Friday, October 23, 2026

Friday, October 23, 1936. No neutrality.

The Soviet Union informed the European committee of non-intervention in Spain that Russia would no longer be bound by the neutrality agreement which it wasn't honoring anyway.

The German Condor Legion was ordered to Spain.  Elements were already there.

The Denver Zephyr made a non-stop run from Chicago to Denver in 12 hours, 12 minutes, and 27 seconds.

The Denver Zephyr in 1936.  By SMU Central University Libraries - Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R.R., Original 'Denver Zephyr' Train, No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=45183743

Last edition:

Thursday, October 22, 1936. Worsening conflicts

Saturday, October 23, 1926. Trotsky and Kamenev get the boot.

Trotsky and Lev Kamenev were booted out of the Politburo.  They'd ultimately meet the same fate.

A motion for a new trial for Sacco and Vanzetti was denied.

It was, of course, hunting season, and the New Yorker dedicated its cover to hunting with its characteristic weird art style





Japan's Meiji Jingu (Shrine) Stadium opened to the public and a home run was hit on the same day in the stadium's inaugural game.  The stadium is still in use.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 16, 1926. Fighting in Eastern China.

Monday, October 23, 1911. First airplane airborne reconnaissance flight, Ottomans retake Al Hami, Italians commit atrocities, Churchill becomes First Lord of the Admiralty, Eating food that wasn't fresh.

Cpt. Carlo Piazza flew aerial reconnaissance from an airplane for the first time during war time, piloting a Blériot XI over Libya.

Blériot XI.  103 were bult.

Ottoman forces comprised of Turkish and Arab troops retook Al-Hani.  The Italians sustained 300 combat deaths and reacted by killing 4,000 Arab civilians.

Winston Churchill and Reginald McKenna traded posts.  Churchill became the First Lord of the Admiralty, and McKenna Home Secretary.

Adventurous guests at Chicago’s Hotel Sherman dined on the first meal, or at least first formal restaurant meal, in which none of the food was fresh, but rather all of it had come out of cold storage.


Last edition:

Sunday, October 22, 1911. Chinese Assembly opens in the midst of revolution.

Wednesday, October 23, 1901. A howling wilderness. Ordering atrocity.

Brigadier General Jacob H. Smith directed Major Littleton Waller of the U.S. Marines to lead a battalion of 300 men to take control of Samar Island, and, further, to turn Samar into "a howling wilderness" and "to kill everyone over ten" .

Smith in 1901.

"I wish you to kill and burn, and the more you kill and burn the better you will please me. I want all persons killed who are capable of bearing arms in actual hostilities against the United States."

Waller would be court martialed for the death of eleven Filipinos in 1902, at which time Smith's order was revealed.  He was subsequently court martialed as well, but ultimately allowed to retire.

Smith was an old soldier at this time, being 61 years of age.  He volunteered to serve again in 1918 but was rejected due to this event.  He died in 1918.  He was twice wounded during the Civil War.

Waller

Waller was acquitted in his court martial.  He retired in 1920 and a U.S. Navy vessel was named for him in the 1940s.

Member of Parliament Winston Churchill denounced the British involvement in the Boer War.

Yale conferred an honorary Doctor of Law degree upon Theodore Roosevelt, who had in fact studied law but who had not completed his studies.

Last edition:

Tuesday, October 22, 1901. Handcock and Morant arrested.

Monday, October 23, 1876. The disarming of Red Cloud's band.

The 4th and 5th Cavalry, under the command of Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie and Brigadier General George Crook, encircled Red Clouds band, which had not participated in the Great Sioux War, near Ft. Robinson and disarmed them.

Last edition:

Saturday, October 21, 1876. Battle of Cedar Creek.

Court Watch Part VIII. The only restraint edition.

Jefferson County Courthouse, Port Arthur, Texas.

July 14, 2026

In a blistering opinion, a Federal Court judge ruled that President Donald Trump improperly used a $10 billion lawsuit he filed against the IRS to extract personal benefits from the government and prevented the terms of a settlement agreement from taking legal effect.

And more locally:

Laramie County sheriff ordered to appear in court, explain why law firm can’t inspect records

July 23, 2026

Headline in the CST:

Wyoming attorneys oppose Trump’s AG pick

71 Wyoming attorneys signed onto the letter.  Lummis and Barrasso will ignore it.

August 1, 2026

Charges against an Olympic kayaker for vandalizing the reflecting pool have been dropped. 

That was predictable, but what the Justice Department admitted was not.  It admitted the damage was the result of "flawed installation by the contractor" as well as "the rush to complete the project prior to events associated with the America 250 celebration in the weeks surrounding Independence Day 2026."

Every lawyer associated with this should be dismissed and disbarred.  Trump should be impeached.  The victim of these false charges should sue for malicious prosecution.


Closer to home:

Wyoming archaeologists take BLM to court over Native sites, human remains

August 5, 2026

The U.S. Attorney’s Office dismissed all charges against David Hearn, Justin Carreno, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Cameron Thiers for the pool vandalization that never occured.  Donald Trump had previously described these people as “SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE".  He's the sick deranged people, but people who aren't victims of Trump Derangement Syndrome and think he's something other than a rampaging deranged narcissist know that. 

Now, even after the Toddler's tantrums, no charges are pending at all. They never should be.

Lawsuits should, and I predict will, be filed against the government over this.

August 8, 2026

The DC Circuit ordered Trump to halt his illegal ballroom construction but, in a wussy move, stayed its decision for fourteen days in order to allow Trump to appeal, which he, or rather his administration, will.

The Court, in its decision, noted:

Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help.

August 11, 2026

It's not that there aren't some really issues here.

Judge dismisses closed primary lawsuit for the second time

But it does provide a good example of why it hurts things for everyone when a gadfly like Skovgaard decides to play lawyer.

August 12, 2026

Court steps in to counter coup attempt.


August 18, 2026

Good news:

Retired Cheyenne attorney renews legal challenge to Secretary Gray’s handoff of voter data feds

Gray violated the law on this and needs to be held fully accountable. Courts looking at this issue have uniformly supported the states that refused to provide the information.

Gray should be made to recover the information he supplied.  This was illegal.  

August 25, 2026

This doesn't decide the ultimate issue:

Supreme Court allows Trump administration to move forward with order imposing restrictions on mail-in voting

But coming when it does, it may very well be the law in a practical sense this election cycle, and impact the election.  It's specifically designed to frustrate Democratic voting.  However, as Amy Howe reports:

A separate ruling by the same judge, in a case filed by a different set of plaintiffs, temporarily prohibits the U.S. Postal Service from implementing one provision of the executive order anywhere in the United States. That ruling remains in effect, at least for now.

The decision is flat out wrong and the Supreme Court will regret it.  The Democrats are increasingly like to win both houses of Congress this Fall and they will begin to work on major Supreme Court reform. Trump can prevent that while he's in office, but he's becoming the political kiss of death for GOP candidates and when a new Democratic President comes in, this order will come off and the Supreme Court will be radically reformed.  Perhaps first up will be age limitations, likely 70 years of old, which will wipe out the conservative majority on the court.

A decision like this one will help bring about that downfall.  So does stuff like this:

Supreme Court allows White House ballroom construction to continue for now

The mail in voting one at least has some think judicial reasoning Staying ballroom construction was the obvious choice here and the Court didn't do it. That probably signals that they'll let this insane project go forward.

August 27, 2026

After Election Loss, Reid Rasner Sues A Sixth Person For Defamation

One of Rasner's previous suits is in the CST today on the pending summary judgment motion.

August 31, 2026

The Supreme Court sealed its fate today in holding that the Plaintiffs in a case challenging the legality of Trump's illegal construction of a giant garden shed on White House Grounds lacked standing.

Bullshit.

Justice Roberts, who dissented in the 5 to 4 decision, noted that the construction was likely illegal.  It is. This was a standing decision.

So construction will commence and may well get completed. The legality will be ruled upon in the future, and then the heaping pile of shit hopefully blown to the ground by a future administration that will rely on this decision. The Supreme Court will go to 13 members, and an age limitation will be put on the justices guaranteeing a liberal majority on the court for a century.

September 10. 2026

Twenty states filed two separate lawsuits against the government alleging the Trump administration illegally weakened the Endangered Species Act.

September 11, 2026

The 1st Circuit Court of Appeals refused to lift an injunction on the USPS prohibiting the implementation of crybaby's attempt for a fall coup by banning mail in voting.

September 15, 2026

The US Supreme Court decided in a 7 to 2 vote to block the Trump USPS rule prohibiting mail in voting.  Alito and Thomas were the two dissenting votes.

October 14, 2026

That this is even a topic shows how absurd our times are.

Your sex at birth, is your sex.  Nothing can or should change that.

October 15, 2026

Judge halts sweeping plan to move Forest Service headquarters west, including state office in Cheyenne

 

Judge halts sweeping plan to move Forest Service headquarters west, including state office in Cheyenne

October 17, 2026

Judge Deciding Whether To Hold Sheriff Kozak In Contempt Over Immigration Records

October 23, 2026

Orange Mussolini, who is suing the BBC for defamation, has been ordered by a US Court to sit for his deposition.

Closer to home:

Legislative Candidate Loses Lawsuit Against University of Wyoming

Last edition:

Court Watch Part VII. When the last law was down.

Thursday, October 22, 2026

The 2026 Election, 26th Edition. The hoping to avoid sitting on blisters edition. More labels.

 


Tuesday, October 22, 1946. Operation Osoaviakhim

Operation Osoaviakhim was carried about by Soviet authorities in Germany.  The Soviets rounded up over 2,500 German scientists, engineers and technicians, who had worked on German advanced technological matters, some of whom were attending a Soviet party in their honor, to be shipped to the USSR. The last of them would be returned to Germany in 1953.

HMS Saumarez and HMS Volage struck mines in the Straits of Corfu where they were demonstrating in opposition to Albanian intentions.

Answering a question I had earlier on this topic, there were in fact a lot more hunters in the field in 1946 due to the ongoing meat shortage.


The same front page recalls how cattle were once shipped by rail, instead of truck as they are today.

Last edition:

Monday, October 21, 1946. Law for the Special Establishment of Independent Cultivators

Thursday, October 22, 1936. Worsening conflicts

Spanish General José Miaja was put in charge of the Republican defence of Madrid, where things were getting overall worse in general.

Contrary to the common assumption, about 40% of Spanish Army officers remained loyal to the Spanish Republic.


And it wasn't just in Europe where things were getting worse.


The far political right wasn't just on the march in Spain. The Belgian far right wing Rexist Party announced its intention to march on Brussels in order to "sweep out the Paul van Zeeland government and its corruption" in a move inspired by Mussolini's march on Rome.  Van Zeeland declared martial law.

The News issued its awards it its photo contest.


And a cartoon shows how some common comments I'll hear from some people today were common ninety years ago.


University education was expanding, but was far from what it is now.  It's interesting to see the contempt of youth for professors expressed here.  

I don't think that's a common view, but I have heard it from the time I was in university, up to now, from time to time, probably most recently when Chuck Gray's current campaign manager just went off on how professors at the University of Wyoming were all left wing, coming from a person whose views are closer to those who were advancing on Madrid on this day in 1936.

Last edition:

Friday, October 16, 1936. Siege of Oviedo broken.

Sunday, October 22, 1911. Chinese Assembly opens in the midst of revolution.

With the country in the throws of a budding revolution, the Chinese National Assembly opened in Beijing, as scheduled.

The revolution was making front page news in the U.S.

Hunting season was on, and an add for shotgun shells demonstrated how slowly some technological advances were impacting things.


A new addition to the City of Cheyenne was being boosted.


The Rocky Mountain News also addressed the Chinese revolution, but I put it up here as Theodore Roosevelt was taking shots at judges.


I didn't note it, but on the day prior the Qing dynasty government in China had placed a major order for arms and ammunition from the United States.

Last edition:

Thursday, October 19, 1911. Zapatistas advance.

Tuesday, October 22, 1901. Handcock and Morant arrested.



Veterinary Lieutenant Peter Handcock. and Harry Morant.

Bushveldt Carbineer troopers Harry "Breaker" Morant and Peter Handcock were arrested for the  murder of eight Boer prisoners and a German missionary.

It should be noted in this story that both men were technically in the British Army.  The Australian Army only came into existence in March, 1901 and Australian soldiers serving in South Africa up until that time, and in many cases after, were in the British Army.

The Second International Conference of American States (Pan-American Congress) opened in Mexico City.

Last edition:

Wednesday, October 16, 1901 Booker T. Washington dines at the White House with Theodore Roosevelt.

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 13. “Walmart Recession Signal” grows louder.


October 21, 2026

According to the economist who came up with it, the “Walmart Recession Signal” indicating an oncoming recession is getting louder.

Tonight, I'm also pleased to announce that the Department of Agriculture will be launching a new harvest fuel relief program, providing our farmers with $8 billion in support to offset diesel costs during this harvest season

Donald Trump.

So the fuel relief is to relieve high fuel prices caused by the war against Iran which is illegal, and will be paid for by money we don't have.

Sure, that makes sense somehow.

Oil is coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, under US protection, at roughly the same amount it was before the war now.

In other news.

Oklahoma Tribe Buys One Of The Biggest Horse Betting Operations In Wyoming

Sublette Rejects Appeal For Girls Treatment Center, Owners May Take Fight To Court

October 22, 2026

Natrona County eyes two school closures. One is 40 miles away, the other is right around the corner

One of the schools is in Midwest.

In a real irony, former House District 58 representative Patrick Sweeney went to the Midwest town hall on the subject.  Long serving Sweeney was ousted by current representative Bill Allemand after the district was redrawn. Alleman was a complete asshole to Sweeney in a debate and ran, that time, as firebrand Freedom Caucuser.

He survived a challenge from Bar Nunn Mayor Peter Boyer whom he became crosswise with over a proposal to place the Radiant nuclear generator plant north of Bar Nunn, something Bar Nunn could not have stopped. Bar Nunn's city council meetings became the bizarre focus of the topic however with outraged populists even accusing some city council members of taking bribes, an absolute absurdity.  Radiant eventually grew tired of the matter and decamped to Tennessee.  Allemand, for his part, was arrested not all that long after for drunk driving.  He's one of the few surviving members of the Wyoming Freedom Caucus, barely hanging on to his seat.

Allemand is apparently backing fanciful thoughts of declaring the school to be a charter school or forming a new school district, neither of which will occur  It was really admirable of Sweeney to go out and speak to a group of people about their plight, which is concerning, which their votes for Allemand helped bring about.  It's the classic Leopard's won't eat my face situation. 

Campbell County Moves $500 Million Nuclear Fuel Facility Closer To Reality

Gillette Targeted For Massive $575 Million Uranium Processing Plant

Last edition:

Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or less locally, Part 12, the Deflect and Deny edition.