronicity strikes again! After wrapping up Friday’s post about True Detective, which stars Matthey McConaughey, I decided to check on the production of Yellowstone, since I tracked its presence in Missoula like a hound dog last year (links further below).

As the image above indicates, there are rumors that none other than Mr. Alright-Alright himself could be replacing Costner as Montana’s fictional Governor. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

Less interesting is the manufactured excitement coming from KGVO that Missoula could be “the Hollywood of the Mountain West“. Come again, Peter Christian?

From the link (emphasis mine):

Emmy-nominated film producer Paul Epstein honestly believes that Missoula can become the Hollywood of the Mountain West.

KGVO News spoke to Epstein on Wednesday while he was busy creating a new episode of ‘Into the Wild Frontier’, now in its third season on the INSP network, who said Missoula has all the ingredients to be a real force in film production.

“I was hired by the local production company called Warm Springs Productions that does quite a bit of TV and they’re based in Missoula,” began Epstein. “I believe they have a satellite office in Manhattan, Montana, and for season one back in 202 I was hired on to become the executive producer and director of the show because that company had set up the show with the INSP network. And so soon after coming to Montana, I realized that it was the perfect place to shoot a documentary series about the early age of America’s westward expansion.”

First; unfortunate last name, Paul. Second; WHY would we want this? Nothing in the “article” indicates why our local officials should wage a PR campaign for Paul to make us the Hollywood of the Mountain West. What, you didn’t know Paul wants local officials to go on the PR offensive? Here’s a screen-shot so you can see my emphasis in RED:

What I think Paul is trying to say is this: things are CHEAPER here, and Yellowstone has primed the yokels for more efficient exploitation…because HOLLYWOOD!

Maybe Paul is right about the NEW Missoula–or ZOOM TOWN, as I like to call it–but OLD Missoula wouldn’t be so eager to sell out our town to outside film-making interests, no matter what stars we might catch a glimpse of.

Before getting to the list of this week’s links, here’s a hefty chunk of my Yellowstone coverage for your perusal:

A Question Of Worth And Cost As It Relates To Selling Our Community Out To Costner’s Yellowstone (June 23rd, 2022)

Talking With Some Missoula Cops About Keeping The Yellowstone Production Safe (July 7th, 2022)

A Message To The Myth Makers: You Will Not Win This War (July 17th, 2022)

Here’s What Ross Douthat Thinks Of Montana In His New York Times Yellowstone Op-Ed (July 29th, 2022)

A Yellowstone Skirmish On West Main Street As The Larger Narrative War Continues (August 11th, 2022)

On-The-Ground Yellowstone Reporting…But Who Owns The Ground? (August 18th, 2022)

Is Yellowstone A “Fictional” Pressure Release Valve Meant To Mesmerize And Pacify Its Audience, Or Something More? (November 15th, 2022)

The Irony Of Missoula Current “Environmental Reporter” Complaining That The Show Yellowstone Is Helping Ruin Montana (November 17th, 2022)

Synchronicities are a big part of how I do my work, and sometimes it’s like they’re contagious. My post (link below) about True Detective inspired a great comment from JC about Woody Harrelson’s dad. Here’s a portion of it:

Charles Harrelson was convicted in 1981 of assassinating a federal judge in the middle of a trial of a person involved in a major, long term drug running (Chagra bros) syndicate. That syndicate included one Andrew Thorton II, a blue-blood Kentuckian from a wealthy horse racing family. Andrew became a narco cop in Kentucky and used his position to segway into the narco trade. Being a trained Vietnam era pilot and parachutist, he naturally gravitated to flying drug running missions between Columbia and Kentucky, graduating from smuggling pot to cocaine. He was a thrill-seeking soldier of fortune type, voluntarily outcast from his blue blood roots and his narco-detective pardners.

One of his associates was a major cartel figure, whom the federal judge was presiding over his trial. Charles Harrelson was allegedly hired by the criminal and his gang to off the judge, and he did… supposedly (he recanted after admitting it). He also asserted he had assassinated JFK. And Woody’s mom was named… Diane Oswald, a distant relative to Lee Harvey Oswald.

Andrew Thorton died on 9/11 1985, when he somehow left his airplane over Lexington (the movie version is hilarious), and his parachute didn’t open (many conspiracy stories about how that happened). He had 75 pounds of cocaine strapped to his body when the cops scraped him off the pavement. 3 months later several other duffle bags full of cocaine had been found (along the flight path back towards Columbia), one of which the cocaine bear had discovered and consumed enough cocaine to kill him. Hence the notoriety of the cocaine bear’s story, and its eventual fodder for a Hollywood slasher movie, of a bear run amok in a cocaine-fueled frenzy, killing 10 people.

But the story of Woody and his connections to the JFK murder and a whole lot of other shit is pretty wild, too. And ties to the narco trade, hit jobs, and various drug task forces looking for his father and narco mob copsters. And Woody’s various roles playing the cop, or LBJ, or…

Makes You Think.

Isn’t that interesting? I think that’s interesting. And there’s more interesting material below to READ, but I also encourage you to LISTEN because where else are you going to get a book pairing like this?

Before the links, I’d like to offer one final image. While Yellowstone is selling the breathtaking landscape of Big Sky Country to those with pockets deep enough to afford it, the picture below is a more stark example of what’s happening to our town thanks to being “discovered”.

Now, finally, here are the links to the week’s articles. Dig in!

If I Had The Resources To Do Actual, In Depth Investigations… (July 17th, 2023)

My Cautious And Cynical Take On The Mayoral Money Flap: The Hyenas Are Already Barking At Each Other (July 18th, 2023)

If I’m Not A Part Of Your Homeless Plan Then Your Homeless Plan Is To Control, Not Solve (July 19th, 2021)

Does Missoula’s International Choral Festival Have A CIA Dark Side? (July 20th, 2023)

A Sad Day For Too Many Reasons, But Here Are A Few (July 20th, 2023)

On Re-Watching The First Season Of True Detective (July 21st, 2023)

If you appreciate the work I’m doing, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to help me out, and the donation button at my about page is another.

Thanks for listening/reading!

by Travis Mateer

Can you trust the Sheriff? What about the Governor? Why was the task-force created? And what could an alleged man of God be hiding?

If you want answers, a show like True Detective makes it easy: just binge-watch the show and you’ll get your answers by the end of it. Or will you?

This “buddy cop” series launched its inaugural season in 2014 with two detectives who are anything but buddies. Woody Harrelson’s “Marty” Hart is the shit-heel company man who tries to tolerate his new partner, “Rust” Cohle, played by Matthew McConaughey. The opening case becomes the expected rabbit hole that swallows our deeply flawed protagonists as they come to terms with the extent of the depravity and corruption they’re up against.

Expect spoilers as I describe the narrative elements resonating with me like a fucking fog horn. For example, Rust questions his sanity as he starts to see the invisible tentacles of protection this killer seems to have because, he finally realizes, the tentacles are actually familial branches that go to the top of the religious/political power structure of Louisiana.

Rust also meets significant resistance within his own department as he tries selling the idea that the murder case is the work of a serial killer who has killed before. Because rural counties have limited resources to investigate this kind of stuff, dontchya know!

Detectives with ladder-climbing aspirations, or hopes for financial security, or even personal safety, won’t be inclined to see past individual cases to the culture of death and domination that permeates our hierarchal power structures, which go far beyond the crackhead-crimes of President Biden’s son, Hunter.

But evidence of larger networks, and how they operate, are out there in plain sight, like the tattoo of the Finger Lakes on Hunter Biden’s back.

Am I just being a CRAZY “conspiracy theorist” when I combine odd data points like this with other cultural artifacts, like Jim Carrey’s strange cameo on The Office?

Getting back to True Detective, the scope of what Rust and Marty are dealing with does, eventually, come into focus, and the questions are answered: no, you can’t trust the Sheriff, the Governor is involved, the task-force was created to control the direction of the investigation AWAY from the real perpetrator, and the man of God is hiding a video tape, which Rust finds through extra-judicial means and uses to convince Marty to join him in finishing their unfinished business.

The success of the first season (which has so far been unmatched by the two subsequent seasons) comes from grappling with the taboo subject of ORGANIZED evil reaching its tentacles into the upper echelons of government and religion through family ties. The serial killer, who is brought down in the end, is NOT shown in isolation from society, but part of an unseen power structure that operates within it.

This Sunday’s Week in Review will more than likely expand on the societal placement of the serial killer in our midst with whatever book, or books, I’ll be reading from. I have a few in mind.

If you appreciate the working I’m doing here, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to help me out, and making a donation at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I am particularly saddened by this juxtaposition of a murder the Missoulian has a political reason to remind its 7 readers about, while today, even I momentarily forgot that this day, July 20th, is the day Rebekah Barsotti was reported missing two years ago.

There’s an even more upsetting irony here, considering the content I’ve invested so much blood, sweat and tears in making is coming under attack by someone who feels personally attacked and threatened BY ME.

Personal baggage aside, there is a BIG NEED to understand deaths like Lee Nelson’s and Rebekah Barsotti’s, because the deficiencies, conflicts of interest, and possible corruption involved in too many authoritative and non-profit entities makes this an UNSAFE COMMUNITY for us all.

Sean Stevenson, Johnny Lee Perry, Joey Thompson, Steven Gill, Jermain Charlo, Shane Pelletier, and other names I’m surely forgetting, are all names that raise questions in my mind about how this community functions as wealth floods in and tourists come to enjoy themselves.

I’m trying to keep my focus on the things that matter because three kids are depending on their dad not losing their shit.

Tomorrow’s post is done, and Sunday’s is almost done. I’ll probably even write up something brief for Monday, then I’m getting the fuck out of town for a few days. Thank you for all the support, the other posts have ways to help me out. I’m too tired right now to provide another link.

Stay safe out there!

by Travis Mateer

It’s no secret the man pictured above worked for the CIA before “retiring” and marrying into the Lee Enterprises family, so I take any opportunity to remind readers of this connection when John Talbot’s name and/or legacy comes up in local media.

Before getting to Talbot’s enthusiasm for bringing kids from around the world to sing in our humble little valley, I’d like to describe a group called The Finders. I didn’t realize, until doing the research for this post, that The Finders were “found” by authorities the same year John Talbot got started with the Choral Festival–1987. Isn’t that a curious coincidence?

From the link:

The Finders came to wider public attention when two members of the movement were arrested in Tallahassee, Florida, in 1987 and charged with misdemeanor child abuse of the six children accompanying them, the two men having responded with silence when, in a public park, the police inquired as to their identity and relationship to the children.[3] The men were Douglas Ammerman and James Michael Holwell, both described as “well-dressed men in suits.” They used a van to transport “six scruffy, hungry children” of varying ages. The age range of the children was between 2 and 11.[2]

The two oldest children, referred to as “Mary” and “Max”, were interviewed by law enforcement, as the others were too young to properly communicate. It was noted that medical examinations of the children showed signs of sexual abuse and malnutrition, as well as bite marks potentially belonging to an adult human. During the interview as well as eyewitness testimony from neighbors, it was discovered that the children were raised on a farm belonging to Pettie with little adult supervision, with there being twenty adults and one other child present. The younger children were observed to display behavior indicating they were not used to being in a house or using indoor plumbing, requesting to go outside to use the bathroom, or urinating in their pants (noted to lack underwear). “Max” had a poor concept of time. They explained that they were being “weaned” from their mothers and were rarely allowed inside the house, even sleeping outside. Neighbors observed that the children apparently lived in the farm’s watermelon field. Mary described Ammerman and Holwell as their “teachers”, teaching them to read and “play games”. One game involved disrobing a man, wearing his clothes, and going through his pockets for money (she later revised her statement and asserted that only jackets were involved). The two reported seeing female members of the cult naked and believed this to be another game as well. When questioned about “bad touches” Mary denied sexual abuse but “became very fidgety and wanted to end the interview”. At another Finders farm in Virginia, agents recorded cages on the premises, with witnesses asserting they were used to keep children. As of 2022, the full medical and psychological reports are not available for public viewing.[4]

The quote above is just from Wikipedia. For a deeper dive, Elizabeth Vos has a multi-part series for Mint Press worth reading (if you have the stomach for it). Here’s why Vos thinks this story is still important (emphasis mine):

The Finders Scandal — events that took place several decades ago, which I have explored in the two previous parts of this series — might be perceived as very much in the rear-view mirror. It is of great contemporary relevance, however, because it raises questions of ongoing significance — particularly in an era where American-style kompromat is seen by many to have an undiminished, if not augmented, role in our politics — about the rogue, untouchable nature of the intelligence community and its assets. The connection between the CIA and the Finders cult is one of the most explosive and significant aspects of the whole Finders scandal because, if substantiated, it would constitute not simply an outlandish and perhaps criminal group purported to be abusing and trafficking children, but one sanctioned by the most powerful government on earth.

In previous entries in this series, I’ve presented a general overview of the Finders cult and the multiple stages in which the story has unfolded, and I’ve highlighted the claims made in the most repressed and damning documents associated with the case: U.S. Customs documents penned by Special Agent Ramon Martinez. If his reports are accurate, the CIA stepped in to cover up the criminal activity of the Finders in the initial 1987 investigation, with the agency implicitly claiming association with the cult by rendering the issue “an internal matter.” This would link the CIA with evidence of organized child trafficking, child abuse and allegations of ritual abuse and mind control.

Now, with this history in mind, let’s take a look at the 1987 origins of the International Choral Festival as framed by Talbot’s home newspaper, the Missoulian (circa 2016).

From the link (emphasis mine):

On a recent afternoon, John and Susan Talbot had just finished hosting a special lunch for choir conductors at the International Choral Festival.

It’s a detail, unnoticeable to the public, that gives the conductors a chance to trade notes during the frenzy of last week’s festival, held every three years.

And it’s just one of the ways the philanthropic couple have contributed to the festival since its inception in 1987.

They’ve helped organize it and supported it financially. John has served on the board, and helped raise money for the nonprofit event, which brings choirs from around the world to western Montana.

“I did a fair amount of fundraising in Missoula for the festival: calling on businesses and individuals to make some donations for the festival. That was one of my larger roles,” John said.

The points of emphasis, on the surface, seem innocuous, but that’s kind of how intelligence works–just below innocuous appearing surfaces. It’s called “having cover”, like being a singer/songwriter who just happens to show up in places around the world before revolutions kick off.

Controlling culture is so important that I suspect artists, like Leonard Cohen, acted as parallel intelligence assets. What’s the evidence? It’s an accumulation of data points, like Cohen being in Cuba and Ethiopia before revolutions kicked off, and the claim by Ann Diamond, and Cohen’s own lyrics and verses of poetry.

Here’s a quote about Cuba (emphasis mine):

At the onset of spring 1961, Cohen left the shores of Canada to explore the socialist revolution of Cuba, and he arrived in the capital, Havana, on March 30th.

In 1959, military dictator Fulgencio Batista was overthrown by the communist revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro, and understandably, in 1961, when Cohen arrived, the country was going through somewhat of a blood transfusion. Prime Minister Castro was seen as public enemy number one by the global political community, as, after all, this was right in the middle of the Cold War’s tensest period. The country offered a thrilling escape from the complacency and mundanity of western civilisation, and in his diary, Cohen even wrote: “I’m wild for all kinds of violence.”

And Ethiopia:

Travelling . . . He’s always been peripatetic – trace his career from Montreal, to New York, to Nashville, to Greece – but more so in the last six or seven years, “since I could afford the air fares”. He was in Ethiopia just before the revolution: “I just get to a place, check into a hotel and hit the streets.” The wandering Jew.

Ann Diamond, a self-published author who interacted with Cohen personally on a level she later came to suspect wasn’t by happenstance, casually discloses her suspicion about Cohen’s espionage work in her book The Man Next Door.

From the book (emphasis mine):

Down the road, I thought, I might figure out why I had come. During the concert I stood behind the stage, as Leonard and the band made magic. I was familiar with most of the songs, except for “Field Commander Cohen”–a rambling, disjointed apology for the singer’s parallel career in espionage.

I could throw more data points out there, but you get the idea. It’s not smoking-gun proof, but it’s certainly more than raise-your-eyebrow proof that Cohen was playing a more serious game than gaining money and fame through the music industry.

Getting back to the angelic voices of children–which will be a key feature of the 11 choirs coming to Missoula from around the world–the return of the International Choral Festival will include honoring the founders.

From the link:

This year, during the finale on the U.M. Oval, a special tribute will be made to long-time supporters and organizers, many of whom are starting to pass away.”

And we’ll have some tributes to Don Carey, who is the founder of the festival that passed away recently. John Talbot, who was a great philanthropist in Missoula, and his family and Don’s families will be there. As well as Pete Tyler. He was a vocalist and a fantastic supporter, a board member. And then, Caroline Mueller, who was the executive director for some time and passed away, so we’ll have some wonderful tributes,” explains Stapley-Graham.  

While these local names get local kudos, the larger effort of institutions that seek to sculpt and control culture toward its own ends, like the CIA, will continue to be a focus of my cultural analysis, like this take on the movie 6 Days Of The Condor.

Another movie I watched recently, starring Michael Douglas and Glenn Close, ALSO came out in 1987, and while I’d love to examine the bunny-boiling and significance of Madame Butterfly in the film, this post is already getting kinda long, so I’ll save that one for another day.

If you appreciate the work I’m doing, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to help me out, while making a donation at my about page is another.

by Travis Mateer

In last Sunday’s weekly review I highlighted my extreme frustration at the insinuation that operating without an END HOMELESSNESS plan is hampering our local officials. I see this as a great opportunity for all the expertise I’ve acquired over the past decade working in the non-profit sector, with 7 of those years at the Poverello Center, but here’s the question: will I be allowed to dance, or do I need to find myself a Patrick Swayze to give me access to the dance floor?

The dance floor is actually a labyrinth controlled by bureaucrats, so perhaps being trapped in a corner is the more appropriate place for me to be. The feeling of being trapped in a place you can’t escape from is what many Veterans are experiencing in LA, America’s premier mecca for homelessness and money wasted to solve it.

I’d like to thank commenter Mrs. Stitch for providing this link to the insanity of building 120 subsidized housing units in LA for Veterans, then only filling less than half because…well, the “because” is what the article tries to answer, but without much success.

From the link:

Yep, “par for the course” is about right, and there’s virtually nothing Missoula officials can do about it other than beg someone like Senator Tester to do some PR work to grease a few wheels to loosen a few cogs–cogs that will inevitably seize up again when the eye of political influence moves to something else shiny and/or politically threatening to the gravy-grift in DC.

When I was the coordinator of the Homeless Outreach Program, I navigated this labyrinth like a multi-modal wild-card, walking/biking/driving around this valley to get shit done for clients. When I worked my magic, and clients STILL sabotaged a successful placement, it was more than maddening…it led to significant burnout and an acute awareness of how fucked the overlapping systems are.

Before I tell a story about how one client literally shit the bed to sabotage his housing, I want to note a not-so-secret secret about WHY Missoula claims it needs ANOTHER year-round shelter. For the official claim, here’s Gomer’s Missoula Current doing the explaining for the Homeless Industrial Complex (HIC).

From the link (emphasis mine):

While it once served as a winter shelter, the Johnson Street facility will open year-round this fall, with operating costs of around $1.2 million. But maintaining the shelter over the long term – and at that location – hasn’t been vetted by City Council, and residents in the surrounding neighborhood haven’t had a chance to weigh in.

Recommendations to open the shelter came from a strategy group comprised of homeless advocates.

“The primary recommendation is that we work to reopen the Johnson Street shelter on a year-round basis as soon as possible while we continue on a parallel track to identify a plan to open a permanent year-round shelter to supplement our shelter options in Missoula,” said Eran Pehan, the city’s director of housing and planning.

If there’s someone in city government who knows how fucking idiotic this whole system is, it’s Eran Pehan, a very competent behind-the-scenes operator who once worked at the Pov’s family shelter program called The Joseph Residence.

In fact, I got one of my best anecdotal stories from Eran about a father who had to turn down a raise at a local lighting store because it put him over “income threshold limits” for support programs. The dad literally COULD NOT AFFORD a raise.

What would that do to YOUR sense of manhood, fathers out there?

The problem Eran is tasked with addressing, which includes coordinating with different bureaucracies she’s in more direct influence over now (but not by much), is that she’s facing NOT just a money problem, but a political problem as well, and the politics of this bullshit will only disgorge funding to certain organizations if it can CONTROL what it’s throwing money at, and that includes controlling the narrative.

Unfortunately for Pehan, and the cogs she has to herd like cats, I never stopped being a wild-card. Even worse (for them), there are other wild-cards giving me puzzle pieces behind-the-scenes, which I can safely say is why drugs and human trafficking going on INSIDE the Authorized Camping Site is now being openly acknowledged and even including in PR pieces, like Gomer’s. Here’s more from the Missoula Current article (emphasis mine):

The defunct authorized camp site has been highlighted as a reason to vet a plan before implementation. The former camp been dubbed a failed model for a number of reasons.

Among them, Missoula’s non-profit partners didn’t want to manage the camp, and they also struggled to secure the required staffing. The camp also became a source of human trafficking and drug use, and it posed other health and safety risks, city staff has said.

“It’s a non-starter if we don’t have a provider in our community who is able and interested in taking something like that on,” Armstrong said. “We’ve seen what happens when we don’t have that kind of structure.”

Ok, this is good. Admitting you have a problem is an important step if you want to SOLVE that problem, and I say that as someone who has identified SEVERAL problems in how I have conducted my own life, starting with my habit of downing a BIG box of wine every few days, until three years ago, when I declared NO MORE on July 4th. And here’s a big reason why:

I put in my notice to leave the non-profit sector on the EXACT DAY Sean Stevenson was assaulted INSIDE the Poverello Center by another man of color, who is ALSO dead. Why are these two men dead? That’s what I’ve spent the last three years trying to figure out, and the synchrmniticies pointing to deeper layers have become nearly too incredible to believe.

I have said this in public comments, and I’ll say it again, there needs to be an accounting of the DEATH experiences with the “houseless” population in Missoula, and that accounting needs to be represented as a priority in the next plan to allegedly solve the homeless problem.

I can help. My dancing shoes are ready. But it’s kind of hard to dance when you’re just standing around TALKING about the problem.

What none of these people will tell you about Missoula’s FIRST year-round shelter, the Poverello Center, is how many of its clients have become de facto long-term residents because there isn’t enough of the type of available housing needed for the various populations being served by the Pov, like people who need nursing homes instead of a homeless shelter.

But what do you do when even THOSE people do things like access porn and shit the bed within 48 hours of getting a coveted bed in an assisted living facility? That’s what I had one client do because he did NOT want to be in a facility like that, he wanted to drink on the streets with his “friends”. So he checked out some porn on the facility computer, then took off his adult diaper to PURPOSEFULLY soil the sheets in the shittiest act of self-sabotage I’ve ever had to deal with.

If you don’t think a former service provider with experience like that should help inform Missoula’s next plan to address homelessness, then I don’t know what else to say.

Right now my local efforts are being assisted by financially-squeezed Missoulians who see the value in doing what I’m doing, so they’ve pitched in (some of you more than once!!!) by supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or they’ve used the donation button at my about page, or they’ve sent a check, or information, or just words of encouragement, and it is ALL deeply appreciated!

My eyes remain peeled to the local happenings developing beneath this meta-web we’re all caught up in, so stay tuned for more as the summer thermostat gets cookin’.

Thanks for reading!