Wyoming judge sounds alarm on mounting violence

Ginned up by Donald Trump attacks against judges, poll workers, hospitals and public officials will increase in number and severity according to the US Marshals Service.

The agency, responsible for the protection of 2,700 federal judges and more than 30,000 federal prosecutors and other court personnel, has seen a sharp rise in threats related to the country’s bitter political divisions, Marshals Director Ronald Davis told Reuters in a recent interview. [Exclusive: Threats to US federal judges double since 2021, driven by politics]

In Wyoming and other western states Trump's followers are targeting Bureau of Land Management district offices as conservation gains equal ranking under the Federal Land Management Policy Act.

Wyoming Supreme Court Justice Kate Fox said that she's alarmed by the trends. She's working diligently to increase awareness, and security measures, in courthouses and communities across the Cowboy State. It's the trial court judges who have a lot more interaction and who tend to get a lot more threats of violence. [Wyoming Supreme Court Chief Justice speaks on the need for increased security as threats to judges spike]

It’s impossible to imagine a more committed insurrectionist than the Republican Party’s presumptive presidential nominee who gleefully incites his disciples to render a bloodbath on his political enemies.

The Sublette County Attorney’s Office released a statement Mon. on the recent wolf incident. This comes after the killing and alleged torture of a wolf by local Cody Roberts in late February has received international attention. Story by @miss_ctanhttps://t.co/drPJEekUDq

— Wyoming Public Radio (@WYPublicRadio) April 23, 2024

Extreme white wing of the Republican Party putting Idaho hospital in the crosshairs

A blastocyst is no more an unborn child than it is an unborn grandparent. Foetal development is undefined in US Constitutional law so if someone calls it a baby that's an opinion and not a legal definition. 

With some 22% of OB/GYNs leaving Idaho and the Trump-packed Supreme Court of the United States hearing arguments that the state's repeal of reproductive rights violates the US Constitution St. Luke's Health System is reporting a massive spike in airlifting patients to other states for medical procedures prohibited in the Gem State. Federal law states that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act requires hospitals receiving Medicare funds to stabilize patients in an emergency and if it can't it must provide transport to facilities that can. 

After bankrupting Ammon Bundy and sending him into hiding Idaho's St. Luke's is bolstering security protocols amid threats from the state's Republican Attorney General and others in his party. Idaho is the third most lucrative state to practice medicine just behind Montana and South Dakota as doctors flee persecution from militants like Dorothy Moon, the Bircher who's Chair of the Republican Party there. 

Raúl Labrador is an Earth hater and Mormon who was born in Puerto Rico, elected to Congress in 2010 with support of the John Birch Society, was Chair of the IDGOP before becoming attorney general and says he believes a fertilized egg is an unborn child.

In July 2023, Idaho's abortion ban was amended to exclude ectopic and molar pregnancies, which if not terminated can only result in the death of both the mother and the fetus. But some doctors have said the text still conflicts with their duty of care and does not take into account the broad scope of severe medical complications women can face during pregnancy, including loss of fertility. [Idaho's biggest hospital says emergency flights for pregnant patients up sharply]

Sidearms for the pre-born! 

Learn more at NPR.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to update you all on something important. I recently offered $10,000 to anyone who could prove I ever lied. Despite facing a massive $53 million lawsuit from St Luke's Hospital, no one has been able to show where I lied. It's frustrating because this… pic.twitter.com/v4WKyWVOKO

— Ammon Bundy (@RealABundy) April 25, 2024

ITBC, Heinert move ten buffalo to Taos Pueblo

In 2012 Democrat Martin Heinrich defeated Republican Heather Wilson, his predecessor in Congress and today thanks to efforts led by Sen. Heinrich bison have become America's National Mammal.

Now, with cooperation from Democratic former South Dakota State Senator and Sicangu citizen, Troy Heinert more bison are coming home to the Nations. With Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland in attendance and in cooperation with Colorado State University the Rapid City-based InterTribal Buffalo Council just moved five yearling bulls and five heifers with Yellowstone genetics to the Taos Pueblo. 

“We commonly refer to bison as buffalo due to historical and linguistic reasons. When European settlers first encountered the bison which resembled the buffalo they were familiar with from other parts of the world they began calling the bison buffalo. This term became widely used in the English language. Many of our tribes had their own names for bison in their respective languages. However as communication between our people and European settlers increased, the term buffalo became adopted more broadly. So, the term buffalo is deeply intertwined in our history as a symbol of cultural identity, spiritual connection, resilience, and the challenges faced by our people in the face of colonization and environmental change.”

Almost 37 years ago, Frank and Deborah Popper’s collaborative academic article was published in a small magazine for planning professionals. On March 27 the couple visited Montana State University in Bozeman for a public presentation and discussion about how things have changed since their article was first published. [Buffalo Commons authors look back at evolution of their Great Plains bison concept]

The Oakland Zoo just sent fourteen more buffalo for a total of 38 to the Blackfeet Nation. But, whether it's American Prairie's bison grazing on Bureau of Land Management ground in Montana, the US Department of Agriculture killing cattle on the Gila or feds shooting goats in the Tetons socialized grazing just isn't enough to keep some Republicans happy. 

It's time to rewild parts of the Mountain West by connecting the CM Russell Wildlife Refuge in Montana along the Missouri River to Oacoma, South Dakota combined with corridors from Yellowstone National Park to the Yukon in the north and south to the Rio Grande through Nebraska, eastern Colorado, western Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas.

Watch the ITBC video at their Faceberg page. 

Learn more at the Missoulian.

ip image: buffalo graze at Wind Cave National Park in occupied South Dakota.

South Dakota still addicted to gambling

According to WalletHub, gambling has become a leading source of anguish and despair in my home state with a high suicide rate and few avenues for treatment. The state is tied for first in the number of casinos and machines and second in overall addiction to the poison.

It also has a high prevalence of gambling through lottery tickets, with the 10th highest lottery sales per resident age 18+. South Dakota has legalized betting on fantasy sports, regular sports and horse races, and it allows gambling machines to be put in stores. With so many different legal ways to gamble, it makes sense that many residents have a problem. The grip that gambling has on the Mount Rushmore State is evident in the fact that it has a high number of Gamblers Anonymous meetings per capita. [Most Gambling-Addicted States (2024)]

The reasoning is hardly mysterious. It’s all about the money video lootery, a too big to jail banking racket, a medical industry triopoly, prostitution, the Sturgis Rally, policing for profit, sex trafficking, hunting and subsidized grazing bring to the SDGOP destroying lives, depleting watersheds and smothering habitat under single-party rule.

Gamers visiting Deadwood in March dropped $127.2 million in machines, on tables, and sports betting for just over an eight percent increase compared to March 2023. Thus far this year, the collective handle in Deadwood is $358.3 million, up less than half a percent, compared to the same period in 2023. [Black Hills Pioneer]

When i was still playing Ricky Jacobsen, Chuck Baumann and Jeanette Fraser took their own lives after losing everything in Deadwood's poker games. No doubt there have been others.