The 2024 Election, Part XXVIII. The Election.

 

And so we go, Election 2024.

November 5, 2024

Today is election day.

cont, 18:31:

The states to really watch today are the "blue wall states", which are:

Of these, the ones that are really in doubt are Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Trump needs to take these, and so does Harris, for the easiest route to 270 electoral votes.

All of the other Blue Wall states are gong for Harris without a doubt.

At the time of posting this, South Carolina, which went for Biden last go around, has gone for Trump.

November 6, 2024

Donald J. Trump, the worst President in American history, a man who sat by while his supporters stormed the Capitol, was re-elected President of the United States,  securing both the electoral vote, and the popular vote.

This is simply amazingly and depressing.  All chances for a reform of the GOP back to a conservative party have now died.

The Republicans took the Senate.

The House presently remains undetermined.

In state and local races, the following is of interest.

All the judges were retained, as expected.

The School Board did not go to the Populists.

Casperites voted for a 6th Cent to support a new animal shelter.

November 8, 2024

Projections make it clear that the Republicans will retain control of the House of Representatives, cementing what amounts to a Democratic disaster.

Donald Trump will have control of the House and Senate, or put another way, Republicans will control Congress and the Executive.  Not only that, however, but this is a largely Trumpite Republican Party now, so whatever Trump wants, he's very likely to get.

It wasn't all that long ago that Democrats dominated national votes and the Republican Party was regarded as heading to extinction unless it reformed.  It did reform, but in a direction that seemed likely to cause its demise.  Now its the Democrats that need to take a serious look at themselves and react. They should not have lost.

November 14, 2024

And while it has been suspected for some time, it's official. The Republicans won the House of Representatives.

Related threads:

The Carter Family - Can't Feel at Home

Labels: 2024 Election, Folk Music, Music

Last edition:

The 2024 Election, Part XXVII. Heading for the Last Roundup

Labels: 2020s, 2024, 2024 Election, Donald Trump, Education, J. D. Vance, Joseph Biden, Nebraska, Populism, Putin, Russia, Russo Ukrainian War, The Liz Cheney Maxim, Weird, Wyoming Freedom Caucus

Going Feral: Destruction of the wild.

Going Feral: Destruction of the wild.:   

Destruction of the wild.

 

Not-so Muddy Mountain Road

Great.

Making a formerly pretty wild area an effective city park.

This is just the kind of bullshit that ruins everything.

I hope the 4x4s coming off the muddy roads rip this newly paved road to shreds as soon as possible.

Clearly a bitter post on my part.

I"ve gone up the existing Muddy Mountain Road since I was a child.  I've hiked up the one that preceded it as well numerous times when the current road was closed, something that's declined in enjoyment as the motorized ATV crowd goes up and down the same road getting to listen to the racket their vehicles make (you can literally hear them for miles).

There's a lot about this that's flat out wrong.  One of those things is the absolute hypocrisy of Wyomingites, or in this case Natrona County residents, who loudly proclaim that the government shouldn't spend money on this or that, and then turn right around and subsidize the paving of a road for no reason, other than to allow people to flood the back country more easily, and with less effort.  The road literally serves no purpose other than recreation, that's it, and makes it easier for people to get there with no real effort.

Indeed, the existing road was a good one, and had I been around when it was put in, I probably would be p.o.ed as well.  

Meanwhile, in the winter, the same department that put in this road, if we have snow, won't be able to plow out the county roads that service the oilfield and ranches.

The Aerodrome: AT-6's (SNJ's) from the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, Na...

The Aerodrome: AT-6's (SNJ's) from the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, Na...:

AT-6's (SNJ's) from the film Tora! Tora! Tora!, Natrona County International Airport.

I heard them flying over downtown and looked up and saw them flying, but didn't notice the Japanese markings.  After realizing what they were, I went out the next day and to see if they were still there, and they were.

These are the SNJ's that were altered and remodeled to closely resemble Japanese Navy A6M's (Zeroes) and Nakajima B5N's (Kates) for the 1970s movie Tora! Tora! Tora!.  The resemblance to the Japanese aircraft is truly remarkable.

The Commemorative Air Force maintains and flies this team of aircraft today, preserving the excellent replica work done for the film.

In this instance, these aircraft were on their way to an airshow in Salt Lake City.

AT-6 in original markings.

AT-6 alte4red to resemble B5N.

SNJ rebuilt to resemble A6M.

The 2024 Election, Part XIX. The Clerks say "M'eh" edition.

June 6, 2024

Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray informed County Clerks that they may not use drop boxes in the upcoming election:

The County Clerks in turn met yesterday and informed Gray, that yes they can:

The topic of drop boxes has figured prominently in far right wing conspiracy theories even though there's no evidence whatsoever that they were involved in corruption in the last U.S. election, and certainly did not in the Wyoming election.  Sec. Gray used 2000 Mules prominently in his campaign, which apparently focuses on them, with that film having been completely discredited.  The conservative company which distributed it recently pulled it and apologized for it.

Apparently, less than 10 Wyoming counties actually use drop boxes, but the clerks en masse rejected Gray's directive.  If he wants to actually enforce his view, he'll have to attempt to get a court order, which risks the embarrassing possibility of losing as well as making people mad that a state official is suing local clerks.  If he doesn't take legal action, however, he'll look politically emasculated.

June 12, 2024

A bunch of states held primaries yesterday.

Nancy Mace held off a Republican challenger in South Carolina.

Trump backed Kelly Armstrong won in North Dakota.

June 14, 2024

And if this election wasn't weird enough:

Cheyenne City Clerk Says Artificial Intelligence Candidate For Mayor Is OK For Election

 June 15, 2024

The Presidential election continues to get increasingly surreal.

Business executives who met with Trump recently, in some instances, came away a bit shocked by what is obvious. CBS reports that some:

“said that [Trump] was remarkably meandering, could not keep a straight thought [and] was all over the map,” 

D'uh.

That's been the case for quite a while, and it's really showing.   Consider this from last week:

I say, ‘What would happen if the boat sank from its weight and you’re in the boat and you have this tremendously powerful battery and the battery’s underwater, and there’s a shark that’s approximately 10 yards over there?’ By the way, a lot of shark attacks lately. Do you notice that? A lot of shark … I watched some guys justifying it today: ‘Well, they weren’t really that angry. They bit off the young lady’s leg because of the fact that they were not hungry, but they misunderstood who she was.’ These people are crazy.

Eh?

There's plenty of reason to be concerned that Trump is in some state of mental decline.  These statements are certainly alarming, to say the least.  At this point, moreover, it's being willfully blind to suggest that Joe Biden is mentally impaired and not suggest the same thing about Trump. 

Trump suggested last week that he'd look at replacing the income tax with tariffs.  That would throw the country into a Depression.

Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, himself no spring chicken, was photographed amongst Trump's Senatorial acolytes last week, and then giving him a birthday cake.  Dr. Barrasso is just that, a physician, and there's no real reason to believe that he's a Trump fan, but that's the case for a lot of those photographed smiling at Trump, all of which is both sad and alarming.

June 17, 2024

A record-low number of Democrats will run for Wyoming’s Legislature this year

June 21, 2024

A Sixth Cent sales tax will be on the ballot in Natrona County.  

June 25, 2024

An article on Hageman's primary challenger in the GOP:

Democrat-turned-Republican challenges Wyoming’s Harriet Hageman for U.S. House seat

Helling has a less than zero chance of unseating Hageman.  What this item really reminded me of, however, is just how old these candidates are.  Helling is an old lawyer.  His bar admission date is 1981, which would make him about 70.  Hageman's is 1989, which I knew which would make her about 61, old by historical standards although apparently arguably middle-aged now.

Barrasso is 71.  Lummis is 69. John Hotz, who is running against Barrasso, has a bar admission date of 1978 which would make him about three years older than Helling.  Seemingly the only younger candidate in the GOP race this primary is Rasner.

This isn't a comment on any of their politics, but rather their age.  Helling is opposed to nuclear power, a very 1970ish view.  With old people, come old views, quite often, even if they're repackaged as new ones.

June 26, 2024

Boebert won the GOP primary in her new district in Colorado.

Democratic member of "the Squad" Jamaal Bowman lost his primary race in New York to moderate Democrat George Latimer.

June 27, 2024

Trump-endorsed Riverton Utah Mayor Trent Staggs lost the Republican primary to Representative John Curtis for the Senate seat being vacated by Mitt Romney. Trump-backed state Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams lost the primary to Jeff Crank. Trump's endorsed South Carolina 3rd Congressional District, candidate pastor Mark Burns, lost to nurse practitioner Sheri Biggs.

Trump endorsed Gabe Evans, defeated Janak Joshi for the Colorado's 8th Congressional District nomination.

Related threads:

Is anyone else reminded of the Simpson's?

Last prior edition:

The 2024 Election, Part XVIII. The list.

Saturday, June 17, 1944. A stateside tragedy.

B-24J 42-100023 piloted by 2nd. Lt. Richard Zorn of Connecticut crashed on top of Casper Mountain, south of Casper, Wyoming, at about midnight, killing all on board.

The US 7th Corps advanced markedly on this day.  The British, however, were having trouble near Caen.

The 41 Commando, Royal Marines, took the German surrender at Douvres-la-Délivrande.

Royal Marines in Douvres-la-Délivrande.

Iceland declared independence from Denmark.  Large celebrations broke out in the country.

South Dakota suffered a horrific tornado outbreak, killing 13 people and injuring 550.

Last prior edition:

Friday, June 16, 1944. Executions.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Aircraft, Army, British Army, Chichijima, Crime, French Resistance Movements, Gestapo, Guam, Haha Jima, Italy, Iwo Jima, Operation Overlord, Saipan, World War Two, Yugoslav Partisans, Yugoslavia

Thursday, June 4, 1914. Graduation.

The graduating class of NCHS had their photographs on the front page of the paper.  Slightly more were female than male, which was generally the rule at the time.  Some familiar last names in the group, including one, Edness Kimball, whose name is memorialized in a city park, and who Wyoming's first female Speaker of the House, and another whose last name, Speas, adorns the fish hatchery.  A notable group, we might note, came from ranching families, including one, Grieve

Kimball, or as she's usually called, Kimball Wilkins, was remarkable in a variety of ways. And showing how much Wyoming has changed, she was elevated to speakership in 1966 as a Democrat, as the Democrats were the majority party in the Legislature in the late 1960s.  She never actually got to serve in that role, however, as the legislature met every other year, and she was elected to the State Senate that year.  She lost her bid for reelection in 1970, but was elected again to the House in 1972, serving until her death in 1980 at age 84.

Myrtle Speas went on to become a teacher, and then married and moved to Memphis.  Interestingly, she returned to the Speas Ranch in 1921 for the birth of her first child, then returning.  Her daughter, Mary, lived until 2019, dying at age 97 in Tennessee.

Draft horses, as can be seen, remained such a significant source of, well, horsepower, that there was an advertisement for them in the paper.

The Homestead Act was still in force (the peak for homestead entries was still yet to come), but there was an ad trying to lure Wyomingites to Western Canada for better opportunities . . .opportunities today which are largely available only to the very wealthy.

Woodrow Wilson dedicated the Confederate Memorial at Arlington.  The teens were the height for romanticism about the "Lost Cause" which saw, in turn, the national culture adopt the Confederates to a certain degree.

A prior thread about the memorial:

The Lost Cause and the Arlington Confederate Monument. Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 53d Edition.

Last prior edition:

Monday, June 1, 1914. Advancing war.

Labels: 1910s, 1914, Alaska, Animals, boats and ships, Dogs, Transportation, World War One