Wednesday, December 31, 2025
Thursday, December 31, 1925. Reining in New Years.
The first attempt at a worldwide New Year's celebration was made via international radio when the United States sent out musical entertainment and New Year's greetings from the consuls general of various foreign countries in New York.
There was an effort in many locations in the US to rein in New Years celebrations, which if they were in compliance with the law, should be dry:
European flooding which had broken out on the 29th hit Belgium.
Today In Wyoming's History: December 31: 1925 The legendary Swan Land & Cattle Company issued its corporate holdings report for the year.
Last Edition:
Wednesday, December 30, 1925. Ben-Hur.
Labels: 1920, 1920s, 1925, 1925 at the movies, 1970s, Biology, Clothing, Education, Education Societies, Female Biology, Menstruation, trends, Women
Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 10 (the final edition for 2025). The Gunboat Diplomacy Edition.
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.
Smedley D. Butler, War Is a Racket
December 21, 2025
United States v. Venezuela
Thee U.S. Coast Guard seized a second tanker transporting Venezuelan oil.
United States and Jordan v. ISIL
Jordan confirmed it helped the U.S. in the airstrikes in Syria against ISIL.
December 22, 2025
United States v. Venezuela
The US will be seizing, if it has not already, a third tanker.
December 23, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Lt. Gen. Fanil Sarvarov, head of the Operational Training Directorate of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, was killed by an explosive device placed under his car in Moscow.
December 24, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Ukrainian forces withdrew from Siversk in the eastern Donetsk region after heavy fighting with Russian forces.
December 26, 2025
United States v. ISIS in Nigeria
The US hit ISIS affiliated targets in Nigeria yesterday.
Islamist attacks on Catholic Nigerians has been going on for a long time and has received very little attention in the US, outside of Catholic circles associated with Nigerians, but suddenly under the Trump Administration, it is. The attention is long overdue, but a person has to suspect that it comes out of NatCon circles and from Catholics inside the administration, rather than some personal concern from President Trump himself. Indeed, in announcing the strikes the mentally declining illegitimate chief executive stated:
Tonight, at my direction as Commander in Chief, the United States launched a powerful and deadly strike against ISIS Terrorist Scum in Northwest Nigeria, who have been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!
The many years and evcen centuries statement demonstrates a massive deficit in historical knowledge. Th is has been going on for many years, the vast majority of Christians on the plant are Catholic and there's been many examples of brutal killing of Catholics, very notably by Muslims, for centuries.
The strikes were carried out by ship to shore missiles.
Which groups were hit is unclear, but the largest IS-linked group in Nigeria is the Islamic State West Africa Province while the smaller group known as Lakurawa has sought to establish a base in north-western Sokoto state which was where the strikes were targeted.
Islamist groups in Nigeria have acted against Muslims as well as Catholics, but while that is noted, their repression and brutality is principally directed at Catholics.
The intervention seems justified and generally welcomed but now that it has commenced, the US will have to continue as this is a very long running problems and a day of missile attacks is not going to stop things immediately.
December 27, 2025
United States v. ISIS in Nigeria
In something that's obvious, but interesting in the world of Trump claims/lies/fantasies, Nigeria indicated it was open to the new military relationship with the US being ongoing and indicated that defeating Islamic extremist in the country will take some time.
It'll take a long time.
It's a worthwhile endeavor, but I wonder how the MAGAs that believed that Trump was going to end US involvement in foreign wars will justify it. Most MAGAs believe in isolationism, and the NAR folks include groups which, in their ignorance, don't realize that Catholics, the Christians in peril in Nigeria, and which are the original Christian denomination, are actually Christians.
On the strikes:
US targets ISIS with multiple strikes in Nigeria
U.S. cruise missiles miss targets in Nigeria
December 28, 2025
Russo Ukrainian War
Russia attacked Kyiv with ballistic missiles and drones yesterday, a day before scheduled talks between the Ukraine and the United States., killing at least one person and wounding 27.
It'll be interesting to see what effect this has on the talks given the participation of the unreliable and demented Donald Trump.
Thailand v. Cambodia
The fighting parties signed a new armistice in their border conflict.
The origin of the border fight dates back to the 1950s and is over undefined and unagreed to areas of their common border.
December 31, 2025
Saudi Arabia v. Yemeni separatists
Saudi Arabia bombe the Yemeni port city of Mukalla on Tuesday after a weapons shipment from the United Arab Emirates arrived for separatist forces. A warning to the UAE followed.
United States v. Venezuela.
The Central Intelligence Area hit a Venezuelan dock with drones.
Last edition:
Wars and Rumors of War, 2025. Part 9. The Neville Chamberlain Edition.
Labels: 1930s, 1938, 2020s, 2025, Cambodia, Congo, Donald Trump, Gaza, Hamas, Isreal, Munich Pact, Neville Chamberlain, Russo Ukrainian War, Rwanda, Thailand, Ukraine, Venezuela, Vladimir Putin, War, Wars and rumors of wars
Going Feral: Rep. Bill Allemand arrested for drinking and driving
Going Feral: Rep. Bill Allemand arrested for drinking and driving: Rep. Bill Allemand arrested for drinking and driving : Wyoming Freedom Caucus member allegedly admitted that ‘he drinks while driving for an...
Rep. Bill Allemand arrested for drinking and driving
Rep. Bill Allemand arrested for drinking and driving: Wyoming Freedom Caucus member allegedly admitted that ‘he drinks while driving for anxiety,’ Johnson County Sheriff’s Office report says.
I suppose its an example of Schadenfreude, but Allemand is a an enemy of sportsmen and public lands, as well as being a central figure in an effort to kill a proposed industrial project north of Natrona County's Bar Nunn.
He's notably a Wyomingite, albeit one who spent most of his working life in Kansas, whose positions on things match the Freedom Caucus's, anti public lands, anti nuclear for some reason and pro whatever goofball thing the Freedom Caucus is for. In his first run for office he was downright nasty to his opponent, and frankly the residents of his House district are not to be admired for voting for him in that election.
During the last legislature he sponsored a bill to really jack up the penalties for trespassing while hunting. On that, it's notable that he's from a large ranching family in northern Natrona County, although he's not a rancher himself.
The drinks "for anxiety" comment suggests that he probably should be pitied, however, and that he might have some sort of a problem.
Anyhow, if he goes, and he might have been on the way out due to his role in torpedoing the project north of Bar Nunn anyhow, it may be a good thing for public lands users and sportsmen, depending upon who replaces him.
Natrona County Rep. Allemand charged with DUI in Johnson County
Tuesday, December 30, 2025
Wednesday, December 30, 1925. Ben-Hur.
The first variant of Ben-Hur was released.
The Association of College Honor Societies was formed by representatives of six organizations, Alpha Omega Alpha; the Order of the Coif; Phi Beta Kappa; Phi Kappa Phi; Sigma Xi; Tau Beta Pi. While nothing compared to the post World War Two boom in college attendance, the 1920s did see an increase in it, including an increase in female attendance.
Adding an item that would have properly been posted yesterday, but we were unaware of it, on December 28, 1925, this patent was granted:
We do not wish to be crude, but we do seek to track various developments on this blog. Indeed, that's one of its main purposes. This is a real development. This is a sanitary belt for menstruation, a very common, indeed the normal, method of addressing sanitary concerns until the tampon became common which wasn't really until the 1970s.
Anyhow, women in their current societal roles necessitated inventions such as this. Kotex, the primary brand, was not introduced until 1920.
Clothing: It was because of World War One.
Labels: 1910s, Clothing, It was because of World War One, It was because of World War Two, Men, Standards, The roles of men and women, Women, World War One, World War Two, Yeoman's Fourth Law of History
Labels: Christianity, Clothing, Islam, religion, Standards, The roles of men and women, trends, Women, World War One, Yeoman's Fourth Law of History
Last edition:
Labels: 1920s, 1925, Cartoons, Christianity, Coal, Coptic, Disaster, Mexico, Mining, Oriental Orthodox
Opaque transparency, the Epstein files and you
Opaque transparency, the Epstein files and you: The heavily redacted tranche of documents violates the public's right to know, writes columnist Rod Miller.
Subsidiarity Economics 2025. The Times more or less locally, Part 13. Disassociation.
December 12, 2025
From the Casper Star Tribune.
The Democratic bill to extend the credits failed.
Senate blocks Obamacare tax subsidy extension, all but ensuring spikes for Wyoming consumers: Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming called tax subsidy extension a “disaster” and lobbied for a Republican health savings account proposal that also failed.
So did a moronic Republic bill for health savings accounts. That was no sort of plan.
The evidence is too well established to ignore. A national health care system needs to be established and frankly it would not be that difficult. It'll be interesting to see if this brings it about, as the populist contingent that opposes it, including here in the state, is about to lose its insurance. This is, quite frankly, a disaster.
It's a disaster that the GOP hopes will kill off the AHCA and there really isn't any serious proposals to replace it. They want it dead, as it's "socialism", even though it isn't. The Health Savings Account concept was just pablum and everyone is well aware that it'd achieve nothing at all.
Which brings me back to this point. The difference between right wing populism and left wing populism is nearly non existent. The ox that will end up being gored here is that of the street level right wing populist, who can be, and in some instances was, left wing populist.
Speaking of average folks:
Also from the CST.
December 13, 2025
December 14, 2025
The Federal government terminated the collective bargaining status for the union that covers TSA officers, the American Federation of Government Employees, as to TAS officers.
The union, which covers the employees of other agencies as well, has over 300,000 members, probably none of whom will caste a vote for the GOP next year.
We also have Chuck Gray sounding like a broken record:
Gray's in a bit of a spot as he'd hoped to use the Secretary of State's office as a springboard to something else. It's not looking like that will pay off, as Bill Barlow is clearly in the lead for the Governor's office and Gray can't think of anything to say that doesn't sound like it's from the junior edition of the MAGA playlist, which is rapidly becoming a set of moly oldies. To make matters worse for him, he's now so acclimated to absurd name calling that he can't stop it, as in:
We should be deeply troubled by the efforts of Gov. Gordon and other insider politicians to jam through woke wind projects that violate so many of our core principles as Wyomingites.
"Woke wind projects"?
I know what he means, of course, which is that as the Federal Government backed wind under Biden, and as global warming is a fib, and as Joe Biden is responsible for all of the ills in society, it's the dreaded evil "woke". Gray has used this sort of rhetoric so often, however, that if a cafe burns his toast I'm sure that he reflexively calls the short order cook a liberal, let wing woke Marxist.
Gray's career in Wyoming politics is probably shot. Barlow will get the Governor's office, Hageman won't run for it as she knows that, so she'll keep her office, Lummis is the Wyoming sphinx, rarely saying anything, and she'll keep her office. Gray will be lucky if he doesn't draw opposition and lose his.
On wind, all the fossil fuel true believers were dead set against it but now oil is hovering around $60.00 and it appears that the Federal Government might be pushing to depress the price. A well placed GOP politician told me the other day that the administration wants it at $30.00/bbl next year, which would wipe out domestic production and throw Wyoming into an oilfield depression.
On a different note:
December 16, 2025
US payrolls fell by 105,000 people in October, and then rebounded to add 64,000 in November.
Sort of a mixed message there, assuming that such figures coming out of the US government are trustworthy.
Cont:
Well, apparently those who are schooled in this kind of data view this as a pretty negative jobs report. The economy is cooling, and the unemployment rate is up.
December 17, 2025
Feds, Wyoming greenlight new helium plant, among world’s largest: The Dry Piney helium production and CO2 sequestration project would rival ExxonMobil's neighboring Shute Creek plant near LaBarge.
December 21, 2025
December 22, 2025.
Jim Beam is ceasing production from its principal facility for all of 2026.
The price of oil in Wyoming today: $43.73. Below the price for further exploration. . . by a huge margin.
December 23, 2025
Rogue Brewing in Oregon has shut down and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
December 24, 2025
Headline in the CST:
Gordon awards $100 million
in matching funds to
BWXT nuclear fuel facility
And the story:
Gordon awards $100M to northern Wyoming nuclear fuel manufacturer: The state-backed grant will support BWXT's proposed TRISO fuel manufacturing facility in Gillette.
December 25, 2025
The price of oil today is $58.0/bbl. Wyoming's oil is at $43.90.
December 28, 2025
The news that so many simply refuse to believe:
As part of this:
Wyoming coal is projected to have its second worst production year since its peak in 2008. Economists say the decline will likely continue, putting the state’s economic future on shaky ground.
We've discussed this trend line before, but to put it bluntly, it's going to decline into oblivion.
December 30, 2025
Related threads:
Labels: Coal, deflation, Economics, Ignorance, OPEC, Petroleum, Russo Ukrainian War, Taxes, trends, Venezuela, Wyoming Freedom Caucus
Subsidiarity Economics 2025. The Times more or less locally, Part 12. Don't look . . . everything's just fine edition.
Monday, December 29, 2025
Saturday, December 29, 1945. Korean protests on US decision.
Korean civilians attacked U.S. soldiers in Seoul in protests of a U.S. decision two days prior to wait five years before granting the country independence.
It would in fact come quicker than that, with South Korea becoming independent in 1948. Originally, the entire peninsula was to have been part of the new republic, but the post war separation into two occupied halves kept that from coming about. U.S. occupation of South Korea would end at that time.
The period from 1945 to 1950 in South Korean history is not looked at much, but it was marked by strife, including what would become a hard fought guerilla war between the newly formed Republic of Korea and Communist guerillas.
Hitler's will and marriage certificate were found.
And the Coast Guard was going back to the Treasury, which is where it should be.
Last edition:
Friday, December 28, 1945. War Brides. Yank ends.
Sunday, December 28, 2025
Sunday, December 28, 1975. Conflict in the Third Cod War.
The Icelandic Coast Guard vessel ICGV Týr rammed the Royal Navy frigate HMS Andromeda which was escorting two British fishing trawlers in what Iceland claimed as its territorial waters in the first confrontation of the Third Cod War.
The Týr is still in service. The HMS Andromeda went on to serve in the Falklands War and was decommissioned in 1983.
Argentine guerilla commander Roberto Quieto was captured by soldiers in Martinez, Argentina during a raid on a warehouse. He'd betray his confederates under torture.
Quieto was a lawyer by training and would disappear while in Argentine captivity in 1976.
Both Chile and Argentina went through a period like this, called the Dirty War in Argentina.
Down 14-10 with 32 seconds remaining on the clock, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach threw a long pass to win the game. Interviewed later, he'd say:
It's a play you hit one in a hundred times if you're lucky. It's a Hail Mary pass. You throw it up and pray he catches it.
Staubach thereby coined, unintentionally the phrase that's irreverently used to refer to such desperate passes in football today. I dislike the phrase so much I thought about not posting it here, but it's so frequently used, I relented.
Last edition:
Tuesday, December 23, 1975. Going metric.
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