Zoë Carpenter - How the Trump Administration Could Change the American Landscape, Literally

In the red-rock country of southern Utah, not far from Bryce Canyon National Park, the state’s only strip coal mine occupies several hundred acres of private property. For over a decade Alton Coal Development, the company behind the Coal Hollow mine, has tried to expand its footprint onto an adjacent parcel of public land containing some 50 million tons of …

Yves Smith – Brexit Empty Threats: The UK’s Fantasy of Becoming a Big Tax Haven

One noteworthy feature of Brexit coverage is British commentators and even worse, officials, reassuring themselves and their audiences that the EU’s firm insistence that the UK will not be able to cherry-pick will melt when they understand that the UK has real bargaining leverage. Based on the arguments I have seen so far, the Eurocrats aren’t at any risk of …

David L. Wilson – Moving Beyond Bernie Sanders’ “Political Revolution”

It’s been an astonishing year for the US left. Issues that mainstream politicians would have declared “off the table” just 12 months ago — free public higher education, universal health care, the $15 minimum wage, a national ban on fracking — are now acceptable topics for public discussion. A US politician who declared himself a socialist won more than 12 million …

Jack Rasmus – Brexit as Working Class Rebellion against Neoliberalism and “Free Trade”

Class, nationalist, and ethnic elements are all involved in the Brexit vote in a complex integration of protest.  Press and media emphasize the nationalist and ethnic (immigrant-anti-immigrant) themes but generally avoid discussing or analyzing the event from a class perspective. But that perspective is fundamental. What Brexit represents is a proxy vote against the economic effects of Free Trade, the …

Chris Hedges – 2008 All Over Again

Great Britain’s decision to leave the European Union has wiped out many bankers and global speculators. They will turn, as they did in 2008, to governments to rescue them from default. Most governments, including ours, will probably comply. Will the American public passively permit another massive bailout of the banks? Will it accept more punishing programs of austerity to pay …

Boris Johnson – The Guardian view on the leave campaign: anatomy of another elite

They’re the rabble army, they’ve come from every side,” ran the brief-lived Referendum party’s anthem, “they’re the rabble army, singing ‘let the people decide’.” It doesn’t get more folksy. Except that this particular uprising of the free yeomanry of England against the diktats of Europe was meticulously plotted by Sir James Goldsmith, an impossibly wealthy man who progressed from Eton college …

FEDJA BURIC – Fascism is rising in the U.S. and Europe — and Donald Trump is the face of this disturbing new reality

Donald Trump has eviscerated his Republican opposition and his hostile takeover of the party of Lincoln is now complete. The Republican elites have fallen in line, normalizing the xenophobia, the racism, and the politics of resentment that fuel his campaign. The unimaginable has become imaginable: a politician who has repeatedly threatened our democratic institutions has seized the imagination of a …

Tree Bombs: How Old Warplanes Can Plant Up to 900,000 Trees a Day

Imagine old military planes used to revitalize barren areas of the earth, instead of causing death and destruction to the environment and wildlife. This reality may be closer than you think. Former RAF pilot, Jack Walters of Shropshire, England, believes C-130 transport aircraft — originally used for carpeting landmines across combat zones — could easily be refitted to deliver something …

DANIEL LIPPMAN – The Economist rates Trump presidency among its top 10 global risks

A Donald Trump presidency poses a top-10 risk event that could disrupt the world economy, lead to political chaos in the U.S. and heighten security risks for the United States, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. Electing Trump could also start a trade war, hurt trade with Mexico and be a godsend to terrorist recruiters in the Middle East, according …