Oh gasp! How could you be so mean? Well, how could you?

Recently, regarding Robert Reich's frequent "Oh gosh, billions for defense, but not a dime for school lunch in Hackensack" type comments, we posted:

Lex Anteinternet: So Ukraine is fighting a war for democracy against...: 

So Ukraine is fighting a war for democracy against Russia, thereby fighting for all of us. .

and folks like Robert Reich wonder why we aren't providing government housing and free lunches to children all over the country.

A sandwich and a HMARS. These are not the same.

Well, that's fairly easy.  "Provide for a common lunch" is actually not a logical equivalent to providing for the common defense.

Indeed, as hard as it is for people to accept it, that really isn't an obligation of the Federal government,  providing an army to defend the country is, and if we can fund somebody else to fight a war, so we don't have to, all the better.

And if a foreign war is in the national interest, existentially, as it's a contest between our values, and those of something we're deeply opposed to, well, we should support them and only the Federal Government is well situated to do so.

The added part of this is that by and large, social programs tend to become social rights and then social failures.  In much of the country the school districts in fact provide free lunches, which morphed into free breakfasts, which as morphed into a societal right for people to refuse to feed their children, as the districts have to.

And we mean it, too.

Which brings the common response, how could you mean that, let poor little school kids starve?

Well, how could you?

By which we mean that this is a prime example of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

Before we dive into that, and as part of it, let's take a dose of reality.  The defense portion of the new budget, which is $5.8 trillion in outlay, with $440 billion in interest payments on debt and $3.7 trillion in "mandatory spending" which actually isn't mandatory, but made "mandatory" in part so that politicians in Congress don't have to discuss it every year.  The anticipated deficit is $984 billion.  If you removed all funding for the Department of Defense, you'd still have  $126 billion in deficit.

Yes, that's a lot less deficit, but that's still a big deficit.

Next, let's consider the enabling act, the Constitution.  It's preamble, which is only legislative history not the law, provides:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Okay, that's what it's supposed to do.

Here's what the Congress can do:

Section 8.

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;--And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Note how limited that really is.  And note that six of the powers deal with war powers, armies, and navies.

None of them deal with education at all, and none of them with lunches for children or housing for anyone.

Now, you could point out that this would be "providing for the general welfare", but that's not a power.  That's a purpose for the following text.

And ignoring all of this is how government spending got so out of control.

Now, I'm not going to argue that all the powers of Congress should be striped away. But I am going to argue that spending that isn't in the enumerated powers needs to be pared back until the budget is balanced.

And frankly, taxes need to be raised as well.

It frankly wouldn't be that difficult.   Cutting spending down by about 20% would do it. Emphasis on the cutting should be on the non enumerated powers.

Raising taxes 10% to 20%, well within the historical norms, would serve to pay down the debt.

This should be done, bore an economic disaster results.

Let's next start with the obvious, or what should be obvious. The government has no business whatsoever extracting money from the Taxpayer because somebody with kids has put themselves in a situation in which they won't feed them.

Gasp!

Notice, what I said.  Won't feed them.  Not can't feed them.

For the most part in the U.S, it's won't, not can't.

And the first move toward fiscal responsibility the country could take, or towards the long awaited and right wing dreamed of restoration of the moral order, wold be to make John and Jane Doe do just that.

You had that kid, you feed the kid.

This used to be the universal human norm, and for the most part.  But with benighted goals, but little consideration of how it would work out, the Federal Government has stepped in to provide funding for this, with the result that a certain percentage of adults have just passed the obligation on to whomever else will take it.

This has, on top of it, ripple effects, the transfer of responsibility reduces responsibility at the adult level, with men in particular dumping it particularly.  Indeed, the entire societal purpose of marriage, rather than being the warm and fuzzies like Justice Kennedy, skipping and dancing while throwing roses through the Supreme Court would have it, was to keep this very thing from happening.  Conversely, when you cut away at the responsibility end of it, you cut away at the purpose of the institution and erode a major societal building block.  While this is only one aspect of it, combined with pharmaceutical birth control (also provided in many cases by governments gratis or near gratis), no-fault divorce, etc., you have the current situation regarding unwed births and erosion of the definition of marriage.

So, the question would be, am I really saying the situation that existed before, in which pregnancy often resulted in an unplanned marriage, was better?

Societally, yes, I am.

Going one step further, I'm further saying that the era in which those in need, in normal times, often had to turn to private institutions was better, as shocking as that may seem.  Private institutions tend to have standards, the government does not, with an overall specific concept of aiding the person, improving their lot, and improving their living situation existentially. The government doesn't go that far, and can't.

And the Federal government is anti-local and anti-subsidiarity.  

If Minnesota, through its legislature, wants to provide lunches for its school kids, I don't care.  Minnesota's voters can deal with Minnesota's problems.  But when the Federal Government provides societal aid, it does it with what is effectively a sledgehammer, hitting everything to address what is often a problem limited to certain cities.  In a rich society, which we are, the problems are likely to be addressed with, comporting with community standards, in any event.  Doing it at a national level doesn't do that.

So am I saying the government should only spend on defense?

No.

I'm not even saying that the government can't spend on social issues or, certainly, on education.  

I am saying, however, that the Warm Fuzzies shouldn't be part of the equation.  I'm also saying that reactions need to be there when things turn to failures.

I'd be very much in favor of increased Federal funding on science education, for example.  While I'm convinced that the current student loan system is causing tuition inflation, I'd also be in favor of student loans based on national need, or even educational grants based on national need.  I.e., where we need a profession or occupation we're lacking, as a matter of national need, I'm okay with funding it.

I'm also okay with funding infrastructure that serves a national purpose, but not in the way we're doing, no.  Federal Interstate Highways?  I'm okay with that, but directly controlled and funded by the payer, the Federal Government, rather than through an intermediary, the states, and paid for by taxes on the users at the actual rate of costs, including societal costs.  Same with airports, I'm perfectly okay with funding them.

I'm not okay with unneeded major rural roads on Federal domain, just because it can be done.

Finally, it should be mentioned that passing on these things to the Federal Government, social programs that is, gives everyone an easy out.  If we think, well, the Government or the Schools will take care of it, we don't really have to.  It makes things really easy to ignore.

Finally, I'm not okay with running deficits every year. When the U.S. runs a budget so far out of whack, and most of that spending isn't due to the defense, which is a legitimate expenditure, looking at Federal monies that deal with local problems, from lunches to infrastructure, not only should be done, it has to be done.

You can tell that you are historically minded when you see "Fetterman"

 on a Twitter link, and automatically assume it must apply to William J. Fetterman.

McCarthy getting what he deserves.

America elected a new guy because they were sick of the old guy. This is also the most basic and obvious explanation for the crap show that's happening at the other end of this building right now.

Ben Sasses, January 3, 2023.  Speech on departing Congress.

The other explanation is this. When you offer yourself up for sale, sooner or later, the buyer is going to haggle over the price, particularly in a buyer's market.

McCarthy doesn't deserve to be speaker.  The alternatives the hard right want don't deserve it either. 

The irony of this all is that the very wind that he adjusted his sails for, now threatens to overturn him.

McCarthy has sought to be the Speaker of the House for a long time, and he's gauged his actions, by all appearances, accordingly.  Immediately after the November 2020 General Election, he backed the stolen election line being advanced by Trump.  After the insurrection, in the brief moment that it looked like the GOP was going to free itself of the caudillo, he stated, however, “The president bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters, . . . He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump.”

He got over that quickly, however, and went down to Mar-a-Lago to make peace with Trump, and has been his backer ever since.  Trying to bridge the gap between Trumpites and the rest of the GOP, he's taken the official line that the 2020 election is in the past and shouldn't really be looked at.  The mainstream GOP in general took that view, hoping against hope that Trump would just go away and things return to normal.

They did not, and not everyone in Congress was willing to allow the shades to be drawn.  That fact caused McCarthy to make Cheney a persona non grata, something the Trumpite heads of the Wyoming GOP followed and endorsed.  McCarthy was, by November 2022, planning on a "red wave".

It didn't materialize.

Ironically, now, his supporters are the more moderate members of the GOP and the complaint ones.  Harriet Hageman, elected in no small part on the election lie, has been supporting McCarthy, which given the Wyoming GOP at present makes utterly no sense whatsoever, but which might offer some slight hope that she never really believed the crap she was putting out.

But at least nineteen members of the "Freedom Caucus" really do, and they're not having McCarthy, as they know that he'll go the way the wind blows.

More ironically, the current pro McCarthy lien is "we don't know what they want" about the Freedom Caucus.  Yes, they very much do.  They want the stuff that the GOP has been shoveling to be its actual policy.  This mostly shows that the party really has no intentions of doing that, and actually does hope to return to politics as normal.

McCarthy is getting exactly what he deserves.

For the red dyed in the wool members of the Wyoming GOP, the question is, why aren't they urging Hageman to vote for somebody other than McCarthy?  This is a sincere question.  Hageman came into office as part of the "freedom caucus" branch of the GOP that is now seeking to terminate McCarthy's career.  She's voting for him.  Her Wyoming critics, not all of them Cheney fans, claimed she was just another Washington insider.  And now she's voting like one.

Not that I'd like a speaker from the far right.  But contrary to their critics, you can tell what they want.  They don't want McCarthy as he'll run away from them as the winds change, they fear, and probably with good reason. And they may legitimately sense that they have to strike while the iron is hot, with whatever little they have left to strike with.

Painted into a corner.

Monday, January 4, 1943. Stalin, Man of the Year.

Stalin appeared on the cover of Time Magazine as the 1942 Man of the Year.

Japanese Prime Minister, Gen. Hideki Tojo, ordered Japanese forces to withdraw from Guadalcanal.

A unit of the Jewish Fighting Organization launched an unsuccessful attack aimed at the Czestochowa Ghetto.  On the following day the Nazis, as a reprisal, killed 250 children and elderly, and shipped the remaining ghetto residents to concentration camps.

Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin was born in Rockville Centre, New York.

Meet The Press: Social Media.

The January 1, 2023, episode of Meet The Press was a special on the social media companies.

It was truly frightening, and it featured politicians in Congress from the left and right who were in agreement on that.

Well worth listening to.

The Kramer. Was Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: For the first time in 100 years....

Is anyone else reminded of the famous Seinfeld episode about the painting of Cosmo Kramer?

Speaker One: “I sense great vulnerability. A man-child crying out for love. An innocent orphan in the post-modern world.”

Speaker Two: “I see a parasite. A sexually depraved miscreant who is seeking only to gratify his basest and most immediate urges.”

Speaker One: “His struggle is man's struggle. He lifts my spirit.”

Speker Two: “He is a loathsome, offensive brute. Yet I can’t look away.”

Speaker One: “He transcends time and space.”

Speaker Two: “He sickens me.”

Speaker One: “I love it.”

Speaker Two: “Me too.”

And the third time is not the charm, with McCarthy losing an additional vote.

As noted, there's historical precedent for this, but this is a bit of a GOP disaster.  The GOP barely won the House in the midterms, and now it is in such disarray that it's in a Speaker fight for the first time in 100 years.

To have a ballot go over three rounds, moreover, is not a good sign.  It's happened eight times before, and each time it went over three rounds it jumped up to double digits, save for a single time, which was the 1923 example of the 68th Congress.  If this follows the historical pattern, which of course it may very well not, we'll now see at least nine rounds, which would stand to potentially weaken McCarthy enormously as a speaker.

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: For the first time in 100 years....: 

Lex Anteinternet: For the first time in 100 years. . .

Earlier we reported the below. Since then, he's lost round two, and appears to be set to lose round three.

Well, he still hasn't matched 1923, which went to 9.

And he's far short of 1855, which went to 155.

Lex Anteinternet: For the first time in 100 years. . .: 

For the first time in 100 years. . .

the election of Speaker of the House will go into a second round.

Kevin McCarthy, who obviously wants the position very badly, and who hitched his wagon to the Trump ass cart in an effort to get it, after first criticizing the January 6 Insurrection, failed to secure it as nineteen Republicans voted against him and for somebody else.

His opposition, ironically, has been from the arch right, some of whom voted for Andy Biggs.

Democrat Hakim Jeffries of New York had the most votes, at 212, with McCarthy at 203.  Under the rules, apparently, you need a majority of voting members, so Jeffries isn't it, in spite of beating out McCarthy.

Interestingly enough, for the readers of this blog, the last time this happened was in 1923, when Frederick Gillett became speaker after nine ballots.   In terms of overall Congressional history, however, this isn't that unique, and perhaps it should not be.  According to this chart by the Speaker of the House historian, it's happened quite a bit.

Congress (Years)                 Name                                                         State Final Ballot

3rd Congress (1793–1795) MUHLENBERG, Frederick Augustus Conrad PA 3rd

6th Congress (1799–1801) SEDGWICK, Theodore MA 2nd

9th Congress (1805–1807) MACON, Nathaniel NC 3rd

11th Congress (1809–1811) VARNUM, Joseph Bradley MA 2nd

16th Congress (1819–1821) TAYLOR, John W.1  NY 22nd

17th Congress (1821–1823) BARBOUR, Philip Pendleton VA 12th

19th Congress (1825–1827) TAYLOR, John W. NY 2nd

23rd Congress (1833–1835) BELL, John TN 10th

26th Congress (1839–1841) HUNTER, Robert Mercer Taliaferro VA 11th

30th Congress (1847–1849) WINTHROP, Robert Charles MA 3rd

31st Congress (1849–1851) COBB, Howell GA 63rd

34th Congress (1855–1857) BANKS, Nathaniel Prentice MA 133rd

36th Congress (1859–1861) PENNINGTON, William NJ 44th

68th Congress (1923–1925) GILLETT, Frederick Huntington MA 9th

McCarthy shouldn't get it, in my view, which differs from the view of those currently voting against him in the GOP (but probably coincides with Democrats who aren't voting for him).  His siding with Trump after the insurrection disqualifies him, in my view.

Lex Anteinternet: For the first time in 100 years. . .

Earlier we reported the below. Since then, he's lost round two, and appears to be set to lose round three.

Well, he still hasn't matched 1923, which went to 9.

And he's far short of 1855, which went to 155.

Lex Anteinternet: For the first time in 100 years. . .: 

For the first time in 100 years. . .

the election of Speaker of the House will go into a second round.

Kevin McCarthy, who obviously wants the position very badly, and who hitched his wagon to the Trump ass cart in an effort to get it, after first criticizing the January 6 Insurrection, failed to secure it as nineteen Republicans voted against him and for somebody else.

His opposition, ironically, has been from the arch right, some of whom voted for Andy Biggs.

Democrat Hakim Jeffries of New York had the most votes, at 212, with McCarthy at 203.  Under the rules, apparently, you need a majority of voting members, so Jeffries isn't it, in spite of beating out McCarthy.

Interestingly enough, for the readers of this blog, the last time this happened was in 1923, when Frederick Gillett became speaker after nine ballots.   In terms of overall Congressional history, however, this isn't that unique, and perhaps it should not be.  According to this chart by the Speaker of the House historian, it's happened quite a bit.

Congress (Years)                 Name                                                         State Final Ballot

3rd Congress (1793–1795) MUHLENBERG, Frederick Augustus Conrad PA 3rd

6th Congress (1799–1801) SEDGWICK, Theodore MA 2nd

9th Congress (1805–1807) MACON, Nathaniel NC 3rd

11th Congress (1809–1811) VARNUM, Joseph Bradley MA 2nd

16th Congress (1819–1821) TAYLOR, John W.1  NY 22nd

17th Congress (1821–1823) BARBOUR, Philip Pendleton VA 12th

19th Congress (1825–1827) TAYLOR, John W. NY 2nd

23rd Congress (1833–1835) BELL, John TN 10th

26th Congress (1839–1841) HUNTER, Robert Mercer Taliaferro VA 11th

30th Congress (1847–1849) WINTHROP, Robert Charles MA 3rd

31st Congress (1849–1851) COBB, Howell GA 63rd

34th Congress (1855–1857) BANKS, Nathaniel Prentice MA 133rd

36th Congress (1859–1861) PENNINGTON, William NJ 44th

68th Congress (1923–1925) GILLETT, Frederick Huntington MA 9th

McCarthy shouldn't get it, in my view, which differs from the view of those currently voting against him in the GOP (but probably coincides with Democrats who aren't voting for him).  His siding with Trump after the insurrection disqualifies him, in my view.

For the first time in 100 years. . .

the election of Speaker of the House will go into a second round.

Kevin McCarthy, who obviously wants the position very badly, and who hitched his wagon to the Trump ass cart in an effort to get it, after first criticizing the January 6 Insurrection, failed to secure it as nineteen Republicans voted against him and for somebody else.

His opposition, ironically, has been from the arch right, some of whom voted for Andy Biggs.

Democrat Hakim Jeffries of New York had the most votes, at 212, with McCarthy at 203.  Under the rules, apparently, you need a majority of voting members, so Jeffries isn't it, in spite of beating out McCarthy.

Interestingly enough, for the readers of this blog, the last time this happened was in 1923, when Frederick Gillett became speaker after nine ballots.   In terms of overall Congressional history, however, this isn't that unique, and perhaps it should not be.  According to this chart by the Speaker of the House historian, it's happened quite a bit.

Congress (Years)                 Name                                                         State Final Ballot

3rd Congress (1793–1795) MUHLENBERG, Frederick Augustus Conrad PA 3rd

6th Congress (1799–1801) SEDGWICK, Theodore MA 2nd

9th Congress (1805–1807) MACON, Nathaniel NC 3rd

11th Congress (1809–1811) VARNUM, Joseph Bradley MA 2nd

16th Congress (1819–1821) TAYLOR, John W.1 NY 22nd

17th Congress (1821–1823) BARBOUR, Philip Pendleton VA 12th

19th Congress (1825–1827) TAYLOR, John W. NY 2nd

23rd Congress (1833–1835) BELL, John TN 10th

26th Congress (1839–1841) HUNTER, Robert Mercer Taliaferro VA 11th

30th Congress (1847–1849) WINTHROP, Robert Charles MA 3rd

31st Congress (1849–1851) COBB, Howell GA 63rd

34th Congress (1855–1857) BANKS, Nathaniel Prentice MA 133rd

36th Congress (1859–1861) PENNINGTON, William NJ 44th

68th Congress (1923–1925) GILLETT, Frederick Huntington MA 9th

McCarthy shouldn't get it, in my view, which differs from the view of those currently voting against him in the GOP (but probably coincides with Democrats who aren't voting for him).  His siding with Trump after the insurrection disqualifies him, in my view.

The Blizzard

We went waterfowl hunting.

By we, I mean my son, his girlfriend, and the dog.  We loaded up in the Dodge D3500, and we went waterfowl hunting

The highways were all closed, so I got there by going through a small farm belt here, hitting a rural road, and taking it to the river, the back way. We were the only vehicles on it.

Yes, this can be argued, and probably correctly driving out in a blizzard was not smart.  But people wanted to go, and it looked like good waterfowl hunting weather, which in fact it was.

Out on the river, in fact, the weather wasn't nearly as bad as it was in town.  It snowed lightly off and on, but it wasn't a blizzard.  At some point, it had been, as the snow was quite deep.

And we had the river all to ourselves.

And has we headed back into town, the snowstorm cranked up again.

And yes, there were some spots on the road that were really bad.  Only the fact that I was driving a very heavy, and powerful, diesel 4x4 allowed us to get there.  Frankly, a 1/2 ton gasser probably wouldn't have.  And yes, you ought to stay off the road in weather like that.

We were going to do this on Sunday, New Year's Day, but the blizzard made that impossible in town.  It was also rendered impossible by the fact that the batteries on the diesel had given out the week prior, and I'd only learned that on Saturday when I was heading out, in advance of the storm, to hunt geese near Torrington.  I changed, the batteries, in the blizzard, on Sunday after Mass, but only after nearly wrecking my very lightweight Jeep going to get the batteries.

The point.

Well, as follows.  

I have a new neighbor across the street that I spoke to, two snowstorms ago.  He's from Maryland and asked about the snow.  I told him that it snowed all the way through April, as it does.

He apparently didn't believe me, as his next door neighbor, who was out while I was snow blowing when I got home yesterday, was stating that the same neighbor had asked him, that day, about the snow.  He got the same information.

My prediction is that the new neighbor will leave.

Late last night, I got a text from a coworker. Should we close the office, today?

In fairness, the county has closed, and the school districts.

This is of interest as it's become, all of a sudden, a really common event.  A couple of snowstorms ago, all of a sudden a coworker was asking if we should send people home early.  It caught me completely off guard.  It was very cold, and slightly snowy, but why would we do that?  I vetoed it as I had stuff I had to go out, but this came after another similar event.  Light snow, and we're sending people home.  And we're not the only ones.

This is just an observation, really.  Maybe it's a good thing that these events are taken more into consideration than they used to be.  Or maybe we're really unprepared for them.  Probably both.  I'm glad they close the highways more than they used to, as they used to leave them open in horrible conditions.  But I don't quite know what to make of the situation where people choose to move outside of town on a windblown flat, and then can't make it to work.  It makes sense to me to close when weather is genuinely bad, but for regular in town operations, closing everything as a few folks might have trouble getting there, who should be given consideration for that, seems odd.

Sunday, January 3, 1943. The descent of SSG Magee.

Dry docks under construction, Hunter's Point, California.

Free French forces defending Fondouk, Tunisia, are attacked by the Afrika Korps.  They succeed in holding off the Germans on this day.

The United States Army Air Force bombed the submarine pens and docks at St. Nazaire. The RAF bombed the Ruhr.   During the raid, the B-17 "Snap! Crackle! Pop!" was hit twice, and the crew had to bail out., save for SSG Alan Magee, the belly gunner, who was blown out while in the fuselage.  He fell 22,000 ft. without a parachute, and through the glass ceiling of the St. Nazaire railroad station, and survived.

The Red Army captured Mosdok and Malgobek in the Caucasus.

Today In Wyoming's History: January 2, 2022. Governor Gordon inaugurated for the second time.

Today In Wyoming's History: January 2: 

January 2

2022  Governor Gordon was inaugurated for the second time, and gave the following speech:

On the same day, controversial far right Wyoming politician Chuck Gray was inaugurated as Secretary of State.

The Libertarian Party on child gender "reassignment".

This is really remarkable:

Libertarian Party

@LPNational

·

Follow

We categorically oppose all sex reassignment surgeries for children. It's child abuse, and no child can consent to such a thing.

1:58 PM · Dec 21, 2022

The Libertarian Party, which we don't usually associate with calls for regulation, here is taking a stand for nature.

They are correct.  Allowing gender "reassignment" surgery for minors is irreversible in its effects, permanently damaging, normally regretted, and child abuse.

The fact that it's allowed at all is insane.

January 2, 2023. Elected Officials Assume Office.

How exciting!

Pursuant to Wyoming Constitution Art 6, Sec 17; W.S. 22-2-107, Chuck Gray gets his first non family real job!  And his recently minted attorney assistant gets relieved from a career in the law, probably, in order to be launched into his aunts newfound career, thereby besting her by avoiding decades of actual hard legal practice, probably.

Mr. Allred goes back to probably being unelected, but now safely packing heat, in his home county, becoming a footnote in the state's history.

Megan Degenfelder takes office as well, after having been a campaign in which she carefully managed to avoid being drug into the drama in School Board meetings this year. She too has hired a lawyer to serve in her administration.

Is the AG's office taking the year off?

Speaking of days off, I thought this was one for the state, so perhaps these things are pushed to tomorrow?

And in just eight days, the 2023 Legislature commences.

Oh boy!

Saturday, January 2, 1943. Horse Meat Won't Hurt, Beachead at Buna-Gona.

 

Basketball game, Colorado River Relocation Center, Poston, Arizona, 1/2/43.

American and Australian forces captured the beachhead at Buna in the Battle of Buna-Gona, New Guinea.

Gen. Eichelberger was under orders from MacArthur to "Take Buna, or don't come back alive".

The Saturday Evening Post featured a Leyendecker with a helmeted naked baby swinging into the New Year on holding tenuously onto a musket.

Science News assured its readers that Horse Meat Won't Hurt.  The article noted, amongst other things, that very few horses were actually slaughtered for meat in the US in any event.

According to Sarah Sundin:

Today in World War II History—January 2, 1943: In Libya, the port of Tripoli is closed to Axis ships due to Allied bombing. New songs in Top Ten: “Moonlight Becomes You,” “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To.”

Tuesday, January 2, 1923. Steps towards independence.

While House Police in their new uniforms that debuted on this day in 1923.

Unlike this year, January 2 was not a holiday, as January 1 fell on a Monday, making it the holiday.

1923  Secretary Hall, Secretary of the Interior, resigns due to the Teapot Dome Scandal.

The Legislative Council of Burma opened.  It offered Burma limited self-government, with 80 elected seats, the balance appointed by colonial officials.

It was a step, albeit only that, toward real independence or dominion status for Britain's various remaining colonies.

Pierce Butler was sworn in as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.  We've discussed him a fair amount already.

Today In Wyoming's History: January 1, 1863

Today In Wyoming's History: January 1. New Years Day: Today is New Years Day. 45 BC  January 1 celebrated as the beginning of the year for the first time under the Julian Calendar.  Recogni...

One I missed on its anniversary:

1863  Daniel Freeman files the first homestead under the newly passed Homestead Act.  The homestead was filed in Nebraska.

While the original Homestead Act provided an unsuitably small portion of land for those wishing to homestead in Wyoming, it was used here, and homesteading can be argued to be responsible for defining the modern character of the State.

New Years Resolutions for Other People

I don't do this every year, and usually when I have, it's been tongue in cheek.

This will try to be, partially, but this one is more serious than most.  Indeed, for the most part, there's no jest in this at all, and I'm going to do it in a different format, partially for that reason.

Donald Trump need to retire and go away.

Based on something I read the other day, in his personal life he nearly has. As the limelight fades away, he's spending a lot of his time at a nearby golf course he owns, rather than at Mar-a-Lago.  

Even Theodore Roosevelt, the Old Lion, reached a point where he really didn't care about politics anymore, and that included his very last run for office.  The fire had gone out.  It'd dangerous to compare Roosevelt, who was a highly admirable man, to Trump, who isn't, but that seems to be happening. 

Reportedly Trump's favorite film is Sunset Boulevard, which I've never seen, but which is reportedly a masterpiece about a fading silent film movie star. Trump, according to the article I read, will rarely pay any attention to anything, including films, but he loves Sunset Boulevard and will sit through it even after having seen it a zillion times.

That tells us something.

Gracefully fading away is hard to do.  Truman did it, I'd note.  Jimmy Carter seems to have done it.  Douglas MacArthur did it, and the odds were against it.

Of course, Trump's problem is that he's disgraced himself and soiled his legacy.

Anyhow, he really ought to simply keep making that golf course trip and leave everyone alone, for the good of the country, and for the good of what little dignity he has left.

I noticed this morning that Elsie Stefanik is taking all sorts of flak due to a Washington Post expose.  There's a lesson to be learned here, but it's probably too late for her to benefit from it. She could still learn from it.

Elon Musk needs to go back to South Africa, and whatever immigration loophole that was exploited to allow him to come in to the country and take up U.S. citizenship needs to be examined.

I can't think of a single qualification that Musk may have legally met to enter this country permanently. Somebody ought to look into that, and if he really didn't meet it, his citizenship should be revoked as a fraud and whatever person assisted this process looked into. And I feel the same way for all of the entertainment figures that hang around in this country as well.  Go back.

Whatever weird, weird, loophole in our immigration system let Musk come in needs to be fixed.  South Africa can use him. Go home, Elon.

Harriet Hageman and Chuck Gray won their elections, fair and square, but based upon the lie that something was wrong with the last election.

Now that they're in office, they have a lot to make up for, given that.

One thing they both can do is stop feeding the bogus rage machine.   The other thing they ought to do is to admit that times are changing and the concept of hanging on to the 1970s economy, which we've only had in this state for the last 50 years, not forever, is dying.  

Hageman, also, who is no dummy, ought to do some serious introspection before raising her right hand, once again, and swearing to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.  She's done that at least once, and yet she was willing, although not at first, to boost a lie in favor of somebody who was willing to, and is stilling willing to, usurp that same Constitution.  Gray probably has taken a similar oath upon becoming a legislature, but I don't know him, and I frankly hold him to a lesser standard.

Hageman when a large number of her fellow bar members reminded her of her duty to tell the truth advanced a really wild fantasy regarding that.  If she believed that, she needs to spend about a week in the hills, perhaps with Thoreau, or perhaps with the Book of Tobit.  It'd do her good.

The Grand Old Party in Wyoming needs a serious shake up, I'd note, but it's not going to happen. The Democratic Party of Wyoming needs one as well. At this point, that's only going to come through Independents, I'm afraid.  My Resolution, therefore, is for them.  I hope, and hope they resolve, to take over the state's politics.  The Democrats have become so mired in left wing goofiness, there's nearly no saving them.

Interestingly, the Libertarian Party, nationally, recently seems to have taken a step to the middle.  Maybe there's hope for them yet.

There's a huge percentage of the country that need to resolve that science is not its enemy, and Newsmax is not the place to get the news.  If the news just fuels your preformed beliefs and, simultaneously, makes you mad, you need to get your news somewhere else.  Actually, what you need to do, is get the news.

Vladimir Putin needs to go to confession, and then go to a monastery.  I'm not joking.  Russia needs to join the modern, democratic, world.  The Russian Orthodox Church needs to end its schism with the rest of the Orthodox, and the Eastern Orthodox need to end their schism with Rome. This has gone on too long.  The German Catholic Bishops, for their part, need to end their drift into wherever they are going.

Something needs to be done regarding the condition giving rise to an epic level of attempted migration into the United States.  If conditions in Central America are that bad, we need to figure out why, and do something about it immediately.

In large part, in many ways, we all need to look forward, by looking back.  Being perpetually angry doesn't serve any interest at all.  Pretending it's 1973 won't either.  Turning to grifters, caudillos, snake oil salesmen, and those selling anger won't work.

We all know that.  It's doing something about it that seemingly is difficult.  But once we get moving, momentum is a force until itself.

Speaking of 1973, left wing American economists like Robert Reich need to realize that they continually espouse another economic option, and then pull back to the current one.  They're basically in the position of being a concerned stranger walking up to a desperate drunk in a bar, giving him a temperance lecture, and then suggesting he switch to beer.  That's not going to cut it in an economy that truly needs adjusting.

On a minor notes, would people on Twitter stop using this stupid cartoon for points they're trying to make:

There are all sorts of version of this, and they're all hideous and bad.  Whatever you think you are trying to prove this way, you are not.

An addendum.

Let's start 2023 with some basic consensus on proved things.  If we do, we'll have a productive year.  

If we don't, it suggests that we really prefer blinding ourselves to truth and arguing for sport/self-satisfaction.

And that would certainly merit a sense of pessimism.

Okay, first of all, some lingering political things.

Donald Trump lost the election.  Believe whatever you want about who should have one, whether the electoral college makes any sense, whether we're a republic or democracy (as if the two are mutually exclusive), but he lost.

There's no point in arguing otherwise, unless you just like arguing, much like the fellow I know who insists the Women's NBA "isn't a sport".  Why, well because a 50-year-old overweight guy who couldn't play basketball against a junior high team can safely take that position for self-satisfaction.  Same here.  Trump lost, and arguing that he won at this point is really just insisting the opposite isn't true.

Vaccinations are safe.  We really don't need to argue about this anymore, but we really don't need to be arguing about vaccinations in general.

Note that I didn't limit this to the COVID-19 vaccination.  People out there who don't vaccinate their kids for things we haven't seen for years, only to have the kids get ill, are acting criminally.  If there's one thing we have COVID-19 to thank for, and I don't believe it is, it's that it shut people up like Jenny McCarthy on this topic.

Let's resolve to follow the science on stuff, no matter how scary that may be, or how much that impacts our self interests, or our narcissistic desires.  If that leads to "you know, what I want isn't okay", or "my own impulses aren't ordered", well, so be it.

Let's also resolve that the end point of being a human isn't to be a consumer.

Let's completely skip altering our natures this year. Whether that's dying our hair some color it isn't, or inflating our boobs, or changing our gender, or whatever.  

Feel that you really want to be in touch with who you really are?  Well, be who you really are, and that starts with the body nature gave you and all that means.

Face the basic fact that you are going to die.  Hopefully not soon, but you will. And that's okay, as long as you are in the right place when you die. Eating the All Kale Diet won't stop it.  Don't accelerate it, please, we need you around, but we need you who you are, and as part of us, as we really are.

Don't be mean.  I've come to realize that there are certain people who revel in being mean.  Don't be one of them.  Don't take joy in other's suffering, or inflict it in them.  Meanness, I'd note, is often masked in arrogance, or self-righteousness, or even ignorance.  

Don't follow the mean, either. If somebody seems perpetually pissed off, there's something wrong in that.

Cheerfulness strengthens the heart and makes us persevere in a good life; wherefore the servant of God ought always to be in good spirits.

St. Philip Neri.

Mehr mensch sein.

In Memoriam

2022 closed out with enough departures from this life of interesting and significant people that it has that portents feeling to it.  Let's hope that's just being naturally ill at ease.

Pope Benedict XVI

The most significant death, of course, is that of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who died on the last day of the year.  His death was not unexpected.

The German-born Joseph Ratzinger was an intellectual and a theologian.  For misguided reasons, he was regarded as the "Panzer Cardinal" by some of his supporters, a nickname that never reflected his personality but which rose out of his stout defenses of orthodoxy.

His resignation as Pope, the first that had occurred in centuries, was due to ill health and was controversial at the time.  There is, frankly, much to be lamented by it, at least by those who have a conservative religious bent (as I do), who lost, if nothing else, and there was much else, a conservative Pope who would have appointed conservative cardinals and perhaps been in a better position to take on the German Bishops.

Benedict grew up in Nazi Germany, where his father was an outspoken anti-Nazi policeman.  His family was deeply religious.  He was conscripted into a Luftwaffe anti-aircraft batter late in the war at the time in which Germany was reaching down into the early teens for that role.  He lived an exceptional life, but by some accounts, given his academic nature, wasn't ideally suited for his role as Pope.

Ian Tyson

Ian Tyson was a Western, not Country and Western but Western, musician who was a giant in that arena.

Tyson was early on a folk musician who sang with Sylvia Fricker, whom he later married, and then divorced.  Following his divorce, he moved to Alberta to train horses and when Bob Dylan recorded Four Strong Winds he used the royalties to buy his ranch. Following that, he focused on traditional "Cowboy Style" music is distinct from the Hillbilly Country Music and Country Pop so popular in the U.S.  He was a pioneer in a small revival that's spread back into the US, but which still sees its most significant members being Canadian, showing the Western nature of Western Canada.

He died on December 29, at age 89.

Pelé

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known as Pelé, was the greatest soccer player in the world in his era, and will go down as one of those figures who are famous in a sport, and outside of it, forever.  

I know little about him, other than his fame in soccer, but as I don't follow soccer, that says something.  He died on December 29 at age 82.

Barbara Walters

Barbara Walters was born the same year as my late father and was a major newscaster and interviewer when I was growing up.

It's perfectly fair to say that she was a female pioneer in the area, although as we've pointed out in regard to the very early history of Meet The Press there were significant women, albeit few in number, in the field prior to her.

I'll be frank that I never liked her interviewing style and found her voice ill-suited for her role, as she was somewhat hard to understand, which some people are.  She died on December 30, at age 93.

Stafanik and the moral of the story.

Elise Stefanik is apparently the subject of a major Washington Post expose, which I can't read as I can't get past the paywall.

It's well-known that Sefanik started off as a middle of the road Republican and then became a dedicated Trumper. Apparently this is about the costs she paid on the route, and it isn't flattering.  The oddest detail is that she apparently thought about trying to approach Pete Buttigieg for a position if he won his 2020 election bid.

Because I can't read it, I can't accurately represent it, but what it seems to suggest is that Stefanik is an example of the age-old political tale of a politician selling her soul for power, and losing more than she gains in the process.

I wonder how my of the Wyoming politicians just elected ought to get the WP article and consider the moral of that story.

Sustainable fashion.

A new study reveals the following:

Humans have been using bear skins for at least 300,000 years, suggests study

This is not surprising, of course.

Monday, January 1, 1973. Economic matters.

The United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark entered the European Economic Community.

The addition of the UK in particular would have global economic impacts, as it seriously undercut the economic arrangement of the British Commonwealth.

The EEC was the predecessor to the EU, which of course the UK left recently.

I can very dimly recall this news story from when I was a kid.

Exxon came into being with the merger of Standard Oil and Humble Oil.

The Rose Bowl was of course played, with the USC Trojans beating the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Zambia officially became a one party state.

Sergei Kourdakov, age 21, who had been a KGB officer who had been involved in raids on Christian communities, but then converted to Christianity as a result of the reading material he found in them, and then defected to Canada, was found dead from a gunshot wound in a ski resort hotel in Canada. The firearm was his own and the death was ruled accidental, but suspicions remain regarding it.

Friday, January 1, 1943. New Year's Day

 

Today in World War II History—January 1, 1943: The Rose Bowl returns to Pasadena: Georgia beats UCLA 9-0. Incoming California Gov. Earl Warren serves as Tournament of Roses grand marshal.

So reports Sarah Sundin, who also notes that California Governor Earl Warren served as Grand Marshall, but the parade was cancelled due to the war.

At that game, the George Bulldogs beat the UCLA Bruins 9 to 0.

The Soviets announced that 175,000 Germans had been killed at Stalingrad and 137,650 captured, which lead to headlines on those numbers in the U.S. that very day.

Albanian resistance fighters began a rebellion against the Italians at Gjorm. They'd win, but it would be a Pyrrhic victory, resulting in Italian reprisals.

For Catholics in the U.S., it was a Holy Day of Obligation.  It would normally have been a day off for most people in the Western World, but due to wartime conditions, for many it would not be.

January 1, 1923 Transportation Mergers.

The Rosewood Massacre commenced in Rosewood, Florida.  A white woman accused a black man of assaulting her.  When it was learned that a black convict had escaped from a prison work gang, white men from the town of Sumner invaded Rosewood and conducted a house to house search.  Ultimately, houses would be set on fire and five men, four black and one white, were killed.

Twenty-four major British railways were consolidated into four regional ones under the Railways Act of 1921.  The surviving "Big Four" were Great Western Railway (GWR); London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS); London and North Eastern Railway (LNER); and Southern Railway (SR).

Air Union became the largest airline in France via a merger of  Compagnie des Messageries Aériennes and Compagnie des Grands Express Aériens.

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