The Casper Tribune reported on major events of the day, but what drew my attention was the horse packing plant. I was completely unaware that Casper had every had one.
A little digging shows the company was still in business in February 1928, and doing well enough to have a full page ad.
By that time it was then packing everything, including poultry. Horses were still noted, however, with the reference to wild horses, "outlaws of the range". The company advertised into the 1930s, and there were newspaper reports of it taking in huge numbers of horses.
What happened to it?
Of interest on this story, the plant was owned by Hill Milling Company, which still exists. It's Hill's Pet Nutrition today. Apparently in the 1930s it was a major supplier of horse meat to Europe.
The Soviet Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars.established Gostrudsberkassy, the savings bank for workers in the Soviet Union.
On the same day, the USSR and the Emirate of Afghanistan went to war over control of the island of Urta Tagay.
The small war over the island resulted from Imperial Russian troops having to abandon the island in 1920 in order to aid the White cause, with the island, long claimed by Afghanistan, then occupied. The fight drew the attention of western nations, and amazingly Afghanistan won.
And the Federal Government gives a boost to the technology that's going to 1) take all our jobs, and 2), kill us.
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose. From the founding of our Republic, scientific discovery and technological innovation have driven American progress and prosperity. Today, America is in a race for global technology dominance in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), an important frontier of scientific discovery and economic growth. To that end, my Administration has taken a number of actions to win that race, including issuing multiple Executive Orders and implementing America’s AI Action Plan, which recognizes the need to invest in AI-enabled science to accelerate scientific advancement. In this pivotal moment, the challenges we face require a historic national effort, comparable in urgency and ambition to the Manhattan Project that was instrumental to our victory in World War II and was a critical basis for the foundation of the Department of Energy (DOE) and its national laboratories.
This order launches the “Genesis Mission” as a dedicated, coordinated national effort to unleash a new age of AI‑accelerated innovation and discovery that can solve the most challenging problems of this century. The Genesis Mission will build an integrated AI platform to harness Federal scientific datasets — the world’s largest collection of such datasets, developed over decades of Federal investments — to train scientific foundation models and create AI agents to test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs. The Genesis Mission will bring together our Nation’s research and development resources — combining the efforts of brilliant American scientists, including those at our national laboratories, with pioneering American businesses; world-renowned universities; and existing research infrastructure, data repositories, production plants, and national security sites — to achieve dramatic acceleration in AI development and utilization. We will harness for the benefit of our Nation the revolution underway in computing, and build on decades of innovation in semiconductors and high-performance computing. The Genesis Mission will dramatically accelerate scientific discovery, strengthen national security, secure energy dominance, enhance workforce productivity, and multiply the return on taxpayer investment into research and development, thereby furthering America’s technological dominance and global strategic leadership.
Sec. 2. Establishment of the Genesis Mission. (a) There is hereby established the Genesis Mission (Mission), a national effort to accelerate the application of AI for transformative scientific discovery focused on pressing national challenges.
(b) The Secretary of Energy (Secretary) shall be responsible for implementing the Mission within DOE, consistent with the provisions of this order, including, as appropriate and authorized by law, setting priorities and ensuring that all DOE resources used for elements of the Mission are integrated into a secure, unified platform. The Secretary may designate a senior political appointee to oversee day-to-day operations of the Mission.
(c) The Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (APST) shall provide general leadership of the Mission, including coordination of participating executive departments and agencies (agencies) through the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) and the issuance of guidance to ensure that the Mission is aligned with national objectives.
Sec. 3. Operation of the American Science and Security Platform.
(a) The Secretary shall establish and operate the American Science and Security Platform (Platform) to serve as the infrastructure for the Mission with the purpose of providing, in an integrated manner and to the maximum extent practicable and consistent with law:
(i) high-performance computing resources, including DOE national laboratory supercomputers and secure cloud-based AI computing environments, capable of supporting large-scale model training, simulation, and inference;
(ii) AI modeling and analysis frameworks, including AI agents to explore design spaces, evaluate experimental outcomes, and automate workflows;
(iii) computational tools, including AI-enabled predictive models, simulation models, and design optimization tools;
(iv) domain-specific foundation models across the range of scientific domains covered;
(v) secure access to appropriate datasets, including proprietary, federally curated, and open scientific datasets, in addition to synthetic data generated through DOE computing resources, consistent with applicable law; applicable classification, privacy, and intellectual property protections; and Federal data-access and data-management standards; and
(vi) experimental and production tools to enable autonomous and AI-augmented experimentation and manufacturing in high-impact domains.
(b) The Secretary shall take necessary steps to ensure that the Platform is operated in a manner that meets security requirements consistent with its national security and competitiveness mission, including applicable classification, supply chain security, and Federal cybersecurity standards and best practices.
(c) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall identify Federal computing, storage, and networking resources available to support the Mission, including both DOE on-premises and cloud-based high-performance computing systems, and resources available through industry partners. The Secretary shall also identify any additional partnerships or infrastructure enhancements that could support the computational foundation for the Platform.
(d) Within 120 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall:
(i) identify a set of initial data and model assets for use in the Mission, including digitization, standardization, metadata, and provenance tracking; and
(ii) develop a plan, with appropriate risk-based cybersecurity measures, for incorporating datasets from federally funded research, other agencies, academic institutions, and approved private-sector partners, as appropriate.
(e) Within 240 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall review capabilities across the DOE national laboratories and other participating Federal research facilities for robotic laboratories and production facilities with the ability to engage in AI-directed experimentation and manufacturing, including automated and AI-augmented workflows and the related technical and operational standards needed.
(f) Within 270 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall, consistent with applicable law and subject to available appropriations, seek to demonstrate an initial operating capability of the Platform for at least one of the national science and technology challenges identified pursuant to section 4 of this order.
Sec. 4. Identification of National Science and Technology Challenges.
(a) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary shall identify and submit to the APST a detailed list of at least 20 science and technology challenges of national importance that the Secretary assesses to have potential to be addressed through the Mission and that span priority domains consistent with National Science and Technology Memorandum 2 of September 23, 2025, including:
(i) advanced manufacturing;
(ii) biotechnology;
(iii) critical materials;
(iv) nuclear fission and fusion energy;
(v) quantum information science; and
(vi) semiconductors and microelectronics.
(b) Within 30 days of submission of the list described in subsection (a) of this section, the APST shall review the proposed list and, working with participating agency members of the NSTC, coordinate the development of an expanded list that can serve as the initial set of national science and technology challenges to be addressed by the Mission, including additional challenges proposed by participating agencies through the NSTC, subject to available appropriations.
(c) Following development of the expanded list described in subsection (b) of this section, agencies participating in the Mission shall use the Platform to advance research and development aligned with the national science and technology challenges identified in the expanded list, consistent with applicable law and their respective missions, and subject to available appropriations.
(d) On an annual basis thereafter, the Secretary shall review and update the list of challenges in consultation with the APST and the NSTC to reflect progress achieved, emerging national needs, and alignment with my Administration’s research and development priorities.
Sec. 5. Interagency Coordination and External Engagement.
(a) The APST, through the NSTC, and with support from the Federal Chief Data Officer Council and the Chief AI Officer Council, shall convene relevant and interested agencies to:
(i) assist participating agencies in aligning, to the extent permitted by law, their AI-related programs, datasets, and research and development activities with the objectives of the Mission in their respective areas of expertise, while avoiding duplication of effort across the Federal Government and promoting interoperability;
(ii) identify data sources that may support the Mission’s aim;
(iii) develop a process and resourcing plan in coordination with participating agencies for integrating appropriate and available agency data and infrastructure into the Mission, to the extent permitted by law and subject to available appropriations, including methods under which all agencies contributing to the Mission are encouraged to implement appropriate risk-based security measures that reflect cybersecurity best practices;
(iv) launch coordinated funding opportunities or prize competitions across participating agencies, to the extent permitted by law and subject to available appropriations, to incentivize private-sector participation in AI-driven scientific research aligned with Mission objectives; and
(v) establish mechanisms to coordinate research and development funding opportunities and experimental resources across participating agencies, ensuring agencies can participate effectively in the Mission.
(b) The APST shall coordinate with relevant agencies in establishing, consistent with existing authorizing statutes and subject to available appropriations, competitive programs for research fellowships, internships, and apprenticeships focused on the application of AI to scientific domains identified as national challenges for the Mission, to include placement of program participants at DOE national laboratories and other participating Federal research facilities, with the purpose of providing access to the Platform and training in AI-enabled scientific discovery.
(c) The Secretary, in coordination with the APST and the Special Advisor for AI and Crypto, shall establish mechanisms for agency collaboration with external partners possessing advanced AI, data, or computing capabilities or scientific domain expertise, including through cooperative research and development agreements, user facility partnerships, or other appropriate arrangements with external entities to support and enhance the activities of the Mission, and shall ensure that such partnerships are structured to preserve the security of Federal research assets and maximize public benefit. To facilitate these collaborations, the Secretary shall:
(i) develop standardized partnership frameworks, including cooperative research and development or other appropriate agreements, and data-use and model‑sharing agreements;
(ii) establish clear policies for ownership, licensing, trade-secret protections, and commercialization of intellectual property developed under the Mission, including innovations arising from AI-directed experiments;
(iii) implement uniform and stringent data access and management processes and cybersecurity standards for non-Federal collaborators accessing datasets, models, and computing environments, including measures requiring compliance with classification, privacy, and export-control requirements, as well as other applicable laws; and
(iv) establish procedures to ensure the highest standards of vetting and authorization of users and collaborators seeking access to the resources of the Mission and associated research activities, including the Platform and associated Federal research resources.
(d) The APST, through the NSTC, shall, to the extent appropriate, identify opportunities for international scientific collaboration to support activities under the Mission.
Sec. 6. Evaluation and Reporting.
(a) Within 1 year of the date of this order, and on an annual basis thereafter, the Secretary shall submit a report to the President, through the APST and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, describing:
(i) the Platform’s operational status and capabilities;
(ii) progress toward integration across DOE national laboratories and other participating Federal research partners, including shared access to computing resources, data infrastructure, and research facilities;
(iii) the status of user engagement, including participation of student researchers and any related training;
(iv) updates on research efforts and outcomes achieved, including measurable scientific advances, publications, and prototype technologies;
(v) the scope and outcomes of public-private partnerships, including collaborative research projects and any technology transitions or commercialization activities; and
(vi) any identified needs or recommendations for authorities or interagency support to achieve the Mission’s objectives.
Sec. 7. General Provisions.
(a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of Energy.
Truly an example, for Wyoming, of play stupid games, win stupid prizes, which we're seeing a lot of now days. Chaining ourselves to the far right is proving to be a huge mistake in nearly everything.
Republicans have been opposed to the Affordable Health Care Act from the very beginning, but have failed to repeal it, and have failed to offer any alternatives to it. The act itself definitely has flaws, but ironically the flaws that exist are due to ongoing right wing opposition to national health care, which every other advanced nation has.
The credit system that the AFHA currently has came in during the Covid pandemic, and because of it, given that so many people were out of work. Removing them will cause a massive jump in insurance rates. None of this is a surprise to people who have looked at it, and frankly I suspect its a backdoor path to Republicans removing the system on the basis that it's too expensive and hence a failure.
It might also prove to be the straw that breaks the back of resistance to national health care. Thousand will not be able to afford insurance and it'll be a health crisis. Populists on the right will receive the blame for it while those on the left, like Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez will pick it up, arguing for a national system. The political winds are already turning against the Republicans and this will make it worse for them.
Because of the cost of healthcare, this is an area where the principals of subsidiarity, as well as the principal of solidarity, really call for a basic national system, which shouldn't be all that hard to create. Such a system would cover basic health care. Elective matters of a non life threatening nature it wouldn't. And it wouldn't cover the "medical" items in the culture wars either, such as abortion
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus people, heavily made up in the legislature of carpetbaggers, and their street level MAGA adherents, which believe that global warming is a fib and that coal and petroleum will last forever, have likely chased Radiant Energy's nuclear generator factory out of the state, and out of Natrona County.
To hear many of the opposition to these proposals tell it, this is what was going to happen if Radiant Energy was allowed to come into the state
This is because they fear nuclear waste in spite of the repeated efforts of everyone who has looked into it that,to explain that in this case, there was nothing to fear.
The ironies of this are so thick it isn't funny. In a state in which rampaging gang land rape is thought of as a virtue, opponents of this project sometimes came across sounding like they were members of Greenpeace.
Well, you can't really have the a "save the planet" and "drill baby drill" point of view simultaneously, unless you are ignorant. And this has been the triumph of ignorance.
Indeed, a person sustains more exposure to radiation from ceiling fans (truly) than they would have for this proposal, of from background radon gas, or simply from living in the state.
Trump, who ironically supports nuclear, won't be around forever and the end of carbon based fuels is not only on the horizon, it's out on the front lawn. Nuclear energy is the future.
The entity would have directly employed 250 people.
But this is common for Wyoming. I've seen feedlots basically run off twice, and by long standing assertion, Natrona County fail to support an effort by Coors to grow barley here.
I suppose if there is a bright spot, it would be that, given economic realities, this points us back to a very early type of economy in the state in a way. That won't make those employed in the oil and gas industry who think it's going to last forever happy, and it won't make any truck driving public servants happy either, but that's going to occur. Of course, retirees who made their lives elsewhere and who don't give a rats ass about the state's economy now that they've left their job somewhere else won't care much.
In other news, visitors to Grand Teton Grand Teton spent $808M in 2024.
The fallout on Radiant pulling out is really proving to be the nuclear sh** that hit the fan and having all sort of interesting implications, one of which is that voters in some districts are getting a good look at their recently elected legislators for the first time.
One of whom is now in the spotlight is Natrona County Freedom Caucus member Bill Allemand, who hails from Midwest, a town that's completely dependant upon petroleum production. The town sits right in the center of the old Salt Creek Oil Field. Allemand himself is a truck driver. According to his website, he graduated from high school in 1977, which would mean that he's about 66 years old or so. He's from a ranching family in that area. It's really unclear, but he seems to have left and lived in Kansas for years. When he came back, he went to work as a truck driver in Wyoming, which perhaps he was in Kansas. His website conspicuously fails to mention a spouse, which would likely suggest there isn't one.
Right from the onset, Allemand ran as a member of the very far right. He displaced long serving legislator Pat Sweeney in a race that saw the district boundaries redrawn. Sweeney, a genteel older gentleman with a long history in politics was a tavern owner but had probably simply stayed around in politics too long, although he's still in it, now serving as a City of Casper Councilman. Allemand was shockingly rude during his campaign against Sweeney and would have lost for that reason alone in earlier times.
Allemand in the legislature hasn't been hugely notable. He's in the camp that has sided against public lands in various ways and is one of the legislatures which Wyoming outdoor recreationist should not support. Now he's self branded as "Mr. No Nukes", a tag he proudly boasted about, right up until now when it's suddenly clear that a lot of Republicans are not very impressed. Allemand is already running for reelection for 2026 and may have a battle on his hands.
While Allemand is a Wyomingite, unlike a lot of Freedom Caucus members, he fits into that class of individuals who apparently made their lives elsewhere and returned to the state late in life. Brent Bien is another one. These people weren't all here when the state loved its uranium industry and are seemingly wedded to coal and oil at the existential level.
As an aside, Allemand in photographs appears to have a wad of chewing tobacco under his front lip 90% of the time. Perhaps I'm in error, but it's a pretty distinct look. He ought to ditch that.
Anyhow, now that Allemand prevailed and Radiant isn't coming, he's suddenly wanting to "bury the hatchet" with those whom he tangled with. They do not appear to be ready to do that, nor should they. Allemand didn't live in Bar Nunn but he went so far as to opine they should not have a police force, a totally local issues. During this controversy he drew attention to himself, and now he will have to live with the implications of it.
This makes plain in the present era something industry insiders, which I was to a slight degree back in the 90s, have known for decades. Coal is dead. People who boost it are either delusional, which much of the Freedom Caucus, maybe all of it, really are, or are telling people what they want to hear in order to advance themselves.
Which gets back to the Freedom Caucus. Why did they oppose nuclear projects? It's really unclear. To a large degree, however, it seems that a lot of them are just blisteringly ignorant on the state's history. They seem to be a carpetbagging Rexall Cowboys to a large extent.
I'm fairly firmly convinced that some don't' fit that category, and are just cynical. I'd place Chuck Gray in that category He's from the extreme far right but has gone full greenie in Natrona County, including opposing Radiant. Why? Probably simple political expediency. Indeed, I'm fairly convinced that if Donald Trump, in his declining mental state, announced that he intended to dump Melania and pursue Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a love interest, Gray would be AOC's biggest fan.
Little noticed in Natrona County, the same drama is going on in Campbell County.
Governor Gordon Voices Disappointment in Radiant Nuclear Announcement
CHEYENNE, Wyo, October 14, 2025 - Governor Gordon (R-WY) made the following statement today regarding the announcement by Radiant Nuclear.
“It is a sad day when Wyoming loses out to Tennessee in providing energy leadership. Members of the Freedom Caucus inspired ‘Club No’ convinced Radiant that Wyoming isn’t about leadership and problem solving. Tennessee stood ready to accept that opportunity; maybe they understand how to build an economy.
‘Club No’ has ushered in a new culture of no matter who began or who commenced it, we’re against it. That is not the way Wyoming became the great state it is. We aren’t even following President Trump's lead.
Let me say it plainly: Wyoming should not be held back by fear. We should be pioneers. We should be the first state companies turn to when they want regulatory clarity, bold infrastructure, and a partner for innovation. The Trump Administration’s energy agenda gave us the opening; this microreactor project fits that agenda. Given a chance, if we had been willing to work together, no problem is unsolvable for Wyoming.
I applaud the citizens, county leaders, and those legislators who believed in opportunity over obstruction and Wyoming’s legendary reputation for finding solutions. Let’s work together to ensure Wyoming remains open for business. We will not let the ‘Club No’ crowd define our future.”
$$$
An item from the Leopards Won't Eat My Face group:
Seriously, how stupid can you be. Why did ranchers (and I am one) think Trump would be good for them? Republicans never are, and he's a rather dim urbanite.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
October 24, 2025
cont:
Oh yeah. . .that's clearly the reaction a totally stable secure genius would have . . .
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
$$$
Inflation is up as prices jumped 3% last month.
October 25, 2025
cont:
When I was a kid, a particularly vicious insult was to call somebody a "diaper baby". It was such an insult, that it called for an immediate retraction or fisticuss. A person who would swallow such an insult accepted that they were, in fact, a diaper baby.
It expressed an extreme sort of narcissistic childish immmaturity.
Trump has hiked tariffs on Canada as he couldn't hack Ontario's well done Reagan advertisement. That's because, quite frankly, Donald Trump is a diaper baby.
$$$
The Senate voted to end King Donny's bogus emergency tariffs on Brazil and will be voting to remove his emergency tariff authority entirely later this week.
As Smarmy Mike sent the House home, and won't recall them, nothing can happen right now. The Trump UniBrain GOP in the House earlier voted not to take up the illegal tariffs for the rest of the year anyhow.
What this frankly is, is a sign that an economic train wreck is coming and the Senate doesn't want the blame, or rather a few GOP Senators that aren't part of the UniBrain see it coming and don't want the blame.
October 29, 2025.
$$$
In exchange for promises from China, which I'm sure are all so good, that will crack down on fentanyl, the United States will shave 10% off the tariffs it charges on Chinese goods.
2025 年 10 月 30 日'
$$$
Trump's decision to stop the production of pennies is causing a crisis in retail in parts of the country as exact change can no longer be made as the supply of pennies dries up.
Of course, the logic is that pennies aren't worth anything, which makes some sense for a government that thinks 3% is an ideal inflation rate.
0% is an ideal inflation rate. What with electronic and technological developments, we could frankly have a mild, say 3% deflation rate, and ought to aim for that.
I was going to use the work "revolution", but didn't as I don't want it suggested that I mean an armed revolution. I'm not. Indeed, I'm not keen on violence in general, and as I intend to refer to the American Revolution in this essay, I'll note that had I lived in the 1770s, I'd have been genuinely horrified by events. I highly doubt that I would have joined the "Patriots" and likewise I wouldn't have joined the Loyalist either. I'd have been in the 1/3d that sat the war out with out choosing sides, but distressed by the overall nature of it.
Interestingly, just yesterday I heard a Catholic Answers interview of Dr. Andrew Willard Jones on his book The Church Against the State. The interview had a fascinating discussion on sovereignty and subsidiarity, and included a discussion on systems of organizing society, including oligarchy.
Oligarchy is now where we are at.
I've been thinking about it, and Dr. Jones has really hit on something. The nature of Americanism, if you will, is in fact not its documentary artifacts and (damaged) institutions, it is, rather, in what it was. At the time of the American Revolution the country had an agrarian/distributist culture and that explained, and explains, everything about it.
The Revolution itself was fought against a society that had concentrated oligarchical wealth. To more than a little degree, colonist to British North America had emigrated to escape that.
We've been losing that for some time. Well over a century, in fact, and indeed dating back into the 19th Century. It started accelerating in the mid 20th Century and now, even though most do not realize it, we are a full blown oligarchy.
Speaking generally, we may say that whatever legal enactments are held to be for the interest of various constitutions, all these preserve them. And the great preserving principle is the one which has been repeatedly mentioned- to have a care that the loyal citizen should be stronger than the disloyal. Neither should we forget the mean, which at the present day is lost sight of in perverted forms of government; for many practices which appear to be democratical are the ruin of democracies, and many which appear to be oligarchical are the ruin of oligarchies. Those who think that all virtue is to be found in their own party principles push matters to extremes; they do not consider that disproportion destroys a state. A nose which varies from the ideal of straightness to a hook or snub may still be of good shape and agreeable to the eye; but if the excess be very great, all symmetry is lost, and the nose at last ceases to be a nose at all on account of some excess in one direction or defect in the other; and this is true of every other part of the human body. The same law of proportion equally holds in states. Oligarchy or democracy, although a departure from the most perfect form, may yet be a good enough government, but if any one attempts to push the principles of either to an extreme, he will begin by spoiling the government and end by having none at all. Wherefore the legislator and the statesman ought to know what democratical measures save and what destroy a democracy, and what oligarchical measures save or destroy an oligarchy. For neither the one nor the other can exist or continue to exist unless both rich and poor are included in it. If equality of property is introduced, the state must of necessity take another form; for when by laws carried to excess one or other element in the state is ruined, the constitution is ruined.
Aristotle, Politics.
Corporations were largely illegal in early American history. They existed, but were highly restricted. The opposite is the case now, with corporations' "personhood" being so protected by the law that the United States Supreme Court has ruled that corporate political spending is a form of free speech and corporations can spend unlimited money on independent political broadcasts in candidate elections. This has created a situation in which corporations have gobbled up local retail in the US and converted middle class shopkeeping families into serfs. It's also made individual heads of corporations obscenely, and I used that word decidedly, wealthy.
Wealth on the level demonstrated by Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Donald Trump simply should not exist. It's bad for average people and its corrupting of their souls. That corruption can be seen in their unhinged desire for self aggrandizement and acquisition. Elon Must acquires young white women of a certain type for concubinage Donald Trump, whose money is rooted in the occupation of land, has collected bedmates over the years, "marrying" some of them and in his declining mental state, seeks to demonstrated his value through grotesque molestation of public property.
Those are individual examples of course, but the government we currently have, while supported by the Puritan class, disturbingly features men of vast wealth, getting wealthier, with a government that operates to fork over more money to those who already have it. The MAGA masses, which stand to grow poorer, and in the case of the agricultural sector are very much already suffering that fate, deservedly after supporting Trump, continue to believe that the demented fool knows what he's doing.
I don't know the source of this, but this illustration perfectly depicts how MAGA populists treat Donald Trump.
This system is rotten to the core and it needs to be broken. Broken down, broken up, and ended.
The hopes of either the Democrats or the Republicans waking up and addressing it seem slim. The GOP is so besotted with it's wealthy leaders that the Speaker of the House, who claims to be a devout Christian, is attempting to keep the release of the names of wealthy hebephiles secret. Only wealth and power can explain that. The Democrats, which since 1912 have claimed to be the part of the working man, flounder when trying to handle the economic plight of the middle class. Both parties agree on only one thing, that being you must never consider a third party.
It is really time for a third part in this country.
In reality, of course, there are some, but only one is worth considering in any fashion, that being the American Solidarity Party. Perhaps it could pick up the gauntlet here and smack it across the face of the oligarchy. Or perhaps local parties might do it. In my state, I think that if enough conservative Republicans (real conservatives, not the Cassie Cravens, John Bear, Dave Simpson, Bob Ide, Chuck Gray servants of the Orange Golden Calf Republicans) it could be done locally. The U.S. has a history, although its barely acknowledged, of local parties, including ones whose members often successfully run on the tick of two parties. New York's Zohran Mamdani and David Dinkins, for example were both Democrats and members of the Democratic Socialist Party. Democrats from Minnesota are actually members of the Democratic Farm Labor Party, which is an amalgamation of two parties. There's no reason a Wyoming Party couldn't form and field its own candidates, some of whom could also run as Republicans.
Such a party, nationally or locally, needs to be bold and take on the oligarchy. There's no time to waste on this, as the oligarchy gets stronger every day. And such candidates will meet howls of derision. Locally Californian Chuck Gray, who ironically has looked like the Green Peace Secretary of State on some issues, will howl about how they're all Communist Monarchist Islamic Stamp Collectors. And some will reason to howl, such as the wealthy landlord in the state's legislature.
The reason for that is simple. Such a party would need to apply, and apply intelligently, the principals of subsidiarity, solidarity and the land ethic. It would further need to be scientific, agrarianistic, and distributist.
The first thing, nationally or locally, that such a party should do is bad the corporate ownership of retail outlets. Ban it. That would immediately shift retail back to the middle class, but also to the family unit. A family might be able to own two grocery or appliance stores, for example, but probably not more than that.
The remote and corporate ownership of rural land needs to come to an immediate end as well. No absentee landlords. People owning agricultural land should be only those people making a living from it.
That model, in fact, should apply overall to the ownership of land. Renting land out, for any reason, ought to be severely restricted. The maintenance of a land renting system, including residential rent, creates landlords, who too often turn into Lords.
On land, the land ethic ought to be applied on a legal and regulatory basis. The American concept of absolute ownership of land is a fraud on human dignity. Ownership of land is just, but not the absolute ownership. You can't do anything you want on your property, nor should you be able to, including the entry by those engaged in natural activities, such as hunting, fishing, or simply hiking, simply because you are an agriculturalist.
While it might be counterintuitive in regard to subsidiarity, it's really the case, in this context, that the mineral resources underneath the surface of the Earth should belong to the public at large, either at the state, or national, level. People make no contribution whatsoever to the mineral wealth being there. They plant nothing and they do not stock the land, like farmers do with livestock. It's presence or absence is simply by happenstance and allowing some to become wealthy and some in the same category not simply by luck is not fair. It
Manufacturing and distribution, which has been address, is trickier, but at the end of the day, a certain amount of employee ownership of corporations in this category largely solves the problem. People working for Big Industry ought to own a slice of it.
And at some level, a system which allows for the accumulation of obscene destructive levels of wealth is wrong. Much of what we've addressed would solve this. You won't be getting rich in retail if you can only have a few stores, for example. And you won't be a rich landlord from rent if most things just can't be rented. But the presence of the massively wealthy, particularly in an electronic age, continues to be vexing. Some of this can be addressed by taxation. The USCCB has stated that "the tax system should be continually evaluated in terms of its impact on the poor.” and it should be. The wealthy should pay a much more progressive tax rate.
These are, of course, all economic, or rather politico-economic matters. None of this addresses the great or stalking horse social issues of the day. We'll address those, as we often have, elsewhere. But the fact of the matter is, right now, the rich and powerful use these issues to distract. Smirky Mike Johnson may claim to be a devout Christian, but he's prevented the release of names of men who raped teenage girls. Donald Trump may publicly state that he's worried about going to Hell, but he remains a rich serial polygamist. J.D. Vance may claim to be a devout Catholic, but he spends a lot of time lying through his teeth.
And, frankly, fix the economic issues, and a lot of these issues fix themselves.
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