Tuesday, November 11, 2025
Monday, November 10, 2025
The 2026 Wyoming Legislature, Part 1. The way too early edition.
April 10, 2025
Freedom Caucus leader John Bear went on record at a meeting of legislators on how to handle the upcoming populist initiative to reduce property taxes by 50%, after they've just been reduced by 25%, as favoring completely eliminating property taxes in favor of sales taxes.
On the imported geezer reduce my property taxes on the house I bought after I moved here from California initiative, he feels that the effect wouldn't be cumulative (50% of the just reduced 25%), while other legislators do.
May 2, 2025
A press interview of Freedeom Caucus member Bear reveals the WFC wants to treat the Wyoming budget to some DOGEy style actions, particularly in regard to grants and loans.
May 4, 2025
I don't know anything about the woman from Teton County who was his competition, but Miller was another individual who spent a career in the military, and therefore was a lifelong recipient of public funds, and who has now returned as an opponent of the Federal government.
May 7, 2025
Wyoming Legislature finalizes list of ‘off-season’ topics for study
May 9, 2025
Chuck Gray Supports 22 New Election-Reform Bills, Committee To Study 10
Some of these bills are frankly nuts.
May 19, 2025
Wyoming lawmakers go after funding for state associations that sometimes oppose their bills: Green River Rep. Marlene Brady is leading the charge on prohibiting cities, towns and counties from paying dues to elected officials’ associations.
May 21, 2025
Legislative panel pursues bills to regulate Wyoming library books with sexual material: Lawmakers are taking up library books as conservative activists around the state pore over material in young adult and teen library sections for sexual content.
For reasons I won't go into, I've seen some of the book that is featured in this article, and there's no way it should be in the children's section of a library.
May 22, 2025
Committee Adopts Bill To Make Wyoming Senate Confirm Supreme Court Justices
This is inaccurate. Rather they voted to have the LSO draft such a bill.
May 23, 2025
As scrutiny of judges grows, lawmakers weigh changes to Wyoming’s selection process: In her final official appearance before lawmakers, Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice Kate Fox defended the process for choosing the state’s judges. But some lawmakers still want changes.
May 25, 2025
A draft bill would allow for nuclear facilities to have armed guards as a type of private police force.
Private police forces are rare, but not completely unknown. The Wyoming Stock Growers Association at one time was authorized to have them, although that's long ago in the past. While I haven't kept up on it, so I don't know the current status, railroads at one time had them as well.
June 4, 2025
Oh great . . .
Wyoming Freedom Caucus plans on ‘DOGE-ing’ state budget: House Appropriations Chairman John Bear takes inspiration from the Trump administration’s efforts to cut federal jobs and spending.
DOGE has been such a disaster that even Trump is questioning it. This is the last thing Wyoming needs
Deep down, to a large extent, the Freedom Caucus just hates the government.
Meanwhile:
The State's Democratic Party is abasically as dead as a doornail. Those looking for a middle path aren't being offered it by the Democrats, who recently replaced their leadership. The thin, bow tie, wearing newly elected leader provides an apt symbol for a party grossly out of step with the state.
June 5, 2025
Wyoming Legislature to consider abolishing property taxes through constitutional amendment: After creating a complicated web of residential property tax exemptions, lawmakers are now weighing whether to eliminate property taxes entirely.
June 11, 2025
Wyoming lawmaker uses slur for Japanese people before visiting Heart Mountain internment site: Rep. John Winter made the remark while discussing logistics for a tour of the former internment camp, where more than 14,000 Japanese Americans were held against their will during World War II.
Wyoming lawmakers step toward bill clarifying corner crossing’s legality: Some agricultural industry lobbyists urged a legislative committee to wait and see whether the U.S. Supreme Court takes the case, but others — including law enforcement — testified that they could use precise legal directions.
July 28, 2025
Wyoming lawmakers consider nuclear waste storage as tensions rise over microreactor plant proposal: A draft bill that would make an exception to Wyoming's nuclear waste ban is intended to accommodate a California firm's plans to "mass-produce" microreactors near Casper.
July 31, 2025
Legislators Clash Over Proposed Bill That Would Allow Spent Nuclear Fuel In Wyoming
August 1, 2025
Lawmakers table bill to allow nuclear waste storage in Wyoming
August 9, 2025
Tom Lubnau: Calling Innocent People Pornographers And Pedophiles At Taxpayer Expense
August 20, 2025
As Wyoming lawmakers rehash election reforms, two familiar camps remain divided: A committee voted to sponsor three failed bills from the 2025 session that would continue the overhaul of Wyoming’s elections system.
Going Feral: Wyoming lawmakers advance bill decriminalizing cor...:
Wyoming lawmakers advance bill decriminalizing corner crossing
Wyoming lawmakers advance bill decriminalizing corner crossing: By one vote, a legislative committee agrees to consider a draft measure again in November when amendments are possible.
Gomers in the Wyoming “Freedom” Caucus: If the caucus was a herd, it would be full of gomers, columnist Rod Miller says. Its members make a lot of noise, but can’t get the job done.
August 22, 2025
Cities, counties continue to push for new tax program to make up lost funds
August 23, 2025
Homeowners urge Wyoming lawmakers to skip further property tax cuts: Public services are worth paying for, residents told lawmakers who are considering additional tax reform.
August 27, 2025
The legislature has a draft bill before it to drop the felony larceny threshold from $1,000 to $500.
A typical law and order type of bill, this is a bad idea in a state with a grossly overburdened criminal justice system.
August 29, 2025
Wyoming Lawmakers Drafting Legislation To Ban Cloud Seeding For 10 Years
October 14, 2025
Panel advances legislation restricting sexual content in Wyoming library books: The Judiciary Committee voted 11-2 in support of the measure, and the issue unified Wyoming Freedom Caucus lawmakers with Republicans not always aligned with them.
Committee Adopts Bill Greenlighting Lawsuits Over 'Sexually Explicit' Library Books
October 24, 2025
October 31, 2025Wyoming lawmakers hit pause on redrawing voting maps: Efforts to reconfigure the state’s legislative districts to adhere to county lines came to a halt Wednesday.
Claims ‘chemtrails’ poison citizens spur Wyoming lawmakers to advance ‘geoengineering’ ban: Claims ‘chemtrails’ poison citizens spur Wyoming lawmakers to advance ‘geoengineering’ ban Nano particles released from Department of War jets are sterilizing soils, blocking sun, lawmakers hear from Wyomingites and YouTuber before backing bill.Apparently every member of this committee save for Barry Crago and Karlee Provenza voted for this goofball bill.
Legislature To Consider At Least 13 Election Bills After Committee Adds 6 More
Wyoming lawmakers advance election reform bills despite feasibility warnings
Wyoming Freedom Caucus wants to cut state budget, but won’t say how much yet: Cuts are coming in next year’s legislative session, but where and how deep remains to be seen.
And of course 82 year old Jim Magana, who seemingly hasn't managed to grasp that the positions he consistently advocates hurt the reputations of ranchers in general, is at it again:
Rancher lobbyist knocks Wyoming bill recognizing corner crossing’s court-decided legality: Jim Magagna
Magagna should have stepped down from a leadership role with the WSGA a good 30 years ago. He's hurting the livestock industry by seemingly never accepting its no longer the 1960s.
November 8, 2025
Fixing what isn't broken:
Undeterred by tight timeline, Wyoming lawmakers charge ahead with election reform: County clerks are anxious about changes made in the last session and what’s now coming down the pike.
November 20, 2025
Wyoming to again weigh making landowner tags ‘transferable,’ a step toward pay-for-play hunting
This again:
Wyoming to again weigh making landowner tags ‘transferable,’ a step toward pay-for-play hunting: Legislation that would enable ranchers and large property owners to sell tags to the highest bidder passed through the Agriculture Committee and has a shot at becoming law in 2026.
Here's the tale of the tape:
Ayes included Pearson, Cowley Republican Rep. Dalton Banks, Cheyenne Republican Rep. Steve Johnson, Riverton Republican Rep. Pepper Ottman, Douglas Republican Rep. Tomi Strock, Thermopolis Republican Rep. John Winter and Casper Republican Sen. Bob Ide.
Opposing were Buffalo Republican Sen. Barry Crago, Cheyenne Republican Sen. Taft Love, La Barge Republican Rep. Mike Schmid, Baggs Republican Rep. Bob Davis and Laramie Democrat Rep. Karlee Provenza.
Of course, Casper Republican Ide is in favor of it.
Don't vote for the people in the aye column.
And with this hideous idea, we're going to close out this edition and start a new one.
Related threads:
Wyoming Freedom Caucus Membership Survey: 31 House Reps Say They're Not Members
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus and the 2025 and 2026 Legislatures. Some things to keep in mind.
Wednesday, November 5, 2025
2025 Off Year US Elections
They can be, sometimes, an indicator of things to come.
June 25, 2025
New York City Mayoral Race
Progressive Zohran Mamdani beat Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Primary.
Mamdani, who immigrated with his parents as a child from Uganda to the US, is a self declared democratic socialist. He's a Shi'a Muslim. All of these things are setting off the populist far right.
Curtis Sliwa, founder of Guardian Angels, won the Republican primary for New York City mayor, but was unopposed. He stands no chancing of winning the general election.
September 22, 2025
Texas
Texas has an election this year, and it includes a bunch of ballot propositions, which are:
- Proposition 1 (SJR 59): Texas State Technical College funding
- Proposition 2 (SJR 18): Capital gains tax ban
- Proposition 3 (SJR 5): Bail reform
- Proposition 4 (HJR 7): Water infrastructure funding
- Proposition 5 (HJR 99): Tax exemption on animal feed
- Proposition 6 (HJR 4): Securities tax ban
- Proposition 7 (HJR 133): Tax exemption for veterans’ spouses
- Proposition 8 (HJR 2): Inheritance tax ban
- Proposition 9 (HJR 1): Inventory and equipment tax exemption
- Proposition 10 (SJR 84): Tax exemption for homes destroyed by fire
- Proposition 11 (SJR 85): School tax exemption for the elderly or disabled homeowners
- Proposition 12 (SJR 27): Changing the State Judicial Conduct Commission
- Proposition 13 (SJR 2): Increased school tax exemption for homeowners
- Proposition 14 (SJR 3): Funding for dementia research and prevention
- Proposition 15 (SJR 34): Codifying parental rights
- Proposition 16 (SJR 37): Clarifying citizenship requirement for voters
- Proposition 17 (HJR 34): Property tax exemption for border security infrastructure
So Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.
Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Wednesday, November 4, 1925. Now or then?
A headline we'll be likely to see later today again, about New York and New Jersey.
Last edition:
Tuesday, November 3, 1925. Mitchell's Witness Demands Upheld, New Jersey Ballot, and the evolution of word meaning.
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
Kathy Karpan, former Wyoming secretary of state, dies
Sunday, October 26, 2025
Ezra Klein looks at the state of the Democrats. . twice.
The Ezra Klein show recently ran two really interesting vlog episodes on why the Democratic Party is in the dumpster, even as the Republican Party makes the entire country a raging dumpster fire. They're instructive, but in the case of the first one, not for the reason the guest likely hoped for.
Thursday, October 23, 2025
CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 105th Edition. What's up with the rush on the White House?
It occurs to me that something is really odd about Trump rushing to start his vandalization project on the White House, and then expanding it to destroy the entire East Wing. . . . it's almost like he fears not being around to enjoy it.
Maybe he knows he's not going to be.
Maybe he fears that if he's not around the ugly garden shed won't be built.
Maybe he fears that's going to be so soon, he had to actually take steps that try to force its completion.
Why would that be?
Maybe Trump knows that he's on death's door, or maybe its something else. Let's look at the possibilities.
Trump knows he's not long for the world.
There's been some speculation on this for other reasons.
One could say he's acting weird, but he acted weird in his first term too. He's been acting extra weird. He's been talking a fair amount and expressing fears that he's going to Hell. And well he should fear it. For one thing:
Now someone approached him and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?”
He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good.* If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.
He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “ ‘You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother’; and ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?
Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to [the] poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.
When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible, but for God all things are possible.”
Based on the difficulty that implies, and it is not intended to be metaphorical, Trump should fear Hell. He's been far from perfect. He's a serial polygamist for one thing, and genuinely a bad person. It appears to some extent he's trying to buy his way into Heaven with the thought that if he can secure peace in some war somewhere God will credit that and allow him to otherwise get a pass on his sins. He keep seeking reassurance from those around him that will work.
That obsession suggests that he knows he's running out of time.
Trump wants to be remembered for amount to something. He knows that much of his Presidency will be regarded as a fart in a windstorm. So he's building his own monumental mausoleum, maybe.
And in doing so, time is short. Either he'll be out of office in three years, and this is a project that for American construction would take longer than that, or he'll die before its built He well knows that if a Democrat comes into office after him, under the original plan, no ballroom would be built. He's taking steps, by destroying the entire wing, to make sure it has to be.
But even that won't. It'll just assure that something has to be done.
Trump knows that there's next to no chance of getting this monstrosity done in time.
I touched on that above, but there's every chance in the world that Trump leaves office, either at the expiration of his term, or being lead out while babbling in full dementia, and this project stops. As he departs his last glimpse of the ballroom will be of a construction project with workmen likely picking up debris.
There's a good chance that the week thereafter the construction company has cleared out and the trackhoe is back with the same operator demolishing this worthless monument.
It's a natural instinct in most people to complete a project.
And it's a natural instinct to keep and use something, once it's built. . . except for Americans.
Trump's spent a lot of time in the orbit of the high and the mighty his whole life. Since his first legitimate term in office, and now in his second illegitimate one, he's had the opportunity to see monumental public buildings that are really old, quite frankly frequently gaudy. He's not that smart of guy and he probably doesn't realize that the regimes that built such structures aren't always admired in later years, but he probably does appreciate that things Louis XIV built, or the Czars, are still being used.
The American track record isn't quite so good. We take down buildings all the time, including our athletic civil temples that were constructed at great expense. We usually get around to morning them long after they're gone.
Trump probably feels that if he can get this built, particular if the East Wing gets destroyed with it, it'll have to be built, and it'll have to stay when its built. Like Justice Kennedy, he probably naively assumes that after he's out of office, and after he's dead and gone, people will forget that he was a putz, and love him.
People aren't going to love him. He'll be remembered as the worst human being to ever occupy the Oval Office, and the building will come down. A future Democratic President will take it down to make a point, if not out of spite.
Trump is banking on nobody tearing it down (which I suspect is a pretty bad bet).
See above.
Another view of the hideous monstrosity.
An interesting aspect of this is the NatCon one that was circulating before this piece of shit project started to advance.
As we've noted before, Trump's real backers are members of the Dominionist New Apostolic Reformation, but within the NatCons are Catholic and Orthodox intellectuals who have become Illiberal Democrats. Not too surprisingly, this same group has pretty strong architectural views.
They like architect James McCrery.
Some of these folks hang out at website called Rorate Caeli, which is actually a type of Mass, but which means "drop down, ye Heavens." They really like James McCrery, and for good reason. Here's their post on his getting the job of being garden shed architect:
McCrery, Architects of Catholic Beauty, chosen to renovate the White House
McCrery Architects, New Carmel, Wyoming Those familiar with the architectural work of James McCrery know he is among the greats of the 20th and 21st centuries.
McCrery Architects, St. Mary Help of Christians, North Carolina Based on the Senate side of Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, he has designed, restored and enhanced numerous churches, schools, homes and other buildings — all in a classical style where the average man, woman and child responds “beautiful” upon seeing his work.
Now, Jim McCrery has designed what will be his legacy for generations of Americans: a new White House ballroom. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday $200 million in private funding (including Trump’s own money) will fund a ballroom next to the east wing of the White House that can accommodate 650 guests. This is needed, as the East Room of the White House (the largest for gatherings) seats around 200 people, so the custom has been to put up tents outside when a large dinner or event is hosted.
See the designs for yourself to appreciate them.
McCrery, who is celebrating his 60th birthday, completed a restoration and enhancement of Saint Mary Mother of God church near his DC studio, where the TLM existed from the mid-1980s until its suppression three years ago. From the cathedrals in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Raleigh, North Carolina, to Corpus Christi in the Diocese of Arlington, to the Newman Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, to the Carmelite monastery in Wyoming, the churches he designed are spectacular — no easy task in an age of modern codes, budget limitations and senior officials often advocating bland over beauty. McCrery’s name is synonymous with beauty.
Rorate congratulates Jim McCrery on this achievement and looks forward to the next three years of his project’s construction. And we commend President Trump for choosing traditional architecture, and developing a great relationship with such a fine architect. Who knows what others would have chosen to dump on the White House lawn! It is a time to be thankful for the partnership of McCrery and Trump on this project that will stand tall long after all of us depart this earth.
Rorate Caeli.
This is, quite frankly, part of what upsets me. This thing is ugly and stupid.
It'd be ugly and stupid anywhere, but it'd make more sense in some places. In Georgian England, for example, or in 18th Century France. If you went back, an were honest with yourself, you'd think "well. . . this is ugly and stupid, but looks like belongs here" and then you'd go on to tell everyone, "wow, that's impressive.
The top two buildings are in fact impressive. Why did they take this assignment?
Well, . . . on this, I'll be frank that I"m not so sure about the top building.
Wyoming isn't Medieval France or pre King Henry VIII the Vandal England, and I'm not really too sure that this fits the state too well. There's been a fair amount of murmuring about it, which is slightly embarrassing for Wyoming Catholics. We know we don't live in Medieval France.
I guess, however, that this is religious architecture and they are free to build what they wish.
Monumental public architecture belongs to the public, however. The public doesn't want a gigantic gilded garden shed.
Worthless Democrats
One thing this has served to do is to illustrate how completely worthless the Democratic Party is.
If this was the party of 1975, or 1985, it would have rushed out on day one and filed an action for an injunction, which would have included a request for a TRO. They would have gotten it.
More particularly, what they would have asked for is an injunction returning the White House to the status quo ante until the architectural commission in charge of these things had a chance to consider the matter. That would have meant that Donny would have had to stop the construction and the structure repaired, on his dime, until the body could meet and make a ruling.
Yes, that body is going to say "go ahead", but that would have burned through about $10M of the vandalization money in advance, and delayed the project by at least a year. Mobilization costs would have gone up, and Democrats would likely be back in power. The thing would never have been built.
Instead they sat around and did nothing.
This all points to an existential crisis within the Democratic Party. Most Democrats are actually center left, politically, but over the last fifteen or so years the party has been captured by its hardcore left wingers that will not compromise on anything, and so the party has glaciated. The left wingers in the Democratic Party are every bit as nutty, if not more so, than the hard right of the Republican Party.
We need new parties.
McCrery
I noted earlier that I had placed some home in the design in that James McCrery was responsible for it.
I've lost that hope.
The more I look at it, it's just flat out gaudy and ugly. It's interesting to note that McCrery, who was one of the people that Donny did the roof top tour with recently, has been taking some flak.
Apparently McCrery wasn't always a classicist. And people interviewed about him recently haven't been all that kind. For example, Robert Livesey, who was chair of the Ohio State architecture department from 1983 to 1991 when McCrery was a student wrote recently in an email that “to be honest, I do not have a real memory of Jim. My sense was that he was a good design student which is why Eisenman hired him, Unfortunately, his work does not have the presence of real classical architecture, or even of people who were also after the classical, like Palladio, or later Hawksmoor.”
Eisenman refers to Peter Eisenman, who was a professor at Ohio State and who took McCrery under his wing and later employed him. Eisenman is not a classicist and has called his former underlings design "bonkers", adding "putting a portico at the end of a long facade and not in the center is what one might say is untutored.”
Pretty harsh. In fairness, Eisenman and McCrery seem to have had a falling out some time ago, and McCrery seems to have become very identified with his Faith in regard to his architectural projects, which leads a person to wonder why he'd want to take on a giant civil structure like this. Frankly, Eisenman's criticism seems pretty valid to me.
Rats
One potentially good thing about this is that it might make a lot of rats homeless. Apparently the White House is full of them, in the walls.
No big surprise.
Rats being rats, however, they're probably just moving into the house itself.
What should reconstruction look like?
One thing that this brings up is what should reconstruction look like. The White House grounds are already pretty crowded without this monstrosity. Frankly, a pretty good argument can be made that the East and West Wings detract from the original appearance of the structure. Maybe this presents an opportunity just to take them out, although apparently that would create an office space problem.
The donors
Here's who is paying for this abomination:
Altria Group, Inc.
Amazon
Apple
Booz Allen Hamilton
Caterpillar, Inc.
Coinbase
Comcast Corporation
J. Pepe and Emilia Fanjul
Hard Rock International
HP Inc.
Lockheed Martin
Meta Platforms
Micron Technology
Microsoft
NextEra Energy, Inc.
Palantir Technologies Inc.
Ripple
Reynolds American
T-Mobile
Tether America
Union Pacific Railroad
Adelson Family Foundation
Stefan E. Brodie
Betty Wold Johnson Foundation
Charles and Marissa Cascarilla
Edward and Shari Glazer
Harold Hamm
Benjamin Leon Jr.
The Lutnick Family
The Laura & Isaac Perlmutter Foundation
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Konstantin Sokolov
Kelly Loeffler and Jeff Sprecher
Paolo Tiramani
Cameron Winklevoss
Tyler Winklevoss
Some of these you know, and some of their products you use everyday. Microsoft, for example, is pretty hard to avoid.
Some can be easily avoided. I'll never eat in another Hard Rock Cafe again, ever, which of course will be an easy thing for me to do.
Last edition: