Showing posts with label 2020s. Show all posts

Read it and weep MAGA. Mexico is a happier country than the dumpster fire the US has become, and the anger and discontent of a delusional populist far right has a lot to do with that, imho.

The US makes the top 25, sort of:

From Happier Lives Institute.

World Happiness Report 2025

Read the Report

Oh, you'll note we're behind Canada. Maybe we should ask Canada to become a province.

There's a lot of things that go into this, we'll note, but right now there's no sign that we're becoming a happy country, let alone a "great" one, "again".

Lex Anteinternet: Well that didn't take long. . .

Lex Anteinternet: Well that didn't take long. . .:

Well that didn't take long. . .

Trump’s Immigration Threats Are Already Wrecking the Food Industry

Immigrant farm workers are too scared to show up to work.

The past election featured a lot of really dimwitted comments by those who decided to vote for Trump about making the price of food "go down".

Dimwitted.

The government has very little ability to make the price of anything whatsoever go down. There are a few options. For one, if an item is imported and taxed at the border, you can remove the tax.

That's the exact opposite of what the Genius with Really Good Genes proposes to do. That's going to raise prices.

Another is to impact the price of something the government actually controls, such as privatizing an industry or releasing a supply of something held by the government.

Neither of those are options right now.

Trump's really good brain has so far simply proposed to the Saudis that the produce a lot of oil. The Saudis are likely laughing.

If they did, that would drop the price of oil, which drops the price of everything else. It also makes US oil completely unviable economically as its very expensive to drill for. We already know this as a few years ago there was a glut of oil, which dropped its price and stopped US drilling dead in its tracks.

One of the things Trump promised his followers that he would do, which he can do to some limited extent, is deport aliens. Hopefully they're illegal aliens, but to a lot of his supporters, any alien will do, as long as the alien has brown skin.

Donald Musk and Ted Cruz, born respectively in South Africa and Canada, can stay, which is a real shame. I'd be okay with deporting both of them.

US agriculture depends heavily on illegal aliens from Mexico. It has for decades. It's a situation which never should have been allowed to develop, but it was because both Republicans and Democrats turned a blind eye to it. Now, the US is dependent on that migrant population.

Trump promises to deport all these people as quickly as possible. That means administering a massive shock to the farm economy, which means the prices of everything at the grocery store will go up, up, up. Trump will ignore that. Consumers won't be able to, and those who knew that this would occur ought to be plastering these on self check out lines:

It won't end there of course. The economic genius has fallen in love with tariffs, something that fell out of favor as they helped create the Great Depression, bring Hitler into power, and cause World War Two.

Trump really doesn't seem to be the smartest bulb in the bunch and apparently he skipped lessons in history. Part of the reason he cited for wanting to change the name of Denali to Mt. McKinley is that McKinley, who was President before income tax was legal, used tariffs to fund the rather small U.S. budget of the time.

What a boofador.

Trump tends to think like, and talk, like a gangster. As we discuss in an upcoming post, he may have in fact learned a lot of his "art of the deal" by having to deal with the mafia on New York construction projects. The mafia operates, in fact, a lot like Trump. They make big threats, and then hurt people, until a rival gang knuckles under or regular people give in.

The problem here, of course, is that countries aren't criminal gangs, usually (Russia sort of is), and they don't behave that way. Democratic nations particularly don't. Trump is getting the middle finger from Canada and Mexico right now, but the besotted American public hasn't noticed. If Trump imposes the tariffs he threatens to, Canada is threatening to flat out cease exporting into the US. What Canada has in spades, oil and lumber, it can sell elsewhere. We can't replace what we get from them.

That'll spike the price of oil massively. We can't offset the oil deficit that would result in as we're already, in spite of the moronic "drill baby drill" comments people make, drilling at capacity. That would easily add 1/3d to the price at the pumps, if not 3 times to it.

And the removal of lumber would simply end the construction industry.

Canada is also a major exporter of hydroelectric power into the US. If Canada starts taxing that, and it can, at a rate to offset tariffs, living in New England will be extremely expensive.

As for Mexico, go to the grocery store and see how many things are "grown in Mexico". With California in trouble due to Trump's immigration policies, and a retaliating Mexico you'll get to eat what can be produced locally.

Um, yum. Canned corn will still be there.

It'd be tempting to say "people will get what they deserve, but Trump didn't even take 50% of the popular vote.

Let's say that again. He didn't take even 50% of the popular vote.

He took 49.8%, which is regarded as impressive in American politics, but in reality is not. 50.2 % of the American public voted against him.

Third parties may have put Trump in office.

In some systems, if a person doesn't take over 50% of the vote, there's a runoff election between the top two vote getters until somebody does. If that had been done, would Trump be President?

Anyhow, with about 50% voting for him, and 50% voting against him, Trump doesn't have a mandate to do squat. Quite a few of his insiders know that which is why they're rushing to put in their projects while they can, which is really only until the next mid term election when an enraged public turns on the GOP. It's going to happen.

In the meantime, the 50% of the country that didn't vote for Trump is going to endure rising prices, destroyed retirement accounts, a Federal government that won't help with local disasters, and the increasing slide of the country into a mean, childish, brutish, thugocracy.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Violating Wyoming's Act of Admission.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part 4. The ...:

A proposal to violate Wyoming's act of admission:

2025
State of Wyoming
25LSO-0331
 

Senate JOINT RESOLUTION NO. SJ0002

Resolution demanding equal footing.

Sponsored by: Senator(s) Ide, Biteman, French, Hutchings, Laursen, D, McKeown, Smith, D and Steinmetz and Representative(s) Allemand, Banks, Bear, Neiman, Smith, S and Winter

A JOINT RESOLUTION

for

A JOINT RESOLUTION demanding that the United States Congress, in consultation with the legislature of the state of Wyoming, extinguish the federal title in those public lands and subsurface resources in this state that derive from former federal territory, and do so in recognition of the sovereign rights of this state, as set forth in its congressional act of admission into the union, and in recognition of the solemn duties resting upon Congress under the admissions, property, claims, and guarantee clauses of Article IV of the United States constitution so that the state of Wyoming shall, in due course, obtain full admission into the Union of States upon an equal footing with the original states in all respects whatsoever.

WHEREAS, an indispensable element of state sovereignty is the capacity to exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction over the soil within state borders; and

WHEREAS, a constitutional state does not exist in those places where a state's independent sovereignty and legislative jurisdiction do not apply; and

WHEREAS, the original states jealously retained complete sovereignty and jurisdiction over all of the territory within their external boundaries, including unappropriated former British crown lands claimed by the states under both the articles of confederation and the United States constitution; and

WHEREAS, pursuant to the Admissions Clause, article IV, section 3, clause 1 of the United States constitution, new states admitted into the Union of States are admitted upon an equal footing with the original states as to political rights and as to sovereignty, including territorial sovereignty; and

WHEREAS, section 2 of the Wyoming act of admission provides that "The said state shall consist of all the territory included within the following boundaries, to wit: Commencing at the intersection of the twenty-seventh meridian of longitude west from Washington with the forty-fifth degree of north latitude and running thence west to the thirty-fourth meridian of west longitude; thence south to the forty-first degree of north latitude; thence east to the twenty-seventh meridian of west longitude, and thence north to the place of beginning." This section excepts only the lands dedicated to Yellowstone National Park within this border and any lands as may be subsequently added to that park by Congress; and

WHEREAS, under the equal footing doctrine, the new state of Wyoming became entitled to exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction over all of the territory dedicated to its purposes by virtue of Wyoming's act of admission, excepting only Yellowstone National Park and additional lands as Congress may subsequently choose to add to the park; and

WHEREAS, more than forty-six percent (46%) of the surface and more than sixty-nine percent (69%) of the subsurface resources of the state of Wyoming, as described by Wyoming's act of admission, remains under federal "title"; and

WHEREAS, lands and subsurface resources under federal title in the state of Wyoming are subject to a supreme and complete federal political jurisdiction without limitation, analogous to the municipal powers of the state itself, including police power, and also special maritime and territorial jurisdiction under 18 U.S.C. § 7(3); and

WHEREAS, as a consequence of supreme and complete federal political jurisdiction without limitation over the aforementioned forty-six percent (46%) of the territorial extent of the state of Wyoming and over sixty-nine percent (69%) of its subsurface resources, the state can exercise no jurisdiction in those places in a sovereign and independent capacity and, for this reason, this land and these resources cannot be, and have never been, part of the sovereign and jurisdictional state of Wyoming despite the fact that this land and these resources were included, under Wyoming's act of admission, as being lands committed to the purpose of the new state; and

WHEREAS, in order that the sovereign and jurisdictional state of Wyoming may obtain equal footing as to political rights and sovereignty with the original states, to which it is entitled under the Admissions, Claims and Guarantee Clauses of the United States constitution, the federal title in the aforementioned land and resources must be extinguished by Congress in compliance with its constitutional mandate to dispose property under the Property Clause; and

WHEREAS, continued failure on the part of Congress to fulfill its duty to dispose of the aforementioned land and resources has resulted in two constitutional violations including: 1. Congress has admitted into the Union of States an entity that is less than and different in dignity or power, from those political entities which constitute the Union, and 2. Congress is exercising over the aforementioned land and resources of the state of Wyoming a form of government that the United States Supreme Court has termed "repugnant to the constitution" and that is notoriously denied to the United States under the Tenth Amendment of the Bill of Rights.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WYOMING:

Section 1. That the members of the Wyoming legislature commit to upholding article IV, section 3, clause 2 of the United States constitution and Wyoming's act of admission.

Section 2. That the members of the Wyoming legislature demand that Congress confirm to the Wyoming Legislature, on or before October 1, 2025, its intent to dispose of the federal title in the aforementioned land and resources and its intent to do so in a manner as to subserve the long withheld sovereign interests of the people of the state of Wyoming.

Section 3. That the members of the Wyoming legislature recognize this state's firmly established and popularly supported public land culture and economy that are integral to the state of Wyoming and therefore propose that the lands above mentioned be disposed of to the state of Wyoming and, thereby, be maintained as state public lands.

Section 4. That the members of the Wyoming legislature recognize that the state of Wyoming has authority to absolve Congress of its constitutional duty to dispose of any portion or all of the former territorial lands remaining within this state's borders. Accordingly, this legislature expresses its willingness to negotiate cession to Congress of the state's sovereign jurisdiction over any lands that may be mutually recognized as of national interest.

Section 5. That the secretary of state of Wyoming transmit copies of this resolution to the President of the United States, to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress and to each member of the Wyoming Congressional Delegation.

Last edition:

Lex Anteinternet: The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part 4. The Feudal Masters Bill.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2025 Wyoming Legislative Session, Part 4. The ...:

One craptacular one to watch:

2025
STATE OF WYOMING
25LSO-0361
 

HOUSE BILL NO. HB0109

Trespassing-suspend hunting license.

Sponsored by: Representative(s) Allemand and Campbell, K and Senator(s) French and Ide

A BILL

for

AN ACT relating to game and fish; prohibiting hunters who are convicted of trespassing on private land from purchasing hunting, fishing and trapping licenses as specified; requiring rulemaking; and providing for effective dates.

Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:

Section 1. W.S. 23‑3‑305(b) is amended to read:

23‑3‑305. Hunting from highway; entering or traveling through private property without permission; penalty; hunting at night without permission prohibited.

(b) No person shall enter upon, travel through or return across the private property of any person to take wildlife, hunt, fish, collect antlers or horns, or trap without the permission of the owner or person in charge of the property. Violation of this subsection constitutes a low misdemeanor punishable as provided in W.S. 23‑6‑202(a)(v) shall result in the person losing hunting, fishing and trapping license privileges for two (2) years from the date of the violation in addition to the penalties. For purposes of this subsection, "travel through and or return across" requires physically touching or driving on the surface of the private property.

Section 2. The game and fish commission shall promulgate all rules necessary to implement this act.

Section 3.

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, this act is effective July 1, 2025.

(b) Sections 2 and 3 of this act are effective immediately upon completion of all acts necessary for a bill to become law as provided by Article 4, Section 8 of the Wyoming Constitution.

(END)

 
1
HB0109

This bill is bullshit. It's notable that of the two persons whose names I recognize, both are from ranching families, at least kind of. One ran on "less government, more freedom" (Ide). This bill is for more government and less freedom.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, December 6, 1774. Powers of the Crown.

Lex Anteinternet: Tuesday, December 6, 1774. Powers of the Crown.:

Tuesday, December 6, 1774. Powers of the Crown.

Massachusetts was holding a provincial congress.

King Carlos III of Spain issued a royal order forbidding hunting and fishing in the forest of Balsain, which was reserved for royal amusement.

Sounds familiar.

Last edition:

Friday, November 18, 1774. Ellis and his island.

Labels: 1770s, 1774, Colonial North America, Ellis Island, Food, New York, restaurants and bars

Lex Anteinternet: The Carter Family - Can't Feel at Home

Lex Anteinternet: The Carter Family - Can't Feel at Home:

The Carter Family - Can't Feel at Home

An election special.

Lex Anteinternet: Just two weeks ago Congress passed a bill that included funding for FEMA.

Lex Anteinternet: Just two weeks ago Congress passed a bill that inc...:

Just two weeks ago Congress passed a bill that included funding for FEMA.

Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true!

Aesop.

Contrary to news reports, it was not a FEMA funding bill, it was the stop gap bridge measure to keep the government open.

The hard right in Congress, including Wyoming's lone Congressman, voted against it. Voting against such bills has been really popular in the populist street level politics of Wyoming. And the hard right sees it as a way to force fiscal responsibility, as long as you don't want to be too cynical about it. It'd also handicap the government if it didn't pass, of course, which some long for.

Rep. Hageman gave her reasons as follows:

Washington, DC – Today, Congresswoman Harriet Hageman voted in favor of H.R. 9494 - Continuing Appropriations and Other Matters Act, 2025 (CR) that would keep the federal government open through March 28, 2025 and include the SAVE Act. The SAVE Act, cosponsored by Rep. Hageman and passed earlier this year by the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, would require states to obtain proof of citizenship—in person—when registering an individual to vote and require states to remove non-citizens from existing voter rolls. The bill failed 220-202.

Representative Hageman stated, “Safeguarding our election process is critically important, especially with the open border policies of the Biden-Harris administration that have allowed over 11 million illegals to enter our country. By including the SAVE Act with government funding and extending the funding into 2025, when Republicans have a strong chance of controlling the House, Senate, and White House, America wins. We will be able to craft responsible appropriations bills that slash wasteful spending, stop the current administration’s radical climate agenda, and eliminate woke DEI programs from federal agencies – at the same time, we can ensure that only American citizens vote in federal elections.

“I am disappointed that the House was unable to pass H.R. 9494 today. While Continuing Resolutions are never ideal, securing our elections and creating an opportunity to pass conservative spending bills in 2025 created a unique opportunity. I will not support a CR that fails to include the SAVE Act.”

I'm sure her logic is likewise popular in the state, but I'd note that tying immigration to continuing spending is linking two unrelated things. She voted against the bill that passed.

Anyhow, while this wasn't a FEMA spending bill, FEMA is part of the government and gets its money from the government, which would have closed if the CR hadn't passsed. . . .

FEMA is now addressing hurricane damage in the Southeast last week, and is about to deal with a second hurricane that looks to hit Florida with a fury not matched in a century.

Interestingly, the Trump campaign is now lying (imagine that) about disaster relief funds not making it to Appalachia. Trump has, of course, inspired the far right and the "shut the government down" midset.

Well, what about us?

Here are the list of disasters that FEMA recognizes for this year in Wyoming:

Wyoming House Draw Fire (FM-5531-WY)
Incident Period: August 22, 2024 - and continuing
Fire Management Assistance Declaration declared on August 22, 2024
Wyoming Pleasant Valley Fire (FM-5523-WY)
Incident Period: July 30, 2024 - and continuing
Fire Management Assistance Declaration declared on July 30, 2024
Wyoming Happy Jack Fire (FM-5490-WY)
Incident Period: March 1, 2024 - and continuing
Fire Management Assistance Declaration declared on March 1, 2024

And quite frankly, there are going to be more to come.

The Elk Fire near Dayton and Sheridan is now up to 75,000 and is only 10% contained as of this morning. A forest fire broke out in this county yesterday afternoon.*

These fires aren't stopping until it snows, and daily temperatures are freakishly high for October.

Let's discuss subsidiarity.

Subsidiarity on this site is defined in the Catholic sense. It is an organizing principle that things (problems, matters, politics, economics) ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority.

Least centralized competent authority, not the least centralized authority.

The most centralized competent authority can indeed be the Federal government for large disasters, particularly multistate disasters, and ones which require large sums of money that cannot be locally obtained.

That latter is particularly the case for Wyoming.

We can't afford these disasters on our own. We can't afford to fight them. We can't address what they destroy.

Wyomingites are on social media right now complaining that the country is ignoring us. Well, attention works two ways.

This upcoming 2025 Legislature is likely to see the House controlled by the "Wyoming" Freedom Caucus. The "Wyoming" Freedom Caucus basically wants to give the Federal Government the middle finger salute. But nobody in the state wants to tell Washington "no thanks, you keep your FEMA, Highway, FAA money, we'll do it on our own".

There's a word for lashing out when you don't get what you want, and see yourself as the center of things.

A tantrum, angry outburst, temper tantrum, lash out, meltdown, fit, or hissy fit is an emotional outburst, usually associated with those in emotional distress. It is typically characterized by stubbornness, crying, screaming, violence, defiance, angry ranting, a resistance to attempts at pacification, and, in some cases, hitting and other physically violent behavior. Physical control may be lost; the person may be unable to remain still; and even if the "goal" of the person is met, they may not be calmed. Throwing a temper tantrum can lead to a child getting detention or being suspended from school for older school age children, and can result in a timeout or grounding, complete with room or corner time, at home. A tantrum may be expressed in a tirade: a protracted, angry speech.

Wikipedia.

“Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true!”, Aesop counseled, and for a reason. And Sappho counseled "don't bite the hand that feeds you".

And, of course:

Pride goes before disaster, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Proverbs 16:18.

We've been pretty proud here recently.

Footnotes:

*A message from the Game and Fish:

Sheridan – The Wyoming Game and Fish Department advises hunters that the Elk Fire in Sheridan County continues to grow, impacting wildlife habitat and access to certain hunt areas.

Hunt areas impacted by the fire or associated public access closures are currently located within Elk Hunt Areas 37 and 38 and Deer Hunt Areas 24 and 25. This is an active fire situation and these areas may change. Game and Fish is maintaining a fire information page for hunters and updating it regularly.

As of Oct. 5, 2024, the following Access Yes areas have been closed until further notice:

PK Lane Hunter Management Area.
Sheridan County Walk in Areas #8 and #12.

Game and Fish personnel are assisting public safety officials and fire suppression efforts as requested.

Personnel will assess impacts to Commission-owned properties and wildlife habitat when it is safe to do so.

Members of the public should be extra vigilant in watching for wildlife on roadways to avoid collisions, as animals may relocate to new areas where they usually aren’t expected.

Wildlife are generally adept at moving away from wildfires and the department has not received reports of injured animals at this time. Members of the public who see an injured animal can report the location to the Stop Poaching Hotline at 1-877-WGFD-TIP. The hotline operates 24 hours a day and reports are sent to the nearest wildlife manager to respond.

Hunters should consult the Bighorn National Forest website and Facebook page for the most current information on fire conditions and public access closures.

Other resources for information about the fire, current road closures and other impacts include the Sheridan County Emergency Management Department and Wyoming Department of Transportation.

Hunters can call the Sheridan Regional Office at 307-672-7418 for more information.

2020s, 2024, Aesop, Disaster, Donald Trump, Government, Politics, Populism, Sic transit Gloria Mundi, Subsidiarity, The Wyoming Fires of 2024, Weather, Wyoming, Wyoming Freedom Caucus

The Agrarian's Lament

Lex Anteinternet: World Happiness Report 2025