Print press reporters, including both those online and on newsprint, the two being increasingly duplicated these days when newsprint remains, should be sentenced to a junior high kiddies paper for life if they quote a document, and don't put in a link to it.
You ignorant twit. If we read your article, we can read the document and then could make up our own minds about it. . . oh. . . wait. . .
We have no image of the Casper Daily Tribune today, but if we did, you would have seen an article about the Cantlin trial.
Moreover, if you could have read the Casper Herald, a different newspaper, you would have seen the following.
CANTLIN FREED BY JURY WYOMING'S SHAME
Erroll J. Cantlin has been granted legal permission by a jury of Douglas citizens, (God save the Word) to shoot and kill women autoists who fail to put on their dimmers while he is driving on the same road. The acquittal of this self confessed slayer marks a victory for the Invisible Empire in Wyoming. The slimy hand of the Ku Klux Klan, stained with the blood of hundreds of innocent men and women, showered its hold in the right place.
Twelve good men and true! have set aside the laws of the civilized world in order to free a man whose hands are red with the blood of a defenseless victim. With such support and encouragement Cantlin should wind up with an enviable record as a gunman. No longer will he have to accept the wages of an undersheriff. The way is open for him to go on the stage and clean up thousands. A man that can hit an automobile twice at point blank range with bullets fired from a pistol aimed in another direction is indeed an object of curiosity. His name should live forever in the Hall of Fame. There should be a great demand for his memoirs. We suggest that he write a book and call it "The Wonders of Moonshine, or Women I Have Killed." With the riches that will pour in from the receipts at the vaudeville houses and the sale of the book we hope Cantlin will not forget the men who helped place the stamp of authenticity on his weird tale. They should at least be entitled to one-half of what he earns. But then again maybe they won't need it. The Ku Klux Klan it is said, pays those who serve them with a generous hand. And transposing some of Attorney Hemmingway's words, spoken yesterday, 'we don't see how any attorney could be so vile as to protect such a client.' Again we repeat, 'twelve good men and true.' True to the principles of that doctored brand of Americanism taught by the Ku Klux Klan. They served their Kleagle well. And they undoubtedly will be handsomely rewarded. An innocent woman lies dead in her grave. Slain for no cause at all. And a jury of 12 Douglas citizens declare it was Cantlin's duty to kill her. If you drive a car, be careful. The 'crime' of failing to turn on your dimmers is punishable by DEATH. Warn your wife and sisters. Human life is something to be taken at will by an undersheriff. 'Twelve good men and true' have so declared at Douglas. Here are their names, men. Look them over. These are the men who said after hearing the evidence that Cantlin was justified in killing Mrs. Nellie B. Newcomb who now rests unavenged in her grave.
The article would end up in charges of criminal liable, a crime that no longer exists, being filed against the newspaper in Converse County. It would result in a conviction.
As for Cantlin, I can't find anything much about him, but he did return to Casper apparently, as he is buried in Casper's cemetery with a tombstone that indicates that he died in 1947 at age 61.
The Giants took the third game of the series in a 1 to 0 game.
1. "Was this an American intelligence failure?"
Why does the press keep asking this really stupid question? Hamas didn't attack the U.S. Why would U.S. intelligence be obligated to pick up an intended attack against another country? If there was an intelligence failure, it was an Israeli one, not an American one.
2. Second Amendment.
FWIW, Israel, contrary to what some imagine, has relatively strict gun control laws, but a sort of semi moderate license provision. The U.S. Department of Justice notes:
In Israel guns are strictly regulated yet widely available to law-abiding citizens who hold gun permits; gun control and tough punishment have made it difficult for criminals to acquire guns.
Abstract
There is no clear right to carry a gun in Israel. Nothing similar to the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution exists. In theory, the policy is very strict. No one may own or carry a gun without showing a reason to do so. A special permit by the Interior Ministry is then required. The permit must have the approval of the police and includes information about the owner and the gun type. It is easy for a law-abiding citizen (with no criminal record) to get a permit for a handgun. There is no distinction between carrying a gun and possessing it. People who have a permit to own a handgun or other weapon are allowed to carry it with them. The police and the court take seriously the felony of possessing a firearm without a permit, which almost always means that the gun is stolen. People with previous criminal records caught with firearms are generally sentenced to a year or two in prison. The "gun density" in Israel is very high, despite the laws. The strict limitation of gun ownership to law-abiding citizens combined with strict enforcement against those who have guns without a permit apparently works well in Israel to keep the homicide rate low; there are 40-60 murders a year in a population of four and one-half million.
Whatever the U.S. Department of Justice thinks about things, Israel feels compelled to loosen the system up and Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir declared last Sunday; “Today I directed the Firearms Licensing Division to go on an emergency operation in order to allow as many citizens as possible to arm themselves. The plan will take effect within 24 hours.”
It's easy to go all molṑn labé on this, but here's a true instance where something like the 2nd Amendment as originally conceived, or perhaps as conceived of in the pages of the American Rifleman, may have made an actual difference.
If I lived in Israel, I wouldn't go anywhere without a handgun.
3. What's up, NPR?
Meet the Press, This Week, and Face the Nation all featured this event on their weekend show but as of this morning, NPR's Politics hasn't touched it.
Eh?
That's just weird. What's up NPR?
4. And the difference would be what?
Matt Gaetz is supporting funding for Israel in the wake of this crisis, as he should.
There's an imperfect democracy that's fighting for its life against a foreign invasion by forces that claim its land, led by a Jewish Prime Minister.
Israel?
No, Ukraine.
Funding Israel but not Ukraine makes no sense whatsoever, unless of course you have a lot of Jewish constituents in your district and your decision is purely political.
Hmmm. . .
By the way, even Marjorie Taylor Greene is criticizing Gaetz for leaving the government weakened due to his leading the charge to take out Kevin McCarthy as Speaker.
5. Wouldn't you like to visit?
I've been asked that question by a certain friend of mine for years. I have never had a desire to visit Israel. My mother, however, went on a Church sponsored trip there. A lot of Americans and Canadians who go there do so as they are religious tourists, pilgrims really.
Well, I'm Catholic, obviously, and I have no desire at all to go there.
I'd like to see Rome, but not to the degree that I'm sufficiently motivated to actually go there.
I guess its the lack of an ancestral connection. Christ brought salvation to everyone and while, as we know "salvation is from the Jews", my ancestors weren't from the region and, while perhaps it speaks ill of me, I don't feel any reason to visit there.
I am reminded that when I came here I did a good deal of wondering whether I would be able to be helpful to the members of the press in these conferences that we have, and especially as to whether I wouldn’t find it more or less of a bore on my part and, perhaps, not particularly pleasant. I haven’t found it that way at all. In fact, I have come to the conclusion that I rather look forward with pleasure to having you come in twice a week, in order that I may talk to you, give you a little of the idea I may have of what the Government is trying to do, and satisfy you, insofar as I can, on the questions that you ask.
I am reminded too that my boys have returned back to school. They are just such boys as some of you have, I have no doubt. I hope that they can remain there at school without much of anything in the way of publicity. When they are here anything that they can do to be helpful, or that we can do, we are glad to do but I sent them up to Mercersburg, which is a very excellent school. They have always been in the public schools at Northampton and would have been there now, had we remained in Massachusetts, but there is no one in Northampton now, but my housekeeper. I wanted them to be under more supervision than that, so I sent them up there in order that they might be out of Washington and have that opinion, which I think boys are entitled to have, of privacy in their school affairs. Dr. Irving has been very helpful to them up there, and I presume that if you make any application to him, or any of your associates, to get any story about the boys up there, he will have to tell you that we very much prefer that they be not subjected to publicity while they are there.
Now I have several inquiries here – more than I do sometimes.
The veteran inquiry about the Governors’ Conference. I have practically determined that I shall adopt the time when the Governors are meeting in their annual conference, which is in the middle of October. I have adopted that as a result of some communications that I have had from Governors, indicating that that would meet their convenience, and that it would be of very much greater assistance to them, than should we call it at any other time.
Q. Where do they meet?
A. They meet in Indianapolis. I think it is the 16th or 15th of Oct.
Q. The meeting will be after that?
A. I am not sure yet whether it will be right after or right before. I am under the impression now that it will be more convenient if we have it immediately following.
Q. Do we understand that they will come here or you go there?
A. Oh, no. I shall not go there. The conference will be here.
I have several inquiries about an extra session of Congress, Nothing new has developed on that. I have already expressed to you quite a good many times that I couldn’t see any reason at the time I was speaking, nor do I now, for calling an extra session. There are many questions to come before Congress but I think, so far as they have been presented to me, they will be able to wait. Now as I said before, I don’t want to foreclose a session, and should it be disclosed to me that on account of some condition Congress might render a great public service by coming into session earlier than about eight weeks from now, I will take that instance up and decide it when it comes. At present, I don’t see any reason for an extra session.
An inquiry about the Oklahoma situation. So far as I know, there have been no representations made to Washington in relation to that situation, and an inquiry as to whether there is any Federal observation being made on it – not any that I know of. It wouldn’t be necessary to do it from Washington, of course, because the Executive is represented there by the Marshal and the United States District Attorney, as he is in every other jurisdiction, and should there be any violation of the laws of the U. S., why, of course, that would be the tribunal before which said violations should be brought.
Regarding the shipping board policy. I have no new policy about that. It really isn’t the business of the executive, as I understand it, under the law to try to formulate a policy for the Shipping Board. I am glad at all times to confer with, different departments, give them the benefit of any judgment that I may have or any information that may come to me, and assist them in every possible way. The Shipping Board has certain directions under the law for carrying on the shipping business of the U. S. to – generally speaking to try and get into private hands as soon as possible and to liquidate it. The plan that they had appealed to me, especially because they represented it to me, and it was my judgment that it was, perhaps, a first step and the best step that we could take towards private ownership and private operation. It has appeared that it isn’t possible to put it int o effect under the present statute. I haven’t conferred with the Board yet. I got that opinion from the Attorney General yesterday, I think – today has been Cabinet day. I am going to confer with Chairman Parley or any other members of the Board very soon, and see if I can help in any way. I don’t know whether they will desire legislation about it. Of course, one of the main elements of their plan was that it could be put int o operation without the mediation of Congressional action, that it could be put into operation immediately. That was the essential of it. Whether they think they want to pursue some other plan, if it is necessary to secure legislation, I do not know. Of course the Board had the plan that was explained in the Shipping Bill last year and which was debated in the Senate, but never came to a final vote. I suppose that represents the idea that the Shipping Board has of the kind of legislation they would like to have, rather than forming another, but whether they think it advisable to do anything about that legislation in the coming session is something I Couldn’t give you any definite opinion about now.
An inquiry also about Mr. Ahister and his conference with me. That leads me to say a general word about matters of this kind. Of course, the people that come here to see the President come because they have something that they want to lay before him. Something they want to tell him. Not because they expect to get information from me. That being so, I give them the opportunity, insofar as I can, to tell me what it is that they have in mind. Very much as you come in and get information from me, not by all talking to me, but by permitting me to talk to you, and it is the reverse of that operation that goes on here when any one comes to see me. When they go out they are, of course, at liberty to make such representations as they want to. They are not supposed to quote the conferences with me, but sometimes they undertake to do that and sometimes they don’t. Now, I shall have to adopt the rule, of course, of not being responsible for what people may say when they go out. They are good about it, I know, and mean to represent everything just exactly as they understood it, but if I should undertake to follow up all those things and correct them all, I don’t suppose I would have an opportunity to do very much else. So I am not going to do that.
This inquiry is in relation to railroad consolidations. I haven’t been into the particulars of that. Senator Cummings has it under consideration. He is a veteran in the study of railroad problems, was one of the authors of the present law, and I should want to confer with him and with others, of course; with the Interstate Commerce Commission, also, before I could have any mature opinion about railroad matters.
There wasn’t anything that came up today at the Cabinet Meeting that is of any particular interest. We discussed a lot of small details as to when we might be able to meet and take up some questions, but there were no decisions made, and while I had expected to take up the agricultural problem especially at this meeting of the Cabinet, I was not able to do so because Secretary Wallace hasn’t completed his survey of the wheat situation.
Another inquiry about the Merchant Marine problem. I have already spoken about that, and I can’t give you any more information as to what the next step will be.
I have already spoken about the Oklahoma situation. As I said, no representation, as far as I know, has been made in Washington at all about that, and it would be very unlikely that any representation would come from anyone except the Governor.
Further inquiry as to what may be done about profiteering in coal. The Federal Trade Commission, as I have already said, has all the facts that were gathered by the Fuel Commission. They are studying those, and undertaking to see if they can make any representations that would be helpful. On the 24th, which is next Monday, the Interstate Commerce Commission meets, I think, at Pittsburgh, in order to consider rates, especially of coal. I think that has firtually covered the things that you had in mind.
I am reminded that the Conference of Governors is at West Baden instead of Indianapolis. I assume that Mr. Welliver is right. He almost always is.
The pressman's strike in New York City ended.
Spanish military physician, Dr. Fidel Pagés, only 37 years of age and the developer of the technique of epidural anesthesia, was killed in a traffic accident in the town of Quintanapalla. He was returning from a vacation with his family.
Lex Anteinternet: Difficult burdens. More on the Synod On Synodality.: Frankly, if I had my way, which I do not, and will not, on the Synod on Synodality, I'd either cancel it or grossly cut down is topics. ...
The National Catholic Register ran an interview with Archbishop Cardinal-designate Archbishop Víctor Manuel Fernández, incoming prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, whom people seem to think as a liberal. It was taken from his interview with Crux.
In it, he warns people not to presume to know the Pople's views.
His statements on his own views sran very contrary to the way panicy articles on the blogosphere would tend to suggest they might. For example:
In an interview with InfoVaticana in July you seemed to be open to Church blessings of same-sex couples if they can be carried out without causing confusion. Could you explain more what you meant by this? What sort of confusion were you referring to?
I was referring to confusing a same-sex union with a marriage. At this point it is clear that the Church only understands marriage as an indissoluble union between a man and a woman who, in their differences, are naturally open to beget life.
And:
What will be your approach to the German Synodal Way? To what extent do you think your openness to same-sex blessings and your expressed desire to foster a softer approach to heretical theologians or positions might help the German situation?
The German Church has serious problems and obviously has to think about a new evangelization. On the other hand, today it does not have theologians on the level of those who were so impressive in the past. The risk of the Synodal Way lies in believing that by enabling some progressive novelties, the Church in Germany will flourish. This is not what Pope Francis — who emphasized a renewed missionary outreach focused on the proclamation of the Kerygma: the infinite love of God manifested in the crucified and risen Christ — would propose.
I don’t know why some of your colleagues identify me with the German way, which I still know little about. Look, my most famous book is called Los Cinco Minutos del Espiritu Santo (The 5 Minutes of the Holy Spirit) and contains a daily meditation on the Holy Spirit that has sold 150,000 copies. Did you know that?
On the other hand, I was a parish priest and I was also a diocesan bishop. Go and ask the faithful in my parish what I did when I was parish priest, and you will see: Eucharistic adoration, catechism courses, Bible courses, home missions with Our Lady and a prayer to bless the home. I had 10 prayer groups and 130 young people.
As diocesan bishop I used to ask people about what I’d discuss in my homilies in the cathedral and in my visits to the parishes: about Christ, about prayer, about the Holy Spirit, about Mary, about sanctification. And last year I proposed to the whole Archdiocese to concentrate on “growing together towards holiness.” Whatever some of your colleagues may say, that was my formula for dealing with the religious indifference of society. Like the Pope, I believe that without mysticism we will go nowhere.
Not exactly the sort of super liberal opinions that some would suggest everyone close to the Pope harbors.
This suit's result has hit the news, and because it involves an evolving societal topic regarding fiction and how far we're willing to entertain it in the name of individualism, we're going to make a couple of comments.
Page 1 of the 41 page decision:
1. As soon as this came out, some commentator on Twitter immediately suggested it must have been decided by a "Casper judge".
Eh?
It's not as if Casper is stocked with liberal judges or something. This is a Federal Court case, moreover, and we only have three Federal judges, two in Cheyenne and one in Casper. This was decided by Judge Johnson in Cheyenne. He's been on the bench since 1985 and was appointed by that flaming liberal, Ronald Reagan.
Having said that, not all of Regan's "conservative" appointments were impressively conservative. Take Anthony Kennedy, for example.
Be that as it may, Judge Johnson is universally recognized as a solid judge. The weird suggestion that it must have been some flaming liberal, and that the flaming liberal must be in Casper, as where else would they be, is weird.
2. This was decided "without prejudice", which means on technical and procedural grounds. The suit hasn't decided the issues. It can be brought again.
Whether it will be or not, nobody knows. But this doesn't decide any legal issues.
Often lawyers don't regard dismissals with prejudice as that big of deal, quite frankly, as it gives them the chance to go back and refine their suit.
This gets at one of the big problems in perception of courts today, however. A large number of people believe that judges are supposed to rule on existential issues. They are not. This perception, moreover, is made worse by pundits like Robert Reich who continually suggest that activists' courts are deciding these issues on a left/right basis, something made worse by decades of prior conservative yapping that "activist judges" were deciding things for the left, the latter of which was somewhat true. Most of the time judges are just deciding things on the law, or even procedure, that have nothing to do with the existential issues. The continual "America is losing faith with its justice system" mantra that the press is chanting right now is because large elements of the press don't grasp that deciding social issues isn't what courts are supposed to do.
3. I learned in the opinion that the sorority calls itself a fraternity.
How odd. Deficit of understanding of Latin root words?
4. Judge Johnson did condescend to call Mr. Langford a "sorority sister". The guy has male DNA and, well, you know. He's not a girl, and this ongoing societal delusion is really absurd.
That's what really gets to people. It's a contest between individualist fantasy, and the degree to which everyone else must tolerate the fantasy, and reality. We're in an age when dangerous self-delusion must be accepted, a certain segment of society maintains.
This probably isn't over. So stay tuned.
As per usual, this is being misreported, save for here in Amy Howe's reporting. The Court hasn't decided the issue, it decided to put the law back in place until the issue is decided.
Still, while 5 to 4, it's another example of the Court not doing what people claim it will, although this is an example of Roberts being the tie vote. . . again. That's also something that supposedly doesn't happen anymore, but it obviously does.
The question from here is does anyone really want this to be decided at the next level? 5 to 4 may be how it comes in should the issue make it all the way up to a final Supreme Court decision, which would mean that the 2nd Amendment isn't unlimited in scope, which indeed, it really is not. On the other hand, that four justices saw it the other way on something that's really simply regulatory in nature is surprising.
With a history dating to 1891 with the weekly Natrona Tribune, published by the Republican Publishing Co., but with a name, reflecting mergers and a somewhat complicated history, dating to 1961, the Casper Star Tribune has ceased printing a Sunday edition.
Today's edition was the last print Sunday tribune.
The Trib has tried to put a happy face on it, but it's not a happy story. Clearly the paper is in economic trouble and part of that is online competitors, of which Wyoming has at least three substantial ones at the present time. It already quit issuing print papers on Mondays, and now it will only issue two print papers per week, and mail them to subscribers from Scotsbluff.
Mail?
Yeah. That's useful. Having said that, the two print copies we got per week didn't arrive super quickly. I'd usually read the electronic edition before that.
A sad end to an era nonetheless.
I prefer the print edition. Maybe that's just me, but I like to be able to thumb through the paper, and frankly I pick up more content reading it that way.
Well, no more. I'm not going to continue having a print subscription for Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which is now the option, had get them a week later when the mail gets here for them.
Freshman Congressman Harriet Hageman introduced the companion bill to a doomed bill introduced in the Senate by Cynthia Lummis, which provides:
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 543
To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and permitting energy and minerals on certain Federal land, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 28, 2021
Ms. Herrell (for herself, Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Scalise, Mr. Westerman, Mr. Gosar, Mr. Newhouse, Mr. Moore of Utah, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Young, Mr. Owens, Mr. McKinley, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Brady, Mr. Stauber, Mr. Stewart, Mr. Tiffany, Mr. LaMalfa, Mr. Curtis, Mr. Lamborn, Mr. McClintock, Mr. Roy, Mr. Smith of Nebraska, Mr. Reschenthaler, Mr. Calvert, Mrs. Bice of Oklahoma, Mr. Baird, Mr. Mooney, Mr. Rosendale, Mr. Hern, Mrs. Boebert, and Mr. Amodei) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Agriculture, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To prohibit the President from issuing moratoria on leasing and permitting energy and minerals on certain Federal land, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Protecting Our Wealth of Energy Resources Act” or the “POWER Act”.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON MORATORIA OF NEW ENERGY LEASES ON CERTAIN FEDERAL LAND AND ON WITHDRAWAL OF FEDERAL LAND FROM ENERGY DEVELOPMENT.
(a) Definitions.—In this section:
(1) CRITICAL MINERAL.—The term “critical mineral” means any mineral included on the list of critical minerals published in the notice of the Secretary of the Interior entitled “Final List of Critical Minerals 2018” (83 Fed. Reg. 23295 (May 18, 2018)).
(2) FEDERAL LAND.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—The term “Federal land” means—
(i) National Forest System land;
(ii) public lands (as defined in section 103 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1702));
(iii) the outer Continental Shelf (as defined in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331)); and
(iv) land managed by the Secretary of Energy.
(B) INCLUSION.—The term “Federal land” includes land described in clauses (i) through (iv) of subparagraph (A) for which the rights to the surface estate or subsurface estate are owned by a non-Federal entity.
(3) PRESIDENT.—The term “President” means the President or any designee, including—
(A) the Secretary of Agriculture;
(B) the Secretary of Energy; and
(C) the Secretary of the Interior.
(b) Prohibitions.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President shall not carry out any action that would prohibit or substantially delay the issuance of any of the following on Federal land, unless such an action has been authorized by an Act of Congress:
(A) New oil and gas leases, drill permits, approvals, or authorizations.
(B) New coal leases, permits, approvals, or authorizations.
(C) New hard rock leases, permits, approvals, or authorizations.
(D) New critical minerals leases, permits, approvals, or authorizations.
(2) PROHIBITION ON WITHDRAWAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the President shall not withdraw any Federal land from forms of entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws, location, entry, and patent under the mining laws, or disposition under laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials unless the withdrawal has been authorized by an Act of Congress.
1. Can't pass the Senate
2. Would be vetoed if it actually passed both houses, when there's certainly not enough votes to override a veto.
So why do these things?
February 20, 2023
Golden moves on path to all-electric in new buildings: To meet its #climate goals, this #Colorado city of 20,000 needs to crimp #methane combustion. It could require all-electric in new buildings by January 2024
February 23, 2023
SNAP, the Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, ends this month.
NPR is laying off 10% of its workforce.
March 3, 2023
A Gold and Copper mine will open in Laramie County in 2025.
The United States Post Office is buying 9,250 electric vans from Ford.
March 13, 2023
Silicon Valley Bank collapsed Friday after a comment by a major investment broker regarding it. The Federal Government is not going to "bail out" the bank, which has accounts by many wealthy investors.
President Biden is proceeding to authorize the Willow drilling project inside the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, despite protests over the proposed action.
March 28, 2023
Renewables produced more energy than coal last year.
Coal checked in at 20%, down from 50% in 2007, and it's declining.
This is no surprise here, we've noted the timeline of coal long ago:
A new Natrona County Advocacy Group, Fly Casper Alliance, is seeking $50,000 from the City of Casper to help secure the present Delta (Sky West) flight to Salt Lake City. The flight already receives subsidies from Natrona County, but this one time payment is hoped to help continue to secure the flight.
Related thread:
May 10, 2023
The big economic news right now, of course, is that the country is racing towards its debt limit, at which point it will default on its debts.
The whole idea of a debt limit was to put a cap on Congress' ability to borrow too much money. The problem is it didn't work out that way. Sort of like a spending limit on a credit card, it just caps off the debt, but the problem is, unlike a credit card, when you go to present it to the person you are buying something from, your credit isn't declined. You get the thing anyway, and then later just don't have the ability to pay for it.
So it works instead, like buying a house, for example, or a car, you couldn't afford.
In order to really have teeth, there'd have to be a third body, like the CBO, treasury, or something, that would just nullify bills authorizing spending over the limit. Or, rather, a court would have to declare, before things were spent, that there was a freeze on spending as Congress didn't have the statutory authority to make the spending.
A balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, frankly, would work significantly better.
It does serve to cause the spending entities to have to get together, but they don't do it honestly. Basically what we have going on is something akin to a couple at a banquet who have overspent arguing whether they should take the Bud Light off the table, while they're leaving the Dom Pérignon on. Or, rather, it's like a husband that has a job as Mini Mart clerks, but the education of PhDs, arguing about racking up bills rather than going out and getting a better paying job.
If we don't get this fixed by June 1, the country is going into a massive economic crisis.
To add to that grim situation, the negotiations are in the hands of 1) one politician who is so old that he can recall when he went to U.S. Grant's kindergarten recitals, and 2) one politician who is so beholding to Trumpist "Club For Growth" Kool-Aid drinkers that he stinks up a room before he gets there.
If you worked at a company run this way, you'd look for a new job. If you lived in a family run this way, you'd be looking for your own apartment.
This also serves, we might note, to recall the Jeffersonian warnings about democracy (and yes, we are a democracy, don't give me that "but we're a republic" crap, which is just what that line is, crap). Jefferson warned that once the country ceased to be agrarian, the government would fail, as at that point it gave rise to feeding the mob.
The history of modern democracies has so far demonstrated that fear to be wrong, but it has also taken real crises in order to address largess. The German democracy, for instance, beat up by the hyperinflation of Weimar era and the brutality of World War Two keeps a tight reign on its finances. The Japanese democracy, hit hard by the Japanese decline of the 1970s, does the same.
So far, the American democracy has shown no such tendency. Congress won't address entitlements, which it must, won't address gigantic defense spending, which it must, and won't address raising taxes, which it must.
In that context, again, it's like a couple employed as Mini Mart clerks, both with PhD's, who are standing outside their apartment yelling each at each other about whether to upgrade the stereo on the Tesla they can't afford.
May 13, 2023
Mining sector jobs grew more than any other sector of Wyoming's economy last year, by 9.1%. This in spite of dire warnings by, well, folks like me.
UW's employees will be receiving a pay raise.
Ford Motors will no longer put AM radio in its vehicles. Any of them. Many other manufacturers are pulling theirs from electric vehicles.
May 15, 2023
Trump apparently said in his Town Hall on CNN that unless the Administration agreed to major cuts, the Republicans should take the country into debt default, a totally wreckless position that would destroy the savings of his constituency.
Trump himself was responsible for major additions to the deficit.
Biden and the Republicans are set to meet again on Tuesday. Perhaps this slow motion process is part of his strategy, but its yet another example of government that is as slow as molasses.
May 16, 2023
The local paper is eliminating an edition, going to three print editions per week only and wiping out personal home delivery in favor of mail.
May 21, 2023
Nothing is being done about the debt ceiling while President Biden is at the G7. He gets back today.
If the US ends up with Trump again, this sort of behavior will be a lot of the reason why.
Footnotes:
Back when I was in high school, I briefly toyed with the idea of becoming a journalist.
I was never very serious about it, it was only one of the possibilities I was considering. In junior high and my first year or so of high school, I was fairly certain that I'd pursue a career as an Army officer, but already by that time that desire was wearing off. I liked writing and still do, so it seemed like a possibility. I also liked photography, and still do, and it seemed like a career where you could combine both, although in that era press photographers were usually just that, photographers.
I took my high school's journalism class as a result and was on the school newspaper. Doing that, I shot hundreds of photographs of our high school athletes, as well as some really interesting events. I did learn how to write in the journalist's style, which involves summarizing the story in the first paragraph figuring that some people will read no more than that, summarizing it again in the last paragraph, and filling in the story in between. Good news stories still read that way, although I've noticed in recent years that is observed less and less.
During that year or so I had the occasion to tour the local paper, and the class had a senior, a young woman, who actually already worked there as a reporter.
That paper was no small affair. The paper was a regional one, as well as the city paper, and it's building just off of downtown, still there was very large. That large structure, with a massive open news floor and a big printing room, was at least the fourth locality it had occupied, outgrowing the prior three. It would outgrow that one was well and build an absolutely massive structure just outside of town.
Last year, it sold it.
Now, the paper is headquartered in what was once a bar/restaurant downtown. Much, much smaller. It doesn't have presses anymore, it prints the paper in another state. Far from having a large staff of reporters with dedicated beats, it's down to one or two writers who are always "cubs", just starting out. It doesn't print newspapers at all on two days a week, right now, but relies on an electronic edition that mimics the appearance of a newspaper on your computer.
You can't pick up and thumb through a pdf.
This past week, it announced that it was going to quit printing a Sunday edition and quit physical home delivery for the three issues per week it will still print. Those will be mailed from the printing location in another state.
It's dying.
It's not surprising really, but it is sad.
At one time, it was a real force to be reckoned with, and people frankly feared it. Everyone subscribed to it. I know one family that sued it for liable due to what they regarded as inaccurate reporting on them.
Newspapers reformed themselves after the introduction of radio. That's something that tends not to be very well known about them. Before radio, many newspapers tended to be some species of scandal rag and they were usually heavily partisan in their reporting. You can think of them, basically, the way people think of Fox News today. As radio cut into their readership, papers consolidated and adopted a new ethic that they reported objectively.
They frankly never really achieved full objectivity, as that may not be possible. But they did strive for it. The introduction of television reinforced this. Newspapers became the place where you could, hopefully, get complete objective news and, hopefully, in depth news on various topics. Even smaller newspapers had dedicated reporters per topic, larger ones very much so. The local paper had local reporters that reported per topic assignment. A big paper, like the Rocky Mountain News, had very specified reporters. The Rocky Mountain News, for instance, had a religion reporter whose beat was just that topic. A surprising number of local papers sent reporters to South Vietnam during the Vietnam War just to report on the war.
That's all long past. For quite some time, reporters have become generalists by default, and as a rule, they can't be expected to have an in-depth understanding of any one topic. For that reason, they are frequently inaccurate, even on a national level. Just today, for example, I read a national story which repeatedly referred to Communion Hosts as "wafers". That's not the right term. Reporters on crime blindly accept the "mass shooting" and "high powered rifle" lines without having any idea what they mean. Print reporters repeat in some instances, depending upon individual reporters, hearsay as fact, in part because they likely don't have the time to really investigate everything personally.
Because we now get green reporters, the obvious fact that the local paper is dying is all the sadder. At one time green reporters could at least hope to move up the ranks in their local papers, maybe becoming editors or columnists if they stayed there, or they could move on, as they often did, to larger papers. They still move on, but papers everywhere are dying. Ironically, the only papers that still do fairly well are the genuine small town papers in small towns. That's good, but that can't be a career boosting job for those who enter it.
And with the death of the paper the objectivity that they brought in, back in their golden era, which I'd place from the 1930s through 1990 or so, is dying with them. People are going to electronic news, which so far hasn't shown that same dedication, although recently some online start-ups actually do. Television news has become hopelessly shallow, fully dedicated to the "if it bleeds it leads" type of thinking, or fully partisan, telling people what they want to hear. Really good reporting, and not all of it was really good, was pretty informative, which raised the level of the national intellect. People might have hated reporters, and they often did, but they read what was being reported about Richard Nixon and Watergate or what was revealed in the Pentagon Papers and had a better understanding of it in spite of themselves. That helped result in Republicans themselves operating to bring Richard Nixon down and society at large bringing an end to the Vietnam War.
Now, in contrast, we have electronic propaganda organs on the net that feed people exactly what they want to hear, and that often is the same thing that comes out of the back end of a cow.
Not overnight, of course. This has been going on for decades, and indeed in some ways it started with the first radio broadcasts. But radio was easier to adjust to. The internet, not so much.
The death of a career, an institution, and unfortunately, also our wider understanding.
Sic transit.
I continue to be amazed by how the Tribune, in 1923, routinely issued headlines that were largely irrelevant locally.
Cannabis was added to the Canadian list of prohibited narcotics.
Banning marijuana was part of the spirit of the times, just like liberalizing marijuana laws are part of ours. This act in Canada nationalized a ban long before this was done in the United States.
Hyeongpyeongsa was organized in Korea by merchants and social leaders with the goal of eliminating the Korean caste system. At that time, Korea had a class of untouchables known as Baekjeong.
Poland opened up the Port of Gdynia on the Baltic in order to attempt to avoid the labor problems the country had been having in Danzig.
Women appeared in Turkish film for the first time.
Kodak introduced 16mm film.
Delaware authorized the Delaware State Police.
Hoover helped break ground for a model house.
Keven McCarthy received a visit today from a well known Trump strategist.
December 6, 2022
Trump's call to suspend the Constitution has met with a round of criticism from Republicans, showing the beginnings of a backbone for the first time since the insurrection. Even at that, however, some would not, as the Republican guest on This Week who struggled not to answer the question about supporting Trump if he was the nominee and then finally stated that he would.
It does seem that, at long last, things may actually be beginning to move away from Trump in the GOP. Trump's grown more extreme in recent months, and something like this is outright authoritarian.
Trump of course denied that he had called for suspending the constitution, and giving credit perhaps to his statements, his comments are in fact so odd and poorly thought out that it might not really be what he meant. Most odd of all is the thought that, in 2022, he could be made the President via some odd declaration regarding the 2022 election, which is how I would interpret this really ignorant post.
It appears that the Democrats want to move South Carolina up as the state to cast its votes for the Presidential nominee first. This would bump Iowa from its first in the nation status.
December 7, 2022
Mr. Trump will not win another election. His most glaring political strength today is his ability to energize Democrats, causing not only historic turnout but attracting gushers of campaign cash – for the opposition.
Fox News.
February 2, 2023
Haley was born to Indian immigrant parents who are Sikhs. She's an accountant by training. She's presently a Methodist, having converted from Sikhism in 1997. Her views straddle the Republican spectrum. She makes an interesting contrast to Kamala Harris in that in some ways their story is similar, her parents resided in Canada before immigrating to the US and Harris' mother was Indian, her story fits the more conventional Indian immigrant story. She's 51 years old, and therefore not a Boomer.
Haley reported called Trump upon making her decision, and Trump reportedly told her that if she felt that way, she should run. The question now is how long will it be before Trump starts childishly insulting her and calling her by some juvenile nickname.
February 14, 2023
Nikki Haley announced she was running, officially, yesterday.
Oddly, the press just seems to have noticed that she's a bona fide Indian American yesterday, whereas this was widely celebrated in regard to Kamala Harris when she was running.
February 15, 2023
Harriet Hageman endorsed Donald Trump for the 2024 Presidential GOP nomination.
She really had no choice, Trump having endorsed her, and given her constituency, it was a wise move.
Nonetheless, while I am on the outside of this, I don't expect Trump, or Biden, to be the nominees. Frankly, given their ages, as I've noted before, I'd put there being well over a 50% chance that neither of them will still be with us, due to natural causes, by the November 24 election. They're basically at the upper edge of the male life span right now, and certainly Trump doesn't appear to be a model of health.
Added to that, I don't expect Trump to prevail in the process of choosing a GOP nominee this time, although I've been wrong on that before.
February 17, 2023
Well, this got weird quickly.
First, Nikki Haley called for politicians obtaining the age of 75 to receive a competency test.
Then, on CNN, this exchange happened.
Don Lemon: "Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, when a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s, and 30s, and maybe 40s…"
Poppy Harlow: "Are you talking about prime for like child bearing?"
"Don’t shoot the messenger! I’m just saying what the facts are! Google it!"
Ummm. . . eh?
February 23, 2023
Marianne Williamson has announced for the Democratic ticket.
Williamson is a left wing Democrat, 70 years of age, so another of the Boomer crowd of candidates. She stands no chance.
March 3, 2023
Initiatives to legalize marijuana in Wyoming failed to gather enough signatures to be on the 2024 ballot.
Liz Cheney has joined the faculty of the University of Virginia.
March 5, 2023
CPAC's conference is on, or as it might be more appropriately called, the Tour De Wackadoodle.
Conservatives used to be serious, and this conference, sort of a rarefied meeting of Conservative eggheads. Now it's the Comiccon of political events.
Marjorie Taylor Green, Lauren Boebert and Donald Trump as speakers? Come on.
March 20, 2023
This Week had an interview with Mike Pence on which demonstrates the extent to which a politician is willing to be a craven wussy in order to run for office. In spite of being the target of the January 6 protesters, he's really hedging his bets on whether he'll support Donald Trump if Trump is nominated, and that's because, probably, he doesn't want to alienate that base.
You really can't have it both ways on this one.
On all the weekend shows, Ron Desantis took a lot of criticism for his unwillingness to fully back Ukraine, a new position on his part that was likely also a misstep in casting for Trumpist ballots.
Pence really stands no chance of getting the nomination. Desantis did, but those chances look weakened.
April 13, 2023
South Carolina's Tim Scott has formed an exploratory committee.
I know little about Scott, but the Republican Senator can't be disregarded, and would be harder for Trump to routinely childishly insult the way he normally does his opponents.
April 15, 2023
A recent edition of NPR's politics discussed everyone in the GOP now running, which is more people than I thought, although in some ways its because some of the names are those testing the waters, and not really running, yet.
The list of suspects and running is, starting with the openly declared:
Donald Trump. We all know who he is.
Announced: Nov. 15, 2022
Nikki Haley, who is discussed above.
Announced: Feb. 14, 2023
Vivek Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy is a conservative businessman and well known, apparently, in conservative circles.
Announced: Feb. 21, 2023.
Asa Hutchinson. He's a well known former Arkansas Governor who is an outright opponent of Trump's.
Announced: April 2, 2023
Tim Scott, discussed above.
Turning to the testing the water, the names are.
Ron DeSantis. He's been in the news a lot lately as the non Trump, Trump.
Mike Pence. Vying for hte role of the world's most boring man, he's clearly on the edge of announcing.
Chris Sununu. Well known Governor of New Hampshire and an anti-Trumper.
Glenn Youngkin. Somewhat known Governor of Virginia.
Kristi Noem. South Dakota right wing Governor.
Liz Cheney. We all know who she is. She's been mentioned, but I doubt she'll run.
John Bolton. Also a known name, but I'd bet Trump's former National Security Adviser turned Trump opponent won't run.
Chris Christie. Former Governor of New Jersey and clearly thinking of running.
On Trump, he spoke at the NRA convention, effectively linking the NRA, again, to Trump's brand of anti-democratic authoritarianism. This will ultimately come to be a mistake for the NRA which is branding itself as a force in opposition to the majority of residents of the republic in an extra legal fashion, rather than as a defender of legal rights.
April 16, 2023
The Wyoming Freedom Caucus has formed a Political Action Committee.
It also held a convention in Casper over the weekend, which is somewhat ironic in that the county's GOP organization has gone in the other direction, although in the last election it did elect two members of the caucus. At any rate, it was noted that it "just" needed ten more members to control the House, which is actually a really tall order.
April 18, 2023
According to the Cowboy State Daily, Chuck Grey has vowed to go after residence requirements and strengthen them before the next election.
Wyoming's requirement had been 60 days prior to the Supreme Court striking it down, at which point the Court suggested 30 days was reasonable. Wyoming simply went to no residency requirement in order to vote at that time.
Grey also went after the media in his speech on Saturday.
It's clear he intends to keep his name in the news in this fashion, rather than on the clerical duties associated with his elective office.
The Daily also reports the head of the Wyoming Democratic Party gave a speech in which the leader proclamed he was "proud to be woke", thereby giving an example of why the Democrats can't win anything in the state.
Indeed, that declaration was an example of why more and more people nationwide register as independents. The more extreme the parties become, the less people wish to be associated with them, left and right.
And with Grey obviously vying for a futurue office, by campaigning from the far right, and the Democrats having once again jumped off the electoral building, we'll close this chapter.
Last Prior Edition:
I just posted this photograph here the other day.
There were a wide variety of 35 mm cameras by the 1920s, and popular personal photograph got an enormous boost with the 1939 introduction of the Argus C3. Through the lens reflex cameras made their appearance in the 1920s, but it wasn't until 1949 that the prismatic SLR was introduced, sparking a revolution amongst photography enthusiasts. Nearly every serious camera maker soon introduced one, and they dominated in the serious photography market until the end of the film era. My father bought a really good SLR Zeiss camera while serving in the Air Force, and the camea was so good that he used it hte rest of his life.Zeiss Contraflex.Lens barrel for Contrafex, which fixed the existing lens on an extension for a telephoto effect. I never actually saw this in use, and it does strike me as difficult to use.My father also had a Yashica 120 mm camera. These cameras used big film for a finer detailed photograph, much the way "full frame" digital cameras due today (while most people don't use full frame digital cameras, the lack of one is a source of ongoing angst for Pentax fans, as Pentax does not make a full frame DSLR, just their regular DSLR). It was a nice, if cumbersome, camera and my father used it less over the years, probably due to that. And film became very difficult to obtain.Yashicaflex with lens caps on and viewer closed.Viewer cover opened.Top of camera, with viewer opened. You viewed the object through the top of the camera and saw the image reversed.
Digital photography seemed likely to put a big dent in SLR cameras, and it did at first, but now they've revived, particularly in the form of Canon cameras in the US. But most of the old SLR manufacturers, save for Zeiss and Leica, which dropped out of the SLR market, still make one, and a couple of makers have entered the field who did not make film cameras. But, just as I suppose more photos were taken with Kodak disposable and compact 35mms back in the day, more now are probably taken by cell phones.
Still, what a revolution in photography, even if things remain familiar.
