Showing posts with label 2026. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2026. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 4, 2026

The 2026 Election. 28th Edition. The Count (before the coup).

Counting Mayfield, Hill County Texas, ballots, 2/20/24.

November 3, 2026.  0000.

And so the fateful day has arrived.

Election Day, November 3, 2026.

And a fateful day it will be.  The election of 2026 is the most important election since that one held on November 3, 1860.  By the end of the day, if predictions hold, it will have taken a step back from fascism. The question will be how big of step back it will be, how much of a step in a new direction, and whether the step is so decisive that a major GOP/Fascist coup attempt can be averted.

I have my doubts.

What seems certain, if early predictions are correct, are that the Democrats, as disliked as they seem to be, will regain the House of Representatives.  Polling seems to suggest that there may be a "blue wave" that swamps the GOP in the House.  If that's correct, the House may have taken a major Democratic Party turn and a turn back towards real democracy.  It seems likely that the Senate may be taken by the Democrats, but it's not likely that it'll be a "wave".  But it's not impossible either.  It'll take both to really arrest a Trump coup attempt, and it will take both to really being to turn the arch of history back towards democracy.

Another question is to what degree Wyoming participates in this.  Wyoming is so ignored in the overall polls that, going into this day, we really don't know.

People who are of the betting persuasion would have placed their bets on Chuck Gray and Harriet Hageman right after the primary. But bets on Gray are much less certain now.  Gray is widely despised and rightly so.  The best thing that could happen to him, and for him, and for the state, would be to send him packing.  He needs to become a real boy and get a real job.  Lisa Kinney might be the person who symbolically does that for him, and to him, although if that's the case, she'll be a one term Congressman, elected solely to put an end in a carpetbagger's career, which would be a service to the state in and of itself.

A much better candidate, all the way around, is James Byrd.  Byrd's chances of defeating Harriet Hageman are not as good as Kinney's are of defeating Gray, but they are real.  

Otherwise, the big question is whether gadfly Rebecca Bextel of the "Constitution" Party, and Shawn Johnson of the Libertarian Party, draw enough votes to qualify both of those parties as "major" parties.

Bextel, who is engaged in a hopelessly naive campaign against Eric Barlow for the Governor's seat, comes across as a potty mouth, ignorant, Southerner, but there are right now enough potty mouth, ignorant carpetbaggers to perhaps give her 10% of the vote.  It's ironic in that the Constitution Party candidate for the House isn't a Southerner or ignorant, but the Constitution Party is smart enough to mount up a Southern Mule when they see one, if it profits them. Their beliefs are genuinely wacky, and Bextel pegs out on the wacky meter, and the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is the Woodstock of wacky, so she is likely to draw at least 10%.

My guess is that Shawn Johnson will as well.  Wyoming Libertarians aren't real Libertarians, so some disaffected Republicans can in fact feel comfortable voting for them.  Some Anybody But Chuck Republicans' who can't stomach voting for a Democrat will vote for Johnson instead.

Overall, if this election broke the back of the two party system, which is unlikely, in Wyoming, it would be a good thing. The batshit crazy wing of the GOP should be in the Constitution Party.  The flirting with anarchy wing of the GOP should be Libertarians.  Would that we had an American Solidarity Party that was viable here.  The Two Party System is moronic.


And, due to its failure, we have Donald Trump as President.

The next two years will not be easy. The best thing that could happen for the republic today is that there was such a blue wave that Trump could, and would, be impeached.  That would allow the GOP to save itself, as spineless bastards like John Barrasso realized that they had to save themselves, his primary instinct, and moved towards the middle.  Other GOP figures held captive by cowardice would as well. That would leave National Conservative chameleon J. D. Vance as President.  Vance is actually conservative, extremely so, but with some sort of a philosophy.  Trump is just about Trump.  Vance also has a survivors instinct.

But will that sort of majority happen by the end of the day?  Probably not.  

Recovery takes years for many things.  We are likely to start on that path today.  A lot of us won't be around anymore by the time we probably get there.  But a lot of us probably will.

04:10

The Tribune reports that 5,000 people have voted early in Natrona County.  Only 1,500 did in the last election.

Absentee ballots with a postmark no later than 7:00 p.m. today will be counted.  If races are close, this may make a difference.

04:37

The United States Supreme Court rejected a request to review a coup attempt on California's mail in ballots.  The coup working through the U.S. Attorney's office sought to require verification of citizenship for 20,000 California mail in ballots.

07:00

The polls in Wyoming are now open.

07:32

Wyoming Public Radio reports that absentee ballots must be received by 7:00 p.m., contrary to the item noted above.  I think this is correct.

14:19

Guam's non voting U.S. House delegate seat flipped from the GOP to the Democratic Party with Democrat Alicia Anne Garrido Limtiaco defeating incumbent James Moylan.  It appears the election for Governor flipped from Democratic to Republican, with the Republican Ada-Calvo team winning the race over the Democrat Terlaje-Perez team, although it's quite close and that result is uncertain.

While I hate to say it, neither result really matters much as Guam has no vote in Congress.  

15:01

Apparently Guam's representative can introduce bills, vote in committees, and offer amendments.

17:44

The inside news must be really bad for Republicans.  Trump is having a meltdown:


Trump cannot handle being blamed for failure, and yet he knows this is a referendum on him.  At the Oval Office he's clearly being told that this is going badly.

He's also unstable and has his hands on the nuclear trigger.  We're entering a very dangerous period.

18:00

First called race of the night, incumbent Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff retains his seat as senior Senator from Georgia.

I don't know if that's a surprise, or not, it's just the first to be called.

18:08

Incumbent Democrat Kathy Castor of Florida won the Florida 14th district which had been gerrymandered to favor Republicans.

If this trend holds, it's going to be an extremely bad night for Republicans.

November 4, 2026

Donald Trump leading the GOP into the 2026 midterms.

It was an outright slaughter of Republicans across the nation yesterday.

Donald Trump asked the nation to pretend he was on the ballot. They did. 

They completely rejected him, his cabinet, his family, his policies, and the Republican Party.

The slaughter was so vast it appears that even Trump won't attempt to challenge them.  He probably is aware doing so will result in his impeachment.

The Democrats flipped Senate seats in Maine, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alaska, and even Texas,  Susan Collins 30 year career in the Senate was put to an end.   Dr. Annie Andrews prevailed over the poorly chosen Senator Darline Graham, the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham.  Dr. Abdul El-Sayed won in Michigan.

Mississippi may be added to the toll, where as of this morning, only 50 votes separated what had been a safe Republican state.
 
In terms of Governor's races, which had been trending GOP for years, Democrats also reversed the tide. Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first black woman to be elected governor in U.S. history, taking Georgia. Gina Hinojosa ousted three term Trump lackey Gov. Greg Abbott.  Dr. Amy Acton became the first woman elected governor of Ohio.  The Democrats retook Nevada.

Locally, results were as predicted, but disappointing.

Harriet Hageman is now the incoming U.S. Senator.  Given Wyoming's history, she'll be able to retain the seat a decade after she's dead, as Wyoming reelects incumbents no matter how bad they are. So we replaced one bad Senator with an even worse one, based on her history as a Congressman.

Her challenger, Byrd, took about 35% of the vote, which was underperforming in my view.

Chuck Gray, who is widely despised, took the House, but in a closer race.  He still drew 55% of the vote, which is amazing.  Lisay Kinney underperformed at 34%.  Libertarian Johnson got the balance, 7.5%, vastly underperforming.  

All this shows how Republican Wyoming remains.  Wyomingites will blindly vote for the GOP candidate because he or she is the GOP candidate.

In terms of underperforming, Republican candidate Eric Barlow blew the doors off of carpetbagger Rebecca Bextel. Bextel did so badly that even the hopeless Democratic candidate took about the same number of votes that she did.

She should take that as a message.

Her Make Alabama Great again campaign did draw 17% o of the vote, to Casner's 15%.  Barlow took 69%.

This means the Constitution Party will qualify as a Major Party in the 2028 election.

Proposition 1 failed, a major victory for common sense and an additional rebuke to the Wyoming Freedom Caucus.

Democrats did pick up a State House seat in Laramie County.

In Natrona County people voted, apparently, for familiar names, even reelecting a 1,000 year old county commissioner and returning a 2,000 year old candidate to the Casper city council.

Turning back to the national results, Trump had the unmitigated gall to congratulate the Democrats and assumes they'll work with him. They ought to impeach him.

05:28

In really tight races, it looks like Cindy Holscher will become the Democratic Governor of Kansas and that Lauren Boebert has lost her seat in Congress.

06:31

Democrats took ever single statewide office in Georgia.

Every, single one.

To add to it, the winners were black Democrats.  This hasn't happened ever.
A political party that is morally and intellectually bankrupt deserves the rebuke of the American people.  

It is now time to make America good again.  

Republican Mayor Holt of Oklahoma City. 

Emergency Triad: MAGA Drowns Under a Blue Wave

Pop the champagne. Preserve the documents.


09:56

Mike Johnson, the worst Speaker of the House of all time, has indicated that he will not seek to be House Minority Leader in the 120th Congress.

Frankly I doubt anyone wants him as House Minority Leader. At this point, he should resign as Speaker.

10:46

Vance starts to break away.


Vance was always against Trump's war, but he needed Trump.  Now he doesn't.  He's trying to position himself for 2028.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election. 27th Edition. The Impending Clerico-Fascist Coup.


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

 


April 22, 2026

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

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

The current GOP is heavily anti scientific.

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

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

April 24, 2026

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

Hegseth. 

Breast?

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

May 12, 2026

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

Harriet Hageman.

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

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

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

This is totally reprehensible.

Cont:

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

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

May 13, 2026


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

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

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

And then there's this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

June 22, 2026

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

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

June 24, 2026

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

Donald Trump.

Insulting in the extreme.

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

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

June 26, 2026

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

Karoline Leavitt.

What the crap?

June 27, 2026

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

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

Related thread:

August 7, 2026

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

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

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

That's your party of family values.

August 20, 2026

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

Scott Bessent.

Seriously?

September 16, 2026

Trust in vaccines for deadly childhood diseases including measles has fallen according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll found.  Measles is on the uptake.

People who don't vaccinate their children for measles are, quite frankly, criminally stupid.

September 20, 2026


Yeah, sure the military asked for that. . .


September 24, 2026

"We almost have to go back to, what did medicine look like to the pioneer days in America?"

Republican Minnesota state auditor candidate, Dr. Scott Jensen.

Eee gads.

Oh, but it gets better, Sen. "Coach" Tommy Tuberville was holding forth on the Senate floor yesterday about the dangers of transvestitism and furries in commercial avaiation.

It’s possible that the pilot flying your plane could have a deranged fetish of dressing up like an animal.

 U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

Maybe a Star Wars convention was in town?

Posted under fair use exception.

Tuberville says stuff all the time that's flat out stupid. How he was ever elected is a mystery, but frankly, he raises questions about Arkansas because of his routine idiotic comments.

Somebody else who routinely raised eyebrows before he was appointed to the government is Dr. OZ, who yesterday stated:

More than a third of people on Obamacare have never used the insurance policy once. If you were gonna pay your hard-earned money to buy insurance, would you ever use it? The answer is yes.

What an idiotic statement that was.  You never want to have to use your insurance. Did Dr. Oz go into the office everyday thinking "golly, I hope I get to turn something in on my malpractice insurance today!"

Cont:

Sen. Jim Justice held a huge birthday party for his dog on Capitol Hill, wheeling it in with a small covered wagon.

It's like the last days of the Roman Empire.

Justice is a West Virginian Republican.

So, we had John Barrasso calling the Democrats "weird" last weekend. . . 

September 25, 2026

Tommy Tuberville doubles down on stupid.


Tommy just causes me to unfairly bring to mind all the stereotypes I have about football coaches, a game I don't really like.

November 4, 2026

Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 13. “Walmart Recession Signal” grows louder.


October 21, 2026

According to the economist who came up with it, the “Walmart Recession Signal” indicating an oncoming recession is getting louder.

Tonight, I'm also pleased to announce that the Department of Agriculture will be launching a new harvest fuel relief program, providing our farmers with $8 billion in support to offset diesel costs during this harvest season

Donald Trump.

So the fuel relief is to relieve high fuel prices caused by the war against Iran which is illegal, and will be paid for by money we don't have.

Sure, that makes sense somehow.

Oil is coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, under US protection, at roughly the same amount it was before the war now.

In other news.

Oklahoma Tribe Buys One Of The Biggest Horse Betting Operations In Wyoming

Sublette Rejects Appeal For Girls Treatment Center, Owners May Take Fight To Court

October 22, 2026

Natrona County eyes two school closures. One is 40 miles away, the other is right around the corner

One of the schools is in Midwest.

In a real irony, former House District 58 representative Patrick Sweeney went to the Midwest town hall on the subject.  Long serving Sweeney was ousted by current representative Bill Allemand after the district was redrawn. Alleman was a complete asshole to Sweeney in a debate and ran, that time, as firebrand Freedom Caucuser.

He survived a challenge from Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer whom he became crosswise with over a proposal to place the Radiant nuclear generator plant north of Bar Nunn, something Bar Nunn could not have stopped. Bar Nunn's city council meetings became the bizarre focus of the topic however with outraged populists even accusing some city council members of taking bribes, an absolute absurdity.  Radiant eventually grew tired of the matter and decamped to Tennessee.  Allemand, for his part, was arrested not all that long after for drunk driving.  He's one of the few surviving members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, barely hanging on to his seat.

Allemand is apparently backing fanciful thoughts of declaring the school to be a charter school or forming a new school district, neither of which will occur  It was really admirable of Sweeney to go out and speak to a group of people about their plight, which is concerning, which their votes for Allemand helped bring about.  It's the classic Leopard's won't eat my face situation. 

Campbell County Moves $500 Million Nuclear Fuel Facility Closer To Reality

Gillette Targeted For Massive $575 Million Uranium Processing Plant

October 24, 2026

Some headlines:

Midwest escapes. . . for now.


School funding crisis, brought to you by the Freakishly Dumb Caucus.


Kemmerer coal mine set to close in 2029, spurring Wyoming’s soda ash industry to seek new fuel source

Could Data Centers Save Wyoming Coal? Peabody Eyes 'Holy Grail' Strategy

October 26, 2026

Wyoming will receive $206,000,000 from the Federal Government for healthcare as part of a Federal rural healthcare initiative.

Now, I demand everyone in Wyoming on the far right who has decried socialized medicine to demand the state not accept the money.  To not do so would be hypocritical.

October 28, 2026

Prometheus pulls plug on Natrona County data center

A proposed project promising up to $115 million in annual property taxes is off the table, leaving questions about what comes next for Natrona …

October 31, 2026

Falls Ranch, owned by 75 year old billionaire carpetbagger Russell Gordy, is still trying to recruit a data center. 

Billionaire property owner to take over data center project in Natrona County

This is a good example of why: 1) nobody should be allowed to amass this degree of wealth, 2) people who don't make their livelihood in agriculture should not be allowed to own ag land.

This is a really good reason to bring in a wealth tax in Wyoming, and an idle rich landowner tax.  

November 3, 2026, Election Day

114 large companies paid no federal income tax last year including:

  • Citigroup, with $4.4 billion in profits in 2025.
  • CVS Health, with $8 billion in profits.
  • Duke Energy, with $5.5 billion in profits.
  • Tesla, with $5.7 billion in profits.
  • United Airlines, with $4.3 billion in profits.
  • Walt Disney, with $8.3 billion in profits.

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 12, the Deflect and Deny edition.


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