And therefore, we bear the burden of having made them desperate, by electing, overall, a really bad crop of national and state politicians. We did this by not asking them questions we should have, or just by believing the lies they told as we chose to believe them, or worse yet, we were too ignorant not to disbelieve them. There's no credit in any of this. The United States has gone from a highly imperfect functioning democracy to a highly imperfect dysfunctional kleptocracy. To some degree even worse, we've gone from a country that did not want kings, to putting kings and everything they stood for right back in power.
Part of how we did that is by not asking questions.
Normally I wouldn't start threads about elections so early, and indeed when this blog started off it didn't' deal with politics at all. But modern times inevitably crept in, and currently, as things are so desperate, there are posts on politics nearly every day. We are, moreover, at a real crossroads in the country's history. The Republican Party, a conservative party after the failure of the Progressive Movement to reform it early in the 20th Century, and a Buckley Conservative Party since Ronald Reagan, has collapsed nearly completely, with only remnants remaining, the way the Whigs did in an earlier era. A party that calls itself Republican and claims to be Progressive exist, but it's neither. It's a fascisic Protestant Francoist party that holds nothing in common with any prior Republican expression. The Democratic Party is reforming before our eyes, and in spite of what Republicans say, after the killings in Minneapolis it's rocketing towards the center, picking up the dropped pieces of prior Republican platforms.
Other parties, of course, exist, but for the most part, their natural members cling to some other party in order to get elected. A Socialist New Yorker ran as a Democrat in New York as he had to. Independants from New England in Congress have done the same. The Republican Party, essentially captured by Know Nothings, are fighting with remnant conservatives, like Thomas Massie, or outright Libertarians, like Rand Paul, who remain in their ranks. More locally, where more, and often horrified old school Republicans remain, they find themselves in constant rearguard action's against Francoist.
And this is our fault. We didn't ask the questions.
And the Press didn't do a very good job either, at least on a local level.
I've routinely followed regional elections for years. As soon as elections get rolling, the Press pretends to be asking the tough questions, and doesn't. Indeed, I know of one case in which a really worthy politician was attacked by a (successful) opponent and only one news outlet followed up on what should have been seen as an obvious lie.
Perhaps less excusable, every election cycle, at least locally, the press puts out questionnaires and then publish the results. I always look forward to reading them, only to find out the questions are utterly lame and the answers aren't followed up upon. It's as if"
Press: What is the most important issue facing Wyoming?
A. The important one.
Press: Okay, thank you for your answer.
Local debates are almost exactly the same, as in:
Press: Mr. Candidate, last year there was an effort to sell off public lands. Can you please tell us if you like kittens?
A. I like them sauteed.
Press: Okay, thank you.
I'm not exaggerating much.
As lame as the questions from the press are, politicians have taken up even avoiding showing up for debates. Republican candidates essentially say; "I love Donald Trump, and the Trumpiness of Trump, with all my heart and soul, and I don't have to talk to you left wing pressmen or the filthy dirty voters".
Well, generally, they can't avoid everyone all the time everywhere. The Press isn't going to do it, so you're going to have to. Indeed, this happened just this past week when Harriet Hageman got a blistering from questioners at a forum at Casper College, causing it to be shut down due to "decorum".
Show up. Ask the questions. Ignore party affiliation. Vote for people who aren't going to screw you.
North Carolina's Congressman George Henry White, at that time the last remaining African-American member of the United States Congress, gave his farewell speech.
I want to enter a plea for the colored man, the colored woman, the colored boy, and the colored girl of this country. I would not thus digress from the question at issue and detain the House in a discussion of the interests of this particular people at this time but for the constant and the persistent efforts of certain gentlemen upon this floor to mold and rivet public sentiment against us as a people and to lose no opportunity to hold up the unfortunate few who commit crimes and depredations and lead lives of infamy and shame, as other races do, as fair specimens of representatives of the entire colored race...
In the catalogue of members of Congress in this House perhaps none have been more persistent in their determination to bring the black man into disrepute and, with a labored effort, to show that he was unworthy of the right of citizenship than my colleague from North Carolina, Mr. Kitchin. During the first session of this Congress, while the constitutional amendment was pending in North Carolina, he labored long and hard to show that the white race was at all times and under all circumstances superior to the Negro by inheritance if not otherwise, and the excuse for his party supporting that amendment, which has since been adopted, was that an illiterate Negro was unfit to participate in making the laws of a sovereign state and the administration and execution of them; but an illiterate white man living by his side, with no more or perhaps not as much property, with no more exalted character, no higher thoughts of civilization, no more knowledge of the handicraft of government, had by birth, because he was white, inherited some peculiar qualification...
In the town where this young gentleman was born, at the general election last August for the adoption of the constitutional amendment, and the general election for state and county officers, Scotland Neck had a registered white vote of 395, most of whom, of course, were Democrats, and a registered colored vote of 534, virtually if not all of whom were Republicans, and so voted. When the count was announced, however, there were 831 Democrats to 75 Republicans; but in the town of Halifax, same county, the result was much more pronounced. In that town the registered Republican vote was 345, and the total registered vote of the township was 539, but when the count was announced it stood 990 Democrats to 41 Republicans, or 492 more Democratic votes counted than were registered votes in the township. Comment here is unnecessary, nor do I think it necessary for anyone to wonder at the peculiar notion my colleague has with reference to the manner of voting and the method of counting these votes, nor is it to be a wonder that he is a member of this Congress, having been brought up and educated in such wonderful notions of dealing out fair-handed justice to his fellow man.
t would be unfair, however, for me to leave the inference upon the minds of those who hear me that all of the white people of the State of North Carolina hold views with Mr. Kitchin and think as he does. Thank God there are many noble exceptions to the example he sets, that, too, in the Democratic party; men who have never been afraid that one uneducated, poor, depressed Negro could put to flight and chase into degradation two educated, wealthy, thrifty white men. There never has been, nor ever will be, any Negro domination in that state, and no one knows it any better than the Democratic party. It is a convenient howl, however, often resorted to in order to consummate a diabolical purpose by scaring the weak and gullible whites into support of measures and men suitable to the demagogue and the ambitious office seeker, whose crave for office overshadows and puts to flight all other considerations, fair or unfair...
I wish to quote from another Southern gentleman, not so young as my other friends, and who always commands attention in this House by his wit and humor, even though his speeches may not be edifying and instructive. I refer to Mr. Otey, of Virginia, and quote from him in a recent speech on this floor, as follows:
Justice is merely relative. It can exist between equals. It can exist among homogeneous people...It can exist among lions, but between lions and lambs, never! If justice were absolute, lions must of necessity perish. Open his ponderous jaws and find the strong teeth which God has made expressly to chew lambs flesh! When the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shall overcome this difficulty, men may hope to settle the race question along sentimental lines, not sooner.
I am wholly at sea as to just what Mr. Otey had in view in advancing the thoughts contained in the above quotation, unless he wishes to extend the simile and apply the lion as a white man and the Negro as a lamb. In that case we will gladly accept the comparison, for of all animals known in God's creation the lamb is the most inoffensive, and has been in all ages held up as a badge of innocence. But what will my good friend of Virginia do with the Bible, for God says that He created all men of one flesh and blood...
I regard his borrowed thoughts...as very inaptly applied. However,...I fear I am giving too much time in the consideration of these personal comments of members of Congress, but I trust I will be pardoned for making a passing reference to one more gentleman -- Mr. Wilson of South Carolina -- who, in the early part of this month, made a speech, some parts of which did great credit to him, showing, as it did, capacity for collating, arranging, and advancing thoughts of others and of making a pretty strong argument out of a very poor case. If he had stopped there, while not agreeing with him, many of us would have been forced to admit that he had done well. But his purpose was incomplete until he dragged in the Reconstruction days and held up to scorn and ridicule the few ignorant, gullible, and perhaps purchasable Negroes who served in the state legislature of South Carolina over thirty years ago. Not a word did he say about the unscrupulous white men, in the main bummers who followed in the wake of the Federal Army and settled themselves in the Southern states, and preyed upon the ignorant and unskilled minds of the colored people, looted the states of their wealth, brought into lowest disrepute the ignorant colored people, then hied away to their Northern homes for ease and comfort the balance of their lives, or joined the Democratic party to obtain social recognition, and have greatly aided in depressing and further degrading those whom they had used as tools to accomplish a diabolical purpose.
These few ignorant men who chanced at that time to hold office are given as a reason why the black man should not be permitted to participate in the affairs of the government which he is forced to pay taxes to support. [Rep. Wilson] insists that they, the Southern whites, are the black man's best friend, and that they are taking him by the hand and trying to lift him up; that they are educating him. For all that he and all Southern people have done in this regard, I wish in behalf of the colored people of the South to extend our thanks. We are not ungrateful to friends, but feel that our toil has made our friends able to contribute the stinty pittance which we have received at their hands. I read in a Democratic paper a few days ago, The Washington Times, an extract [which] showed that the money for each white child in the State ranged from three to five times as much per-capita as was given to each colored child. This is helping us some, but not to the extent that one would infer from the gentleman's speech.
If the gentleman to whom I have referred will pardon me, I would like to advance the statement that the musty records of 1868, filed away in the archives of Southern capitols, as to what the Negro was thirty-two years ago, is not a proper standard by which the Negro living on the threshold of the twentieth century should be measured.
Since that time we have reduced the illiteracy of the race at least 45 percent. We have written and published nearly 500 books. We have nearly 800 newspapers, three of which are dailies. We have now in practice over 2,000 lawyers, and a corresponding number of doctors. We have accumulated over $12,000,000 worth of school property and about $40,000,000 worth of church property. We have about 140,000 farms and homes, valued in the neighborhood of $750,000,000, and personal property valued about $170,000,000. We have raised about $11,000,000 for educational purposes, and the property per-capita for every colored man, woman and child in the United States is estimated at $75. We are operating successfully several banks, commercial enterprises among our people in the South land, including one silk mill and one cotton factory. We have 32,000 teachers in the schools of the country; we have built, with the aid of our friends, about 20,000 churches, and support 7 colleges, 17 academies, 50 high schools, 5 law schools, 5 medical schools and 25 theological seminaries. We have over 600,000 acres of land in the South alone. The cotton produced, mainly by black labor, has increased from 4,669,770 bales in 1860 to 11,235,000 in 1899. All this was done under the most adverse circumstances.
We have done it in the face of lynching, burning at the stake, with the humiliation of "Jim Crow" laws, the disfranchisement of our male citizens, slander and degradation of our women, with the factories closed against us, no Negro permitted to be conductor on the railway cars, whether run through the streets of our cities or across the prairies of our great country, no Negro permitted to run as engineer on a locomotive, most of the mines closed against us. Labor unions--carpenters, painters, brick masons, machinists, hackmen and those supplying nearly every conceivable avocation for livelihood--have banded themselves together to better their condition, but, with few exceptions, the black face has been left out. The Negroes are seldom employed in our mercantile stores. At this we do not wonder. Some day we hope to have them employed in our own stores. With all these odds against us, we are forging our way ahead, slowly, perhaps, but surely. You may tie us and then taunt us for a lack of bravery, but one day we will break the bonds. You may use our labor for two and a half centuries and then taunt us for our poverty, but let me remind you we will not always remain poor! You may withhold even the knowledge of how to read God's word and learn the way from earth to glory and then taunt us for our ignorance, but we would remind you that there is plenty of room at the top, and we are climbing!
After enforced debauchery with many kindred horrors incident to slavery, it comes with ill grace from the perpetrators of these deeds to hold up the shortcomings of some of our race to ridicule and scorn.
Mr. Chairman, permit me to digress for a few moments for the purpose of calling the attention of the House to a bill which I regard as important, introduced by me in the early part of the first session of this Congress.
[It was intended] to give the United States control and entire jurisdiction over all cases of lynching and death by mob violence. During the last session of this Congress I took occasion to address myself in detail to this particular measure, but with all my efforts, the bill still sweetly sleeps in the room of the committee to which it was referred. The necessity of legislation along this line is daily being demonstrated. The arena of the lyncher no longer is confined to Southern climes, but is stretching its hydra head over all parts of the Union.
"Sow the seed of a tarnished name-- You sow the seed of eternal shame!" It is needless to ask what the harvest will be. You may dodge this question now; you may defer it to a more seasonable day; you may, as the gentleman from Maine, Littlefield puts it:
"Waddle in and waddle out, Until the mind was left in doubt, Whether the snake that made the track Was going south or coming back."
This evil peculiar to America, yes, to the United States, must be met somehow, some day...
Mr. Chairman, before concluding my remarks I want to submit a brief recipe for the solution of the so-called "American Negro problem." He asks no special favors, but simply demands that he be given the same chance for existence, for earning a livelihood, for raising himself in the scales of manhood and womanhood, that are accorded to kindred nationalities. Treat him as a man; go into his home and learn of his social conditions; learn of his cares, his troubles and his hopes for the future; gain his confidence; open the doors of industry to him; let the word "Negro," "colored," and "black" be stricken from all the organizations enumerated in the federation of labor. Help him to overcome his weaknesses, punish the crime-committing class by the courts of the land, measure the standard of the race by its best material, cease to mold prejudicial and unjust public sentiment against him, and, my word for it, he will learn to support, hold up the hands of, and join in with that political party, that institution, whether secular or religious, in every community where he lives, which is destined to do the greatest good for the greatest number. Obliterate race hatred, party prejudice, and help us to achieve nobler ends, greater results and become satisfactory citizens to our brother in white.
This, Mr. Chairman, is perhaps the Negroes' temporary farewell to the American Congress; but let me say, phoenix-like he will rise up some day and come again. These parting words are in behalf of an outraged, heartbroken, bruised, and bleeding, but God-fearing people, faithful, industrious, loyal people-rising people, full of potential force.
Mr. Chairman, in the trial of Lord Bacon, when the court disturbed the counsel for the defendant, Sir Walter Raleigh raised himself up to his full height and, addressing the court, said, "Sir, I am pleading for the life of a human being."
The only apology that I have to make for the earnestness with which I have spoken is that I am pleading for the life, the liberty, the future happiness, and manhood suffrage for one-eighth of the entire population of the United States.
White was a lawyer and was leaving Congress as he had decided to leave North Carolina after it passed a bill disenfranchising blacks. He opened a law practice in Washington D.C. and then later in Pennsylvania, where he actually stood for election again, albeit unsuccessfully.
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.
No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.
James Madison
January 2, 2026.
The United States v. Iran
We start off this year with the no more forever wars president threatening to intervene in Iran.
Iran is a bad actor, without a doubt, but what we'd particularly note here is that Trump's policy of intervention is beginning to look a lot like the Neo Con policy. A person can like that, or not, but it's not what he was promising at all. I'd heard various Trump supporters cite the "no more forever wars" line as (one of) their reasons for supporting him.
January 3, 2026
United States v. Venezuela
The United States hit Venezuela with a “large-scale strike” early Saturday and took Maduro and his wife prisoner.
No Declaration of War exists, of course, and there's no Congressional authorization for the use of force. This is, therefore, an illegal operation.
The news is too early to really make any definitive predictions about how this will turn out. Wars, however, tend to end when the attacked party decides they are over. Maybe this will tip the scales in Venezuela and things will change. Or maybe his followers dig in and carry on, in which case we are now committed to a wider conventional war, and perhaps a following guerilla war.
As usual, when he reads a prepared statement, he sounds awful. While called to address the illegal attack in Venezuela, it meandered into the usual Trump mental mush addressing various Trump favorite topics and fantasies. Use of the National Guard in various states ended up being addressed by the clearly senile illegal occupant of the Oval Office.1
Trump has made it clear the U.S. intends to occupy Venezuela, apparently forgetting that simply seizing the head of state doesn't amount to a full surrender of anyone opposing a U.S. presence. This will require thousands of U.S. troops on a continent in which we've never had boots on the ground. People aligned with Maduro have no reason to cooperate with the US at all, and have plenty of reason not to.
Inside Venezuela there were protests over the U.S. action. Outside of the country Venezuelan expats celebrated the news.
Trump also made it clear that he intends to reverse the fifty year old nationalization of Venezuelan oil. Either Trump, or more likely somebody in his regime, has a real pre World War One view of the world, as this example of imperialism and gunboat diplomacy makes clear. Trump actually cited the Monroe Doctrine and his new security priorities.
Trump justified the action on the basis of ending Venezuelan drug exports to the U.S.
By way of a set of predictions, and knowing more about the use of military force that Donald Trump does, if the U.S. isn't in complete control of the country within thirty days, this will evolve into a guerilla war requiring no less than 100,000 U.S. troops. If the U.S. hasn't turned the country over to Venezuelans within one year, it'll evolve into a low grade guerilla war requiring no less than 50,000 boots on the ground.
January 4, 2026
United States v. Venezuela
So where are we now?
Yesterday it looked like, for awhile, that effectively what the US had done was to have mounted a coup of the Venezuelan government with the silent complicency of Venezuelan VP Delcy Rodríguez, sidestepping Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado Parisca.
Then came Trump's babbling senile statement about the operation.
Delcy Rodríguez was sworn in as the country's President. She's just as left wing and Maduro, and she immediately indicated that she regard Maduro as the President and that she's not cooperating with the US.
So, what was achieved? We don't know, but unless we're going to do a full scale invasion of Venezuela, all we may have done is replace one left wing leader with another.
A bit closer to home, sort of:
Well, of course they did. Was there any doubt?
January 5, 2026
Yemeni Civil War
Saudi backed forces retook Mukalla.
Nigeria
Gunmen killed 30 in Kasuwan-Daji.
Syria
Britain and France carried out a joint airstrike late Saturday on an underground facility where members of the ISIL were located.
United States v. Venezuela
Pope Leo XIV commented on Venezuelan independence yesterday, stating:
The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over every other consideration and lead us to overcome violence and to undertake paths of justice and peace, safeguarding the country’s sovereignty, ensuring the rule of law enshrined in the Constitution, respecting the human and civil rights of each person and of all, and working to build together a serene future of collaboration, stability, and concord, with special attention to the poorest who suffer because of the difficult economic situation.
Columbian guerilla groups Unión Camilista Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) and FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) issued a warning to the US about the US having a presence in Venezuela.
FARC is a Communist guerilla movement while the ELN is a "Catholic Communist" or Liberation Theology guerilla movement. Columbia is their main focus, but they operate in Venezuela.
While the raid has been portrayed as lacking casualties on the U.S. side, U.S. troops were in fact wounded and have been air evacuated to the U.S.
Hageman's failure to say anything is really interesting. MAGA boosted the platform of "no more forever wars" but the US has been fighting everywhere, and is threatening to attack a NATO ally, Denmark, over Greenland, an act that would be deeply immoral and flat out insane. Indeed, the fact that the country is being lead by a mad man is increasingly clear, with most Republicans doing nothing about it.
Wyoming has had a strong commitment to the military. Indeed, an overly strong one as not only do an unusually large number of Wyomingites volunteer for military service, which is admirable, the state had nearly supported a military against the government attitude in recent years. Now, with it appearing that the US might send Wyoming's sons and daughters to die in Venezuelan jungles while doing something that will gut the state's oil industry, some may be having second thoughts. Hageman may be hedging her bets for her Senate run, or she may actually be among those who are horrified by the insane neo colonialism of the Trump interregnum.
January 6, 2026
Venezuela and Greenland.
There's a lot of weird war related news circulating today.
Trump claims that the government of Venezuela is going to, well, here:
The U.S. doesn't need millions of gallons of oil to be sold to the US, and further the means by which Trump claims this will happen, he'll control the sales, is legally dubious.
Frankly, I don't believe that this will occur. Much of what Trump has been saying about Venezuela is a lie and I suspect this is too.
If it isn't a lie, Wyomingites are going to get another dope slap from the demented fool they voted for. It'll take the price of oil in the state for years. It's at $46.37, below profitability, right now.
Of course, the goal would be to depress the price of oil, which consumers in most locations want depressed, even though we ought to be weaning ourselves off of oil. But closer to home, this is another example of why Wyomingites are absolute idiots to vote for the GOP.
The Nobel Peace Prize winning Venezuelan woman who probably ought to be running the country is headed home. Hopefully she takes over the government, although there's every sign that the Venezuelan socialist party will continue to do so and not much will really change.
Trump, who is demented, is now threatening Greenland.
If we lived in a sane time they'd be taking him out of the Oval Office in a straight jacket, but the Republican Party is now largely bat shit crazy so there's a real chance we'll do this, even while, for the first time, some Republican leaders are dismissing it.
Trump needs to be removed via the 25th Amendment, and like yesterday.
January 8, 2026
United States v. Venezuela
It looks like Il Duce Don's intervention in Venezuela is receiving the same treatment the outbreak of the Second World War did in Nazi Germany
Readers of the epic The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich will recall that while many Germans were enthusiastic about Hitler coming to power, the public was not thrilled at all with the outbreak of World War Two. Quite the opposite, in fact.
The difference, maybe, is that democracy had already fled in Germany by 1939, whereas its trying to hold on in the United States.
This is being hailed in some quarters as a rational plan, fitting into sort of a trend line to express relief when Marco Rubio says something as opposed to Donald Trump.
Well, at least it's a plan.
The problem with it is that it really requires Venezuela's cooperation and there's no reason to believe that will be forthcoming. In this sense, it's likely to be like the 1954 Geneva plan for Vietnam, which everyone agreed was a nifty plan, and never stood a chance.
The main goal of the Socialist in Venezuela right now is no doubt to stay in power, which the Trump administration seems content to let them do. That may be because Rubio knows that removing them would involve a large-scale war.
So, we're going to sell some oil. We'll probably invest in their petroleum infrastructure. The whole thing will depress the price of oil, to the detriment of US producers, and most of the people we were complaining about in Venezuela keep their jobs.
cont:
The Senate voted to have a vote on a War Powers Resolution that would prohibit further military action in Venezuela.
Contrary to some reporting, this does not have an immediate effect of prohibiting further action in Venezuela, but there may very well be the votes to do that, in which case there are definitely enough to prohibit actions against Denmark in an insane effort to seize Greenland.
Trump is, of course, upset. This may very well take the wheels off of the Venezuelan go cart.
Also, in related news, the administration is proposing a $1.5T budget, that's trillion, for defense next year, which is also insane. The country doesn't have that kind of money. Frankly a person has to wonder if that is just some sort of bribe to the military, which may not be all that happy about some current events.
Some in the traditional conservative camp, on the other hand, are very enthusiastic over Marco Rubio and Venezuela, although no element of realism seems to have sunk into the facts that in reality, the country is run by the same political groups that were running it last week and there's very little that can be done about that other than a war of economic attrition.
January 9, 2026
Russo Ukrainian War
The US has issued a warning to U.S. citizens in Ukraine to expect a significant Russian areas attack within the next few days.
United States v. Mexico
Trump threatened in a recent interview to hit drug cartel sites in Mexico, something the Mexican government will not welcome, and will likely resist.
This was something he asked about doing in his legitimate term, and was held back by the sane people in his first administration.
Iran
Iran is experiencing such widespread civil strife it appears to becoming unglued.
Misc:
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,and Homeland Security advisor Stephen Miller have all moved on to military bases out of security concerns.
Iran
Iran appears to be headed towards outright revolution.
January 11, 2026
United States v. ISIL
The US hit targets in Syria again yesterday.
January 16, 2026
United States v. Denmark
European countries, members of NATO, have sent troops to Greenland because of the insane threats by the demented clown in the White House.
January 18, 2026.
United States v. ISIL
More airstrikes in Syria.
January 21, 2026
Israel v. Gaza
Donald Trump rolled out his Bored of Peas at Davos that's supposed to keep the peace in Gaza. It's impossible to take seriously given its makeup.
And we'll conclude this edition with that pathetic action by the would be demented caudillo.
January 29, 2026
United States v. Iran
Trump is weighing a major new strike on Iran after preliminary discussions between Washington and Tehran over limiting the country’s nuclear program and ballistic missile production failed to make progress.
Wait, you're thinking, we were going to war against Iran over the government killing protestors? That's the Iranian government killing Iranian protestors, not the U.S. government killing American protestors. . . that's different.
Nope, it's missiles and the nuclear program.
Wait, you're thinking, we wiped out their nuclear program.
Um. . . .
United States v. Venezuela
PAUL: So I would ask you, if a foreign country bombed our air defense missiles, captured and removed our president, and blockaded our country, would that be considered an act of war?
RUBIO; We just don't believe that this operation comes anywhere close to the constitutional definition of war.
PAUL: Well, would it be an act of war if someone did it to us? Nobody dies, a few casualties, they're in and out, boom, it's a perfect military operation. Would that be an act of war? Of course it would be an act of war.
And with that quite correct observation, we'll close out this edition.
Footnotes:
1. A real irony is present here in that Maduro was not the legitimate head of state, at this point, of Venezuela, and Donald Trump is not the legitimate head of state of the United States.
I'm frankly not keen on this at all. Playing sports and being in activities are vital parts of school. They help socialization. Parents who seek to avoid socialization are harming their children and there are nwo a lot of private school options that would be better choices for those seeking to evade the perceived dangers, often fictional, of public schools
This is what happens when a dumb, paranoid, amendment to the Constitution is made.
The amendment that brought down the state's abortion laws was passed due to right wing paranoia that the AHCA would create "death panels". That fear was frankly stupid, but it was adopted by far right Republicans who really believed it. The prime architect of the amendment has gone on record that he'd feel awful if the amendment caused the abortion laws to fail, and in fact he should feel awful.
I'll confess that when I first posted this, I was harsher on the paranoia of the Wyoming Republican Party that gave us the dumbass head in the sand amendment to the Wyoming Constitution based on fear of the ACHA. I'm obviously being less kind here.
Anyhow, the Tribune notes:
Wyoming Republicans seek to amend constitution
The flaming dipshits that passed the amendment that caused this to occur in the first place ought to just repeal that amendment. Indeed, they ought to cal lit "B______ B_________was a dumbass paranoid moron amendment repeal".
They won't, as the best thing to do when somebody does something rampagingly stupid is to double down on the stupidity, apparently. After all, look at the ongoing Republican support for Donald Dipshit Trump.
Anyhow, they're going to address their failure with a proposed amendment to the Constitution. That amendment will fail to get support from the electorate, which they'll find basically likes the idea of killing babies as it means they can complain about gays and the transgendered while being sexually immoral themselves.
Wyoming Democrats, I'd note, are making the classic blunder. They should simply say nothing at all, and not go out to own a result that they don't really own. The Wyoming Supreme Court's ruling came about as the far right of the Wyoming GOP went out and shot itself in the foot. Now it's going to go to the voters. A smart Democratic policy would be just to sit back and do nothing at all. But, they just can't help themselves:
Chances are high that not enough Wyoming voters are going to vote for the proposed constitutional amendment for it to pass, and if there are, the Democrats are going to effect that anyhow. Indeed, by making it an issue and embracing abortion, it'll drive GOP voters who likely would vote against the amendment or sit the election out, into voting as they'll want to vote against the Democrats. Given the immorality of abortion, it's truly an example of errare humanum est perseverare diabolicum.
My opinion, of course, is harsh, but frankly many of the Dukes of Hazzard crowd in the Freely Dumb Caucus don't trust education. People who are educated don't believe the same dumb stuff they do, so they don't like it.
And they're going after the Wyoming Business Council.
This one at its core is a completely unthinking objection to socialism. We don't like socialism, because it's socialism. Not much more thought behind it than that.
I'll often hear that the WBC picks "winners and losers" which might be right, but the state's economy otherwise is pretty much making all Wyomingites losers.
Jacob Wasserburger came up with this bad idea, but it sounds a lot like he's been sitting around with Mike Lee, the Senator from Deseret. He's signed on to the no prescription for Ivermectin act as well, these two things indicating that he's hanging out with, in not in, the Freedom Caucus.
.webp)
