"American Red Cross representative Andrew G. Hodges talks with German officers during the exchange of prisoners near Pernic, France. 54 German prisoners were exchanged for 19 Americans, 30 French, and 3 British. 29 November, 1944."
"Pvt. George M. Leg, Birmingham, England, has his bag of personal effects inspected by a German noncom before his release during the exchange of Allied and German prisoners near Pernic, France. 29 November, 1944."
Quebec nationalist René Chaloult stated that Quebec should secede from Canada if the province was not allowed to decide its own policies on conscription. Oddly enough, the Terrace Mutiny ended the same day.
The liberation of Albania was completed by Albanian partisans.
US forces successfully counterattack at Kilay Ridge on Leyte.
The USS Archerfish sank the carrier Shinano in waters off Honshu.
The law of unintended consequences is a frightful thing.
It's possible, with things lining up the way they are, that Wyoming populists are about to get the biggest economic dope slap in the state's history.
Of course, the rest of us will get it too.
Wyomingites drank the populist kool aid and went back for more bucket sized additional helpings. Shoot, the average Wyoming voter was practically drunk on the stuff, having started imbibing about a decade ago. In going for Trump, they were voting for a return to an imaginary 1950s, sort of, combined with an imaginary 1930s, combined with an imaginary 1960s. Full employment for all "real" Americans, none of these Spanish speaking brown folks, a uniting of our economic extractive needs with a concept of science as we want it, not as it is, and the sexual morays of the mid 1970s, really.
Wyomingites don't really want to go back to the past as it really was, particularly on some of the things the way I feel they should be. Divorce isn't going to be hard to get, for example, and there's not going to be a criminal penalty for screwing around. No hyperinflation either, and no economic depressions.
Well. . .
The past so many envision, and there's some truth to the depictions, and what we imagine we want again, except with tattoos and only the laws we actually like and think we remember.
Donald Trump, fresh from his political recovery thanks to a Democratic Party that couldn't get a clue and the rise of malevolent populism is threatening to throw a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada and Mexico and a 10% one on goods imported from China. Apparently we can p.o. the Chinese, but not as much as we can Mexico and Canada, safely.
Or maybe not p.o. the Chinese at all. During the campaign Trump talked about 60% tariffs on China. 10% on China combined with 25% on Mexico and Canada actually conveys a trading advantage on China, while raising the costs of prices at home.
The United States is the largest goods importer of goods in the world. China was the top supplier of goods imported into the United States, followed by Mexico ($454.8 billion), Canada ($436.6 billion), Japan ($148.1 billion), and Germany ($146.6 billion).
The United States is the world's second largest goods exporter in the world, behind only China. Canada is the largest purchaser of U.S. goods, around 17%.
That's probably about to change.
What do we import? Well, darned nearly everything, even food from Mexico.
What do we expert, darned near everything, including even petroleum.
We're going to be paying more for everything, and we're going to be exporting less of everything, as we get hit with retaliatory tariffs.
And that's assuming our neighbors are nice. They might not be. If I was the P.M. of Canada, I'd tell Americans living in Canada to pack up and go home. A lot of them are up there on business. And I'd end cooperation with the US on defense.
And oil? Well, the Saudis are seriously threatening to drop the price per barrel to $49.00, which would wipe out most U.S. production. Again, if I were the Canadians, and the Mexicans, both of which produce a lot of oil, I'd join them. They probably won't, but that's what I'd do.
So, Wyoming populists, even without retaliation, you are going to pay more for absolutely everything. We all are.
And a lot fewer of you are going to have jobs. Same for us all.
Well, at least you can be happy about deportation. . . and a lot of you will, at long last, be deporting yourselves to your own states. You'll have to. There won't be any work here.
In a monumentally bad idea, President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he will issue executive orders imposing new tariffs on all imported goods from China, Mexico and Canada. with the rates being 25 percent tariffs would be imposed on Mexican and Canadian merchandise and 10 percent on Chinese goods. This was tied, oddly, to his immigration goals.
Usually I post this separately, but there are so many significant items in Sarah Sundin's blog this Sunday, I'm incorporating it into my post.
Today in World War II History—November 24, 1939 & 1944: 80 Years Ago—Nov. 24, 1944: US B-29 Superfortress bombers bomb Tokyo for the first time.
Japanese capture Nanning, completing a land corridor between occupied China and Indochina.
In controversial decision, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower orders the 6th Army Group not to cross the Rhine but to drive north and assist Patton’s Third Army.
In Terrace, BC, Canadian conscripts (many are French-Canadian) mutiny when they hear they might be sent overseas, the largest mutiny in Canadian history; put down by 11/29; news of the mutiny is censored.
France establishes Commission de Récupération Artistique (CRA) to return looted artwork, with curator Rose Valland as secretary.
Wow.
The Terrace Mutiny, which is what the mutiny was called, reflected the internal discord in Canada over conscription, something that has largely been glossed over after the war. English Canadians were disproportionately represented amongst those who volunteered for service and volunteered to go overseas. French Canadians were disproportionally amongst those who did not. Those who volunteered termed those who did not "Zombies" and often harassed them. Ultimately, the needs of war could not sustain the system.
The 3d Army crossed the Saar.
Soviets completing their occupation of Saaremo in the Baltic.
The HMCS Sawinigan was sunk by the U-1228 in the Cabot Strait.
The first Canadian elections under the Indian Act were held for the Six Nations Band of Indians Council.
And also elections were held for the Norwegian parliament, resulted in a continuation of the coalition government between the Conservatives and the liberal Venstre.
The German National People's Party issued a proclamation announcing itself in favor of restoring the monarchy and terminating the Treaty of Versailles and the Dawes Plan.
Governor General of Canada Julian Byng ordered the termination of the Six Nations Confederacy Council and ordered that it be replaced by an elected body.
This followed the Council's attempt to bring its existence to the attention of the League of Nations.
The Six Nations are the Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca and Tuscarora. They have a large reserve in Ontario.
The Polish Border Protection Corps was established by Poland to protect against Soviet invasion and address bandits crossing the border.
Calvin Coolidge gave an electronic signal from the Oval Office to commences electrical generation from the Skagit River Hydroelectric Project.
Prince Wolfgang of Hesse married Princess Marie Alexandra of Baden over the objections of Wolfgang's uncle, the former German Kaiser Wilhelm II. The couple would have no children.
She died in an American air raid on Frankfurt am Main on January 29-30, 1944. She had been working as an aid worker there. He joined the Nazi Party and was appointed a Landrat (district administrator) of Obertaunuskreis, a landkreis in the state of Hesse. He remarried after the war and died in 1989 at age 92.
Whereas it has been satisfactorily represented to me that turbulent and disorderly persons have combined together with force and arms to overthrow the State government of Louisiana and to resist the laws and constituted authorities of said State: and
Whereas it is provided in the Constitution of the United States that the United States shall protect every State in this Union, on application of the legislature, or of the executive when the legislature can not be convened, against domestic violence; and
Whereas it is provided in the laws of the United States that in all cases of insurrection in any State or of obstruction to the laws thereof it shall be lawful for the President of the United States, on application of the legislature of such State, or of the executive when the legislature can not be convened, to call forth the militia of any other State or States, or to employ such part of the land and naval forces as shall be judged necessary, for the purpose of suppressing such insurrection or causing the laws to be duly executed; and
Whereas the legislature of said State is not now in session and can not be convened in time to meet the present emergency, and the executive of said State, under section 4 of Article IV of the Constitution of the United States and the laws passed in pursuance thereof, has therefore made application to me for such part of the military force of the United States as may be necessary and adequate to protect said State and the citizens thereof against domestic violence and to enforce the due execution of the laws; and
Whereas it is required that whenever it may be necessary, in the judgment of the President, to use the military force for the purpose aforesaid, he shall forthwith, by proclamation, command such insurgents to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective homes within a limited time.
Now, therefore, I, Ulysses S. Grant, President of the United States, do hereby make proclamation and command said turbulent and disorderly persons to disperse and retire peaceably to their respective abodes within five days from this date, and hereafter to submit themselves to the laws and constituted authorities of said State; and I invoke the aid and cooperation of all good citizens thereof to uphold law and preserve the public peace.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 15th day of September, A.D. 1874, and of the Independence of the United States the ninety-ninth.
U.S. GRANT.
By the President:
HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State.
Treaty No. 4 was signed between the Cree and Saulteaux and the Crown in Canada.
Governor Gordon, who has spoken on his decarbonization initiative, has released his report.
Governor Gordon Releases WGA Decarbonization Initiative Findings
June 12, 2024
Governor Mark Gordon, Chair of the Western Governors’ Association (WGA), today released the report containing findings of his Decarbonizing the West initiative during the association’s 40th Anniversary meeting in Olympic Valley, CA. Governor Gordon launched the initiative a year ago to examine how decarbonization strategies can position western states at the forefront of innovation, reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, and strengthen their economies. The initiative explored a wide range of engineered decarbonization approaches as well as natural sequestration through enhanced land and agriculture management practices.
“Western Governors have a longstanding tradition of addressing complicated issues in thoughtful and bipartisan ways that often lead to national policy reform,” Governor Gordon said, “This topic is not simple. I chose it because it’s important to gain a comprehensive understanding of strategies and technologies that can be utilized in managing carbon.”
Governor Gordon’s hope is to advance environmentally sound and economically reasonable, practical paths to address decarbonization. He is an all-of-the-above energy policy leader, focused on the necessity of ensuring hungry power grids continue to be fed — for the good of his home state and the nation. Yesterday, the Governor joined community leaders and power industry executives, including Bill Gates, in Kemmerer, Wyo. at a groundbreaking for Terra Power’s Natrium reactor demonstration project.
While introducing the initiative at the conference, Governor Gordon thanked Governors Brad Little (R-ID), Jared Polis (D-CO), and Tina Kotek (D-OR) for hosting workshops in their respective states this year. The decarbonization report is a culmination of information gathered at the four workshops and existing WGA policy.
“The diversity of our states represents opportunities for each of us to pursue as we collectively work toward decarbonizing the west,” Governor Gordon wrote in a letter to WGA members, Governor Gordon noted the range of pathways on display at each of the workshops including:
Gillette, WY: Tour of Integrated Test Center, where cutting edge carbon capture technologies are being tested.
Boise, ID: Focus discussions of Forestry, agriculture, and soil management can play a role in sequestration.
Denver, CO: Focus discussions on innovative direct air capture technologies currently being tested in western states.
Portland, OR: Focus discussions regarding carbon sequestration potential of coastal ecosystems and how biomass can be utilized to remove carbon dioxide.
“These conversations formed the basis for the policy recommendations outlined in the report,” Governor Gordon said, “It’s my hope they spur common-sense policy reform. We can rally around those and work with our partners in the federal government to accelerate developing these carbon management methods without compromising livelihoods.”
Governor Gordon has been critical of federal agency regulations failing to give states and utility companies time and adequate incentives to develop cost-effective CO2 capture technologies.
Recommendations in the WGA report of particular interest to Wyoming citizens include:
Federal policies to limit CO2 emissions should be tailored to state needs, and promote, not impede, the development and deployment of CO2 capture technologies. Federal regulations should seek to expand cost-effective deployment of CO2 capture at power plants and other industrial sources.
Congress should amend Section 45Q of the U.S. Tax Code to provide credit based on the amount of CO2 removed, regardless of whether it is stored or utilized.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture should develop innovative carbon finance mechanisms to provide upfront capital to landowners seeking to implement [natural sequestration] projects.
The EPA should establish clear and consistent guidelines to states for obtaining primacy and should increase agency capacity to review state primacy applications in a more timely manner. EPA should include aquifer exemptions for Class VI wells.
Governor Gordon has also promoted the important role private landowners have in providing natural CO2 sequestration through management of grazing and forest lands.
Decarbonizing is coming, and soon, and probably not in an "all options" manner that Governor Gordon urges. The only question is whether there will be a bit of a hiatus due to a second Trump presidency or not. But it is coming.
In spite of that, there will be howls of derision from Wyoming's far right on this, which will refuse to be proactive and insist the past can be returned.
Related to this, and acknowledging that electric vehicles are coming, a draft bill for the 2025 legislature proposes to tax electric vehicle charging. While that sounds punitive, the thought it that it will make up for lost gasoline taxes used for roads. The introductory part of that bill:
In other news which will impact a Wyoming industry that isn't going a way, new electronic ear tags are coming to the cattle industry:
Requires electronic ID for Certain Cattle and Bison Moving Interstate
WASHINGTON, April 26, 2024 – Today, by amending and strengthening its animal disease traceability regulations for certain cattle and bison, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is putting in place the technology, tools, and processes to help quickly pinpoint and respond to costly foreign animal diseases.
“Rapid traceability in a disease outbreak will not only limit how long farms are quarantined, keep more animals from getting sick, and help ranchers and farmers get back to selling their products more quickly – but will help keep our markets open,” said Dr. Michael Watson, APHIS Administrator.
One of the most significant benefits of the rule for farmers and ranchers will be the enhanced ability of the United States to limit impacts of animal disease outbreaks to certain regions, which is the key to maintaining our foreign markets. By being able to readily prove disease-free status in non-affected regions of the United States, we will be able to request foreign trading partners recognize disease-free regions or zones instead of cutting off trade for the entire country. Traceability of animals is necessary to establish these disease-free zones and facilitate reestablishment of foreign and domestic market access with minimum delay in the wake of an animal disease event.
This rule is the culmination of goals established by USDA to increase traceability, one of the best protections against disease outbreaks, and enhances a rule finalized in 2013 for the official identification of livestock and documentation for certain interstate movements of livestock.
USDA is committed to implementing a modern animal disease traceability system that tracks animals from birth to slaughter using affordable technology that allows for quick tracing of sick and exposed animals to stop disease spread. USDA will continue to provide tags to producers free of charge to jumpstart efforts to enable the fastest possible response to a foreign animal disease. For information on how to obtain these free tags, please see APHIS’ Animal Disease Traceability webpage.
The final rule applies to all sexually intact cattle and bison 18 months of age or older, all dairy cattle, cattle and bison of any age used for rodeo or recreation events, and cattle or bison of any age used for shows or exhibitions.
The rule requires official eartags to be visually and electronically readable for official use for interstate movement of certain cattle and bison, and revises and clarifies certain record requirements related to cattle.
A copy of this rule may be viewed today, and the rule will be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks. This rule will be effective 180 days after publication in the Federal Register.
To learn more about animal disease traceability and how APHIS responds to animal disease outbreaks, visit www.aphis.usda.gov.
#
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
1. Last Saturday evening, a Delta Airlines 757 bound from Atlanta to Salt Lake City lost cabin pressure and had to land at the Natrona County International Airport.
2. On June 17the Casper/Natrona County International Airport Board of Directors notified the Fly Casper Alliance (FCA) that it voted to withdraw support for the minimum revenue guarantee which has kept SkyWest flying as the Delta Connection to Salt Lake. This will almost surely end commercial air service from Casper to SLC.
Footnotes
* The reference is to the type of blues associated with the Missippii Delta.
And then there's this:
Governor
Gordon Applauds U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Chevron
CHEYENNE,
Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon responded to the U.S. Supreme Court’s reversal of the
Chevron doctrine today, calling the decision a victory for common-sense
regulatory reform. The Governor’s statement follows:
“For years, unelected bureaucrats running
federal agencies in Washington D.C. have used “deference” as an excuse to
target certain industries based on politics. Wyoming has experienced that
firsthand,” Governor Gordon said. “Limiting their power to overreach is cause
for celebration, and this ruling begins that process.
The court has essentially removed the fox from
the hen house. This decision ensures that
agencies can no longer unilaterally expand their authority beyond the letter of
the law. It rejects the strategy of attacking a state’s industries through
rules and regulations like those advanced by the Biden Administration.”
Attorney
General Bridget Hill filed an amicus brief on the Loper Bright
Enterprises v. Raimondo case on behalf of the State of Wyoming in July of 2023.
In that filing, it was noted that the number of Federal regulations are at an
all-time high and the rules published by Federal agencies have outpaced the
laws Congress enacted at a rate of 26-to-1.
-END-
This will have enormous implications, but nobody really knows what they will be.
The price of oil fell due to predictions that Chinese demand has fallen.
The stock market has been dramatically climbing in expectation that Donald Trump will win the 2024 election.
July 19, 2024
The IMF warns the US should raise taxes.
This is patently obvious from an economic standpoint.
July 20, 2024
A computer bug caused massive computer failures globally.
Modelo Especial has overtaken Bud Light as the number one beer in the United States.
July 21, 2024
Nuclear technology company BWX is evaluating locations in Wyoming for commercial nuclear fuel production.
July 27, 2024
The world's largest soda ash company is planning a major expansion of operations in southwest Wyoming.
August 3, 2024
Kum & Go's in Wyoming are becoming Maverik's.
Maverik already has a presence here. The convenience store in their Mill's location sells Cinnabon's. . .
Related to this Big D's seem to be springing up in Natrona County.
August 4, 2024
Rocky Mountain Power filed a request to increase rates in order to underwrite new infrastructure and cover the rising costs insurance premiums relating to wildfire risk.
Another reminder of something we discussed yesterday:
Nearly 30% more passengers flew out of Casper/Natrona County International Airport in July than did a year ago, airport officials reported Monday.
Casper Star Tribune, August 14, 2024.
August 15, 2024
Inflation has hit a three year low.
From the Casper Star Tribune:
Total employment in Wyoming grew by a scant 1.3% from first quarter 2023 to first quarter 2024, but total payroll grew by 4.1% over the year, the Research and Planning section of the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services reported Friday. Average weekly wage in the state grew by 2.8%.
August 16, 2024
California will ban the sale of new gasoline powered vehicles by 2035.
Starting in 2026, 35% of new vehicles sold in California will be required to be hybrids or fully electric.
Americans are moving away for coal generation, and no amount of Wyomingites denying its occuring, or trying to prevent it, is going to stop that.
August 23, 2024
The Canadian government has forced the Canadian Pacific Kansas City and Canadian National railroads into arbitration with their unions, so rail traffic in Canada will resume shortly.
After no agreement was reached, the railroads had locked their workers out yesterday.
September 5, 2024
Crude oil hit a nine month low.
The Japanese government is encouraging employers to adopt a four day work week to deal with labor shortages.
September 6, 2024
Crude oil are now at a fourteen month low.
September 7, 2024
The Natrona County International Airport had its busiest month in a decade.
