Thursday, August 20, 2026

Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump. Ignoramus Watch Part 4. Dr. Hegseth countermands George Washington edition.

 


April 22, 2026

During the Revolutionary War, George Washington ordered his troops inoculated against Small Pox.

This week Pete Hegseth lifted the requirement that troops be inoculated for influenza for "religious" reasons.

The current GOP is heavily anti scientific.

Opposition to vaccinations has been in American history largely a thing of smaller Christian and non Christian sects which are fairly anti scientific, as opposed to the majority of Christians who have no objection to vaccination.  However, when the far right of the country started to turn weird, listening to such medical lights as boob model Jenny McCarthy, that began to change a bit. Covid really made it worse as a significant portion of the country turned anti vax under the leadership of Donald Trump, who got the vaccine, but who recommended some really lethal approaches to the crisis as well.

Troops who don't get inoculated ought to just be given dishonorable or less than honorable discharges.  That's what should have occurred to those who refused the Covid vaccine.

April 24, 2026

The war department stands ready for what comes next. Locked and loaded. May God continue to breast—bless our warriors each and every day and on each and every mission.

Hegseth. 

Breast?

Okay, I get that it's a slip of the tongue, um, well, but it's an odd one.

May 12, 2026

The Aryan Nation, the Nazis, and the KKK are not far-right organizations.  Those are far-left organizations, and they always have been. The KKK was created and started by the Democrats in the United States to prevent blacks from being able to participate in the political arena, if you will. So, I'm going to say they've never been associated with the right, they've always been associated with the left.

Harriet Hageman.

Hageman's no dummy and she knows this is crap, or has drank so much of the Kool Aide she'll spout stuff that's absurd.

Every one of these organizations is from the far right and any claim to the contrary is patently absurd.  The claim about the Nazis, which I've seen before, comes from the party's very early, and frankly pre Hitler, days  and its name, the National Socialist Party.  The absurdity of that claim fails to realize that "socialism" in the context of nationalist parties doesn't necessarily mean Marxism, but "for society".  In the case of the Nazis, way early on their did espouse Socialism but by the time they'd come to power they'd abandoned it in favor of autarky and the early socialist in the party were sidelined or expelled.

And the claim about the KKK being founded by the Democrats and therefore left wing completely ignores that originally the Republican Party was the left wing party, and the Democrats were a right wing party.  The Democrats didn't evolve into the political left until the 20th Century and in the American South remained the conservative party into the 1980s.  Hageman herself is old enough to have voted in Reagan's first run for the Oval Office and therefore should be well aware of that.

This is totally reprehensible.

Cont:

Reporter: What extent are Americans’ financial situation motivating you to make a deal?

Trump: Not even a little bit. I don't think about Americans’ financial situation.

May 13, 2026


So it turns out that Trump's advisors uniformly told him not to launch the war against Iran, but he did anyway, and the advisors, not wanting to be blamed for his stupidity, leaked.  He wants them prosecuted for treason, and sycophant Todd Blanche is looking to to it.

The real crime here is Trump's, who launched an illegal war.  With no declaration of war, every single Iranian killed in it has been the victim of some sort of crime, and every American who has died has been the victim of some sort of crime ultimately attributable to Trump as well.

Blanche is pathetic.  When this is over, and it will be, his careers should be flushed down the toilet.

And then there's this:

PabloReports: Ted Cruz called you a parasite and disparaged your work as a bartender.

AOC: I think it’s funny that he’s been taking a government paycheck for 23 years but has the audacity to criticize someone who has come from a family that had to work their way up and earn their place here.

This is really becoming a Republican specialty around here.  We get retired servicemen who come in after sucking on the government tit for 30 years, retire, and then start sucking on the other government tit, and then run for office on the "I hate the government" ticket.

In that sense, the Democrat running against Collins in Maine is really refreshing.  He's given a speech about his combat service and then noted how he can't figure out how that's relevant to being a Senator.  It isn't.  

Recently I saw somebody post something in favor of Brent Bien here in Wyoming, noting that he's served in combat or dangerous conditions all over the world, and how that will make him ready to lead.  Yeah, lead troops, not a state government. 

We have a whole host of candidates from the He Man Government Haters Club running locally.  They have a right to run, but while they're doing it, they shouldn't be draining their mommy.  It's hypocritical.

June 22, 2026

Unqualified for her office Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said her office would prosecute individuals caught vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

That would mean prosecuting Donald Trump, which should be done for a variety of reasons.

June 24, 2026

The ideology of the Mooslims is slightly different than the ideology of the Catholics. We have the Catholics and the Mooslims. Slightly different. But Venezuela has been great and Iran has been great.

Donald Trump.

Insulting in the extreme.

The ideology of Catholics, of which I am one, is the ideology of Christianity, as Catholicism is the first and original Christian religion  It's more than "slightly different" than Islam.

This provides a good reason for those Catholics who support Trump to really question what they are doing.

June 26, 2026

Under President Trump the U.S. unemployment rate is at a historic low of just 4.3%. It was at a dismal rate of 3.4% under Biden.

Karoline Leavitt.

What the crap?

June 27, 2026

The new special edition passports with a glowering Supreme Leader Trump's image in them features the words, "Welcome!  But be good".

Apparently some moron didn't realize that these were passports, not visas.

Related thread:

August 7, 2026

After an embarrassing display of conspiratorial lunacy, in which Rand Paul notably played a part, a panel of Republican dimwits voted to send a measure to the Senate floor to hold Dr. Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer their moronic questions.

The basic truth of the matter is that the GOP has become completely scientific and dimwit conspiratorial in nature.  Basically, Flat Earthers, really.  I'm sure the whole panel will hold an investigation soon on whether we really went to the moon, and decide we didn't.

Not really on ignorance, but on the perversion that surrounds everything Trump, Republicans have been more or less silent on Rep. Max Miller after having a fit about Graham Platner.  Miller has been accused of abusing his wife by pouring boiling water on her and breaking the collar bone of his daughter.  Even his father in law, who is in the Senate, has been reluctant to criticizes him.

That's your party of family values.

August 20, 2026

We have a spike in oil prices that I don't really understand

Scott Bessent.

Seriously?

Last edition:

Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump. Ignoramus Watch Part 3. The Quack Edition.

The 2026 Election, 20th Edition. The 2026 Wyoming Primary Results.

 


August 18, 2026

Today is primary election day.

Quite a few of us have already voted of course, myself in cluded.

Early voting in Wyoming’s primary election trails historic 2022 contest, clerks say



Wyoming’s primary election live: The consequences of today’s election

This will bed a consequential day.  After the polls close, most of the races in Wyoming will have been determined.

The polls, for that matter, just opened.

August 19, 2026

Results are in.

Like most elections, it's a mixed bag. Some good results, and in this instance, some really awful ones.

Governor:

Erick Barlow trounced his opposition including Trump endorsed Megen Degenfelder.  A win for Wyoming and a loss for Trump and a major loss for the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.  The GOP/WFC endorsed Bien came in a career ending third.

A very good result.  Barlow was the only good candidate, and stands to be a better Governor than Governor Gordon.

Senate:

Harriet Hageman, in spite of holding views on public lands and being fairly nasty publicly, handily beat out her competition.  She'll face Democrat James Byrd whom is likely to lose, but who would win this contest in any normal situation.

A very bad result.

Wyoming will regret this choice, and almost immediately, if it sticks and Byrd doesn't win, which he's not likely to in spite of being the clearly better candidate.

House:

Chuck Gray took a minority of overall votes but more than anyone else to squeak by with 25.4% of the vote./  Friess came in second with 20% and Christensen just behind him.

How anyone could vote for Gray is a complete mystery.  75% of Wyoming Republican voters didn't.

He'll face Lisa Kinney who will lose.  Gray will be our horrific complete Trump sycophantic Congressman.  He'll be the worst Congressman in the state's history.

A very bad result.  My guess is that he might be a one term Congressman, bucking the normal Wyoming trend. 

Secretary of State

Robert Short won beating out WFC Rachel Williams.  Wiliams was the titular head of the WFC, and her career is now over.

He'll face Bryan McCarthy, who will lose.

A very good result.

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Harsham easily beat his opponents and will win in the fall.

He'll face Ana Cordova, which is surprising.  She's likely a good candidate, but will lose.

Local races.

Really interesting results locally. The night was a disaster for the well funded Freedom Caucus.

Freedom Caucus candidates in Natrona County were trounced.  Bob Ide was sent packing, which was a great result.  Tony Locke was booted.  Jayme Lien was booted.  Jeanette Ward lost big to Elissa Campbell in her bid to recapture her seat.  Allemand retained his seat by only eight votes, which is pathetic and surprising.

Major Freedom Caucuser John Bear is out, a huge defeat for the WFC.

Elsewhere, Ogden Driscoll kicked out Freedom Caucus member Neiman

Melissa Butcher kicked out WFC member Ken Pendergraft.

Eve Brennan booted Daniel Singh, a WFC member.

Conservative Republican Albert Sommers is back in the House.

All in all the Wyoming Freedom Caucus lost at least fourteen seats in the legislature with two of its main figures, Ide and Bear, going down in defeat.  Reps. Steve Johnson, Tony Locke, Ocean Andrew, Ken Pendergraft, Marlene Brady, Jayme Lien, Nina Webber, Mark Jennings, Gary Brown, Daniel Singh, Ann Lucas, Robert Wharff and Darin McCann, Chip Neimann and Sen. Bob Ide, all lost.

A very good result.

In the Natrona County Commissioner GOP race, where six candidates advance, ancient Dallas Laird took the highest number of votes, which is franky bizarre.  The other candidates advancing aren't too surprising.

An interesting night, and a bit difficult to explain.  At the statewide level, the voters made a hard correction towards the center, where as for Congress, they sent two people who don't represent Wyoming's views, and one who is a pathetic sycophantic liar.

Of course, the general is yet to come, but it's very difficult to imagine Lisa Kinney, who is ancient, beating screaming whiner Chuck Gray, even though 75% of Wyomigites voted against Gray.  It's not impossible to imagine Byrd defeating Hageman, but it'll be hard.

August 20, 2026

The impact of Tuesday's primary in Wyoming is still being widely discussed.  The rejection of the WFC was on the historic level.

They are not all taking it well.

As earlier noted, they're back out of control of the House having suffered an election massacre and have reduced influence in the Senate.  Their members are pouting and declaring that they'll come back, which they will not, and that they have had a positive impact on Wyoming, which they haven't.

Some news articles:


Nine of 10 Republican candidates tied to ‘Checkgate’ lost in Wyoming’s primary


In stunning upset, Wyoming Freedom Caucus loses most of its House seats, backslides in Senate


It's dead.

Freedom Caucus Champion John Bear Upended By Political Newcomer In Campbell County


UW Professor Cameron Wright Defeats Incumbent Ocean Andrew in Laramie's HD 46


On the Freedom Caucus, right now it's defeated members seem to largely be a state of shock, but as noted, there's some angry defiance there.  The WFC posted this:


The broadside is more than a little ironic.  The WRC liked to defend its extremism by claiming that the voters had elected them and it was the will of the people.  Now, the will of the people has shown them the door, and they're saying they're not leaving.

As a movement, they will be.

And much of what they did in the legislature, which was darned little, will pass like a fart in a windstorm.

It's a shame, frankly, that most of the carpetbaggers who represented the face of the movement won't be packing up and moving back to where they acquired their extremism.  This election should have informed them that the Wyoming they live in isn't the imaginary one that they thought they did.  The far right tends to be delusional, but a defeat of this magnitude is such that a delusion will be hard to maintain.

Still, one of the first Freedom Caucusers in the legislature, who lost her position two years ago and lost again this week, Jeanette Ward, commented that it was "curious" that she lost as it didn't reflect her canvassing results which shows that people who answer doors are a lot more politie to visiting politicians than I am.

On the Freedom Caucus/MAGA hard right, it turns out that fifty Republican Sheridan County voters tried to change how votes were counted by getting the county to conceded that its electronic voting was out of date and revert to the really out of date hand counting, giving the county less than a week to accede to their demands.  Almost all of the signatories to the letter signed it on August 9 and were members of Cowboy Church of the Big Horns, which was founded by Mark Jennings, who was running for House District 30.

I have another thread I'm working on regarding the association of the Evangelical hard right with the conspiratorial thinking of MAGA/hard right/WFC, but this provides an example.  The church proclaims itself to be "Nondenominational Bible-based Worship" which means it is denominational and a member of a minoritarian view of Christianity that's common in the US.

The incoming legislature will return to sanity.  Before we get there, however, we have the outgoing legislature holding hearings on proposed legislation now, and will all the way until the new legislature convenes.  The Freedom Caucus influence in those has been felt, but by the same token its been muted as they never controlled the Senate.  This probably kills off Freedom Caucus bills for the 2027 legislature, although it may also mean that they'll work to stall any bills contrary to their desires as well.

The next session is a budget session.

Tempering the general rejoicing over the death of the Freedom Caucus has been the bad news on the primary victories of Gray and Hageman.

On the costs of that:

Primary Election Winners: Curt Meier Got The Best Deal Per Vote, Chuck Gray The Worst

Distress over Gray's victory is widespread.  He only took 25% of the vote and a lot of Wyomingites are not happy about his winning the primary. There's already serious discussion of a write in campaign for Kevin Christensen.

Some disaffected Republicans are indicating that they'll vote for Democratic nominee Lisa Kinney.  I'm sure some will, but Kinney is a weak candidate and stands very little chance of beating Gray.  Christensen would stand a real chance.  It'll be interesting to see how this develops.  Suffice it to say a large number of Republicans are unhappy with Gray's candidacy and its pretty clear but for the vote splitting he would have gone down with the rest of the Freedom Caucus.

Hageman would not have.

Hageman took 65% of the GOP votes in the primary, which is not only stunning, it's mysterious.  Sam Mead seemed to be a good candidate, but he took 28%, well below expectation.

Hageman took 70% of the vote in the general election for House two years ago, riding on a Trump endorsement and the sudden outbreak of far right hatred of Liz Cheney.  A disadvantage that Cheney had which is often missed is not only that she stood up for what was right, but she had been a plurality candidate in her first run for the House, like Gray, and she was a carpetbagger, like Gray.  Indeed, I was very much opposed to her early on and only came to respect her as she grew into her office in her last two terms.  Be that as it may, she was an import branded by the GOP as a Wyomingite and only got in as the vote was split between two other good candidates originally.

Again, note the similarities to Gray there.

Anyhow, Hageman has been a horrible Congressman, supporting anti public lands positions in the GOP while being anti science.  That she did so well is really hard to explain.

She's facing James Byrd in the general.election.

Byrd is a Democrat from a Democratic family, but his platform reads like that of a Republican.  In his campaign website he states:

James Byrd is a native son of Wyoming, a man who has spent his life working on the front lines of our state. With a distinguished career spanning business leadership and public service, James brings a deep understanding of the challenges facing our families. His platform is built on the core values of transparency, economic resilience, and the unwavering protection of Wyoming’s unique heritage.

James has proven his ability to deliver results under pressure. He is running for the United States Senate to act as a fierce advocate for our energy independence, rural education, and veteran support services. His vision for the future is as bold as the Wyoming landscape itself, focused on creating a legacy of prosperity for generations to come. Join James in fighting for the heart and soul of Wyoming.

Any Republican could have stated the same thing on his website.

Not only that, but Byrd has strong Wyoming credentials.  Hageman is a fourth generation Wyomingite, but Byrd is a fifth generation son of the state, which is phenomenal.  He was a geophysicist who worked for the Compagnie Générale de Géophysique and British Petroleum Amoco before going into high tech in the 1980s.  He served in the legislature up until 2018.

Operating against him is that he's a Democrat. That shouldn't matter, but in Wyoming it will. . . or perhaps we might say might.  Hageman can't take him on, really, on anything else in regard to his declared positions which means that Hageman will resort to ignoring him at first, and then accuse him of being from the far left, which he isn't.  As a last ditch fall back she'll claim that electing Byrd will help flip the Senate to the Democrats which would be betraying the Dear Leader.

Hageman is going to have to handle her disdain for public lands and science.  Byrd will have to handle the Democrats general positions on social issues.  He'd be well advised to surprise Hageman by saying he's opposed to abortion (I don't know that he is) and to transgenderism (and I don't know his position on that).  That might upset some true hardcore Democrats but it would leave Hageman floundering on inflation, disdain of public lands, an illegal war in the Middle East and that she's genuinely not likeable.

That should give Republicans a reason to cross over and vote for him frankly. And some will.  Hageman, as noted, drew 70% of the vote in the last election, when pro Trumpism and anti Cheneyism were at peak levels.  Now that Wyomingites have returned to conventional conservatism Hageman will not do as well.  But overcoming her simply being a Republican will be hard to do.

In other races, former Democratic U.S. Representative Mary Peltola  of Alaska will advance to the general election for U.S. Senate in Alaska in that state's unique election system.  She'll facie incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan and two other candidates, one of whom might be another Dan Sullivan.

Alaska's system is unique in that it uses ranked choices.  So, you can vote for your favorite and second favorite.  If no candidate receives a majority, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and voters that ranked that candidate first have their vote counted for their next choice.  Peltola has a really good chance of winning.

Her campaign is using the catchphrase The fight for "Fish, Family, Freedom" which is a really good one.  I wish some Wyoming candidate stood for that.  Chuck Gray's, as far as we can tell, is "drill baby drill but oppose any industry which it seems that Wyomingites might be against while kissing Donald Trump's ass."  Hageman's comes across as "Shut up, I"m smarter than you and a Republican".

Peltola booted back an effort by Kamala Harris to supporter her, which was wise, but also shows her political savvy.

In Florida DSA member Angie Nixon, who had just joined the DSA recently and then didn't campaign on its issues, defeated the much better-funded former national security official Alexander Vindman, for the Democratic Senatorial ticket reflecting a turn to the left in Florida, the state that Trump claims to be his home state.  She'll face Republican Senator Ashley Moody in November in a special election for the final two years of former Senator Marco Rubio’s term.  Trump backed African American Republican Byron Donalds won the GOP nomination to succeed term-limited Governor Ron DeSantis.  He'll face former Republican turned Democrat David Jolly.  Other Florida races are difficult to gauge as the legislature redrew Florida's election map in an effort to wipe out their Democrats in the House of Representatives.  Suffice it to say, if the Democrats are in control in 2028, preventing this short of gerrymandering will be a priority for them.

On a really minor note, Stephanie Kessler, long associated with conservation efforts in the state and Fremont County, was elected to the Fremont County Commission.

And with this, which was focused on this week's' primaries, we'll end this edition and go on to a new one.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 20th Edition. Primary Voting Commences Edition. Vote like your future and that of your state depends on it, because it does, part four.

Sunday, August 20, 1911. Marriage of Emiliano Zapata and Josefa Espejo Sánchez.

Massive pro Madero protests occurred in Mexico City.

Emiliano Zapata married Josefa "La Generala" Espejo Sánchez in a Catholic ceremony.


While it is sometimes noted that Zapata was a Catholic and self identified that way, he had a weakness for women and fathered sixteen known children by nine different women, of whom only two were by his wife, neither of whom survived into adulthood.    Many of his illegitimate children were born after his marriage, suggesting that the union didn't produce any long lasting fidelity.

Pancho Villa, who never had any pretense of conventional relationship, had up to twenty children by six or seven women.

The New York Times sent the first round-the-world cable message. The message took 16+1⁄2 minutes to circle the globe.

Pilot Lincoln Beachey broke the world altitude record piloting his aircraft to a height of 11,642 feet.

Deadly tornadoes hit North Dakota.


Last edition:

Saturday, August 19, 1911. And now the House on Arizona and New Mexico.

Sunday, August 20, 1876. Murder of Preacher Smith.

Henry Weston Smith, “Preacher Smith”, was shot and killed by an unknown assailant outside of Deadwood S.D.

We discussed him here:

Sunday, May 7, 1876. First Black Hills sermon, maybe.


Supposedly the first Christian sermon in the Black Hills was preached at Custer City, South Dakota by Methodist layman Henry Weston Smith.

He would be murdered that following August.

Last edition:

Thursday, August 17, 1876. Grant expands the Ute reservation.

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 7. The jackass in a tin barn edition.

We weren't really ready to start a new one of these, but Chuck Gray has been in such rare form recently as it starts to look like he's going to lose in ten days and his dreams of a carpetbagging political career be crushed, that it mandates it.

Gray, as Secretary of State, sits on a variety of state boards and has been using that position to attempt to advance his campaign for higher office, any higher office, all along.  Generally in the global warming is a fib camp, he at one time was okay with development projects of all types but now is anti "woke wind".  Lots of people don't like the viewscape and land use aspect of wind and solar farms, and he's hoping to tap into that dislike, but he's such a disagreeable pissant he can't seem to say it that way.  Nor can he explain his prior positions.

The real gem in this is that he almost voted to preclude use of an access road to a power substation that provides power to farmers on the basis that it might receive electrical power from solar farms or wind farms or provide power to data centers.


When the State treasurer noted that this meant, he changed his vote, but had to blame the whole thing on somebody else.

Data centers are now big in the news around here, and for good reason.  Gray is opposing them as he figures it's good politics.  Put a gigantic strip mine in over the same area, and he'd be all for it.  It's difficult to tell from one moment to the next if Republican candidates this year are members of the Flat Earth Society or Greenpeace.

Gray is particularly disgusting.  He's consistently rude and nasty.  It's difficult to understand why anyone would vote for him, unless they're really duped.

I wonder how this news works for people like Gray:

Huge 500-MW Solar Project Wants To Build Natural Gas Power Plant Near Glenrock

Some other economic news:

Wyoming’s First Nickel Discovery Heads Into High-Tech, High-Stakes Drilling Phase

August 9, 2026.

Casper Couple Proves You Can Make Award-Winning Wine In Wyoming


August 14, 2026

Oil supply disruptions due to King Donny's war are predicated to last well into 2027 if not through it.

Diesel is up over $5.00/gallon here locally. There's no way on earth prices like that don't cause a rise in the price of everything else.

And, related to that:

Zoinks! Gas Is $6 A Gallon In Muddy Gap — That's 42% Higher Than Wyoming Average


And in another energy story:

Black Hills Energy wants to hike electric rates 32% in northeast Wyoming


August 20 2026

The US debt is now an unsustainable and unconscionable $40T.

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 6. The screwworm edition.