The best posts of the week of December 21, 2025.
Friday, December 21, 1945. Patton dies.
Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump. Ignoramus Watch Part 2. The War is a Racket edition.
Last edition:
Showing posts with label Blog Mirror. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blog Mirror. Show all posts
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Saturday, December 27, 2025
Wednesday, December 24, 2025
Tuesday, December 23, 2025
Tuesday, December 23, 1975. Going metric.
In baseball:
December 23, 1975: The Reserve Clause Is Killed
President Gerald R. Ford signed into law the Metric Conversion Act. The country should have carried through with it, but abandoned it in 1982 when Ronald Reagan was President, the point at which, in the long history of the evolution of things, the country began its slide into idiocy, although it was hardly evident at the time.
CIA Station Chief in Athens Richard Welch, his identify recently exposed, was gunned down by terrorists in Athens.
Last edition:
Monday, December 22, 1975. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Labels: 1970s, 1975, Christmas, Comedians, Gerald Ford, Growing up in the 1970s, J. Edgar Hoover, OPEC, Personalities, Petroleum, Terrorism
Monday, December 22, 2025
Thursday, December 22, 1910. The Chicago Stockyards Fire.
The event stood as the greatest loss of firefighters until 9/11.
And from This Day In Aviation:
22 December 1910: Hélène Dutrieu won the first Coupe Fémina by flying her Farman airplane 60.8 kilometers (37.8 miles) in 1 hour, 9 minutes at Étampes, about 48 kilometers (29 miles) southwest of Paris, France.
Last edition:
Friday, December 16, 1910. Battle at La Junta.
Today In Wyoming's History: Worland Man Relives Wyoming’s Wild West Past — Exactly 100 Years To The Day
Today In Wyoming's History: Worland Man Relives Wyoming’s Wild West Past — Exa...: Worland Man Relives Wyoming’s Wild West Past — Exactly 100 Years To The Day
Sunday, December 21, 2025
Saturday, December 20, 2025
Friday, December 19, 2025
Wednesday, December 17, 2025
Churches of the West: Unsettling news for Catholics in Rock Springs.
Churches of the West: Unsettling news for Catholics in Rock Springs.: This comes as bit of a shock, as well as evidence of how slow news actually travels in our current age in which everything seems flash drive...
Not too surprisingly, there has been some local opposition and the Bishop has suspended his order until February, when he will meet with the aggrieved parties. The suspension is on line, but I was not able to download it, in order to post it.
There's more to the brochure than that, but I can't think of something more likely to put a damper on this effort than to close a century old church while its ongoing.
Unsettling news for Catholics in Rock Springs.
This comes as bit of a shock, as well as evidence of how slow news actually travels in our current age in which everything seems flash driven:
Giving some credit to the news, I'll note that this hit smaller news venues earlier, which I guess leads me to wonder a bit about how well Natrona County is served by the media.
Anyhow. . .
The church is this one:
Sts. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church, Rock Springs Wyoming
This Romanesque church was built in 1912 after a protracted period of time in which efforts were made to build a church specifically for the Catholic Slavic population of Rock Springs, which was quite pronounced at the time. The church was named after brothers Cyril and Methodius who had been the evangelists to the Slavs. The first pastor was Austrian born Father Anton Schiffrer who was suited to the task given his knowledge of Slavic languages.
The news broke just before the celebration of the church's 100th anniversary, which isn't great timing, but no doubt that was simply coincidental.
To my surprise, there are three Catholic churches in Rock Springs. I was aware of there being two. The Catholic community seems to be served there in the same way the community in Casper is, as a Tri Parish, rather than three separate parishes.
Here's the announcement that was given by the Diocese:
I'm not terribly optimistic, but the potential closure has drawn opposition from secular quarters as well:
Watch List: Saints Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church, Rock Springs
In terms of timing, another interesting aspect of this is that it comes right as the Catholic parish in Rock Springs started undertaking an effort to build a community center for the parish, the brochure for which is partially set out here:
There's more to the brochure than that, but I can't think of something more likely to put a damper on this effort than to close a century old church while its ongoing.
I'd also note that one of the stated desires is exactly the opposite of what brought Sts. Cyril & Methodius Catholic Church about in the first place, that being the desire to "create unity and one Catholic identity". That's a common, and admirable, goal but in the real world, people don't like it. Individual ethnicities within the Catholic Church have always struggled against this, sometimes with pretty disastrous results. Indeed, Orthodoxy in the US got a big boost just from such an event when Bishop John Ireland disapproved of Eastern Catholicism remaining separate, causing Fr. Alexis Toth to lead a group of them into the Russian Orthodox Church. In the early 20th Century Catholic Diocese often responded just the way that the Diocese of Cheyenne did here, by simply creating additional churches that recognized the different identifies.
That won't happen here, and these are all Latin Rite churches. Moreover, the strong ethnic identities in Rock Springs from a century ago have no doubt dissipated considerably. But that doesn't mean that parishioners in a unique Church, or really any Church, like to have their church closed and be told they need to go elsewhere, even if it makes sense, which it very well might, given the antiquity of the building. Doing it while also undergoing a campaign that expresses the goal of unity is more than a little unfortunate.
Indeed, that's the case as even in this modern age, not everyone likes to be grouped into one big group. I'm one of those people. The Diocese here had an event several years ago where all the local Masses were cancelled so that one huge Mass could be held at Casper's David Street Station. Rather than do that, I drove to Glenrock and attended Mass there. . . and I noticed some other Casperites I recognized there as well.
Tuesday, December 16, 2025
Blog Mirror: Alcova Grinch Makes Off With 10-Foot, 300-Pound Green Dinosaur
One of the toys we used to have around here was an inflatable Sinclair dinosaur. We called it "Tropical Jim". As the Manx grew old and became somewhat disoriented, he seemed to think that Tropical Jim might be living, and might actually respond to cat suggestions.
Alcova Grinch Makes Off With 10-Foot, 300-Pound Green Dinosaur
Cont:
Update, 12/16/25 - We received numerous tips from the public and have identified the owner of the truck. Thank you to everyone who shared information. The investigation remains active.
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Do you know this vehicle?
The Natrona County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information that may assist in an active theft investigation. In the early morning hours of November 5, 2025, a suspect or suspects stole a Sinclair Dinosaur statue from Sloane’s General Store in Alcova, Wyoming. The statue is valued at approximately $8,000.
Investigators are interested in speaking with the owner or owners of the vehicle pictured. At the time the surveillance video was captured, the truck appeared to be missing sections of body trim on the driver’s side, had a bug deflector attached to the front, and a toolbox mounted in the truck bed.
Anyone with information about the vehicle or the stolen statue is encouraged to contact the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office at (307) 235-9282. Anonymous tips can be submitted to Crime Stoppers of Central Wyoming at crimestopperscasper.org or by calling 307-577-8477. Information reported through Crime Stoppers that assists the investigation may be eligible for a cash reward.
Thursday, December 16, 1875. Sweezy replaces Wolcott.
Today In Wyoming's History: December 16: 1875 William S. Sweezy takes over as U.S. Marshall, replacing Frank Wolcott. Wolcott would later famously be associated with invaders side of the Johnson County War.
Last edition:
Saturday, December 16, 1775. Jane Austen Is Born
A blog link from Uncle Mike.
One of my favorite authors.
December 16, 1775: Jane Austen Is Born
Last edition:
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