Lex Anteinternet: The 2026 Election. 28th Edition. The Count (before...

Lex Anteinternet: The 2026 Election. 28th Edition. The Count (before...: Counting Mayfield, Hill County Texas, ballots, 2/20/24. November 3, 2026.  0000. And so the fateful day has arrived. Election Day, November ...

The 2026 Election. 28th Edition. The Count (before the coup).

Counting Mayfield, Hill County Texas, ballots, 2/20/24.

November 3, 2026.  0000.

And so the fateful day has arrived.

Election Day, November 3, 2026.

And a fateful day it will be.  The election of 2026 is the most important election since that one held on November 3, 1860.  By the end of the day, if predictions hold, it will have taken a step back from fascism. The question will be how big of step back it will be, how much of a step in a new direction, and whether the step is so decisive that a major GOP/Fascist coup attempt can be averted.

I have my doubts.

What seems certain, if early predictions are correct, are that the Democrats, as disliked as they seem to be, will regain the House of Representatives.  Polling seems to suggest that there may be a "blue wave" that swamps the GOP in the House.  If that's correct, the House may have taken a major Democratic Party turn and a turn back towards real democracy.  It seems likely that the Senate may be taken by the Democrats, but it's not likely that it'll be a "wave".  But it's not impossible either.  It'll take both to really arrest a Trump coup attempt, and it will take both to really being to turn the arch of history back towards democracy.

Another question is to what degree Wyoming participates in this.  Wyoming is so ignored in the overall polls that, going into this day, we really don't know.

People who are of the betting persuasion would have placed their bets on Chuck Gray and Harriet Hageman right after the primary. But bets on Gray are much less certain now.  Gray is widely despised and rightly so.  The best thing that could happen to him, and for him, and for the state, would be to send him packing.  He needs to become a real boy and get a real job.  Lisa Kinney might be the person who symbolically does that for him, and to him, although if that's the case, she'll be a one term Congressman, elected solely to put an end in a carpetbagger's career, which would be a service to the state in and of itself.

A much better candidate, all the way around, is James Byrd.  Byrd's chances of defeating Harriet Hageman are not as good as Kinney's are of defeating Gray, but they are real.  

Otherwise, the big question is whether gadfly Rebecca Bextel of the "Constitution" Party, and Shawn Johnson of the Libertarian Party, draw enough votes to qualify both of those parties as "major" parties.

Bextel, who is engaged in a hopelessly naive campaign against Eric Barlow for the Governor's seat, comes across as a potty mouth, ignorant, Southerner, but there are right now enough potty mouth, ignorant carpetbaggers to perhaps give her 10% of the vote.  It's ironic in that the Constitution Party candidate for the House isn't a Southerner or ignorant, but the Constitution Party is smart enough to mount up a Southern Mule when they see one, if it profits them. Their beliefs are genuinely wacky, and Bextel pegs out on the wacky meter, and the Wyoming Freedom Caucus is the Woodstock of wacky, so she is likely to draw at least 10%.

My guess is that Shawn Johnson will as well.  Wyoming Libertarians aren't real Libertarians, so some disaffected Republicans can in fact feel comfortable voting for them.  Some Anybody But Chuck Republicans' who can't stomach voting for a Democrat will vote for Johnson instead.

Overall, if this election broke the back of the two party system, which is unlikely, in Wyoming, it would be a good thing. The batshit crazy wing of the GOP should be in the Constitution Party.  The flirting with anarchy wing of the GOP should be Libertarians.  Would that we had an American Solidarity Party that was viable here.  The Two Party System is moronic.

And, due to its failure, we have Donald Trump as President.

The next two years will not be easy. The best thing that could happen for the republic today is that there was such a blue wave that Trump could, and would, be impeached.  That would allow the GOP to save itself, as spineless bastards like John Barrasso realized that they had to save themselves, his primary instinct, and moved towards the middle.  Other GOP figures held captive by cowardice would as well. That would leave National Conservative chameleon J. D. Vance as President.  Vance is actually conservative, extremely so, but with some sort of a philosophy.  Trump is just about Trump.  Vance also has a survivors instinct.

But will that sort of majority happen by the end of the day?  Probably not.  

Recovery takes years for many things.  We are likely to start on that path today.  A lot of us won't be around anymore by the time we probably get there.  But a lot of us probably will.

04:10

The Tribune reports that 5,000 people have voted early in Natrona County.  Only 1,500 did in the last election.

Absentee ballots with a postmark no later than 7:00 p.m. today will be counted.  If races are close, this may make a difference.

04:37

The United States Supreme Court rejected a request to review a coup attempt on California's mail in ballots.  The coup working through the U.S. Attorney's office sought to require verification of citizenship for 20,000 California mail in ballots.

07:00

The polls in Wyoming are now open.

Last edition:

The 2026 Election. 27th Edition. The Impending Clerico-Fascist Coup.

Labels: 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Abraham Lincoln, Donald Trump, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, Jeff Haggit, Kenneth Casner, Lisa Kinney, Mark Gordon, Politics, Rebecca Bextel, Republican Party, Shaun Johnson, Taxes;2026 Proposition 1, Baby Boom Generation, Bill Allemand, Casper College, Demographic Organizations, Demographics, Education, Joe Porambo, Keenan Morgan, Libertarian, Old Age, University of Wyoming, Wyoming Freedom Caucus  2026 Election, Ascendant Ignorance in the Age of Donald Trump, Bryan Miller, Elon Musk, Ignorance, Immigration, Melania Trump, Rebecca Bextel, Stupidity, Taxes, The Law of Unintended Consequences, You heard it here first 1990s, 2026 Election, Aaron Flint, Alaska, Brent Bien, Donald Trump, Great Wyoming Democratic Exodus, Illinois, Lisa Murkowski, Megan Degenfelder, Montana, Pope Leo XIV, Sam Forstag, Wyoming, Wyoming Freedom Caucus 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, 2026 Proposition 1, 2026 Trump Coup, Alaska, Christian Nationalism, Chuck Gray, Clerico-fascism, Eric Barlow, Evangelical, Mary Peltola, Republican Party, Rod Miller, The Second Trump Administration

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The 2026 Election. 28th Edition. The Count (before the coup). More Labels.

 

Men removing ballot boxes from the William S. Vare - William B. Wilson Pennsylvania senate election from truck at the Capitol, Washington, D.C.

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: St. Hubert's Day.

Lex Anteinternet: Lex Anteinternet: St. Hubert's Day.: Window: workshop of Franz Borgias Mayer (1848–1926); Photo: Wojciech Dittwald, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Lex Anteinternet: St. Hub...

Lex Anteinternet: St. Hubert's Day.

Window: workshop of Franz Borgias Mayer (1848–1926); Photo: Wojciech Dittwald, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Lex Anteinternet: St. Hubert's Day.: Today is St. Hubert's Day.  That is, the day on the Catholic calendar honoring this Saint. St. Hubert encounters the deer. St...

And, a repeat.  It's not only Election Day, it's St. Hubert's Day.

St. Hubert's Day.

Today is St. Hubert's Day.  That is, the day on the Catholic calendar honoring this Saint.

St. Hubert encounters the deer.

St. Hubert lived more recently, post Roman Empire, having been born in 656 and living until 727.  He was born in what is now southern France into a noble family, but was sent north to Paris at an early age.  Due to political turmoil, he was one of many who ended up it Metz as sort of a noble refugee and we need to keep in mind that France, as a solid political entity, didn't exist at the time. Anyhow, he married one Floribanne, daughter of Dagobert, Count of Leuven, and the couple had a son, Floribert, later the Bishop of Liege.  In this fluid political time, therefore, fate had taken Huber from Toulouse to Liège in an onward northern migration.

Hubert was not a religious man and that condition was amplified when his wife died giving birth to Floribert, a not uncommon fate for women at the time.  After that, Hubert took entirely to hunting in the Ardennes, living a solitary hunting life.  On a Good Friday, however when the faithful were gathering in Church in honor of that day (which is not a Holy Day of Obligation) he encountered a great stag and the it turned on him, cross between its horns, and spoke, saying:

Hubert, unless thou turn to the Lord, and lead a holy life, you shall quickly go down into hell.

It's hard to ignore a thing like that, to say the least, and Hubert dismounted from his horse and immediately, according to tradition, replied; "Lord, what would You have me do?", to which the reply came "Go and seek Lambert, and he will instruct you."  Hubert entered the priesthood and rose to the rank of Bishop of Liege, which he occupied until his death, at which point his priest son took over that position.  Both are saints.

According to the legend of his encounter, the deer also lectured St. Hubert on having higher regard for animals and engaging in human hunting practices, including taking old stags beyond their prime breeding years, and also to take sick or injured animals even if it meant passing up on a shot at atrophy.  There's more to it, but St. Hubert is accordingly still  held in high regard in Germany, Austria and France among hunters and ethical hunting principals taught in European hunting societies are attributed to him.

St. Hubert is the patron Saint of Hunters and is still celebrated in Northern Europe, where he is the patron of hunting associations.  In Germany, hunters celebrated this day as Hubertustag, pausing in the hunting season to honor St. Hubert.

As we had just referenced him in the post noted above, and we're further noting this day ourselves.

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, November 2, 1911. M1912 holster adopted,...

Lex Anteinternet: Thursday, November 2, 1911. M1912 holster adopted,...: Rock Island Arsenal was authorized to manufacture the first 10,000 M1912 holsters for the M1911 pistol. Machine-gun crew, man on left has a ...

Thursday, November 2, 1911. M1912 holster adopted, Taft receives Naval gun salute.

Rock Island Arsenal was authorized to manufacture the first 10,000 M1912 holsters for the M1911 pistol.

Machine-gun crew, man on left has a M1912 holster.

The holster itself came in two patterns, a mounted and dismounted variant.  A Signal Corp varant, which was similar to the dropped cavalry style, came into existence as well.  The pattern was slightly updated in 1916 by being reinforced, leading to the M1916 holster, which would remain the official holster for the M1911 pistol for the remainder of its service, changing from neat coloration to black when the Army made the leather coloration reversion after World War Two. Very late in its service, the Navy adopted a version of the M1916 for the new M9 pistol.

Of note, at the time, the Army built much of the Military's leather items, as well as it's longarms.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2026 Election. 27th Edition. The Impending Clerico-Fascist Coup.

Lex Anteinternet: The 2026 Election. 27th Edition. The Impending Cle...: Flag of the Belgian clericofascist Rexist Party of the 1930s and 1940s. October 23, 2026 I keep thinking to myself that I'll be glad whe...

The 2026 Election. 27th Edition. The Impending Clerico-Fascist Coup.

Flag of the Belgian clericofascist Rexist Party of the 1930s and 1940s.

October 23, 2026

I keep thinking to myself that I'll be glad when the election is over.  The 2024 election was bad, but this one seems even worse, at least locally.  Seems like not a day goes by when I don't have to read something about Alabama Becky Bextel saying something outrageous or some disgruntled Wyoming Freedom Caucusers saying that they're the only real Republicans, and for that matter, the only real Americans.

Worst of all, not a day goes by that Donald Trump doesn't act crazier than the day before.

So, in the back of my mind, I keep thinking that the election will put an end to the Republican Party's control of Congress, if not an outright end to the GOP itself, and things will start getting back to sane, if not normal.

But Trump won't let that happen.  

The General Election is on November 3. The Evangelical Far Right Mago Clerico-Fascist Coup will start on November 4.*

There's no doubt about it.

Only if the Democratic victory in November is so overwhelming that it can't be sanely denied, and Republicans in Congress need to get moderate to save their remaining seats, will this be capable of being avoided.  Trump will attempt it anyhow.

And here it starts:

And the start of the attempted 2026 Coup commences:

Trump administration sues to block Senate race certification in Alaska if Republican loses

As this is the first part of what will be a desperate effort of the Trump administration to cling to power, we'll start a new edition.

Lawsuits, voter intimidation, the whole smash.  The Trump MAGA extremist, and the National Conservatives, who is all he has left, are not going to go into the political night without attempting to seize power.  Trump is all they have to try to make their dreams of a Clerico-fascist state (and their dreams on the nature of that state do not align) become a reality.

cont:

Guest Column: Proposition 1 — An Historically Huge Mistake

Rod Miller: Why Hasn't Bryan Miller And The Wyoming GOP Endorsed Eric Barlow?

October 24, 2026

October 25, 2026

There's definitely angst in the Chuc Gray camp.  I saw one of the campaign television ads he's running that Miller had mentioned, and it was remarkable. All about inflation etc., and how he can be counted on to back Wyomingites.

Give us a break.  

Gray's entire campaign today has been based on being a complete Trump toady.   The fact that Trump's economic policies, including his tariffs and illegal war on Iran has boosted inflation can't be ignored.  

But Gray's attempting to ignore it.

That must be making inroads into his support, if he has any support.  He's deeply disliked in general and barely won the primary.  His campaign is trying to shift late in the day into an area which, frankly, he has no traction.

October 26, 2026

Mary Peltola was injured in a car accident over the weekend 

Chuck Gray made another appearance at a University of Wyoming football game this week, and promptly posted photographs of himself, which means somebody (I suspect I know who) goes to all of these game to photograph him in "candid" shots.

One thing that this is causing is for people to ask why Chuck is always alone.

Chuck is in trouble, and knows it.  He's never been popular with Wyomingites in general, and people don't regard him as somebody you'd expect to see at anything.  He revised to debate Kinney and Johnson, and now it looks as if Kinney might pull off an upset.  He's trying to appear as a real buy now, which is a bit too late.  His only really campaign points have been that he loves Trump.  Trump love is wearing off.

Trump love is wearing off in Iowa big time.  

Iowa candidate Ashley Hinson is in the same boat and was on This Week practically declaring herself to be an opponent of Trump's.

October 27, 2026

A person has to be dumb, or wilfully ignorant, to believe the US didn't go to the moon.

Bextel Appears On Tucker Carlson To Tout Campaign, Says We Didn't Go To The Moon

To vote for such a person is inexcusable.

Bryan Miller tries to thread two needles and avoid threading them at the same time.

Wyoming GOP Chair Says Party Won't Endorse Barlow Or Bextel For Governor

Miller is another of these characters that spent a life time government service sucking on the government tit only to come home, or maybe just come to Wyoming (I don't know where he's from) and hate mommy.  He is an Air Force Academy graduate that retired from the USAF as a Colonel.

Bextel took a shot, probably accidental, at Miller on the Tucker Carlson show.  First of all, why anyone is taking the gadfly journalist seriously is beyond me, and the state of his show might be demonstrated that Bextel washed up on shore there, but she claimed the Wyoming, and national, GOP has no leadership.

The fact is, it does. It's lead by Dixiecrats, here and there, and people don't like them.

Bextel, for her part, is getting a lot more attention than she merits, mostly because of the nature of the Internet.  The like minded ignorant gather to her in small numbers attracted to the stank, and the press finds her fascinating due to her ignorance.  And she's also well funded on a personal level.

Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) called for the citizenship status of every American who has been naturalized since 1990 to be reevaluated.

Melania Trump was naturalized in 1990.

Elon Musk was naturalized in 2002.

Well let's at least investigate the naturalization status of those two.

On other matters, at this point, diehard Trump fans, and hence MAGA accoylites, have to discuss and explain this:

25th Amendment Watch, 27th Edition. CliffsNotes of the Zeitgeist 162nd Edition. "The Case Against Donald Trump Emerging in the Epstein Files and DOJ's Desperate Efforts to Cover It Up"

October 28, 2026

Yup, and you heard it here first.

Economists Say State Income Tax On The Table If Proposition 1 Passes

It will happen, and what a battle it'll be.

Wyoming AG: State Law Bars DOJ Election Monitors From Polling Places

The opinion can be found here:  AG Opinion.

It won't matter.  The local U.S. Attorney will proudly declare Meine Ehre heißt Treue and march in anyway.  Indeed, they've already declared they will, but will honor the AG's opinion by honoring the 100 yard restriction, which will allow them to better sing the Horst-Wessel-Lied anyhow.

Alaska's Senator Lisa Murkowski endorsed the Democratic candidate for Governor in that state.  Just earlier this week King Donald stated she was the worst Republican Senator in the Senate, which coming from the worst President in U.S. history is quite the compliment.

The MAGAs are already seeding doubt in the local election.

Fred Harrison: Wyoming Elections — When Certification Does Not Match The Record

They've just been unable to accept that the WFC is hated, and I mean hated.  The power pouting is at the absurd level.

October 29, 2026

Feds Tap Former Chuck Gray Deputy To Run DOJ Election Monitoring

Well that figures.

The Peltola campaign is coming under a lot of fire due to a New York Times report that some of its members actively recruited the second Sullivan for the race, a charge the campaign denies.

October 30, 2026

Election complaints allege donors to Bextel, Bien and Degenfelder exceeded campaign finance limits

Changing views:

Trump and Freedom Caucus approval, election confidence: Three takeaways from a Wyoming survey ahead of the general election

Proposition 1 will test Wyoming’s tax relief appetite. Here’s what you need to know.

National Education Association Pours $1.8 Million Into Beating Prop. 1

Reports reveal that Pope Leo XIV has requested an Illinois mail in ballot.

October 31, 2026

Today, of course, is the last Saturday before the election.

November 1, 2026

And it's the start of the last week of the election.

It looks like there's a real chance that the Democrats may flip a Republican seat in Montana.  This is getting a little press attention.  I frankl think that they might flip Wyoming.

Yesterday, October 31, 2026, was "Reformation Day", that day which some people celebrate as its the day that Martin Luther supposedly nailed his thesis on a cathedral day.  As I'm less than impressed with Martin Luther, which is probably obvious, I can't say that the day is one that I think deserves much positive attention, but I note it as Lutheran minister Jonathan Lange posted one of his occasionally far right wing political post in the Cowboy State Daily, this one supporting Proposition 1.

Anyone who looks at it can tell that Prop 1 is going to hurt Wyoming municipalities.  I have a little bit of a hard time not wondering if the Pastor should be commenting on it.

It's not that I'm of the view that religious figures should abstain from political topics.  I don't hold that view at all.  But because of their position, when they do so publicly, there's always the suggestion that they're making the statement based on moral grounds.  Privately, that's not the case.  

Lange does opine on some things that are of a moral nature.  But more often than not his columns in the CSD are just right wing politics.  That bothers me.  Perhaps it shouldn't.

Today, and tomorrow, will be wild, campaign wise, I suspect.

Footnotes:

*  I started this thread a couple of days prior to the first post.  I hadn't anticipated the coup attempt starting before the ballots were counted, but it has.

Last edition:

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

Labels: 2020s, 2026, 2026 Election, Abraham Lincoln, Donald Trump, Eric Barlow, Harriet Hageman, Jeff Haggit, Kenneth Casner, Lisa Kinney, Mark Gordon, Politics, Rebecca Bextel, Republican Party, Shaun Johnson, Taxes;2026 Proposition 1, Baby Boom Generation, Bill Allemand, Casper College, Demographic Organizations, Demographics, Education, Joe Porambo, Keenan Morgan, Libertarian, Old Age, University of Wyoming, Wyoming Freedom Caucus 

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The Worst Thing That’s Ever Happened To Public Lands Could Be A New Bill You’ve Never Heard Of

Was, Some Gave All: Chuck Ward Cabin. Big Horns, Public Lands, and some recollections.

Some Gave All: Chuck Ward Cabin, Big Horns.: I'd seen this cabin before, but I'd never walked up on it.  It's a Wyoming Game and Fish cabin, from the days when the wardens s...

The reason to post this is probably obvious, and not. The obvious part is that it fits in with the blog's theme.

Chuck Ward Cabin, Big Horns.

I'd seen this cabin before, but I'd never walked up on it.  It's a Wyoming Game and Fish cabin, from the days when the wardens stayed in remote areas during some parts of the year, with a dedication to long time Warden Chuck Ward.

Ward was probably best known during his life time for giving the KTWO Game & Fish report, which occurred periodically, probably weekly.

 

The less obvious one is the bit of a recollection, vicarious though it be, of Mr. Ward.

This cabin is located on a tributary of the Middle Fork of the Powder River.  It's always been a popular spot for fisherman.  A neighbor of mine, whom I dearly miss, held it as his favorite fishing spot, and its a favorite of mine as well.  Oddly enough, it's one that I didn't fish until I was in my adulthood, probably my 30s.

That's an interesting recollection as well, as I'm a pretty wide ranging fellow.  I'll travel a long ways in a day to hunt or fish, but my range now is much larger than it was back in my teens and twenties.  I started driving in my teens, of course, and at that time I'd range, by myself, or with my cohorts, far to the west to the neighboring county, and somewhat to the east to the neighboring one.  Going north, into the Big Horns, was something I didn't do all that much, although I did a little.  For that matter, I can recall going into the foothills of the Southern Big Horns with my father.  We must have been hunting.

Going deep into the Southern Big Horns, however, is something I didn't really do very much until I came back from law school, but I very much did then.  Odd thing to recall, however, is that my father had routinely done that with a a friend and uncle of his before I was born, and a little afterwards.  Since that time, I've expanded into what was his range, reaching some of it only within the last couple of years, but I've also greatly expanded on it and was starting to do so when he died, which is now something like 30 years ago.

On Ward, my father did not hold him in high regard.

The reason is connected to this location.  My father went fishing with my Godfather, a good friend of his throughout his life, and on the way out, they were stopped by Ward.  Ward thought they'd taken more than their limit of fish.  He must have been watching them from a distance or something. Ward was wrong, but he demanded to search the truck, and did.  He completely unloaded it.

When he was done, he found that in fact they had not taken over their limit.  He then said something like, "well, I guess you can load it back up".  

My Godfather made Ward load it back up.

***************************************************

I called outback law enforcement this past week.

I actually emailed the BLM law enforcement branch, for the first time ever.  I knew they had Rangers, but I've had no occasion to call them and indeed I've never spoken to one before.

The reason was that some months ago, August I think, I went out to a place that I often to to in order to hunt and fish.  It's a parcel of BLM land.  I'm often the only guy who hunts or fishes there, although there are some others who do occasionally.

On that occasion, and I can't quite recall which I was doing, as I started to walk in I discovered a large camping ten was pitched in a cottonwood stand, to my enormous surprise.  I've never seen anyone camped there before, but it's not illegal.  It was the opening weekend of antelope bow season and my assumption was that it must be a bow hunter.  Given that, I backed out and left that spot.

Not all that long after that, but still at least a couple of weeks, I was back out and saw that the tent was still there, and a guy sitting in a camp chair in his camp.  It's not my antelope area so I assumed that antelope season must still be on.  Again, I left.

Some weeks after that I went back dove and duck hunting.  Given that, I approached the spot from a different direction entirely.  I did see doves land in some cottonwoods in the cottonwood grove and almost took a shot, but it didn't quite work out, so I walked towards the grove.  I was clean up on it when I suddenly walked right up on the camp.  It was very well camouflaged.  At that point, a man was out, and as I was carrying a firearm, I rapidly changed directions, but he saw me and called to me.  I apologized for walking up on the camp but he started to close the ground to talk to me. 

My dog is an American Retriever and he's still a puppy, but a giant puppy.  He's friendly with everyone. . . but not on this occasion.  He rapidly closed the ground from where he had been to where this fellow was and it was not friendly at all.  I was afraid my do would attack him.

One thing I've learned over the years, and it will sound odd, is to trust the instinct of friendly dogs and cats.  The first mixed breed of this general type I had loved everyone save for a couple of people, and they proved to be very sketchy.  This one had never reacted negatively to anyone before, but it now was, and it clearly regarded the man as a danger and seemingly as one who had to be taken out.  Most of the time he's a giant goofy fellow, but at this moment he was a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and I was his charge.  

I called him back with some difficulty.

Just as I did that, the man said "I like dogs" and started to rapidly close the ground with my now withdrawing dog.  That caused the dog to explode with self defense.  I  got him called off, but I had to resort to a my collar to do it.  

This from the same big goofy dog that only a month or two prior had closed the ground with a young man and his children near this spot as he wanted to be petted.

I briefly spoke to the man, apologizing for the dog.  He didn't seem to be quite right.  I also apologized for walking up on his camp, noting that I knew it had been there but that I assumed he'd be gone.  He denied that he'd been camping there.

Over the weekend I want back out for doves and chukars.  I was very careful this time about the camp, and yes, it was still there.

Now, my assumption, and I'll be frank, is that the camper is homeless, although the tent was a large one and he had an electric bicycle.  But at this point he's living on the public domain and driving off the wildlife.  I emailed the BLM.

Yesterday they went out. They called me from the camp.  They were there at the time, but the camper wasn't (my wife later noted that the camper probably had a job in town, which is probably correct).  They asked if I had a photograph of the camp, which I didn't, as they were trying to place the date he showed up there.  I related what I knew.  They told me they tagged the tent with a warning that it needed to be gone in fourteen days, the longest you can camp on the public domain.

They also asked me if there had been a lot of trash located there.  I honestly told them that I hadn't noticed it, but then, I wasn't really in a position to.  They told me the spot was trashed up.

What I didn't note, and perhaps I should have, is that when you cross a fence to enter into this area there are now piles of toilet paper from somebody shitting on the public domain.  Okay, I know that nature calls, but this was just dirty.  Most professional campers, if you will, dedicated hikers, stockmen, etc., just don't shit near a road an leave the toilet paper all over.

Anyhow, a Ranger called me back late in the day.  He'd been back out and had engaged the campers, it turned out there was more than one, in conversation. They told him they were pulling out today.  

My guess is that they'll just move to a new location on the public domain.

This isn't something I noticed much until just recently.  Last year there was a camper on a BLM spot near the river for weeks, clearly camping out of his SUV.  And I saw a Game Warden confront a guy living in his car some distance downstream from there.

I'm not sure what to make of all of this.  Homelessness is a horrible tragedy in our country and I'll tolerate a lot of urban and even urban/wilderness interface camping.  This is, I'm sure, what that was. The Rangers referred to it as a "vagrant camp", which I'm sure is a term they didn't just start using yesterday.  But this also has an aspect of the Tragedy of the Commons to it.  At least the guy in an established BLM campsite I noted above was in a developed campsite.  These guys were trashing the public land.  There's not a bird to be seen in there now.