A Lummis reply.

Well, now that the Big Ugly moved on the House and its safe to say something, I received an emailed letter from Sen. Lummis.

It stated:

Senator Cynthia Lummis State of Wyoming (202) 224-3424 www.lummis.senate.gov

July 2, 2025 Yeoman Dear Yeoman: Thank you for contacting me about public lands. As you know, Wyoming and other western states are blessed with beautiful public lands that offer endless opportunities for outdoor enthusiasts. The outdoor recreation industry also generates thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in revenue for our state.  The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is responsible for administering federal lands to support a range of uses, including for commercial, recreation, and conservation activities. Currently, BLM manages over 245 million acres of land, primarily in the 11 westerns states. In Wyoming alone, the BLM manages over 18.5 million acres, or 48% of the state’s land.  While the BLM is generally mandated by Congress to retain public lands in public ownership, under the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (FLPMA), the agency may dispose of lands on a case-by-case basis and deemed in the public interest. FLPMA outlines the criteria for these land dispositions, allowing the sale of lands that are difficult and uneconomic for BLM or other agencies to manage, are no longer needed for the purpose it was acquired for, or would serve important public objectives, such as establishing houses, parks or schools. Recently, Democrats have mischaracterized multiple proposals and put forward bad faith efforts to obstruct President Trump’s agenda, rather than protect our federal lands as they claim. One example was a proposed amendment by the U.S. House Natural Resource Committee that would have allowed for the sale of less than 1% of federal lands in Utah and Nevada. This would have allowed those states to utilize underused parcels for economic development, a reservoir, vital infrastructure projects, and the expansion of an airport. However, this was mischaracterized by Democrats as an attempt to privatize land.  I am aware of a proposal from Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) that would require BLM to establish a robust public nomination and identification process to identify underutilized federal land near existing infrastructure to address the current housing crisis. I understand the proposal would focus on less than 0.5% of BLM land in 11 western states and would include protections for existing rights and uses like grazing permits, mineral leases, mining claims, and special use authorizations. Ultimately, this proposal was not included in the Senate budget reconciliation package. It is one of my top priorities to maintain and improve public access on public lands for activities such as hunting, fishing, snowmobiling, hiking, and biking. However, we must address the significant challenges for local communities, state government, and efficient land management practices that comes from federal ownership of nearly half of all Western land. It is important that we empower Wyoming-based stakeholders and local experts to enact thoughtful management systems that serve our communities while protecting our national treasures. I welcome the opportunity to communicate with you regarding issues impacting Wyoming. Please do not hesitate to contact my office if I can ever be of any assistance. Kind regards, Cynthia M. Lummis United States Senator

Once again, everything is reduced to the Big Bad Democrats are picking on us wee little Republicans, lying, stealing our lunches, etc.

Horseshit.

I've read these bills.  I will contact Sen. Lummis, but part of the reason I will is to state that without a massive public retraction on this, I won't be casting any votes for her if she seeks to retain her job in the future.

I'd also note, for somebody accusing the Democrats of lying, there's a lie in here. The Lee bill didn't pertain to just Nevada and Utah, but everywhere with public land save for Montana.

Catholic Opposition to the Big Ugly.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 94th Edition. Performance Bad Art and the News.

My goodness.

An item in the cultural wind we noted yesterday here; 

Lex Anteinternet: Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 93d Edition. Porn ind...: Porn industry, Supreme Court weigh in as Wyoming requires age verification on adult sites : As of Tuesday, Wyomingites' access to some c...

That being this:

In other sex, sort of, news, a dude who looks like a dude went to the lady's room accompanied by the press (including a dude) and hoped to get arrested.

Transgender woman protests new law with visit to a Wyoming Capitol bathroom: Rihanna Kelver used the women’s restroom at the Wyoming Capitol building Tuesday in defiance of a new law prohibiting transgender people’s use of public facilities.

Has managed to be a feature story in every Wyoming news outlet, it seems.  At least its in Wyofile, Cowboy State Daily, and the CST.

So, to get this straight, a guy, dressed as gal, goes to the lady's room, and nothing happens.

Is that really news?

If so why?

Well, because the dude claims to be a gal, and was hoping to get busted by the police, who had other things to do and didn't take note of it.

But still, you see (are you paying attention), he could have been arrested, really, he could have been. . . 

and was hoping to be. . . 

but, sadly, was not.

This is, I'd note, something for real conservatives to take note of. This guy has a mental illness being celebrated on the left as normal.  Almost everyone knows that's BS.  And the stench of that is what is causing, in part, conservatives, who would otherwise be horrified, to vote for a moral heap of stench such as Donald Trump, which Trump well knowns.

Indeed, right now, the Trumpites and his Merry Band of National Conservatives hope stuff like this keeps your eyes off the Big Ugly, and causes you to forget the Big Ugly in the next year.

And the press, for its part, plays into the delusion of the lies of the right and left.

Transgender woman protests new law with visit to a Wyoming Capitol bathroom

That didn't happen. What happened is a man who wants to be a girl, went to the capitol bathroom with members of the press and his female fiance (so I guess he's wants to be girl. . . but still marry a girl), hoping to be arrested, but nobody cares or even notices.  A headline reading:

Man goes to capitol bathroom dressed as woman and nothing happens

Wouldn't be news, I guess.

On the Big Ugly, headline from the Tribune.

Medicaid, insurance cuts in ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ will harm Wyoming, healthcare advocates warn.

I personally know one person whose a radical Trump fan who completely depends on government healthcare.  I suppose folks in that category deserve to get what's coming.

Chances are that Wyoming is going to be hammered by this. Chances are that Dr. John Barrasso, our Senator, knows that, even though he said it "probably" won't happen.

The question is if we care about the human impact or not.

Speaking of headlines, this is making the rounds:

First Wyoming measles case in 15 years found in Natrona County

I'm making assumptions here, but it's going to turn out that the negligent parents, or parent, didn't vaccinate their kid.

Wyoming has a first rate education system.  I note that, as a parent who wouldn't vaccinate a child probably isn't from Wyoming originally, I'm guessing, and is a dumbass.  The Wyoming Freedom Caucus sort of hates education, because educated people know stuff and won't play this game, tend not to believe their fanciful version of reality, and hence we have this headline.

Wyoming expected to see $686M deficit in education spending

With an ignorant population, they can hope to bring Wyoming into rural stupidity such as occurs elsewhere in the US and helps explain a population voting to slit their own throats.  They wouldn't see it that way, as they're ignorant themselves in many, although not all, instances. 

And we have this:

Trump mental health cuts hit rural schools hardest

Last edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 93d Edition. Porn industry retstricted, Supreme Court weigh in as Wyoming requires age verification on adult sites, Dudes in the lady room, and on women's teams, Trump helping where no law or help was needed.

Labels: 2020s, 2025, 2025 Wyoming Legislative Post Mortem, 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, children, flap de jour, law, Populism, pornography, Teenagers, The Second Trump Administration, Wyoming, Zeitgeist

Governor Gordon Appoints Keith Kautz Attorney General

 This is a great choice by Governor Gordon.

Governor Gordon Appoints Keith Kautz Attorney General

July 02, 2025

---

 Governor Mark Gordon has announced the appointment of Keith Kautz as Attorney General beginning July 7, 2025. Kautz replaces Ryan Schelhaas, who is serving as interim Attorney General following the departure of Bridget Hill.

Kautz served as a justice on the Wyoming Supreme Court from 2015 until 2024, when he turned 70 and was required by Wyoming’s Constitution to retire from the bench. From 1993 until 2015 he served as a District Court Judge for the Eighth District covering Converse, Goshen, Niobrara, and Platte counties. He previously served as a private practice attorney in Torrington as a partner in the firm Sawyer, Warren & Kautz. Kautz grew up in Torrington and earned his Bachelors and Juris Doctorate degrees from the University of Wyoming. 

“When accepting my offer to serve as Wyoming’s 39th Attorney General, I was delighted to hear Justice Kautz quote George Washington who, when selecting our country’s first attorney general, stated that ‘the due administration of justice is the firmest pillar of good Government,’” Governor Gordon said. “I share that view, and know that Justice Kautz has the talent, experience and skill to fulfill this important duty, as well as provide the due administration of justice to the people of Wyoming. We are fortunate that he desires to continue to serve our great state, and I look forward to his leadership in this most essential office.”

“I am honored to serve Wyoming, and to work with the outstanding staff at the Attorney General’s office,” Kautz said. 

The Wyoming Attorney General’s Office is the legal advisor for the State of Wyoming. In addition to providing a full range of legal services to statewide elected officials, agencies, and State employees in the conduct of official State business, the Attorney General’s Office is Wyoming’s primary State law enforcement agency. The Office provides a full spectrum of services, ranging from statewide criminal investigations performed by the Division of Criminal Investigation; initial and advanced law enforcement training provided by the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy; and crime victim advocacy and victim support programs and payments through the Division of Victim Services. The Attorney General’s Office also provides administrative support to the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission and the Wyoming Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities. 

I can't help but feel that part of the reason that Gordon brought Justice Kautz out of retirement for this position is his calm, steady, demeanor.  Kautz was a widely admired district court judge and then supreme court justice, who was completely unflappable.  Recently he demonstrated that in regard to a comment on the case regarding abortion in front of the supreme court, in which he openly cited to religion and prayer.  

He'll be in charge of advancing the Governor and state's interest in that regards, which has been to restrict and ban abortion.  Added to that, however, Governor Gordon has been repeatedly faced with needling from Secretary of State Gray, who has used that office to grandstand. Chance are that Kautz's calm demeanor was in mind in regard to that as well.

Thursday, July 3, 1975. The U.S. Civil Service Commission ended restrictions on hiring homosexuals.

The U.S. Civil Service Commission ended restrictions on hiring homosexuals.

It's almost shocking to think that there was such a ban, but indeed there was. The stated purpose of the ban was to prevent embarrassment to the agency.

Las Vegas endured a terrible flash flood.

Alex Trebek before Jeopardy, in an example from today:

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 2, 1975. Dead Savage Spring.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Death, fishing, Geology, Place names, United States Geological Survey, Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park

Tuesday, July 3, 1945. Don't use the Bomb.

The first draft of a letter by Manhattan Project scientists urging that the Atomic Bomb not be used was circulated.  Hungarian physicist and biologist Leo Szilard was the scrivener.

This version was not sent, as a new one was worked on in order to secure additional signatures.

This is the second such example of such a letter, the other one from Robert Oppenheimer, that I've posted in recent days.  Clearly something was really going on inside the Manhattan Project itself at this time, and what that was, was a debate on whether to use the bomb or not.

Frankly, the views expressed above comport with my own.  Using the bomb was 1) a huge mistake, and 2) deeply immoral in how it was targeted.

It's interesting, however, that this debate broke out at this point.

That the atom could be split and that it could be done in such away that the massive release of energy would result in a huge blast had been known, albeit theoretically, for some time.  The knowledge did not come about during the war itself, but before it.

The war, however, created an enormous imperative to work the physical problems of constructing a bomb out, in large part out of the fear the Axis would get there first.

The Western Allies, the Germans, and the Japanese all had atomic weaponry programs, although its typically forgotten that the Japanese were working on this as well. The German program was enormously feared.

The German program was also enormously hampered by Nazi racism, as it had the impact of causing Jewish scientists, such as the Hungarian Leo Szilard to flee for their lives.  They weren't alone in this, however, as generally the highly educated class of men that were in the field of physics weren't really keen on fascism overall.  Germany had some top flight scientists, of course, but many of the best minds in science in Europe had left or put themselves out of serious research work if they remained. Some of those who remained in Europe and were subject to the Germans somewhat doddled in their efforts in order to retard the advancement of the efforts.

Japan had a program, as noted, and it had some excellent physicists. Their problem here, however, was much like that of the Japanese war effort in chief.  Japan was so isolated that it had nobody else to draw from.

In contrast, the US effort was nearly global in extent, as the US drew in all the great minds, in one way or another, who were not working for the Germans or Japanese, which was most of the great minds in the field.

At any rate, moral qualms about using the bomb didn't really start to emerge until very late in the war, and not really until after Germany had surrendered.  Nearly everyone working on the Manhattan Project imagined it as producing a bomb to be used against Germany.  Japan wasn't really considered.

And there's good reasons for that. For one thing, it was feared that Germany, not Japan, would produce a nuclear weapon and there was no doubt that Germany would use it if they did.  Given that, producing a bomb, and using it first, had a certain element of logic to it.  Destroy them, the logic was, before they can do that to us.

Working into that, it should be noted, was the decay in the resistance to the destructiveness of war that had started to set in during World War One.  The US had gone to war, in part, over a moral reaction to the Germans sinking civilian ships.  By World War Two there was no moral aversion to that at all and unrestricted submarine warfare was just considered part of war.

The Germans had also introduced terror bombing of cities during the Great War, engaging in it with Zeppelins.  Long range artillery had shelled Paris in the same fashion.  Between the wars it was largely assumed that cities would be targeted simply because they were cities, which turned out to be correct.  The Germans had already engaged in this during the Spanish Civil War and would turn to during the Blitz, which the British would very rapidly reply with.  By 1945 the US was firebombing Japanese cities with the logic it drove workers out of their homes, and crippled Japanese industry, which was correct, but deeply immoral.

By July 1945 there were really no more industrial targets left to bomb in Japan, although the bombing was ongoing.  The only point of dropping an atomic bomb was to destroy cities, and the people within them.

That was obvious to the atomic scientists, but that had been obvious about using the bomb on Germany as well. Targeting would have largely been the same, and for the same purpose.  Allied strategic bombing of Germany has actually halted before the German surrender, as there was no longer any point to it, although the concept the Allies had in mind would really have been to use the bomb earlier than the Spring of 1945.  Indeed, had the bomb been available in very early 1945, there's real reason to doubt that the Allies would have used it on Germany, as Allied troops were on the ground and they were advancing.

Still, with all that in mind, there was a certain sense all along that Germany uniquely deserved to be subject to atomic bombs.  Japan in this context was almost an after thought.

Everyone working on the bomb in the US was European culturally.  To those of European culture the Germans were uniquely horrific, and to this day Nazi Germany is regarded as uniquely horrific.  Many of those working on the Manhattan Project, moreover, were direct victims of the Nazis, with quite a few being both European and Jewish refugees.  Contrary to what is sometimes claimed, by late 1944 people were well aware of what was going on in Nazi Germany and that the Germans were systematically murdering Jews.

The Japanese also were incredibly inhumane and horrific in their treatment of the populations they'd overrun, as well as of Allied prisoners of war. But the nature and extent of their barbarity really wasn't very well known.  Indeed, much of it would not be until after the Second World War, at which time the information was suppressed for post war political reasons.  At any rate, in July 1945, the scientists working on the Manhattan Project did not know of Japanese systematic horrors in China.  Very few people did.

And the Japanese were scene, basically, as victims of their own culture, which was somewhat true.  Japan had not been colonized by Europeans at all, making them the only nation in Asia to have that status.  Therefore, European culture, and standards, had really not penetrated very much.  Japan had adopted Western technology, but Western concepts of morality in war had not come in with it very much. To the extent that it did, it seemed to evaporate with the introduction of increasing authoritarianism in Japan after World War One.

But that wasn't really known to the scientific community.

It was, however, to the military community, which had been fighting the Japanese on the ground.

We'll discuss that in the context of the bomb in a later thread.  

The point here is that by this time, many in the non military community, and some within it, who were aware that the Allies were about to produce an atomic bomb were now against using it.

And, indeed, it should never have been used.

Moscow radio announced that the body of Joseph Goebbels had been discovered in the courtyard of the Chancellery in Berlin.

Also in Berlin, the first U.S. troops arrived for occupation duty.

James F. Byrnes became United States Secretary of State.

The first civilian passenger car made in the United States in three years rolled off the assembly line of the Ford Motor Company in Detroit.  The car was a 1946 Super DeLuxe Tudor sedan and was destined for Harry Truman.

Last edition:

Monday, July 2, 1945. Advances on Balikpapen.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, 1945 Sheikh Bashir Rebellion, 1950s, 1955, Australian Army, Battle of Balikpapan, British Empire, Crime, Italy, Japan (Tokyo), Malaya, Okinawa, Operation Zipper, Somalia, Somaliland, Tokyo Japan, World War Two

Conservative Wyoming couldn’t stomach Republican public land sale

Conservative Wyoming couldn’t stomach Republican public land sale: In the state where Trump won by the largest margin in the 2024 election, grassroots unity helped keep public lands off the auction block.

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 93d Edition. Porn industry retstricted, Supreme Court weigh in as Wyoming requires age verification on adult sites, Dudes in the lady room, and on women's teams, Trump helping where no law or help was needed.

Porn industry, Supreme Court weigh in as Wyoming requires age verification on adult sites: As of Tuesday, Wyomingites' access to some corners of the internet was restricted by a new law requiring age verification for viewing pornography.

Funny I saw a bunch of reporting on this just the other day, none of which noted that Wyoming was a state that had such a law. . . no doubt as it didn't until yesterday.

I'm not going to shed any tears for the porn industry. 

In other sex, sort of, news, a dude who looks like a dude went to the lady's room accompanied by the press (including a dude) and hoped to get arrested.

Transgender woman protests new law with visit to a Wyoming Capitol bathroom: Rihanna Kelver used the women’s restroom at the Wyoming Capitol building Tuesday in defiance of a new law prohibiting transgender people’s use of public facilities.

On the same day, the University of Pennsylvania banned dudes in women's sports.

UPenn Bans Trans Athletes From Women's Sports Same Day Wyoming Law Goes Into Effect

Chuck Gray got help from his hero:

Trump Administration Seeks To Defend Wyoming’s New Citizenship Voter Law

Last edition:

Cliffnotes of the Zeitgeist, 92nd Edition. Immigration. How did we get into this mess?

Labels: Agrarianism, Bracero Program, Cheap Food Policy, Cristero War, Distributism, Economics, Immigration, It was because of World War Two, Plutarco Elías Calles, Punitive Expedition, Yeoman's Fourth Law of History, Zeitgeist

Wednesday, July 2, 1975. Dead Savage Spring.

A child fishing with his father found the body of Old Faithful Lodge cook Donald Watt Cressey, the senior cook at Old Faithful Lodge in a hot spring at Yellowstone National Park.

Cressey had died in the same hot spring in which Yellowstone Park concessioner employee Brian Parsons had been fatally burned in July 1967. 

After Cressey's death the hot spring was named "Dead Savage Spring" by the U.S. Geological Survey, "savage" being Yellowstone Park lexicon for a park concessioner employee.

Last edition:

Tuesday, July 1, 1975. ARPANET.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Conservation, Growing up in the 1970s, Internet, Personalities

 This article is focused on the German resistance, but the Communist element in the French, Italian, Greek, and Yugoslav resistance was enormous.

Was communist resistance bad resistance?

Monday, July 2, 1945. Advances on Balikpapen.

Maria Michi in Rome, Open City.  She also played the role of the welcoming Italian turned prostitute in Paisan.  Both films were directed by Roberto Rossellini and filmed immediately after World War Two.  Why am I featuring her? See below.

Tokyo's population was down to 200,000 people due to evacuations from the bombed city.

Australian troops took Balikpapan's oil facilities.

American operations conclude on the Ryukyus.

The submarine USS Barb fired rockets on Kaihyo Island near Sakhalin,the first instance of a submarine firing such weapons.

Mountbatten is ordered to launch Operation Zipper, the liberation of Malaya, in August.

The 1945 Sheikh Bashir Rebellion broke out in Burao and Erigavo in British Somaliland against the British.

"The American Farmer" was the cover story in Newsweek.

Louis Till, father of Emmett Till who is remembered for being lynched at age 14 in 1955, was executed by the U.S. Army at Aversa, Italy for two counts of rape and murder.  

The elder Till had married the younger Till's mother when they were 18, over the objections of her parents. The marriage was not a happy one and she divorced him after he physically attacked her.  A conviction from that resulted in his joining the U.S. Army in order to avoid a prison sentence.

While Tills' conviction and execution are debated, the circumstances of the crime, which involved a home invasion and rape, are vile, and it seems that the trial was well conducted.

What's this have to do with the younger Till's lynching?  Absolutely nothing.  The junior Till never knew his father as the relationship had disintegrated when he was a mere infant.

There may be something, however, to take away about the horrors of the postwar world.  Armies are made up of all kinds of people, particularly conscripted armies.  Putting somebody in uniform so they wouldn't go to jail was fairly common.  There was a guy in boot camp with me who was there for that very reason, and I know a very successful person who essentially had the same thing occur to him.

And wars are a huge violation of the moral order.  Invading armies have always been associated with crime, with rape being a particularly common one.  Occupying armies, and even garrison armies, have a fair amount of moral depredation they bring on as well.

This certainly doesn't apply to everyone in uniform in these conditions, and not even the majority of those in uniform, in most modern armies, but it's frankly the case that World War Two created a vast amount of prostitution in Europe, some of it of a massively desperate type as portrayed in Rossellini's Paisan, and discussed in Atkinson's The Day of Battle.  Italy was quite frankly particularly hard hit as its infrastructure was far less developed than that of France or Germany, and it's population lived much more primitively and much closer to the poverty line.  Indeed, the vast bulk of the Italian population even before the war lived in what Americans of the same period would have regarded as poverty.

In these conditions, Italian women became targets.  Many prostituted themselves.  Some entered what might be regarded as a species of concubinage.  A biography of Bill Mauldin notes, for example, that for a period of time both Mauldin and another Stars and Stripes reporter kept girls in their mid teens, something that would have been regarded as a crime in the U.S. given the girls' very young age.  Paisan, as noted, depicts a middle class Italian girl descending into poverty, and then trying to grasp a straw out of it that nearly appears.  The classic The Man In The Grey Flannel Suit depicts a middle class American businessman who was an officer during the war engaging in a secret affair that produces a child while a soldier in Italy.

Concubinage is one thing.  Rape quite another, but murder is beyond the pale even for most whose morals decay in wartime.  But not for everyone.  And of course, we haven't touched on the Red Army, for whom wholescale rape, and then murder, of the women of the countries they overran was routine.  The percentage of Soviet soldiers that went home as rapist likely isn't known, but it was appreciable, and appreciated apparently by Soviet women, which lead to that generations domestic lives being notoriously turbulent.

War changes everything, and most of what it changes, isn't for the better.

Last edition:

Sunday, July 1, 1945. Battle of Balikpapan. The Post War German Map. Blondie.

Labels: 1940s, 1945, Australian Army, Automobiles, Battle of Balikpapan, Borneo, Dutch Army, Germany, Growing up in the 1970s, Music, New Wave Music, Personalities, Post WWII Occupation of Germany, Rock Music, World War Two

Thursday, July 2, 1925. Nikolai Goitsyn executed.

Imperial Russia's last Prime Minister, Nikolai Goitsyn, was executed by the USSR.

Last edition:

Wednesday, July 1, 1925. The Kuomintang proclaimed a new national government for the Republic of China.

Labels: 1920s, 1925, Australia, Automobiles, China, Chinese Warlord Era, Ford Motor Company, Kuomintang