Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Monday, July 27, 2026
Thursday, June 25, 2026
The 2026 Election, 13th Edition. The choosing lanes edition.
John Bear, One Of The Freedom Caucus’ Most Powerful Members, Has A Challenger
Ousted UW dean to challenge Freedom Caucus incumbent
Cam Wright seeks House 46’s Republican nomination. Known to many in Laramie as UW’s former engineering dean, Wright is involved in ongoing litigation against the university.
June 24, 2026
Three Democratic Socialist won primaries in New York City in Democratic Congressional primaries, causing pundits to somewhat freak out.
Frankly the fascist nature of the current GOP is making this inevitable. The WFC is, for example, every bit as radical as New York's Democratic Socialist and Trump is governing as a dictator to the extent that the courts don't prohibit him, so the rise of the left wing within the Democratic Party isn't too surprising.
While the right freaks out about New York City, here locally the GOP demands you swear your loyalty.
‘These are purity tests’: Driskill, Neiman talk platform allegiance in political heavyweight matchup
I've seen one candidate, a carpetbagging far right winger from Wisconsin, already put his "Meine Ehre Heisst Treue" tag on his posters.
On a ballot initiative.
Coalition demands records on tax initiative; Gray’s office calls claims false
At this point, what's particularly interesting is who has signed, and who has not.
The entity it self has some every notable names behind it. According to their website:
Justice Keith Kautz (Retired Wyoming Supreme Court, Evangelical Leader Southeast Wyoming)
Diana Enzi (Long time Wyoming activist and advocate for Christ from Gilette Wyoming)
Jim Neiman (Business, civic and Christian leader from Hullett, Wyoming)
Michael Evers (Business Leader and Episcopal Priest from Sheridan Wyoming)
Frank Moore (Business Leader and active in the Catholic community in Douglas, Wyoming)
Diemer True (Business, civic and Christian leader from Casper Wyoming)
The text of the pledge is:
The candidates who have signed the pledge, which you can do on their website, are, so far:
Jillian Balow
U.S. House of Representatives
Bo Biteman
U.S. House of Representatives
Kevin Christensen
U.S. House of Representatives
STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION
Steve Harshman
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Evie Brennan
Senate District 31
Ogden Driskill
Senate District 2
Ronald McCleary
Senate District 5
Marcia Neumiller
Senate District 27
Lauren Schoenfeld
Senate District 5
Wendy Schuler
Senate District 15
Elizabeth Bingham
House District 17
Jessica Crowder
House District 43
Christopher Dresang
House District 35
Justin Fornstrom
House District 10
Martha Lawley
House District 27
Matthew Legler
House District 25
Roland Luehne
House District 28
Myca Sturtevant
House District 29
Macey Moore
Converse County Commissioner
Michael Evers
Sheridan County GOP Precinct Person- Precinct 2-5
My guess is that after the article, some who haven't signed, or who aren't aware of it, will sign or will feel compelled to sign.
Notably, in the House, the big money candidates, Gray, Freiss and Rasner have not signed. Gray's an entire political career has been based on being a lying asshole, so this puts him in a spot. When he gets up at night and stubs his toes he blames it on left wing radical communist Marxist socialist fascist monarchist podiatrist, so that would take a major part of his repertoire out of play and actually make him live part of his faith. Rasner has gone full comedic sideshow at this point, but it would take the extreme out of the candidate whose been the most extreme. It probably wouldn't impact Freiss who hasn't attacked his opponents, but who is, in a very nice way, relying upon "I'll bring jobs to Wyoming of a type that I've worked at myself because I believe you dumb twits want to exist in the imaginary 1950s".
It's also interesting that only one Senatorial candidate, Skovogard, has signed it.
June 25, 2026
Interesting development.
Rasner didn't appear recently in Casper's weekly candidate forum when it invited the house contestants to speak. That's odd as Casper is his home town. Now this.
And this:
This is illegal.
Last edition:
The 2026 Election, 12th Edition. The late on ramp edition.
Monday, June 22, 2026
Saturday, June 22, 1946. History rhyming
U.S. Senator Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi, a former Governor of that state, running for re-election in the Democratic primary, said in a radio broadcast that he was calling on every "red-blooded Anglo-Saxon man in Mississippi to resort to any means to keep hundreds of Negroes from the polls in the July 2 primary.And if you don't know what the means, you are just not up on your persuasive measures.
He won the primary and the generals, but the Senate would refuse to swear him in due to his racist comments.
Today he'd be a Republican, they'd excuse his comments, and he'd be sworn in.
Bilbo retired and wrote a book entitled; Take Your Choice: Separation or Mongrelization. He died in 1947.
Last edition:
Thursday, June 20, 1946. Allied withdrawal.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 136th Edition.Wyoming Republicans, not realizing they're Democrats, are criticizing Democrats, who are moderate Republicans, crossing over.
I saw an old friend getting hot and bothered by this today. The small Democratic Party is having an internal debate about its members switching their registration over to Republican so that the Wyoming Freedom Caucus candidates stand a bitter chance of losing. Truth be known, almost all moderate Democrats in the state did that decades ago, some later running as fairly successful Republicans. Cowboy State Daily Carpetbagger Dave Simpson has written an op ed about checking the "label" of Republican candidates.
Indeed, check it. Most of the WFC candidates don't belong in the GOP at all. They aren't Republicans.
My old friend is supporting Brent Bien, who spent 28 years sucking on the government tit before taking a retirement (more sucking on the government tit) and is upset with Degenfelder and Barlow. I'm not keen on Barlow either, but if you spend almost 30 years working in an institution that's funded by the taxpayers and then come out with a no taxes policy, you are some kind of hypocrite.
And yes I'm speaking of a military career. Yes, there's a lot that's honorable about a military career, but I'm pretty familiar with it and you never have to 1) send out a bill, 2) worry about the competition, 3) worry your employer isn't going to have money to pay you, 3) work for fifty years before you retire, if you can ever retire, 4) worry that you line of work is just going to cease to exist. Sure, you do have to worry about violent death, that's very true. Like the Potts character says in Major Dundee; "that goes with the pretty girls and the pension", but the chances of that, while very real, are much less than they're made out to be for most career military people, although they are real, and the risk of violent death goes with a host of other professions too for which such worries do exist and you aren't going to get a "thank you for your service!" accolade and aren't going to be regarded as a hero.
Being a logger is actually the most dangerous job in the U.S., followed by being a commercial fisherman. In a location specific sense, being a taxi driver was, and may still be, the most dangerous job in the U.S.
Anyhow, the criticism is that Barlow and Degenfelder might not adhere to, well:
Meine Ehre heißt Treue
Oh my, think for yourself, can't have that.
Anyhow, my friend is no doubt part of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus which is demanding loyalty oaths from Republicans.
But they aren't Republicans.
They're Dixiecrats through and through.
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 135th Edition. Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus
Saturday, April 25, 2026
The 2026 Election, 9th Edition. The Sic Semper Tyrannus edition.*
April 23, 2026
Republicans are basically freaking out after Virginia's voters sent redistricting to the legislature, guaranteeing Democratic gains in the state's House of Representative representation. Donald Trump declared that the vote was stolen, which is utter nonsense, but which was predictable.
He will claim the same about November's election as well, which is going to go very badly for the Republicans, and he will pull out no stops to try to steal that election.
That scary predication aside, the fall's election is getting pretty predictable right now . Republican's have committed political suicide by reelecting a demented not too sharp octogenarian real estate developer to the office of Presidency, one he is not actually legally qualified to hold.
They deserve no pity, even if the country does.
One group of people who are tiresomely not worth of pity are the far right MAGA crew that likes to predict a civil war, as if they're going to storm out of their suburban homes and fight somebody. That's complete baloney. This is not going to result in a war of any kind. It might end in violence however as MAGA has already tried to subvert the last election and probably will try to do so again.
On this, there's been a substantial increase in firearms ownership by liberals, a trend that hasn't received much notice. It falls into two categories, one being political liberals who are just exercising their Second Amendment Rights. One columnist the other day noted that where there are large groups of right wing armed figures the police almost never act badly during demonstrations and is urging that left wing people do the same. It makes sense, frankly. This is a tactic that was taken by black activist groups during the 1960s and 1970s. Liberals, in my view, should do this in part because it makes sense but also in part due to the fact that right wing Second Amendment groups have rolled over like a pet dog for Trump. Indeed, in the last issue of The American Rifleman some NRA member wrote a letter to the editor arguing, well, gosh, if there's a protest, best just to stay away, you know, . . . something completely contrary to the positions of the organization in the past.
The other group are people who probably have real reason to seek self protection and tend to be in the political such as tranvestites and homosexuals. That frankly makes real sense to me. The late Charlie Kirk like to claim that tranvestites were inordinately responsible for mass shootings, which is not true, but that sort of rhetoric really does give a good reason for them to arm themselves.
The redistricting came about due to Trump insisting that it be done in Texas and Gov. Abbot agreeing to do it. The fact that other states could do the same thing apparently never occurred to the dimwits running the GOP, or at least to the chief dimwit and his Texas minions. Now the Democrats have done it twice and have gained ground in the effort, although a similar effort in Florida could change that.
Or not. Trump has lost such a following amongst Hispanics that the Texas redistricting may actually have the same effect, on a less dramatic scale, in that state.
Indeed, Texas is interesting in this regard as Republicans are howling about how a slim majority of voters can "deprive" the remainder of representation, which is an intellectually weak argument. Nobody was deprived of representation, even though gerrymandering overall is bad. Anyhow, it was the voters of Virginia who passed the redistricting plan, albeit only by a slim majority. In Texas it was done by legislative fiat, even though Democrats, not Republicans, are the majority party in terms of registration in Texas. Texas's districting outright suppresses Democratic votes, something that will come back to haunt the party in Texas.
At any rate, the GOP's actions are truly an example of the Forrest Gump observation, "stupid is as stupid does". So much so that a person is really entitled to wonder at this point how dim those in charge right now really are.
Closer to home, where the GOP remains solidly in charge but there seems to be a real chance that the Freedom Caucus is going to really suffer in the fall, the following dates need to be kept in mind.
Party Changes
The state of Wyoming passed legislation affecting when a registered voter is allowed to change their party affiliation.
- You MUST appear in person in the Elections office on or before May 13, 2026 to declare or change your party affiliation.
- NO party changes at the polls on Primary Election Day.
- Qualified voters who are not yet registered will still be able to register and choose their party on the day of the Primary Election.
Absentee Voting
The timeframe for voting absentee has shortened from 45 days to 28 days.
- Absentee ballot request may be made by phone, mail, email, online or in person.
- Your ID is required to vote in person or to pick up a ballot.
Absentee voting for the Primary Election: July 21 - August 17, 2026
Absentee voting for the General Election: October 6 - November 2, 2026Wyoming's Voter ID Law
Effective July 1, 2021, Wyoming voters will be required to show an acceptable form of identification when voting in person. There are many ID options for you to use to prove your identity. Visit the Wyoming Secretary of State's Office website for more information.
A couple of observations.
One is that you used to be able to change party affiliation at the polls, but the state's GOP got that changed out of fear that all five of the state's remaining Democrats would change party at the poll and vote for Battling Bob LaFollette.
It's a stupid fear. Any Democrats who were going to do that did it years ago. The law actually just locks people into their current party, but the propaganda value of this lives on as the real Democrats, the Dixiecrats, like to continually complain that the GOP is backed with RINOs. It is, they are the RINOs.
Another observation is that you have to show "an acceptable" form of identification, so if you are going to vote, bring it. The Secretary of State's office provides the following as "acceptable:
- WY Driver's License or ID Card
- Tribal ID Card
- Valid US Passport
- US Military Card
- DL or ID Card from Another State
- University of Wyoming Student ID
- Wyoming Community College Student ID
- Wyoming Public School Student ID
- Valid Medicare Insurance Card*
- Valid Medicaid Insurance Card*
- Valid Wyoming Concealed Firearm Permit
Mostly because this was the pet project of California Carpetbagger Chuck Gray, I'm going to bring my driver's license, my military ID, and my concealed firearm's permit. I'm also going to ask everyone manning the polls to see their ID's. If I have to prove I'm an American citizen, well they should have to do so as well.
The other thing is that the candidate registration date is also coming right up. It actually runs through May 29, but this year, I'd get that done by May 13 if I was going to run, which I'm not going to (probably).
cont:
And now there's a new candidate for the Senate, Sam Mead from the well known Mead family. That makes the candidates, on the GOP side (no Democrats have announced):
Harriet Hageman
Jimmy Skovgard
Samuel Mead
Mead is probably a pretty serious contender. His website, which is probably not the best way to judge things, shows him to be the best serious candidate to announce, if we disregard Skovgard, who isn't mounting much of a campaign so far.
The first flyer for Steve Freiss, running for House today, arrived in which he tries to maintain he's like Reagan and Trump, which is patently absurd in that Trump and Reagan are nothing like each other.
April 24, 2026
The State Republican Convention opened in Douglas and already has the appearance of the 7th Cavalry attempting to form a final defensive line at Little Big Horn.
Wyomingites are showing increasing signs that they're sick to death of the Freedom Caucus, but the county delegations still heavily reflect that. So, they're thinking of just violating the law and even pulling out of primaries.
The dipshittery is already in evidence, as shown by this quote:
What we as a party are moving towards is what people have been asking for decades.
Wyoming Republican Party Chair Bryan Miller.
Miller spent his career in the Air Force sucking off the government tit and then came to Wyoming on the far right "I worked for the government but I hate the government so much I still collect government retirement and am now sucking on the other government tit" platform. Given that, like most of the WFC, what he imagines what people have wanted "for decades" is based on talking to a small group of like minded, small minded, feverish minds, many of whom spent their decades somewhere else.
Basically, the Freedom Caucus is worried that the voters are going to kick it in the ass in the primary and are trying to find a way that county WFC controlled bodies can declare who the candidates in the fall will be.
That's not going to fly. Anyone can still register as a Republican and run as one if they declare themselves to be one. The GOP can't change that. What it can do, however, is break into open civil war before a general election and destroy itself.
Long-term, by attacking the primaries, it might just lead to a non partisan open primary, which would be a fantastic development.
Another proposal is that Republican candidates take a loyalty oath the GOP platform. The state platform has a barely disguised "grab the public lands" plank in it that Wyomingites hate, but the Confederates love. Showing more their loyalty to the Lost Cause, it also includes a plank that requires the state to ignore the decisions of Courts that don't go their way, something that actually is flat out illegal and which makes them into a traitorous body seeking the overthrow of the American government, although they seemingly can't grasp that.
The deluded WFC feels that they can secure their failing movement, basically, by expelling everyone else, which at the end of the day would result in a competing Republican body, which would be an outright good development, particularly now. The existing GOP is heading for a cliff this Fall and there's a strong chance it'll start to actually dissolve next year.
cont:
April 25, 2026
Protect Wyoming is directly going after some of the bad state legislators, and Bob Ide pretty meg tops the list there:
Footnotes:
"Thus always to tyrants", the state motto of Virginia.
Related threads:
Pollice Verso. The 2026 Political Negative Endorsement. The Don't Vote For List.
Last edition: