Showing posts with label Carpetbaggers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carpetbaggers. Show all posts
Saturday, October 31, 2026
Sunday, September 20, 2026
The 2026 Election, 22nd Edition. The Stupid on Stilts Edition.
From Greed, 1925.
We're making a fortune. So if the Republicans win, you win with us and you get $5,000. It will be called the Trump Dividend. Congratulations.
Donald Trump at the GOP Midterm Convention.
A person would have to be stupid on stilts to believe that promise, and a similar one has been extended before.
Seriously, what kind of a dumbass believes anything Trump promises at this point?
The fact that the GOP is having a "Midterm" convention is itself an example of outright desperation and hubris on the part of Trump. Trump loves Trump and you must love Trump, so he's reminding you of Trump Love so that you love him and vote for the GOP candidates to show your mindless cult like love.
The fact of the matter is that everything associated with Trump is going badly and his approval ranking is sinking like a rock. In Wyoming it's down to 54% and the impact of the tariffs on Canada haven't even hit yet, much. The war hasn't ended, inflation is about to ramp back up, and Trump's own weirdness is now too weird for anyone to ignore. The result is that Democrats, who were slated to take back the House, now appear likely to take back the Senate as well. Even in Wyoming there's some hint that the Senate may be in play and it's clear that a large number of people really aren't keen on Chuck Gray, who has been pretty quiet since the primary.
Indeed, I've seen a little lashing out at John Barrasso, who isn't running for anything. Now days we mostly see Dr. John looking at Donald Trump as if he, Barrasso, is suffering from a severe case of constipation. He may be, as he's kept his true views on everything, none of which we know, bottled up inside of himself for so long. Anyhow, if people are mad at Barrasso, who seems to have forgotten which state he's from, it doesn't bode well for Hageman and Gray, although they are both clearly the favorites.
This does bring us to some questions that should be asked in the next two months, however. Those being:
1. Do you support the undeclared war against Iran, and if yes, how do you justify no declaration of war existing?
2. On data centers, a big deal here in Wyoming, are you against them like seemingly the majority of Wyomingites are, or for them, like Donald Trump is?
3. What is your position on public lands?
4. For people who go outside, there are clearly environmental matters to be concerned about. Do you have any concerns, and if no, just don't tell us "it's a big fib", as that's just telling us that you'll lie for votes. What is your justification?
5. Epstein files. Why aren't they being released.
6. What is your real plan for balancing the budget and addressing the debt and show us that it works.
7. Do you support ending the trade war with Canada?
A note, prior endorsements on running candidates are below in a separate thread as an Appendix, which is also linked in below.. I'm doing that in this edition so as to not clog up the first part of it too much.
September 11, 2026
Two events occured yesterday which should; 1) cause a sane nation to invoke the 25th Amendment and 2) cause every Republican running for office to have to answer where they stand or never be voted on again.
The first.
Trump sworn his acolytes in so that they will be able to be called up as Long Knives to attack the upcoming Republican defeat in November.
It's not the pledge to go out and vote. Frankly, most MAGA isn't paying any attention this anyway.
It's the pledge to cheat.
Things Trump says cannot any longer be dismissed. People who think that one liner means nothing are ignoring recent history. He intends to steal the election. If he pulls that off, if he's still living and semi coherent, he intends to serve a third term.
The second was a truly bizarre video based on the Paul Harvey "God made farmers" video of years ago with a "God gave us Trump" theme.
This latches on to the extreme Evangelical leg of the MAGA stool. It would make most Christians of any branch absolutely cringe, and to claim a Divine mission like this may be very well blasphemous.
The questions that should be asked, and of any Republican candidate?
1. Will you support the results of the November election no matter what they are. If there's any hedging at all, tell the person they don't have your support for anything whatsoever.
2. Do you believe that Trump has a Divine mission? Any answer than an unqualified no should disqualify the candidate.
I can guarantee you that almost any GOP candidate, particularly if they don't know your view going into the question, will waffle and not give a straight answer.
Carrying on a bit, the religiosity of this midterm Republican convention is really something else. Protestant ministers showed up to speak at it and Tim Scott sounded like an Evangelist. At some point Protestants who are members of these communities really have to ask their pastors how they can reconcile their faith with a man who so clearly ignores Christianity.
Closer to home, Harriet Hageman is ignoring calls for a debate with James Byrd and Byrd is calling her out on it. His post from Facebook:
James Byrd for United States Senate
IF YOU WON'T FIGHT FOR WYOMING ON A DEBATE STAGE, WHO ARE YOU FIGHTING FOR?
Harriet Hageman won't stand on a stage. She won't return calls. She won't even respond. And now her silence is about to cancel the one chance Wyoming voters had to see both Senate candidates side by side.
You don't get to represent this state if you won't show up and defend what you believe in front of it. Silence isn't leadership. It's a candidate deciding Wyoming doesn't deserve a real conversation at all.
Tell Wyoming PBS: don't let her refusal to stand for what she believes in decide this for the rest of us.
Stand and fight.
That really is a chicken move by Hageman, but it seems to me she's taken that approach in the past as well.
In the past it struck me as arrogance. She stopped debating as a wave of the hand type of move, although Grey Bull pulled down 25% of the vote in 2022 and Cameron 23% in 2024. Here, it strikes me as fear. Gray Bull was a good debater and still drew 25% in a year that heavily favored Hageman. Now, with four years in, Hageman has an extremely exposed record. She poked Wyoming voters in the eye on public lands and basically called them dumb. In the category of dumb, her family's homestead burned to the ground but she still is a climate change denier. She was endorsed by Trump and has yet to explain how Wyoming farmer and ranchers should view South American beef. It's unfortunate that she lost to Mead, who was such a better candidate.
It's pretty questionable how she'd do in a debate against Byrd. Byrd would likely best her, and what's more, he knows that. So he's making her chicken move an issue.
Hageman ought to be held to account for hiding.
AN OPEN LETTER TO WYOMING PBS
August 11, 2026
To the Leadership of Wyoming PBS,
On August 10, our campaign was notified that Wyoming PBS would not be holding a primary debate for U.S. Senate, because our opponent declined the invitation to participate. A similar notice was given to Lisa Kinney, one of the Democratic candidates for Wyoming's U.S. House seat, whose opponent also declined. As a result, neither of Wyoming's federal Democratic primary races will be represented in a debate on Wyoming PBS this cycle.
I want the public to know directly: I did not refuse this invitation. I remain ready and willing to speak to Wyoming voters in this format, and if Wyoming PBS were to offer me the opportunity, I would be there.
We understand the position Wyoming PBS is in. Federal equal-time provisions limit what a broadcaster can do when only one candidate is willing to appear, so PBS can't simply offer a solo forum in place of a debate, and balancing that against the responsibility to keep voters informed is a hard job. We don't take issue with that constraint itself.
But we do take issue with the precedent this sets.
If one candidate declining is all it takes to cancel a debate outright, then any candidate who wants to dodge scrutiny now has a guaranteed way to do it. That's not a neutral policy. It rewards avoidance and punishes the candidate who actually showed up. It hands one side the power to decide, unilaterally, whether Wyoming voters get to see a debate at all. That is not how this is supposed to work.
When journalism requires the participation of good faith actors, rather than holding all individuals to account regardless of whether they participate, it will ultimately fail at its own goal of accountability. It is always easier to hide than to be held to account.
We've also noticed a related pattern: nominees who clear a primary and then simply skip general election debates too. Put these trends together, and debate participation stops being something candidates owe their constituents. It becomes optional for anyone who calculates they have more to lose than gain by showing up. That should worry Wyoming PBS as much as it worries us.
We are asking Wyoming PBS to make a public commitment that the U.S. House and Senate debates ahead of the Nov. 3, 2026 general election will occur, period. That commitment should hold true regardless of the participation of our opponents.
If a candidate refuses to show up, hold the debate anyway and leave their podium empty. Stations across the country already do this when a candidate declines. It lets voters still hear from the candidates who did show up, and it makes the absent candidate's choice visible instead of erasing the event altogether. Voters deserve to hear from all candidates in each race. Short of that, they deserve to see plainly which candidates showed up to answer for their records and which ones didn't. No candidate should get to use their own absence as a weapon to keep another candidate off the stage.
We'd also push Wyoming PBS to rethink its approach for future primary cycles. One candidate's refusal shouldn't be enough to cancel a debate outright, and that shouldn't hinge on how many candidates happen to be on a given party's ballot. A party fielding one or two contested candidates deserves the same debate access as a party fielding a dozen. Anything less penalizes voters for the size of their party's field, not for anything they did.
We appreciate the work Wyoming PBS does for this state, and we expect a response.
Sincerely,
James Byrd
Byrd for Wyoming See less
September 12, 2026
It turns out that neither Gray nor Hageman are willing to debate.
I'd have much less faith in Kinney being able to really do well in a debate against Gray, although she was a practicing lawyer and has been a legislator. Additionally, Gray's default setting when he gets stressed is asshole.
Both Hageman and Gray's campaigns are defending their position to be chickens. So are their diehard supporters. But it isn't a good look.
September 16, 2026
Rod Miller: Proposition 1 And Rolling The Dice For Lives
Rod Miller voices his opinion about Proposition 1.
What the text of Prop 1 states is:
(xliii) A portion of property used as a primary residence as a homeowner’s exemption. The following shall apply to the homeowner's exemption:(A) For property used as a primary residence, fifty percent (50%) of the assessed value of the primary property is exempt from property taxation as a homeowner's exemption. Not more than one (1) homeowner’s exemption shall apply to the same property in any year and no owner shall claim more than one (1) homeowner’s exemption in any year including property that is improved by a residence that houses more than one (1) family. To claim a homeowner’s exemption the person shall have been a resident of this state for not less than one (1) year prior to claiming an exemption under this paragraph and shall have resided in the applicable primary residence for at least six (6) months of the immediately preceding tax year. To claim a homeowner’s exemption, the owner of the property shall submit a sworn claim to the county assessor not later than the fourth Monday in May on forms provided by the department of revenue demonstrating that the person is the owner of the property, and that the property is the person's primary residence. False claims are punishable as provided by W.S. 6-5-303.
Basically this proposition was a Wyoming Freedom Caucus "I just moved here with lots of money from California, bought a McMansion or a 40 acre dirt farm, drove up everyone's property taxes, and I don't like it". The proposition would gut local communities income like a fish, which most of these people don't care about as they truly hate the government and don't care about educating children, for instance, as they prefer ignorance.
We're voting no on Prop 1.
Indeed, this is the one thing we've actually answered a poll on. The poll was clearly supposed to be in favor prop 1 and the pollster, pretty clearly calling from some place in the South, didn't really know how to react to my answers to the questions.
Speaking of speaking, where's Harriet and Chuck on doing a debate?
Speaking of those two, there are questions as we proceed along that they should be made to answer.
Harriet, now that her home county is on fire again, should be forced to answer if she's willing to basically burn everything down to support the lie that climate warming isn't real. We all know it's real. She no doubt knows it's real. Why the fib?
Both should be made to answer if they support the illegal war against Iran and why?
And what about those diesel prices, eh?
On other matters, there's some rumors going around that Bill Allemand, the far right wing Freedom Caucus candidate who barely survived a primary challenge, may bail out of office. Apparently he may run through the election, according to one version of it, and then bail out some time after that. Without the Freedom Caucus crew in Cheyenne there's nobody to tell him what to do, and it would appear, generally, he needs somebody to tell him what to do and he knows that. He's not going to have any friends any longer in Cheyenne either.
If he bails out now, he probably throws that race to the Libertarian running in the district, although there is a Democrat running as well. He likely won't do that now and I'm not exactly sure what happens if he does. The logical thing would be that the other GOP candidate from the primary would replace him through a party process. If he drops out after the fall election, and if he wins it, the party would pick three names and send them to the County Commissioners who would pick the new legislator.
That, in fact, is how Chuck Gray first took office.
September 17, 2026
The propeller hat Dixiecrats in the GOP are at war with their own party. Unfortunately for that party, they are also in control of a lot of county, and the state, committees.
Hence some of those organizations basically backing the losing campaign of carpetbagger Rebecca Bextel.
The party is really hypocritical. This past year it endorsed candidates in the primary for the first time and basically told GOP voters who they had to vote for. It endorsed Hageman, Gray, and Bien. Bien came in third in the Governor's race and they've been pouting ever since.
Barlow, who won the Governor's race, swamped his opponents, taking 45% of the vote, but sad Dixiecrats note that 45% is not 50%, and therefore, they argue, he's not the legitimate candidate. That logic is pretty flawed as he certainly is under Wyoming's law, and his only real rival in the campaign was Trump endorsed Degenfelder, who took 30%. Dixiecrat darling Bien took 24% and sad Confederates note that if you add Degenfelder and Bien together, that's more than 50%.
It is, but it assumes that Degenfelder voters would have voted for Bien if she hadn't been running. The opposite is probably true. The 1/3 bottom of the bell curve probably would have voted for Trump knighted Degenfelder if Bien hadn't been running, but Degenfelder voters in large part would likely have gone for Barlow if Bien hadn't thrown his gray kepi into the ring. If anyone had an argument here, therefore, it would be Degenfelder.
Neither Bien or Degenfelder, who hope to dig out of their holes rather than convert them into political graves have said anything about the results being illegitimate but upset WFC members have a bit, for Bien. They tried to get a write in campaign going for him and at least locally one badly defeated WFC member still is. Others, including some committee members, are backing Bextel, who will lose massively in November.
The Constitution Party itself, which support a strict reading of a double secret constitution only they know about, is open enough itself to admit that it's hoping that Bextel can pull down 10% of the vote so that it can be a "major" party. Under Wyoming's law on primaries, which I believe to be unconstitutional, that would make the party the very model of a modern major party.
That result might occur and it might actually be a good thing, although anyone voting for Bextel, as noted, fits into the bottom end of the bell curve. What it would do, however, is give propeller hat wearing Dixiecrats a place to actually go, and they should go there. They are not Republicans.
Lubnau notes that upset Dixiecrats in GOP committees positions oddly don't make the same argument about Freedom Caucus darling Chuck Gray, who only pulled down 25% of the vote. While Barlow isn't threatened by Bextel, Gray actually may be by Libertarian Johnson and Democrat Kinney. I wouldn't have given Kinney any chance at all, but Gray's refusing to debate her is actually elevating her status.
On Sheridan County, while some on its GOP committee may be crying in their Bomber Mountain Amber Ale, the results were the same as they were statewide. Barlow swamped his competition and while Bien did come in second there, he only barely beat out Degenfelder. Again, those Degenfelder votes would have most likely gone to Barlow. And Gray only barely beat out Biteman and Christensen there.
One final thing to note. Teton County, where Bextel has hung her kepi, and Sheridan County, are the homes to a lot of rich carpetbaggers. These people tend to vote their own economic interests, and not paying taxes and telling the peasants to go **** *** are in that category. Like the rank and file in Confederate Gray in the 1860s, a lot of that rank and file (which here includes a lot of carpetbaggers) tend to be dim enough to follow the dictates of their oligarchic masters. We're seeing that, and frankly just a lot of real bottom of the bell curve ignorance, at work on these topics.
On other topics, Postmaster General David Steiner wants to quit his job, according to insiders.
He should as he's serving a madman.
The Post Office has been in the news recently as Trump keeps ordering it to impose impossible regulations on mail in voting, which Trump himself uses, as part of Trump's effort to interfere with and steal the November election. The Supreme Court won't let him so he's having a major tantrum.
cont:
Holy smokes. . Rebecca Bextel has released a campaign video. Buckhorn Bar t-shirt aside (after a certain age, no matter how doe eyed you may be, you can't pull that off), she sounds like the biggest Alabama hick ever. Her accent is so thick it's really impressive. Trying to use the tag line "you don't have to be smart to be governor", she unintentionally sounds to native Westerners as Southern hick, which is admittedly a stereotype, given that's how Westerners tend to view Southerners. Southerners probably are unaware of that.
Bextel has lived in Wyoming for 20 years, which means that she's hardly lived here any time at all. And she lives in Teton County, which Deep Wyoming regards as California.
Anyhow, in terms of actual intelligence, Barlow is a veterinarian, one of the most difficult degrees to obtain. Bextel has a degree from the University of Alabama, although I don't know in what.
Becky also tried to sound tough in a recent Chamber of Commerce appearance by claiming she had "bigger balls" than her opponent.
Pretty insightful, really. She had to demean her status as a woman in order to have merit in her own eyes.
The Dixiecrats. Just go home.
September 18, 2026
Harriet Hageman wrote a guest column in the Cowboy State Daily regarding birth right citizenship.
Hageman won't debate her opponents and probably for good reason. She's arrogantly supported a bill that would have set public lands up to be privatized and essentially called Wyomingites' opposing it stupid. She claimed to be a "Constitutional Conservative" but has done nothing about Trump running roughshod over the Constitution, including waging an illegal war that's driving up prices for everyone in the state. She has nothing to campaign on and American's short attention span doesn't allow for a "I'm not Liz Cheney" as a platform. With Trump down to a 54% approval rating in Wyoming, "I love Trump" is starting not to sell so well either. So she's taking a page out of the Desperate GOP Playbook, that being hordes of foreigners are coming here to have babies, or in this particular case, hordes of Chinese are coming to have babies.
Well, in reality, for the first time in fifty years the US had negative migration last year. That is, more people are leaving the US than entering it. The US has been teetering on the edge of rapid decline for years, but Trump has floored the accelerator on that, with the help of Republicans in Congress, and the country looks like a joke. China, the nation which Harriet maintains is trying to plant vast hordes of babies into our country, is the clearly up and coming nation.
The truth of the matter is that this problem, if there was one, has pretty much jumped the shark. While I'm really skeptical of it being a crisis, right wing demographers right now are arguing the opposite problem, that being that the US population is actually starting to decline, that decline accelerated by the country having become unwelcoming to foreigners. The solution is supposed to be for (white) Americans to get busy, so to speak.
That interestingly cuts in an opposite direction for a person like Hageman, and it really stands in contrast to Cheney. Cheney, now 60 years of age, is a Gen Xer and the mother of five children. Hageman (age 63) is technically a Baby Boomer (perhaps more accurately a Gen. Jonser) with no children whatsoever. Both are lawyers, but Hageman looks a lot more like a feminist in every fashion. Indeed, as I slightly knew here, and knew her friends better, I was quite surprised early on when she emerged as a Conservative.
I'm well aware, of course, that these sorts of questions aren't even supposed to be raised in polite society, but we no longer live in a polite society and people like Hageman are part of the reason why we do not. So the questions are fair game.
Anyhow, Hageman may have some accomplishments but I don't know what they are, and whatever they are, they to not appear to be large enough to justify voting for her. Mostly she's been a Trump loyalist right up until recently, and an opponent of public lands. She's complicit in the failures of the Trump Administration by doing nothing, or actively supporting them, and she's detrimental to the interest of Wyoming.
Time, therefore, to drag out the Hordes Of Chinese Babies Have Landed on Our Shores line.
September 19, 2026
Why does this not surprise me?
September 21, 2026
Outrageous.
Harriet Hageman goes after Conservation Easements.
Wyoming sportsmen, and frankly everybody, cannot support the candidacy of Harriet Hageman. She's in the public lands hater category.
She just introduced this bill.
1st Session
To provide that the Secretary of the Interior may not enter into certain conservation easements with a term of more than 30 years, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESApril 9, 2025Ms. Hageman (for herself and Ms. Fedorchak) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILLTo provide that the Secretary of the Interior may not enter into certain conservation easements with a term of more than 30 years, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Landowner Easement Rights Act”.
SEC. 2. Limitation on conservation easement terms.
After the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary may not enter into a conservation easement with a term of more than 30 years.
SEC. 3. Renegotiation of conservation easements.
At the request of an owner of land that is subject to an eligible conservation easement, the Secretary shall—
(1) not later the 6 months after the Secretary receives the request from the landowner, provide to the landowner—
(A) a detailed map of the easement; and
(B) notice of the current fair market value of the easement as determined by the Secretary; and
(2) renegotiate the terms of the eligible conservation easement, including—
(A) a term not longer than 30 years; and
(B) payment by the Secretary to the landowner in an amount equal to the fair market value of the easement, as determined by the Secretary under paragraph (1)(B), minus the amount paid by the Secretary for the eligible conservation easement being renegotiated (adjusted for inflation); or
(3) allow the landowner to buy back the eligible conservation easement or a portion of the eligible conservation easement at fair market value, as determined by the Secretary.
The Secretary shall notify the owner of the land subject to that conservation easement of the owner’s right to submit a request under section 3—
(1) not later than 3 months before the conservation easement becomes an eligible conservation easement described in section 5(2)(A); and
(2) not later than 1 year before the conservation easement becomes an eligible conservation easement described in section 5(2)(B).
In this Act:
(1) CONSERVATION EASEMENT.—The term “conservation easement”—
(A) means a voluntary, legal agreement between a landowner and the Secretary that limits use of the land in order to protect its conservation values; and
(ii) related to utilities.
(2) ELIGIBLE CONSERVATION EASEMENT.—The term “eligible conservation easement” means a conservation easement that—
(A) has been in effect for longer than 30 years; or
(B) was put into effect before 1977 without the creation of an official corresponding map.
(3) SECRETARY.—The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Interior.
This just guts conservation easements that the Federal Government participates in. It make the easement no easement at all.
Why on earth did people vote for Hageman in the primary?
With this outrage, we will close out this edition.
Prior related recent threads:
Labels: 2020s, 2026, Adam Kinzinger, Canada, Donald Trump, Evangelical, Food, Immigration, inflation, Taxes, The Second Trump Administration, The Trump Trade War with Canada, Trump Trade Wars, United States
Appendices:
Last edition:
Labels: Bill Allemand, Constitution Party, Democratic Party, Economics, Industry, Joe Porambo, Karlee Provenza, Keenan Morgan, Libertarian, Ogden Driskill, Republican Party, Rod Miller, Tamara Trujillo, Wyoming (Natrona County)2026 Election, Ana Cordova, Brent Bien, Bryan McCarty, Chuck Gray, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, James Byrd, Kenneth Casner, Kevin Christensen, Rebecca Bextel, Robert Short, Shaun Johnson, Steve Harshman, Wyoming
Additional Labels
Saturday, September 19, 2026
Wednesday, August 12, 2026
Saturday, August 1, 2026
The 2026 Election, 17th Edition. Primary Voting Commences Edition. Vote like your future and that of your state depends on it, because it does.*
Republican icon Theodore Roosevelt, who would have detested Donald Trump and been appalled by the Dixiecrat Wyoming Freedom Caucus.
The primary will, unfortunately, and probably illegally, determine all of the races for the 2026 season in Wyoming, with the off chance that the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction and Senate, if Hageman takes the race for Senate.
The stakes couldn't be higher. Two out of the three WFC/Republican Central Committee candidates are doubtful on public lands. The WFC/Central Committee candidate for Governor would decimate funding for local governments and schools. They're out of touch with their state, and the times in which they live, but many Republicans in the state have been sleepwalking through the 2020s, drunk on MAGA propaganda and oblivious to what is happening.Don't be one of those people.
July 21, 2026
Important dates:
Absentee Voting
- July 21, 2026 through August 17, 2026 for the Primary
- October 6, 2026 through November 2, 2026 for the General
Yesterday, in advance of the primary opening for early voting, the Republican Central Committee gave its endorsements, which is highly likely to be illegal.
It was carpetbagger central.
Brent Bien, who hasn't spent most of his adult life in Wyoming, but is a far right wing government dissing fanatic Marine Corps retiree sucking on the government tit (he doesn't hate the government enough not to take his retirement) was endorsed for Governor. California Chuck Gray, who also has never really had to work a real job, was endorsed for Congress, and Harriet Hageman for Senate.
The surprising thing here is that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus controlled Central Committee did not bow down to its king, Donald, and endorse Megan Degenfelder, who has Trump's endorsement. It's too far drunk in its own propaganda to do that. It'll be interesting to see if Trump endorses family friend Foster Friess for the Senate.
As another aside, it turns out that Gabe Saint, a law student who had to leave his internship with Hageman after he was found to have liked Francoist websites and other icky political stuff, is Chuck Gray's campaign manager.
Hmm. . . .
The Chuckles camp is also a bit of a Hageman family affair. Chuck's official lawyer (why the Secretary of State needs one who isn't just assigned from the AG's office is unclear) is Hageman's nephew. . and his wife is a primary figure in the WFC establishment.
Don't vote for any of these people. Bien would bankrupt the state through his anti tax (but not so anti tax that he's not okay with people like him living off of taxes) stance, Gray would be a worthless besotted MAGA, and Hageman has dissed her own constituents for opposing her position on public lands.
Before voting, review this:
Pollice Verso. The 2026 Political Negative Endorsement. The Don't Vote For List.
We recently commented on whom we'd recommend:
July 11, 2026
As we head into the final days of the primary election, which for most offices is, unfortunately, the election, we here in Wyoming are being subjected to a daily bombardment of election propaganda crap, most of which assumes that if Donald Trump bent over and pulled his oversize trousers down, you'd gleefully kiss his big white ass.
And that's exactly what most of the candidates for Congress are doing.
Having said that, either election fatigue or the rise of local issues is baffling a few.
For the House, Chuck Gray is flopping around like a carp thrown out on the beach looking for something he thinks can outrage you into voting for the little rich carpetbagger whose never had to really work. Gadfly Reid Rasner, who doesn't stand a chance (and whose been mysteriously absent recently) actually seems to have hurt Chuck by calling him China Chuck. Chuck's most recently effort is to pretend to be horrified by birthright citizenship. Given as Trump sort of excused Graham Platner from rape accusations the other day, we can assume lil' Chuck is searching for a girlfriend to make accusations against him so that he can get a Trump accolade.
Foster Friess, another rich carpetbagger, has been running for the same position, Congressman, and has hit on the "I've never had to work a real job but you dumb fucks have to so I'm going to pretend that you want a job on the floor of an oil rig where you will get killed".
As noted, Rasner has just dropped off the screen.
And of course we have Florida cracker Frank Chapman on screen looking like his new cowboy boots hurt his feet and pretending to be one of us.
We can hope that Jillian Balow is getting some traction, as she seems by far the least objectionable Republican candidate for Congress. She also must be the least well funded of the good candidates as we don't see her campaign material nearly as often, unfortunately.
This isn't everyone running on the GOP ticket. Bo Biteman, of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, Kevin Christensen, a vet who'd like to kiss Trump's big white ass, Richard Dodson, David Giralt and Keith Goodenough all are as well. Goodenough is the most interesting candidate in the race, having been a well know Natrona County candidate whose served in various offices, and who has served both as a Republican and Democrat.
If the primary election were today we would vote for, for Congress, Balow.
Democrats running for this office are Elena Del Real and Boomer Lisa Kinney. Kinney will win and then go down so badly in the general it'll leave a crater visible from space in her native Albany County.
If we were registered as Democrats and the primary was elected today, we'd just not vote either of these two obvious losers.
If the general election was held today, and we had our choice of candidates, we'd vote for Balow.
For the Senate seat, a propaganda flyer for Harriet Hageman came this week for the first time. That fact would suggest she doesn't figure she actually has to spend much money. Other candidates in that race are Jill Edwards, John Holtz, the gadfly Baby Boomer who just won't go away, Sam Mead and Jimmy Skovgard. Mead is by far the best candidate in this race but he faces an uphill battle against Hageman simply because she's in Congress.
If the primary election was held today we'd vote for Mead.
On the Democratic side Billy Benavidez is running against James Byrd. Byrd is a very good candidate and may be the best candidate in the entire race from either party. A Byrd v. Mead race would really serve the state.
If the primary election was held today and we were registered as Democrats, we'd vote for Byrd.
If the general election was held today and we had our choice of candidates, we're not sure what we'd do.
For Governor the race seems to have Eric Barlow, out in front. He's a very good candidate. Megan Degenfelder is running on having been Superintendent of Public Education and that Donald "Grab 'em by the Pussy" Trump has endorsed her. Brent Bien is running on the "I worked my entire life for the government (USMC) and hate the government ticket". A lot of WFC people like him as they're gullible and ignorant. The WFC has a flyer with Bien, Chuck and Hageman circling. A Curt Blake is also running.
If the primary election was held today we'd vote for Barlow.
On the Democratic side Ken Casner is running as the symbol of the dead Democratic Party in the state, as he's so old he may in fact have already passed on.
If the primary election was held today and we were registered as Democrats we'd scream in anger and refuse to fill out the ballot on this one.
If the general election was held today and we had our choice of candidates, we'd vote for Balow.
For Wyoming Secretary of State the GOP candidates are Jason Fearneyhough, Qwenton Eagle Oviatt, Rachel Rodriguez-Williams, Robert Short and Charles Young. Of these candidates, right now, the only ones I know anything about are carpetbagger Rodriguez-Williams, an odd man off Hispanic in the Wyoming Fascist Caucus, and Robert Short, long time Converse County Commissioner.
If the primary was held today, we'd vote for Short, but we need to look into these candidates more.
For the Democrats, there's Bryan McCarty, whom we know nothing about.
If the general election was held today and we had our choice of candidates, right now it'd be Short, but we're not wedded to that position. We'd never vote for Rodriguez-Williams.
For Superintendent of Public Instruction the GOP race features Chad Auer, Steve Harshman and Thomas Kelly. Harsham is a long time teacher and educator and is by far the best choice on the GOP side. On the Democratic side Ana Cordova and Sergio Maldonado are running, both of whom are educators.
If the primary election was held today we'd vote for Harshman.
If the general election was held today we're not sure what we would do.
The primary will decide the Treasurer's race as only Republicans Curt Meier and Scott Smith are running. Meier will win.
In other races, we'd like to see Bear, Allemand, and Ide retired to private life. I.e, lose and lose badly.
Some Freedom Caucusers are having some identity crisis issues:
Of particular note there:
What you’re about to hear is an interview I conducted with Wyoming House District 61 Representative Daniel Singh. This was actually supposed to be the first episode of (podcast) 'Nobody Talks Religion and Politics,' but Daniel asked me to shelve it at the time because he believed it would make it harder to manipulate Republican voters into electing him.
Indeed, it would have.
The article essentially points out that Singh just flat out assumed that Republicans were stupid enough to vote for him if he fed them political pablum. He proved them absolutely correct.
And then there's this:
Wyoming Rep. Gary Brown served Colorado prison time for felony intimidation, records show
His civil rights were restored, so apparently his running was legal. That's not really the point here, however. The GOP in the era of Trump is huge on moralizing, but it doesn't apply those standards to themselves quite frequently.
So who is running in Natrona County?
Anybody to outright avoid?
Well, yes.
Candace Machado is a nice, but flighty, former mayor of Evansville. I wouldn't want her as a commissioner, I think.
Rosemarig Czaban just follows the political far right like a stray dog, which frankly she kind of is. She sort of epitomizes the sort of MAGA lumpenproletariat that follows along as she doesn't grasp they're screwing her politically. She's a Bill Allemand acolyte.
Dallas Laird is too old and needs to retire. Terry Wingerter is as well.
More to follow.
July 22, 2026
My wife counseled me against voting too early before the primaries, and now I'm finding that her advice is well put.
I'm really reconsidering my vote for Congress.
I've been rooting for Balow since the beginning, but in looking at his positions, Richard Dodson is who I like best. Now I'm torn between voting for Balow, as she seems to have the best chance of defeating Gray and Friess in the primary, or Dodson, whose positions are closest to mine.
It's the pits to be in the "voting against" situation, but Gray needs to be sent packing all the way back to California where he has to go out and get a real job. Friess needs to be sent back to the Rich People Reservation that he came from. Friess, Gray and Rasner (whose nearly disappeared from my mailers) have all the money in the world so that, in and of itself, has boosted them to top contenders even though all three of them shouldn't be voted for, for this, or anything else.
I would like to know more about Dodson. Indeed, I'm sick of the situation we currently have in which we live in a small state, but we know very little about most of the candidates personally. Dodson is from South Dakota and lives in Sundance, which is close to South Dakota. He's some sort of IT guy.
Balow was an educator and was once the Wyoming Superintendent of Public Instruction. At least we know that much. I went pheasant hunting with her husband once, who was also an educator. He seemed like a nice guy. Balow went on have the same role in Virginia, which some people hold against her, even though they love California Chuck Gray whom we know very little about.
Indeed, Gray remains mysterious. We know more about Friess, Rasner and Balow, than Gray. Gray has a public nasty face and that's all we know about him. Who are his friends? Has he dated a woman at any time in his life? What are his interests?
Nobody knows.
July 23, 2026
July 24, 2026
Wyoming was having none of Frank Chapman's "I'm a Wyomingite" bull.
Some interesting developments over the past day.
Probably the one that would lead most stories is that Carpetbagging Florida Lawyer Frank Chapman found his Rowdy Yates impression didn't lead to a political following, nor did hurling vast sums of cash at television and mailboxes. Chapman may have spent as much as $596,462.50, although that still places him behind Chucky Gray, Reid Rasner and Steve Friess. The expenditure didn't help, nor did wearing a cowboy hat of a type not native to the region. . . or to real cowboys in general, nor wearing cowboy boots that looked brand new and appeared to be hurting the Florida barrister's feet.
So he withdrew from the race.
In departing, he stated:
The truth is, I am not a politician. I am a father, a small-business owner, a rancher, and a guy who believes in hard work, common sense and doing what is right.
Frankly, wrangling horses is easier than wrangling politicians and special interests.
Yeah, whatever. He's a lawyer who became a dude rancher.
Now that he's been rejected, we hope that the rejection may send him back to Florida.
His presence in the race, while obviously unsuccessful, may have scrubbed off a few votes from California Chucky Gray, however, and to that extent it's a bit of a shame that Carpetbagging Frank didn't stay in to damage Carpetbagging Chuck.
It should be noted that Frank didn't withdraw from the race until after early voting had started, so his name will still appear on primary ballots. In the modern age in which people tend to get their news from the net, and tend only to consume news that supports their own views, the few people who might have supported Chapman may have already voted for him or might still, which would be a good thing, really. He's in the MAGA demographic.
In other interesting news we have this:
Hageman One Of 7 Republican No Votes For $1.15 Trillion Trump-Backed Defense Act
Hageman voting against something Trump wanted, and Mike Johnson had bootstrapped the SAVE Act onto this, is stunning. She stated that
The American people want to support our servicemembers, counter the Chinese Communist Party, and secure the southern border — objectives which this bill accomplishes.But the U.S. taxpayer also expects fiscal responsibility, and authorizing a $1.15 trillion budget for a single agency that has not made any meaningful progress to clean up its budget while we rapidly approach $40 trillion in national debt fails this expectation..
Woah.
Given as we're cynical here, Hageman not blowing kisses to Trump on this bill suggests something else may be afoot, and it is likely to be this race. Hageman faces a really serious contender in Sam Mead, the only other GOP candidate in the primary race who is a serious contender. Mead is drawing a lot of attention and my guess and is running from the center. My guess is that Hageman received some polling data that suggested she was in trouble with Mead and now has to find a way to try to move towards the center herself. Her statement used a common GOP theme, border security, and picked only on the Chinese, not the Iranians, so she seems to be trying to draw some distance from herself and Orange Mussolini.
The last Wyoming Congressman to do that was Liz Cheney, which cost her the Wyoming seat in Congress. Cheney really started to pull away from Trump over the war in Afghanistan at the time during which Trump was surrendering from the Taliban. Now Hageman is pulling away over the unpopular illegal war against Iran, which is far more unpopular than any American War since. . . well, maybe the Mexican War.
The seat she's seeking to take, of course, is presently occupied by Cynthia Lummis, who is all of a sudden acting weird. Lummis, as a retiring Senator, has leeway to either do nothing at all, or to actually vote her conscience. She's doing neither.
Lummis hasn't been particularly noticeable since entering the Senate in 2021. As she debated running for that seat there was some question of whether Cheney, before her backbone got her in trouble with the populists, was going to run for that position. She's not done much that's drawn the public eye, and has bizarrely focused on cyber currency, something that Wyomingites care utterly nothing about. She betrayed the state with Deseret Mike Lee took a run at disposing some public lands and was arrogant about it, but then returned to cyber currency.
All of a sudden she's getting a lot of interviews from the press in which she simply adores Trump and even Melania. This is a real change from a candidate who once claimed she was going to "hold her nose and vote for Trump". That view is probably her real view, so what on Earth is up?
My guess is that Lummis may be keen on retiring from elected politics, but is bucking for an appointment from Orange Mussolini to something. That would suggest that the inside scoop is that after the midterms we're going to see a lot of Trumpers abandon the ship of state.
That's a normal occurrence for most administrations, especially lame duck ones. Anyone who is savvy in the Trump administration, which unfortunately the real Trump Derangement Syndrome makes few, should be aware that if Trump's upcoming attempted coup fails, and its likely to, they'll be tainted by simply being there, so they're likely hedging their bets.
But that also opens up some opportunities for elderly politicians who have nowhere else to go, and that might include Lummis. It might particularly include Lummis as the bloom comes off the Trump rose, which it very wall might. The Michael Jackson Effect applies here as well as anywhere else, and the fawning "we love Trump" crowd could, if the war doesn't end, inflation gets worse, and we go through another winter with no winter, turn to "we hate Trump and everyone associated with him".
If you don't plan on returning home, however, a hitch in the administration might perry into a position with some NatCon think tank or some obscure university for a slow ride into retirement.
Off hand, my guess would be that Doug Burgum has had enough of looking like an idiot, and the position of Secretary of the Interior is opening up.
cont:
News broke this morning of some troubling domestic abuse legal proceedings in Kansas from when Bill Allemand lived there. It's really unclear, but there appeared to be a plead deal on a claim of domestic abuse and a claim that a protection order was violated.
Again, not very clear, but combined with his recent alcohol conviction there seems to be at least some questions about his character. He claimed that he was innocent of the abuse charge and that he didn't know about the other one in a statement to the press.
It'd be pretty difficult to judge these matters based on the report, which isn't clear at all. Maybe he's innocent of both accusations, and people do enter deals even when they're innocent, but once again its interesting how the GOP, which claims to be the party of morality, has these things come up. This is the second story in two weeks that's sort of vaguely in this ballpark on two separate legislators.
R. Czaban came right to Allemand's defense, which was predictable. She's running for County Commissioner but has defended Allemand on everything, including his drunk driving charge. As she's running for a different office, it's odd that this is the case.
Czaban's signs show up, I'd note, with Bien's and Allemands, as well as with Gray's. In terms of lawn signs conveying a message, they very much do, that being, far right wingnuts and shouldn't be elected.
At least with Bien's I'd also note they show up in a fair number of places on lots where you suspect the owner is poor, which is ironic. But it's a well know phenomenon. Southern voters after the Civil War very much preferred Democrats even as the Democrats worked to disenfranchise them, along with blacks. The Democrats really favored the wealthy, like the GOP does now, and the white poor just voted to screw themselves.
July 26, 2026
An interesting item from Wyo File:
Wyoming congressional candidates talk campaign finance, roadless rule, keeping Trump in check
Some highlights.
When asked about using family money to fund his campaign, Chuck Gray used the question to attack Reid Rasner and then said he wasn't spending as much family money as Steve Friess, at which point he was cut short for violating the rules of the debate.
He really is a rude punk.
Kevin Christensen, who seems to be up and coming, stated on the same:
We’re creating a situation where millionaires and billionaires can buy their way into office. That circumvents our democracy in Wyoming. We as voters need to be aware of where that money is coming from and why people are spending that kind of money for a $174K job in D.C.
Every candidate except for Christensen backed the administrations elimination of the Roadless Rule, although Balow took a nuanced position.
Friess claimed that the Trump administration had made many accomplishments. Dodson and Christensen criticized the administration with Dodson calling Congress spineless.
July 28, 2026
Neil Jeske, far right candidate for House District 59 who is running against incumbent J.R. Riggins turns out to have apparently claimed residence in both Wyoming and South Dakota over the past two years
Hmmm. . . .
Jeske is clearly a carpetbagger, originally from Wisconsin, who relocated from there, to South Dakota. He's a far far right candidate in a state he barely knows. This story was broken by the Mayor of Mills, whose city lies within House District 59. Business records show that Jeske filed reports in the last two years denoting himself as the noncommercial registered for a South Dakota business with a Sioux Falls. Something that has to be done by a South Dakota resident.
Jeske claims to have moved to Casper in 2024, and a real estate agent confirmed he'd been a property inspector in July and August of that year. But he also ran for the Sioux Falls city counsel that year. As elections are in the fall, that raises questions in and of itself.
Jeske hung up on the CST's reporter.
Clearly Jeske was violating the rules somewhere, and rules that require a signature under oath usually. Voting him would be foolish in the extreme and he frankly probably ought to be in some trouble with the law for this.
Departed candidate Frank Chapman gave a really interesting interview to the Cowboy State Daily in which he noted, truthfully, that Gray and Friess have never had to work, really, and stating he likes Kevin Christensen.
Chapman came across as a totally different from the Florida carpetbagging dude rancher right wing extremist he campaigned as. Maybe if he hadn't been such a cartoon he would have done better. In any event, now that he's removed from having to campaign, he's actually sounding reasonable.
July 29, 2026
All Four Candidates For Hot Springs House Seat Say They Won't Join Freedom Caucus
And some important information from the Wyoming Sportsmen for Public Lands.
IMPORTANT PRIMARY ELECTION INFORMATION REGARDING WYOMING’S CONGRESSIONAL RACES! The following are our recommendations for the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.
Our recommendations are based on our knowledge of the candidates, especially their positions or voting records relating to public lands, conservation and wildlife. Also important is their commitment to the democratic necessity of making decisions based on science and listening to their constituents, rather than strict adherence to party dogma. We hope you will seriously consider these recommendations which are derived, in part, from 10 years of administering this Facebook page. Note: an email address is provided for top candidates if you want to request a yard sign or assist with their campaign.
The House Candidates are:
• Jillian Balow, Republican: does not merit consideration
• Bo Biteman, Republican: does not merit consideration
• Kevin Christensen, Republican: merits serious consideration, kevin.for.ushouse@christensen2026.org
• Richard Dodson, Republican: does not merit consideration
• Steve Friess, Republican: does not merit consideration
• David Giralt, Republican: does not merit consideration
• Keith Goodenough, Republican: merits serious consideration, senatorgoodenough@gmail.com
• Chuck Gray, Republican: does not merit consideration
• Reid Rasner, Republican: does not merit consideration
• Elena Del Real, Democrat: does not merit consideration
• Lisa Kinney, Democrat: merits serious consideration, lisakinney2026@wyoming.com
• Jeff Haggit, Constitution Party: does not merit consideration
• Shawn Johnson, Libertarian: does not merit consideration
The Senate candidates are:
• Jill Edwards, Republican: does not merit consideration
• Harriet Hageman, Republican: definitely does not merit consideration
• John Holtz, Republican: does not merit consideration
• Sam Mead, Republican: merits serious consideration, info@meadforwyoming.com
• Jimmy Skovguard, Republican: merits serious consideration, jimmy@grassrootsmvt.org
• Billy Benevidez, Democrat: does not merit consideration
• James Byrd, Democrat: merits serious consideration, info@byrdforsenate.com
The primary election on August 18th is very important, so please vote. But be careful who you vote for because several of the candidates would be very bad for public land.
See less
I've really been trying to decide whom I'm going to vote for, for Congress, with my decision so far split between Balow and Christensen. They're rating Balow a no/go.
July 30, 2026
July 31, 2026
Chuck got some bad news yesterday as a collection of Wyoming political figures endorsed Steve Freiss.
The Cowboy State Daily reports the endorsements came from Republican state Sens. Dan Dockstader, Jared Olsen and Brian Boner; former state Senate President and former state GOP chair Diemer True; former House Speaker and Senate President Eli Bebout; former House Speaker and former executive director of the Petroleum Association of Wyoming Bruce Hinchey;former Wyoming State Auditor Rita Meyer; former legislator Jamie Flitner; former legislator Don Burkhart; former House Majority Floor Leaders Ron Micheli and Rosie Berger; former legislator Dave Kinskey; Peter Wold, officer for the Petroleum Association of Wyoming; former legislator Harlan Edmonds, former state GOP Chair Matt Micheli and former Governor Jim Geringer.
In interviews with the journal, Geringer, Ross, Harvey and Ron Micheli expressly indicated that part of their motivation was that somebody beat Chuck.
Chuck predictably spouted bs, about the only thing he knows how to do saying:
Jackson socialite Steve Friess has rounded up the same tired class of political 1% insiders who have spent years trying to stop the silent majority and who are upset that I’ve been so successful in advancing common sense election integrity measures.
The poor little dear also stated.
It’s not a surprise that Jackson Hole socialite Steve Friess is receiving the support of the same 1% insiders who want woke data centers and woke wind projects
The irony of it is really palatable. Both Friess and Chuck were born with silver spoons in their mouths and have never had to scramble for a living. Both of their fathers had connections with Ronald Reagan, practically regarded as a saint by Republicans but the man who set the course that has lead the GOP into becoming the fascist party. Both are carpetbaggers, although Friess actually seems to have slipped into the local culture slightly through habitation and marriage, whereas nobody knows anything about Chuck on a personal level at all and no other person is known to know him on a personal level.
One politico who didn't endorse Friess was Tom Lubnau, former speak of the Wyoming house, who isn't a Chuck fan. He speculated that the endorsements are coordinated and reflect an "anyone but Chuck" viewpoint. Frankly, nearly any sentient being would be better than Chuck, but he has a point. I don't think recoiling from moneybags Church for money bags Friess makes sense at all.
I've pretty much decided to go with Christensen. I note that another former prominent legislature has endorsed him.
cont:
Rod Miller: The Wyoming Freedom Caucus – Our Failed Experiment
Guest Column: What Has Wyoming’s Freedom Caucus Actually Accomplished?
Tom Lubnau: It's Desperation Season
August 1, 2026
Elon Musk is intending to dump in over 100,000,000 into the election to prop up MAGA.
Which bring this up. The Wyoming Freedom Caucus is largely funded by out of state money. Funny how entities that claim to be grass roots are thinly planted out of state sod.
Footnotes:
This installment will run through Primary election day. That means it's likely to get really long, but even updating to new installments is making for some very long posts.
Related threads:
Pollice Verso. The 2026 Political Negative Endorsement. The Don't Vote For List.
Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 3.
Claiming the mantle of Christ in politics. Don't support liars and don't lie. Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 4.
What have you done for me lately? Addressing politicians in desperate times, part 5.
Last edition:
The 2026 Election, 16th Edition. The skeptical eye edition.
Labels: 2026 Election, Bill Allemand, Chuck Gray, Donald Trump, Graham Platner, Lindsey Graham, Maine, Personalities, Reid Rasner, South Carolina, Vulgarity, Wyoming, Дональд Трамп — агент России
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