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Sewell Chan reports at The New York Times that Britain's highest court has unanimously rejected an attempt by Donald J. Trump to block the construction of a wind farm near his luxury golf resort in northeast Scotland. Trump has vowed to stop further development on the project if the offshore wind farm — 11 turbines, which would be visible from the golf resort 2.2 miles away — goes forward. Trump spokesman George A. Sorial denounced the ruling as "extremely unfortunate for the residents of Aberdeen and anyone who cares about Scotland's economic future" adding that the wind farm will "completely destroy the bucolic Aberdeen Bay and cast a terrible shadow upon the future of tourism for the area. History will judge those involved unfavorably, and the outcome demonstrates the foolish, small-minded and parochial mentality which dominates the current Scottish government's dangerous experiment with wind energy."
Nicola Sturgeon, first minister of Scotland, withdrew Trump's status as a business ambassador to Scotland last week after Trump called for Muslims to be barred from entering the United States. Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen has stripped Mr. Trump of an honorary degree it awarded him in 2010. Trump's mother was born in Scotland and moved to the United States in the 1930s. "I think I do feel Scottish," said Trump at one time.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday December 17 2015, @03:33PM
Whatever else you may thing about Trump - he is a member of the ruling class. He thinks his shit don't stink, and he really believes that investing is some stupid golf course should entitle him to dictate how the neighbors should act, speak, and do business.
A wind farm. Much needed renewable energy, and Trump wants to block it?
I'm happy the Scots told him where he can get off.
Hey, Donald - hike up your kilt, and do some deep knee bends on top of a wind tower. Or, just go fuck yourself.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Thexalon on Thursday December 17 2015, @03:59PM
And I should point out that he's not the first member of the ruling class to attempt to block a wind farm due to it spoiling his view. Ted Kennedy [reuters.com] did the exact same thing when the view from his family estate on Martha's Vinyard was threatened by a proposed wind farm, and managed to delay the project for 9 years.
And I doubt he'll be the last.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 17 2015, @04:25PM
I think it funny how these turbines sitting several miles offshore (which you'd need to have someone point out to you because you really have to try to look for them) would so completely ruin the scenery that tourism would plummet.
This isn't a ruling class vs. people thing, this is just a people thing. The rich just have an easier time throwing money at it. NIMBY-ism transcends class.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bob_super on Thursday December 17 2015, @04:41PM
last time I saw an offshore windfarm while standing on the coast, In the Netherlands, it actually looked pretty cool in the distance. You could barely see the blades, but what it did is actually add a feature to the desperately flat grey-on-grey horizon.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Phoenix666 on Thursday December 17 2015, @04:16PM
That's always been true, and it's true now. It should not continue to be true in the future, if we, humanity, want to have a future at all. If we allow a system that accrues all profits to a financial sector that produces nothing of value, instead of flowing to people who build, innovate, and make the world a better place for everyone, our civilization will not last.
Traditionally the counter-point to this system we have now is Marxism, socialism, or its variants, but that's a false dichotomy. Teddy Roosevelt came along in the United States and gave our system an extra century of life with his trust-busting and progressive reforms. He set the stage for the rise of the American middle class. But the ruling class has now succeeded in rolling all of his progress back.
This wind farm kerfuffle in Scotland is a data point in that larger struggle to evolve something else, something better. If the ruling class, whom Trump represents, wind up winning these kinds of battles, they will find they will lose the war, at the cost of their lives.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by DECbot on Thursday December 17 2015, @05:37PM
Are you sir looking to resurrect the Bull-Moose party? [wikipedia.org]
cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Friday December 18 2015, @01:36AM
We need to see the financial system as damage and rout around it.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Funny) by WillR on Thursday December 17 2015, @07:31PM
Much needed renewable energy
I think you mean "a dangerous experiment with wind energy."
I mean those things are seriously dangerous, what with the way they explode, catch fire, sink into the sea, and spew millions of barrels of wind into the water for months before they manage to get it back under control. /s