Lex Anteinternet: New UW President chosen.

Lex Anteinternet: New UW President chosen.: Today In Wyoming's History: April 2 :   2026  Brig. Gen. Shane Reeves, currently the dean of the Academic Board at the U.S. Military Aca...

I posted this the other day.

As noted, I don't feel good about this choice.

What's more, I"m not really sure why I don't feel good about this choice.  I just don't.

Part of it is that I'm tired of guys who leave the state, spend 30 years doing something for the Federal Government, and then coming back in when they're darn near retired or retired. But there was very little chance that we were going to get a local for UW President and indeed, for the most part, few locals would be qualified.

Except here, one actually was.  The fellow who finished second works for US already and is in agriculture. 

For that reason, he seems a better fit to me.

Added to that, right now I'm not trusting military figures too much.  We're in an illegal war and it part of the way we got into one is that we have a military that's way too large.  That made sense during the Cold War, but it doesn't now.  In my view its time to go back to the original military establishment system for the US, which would mean that we'd have very little in the form of a standing Army and a Navy that had to rely on reservists  I don't think we need West Point anymore at all.

And I fear that this fellow might have been brought in because of the Freedom Caucus's shots at UW. Where does a serviceman fit in, in that fight.

I dunno.

An article about the topic:

University of Wyoming campus sizes up its next leader, but lack of online access raises questions

I know more than a few guys who were career servicemen and I considered it, so I'm probably just paranoid right now.  And its not like I wrote to the Trustees either.

By the way, this is them:

To learn more about each Trustee, including their background, professional experience, and term details, please click on their name.  This will take you to a dedicated page with a full biography and additional content about their role on the board.

Kermit Brown

Chairman, Elected May 2024

Appointed 2017; Term expires 2029

District 2, Laramie, WY

307-745-7358

Kermit.Brown@uwyo.edu

Michelle Sullivan

Vice Chairman, Elected 2024

Appointed 2015; Term expires 2027

District 4, Sheridan, WY

307-752-1637

msulli28@uwyo.edu

Laura Schmid-Pizzato

Treasurer, Elected May 2024

Appointed 2018; Term expires 2029

District 2, Rock Springs, WY

307-389-8230

lschmid@uwyo.edu

Brad Bonner

Secretary, Elected May 2024

Appointed 2019; Term expires 2031

District 5, Cody, WY

307-586-4135

Brad.Bonner@uwyo.edu

David R. Fall

Trustee

Appointed 2017; Term expires 2029

District 4, Gillette, WY

307-689-1939

David.Fall@uwyo.edu

Mike Greear

Trustee

Appointed 2025; Term expires 2031

At-Large, Worland, WY

307-388-3399

mgreear@uwyo.edu

Brad LaCroix

Trustee

Appointed 2019; Term expires 2031

District 6, Newcastle, WY

307-746-4451

blacroix@uwyo.edu

Carol Linton

Trustee

Appointed 2021; Term expires 2027

District 3, Jackson, WY

307-732-7518

clinton5@uwyo.edu

Jim Mathis

Trustee

Appointed 2023; Term expires 2029

District 1, Wheatland, WY

307-760-3500

jmathi11@uwyo.edu

John McKinley

Trustee

Appointed 2015; Term expires 2027

District 1, Cheyenne, WY

307-637-5308

jmckinl1@uwyo.edu

Paul Ulrich

Trustee

Appointed 2025; Term expires 2027

At-Large, Pinedale, WY

303-330-6346

pulrich@uwyo.edu

Tom Walters

Trustee

Appointed 2025; Term expires 2031

District 7, Casper, WY

307-277-0397

twalters@uwyo.edu

Ed Seidel

UW President

Ex Officio Trustee

Laramie, WY

307-766-5766

Edward.Seidel@uwyo.edu

Mark Gordon

Governor of Wyoming

Ex Officio Trustee

Cheyenne, WY

307-777-7434

Megan Degenfelder

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Ex Officio Trustee

Cheyenne, WY

307-777-7675

Laurel Ballard

Executive Director, WCCC

Ex Officio Trustee

Cheyenne, WY

307-777-6290

lrichard@uwyo.edu

Paula Medina

ASUW President

Ex Officio Trustee

Laramie, WY

307-777-5204

asuw@uwyo.edu

RoseMarie London

Executive Director & Deputy Secretary, UW Board of Trustees

Laramie, WY

307-766-2903

trustees@uwyo.edu

Cowboy State Daily Columnist no more.

Well, although you have to go to the very end to learn it, at least you won't have to see articles by Craven popping up anymore:

Lawyer Sued By Wyoming Transgender Sorority Member Settles Lawsuit

Craven is one of Cowboy State Daily's original far right wing commentators. With her gone, there remain two, one being carpetbagging Dave Simpson, who doesn't seem to write that much anymore, and Lutheran minister Johnathan Lange, who first came to our attention as a figure in opposition to the bill that basically prohibited underage marriages.  Other columnists have joined since, including Tom Lubnau, and the on line journal has evolved from a pet project of rich carpetbagger Foster Friess into a pretty decent on line journal.

On the lawsuit, I wasn't aware of it.  I was aware that Craven was representing the sorority sisters, or perhaps was one of several lawyers doing the same.  I thought that they had the high side of the case as transgenderism isn't real, in my view.  This might demonstrate the odd maxim in the law that often a party with a cause is better off being represented by somebody who is neutral to it, or even opposed to it.

Do the right thing.

 

Today is, of course, Easter.

I saw a comment from a blog I've sort of followed where the poster fairly frequently remarks that he's a fallen away Catholic, although at the same time his world outlook is obviously Catholic.  Today he chose to explain why he fell away.

What's struck me over the years is that an awful lot of people who take that path fall away as they're self centered.  The post made that really clear.  Supposedly he couldn't reconcile the message of the Church and the direction of society. That's not a reason to fall away, that's the very reason we need to be saved.  Without Christ, we're just a bunch of self centered whiners out to destroy ourselves.

Religion is not magic, which some people seem to think it is. Christians discuss the problem of evil, but part of the reason that evil is in the world as we have free will and we like it.  I saw a comment from a Monk once reflecting, and he meant it, that he asked the question "God, why do you law injustice in the world?" and actually got a reply, that being "Why do you?"

We know what's wrong and right and frequently just choose what's wrong.  The big Mega Churches will be packed today with "Christians" who are on multiple divorces and remarriages, or just living in sin, even though we all know that's wrong.  For that matter, Catholic churches will be packed today with those who only make it to Mass twice a year.

That's not to be lamented.  It's a sign of hope.  We know what's wrong.  We're often just to lazy and accommodating to do what's right.

Today is a good day to start doing what's right, including comporting our actual conduct to God and the the nature God created.

Straying from this a bit, I'd note how overarching this really is.  While I can't get into details very much, recently I've been dealing with a massive inter personal fight between two people I've known for a long time. Both are flat out wrong.

One of them is now upset with somebody that he once deeply loved as that person harshly criticized him.  Frankly, the nature of the criticism was brutal.  I've been criticized by the same person brutally myself, but I haven't lived a particularly sheltered life so I learned to just disregard it and the person eventually wondered on.  This person, however, hero worshipped the person who turned on him.

Additionally, there's an element of financial stress going on in there somewhere and while the person in question regards themselves as a very devout Christian, it's really clear that their concept of Christianity involves a deep love of the Church and its sacraments, but not so much some of its lessons, including the one that holds love of money is the root of all sin.

It's a classic failing.

The other person is an archetypical Baby Boomer.  For some reason a lot of Boomers just can't let go.  Handed everything early on, they really became the "Me" generation of the 70s.  This person really only has their work left, as his marriage fell apart and for the classic reasons, and, well, I won't go into it.  At some point if you were the center of all of your major life choices, however, all you have left, is you, and that isn't much.

Our current President, and indeed our last, both epitomized that Boomer view in some ways.  Trump has lived the Playboy lifestyle and his soul is imperiled.  He's also endangering us all, and all because to him, it's all about him.

Christ came to save humanity, but we're supposed to participate in that.  The road is fairly clear.  We're to try to take the narrow one.  Americans seemingly think that doesn't apply to them, and wonder why they're miserable.

Χριστὸς ἀνέστη!

Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη!

Do the right thing. 

Monday, April 5, 1976. "April 5, 1976: The Soiling of Old Glory"

 

April 5, 1976: The Soiling of Old Glory

Last edition:

Wednesday, March 31, 1976. Karen Ann Quinlan.

Labels: 1970s, 1976, Angola, basketball, Death, Growing up in the 1970s, Health, South Africa, Sports, United Nations

Wednesday, April 5, 1876. Arsenal Hill Explosion.

Stored munitions detonated in Arsenal Hill, now Capitol Hills, at Salt Lake City. shattering massive amounts of glass in the city itself.

The munitions were a remnant of former stores that simply had not been removed.

Last edition:

Monday, April 3, 1876. The Denver municipal election.

Labels: 1870s, 1876, Colorado (Denver), Election of 1876, Politics

The best posts of the week of March 29, 2026.

King Donny's two or three day war is now over a month long and the US is losing, so he came on tv to say we're winning and it'll all be over soon.

It won't be.

Also this week Pam Bondi was fired by King Donny, which she richly deserved to be.  We don't know who her replacement will be, but we can be assured it will be a sycophantic toady.

Pete Hegseth, fearing a rival, wiped out some officers from the Army.

UW chose a recently retired Army officers as its new President, a dubious choice in my view frankly as 30 years outside the state in the service of the government doesn't seem like a really good fit for the state.

And the Big Boy was touring.

Wednesday, March 29, 1911. The adoption of the M1911.

Donald Trump. Flagellum Dei?

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 3. The Wharton Way.

Pope Leo XIV on Palm Sunday

Chiles v. Salazar.

King Donald's War, Part 2. Just a few Marines. . .

Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump. Ignoramus Watch Part 3. The Quack Edition.

The Madness of King Donald. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Eleventh Edition. He's insane, and we all know it. Somebody close to him is watching it.

New PAC aims to protect public lands by exposing politicians who vote against public lands

Preserving eggs 1909

Monday, April 1, 1946. The April 1, 1946 Aleutian Islands Earthquake

Downfall. The 25th Amendment Watch List, Twelfth Edition. He's insane, we all know it, and he's in power. This will get much, much, worse.

Donald Trump attends oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara.

Court Watch, Part V.

Tuesday, April 2, 1901. News Carver meets his end.

Tuesday, April 2, 1946. MacArthur bans fraternization, Murray tries for national health insurance.

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 122nd Edition. Trouble with the Trump 'wimmins", Hypocrisy in the Trump Administration. The disappearing and reappearing J.D. Vance and Marco Rubio.

Lex Anteinternet: CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 122nd Edition, part two. Trouble with the Trump 'wimmins". Pam Bondi is fired.

Pollice Verso. The 2026 Political Negative Endorsement. The Don't Vote For List.

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 123rd Edition, The Holy Thursday Massacre

King Donald's War, Part 3. The Bunker.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2026 Election, 6th Edition, Campaigning before defeats.

New UW President chosen.

The 2027 Legislature, super early edition. The make them stop edition.

UP 4014 "Big Boy", March, 2026.

Last edition:

The best posts of the week of March 22, 2026.

Going Feral: The Feral Week of March 29, 2026.

Protect Wyoming formed.

Forest Service administration moved to Salt Lake City.

New PAC aims to protect public lands by exposing politicians who vote against public lands

BLM abandoned best-available science for Wyoming, Montana sage grouse, lawsuit argues

Railhead: UP 4014 "Big Boy", March, 2026.

Railhead: UP 4014 "Big Boy", March, 2026.: The great UP 4014 is making the rounds of the West/ UP 4014 Rounding the Corner Outside Rock River, WY 2026.  MKTH Photo. This is my favorit...

UP 4014 "Big Boy", March, 2026.

The great UP 4014 is making the rounds of the West/

UP 4014 Rounding the Corner Outside Rock River, WY 2026.  MKTH Photo.

This is my favorite engine.  It's the third time I've seen it. Every time was accidental.

MKTH Photo.

MKTH Photo.

Big Boy UP4014 in Medicine Bow, Wyoming.  MKTH photo.

MKTH photo.

MKTH Photo.

MKTH Photo.

The 2027 Legislature, super early edition. The make them stop edition.

Ugh, just when the first corn fed, cornfederate legislature was safely in the history books, the Management Council met.  Of course, the same dumb ideas that get rejected repeatedly are back up for reconsideration, at least in part.

I hear we want to do the election review again and redo the same bills that just died three weeks ago ... in exchange for 911 funding.

Tara Nethercott.

The corner crossing bill won't be back, which is too bad.

Vote the WFC out and send them back to pre 1964 Alabama where they'll be happy.

New UW President chosen.

Today In Wyoming's History: April 2:   2026  Brig. Gen. Shane Reeves, currently the dean of the Academic Board at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, was offered a contract by a vote of the UW Board of Trustees.  He accepted.

He beat out finalist  Kelly Crane, who has served as dean of the College of Agriculture, Life Sciences, and Natural Resources since 2024.  Crane served UW Extension as an area educator and range specialist from 1994-2002. He was the principal consultant for Frontier Natural Resource Consulting until 2008, when he accepted the position of assistant professor/range extension specialist at the University of Idaho, which he held from 2008-2011. He came back to UW in 2011 as associate director for UW Extension. In 2019, he was appointed associate dean and director of UW Extension.

Reeves was a 1996 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy.  He went on to get a law degree from William and Mary in 2003 and is admitted to the Virginia bar.  He's been serving as the Dean of the Military Academy.  He's originally from Sweetwater County, but obviously hasn't lived there for 30 years.

Hmmm. . .

I think they made the wrong choice.

Anyhow, a news story sets out his early priorities.

Incoming University Of Wyoming President Wants To Build Bridges, Dissolve Drama

Thursday, April 4, 1946. Hirohito lucks out.

The Far Eastern Commission exempted Emperor Hirohito from war crime prosecution.

Richard C. Miller took a series of swimsuit photographs of Marilyn Monroe.  In them, which because of copyright we will not post here, she appears of much more normal proportions than she would later, which is interesting for a variety of reasons we've already covered.

Last edition:

Tuesday, April 2, 1946. MacArthur bans fraternization, Murray tries for national health insurance.

Labels: 1940s, 1946, Democratic Party, Douglas MacArthur, Health, Insurance, Irish Canadians, Japan, Montana, Politics, Sex, The relationship between men and women, Truman Administration

Today In Wyoming's History: Updates for 2026.

Today In Wyoming's History: Updates for 2026.:   January 31,  1946:  United Flight 14 crashed into Elk Mountain. February 5, 1876.  Update on Doc Holliday in Cheyenne. February 7, 1876.  ...

Congressman’s Pineapple Cheese Jello Lamb Cake. Um, ick.

 

CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 123rd Edition, The Holy Thursday Massacre

Trump sycophant Pam Bondi is out, her reputation solidified as a toady, and her legal career wrecked.  Sycophant Todd Blanche is now in, at least temporarily.

Former Fox News Commentator, current Secretary of  Defense, right wing Evangelical Protestant radical Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll.  I have no reason to believe that Driscoll is a shining beacon of light in the Trump Administration, but it's getting increasingly clear he doesn't get along with Hegseth and its becoming additionally clear the Army thinks the war against Iran is a mistake.

But that's not what we refer to.

Gen. Randy George, who is 61 years of age  and highly decorated.  62 is the current Army retirement age, up from 60 when I was a Guardsman, and it's 64 for general officers.

Yesterday, the full-scale war between the Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll and the Secretary of Defense burst into the open with Hegseth firing Secretary of the Army loyalist and remaining solid generals including  Army chief of staff, Gen. Randy George.  Chief of chaplains, Maj. Gen. William Green, and the commanding general of Army Transformation and Training Command, David Hodne were also fired.

Gen. Hodne, age 56.  Like George, he has the Combat Infantryman's Badge and an Air Assault Badge, as well as a master jump badge.

The reason for Hegseth's discontent is not openly known, although he's been at war with Driscoll for some time, but senior officers have been reportedly upset with Hegseth due to his monkeying with the promotion list.  Recently two black and two female officers were reported removed from the list and there were comments that Trump would not wish to stand next to a black female officer.

Maj. Gen. William Green.  It's harder to learn information about Green, but he served originally as an enlisted artilleryman and based on what data there is, he would be about 60.

If that is the reason, it's worse than the other potential reason, which is disagreement over the direction of the war.  Notably, Maj. Gen. Green is also black, and so far I've seen no reason why he was removed.  In light of Hegseth's membership in an Evangelical church that holds views that the overwhelming majority of Christians do not, there could certainly be other reaons.

Hegseth, as is well known, has consistently been a sort of reactionary force in the military, but since the war started he's been a zealot for a sort of Evangelical Protestant crusade.  There's some evidence he may have helped talk Trump into the war, which he may see in that light.  

He's also had consistent disputes with some of the military brass, while also taking on interesting social issue matters.  For example, he just determined to prohibit chaplains from wearing their insignia of rank.

Rumor has it that Driscoll is targeted for firing.  My guess is that Driscoll and Hegseth are both targets, with it being the case that one of them or the other will get the boot.  Trump can't be happy with Hegseth, who likely promised a quick and easy victory which isn't happening and isn't going to.

But it doesn't end there.  It's also being reliably reported that the increasingly desperate Trump may be considering firing  Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Intelligence Chief Tulsi Gabbard and FBI Director Kash Patel.  I don't know anything about Chavez-DeRemer, but all the rest of these people should be fired.

Of course, Trump should be fried as he's bat shit crazy.  With all of these people in the crosshairs, maybe they have some incentive to invoke the 25th Amendment.

If any of these firings are going to happen, they'll happen quickly.

Last edition:

Lex Anteinternet: CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist, 122nd Edition, part two. Trouble with the Trump 'wimmins". Pam Bondi is fired.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, Pamela Jo Bondi, Pete Hegseth, Predictions, The Practice of Law, The Second Trump Administration, Zeitgeist