Thursday, June 25, 2026

Friday, June 25, 1976. President for life.

Ugandan President Idi Amin announced that his advisory committee had appointed him "President for Life", citing that it was God's will as he'd survived a recent assassination attempt.


Idi Amin used to be routinely looked at as bat shit crazy, but now we have Donald Trump.

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Tuesday, June 25, 1946. The World Bank commences operations.

The World Bank commenced operations.

Nationalist Chinese troops killed ten demonstrating middle school students at Xuzhou when their commander, Feng Yu-xiang Fang Jingxing ordered them to be fired on by machine guns.

The US was struggling through a post war meat shortage.  Denver newspapers were reporting that the Office of Price Administration was accordingly being kept in operation and that Denver butcher shops were nearly bare.

The YB-35 flew for the first time.


Long considered a real oddball, the aircraft anticipated the B-2.

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Saturday, June 22, 1946. History rhyming

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Friday, June 25, 1926. Milk Cow Blues

Freddie Spruell recorded the "Milk Cow Blues" in Chicago.

It was the first Delta Blues song to be recorded.


President Coolidge gave a press conference.

Press Conference, June 25, 1926

Date: June 25, 1926

Location: Washington, D.C.

I believe the program at Philadelphia for the 5th of July hasn’t been worked out. I shall send some one up there – I don’t know but what some one went up today to confer with the Mayor, is that right Mr. Sanders?

Mr. Sanders: Yes.

President: I suppose the Mayor is the head of the committee – to see just what I am to do up there. Of course in general I go there to deliver an address. Now, I expect to have an opportunity to drive around the exposition grounds or something of that kind while I am there. I suppose I am to have lunch served before the address. I don’t know just where the luncheon is to be, that being in the hands of the committee. I go up as their guest and leave such arrangements to be made by them for the time which I am to be there, as agreed upon by my messenger that I sent up there today.

I don’t think the Government has ever considered at all the sale of the bonds of foreign governments that it holds.

I haven’t any information about Secretary Kellogg’s letter in relation to the gathering at the Hague and the discussion of the codification of international law. I saw some reference to it in the press. Whether that was brought to my attention at the time that he sent it I don’t now recall. It would be in the usual course that he would do so, though I have referred several times in my messages and my addresses to the question of the codification of international law and have talked with him about it. Probably there isn’t anything in the letter other than that by which I had already made known to the Secretary my position.

I have just given out to the press a short statement in relation to farm legislation, which is the only statement that I shall make about it.

Press: Would you care to say something about any of the main features of the Fess amendment, what it was, etc?

President: Well, it is a bill that he introduced. It is a well known rule of evidence that when there is a document that the document is to be used in evidence and speaks very much better for itself than any description that might be made. I have a copy of it here I think. I would be glad to supply it to you. The main change in it is that it authorizes the President to make the appointments to the Board without getting recommendations of different farm organizations.

Last edition:

Saturday, June 19, 1926. Cadaverum cremationis.

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Tuesday, June 25, 1901. Proclamation 457—Ratfying an Agreement Between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the Muscogee or Creek Tribe of Indians

Proclamation 457—Ratfying an Agreement Between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the Muscogee or Creek Tribe of Indians

June 25, 1901

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Whereas the act of Congress entitled "An act to ratify and confirm an agreement with the Muscogee or Creek tribe of Indians and for other purposes," approved on the 1st day of March, 1901, contains a provision as follows:

That the agreement negotiated between the Commission to the Five Civilized Tribes and the Muscogee or Creek tribe of Indians, at the city of Washington on the 8th day of March, nineteen hundred, as herein amended, is hereby accepted, ratified, and confirmed, and the same shall be of full force and effect when ratified by the Creek national council. The principal chief, as soon as practicable after the ratification of this agreement by Congress, shall call an extra session of the Creek national council and lay before it this agreement and the act of Congress ratifying it, and if the agreement be ratified by said council, as provided in the constitution of said nation, he shall transmit to the President of the United States the act of council ratifying the agreement, and the President of the United States shall thereupon issue his proclamation declaring the same duly ratified, and that all the provisions of this agreement have become law according to the terms thereof: Provided, That such ratification by the Creek national council shall be made within ninety days from the approval of this act by the President of the United States,

And whereas the principal chief of the said tribe has transmitted to me an act of the Creek national council entitled "An act to ratify and confirm an agreement between the United States and the Muscogee Nation of Indians of the Indian Territory" approved the 25th day of May, 1901, which contains a provision as follows:

That said agreement, amended, ratified and confirmed by the Congress of the United States, as set forth in said act of Congress approved March 1, 1901, is hereby accepted, ratified and confirmed on the part of the Muscogee Nation and on the part of the Muscogee or Creek tribe of Indians constituting said Nation, as provided in said act of Congress and as provided in the Constitution of said Nation, and the Principal Chief is hereby authorized to transmit this act of the National Council ratifying said agreement to the President of the United States as provided in said act of Congress.

And whereas paragraph thirty-six of said agreement contains a provision as follows:

This provision shall not take effect until after it shall have been separately and specifically approved by the Creek national council and by the Seminole general council; and if not approved by either, it shall fail altogether, and be eliminated from this agreement without impairing any other of its provisions.

And whereas there has been presented to me an act of the Creek national council entitled "An act to disapprove certain provisions, relating to Seminole citizens, in the agreement between the Muscogee Nation and the United States, ratified by Congress March 1, 1901," approved the 25th day of May, 1901, by which the provisions of said paragraph thirty-six are specifically disapproved:

Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, do hereby declare said agreement, except paragraph thirty-six thereof, duly ratified and that all the provisions thereof, except said paragraph thirty-six which failed of ratification by the Creek national council, became law according to the terms thereof upon the 25th day of May, 1901.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 25th day of June, A.D. 1901, and of the Independence of the United States the one hundred and twenty-fifth.

Signature of William McKinley

WILLIAM McKINLEY

By the President:

     DAVID J. HILL,

          Acting Secretary of State.

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Monday, June 24, 1901. Oil in Oklahoma.

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Sunday, June 25, 1876. The Battle of the the Little Big Horn.


Today In Wyoming's History: June 25: 

June 25


1876  The legendary Battle of the Little Big Horn occurs in southeastern Montana. On this date, in 1876, a large combined group of Cheyennes, Sioux, Arapaho and maybe even a few Metis, defeated an assault by the 7th Cavalry in southern Montana, resulting in the complete elimination of one prong of a split assault, and the retreat and desperate defense by two other elements of the command. The 7th's effort was part of a summer 1876 campaign on the northern plains, which had seen a the defeat of a combined unit of elements of the 2d & 3d Cavalry, 4th and 9th Infantry, and Crow and Shoshone scouts in southern Montana several days earlier. Both Plains Indians victories marked the high water mark, and the rapidly receding tide, of Indian power on the northern plains.

Little Big Horn is by far the most famous of American Indian battles, and almost defines them for the average person. It remains one of the most written about of all American historical events. It was a huge shock to the American psyche at the time, and resulted in the Army being expanded by 2,500 men for Plains service.

In terms of actual casualties, the 7th suffered about 52 percent casualties of the force that was deployed, in a battle that saw fighting at widely separated points, several miles distant, including 16 officers and 242 enlisted men killed. One officer and 51 enlisted men survived the battles with wounds. The battle is mostly remembered due to the fact that the every man in Custer's immediate command was killed, which makes up the bulk of the casualties. This may be a bit unfair, as it somewhat discounts the effective defense put up by Reno and Benteen's men in a separate location.

Of interest, 22% of the 7th Cavalry was detached prior to the expedition on other duties, a fairly common occurrence. 166 men and officers therefore were not present on the campaign, and missed the battle.

Some may wonder why I have included this even in a Wyoming daily history blog, as I included an item about Colorado's Sand Creek Massacre yesterday, but these are all regional events, which had an enormous impact on Wyoming at the time.  For the Indians in particular, the territorial borders did not exist.
The battle remains the greatest single defeat, and the greatest single loss of life in a single battle, in the post 1865 Indian Wars.  It is not, however, the U.S. Army's worst day during the long struggle with Native Americans.  That day was the Battle of the Wabash in 1791 in which the Northwestern Confederacy of Native Americans decisively defeated the U.S. Army with the Army loosing 656 men to the Natives 21 in spite of the forces being evenly matched.  It was by some measures the worst day in American military  history.

This is also the most written about even in American military history of all time.  Only the Battle of the Bulge and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor rival it, which shows what a major psychologic impact it had on American culture and historical memory.  There are, of course, a number of reasons for that which remain worth considering for a number of reasons.

To start off with the battle was, of course, a major shock at the time that it occurred, although it was no unprecedented.  Fetterman's detachment being wiped out on December 21, 1866 outside of Ft. Phil Carney provided an earlier example which its always temping to draw analogies too.  That particular battle, which resulted in the loss of 81 soldiers and armed civilians at the hands of some of the same combatants, and at the hands of the same tribes, actually had a more dire immediate effect on the survivors in that the post was so remote it was in serious danger of being overrun, had the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho bothered to attempt it, which they did not.  81 men, of course, is considerably less than 242.

A big part of the shock was due to the early press reporting.  In spite of the Fetterman Fight, the press and the public was not prepared for such a singular defeat at the hands of Plains Indians, even though Custer's detached command was considerably outnumbered at the time of the attack.  Custer was thought of as a real Indian Fighter, which he in fact was not, and the result was nearly inconceivable, resulting in a lot of fanciful speculation.  To add to this the surviving officers had a built in incentive not to be responsible for what occurred, and indeed in the 7th Cavalry's case, they really were not.  That didn't keep, however, some from trying to blame them just as Custer was elevated to an absolute hero.  As time went on it was fairly clear to the U.S. Army what had happened, even if it wasn't necessarily to civilian writers.  Early histories, moreover, assumed a level of knowledge about certain things, particularly horses, that later historians lacked, resulting in both of them omitting them.  All of this contributed to a sense of romantic mystery that endures to the present day.

Evan as that mystery has endured, however, Custer became a symbol for the entire American effort against the Native Americans, from 1620 through Wounded Knee, a fact that his peculiar character lent itself to.  Hated by many of his men, and detested by many of his fellow 7th Cavalry officers, he made a ready and easy scapegoat that further allowed some historians to assign personal blame to him for what occurred on this day in 1876.

In truth, what occurred at Little Big Horn is really obvious if a person is actually familiar with the conditions of frontier campaigning, which unfortunately many of the post 1930 or so historians have not been.

Alfred Terry had detached Custer's command on June 22, 1876, because it was a cavalry command and he needed a force to cover vast distances quickly.  Cavalry suited that purpose.  But even as it did, it was saddled with certain distinct limitations, the most pronounced being the very thing that gave it mobility, the horse.

American cavalrymen, like European cavalrymen, and the cavalrymen of ever modern army (and yes this was a modern army) assigned one mount per man.  Officers often had a second.  This was not, it might be noted, the historical norm.  Mongols, for example, had multiple mounts per man.  

In fact, Native Americans had multiple mounts per man.  And so did cowboys when working cattle, in spite of what the movies may have falsely told us.  The cowboy norm was seven mounts per man.  The Native American situation depended upon his personal wealth, often measured in horses, but to be an effective warrior he needed more than one.  Indeed, the entire culture of horse raiding is explained by this.

The reason for this is that horses "break down".  In a campaign, at first, this is not a factor.  But by June 21, 1876, when Custer's command was detached, his troopers, and their horses, had been in the field for weeks.  By that time the horses were undoubtedly fatigued.

Moreover, American cavalrymen were mounted on American Horses, big cavalry mounts that were strong and adept at covering ground, but also horses bread for more temperate conditions.  In the East, there was always plenty of feed, but that was not true in the West.  As a result, horses "broke down" quickly.  Once a mount "broke down", a cavalryman was converted into a foot soldier for the rest of the campaign, attached to the baggage train.

The Army was well aware of this problem and studied it constantly  One solution was to pick up local mounts, like those the Indians were using, and like those used by cowboy.  "Range horses" were really ponies, but were tough and acclimated to their conditions.  Like any horse, they would break down, but they'd endure much more than American Horses would.  In some commands cavalry units going West swapped out American Horses for Range Horses, much like Marines deploying to combat during part of the Vietnam War swapped their M16s for M14s.

The Army had also long attempted to address this by severely limiting the weight load of a horse.  Cavalrymen themselves were limited in height and weight.  They were short, generally not being taller than 5'6", and the were light, generally not weighing more than 140 lbs.  The McClellan saddle they used was very light weight.  They carried very little. Even at that, however, they were faced with the problem of horse fatigue.

Indeed, while cavalry was critical, the problems it faced were so severe that at one point one Army commander lobbied for only having infantry.  That was extreme, but it shows the difficulty that could exist.  In contrast, Crook routinely mounted his infantry on the pack trains mules, mounting them on the mules, a double tough animal that wasn't as fast as a horse, but which was faster than walking, and saved fatigue on the nervous infantryman.

On walking, cavalrymen walked a lot in order to save their horses.  This differed greatly from the native practice.  Natives in transit didn't walk at all.

The Cheyenne, Sioux and Arapaho, in contrast to the Army, had all Range Horses and large numbers of them.  This avoided the problems noted above, but in a camp of this size, it meant that they had to move every few days as they'd wipe out the forage.  Ultimately, they couldn't keep a camp this size together at all.

Custer's command spent the night of June 24 in the Wolf Mountains. At 3:00 a.m. his scouts climbed a peak called "the Crow's Nest" and at first light, 5:00 a.m. they sighted it.  It was 15 miles distant.  The 7th Cavalry started its advance on the camp at 8:00, an hour after Custer was informed of the camp's presence.  It took the 7th Cavalry four hours to cover the ground.  Once the command departed at 8:00, it was committed to action, albeit with no plan in place, as the risk of the natives detecting the dust of the huge  number of  horses was too great not to advance to conclusion.

At noon Custer's command had a good view of a portion of the camp and he divided his command, detailing Maj. Reno to hit what would have been the left flank, from his prospective.

This brings up a couple of things that need to be addressed in any discussion of the battle.  One thing is that there was no reconnaissance of the position being attacked whatsoever.  This probably isn't surprising, however, even though reconnaissance was a function of cavalry.  Once committed at 8, as noted, the command was committed and there was no choice but to go forward.

But was committing itself a mistake. Terry suggested, but did not command, that Custer wait for Gibbons and Terry to advance from the north.  The location of Terry and Gibbon, however, was completely unknown, and it was clear to all that a large camp would move.  Native camps, moreover, were notoriously able to move without being detected.  Custer had some justification for attacking when he could.  By the same token, however, shadowing the camp, was a bit of an option, although the longer the cavalry was nearby the greater the risk that it would be attacked itself.  Custer's decision, therefore, was not unreasonable.

Added to that, Custer did not really have very much experience in Indian warfare.  Nobody in the post Civil War Army did.  There had been men with vast frontier fighting experience n the Army prior to the Civil War, but the war had consumed them in one form or another, and  they were not the field commanders of the post Civil War Army.  Custer had campaigned against natives before, but those campaigns had been largely ineffectual with no trace of the natives being found. The exception was Washita in 1868 which had been a near disaster and a moral travesty.  

Custer had, of course, a lot of Civil War experience. Every officer in his command did. That, however, was not particularly useful on the plains.

The second part of this is that once the location of the camp was determined, Custer had a choice of hitting it from one side, with a unified command, or trying to effectively surround it, and hit from both sides.  He opted for that latter option.  In theory, that was a good decision, but it depended on the right flank being found and hit with no reconnaissance.  

Once the decision was made, it took from noon until 3:00 for Reno's troops to charge the village.  He hit alone, with Custer's command detached and its location unknow to Reno.  It's known now that Custer personally advanced down to the river several times to try to determine where to hit the Indian village, only to find that he was not yet on its edge.  It took Custer an hour to find a location to attempt to charge the camp.

All of this means that as this was occurring the entire command was mounted on horses that were fatigued to start with. During the last phase of the operation horses would have been kept at a fast gait the entire time.  From something like 2:30 until 4:00 every mount in the command was at a canter or faster.

Reno's charge immediately stalled out and he was forced to have his troops dismount and fight a defensive action from 3:00 to 3:40, at which point the survivors retreated in the hills, to be later joined by Benteen who was bringing up the pack train.  This means that Custer actually committed his command after Reno had already retreated.  The native camp covered an expanse of three miles. not a great distance, but a difficult one for cavalrymen because of it hilly terrain, where as the Sioux and Cheyenne were on the flat river bottom.   The native combatants, mounted on fresh mounts, were able to cover the distance from Reno's failed retreat to Custer's new charge in no time.  Reno in contrast was effectively immobilized, in spite of later criticism that he should have attempted to ride to Custer's aid.  In reality, he could not have and that would have resulted in the elimination of his command as well.

Custer's command was destroyed over a period of an hour, much longer than popularly imagined, with a huge volley of fire being heard at one point.  The last of his troops were overrun at about 5:30.  Native combatants thereafter drifted back to where Reno was to take potshots at his dug in troops.  They kept it up all the next day until they decamped and departed the night of June 26.

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Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 7. La unión es la fuerza*

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom

Matthew, Chapter 24.

June 4, 2026

Bolivia 

Oh oh.

June 19, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War


June 25, 2026

Russo Ukrainian War

Ukraine  has retaken the Kinburn Spit which has been occupied by Russia for the entire war.

Footnotes:

"Unity is strength", the motto of Bolivia.

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Wars and Rumors of War, 2026. Part 6. Two things greater than all things are edition.

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Una más, por favor. An illegal war with Cuba, 1.ª Edición.


21 de mayo de 2026

Having not really completed anything meaningful with Venezuela, other than having tasted blood and developing fondness for it, and having gotten us into an endless war with Iran we're losing, King Donny the Mad is about to launch a war against Cuba, starting with a claim that Raul Castro, age 94, must be brought to justice over a US civilian aircraft that was shot down by the Cubans in 1996.

Oh horse poop.

Some in Demented Donnie's administration have been drooling over a chance to attack Cuba since the easily manipulated narcissist illegitimately moved back into the Oval Office.  Military action against Cuba has been a desire of displaced Cubans and their descendants in the US since 1959.  If the US attacked the island and removed the government, Lil' Marco would claim it as a victory attributable to him, one way or another, in the 2028 Presidential campaign he's clearly running in.

That's part of the problem.  Influential "Republicans" (there are no real Republicans left anymore) like Marco and the Robot Ted Cruz would do anything for a Cuba Libre other than actually live in Cuba.

Of course, with this administrations lust for territorial acquisition, as desire expressed by some imperialist Republicans going into the Spanish American War, the annexation of Cuba with the goal of making it a state, would be the more likely goal in the short term.  If Trump, or Marco, pulled that off, the irony would be that it would be solidly Democratic and admitting Puerto Rico as a state would happen immediately thereafter.

Probably the only thing that's really been holding this up has been the commitment of forces to Iran, where Iran is deploying Muhammed Ali's old "rope a dope" strategy and refusing to surrender even though King Donny assures us he won and the war is over.  Actually defeating Iran will require a ground invasion that even Donny, who can choke down killing schoolgirls, can't seem to muster up the will for and which the American public doesn't want.  The war itself has already achieved a level of unpopularity matched by that of the Vietnam War after Tet.

But, the thought is, this will go better. . . or at least Cuban Americans will like the result.

The threats against Castro started a couple of days ago.  Within the last twenty four hours China, which Trump went to and acted like a orphaned puppy, has warned the US to knock it off.

May 22, 2026

The future of Cuba belongs to the people of Cuba is terms of how they're governed, what the system looks like and so forth, but the national security threat, that's 100% something we're going to focus on because that's about America.

Marco Rubio.

What crap.  

Cuba has been a Communist country since 1959 when Fidel Castro overthrow the authoritarian government there (it wasn't obvious he was Communist at first).

They have not attacked us since then. 

We have, however, effectively attacked them, landing Cuban contras there in 1961.

Rubio knows this, however.  His parents were immigrants from Cuba who came over before the 1959 revolution, and who actually planned on returning to the country before the Communist nature of the revolution became apparent.

And that's part of the problem here. Cuban Americans are never going back to Cuba, but they imagine Cuba Libre with the same zeal as Irish Americans imagined a Republican Ireland.  In the latter case, that unthinking zeal helped contribute to decades of strife in Ireland, and here it's contributed to decades of misery in Cuba.

Efforts to force a political change in Cuba should have ceased in 1961 when John F. Kennedy withdrew air support for the Cuban contras.  There was no good reason at all other than anger not to normalize economic relations with Cuba at least by the early 1980s.  That's what we should do now.

Ho Chi Minh wouldn't recognize Communism in Vietnam today and, if transported from wherever his soul went to, he's be convinced that South Vietnam had won the war and reformed itself.  If we weren't keeping Cuba on the trophy shelf of failures, the same would be true for Cuba.

But we live in a dangerous age.  Donald Trump is desperately searching for something for Americans to remember him by (and we certainly have plenty to recall right now).  Marco Rubio has the misplaced child of immigrants probable loyalty to an imaginary paradise or imaginary would be paradise.

We're cruising right back into Havana's harbor where every American military adventure to date has been a disaster.

Remember the Maine.

June 25, 2026

With Cuba, Trump had better beware of what he wishes for

What obligation does the U.S. bear toward the impoverished island prison?


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The 2026 Election, 13th Edition. The choosing lanes edition.



June 19, 2026

The mere fact that somebody is running against Bear, one of the most notable of the WFC, is a good thing.  Here's hoping that Bear is solidly and permanently defeated.

John Bear, One Of The Freedom Caucus’ Most Powerful Members, Has A Challenger

And something that should be obvious, but for all the political theater:
June 20, 2026

Ousted UW dean to challenge Freedom Caucus incumbent

Cam Wright seeks House 46’s Republican nomination. Known to many in Laramie as UW’s former engineering dean, Wright is involved in ongoing litigation against the university.

June 24, 2026

Three Democratic Socialist won primaries in New York City in Democratic Congressional primaries, causing pundits to somewhat freak out.

Frankly the fascist nature of the current GOP is making this inevitable. The WFC is, for example, every bit as radical as New York's Democratic Socialist and Trump is governing as a dictator to the extent that the courts don't prohibit him, so the rise of the left wing within the Democratic Party isn't too surprising.

While the right freaks out about New York City, here locally the GOP demands you swear your loyalty.

‘These are purity tests’: Driskill, Neiman talk platform allegiance in political heavyweight matchup

I've seen one candidate, a carpetbagging far right winger from Wisconsin, already put his "Meine Ehre Heisst Treue" tag on his posters.

On a ballot initiative.

Coalition demands records on tax initiative; Gray’s office calls claims false


An interesting development in the statewide races:

At this point, what's particularly interesting is who has signed, and who has not.

The entity it self has some every notable names behind it. According to their website:

Justice Keith Kautz (Retired Wyoming Supreme Court, Evangelical Leader Southeast Wyoming)

Diana Enzi (Long time Wyoming activist and advocate for Christ from Gilette Wyoming)

Jim Neiman (Business, civic and Christian leader from Hullett, Wyoming)

Michael Evers (Business Leader and Episcopal Priest from Sheridan Wyoming)

Evan Simpson (Business Leader and Religious Leader for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from Star Valley, Wyoming)

Frank Moore (Business Leader and active in the Catholic community in Douglas, Wyoming)

Diemer True (Business, civic and Christian leader from Casper Wyoming)

Ron Rabou (Farmer, author and motivational speaker and leader in Christian community and member of Converge Worldwide from Albin, Wyoming)

Patty Micheli (Rancher and Religious leader and teacher for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Fort Bridger, Wyoming).

Mike Leman (Legislative Liaison for the Dioceses of Cheyenne, Deacon at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Casper, Wyoming)

The text of the pledge is:

THE PEACEMAKER PLEDGE

I believe that as a follower of Jesus, I am called to be a peacemaker— not a partisan soldier, and not a voice of outrage. I recognize that our politics has become poisoned by hatred, tribalism, and fear, and I confess that I too have been tempted to replace grace with outrage, truth with slogans, and love with loyalty to a side.

Today, I pledge to be different.

I will love my enemies, not just my friends. I will stand faithfully upon my convictions without giving into cruelty. I will call out wrongdoing without canceling people. I will refuse to let the letters on someone’s hat or the hashtags in their bio mean more to me than the Gospel. I will not be swept up in the outrage cycle, but will instead step out of the chaos and boldly examine my own actions.

I commit to bringing the peace of Christ back into the public square—to show a divided world what it truly looks like to follow Him, not as a culture warrior but as a Kingdom person.

I take to heart the words of Jesus: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” And I hold fast to the call of Luke 6: “Love your enemies, do good to them… Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

This is my pledge. By God’s grace, I will become a peacemaker.

The candidates who have signed the pledge, which you can do on their website, are, so far:

GOVERNOR

Eric Barlow
Governor

Megan Degenfelder
Governor

U.S. SENATE

Jimmy Skovgard
U.S. Senate

U.S. HOUSE

Jillian Balow
U.S. House of Representatives

Bo Biteman
U.S. House of Representatives

Kevin Christensen
U.S. House of Representatives

STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

Steve Harshman
State Superintendent of Public Instruction

SENATE

Evie Brennan
Senate District 31

Ogden Driskill
Senate District 2

Ronald McCleary
Senate District 5

Marcia Neumiller
Senate District 27

Lauren Schoenfeld
Senate District 5

Wendy Schuler
Senate District 15

HOUSE

Dalton Banks
House District 26

Elizabeth Bingham
House District 17

Ronda Boller
House District 52

Peter Boyer
House District 58

Jessica Crowder
House District 43

Christopher Dresang
House District 35

Erin Edwards
House District 41

Justin Fornstrom
House District 10

David Hill
House District 50

Lloyd Larsen
House District 54

Martha Lawley
House District 27

Matthew Legler
House District 25

Jayme Lien
House District 38

Roland Luehne
House District 28

Myca Sturtevant
House District 29

Shane Swett
House District 13

Art Washut
House District 36

John Wetzel
House District 25

JD Williams
House District 2

Paul Wing
House District 11

Bill Winney
House District 20

COUNTY

Macey Moore
Converse County Commissioner

COUNTY PARTY

Michael Evers
Sheridan County GOP Precinct Person- Precinct 2-5

My guess is that after the article, some who haven't signed, or who aren't aware of it, will sign or will feel compelled to sign.

Notably, in the House, the big money candidates, Gray, Freiss and Rasner have not signed.  Gray's an entire political career has been based on being a lying asshole, so this puts him in a spot.  When he gets up at night and stubs his toes he blames it on left wing radical communist Marxist socialist fascist monarchist podiatrist, so that would take a major part of his repertoire out of play and actually make him live part of his faith.  Rasner has gone full comedic sideshow at this point, but it would take the extreme out of the candidate whose been the most extreme.  It probably wouldn't impact Freiss who hasn't attacked his opponents, but who is, in a very nice way, relying upon "I'll bring jobs to Wyoming of a type that I've worked at myself because I believe you dumb twits want to exist in the imaginary 1950s".

It's also interesting that only one Senatorial candidate, Skovogard, has signed it.

June 25, 2026

Interesting development.

Rasner didn't appear recently in Casper's weekly candidate forum when it invited the house contestants to speak.  That's odd as Casper is his home town.  Now this.

And this:

Postmaster General Confirms Plan to Hold Back Mail Ballots Under Proposed Rule

The postmaster general, David Steiner, said on Wednesday that under a proposed rule, his agency would not deliver mail ballots in states that decline to hand over voter data.

This is illegal.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 12th Edition. The late on ramp edition.

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