Before Matt Jennings there was Kirsten Pabst, and before “MeToo” took down Harvey Weinstein, there was Missoula’s University rape scandal, which culminated in a book by Jon Krakauer that documented the trial that triggered the oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice.
For those who think this is the distant past, explain the recent PR articles about the “cultural shift” we have been told occurred since 2012:
Between 2010 and 2025, the Missoula County Attorney’s Office has seen a somewhat consistent rise in yearly convictions for sex crimes.
Jennings said the changes Missoula has made seemed to make people more likely to come forward about their experiences.
“A lot of victims feel more comfortable reporting than they used to,” Jennings said.
That’s a complication with sexual assault statistics, Jennings said — if more people trust prosecutors and police to handle sexual assault reports well, that leads to more reports of sexual assault.
Jennings said there are some external factors reflected in the data as well.
Aside from prosecutors taking on more cases, a case may resolve years after the investigation begins. In other words, an investigation that launched in 2015 may not have been resolved until 2017. The pandemic also caused some court delays.
Globally the pandemic stopped the world. Locally, it stopped momentum that had erupted against an obscure taxing mechanism, and this eruption highlighted one of the most dangerous dynamics that exists in ANY community, and that’s the dynamic between the HAVES and HAVE NOTS. In other words, the poors who Matt Jennings is claiming to be the SAINT of JUSTICE for, in so many words.
There has been an increase recently in the number of violent crimes occurring at the Poverello Center in Missoula. Jennings said those are delicate issues.
“Some people hear what I’m about to say, and they think that we’re targeting folks that are vulnerable and are unhoused,” Jennings said. “But I actually look at my career as being focused mostly on serving people who are indigent and poor. A vast majority of the victims that we see come through our office are people of color, they are economically unstable, or they’re homeless. I would say probably half of the felony jury trials I’ve ever had in my life have victims who are homeless. I consider my professional career to be dedicated to the most vulnerable people in our community.”
Jennings believes that around 95% of the people who are unhoused in our community are well-intentioned but are struggling with issues like brain injuries, drug or alcohol abuse, and trauma. He said there’s a small subset of unhoused people in this community that are very predatory.
Not only can I speak from what the “experts” call “lived experience”, I now know three individuals with brain injuries, two CAUSED by law enforcement, who anecdotally disprove the bullshit idea that anything reformed has occurred, other than PR rebranding efforts, launched nationally by Kirsten Pabst in her role with the National Association of Counties, and continued by her successor, Saint Jennings.
Matt Jennings isn’t wrong about statistically relevant predators who wolf around the homeless sheep for easy pickings, he’s just forgetting to consider that wolves ALSO tend toward taking positions of power and influence, like police and Sheriff deputies, who Matt Jennings must rely on in order to make his numbers sing to the tune of his cherub trumpets (cuckold media feeders).
Here’s Matt Jennings talking about the “sifting” effort his office is doing to find the wolves and check them for rabies:
“They make the conditions on the streets extremely unsafe for those other unhoused people,” Jennings said. “We really try and sift through what’s going on, but there are some folks that basically hang around the Poverello Center that are victimizing the rest of the folks that are trying to get back on their feet, and that really ticks me off. We prioritize those cases because we actually see some real miracles come out of that facility of people that need a little bit of help and stabilization, and years later they’re doing well, but they’re not going to do well if they end up getting hurt, or victimized, or have drugs pushed in their face.”
According to Jennings, we need to balance the compassion that we have for the unhoused while also recognizing that there are some people out there who are trying to victimize and hurt those who are vulnerable.
Yes, Matt, no fucking shit, but tell me, what do you do to people like me who become TOO GOOD at recognizing who the wolves are, and why even the easiest ones to prosecute can still be seen, to this day, enjoying Missoula’s free bus system as a free wolf ready to kill (I have alleged) the next unsuspecting drug addict with a Fentanyl-spiked bowl of weed?
Another, more recent post of mine, attempts to put the offender substrata of our culture into better context, but elements of that citizen journalism include the problematic “lived experience” factor I’m currently under new restrictions from going into detail about.
The second link is to a case I just found this morning while looking for recent cases involving “citizen journalists” and the courts. Here’s the gist of the Texas case, rejected by the Supreme Court in March of this year:
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the appeal of a Texas-based online citizen journalist who said she was wrongly arrested in a case that drew attention from national media organizations and free speech advocates.
The justices left in place a divided federal appeals court ruling that found journalist Priscilla Villarreal, known online as La Gordiloca, could not sue police officers and other officials over her arrest for seeking and obtaining nonpublic information from police.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, writing, “It should be obvious that this arrest violated the First Amendment.”
I’m glad this particular citizen journalist somehow found a lawyer willing to represent her. If you don’t have money, people assume there are non-profit organizations that magically appear to white-knight the persecuted truth-seeker, but that has NOT been my experience (so far).
My most recent *click* on the phone came from the law firm in Billings run by the wife of the politician stirring up a Big Sky hornet’s nest, which I’m now caught in the middle of. Fun times.
This upcoming week my posting might be limited. The Buckhouse bridge urban camp cleanup is the one subject I want to expound on, but it might have to wait until after my three court dates, so thank you for understanding.
I also want to give a shout out to a handful of men who have helped move some miraculous energy around for me. God is real, prayer works, and the truth still matters.
Amen.
I am not surprised that you have spiritualized your travails. That is quite common. I’ve done so myself. The trick is to avoid demonizing one’s enemies as instruments of a demonic force, rather than simply as evil, psychopathic assholes.
This piece is exactly what I was hoping to see you write. I must say that Jennnings’ remarks remind me somewhat of those by a disbarred former Oregon DA who (prior to her conviction of officialdom crimes resulting in her disbarment) told a newspaper that she was inspired to become a prosecutor by the Kent State massacre. Considering that her career consisted of ruthless persecution of people, ethical transgressions, and lying, this was a strange claim. I thought of her immediately when I read Jennings’ remarks.
As far as organizations leaping to join the cause of the defense and oppressed, you have to remember where you are. MT had a very active and litigious ACLU chapter back in the 70s. I was its secretary for a while. I’m told by someone I trust, that during a period of dormancy, a certain lawyer’s firm offered to fly the flag for ACLU, and has controlled all ACLU action here ever since —and not for the best Recently, activists have upped ACLU’s game here, but lawyer resources remain abysmal. After Jim Geotts, Jim Zion, Ro Zion, Robert J. Campbell, Frank Kampfe, et al, all retired or died, there was no longer a cadre of lawyers to soldier for the chapter.
Consider also the vast numbers of persons who need competent legal representation and advocacy.
When requests for assistance come in, the extremely limited human and financial resources available for litigation, etc.obviously necessitates applying the principle of triage. When I was on the MT ACLU Board, we received dozens of pleas for help monthly.
BTW, have you volunteered any time to ACLU? I’m not being snarky. I know that I have offered time to MT ACLU several times since returning, and have never received a reply. The chapter needs a bunch of grassroots volunteers and to be unhitched from the law firm that coopted it.
Then, too, there is the frequent bashing of ACLU by wannabe lefties who cannot grasp that civil liberties cannot be preserved for some, when not defended for all, regardless of ideology.
Hence, ACLU took up the cause of Rush Limbaugh when the State of Florida wanted his Rx and other medical records, after indicting Limbaugh for possession and distribution of controlled substances. Limbaugh loathed ACLU and continued to bash it after it aided him. Many lefties likewise refuse to support ACLU’s work because it does such things as defend the right of Nazis to march through Jewish neighborhoods.
So, anyhow, we apparently now have but one lone SCOTUS justice defending the First Amendment.
And what are you doing when masses fill the streets protesting against the federal regime’s repression? Asking the protesters who the Sheriff is. Mocking people who you ought to consider allies.
But admittedly, many are quite worthy of mockery.
Montana ACLU was run by Gwen Florio’s husband, so no, I don’t consider them a valid option for what I’m up against.