There are events all over Wyoming today.
The Cornfederate Wyoming Freedom Caucus is in trouble, and people are organizing even here. The GOP is in real trouble.
They're going to lose the House and Senate in November, and Trump will outright attempt to steal the election.
The Japanese government issued the Haitō Edict, The Sword Abolishment Edict (廃刀令) prohibiting people, with the exception of former lords (daimyōs), the military, and law enforcement officials, from carrying weapons in public, including swords.
It was an attack on the former samurai class, with their establishment itself having already been eliminated.
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.
When spring-time flushes the desert grass,
Our kafilas wind through the Khyber Pass.
Lean are the camels but fat the frails,
Light are the purses but heavy the bales,
As the snowbound trade of the North comes down
To the market-square of Peshawur town.
In a turquoise twilight, crisp and chill,
A kafila camped at the foot of the hill.
Then blue smoke-haze of the cooking rose,
And tent-peg answered to hammer-nose;
And the picketed ponies, shag and wild,
Strained at their ropes as the feed was piled;
And the bubbling camels beside the load
Sprawled for a furlong adown the road;
And the Persian pussy-cats, brought for sale,
Spat at the dogs from the camel-bale;
And the tribesmen bellowed to hasten the food;
And the camp-fires twinkled by Fort Jumrood;
And there fled on the wings of the gathering dusk
A savour of camels and carpets and musk,
A murmur of voices, a reek of smoke,
To tell us the trade of the Khyber woke.
2
The lid of the flesh-pot chattered high,
The knives were whetted and—then came I
To Mahbub Ali the muleteer,
Patching his bridles and counting his gear,
Crammed with the gossip of half a year.
But Mahbub Ali the kindly said,
“Better is speech when the belly is fed.”
So we plunged the hand to the mid-wrist deep
In a cinnamon stew of the fat-tailed sheep,
And he who never hath tasted the food,
By Allah! he knoweth not bad from good.
We cleansed our beards of the mutton-grease,
We lay on the mats and were filled with peace,
And the talk slid north, and the talk slid south,
With the sliding puffs from the hookah-mouth.
3
Four things greater than all things are,—
Women and Horses and Power and War.
We spake of them all, but the last the most,
For I sought a word of a Russian post,
Of a shifty promise, an unsheathed sword
And a gray-coat guard on the Helmund ford.
Then Mahbub Ali lowered his eyes
In the fashion of one who is weaving lies.
Quoth he: “Of the Russians who can say?
“When the night is gathering all is gray.
“But we look that the gloom of the night shall die
“In the morning flush of a blood-red sky.
“Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise
“To warn a King of his enemies?
“We know what Heaven or Hell may bring,
“But no man knoweth the mind of the King.
“That unsought counsel is cursed of God
“Attesteth the story of Wali Dad.
4
“His sire was leaky of tongue and pen,
“His dam was a clucking Khuttuck hen;
“And the colt bred close to the vice of each,
“For he carried the curse of an unstanched speech.
“Therewith madness—so that he sought
“The favour of kings at the Kabul court;
“And travelled, in hope of honour, far
“To the line where the gray-coat squadrons are.
“There have I journeyed too—but I
“Saw naught, said naught, and—did not die!
“He hearked to rumour, and snatched at a breath
“Of ‘this one knoweth’ and ‘that one saith’,—
“Legends that ran from mouth to mouth
“Of a gray-coat coming, and sack of the South.
“These have I also heard—they pass
“With each new spring and the winter grass.
5
“Hot-foot southward, forgotten of God,
“Back to the city ran Wali Dad,
“Even to Kabul—in full durbar
“The King held talk with his Chief in War.
“Into the press of the crowd he broke,
“And what he had heard of the coming spoke.
“Then Gholam Hyder, the Red Chief, smiled,
“As a mother might on a babbling child;
“But those who would laugh restrained their breath,
“When the face of the King showed dark as death.
“Evil it is in full durbar
“To cry to a ruler of gathering war!
“Slowly he led to a peach-tree small,
“That grew by a cleft of the city wall.
“And he said to the boy: ‘They shall praise thy zeal
“So long as the red spurt follows the steel.
“And the Russ is upon us even now?
“Great is thy prudence—await them, thou.
“Watch from the tree. Thou art young and strong,
“Surely thy vigil is not for long.
“The Russ is upon us, thy clamour ran?
“Surely an hour shall bring their van.
“Shout aloud that my men may hear.’
6
“Friend of my heart, is it meet or wise
“To warn a King of his enemies?
“A guard was set that he might not flee—
“A score of bayonets ringed the tree.
“The peach-bloom fell in showers of snow,
“When he shook at his death as he looked below.
“By the power of God, who alone is great,
“Till the seventh day he fought with his fate.
“Then madness took him, and men declare
“He mowed in the branches as ape and bear,
“And last as a sloth, ere his body failed,
“And he hung as a bat in the forks, and wailed,
“And sleep the cord of his hands untied,
“And he fell, and was caught on the points and died.
7
“Heart of my heart, is it meet or wise
“To warn a King of his enemies?
“We know what Heaven or Hell may bring,
“But no man knoweth the mind of the King.
“Of the gray-coat coming who can say?
“When the night is gathering all is gray.
“Two things greater than all things are,
“The first is Love, and the second War.
“And since we know not how War may prove,
“Heart of my heart, let us talk of Love!”
Rudyard Kipling, Ballad of the King's jest
March 23, 2026.
Pakistan v. Afghanistan
Pakistan and Afghanistan have been fighting a border war.
March 28, 2026
Mexican Drug Wars
Self defense militias are forming in the cartel ridden portion of Mexico, armed with military style semi automatic rifles, AKs and ARs, smuggled in from the US.
This actually provides a good example of the utility of something like the 2nd Amendment. Mexican civilians are having to illegally arm themselves, which in the US they would not have to.
Russo Ukrainian War
If we had to be fighting a war, we should have been fighting this one. But then, Donald Trump loves Vlad Putin.
Ukraine Is Starting To Wage Systems Warfare
The US Might Consider Paying Attention
Last edition:
The TSA isn't getting paid as the Democrats have been opposing additional funding for ICE, the masked cowards who go around shooting protestors.
The Democrats are right.
Anyhow, Mike Johnson, sycophantic toady, held up a Senate passed bill to resume funding for everyone but the masked cowards as a political stunt which means that TSA will continue not to get paid, resulting in this headline in the CST:
Casper/Natrona County airport resumes food drive for TSA employees
The article noted the following:
Airport spokeswoman Katie Reed confirmed that Thursday, adding the airport is also accepting nonperishable household items like paper towels, toilet paper, and detergent on top of the standard nonperishable food items.
King Donny was bragging about acing cognitive tests again.
It's the Montreal Cognitive Assessment that he's taken, and it isn't given for entertainment.
Kimberlay. Kimberly Guilfoyle. I love calling her Kimberlay. That's my little pet name but you are the greatest. I hope you come back here in 12 years or whenever the term ends
He didn’t think he would be kissing my ass, he really didn’t…and now he has to be nice to me….he better be nice to me, he’s gotta be..
Last edition:
BASH: Is this measles outbreak a consequence of the administration undermining support for vaccines?
DR OZ: I don't believe so. Secretary Kennedy has been advocating for measles vaccines
BASH: Oh, come on
From a CNN Interview of Mehmet Oz, a prime example of the Oprah Effect.1
In fairness to Dr. Oz, who in fairness should not be a government official, he does want people to get the measles vaccine.
Also in fairness, the dissing of vaccines isn't really a Trump thing in and of itself, but he gave it some boosted unneeded assistance by taking the political step of promising Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. a job as the HHS Secretary if he'd drop out of the last Presidential race. Kennedy is a quack, and an opponent of vaccines in varying degrees (it seems to change day by day). The rise of this movement, however, started with people like Jenny McCarthy who sadly has a son with autism. McCarthy herself was a Playboy model and her only real expertise is in showing her naked visage, something that really doesn't qualify a person for anything serious, and in fact may achieve much the opposite.
Oh, and by the way, Jenny McCarthy appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show multiple times in the 2000s to discuss her erroneous theories on autism and vaccines, and to promote a book she wrote.
Much of this story has to do with the inability to understand the difference between present conditions and past ones. People tend to assume that negative developments in a population mean a negative present condition. Sometimes they do, but sometimes they also represent a positive one. I'll give a personal example.
In 1982 I had pneumonia while at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. I was extremely ill, literally on death's door.
Before the advent of antibiotics the fatality rates for bacterial pneumonia were between 60% and 70%.
Not good.
Now, the survivability rate is pretty good.
I've had a colon surgery for a developing condition that would have killed me even thirty years ago.
The point? Well, if I go on to develop Alzheimer's, which I pray I do not, it'll mostly be because I didn't die at age 19 of pneumonia.
Also, fwiw, Meet The Press this weekend had a physician on who noted that diseases we can now vaccinate for are associated with cancer, which is a developing field of medicine. I.e., you get some disease that's not big deal when young, and then you get cancer when older. You don't want cancer.
A fellow I know who suffered a heart attack, and who was otherwise very healthy, may have developed his heart condition this way as well.
Get vaccinated.
March 10, 2026
March 15, 2026
The Trump Interregnum is threatening to pull broadcasting licenses of those who do not give a happy spin to the war against Iran.
March 21, 2026
Waging a war against American airports must be easier than waging a war against a real country that fights back:
March 27, 2026.
In celebration of America’s 250th anniversary, President Donald J. Trump’s signature alongside @SecScottBessent's will soon appear on U.S. currency, marking a first in history, and symbolizes @POTUS ' leadership and dedication to our great nation will carry a lasting impact
U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach.
And hence, the era of defacement of U.S. currency began.
Seriously, my prediction will be for those dealing in cash, the number of "F***" next to Donny's signature, or replicas of his public Epstein birthday card's, or any number of defacements, will be epic.
The sycophantic sucking up this this demented twit is beyond all understanding. When this is all over, and it will be soon, Bessant ought to spend every day for the rest of his life apologizing.
Footnotes:
1. The Oprah Effect is so named here to explain the phenomenon of Oprah Winfrey putting some flaming bogosity on to her popular daytime television show and thereby having millions of people give it credence. There are a fair number of examples, including the rise of Dr. Oz.
Related Threads
Last edition:
The most interesting one is allowing enlistments up to age 42, which must mean retirements are now at 62.
The first guard, during daylight hours only, was posted on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
More on that:
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Centennial: 100 Years Since the First Military Guard Posted March 26, 1926: This feature commemorates the centennial of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier guard, marking 100 years since the first sentinel was posted March 26, 1926. The story traces the origins of the Unknown Soldier of World War I, the expansion of the tradition to honor unidentified service members from World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam, and the enduring mission of the Soldiers who maintain an unbroken vigil at Arlington National Cemetery.
Coolidge gave a press conference.
Montgomery: That is a bill in which the Government makes refunds on the tariffs –
Last edition:
The Big Horn Expedition returned to Ft. Fetterman. It was a failure.
The commander of the expedition, Joseph J. Reynolds, would be court martialed for failures associated with the campaign and was convicted on all three charges. He retired in 1877. He died in 1899 at age 77.
Last edition:
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Enemies of Public Lands, Hunters and Fishermen
Wyoming public lands users were shocked in 2025 with Deseret Mike Lee lead a full blown charge at public lands and Wyoming's Lummis, Barrasso, and Hageman joined right in. Given their histories respectively of 1) being a Cheshire Cat, 2) Being a sycophantic toady and 3) being a member of a family that very distinctly doesn't care much for anyone who isn't an agricultural landowner, we shouldn't have been surprised, and yet we were.
Our guards still need to be up in a major way. This issue hasn't gone away and if 2025/26s Trump babbling about Greenland, Gaza and Venezuela has shown anything, its that Donald Trump's GOP doesn't give a rats ass about anything that can't be reduced to a sale and the future just doesn't matter. He's a shallow golf course developer and see the entire world that way, to his everlasting discredit.
And the GOP is right behind him.
People public lands users, and that includes ranchers who will get completely screwed if Deseret Mike Lee and his ilk have his way, follow.1
These people have no Land Ethic.
Bill Allemand: Allemand is from a large ranching family in the state but has claimed not to be part of the ranching operations himself. Nonetheless he showed his hand by sponsoring a really punitive hunting trespass bill that failed last session.
That should preclude him from being reelected. He's an enemy of sportsmen.
He's also a Dixiecrat.
And he's extremely rude. His first run for office was characterized by outrageous comments about his opponent and he's shown a real temper since being elected. Most recently, he stated outrageous things against a Deputy Sheriff who arrested him for drunk driving in Johnson County.2 A cutting editorial by Susan Stubson on his drunk driving escapade is well worth reading.
On Allemand:
Rep. Bill Allemand asks judge to rescind court-ordered alcohol testing during upcoming legislative session: The Midwest lawmaker is contesting his DUI charge following his arrest last month in Johnson County.
The answer to that ought to be a hard no.
Harriet Hageman: Hageman is from a large ranching/farming family in southeast Wyoming. Her father was the sponsor of an effort to privatize wildlife when he was in the legislature. Hageman aggressively backed an effort to transfer Wyoming's Federal lands to the state and responded to criticism of those who opposed her by basically calling them dumb.
This past term her family homestead burned to the ground in a year that's been extremely warm and devoid of moisture. There were poignant comments about it, including from her, which tend to demonstrate the agricultural community's absolute refusal to read what is really in front of their face, climate wise. It's ironic, in that even university educated agriculturalist like Hageman, who depend on animal science daily, refuse to believe that any other science is valid.
Jacob Wasserburger: Wasserburger came up with this bad idea, but it sounds a lot like he's been sitting around with Mike Lee, the Senator from Deseret
Going Feral: Lawmaker Unveils Bill To Sell Between 30,000 And 2...: Another moronic idea by a Wyoming Republican, a party which seems to draw from the endless well of bad ideas. Wasserburger is going right on...
He's signed on to the no prescription for Ivermectin act as well, these two things indicating that he's hanging out with, in not in, the Freedom Caucus. A little digging reveals that Wasserburger is from a Niobrara County ranch and has been practicing law since 2008, at which he's bounced around a lot, including having once worked for a major Democratic politician and a really good Republican one. He did a stint in government work as well.
Allies of Ignorance. Trump Fellow Travelers and Dixiecrats.
I suspect that some of these people probably really love Trump, while others are just opportunistic and pitching to ignorant Wyoming voters, telling them what they know they want to hear. Either way, they shouldn't be voted for, either because they believe the nonsense they're spouting, or because they're willing to lie to obtain office.
Some of these folks are members of the largely carpetbagging Wyoming Freedom Caucus as well, which definitely should disqualify them. They're not running for office in 2026 Wyoming but 1966 Alabama. It's estimated that 42 members of the House, which has only 62 seats, in the Wyoming legislature are occupied by Freedom Caucus members, but it is an estimate as some of them will not openly declare their membership showing that they have some reservations about it.
Something Wyoming voters should know is that unlike other caucuses, once a legislator joins the WFC he or she can sit on his legislative rear and do nothing, as the WFC does all the work, including drafting bills it wants and telling the potted WFC plant what to say and think. The money, and at least some of the bill drafting, comes from outside of the state. The Freedom Caucus is effectively an alien, that is carpetbagging, force in the state, in the true original sense of the meaning of the word carpetbagger.
Megen Degenfelder: Degenfelder is the current Superintendent of Public Instruction who has announced for Governor.. She's clearly very far right wing, but she doesn't appear to be a full blown MAGA adherent. Still, she received King Donny's endorsement and wrapped herself in it, and for that reason alone should be rejected.
I do have a question, however, based on her time in office, as to how much of the MAGA nonsense she really believes. As one of the Board of State Land Commissioners she hasn't been a fellow traveler with Gray, and the evidence suggests that absolutely nobody on that Board can stand Gray. The Governor clearly does not, but it doesn't really look like anyone else does either. And Degenfelder hasn't come out with any of the really extreme crap that Gray has, or even that Cindy Hill had. Given that, she might be on the Trump Train in a boxcar ready to jump off when and if things begin to derail. So I'll cut her a little slack, albeit very, very, little.
In this race, so far, it looks to me that Barlow is the best candidate.
Chuck Gray: Gray's a carpetbagging opportunist who took advantage of lies to obtain the position of Secretary of State where he's been a general pain in the ass. He's not from here, he's not of here, and he should be sent packing as a disagreeable asshole. He literally obtained his office mounted on a steed of lies.
Gray, I'll note, was one of the founders of the Freedom Caucus and perhaps because of that hasn't been asked the questions or subject to sideways glances that some in his situation might have been, which is interesting.
Ken Pendergraft: A member of the Freedom Caucus who voted to slash U.W.'s budget.
The Freedom Caucus is pretty much the Freakishly Dumb Caucus and basically opposes education. Educated people, it turns out, tend to be moderate and don't believe that global warming is a fib, or that the Earth is 4,000 years old, or that Christianity somehow started in the US with an Evangelical Free Church. So education is bad, in their view.
Jeremy Haroldson: A member of the Freedom Caucus who voted to slash U.W. budget.
Jacob Wasserburger: As we suspected, Wasserburger is part of the WFC.
And some more:
Ann Lucas (Cheyenne):
Darin McCann (Rock Springs):
Joel Guggenmos (Riverton):
Jayme Lien (Casper):
Gary Brown (Cheyenne):
Steve Johnson (Cheyenne):
Joe Webb (Lyman):
Paul Hoeft (Cody):
Robert Wharff (Evanston):
David Giralt, who is running for the House solely on a promise to be the biggest Trump sycophant imaginable.
Jeanette Ward, who hopes to get back in the legislature after being booted out.
Bo Biteman, who is in the Freedom Caucus.
Frank Moran, carpetbagger in Moran.
Updated on February 27, 2026, March 13, 2026. March 26, 2026.
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Original post: January 20, 2026. Updates: January 28, 2028. February 2, 2026.
Carpetbaggers
Wyoming has always had a transient population and, additionally, a pretty pronounced history of self doubt and even self loathing. For that reason, we're pretty willing as a rule to elect imports who claim to be like us, even though we know that they aren't. We really think they're better than us.
Right now, for example, we have Dr. John Barrasso who isn't a Wyomingite but sort of pretends to be one, or at least was up until becoming the Senate Majority Whip. He's a Pennsylvanian. He's a Boomer so chances are that this is his last hurrah before he retires and gets the heck out of here.
We've added a note above about the funding of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, which pretty much qualifies the caucus itself, if not every single members, as the Wyoming Foreign Carpetbaggers.
Chuck Gray: Gray is a Californian who shares nothing in common with anyone whatsoever in the state. He should be sent back to California.
Indeed, one of the most pathetic things about Gray campaigns is when they dress the diminutive little guy up and try to film him in Wyoming. There he is, looking at an oil rig, and looking mighty uncomfortable, and so on.
Joseph Kibler: Kibler is a recent import from California, and should just go home. He's running for Governor.
Jeanette Ward, whose from some suburb of Chicago.
Frank Chapman, who moved into Wyoming from somewhere else after practicing law there for three decades and who now is some sort of rancher and outfitter in Moran.
Original post: January 20, 2026.
Updates: January 24, 2026, March 13, 2026. March 26, 2026.
Bottle Babies and Stahlhelm
In recent years Wyoming has seen people run for office touting their experience as a veteran. They basically fall into two groups.
One group were career servicemen who sucked on the government tit their entire working lives and now have moved into Wyoming or have come back to Wyoming after decades of being gone and, uniformly, declare they hate the government and know how to fix it. Their hatred didn't keep them from competing in the free job economy with the rest of us, however.
They didn't run their military careers like they claim they'll run the state. I.e, they didn't come in and say "I hate the military with the red hot passion of a thousand burning suns and I'm going to destroy it!".
The other group are men who run simply on having been a veteran. Eh? Lee Harvey Oswald was a veteran. This group has nothing much more to say other than "I'm a veteran". So what? Lots of people are veterans. This is the Stahlhelm group.
Brent Bien is a bottle baby. He was a career Marin Corps officer and had a really distinguished career. Now he's back in the state and seeks to apply that experience, which is wholly irrelevant to running the state, to wrecking government.
Original post: January 20, 2026.
Democrats in delusion
On this category, let me be clear. I want more Democrats to run, but I want solid Democrats to run. While its a long shot, I think a centrist Democratic Party in the state, which we used to have, and which gave us multiple Governors, could gain seats, including some important seats. Indeed, I'm surprised that some names that used to appear haven't re-appeared so far.
The first thing I'm going to note is that the Democrats need to avoid wrapping themselves in bloody surgical towels and rainbow flags, but they just can't seem to avoid doing it. They should take a lesson from one of their own recent events:
Affordability, healthcare and public lands echo as top concerns at Dem listening sessions
But instead of that, they'll end up talking about "reproductive rights" and "gender determination" and completely ax themselves.
What the Democratic Party should do in Wyoming is flat out instruct its candidates not to take hardcore positions on these issues. Ideally, they ought to run a moderate prolife Democrat, which would be something the GOP wouldn't know how to handle. If a Democratic candidate went to a house seat debate and took a position to the right of the Republican on the typical social issues, they'd be caught flat footed and resort to name calling. Better yet, if asked about abortion, and a Democratic candidate said "I'm flat out against it, and why has Donald Trump come out being sort of for it?" the Republicans wouldn't know what to do.
But, nope, that won't happen.
Anyhow, while we want Democrats to run, and want third party candidates to run, some will end up on this list as they're actually sucking air out of the room which shouldn't be.
Stewart McAdoo fits this category. McAdoo is a Democrat who is running against Art Washut in House District 36. Washut is a real conservative (and very conservative at that), and not a populist Freedom Caucus member. Losing him would be a disaster for Wyoming. I've never heard of him, but he appears to be an import to the state, which might place him in another category as well.
Original post: January 22, 2026.
Footnotes
1. While I know that it will happen no time soon, it really needs to become the case that lands that went into private hands through a Homestead Act can't go into corporate or absentee hands.
2. According to news reports Allemand admitted to the sheriff's deputy that he drank and drive, in order to address "stress". In the papers he came out just like he did in the campaign, which is to say as a boisterous asshole. That alone should put an end to his political career.
Most of his business career, we'd note, was spent in Kansas. He ought to just go back to Kansas.
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