Missoula police shoot two suspects in a 24-hour period

By Dan Brooks in Uncategorized 1 Comment
Missoula County Sheriff's Capt. Tony Rio

Missoula County Sheriff’s Capt. Tony Rio

Props to my girl Kathryn Haake for starting this report on the two police shootings that occurred in Missoula last week with “No new information has been released in the investigations of two officer-involved shootings that left a Missoula man dead and an Evaro man injured last week.” I can hear the editorial decision in that sentence. Although we may not have more information, we got a lot more conjecture yesterday, when attorney Terance Perry told the Missoulian that Kaileb Williams had been shot “execution style” by the MCPD. Perry also says that Williams’s mother was initially told that Williams committed suicide. His obituary, which ran in the same issue of the paper as the article announcing his shooting, says he “passed away suddenly.”

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Friday links! Expose yourself edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links 2 Comments
Mitt Romney eats a pork chop on a stick, using a napkin to protect his soft hands.

Mitt Romney eats a pork chop on a stick, using a napkin to protect his soft hands.

Like many private, vaguely creepy people, I live in fear that someone else will find me out. That worry is natural, but it’s also misplaced: we’re far more likely to expose ourselves than to be exposed by others. It all checks out from a phenomenological standpoint. Who we are is defined by what we do. If the world is going to find out who you are, is it really likely to happen because of what someone else does? Today is Friday, and you are bound to expose yourself sooner or later. Won’t you open the trench coat with me?

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Opponents of nude bike ride address council for 90 min., revealing flaw in democracy

By Dan Brooks in Montana Politics 2 Comments
"Bare As You Dare" ride organizer Nita Maddux. Photo by Michael Gallacher of the Missoulian

“Bare As You Dare” ride organizer Nita Maddux. Photo by Michael Gallacher of the Missoulian

When I heard that Nita Maddux had organized a clothing-optional bike ride in Missoula “as a way for people to demonstrate acceptance of their bodies and express their inner child,” I did nothing. I have no opinion on this issue, partly because I have the internet and can see as many naked people as I want, and partly because I burn easily. Also I will be out of town. Apart from reading about it in the Missoulian, my experience is exactly as if the naked bike ride were not happening at all. I consider that relevant, since a bunch of people are having the same experience and freaking out.

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On last adult night of summer, city rents Splash Montana to private party

By Dan Brooks in Montana Politics 1 Comment
Some water slides and a lazy river I didn't get to go on last night.

Some water slides and a lazy river I didn’t get to go on last night.

If you saw me last week, you already knew I was going to Adult Night at Splash Montana water park. It was the last Adult Night of the summer, and my friend Kelly organized an outing. “I’m going to Splash Montana,” I told several disinterested people in my yoga class. “I’m going to eat pizza.” I also planned to walk on those logs that are soft and inflatable but still easy to fall off of. I would of course go down the water slides, and probably I would take a turn around the lazy river. It was a whole experience I had laid out in my head, and as the weather got hotter and Sunday night drew nearer, I began to think of it as the centerpiece of my week. Which is too bad, since when I got there I joined another 35 people who were denied admission because the park had been rented to a private party.

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Friday links! Freedom isn’t free of assault teams edition

By Dan Brooks in Friday Links 0 Comment
A SWAT team assists in the eviction of a Colorado couple from their foreclosed home.

A SWAT team assists in the eviction of a Colorado couple from their foreclosed home.

You can’t have a free country just by letting people do whatever they want. “Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins,” said Zechariah Chafee, and he makes a good point: how am I to swing my arms if people keep getting their noses in my way? The problem with freedom is that the lower orders will always try to strip it from their betters. Free to have a nice town where I can walk along the river in peace? Nope—some derelict is lying on the bank, spoiling my view. Free to choose my religion and uphold its values? Nope—gay hippies are taking a break from rapping to smoke marijuana out of each other’s buttholes. These people are undermining the country with their laziness and dissipation, and there’s only one way to preserve American liberty: incarcerate them with paramilitary assault teams. Today is Friday, and freedom isn’t free. Won’t you enjoy membership in a class that can still afford it with me?

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