CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 113th Edition. Some things you aren't hearing much about right now and some things that require explanation that we're not getting. The Venezuelan Distraction Edition.

Hmmmm. . . . 

The U.S. attacked Venezuela over the weekend as its a major drug exporter to the U.S., or maybe because we wanted to liberate the country from Maduro, or maybe because it has oil.  

One of those things.  

Anyhow, 

Somethings we aren't hearing much about now.

• Where are those Epstein files?

Where, where?

Still delayed.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, whose leaves office today, claimed Trump would attack Venezuela as nothing distracts like war.  She said that, not me.

I'm not saying that he attacked Venezuela for that reason, although I don't put it past him.  But we sure aren't hearing much about them now, are we?

They could have dropped the entire file in a giant Playboy Ephebophilia, Collectors Edition, complete with underaged centefolds, and nobody would have noticed.

• What's up with the economy?

Do you know?  I don't, and I follow the economy.

• What's going on in the Russo Ukrainian War?

Trump was going to instantly end the war, but it turned out to be hard.  

Over the last month he was praising Putin, and then sort of praising Ukraine, and now we don't hear anything about the war at all.  Utterly nothing.

I'm sure Trump didn't end the war.

By The image created by © Yuriy Kvach, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31547668

Somethings we need explanations on.

• Greenland?

What is the real source of Trump's fascination with Greenland?  The strategic need line is complete and utter crap.  If somebody is actually telling him that, they need to be dope slapped into the 21st Century.  

I don't really think it's Trump, as I don't think Trump is smart enough to know anything about Greenland.  Having watched him now for years, I'm pretty much convinced that he was a fairly good salesman at one time, but he was never very intelligent.  Now he's demented so he's not even a good salesman.  

It's something or somebody else, or . . . 

• Putin and Trump?

We have to seriously consider once again why Donald Trump is a Russian asset.  

We know that he is a Russian asset, but we don't know why.  He may be simply because he likes them for some reason.  Or he may have really bought into some weird vision of the world that's centered in the 18th Century, in which he's King Donald the Demented and Putin is Tsar Vlad the Magnificent.  Btu with the threats on Greenland we need to at least consider the possibility that Trump is a full-blown Russian asset as they have something on him, or are giving something to him.

That sounds extreme, but a US that pulls back to the Western Hemisphere and wrecks NATO is a gift to Russia.  And it appears to be happening.  Putin had been a backer of Maduro but he didn't lift a finger to help him once our illegitimate head of state caused that illegitimate head of state to be seized.

And Putin has been oddly quiet.

It's clear that at least for the time being the relationship between the United States and Europe is wrecked.  If you were writing a script for a Russian mole to occupy the White House, even Tom Clancy couldn't do better than this.

Harry Dexter White. . . it's sort of happened before.

• Lindsey Graham.

What's going on with Lindsey Graham.  Unlike Trump, he's not dumb.  His complete and utter sycophancy needs some explanation.

• Stephen and Katie Miller

Okay, this is going to be delicate, but there's something really weird about Stephen Miller playing Joseph Goebbels and his wife playing, well, Joseph Goebbels.

They're both Jewish.

Miller is the chief proponent of White Anglo Saxon Protestantism in the administration, and he ain't one.  I don't know the ethnicity of his wife, but she could pass for a Mizrahi Jew.  

This might not quite be as weird as it sounds, although its downright dangerous for them.  Goebbels had been a Communist and you can find plenty of Nazis who were drawn from German populations that were repressed in the most violent ways during the Third Reich, but there's the lesson.  The policies that Miller advocates for would, in the end, put him and Katie in the hold of a boat and deport them to a place that people who think like him would think he would find more to their liking, or at least theirs.

Before this sounds too one sided, there's a real lesson for Catholics supporting Trump.  His people don't think you are very American either.

Careful Steve and Katie. . . this is how a lot of your fellow travelers see you.

• The weather.

It's been super warm this winter.  No winter at all.  

How long do we intend to ignore this?

Last edition:

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 112th Edition. Clinton calls Trump's bluff.

Labels: Bill Clinton, Crime, Donald Trump, Ephebophilia, Epstein Scandal, Republican Party, The Second Trump Administration, The wealthy, Trump Derangement Syndrome, Zeitgeist

Thursday, December 31, 1925. Reining in New Years.

The first attempt at a worldwide New Year's celebration was made via international radio when the United States sent out musical entertainment and New Year's greetings from the consuls general of various foreign countries in New York.

There was an effort in many locations in the US to rein in New Years celebrations, which if they were in compliance with the law, should be dry:

European flooding which had broken out on the 29th hit Belgium.

Today In Wyoming's History: December 31:  1925  The legendary Swan Land & Cattle Company issued its corporate holdings report for the year.

Last Edition:

Wednesday, December 30, 1925. Ben-Hur.

Labels: 1920, 1920s, 1925, 1925 at the movies, 1970s, Biology, Clothing, Education, Education Societies, Female Biology, Menstruation, trends, Women

Windy.

144 MPH Wind Gust On Wednesday One Of The Strongest Ever Recorded in Wyoming

Wednesday, October 17, 1910. The 1910 Cuba Hurricane,

Whatever It Is, I’m Against It: Today -100: October 17, 1910: Of Kiddo the wonder cat: Kiddo the cat jumped out of the dirigible America but was fished out of the sea.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 15, 1910. Episcopal concept.

Labels: 1870s, 1875, 1910, 1910s, Agriculture, American Revolution, Imperial Japanese Navy, Lighter than air aircraft, Ohio (Cincinnati), Oxford Movement, Protestant, religion

Wednesday, September 29, 1915. The Great New Orleans Hurricane.

A hurricane made landfall in Louisiana, killing 279 people.  The destruction of the storm would not be surpassed for fifty years.

The Germans recaptured lost ground in the Second Battle of Champagne resulting in a French suspension of their campaign.

6,000 or more Ottoman troops were dispatched to break Armenian resistance at Urfa, Turkey.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 28, 1915. La Matanza of Ebenezer

Labels: 1910s, 1915, Battle of Loos, Crime, Ethnicities, Indian Army, Iraq, Mexican Border War, Ottoman Army, Ottoman Empire, panoramic, Racism, Texas, Texas (Texas City), Texas Rangers, World War One

Going Feral: The Feral Week.

Going Feral: Lex Anteinternet: Sunday, September 26, 1915. Wab.: 

Colorado Wolf Debate Heats Up Over Claims Diseased Animals Were Released

 

Colorado Wolf Debate Heats Up Over Claims Diseased Animals Were Released

Thursday, September 25, 2025

We Need To Talk About How We Can Effectively Advocate For Better Public Lands Policy Why the pro-public lands world’s inability to communicate accurately is such a problem, and the steps we can all take to do it better

 

We Need To Talk About How We Can Effectively Advocate For Better Public Lands Policy

Why the pro-public lands world’s inability to communicate accurately is such a problem, and the steps we can all take to do it better

Report: More than 99% of public comments opposed to end roadless rule

 

Report: More than 99% of public comments opposed to end roadless rule

Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Southern Rockies Nature Blog: These Hunters' Deaths Hit Me Hard

Southern Rockies Nature Blog: These Hunters' Deaths Hit Me Hard: Search and rescue volunteers are briefed before heading out. (Conejos County Sheriff's Office) The search for two missing bowhunters, An...

This is terrible news, to say the least.

When I first heard of these two men dying, it was by way of a headline.  As I was extremely busy at the time, I didn't read deeper into the story.  I frankly assumed they had succumbed due to hypothermia, and that they were likely inexperienced outdoorsmen.

I learned more about it sage chicken hunting with a companion, who had looked into the story more.  He revealed that in fact they were experienced outdoorsmen, but we both assumed that they had died due to hypothermia.  We assumed, frankly, that they'd stepped out for what they thought would be a shorter trip and were caught in a bad situation at which point they couldn't address the onset of the condition.

It turns out we were wrong.  It was a lightning strike.

I've been afraid of lightning my entire life, and a lot of that is due to living an outdoor life.  From my earliest years I can recall being fascinated with lightning, but also fearing it.  My earliest recollection of an electrical strike close by was when I was a child, looking out our picture window. and saw a bolt of lightning hit the ground right in front of the house and arc over the street, as a car passed under it.

My mother related that her grandfather had actually been hit by lightning observing an electrical storm out the back window of a house in St. Lambert, Quebec.  He was fine, but that  might have made an early impression with me.  My father, an avid outdoorsman, didn't mess with lightening at all, although he would continue to fish well past the point he should as electrical storms approached.  The childhood step father of a friend of mine was killed on the golf course by lightning.  The father of a gaggle of girls who where my contemporaries was killed on horseback when struck by lightning.  

I had plenty of reasons as a kid to fear lightning.

As an adult, I've seen lightning strike a human occupied thing when I saw a blot strike a boat in Alcova Reservoir.  I was far enough away that I don't know what happened to the people in it.  While living in Laramie, and going to law school, I had a bolt of lightning strike a power line right above the point I was at as I was hurriedly walking home, hoping to beat the storm.  It blew me to the ground, and I was deaf in one ear for about a week.  Also in Laramie, I remember being up in the high country elk hunting and briefly conversing with a mounted hunter as a storm started to roll in.  The air grew electrick and came in contact, somehow, with the horses steel ringlets on his bridle, causing his ears to shoot up, and a visible electrical current pass between the tips of his ears, just before he reared around and charged down the mountain.

Storms will appear and surprise you.

In the sticks, I watch the weather like a hawk.  It's not snow I'm afraid of being caught in, it's an electrical storm.  I'll abandon a place early if I think it looks like such a storm is rolling in.

Electrical storms in the high country are particularly dangerous. Due to the terrain, they roll up at you before you can appreciate them, and they are very frequent.  High altitude afternoon thunderstorms are a norm in mountainous terrain.

Added to that, in spite of Donald Trump and His Confederacy of Clowns, climate change has extended the summer and fall and that's making traditional activities in late fall more dangerous in various ways.  I'm not terribly familiar with Southern Colorado, but I can claim some familiarity with Northern Colorado and lots of familiarity with all of Wyoming.  This time of year, say thirty or more years ago, storm above 6,000 feet here were snowstorms, not rain storms.  We worried about being snowed out, or snowed in, not rain.  Now thanks to a desperate belief on the part of some that things aren't changing, or it isn't our fault, things are changing.

Wide Open Spaces reported their cause of death as being surprising.  I'm not terribly surprised, as I've had too many close calls with lightning even while being careful.  I'll merely note, it pays to be careful out there. . . really careful.

But sometimes, that won't save you.

Regarding the tragic deaths of Andrew Porter and Ian Stasko:

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. 

Wyomingites with deep conservation roots oppose axing Forest Service Roadless Rule

Wyomingites with deep conservation roots oppose axing Forest Service Roadless Rule: Although the state government loathes the Forest Service regulation, many residents value the wild lands and wildlife it protects.

‘Judas elk’ to help target Jackson Hole ‘suburban elk,’ easing pressure on Yellowstone migrants

‘Judas elk’ to help target Jackson Hole ‘suburban elk,’ easing pressure on Yellowstone migrants: Research reveals that animals that summer on ranchland and in residential subdivisions near town pile up on the National Elk Refuge's southern end — a trait that will help wildlife managers steer hunters toward the problematic cohort.

Tuesday, September 23, 2025

Coroner: Lightning Strike Killed Elk Hunters Found Dead In Colorado

 

Coroner: Lightning Strike Killed Elk Hunters Found Dead In Colorado

Monday, September 22, 2025

Blog Mirror: Browning Auto 5 Shotgun Review: Still One of the Greatest Semiautos of All Time

 

Browning Auto 5 Shotgun Review: Still One of the Greatest Semiautos of All Time

Sunday, September 21, 2025

Lex Anteinternet: Blog Mirror: Outside Just Fired Me Because Of My ...

Lex Anteinternet: Blog Mirror: Outside Just Fired Me Because Of My ...:   

Blog Mirror: Outside Just Fired Me Because Of My Politics I'm hardly Jimmy Kimmel, but that's also a reason this should worry you

 

Outside Just Fired Me Because Of My Politics

I'm hardly Jimmy Kimmel, but that's also a reason this should worry you

Saturday, September 5, 1925. Picnic Etiquette

The Saturday Evening Post anticipated the start of school in most localities the following Tuesday.

Ethel Hays portrayed a still familiar type.

Calvin Coolidge issued a proclamation.

Proclamation, September 5, 1925

Purpose: To commemorate the cross erected and dedicated at Fort Niagara by Father Millett on Good Friday, 1688

Date: September 5, 1925

WHEREAS, by section 2 of an Act of Congress approved June 8, 1906 (34 Stat. 225), the President was authorized “in his discretion, to declare by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands owned or controlled by the Government of the United States to be national monuments, and may reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects to be protected”;

AND WHEREAS, Father Millett, a French Jesuit Priest, who came to Canada – then known as New France – in 1667, and who served about fifteen years as a missionary among the Onondaga and Oneida Indians within what is now the State of New York, and subsequently became a chaplain in the French Colonial Forces, first at Fort Frontenac and later at Fort Niagara, did, on Good Friday, 1688, erect and dedicate a cross on what is now the Fort Niagara Military Reservation; and the Knights of Columbus of the Sixth New York District have requested that a suitable site be set apart thereon for the erection of another cross commemorative of the cross erected and blessed by Father Millett;

NOW THEREFORE, I, Calvin Coolidge, President of the United States of America, under authority of the said Act of Congress do hereby reserve as a site for the said monument, the following described parcel of land situated within the limits of the military reservation of Fort Niagara, New York, and do hereby declare and proclaim the same to be a national monument to commemorate the cross erected and dedicated at Fort Niagara by Father Millett on Good Friday, 1688, viz:

Beginning at an iron pipe on the northerly line of old stone block house (building No. 33) produced, and seventy-four (74) feet westerly from the northwest corner of said block house, running thence eighteen (18) feet westerly along said northerly line produced to an iron pipe; thence northerly at right angles to above line eighteen (18) feet to an iron pipe; thence easterly on a line parallel to the north line of block house produced and eighteen (18) feet distant northerly therefrom, eighteen (18) feet to another iron pipe; thence southerly at right angles to said northerly line of block house eighteen feet to the point of beginning; containing 0.0074 acres more or less.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this 5th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and twenty-five and the Independence of the United States the one hundred and fiftieth.

Centerville, Arkansas hit a still standing record of 112F.

The New Yorker celebrated tennis.

And Colliers discussed Picnic etiquette.

Last edition:

Monday, August 31, 1925. Bombing Ajdir.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Aircraft, French Navy, Hawaii, Morocco, Peru, Rif War, South America, Spanish Navy, U.S. Navy

Monday, August 27, 1945. The Allied Fleet enters Tokyo Bay.

The Allied fleet anchored in Tokyo Bay.

Contact is made between the Allies and the Japanese forces in the Sittang Valley, Burma. The Japanese enter into an armed truce in New Britain while in the Solomons Japanese forces fight on, unaware the war has ended.

Truman urges Congress to extend conscription by two years, which it did.  Conscription in fact continued until March, 1947.

Draft notice.

This would mean that my father's high school graduation class, 1947, was the first class since 1940 which did not graduate into conscription.  The respite would be brief, as conscription would be reinstated in 1948 due to the Cold War.

The Battle of Yinji ended in a Chinese Communist victory.

The 1945 Texas Hurricane made landfall near Seadrift, killing three.

Last edition:

Sunday, August 26, 1945. Bomber Harris announces his retirement.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Chinese Civil War, Japan, Personalities, World War Two