German U-boat commander Heinz-Wilhelm Eck, age 29, German U-boat , was executed as a war criminal for ordering his crew to shoot the survivors of the Greek merchant ship Peleus in March 1944.
Seems like I've heard of that happening recently . . .
Rudolf Hess declared he really didn't have amnesia and was prepared to stand trial.
German civilians were executed for killing downed airmen.
The news was full of the return of long absent servicemen.
"Atomic" was already being used as a synonym for powerful.
Even the cartoons dealt with the return of servicemen.
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.”
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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.
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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'
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
I suppose this film should not technically be in this category, as it takes place in contemporary times. However, it fits into the Doomsday Thriller category of movie, and its in good company with some others we should touch on. Such filmes would include Fail Safe, Dr. Strangelove, On The Beach, The Bedford Incident, and War Games.
This movie, quite frankly, maybe the very best of them, although Dr. Strangelove would certainly give it a run for that.
Using a technique used in the recent movie Dunkirk, this film has a series of timelines all of which center around the same thing. An inbound intercontinental missile, launched somewhere in the Pacific, has been detected and there's a mere 20 minutes to address the situation. The launch was undetected, so its unclear who sent the single missile on its way. At first it's assumed that its probably a North Korean test and will drop in the Pacific, but soon its clear that it is not.
The timeline involves an anti ballistic missile unit attempting to shoot the missle down, the senior leaders of the military attempting to figure out what is going on and how to deal with it, and the President of the United States, at a public relations event, struggling to determine how, if at all, the country should react to a missle that seems likely to hit U.S. soil.
It's very well done and frankly probably a lot more realistic than people may wish to admit. Cell phone discipline breaks down nearly immediately, which on the cusp of a nuclear disaster, it likely would. The individual reactions, from stoic to distraught, are likely fairly accurate too. All in all, I can't find anything to criticize about this film, although government officials have, most particularly the U.S. Military which insists that in this scenario it'd likely have a 100% chance of shooting the inbound missile down.
I'm glad this isn't going forward. It shouldn't, because of where it's located.
But because of where its located is where it drew attention.
In Natrona County, over the past year, residents have risen up in opposition to this gravel mine, a proposed solar farm in the western end of the county, and a proposed nuclear generator manufacturing facility north of Casper. In Gillette there's some sort of controversy going on over some sort of nuclear facility. And there's a big debate on a wind farm in Laramie County.
It's hard to know what to make of all of this.
What is clear is that local politicians respond to the controversies. I'm sure if you asked any one of the Natrona County Commissioners if they supported energy, they would say yes. And they'd all say they support mining. But when the votes come, they're voting like they're members of Greenpeace.
And one local legislature says that his nickname is now "No nuke" for his opposition to the nuclear generator facility.
Nuclear energy is the safest and most efficient form of power generation we have, and until the mysteries of fission are unlocked, if ever, it'll continue to be. In a rational world we'd have a five year plan to replace every coal burning plant in the country with nuclear power.
Indeed, going one step further, we'd mandate the retirement of petroleum fueled everything in that time frame, or perhaps ten years.
The reason we don't is because, for the most part, even though we're the smartest animal on the planet, we're not anywhere near as smart as we like to think we are. If we were, we'd make decisions based on logic. Most people don't. Most people make decisions based on emotion.
It's easy to understand why a person would emotionally resent a gravel pit in their backyard, more or less, or solar panels taking up acres of land. The same with windmills. Nuclear? Well, the opposition to nuclear is due to our having used the bomb to murder thousands of Japanese civilians. It's stuck with us and we fear it, as that was our first use of it. People will tell you they are worried about contamination and the like. Bah. It's Hiroshima and Nagasaki they're worried about, even though that can't happen.
I'm old enough to remember when we had open pit uranium mining in Wyoming. In the early 1980s I knew a few guys who worked out at the Shirley Basin mine site, including one who lived in the little, now abandoned, town of Shirley Basin. I also knew some who lived and worked in Jeffrey City, where they worked in uranium mines. When they closed down, the state was distraught.
Now it seems nobody remembers that, and the thought of anything nuclear drives people into fits of despair.
I think a lot of it is fear of change.
That in fact explains a lot about populism And it explains why the current heavily right wing populist in Natrona County are adamantly against something that the populists in Washington D.C. reading Uglier Home and Paved Garden are for.
Change, we're told, is inevitable. If it is, it's because we will it so, much of it through our absolute laziness. We want our lives to be easier and more convenient just for us, but at the same time we want things to stay the way they are.
Which for a person like me, whose an introverted, introspective, agrarian, is particularly amusing in some ways.
I really hate change, myself, and I also want things to be the way they were. But not five or ten years ago, like so many of the people who protest on these matters. Indeed, many are quite new imports.
Victor Colorado, 1900. One of these houses was my great grandparents'.
I'd like them to be like they were in 1879 when my family first arrived in this region. . . or even earlier if possible. I'd settle for 1963, when I personally arrived.
I won't get those wishes.
I will note, however, a nuclear powered America might look more like American in 1879 than the one of 2025 does. As I look out at all the protests I'm struck by how many people in Wyoming are absolutely wedded to the oil and gas industry. It wasn't always so.
Back in the 1960s (I have a long memory) a lot of locals remained pretty skeptical about the oil and gas industry, in part because the state had recently been shafted for its reliance upon petroleum. People loved it again in the 1970s but when that boom collapsed people swore to never be reliant upon it again.
We apparently got over that.
Now we fear what we know to be true. Petroleum and coal won't last forever. The dirty little secret of the petroleum industry in Wyoming anymore is that drilling is really for gas far more than petroleum oil. Petroleum is on the way out, like it or not, and the United States is an expensive oil and gas province to drill in. Absent actually prohibiting its import, which I wouldn't put past Donald Trump, Saudi petroleum will always be cheaper. For that matter, Russian petroleum will always be as well and thinking you can really prohibit India China from importing it is absolute folly. Coal, which we've dealt with extensively, in a slow but accelerating death spiral.
The sort of imaginary world so many in MAGA wish to return to. Big powerful cars, driven by guys of course, but at the same time don't want to return to, as living without as much as these people did, compared to us, would be uncomfortable.
Donald Trump may say "drill baby drill", and put thousands of acres up for coal leasing, but Trump in many ways is the last dying gasp of of the 1950s.
And the 50s of our imaginations never existed. But we fear that it didn't, as we fear the thought that our oil stained hands will reach the point where we'll have to grab a bar of Lava soap and scrub it off, forever. The jobs will go away.
Funny thing is, from time to time, there's been serious proposals to put in something related to local agriculture, which was here in the beginning of our statehood, and still is. Wyoming hadn't really supported a big ag project since the 1930s, and indeed local municipalities oppose things related to agriculture. It's short sighted.
But then, perhaps I'm romantic about for various reasons that recent migrants to the state don't share.
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