Nov. 26 Open Thread: Depends on Who’s Being Hanged, Doesn’t It?

Filed in National by on November 26, 2018

Mississippi Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith has lurched from one racism-tinted gaffe to the next in the run-up to her run-off election against Democrat Mike Espy. As Trump prepares to stage rallies for her today so he can claim credit for her expected victory, let’s stipulate that I would join her in the front row at a hanging, provided the hanging was of Trump and his crime family for treason.

If the sorry performance of an apparatchik like Hyde-Smith demonstrates the enfeeblement of the conservative party, the ineptitude surrounding the moderate Democrats’ putsch against Nancy Pelosi shows why Democrats nevertheless manage to lose battles over and over again: They lack the political skills. Witness the failure to overthrow their leader despite having calls for change from more than 60 members before the midterms. Peter Beinart details how she quelled the mutiny.

The collapse of the coal industry might sound like a welcome development, but it won’t be if happens all at once, as it threatens to do with the coal still in the ground losing its value slowly but steadily. As with any extraction industry, financing the extraction depends on money borrowed against the future sale of what’s currently in the ground. If that value disappears, so do the loans. That leaves author Mark Sumner, an ardent conservationist, to warn government might have to prop up the coal industry to achieve an orderly transition to alternatives.

Recent experience with the global transportation system made this article timely for me: A CIA-sourced story explaining why you can’t bring liquids on airplanes and the foiled plot behind the ban, which I hadn’t seen in so much detail before.

About the Author ()

Who wants to know?

Comments (3)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. jason330 says:

    Fascinating read on the collapse of coal. Thanks for the link. But I have to agree with this commenter:

    “Sounds like just another avoidable bailout. Run a risky business model into the ground, demand the taxpayers keep your gravy train going. Coal is too big to fail. It all sounds very familiar.”

    Nationalization prior to the asset stripping by owners I could see.

  2. RE Vanella says:

    Nationalization. I’m in on that. At least we get our fair stake. The one we’re paying for.

  3. mouse says:

    I thought we were running on clean coal now and everyone in W VA was well employed with health insurance?