Showing posts with label 2024. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2024. Show all posts
Friday, April 19, 2024
Thursday, April 18, 2024
The Impeachment of Alejandro Mayorkas. Panem et circenses
April 17, 2024.
9.4 million illegal aliens have entered this country under President Biden, 1 million more than the population of New York City and more than 16x the population of Wyoming.
The unprecedented invasion is a direct result of the open borders agenda of
@POTUS
and Alejandro Mayorkas.
From a Twitter post of Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis.
Alejandro Mayorkas is not going to be removed from office.
Moreover, everyone with any political savvy knows this. Sen. Lummis knows this, as do the other members of Wyoming's Washington representation, one of whom will be a prosecutor in the impeachment trial, if an impeachment trial actually occurs, which I very much doubt.
Rather, the Senate Republicans will screw around with this until the Democrats dismiss it.
The validity of the impeachment process will be tarnished even more than it has been since the ill-advised GOP effort to impeach Bill Clinton brought us into the modern political impeachment era, and the border won't get address, in no small part because Donald Trump, who is in the first of what will be several trials, would rather have it as issue than address it.
Congress, of course, could have addressed this, but for following the Trump directive to the GOP. There's utterly no excuse for the GOP failure to act. If the bill wasn't prefect, it was much better than any others for years, and if they take a two house and Oval Office majority in November, which I doubt they will, they could have improved it. Indeed, their failure to act not only makes this look incredibly hypocritical, but puts them in jeopardy of losing the House.
We will see a Twitter storm of GOP tweets. Most will be ignored. The worshiping spectrum of the GOP, the ignorant populists masses, will swoon over every word while the now purifying corpse of the GOP elephant starts to stink even more, actual Republicans and conservatives not knowing how to remove it.
Indeed, on the Twitter Storm, populist far right Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer took to twitter to demand that Mayorkas receive a full trial in the Senate as, she suggested, the Constitution demands, while at least one of her critics noted she didn't feel that way when Trump was up for impeachment.
All this while very little gets done and Americans lose faith in their government, save for a tiny sliver who somehow feel the dissolution of a 200+ year old institution is serving democracy, when in fact it's destroying it.
April 18, 2024
And the Senate dismissed the articles of impeachment, making my prediction of no trial accurate. I thought there would be a motion to dismiss, and there was.
The motion came up immediately, and Chuck Schumer offered debate time, but Republicans, who apparently have no sense of procedure, rejected that, demanding a full trial, and thereby demonstrating the sort of hubris, ignorance and stupidity that criminal defendants sometimes do. Schumer replied and went right to the vote.
The vote was down the party line, Republicans who know better not having the guts to vote in favor of the motion.
By this point, the dysfunctional circus that Congress has become now attracts so little attention for even extraordinary events, which this fits into as it's an extraordinary dereliction of duty and common sense by those who voted for it in the House, that it doesn't even make the primary headlines.
No doubt Wyoming's Senators went home and breathed a sigh of relief, being spared acting on this absurdity, and also being spared the pangs of acting in contravention to their conscience. And the issue is preserved for red meat tweets, texts and speeches, so attacking the Democrats on an issue that Republicans refused to act on, when they had the chance, can still be done.
And hence this circus closed.
Saturday, April 13, 2024
Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 4. "Maybe I shall find them among the dead."
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.
I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Too-hul-hul-sote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food; no one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs. I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
Chief Joseph upon his surrender, 1877.
March 6, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
The Ukrainians sank the Russian patrol ship Sergey Kotov with a drone strike.
It's clear that Black Sea is not safe for the Russian Navy.
March 8, 2024
Hamas Israeli War
The U.S. is setting up an artificial port on the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid.
Russo Ukrainian War
As s direct result of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden has entered NATO, ending centuries of neutrality.
March 9, 2024
Indian/Chinese Border
Indian is sending an additional 10,000 troops to its border with China.
March 10, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Pope Francis stated in an interview with a Swiss journalist:
In Ucraina c’è chi chiede il coraggio della resa, della bandiera bianca. Ma altri dicono che così si legittimerebbe il più forte. Cosa pensa?
“È un’interpretazione. Ma credo che è più forte chi vede la situazione, chi pensa al popolo, chi ha il coraggio della bandiera bianca, di negoziare. E oggi si può negoziare con l’aiuto delle potenze internazionali. La parola negoziare è una parola coraggiosa. Quando vedi che sei sconfitto, che le cose non vanno, occorre avere il coraggio di negoziare. Hai vergogna, ma con quante morti finirà? Negoziare in tempo, cercare qualche paese che faccia da mediatore. Oggi, per esempio nella guerra in Ucraina, ci sono tanti che vogliono fare da mediatore. La Turchia, si è offerta per questo. E altri. Non abbiate vergogna di negoziare prima che la cosa sia peggiore”.
Anche lei stesso si è proposto per negoziare?
“Io sono qui, punto. Ho inviato una lettera agli ebrei di Israele, per riflettere su questa situazione. Il negoziato non è mai una resa. È il coraggio per non portare il paese al suicidio. Gli ucraini, con la storia che hanno, poveretti, gli ucraini al tempo di Stalin quanto hanno sofferto….”.
Translated:
In Ukraine there are those who ask for the courage of surrender, of the white flag. But others say that this would legitimize the strongest. What do you think?
“It's an interpretation. But I believe that those who see the situation, those who think about the people, those who have the courage to raise the white flag and to negotiate are stronger. And today it can be negotiated with the help of international powers. The word negotiate is a courageous word. When you see that you are defeated, that things are not going well, you need to have the courage to negotiate. You are ashamed, but with how many deaths will it end? Negotiate in time, look for some country to act as a mediator. Today, for example in the war in Ukraine, there are many who want to act as mediators. Turkey offered itself for this. And other. Don't be ashamed to negotiate before things get worse.
Have you also offered to negotiate?
“I'm here, period. I sent a letter to the Jews of Israel to reflect on this situation. Negotiation is never a surrender. It is the courage not to lead the country to suicide. The Ukrainians, with the history that they have, poor things, the Ukrainians at Stalin's time, how much they suffered...”.
This has been reported, in accurately, as the Pope calling upon the Ukrainians to surrender, which isn't exactly what he said.
The head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was in the US, calling up Congress to free up support for Ukraine.
Hamas Israeli War
Israel has built a road bisecting Gaza.
March 11, 2024
Haiti
Haiti is in internal turmoil as gangs threaten to topple the government. The US has sent in additional forces to its embassy.
Russo Ukrainian War
The Pope's comments of yesterday have brought rebuke.
March 12, 2024
Hezbollah v. Israel
Israel struck Hezbollah targets from the air yesterday.
March 13, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
The Pentagon is sending $300,000,000 in weapons to Ukraine, but also revealed its $10B overdrawn in replenishing weapons it has sent already.
Democrats are using the discharge petition process to go around Donald Tump controlled Mike Johnson for funding in the House.
The All-Russian pro-Ukrainian Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK), Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR), and Siberian Battalion a limited cross-border raid into Belgorod and Kursk oblasts yesterday.
Ukraine hit an oil refinery with drones.
Haiti
Haiti's prime minister resigned. It's largely expected that the gangs that control the capital will play a role in choosing the next government.
Hamas Israeli War
Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Ismail Haniyeh presented Hamas’ delusional demands in ceasefire and hostage negotiations in a speech marking the start of Ramadan on March 10. They included a comprehensive ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of the IDF from the Gaza Strip, the complete return of displaced Gazans, and the resolution of humanitarian issues, and ending restrictions on the movement of people and goods out of the Gaza Strip.
Israel isn't going to agree to that.
March 14, 2024
Haiti
Florida is deploying 250 law enforcement officers and an air-and-sea fleet to address a potential wave of Haitian immigrants.
March 15, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairperson Dmitry Medvedev called for the total elimination of the Ukrainian state and its absorption into the Russian Federation.
Hamas Israeli War
Hamas killed the head of the Palestinian Dughmush clan, claiming it had stolen humanitarian aid and cooperated with Israel. The armed clan vowed to retaliate.
March 17, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Russian rebels in Ukrainian service have been conducting cross border strikes while Russia is conducting an election whose results are basically preordained. The raids have been fairly successful.
The Ukrainian State Security Service (SBU) conducted a series of successful drone strikes against Russian oil refineries in Samara Oblast.
March 23, 2024
ISIS v. Russia, Russia v. Ukraine, Syrian Civil War
ISIS launched a major terrorist attack on the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk on the same day that it launched the largest series of combined drone and missile strikes targeting Ukrainian energy infrastructure since the start of the war against Ukraine.
The ISIL attack was a reprisal for Russia supporting the Syrian state.
The ISIL terrorist attack was horrific, and directed against civilians, which can be also said of much of Russia's airborne campaign against Ukraine. Essentially, a terrorist entity has attacked a terrorist state.
cont:
Casualties from the ISIL attack in Russia are now at 153.
March 26, 2024
Afghanistan
The Taliban, whom Donald Trump surrendered to in 2019, is going to start stoning women to death for adultery.
March 27, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
The Ukrainians struck the Konstantin Olshansky, which was formerly a Ukrainian Navy ship that was taken into Russian custody in 2014, with an anti shipping missile.
And of interest:
Ukraine destroys unique Russian ‘Doomsday Tank’
March 29, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
And this while Ukraine fights for its life.
Hamas Israeli War
The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to open up more corridors for relief in Gaza.
March 30, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
In an absolutely shocking action, The World Russian People’s Council, chaired by Patriarch Kirill, who reportedly worked undercover for the KGB during the Soviet era, declared the war in Ukraine “sacred" and called for its completely dominance under Russia.
Hamas Israeli War
The US, which can't get its act together due to the Trumpite dominated House of Representatives and Trump's admiration of Vlad Putin, is sending Israel more arms and ammunition, including more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs.
How we can somehow manage one, and not the other, is beyond me, particularly as the Ukrainian need is greater.
April 1, 2024
Hamas Israeli War
Huge protests occured yesterday in Israel over the war.
The War Against ISIL
Retired Marine Corps general Frank McKenzie appeared on this week to warn that ISIL strikes in the US are inevitable, and put the blame squarely on the Trump surrender in Afghanistan.
April 2, 2024
Hamas Israeli War
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is going to attempt to legislatively shut down Al Jazeera broadcasts in Israel. It accuses the news organization of agitating Palestinians.
Iran v Israel
Israel killed Iranian senior military commanders in Syria Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi and some of his top subordinates in an airstrike in Damascus.
The building hit was next to the Iranian Embassy.
Russia v The West
A joint investigation by 60 Minutes, the Insider, and Der Spiegel strongly suggests that the Kremlin has waged a sustained kinetic campaign directly targeting US government personnel both in the United States and internationally for a decade, with the likely objective of physically incapacitating US government personnel. The investigation, which the outlets published on March 31, indicates that the infamous Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) Unit 29155 (the same unit whose operatives attempted to assassinate Sergei Skripal with the Novichok nerve agent in the United Kingdom in 2018) may be using nonlethal directed energy or acoustic weapons to target a large number of US government personnel, each of whom has reported experiencing an “anomalous health incident” (also called “Havana Syndrome”) of varying severity between 2014 and as recently as 2023.[1] The investigation cites intercepted Russian intelligence documents, travel logs, call metadata, and eyewitness testimony that places GRU Unit 29155 operatives at many of the locations where US officials experienced Havana Syndrome, either shortly before or during each attack. The investigation suggested that GRU operatives conducted a directed energy attack against an FBI agent in Florida a few months after the agent interviewed detained undercover GRU officer Vitaliy Kovalev at some point between June and December 2020.[2] Other US government officials claimed they were attacked by the directed energy weapons while they were in the United States, including in Washington, DC. The joint investigation interviewed US Army Colonel Greg Edgreen, former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)’s working group investigating Havana Syndrome, who believes that Russia is behind the Havana Syndrome incidents and that the incidents consistently have a “Russia nexus.”[3] Edgreen stated that the incidents all targeted the top five to ten percent “performing DIA officers” and that the victims were either experts on Russia or had otherwise worked to defend US national security interests against Russia. The investigation noted that many affected personnel were assigned to roles aimed at countering Russia following the 2014 invasion of Ukraine after these personnel had previously worked on other portfolios. The investigation reported that these incidents have affected senior US personnel, including a senior official in the National Security Council who served at some point in 2020-2024 and CIA Director Bill Burns’ then-deputy chief of staff who experienced an anomalous health incident in September 2021 in Delhi. Several of the US officials who experienced Havana Syndrome have severe life-altering and career-ending injuries. Many US officials’ spouses and children also experienced Havana Syndrome while deployed overseas.
ISW
April 4, 2024
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine has dropped its conscription age from 27 to 25.
Both of those are, I'd note, remarkably high conscription ages.
On March 30-31, 2024, the Russian Army launched its largest armored assault of the war but was repulsed with significant losses.
According to Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, during "the last couple of months that Russia has almost completely reconstituted militarily".
A Ukrainian drone struck a Russian Shahed 136 drone production facility in Tatarstan, over 1,100km from Ukraine.
Wow.
Iran vs. Everyone
An Iranian militia is threatening a major expansion in Jordan.
April 7, 2024
Ecuador v. Mexico
Ecuador raided the Mexican embassy in their country and arrested the former Vice President. Mexico responded by severing diplomatic relations with Ecuador.
Ajerbaijan v. Aremenia
There have been exchanges of artillery fire, apparently, recently although I don't really have the details.
Romania
Romania is about to pass a law allowing for military intervention outside of Romania to protect Romanian citizens. Moldova would be the only logical place for the application of such a law, or perhaps Ukraine.
April 8, 2024
Hamas v. Israel
Israel has withdrawn from Khan Younis bringing its troop presence in Gaza to one of the lowest levels since the war began. This is likely in preparation for entering Rafah.
Israel also announced it had killed Hamas brigade commander Ali Ahmed Hassin.
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukraine hit a Russian controlled nuclear reactor within Ukrainian territory in a drone strike.
Zylenskyy stated that it would be difficult for Ukraine to remain in the war without US aid, which brings up this we posted yesterday:
April 10, 2024
Hamas v. Israel
An Iranian official, in a press interview, threatened the UAE, which maintains diplomatic relations with Israel, trying to pressure it to sever relations with the country.
Russo Ukrainian War
The US is supplying parts for the Ukrainian Hawk missle defense system on an emergency basis.
April 11, 2024
Japan told us today to get our act together:
I detect an undercurrent of self-doubt among some Americans about what your role in the world should be...At a time when our world is at history's turning point...Freedom and democracy are currently under threat around the globe.
Japanese PM Fumio Kishida addressing Congress
April 13, 2024
Iran v Israel
Iran is really saber-rattling in regard to Israel, and its warning the US as part of that. The US has warned it back.
It appears almost certain that the war that started with the Hamas terrorist raid is about to expand.
Russo Ukrainian War
The U.S. and U.K. will begin restricting the trade of new Russian-origin metals including aluminum, copper and nickel.
China, yes, China, is supplying huge numbers of drones to Ukraine, showing that China isn't as pro Russian as might be imagined. China's drones are much cheaper and less technological, and hence less susceptible to electronic interference, than American ones.
Last Edition:
Wars and Rumors of War, 2024. Part 3. The Putin's Cheerleaders Edition.
Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or less locally, Part I. And then the day arrived (part two).
Our lifestyle, our wildlife, our land and our water remain critical to our definition of Wyoming and to our economic future.
Dave Freudenthal, former Governor of Wyoming/
January 2, 2024
The Energy Information Administration’s Short Term Energy Outlook Report states that combined generation from wind and solar will overtake generation from coal by more than 90 billion kilowatt-hours this year.
US coal production will drop to its lowest amount since the 1960s, with it taking more miners per ton to produce in the 60s than it does now.
Pennsylvania's Flying Fish Brewing Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
January 11, 2024
January 17, 2024
From the Trib:
According to a report put out by the Wyoming State Geological Survey this month, the state’s oil production has not yet surpassed its 2019 high, while nationwide oil production has surpassed pre-pandemic levels.
More than 95 million barrels of oil are expected to be produced in Wyoming in 2023, which is about 3 million more barrels than in 2022. The drilling of new oil wells has helped greatly.
In the first half of 2023, a total of 110 newly drilled oil wells were completed, most of them in the Powder River Basin. This is in line with the first half of 2022, when 118 oil wells were completed.
January 22, 2024
Flying Fish Brewing has declared bankruptcy.
January 23, 2024
U.S. oil production has been holding at or near record highs since October, topping the previous peak from 2020, even though the number of active domestic oil drilling rigs is down by nearly 30% from four years ago.
New technology is the reason why there is higher production with fewer rigs.
And also:
The U.S. set a new annual oil production record on December 15, based on data from the Energy Information Administration. Although the official monthly numbers from the EIA won’t be released for a couple of months, we can calculate that a new record has been set based on the following analysis.
Prices at the pump have been declining.
January 25, 2024
In spite of repeated Republican declarations about how bad the economy is doing, the economy grew 4.9% in the third quarter of 2023, for which the latest figures are out. This grossly exceeds expectations.
This is interesting for a lot of reasons, one of which the "bad economy" is a consistent theme of Republicans in the current election cycle, when in fact this is a classic "good economy". It's frankly bizarre.
Some of that might reflect, however, an ongoing retention of a return to the 1945-1975 economy by Rust Belt voters, and anxiety over an inevitable decline in the fossil fuel economy in the West. The post-war economy is of course never returning, and the change in the direction in the energy economy cannot be arrested, although it too is doing well right now.
January 28, 2024
The Administration plans on providing billions for microchip subsidies for US producers to assure production can be made in the US.
It's worth noting that with war looming with China, there's more than one reason to do this.
The Biden Administration has paused all pending export licenses for liquified national gas (LNG) to consider the climate impacts.
February 8, 2024
Getting Wall Street out of our houses
February 10, 2024
US Credit Card debt is at an all-time high.
World's Foremost Authority On Solar Sheep Advising Wyoming $500 Million Solar Farm
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs
February 11, 2024
It is estimated that over 10% of Canadian craft brewers will close this year.
February 13, 2024
The city of Gillette and BWXT have agreed to work together to look at the possibility of having nuclear facilities and operations in Gillette
February 15, 2024
While this should be no surprise, given what we earlier reported here:
Remington, in its new form, will close its facilities in Ilion, New York, in March.
Colorado has filed suit to stop the Kroger Albertson's merger.
February 21, 2024
Japan's Nikkei stock index soared to an all-time high.
Rivian, the electric truck maker, is laying off 10% of its salaried staff.
This will cause piles of cackling from those who are convinced electric vehicles, which have taken off, will never take off. Rivian was an automotive start-up, something that's really tough to do. Basically, their business model depended on getting into the saturated truck market before other maker went to electric, a real gamble.
Wyoming Gets a Big Win in Court for Coal
CHEYENNE, Wyo. –Wyoming’s coal industry’s earned a
long-awaited legal win today, as three Ninth Circuit judges unanimously sided
with Wyoming’s arguments in support of the continuation of the federal
coal-leasing program. The decision vacated a lower court order that reinstated
Obama-era coal-leasing restrictions and required federal officials to perform
duplicative National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) analysis.
“This ruling is an unequivocal win for our coal industry and a
reminder that the Biden Administration has to follow the law,” Governor Mark
Gordon said. “The Department of Interior now has one less excuse to thwart its
federal coal leasing responsibilities. I appreciate the Attorney General and
her staff for their excellent work on this case.”
The complicated case spanned seven years and involved conflicting
orders issued by former Interior Secretaries, in which Secretary Jewel issued
an order to cease federal coal leasing and conduct a Programmatic Environmental
Statement on the entire coal leasing program. Before that review was complete,
Secretary Zinke rescinded the Jewel Order so coal leasing could resume; lastly
Secretary Haaland rescinded the Zinke order. The district court ruled that the
Department of the Interior needed to conduct additional NEPA analysis before
resuming coal leasing under its existing authorities. Wyoming argued that
the case was moot, because the Zinke order was rescinded by Secretary Haaland.
Litigation costs for Wyoming were covered by the Federal Natural
Resource Policy Account as directed by Governor Gordon.
-END-
March 15, 2024
Nippon Steel proposes to take over U.S. Steel.
March 17, 2024
Tyson, the giant chicken corporation, announced that it's closing a plant in Iowa in June which will result in 1200 people, 15% of the entire town, losing their jobs. Simultaneously, the company is working with an asylum advocate group to hire 2,500 asylum seekers who are cleared to work elsewhere.
Um. . . we've been running a series on our companion blog entitled An Agrarian Manifesto. . . might be worth reading, perhaps particularly these:
A sort of Agrarian Manifesto. What's wrong with the world (and how to fix it). Part 2. Distributism
A sort of Agrarian Manifesto. What's wrong with the world (and how to fix it). Part 5. What would that look like, and why would it fix anything, other than limiting my choices and lightening my wallet? The Distributist Impact
March 21, 2024
Reddit is going public.
March 22, 2024
The Justice Department is suing Apple for Antitrust violations arising from its iPhones.
March 26, 2024
Trader Joe's is raising the price of bananas for the first time in twenty years.
March 27, 2024
Texas based and 7-11 owned USA Gasoline stores have closed in Wyoming.
March 28, 2024
Only the Northern Arapaho Tribe and the city of Cheyenne applied for portions of the $4.6 billion Federal fund to reduce reliance on carbon emissions-heavy energy sources and to become more economically resilient.
Fisker is cutting the prices of its electric Ocean SUV by 39%.
April 1, 2024
Gold hit $2,262.19/oz.
April 8, 2024
The price of oil dropped 1%.
April 11, 2024
The Aerodrome: “It stinks, like bad medicine going down, it’s a h...: So stated a Casper City Councilman about extending an additional $400,000 to SkyWest Delta to anchor the flight to Salt Lake City from Caspe...
April 12, 2024
April 13, 2024
And gold hit a record again.
Last Prior Edition:
Subsidiarity Economics. The times more or less locally, Part XVI. And then the day arrived.
Recent Related Threads:
Thursday, April 4, 2024
The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part 1. And we've already started. . .
April 4, 2024
Eh? 2025? Didn't the 2024 session just wrap up?
Yes, yes it did, and:
Lawmakers begin work on new bills after voting against special session
It seems like we're getting closer and closer to a full-time legislature, which is a bit scary.
Friday, April 4, 1924. Wolves in Albany County.
Educational broadcasting began with the introduction of what is now BBC School Radio.
Frank Capone, the brother of Al, received an elaborate funeral in Chicago. Al closed speakeasies and gambling establishments that he owned in honor of his dishonorable brother. Some of the press in the crime-ridden town lauded the late mobster and criticized the police in his death.
Wolves raided cattle in Albany County.
Wolves were recently reintroduced in Northern Colorado and there is some angst in some quarters that the reintroduced predators, unable to appreciate the giant dotted lines that make up state borders, will come into Wyoming, which they will, and be shot here, which is a real risk. Perhaps somewhat mitigating against that, there's been rumors as far back as the 1980s, when I lived in Laramie, that there were already wolves in Albany County.
One of the reintroduce Colorado wolves has killed a calf in Grand County, Colorado, so the first instance of livestock depredation has now occured. Initially, Colorado's fish and game declined to opinion on whether the wolf involved was one of the new residents, or one of the ones that was part of a pack of ten that established itself by crossing down from Wyoming in 2020. The fact that they 'ad reestablished themselves on their own, as they will do, does give rise to the question of why an artificial reintroduction in Colorado was necessary.
It probably wasn't.
Gil Hodges, baseball great, was born in Princeton, Indiana. Hodges died at age 47 after suffering a heart attack.
Last prior edition:
Wednesday, April 2, 1924. Selecting Harlan Stone.
The 2024 Election, Part XV. The Disappointing Choices edition.
Edmund Ruffin, whom some candidates on the right sound like this year.
March 17, 2024
Donald Trump warned in a speech in Ohio that elections will end and there will be a "bloodbath" if he isn't elected.
Elections surely will not end if he is not elected, but the bloodbath part is probably worth listening too and will be taken by some as a call to arms.
March 20, 2024
Wyoming Clerk Says Gray's Office Doing Little To Promote Crossover Voting Change
March 21, 2024
Affie Ellis, Wyoming's First Native Woman Legislator, Won't Run For Reelection
March 23, 2024
The legislative battle of the Real Republicans v. the Populists is shaping up quickly in Wyoming. That race between what is really two separate political parties will be fought out in the primary.
Maybe that's a reason to stay in the moribund GOP?
Cyrus Western, Sheridan, is dropping out of the Senate.
Natrona County native Christopher Dresang is running against Rep. Tony Locke for House District 35. Unusually, he's coming in supporting teachers and hammering Locke for her far right votes on the budget. She is not part of the Freedom Caucus, however. She's was raised in Wyoming, but left it before apparently returning to her current district.
Kathy Russell of the GOP far right has announced a run against Rep. Bob Nicholas (R-Cheyenne) in House District 7.
Ann Lucas of the far right is running against Dale Zwonitzer for House District 43. Zwonitzer is a highly respected Republican moderate, who is also a homosexual, and who has been attacked by hte far right before.
North Carolina import Mark Jones is challenging incumbent Barry Crago (R-Buffalo) for House District 40 giving us yet another example of how populism is an import into the state to a significant degree.
Fellow carpetbagger Tom Olmstead self-described “political refugee” from Colorado, is challenging Sen. Ed Cooper (R-Ten Sleep) for Senate District 20.
Gregg Smith, retired U.S. Army is challenging Sen. Tara Nethercott (R-Cheyenne) for Senate District 4. Nethercott. The state has also seen an influx of "I'm a veteran and I hate the government" candidates in recent years, although I don't know anything about Smith. I am highly skeptical of candidates that milked the government cow for decades coming in and running as fiscal conservatives, however.
The WEA, which must be preparing to field a run against Jeanette Ward, resumed their ad campaign against her in the Tribune today. Ward replied with a long letter to the editor in the. . . Oil City News.
That letter stated, in part:
Ward's "reckoning" on that last item is almost certainly wrong if she thinks the WEA doesn't have their voice. The WEA is the most powerful union in the state for a reason. The teachers support it.
March 25, 2024
In something spectacularly contrary to the norm, Meet The Press, which recorded an interview with Ronna McDaniel before they knew that she'd been hired to be a commentator for NBC, ripped into their own network calling it discredited, and McDaniel a liar. Chuck Todd, whom normally I don't care for, was called back into service to call NBC into question.
They really deserve credit. The interview didn't pull any punches, and they've now called their own network into account.
Closer to home, the Foster Freiss created organ The Cowboy State Daily, through its commentator and satirist Rod Miller, who is pretty independent in his views, pointed out something I wondered about here the other day, which was the odd appearance of the Secretary of State at a Natrona County session on a proposed gravel pit. The more a person learns about it, the more it seems to be an early appearance of the 2026 election in some ways. Things seem to be already heating up, and we haven't even held the 2024 election yet.
2026 might be quite a bit different from 2024. This will probably all be in the rearview mirror by then.
March 26, 2024
Former President Donald Trump is now selling the “God Bless the USA Bible” as part of his campaign funding effort. The King James version of the Bible comes with a copy of the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence the Pledge of Allegiance, and the lyrics of a chorus of Lee Greenwood's God Bless The USA.
Frankly, this is a new low for Trump, for whom there is no real evidence of any deep religious convictions and whose personal life would provide evidence to the contrary. Somehow some Christians, particularly, but not exclusively, those of an Evangelical bent have taken to seeing him as some sort of favorable figure in this light, with some going further than that.
It's interesting that the con artists in both the classic Paper Moon and Oh Brother! Where Art Thou?, make their living selling Bibles.
Ronna McDaniel has already lost her job with NBC.
In other news:
Secretary
Gray Celebrates Wyoming Supreme Court's Dismissal of Appeal in Newcomb v.
Chuck Gray Lawsuit
CHEYENNE, WY – On March 25, 2024, the
Wyoming Supreme Court dismissed an appeal brought by Tim Newcomb to remove
Trump from the ballot in Wyoming, Newcomb v. Chuck Gray. This follows
a previous dismissal of Mr. Newcomb’s lawsuit in Wyoming District Court, and a
unanimous decision from the Supreme Court of the United States keeping Trump on
the ballot in 2024.
“I have been working hard to keep President
Trump on the ballot,” Secretary of State Chuck Gray said. “I’m extremely
pleased with the Wyoming Supreme Court’s dismissal of Mr. Newcomb’s
outrageously wrong lawsuit. Radical leftists and liberal elites have tried
everything they can to weaponize the Fourteenth Amendment against Trump and the
American People, but this dismissal marks continued vindication for the truth
and for liberty. As Secretary of State, Wyoming’s chief election officer for
the state, I will always fight to ensure the people of Wyoming can choose who
to elect for themselves.”
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I have to admit, I'm struck by how often populists use terms like "radical leftists". The retired lawyer involved in this is hardly a "radical leftist", but it's the use of the term itself. I can't recall a time, at least since the 1950s, when invective was so often attached to political messaging. I wish it would stop.
The use of the term "elites" by populist is interesting as well. All in all, to be an elite is, well, to be elite. It's a form of compliment most of the time, but in populist speech it's meant to imply the opposite of native sense, or common sense, the irony being that everyone in elective higher office in Wyoming is well-educated and therefore part of an elite.
Oh, well. This opinion must have come out yesterday, but it apparently hasn't been released yet. When it is, I'll post it.
cont:
Now Never-Trump Attorney Will Attempt To Keep Chuck Gray Off Wyoming Ballots
Cont:
Independent Presidential Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has announced that Nicole Shanahan, 38, a wealthy attorney, is his running mate. Shanahan, like Donald Trump, is a serial polygamist with an interesting past. This gadfly run is going nowhere, and likely a lot of people won't know that this even occured.
March 27, 2024
Retired Senator Joe Lieberman, who was part of the No Labels Committee searching for a candidate for that organization, has died following injuries sustained in a fall.
Something not made clear in the original articles about it, but cleared up by the Trib, is that the local lawsuit on the 14th Amendment was dismissed, at the appellate stage, by the Plaintiff/Appellant, not the court, in light of the recent S.Ct decision.
Park Count declined to appropriate $60,000 for electronic poll books for the 2024 elections and will continue to only use paper records.
Trump is making an appearance at a NTPD officers funeral.
He also accused Barack Obama of “spitting in the face” of Americans in connection with calls to the White House.
Kari Lake isn't appearing in the defamation suit against her, essentially conceding it.
March 30, 2024
The Legislature’s Management Council sent a letter to Gov. Mark Gordon recommending rejection of Secretary of State Gray’s proposed rules to tighten voter registration requirements.
April 1, 2024
Over the weekend, the Biden campaign had a record-breaking fundraiser featuring Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
Trump released this weird missive on Easter Sunday:
HAPPY EASTER TO ALL, INCLUDING CROOKED AND CORRUPT PROSECUTORS AND JUDGES THAT ARE DOING EVERYTHING POSSIBLE TO INTERFERE WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2024, AND PUT ME IN PRISON, INCLUDING THOSE MANY PEOPLE THAT I COMPLETELY & TOTALLY DESPISE BECAUSE THEY WANT TO DESTROY AMERICA, A NOW FAILING NATION, LIKE “DERANGED” JACK SMITH, WHO IS EVIL AND “SICK,” MRS. FANI “FAUNI” WADE, WHO SAID SHE HARDLY KNEW THE “SPECIAL” PROSECUTOR, ONLY TO FIND THAT HE SPENT YEARS “LOVING” HER, LONG BEFORE THE GEORGIA PERSECUTION OF PRESIDENT TRUMP BEGAN (AND THEREBY MAKING THE CASE AGAINST ME NULL, VOID, AND ILLEGAL!), AND LAZY ON VIOLENT CRIME ALVIN BRAGG WHO, WITH CROOKED JOE’S DOJ THUGS, UNFAIRLY WORKING IN THE D.A.’s OFFICE, ILLEGALLY INDICTED ME ON A CASE HE NEVER WANTED TO BRING AND VIRTUALLY ALL LEGAL SCHOLARS SAY IS A CASE THAT SHOULD NOT BE BROUGHT, IS BREAKING THE LAW IN DOING SO (POMERANTZ!), WAS TURNED DOWN BY ALL OTHER LAW ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITIES, AND IS NOT A CRIME. HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!
It turns out that Chris Christie seriously considered a No Labels run, but decided against it.
April 2, 2024
Freedom Caucus Endorses Candidates In University Of Wyoming Student Election
April 4, 2024
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is using the recent vote not to have an expensive special session of the legislature called as a campaign point.
This may prove to be an error, as Wyomingites are traditionally cynical about the legislature being called into session to address what it failed to do, particularly as in this case the Freedom Caucus repeatedly gumming up the works of the short budget session provides at least a partial reason why the bills they favored were lingering for signature after they adjourned.
Last Prior Edition:
The 2024 Election, Part XIV. Wishful Thinking.
Related Posts.
Easter Sunday, 2024. The Day Joe Biden lost the 2024 Election by choosing to lose it by lurching to the Progressive Left.
Hurling invectives.
If you wonder what is giving rise to the strong populist/Christian Nationalist/Naotional Conservatism reaction in some quarters . . .
Sunday, March 31, 2024
Pope Francis on the Stations of the Cross.
In Catholic circles, you could almost hear the groan when it was announced prior to Easter that Pope Francis and Víctor Manuel Cardinal Fernández were issuing a new writing on something.
"Oh no" went up the collective mental though of millions of Catholics, and the written comment in social media by some.
In the end, it was just the Pope's meditations on the Stations of the Cross for this year, which didn't stop his most ardent critics from launching into them. There's nothing inappropriate with a Pope doing this, however, and there's recent precedent for that matter.
Nonetheless, the groan beforehand shows the extent to which people are weary of hearing from Pope Francis, as so much of what he writes results in controversy. And that ought to give him pause. At some point, if people are reluctant to hear from you, and dread it, they aren't likely to take it to heart.
Hurling invectives.
This may seem like a strange thing to put up for Easter Morning, but maybe it isn't.
One of our major elected office holders in this state is a Catholic. And yet, in spite of that, he makes vile accusations against entire classes of people constantly. Other members of the "Freedom Caucus" claim to be Christian, but their speech sure doesn't indicate it. One, the session before last, who claimed in her native state of Illinois that Muslims worship a different God than Christians (they don't, Allah is simply the Arabic word for "God", and while they may understand God's nature differently than we do, they worship the same God) claimed that "we are not our brother's keeper". The hard populist right around here frequently cites to religion, even if they are not all the same religion.
Christ could be angry, as his chasing the money changers out of the Temple indicates. We have to wonder what will occur to a Presidential candidate, whose connection with Christianity is paper thin, will receive in the next life for hawking Bibles as part of his campaign. But for now, we can wonder how a group of people who claim to be the representatives of the culture can behave so badly.
People who do this routinely are not speaking intelligently, and in fact are attempting to distract from intelligent debate.
You should consider that when listening to public figures.
We live in an age in which intelligent debate has declined to an all-time low. In its place, we have now what the Nazis and the Communist had, insulters who scream, while saying very little that's intelligent or worth considering. Their goal is to inspire hatred, as if love for an idea won't be forthcoming, hatred of a demonized class will do.
Politicians and figures who routinely insert words like "radical", "leftist", "fascist", "Marxist", and "Communist" into their speech are not arguing points, they're trying to inspire hatred and avoiding thought.
For days, I've been getting emails from a figure I at least somewhat respected, and have voted for in the past, accusing the current administration of being "radical", sometimes in the most absurd ways. One such missive asserts the Democrats are intentionally out to make things worse for Americans, which is flat out absurd. It's constant. The contest locally, right now, is in the GOP itself, and given that, as I'm still reluctantly registered as a Republican, I'll be struggling in regard to my vote in the primary, with the question being whether I should cast a vote at all. I likely will, but come the general election, I'm going to weigh this behavior.
A current state office holder who is a co religious cannot speak without speaking of his opponents as "Radical leftists and liberal elites", whipping up ire towards imagined categories that simply really aren't here. There are no Red bands roaming the prairies around Cheyenne.
For that matter, being an "elite" is a good thing. In this context, "elite" implies highly educated and successful. If the highly educated and successful think your position is dimwitted, it probably is.
More than one Populist, who are not Conservatives, now run around constantly accusing Governor Gordon of being a Democrat, by which they mean not a Populist. We're teetering on the brink of RINO meaning "not a fascist". It already darned near means that the speaker is a Southern Populist with ideas that are not native to this state, and which are being spouted in an unthinking manner.
Taking it nationally, the former President, who apparently has so little grasp of political categories that he doesn't understand the difference between communism and fascism (Wharton School of Business. . . why are you respected?) recently stated “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections”.
A person who links all those categories together is, frankly, is either ignorant or bizarrely deluded. People who swallow this up, are really ignorant.
Now, let's be honest. At one time, particularly in the 60s and 70s, the far left did the same thing. Everyone who opposed them or who wasn't with them was a "fascist". And in more modern times, the far left progressives have done the same, often with really bizarro accusations that everyone who isn't with them is part of a widespread "white" and "male" conspiracy.
But that's the point. To a large degree, nobody really take the far left in the United States seriously, usually, because they are clowns. Recently they have been successful, however, in a gender bending effort, which is helping to give rise to the Populist far right.
But both sides are anti-natural, anti-scientific, swimming in the toddler section movements. They're unthinking.
And as we have real problems, we need real thought, now.
And at any rate, running around that your opponent must be a Communist, Marxist, Monarchist, Anarchist, Pedophile, Audiophile, Anglophile, RINO is not dignified.
And for those who claim to be Christian, well you should reconsider your presentation.
You might want to reconsider your personal lives also, particularly if you are one of the numerous members of the Christian Nationalist camp whom St. Paul might have a few things to address them about.
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