Showing posts with label Alcohol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alcohol. Show all posts

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or less locally, Part I. And then the day arrived (part two).

Our lifestyle, our wildlife, our land and our water remain critical to our definition of Wyoming and to our economic future.

Dave Freudenthal, former Governor of Wyoming/

 

January 2, 2024

The Energy Information Administration’s Short Term Energy Outlook Report states that combined generation from wind and solar will overtake generation from coal by more than 90 billion kilowatt-hours this year.

US coal production will drop to its lowest amount since the 1960s, with it taking more miners per ton to produce in the 60s than it does now.

Pennsylvania's Flying Fish Brewing Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

January 11, 2024

January 17, 2024

From the Trib:

According to a report put out by the Wyoming State Geological Survey this month, the state’s oil production has not yet surpassed its 2019 high, while nationwide oil production has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.

More than 95 million barrels of oil are expected to be produced in Wyoming in 2023, which is about 3 million more barrels than in 2022. The drilling of new oil wells has helped greatly.

In the first half of 2023, a total of 110 newly drilled oil wells were completed, most of them in the Powder River Basin. This is in line with the first half of 2022, when 118 oil wells were completed.

January 22, 2024

Flying Fish Brewing has declared bankruptcy.

January 23, 2024

U.S. oil production has been holding at or near record highs since October, topping the previous peak from 2020, even though the number of active domestic oil drilling rigs is down by nearly 30% from four years ago.

New technology is the reason why there is higher production with fewer rigs.

And also:

The U.S. set a new annual oil production record on December 15, based on data from the Energy Information Administration. Although the official monthly numbers from the EIA won’t be released for a couple of months, we can calculate that a new record has been set based on the following analysis.

Prices at the pump have been declining.

January 25, 2024

In spite of repeated Republican declarations about how bad the economy is doing, the economy grew 4.9% in the third quarter of 2023, for which the latest figures are out.  This grossly exceeds expectations.

This is interesting for a lot of reasons, one of which the "bad economy" is a consistent theme of Republicans in the current election cycle, when in fact this is a classic "good economy".  It's frankly bizarre.

Some of that might reflect, however, an ongoing retention of a return to the 1945-1975 economy by Rust Belt voters, and anxiety over an inevitable decline in the fossil fuel economy in the West.  The post-war economy is of course never returning, and the change in the direction in the energy economy cannot be arrested, although it too is doing well right now.

January 28, 2024

The Administration plans on providing billions for microchip subsidies for US producers to assure production can be made in the US.

It's worth noting that with war looming with China, there's more than one reason to do this.

The Biden Administration has paused all pending export licenses for liquified national gas (LNG) to consider the climate impacts.

February 8, 2024

Getting Wall Street out of our houses

February 10, 2024

US Credit Card debt is at an all-time high.

World's Foremost Authority On Solar Sheep Advising Wyoming $500 Million Solar Farm

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs


February 11, 2024


It is estimated that over 10% of Canadian craft brewers will close this year.

February 13, 2024

The city of Gillette and BWXT have agreed to work together to look at the possibility of having nuclear facilities and operations in Gillette 

February 15, 2024

While this should be no surprise, given what we earlier reported here:


Remington, in its new form, will close its facilities in Ilion, New York, in March.

Colorado has filed suit to stop the Kroger Albertson's merger.

February 21, 2024

Japan's Nikkei stock index soared to an all-time high.

Rivian, the electric truck maker, is laying off 10% of its salaried staff.

This will cause piles of cackling from those who are convinced electric vehicles, which have taken off, will never take off.  Rivian was an automotive start-up, something that's really tough to do.  Basically, their business model depended on getting into the saturated truck market before other maker went to electric, a real gamble.

Wyoming Gets a Big Win in Court for Coal 

 

CHEYENNE, Wyo. –Wyoming’s coal industry’s earned a long-awaited legal win today, as three Ninth Circuit judges unanimously sided with Wyoming’s arguments in support of the continuation of the federal coal-leasing program. The decision vacated a lower court order that reinstated Obama-era coal-leasing restrictions and required federal officials to perform duplicative National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis. 

“This ruling is an unequivocal win for our coal industry and a reminder that the Biden Administration has to follow the law,” Governor Mark Gordon said. “The Department of Interior now has one less excuse to thwart its federal coal leasing responsibilities. I appreciate the Attorney General and her staff for their excellent work on this case.” 

The complicated case spanned seven years and involved conflicting orders issued by former Interior Secretaries, in which Secretary Jewel issued an order to cease federal coal leasing and conduct a Programmatic Environmental Statement on the entire coal leasing program. Before that review was complete, Secretary Zinke rescinded the Jewel Order so coal leasing could resume; lastly Secretary Haaland rescinded the Zinke order. The district court ruled that the Department of the Interior needed to conduct additional NEPA analysis before resuming coal leasing under its existing authorities.  Wyoming argued that the case was moot, because the Zinke order was rescinded by Secretary Haaland.

Litigation costs for Wyoming were covered by the Federal Natural Resource Policy Account as directed by Governor Gordon.   

-END-

March 15, 2024

Nippon Steel proposes to take over U.S. Steel.

March 17, 2024

Tyson, the giant chicken corporation, announced that it's closing a plant in Iowa in June which will result in 1200 people, 15% of the entire town, losing their jobs. Simultaneously, the company is working with an asylum advocate group to hire 2,500 asylum seekers who are cleared to work elsewhere.

Um. . . we've been running a series on our companion blog entitled An Agrarian Manifesto. . . might be worth reading, perhaps particularly these:

A sort of Agrarian Manifesto. What's wrong with the world (and how to fix it). Part 2. Distributism


A sort of Agrarian Manifesto. What's wrong with the world (and how to fix it). Part 5. What would that look like, and why would it fix anything, other than limiting my choices and lightening my wallet? The Distributist Impact

Last Prior Edition:

Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part XVI. And then the day arrived.


Recent Related Threads:



Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Thursday, December 13, 1923. Mexican Federals Mobilize


Ruth Muskrat presented Gustavus Elmer Emmanuel Lindquist′s book The Red Man In The United States to President Calvin Coolidge.  Highly educated, the Oklahoma native had a Cherokee father and an Irish/English American mother.  A pioneer in many ways in both societies, she was a professional educator and died in 1982 at age 84.

The Federal Government was mobilizing in Mexico. 


And booze was flowing south.

Lord Alfred Douglas was sentenced to six months in prison for libeling Winston Churchill.  He had printed a newspaper article claiming that Churchill had been paid to release a false report about the Battle of Jutland in order to cause stocks to decrease in value so that a group of Jewish investors could take advantage of it, all of which was false, as well as racist.

Lawrence Sperry, age 30, inventor of the autopilot and the artificial horizon, died in an airplane accident over the English Channel. Taking off in fog, his airplane simply disappeared.


Friday, October 13, 2023

Saturday, October 13, 1923. German October

The Reichstag enacted emergency powers that over road the constitution to deal with the ongoing economic crisis.  

Thuringian Prime Minister August Frölich took three Communists into his cabinet, the second Communist victory in what the Executive Committee of the Communist Party was planning to be its German October, the Communist takeover of Germany.

As an aside, there was no Oktoberfest in 1923.  The economy cancelled it.

Not content with just trying to spark a Communist revolution in Germany, the NKVD detonated the Polish munitions facility at the Warsaw Citadel. Twenty-eight Polish soldiers were killed.

Turkey moved its capital to Istanbul.

Irish Republic Army prisoners at Mountjoy prison announced a hunger strike.

The Yankees took game four of the World Series, beating the Giants 8 to 4.

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Monday, October 11, 1973. Call back in the morning.

British Prime Minister Edward Heath called the White House to discuss the Yom Kippur War but, after some discussion, was told to call back in the morning as President Nixon was drunk.  The story related to the Prime Minister was that Nixon was unavailable.

Heath and Nixon in 1973.

Saturday, August 19, 2023

Why Ted Cruz?

 


Is there a reason to take Ted Cruz seriously?

This all stems apparently from the Dylan Mulvaney episode, and now Cruz is asserting that the brewer was marking to minors.

There are a lot of serious things going on right now, and this isn't one of them. Anheuser-Busch ought to just tell Ted to shove it where the sun doesn't shine, and he ought to get to work.

Monday, July 31, 2023

Tuesday, July 31, 1923. Monitoring Harding

The nation was tracking President Hardin's health:


The Tribune was optimistic on that score.  And it was also anticipating the upcoming county rodeo.

Harding's speech planned for that day was delivered as a written statement.

The High Court of Justice in Ireland ruled that a state of war in that country was over and 13,000 prisoners were entitled to release. They were not, as the following day the Public Safety Act of 1923 was enacted, causing their ongoing internment.

Parliament passed the bill sponsored by Lady Astor prohibiting the sale of alcohol to anyone under 18 years of age.

Saturday, July 1, 2023

Sunday, July 1, 1923. Chinese exclusion and untimely death.

For those who may have followed yesterday's drama about a policeman (actually sheriff's officer) shooting into a car that refused to dim its headlights, the story plays out today:


The paper was just packed with accidental and untimely death, for that matter.

The Chinese Immigration Act, which we posted about earlier, and which banned Chinese immigrants from entering Canada, save for a few exceptions, came into effect.

A Rin Tin Tin movie was released.



Saturday, June 17, 2023

Sunday, June 17, 1923. Dry Sunday

The Irish Free State saw its pubs swamped with visitors as Northern Ireland experienced its first "Dry Sunday", a day brought about due to a new law in Ulster.

Northern Ireland, reflecting its Presbyterian heritage, had a particularly notable set of Blue Laws.  Soccer was banned on Sundays prior to 2008.  Public playgrounds were closed on Sundays, and swings locked, in Belfast until 1965.  Stores over 280 square meters in size are still restricted to the hours of 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays.

Mount Etna erupted.


Released on this day in 1923.  The plot involved a woman who is widowed at 38 and takes a job as a college librarian and starts dating over the objection of her children.

Sunday, June 4, 2023

Friday, June 4, 1943. Giraud takes command.

Henri Giraud was appointed Commander In Chief of the Free French Forces.

Giraud was a career French Army officer, as we would of course expect, who had entered the army in 1900.  He was serving with the Zouave's in North Africa when World War One broke out and was badly wounded leading a Zouave charge earlier in the war, resulting in his capture by the Germans after he'd been left for dead.  He'd escaped German captivity posing as s circus roustabout after his recovery.

He was captured by the Germans a second time in May 1940, and escaped again in November 1942, as we discussed here:

Saturday, November 7, 1942. Giraud escapes France.

The British submarine Seraph smuggled French general Henri Giraud out of France.


Giraud was an opponent of the Vichy regime and had escaped German captivity, for Switzerland, back in April.  Vichy tried to lure him back, but he demurred.

While all in anticipation of Torch, the submarine took Giraud to Gibraltar, where he remained until November 9.  Relationships between the Free French officers were always highly complicated and tense, in part because their legitimacy was really legally questionable, which their organization, supported by the Allies, reflected. The Allies always tried to split the difference between outright firebrand rebels, like DeGaulle, and those who still held some ties to Vichy as the legal government.  Those in a position in between, like Giraud, were in an odd spot.

He received Allied support as the leader of the Free French following the assassination of Admiral Darlan. At the time, the Allies were trying to balance the personalities in the French leadership which varied from DeGaulle, who had gone into rebellion against Vichy from the onset, to individuals like Darlan who had not been sympathetic with the Nazis but who were unwilling, at first, to rebel against the established legal government.  Giroud appeared to be a good compromise between the two.  In that, he may have been misread.  An early sign of that was when Gen. Eisenhower asked him to take command of French troops in North Africa during Operation Torch, and he declined at first as he felt his honor demanded command of Torch itself, although he soon relented.

As it was, French forces in North Africa refused to recognize Giraud and instead continued to follow the orders of Admiral Darlan.  Darlan was accordingly recognized by the Allies as the head of French forces in North Africa, in spite of his association with Vichy.  Giraud's position was thereafter under Darlan.  Upon Darlan's assassination, Giraud's overall leadership of the French forces was forced through by the Allies.

Giraud had not been, however, a perfect choice, as he wished to retain French racial laws and he had made comments sympathetic to the accomplishments of Nazi Germany.  He'd ultimately fell when he acted independently of the Allies in sending French ships to help French resistance movements in Corsica in September without informing the Allies.  At this point, it was learned that he was maintaining an independent intelligence service.  This led to his wartime retirement.  

He served in the Assembly after the war, and died in 1949 at age 70.

Argentina's government fell in a coup d'etate which removed Ramon Castillo, who had maintained a strict neutrality position over World War Two, in favor of Gen. Arturo Rawson, who yielded nearly immediately to Gen. Pedro Ramirez, who continued the neutrality policy.  As this might demonstrate, the coup and Argentine politics were in a highly confused state, and would remain that way for many years.  Its military was clearly a danger, however, to civilian leadership of the country.

Belle and Kermit Roosevelt.

Kermit Roosevelt, serving as a Major in the U.S. Army, but also suffering from years of illness and alcoholism, committed suicide in Alaska.  He was 52 years old.

Adventuresome, like his father, but subject to alcoholism like his uncle.  He served in the British and American armies during World War One.  He'd accompanied his father on the legendary River of Doubt expedition in South America before the war, an event which contributed to Theodore Roosevelt's late in life declining health.  Like his father, Kermit Roosevelt nearly died during the expedition and also like his father, a branch of the river was named for him.

He served a second hitch in the British Army early in World War Two, participating in the Battle of Narvik.  He resumed heavy drinking after an injury in that battle, which he had previously given up, and was plagued by liver problems that was compounded by malaria. He was subsequently medically discharged from British service.  His drinking was so bad that Archie Roosevelt sought to place him in a sanitarium for a year upon his return, and he agreed to a four-month stay.  He took a commission in the U.S. Army as a major at that time and was stationed at Ft. Richardson, Alaska.

Monday, June 4, 2023. Frank Hayes and Sweet Kiss.

The United States Supreme Court decided in Meyer v. Nebraska that school could be conducted in languages other than the English, striking down a Nebraska law.  In so doing, it stated:
262 U.S. 390

43 S.Ct. 625

67 L.Ed. 1042

MEYER
v.
STATE OF NEBRASKA.

No. 325.

Argued Feb. 23, 1923.

Decided June 4, 1923.

Messrs. A. F. Mullen, of Omaha, Neb., C. E. Sandall, of York, Neb., and I. L. Albert, of Columbus, Neb., for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 391-393 intentionally omitted]

Messrs. Mason Wheeler, of Lincoln, Neb., and O. S. Spillman, of Pierce, Neb., for the State of Nebraska.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 393-395 intentionally omitted]

Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS delivered the opinion of the Court.


Plaintiff in error was tried and convicted in the district court for Hamilton county, Nebraska, under an information which charged that on May 25, 1920, while an instructor in Zion Parochial School he unlawfully taught the subject of reading in the German language to Raymond Parpart, a child of 10 years, who had no attained and successfully passed the eighth grade. The information is based upon 'An act relating to the teaching of foreign languages in the state of Nebraska,' approved April 9, 1919 (Laws 1919, c. 249), which follows:


'Section 1. No person, individually or as a teacher, shall, in any private, denominational, parochial or public school, teach any subject to any person in any language than the English language.

'Sec. 2. Languages, other than the English language, may be taught as languages only after a pupil shall have attained and successfully passed the eighth grade as evidenced by a certificate of graduation issued by the county superintendent of the county in which the child resides.


'Sec. 3. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25), nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), or be confined in the county jail for any period not exceeding thirty days for each offense.


'Sec. 4. Whereas, an emergency exists, this act shall be in force from and after its passage and approval.'


The Supreme Court of the state affirmed the judgment of conviction. 107 Neb. 657, 187 N. W. 100. It declared the offense charged and established was 'the direct and intentional teaching of the German language as a distinct subject to a child who had not passed the eighth grade,' in the parochial school maintained by Zion Evangelical Lutheran Congre ation, a collection of Biblical stories being used therefore. And it held that the statute forbidding this did not conflict with the Fourteenth Amendment, but was a valid exercise of the police power. The following excerpts from the opinion sufficiently indicate the reasons advanced to support the conclusion:

'The salutary purpose of the statute is clear. The Legislature had seen the baneful effects of permitting for eigners, who had taken residence in this country, to rear and educate their children in the language of their native land. The result of that condition was found to be inimical to our own safety. To allow the children of foreigners, who had emigrated here, to be taught from early childhood the language of the country of their parents was to rear them with that language as their mother tongue. It was to educate them so that they must always think in that language, and, as a consequence, naturally inculcate in them the ideas and sentiments foreign to the best interests of this country. The statute, therefore, was intended not only to require that the education of all children be conducted in the English language, but that, until they had grown into that language and until it had become a part of them, they should not in the schools be taught any other language. The obvious purpose of this statute was that the English language should be and become the mother tongue of all children reared in this state. The enactment of such a statute comes reasonably within the police power of the state. Pohl v. State, 102 Ohio St. 474, 132 N. E. 20; State v. Bartels, 191 Iowa, 1060, 181 N. W. 508.

'It is suggested that the law is an unwarranted restriction, in that it applies to all citizens of the state and arbitrarily interferes with the rights of citizens who are not of foreign ancestry, and prevents them, without reason, from having their children taught foreign languages in school. That argument is not well taken, for it assumes that every citizen finds himself restrained by the statute. The hours which a child is able to devote to study in the confinement of school are limited. It must have ample time for exercise or play. Its daily capacity for learning is comparatively small. A selection of subjects for its education, therefore, from among the many that might be taught, is obviously necessary. The Legislature no doubt had in mind the practical operation of the law. The law affects few citizens, except those of foreign lineage.


Other citizens, in their selection of studies, except perhaps in rare instances, have never deemed it of importance to teach their children foreign languages before such children have reached the eighth grade. In the legislative mind, the salutary effect of the statute no doubt outweighed the restriction upon the citizens generally, which, it appears, was a restriction of no real consequence.'


The problem for our determination is whether the statute as construed and applied unreasonably infringes the liberty guaranteed to the plaintiff in error by the Fourteenth Amendment:

'No state * * * shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.'

While this court has not attempted to define with exactness the liberty thus guaranteed, the term has received much consideration and some of the included things have been definitely stated. Without doubt, it denotes not merely freedom from bodily restraint but also the right of the individual to contract, to engage in any of the common occupations of life, to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, and generally to enjoy those privileges long recognized at common law as essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men. Slaughter-House Cases, 16 Wall. 36, 21 L. Ed. 394; Butchers' Union Co. v. Crescent City Co., 111 U. S. 746, 4 Sup. Ct. 652, 28 L. Ed. 585; Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U. S. 356, 6 Sup. Ct. 1064, 30 L. Ed. 220; Minnesota v. Bar er, 136 U. S. 313, 10 Sup. Ct. 862, 34 L. Ed. 455; Allegeyer v. Louisiana, 165 U. S. 578, 17 Sup. Ct. 427, 41 L. Ed. 832; Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45, 25 Sup. Ct. 539, 49 L. Ed. 937, 3 Ann. Cas. 1133; Twining v. New Jersey 211 U. S. 78, 29 Sup. Ct. 14, 53 L. Ed. 97; Chicago, B. & Q. R. R. v. McGuire, 219 U. S. 549, 31 Sup. Ct. 259, 55 L. Ed. 328; Truax v. Raich, 239 U. S. 33, 36 Sup. Ct. 7, 60 L. Ed. 131, L. R. A. 1916D, 545, Ann. Cas. 1917B, 283; Adams v. Tanner, 224 U. S. 590, 37 Sup. Ct. 662, 61 L. Ed. 1336, L. R. A. 1917F, 1163, Ann. Cas. 1917D, 973; New York Life Ins. Co. v. Dodge, 246 U. S. 357, 38 Sup. Ct. 337, 62 L. Ed. 772, Ann. Cas. 1918E, 593; Truax v. Corrigan, 257 U. S. 312, 42 Sup. Ct. 124, 66 L. Ed. 254; Adkins v. Children's Hospital (April 9, 1923), 261 U. S. 525, 43 Sup. Ct. 394, 67 L. Ed. ——; Wyeth v. Cambridge Board of Health, 200 Mass. 474, 86 N. E. 925, 128 Am. St. Rep. 439, 23 L. R. A. (N. S.) 147. The established doctrine is that this liberty may not be interfered with, under the guise of protecting the public interest, by legislative action which is arbitrary or without reasonable relation to some purpose within the competency of the state to effect. Determination by the Legislature of what constitutes proper exercise of police power is not final or conclusive but is subject to supervision by the courts. Lawton v. Steele, 152 U. S. 133, 137, 14 Sup. Ct. 499, 38 L. Ed. 385.

The American people have always regarded education and acquisition of knowledge as matters of supreme importance which should be diligently promoted. The Ordinance of 1787 declares:

'Religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.'

Corresponding to the right of control, it is the natural duty of the parent to give his children education suitable to their station in life; and nearly all the states, including Nebraska, enforce this obligation by compulsory laws.

Practically, education of the young is only possible in schools conducted by especially qualified persons who devote themselves thereto. The calling always has been regarded as useful and honorable, essential, indeed, to the public welfare. Mere knowledge of the German language cannot reasonably be regarded as harmful. Heretofore it has been commonly looked upon as helpful and desirable. Plaintiff in error taught this language in school as part of his occupation. His right thus to teach and the right of parents to engage him so to instruct their children, we think, are within the liberty of the amendment.

The challenged statute forbids the teaching in school of any subject except in English; also the teaching of any other language until the pupil has attained and successfully passed the eighth grade, which is not usually accomplished before the age of twelve. The Supreme Court of the state has held that 'the so-called ancient or dead languages' are not 'within the spirit or the purpose of the act.' Nebraska District of Evangelical Lutheran Synod, etc., v. McKelvie et al. (Neb.) 187 N. W. 927 (April 19, 1922). Latin, Greek, Hebrew are not proscribed; but German, French, Spanish, Italian, and every other alien speech are within the ban. Evidently the Legislature has attempted materially to interfere with the calling of modern language teachers, with the opportunities of pupils to acquire knowledge, and with the power of parents to control the education of their own.

It is said the purpose of the legislation was to promote civic development by inhibiting training and education of the immature in foreign tongues and ideals before they could learn English and acquire American ideals, and 'that the English language should be and become the mother tongue of all children reared in this state.' It is also affirmed that the foreign born population is very large, that certain communities commonly use foreign words, follow foreign leaders, move in a foreign atmosphere, and that the children are thereb hindered from becoming citizens of the most useful type and the public safety is imperiled.

That the state may do much, go very far, indeed, in order to imporve the quality of its citizens, physically, mentally and morally, is clear; but the individual has certain fundamental rights which must be respected. The protection of the Constitution extends to all, to those who speak other languages as well as to those born with English on the tongue. Perhaps it would be highly advantageous if all had ready understanding of our ordinary speech, but this cannot be coerced by methods which conflict with the Constitution—a desirable and cannot be promoted by prohibited means.

For the welfare of his Ideal Commonwealth, Plato suggested a law which should provide:

'That the wives of our guardians are to be common, and their children are to be common, and no parent is to know his own child, nor any child his parent. * * * The proper officers will take the offspring of the good parents to the pen or fold, and there they will deposit them with certain nurses who dwell in a separate quarter; but the offspring of the inferior, or of the better when they chance to be deformed, will be put away in some mysterious, unknown place, as they should be.'

In order to submerge the individual and develop ideal citizens, Sparta assembled the males at seven into barracks and intrusted their subsequent education and training to official guardians. Although such measures have been deliberately approved by men of great genius their ideas touching the relation between individual and state were wholly different from those upon which our institutions rest; and it hardly will be affirmed that any Legislature could impose such restrictions upon the people of a state without doing violence to both letter and spirit of the Constitution.

The desire of the Legislature to foster a homogeneous people with American ideals prepared readily to understand current discussions of civic matters is easy to appreciate. Unfortunate experiences during the late war and aversion toward every character of truculent adversaries were certainly enough to quicken that aspiration. But the means adopted, we think, exceed the limitations upon the power of the state and conflict with rights assured to plaintiff in error. The interference is plain enough and no adequate reason therefor in time of peace and domestic tranquility has been shown.

The power of the state to compel attendance at some school and to make reasonable regulations for all schools, including a requirement that they shall give instructions in English, is not questioned. Nor has challenge been made of the state's power to prescribe a curriculum for institutions which it supports. Those matters are not within the present controversy. Our concern is with the prohibition approved by the Supreme Court. Adams v. Tanner, 244 U. S. 594, 37 Sup. Ct. 662, 61 L. Ed. 1336, L. R. A. 1917F, 1163, Ann. Cas. 1917D, 973, pointed out that mere abuse incident to an occupation ordinarily useful is not enough to justify its abolition, although regulation may be entirely proper. No emergency has arisen which renders knowledge by a child of some language other than English so clearly harmful as to justify its inhibition with the consequent infringement of rights long freely enjoyed. We are constrained to conclude that the statute as applied is arbitrary and without reasonable relation to any end within the competency of the state.

As the statute undertakes to interfere only with teaching which involves a modern language, leaving complete freedom as to other matters, there seems no adequate foundation for the suggestion that the purpose was to protect the child's health by limiting his mental activities. It is well known that proficiency in a foreign language seldom comes to one not instructed at an early age, and experience shows that this is not injurious to the health, morals or understanding of the ordinary child.

The judgment of the court belo must be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.

Reversed.

Mr. Justice Holmes and Mr. Justice Sutherland, dissent.
The US decided to ignore foreign protests on booze rules.


The now ineffective Zero Milestone in Washington D.C., intended to be the starting point for all U.S. highways, was dedicated.

Horse trainer Frank Hayes, serving as a jockey on Sweet Kiss, died during the race which the horse won.  A very lightweight individual to start with, he'd lost twelve pounds for the race and perhaps accordingly imperiled his health.

Saturday, June 3, 2023

Sunday, June 3, 1923. Japan and the USSR, Swizerland and booze production.


Japan was considering establishing diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, a major step in terms of foreign policy, albeit one recognizing the reality of the murderous Soviet state.

It also recognized the realities of the troubled Japanese state, which was in a period of post-war evolution.

The Swiss voted against a state monopoly on the production of alcohol.

A New York City commission founds that some history textbooks in use in the city contained anti American history.

Friday, June 2, 2023

Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part XIII. The Economic Doomsday Clock

Let's be frank.  If the Administration and Congress do not agree to raise the debt ceiling, sometime within the next two weeks, and probably this week, the nation, followed probably by the world, will go into a Depression.


Truly, this is absurd.

May 22, 2023


Talks between Kevin McCarthy and President Biden resume today.

It's an open question of to what extent McCarthy can even carry through with anything he agrees to, beholding as he is to the populist right.  The Administration, for its part, has approached this looming deadline with some lack of urgency.

Should the country go over this cliff, that's what will be remembered about both of these individuals.

The State of Wyoming and University of Wyoming are partnering with Black Tooth Brewery for the issuance of Wyoming Golden Ale.  The beer launches on May 27.  Labels are brown and gold and feature the Wyoming bucking horse on them.

May 23, 2023


Yesterday's meeting between Biden and McCarthy late in the day was, "productive".  It didn't result in a deal, however.   The parties claim an outline of a prospective deal is there.

May 23, cont.

No deal today.

May 24, 2023



The inevitable is now happening in that Kevin McCarthy, having taken the nation right to the brink, at least by half, cannot close a deal as House members to his right will not agree to yield.  The Freedom Caucus, which represents the most extreme populist Republicans, has put out the following, which appears on Twitter, and lots of its naive acolytes are parroting the lines.
House Freedom Caucus
@freedomcaucus
Republicans must #HoldTheLine on the debt ceiling to bring spending back to reality and restore fiscal sanity in DC. We spend $100+ billion more than federal tax revenues EVERY MONTH. Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

The irony of many of the followers is that if the nation goes into default, they are amongst the class that will be financially destroyed.  It will be the middle class and lower middle class that will go almost certainly into poverty. The rich nearly always have vehicles to avoid destruction, and the upper middle class will survive. The other two demographics, however, from with the Freedom Caucus and Trumpites draw their support, will not.  A further irony will be that they'll soon be seeking government relief.

Up until today, I'd have guessed that there was about a 60% chance that a deal would be reached this week, avoiding default.  My present guess is that there is a 60% chance that this will not occur, and that this will be the last major holiday Americans will enjoy before the nation goes into a default and enters the worst national recession since the Great Depression.  None of the Congressional power brokers or major Presidential candidates presently announced will survive it politically.

I hope I'm wrong.

May 24, cont:

Every Democrat has endorsed a discharge petition.  In order to pass, it would require five Republicans to join them.

That isn't much, but it may be too many.

May 27, 2023

Janet Yellen now puts the default date on June 5, a move which will only fuel the fire as populists will proclaim the dates are all phony.

May 28, 2023


And a budget deal was reached and, presumably, disaster adverted.

This presuming the House and Senate agree with it, which isn't a safe assumption.

Some of the provisions.

The debt limit is suspended through 2025.  My prediction is that if the Democrats take the legislative branch while also retaining the executive, they'll simply do away with it entirely.  Frankly, maybe the GOP will under the same circumstances.

Non-discretionary spending, where the hard work really is, will be flat next year and increased by just 1% in 2025.

Defense spending increases next year by 3.3%, below the current rate of inflation.

There will be phased in requirements for work for recipients of the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program up to age 54, rather than the current age 49, with a set of exceptions.

Energy permitting will be sped up, even though there's somewhat of a glut of them now.

May 30, 2023

Congressman Hageman is amongst the far right wing Republicans that will not support the budget deal that has been arrived upon.

Failure to raise the debt ceiling by June 5 will destroy the economy and cause an economic depression.  This seems evident, and it is hard to grasp how anyone could support that result.

Kevin McCarthy seems likely to lose his position as Speaker of the House over the matter.

May 31, 2023


The House Rules Committee cleared the budget deal out on to the House floor, but only by a single vote, and only because budget hawk Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky voted for it, rather than allow the country to go into a depression.  Six other far right Republicans were fiscally irresponsible and voted no, voting their ideology and ignorance rather than the facts.

The deal is likely to pass in the House, where the overwhelming majority of Democrats will be for it and probably most of the Republicans.

Having said that, all four Democrats on the Rules Committee voted no, which is a bad sign, along with Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Chip Roy of Texas.  So a real possibility exist that it will not Pass the House and its questionable what will happen when it reaches the Senate.

June 1, 2023


Just four days away from an inability of the US to pay its bills and, should it occur, a global economic melt down.

Yesterday, the House of Representatives voted against destroying the global economy and voted to approve 

Thsoe voting no were as follows:
Rep. Mark Alford of Missouri
Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona
Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina
Rep. Mike Bost of Illinois
Rep. Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma
Rep. Vern Buchanan of Florida
Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado
Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee
Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri
Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida
Rep. Buddy Carter of Texas
Rep. Ben Cline of Virginia
Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas
Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia
Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia
Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona
Rep. Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee
Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida
Rep. Pat Fallon of Texas
Rep. Brad Finstad of Minnesota
Rep. Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota
Rep. Russell Fry of South Carolina
Rep. Mark Fulcher of Idaho
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida
Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas
Rep. Bob Good of Virginia
Rep. Lance Gooden of Texas
Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona
Rep. Morgan Griffith of Virginia
Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi
Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming
Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland
Rep. Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee
Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma
Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana
Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas
Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas
Rep. Darin LaHood of Illinois
Rep. Debbie Lesko or Arizona
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida
Rep. Morgan Luttrell of Texas
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina
Rep. Tracey Mann of Kansas
Rep. Brian Mast of Florida
Rep. Rich McCormick of Georgia
Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois
Rep. Cory Mills of Florida
Rep. Alex Mooney of West Virginia
Rep. Barry Moore of Alabama
Rep. Nathaniel Moran of Texas
Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina
Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee
Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama
Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania
Rep. Bill Posey of Florida
Rep. John Rose of Tennessee
Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana
Rep. Chip Roy of Texas
Rep. George Santos of New York
Rep. Keith Self of Texas
Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas
Rep. Vicotira Spartz of Indiana
Rep. Greg Steube of Florida
Rep. Dale Strong of Alabama
Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin
Rep. William Timmons of South Carolina
Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey
Rep. Beth Van Duyne of Texas
Rep. Mike Waltz of Florida
Rep. Randy Weber of Texas
Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana

No mistake should be made about the no votes.  The no votes were an outright vote to demolish the economy in the name of a radical concept of economy purity, whether the Congressman understands that or not. Some probably do, and some probably only voted no as they knew the item would pass, thereby giving them the ability to claim that they were voting to balance the budget back home, a claim that depends on voter ignorance on how the budget and economy works, a cynical reliance that has so far proved to be well-placed. The budget cannot be balanced in any way, shape, or form without raising taxes, or deeply cutting into Social Security and its related programs.   Taxes need to be raised, and the current out of control deficits the country is running date back to a misbegotten concept in the Reagan era that by lowering taxes the government could be starved on the vine.

The matter is now in the Senate, where saving the economy will require quick action in a body that's dominated by the elderly.  Moreover, on the Senate side, Gene Shepherd's maxim that fanatics meet each other in their fanaticism is proving true as the opponents of the bill include the members of the far left, and the far right, neither of which seem to grasp how budgets actually work.

June 1, cont.

Speaker of the House McCarthy stated today:

The president walled off all the others. The majority driver of the budget is mandatory spending. It’s Medicare, Social Security, interest on the debt.

That's 100% correct.  As noted in a thread put up just today:

  • 63% of the Federal Budget is non-discretionary.  That money must be spent, so you can't touch that.  No cuts.  This category is Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other mandatory programs.
  • 30% is discretionary spending.  You can cut that.
  • 14% of the budget is on Defense.  That's discretionary, so you can cut that.  In FY 2023 the overall Defense was about $777 Billion.
  • 16% of the budget it non defense discretionary, you can cut that.  This is funding for every government program and office that isn't Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, or some other mandatory program, and isn't defense.
  • The balance, about 7%, is net interest.  You pretty much have to spend that.
  • The total outlays, i.e., expenditures, going into the process, amount to $5.9 Trillion.
  • The total revenues are $4.9 Trillion.
  • A $1 Trillion deficit, therefore, exists going into the process.

Regarding revenues, we have this.

  • 32% of all U.S. Revenue comes through payroll taxes.
  • 53% of all U.S. Revenue comes from income taxes.
  • 9% of all U.S. Revenue comes from corporate taxes.
  • 6% of all U.S. Revenue comes from other sources, such as fees, specialized taxes, tariffs, and gift and estate taxes.

McCarthy has indicated a bipartisan committee is being formed to look at non-discretionary spending. 

A couple of things.

He may need to say these things now, in order to keep his job as speaker, but he may well be damaging the ability to get the deal through the Senate, as the far left will definitely react.

Taxes are the solution to a lot of this.

June 2, 2023

Skywest to receive additional subsidy payment

The City of Casper has voted to approve a $50,000 supplement to the subsidies already provided to local passenger air carriers.  This subsidizes solely the Casper to Salt Lake City flight.  The subsidy will pay for a larger airplane for the flight, through the summer.

If SkyWest, the Delta provider, does not find that this makes the run more popular, it'll likely be cut, and air travel to Salt Lake will end.


In an example of phenomenal speed, the U.S. Senate acted to save the global economy, and against the narrow mindedness of the far right and far left, and pass the budget compromise bill.

A depression has thugs been avoided.

The vote was 63 to 36.

Voting against the bill, on the Democratic side, were:

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) 

Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) 

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) 

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) 

I don't know much about Fetterman or anything about Markey or Merkley, but Warren is one of the most irritating members of the Senate and frequently strikes me as somebody who has a low grasp of things.  Sanders is an economic wingnut. 

More Republicans voted against the bill than voted for it. Voting now were:

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) 

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) 

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) 

Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) 

Sen. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) 

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) 

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) 

Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) 

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) 

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) 

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) 

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) 

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) 

Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) 

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) 

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) 

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) 

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) 

Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) 

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) 

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.)

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) 

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.)

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Ala.)

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.)

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio)

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)

Some of the not votes are no surprise.  Rand Paul, for example, is constantly on the goofball end of things. But some really are.

Both of Wyoming's Senators voted no in what was frankly probably solely a political calculation.  John Barrasso, who has given the deal some praise earlier on, is close to Mitch McConnell, or he was until yesterday, McConnell is a shrewd politician and Barrasso may live to regret crossing him. That Lummis joined him shows that probably both of them added up the votes and knew it was safe, for right now, to take this position as they'd be in the minority and the bill would pass, thereby the country being saved, but they could go home to voters they presume to be ignorant on the real meaning of what was at stake.

Indeed, that might be the case for almost all of these Republicans, which shows that they may frankly be pandering towards what they think the GOP base thinks, that being now safe to do.

Marco Rubio is a genuine surprise.

JD Vance certainly is not.

Graham is not, and maybe the only easily understandable person on the Republican list, to the extent that I know these various individuals views.

Nebraska's Deb Fischer, based on her dull Twitter feed, is not, but is a disappointment anyhow.

Of note, now Wyoming's Congressional delegation has voted with the Democrats they claim to despise the most.  I.e, Wyoming's far right Congressman voted the same way as Social Democrat Bernie Sanders.

As a minor aside, one "no" voter, by declaration, didn't vote n the House vote at all. Lauren Boebert of Colorado was absent.

June 2, 2023


President Biden signed the bill.

Repeated questions are in the naure of "who won"?  Well the American people did as the government won't slam to a halt, interest rates won't skyrocket, bonds won't descend to junk status, and massive numbers of Americans won't be unemployed in short order, including millions in the "let's default class" who didn't understand that they were in the group that would have been cast aside and discarded, some of them forever.