Jonathan Hutson is a Part of the Problem, Not the Solution

byWilliam Skink

James Conner isn’t making himself any new friends with his coverage of the David Lenio spectacle, and that’s because he’s made the prescient assertion that this case is being groomed for the national spotlight. To counter this assertion, Jonathan Hutson took on Conner directly with a guest post at Cowgirl.

This story is now getting much wider traction, thanks to Hutson’s efforts (because Conner was right). Here is Hutson with piece at Huffington post, titled: White Banker’s Son Threatens to Shoot School Kids and Jews, Gets ‘Get Outta Jail Free’ Card. And here’s the title of another article, this one at Raw Story: Banker’s son from Montana who threatened to shoot kids and Jews is back online despite ban.

What does Lenio being the son of a banker have to do with this case? Both articles go on to say virtually nothing about Lenio’s father, but I guess it’s good framing for a liberal audience.

Everything about this case is starting to stink. Who benefits from politicizing this and hyping it for national consumption?

What angers me about out of state interests jumping on the prosecution of this unstable young man is that prosecuting him to fullest extent of the law won’t alleviate the threat this person represents to local communities. If he’s mentally ill, prison will worsen his mental status. If he gets on probation, he will have to remain in Montana unless he gets cleared to leave. His job prospects will be that much worse, which is significant because throughout his tweets his perception that he’s a “wage slave” seems to be a primary factor in his rage toward the malignant forces he perceives are oppressing him.

David Lenio is a microcosm of the macro crisis facing young men around the world. Lack of economic opportunity combined with an absence of fulfilling personal relationships makes young men much more susceptible to extremists ideologies.

Last month I came across an article making this very point. I can’t remember if I linked to it, but here it is:

There’s a Way to Stop Mass Shootings, and You Won’t Like It.

That’s right. You’re not going to like it because it’s going to require you to do something personally, as opposed to shouting for the government, or anyone to “do something!”

You ready? Here it is:

“Notice those around you who seem isolated, and engage them.”

If every one of us did this we’d have a culture that was deeply committed to ensuring no one was left lonely. And make no mistake, as I’ve written before loneliness is what causes these shooters to lash out. People with solid connections to other people don’t indiscriminately fire guns at strangers.

I know what you’re thinking. That’s never going to work because no one is going to make the effort to connect with the strange kid sitting by himself at lunch each day. No one is going to reach out to the gawky, awkward guy at work and ask him about his weekend.

You’re probably right and that’s an absolute shame.

MWA Demands Missoulian Replace Ochenski with a Lackey

Guest post by Matthew Koehler

If anyone opens up the Missoulian opinion page today you’ll be greeted by an epic, off-the-rails rant from the Montana Wilderness Association’s ‘communications manager’ Ted Brewer (complete with outright lies and entirely propped up by strawman arguments) against longtime environmental and public lands champion George Ochenski.

Recently the Missoulian published two columns on its Opinion page that were, topically speaking, quite different. Psychologically speaking, however, they were quite similar.

One column claimed the U.S. government is controlling the weather through commercial airliner exhaust, known as “chemtrails.” The other was George Ochenski’s column claiming the Forest Service is using tax dollars to “buy” the support of conservation groups for logging, grazing and other resource extraction projects.

A friend of mine who used to work at a daily newspaper calls the Opinion page a “fact-free zone,” but these two conspiracy theories, printed on the same day, turned the Missoulian’s Opinion page into a paranoia playground, where President Obama makes it rain and an extravagantly funded Forest Service slips bags of cash to conservation groups while dining on filet of bull trout and leg of Canada lynx.

I’m the communications manager at Montana Wilderness Association, certainly one of the top entries on Ochenski’s list of enemies and a longtime, routine target of his column. (If Ochenski goes a few months without blasting MWA, I start to wonder if his mind might be slipping.) I’ve also been a writer for the past 20-odd years. I’ve written a fair number of magazine stories that have required me to dig for the sources that back my claims. It’s part of the job and the fun of doing credible journalism.

But once you start making outrageous claims without providing proof, then you’ve joined the ranks of birthers, chemtrail conspiracy mongers, and other ideological zealots and crackpots with personal and political axes to grind. That’s where we find Ochenski these days, so desperate to smear his enemies that he compares them to Nazis (yes, he did that) or tries to embroil them in controversies of his own paranoid concoction.

In the opinion piece, the Montana Wilderness Association compares Ochenski to “birthers, chemtrail conspiracy mongers, and other ideological zealots and crackpots.” The Montana Wilderness Association also calls on the Missoulian to replace George Ochenski (their very popular, weekly progressive columnist).

Apparently, what caused the Montana Wilderness Association to go completely off the deep end was the following information Ochenski included in a recent opinion column, in which he highlighted the comments by Wilderness Legend Stewart Brandborg (the only living person who was responsible for passage of the Wilderness Act in 1964). Brandborg recently warned groups like MWA at a Wilderness Conference to “resist the fuzzy, fuzzy Neverland of collaboration,” because Brandborg believes that groups like MWA are giving up huge chunks of America’s public lands legacy in exchange for basically what amounts to some Wilderness crumbs. Continue reading “MWA Demands Missoulian Replace Ochenski with a Lackey”

Why Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Want to Talk about Foreign Policy

by William Skink

An aide from the Bernie Sanders campaign reportedly threw a tantrum over a CBS decision to reorder questions in tonight’s debate in light of last night’s carnage in Paris. From the link:

A top aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), one of the three candidates, got into a lengthy dispute with executives from CBS, the network hosting the debate, during a conference call on Saturday morning. A staffer for one of the other campaigns who was also on the call described the exchange to Yahoo News as “heated” and even “bizarre,” and a second source on the call confirmed the nature of the exchange.

The dispute centered on CBS’ decision to increase the emphasis on terrorism, foreign policy, and national security in the wake of the attacks that left over 100 people dead in Paris, France on Friday night. According to the rival staffer, Sanders strategist Mark Longabaugh lit into CBS Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief Christopher Isham when the changes to the debate were detailed on the call.

“It was a little bit of a bizarre scene. The Sanders representative, you know, really laid into CBS and basically … kind of threw like a little bit of a fit and said, ‘You are trying to turn this into a foreign policy debate. That’s not what any of us agreed to. How can you change the terms of the debate, you know, on the day of the debate. That’s not right,’” the staffer recounted.

It’s no surprise that Bernie Sanders is reluctant to talk about his foreign policy ideas because those ideas are fucking stupid and dangerous and will lead to more violence. I’m of course talking about Sanders stating that Saudi Arabia should intervene more in the Middle East. From the link:

In discussing ISIS, Sanders invariably has talked about Saudi Arabia as the solution rather than a large part of the problem. It’s couched in language that seems somewhat critical, but the upshot is we need more Saudi influence and intervention in the region. In effect, more and bigger proxy wars, which have already taken the lives of hundreds of thousands in Syria and could even further rip apart Iraq, Libya and other countries.

He’s said this repeatedly—and prominently. In February with Wolf Blitzer on CNN: “This war is a battle for the soul of Islam and it’s going to have to be the Muslim countries who are stepping up. These are billionaire families all over that region. They’ve got to get their hands dirty. They’ve got to get their troops on the ground. They’ve got to win that war with our support. We cannot be leading the effort.”

If there is a battle for the soul of Islam, Bernie is throwing in with the billionaire bankrollers of terrorism. Yeah, no wonder he doesn’t want to talk about his foreign policy.

Date Night In America As France Goes On Lockdown

by William Skink

Tonight I got to have a date night with my wife. We went to see The Martian and then grabbed some sandwiches from Jimmy John’s after the show. The biggest threat of the evening was the possibly alcohol-related drift of the motorist in front of us as we drove home.

In Missoula we are far removed from the consequences of American foreign policy. We have oceans between us and the terrorists our allies are arming.

Europe, on the other hand, has borders, and France’s is closed after the well-coordinated massacre that erupted in Paris earlier this evening, as diners dined and concert goers rocked out to Eagles of Death Metal, a concert where over a hundred people have been reportedly killed.

President Hollande has issued a state of emergency. After the Charlie Hebdo attack in January of this year, there has already been increased security measures. I wonder, though, what the security situation will be like for the neighborhoods where immigrants reside. There is already reports of a fire in a refugee camp:

Fire has reportedly broken out at the ‘jungle’ refugee camp in the port of Calais in the hours following the terror attacks in Paris.

At around 11pm volunteers at the camp began sharing pictures of the blaze on social media.

And soon after an anti-migrant group known as ‘The Angry of Calais’ posted videos of the inferno on Facebook.

One video appears to show emergency services vehicles arriving at the camp, which houses around around 6,000 migrants – mainly young men from Syria and North Africa.

What has happened tonight in Paris is a direct result of America’s failing and increasingly desperate foreign policy. Russia’s intervention in Syria has totally changed the dynamics of reality on the ground, but you would have to be a conspiracy theorist to note the convenience of what tonight’s tragedy will accomplish: eclipse the gains Russia has made against “ISIS” while stoking European xenophobia against immigrants and refugees crossing borders, trying to survive.

A lot of people died tonight and it’s horrible. An estimated 250,000 people have died in Syria. Half a million could die from famine in Yemen. Those numbers are the result of Obama’s foreign policy. And those numbers will rise no matter who gets elected president next year.

Tonight, as I see Facebook and Twitter collectively react, I think wouldn’t it be great if between tragedies more people would actually pay closer attention to what’s happening in the world, day by day.

Today is Friday, the 13th of November. Tomorrow the next atrocious layer will start settling over us. I don’t have much bandwidth left to keep tabs.

Other than just being sad that things will escalate.

Congressman Zinke introduced legislation requiring Timber Corporations to Post Bond

Guest Post by “Sam”

(Washington D.C.) With news that the Weyerhaeuser-Plum Creek merger could cost 750 people their jobs in Montana, U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke introduced legislation late Monday requiring timber corporations who want to merge to post bonds with their merger proposal, simplifying corporate takeovers job loss analyses and allowing state governments to fund job training programs with the proceeds from the bonds.

“The National Forest Corporate Responsible Merger Act of 2015 will help address the two leading threats against our timber industry employees, predatory takeovers and corporate greed, without adding new regulations to communities and loggers or adding costs to taxpayers,” Zinke, R-Mont., said in a written statement.

“By implementing common-sense reforms to encourage responsible corporate behavior in the timber industry and discourage out-of-state special interests from waging war on Montana foresting communities, I am confident Montana can rebuild our economy and conserve our forests for generations to come instead of clearcutting them to improve the stock price of out of state timber corporations,” he said.

The bill text and number were not available at press time. But in his statement, Zinke said it would boost Montana’s workers by requiring  corporations to contribute to a revolving fund that the state could use to retrain workers in jobs that are in high demand.

It would also require analysis of corporate mergers proposed by the timber industry to job or no job alternatives, rather than how it would effect the stock price.  And it would require corporations who want to merge to post cash bonds to cover the societal costs of mergers such as job retraining and the cost of drinking and driving by laid off Plum Creek timber industry employees.

“Responsible corporate behavior in Montana is too important to leave to the profit motive,” Montana Tree Cutters Association executive director Doug Olsmen said in a statement. “Congressman Zinke’s bill includes common-sense reforms that strengthen workers’ protection against out-of-state corporations and helps protect our workers from investment bankers who make billions from mergers. Montana timber workers know they are in a dying industry and are committed to working with the government to retrain to compete in the 21st century. They know Montana does not have enough skilled workers to build local economies. Rep. Zinke’s reforms help us do just that.”

Alliance for the Wild Mountains director Michael Flarrity, who has been no fan of Zinke, the Forest Service, or the timber industry, said the bill would mean more and better Montana jobs.

“Corporations only care about money” Flarrity said. “Stopping illegal mergers doesn’t cost taxpayers money – it saves jobs.  Helping people get out of mind numbing jobs in timber mills saves brain cells.

Flarrity commended Zinke, “I thought Congressman Zinke was a Republican who did not support socialism. I was wrong”

Flarrity also called the bonding requirement constitutional.

“Of course it is constitutional.  People are just shocked a member of Congress actually wants to protect workers instead of screw them.  Up until now, only rich people had any future in Montana.  Now with the bond Zinke wants timber corporations to pay, timber workers can go back to school to get retrained in skilled jobs that are in high demand like electricians and welders,” Flarrity said.

Zinke’s bill is likely one of several reform measures aimed at the timber industry this year.

Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester held listening sessions with forestry corporate CEOs on Wall Street last summer,  Neither have expressed any concerns for workers.

Other members of Congress have also declared their intention to make it even easier for corporations to fire workers.

Montana Lumber Products Association director Judy Elvemus said she saw a draft of Zinke’s bill yesterday, but hadn’t seen the final version yet. Even then, she said it would go through lots of negotiations.

“Remember, it’s going to have to have bipartisan support and get through the White House,” Elvemus said. “I hope people will keep their gun powder dry and not retreat and fight about it. We should try to get most of what everybody wants.”

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