Showing posts with label Wyoming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wyoming. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
Friday, October 23, 2026
Court Watch Part VIII. The only restraint edition.
July 14, 2026
In a blistering opinion, a Federal Court judge ruled that President Donald Trump improperly used a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS to extract personal benefits from the government and prevented the terms of a settlement agreement from taking legal effect.
And more locally:
Laramie County sheriff ordered to appear in court, explain why law firm can’t inspect records
July 23, 2026
Headline in the CST:
Wyoming attorneys oppose Trump’s AG pick
71 Wyoming attorneys signed onto the letter. Lummis and Barrasso will ignore it.
August 1, 2026
Charges against an Olympic kayaker for vandalizing the reflecting pool have been dropped.
That was predictable, but what the Justice Department admitted was not. It admitted the damage was the result of "flawed installation by the contractor" as well as "the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026."
Every lawyer associated with this should be dismissed and disbarred. Trump should be impeached. The victim of these false charges should sue for malicious prosecution.
Closer to home:
Wyoming archaeologists take BLM to court over Native sites, human remains
August 5, 2026
The U.S. Attorney’s Office dismissed all charges against David Hearn, Justin Carreno, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Cameron Thiers for the pool vandalization that never occured. Donald Trump had previously described these people as “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE". He's the sick deranged people, but people who aren't victims of Trump Derangement Syndrome and think he's something other than a rampaging deranged narcissist know that.
Now, even after the Toddler's tantrums, no charges are pending at all. They never should be.
Lawsuits should, and I predict will, be filed against the government over this.
August 8, 2026
The DC Circuit ordered Trump to halt his illegal ballroom construction but, in a wussy move, stayed its decision for fourteen days in order to allow Trump to appeal, which he, or rather his administration, will.
The Court, in its decision, noted:
Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help.
August 11, 2026
It's not that there aren't some really issues here.
Judge dismisses closed primary lawsuit for the second time
But it does provide a good example of why it hurts things for everyone when a gadfly like Skovgaard decides to play lawyer.
August 12, 2026
Court steps in to counter coup attempt.
August 18, 2026
Good news:
Retired Cheyenne attorney renews legal challenge to Secretary Gray’s handoff of voter data feds
Gray violated the law on this and needs to be held fully accountable. Courts looking at this issue have uniformly supported the states that refused to provide the information.
Gray should be made to recover the information he supplied. This was illegal.
August 25, 2026
This doesn't decide the ultimate issue:
Supreme Court allows Trump administration to move forward with order imposing restrictions on mail-in voting
But coming when it does, it may very well be the law in a practical sense this election cycle, and impact the election. It's specifically designed to frustrate Democratic voting. However, as Amy Howe reports:
A separate ruling by the same judge, in a case filed by a different set of plaintiffs, temporarily prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from implementing one provision of the executive order anywhere in the United States. That ruling remains in effect, at least for now.
The decision is flat out wrong and the Supreme Court will regret it. The Democrats are increasingly like to win both houses of Congress this Fall and they will begin to work on major Supreme Court reform. Trump can prevent that while he's in office, but he's becoming the political kiss of death for GOP candidates and when a new Democratic President comes in, this order will come off and the Supreme Court will be radically reformed. Perhaps first up will be age limitations, likely 70 years of old, which will wipe out the conservative majority on the court.
A decision like this one will help bring about that downfall. So does stuff like this:
Supreme Court allows White House ballroom construction to continue for now
The mail in voting one at least has some think judicial reasoning Staying ballroom construction was the obvious choice here and the Court didn't do it. That probably signals that they'll let this insane project go forward.
August 27, 2026
After Election Loss, Reid Rasner Sues A Sixth Person For Defamation
One of Rasner's previous suits is in the CST today on the pending summary judgment motion.
August 31, 2026
The Supreme Court sealed its fate today in holding that the Plaintiffs in a case challenging the legality of Trump's illegal construction of a giant garden shed on White House Grounds lacked standing.
Bullshit.
Justice Roberts, who dissented in the 5 to 4 decision, noted that the construction was likely illegal. It is. This was a standing decision.
So construction will commence and may well get completed. The legality will be ruled upon in the future, and then the heaping pile of shit hopefully blown to the ground by a future administration that will rely on this decision. The Supreme Court will go to 13 members, and an age limitation will be put on the justices guaranteeing a liberal majority on the court for a century.
September 10. 2026
Twenty states filed two separate lawsuits against the government alleging the Trump administration illegally weakened the Endangered Species Act.
September 11, 2026
The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift an injunction on the USPS prohibiting the implementation of crybaby's attempt for a fall coup by banning mail in voting.
September 15, 2026
The US Supreme Court decided in a 7 to 2 vote to block the Trump USPS rule prohibiting mail in voting. Alito and Thomas were the two dissenting votes.
October 14, 2026
That this is even a topic shows how absurd our times are.
Your sex at birth, is your sex. Nothing can or should change that.
October 15, 2026
Judge halts sweeping plan to move Forest Service headquarters west, including state office in Cheyenne
October 17, 2026
Judge Deciding Whether To Hold Sheriff Kozak In Contempt Over Immigration Records
October 23, 2026
Orange Mussolini, who is suing the BBC for defamation, has been ordered by a US Court to sit for his deposition.
Closer to home:
Legislative Candidate Loses Lawsuit Against University of Wyoming
Last edition:
Court Watch Part VII. When the last law was down.
Saturday, October 17, 2026
The 2027 Legislature, super early edition. The make them stop edition.
Ugh, just when the first corn fed, cornfederate legislature was safely in the history books, the Management Council met. Of course, the same dumb ideas that get rejected repeatedly are back up for reconsideration, at least in part.
I hear we want to do the election review again and redo the same bills that just died three weeks ago ... in exchange for 911 funding.
Tara Nethercott.
The corner crossing bill won't be back, which is too bad.
Vote the WFC out and send them back to pre 1964 Alabama where they'll be happy.
May 13, 2026
Woman Sued By House Candidate Reid Rasner Urges Ban On Frivolous Lawsuits
I was aware this legislation had been introduced. Frankly, Anti SLAPP provisions are really tricky as they're based, basically, on pre judging a litigants intent.
June 10, 2026
Lawmakers revive proposal to remove Wyoming property taxes
The money has to come from somewhere. Property taxes rise because in no small part new people come in and overpay in the local housing market, and otherwise inflate it.
A better idea would be to have an unrealized sales tax on the sale of real property from other states that
is used by a person within five years of moving to Wyoming.
August 13, 2026
Lawmakers reject proposal for online court records, streamed hearings
Thank goodness. This idea was outright unworkable.
August 29, 2026
Things are going to be rough from now until the the beginning of the next legislative session as the members of the deposed Freedom Caucus be a general pain.
At Least Five Lawmakers Walk Out Of ‘Absurd’ Joint Committee Meeting
August 30, 2026
The WFC food fight at the legislature continues as Chip Neiman took to Facebook to pout over Senators walking out of the recent pointless joint meeting.
As Speaker of the Wyoming House of Representatives, I’m entrusted with the responsibility of appointing legislators to standing committees. It’s a charge I didn’t take lightly upon my election to the Speakership.
I’m proud of the members of the House Minerals and Appropriations Committees for finishing the job they took up for the interim pertaining to local government infrastructure funding and the Wyoming Business Council.
Today, the Senate walked out on Wyoming cities, towns and counties. Conversely, the House committee members remained steadfast in order to deliver the strongest local government funding model seen in decades. This bill will fund local infrastructure and benefit every local jurisdiction and citizen.
The Legislature isn’t a place for turf warfare.
I worry for the future of the Wyoming Legislature. I encourage those new members coming to Cheyenne, to remember who they serve; not a committee, a chamber or any particular lobbying outfit, they serve the people of Wyoming. See less
Neiman notes that he's Speaker of the House in the legislature, which is true, but he's on his way out and is a lame duck. The complaint that the "Legislature isn't a place for turf warfare" is really rich given that the WFC acted like the first Vandals in Rome in Cheyenne. If it's turf warfare, they started it.
We're going to see a lot more of this. The WFC has been kicked to the curb, but like the the 33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French) in the Battle of Berlin, it's going to see that everything is destroyed that it can destroy before it goes.
One common theme we're now seeing in connection with the WFC losing is this one that appears in the comments to Nieman:
Me too! We are quickly becoming a blue state, just as Charlie Kirk predicted!😢
I've scene that more than once now.
People who make that comment are deluded. I don't know about this person, but they're likely also carpetbaggers. Wyoming is a conservative state, but it's not a Turning Point USA Southern Bible Belt state. This is why traditionally there was no support for restricting abortion much here (which I do feel should be restricted, and indeed illegal) and nobody cared much whether somebody was a homosexual or not, which apparently is also no longer the case. The local view, and it was expressed in the Democratic and Republican parties, wsa "I don't care what you do as long as you leave me alone". The WFC didn't want to leave people alone.
As for Charlie Kirk and his predications, I'm increasingly in the "I don't care what Charlie had to say" camp. I don't mean to sound like a Kirk basher, but those politicos and their followers that are Kirk acolytes increasingly don't impress me. Kirk was brought to UW by one of his collegiate admirers who went on to work for Hageman and get canned for following Francoist website, with the same fellow then managing Chuck Gray's campaign. That's a good enough reason not to vote for Gray, although were are are plenty of other reasons not to do so. Anyhow, Kirk never reflected a Wyoming point of view.
September 3, 2026
Wyoming lawmakers change course on property tax reform amid signs of waning support
This is a result of the defeat of the WFC, and that Wyomingites did not rise to the occasion to take advantage of a bevy of potential exemptions, at least one of which was in my view likely illegal.
The last year made it increasingly obvious where local funding came from for municipalities and counties, which likely helps explain this.
It also signals the death spiral of a WFC dream.
September 23, 2026
Outspoken Veterinarians Kill Bill To Let Non-Vets Do Livestock Pregnancy Checks
I'll just be blunt about this.
The same sort of dumb ass movement that backs crap like raw milk as being safe, home delivery by midwives, and "denturists" making dentures without a dentist support stupid ideas like this.
Scientific idiocy has always been part of American culture. It's why people go to chiropractors and think its like going to the doctor. Or why people wear brass bracelets, or take ivermectin for Covid (a really bad and dangerous idea). Or why they think vaccines or dangerous. Or why they think Robert F. Kennedy makes sense on anything.
It really needs to stop.
October 9, 2026
Wyoming lawmakers take steps to further restrict online gaming
Task force ditches Wyoming-run health insurance plan idea, mulls unorthodox service models
October 17, 2027
The Bitterenders:
Wyoming Freedom Caucus lawmakers vote to sponsor election bills, reject dark money resolution
Friday, October 16, 2026
Wednesday, October 16, 1946. Nuremberg sentences carried out.
Joachim von Ribbentrop (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Wilhelm Keitel (Head of the German High Command), Ernst Kaltenbrunner (Head of the Reich Main Security Office), Alfred Rosenberg (Primary Nazi ideologist and racial theorist), Hans Frank (Governor-General of occupied Poland), Wilhelm Frick (Minister of the Interior), Julius Streicher (Publisher of Der Stürmer), Fritz Sauckel (Plenipotentiary for Labor Deployment), Alfred Jodl (Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command) and Arthur Seyss-Inquart (Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands) were executed.
Their last meal consisted of sausage and cold cuts, along with potato salad, black bread, and tea.
Sgt. John Woods was the executioner.
Executions started at 1:30 a.m.
Von Ribbentrop was executed first. His final words were:
God protect Germany. God have mercy on my soul. My final wish is that Germany should recover her unity and that, for the sake of peace, there should be an understanding between East and West. I wish peace to the world.
Von Ribbentrop apparently told the Lutheran pastor who was present that he would see him again. The execution was not done well and it took fourteen minutes for him to die.
Wilhelm Keitel.
I call on God Almighty to have mercy on the German people. More than two million German soldiers went to their death for the fatherland before me. I follow now my sons—all for Germany.
Keitel was a cousin once-removed of Katherine "Kitty" Oppenheimer.
Ernst Kaltenbrunner "
I have loved my German people and my fatherland with a warm heart. I have done my duty by the laws of my people and I am sorry my people were led this time by men who were not soldiers and that crimes were committed of which I had no knowledge. Germany, good luck.
Alfred Rosenberg, nothing.
Hans Frank
I am thankful for the kind treatment during my captivity and I ask God to accept me with mercy.
Wilhelm Frick
Long live eternal Germany.
Julius Streicher
Adele, my dear wife.
Fritz Sauckel
I am dying innocent. The sentence is wrong. God protect Germany and make Germany great again. Long live Germany! God protect my family.
Alfred Jodl
My greetings to you, my Germany.
Arthur Seyss-Inquart
I hope that this execution marks the final act of the tragedy of the Second World War and that the lesson learned from this war will be that peace and understanding should exist between peoples. I believe in Germany.
The News reported that some women were studying engineering in Colorado.
It was also speculating on the political fortunes of Wyoming's Governor, Lester Hunt.
Hunting season was the subject of a cartoon.
The RMS Queen Elizabeth returned to commercial use.
Gordie Howe made his NHL debut.
Actress Suzanne Somers was born.
Last edition:
Tuesday, October 15, 1946. Death of Hermann Göring
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Saturday, October 14, 1876. Construction starts at Cantonment Reno.
Construction of Cantonment Reno commenced, after the location of the post having been established two days prior.
Cantonment Reno (Ft. McKinney)
This is really interesting for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it shows a real change in the Army's strategy for defeating the Sioux. Ever since the end of Red Cloud's War in the 1860s the Army had not maintained a post in the Powder River Basin. Indeed, Cantonment Reno is just a couple of miles away from where Ft. Reno had been. Ft. Reno, Ft. Caspar and Ft. Phil Kearney had all been abandoned after that successful Sioux campaign, ceding hundreds of square miles to Sioux and Cheyenne control. Red Cloud had been enormously successful.
But now the Army was back, and a post like Cantonment Reno was a major interdicting presence on the southeastern edge of the Basin.
Red Cloud's War had concluded in 1868. The Sioux and Cheyenne dominance in the Powder River Basin had been brief.
Last edition:
Thursday, October 12, 1876 . Cantonment Reno established.
Monday, October 12, 2026
A Day for Spatting.
Today is October 12, 2026.
Department of Defense logo from 2000.
It's also officially Columbus Day, which has a long history of introduction in the U.S. It was first celebrated, on this day, set to always occur on a Monday, in 1792 by the Columbian Order of New York, better known as the Tammany Society, which evolved into the famous New York political machine. Italian Americans picked it up as a day of Italian pride as Columbus was an Italian. It was recognized annually by the Federal Government starting in 1934, and then officially made a Federal holiday in 1968, to be first on the calendar in 1971.
It's still there.
Native Americans have never been particularly keen on the day, for obvious reasons. This lead to protests over the years and eventually the day was recognized in some areas as Indigenous People's Day.
Taking the guns at Standing Rock.
Columbus Day was the source of increased agitation by Native Americans dating back into the 1970s, which was the height of power of the American Indian Movement, although if you look at today's entry for 1911, you'll see that it was on this day that the first national organization for Native Americans convened. That probably wasn't an accident. Some Native protests against the day have verged on violence, so deep is the opposition to it in those quarters.
Wyoming doesn't officially recognize either day, thereby avoiding taking any kinds of stand, but it does recognize Native American Day, which is in May. Laramie and Jackson recognize Indigenous People's Day on this day, however, those two municipalities being the most "liberal" in Wyoming (which makes Rebecca Bextel's campaign being headquartered in Jackson ironic). Casper doesn't recognize either day but usually finds a means of making the day a municipal holiday.
This year, Casper found a way to recognize both:
City of Casper Releases Indigenous Peoples’ / Columbus Day Services and Hours
City of Casper releases Indigenous Peoples’/Columbus Day services and hoursGarbage collection, water, sewer, emergency services and more will operate as usual.
Casper, Wyo. (October 8, 2026) – The City of Casper administrative offices will be closed for the observance of Indigenous Peoples’/Columbus Day 2026 on Monday, October 12, 2026. Normal water, sewer, 911 dispatch, police, fire, and metro animal control services will maintain their regular schedules. Solid waste crews will collect garbage as usual on Monday, and other crews will be on call to respond as needed.
The following is the complete list of services and hours.
- Trash collection will run on the normal schedule.
- Casper Regional Solid Waste Facility: Open 7:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
- Police Patrol, Fire-EMS, and 911 Dispatch: Regular hours.
- Water and Wastewater Treatment Plants: Regular hours.
- Water distribution, sewer, streets, parks, fleet services, and public facilities crews on call for emergencies.
- Metro Animal Services Patrol Officers (APOs): Available 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.by calling non-emergency dispatch at 307.235.8278. Outside those regular hours, APOs are on call for emergencies by calling 911.
- Fort Caspar Museum: Closed (closed on Mondays for winter hours)
- Casper Municipal Golf Course: Open normal hours, 1st tee time is 8:30 a.m., the Golf Shop will close at 6:00 p.m.
- Highland Cemetery: Grounds open dawn to dusk with burial search map signs.
- Casper Area Transit, operated by the City of Casper: limited services on Monday. LINK transit services will be unavailable. ASSIST services will run limited services from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. for scheduled medical-only appointments and for ADA complementary paratransit services.
- Metro Animal Shelter: Closed.
- Casper Ice Arena: 6:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. (Open Figure Skating), 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (Open Figure Skating)
- Casper Family Aquatic Center: 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Casper Recreation Center: 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
Donald Trump, who loves a good cultural spat, spoke in Columbus, Ohio last week, which took down its statute of Columbus some time ago. While there, he stated; “We demand that Christopher Columbus be put back into the heart of Columbus, Ohio,”
Well, we demand the dumb ballroom be taken down.
Anyhow, Trump loves to troll in racist waters, which this is an example of. It feeds into the far right belief that "whiteness" is some sort of inherent quality, and that it's being attacked. If you want to polish that up, it would be that the country's European heritage is being attacked.
Yesterday was National Coming Out Day, which always occurs on October 11. It's set by some homosexual rights organization.
I don't pay much attention to this as I largely do not care if people with same sex attraction come out. I don't think that people have to make social martyrs of themselves. But Adam Kinzinger made an observation that no GOP members of Congress came out. Well, I wouldn't have expected any to, but he's suggesting that there's at least an appreciable number, or perhaps a number who are significant, in the GOP in Congress. That might actually matter for a party that takes a position, sort of, on social issues in this arena.
There are consistently rumors to this effect. Hunter Biden, who may very well not be the most reliable witness on this topic, claims there's a Republican "closeted gay mafia". There are some figures whom rumors circle around continually. I was once told by a very inside member of the state's GOP that a certain Republican figure was a homosexual, which is the first time I heard the term "beard" used to describe a female spouse of a male homosexual, married to camouflage the attraction. The marriage, in that context, made sense to me. I've been told the same thing about the same person by an openly homosexual politician, but that person is sort of wildly unreliable. And there are questions that circle about others simply due to their state in life, I suppose.
None of these people may actually be homosexual, and if they are, that doesn't make them "gay" or "queer". Still, it matters because if you are holding yourself out as a defender of traditionalism in all sense while engaging in homosexual liaisons, you are being hypocritical.
Back to Trump, or rather the Trump Administration, Scott Bessent, who is a homosexual in a homosexual union, sent Elizabeth Warren this letter last week.
I've never been a fan of Warren's, who is one of those Democrats that cause people to avoid the Democratic Party, but this letter is just mean and snarky. Warren legitimately is an expert on economics. The final handwritten line recalls Warren's claim to have Native American heritage. And she actually does, as her DNA tests revealed. It is, however, remote. Trump repeatedly lampooned her for this, calling her Pocahontas, which is mean, but Warren should have avoided the entire topic in the first place.
So should Bessent who perpetually comes across as scared when he's interviewed. Maybe he isn't, but that's how he comes across. And Bessent has been press ganged into the Trump ongoing excuse machine. Some of his own claims have been lampooned, as in "I'm a farmer".
But the point here is that, once again, the MAGA Hypocrisy is at work. Trump's supporters claim to support him due to his traditionalism and his loyalty to Christian values. Bessent is an unapologetic homosexual in a same sex union, which is not traditional to say the least. Trump's a serial polygamist himself. The administration won't release the files on Epstein whose island was an epicenter of child rape.
So, like Festivus on Seinfeld, let the airing of the grievances begin.
Monday, October 12, 1936. Armor to the Spanish Republicans, FDR in Cheyenne.
It was Columbus Day, which had been officially recognized as a permanent honorific day in 1934.
Republican T-26.
Fifty Soviet T-26 tanks and some BA-3 armored cars arrived in Cartagena, Spain.
The T-26 tank was a very good tank for the period and would serve in the Red Army throughout World War Two.
A cross channel locomotive ferry service commenced between Dover and Dunkirk.
The Rocky Mountain News reported that Franklin Roosevelt had been in Cheyenne the day prior, where he attended Episcopal Church services.
He was in Denver today.
Last edition:
Sunday, October 11, 1936. End of the Arab General Strike, Fascists attacks in London, War Concerns, Hermaphrodites.
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