The Wyoming Freedom Caucus and the 2025 and 2026 Legislatures. Some things to keep in mind.

 The 2025 Legislature is a general session, not a budget session The budget won't be considered.  Only conventional legislation will be.

The bills that make it to the committees after November 4 are those, to a fairly significant degree, that are being advanced now. That means that a full bore populist agenda won't be considered in 2025.  A partial one will be, but the populist party that claims to be conservative, but which isn't, and which claims to be Republican, but which isn't really, by traditional standards, won't be calling all the tunes.

That leaves it ample room to be disruptive and to complain, which it excels at.  The problem is, for it, is that people will conceive of it as being "in power".  It won't pass all of its agenda, maybe any of iit, and will have to explain why it couldn't.

The Senate and the Governor will be who it blames.

The 2026 legislature will be a budget session, and that's where the rubber will really meet the road.  At least in the past, WFC members have backed wiping out property taxes (a moronic idea) and cutting the state's budget by 30% (another moronic idea).

That would wipe out much of the funding for education and decimate the primary schools, the University of Wyoming and the community colleges, some of which I'd guess will not survive.  When UW starts to teeter, which it'll start too soon, second glances will really commence.

"What do you mean that we're going to Division l700 F in football?"

What'll also start to be impaired is all the emergency funding and the highway funding.  We'll rely, ironically, very heavily on the Federal Government for that which, if it takes notice, may very well require the state to get its tax act together.  

Frankly, it'll be a disaster for the state.

I'd like to be more optimistic about 2026, but I really can't.  The Freedom Caucus won't get everything it wants, but it'll damage things enormously.  Maybe enough that the intellectual poverty of much of its positions will become exposed and we can hope for a better 2026 set of results.

Blog Mirror: A Journey Through Time: Fall Catalog & Magazine Covers (1920s-1950s)

 

A Journey Through Time: Fall Catalog & Magazine Covers (1920s-1950s)

Only problem was. . .

the photo for the campaign in Georgia was of the Central Asian country, not the U.S. state.

You know, the one that was once part of the Soviet Union.

Oh, the unintentional irony

The conflict in Lebanon. A few items.

By Sergey Kondrashov - http://www.katagogi.com/LV2009/LebMap.aspx?l=EN, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23421707

Israel is not "fighting Lebanon".  I've seen that claim made, but it isn't. 

It's striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

Hezbollah, which translates as the "Party of God" is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group.  The party does control large sections of Lebanon where Shia is dominant religious group.  

Lebanon itself was carved out of Syria by the French during the French mandate period as it had a majority Christian population.  It's one of the few areas of the Middle East which still does, with Islamic repression over centuries having forced conversions and emigration throughout the Middle East.  Be that as it may, Lebanon is no longer a majority Christian state, and its a mess because of internal strife and division.

That came in due to the conflicts in the region, with the Palestinian refugee population of the 1970s being particularly problematic.  The country fought a civil war that lasted in one form or another from 1975 to 1990.  It's never been stable since.

It's very difficult to see a positive future for Lebanon in any form. That doesn't mean it won't occur, but it's hard to see.  

What can be seen, in my view, is an Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon coming in the next week or so.

Blog Mirror: What Will The Wyoming House Look Like With A Freedom Caucus Majority?

What Will The Wyoming House Look Like With A Freedom Caucus Majority?

The takeover: How Wyoming’s ‘tireless minority’ took control

The takeover: How Wyoming’s ‘tireless minority’ took control: The takeover: How Wyoming’s ‘tireless minority’ took control

Sunday, September 24, 1944. Market Garden reaches the Rhine.

Gendarmes of Epinal sneak up on German sniper.

The British took Deume, Netherlands. 30th Corps reached the south bank of the Rhine near Arnhem.  Other elements entered Germany southwest of Nijmegen.

The Italian government reopened the case of the murder of Giacomo Matteotti which had occurred in 1924.

The U-596 was damaged by US aircraft in Salamis Bay and scuttled.

Task Force 38 hit Japanese targets on the Visayan Islands.

Marine color Guard aboard a Coast Guard vessel, burial at sea, September 24, 1924.

Last edition:

Saturday, September 23, 1944. The Fala Speech.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Animals, Army, British Army, Canadian Army, Dogs, Eindhoven, Estonia, Franklin Roosevelt, Hungary, Operation Market Garden, Palau Island, Red Army, Royal Air Force, World War Two

Wednesday, September 24, 1924. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum arrived in South Dakota

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum arrived in South Dakota at the invitation of historian Doane Robinson to carry out plans to carve an epic statue of four Presidents, Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt in the state's Black Hills.

Last edition:

Thursday, September 18, 1924. Leaving the Dominican Republic.

Labels: 1910s, 1916, 1920s, 1924, Dominican Republic, United States, United States Marine Corps

Saturday, September 23, 1944. The Fala Speech.

The Red Army entered Hungary.  In Estonia, they reached the Baltic.

The Canadians crossed the Escaut Canal in an attack designed to clear the Germans from the north bank of the Scheldt.  30th Corps, however, was halted and the Germans made a successful counterattack north of Eindhoven.

The RAF destroyed an aqueduct on the Dortmund-Ems Canal wiping out a route of transport for prefabricated U-boat parts.

President Roosevelt delivered a speech in front of Washington Teamsters in which he defended himself against false accusations by Republicans that he had a Navy destroyer restrive his dog Fala from the Aleutians.  In it, he stated:

These Republican leaders have not been content with attacks on me, or my wife, or on my sons. No, not content with that, they now include my little dog, Fala. Well, of course, I don't resent attacks, and my family don't resent attacks, but Fala does resent them. You know, Fala is Scotch, and being a Scottie, as soon as he learned that the Republican fiction writers in Congress and out had concocted a story that I'd left him behind on an Aleutian island and had sent a destroyer back to find him – at a cost to the taxpayers of two or three, or eight or twenty million dollars – his Scotch soul was furious. He has not been the same dog since. I am accustomed to hearing malicious falsehoods about myself ... But I think I have a right to resent, to object, to libelous statements about my dog.

The crowd laughed at the joke.

The 81st Infantry Division took the unoccupied Ulithi Atoll to the north of Palau.  Work would immediately commence on building an airstrip.

Last edition:

Friday, September 22, 1944. Stiffening resistance in the Netherlands.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle of Peleliu, British Army, Canadian Army, Estonia, Italy, Operation Market Garden, Operation Undergo, Paratroopers, Pas-de-Calais France, Polish Army, World War Two

Friday, September 23, 1774. The York Tea Party.

Tea brought into the harbor at York harbor was seized by men dressed as Native Americans from the vessel that brought it in, but it was not destroyed.  Indeed, the protest having been made, the tea was quietly returned.

Last edition:

Thursday, September 22, 1774. ""it always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have."

Labels: 1770s, 1774, Abagail Adams, American Colonial Militia, Ethnicities, John Adams, Racism, Slavery

Tuesday, September 23, 1524. The Bundesbrief

The territorial Grey League in Switzerland formed a constitution, the Bundesbrief 

Last edition:

Sunday, September 14, 1524. The Order of Clerics Regular, Theatine.

Labels: 1520, 1524, Catholic, Christianity, religion

Painted Bricks: In Good Hands, Cheyenne Wyoming.

Painted Bricks: In Good Hands, Cheyenne Wyoming.:  

In Good Hands, Cheyenne Wyoming.

Friday, September 22, 1944. Stiffening resistance in the Netherlands.

Polish paratroopers attempted to reach the Rhine and meet up with British airborne trapped on the opposed bank Arnhem.  Elst was taken by 30th Corps.

3rd Bn., 157th Inf. Regt. walking across footbridge over canal lock. Igney, France. 22 September, 1944. Note that the machine gun crewmen are carrying M1911 pistols as personal arms.  This unit of the 45th Infantry Division was equipped at this point with M1943 combat boots, but still wearing older pattern field jackets.

45th Infantry Division tank crossing the Moselle.

The 3d Canadian Division took Boulogne and Operation Undergo commenced to take Calais.

The Red Army took Tallinn, Estonia.

The U.S. Army took Giogo Pass in Italy.

A regiment of the Army's 81st Infantry Division was committed in Peleliu to reinforce depleted elements of the 1st Marine Division.

Last edition:

Thursday, September 21, 1944. A sort of Estonian civil war.

Labels: 1920s, 1921, 1922, 1940s, 1944, baseball, Battle of Rimini, boats and ships, Canadian Army, East Karelian Uprising, Estonia, Finland, Greek Army, New Zealand Army, Red Army, Waffen SS, World War Two

Tuesday, September 22, 1874. 1874 Hong Kong Typhoon.

 The third worst typhoon to hit Hong Kong hit on the night of September 22, 1874.

Up to 2,000 people died in Hong Kong, and in nearby China, between 10,000 and 100,000 people lost their lives.

Last edition:

Sunday, September 20, 1874. An African American Wyoming Sheep Rancher.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Blog Mirror, Ethnicities, Kentucky, Personalities, Wyoming

Thursday, September 22, 1774. ""it always appeared a most iniquitous scheme to me to fight ourselves for what we are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have."

 Abagail Adams.

:Last edition:

Saturday, September 17, 1774. Congress adopts the Suffolk Resolves.

1770s, 1774, American Revolution, Colonial North America, First Continental Congress, Suffolk Resolves

Poster Saturday: Come Along

 

Worth listening to in its entirety.

I am tired of hearing from people who cannot point out Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala on a map telling us how to mitigate the millions seeking refuge.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The Air Force and Space Force are using airsoft rifles in basic training . . . and why does the Air Force (and Space Force) have separate basic training anyway?

Which is absurd.

They're asking for real M4 carbines, which they should get.

But it also raises this question.

Why doesn't the Air Force simply use the Army for basic training?  The Marines send their artillerymen to Ft. Sill for artillery training from the Army. Everyone uses the Air Force for training in dog handling.

Each service has its own requirements, but basic training conveys basic soldierly skills.  Granted, the Air Force is unique from the Army, but in regard to basic training, not that unique.  And after all, the Army did provide basic training to the U.S. Army Air Corps prior to the Air Force existing, and enlisted Marines in the Marine Corps' aviation branch go through regular Marine Corps basic training.

It's not as if this would save piles of money, but it would save some, and do away with some needless duplication here.

Thursday, September 21, 1944. A sort of Estonian civil war.

Estonians, some in the Red Army, and some in German Estonian units, others in Waffen SS units fought each other at Porkuni.

The Red Army units prevailed.

This presents the complicated picture of the war in the Baltics.  The Soviets were widely disposed by most residents of the Baltic States, but there were, and always had been, Baltic communists who saw the Soviet Union as an ally.  Estonian resistance to Soviet occupation, on the other hand, had started with the pre World War Two Soviet invasion and continued on after World War Two in the form of the Estonian Forest Brothers.

The Germans had never desired any sort of independence for Estonia and had not supported it in any sense.  

Interestingly, during the war, Finland never came into play in this even though the Estonians are a Baltic Finnic people and in the 1920s there had been serious considerations given to an Estonian Finnish union, with such efforts being committedly opposed by the Soviets.   The East Karelian Uprising of 1921-22 fit into this, as that territory lay between the two nations to some degree and was occupied by Finnic people as well.

The Battle of Rimini ended in a Canadian, Greek and New Zealander victory.

The Satsuki was sunk by US aircraft in Manila Bay.

The Cardinals took the National League Pennant for the third time in a row, defeating the Boston Braves.

Pfc. Calvin Stempien, Monroe, Mich., levels covering fire from his foxhole while members of his engineer unit construct a bridge over the Meurthe river, under enemy fire. 21 September, 1944.

Last edition:

Wednesday, September 20, 1944 Nijmegen liberated.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Army, Battle of Arnhem, Battle of Peleliu, British Army, France, Italy, Nijmegen Netherlands, Operation Market Garden, Paratroopers, Red Army

The Christian, and more particularly the Catholic, vote. 2024

I recently noted, after the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump, a group of folks I know posting prayers for Donald Trump.  

I've noted this before.

In this instance, I post the example below.

Now, let me start off by noting, that  praying for anyone, particularly those in some kind of danger, distress, or bad situation, is a Christian thing to do, and should be done.   That's not the point here.

What is, is the adoption by some Christians, and more particularly by some Catholics, of the concept of Trump as a Christian warrior, is badly misbegotten.  The "Cause his enemies to stumble and fall into confusion and panic" line is particularly worrisome.  Indeed, if he were granted "clarity", it seems to me that he'd have to spend darned near all of his remaining days on Earth in reparative acts of repentance.

There's not an observant Christian in this race.

Indeed, while praying for Trump should be done, and for Kamala Harris as well, the real question in this race, if you are an observant Christian, is not necessarily which of these two candidates should you vote for, but rather should you vote for somebody else.

I'd suggest that at least if you live in a state which is going to go for Trump, or going to go for Harris, you must in fact vote for a third party.  

Lets start with the situation I find myself in.  What if you are an observant Christian, or more particularly a Catholic, and live in a state Donald Trump is going to win.  As an observant Christian, you should not vote for Donald Trump.

First of all, there's no real reason to believe that Trump himself, in spite of some, particularly Evangelicals, claiming him as a Christian, is a Christian.  He's a nominal Presbyterian, we know, but if he actually believes any Presbyterian doctrine, he must be an extreme Calvinist that believes in predestination as he apparently feels he can do whatever he wants and it doesn't really matter.

Personally, he's a serious polygamist who has not only repeatedly married, divorced, and remarried, but he's had at least two well known affairs while married.¹   His conduct towards women in general is abhorrent.

He's also a constant liar, with serious lies being a grave sin.  He tried to steal the 2020 election, which is obviously a grave sin.

Among the horrific lies he's spread are ones about immigrants.  And he's threatening to deport millions of people who are, granted, illegal aliens, but who now live in the country, with some having done so for a very long time.

What some will say, is that Christians have to vote for him, as he stands opposed to the moral decay that's brought about such things as transgenderism, and he stands against the sea of blood that the Democrats would unleash in regard to abortion.  Both of those are valid point, although on abortion he's modified his position to one that resembles that of a lot of Democrats.

Then there's Kamala Harris.

Harris is a Baptist, but hardly reflects the traditional religious positions of the Anabaptist Protestant faith.  She isn't a serial polygamist, to be sure, but her spouse had a prior marriage, which is problematic in Christian theology.  Setting that aside, as it's become so common amongst Christians, and as it is ignored by most of Protestantism, its her views on other things that make her a no go for Christians.

She's in favor of the current Democratic platform that fully endorses the horror of Roe v. Wade, which she'd see enshrined as law.  The current GOP platform is silent on abortion, as an act of cowardice, but the Democrats are all in on it.

The Democrats are also all in on transgenderism, something for which there's no evidence as being grounded in nature, and may well be grounded in mental illness.   And while confusing the boundaries between natural marriage and genders has not been a big issue in this campaign, it's clear where the Democrats are on that as well.

For those reason, an observant Christian cannot vote for her.

But you don't need to.

At least you don't need to, as noted, if you live in a state that's going hard for Trump, or hard for Harris.

The only political party that really squares with Christianity is the American Solidarity Party.  If you've heard the Four Things homily I noted the other day, it's the only party you could be a member of and not be squirming in your seats.

It's the only really moral choice in this election, and if you live in a state that's going hard for Harris or Trump, I'd argue its the choice you have to make. In those states you don't have a "lesser of two evils" choice, but rather a protest against evil requirement.  Voting for Trump or Harris in a state that's going  hard for one or the other endorses their platform, and serves to only do that.

It also serves to reinforce the insane two party system that is not serving the country, at all and needs to end.  It's time to end it.  Voting for a third party starts that process.

Footnotes:

1. Recently I've seen it noted that Melania Trump is the first "Catholic first lady since Jackie Kennedy".

Yeah, well not a very observant Catholic.  In the eyes of the Church she's in an invalid marriage for more than one reason.  Barron Trump was, we'd note, baptized in an Episcopal Church, even though Catholics have a duty to raise their children as Catholics.

I don't know her current moral state, of course.  She's not seen much with Donald.  Given Trump's behavior, they may well be living as "brother and sister".  But the point is that she can't exactly be held up as an example of public female Catholicism.

Related threads:

The Four Things.

Wednesday, September 20, 1944 Nijmegen liberated.

Pvt. Nicholas Pappas of Canton, Ohio, peers through a hedge as his company advances towards a pillbox along the Siegfried Line. 20 September, 1944. Company E, 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment.

Nijmegen was liberated by 82nd Airborne Division and British Guards Armoured Division.

At Arnhem the British 1st Airborne was pushed back from the bridge by the Germans.

The US 3d Army captured Chatel and Luneville.

The Battle of San Marino ended in a British victory.

The Red Army captured the island of Suur-Tytärsaari in the Gulf of Finland.

Last edition:

Tuesday, September 19, 1944. The Moscow Armistice Signed.

Labels: 1940s, 1944, Battle for Brest, Battle of Hürtgen Forest, Battle of Peleliu, Continuation War, Eastern Front, Finland, Italy, Operation Market Garden, Palau, Personalities, Red Cross, Winter War, World War Two

Sunday, September 20, 1874. An African American Wyoming Sheep Rancher.

Alonzo Stepp born in Kentucky.

His story:

Breaking a Stereotype: Black Rancher Alonzo Stepp

Last edition:

Monday, September 15, 1874. Grant addresses the situation in Louisiana. Treaty No. 4.

Labels: 1870s, 1874, Alberta, Army, Canada, Cree Tribe, First Nations, Louisiana, Manitoba, Native Americans, Racism, Reconstruction, Saulteaux Tribe, U.S. Grant

The Four Things.

Because I've referenced it more than one time, but apparently never posted it (cowardice at work) I'm going to post here the topic of "the four sins God hates".  I'm also doing this as I'm getting to a political thread about this years elections and the candidates, in the context of the argument of "Christians must. . . " or "Christians can. . . "

First I'll note using the word "hate", in the context  of the Divine, is a truncation for a much larger concept.  "Condemns" might have been a better choice of words, but then making an effective delivery in about ten minutes or less is tough, and truncations probably hit home more than other things.

Additionally, and very importantly, sins and sinners are different.  In Christian theology, and certainly in Catholic theology, God loves everyone, including those who have committed any one of these sins, or all of them.

This topic references a remarkably short and effective sermon I heard some time ago. The way my 61 year old brain now works, that probably means it was a few years ago.  At any rate, it was a homily based on all three of the day's readings, which is remarkable in and of itself, and probably left every member of the parish squirming a bit.  It should have, as people entrenched in their views politically and/or economically would have had to found something to disagree with, or rather be hit by.

The first sin was an easy one that seemingly everyone agrees is horrific, but which in fact people excuse continually, murder.

Murder is of course the unjust taking of a life, and seemingly nobody could disagree with that being a horrific sin. But in fact, we hear people excuse the taking of innocent life all the time.  Abortion is the taking of an innocent life.  Even "conservatives", however, and liberals as a false flag, will being up "except in the case of rape and incest".

Rape and incest are horrific sins in and of itself, but compounding it with murder doesn't really make things go away, but rather makes one horror into two.  Yes, bearing a child in these circumstances would be a horrific burden.  Killing the child would be too.

The second sin the Priest noted was sodomy.  He noted it in the readings and in spite of what people might like to say, neither the Old or New Testaments excuse unnatural sex. They just don't.  St. Paul is particularly open about this, so much so that a local female lesbian minister stated that this was just "St. Paul's opinion", which pretty much undercuts the entire Canon of Scripture.  

A person can get into Natural Law from here, which used to be widely accepted, and which has been cited by a United States Supreme Court justice as recently as fifty or so years ago, and the Wyoming Supreme Court more recently than that, and both in this context, but we'll forgo that in depth here. Suffice it to say that people burdened with such desires carry a heavy burden to say the least, but that doesn't make it a natural inclination.  In the modern Western World we've come to excuse most such burdens, however, so that where we now draw lines is pretty arbitrary. 

Okay, those are two "conservative" items.

The next wasn't.

That was mistreating immigrants.  

This sort of speaks for itself, but there it is. Scripture condemns mistreating immigrants.  You can't go around, as a Christian, hating immigrants or abusing them because of their plight.  

Abusing immigrants, right now, seems to be part of the Conservative "must do" list.

And the final one was failing to pay workmen a just wage.  Not exactly taking the natural economy/free market approach in the homily.

Two conservatives, and two liberal.

That's because Christianity is neither liberal or conservative, but Christianity.  People claiming it for teir political battles this year might well think out their overall positions.