Month: October 2023

by Travis Mateer

In a sane world, the answer to the question posed by the title of this post should be a resounding NO, but this is not a sane world, which brings us to the question: what kind of world IS this?

The picture above is a circus program that’s nearly 100 years old. I ordered it as part of my research into the Cole/Cowles family, though I’m not sure if THESE Cole Brothers are a part of the family that produced the man who transformed Spokane, King Cole.

Now, with this in mind, imagine my surprise when NBC Montana featured a story AFTER I got this old program of an elephant that died in Dillon, Montana. Take one guess which circus this elephant was a part of.

Pit the elephant was killed by a lightning strike when the Cole Brothers Circus came to town on August 6th, 1943. 

“She was buried right where she fell,” said University of Montana Western biology Professor Emeritus, Jack Kirkley. “This is Dillon’s elephant. It’s definitely part of our oral tradition.”

On the anniversary of her death, on August 6th, 2023, Professor Kirkley helped spearhead a community memorial service to honor the beloved elephant that Dillon claims as its own.

Is that weird? I think that is very weird, even if it was just a one-off, but this has been the air that I have been breathing for quite some time now, so I’m trying to get used to it.

Maybe I shouldn’t be trying to get used to it. Maybe I should remain confounded that the mechanisms of narrative control are so effective that a non-story about a dead elephant gets attention, and the effort to SAVE HOLLAND LAKE! gets money and so much anger, not even the dashing good looks of Christian Wohlfeil could save him from the supposed death threats and vitriol that finally broke him.

“In terms of that threatening comment, in the very beginning there were all these comments and all this stuff coming through, and this isn’t my job, I don’t know how to do social media very well,” she explained. “In the beginning I just kind of left everything out there. I didn’t delete it right away. It was then when we heard that Christian was saying that there were threats that I sat down and went through every comment and every post.”

She said she spent hours combing through all the comments.

“And I found that one and I thought, I’m sure it was just an offhand comment from an upset local or something, but I thought ‘oh this doesn’t look good’ so I deleted it,” she said. “So it wasn’t immediately, it was as soon as we realized that people were taking it as a threat seeing it on the public page.”

When you fuck with things like pets and peaceful lake retreats for wealthy Boomer transplants to kayak and paddle-board, WATCH OUT!

If you’re a Sheriff’s Office acting with impunity because charades like coroner inquests have no chance of bringing justice to grieving families, do NOT watch out, because you don’t have to! No one is coming to say BAD Sheriff’s Office for euthanizing that man in a private hospital room (not like you thought that was every a possibility).

What outrage is next? A tasteless Halloween costume on campus? A political candidate caught waving the wrong colored flag? Or maybe a Gonzo journalist who can’t always control the volume of his voice will say something REALLY actionable before “the horseshoe” of inquisition? Wouldn’t THAT be a gift?

Tomorrow I’ll let Zoom Chron readers know what issues people in Spokane get fired up about, since I traveled there on Monday to observe. What did I learn? Stay tuned and find out, because there’s even going to be a crude poem at the end!

If you appreciate my work, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to help me out, and making a donation at my about page is another. Thank you for trickle of donations coming in, I appreciate it!

And thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

How did YOUR 2023 begin? Mine kicked off with the murder trial of the guy pictured above, Charles Covey. He was accused and convicted of murdering Lee Nelson, a brutal act of violence he supposedly committed alone on November 20th, 2020, while both men were receiving services at the homeless shelter I used to work at, the Poverello Center.

Since sentencing is coming up, I got a call on Monday from Caitlin Creighton, one of the Missoula County prosecutors who successfully convinced a jury to convict Covey of murder. The call was to ask me if I would provide testimony on behalf of Lee Nelson, since they couldn’t find any family of Lee to fulfill this role. Caitlin said my name was in the paper, so that’s why she reached out to me.

Creighton seemed genuinely oblivious to my presence in the courtroom for the WHOLE TRIAL, so she didn’t have any clue that I covered this case VERY closely, and she had no clue about my feelings regarding what I observed. Well, she HAD no clue, but I gave her quite a few, hard-to-miss ones in my brief conversation with her on the phone.

The timing of this call was totally hilarious, considering I had just finished writing my post about the mindless vagina vote that helped keep Creighton’s boss, Kirsten Pabst, in power. Does Creighton now have a better idea of who I am, and what I think about the criminal justice system she gets paid to work in? Yes, yes she does.

Now, here are the links to the coverage I provided at the beginning of the year, content I’ve had to defend from legal threats, since a former collaborator of mine is now hell-bent on having a negative impact on my ability to do local reporting.

One data point before the links. I’ve been getting some fascinating books the last few weeks, but one I just picked up in Spokane highlights a theme that’s emerged in my work, and that theme is this: never underestimate the role of women. Whether it’s Jim Morrison’s girlfriend, Pam, or Sean Stevenson’s girlfriend, Ann, I think there is MUCH MORE to know about the female side of the stuff I’m investigating, and this book confirms my hunch might have some merit to it.

I hope Caitlin Creighton appreciates the brutal candor I used in explaining why she did NOT want me anywhere close to a courtroom of record where her boss is excited to do some victory laps. Nope. Not me, Caitlin, and now you have an idea why.

If YOU want to have a better idea why this subject gets me fired up, here are the links.

Charles Michael Covey Enters Not Guilty Plea In Brutal Murder Of Lee Nelson (December 7th, 2020)

Is A Killer Being Prosecuted, Or A Town Defended? (December 26th, 2022)

Why Did “Lead” Detective Guy Baker Get Tapped To Investigate The Murder Of Lee Nelson? (January 12th, 2023)

Lee Nelson Deserves Better Than This (January 13th, 2023)

What If The Verdict Is Not Guilty? (January 19th, 2023)

After Just 2 1/2 Hours The Verdict Is In: Guilty (January 19th, 2023)

*

Zoom Chron Podcast Is Back! (January 15th, 2023)

Week In Review: January 16-20 (January 22nd, 2023)

If you appreciate my work, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support it, and making a donation at my about page is another.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

The stencil pictured above carries a simple message: if you have a vagina, you get the vote. While that’s the obvious message, it might be worth asking, are there any OTHER messages implied by this message? Perhaps one having to do with consent?

If the person painting the stencil didn’t have consent to spray paint the stencil on the door, then that’s a crime called vandalism. I guess whoever did this isn’t worried about consent when it comes to objects owned by other people, and I think that’s funny. Don’t you think that’s funny, ladies?

When you simply VOTE WOMN without applying something called “critical thought” to what the brain connected to the genitalia might be up to, you get critical positions within the criminal justice system filled by a woman like this one:

Now, I’ve been blessed to see the behind-the-scenes making of a WOMN politician here in Missoula, and you might be shocked to hear this, but even the most WOMAN of women politicians don’t always VOTE WOMN when given the chance.

In 2013 a woman by the name of Peggy Cain ran for Mayor. Did the above vagina-packing politician give this fellow woman any love in the form of political donations? Or did she support the white man in the race?

See? Clearly, the beer-pounding Boise transplant supported our alcoholic Mayor while he was still alive, but now he’s dead, and this year’s Mayoral race it will be MUCH easier to go pussy over dick for a professional exploiter like Ellie.

2017 was another year that a woman could have received a VOTE WOMN vote for Mayor in Missoula, but Lisa Triepke was dragged through the mud when her divorce and temporary use of public assistance was leaked, then splashed all over local media. Did the political ladies of Missoula come to their fellow woman’s aid? No, they did not, and years later, when I spoke to her on the phone for an interview, Lisa Triepke was STILL traumatized by what she and her family went through because she had the temerity to challenge our “Mayor for life”.

Now, here is where I am REALLY going to piss some people off, but I’ll do it in the form of a question: when ambitious, professional woman have KIDS, can they really have it all by successfully raising children and maintaining a professional edge in a highly competitive arena, like the law?

Since correlation is NOT causation, it would be a logical fallacy to conclude that Pabst’s professional ambition had anything to do with the personal tragedy this article details, but something of note did catch my attention in this article, and that’s what young Sam was applying to do before he tragically died (emphasis mine):

Sam LaCroix was a curious 12-year-old boy who loved science, ballet, theater and the arts, but his life was cut short because of a dangerous game of asphyxiation that appears to be gaining popularity among schoolchildren.

The Missoula sixth-grader loved adventure. Though smaller than most children his age, Sam made up for it in guts. He had applied to be on “Kid Nation,” a reality TV series starring children trying to create their own society.

I wouldn’t be bringing this up if I didn’t think it mattered, and since the position of County Attorney matters A LOT when it comes to WHO gets prosecuted, and who does NOT get prosecuted in our community, the JUDGEMENT of the person who fills this position is critical, and allowing your 12 year old kid to potentially be exploited, for money, by a reality television show is a BIG red flag for me.

This “reality tv” angle is significant because the enforcement side of our County criminal justice system, the Missoula County Sheriff’s Office, ALSO became enamored with seeing themselves on camera by participating in the show Live PD, when maybe they should have been taking more Crisis Intervention Classes in order to better NOT shoot and kill suicidal dudes at gas stations.

And let’s not forget our western neighbors in Mineral County–their Sheriff actually got a direct taste of Hollywood before returning to Montana to ACT as Sheriff.

After high school he even dabbled with Tinsel Town. 

“I worked on the movie set of Far and Away. Thomas Gibson, who played the villain, came into a clothing store I worked at and we had a friendly visit as he purchased cowboy boots. Three days later someone came into the store and said, ‘Whose Mike’? And they pointed me out. ‘Would you like a job on the set? Mr. Gibson said to hire you.’ It was a blast as I got to meet Tom Cruise and Ron Howard and the experience was very exciting. That was the only career that kind of distracted me from my pursuit of a career in law enforcement thinking that this would be fun to do for a living, but it wasn’t the driving force that law enforcement was.”

With society in slow-motion collapse, and the country being “led” by a perv Prez and hyena Veep, I guess our local Dick and Janes aren’t so bad.

How’s that for silver lining?

If you appreciate my sophisticated breakdown of nuanced political issues, Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF) is one way to support me, or you can make a donation at my about page.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

I didn’t realize the Missoulian was calling ME a political extremist in this lovely article until I saw my name beneath an image of the City Council live feed that gutless reporters use to do their stenography from, so to oblige the Missoulian, I grabbed a TOY rocket from my TOY collection for an extremist pose that bolsters their hilarious depiction of me.

After using my name, this is how the reporter frames this ridiculous “article” about an alleged rise in “hate speech” just as City Council considers RELAXING rules on providing public comment (emphasis mine):

Political extremists are increasingly targeting public meetings with hate speech, according to the Anti-Defamation League. At the same time, two Missoula city councilors want to make public comment a more open forum for community members.

The ADL tracks antisemitic incidents and other forms of bigotry on a broad scale. The group’s Center on Extremism has noted an alarming rise in disruptive dialogue at public meetings across the United States over the past year.

You will note the phrase I emphasized in the content of this article is NOT the phrase used in the title, which was HATE SPEECH. Now we’re talking about merely “disruptive dialogue”? I’m confused.

What a nice little bait and switch from this delightful newspaper and its young reporter who has done the mature, professional thing and blocked me on social media.

What else does this “news” article have to say about “disruptive dialogue” at City Councils? Is there anything else specific to MISSOULA besides my fucking name?

Yes, the fear-mongering does have a Missoula tie-in, but first, here’s the spokesperson for the ADL talking generally about the Pacific Northwest:

“We’ve noticed a significant increase in this kind of activity,” said Stephen Paolini, the Associate Regional Director for the ADL’s Pacific Northwest region. “It’s all across the country. There really has not been any state that is spared.”

Paolini said the PNW, in particular, is seeing this behavior increase among white supremacist groups. Their membership — which he called “very fringe” — is coordinating organized approaches to public comment periods around the area. Their goal, Paolini said, is to discourage public discourse by making public commenters feel uncomfortable in these settings.

“It’s a very, very small number of actors,” Paolini pointed out, while also adding, “absolutely, we should be worried about a systemic effect happening.”

Is there any, like, you know, EVIDENCE that a VERY, VERY small number of “actors” are scheming to have a systemic effect on public meetings? Because the more I read, the more I’m excited to talk to a lawyer about why the fuck my name is being associated with this article.

I found the phone number for Stephen Paolini and left a message. If I get a call back, I’ll explain how cool it is to be considered an extremist on the RIGHT side of the political spectrum, since I was a self-styled RADICAL on the left before getting the boot from the blog for calling Bernie Sanders a sheep dog.

While this old description of myself is a little cringe, I hope it’s ALSO amusing, because I think a lot of this is truly hilarious. I show up to Council meetings and make public comments about DEAD HOMELESS PEOPLE who can’t speak for themselves anymore because they are FUCKING DEAD. I am not sorry at for doing that, and I will not stop, because that is my FUCKING RIGHT to do.

The point of this fear-mongering from the ADL was to discourage the alliance between two politically divergent City Council members. Did it work? I don’t think it did, despite Paolini’s best efforts to scare Council with shit like this (emphasis mine):

Technological advances have enabled the small, decentralized network of extremists to find one another and share best practices for promoting their agendas. In many cases the ADL has tracked, the public commenters pushing hateful rhetoric do not live in the communities where they provide public comment. They often find elected officials who belong to marginalized groups and make verbal attacks against those individuals.

“It’s just really harmful to the civic process,” said Paolini. “Unfortunately, it’s really falling on local governments to think about this.”

Paolini advised forming local planning groups to prepare for intrusions from extremists. Resources like muting virtual participants or kicking them out of online meetings are important to have in place, he said. He also came down heavily against a rule change being proposed by Missoula City Councilors Daniel Carlino in Ward 3 and Sandra Vasecka in Ward 6.

“I definitely would encourage folks not to lessen restrictions in public comment,” he said. “That would be a mistake.”

Here is some of the reaction to this fear-mongering attempt to dissuade Vasecka and Carlino from welcoming a small band of foreign extremists to systemically collapse public meetings:

The changes include allowing “comments or noises while another person is recognized to speak, impugn(ing) motives,” as well as “loud” and “indecent” comments.

Both councilors stressed, however, they will continue to forbid “threatening, abusive, or profane language which disrupts, disturbs or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting.”

“Hate speech is still banned,” said Carlino. But he said the proposed changes are more specific and less subjective than the current parameters, making space for emotional appeals to council.

“I believe that hate speech falls under the category of ‘threatening and abusive language,’” said Vasecka, “so if folks are spewing ‘hate speech,’ they are in violation of the rules. If commenters threaten councilors’ safety, they are impeding the orderly conduct of the meeting. So I don’t think that our proposed changes will allow for those concerns to happen, if commenters follow the rules.”

One of the biggest ironies is that my research looks at REAL White Supremacy and its occult underpinnings, so, as I start attending SPOKANE City Council meetings once or twice a month, I look forward to telling EVEN MORE people the stuff I’m learning that I don’t write about in public blog posts.

If you appreciate how RADICAL my independent journalism is, consider supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or making a donation at my about page.

Thanks for reading!

by Travis Mateer

The screenshot above is from Mark Tokarski’s blog and indicates the end of an era is upon us. After 17 years, Mark is hanging it up, so new posts will no longer be posted. That means this blog you are reading is the LAST ONE to remain active from the glory days of political blogging in Montana.

I went looking for an old post from the first blog I contributed to, 4&20 Blackbirds, and this one from January of 2014 is a good one for traipsing down memory lane. Here is a comment from Kenneth Kailey about how he perceives blogging in Montana has impacted past political races:

I would venture to say – with some certainty – that Senator Tester would not be Senator Tester if It wasn’t for the Montana Blogs at the time. Not only did they have some influence in the race itself, the people behind the blogs – like my brother and Matt Singer were very active both financially and physically getting Tester elected.

Blogs play and even bigger roll in today’s world of social media. Most blogs are connected to various social media sites (like mine is always announced on Facebook) and while you don’t see 10,000 people hitting each site, it doesn’t take 10,000 people to influence an election. Our media is slanted (Don and I argue over how it is slanted but each of us recognize that it is, in fact slanted) and more people are turning to social media and blogs for information and to discuss politics.

I won’t argue that the Montana blog-o-sphere is a microcosm but this microcosm is having more and more effect on the overall scheme of things than it has ever had before. Blog posts are read as evidence in State Hearings and it isn’t unusual anymore to see a blog referred to by someone discussing politics.

It’s been nearly a decade since that comment was made and here we are, in 2023, gearing up for ANOTHER Senate race featuring Jon Tester, but the world is a completely different world than the one that saw this 7-fingered farmer first get elected to the Senate in 2006.

Here’s another post from the previous year (2013) where I ask if blogging is a waste of time? I think I was reflecting on the claim that my presence at 4&20 Blackbirds destroyed the blog, a claim made by the perennial critical of the “far left”, Rob Kailey. Here’s what he claimed about me (I was blogging as “lizard”) in 2013:

4 & 20: Jay, you started this website and it was one of the best. Turning it over to egos like Lizard? Bad move. No matter how many precious kudos this site gets from the Missoula community, it is still just a an inbred horrorshow. Lizard doesn’t seem to care at all about Montana or Montanans. JC doesn’t seem to care about anyone but himself. Jhwygirl has fled, mores the pity. Pete is still engaged, and that’s the only reason this website deserves a C.

It’s interesting going down memory lane after having mentioned Mark’s name and “jhwygirl” earlier this week to the director of UM’s journalism program. It’s also interesting to come across jhwygirl’s comment on that second post I linked to, since her reasons for cutting back was how DEMOCRATS in this state responded to criticism from the left:

i’ve cut back on my writing because Missoula County Democrats have felt free to attempt to harm me personally. And those on city council don’t take well to those that disagree.

4&20 thrives because it is for the most part independent in thought and not any one party’s talking points.

And none of us get paid.

Eliminate the paid “bloggers’ and the list is shorter than the paid bloggers is longer. In the same sense that people delegitimize anonymous opinions and reporting (like mine,) I direct a degree of delegitimization of paid anonymous bloggers.

Because that isn’t blogging – it’s PR work.

You also won’t find me talking about our stats. I find it distasteful to obsess on who when and how many are reading who and what. Because if that’s what you’re doing it for, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons.

This is quite insightful, and hopefully points to why I continue to be read: my opinions are MINE and my writing is truly independent because no one is paying me beyond donations to keep doing this.

While I’ve clashed with Mark over the years, it was VERY nice to finally meet him in person this summer as I drove around this country, and I’m going to miss seeing new content at his site. Thanks helping keep the blogosphere interesting, Mark!

Below are the links to last week’s posts and after that, a song. I even saw this tune get a retweet on Twitter from jhwygirl, so thank you j-girl! I’m glad I got the opportunity in 2010 to write for an actual audience, and I have NO plans on stopping, so stay tuned for more content posted Monday-Friday, and please consider supporting Travis’ Impact Fund (TIF), or making a donation at my about page, to help keep the lights one around here.

Is Missoula’s Mayor Race A Simple Matter Of Genitalia? (October 9th, 2023)

The Columbine Shooters Plan To Hijack A Plane And Crash It In New York City (October 10th, 2023)

60 Days, 7,130 Miles, 133,680 Words Later… (October 11th, 2023)

On Educating A Smart Person From Iran About The Psychopath Class (October 12th, 2023)

Why WOULDN’T Narrative Controllers Include Controlling Counter-Narratives? (October 13th, 2023)

https://vimeo.com/874295956?share=copy

Thanks for listening/reading!