The 2024 Wyoming Legislative Session. The Super Early Riser Edition (Part 1)

March 14, 2024

Having passed a bill to prohibit "cross over voting", which will in fact simply lock in as Republicans most of the Democrats who crossed over, to no effect, in 2022, the legislature is now pondering tying residence requirements for holding office to the same date.

Indeed, they should, in my view.

One recent, and fairly in effectual, member of the House of Representatives, Jeanette Ward, had arrived so recently from Illinois that she didn't qualify for office until after the primary, something that oddly didn't seem to come up in her primary election.  She's been in the state a little over two years now.   She was interviewed about this proposal and stated she had no strong feels one way or another, which is a bit difficult to believe, but perhaps.

A better solution would be to make a residency requirement stretch out to five years for the house, and perhaps seven for the senate and higher office.  Perhaps ten or fifteen years for the Governor's office.

April 13, 2024

Karlee Provenza will not be sanctioned for her recent comments, in the form of a t-shirt, which will upset some but which makes the leadership of the House in Wyoming continue to be admirably fair-minded and prudent, and which in the current atmosphere contrasts nicely with Tennessee.

An interesting aspect of this is that her political polar opposite, Anthony Bouchard, came to her defense.  He also, oddly, called for new state GOP leadership, calling the leadership "undocumented Democrats".

March 21, 2023

On May 19,  the Cowboy State Daily ran an op ed by Wyoming "Freedom" Caucus head John Bear and another by Speaker of the House Albert Sommers.  We already noted Bear's article on this with, with this: 

The blaring of the propoganda bugle.

Wyoming Rep. John Bear writes, "It was the Speaker’s decision to create an Appropriations Committee consisting only of socially liberal legislators from big cities, and now it appears that the President of the Senate sees some benefit in a Senate Appropriations committee loyal to the Uniparty’s cause as well.

John Bear, head of the Freedom Caucus, in the Cowboy State Daily.

There is no Uniparty.

A person would be hard-pressed to find a single "socially liberal legislator", let alone one from a "big city", in the State Legislature. 

I note this as this is the current drumbeat of the Freedom Caucus, and it's a fantasy.  A better case could be made that the Freedom Caucus is not made up of Republicans, as it doesn't reflect traditional Wyoming Republican values.  Of course, Bear isn't a Wyomingite, being a transplant.

The problem with false propaganda, however, is that people will believe it, including those spouting it.

We read Sommers, but didn't comment on it.  It's title raises a good question:

Albert Sommers: Why Does Freedom Caucus Tell Its Members How To Vote?

In it, Sommers states, reflecting the way that the Wyoming GOP has traditionally been:

I believe Wyoming Republicans remain “a Party for free men/women, not blind followers, and not conformists,” and yet the media, hardline conservative pundits, state party leaders, and the Freedom Caucus want to push all Republicans into the round hole of conformism when we are truly the square peg of diversity.

By doing so, he really does define the current state of affairs between the traditional Wyoming GOP and the populist branch. The Wyoming GOP is traditionally conservative, but Wyomingite, the populists are something else, and do very much march in lockstep.  Indeed, failure to adhere to uniformity yields to insults such as being accused of being part of an imaginary fictitious "Uniparty" to ending up getting listed on the WyoRino website which list traditional Republicans as RINO's.

Populist do appear to be driving the bus nationally in the GOP, which frankly just doesn't behave the way it used to in any fashion.  It's interesting that this fight is developing in Wyoming, which still is heavily Trump country, when Trump's supporters brought the Führerprinzip into the party. It might be telling that "think for yourself" is appearing here now.

June 28, 2023

A committee rejected a bill proposing to make EMS services essential.  This would have provided for some level of state funding.

August 25, 2023

A committee heard testimony from Wyoming Secretary of State Chuck Gray on a bill that would require 30 days residence in order to vote in a Wyoming election.  It was formerly one year, some time go, but that was struck down by a Supreme Court opinion and never re addressed.

In spite of Gray's having been voted into office, he's not universally popular with long time Republicans or long time residents, and one multi generation Wyoming rancher and former legislature apparently also testified and called Gray a "snake oil salesman".

August 31, 2023

The 30 day's residence bill was tabled by the Corporation's Committee.

The Committee unanimously passed a bill that banning private funding for the administration of elections in Wyoming.  My prediction is that the Law of Unintended Consequences will end applying to this bill as political parties are private organizations and primaries are the use of public funds for their internal choices, and somehow this will blow up on the parties, which will be fine.

The committee passed in a 9-5 vote a resolution asking Congress to propose a constitutional amendment that would restrict corporations and organizations from making campaign contributions, an act that will go nowhere as Congress won't do it.

"Freedom Caucus" legislator John Bear, originally of Missouri, wrote a longish letter to the Casper Star Tribune complaining about Senate President Ogden Driscoll using the term "Uniparty", which FC members use to slam anyone who is not a member of the populist right.

October 7, 2024.

Senator Bob Ide has an op ed in the paper today, promising to introduce legislation to somehow require the Federal government to turn over the Federal domain to Wyoming.  He terms the Federal Government's possession of its public land in Wyoming illegal and contrary to a promise it made at the time of Wyoming's statehood, both of which are absolutely false.

This would be a disaster for the state's sportsmen and the state in general, and would soon result in the land likely going to the wealthy, and wealthy out of staters.  It would frankly make it not worth living here and destroy the character of the state.

Ide cites the popular transfer of the Marton ranch to the Federal Government and the recent southwestern Wyoming BLM plan as part of the reason this needs to occur, both of which are reason why it should never occur.

Poster from several years ago.

Ide is a far right member of the legislature and was in Washington, D.C. at the time of the insurrection, although there is no reason to believe he participated in it.

October 15, 2023

Oh brother:

A legislative committee will draft a measure to prohibit state and local authorities from aiding or cooperating with federal land management agencies “when they pursue policies which harm Wyoming’s core interests.”

The move is in response to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s draft plan for managing 3.6 million acres of federal land in southwest Wyoming.

The Select Federal Natural Resource Management Committee also voted unanimously to draft a bill creating a new full-time position in the governor’s office to act as a watchdog “protecting the state’s interest against federal overreach.” Lawmakers on the panel suggested recruiting current and former BLM employees for the position with a signing bonus. They also discussed offering “bonuses and or opportunities for promotion” for state employees who go “above and beyond in protecting the state’s interests” against perceived federal overreach.

Casper Star Tribune 

November 2, 2024

A $68M inflation adjustment funding bill for education will be introduced.

At least this makes sense for a budget session.

November 4, 2024

Election related bills will appear in the upcoming budget session.

A bill to require a person to be a resident for 30 days prior to voting in an election will move on to the budget session.

A bill to expand the definition "of organization" for campaign donation reporting also will.

A bill to add a misdemeanor offense for intimidating an election official has been added to the one that already exists at the felony level.

November 10, 2023

After a special purpose bill failed, judges were added to the statute that makes it a felony to intimidate jurors, witnesses and peace officers while they are fulfilling their duty.

This seems to fall considerably short of the originally proposed bill which was specific to judges.

November 14, 2023

A bill to create a Rural Lawyer Incentive Pilot Program which grant entering lawyers in rural communities $16,000 each year over five years, so little as to be of no practical effect whatsoever, is advancing to the legislature.

The bill states:

HOUSE BILL NO.

Wyoming rural attorney recruitment program.

Sponsored by: Joint Judiciary Interim Committee

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to attorneys-at-law; establishing the rural attorney recruitment pilot program; specifying eligibility requirements for counties and attorneys to participate in the program; specifying administration, oversight and payment obligations for the program; requiring reports; providing a sunset date for the program; authorizing rulemaking; providing an appropriation; and providing for an effective date.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming: 

Section 1. W.S. 33-5-201 through 33-5-203 are createdto read:

2024 STATE OF WYOMING 24LSO-0061

Working Draft

Bill Number

ARTICLE 2 – RURAL ATTORNEY RECRUITMENT PROGRAM

33-5-201. Rural attorney recruitment program established; findings; program requirements; county qualifications; annual reports.

(a) In light of the shortage of attorneys practicing in rural Wyoming counties, the legislature finds that the establishment of a rural attorney recruitment program constitutes a valid public purpose, of primary benefit to the citizens of the state of Wyoming.

(b) The supreme court may establish a rural attorney recruitment program to assist rural Wyoming counties in recruiting attorneys to practice in those counties.

STAFF COMMENT 

In light of the Committee's discussion at its last meeting, the Committee may wish to consider whether the Supreme Court or the State Bar should establish and operate the rural-attorney program. 

(c) Each county eligible under this subsection may apply to the supreme court to participate in the program. A county is eligible to participate in the program if the county:

(i) Has a population of not greater than twenty8 five thousand (25,000); 

(ii) Has an average of not greater than one and one-half (1.5) licensed attorneys in the county for every one thousand (1,000) residents of the county;

16 STAFF COMMENT

The State Bar proposed the following alternative qualification/standard to paragraph (ii) above:

(ii) Has an average of not greater than one and one-half (1.5) qualified attorneys in the county for everyone thousand (1,000) residents. As used in this paragraph, "qualified attorney" means an attorney who provides legal services to private citizens on a fee basis for an average of not less than twenty (20) hours per week. "Qualified attorney" shall not include an attorney who is a full-time judge, prosecutor, public defender, judicial clerk, in29 house counsel, trust officer and any licensed attorney who is in retired status or who is not engaged in the practice of law;

(iii) Agrees to provide the county share of the incentive payment required under this article;

(iv) Is determined to be eligible to participate  in the program by the supreme court.

(d) Before determining a county's eligibility, the supreme court shall conduct an assessment to evaluate the  county's need for an attorney and the county's ability to sustain and support an attorney. The supreme court shall maintain a list of counties that have been assessed and are  eligible to participate in the program under this article.  The supreme court may revise any county assessment or  conduct a new assessment as the court deems necessary to reflect any change in a county's eligibility.

(e) In selecting eligible counties to participate in the program, the supreme court shall consider: 

(i) The county's demographics;

(ii) The age and number of attorneys in the county;

STAFF COMMENT

Rather than require the consideration of age as a factor the Committee may wish to consider alternate language for paragraph (ii) above:

(ii) The number of attorneys in the county and the number of attorneys projected to be practicing in the county over the next five (5) years;

(iii) Any recommendations from the district judges and circuit judges of the county;

(iv) The county's economic development programs;

(v) The county's geographical location relative to other counties participating in the program:

(vi) An evaluation of any attorney seeking to practice in the county as a program participant, including  the attorney's previous or existing ties to the county;

(vii) Any prior participation of the county in the program;

(viii) Any other factor that the supreme court deems necessary. 

(f) A participating eligible county may enter into agreements with any municipality, school district or nonprofit entity within the county to assist the county in meeting the county's obligations for participating in the program.

(g) Not later than October 1, 2024 and each October 1  thereafter that the program is in effect, the supreme court shall submit an annual report to the joint judiciary interim committee on the activities of the program. Each  report shall include information on the number of attorneys and counties participating in the program, the amount of incentive payments made to attorneys under the program, the general status of the program and any recommendations for  continuing, modifying or ending the program. 

33-5-202. Rural attorney recruitment program; attorney requirements; incentive payments; termination of program.

(a) Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, any attorney licensed to practice law in Wyoming may apply to the supreme court to participate in the rural attorney recruitment program established under this article. No attorney shall participate in the program if the attorney has previously participated in the program or has  previously participated in any other state or federal scholarship, loan repayment or tuition reimbursement  program that obligated the attorney to provide legal services in an underserved area.

(b) Not more than five (5) attorneys shall participate in the program established under this article at any one (1) time.

(c) Subject to available funding and as consideration for providing legal services in an eligible county, each attorney approved by the supreme court to participate in  the program shall be entitled to receive an incentive payment in five (5) equal annual installments. Each annual incentive payment shall be paid on or after July 1 of each year. Each annual incentive payment shall be in an amount equal to ninety percent (90%) of the University of Wyoming college of law resident tuition for thirty (30) credit hours and annual fees as of July 1, 2024.

STAFF COMMENT

The College of Law's resident tuition for 30 credit hours for the 2023-2024 academic year and annual fees is $17,946. Ninety percent of that amount is $16,151. The Committee may wish to simply specify the amount of each annual payment in subsection (c) above.

(d) Subject to available funding, the supreme court shall make each incentive payment to the participating attorney. The Wyoming state bar and each participating county shall remit its share of the incentive payment to the supreme court in a manner and by a date specified by the supreme court. The responsibility for incentive payments under this section shall be as follows: 

(i) Fifty percent (50%) of the incentive payments shall be from funds appropriated to the supreme court;  (ii) Thirty-five percent (35%) of the incentive payments shall be provided by each county paying for attorneys participating in the program in the county;(iii) Fifteen percent (15%) of the incentive payments shall be provided by the Wyoming state bar.

(e) Subject to available funding for the program, each attorney participating in the program shall enter into an agreement with the participating county, the Wyoming state  bar and the supreme court that obligates the attorney to  practice law full-time in the participating county for not less than five (5) years. No agreement shall be effective until it is filed with and approved by the supreme court.

STAFF COMMENT

The Committee may wish to consider:

Whether attorneys participating in the program must live in the county in which they practice.

Whether language is needed to clarify what it means for an attorney in the program to practice law in the applicable county. Whether a local contribution or match should be required, or whether alternatives to the local matchshould be included in the bill draft. (This was a suggestion raised by the State Bar at the Committee's meeting in September.)

Whether a failure to repay an incentive payment when required to do so should expressly subject the attorney to license suspension (this was an item raised at the September meeting).

(f) Any attorney who receives an incentive payment under this article and subsequently breaches the agreement entered into under subsection (e) of this section shall  repay all funds received under this article pursuant to terms and conditions established by the supreme court. Failure to repay funds as required by this subsection shall be grounds for attorney discipline.

(g) The supreme court may promulgate any rules necessary to implement this article. 

(h) The program established under this article shall cease on June 30, 2029.

STAFF COMMENT

In light of the Committee's discussion in September, the Committee may wish to consider whether clarifying language is necessary to make clear that attorneys can begin the program before June 30, 2029 and complete their requirements after June 30, 2029.

33-5-203. Sunset.

W.S. 33-5-201 and 33-5-202 are repealed effective July 17 2029.

Section 2. There is appropriated one hundred ninety20 seven thousand three hundred seventy-five dollars

($197,375.00) from the general fund to the supreme court  for the period beginning with the effective date of this act and ending June 30, 2029 to be expended only for  purposes of providing incentive payments for the rural attorney recruitment program established under this act. This appropriation shall not be transferred or expended for any other purpose. Notwithstanding W.S. 9-2-1008, 9-2-1012(e) and 9-4-207, this appropriation shall not revert until June 30, 2029.

Section 3. This act is effective July 1, 2024.

There is a real shortage, but as noted, the amount of money proposed here will do little to address the problem.  Most likely, what it would do is allow new law school grads to fool themselves into opening local practices that would soon be closed, something that has been going on for quite some time.

The problem that this bill addresses is caused by a variety of things, a significant one being the adoption of the Uniform Bar Exam which has caused Colorado firms in particular, but also Montana and even Texas firms to license lawyers in Wyoming while they practice from their actual localities. This has made practicing law in Wyoming less viable, and in return reduced and consolidated local practice.  This could easily be fixed by requiring residency requirements to practice in Wyoming or restoring a Wyoming specific bar exam.

November 17, 2023

In an act of flaming hypocrisy, the Converse County GOP voted 20-12 to censure state Rep. Forrest Chadwick R-Evansville, for a record that doesn't follow the state's GOP platform and which claims  he violated“the oath that he made to God.” Seeing as the state's GOP is presently heavily supportive of sedition, that's rather rich.

It's not surprising that Chadwick has run into trouble, however. The Businessman turned politician is a Natrona County resident and it could have been predicted from day one that Converse County would not really appreciate a Casperite being in the legislature for some of them, something that occured due to recent redistricting.

Wake Me in Wyoming

Friday, November 16, 1973. Transforming Alaska.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 16: 1973     President Richard M. Nixon signed the Alaska Pipeline measure into law.

The building of the Alaska pipeline was huge news at the time. There were those then who expressed concerns about the environmental costs, but by and large, in the midst of the oil crisis, it was looked at by Americans with a lot of hope and often compared to big prior endeavors, such as the Transcontinental Railroad.

The oil would forever change the economy of Alaska, as it also had already, and was continuing to do, in Wyoming.

Before the Oil. And after it? The economies of Wyoming and Alaska.

Skylab 4 was launched.

Tuesday, November 16, 1943. An attempt on Hitler's life.

Major Axel von dem Bussche, a confederate of Claus von Stauffenberg, planned to assassinate Adolf Hitler with a concealed landmine which he planned to detonate while embracing Hitler during a viewing of a new winter uniform the striking looking Major would be modeling. The viewing was canceled when an Allied air raid in Berlin destroyed the rail car in which the new uniforms were contained.

Von dem Bussche was of German noble lineage, as the name indicated, and had turned against the Nazis after accidentally witnessing a 1942 massacre of Jews in Ukraine.  He volunteered to attempt the assassination again in 1944 and was set to do so when he was badly wounded on the Russian Front and had to have a leg amputated.  His being in the hospital at the time of the July 20 plot saved him from being a suspect in it.

An East Westphalian by birth, much of his ancestral holdings were in East Germany after the war, which required him to pursue a civilian career, which he in turn did.  After 1990, however, he was a plaintiff in a lawsuit seeking their return, which failed.  His eldest daughter, however, has since bought the larger portions back from the Federal Republic of Germany.  He died in 1993 at the age of 73.

The Battle of Leros ended with an Allied surrender.  The Germans, however, had taken tremendous casualties in the effort, and were on the verge of calling the offensive off when the surrender came.

The British village of Tyneham in Dorset was ordered evacuated by the British War Department, which needed the grounds for a training area.  It remains a British military facility today.

The U.S. Army Air Force struck heavy water facilities at Rjukan and a molybdenum refinery at Knaben, damagign the German nuclear weapons effort.

USS Corvina.

The submarine USS Corvina was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-176, becoming the only U.S. submarine to be sunk by another submarine.

The I-176.

The I-176 was in turn sunk in June 1944.

The U-280 was sunk by a British B-24.

Lex Anteinternet: A trial strategy.

Lex Anteinternet: A trial strategy.: I once knew a lawyer who was instructed by his client to say something that they knew would result in a sanctioned mistrial.  After warning ...

Yup. Trump asked for a mistrial today.

He won't get it, today.  But the strategy appears to have been evident. 

America Recycles Day

While it will probably also provoke the ire of Wyoming's far political right, which will accuse the DEQ of being Communists Marxist Fascists, Democrats and Roman Catholics, today is also Recycling Day, as the DEQ notes:

DEQ Recognizes America Recycles Day Today, Nov. 15 Sorting areas for recyclables at Baggs, Wyo. Transfer Station

CHEYENNE – The Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is recognizing America Recycles Day (ARD) today and celebrating the recycling-efforts of Wyoming’s citizens that play an important part in keeping our state beautiful. Find out more about the recycling efforts in Wyoming by going here. View in Español   Check out this month's Division: Air Quality Division

Today is GIS Day.

 Truly, it is.

Thursday, November 15, 1973. Lowering the speed limit.

Washington state lowered its speed limit to conserve gasoline.  Coincidentally, highway mortality drooped 11%.

Israel and Egypt exchanged POWS taken during the Yom Kippur War.

Monday, November 15, 1943. The Combat Infantry Badge.

One of the awards most respected by soldiers to be issued by the U.S. Army, the Combat Infantry Badge, was authorized.

Limited to infantrymen alone who have seen actual ground combat, the creation of the award acknowledged the particular horrors experienced by infantrymen in combat.  The World War Two awards were upgraded, which they likely should not have been as it cheapened the original awards, to Bronze Stars in the 1980s, reflecting the particular horrors of World War Two in which soldiers were not rotated home but served until severely injured, killed, or the end of the war.

It followed the authorization of the Expert Infantry Badge, which had been authorized on November 11, 1943.

Both awards remain enormously respected in the U.S. Army.

"Nomadic" Gypsies in the Soviet Union were reclassified by Germany to be in the same racial category as Jews and therefore subject to the death camps, whereas "sedentary" Romani were classified as citizens of the country they were in.

The order would ultimately extend beyond the occupied regions of the USSR and was another example of how, as Nazi Germany's fate became sealed, it became more homicidal.

Offensive actions by the U.S. Fifth Army were halted by Gen. Alexander.

Today In Wyoming's History: November 15: 1943 1943  Harmonica player Larry Adler played at the University of Wyoming.  Adler was a well known harmonica player.

Manuel L. Quezon was inaugurated as President of the Philippines, in exile. It was his third term.  In the Philippines a collaborationist government, not as disdained by the post-war Philippines as might be supposed, was in control, with the sanction of the Japanese.

The Cross Mountain, Colorado post office was closed, putting an end to the Moffat County town.

The business of progressives and conservatives.

The whole modern world has divided itself into Conservatives and Progressives. The business of Progressives is to go on making mistakes. The business of Conservatives is to prevent mistakes from being corrected. Even when the revolutionist might himself repent of his revolution, the traditionalist is already defending it as part of his tradition. Thus we have two great types -- the advanced person who rushes us into ruin, and the retrospective person who admires the ruins. He admires them especially by moonlight, not to say moonshine. Each new blunder of the progressive or prig becomes instantly a legend of immemorial antiquity for the snob. This is called the balance, or mutual check, in our Constitution.

G.K. Chesterton

November 14, 1943. Torpedoing the President.

USS William D. Porter.

The USS William D. Porter accidentally fired a torpedo at the USS Iowa, which had President Franklin D. Roosevelt on board.

The Porter was supposed to be engaging in a target practice demonstration with an inert torpedo, but fired a live one.  A disaster was averted when the ship's radioman, detecting the sound of an armed torpedo, radioed the Iowa, which was able to avoid it.  The entire crew of the ship was placed under arrest at Bermuda and Torpedoman Lawton Dawson was sentenced to fourteen years hard labor.

President Roosevelt intervened and asked that Dawson not be punished.

The Porter was sunk on June 10, 1945 when a kamikaze attacked the ship, and missed, but ended up underneath it and exploded.  All hands were saved.

The Battle of Coconut Grove ended in an Allied victory.

The Italian Social Republic's Fascist party, which controlled northern Italy, as a German puppet state,  issued the Manifesto of Verona, providing:

Preamble

In announcing its own program of action, the Republican Fascist Party salutes you, Duce, the man who can save the Fatherland, realizing the Fascio of Italian energies for the second time.

In your arduous liberation it sees the providential auspices of what will be the liberation of all Italy. In your thought, and in your more than twenty years of historical work in Italy and in the world, it today finds the certainty and the very current of inspiration for the social ascent of the Italian people, now that the monarchy can finally be swept away from Italian life, together with all those dark, reactionary, compromising forces and their allies.

Under your guidance, through sacrifice and combat, it will bring back honour to Italy, its independence and its greatness.

In its first national assembly, the Republican Fascist Party:

Lifts its thoughts to those who have sacrificed their lives for Fascism on the battlefronts, in the piazzas of the cities and villages, in the limestone pits of Istria and Dalmatia, and who should be added to the ranks of the martyrs of our Revolution, and to the phalanx of all those men who have died for Italy.

It regards continuation of the war alongside Germany and Japan until final victory, and the speedy reconstruction of our Armed Forces which will serve alongside the valorous soldiers of the Fuhrer, as goals that tower above everything else in importance and urgency.

It takes note of the decrees instituting the Extraordinary Tribunals, whereby Party members will carry out their unbending determination to administer exemplary justice; and, inspired by Mussolini's stimulus and accomplishments, it enunciates the following programmatic directives for Party actions:

As concerns internal constitutional issues, we propose:

1. That a Constituent Assembly, whose sovereign power is popularly derived, be convened in order to declare the abolition of the monarchy, solemnly condemn the last treasonous and fugitive king, proclaim the Italian Social Republic, and appoint its Head.

2. That this Constituent Assembly be made up of representatives from all syndical associations and administrative districts and also include representatives from the occupied provinces in the form of delegations of evacuees and refugees residing in liberated territories.

This Constituent Assembly must also include representatives of servicemen, war prisoners (represented by those sent back due to disabilities), Italians abroad, the judiciary, universities, and any other body or institution whose participation contributes to designating this Constituent Assembly as a synthesis of the nation's values.

3. That this republican Constituent grant to citizens, be they soldiers, workers, or taxpayers, the right to audit and criticize the public administration's actions, so long as this right is exercised in a responsible manner.

Every fifth year citizens will be called upon to nominate the Head of the Republic.

No citizen will be held beyond seven days without a warrant from the judicial authorities irrespective of whether he was arrested in the act or detained for preventive reasons. A judicial warrant will also be required to carry out searches of homes, except in cases of flagrant delicto.

The judicial branch of government will operate with complete independence while carrying out its functions.

4. That an intermediate solution be adopted in the electoral domain given Italy's prior negative experiences with elections and its partially negative experiences with too rigidly hierarchical methods of appointment. A mixed system seems the most advisable—one, for example, that would combine popular election of deputies with appointments of ministers made by the Head of the Republic and government. Within the Party, it would probably be best for elections to be held on the Fascio level, with approvals for appointments to the National Directorate being made by the Duce.

5. That the organization responsible for politically educating the people be one. The Party, an order of fighters and believers, must become an organism of absolute political purity, worthy of being the guardian of a revolutionary idea.

Party membership will not be required for any job or position.

6. That the Republic's religion be the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion. Respect is assured for other cults so long as they do not oppose the law.

7. That those belonging to the Jewish race be considered foreigners. During this war they belong to an enemy nation.

As concerns foreign policy issues, we propose:

8. That the main goal of the Republic's foreign policy be the unity, independence, and territorial integrity of the Fatherland. The territory in question comprises the maritime and alpine borders marked in nature, as well as the borders consecrated by sacrifice of blood and by history. Both boundaries are now threatened by the invading enemy and by their promises to the governments that have sought refuge in London. A second essential goal will be to achieve recognition of the fact that a population of 45 million, living in an area insufficient to sustain it, has certain indispensable needs for vital space.

This foreign policy will also strive for the creation of a "European community" made up of all those nations that accept the following fundamental principles:

a) elimination from our continent the century-long British intrigues;

b) abolition of the internal capitalist system and combat against world plutocracies;

c) valourisation of Africa's natural resources for the benefit of Europeans as well as natives, with full respect for those peoples, particularly Muslim ones, who have already shaped themselves into civilized nations, such as Egypt.

As concerns social issues, we propose:

9. That the foundation and the main goal of the Italian Social Republic be work—manual, technical, intellectual—in all its manifestations;

10. That the State guarantee private property, which is the fruit of individual labour and savings as well as an extension of the human personality. Private property, however, must not be permitted to have a disintegrative effect on the physical and moral personality of other individuals by way of the exploitation of their labour.

11. That in the domain of the national economy, the State's sphere of action encompass everything that extends beyond the individual interests or within the domain of collective interests, whether due to scale or function.

Public services and, in most cases, armament industries, must be managed by the State through parastatal agencies.

12. That in every factory (whether industrial, private, government-controlled, or state-owned) representatives of technicians and workers must collaborate closely—to the point of having direct knowledge of the factory's management—in setting fair wages and in equitably distributing profits between reserve funds, stockholder dividends, and worker profit shares.

In some factories this measure will be implemented by expanding the powers of the existing factory commissions. In others, the current management will be substituted by a managing council made up of technicians, workers, and a state representative. In others still, a parasyndical cooperative will be set up.

13. That in the domain of agricultural production, landowner's private initiative shall be curbed whenever and wherever initiative itself is lacking.

Expropriations of uncultivated lands may lead to their being parceled out among farm workers (who thereby become farmer-landowners). Similarly, badly managed businesses may be transformed into parasyndical or parastatal cooperatives, depending upon the needs of the agricultural economy.

Since current laws already provide for these sorts of measures, the Party and various syndical organizations are now hard at work on their implementation.

14. That farmers, craftsmen, professionals, and artists be fully entitled to pursue their vocations individually, for their families or other nucleus. However, they are subject to legal obligations to deliver to the masses those quantities of produce that are set forth by the law and to regulation of fees for services.

15. That home ownership be treated not just as an extension of property rights but also as a right. The Party's platform proposes the creation of a national agency for popular housing that will absorb the existing institute and greatly enhance its effectiveness. Its aim will be to make home ownership available to families of all categories of workers via the construction of new homes or the gradual repurchase of existing ones. To this end, the general principle that rent payments ought to go towards purchase of a home, once capital has been paid off in full, must be adopted.

The first duty of this agency will be to address the war's detrimental effects on housing by expropriating and distributing empty buildings and by erecting temporary structures.

16. That workers automatically become members of the syndicate regulating the category to which they belong, but that this membership must not preclude transfer to another syndicate if all requirements are met. All the trade syndicates are gathered together under the umbrella of a single confederation comprising all workers, technicians, and professionals (but excluding landlords, who are neither managers nor technicians). This umbrella organization will be named the General Confederation of Labour, Technology, and Arts.

Like other workers, employees of state-controlled industries or public services are integrated into syndicates as a function of their category.

The imposing complex of social welfare institutions created by the Fascist regime over the past twenty years remains intact. Consecrated by the 1927 Charter of Labour, its spirit will inform all future developments.

17. That the Party considers a salary adjustment for all workers an urgent necessity. This can be effected by adopting a nationwide minimum wage (with prompt regional adjustments). The need is particularly great among lower-echelon and middle-echelon workers, both in the public and private sectors. Part of the salary should be paid in foodstuffs (at official prices) so that this measure not prove ineffective or harmful for all parties concerned. This can be accomplished by means of cooperatives and factory stores, by expanding the "Provvida's" responsibilities, and by expropriating stores that have broken the law and placing them under state or cooperative management. This is the best way to contribute to the stabilization of prices and the lira's value as well as to the market's recovery. As concerns the black market, speculators must be placed under the authority of special courts and made subject to the death penalty, just like traitors and defeatists.

18. That with this preamble to the Constituent Assembly, the Party offers proof that it is not only reaching out toward the people but also is one with the people.

On the other hand, the Italian people must realize that it only has one way to defend its past, present, and future achievements: to reject the enslaving invasion of the Anglo-American plutocracies whose sole aim, confirmed by a thousand precise signs, is to make the lives of Italians more cramped and miserable.

There is only one way for us to accomplish all our social goals: to fight, to work, to triumph.

Bulgaria was bombed by the Allies for the first time when B-25s hit the railyards at Sofia.

Bulgaria was in a strange position during the war.  It was an Axis Power, but it had not declared war on the Soviet Union, perhaps judging the likelihood of a Soviet victory in the war more accurately than other German allies.  Its hesitancy did not save it from being invaded by the Red Army in September 1944 at which time it switched sides and declared war on Germany.  Following a leftist coup that resulted due to the Soviet invasion, it was a Communist country from 1946 until about 1990, at which time it became a parliamentary democracy.  The country has been undergoing a demographic collapse since the 1980s.

Wednesday, November 14, 1923. In from the cold.

German Gen. Hans von Seeckt ordered that Berlin cafés, halls and cabarets must admit the city's poor and cold in order to warm themselves, least the Government seize them to be used for that purpose.

Von Seeckt's tomb.

Von Seeckt had been an important figure in the Imperial German Army before going on to be a major figure in the Reichswehr.  He was in the German parliament from 1930 to 32 as a member of a center right party, but turned towards the hard right thereafter.  He was assigned to the German military mission in China in 1933, where he restored the failing relationship with the Nationalist Chinese.  His advice lead to the 1934 Nationalist campaign that resulted in the Communist Long March.

Germany suspended payments on its reparations.

New Zealand's laws were extended to Antarctica as Governor General John Jellicoe applied its jurisdiction to the Ross Dependency.

What the Young Want.* The Visual Testimony of the Trad Girls. The Authenticity Crisis, Part One.

Or maybe they're not.

At any one time, I have a bunch of posts in the works, some of which are on concurrent themes. This is one, basically, as it touches on a larger topic.

Something is going on.

A couple of years ago I started to see some women, by which I mean, let's say, women 40 years or older, resuming the wearing of chapel veils (mantillas).  They were clearly on the traditional end of things.

Recently, however, I'm seeing young women do this.

I shouldn't, probably, have used the term "girls" in the caption, but for whatever reason, culturally, we tend to use the term "girls" for young women well into their 20s.  Maybe somewhat beyond.  It seems to encompass women in their late teens on up to that point.

And that's what I'm referring to here.

I noticed it first the year before last, and at an early morning Mass on a Holy Day (All Saints Day, I think).  Two young women, probably very late teens or very early twenties, sat right in front of me.  One was dressed conservatively but contemporarily. She was wearing a leather skirt. . . and a chapel veil (mantilla).

Now, there was a young woman from a very trad family in the parish who dressed almost as if in a Medieval costume for young women every Mass. That's not what I'm talking about here.  This young woman was wearing a nice wool sweater, and a leather skirt, and a chapel veil.

It caught me off guard.

I'm seeing stuff like that all the time now.  Young women, often early twenties, dressed conservatively, but not in costume, who have adopted the mantilla.  Indeed, just yesterday, at the early morning Mass Sunday, the Church did the Ritual for the Elect for those who were coming into the Church.  They all have a sponsor.  One young woman coming in had, as her sponsor, another young women.  

Frankly, the sponsor was stunning.  And she was wearing a chapel veil.  Last Sunday across town there was another young woman dressed in that fashion who was eye catching as well, and the week before that there was another so dressed who was a head turner.**

I note that, as it was easy, when the only women who did this were let's say older, and otherwise dressed in a fashion that was old-fashioned, perhaps, or dour.  These young women aren't.   They're hard not to notice.

Indeed, yesterday, the young woman mentioned went from the front of the Church to the back with a very proud carriage, which is not to suggest sinful pride. Rather, she carried herself the way that people who are very self-assured, for very good reasons, do.

Something is going on.

And It's not just here.  A friend of mine in Oklahoma noticed the same thing at his local parish.  And it's crossed into other regions, or perhaps hit there first.  For example, notable Korean figure skater Yuna Kim is Catholic, and people like to snap photos of her at Mass wearing a chapel veil.

And it's interesting that this is going on at the same time that some members of the leadership of the Church, which tends to be up in years, seems to be trying to insert the liberal.  

I've often noticed that people who come up in particularly devise or stressed eras, and maybe more of us do than not, tend to form our view of the world in those times.  A lot of people in their upper 60s, 70s, and 80s assume that "what the young want" is what they wanted when they were young.  

The evidence for this is to the contrary.

There's a lot more to this.  It's interesting.

Footnotes

*It's important to note that categorizing what an entire generation, or generations, want is hazardous.  For example, at least superficially, here I'm noting a return to Catholic tradition among the same generation that is exhibiting such things as a belief that you can change your gender.

Well, a couple of things.

At any one time you can have an overall trend in a generation while individual members of it hold an opposite view.  There were, for example, more volunteers who served in Vietnam than there were conscripts, contrary to popular imagination, meaning that quite a few young men sought to serve in the war at the same time history informs us their generation had turned against it.  By the same token, you can find a few examples of Americans who were adamantly opposed to the country entering World War One or Two, and continued to hold that view after the country declared war.  Beatniks were a feature of the supposedly superconservative 1950s. 

Secondly, people are more complex than categorists and political parties may suppose, and as a result they can often hold contrary views, or views that seem to be contrary, or views contrary to the ones they themselves exhibit.  Indeed, I've heard some of the stoutest denouncements of tobacco from smokers.  They smoked, but wished they didn't. 

You get the point.

**For some reason, you're not supposed to say this. Well, noticing that a woman is attractive is not the same thing as engaging in Hefnereque behavior, and the fact that creeps have co-opted this entire aspect of communication is just evidence of how weird and pornified our culture is.

Saturday, November 13, 1943. Coconut Grove.

The Germans commenced a counterattack at Kyiv that would run for forty days.  The Red Army reached Zhytomyr which threatened the norther flank of German Army Group South.

The first XP-80 was completed.

Lulu Belle, the first XP-80.

The Kelly Johnson design would go into service in 1945, too late for the Second World War, but would see service in Korea, by which time it was already eclipsed by later designs.

The Battle of Coconut Grove commenced on Bougainville between Marine Corps elements and the Imperial Japanese Army.

On the same day, the third wave of the US invasion forced landed, which included the balance of the 37th Infantry Division and the 21st Marine Regiment.  The USS Denver was hit during the operation by a torpedo launched by a Japanese aircraft, rendering her incapable of operating under her own engines.

Gen. Mark Clark informed his superior Gen. Alexander that operations in Italy should be halted temporarily.

The Japanese I-34 was sunk by the British submarine Taurus off of the Strait of Malacca.

HMSM Taurus.

The HMS Dulverton was scuttled after being hit by a HS 293 glide bombs off of Leros.

Why specific movements on the left always end up being disregarded. Sense and Solidarity. Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 51st edition.

As a climate justice movement, we have to listen to the voices of those who are being oppressed and those who are fighting for freedom and for justice. Otherwise, there can be no climate justice without international solidarity.

Greta Thurnberg.

And, now Thurnberg, having sided with murder, has jumped the shark.

There's no connection whatsoever, and even less than that, with the situation in the Middle East and the climate,

But this is typical. In the 20s and 30s the American left came around to supporting Stalin in many instances. Why?  Well, um, solidarity?

And this is why, in the end, that such movements lose their steam.  Here a man joined the stage to protest the diversion of the protest.  His actions were wrong, but his point was correct.

Of course the point will be made that being concerned for the Palestinians as a people, isn't the same as support for Hamas, and at least on an intellectual level, that's true. And as much as possible that can be done should be done to ease the humanitarian crisis that has come about.

But, by the same token, we should note, the East Prussians were not the same thing as the SS.  They were displaced, permanently, in 1945 and nobody, outside the East Prussians, has shed a tear about. Hor's de combat.  

Moreover, you can't really cross over from poster child for a cause, and frankly that's what she did, to left wing general agitator all at once and in this fashion.  It discredits the movement you came from, particularly with the nonsensical effort to link the two.

But, never mind.  The American left (and of course she's not part of that) supported every left wing cause of the 20s and 30s before burying their history of doing that in the late 40s and 50s.  It didn't help them in the end, and they've never been able to really wash the blood off.  

Solidarity is one thing.  Sense is another.

Last prior edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 50th edition, the Synod Edition.

Blog Mirror: Have they no sense of decency?

A Robert Reich item about Elise Stefanik:

Have they no sense of decency?

The descent of Stefanik has been epic.  It hardly makes sense, at least in the case of a person who has any integrity at all. Starting off as a centrist, she's turned into a Trump hack.

This effort to sanction the court and the court's clerk is shocking.

Stefanik is really playing with fire here. There's at least a halfway decent chance she'll be sanctioned for filing such a bogus challenge. And if the country survives the next election, long term she's going to have the same sort of reputation that Joe McCarthy now has, save for the fact that she'll fully deserve it and McCarthy only partially did.

Unlike McCarthy, Stefanik is a mother. What a legacy for that child will be left.

We just passed the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch, which the poster above commemorates.  The Nazis, every year after they came to power, commemorated their failed coup attempt.

Of course, we know how this story goes. German politics were a mess in 1923, but by the early 1930s they were becoming more and more polarized and voters feared the choice was between the Communists and the Nazis. Parties in the center, like the SDP and the CDP were abandoned as voters flocked to vote against the left or the right.

The Nazis came to power, to Germany's everlasting discredit, and through Europe into murder and the world into war.

On Veterans Day Donald Trump, who never served a day in the military, posted this:

Truly, this is frightening.

Friday, November 12, 1943. The Germans land on Leros.

 The Germans invaded Leros in the Aegean's/

German paratroopers preparing to board for drop on Leros.  By Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-527-2348-21 / Bauer / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5412561

We tend not to think of the Germans engaging in offensive operations this late in the war, but they did, of which this was a successful example. After four days of fighting, they'd take the island from its British, Italian and Greek defenders.  The island had been occupied by a reduced British force as the Italians, during their Axis period, had heavy fortified the port facilities. The US had not approved of the British, i.e. Churchill, focus on the Aegean, so it had not participated with the British in the occupation of various Aegean islands, including this one.

According to some, the novel The Guns of Navarone is based contextually on the Battle of Leros, but I don't see that really.

Leros is extremely close to Turkey. So much so, that it's a bit amazing that the island wasn't transferred to the Turks in 1923.  It has a Greek population, but it became an Italian possession in 1912 following the Italo Turkish War, one of the pre World War One wars that's nearly wholly forgotten now, leading to the commonly cited falsehood that Europe had been "at peace for fifty years" prior to World War One breaking out.  It was annexed by Italy in 1923.  It became a Greek possession at the end of World War Two.

The Allies won the Battle of Treasury Island in the Solomon's.

The Japanese bombed Darwin, Australia for the last time.

Remaining Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft are withdrawn from Rabaul. The overwhelming majority had already been lost.

The Allies bombed Arezzo, Italy, for the first time.

Franklin Roosevelt left for the Tehran Conference on board the USS Iowa.

Women in Lebanon turned out in the streets in favor of their deposed government.

The U-508 was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by a US B-24.

Dauntless above the USS Washington, flying a mission in support of landings in the Gilberts.

Monday, November 12, 1923. The red flag.

The Soviet Union adopted a new flag.

The red represented the seas of blood the Communist were causing to flow in the country and the yellow hiding behind the fortress of the Red Army to avoid being overthrown. . .  well okay actually not.

The flag had always been red, that being the color of socialism every single place on Earth except for the very US, very recently, where some pinhead decided that would now be the symbol of conservatism, because his sense of history was impaired.  During the revolutionary period, the Communists had just used red flags with no symbols.  In 1922 they had adopted this hideous banner:

Starting in July, 1923, they'd strated experimengint with this:

That wasn't great, and even has sort of a Pokémon appearance to it.  They gave up on that, and went with the example above.

The red flag with the bordered hammer & sickle lasted only until April 18, 1924, when a flag closely approximating the final design was adopted:

The near final version was adopted on December 5, 1936, with the last version coming in as late as 1955.  The 36 variant and the 55 variant weren't really improvements on the 24 variant, in my view.

Interestingly, the flag of Nazi Germany was also mostly red.

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of states to ban aliens from owning or leasing agricultural land.

Sunday, November 12, 1623. Josaphat Kuntsevych, Bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Church (Ukrainian Catholic Church, was martyred in Vitebsk, Belarus.

On this day in 1623 Josaphat Kuntsevych, Bishop of the Ruthenian Catholic Church (Ukrainian Catholic Church, was martyred in Vitebsk, Belarus, which was the part of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth.

He had been ordained in as an Eastern Catholic priest in 1609.  Living in a region in which the Orthodox Church had been strong, he faced opposition in his clerical duties but movement towards union with Rome was building in the area and as there was building assent to the Union of Brest.  In 1620 this began to be opposed when Cossacks intervened in the region.  In 1623, Josaphat, by then a Bishop, ordered the arrest of the sole remaining priest who was offering Orthodox services in Vitebsk which resulted in his murder by some Orthodox townspeople.  Some have suggested that, however, Lithuanian Protestants were secretly the instigators of the action.

His body is in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, and he is recognized as a martyr by the Church.

This points out a lot of interesting aspects of history that in the United States, and indeed many places, are poorly understood.  For one thing, there have been repeated efforts to reunite the East and West in Apostolic Christianity, and on several occasions they've been highly successful.  The seeming final breach between the East and West did not really come until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and indeed at that time the East and West were largely reunited. Following the return of the schism, over the next 500+ years various churches in the East have returned to communion with Rome.  The Schism should have completely ended following the Council of Florence, in which the Eastern Bishops agreed to reunion, but resistance at the parishioner level precluded it, just as can be seen to be a factor here.  Resistance higher up, sometimes violent, has also had an impact, however, as at least in one occasion Russian Orthodox Bishops affecting a reunion were murdered.  At the present time, it seems clear that the Metropolitan of Constantinople, the senior Bishop of the Eastern Orthodox, would end the schism as to his church but for fear of parishioner and cleric level resistance.

Rodrigo de Arriaga professed vows to become a Jesuit Priest.  He was one of the leading Spanish Jesuits of his day.

Blog Mirror: "Die Hard" Is NOT a Christmas Movie!

 

"Die Hard" Is NOT a Christmas Movie!

The Romans had expeditions that went all the way into what is now Nigeria.

And across the Sarah at that.

Simply amazing.

Best Posts of the Week of November 5, 2023

The best posts of November 5, 2023.

One Year Until The General Election.

More observations on the Hamas Israeli War. A sort of primer, war aims, and campaign aims. Part I.

If we needed any further reason to abolish the electoral college. . .

Democrats don't lose elections. . .

The 118th Congress. Part II

The 2023 "Off Year" Election.

The 2024 Election, Part VIII. Speeding toward the missing bridge

The 2024 Wyoming Legislative Session. The Super Early Riser Edition (Part 1)

Wars and Rumors of War, 2023, Part XI. Our Sins coming back to haunt us edition.

aturday, November 10, 1923. The loyal dog Hachikō (ハチ公).

A few Veterans Day Comments.