Showing posts with label Wyoming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wyoming. Show all posts

Monday, July 14, 2025

Sunday, July 13, 2025

Impacts of Wyoming’s property tax cuts are just beginning

Impacts of Wyoming’s property tax cuts are just beginning: Small communities, without the reserves to smooth out the bumps that come with sudden revenue losses, will be hit first and hardest, argues columnist Khale Lenhart.

Friday, July 11, 2025

The 2026 Election, 2nd Edition: The early season.


July 6, 2025

I started drafting this, barely, as the Big Ugly started its final set of debates in the Senate.  As I did that, this came out Musk broke, for the second time, with Trump, and claimed he'd form a new party if the Big Ugly passed.

And now Musk has announced he's doing just that.

Well, good for him.

I'm not posting this a a cheerleader for Musk.  Musk is very much part of what's wrong with the United States.  He's a poster child for what occurs in a country where has unrestrained capitalism.  His caring about people claim can be doubted.  The largest donor to the 2022 election, and the former Gauleiter of DOGE, there's no reason to trust that his view of what the nation's politics ought to look like comport with an actual decent set of political beliefs.

But this does symbolize something I'd noted at the time.

The 2026 election has begun.It'll interesting to see how this pays out.

Lummis is up for reelection, assuming she runs, and she will.  She'll blame the Democrats for anything that goes wrong, and talk about being the Cyberqueen.

If she faces a solid challenger, after the Public Lands vote, she'll be in trouble.

The House seat is also up.  Hageman won't run for that however, she's going to run for Governor.  She's going to lose that.

Chuck Gray is going to run for the House, and he'll lose that.

Times are changing. Whether or not The Big Ugly passes, Trump has shot his bolt.  True acolytes can wear "Trump was right about everything" truckers caps, but the opposite is proving to be true.

And this is about to get a lot worse for the GOP.

cont:

And now Nebraska's Don Bacon.  The Congressman is in a district that's becoming increasingly Democratic, and my guess is it likely now will be a Democratic seat.  The Republicans only hold a seven seat majority right now, which will be reduced to a five seat majority once the Democrats fill two vacant seats.  Even assuming the Republicans hold every seat they currently have with out Bacon, that would reduce them to a four seat majority.

But they won't hold every seat. The House will flip.

cont:

Even Elon suddenly woke up.

At the time I posted that, I noted the departure of Don Bacon from the candidate rolls for the next election.  Now, Tennessee's Mark Green has outright left.  The GOP held 220 seats and the Democrats 213, but two of the unfilled seats will go to Democrats once vacant seats are replaced, reducing the pre Big Ugly margin to 220 to 215.  With Green actually now gone, that's 219 to 215.

The House will return to the Democrats in the 2026 election.


By that time, it's my guess that the utility of Donald Trump will be gone, and the utility of being shocked that he has dementia will set in.


J.D. Vance will be President by then, with the NatCons hoping that he isn't tainted by anything that went wrong under Trump.  Without Vance, nothing that's happened so far will last very long.

What will occur in the Wyoming midterm, which will address in another post on a somewhat separate theme will be really interesting. There's a good chance that Hageman and Lummis won't survive the midterms and that Gray will be defeated in his effort to climb the next rung of the latter, a sign that he'll he'll soon leave the state entirely, it no longer serving any purpose for him.

July 10, 2025

Interesting article pointing out that Musk's third party effort is a long shot, but still has a shot.

Already, I'd note, the one thing the Democrats and the GOP are agreeing on right now is that you must not vote for any new Musk party.

Not that I would.  The values that the South African Mass Sperm Donor Billionaire hold are very far from mine.  DOGE was stupid beyond belief.  And frankly, I don't think that the Federal Government needed to be smaller in the first place, and that the common belief that it does is simply a "common sense" bromide that people believe because they believe it.  But he is right about the looming budget crisis.  I'd fix that much differently than Musk would.

But I don't think his party, should he form it, can necessarily be discounted.  By next election the declining Trump, will sound more and more like mush.  Trump already often sounds like this:


Or this:

 

The room to take Trump on is increasing, and the question is how much the NatCons really want to invest in a bowl of oatmeal as a figurehead.  That could prove to be a bad strategy.

One thing I'll note is that I have a thread I haven't posted yet pondering a sort of Wyoming Party.  I should have finished it as I could sort have been to this topic first.

And Musk certainly has the cash to get his views out. As he does that, the GOP will spend a lot of cashing yelling "don't listen to the right wing nut!"

Of course, the Democrats will agree with the Republicans on that, as not voting for a third party is the one thing they agree on. . . which is ironically one of the things that an American Party could point to as a reason to vote for it.

I'd also note that if an American Party was intelligent, which there's big reason to doubt that it would be, and carved off some of the real conservative topics from the GOP, and was actually fiscally conservative, it might appeal more broadly than the GOP suspects.

In more local news, former primary candidate Reid Rasner, who ran to the right of John Barrasso, and who forced Barrasso to run to the right of himself, has filed a lawsuit in the 2nd Judicial District against far right former state senator Anthony Bouchard for defamation.

July 10, 2025, cont.

So, the news on Ranser and Bouchard seems more clear.  Rasner claims that Bouchard ruined a major economic deal he was working on to buy TikTok by emphasizing that Rasner is a homosexual, which Rasner does not deny. Bouchard had a sexual scandal of his own that came to light earlier on, which, the way I typed it out, would seem to suggest that Rasner's being a homosexual is a scandal, which he doesn't deny (his orientation) in his lawsuit. 

Bouchard dropped out of the legislature after his own rather gross sexual scandal came to light, so the fact that he'd make any kind of a big deal out of Rasner's homosexuality is really petty.  Apparently screwing and impregnating 14 or 15 year olds, albeit when he was 19, is not as bad as Rasner having same sex attraction.  At least, the argument seems to be, you are screwing the opposite gender, so that's better.  I'll leave that to others to judge. But why would one far right figure go after the other?

Proper sexual orientation seems to be the only reason. So, really, in the MAGA world screwing a 14 or 15 year old when you are 19 is, well, one of those "Romeo and Juliet" type of deals, to use Bouchard's words, but being a homosexual is just wrong.

Of course, from an Apostolic Christian point of view, sexual relations are only licit between a man and a woman inside a valid marriage, which can occur only once, while both of the couple are living.  Inclination doesn't matter, and is not sinful inside itself.  But that's not the modern United States, where a serial polygamist is the alleged President and who was a friend of a procurer (which perhaps he was unaware of), but he's okay as he has the right attraction.  Most Populist Americans seem to believe that there's nothing really wrong with 1960s sexual libertine behavior, as long as its directed towards the opposite sex.

Rasner must figure his bolt is shot politically, as publishing himself as a homosexual will kill any chance he has of office in contemporary Wyoming.  He's not the first Wyoming homosexual to have sought office, and three Wyomingites who were homosexuals have served in elective office, with two of them being open about it.  I'd be stunned if there aren't any now, other than the one legislator who admits to being homosexual.  Indeed, it'd be interesting if the sexual conduct of every Wyoming political figure came to light so that the MAGA adherents could be exposed to the full sunlight.   Maybe they're all pure in their carnal desires, and properly oriented, but I'd be surprised.

An interesting thing here, I'd note, is that Rasner ran to the right of Barrasso, which puts him in full NatCon territory.  The NatCons feel that homosexuality is a total abomination.  This points out a really curious aspect of it, however, as individuals who can carry the Populist banner don't seem to see a conflict with those who would basically burn them at the stake.  No matter what a person thinks of it, homosexuality wasn't something that traditional conservative Republicans cared about at all.  Hardcore NatCons sure do.

July 11, 2025

The Secretary of State, whose job in Wyoming is to be a Secretary, is once again criticizing the Governor, whose job is to govern.

Gordon Defends Energy Platform; Gray Says Wind, Solar A ‘Woke Clown Show’

Gray clearly can't stay in his own lane, and is clearly running for something else.  Wyomingites are pretty sharply divided on him, with the far right seeing him as some sort of brilliant crusader, and many others seeing him as a self serving buffoon looking for the spotlight to shine on himself.



Last edition:

The 2026 Election, 1st Edition: Spring Training Edition.

Court Watch

Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man. 

Henry Adams.

A glimpse into what's going on in the law, and the Court's.


April 21, 2025

1.  The U.S. Supreme Court had issued a temporary stay on deportations of Venezuelans to El Salvador under the Enemy Aliens Act, as it well should have.  There isn't a war going on.

The pause is so that it can take the question in chief.

On the same basic topic, a Federal judge has issued a finding of probable cause of criminal contempt for the administration's refusal to adhere to his order regarding such deportations.

2.  Wyoming Tribe's Law Firm One Of The Few Fighting Trump's Big-Law Orders

Trump's ongoing assault on the law includes assaulting law firms that have displeased him. Quite a few have caved in, but this one didn't.

3.  A federal judge ordered that Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk be transferred from a detention center in Louisiana to Vermont no later than at the start of next month.

4.  The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on the Trump administration's plans to end birthright citizenship next month.  Trump, in one of his many stupid statement moments, said that this should be an easy win as birthright citizenship was tied to slavery, which is really ignorant.

5.  Wyoming Supreme Court mulls constitutionality of state’s abortion bans: Much like the case, Wednesday’s hearing largely focused on whether a section of the state’s constitution that protects individuals’ rights to make their own health care decisions prevents the state from banning abortion.

A frustrating thing for conservatives who would like to find a more middle of the road set of people to vote for, now that the Wyoming Republican Party is in a civil war between real conservatives and populists, is that the Democratic Party nationally and locally just can't wash it hands of blood.  

It puts voters in a horrible position.  Insane gerontocracy v. seas of blood.

Former Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Keith Kautz created some controversy when he joined some legislators in a prayer session associated with the oral arguments, stating as a prayer:

I especially pray for the justices on the Wyoming Supreme Court.  May they know that the true beginning of wisdom is to acknowledge you. Give each of them wisdom and courage in deciding the case coming next week. Let them see how much you love each human and the world you created.

I don't see a problem with that, but apparently some people did.  Justice Kautz noted that he asked, upon retiring, not to be assigned to any cases dealing with abortion because of his religion based opposition to it.  He apparently is a member of a Baptist group called "Converge". 

6.  A group of Wyoming lawyers wrote an open letter about recent legal developments.  It was directed at Wyoming's Congressional representation.

Condemn attacks on judiciary, Wyoming lawyers and judges urge delegation

The letter was met with a "pound sand" response from that representation which went on to say that Federal courts had too much jurisdiction, which they are seeking to limit.

That's wrong, and that's a mistake.

William Roper: “So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!”

Sir Thomas More: “Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?”

William Roper: “Yes, I'd cut down every law in England to do that!”

Sir Thomas More: “Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down, and you're just the man to do it, do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!”

Robert Bolt, A Man for All Seasons: A Play in Two Acts

April 24, 2025

Trump has issued an order which takes on accrediting bodies, including the ABA.

REFORMING ACCREDITATION TO STRENGTHEN HIGHER EDUCATION

Executive Orders

April 23, 2025

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Purpose.  A group of higher education accreditors are the gatekeepers that decide which colleges and universities American students can spend the more than $100 billion in Federal student loans and Pell Grants dispersed each year.  The accreditors’ job is to determine which institutions provide a quality education — and therefore merit accreditation.  Unfortunately, accreditors have not only failed in this responsibility to students, families, and American taxpayers, but they have also abused their enormous authority.

Accreditors routinely approve institutions that are low-quality by the most important measures.  The national six-year undergraduate graduation rate was an alarming 64 percent in 2020.  Further, many accredited institutions offer undergraduate and graduate programs with a negative return on investment — almost 25 percent of bachelor’s degrees and more than 40 percent of master’s degrees — which may leave students financially worse off and in enormous debt by charging them exorbitant sums for a degree with very modest earnings potential.

Notwithstanding this slide in graduation rates and graduates’ performance in the labor market, the spike in debt obligations in relation to expected earnings, and repayment rates on student loans, accreditors have remained improperly focused on compelling adoption of discriminatory ideology, rather than on student outcomes.  Some accreditors make the adoption of unlawfully discriminatory practices a formal standard of accreditation, and therefore a condition of accessing Federal aid, through “diversity, equity, and inclusion” or “DEI”-based standards of accreditation that require institutions to “share results on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the context of their mission by considering . . . demographics . . . and resource allocation.” Accreditors have also abused their governance standards to intrude on State and local authority.

The American Bar Association’s Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar (Council), which is the sole federally recognized accreditor for Juris Doctor programs, has required law schools to “demonstrate by concrete action a commitment to diversity and inclusion” including by “commit[ting] to having a student body [and faculty] that is diverse with respect to gender, race, and ethnicity.”  As the Attorney General has concluded and informed the Council, the discriminatory requirement blatantly violates the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181 (2023).  Though the Council subsequently suspended its enforcement while it considers proposed revisions, this standard and similar unlawful mandates must be permanently eradicated.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which is the only federally recognized body that accredits Doctor of Medicine degree programs, requires that an institution “engage[] in ongoing, systematic, and focused recruitment and retention activities, to achieve mission-appropriate diversity outcomes among its students.”  The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which is the sole accreditor for both allopathic and osteopathic medical residency and fellowship programs, similarly “expect[s]” institutions to focus on implementing “policies and procedures related to recruitment and retention of individuals underrepresented in medicine,” including “racial and ethnic minority individuals.”  The standards for training tomorrow’s doctors should focus solely on providing the highest quality care, and certainly not on requiring unlawful discrimination.

American students and taxpayers deserve better, and my Administration will reform our dysfunctional accreditation system so that colleges and universities focus on delivering high-quality academic programs at a reasonable price.  Federal recognition will not be provided to accreditors engaging in unlawful discrimination in violation of Federal law.

Sec. 2.  Holding Accreditors Accountable for Unlawful Actions.  (a)  The Secretary of Education shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, hold accountable, including through denial, monitoring, suspension, or termination of accreditation recognition, accreditors who fail to meet the applicable recognition criteria or otherwise violate Federal law, including by requiring institutions seeking accreditation to engage in unlawful discrimination in accreditation-related activity under the guise of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” initiatives.

(b)  The Attorney General and the Secretary of Education shall, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American law schools that is advanced by the Council, including unlawful “diversity, equity, and inclusion” requirements under the guise of accreditation standards.  The Secretary of Education shall also assess whether to suspend or terminate the Council’s status as an accrediting agency under Federal law.

(c)  The Attorney General and the Secretary of Education, in consultation with the Secretary of Health and Human Services, shall investigate and take appropriate action to terminate unlawful discrimination by American medical schools or graduate medical education entities that is advanced by the Liaison Committee on Medical Education or the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education or other accreditors of graduate medical education, including unlawful “diversity, equity, and inclusion” requirements under the guise of accreditation standards.  The Secretary of Education shall also assess whether to suspend or terminate the Committee’s or the Accreditation Council’s status as an accrediting agency under Federal law or take other appropriate action to ensure lawful conduct by medical schools, graduate medical education programs, and other entities that receive Federal funding for medical education.

Sec. 3.  New Principles of Student-Oriented Accreditation.  (a)  To realign accreditation with high-quality, valuable education for students, the Secretary of Education shall, consistent with applicable law, take appropriate steps to ensure that:

(i)    accreditation requires higher education institutions to provide high-quality, high-value academic programs free from unlawful discrimination or other violations of Federal law;

(ii)   barriers are reduced that limit institutions from adopting practices that advance credential and degree completion and spur new models of education;

(iii)  accreditation requires that institutions support and appropriately prioritize intellectual diversity amongst faculty in order to advance academic freedom, intellectual inquiry, and student learning;

(iv)   accreditors are not using their role under Federal law to encourage or force institution to violate State laws, unless such State laws violate the Constitution or Federal law; and

(v)    accreditors are prohibited from engaging in practices that result in credential inflation that burdens students with additional unnecessary costs.

(b)  To advance the policies and objectives in subsection (a) of this section, the Secretary of Education shall:

(i)    resume recognizing new accreditors to increase competition and accountability in promoting high-quality, high-value academic programs focused on student outcomes;

(ii)   mandate that accreditors require member institutions to use data on program-level student outcomes to improve such outcomes, without reference to race, ethnicity, or sex;

(iii)  promptly provide to accreditors any noncompliance findings relating to member institutions issued after an investigation conducted by the Office of Civil Rights under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000d et seq.) or Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 (20 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.);

(iv)   launch an experimental site, pursuant to section 487A(b) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094a(b)), to accelerate innovation and improve accountability by establishing new flexible and streamlined quality assurance pathways for higher education institutions that provide high-quality, high-value academic programs;

(v)    increase the consistency, efficiency, and effectiveness of the accreditor recognition review process, including through the use of technology;

(vi)   streamline the process for higher education institutions to change accreditors to ensure institutions are not forced to comply with standards that are antithetical to institutional values and mission; and

(vii)  update the Accreditation Handbook to ensure that the accreditor recognition and reauthorization process is transparent, efficient, and not unduly burdensome.

Sec. 4.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

                              DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

April 26, 2025

The Trump administration really took a step towards Nazism with the arrest of Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan for supposedly interfering with immigration laws.

Wyoming’s crossover voting ban and closed primary elections are being challenged in a newly filed civil action.

This should be really interesting.

Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein of sexual abuse, has died by suicide at age 41.  Prince Andrew's fall is directly tied to her, and there's no doubt that they met when she was just 17 years old, although he denied any improper conduct with her.

She was a married woman with three children, and had relocated to Australia. Apparently she and her husband had recently separated, and she had recently been in an automobile accident.

The topic of releasing the Epstein files has come up, but so far the Trump administration has failed to release them.  Trump, of course, knew Epstein.

April 29, 2025

Hageman, Barrasso Say Judges Who Shield Illegal Immigrants Should Be Arrested

President Donald Trump’s administration did not go too far in arresting judges for allegedly shielding illegal immigrants from federal agents, say members of Wyoming’s congressional delegation.

April 30, 2025

Judge: Rock Springs school didn’t violate parental rights in transgender pronoun case: School district officials, educators did not keep information from high schooler’s parents or violate mother’s religious rights, federal judge concludes.

May 2, 2025

A federal judge in Texas barred the Trump administration from deporting Venezuelans from South Texas under the Enemy Aliens Act.

May 3, 2025

I missed it, as I was busy, but Law Day, which is May 1, was rebranded by Trump as Loyalty Day.

The meanings aren't even remotely close.

A Federal Court blocked the Trump administration sanctions on a U.S. law firm.

May 16, 2025


A retired lawyer has sued Secretary of State Chuck Gray maintaining that as Gray spread lies about the January 6 insurrection, he supported the campaign of insurrectionist Donald Trump and therefore is disqualified from office under the 14th for being an insurrectionist himself.

That suit will go nowhere, it's really strained.

Trump is an insurrectionist and isn't qualified to hold office, and Gray did support him, but there was never an adjudication in Wyoming as to Trump's status and therefore Gray would have been entitled to argue in favor of him, even with wild fantasies that the election was stolen.

Moreover, the 14th Amendment in the end disallows an insurrectionist from being seated in office, which is why I take the position that Trump is not currently the President, but it also allows for the disqualification to be lifted by Congress.  I think, therefore, that it would have been valid to argue that Trump should be elected, as Congress could have lifted the disability.  It simply never came up.

Lawsuits like this amount to pointless tilting at windmills and frankly discredit those who oppose Trump by being goofy.  Gray has resorted to his usual speech decrying the "radical left". That speech has grown tiresome and I frankly doubt anyone listens to it anymore, but it is giving him something to complain about that fits in with his campaign's past themse, and it likely future one.

On other news, the Federal Court is allowing UW sorority sisters to amend their complaint against the man who has been admitted as a sister in their sorority.

A lot of people have heard that the Supreme Court heard arguments on birthright citizenship this week, but it didn't.  It heard a case on nationwide injunctions which involved birthright citizenship.  The court can, and probably will, issue its opinion without addressing the question of citizenship.

May 17, 2025

The US Supreme Court extended an injunction prohibiting the deportation of Venezuelans under the Enemy Alien Act, with their being two dissents.

June 10, 2025

Wyoming sorority sisters file new lawsuit, but drop transgender student from case

June 14, 2025

Wyoming Education Association files lawsuit to stop school voucher payments: Complaint argues that the state funding private education violates the Wyoming Constitution in two key ways.

US Civil Unrest

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled the Trump's direct Guard deployment was illegal, violating the Tenth Amendment and exceeding Trump’s statutory authority.  An appeals court stayed enforcement of the order upon review.

June 30, 2025

Lots of big Supreme Court cases this past week, including one that held that nationwide injunctions in Federal Courts are normally improper.

On that has also received some notice is one that hold that forcing students to receive sexual indoctrination contrary to their faith violates the Establishment Clause.

Pam Bondi improperly fired two January 6 prosecutors.

July 1, 2025

Once again the legislature proves itself to be the gang that couldn't shoot straight.

Judge Green-Lights Off-Label Prescribing Of Abortion Drugs

Lawmakers may have had Ivermectin in mind when they passed a law to safeguard doctors who prescribe off-label. But a judge on Monday ruled that, at least for now, that protection must apply to abortion-inducing drug providers as well.

First the legislature proposes an amendment to the state constitution to protect personal medical choices, out of an absurd fear that Obamacare would cause there to be death panels, but it ends up wiping out their later legislation on abortion, and now they pass a moronic bill to protect prescribing ivermectin for humans but it ends up applying again, to abortion, this time chemical abortion.

Wyoming is really not being well served by the hard right in the legislature.

Some people need to be sent back to the truck stop sweet roll counter to which their talents and conspiracy theories are better suited.

July 2, 2025

A federal judge ruled that mass layoffs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services were likely unlawful and ordered the Trump administration to halt plans to downsize and reorganize the agency.

Trump toured a new immigration alligator swamp surrounded immigration concentration camp in Florida.

Chuck Gray got help from his hero:

Trump Administration Seeks To Defend Wyoming’s New Citizenship Voter Law

July 9, 2025

The Supreme Court ruled that mass layoffs of Federal employees started by DOGE can proceed.  Hundreds of thousands of Federal employees stand to lose their jobs.

Closer to home:

Gravel operator digs in with another lawsuit to open Casper Mountain: Prism Logistics has asked a judge to review the state's recent decision to deny several lease renewals.

July 11, 2025

A Federal Court granted class action status to a suit challenging Trump's clearly unconstitutional effort to  attack birth right citizenship and stayed enforcement, nationwide, of efforts to do just that,

This will head back to the Supreme Court where we'll learn in the court is a court, or simply a branch of the sitting monarchy.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Taxes and life in small-town Wyoming

Taxes and life in small-town Wyoming: Legislative plans to do away with property taxes would mean greater inequality in the Equality State, writes columnist David Romtvedt.

Wyoming politicians have failed to protect veterans

Wyoming politicians have failed to protect veterans: Sen. Lummis would rather serve Trump than her state, endangering those who have risked their lives for this country, writes her former intern Aidan Jacketta.

Thursday, July 3, 2025

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 94th Edition. Performance Bad Art and the News.

My goodness.

An item in the cultural wind we noted yesterday here; 

Lex Anteinternet: Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 93d Edition. Porn ind...: Porn industry, Supreme Court weigh in as Wyoming requires age verification on adult sites : As of Tuesday, Wyomingites' access to some c...

That being this:

In other sex, sort of, news, a dude who looks like a dude went to the lady's room accompanied by the press (including a dude) and hoped to get arrested.

Transgender woman protests new law with visit to a Wyoming Capitol bathroom: Rihanna Kelver used the women’s restroom at the Wyoming Capitol building Tuesday in defiance of a new law prohibiting transgender people’s use of public facilities.

Has managed to be a feature story in every Wyoming news outlet, it seems.  At least its in Wyofile, Cowboy State Daily, and the CST.

So, to get this straight, a guy, dressed as gal, goes to the lady's room, and nothing happens.

Is that really news?

If so why?

Well, because the dude claims to be a gal, and was hoping to get busted by the police, who had other things to do and didn't take note of it.

But still, you see (are you paying attention), he could have been arrested, really, he could have been. . . 

and was hoping to be. . . 

but, sadly, was not.

This is, I'd note, something for real conservatives to take note of. This guy has a mental illness being celebrated on the left as normal.  Almost everyone knows that's BS.  And the stench of that is what is causing, in part, conservatives, who would otherwise be horrified, to vote for a moral heap of stench such as Donald Trump, which Trump well knowns.

Indeed, right now, the Trumpites and his Merry Band of National Conservatives hope stuff like this keeps your eyes off the Big Ugly, and causes you to forget the Big Ugly in the next year.

And the press, for its part, plays into the delusion of the lies of the right and left.

Transgender woman protests new law with visit to a Wyoming Capitol bathroom

That didn't happen. What happened is a man who wants to be a girl, went to the capitol bathroom with members of the press and his female fiance (so I guess he's wants to be girl. . . but still marry a girl), hoping to be arrested, but nobody cares or even notices.  A headline reading:

Man goes to capitol bathroom dressed as woman and nothing happens

Wouldn't be news, I guess.

On the Big Ugly, headline from the Tribune.

Medicaid, insurance cuts in ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ will harm Wyoming, healthcare advocates warn.

I personally know one person whose a radical Trump fan who completely depends on government healthcare.  I suppose folks in that category deserve to get what's coming.

Chances are that Wyoming is going to be hammered by this. Chances are that Dr. John Barrasso, our Senator, knows that, even though he said it "probably" won't happen.

The question is if we care about the human impact or not.

Speaking of headlines, this is making the rounds:

First Wyoming measles case in 15 years found in Natrona County

I'm making assumptions here, but it's going to turn out that the negligent parents, or parent, didn't vaccinate their kid.

Wyoming has a first rate education system.  I note that, as a parent who wouldn't vaccinate a child probably isn't from Wyoming originally, I'm guessing, and is a dumbass.  The Wyoming Freedom Caucus sort of hates education, because educated people know stuff and won't play this game, tend not to believe their fanciful version of reality, and hence we have this headline.

Wyoming expected to see $686M deficit in education spending

With an ignorant population, they can hope to bring Wyoming into rural stupidity such as occurs elsewhere in the US and helps explain a population voting to slit their own throats.  They wouldn't see it that way, as they're ignorant themselves in many, although not all, instances. 

And we have this:

Trump mental health cuts hit rural schools hardest

Last edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 93d Edition. Porn industry retstricted, Supreme Court weigh in as Wyoming requires age verification on adult sites, Dudes in the lady room, and on women's teams, Trump helping where no law or help was needed.

Governor Gordon Appoints Keith Kautz Attorney General

 This is a great choice by Governor Gordon.

Governor Gordon Appoints Keith Kautz Attorney General

July 02, 2025

 Governor Mark Gordon has announced the appointment of Keith Kautz as Attorney General beginning July 7, 2025. Kautz replaces Ryan Schelhaas, who is serving as interim Attorney General following the departure of Bridget Hill.


Kautz served as a justice on the Wyoming Supreme Court from 2015 until 2024, when he turned 70 and was required by Wyoming’s Constitution to retire from the bench. From 1993 until 2015 he served as a District Court Judge for the Eighth District covering Converse, Goshen, Niobrara, and Platte counties. He previously served as a private practice attorney in Torrington as a partner in the firm Sawyer, Warren & Kautz. Kautz grew up in Torrington and earned his Bachelors and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of Wyoming. 


“When accepting my offer to serve as Wyoming’s 39th Attorney General, I was delighted to hear Justice Kautz quote George Washington who, when selecting our country’s first attorney general, stated that ‘the due administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good Government,’” Governor Gordon said. “I share that view, and know that Justice Kautz has the talent, experience and skill to fulfill this important duty, as well as provide the due administration of justice to the people of Wyoming. We are fortunate that he desires to continue to serve our great state, and I look forward to his leadership in this most essential office.”


“I am honored to serve Wyoming, and to work with the outstanding staff at the Attorney General’s office,” Kautz said. 


The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office is the legal advisor for the State of Wyoming. In addition to providing a full range of legal services to statewide elected officials, agencies, and State employees in the conduct of official State business, the Attorney General’s Office is Wyoming’s primary State law enforcement agency. The Office provides a full spectrum of services, ranging from statewide criminal investigations performed by the Division of Criminal Investigation; initial and advanced law enforcement training provided by the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy; and crime victim advocacy and victim support programs and payments through the Division of Victim Services. The Attorney General’s Office also provides administrative support to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission and the Wyoming Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities. 

I can't help but feel that part of the reason that Gordon brought Justice Kautz out of retirement for this position is his calm, steady, demeanor.  Kautz was a widely admired district court judge and then supreme court justice, who was completely unflappable.  Recently he demonstrated that in regard to a comment on the case regarding abortion in front of the supreme court, in which he openly cited to religion and prayer.  

He'll be in charge of advancing the Governor and state's interest in that regards, which has been to restrict and ban abortion.  Added to that, however, Governor Gordon has been repeatedly faced with needling from Secretary of State Gray, who has used that office to grandstand. Chance are that Kautz's calm demeanor was in mind in regard to that as well.