I applaud your clear-eyed view of what may be happening.

You give me hope.

K&R

Well said!

Trump will throw them a bone once in a while and that will keep them in line:

Ford Motor said on Tuesday that it was canceling plans to build a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico and would instead invest $700 million to increase production in Michigan.

“We are encouraged by the pro-growth policies that President-elect Trump and the new Congress have indicated they will pursue,” Mr. Fields said. “And we believe that these tax and regulatory reforms are critically important to boost U.S. competitiveness, and, of course, drive a resurgence in American manufacturing and high-tech innovation.”

Gotta love the language by Mr. Fields.



Peace

Eliminate the minimum wage, labor laws and protections, polution laws, corporate taxes, taxes on "job creators".......and it's paradise.

You may be right. I've learned to expect whatever is the worse option to be the one that succeeds.

that may hurt him and the GOP is if they make big changes to social security and Medicare. Of course Trump could really cement his populist base by vetoing the bill and coming off as a savior, or signing it somehow blaming Obama. I think the GOP greatly underestimates Trump’s easily fed ego and they think they can totally control him. His mood or who really has his ear at any given moment will determine his actions, and of course $$$$$$.

She insists: "I can change him."

And as the years go by, she MAY finally realize that she can't. And all the nagging and bitching and arguing and fighting in the world won't do any good at all. He WON'T change unless HE wants to.

And trump has NO REASON WHATSOEVER to change. trump's had this behavior reinforced all his life. So why should he change now?

"...Now the rowin' gambler he was very bored
He was tryin' to create a next world war
He found a promoter who nearly fell off the floor
He said I never engaged in this kind of thing before
But yes I think it can be very easily done
We'll just put some bleachers out in the sun
And have it on Highway 61.
(From Highway 61 Revisited)

Renewable energy sources are and will be responsible for a reduction in the demand for coal. There's no doubt that natural gas and mechanization (especially with mountain top removal) are responsible for large numbers of lost coal jobs. Yet as we continue to shift and accelerate the shift to renewable energy sources, demand for coal will continue to drop which will result on in many more lost coal jobs, eventually to the point where the industry ceases to exist. Short of some breakthrough or discovery where something like graphene can be produced from coal, the current coal mining industry might be gone by the end of this century.

will get their biggest boost in the next four years at the state rather than the Federal level.

California is leading the way on this issue, as well.

(Good essay, by the way)

Populist movements have, historically, been linked to isolationism, and isolationism would appear to be on the rise in the US, except for the globalists who run our corporations and politics. Isn't a "liberal Balkanization" (or, go all the way, outright secession) just a variation on the theme of isolationism? And is not isolationism just a variation on the theme of "screw you, I got mine?" I've always been of the opinion that the conclusion of Candide is just another form of hunkering down and hoping the Angel of the Lord bypasses your doorway, the lintel of which has been liberally marked with the blood of a lamb, or one's firstborn child if no lambs are in the offing.

The more fragmented we become, the easier we make it for those who would rule to apply divide et impera to the fragmented parts, or as Mr Franklin is said to have observed upon the birth of the nation, "We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately."

-- Mal

as being isolationist. One political entity cutting itself off from another is unidirectional. For example, if a putated Republic of Cascadia (comprising one variation or another on Washington State, Oregon, and Northern California) were to secede from the US, it would only be closed off in one direction. It might lead to warmer relations with Canada and Mexico, for example.

There are so many possibilities and unintended consequences in such a move, admittedly. For instance, since the vision of Cascadia has almost always included all or a portion of Canada's British Columbia, it might lead to suspicion or outright war by Canada against the fledgling republic. I won't go into all that.

Most of the rest of the world views red-state America with bemusement at best, and loathing at worst. If we progressives were to crawl out from under the ponderous, backward, provincial, and gleefully wasteful portion of our once-great nation, might the rest of the world rejoice? And offer closer international relations as a result?

that a lot of the resentment they eel towards Toronto is because of the way it bends over backward from the Francophones. The running gag is that their nation is run by a bunch on Montreal attorneys.

... I think it very likely that the enemies of the bygone U.S. would rejoice. And the allies of her would tremble at being stripped of a great Protector. Which one might celebrate, as requiring them to face the expense of their own defense for a change, but isn't that back to Isolationism?

But any discussion of secession must founder on the question of the Federal response to such a withdrawal, and the likelihood of it leading to continental war. I think it tolerably probable that Mr Trump would not stand for such an action, and any such splinter state would be in the same legal position as the bygone Confederacy, and obliged to support her statehood with her arms. Which could get downright messy in short order.

But similar question of Federal response applies to less-radical means of defiance as well. The Whiskey Rebellion and similar challenges to the Federal authority may not have led to Civil War and oceans of spilt blood (relatively little blood was spilt at all, which is of course small consolation to the loved ones of those who did the bleeding), but the Federal government was obliged to assert its authority, and so it did. It will be a matter of considerable interest to see how far individual states and municipalities can challenge Federal authority without triggering a response, particularly with Mr Trump sitting in the office of President, who is known for neither impulse control nor tolerance of challenge.

Withdrawal from the Union, or lesser means of defiance, does carry with it the stigma of appearing to be a "sore loser," on which character the Opposition is already making propaganda (they may, in fact, be the party in power, and not the political Opposition, but they are in opposition to the desires of the majority of American citizens on many questions). To this, of course, the response is that one is refusing an unlawful order, or one that is in opposition to the Constitution or morals, or whatever other authority one pleases. But how can an order be unlawful, if the Legislature and USSC declare it to be lawful? In the military, if an officer cannot in conscience obey a lawful order, he is obliged to resign (enlisted personnel, of course, don't have this option), but succession from a polity is not the same as resigning from the military (or any other organization which might issue orders the recipient finds repugnant). The organization continues in the same order as before the resignation, but a polity is not the same when shorn of a constituent element.

What is most distressing to me about this subject is the fact that those who mocked and reviled the Right for talking about secession or refusal to obey lawful Federal orders (and for threatening "Second Amendment Remedies," forsooth), are now advocating these measures in their own right. It seems inconsistent that what is wrong for one group is right for another. Of course, those who advocate such measures now point to the many signs of illegitimacy of the incoming government (which, bog knows, are bloody legion), but then, it was not so long ago that the other side was making precisely the same sort of noises. It is sad that our nation has so quickly plunged into irreconcilable portions. It is also, perhaps, understandable that some persons of more-or-less good will are hoping, at the eleventh hour, to secure some kind of compromise to the present situation, short of a Lockean appeal to Heaven. I don't give them very great odds on doing this. I think the more probable result will be conformity for the sake of preserving a Union that is already hollow, and has abandoned its ideals for the sake of a little peace and quiet.

-- Mal

Look out, China, cuz here we come!!!!

they should move to the nearest blue or blue leaning state. I heard of a company leaving Kansas,lousy schools is not a way to attract a good work force.

My outfit gives generous health and dental benefits, sometimes (in case of no theft or mistreatment of other workers) will keep a fired employee on the payroll nominally so they don't lose their health insurance while looking for a new job, has birthday parties for EVERYBODY and organizes a periodic free Texas barbecue (we are between 450 and 500 people) for ALL US employees, and we have offices, besides Dallas, now in New York, California, Illinois and Florida. We poor slobs overseas make do without the BBQ, but it's not like we lack for good food in France, Germany, Switzerland and Holland. They give out bonuses to the lower-paid employees when they can, and are liberal with time off for employees who need it for personal reasons.

Not all Texas is Rick Perry, Louie Gohmert or Gregg Abbott, Not all Texas firms act like they are run by assholes just because they could get away with it if they wanted to.

because then they could harp and bitch about all the things they wanted without suffering the horrific consequences of those things actually occurring.

what too many people don't realize is facts do not matter.

Thank you! I realize none of this is really a laughing matter, but OMG did you nail it...stripper poles and drilled peep 👀 holes

Could we have more, please! Like a trilogy of 500 pages each

often, if at all. It's not up to his standards. I expect that he will run the government from Trump tower or Mar a Lago. When is the moving truck supposed to arrive?

Not enough gilded kitch.

They're hoping for that, but just in case they're still gonna pack the courts and blow up everything progressive they can.

Oooooo, love that secession turn around---great point!

on abortion, social security, medicare, Obamacare, creating jobs, etc, etc - that they will be at a total loss when it comes to making a real commitment to do something that will turn the nation against them (once it realizes the ramifications).

Any bad results they will first try and ignore. Then if it gets noticed, they will blame Democrats, or libruls, or minorities, or immigrants, or the media, or anyone they can think of besides themselves. And they will believe it, which is what is scarey.

Janurary 3, 2017

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/01/03/house-gop-rules-change-would-make-it-easier-to-sell-off-federal-land/?utm_term=.10b452e2053e#comments