So, a big one that we didn't include yesterday, as it deserves its own post. This may be the most significant post of this thread.
Don't lie and don's support liars.
Everyone has heard the old joke, “How do you know a politician is lying?” The answer. Because their mouth is moving." That stretches the point, but there's some truth behind the joke, as there is with any good joke.
Indeed, we've become so used to politicians lying that we basically expect it. The current era, however has brought lying, as well as truth telling, into a new weird surreal era.
Lying is a sin. It's been debated since early times if it's always a sin, or if there are circumstances in which it may be allowed, limited though those be. If it's every allowable, it's in situations like war, where after all, killing is allowed. Most of us lie, but it's almost always sinful.
In Catholic theological thought, lying can be a mortal sin. It's generally accepted that most lies are not in that category. So, "yes, dear, I love gravy burgers" is not a mortal sin. But lies can definitely be mortally sinful. Lying over a grave matter is mortally sinful, if the other conditions for mortal sin are met.
Donald Trump, whom some deluded Christians refer to as a "Godly Man", lies routinely and brazenly, and this has brought lying into the forefront, even as he's shocked people, rightfully, by following through on some of his promises, but not all, that were assumed to be lies or at least exaggerations. He's advanced lies about who won the 2020 election, and many of his followers have advanced those lies as well. Some people, of course, believe the lies and advance what they assume to be the truth, but some of that is being wilfully ignorant that they are lies.
Of course here, as always, I'm coming at this from a Catholic prospective. I do not accept the thesis that some do that lies can be utilized to advanced something we regard as a greater good. Some hold the opposite view and I'm fairly convinced that some Christian Nationalist politicians hold the opposite view. I frankly wonder, for example, if Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House, hold the opposite view. Johnson claims to be a devout Christian and if he doesn't hold the opposite view, based on the lies he spouts, he must despair of his own salvation quite frequently, unless he hold the completely erroneous "once saved always saved" view some Evangelical Christians hold, or if he's a Calvinist that figures that double predestination has the fate of everyone all determined anyhow, which is also a theologically anemic position.
A very tiny minority of Christians hold such views, however. For the rest of us, it's incumbent not to reward lying, and not to advance lies. It's dangerous and destructive to everyone. It should not be tolerated by anyone. And in this era, and for the proceeding several, it's destroying everything.
This was an item on Facebook. I'm cross posting it here as it contains good information, some of which I heard recently from other sources as well.
WYOMING: IT’S TIME TO TAKE OUR GOVERNMENT BACK
I used to view the Wyoming Freedom Caucus as a gang of right-wing extremists hell-bent on destroying the lives of anyone who had an opinion, stood up for themselves, or rejected the invitation to indoctrination extended by the WFC. However, it’s far more disgusting than that, and the truth is even more insulting to Wyomingites. Once I started doing my own research, it became clear to me that these aren’t local patriots standing up for us; they are out-of-state interests wearing a ‘conservative’ mask to infiltrate our government and prey on the weak minds of those who ‘fall in line.’
For a group that never misses an opportunity to wrap itself in the Wyoming flag, the WFC is looking more like a subsidiary of a national corporation than a homegrown movement. If they really believe in ‘Wyoming First,’ they’ve got a funny way of showing it – starting with the fact that their leadership, their strategy, and their bank accounts are all heavily imported from states that couldn’t be further from Wyoming values.
The WFC’s primary political tool is the word “RINO.” It’s the ultimate intellectual shortcut. In their world, a “RINO” isn’t someone who isn’t Republican; it’s any Republican who remembers they represent a district in Wyoming rather than a donor in Virginia. They use the term exactly like the far left uses accusations of “racism”: as a weapon to shut down debate. Strip away the party labels, and you’ll find that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus and the radical left actually operate from a surprisingly similar playbook. When they can’t win an argument on its merits, they pivot to name-calling. What I really want to know is: who the hell do they think they are to act as the gatekeepers of our party? We don’t need out-of-state interests defining what a Wyoming Republican looks like.
The irony of the WFC’s “local control” rhetoric is staggering when you look at the biographies of its loudest voices. Roughly 35% of their key associates weren’t even raised in Wyoming. We are being lectured on “Wyoming values” by people who grew up in the exact urban centers they now claim to despise. Want examples?
John Bear (Past Chair): Raised in Missouri, educated in Colorado.
Rachel Rodriguez-Williams (Chair): A native of Northern California who lived and worked in Marin County before moving to Cody.
Darin McCann: Raised in Upstate New York and lived in Florida several years.
Ann Lucas: Raise in Chicago, Illinois.
There’s a word for people who move to a place and immediately try to tear down its institutions to match their own imported grievances: colonizers. Wyoming has always been a “Live and Let Live” state, but the WFC brings “Live My Way or You’re a Traitor” attitude that belongs in a DC boardroom, not a Wyoming ranch.
When it comes to out-of-state money in Wyoming politics, the “grassroots” narrative starts to look a bit like a corporate franchise. While many candidates on both sides take small out-of-state individual donations, the real story of the 2024 election cycle was the coordinated spending by national organizations specifically targeting Wyoming House seats to install Wyoming Freedom Caucus members.
The following candidates were the primary beneficiaries of this out-of-state “investing,” particularly from the Virginia-based Make Liberty Win PAC and the State Freedom Caucus Network. Make Liberty Win spent over $426,000 in Wyoming – largely on aggressive attack mailers against local, traditional Republicans.
Ann Lucas (Cheyenne): Benefited from a massive spending campaign to unseat long-time Rep. Dan Zwonitzer.
Darin McCann (Rock Springs): Supported by out-of-state funds to defeat Speaker Pro Tempore Clark Stith.
Joel Guggenmos (Riverton): Heavily backed by national groups to unseat incumbent Ember Oakley.
Jayme Lien (Casper): Out-of-state money helped fuel her upset victory over House Appropriations member Tom Walters.
Gary Brown (Cheyenne): Received significant support from national PACs to defeat incumbent Bill Henderson.
Steve Johnson (Cheyenne): A Freedom Caucus newcomer who won his seat with the help of national ideological group backing.
Joe Webb (Lyman): Won his primary with the assistance of coordinated out-of-state messaging.
Paul Hoeft (Cody): Benefited from the national network’s effort to unseat traditionalist David Northrop.
Robert Wharff (Evanston): Reclaimed a seat with the help of PACs focusing on unseating more moderate incumbents.
According to 2024 campaign finance filings, the following candidates also received Make Liberty Win support: Abby Angelos, John Bear, Chip Neiman, Chris Knapp, Ken Pendergraft, Scott Smith, Tomi Strock, Jeremy Haroldson.
I’ll say it again; the sheer volume of this money is what makes the WFC’s “local control” rhetoric so ironic. For example, in the 2024 primary, out-of-state PACs often outspent the actual candidates’ own local fundraising. Virginia-based Make Liberty Win spent more in a single Wyoming primary cycle than most of these candidates could raise from their actual neighbors in a decade. Let that sink in!
It’s a strategic takeover: national groups realize that for the price of a single mid-tier Congressional race, they can buy an entire State House in Wyoming. Do you think they really care about local issues? Neither do I.
We cannot allow our state’s identity to be sold to the highest bidder in Virginia. When you sell your soul to the devil, there is no turning back. It is time to take our government back from the importers and return it to the people who actually call Wyoming home.
People like to say you can see more than one thing on these things. Well, let's say you can. Those last few shots are an execution.
These guys should be tried for murder.
ICE/Border Patrol in the interior should be disarmed.
Frankly, these morons are lucky this wasn't a local matter. Things are turning against ICE and Trump, even here. The ICE/Border Patrol killings became a topic that surprised Harriet Hageman, running for Senate, and current Wyoming Congressman, at a really hostile town hall meeting in Casper.
Hostile.
She was confronted on this and her reaction was to flee the stage.
She next appeared in Thermopolis where things didn't go much better. The crowd started yelling at each other.
Meanwhile, in Riverton, locals blocked ICE agents into their hotel. The police had to come and rescue them.
In some parts of the country, there's an effort at a general strike today.
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)
